Biblio-Bile

A 21-year-old English Ed. Major's word vomit about books and writing

[bibliobile]

Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

Woodson, Jacqueline. Locomotion. G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2003.

Summary- Locomotion tells the story of a young boy named Lonnie Collins Motion. Lonnie is on the brink of adolescence as he learns to navigate his feelings of nostalgia, grief, and overwhelming emotion, from his teacher Ms. Marcus. Ms. Marcus teaches Lonnie how to express himself through different forms of poetry, which he utilizes to describe his life before and after the death of his parents. Lonnie lost both of his parents in a housefire when he was eight years old, which forced both him and his little lister, Lili, to enter the foster care system. Eventually Lili was adopted, but Lonnie remained in foster care with a woman named Mrs. Edna. Lonnie uses poetry to give readers a first-hand account of what it is like to try and present yourself in a way that pleases others while recognizing you do not belong to the dominant culture of power and that is something you cannot change, even if they ask you to.

Personal Response-

When I first started reading Locomotion, I was worried that the book would not qualify as Young Adult Literature, but as I continued reading, I recognized Lonnie’s account of the liminal space that is the in between gray area of being a child, and being ‘grown up’. Despite his age, 12 years old, Lonnie’s words and recollections of his life are often wise beyond his years. This book, in opinion, is one of the exact examples of why adolescence cannot be pinpointed to a specific age. Because of the life Lonnie has lived so far, he has been forced to mature faster than other kids his age. The dichotomy between his mental age, which in my opinion is around 14-15, and his physical age, 12, places Lonnie in a confusing liminal space of being expected to act one way, feeling a completely different way, and realistically acting in another manner entirely, which is the adolescent experience in a nutshell. Even as a 20-year-old, white, female, college student, from the rural south, I found myself relating to the feelings Lonnie, a 12-year-old, Black, male, middle school student, from inner city New York, describes in his poetry.

Connections-

Locomotion is made up entirely of poetry from beginning to end, which allows students to make deeper connections from their own lives to Lonnie’s story, even if the character could not be more different from the reader. I do not think I would use the entire book in my classroom, but I would gladly use excerpts from the book as examples of different styles of poetry that may be more relatable to students, and examples of symbolism for students to work with. I would also happily place this book in my classroom library. Locomotion is a book that is far easier to read and comprehend than a lot of Young Adult Literature, which would make it perfect to keep in my classroom as an available resource for future students who may struggle with reading comprehension or high-level literacy.

[bibliobile]

Homesick by Jennifer Croft

Croft, Jennifer. Homesick. Charco Press, 2022.

Summary-  

Homesick is a coming-of-age story about sisters Amy and Zoe. Amy and Zoe have a very close sisterly bond despite their three-year age gap. A large part of their close relationship can be attributed to their social isolation together. Amy and Zoe are homeschooled due to Zoe’s mysterious seizures that cause multiple hospitalizations and surgeries. Because of their homeschooling Amy and Zoe are connected at the hip and form a bond unlike any other, even going as far as to make up their own language together. But as time goes on, Amy is recognized for her advanced intelligence and offered the chance to attend college early. She jumps at the chance for independence, but immediately feels the negative effects of her familial safety net being pulled out from under her when her family moves even further away from the University to be closer to better medical facilities for Zoe. Amy has to learn to cope with being alone for the first time, and finding who she is outside of Zoe’s sister, or the smart kid.

Personal Response-

One of my biggest takeaways from this book is that I wish I liked it more. Homesick is a book full of artistic nuance, some of which I was able to grasp and some of which, obviously went completely over my head. Although this book was not my cup of tea, I believe its story could be hugely impactful for its primary audience. This book was originally published in Spanish, then in English with a variety of pictures and captions added, then English again with all extra-textual elements removed in order to make it closer to the original Spanish version. I wish I was more fluent in reading Spanish, because due to the nature of language and translation, I think the Spanish version has the potential to be far more impactful, especially for native speakers of the language. I also think the added visual elements in the second version of the book could possibly add a level of understanding that I did not attain while reading through the third release of the book.

Connections-

Homesick provides a narrative that is often overlooked when discussing chronic illness, which is the impact it can have on the support systems of the individual impacted. It is important to provide students with diverse literature from different cultures, and one aspect of culture that is often viewed as a separate category altogether is exceptionality and non-exceptionality, otherwise known as disability culture. Disability is a spectrum and impacts individuals to varying degrees depending on severity. Still, regardless of severity, people who are differently abled are often required to look at the world through a different lens due to the ableism that permeates most dominant cultures. Even though caretakers and support systems may not have any disabilities themselves, they oftentimes are active participants in disability culture to be active participants in their loved one’s life. This is the case for the main protagonist Amy. Amy herself has no immediately apparent disability, but she has grown up alongside her sister, Zoe who does, and has had to learn how to navigate the world both of them, before learning how to navigate it alone. Amy’s narrative in Homesick is one of deep love and longing for connection, which is also permeated by grief due to the loss of connection she feels as she moves away from home and is separated from her sister. I do not think I would teach this book in my classroom, but I would not be opposed to keeping it in my classroom library for students to read if they would like.

[bibliobile]

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Re-read)

Ness, Patrick. A Monster Calls: Illustrated Paperback. Walker Books UK, 2012.

