Ship Breaker

Bacigalupi, P. (2010). Ship breaker. New York: Little, Brown.

Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. This futuristic novel is based on the story of Nailer. He is a teenage boy working on a crew that tears down old tanker ships for parts that can be sold. His life changes when he finds a wrecked clipper ship that has so many things he can strip and sell. He makes a hard decision when he finds a dying girl trapped on this ship. He must decide if he will save her or strip the ship for the money. Nailer has a serious dilemma on his hands. Does he save the girl or does he take as much salvage as possible and get rich? I love that he decided to save the girl even though it ultimately required him to leave his home and help her find her father in order to save her life. This is a great novel for 14-16 year olds. This book falls into the science fiction genre for me. It has some realistic touches like locations, but it is clearly set in the future. The author gives a detailed perspective about what life is like during this time. We can picture what our Earth has turned into based on the detailed descriptions of this "new world". Because of the realistic touches, I found myself hoping life is never like this in the future.