Young adult literature

Young Adult Literature

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Lisa and I spent a couple of hours yesterday going over reviews of newly published young adult books, deciding what to order, what to watch and maybe order in the future, what to forget about entirely.

Young adult books are, by many accounts, the healthiest area of the publishing field; one young adult author I know told me that it’s the fastest growing sector of the market.  I’ve also heard, from another author who had written what he thought was an adult novel, that his agent told him he’d have a better chance of being published if it was a young adult book, and that the book would last longer if it was categorized as young adult.  All very interesting, and very promising.  The books that Lisa and I looked at yesterday cover a broader range of subjects than I remember from eight years ago (when I was at Simmons) and are getting to be less “issue books” and more quality books.  In addition, we discovered a lot of great non-fiction books for young adults.

I’m especially excited about Respect: A Girl’s Guide to Getting Respect and Dealing When Your Line is Crossed by Courtney Macavinta and Andrea Vander Pluym.  Lisa discovered a review of this book somewhere, and requested a copy from another library, so we’ve been able to preview it.  Though at first it  seemed controversial (hence wanting to preview it), it is a thoughtful guide for teenage girls in how to assert themselves in a positive way, respecting themselves and their own opinions while still being kind to other people.  Particularly great is the chapter on Sex — I was a little worried at first that this chapter might get some knickers in a twist, but in actuality it stresses the emotional aspect of sex over the physical aspects.  The authors gently teach their readers that self-respect is a key element of sex, and ultimately their advice might keep girls from getting into situations for which they’re not yet ready.  Best of all, as in the rest of the book, the authors suggest specific wording to use in awkward situations/conversations (like the “If you loved me, you’d sleep with me” conversation).

Needless to say, we ordered this title today, along with forty-nine others.  A big order, yes, but it should keep us for a couple of months before we put in another big order.  Keep your eyes out for these new books to be hitting the library’s shelves in a couple of weeks (when our cataloger’s back from a well-deserved vacation!).

Children's book reviews, Children's literature

finally

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After renewing the book more times than I can count (a major benefit of being a librarian!), I FINALLY finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  I wish that I had some incredibly intelligent and informed comments to make about the book, but, alas, I don’t.  Although that is telling in itself, since I usually have more to say about a book that I’ve just read than other people care to hear.

But I’ll squeeze a few comments out of myself…

Though there were exciting plot twists and turns in the book, mostly I found it to be just plain dull, and tortuous to slog through.  It’s almost as though J.K. Rowling has lost her spirit, and doesn’t really care about Harry and the gang anymore.  The first few books in the series aren’t very well-written, but there’s a certain joy and vivacity in them that’s missing from The Half-Blood Prince.  Hopefully Rowling will regain her stride a little in the upcoming final book of the series; maybe the light at the end of the tunnel will inspire her to recapture some of the freshness that’s missing from books five and six.

So now it’s time to move on to OTHER books.  Here’s what’s on the docket:

Spy Force: Mission: In Search of the Time and Space Machine, by Deborah Abela

Can’t say I’m expecting a whole lot from this one.  I’m reading it because books about spies seem to be “hot” right now, and I’m previewing this particular one before I order the series for the library.  It hasn’t gotten the best reviews, so I’d rather read it for myself and make my own judgement before investing the library’s money in it.

The Owl Service, by Alan Garner

We just ordered a new paperback copy of this 1967 work, and I remember really enjoying it when I read it in graduate school.  Time to cleanse my reading palette with something of quality!

The Pilot’s Wife, by Anita Shreve

My good friend Judy gave me a copy of this book a few weeks ago.  I’m looking forward to reading it.  And it’s adult literature, what a concept!

New Boy, by Julian Houston

I heard Houston speak at The Concord Bookshop back in April or May, and I was very impressed by him and by the book passages that he read aloud.  Impressed enough that I bought a copy of the book and had him sign it, despite my complete moratorium on book purchases for myself.  (Our small house just can’t hold another book…)

I’d love to hear what other people are reading right now; drop a comment and let me know what you’re enjoying this summer!  And also check out my brother’s blog (follow the link on the right to “Yet Another Unitarian Universalist”); he has periodic entries about his summer reading.

Literary theory

Small revelation

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My husband and I rented the movie Dead Poets Society last night, which he had never seen and I hadn’t seen since it first came out in 1989.

Now that I have a certain amount of knowledge about literary theory (which I did not have in 1989), I had a small revelation that this movie is in part about the conflict between traditional New Critical teaching methods and the more modern and flexible Reader Response teaching methods.  Granted, there probably weren’t too many teachers in 1959 who would have been aware of Reader Response theory, but since Louise Rosenblatt’s Literature as Exploration was published in 1938, the chance is there that Mr. Keating could have known of her work and of this theory.

Having spent my last semester at Simmons doing an independent study on Reader Response theory (and having spent three and a half years teaching reading at the elementary level), the benefits and drawbacks of RR have been a preoccupation of mine for several years.  On the one hand, it’s an enormously empowering way for a reader to read a book.  When I was in high school in the early to mid 80’s, the prevailing theory was still New Critical, and we students had to search to find the “one true meaning” of the text; our own personal opinions were valueless.  Class discussions were limited to theme, plot, etc, and to trying to read the teacher’s mind and say what the teacher wanted us to say.

