I want a Grace

Kristin Cashore's second YA novel, Fire, won the Walden Award for YA Fiction this year, so I've been wanting to read it and find out what all the buzz is about. It's a pre-quel, a companion novel to Cashore's first YA book, Graceling. So I read Graceling first, and thought it was pretty rockin'.

Katsa (very close to Katniss, huh?) is a bad-ass, a femme fatale, the adolescent "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (and bad attitude). She is graced, meaning she has a special talent, only hers is killing people. Or so she thinks. It takes meeting a dreamy guy named Po and helping him save the Seven Kingdoms from a bad guy named Leck to realize her Grace might be something she didn't expect after all.

While I thought the book's pacing was uneven and it got yawner long in some places, I can't help but respect Cashore's brand of YA feminism. Katsa will be no one's wife, or mother. She will take Po as a lover, and to hell with anyone who thinks that's wrong. She's a fighter, and decides that she will spend her life training young girls to fight. At one point in the novel she wonders why the weaker gender (in physical strength) never gets encouraged to learn to fight when young, like boys do.

(Got me thinking about my own childhood, how I was encouraged to set the table, do laundry, wear panty hose, while my twin brother was encouraged to play with GI Joe figurines and watch "The Incredible Hulk." Me, spoons and forks. Him, a big green man with bulging muscles, a short temper, and a penchant for violence. Interesting).

The book also made me want a Grace..but what would I want my Grace to be? Mind-reading? I think that would get exhausting, but it'd be fun. Camouflage? That'd be cool. I always wanted one of those capes Harry Potter wore, the one that makes you invisible. Or maybe I would just settle for being able to multiply myself by 10 so I could get everything done in a day that needs to get done. Yes, I like that Grace idea very much.

Cashore's second book, Fire, is the pre-quel companion novel to Graceling, which means it is set some 30 years before the events in Graceling take place. There's one crossover character who plays a big role, but you'll have to read the book to see who that is. My complaint with this one (and this may just be a sign of me getting old) is that I couldn't keep up with everyone and the who's-who of which kingdom. I had to turn back a couple of times and re-read to remember--why is Fire at that castle again? What is she supposed to be doing? Who is Murgda? And Mydogg? (I couldn't tell if some of the names were meant to be funny...I mean, don't you just want to say, Whassup Mydogg?! ha).

But other than that, again, I really like the strong female protagonist. Like Katsa, Fire refuses to marry or have children (for one, she's a human monster, and human monsters are hated by just about everyone, so ethically, there's that issue with bringing another little monster into the world), and like Katsa, she sleeps around, with girls and boys alike. And Fire kills her father because he has a serious screw missing in the morality department. And this book kept me guessing, and surprised (as did Graceling). Not predictable at all.

I like how Cashore doesn't shy away from the dark underside of life that is, well, present in everyone's life, whether we admit or not. Fire has a lot of insight into this underside, since she can read minds. She can also control others' minds, and the book raises interesting questions about privacy and power, and why some people with power choose to do good, while others abuse their power.

I think the book also presents opportunities to talk about the "male gaze"--Fire, as a human monster, is gorgeous--brightly colored and flashy and mesmerizing. You can't help but look at her. But Cashore does a nice job of showing the reader what it feels like for women to be constantly objectified--leered at as objects to be consumed. It takes its psychological toll, in ways we probably don't even realize. Because Fire can read minds, she always knows what the male (and female) gazers are thinking--and wanting--and she constantly has to defend herself, mentally and physically, against their insults.

Ultimately, I think we need more fairy tales like Cashore's. Reminiscent of the Tatterhood tales.

Check out Cashore's blog for more information on the books. Cashore is at work on her 3rd book, Bitterblue. Bitterblue is a character in Graceling.

Check out Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog for more info. about the Walden Award.

Bullied: A YA Media Text

I just finished watching the documentary Bullied, from the Southern Poverty Law Center, about the true story of Jamie Nabozny, a kid tormented in middle and high school because he is gay.

The irony of his being bullied is not lost on me as I read Anne's and Susan's posts about Speak (where a "Dr." is essentially bullying readers).

If you have not ordered this free documentary from Teaching Tolerance, do so now!

There is also a facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/BulliedMovie.

I am going to use this film tonight, instead of a short story, to talk about the levels and dimensions of setting (Smith & Wilhelm, 2010).

Amen, Sister (Teri)

I love, love, LOVE Teri Lesesne. Check out her latest response to the Doc who thinks Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak is "soft porn." http://professornana.livejournal.com/

The banning continues... Next up, SPEAK?!

The situation regarding censorship in the United States is becoming a little ridiculous.  It is one thing to teach your own children what your own family values and believes, but, when you start forcing those values and beliefs upon others and their children, you have crossed a line, especially when it comes to a book like SPEAK. 

