February 2018 ~ Ms. Richards' Reads

Daisy Jones and the Six
Darius the Great is Not Okay
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Skyward
The Gilded Wolves

Monday, February 26, 2018

Beneath a Meth Moon

By Stephanie Richards February 26, 2018 // No comments

Citation

Woodson, J. (2012). Beneath a meth moon. New York, NY: Nancy Paulsen Books.

Description

Laurel Daneau has moved on to a new life, in a new town, but inside she’s still reeling from the loss of her beloved mother and grandmother after Hurricane Katrina washed away their home. Laurel’s new life is going well, with a new best friend, a place on the cheerleading squad and T-Boom, co-captain of the basketball team, for a boyfriend. Yet Laurel is haunted by voices and memories from her past.

When T-Boom introduces Laurel to meth, she immediately falls under its spell, loving the way it erases, even if only briefly, her past. But as she becomes alienated from her friends and family, she becomes a shell of her former self, and longs to be whole again. With help from an artist named Moses and her friend Kaylee, she’s able to begin to rewrite her story and start to move on from her addiction.

Incorporating Laurel’s bittersweet memories of life before and during the hurricane, this is a stunning novel by one of our finest writers. Jacqueline Woodson’s haunting – but ultimately hopeful – story is beautifully told and one readers will not want to miss.

Realistic Fiction

Scholarly Review

Two years after Hurricane Katrina takes Laurel's mother and grandmother, she, her father, and brother move to Iowa, where she finds new friends and a boyfriend - and meth. Laurel's descent into addiction is brutally honest and narrated in her lilting, Southern cadence. Linking the large scale tragedies of Katrina and drug addiction, the novel tells an intimate and compelling story of survival.

[The Horn Book Guide Review, 2012]

My Analysis

This book is told from Laurel Daneau’s perspective as she becomes addicted to the “moon” (meth). The book is only 182 pages with larger print, so it was a fast read. I enjoyed the story of Laurel’s journey from addiction to sobriety with flashbacks to the story of how her mother and grandmother died in Hurricane Katrina. However, I felt like there was hardly any character development and that the book could have been longer. Because of this, the book didn’t hook me in like I thought it would based on Jacqueline Woodson’s reputation. I would have loved to read more about her relationships and to have seen more of her struggle.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower

By Stephanie Richards February 26, 2018 // No comments

Citation

Chbosky, S. (1999). The Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York, NY: Pocket Books.

Description

Read the cult-favorite coming of age story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory. Now a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a funny, touching, and haunting modern classic.

The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky, Perks follows observant “wallflower” Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

A #1 New York Times best seller for more than a year, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2000) and Best Book for Reluctant Readers (2000), and with millions of copies in print, this novel for teen readers (or “wallflowers” of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life.

Coming of Age Fiction, Epistolary Fiction

Scholarly Review

Gr 9 Up --An epistolary narrative cleverly places readers in the role of recipients of Charlie's unfolding story of his freshman year in high school. From the beginning, Charlie's identity as an outsider that his class has gone through a summer of change, the boy finds that he has drifted away from old friends. He finds a new and satisfying social set, however, made up of several high school seniors, bright bohemians with ego-bruising insights and, really, hearts of gold. These new friends make more sense to Charlie than his star football-playing older brother ever did and they are able to teach him about the realities of life that his older sister doesn't have the time to share with him. Grounded in a specific time (the 1991/92 academic year) and place (western Pennsylvania), Charlie, his friends, and family are palpably real. His grandfather is an embarrassing bigot; his new best friend is gay; his sister must resolve her pregnancy without her boyfriend's support. Charlie develops from an observant wallflower into his own man of action, and, with the help of a therapist, he begins to face the sexual abuse he had experienced as a child. This report on his life will engage teen readers for years to come.

[School Library Journal, 1999]

My Analysis

Stephen Chbosky's novel is told through Charlie’s perspective as told through letters to an unnamed friend. He becomes friends with seniors Patrick and Sam, and, through that friendship, learns about and explores issues of first love, sex and masturbation, pregnancy and abortion, homosexuality, drugs, and sexual abuse. The way Chbosky writes is subtle and stunning because he inputs short scenes that make you feel to your core and leave you heartbroken. I can see why this novel has had so much popularity and success because, even though it can be hard to read in places, it is very realistic and portrays experiences that readers can relate to. Yes, it can be “explicit” in places, but for a lot of teenagers, this is a reality. The writing is honest, and readers will gain empathy for the characters. Charlie survived his experiences and grew into himself, becoming a better person. Sometimes the point isn’t the destination, but the journey.

Eleanor & Park

By Stephanie Richards February 23, 2018 // No comments

Citation

Rowell, R. (2013). Eleanor and Park. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Description

Bono met his wife in high school, Park says.

So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers.

