The Book of Lost Things

I’m worried that while a teen interested in Fantasy/Suspense would definitely enjoy this book, they would have some difficulty finding it. When I went to the bookstore to purchase my copy for class I went to the Teen Section of the store and couldn’t find anything at all by Connolly. I remembered then that it was a book for adults that teens would like so I went to the adult fiction section and still struck out. I found one book by John Connolly but it seemed nothing like the book I was looking for. The description online made it seem like it was a Fantasy novel, so I traveled into that section of the store and still could not find it. I finally had to go to the help desk and ask them if they even carried the book. They did and I was whisked over to the Mystery section of the store where I found the book right away because it stood out from all the rest (except for Nocturnes which had a similar jacket design). Overall, had I not been in a situation where I needed to get the book for class, I may have given up.

Once I did have the book in my hands, I really enjoyed it. I love this type of book; the type that melds together the land of the fantastic and fairy tale with real life and real issues. This is my genre. As a teen and an adult, I found myself drawn to books like this like, Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire, and Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley. I found it a little slow to start, but then suddenly I was immersed and looking for clues left by John Connolly about what Fairy Tale he was referencing and twisting to fit his own story. I found myself getting a little creeped out at points in the novel from the beginning when David begins to hear the books talking to him (though the description of the voices of his therapist’s books is hysterical). Even though I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I am hesitant to say that I would recommend it to teens. I think that if a teen that had my similar reading preferences then I would, but it would be a book that I would recommend after a thorough reader’s advisory interview or a long-standing relationship had been built.

Normally, I don’t check the reviews on Amazon.com. I did this time only because I had such difficulty finding this book. One review read as follows: “I hated this book: This book is horrible. It started out okay, then kept getting worse and worse and worse, and then I kept reading to see if it would get better, and it didn’t. Worst book I’ve ever read. An employee at Border’s recommended it to me because I liked The Thirteenth Tale. I still can’t look at that man the same when I go in Border’s. What was he thinking?” This review speaks to all my fears of recommending a book I loved to the wrong reader. I have to say that after reading this, it changed my mind on whether or not I would recommend this book to any teen.

The Rose That Grew From Concrete

I was excited to read the one book that has been on the reading list for several semesters without being replaced. I wanted to try to figure out why it would be so important to read and would I think that this would be important for teens to read.

After reading the works in The Rose That Grew From Concrete, I feel like I can understand the answers to both my questions. Again, this work would have some of the appeal that Freedom Writers did. Tupac Shakur writes the poetry during his teen years, expressing the feelings that a teenager would experience during that time in their lives. Obviously, there are going to be things that make Tupac different from teens because of where he grew up and how. I think this would be true of any teens work. Life is different for everyone, but there are also similarities that are true for most humans. I do like that each poem is written in his hand complete with random designs and markings along side a typeface version of the same poem. The handwritten portion makes the book feel like it is someone’s private diary and thoughts, almost like I’m invading Tupac Shakur’s privacy. The typeface version made me feel like it was ok to read this, someone had given me permission to enter Tupac Shakur’s world. Also, his use of numbers in place of words pre-dates the language of text messaging, but like Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List, I feel like the language is familiar to teens that would be reading it today.

Poetry is something that most children are introduced to early in life with nursery rhymes, children’s songs, Dr. Seuss and other forms that parents encourage the children to read or listen to. Shel Silverstein and authors like him somewhat bridge the gap between pre-school when we are drowned in poetry and jr. high and sr. high school when poetry becomes William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, William Blake for kids in their teen years because of school curriculums, but he can become a guilty pleasure or too young for the reader. Poetry suddenly becomes all about iambic pentameter and rhyme schemes and the mechanics of poetry rather than the feelings behind the poems. The Rose That Grew From Concrete is a poetry collection that could be and should be taught in the classroom. It is well written poetry that explores many of the mechanic of poetry teachers would like a student to understand when it comes to poetry, like rhyme schemes and such.

I tried finding similar books that could accomplish most or all of what The Rose That Grew From Concrete does, but I was unable to. There are other places where teens can find poetry that they may be able to relate to better than the poetry they are fed in school like Teen Ink Magazine and their book series, or books written in verse like Girl Coming in For a Landing by April Halprin Wayland or A Wreath for Emitt Till by Marilyn Nelson. I was unable to find a book of collected poems that I thought was a good as this book or that I thought teens would enjoy as much.

Is America Getting Dumber?

I know that this has nothing to do with our reading for this week, but I wanted to share this segment that was on the Today show this morning. I stopped to watch it just to see if they were going to discuss the reading habits of American teens and if they thought that contributed to “America Getting Dumber” Instead it was author, Susan Jacoby and one of the producers, Noah Oppenheim, from the show promoting their books through a discussion about what their thoughts were on the topic. I felt like they touched on some of the discussion we had in class about how people define “reading”. Please watch the video before you read anymore.

