Ash
Malinda Lo
ISBN 978-0-316-04009-9
264 pages
Little, Brown, & Co., 2009
Genre: Fairy Tale; LGBT
Readers Annotation
In a retelling of Cinderella, Ash strikes a bargain with a male fairy and falls in love with Kaisa, the King's Huntress.
Plot Summary
Set in an unnamed kingdom a long time ago, most people dismiss fairy tales and magic as cautionary tales meant to scare people and keep children safe. Only few women known as greenwitches remember the truth: that fairies are real--and dangerous. Ash's mother was one of them and passed along a few of these traditions to her daughter,despite her husband's disapproval. After Ash's mother dies suddenly, Ash's father quickly remarries a woman with two step-daughters, then dies suddenly himself. Lady Isobel, who believed she had married a wealthy man, is shocked to discover her late husband is deeply in debt and forces Ash to become a servant to her and her daughters to pay it off. Consumed with grief at the sudden loss of both her parents, Ash can do little but accept her fate. She wanders the woods by her house alone, half-remembering fairy tales that her mother told her, and wanting to disappear into their world. She encounters a fairy named Sidhean, who warns her of the dangers of the forest and gives her a cloak to protect her.
During her walks in the woods, she encounters Kaisa, the King's Huntress. They slowly and cautiously form a friendship, with Kaisa teaching Ash to ride whenever her stepmother and stepsisters are out of town. Ash asks Sidhean to grant wishes that will allow her to get closer to Kaisa, but Sidhean warns her that as payment, she will belong to him. It seems a preferable fate to a lifetime suffering the cruelties of her stepmother, so Ash agrees. However, as Ash realizes that she is falling in love with Kaisa, she begins to regret her promise.
Critical Evaluation
Ash is a beautifully written book; its prose has a poetic, haunting quality. While it is a retelling of Cinderella, it is mostly a story about grief. The first half of the book shows how a grief-stricken Ash walks around the world, numb, wishing desperately to return to the comfort of her mother. Through her wanderings in the woods, Ash has seen the human girls captured and enchanted by fairies, and how they are driven to a sort of madness. However, even before she strikes the bargain with Sidhean, she wishes to be one of them, because it would be preferable to the pain she experiences in the human world. Ash's romance with Kaisa is notable because Kaisa reawakens in Ash the desire to live. She begins to see the beauty in the human world and realizes that the fairies must resent the humans because fairies can never experience the same warmth and joy that humans can.
Though there is a plot involving the prince holding a ball to seek a bride from all eligible girls in the kingdom, and Ash does attend the ball and dance with the prince, there is a never a hint of romance between Ash and the prince. The romance in the book is solely between Ash and Kaisa. It's interesting to note that lesbian relationships are acknowledged and accepted in the kingdom; at the ball, Ash notices several women trying to catch Kaisa's eyes. The story of fairy's influence, too, is changed. Rather than a benevolent fairy godmother, Sidhean's presence is complicated. Though he protects Ash from fairies who wish to do her harm, he also extracts from her the promise that she will turn himself over completely to him. In a confession late in the book, we find out Sidhean's history and motivations. The book's conclusion is quite moving. The book reminded me of Beauty by Robin McKinley, in that our appreciation of the original fairy tale broadens after the author shows us what the heroine's complicated emotions might have been.
About the Author
Ash is the first novel by Malinda Lo, who previously worked as managing editor of the site AfterEllen.com, an entertainment news site for lesbian and bisexual women. She was awarded the Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for Excellence in LGBT journalism.
Curriculum Ties
Ash might be used in a high school English class to discuss the way that fairy tales can be altered and changed to remain relevant.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Sell the book as a lesbian Cinderella, focusing on the budding romance between Ash and Kaisa.
2. Talk about the book's focus on grief; Ash is so numb and hurt after her parents' death that she is willing to give up her life to escape the pain.
3. Focus on the complicated relationship between Ash and Sidhean. What does he want from her? What does she want from him?
Reading Interest/Level
The book's writing is fairly complex, making it most appropriate for high school readers.
Challenge Issues
While the book has no graphic or objectionable content, the mere fact that it is about two girls who fall in love may cause some people to challenge its presence. If it were challenged, the librarian should ideally read the book to best be able to respond to the challenge; if not possible, the librarian should read reviews of the book in professional journals and look at sites like Common Sense Media to familiarize herself with any potentially controversial topics. She should also be able to explain and defend the library's selection policy and explain how Ash fits into that policy. She could point to the numerous positive reviews that Ash received, including a starred review in Kirkus, to defend its worth.
Selection Criteria
Ash received a glowing review on a YA blog I read (A Chair, A Fireplace, & A Tea Cozy), which intrigued me. I realized that I knew the author (Malinda Lo) from college, so I was doubly intrigued!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Moon White by Melody Carlson
Moon White
Melody Carlson
ISBN 9-78157683-951-5
215 pages
TH1NK Books, 2007
Genre: Christian
Readers Annotation
After a new girl moves into town and supplants Heather as prima ballerina--not to mention steals her boyfriend--Heather feels like her life is spinning out of control. She takes up Wicca in an attempt to control her own destiny but finds her newfound spirituality may not be all she had bargained for.
Plot Summary
17-year-old Heather's mother died four years ago. Her father has recently remarried a younger woman, a free spirit named Augustine, who has remodeled their home and almost erased all memories of her mother. Heather accepts some of Augustine's new ideas, such as embracing veganism, but worries that she is losing control over her life. With her stepmother's blessing, Heather decides to learn about Wicca. Her Christian friend Lucy warns her against it, and then ends their friendship when Heather decides to continue on a Wiccan path. Meanwhile, a new girl, Liz, has come to town. Heather is an accomplished ballerina and has looked forward to dancing the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy in this year's recital of the Nutcracker. However, Liz is an even better dancer than Heather, and Heather assumes Liz will get the part.
Heather and Liz become friends. As Heather learns more about Wicca, she feels more in control of her own destiny. With the help of some love potions, she is able to catch the eye of Hunter, a boy she has always dreamed about. The meditation and focus she develops through her practice improves her dance. Everything seems to be going perfectly for once in Heather's life. But then Hunter and Liz start dating, Heather's dancing falls apart, and Liz takes Heather's place in her old group of friends. Heather starts to loathe Liz as an enemy. A fellow Wiccan tells her about a spell she can cast to put harm on Liz. Should Heather continue down what may be a dangerous spiritual path?
Critical Evaluation
Unlike another Christian novel reviewed in this blog, Hollywood Nobody, Moon White would have little appeal to a non-Christian reader. In fact, non-Christian readers would probably find it downright offensive. Heather's veganism is equated with her decision to follow Wicca; only once she has accepted Christ in her heart can she enjoy a juicy cheeseburger. The entire point of the book is to proselytize; there are no measured discussions about religion, and Christianity is painted as the only right path. While Heather does struggle with spirituality throughout the book, it's clear that Christianity is the only correct answer.
Apart from its role as a cautionary tale, there's little to recommend about this book. The characters are stock, and the writing is flat. Many interesting characteristics about Heather, such as her dance, are not explored in any detail. While Liz's decision to date Hunter is supposed to be a big dramatic moment in their friendship, we can't really blame Liz because, as she points out, Hunter and Heather had not really started dating yet. Similarly, it seems strange that instead of working harder on her dancing, Heather decides to seek revenge on Liz by casting several dark spells against her. For a general reader, there's no appeal here.
Other Books in the Series
There are 10 other books in Carlson's True Colors series, including titles like Bright Purple (in which a Christian girl struggles to accept her friend who has just come out of the closet) and Torch Red (in which a girl decides whether or not to remain a virgin).
About the Author
Melody Carlson has written over 200 Christian-themed books, including many for young adults. In addition to the popular True Colors series, she has written the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. These books, written in diary format, follow the spiritual struggles of a rotating group of teenage girls. She has also written the Carter House Girls series, about a group of unlikely girls who are being turned into debutantes. An Amazon review calls this series a Christian alternative to Gossip Girl.
Curriculum Ties
This book would not be appropriate for use in a public school curriculum because of its clear religious agenda. However, the publisher's website suggests that this book and others in the series be used at church youth group retreats or lock ins, which would probably be a very appropriate use for them.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about why Heather decides to turn to Wicca.
2. Talk about Heather's frenemy, Liz, and her strained relationship with her old friend, Lucy.
3. Talk about Heather's home life: the changes her stepmother has introduced, and her feeling like she is slipping away from her mother.
Reading Interest/Level
These books are appropriate for high schoolers. While junior high readers would definitely be able to read the books, some of the themes at the end of the book may be too mature for younger readers.
Challenge Issues
Because these books have a clear religious agenda, they could definitely be challenged, especially in a school library setting. While there is certainly an audience for this type of book, I personally found it a bit off-putting that the book doesn't make its genre clear. Moon White is part of the True Colors series of books; at least 11 have been published so far. There were two huge displays of these books at a local library's young adult section; I flipped through the back covers of all of them and haphazardly decided on this one. Nothing in the blurbs made it clear that they were Christian books. A teen reader of a different religious background who picked up one of these books would probably be quite offended.
A librarian defending the inclusion of this book in the collection should ideally read the book, or, if unavailable, read reviews of the book. Reviews of the book were not published in the main professional journals; however, reviews of the book can be found on blogs like Teen Reads. The librarian should be able to explain and defend the library's selection policy and explain how the book fits those criteria. For this book, the librarian might be able to point to its popularity, especially if it circulated well, and point to other contemporary titles that appeal to readers of different faiths.
Selection Criteria
I picked up this book because a local library had two large displays of this series. I had never heard of it, but I figured it must be popular. I had no idea that they were Christian books, but I decided to pick one up. I noticed the author's name in a blurb review of another Christian-themed book I reviewed for this blog, Hollywood Nobody, so I decided to read it as an example of a book in the Christian genre.
Melody Carlson
ISBN 9-78157683-951-5
215 pages
TH1NK Books, 2007
Genre: Christian
Readers Annotation
After a new girl moves into town and supplants Heather as prima ballerina--not to mention steals her boyfriend--Heather feels like her life is spinning out of control. She takes up Wicca in an attempt to control her own destiny but finds her newfound spirituality may not be all she had bargained for.
Plot Summary
17-year-old Heather's mother died four years ago. Her father has recently remarried a younger woman, a free spirit named Augustine, who has remodeled their home and almost erased all memories of her mother. Heather accepts some of Augustine's new ideas, such as embracing veganism, but worries that she is losing control over her life. With her stepmother's blessing, Heather decides to learn about Wicca. Her Christian friend Lucy warns her against it, and then ends their friendship when Heather decides to continue on a Wiccan path. Meanwhile, a new girl, Liz, has come to town. Heather is an accomplished ballerina and has looked forward to dancing the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy in this year's recital of the Nutcracker. However, Liz is an even better dancer than Heather, and Heather assumes Liz will get the part.
Heather and Liz become friends. As Heather learns more about Wicca, she feels more in control of her own destiny. With the help of some love potions, she is able to catch the eye of Hunter, a boy she has always dreamed about. The meditation and focus she develops through her practice improves her dance. Everything seems to be going perfectly for once in Heather's life. But then Hunter and Liz start dating, Heather's dancing falls apart, and Liz takes Heather's place in her old group of friends. Heather starts to loathe Liz as an enemy. A fellow Wiccan tells her about a spell she can cast to put harm on Liz. Should Heather continue down what may be a dangerous spiritual path?
Critical Evaluation
Unlike another Christian novel reviewed in this blog, Hollywood Nobody, Moon White would have little appeal to a non-Christian reader. In fact, non-Christian readers would probably find it downright offensive. Heather's veganism is equated with her decision to follow Wicca; only once she has accepted Christ in her heart can she enjoy a juicy cheeseburger. The entire point of the book is to proselytize; there are no measured discussions about religion, and Christianity is painted as the only right path. While Heather does struggle with spirituality throughout the book, it's clear that Christianity is the only correct answer.
Apart from its role as a cautionary tale, there's little to recommend about this book. The characters are stock, and the writing is flat. Many interesting characteristics about Heather, such as her dance, are not explored in any detail. While Liz's decision to date Hunter is supposed to be a big dramatic moment in their friendship, we can't really blame Liz because, as she points out, Hunter and Heather had not really started dating yet. Similarly, it seems strange that instead of working harder on her dancing, Heather decides to seek revenge on Liz by casting several dark spells against her. For a general reader, there's no appeal here.
Other Books in the Series
There are 10 other books in Carlson's True Colors series, including titles like Bright Purple (in which a Christian girl struggles to accept her friend who has just come out of the closet) and Torch Red (in which a girl decides whether or not to remain a virgin).
About the Author
Melody Carlson has written over 200 Christian-themed books, including many for young adults. In addition to the popular True Colors series, she has written the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. These books, written in diary format, follow the spiritual struggles of a rotating group of teenage girls. She has also written the Carter House Girls series, about a group of unlikely girls who are being turned into debutantes. An Amazon review calls this series a Christian alternative to Gossip Girl.
Curriculum Ties
This book would not be appropriate for use in a public school curriculum because of its clear religious agenda. However, the publisher's website suggests that this book and others in the series be used at church youth group retreats or lock ins, which would probably be a very appropriate use for them.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about why Heather decides to turn to Wicca.
2. Talk about Heather's frenemy, Liz, and her strained relationship with her old friend, Lucy.
3. Talk about Heather's home life: the changes her stepmother has introduced, and her feeling like she is slipping away from her mother.
Reading Interest/Level
These books are appropriate for high schoolers. While junior high readers would definitely be able to read the books, some of the themes at the end of the book may be too mature for younger readers.
Challenge Issues
Because these books have a clear religious agenda, they could definitely be challenged, especially in a school library setting. While there is certainly an audience for this type of book, I personally found it a bit off-putting that the book doesn't make its genre clear. Moon White is part of the True Colors series of books; at least 11 have been published so far. There were two huge displays of these books at a local library's young adult section; I flipped through the back covers of all of them and haphazardly decided on this one. Nothing in the blurbs made it clear that they were Christian books. A teen reader of a different religious background who picked up one of these books would probably be quite offended.
A librarian defending the inclusion of this book in the collection should ideally read the book, or, if unavailable, read reviews of the book. Reviews of the book were not published in the main professional journals; however, reviews of the book can be found on blogs like Teen Reads. The librarian should be able to explain and defend the library's selection policy and explain how the book fits those criteria. For this book, the librarian might be able to point to its popularity, especially if it circulated well, and point to other contemporary titles that appeal to readers of different faiths.
Selection Criteria
I picked up this book because a local library had two large displays of this series. I had never heard of it, but I figured it must be popular. I had no idea that they were Christian books, but I decided to pick one up. I noticed the author's name in a blurb review of another Christian-themed book I reviewed for this blog, Hollywood Nobody, so I decided to read it as an example of a book in the Christian genre.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
Ghost World
Written and Illustrated by Daniel Clowes
ISBN 1-56097-427-3
80 pages
Fantagraphics, 1998
Genre: Graphic Novel; Adult Crossover
Readers Annotation
The summer after their graduation from high school, two teenage girls criticize the mundane and celebrate the bizarre in their town.
Plot Summary
Enid and Becky just graduated from high school and spend their days drifting aimlessly through their decaying town. They take pleasure in making fun of everything mercilessly; no one and nothing lives up to their demanding standards. Becky likes watching sordid television shows, while Enid finds strange people around town. At the diner she hangs out at, she meets John Ellis, who defends child pornography and serial killers for shock value, and spies on a middle-aged couple she deems the Satanists.
Enid and Becky meet Josh, who is rightly wary of them--he correctly suspects that they try to make him feel uncomfortable so they can make fun of him--but he's also interested enough in the girls that he lets themselves be persuaded by them to accompany them on some of their adventures. Enid convinces him to take her to a porn shop, and Becky and Enid also get him to drive them to a '50s diner to spy on the writer of a personal ad they have pranked into showing up. They begin to show some remorse in some of their antics; after openly mocking the waiter and the restaurant, Enid returns to leave him a big tip.
Enid's father wants her to apply to a competitive college. Becky at first sees this as a betrayal, but then plans to follow Enid to college. Enid's negative reaction forms a crack in their friendship. So does Becky's burgeoning relationship with Josh, whom Enid is also interested in. By the time the fall rolls around, the girls' lives have moved in separate directions.
