Category: Mature Readers


“Divergent”

Filed under: Adventure Stories, Controversial Issue/Debate, Family Problems, Fiction, Human Rights Issues, Literary Read Alike, Mature Readers, Over 375 pages, Sci-Fi/Futuristic, Young Adult Literature by Ms. Waddle — Leave a comment
February 2, 2012

Divergent by Veronica Roth

“Every faction conditions its members to think and act a certain way. And most people do it. For most people, it’s not hard to learn, to find a pattern of thought that works and stay that way. . . . But our minds move in a dozen different directions. We can’t be contained to one way of thinking. And that terrifies our leaders. It means we can’t be controlled.”

Beatrice Prior is a Divergent. And she’d better keep that a secret. Because in the future, specifically in the future Chicago of the novel, society is broken down into five factions based on the qualities of character that individuals demonstrate. The motto “Faction before blood” means that families are less important than factions. At sixteen, children attend a ceremony in which they choose the faction they will live with from then on. To choose a faction different from that of his parents means that the teen will be separated from his family for life.

Beatrice is from the Abnegation faction, the group of people who are self-sacrificing. They run the government since it is unlikely that they will make selfish grabs for power. The four other factors are: Candor (always tells the truth, no matter how rude or mean); Amity (friendship); Erudite (intelligent and bookish—love learning); and Dauntless (brave, fierce).

Living in the Abnegation faction is hard. Everyone is expected to always give up comforts for others. They are nice, they take turns, they listen to others, they don’t worry about fashion (all clothes are gray), and they don’t speak up before hearing someone else’s issues. Still, despite the lack of individualism in this, as a group, Abnegation plays nice. Not all groups do.

Like all sixteen year olds, Beatrice goes through a simulation that, based on her reaction to various situations, will indicate to which of the five factions she belongs. But her simulation results are inconclusive. She reacts to the virtual dangers as an Abnegation, a Dauntless, and an Erudite. The woman monitoring the simulation whispers that she is a Divergent. This is dangerous. She is not to tell anyone, but she should choose a faction. Unsure of what she should do, Beatrice (hence forward Tris) chooses Dauntless.

The Dauntless, traditionally brave, have the job of protecting the city. But in recent times, the leaders are more sadistic than courageous and the initiates are treated cruelly and encouraged to be brutal to one another. Only ten initiates will be accepted into the faction. Those who are cut will be factionless for the rest of their lives, impoverished nobodies, living on the street. The vicious, even gruesome, initiation process is heart-stopping. You won’t be able to stop reading through it—and it covers most of the book.

At the same time the initiates are vying for a spot in Dauntless, there is a rumor that Abnegation is misusing its power and that the Erudite want war and hope the Dauntless will cooperate. One of the young trainers of the initiates is Four, who tells Tris, “They don’t want you to act a certain way. They want you to think a certain way.” As a Divergent, her mind isn’t easy for others to control, so she’s a primary target, a girl who may be able to help Abnegation because of her many qualities.

If you’re looking for a good read after finishing The Hunger Games trilogy, this is a great choice. (I think the cover even tries for a subconscious Hunger Games feeling.) Be mindful that it’s for mature readers who aren’t sickened by the violence, which is excessive and somewhat repetitive. And, yes, the romance is there, too, a very sweet one that will have you rooting for Tris and Four. This is obviously the beginning of a trilogy. We don’t even know how the world outside of Chicago functions—whether this is something neglected by the writer as she was swept away with her descriptions of Dauntless sadism or purposeful, something we will learn as society breaks apart and moves outward. But we will certainly check out ‘book two’ because we want to find out.

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For Read 180 and English Learner students

Filed under: Controversial Issue/Debate, Family Problems, Fiction, Hi-Low/Quick Read, Mature Readers, Read 180, Young Adult Literature by Ms. Waddle — Leave a comment
January 13, 2012

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High Interest Series

Check for these books in our new library section: 372.41

 Choices series:

The Choices series is for teens who are emerging readers. They are not complete stories. They set up situations that require teens to make a choice. The choice is one that teens might have had to make in the past or will make in the future.

 The books are about 50 pages long. They work best for teens who are learning English. If you can already read at the 4th grade level or above, you might find Choices too easy. It may bore you. If you are learning to read English, you might like the Choices series. You might enjoy thinking about what you would do in the same situation.

 Sample title:

 Friend or Foe?

Two friends are running for class president. A third friend (Jazz) tells one of them (Cory) that he will vote for Cory. But Jazz would make a better class president. Should he keep his promise or should he run for class president?

