Annotation: Eli's father insists that he not work for world-famous scientist Quincy Wyatt. What could his father possibly have against this man, who has done so much for the world?
Justification for nomination:
Double Helix follows Eli, a boy who just graduated high school, and decides to take a year off before college. He begins working for Wyatt Transgenics, a company specializing in transferring genes between species. His father is against the notion, and suggests that the founder, Dr. Quincy Wyatt, is not a man to be trusted. Throughout the novel, Eli works to untangle the reasons for his father's distrust, and discovers some very surprising truths about his own origin and the secret work that Dr. Wyatt has been doing.
This book is masterfully presented. The story is gripping, and will have readers charging through the novel very quickly. The characters are quite relatable, which is important in any great YA work. This is not just limited to the main character, Eli's girlfriend, Viv, presents the reader with a character who is just as fleshed out as Eli. She is also where much of the emotionality of the novel shines through, which is another hallmark of great YA literature.
The work respects the both the emotional and intellectual maturity of its readers. Eli's mother is dying of Huntington's Disease, and all of the conflicted emotions involved with a loss of this nature are explored completely. The story also includes some quite complex biological subjects, which are explained well, and dealt with in an elevated way. It is this attention to the real science of the story that allows the plot to develop without feeling contrived. A requirement of YA literature is that it respects the YA audience, and this work does so on several levels.
Though the story is certainly an optimistic one, it leaves the reader with a real open-ended moral question about genetic manipulation. It does so carefully, and does not preach one direction or the other.
Double Helix is incredibly exciting, fun, deep, and powerful. It is truly a great novel.
Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction
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