A Planeta Tangerina reportou há dias que a edição colombiana de Irmão Lobo, de Carla Maia de Almeida, com ilustrações de António Jorge Gonçalves, foi escolhida pela revista cultural Arcadia, daquele país, como um dos melhores livros de 2014. A tradução é de Jerónimo Pizarro. Sem dúvida nenhuma que são muito boas notícias para a literatura infantil e juvenil portuguesa.
Mais informações aqui.
O jornal New York Times anunciou a sua lista dos melhores livros infantis e juvenis do ano de 2014. As categorias dividem-se em Picture Books (Livros ilustrados), Middle Grade (Juvenis) e Young Adult (Adolescentes, Jovem Adulto).
Na lista de livros infantis ilustrados encontra-se a obra Hannah’s Night, de Komako Sakai, de quem há um livro editado em Portugal pela Bruuá, e que se intitula O Urso e o Gato Selvagem.
Na categoria de Middle Grade encontramos a muitíssimo distinguida obra de Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming, e obras de autores como Ann M. Martin (alguns dos seus livros estão editados cá pela Gailivro) e Gregory Maguire (autor de A Bruxa de Oz, O Herdeiro de Oz e de O Leão de Oz, Casa das Letras).
No Young Adult encontramos títulos já presentes também noutras listas de melhores do ano, como I’ll Give You the Sun, de Jandy Nelson; The Impossible Knife of Memory, de Laurie Halse Anderson (obras editadas cá pela ASA); e Quando Éramos Mentirosos, de E. Lockhart.
A lista completa encontra-se aqui.
Começam a ser anunciadas as listas dos melhores livros do ano e desta vez é a publicação especializada em livros, a Publishers Weekly, a revelar os seus favoritos de 2014.
Na categoria de livros infantis, há dois que se encontram publicados em Portugal: A Minha Professora é Um Monstro, de Peter Brown, pela Orfeu Negro; As Regras do Verão, de Shaun Tan, pela Kalandraka.
Na categoria de Juvenil, nenhum dos títulos selecionados pela revista está traduzido e publicado em Portugal.
Por fim, na categoria de Jovem Adulto, temos Half Bad, de Sally Green, editado pela Editorial Presença e Quando Éramos Mentirosos, de E. Lockhart, da ASA.
Já estão abertas as votações para os melhores livros do ano na rede social de livros Goodreads. As categorias mais importantes para nós são as destinadas aos livros para crianças e jovens. São quatro as categorias: Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy, Middle Grade & Children’s e Picture Books.
Entre os nomeados de Young Adult Fiction encontra-se Quando Éramos Mentirosos, de E. Lockhart, editado em Portugal pela ASA. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, de Jenny Han, é outro nomeado e está editado no nosso país pela Topseller, com o título A Todos os Rapazes Que Amei. Isla and The Happily Ever After, de Stephanie Perkins, também está nomeado. Trata-se de uma trilogia, cujo primeiro volume da série foi lançado pela Quinta Essência em 2013 com o título Ana e o Beijo Francês.
Na categoria de Young Adult Fantasy temos editados em Portugal o primeiro volume da série A Seleção, de Kiera Cass, publicado pela Marcador; Cinder e Scarlet, de Marissa Meyer, pela Planeta; os livros da série Instrumentos Mortais, de Cassandra Clare, também pela Planeta; e o primeiro volume de O Lar da Senhora Peregrine para Crianças Peculiares, de Ransom Riggs, trazido até nós pela editora Contraponto.
Nos nomeados da secção de Middle Grade & Children’s, encontra-se o nono volume da série O Diário de Um Banana, de Jeff Kinney, editada em Portugal pela Booksmile; um livro da saga Os Heróis do Olimpo, de Rick Riordan, cuja editora portuguesa é a Editorial Planeta; e O Diário de Uma Totó, de Rachel Renée Russel, publicado por cá pela Gailivro.
Por fim, na categoria de Picture Books, está nomeada uma obra de Mo Willems, de quem a Orfeu Negro publicou recentemente o livro Leonardo, O Monstro Terrível.
Para votar é ir aqui.
A YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association), uma associação americana de bibliotecas, anunciou os resultados de uma votação que decorreu de agosto até à semana passada, em que os leitores entre os doze e os dezoito anos tiveram oportunidade de escolher os seus livros favoritos do ano. Da fantasia, à ficção-científica e ao realismo contemporâneo, segue-se a lista dos dez mais votados com as respetivas sinopses (em inglês). Mais informações aqui.
«Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.
