WEEK 13 Dystopias: "Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Harcourt Children's Books, 2006.
Pages [337 p.] [$10.99] ISBN [0152058265]

From Goodreads: "Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world."

At the time that I read this book I was also reading another book of a similar nature, Megan Crewe 's THE WAY WE FALL, and therefore I cannot help but compare the two. Both books were written in a similar format- that of a journal/ diary. While one of my largest complaints in THE WAY WE FALL was that I was unable to relate to much of the book as I found the writing to be quite flat and one-dimensional, that was anything but the case for this. If I had to describe this book in a few words it would be "a roller coaster of emotions"- I cannot even put to words all of the different emotions that I felt while reading it, one minute I was smiling, the next, I was sobbing.

Aside from the emotional-strength of this book, I think that its other biggest strength is its realism. While reading it I kept wondering to myself how my family and me would fare if something of this nature occurred. I don't think that it would be all that far-fetched for future generations to have to experience something of this nature (for instance, look at the flu endemics that much of our world faced this past winter).

All in all, I think that this is one of the best books of this nature that I had read in a far while- nature taking back the reigns of control, pushing mankind into the beginnings of an apocalyptic society- and, as such, I would highly recommend it to young adult patrons. That being said, on a personal note, I do not intend to continue on with this series (something that is almost unheard of for me), as I don't want my love of this book to be potentially altered/tarnished by any sequels (especially knowing that Miranda and her family are not a the forefront of the next book in the series, but a character named Alex).

Week 11 Problems? Nope, Just Life: "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

Green, John. Dutton Books, 2012.
Pages [313 p.] [$21.99] ISBN [0525478817]

From Goodreads: "Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind."

While this book has been one of the most acclaimed YA books in recent history, even going so far to be named the Top Fiction Book of 2012, beating out such titles as "The Casual Vacancy", "Where'd You Go, Bernadette", and so forth, I must admit that I do have a number of issues with it. 

The first issue that I have with it is it's unofficial tagline, "Not another cancer book." Growing up I read more books about children/ teens with cancer than I can recount ("Breathless", "Six Months to Live", "As Long As We Both Shall Live", to name a few) and I must admit that I personally don't think that this book is all that different from those other titles. The characters all go through similar situations, experience the same thoughts, have the same outcomes, and so forth. 

Another issue that I have is on a number of occasions John Green has stated that he likes to, "Write about/ for smart people." Even in my twenties (outside of the target audience) while reading this book I struggled, at times, to determine exactly what the characters (Hazel and Gus, especially) were saying during their monologues, of sorts, discussions of existentialism, and so forth. I think that as a teen (the targeted audience) I would have been even more so confused by the concepts/ language used in this book and that learning that Green writes for/ about "smart people" would have lead me to believe that I wasn't "smart" because I didn't understand it 100% (something that I think that no teenager should ever feel like/ question, with all of the other stressors, emotions, etc. going on in their life during that time). Furthermore, as such, I think that as a teen I never would have been able to relate to Hazel and Gus, something that was (and still is) extremely important to me as a reader. 

Complaints aside, I did love the relationships in this book (between Hazel and Gus, between them and their parents, and so forth) and I did love when Hazel and Gus dropped the walls around them and just let themselves be teenagers. For instance, during this scene:

"He's not that smart," I said to Julie.
"She's right. It's just that most really good-looking people are stupid, so I exceed expectations."
"Right, it's primarily his hotness," I said.
"It can be sort of blinding," he said.
"It actually did blind our friend Isaac," I said.
"Terrible tragedy, that. But can I help my own deadly beauty?"
"You cannot."
"It is my burden, this beautiful face."
"Not to mention your body."
"Seriously, don't get me started on my hot bod. You don't want to see me naked, Dave. Seeing me naked actually took Hazel Grace's breath away," he said, nodding toward the oxygen tank.' (pg. 251).

Personal feelings aside, from a librarian point of view, I would still recommend this book to YA patrons as I do think that it is quite different from what is currently on the YA market (paranormal, dystopian, etc.), it introduces them to situations they may be unfamiliar with (disease and death), and so forth. 

Week 8 Sex in YA Lit: "Anatomy of a Boyfriend" by Daria Snadowsky

Snadowsky, Daria. Delacorte, 2007. 

Pages [272p.][$9.99] ISBN [0385733208]

From Goodreads: "Before this all happened, the closest I'd ever come to getting physical with a guy was playing the board game Operation. Okay, so maybe that sounds pathetic, but it's not like there were any guys at my high school who I cared to share more than three words with, let alone my body.

Then I met Wes, a track star senior from across town. Maybe it was his soulful blue eyes, or maybe my hormones just started raging. Either way, I was hooked. And after a while, he was too. I couldn't believe how intense my feelings became, or the fact that I was seeing—and touching—parts of the body I'd only read about in my Gray's Anatomy textbook. You could say Wes and I experienced a lot of firsts together that spring. It was scary. It was fun. It was love.

