STORYTIME: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

British author Meg Rosoff's Printz Award-winning How I Live Now fits comfortably into the "stream of consciousness" and "young adult fiction" categories.

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STORYTIME: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

POSTED: Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 2:00 PM

Each week, Dylan Rhys Williams reviews a new childrens' book that'll twinkle the imaginations of kids and kids at heart.

Rarely does a work of literature fall into both the “stream of consciousness narration” and “young adult fiction” categories. This week’s pick, How I Live Now (Wendy Lamb Books, 2006), fits comfortably and elegantly into both. Written by British author Meg Rosoff and winner of the coveted Printz Award, the story follows the journeys of protagonist Daisy, a 15-year-old New York City outcast who is sent by her archetypal wicked stepmother to live in England with a colony of bizarre, genius cousins. As a literal World War unfolds around them, Daisy and her cousins are left alone to witness and survive the rapid denaturation of modern society brought about by foreign military occupation.

Although targeting a slightly older audience than most of the other works covered by this column, How I Live Now is an incredible read for tweens and up. The story deals at once with basic literary themes of home and belonging as well as more complex, adult concepts like anorexia and the multiple roles a child must adopt when living without parental influence. Although at times straddling the boundary between captivating stream-of-consciousness and unintelligible first-person gobbledegook (the story is written entirely, for example, without quotation marks), the distinctive narrative voice carries the story beautifully and engulfs the reader in the persona of Daisy. Kids will love the adventures of the kids wandering the desolate, war-torn countryside; adults can enjoy the depth of the characters, as well as the complexity of the themes Rosoff tackles. An exciting and haunting tale made beautiful by the telling.

Have a children's book you'd like to have Dylan review? Email him at dylan.williams@citypaper.net.

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