Tennessee Approves Common Core Standards

I'm worried--Tennessee's wholehearted approval of the national Common Core Standards does not bode well for our efforts to get more young adult literature in the high school English classroom, and to center today's teenager in curricular decisions. The standards committee has suggested titles for each grade level, and we know what that means--teachers will feel like they have to teach/use these titles because the assumption is "they're on the test." The first common core standards tests will be in 2014-2015, so I'm sure we'll see the following titles in Knox County curriculum to come (notice the year of publication for each text, and predominance of White, Western canon):

Grade 6-8 texts:
•Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1869)
•The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (1876)
•“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost (1915)
•The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper (1973)
•Dragonwings by Laurence Yep (1975)
•Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor (1976)

Grade 9-12 texts:
•The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1592)
•“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1817)
•“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe (1845)
•“The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry (1906)
•The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1939)
•Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)
•The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (1975)

Grade 11-12
•“Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats (1820)
•Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1848)
•“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson (1890)
•The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
•Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)
•A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1959)
•The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (2003)

Can I just say: the folks who dictate curricular policy--now at national levels--are so out of touch with today's adolescents.

The Common Core Standards Initiative website states that three things were considered when suggesting texts: complexity, quality, and range.

To judge "quality," the standards commission says they chose texts of "recognized value" (recognized by whom?? who values?). They furhter, "From the pool of submissions gathered from outside contributors, the work group selected classic or historically significant texts as well as contemporary works of comparable literary merit,cultural significance, and rich content." Historically significant how? to whom? Why no contemporary young adult literature? Why no texts that present postmodern structures/text features? Texts that include images, digital media, etc?

I mean, when I look at these titles and think THIS IS REPRESENTATIVE OF US, NATIONALLY, I feel invisible. I'm not anywhere in this list of literature, either through interest, or relation to experience, etc. I'm not saying literature has to be immediately relevant to me to matter, or that this literature is not historically significant to some, but I am saying that the gals in Little Women, Tom Sawyer, Emily Dickinson, and Jay Gatsby are not my (ONLY) EXPERIENCE or REALITY as a White, female, Southern American. And I don't appreciate a group of seemingly well-minded policymakers assuming they can decide what literature matters to and speaks for me or my history!!! Do you feel me? (If I were asked what American literature speaks to me, it would certainly include Dorothy Allison, Bobbie Ann Mason, Carson McCullers, Toni Morrison, and Lorrie Moore, with some Arrested Development and Dirty South rap playing in the background).

The commission says even less about "range," explaining they tried to "ensure that the samples presented in each band represented as broad a range of sufficiently complex, high quality texts as possible." Where's the range? in consideration of reader ability? in consideration of text genre?

To gauge "complexity," the commission explains they considered 1)a quantitative piece (reading level, which we know is usually a measure of word length, not comprehension ability), 2) a qualitative piece, which measures comprehension?? (how are they determining this??), and 3) "reader variables (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences), and task variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task assigned and the questions posed)."

Really??? I am very interested to learn how these folks are assessing reader motivation and readers' experiences (looking at a diverse range of readers??), as well as the purposes readers bring to reading literature...if they've looked at any "real" research they would know that NONE of the literature selections they've suggested fit what teens like to read and choose to read when given opportunities to choose. And isn't choice part of motivation and purpose?? of encouraging a life-long joy of reading? (No. I'm increasingly convinced the point of school reading instruction is to pass a (the ACT) test. I haven't read the more "detailed explanation" provided in Appendix A at the website, so maybe more of this will make sense once I do (but somehow I doubt it).

Alfie Kohn weighs in on national standards here

Books in Verse/Poet Biography

Looking for some good books to add to your classroom poetry collections? Check these out!

The Dreamer, by Pam Munoz Ryan and Peter Sis

Which is sharper? The hatchet that cuts down the dream? Or the scythe that clears a path for another?

Neftalí Reyes hears music in the rain and sees his beloved Andes Mountains as a “white-robed choir.” Neftalí wants to read and write, and daydream about the objects he collects on his walks—twigs, feathers, waxy leaves, smooth stones. But his father, a railroad man, thinks Neftalí needs to beef up, become a man. He calls his son "dim-witted," "absent-minded," a "good-for-nothing." But this "good-for-nothing" doesn't stop dreaming, and becomes the great Pablo Neruda, poet of the people, unafraid to speak truth to power under Pinochet’s regime. Excerpts from several of his poems and odes are included at end of this beautiful book.

Lots of awards buzz about this book...hear an interview with author here and listen to author read from work at NPR.

