Okay...Not to say that I did not enjoy YA, because let's face it...I got some top ten reads out of this genre and I didn't even read that many books! So I praise it for that. But..well I got to do it...
Young Adult literature...what does it mean? here's the catch NO BODY KNOWS? we couldn't come up with a solid definition for it? neither could the professionals. The official titling of YA books is based on publisher preferences, probalblyrooted somewhere in greed and money. Some say it has to do with dealing with young adult issues, well that is false I've read a few that don't deal with exclusively teen issues so that's outta there. Let's face it the title is a catch for marketing...some good...some bad, all in the name of Money$. So here's what I say...actually I didn't say it but If Bill Shakespeare didn't say it I was just going to give this phrase its debut..."What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet" Get it? I mean really if a book deals with "Young Adult" stuff, lets call it YA. this is my largest complaint.
Shortly before this class began I was on the train to chicago...about a five hour ride each way. So I decided to pick up a Charles Bukowski novel, "Ham on Rye." Though it was unintentional, I must say this looked, smelled, acted, sounded, and read just like a book about young adult issues. So why is it not a YA book? because of the publishers greed I would imagine...
Problem...the title YA
Solution: I say lets banish the genre and let children decide for themselves, I can guarantee that a true reader will find these books despite it all. Suzie reads this book and tells Johnny, Johnny likes it too tells frankie, frankie loves it and talks about it in a class of 24 kids...10 of which decide to read the book for themselves, you see this is how it works...if a book is good it is good and needs to be read and will be read. Good books are being left out and could be harmful to a strictly YA book diet, you need supplements like other books so check it out! What'd you say?
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Let's start positive on YA!
Young Adult Literature...and its posotive contributions to the literature world. Well to start off anything that is geared towards a certain age group, especially one that is probably known to be rebellious and dislike reading is wonderful. Kids, Young Adults...whatever, we all need to read. Alot of the themes of young adult literature are excellent for these kids too.
How many freshman have dated a boy or a girl for a month and felt like they were in love? Well, lets put it this way...I know a few personally. A month, that is a long time when you are 15, that is like four weekends in a row...your mom drives you to your friends to do things that you wouldn't want your mom to know about and you try impress girls ( I am speaking from a heterosexual male perspective, please feel free to interject your preferences here because I don't want to write all that) I mean it works doesn't it? Drink a beer your cool, Smoke a cigarette your cool (Don't EVER SMOKE!) but who the hell is out there writing these stories for these kids. I know the last thing I wanted ot do at that age was go home and journal about the stuff I did. Well its great that some one is doing it.
I can remember my junior year in High school reading Catcher in the Rye...this cat's drinking adn smoking and buying prostitutes and writing all about it...that is Awesome!!! I don't remember too many kids who weren't digging the book... I mean I loved it. And it was because it was real, who doesn't feel depressed? who doesn't remember an old girlfriend and wish something else happened. Who doesn't want to drink and talk to older women? These things are real, that is what kids want to hear about and that is why YA is good...
There is more....but it basically all deals with relating to kids, I mean REALLY relating to kids and being honest with our selves. Other things that impressed me about this genre were the occasional literarily impressive novels...To name one "Looking for Alaska!" Loved it, I was shocked at how well written and somewhat plot oriented it was...these are the things you look for in any book it happens to be YA so thumbs UP to YA! YA? Y not?
How many freshman have dated a boy or a girl for a month and felt like they were in love? Well, lets put it this way...I know a few personally. A month, that is a long time when you are 15, that is like four weekends in a row...your mom drives you to your friends to do things that you wouldn't want your mom to know about and you try impress girls ( I am speaking from a heterosexual male perspective, please feel free to interject your preferences here because I don't want to write all that) I mean it works doesn't it? Drink a beer your cool, Smoke a cigarette your cool (Don't EVER SMOKE!) but who the hell is out there writing these stories for these kids. I know the last thing I wanted ot do at that age was go home and journal about the stuff I did. Well its great that some one is doing it.
I can remember my junior year in High school reading Catcher in the Rye...this cat's drinking adn smoking and buying prostitutes and writing all about it...that is Awesome!!! I don't remember too many kids who weren't digging the book... I mean I loved it. And it was because it was real, who doesn't feel depressed? who doesn't remember an old girlfriend and wish something else happened. Who doesn't want to drink and talk to older women? These things are real, that is what kids want to hear about and that is why YA is good...
