Below are three separate evaluations projects that I have submitted in the last year. For parents, educators, and librarians, I tried to create a varied and thorough suggested reading list that would prove a kind of glimpse into the young reader selections available. The titles were selected by me and, as are listed in the second and last series of evaluations, by way of some research into popular and acclaimed young reader websites and resources. I've made this available because people have shown interest in the past as I've been talking about my assignments and the books that I've been reading. Feel free to ask me questions about the books I've read or with any questions about the courses I've taken, the other papers I've written to do with young readers and youth library services and information literacy, and for additional resources.
Title: A Northern Light
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Strong Female Protagonist
Recommended Age: 13+
Curricular Connections: American History, English Literature, Language Arts/ Vocabulary, Women’s Studies
Selection Source: Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book (2004)
Review: Told as a fictional account of a young girl in the early 20th century, A Northern Light is the story of Mattie Gokey’s coming of age framed by the real-life murder of a young girl in Glenmore, a northern mountain lake resort. Mattie is a brilliant writer with bigger dreams than can possibly become a reality given her situation: after her mother's death from cancer, she is charged with being the caretaker and centralizing figure in her modest farm home. Donnelly presents us with a protagonist who is bright, yet innocent. Her insecurities about her talent, her brilliance, her strength, and her sexuality speak true to any girl or woman who has struggled to identify herself against a backdrop of life's hard-knock circumstances. Mattie’s friends and relations are a great bonus to the landscape that Donnelly creates for Mattie’s coming of age. Her best friend, Weaver, is a high-achieving black boy. Her childhood friend, Minnie, is newly married and pregnant. Her love interest, Royal, is the neighboring farm boy—a kind of beautiful simpleminded Adonis that suddenly shows interest in Mattie. Mattie’s family, too, is filled with important characters, each very real and each a kind of person that every reader can say he or she knows in his or her own life. Her father, brothers and sisters (particularly her tomboyish little sister, Lou), and her uncle grow to be their own characters full of life and vivacity despite being tied to the narrative of such a strong protagonist.
Interwoven with Mattie’s story is that of the suspicious drowning death of a young woman who was staying at the lodge wherein Mattie is employed. The woman’s traveling companion—her apparent lover—has gone missing and is presumed dead, as well. Mattie holds with her the last communication made by the young victim, Grace: letters that passed between her and the missing beau. A mystery unfolds as rumors that the names the guests had given aren’t their real names at all. Mattie indulges herself—quite guiltily, might I add—in the correspondences and in imaging the life that Grace left behind.
Evaluation: Having finished this novel, my eyes welled with tears for Mattie and for Grace and for me. It is a historical fiction that touches upon racism, platonic female-male friendships, women's liberation, censorship and intellectual freedom, and, most of all, what it's like to be...a girl. My heart swells with hope for Mattie and for the sadness of the loss of Grace's life. It is such a strong read and it totally deserves of the honors that it's received since having been first published. I do, however, want to relate that it is a difficult book to value immediately. At first, it reads slowly and the distinct timelines (the time after Grace’s body is discovered and the time leading up to Mattie’s arrangement to work at the lodge, Glenmore) are a bit cumbersome to get through. However, there are bits and pieces to interest readers that will keep them going. As an educator, I appreciate the way Donnelly ties the chapters together with new words that Mattie is learning and word games that she plays with her friend, Weaver. It certainly taught me some new words!
Title: American Born Chinese
Author: Gene Luen Yang
Genre/Cultural Theme: Graphic novel, Memoir, Asian (Chinese) experience in the US
Recommended Age: 9+
Summary: American Born Chinese is a graphic memoir—closely autobiographical—about the Chinese American experience told through three stories. First is the experience of Jin Wang (a fictionalized version of a young Gene Luen Yang, the author) who is transplanted from San Francisco's Chinatown to a neighborhood and elementary school where he is the only Chinese-American. Second is the fable of the Monkey King who aspires to be taken seriously by all the other kings and gods. Finally is the story of Chin-Kee and his visit to his American family. Chin-Kee is reminiscent of Mickey Rooney's Chinese landlord character in the "Breakfast at Tiffany’s" film and Gedde Watanbee's Long Duk Dong exchange student character in "Sixteen Candles." He is the ultimate annoyingly stereotypical Chinese character, cousin to a white family, wreaking havoc with his inability to speak lucidly and his invasive cultural traditions. American Born Chinese follows these three Chinese characters through their journeys navigating the stereotypical divide, either in school (like Jin) or in community (like the monkey king). The overtly “Chinese” Chin-Kee character is a caricature of the Chinese stereotype and how American culture has depicted the Chinese living among them.
Yang presents a delightful discussion on the topic of social acceptance and self-identification that reaches out to young readers in particular with a sincere tone and anything but a condescending manner. Moreover, it feels personal. Yang expresses in a very relatable and novel way the very honest portrayal of what it feels like to be different and to be, perhaps worse, obviously different.
Evaluation: American Born Chinese has won accolades and awards from critics and audiences. It is a suitable read for all ages at all levels of reading ability—for children younger than ten or eleven years-old, parents or teachers can guide reading or read it to them. The story has a universal theme that is particularly powerful for young readers from children to YA: be yourself. It is a quintessentially contemporary American work that echoes the American independent spirit, yet acknowledges the desire of the individual to fit into society and to build community with peers.
Suggested extension activities: I would encourage parents or teachers to use the dual narrative format of the graphic novel to engage young readers’ artistic and creative abilities. A great activity would be to have students draw a comic strip of one aspect of their day—it can take place at home or at school or anywhere that they spend a majority of their time interacting with peers. This activity would be appropriate across all ages and grade levels. A second activity would focus on multicultural awareness and a discussion on stereotypes. American Born Chinese includes episodes of stereotyping and ethnic generalization that echo early television shows and entertainment and presents them to readers beside realistic portrayals of Chinese/Asian characters. Presenting students with images from television shows and films, magazines, and other entertainment media that depict gender and cultural stereotypes and having them compare those images to their own experience and to more current media portrayals of ethnicities and different cultures can encourage students to question what they see on TV.
Title: Annie on My Mind
Author: Nancy Garden
Genre: LGBT Romance
Recommended Age: 14+
Curricular Connections: Social Studies, Religion, Current Events (Gay Marriage)
Selection Source: Teenreads.com (Author Profile: Nancy Garden) from http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-garden-nancy.asp
Review: Liza is the stand-up seventeen year-old. She’s an aspiring architect attending a New York City prep school. She’s never been a problem for her parents. In fact, she has a great relationship with them and with her younger brother. At the start of Annie on My Mind, Liza is walking through a museum, getting ideas for sketches when she encounters Annie, an oddball romantic seventeen year-old, just like her. While Liza’s and Annie’s friendship blossoms, Liza’s school life is heading in opposite directions: at once she is hailed as an upstanding student and president of the student body and dealing with the internal conflict of realizing that she is different from the other kids. Liza and Annie develop a friendship which troubles both girls to define. When they It is during a three-day suspension for standing up for her principles when another student gets in trouble for ear-piercing, when Liza and Annie realize that they’re in love and not just in that platonic way, both girls (though Liza, primarily, since it is told with her as the central protagonist) strive to understand and accept their kind of affection for one another and their relationship.