Borrowed Names: Poems about Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C.J. Walker, Marie Curie, and Their Daughters

Three extraordinary women were born in 1867, two years after the Civil War ended. These women shared a love for work and motherhood, and all raised daughters who went on to shape the world in their own ways. Each section follows one daughter from young childhood to adulthood, capturing nuanced details of her life. You definitely get a sense of each daughter's personality, but also the complex and (in)tense relationships that existed between mother and daughter.

Reminded me a bit of Stephanie Hemphill’s Your Own, Sylvia and the Center for Cartoon Studies’ graphic novel biographies. A creative way to read/write biography. Would make a great reader’s theatre project.


Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse, by Marilyn Singer and Josée Masse

This book is so much fun!

Singer introduces the “reverso” poem, her own creation, in this witty take on classic fairy tales. When you read a reverso down, it is one poem. When you read it up, with changes allowed only in punctuation and capitalization, it is a different poem. The form works well when goal is to tell two sides of one story.

Use this book when teaching the double- or multi-voiced poem. Pair with Fleischman’s Joyful Noise, Phoenix Rising, and Big Talk.

Boy YAL 2010

Hope any blog readers in the Knoxville area can make the "Best of the New, So Far" YAL workshop this Friday, but if not, here's some info. about some of the books for younger (upper middle grades) male readers I'll be talking about.

Missing in Action, by Dean Hughes

Jay’s dad, who is part Navajo, is Missing in Action (MIA) as he fights in WWII. When Jay and his mom move in with Jay’s grandparents in a new town (Delta, Utah), Jay builds up his dad to be a sports and military hero who will one day return. But who is Jay’s dad, really? Why is his mom always in a bad mood? And what will Jay’s new friends think when they find out he’s working with a “Jap” on his grandfather’s farm?

Heavy, complex themes abound in this book, but they're handled in a graceful, understated way. Reminded me a bit of Ann Burg's All the Broken Pieces.

This one would make a good addition to WWII-themed small-group literature circles, with Judy Blundell’s What I Saw and How I Lied, Sherri Smith’s Flygirl, Mal Peet’s Tamar, Virginia Euwer Wolff’s Bat 6, and Cynthia Fletcher’s Ten Cents a Dance.

Revolver, by Marcus Sedgwick

It's the early 1900s, it's cold as all-get-out (Arctic wilderness cold), and Sig's dad, Einar, has been a bad boy. So bad that he's being hunted by someone doubly bad, the "Bear Man." But before Bear Man can get to Einar, Einar dies mysteriously, leaving his son, Sig, and daughter, Anna, to deal with the consequences of their father's actions. When Bear Man finally does show up, Sig remembers his dad's old revolver that's hidden away...if he can just get it and distract Bear Man long enough, maybe he can take care of the brute once and for all. But it's never that easy, is it?

In spare, minimalist language (reminiscent of Paulsen, Hemingway, and Jack London), Revolver gets in your blood and stays there. Short, suspenseful chapters will keep readers interested, but the back and forth in time may confuse some. Reminded me a bit of Per Patterson's Out Stealing Horses. Would make a cool one-act play.

Woods Runner, by Gary Paulsen

Speaking of (short) bears, Gary Paulsen was in Knoxville not too long ago. It was the first time I'd ever heard him speak, and I loved him immediately. He kinda reminds me of Santa Claus. I'll forgive him his politics for a couple of reasons (he had good things to say about Sarah Palin, his fellow statesman): 1) I think he's a reformed beaver hunter and I'm sure he loves dogs; 2) he can spin a good yarn; 3) he's funny, and 4) his own childhood story about seeing his name on a library card for the first time (something he could actually call his own--he grew up dirt poor), and being turned onto books by someone who believed in him is so dang inspiring. I love this guy! And look what he's done for young (male) readers! I think he made it cool to read before reading was cool. I mean, remember the first time you read Hatchet?!?

So, in Paulsen's latest, readers meet thirteen-year-old Samuel, who lives in the Pennsylvania woods at the onset of the Revolutionary War. The French would call Samuel a courier du bois, a "woods runner," because of his hunting prowess and intuitive knowledge of the forest. The book reads: Samuel's knowledge grew until when he heard a twig break, he would know whether it was a deer or bear or squirrel that broke it. He could look at a track and know when the animal or man made it, and whether or not the creature was in a hurry and if so, why, and how fast it was going and what, if anything, was chasing it and how close the pursuer might be. And the more he was of the woods, of the wild, of the green, the less he was of the people...his skills and his woods knowledge set him apart, made him different.

It's this difference that might just save the lives of his parents, who were savagely attacked and captured by British soldiers (aided by the Iroquois), while Samuel was out hunting bear. Samuel must travel deep into enemy territory, tracking his parent's attackers, relying on his wits and knowledge of the forest to protect him. Along the way, Samuel witnesses the insanity, horror, and brutality of war.

