Noggin by John Corey Whaley

I raved over Whaley's debut novel, Where Things Come Back, and so did the rest of the world because it won the Morris Award AND the Printz Award in 2012.  That's a hard book to follow!

So you'll think this is a stupid book if I give you a one-sentence summary.  Ready? Here I go. 

Travis Coates is dying of cancer so he agrees to have his head chopped off and saved by science to be reattached five years later to the body of another teenage boy.

Okay, you think I'm crazy for loving this book, right? But you forget who the author is--this is JOHN COREY WHALEY. 

 

And he knows how to write.  Well.  He manages to take a crazy idea, make it seem possible, and take readers deep into the noggin of Travis, his family members, and friends.  This is a tale of heartache, coming of age and love and loss.  With a great cover.  Just read it.   And give it to fans of John Green, A. S. King, and Andrew Smith.