teaching

YA Fiction: Who Is It For, Really?

I read a TON of teen fiction. I’m passionate about a well-told story that can teach a student more than I could ever hope to, like Divergent’s Tris in her sacrificial determination to save those around her, or The Giver’s Jonas in his refusal to sit back and let immorality rule, or The Outsiders’ Ponyboy in his effort to “Stay Gold.”

Fiction can be so powerful, and there’s nothing I love more as a teacher than seeing a student really connect with and learn from a character.

However, I’m noticing an alarming trend in YA fiction. More and more, I’ll get an advance copy of a book and wonder, as I start reading, WHO is this actually written for?

Shouldn’t that answer automatically be young adults? Teenagers? After all, that IS what YA stands for – Young. Adult. Now, though, it seems like there are tons of YA titles being published that are written FOR adults, though the characters happen to be teenagers.

What’s the difference? In books written for adults, there’s a feeling like the characters can do whatever they want because it’s all made up anyway, so the natural consequences of the world don’t matter. It’s like that creepy mom who tries to live vicariously through her popular daughter, sending her off to unchaperoned parties and indulging her every whim. It’s grown-ups trying to go back and live their teenage years the way they wish they could have spent them, without worrying about what will happen as a result. This is really disturbing.

While a fictional story is made up and can be a place to explore all kinds of dreams and hopes and wishes, however impossible they may be in real life, it’s also necessary to recognize choices that lead to heartbreak and rough adulthoods. As much as we might wish we could go back and have the party-filled, alcohol and vulgarity laced, sex and excitement ruled high school and college experience, there’s a reason we didn’t have that in the beginning: It’s. Not. Good. For. You.

And really, as authors, we have a responsibility to our readers. The best interests of teenagers should be at the forefront of our minds while we write. There should be some value to the reading experience – something to take away from it. That’s what I love about YA fiction; it’s a powerful avenue for teaching truths through the experiences of a fictional character.

On this site, I only highlight books that I feel are worthy of teens. The books I’d like to see my students reading. Otherwise, how can I call myself a teacher and a writer for young people?

From She Reads: The Divergent Trilogy

Divergent

This review originally posted on www.shereads.org last month.

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Veronica Roth’s DIVERGENT series has taken the YA literary world by storm, comparable to the popularity of TWILIGHT and THE HUNGER GAMES in previous years. Some readers are eager to jump on the bandwagon and experience the latest all-the-rage series, while others are left with questions:

  • Does it really stand up to the hype?
  • Could it really be as good as The Hunger Games?
  • Is it worth reading the book if I already saw the movie?
  • Can I go see the movie with young adults without feeling awkward?
  • Is the movie more than just a reason to go watch Theo James on the big screen for a few hours?

The answer is a whole-hearted YES on all counts.

DIVERGENT is a dystopian trilogy taking place in a far-future Chicago. War has left the city in disrepair, and in an effort to keep peace people are divided between five factions: Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Amity (the peaceful), Erudite (the intelligent), and Dauntless (the brave). When the story opens, the main character, Beatrice (Tris) Prior is preparing for the test that will help her choose which faction she’ll enter for her adulthood: Abnegation, which she was born into, or one of the other four. The drama begins, though, when Tris’s test results are inconclusive and she has to navigate society as one who doesn’t fit with just one faction; she is what they call Divergent, and that makes her a target of society leaders.

As a writer, Veronica Roth is incredibly talented. She has created a future world that is fascinating and believable, yet far-fetched enough that it feels not like home. There are references to known Chicago landmarks, making the setting recognizable and relatable. Her characters, while futuristic, are also completely relatable – it only takes a few pages to get drawn into Tris’s story, which starts in DIVERGENT, continues in INSURGENT, and resolves in ALLEGIANT. I’m also intrigued by the fact that she started writing this in college and, even now, with three books out, a major motion picture, and a fourth book coming soon, is only twenty-five years old. That’s crazy!

I saw the movie on opening night, and it was great. Really. But, it didn’t get anywhere near the level of detail that you find in the books. I know that’s a common complaint with movies based on books, but in this case it’s not just a casual observation about the movie; it’s a compliment to the depth of Roth’s writing. I love the way she has broken people down into factions to describe personality types and how that forces you think about human nature as you read. I love that there’s plenty of romantic appeal in Tris’s relationship with Four (played by Theo James, as seen in the movie poster) and that their relationship is supportive and exciting without being sexual. I love the suspense and intrigue that keep you reading without being able to stop – I blew through all three books in a week and just couldn’t get enough.