Paulsen has said Woods Runner is not an attempt to write the history of the War for Independence, but instead, to "clarify some aspects of that conflict that have often been brushed over," such as the "real and horrible truths." Paulsen says in the Epilogue, "...the simple fact is that all combat is outrageous--thousands and thousands of young soldiers die horrible painful deaths lying in their own filth, alone and far from home, weak and hallucinating, forgotten and lost." But Paulsen says it is also "astonishing" to consider the "young men and boys [who] stood to as they did, in the face of withering odds, and actually won and created a new country with their blood."

Interspersed with the narrative are historical segments that provide some context and "reality" to Samuel's story.

Read more about Paulsen and Woods Runner here: http://bookpage.com/books.php?id=10012790

The Cardturner, by Louis Sachar

Ok, enough about guns and war (although card-playing can get pretty brutal). Sachar's latest is about bridge! As in cards, as in tricks and trumps! This is Sachar at his best, weaving together a smart, sophisticated, multi-layered story about bridge, of all things, and so much more.

Alton's girlfriend has dumped him for his best friend, his father's just been laid off, and now his mom has indentured him to be the cardturner for his rich, blind Uncle Lester, who just so happens to be a genius bridge-player. Part tribute to (and how-to) for the game of bridge, part coming-of-age story, and part philosophical take on things perceived and things real, this book hits home the importance of learning to turn over your own cards.

Read a well-written, witty review here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/24/cardturner-louis-sachar-review

and then read the book! And play some cards!

Why We Need a (Gay) Superhero

This past spring, when looking for a YA novel to fit the GLBTQ genre, I was quite honestly overwhelmed with the list of really good choices. I went to the Stonewall Awards list from the ALA and the Lambda Literary Awards, too.

I would look titles up on amazon and then see where the “you might like” links too me . . . it was a really tough decision. I was torn between some titles, including Perry Moore’s Hero.

Ultimately, I went with The God Box by Alex Sanchez. In the book, Manuel, who is openly gay, pulls Bible verses that show that God and Jesus did not outright say homosexuality is a sin. I hoped my students would like the book, and they did.

However, still interested in Hero, I broke down and bought it (although I have 100+ books I have paid for and not yet read) and LOVED it.

Here’s the summary from Moore’s website:

Thom Creed is used to being on his own. Even as a high school basketball star, he has to keep his distance because of his father. Hal Creed had once been one of the greatest and most beloved superheroes of The League-until the Wilson Towers incident. After that Thom's mother disappeared and his proud father became an outcast.

The last thing in the world Thom would ever want is to disappoint his father. So Thom keeps two secrets from him: First is that he's gay. The second is that he has the power to heal people. Initially, Thom had trouble controlling his powers. But with trial and error he improves, until he gets so good that he catches the attention of the League and is asked to join. Even though he knows it would kill his dad, Thom can't resist. When he joins the League, he meets a motley crew of other heroes, including tough-talking Scarlett, who has the power of fire from growing up near a nuclear power plant; Typhoid Larry, who makes everyone sick by touching them, but is actually a really sweet guy; and wise Ruth, who has the power to see the future. Together these unlikely heroes become friends and begin to uncover a plot to kill the superheroes. Along the way, Thom falls in love, and discovers the difficult truth about his parents' past.

What a great, and might I say, much needed concept and what a complex book to use with students. What I loved most about the book is that the main focus is not that the main character is gay (although I think it is very important that he is) but the emphasis on keeping secrets (can secrets also be lies?) and how that impacts the people around us. Thom has his secrets; so does his dad; so does his mom (what a way Moore introduces her later in the book). Those around him, the other heroes, all have their secrets too. Eventually, the secrets have to come out, but there is a price. Yet, in the end, what Thom feared most (and he had good reason to because of the prejudice and threats), that being gay would ruin him with not only his father but the public, never happened. We need (gay) heroes like Thom Creed for our students, especially those who are GLBTQ. Judging by how many times I still hear “that’s so gay” or “homo” or “faggot” in school hallways, GLBTQ kids must not feel like the heroes they are.

There are many opportunities for discussion with this book and I encourage you to read it for yourself. On a side note, started after he read about how women were treated (abused and killed off) in comics, on his website, Moore has compiled a list of gay comic book heroes!!!

Tuesday Night Guilty Pleasure

I am not ashamed to admit it: I watch, like, and am addicted to Pretty Little Liars, a TV show on ABC family based on Sara Shepard's YA series (Shepard also writes the TV show).

Think 90210 meets Gossip Girls meets Mean Girls and you have at least part of the show. But, I think there is more, too. There is a mystery to solve: who killed Alison, the bitchy leader of a pack of well-dressed, high-heeled, model type high school girls? And, what do the girls know that the myterious "A" wants to put in the open?