Summary-

 A Monster Calls is a story that follows a 13-year-old, Conor, living in England with his mother who has Cancer. Conor’s mother has had cancer for a little under a year and he is used to taking care of her and helping around the house without protest. He makes his own breakfast, takes out the trash, and does laundry all without being asked. In school Conor is looked at as an outcast because of the rumors spread about his parents’ divorce and his mother’s illness. The only person who pays him any mind is his bully, Harry. One night after waking up from a nightmare he has been repeatedly having that is too horrible to describe, Conor hears a voice at his window calling his name. The voice is coming from the yew tree from on the hill that has come to life as a monster. Conor thinks this monster isn’t real, but every morning after its visits he finds evidence of its presence in the form of leaves, berries, and saplings. Every night the Yew tree comes to visit, he tells Conor a story and warns that the fourth story will be one that Conor has to tell. The stories are convoluted in nature and reveal the grey areas that exist when morals are being discussed, and how things aren’t always what they seemed. The events in the stories and the actions of the yew tree seem to have physical repercussions on the real world as well. During one story the monster tells a tale of ripping a house to shreds, and when Conor awakes he find that he has done the same thing to his grandmothers’ living room. During another tale the monster tells Conor about the time he forced everyone to see the invisible man by making them unable to look away, and when Conor awakes he realizes he has beaten his bully to a bloody pulp in front of the entire school. Both awful actions go un-punished, leaving Conor to sit alone in his guilt feeling more alone than ever. Throughout the story Conor’s mother’s condition is only getting worse as doctors try their last-ditch efforts to save her, a medicine from the yew tree, the monster. Unfortunately, the medicine from the Yew tree cannot save her. His mother is going to die, despite her reassurances that she wouldn’t. Conor is angry with his mother and she reassures him that it is okay that he is angry and that she knows he loves her. Conor decides to confront the monster, who instead tells him it is time for him to tell the fourth story. Conor tries to run away, but is forced to tell the fourth story, living through his nightmare once again. The fourth story is Conor’s nightmare about losing his mother, his mother falls over the cliff and he tries to hold onto her, but she is so heavy that he cannot hold on. He tries to tell himself that she fell, but the truth is that he let go. She was heavy, but he could have held on longer. The monster did not come to save his mother, it came to save Conor from his guilt. From the beginning Conor knew his mother was going to die from Cancer, the only question was when. The question drove Conor crazy as he watched his mom suffer and watched how others looked at him because of what they were going through, he started wishing that the inevitable would simply go ahead and happen. He wished everything could be over, despite loving his mom and not wanting to lose her.

Personal Response-

This is my second reading of A Monster Calls. My first reading was when I was in 8th grade and I remember absolutely adoring the book then and relating to it heavily due to my experiences with a chronically ill mother growing up. Unfortunately, since then the relatability of the story for me only grew stronger. Since reading this story the first time my mother has had cancer twice. Reading this story again with those circumstances under my belt absolutely wrecked me as a reader. I cried more in the reading of this book than I have over any book before. The book describes the convoluted nature of feelings and actions perfectly in the ways they make sense and they truly don’t, all at once. Despite being farther in age from the main character now than I was in my first read-through, I feel as if I can relate more to him now, being on the other side of things. In fact, I think this character could be relatable and helpful for anyone who has dealt with having a family member with long-term illness or being a caretaker to someone close to them with long-term illness.

Connections-

The YA roots in this book run deep but are not totally visble on the surface. The main characters’ actions are rooted in adolescence, as well as his reactions to different circumstances. However, many of the typical issues for characters in YA novels such as love triangles or identity are overshadowed by a looming monster both figuratively and literally. Who has time to think about crushes with a dying mother and a monster at your window? I do however appreciate the rawness of this novel and the reality shares with the reader. Our main character isn’t naive and childish just because he is 13. He still has complex thoughts and feelings regarding what is happening around him, even if he doesn’t have the emotional maturity to express it properly or emotionally regulate himself. I would recommend this book a million times over to anyone I could. It is about a 2-hour read, and insanely worth it. I would also love to teach this book in my class, not only because of its amazing message and writing but also because of the symbolism and figurative language that lie below the surface of the author’s beautiful story.

[bibliobile]

Burned by Ellen Hopkins

Hopkins, Ellen. Burned. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2013.

Summary-

 This book follows Pattyn, a girl who is coming of age in a very strict -and very large- Mormon family. For years Pattyn is a ‘perfect’ daughter to her always pregnant mother and mostly drunk father. Her father spends his free time outside of work drinking and beating her mother; while Pattyn spends her time outside of school attending seminary, cleaning up around the house, and changing her siblings’ diapers. During her few moments of precious free time Pattyn likes to practice shooting her father’s rifle, and one day while doing so, she meets a boy named Dustyn from her school who is out riding his ATV. Her and Dustyn hit it off as he pressures her into drinking and having sex. When her father finds them, he threatens both of their lives and Dustyn leaves Pattyn in the dust. When Dustyn rejects Pattyn and gets a new girlfriend, Pattyn flies into a rage and breaking a window and his new girlfriend’s nose. She then is sent to leave with her Aunt Jeanette who is nothing like she expected. Aunt Jeanette (Aunt J) is the only woman who Pattyn has seen put her father in her place. Pattyn’s time at Aunt J’s is filled with gardening, cooking, riding horses, and a new boy, Ethan. Ethan is nothing like the boys Pattyn new before, he is kind and gentle hearted, he wants to get to know her, and he makes sure she knows he wants her for more than what’s in between her legs. Pattyn comes into her own throughout the summer as her new found self-confidence blooms and she becomes a young women she refers to as ‘new Pattyn.’ Ethan and Pattyn only get closer over the course of the summer while they work together with her aunt. Unfortunately, as the summer draws to a close, Pattyn gets word that her dad has gotten worse and has begun beating her sister. Despite confiding in Ethan, she knows she must return home. Ethan gifts her a promise ring and a gun as a reminder of his love for her, and a reminder of a way out should her dad get too violent. After returning home, inevitably her dad turns violent again, beating her multiple times. Amongst the chaos of the beatings, Pattyn realizes her period is late and she is pregnant. She calls Ethan and tells him, but is unfortunately overheard by the girls at school who begin spreading the rumor immediately. Ethan insists on coming to get her and reassures her that they are going to be alright and that he wants to marry her and love her forever. He picks her up from school to escape her parents, but unfortunately, they are seen by a boy who informs her parents immediately, who inform the police immediately as well. While being chased by the police, Ethan’s truck slides on the icy road and crashes. Pattyn wakes up and finds not only is her baby dead, but the love of her life is too. She then decides that the way-out Ethan provided her would come in handy for those who have made her life the living hell it has become. Then the book ends.

