Beautiful Blue World

Starred review from June 20, 2016
LaFleur’s endearing novel takes place in a fictional land during an unspecified, escalating war. As 12-year-old Mathilde Joss’s hometown comes under increasing attacks, an offer to join the Adolescent Army for handsome pay to those selected tempts many families. Mathilde reluctantly sits for the aptitude exam and is shocked to be accepted—without her best friend Megs. Frightened about going to war and heartbroken over leaving her family and friend, Mathilde is surprised to arrive at a huge mansion, where the Adolescent Army is comfortably housed while they decode messages, predict bomb strikes, and set their nimble minds to help with the war effort. Confused as to what her own contribution might be and consumed with guilt over being protected when her family is not, she soon receives an unusual assignment that provokes questions of enmity, loyalty, and trust. LaFleur (Listening for Lucca) creates a warm boarding-school setting peopled with kind adults and children alike. Readers will be drawn in by the underlying belief that kids’ work is important and powerful, and eager for the promised sequel. Ages 8–12. Agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown.

Starred review from June 1, 2016
War is raging in Sofarende, and it will have profound and devastating effects on 12-year-old Mathilde. No one is safe.When children are tested to determine their suitability for war-related service, Mathilde is selected and sent to Faetre, a secret location where no communication with family or friends is allowed. Children there solve intricate problems with results immediately applied to the war effort. Mathilde's skills are different; her sole assignment is to develop a connection with Rainer, a young Tyssian POW--blond, blue-eyed, and white, just like her. Her empathy and kindness lead to a sharing of their mutual sadness, loneliness, and fear, through paintings of horror and beautiful peace, when words no longer suffice. When Faetre is abandoned, a compassionate decision puts her in even greater danger, but readers will be relieved to know that a sequel is planned. LaFleur creates an alternate, Europe-like landscape with an aggressor nation waging war on its neighbors. Names and descriptions contain just enough hints of a different language base to maintain the illusion of otherness. Mathilde is timid and strong, childlike and complex, vividly narrating her story in great detail, encompassing myriad characters and events, all without censoring her fears and confusion about the nature of war and a world turned upside down, while somehow still managing to believe something better is possible. Deeply emotional, compelling, and brilliant. (Fiction. 10-14)

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Starred review from July 1, 2016

Gr 5-8-The country of Sofarende is at war. Mathilde and Megs, both 12, are best friends. When the military begins recruiting children for the war effort, their school holds an examination for students ages 12 to 14. Those who pass the test will be sent somewhere to help with the war effort. In exchange, their families will receive a large sum of money as well as monthly payments. Megs wants to do it for the sake of her family and also to assuage her sadness over the absence of her father, who has gone away to fight. Mathilde doesn't want to sign up to take the test, but her parents believe it would be best for her future. To Mathilde's astonishment, she is the only student selected. She soon leaves behind Megs, her parents, and her two little sisters. She arrives at a remote location where about 80 children are housed in an old mansion, along with soldiers and other adults. At first, Mathilde doesn't understand what the children are doing. They seem to be playing strategy games. After a few days, she realizes that they are tracking the progress of the war, monitoring transmissions, and producing intelligence used to stop the progress of the enemy. Mathilde is given another job, though. She is sent to talk to Rainer, a prisoner of war, with whom she soon develops a close relationship. Writing in the first person, LaFleur crafts a protagonist who is compassionate and resourceful, in a war-ravaged world in which children are, by turns, exploited and empowered. The tension is high and danger ever present. Though this book ends on a tense cliff-hanger, a sequel is planned. VERDICT Dark, complex, and highly discussable, this novel would be a strong pairing with Sara Pennypacker's Pax, another work that contemplates war and its effects.-Kathy Kirchoefer, Henderson County Public Library, NC

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
Grades 4-8 When 12-year-old Mathilde Joss agrees to take the adolescent army aptitude test alongside best friend Megs and a classroom full of fellow preteens, she's certain she won't pass. Three days later, Mathilde is selected to serve in the secretive adolescent division of Sofarende's army, transported from her war-torn hometown Lykkelig to Faetre, a manor secluded in the country's northwest mountains. While her peers work to detect patterns and decipher codes, Mathilde alone is presented with a startlingly separate assignment: daily discussions with Rainer, a Tyssian POW. Through harrowing chats, tormented paintings, and, sometimes, solemn silences, the ever-earnest Mathilde works to unravel decisive remnants of Rainer's past and present, from his favorite color to his deepest regret. The foreign yet familiar fictional landscape, a blend of quasi-European dialects and U.S. ideals we had voted to become one country is eerily accessible, and Mathilde's narration, fraught with fear, empathy, and wonder, makes for a timely look at wartime horrors and hopes. Readers still reeling from the final cliff-hanger will eagerly await the sequel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)