From the show's website:
Rosewood is a perfect little town. So quiet and pristine, you'd never guess it holds so many secrets. Some of the ugliest ones belong to the prettiest girls in town -- Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily, four estranged friends whose darkest secrets are about to unravel.

One year ago, Alison, the Queen Bee of their group, disappeared and the girls swore they'd never tell what really happened that night. They thought their secrets would bond them together, but just the opposite is true. Then again, who's to say what the truth is in Rosewood. It seems everyone in town is lying about something.

Now, as the mystery surrounding Alison's disappearance resurfaces, the girls begin getting messages from "A," saying – and threatening – things only Alison would know. But it couldn't be Alison. Could it? Whoever it is, they seem to know all the girls' secrets, and seem to be watching their every move. The girls are friends again, but will they be there for each other if their dark secrets come to light?

There's times when I have seen TV shows/series or movies and thought, I would never read the book that this is based on. This is not one of those cases. I like a good mystery, which this show has. I like frivolity, which this show has. I also like social issues, and this show has that too.

So far, we have had one character, Aria, who caught her father having an affair (the cute Chad Lowe stars as the father) and he asks her to keep it a secret from her mother (she does for a year and then "A" sends the mom a letter). [Aria also begins a relationship with her English teacher, think Teach Me]

Then, there's Emily, who is struggling with her sexuality. Too bad for her that "A" gets his/her hands on some compromising pictures of her kissing a girl.

Hanna? [who Alison used to call hefty Hanna] Well, Hanna's parents are also divorced and we see Hanna get caught stealing in episode 1.

Finally, there's Spencer whose family believes in the motto win at all costs--which Spencer then puts into practice. We see some positive changes, though, in Spencer and I have the most hope for her character.

All of this drama, just from the first 2-3 episodes surrounds the mystery of Alison's death and "A" who seems to be hell bent on destroying the girls.


I missed these books entirely, and hadn't seen any of the high school girls reading them, but think I will read them now based on the TV show.

If you're in Knoxville on July 30, and you love YA Lit...

The Center for Children’s & Young Adult Literature and Knox County Pub­lic Library Present:

The Best New Books So Far, 2010 Workshop
Friday July 30, 2010
East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay St.
8:30 am to 4:30 pm

Morning Session: 9am-12pm:
Books for Birth through 6th Grade

Afternoon Session: 1pm to 4pm:
Books for 6th to 12th Grade

Cost: $25 for half day, $50 for full day

Participants provide their own lunch and parking. Certificates of Attendance will be provided for professional development purposes.

Register today! https://kcpl.wufoo.com/ forms/best-new-books-so-far/

For more information, please email ccyal@utk.edu or call (865) 974.2305.

Schedule:

8:30 a.m.- 9:00 a.m.: Meet and Greet, coffee
9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.: Books for birth through grade 6
Presenters: Amelia Bell, Kristie Atwood, Julie Danielson

12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m.: Lunch Break

1:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m.: Books for grades 6 -12
Presenters: Scot Smith; Susan Groenke PhD; Kim­berly Black, PhD
Book sale throughout the day until 4:30 p.m.

Yours truly will be presenting on Boy YA books, historical fiction (Civil Rights era), and verse novels/poetry books. Scot Smith will present on teen series, fantasy/sci-fi, and Kimberly Black will present on popular graphic novels.

Come on down!

Living Dead Girl

I am really tired today. Tired because I stayed up late to start Living Dead Girl--which I ended up not being able to put down until I finished it.

WOW.
Creepy.
Powerful.
Sad.

It was won an impressive list of awards:

A 2010 International Reading Association Young Adults' Choices Pick
A 2010 YALSA Popular Paperback
A 2010 YALSA Amazing Audiobook
A 2009 YALSA Best Book for Young Adults
A 2009 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
A 2009 Amelia Bloomer Project Young Adult Fiction Pick
A 2009 NYPL Stuff for the Teen Age Pick
A 2008 BCCB Blue Ribbon Award Winner
A 2008 VOYA Editor's Choice for Teens
A 2008 ABC Best Books for Children Teen selection
A Teenreads.com Best Book of 2008
A Cynsations Cynsational Book of 2008


The book starts out in third person, with a description of "the girl" living with her father in an apartment complex. Three pages later, we hear from the girl: her name is Alice, but it used to be something else. And, we know that the father is no father at all. Alice had been kidnapped five years earlier. I was hooked from the beginning and needed to find out what happened to Alice (I won't spoil it for you).

In some ways it reminded me (as it has others) of The Lovely Bones or the writing of Cormier. I had not read any of Elizabeth Scott's books before but if they are anything like this one, then you can count me in.

