Book Review - Noggin

Title: Noggin
Author: John Corey Whaley
Genre: Sci-fi (though a strong case could be made for calling it realistic fiction)
Similar books: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
                     Everybody Sees the Ants by A S King
Rating: 

Trying. Not. To. Cry.

Summary: When treatment for his Leukemia failed, sixteen year old Travis Coates agreed to have his head cryogenically frozen. He figured if he ever got a new body it would be decades in the future and most everyone he knew would be gone. Instead he awakens in just five years. The world is very much the same but his loved ones have changed. Travis is a teen in the wrong time.
My Opinion: I absolutely adored Whaley's debut novel, Where Things Come Back, so I was both thrilled by and terrified of this novel. I should have known Whaley would not disappoint. Travis's humor about his situation keep this book from becoming maudlin as he attempts to adjust to his new life. Still, it's a pretty serious book addressing figuring out your place in the world, lost love, accepting change, and grief. This is stuff that many teenagers deal with, making it very relatable. Travis, of course, must also figure out how to cope with his sudden fame, people who consider him a miracle or an abomination and his sense of obligation to his body donor. Plus all of his friends, his girlfriend, are now adults while he remains a teen.