In the midst of all this, Liza and Annie agree to care after pair of teachers’ cats while the teachers vacation. This chance changes Liza’s life forever and helps her realize that she (and Annie) is not alone in this world and that her feelings aren’t “wrong,” just different. That is where the plot unfurls; when Liza has to face her fears of opening up her personal life—her struggles to identify herself and her sexuality, her commitment to her family and to her dreams of attending a prestigious university—and facing all of it in the public eye of her family and her school…when it’s no longer possible for Liza to be true to herself and to be happy with who she is and wants to be unless she can do so proudly.
Evaluation: This is a book that I hadn’t known existed until I came upon the title while looking for a “good” YA LGBT book to read. This is a book that, immediately upon reading, got me to call my best friend of fifteen years, the first openly gay lesbian at our Catholic high school—my best friend since before she outed herself to the school and to her family—and tell her, “Somewhere out there, this book had been around, existing for almost two decades when we were going through our crisis in being accepted in high school. When you were the lesbian and I was the straight girl friend and no one understood and everyone treated us badly.” It was amazing to me that it took me until I was twenty-eight years-old to find it and, when I did, I resolved to share the story of Liz and Annie with any adolescent I met—gay or straight—that struggled to find, accept, and share his or her own identity with the rest of the world. It is an important book. It is a book that should be read far more than it is. And I’m glad that it’s out there, for someone to find. Someone like me. Someone like my best friend, Ani. Yes, Ani.
Title: Battle Royale
Author: Koushun Takami
Genre: Popular Adult Fiction, Foreign (Japanese), Action/ Adventure
Recommended Age: 15+
Curricular Connections: Civics/ Government (Socialism, Nationalism, Fascism), Foreign Language (Japanese)
Selection Source: Personal collection
Review: Battle Royale is a Japanese novel that, since coming out amid controversy in Japan in 1999 and despite being quite a tome (it is over 600 pages), has become so popular that it has spawned a series of Manga and movies based on it. The rules of the Battle Royale: Stranded on a deserted island and armed with nothing but what has been provided: a bag with maybe a weapon/ maybe a tool/ maybe nothing, the students have 24 hours to kill one another off until only 1 survives. If the game hasn't been "won" in 24 hours, collars that have been place around their necks will detonate and kill the remaining "players." Battle Royale follows one class of students as they are abducted and forced into this game. It is a fast, action-packed read that is filled with teen characters, dialogue, and themes that are very familiar and real to readers of all ages and all ethnicities.
Battle Royale takes place in an alternate Japan wherein youth rebellion and angst has been countered by the military and government by a punishment-of-sorts/ game show. In this televised and popular game, a class of Japanese junior high/high school students are selected at random and entered against their will in a high-stakes game of survival. Think of "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, and Suzanne Collins’, The Hunger Games as related titles.
Evaluation: Takami's novel is more than just a standard Lord of the Flies YA fare, it offers an in depth look into Japan's nationalistic state. It is a hyper-real Japan in which socialism, fascism, and nationalism take precedent over the individuals within the society. It screams dystopia, revolution, rebellion, and individualism from the perspective of young teens who are, literally, struggling to survive against all odds.
When I first read this, I was blown away at how richly Takami enters into a dialogue with the reader about the perils of staunch nationalism. I learned more about Japan than I'd ever thought to be interested in, despite the hyperbolic and hypothetical alternate-reality of the fiction. It really is an amazing read. The movie version, which is in Japanese as the novel was originally written, centers mostly on the action-packed Battle Royale game and highlights the plights of the central characters in the story. Both are excellent for YA readers and for adults, particularly those of us with an axe to grind with Big Brother.
Title: Blue is for Nightmares (Blue is for Nightmares Series, #1)
Author: Laurie Faria Stolarz
Genre: Supernatural Mystery/Suspense, Strong Female Protagonist
Recommended Age: 13+
Curricular Connections: Contemporary Fiction
Selection Source: Popular Teen Series in Barnes Noble Teen section
Review: Stacy is having nightmares. Mostly, it’s just one nightmare: She’s running in the forest, running away from a pursuer and running to save her best friend, Drea, screaming out for help from somewhere in the darkness. As this nightmare has persisted, Stacy has become more and more certain that it’s a prophecy of an impending terror. She knows this because she’s inherited the ability of precognitive dreams from her grandmother, a witch. But, more pressing than any nightmare predictions of danger are the trials and tribulations of being a teenager in her waking life. Stacy is in love with Drea’s on-again/off-again boyfriend, Chad. The every day lives of Stacy and her boarding school-residing friends get nothing but more complicated by the mystery and suspense of the plot beginning to unfold as Stacy’s nightmares start becoming true in her waking life, and her crush on Drea’s boyfriend becomes more than their friendship can handle.
Evaluation: I was looking for a popular teen supernatural or horror series that I might read the first book of for this project. My only stipulation was that the series didn’t involve vampires, werewolves, or fairies. Since the Twilight phenomenon, countless of beautiful-but-misunderstood monster series have sprouted and, for the most part, they are little more than blatant attempts to take a bite from the Twilight golden apple. I was looking for something that harkened me back to the days when I was a YA reader, devouring book-after-book of R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike series—genre mysteries told through the teen perspective, plot-driven and hyper-realistic. Perhaps the only reason that I picked up the first of the Blue is for Nightmares series is because it was the closest thing I could find to Stine’s Fear Street books…literally, since it was the series closest to where Stine would have been on the bookshelf. Finding nothing new from Stine (and nothing more than a new Twilight-like series from Christopher Pike—all about teen vampires—ick!), I turned to the back cover of Blue is for Nightmares and, having found some interest in the summary, took a dip into the first chapter at the bookstore. What I ended up taking home that day was probably the closest thing I have come to, thus far, in my quest to matching the delight and suspense of the genre mysteries of my YA readership days. I started and finished the book in the same day that I bought it (on a Friday) and have already promised to give it to a friend’s thirteen year-old daughter, herself an avid reader. This book comes totally recommended by me, particularly for female early teen readers.
