Nomansland by Lesley Hauge (Henry Holt/Macmillan, $16.99, 9780805090642/0805090649, 256 pp., ages 12-up, July 2010)
This postapocalyptic novel will grab you from the first page and hold you long past the last. Even though most of the book takes place outdoors, the atmosphere feels as claustrophobic as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, so rigid are the constraints placed upon the young women who live in Foundland. But there's a big difference here: the women make the rules.
Foundlanders do not celebrate birthdays, but Keller, the narrator, and her fellow Patrol members are solidly in the throes of adolescence. Laing, the most popular among them, rebels ("Laing is, and no other word suffices, beautiful," Keller thinks). At first, Laing breaks the rules in relatively subtle ways (such as letting her hair grow past "regulation length"), then she goes further--she discovers a dwelling from the Time Before, prior to the Tribulation (references to mutant calves and chickens suggest a nuclear holocaust of some kind), and tells only a trusted few peers. The Instructors train Keller, Laing and the members of their Patrol as Trackers, whose job it is to guard the boundaries of Foundland and "assassinate the enemy"--men. Because of their mission, these young women are usually spared the threat of impregnation--when the Committee Chair arrives with frozen Seed to continue the growth of their population. But one day the Chair arrives unexpectedly, and without Seed; rumors fly that she's heard about a "rich find" from the Time Before, and as Keller gets lured in by Laing, she fears that the Trackers know the teens are sneaking off to the hideaway Laing has discovered, with contraband such as gowns, high-heeled shoes, fashion magazines and Barbie dolls (Keller describes them as "tiny women made out of some kind of resin. They had long, long hair and they offered up breasts with no nipples").
First-time novelist Hauge brilliantly supplies to readers only what Keller knows or is able to uncover through her readings of unbound pages at the Library, her questions and her own discoveries. Thus the author throws into high relief the values of the modern-day world and asks readers to take a step back from their assumptions about society as we know it. Two of Keller's Instructors toss out a revealing detail here and there, and Keller begins to think, "Perhaps we [Foundlanders] are not as successful as we tell ourselves." As Laing becomes obsessed with returning to the hideaway, Keller requests a "walkabout," a solo retreat, to let things cool down. But what she discovers on her journey only heats things up. Her findings place her between Scylla and Charybdis as Laing and the Committee Chair tug Keller in different directions. Hauge raises provocative questions about the value of beauty, who determines it and the ramifications of absolute authority.--Jennifer M. Brown
---
The Kingfisher Soccer Encyclopedia by Clive Gifford (Kingfisher/Macmillan, $19.99, 9780753463970/0753463970, 164 pp., ages 8-up, May 2010) 
Just
in time for the 2010 World Cup Tournament (June 11–July 11, 2010) comes
this revised edition of Kingfisher's 2006 tour de force, with a
bound-in poster that allows soccer fans to track the matchups all the
way to the finals. Full-color photos of soccer's biggest stars offer
profiles of the players and quotes from their peers (e.g., "Pelé called
[England's Bobby] Moore the greatest defender he had ever played
against"). The book does not shy away from soccer's uglier aspects,
such as the death of 96 people during the 1989 FA Cup semifinal and
onfield brawls like the one between teammates Kieron Dyer and Lee
Bowyer in April 2005. There's plenty here to orient beginners (e.g.,
onfield formation diagrams) and enough in-depth coverage to more than
satisfy longtime aficionados. "Fact File" and "Game Action" insets,
profiles of key players, a generous helping of photos, stat boxes and
diagrams make this the definitive book for soccer fans.--J.M.B.