There is more....but it basically all deals with relating to kids, I mean REALLY relating to kids and being honest with our selves. Other things that impressed me about this genre were the occasional literarily impressive novels...To name one "Looking for Alaska!" Loved it, I was shocked at how well written and somewhat plot oriented it was...these are the things you look for in any book it happens to be YA so thumbs UP to YA! YA? Y not?
We Were Here
Miguel, Rondell and Mong! These aren't white boys and this isn't about an excellent year or a boy that broke their hearts in high school. "We Were Here" by Matt de la Pena is a realistic, hard hitting, tear jerking and one hell of a read when you've been reading pretty soft young adult literature books. The boys are in juvi, they've all got a past, they all need a future. Three heads are better than one, a crazy head, a "dumb" head (Read it, You'll get the reference) and Miguels head set off to forget the past. Read it, find out!
Lessons...Lessons...Lessons!
This book is full of lessons and thinking back on an earlier post, it is a great oppostite pair with a "Eutopian Literature" book like "My Most Excellent Year." they are so brutally opposite that you may get dizzy if you read them back to back. However, our class came up with some cool pairing ideas. : What if some characters in this book...met some characters in that book? What if Miguel, the troubled mexican boy had been given a life like Alejandra, or T.C.? What if one of the softer guys or girls from "Paradise Island (My Most Excellent Year) had to deal with some of the tragedies that any of these guys in juvi had to?
Another great pair: If you can get through it...The Astonoshing Life of Octavian Nothing, just fast forward a little bit...Do you feel that minorities in our world today are part of some controlled government experiement...because to me it doesn't seem like anything but easy to decide that everyone should be treated fairly...equally...! Oh my Goodness Im A SOCIALIST! (deal with it...better yet look it up!)
What is de la Pena trying to say? These are broad questions but this book is excellent and especially as a pairing book! Check it out tell me what you think and try some of these lessons or incorporate your own.
Overall: Excellent book, very realistic and a good lesson, especially again around times of discussing minority status in america...it would go great in an education class...even at the college level! What is it that minorities deal with that alot of us just...don't.
Lessons...Lessons...Lessons!
This book is full of lessons and thinking back on an earlier post, it is a great oppostite pair with a "Eutopian Literature" book like "My Most Excellent Year." they are so brutally opposite that you may get dizzy if you read them back to back. However, our class came up with some cool pairing ideas. : What if some characters in this book...met some characters in that book? What if Miguel, the troubled mexican boy had been given a life like Alejandra, or T.C.? What if one of the softer guys or girls from "Paradise Island (My Most Excellent Year) had to deal with some of the tragedies that any of these guys in juvi had to?
Another great pair: If you can get through it...The Astonoshing Life of Octavian Nothing, just fast forward a little bit...Do you feel that minorities in our world today are part of some controlled government experiement...because to me it doesn't seem like anything but easy to decide that everyone should be treated fairly...equally...! Oh my Goodness Im A SOCIALIST! (deal with it...better yet look it up!)
What is de la Pena trying to say? These are broad questions but this book is excellent and especially as a pairing book! Check it out tell me what you think and try some of these lessons or incorporate your own.
Overall: Excellent book, very realistic and a good lesson, especially again around times of discussing minority status in america...it would go great in an education class...even at the college level! What is it that minorities deal with that alot of us just...don't.
My Most (Unrealistic, Yet delightful) Excellent Year!
Steve, Kluger...My Most Excellent Year. is a fiction. Let's just get that out there right now. The main characters: T.C., Auggie and Alejandro. (did you notice none of those are normal names?) There all basically average young teenagers trying to get along and cope with reality as they see it. Some of the issues in this story( which are hardly issues, especially in this world; but a book needs issues) are that Auggie is gay, T.C. is finding himself and likes Alejandra, and Alejandra is the perfectionist type who will figure it all out. Can you imagine the dilemma...oh yeah...T.C. and Auggie are practically brothers...and who better to talk to the girl of your dreams than your brother...especially when he's gay! Okay...that is all that I am saying...
