Women as Warriors: Why Girls Deserve More

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October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Rachel Carroll from California.

We see it all the time in young adult literature these days. Blue Sargent, Katniss Everdeen, Beatrice Prior: girls who know how to stand up for themselves and do some serious damage. After spending so long watching Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, and Percy Jackson do their thing – you know, overcoming all odds, saving the world, the usual – a lot of female readers are excited to see some more girl power in the books they pick up and love. This new wave of strong female protagonists is something that I’m really excited to see on account of how empowering it is for women. Except, of course, when it isn’t. Because sometimes, having a female main character isn’t enough.

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to making sure that men and women are represented equally in literature and in all other kinds of media. The way that authors write about their female characters and the choices these writers make about how those characters interact with others says a lot about how society as a whole perceives women. So that begs the question: what is a “strong” female protagonist? When put side by side, there are a lot of overwhelming similarities between a lot of girls in recent young adult novels, particularly dystopian books, which are still experiencing a popularity surge. Since trends are always trends for a reason, I think it’s important to look at some of these patterns, as well as to think about why these women may not be as powerful as they’re meant to be.

PHYSICAL STRENGTH Perhaps one of the most obvious examples of a modern day heroine, someone I’ve already mentioned, is Katniss Everdeen. The driving focal point of The Hunger Games is the Games themselves, and the Games are very much a physical hunger gamescompetition. Katniss’ strength is necessary for her survival. But when we see female characters over and over again who are only defined by their strength or other physical abilities – archery, for instance – it gives the cover for The Fault in Our Starsimpression that there are no other ways to be “strong.” (Counter example – Hazel Grace Lancaster, the main character in John Green’s wildly successful The Fault In Our Stars, is chronically ill throughout the entire novel, and is anything but physically fit in any sense of the word. However, this does not keep her from being intelligent, clever, and compassionate.) Continue reading Women as Warriors: Why Girls Deserve More

The Best Books for Non-Readers

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October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Lana Gorlinski.

As hard as it is for a bookworm like myself to fathom, many teenagers simply don’t like to read. I know many of the type, and they have a variety of reasons for not enjoying books–they’d rather watch the movie, they find it tedious and can’t sit still for that long, they’d simply rather do other things with their time. Yet I’ve found that most people who “don’t like reading” actually just don’t like the books they’ve read. Indeed, if all I had read growing up were the asinine required reading pieces I was presented with, I too may have learned to loathe the activity. But I’m of the opinion that one can’t hate the act of reading itself, because it’s not a hobby so much as it is a medium for absorbing information of all kinds; saying one hates reading as a whole is just as ludicrous as saying one hates all of music, television, or the internet. Because just as there’s a music or movie genre for every taste, so too exists a near-infinite number of book genres to suit even the most finicky of readers. Below, I’ve listed a variety of books that even the most adamant non-readers should enjoy:

ender's game orson scott card coverIf you can’t put down the video games: Try an action-packed science fiction novel, like Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card! Set in a distant-future Earth, young Ender Wiggins finds himself selected for training in zero gravity to learn how to fight against the alien Buggers that are attacking the earth. Besides the usual awesomeness that comes with aliens and outer space, this quick-paced read is also chock full of action and interesting military strategy at every turn of the page.
What next: The Maze Runner by James Dashner Continue reading The Best Books for Non-Readers

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit – Quite Possibly the Best Kick Ass Book Ever

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October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Today, we have a video post from Raelyn Browning.

– Raelyn Browning: Hi all! My name is Raelyn Browning, a teen with an addiction to red lipstick, good books, and caramel coffee. Thanks for listening to me blather on about reading- see you someday!

Write What You Want To Read

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October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Ellie Gardiner from New Mexico.

