808.899283 (Adolescent Literature) - Week Six

Still trying to catch up to the current week (which would be 14, I think?), but we're getting there. Almost half way! I'd like to finish with my YA lit posts before I graduate (May 18th), but that might be pushing it... I'll have a new house as of May 15th! Anywhoo, onto the post!

This week's theme was Historical fiction and war novels and the two books that were on the syllabus were War Horse by Michael Morpurgo and Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys. As always, links take you out to the Goodreads page for the books.

War Horse isn't just a book. The novel has also been turned into a film (starring Benedict Cumberbatch AND Tom Hiddleston... in one movie) and a play, which I saw in workshop when I was in London at the National Theatre. Both adaptations of the novel are fantastic (HOW can you say no to life size horse puppets... or those two previously mentioned hotties?).

As far as books go, here's my quick delights/disdain points for War Horse.

3 Delights for War Horse

1. It is the best book you will ever read where the narrator is the horse... ever. This is a book about WWI, which was a war that changed the shape of wars to come. Having an animal narrator dampens the horrors of war a bit for a younger reader, while still having emotional turmoil over things like character deaths and keeping track of time/plot.
2. I love that this book is such an easy, quick read. The novel is written for a slightly younger audience and meets the ease of reading requirements nicely.
3. This novel is a great tie-in to a unit on WWI as readers will have the background knowledge they need to understand what is going on. An excellent fiction pair for a social studies classroom. This book is also a "must read" in British schools, which I think is completely understandable.

3 Defects for War Horse

1. The narrator is a horse? It's one of my delights, too, but I was never fond of the animal narrator. I do think it's well done though, but personally, I felt the book was a little "flat" because of it.
2. Readers will need a bit of a background in WWI history to fully appreciate the novel. 
3. I kept having All Quiet on the Western Front flashbacks... if you don't know what I mean or what I'm referencing, you've never experienced the psychological horrors that come with reading All Quiet on the Western Front and then reading about horses... A wikipedia summary should get you up to speed.

Between Shades of Gray was right up my alley of reading choices - it's a WWII novel about the Russian Gulag. Most people know a whole lot about the holocaust, but know nothing about Stalin killing his own people. It's a subject that isn't talked about in Russian history and there are a whole lot of deniers out there, even more so than the holocaust deniers. 

3 Delights for Between Shades of Gray

1. I loved the main character (Lina). She's tough, she's clever, and she's opinionated. She perseveres through some really horrible events and finds a way to make the best of everything. 
2. I loved Lina's mother. She was wonderfully 3-dimensional in the text and it's quite obvious where Lina got her brains. The fact that her mother knew how to build friendships and knew how to play the system the way she did was wonderful to. And her ability to instill in Lina the strength to carry on was fantastic.  
3. I felt that, on a whole, the novel was very well written and it gave you a clear understanding of the time period and the settings that the characters live in. From the trains to the Gulags, to tiny shacks that don't keep out the wind, all was described beautifully.

3 Defects for Between Shades of Gray

1. I really don't know how I felt about the ending. A part of me was pleased... and a part of me felt like it was stereotypical WWII novel fodder.
2. I wish that we knew more about some of the auxiliary characters' backgrounds. I think some of it would have made the novel a little more 'round', but overall, I was pleased.
3. The only real complaint I have about the novel is that sometimes it dragged on a little slower than I would have liked. Some of the exposition and description starts to kill the action happening in the novel, which makes the novel feel longer than it actually is. 

That wraps up week six of YA lit. Hopefully I'll post the next few weeks worth of reviews in the next couple of days and get myself caught up.

808.899283 (Adolescent Literature) - Week Four

Slowly but surely catching up - maybe I'll be all caught up before the semester ends... maybe not. Here's hoping. In the mean time, I'm going to be employed this school year, so that's a plus. Also, I'm going to be a home owner in a little over a month. Also a plus. So much going for me right now, it feels pretty ridiculous!

Anywhoo, books and theme for week four of YA Literature, right? Theme this week was Friendships and the books were Benjamin Alire Saenz's Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and Pinned by Sharon Flake. Links are to the Goodreads descriptions for the two books, as always.