Personal Response-

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and becoming immersed into Pattyn’s life. The book is written in a poetry format, with most of its pages set up in varying stanza styles that reflect the scattered mind of a teenager in turmoil. Pattyn comes from a highly religious background that reminded me of my own upbringing, and the perspective was refreshingly, yet sadly, relatable. I also really enjoyed how Pattyn’s summer journey of finding herself, truly showed how beautiful the coming-of-age process can be if allowed to flourish and bloom. Despite the rage that filled me when I finished the book and found I was left on an insanely large cliffhanger, I found the book from beginning to end to be impactful and beautifully written. This was the first book I have ever read by Ellen Hopkins, but after enjoying this one so thoroughly, I am excited to look into reading more.

Connections-

This book has touched on some of the key elements of adolescence that I believe are intrinsic to the feminine coming-of-age experience, bordering on new adult, experience. Despite her family at home trying to pacify her into a girlhood-like submission for the rest of her life, Pattyn fights back to become the strong woman she wished she would have had in her life growing up. She sees her mother struggle with her abusive father and is determined to do anything she can to avoid the same life for herself. She takes her destiny into her own hands and decides to stand up for herself, even if it usually backfires. She asserts her independence by learning how to ride a horse, drive a car, hunt, and shoot a rifle. In doing all of these things to better herself, her self-confidence grows, and she begins to like the person she sees in the mirror more and more. This book is a good example of confidence coming from within. I think if asked about this book I would recommend it, but I am on the fence about keeping it in my classroom or teaching it due to sex being talked about very frequently and implications of school shootings towards the end of the book.

[bibliobile]

More Than This by Patrick Ness

Ness, Patrick. More than This. Candlewick Press, 2014.

Summary-

More Than This by Patrick Ness, follows the experience of Seth, a teenage boy who died by suicide and woke up seemingly before his life as he knew it ever really started. Despite dying against the rocks in an American beach town, Seth wakes up naked, covered in bandages in front of his childhood home in England. The only problem is, no one is home, no one is home anywhere he goes. The streets are abandoned with knee high weeds and sinkholes, the houses are dilapidated and dusty, and there is no sign of human life other than him for miles. He spends his days trying to find food, and water, while also trying to figure out what is going on. His nights are spent dreaming of his life before he died, some memories good, some bad, and most ugly. After spending countless days in a wasteland with only his memories to keep him company, Seth decides he is going to try and end things again and see if escape is really possible. On his way to the cliff, he sees the first sign of life he has since waking up, a heavier set black girl with an English accent, Regine, and a young polish boy, Tomasz. Regine and Tomasz find Seth just in time to save him from the only other semblance of ‘life’ he has experienced in his time awake, The Driver. The Driver spends his time hunting and capturing those who are awake in this world. After escaping The Driver, the three of them figure out the common thread between their deaths, they all died from being hit in the same place on the back of the head, a place that now has a lump and blinking light beneath the skin for all of them. The three of them then spend their time trying to figure out: where everyone is, if any of this is real, if any of their lives before were real, or if there being ‘more than this’ real truly matters if you are happy where you are.

Personal Response-

My opinions on this book truly are varied. I found myself nearly putting it down around the 100-page point because of its truly slow beginning, but decided that if I had made it that far, I should see the book through the rest of its 360 pages. Despite the book’s slow beginning I enjoyed the narrative and found myself getting attached to the characters within the pages. The story is very dystopian and wrestles with questions I found myself wrestling with at 15 like ‘is this all there is to life’ ‘is there some bigger meaning’ ‘is there more than this?” Despite the main storyline being a plot of survival, reminiscent of Hatchet by Gary Paulson, the storyline of Seth’s life before that told readers what led him to the cliff to begin with is what truly drew me in. This book felt like a tool to trick young readers into thinking about philosophy and the meaning of life as they sink into a world of fighting robots and surviving the end of the world as we know it.

Connections-

At first glance this book does not appear to carry the main YA literature tropes that are commonly seen in the genre, but as the character of Seth is unfolded before us through his dreams, his life as a teenager begins to take shape. Before his death, Seth was an average teenage boy living in America after moving from England when he was eight after the ‘incident.’ In America, Seth struggles with identity as most teenagers do, as well as guilt from the incident that brought him to America to begin with. When he was eight and his younger brother Owen was four, his mother left them home alone, where an escaped prisoner from the local prison knocked on their window and threatened Seth to let him in. Out of fear, Seth obeyed and his younger brother was taken. When Owen was found three days later, he had severe injuries that led to neurological damage which only got worse over time. Seth was never treated the same by his parents after the fact, which he assumed was due to them blaming him for his little brother’s injuries. However, as he learns more about himself, his parents, and what truly happened, he can humanize his parents and realize their neglect was most likely the result of grief, not hatred. His parents were people dealing with their own issues too. However, during his life, the only person able to absolve him of his guilt was Gudmund, his best friend and lover. But, when pictures of Seth and Gudmund kissing spread throughout the school, Gudmund’s homophobic parents send him away and Seth is left to deal with the backlash that ultimately leads to his death. This book deals with a coming-of-age story, and a coming-to-realization story in a beautiful way that I think can be relatable despite its dystopian context. I would not teach this book in my class, but I would recommend reading it to my students if the opportunity ever arrived.  