Lessons...Lessons...Lessons- well, what lessons could this book teach us...its not realistic, its not a book of epic literary merit porportions. Well paired with the right lesson, ideas, or even other book it could potentially do well. In my Young Adult Literature course we read this book and followed it up with a harsh taste of reality in another excellent and much more realistic book in "We Were Here," by Matt de la Pena. The books are structured differently, there implicit messages are different and all together vastly different books. So for the lesson...let's try this...the book deals with homosexuality as its main theme...as far as I was concerned. It was accepted very easily and dealt with by parents and friends as if it was another day in the life...Well teachers...it is simply uncontroversial...THAT IS HOW IT SHOULD BE!!! and guess what??? Not to get political here, but a few little hints and giggles in this book seem to suggest that the world that would accept such a thing is a world full of "Bleedin' Heart Liberals" That's right, I said it. Let's face it they mention the great democrats of the past in good fashion early on in the book and Alejandra is somewhat of a political activist herself.
The lesson that could go along with this could be something to do with civil rights and the look at before and after. Are things equal yet? How could a time have ever existed when we had slaves, when we saw people of a different race as truly a different race other that the human race? Well it did and it has to be learned so not to be repeated. Show this book and contrast the lives of Blacks and other minorities in the world today and before with the lives of openly homosexual men and women of today's world. Are they all that different? How are they targeted? what message is this book sending? and where can when can we see ourselves being this open and understanding? Ever? Think about it...it is hard not to cross any lines of appropriateness but at the same time it seems to be an important lesson to look at.
"My Most Excellent Year!" check it out for teachers, it'll do, but I would reccomend being a skilled, not necessarily experienced, teacher with an open and creative mind to get it Right!
Good Luck!!!
Lessons...Lessons...Lessons- well, what lessons could this book teach us...its not realistic, its not a book of epic literary merit porportions. Well paired with the right lesson, ideas, or even other book it could potentially do well. In my Young Adult Literature course we read this book and followed it up with a harsh taste of reality in another excellent and much more realistic book in "We Were Here," by Matt de la Pena. The books are structured differently, there implicit messages are different and all together vastly different books. So for the lesson...let's try this...the book deals with homosexuality as its main theme...as far as I was concerned. It was accepted very easily and dealt with by parents and friends as if it was another day in the life...Well teachers...it is simply uncontroversial...THAT IS HOW IT SHOULD BE!!! and guess what??? Not to get political here, but a few little hints and giggles in this book seem to suggest that the world that would accept such a thing is a world full of "Bleedin' Heart Liberals" That's right, I said it. Let's face it they mention the great democrats of the past in good fashion early on in the book and Alejandra is somewhat of a political activist herself.
The lesson that could go along with this could be something to do with civil rights and the look at before and after. Are things equal yet? How could a time have ever existed when we had slaves, when we saw people of a different race as truly a different race other that the human race? Well it did and it has to be learned so not to be repeated. Show this book and contrast the lives of Blacks and other minorities in the world today and before with the lives of openly homosexual men and women of today's world. Are they all that different? How are they targeted? what message is this book sending? and where can when can we see ourselves being this open and understanding? Ever? Think about it...it is hard not to cross any lines of appropriateness but at the same time it seems to be an important lesson to look at.
"My Most Excellent Year!" check it out for teachers, it'll do, but I would reccomend being a skilled, not necessarily experienced, teacher with an open and creative mind to get it Right!
Good Luck!!!
Monday, November 16, 2009
The Super Power Olympics Anyone?? (no not China vs. U.S.)
Kristen Cashore...Graceling oh boy! Let's take a deep breath on this one. Fantasy, mystery, romance? Action I mean lets be honest with our selves...this book has it all. But who likes anchovies on their pizza? I mean really? Did you get the reference cause...I kind of didn't. Let's put it this way...some of us like things simple, realistic and relatable...very few of us like Fantasies, it is a minority though that is still a large real number of people so it is good that they are written but...not for me. Pepperoni and cheese please?
Katsa, main character young girl who has a special talent...she is called a graceling because she is of the species that has special talents...her uncle a power tripping freak who exploits her talents. Can she get her life straight and please her uncle and find love and forgive herself for...? You would have to find out.