Title: Cuba: My Revolution
Author: Inverna Lockpez (writer) and Dean Haspiel (artist)
Genre/Cultural Theme: Cuban Revolution, Graphic novel, Historical fiction, Memoir
Recommended Age: 16+ (brief nudity, non-sexual)
Summary: In 1959, Fidel Castro marched into Havana as the leader of the Cuban Revolution against the US’s interests in dictator/president Batista’s reign over the island. Sonya—a fictionalization of writer Inverna Lockpez—is a 17 year-old girl who gives herself to the guerrilla as a medical assistant though her ambition prior to her engagement in activism was to be an artist. Sonya is a symbol of the artistic, intellectual youth presence of the Cuban Revolution. Tired of the corruption of Batista’s government—overrun by mob money and playing different global interests against the benefit of the Cuban people—Sonya takes up the cause of the Revolution. As she gives up her dreams to be an artist, she doesn’t give up the artistic spirit nor does she forgo her principles, the same principles that drive her to be active in the first place. Those principles enable her to see the hypocrisy of the Revolution’s supporters from the Cubans to the way the guerrilla is managed and to the way that it becomes something other than what it promised it the Cubans that it would be. The Cuban Revolution and Sonya’s journey through the life of a guerrilla doctor is only a part of the narrative though it is a generous part of it. There are also elements of her family life, her romantic life, and her social life.
Evaluation: I think that the brief nudity for the couple of pages of a violent interrogation is the reason for my recommending an elder teenager to read this and, honestly, that alone would make it unacceptable for using in addendum to a class’s reading list. Otherwise, I think that this is a great novel for teaching Latin American politics or history, Women’s Studies, artistic or intellectual expression civil rights issues, etc. Because of the comic book-style graphic format, I think a lot of teens would be interested in the story which they may or may not have heard about short of the images of Che Guevara on t-shirts or the “Castro hats” that are hip and are fashioned in the guerrilla/ Fidel Castro model. It’s informative from the perspective of someone within a revolution, someone who is on both sides of the debate and who is, because of idealism and youth’s vigor, engaged in her own society which is captivating and honest, much like in Persepolis.
Suggested extension activities: Activism is an important element of a democratic society. Education in politics, the role of the individual’s role in his or her own government, and exercises in debate are important skills for students to learn. I think it’d be interesting for students to learn first-hand the difficulty of coming to a consensus on government. A great classroom activity for a civics, social studies, or history middle-to-high school class would be to create a class manifesto based on students’ ideas for the way they want their class to be governed. As a mediator, the teacher could transcribe the class’ ideas and then hand them back to the class on a different day. Then, the class can enter in a discussion or the teacher can create assignments that have the students discussing how the will of the class as dictated to the teacher may or may not serve the individuals of the class. They can do a separate creative project—either graphic or written—where they envision themselves, at their own age, living a day in the life under the government that the class had created for itself.
Title: Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
Author: Chris Fuhrman
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Recommended Age: 12+
Curricular Connections: English Literature (Poetry), Religion
Selection Source: Teenreads.com Ultimate Reading List
Review: Comic books, William Blake, Catholic school uniforms, incest, crushes...Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys pretty much covers the gamut of coming of age. At its core, the novel is one about realizing that the world of boyhood and the world of adulthood are two different places. Francis Doyle, Tim Sullivan, and their friends go to Catholic school. They are a wildly imaginative group of adolescent boys who live vicariously through the comic books that they read and the comic books that they want to write. In their quasi-imaginary world, Sister Assumpta is their peg-legged super-villainous arch-nemesis head mistress. Francis—the novel’s protagonist—is a kind of cool-headed misfit on the verge of manhood getting his first feelings of lust and romance when he meets Margie Flynn, another classmate. Their friendship and blossoming romance is the kind that echoes those of the classic coming of age tales until Francis finds out a secret about Margie. Francis’s friendship with Tim is another central aspect of the novel. Tim is the resident genius of the group of boys. He is the emotionally mature, brooding, and speculative one of the group, a kind of misfit ring-leader of sorts, in spite of his small stature and physical frailty.
Evaluation: Fuhrman’s only novel was adapted into a film of the same name by producers Jodie Foster (who also plays Sister Assumpta) and Jay Shapiro, and director Peter Care in 2002, and was finalized just after Fuhrman died of cancer. The film, like the movie, is a poignant, sad, and moving picture into the lives of Francis, Tim, and Margie. Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys is truly a special work of fiction. The characters and the story are as real and relatable as they get. Particularly for the students who ask those Big Questions and for the ones who question what it is to live an authentic life at a time when everything is so uncertain, this is a must-read.
Title: First Star I See
Author: Jaye Caffrey (author), Lynne Adamson (illustrator)
Genre/Cultural Theme: Fiction, Strong female protagonist, ADHD awareness
Recommended Age: 9-12
Summary: Paige Bradley is a day-dreaming fourth grader who gets the chance of a lifetime when the lead actress of her favorite all-time television show, Star Warriors, comes to her school. Paige’s one chance to meet Renee Lastrapes who plays Dr. Kelsey Strongheart is winning a school essay contest, but Paige’s Achilles Heel is her ADHD—a learning disability that makes it difficult for her to pay attention to class and to stay on task. It is a seemingly monumental task for Paige, but she’s invested. After all, meeting Dr. Strongheart is her dream! With the support of her mom and the school principal, Mr. Rodriguez, Paige can try to overcome her disability and hone into those creative skills and that wild imagination so that she can turn in the best essay on stars in the school.
Evaluation: Caffrey wrote this novel for both adults and young people. Evidenced by the parent talking-points which she presents after the story, the intention is to enlighten families about what ADHD is and encourage positive interventions including discussion, therapies, and academic sensitivity on the subject of ADHD. For that reason, I think that, ideally, this book would be read by parents and teachers/educators in tandem with the young readers. It is interesting to see how Paige’s mind works because of the ADHD and to see how effective adult involvement can ease and even enrich her experience as a student and, certainly, at home.
Suggested extension activities: First Star I See is the perfect example of a tandem parent/teacher-and-student reading activity. At the very least, parents can use Caffrey’s discussion topic appendix to open dialogue with children about what ADHD is and what can be done about an ADHD diagnosis. Similarly, teachers—especially teachers working with special education or inclusion classes in the Language Arts or English subjects—can assign First Star I See as the class reading book and discuss with students the different ways that ADHD doesn’t hold Paige back from participating in the contest. With Paige—as with characters in other novels who struggle with their own personal obstacles—students can develop an understanding of what “multi-faceted” means. Teachers can ask students to draw up pros and cons charts or tables identifying strengths and weaknesses. Then, the students can write about ways that they can overcome challenges. Youth services librarians would do well by the community if they helped parents and families dealing with academic difficulties by setting up displays that identify books with themes appropriate to different kinds of special education needs: ADHD, autism, dyslexia, speech delay, etc. The books that are highlighted should give a broad selection of grade levels and genres. Librarians can also prepare and provide book lists for parents and children with more titles. Additional materials could include pamphlets from outreach organizations in the community, schedules for reading tutoring for children and adults at the branch/school, etc.
