Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

My librarian friends were swooning over this title at ALA Annual a month ago, so I figured I had better take a look at it.  I'm not as thrilled as they are.

First, yes, it's told in a very distinct voice from the POV of a boy who is considered to be stupid. He lives in a strange Communist-ish, Nazi-ish dystopian part-way real world that really frustrated me. I wanted to know where the Motherland was in the 1950s and was ticked that I couldn't figure it out.  I wanted to know where these people were being squirreled away in zones that didn't have enough resources to survive.  I guess I didn't like that the dystopian setting was so close to actual historical settings of Europe? I kept thinking of books I've read about cities in Poland during WWII and Slavic war memoirs. It seemed real, yet not.

This is the kind of book that people on committees will argue about--I'm interested to see what awards it does win.  It isn't a Top Read for me this year, but I'm sure it will be on a lot of people's lists.

Recommended for people who love Adam Rapp's books and want to read the Printz contenders for this year. :)