A True Reality

Juxtaposition

2011-11-27T12:50:00.002-06:00

Herman Cain's message to Americans: "We need a leader, not a reader."

Barack Obama's choice of where to shop on "Small Business Saturday": a bookstore. And might I personally commend his choice of books, including The Invention of Hugo Cabret, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia?

(On a side note, can you imagine if you had to factor into your choice of books that it was going to be published (and cared about) by news outlets around the world? Would probably make me choose a little differently, kind of the way some people fudge their Nielsen rating reports with more PBS and Discovery Channel shows than is probably strictly accurate.)

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

2011-09-24T09:19:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in forever. (1) I was in Poland most of the summer. (2) This has been the craziest busy year yet. (3) I haven't really read anything that inspires me to post anything.

But . . .

I just finished Gabrielle Zevin's All These Things I've Done and it has inspired me to do a post. Anya Balanchine is living in New York City in 2083. This is a NYC that is different from the NYC we know today, but it is also extremely familiar and recognizable. The streets and the major places are all there, but water and other natural resources (like energy and paper) are scarce. Places like Central Park and The Met are still around, but the park is completely denuded and ugly, and The Met is a ramshackle building converted into a nightclub. People deal with rolling blackouts and rampant corruption. Also, chocolate is illegal; the caffeine is a drug.

Anya's family is a leader in the black market chocolate business. Her mother and father are both dead before the story begins due to their mob involvement, so Anya (a junior in high school) tries to keep a low profile. Her older brother Leo is mentally child-like due to the car crash that killed their mother, so Anya is pretty much in charge of taking care of herself, Leo, and their younger sister Nattie. In the course of the story, Anya finds it harder and harder to keep a low profile and out of the family business as her cousin recruits Leo to work at the family headquarters and Anya falls for the new boy at school, Win, who is the son of the assistant DA (who has aspirations to run for DA and "clean up" the city).

If the story were set in present-day NYC, it would still be a good story, but the future setting that is different but not completely "futuristic" to the present really makes the story for me. The idea of chocolate as the forbidden substance is intriguing. I love all the references to places in New York that have been repurposed or changed because of the scarcity issues (wait til you read about the Statue of Liberty!). I really liked all the subtle ways Zevin referenced the ways that people had to deal with scarcity. For example, when Anya has a terrible day at school, she uses her last quarter to splash water on her face. People have to carry change around to get water. The setting was just really well-done and turned a good star-crossed lover story into something much more intriguing. Plus, it's not just a romance story. Anya is a very tough and complex girl who has a lot to deal with and issues way beyond what most teenagers would or should ever have to face. Not to mention she never knows just who she can trust.

Be sure to take the jacket off the book so you can see how the cover looks like a bar of Ballantine Special Dark chocolate!

"What is the internet anyway?"

2011-04-03T10:20:00.003-05:00

Some unaired footage from the "Today" show in 1994 wherein Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel express confusion about what exactly the internet is. Ahh, 1994 . . .

Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels

2011-03-30T18:30:00.006-06:00

This book of poems by Kevin Young tells the story of the Amistad slave rebellion in 1839 and the subsequent trial in the U.S. There are several poetic forms in the voice of various real historical figures associated with the event, along with Bible verses and excerpts from primary sources. It is amazing.

But it's not a YA book. I say this for two reasons. First, it's pretty challenging. I can't think of any students I know right now who would read it without being required to. Second, there is one poem that has a lot of cussing. It's only one poem in the entire book, and normally I would barely notice and would certainly not bother to mention it, but I read this book for our district's "literature committee." I was hoping to do the involved paperwork to get it approved for use in our high school English classes. But with that one poem, I know it won't get approved. *Sigh* Well, I am certainly going to be recommending it to our English teachers at every possible opportunity so they can use excerpts.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

2011-03-30T18:13:00.006-06:00

Rhine lives in a future U.S. wherein the course of genetic engineering has brought about a virus that kills males at the age of 25 and females at the age of 20. When the story begins, sixteen year-old Rhine is abducted from New York and taken to a mansion in Florida with two other girls (Jenna, 18, and Cecily, 13). Although they are captives who find out they are to be married to 21 year-old "Governor Linden," they are actually somewhat lucky because many of the other girls who were initially rounded up with them were all executed.