 Orca Soundings series

The books in Orca Soundings vary a lot. They cover a lot of situations. They are written for teens who read below grade level. Most of the books have a 2.5-6 grade level of reading, but they have a lot of action. The pace is really quick. The topic are sometimes for mature readers—teenage sexuality, underage drinking, bullying. These are not books for students in grades 2-6.

I found the Orca Soundings books that I read to be interesting. I wanted to know how things would turn out. They are the same number of pages as the shorter books in the Bluford series. (I discuss the Bluford series next—see below.) Still, Orca Soundings books are a little shorter than Bluford books. The print is bigger.

Since the books aren’t connected as they are in most series, I’ve got three sample titles to give you an idea:

Comeback

Ria is rich, pretty, popular, and has a great boyfriend. Her problem is that her parents are getting a divorce. She blames her mother because her mother wanted the divorce. Ria enjoys her father’s positive attitude about life. She enjoys how he is always doing something fun.

I liked this book because I wasn’t able to guess what would happen. When Ria’s father won’t take her on a plane trip, I thought Ria would find out that her father was having an affair—and that she had misjudged her mother. But Ria’s father is very bad in another way, one right out of today’s headlines. He’s bad in a way that affects a lot more people than just his family.

Charmed

Charmed is for the very mature student.

Izzy is embarrassed of her mom’s boyfriend, Rob the Slob. He’s a racist. In fact, he’s a jerk in a lot of ways. The man of Izzy’s dreams is Cody Dillon. Cody’s a good-looking high school dropout and he’s popular with some girls. But Izzy thinks the “bada#$” boys are the best ones. And even with Rob the Slob as proof that she’s wrong, Izzy won’t listen to anyone about Cody.

When Izzy’s mom chooses Rob the Slob over Izzy, Izzy thinks Cody Dillon is her ticket out of the mess of her life. Bad choice.

Chill

Although Chill has a disability, he doesn’t let it affect him. He’s a great artist and he works on his strengths. He stood up to bullies when he was a kid in elementary school, so by high school, people respect him. But then a new teacher comes to town. And he truly is a bully, not just to Chill, but also to all of the students in his class. He seems to want to break their spirits. But he acts like a completely different person around other teachers, so the staff has no clue.

Through his talent in painting, Chill is able to stand up to Mr. Sfinkter. (Yes, ha, ha. Great name.) His story s also the story of friendship and how to learn to forgive friends when they let you down.

The Bluford Series

The books in the Bluford series are connected. They all take place at Bluford High, and some of the same characters appear in various books. Some are sequels, but the series isn’t one continuous story. If you want to know which books are sequels, check the link here or look under “Readers’ Advisory” on Colony Library Lady. It has a list of all the books and a quick blurb about each one, which tells you which are sequels.

The Bluford books are a little longer—150-180 pages—so they are able to more fully develop the characters. You feel like you get to know some of them. They have very real high school problems. They have a subplot, or second story line so the world of Bluford High seems real, with multiple problems. If you read one, you may get hooked. (And that’s a good thing.)

Sample title:

Pretty Ugly

Jamee Wills feels like she can never live up to her parents’ expectations because her older sister, Darcy, is the smart one. Darcy studies hard and plans to get a scholarship to college next year when she is a senior.

Jamee loves cheerleading because she’s a talented athlete, good at jumps, dance steps and tumbling. But of she doesn’t keep up her grades, she’s going to fail math—and then it won’t matter if she makes the cheer squad. But in order to go to practice, she lies to her parents about staying after school to get help from her math teacher.

In cheer practice, it becomes obvious which girls are the school’s queen bees. Particularly awful is Vanessa Pierce. Vanessa makes fun of Angel, a shy girl who is trying out. She goes on to bully Angel. When Jamee stands up for Angel—and for what is right—she also becomes the target of Vanessa’s attacks. With all the girls afraid to stand up to Vanessa (or they will be next), the attacks become worse and include cyber-bullying.

I particularly liked Pretty Ugly because it shows how hard being an outsider in high school can be.

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Tough Teen Topics: An Occasional Series Post 1–Violence

Filed under: Adventure Stories, Controversial Issue/Debate, Family Problems, Fiction, Historical Fiction/Historical Element, Mature Readers, Movie Tie-In, Multicultural, Romance, Sci-Fi/Futuristic by Ms. Waddle — Leave a comment
December 16, 2011

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What about mature teens who are asking for books that delve deeply into the difficult subjects they are grappling with? Do we sanitize reading too much for your age group? You are, after all, sprinting on the heels of adulthood.