I'm not kidding, he says.

You should be, she says, we're 16.

What about Romeo and Juliet?

Shallow, confused, then dead.

I love you, Park says.

Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers.

I'm not kidding, he says.

You should be.

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits-smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you'll remember your own first love-and just how hard it pulled you under.

YA Romance

Scholarly Review

Right from the start of this tender debut, readers can almost hear the clock winding down on Eleanor and Park. After a less than auspicious start, the pair quietly builds a relationship while riding the bus to school every day, wordlessly sharing comics and eventually music on the commute. Their worlds couldn’t be more different. Park’s family is idyllic: his Vietnam vet father and Korean immigrant mother are genuinely loving. Meanwhile, Eleanor and her younger siblings live in poverty under the constant threat of Richie, their abusive and controlling stepfather, while their mother inexplicably caters to his whims. The couple’s personal battles are also dark mirror images. Park struggles with the realities of falling for the school outcast; in one of the more subtle explorations of race and “the other” in recent YA fiction, he clashes with his father over the definition of manhood. Eleanor’s fight is much more external, learning to trust her feelings about Park and navigating the sexual threat in Richie’s watchful gaze. In rapidly alternating narrative voices, Eleanor and Park try to express their all-consuming love. “You make me feel like a cannibal,” Eleanor says. The pure, fear-laced, yet steadily maturing relationship they develop is urgent, moving, and, of course, heartbreaking, too.

[The Booklist Review, 2013]

My Analysis

Eleanor and Park begin their friendship with a rocky start. However, they start sharing comics and music on the bus rides to and from school. Their friendship slowly builds into a relationship. To quote The Fault in Our Stars, “slowly, and then all at once.” Park has the ideal family with loving parents and a happy home life. Eleanor, on the other hand, constantly has to avoid her abusive stepfather and lives in poverty. The novel is told through both Park’s and Eleanor’s points of view, and through the writing, the reader can feel their intense love for each other. This is a sweet love story, reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet.

I can see how this novel might be too mature for younger students, but I think that it is appropriate for high school. There are a few make out scenes, curse words, mild descriptions of abuse, and explicit writing in Eleanor’s textbook. I wouldn’t include this in a middle school library, but I would include it in a high school library or the young adult section in a public library.

Tags

abuse, romance, high school, first love

Usage

I think this would be a good book to use for a comparative book study. Most freshman are required to read Romeo and Juliet for their English classes, and Eleanor & Park contains similar themes and ideas. It would be interesting to teach both novels and do compare and contrast analyses or projects on them.

Awards

2014 Michael L. Printz Honor Book for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

Censorship

The novel was challenged in Anoka High School in Minnesota because of the graphic language used in the novel, with one parent claiming that it was the most “obscene and profane work we have ever read in our lives.” The parents who challenged the novel sited 227 uses of profanity, which included 60 uses of the ‘F’ word.

The challenge was denied, and the principal of the school issued this statement: “We did acknowledge some of the language is rough, but it fits the situation and the characters. I deal with this stuff every day working in the school with students. Did I think the language was rough? Yes. There is some tough stuff in there, but a lot of the stuff our kids are dealing with is tough.”

http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=9248 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

References

Jones, C. (2013). Eleanor & park. The Booklist, 109(9), 98. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.uky.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.uky.edu/docview/1271619172?accountid=11836 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Macmillan. (n.d.). Eleanor and park details. Retrieved from https://us.macmillan.com/eleanorpark/rainbowrowell/9781250127082/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Pekoll, K. (2017). Spotlight on censorship: ‘Eleanor and Park’. Retrieved from http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=9248 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Two Boys Kissing

By Stephanie Richards February 23, 2018 // No comments

Citation

Levithan, D. (2013). Two boys kissing. New York, NY: Ember.

Description

Based on true events—and narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS—Two Boys Kissing follows Harry and Craig, two seventeen-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record. While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teens dealing with universal questions of love, identity, and belonging.

YA Romance, Realistic Fiction

Scholarly Review

Harry and Craig are challenging the record for the world's longest kiss. They have chosen the venue carefully--the lawn in front of their high school-and they have the support of the principal, Harry's parents and their friends. The kissing marathon is Craig's idea: '... there had to be some way to show the world that he was a human being, an equal human being.' The private act becomes a public gesture of protest and affirmation; as the two boys prepare for and carry out their record-breaking kiss, the marathon becomes a vehicle for the author to explore the experience of being gay in contemporary America. The novel has an original narrative voice; Levithan uses the generation of gay men who died in the AIDs pandemic to observe and comment, chorus-like, on the experiences of Harry and Craig, and on the lives intersecting with their own. We meet Avery and Ryan who are instantly attracted to each other at a gay prom, Tariq, whose support of the marathon allows him to take back his sense of self after a homophobic beating and Cooper, who allows himself to feel nothing because to feel is to know suffering and pain. The narrators note the freedoms and the difficulties today's generation experience and contrast them poignantly with their own lives, reminding the reader how far some societies--but not all--have travelled in the past 20 years. The energy and lyricism of the narrative provides a counterpoint to the sadness of the past; Harry and Craig break the record, Avery and Ryan negotiate a potential obstacle in their relationship, Tariq supports his friends and the carpe diem theme is encapsulated in the final words of the novel: 'Make more than dust.' A potential prizewinning novel which deserves a wide readership. [School Librarian Review, 2014].

