YA Cover Art: Part 2

After scouring the internet I have found some more interesting articles about YA cover art:

Trends in Young Adult Book Covers (anyone see anything problematic about these covers? How about the popularity of covers featuring dead girls?)
Magic Under Glass: The White-Washing Of Young Adult Fiction Continues

Book Cover Trends That Should Die Before 2013 (sadly I think that it will take a long, long time before we see the end of "Pretty girl in a dress") 

The Female Body in YA Fiction 

YALSA's 2013 Best Fiction for Young Adults

YALSA recently announced it's 2013 Best Fiction for Young Adults. Of the 102 books I have read 10- THE PLEDGE by Kimberly Derting, THE DIVINERS by Libbra Bray, CROAK by Gina Damico, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green, THE IMMORTAL RULES by Julie Kagawa, ENCHANTED by Alethea Kontis, THRONE OF GLASS by Sarah J. Maas, AU REVOIR CRAZY EUROPEAN CHICK by Joe Shreiber, and GRAVE MERCY by Robin LaFevers.

Of those that I have read I highly recommend CINDER, a book whose elements you wouldn't think would work together but do (cyborgs, aliens, futuristic society Cinderella), THE IMMORTAL RULES, a different sort of vampire tale, THE PLEDGE, a dystopian I can confidently say is like no other I have ever read before, and GRAVE MERCY, featuring a character who could give even Katniss Everdeen a run for her money.

Of those that I haven't read I am most curious about UNSPOKEN by Sarah Rees Brennan, TIGER LILY by Jodi Lynn Anderson (which I've had sitting on my shelves, untouched, since its release date), GRAFFITI MOON by Cath Crowley, SCARLET by A.C. Gaughen, INSIGNIA by S.J. Kincaid (again, another book I've had since its release date), I HUNT KILLERS by Barry Lyga, and THIS IS NOT A TEST by Courtney Summers.

Have you read any of the book included on the list? If so, thoughts?

WEEK 3 YA Firsts: Seminar Readings

Holley, Pam Spencer. ‘Best’ Book Selection Through the Years. Young Adult Library Services, 8(3): 32-37.

-"High school students were the intended audience, and adult titles formed the bulk of the final list of thirty new titles" (Holley, 2010). 

Similar to my thoughts about Anthony Bernier's paper I could help but wonder, who better but young adults to talk about what they want? As we have made note of in class we shouldn't try to compare our experiences as teens with teens today, as they are quite different, therefore why do adults librarians, reviewers and so forth think that they know any better than teens about what they want? 

McCoy, Karen. What Teens Are Really Reading. School Library Journal, 58(1): 32-34. 

-I agree wholeheartedly with McCoy's statement that, as of January 2012, "The sense is they're [vampire novels] are being replaced by books about supernatural beings, particularly zombies and angels, and, of course, there's a huge shift to steampunk and dystopian" (McCoy, 2012). I personally think that of the 110 books that I read last year anywhere from 80-90 of those books fell within one of these categories (if not a combination of them, for instance, Lia Habel's "Dearly, Departed", a zombie steampunk novel.

-On the note of McCoy's statement, "It's difficult to predict the next shift in YA and Middle Grade books" (2012). I personally feel that we are shifting away from the aforementioned paranormal/ dystopian novels and because of the rise of New Adult literature that contemporary will once again come to dominate YA. 

Melanie D. Koss and William H. Teale. What’s Happening in YA Literature? Trends in Books for Adolescents. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52 (7): 563-572.

-Admittedly one of my pet peeves in the world of YA is the emphasis on, "YA literature considered to be high quality (award winners)..." (Koss and Teale, 2009), and on the idea that anything less than award winners aren't deserving of being read or are "inadequate". Add "Young Adult Literature-  Any young adult literature" into the following image and you have my opinion on the matter: 

-I was really taken aback by the finding that "Books were coded as to whether or not they had gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or questioning characters. The majority of the sample did not, but at least one GLBTQ character was found in six of the titles (10%)" (Koss and Teale, 2009). Since 2009, a mere 4 years ago, I do think that we have seen an uprise in the number of GLBTQ characters- especially with the inception of such authors as Malinda Lo (personally I can name 10 books off of the top of my head who features GLBTQ characters). 