The problem for those of us adults responsible for teaching you is that you have such a wide range of maturity. A freshman is usually very different from a senior. Some books that take on difficult subjects are welcome—a relief, really—to students who’ve had a tough go and need to have their experience validated. Those same books may upset certain parents who feel that reading about the seedier side of life encourages the reader to participate in it when s/he wouldn’t have otherwise. I’m not that sort of parent myself—my kids have always read widely, on every sort of subject—but I respect that most parents are trying to do the best they can for their kids in a world that’s hard to figure out.

Ultimately, I believe both you and your parents can make the right reading choices for you if you have a pretty good idea what books are about. So, I want to write periodically on books that cover difficult topics including violence and teenage sexuality. I want to show you books that deal explicitly with the subjects, but that have value—that help you do that mature grappling with the difficult world. And if you feel that the content of the book is too explicit, then the review will have helped you make your choice to find something more appropriate.

My first go at this is to reflect on books with violence. And I do intend to look at teen books that address violence, but while thinking about the subject, I couldn’t forget that—while rather a wimp myself—some of the absolutely best contemporary books I’ve read were breathtakingly violent.

All of those great, yet violent, books were by Cormac McCarthy, a man widely regarded as one of the country’s best living authors. I asked some English teachers whether they thought their students could read McCarthy and get something valuable from him or whether those students would just see the novels as endless rounds of murder and mayhem. Based on their answers—they believe teens can benefit from the books as the violence in them is not of the gratuitous sort found in current movies—I am going to start my series with them.

In discussing the use of violence in literature and teen reading, we need a common definition of “gratuitous.” If it the definition means that the violence is ‘unnecessary to tell the story’ rather than meaning ‘a very heavy dose,’ then McCarthy’s violence is not gratuitous. Nevertheless, it’s unrelenting. And his narrative often has a camera-eye quality in the sense that we learn what happens and are left to sort it out for ourselves. Sometimes the camera extends into people’s musing on life and fate (as it does with Sheriff Bell in No Country for Old Men), but even then, no moral judgment is made for you. You must figure it out on your own.

The question then, at your age, is: Can you read this kind of violence and be able to form your own judgments? If you haven’t had some good practice in critical thinking, then I really don’t think McCarthy’s books are for you. If you have had that practice, a second question to ask yourself is whether you enjoy the qualities of excellent storytelling, the mythic sweep of a great narrative, and some of the best imagery/pictures of landscapes that you will ever read? If so, give McCarty a try.

Blood Meridian: This book is an unflinchingly realistic portrayal of the some of the worst examples of lawlessness in the wild west of the nineteenth century. I grew up in a time when all westerns were of the John Wayne variety with strong, silent men forging a new America. For anyone who knows nothing other than that image, Blood Meridian is an excellent antidote.

The nineteenth century in America was a time of deep culture clash (but then, when isn’t that true?). Blood Meridian is historical fiction in that its subject is the Glanton Gang, scalp hunters who were paid by the Governor of Chihuahua, Mexico in 1849-50 to kill Comanche and Apache Indians. Those two tribes had raided Mexican towns, and Glanton received $200 per scalp, scalps being evidence that the Indians had been murdered. But, as the cliché goes, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to imagine the possibilities. Considering that lots of folks in Mexico had black hair, when the Glanton Gang ran low on Apaches and Comanche to kill, they just started killing anyone they could get their hands on.

Gruesome? Absolutely. The Glanton Boys kill indiscriminately—men, women, children, old people. They pillage. They rape. One of the main characters, Judge Holden, is well educated, always curious, something of a botanist and purveyor of human nature. He is also pure evil, and the banality of his wickedness—the way is it just an ordinary part of his life—will highlight for the thoughtful reader the fact that the west was ‘won’ by groups of men who included demonic characters.

Critics compare Blood Meridian to many works of classic literature, some of which you’ve read in high school or will read in college—Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness; Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. There’s Huck Finn lighting out for the territory, but not in a way that Mark Twain’s satire makes you smile at our cultural foibles. It’s so straightforward and void of emotion that you may feel physically sick over man’s inhumanity to man. You might think of your sophomore literature, Lord of the Flies, because the gang is outside of the reach of the law for so long. Their instincts for hurting others take over just as the marooned boys’ did after the plane crash.

If you are seeking a book to read for a literary analysis paper, there’s much to go with here—conflicts include man v. man and man v. nature (the deserts of Mexico and the borderland between the US and Mexico are arid, brutal in their lack of food and water). Ultimately, for the mature reader with an iron stomach, Blood Meridian has value in helping him to be able to recognize the ‘heart of darkness’ within us.

No Country for Old Men is another story that takes place along the border between Mexico and Texas, but this one has a contemporary setting—and the lawlessness is also contemporary.

