2014 book 64

Kate Hattemar's The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy
YES! It's another YA book about the evils of reality tv, my new favorite sub-genre! In this one, a reality tv show is being filmed at an arts school, and our protagonist gets involved with his best friend's plot to bring the show down--with poetry!--which heads in an unexpected direction. I loved all the lit nerdery here, despite really not being into Ezra Pound (Ezra Pound's Cantos come into play constantly). There is also a super awesome gerbil. Now, the plot doesn't hold up really well if you examine it too closely (much like a reality tv show!), and the protagonist being primarily motivated by his crush on a girl he's never spoken to is kind of cringeworthy (he /is/ called out on this later in the book). The romantic stuff is fairly predictable. But it's VERY enjoyable and compulsively readable, just the same. B+.


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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in April.