3 Delights for Aristotle and Dante...

1. I love a good love story, especially one that seems so improbable (NOT impossible). I really can't help but cheer for both of the boys in this book. Yay, LOVE!
2. The writing is pretty solid! There's a great use of metaphor/simile and allusion(I mean, come on, the boys are named Aristotle and Dante, how could there NOT be?), and I can't help but smile at how the the author really makes the book a little "magical". No, reality isn't like this, but we wish it was.
3. The book deals with some pretty serious issues in really fantastic ways (including homosexuality, teenage relationships, hate crimes, and racial identity issues). And it's humorous and definitely doesn't take itself too seriously. I laughed with this book and held back tears with this book. It was fantastic.

3 Defects for Aristotle and Dante...

1. So maybe the way in which Aristotle figures out he's in love with Dante is a little "fake". It could really rip a person out of the story - it didn't bother me, though, but I could see how it might be a turn off for some readers. I just thought it was funny and as an adult who's seen kiddos in need of this guidance, I could relate with the parents.
2. No, real people don't talk to each other like that. Especially teenage boys, but we'll let it go because both boys are "readers" and "artists", right?
3. There are typos in this book, which KILL ME. Ugh. PROOFING needed to be better for this book, but I overlooked it because I was interested in the story more than I cared about typos.

3 Delights for Pinned

1. The book definitely has voice, I've got to give it that. Flake wrote a main character who definitely has spunk and an emotional background and her writing reflects the character's voice well.
2. A great high-low reader overall. Even though this wasn't the book for me, I could definitely see where the audience for this book is and who I could recommend this book to.
3. It's nice to see a female athlete in a male dominated sport portrayed in a novel for teens. This definitely isn't a subject that come up often in books with a romance story.

3 Defects for Pinned

1. Let me be honest. I didn't like this book much.I think the biggest issue I had with this book was the super aggressive way in which Autumn goes after Adonis. If the roles had been reversed and it had been boy chasing girl, I think quite a few people would say "woah, hold up. He's totally stalking her!" and they'd take issue. Some of my classmates tried to point out that the age of the characters is pretty young and so the relationship is going to be pretty immature, but I really hated it.
2. What was the point of some of the extra characters in this book? No, really. Why did we include some of the teachers or coaches or even parents in this book? They felt pretty one-dimensional and I didn't understand the point of some of them.
3. Maybe it's because I'm NOT the intended audience, but I definitely had a hard time connecting to the characters in this book. 

All said and done, that wraps up week four in YA Literature. More posts to come as time allows. 

808.899283 (Adolescent Literature) - Week Two

Yes, it's week eight of the semester. Yes, I'm JUST posting about week two. I'm unapologetic. Life is crazy, especially now that Oklahoma is officially opened at LaFollette High School.

Week Two's theme for YA Literature for week two was "Identity and Graphic Novels". For this week, we read two graphic novels: March: Book 1 by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell and Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol.

March: Book One is a non-fiction graphic novel about Congressman John Lewis' life being a young adult during the Civil Rights era and what it was like to be a part of lunch counter sit-ins and non-violent marches. The graphic novel pops back and forth between Congressman Lewis preparing for President Obama's inauguration and what he experienced as a member of the Civil Rights Movement.

3 Delights for March: Book One

1. The illustration in this book is powerful and done in completely black and white. It really tells the story in a unique way that makes the book more powerful than it might have been as a non-graphic novel.

2. The book does a great job showing all sides of the Civil Rights Movement - not just Martin Luther King, Jr., but also some of the other leaders, how students participating in marches and sit-ins practiced terrorizing one another to learn how to not react when white community members might do similar things, and how to protect themselves in the face of violence. It's also a great way to tie history to the present, as John Lewis is a real-live Congressman.

3. March is part of a series focused on the Civil Rights Movement. I'm excited to see the next few graphic novels when they are released.

3 Defects for March: Book One

1. It's a positive-negative, folks. The illustrations really ask readers to practice some higher visual literacy skills - there are some pages that follow typical panel format, but there are others that blow the typical panel format out of the water. This might be harder for first time graphic novel readers to understand and follow.

2. I wonder what color would have done to the illustrations - I think that the "shades of grey" produced by black and white illustration is great, but I think this could have been really powerful in color, too.

3. There are depictions of violence in this book! It's the Civil Rights Era, and there was violence against African-American citizens, so it's only right. I think it's done tastefully, but it is something to consider when recommending this book.

Anya's Ghost is a supernatural fiction graphic novel, focused around Anya, a young Russian emigre student who is having a hard time fitting in at school. When Anya falls down a deep hole, she finds herself faced with a haunted girl's skeleton. The ghost girl, Emily, trapped in the hole for 90 years since her death, makes friends with Anya and travels home with her when Anya is rescued. Emily the ghost intially starts off as a blessing in disguise - she helps Anya with homework, talks about her secret crush with her, and even helps her learn how to dress better and talk to others. But Emily isn't all sweetness, and Anya soon discovers that she's befriended a spirit more sinister than she thought.