A man named Llewelyn Moss is out hunting and accidentally stumbles upon the carnage that has resulted from a drug deal gone bad. When he realizes that most of the dealers are dead in the cars and all the drugs are still there, he also knows that the drug money couldn’t be far off. Finding the (now dead) man who tried to get away with the suitcase with the millions, Llewelyn takes the case. Once he does so, the novel primarily follows three characters: Llewelyn Moss; Anton Chigurh, a true psychopath without any conscience or remorse, a hit man in pursuit of Moss; and Sheriff Bell, the lawman attempting to sort out the details and catch Chigurh. Bell’s sections of the novel are more monologues about both life in the past and the present and about the crime. He thinks of Chigurh as a sort of ghost because he is impossible to catch—but he’s real, and he’s out there.

In No Country for Old Men the universe is not a benevolent one, and if you think it’s just the bad guys who are killing off one another, or at least bad guys killing off folks whose greed gets them mixed up in the seedy side of life (like Moss), McCarthy wants to show you otherwise. The evil can be purely arbitrary—especially for Moss’s wife (Carla Jean), whose only connection to the madness, for which she pays dearly, is to have fallen in love with and married Moss.

Again, if you are looking for a novel to read for a literary analysis paper, there’s a lot here. You have the same man v. man and man v. nature as in Blood Meridian. You’ve also got the chance to discuss nihilism and morality.

More recently, McCarthy published The Road, and while it’s about a post-apocalyptic United States, surprisingly, I found more hope in it than in the two books above. I reviewed it earlier and you can read the review here.

OK, if you are saying, “Ms. Waddle, I am a mature person, and I know I need a dose of reality in my reading, but this is just way more than I can take at once,” then I recommend you start with McCarthy’s Border Trilogy, the first book of which is All the Pretty Horses. The title, while appropriate, is unfortunate in that teen guys will turn away from it, thinking it’s a sweet little book meant for girls. Ah—no.

I reviewed All the Pretty Horses here. If you are working on literary analysis or asking yourself the bigger questions, the novel makes you think: What’s in a national identity? What does it mean to be Mexican-America? Can someone be multicultural if he stems from European (Anglo) stock but has a Mexican nanny who teachers him Spanish, and later crosses the border to live in Mexico for a period of time?

If you want to read critical analysis of McCarthy’s books, there are some good articles on the library’s database. You can click on these links, but you may need to type in your Ontario City Library card number to view the articles. (They are in the Literature Resource Center database.)

Eaton, Mark A. “Dis(re)membered Bodies: Cormac McCarthy’s Border Fiction.” Modern Fiction Studies 49.1 (Spring 2003): 155-180. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 260.Detroit: Gale, 2009.Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Dec. 2011.

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1100085017&v=2.1&u=onta59809&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w

“Blood Meridian.” Contemporary Literary Criticism Select.Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Dec. 2011.

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1114060000&v=2.1&u=onta59809&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w

Cooper, Lydia R. “‘He’s a psychopathic killer, but so what?’: Folklore and morality in Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men.” Papers on Language & Literature 45.1 (2009): 37+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Dec. 2011.

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA194974981&v=2.1&u=onta59809&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w

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“The Art of Fielding”

Filed under: Family Problems, Fiction, Literary Read Alike, Mature Readers, Sports by Ms. Waddle — Leave a comment
December 14, 2011

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

All right—this really is a book for mature readers, but it’s such wonderful storytelling on so many levels that I want to include a review of it. Add to that the fact that students often ask for good novels about sports, and other that a few short books written for struggling readers and a few more by Walter Dean Myers, I can’t think of any I’ve read that I genuinely like.

So if you want baseball action and you read at grade level or above; if you’re mature enough to read about how crazy and tangled relationships can get for both young adults in college and for older folks facing the end of midlife, you should try The Art of Fielding.

Mike Schwartz, catcher for the Westish College (Wisconsin) Harpooners is at a baseball tournament when he spots high school shortstop Henry Skrimshander. Henry is a natural, pure and simple: graceful, elegant, a joy to watch. Mike knows that Henry can help turn around the fate of the hapless Harpooners. And the Harpooners are Mike’s life blood.WestishCollegeis both his home and his family, as he is an orphan who has had a hard-scrabble life.

Once at Westish, Henry’s talent, before hidden from the public by his obscure beginnings, become evident to all. While the Harpooners succeed (with some extra help from a very good pitcher, Starblind), Mike knows that Henry can be a pro if he works hard enough. Mike is driven, with a singular intensity that borders on nutty, to help Henry make it to the show.

After 50 errorless games, Henry may soon tie the record (51) of a famous (and fictional) retired shortstop and author of a book (also The Art of Fielding) that Henry lives and dies by.