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” —Toni Morrison

by flickr user urbanworkbench
by flickr user urbanworkbench

Whether your favorite genre is dystopian, fantasy or science fiction, one thing is perpetually true. There are never enough books. We’ve all run to the store or library, riding a book high, desperately in need of a new novel to feed our crazed bibliophilic hunger… only to be disappointed by the lack of stories that seem to meet our satisfaction.
The truth is, there really are quite a lot of books out there. There is an enormous amount of fiction waiting to change someone’s life for the first time. There is a novel out there right now that is waiting to be loved, and smelled, and hugged, and cried over anew. And a good portion of these sorts of books have been written because someone – someone just like us – couldn’t find the book they wanted, and decided it was up to them to write it.

After I finished Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, I had an experience that changed my outlook on writing. I entered the local book store, still at the top of that aforementioned high, and accosted an employee. “Do you have any books I could read that might help me through the aftermath of this one?” I asked, gesturing to Zusak’s novel excitedly. My face fell as Gladys the Shelver responded, “I don’t know. I’d suggest looking in the teen section.”

Oh, dread.

I do not have the slightest vendetta against teen fiction, but that was the last place I wished to be pointed. I wanted specific suggestions. I wanted answers. Reluctantly, I slumped off to root through the romance novels in search of a historical fiction that would satisfy me. Continue reading Write What You Want To Read

YA Trends Throughout The Years

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October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Saraya Flaig from Idaho.


Continue reading YA Trends Throughout The Years

Diving Deeper into Divergent

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October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Nedda Bozorgmehri from California.

On the surface, Divergent can be viewed as a popular young adult action-packed novel about bravery, love, and perseverance. The book has captured the attention of many young adults for its thrilling plot line and stimulating characters. DivergentHowever, there is one aspect of this captivating book that most people probably have not taken into consideration: connecting Divergent to history. Divergent is quite the modern book with its utopian world of faction systems created to prevent war. By diving deeper into the depths of Divergent and closely analyzing the ideas in text, one can discover that Divergent also has a historical significance as it can be related to the revolutionary ideas of communism and capitalism.

The factions were created with the hopes of eliminating future war and violence. It was believed that if each person selects their faction and focuses only on their faction’s morals everyone will be equal and there will be no conflict. This idea of creating a world in which all people are equal with the hopes of eliminating war, can be related to communism. A communist society is one in which resources are created and distributed equally among all members. On the other hand, capitalism promotes free enterprise; in this society individuals benefit and prosper based on their own innovation and productivity. Selfishness arises in a capitalist government as people compete to sell the ideas they think are best. Whereas in a communist government, selfishness fails to exist due to the encompassing sense of equality and selflessness. Abnegation, the faction where all members are required to be selfless in all the actions they endeavor, can be related to communism. Erudite, the highly intelligent “bookworm” faction, can be connected with the capitalist ideals, as they want to obtain more control of the government, sell their own ideas, and reject the “communist ideals” of Abnegation. In Divergent, Abnegation is the faction that has control over the government; Erudite opposes this and believes that the “intelligent” faction ought to have control over the government. The idea of capitalism falls under the members in the Erudite faction because in a sense they are being selfish and wanting to take over the government since they want to promote their ideas and technologies. Most people believe that Tris is a threat to this society because the fact that she is divergent means she cannot fall under the spell of manipulative Erudite serums and trackers. Within historical context, Tris is divergent because she can be both a capitalist (Erudite) and act selfishly, or she can be a communist (Divergent) and act selflessly. Because of her mixed personality, she puts the faction system in jeopardy. Continue reading Diving Deeper into Divergent

eBooks? No Thanks.

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October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Courtney Kilroy from Nebraska.

ereader_picI… am not a fan of ebooks. Never have been, possibly never will be. Why?

If you’re reading this, you must be a dedicated reader. Of anything. Newspapers, magazines, novels, chapter books, graphic novels, manga, et cetera. Why else would you be reading a blog about books?? And if you’re a dedicated reader, you know how exciting it is when your favorite author releases a new book, or when the next issue of your favorite magazine hits the shelves. And the build-up that makes it exciting.