Critical Evaluation
This is a funny and smartly observed comic about adolescence. Becky and Enid both portray themselves as tragically hip, as too cool to care about anything, while the reader can see that they both care about things desperately, that their coolness is an act put up to protect themselves against the pain they've both suffered in their lives. Enid's gone through a series of stepmothers and spends the latter half of the novel trying to recapture the happiness she experienced as a young girl, first by listening to her favorite childhood record and then returning to an amusement park she visited as a child.
Enid and Becky's treatment of other people is realistically callous. They treat others as objects of their own amusement. Though never as mean as they were, the work stirred up memories of similar comments and superior opinions I held as a teen.
There are many hints throughout the novel that Enid and Becky's friendship will not last. Often, they appear to be talking about different things. Enid makes fun of things that Becky likes and rightfully--though cruelly--accuses Becky of having no ambition for her own life and following Enid around. Becky ends up choosing a more conventional path, taking a job at a bagel shop and starting a real friendship or relationship with Josh. Enid is left alone and aimless; the ending of the story is ambiguous and sad. Some interpret it to mean that Enid commits suicide, while others believe that Enid has decided to leave her old life behind and start it as a completely new person, as she admits that she has fantasized about.
Clowes' blue-toned pen and ink illustrations are detailed and evocative. While Becky remains visually the same throughout the series, Enid tries on a series of looks, mirroring her desire to try on a series of alternate identities. Clowes portrays the "freaks" and "losers" Enid and Becky make fun of compassionately, showing both why they attract the girls' attention but also treating them with compassion and dignity. (It's important to note that Clowes gives himself the same treatment in the novel, as the comic artist that Enid loves, but dismisses as an "old perv").
About the Author
Daniel Clowes is a graphic novelist closely associated with Generation X and the underground comics movement. Most of his work has been published in Eightball, his own comics anthology, though the New York Times published one of his novels in serial formats. He's best known for Ghost World, which he also helped turn into a critically acclaimed feature film. His screenplay for that film was nominated for an Academy Award.
Curriculum Ties
The book is not particularly well suited for use in a school curriculum, though many have compared it favorably to the freshman year English classic, The Catcher in the Rye. A teacher who was trying to inspire modern teens might assign the graphic novel in conjunction with Catcher and ask students to compare Enid and Holden.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about Enid and Becky's ironic attitudes and the types of things and people they love to hate.
2. Are Enid and Becky "frenemies"? Talk about how they may be outgrowing their friendship.
3. Talk about the novel's strange and wonderful supporting cast of characters.
Reading Interest/Level
While intended for an adult audience, the novel has a big young adult following. However, it is appropriate for high schoolers and above.
Challenge Issues
There is some nudity in the book; Enid tells the story of how she lost her virginity. Enid and Becky discuss sex, jokingly saying they "want to do" some of the oddballs they meet. They also discuss masturbation and the fact that they might be lesbians. Enid and Josh go to a porn store, where Enid picks up a giant dildo.
Should the book be challenged, the librarian should ideally read it. If not able to, s/he should read professional reviews of the book and descriptions of its potentially controversial content on a site like Common Sense Media. The librarian could point to its popularity, including being named an ALA Popular Paperback, and its general critical acclaim, as proof of its worth.
Selection Criteria
I wanted to read some graphic novels for this project. I was aware of Ghost World from the movie but had never read the book. I thought its subject matter (the lives of teenage girls) made it a perfect pick for this project.
Written and Illustrated by Daniel Clowes
ISBN 1-56097-427-3
80 pages
Fantagraphics, 1998
Genre: Graphic Novel; Adult Crossover
Readers Annotation
The summer after their graduation from high school, two teenage girls criticize the mundane and celebrate the bizarre in their town.
Plot Summary
Enid and Becky just graduated from high school and spend their days drifting aimlessly through their decaying town. They take pleasure in making fun of everything mercilessly; no one and nothing lives up to their demanding standards. Becky likes watching sordid television shows, while Enid finds strange people around town. At the diner she hangs out at, she meets John Ellis, who defends child pornography and serial killers for shock value, and spies on a middle-aged couple she deems the Satanists.
Enid and Becky meet Josh, who is rightly wary of them--he correctly suspects that they try to make him feel uncomfortable so they can make fun of him--but he's also interested enough in the girls that he lets themselves be persuaded by them to accompany them on some of their adventures. Enid convinces him to take her to a porn shop, and Becky and Enid also get him to drive them to a '50s diner to spy on the writer of a personal ad they have pranked into showing up. They begin to show some remorse in some of their antics; after openly mocking the waiter and the restaurant, Enid returns to leave him a big tip.
Enid's father wants her to apply to a competitive college. Becky at first sees this as a betrayal, but then plans to follow Enid to college. Enid's negative reaction forms a crack in their friendship. So does Becky's burgeoning relationship with Josh, whom Enid is also interested in. By the time the fall rolls around, the girls' lives have moved in separate directions.
Critical Evaluation
This is a funny and smartly observed comic about adolescence. Becky and Enid both portray themselves as tragically hip, as too cool to care about anything, while the reader can see that they both care about things desperately, that their coolness is an act put up to protect themselves against the pain they've both suffered in their lives. Enid's gone through a series of stepmothers and spends the latter half of the novel trying to recapture the happiness she experienced as a young girl, first by listening to her favorite childhood record and then returning to an amusement park she visited as a child.
Enid and Becky's treatment of other people is realistically callous. They treat others as objects of their own amusement. Though never as mean as they were, the work stirred up memories of similar comments and superior opinions I held as a teen.
There are many hints throughout the novel that Enid and Becky's friendship will not last. Often, they appear to be talking about different things. Enid makes fun of things that Becky likes and rightfully--though cruelly--accuses Becky of having no ambition for her own life and following Enid around. Becky ends up choosing a more conventional path, taking a job at a bagel shop and starting a real friendship or relationship with Josh. Enid is left alone and aimless; the ending of the story is ambiguous and sad. Some interpret it to mean that Enid commits suicide, while others believe that Enid has decided to leave her old life behind and start it as a completely new person, as she admits that she has fantasized about.
Clowes' blue-toned pen and ink illustrations are detailed and evocative. While Becky remains visually the same throughout the series, Enid tries on a series of looks, mirroring her desire to try on a series of alternate identities. Clowes portrays the "freaks" and "losers" Enid and Becky make fun of compassionately, showing both why they attract the girls' attention but also treating them with compassion and dignity. (It's important to note that Clowes gives himself the same treatment in the novel, as the comic artist that Enid loves, but dismisses as an "old perv").
About the Author
Daniel Clowes is a graphic novelist closely associated with Generation X and the underground comics movement. Most of his work has been published in Eightball, his own comics anthology, though the New York Times published one of his novels in serial formats. He's best known for Ghost World, which he also helped turn into a critically acclaimed feature film. His screenplay for that film was nominated for an Academy Award.
Curriculum Ties
The book is not particularly well suited for use in a school curriculum, though many have compared it favorably to the freshman year English classic, The Catcher in the Rye. A teacher who was trying to inspire modern teens might assign the graphic novel in conjunction with Catcher and ask students to compare Enid and Holden.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about Enid and Becky's ironic attitudes and the types of things and people they love to hate.
2. Are Enid and Becky "frenemies"? Talk about how they may be outgrowing their friendship.
3. Talk about the novel's strange and wonderful supporting cast of characters.
Reading Interest/Level
While intended for an adult audience, the novel has a big young adult following. However, it is appropriate for high schoolers and above.
Challenge Issues
There is some nudity in the book; Enid tells the story of how she lost her virginity. Enid and Becky discuss sex, jokingly saying they "want to do" some of the oddballs they meet. They also discuss masturbation and the fact that they might be lesbians. Enid and Josh go to a porn store, where Enid picks up a giant dildo.
Should the book be challenged, the librarian should ideally read it. If not able to, s/he should read professional reviews of the book and descriptions of its potentially controversial content on a site like Common Sense Media. The librarian could point to its popularity, including being named an ALA Popular Paperback, and its general critical acclaim, as proof of its worth.
Selection Criteria
I wanted to read some graphic novels for this project. I was aware of Ghost World from the movie but had never read the book. I thought its subject matter (the lives of teenage girls) made it a perfect pick for this project.
Hollywood Nobody by Lisa Samson
Hollywood Nobody
Lisa Samson
ISBN 978-1-60006-091-5
209 pages
NavPress, 2007
Genre: Christian
Readers Annotation
15-year-old Scotty, whose mom works as a food designer for films, tries to figure out family, love, and God as she blogs about her experiences growing up on movie sets.
Plot Summary
15-year-old Scotty has never lived a normal life. Her mom works for the movies, as a food designer. They live on the road in an RV, moving from movie shoot to movie shoot. Scotty has an insider's view of the real Hollywood--she's met all the big stars and knows their weird secrets--but her closest friends are the senior citizens who also live the RV life. Scotty's mom, Charley, is an ex-hippie vegan who keeps a tight leash on Scotty. Scotty, whose two biggest passions in life are cheese and Hollywood gossip, relies on her RV and movie set friends to help her get her dairy fix. She secretly runs a blog, Hollywood Nobody, where she gives the inside scoop about Hollywood to her readers.
On a shoot on a remote island off North Carolina, Scotty begins to come of age. She befriends Seth Haas, an up-and-coming actor who is both talented and incredibly nice. She gets to know Joy, the niece of two of her RV friends, who was on the verge of becoming a famous designer in New York, but is now living incognito as a waitress on the island. She wonders about God, deciding to attend a tent revival and to start reading the Bible. And she worries about Charley, who takes mysterious phone calls in the middle of the night and is clearly worried about someone finding them.
Critical Evaluation
Lisa Samson creates a likable character in Scotty. She celebrates that Scotty is not a cookie cutter conformist, emphasizing her love of vintage fashion, her love of food, and her healthy size. Scotty is homeschooled, and she's incredibly self-motivated. Large parts of the books are devoted to Scotty's homework; she picks interesting things out of her life to research further, such as the history of the island where they are staying. She's friends with an interesting variety of people; the only one her own age is Seth. Older than her are: Jeremy, the famous director of the film that's shooting; Grammie and Grampie, two of her RV friends from the road; Joy, the designer; and Seth's parents, who comment at one point that life would be pretty boring if you only hung out with people your own age. It's true for the book, too. Some Hollywood gossip, naming both real and imaginary people, spices things up a little.
There's nothing on the book's cover or back blurb to suggest that it's Christian fiction, although it clearly is in that genre. In this book, Scotty is not a Christian nor a member of any religion, though she spends a good portion of the book pondering religion and Christianity, first from an intellectual standpoint and then from a more personal one. At the end of the book, Scotty decides that faith is a good thing, though she has not yet converted. Reading reader reviews of the other books on Amazon, it seems like religion becomes a bigger part as the series progresses. I believe that the book would appeal to non-Christian readers; the level of religion in this book seemed similar to the level of religion in Judy Blume's classic, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
While not a particularly ground-breaking or innovative work, it's a pleasant book to spend time with.
Other Books in the Series
Finding Hollywood Nobody (2008)
Romancing Hollywood Nobody (2008)
Goodbye Hollywood Nobody (2008)
About the Author
Lisa Samson has written a number of novels aimed at Christian women. The Hollywood Nobody series is her second foray into YA writing. Her first, Apples of Gold, was a fairy tale parable aimed at encouraging chastity in teenage girls.
Curriculum Ties
This book is not well-suited for use in any school curriculum.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about Scotty's strange life on the road, both on the edge of Hollywood and on the edge of nowhere.
2. Explore the friendship between Seth and Scotty, as well as her jealousy of Karissa, the beautiful young starlet who also has an interest in Seth.
3. Talk about Scotty's search for answers about God and her own family background.
Reading Interest/Level
This book would be of interest to junior high students and above. More sophisticated high school readers might find it a little too simplistic, but it would probably appeal to freshman and sophomores.
Challenge Issues
Since the book is part of the Christian genre, it might inspire challenges. Should it be challenged, the librarian should read the book if possible. If not, s/he should familiarize herself with reviews of the book. I did not find it reviewed in any of the professional journals, but there were blog reviews of it on TeenReads and others. The librarian should be able to explain and defend the library's collection policy and be able to explain how Hollywood Nobody fits into the collection. Should it be challenged because it is a Christian novel, perhaps the librarian could point to novels centered around other faiths that are part of the library's collection and explain why having books from all faiths is an important part of a YA collection.
Selection Criteria
I thought it would be important to include some Christian YA books in my database, but I was unfamiliar with any contemporary titles. Through a Google search, I came across the Christy awards, which are given to the best Christian books every year. Hollywood Nobody was the 2008 winner in their young adult category.
Lisa Samson
ISBN 978-1-60006-091-5
209 pages
NavPress, 2007
Genre: Christian
Readers Annotation
15-year-old Scotty, whose mom works as a food designer for films, tries to figure out family, love, and God as she blogs about her experiences growing up on movie sets.
Plot Summary
15-year-old Scotty has never lived a normal life. Her mom works for the movies, as a food designer. They live on the road in an RV, moving from movie shoot to movie shoot. Scotty has an insider's view of the real Hollywood--she's met all the big stars and knows their weird secrets--but her closest friends are the senior citizens who also live the RV life. Scotty's mom, Charley, is an ex-hippie vegan who keeps a tight leash on Scotty. Scotty, whose two biggest passions in life are cheese and Hollywood gossip, relies on her RV and movie set friends to help her get her dairy fix. She secretly runs a blog, Hollywood Nobody, where she gives the inside scoop about Hollywood to her readers.
On a shoot on a remote island off North Carolina, Scotty begins to come of age. She befriends Seth Haas, an up-and-coming actor who is both talented and incredibly nice. She gets to know Joy, the niece of two of her RV friends, who was on the verge of becoming a famous designer in New York, but is now living incognito as a waitress on the island. She wonders about God, deciding to attend a tent revival and to start reading the Bible. And she worries about Charley, who takes mysterious phone calls in the middle of the night and is clearly worried about someone finding them.
Critical Evaluation
Lisa Samson creates a likable character in Scotty. She celebrates that Scotty is not a cookie cutter conformist, emphasizing her love of vintage fashion, her love of food, and her healthy size. Scotty is homeschooled, and she's incredibly self-motivated. Large parts of the books are devoted to Scotty's homework; she picks interesting things out of her life to research further, such as the history of the island where they are staying. She's friends with an interesting variety of people; the only one her own age is Seth. Older than her are: Jeremy, the famous director of the film that's shooting; Grammie and Grampie, two of her RV friends from the road; Joy, the designer; and Seth's parents, who comment at one point that life would be pretty boring if you only hung out with people your own age. It's true for the book, too. Some Hollywood gossip, naming both real and imaginary people, spices things up a little.
There's nothing on the book's cover or back blurb to suggest that it's Christian fiction, although it clearly is in that genre. In this book, Scotty is not a Christian nor a member of any religion, though she spends a good portion of the book pondering religion and Christianity, first from an intellectual standpoint and then from a more personal one. At the end of the book, Scotty decides that faith is a good thing, though she has not yet converted. Reading reader reviews of the other books on Amazon, it seems like religion becomes a bigger part as the series progresses. I believe that the book would appeal to non-Christian readers; the level of religion in this book seemed similar to the level of religion in Judy Blume's classic, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
While not a particularly ground-breaking or innovative work, it's a pleasant book to spend time with.
Other Books in the Series
Finding Hollywood Nobody (2008)
Romancing Hollywood Nobody (2008)
Goodbye Hollywood Nobody (2008)
About the Author
Lisa Samson has written a number of novels aimed at Christian women. The Hollywood Nobody series is her second foray into YA writing. Her first, Apples of Gold, was a fairy tale parable aimed at encouraging chastity in teenage girls.
Curriculum Ties
This book is not well-suited for use in any school curriculum.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about Scotty's strange life on the road, both on the edge of Hollywood and on the edge of nowhere.
2. Explore the friendship between Seth and Scotty, as well as her jealousy of Karissa, the beautiful young starlet who also has an interest in Seth.
3. Talk about Scotty's search for answers about God and her own family background.
Reading Interest/Level
This book would be of interest to junior high students and above. More sophisticated high school readers might find it a little too simplistic, but it would probably appeal to freshman and sophomores.
