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Introductory Letter

This class has been such a positive experience for me, as someone who has always loved Young Adult Literature but never explored it on a college level. I’m sure that I have given thought to YA books after I’ve finished them, but I always looked to them as escape reads. Now, the quote Dr. Adams included on the guideline for this portfolio, “Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting” from Edmund Burke. This is what I have been doing to a degree before this class, and I am excited to continue reading a genre that was once my guilty-pleasure escapism with more examination and thought on my part.

Some of the most important things I have learned this semester are concepts. I realized the struggle that faces students who have difficulty performing on reading and writing tests comes from issues outside of a disinterest in reading. Kelly Galagher’s Readicide taught me a lot about the flaws of teaching to the test, and about the disadvantages that students face when it comes to reading as well as what can be done and the benefits of actual interest in reading. I realized that there are a lot of things that I know nothing or almost nothing about, and that I can learn more about through literature. I had always avoided historical fiction, but through reading The Lions of Little Rock and through listening to my classmates discuss the books they read, I was excited by how approachable it made learning about periods of history. I’ve learned to be more accepting of books, and to read outside of my normal interests.

Some of my favorite texts this year include Where Things Come Back, because everything about the experience of reading this book and skyping with the author was amazing. I also thoroughly enjoyed reading The Giver, it was on such an accessible reading level yet the concepts were very deep and thought provoking. Then there is the verse novel that I did not want to read, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, that I ended up loving and even crying over.

My portfolio attempts to combine and explore what I have learned through my work during this semester. My “extra” component for each YAL text is a combination of images that relate to the novels (influenced by our graphic novel exploration and our discussion of images as stories) and meaningful quotes from the novel (as a literature major, I live for meaningful quotes and the incorporation of quotes was influenced by Dr. Adams’ quotes on our board every day).

#introductory letter

Articles and Chapters

The articles and chapters assigned through blackboard were interesting and thought provoking, which is good since they usually led to lively seminars. I want to explore what I learned from a selection of the articles and chapters that we dove into this semester.

#Articles and Chapters

Discussion Board

I loved the discussion board. It was great and encouraging to have a place where we could interact with our classmates and professor outside of the classroom setting. The first photo is an example of some ideas that I had bouncing around after class, and when I got on the discussin board there was already a question posed that tied into what I had been thinking about and I was able to contribute to and carry on the conversation. The second photo is an example of the interesting content that other classmates found and contributed to the discussion for the benefit of everyone. The third is the excitement surrounding the John Corey Whaley skype session, it was cool to see everyone posting about their reactions to the experience.

#discussionboard

Seminars

The seminars in class were very valuable for me. They encouraged me to have in depth conversations with my peers that balanced elements of discussion such as asking questions, listening, using the texts for support, and asking for help to clear up confusion that may have occurred. They motivated me to do the required reading so that I could contribute to the discussion. I found it very helpful for my own development and learning to be able to devote the majority of a class period to deep, collaborative discussion. Tracking the conversation on the back of my sheet also forced me to listen actively, which is something i sometimes struggle with.

#seminars

Reading Survey

I’ve gained more insight into a high-school age reader through having the students visit us to talk about graphic novels last week. Instead of an impersonal survey conducted electronically, I got to see them speaking with excitement over The Shadow Hero. Our conversation was fluid and naturaly and they really impressed me! We also talked about their reading habits and how they felt about graphic novels versus others that they have been assigned. The combination of that experience and this survey have given me a clearer and more balanced glimpse into high school readers. Below is a copy of the survey assignment.

#reading survey

Literacy Narrative

It is interesting to look back at my literacy narrative from the new perspective I have gained in just a few months.Through close analysis of the books we have read this semester I have learned more about what drew my younger self and my current self towards certain novels. I’ve also gained insight into how lucky I was to be brought up as a reader and to have developed an interest in it, something that Readicide touches on. It is also very beneficial to me to have gotten the opportunity to re-read some old favorites and re-examine them. I’ve gained a new appreciation for reading assigned at the college level as well, something I was wary of and overloaded with when I was first exploring the idea of my reading history. Its good to see that it is still YA that captures most of my attention, and that has been strengthened through this class. Below is a copy of my original literacy narrative:

#literacy narrative

The Hunger Games (Book and Movie)

I read this book before the movies came out and when it was first getting popular. I feel lucky that my enjoyment for it stemmed from my own genuine interest in the novel and not from the immense popularity it is currently receiving, so that I read it with limited outside influence. The characters I pictured in my head were different from the movie representation because I had the chance to imagine them before they were cast. Rereading it for the class was a slightly different experience for me, as I had it’s fame and the film influencing the way I viewed it.

