The Status of Young Adult Literature in Today's Society By: Barb Rohleder

Literature has always been a tool that reflects the time and society during which it was written. Many classic novels that teens have read in the past include, The Jungle, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Of Mice and Men. These classic pieces of literature expose the truth behind the society of the time. Not only were these pieces of historical fiction used to make a statement, but they also had characters in which readers of the time found relatable. Nowadays, the influence of the meat packing industry has subsided in Chicago, racial segregation is no longer legally allowed, and the United States is not in the midst of a Great Depression. Even though these are great novels, their storylines no longer engage the young adults of today’s society because these problems no longer affect them. As society changes so must the literature in which young adults are exposed to.. As educators, we must keep current with the trends of young adult literature or risk losing young readers because we are too afraid to capture them with engaging literature that pushes our comfort level.

For people who do not want to lose the value of the classics, don’t worry there are still pieces of young adult literature that value the classics and history, authors are just finding new ways to express these stories. Some authors such as Lisa Klein have taken on traditional pieces of writing and changed them to have a different outcome from the original. In Klein’s work Ophelia: A Novel, she rewrites Shakespeare’s Hamlet through the eyes of a female character. Not only does this express a desire to keep the classics around, but it also shows support for strong leading female characters, which is an expression of feminism in literature. Too often books written in the past, revolved around the struggles of a male protagonist, leaving the female readers searching for someone with which to identify.

Another tool that authors use in today’s literature to express the classics is a graphic novel. In Gareth Hinds’ account of Beowulf, the reader is thrown into a visual as well as literary retelling of this epic poem. The illustrations do not take away from the story, but enhance it instead. The same goes for Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography. In this graphic novel, readers learn about Malcolm X through a blend of literature and pictures. For readers who struggle to visualize what has happened in the past, the graphic novel is a great way to engage them in the story. Graphic novels are not only used to express the classics, but they can also bring to light the current issues that teens are facing. In Nadia Shivack’s Inside Out: A Portrait of and Eating Disorder, readers follow the journey of the author’s battle with binging on food to stay physically appealing to those around her, a struggle that many teens face.

Today’s young adult literature does not hide the fact that teens or society are not perfect, it does rather the opposite by exposing it and letting teens know that they are not alone in their struggles. From stories such as Make Lemonade, SPEAK, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Monster, and Twisted, we learn that sometimes the choices of teens do not always have positive outcomes, but the main characters in these novels learn how to deal with these consequences they best way that they can. In all of the afore mentioned novels hard hitting issues such as date rape, physical abuse, teenage pregnancy, and underage drinking are discussed. The authors of today’s young adult literature realize that these are all issues that teenagers face. Therefore, they are creating characters that are more realistic and engaging for young adults.

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s books, SPEAK, Catalyst, and Twisted, the reader is exposed to both strong willed female and male protagonists that overcome the obstacles that they face in their lives. In all three novels when faced with an obstacle, whether it is date rape, loss of a parent, or contemplating suicide, all three protagonists, show a realistic resolution of a teenager. The novels portray the struggles that these teens face because of their actions. They do not all end neatly with happy endings, but rather they have realistic conclusions that leave the reader wondering what will happen next for these protagonists.

Teenage literature also exposes the fact that not all marriages and families are perfect. Many of today’s novels show non-nuclear families. We are no longer living in a society where the household contains a mom, dad and 2.5 children. Instead children are raised in families with a single parent, a grandparent, or divorced parents. Today’s literature reflects the changes to the typical family and lets young adults know that they are not the only ones who don’t live in a stereotypical “perfect” household. In Twisted, readers learn about a marriage that is barely staying together. Similarly, in Skin by Adrienne Maria Vrettos, the readers see how a marriage in which parents fight and argue affects the lives of their children.

Along with facing the realistic side of teenage angst and struggle, today’s young adult novels also portray the influence of war in our society. No matter how we choose to look at it, the issue of war is splashed all over the news, television, and radio. It would be foolish for people to believe that war does not affect today’s young adults. In How to Ruin a Summer Vacation, the author shows the growth of an American teenager moving from a self-centered girl who only worries about whether or not she can go shopping with her friends, to a worldly and informed teenager who learns about her Jewish heritage and the war between Israelis and Palestinians. A non-fictional account of this issue is A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah. His story reflects upon his survival of the civil war in Sierra Leone. Even though young American adults are not drafted into wars as teenagers, the war still affects them. They may go into the military later on in life, or they may know or have lost loved ones in the war. With books such as these, authors show that they too can change with society.

I believe as educators we too need to change with society and literature. I am not saying that we need to forget the classics, but we need to realize that there is more out there for young adults to read, than just Romeo and Juliet or To Kill a Mockingbird. We need to realize that young adult literature is pointing out the significant changes in our society that many of our teens are already facing. We as educators need to use these novels as tools for safe discussions on the hard pressing issues in teenage life, so that when teens go to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives, they are informed and aware of their consequences.

The Nature of Young Adult Literature

In all the books I read for this unit many had a similar theme throughout. Even if it was not the main theme, hope, was prevalent in many of the books reviewed on this blog. From a young woman who has lost her mother, in Mistik Lake, to a boy who has lost his best friend, in This is What I Did, the books all bounced back from the depressing main plots, to reveal a core that gave hope in the end.

In the heavy themes that have plagued young adult literature in the last few years, there have been many complaints about this growing genre that is called "realistic fiction". I think in response the literature we've seen in 2007 for young adults has stepped up with realistic themes that still inspire kids to believe that there is hope that even when things seem all bad something comes along that can give them hope for their future.

This theme was most apparent in the book Spider-Man Reign. Kaare Andrews tried to bring hope to the current reality with a futuristic post 9/11 society. His portrayal of the future as bleak and scared of the terrorism that plagued a city into buying into a military state was creepy enough to remind me of our present day problems with terrorism. Yet the storyline that brought back Spider-Man, and teamed him up with children gave you hope in the end. The kids in the story were tired of a life of terror and stood up and fought with Spider-Man, giving me a sense that even when things are at their worst if you don't give up hope things will get better.

Hope seemed far away for the daughter of an alcoholic mother in Mistik Lake. The author Martha Brooks piles problem after problem on her young heroine. making the book start out with no hope for Odella or her family's future. Mistik Lake provides a way for the reader to see there can be hope for Odella and her family. Whether it's with Odella's new love, Jimmy, who is the bright shining light in her future, or her new baby sister who brings a family together in it's grief. The struggles that a young adult would perceive in this book would have to be countered with the glimmers of a better future that Odella's budding love for her boyfriend and baby sister bring to her.

This Is What I Did is by far the strongest in dark themes of the books that I read for this blog. Yet Ann Dee Ellis does a wonderful job of infusing humor and entertaining illustrations to bring hope to Logan, a character who so desperately needs it. His life seems miserable by anyone's standards and yet he slowly gets back into it with the misguided help of his family and his new friend Laurel. Logan finally finds some much needed self esteem and joy with a part in the school play and coming to terms with what he did. In the end Ellis leaves the reader with the sense that things will get better for Logan. Hope prevails for Logan in this well done young adult book, that speaks to the awkward adolescents of the world.