Challenge Issues
Since the book is part of the Christian genre, it might inspire challenges. Should it be challenged, the librarian should read the book if possible. If not, s/he should familiarize herself with reviews of the book. I did not find it reviewed in any of the professional journals, but there were blog reviews of it on TeenReads and others. The librarian should be able to explain and defend the library's collection policy and be able to explain how Hollywood Nobody fits into the collection. Should it be challenged because it is a Christian novel, perhaps the librarian could point to novels centered around other faiths that are part of the library's collection and explain why having books from all faiths is an important part of a YA collection.
Selection Criteria
I thought it would be important to include some Christian YA books in my database, but I was unfamiliar with any contemporary titles. Through a Google search, I came across the Christy awards, which are given to the best Christian books every year. Hollywood Nobody was the 2008 winner in their young adult category.
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Crank
Ellen Hopkins
ISBN 978-0-689-86519-0
537 pages
Simon Pulse, 2004
Genre: Issue Novel, Controversial, Verse Novel
Readers Annotation
While visiting her estranged father, gifted high school junior Kristina becomes hooked on crystal meth. Her life soon spirals out of control.
Plot Summary
Good girl Kristina hasn't seen her father in eight years; during her parents' divorce, her mother fought for sole custody, declaring his numerous addictions made him an unfit parent. A judge orders her to visit him, so Kristina flies from Reno to Albuquerque for a three-week visit. Annoyed by her mother's self-obsession and remarriage, Kristina looks forward to being reunited with her daddy, but from the moment she's reunited with him at the airport, it's clear that her dreams won't measure up to the reality. Hanging around at her father's squalid apartment, Kristina meets a boy named Adam. Impulsively, she introduces herself as Bree. Though Adam already has a girlfriend, they're immediately attracted to one another. Adam introduces Bree to crystal meth--also known as crank or the monster. Her father, also a crank user, snorts up with them. Bree loves the high. However, things end badly when Adam's girlfriend sees them kissing and jumps off a balcony, ending up in a coma.
When it's time for Bree to return home, Adam promises to love her forever. She flies home high. Her mother almost senses something is wrong, but her family is so caught up in their own lives that no one notices the huge changes in Kristina. Emboldened by her newfound confidence as Bree, she becomes bored with her old friends and starts hitting on new boys at school, including Chase, the school's bad boy, and Brendan, a beautiful lifeguard. Both Chase and Brendan are crank users, and as Bree looks around the world with new eyes, she notices crank use everywhere, including on the cheerleading squad. For awhile it seems she might quit, but after Adam dumps her and Brendan shows his true colors, she turns to crank for comfort. Then she can't stop chasing the monster. She's lost all her old friends, she's failing school, and her family starts to notice something is wrong, not to mention the fact that she's almost drained her entire savings. Can Bree ever return to Kristina, whose life was more boring but safe and secure? Will the monster ever release its hold on her life?
Critical Evaluation
Like all of Ellen Hopkins' novels, Crank is written in free verse. The story is told through a series of poems. Hopkins plays a lot with form in these poems; in one, words on the verso line up in neat columns, showing the order Kristina's life had before crank. Words on the recto are scattered all over the page, making it hard to read and showing the chaos of Bree's life on crank. In another, as Kristina longs for the comfort of home, the words take the shape of a house.
Hopkins wrote the novel about her own daughter's experiences with crystal meth addiction. Before the story starts, she tells the readers about the story's origins, which may make readers take the story to heart more than they would if they figured it was just another cautionary tale. Hopkins explores exactly why Kristina started to use drugs and why it was so appealing. While Kristina's life looks perfect on the surface, in reality, she has resented her mother for her remarriage and her focus on herself and a burgeoning writing career. She also blames her mother for her estrangement from her father. Though even she has to admit that her mother was probably right to excise him from their lives completely, enough tension exists in their relationship that she is unable to confide in her mother once things start to go bad in her life. Her stepfather is actually an excellent parent, the first one to suspect Kristina is in trouble, but Kristina resents his very presence in her life.
Hopkins is effective at showing why the drug is so appealing to Bree at first and how it sucks her into a completely different life experience. She meets new friends both good and bad--Brendan turns out to be truly evil, while Chase is a sensitive soul. The new experiences she has at first are exciting and dangerous, but by the time she realizes how much she has given up, it is too late to turn back. At that point, her addiction has completely taken hold, and she needs the drug just to function; it's completely deadened her emotions and she's unable to feel anything unless she's high.
It's an engrossing read; I stayed up late to finish it and can't wait to pick up the sequel. While the book ends on a slightly hopeful note, I have a feeling that Bree will soon be back in the grip of the monster.
Additional Books in the Series
Glass (2007) tells the continuing story of Bree/Kristina. A third book, Fallout, is due in 2010.
About the Author
Ellen Hopkins is known for her contoversial novels, which are all written in free-verse. Crank and its two sequels are based on the true experiences of her daughter, a crystal meth addict. Her other books include Burned, reviewed elsewhere in this blog, about a girl raised in an abusive Mormon household, and Impulse, about three teens whose paths cross while they're in a psychiatric hospital.
Curriculum Ties
This book is probably too controversial to be included in any school curriculum, but if it were able to be used, it could be used in a health class to engage kids in honest dialog about drug use.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Explain Kristina's transformation into Bree--her personality change and her drug use, and the influence each has on the other.
2. Talk about the three boys in Kristina's life: Adam, Chase and Brendan. Explain why she is attracted to each, and what their flaws are.
3. Talk about Kristina's family life. Why does she fall into drugs so easily? Why doesn't anyone notice how drastically she has changed?
Reading/Interest Level
This book's subject matter make it appropriate for high school students and adults.
Challenge Issues
The whole book is a challenge issue: from its primary subject matter (teen drug addiction), to the things it leads to (unsanitary tattoos, sex, rape, teen pregnancy, and general deliquency). There are also strong swear words, and Kristina/Bree's sister is a lesbian.
Should the book be challenged, the librarian should ideally read the book to be able to properly defend it; if that is not possible, s/he should read as many professional reviews as possible about the book and read descriptions of the potentially controversial content on a site like Common Sense Media. The librarian should also be able to explain and defend the library's selection policy.
To defend the book, the librarian could point to the book's fairly positive reviews, its overwhelming popularity, and its awards (such as being named an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers and an ALA Popular Paperback). The librarian could also point to statistics about teen drug use, including teen meth use, as proof that the topic is quite relevant to students and explain that Hopkins meant the book as an honest portrayal of the drug that would help teens decide against using it.
Selection Criteria
I chose to read Burned because of its inclusion in section 10's presentation on controversial literature. I enjoyed that book, and while reading reviews of that novel, everyone mentioned the overwhelming popularity of Hopkins's first novel, Crank. This inspired me to read the book.
Ellen Hopkins
ISBN 978-0-689-86519-0
537 pages
Simon Pulse, 2004
Genre: Issue Novel, Controversial, Verse Novel
Readers Annotation
While visiting her estranged father, gifted high school junior Kristina becomes hooked on crystal meth. Her life soon spirals out of control.
Plot Summary
Good girl Kristina hasn't seen her father in eight years; during her parents' divorce, her mother fought for sole custody, declaring his numerous addictions made him an unfit parent. A judge orders her to visit him, so Kristina flies from Reno to Albuquerque for a three-week visit. Annoyed by her mother's self-obsession and remarriage, Kristina looks forward to being reunited with her daddy, but from the moment she's reunited with him at the airport, it's clear that her dreams won't measure up to the reality. Hanging around at her father's squalid apartment, Kristina meets a boy named Adam. Impulsively, she introduces herself as Bree. Though Adam already has a girlfriend, they're immediately attracted to one another. Adam introduces Bree to crystal meth--also known as crank or the monster. Her father, also a crank user, snorts up with them. Bree loves the high. However, things end badly when Adam's girlfriend sees them kissing and jumps off a balcony, ending up in a coma.
When it's time for Bree to return home, Adam promises to love her forever. She flies home high. Her mother almost senses something is wrong, but her family is so caught up in their own lives that no one notices the huge changes in Kristina. Emboldened by her newfound confidence as Bree, she becomes bored with her old friends and starts hitting on new boys at school, including Chase, the school's bad boy, and Brendan, a beautiful lifeguard. Both Chase and Brendan are crank users, and as Bree looks around the world with new eyes, she notices crank use everywhere, including on the cheerleading squad. For awhile it seems she might quit, but after Adam dumps her and Brendan shows his true colors, she turns to crank for comfort. Then she can't stop chasing the monster. She's lost all her old friends, she's failing school, and her family starts to notice something is wrong, not to mention the fact that she's almost drained her entire savings. Can Bree ever return to Kristina, whose life was more boring but safe and secure? Will the monster ever release its hold on her life?
Critical Evaluation
Like all of Ellen Hopkins' novels, Crank is written in free verse. The story is told through a series of poems. Hopkins plays a lot with form in these poems; in one, words on the verso line up in neat columns, showing the order Kristina's life had before crank. Words on the recto are scattered all over the page, making it hard to read and showing the chaos of Bree's life on crank. In another, as Kristina longs for the comfort of home, the words take the shape of a house.
Hopkins wrote the novel about her own daughter's experiences with crystal meth addiction. Before the story starts, she tells the readers about the story's origins, which may make readers take the story to heart more than they would if they figured it was just another cautionary tale. Hopkins explores exactly why Kristina started to use drugs and why it was so appealing. While Kristina's life looks perfect on the surface, in reality, she has resented her mother for her remarriage and her focus on herself and a burgeoning writing career. She also blames her mother for her estrangement from her father. Though even she has to admit that her mother was probably right to excise him from their lives completely, enough tension exists in their relationship that she is unable to confide in her mother once things start to go bad in her life. Her stepfather is actually an excellent parent, the first one to suspect Kristina is in trouble, but Kristina resents his very presence in her life.
Hopkins is effective at showing why the drug is so appealing to Bree at first and how it sucks her into a completely different life experience. She meets new friends both good and bad--Brendan turns out to be truly evil, while Chase is a sensitive soul. The new experiences she has at first are exciting and dangerous, but by the time she realizes how much she has given up, it is too late to turn back. At that point, her addiction has completely taken hold, and she needs the drug just to function; it's completely deadened her emotions and she's unable to feel anything unless she's high.
It's an engrossing read; I stayed up late to finish it and can't wait to pick up the sequel. While the book ends on a slightly hopeful note, I have a feeling that Bree will soon be back in the grip of the monster.
Additional Books in the Series
Glass (2007) tells the continuing story of Bree/Kristina. A third book, Fallout, is due in 2010.
About the Author
Ellen Hopkins is known for her contoversial novels, which are all written in free-verse. Crank and its two sequels are based on the true experiences of her daughter, a crystal meth addict. Her other books include Burned, reviewed elsewhere in this blog, about a girl raised in an abusive Mormon household, and Impulse, about three teens whose paths cross while they're in a psychiatric hospital.
Curriculum Ties
This book is probably too controversial to be included in any school curriculum, but if it were able to be used, it could be used in a health class to engage kids in honest dialog about drug use.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Explain Kristina's transformation into Bree--her personality change and her drug use, and the influence each has on the other.
2. Talk about the three boys in Kristina's life: Adam, Chase and Brendan. Explain why she is attracted to each, and what their flaws are.
3. Talk about Kristina's family life. Why does she fall into drugs so easily? Why doesn't anyone notice how drastically she has changed?
Reading/Interest Level
This book's subject matter make it appropriate for high school students and adults.
Challenge Issues
The whole book is a challenge issue: from its primary subject matter (teen drug addiction), to the things it leads to (unsanitary tattoos, sex, rape, teen pregnancy, and general deliquency). There are also strong swear words, and Kristina/Bree's sister is a lesbian.
Should the book be challenged, the librarian should ideally read the book to be able to properly defend it; if that is not possible, s/he should read as many professional reviews as possible about the book and read descriptions of the potentially controversial content on a site like Common Sense Media. The librarian should also be able to explain and defend the library's selection policy.
To defend the book, the librarian could point to the book's fairly positive reviews, its overwhelming popularity, and its awards (such as being named an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers and an ALA Popular Paperback). The librarian could also point to statistics about teen drug use, including teen meth use, as proof that the topic is quite relevant to students and explain that Hopkins meant the book as an honest portrayal of the drug that would help teens decide against using it.
Selection Criteria
I chose to read Burned because of its inclusion in section 10's presentation on controversial literature. I enjoyed that book, and while reading reviews of that novel, everyone mentioned the overwhelming popularity of Hopkins's first novel, Crank. This inspired me to read the book.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Little Brother
Cory Doctorow
ISBN 978-0-7653-1985-2
382 pages
Tor, 2008
Genre: Issue Novel, Politics
Readers Annotation
After a terrorist attack on San Francisco, the Department of Homeland Security institutes new measures that threaten citizens' civil liberties. With a motto of "Never Trust Anyone Under 25," teenager Marcus and his hacker friends fight back.
Plot Summary
17-year-old Marcus and his friends are skipping school when terrorists bomb the San Francisco Bay Bridge. In the confusion after the attack, Marcus and his friends are taken in by the Department of Homeland Security, where they are secretly imprisoned and questioned for days. Upon their release, the DHS warns them never to tell what happened, and Marcus doesn't even tell his parents.
Marcus is concerned by what he sees as infringements by the DHS of basic civil liberties. The adults in his life, however, seem to accept that the loss of liberty is a small price to pay for additional security. Marcus decides to fight back. Known only by his handle "m1k3y," he creates Xnet, an underground computer network using hacked XBox consoles that he persuades his friends and acquaintances to use. The network grows, and the Xnetters find ways to foil DHS's security attempts.
Marcus is incredibly secretive about his new identity, not wanting to be picked up by DHS again. However, as Xnet's influence grows, the DHS takes note and tries to find the mysterious m1k3y.
Critical Evaluation
Little Brother was pulsating with excitement; it seemed as caffeine-fueled as Marcus and his friends (and that's a good thing). Doctorow is really clever at setting it in a sort of Anytime, with details that make it both seem futuristic and contemporary. The book makes a compelling case for the power of youth; with their slogan, "Don't Trust Anyone Over 25," teens and young adults are shown as the primary force fighting to preserve American freedoms. Older folks view the teens as naive and idealistic, whereas the teens wonder why everyone else is so complacent and accepts so blindly the new limits on their freedom.
These are clearly very pertinent issues, and the book seemed to be in part a direct reaction to some actions of the Bush administration. (The president described in the book seemed to have an awful lot of Bushy characteristics.) The book mentions that Congress has approved "the Patriot Act 2," and at the end of the book, Marcus is waterboarded.
The book is quite successful at making its political points and explaining the technology behind Xnet and their many hacks. The book makes all this sound very cool and exciting, and indeed there are several essays and a bibliography at the back of the book that encourage readers how to get involved--and explain just how to do so. It's tightly plotted, and I wanted to keep reading "just a few pages more" to see what would happen. Characterizations are not particularly deep; the romance between Marcus and his new girlfriend Ange is a big part of the second half of the novel, but I didn't feel particularly invested in their relationship. I also felt like Marcus was too hard on his parents; while they dismiss his concerns, I felt like he also dismissed theirs and didn't try to understand why his father in particular was so anxious to believe that DHS was acting in the country's best interest.
Overall, though, it's a hugely entertaining and thought-provoking work.
About the Author
Cory Doctorow is an editor for the hugely influential blog Boing Boing, which started out as an underground zine in the late '80s. He has also written extensively for Wired magazine. In addition to his non-fiction journalism, he has released several science fiction novels. He has been a huge proponent of digital media rights and indeed has released online versions of his novels for free under the Creative Commons license. In the acknowledgements of Little Brother, he credits young adult authors Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier for encouraging him to write for a young adult audience.
Curriculum Ties
The book could be used to discuss issues of civil liberties, the proper role of the government, revolution, civil discourse, technology, security, and youth culture.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Explain how being secretly held by the DHS turns Marcus into something of a revolutionary.
2. Talk about how the XNetters get around some of the measures DHS has instituted.
3. Explore the ideas of youth culture in the book: "Don't Trust Anyone Over 25."
Reading Interest/Level
I think this book would be most appropriate for high schoolers and adults. Some of the themes may be a little too sophisticated for younger readers.