The novel has a strong protagonist set in a dystopian world, it focuses on power struggles, government, maintaining order, rebellion, friendship, family, love, and survival.

I think it’s great that the popularity of the films has inspired many people to pick the books up. The film franchise, however, is also problematic in several ways. It focuses more heavily on the love-triangle than the books, because that sells. It is the focus of a car commercial (Dodge), because it is popular and popularity sells. The commercial starts with Katniss’ signature whistle, and that is imitated by the engine of a brand new car. A car that most people could never afford, featuring a movie/ book that acts in part as a commentary on wealth vs poverty and critiques the super rich Capitol. There is also a covergirl makeup campaign that is “inspired” by The Hunger Games, which feels odd considering how Katniss’ forced grooming scenes are depicted combined with the falseness of the fashions/ makeup of the Capitol.

There are also some scenes that are very powerful in the movie in a different way than they're powerful in the book (such as Rue’s death). The movies aren’t bad movies, in fact I enjoy them. It’s just hard to separate the message of the books and movie from the money-making influence of Hollywood- it gets blurry.

#texts

The Shadow Hero

I’ve been reading comics for years in the form of manga, but its almost an entirely different experience to read something like The Shadow Hero. In manga, it reads the opposite direction and starts on what would be our back cover. Also, I’ve never read a manga that was full color, maybe just a color page here and there.

It’s been a while since I read manga though, and so I struggled for a bit deciding if I should read the words first, look at the pictures first, or try and blend them together as I went. I think I started with the words, and then began to just scan the page like a typical novel and look at whatever was next. However, that technique is thrown off by a large illustration or attention-grabbing section of text that my eyes skip to.

I think the most interesting part of reading this was listening to my classmates. There was a blend of people who were very experienced with comics and those who were brand new to them. It was insightful to hear what everyone else thought about the graphic novel, and it surprised me that nearly everyone enjoyed it once they got into it. There were interesting conversations about the written story versus the story told by images and art. I also really enjoyed the incorporation of the story by Dr. Adams that was all pictures and was based on a super super close up of something that zoomed out until the Earth was featured. This was a story (debatable classification) that was told entirely through images.

The history behind this graphic novel is also very intriguing. Reading it after the novel made some seemingly random elements (like his skin turning pink) very powerful.

#texts

Divergent

This is another book that had a spot in my favorites for a while before this class. I think my younger self connected to to themes of being different, not fitting in somewhere, making big choices that would determine your future, and being strong in the face of fear and uncertainty. Tris took risks even though they scared her, and I found that very inspiring. Its easy for a fearless hero or heroine to overcome things, but that isn’t relatable. That seems to be the trend of what I liked to see in a protagonist when I was younger, and it continues to be true for me now.

This book explores the importance of different virtues, friendship, power struggles, family ties, dystopian society, and more. My copy is nearly 500 pages, so this novel is a good example of how a text can be lengthy and still very popular, if it’s interesting then students can be motivated to get to the end. Since it is part of a series, they can be motivated to go beyond this novel in their reading, like I was.

This novel is about identity and being different, and the action-packed nature of it makes it a powerful and accessible read.

#texts

The Lightning Thief

This book proudly claimed its spot as my number one favorite read for several years. Outside of the brief thrill of new books that claim favoritism fleetingly, this one stuck with me and I reread it several times. That’s saying something for me, I can probably count the books I’ve reread on one hand. I remember too much of the plot and can’t get absorbed in a novel the same way the second time around. This one wasn’t like that. I would take it with me on trips and reread it after everyone else had gone to bed, enjoying the comforting feeling it gave me every time through. I’m not sure I can fully explain what I loved so much about, it was just so enjoyable to me. It also really spurred an interest in me in mythology, that has helped me throughout my high school and college academic life in peaking my interest in assigned classical mythology.