3 Delights for Anya's Ghost

1. This graphic novel deals well with the themes of fitting in and discovering your true identity. It's great to see the immigrant experience dealt with in a YA graphic novel.

2. The illustrations are FANTASTIC - they're all done in a blue/violet tinted grayscale, which for the suspense/horror side of this graphic novel works particularly well. It's also interesting to watch the changes that happen to Emily's character throughout the novel. 

3. Easy to follow panels, this is a great "first-timers" graphic novel. It's very easy to follow the layout and the pictures clearly express what is happening in the story.

3 Defects for Anya's Ghost

1. It's PRETTY girly. You might be hard pressed to get a boy to read this graphic novel. I mean, even the black and white images have a purple tint. Male fans of Babymouse! might pick this up, though.

2. The very easy, basic panel structure might get boring for a more advanced graphic novel reader. They'll fly through this one quickly.

3. I don't know if I love how body image is dealt with in this book. It's find overall, but I wonder if it couldn't be better.

808.899283 (Adolescent literature) - Week One

Okay, so we're technically in Week Five right now... I'm just really really behind in updating my blog. Things have been NUTS and they'll continue to be so for the next few weeks, as I have an interview next week Wednesday for an academic librarianship position. SCARY THINGS!

Week one's theme for Adolescent Literature was "Perspectives on Adolescence and Childhood" and we read two novels on this theme: Sarah Dessen's Just Listen and Jacqueline Woodson's Miracle's Boys.

Just Listen is a novel about Annabel, the youngest of three sisters and a model, who has a falling out with her best friend, Sophie, over the summer and returns to the school year to find herself isolated and friendless. In her aloneness, she meets Owen, a loner who is passionate about music and has a habit of telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Owen strikes up a friendship with Annabel, one based on sharing music and time together. As they grow closer and Annabel becomes more comfortable with their friendship, Annabel tries to find the courage to open up about what really happened on the night when her friendship with Sophie ended.

Miracle's Boys follows the story of Layfaette and his older brothers, Ty'ree and Charlie, and the struggles the boys go through trying to grow up in New York after the death of both of their parents. Ty'ree, the eldest boy, tries to support the family as best he can, and Charlie has just returned home from a correctional facility. The story focuses on Lafayette's coming of age and how the boys need to make choices to be there for one another to overcome their struggles.

I enjoyed both books, which really surprised me, as I'm not normally a realistic fiction fan. Both books just seemed to have an excellent balance of tough stuff, teen angst, and humor. Both books were successful in their messages as well.

More to come about the other books read in class later this week and over the weekend, at least until I catch up.

Fic Qui (Reviewing "Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock")

Hoo boy. How do you talk about "Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock" by Matthew Quick? The book is disturbing, to be sure, but it has a sense of humor, a deep self-depreciation, and a wonderful back and forth dialogue.

A quick summary for you: Leonard is a bit different. He loves Hamlet by Shakespeare and movies with Humphrey Bogart. He sometimes skips school to pretend to be an adult, dressing in his "funeral suit" to follow the most miserable adult on the bus wherever they're going. And on the day of his eighteenth birthday, he decides that he is going to take his grandfather's WWII war trophy, a P-38 Nazi handgun, and kill both his former best friend, Asher, and himself. But before he decides to "shuffle off this mortal coil", he wants to deliver gifts to those who have meant the most to him: his Bogie loving neighbor, Walt, a violin playing classmate from Iran named Baback, a home schooled student, Lauren, and his history of the holocaust teacher, Herr Silverman. As he delivers his last gifts, Leonard slowly reveals his secrets and what has led to his startling decision to commit murder-suicide.

Yes, this book is a little depressing. Yes, this book is a little disturbing. Yes, this book is DEFINITELY for a more adult reader. Between the subject matter, the language (the f-bomb is dropped numerous times), and the general mental stability of our main character, the book is great for a more advanced, more mature reader.