The girls are treated relatively well in one sense. They have young indentured servants who wait on them, they live in a luxurious mansion, and though they have no freedom and only limited privacy, they are not otherwise maltreated. Linden's father, it turns out, masterminds the entire house operation and controls and manipulates Linden. Linden is actually quite kind and believes the girls were all "rescued" from an orphanage. Despite Rhine's growing understanding and affections for Linden, she still despises his father, resents Linden because she misses her twin brother and her freedom, and she has developed feelings for one of the servants, Gabriel.

The plot essentially follows the development of these characters in the house, trying to figure out exactly what "mad scientist" things Linden's father is doing in the basement in pursuit of a cure, and wondering if and how Rhine will escape. It reminded me quite a bit of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Although I liked the writing quite a lot and was very interested, I felt let down by the ending. It was just anti-climactic for me. Also, I kept having questions about the genesis and maintenance of the weird multiple-marriages arrangements that seem to be common but not the only types of marriages (but all of those do require enforcement?). I don't know, that whole situation just never really got explained in a way that fully made sense to me.

The cover is gorgeous. I didn't really get the "chemical garden" aspect of the novel, but maybe that's to be revealed in later books.

"Asians in the Library"

2011-03-22T17:11:00.004-06:00

If you haven't heard about or followed the incident involving the UCLA student who posted a racially offensive You Tube video blog post entitled "Asians in the Library," you can read a bit about it here on the Hunnfington Post. She's certainly not the only one to find it rude and/or distracting for people to talk on their cell phones in the library. It's quite unfortunate that she brought the racially offensive remarks into it. Of course, there is the library element to the story in that it started with her comments about library etiquette, but this is also an example of where it's important for students to learn and think about the long-term and quite weighty consequences of what they post on the internet.

Lots of hilarious and interesting response videos on You Tube.

My Great Plan Has Potential

2011-03-19T13:09:00.004-06:00

Do you remember back when I had time and actually posted on this blog and I had My Great Plan? The one where Mari Mancusi and Liz Maverick wear costumes to TLA and then Judy Blume comments here on how it's totally inappropriate? Well guess what: Mari Mancussi is going to be at TLA this year. It's only been four years, but now she finally has the opportunity to pull out the scandalous clothes and diminsh the respectability of YA authors everywhere (hey, she should take this opportunity to go shopping and buy some NEW scandalous clothes! I know I would.). I'll be there with students (covering their eyes, of course). But mine will be wide open, just waiting for scandal to erupt! I'm also hoping a swan hat will be involved.

Saving Nikki by Joyce Pierce

2011-03-19T08:22:00.005-06:00

It has been a few months since we have done a book review here on ATR. Cody is off teaching English in Korea, Sheryl is busy building her dream house, and I have been caught up in preparing my students for their state mandated tests. However, I recently read a book that I enjoyed so much that I felt it warranted a review on our poor, neglected blog.

Saving Nikki by Joyce Mosley Pierce is story of a young girl with a troubled life. Abandoned by her mother, ignored by her father, and treated cruelly by her stepmother, Nikki is just looking for someone to love her. She meets the seemingly perfect guy whom she hopes will give her the love and attention she so desperately craves.

This book hooked me with the first chapter. Nikki is a likable character and the I was really rooting for her. It is a quick read and I stayed interested the entire time. The story is all about choices and the consequences of those choices...something I think many teenagers would benefit from reading!

Full disclosure: I do know the author personally (and I think she is fabulous), but that only prompted me to read the book. I enjoyed it fully on its own merits!

What I Read Over Winter Break or Why the Kindle is so Awesome

2011-01-05T08:40:00.004-06:00

Usually, I really miss my old job at the public library, but getting two and half weeks off for Christmas reminds me that being a teacher has its perks! I did a lot of reading on my Kindle this break, mostly Amanda Hocking's stuff. I read both books in the Trylle trilogy (eagerly awaiting the third and final installment on January 15th) and four books from the My Blood Approves series. I really enjoy Amanda Hocking's writing style and the price can't be beat. Although my husband did question all those $2.99 charges from Amazon. Side Note: Torn (Trylle Trilogy #2) had so many typos in the Kindle version. It drove the English major in me nuts!

I also read Lauren Kate's Fallen, but was so disappointed it in that I didn't bother reading the sequel. I really like her book covers, though.

One thing I love about the Kindle is that the prices for young adult books are so reasonable. I wish the adult fiction prices were as low. I just can't bring myself to pay more than $5.00 for a book that I can get from my library for free.

