CTLC: Grasshopper Jungle and Group Discussion

Hi my dear readers!

The other author present at the Colorado Teen Literature Conference was Andrew Smith.  Like with Wendelin Van Draanen, we were asked to read a book by Smith so that we would be prepared to meet at the conference.  (Andrew Smith is nothing like I imagined.  I expected a somewhat young and hip author; this video interview actually shows what he's really like.  It's awesome.)

The book I picked for the Smith selection was Grasshopper Jungle.  The premise is that the world is going to end due to giant preying mantises, but there's this high school love triangle that is taking place that is waaay more interesting than the mantises.  Everything is over the top, from body odor to what girls think of guys.  It was a fun read that I read in a single day.

In group, we got to talking about why this book made so many waves in the YA market.  We decided it was because Grasshopper Jungle is so over the top and in your face about everything.  One of the things that came up was wondering if Smith drew from his students for this book.  Like, did he take all of the drama that they deal with and make it into this exaggerated narrative.  It worked, if that was the case.  All of us agreed that the book was humorous and a great read.

The only criticism we had for it was the ending.  None of us liked how the story ended.

I would recommend Grasshopper Jungle for high school students and beyond.  There is a little bit of crude and graphic stuff in it, but not enough to ruin the story.  It will have you cracking up and I highly recommend it.

~Meaghan

CTLC Novel: Runaway and Group Discussion

Hello my dear readers!

You may remember my blog about the Colorado Teen Literature Conference (found here) and how as a volunteer I got to meet Andrew Smith and Wendelin Van Draanen.  Well, before the conference, we were required to pick a text by each author to read and discuss so that we would understand why they have the impact on the YA literature market that they do.

The first one was Wendelin Van Draanen.  Wendelin is awesome and a little over hyper, which makes her even more likable in my mind.  (Here is a great interview video of her so you can see what I mean.)  I chose to read Runaway for her selection.

Runaway is about a 6th grade girl named Holly who runs away from the foster care system and keeps a journal of her day to day life.  It's the kind of book I would have gravitated to as a middle school student, it really is.  I have always been writing, and while I didn't start keeping an actual journal until I was 15, I know how it feels to need to write about things.

I thought I was going to love it.  I didn't even finish it.  It just seemed to drag on and on for me.

When we talked about it in group, a lot of the members said they felt like Holly seemed too old for her age.  Maybe that's part of why I struggled with it.  We wondered if maybe it was because kids in that situation are forced to grow up faster than they should, so they come across as older.  Another thing that was prevalent through the book was Van Draanen's idea of "Hope in the Mail".  There was a lot of hope by the end of the book (I skipped to the ending and read it) and peppered throughout.

The writing style really does a good job of speaking for the character of Holly though.  There are bits of poetry throughout, and you really get a sense of how angry Holly is until the end.  I think maybe I just wasn't in the right place to read this book right now; Van Draanen is a very good writer and me not getting through is not a reflection of her.

Overall, this is a middle to early high school book.  The consensus in our group is that everyone should give it a look.

~Meaghan

The Verse Novel: Crank

Hey there, my readers!

One important genre of YA literature is the verse novel.  These novels are written in poetic form.  This allows the words to take multiple meanings and the lines to take various shapes, much like in poetry.  The subject material can range from biographical to completely fictional.

I read Crank by Ellen Hopkins as my verse novel choice.  Hopkins wrote the book in verse form after her daughter dealt with drug addiction.  It explores the chaos meth can place on you and your family, as well as how sometimes you don't realize how much you're giving to the drug until you hit rock bottom.  Hopkins has a great website that has a place for adults as well as a place for young adults.  The adult site focuses on her new adult novels while the YA site has resources for students and teachers.

Crank was a difficult read for me, based on the subject material.  Hopkins doesn't shy away from any of the nitty gritty details that go with drug addiction: loss of friends, rape, drug deals gone bad, family struggles, withdrawl.  It's all there.  Which I think is a good thing, because everyone (especially teens) need to see what comes with the high.  The ending was hopeful, which is equally important because it is possible to get better and for things to heal.