In that 51st game, Henry lets go of a wild throw that alters the course of the team and the lives of the characters: Henry’s; Mike’s; that of Henry’s roommate, Owen Dunne, a gay man (yes, it matters a lot in the novel) and lover of literature who reads in the dugout while awaiting his turn to bat; the school’s president, Guert Affenlight, lifelong playboy who suddenly, inexplicably finds that he has a crush on Owen; and Affenlight’s daughter, Pella, who ran away from her prestigious high school and married a much older man who had a speaking engagement there.

This novel works on so many levels. You can like it as a great baseball story. You can enjoy the considerable talent of the storyteller/author and the fact that this is just flat-out a good read. And if you love the classics, you get a super-bonus round: you’ll soon realize that the Harpooners are something like the crew of the Pequod, that Mike Schwartz is a more loveable Ahab, and that there are many connections to Moby-Dick. (There are lots of hints to lead you to this, not least of which is the college’s oft-mentioned statue of Melville and Affenlight’s publications on Melville.) Incidentally, if you really love reading, you’ll also see hints of John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany in that wild throw of the baseball.

I recommend this book to all adults. To students, some frank talk: the reason this book is for mature readers is that there is some sexual description as pairs and then love triangles form. (These do appear very realistic in the college scene.) Beyond that, there is the issue of a much older man falling for a college student. While the student is an adult, and a relationship between the two is not illegal, it’s still unethical on the part of the college president. I did find it odd that a 60ish-year-old man who’d led a straight life—quite the playboy, in fact—would fall for a young man. However, the relationship and its fallout work in the context of the novel. So—this isn’t a book that you’d ever read for a class, and it’s only for mature readers who understand that just because something is part of the story (and people who are usually pretty good are engaging in it) doesn’t mean that it is being presented as a model for you.

And if you like baseball—Wow.

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“Story of a Girl”

Filed under: Controversial Issue/Debate, Family Problems, Fiction, Hi-Low/Quick Read, Mature Readers, Young Adult Literature by Ms. Waddle — Leave a comment
November 16, 2011

       When Deanna was only thirteen years old, her father caught her having sex in the back of a car with Tommy, a seventeen-year-old friend of Deanna’s brother.

Bad, yes. Embarrassing, yes. But what ruins Deanna’s reputation is that Tommy—who, after all, is much closer to adulthood—goes to school and tells everyone, making a joke of Deanna. With her reputation, Deanna’s school and social life are also destroyed. She is tagged as the school slut, and just about every comment directed at her is a nasty joke or sexual innuendo. There’s no escape for her, though she hangs on by writing in a journal.

Fortunately, Deanna has two friends, but the relationship among the three is complicated, and, in anger and jealousy, she even alienates them. Meanwhile, her brother has become a father far too early and is living in the family basement with his girlfriend and their baby daughter. Three years after the event, Deanna’s father is still angry and cannot forgive her. The family is a wreck.

  When Deanna decides to get a job at a pizza place, she finds Tommy working there as well. What could be worse? And yet having to face Tommy forces the two to actually talk about what happened and why. And in that, there is healing.

This is a super-short, super-quick, and super-good read about life-changing events and how to move on into forgiveness. I recommend it to all. But be advised that it has some profanity and explicit discussion of teen sexuality.

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“After the Moment”

Filed under: Family Problems, Fiction, Mature Readers, Romance, Young Adult Literature by Ms. Waddle — Leave a comment
September 12, 2011

After the Moment by Garret Freymann-Weyr 

I want to give After the Moment its own space and its own quick review because when I discussed it in the review of Uglies, I only commented that it wasn’t a book I’d recommend to reluctant readers. And that’s still true.

But what if you already like reading? Then After the Moment could become one of your favorite books. Freymann-Weyr sets up the characters as though she’s showing you, the reader, how to play a new board game. She names the pieces, shows you how powerful they are—or if they lack empowerment, and sets them into their designated squares. Once everyone is in position, you hope for a sweet romance between Leigh and Maia.

Leigh is such a great guy; any girl would want him. He’s considerate, decent, and spends a lot of time caring for and about others in his life. Maia has a lot of problems from the beginning—she’s anorexic and self-abusing. She’s nothing like Leigh’s girlfriend, Astra. Yet, she has her own beauty and sweetness, and it’s easy to see why Leigh’s younger step-sister is crazy about Maia.

But when other students, including some not-too-nice guys from Leigh and Maia’s exclusive private school, enter the mix, the couple’s destiny somehow spins out of their control. All Leigh’s thoughts on violence and the war in Iraq take on a connection to his own life. All Maia’s past problems work against her as she seeks to understand her own actions as well as those of her classmates.

