Reviews and Reactions and a bit more from John Green

Hello there! I am back from a busy but fun vacation trip to the East Coast, in which I did nerdy things like visit libraries! I visited the Free Library of Philadelphia, Library Street in Philadelphia (Franklin's Library was closed as I was there on a Saturday), the New York City Public Library, and the Strand Bookstore.

I hope this is Fortitude because I am not the most patient person.

I pretty much started crying as I read this letter.

Used books, and me with just a carry-on suitcase. Sadness.

I also read four books, three by Sarah Dessen and one by Holly Black. And these books, plus my library tourism and a lot of time on my hands lead me to think about literacy, on it's place in societies and in people's lives, etc. etc. Also, I was fervently trying not to think about the Italian couple who were my rowmates on the flight from Newark to Phoenix and who, at random intervals, would noisily smooch. Not that I'm a prude, but really, please do not noisily smooch when you are three inches away from me and I am trying to sleep.

Anyway.

Yes, I was thinking about books and my system for reviewing. Really, I understand that reviews are mostly meaningless. A plot summary is helpful, but Amazon or Goodreads or the book jacket helpfully provide those. What is more important is the relationship you have with the story. Because reading is a relationship between the reader and the story and between the reader and the author. Or maybe a conversation is a better word. Metaphors are tricky, but you get that the act of reading is more than just decoding symbols. That's why literacy classes and skills are vital through all school levels.

To put it much more better-er than I can, here's something from fangirl favorite John Green:
"Literacy is important. Literacy is vital, but literacy is not the finish line. Literature is not just in the business of See Jane Run. Literature is in the business of helping us to imagine ourselves and others more complexly, of connecting us to the ancient conversation about how to live as a person in a world full of other people."

But how do you talk about that? Because I want to talk about books. I want to share what I read with other people. But a ten star rating system just doesn't cut it. And a ten star, or twenty star, or billion star rating system limits. And I limit myself when I think in terms of "this is this sort of book I read" and "this is not the sort of book I normally read." I mean sure, there are definite trends in my reading, but if I look at the trends and not the stories, then I end up missing out on a lot of good stuff, or being ashamed to like something because "it's just not the sort of thing I like." Too often, we equate what we like with who we are.

Again, from John Green (quoted in the same blog as above):
"Too many times, we say to our young people, “Hey, read this. It’s a fun read. Not too serious, you know. None of that English stuff.” As if there is some kind of dichotomy between good and fun. As if Gatsby is oatmeal and vampires are Lucky Charms. Vampires, of course, ARE Lucky Charms—they are magical and delicious and just dangerous enough to excite me. I love vampires, and I love vampire books. And please know that I would never argue against putting books kids want to read in their hands. But I am arguing that we need to make space in our classes—no matter how advanced or remedial the students—for ambitious novels. Because good is not the opposite of fun. Smart is not the opposite of fun. Boring is the opposite of fun, and when we create the smart/fun dichotomy, what we end up implying is that Gatsby is boring."

If we hope to make spaces in our classrooms and libraries for smart books, then we have to make space in our own reading as well. And we have to make space for fluff and fun and vampires and history and science and all that jazz. Except for zombies. I know that zombies are really the most perfect metaphor, but they still scare me, and I'm okay keeping zombies outside my mental fortress. Damn zombies. Stay off my lawn!

In all seriousness, I want to try to talk about books in a more expansive way, but I also want to keep things below philosophical treatise level. I mean, it's just a blog, kids. It's not a dissertation. To that end, I'm going to try a few things out. I really want to steal Forever Young Adult's book review format. I especially like the BFF charm section, because if I can't find anything to like in a character, I will give up on the story. (I'm looking at you, Catherine and Heathcliff.) But since stealing is wrong, this is what I have so far.

Bookshelves

I've been working on decluttering my life on a number of levels, including my possessions. I only own about 30 books at the moment. I used to have over 600. So I've come up with four metaphorical shelves for the books I read.

Home Library books are books I will keep forever. They get to stay with me, move with me, even if I move overseas. Anne of Green Gables and Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet are solidly in this category.