Many of the other books read by my classmates in this unit had messages of hope as well. The protagonist, Amy, in How to Ruin a Summer Vacation, sees her situation as bleak even though to an adult it doesn't seem so bad. Yet the author turns her trip to Israel into a learning experience giving Amy some hope in her supposedly ruined summer vacation. Another one of the books read by one of my classmates stood out in my mind as speaking to many mainstream young adults with a message of hope and that was The Breakup Bible. Many adolescent girls go through a devastating breakup at one time or another and can use the hope that is given by the end of this book.

Young adults in this day and age have it rough. There are many topics that they deal with that weren't even relevant 50 years ago, so the literature that was published in 2007 speaks to their current problems. Bullying, love, and abuse are all issues that today's teens find themselves dealing with. The literature that they're reading speaks to their problems by not giving them quick fixes, but instead gives them a viewpoint to a problem that they may not have seen before but also can fill them with compassion and hope for their fellow man.

Spider-Man: Reign By Kaare Andrews

Thirty years in the future and all hope is lost. New York City is terrified of terrorism and will do anything to protect itself. Even if that means imprisoning the city in a big laser powered barrier, ironically called the Webb. The Webb is meant to keep the terrorists out and the citizens, good and bad, trapped in.

Peter Parker is old now and long ago gave up the fight to protect the city as Spider-Man. Disillusioned and half crazy, he spends his days talking to his long dead wife, Mary Jane. J. Jonah Jameson, Peter's old boss, is now an even crazier old man who has sold the Daily Bugle to a corrupt corporation controlled by the the even more corrupt politicians. Of course there is a little more to the story line that involves some background knowledge of Spider-Man, but if you've seen any of the movies you should be somewhat prepared to read the futuristic Spider-Man: Reign.

Kaare Andrews writes and draws Spider-Man like no other, making him seem dark and angst ridden. The characters are all lean and full of emotion. This Spider-Man could not be played by Tobey Maguire. The novel is too dark and full of despair for the youthful innocence of the movie's Spider-Man. He cracks none of his signature jokes and doesn't even don his signature red and blue spidey suit until the end of the novel. Although, for classic Spider-Man fans there are some old super villains to be fought.

This book would probably be good for older middle school students and up. There is quite a bit of violence, blood, and death in this novel so I would keep it away from the younger Spider-Man fans. But there is a message, as there often is in Marvel comic books. Andrews uses the story to tell of a city so scared of terrorism that it puts itself in a cage locked away from the rest of the world with no hope or truth.

Beowulf By: Garth Hinds

“I am Beowulf. Many deeds of note have I done in my life.”

Action, epic battles, monsters, and dragons, all are found in Gareth Hinds’ graphic novel account of Beowulf. The story begins with the introduction to the setting and the kings that Beowulf will later help. Then this exciting graphic novel is broken into three mini-books.

The first book focuses on Beowulf’s battle with what seems to be an undefeatable monster, Grendel. In this section the reader learns about many fantastic feats that Beowulf has already overcome, leading the reader to believe that Beowulf will defeat the wicked monster that torments King Hrothgar's kingdom.

The second book focuses on Beowulf’s battle with Grendel’s mother. Here the reader sees the struggle that Beowulf has with a grief stricken monster in a fantasy world of an underwater lair. After succeeding at defeating this foe, the novel leads the reader into the third and final book.

Book three’s setting takes place years after the battle with Grendel and his mother. Beowulf is now the leader of his people and he has to defend them from a dragon. Does his strength run out or does he defeat this evil foe? To find out read Beowulf, by Gareth Hinds.

Reading Beowulf in a graphic novel form was an interesting and unique experience. I found the illustrations to be extremely helpful in interpreting the text. Since Beowulf was passed down for centuries using oral tradition, there is no known date of the original recording of this epic poem. Hinds based his graphic novel from the A.J. Church translation of 1904. Due to this translation, some of the words are challenging and harder to follow than that of modern English.

That begin said I would not recommend this graphic novel to middle school students, because even though the illustrations help to interpret the novel, the overall meaning is lost, if you only look at the illustrations. I would suggest reading this novel freshman or sophomore year of high school. It would make a great accompaniment to the traditional version of the poem that many high school students are often required to read. I also found it refreshing to see a different version of an epic poem that is shared so frequently.

Tough Boy Sonatas By: Curtis Crisler

What does the word poetry conjure in your mind?

For many it might bring to mind Shakespeare, emotions, and love. For most, Gary, Indiana, is probably the last place they would think of to find poetry, but in his book Tough Boy Sonatas, Curtis Crisler brings poetry to life in this hardened town. In Tough Boy Sonatas, Crisler portrays the lives of young men who sometimes struggle to survive in Gary, Indiana. There are many different aspects of life covered in his poems, ranging from drug use, abuse, sex, gang violence, to growing up in a neighborhood and surviving the streets. This collection of sonatas portrays how the childhood of many young men is taken away at a young age due to circumstances that are sometimes beyond their control and choices that they make.

One of my favorite poems in this book is “Girlfriend.” It tells the story of how a girl can go from being the tomboy of the neighborhood to being the girlfriend that the neighborhood boys want. As a reader, the words that Crisler uses are common for teenagers to use, so it makes the poetry easier to understand. In addition, the imagery that Crisler creates with his words is very realistic, but it is also supported by the detailed illustrations of Floyd Cooper. Many of the sonatas have an illustration that helps bring the poem to life and makes it easier to visualize. These illustrations also help to draw in reluctant readers, because they make the poems so enticing.

Overall, I found this collection of sonatas, to be detailed and expressive. At times, I had to put the book down because the realism was so overwhelming. With this collection, I believe Crisler has found a way to bring to light important issues that many inner-city teens face, in a creative and engaging manner. I would recommend Tough Boy Sonatas, to students in high school, who not only live in a major city, but in a small town as well. I believe it is very important for teens to see the issues and dilemmas that other teens may face while growing up in this decade.

Young Adult Literature and the Contemporary World

The Future of YAL

The Age of the Non-Reader Turned Reader

By Janine L. Collins

There are so many things going on in the world today that it may seem difficult to stay abreast of them all. However the young adult literature (YAL) that I have read over the course of this semester provides a way to keep young adults, their parents, teachers, and other interested and well meaning individuals in the loop. Two of the themes that I see strongly represented in the young adult novels Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography, Nat Turner: Revolution Volume 2, What They Found: Love On 145^th Street, The Wednesday Wars, and Life As We Knew It, are injustice and change.

Injustice, whether personally experienced or viewed on a local or global scale exists in many forms. For example, we live in the 21^st century yet the effects of slavery, racism, and the injustices they have produced are still experienced by many young adults today. Change, whether environmental, situational, physical, or emotional is a reality (and sometimes a harsh one) in the lives of young adults. These five novels and others of the day depict how these two issues affected the lives of young adults from the past and those in the present. The novels deal with these issues from the perspective of young adults but in writing styles that appeal to adults as well.