Basically, I just love this trilogy. This is one case where, whether you see the movie before or after reading the books, you really need to read the books. I won’t say they’re an easy, lighthearted read – the emotional rollercoaster is a wild one, and the characters and storyline will dominate your thoughts even while you’re not reading – but I will promise that they’re worth your time!

The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer

vigilante poets

Blurb from Goodreads:

Witty, sarcastic Ethan and his three friends decide to take down the reality TV show, For Art’s Sake, that is being filmed at their high school, the esteemed Selwyn Arts Academy, where each student is more talented than the next. While studying Ezra Pound in English class, the friends are inspired to write a vigilante long poem and distribute it to the student body, detailing the evils of For Art’s Sake. But then Luke—the creative force behind the poem and leader of the anti-show movement—becomes a contestant on the nefarious show. It’s up to Ethan, his two remaining best friends, and a heroic gerbil named Baconnaise to save their school. Along the way, they’ll discover a web of secrets and corruption involving the principal, vice principal, and even their favorite teacher.

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When I saw this title and read the initial blurb, I knew I had to read it. I’m a sucker for a witty protagonist, vigilante world-changers, and prose involving poetry.

For the most part, I really enjoyed The Vigilante Poets and liked Ethan as a character. He’s the kind of guy who falls in love with girls for unusual reasons, like a beautiful neck because it’s the connecting point between the mind and the body, which is kind of cool. He’s smart and funny, but not really over the top nerdy in a way that makes it difficult to relate to him. I also like the main supporting characters of Jackson, Elizabeth, and Luke, though at times it was difficult to follow their conversations full of academic lingo.

The story moves along at a good pace, and I like the Arts Academy setting. The idea of a poetry-based revolution initiated by industriouos students is a dream of English teachers everywhere, including myself. The fact that they are led by their passion to preserve the integrity of their school makes it even better.

There are a few qualities that make this completely unlike anything else I’ve ever read, though. One, for a young adult novel (and most adult novels, really), the vocabulary and the poetry are incredibly advanced. I mean, I’m an English teacher and I wanted to look up some words to make sure I really knew what Hattemer was saying. Plus, Ezra Pound is not an easy poet to read, so there was some having to figure that out on my part. While I can breeze through most books in a matter of a few hours, this one took considerably longer. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, just different.

Another unique quality of this title is found in Hattemer’s style. Ethan is the protagonist and narrator, but sometimes he would address the reader directly, acknowledging that this was a book. I won’t say it went as far as some postmodern-type literature, but it was enough to sort of startle me as a reader because the character was suddenly talking to me. It’s sort of unsettling.

Overall, I recommend The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy. I think it will resonate particularly well with upper teens who enjoy a bit of a challenge in reading material, but want an entertaining challenge. Also, those with an interest in poetry or the impact of Pop Culture on the Arts will enjoy the story of Ethan and his friends.

The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy releases this Tuesday – check it out here on Amazon or at your preferred bookseller!

The Giver trailer is out today!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJNNugNe0Wo

I’m so impressed, which is surprising because The Giver is one of my all-time favorite books. I’ve been nervous about the movie just because I know how near and dear it is to my heart – I don’t think I could handle a low-budget cheesefest reminiscent of the first Twilight movie. It looks like I had nothing to worry about, though. What a relief!

AND there’s a super cool new website for the movie: receiveyourdestiny.org

Find out more about The World of The Giver and my love of Jonas as a heroic protagonist through my past posts!

The Smart Girl’s Guide to Going Vegetarian

In a rare deviation from my obsession with fiction, I’m highlighting this new book (it comes out tomorrow) for those teenage girls concerned with diet.

When I was in high school, I decided I thought the idea of meat was gross, so I wasn’t going to eat it. The problem, though, was that I wasn’t smart about how I replaced meat’s role in my diet. I basically just had a lot of dairy and a lot of carbs, which didn’t work out so well for me.

My vegetarianism didn’t last very long like that. After a horrible stretch of time in college where I actually tried the Atkin’s Diet (ALL meat – SO gross), I finally found my way back to a heather, easily maintained vegetarian diet that I really enjoy. There’s not much about meat that I miss at all.

As a teacher now,I’m always hearing about girls who are trying to watch what they eat, or who want to be vegetarian to see if they’ll lose weight, or some variation on that. I think this is a valuable resource.

Not only does The Smart Girl’s Guide to Going Vegetarian include some meal and recipe ideas, but it also explains the nuts and bolts of a vegetarian diet, including how to make sure you’re still being healthy while changing your diet.

So, if your New Year’s resolution involved some form of dieting or cutting back on meat, you should check this out. As a long-time vegetarian myself, I know this would have been incredibly valuable to me in high school!