Title: Gym Candy
Author: Carl Deuker
Genre: Sports, Realistic Fiction
Recommended Age: 13+
Curricular Connections: Health
Selection Source: FAME Florida Teen Reads 2009-10 Selection
Review: Mick Johnson knows football. His father having been a high school and college football record-holder and would-have-been NFL star, football and the aspirations to live up to his father’s glory days of yore are the only thing that Mick Johnson can truly say he knows and even loves. Even since starting school, Mick’s chronology has been mapped out according to the pursuit of NFL ambitions. There is no way to overestimate the way the sport consumes Mick’s life. It’s no surprise, then, that, upon entry into high school, the only thing that matters to Mick is making the football team, achieving starting line status, and performing to maximum ability in each game of the season. In one very telling statement Mick says of himself, “I don’t know if I can stand being ordinary.” It’s that very conflict which drives Mick to do things wherein Mick’s faith in his moral character is tested. In the quest of becoming the best player on the field, Mick begins training at a local gym where he meets a trainer that offers him the opportunity he’s always sought: to be the best, so above the rest that it’s an unnatural feat. That’s when Mick gets caught up in the use of “gym candy,” or steroids and hormones. What ensues is a rollercoaster of performance, emotions, and guilt. In the end, Mick has to make a choice between what really matters in life and what he’s willing to do in order to achieve it.
Evaluation: The good thing about Gym Candy is how I—and readers like me, who knows embarrassingly little to nothing about the game of football, can keep up with the momentum of the games without feeling left in the dust. Deuker’s narrative is quick and simple, particularly in the portions of the story wherein the games are involved. I could, literally, read them quickly and be engaged in Mick’s emotional investment in the game. In this way, the book read incredibly fast. For as much as I don’t get into sports, at all, I’m an avid viewer of sports dramas like Remember the Titans and TV’s “Friday Night Lights.” There is nothing like a straight-forward underdog story that builds momentum with quick dips into action-packed sports montages and evocative music. The catharsis that comes at the end through the success of victory on the field or some “greater win” is outrageously satisfying to me. I guess that’s why I gravitated toward this novel. In many ways, I guess that’s why I was able to give it a chance in spite of my disinterest in the sport or in characters like Mick with whom I have little prospect of relating.
Gym Candy is a great read for a reluctant reader and for any sports enthusiast male reader, in particular. It’s a morality tale that, in many ways, seems necessary to be told. There are many seemingly relatable aspects to Mick’s story: living up to his father’s aspirations for him, the changing natures of high school friendships, engagement in sports or hobbies that are all-consuming, the allure of peer pressure to use drugs, the struggle to fit in and be accepted by a team, and—with a very minor focus—the pursuit of intimate relationships with (in Mick’s case) girls. However, despite the relatively low reading level required to read and understand the book, I fear that the readers to whom this narrative is geared just simply wouldn’t want to read this or any book. I fear that’s a sad situation since, for kids in Mick’s shoes, the most important thing to find is a support system and a source of empathy and understanding. As with all teen real-life “issues” (i.e. drug use and addiction, physical and emotional abuse by adults, eating disorders, mental disorders, etc.), steroid use and obsessive need to succeed in sports seems to me to be pandemic particularly prevalent in communities wherein the only way “out” is seen as the big leagues, be it college ball or straight into professional sports careers. I think this is a novel which would work best in a middle school to high school set in those areas of the country—where it could really reach kids who are relating directly to Mick and his singular drive to making it as a sports star.
Title: Hairstyles of the Damned
Author: Joe Meno
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Recommended Age: 13+
Curricular Connections: Social Studies (Race Relations in the United States)
Selection Source: Personal collection, and Teenreads.com Word of Mouth October 2006
Review: Published into a digest-sized/pocket-ready book by Punk Planet, Hairstyles of the Damned is literally the perfect fit for that YA reader—male or female—who doesn’t carry his or her book bag to school because, well, he or she just “doesn’t care.” Joe Meno tells a story that is so genuine in the reading that it’s hard to believe it’s actually fiction; it reads more like an autobiography of coming-of-age in the “wrong side of the tracks” Chicago of the 1990s. There is nothing phony about Brian Oswald’s story. Hairstyles of the Damned is the tale of Brian’s teenage years wherein nothing is more important than punk rock, girls, and making it through the day. He is a fictionalization of any kid who feels like the outside is the only place he or she would want to fit in. Making mix-tapes, hanging with his pink-haired girl best friend, making out with girls in his friend’s basement, smoking pot, and navigating through the cliques of punk rockers is pretty much all that Brian cares about. He has a rocky home life, struggles to fit into a mostly-black neighborhood in Chicago, and battles with emerging sexuality.
Evaluation: Hairstyles of the Damned is a testament to living through angst-ridden adolescence through the school of hard knocks, even when the hard knocks sound more like the drumbeat of a Jawbreaker or Misfits song. It is about male-female friendships and where to draw the line. It is about race relations. It is about acceptance. It is about being a nonconformist. It is about growing up and figuring out exactly what that even means. It is a kind of High Fidelity for a YA reader except that, like adolescence, Hairstyles of the Damned takes itself a little more seriously.
Title: Homeboyz
Author: Alan Lawrence Sitomer
Genre: Black Experience in Fiction, Realistic Fiction
Recommended Age: 13+
Curricular Connections: Current Events, Black History Month
Selection Source: FAME Florida Teen Reads 2009-10 Nominee
Review: Teddy Anderson is a teenager with everything going for him: He’s a computer genius in whom the NSA has shown recruiting interest. He’s a self-taught martial artist. He comes from a strong family who has always supported each other in good times and in bad. Everything changes for Teddy and his family when Teddy’s younger sister becomes the tragic victim of a gang-related drive-by shooting. After the loss of Tina, the youngest Anderson, the entire family falls apart. Mrs. Anderson becomes a virtual zombie of herself. Mr. Anderson tries to cope with the strain the loss puts on his wife and on his son, desperate to hold the family together. Teddy…Teddy is another story. Upon Tina’s death, Teddy goes into revenge mode, swearing to exact vengeance on the gang and gangbangers that killed his sister. Using his computer savvy and his martial arts skills, Teddy hits the streets and, promptly, lands himself in the slammer. As punishment, Teddy is entered into a probationary house arrest period during which he is forced to mentor a twelve year-old wannabe gangbanger, Micha. Homeboyz is about Teddy and Micha’s relationship and how the boys change one another. It is about loss, coping, and family.
Evaluation: I came to Homeboyz never having been a fan of straight-from-the-Hood culture, fiction/non-fiction, or music. However, the story of Teddy, Micha, and the Anderson family is one that is very poignant and feels authentic to the reader. I can see how this novel would seem relevant to the YA reader of today, particularly those readers who are immersed in urban life or hip hop-culture in the media. Male YA readers will respond to this story and this novel. Sitomer does a wonderful job of creating characters with whom a reader can, at once, empathize with and sympathize for, even when the reader is not wholly on their “sides.” Were I at the helm of a highschool English class—in my current urban setting, Miami, more exactly, I would very much consider adding this novel to my class readings.