YA Cover Art

Image Source: Kate Hart- Uncovering YA Covers 2011

As per our discussion in class today HERE is a great source for all things YA-cover related.

And here are some individual posts that might be of some interest to y'all!

Uncovering YA Covers: 2011
YA Covers and the Female Body
Why the Pretty White Girl YA Book Cover Trend Needs to End
Cover Matters: On Whitewashing
2013 Cover Trends: Part One
2013 Cover Trends: Part Two
2013 Cover Trends: Part Three

WEEK 3 YA Firsts: "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton

Hinton, S.E. Speak, 1967. 

Pages [180p.] [$8.99.] ISBN [014038572X]

From Goodreads: "According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers--until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser."

Admittedly going into this book I was somewhat determined not to like it- for one reason, it's completely out of my comfort zone (that being YA pararnormal and dystopian/ post-apocalyptic), for another, I had to read it for school (I cannot recall having ever finished a novel for school in its entirely, especially during high school). However, all that effort to not like it was to was to no avail- when all is said and done, I really enjoyed this book and it's safe to say that it completely exceeded my expectations (that's not to say, however, that I believe that it's the "best" and "most popular young adult novel of all time" as the cover boasts).

After finishing this book the two elements which stick out to me most are the emotions and the relationships. In reading YA over the years I have grown so accustomed to the male characters being "bad boys"- cocky arrogant, and charming to the nth degree, however, despite all of that they have nothing on these boys. I've come to realize that those "bad boys" are fooling themselves, their "badness" (and all of the emotions surrounding it) is such a facade and superficial. These boys, from Soda, with a larger-than-life personality and who brings a smile to everyone's face, not unlike the beverage he derives his name from does, to Darry, stuck in a "between" state, due to putting his brothers before himself, to Dally, who isn't near as jaded as he lets himself come off of as, to Johnny, who, out of his death, inspires new life, to Ponyboy, a young man truly trying to find where he fits in the crazy world that he was born into, experience real and raw emotions- while they certainly have swagger, they aren't afraid to cry whenever need be (it was refreshing and I think that authors of the twenty-first century could certainly learn a thing or two from this author of the mid-twentieth-century). As for the relationship element, I can't remember the last time I read of such a strong family unit, despite many of these boys not being related by blood. These boys could always count on one another, even during those times when they may not deserve it.

I can understand how this book is a first in a number of ways, the first book written by Hinton, but also the firsts for many of the characters- the first time that Ponyboy truly understood how much he meant to his older brother Darry, the first time that the boys saw a different side of Dally, the first time that Johnny was able to not only stand up for himself, but for those around him, the first time that the Socs and the Greasers realized that they weren't all that different from one another, and the first time that the Greasers were able to become more.

WEEK 3 YA Firsts: Readings

Coats, Karen. “Young Adult Literature: Growing Up in Theory,” in Handbook of Research on Children’s and Young Adult Literature, eds. Shelby A. Wolf, Karen Coats, Patricia Enciso and Christine A. Jenkins, New York: Routledge, 2011: 315-29. IMS stack NO LOAN PS121.H22 2011

-"... there remains a sense that YA literature is a house you pass on the way, and not a destination in and of itself. It may be because YA literature is in fact the literature that I would prefer to read even if I didn't make a living doing so that I would argue strenuously for a shift in this perspective .. I would like to see more critical conversation emerge that treats YA literature as a destination literature, rather than an in-between phenomenon that is useful for pedagogical applications and/or diverting entertainment before readers enter into the more serious work of studying capital L literature" (Coats, 2011). 

I have read dozens, if not hundreds, of "adult" books over the years, however, I always find myself drawn back to YA. 

-"... and today's adult librarians and reviewers come to disdain the repetition of the same themes, characters types, and conflicts, looking instead for something fresh" (Coats, 2011).

While I do love YA I, as a reviewer, do realize that it does have its flaws. I would like to see fewer love triangles, less generic dystopians, and overdone paranormal beings (ie. vampires and werewolves) and more along the lines of CINDER by Marissa Meyer, THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER by Michelle Hodkin and THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Katja Millay. 