You can access a reading guide (written by Pam Cole) and the first few pages here.

Hear the author talk about the idea behind the book here: http://www.simonandschuster.com/multimedia?video=6625375001.

Female teens will love this book. It is fast paced, has suspense, and the chapters are short, no more than six pages each.

Winter's Bone

I haven't read this book--have never heard of Daniel Woodrell--but I saw the movie adaptation recently and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. In the movie, 17-year-old Ree Dolly has a shit family, all tied up as they are in cooking, dealing, and snorting crank in the w-a-y back-woods of the Missouri Ozarks.

Ree hasn't "developed a taste for it yet," and you have to wonder--watching her skin squirrels for dinner, or beg her mentally checked-out mother to help her make a hard decision about the family timber, or cut the hands off her dead father to prove to the bondsman he's dead--why she hasn't succumbed to the siren song of meth, also known as the "poor man's cocaine." Ree's hard-nosed, paranoid relatives resent her for it, even though they're culpable in making Ree the "meth-orphan" she is. Ree learns blood ties take on new meanings when money and greed are king.

Life hasn't been easy on Ree or her younger siblings, and you know it never will be. Yet Ree perseveres, destined to forge her own way, and write her own definition of selfhood and family. Thanks to writer and director Debra Granik for this portrayal of a resilient, courageous adolescent girl who survives by sheer willpower and grit. A true heroine, reminiscent of Katniss in Hunger Games (and the movie makes me think, too, about Tyrell in Coe Booth's YA novel of the same name). New Yorker movie critic David Denby calls the film "one of the great feminist works in film."

I'm looking forward to reading the book, and getting to know Woodrell's fiction. The movie won for best dramatic film at Sundance this year, so I imagine we'll hear more about the book in days to come.

The Beauty of The Book Thief

Three times in the past I have tried to read Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief; I Am the Messenger is my favorite YA book since 2000 (I voted for it when Joan Kaywell sent her email around), so I figured I would dive in and read the monster book in no time flat. Well, each time I was interrupted and had to start over from the beginning. Well, after sitting on my bookshelf for four years and with the fall semester rapidly approaching, I decided it was time to read it so I will have time to plan with the teacher I will be working with.

I will be co-teaching in a local high school again this year in a 9th grade class with the teacher who worked with me and the summer reading program. We will be teaching entirely through YA lit! No boring textbook! No grammar book! No test preparation!

Back to The Book Thief.

Beyond the story, the writing is amazing! Last year, in my teaching writing class, I used Jeff Anderson’s Mechanically Inclined. In it, he promotes the use of “mentor texts,” wonderfully crafted sentences from literature to teach and reteach mechanics and grammar.

I thought it would be worth mentioning some of the beautiful language and stylistic devices in Zusak’s novel as they provide wonderful examples for students. And these are only a few from only the first 35 pages!

Fragments:
• I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that’s only the A’s. (p. 3)
• Then warming up completely. Healing. (p. 21)
• Wirelike shins. Coat hanger arms. (p. 31)

Personification:
• It was like the whole globe was dressed in snow. Like it had pulled it on, the way you pull on a sweater. (p. 6)
• The plane was still coughing. Smoke was leaking from both its lungs. (p. 9)
• The train limped through the snowed-in country. It hobbled in and stopped. (p. 22)
• That strange word was always there somewhere, standing in the corner, watching from the dark. It wore suits, uniforms. (p. 31)

Similes:
• The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. (p. 12)
• The boy’s spirit was soft and cold, like ice cream. (p. 21)
• The cemetery welcomed me like a friend. (p. 22)

Metaphors:
• Liesel was sure her mother carried the memory of him, slung over her shoulder. (p. 25)
• The day was gray, the color of Europe. (p. 27)

Here, Zusak describes the inspiration behind this fabulous book: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/markuszusak/author.html#3

Totalitarian YA Lit...Huxley and Orwell Would Be Proud

I accidentally came upon an incredible book by a brand new YA author. I do truly mean accidentally. I was looking for something else, and the cover of this book drew me in like a moth to a flame. Just look at it!!! That is quite hard to pass up. I digress.

Teri Hall makes her literary debut with The Line, and oh what a debut it is.


The book is about a 14 year old girl named Rachel, who lives on The Property with her mother, Vivian. At the edge of The Property is the Line, essentially an invisible, impenetrable bubble that is part of the National Border Defense System, which surrounds the entire Unified States. Rachel can see the Line from the greenhouse, but she can also see...Away.

Strange things begin happening on the Away side of the Line, and Rachel begins to ask questions, too many questions. Who are the Others? How did Away come to be? What secrets is her mother hiding? What does Ms. Moore, the owner of The Property, have to do with all of this?