SPEAK is one of those rare books that has the ability to assist an adolescent in putting a horrible experience that they may have had into a perspective that they so desperately need.  SPEAK teaches adolescent girls that it is okay to speak up against violence and rape.  It is okay to confront your accuser.  You do not have keep in the emotion and be silent.  Tell someone and the closure may begin.

However, according to Dr. Wesley Scroggins, SPEAK is nothing but "soft pornography".  Wait...what?!?!?!  Can someone please explain to me how a young girl being raped is "soft pornography"?

Here is what Dr. Scroggins has to say:

"This is a book about a very dysfunctional family. Schoolteachers are losers, adults are losers and the cheerleading squad scores more than the football team. They have sex on Saturday night and then are goddesses at church on Sunday morning. The cheer squad also gets their group-rate abortions at prom time. As the main character in the book is alone with a boy who is touching her female parts, she makes the statement that this is what high school is supposed to feel like. The boy then rapes her on the next page. Actually, the book and movie both contain two rape scenes." (Read the full article here.)

I am not sure what book Dr. Scroggins read, but it sure was not SPEAK.

If you go to any YA author's blog right now, you will find a discussion of this situation.  Here are a couple of good reads:

• Sarah Ockler's Blog (Her book Twenty Boy Summer was also mentioned by Scroggins.  His exact words:  "How can Christian men and women expose children to such immorality?") 
• Laurie Halse Anderson's Blog

However, if you do not quite feel angry enough, yet, why not read Dr. Scroggins 29 page manifesto about everything that is wrong with the curriculum in his town of Republic, MO, which includes a discussion of how the separation of church and state is a myth and freedom of expression was created by a liberal Supreme Court to "justify many perversions in our society".

This needs to stop.  It has to stop!!!!  What will be next on the chopping block?  

Ship Breaker: A Tale of Foreshadowing?

Earlier this summer--during the middle of the Gulf oil spill crisis--I came across a review (somewhere) of Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker, a futuristic story set in the Gulf Coast. When the story opens we meet Nailer, the teen protagonist working for a light crew whose job it is to go into old, rusted out tankers and strip their parts. Nailer, being so small, gets into the innards of the old ships and strips the copper wire.

It is a rough, sad world, where everyone on crew is tired and hungry and half-men guard the men running the crew, men who live slightly better lives than the workers. Nailer and his friends see the huge clippers way out in the water rushing to bigger and better places where the "swanks" (the wealthy; i.e., anyone who is not poor like them) live. In essence, Nailer and his friends keep the swanks in their lifestyles.

It is a place where luck and fate are talked about and lived every day. People make sacrifices to the rust gods and other incarnations of "religious" figures that happened over the years.

Nailer becomes one of the lucky, in terms of fate, when he survives falling into an old oil holding tank in one of the ships, even after his coworker, Sloth (who swore a blood oath with him) found him but left him to die. Luck follows him when he and his friend Pima finds a wrecked ship after a city killer (hurricane) that contains a single living passenger: a girl, Nita, whose family controls one of the largest shipping companies in the world at the time.

But, luck does not last for long. Nailer's father and his mean crew finds the trio and knows that Nita is worth money, and he won't hesitate to do anything, even kill his son to get it. Nita and Nailer make their escape, jumping a train to Orleans (a new city built on the edge of the underwater New Orleans) to find one of her family's ships.

I won't divulge any more of the story from there.

While this book has some gaps in terms of plot, it is a fantastic read. I could not put it down and read it every chance I got. What I like most is the many messages it delivers for readers. For example, there is quite a bit about the future of the planet and the environment and characters provide the warning and scolding. At one point, as they are on the train going over the old city of New Orleans Tool (their half-man guard) says, "No one expected Category Six hurricanes. They didn't have city killers then. The climate changed. The weather shifted. They did not anticipate well."

The novel is an examination of social class, too. While they are in Orleans trying to find Nita's people, they can't afford a water taxi and are forced to wade through the filty water using a system of buoys and wooden planks under the water (p. 209).

[Nita asks] "Why don't they just use boats?

"For these people?" Tool looked around at their fellow waders. "They are not worth it."

"Still, someone could make a boardwalk. It wouldn't even cost that much."

"Spending money on the poor is like throwing money into a fire. They'll just consume it and never thank you," Tool said.

Tool himself is an interesting character for discussion. As a half-man (essentially half man half dog), he was created and bred to be loyal to his patron, to the death. But Tool is not and throughout the book we never quite learn why--although this would make a great discussion question for students to explore.

Another issue in the book is the idea of family and loyalty. Nailer's father is loyal only to himself, so friends become family. Throughout the book Nailer and others have to choose between trying to get rich(er) or staying true to themselves. Some are and some aren't. Given the state of our culture, this is too good a theme to not explore.