Challenge Issues
There are many descriptions of violence in the book: people are trampled to death in a mob, Marcus is waterboarded and mentally tortured by the DHS, and his friend Darryl is stabbed. There is also some sexual content in the book; Marcus loses his virginity to his girlfriend Ange. There are some swear words used in the book, along with depictions of teenage drinking.
If the book were to be challenged, the librarian should ideally read the book; if not able to, s/he should familiarize herself with the book by reading reviews, as well as descriptions of the potentially controversial material on a site like Common Sense Media. The librarian should also be able to explain the library's selection policy and how the book fits those criteria. As proof of its worth, s/he could point to the book's numerous starred reviews in professional review journals, as well as its awards, such as being named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2008.
Selection Criteria
I first became aware of this book because it was assigned as part of this course, but its multiple positive reviews make it a worthy selection indeed.
Cory Doctorow
ISBN 978-0-7653-1985-2
382 pages
Tor, 2008
Genre: Issue Novel, Politics
Readers Annotation
After a terrorist attack on San Francisco, the Department of Homeland Security institutes new measures that threaten citizens' civil liberties. With a motto of "Never Trust Anyone Under 25," teenager Marcus and his hacker friends fight back.
Plot Summary
17-year-old Marcus and his friends are skipping school when terrorists bomb the San Francisco Bay Bridge. In the confusion after the attack, Marcus and his friends are taken in by the Department of Homeland Security, where they are secretly imprisoned and questioned for days. Upon their release, the DHS warns them never to tell what happened, and Marcus doesn't even tell his parents.
Marcus is concerned by what he sees as infringements by the DHS of basic civil liberties. The adults in his life, however, seem to accept that the loss of liberty is a small price to pay for additional security. Marcus decides to fight back. Known only by his handle "m1k3y," he creates Xnet, an underground computer network using hacked XBox consoles that he persuades his friends and acquaintances to use. The network grows, and the Xnetters find ways to foil DHS's security attempts.
Marcus is incredibly secretive about his new identity, not wanting to be picked up by DHS again. However, as Xnet's influence grows, the DHS takes note and tries to find the mysterious m1k3y.
Critical Evaluation
Little Brother was pulsating with excitement; it seemed as caffeine-fueled as Marcus and his friends (and that's a good thing). Doctorow is really clever at setting it in a sort of Anytime, with details that make it both seem futuristic and contemporary. The book makes a compelling case for the power of youth; with their slogan, "Don't Trust Anyone Over 25," teens and young adults are shown as the primary force fighting to preserve American freedoms. Older folks view the teens as naive and idealistic, whereas the teens wonder why everyone else is so complacent and accepts so blindly the new limits on their freedom.
These are clearly very pertinent issues, and the book seemed to be in part a direct reaction to some actions of the Bush administration. (The president described in the book seemed to have an awful lot of Bushy characteristics.) The book mentions that Congress has approved "the Patriot Act 2," and at the end of the book, Marcus is waterboarded.
The book is quite successful at making its political points and explaining the technology behind Xnet and their many hacks. The book makes all this sound very cool and exciting, and indeed there are several essays and a bibliography at the back of the book that encourage readers how to get involved--and explain just how to do so. It's tightly plotted, and I wanted to keep reading "just a few pages more" to see what would happen. Characterizations are not particularly deep; the romance between Marcus and his new girlfriend Ange is a big part of the second half of the novel, but I didn't feel particularly invested in their relationship. I also felt like Marcus was too hard on his parents; while they dismiss his concerns, I felt like he also dismissed theirs and didn't try to understand why his father in particular was so anxious to believe that DHS was acting in the country's best interest.
Overall, though, it's a hugely entertaining and thought-provoking work.
About the Author
Cory Doctorow is an editor for the hugely influential blog Boing Boing, which started out as an underground zine in the late '80s. He has also written extensively for Wired magazine. In addition to his non-fiction journalism, he has released several science fiction novels. He has been a huge proponent of digital media rights and indeed has released online versions of his novels for free under the Creative Commons license. In the acknowledgements of Little Brother, he credits young adult authors Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier for encouraging him to write for a young adult audience.
Curriculum Ties
The book could be used to discuss issues of civil liberties, the proper role of the government, revolution, civil discourse, technology, security, and youth culture.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Explain how being secretly held by the DHS turns Marcus into something of a revolutionary.
2. Talk about how the XNetters get around some of the measures DHS has instituted.
3. Explore the ideas of youth culture in the book: "Don't Trust Anyone Over 25."
Reading Interest/Level
I think this book would be most appropriate for high schoolers and adults. Some of the themes may be a little too sophisticated for younger readers.
Challenge Issues
There are many descriptions of violence in the book: people are trampled to death in a mob, Marcus is waterboarded and mentally tortured by the DHS, and his friend Darryl is stabbed. There is also some sexual content in the book; Marcus loses his virginity to his girlfriend Ange. There are some swear words used in the book, along with depictions of teenage drinking.
If the book were to be challenged, the librarian should ideally read the book; if not able to, s/he should familiarize herself with the book by reading reviews, as well as descriptions of the potentially controversial material on a site like Common Sense Media. The librarian should also be able to explain the library's selection policy and how the book fits those criteria. As proof of its worth, s/he could point to the book's numerous starred reviews in professional review journals, as well as its awards, such as being named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2008.
Selection Criteria
I first became aware of this book because it was assigned as part of this course, but its multiple positive reviews make it a worthy selection indeed.
New Moon (film) dir. Chris Weitz
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Chris Weitz
Running Time: 130 minutes
Imprint Entertainment, 2009
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Genre: Supernatural; Romance
Viewers Annotation
After vampire Edward deserts his true love Bella, she falls into a deep despair that only lifts as she deepens friendship with Native American Jacob... but he has secrets of his own.
Plot Summary
Bella and Edward are typical high school sweethearts, except that he's a vampire. On her 18th birthday, Bella has a nightmare that she ages into an old woman, while Edward stays forever 17. She tells him that she wants him to change her into a vampire, but he refuses, because he believes doing so will take away her soul. After her birthday party, when a paper cut sets off his brother's blood lust, Edward breaks things off with Bella, saying that there is no way their relationship can ever work. Before he leaves, he makes her promise that she will not do anything reckless and in return promises that she will never see him again. Bella spirals into a deep depression, having screaming nightmares at night and losing touch with all her friends.
While riding on a motorcycle, Bella is visited by a vision of Edward, who reminds her that she promised him not to do anything reckless. Because she is so desperate to see her love again, she decides to rebuild two broken motorcycles with her Native American friend Jacob, a 16-year-old who is handy with mechanics. Being with Jacob is the only thing that makes Bella happy, and when she's around him, she feels like her old self.
Life in Forks is never easy, though. Though Bella remains in love with Edward, Jacob is clearly falling for her. Bella's father is busy with reports of a mysterious large animal that has been spotted killing area hikers. And Jacob is worried about a pack of boys on the Rez, who all follow their leader around blindly, who seem to be coming for him next....
Critical Evaluation
There's only one thing I can say about this film: at one point, I laughed.... loudly. The entire theater turned to look at me. And the scene? It wasn't supposed to be funny.
I wanted to like this movie. I really, really did. But I couldn't because, well, it was terrible. Most of this movie rests on Kristen Stewart's shoulders; she's in practically every scene. But while I've enjoyed her in other films, including Speak and Twilight reviewed elsewhere in this blog, she just doesn't have the acting chops to carry this film and spends most of the film looking pained. As Edward, Robert Pattinson does better, but he has very few scenes in the movie. In his big dramatic scene at the movie's climax, his makeup is noticeably bad. The viewer wonders why Bella is struggling to choose between Edward and Jacob, when Edward looks like death warmed over. Taylor Lautner is a bright spot; his scenes with Stewart are the movie's best, and the only time where Stewart seems comfortable, and with his open smile and his six-pack abs, Bella's choice seems easy.
It's certainly not only the actors fault; the pacing of this movie is strange, and the editing should have been much, much tighter. We spend way too much time at the beginning of the movie on inconsequential details, so halfway through the movie, the viewer is willing the pace to pick up. The special effects are laughable; the first transformation of the Native Americans into werewolves was, in fact, what had me laughing out loud. The director relies on Matrix-like camera tricks to show the vampire's stealth and speed, but somehow it just comes out looking cheesy.
The screenwriter failed to make the necessary changes from the book to the screen. The reader learns about Bella's torture, her choice to live dangerously to prolong the visions of Edward through her risky behavior, through her narration. The viewer is not so lucky; people who have not read the book will be very confused as to what's going on in many scenes. While voice-overs can be a clunky technique, I think it would have helped this film tremendously. More experienced actors might have been able to convey these complex emotions wordlessly, but the teenage cast cannot.
That said, teenage fans of the book are flocking to this movie despite the bad reviews. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if many of them left as members of Team Jacob instead of Team Edward.
About the Director
Chris Weitz previously found huge success with young adults as co-director of American Pie, a raunchy sex comedy that also had a lot of heart. (His brother Paul was the other director.) Their next project was About A Boy starring Hugh Grant, based on the Nick Hornby novel. The movie was critically acclaimed, especially for its nuanced characterizations. Weitz' previous directing project was the film version of the modern young adult classic The Golden Compass.
Curriculum Ties
None, although its use in non-educational settings (such as a movie night at a library) would undoubtedly be popular.
Viewing Interest/Level
The film is appropriately rated PG-13 for scenes of action and violence. While teens and adults are the intended audience for the movie, younger teens in junior high will undoubtedly be curious about it, too, and the film would be appropriate for them as well.
Challenge Issues
Since parents tend to understand the MPAA rating system, I do not think it's likely that this film would be challenged in a library collection. It is appropriately rated PG-13 for scenes of violence and action.
Selection Criteria
Because of all the hype surrounding this movie, I decided to see it opening weekend. Indeed the theater was packed with young adults!
Chris Weitz
Running Time: 130 minutes
Imprint Entertainment, 2009
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Genre: Supernatural; Romance
Viewers Annotation
After vampire Edward deserts his true love Bella, she falls into a deep despair that only lifts as she deepens friendship with Native American Jacob... but he has secrets of his own.
Plot Summary
Bella and Edward are typical high school sweethearts, except that he's a vampire. On her 18th birthday, Bella has a nightmare that she ages into an old woman, while Edward stays forever 17. She tells him that she wants him to change her into a vampire, but he refuses, because he believes doing so will take away her soul. After her birthday party, when a paper cut sets off his brother's blood lust, Edward breaks things off with Bella, saying that there is no way their relationship can ever work. Before he leaves, he makes her promise that she will not do anything reckless and in return promises that she will never see him again. Bella spirals into a deep depression, having screaming nightmares at night and losing touch with all her friends.
While riding on a motorcycle, Bella is visited by a vision of Edward, who reminds her that she promised him not to do anything reckless. Because she is so desperate to see her love again, she decides to rebuild two broken motorcycles with her Native American friend Jacob, a 16-year-old who is handy with mechanics. Being with Jacob is the only thing that makes Bella happy, and when she's around him, she feels like her old self.
Life in Forks is never easy, though. Though Bella remains in love with Edward, Jacob is clearly falling for her. Bella's father is busy with reports of a mysterious large animal that has been spotted killing area hikers. And Jacob is worried about a pack of boys on the Rez, who all follow their leader around blindly, who seem to be coming for him next....
Critical Evaluation
There's only one thing I can say about this film: at one point, I laughed.... loudly. The entire theater turned to look at me. And the scene? It wasn't supposed to be funny.
I wanted to like this movie. I really, really did. But I couldn't because, well, it was terrible. Most of this movie rests on Kristen Stewart's shoulders; she's in practically every scene. But while I've enjoyed her in other films, including Speak and Twilight reviewed elsewhere in this blog, she just doesn't have the acting chops to carry this film and spends most of the film looking pained. As Edward, Robert Pattinson does better, but he has very few scenes in the movie. In his big dramatic scene at the movie's climax, his makeup is noticeably bad. The viewer wonders why Bella is struggling to choose between Edward and Jacob, when Edward looks like death warmed over. Taylor Lautner is a bright spot; his scenes with Stewart are the movie's best, and the only time where Stewart seems comfortable, and with his open smile and his six-pack abs, Bella's choice seems easy.
It's certainly not only the actors fault; the pacing of this movie is strange, and the editing should have been much, much tighter. We spend way too much time at the beginning of the movie on inconsequential details, so halfway through the movie, the viewer is willing the pace to pick up. The special effects are laughable; the first transformation of the Native Americans into werewolves was, in fact, what had me laughing out loud. The director relies on Matrix-like camera tricks to show the vampire's stealth and speed, but somehow it just comes out looking cheesy.
The screenwriter failed to make the necessary changes from the book to the screen. The reader learns about Bella's torture, her choice to live dangerously to prolong the visions of Edward through her risky behavior, through her narration. The viewer is not so lucky; people who have not read the book will be very confused as to what's going on in many scenes. While voice-overs can be a clunky technique, I think it would have helped this film tremendously. More experienced actors might have been able to convey these complex emotions wordlessly, but the teenage cast cannot.
That said, teenage fans of the book are flocking to this movie despite the bad reviews. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if many of them left as members of Team Jacob instead of Team Edward.
About the Director
Chris Weitz previously found huge success with young adults as co-director of American Pie, a raunchy sex comedy that also had a lot of heart. (His brother Paul was the other director.) Their next project was About A Boy starring Hugh Grant, based on the Nick Hornby novel. The movie was critically acclaimed, especially for its nuanced characterizations. Weitz' previous directing project was the film version of the modern young adult classic The Golden Compass.
Curriculum Ties
None, although its use in non-educational settings (such as a movie night at a library) would undoubtedly be popular.
Viewing Interest/Level
The film is appropriately rated PG-13 for scenes of action and violence. While teens and adults are the intended audience for the movie, younger teens in junior high will undoubtedly be curious about it, too, and the film would be appropriate for them as well.
Challenge Issues
Since parents tend to understand the MPAA rating system, I do not think it's likely that this film would be challenged in a library collection. It is appropriately rated PG-13 for scenes of violence and action.
Selection Criteria
Because of all the hype surrounding this movie, I decided to see it opening weekend. Indeed the theater was packed with young adults!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Burned
Ellen Hopkins
ISBN 1-4169-0354-2
531 pages
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2006
Genre: Issue Novel, Controversial, Verse Novel
Readers Annotation
Raised in a strict, conservative Mormon household with an abusive father, Pattyn begins to question all her previously held beliefs about love and God.
Plot Summary
Pattyn is the oldest of seven daughters in a strict Mormon household. Her abusive father wants a boy and expects little other from his wife than to churn out babies, so most of the childrearing and household duties fall to Pattyn. A librarian at her high school takes a special interest in Pattyn and introduces her to the wider world through literature. After reading some racy classics, Pattyn has a sexual dream involving one of her classmates. She's been taught that all sexual activity before marriage is a sin, but decides she can't be held accountable for her dreams; she tries to discuss this matter with the church, but she's frustrated by the lack of answers, as well as its misogyny. Though the church leadership knows that her alcoholic father beats his wife regularly, they do not intervene. Frustrated, Pattyn starts dating a non-Mormon boy from school. When her father finds out, he forbids her to see him again. Pattyn punches the boy's new girlfriend in the nose and then accidentally throws her backpack through a window in the library. Her father banishes her to live with his estranged sister from the summer.
Pattyn's world changes dramatically at Aunt J's ranch. She learns some disturbing truths about her father from Aunt J, but she also develops a sense of worth and self-confidence she never had before. She also meets a boy, Ethan, with whom she falls deeply in love. But what will happen when she has to go back home at the summer? And what will happen if her father finds out she's dating another non-Mormon?
Critical Evaluation
Like all of Ellen Hopkins' novels, Burned is written in verse form. Each page is like its own little poem. Hopkins plays freely with the form of these poems; some sprawled across the page, some are written in couplets. Because of this, we get a very strong sense of Pattyn's interior life. The verse almost gives the reader a stream-of-consciousness effect, but with a heightened sense of emotions. The chapters where Pattyn's father eventually starts beating her are almost too painful to bear.