This book is a page turner from start to finish, but it also provides teachers with a great source of discussion in the classroom. As both an English and Social Studies teacher, I can see so many possibilities for the use of this book. English teachers, in my opinion, can use this book in place of Orwell's 1984. Although it is written more at the upper elementary level, the subject matter works great for discussions regarding:

• The loss of individual rights for the benefit of one's country.
• Government control and suppression of what is discussed in the media.
• Nuclear warfare and its impact on society.
• Xenophobia.
• Individual action to institute change.

Teri Hall even has a FREE comprehensive teacher's guide on her web site. The teacher's guide is designed mostly for middle school students, but I believe it can be adapted for any classroom. The entire first chapter is on her web site, as well. However, if you read the first chapter online, be prepared to drive to your local bookstore to buy the book.

There is only one problem with the book: The sequel does not come out until 2011!!! Trust me, this book has one heck of a cliffhanger. For me, the wait for this sequel is becoming more stressful than the wait for some of the Harry Potter books.

The good news is that we will definitely be hearing about this author a lot in the future. Although it was only published on March 4, 2010, it has already been nominated for the Best Fiction for Young Adults List by YALSA and Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers List by YALSA.

So...in 2011, you and your students will finally have the answer to the ultimate question: What lies beyond the Line?

IMing in Teen Fiction

This book came out several years ago--the first young adult novel written entirely in Instant Messaging-style (IM)--and I didn't like it the first time I read it. It wasn't hard for me to read, since I've spent some time in chat rooms and know what most of the chat lingo means (e.g., "ttyl" means "talk to you later") (at least, I knew the lingo in this book). But I didn't like the story--3 teen girls are best friends and are starting their 10th grade year in high school together. They promise to always be friends and not let the pettiness of cliques and gossip and all the other crap that goes along with high school social dynamics get in the way of their friendship. But, as things tend to go, their friendship is tested in big ways.

Author Lauren Myracle writes at the end of the book that in TTYL she wanted to debunk the myth that high school friendships don't or can't last, and she does do that.

I guess I didn't like the story because it seemed so traditional considering the new medium in which it's couched. I figured if Myracle was going to push the boundaries of fiction (she says in a Cynsations interview that she really had to re-think conventional fiction to make the story work in this format), then p-u-s-h the boundaries and write a really radical story. One where, oh, I don't know, teenage girls think about things other than boys, what to wear, and what others think about them. With this (for me) cliched story, I felt like the IMing was just a gimmick, an appropriation of teen culture to tell a cliched teen story, to hook teens in with flash and flare only to give them fizzled-out fiction.

But I recently re-read the book because I'm teaching it in my summer "Digital YAL" class. One objective of the class is to get beginning English teachers to think about what teens' migration to the digital world means--why teens go online, what they do there--and how these technological changes effect how we understand communication (e.g., reading/writing, "texts") and today's teens.

Upon my 2nd reading of the book, I realized that TTYL really does comment on teens' (especially teen girls') uses of the Internet, specifically IM, and for this reason, it makes an interesting commentary on teen culture in the digital age. These are some things I'll highlight when we discuss the book in class:

• Many Internet & digital literacy scholars say that contrary to popular belief, teens go online to talk to people they already know. They also go online to maintain their friendships and social lives, create and negotiate identities, and police peer behavior. All of this happens in TTYL; it's why the girls go online. But teen girls have always done this, haven't they? Maybe this is Myracle's point--that just because the technology is new, teens are using it to do the same things they've always done. They now just have faster, more public tools to do it with.
• Cynthia Lewis and Bettina Fabos have researched adolescents' use of IM in their daily lives and say that these youths viewed their IM sessions not as individual, separate exchanges, but as "larger, entwined narratives." The IM dialogue relied on knowledge of and participation within an offline network of friends. Again, I think TTYL exemplifies this--the story told in the chat medium isn't the only story--the chat story comments on other things that happen in the girls' lives. It's a back-and-forth between f2f life where things happen and virtual life where the girls talk about what happened in f2f life--kind of like a de-briefing, or as Myracle says, "post-op." As Lewis & Fabos explain, we need to rethink the offline/online binary, as the techno-space and offline spaces are more entertwined than we think.
• Some technology gurus say the Internet has become the 21st century mall or arcade--the 21st century teen hang-out. They do "hang-out" online, but in the age of the Internet they can stay connected at all hours, even when the parents have said "go to bed," or "stay off the phone," etc. As I've read somewhere, teens are now the "overconnecteds." A good or bad thing? Who knows...
• Also obvious in the book is how linguistically versatile the girls are--they create new words and "play" with language in ways we don't typically see in school-related writing tasks. Also, they literally are bilingual in ways many adults aren't, as they know a sophisticated language (chat language) and its linguistic rules. And unlike what we tend to hear (especially from angry English teachers) they know the difference between chat language and Standard English. They know there are different audiences for different kinds of writing.
• Again, Lewis & Fabos encourage us as English teachers to celebrate the flexibility and versatility teens exhibit in their reading pracitices. Indeed, knowing how to read TTYL implies the reader is flexible and can read "across surfaces, genres, modes."
• Writing and speaking entertwined in IM medium--"voice" evoked through writing. Too easy distinctions between speech and writing break down in IM/chat medium.