The injustices faced by children of the past, such as inattentive parents due to the pressures of jobs and careers were also prevalent in the 1960s. In Gary D. Schmidt’s novel, “The Wednesday Wars” the central character has to learn how to deal with the stressors in his life on his own. His family is too busy with maintaining an image, or in the case of his sister being a free spirit to help him cope. His father is too wrapped up in the family business, keeping up with the Joneses, having the perfect house, and the perfect family which consists of the wife and two kids in suburbia. His mother, as it is alluded to, is so stressed with the cares of maintaining this image that she hides the fact that she smokes from a family to which it is obvious. She doesn’t speak up when she disagrees with the father and just blends into the background of the perfect picture. Children today experience these same issues. Often they are left alone because parents are working late or too busy with the cares of life to attend to them. Some parents are not home until many hours after the child comes home from school. Family time that would be spent at the dinner table is a rarity these days. Yet it is so important to the emotional and social health of children that it sparked the “Family Table Campaign.”

In the graphic novels “Malcolm X” by Andrew Helfer, “Nat Turner” by Kyle Baker, and “The Wall: Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain” by Peter Sis we see individuals from the past fighting against the injustices of their day. We also see the characters in Walter Dean Myers novel, “What They Found: Love On 145^th Street”, which is based on life today, striving to overcome the effects of these same injustices.

As I said, we all experience change in some form. In the past adults have viewed the lives of children as being stress free- no matter what the social class. Any change children had to experience was often met with an instruction to “Get over it”, “Don’t worry about”, “Just accept it”, or “Just do it.” As we see in today’s literature children have just as many stressors in their lives as adults. The stressors may be minor to us, such as, being stood up at the prom as Nick was in “Probably Still Nick Swansen”; thinking your new teacher hates you, or being better at basketball than your boyfriend. However, these are major issues in the life of a child. Today’s novels also deal with issues that we would love to shelter children from, such as racism, global warming, date rape, and murder, and the death of a primary caregiver. Today’s novels deal with issues from the past and the present. Some of the topics are strong and in-your-face. Yet teens are drawn to these novels because they deal with issues that are significant to them.

The novels in YAL relay the message to teens that they are not alone, and that there is no problem to large or tragic for which there is no resolution. Teens are also shown through these novels that someone cares. Not only by the characters that play this out, but also by the teachers that place the novels in their hands. This opens the door to trust because a level of compassion is shown when you place a worthy book in the hands of the target reader.

As Mallory mentioned in her essay, the genre is growing. We see so many new genres within YAL. The fiction and non-fiction of my day (early 1970s through the early 1980s), has evolved into realistic fiction, science fiction or fantasy, historical fiction, graphic novels, self-help, and how-to books. Today’s literature is suited for a variety of readers and not just the voracious and advanced sort. We see this in the graphic novels of Malcolm X, Nat Turner, and “American Born Chinese” to name a few. In these novels the mixture of text and graphics has an appeal to both mature, well-read individuals, such as me, as well as younger and apprehensive readers. To test the appeal of these graphic novels I took them to a 6^th grade reading class for low-level readers. They loved them! They wanted more time to look them over. It seemed to encourage them that a teacher would think “comic books” were acceptable reading material. In the past these books had been thought of as being of no benefit to children. I think back to the days of the Archie Comics that I used to read. My teachers didn’t think of these as educational material, and were viewed more as leisure reading material of no significance. However we see through today’s graphic novels that the material and drawings have not only become more complex, they have also been incorporated into school curriculums. This should be viewed as a positive because the education focus of late is to ‘do whatever you can to get kids reading.’

The age of the non-reader is declining with recent trends in YAL. Not only are non-readers finding subject matter that hits home, but the different formats that these novels take appeal to these apprehensive readers as well as the advanced readers. The issues that young adults face are not bound by time. We see this in “Make Lemonade” and “Story of a Girl”, and in “Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes” and “Evolution, Me, & Other Freaks of Nature”.

The Future looks bright for YAL, the children who will read it and the adults who present it to them. My hope is that this literature will help young adults cope with the issues of today so that they can be productive members of the global society.

Ophelia: A Novel By: Lisa Klein

"This above all: to thine own self be true." ~ Shakespeare’s Hamlet

What if Romeo and Juliet was told from Juliet’s point of view? Would many still love the tragedy just as much? Would readers still identify with the tragic star-crossed lovers? What if Shakespeare’s Hamlet was written from the perspective of a female? Well Lisa Klein answers that question in Ophelia: A Novel, which is her brilliant interpretation of Ophelia’s side of the Shakespeare’s tragedy.

The novel exposes the reader to what Klein believes happened between Hamlet, his Uncle Claudius, Ophelia’s brother Laertes, and Hamlet’s trusted advisor and friend, Horatio. Ophelia is no longer just the girl who falls in love with Hamlet the Prince of Denmark, but she is the girl who blooms into a woman under the watchful eye of the entire royal family.

All of her life Ophelia has wanted nothing more than a normal family, but since her mother died in childbirth, her father and older brother raised her. When she has the chance to go and live as a Lady of Queen Gertrude’s court she begins to see the darker side of what seemed to be the perfect family. This story tells the tale of Ophelia’s search for love, but the only results she finds are desire and heartache in the death of her husband. Unlike Shakespeare’s story, Klein does not end hers here. She takes the reader into Ophelia’s world after Hamlet’s death. The reader follows Ophelia into her new life and the love that she finds from those around her and in an unexpected place.

I believe that Ophelia: A Novel is one of the greatest reinventions of Shakespeare’s work that I have read. Reading this novel reminded of the movie, Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. Both of these works try to make Shakespeare’s work more current and up to date, which engages teenagers in the classics. Even though Klein’s work is set in the 1600’s, she creates such a realistic character in Ophelia, that she is very identifiable with today’s teens. Ophelia faces the same struggles of love, lust, and finding out who she really is, as many of today’s teens do.

Ophelia: A Novel would be a great read for young adults in grades eighth and older. The vocabulary of the novel does follow some old English writing, which may prove challenging for some readers, but for the most part, it is easy to follow. I also believe that the chapters are so well written that they leave the reader wanting to know more about what will happen next to Ophelia. As a teacher, I think this would be a great supplemental text during a unit on Shakespeare, because the initial parts of the story stay true to Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Nick and Nora meet under weird yet common circumstances. Nick is a member of an all queer band, but he's not queer. He has just broken up with his girlfriend when she shows up at the club his band is performing at. Of course, he's heart broken but he can't let Trish know this. So, what does he do, he pops the question to Nora, the daughter of a record company executive, "will you be my girlfriend for the next five minutes". Who knew that the next five minutes would turn out to be so tempting. As Nick tries to fight the temptations of wanting Trish, Nora tries to help. And all he need is that special decoy. They fight the temptations of falling in love chapter after chapter.