[bibliobile]

My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood

Atwood, Margaret. My Evil Mother: A Short Story. Amazon Original Stories, 2022.

Summary-

This story begins in the 1950’s and follows a young girl who grows up with a “witch” for a mother. Not only is her mother a witch, but she is a single-mother, both of which are viewed as unsavory realities in the book. However due to western societal standards at the time, one would much rather be known for being a witch than for being a single mother with no man of the house in sight. Her mother asserts her authority in the house by warning her daughter of her abilities and “eyes in the back of her head” -not unlike some mothers today- except that this mother takes it farther as she brews potions and collects herbs for local women in the neighborhood. As the daughter grows up she separates herself from her ‘crazy’ mother, and starts her own family. When she finally reconciles with her mother again and watches her deteriorate in old age she realizes that her mother being a ‘witch’ may not have been as true as it seemed originally. When her own daughter becomes a teenager, our narrator realizes exactly why her mother spoke the way she did and played the role of the ‘evil’ witch in her life, to protect her and prepare her for a world that can be much more evil than any woman on a broomstick could ever be.

Personal Response-

Despite this being one of the shortest books I have read in a while at only 32 pages, it is one that has left me contemplating the longest. This book not only is a piece of Young Adult Literature, but also New Adult Literature as our narrator grows up and begins her own family. I think this book also borders a line between Creative Nonfiction and Fiction as our narrator learns of her mother’s tales regarding being a witch. It is hinted at the end of the book that the mother only told her daughter these tales of being a witch to keep her safe; for example, her mother said that she needed to break up with her boyfriend because the tarot cards said that if she didn’t, he and her would die in a car crash. In reality, we can see both in the bit of little dialogue we have from the boyfriend when she breaks up with him, and her account of his death years later -as a drug dealer who was shot nine times- that he was probably not the best guy to date and her mother was simply looking out for her young daughter. The mother’s use of witchcraft served as a vehicle to deliver advice and tell her daughter what to do in a way that is hard for teenagers to question when they are young. Of course, a teenager can just say they’re crazy, but how can one be sure their mother is not a witch when they are told with such earnestness. We see this theme occur later when our narrator has a daughter of her own and tells her of her own witchy ways and how she needs to be careful because she could someday grow into her witch abilities as well. This book examines the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters and the reality that daughters will never fully understand their mother’s actions until they stand in their shoes.

Connections-

I truly enjoyed the way this short story discusses many of the common occurrences of young adults, including not understanding your parents, being embarrassed by your parents, parental separation, bullying, rumors, rebellion, dating people your parents don’t like, and questioning your reality and place in both your parent’s lives and the world. We watch the narrator slowly mature throughout the piece and separate from her mother, before reconciling with her again, separating, and repeating the process over and over again. As our narrator grows, however, we watch her faith in her mother’s ‘craft’ dwindle and rekindle in a new light as she has her own children and come to the realization of why her mother did what she did. In the 1950s being a single mother was looked down on and viewed as a recipe for having unruly children and to cope with this the mother told stories of being a witch to keep her daughter both at arm’s length from reality, and ready to protect herself from a world that has it out for her as a young woman.

I think this story would be a wonderful read for a senior English class. Although many young adults start questioning their parents’ actions much earlier, I believe senior year is the time when it really comes into play as young adults find themselves truly entering into the real world for the first time. This book perfectly straddles this time period between coming of age and coming into the world as a new adult. I also think the analogies and symbolism in this book would be wonderful for a higher-level English class to analyze and dissect to find the meaning of specific symbolism that is carried throughout the story. Its length would also lend itself to being more digestible for students to analyze without sacrificing depth or language as many short stories do.

[bibliobile]

Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks

Sparks, Beatrice. Go Ask Alice. Avon Books, 1982.

Summary-

Go Ask Alice is a difficult book to summarize because it is supposedly made up of purely diary entries from a fifteen-year-old girl, but I will do my best to relay the highlights from this ‘interesting’ book. Go Ask Alice follows a fifteen-year-old girl through her life as she descends into drug addiction, running away, rehabilitation, relapse, going home, rehabilitation, relapse running away, prostitution, coming home, rehabilitation, falling in love, being drugged by others, being placed into a mental institution, rehabilitation, becoming ‘normal’ again, before finally ending with her saying she was not going to keep a diary anymore and dying of an overdose three weeks later.