What a great adventure!

I just finished The Evolution of Calpuria Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, and I loved every minute of this enchanting story about eleven year old Calpurnia. It's 1899, the cusp of a new millennium, and Calpurnia Tate discovers her grandfather, the natural world, and some things about herself. This story will make you laugh, make you think, and leave you extremely satisfied.

Calpurnia, the only girl from a family of seven children, fights to find her way in the world and discover what has meaning for her life. She also begins to realize the stereotypical expectations for girls of that time. But, she is determined to make her life count for more than tatting, sewing, and cooking. You will discover that some of the ways people think and act are timeless.

Jacqueline Kelly is a practicing physician and lawyer, and this is her first novel. I really hope she keeps writing!

War-Themed Graphic Texts

Today being July 4th, I thought it would be fitting to take a first look (and revisit) some graphic novels that would not only be appealing to teens but fit nicely in the ELA curriculum and promote cross-curricular collaborations.


I just finished Refresh, Refresh which was written by Danica Novgordoff based off the award-winning short story by Benjamin Percy (also adapted into a screenplay by James Ponsoldt). [the graphic novel has also been honored: one of the top 10 graphic novels by USA Today, ALA great graphic novel for teens,The Young Adult Round Table (YART) of the Texas Library Association (TLA) named it A Texas Maverick Graphic Novel.]


The story centers on three teenage boys--Josh, Cody, and Gordon--living in Oregon whose Marine reservist fathers are fighting in the Iraq War. The boys, trying to stay strong and prove they are men (to themselves and their absent fathers) engage in increasingly self-destructive behaviors as the novel progresses.

I won't give away the ending, but this novel is one that left me feeling hollow . . . in a good way. There is so much teachers could do with this novel, although I would love a multi-point of view war study unit, which would include the next title, one of my favorites of all time: Pride of Baghdad.


Pride of Baghdad (Vertigo) is the powerful grahic novel written by Brian K. Vaughan with art and cover by Niko Henrichon, and edited by Will Dennis. In this allegorical tale Vaughan recounts how a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad zoo after a 2003 US bombing raid. Confused, hungry, and scared the animals roamed the streets before being killed by US soldiers.

The artwork is breathtaking.


The story is horrific.

We (a ninth grade teacher and I) are actually going to use this novel to open up the school year. The students have had a hard time with "taking action" after reading many of the books we have taught, Ties that Bind comes to mind, because either the book is set too far in the past or too far away, geographically. However, we are using this novel as a springboard to social justice/action oriented research [sadly, we have some recent and present issues relating to animals that we can work from--Katrina and the Gulf oil spill].

I HIGHLY recommend this graphic novel--if you haven't read it, you need to.

Finally, I am left with Howard Zinn's (with Paul Buhle and Mike Konopacki) A People's History of the American Empire, which I bought last summer and never got around to reading. With his passing this year and my re-reading of Pride of Baghdad, I pulled it from the shelf--and it fits nicely with my war-themed graphic novel talk.

A colleague in social studies education and I are going to have our methods students collaborate and co-plan their unit plan this fall in methods and Zinn's book is one that we are going to list as an option (all units must include a YA title).

The book opens with the September 11th attack as a prolouge and then begins from "our" beginning, note the irony ("The Internal Empire") and goes all the way up to Bush II and Guantanamo Bay. The graphics are amazing, combinations of black and white photos with comic illustrations, maps, primary documents, etc. There's even a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg narrated by Viggo Mortensen as a supplemtnal text.

For supporting work, there's also the American Empire Project: http://www.americanempireproject.com/americanempireproject.htm.

Copper Sun

Wow, wow, wow. Holy friggin' moly, is this book good. It's gut-wrenching--made me feel angry, sorrowful, solemn, dejected--and made me hate White people. And I'm White. (Well, not all White people. Just mean, racist ones).