The verse form was especially powerful in this book.  There are places where you can read across the columns or you can read just one side or the other; both impact the meaning of the story and lend to the madness of the situation.  It can be a fairly quick read or it can take longer, depending on how you process it.  For me, I had to read sections twice to fully grasp the impact of them.

Crank is also part of a series.  It's the first book.  The other books in the series follow what happened after the events set in motion.  It is considered a work of fiction even though it is loosely based on Hopkins' experiences with her daughter.

I recommend Crank for 11th and 12th grade, and beyond.  Younger than that and I think it might be a little difficult.  I do think that even with the hard material, everyone should read it.  Don't shy away.

~Meaghan

Colorado Teen Literature Conference: Reflection

Hi again, my readers!

A few weeks ago I had the great fortune of volunteering for the Colorado Teen Literature Conference (CTLC), which is a statewide conference for teens and adults alike.  There are local authors as well as headliners, classes on various subjects that you can attend all day, and places to buy items from local vendors and authors.  (Their website is here and is awesome.)

I had never been before or even heard about it before, so volunteering for it was a great way to get introduced to what CTLC is all about.  Most of what I was doing was directing visitors to the various places on my school's campus so they could find their seminars and classes easily.  I also got to participate in classes if I felt inclined (I went to one on fairytales in YA literature and now have like 20 more books on my "To Read" list on GoodReads) and hear the guest speakers present.

This year, the guest speakers were Andrew Smith, author of Grasshopper Jungles, and Wendelin Van Draanen, author of Runaway.  They were amazing.  Hearing them speak about why they became writers was one of the most inspirational experiences of my life.

Wendelin started writing as a way to cope (she called it revenge writing) when her family's business was destroyed in an arson act.  She used to teach computer programming and math at the high school level and wrote in her free time.  When she decided to start sending things to publishers, she came up with the term "Hope in the Mail"; what it means is that as long as something is out there, there's hope.

Andrew is a high school English teacher and also writes in his free time.  He mostly wrote things for himself and was convinced by a friend of his to send some of his stuff off to a publisher.  He now has two contracts and writes two novels a year while teaching.  One of his books required for him to figure out how many miles the earth moves in a period of time.  The answer is 20 miles in five seconds.  He tries to encourage all his students to stop thinking about what they're going to do with the rest of their lives; instead, he wants them to think of what they're going to from 20 miles to the next.

I was able to meet both the authors and get Andrew to sign my book.  I also got this wickedly awesome picture with Andrew that Wendelin photo bombed.  Of course I blinked.

It was fantastic.  If you get the chance to go to CTLC, I highly recommend you take it.

~Meaghan

Book Talks: Luna

Hey there readers!

One of the assignments for our YA lit class was to give a "Book Talk" to our class about a young adult novel that we enjoy.  A "Book Talk" is basically where you have three minutes to try to sell the class on why they should read your book.  You need to be engaging, bring a copy of the book, and read a small section of the book aloud.

The book I gave my talk on was Luna by Julie Anne Peters.  The story follows Regan, a high school girl who deals with the basic troubles of life: babysitting, getting good grades in her advanced classes, crushes on guys she's friends with, female friend trouble, and of course her relationship with her parents.  But there's one part of Regan's life that doesn't fit the normal equation: her older sibling.  By day, he's Liam: brother, son, and high school genius.  At night, he becomes Luna: sister, prom queen wanna be, and make up expert.  The story deals with gender roles, expectations, what it means to be transgender, and how being transgender can affect a family.

I read Luna when I was in high school and it has stuck with me every since.  It's really well done and is absolutely heartbreaking in places.  I remember being 16 or 17 and just bawling my eyes out by the end.  Peters writes in a way that gets you emotionally involved with her characters and that tackles issues without being in your face about it.  (I read a lot of her stuff as teen; I really loved Define Normal which follows two teens - one a prep and one a goth - as they become friends through a school counseling program.)  She's also a local author (which you can read about on her website) who I had the fortune to meet through a writer's group I was in as a teen.

I highly recommend Luna, especially if you're looking for something in the LGBTQ genre for highschoolers.