The themes the authors are trying to show are hurt, relationships, and love.They did a great job of keeping the actions flowing by changing the switching back and forth between the two main characters. They also show how sometimes true love comes with risks, and if Nick would just stop and look, he would see that love has been there all alone.

I would suggest this reading to high school students with an interest in realist-urban fiction. This story seems real. The characters and the setting. The book gets off to a fast start and never slows down. A great read.

Digital Booktalk: Baby Brother

How to Ruin a Summer Vacation By: Simone Elkeles

Spending time with friends, tanning at the beach, shopping on Michigan Avenue, and going on dates with your new boyfriend, these are the ideal activities for a teenage girl to do during a perfect summer vacation. Too bad for Amy Nelson, the protagonist in How to Ruin a Summer Vacation, her summer will not be filled with any of these activities. Amy is a spoiled teenage American girl who is thrust into an eye opening experience when her part time father decides he wants to take her to Israel to learn more about his culture and where he grew up and lived. Against all of her crying and whining, Amy’s mother agrees with her father and sends her to Israel for the summer.

Throughout the novel, Amy is placed into many uncomfortable situations, the first one being that her dad never told his family that he had an illegitimate daughter in America. When Amy meets his side of the family for the first time, she realizes that she is very removed from her father’s heritage, and she is not sure she wants to embrace it at all. As the novel progresses, Amy learns about her Jewish heritage through her grandmother and an older teenage boy named Avi. She also comes to realize that her cousin O’Snat and her more in common than she initially thinks. Her summer vacation may not be ruined after all, if she can find away to break down the walls that she has built around her.

Overall, I really enjoyed Simone Elkeles’ book How to Ruin a Summer Vacation. At first, the portrayal of the main character turned me off because she was so self-centered and arrogant. However the more I thought about it the more I realized that teenagers are very concerned with their own world as opposed to the world around them. Elkeles’ portrayal of Amy was an accurate, yet sometimes stereotypical portrayal of an American teenager. I also found the fact that Amy was raised in a non-nuclear family to be very realistic. Many teenagers today are raised by a single parent and only see some parents as part time parents, as Amy did. Elkeles portrays the difficulty in forming a relationship between a parent and child in this aspect. Another aspect that I truly found engaging about this book was the correlation between fiction and non-fiction. Elkeles does an excellent job of bringing in information on Jewish heritage as well as the conflict in Israel between the Israelis and Palestinians. Because of the content and the main character, I would recommend this novel to teenagers in high school because it is a fun and engaging book, that not only provides a dramatic plot, but an informative one as well.

Digital Booktalk: The Astonishing Adventures

Mistik Lake by Martha Brooks

On a stone-cold night in 1981 a carload of teenagers went joyriding out on
frozen Mistik Lake. The car careened around a few ice fishing shacks... then
skidded and shimmied farther out on the lake, suddenly broke through the ice,
and sank to the bottom.

Seventeen year old Odella's mother, Sally, was the lone survivor of that accident and it influenced their lives forever. Odella grows up watching her alcoholic mother drink her way through her depression and guilt regarding that night. Finally Sally leaves her husband and three kids to fend for themselves while she runs off with her boyfriend to Iceland. Odella takes refuge at the family's summer home in Mistik Lake, where she meets Jimmy, a boy who can finally bring a smile to her face and help her forget all of her family's problems.

The imagery created by Martha Brooks in Mistik Lake was breathtaking and a definite surprise from the other young adult novels I've read so far in this unit. She creates Mistik Lake in your mind making it seem quaint and somehow unique from other summer destination towns. She also writes from three different points of view Odella, Jimmy, and Odella's Aunt Gloria. All these viewpoints come together as a cohesive story while switching around in time from Gloria's youth, to the time of the accident, to the present with Odella and Jimmy's burgeoning romance.

I would say that this book is for high school kids and older. Sexuality is a running theme in Mistik Lake as Odella experiments in order to cope with her problems, and her Aunt Gloria also seems confused with her own sexuality even as a senior citizen. The more the story goes on the more that is revealed regarding Odella's mother's past. Brooks does a great job of shocking you with the revelations that keep coming in the end, but after a while it becomes a bit too much.

Digital Booktalk: The Periodic Table . . .

Twisted By: Laurie Halse Anderson

Have you ever made a choice that you knew you would regret, but still made it anyways?

In the opening scenes of Twisted the main character, Tyler Miller is completing his hours of community service, the repercussion of a choice he made his junior year of high school. Even though Tyler is not the most popular student at his high school, as he moves into his senior year, he is faced with one of the most difficult choices he feels he has had to make in his life. Does he pursue Bethany Milbury the most popular girl in school, who just so happens to be the daughter of his dad’s boss and the twin sister of his archenemy, Chip Milbury? His decision to pursue then “date” her then sends Tyler’s life into an emotional roller coaster of highs and lows that involve many other choices and outcomes, such as violating his probation, cutting off all ties with his best friend, and perhaps even going to jail for an internet scandal.

While Tyler is dealing with all of his issues at high school, he also has to face his issues at home. Tyler’s younger sister has just started high school and he feels the need to be the typical big brother and protect her from the outside world. Even though the two have disagreeing view points on what high school life should be like, they do agree that there are many unresolved issues between their parents. Tyler’s parents expose them to arguing and mental abuse throughout the course of the novel. The father is so controlling that he not only psychological abuses his wife, but Tyler as well. In the end, the arguing and constant confrontations between his father and him lead Tyler to thoughts of running away and suicide. Tyler then has a final choice to make, face his problems or end them for good.

For readers who are fans of Laurie Halse Anderson’s previous work such as SPEAK and Catalyst, they will enjoy this plot twisting and page turning novel. I enjoyed the flow and structure of this novel. The short chapters made me want to keep reading, and I believe it will engage reluctant readers as well. The chapters always left me wanting to know more about what would happen next to Tyler. Due to the content of the novel, involving suicide and underage drinking, I would recommend this book to students in high school. I do not believe middle school students are mature enough to handle the material that is discussed in this novel. Overall, I felt that Anderson engaged and provided insight into how teens struggle to balance their life, while facing pressure from their friends, family, and themselves.

What YAL says about current trends by Dwilette Brooks

Young adult literature trends change just as the music they listen to, the TV shows they watch, and the clothes & shoes they wear. However, the difference between material and written trends is the intent to educate in some way. Young adult literature is what’s interesting to teens. www.theliterarylink.com, includes various suggestions and resources to help educators and partents become more informed about what teen are reading today.

