Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi, is a YA novel about earth in the future after the oil age. Ships in this future run by wind and solar energy. The main character, Nailer, works the dangerous and dirty job of light crew, breaking down old oil tankers. He lives a lowly disadvantaged life and has to choose between saving a rich girl's life or changing his own. He chooses to save the rich girl and ends up changing his life for the better anyway.
This is a great book for boys, ages 14 and up, interested in technology and gritty adventure stories.