Recent Returns books are books I read once, maybe twice, and probably won't read again. In fact, I didn't even keep the book for my allotted four weeks. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy my time with the book. I probably read it right away, polished it off in a day or two, but once the story is over, then I'm ready to move on.

Renewals are books that I'm not ready to put on the home shelf, but I loved the stories and either kept them around or checked them out several times. Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tale books live on this shelf.

File 13 books are those I wish I could throw away. I can't think of many books that will end up here as I generally don't finish books that I really dislike, and I'm trying to not be ashamed of the books I do read. I imagine bodice ripper romance novels would end up on this list, but I haven't read one of those in ages. Truly. There are much better kissing books than Harlequins around (hello, Outlander series).

I know I don't need a gimmicky rating or sorting system, but I like systems, so we'll see how this one goes, starting with the Sarah Dessen books I read on vacay.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

It's much harder to pack for a vacation when you refuse to pay baggage fees. It's a good exercise in determining what is essential. And by essential I mean, of course, what books to take!

I should probably buck up and get a Nook (our library e-book service doesn't support Kindle), but I just don't want another gadget at this point. So I'm taking two paperbacks with me, Holly Black's Tithe, which I've been wanting to re-read for ages, and Sarah Dessen's That Summer, because I wanted something lighter in both content and actual weight.

What I really want to read, but absolutely do NOT want to lug around, is this paean to the most glorious of television programs:

With the Weeping Angel bookmark I made for my pal's bday

...but there is no WAY I am hauling this 700 page behemoth across the country.

Well, maybe if I leave some shoes...and my cousin doesn't really need a wedding present at her actual wedding, right....

Anyway, be good while I'm away!

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner (2010)
YA Realistic Fiction, LGBTQ
6 out of 10

from Goodreads

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend is the story of Cass, a seventeen year old girl trying to cope with the loss of her best friend. The story is told in alternating chapters of then and now. Then is the time shortly before and just after her best friend Julia's death; now is the struggle for Cass and her friends as they try and stage Julia's musical Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad.

This book is a very nice story about something awful -- it isn't grisly or dark or depressing (take that, Gurdon) even if it is about a dead best friend. What I think made this story is how Cass tries to find her place among a group of friends she never thought were hers. She always thought the drama nerds were Julia's friends and that she just tagged along because Julia was her best and only friend. Cass believed the other kids tolerated her, and with the Julia buffer suddenly gone, she doesn't know how to behave around these kids. This is really two stories in one book. It's a story about grief and memorials to the dead best friend, sure, but it's also a story about picking up and moving on, and that is the loveliest story of all.

And a musical about a ninja death squad? Yes please. Someone needs to make this happen for real.

I Haz a Byline!

So, I haven't been reading as much lately, for a variety of reasons. One of the happier reasons is that I've been writing, and here is my first ever article, an article for which I got paid! I mean, yeah, I had a poem published in a literary journal back when I was 19, but I just got a copy of the journal. I think it's still at my parents' house.

This, though, this is the medium time, my friends!

Truly, I'm really thrilled to have the opportunity to write for Fusion Magazine, a new publication from right here in Boise. I was soo nervous as this was not only my first article, but this was also the first time I'd ever interviewed anyone, ever, outside of readers' advisory.


Woo!

Stuff and Nonsense

I feel like it's been a long time since I posted anything, but really, it's only been like a week or so, right? I'm a bit overwhelmed with projects and life events. I've gotten a few freelance writing gigs (imagine, being paid to write!), my pops is having a tumor removed tomorrow, I'm taking a trip, life is chugging along.

Thank you for reading this blog. If I appear to have lost interest, it's only because I've gotten busier than I planned, but I will keep up reading and writing for the foreseeable future, and I just wanted to say I appreciate your patronage and comments.

Until then, please enjoy this goofy picture of moi.

Lost and Found

Lost and Found by Shaun Tan (2011)
Graphic Novel
10 out of 10

from Goodreads

In general, I'd say I'm a pretty articulate person. I'm able to express ideas and feelings with relative ease, but give me a Shaun Tan book and all words fly from my head. Sure, I could tell you that Lost and Found contains three magical stories, one of which, The Lost Thing, was turned into an Oscar winning animated film. That's pretty cool, right? Totally.