The ideas of YAL have changed over the years, and yes there are some texts that have stood the test of time, but even they have to be revised in such a way to appeal to the YA audience. Rediscovered texts really don’t have a chance at fitting into the YA perception of a good book, because what was “hot” then is not today. Therefore, authors and publishers have to constantly review and stay on top of the real issues that teens are facing today, and put it in writing.
Educators and administrators have to prove and with great merit, why certain literature should be read by their students. Keep in mind however, that those same text books that parents are protesting are the very same ones their children are interested in reading. I can remember reading books like Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/taylor.htm, To Kill a Mockingbird www.harperacademic.com, and The Scarlet Letter www.thescarletletter.com to name a few, that are now on the challenged list of books at the American Library Association www.ala.org. Also the ALA offers a multitude of resources for teens and parents, as well as, incentives to get teens to read and to keep them interested. I turned out o.k. what are parents so afraid of?

Educators should, however, make sure that students take from YAL themes or useful information that can be used in real life. A lot of authors of YAL do a good job of exposing certain stereotypes that are alive in our world today, and these issues are what sell today. Whenever students want to read more, it says that they are indeed enjoying what they are reading and are learning to appreciate the love for literature, and not necessarily conforming to the characterizations of the books. A good book no matter well it's written will never, be viewed the same way twice. Meaning after all, is the meeting of the words of the author and the mind of the reader. There are certain factors that contribute to understanding and genre choices, such as personalities, memories, moods, socioeconomic status, and even physical conditions. The one thing educators and parents should be concerned with is, if students are reluctant to read, period. http://www.hip-books.com/index.php

YAL today is written to allow for students to make the necessary connections to self, to other texts, and to the world http://forpd.ucf.edu/strategies/stratText.html. Trendy choices are what make the world revolve. If ideas about what readers like never change, then learning stops, authors and publishers go out of business, and educators run out of interesting and creative ways to discuss and help their students with the issues of the world.
The most popular genres I believe today are more of the urban fiction, realistic fiction, and historical fiction. Students I tend to feel a deeper connection with stories that are relevant to what they know. Even though some novels are more graphic than others in more ways than one, it’s important to understand that students are drawn into the “hot” topics. And YAL authors give them what they want, just as the prime-time sitcoms, the rap artists, and the clothes designers. We have to understand that no matter negative some of the more popular genre choices are today, it’s real, and it’s also important that students understand and are able to make those connections. The biggest challenge, however, is to come up with more non-fictional resources, scenarios, ideas and choices the same students can read and then see the brighter side of a bleak situation.

In Baby Brother, the authors do an excellent job of separating yet blending the good and bad that can come from a negative lifestyle. Also Walter Dean Myers www.walterdeanmyer.net
does a great job of setting the scene to really draw the reader in. In instances like the two young victims in life changing situations, it’s very important that students understand that every decision they make has to be make very carefully. Sometimes it takes words from complete strangers, authors, like Noire, Aya Nakhara, and Walter Dean Myers to convince young adults to make wise decisions.

Today YAL is saying write about the real issues, because that’s what sells. And young adults are screaming for more literature that addresses the more prevalent issues in terms they can relate to. No matter how parents fight the fact that their children are reading the very same books they fought to keep off the school library shelves. Teen choice is a losing battle; therefore, give them what they want in an informative, real and educational, yet fun and interesting way.

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Gothgirl by Barry Lyga

In 6th grade Fanboy started keeping a list of people who “pissed him off “. He had only one friend, and wasn’t popular. Fanboy aspires to become a graphic novelist, and is somewhat of a loner. He befriends Gothgirl, who seems to be on her own agenda of disillusions. After some toiling, Fanboy with Gothgirl’s help cooks up enough courage to show his work in progress to an author of comics, but the idea turns drastic. After meeting the author, Fanboy is so excited that he’s meeting him in person that he overreacts to the visit, which freaks the author out. The author freaks out because he thinks Fanboy is one of the weirdest people he’s ever met, and to have been accompanied by Gothgirl didn’t help his credibility.

The understated themes in this book are depression, fear, and trust. There are also feelings of neglect, since his parents divorce, his new step-fascist is the night and day of his mother’s life. No matter how much he wanted to get revenge on those who were on his list, for whatever reason, he decided that the be revenge would be living well and proving those wrong, who thought that he would be nothing.

Lyga has an interesting way of drawing readers into the setting of the story. He brings to the surface, issues and stereotype that a lot of teens are faced with, which cause readers to show a since of compassion for his characters. This story is one that can be told from many middle schools across the country, and touches every culture; it’s literature like this that holds the subtle messages of will power, dignity and courage.

Love*Com Vol. 1 By Aya Nakahara

I have never been big on reading comic books, and that’s just how this book is structured. Reading this book was an experience. It reads from right left. I found it sort of difficult to follow at first, but after reading the same pages over and over again, it started to come together. I admit it was a task.

Since when has the glossary ever been at the front of the book, and the table of contents at the end. There are quite a few Japanese terms that made it even more difficult to follow. I can say; however, that I can read from right to left. Perhaps this would appeal to middle school girls who like the quirky little stories of school days and the unforgettable moments of embarrassment that turned out to be OK after all. Perhaps Aya can better explain her rationale for working backwards. Check out http://www.shojobeat.com/ for more interesting thoughts from the back of her mind. Get the newest version available in Decemeber at www.borders.com

Born to Rock by Gordon Korman

Straight laced, young republican, Leo Caraway, is in his senior year of high school.He's poised to graduate with a flawless GPA and head off to Harvard, when disaster strikes! Leo's falsely accused of cheating and loses his scholarship. He blames his unknown biological father, who he later finds out is King Maggot, the lead singer of a fictional punk rock band called Purge. In a misguided attempt to get money for Harvard, Leo ends up working on the biggest punk tour of the year as a roadie for his father's band.

Hilarity ensues, the super conservative Leo travels the country with his goth best friend, Melinda and genius gay friend, Owen. In between dogsitting, trips to the hospital, and a traumatizing cavity search Leo struggles to get to know his father. In the end he has to redetermine his values in order to get what he really wants.

Gordon Korman makes Born to Rock a fun time from beginning to end. His style wasn't edgy or unique but his use of humor made up for that. I thought I wouldn't like Leo from the very start but Korman makes you root for Leo to get the money he so desperately needs to get into Harvard by making him an open minded conservative. His eclectic mix of friends slowly show him the entertaining world of punk rock. You can tell that Korman is a fan of the punk rock scene but he writes about it as if he's discovering it for the first time through Leo's eyes.

I did have one problem with Born to Rock. Leo's parents were never really developed to show any emotion. His mother hid behind jigsaw puzzles throughout the whole book rather than face her son's questions about his biological father , and his stepfather who raised Leo from birth takes a backseat while Leo runs off in search of his legendary father.

I would recommend Born to Rock to high school kids especially to reluctant readers who are looking for something not as serious as most required high school reading. The issues of stereotyping, homophobia, and alternative families all come up in Born to Rock even though some will go unresolved Korman does make an effort to address them.

This is What I Did by Ann Dee Ellis

Have you ever done or seen something you thought was so horrible, that you would never be able to escape it? This is exactly what happens to Logan in This is What I Did.

"A year ago I was fine. That's when there was nothing wrong.

A year ago, in seventh grade, I was fine."