Eleanor… Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough…Eleanor.
Park… He knows she’ll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There’s a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises…Park.
Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.»
«This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.»
«More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the Wild Chalklings. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles.
As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing—kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery—one that will change Rithmatics—and their world—forever.
A New York Times Book Review Notable Children’s Book of 2013.»
«A 5ª Vaga, o volume que dá início à trilogia com o mesmo nome, é uma obra-prima da ficção científica moderna. É um épico extremamente original, que nos apresenta um cenário de invasão extraterrestre do planeta Terra como nunca antes foi escrito ou sequer imaginado. Nesta narrativa assombrosa, uma nave extraterrestre fixa-se na órbita da terra, à vista de todos mas sem estabelecer qualquer interação. Até que, subitamente, uma gigantesca onda eletromagnética desativa todos os sistemas da Terra, e todas as luzes, comunicações e máquinas deixam de funcionar. A esta primeira vaga seguem-se outras, num crescendo de violência que devasta grande parte da humanidade. Será este o fim da existência humana sobre a Terra? Haverá ainda alguma salvação possível? Um thriller de alta voltagem, com todos os ingredientes para se tornar um grande clássico da literatura fantástica universal.»
«Trapped in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, including a monster hailstorm and terrifying chemical weapons spill, brothers Dean and Alex learned how to survive and worked together with twelve other kids to build a refuge from the chaos. But then strangers appeared, destroying their fragile peace, and bringing both fresh disaster and a glimmer of hope.
Knowing that the chemical weapons saturating the air outside will turn him into a bloodthirsty rage monster, Dean decides to stay in the safety of the store with Astrid and some of the younger kids. But their sanctuary has already been breached once…
Meanwhile, Alex, determined to find their parents, heads out into the darkness and devastation with Niko and some others in a recently repaired school bus. If they can get to Denver International Airport, they might be evacuated to safety. But the outside world is even worse than they expected…»
«2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds, 18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an ‘ape’, a ‘throwback’, but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.
Jarra invents a fake background for herself – as a normal child of Military parents – and joins a class of norms that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities. When an ancient skyscraper collapses, burying another research team, Jarra’s role in their rescue puts her in the spotlight. No hiding at back of class now. To make life more complicated, she finds herself falling in love with one of her classmates – a norm from another planet. Somehow, she has to keep the deception going.
A freak solar storm strikes the atmosphere, and the class is ordered to portal off-world for safety – no problem for a real child of military parents, but fatal for Jarra. The storm is so bad that the crews of the orbiting solar arrays have to escape to planet below: the first landing from space in 600 years. And one is on collision course with their shelter.»
«Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one in the same?
The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career.
Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies–trust no one.
But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust.»
«Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.
Nobody fights the Epics…nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.
And David wants in. He wants Steelheart – the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David’s father. For years, like the Reckoners, David’s been studying, and planning – and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.
He’s seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.»
Segundo volume da saga que a ASA começou a publicar em Portugal, e cujo primeiro volume se intitula Luz e Sombra.
«Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.
The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her–or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.»
«Michael is a gamer. And like most gamers, he almost spends more time on the VirtNet than in the actual world. The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and it’s addictive. Thanks to technology, anyone with enough money can experience fantasy worlds, risk their life without the chance of death, or just hang around with Virt-friends. And the more hacking skills you have, the more fun. Why bother following the rules when most of them are dumb, anyway?
But some rules were made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And recent reports claim that one gamer is going beyond what any gamer has done before: he’s holding players hostage inside the VirtNet. The effects are horrific—the hostages have all been declared brain-dead. Yet the gamer’s motives are a mystery.
The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker. And they’ve been watching Michael. They want him on their team. But the risk is enormous. If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid. There are back alleys and corners in the system human eyes have never seen and predators he can’t even fathom —and there’s the possibility that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever.»
O jornal The Telegraph vai anunciando ao longo do ano os melhores livros para adolescentes de 2014, com a devida a atualização. Só em janeiro saberemos a lista definitiva, mas para já fica a seleção dos melhores… até agora. Aqui.
Entre os títulos destacados, alguns encontram-se editados em Portugal, como Half Bad, de Sally Green (Editorial Presença), We Were Liars, de E. Lockhart (ASA). Autores como Tim Bowler têm outros livros editados em Portugal (O Mar dos Murmúrios, Editorial Presença), Robert Muchamore, Frances Hardinge (A Rapariga Que Sabia Ler, Editorial Presença), Matt Haig (A Família Radley, Bertrand Editora).
Revista Fábulas 