I found Pattyn's growth throughout the novel quite moving. Her relationship with Ethan is a tender first love, and Hopkins gives it the respect it deserves. For older readers, it will conjure of memories of their first intense summer love, but Pattyn insists theirs is a "forever love" and wise old Aunt J. tends to agree. The relationship between Pattyn and Aunt J. is also well-drawn. We get a sense of Aunt J., what a survivor she is and how much she has already been through... but she teaches Pattyn to soldier on and never stop believing in herself or in love.
The ending of the book, which is quite controversial, came up a little short to me. Though I believe Hopkins intended to show the rage Pattyn felt when everything she cares about is torn away from her--and the incidents that got her sent to live with Aunt J. show us that she is indeed capable of great rage--I also do not think that the Pattyn who loved and was loved by Aunt J. would resort to such violence.
About the Author
Ellen Hopkins is known for her free-verse novels. She touches upon many controversial topics in her work. The Crank series is about a teenage girl who becomes addicted to crystal meth, while Tricks is about teenage prostitution.
Curriculum Ties
The book could be used to discuss issues of religion (especially religious corruption), abuse, and violence.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about Pattyn and her family life: her lazy mother, her abusive father, and her gaggle of younger sisters. Why is going to Aunt J's so liberating for her?
2. Talk about how Pattyn starts questioning the religious beliefs she was raised with -- especially its culture of misogyny and its lack of intellectual curiosity.
3. Talk about Pattyn and Ethan's relationship. Is it true love?
Reading Interest/Level
The themes and format of this book make it appropriate for high school students and above.
Challenge Issues
This book has a number of challenge issues: teenage sexuality, teenage drinking, abuse, and school violence to name a few. To defend it against challenges, the librarian should be able to explain and defend the library's selection policy and explain how Burned fits those criteria. S/he should ideally read the book, but if unable to, should read reviews to familiarize with its content and critical worth. S/he could point out the books many positive reviews and its many awards as proof of its worth.
Selection Criteria
Burned was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. It was also a National Book Award nominee.
Ellen Hopkins
ISBN 1-4169-0354-2
531 pages
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2006
Genre: Issue Novel, Controversial, Verse Novel
Readers Annotation
Raised in a strict, conservative Mormon household with an abusive father, Pattyn begins to question all her previously held beliefs about love and God.
Plot Summary
Pattyn is the oldest of seven daughters in a strict Mormon household. Her abusive father wants a boy and expects little other from his wife than to churn out babies, so most of the childrearing and household duties fall to Pattyn. A librarian at her high school takes a special interest in Pattyn and introduces her to the wider world through literature. After reading some racy classics, Pattyn has a sexual dream involving one of her classmates. She's been taught that all sexual activity before marriage is a sin, but decides she can't be held accountable for her dreams; she tries to discuss this matter with the church, but she's frustrated by the lack of answers, as well as its misogyny. Though the church leadership knows that her alcoholic father beats his wife regularly, they do not intervene. Frustrated, Pattyn starts dating a non-Mormon boy from school. When her father finds out, he forbids her to see him again. Pattyn punches the boy's new girlfriend in the nose and then accidentally throws her backpack through a window in the library. Her father banishes her to live with his estranged sister from the summer.
Pattyn's world changes dramatically at Aunt J's ranch. She learns some disturbing truths about her father from Aunt J, but she also develops a sense of worth and self-confidence she never had before. She also meets a boy, Ethan, with whom she falls deeply in love. But what will happen when she has to go back home at the summer? And what will happen if her father finds out she's dating another non-Mormon?
Critical Evaluation
Like all of Ellen Hopkins' novels, Burned is written in verse form. Each page is like its own little poem. Hopkins plays freely with the form of these poems; some sprawled across the page, some are written in couplets. Because of this, we get a very strong sense of Pattyn's interior life. The verse almost gives the reader a stream-of-consciousness effect, but with a heightened sense of emotions. The chapters where Pattyn's father eventually starts beating her are almost too painful to bear.
I found Pattyn's growth throughout the novel quite moving. Her relationship with Ethan is a tender first love, and Hopkins gives it the respect it deserves. For older readers, it will conjure of memories of their first intense summer love, but Pattyn insists theirs is a "forever love" and wise old Aunt J. tends to agree. The relationship between Pattyn and Aunt J. is also well-drawn. We get a sense of Aunt J., what a survivor she is and how much she has already been through... but she teaches Pattyn to soldier on and never stop believing in herself or in love.
The ending of the book, which is quite controversial, came up a little short to me. Though I believe Hopkins intended to show the rage Pattyn felt when everything she cares about is torn away from her--and the incidents that got her sent to live with Aunt J. show us that she is indeed capable of great rage--I also do not think that the Pattyn who loved and was loved by Aunt J. would resort to such violence.
About the Author
Ellen Hopkins is known for her free-verse novels. She touches upon many controversial topics in her work. The Crank series is about a teenage girl who becomes addicted to crystal meth, while Tricks is about teenage prostitution.
Curriculum Ties
The book could be used to discuss issues of religion (especially religious corruption), abuse, and violence.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about Pattyn and her family life: her lazy mother, her abusive father, and her gaggle of younger sisters. Why is going to Aunt J's so liberating for her?
2. Talk about how Pattyn starts questioning the religious beliefs she was raised with -- especially its culture of misogyny and its lack of intellectual curiosity.
3. Talk about Pattyn and Ethan's relationship. Is it true love?
Reading Interest/Level
The themes and format of this book make it appropriate for high school students and above.
Challenge Issues
This book has a number of challenge issues: teenage sexuality, teenage drinking, abuse, and school violence to name a few. To defend it against challenges, the librarian should be able to explain and defend the library's selection policy and explain how Burned fits those criteria. S/he should ideally read the book, but if unable to, should read reviews to familiarize with its content and critical worth. S/he could point out the books many positive reviews and its many awards as proof of its worth.
Selection Criteria
Burned was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. It was also a National Book Award nominee.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
Weetzie Bat
Francesca Lia Block
ISBN 0-06-440818-3
113 pages
Charlotte Zolotow, 1989
Genre: Mythic Reality; Urban Fantasy
Readers Annotation
Weetzie Bat, a bleach-blonde punk pixie, and her slinkster-cool best friend Dirk search for love in L.A.
Plot Summary
Weetzie Bat is a bleach-blonde punk pixie, a true original. The child of a screenwriter and a B-movie actress, Weetzie loves L.A.--Weetzie is L.A. In high school, she meets a slinkster-cool boy named Dirk. They become best friends and spend their days surfing at Venice Beach and their nights going clubbing on the Sunset Strip. They both are searching for love, but can't seem to find Mr. Right. One day Dirk's Grandma Fifi gives Weetzie what turns out to be a genie's lamp. The genie grants her three wishes: to find a boyfriend for Dirk, to find a boyfriend for herself, and to have a home where they can all live happily. Grandma Fifi dies, leaving them her Hollywood bungalow, and Dirk and Weetzie both meet their true loves. Weetzie becomes friends with a Jamaican/Chinese family of fashion designers. Together, this kooky cast of characters learns that all you need is love.
Critical Summary
How was I a teen in the 1990s without reading any Francesca Lia Block? I'm not sure. I've heard plenty of backlash against her, so I picked up this book expecting to hate it, but to my surprise, I really loved it. Francesca Lia Block has so much fun with wordplay in this book, creating expressions and slang that are just perfect. I think my favorite expression from the book is "Shangri-L.A.", which sums up her depiction of Los Angeles perfectly. As much of a character as any of the people in the story is the city: a mixture of old-school Hollywood glamor, retroswank coolness, and '80s punk. Weetzie's dad hates it because it's a city of illusion, but that's why Weetzie loves it. From the Jetson-diner with the roller-skating waitresses to the trendy sushi restaurants to the fairytale cottage they live in, L.A. is like no place else.
But despite all the focus on style, the story is really all about love and acceptance. When Dirk comes out to Weetzie, she embraces him and says that now they can hunt for boys together. The mixed race family exists as a beautiful unit, experiencing no prejudice or hatred. When Weetzie decides to have a baby, they form a new family with three dads. Though her mother raises an eyebrow, their unconventional family unit works. Some dark threats encroach upon the book--the final chapter deals with AIDS--but the book is mostly a sunny, funny, fantastical, fantastic, dreamlike allegory about love.
About the Author
Francesca Lia Block is known for her distinctive style and her realistic fantasy books. There is an entire series of books about Weetzie and her family. Block is best known for her unconventional heroines and her love affair with the city of L.A., where she has lived her whole life. In 2005, she won the ALA's Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award.
Curriculum Ties
The book is not particularly well-suited for use in a curriculum, though it could be used as an example of creative wordplay and structure or as an example of mythic reality.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Tell the story of Weetzie and Dirk's early days, while trying to use as much of Block's signature style as possible.
2. Talk about the unconventional circle of friends that surrounds Weetzie.
3. Describe the character of Weetzie.
Reading Interest/Level
This book would most appeal to and be appreciated by high schoolers and above.
Challenge Issues
Weetzie Bat is frequently challenged because it deals with topics like homosexuality, premarital sex, a child born out of wedlock, and AIDS. To defend it against challenges, the librarian should be able to explain the collection policy and how this title fits into that policy. The librarian could point to the many positive reviews the book received on its initial release, as well as point out that the book is considered a young adult classic and appears on many honor lists, including ALA's "Best of the Best Books for Young Adults."
Selection Criteria
Weetzie Bat was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults in 1990 and an ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults in 2005.
Francesca Lia Block
ISBN 0-06-440818-3
113 pages
Charlotte Zolotow, 1989
Genre: Mythic Reality; Urban Fantasy
Readers Annotation
Weetzie Bat, a bleach-blonde punk pixie, and her slinkster-cool best friend Dirk search for love in L.A.
Plot Summary
Weetzie Bat is a bleach-blonde punk pixie, a true original. The child of a screenwriter and a B-movie actress, Weetzie loves L.A.--Weetzie is L.A. In high school, she meets a slinkster-cool boy named Dirk. They become best friends and spend their days surfing at Venice Beach and their nights going clubbing on the Sunset Strip. They both are searching for love, but can't seem to find Mr. Right. One day Dirk's Grandma Fifi gives Weetzie what turns out to be a genie's lamp. The genie grants her three wishes: to find a boyfriend for Dirk, to find a boyfriend for herself, and to have a home where they can all live happily. Grandma Fifi dies, leaving them her Hollywood bungalow, and Dirk and Weetzie both meet their true loves. Weetzie becomes friends with a Jamaican/Chinese family of fashion designers. Together, this kooky cast of characters learns that all you need is love.
Critical Summary
How was I a teen in the 1990s without reading any Francesca Lia Block? I'm not sure. I've heard plenty of backlash against her, so I picked up this book expecting to hate it, but to my surprise, I really loved it. Francesca Lia Block has so much fun with wordplay in this book, creating expressions and slang that are just perfect. I think my favorite expression from the book is "Shangri-L.A.", which sums up her depiction of Los Angeles perfectly. As much of a character as any of the people in the story is the city: a mixture of old-school Hollywood glamor, retroswank coolness, and '80s punk. Weetzie's dad hates it because it's a city of illusion, but that's why Weetzie loves it. From the Jetson-diner with the roller-skating waitresses to the trendy sushi restaurants to the fairytale cottage they live in, L.A. is like no place else.
But despite all the focus on style, the story is really all about love and acceptance. When Dirk comes out to Weetzie, she embraces him and says that now they can hunt for boys together. The mixed race family exists as a beautiful unit, experiencing no prejudice or hatred. When Weetzie decides to have a baby, they form a new family with three dads. Though her mother raises an eyebrow, their unconventional family unit works. Some dark threats encroach upon the book--the final chapter deals with AIDS--but the book is mostly a sunny, funny, fantastical, fantastic, dreamlike allegory about love.
About the Author
Francesca Lia Block is known for her distinctive style and her realistic fantasy books. There is an entire series of books about Weetzie and her family. Block is best known for her unconventional heroines and her love affair with the city of L.A., where she has lived her whole life. In 2005, she won the ALA's Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award.
Curriculum Ties
The book is not particularly well-suited for use in a curriculum, though it could be used as an example of creative wordplay and structure or as an example of mythic reality.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Tell the story of Weetzie and Dirk's early days, while trying to use as much of Block's signature style as possible.
2. Talk about the unconventional circle of friends that surrounds Weetzie.
3. Describe the character of Weetzie.
Reading Interest/Level
This book would most appeal to and be appreciated by high schoolers and above.
Challenge Issues
Weetzie Bat is frequently challenged because it deals with topics like homosexuality, premarital sex, a child born out of wedlock, and AIDS. To defend it against challenges, the librarian should be able to explain the collection policy and how this title fits into that policy. The librarian could point to the many positive reviews the book received on its initial release, as well as point out that the book is considered a young adult classic and appears on many honor lists, including ALA's "Best of the Best Books for Young Adults."
Selection Criteria
Weetzie Bat was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults in 1990 and an ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults in 2005.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman
Maus: A Survivor's Tale
Art Spiegelman
ISBN 978-0-394-74723-1
159 pages
Pantheon Books, 1991
Genre: Graphic Novel; Adult Crossover
Readers Annotation
The author and artist details the life of his father, a Holocaust survivor, in this graphic novel that uses animals instead of people to tell the story.
Plot Summary
In Maus, a graphic novel, author and illustrator Art Spiegelman tells the story of his parents, Vladek and Anja, who were both Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust. The story is structured around Art, now an adult, visiting his father and asking him to tell him what happened to him before and during the war so he can write a comic about it. Anja is now dead, and Vladek has married Mala, another survivor; Mala and Vladek can't stand each other. Vladek tells the story, interrupting with asides about modern life or things that happened after the war, or comments about his son or his late wife.
Vladek met and romanced Anja in pre-war Poland, when things were good. Anja's father was a millionaire and Vladek was a successful small-time businessman. After the birth of their first son, Anja suffered from post-partum depression. Vladek accompanied Anja to a sanitarium, while a governess watched their son and her father minded Vladek's new textile factory. Anja regains her mental health at the sanitarium, but they return to a changed world. The rise of the Nazi party in Germany, and Germany's encroachment on Poland, means that life is not good for the Jews. Vladek is recruited into the Polish army, where he is held as a P.O.W. by the Germans. Eventually he is released to a German work camp, and when he is discharged, he manages to escape being sent to a concentration camp and returns home to his wife and family.
Vladek and Anja's situation gets worse and worse, and the Nazi treatment of the Jews grows increasingly horrific. Their wealth before the war means they have goods they can trade for food and relationships with businessmen they can exploit. Vladek proves himself to be wily, always finding ways to survive. Eventually the Jews are all crowded into ghettos, which slowly are emptied as the Nazis send more and more people to the work camps to die. Their family is torn apart; they send their son away to live where they think he will be safe. Anja's grandparents and then parents are sent to the work camps. Eventually Anja and Vladek are sent to Auschwitz, too. The story ends here, with the story of their experience in Auschwitz and after the war being told in the novel's sequel.
Critical Evaluation
This was a truly remarkable story. Spiegelman uses animals to portray the people in his father's story: the Jews are shown as mice (maus being the German word for mouse), which Spiegelman says refers to the Nazi's portrayal of Jews as the vermin of Europe. The Polish are shown as pigs, and the Germans are cats. Spiegelman uses black and white pen and ink cartoons to tell the story. The drawings are simple but evocative, effective at depicting the horrors of the Jews' situation in Poland.
Spiegelman's storytelling device, which switches back and forth between the past and the present day, and includes many asides from his father, is also really effective at showing the lifelong effects that the Holocaust had on his parents. We learn early on that their first son didn't survive the war, and we also learn that Anja eventually commits suicide. There's a comic inside a comic explaining the effect that his mother's suicide had on Art and his father, and this goes a long way to explain their current strained relationship. Vladek is constantly berating his son for wasting money: not cleaning his plate, hiring help to do home repairs, throwing things out instead of saving them in case they come handy. Art actually worries aloud to Mala that he is portraying his father as the stereotypical miserly Jew. However, it's clear that Vladek's life experiences, where he quickly went from having everything to having nothing, are the cause for his current behavior.
There are absolutely heartbreaking, unbelievably tragic stories that are included here. In some ways, the graphic novel format brings them to life more than a straightforward prose telling of Vladek's story would. For instance, when Vladek and his wife pretend to be Poles to avoid detection by the Nazis, they wear pig masks. This simply and clearly shows how they had to pretend to be someone else in order to survive in a more visceral way than words alone could.