Copper Sun weaves together the stories of Amari, a teenaged African girl stolen from her homeland (after she witnesses the slaughter of her family/village), and Polly, a White teenaged girl who is an indentured servant. Polly must pay off the indenture of her deceased parents. Amari and Polly are thrown together on Mr. Derby's plantation in South Carolina. Mr. Derby tells Polly she must teach Amari how to speak English and, at first, Polly is appalled that she must work with a slave and not serve in the "big house." Slowly, however, the two become friends, and as Polly witnesses the brutality and violence of slave-life, she becomes an ally to Amari and other slaves on the plantation. Amari and the other slaves start to see, too, that not all Whites have it so good, although as Amari reminds Polly, she could escape whenever she wanted to and not lose her life for it. Amari reminds Polly throughout the novel that, while they have some things in common, Polly's skin color will always protect her.

Sharon Draper says she spent years doing research for this novel, and I believe it. The story feels unapologetically authentic--it doesn't skimp on the details of the brutal acts committed in the name of slavery, especially those against African women who were sex toys to their White masters by night and chattel by day. A student in my YA class read Copper Sun last year and said the book made her "feel" what slavery must have been like. Like me, she was emotionally impacted by the story--it's got an impact like Toni Morrison's Beloved, a classic contemporary slave narrative that you continue to think about for a long time after the last page is turned.

You can see Sharon Draper's website here: http://sharondraper.com/

Reviews of Copper Sun are here http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0689821816.asp
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6298133.html

You can also learn more about the Coretta Scott King book awards here: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/emiert/cskbookawards/about.cfm

If you're looking for something to read on this July 4th weekend, consider Copper Sun.

Mal Peet

If you don't know about Mal Peet, you'll want to. Relatively new on the YA scene, Englishman Mal Peet's first YA novel, Keeper, was published in 2003, followed by Tamar in 2005. I actually read Tamar first and LOVED it. It's about Dutch resistance fighters during WWII, the consequences of war, the consequences of being alienated and disconnected from the past. I use it with Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied, Fletcher's Ten Cents a Dance, Sherri Smith's Flygirl, and Art Spiegelman's Maus in small-group literature circles when I do historical fiction in my young adult lit. class. All of these novels provide a unique perspective on the WWII time period, letting us hear the oft-neglected voices and stories of those people who weren't American (male) soldiers or Holocaust survivors of WWII, but were also effected by the war in complex ways. There's a good review of Tamar here: http://writingwrongs.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/review-tamar-by-mal-peet/

and Peet talks about the book here: http://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm?author_number=1481

Keeper is about a famous soccer player called "El Gato" (the Cat) who, as goalkeeper, has just helped his team win the World Cup. I didn't watch a single bit of the soccer madness over the last couple of weeks. I just don't give a whit about soccer. But this book makes me wish I at least knew what a penalty kick is, or how the defensive line works, or what a forward does. I get the idea, and that's probably because Peet's writing about the game is so breath-taking. You can tell Peet's a real soccer fan. But this book, as all good sports YA books are, is about much more than soccer. There's the ghost in the jungle who trains "El Gato," there's the relentless journalist after a good story (and a fat bonus), and then there's all that clear-cutting going on in Gato's village...lots of stuff to think about here. I'd recommend putting this in the classroom library, or use it in differentiated whole-class instruction if your thematic goals involve exploring the intersections among Third World poverty, corporate exploitation, environmental destruction, and sports. I found out about the book through Teaching for Change's suggested summer reading list: http://bbpbooks.teachingforchange.org/

The journalist who interviews "El Gato" in Keeper pops up again in Peet's next book, The Penalty, about a teenage football prodigy. Haven't read this one, but plan to. Word on the street is that Peet's most recent novel, published in 2008--called Exposure--is about a Black football player and was inspired by Shakespeare's Othello. Add it to the stack.

I also like what Mal Peet says about how he got started writing for adolescents: "Like many people (I suspect) I had no real interest in children's literature until I had children of my own. It'll sound a bit evangelical, I suppose, but I truly believe that there are few things more important, useful, and protective than sharing stories with your children. After their bath, heaped into a big, deep chair, doing the voices, discussing the pictures, softening your voice as the rhythm of their breathing deepens. . . . You start to understand why certain books work and others don't."

His books work!!

The right amount of gay?

Ellen Wittlinger has written a provocative piece in the July/August The Horn Book Magazine in which she responds to the Lambda Literary Foundation's decision to only give their yearly award for LGBT books to LGBT-identified authors.

Wittlinger is the author of three books that have been nominated in the past--one of which won (Hard Love). She writes: "Winning an award is not the bottom line here. What this new policy feels like to me is a misunderstanding of my intentions in writing the books I do and a rejection of my abilities as a writer. When I speak to students in Kansas City and Spokane (and maybe someday even in South Carolina) and when these teens read my books, I am sometimes the first author they’ve encountered who is willing to address the topics of sexual and gender identity. And they are hungry to talk about it."

So, if this the new policy, suppose Will Grayson, Will Grayson wins . . . what then?