808.899283 (Adolescent Literature) - Week Three

The theme for week three was "Family, health, sex", and the two books that were required reading for the week were Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park and Angela Johnson's The First Part Last. Both books were great picks for the topic of the week. I'll break into my Delights and Defects straight away and just provide links to the books' Goodreads pages so you can read the description for yourself.

3 Delights for Eleanor & Park

1. I love Rainbow Rowell's writing style. There's a nice balance of complexity and simplicity and while it does feel a little fanciful, it isn't any more or less believable than other stories I have read.
2. Parents in this book (especially Park's parents) aren't one dimensional. I LOVE Park's parents and how they treat the relationship between Park and Eleanor. There's something lovely about the family dynamics that really touch me. In the opposite fashion, Eleanor's parents aren't great human beings, but they also aren't completely flat and they play a pretty integral part of the story.
3. I'm thankful for a resolution that isn't resolved. Be prepared for a not quite happy but definitely touching ending to the book. Also realistic in a way, I suppose.

3 Defects for Eleanor & Park

1. The book deals with difficult topics, from abuse to bullying to racial identity to finding your way through difficult times. I personally didn't think it was defective, but I could see why some people may be offended by the book. I DON'T see why people could try and remove it from a library, though. Geez, folks. Censorship just ISN'T cool.
2. So parts of the story are a little "beautified". Normal teenagers do NOT talk or think like that. Not really. I don't think it detracts from the book in a big way, but it's definitely something to think about.
3. The ending. It's one of my delights too, but I wish there was a little more (for my very own, very selfish reasons). I love where Rowell ended the book, but I wouldn't have been upset if there had been more. :)

 3 Delights for The First Part Last

1. This book is a fantastic High-Low - high interest, low reading level. I personally struggle reading some high-lows because the author dumbs down the subject matter in order to achieve the easy readability. This book is definitely one that doesn't do that.
2. Thank you for a book from the teen FATHER'S point-of-view. So many times books about single teen parents are about single mothers. This one is from the male perspective, which I think is very interesting. Johnson does a great job writing from the character's point of view.
3. I can easily understand why this book won the awards it did. Writing is great, subject matter is great, the play with the timeline is interesting, it does a great job discussing a difficult topic, and I feel as if it's fairly authentic as far as urban lit goes.

3 Defects for The First Part Last

1. While it wasn't a problem for me, some of my group members during discussion felt that the book was a little "flat" when it came to character emotions. I could agree with that, but I think its more part of the lower reading level than it is the actually lack of emotion. After reading Eleanor & Park, this book does feel a little flat, but alone, it has the emotion it needs to.
2. I felt like the side story with the mother was dragged out a little too long. It could have been foreshadowed differently or handled a little differently to make the surprise more inpactful.
3. The out-of-order timeline might be difficult for some students (especially students struggling with reading) would have trouble following the story. While the book does use chapter titles like "Then" and "Now", it's sometimes tricky to keep track of where in the timeline a particular chapter falls.

So, we're currently in Week Ten and I have some definite catch up to do on blogging, but we're also purchasing our first home, which is taking up most of my free time! I'll try to get a few more posts up in the next week or two, but no promises. This blog might turn home improvement pretty quickly. Edible Book Festival is coming up next week, as well, so there will be posts about that particular activity as well. AH! So much going on in the next month or two!