It's a phenomenal work. While it is not specifically aimed at young adults, it will be an appealing title for teens who will respond to its format and the power of its story.
About the Author
Art Spiegelman is a well-known and highly influential comic artist. While Maus remains his best-known work, he has written a number of other graphic novels. He did a lot of work for The New Yorker and was the artist behind their iconic cover immediately after the September 11th attacks. He also invented the Garbage Pail Kids. Spiegelman and his wife Francoise Mouly published and edited the infamous underground comics anthology RAW, which was published throughout the 1980s.
Curriculum Ties
Maus would be great to use to teach high schoolers about the Jewish experience before, during, and after the Holocaust. Indeed it has been adopted by many high school teachers as an official part of the curriculum.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Explain the concept of the novel: the story of the Holocaust told through animals.
2. Talk about the way that Spiegelman switches between the past and the present to completely tell his father's story.
3. Talk about Anja and Vladek's experience under the Nazis.
Reading Interest/Level
This graphic novel is aimed at adults, though high schoolers will also respond strongly to it.
Challenge Issues
While the graphic novel depicts truly horrifying events--indeed, I had to look away or close the book at several moments--I hope that because all the events are based things that really did happen during the Holocaust, no one would try to censor this book. However, if the book were challenged, the librarian should point to Maus' status as a critically acclaimed title and stress its historical importance.
Selection Criteria
Maus won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992. Though the graphic novel didn't fit into an preexisting category, the Pulitzer Committee was so impressed by the book that they created a special award to acknowledge it.
Art Spiegelman
ISBN 978-0-394-74723-1
159 pages
Pantheon Books, 1991
Genre: Graphic Novel; Adult Crossover
Readers Annotation
The author and artist details the life of his father, a Holocaust survivor, in this graphic novel that uses animals instead of people to tell the story.
Plot Summary
In Maus, a graphic novel, author and illustrator Art Spiegelman tells the story of his parents, Vladek and Anja, who were both Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust. The story is structured around Art, now an adult, visiting his father and asking him to tell him what happened to him before and during the war so he can write a comic about it. Anja is now dead, and Vladek has married Mala, another survivor; Mala and Vladek can't stand each other. Vladek tells the story, interrupting with asides about modern life or things that happened after the war, or comments about his son or his late wife.
Vladek met and romanced Anja in pre-war Poland, when things were good. Anja's father was a millionaire and Vladek was a successful small-time businessman. After the birth of their first son, Anja suffered from post-partum depression. Vladek accompanied Anja to a sanitarium, while a governess watched their son and her father minded Vladek's new textile factory. Anja regains her mental health at the sanitarium, but they return to a changed world. The rise of the Nazi party in Germany, and Germany's encroachment on Poland, means that life is not good for the Jews. Vladek is recruited into the Polish army, where he is held as a P.O.W. by the Germans. Eventually he is released to a German work camp, and when he is discharged, he manages to escape being sent to a concentration camp and returns home to his wife and family.
Vladek and Anja's situation gets worse and worse, and the Nazi treatment of the Jews grows increasingly horrific. Their wealth before the war means they have goods they can trade for food and relationships with businessmen they can exploit. Vladek proves himself to be wily, always finding ways to survive. Eventually the Jews are all crowded into ghettos, which slowly are emptied as the Nazis send more and more people to the work camps to die. Their family is torn apart; they send their son away to live where they think he will be safe. Anja's grandparents and then parents are sent to the work camps. Eventually Anja and Vladek are sent to Auschwitz, too. The story ends here, with the story of their experience in Auschwitz and after the war being told in the novel's sequel.
Critical Evaluation
This was a truly remarkable story. Spiegelman uses animals to portray the people in his father's story: the Jews are shown as mice (maus being the German word for mouse), which Spiegelman says refers to the Nazi's portrayal of Jews as the vermin of Europe. The Polish are shown as pigs, and the Germans are cats. Spiegelman uses black and white pen and ink cartoons to tell the story. The drawings are simple but evocative, effective at depicting the horrors of the Jews' situation in Poland.
Spiegelman's storytelling device, which switches back and forth between the past and the present day, and includes many asides from his father, is also really effective at showing the lifelong effects that the Holocaust had on his parents. We learn early on that their first son didn't survive the war, and we also learn that Anja eventually commits suicide. There's a comic inside a comic explaining the effect that his mother's suicide had on Art and his father, and this goes a long way to explain their current strained relationship. Vladek is constantly berating his son for wasting money: not cleaning his plate, hiring help to do home repairs, throwing things out instead of saving them in case they come handy. Art actually worries aloud to Mala that he is portraying his father as the stereotypical miserly Jew. However, it's clear that Vladek's life experiences, where he quickly went from having everything to having nothing, are the cause for his current behavior.
There are absolutely heartbreaking, unbelievably tragic stories that are included here. In some ways, the graphic novel format brings them to life more than a straightforward prose telling of Vladek's story would. For instance, when Vladek and his wife pretend to be Poles to avoid detection by the Nazis, they wear pig masks. This simply and clearly shows how they had to pretend to be someone else in order to survive in a more visceral way than words alone could.
It's a phenomenal work. While it is not specifically aimed at young adults, it will be an appealing title for teens who will respond to its format and the power of its story.
About the Author
Art Spiegelman is a well-known and highly influential comic artist. While Maus remains his best-known work, he has written a number of other graphic novels. He did a lot of work for The New Yorker and was the artist behind their iconic cover immediately after the September 11th attacks. He also invented the Garbage Pail Kids. Spiegelman and his wife Francoise Mouly published and edited the infamous underground comics anthology RAW, which was published throughout the 1980s.
Curriculum Ties
Maus would be great to use to teach high schoolers about the Jewish experience before, during, and after the Holocaust. Indeed it has been adopted by many high school teachers as an official part of the curriculum.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Explain the concept of the novel: the story of the Holocaust told through animals.
2. Talk about the way that Spiegelman switches between the past and the present to completely tell his father's story.
3. Talk about Anja and Vladek's experience under the Nazis.
Reading Interest/Level
This graphic novel is aimed at adults, though high schoolers will also respond strongly to it.
Challenge Issues
While the graphic novel depicts truly horrifying events--indeed, I had to look away or close the book at several moments--I hope that because all the events are based things that really did happen during the Holocaust, no one would try to censor this book. However, if the book were challenged, the librarian should point to Maus' status as a critically acclaimed title and stress its historical importance.
Selection Criteria
Maus won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992. Though the graphic novel didn't fit into an preexisting category, the Pulitzer Committee was so impressed by the book that they created a special award to acknowledge it.
American Teen (film) dir. Nanette Burstein
American Teen
Directed by Nanette Burstein
ASIN B001OAOJUW
Running Time: 95 minutes
Paramount Vantage, 2008
Rated PG-13
Starring: Hannah Bailey, Megan Krizmanich, Jake Tusing
Genre: Documentary
Viewers Annotation
Five students in an Indiana high school -- two athletes, the queen bee, an artistic rebel, and a nerd -- are followed and filmed throughout their senior year.
Plot Summary
American Teen follows five teens at Warsaw High School in Warsaw, Indiana. Hannah is the rebel, an artist, musician and free spirit who wants to leave the Midwest and move to California to work in film. Megan is the most popular girl in school, chair of practically every student committee and a decent athlete, but many classmates, even her friends, complain that she's a bitch. Colin is the school's star athlete, a basketball player who is depending on winning a scholarship to attend college. He's a nice and funny guy, though the pressure of his future seems to be weighing heavily on him. Mitch is another basketball player, well-liked at school for his charm and his good looks. Jake is a nerd, an avid gamer and band geek. He continually asks girls out on dates, with varying success.
The movie follows them throughout their senior year, showing how their lives do (and don't) intersect. The movie's climax comes with their college acceptance letters and senior prom.
Critical Summary
This is an entertaining and thoughtful documentary. There's some real drama here. After her boyfriend breaks up with her immediately after they have sex for the first time, Hannah spirals into a deep depression and can't bear to go to school. (We learn her mother is manic-depressive, and Hannah fears she's inherited the disorder herself.) She misses so much school that the principal informs her that if she misses another day, she won't be able to graduate. After seeing Hannah perform in a rock band at a school assembly, Mitch develops a crush on her. They start dating and seem to have a great relationship--he has a goofy side, just like she does--but pressure from his friends, who can't understand why a popular kid like him is dating an outcast like her, affects their relationship.
Megan shows her true colors through multiple events throughout the film and is shown to be a generally unlikable person, but late in the film, we learn about a family tragedy that makes us much more sympathetic to her. Colin's father, a high school basketball star himself, puts immense pressure on his son to win a scholarship, and Colin begins to crack under the pressure. When a cute new freshman girl moves to town and joins the band, Jake sees an opportunity to get a girlfriend who doesn't know about his nerdy past.
All of these real, natural events are incredibly moving and compelling. Burstein does a great job in bringing the viewer back to the heightened emotional state one lives in as a high school senior. The movie also has several interesting animated sequences with different visual styles that allow the teen's deepest fears or dreams to be creatively depicted. Unfortunately, at times the movie seems scripted. In his review of the film, Roger Ebert complains that Megan is shown drawing sexual graffiti and a slur on a classmate's window and says that the incident seems staged. I had the same complaint, and also felt that several other scenes seemed staged by the filmmakers to maximize on-camera drama, similar to shows like Laguna Beach or The Hills.
Hannah Bailey's story is by far the most compelling, and she's the stand-out star here. As she struggles to maintain her independence amid a family who tells her "just remember: you're not special," the viewer roots for her to hold onto her dreams.
About the Director
Nanette Burstein is a documentary filmmaker who has worked on both films and television series. Several of her previous works have centered around young adults: On the Ropes is a documentary film that follows several young boxers and their trainer, and Film School was a reality TV series that followed young film students in New York.
Curriculum Ties
American Teen could be shown to spur discussion about a number of current teen issues: peer pressure, family pressure, social cliques, bullying, relationships, toxic friendships, etc.
Viewing Interest/Level
The documentary, which is rated PG-13 for some strong language use, and some scenes of teenage drinking and sexuality. It's most appropriate for high schoolers and up.
Challenge Issues
While it's not ever present, at times the teens in this film do "drop F-bombs" and use other strong language. There is some mention to teenage sexuality, and at one point someone draws a penis on another classmate's window. The teens drink and get drunk in several scenes. Since this is a documentary, these scenes probably mirror the everyday lives of many American teens. Since adults seem to be familiar with the MPAA rating system and the film is appropriately rated PG-13, I do not see that inclusion of this DVD in a library collection would be challenged. However, were it to be used as part of a school curriculum, there is a possibility the film could be challenged. Should that happen, the teacher should point to the film's numerous positive reviews and explain how it related to the lesson.
Selection Criteria
When this film came out last year, I was intrigued by its premise. After seeing it mentioned in multiple articles in our class reading, I decided to rent it.
Directed by Nanette Burstein
ASIN B001OAOJUW
Running Time: 95 minutes
Paramount Vantage, 2008
Rated PG-13
Starring: Hannah Bailey, Megan Krizmanich, Jake Tusing
Genre: Documentary
Viewers Annotation
Five students in an Indiana high school -- two athletes, the queen bee, an artistic rebel, and a nerd -- are followed and filmed throughout their senior year.
Plot Summary
American Teen follows five teens at Warsaw High School in Warsaw, Indiana. Hannah is the rebel, an artist, musician and free spirit who wants to leave the Midwest and move to California to work in film. Megan is the most popular girl in school, chair of practically every student committee and a decent athlete, but many classmates, even her friends, complain that she's a bitch. Colin is the school's star athlete, a basketball player who is depending on winning a scholarship to attend college. He's a nice and funny guy, though the pressure of his future seems to be weighing heavily on him. Mitch is another basketball player, well-liked at school for his charm and his good looks. Jake is a nerd, an avid gamer and band geek. He continually asks girls out on dates, with varying success.
The movie follows them throughout their senior year, showing how their lives do (and don't) intersect. The movie's climax comes with their college acceptance letters and senior prom.
Critical Summary
This is an entertaining and thoughtful documentary. There's some real drama here. After her boyfriend breaks up with her immediately after they have sex for the first time, Hannah spirals into a deep depression and can't bear to go to school. (We learn her mother is manic-depressive, and Hannah fears she's inherited the disorder herself.) She misses so much school that the principal informs her that if she misses another day, she won't be able to graduate. After seeing Hannah perform in a rock band at a school assembly, Mitch develops a crush on her. They start dating and seem to have a great relationship--he has a goofy side, just like she does--but pressure from his friends, who can't understand why a popular kid like him is dating an outcast like her, affects their relationship.
Megan shows her true colors through multiple events throughout the film and is shown to be a generally unlikable person, but late in the film, we learn about a family tragedy that makes us much more sympathetic to her. Colin's father, a high school basketball star himself, puts immense pressure on his son to win a scholarship, and Colin begins to crack under the pressure. When a cute new freshman girl moves to town and joins the band, Jake sees an opportunity to get a girlfriend who doesn't know about his nerdy past.
All of these real, natural events are incredibly moving and compelling. Burstein does a great job in bringing the viewer back to the heightened emotional state one lives in as a high school senior. The movie also has several interesting animated sequences with different visual styles that allow the teen's deepest fears or dreams to be creatively depicted. Unfortunately, at times the movie seems scripted. In his review of the film, Roger Ebert complains that Megan is shown drawing sexual graffiti and a slur on a classmate's window and says that the incident seems staged. I had the same complaint, and also felt that several other scenes seemed staged by the filmmakers to maximize on-camera drama, similar to shows like Laguna Beach or The Hills.
Hannah Bailey's story is by far the most compelling, and she's the stand-out star here. As she struggles to maintain her independence amid a family who tells her "just remember: you're not special," the viewer roots for her to hold onto her dreams.
About the Director
Nanette Burstein is a documentary filmmaker who has worked on both films and television series. Several of her previous works have centered around young adults: On the Ropes is a documentary film that follows several young boxers and their trainer, and Film School was a reality TV series that followed young film students in New York.
Curriculum Ties
American Teen could be shown to spur discussion about a number of current teen issues: peer pressure, family pressure, social cliques, bullying, relationships, toxic friendships, etc.
Viewing Interest/Level
The documentary, which is rated PG-13 for some strong language use, and some scenes of teenage drinking and sexuality. It's most appropriate for high schoolers and up.
Challenge Issues
While it's not ever present, at times the teens in this film do "drop F-bombs" and use other strong language. There is some mention to teenage sexuality, and at one point someone draws a penis on another classmate's window. The teens drink and get drunk in several scenes. Since this is a documentary, these scenes probably mirror the everyday lives of many American teens. Since adults seem to be familiar with the MPAA rating system and the film is appropriately rated PG-13, I do not see that inclusion of this DVD in a library collection would be challenged. However, were it to be used as part of a school curriculum, there is a possibility the film could be challenged. Should that happen, the teacher should point to the film's numerous positive reviews and explain how it related to the lesson.
Selection Criteria
When this film came out last year, I was intrigued by its premise. After seeing it mentioned in multiple articles in our class reading, I decided to rent it.
Twilight (film) dir. Catherine Hardwicke
Twilight
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke
ASIN B001P5HRMI
Running time: 122 minutes
Summit Entertainment, 2008
Rated PG-13
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson
Genre: Supernatural; Romance
Viewers Annotation
When a teen girl moves to a small town in Washington to live with her father, she becomes intrigued by a beautiful, mysterious boy whose family holds a dark secret.
Plot Summary
Bella moves to small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father after her mother gets remarried. Though she used to spend part of her summer in Forks, she hasn't been back in many years. In such a small town, her arrival is big news, and both students and people around town are dying to talk to her. Bella, who is quiet, shy, and a little bit awkward, is unnerved by all the attention. Only one boy isn't all over her feet: Edward Cullen, the beautiful and mysterious boy whom all the girls have crushes on... but who has never dated a girl from school. Edward is supposed to be Bella's lab partner, but he spends the whole first lab holding his nose and acting as if he can't bear to be around Bella. Then he disappears from school for a week.
