Nalo Hopkinson’s new YA novel THE CHAOS is one bad-ass surealistic, feminist, progressive, queer friendly, POC celebrating, anti-ableist mind- trip.  Featuring gorgeously ambiguous grrls of color, the novel takes us on a ride that Andre Breton and Frida Kahlo would feel right at home in.  Or should I say on?  Nice town Toronto Canada becomes Ground Zero  for a global nervous breakdown, as all inside fears and desires burst outwards, propelling our hero Scotch into a combination Russian fairy tale, Creole Soup Kitchen, Hurricane Katrina, and PTSD slam poetry/dance routine.

To paraphrase a sentence in the novel, weird is Hopkinson’s vacation home – a crazy house on chicken legs that gives birth to self-discovery, terror, joy, and freedom.

Think young adult fiction has to be realistic, standardly dystopian, and/or just plain nice?  Or just plain mean?  Or one-issued/one themed?

Think again. And jump into the fiery furnace of The Chaos.  You won’t get burned.

Or will you?