Enjoy. :)

So Long, Insecurity – Teen Edition.

I LOVE THIS.

As a teacher, one thing that breaks my heart is seeing every single teenage girl I’ve ever worked with struggle deeply with insecurity. For some, it’s their physical attributes that make them insecure. For others, it’s a lack of popularity, or crap going on at home, or too little money to buy all the trendiest stuff, or peers that are mean for no reason, or any number of other things.

For me, it was physical. It was my weight. As a preteen, teen, college student, and beyond… there was always a thought that if I could just lose a certain number of pounds, people would like me better. Boys would ask me out, girls would invite me to hang out with them, and the entire world would fall at my feet.

Of course, it was never really all that bad – I just couldn’t see through to the other side when everything would be ok. I couldn’t see my adult self, still overweight but happy and well-loved, while I was in the midst of feeling like a repulsive, far from lovable teenager. My focus was on what was wrong with me and how I didn’t fit in, not on what was good about me and what I had to offer the world.

Something like this book would have helped me A LOT. It’s real. It’s honest. It covers a whole multitude of issues – how to dress to cover problem areas, how to deal with boys, how to manage feelings of depression and jealousy – and it’s all handled in a positive, uplifting, Bible-based way. And while the fact that it’s Bible based may seem to some like a reason to slap a “for Christian girls only” sticker on this, I wholeheartedly disagree.

In fact, I have a student in mind that struggles deeply with feeling like she doesn’t fit in. She feels like nobody likes her, she’s not cool or popular, boys will never like her, and she’s just miserable. Of course, there are a number of students (current and former) who could identify with that description and might possibly wonder if I’m talking about them. This particular girl is not a Christian, but I think she would absolutely eat up the advice and encouragement found in this book. And, at the same time, I immediately e-mailed a friend after finishing my preview copy and told her about it for her church small group of high school girls. I think this is versatile and completely relevant for all girls, from those who don’t already identify themselves as Christian to those who are secure in their faith and involved in church.

The format of this teen edition is perfect, too. It’s full of pictures of real (not perfect) teenagers wearing fashionable (not all designer) clothes and honest testimonies from girls who’ve been there. There are quizzes for each topic, pages full of encouraging verses, and so much more. It’s not an overwhelming, boring nonfiction kind of book that would make girls reject it – it’s more like a pretty, glossy magazine full of greatness.

The description I saw somewhere for this book said it’s for girls ages 12-16. I disagree. I’d like to see this in the hands of 4th and 5th grade girls who look up to older girls and can’t wait to be teenagers. I’d also like to see this in the hands of high school juniors and seniors, and packed into the bags of college students heading out on their own for the first time. There’s a great basis here for being comfortable with who you are, who you were created to be, and how to maintain your focus on your purpose and your Creator. I think that’s so important for girls ranging from upper elementary to college.

So buy a copy for yourself if you’re a young woman. If you’re a parent, buy one for your daughters and nieces and every young woman you know. Please, as a teacher in the trenches who sees this stuff in action, invest in this and use it as a springboard for discussion in your house. Encourage the young women you love and fill them with confidence!

Click HERE to buy on Amazon.
Click HERE to buy on Barnes and Noble.
Or check with your favorite book store. :)

Al Capone Does My Shirts

I consider it great fortune that I just happened to discover an ARC (Advance Reader’s Copy – before final edits and polishing for publishing are finished) of this in one of my favorite used books stores in Boone, NC before the book was even published. I read it, loved it, and vowed to make my 7th graders read it as soon as it was published in 2004. Since then, it has been one of my favorites both in and out of the classroom.
Al Capone Does My Shirts is about a boy, Moose, who is forced to move to Alcatraz Island when his dad takes a job working at the prison. Of course, it’s more than a little intimidating being on an island with the most notorious convicts in America, and Moose and the other island kids take full advantage of this when they’re off the island, which lands them in all kinds of trouble and awkward situations. 
In this story, Moose is a really interesting character full of wit, intelligence, sarcasm, and integrity. His childhood has mostly consisted of taking care of his “little” sister Natalie, who is actually older than he is but acts younger because of her autism (in the 1930’s, they didn’t have a name for autism, so all they knew was that Natalie was just different). While he sometimes can’t stand the responsibility, it is clear that he’s the one who understands her the best, and so he’ll do anything to help her. What he eventually does do to help her is nothing short of risky business.
A few years ago, Choldenko published a sequel to this called Al Capone Shines My Shoes. I didn’t love it as much as the original, but it was a good follow up for those who want to know more about what happens to Moose and the other characters. 
If you haven’t read this, you should! Enjoy it. :)
~Melissa

Friday Favorite: Secrets of My Hollywood Life

Jen Calonita has an impressive way of writing intriguing stories that you’d like to go into and visit for vacation without making them so scandalously inappropriate that I have to worry about putting them on my summer reading lists for middle school. I appreciate that about her. I also love that while it’s good for upper middle schoolers, it’s also great for all high school grades. Heck, I loved it as an adult.