My Analysis

I was really moved by this book, especially because it is based on a true story and is narrated by a Greek chorus of men that lost their lives to AIDs. I feel that this book is important because not only is it LGBTQ fiction, which is still small compared to heterosexual fiction, but it also shows love, friendship, positive role models, and support. Most of the novel is tame and is mainly about two boys kissing to try to win a world record. There are a few scenes that are a little explicit, so I would recommend that this book is suited for young adults over the age of twelve or thirteen. Overall this book was beautiful, and I think young adults will benefit from reading it no matter what sexuality with which they identify.

Tags

romance, LGBTQ, LGBTQ romance, friendship, social issues

Usage

I would love to use this as part of Banned Books week because this book has been challenged so much and because it is about LGBTQ culture. This book can be used to show that there are many types of romance novels, and it can also be used as a discussion topic to talk about societal issues surrounding LGBTQ teens. It could also lead to forming support groups or event a student alliance.

Awards

2014 Lambda Literary Award

2014 Stonewall Honor Book

Censorship

In 2014, a parent in Fauquier County Public Schools requested that the book be banned. She based her request on the title as well as reviews from Amazon that she found using the keywords “sex” and “kissing.” She claimed that 60% of the book’s content related to those keywords and that her request is not about the homosexuality in the book but rather the “overt sexual nature” of the book. There was a public hearing to decide whether or not to ban the book, and David Levithan, the author, even wrote a letter to be read at the hearing. The end result was that the book was not banned.

https://www.slj.com/2014/04/censorship/request-to-ban-two-boys-kissing-from-virginia-high-school-library-denied/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

References

Bennett, S. (2014, Autumn). Levithan, David: Two boys kissing. School Librarian, 62(3), 189. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.uky.edu/apps/doc/A385801801/BRIP?u=uky_main&sid=BRIP&xid=7e4c745e (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Ember. (n.d.) Two boys kissing. Retrieved from https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/217499/two-boys-kissing#9780307931917 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

School Library Journal. (2014). Request to ban ‘two boys kissing’ from Virginia high school library denied.Retrieved from https://www.slj.com/2014/04/censorship/request-to-ban-two-boys-kissing-from-virginia-high-school-library-denied/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Speak

By Stephanie Richards February 23, 2018 // No comments

Citation

Anderson, L. H. (1999). Speak. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.

Description

The first ten lies they tell you in high school.

"Speak up for yourself--we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.

Realistic Fiction

Scholarly Review

“Speaking out at the ‘wrong’ time--calling 911 from a teen drinking party--has made Melinda a social outcast; now she barely speaks at all. While her smart and savvy interior narrative slowly reveals the searing pain of that night (she was raped), it also nails the high-school experience cold. Uncannily funny even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from first word to last. Review 9/99.” [The Horn Book Guide Review, 2000].

My Analysis

After being raped by an older classmate at a party, Melinda is traumatized to the point of becoming nearly mute. Her friends turn their backs on her because she called the police at the party and are unaware of what occured. Anderson did an excellent job of illustrating the reality of depression through Melinda’s point of view. As the book progresses, we see Melinda working through her trauma slowly. Just making it through the day is a hard reality for those with depression, and Melinda did just that as well as displaying signs of anxiety by biting her lips, picking her scabs, and sleeping to escape. Rape is a terrible reality, and Anderson portrays this reality through Melinda, who eventually finds her voice.

Tags

Rape, teenage drinking, high school, rape survivor, depression

Usage

I think this book would be a great start for a book club, most likely in the school library or in a classroom, especially in upper middle school and high school. I taught at a high poverty school, and I cannot count how many students went through traumatic experiences like this. The book club can also be a form of therapy where students can discuss these issues in a safe environment, and the students can have a say in what books they read, which will give them ownership over the book club.