Switched (Trylle Trilogy#1)

2010-12-07T15:00:00.005-06:00

I received a Kindle for my birthday this past weekend. I love being able to fit so many books in my purse. My husband loves that he doesn't have to deal with all my books sliding off the dash during road trips. However, as a former librarian, I don't love having to pay for books. So, I have mostly been downloading the free or very cheap books off Amazon. One book in particular caught my eye. Switched by Amanda Hocking. It had a lot of great reviews and I couldn't beat the price (.99). I am so glad I purchased it!

Switched is the first book in the Trylle Trilogy. Trylle are trolls...which is what the book is about. The Trylle take their children and switch them out with human children at birth. Then, when their powers began to develop, they bring them back home to their little Trylle community. When I think of trolls, I think of ugly, squatty things, but in this series, the Trylle are beautiful if not a little cold. Switched has a lot of action, suspense, and even romance (including one hot and heavy make-out scene). I found the story to be completely fascinating and I was really surprised that our public library system does not carry any of Amanda Hocking's books. Which means I now have to pay for the second part in the series and it isn't as cheap! I also plan on downloading Ms. Hocking's other series, My Blood Approves, even though I am getting a little burnt out on vampires. If the writing is as entertaining as Switched, then I am sure it will be worth it!

Legalize Books

2010-11-27T10:28:00.003-06:00

By Drew at Toothpaste for Dinner

www.toothpastefordinner.com

And I think I may put this up in my office at work:

www.toothpastefordinner.com

High School Library Changed Into Coffee Shop

2010-11-26T09:24:00.004-06:00

My friend sent me this article about a Houston high school that changed its library into a student-run coffee shop. The print books were removed and replaced with ebooks, 35 laptops, and the coffee shop.

Of course, I'm appalled that there are no more print books. I seriously doubt they have e-manga for students to read. Maybe some e-YA fiction, but I'm not sure. I think ebooks actually make a lot of sense for research, but I'm not sure we're at a point where we can provide all pleasure reading in electronic format. I know my library isn't anywhere near that point, even if we bought tons of ebook readers to circulate. Certainly without that, very few students would be accessing ebooks for pleasure through the library. Yeah, I have a few who do (either through the library or on their own), but not many. I also think about a lot of our really cool books that circulate that aren't available in electronic format. It makes my librarian heart ache to think that these books aren't/wouldn't be available to students. We're also fooling ourselves if we think there is anything resembling equitable computer/internet access for students.

On the other hand, I think a lot about this coffee shop project is cool. It probably will bring in students who wouldn't use a "library." If this is the "library," then it could change the meaning (possibly in a positive way) of making "lifelong library users." If students do access ebooks and databases from laptops, it could help them think of doing the same later in life (or even now) when they're at, say, Starbucks. I wouldn't mind that at all. (Of course, if they go to a traditional library, they'll have to figure out things like navigating the catalog and using print books.) Lamar High School is a HISD magnet program for business, so having students run the coffee shop seems like a great idea. It will probably give them a lot of ownership and they'll probably have great ideas for what to do with it.

I don't know if this is a great reconceptualization of "the library" that will help it to survive and thrive or a sign that the library isn't valued and is on its way to obsolescence.

Article from The Houston Press here

Play Dead Movie

2010-11-01T19:38:00.002-06:00

According to Variety, Ryan Brown's Play Dead is going to be adapted for a movie. One of my students picked up the novel today and was going to check it out, but then when he was holding it at the circulation desk, he turned it over. When he saw the picture of Ryan Brown on the back, he decided not to check it out just because, according to him, "he [Brown] looks like his name should be Chaz."

The Story Behind the Photo

2010-10-31T11:11:00.003-06:00

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had an article entitled "Does Her Face Foretell Her Fate." The article explains that this photo ("Lucille Burroughs, Daughter of a Cotton Sharecropper. Hale County, Alabama") is one of 95 portraits chosen for the NYPL's photographic exhibition "Recollection." I found the article really interesting for many reasons, but (a) I'm actually surprised that in talking about the photo's power and history, no one mentioned that it graces the cover of Karen Hesse's Newberry Award-winning Out of the Dust, and (b) I never really thought about the photo as historic. I guess I never gave it that much thought at all, but I certainly never realized it was part of an effort to document the Dust Bowl in photographs.

I think it would be interesting to have students talk or write about the photo and to hypothesize about things like where she lives, what her name is, who took the picture, why they took the picture, and what became of the girl when she grew up. Then they could compare their hypotheses to the actual Lucille Burroughs in the picture.