Title: I Heard the Owl Call My Name
Author: Margaret
Genre/Cultural Theme: Fiction, Adventure, Native American (Kwakiutl peoples) experience
Recommended Age: 10-14
Summary: Mark is young priest who is assigned a vicarage in Kingcome, a small Native American village in the Pacific Northwest/ British Columbia, where the Kwakiutl people are both holding onto traditional village life and trying not to shut out the world around them. Much of I Heard the Owl Call My Name is about Mark building relationships with the villagers in hopes to be there for them, as a pastor but also as a friend. From the moment he comes into his post, he senses the differences between himself, a white young man with no experience running his own parish or living on his own, and the people of the village, including the first Indian he meets, Jim. Through the passing of the seasons and through his willingness to participate in the lives of the Kwakiutl peoples, Mark becomes a part of the community. He shares with them the ups and downs of daily life of individuals as well as a tribe that is, very possibly, slipping into antiquity as the world outside Kingcome engenders upon the young people of the village who seek education and success in the white world.
Evaluation: I find that it’s difficult for me to see how young readers can identify with much of the “historical” Native American narratives and the traditional myths of the different peoples. I Heard the Owl Call My Name is both a step forward and a step backward in terms of my interests for Native American themed literature for YA. Because it is set in the early 1970’s, it’s not particularly separate of the experiences of a contemporary reader. It’s about the way of life in a small, traditionally isolated community and how it is changed as society outside encroaches upon it. Normally, I would find that a priest protagonist through whose perceptions a narrative is experienced would interfere with a contemporary YA reader’s appreciation of the story because it’s so disconnected from his or her own experience, but Mark is an incredibly empathetic character whose compassion and faith is admirable to religious and nonreligious folks alike. Much of his education of Kwakiutl traditions is shared with the readers and as Mark learns, the readers learn too.
Suggested extension activities: A journaling exercise would be great as an extension activity for I Heard the Owl Call My Name since much of the narrative is presented in a kind of day-to-day and intimate fashion. The reader is made to feel very close to Mark through his candid and direct observations and reflections. The tone of the novel is reminiscent of memoir or journaling; therefore, a great way to connect young readers to this narrative is to encourage them to express their reflections on the novel by tying a reading journal exercise to the chapters that they are asked to read for class if being assigned to read the book incrementally. The reflections can be done in class and graded as class work or quizzes. Teachers can introduce this assignment (or series of assignments) by focusing on the subjective nature of the grading—based more on effort and individual assessment of the material rather than on regurgitating facts. This will encourage students to engage with the literature and read for themselves, rather than for the grade themselves. Obviously, students will be required to have read the sections/chapters when doing this assignment. Based on their writing, teachers will be able to figure out if students are completing their reading assignments. In keeping with the youth services library activity for The Girl Who Helped Thunder, youth services libraries and school libraries can include I Heard the Owl Call My Name among titles selected for highlighting Native American experience literature as a non-native experience of a white man integrating with the culture of the Kwakiutl.
Title: The Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Secrets behind What You Eat (Young Reader’s Edition)
Author: Michael Pollan and Richie Chevat
Genre: Informational
Recommended Age: 12+
Curricular Connections: Health, Food Nutritional Sciences, Agriscience
Selection Source: YASLA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults (2010 Nominee)
Review: Fact: There is corn in everything. Michael Pollan doesn’t think this is a good thing. He doesn’t hate corn or corn farmers or food industry workers…but, he knows that corn shouldn’t be everywhere…in everything. Omnivore’s Dilemma is about the current food industries: commercial industrial, organic industrial, local sustainable, and the hunter/gatherer variety of food production. In it, Pollan determines to follow the river of gold—corn, that is—from the various fields which yield the corn to the food lots where the corn is consumed by livestock to the drive-thru and supermarket aisles where we buy it. The book is a kind of overview of the food industry as it is known today: mostly commercial industrial and organic industrial. It is alarming how essential facts about how food is grown, raised, processed, manufactured, legislated, and, ultimately, sold and consumed are covertly concealed from us, the consumers of it. Pollan introduces his readers to real farmers, real food scientists and veterinarians, real industry specialists, and, most effectively, himself. Facts abound in Omnivore’s Dilemma. They are inarguable tidbits of data regarding what’s on nutrition labels, time tables and charts to help track changes in food production and consumption in the United States, and what food legislations and food economics mean to the food itself.
Evaluation: Perhaps one of the most effective things about Dial’s Young Reader’s Edition of Omnivore’s Dilemma is how genuinely geared the language and presentation is to young readers without seeming to condescend to a lower intellect. Rather than patronize young readers, Pollan and Chevat discuss the same issues with less complex phrasing and with more conversational instructional side notes than, say, a science class textbook. The language never feels forced or pedantic; instead, it seems to read naturally as though the book had always been intended for young readers. Though I haven’t read the adult (original) version of Omnivore’s Dilemma, I have read and listened to Pollan speak on similar issues on talk shows, NPR interviews, and in magazines and blogs. Pollan seems naturally adept at discussing important issues with some scientific gravitas without making it jargon-heavy or boring with data. I think Omnivore’s Dilemma is a must-read for any children, teens, or parents. It provides essential facts on the different food industries and offers some interesting insight on historical significances of food, food culture, and the economics of food. It isn’t about converting the population into vegetarianism (Pollan is a meat-eater) or moving everyone into a local sustainable diet, it’s about educating people on what is in their food, why it’s in there, and hoping they can be a little more conscious about the things they put in their mouths.
For the record, this is probably the most important book I’ve read in years. Years. And I kind of already knew a lot about this anyway.
Title: Plain Truth
Author: Jodi PicoultPublisher
Genre/Cultural Theme: Fiction, Legal drama, Strong female protagonist, Amish experience in the US
Recommended Age: 15+
Summary: Ellie Hathaway is a big-city defense attorney who, in the midst of a very successful career, finds that she has to disconnect in order to reevaluate her life and her priorities. For that, she flees Philadelphia for a stay with her aunt in Lancaster County where in a nearby Amish barn unbeknownst to her, her future client—an 18 year-old Amish girl, Katie—has been charged with infanticide of her newborn child. Though Ellie wants nothing more than to ignore the pleas of her aunt to take on the case, Ellie relents and ends up not only defending Katie but also living with her. Ellie becomes a sort of defacto extension of Katie’s family, immersed in their Amish traditions and experiencing the essential opposite of the kind of life she knew in Philly. Through their work together on the case to either prove Katie’s innocence or guilt—since that is undetermined for quite a lot of the novel, the two unlikely paired women develop a friendship that helps them discover who they are and what they want out of life.
Evaluation: For a YA book on Amish culture, I may suggest other titles, particularly because this novel, at 405 pages isn’t exactly an immediately satisfying read. The level of the writing and the ease of understandability are appropriate for 15+ most definitely, but short of avid female readers, I don’t think this book would be very interesting for the YA readers. However, it is a good introduction to the discussion of differences between secularized urban life and more conservative religious traditions in more rural parts of the US. Also, as a legal drama—though most of the legalese probably wouldn’t hold up to much speculation—it’s interesting and can keep the attention of teenagers with a particular interest in law though many of those readers may already be reading John Grisham novels and the like.
