Annotation: A thoroughly satisfying horror tale of a teenager becoming a vampire.
Justification for Nomination: In M.T. Anderson's horror book about a teenager turning into a vampire, readers will be blown away by the frank and earnest writing and it's stunning twists and turns. In Chris's world, vampires are present and the town is always on the lookout and the hunt for them. Chris is struggling with his parents and their constant arguing, his older brother who doesn't understand him, and his friends who appear to be drifting away from him. Through all of this, his adolescent hormones are going crazy and his appetite is out of control. When Chris is visited by Chet the celestial being, he is told he is turning into a vampire and in order to stop the curse he must travel to another world and deliver the Arm of Moriator. Chris reluctantly agrees to this because all he wants is to return to being a normal teenager.
Thirsty is a novel that will stick in your mind for many days after reading it. Although it doesn't have a storyline that is uplifting and it is quite depressing, it does have humorous passages and realistic relationships. In Anderson's biography in the back of the book he says he was writing about kids "struggling with the isolation of wanting to do the right thing when there was no right thing to do". This is a poignant point about teenagers and their needs that are sometimes not met by their environment. Anderson's brilliance is in his sparse and satisfying dialogue. He is able to keep the reader emotionally involved with Chris, keeping them hooked until the hopeless ending. Teens, especially teenage boys, will see themselves in Chris and his struggles. They will appreciate the language and the realistic situations and friendships. Although the ending is depressing, I think the reader will be able to get that it is now always about happy endings.
Genre: horror
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