Bitter Melon

2010-10-23T16:46:00.002-05:00

I came across a mention of the upcoming book Bitter Melon by Cara Chow. I need to read this! The main character competes in speech, and I read that Chow also had a positive experience with her speech coach in high school. I myself was in forensics and was a speech coach before becoming a librarian, so this is right up my alley. I'm not Chinese like the main character, but my high school debate partner is. Wonder if I can get my hands on an ARC somehow...

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

2010-10-19T21:39:00.003-05:00

The cover attracted me to this book, and the description sounded promising, both scary and with the potential for some romance. Even though it wasn't particularly scary, I wasn't at all disappointed.

Mackie is a teen boy who has always known that he is a "replacement." When the "real" Malcolm was four years old, he was taken by a shadowy figure in the middle of the night and replaced with Mackie (similar but not quite the same as the original). His origin isn't quite known, but Mackie does know he is allergic to iron and metal. His pastor father has always impressed upon Mackie the importance of blending in and not drawing attention to himself (the whole family knows Mackie is a replacement, though). Even though the town seems to know strange things like baby abductions and deaths happen, they don't seem to want to acknowledge it. This state of affairs can't last at the point when the book's narration starts, however, because (a) Mackie is getting sicker, (b) he is confronted with other other-worldy beings who want to claim him, and (c) another baby dies. There is a lot of suspense, but I wouldn't say it's as creepy as the cover might lead one (ie. me) to believe. And there was a bit of romance, which I liked. Over all, I'd say it's certainly worth purchasing and reading. It is similar enough to other paranormal YA books that it will have an audience, but it's different enough to be worth reading and will likely hold the reader's attention.

National Books Awards

2010-10-14T18:08:00.001-05:00

Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker was nominated for a National Book Award. Yay! I loved it.

トワイライト

2010-10-04T05:08:00.005-05:00

In an effort to embarrass myself in as many international bookstores as possible, I decided to hunt down and photograph the Twilight series last week when I was in Japan. (I can't even express how difficult it is to locate a specific book when you don't speak the language or even understand the script!) I was actually kinda' surprised at how little was devoted to the Twlight series...it basically on a discount shelf (or at least that's what I'm assuming it was.) In fact, this was the only Western YA book I recognized (but then again they may have had more somewhere I didn't see...)

What was amazing was the fact that almost half the bookstore (and it was a large bookstore) was devoted to Manga. I had hoped to visit one of the Manga museums, but sadly, I didn't have time for that on this visit.

My new favorite author

2010-10-03T14:04:00.002-05:00

I love hearing authors speak, and just when I start to get jaded about hearing them ("oh, ho hum, just another author panel"), I hear someone I've never heard before and love them. LOVE them. Like, I must have them at my school, or I have an author crush on them, or, in this case, I want them as my best friend. I went to the Austin Teen Book Festival yesterday, and there were several great authors I'd never heard before. But one of the authors I was really looking forward to hearing was Susane Colasanti, and she did not disappoint me one little bit. In fact, she was awesome! I think she should be my ABFF. Her books are really popular at my school, and she seemed very cool from her website (I mean, anyone who loves Jon Stewart is smart and fun, right?). She was really funny and entertaining during the panel presentation. She seems like she would be really fun to hang out with.

Gatsby

2010-09-30T18:39:00.002-05:00

Just heard that there's a new The Great Gatsby movie in the works to be directed by Baz Luhrmann. I love remakes like this. I think it's important to update them every few decades or so.

J.K.R. on Oprah

2010-09-27T17:52:00.000-05:00

J.K. Rowling on Oprah Friday!

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

2010-09-19T09:18:00.005-05:00

Books about dragons are generally not my thing. However, Firelight was an excellent exception. I suspect this is because the main character, Jacinda, spends much more time in her human form than in her dragon form, as do all the other characters. It's more of a human romance and action story than a fantasy dragon book.

Jacinda is a sophomore in high school, and she is a draki. Draki descended from dragons, but they evolved the ability to morph into human form as a way of blending in and protecting themselves. She lives with her mother and twin sister Tamra in her pride's secret mountain town, but after an illegal flying incident outside of the pride territory goes awry (hunters see her and shoot her), her mother takes both girls away under the cover of night to protect Jacinda from the pride's retribution. Jacinda has a special draki power: she can breathe fire. And this makes her especially appealing to the pride's king and his son, Cassian. Jacinda doesn't want to mate with Cassian, however, and her mother doesn't want the pride using her that way either. Indeed, her mother really doesn't want to have anything to do with the draki. So the three resettle in an arid desert town where Jacinda's mother hopes that they won't be found by their pride and that Jacinda's draki self will die from lack of exposure to the moisture and fertile earth it needs to survive. Jacinda is miserable, but she meets the gorgeous (of course) and secretive Will, and he makes her draki come alive whenever she's with him. Romantic tension and plenty of action proceed from there.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will definitely recommend it. One of the great things about it is the development of all the characters, not just Jacinda. Jacinda's relationship with Tamra in particular was very complex and believable. I thought the elements of draki life were also creative and well thought-out.