Zusak, Marcus. “Point of Departure,” in Handbook of Research on Children’s and Young Adult Literature, eds. Shelby A. Wolf, Karen Coats, Patricia Enciso and Christine A. Jenkins, New York: Routledge, 2011: 330. IMS stack NO LOAN PS121.H22 2011

-Being an avid YA reader, almost exclusively a YA reader, both of these papers resonated with me more than I could have ever imagined, Karen Coat's especially. Both authors were able to articulate ideas and thoughts that I have thought countless times over the years.

- I cannot even begin to tell you how many times over the years I have had to defend YA among not only my peers, but some of my best friends, many of them of the opinion that "YA doesn't count." 

-Some parts of the papers which really spoke to me were: 

-"I think I can safely say that without Young Adult literature, I wouldn't be a writer; I certainly wouldn't have written the books that I have- because as a teenager I was fairly typical in that I kept a lot of what I felt to myself. I didn't talk to a lot of people about what I truly wanted or believed, or how I wanted things to be. In the end, I had those conversations with books. And they were young adult books" (Zusak, 2011).

While I may not be a YA writer I can relate to Zusak's sentiments. For as long as I can remember I had wanted to become an anthropologist- get my masters, my doctrine, the whole nine yards. However, as I went further and further into my undergrad I realized that, while I loved anthropology, it wasn't my passion, that my passion was, in fact, YA literature. It was this passion that encouraged me to pursue a MLIS. 

WEEK 2 Teens, Reading and Libraries: Readings

Snowball, Claire. 2008. “Teenagers Talking about Reading and Libraries.”Australian Academic and Research Libraries 39(2): 106-18. Available via Western Libraries from EBSCOhost Academic Search Complete.

-After taking LIS 9004 I must say that it was nice to actually see the process of conducting a study in action, especially when conducting focus groups ("Focus groups were held with high school students in order to gather data on teenage reading habits and their views on reading, libraries, and graphic novels" pg. 107)- I would have liked to know what sorts of ethics were involved in carrying out such research with minors as this was something that we debated a fair bit with our LIS 9004 final project.
-I thought that it was interesting that Snowball made note that, "... research suggests encouragement by any significant adult in a child's life can replicate the above mentoring effect of a family's reading..." (pg. 109). While I have always been a reader (if you give me the opportunity I will consume a couple in a day) I can't really say that there was anyone growing up in my life who I may have inherited this from. I'd love to see more research as to where children may develop their love of reading from.
-I felt that Snowball was almost confused as to why school libraries are more often used than public libraries are, however, I can understand why. Prior to becoming a post-secondary student, especially as an elementary school student, my class would visit our school's library multiple times a week to check materials in and out. As such, I rarely needed to visit my public library as I already had all of the books that I needed when I went home each night (the only time that I frequented my public library was when I needed materials for school projects and, even then, oftentimes I could find this information from my school library).
-I can understand why the student participant were confused as to whether or not the internet equated with reading- I think that it's one of those things that many of us take for granted and give very little thought to.
-Finally, I thought it interesting how great of an impact graphic novels had on these students. Personally I have never felt any inclination to pick up a graphic novel, but after reading this study I think that that is something that I will have to rectify.

Bernier, Anthony. 2011. Representations of youth in local media: Implications for library service. Library & Information Science Research 33(2): 158–167

-When I first started reading this paper I must admit that I was initially flabbergasted- I didn't agree with the suggestion that youth are often negatively represented in the media. However, as I read further into the paper and began to process it more and more I came to realize that that is often the case. Watching the nightly news I can only think of rare instances where there is a positive news story about a London youth (for instance, a youth putting together a toy drive for needy children/ families at Christmastime), whereas I can think of countless instances of youth being represented in a negative light. As I have said before, all cannot be held responsible for the actions of a few.
-I was also flabbergasted by the finding that youth are very rarely given a voice in the media- after all, who better but a youth to talk about youths? As we discussed in class, we, as non-youths, should not talk about our teenage years to teenagers (ie. "Back when I was a teenager...") as we are no longer on the same level that they are and we can oftentimes come off as patronizing or condescending in doing so- so why does the media do this?
-Bernier mentions, "Young people may also avoid a library populated with librarians and other unfamiliar adults because they might feel that all adults regard them antagonistically and with distrust" (pg. 163) and unfortunately I do fall within those ranks. For instance, I very rarely visit libraries on campus as, time after time, I have had a negative interaction with the librarians, them treating me as if I were stupid/ talking down to me, as if I am being a nuisance by asking them a question, and so forth. However, I visit my public library quite frequently, being on friendly terms with all of the staff, having worked alongside them in the past. 