Logan was a normal kid, with a normal best friend, and a normal family, in a normal school until one day he sees something that he wasn't supposed to, involving his best friend, Zyler. After this everything changes. His family moves away so he can have a new start at a new school, but somehow his secret past slips out and the bullying starts all over again. Zyler's gone now, so Logan feels as if he has no one except, Laurel, another outcast at his school who shares her love of palindromes with him. Logan's parents don't know how else to help him they've tried therapy and Boy Scouts but nothing seems to work for Logan. Everything only seems to get worse.

Ann Dee Ellis uses a literary style that we' ve seen before in Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, but she adds her own unique twist with the use of little illustrations, like a picture of a Lamborghini, Logan and Zyler's favorite car, these give the reader clues of Logan's interests and thoughts. This style makes the book a quick easy read that you'll want to finish in one sitting, not only to find out Logan's shameful secret, but also because Ellis has developed her characters so richly you'll empathize with them even if you've never gone through something similar to Logan's situation.

This is What I Did would be a great book for fifth graders and up. This is the age when a bad situation like Logan's feels like the end of the world. This book could help teachers and kids who have to deal with child abuse, bullys, and victims everyday look at their situations from a different perspective.

All in all, This is What I Did, was a great book. Even though the topics were serious, Ellis made the book light and compelling all the way to the end where she plays a little joke on the reader. No kid should feel bad about having to read this book. If anything the lightness of the book made me feel as if what happened to Logan wasn't as bad as it actually was.

Is this right??

Fellow digitally-handicapped friends, did I do this correctly and why am I the only person who has a booktalk up? Hope this was OK I wrote here! Have a great day and enjoy watching me!!

Digital Booktalk: Avalon High Coronation

Digital Booktalk: The Breakup Bible

Finding a Voice through Change: YAL & the Young Adult

It is finally happening. Young adult literature is bringing relevant issues to the forefront. It is growing along with our young adults. It has been a tough road because "young adults" just don't fit in to one category. They are too big to be considered children and not quite big enough to be considered an adult. So where do they fit in? Don't they experience the same angst and troubles that adults do? Granted, most adults have more maturity, responsibilities, life experience, and hopefully, a little more wisdom. But when it's all said and done, the core of the problems are all the same. At the core, young adults have the same feelings, desires, and fears that most adults do. They experience love and loss, failure and success, power and helplessness, freedom and abandonment. They are little grown-ups developing into mature, responsible, wise, and experienced big grown-ups. The literature that is now available to these young people allows them to finally grow into their own voice.

As I read the many book reviews, required novels for the course, and my own chosen novels for this course, I became more and more excited for young adults. The various topics sparked my own passion for reading. Religion, history, culture, sex, acceptance, romance, grief, love, suicide, racism, science, forgiveness, bullying, abuse; oh my goodness, can the subject matter get any better? The subject matter is finally changing with our youth and the youth is changing right before our very eyes. YAL has come on board with the various struggles and issues that seep into our youth’s lives. As much as we “the adult world” may not want to admit it, these issues are prevalent with our adolescents. As they search to find their voice; they make decisions; they make mistakes; they make changes. It’s these changes, whether good or bad that are allow our youth to discover who they are and maybe more importantly who they want to be.

In Robin Brande’s Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature, Mena is searching for her voice in her religious world and in what remains. But along the way, she makes a decision that impacts many lives. Good or bad, she has to live with consequences. Her journey takes a turn that she never thought she would take. But she evolves. She changes. She grows up. Isn’t that what we ask of our youth? Isn’t that what we want for ourselves? Her journey took her on a spiritual quest that allowed her to become a better human being. In the mix of it all, she found her voice.

True, the characters in these novels do not always find their voice. But they search for it. It’s the search that allows change within them. In Paula Jolin’s In the Name of God, the main character truly is on a quest to be heard. She wants to make a statement; she wants to leave her mark on the world that says, “I am here! – My people are worthy! You will see us! – How dare you ignore us! - How dare you underestimate our worth!” She does evolve. She evolves into a frustrated young woman. She feels helpless and abandoned. Her culture is at stake. A decision needs to be made. Good or bad. Does it really matter? I think that when it is all said and done, it’s not the path that allows the voice to be heard. It’s the change within that has the voice screaming at the top of our lungs, “I am free!” Good or bad, YAL is paving the way for this inner freedom.

These novels are showing the youth that it’s ok to feel the way they feel. This acceptance is allowing a path of discussion. It’s opening the lines of communication. This has been lacking in our society for so long. Take for instance, Eric Wright’s My Dead Girlfriend. Aside from its wit and charm, there is an overwhelming message about the effects of bullying. In the past, bullying was swept under the rug. “Boy will be boys. Toughen up. Don’t be a wimp. Sticks and stones…” Blah Blah Blah. But we are now seeing a change in dialogue. It is fun graphic novels like Eric Wright’s that are paving the way for this discussion. It’s giving a voice to this type of epidemic. Wright does use graphic illustrations for entertainment purposes to help the cause. But the cause is well stated and heard.

In What Happened to Cass McBride, Gail Giles takes the reader into the devastating effects of what happens when someone isn’t heard, when their voice has been stifled. Suicide is a choice that many teens face. Good or bad. Unfortunately, the choice to commit suicide has a very loud message. “I will force you to hear my voice! – I will force you to see my worth!” By that point, it is too late for that young adult. But their voice is no longer unheard. They made a choice that finally allowed them to speak. It shouldn’t take death to open the lines of communication. It shouldn’t take death to have our children’s voices heard. YAL has burst open this topic. This is something that needs to be heard!

YAL is making it easier to discuss topics that have been hushed for so long. Sex, drugs, rock-n-roll is no longer a stigma of the sixties. These topics are setting the trend for YAL. Discussions are no longer taboo. YAL has opened the lines of communication so that young adults along their path of self discovery can make easier choices, less mistakes, and change for the better. Bravo to YAL for making it ok for our youth find their own voices.

The Voice of Identity: Young Adult Literature in 2007

The Voice of Identity:

Young Adult Literature in 2007

The recent surge in young adult literature has prompted the question, “What is young adult literature?” Young adult literature goes far beyond Harry Potter and Gossip Girls. It even goes beyond novels such as Speak and Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. Young adult literature goes so far that it reaches off the page—it reaches its audience.

One of the most fascinating aspects of young adult literature is its ability to speak to a vast amount of people. From adults to youth, young adult literature demonstrates a critical point of any individual’s growth. Comedy, tragedy, horror, romance, or fantasy, young adult novels carry an underlying connection throughout—the search for identity.

As pointed out by peers on LIFT 2008, young adult literature is believed to be disguised as a metaphor illustrating a greater message of conformity. But I believe it goes beyond today’s youth looking to fit in. In fact, today’s youth seems to stray away from the once desired conformity in search for individuality, and the search is more intense and aggressive than years before.