But Tan's art is worth a thousand words and then some. I'm certainly able to patter on about the colors and the emotions and blah blah blah, but it is so much better to get the book yourself, clear some time and just read.

Not convinced? Take a look at these and then get the book.

source

source

source

If you're still not convinced you need to read this book, then you probably have no soul, and for that, I am sorry.

The Eternal Smile

The Eternal Smile: Three Stories by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim (2009)
Young Adult Graphic Novel
6 out of 10

from Goodreads

I've been wanting to read this book for awhile now. I loved American Born Chinese, and Yang contributed a Monkey story to the Up All Night collection I reviewed last, so I thought, eh, now is as good a time as any to read this book.

As the title states, this book is made up of three short stories. The first is about a knight who must prove his worth to his queen. The second is about a Scrooge McDuck-esque frog, complete with a money pool. The third is about a lonely computer tech duped into sending her savings to a Nigerian prince.

Or are they?

Like American Born Chinese, each story ends with a clever twist that makes the reader question their assumptions of what it means to lead a valuable life. I don't want to say more because I don't want to spoil the stories, but I don't think you'll be disappointed if you invest time in these stories.

Up All Night: A Short Story Collection

Up All Night: A Short Story Collection edited  by Laura Geringer (2008)
YA Fiction
5 out of 10

from Goodreads

Today was my day off, so I slept in until almost 1 PM. I like a lie-in as much as the next person, but this was unusual. It didn't feel like decadence; it felt like hiding. I'm not much of a night owl, not usually. I stay up late-ish, midnight or one, but that's it, so the times when I do stay up way too late, or all night, always have a bit of a surreal quality to them.

The stories in this collection mix the surreal with the ordinary as the characters stay up all night.

As usual, the anthology has it's hits and misses, although the misses (for me, Patricia McCormick's story "Code Orange") aren't bad or poorly written, but up against David Levithan (and we all know my fan girl tendencies), it's hard to compete.

I particularly liked Libba Bray's stories of teens out on the town, hoping to meet up with some rock stars. I had a similar experience when I was in college (although the crux of the story is really with Maggie and her father, and that what plays out there isn't anything I've experienced). Bray has a deft hand, drawing out a story of unmet -- and unmeetable -- expectations and how we eventually begin to adjust as we grow up.

Grrr, Argh; In Which I am Angered by the WSJ

By now, you've no doubt read or heard about the Meghan Cox Gurdon's article "Darkness Too Visible" which decries what she sees as the Sodom and Gomorrah-like world of young adult fiction.

It's opinions like this that make me want to punch something.

I realize that punching things is not the smart and sophisticated way to make a rebuttal, despite everything wholesome American media has taught me.

But really.

I came across the article last night, right before bed, when I checked my Twitter feed.

Grrrrrrr.

Really, I am having a difficult time discussion just why Gurdon's ideas are so incredibly offensive. In part, I am offended that a publication as venerable as the Wall Street Journal gives space to the unresearched vitriol and trash of Gurdon's articles. At the end of this and other articles, there's a little footnote: Mrs. Gurdon regularly writes about children's books for the Journal.

Why, WSJ, oh why do you give space for children's books to someone who clearly does not understand children's books as literature? Do you, like so many other intelligent and literate adults, dismiss children's literature as fluff, as a trifle designed to be consumed by those who don't know enough to consume "real" literature?

If so, then you're just wrong, WSJ.

I'm in graduate school, studying literature. I have a 3.914 GPA. I'm also a library assistant, and I've worked in the youth services division at Boise Public Library for 2 years. Last year, 62 of the 95 books I read were YA or children's books. This year (so far), 32 of the 46 books I've read have been YA or children's books. I have BAs in English and secondary education, and I taught, student taught and subbed in middle and high schools for about 4 years. I would love to know what Mrs. Gurdon's qualifications are.

What I've learned in all my experiences working with kids and working with books and studying literature is this: children's and young adult literature is as legitimate a form of literature as any classic or piece of "literary" fiction. Literature -- YA or otherwise -- should be held up and examined with a critical eye, and good literature will pass muster with ease.