It was interesting to hear the discussion between the two authors and Matt Lauer concerning technology and reading online. Ms. Jacoby had moments of appearing as a staunch traditionalist when it came to what she considered “reading,” but it was difficult to get any substantial feeling from Mr. Oppenheim. He seemed to be playing it a little safe. Ms. Jacoby seemed to only compromise her views as the interview was winding down and her time was being cut short. Also, her examples of what she considered technological tools seemed to be computer-focused without being specific. It lead me to believe that she was not that technologically savvy herself. This made me think that it was her not understanding the new technological tools out there that made her somewhat dismissive of them. Overall, I thought the piece was interesting and relevant to the issues surrounding the perception of teens and their reading habits.

Freak Show

I absolutely loved this book! It was one of the first books that I have read in a long time that made me laugh out loud in a good way, not the cynical “this is ridiculous” way. Lines like, “Lying on a mattress stuffed with gravel. Trying not to cut myself on the sheets. (Estimated thread count: three.) absolutely killed me. And the moments when Billy would address things like the reader reading the inside flap of the book made it so easy to really feel connected to him. He seemed to be sitting right beside while I read his story.

I think teens would really enjoy his candor and honesty (even when he admits to lying to the reader earlier in the book). The book is completely from his perspective, which he is constantly reminding us of. I know there are parts of the book that are difficult to get through because the pain and confusion is so real and the anger and rage is so stifling. But I feel like teens (even ones not having to deal with bigotry because of their sexual orientation) would be able to relate to the feelings of trying to survive a new school, fitting in, making new friends, falling in love, or wanting to hide completely from the world. I feel like this is all brought together when Billy gives his speech at the pep rally about all teenagers being freaks. “We are freaks, because we’re teenagers. We are, by nature, oily, throbbing, mutating, misshapen space aliens.” I could go on because I love the whole speech, but I won’t for sake of space.

I know that there may be some apprehension to recommend this book to a teen because of some of the issues it discusses, but I think that most teens that read this book would find part of themselves in Billy Bloom.

YALSA Awards and Lists

I always feel a little bit funny when it comes to awards for literature. I waver on whether or not there are too many awards for books for teen and children’s literature. On one hand, I feel that it is important to celebrate great works in any format: audio, print, graphic, or film. If a work is exceptional, it deserves to be set apart from other works that may not be of its caliber. But I also think when there are too many different awards being given, it takes some of the weight of winning an award away. And in the end, I am not saying that people should only seek out award winning books when looking for something to read. I know I don’t.

What was interesting about the six awards listed on the YALSA website was that so many of them seemed to have come into place within the last ten years. And there were two new awards that had not even been awarded to anyone or thing yet: the William C. Morris YA Debut Award (to be awarded in 2009) and the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults (to be awarded in 2010). I had not heard of many of them until going to this site with the exception of Michael L. Printz award. I referenced the Printz award and American Born Chinese in a paper discussing the importance of graphic novels and comics in libraries. I will admit I used to Printz award to give the graphic novel weight to suit my needs. This is a perfect example of why I feel conflicted when it comes to awards and the number of awards being given.

I liked the lists that were offered on the web site. I started to compare some of the lists to each other to see if there were any books that were shared amongst these awards. I was especially interested in the Teen’s Top Ten list. I wanted to see how many of the books that teens had said were the best were on other lists chosen by adults. There were only three that I could find from the 2007 winners that made it onto these other lists: Just Listen by Sarah Dessen and Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfefer were on the Best Books for Young Adults list for the same year and New Moon by Stephanie Meyer was on the Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (it was the number one book on the Teen’s Top Ten). I’m not sure if three out of ten is good or bad. On one hand, it is great that there is any correlation, but on the other hand, I thought there should have been more books shared between the Quick Picks list and the Top Ten Teen list.

Dramacon

I should have made the connection when this book was assigned that the title was a play on Comic-Con. I didn’t figure it out until I got the book home and began to read. It was really fun to read a Manga book about a conference where Manga is celebrated and revered. There are many Comic-Con’s around the country, but I’m assuming this book takes place at the biggest of them all, the Comic-Con in San Diego. I’ve included a link to the site for the 2008 conference-taking place at the end of July. I have friend who have gone for the past couple years and are going again this year. It supposed to be absolutely incredible with Indy comic writer booths to booths promoting the latest Marvel movie. People come dressed in costumes of their favorite characters from comic books, graphic novels, movies, television as well as their own creations. That is just my quick plug for checking out Comic-Con.

