King, A. S. Please Ignore Vera Dietz. New York: Random House, 2010. Print.
Annotation: Eighteen-year-old Vera Dietz has spent her entire high-school career trying to remain invisible. However, when Charlie, her (ex)best friend, dies mysteriously, Vera is forced out into the open. There are too many secrets and unanswered questions, and seeking for Charlie's truth leads Vera on a journey that will wind up unveiling her own truth as well.
Justification for Nomination: Please Ignore Vera Dietz is first and foremost a mystery, but it is much more than that. A. S. King has intertwined suspense with life lessons in a way that provides young adult readers with entertainment and education simultaneously. As readers follows Vera through life via scenes and incidences of the present and the past, they begin to understand the complexity of Vera's personal life through her descriptions of her friendship with Charlie Kahn and her relationship with her father, Ken Dietz. The entire book is written in first-person narrative, and it is mostly Vera's voice readers hear as she confides in them, explaining how life has evolved thus far. From time to time, young readers also hear from Ken/her father, Charlie/the deceased, and a couple of inanimate, but significant structures. The readers are both intrigued by her past, her present, and her attempts to separate the two. They are drawn into this story that deals with choices--choices that must be made in terms of drugs and alcohol, sex, profanity, relationships, independence, responsibility, loyalty, and trust--choices that are intertwined and with which they are faced continually . In the end, Vera's ability to make right choices aids her in blending her past into her present and, ultimately, enables her to move on. There is hope in sight for Vera, and young readers believe again in the value of truth.
I would most definitely nominate Please Ignore Vera Dietz for an award for literary excellence. She has something definite to say and should not be ignored!
Genres: Printz (Honor), Mystery, Realistic/"Edgy"
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