~Meaghan

Supernatural Fiction: The Graveyard Book

Hello again dear readers!

So in my YA lit class, we read supernatural fiction.  Supernatural fiction isn't anything new to the genre (remember Goosebumps from elementary school anyone?) and can be seen, in my opinion, as an introduction to the horror genre.  That isn't to say they are all scary, though.

I read Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book as my selection for the supernatural.  I'll be completely honest: I'm not a huge Gaiman fan.  I tried to read Stardust but got bored with it a third of the way through.  I also tried American Gods and had similar trouble.  But The Graveyard Book was something altogether different.

The first time I read it was for Children's Literature last year, so this was my second reading.  I enjoyed it completely both times.  The Graveyard Book follows young Nobody Owens.  Nobody's family is murdered when he is a baby and yet he somehow evades the killer (named Jack) by crawling to the graveyard up the hill.  The hosts of the graveyard (ghosts) take him in and raise him as one of their own.  His mentor is a vampire named Silas.  As Bod (his nickname) grows older, his adventures become more and more wild.  By the end of the story, he has to face the killer of his family as a young man.

The writing is well done and the story is great.  It is a middle school level book, so it's less intense than some of Gaiman's other works (like the ones I mentioned above that I couldn't get through).  The pages are set up in a manner so that there are some illustrations to help guide the story along.  There are also places where the page layout lends to the feel of the story, such as a dark background around a chapter opening.

I highly recommend The Graveyard Book.  Even if you are like me and struggle with Gaiman's work, I think this one is worth a try.

(Also, here is some fantastic fanart that fans of the book have done.  Harper Collins publishes it on their Tumblr page.  I am impressed.)

~Meaghan

Science Fiction Novel: Feed and Group Discussion

Hello dear readers!

For my YA lit class, one section of material we covered was science fiction.  The selection I picked was Feed by M.T. Anderson, a novel in which everyone in a future society has tech systems embedded in their heads that are constantly marketing to each individual.  When the main character meets a girl named Violet who wants to break the system and break free of the "feed", he thinks she's nuts initially.  But as the story progresses, he begins to understand why she's doing what she does.

(M.T. Anderson is a really interesting writer.  If you go to his website, it's very much "steampunk" which I think speaks for his writing.  I recommend checking out his books.)

In our group, we had an interesting discussion about the role of technology in the lives of kids today.  Many kids can't be seen without their smartphones in hands, checking Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.  The premise of Feed is that these streams would be pushed directly into the minds of everyone who had a "feed".  The interesting thing is that Anderson wrote this novel in 2001, which was before the Facebook boom.

Another interesting thing about Feed is that the language is very dumbed down.  The reason for this is to make a point that too much technology can reverse the learning process.  We felt this was a very deliberate choice on Anderson's part; while it does make the novel hard to read in some places, it gets the feeling of this society all about consumption across well.

Overall, I enjoyed Feed.  I think it could be a really good launch point for discussion with teens and adults alike.

~Meaghan

Young Adult Non Fiction: How They Croaked Plus Group Discussion

Hello again, my lovely readers!

A key component to education and to the reading curriculum of young adults is non fiction.  Non fiction material can range from the funny and gross (which is what I read for this post) to the serious and grim.  There are a few challenges in non fiction, especially for teens.  It needs to be both engaging and factual, and somehow it has to hold the attention of someone who may or may not have the focus of a goldfish.  The key with young adults is to get them reading what they are interested in, be it space, dinosaurs, fashion, etc. and use it as a launch point into other non fiction material.

(If you are looking for some ideas for non fiction for YA readers, Goodreads has a pretty great list here.  A lot of these look really interesting, and can be a great way to get YA readers involved.)

For the non fiction selection, I chose to read How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg and Kevin O'Malley.  The book is filled with bios of famous people ranging from Mozart to Washington with facts about the time periods, practices, and other random bits and pieces.  The book also has a lot of really funny drawings throughout as well.

