YA Reads

This is a blog about the studies of YA literature by an English major with an emphasis on creative writing.

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The Fountains of Silence

Ruta Septetys is well known for her historical fiction novels. She writes about stories untold in textbooks and does so in very amazing ways. I have been a fan of her for a long while and I am beyond excited to be reading The Fountains of Silence. This novel explores the time period in which facist General Francisco Franco is in power, mainly in Madrid 1957. We follow Daniel Matheson who came to Spain with his parents and has a passion for photography. He meets Ana, whose family bares scars and painful memories from the Spanish Civil War, and they begin to fall in love. Daniel begins to capture some unsettling things and he begins to have many questions. This novel explores identity and the power of silence. 

I deeply agree with Sepetys’ claim that historical fiction does sell and teachers are the best sellers of it. I am ashamed to be one of those people that deeply enjoys history yet history class was never my favorite because of the boring textbook. It isn’t as exciting to read dates and glance over big events. It is so much more personal to get deep and read about how people were affected. Yes historical fiction is fiction yet there is so much truth within it. It gets people to research and to think and connect with one another. Sepetys’ defense of this genre makes me enjoy her novels so much more. I know she put a lot of work and research into these stories which is why there is so much truth within. This article is absolutely outstanding and I think Sepetys’ is doing amazing work. 

“They shaved her head in prison. They branded her bare flesh with the yoke-and-arrow symbol of the Falange. They force-fed her castor oil so she would soil herself. They paraded her mother through the streets, human dignity excreting down her legs for all to see,” (pg 171).

Having read a few of Sepetys’ novels before, I know how much research and truth she puts into her novels. This quote I felt was deeply true because of how horrible it is. There is no sugar-coating it, this is what happened when people tried to rebel against the General. It was a horrible time to live and I believe that this really happened to people. 

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Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson is a very important novel that really reflects the racial judicial system we have in America. It is about a black women who is wrongly convicted of killing a white baby and does six years in a type of jail for young children. The media and the jury is convinced she did it and Mary didn’t say much because who would believe her? After her six years, she is sent to a group house that is not very welcoming nor stable. It is a hard place to be and Mary is forced to do labor chores everyday. Mary has to do community service and ends up meeting Ted at a nursing home. Ted is a few months out of juvie and they have fallen in love over the time of meeting. Mary becomes pregnant. When the people in charge at the group house find out they tell Mary that she is not in control of her unborn child and that they will have the final say. Mary becomes distraught and struggles with bringing up her past to find her voice in what really happened the night of the murder. 

This novel really illustrates the horrible conditions of young children and teenagers on parole and what they go through. It also depicts how quickly the media can decided you did one thing even if you didn’t. It shows how much upper governments of state don’t care about their youth, especially black youth. This is all part of a much bigger problem within America. I believe that Tiffany D. Jackson does the most wonderful job being truthful and raw with this novel and that everyone should read it, especially adolescent readers to learn from this story. This story is powerful and readers can learn much more by viewing from a young black teen’s perspective. 

Allegedly deals around group homes and young juvie jails that I don’t think many people think about. Going into this book I rarely had heard about juvie or even how parole works and I find myself really horrified at how the leaders of the group home don’t care about the individuals within or how the individuals treat one another. I still have many questions as to why they let them treat each other horribly and also why not try and teach these young adults to be better or help them in any way? 

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#NotYourPrincess

#NotYourPrincess is a very eye-opening collection of narratives told by Native American women. The different types of narratives really add to the flow of the anthology. The narrative I want to focus on is It Could Have Been Me by Patty Stonefish, on pages 51-52. This poem is on top of an illustration, a purple and pink cloud-like page with two faces at the top of the page. The faces are cut off by the top of the page right below the nose so all we see is the women’s lips. This author really puts emphasis on the age numbers in the beginning of the poem which I believe adds this shock factor that this does happen to people this young, even more of a realization for me personally as I am 20. The illustration at the top of the women shows a vine with little flowers almost to be wrapping around the women’s neck. I think this could represent being tied down or tainted. The very last one shows the vine to be slipping off of the collarbone. I think this shows the determination of not letting it tie her (Patty) be tied down. This makes a lot of sense for the second page of the poem where Patty really brings the point of not letting herself become tainted. 

