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Friday, August 17, 2012

Back to School with the Latest Teen Fiction Part 2 of 8: Catherine Austen's All Good Children

All Good Children
Catherine Austen
Orca Book Publishers
October 1, 2011
312 pages
Library binding, $19.95
On April 16, All Good Children won the 2012 Young Adult Book Award, given by the Canadian Library Association.

Set in the not-too-distant dystopic future in Middletown, All Good Children features kids who are turning into obedient zombies. Teenaged graffiti artist and prankster Maxwell Connor and his friend Dallas are not happy about it. Connor, a rebel, decides to look beyond his small town to solve the mystery. The author originally planned this book as a Stepford Wives or Invasion of the Body Snatchers for middle graders.

“I’ve always had a soft spot for disruptive kids who are good at heart,” Catherine Austen wrote from Gatineau. “The ideal reader might be any teen who feels under pressure to be a certain way, who feels let down by adults, especially a labelled kid or a self-absorbed kid who needs a kick in the pants to look at the world around him and take a stand on something.”

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