Dystopic Book Ladder Podcast

Dear People,

I just finished my Dystopic Book Ladder Podcast for our fina
l project.



Many thanks to the people who run youraudio.com.  It's a great, free place to post audio files.

- Jason McCoy

Ways to get free books!

Some of you may have noticed the blog roll on the sidebar of our blog page.  There I've linked to a few blogs that I've followed over the years and that I trust for quality recommendations and discussions about YA books.

Tonight I just checked out the newest link to librarian Betsy Bird's blog (we read her in the article about Blogging the Kidlitosphere earlier this semester) and found out that Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has begun rolling out its spring list of new titles.

If you go to Betsy's blog post, you'll find that LBBYR School and Library Marketing Director Victoria Stapleton (she's wonderful, and she's known at NCTE for wearing funky shoes) will send an ARC (advance reader copy) of any of the books featured on their spring list to anyone who requests it.  There's an opportunity for those of you trying to build classroom libraries and get your hands on soon-to-be-released titles!  So get to Betsy's blog post ASAP and send Victoria your ARC requests!

Jennifer

An End To Snow Days?!

I heard about this on the news and this gave me a bittersweet feeling! Growing up, and maybe even still, anyone who is goes to school prays for snow days. Now that more and more students are having technology incorporated into their classes, they may not be able to completely miss school on future snow days. A school district in Ohio made the news by being the first district to implement ‘E Days’ during snow days. Teachers and administrators dread the thought of pushing the school year into June days. By implementing E Days, students will be responsible for doing their schoolwork over the Internet during snow days in order to keep up to speed and finish the school year on time. I can see both the good side and the bad side to the situation, but I was a little heartbroken at the concept of no more snow days. That was the best part about winter! I remember watching snow fall at night when I was going to bed and then waking up extra early to read the cancellations on the news… it’s like a right of passage during childhood! Now I realize that this may be dramatic, but seriously… is one snow day so bad that we still have to make kids work? I believe that a snow day is more or less nature’s way of giving kids a break! I say let kids be kids, if a snow day turns into a snow week then E Days would be a great idea! I guess the bright side is that I’m old enough that snow days really don’t matter anymore like they did in grade school and high school, and I’m so happy that I was able to experience that before technology took over snow days. 

Jo Scott

eBooks

I know we've sort of discussed the topic of eBooks in class, but I saw my friends Amazon Kindle for the first time that I thought was über cool and and I just wanted to get everyones thoughts on eBooks.  I like the look and feel of regular books, but the thought of being able to "go green" and save the trees. When I was playing around with her Kindle I found   a search, dictionary and bookmark function among others which I thought were handy.  It was pretty comfortable and the words are comparable to paper books. The friend told me the books are discounted from what you would usually get at a bookstore.  What's stopping me from getting one is the price; I don't think I read enough at the moment to make up the cost of the cheaper version of $189. When I do have extra to splurge I think my next purchase will be the Kindle, Nook, or iPad. So what are everyone else's thoughts on eBooks? Does anyone own any of these devices?

 Disclaimer: The comic is not representative of me. :) It's pretty funny though because it describes some of my friends. I told them I wouldn't mind a hand-me-down X-mas present!

- Jenny

Looking back on the NCTE Annual Convention/ALAN Workshop

Each year when I come home from NCTE/ALAN, there's so much experience to digest, I have trouble telling people about it.  This year is no exception.  One thing I've learned about conferences--this one at least--is that if you go annually, your experience from year to year really morphs and changes.  At first it's about seeing the stars, being in the physical presence of authors whose books you've read.  As time goes by, it becomes more about getting to know people as colleagues.  Just five years ago I couldn't have imagined being a friend and colleague with people like Don Gallo and CJ Bott, but this year I sat and talked with them regularly at YA events.  Here they are signing in for the first day of the ALAN Workshop:

I also attended NCTE for years as a spectator: I went to hear other people talk.  It was such a sea change to begin seeing myself as someone who had knowledge to share and who could initiate conversations.  I loved introducing a panel discussion featuring Matt de la Pena and Coe Booth on issues of race and class in young adult literature and in our schools:

Deborah Appleman is someone I don't know personally (though I did talk with her husband on the convention shuttle bus about their joint work teaching English in a prison), but I love listening to her as a fan and hearing her talk in person about literary theory.  Here you can see her giving a presentation after her Critical Encounters book won the Meade award for outstanding contributions to English education.  She opened her talk with a video clip of Henry Waxman and Alan Greenspan talking about ideology in front of a House subcommittee on finance.  It was a great popular culture connection to the ideas about ideology and literary theory in her book.

Then there's the privilege of hearing a YA author talk in depth about the ideas behind her book, and the pleasure of seeing that author win a $5000 award with her sister and parents in tow.  Kristin Cashore was passionate and eloquent in talking about the ideas that led to Fire, this year's winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award.  You can read her speech by visiting her blog.  Below you can see her with the committee that selected her book to win and with her editor at the book signing table. 

You can see how many people were excited to get her signature in their book!

In another toast to admired experts who eventually become colleagues and friends, here is Professor Nana, otherwise known as Teri Lesesne, with Michigan teacher Daria Plumb.  I got to know these two when I served on the Walden award committee myself a couple of years ago.  Daria and I spent a lot of time together this year at NCTE/ALAN, presenting together and attending the sessions of other YA booktalkers.  You can read Daria's much more thorough account of our experience here and here.

I thought of several of you when Ned Vizzini spoke at ALAN about his experience writing It's Kind of a Funny Story.  To Ned's right is Han Nolan, a wonderful YA author who wrote a book I loved called Dancing on the Edge.  She also wrote a great book called Born Blue, but she was at ALAN to promote her newest novel, Crazy.

An ALAN report wouldn't be complete without giving you at least a glimpse of the boxes and boxes of free books given away to workshop participants.  When I shipped my book box home, I learned it weighed 33 pounds!  The first morning of ALAN, it's like seeing a bunch of teachers and librarians opening Christmas presents, there is so much excitement in the room over free books.  Some participants like Professor Nana (and me) already own a lot of the books we get in our boxes.  Professor Nana usually gives most of hers away!  I have mine at home, ready to dole out to any of you who still want to join ALAN.