WEEK 2 Teens, Reading and Libraries: YA in the News

After reading Anthony Bernier's article, Representations of Youth in Local Media: Implications for Library Service I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive to see how London youth would be represented in the media. As Bernier states, "Thus a clear pattern emerges of the coverage of youth in these communities. One the one hand, poor behavior is exaggerated, frequently without evidence, and extrapolated across the entire demographic group, followed quickly by projections of public policy implications. One the other hand, socially positive behaviors and other factors that better contextualize social behaviors are ignored. Further, youth are nearly erased from the record as socially positive civic agents and sources" (Bernier, 2011). However, I am happy to see that the article that I chose, How, London? Downtown Needs More for Youth, looks at London youth in a quite positive light.

In this article author Randy Richmond suggests that the city of London would do well to "bulk" up its downtown, as it is where most youth instinctively congregate to, due to everything that it has to offer- culture, bus terminals, train stations, and its connection to university and college life. Richmond concludes his article by stating, "If we could have an ongoing replenishment of youth in this city, it would revitalize the entire city" (Richmond, 2012).

What I take from this article is that London youth play an instrumental role in not only in the city's downtown, but in the entire city. I think that this article is a nice contrast to Scott Taylor's Students Aren't Even Back in Town Yet... where Taylor explains that John Scott-Pearse, owner of Club Rouge on Piccadilly St., closed his doors last year to all London students- as Bernier would explain, blaming the whole for the actions of a few (Taylor, 2012).

What this article suggests to me is that it would perhaps be beneficial to the London Public Library (LPL) system to focus its attentions on catering to those youth who exploit downtown London. Currently London's largest library, the Central Public Library, is located downtown-ish (On Dundas). However, I am unsure of what this branch specifically  offers in the way of programming, if any, for this specific population. In catering to youth the LPL could perhaps notice an increase in patronage which may aid it in the way of funding(LPL recently announced that its budget was cut $500,000, leading to both hours and collection development cutbacks).

Sources

Bernier, Anthony. 2011. Representations of youth in local media: Implications for library service. Library & Information Science Research 33(2): 158–167. 

Richmond, Randy. "How, London? Downtown Needs More For Youth." London Free Press 26 September 2012. 

Taylor, Scott. "Students Aren't Even Back in Town Yet..." London Free Press 27 August 2012.

Week 2 Teens, Reading and Libraries: YA Book Review

The above is the Entertainment Weekly's review of DIVERGENT by author Veronica Roth (Brissey, 2011).

As a fan of Veronica Roth's DIVERGENT I must admit that I was initially quite taken aback by this review, one reason being that it tells you little more about the book, that it is essentially a rehash of its its synopsis: 

"In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her"). (Source)

Additionally, I was taken aback as the reviewer gives the novel a B+, what could perhaps be considered an "average" rating, yet they only give two reasons as to why- that it's "... flimsier and less nuanced..." than THE HUNGER GAMES. As both a reader and a book reviewer myself I want more substance in a review. I find "flimsier" and "nuanced" to be both hollow words- how is it more flimsy than THE HUNGER GAMES? In the characters? In the world-building? In the overall writing? How is it more nuanced? Is Tris a mirror image of Katniss (she isn't, by the way, Katniss has always been bad-ass where Tris slowly develops into a physically and emotionally strong character)? Or in the world-building (I would personally consider THE HUNGER GAMES to be more so a post-apocalyptic novel, while DIVERGENT to be more so a dystopian  .Therefore it makes it difficult to compare the two, THE HUNGER GAMES takes place in a ravaged Panem, while DIVGERGENT takes place in a futuristic Chicago). 