Alice’s first drug experience is at a party when someone puts LSD into her coke and she trips for the first time. She is ashamed of how much she loves it but does not regret it, she actually decides she would like to do it again and experience all the other drugs she can at least once. From here she slips deeper and deeper into addiction, hooking up with guys and even selling drugs herself to afford her addiction. Finally, she decides she wants to get clean but can’t do so at home where everyone wants to give her drugs all the time so she decides to move to San Francisco with her friend. She and her friend get jobs before being drugged at a party, then decide to move again and start their own boutique. Once tired and homesick enough, they call home and fly back with no problem. Everything is going well until the two girls slip back into smoking weed again and Alice decides in a drugged-out haze that she’s going to run away again. While living on the street she becomes a prostitute and has a pimp that feeds her pills like a kept pet. Finally, she decides she’s done with that and goes to a Salvation Army to call her parents who come and pick her up again, no problem. While at home she tries to heal and get back to normal, but she is being harassed by old friends who are slipping joints in her pockets and threatening her health and safety if she doesn’t come do drugs with them. Despite all of the hardships she’s going through she falls for a college boy at her dad’s university and they start tentatively dating with her parents’ approval despite the age difference. Eventually, however, her old life catches up to her, and her old ‘friends’ drug her with chocolate-covered peanuts laced with acid while she is babysitting. This trip leads her to think she is covered in bugs and something is hurting the baby, eventually landing her in the hospital from the numerous wounds she had given herself including (but not limited to): ripped-out fingernails, bald spots, gashes on her body, black eyes, concussions, and horrific finger injuries from clawing at herself. Because of this horrible trip, she is institutionalized where she learns of other young people’s horrific experiences with drugs, prostitution, and more.  She decides she wants to become a social worker to help others like them and herself and eventually is released from the institution and picked up by her parents. Finally, she comes home and makes some normal ‘square’ friends who don’t know about her past and things start to calm down. Alice decides that she is getting too old to keep a journal and thanks the pages for helping her. The next page is a statement stating that three weeks later she died from an overdose and no one knows whether it was on purpose, an accident, or done by someone else. The end.

Personal Response-

If the summary of this book sounded overly cheesy and stereotypical, that is because it was. Go Ask Alice is a poorly written book that for years was published and listed as a true story written by an actual fifteen-year-old girl, who actually died. Because of this, the story's poor writing, plot holes, one-dimensional characters, and stereotypical portrayals of adolescence, were never criticized. No one wanted to criticize a dead girl’s writing. Because of the book's vivid depictions of drug use, rape, sexual assault, prostitution, and more, it was obviously banned from a lot of schools. However, this only increased the book’s popularity and made students want to read the book more. This book also was published right around the time of the ‘war on drugs’ movement which set the book up for even more success as it served as a scare tactic for young people to not do drugs. Eventually, it was revealed that this book was completely fictional and written by Beatrice Sparks. Beatrice said she met ‘Alice’ at a Christian youth conference and after her death she was asked to publish her diaries as a way to help others. Eventually, Beatrice released other books in the same vein and it was revealed that although there may have been an ‘Alice’ it was improbable. Beatrice achieved success by feeding off of the country’s fears of drugs, aids, and satanism to garner success as a writer without actually having to do any ‘good’ writing at all; because who would want to insult the diaries of dead kids who were the victims of such horrendous atrocities.

Connections-

Go Ask Alice is by definition Young Adult literature, but to me, it is the worst example of YA literature I have ever read. In fact, the only reason I could read it is because it was like reading a car crash that you can’t look away from. Every page is written like trauma porn making sure to give all the gory details of this girl’s descent into addiction and others’ cruel treatment of her while neglecting to actually give her any other traits. I think this cash grab of a book is horrible and although it should not be banned, its author should be clearly listed, and it should not be taught in any classrooms that contain anyone in the YA age range. This book makes a mockery of real issues that kids go through and to teach it in any serious capacity would be an active slap in the face to kids who go through these issues. These issues should be talked about in YA, but in a realistic and well-rounded way, not as a scare tactic to ward kids away from drugs because ‘you don’t want to end up like Alice do you?” Young Adults deserve to read about serious topics in a setting that does not intend to traumatize them but rather inform them of real-world issues and experiences.

[bibliobile]

Trampoline by Robert Gipe

Gipe, Robert. Trampoline: An Illustrated Novel. Ohio University Press, 2015.

Summary-

Trampoline written by Robert Gipe, is told from the perspective of a fifteen-year-old girl named Dawn Jewell. Dawn Jewell lives in Eastern Kentucky and her life is absolutely anything but simple. Dawn describes herself as a:

“freak, soft and four-eyed, with black fingernail polish, a dead daddy, a drunk momma, a crackhead brother, outlaw uncles, and divorced grandparents who made trouble for normal people every time they come off the ridge” (p. 70)

 Her father died when she was nine in a coal mining accident, her mother has been an alcoholic/drug-user every since and has moved in with her boyfriend Hubert, otherwise known as Uncle Hubert, her dead father’s brother. Her mother and Hubert’s drug use drove her to go live with her Mamaw who is the matriarch of her family and parts of the community. Mamaw is an environmental advocate for the area, and wants the strip mining on Bear Mountain nearby to stop. Unfortunately, even though strip mining is harming the land and the people on it, it also keeps food in the mouths of most of Canard County including many members of their own family. When Dawn attends a town meeting about the strip mining on Bear Mountain, she can’t help but defend her Mamaw from the cruel words of angry mining families; but when her outburst is recorded and played on the local radio station, she finds herself at the front lines of the controversial movement with a target on her back.

From this point on Dawn must decide weather she is going to save herself or save the mountains she holds so dear, and if there is anyway, she can do both. Her Mamaw wants her to stay with her Aunt June, away from Canard County, where she can live a calm life away from the constant drug use and illegal activity of her family. But for Dawn, the simple life is more nerve-wracking and complicated than trauma filled life of home. Dawn is confronted with the choice to stay in Canard County where she is comfortable and knows what to expect despite being looked down on by most of her community for her environmental stances; or stay with her Aunt June and live a more ‘normal’ life with dinner on the table in the evenings and a boy that wants to hold her hand. How can she decide where she is going to be happy as a teenager, and soon to be young adult, if the last time she truly felt it she was only a child?