All of these themes--our planet, conservation, loyalty, fate, greed, family, etc.--are interrelated in this novel. I highly recommend it.

Sherman Alexie Banned. Can I Move to Canada?

Can you imagine being told your life story isn't "appropriate"? is "indecent"? I'm feeling really down about this.

http://ncacblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/sherman-alexie-novel-officially-banned-from-missouri-school/

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100909/NEWS04/9090375/Stockton-book-ban-upheld-7-0-in-packed-public-forum

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/an-introduction-to-native-amer.html

I'm posting Ellen Hopkins' rage against censorship, her "Manifesto." Makes me feel a little better reading it:

To you zealots and bigots and false
patriots who live in fear of discourse.
You screamers and banners and burners
who would force books
off shelves in your brand name
of greater good.

You say you're afraid for children,
innocents ripe for corruption
by perversion or sorcery on the page.
But sticks and stones do break
bones, and ignorance is no armor.
You do not speak for me,
and will not deny my kids magic
in favor of miracles.

You say you're afraid for America,
the red, white and blue corroded
by terrorists, socialists, the sexually
confused. But we are a vast quilt
of patchwork cultures and multi-gendered
identities. You cannot speak for those
whose ancestors braved
different seas.

You say you're afraid for God,
the living word eroded by Muhammed
and Darwin and Magdalene.
But the omnipotent sculptor of heaven
and earth designed intelligence.
Surely you dare not speak
for the father, who opens
his arms to all.

A word to the unwise.
Torch every book.
Char every page.
Burn every word to ash.
Ideas are incombustible.
And therein lies your real fear.

Amen, Sister (Sarah)

Check out YAL author Sarah Ockler's (Twenty Boy Summer) excellent blog post on why censorship sucks: http://sarahockler.com/blog/

A Poem About YA Lit

I am currently taking a course regarding composition techniques for secondary students. One of my assignments was to create a map poem. This type of poem is generally a list poem that maps an area. We were supposed to map some place that was important to us. I decided to map my YA book shelf. However, I took it a step further, and, instead of just a list, I wrote a full poem using YA Lit titles. The titles are capitalized, and I was somehow able to do this in alphabetical order by author. I hope you like it.

The YAL Path

The CATALYST which helps me break my CHAINS
is the desire to SPEAK up against the FEED of oppression.
I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS,
and I do not need to GO ASK ALICE.
The isn't THE SONG OF AN INNOCENT BYSTANDER
or a HATELIST about ALL THE BROKEN PIECES.
But BEFORE I DIE I will be FORGED BY FIRE in the DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN,
because there is SOMETHING WICKED about this world,
and I must break the RULES before I WAKE, FADE, and am GONE.
But FALLEN ANGELS are not always MONSTERs,
and BEFORE I FALL I will write one LAST SONG.
It will cause some to SHIVER and others to LINGER.
The UGLIES will rise and overcome the PRETTIES, SPECIALS, and EXTRAS.
But in the end this is just THE STORY OF A GIRL.

Our Book...Coming Soon!

We're not crazy about the cover (we had little input in that decision), but we're super excited about our book on YA lit coming out in November. (You can pre-order through the NCTE Bookstore website now, though). :)

Description of book:

Sales of young adult literature are stronger than ever. When we pay attention to what teens are reading outside of the classroom, we see that young adult novels are the books teens buy with their allowance money, pass around to their friends, and write about in their blogs or at fan fiction sites. These are the books that tell teens their lives matter and their own life stories are important.

Authors Susan L. Groenke and Lisa Scherff offer suggestions for incorporating YA lit into the high school curriculum by focusing on a few key questions:

•Which works of YA literature work better for whole-class instruction and which are more suitable for independent reading and/or small-group activities?
•What can teachers do with YA lit in whole-class instruction?
•How can teachers use YA novels to address the needs of diverse readers in mixed-ability classrooms?

Each chapter opens with an introduction to and description of a different popular genre or award category of YA lit—science fiction, realistic teen fiction, graphic novels, Pura Belpré award winners, nonfiction texts, poetry, historical YA fiction—and then offers suggestions within that genre for whole-class instruction juxtaposed with a young adult novel more suited for independent reading or small-group activities.

Groenke and Scherff present a variety of activities for differentiated instruction for the novel they’ve chosen for whole-class study, and provide an appendix of titles, by genre, that interest adolescent readers.

This book helps English teachers address the different reading needs and strengths adolescents bring to our classrooms. Highlighting some of the best young adult literature published since 2000, this book shows that YA lit is for all students and deserves a more central place in secondary literature instruction.

Go ahead and get your copy, and we'll sign it for you! :)