When he returns, he apologizes for his rudeness. Bella becomes friends with some of the kids from school, and also reconnects with Jacob Black, a Native American who is the son of her father's best friend. While visiting the reservation with some friends from school, Jacob tells her that the Cullens are not allowed on the Rez; an ancient legend says that his tribe is descended from werewolves and that the Cullens are evil creatures they are sworn to defeat. Bella does not dismiss this as mere legend, and using other observations she's made, figures out that Edward and the rest of his family are vampires. She's already fallen in love with him, and he with her, so rather than run away upon learning the news, she and he grow even closer. But there are a series of mysterious deaths getting nearer to Forks. Are vampires the cause of those attacks? And can Bella ever be safe while she's around Edward?
Critical Evaluation
Twilight, both the books and the film, seem to be equal targets of worship and ridicule. While watching this movie with my husband the other night, he was scoffing at the ridiculousness of several plot points. I had to agree with him intellectually, yet I admitted that the 15-year-old girl inside of me was absolutely swooning at the over-the-top romance. The film does a good job at portraying their young love. Robert Pattinson as Edward is appropriately intense and gorgeous. Though many have criticized Kristen Stewart's performance as Bella, I thought she was well-cast. Beautiful, awkward, and intense, she stands out as quite different from the stereotypical teens who surround her at Forks High. One can see why Edward is so attracted to her. The film's best scenes are the ones between Bella and Edward, as they navigate the waters of their changing relationship. I also enjoyed the scenes between Bella and Jacob (the excellently cast Taylor Lautner).
The film adapation, however, does highlight the weakest portions of Meyer's book. The dramatic confrontation between the Cullens and another vampire clan, taking place over a rousing game of vampire baseball, is even more ridiculous in the film than it was on the page. The final climax, where one vampire kidnaps Bella in order to get Edward to chase him, feels way too rushed. The emotions in the movie's final scenes are told through dialogue rather than shown through acting and editing.
The movie is gorgeous; Forks is lush and green, and the famous scene where Bella and Edward lie down together in a meadow is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. The final scene, where Edward escorts Bella to her prom, is also quite lovely, as Bella and Edward dance in a gazebo covered in fairy lights. The movie's soundtrack is quite effective at using pop music to help convey a sense of place and emotions throughout the film.
About the Director
Before Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke was probably best known for Thirteen, a controversial 2003 film about two 13-year-old girls who drink, take drugs, steal, and engage in self-mutilation. The co-writer and star of that film was cast as Rosalie Cullen in Twilight. Another of Hardwicke's major releases, Lords of Dogtown, deals with young adults. It tells the story of the California teens who invented skateboarding.
Curriculum Ties
This film is not well-suited for use in any curriculum, though it would certainly be a popular choice for a movie night for a school or library event.
Viewing Interest/Level
The movie would probably be of interest to junior high students and up. The movie is rated PG-13 for some scenes of violence and one scene of sensuality (though there is no nudity).
Challenge Issues
I don't think that this movie would be likely to be challenged. Adults tend to understand the MPAA rating system well, and the movie is appropriately rated PG-13. While sometimes supernatural films or books are challenged by people who find them offensive to their religious beliefs, Twilight was written by a Mormon writer and is praised by many for its themes of abstinence.
Selection Criteria
The movie is an absolute phenomenon among young adults! A recent Twilight-themed party was the most successful young adult programming event my branch library had had in recent years.
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke
ASIN B001P5HRMI
Running time: 122 minutes
Summit Entertainment, 2008
Rated PG-13
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson
Genre: Supernatural; Romance
Viewers Annotation
When a teen girl moves to a small town in Washington to live with her father, she becomes intrigued by a beautiful, mysterious boy whose family holds a dark secret.
Plot Summary
Bella moves to small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father after her mother gets remarried. Though she used to spend part of her summer in Forks, she hasn't been back in many years. In such a small town, her arrival is big news, and both students and people around town are dying to talk to her. Bella, who is quiet, shy, and a little bit awkward, is unnerved by all the attention. Only one boy isn't all over her feet: Edward Cullen, the beautiful and mysterious boy whom all the girls have crushes on... but who has never dated a girl from school. Edward is supposed to be Bella's lab partner, but he spends the whole first lab holding his nose and acting as if he can't bear to be around Bella. Then he disappears from school for a week.
When he returns, he apologizes for his rudeness. Bella becomes friends with some of the kids from school, and also reconnects with Jacob Black, a Native American who is the son of her father's best friend. While visiting the reservation with some friends from school, Jacob tells her that the Cullens are not allowed on the Rez; an ancient legend says that his tribe is descended from werewolves and that the Cullens are evil creatures they are sworn to defeat. Bella does not dismiss this as mere legend, and using other observations she's made, figures out that Edward and the rest of his family are vampires. She's already fallen in love with him, and he with her, so rather than run away upon learning the news, she and he grow even closer. But there are a series of mysterious deaths getting nearer to Forks. Are vampires the cause of those attacks? And can Bella ever be safe while she's around Edward?
Critical Evaluation
Twilight, both the books and the film, seem to be equal targets of worship and ridicule. While watching this movie with my husband the other night, he was scoffing at the ridiculousness of several plot points. I had to agree with him intellectually, yet I admitted that the 15-year-old girl inside of me was absolutely swooning at the over-the-top romance. The film does a good job at portraying their young love. Robert Pattinson as Edward is appropriately intense and gorgeous. Though many have criticized Kristen Stewart's performance as Bella, I thought she was well-cast. Beautiful, awkward, and intense, she stands out as quite different from the stereotypical teens who surround her at Forks High. One can see why Edward is so attracted to her. The film's best scenes are the ones between Bella and Edward, as they navigate the waters of their changing relationship. I also enjoyed the scenes between Bella and Jacob (the excellently cast Taylor Lautner).
The film adapation, however, does highlight the weakest portions of Meyer's book. The dramatic confrontation between the Cullens and another vampire clan, taking place over a rousing game of vampire baseball, is even more ridiculous in the film than it was on the page. The final climax, where one vampire kidnaps Bella in order to get Edward to chase him, feels way too rushed. The emotions in the movie's final scenes are told through dialogue rather than shown through acting and editing.
The movie is gorgeous; Forks is lush and green, and the famous scene where Bella and Edward lie down together in a meadow is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. The final scene, where Edward escorts Bella to her prom, is also quite lovely, as Bella and Edward dance in a gazebo covered in fairy lights. The movie's soundtrack is quite effective at using pop music to help convey a sense of place and emotions throughout the film.
About the Director
Before Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke was probably best known for Thirteen, a controversial 2003 film about two 13-year-old girls who drink, take drugs, steal, and engage in self-mutilation. The co-writer and star of that film was cast as Rosalie Cullen in Twilight. Another of Hardwicke's major releases, Lords of Dogtown, deals with young adults. It tells the story of the California teens who invented skateboarding.
Curriculum Ties
This film is not well-suited for use in any curriculum, though it would certainly be a popular choice for a movie night for a school or library event.
Viewing Interest/Level
The movie would probably be of interest to junior high students and up. The movie is rated PG-13 for some scenes of violence and one scene of sensuality (though there is no nudity).
Challenge Issues
I don't think that this movie would be likely to be challenged. Adults tend to understand the MPAA rating system well, and the movie is appropriately rated PG-13. While sometimes supernatural films or books are challenged by people who find them offensive to their religious beliefs, Twilight was written by a Mormon writer and is praised by many for its themes of abstinence.
Selection Criteria
The movie is an absolute phenomenon among young adults! A recent Twilight-themed party was the most successful young adult programming event my branch library had had in recent years.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle
Kissing Kate
Lauren Myracle
ISBN 0-525-46917-6
198 pages
Dutton, 2003
Genre: LGBT, Contemporary Life
Readers Annotation
Lissa and Kate have been best friends forever, but after they share a romantic kiss at a party, their relationship is strained.
Plot Summary
Lissa and Kate have been best friends forever. Kate, a beautiful gymnast, has always had confidence enough for both of them. After they share a romantic kiss at a party, their relationship is strained. Though Kate initiated the kiss, she stops speaking to Lissa. Lissa finds herself starting her junior year without a group of friends, since her previous friends were really Kate's friends. Through her weekend job at a restaurant delivery service, Lissa gets to know Ariel, a girl from school she'd previously dismissed as too kooky. Ariel sets up a social outing with their boss, an overweight, middle-aged single woman, whom Lissa had previously dismissed as sort of pathetic, and introduces her to Finn, a cute, funny boy who has a birth defect. Lissa realizes that she has been prejudging people and pushing them away without really getting to know them.
At the same time, she struggles with the realization that she is in love with Kate. Kate wants them to return to their old friendship, without even acknowledging what happened between them. When pressed, Kate admits she has feelings, too, but is too concerned with what her family and classmates would think if she came out as a lesbian. Meanwhile, Lissa's younger sister's new friend makes pronouncements on everything--including how gross gay people are--and Lissa's uncle, who has been their guardian since their parents died in a car accident, has the courage to start a new romance and change and grow as a person. Lissa observes all of these people's different reactions to change and being different and wonders whether she should patch things up with Kate and pretend that nothing has happened or take ownership of her new identity.
Critical Evaluation
Though Kissing Kate is very much about Lissa's eventual realization that she can't and won't deny her romantic feelings for Kate, its themes are broader than LGBT. Lissa's acceptance of her sexual identity, whatever it is (Ariel warns her not to be to quick to put a label on herself: maybe she's lesbian, maybe she's bisexual, or maybe she loved Kate the person), is part of a larger self-acceptance that's common to the adolescent experience. Lissa is a realistically flawed person who has been hiding herself her entire life, yet judging people who put themselves out there. While she's presented with a number of previews of how difficult life as a gay person might be, she decides the greater crime is to live a lie, a half-formed life.
There is a running subplot throughout the book about Lissa's attempts to engage in lucid dreaming that I did not think was very successful. While Lissa's interest and success in this new-age topic, despite her previous identity as a skeptic, is meant to show her growth as a person and provides the context for Ariel and Lissa's friendship, I felt like it took up too prominent space in the plot long after it had served its useful purpose.
I very much enjoyed Lissa's relationship with her younger sister. Lissa is both a sister and a mother to her sister, who was only two when their parents died; she realizes that her sister is developing a toxic friendship, but she handles it very well, subtly showing her sister her new friend's true colors and letting her come to that realization on her own. One can see that Lissa wishes her own mother were still alive, helping her work out her own issues with Kate.
About the Author
Lauren Myracle is perhaps known for her "IM Girl" series that started with ttyl, reviewed in this blog. She is a young adult author whose work has been frequently challenged: ttyl for its adult themes and Kissing Kate for its lesbian content. Her latest offering for middle school readers, Luv Ya Bunches, recently made headlines when it was banned from Scholastic Book Fairs because one of its four main characters had same-sex parents.
Curriculum Ties
The book could be used in a school setting to discuss identity and/or lesbian and gay themes.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Explain Kate and Lissa's history and current strained relationship.
2. Discuss Lissa's new friendship with Ariel and how it helps her reevaluate herself.
3. Explore Lissa's family and her relationship with her sister. Is it easier to see other people making mistakes than to see those mistakes in ourselves?
Reading Interest/Level
This book would be of interest to both junior high and high school students.
Challenge Issues
Though there is some alcohol involved--Kate is drunk when she first kisses Lissa, and Lissa later gets drunk after school with Finn and Ariel--this book's main challenge issue is the fact that it's centered around two teenage girls who are romantically involved. I personally do not think there is anything in this book that wouldn't be appropriate for junior high or high school students, but it is a frequently challenged book.
Should it be challenged, the librarian should be able to explain and defend her library's collection policy to the challenger and show how Kissing Kate meets those criteria. S/he could point to the book's numerous positive reviews as proof of its worth.
Selection Criteria
Kissing Kate was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.
Lauren Myracle
ISBN 0-525-46917-6
198 pages
Dutton, 2003
Genre: LGBT, Contemporary Life
Readers Annotation
Lissa and Kate have been best friends forever, but after they share a romantic kiss at a party, their relationship is strained.
Plot Summary
Lissa and Kate have been best friends forever. Kate, a beautiful gymnast, has always had confidence enough for both of them. After they share a romantic kiss at a party, their relationship is strained. Though Kate initiated the kiss, she stops speaking to Lissa. Lissa finds herself starting her junior year without a group of friends, since her previous friends were really Kate's friends. Through her weekend job at a restaurant delivery service, Lissa gets to know Ariel, a girl from school she'd previously dismissed as too kooky. Ariel sets up a social outing with their boss, an overweight, middle-aged single woman, whom Lissa had previously dismissed as sort of pathetic, and introduces her to Finn, a cute, funny boy who has a birth defect. Lissa realizes that she has been prejudging people and pushing them away without really getting to know them.
At the same time, she struggles with the realization that she is in love with Kate. Kate wants them to return to their old friendship, without even acknowledging what happened between them. When pressed, Kate admits she has feelings, too, but is too concerned with what her family and classmates would think if she came out as a lesbian. Meanwhile, Lissa's younger sister's new friend makes pronouncements on everything--including how gross gay people are--and Lissa's uncle, who has been their guardian since their parents died in a car accident, has the courage to start a new romance and change and grow as a person. Lissa observes all of these people's different reactions to change and being different and wonders whether she should patch things up with Kate and pretend that nothing has happened or take ownership of her new identity.
Critical Evaluation
Though Kissing Kate is very much about Lissa's eventual realization that she can't and won't deny her romantic feelings for Kate, its themes are broader than LGBT. Lissa's acceptance of her sexual identity, whatever it is (Ariel warns her not to be to quick to put a label on herself: maybe she's lesbian, maybe she's bisexual, or maybe she loved Kate the person), is part of a larger self-acceptance that's common to the adolescent experience. Lissa is a realistically flawed person who has been hiding herself her entire life, yet judging people who put themselves out there. While she's presented with a number of previews of how difficult life as a gay person might be, she decides the greater crime is to live a lie, a half-formed life.
There is a running subplot throughout the book about Lissa's attempts to engage in lucid dreaming that I did not think was very successful. While Lissa's interest and success in this new-age topic, despite her previous identity as a skeptic, is meant to show her growth as a person and provides the context for Ariel and Lissa's friendship, I felt like it took up too prominent space in the plot long after it had served its useful purpose.
I very much enjoyed Lissa's relationship with her younger sister. Lissa is both a sister and a mother to her sister, who was only two when their parents died; she realizes that her sister is developing a toxic friendship, but she handles it very well, subtly showing her sister her new friend's true colors and letting her come to that realization on her own. One can see that Lissa wishes her own mother were still alive, helping her work out her own issues with Kate.
About the Author
Lauren Myracle is perhaps known for her "IM Girl" series that started with ttyl, reviewed in this blog. She is a young adult author whose work has been frequently challenged: ttyl for its adult themes and Kissing Kate for its lesbian content. Her latest offering for middle school readers, Luv Ya Bunches, recently made headlines when it was banned from Scholastic Book Fairs because one of its four main characters had same-sex parents.
Curriculum Ties
The book could be used in a school setting to discuss identity and/or lesbian and gay themes.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Explain Kate and Lissa's history and current strained relationship.
2. Discuss Lissa's new friendship with Ariel and how it helps her reevaluate herself.
3. Explore Lissa's family and her relationship with her sister. Is it easier to see other people making mistakes than to see those mistakes in ourselves?
Reading Interest/Level
This book would be of interest to both junior high and high school students.
Challenge Issues
Though there is some alcohol involved--Kate is drunk when she first kisses Lissa, and Lissa later gets drunk after school with Finn and Ariel--this book's main challenge issue is the fact that it's centered around two teenage girls who are romantically involved. I personally do not think there is anything in this book that wouldn't be appropriate for junior high or high school students, but it is a frequently challenged book.
Should it be challenged, the librarian should be able to explain and defend her library's collection policy to the challenger and show how Kissing Kate meets those criteria. S/he could point to the book's numerous positive reviews as proof of its worth.
Selection Criteria
Kissing Kate was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Stargirl
Jerry Spinelli
ISBN 0-679-88637-0
186 pages
Alfred A. Knopf, 2000
Genre: Contemporary Life
Readers Annotation
When Stargirl enrolls in an Arizona high school, at first the student body embraces her eccentric ways. Soon, though, they turn against her, and the narrator Leo urges Stargirl to conform.