This book would be a dream for teachers to get a hold of for their students. It has so many different aspects that can be looked at from literary merit to imaginative thoughts and actions and pretty much everything a "fantasy" should have.
I got to thinking about this book and what lessons could be taught with it and how students reception to such a book would be. Actually I found out that I like the idea of fantasy alot more than I actually like fantasy. I have always felt, and as a future English teacher I hope to express how important the imagination is for humanity. Really, arguably everything is up to the imagination...some peoples imaginations just became more acceptable than others see. If you teach this book with the mentality of exploring the human mind and its capabilities of thought you will be amazed with this novel.
And really, among fantasies it is slightly realistic. The girl feels oppressed, (what teenage girl doesn't?) and she is being "put upon" by her family. Really this could be relatable to life of teenagers at a vastly different perspective..
Overall...check it out...have fun with it...use your imagination!
Katsa, main character young girl who has a special talent...she is called a graceling because she is of the species that has special talents...her uncle a power tripping freak who exploits her talents. Can she get her life straight and please her uncle and find love and forgive herself for...? You would have to find out.
This book would be a dream for teachers to get a hold of for their students. It has so many different aspects that can be looked at from literary merit to imaginative thoughts and actions and pretty much everything a "fantasy" should have.
I got to thinking about this book and what lessons could be taught with it and how students reception to such a book would be. Actually I found out that I like the idea of fantasy alot more than I actually like fantasy. I have always felt, and as a future English teacher I hope to express how important the imagination is for humanity. Really, arguably everything is up to the imagination...some peoples imaginations just became more acceptable than others see. If you teach this book with the mentality of exploring the human mind and its capabilities of thought you will be amazed with this novel.
And really, among fantasies it is slightly realistic. The girl feels oppressed, (what teenage girl doesn't?) and she is being "put upon" by her family. Really this could be relatable to life of teenagers at a vastly different perspective..
Overall...check it out...have fun with it...use your imagination!
OMG..like I just like totally read about a teenage girl and...liked it? maybe
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart. Hmmm... well I will never forget one thing in life that this book brought up. The custodian at my house school told me when I was in the eigth grade and I quote this loosely.. it was sometime ago but I got the jist... "Boy, don't you never count none of these girls out...come high school you'll be begging for 'em." Well should have listened to that advice... but anyway that is besides the point.
F. L. Banks...may I for short? thanks! Pretty typical, middle schooler dorky, skinny and akward, by high school she shot up and " gained 20 lbs. in all of the right places." You can imagine what happens next...the boys notice her, a cute senior and her life goes haywire trying to deal and maintain a self identity. Well geez that's harder than it sounds.
F.L. Banks in the classroom...I would say that this book would be a good college level read in a class about adolescent behaviors, femininity or something of that nature because it doesn't have that much pertinence, ironically to a highschooler while they are in high school or even middle school for that matter. (Just look at me, I didn't think a second on what my custodian friend told me.) It is too difficult to be in the moment and be told how to deal with it.
Our class had some interesting discussions on how teachers could, or should handle a situation like this. I do not think it is a teachers business to step into students personal lives unless they appropriately invite them. This may be a questionable statement but I would say that Frankie is very typical as a teenage girl and is not acting in any extraordinarily bad manners that would ruin her future...people do these things every day.
I would say also that this book is too feminist perspectived, the men in this book look too dumb, and too heartless, for the most part. This book is realistic on the female perspective but it is impossible for a female author to write as a male and get it right all the time, not to blame the author because she certainly did a good job of trying.
Overall...A good book for parents to read perhaps to relate to their children but not a very effective teaching tool. Lacks literary merit
F. L. Banks...may I for short? thanks! Pretty typical, middle schooler dorky, skinny and akward, by high school she shot up and " gained 20 lbs. in all of the right places." You can imagine what happens next...the boys notice her, a cute senior and her life goes haywire trying to deal and maintain a self identity. Well geez that's harder than it sounds.
F.L. Banks in the classroom...I would say that this book would be a good college level read in a class about adolescent behaviors, femininity or something of that nature because it doesn't have that much pertinence, ironically to a highschooler while they are in high school or even middle school for that matter. (Just look at me, I didn't think a second on what my custodian friend told me.) It is too difficult to be in the moment and be told how to deal with it.