I loved it.  This is exactly the kind of book I was reading when I was in like 5th grade - the weird, gross out fact book was my preference of choice.  I love how How They Croaked was humorous throughout, especially with some of the more gory deaths.   I think by keeping the tone light it kept it from getting too dark.  The facts were really neat, too; I had no idea Mozart died from strep throat.  Overall, I  think anyone in upper elementary through middle school will probably enjoy it.

In our group, we came up with a list of things we learned from How They Croaked, and if this list doesn't entice you into reading it, I don't know what else will:

1. Doctors could be just as lethal as the illnesses they were treating.
2. Thank God for antibiotics.
3. Always let someone know that you've died.
4. One of the leading causes of death is science.
5. Always do what you love, even if it kills you.

Again, a really great book.

~Meaghan

Historical Fiction Novel: Between Shades of Gray Plus Group Discussion

Hello my readers!

I hope you are all having a lovely April so far.  So in our YA lit class, we had to read a historical fiction selection.  Historical fiction is a really important genre.  Typically, a historical fiction novel will try to inform the reader about some time period or event, with the intention of making a connection between the reader and the characters so that the reader has a reason to be involved or to care.  A lot of the time, a piece of historical fiction will act as a launch point to spark an interest in the reader.  Once that spark is lit, the reader can then go find more information on whatever topic the novel was on.

For my historical fiction novel, I chose Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys.  Between Shades of Gray is about a 15 year old girl named Lina who lives in Lithuania during WWII.  The Soviets come in the middle of the night and take her, her parents, and her younger brother away to a work camp in Siberia.  They face separation, hard labor, brutal winters, poor living and travel conditions, and starvation.  There is a lot of death and a lot of pain.  Lina is a talented artist and uses her drawing skills to make it through.

(Between Shades of Gray has a really great website as well. There are videos of the author talking about her book, group discussion guides, and reviews from critics.  You can find it here.)

In class, our group talked about how we felt about the book.  The general consensus was that it was a difficult read because there wasn't a lot of hope from the get go.  As one of my classmates said, it was pretty much emotionally "shitty the whole way through", which made it difficult to stick with.  But we also decided it was a really important read, as many of us had no idea about the Siberian work camps in WWII.

One activity we were asked to do was to come up with a list of everything important we took away from Between Shades of Gray.  It was a really fun activity, so I'm going to post the list here for your enjoyment.

"Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned from Between Shades of Gray"

1. Blankets should never be taken for granted.
2. A parent's love is greater than you know.
3. Be kind to everyone, even your "enemies."
4. Not all people are bad, they just act bad under certain circumstances.
5. Time heals all.
6. Humans have the power to overcome anything.
7. Always find a hole to poop through.

I hope you will go read Between Shades of Gray.  It really is an important piece of historical fiction.

~Meaghan

Identity Novel: Esperanza Rising Plus Group Discussion

Hello readers!

The identity novel is a really important part of YA literature, as it explores growth and issues that many teens are dealing with in some form or another.  For my selection, I chose Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan.  Her website is found here and is full of all kinds of interesting things, including resources and discussion guides for her books.

The basis of Esperanza Rising is starting over from the ground up.  Esperanza starts the story as a wealthy girl in Mexico during the 1920s.  Her father is killed and she and her mother make an escape to California, where they work as laborers in the fields.  At first, Esperanza is upset.  The life in California is different than anything she's ever known and she hates it.  But as the story continues, she starts to grow and come into her own, proving that even if you lose everything, you can still find yourself.

In our group discussion, we all latched onto the themes found in the story.  There is smoke and fire (from Esperanza's home being burned), crochet and family (her grandmother teaches her to crochet and it becomes a lifeline while Esperanza is in California), and the fact that you can always recreate yourself.  The biggest key we found to the story is the idea of cycles and circles.  The book is structured after the agricultural growing season, and by the end, it has come a full season, much like Esperanza's life.

Esperanza Rising is a great book for upper elementary and middle school students, although I think everyone can gain something from it.  I highly recommend it.

~Meaghan

Non-Fiction Development: Writing Great Books for Young Adults Plus Group Discussion Notes

Hello readers!

For one section of our YA lit class, we needed to read a non-fiction book about development.  The one I chose was Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks.  It's a guide from an editor on what publishers are looking for and on ways to structure a young adult novel.