Finally, there's not much down time for me over five days at this conference, but I do admit that Orlando was a beautiful setting.  This was the sunrise one morning when I left my hotel room:

I hope this post inspires you to make mental plans to get yourself to Chicago for NCTE/ALAN next year.  Remember that once you are employed as an early-career teacher, you can apply for a Gallo Grant to reduce the cost of the ALAN workshop for yourself.  Gallo Grants cover your registration fees for ALAN and give you a newly-upped $750 stipend for travel and lodging costs.  It helps your case if you're a member of ALAN, so remember that it's never too late to join!

Jennifer Buehler

Who Likes the Harry Potter Movies Better

Hey Guys,

I just posted a new poll asking who liked the Harry Potter movies better, so be sure to vote!

I'm posting this because a couple of days ago I thought that the answer was obvious but then I ran into a friend that had just recently seen the new Harry Potter movie.

He tried to convince me that people who had not read the book would not like the movie because they have not read the books, and therefore, they would compare the movie to other movies rather than the book itself and realize it is not that great of a movie when compared to other movies.  However, if one has already read the books they would like the movie because of the special attachment they have to the franchise.

My friend’s ideas seemed contradictory to mine which were that people who had read the books would not like the movie because the move is almost never identical to the one the reader imagined when reading the book, the movie therefore falls below the readers expectations and the reader does not like the movie.  However, for the viewer who has not read the book, the movie is simply just another movie and they are ready to experience it as a black slate.

I wanted to know what you guys thought. So please comment and vote!

---Amer

Bullying, are we doing enough?

This week, we were exposed to the struggles of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who are faced with the harsh cruelty of being bullied. While awareness is growing, so also are the means of which to BE bullied. In an article written based out of Rhode Island, teachers are stressing the importance of new sources of bullying through the internet. It is a sticky theme to follow due to the source being at home or on pages where passwords are required to view, however, the seed has been planted and has potential to grow into a dark forest if something is not done quickly.
So, the question is, what can we do? how do we monitor this behavior and act upon it accordingly? One of the ideas these schools in Rhode Island have accustomed is the presence of a tip box, along with safe rooms. The idea behind the tip boxes are for kids who witness bullying but have the age old idea that "tattling" is bad behavior. We learn this concept when we are grade school and it tends to stick with us throughout high school. It can be a detrimental for future years when children hold on to this idea and the fear stays in their conscience. The tip boxes are what seem to be an ideal way to begin the journey to end bullying. For the whole article --> http://www.projo.com/news/content/bullying_summit_10-27-10_0VKJDPR_v10.230b9ec.html

Another celebration of Laurie Halse Anderson's visit to St. Louis

There's no way I can top Shannon's account of Laurie's visit, but I do have a few more images to share.

Laurie has been on book tour since October 14th.  Does she even look tired?  She began her talk last night by showing us pictures of her chickens on the "focus" slide shown here.  "I hope I won't offend any vegetarians out there," she said, "but those chickens will become dinner in a few weeks."  Later in the talk, Laurie showed us a picture of a skinned rabbit that she was roasting oven an open fire in order to experience eating like a Revolutionary War soldier.

If I was a better photographer, I would have gotten a shot when Laurie turned her right hand to show the inside of her wrist.  "Mama, she has a tattoo!" my nine-year-old son Ethan whispered.  In the book signing line, we heard Laurie tell some kids ahead of us that her tattoo is the word "Hwaet," which is the first word from Beowulf, and which roughly translates from Anglo-Saxon to mean "Listen to my story."

Try to ignore my underwhelming photography skills, but check out the slide to Laurie's left.  It reads, "George Washington is my homeboy."  Laurie talked for a good while last night about her love of history; her disillusionment when she learned that Benjamin Franklin, her favorite founding father, had owned slaves; and her conviction that a lot of the problems we still struggle with in America regarding racism and hatred stem from the fact that we don't know our own history.  But she touched on these subjects at the same time she was making us laugh.  "Benjamin Franklin was the kind of guy I would have dated in high school," she said.  "He must have had ADD."

The quote that moved me to get out a piece of notepaper was this one:  "We read literature to prepare for life's challenges."  Laurie said that if she wore a hat, it would have a big elephant on the front, because as an author, she chooses to write about the elephant in the room, or things that people would prefer not to talk about.  Then she gave a hats off to Missourians because so many of us wrote to her after the Wesley Scroggins editorial that called Speak pornography.  Laurie said she loves George Washington because he fought for us to have a country where people like her and Wesley Scroggins have the freedom to publicly disagree.

I'd say these last two shots illustrate how readers are made.  Thank you, Laurie.

Jennifer Buehler

Laurie Halse Anderson: Queen of Awesome

This semester, we've gotten to talk to a lot of author's on the phone. Tonight, I got to hear Laurie Halse Anderson Speak in person, and it was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. Laurie came to St. Louis County Library to promote her latest book, Forge, the second in a series about escaped slaves in the Revolutionary War. As she started her talk with cute and funny pictures of her as a child, I was instantly captivated by her charisma and humor. Unlike the author's in our phone interviews, Laurie spent some time telling us about her background, which was really interesting to hear. As she continued, she dispensed some of the wisdom she's gained as a writer (revise, revise, REVISE!) and told us about her writing process. Let me just say, she has so much passion and love for what she does it's absolutely inspiring. Just in her research for Chains and Forge, Laurie read secondary sources, studied primary sources, road tripped to Valley Forge, cooked like Revolutionary soldiers at her sustainable home, and even took a walk in the snow with wool socks and a blanket as her only real sources of warmth. For Wintergirls, she dropped 25 pounds (under doctor
supervision) and experienced the constant hunger of her character Lia. I was awestruck by her passion and knowledge, and can't say enough how amazing it was to hear her. After her talk, Laurie stayed for ages to answer questions, sign books, and take photos with fans. I have to admit, even I became a total fangirl when it came to my turn to have my book signed. Even now, I'm so excited to have gotten the chance to meet her and I can't believe what a truly beautiful soul she is. As I reminisce about the great experience, I'm left with my signed book, blurry cell phone photo, and amazing memories.

-Shannon Hunt

Language

I figured everyone would enjoy this since we're all in an English class!

Hilary

Sara Zarr on judging the National Book Awards

Sara Zarr is a writer whose thoughts I always love to read.  Her books are awesome, too.  Here are a few of her comments about being a judge for this year's National Book Award for Young People's Literature:

The judging process reminded me what a mysterious, personal transaction reading is. At first, that stressed me out. How were we going to get through these books and make decisions if we’re all so different? By the end, I marveled at really what a cool thing it is that each person can connect so differently across such a broad range of material, and that gives me hope for each of the books I’ve written and the ones I’ve yet to write.

