D.A. by Connie Willis

Started: 1 June 2015
Finished: 1 June 2015
Pages: 76

D.A. is a YA novelette.

It was way too tempting to describe the book this way:  first of all for the acronymitis (too many years in high tech have made me far too susceptible), and for the excuse to use jargon.

For the benefit of those not familiar with SF fiction prize categories, I didn't make up "novelette". Novelettes are works of fiction between 30-70 pages long.  Novellas are their slightly longer siblings, ranging from 70-160 pages.  Technically, D.A. may count as a Young Adult novella rather than a novelette, but I'd have to do a word count to be sure as D.A. does include pictures.

Now that I have that out of the way, what did I make of D.A.?

D.A. tells the story of a teenager who gets accepted into the insanely elite and competitive Space Academy....even though she didn't apply.   "Why would I apply?" she asks.  "I've told you a hundred times that I don't want to go into space.  I want to go to UCLA."

How is it?  I think it would be great for a young teenager /tween who had some interest in science fiction.  It's light, it's fun, and it was written by Connie Willis, who has 11 Hugo awards and 7 Nebula awards proving that she knows how to write.  For an adult, it's a perfectly acceptable brief entertainment.  After all, when's the last time you read a book with pictures?