Orleans

• 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

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.

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.

MORE AWARDS AND HONORS FOR ORLEANS

• 2016 Louisiana Young Readers Choice Nominee

• 2015 Magnolia Book Awards Nominee

• 2014 Honorable Mention for the Westchester Fiction Award

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