Richard Rodriguez says that the reader re-creates the book when he reads it. If that’s true, and I think it probably is, that means 100 readers could have 100 different experiences of the same book. Which can be frustrating, but is also kind of magical and also tells you something about what it is to be a person, an individual.

Sara's comments reminded me of conversations we've had in class this semester.  I encourage you to visit her blog and read more of what she has to say.  Then tune in for the announcement of the NBA winner next week!

Jennifer Buehler

I love John Green!

Sooo this week I have decided to revisit John Green by reading his latest book Paper Towns. As of now I have not finished it but after speaking with a friend I decided to check out the blog that he did with his brother in 2007 as my own supplemental material. I have watched all of the posts for January and plan to continue because they are hilarious. So I encourage anyone who hasn't to check it out at

 http://www.brotherhood2.com/index.php/?m=200701&paged=4 

-Chloe

Author Visit!

Next Tuesday night, November 15th, Laurie Halse Anderson will visit the St. Louis County Library in Frontenac on book tour for her new historical novel Forge.

I hope some of you will get out there to see her!  The event starts at 7 p.m., and the county library is across the street from Plaza Frontenac mall.  Puddnhead Books is one of the tour stop sponsors.

Forge is a great Revolutionary War page-turner featuring an escaped child slave named Curzon and scenes from the long winter at Valley Forge.  There's humor, grit, friendship, loyalty, betrayal, a great narrative voice, and many, many cool historical epigraphs that link each chapter to voices from the time period.

Jennifer

Revisiting Countdown

Today I received a reader's guide for Deborah Wiles' Countdown.  This excerpt resonated with me, having just read everyone's weekly response papers:

History happens to real people with real feelings and real lives, everyday lives. Heroic things are done by ordinary, everyday people, every day. In Countdown, I consider each character no less heroic than those in the biographies I tell. My characters have more everyday lives, perhaps, but so did Harry and Fannie and Jack and Jackie and Pete, when they were young. And my readers were once kids, or are kids, and I want them to know that they also live lives full of everyday heroics. They make history every day. Every choice they make reverberates and becomes a part of their history, and affects others’ history as well. I chose to extend the biographies in Countdown to the present day, in order to show how every choice we make affects not just our own lives, but history as a whole—everything is connected, which is something Franny finds out for herself in Countdown.

I'll post the reader's guide on SLU Global for anyone who'd like to hear more from Deborah Wiles.  If you have suggestions for other topics you'd like to hear her address, please post them in the comments.  I will be interviewing her next Friday at NCTE.

Jennifer Buehler

The Beauty of Graphic Novels

Sorry it took so long for me to post! I am at caveman status when it comes to using technology… seriously, I even find iPods confusing.

I honestly was not excited about blogging and doing my booktalk about graphic novels. I knew nothing about them other than Manga, which is not something I am completely interested in, and comics, which I considered something for the Sunday paper. When I did go to Dr. Buehler’s office to choose a book, I was pleasantly surprised by how wrong I was about graphic novels. She showed me ones about topics I was interested in like homelessness, the Cold War, the Holocaust, etc. I chose a relatively short book and began reading. What I loved most about my experience with this graphic novel was that not only did the characters tell a story like in a movie, but the art in the book was equally as important as the content, perhaps even more!

 From a teaching perspective, I was happy to see a way for visual students to learn that didn’t involve them reading and rereading and not even processing the words. I also appreciated the amount of talent and work that goes into making such novels. I did some research as to when the graphic novel began, and it turns out they have always been around! Cave paintings and hieroglyphics are technically graphic novels because they evoke the power of pictures to help tell a story.

I know I can’t be the only one who was less than enthusiastic to have to read a graphic novel at first, and I’m wondering if anyone else was surprised by how good these novels actually are. Did anyone go through that experience of being proved wrong like me? I’m a little embarrassed for not even wanting to give this genre a shot just because of my assumption of the genre as a whole. Do you think that other people have the same assumptions and that’s why they defer from reading these books? I’m just wondering… I am definitely going to reconsider this genre, especially for education. 

My experience was definitely a good one, and I guess I should’ve known since we have yet to read any books that I don’t like in this class. 

- Jo

so this is a graphic novel....

This being my first experience reading a graphic novel I didn't really know what to expect, and honestly I still do not know how I feel. I have always loved art and literature so I do not know why I haven't read graphic novels before. When I picked up American Born Chinese I finished it easily in one sitting but at first I didn't really get much out of it........so I read it again. With the second reading I began to realize how smoothly the three different stories fit together an the intricate ways that the main character(s) came to terms with being a Chinese American. Using the ancient Chinese story as a parallel was brilliant. It used a part of Jin Wang's heritage to describe his own struggle to fit in, it showed Jin that by being himself he had a specific role to fill, that he could be both American and Chinese and that that was who he is suppose to be. American Born Chinese has opened my eyes to the world of Graphic Novels and the new hidden layers and facets it makes available to literature.
-Chloe

Picture is worth a Thousand Words

This week we were required to read American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. I can honestly say that I have never read a graphic novel before this one. I have never had any interest in them and always thought it was a “boy” thing with superheroes and Batman and Superman and Spiderman, the list goes on and on. I was not particularly excited to read this graphic novel this week but when I opened it I tried to open my mind to it as well. This is what I discovered upon reading it. Graphic novels – if this one is any indication – can hold some really complex issues and present them in a quick , “easy” format that allows the reader to grasp the concept even if it is largely complex and would take hundreds of pages in a traditional novel. I have to give authors of graphic novels credit where credit is due in this sense because they are so limited to the amount of text on a page and specifically in each frame on that page. The combination of text and visuals is used to portray a lot of emotion which allows them to put into our minds what would take a thousand words to do – in this sense, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Kaylin

The "literariness" of graphic novels

In 2007, Gene Yang's American Born Chinese became the first graphic novel to win the Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature.  A few months earlier, in 2006, it was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.  ABC even won the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album!

 So what makes this book literary?  What text features or aspects of the writing do you think led more than one award committee to single this book out for its literary merit?  Also, what is it like for you as a reader to look for literary elements in a book whose graphic format may be entirely new to you?

Jennifer Buehler

Yang Nods To A Classical Chinese Epic Novel

In Gene Luen Yang's Young Adult Graphic Novel American Born Chinese the plot line that involves the Monkey King is alluding to a classical Chinese epic novel called Journey to the West.  A wikipedia summary of the book shows how closely Yang's book follows the plot line of the ancient Chinese text.