The book was pretty much how I expected it to be.  There are sections that describe plot, characters, and climax.  The key points of the book are that you need to gear the novel towards your audience and that you should really decide on a theme when you write.

There are some really good ideas in the book, and there are prompts to get you writing throughout, which is a feature I really liked.  Brooks also brings up some good things to think about, such as remembering your audience and what it was like when you were a young adult.

When we talked about it in our group, most of us kind of laughed at the idea of coming up with a theme. For us, we write to just write.  There isn't a goal in mind of a theme like harmony or friendship.  I don't know if that will change when we get older, but for now that's how it is.  We also discussed how the book reads like most other "how to write" books.  Overall, there wasn't much in the book to differentiate it from others in the fields.

However, if you are interested in writing for a young adult market, I would still recommend you at least look at Writing Great Books for Young Adults, even if only for the writing prompts.

~Meaghan

P.S. - Here is a really neat article we read in class if you are interested in writing.  It has some really cool ideas to get you started.

Reflection: Socratic Seminars

Hello readers!

Throughout the semester, our class has been doing a number of discussions called Socratic seminars.  I had never heard of them until this class and I think they are awesome, actually.  You're probably asking, "What is that?"

A Socratic seminar is a way of holding a polite, thoughtful discussion of a topic.  Our topics have ranged from whether or not YA literature is too dark to articles we read about the field of YA literature.  The class is divided into two groups.  Group 1 forms an inside circle around a few table, facing one another for discussion.  Group 2 forms a circle around Group 1 and observes quietly while the inside group discusses the topic of choice.  Every member of the inside circle gets a chance to speak, offering text references, questions, and counter points.  Then, after the allotted period of time has passed, the outside group offers feedback on the discussion and switches places to become the inside group.

What I like about this form of discussion is that everyone's opinion is heard.  There is no dominant speaker, but a multitude of speakers.  The conversations stay polite and no one gets trampled.  The other nice thing is that because you are only facing the people you're talking to (instead of facing the outside circle), it creates a safe space to voice ideas.

Each seminar so far has gotten better, I think.  As a class, we're learning each other's thought processes as well as our own.  I like this as a teaching tool for my own classroom because I think I can use it to build community and safe space in my classes.

If this sounds interesting to anyone reading this, I found a really helpful website that explains not only what the seminar is but how it functions and how to utilize it.  You can find the site here. :)

~Meaghan

Reflection: Young Adult Reading Survey

Hey readers!

One of the projects we did this semester was to create a survey for young adults about their reading habits.  We had to decide on what we wanted to find from the young adults we were surveying.  For me, I wanted to know how young adults find their reading materials.

So I created a survey consisting of ten multiple choice answered questions and five short sentence questions.  These questions ranged from how frequently the youth visited a library or bookstore to whether or not their friends read.  I then distributed it among a group of 10 young adults at my local youth group.  These teens ranged from 7th grade all the way to 12th, and were pretty evenly a mixture of guys and girls.

I then compiled their responses and wrote a paper, exploring what I learned from their responses.  Here are some of the most important things I took away from this experience:

~ Always be prepared for teens to give you answers that don't relate to the questions.  I had quite a few answers that were off the wall from what I asked.

~ Teens like it when books are suggested to them in a very specific manner.  This came up quite a few times as well.  A lot of the youth told me that when I'm suggesting books, I should gear it towards the teen.  So for example, one told me to tell them "You would like this book" instead of "I really liked this book".

~ Many teenagers use the internet to find books.  Popular sites include Google, Amazon, and through friends on social media.

~That being said, not one of the teens I surveyed uses Goodreads.  (You guys remember this site?)  I found that surprising.

I plan on using the results from this survey to help in my future classroom.  I want to get my students involved with Goodreads so they can see that I'm reading and to also help them find new books.  I'm going to keep my bookshelves open to my students, and when I make recommendations, I will always gear them towards my students.  I also think that in the future, I may word my survey differently so that I can get more detailed responses.

Overall, I found that this experience was great.

~Meaghan