Similarities

 Differences

Cover does not indicate a children's book

Not a series

No pictures

Older audience?

Not educational

Main character grows

There are more characters

Unlike Jack and Annie, main characters not innocent--criminals?

Characters are lower class, not suburban

Women (Morgan, warden, lawyer) have power

About history

Different view of history--involves main character

Serious events

Main character centrally affected by them

There are villains

A typical kid as main character

No central female except villain

Adults are almost always enemies

Violence described more graphically

Helping others as theme?

No one helps him/ no one really helps anyone (except two main characters)

Good triumphs

More detail--more specific, more visual

Characters' thoughts expressed--more sense of interior life

Adventure away from home, then a return home

Contains more surprises--more than one story line, etc; unpredictable, complex

Problems all solved by end

Problems not always easy to solve

Fantasy world--everything connected, no loose ends

More complicated connections, etc.--less easily believable?

Or: it's more realistic

Focus on storytelling rather than on teaching

It's humorous

Main characters are underdogs who win

Race issues mentioned

Questions authority