"He took a great leap and then flew to the end of the world in seconds. Nothing was visible except for five pillars, and Wukong surmised that he had reached the ends of Heaven. To prove his trail, he marked the pillars with a phrase declaring himself "the great sage equal to heaven" (and in other versions, urinated on the pillar he signed on)"

I think that it's interesting that Yang used the plot from Journey to the West to create a comic book that conveys a coming of age story.  There are many other interesting parts of Yang's work that are hidden right under the surface

- Jason McCoy

The above picture is a depiction of The Monkey King from Journey to the West.

I guess you could call this relevant:-)

Does anyone remember this episode of Boy Meets World? I thought of this immediately when reading this week's book.

Cold War Instructional Films

Dear Class,

These are some cold war instructional films that I found.



I also found the below videos interesting

1950's Civil Defense Film - Survival Under Atomic Attack

1950's Cold War Propaganda - Fallout shelter

He May Be a Communist

Enjoy,

Jason McCoy

A Greater Appreciation the Second Time Around

Having read two books this week (one for my book talk and one for our assigned reading), I realized how much I love historical fiction. I had read Cameron Dokey’s Hindenburg 1937 when I was in junior high and loved it then but I think I have a greater appreciation now of the story being told than what I grasped and remembered then. I was able to appreciate having had a larger background in my history education than I would have when I first read it. The life experiences which shaped me into the reader I am also gave me a foundation to relate and/or empathize with the characters of this story while taking into account the historical events for which they are present. 

 Kaylin

Historical Fiction

Historical fiction is by far my favorite genre to read. I know it might seem slow and boring to most, but I love to read a story about characters and their experiences based on real life events. Unfortunately, as an English major, I spend most of my time reading assigned work and novels, so I don't get very much time to read for enjoyment. Reading Countdown gave me a chance to read a genre that I really enjoy, and as a result, it made me think about some of my favorite novels that I had read in the past. This got me thinking, when I graduate in just a few months, I won't be forced to read 12 novels and 50 scholarly every semester. I'll be able to read whatever I want in my spare time. There must be so many more historical fiction books out there for both adults and teens that I've never even heard of!

This got me really excited, so I went online to search for sites that offered booklists for the best historical fiction for teens and I found one that I thought was very interesting. There is an article from the ALAN Review (granted it's from 99, so it's a bit dated) that contains a list of the best historical fiction for YA 'through the decades.' Each list contains books written during and/or about each decade of the 20th century, which reminded me of Countdown. I've pasted the link below so that you guys can check it out if you get the chance or if you are looking for some suggestions for a good piece of YA historical fiction. Enjoy!


http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/spring99/brewbaker.html



-Katie

Countdown

Countdown was fun to read because it was a coming-of-age story mixed in with bits and pieces of history in the story and chronicled inbetween the chapters. With the perspective of Franny we are brought back into what it was like to live through the Cuban Missile Crisis. We know that in the 1960’s smoking in the house and in front of kids was the norm, McDonalds was new and so was duct tape, gas was 31 cents, Tootsie Rolls was the candy of choice to give out on Halloween, Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color was popular, and that not all televisions were colored yet. We also know that the “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” song was popular at the timeand not just on a Yoplait commercial.

Countdown didn’t just incorporate those things into the story but the pages inbetween the chapters were snippets of actual history. I knew that JFK was president during the 1960’s during the Cold War and the Cuban Missle Crisis but that was the extent of my knowledge. Growing up in the 21^st century, the past of fifty year ago often feels far removed. The quotes, pictures, newsreports, presidential announcements, lyrics, and Bert the turtle’s “Duck and Cover!” campaign and the advertisements of fallout shelters in Life magazine brought this time to life. It was nice for a chance not just to read history, but to feel like you’ve experienced it.

Historical Fiction and Real-Life Connections

While I was in the middle of reading Countdown, I started to think about my parents. I've heard my parents mention some memories they have of John F. Kennedy from when they were kids in the sixties. Franny got me thinking a lot about what it must have been like to try to understand these huge international political issues from an eleven-year-old's perspective, and then it hit me: my dad was also eleven years old in 1962!

I called my dad and told him about the book, and he sounded really interested (maybe he'll even read it one day!). I told him about Franny and her age and about the historical events she was right in the middle of. He said he remembered hearing a lot about what was going on in Cuba from watching television and hearing other people talk about it frequently. It sounded like my dad was a lot like Franny in that it was something he heard about all the time but was probably unable to grasp the intricacies and implications of the situation.

He did share a pretty cool memory with me, though: my dad said that he and his friends were constantly hearing about fallout shelters, just like Franny was, and they decided to make their own! He said that he and his friends dug a huge hole out in a field near where they lived and covered the opening with sticks, cardboard, and whatever they could find.

I thought it was so interesting to hear my dad's memories from his pre-teen perspective of the same events I was reading about. And how cool is it that they tried to make a shelter?!

Susan Elliott

Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

 

And thanks to Lucy for booktalking Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which won the National Book Award for Young People's Fiction in 2007.  The soundtrack for this trailer is Neil Young's "Heart of Gold."

Jennifer

Book Talk on Marcelo in the Real World

Thanks to Hilary for introducing us to Francisco X. Stork's Marcelo in the Real World. Over the summer this book was chosen as a finalist for the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, sponsored by ALAN (The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE) to recognize YA literature that has literary merit, widespread teen appeal, and a positive approach to life.

Jennifer

145th Street Book Trailer

Here's the book trailer I put together for a series of short stories by Walter Dean Myers called 145th Street.
    -Bridget McDonnell

The Power of Short Stories

I truly love short stories. Now don't get me wrong I love novels too, but short stories are also awesome. I love the fact that they can offer a short glimpse into something and still leave we wondering and questioning. In my opinion some of the short stories I have read are more thought provoking than some of the novels I have read. I believe that we all can get something meaningful out of a short story. For example in Tales From Outer Suburbia my favorite story was "Distant Rain." It left me with a feeling I can't even describe. It made me think about who the people were that hid their works and how I could have been one of the people to read one of the scraps. It makes me think about how small the world is and at the same time how big the world is. I really enjoy short stories. They are also great in a school setting. The chance to read a short story for some students is amazing because it is what it is...short. I think it is also helpful because it can same time for the teacher. You can read many short stories in the same time that you can read one novel. Novels are important, but so are short stories.