Five Defects

1. This book has sporadic footnotes. I don't mind reading a novel or info book with a plethora of foot notes (I mean, I'm a Mary Roach fan for goodness sakes), but the foot notes exist in the beginning of the book and suddenly no longer exist! Where did they go?
2. I disliked the portrayal of some teachers in the novel. Granted, I take it with a grain of salt - it's teachers from a student's perspective. But I distinctly dislike the portrayal of female educators in this book. It doesn't ruin it for me, though. That and the whole idea of "mandatory reporting" is NOT done in this book.
3. Ugh. Leonard's mother is SO messed up.
4. I understand the letters, I do. They almost made me feel that the book was going to go Sci-Fi on me instead of realistic fiction, though.
5. Why isn't there a firm ending? WHY? I want there to be something a little more firm, but I think the ending is beautiful in its own way.

Five Delights

1. Oh, the humor! It's what makes the serious, really dark subject matter of this book bearable. Without the laughs here and there, the book would be too depressing to read.
2. The book keeps you guessing and doesn't really let you know what's happening until the end. I love how it unfolds as the story progresses.
3. Oh, Herr Silverman. That is a teacher, folks. That is a teacher.
4. The book has a very authentic voice. Matthew Quick obviously understands trauma and mental illness very well. I appreciate a book dealing with some serious mental issues that doesn't handle it like a traditional "mental illness" book.
5. The book messed with my mind and I love a novel like that. As things unfold, I kept on being surprised, turned around, and off balance. I really enjoy that.

Fic Gre (Reviewing "The Fault in Our Stars")

It ended in snot and tears my friends, but what a glorious, heart-wrenching piece of work it was. There are now THREE books/series that make me sob uncontrollably as I finish them:  1) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, 2) His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, AND NOW 3) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Read the summary at the link to Goodreads. I'm not going summarize it in this blog post.

I immediately knew I had to read this book when the TITLE of the freakin' book was straight outta Shakespeare. I've always loved quoting Shakespeare's Caesar, saying "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings", and how perfectly did John Green work the quote into the novel? PERFECTLY. No really. I'm still a little shell shocked by this book 24-hours after completing it, and I do NOT know how to talk out loud about it yet without getting a little teary. Evidence of a good book that really caused a great deal of TRUE catharsis? Walking into the bedroom with the book to get ready for bed after finishing, being kinda weepy, and then having one's husband ask, "Are you okay?" and only having the response of full-out open weeping while saying multiple times "It's so sad and so beautiful" through a plethora of snot and tears while holding the book to one's chest.

My husband pulled me to him and laughed. Apparently great emotional distress over the lives of fictional characters is a laughing matter.

I was so filled with the book and processing it that I didn't sleep well. I ended up reading another book from 10:45 pm to 1:45 am in order to actually calm myself enough emotionally to sleep. Do all books affect me so? Definitely not. But the books that made me do so before (and EVERY time I read them) are listed above. I've had profound endings I love (see the last book of Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, for example), but only a few books have made me crazy weepy and emotional. John Green's book is now one of them.

Five Defects:

1. The book really isn't as accessible as I'd like it to be. You need to really GET metaphor, GET nuance, GET the super high-brow vocabulary. This book definitely isn't an "any reader" book. It's for the brainy kids (SORRY!). I wish it was more accessible for more readers.
2. Does the vocab and intelligence of this book sometimes (RARELY) interfere with storytelling? Once in a very little while, but it is a point to make. Green balances it well, but there are a few instances where I wish they could have dropped a joke or two.
3. This book WILL offend someone. Just warning you. It's also one of my reasons for LOVING this book, but for some it will be a defect.
4. DON'T read the last 1/3 of this book in public. You risk crying uncontrollably and looking a fool. As a fellow SLIS student mentioned, it was awkward reading the end of this book at the service desk. Don't do it. I was lucky enough to be in the privacy of my own home with only my hubby to witness my breakdown. (I really have been lucky with these books... I always finish them in relative "aloneness" with someone close enough to hug afterwords). Read the first part wherever, leave the last 1/3 for home.
5. Why does it end like that? WHY???? Okay, I know why. It's a cancer book, people. But really? John Green? You're killing me.