  • The cliffhanger left at the end of the last book.
  • The nine months you waited until the title and sneak peek were released.
  • The additional month you waited until the book actually was available in stores.
  • The drive to the bookstore.
  • The speed-walk to the young-adult fiction aisle.
  • Then… you see it. You hold it in your hands, and you flip through the pages.
  • You have the thing you’ve been waiting for what seems like forever.
  • You check out, and read in the car (unless, of course, you’re driving, in which case you should
    be watching the road).

Does that sound familiar? It does for me. It’s like that with all the books I read, right now. Or
replace the bookstore with a library. Anyway, I feel like you don’t get that with an ebook.

  • The cliffhanger at the end of the last book.
  • The nine months you waited for the title and sneak peek to be released.
  • The additional month you waited until the book was actually available in the iTunes Store.
  • The opening of the iTunes app.
  • The typing of the name of the book into the search bar.
  • The clicking on the book’s icon.
  • The downloading of the book. 1%…2%…3%…

Kind of anticlimactic, don’t you think? Continue reading eBooks? No Thanks.

Teen Romance in YA Lit

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October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Karina Hernandez from New Jersey.

Young adult books with teen romance are the stories that take you on a roller coaster of emotion. It’s the moment when the two characters meet. It’s the love that grows between the two of them. It’s the introduction of a good love triangle. It’s the struggle when the couple refuses to accept their love for each other. It’s the tears shed, the pillows punched in frustration, the smile released when they finally kiss.

The many emotions of YA lit
The many emotions of YA lit

Everyone has their favorite couple from a YA- Hazel and Augustus, Anna and Étienne, Tris and Tobias, Sophie and Archer, Hermione and Ron, Samantha and Jase, Willem and Allyson, Eleanor and Park. Everyone also has their favorite love triangle – Katniss/Peeta/Gale, Bella/Edward/Jacob, America/Maxon/Aspen, Clara/Tucker/Christian, Juliette/Adam/Warner (Why does it seem like all the love triangles are two boys and a girl, anyway?).

These are the stories that leave us either sobbing at the end or just closing the book and letting out the biggest smile. These stories make us fall in love and just feel happy from head to toe. They take us on a crazy adventure from start from finish, leaving us rapidly turning the pages, thirsty for more.

Now I’ll quickly take you through some of my favorite teen romances in young adult lit and describe the story, the feels, and the love. Continue reading Teen Romance in YA Lit

Being A Teen in the Fight Against Book Censorship

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October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Abby Hendrickson from Minnesota.

When I was a freshmen in high school, a parent in my town decided that the book that we would be reading in class that year, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (which discusses sexual abuse), was explicit and therefore should be banned and removed from shelves.  Immediately English teachers and librarians were up in arms, ready to strike out the looming book censorship. They were prepared to defend the right of the students and everyone else to read freely.

Not wanting it to become a big fight, the school board quickly came to the decision that the book wouldn’t be banned but instead would be pulled from the required reading list. Under the new rules, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was kept at the school where teachers would read aloud from it only when the passages were necessary for the lesson. Continue reading Being A Teen in the Fight Against Book Censorship

Why I Love Harry Potter

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October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Jacqueline Cano from Virginia.

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When I am asked what my favorite book is, I am met with a challenge. How can I choose just one? There are thousands of books that have been written; there are thousands more to be written yet. How can I be expected to pick one?  I’ve read hundreds of books. I couldn’t name them all if you paid me. But certain stories stick. And the series that sticks out most to me is Harry Potter.

And it isn’t just me. Mention Harry Potter and nearly everyone knows what you’re talking about. Some people will be enthused. Others will recognize it with apathy. There are also the ones who are fervently against it, but we mustn’t let those Muggles get us down.  That’s one of the things I love about Harry Potter– the recognizable quality it holds.  Harry Potter, which has been translated into 77 different languages, brings people of different ages and cultures together. It’s not some cool underground thing. It’s a unifying literary power.

But why?

Why do so many people care so much about a boy who grew up in the cupboard under the stairs? Why do so many people appreciate this made up story? What magic could it possibly hold? I can’t speak for everyone, but I can tell you what I think. Continue reading Why I Love Harry Potter