I read this book because I was looking for a love story that didn’t have a perfect (and perfectly phony) ending. And I got that. But there’s also a lot of good writing, mostly in the second half of the book (and that’s one reason why I think reading it requires patience). And there’s the thing that YA books almost never talk about—what happens after things go wrong? Where do the lovers end up both physically and emotionally? Reading about that made the entire experience worthwhile.

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“Want to Go Private?”

Filed under: Controversial Issue/Debate, Family Problems, Fiction, Hi-Low/Quick Read, Mature Readers, Young Adult Literature by Ms. Waddle — 2 Comments
August 31, 2011

    Want to Go Private? By Sarah Darer Littman

I want all of you to read this. Really.

Abby is worried about beginning high school because she thinks that life will be even worse than middle school now that there with be more Clique Queens to make her feel bad about herself. Her BFF, Faith, is looking forward to ninth grade as a chance to meet new people who attended the other middle school in town. But when Faith meets Grace and starts hanging out with her—and then finds a love interest with Ted—Abby realizes she was right.

High school sucks.

And home is just as bad. Abby’s dad recently started his own business and he’s never around. Her sister, Lily, is in 7th grade and lives to irritate Abby and fight with her. What Abby does have is her ‘second life’ on ChezTeen.com. It’s just like Second Life, but for teens only. Avatars get in groups, meet up, hang out, go to concerts. And Abby only talks to people she knows. Until she meets BlueSkyBoi.

BlueSkyBoi has the same favorite music as Abby. He thinks they are soul mates. When he asks Abby if she wants to go private, she decides it can’t hurt anything. After all, she’s not giving him her real name or her address. Plus, it feels great to talk to him, even though he is twenty-seven. He always supports her, agrees wither that Faith is being a jerk and not a very good best friend. He’s sweetly jealous, so that when Abby goes on her first date with a guy in her science class, BlueSkyBoi—whose name is Luke—convinces her that she is his girl.

Want to Go Private? does a great job at showing that academic intelligence (Abby is a straight A student) isn’t the same as emotional intelligence. She’s sweet and a bit nerdy even, but she’s very naïve. It also does a great job at showing how an Internet predator grooms his victims. He doesn’t ask her to do crazy things all of a sudden. Luke builds Abby’s trust over months. Even when he starts to ask her to do weird things (“What is your bra size?”), she knows that she wouldn’t put up with that in class from a boy at school. But in her own bedroom, wearing her pajamas, she feels safe.

How Abby progresses from telling Luke her bra size through the many online sexual behaviors he gets her to do is a gripping story. And when she agrees to meet him and gets into that car, the next page of the book is black. Just black. And the next chapters are narrated by her sister Lily, her BBF Faith and the science class guy, Billy, who’s been crushing on her. What happens to Abby then isn’t the whole story. Luke—and that isn’t his real name—isn’t done with her, and has the opportunity to ruin her life, with all the explicit videos he has of her.

I had a nightmare about this after I read it, something that just doesn’t happen to someone like me, who’s read so many YA books. But it’s better to have nightmares about a character in a book that about a real-life student. So even though there are some explicit scenes of online sexual behavior, I hope you’ll read Want to Go Private? Because you’ll get an idea of how a predator can make someone really smart do something really dumb. And you’ll learn without getting hurt.

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What will Hook You?

Filed under: "Banned Book", Adventure Stories, Controversial Issue/Debate, Family Problems, Fiction, Human Rights Issues, Mature Readers, Over 375 pages, Romance, Young Adult Literature by Ms. Waddle — 1 Comment
August 30, 2011

After the Moment by Garret Freymann-Weyr. 

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Uglies by Scott Westerfield

I was looking for a love story with some reality to it. I wanted to read a YA love story that didn’t end with the perfect couple, after a few fights, lasting forever in their fairy tale. So I checked some reviews and settled on After the Moment. Here are some of the reasons why:

“expertly-crafted story”

“The author’s feel for character and voice has never been better.”

“Leigh narrates with deep intelligence and heightened feeling.”

“The story focuses on the teens’ emotionally wrenching senior year, which begins in love before a possible date rape sets off escalating tragedy.”

Now I’ve been reading. And this got me to thinking. Because:

100 pages into the book, as the reader, I’ve met Maia, the girl half of this couple in love, long enough to see her eat a piece of cake and bring a suitcase full of sheets and books to a grieving girl. And here’s what I know:

It doesn’t matter that every professional reviewer raved about this book or that the first two pages of prologue are a real hook and that eventually I will get to the heart of the story (but God only knows when). I am never going to get a non-reader hooked on this book. The pace is way off. It has gone on so long about neighbors and their brothers, about what color the protagonist will paint his second bedroom and . . . If I recommend this book to any student who isn’t already a constant reader, I’m doomed. S/he won’t read the book past the first ten pages. And worse, that student will never trust my recommendation again.

