flickr image by SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget
Writing about cancer can be challenging, making even the most confident author nervous and even uncomfortable. It’s a private subject for some, and in our attempts to be sensitive and supportive, it’s difficult to know what to say and what not to say unless you’ve personally experienced the disease in one of its countless terrible forms.
Enter John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, a heart-wrenching novel featuring teens with cancer that’s more than that. While the disease plays a major role in the book, it’s not the focus of the story, and while characters Hazel Grace and Gus are afflicted with cancer, it doesn’t define them or their abilities. In any other writer’s hands, a novel about cancer-stricken teens may have delved into tearful sentimentality, but Green gives his story and 
characters, particularly Hazel, the strength, wit, and humor to be both brutally honest and realistic about her slim chances of survival.
When Hazel Grace states that “cancer books suck,” I was intrigued by her declaration. What books could exist in her fictional world that merit such a harsh assessment? More to the point, what books about teens dealing with cancer are available for readers like you and me? John Green isn’t the first young adult author to tackle writing about the disease, but he’s certainly set the bar high in terms of depicting an honest, realistic portrayal of it. What follows are titles that show that cancer books do not suck. read more…
Even if you haven’t succumbed to the irresistible lure of the British PBS series Downton Abbey–and I have to say there are probably more female fans out there than male–I think everyone should take a look. There are many topics explored in the series that are of great interest to readers of both genders. The many universal themes explored in the show will have a lot of appeal for teen readers, and they are not all just portrayed in a soap opera-ish way either.
Downton Abbey takes place in a stately manor in Great Britain beginning in 1912 with the sinking of the Titanic and 
explores the lives of those who live upstairs and below stairs in the manor. World events like WWI, the women’s suffrage movement, and social class struggles affect the lives of the Earl and Countess of Grantham and the rest of the Crawley family and their servants, from the acerbic Dowager Countess played with perfection by Maggie Smith (who has the best lines), her fair-minded and kindly son the Earl of Grantham and his American born wife Cora, their three headstrong daughters, to their many servants, including two servants I really love to hate, Cora’s scheming maid Sarah and nasty Thomas, the former footman.
The website for the show is really comprehensive and fun and it even has a quiz that you can take to see what character you are most like. Not too surprisingly, I am most like the hardworking and love-thwarted head housemaid Anna.
There are lists popping up everywhere with read-alike booklists, including one from SLJ Teen’s February 15th e-newsletter as well as the Youth Services Corner website and CLM’s blog called Staircase Wit. Many of the lists are comprised of mostly adult titles but there are books for teens too. I’ll try not to repeat all the same books listed on other lists that I’ve seen, although there are a few that are so good they deserve to be mentioned again. I also have to say that my list is a bit biased toward more male, action-oriented books because I tend to read more of them and less of the romances. You’ll find that other lists are skewed a bit more towards romance.
I’m fascinated by list crossover. The ones I usually look for are the ones that are on both the YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults (“both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens”) and YALSA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (“titles aimed at encouraging reading among teens who dislike to read or whatever reason”). Good quality literature, appealing, and encouraging reading? Awesome!
I also take a look at what appears on these lists as well as ALSC’s Notable Children’s Books (“the best of the best in children’s books”); the titles that are honored both by YALSA and ALSC are those that fall in the overlap between the two, or books aimed at readers ages 12 to 14.
I’m also going to note the Printz and Newbery Award and Honor books; and the Morris and the Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Awards and Finalists, as well as that nominated list; and the Sibert Award and Honor Books. Additional criteria are at the websites for the lists.
If I’ve missed something, let me know. Because these lists use different eligibility years, it gets a bit tricky: a few titles from last year’s lists also appeared on this year’s lists. Also? Different lists are ordered differently (e.g., author versus title, nonfiction may not always be in a different section).