Alisa Richter

Teen Read Week

This week the American Library Association has Teen Read Week.  It is a week devoted to young adult literature.  I think many adults probably ask themselves, “Why would I read a young adult novel?”  Honestly, I would have asked my-self the same thing until this class.  The only young adult literature I was familiar with was Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Princess Diaries, Gossip Girl, etc.  I was only into the “girly” reading; I liked that, so that is what I only read.  This class has broaden my horizons so much to y.a. lit, a genre I love.   There are so many books I would recommend to my mom, aunts and uncles, and cousins who are in their 30s.  Some of my favorite novels have been Looking for Alaska, Sorta Like a Rockstar, and We Were Here.  I would highly recommend these to my friends and family.  This just proves why Teen Read Week is such a great idea.  Many people underestimate the great writing and stories that can be found in this genre, even if you are an adult.  I do not know if anyone else knew of this week, or has any particular thoughts on this.  I found this interesting, and I thought I would share it with everyone. 

-Abby Kilian 

When the Reader Actually Cares

I imagine that it’s crazy hard for writers to create characters that make the reader care.  That’s when I think that books really make a difference in the lives readers.  If you can genuinely care about what the character is going through then you’ll enjoy reading the story.  There were times during We Were Here where I felt like, if it had been an emotional day for me, I would have cried.  I have two older brothers, and I could not imagine anything happening to them, much less anything happening to them as a result of something that I did.  I love that the author was able to illustrate the strong love between the two brothers, although there was nothing there of Diego’s side.  The relationships between brothers and sisters are some of the longest that we will have in our lives.  Miguel’s relationship with his brother was cut short, but usually siblings will outlive parents and other family members.  I don’t really know where I’m going with that thought, but the relationship I have with both of my brothers is something incredible that I will definitely cherish for the rest of my life. I think that was why I could relate to what Miguel was feeling when he talked about losing his brother.  I could not imagine having to go through something like that, and that is what made me care about this character.  

Chelsea Heckathorn

Literary Theory

One reading from this week that did stimulate and intrigue me beyond a superficial level was the excerpts from Appleman’s Critical Encounters in High School English. I saw a lot of my high school experience in these pages and didn’t fully realize just how strong my background in literary theory was until I read them. I knew that I had studied it and been taught to read beyond just the story being told but to look underneath all of that to what lies beneath.  

There were so many things that my high school teacher, Arlis DeJaynes, taught me about literary theory – some of it I didn’t even consciously know I had absorbed until I took a look in retrospect. I had taken Brit Lit my junior year as an honors course (usually the seniors take this) and learned the beginnings of it through studying Beowulf, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Prince of Tides and many more. My true roots, though, grew deep in AP English my senior year when we tore apart piece by piece A Prayer for Owen Meany, Beloved, The Great Gatsby, A Doll’s House. The list goes on and on but these are the books that stick out in my mind, especially Beloved where I learned to look for the shadow and truly fell in love with what I was studying. I think studying these things and emphasizing them in the classroom is important and helps students in more than just their reading, comprehension, and analytical skills in English. It helps do so much more than that and I can definitely see it in myself as I’ve grown and looked back since my high school graduation just how much my thought process has grown, matured and deepened in parallel to my English courses and the skills I gain there. I am able to take those skills and apply them to my everyday life and let me tell you, it counts for a lot when making tough decisions and dealing with obstacles thrown in my way!

Kaylin

Role of Religion in We Were Here

Usually in novels religion is not talked about as much as other topics in interest. Rondell’s character is very religious and I think that even though he is not very well educated and doesn’t make good decisions sometimes, it shows kids who read this book that everyone can have religion no matter how bad their lives get. His faith in God is a hopeful motive in the journey through this book. Even when Miguel tells Rondell that all of their money was stolen and it was his fault, Rondell wasn’t even mad that they were going to starve. He had his full faith in God. Despite Rondell’s background of having a poor education and poor decision skills, he still had faith and friendship to back him up. While Miguel struggles to find meaning for anything, Rondell tries to show him that the Bible gives meaning to his life. Instead of escaping into the world of a book like Miguel does, Rondell faces his life and takes what God gives him. I wonder how this story would have played out had Miguel also been a religious person.

Left wanting more

I can’t say that I have as strong of a reaction to this book as I have had with the others. I will say that I think it was a story worth telling. I wasn’t pulled in as deep as I would have liked to be in this story. The characters I knew were struggling with some very complex issues from the very beginning not to be revealed until over halfway through the book and still I couldn’t really dig in the way I usually do. A part of me thought that it could be because of Miguel’s intense need to only state the facts and tell the story exactly as it happened (through his eyes) without all the emotional mess those experiences can, will and do cause, but I don’t think that was it. Another part of me thought that maybe it was the fact that I am a white middle class female and, therefore, am a member only of one major “minority” group as a woman and just couldn’t quite wrap my head around experiencing anything like these boys had in their lives thus far, but I don’t think that was it either. I don’t really know what it was that kept me at a distance from these characters or from diving completely into the story as is my usual experience when reading a book. What I do know is that there were a lot of things that bothered me about the story. Some examples would be: the fact that Miguel and Rondell just stand and watch Mong drown himself without any reaction at all, how Miguel doesn’t even attempt to find the girls who stole the petty cash, that no one even tries to help Rondell learn to read a little more, and the end when they go back to the Lighthouse where they are promised all the legalities would be meted out for them. These things left me wanting something more, something else then what was given to really make me believe in the characters. I will say that the one scene that I felt was done very well and I bought it was when Miguel and Rondell are at Miguel’s grandparents’ and his grandmother comes in to talk to them for the second time revealing what happened with Miguel and Diego a little more which causes him to tell his story to Rondell. That scene I could see exactly. The imagery. The emotion. The struggle. The pain. Everything. Then again, this was the end of the book and I had wanted to feel that deep human connection much earlier.
Kaylin 

Top Hit On Google

I googled "marginalized teens" and look who's class blog I saw as the fifth hit on the first page of results :)

- Jenny

Marginalized Teens and the novel Owning It

There are numerous ways a student can be marginalized.  Some may be poor, handicapped, have memory problems, various learning disabilities, or have Tourette’s syndrome.  For those of us who are going to be teachers, there is a great possibility we will have some of these students in our classroom.  The book, Owning It, is a collection of short stories all about teenagers who are marginalized for various reasons.  Through these stories, I gained a sense of what life would be like for them-definitely more difficult and challenging.  All of these stories really impacted me, but there was one that impacted me the most.  The story was about a boy who had Tourette’s Syndrom.  Some classmates made fun of him, and his family was cautious about him being at school with his outbursts of tics. He decides to speak at an assembly in front of all of his classmates.  He informs his classmates what is like when he has a tic, and how he cannot control it.  It was an extremely powerful story, especially because he decided to talk to his school about it.  I thought this was a really brave act, and I could never imagine doing that.  It may not even be Tourette’s Syndrome or ADHD or a behavioral disorder, students like this and in other situations are marginalized in today’s society.   I think it is extremely difficult for them because I believe the majority of students do not understand what it would be like to have whatever their classmate has; therefore, they make fun of him or her.  It makes me sad that students are like this, but hopefully, we can make changes in society, especially for those of us who are going to be teachers. 

