Tuesday, November 30, 2010

And the winner is . . .



From the National Book Awards website:

ABOUT THE BOOK

In Caitlin’s world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That’s the stuff Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon’s dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger’s, she doesn’t know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white—the world is full of colors—messy and beautiful.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kathryn Erskine was a lawyer for fifteen years before turning to her first love: writing. Her debut novel, Quaking, was one of YALSA’s Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. She lives in Virginia with her husband, two children, and dog, Maxine.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

The Curse of the Wendigo

"Lush prose, devilish characterizations, and more honest emotion than any book involving copious de-facings (yes, you read that right) ought to have...Yancey has written both books in the Monstrumologist series as if they were the last, going for broke and playing for keeps, no matter who or what ends up on the chopping block. This is Warthrop's The Hound of the Baskervilles; if we hold our breath, maybe part 3 will come faster."
-- Booklist, starred review

"A page-turner of an historical horror that will simultaneously thrill readers and make them sick to their stomachs."
-- Kirkus Reviews




I didn’t think that Yancey could top The Monstrumologist. As we all know, sequels—in both print and film-- often bomb (the follow-up to Grease is the one that does it for me). However, as the reviews above suggest, The Curse of the Wendigo is just as good—I would argue it is better than—Yancey’s first book in the series.

Wendigo opens, like its predecessor, in the twenty-first century, with its “author” trying to figure out the mysterious William James Henry. How old was he? Could he really have been born in 1876?

The story begins in 1888, and to open this saga is a mysterious visitor—a woman (Muriel Chanler)! And it becomes quite clear that she and Dr. Warthrop have a past. This, to me, is one of the smartest details to add complication to the book. We gain an understanding about why the doctor is like he is. He loved and lost. His wall is deliberate. This backstory is integral to the action.

Muriel’s husband, one of the doctor’s oldest friends and colleagues, has gone missing in the Canadian woods and is feared dead. What seems to have gotten him is the Wendigo (also called Mossmouth, ‘high wind,’ and Lepto lurconis). Although he initially laughs it off, Warthrop and Will Henry travel to Canada and trek into the woods to find John Chanler.

They find “him,” but what they find is not what went into the woods . . . I won’t spoil the book for you, but I will say, run out and get it now!

The writing is fantastic. The pace and storyline in this book expand on the prior tale picking up speed and action. I also think this book has more personality. I found myself laughing more than gagging (like I did with the first book). [describing a man impaled by a tree: “We can’t leave him stuck here like a pig on a stick,’ Warthrop replied. “Snap to, Will Henry.”]

Yancey gives Warthrop more wit and sarcasm—which fits considering we learn more about his “person” in this volume. Yancey also introduces women—strong women—into this story, both in Muriel and in a young girl, Lilly Bates, who by all accounts has the resolve, wit, countenance, and strength of stomach to be the first female monstrumologist (I would add she is sneaky and evil, too, but you’ll have to judge for yourself).

Read a sample chapter here

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Annie on My Mind


I recently had the pleasure of reading an incredible love story, but it was not your typical love story.  Annie on My Mind is the story of a chance meeting between two young girls, Liza and Annie, at a museum.  Liza knows that there is something different about Annie, something that she cannot put into words.  However, the reader knows exactly what is happening.  Liza has a crush on Annie.

Everyone around them believes that Liza and Annie are developing a powerful friendship, which they are, but a friendship that is so much more.  They spend all of their time together, and, eventually, Liza reveals to Annie that she loves her.  Liza and Annie explore what this love means both emotionally and physically.  They are both scared and confused, but they are also hopeful.  They envision spending the rest of their lives together and growing into old ladies with one another.

The two girls are discovered in quite a compromising situation, and they are outed before they have had the chance to truly accept who they are.  What surprises Liza is the support she receives from her family and other adults when she is faced with one of the most difficult trials of her young life.

Annie on My Mind is the most powerful young adult LGBTQ fiction that I have ever read.  Although it was originally published in 1982, its two courageous female protagonists show that love knows no bounds, including sexuality.  The author, Nancy Garden, creates a dichotomous reaction to the girls with adults taking both sides on the issue. 

Additionally, Garden fires back at the Bible verses often used to vilify homosexuality with a story from Greek mythology that is older than the Bible.  Liza reflects on a Greek legend she heard in school.  It was the speech given by Aristophanes in Plato's Symposium.  This story states that, in the beginning, every person had four arms and legs and two heads.  We were essentially two human beings in one.  We were constructed as forms of man/man, woman/woman, and man/woman.  These original humans angered Zeus, but, instead of destroying them, he became greedy and realized that if he cut them in half, he would have double the sacrifices.  Thus, everyone was cut in half and spent the rest of their life looking for their other half.  To me, this is a powerful statement of reassurance to anyone who may be curious about their sexuality.  Moreover, it is a powerful statement about love and the concept of "soul mates", in general.

What Garden has done is not only written a young adult LGBTQ novel, but a powerful love story that all can enjoy.  This book should be in every classroom library.

Monday, November 8, 2010

National Book Award Finalists!


YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE

Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker (Little, Brown & Co.)