I was both excited to read it again as a college student and reluctant. I wanted to examine it from a new perspective, but I was afraid it would be like going back to watch your old favorite movie or cartoon and feeling disinterest and confusion over why you ever liked it. That feeling always troubled me, growing out of something you used to love. Additionally, I didn’t really want to read it after the terrible movie had worked its corrupting influence over my perception of the characters. For the sake of the reading assignment, I picked the well- worn novel up again.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I still enjoyed it, and how much of the plot I had forgotten. It’s such an interesting book, full of action, mystery, suspense, friendship, and more. It explores the idea of being different from your peers in a fantastical way. Percy’s struggles, though partly set in fantasy, are very realistic. His loneliness, frustration, fear and confusion make him imperfect and relatable. His life, before and after his discovery of his true identity, is not easy.

It’s not a terribly challenging read, and I think with its fast paced plot even a reluctant student can tackle the 300+ page book with a sense of accomplishment.

#texts

The Crossover

This verse novel taught me an important lesson. I reluctantly picked it up because it was the only verse novel for the assignment that was checked in at my local library. To be honest, I didn’t want to read it. I’m not interested in basketball, and I assumed that it would be an uninteresting struggle for me to get through.

I was wrong. I found this verse novel very relatable in many ways, especially as a twin myself, and in the ways that i could not directly relate I was still so immersed that I was moved. I ended up racing through this novel in one short sitting, and it even made me cry (and its tough for a book to make me cry). It is one of the most accessible novels in terms of readability and the way it deals with tough subjects such as death and complicated family relationships, and it relies on the reader to fill in the gaps.

The novel was very interesting stylistically. There was a change in the form when talking about basketball to give the words the rhythm of the game. There were dictionary definitions were Josh was trying to sort his feelings out. The titles sometimes flowed into their section and sometimes served to set it up. The sections with the dad’s health problems are short, and my mind filled the space with the worst, so I experienced the fear that Josh does. This was a powerful verse novel, and I will hopefully be less quick to judge a book in the future.

#texts

Every Day

I purchased this book a while back, tried to start it, and could’t get on board with the concept. The body switching seemed to far-fetched to me, and i wanted an explanation for it from the start. I picked it up and gave it another chance for this class, and I am very glad I did. I allowed the new body every day story line to not bother me this time around, and in reading this novel I learned a lot about other people as well as myself.

The main thing I learned about was identity. Who would I be if I was in a different body every day? There are many things that I think make up who I am wouldn’t even come with me. Who am I as a person outside of the physical? What emphasis do I place on the physical when it comes to mine and others identities? A was in the body of a boy when we are introduced to the character, and because of that I struggled to shake my perception of them as male throughout the whole novel. I struggled not to use male pronouns to describe the character. It shouldn’t have been so difficult, but it was. I was critical of Rhiannon, yet I can’t say that I would have behaved differently in her situation.

This book also explores morals. What is right and what is wrong, especially in such an abnormal situation. It explores how different life can be for everyone, showing a glimpse of a new person’s life every day. Morality is explored heavily in terms of A’s right to influence their lives, specifically in regards to the suicidal girl.

This book explores so many things actually, from identity, morals, body image, depression, social structure, friendships, romantic relationships, family dynamics, and more. The reflection that the book spurred in me was more influential for me than the book itself, though those may not be things that can be separated so easily.

#texts

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

This novel was heavy. If the novels that we read this year were on a spectrum for how they deal with hard subjects while still incorporating some sort of break from the darkness, this novel would be heavy on the darkness and light on the breaks. From the blood red cover, to the book descriptions opening lines “Today is Leonard Peacock’s birthday. It is also the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather’s P-38 pistol”, it is clear that this book will tackle some issues that other authors may chose to avoid. For that reason alone, it is powerful.

It is haunting to read a novel written from the perspective of a boy who is planning atrocious acts. His voice is urgent, scattered, angry, sad, and fleetingly, desperately hopeful. The combination of this voice with the footnotes provides a read that is jarring and broken up, yet fast paced and riveting enough to keep pulling the reader through it. The letters Leonard writes to himself from the future serve to break up the downward spiral of Leonard’s day with glimpses of fantastical hope. There are also moments of beautiful insights about humanity and our daily struggles.

Mathew Quick doesn’t make excuses for Leonard’s actions, but tries to explain them.

#texts

Where Things Come Back

I cannot fully separate the experience of getting to Skype with the amazing author of this novel, John Corey Whaley, and the fact that one of my favorite musicians was an inspiration for this work and I can see my favorite songs in it from the novel on its own. Speaking about it seems a bit biased because of these positive influences on my opinion.