Five Delights:

1. This book WILL offend someone. It has cursing, it has sex, it has death, it has 'violence' and destruction of property. It has groping and inappropriate topics. AND IT'S OKAY! Granted, I'm REALLY open minded, but I think that the REALNESS of this book will hit home for teens.
2. It is FILLED with black humor and INTELLIGENT sarcasm. I grew up with an oncology nurse for a mother; I was always taught that death and dying, while tragic and definitely very personal and serious at times, should always be treated with a side of laughter. Yes, we tell jokes at funerals. Yes, we've joked with a family friend passing from cancer about the sheer amount of puke he could heave after a chemo treatment. It's kinda how I grew up and I LOVE that Green fills the novel with this light-hearted fare. Without it, the book would be awful and depressing. With it, it shines.
3. I love how it has a "sex scene" without actually writing a sex scene... and the freakin' Venn diagram afterwords! Thank you for an absolutely GORGEOUS handling of sex in a teen novel, John Green. As an adult reader, I really appreciated it.
4. The metaphor, the poetry, the use of literary devices throughout. The story is great, but the prose is marvelous. I'm so wrapped up in it. It's so full of marvelous quotes and poetry. Simply amazing.
5. I KNEW how it was going to end, but I couldn't stop reading. Green does a fantastic job of writing some of the saddest subject matter EVER - it's a cancer book, people. But it's not the "magically I'm cured" type of cancer book, it's the true nitty gritty cancer book. Thank you for that, especially thank you for a book that an audience LIVING the book will appreciate.

Fic Col (Reviewing "W.A.R.P.: the Reluctant Assassin")

Passing the time when taking a LONG car trip with my husband can be difficult. It's never a problem for me to read while he's driving and listening to music, but my husband is a reader who must have absolute silence to enjoy a book and I'm a driver who must have music or conversation to drive. To make it possible for me to get through the two books I brought with me on vacation, I spent two days of driving reading one of my books out loud to my husband. This book was "W.A.R.P.: the Reluctant Assassin" by Eoin Colfer, the author of the Artemis Fowl series.

And what a FABULOUS read aloud. This book was EVERYTHING I hoped an Eoin Colfer book would be. It was high action, packed with British goodness, and had that quirky, beautiful sarcastic sense of humor through out that the Artemis Fowl series had and that Colfer carried through beautifully into this first book in this series.

The book focuses around two main characters, Riley, a 14-year-old orphan living in Victorian London who is the unfortunate apprentice to Albert Garrick, a dark, twisted, illusionist assassin, and Chevron Savano, a seventeen-year-old native american FBI agent. The two meet when Riley's intended first kill turns out to be a time-traveling scientist who developed wormhole travel for the FBI's Witness Anonymous Relocation Program (WARP) who pulls him through the wormhole on his return trip to modern day London. Unfortunately for the two youngsters, Albert Garrick manages to make his way through to the future and is after his wayward apprentice to either collect him or kill him.

This book is DEFINITELY made for a slightly older reader than Colfer's Artemis Fowl series - there is a lot more blood and gore and swearing in this book than in the Artemis Fowl series, but the same intelligent, sarcastic humor is there throughout the novel. This book definitely is for a more advanced reader as well, the syntax and vocab is definitely at a higher level than perhaps the low end of the interest level.

Five Defects

1. This book is always going to be compared to the Artemis Fowl series and I think that comparison is a little unfair. It's a little more sci fi and a little less magic. The two should be viewed separately, but it's hard to do so.

2. The gross-ness of some of the descriptions of blood and gore and Victorian London's ghettos are a little much sometimes. They aren't too much for me (I like Mary Roach's books, for goodness sake), but they might be a little much for some readers.

3. Albert Garrick feels a little schizophrenic sometimes. I love the complexity of the villain in this story, but the complexity sometimes is too much.

4. The cliff hanger at the end and the next book isn't out yet! AHHH! I hate this and yet I do it all the time - reading the first book without another book to follow it.

5. The denouement was a little to short for my tastes - the villain was destroyed quite triumphantly and Colfer offered us only a part chapter and an epilogue to deal with it. I wanted a little more end.

Five Delights

1. The humor! It's dark, it's sarcastic, and it's sometimes punny. It's also very intelligent humor. It's just lovely all around.

2. The development of characters, both his protagonists and his antagonists (perhaps even more so his antagonist in this particular novel). Colfer always crafts well-rounded, well-described characters and he has a wonderful way of working description into the story. I'm in love.

3. NON-STOP ACTION. No, really. There is so much action in among the brain work. I love it. Such a "boy" book in that way (granted, I'm a girl and prefer that kind of book).

4. This is a book of street smarts and quick thinking, not so much straight up intelligence. I love that none of the main characters are geniuses but are living successfully in the world of geniuses. Fantastic stuff, that.

5. This is going to be a series! I'm so excited to see where this series goes - are we going to follow Riley? Chevron? Where is this going to go!?! I can't wait.