I have also learned that kids and teens are more sophisticated critical thinkers than adults give credit for. Too often, policy makers and administrators and parents decry the state of public education and bemoan the fact that students can't string two coherent thoughts together to form intelligent discourse. Well, let me tell you something, decriers and bemoaners. I took a hard look at my curriculum this year as I took literacy and language arts education classes (I originally joined the master's program for teaching English language arts but switched to literature), and when I evaluated the lessons and projects I had assigned, I was surprised that I got anything coherent at all. Many of my assignments were simple, boring and uninspired. I gave in to the fear that my students would not pass the state's high stakes tests and taught accordingly instead of working to engage students critical thinking and encourage them to express real ideas. But that's a topic for another day.

So good literature, no matter the genre or audience, will stand up to a critical eye, but literature is more than something to be examined with a cold critical eye. Literature should be devoured. Literature opens doors to worlds we might not otherwise visit. If you've followed this blog at all or read any of my posts, you might be surprised that I am studying literature and critical theory because most of my reviews are pretty gushy. In part, I tend not to finish book I don't like, but mainly, this blog is not designed to provide critical analysis of literature. If you want critical analysis, I suppose I can some of my essays. The purpose of this blog, though, is to share the stories I have loved, stories that have moved me and inspired me and enlightened me.

I think for me, the biggest problem Mrs. Gurdon's writing poses is that her work has a veneer of responsible critique because it was published in the Wall Street Journal. Rightly or wrongly, readers look to publications like WSJ and the New York Times as bastions of thoughtful and well-researched journalism, but what we see in Mrs. Gurdon's writing is that the WSJ is allowing an opinion to masquerade as journalism, a dangerous precedent.

Thankfully, the Internet now provides outlets for multiple voices to be known and to be heard. Twitter, multiple blogs, maybe even my little post, offer readers a chance to gather ideas and make their own informed decision, something "journalists" like Meghan Cox Gurdon are no longer compelled to do.

****
And here's an open letter to Ms. Freeman, the mother mentioned in Gurdon's article:

Dear Ms. Freeman,

I understand your reluctance to give your daughter books that illuminate the darker aspects of the human experience and imagination. I understand and empathize with your desire to shelter your daughter, as much as you can, from some of the harsh realities of human existence. It is a laudable desire. I admit here, for all to see, that I have never read The Hunger Games or any of Ellen Hopkins's works or much of the popular dystopian fiction because, as a reader, I find them difficult.

However, I would never deny the right of readers to have access to the books they need, and so, I cannot fault the bookstore for offering these and many more titles I might not personally care to read. In fact, I applaud the bookstore as much as I applaud you.

But I would urge you to do one thing. Instead of decrying an entire swath of literature based on a minuscule sampling of available titles (and believe me, even if you were in the biggest Barnes and Noble in the world, you are only seeing a tiny portion of available titles), I implore you -- reach out to the booksellers or to your local youth services librarians. It is our job (speaking as a youth services employee), and indeed, it is our pleasure, to help you connect with the books that are right for you and right for your daughter. We recognize that not every book is right for every reader, we the booksellers and librarians and library workers of the world have put a lot of time and thought and effort into learning what we can about the books available so we can help you navigate the flood waters of young adult fiction.

Please, instead of turning away from the rich offerings of young adult literature because you are overwhelmed by choice and turned off by some of the offerings (I promise you, I know how you feel), turn to your librarians and to booksellers who are passionate and informed. We are not here to fight against you. We are here to bring books and readers together.


****

Hmm, I guess I do have words about this topic. Initially I was going to just link Laurie Halse Anderson's thoughtful and eloquent blog on the topic because I was too mad to type. I do hope you will read her post and follow the conversation on Twitter (#YAsaves).

****

One last note: Since I'm up fixing typos I didn't notice earlier today, I thought I'd add a link to Barry Lyga's awesome contribution to the conversation. I read it earlier today, and Sarah LaPolla, a literary agent, referenced it on her blog. She also referenced one of my all time favorite movies, Empire Records, so she must be cool. Be sure to check these posts out, oh 12 people who read this (and are kind enough to let my find my typos myself).