This book is so many things. It is a coming of age story fraught with small town struggles, death, kidnapping, a woodpecker, obsession, and the search for meaning. It is also another story at the same time, about religion, death, meaning, and obsession. These stories eventually come together, in a very unexpected way that shows the similarities between everyone, the dangers of extremes, and the importance of hope.

This book was full of very unique characters and circumstances, while at the same time being about the struggles that we all face in our own lives. For all of the wild elements in the story, it is very relatable. This novel explores many deep concepts such as death, hope, grief, and obsession in a way that at times is dark but is ultimately hopeful. I learned that it almost doesn’t matter what a book is about, it can still be powerful and relatable even if you’ve never grown up in a small town and don’t care about a woodpecker, because the struggles and triumphs of the characters are what the book is truly about.

#texts

Looking For Alaska

I was never an avid John Green fan, but I had casually enjoyed his novel Paper Towns a few years ago and decided to read this novel to gain a better understanding of his work and the praise surrounding it.

I struggled a bit with this novel in the beginning, though i could comfortably accept and relate to the male protagonist of Paper Towns (Quentin Jacobsen) I had trouble feeling the same about Pudge throughout the beginning of the novel. There were some instances where i felt Green was trying to force relatability on me. It could just be a difference in their characters, or it could be an example of John Green improving as an author between this and Paper Towns. Regardless, I kept with it because of the deeply relatable struggle with escaping the labyrinth and my interest in the last words that mattered to Pudge.

I think this novel is another example of a book that is accessible and approachable, the reading level isn’t too difficult and there are humorous moments sprinkled throughout, but it deals with some heavy concepts like loneliness, death, religion, friendship, self perception, false perception of others, suicide, grief, and more.

#texts

Readicide

This book was very interesting to me as a Literature major. I haven’t read any books on reading, specifically reading in schools and the reading habits of younger individuals. When I was younger, and even (to an extent) up until I read this book, i just assumed that if people didn’t read it was because they couldn't find the same enjoyment in books that I did, and if they didn’t read then they would’t preform as well when tested on reading/ writing. This book offered a new, critical perspective, as well as solutions to the problem of the killing of the love of reading.

Even as someone who loved reading, I would skip much of the reading that was assigned to me in high school. The atmosphere of 30 something students with varying reluctance being forced to read the same book and answer surface level questions that falsely informed the teacher we were actually reading was uninteresting to me at times. This strict way of teaching reading is part of a focus on standardized test performance and not on deeper critical thinking, which is a problem illustrated in the novel.

Another problem the novel deals with is students who have a smaller knowledge base of words and concepts compared to their peers, and are at a disadvantage when trying to tackle the same material. I recognized that I was lucky enough to be read to as a child and to develop my own independent reading habits, whereas some of my peers were not so lucky. To attempt to tackle the disinterest in reading that in part branches from being at a disadvantage, Kelly Gallagher suggests the idea of a book flood. A book flood is essentially making reading more accessible and in the open, talking about books that are interesting to your students or children, and eventually finding some that peak their interest.

This book gave me a new perspective on an idea that i had never properly explored before.

#texts

The Giver

This novel was an amazing one to read at the start of the semester. Despite its popularity, I had never read it before. I am a bit jealous of my classmates who could compare how they felt about the novel when they were younger with how they felt about it in college. Regardless, it is an amazing example of a book that is approachable in terms of readability but also delivers very deep and thought provoking subject matter.

I could have read this book faster than i did, the level of the writing is something I could tear through. However, there were so many moments that made me stop reading and close it for a while, either in shock or to think further on what I had just read before continuing. For example, when Jonas’ father kills a newborn baby with ease and no remorse, i had to set the book down. After all of the development of his character as a loving caregiver for children, we see him preform a heinous act that his society, and therefore himself, has deemed acceptable and necessary. Readers wind up grappling with questions about the nature of love, memory, history, perception, power, false utopias, and more.

This novel also gives readers insights about themselves in many ways. The ending, for example, seemed grim to me. I assumed that the novel ended with the death of Jonas and Gabe, and it turns out I was wrong. The scenes where children were playing games that Jonas knew were terrible made me wonder if there are things that i do out of ignorance that are wrong. This novel made me examine myself.

It is an older text in terms of young adult literature, so starting with this text gives us a look back on the foundational material of the field. It is also a book that frequents banned book lists, which begins that important discussion from the very start of class.

#texts

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