Why We Read

“The reason I didn’t read so much back in Stockton is ‘cause I figured I was too busy living my own life. Why would I read about different characters’ lives all the time when I had a damn life of my own... But now I know it doesn’t matter. You maybe even get more from a book if you have a life of your own, ‘cause you can relate.” – Miguel, We Were Here

Why do we read books? To escape reality? To learn about different worlds, whether fantasy or real? To pass time? To learn something? Or simply for entertainment?

I personally read books for many different reasons, but all books are an escape for me.  Reading is an activity I can do alone and just relax and escape the ‘real’ world.  When I read I don’t have to think about that midterm paper deadline, or law school applications.  I can just escape into the world the author created.  Through reading I have escaped into worlds like Harry Potter’s wizard world, Melinda’s silent world (Speak), Briony’s World War II (Atonement) and even Miguel’s world of living on your own.  I also read books to learn about real world events, I have read books about a woman living in oppression in Iran, a man entering into the Jihad in Afghanistan and Claudette Colvin’s civil rights movement. 

Whatever your reason is for reading, I am sure it is a good one, and it’s just good that we all are reading (even if it’s just because we have to for class).  Reading is one of the best ways to learn about something new, even if the something new is fantasy.  Reading improves our lives and helps us advance in our understanding of the world around.  So for whatever reason you chose – read as many books as you can!

- Jessica Cervenka

Disadvantaged Teens: We're Only Making It Worse

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to marginalize is "to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group." This definition can be related to groups that do not belong in the dominant culture, for example; children in foster care, juvenile homes and boot camps. In America, we have a big problem with marginalizing teens; providing them with less access to educational opportunities and proper support. Adolescent teen years are a crucial time for emotional and physical development.By neglecting these teens just because they fit into the “marginalized” group, we are hindering their progress, and possibly affecting them for the rest of their lives. This can therefore create a spiraling effect. The marginalized teens are not getting the proper support and stimulus to achieve emotional maturity, therefore making mistakes or engaging in crime. As a result of the decreased knowledge and role model support, these teens are landing in juvenile delinquent halls and group homes. In order to stop this spiraling process, more needs to be done at the start of the problem; by focusing on their education. By providing these teens with proper education, we can equip them with the knowledge they need, and perhaps keep them from getting into trouble. The second strategy is along the lines of the justice system for these teens. Juvenile detention centers and group homes are doing nothing but supporting violent behavior and underdeveloped morals. We are placing these troubled teens in the presence of other troubled teens. How is this helping rehabilitate them? I know if I were placed in a hostile environment where people not only didn’t care about me but also wanted to hurt me, my disposition would change drastically. I wouldn’t be “rehabilitated,” only forced by my surroundings to digress into more confusion about right from wrong.

http://www.aboutjuveniledelinquents.com/AJD/teen-boot-camps-treat-symptoms-not-problems.htm

This is a link to an article that supports my opinion on teen boot camp and teen therapy. 

-Catherine 

National Book Award News Flash

Sara Zarr says on a recent blog post that the five finalists for the 2010 National Book Award for Young People's Fiction will be announced sometime tomorrow!!  Actually, it's noon EST.  The judges are all authors who write for young people:  Laban Carrick Hill, Kelly Link, Tor Seidler, Hope Anita Smith, and Sara Zarr.

and the finalists are ...

Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker (Little, Brown & Co.)

Kathryn Erskine, Mockingbird
(Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group)

Laura McNeal, Dark Water (Alfred A. Knopf)

Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown
(Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Rita Williams-Garcia, One Crazy Summer
(Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

 

Jennifer Buehler

Fallen through the Cracks of History

After reading Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice, I thought about something I hadn't since childhood reading my history books for school. I always wondered how some of the most important people of history somehow fall through the cracks and the next person to come along to do the same thing gets the recognition. I guess that it could be the bias of the historian writing their slant on what happened but then how do they get by without even mentioning that person, even in passing? It seems to me that Claudette Colvin was a pretty significant figure in American history to conveniently left out and be replaced by Rosa Parks.

I don't know how I feel about Rosa Parks not taking the initiative to correct people when they viewed her and advertised her as one of, if not the first, African American woman to stand up to Jim Crowe Laws...

Kaylin

And So it Begins...

I was at the mall this weekend and happened into Hot Topic to see all kinds of merchandise for...


THE HUNGER GAMES!

While I'm excited to see all sorts of Hunger Games swag, I only hope that this doesn't do what Hot Topic did to Twilight.

http://www.hottopic.com/hottopic/PopCulture/HungerGames.jsp

-Shannon Hunt

The Truth About Civil Rights

Throughout school, we are taught about the importance of Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat on a bus. She is marketed as a visionary, and as the first person to stand up for what is right. I am a history major, and I have never been told how common it was for people to fight the Jim Crow laws. This makes me pretty angry, to be perfectly honest. I think that history books should be re-written, and they should include information about the other people who helped make progress in the Civil Rights movement. Reading this book makes me want to further investigate the Civil Rights Movement so that when I am a teacher, I can include the important information that is left out by so many.

Have You Ever Heard of Claudette Colvin?

I don’t know about you guys, but I had never even heard of Claudette Colvin until reading Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose because it was assigned to me. It shocks me that her story is not well known nationally and taught throughout American schools. It upsets me that her story is not common knowledge. I wish there was a way to let American’s know about such a heroic child in our country's history of the civil rights movement. This nonfiction story gives faith to young people to let them know that kids can make a difference too. It shows proof that kids can and have done things in the past to change history. I wish more students learned about Claudette Colvin in school because they can relate to her age. Rosa Parks is an American who everyone looks up to, and everyone knows who she is, but what about Claudette Colvin? Why was her story pushed aside?