Our class had some interesting discussions on how teachers could, or should handle a situation like this. I do not think it is a teachers business to step into students personal lives unless they appropriately invite them. This may be a questionable statement but I would say that Frankie is very typical as a teenage girl and is not acting in any extraordinarily bad manners that would ruin her future...people do these things every day.
I would say also that this book is too feminist perspectived, the men in this book look too dumb, and too heartless, for the most part. This book is realistic on the female perspective but it is impossible for a female author to write as a male and get it right all the time, not to blame the author because she certainly did a good job of trying.
Overall...A good book for parents to read perhaps to relate to their children but not a very effective teaching tool. Lacks literary merit
Catching Fire, Blowing up, what has Katniss done now?
Catching Fire...the sequel to an intense beginning in the Hunger Games and far more enjoyable and organized with the same amount of anxiety. Don't you just love reading?
Well, Katniss and Pita just won the Hunger Games ( I hope you read the first one ) and all is good and great, there back home drama free and everyone loves them, its as if nothing ever happened...well not quite. ...Everything, and I mean everything is a mess... Gale and Katniss can hardly speak (you know those akward silences between you and your date that let you know that this is going no where?) well much worse. She finds out that Pita really does love her. Meanwhile the presidents pissed off cause they started a riot...how do we solve this...back to the Hunger games with new twists and turns you will just have to check it out yourself.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Hunger Games and even more so Catching Fire. As far as the literary merit is concerned...ahhh still not much but was that ever really the point? However, it seems to be a more chaotic time than even the hunger games but still somehow the author keeps it very well organized and makes some great references back to the hunger games as a way to kind of catch the reader up on what they may have forgotten. (For all those of you out there who read it in one night and had to wait months for the sequel.)
Classroom Classroom Classroom??? Well, to be honest, I am kind of stumped here. I would say that this book is not something that I would reccomend as a lesson plan in a classroom setting but it could do no harm in teaching it. Okay, well here is what I was thinking. In a history class when studying bad dictators ( and I am not talking bad dictators like Fidel Castro so we can put our american "democratic agenda" into lessons) like Hitler or Mousolinni this book could be used as a narrowly connected point for fun and a little more enjoyment than a typical history lesson.
However, this would take some high quality thought processing going on by both teachers and students, the ability to relate the two topics would have to be loosely graded. Kids shouldn't be expected to force a comparison so perhaps for an honors class or something like that.
Overall...fun book very exciting can't wait for number 3 three but... not ultra teacher friendly!
Tha..tha...that's all folks.!
Well, Katniss and Pita just won the Hunger Games ( I hope you read the first one ) and all is good and great, there back home drama free and everyone loves them, its as if nothing ever happened...well not quite. ...Everything, and I mean everything is a mess... Gale and Katniss can hardly speak (you know those akward silences between you and your date that let you know that this is going no where?) well much worse. She finds out that Pita really does love her. Meanwhile the presidents pissed off cause they started a riot...how do we solve this...back to the Hunger games with new twists and turns you will just have to check it out yourself.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Hunger Games and even more so Catching Fire. As far as the literary merit is concerned...ahhh still not much but was that ever really the point? However, it seems to be a more chaotic time than even the hunger games but still somehow the author keeps it very well organized and makes some great references back to the hunger games as a way to kind of catch the reader up on what they may have forgotten. (For all those of you out there who read it in one night and had to wait months for the sequel.)
Classroom Classroom Classroom??? Well, to be honest, I am kind of stumped here. I would say that this book is not something that I would reccomend as a lesson plan in a classroom setting but it could do no harm in teaching it. Okay, well here is what I was thinking. In a history class when studying bad dictators ( and I am not talking bad dictators like Fidel Castro so we can put our american "democratic agenda" into lessons) like Hitler or Mousolinni this book could be used as a narrowly connected point for fun and a little more enjoyment than a typical history lesson.
However, this would take some high quality thought processing going on by both teachers and students, the ability to relate the two topics would have to be loosely graded. Kids shouldn't be expected to force a comparison so perhaps for an honors class or something like that.
Overall...fun book very exciting can't wait for number 3 three but... not ultra teacher friendly!
Tha..tha...that's all folks.!
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