And then came the fall."

As a teenager I can recall reading this book (around it's release date, when I was 17 years of age). At the time I really did quite enjoy it as I was on a "Rom-Com kick" (primarily those romantic comedies written in Simon & Schuster's Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies imprint). That being said, reading it some 5 years later I must admit that I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I did the first time around (for a number of different reasons, one being that I can no longer relate to the high school-aged characters like I once could, another that I have read so many books of this nature since then that I can't help but compare them, and so forth). My personal opinions of the novel aside, I do appreciate the book quite a bit, namely due to it being such an instrumental book in the history of YA- introducing sex to young readers. 

At the time that I read this book I knew very little about the realm of sex, aside from what I had learned in school during sex ed. classes. Therefore, this book taught me a number of things, perhaps more than any of those classes did, for instance, not only about safe sex practices (Snadowsky makes explicit mention of what form of birth control is being used, and discusses those options which aren't being used, such as diaphragms), but also about the human body (Snadowsky also doesn't follow the trend in YA of authors "dumbing down" their content, namely in the form of medical jargon, Dom references her GRAY'S ANATOMY a number of times during the text) and sexuality. 

That being said, as we made mention of last class during our graphic novel discussion I know that the question as to whether or not you would recommend this book to a YA may come up- some believing that it has questionable content. Personally, I was never monitored/ censored in what I read as a child and teenager and therefore I do not see myself ever posing those limits on someone.

WEEK 5 Recent Award Winners: "Half Brother" by Kenneth Oppel

Oppel, Kenneth. Brilliance Corporation, September 1st 2010.

Pages [375p.] [$19.99] ISBN [1441871497]

From Goodreads: "For thirteen years, Ben Tomlin was an only child. But all that changes when his mother brings home Zan ? an eight-day-old chimpanzee. Ben's father, a renowned behavioral scientist, has uprooted the family to pursue his latest research project: a high-profile experiment to determine whether chimpanzees can acquire advanced language skills. Ben's parents tell him to treat Zan like a little brother. Ben reluctantly agrees. At least now he's not the only one his father's going to scrutinize. It isn't long before Ben is Zan's favorite, and Ben starts to see Zan as more than just an experiment. His father disagrees. Soon Ben is forced to make a critical choice between what he is told to believe and what he knows to be true ? between obeying his father or protecting his brother from an unimaginable fate. Half Brother isn't just a story about a boy and a chimp. It's about the way families are made, the way humanity is judged, the way easy choices become hard ones, and how you can't always do right by the people and animals you love. In the hands of master storyteller Kenneth Oppel, it's a novel you won't soon forget."

Kenneth Oppel is a highly celebrated Canadian children's and young adult author- his most famous series include his The Silverwing Saga series (Silverwing, Sunwing, Firewing, and Darkwing) and his Airborn series (Airborn, Skybreaker, and Starclimber). Half Brother is his a standalone written in 2010 featuring Ben Tomlin and his science-experiment-turned-little-brother Zan, the chimp.

While I cannot confirm as to whether or not the period in which this book is set in, the 1970's, is effectively reproduced, being quite unfamiliar with the decade, I can confirm that the narrative is overall quite interesting (in fact, this subject matter holds a very special place in my heart as during my undergrad, a B.A. in bioarchaeological anthropology, I specialized in primatology and had quite seriously considered attending graduate school for it- though for lemurs rather than chimpanzees). 

I wouldn't necessarily say that treatment of the narrative is imaginative, I think that if anything it is extremely true to real life- the situations, the emotions, the dialogue, and whatnot. Therefore, while at times it was extremely engaging, at others it did border on being dull (during those dull moments I couldn't help but groan at the length of it- I think that shaving 100 pages off of it would only strengthen it). I do not believe that the theme is artificially imposed upon the plot, I think that it and the moral/ commentary are extremely natural- seamlessly being interwoven into one another. 

I think that telling this book in first person was the best choice as it really allowed the reader to develop an understanding and connection with Ben that they might not otherwise have been able to had it been told in third person. I think that both the mood is sustained and that the narrative flows easily- the deeper into the story you read the more you fall for Zan and the more you care about his future, not unlike if he was your own half-brother, human or primate. 

Curiously, my library system's copy of this book was shelved in the juvenile section, while the London Public Library system has it shelved in the young adult section. I personally feel that it is best shelved in the juvenile section as I found that it read like a middle grade book (Ben, the main character, is 13 years old). I think that those in their middle grade years/ lower end of the YA spectrum (13-14 years old) will get more enjoyment from it more than those in the higher end of the YA spectrum (18-24 years old). 

That being said, I do believe that this book does have a wide appeal- that male readers and female readers will like it equally. Additionally, I appreciate the fact that it is fairly educational without feeling so. 

Overall I did enjoy it, however I will not be rereading it (strange for me, as I almost reread every book multiple times). 

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). 

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.