Wanting to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day on February 1st, I decided to make a booklist of YA books with female characters who play sports. Right away I thought of Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock and a new release that is getting buzz for being similar, Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally. Both books feature amazing female athletes who chose to play on all-male football teams for their high schools. Both explore the societal responses, positive and negative, of girls who play traditionally male dominated sports. Both books also feature romance and difficult family relationships that further explore how female athletes are perceived.
From there I thought my title brainstorming would hit a wall. In 2009, Justine Larbalestier blogged an interview with a bookseller that lamented the lack of female athletes in YA novels. Another article from Women Talk Sports, an online network of sports blogs and news reporting of women in sports, reported on research about the lack of female athletes in teen literature. I wasn’t feeling hopeful about finding enough titles. But I’m happy to report, I was wrong.
Looking through different library booklists, including this comprehensive list from Plymouth Public Library, YALSA’s 1999 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adult list Good Sports, and this great list from Kristine Carlson Asselin’s blog, there are way more books featuring female athletes than I thought. Which is amazing! Being a former student athlete myself, it’s exciting to see more books featuring these kind of characters and stories. Here’s a list of some of my favorite titles organized by sport.
Football
- Dairy Queen, The Off-Season, and Front & Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
- Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally
by flickr user erin_everlasting
Last week in honor of Valentine’s Day, we asked who you thought the most tragic star-crossed lovers were. For a while, there was a bit of a race between Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and Hazel and Augustus from John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, but over the course of the week, Hazel and Augustus pulled ahead and came out the winner. Thank you to all of you who voted and commented! For results of any of our previous polls, check out the Polls Archive.
This week, we’re revisiting a previous poll in spirit. In November, we wanted to know which trend in YA lit you were most ready to see end (vampires won that one handily!). This week, we want to know which trend in YA lit book covers you’re most ready to see come to an end. Vote in the poll below, and leave a comment if there’s something we didn’t include that you’re so over.
Loading ...This year’s Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults comes to us in four categories, each with some excellent titles. In the Adventure Seekers department, you’ve already heard all about my enthusiasm for Finnikin of the Rock. From the Forbidden Romance list, I’ve mentioned my love of Anna and the French Kiss. And the Sticks and Stones category’s Thirteen Reasons Why was a heartbreaking read with a message not to ignore the pain of other people (check out Jay Asher’s essay about his first class visit for the book). But I want to talk about the fourth category, Get Your Geek On.
It’s a good time to be a geek (or a nerd or a dork….). Intelligence is prized as strength rather than stigma, and being adept with technology is a potential career boon instead of a weird hobby. Science fiction and fantasy are popular genres for books, television and movies. Even roleplaying games are making regular media appearances. Geeks have become cool and this list is full of cool geeks. Here are some highlights:
Geektastic, edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci, boasts short stories of all kinds of geeks from an exciting array of authors. With 15 stories by 15 authors interspersed with by comics by Hope Larson and Brian Lee O’Malley, there is something for everyone in this collection, and probably several names you’ll recognize. Highlights include a Klingon cosplayer who falls for a Jedi at a convention, a taciturn LARPing hero, a quiz bowl outcast, and a party full of people pretending to be their online roleplaying characters. The illustrations on the book’s cover are Nintendo-style pixel drawings representing the authors. For a fun activity while reading, try to guess who’s who and check your work against the author bios at the end of each story.
Congratulations to Stephanie Wilkes for winning the first-ever Hub writing competition. Her story summary for “Your Meat, My Poison” was selected by the readers as the best. As a result, she will be heaped with riches and accolades from across the globe. Okay, that might be overstating it, but she will receive this handsome 100% metal paperweight and a 2012 Printz calendar.
Contemplation is making me crazy.
