Gr 8 Up-All great heroes begin with mythical origins. Fifteen-year-old Kavali is no exception. When she was a baby, she was abandoned on a sidewalk, swaddled in a T-shirt with a lizard printed on the front. Since then, she has questioned her true identity. Is she a boy or a girl? A lizard or a human? This work is set in the not-too-distant future, in which the government closely monitors gender, occupation, and emotion. When Kavali is thrown into CropCamp, a camp where teenagers learn how to grow organic crops as initiation into adulthood, she begins to question whether she should forfeit her individuality to become a cooperative part of society. Ultimately, Kavali rises above the challenges, discovers her true origins, and makes her own destiny. The themes in Schmatz's novel surpass in complexity many of its contenders in YA dystopian fiction. The author's storytelling unravels question upon question for readers, not only about Kavali but also about the power of free will. VERDICT An entertaining and thought-provoking read, this title will be a big hit for those who want something deeper from their dystopian fiction.— Jaclyn Anderson, Madison County Library System, MS

In her second novel, Schmatz (Bluefish, 2011) creates a world not completely unlike our own but with some interesting, though occasionally obscure, twists. Newly arrived at a CropCamp, where she will experience community and the gateway to adult life, is 15-year-old Kivali, a bender who has scored 52 on a gender test; one point higher and she would have been forced to transition to a boy. Now, still a girl, she finds herself powerfully attracted to an older girl, Sully, who is clearly trouble. Does this mean Kivali is a samer? And might she find the answers in Lizard Radio, the trancelike meditations during which she hears voices that she can almost understand? Answers remain fugitive for a very long time in this moderately paced book, impeded in part by a host of neologisms t only bender and samer but also vape, culpas, expuls, frods, and more. Nevertheless, for patient and careful readers there are rewarding revelations rooted in character development. An open ending suggests the possibility of a sequel.