Adolescent issues that generations before may have never given a voice to have become louder. Young adult literature relays the contemporary world’s search for identity. It traces the adventures of characters through the use of everyday or exceptional struggles. The subcategories within this genre are increasingly focused on society’s impact on the individuals and the complexities that make people different, and at once the same. Often times identity is formed through overcoming an injustice such as racism, sexism, abuse, and other personal tragedies. Other times, identity comes about through self-discovery including issues of body image, homosexuality, and most often, religion.

In Karen Cushman’s The Loud Silence of Francine Green, finding self for the main character involved her loss of naivety from the influence of a skeptical friend. Her personal struggle paralleled the anxiousness of the 1950’s when widespread fear of losing the American identity to communism was prevalent. This personal strife is one that all young adults have to deal with, the loss of innocence for the gain of knowledge.

Like many other young adult novels, In the Name of God by Paula Jolin and Converting Kate by Beckie Weinheimer interweave religion and personal growth. They show that during adolescence, it tends to be the prime time to test and question one’s previous or conditioned beliefs. Weinheimer’s Converting Kate follows a religiously-conformed Kate through the personal tragedy of her non-religious father’s death. It is through the ensuing events that Kate begins to resent her upbringing and ultimately question her faith. Weinheimer examines issues like innocence and guilt through very realistic settings.

Taboo subjects are an integral component of young adult literature and represent present day mindset. Religion, sexuality, abuse, and other once-unmentionable subjects are discussed openly. It seems today’s adolescents prefer literature that is open-minded and realistic. This does not mean young adults do not enjoy fantasy, but it does mean a sugarcoated ending is no longer ideal. Instead, today’s youth wants to see a realistic happy or sad ending. This change in society’s perspective illustrates the veracity that problems arise, and people overcome the struggles, but others will arise again. This seemingly-bleak mentality represents the cyclical quality of life, and the end result of it is to show that if nothing else, the taboo issues will help shape the individual identities.

The allure of young adult literature is its ability to relate to all people. Whether or not the reader has gone through any of the mentioned issues is not the point. The personal nature of reading novels where characters struggle to find themselves forces the reader to join the character on his/her quest. The reader has no choice but to examine his/her own feelings towards the character’s dilemmas. Essentially, each struggle results in a better understanding of the individual, regardless if it a character in a book or the reader.

There is a plethora of young adult literature today and each novel demonstrates the need for individuals to discover his/her own identity through different paths. Novels such as Echo by Kate Morgenroth, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and many, many others illustrates the idea that even with diversity in plots and characters, young adult literature unites its readers with the goal of searching for one’s identity. This genre teaches everyone, adults and children, about the new generation of youth and how their mentality has changed, and perhaps will continue to change.

Baby Brother by Noire and 50 Cent

A great piece of realistic fiction: perhaps a bit too real for younger readers. Noire holds no punches with this one. The fireworks explode from page one. The title-caption “On these streets, no one can protect you.” Though it is somewhat predictable, I think Noire and 50 Cent www.nobodysmiling.com did a good job of twisting the main prediction of the story.

Baby Brother is about six brothers who made a promise to their dying mother that they would make something of themselves, stay together and most importantly take care of Baby Brother. Even though the eldest of the seven Davis boys did everything and anything under the sun when he was younger, and introduced his younger brothers to the fast life. He went away to prison and is now trying to walk the straight and narrow without preaching to his brothers about the very thing her introduced them to.

Baby Brother has a very bright future ahead of him, but suddenly it turns bleak. The one thing the Davis brothers could not deal with was anybody standing in the way of Baby Brother and Standford University. www.standford.edu He was to be the shinning star of the family. Revenge for the turmoil caused by the death and destruction brought two families together to fight for vengeance.

I think this book is attracting the younger readers, because they are drawn in by the illustrations on the-cover and the co-author 50 cent. Overall, it’s a great story, but the sheer reality is that it’s true. The problem is that it really happens. And there are too many books depicting what’s wrong, and too few about positive resolutions and resources to help combat the problems.

Trends in Young Adult Literature
By Mallory Rose Huffman

Perusing through the many choices of award winning young adult literature and reading our book reviews, it is easy to see that this genre is growing. YAL is important because the age group that it focuses on is a very particular demographic. They are not old enough to handle adult issues, but all they can think about is how to be ‘cool’ and act like the people they see on the television and magazines. Because of this, there are many factors that I believe will change the course of the books that will come out in the future. How far and long the trend of emulating celebrities and athletes will go will definitely contribute to content of YAL. People’s fascination with watching ‘train wrecks’ and disasters will also determine what type of material will be put out. Alongside these factors comes the school systems implementation of reading programs and teacher training. YAL has a long life ahead of itself, but where it is going will be exciting to see.
Looking at the first few books our class was assigned, it would seem that they all shared common themes of overcoming obstacles and sorrow. All four books, including Monster, Make Lemonade, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, and Speak, dealt with teenagers getting over bad situations. The topics were honestly very depressing at times. Why then do children, tweens, and teens eat these books up? This is a question that our class has posed many times. I believe that reading about intense situations is more interesting than reading about someone’s perfect life. Herein lies why YAL is able to become so popular with young adults. This trend continues with the books I chose for Unit 2 as well as the other books posted on Blogger.com. In the case of the book Harmless, which deals with three girls who tell a lie to get out of trouble, common problems like teen drinking and over-bearing parents are brought up. With every year, authors are able to tap into new circumstances that are no longer taboo to talk about. I do not think that Harmless would have been very popular ten or twenty years ago because it was a different time. Kids respected their parents more and there were not such harsh rules for underage drinking. Now, a book talking about three girls who lie to get out of getting grounded is a hot topic for a junior high or high school student. Maybe the question to ask is not where the trends in young adult literature are going, but where the trends in teenager’s lifestyles are.
Another book that I read, Secrets of My Hollywood Life, dealt with a teenage girl who was a famous star. Many people commented on my review saying that it reminded them of Hannah Montana, a television show. I believe that this is another growing trend in young adult literature; the obsession with celebrities. Referring back to my comments, a few wrote that this idea seemed tired or overused. However, I would have to argue that Hollywood has infiltrated all our lives! I do not see this trend going anywhere soon. CNN even reports celebrity news over ‘actual’ news. Children and teenagers enjoy reading these types of books because they do not feel forced. The main reason behind having an extensive YAL collection available is to boost reading. Whatever subject will get the kids to pick up a book is legitimate. Though a book where the major drama is who gets to be prom queen does not sound too stimulating to an adult, it can be for a young adult reader.
Besides books about conflict and the Hollywood lifestyle, another trend in YAL is the graphic novel. When I was first introduced to this form of book, I did not really agree with it. However, now that I see what a fantastic job it does with giving tentative readers confidence to read. It also seems to be very popular among young boys. I really believe that getting kids to pick up a book using whatever tactics available is what the major trend in YAL is right now. Graphic novels are another way to do this. In the book I chose, Avalon High Coronation, there are even subjects that appeal to female readers. Incorporating the different topics that appeal to both girls and boys is another sign that graphic novels are a growing trend within the young adult novel category.
I think a trend that gets overlooked but is very important, is the focus from teachers and students to recognize this as a ‘teachable’ genre. Some people are still stuck on the idea that the classic novels and poetry are the only acceptable reading material for children after the sixth grade. It is crucial that teachers and other contributors to literature speak out about the great things that YAL can do. As an undergraduate student, this is my second class that has focused solely on YAL. Not only have I learned better ways to structure lessons, like using K-W-L’s, graphic organizers, and always giving subjects meaning and relevancy, but I have learned that there is always an opportunity to incorporate literature into every lesson. It is proven that children who are read to by their parents perform better in every case. I think that because of classes like this, and school's and teacher's knowledge of the importance of reading, young adult literature is going to become a crucial part of every student’s life.
Hollywood and gossip; death and broken friendship; artwork telling a story; all of these are becoming trends in young adult literature. Though many may not agree on the longevity or importance of these subjects, I believe that they are here to stay. YAL is an important genre because, as I have seen through this class, it can spur so many things. It is that small area of the library, with the thick, red letters that spell YAL on the book cover. To many it seems like an insignificant part of the curriculum, but as I have shown, it encompasses all that can interest, inspire, and teach a child.