In case you didn’t get to read her story summary, here it is in all of its glory:
Suzie is a strict vegetarian and has moved from Idaho, land of potatoes plenty, to Texas … right next to a cattle farm. As if moving hundreds of miles away from her friends wasn’t enough, now she is witness daily to cows being branded, some being sent for slaughter, and the sounds throughout the night. After a bit of bravery, Suzie decides to confront the farm owner and meets their 19-year old son, Aaron, instead. While he is stacking hay bales. Shirtless. With OMG abs of steel. Instantly they connect and as they become closer and closer, Aaron and Suzie must decide if their relationship is worth the fight.
Thank you again to everyone who participated in our contest. I had a blast reading the stories. They were amazing. I hope they all become books that I can put on my shelf.
Check out the contest introduction and the shortlist announcement if you are interested.
– Joel Bruns is still reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and listening to The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
We all had the chance to celebrate the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week from September 24th to October 1st, 2011. During this time, readers of all ages were encouraged to read materials that were challenged for a variety reasons. Now, only a few months later, a new challenge to intellectual freedom has arisen in Arizona:
Tucson, Arizona, public schools suspended their Mexican-American studies program after an administrative law judge ruled it violated a new state law and the state said the local district was going to lose $15 million in annual aid, officials said. (CNN)
Basically the law prevents “ethnic studies classes that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government.” On January 31, 2012, the ALA announced that they were totally opposed to restricting books based on their cultural or ethnic content. Encouraged by ALA’s Freedom to Read Statement, which says, “No society of free people can flourish that draws up lists of writers to whom it will not listen, whatever they may have to say,” here is a list of books students in Arizona can no longer read.
Here is a list of fun and informative tweets from some of your favorite people in YA Lit:
- Discussion/Q&A space for people who’ve read TFiOS:http://onlyifyoufinishedtfios.tumblr.com/ (Password: Last word of acknowledgements. Case sensitive.) - @realjohngreen (John Green - The Fault in Our Stars)
- The DEMON EYES cover! http://wp.me/pxK7e-yV - @scott_tracey (Scott Tracey - Witch Eyes)
- How good was that trailer? We are giving away #HungerGames premiere tickets on FB http://ow.ly/91IEx - @EW (Entertainment Weekly)
- Today on my blog: “Wordless Wednesday: Harry’s has a cover :-) http://bit.ly/yW7TIn - @JoKnowles (Jo Knowles - See You at Harry’s)
- ‘Beautiful Creatures’ has conjured up a release date! http://ow.ly/95ACv - @hollywoodcrush (MTV Hollywood Crush)
- A book I love is out tomorrow! THE DISENCHANTMENTS by@nina_lacour! Here’s my interview with the author + a giveaway! http://ow.ly/95EJl - @novaren (Nova Ren Suma - Imaginary Girls) read more…
It’s my favorite time of the year! The 84th Academy Awards are set to take place on Sunday, February 26 on ABC and I cannot wait. If you haven’t had the chance yet, be sure to take a look at all the talented actors, actresses, producers, directors, and more nominated this year. While I don’t consider myself a tried and true movie buff, I definitely watch my fair share of movies, from really bad movies with awful graphics to the silly and cartoonish. There’s something exciting about seeing my favorite celebrities all decked out in their finest, about moaning and groaning through the overly long speeches, and wondering how they are going to dramatize the “in remembrance” portion of the evening. Yep, I’m an Oscars junkie and proud of it!
If you’re anything like me, you may be interested in reading some fun teen lit that focuses on the glitz and glamour of the movies and celebrities. There are a plethora of great titles out there so read on to find out some of the highlights and be sure to add your own suggestions in the comments! Perhaps you want to make an Oscar themed book display or have an Oscar YA party. These books will help you bring on your own inner star.
YALSA’s Popular Paperbacks list is a great place to start. The 2009 Fame and Fortune list is a great resource to “read all about teens aspiring to make it big.” This list focuses on several of the talents celebrities are famous for including acting, music, and modeling. And to add to that great YALSA list, be sure to check out the 2012 Fabulous Films for Young Adults: Song and Dance list. Combining books and movies is always a winning combination for any movie buff.