That’s why I need to read all these books before I chat them up in the library.

Which got me to thinking some more.

What is one of the best books out there can make a non-reader read? One that has good writing, a great (even important) idea behind the story, but also has a rapid-fire plot line and lots of adventure? Yes, of course, The Hunger Games. But that trilogy is still wildly popular right now, so I don’t need to convince you to read it. Instead, let me move backward a few years because you might have been too young to read this trilogy when it came out: Uglies by Scott Westerfield.

Uglies is one of the best, fastest moving, constant action, suspense-filled YA books I’ve ever read. In the future world of Uglies, all people have an operation at age sixteen to make them ‘pretty’—that is, they all are changed to be perfect, or what is deemed perfect by society. Big-eyed and full-lipped, they appear childlike for the rest of their lives. And for some reason, their intellect remains rather childish, too. (Sinister plot elements ahead!)

While Tally is awaiting her operation so that she can leave Uglyville and join her best guy friend, Paris, over in Pretty Town, she meets a girl, Shay, who has the same birthday as Tally and therefore, should be made pretty on the same day. But Shay doesn’t want to be like everyone else, and her escape propels Tally in a direction she never would have thought possible. Tally has some exciting escapes even before she decides to fight the system, but once she does, danger is around every corner.

A bonus in this novel is that Tally’s method of transportation and escape is often bungee jumping—or even more often, hover boarding. Hover boarding is like skating, surfing or snowboarding. Tally has to be balanced as she quickly evades her pursuers. But she’s not on the water or the snow. She’s flying through the air, and a wrong move can mean death. If you skate, surf or snowboard, you’re going to be able to relate to Tally and Shay immediately.

So, I can recommend books like After the Moment to students I know well enough. We can talk about Leigh’s feeling about the Iraq War and how they relate to the more personal violence that becomes a part of his life; about how he is trying so hard to be a good guy, and how that doesn’t always work. But if you’re just trying to find that first book that will hook you into reading, I’m going for Uglies. And when you finish it, you can go on with Pretties, Specials, and Extras. And then you can move onto other series by the same author. And then books by other authors with similar themes. And then books about other things.

Get hooked.

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“The Marbury Lens”

Filed under: Controversial Issue/Debate, Fiction, Horror/Mystery/Suspense, Mature Readers, Sci-Fi/Futuristic, Young Adult Literature by Ms. Waddle — 1 Comment
May 31, 2011

    The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith

Wow—this is the creepiest YA book I’ve ever read!

Before I get to the details, I do want to admit that it’s deeply flawed—because if you read it and then are disappointed in the fact that the Marbury world and Jack’s ‘real’ world don’t meld well, you won’t think, ‘Dang! Ms. W. will say anything to get us to read a book.’ So for the sake of honesty, I admit that I was mad when the book ended as it did—it felt like the author just couldn’t work out his vision, and so he quit. That said, perhaps he was saving the tie-up for a sequel as so many YA books these days are trilogies. The fact remains that I was riveted by the first chapters and had to finish the book ASAP. The fact remains that I think this is a book that guys who almost never read will be pulled into and have to finish.

The blurb that downloads with The Marbury Lens’ cataloging information is a good summary:

“After being kidnapped and barely escaping, sixteen-year-old Jack goes to London with his best friend Connor, where someone gives him a pair of glasses that send him to an alternate universe where war is raging, he is responsible for the survival of two younger boys, and Connor is trying to kill them all. “

The alternate world is Marbury—it’s a brutal, post-apocalyptic universe where bands of monstrous people with one black eye and one white eye, dressed in nothing but codpieces (little garments to cover their genitals) made of human scalps and necklaces made of human teeth roam the desert and mountains, finding and killing ordinary humans, who are then eaten by hoards of large insects. Connor, Jack’s best friend in life, is one of these monsters in Marbury.

Over and over, Jack uses the lens, or glasses, that are an entrance to Marbury because he knows that in that world, he is responsible for the well being of two younger boys.

I am very interested in what students think of this book, but here’s an important caveat: It has a record attached that says it’s for 9 years and up. I think this is there because all YA books just get that designation automatically from the publisher. But some are for more mature readers, and I (yes, liberal reader that I am) would NOT recommend this book for anyone under 14 years. I do believe that teens can read about scary, terrible things because scary, terrible things happen in the real world, and it helps to know what they are. But in fairness to more conservative readers, I’ll add that I went online to see if I could find a review by a parent. I did find one from a woman who bought the book for her 15-year-old son, but read it first and thought it was totally inappropriate. So, keep that in mind.