This series, The Secrets of My Hollywood Life, features a protagonist named Kaitlin Burke. She’s a famous teenage TV star in Hollywood, and throughout her adventures and dramas and everything else we get an insider’s look at the life of a Hollywood starlet. It’s very fun. And, as Calonita is a former entertainment editor for Teen people, you definitely get a legit inside look!

In this first book, Kaitlin wants to know what it’s like to be a regular, not-famous teenager in high school and goes behind the backs of almost everyone around her to enroll in a local school under a false ID. Of course, she falls for the school’s hottest lacrosse player (and who wouldn’t, really?)… lots of crazy things happen. And, while this book does have a fully satisfying ending,  you totally want to start reading the next book as soon as you finish this one to figure out what happens with Kaitlin and her crew. It’s awesome.

Check this book out, buy it, invest in the rest of the series… you’ll love it. Enjoy!

~Melissa

#ThrowbackThursday – The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

There are so many reasons to love this book. It’s so real and so amazing in the way that it was written – it was instantly popular when published by Hinton (AS A TEENAGER – OMG) and is still popular and relevant to teenage life today. I read somewhere once that this is considered the first of our modern YA novels… sort of a blueprint by which all others are written. I believe it. In an interview she gave, Hinton basically said she was bored by the books she had to read as a teenager and decided to write something she’d actually want to read. You gotta love that fierce teenage determination.

In The Outsiders, you follow the stories of teens in rival gangs – the Greasers and the Socials. While we don’t have gangs and cliques with the same names in today’s teenage society, we do have plenty of rivalry and hatred between groups of people that make this classic story one for today’s teens as well. If you’ve read the book, you know how powerful the story is. If you haven’t, you should.

For some reason, I never had to read this as a student. I really wish I had. As an adult I can appreciate it as I look back on my teen years and identify areas of my life that related to this, but it would have been a great one to make some connections to while I was dealing with high school.

Stealing Parker

WOW this book caught my attention immediately. I seriously went to bed at 8:30 last night just so I could lay there and start reading… but then I couldn’t put it down and actually go to sleep until I’d finished it!

In Stealing Parker, Miranda Kenneally deals with a whole crapload of issues that are VERY relevant to teenagers right now, but she did it in this neat, compact, fast-moving way that was so well written I didn’t even realize how much stuff I was having to think about. It was a really fun read, and I instantly connected with the protagonist, Parker, through her struggles and snippets of journal entries (which she mostly burned, so the pyro in me enjoyed that immensely).

One of the main issues Parker has to deal with is her Christian faith and how it has been affected by the recent divorce of her parents. The way Kenneally writes about this is uncomfortable, but so very authentic and real. It’s true that sometimes Christians get it all wrong – none of us are perfect – and the way that’s portrayed in this book is eye opening and heart breaking, but it’s not blasphemous or disrespectful. It’s just honest. Now, I will say that I didn’t agree theologically with some of what Parker’s mom ends up telling her, and I have some other theological disagreements with lifestyle choices in this book, but the bottom line is that it made me think without challenging my own faith.I think that’s a good thing. I wouldn’t, though, recommend this for anyone under high school age (like, UPPER high school) or anyone who’s not solid in their own beliefs. It’s a challenging read in that area.

I absolutely loved the infusion of softball and baseball into this fun romance, too. I never realized how much I seriously enjoyed playing softball until I stopped after 10 years, so it was really fun for me personally to read a book with that as an element in it. It doesn’t seem like there are many YA novels out there with sports-playing female protagonists, but maybe I just haven’t found them.

And of course there’s plenty of romance, which I just can’t get enough of. Parker finds herself attracted to and flirting with the new assistant baseball coach (he’s 23, and she’s turning 18 in less than 2 months). While the age difference really wouldn’t be that big of a deal once she’s out of high school, the flirtation is scandalous just because he’s a teacher and she’s still a student. In the beginning you’re almost rooting for them, kind of like Aria and Ezra from Pretty Little Liars. But then there’s also this guy that she’s been competing with academically for years, but now that her position as valedictorian is secure, she can look at him as more than just the competition. I won’t give away too much. Just know that in the end, it’s all good and delightfully romantic.

Enjoy!