But my first experience with Reader Response theory (in my first class at Simmons) also demonstrated how dangerous it can be from a teaching standpoint.  This particular professor of mine, who shall remain nameless, tried to run a RR style class focused on Tim Wynne-Jones’s The Maestro.  Though she ostensibly wanted us to explore the text in a RR way — with value given to our thoughts and opinions — in truth she had a distinct teaching agenda and a definite direction that she wanted the discussion to take.  When the class did not go in the direction that she was aiming for, she definitively and clumsily tried to force us back; though we the class had been thinking that we had some power, in truth all power still belonged to the teacher.  Since this was a class full of empowered graduate students, not cowed high school students, we rebelled and called her out; the next full class was devoted to a discussion of how the previous class’s discussion had gone wrong.

As a result of that experience, I have never been fully sold on RR theory.  In my opinion, it takes a truly exceptional teacher to successfully run a RR centered class.  A teacher who is open-minded, flexible, and not ego-centered.  A teacher who is willing to consider alternative directions of class discussion.  I was lucky enough to have such a teacher at Simmons, Cathy Mercier, but I often wonder how many such teachers exist.  RR in the wrong hands is really New Critical theory with a nice coating of sugary frosting that makes students think their opinions matter as much as the teacher’s opinions.  (At heart, though I know it labels me as a bit passe, I think I’ll always be a deconstructor myself, though I am very intrigued by childist theory.)

But to get back to the movie.  Robin Williams as Mr. Keating plays a flawed teacher.  Inspirational, but still flawed.  He was a pioneer in the world of stodgy good-ol’-boy New Critical teaching, but his execution of the new type of teaching was still driven by a distinct agenda.  Granted, his agenda was far more palatable than that of his collegues, but he wasn’t perfect.  Did his imperfections drive Neil to suicide, as the administration and Neil’s parents wanted to think?  Probably not, but that perception definitely set back the cause of RR teaching at that fictional school.

So in the end, I’m still left with the same questions that have haunted me for a long time:
How many teachers exist who truly listen to and interact with their students, assimilating the thoughts of their students and then taking discussions to a newer, higher level?  (A note here: though I’ve never sat in one of my sister’s classes, I’m guessing that she is one of these rare teachers.

How problematic is the age disconnect between adult teachers and child learners?  And what of the difficulties of adults trying to imagine what their child selves would have thought about a certain text?  Once we are grown, can we ever truly recapture the thought processes of our youth?  And, if the answer to the last question is “no,” how does that affect the ability of the adult to teach the child?

Librarianship, Library events, Summer reading

Crunch Time

I’m afraid that I haven’t paid as much attention to this blog as I should in the last two weeks; the start of my first summer reading program is just days away, and it’s definitely crunch time.

Just when I think I’ve caught up, I think of one more thing that HAS to be done RIGHT NOW.  Yesterday it was assembling large envelopes for the raffle items that have the logos of the donating stores on them.  (One of the raffle items, just arrived, is pretty awesome, by the way: a baseball autographed by the actor and Red Sox fan Mike O’Malley, star of the show Yes, Dear.)

Today, hopefully, I’ll finish up all those nagging last minute items: making the raffle tickets, creating posters for each of the summer’s events, stamping all those museum coupons with our official stamp, confirming the ice cream pick-up time…ugh, I’m getting a stomach ache just thinking about the list.

With luck, next summer – my second summer on the job – will be smoother and easier.  With luck, all the kinks will have been worked out by next year.  With luck, I won’t be this stressed out and exhausted next summer.

Wish me luck, I need it!

Children's literature, Librarianship

Next in line

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I’ve just read two excellent books, the newish young adult novel Red Sea by Diane Tullson, and the newish children’s book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo.  (I’ll write an entry about each of these books in the near future.)  Now it’s time for me to move on to the next book…which I have decided needs to be the 6th Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling.  We just received a donation at my library of a new copy of the book, and I felt compelled to take the book home to read while it was still clean and beautiful.

I read each of the other five Harry Potter books as soon as it came out (pre-ordered my copies from Amazon, even).  It’s not that I’m addicted to Harry Potter, or that I’m a huge Harry Potter fan.  In fact, a year or more ago I gave away all of my copies in one of many purges of my bookshelves.

But I’m also not a literary snob.  A wise and funny friend of mine often says that it’s not fair to hold children and young adults to higher literary standards than we do adults.  Adults often read bestsellers, books that are engaging but not fabulous, fun but not life-changing.  Why shouldn’t children and young adults have the same opportunity?  Don’t children and young adults have the right to take time away from the crunch of their school work and lose themselves in a quick plot and a fantasy world?  Wouldn’t we, the judging adults, rather see our young people turn to a book instead of a television show or the internet?  (The role of adults in the selection of and production of children’s literature is a topic that I’ll approach in future blog entries.)

I have no grudge against Harry Potter.  The only reason I’ve waited so long to read the 6th installment is rather lame, actually: the 5th book is SO large that I found it physically uncomfortable to hold while I read it.  But as a children’s librarian, it’s both my duty and responsibility to know and understand the literature that the users of my section of the library (children) seek out.  So, Half-Blood Prince, here I come!

Reflections on children, literature, libraries, and life…and cats.