Jack, who is drunk and passed out in a park, is kidnapped early on. His kidnapper is mentally ill and a sexual abuser. Clearly he has kidnapped (and very possibly killed) other kids. Clearly, he intends to kill Jack, but he wants to rape him first. Though he doesn’t succeed, the details of his efforts really aren’t for kids. Nor are the details of Marbury, which has reverted to a sort of Dark Ages, with violent hand-to-hand combat, heads cut off and nailed to walls through eye sockets—well, you get the idea.

Jack has redeeming qualities, including his needs to protect the two younger boys in Marbury. He’s actually a very nice guy in a horrific situation. I just needed there to be some explanation of how he got there, how the terror of his kidnapping was connected to Marbury.

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“Fire”

Filed under: Adventure Stories, Fable/Fairy Tale/Fantasy, Family Problems, Fiction, Mature Readers, Over 375 pages, Romance, Supernatural, Young Adult Literature by Ms. Waddle — Leave a comment
May 4, 2011

     Fire by Kristin Cashore

For the second time in a week, I’m in the weird position of recommending to you a book that I really didn’t like all that much. I hope that this doesn’t appear hypocritical. Let me just say that I didn’t like Fire (or Graceling, its partner book) because over several years of study as an English major, I learned to loathe this sort of thing. And the reason I’m recommending it to you is that I honestly think you’re going to like it. (You’re young and not so jaded!) I’ve tried it out on two students. One is finished with the book and really enjoyed it; the other is still reading (and that’s a good sign). All the professional reviews were glowing.

Fire, who lives in the Dells, is the last human ‘monster’ in the kingdom. Monsters are not as we think of them; they are like typical creatures, but have extraordinary coloring and the ability not only to read minds, but to influence others’ thoughts, to control them if they aren’t strong enough to resist. Fire’s fabulous coloring includes hair that is a true red, orange and yellow. She’s is so unearthly beautiful that some people can’t resist touching her, running their hands through her hair. (Yes, if you know me, you know the author was already losing me with this.) Fire must cover herself in public to be able to travel unmolested. Her major concern with being a monster is that she not behave like her father (Cansrel), who used his powers to ruin lives and nearly destroy the kingdom.

Fire lands inKing City, where all the important men lust after her. However, she’s already engaged in a casual sexual relationship with a childhood friend, Archer. King Nash and his brother Brigan—the commander of troops—are engaged in saving the kingdom from evildoers. They could use Fire’s help in interrogating spy prisoners. Fire’s not sure whether using her powers to control others’ minds, even for the benefit of the kingdom, is right or just. So she has some important decisions to make. And, since both brothers are gaga over her, she has to sort that out, too, as well as her feelings for Archer, who is having multiple relationships with women in his frustration over the fact that Fire won’t marry him. (A Ms. Waddle side note: Girls, don’t fall for that nonsense when a guy tells you he’s playing the field because you’re not giving him everything he wants. It’s the oldest trick in the book.)

Some of the reasons I had a hard time getting through Fire were the same reasons it took me awhile read Graceling, the primary problem being that it was too repetitive. (Fire was tired of being attacked? Yeah, well, I got sick of hearing about her musings on the subject.) Other things just seems silly to me—that her presence provoked monster attacks—the monster form of raptors especially go after her. Or the constant references to her ‘monthly bleedings,’ how she had to lock herself indoors during that time or risk being shredded by monster creatures, who were especially sensitive to her at that time. I guess Cashore was trying to elevate this woman’s issue to a philosophical discussion (what should she tell Brigan’s little daughter about it? Would it hurt her psyche?) I believe this sort of thing will drive male readers away. And the inclusion of a single character from Graceling seemed artificial.

Nevertheless.

When all is said and done, you’re going to like this book because Fire is the same kind of kick-butt, never-back-down, take-no-prisoners heroine that Graceling’s Katsa was. She, too, is unconventional, refuses to get married, and carefully guards her mind and her independence. You’ll like the romance. In addition, Fire makes some important points about the relationship between parents and children. Fire has to understand that she is not responsible for her father’s evil and that she is not destined to repeat it. And there are some great quotable lines. I liked this from the end:

“Some people had too much power and too much cruelty to live. Some people were too terrible, no matter if you loved them; no matter that you had to make yourself terrible too, in order to stop them. Some things just had to be done.”

Note: I tagged this as ‘mature’ because of the casual sexual relationships that many of the characters have. There aren’t any explicit sexual descriptions, but I think some parents would have an issue with the book. A war is going on, so there’s violence, too, but it’s not graphic.

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