Personal Response-

Reading Trampoline was eye opening for me in ways I did not expect at all. It in my opinion was one of the most accurate portrayals of a young mind in YA literature that I have read in a long time. Trampoline reminded me what it was like to truly be in the grips of adolescence yet somehow still feel beyond it because you are expected to deal with issues that are much bigger than yourself. Dawn is constantly told by those around her that she doesn’t act like she is fifteen, yet for the readers who get to experience her inner monologue, she is exactly fifteen in every way. She longs to fit in, she is tired of being bullied, she has a temper that flares up at the worst moments and she herself doesn’t even know why, and in times of conflict and stress she still wants her mom -no matter how much her mother has mistreated her.

The highs and lows of adolescence are coursing through her all while she is learning of the very ‘adult’ world around her. Dawn is forced to witness the degradation of her mother as she descends deeper into addiction, and what was once just alcohol turns into weed, then opioids. There’s even a section of the book where Dawn’s mother decides she wants to give Dawn a makeover, while she is extremely high. Even though Dawn really doesn’t want to go along with it, she does, because it’s her mother.  Dawn’s mom ends up shaving parts of her head and dying the rest bright green even when Dawn protests. I think the most heartbreaking part of this scene in the book is her mother laughing at her appearance as she leaves the room. Dawn is forced to come to the realization that just because they are supposed to be the ones taking care of you, does not mean they always have your best interest at heart. Dawn is forced to lose yet another piece of her adolescence which is the idea that adults are supposed to always look out for you as a child, especially your parents.

Connections-

Robert Gipe has created some of the most well-rounded characters I have ever read in a young adult novel, every character has their flaws and redeeming qualities, even if the ratio is VERY skewed in one direction or the other for some of them.  I also really enjoyed how this book told the story of a teen girl who is coming of age but avoids the stereotypical pitfalls of being boy crazy, fashion obsessed, makeup slathered and materialistic, instead he allows Dawn to simply be a young person who in my opinion, anyone, regardless of gender identity, can relate to in one way or another.

For all of these reasons, and more, I would absolutely love to teach Trampoline in my future classroom. It perfectly tackles serious issues as and relatable adolescent mindsets, while inserting comical anecdotes and metaphors at the perfect moments. It also makes amazing use of figurative language which I love. Dawn is constantly making hilariously accurate similes and metaphors such as:

 "The state people sat like prizes at a carnival game, eyes wide and blank, stuffed pink monkeys, green hippopotamuses piled too close together. Every once in a while they would take a note, but not that often" (12).

Trampoline is also littered with drawings and doodles done by ‘Dawn’ that add an extra layer to the way we see the world through her eyes. There are not enough in my opinion to make it a graphic novel, but just enough to add an extra element to analyze and create a deeper understanding of the story being told. As someone who is not a huge fan of graphic novels, I think this would be a perfect way to teach symbolism in images without having to fully go into a graphic novel unit.

[bibliobile]

Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

Block, Francesca Lia. Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books. HarperTeen, 2010.

Summary-

            Weetzie Bat is the first book in The Weetzie Bat Books series Dangerous Angels written by Francesca Lia Block. Weetzie Bat follows an eccentric non-conformist teenager named Weetzie and her best friend Dirk, an attractive gay punk man, in an otherworldly 1980’s Los Angeles as they attempt to find love and a ‘Happily Ever After’. Weetzie is obsessed with everything Hollywood and is determined to become a star someday. In their free time Weetzie and Dirk hang out with Dirk’s eccentric grandma Fifi gossiping about celebrities, watching old movies, and telling her about how unlucky they have been while ‘duck hunting.’ Duck hunting is what Weetzie and Dirk call dating and looking for men, otherwise known in this book as “Ducks.” Weetzie and Dirk had no luck dating, and after Weetzie has a run in with a particularly abusive duck Fifi takes pity on them and gives Weetzie a golden lamp. When Weetzie opens the golden lamp, a genie pops out to grant her three wishes, to which Weetzie replies “I wish for a Duck for Dirk, and My Secret Agent Lover Man for me, and a beautiful little house for us to live in happily ever after” (19). Fifi passes away soon after and leaves Dirk and Weetzie her house to live in together. Not long after Dirk falls in love with a boy named Duck and Weetzie falls for someone who is actually named My Secret Agent Lover Man. The four live together and make money by playing rolls in the movies My Secret Agent Lover Man writes and directs. Weetzie gets to accomplish her dream of becoming a star, but still feels unfulfilled and decides she wants a baby. Unfortunately, her boyfriend does not want a baby, but Dirk and Duck do. Weetzie decides to sleep with Dirk and Duck to get pregnant and the three decide they are going to raise the baby together. When her boyfriend finds out he is furious and leaves her. After she has the baby, which she names Cherokee, her boyfriend comes back and decides he wants to raise the child too because he loves Weetzie so much. After he comes back a witchy woman shows up at their door claiming she is pregnant with Weetzie’s boyfriend’s baby. Weetzie’s boyfriend gives the witchy woman money for an abortion, but nine months later a baby with voodoo dolls in her carrier shows up on their doorstep. They all ultimately decide to raise the baby nicknaming her Witch Baby.