Suggested extension activities: This novel has great extension activities potential because of the legal drama aspect. A mock trial would be a wonderful exercise for this novel or any similar legal dramas or novels. I would divide a class up in two and act as the judge and jury. Half of the class would be assigned the part of the defense and the other half would be assigned the part of the prosecutor. Regardless on their personal stances on the “case,” I would have them act as researchers and use this exercise as a platform to teach information literacy and researching skills. Another activity could involve research on different American religious traditions, particularly those that look or live differently/ separately. Collecting photos and stories—both fiction and informational—from different American communities could be a wonderful exercise for students, educationally and creatively.
Title: Runaways (Comic Series)
Author: Brian K. Vaughn (creator), Joss Whedon, Michael Ryan, and Christina Strain, et al.
Genre: Fantasy/Science Fiction
Curricular Connections: English Literature
Selection Source: Teenreads.com (review for item of series “Dead End Kids” book)
Review: Runaways is a comic series by Brian K. Vaughn and published by Marvel Comics. The basic premise of Runaways surrounds six adolescents/teens whose parents annually meet, during which the kids aren't present. These kids end up becoming familiar with one another making them a band of loose friends. Little by little, the kids start suspecting that their parents are keeping secrets from them. One year, the kids spy on their parents and find them out to be...super villains of the supernatural/extraordinary variety. By and by the discoveries, the kids inherit their parents' powers (either naturally or by acquisition) and struggle to come into their own with these new identities.
Note: Brian K. Vaughn is no longer writing the series. He is the creator and worked on the first volume. Joss Whedon of TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly fame has also written for Runaways.
Evaluation: It's almost like the classic story of coming of age except that it's, well, comic book-y. It's got great graphics, dialogue, and story. The plot continues through the series which began in 2003 and is ongoing. It's a really great series. It ties in adolescent angst, kids' relationship/identity with their parents, and a lot of the things that make YA literature accessible to teens in with the comic book, superhero-esque format. Runaways is a really deserving member of any YA collection. And, let's hear it for good YA comic series!
Title: Seedfolks
Author: Paul Fleischman (author), Judy Pederson (illustrator)
Genre/Cultural Theme: Realistic fiction, Multiethnic/ multicultural
Recommended Age: 10-14
Summary: It is a vacant lot where trash is dumped and bottles collect, wherefrom passersby turn so as not to face the desolation of urban life, the disconnection the feel from nature, and the alienation they perpetrate from their neighbors. It is Cleveland and, for two seasons of the year, it is frozen solid and covered under feet of snow. As people from all across the world and nation migrate to the big city, they find themselves increasingly alone and embittered by the doldrums of city life and the increasing distrust of their neighbors—painted in different colors, sounding like different tongues. It is here where a little girl mourning the father she never knew plants some lima beans in the dead of winter so that her father can know that she is his daughter and so that he can be proud that she has followed in his footsteps. That one gesture triggers a community of immigrants of all ages and all dispositions to find a spot in the vacant lot and plant there, caring for it, and visiting it. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different person—a different gardener—and through those short first-person narrations, the reader comes to experience the differences and similarities of the disenfranchised, the lonely, the young, and the old.
Evaluation: Seedfolks is a book expressly written for children and young readers as an effort to open discourse on multicultural awareness, according to the books author, Paul Fleischman, in the book’s epilogue. It is the perfect vehicle for young people to experience the perspectives of others—some like them and some vastly different. It offers a platform for discussing various themes including multiculturalism, immigration, various cultures and nationalities, the state of modern day US society, industrialization, community activism, environmentalism, etc. It is short and easy to read making it a great choice for reluctant readers and/or in-class reading.
Suggested extension activities: Involving students in community action is a great way of getting them interested in social activism and empowering them as individuals that can make a difference. Though Seedfolks focuses on a community garden bringing people together, there are many different kinds of services that students and young persons can participate in both rural and urban communities of varying economic levels. Offering extra credit for participation in extracurricular volunteer work and inviting families and friends to join in will encourage students to engage with the community. Starting a class vegetable and herb garden (container or ground) can teach kids about the value of nutrition, responsibility, and team work. Caring for and maintaining the garden can be a part of the class—either daily or weekly—and, even without giving grades or extra credit for the work that they do, teachers can use the exercise as a valuable lesson on working to achieve something—the literal and figurative fruits of labor—and teach them about the process of trial and error. Similarly, starting a kids’ garden at a local public library can foster appreciation for the environment and for general health and well-being.
Title: Skim
Author: Mariko Takami (writer) and Jillian Tamaki (artist)
Genre/Cultural Theme: Graphic novel, Asian Experience, Teen depression/ suicide, LGBT coming of age
Recommended Age: 15+
Summary: Kim, “Skim,” is a teenager at an all-girls’ prep school on the outer fringes of the social scene. She’s a chubby Asian quasi-Goth/would-be-Wiccan outsider who spends most of her time with her best friend, Lisa, and being apathetic about home and school with the exception of her English class. When the most popular girl in school gets dumped by her perfect boyfriend just before he kills himself, the entire school population—students and faculty—become obsessed with teen depression and outreach to potential suicides. Skim takes place in the time of this heightened awareness in Skim’s school and follows Skim as she navigates between being herself and finding out who she really is.
Evaluation: The process of self-discovery is arduous, particularly for teenagers who, on top of their self-imposed pressures to figure out who they are and what their place in the world is, have the need to identify themselves to their peers, families, and adults around them. Skim’s experience in the novel borders on the mundane. There are no particularly outrageous or unbelievable or monumental events that occur personally to her. However, what she’s going through in those very “normal” days is some of the most difficult stuff that a teenager has to go through. The discussion on teen depression is poignant, mostly because of the way that it illustrates the disconnect between adults and the children over whom they loom as authority figures and responsible parties. Moreover, adolescence and teenage years are those during which—like Skim—most teenagers begin to discover not only who they are sexually but what they want in terms of all the meaningful relationships in their lives.
Suggested extension activities: I think it would be very hard to fit Skim into a curriculum. However, I definitely think that it would be a great amendment to discussions on teen depression or suicide in middle and high schools. One activity that I would suggest in keeping with Skim’s themes is to open up discourse between students of middle and high school ages about the potential issues that could cause or exacerbate teen depression. I think students don’t like to be put on the spot or made to feel like they’re revealing “too much” about themselves. Because of that, I would encourage them to draft situations that teens deal with that cause emotional stress for them and have them randomly draw them and discuss them and why those situations cause stress and what teenagers can do to manage that stress positively.