The Breakup Bible by Melissa Kantor

Jennifer is in love with her boyfriend Max, the editor of the school's newspaper that she also works for. Just last weekend they had a great time at a party and Jen thinks the relationship is amazing. It's been four months, when suddenly Max wants to have a talk. In standard guy form, he tells Jen that they should just be friends. Because that makes it all better. No ice cream, chick flick, or shopping trip is going to make this pain go away. Enter Dr. Emory Emerson.

His self-help book, The Breakup Bible, is given to Jen by her garandma. But after reading the first few pages, she doesn't want its help, only her boyfriend back. Jennifer's journey to find out that she does not need Max to succeed is filled with funny situations, shocking revealations, support, and scandal. As she starts to read on and follow the bibles commands, Jen finally lets Max go.

This book was perfect, not only for young adults, but women everywhere that need to remember that you do not need someone else to complete you. Jen, her friends, and her family all make up a wonderful little world that anyone would want to be a part of. I only wish someone would have given me a copy of this book in high school!

The Breakup Bible is a Best Book for Young Adults

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/titlesnominated.htm

The Periodic Table: Elements With Style! by Adrian Dingle

The Periodic Table: Elements With Style is written in a way that can make learning fun. With its colorful illustrations, it evokes strong mental images through distinctiveness. Children and adults alike would really enjoy reading this book. It's filled with interesting tibits about each of the 103 elements; facts are catageorized in such a way, that there is at least one fact about each element that's sure to stand out. It's like reading the story of the infamous "Element Family".

This book is a sure winner in any middle school science class. The colorful illustrations and the overall layout is wonderful. It's not intimidating at all, even the most reluctant readers would probably find this book to be fun to read. Adrian Dingle really puts a new twist on the elements. One aspect in particular, that I really like about this book, is the appreciation I now have for the various elements, because of important parts they play in our universe. This is definitely a book that should embrace all home and classroom libraries.

Where is the metaphor? by Kristy Maczko

I had the most amazing realization while reading the books for this class, even the books that seem unrealistic or supernatural in basis use ideas or problems based on a reality. Once I had this realization it made it much more interesting to read these books. This is a seemingly minor revelation, I know, but it makes the reader look at these books in a different light. For instance, the author may want to discuss low self-esteem, but just writing a self help book will not attract younger readers. So, in order to pull in these readers, the author writes about the same topic, low self-esteem, but disguises it by writing about a child with super hero capabilities that feels out of place in the modern world. The disguise allows young readers to enjoy the novel while still learning the lessons that the author intended for them to receive on low self-esteem. I think that young adult literature authors have done this for years in order to make their books more interesting to kids, and I think that this is a great way to make young adults read more.

One example of this use of metaphor technique is in Translucent by Kazuhiro Okamoto, the main character, Shizuka, has Translucent Syndrome. This means that whenever she becomes too nervous or stressed out she starts to disappear. Shizuka worries that she does not really exist, especially because she feels like no one really notices her even when she is not translucent. Shizuka learns to deal with her Translucent Syndrome problem by relying on her friends and parents for support. She receives a tremendous amount of support from her boyfriend, Tadami, and at one point she needs to learn to drop her guard and learn to trust him. Shizuka believes that he is better off without her and the threat of her disappearing forever. This problem of Shizuka's is clearly a metaphor for finding your place in life and trying to stand out in a crowd. This is an amazing was for an author to convey the problem of shyness and fear without it coming off as a lecture.

Another example of this metaphor technique is in New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, Bella Swan is an average teenager dealing with a move to Washington State from Arizona. She hates everything about the move until, of course, she meets Edward. Bella and Edward are soul mates, and the fact that he is a vampire doesn't even bother Bella. It does bother her best friend Jake and everyone else that knows the truth though. Bella knows that Edward isn't just another 'bad boy' and that her life would be safer without him, but how can you give up on love? It is interesting how a book about a relationship with issues becomes so much more interesting when the issues are supernatural in nature. Meyer takes the 'bad boy' boyfriend to a whole new level by making him into a vampire who still has a heart, all he needs is a leather jacket and a motorcycle and the picture is complete. There are a million books about love gone wrong on the bookshelves, but how many young adult readers wouldn't rather read about vampires and werewolves? Probably just about all of them.

Another book that comes to mind is American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. In American Born Chinese Jin Wang is a student that just moved to a new town from San Francisco. When Jin goes to class, his fellow students all think he is straight off the boat from China, and Jin does his best to make himself as American as possible. He takes his Americanism to the point that you might never have known that he was Chinese. In fact, he even gets a perm and changes his name to Danny. In American Born Chinese, Jin no longer exists and Danny has completely taken over. It is a literal transformation for the reader, because it isn't until the end that we realize that Jin and Danny are the same person. The reader realizes that you should be true to who you are and not try to change yourself to make other people happy.

When authors are writing a book, I know that not all of them are using the metaphor technique to entice readers or to deliver a message. Most authors probably don't even think about this when they are writing their book, instead choosing a more direct way to get their message across. In order to encourage more young adults to read though, I think it is a great tool. For instance, in The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson, there are not many metaphors used in the text. It is blatant from the beginning that Octavian is a slave trying to escape slavery and to determine who he is as a man. I have to admit, it was a very slow read compared to the other books that we have read in this course. The reality of it is so harsh that I found myself putting the book down often in order to digest the text. I am not saying that every topic needs to be lightened through metaphor, but to read a book that throws the harsh topic in your face is not easy to deal with. In fact, I am surprised that The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing is a book meant for young adult literature. I felt like it was a book more suited to adult readers. It seems that using the metaphor technique to disguise a more serious plot or message is a good way to make reading more enjoyable without losing the message that the author wants to pass on.