Weetzie soon finds out that her dad who lived in New York passed away and was devastated. Her parents separated when she was younger, but she always hoped her father would come back to L.A to live with her and the little family she had created. While the house is still heavy with grief as everyone grieves Weetzie’s father, Duck finds out one of his friends is very sick. He runs away from the house leaving a note explaining why, in that note he says “Even though we’re okay, how can anyone love anyone when you could kill them just by loving them?” Although it is never stated, it is implied that Duck’s friend has AIDS which makes Duck worry he may have it too. This implication is strengthened when Dirk goes out looking for Duck in the dance clubs they used to frequent in San Francisco and remarks that “…there were fewer men than he remembered from the last time he has been there with Duck…” (65). When Dirk finally finds Duck, he convinces him to come home where the four of them live and raise their two children happily.

Personal Response-

Reading Weetzie Bat was an extremely unique experience that brought a sense of comfort to me that I have not felt since I was a small child. The primary reason for this is the Author Francesca Lia Block’s insanely unique writing style. Block utilizes a minimalistic, matter of fact style of writing that is most commonly seen in children’s fables and fairytales. When I first picked up the book, I was not a huge fan and saw the writing as far too simple to be immersive, but as I continued reading, I was immersed in an unimaginable way. I was able to become immersed in the story with no barriers at all, the language was so simple that the details came through as clear as day and I felt like Weetzie Bat’s world was being laid at my feet. I loved the way the minimalist writing style interacted with the maximalist glitz and glamour of Hollywood and eccentric nature of Weetzie and her lifestyle. The book was a quick read, but left me wanting to read it again and again, which is something I cannot do with most books. Every time I pick up the book, I find something new or find a new way to interpret what Block was alluding to. Overall, I would highly recommend the book as a quick relaxing read that leaves you feeling nostalgic but seen as a human being just trying to find their ‘happily ever after.’

Connection-

Weetzie Bat is technically a coming-of-age story which is and in turn is considered YA fiction but I think it also would work as New Adult fiction. Weetzie and Dirk are teenagers when we begin the story but quickly transition into the real world as they move in with each other and try and find their own places in the world. Weetzie Bat also discusses common YA topics of finding love, happiness, and fulfillment, even if it does not look like what you thought it would. I think this book hits a sweet spot in YA literature for several reasons, but the most prominent one being its use of language and how it impacts the story. Block’s use of language lends itself surprisingly well to talking about more difficult subjects such as death, infidelity, sexuality, grief, and even the HIV epidemic of the 80’s. She writes about them concisely and without going into the graphic details so many people detest. Sometimes she never even explicitly states the topic at all, leaving the reader to come to their own conclusions based on what she has alluded. I have seen several books within the last year be banned for discussing the same important issues as Weetzie Bat, but I believe Block’s unique writing style has managed to shield her from the brunt of controversy.

I would absolutely teach this book in my future high school English classroom. One of the biggest reasons is that the language is simple enough that it would be able to meet most students where they are regarding language and reading proficiency. The book also uses figurative language wonderfully including allusion, which many books can make too complicated for beginners to fully dissect. Finally, the book contains important issues like the ones mentioned in the previous paragraph, as well as some problematic stereotypes and language regarding other cultures, all of which would be good to start conversations in the classroom about important real-world issues.

[bibliobile]

Witch Baby by Francesca Lia Block

Block, Francesca Lia. Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books. HarperTeen, 2010.

Summary-

Witch Baby is the second book in The Weetzie Bat Books series, Dangerous Angels written by Francesca Lia Block. This book primarily focuses on Witch Baby, a child who was left on Weetzie’s family’s doorstep and has been raised alongside Weetzie’s biological daughter Cherokee. Witch Baby is known for causing trouble in her family by stealing cookies, name-calling, and throwing things, as well as always focusing on the negatives in every situation (all of which turn out to be cries for attention). Her family does not understand her morbid fascinations and often expresses to each other that someone her age shouldn’t be obsessed with such dark things. Witch Baby’s family is constantly promoting love and light, and ignoring the dark parts of the world in order to remain happy. I think Witch Baby embraces these dark parts of the world because she relates to them intrinsically. When she falls in love with a boy named Angel Juan who sees her pain and loves it as just another part of her rather than pushing it away, she realizes what family should be like. Unfortunately, when Angel and his family are deported, Witch Baby is left to figure out her place in the world on her own. Witch Baby decides to run away from home to find her birth mother and on this journey, she witnesses some of the darkest sides of the city the rest of her family adores, Las Angeles (or as Witch Baby refers to it Los Diablos). When she finds her birth mother, who is cold and unloving, she realizes who gave birth to her doesn’t matter as much as who takes care of her. While she is away her family experiences a wake-up call of sorts and realizes how they have been treating Witch Baby, and how she must have been feeling. When they are all finally reunited, they apologize to Witch Baby for the way they’d been treating her because she was so different. They then go on to reassure her that they love her and that she makes their family even better by being a part of it, she shows them how to face the dark parts of the world that they are afraid of.