Title: Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Author: Marisha Pessl
Genre: Mystery/Suspense, Strong Female Character in Fiction, Popular Adult Fiction
Recommended Age: 15+
Curricular Connections: English Literature, Social Studies, US History (Counterculture Movement, Antiwar Movement of the 1960s-1970s, Domestic Terrorism), Civics/Government
Selection Source: Personal Collection, USAToday.com Best Selling Books Database
Review: When Special Topics in Calamity Physics opens up, Blue van Meer—the story’s protagonist—let’s you know that someone dies. She tells you that someone’s died and that, even in the present—long after it had happened, she’s still thinking about it. That’s when Blue starts telling the reader the story of her coming of age. A time when, after years of traveling between college towns wherein her dad, a political science professor, would find temporary teaching jobs, Blue and her dad finally seem to settle in one town. In this town, Blue is enrolled in a classy prep school. A particular professor at this school takes an interest in Blue—and, possibly, in her father. Hannah Schneider, a near middle-aged teacher at her school, woos Blue into joining a kind of intellectual elite hob-knob club of students. What is astonishing about the narrative is the way in which it’s told. Blue is an exceptionally brilliant girl who, in her narration, references everything from “Casablanca” to Shakespeare to Marlowe…who, by way of the pedantry while road-tripping with her father, knows more about history and politics than most people with tenured professorships at leading universities. Yet, despite all of the references and high-brow intellectualism of Blue’s words, it never comes off sounding as condescending or patronizing. Everything about Blue is genuine. Everything about her story is engrossing.
As Blue’s life becomes more settled among the Blueblood in St. Gallway’s (her prep school), mysteries begin to take shape. Hannah and the students in her inner circle become suspects of intrigue. Blue’s dad, even, becomes a source of mystery and unspoken truths. Blue’s coming of age, then, takes place among a tension of suspense, a mystery of epic proportions.
Evaluation: Pessl presents such an intriguing story that the reader is immediately sucked into Blue’s world. Blue is an exemplary literary force. She is brilliant, perceptive, and curious. It takes a bright reader to follow along the path that Pessl has laid out in Blue’s narration. For that reason (and due to its page-length), my recommendation is that a reader be in the latter high school grades or beyond. However, the pay off for the reader comes in spades. Besides the engrossing story and unraveling mysteries of the plot, the book’s value exceeds entertainment. It is a story with links throughout classic literature, US history, and classicism. It is truly a remarkable book that lends itself to any audience.
Title: Stargirl
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Genre: Romance, Realistic Fiction
Recommended Age: 9-12
Selection Source: 2005 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, and Teen Reads Ultimate Reading List
Review: Lee Borlock is an average kid in an average Arizona high school. Stargirl is anything but average. The story of their friendship and romance is one to which most any teenager can relate. From a distance, Leo is consumed by Stargirl’s confidence in her individuality and the way she so naively persists with her antics despite being a kind of laughing stock among the students. Stargirl plays the ukulele in the cafeteria, fancies costumes above the hippest fashions, dances in the rain, meditates in the desert, and keeps her pet rat with her at all times. Though Stargirl is perceived as an outsider by the entire school, a great flaw in the matrix of high schoolers’ need to fit in, Lee is drawn to her precisely for that reason. The students of Mica Area High School’s relationship to Stargirl are characteristic of the fickle nature of teenage attention and affection. She is interesting to them because of her oddity, yet while they singularly attack her for her eccentricity and unabashed individuality, they are, too, wildly interested in keeping her in the spotlight so as not to miss any of her antics. As Lee and Stargirl’s friendship blossoms into a relationship, Lee finds himself questioning his own character. Though Stargirl can stand to be the outsider and even seems to flourish in the wake of disdain from the other students, Lee cannot. In spite of liking her just as she is, he pressures Stargirl to conform. Because she so likes him, she does.
Evaluation: From the moment Stargirl dances her way into the cafeteria, she is in your heart forever. Like Lee, the reader becomes fascinated and a little in love with Stargirl. For those of us who’ve always felt like the outsider and wished to have the confidence to walk with our heads held high through the hallways of our high schools, Stargirl becomes a kind of hero. It is easy to see why Lee likes her and why he is fascinated by her. It is a truly sad moment when Stargirl succumbs to conformity for the sake of keeping Lee’s affection and, really, for the sake of making Lee feel at ease with himself.
Title: The Teen Guide to Global Action: How to Connect With Others (Near and Far) to Create Social Change
Author: Barbara A. Lewis
Genre: Informational
Recommended Age: 10+
Curricular Connections: Science (Environmental), Current Events, Civics, Leadership
Selection Source: YASLA Popular Paperbacks for Young Readers (2010, Change Your World or Live to Regret It title)
Review: The Teen Guide to Global Action is a sort of DIY handbook for teens and young adults interested in social responsibility and activism. The book starts off with a questionnaire/survey to help readers narrow down their areas of interest and potential activity. It goes on to break down into sections of social causes (education, environment, homelessness, etc.) and into further categories of local and global initiatives with which they can participate. The focus of The Teen Guide to Global Action is to offer outlets for readers to seek information on the world around them and the world in which they live. It shines the light on social issues that volunteers and activists can participate in advocating. Lewis and Free Spirit Publishing make it clear to readers that there are countless ways in which people can partake in activism. Their idea is that anyone and everyone can find a vehicle through which he or she can make social change. The book offers names of organizations and contact information, research strategy guides and suggestions, bios of successful teen activists, and tips for joining and/or starting advocacy groups.
Evaluation: This is a great starter book for adolescents and teens who are seeking out ways of making a difference in their local or global environments. The way that the material is presented resembles a kind of teen magazine format—columns of text vs. margin-to-margin page-fuls of text deliver the information, side bars with additional information (i.e. blurbs on web sites or groups), and mid-section bios of teens who’ve made a difference—making it easy to read and relatable to young readers. The information never seems overwhelming, at all. In fact, most of the data is written in short paragraphs. The book lists a lot of different outlets that teens can research (including information and URL regarding how to research effectively using the Internet) from their own desks. It is a great stepping-stone for the actively-minded teen. Later this week, I’ll be sharing it with my friend’s thirteen year-old step daughter who has voiced interest in environmental causes.
Title: Wake (Wake Trilogy Series #1)
Author: Lisa McMann
Genre: Supernatural fiction, Mystery/Suspense
Recommended Age: 13+
Curricular Connections: Literature
Selection Source: Popular Teen Series in Barnes Noble Teen section
Review: Janie doesn’t dream…at least, not her own dreams. Instead, Janie manages to fall into the dreams of anyone sleeping and dreaming in her near vicinity. It’s like she has grand mal seizures on the outside while being transported into the subconscious psyches of the people around her. To Janie, that’s not so cool. In fact, it’s ruining her life. Knowing people’s secrets is only a part of the problem. Mostly, it’s ruining her life because it interferes with every single day and every single aspect of her life. As kids fall asleep from boredom in class, Janie plummets into their dreamscapes. As the elderly in the nursing home she works at sleep, she’s thrust into the memories of their long lives—most of them memories of difficult emotional times and life struggles. Janie is a kind of slave to sleep and dreams, unwillingly sacrificing her own sleep, dreams, and sanity in the process. At seventeen and in the throws of her junior year, Janie’s life becomes complicated by a recent romantic interest and her burgeoning independence.