Getting back to the book, I just wanted to say I enjoyed it. It took me less than an hour to read the whole thing. The extra “On the Set” comics at the end intrigued me. It was great to see the creative staff having fun with their characters and treating them like celebrities who were not real characters but just actors playing a role. I also thought it was an interesting approach to disconnecting characters like Derek from violent acts like his drunken attempted rape. In the last of the comic series, Revenge of On The Set, Christie says, “My co-stars are so wonderful-even Derek’s a total sweetheart off-camera.” It makes it seem like Derek is just playing an evil jerk. I don’t know how I felt about it. I’m can’t decide if it really does lessen the seriousness of it all or if it doesn’t detract at all.

Connecting with Teen Relcutant Readers

I was a little hesitant about the 109 pages from Connecting with Teen Reluctant Readers, but once I really dug in, it was great. I thought that there were a lot of really great ideas about how to connect with reluctant readers and get them interested in reading. I thought it was interesting how much the reading reinforced that comics and graphic novels were to be taken seriously and definitely count as reading. And while, the reading did say that they were not a “solve all” and wouldn’t work for everyone (because nothing could), they were not to be discounted when it came to getting reluctant teens interested in reading.

As an English literature major in college and a honors English high school student, I had been one of those people in the camp of reading fiction is the only thing that counts as “reading” until I worked for Disney Adventures magazine. Here is just a brief description of what Disney Adventures was before being closed down in 2007. It is a magazine for the “tween” reader that covered movies, music, fashion, sports, video games and comics. I had friends who were always reading comics and graphic novels, but I had never thought of reading them as actually really “reading.” There were just pictures with word bubbles filled with sci-fi babble (and I like sci-fi). It was after reading letters from our readers about their thoughts on the comics that we ran in our magazine that I realized comics and graphic novels were much more than babble. I decided that I needed to start reading comics and graphic novels, so I could better understand our audience and I could become better at my job. I started off with Preacher, a dark comic about a man who finds redemption through some pretty heinous acts and with some pretty unpleasant side kicks. It was a co-workers suggestion and probably not the best place to start. It wasn’t until a friend of mine, who letters comics, asked me to look over Johnny Hiro: half Asian, all hero and let him know how his lettering looked. And I loved it from beginning to end. I started reading more graphic novels and started paging through some manga as well. I even wrote a paper about cataloging graphic novels for my Information Organization class. I had finally understood that comics were art and well written stories meant for everyone not the stereotypical sci-fi nerd.

Another idea that came from the reading that I really liked was, Reading Fridays. This could be the reader in me, but I truly love the idea of reading for pleasure every Friday. It is a great way to overcome the excuse of “I don’t have enough time to read.” I wish that they had offered that when I went to school. It seems like such a simple solution. All students have to take English all four years they are in high school, so to have one class period a week where they got to read and take a break for all four years sounds great. And it would be different from Study Halls, which in my high school was used as an extra gym period or a super long smoke break for most students. It would be a class where the teacher is reading with the students and the structure of a classroom is still present. Also, it would be a break from the typical English curriculum and students wouldn’t have to finish the books they way the do for class. This seemed to be another obvious stroke of genius. Students are never told if you don’t like it then find something else. I think if that was the case, they would never read Shakespeare or Chaucer for the language alone.

After reading this material, I just want to get out there and start implementing some of the ideas I really liked.

Medicinal Coke?

I guess I can understand why Seventeenth Summer has been on the Booklist for as long as it has. Angie’s story is filled with emotions and fears that are probably not that uncommon to a teenage girl who thinks she is falling in love for the first time. It is fun to read what she is thinking but too afraid to say out loud. I find even as an adult, I have moments of thinking about things I would like to say but don’t. It is the window into Angie’s inner thoughts that could still make this book relevant. They are just slightly more innocent and naive than I would expect a teenager to feel, but it has been a while since I was teenage girl.

On the other hand, there were quite a few things that I thought really dated the book. The idea of kissing on a third date being somewhat scandalous was slightly amusing. I was trying just as hard as Angie to figure out what event Jack had thought may have offended her pure sensibilities. Also, the drinking age being 18 was another sign that this book was not current. The pressure for a woman to find a boyfriend or husband to make her complete was a little unsettling and very dated (at least I like to think it is). The remark that Angie’s mother makes about finding Lorraine a date to country club dance because Angie and her older sister both have them and it wouldn’t be right for the older and younger sister to have dates to the dance and not her reminded me of something straight out of Jane Austen. And then there was my favorite moment that made it clear this book was from another time. It is when Angie talks about how the Cokes are more medicinal tasting at one drugstore compared to Pete’s. I love the thought of Coke being different in one town depending on where you get it.

Overall, I was tolerant of the sugary sweetness and innocence only because I knew this book was written in 1942 (and thought came back to me on almost every page). I don’t know if I would suggest this book to a teenage reader unless they had an special affinity for romance novels.

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