Plot Summary
Leo is a student at a high school in Mica, Arizona, where conformity is praised above all else. A new student named Stargirl shakes things up. She serenades classmates at lunch with her ukelele, carries a pet rat around everywhere, and performs random acts of kindness. At a football game, she's a tireless cheerleader, cheering for absolutely everyone, including the opposing team. The student body is infatuated and charmed by Stargirl's eccentricities. However, when the basketball team starts winning games, the students no longer tolerate Stargirl's penchant for cheering the opposing side. The entire student body shuns her, pretending she doesn't exist.
Leo, the narrator, is fascinated by Stargirl, and he's caught her eye, too. Hanging out with her after school, he learns that Stargirl's desire to spread love and happiness extends past the walls of the high school. She scours the newspaper for human interest stories, looking for small ways she can make perfect strangers perfectly happy. Leo is bothered by the horrible way the students treat Stargirl--perhaps more bothered by the fact that he's becoming a social outcast himself--and convinces Stargirl to try and conform more to group expectations. She shows up to school in normal clothes and starts calling herself by her given name, Susan. But can Stargirl be happy being like everybody else? Will Leo still love her if she's just like everybody else? And will everybody else even accept her as a regular student, or has she already branded herself an outsider?
Critical Evaluation
Stargirl is a short but moving work about non-conformity. This is a topic that will really resonant with young adults, who often worry both about fitting in but also about maintaining their individuality. Leo narrates the story from his perspective as an adult, so he's able to clearly articulate some important thoughts about the way that social groups work in high school. As long as Mica High School remains relatively undistinguished in sports and academics, the students are happy to accept Stargirl's message of universal love. However, as soon as the basketball team starts winning, they immediately start identifying as winners--and expecting to win--and view Stargirl's philosophy as almost traitorous.
Though Leo ultimately fails Stargirl and asks her to compromise herself for his own comfort, Spinelli is not unkind to him. He's young and doesn't realize that asking Stargirl to pretend to be someone else will spoil what he liked about her in the first place. Stargirl's final act at school, however, is triumphant, and Leo learns his lesson. The ending shows Stargirl's lasting influence at Mica High, long after she has left, and Leo, older and wiser, wishes he had held onto their relationship. The final sentence, though, leaves some hope for their future.
Technically, Spinelli structures the book in an interesting way. The first half of the story is told by Leo using mostly first-person plural--we did this, we did that--showing his total identification as part of the group mob. In the second half of the story, after Stargirl helps Leo find his own voice, he switches to first-person singular and is able to speak about what he specifically thought and did.
Other Books in the Series
A sequel, Love, Stargirl, told from the perspective of Stargirl, was published in 2007.
About the author
Jerry Spinelli is a Newbery-Medal winning author of books for children and young adults. He considers himself a writer for everyone, not just children, so many of his book have wide appeal for teens and adult readers, even though their protagonists are slightly younger. He has explored the issues of popularity and of being an outcast in many of his novels. Stargirl is his best known and most popular novel, and it has inspired teens at various high schools to create their own Stargirl societies.
Curriculum Ties
This philosophical little book would be a great choice to explore the issues of social dynamics, conformity, and individuality.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about Stargirl's arrival at Mica High. Ask how such a character would be received at their school.
2. Explore Leo and Stargirl's relationship. Should he ask her to change, or should he just accept being an outcast himself?
3. Talk about the students' relationship with Archie, the old retired paleontologist who serves as their unofficial mentor and guru.
Challenge Issues
None
Selection Criteria
Stargirl was named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and also is a New York Times bestseller.
Jerry Spinelli
ISBN 0-679-88637-0
186 pages
Alfred A. Knopf, 2000
Genre: Contemporary Life
Readers Annotation
When Stargirl enrolls in an Arizona high school, at first the student body embraces her eccentric ways. Soon, though, they turn against her, and the narrator Leo urges Stargirl to conform.
Plot Summary
Leo is a student at a high school in Mica, Arizona, where conformity is praised above all else. A new student named Stargirl shakes things up. She serenades classmates at lunch with her ukelele, carries a pet rat around everywhere, and performs random acts of kindness. At a football game, she's a tireless cheerleader, cheering for absolutely everyone, including the opposing team. The student body is infatuated and charmed by Stargirl's eccentricities. However, when the basketball team starts winning games, the students no longer tolerate Stargirl's penchant for cheering the opposing side. The entire student body shuns her, pretending she doesn't exist.
Leo, the narrator, is fascinated by Stargirl, and he's caught her eye, too. Hanging out with her after school, he learns that Stargirl's desire to spread love and happiness extends past the walls of the high school. She scours the newspaper for human interest stories, looking for small ways she can make perfect strangers perfectly happy. Leo is bothered by the horrible way the students treat Stargirl--perhaps more bothered by the fact that he's becoming a social outcast himself--and convinces Stargirl to try and conform more to group expectations. She shows up to school in normal clothes and starts calling herself by her given name, Susan. But can Stargirl be happy being like everybody else? Will Leo still love her if she's just like everybody else? And will everybody else even accept her as a regular student, or has she already branded herself an outsider?
Critical Evaluation
Stargirl is a short but moving work about non-conformity. This is a topic that will really resonant with young adults, who often worry both about fitting in but also about maintaining their individuality. Leo narrates the story from his perspective as an adult, so he's able to clearly articulate some important thoughts about the way that social groups work in high school. As long as Mica High School remains relatively undistinguished in sports and academics, the students are happy to accept Stargirl's message of universal love. However, as soon as the basketball team starts winning, they immediately start identifying as winners--and expecting to win--and view Stargirl's philosophy as almost traitorous.
Though Leo ultimately fails Stargirl and asks her to compromise herself for his own comfort, Spinelli is not unkind to him. He's young and doesn't realize that asking Stargirl to pretend to be someone else will spoil what he liked about her in the first place. Stargirl's final act at school, however, is triumphant, and Leo learns his lesson. The ending shows Stargirl's lasting influence at Mica High, long after she has left, and Leo, older and wiser, wishes he had held onto their relationship. The final sentence, though, leaves some hope for their future.
Technically, Spinelli structures the book in an interesting way. The first half of the story is told by Leo using mostly first-person plural--we did this, we did that--showing his total identification as part of the group mob. In the second half of the story, after Stargirl helps Leo find his own voice, he switches to first-person singular and is able to speak about what he specifically thought and did.
Other Books in the Series
A sequel, Love, Stargirl, told from the perspective of Stargirl, was published in 2007.
About the author
Jerry Spinelli is a Newbery-Medal winning author of books for children and young adults. He considers himself a writer for everyone, not just children, so many of his book have wide appeal for teens and adult readers, even though their protagonists are slightly younger. He has explored the issues of popularity and of being an outcast in many of his novels. Stargirl is his best known and most popular novel, and it has inspired teens at various high schools to create their own Stargirl societies.
Curriculum Ties
This philosophical little book would be a great choice to explore the issues of social dynamics, conformity, and individuality.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about Stargirl's arrival at Mica High. Ask how such a character would be received at their school.
2. Explore Leo and Stargirl's relationship. Should he ask her to change, or should he just accept being an outcast himself?
3. Talk about the students' relationship with Archie, the old retired paleontologist who serves as their unofficial mentor and guru.
Challenge Issues
None
Selection Criteria
Stargirl was named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and also is a New York Times bestseller.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Skinned by Robin Wasserman
Skinned
Robin Wasserman
ISBN 1416936343
368 pages
Simon Pulse, 2008
Genre: Science Fiction
Readers Annotation
In a future world, after Lia's body is mangled in a horrific car accident, her parents have her mind downloaded into a new mechanical body. Lia soon learns that she won't easily be welcomed back into society.
Plot Summary
Set in the future in a post-nuclear world, Lia is a queen bee at her high school: wealthy and popular with a great boyfriend. After she's in a terrible car accident, she awakes with strange memories. She remembers horrific pain and her limbs being torn off, but now she feels... nothing? Lia learns that her physical body was beyond repair. Her parents opted for a new and highly controversial procedure, in which her consciousness--all her thoughts and memories--is downloaded into a new mechanical body. Lia is now a "mech" (short for mechanical) or, more derogatorily, a "skinner." She looks human, and she feels human, but with her new body, she will never age, she will never grow sick, and she can never die, for if something happens to her mechanical body, she can simply be downloaded into a new one.
After physical therapy, where she learns to use her new body, she returns to home to protests. Religious activists protest Lia's very existence; they view the existence of skinners as a crime against God. Things at her old high school aren't much better. She's shunned by everyone. Her sister is dating Lia's boyfriend, and she's taken over Lia's place as the school's it girl. People, Lia learns, view her simply as the machine that is pretending to be Lia. Her parents even wish they hadn't gone through with the procedure.
The only people who show any interest at all in Lia are Auden, a fellow outcast at school, and a group of fellow mechs who, unable to feel anything but the most extreme of emotions, have turned into adrenaline junkies. Unlike Lia, though, they accept and revel in their status as outsiders. Where does Lia belong now? With the family and friends who now reject her? With the other mechs? And can she have a true friendship with Auden, or will her mech identity doom that relationship, too?
Critical Evaluation
This premise reminded me a lot of a book I read as a teen, Eva by Peter Dickinson, in which a teenage girl's brain is transplanted into the body of a chimpanzee. Like Lia, Eva struggles with finding her place. Though she has a human mind with the same consciousness she did prior to the procedure, humans cannot accept that she is truly human. Unlike Eva, Lia is welcomed into the community of skinners. Eva is clearly the more thoughtful, philosophical piece, while much of Skinned is devoted to high school politics, even after Lia is turned into a mech. The future world isn't a richly drawn one, and a major plot point revolves around a futuristic version of MySpace or Facebook; I wondered, would social networking really look so similar hundreds of years in the future, even after a nuclear attack? Many of the characters, especially Lia's teenage friends, are broadly drawn caricatures, though her relationship with her sister is more realistic and emotionally resonant.
However, that being said, the book does bring up a fair number of weighty issues. What makes us human? Does Lia's soul reside in her new mechanical body? Where do we draw the lie when it comes to medical advances? How far do we want to go with genetic engineering? And what role does religion play into all of this? While the book is mostly a fast-paced, plot-driven affair, these questions are very much explored.
It's a great choice to recommend to reluctant readers. Teenage girls who say they hate sci-fi may be drawn in by the extensive focus on Lia's social network, whereas teenage boys who like sci-fi may be intrigued by the premise of the story. If enjoyed by the reader, a more challenging book along the same subject matter, such as Eva or The Adoration of Jenna Fox, could be recommended.
Other Books in the Series
This book is the first in a planned trilogy. The second, Crashed, was published earlier this fall.
About the Author
Robin Wasserman is a young adult author who is perhaps best known for her Seven Deadly Sins series, about seven high school students who each display one of the sins. She also wrote the Chasing Yesterday trilogy, about a teenage girl who cannot remember who she is and exhibits some potentially dangerous powers.
Curriculum Ties
While not the weightiest book in the world on the topic, the book does explore some issues that could be used to inspire discussion and debate, such as what makes us human, how far should medical science go, and what is our place in the world?
Booktalking Ideas
1. Explain what happened to Lia and what a mech is.
2. Explore the problematic relationships between Lia and her sister Zo, who takes over Lia's life.
3. Talk about the relationship between Lia and Auden.
Reading Interest/Level
This book seems appropriate for high-school readers.
Challenge Issues
Some strong language and an attempted rape scene are potential challenge issues. Should the book be challenged, the librarian should be able to explain and defend the library's selection policy. The librarian could point to the numerous positive reviews the book has received as proof that it is an age-appropriate and worthwhile book.
Selection Criteria
Amazon suggested this book for me based on some other books that I was looking at. It had an intriguing premise, and the positive reviews from VOYA and SLJ helped me decide to read it.
Robin Wasserman
ISBN 1416936343
368 pages
Simon Pulse, 2008
Genre: Science Fiction
Readers Annotation
In a future world, after Lia's body is mangled in a horrific car accident, her parents have her mind downloaded into a new mechanical body. Lia soon learns that she won't easily be welcomed back into society.
Plot Summary
Set in the future in a post-nuclear world, Lia is a queen bee at her high school: wealthy and popular with a great boyfriend. After she's in a terrible car accident, she awakes with strange memories. She remembers horrific pain and her limbs being torn off, but now she feels... nothing? Lia learns that her physical body was beyond repair. Her parents opted for a new and highly controversial procedure, in which her consciousness--all her thoughts and memories--is downloaded into a new mechanical body. Lia is now a "mech" (short for mechanical) or, more derogatorily, a "skinner." She looks human, and she feels human, but with her new body, she will never age, she will never grow sick, and she can never die, for if something happens to her mechanical body, she can simply be downloaded into a new one.
After physical therapy, where she learns to use her new body, she returns to home to protests. Religious activists protest Lia's very existence; they view the existence of skinners as a crime against God. Things at her old high school aren't much better. She's shunned by everyone. Her sister is dating Lia's boyfriend, and she's taken over Lia's place as the school's it girl. People, Lia learns, view her simply as the machine that is pretending to be Lia. Her parents even wish they hadn't gone through with the procedure.
The only people who show any interest at all in Lia are Auden, a fellow outcast at school, and a group of fellow mechs who, unable to feel anything but the most extreme of emotions, have turned into adrenaline junkies. Unlike Lia, though, they accept and revel in their status as outsiders. Where does Lia belong now? With the family and friends who now reject her? With the other mechs? And can she have a true friendship with Auden, or will her mech identity doom that relationship, too?
Critical Evaluation
This premise reminded me a lot of a book I read as a teen, Eva by Peter Dickinson, in which a teenage girl's brain is transplanted into the body of a chimpanzee. Like Lia, Eva struggles with finding her place. Though she has a human mind with the same consciousness she did prior to the procedure, humans cannot accept that she is truly human. Unlike Eva, Lia is welcomed into the community of skinners. Eva is clearly the more thoughtful, philosophical piece, while much of Skinned is devoted to high school politics, even after Lia is turned into a mech. The future world isn't a richly drawn one, and a major plot point revolves around a futuristic version of MySpace or Facebook; I wondered, would social networking really look so similar hundreds of years in the future, even after a nuclear attack? Many of the characters, especially Lia's teenage friends, are broadly drawn caricatures, though her relationship with her sister is more realistic and emotionally resonant.
However, that being said, the book does bring up a fair number of weighty issues. What makes us human? Does Lia's soul reside in her new mechanical body? Where do we draw the lie when it comes to medical advances? How far do we want to go with genetic engineering? And what role does religion play into all of this? While the book is mostly a fast-paced, plot-driven affair, these questions are very much explored.
It's a great choice to recommend to reluctant readers. Teenage girls who say they hate sci-fi may be drawn in by the extensive focus on Lia's social network, whereas teenage boys who like sci-fi may be intrigued by the premise of the story. If enjoyed by the reader, a more challenging book along the same subject matter, such as Eva or The Adoration of Jenna Fox, could be recommended.
Other Books in the Series
This book is the first in a planned trilogy. The second, Crashed, was published earlier this fall.
About the Author
Robin Wasserman is a young adult author who is perhaps best known for her Seven Deadly Sins series, about seven high school students who each display one of the sins. She also wrote the Chasing Yesterday trilogy, about a teenage girl who cannot remember who she is and exhibits some potentially dangerous powers.
Curriculum Ties
While not the weightiest book in the world on the topic, the book does explore some issues that could be used to inspire discussion and debate, such as what makes us human, how far should medical science go, and what is our place in the world?
Booktalking Ideas
1. Explain what happened to Lia and what a mech is.
2. Explore the problematic relationships between Lia and her sister Zo, who takes over Lia's life.
3. Talk about the relationship between Lia and Auden.
Reading Interest/Level
This book seems appropriate for high-school readers.
Challenge Issues
Some strong language and an attempted rape scene are potential challenge issues. Should the book be challenged, the librarian should be able to explain and defend the library's selection policy. The librarian could point to the numerous positive reviews the book has received as proof that it is an age-appropriate and worthwhile book.
Selection Criteria
Amazon suggested this book for me based on some other books that I was looking at. It had an intriguing premise, and the positive reviews from VOYA and SLJ helped me decide to read it.
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