Evaluation: When I state that I devoured this book in less than a three-hour nonstop reading session on a Sunday morning-to-afternoon I am saying so in all honesty. Considering that I’d previously read Blue for Nightmares and that this book’s synopsis was remarkably similar (teen girls walking into other people’s dreams find a mystery that they need to solve), I wasn’t really looking forward to getting started on Wake. However, I was pleasantly surprised. First, the narrative is written in short, to-the-point sentences, with various breaks—sections divided into days, times, etc. This style helps the reader move swiftly through the text, a bonus for any YA book and for any suspense story, in general fiction. Second, Janie as the protagonist is completely relatable without having to be made out as some mousy, socially awkward imbecile—something I relate quite whole-heartedly and unabashedly to, say, Bella from the Twilight Saga books. Though Janie is the protagonist, the narrative isn’t told through her first person perspective. I’ve learned to find this refreshing since reading a lot of these YA books and in my own reading of [what I refer to as] urban fantasy pulp series, like Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series, and Patricia Briggs’ series, and Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville books. I find that a third person narrator has a lot to offer the reader, even when it’s mostly limited to sticking alongside one singular character, as is the case in Wake. Third, the way the “dream catcher” idea is presented and later only-somewhat-developed in the story is refreshing. We, the readers, learn about Janie’s ability just as she learns about it. She doesn’t have the answers, nor do we. A nice relationship is developed between reader and protagonist for this reason. There is an element of mystery and suspense in that fact, too, which sets this novel apart from Blue is for Nightmares. Finally, Wake presents a character whom I’d like to continue following through her discoveries. I fully intend to read the following books in the series beginning with the sequel, Fade.
It seems like this is an easy series to get into and that, in turn, provides some refreshing escapist fiction without being too over-bearing on the supernatural tip. In fact, it’s barely “supernatural” at all—more preternatural, really. A part of me rues at even putting it in the genre of supernatural YA fictions involving magic or monsters. Though I would give the book 3 ½ stars for the story, alone, I add the ½ star because of the way that it gets me to want to read more about Janie and her adventures because I’m sure there are bound to be many more.
Title: What I Saw and How I Lied
Author: Judy Blundell
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Recommended Age: 12+
Curricular Connections: World History or US History (any history class studying WWII/post-WWII era)
Selection Source: 2008 National Book Award winner for Young People's Literature, and 2009 Best Books for Young Adults from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/09bbya.cfm
Review: Evie is a fifteen year-old growing up in post-WWII New York when her step-father returns from the war and takes Evie and her mother to Palm Beach, FL. All the promise of Paradise is stunted by the realization that, off-season, the city is a veritable ghost town populated by a handful of tourists and residents who, mainly, work keeping hotels running at their basest operational standards. It is in this setting that Blundell stages Evie’s coming of age and sets the stage for the mysteries that unfold as Evie and her family befriend some characters who are staying in and around their hotel, the Mirage. As Evie gets her first taste of love with the dangerously ambiguous former solider, Peter, and her parents strike up a friendship with the Graysons, a couple of hoteliers from New York, a plot of slow-moving, engrossing, and rich noir unfolds. What I Saw and How I Lied presents a coming of age mystery in a landscape that its fifteen year-old protagonist must navigate while she tries to discover the fine lines between social propriety, romance, and adolescence vs. adulthood.
Evaluation: There aren’t a lot of YA novels that grab me in and compel me to stay reading them. What I Saw and How I Lied is one of the few that has done that in my adulthood. What I loved about this book is the way that Blundell never panders to the ignorance of a YA reader. Rather than talk-down to her reader or rather than skip over the reasons that certain things are the way they are (there is a historical context that many YA readers won’t be familiar with), Blundell seamlessly integrates post-WWII history, social factors, etc. into the narrative so that, at once, entertains and educates the reader with just enough to pique his/her interest in the fiction and historical references made in the novel. The tone is supremely noir while remaining intelligible and relevant to a teenager. It is engrossing in its entirety. I have recommended this book to adult friends who like mystery and to ones that teach YA readers.
Title: Witness Author: Karen Hesse
Genre/Cultural Theme: Poetry (narrative), Historical fiction (1920s, US), Black American experience, Jewish American experience, Multiethnic/multicultural relations, Racism
Recommended Age: 12+
Summary: A 1924 Vermont town is the setting for this unique poetic narrative that depicts a community in turmoil at the news of the Ku Klux Klan’s arrival. Hesse uses short poems told in the voice of a handful of the town’s residents, among them a six year-old Jewish girl, Esther, transplanted from New York after her mother’s death; a twelve year-old black girl, the single landlady from whom Esther and her father rent a room, Sara Chickering; Leanora, who takes up caring for an elderly “half-blind” white veteran of the Civil War, Mr. Fields; a white mid-50’s working class couple, the Pettibones, who are at odd ends of the spectrum of opinions on the arrival of the Klan; a progressive doctor, Fitzgerald Flitt, and a progressive newsman, Reynard Alexander; a bob-haired rum-runner, Iris; and two white men—a preacher, Johnny Reeves, and Merle Van Tornhut—who have themselves joined the Klan. With varying and oftentimes opposing perspectives on the same situation and the way that Hesse’s plot develops from poem to poem, Witness truly does stand out as a novel way of addressing issues of race, racism, community, relationships, etc. Among the historical elements within Witness’s timeline are the murder trial of Leonard and Leopold in Chicago and the election of President Coolridge, a Vermonter.
Evaluation: The experience of reading Witness, alone, is a valuable one. The narrative takes place through short poems told in the experience of individuals. It is a creative way of illustrating the experience of that 1920’s American racism that is so heavily drawn upon for other more straightforward narratives in literature and films. It’s almost like it’s presenting a Billie Holiday song or some slave song Spiritual on the page—not lacking musicality, necessarily, merely presented in verse. It is difficult to quantify or qualify the value that this kind of book would have on the young readers who are exposed to it. Suffice it to say, teachers can use Witness to present something personal, unconventional, and interesting to students who are either desensitized or apathetic about American history and American race relations.
Suggested extension activities: As a creative writer as well as an educator, I encourage educators to take advantage of teaching different themes in social studies subjects by introducing various literary forms of fiction and nonfiction. Hesse’s book is an excellent opportunity to expose young readers and students to the social viability of the poetic form. Students in social studies and history classrooms can write poems or dramatic episodes focused on events or themes covered in the class, whereas students in English or literature courses could be encouraged to think of a social issue and express their thoughts in poems or dramatic episodes. Integrating current events from newspaper or online news sites is a good way of teaching kids research and source evaluation skills. Having students work on creative writing projects based on current event themes and how socio-political and geopolitical events affect their lives is a great exercise across the subject-spectrum.