Also, over the last year or so I have come to dislike the comparison of  any book to THE HUNGER GAMES (or TWILIGHT) as I have found that, time and time again, books which have no relevance or similarity to the two are compared to them, making the comparisons meaningless (for instance, Kiera Cass's recent debut, THE SELECTION, was marketed as "THE HUNGER GAMES meets the Bachelor"- yet the only similarity between the two books was that THE SELECTION was also a post-apocalyptic novel). Neither THE HUNGER GAMES, nor TWILIGHT, were unique and therefore I do not believe that they are books that we consider to be "exemplary YA".

I would have loved to have seen this book reviewed as how CANADIAN REVIEW OF MATERIALS suggests, with an eye to such detail as: "Is the book part of a series? Is the mood sustained? Does the narrative flow easily? Will it have a wide or limited appeal?) (1996)- not unlike that by Wendy Darling or Tatiana. 

That being said, I do appreciate how Entertainment Weekly generally followed VOYA'S Review Guidelines (albeit in a different order): "Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title. Publisher, publication date." However, I do think that it would have been useful had they also included information such as the book's price, page number, and ISBN.

Overall, I give Entertainment Weekly's review of DIVERGENT a C-.

Sources

Brissey, Breia. 2011. Divergent. Retrieved from http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20609141_20484977,00.html. 

Canadian Review of Materials. 1996. Considerations for Your Review. Retrieved from http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/reviewers/considerations.html.

VOYA. 2012. Review Guidelines. Retrieved from http://www.voya.com/reviewers/review-guidelines/. 

"New Adult"? YA? What's in a Classification?

Right now there is a great conversation happening over on Twitter about the difference between "New Adult" lit (a newly emerging literary genre) and YA lit. Follow the hashtag #readadv to follow along (or check out Sophie Brookover's Sortify page for a transcript of the conversation)!

YA Dominates

TIME Entertainment recently named John Green's THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, a YA book about 16 year old Hazel, who is battling cancer (though which is not your "typical cancer book" according to the author), as the Top Fiction Book of 2012. TFiOS beat out such titles as THE CASUAL VACANCY by J.K. Rowling, WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE by Maria Semple and BRING UP THE BODIES by Hilary Mantel for the title.

You can add TFiOS on Goodreads HERE.

Fun Facts About YA

-In the summer of 2012 NPR Books undertook a survey to determine which are the best ever young adult books according to popular vote. Included in this list are THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green, the DIVERGENT series by Veronica Roth and the PRINCESS DIARIES series by Meg Cabot
-According to Publisher's Weekly 55% of YA books are bought by those between the ages of 30 to 44 (78% of those in this age category buy the books for themselves rather than for a YA in their life)
-YA is the world's fastest growing genre (Fantasy and realistic-fiction are the most popular genres within the realm of YA)
-After J.K. Rowling's success with the genre many other big named authors decided to try their hand at it (for instance, Joyce Carol Oates)
-YA lit has the support of many big names behind it including TIME magazine book critic Lev Grossman
-A recent topic in the world of YA that has been both dominating blogs and Twitter has been on sex in YA (This topic has primarily stemmed from Simon Pulse announcing that they would be adding an additional 10,000 words to Abbi Glines' THE VINCENT BOYS series, 10,000 words which contain "explicit, adult sexual content"-For more thorough analysis of this topic visit STACKED)

Hi!

I just thought that I'd introduce myself and talk a bit about this blog.

I'm Avery. I'm a twenty-something year old Masters of Library and Information Science student (one semester down, two more to go!). While I love many things in life, like The Food Network, cats, and crafty stuff, my passion lies in young adult literature and, as such, I hope to work as a YA librarian in a public setting upon graduation.

This blog will be a communication tool about all things YA relating to a course that I will be starting this upcoming semester (one week!), Young Adult Matters: A Course Where YA Patrons Matter.

For a more readers advisory based YA blog you can check out my other blog, Avery's Book Nook, HERE.