This narrative is really powerful in the fact that it leaves you with hope and a sense of healing. This poem is strong with the words and phrases Patty chooses. I personally love the background art and think the women are smiling slightly, moreso the second women on the pages. I choose this narrative because I felt the closest to it, as a women. I will never understand what Native Americans experience as a white person yet I can really connect being a women. 

 This poem is a great example of Testimonio as it speaks of personal trauma. The trauma isn’t specified but it is very clear something horrible has occurred. This poem though I think emcopasses the sense of healing the best. There is a real determination within the voice of the poem and Patty Stonefish creates an amazing narrative.

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Ari & Dante and Me

This is a rather well known book I believe within the middle school era for my generation. We had to read it for a book report so this is my third time actually reading this novel. Aristotle and Dante are very relatable characters in the aspect of finding your identity. Sáenz does a really wonderful job with both of his characters in discovering their own sexualitites and the challenges of internal denial. I believe this novel could really shed light to readers about the ways adolescents find their own identities that interact with each other such as sexuality and cultural and the fact that they are not alone. This book does an effective job of honoring the goals of the Stonewall Award though I do believe personally there could have been more about the gay relationship between Aristotle and Dante for this award. 

“I could be something and nothing at the same time. I could be necessary and also invisible. Everyone would need me and no one would be able to see me.”(pg 84)

This specific quote is right after Aristotle decides to give himself the nickname, Ari, as he doesn’t really like his name. He believes everyone expects something from him and I can relate in a way. Being named after someone in your family or someone your parents idolize is always a bit heavy to carry. I definitely went through a phase of not enjoying my name and wishing desperately I could have a nickname like Ari. 

Having this being my third time reading this novel, I find that my reactions are a bit different then when I read it in middle school. In middle school I didn’t really enjoy reading this novel as I believe I couldn’t separate my anger as a young teen and Aristotle’s anger. I definitely harbored angst and anger growing up, similar to Aristotle’s in that I was searching and not really understanding my own sexuality. Reading this now as a college student and an outed bisexual, I really understand and can enjoy reading this novel as a learning chance and can separate my own emotions to just read about Ari and Dante’s story.

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My Experience With YA

My older sister used to read me books until I was in middle school and I started to read on my own. I reread The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater that she had previously read aloud to me. My love just grew and grew and all I wanted to do was read. This is actually where my exploration with YA began. Tumblr was my second social media platform as a middle schooler (third if you count snapchat). I joined to chat about the books I was reading and discover more with people on the internet. It eventually grew and I started to have my own little library of YA novels and was taking pictures of them to upload with my reviews on my little blog. Eventually around 2016, I started my Bookstagram (instagram about books) and left my little blog behind. I have been to many book conventions and author signings. My library has grown exponentially and needless to say I became an English major. 

My feelings about YAL have changed as I have grown and learned more. I do believe I have biases in just loving most of what I read yet as I kept reading and growing up I learned that it was okay to not like a book. I would often fall into wanting to love every book that everyone else loves.

The article linked below actually is a case of me going with the crowd and feeling how everyone else feels until more is revealed. The article discusses a twitter riot that happened due to an author seeing a comment about one of her books not being good enough for an award. It caused lots of authors to defend this author and even for the award creators to speak out and apologize. A few days later the person who made the comment talked about what was left out of her quote. I like everyone else was originally mad that this person decided this book wasn’t good enough for the award yet “fine for teen girls”. This is the part that got most people upset and other authors chiming in. Twitter was quite the place to be those few days. It was very wild and everyone had something say. It was interesting to see what the University, which hosted the award, said in their apology. The author later deleted her tweet and apologized to the person who made the comment. I was still upset with the wording about why the book wasn’t chosen for the award yet I also felt bad for how much hate this person got from social media. I believe a lot of the anger had to do with the oppression female authors have been going through as well as in terms of the quote, how books about teen girls are not as sought after by awards. I think this is something deep rooted in publishing and a pretty interesting conversation within YAL. 

https://www.vulture.com/2019/11/famous-authors-drag-student-in-ya-twitter-controversy.html