Personal Response-

I decided to read Witch Baby because of how much I enjoyed the previous book in the series, Weetzie Bat. When I first started the book, I was unsure how to feel about Witch Baby as a character, it wasn’t until I started picking up on the reoccurring symbolism within the book that I began to understand Witch Baby and her motivations. One of my favorite examples of this is her obsession with photography. Her obsession with photography is used as a device throughout the story to give readers a lens into what Witch Baby is truly feeling about the world and how her perspective changes throughout the story. After being bullied by her sister Cherokee, Witch Baby begins taking pictures of her family in the worst possible positions such as Duck and Dirk fighting or Brandy- Lynn crying into her martini. One of the most prominent themes regarding photographs in the books is that no one ever takes photos of Witch Baby, good or bad. She is constantly taking photos of her family and the world as she experiences it, pasting them all over her clock and her walls, yet in all the pictures she is nowhere to be found. I think this is a beautiful way to represent not only Witch Baby’s feelings of not belonging with her family, but also with the rest of the world in general. This metaphor comes full circle at the end of the book when Witch Baby is reunited with her family after running away, as they all take a group photo, making sure Witch Baby is included and surrounded by her family right where she ‘belongs’. Much like its predecessor this book discusses and sheds light on important issues such as Homophobia, Racism, Immigration, Homelessness, poverty, and more. Although this is a long list, Block depicts all of these subjects in a realistic way, opting to show them and their effects in Witch Baby’s life as she goes through the book, rather than going on long dissections of each one. She manages to bring awareness to them without skewing the entire book to focus on them, which makes the issues more digestible in mass, especially for a younger target audience.

Connections-

Although Witch Baby’s age is never explicitly stated in the book, the struggles she experiences are ones that almost everyone can relate to, especially young adults. Witch Baby is less of a coming-of-age story and more of a coming into one’s self story. Throughout most of the book Witch Baby not only struggles with finding out who she is, or where she belongs, but also what the real world is like and what that means for her. All these themes are common within the YA genre and classify it as such in spite of the lack of Witch Baby’s exact age. I would absolutely love to teach this book in my class, not only because of its approachable easy to understand language and length, but also for its beautiful symbolism, figurative language, and discussion of important world issues.  

[bibliobile]

Hairstyles of The Damned by Joe Meno

Meno, Joe. Hairstyles of the Damned. Punk Planet Books, 2004.

Summary-

Hairstyles of The Damned is a gruesomely honest coming of age story written by Joe Meno. The story follows Brian Oswald, an average white teenage boy living in the South Side of Chicago, as he goes through his Junior and Senior year of high school. Brian truly tells all as he admits to the crush he has on his best friend Gretchen, the boners he gets practically every time he encounters a woman, and probably even more embarrassingly so his desire to fit in and be liked over everything else. Brian’s perspective and experiences are overwhelmingly shaped by the world around him which he describes in detail as he accounts the police brutality and racism that runs rampant in his community, the cultural impact of attending a catholic school, joining the punk scene, having parents who are getting a divorce, and the mess all these things create when combined. Brian’s one saving grace is his introspective nature that takes in and dissects everything and everyone in his environment including himself. This introspection only grows as he begins to mature and acquire more life experiences such as being cheated on, rejection, losing friends, and even his parents divorcing. The same boy who used to go along and parrot whatever rhetoric his ‘friends’ would say, began to develop his own moral compass and speak out for what he thought was right, even if it almost gets him jumped or abandoned by his ‘friends’. Brian’s character development can be summed up with one monologue from the end of the book as Brian goes off on his friend and crush Gretchen. “Just because you have blue hair and fucked-up clothes doesn’t mean you’re better than everyone else. Because you know what? You’re just conforming to someone else’s code. Even though you don’t wear khakis or sweaters or whatever, but to me all you guys look the same. You think you’re so individualistic, but you’re not. You guys—you and Kim and all the rest—you’re like anti-snob snobs. But you’re just as mean as the preppy kids. You’re all just as fucking lame” (259).

Personal Response-

Hairstyles of The Damned has by no means been life-changing or hugely impactful for me, but I do not think that is what the writer was going for. Instead, this book felt like a companion or a friend, someone shouting into the void that these experiences, no matter how embarrassing or isolating, are not happening to you alone. This book’s message was one focused on transparency and recording the human experience. Which I appreciated immensely, even if I did not always enjoy what was being shown to me as a reader. This book realistically highlights some of the most common and gut-wrenching feelings and experiences in adolescence. The realistic portrayal however, is also what I believe holds this book back as well. The content is NSFW more times than not with budding sexuality being at the forefront of most of our Narrators thoughts. This book’s language usage also utilizes curse words more than any other book I have read before. Both of these factors may negatively impact this book’s performance and popularity amongst educators and parents, but they also would have motivated me to read the books even more if I were to have come across it as a highschooler or middle schooler. The content would be considered inappropriate for the YA age range by most adults, but the content is also a reality for many young adults in their everyday lives regardless.

Connections-

Adolescence is uncomfortable and awkward, not only in a physical sense as young adults grow and go through puberty but also in a mental sense as they begin to mature and become more self-aware. This awkward and uncomfortable transition from childhood to adulthood is highlighted within Hairstyles of The Damned in numerous ways as we watch our narrator Brian depict tales of budding sexuality, new emotions, raging hormones, adult expectations, and new relationships. All these topics are discussed in a way you would only get from your closest friends and even then, most likely not without peer pressuring them into telling you (which is also a huge component of the story as well). These depictions are full of Graphic details, embarrassing thoughts, and curse words in practically every sentence. These things may deem the book ‘inappropriate’ by most standards, but in my opinion, it is the most accurate representation of the inside of a young adult’s mind that I have ever found in a YA novel. It does not fit the common YA tropes of forbidden love or good vs evil that are being pushed to readers in mass by publishers. In fact, this story had difficulty being published due to its controversial content, which forced the author Joe Meno to go with a smaller publisher at first despite his previous success with bigger publishing companies regarding his other books. Instead of pandering to publishers and popular opinions of what a YA book should be, Hairstyles of The Damned forces its readers to look at the human experience of ‘coming of age’ in the eye no matter how uncomfortable it may be.