Awards

1999 National Book Award Finalist
2000 Printz Honor book

Kentucky Blue Grass Award

Censorship

In 2010, a professor at Missouri State University wrote an op-ed piece proclaiming that Speak was filthy, immoral, and contained soft pornography. This attempt at censorship was met by an overwhelming response by readers, who created a Twitter feed (#SpeakLoudly), organized giveaways of the book, and resulted in countless blogs supporting the novel. https://www.slj.com/2010/10/industry-news/andersons-speak-under-attack-again/#_ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

References

Macmillan. (n.d.) Speak. Retrieved on February 15, 2018 from https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312674397 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

School Library Journal. (2010, October 13). Anderson’s Speak under attack, again. Retrieved on February 15, 2018 from http://www.slj.com/2010/10/industry-news/andersons-speak-under-attack-again/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

The Horn Book Guide. (2000). [Review of the book Speak by The Horn Book Guide]. The Horn Book Guide. Retrieved February 15, 2018 from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.uky.edu/docview/207561494?accountid=11836 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

By Stephanie Richards February 16, 2018 // No comments

Citation

Crutcher, C. (1993). Staying fat for Sarah Byrnes. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

Description

“Sarah Byrnes and Eric Calhoune have been friends for years. When they were children, his weight and her scars made them both outcasts. Now Sarah Byrnes—the smartest, toughest person Eric has ever known—sits silent in a hospital. Eric must uncover the terrible secret she’s hiding before its dark current pulls them both under. Will appeal to fans of Marieke Nijkamp, Andrew Smith, Matt de la Peña, and John Corey Whaley.”

Realistic Fiction.

Scholarly Review

“Once again, Crutcher assembles a crew of misfits to tackle the Big Issues. Sarah Byrnes, her face hideously scarred from what she calls a childhood accident, sits silent and withdrawn in the psychiatric ward; her friend Eric (``Moby''), who has admired her since grade school as the toughest person he knows, wonders what could have finally pushed her over the edge. Between trenchant classroom confrontations over abortion and other religious controversies, exhausting swim team workouts, and a sudden relationship with a classmate, Eric loyally finds time to visit Sarah. Enter Virgil, her psychotic father, who speaks only in threats; in a terrifying passage, he stalks and stabs Eric in order to learn where Sarah (who has escaped) is hiding. Though Crutcher doesn't always play fair in developing his themes--all the conservative Christians here are humorless dupes or hypocrites, and one tries to commit suicide after it comes out that his girlfriend had an abortion--his language, characters, and situations are vivid and often hilarious. In the end, he deals out just deserts all around: Eric gets a stepfather he can respect; Virgil, a vicious mauling plus 20 years in stir; Sarah, a new and loving set of parents. Readers may find the storybook ending a welcome relief, though it does seem forced after the pain that precedes it. Pulse-pounding, on both visceral and intellectual levels--a wild, brutal ride. (Fiction. YA)” [Kirkus Review, 2010].

My Analysis

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. Even though this book was published in 1993, many of the issues that were touched upon are still relevant today, such as being an outcast, domestic abuse, suicide attempts, religion in schools, and the pressure on teenagers to be perfect. While the main issues in this book centered around the main characters, I was impressed with the more subtle theme of considering another person’s point of view. The main characters were students in a class called Contemporary American Thought. The point of this class is to discuss contemporary ideas or issues in order to examine your own beliefs as well as others’. One of the issues discussed was abortion. I thought that this discussion was very well done because while some students were unyielding in their beliefs, the author showed other students considering the other side.

I don’t agree with the person who tried to get this novel banned. I don’t know where the “pornography” comes into this novel. The book does have a few curse words, but they are words you hear in everyday life or on TV. This novel does a good job of covering themes that typical high school students deal with. It also showed that even though things didn’t turn out exactly how Sarah Byrnes wanted it to, in the end, everything was ok with the support of her friends.

Tags

domestic abuse, young adult in a treatment facility, peer pressure, suicide, abortion

Usage

I would love to use this as part of Banned Books Week, especially because I think a lot of the issues and themes in this novel would be good discussion topics that can be used in the classroom as well as the library. I wouldn’t have picked this book based on the cover, so I think making it part of a display with an engaging quote (maybe from a class discussion) in order to get students interested.

Awards

ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
American Bookseller Pick of the Lists
California Young Reader Medal
School Library Journal Best Book
ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults

Censorship

In 2011, a parent in the Belleville, Wisconsin school district wanted the book banned because it was ‘pornographic’ and contained ‘vulgar language.’ The book was part of the curriculum, and students were offered alternate novels if they were uncomfortable reading Crutcher’s novel. Despite this parent’s request to ban the book and remove it from the curriculum, the school board voted against her request. http://yaloveblog.com/2011/09/30/banned-books-week-staying-fat-for-sarah-byrnes-by-chris-crutcher/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

References

Harper Tempest. (n.d.). Staying fat for Sarah Byrnes book details. Retrieved February 15, 2018 from https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062687746/staying-fat-for-sarah-byrnes (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Kirkus Reviews (2010, May 10). [Review of the book Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Kirkus Reviews]. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved February 15, 2018 from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/chris-crutcher/staying-fat-for-sarah-byrnes/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.