Bridget McDonnell

Engaging and Informative Nonfiction for Young Adults (?)

I am only about half way through this week’s book, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice at the time of this post. I’m not going to write about this book directly, but I wanted to post about an essay concerning nonfiction that I read in one of Marc Aronson’s books. (You might remember that we read one or two pieces authored by Aronson near the beginning of the semester.) Aronson’s essay, which is from the book Beyond the Pale: New Essays for a New Era, is titled “The Pursuit of Happiness: Does American History Matter?” I found this essay to be quite relevant to this week’s reading, and it raised some questions that I am eager to explore as I continue my reading of Claudette Colvin, as well as some questions that I think are worth discussing in class.

Aronson discusses the lack of proper teaching of American history to children and teens in schools. He cites statistics that show that 18 percent of fourth graders, 17 percent of eighth graders and 10 percent of seniors are “B” students in the topic of American history (76). This means that 90 percent of high school seniors have a below-satisfactory grasp on the history of their own country.

He also brings up the issue of the history books that children and teens are given in school. He says that one pitfall of these books is that they offer young people “neatly packaged history…There is no imagination in these books; the predictable facts, dates, photos, and maps tell the same old stories in essentially the same old ways” (79). He also says that authors often feel forced to fictionalize historical information in order to make it more palatable to the younger generation who have been so heavily exposed to popular culture. Aronson says this implies that “history in itself is boring,” (80) and that writers must first recognize what they feel is important in America’s history in order to introduce new creativity into nonfiction. If this does not happen, nonfiction for young people will continue to be drab and dull.

I am not far enough into Claudette Colvin to know if it achieves this new creativity that makes American history both exciting and informative for young adults to read. I would love to hear what others think about Claudette Colvin in regards to Aronson’s essay in your comments.

I’d like to end with a quote from the essay to spark some discussion. Aronson says, “If we were today to write a book for young people, if all of us in this room sat down together to create a book on the history of freedom, of the struggle for freedom, of the idea of freedom, in American history, I think we’d have a great deal of trouble deciding how to do it. We’d either think we were sanitizing, or we’d lose our way in the exceptions. It would be easier just to write a novel about a young boy at Valley Forge, a girl on the home front during the Civil War” (81).

So, I ask you all: Is Claudette Colvin able to cover the broad spectrum of the Civil Rights movement in the format in which it was written? Why do you think Aronson said that we would find it easier to write a novel rather than a history?


Susan Elliott

Interpreting and Reinterpreting THE HUNGER GAMES

Something Hilary wrote this morning caught my attention:

As we talked about in class, we all read for something different and get something different out of every book we read.  Even rereading a book we get something different than we did the first time.  Movies made from books encompass only one person's vision and therefore can hurt our reading experience.

Before I read Hilary's post, I was reading through some conversations about Mockingjay, the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy, that occurred in September on YALSA-BK, a young adult literature discussion listserv hosted by the American Library Association. Someone posted a link to a Salon.com essay comparing Bella, the heroine of the Twilight books, with Katniss from The Hunger Games.  I opened the link and began reading, only to realize that the author is the same Laura Miller whose essay on YA dystopian fiction we read in class last week.

I feel like there are some things that Miller gets fundamentally wrong as she interprets Collins' books and the character of Katniss.  As she did in the New Yorker article, Miller criticizes Collins' use of costuming as a central element of Katniss's experience in both the games and the ensuing revolution, suggesting that Katniss secretly loves being "made over," as if Katniss's compliance with this use of costumes somehow undermines her integrity as a revolutionary hero.  I believe the costuming scenes appear in the book in order to show Cinna's masterful ability to manipulate the public and use symbolic images to spark, galvanize, and shape the rebellion.  Miller also critcizes Katniss (and the series itself) for being ambivalent about desire and power.  "For all her irritating flaws," Miller writes, "Bella, at least, has the courage of her desire. For what, besides a well-earned vengeance, does Katniss Everdeen truly hunger?"

There are too many Mockingjay spoilers involved for me to say more about the substance of Miller's critique.  Reading her interpretations, though, gives me a feeling of frustration that seems similar to what Hilary feels when she sees a movie that radically departs from her reading of a novel.  When it comes to The Hunger Games, Miller and I read different books.  I guess rather than get mad at Miller's essays, I should work on writing up my own interpretations.

Jennifer Buehler

What is with all these books being made into movies!?!

Have any of you read Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower?  I read it a few years ago and loved it.  Now, it is apparently becoming a movie with Logan Lerman as Charlie and EMMA WATSON as Sam.  There are no trailers out, but it is supposed to come out in sometime in 2011.  According to IMDb, Stephen Chbosky himself is directing the film, which is what I think might be it's saving grace.  Although I always get excited when my favorite books are made into movies, I am always somewhat disappointed.  As we talked about in class, we all read for something different and get something different out of every book we read.  Even rereading a book we get something different than we did the first time.  Movies made from books encompass only one person's vision and therefore can hurt our reading experience.  I've found that I have to go into a movie thinking of it as entirely separate from the book, no connections at all, or else I will be disappointed in it.  I do, however, think it's really great that the author himself is directing it because he of all people will be able to maintain the dignity of the book.

Hilary Korabik

The Hunger Games

I will say that this week has been a very hectic one and I wasn't as ahead as I like to be with all my reading and, therefore, spent all of last night and the afternoon today reading The Hunger Games. Thank God, it was this book! It kept me on the edge of my seat, never bored, never tiring of wondering what was going to happen next. I loved it and want to read the next one as soon as I can manage so....probably Christmas break!

Kaylin

Opression through Fists and Fireworks

One thing that I saw in The Hunger Games is that it takes a stance that is identical to the one that the picture describes above (it's only part of the picture...click on it to take you to the full picture.  You will have to zoom in to read it).

In the beginning of the book it's easy to see that Katniss is a master of resisting a more Orwellian type of oppression.  Meaning that she can physically resist oppressive forces.  Katniss has the power to hunt, gather, trap, and most importantly think.  If Katniss were dropped into the world of 1984 she would do very well.  She has a character that can be used to build communities through trade and foster a family through her love.

