Annotation-
Manhattanite Daisy, 15, moves to London to stay with an aunt and cousins she has never met. While her aunt is away, a fictional world war of the 21st century breaks out, leaving Daisy and her three cousins alone and fending for themselves. Remarkable characters and relationships emerge in this surprisingly relatable part survival story, part war story and part love story.
Justification Statement for Nomination-
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff is told through the witty teenage voice of 15 year old Daisy. Teens can find relatable qualities in the main character of Daisy. Her anger towards her father and pregnant stepmother, and the fact that she has faults and is not perfect.
15-year-old Daisy is sent to London to live with her Aunt Penn, and cousins Osbert, Edmond, Isaac and Piper, all of whom she has never met before. She is sent to live with them by her father and pregnant stepmother, who she despises. Soon after arriving in London, while Aunt Penn is abroad on business, a world war breaks out stranding Aunt Penn and leaving the cousins alone and fending for themselves. Since the story is told through the eyes of a 15 year old, the war seems distant and only snippets of the war are mentioned in the story. The children do a fine job of fending for themselves and it is during this time that Daisy falls in love with Edmond, her cousin. The children all handle the lack of adult supervision differently, but all seem to deal with it just fine. For a while the children’s lives seem to be a contrast to the war, anarchy and famine that is occurring in the outside world. But soon enough the children’s sheltered lives and the war collide and they are discovered by an adult, sent to live with other families and separated. Daisy and Piper are sent together to live with a family while the boys stay on the farm with some soldiers. Daisy now has the task of protecting Piper, with an ultimate goal of returning to Edmond. This is a compelling story of war, survival and love.
I found Meg Rosoff’s writing style in How I Live Now to be a bit confusing. The story is written as though the reader is inside main character Daisy’s head and reading her thoughts. This might have been why author Meg Rosoff chose to leave out quotation marks to signal to the reader who is speaking. I found this aspect to be slightly confusing, but after reading for a bit I no longer noticed the lack of quotation marks.
Some of the themes and topics covered in this story I found to be a bit ‘adult’ for a YA book. Fourteen-year-old Edmond is seen by Daisy as ‘cool’ for smoking at such a young age. I think that it is a bit irresponsible for an author to write a book geared towards young teens, at an impressionable age, and portray a character as ‘cool’ for smoking. Another topic that raises a red flag is the topic of incest and a relationship between first cousins. While it is not clear in the book if there is a sexual relationship, Daisy and Edmond do make their romantic feelings for each other clear. There are also some fairly violent and graphic scenes portraying the death and killing involved in the war.
I would nominate How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff because the story is ultimately about strength, survival and love. While I did find some of the topics and themes to be slightly inappropriate for young adults, I think that the book could be a starting point for parents and young adults to discuss the effects of war on relationships and individuals.
Genre Category-
Coming of age/edgy