Kathryn Erskine, Mockingbird
(Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group)

Laura McNeal, Dark Water (Alfred A. Knopf)

Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown
(Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Rita Williams-Garcia, One Crazy Summer
(Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

I feel ahead of the curve this year! Not only have I read Ship Breaker and Lockdown, but we (a local teacher and I) are teaching Lockdown to a class of ninth grade students!!

Now, I just need to read the other three titles!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Kick Ass Females, Past and Future: Katniss and Gemma

I haven’t posted in a while, partly due to my insane teaching schedule and partly because I have been READING! My post today is—literally and figuratively—on the past and the future.

I read The Hunger Games trilogy as the books were published, sadly finishing the series with Mockingjay in August. (As with the two books before it, I finished the book in one day.) Katniss, the female hero in this dystopian future, kicked ass and won me over from the start. In the past two days, I finished up the last two books (yes, all 1400 pages of them!) in the Gemma Doyle trilogy. Gemma is equally heroic, just kicking ass in the past.

As I was reading Libba Bray’s final two books—I can’t believe it took me this long to buy and read them!—I couldn’t help but think of Katniss Everdeen, Collins’s heroine of the future. What I like about them is that while they are great, they are also flawed. While they are likable, they are also contemptible at times. In short: they are real and they are us.

Beyond the two characters as areas of study, both sets of novels provide a range of perspectives for students to analyze, discuss, argue about, and critique—from violence, to societal ideals, to the roles of women, to man’s inhumanity towards the planet and each other. I would love to see both series being taught in school.


Let’s start with The Hunger Games. In the future, in what was once America as we know it, the country is a place of vast extremes. In The Capitol, excess rules and it takes more and more stimulation (food, clothes, color) for the citizens to exist. The ultimate stimulus is the annual “hunger games,” where two people are chosen (if you can call it that) from each of the twelve other districts to fight to the death—the entire gruesome spectacle is televised for “enjoyment.” Katniss, our heroine, steps in for her younger sister and through smarts, skill, luck, and strength manages to outwit the President: she and her fellow district choice, Peeta, win. And, that is just the first book in the trilogy. For those that haven’t read the series, I won’t spoil it.

However, what I want to stress is that even though I cheered for Katniss, she is not the infallible heroine; some may call her a tragic hero, but I am not sure about that. Perhaps she is simply a “real” hero. She is a reluctant hero. She hates the limelight. She doesn’t like the attention. She goads people. She can be fickle. Again, in short: she is each of us.



Then, there’s Gemma Doyle in Libba Bray’s historical/fantasy trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing). When the series opens Gemma is a typical teenager: pouty, selfish, and immature. These (self-recognized) traits are brought to the forefront when within the first 50 pages, her mother is murdered and Gemma is forced to think about her last words and actions toward her mother—and the strange vision she had where she saw her mother murdered. Shortly thereafter, Gemma is shipped off to England and The Spence School—where she is to be made a “proper” young lady. The remainder of book one and throughout books two and three, the reader is taken on Gemma’s fantastical journey to figure out not only who her mother was, but who she is—and what her role is in The Order, a group of priestesses who have ruled a mystical and powerful world called “the realms.”

Like Katniss, I cheered for Gemma. She is a reluctant hero. She goads people. She can be immature. At times I wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her. Yet, she does good and makes positive changes. She is, again, like us.


Both series put social issues in the forefront: expectations for women and “proper” women’s roles; capitalism and greed; poverty; prejudice and racism; substance abuse (Bray even tackles lesbianism). All six books could easily be taught in conjunction with often used canonical works or on their own. For example, The Hunger Games trilogy could be taught with 1984 and/or A Brave New World. Bray’s three novels could be used with a number of Austen’s works (although I think Pride and Prejudice is best suited) or alongside Kate Chopin or Edith Wharton (or Emily Bronte).

Both series have enough allusions and cultural references for students to conduct any number of research projects. For example, after reading the Collins series students could investigate organ and limb transplants or stem cell research. With Bray’s novels students could research the prejudice against gypsies or the suffrage movement.

I could go on and on . . . and, literally, I wish I could read on and on.

I guess I will have to wait for the next kick-ass female series.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Birthday Poem

On November 1, I (Susan) turned 40. I don't feel any different, maybe just a little bittersweet about saying goodbye to my 30s, which were some awesome years. Got married when I was 31, got my PhD at 33, bought my first home at 34, got tenure (and ran a half marathon) at 39. I kinda feel like I should spend my 40s celebrating. :) Anywhoo. Here's a poem I love to read every year on my birthday:

For the Anniversary of My Death by W. S. Merwin

Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me
And the silence will set out
Tireless traveler
Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer
Find myself in life as in a strange garment
Surprised at the earth
And the love of one woman
And the shamelessness of men
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And bowing not knowing to what

W. S. Merwin, “For the Anniversary of My Death” from The Second Four Books of Poems (Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press, 1993). Copyright © 1993 by W. S. Merwin. Reprinted with the permission of The Wylie Agency, Inc.

Ooh. Ouch. Might seem a little morbid to some, but I think considering one's death is all about affirming one's life. And, to make the YA tie here, has anyone noticed lately a lot of great YAL books being published about death and dying? or the consideration of death? This poem would make a good intertextual fit with Chris Crutcher's Deadline,


Jenny Dowhnham's Before I Die, Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall, and
Gayle Forman's If I Stay (which I've posted about it here), all of which encourage teen readers to consider and affirm the life they're living.