However, she is not at all a master of Huxleyian type of oppression.  Oppression by over stimulation.  Throughout the novel she is constantly impressed by the glamor of the capital that is oppressing her district.  When she gets back into contact with her element she regains her fighting vigor and does her best to overturn the capital by willing the death of Peeta and herself in a Shakespearian homage (one of the best Romeo and Juliet allusions I have seen yet).

Katniss's downfall occurs after that games where she folds to pressures from the Capital instead of defiantly holding on to her own beliefs.

I think it is safe to say that Collins believes that the more dangerous oppression is Huxley's brand as opposed to Orwell's.

-  Jason McCoy

Shedding Light on Dark Topics through YA Lit

Sold by Patricia McCormick was the choice book that I read after the first week of class. In attempt to portray sex slavery and child trafficking as truthfully as possible, Patricia McCormick traveled to Nepal and to the red-light district of Calcutta, India to take part in researching the injustices that are a reality in those countries. It is hard to imagine a world with lives so different from the lives of people in the “western world.”  Patricia McCormick’s attempt to shed light on this very real issue follows the life of Lakshmi, a thirteen year-old Nepali girl who is sold into prostitution in her family’s last resort to escape poverty. After reading Sold, I spent a lot of time reflecting on my own life. Why was I born into a white, middle-class family in the U.S.? Why did I have the opportunity to have access to education? How is it possible for my parents to get so enraged at the election of a president with views they don’t necessarily agree with, when there are, according to research done by Patricia McCormick, nearly 12,000 Nepali girls sold into sexual slavery each year? How is this possible? And probably most disturbing, if people know about this, why is there nothing being done to stop it? How can things like this happen in the world, meanwhile, people can live their lives here in the United States never hearing a single thing about child sex trafficking? All I can think is that there is nothing okay about it, but where do you start? How do you even begin to combat an issue like this? I am very grateful to authors like Patricia McCormick that bring the tough issues into light. The fact that books like Sold are being put on shelves in bookstores and being rented out to young adults in libraries makes me very happy. Happy is an understatement. Authors who venture into topics that are difficult to talk about, read about, and even think about impress me.  At this point in young adult literature and the age of the internet, adolescents in the United States have access to almost unlimited information on what is going on in the world around them, and that is something that I know will continue to open doors. 

Chelsea Heckathorn

It's the End of the World As We Know It

This week our class is focusing on Dystopian Literature. I have read a few books that fall into this category including The Giver, The Host, The Uglies, Life as We Knew, and The Hunger Games Series. I'm not too sure what it is, but this genre of literature is so interesting to me. I think for me it is the idea that things could be so different. I always believe that books are an escape from our world, but dystopian novels really let me escape. They make my imagination run wild. I wonder what it is that really hooks kids on this type of literature. In reality most of the books are somewhat depressing with kids killing on another, a life without emotion, your "soul" being subdued, and natural disasters taking over. Why in the world would these books hook so many people? I'm not sure I know the answer to that, but I know I love them.

I think these books also offer something fantastic to young readers...they can be very high interest. My neighbor who is in 8th Grade and not a very avid reader was the one who recommended Life As We Knew It to me. She is one of those students who only read novels that are assigned or necessary to read because she needs AR points. When I asked her what was so appealing to her she said "It was exciting!! And I thought they were going to die in the end..." This has gotten me thinking about what kind of books I can get her to read. I am a very avid reader, and I would love to be able to extend my love of reading onto her. I told her that she need to read The Hunger Games. She is somewhat hesitant...especially because of the length of the novel, but I am going to try my hardest to get her reading it. I think she would love it. I'm not going to stop at getting her to just read it either; I'm going to talk about it with her as she gets further into it. I hope I can her into it...or maybe one of the other ones I listed above. Wish me luck!

Alisa Richter

Putting your career on the line for YA lit

Whenever I testify about the power of YA lit to groups of beginning teachers, the question of book challenges almost always comes up.  People want to know if I ever had the YA books in my classroom library challenged.  The short answer is yes, a handful of times, but the longer answer is that the challenges never went beyond a parent raising questions to my boss, and that boss, Assistant Principal for English Language Arts Sharon Strean, always stood beside me.

Sharon believed in the power of reading choice and YA lit to change the reading lives of high school students.  She did not falter when, in the fall of my eighth year of teaching, she received phone calls from several parents about my use of "Parents' Night," a short story by Nancy Garden from Am I Blue?, a gay and lesbian anthology for teens, in an introductory unit for American Literature class.

Together Sharon and I met with one of those concerned parents one morning before school.  Sharon listened calmly as I explained my goals for the unit and my reasons for choosing this particular story as part of a text set featuring the experiences of diverse Americans.  She then spoke forcefully on my behalf.  The parent, whose name I can no longer remember, chose not to pursue further action.  It's hard to imagine what might have happened if that parent had remained dissatisfied after our meeting, or if Sharon had chosen not to support me.

Last year during Banned Books Week, the lead story was the censorship attack faced by Kentucky teacher Risha Mullins.  In her high school English class, Risha ran literature circle discussion groups around YA novels such as Deadline by Chris Crutcher, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles, Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson, and What My Mother Doesn't Know and What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones. Though each of these books had been approved by an official district committee, the superintendent removed the titles from Risha's classroom anyway.

Risha received support from the leaders of ALAN (the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE), NCAC (the National Coalition Against Censorship), and several authors of the challenged books themselves.  Chris Crutcher even flew to Risha's town in order to raise awareness of her case and support a community discussion on censorship.  Despite these gestures, the fight dragged on through the fall, and the books were never returned to Risha's classroom. 

 

Risha and Laurie Halse Anderson at the Penguin Publisher Dinner last year

at the NCTE annual convention in Philadelphia

One year later, Risha has written the story of her experiences with censorship on a post for http://speakloudly.org.  You can read her story here.  It's chilling.  There is no happy ending.

I share Risha's story because it's important for all of us who teach and advocate for YA lit remain mindful of the real risks of censorship attacks.  This incident was not Risha's first encounter with censorship in the Kentucky district she ultimately left.  It was, however, the incident that pushed her past her personal breaking point.

A few weeks ago, Patty Campbell told us that high-profile attacks on The Chocolate War have overshadowed the stories of countless teachers who've taught the book without experiencing any backlash.  It's true that many teachers use YA lit successfully.  Still, it's important to know that attacks do occur.  We can resolve to be ready for them, and we can join in professional networks like Speak Loudly that will help us sustain our commitment to teens and the books that are written for them.

Jennifer Buehler