The Honorable Prison is a 1988 Young adult novel by Lyll Becerra de Jenkins. Based on de Jenkins' life, it is about Marta and her family who is placed under house arrest due to her newspaper editor father's criticism of a Latin American government. It won the 1989 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.[1][2]

The Honorable Prison
First edition
AuthorLyll Becerra de Jenkins
LanguageEnglish
GenreYoung adult novel
Published1988 (Dutton)
Publication placeUSA
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages199
ISBN9780525672388
OCLC16831389

Reception

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The Honorable Prison has been compared to The Diary of a Young Girl.[3]

Kirkus Reviews wrote "Not just another child-in-war novel, this first novel strikes a particularly contemporary note in its unsentimental portrayal of the abuses of power and of a family's attempt to remain intact in adversity.",[4] and Publishers Weekly called it "An eloquent first novel.".[5]

The Honorable Prison has also been reviewed by The New York Times,[6] School Library Journal,[7] and The Horn Book Magazine.[8]

It is a 1988 CCBC Choices book,[9] and won the 1989 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.[1][2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "The Scott O'Dell Award". scottsdalelibrary.org. Scottsdale Public Library. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Deborah Stevenson (March 1989). "Announcement" (PDF). The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 42 (7). Johns Hopkins University Press: 163. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  3. ^ "Young Readers Give Raves To Story About Life Under Dictatorship". Deseret News. Associated Press. August 20, 1989. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  4. ^ "The Honorable Prison". Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus Media LLC. January 1, 1987. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  5. ^ "The Honorable Prison". Publishers Weekly. PWxyz LLC. February 1, 1988. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  6. ^ "Children's Books (subscription required)". The New York Times. June 19, 1988. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  7. ^ "The Honorable Prison (Book Review)". School Library Journal. Vol. 34, no. 6. Media Source Inc. February 1988. p. 84. Archived from the original on 2020-10-12. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  8. ^ "New Voices, New Visions: Lyll Becerra de Jenkins". Horn Book Guides. Media Source Inc. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  9. ^ Kathleen T. Horning; Ginny Moore Kruse (1989). "17 Fiction For Teenagers". CCBC Choices (PDF). Cooperative Children's Book Center. p. 34. Retrieved October 7, 2020. The language of the narrative crackles with sharp images and understated terror; the phrasing seems to be from another culture
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Library holdings of The Honorable Prison