Orleans

Publisher: G.P. Putnam and Sons
Publication Date: March 7, 2013
Genre: Young Adult, Speculative Fiction
Hardcover: 336 pages
Paperback: 324 pages
E-book: 337 pages

After a string of devastating hurricanes and a severe outbreak of Delta Fever, the Gulf Coast has been quarantined. Years later, residents of the Outer States are under the assumption that life in the Delta is all but extinct…but in reality, a new primitive society has been born. Fen de la Guerre is living with the O-Positive blood tribe in the Delta when they are ambushed. Left with her tribe leader’s newborn, Fen is determined to get the baby to a better life over the wall before her blood becomes tainted. Fen soon meets Daniel, a scientist from the Outer States who has snuck into the Delta illegally. Navigating the Orleans wilderness, they form an unlikely bond and, in the end, may be each other’s last hope for survival.

“September 14, 2004 — Edmund Broussard mounted the steps to the levee above the old Café du Monde of of Jackson Square.”

Read ORLEANS: CARNIVALE on the Young Adult Review Network. An ORLEANS short story to whet your appetite, “Carnivale” takes place approximately nine months before the events in the novel.

AWARDS AND HONORS FOR ORLEANS

2016 Louisiana Young Readers Choice Nominee

2015 Magnolia Book Awards Nominee

2014 Honorable Mention for the Westchester Fiction Award

2014 Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year list

2014 Cooperative Children’s Book Center Best Fiction for Young Adults

2013 Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Book

PRAISE FOR ORLEANS

“A riveting tale told in a striking, unique voice. You won’t regret picking this one up.”

—Marie Lu, author of the Legend trilogy

“Smith’s compelling and disturbing novel…[contains] powerful, relevant themes: global warming, racism, political corruption, and the complexity of human nature.”

— Debbie Carton, Booklist, starred review

“…Smith offers a vivid and realistic portrayal of a world ravaged first by Mother Nature and then by human nature as cruelty, prejudice, and despair become the dominating forces within the Delta…”

— The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (BCCB), starred review

“The bleak, austere setting becomes a tableau for life’s basics: survival and sacrifice, compassion and greed.”

—Betty Carter, The Horn Book

“the richly textured worldbuilding and the complicated relationship between Fen and Daniel, as well as the constant and varied dangers they face, will keep readers up long past their bedtimes. A harrowing and memorable ride.”

—Kirkus Review

“…a book that will fly off the shelves and thrill readers of realistic, as well as science, fiction.”

—Rochelle Garfinkel, VOYA