Jane

2010-09-18T15:04:00.005-05:00

As the subtitle tells us, Jane by April Lindner is "a modern retelling of Jane Eyre." Twenty year-old Jane Moore is forced to drop out of college and get a job as a nanny because her parents died and left her without means of finishing school. She ends up getting a job as a nanny for the daughter of Nico Rathburn, an aging rock star who is trying to make a comeback. And if you know the story of Jane Eyre, then you know what happens.

I personally thought it was okay, but it's probably only really worthwhile if you're a huge Jane Eyre fan or one of those readers who has read everything and just needs another book. It's not the kind of book I'd really recommend to someone asking for "a good book." I didn't buy Jane and Nico's falling in love. She was not only shy and responsible (both fine and good), but she was boring and she and Nico never really had any connection or anything in common (even though the narrative states that they do, I never saw it in the scenes). I can totally buy that she falls for him; he's rich and attractive after all. But actually truly falling in love? Both of them? I didn't see it. I also thought (and this is somewhat of a spoiler, but not really if you've read Jane Eyre), it didn't make sense that his wife was living in the attic. I think Lindner could and should have taken a few more liberties with the modernization, especially here. In the original, it made more sense because divorce wasn't really the option it is today. It was just not believable to me. Maybe she could have been off living in France or something, maybe showing up here and there, stalking him or something if it was necessary to introduce the "threatening" aspects or foreshadowing.

I do quite like the cover, even though it doesn't really portray the Jane of the book imo.

The Help

2010-09-12T09:53:00.007-05:00

Even though many people (all women) told me how much they loved The Help by Kathryn Stockett, it just didn't sound like my cup of tea. There are so many YA romances and dystopias for me to read! But I bought a paperback copy in England for the plane ride when I had run through all the books I'd brought with me. I started reading it when we boarded, and I only stopped when (a) they served a meal and (b) I finished. It was fantastic. I'm not recommending it to all my students (my male sci-fi/fantasy fans probably wouldn't be into it), but there are a lot of teen readers I am recommending it to. I'm planning to convince my sophomore English teachers to use it as one of their lit circle choices too.

Set in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, the chapters follow three main characters: Eugenia ("Skeeter"), Aibileen, and Minny. Aibileen and Minny are both African American women who work as maids in the homes of young middle class white women. Skeeter is a young privileged white woman who has just graduated from college and is living at home with her parents while she searches for a job in journalism. All her other friends (including Aibileen's employer) apparently dropped out of college long ago to get married and are already mothers. Skeeter starts to question the arrangement of society and to wonder about the personal lives of the maids when her best friend Hilly initiates a campaign to have separate bathrooms installed in white houses just for "the help" so that the white families won't have to share their bathrooms.

There are some issues with the book (ex. Is Hilly too two-dimensionally evil? In a book purportedly about the lives of the maids, does Skeeter's story and moral discomfort take over the narrative?), but it's still engrossing and worthwhile. And I think these kinds of questions are what make the book great for lit circles. Skeeter's relative youth and struggles with her parents (she loves them at the same time that she disagrees with them and is trying to create a measure of independence for herself) make it something I think teens can relate to as well.

Holly and Cody, you have to read this. I used the UK cover of the book because I like it better than the US version. The UK photo is from the Library of Congress archives. What do birds have to do with anything?

UK Covers

2010-08-09T18:40:00.007-05:00

Cheerio! I've spent most of the summer "studying" in jolly ol' England, but I'm back now. And of course, I couldn't help but peruse the YA sections of UK bookstores.

Just a general comparison of some YA titles: (notice Shiver is the same but the colors are different)

I found myself wishing for the UK versions of most of the books, but this was one exception. Look at the terrible cover for What I Saw and How I Lied:

Another thing I found really interesting was the difference in the way some books that are YA here are Adult there, and vice-versa. All of Cory Doctorow's books, for instance, were in the Adult section. And then, as you can see from this photo, Holly Black's White Cat was in the adult section too. The sticker on it says, "A novel for grownups by the author of Spiderwick."