#teen literature

[iambic-stan]

last book read + last stethoscope used, part 3

The stethoscope: Prestige medical sprague in hunter. AKA a mighty fine use of $20

The book: Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. A Stonewall Award winning look at first love against the backdrop of 1950s San Francisco during the Red and Lavender Scares, from the perspective of a Chinese American teenager. This is my second Lo read and though I preferred the less-ambitious contemporary fiction, A Scatter of Light, this romance/history review was also exciting and fulfilling in its way.

[moonandmustache]

Review: “Jam” by Akwaeke Emezi

OVERVIEW

For this category, I selected Pet by Akwaeke Emezi. Depending on which review you happen to choose this book might be categorized in a couple different ways–horror, magical realism, or fantasy. I think it’s fair to describe it as any of these genres but the first description I saw was “magical realism” and I’d never read a book from that genre and was intrigued. (According to Encyclopedia Britannica, magical realism is “chiefly a Latin-American narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction.”) Additionally, this was one of my “diverse perspective” picks as the main character is Black, transgender, and selectively mute. The author, Akwaeke Emezi, is Nigerian.

RELEVANCE

This book is very age-relevant as it focuses on teens and themes very relevant to middle- late-adolescence. The narrative focuses on Jam, a 15-year old trans girl, her best friend, Redemption, and their two families. Teens will find the story relatable as it deals with topics very relevant to them such as establishing independence from parents, asserting agency, finding/defining chosen family, and the challenges of maintaining friendship. It also addresses larger personal and societal issues such as abuse, revenge, morality, and good vs evil as well as the gray areas in between.

In the story, Jam accidentally summons a being from a painting her mother makes by accidentally bleeding on it. The manifested being, a chimera-like entity who calls itself “Pet,” announces that it has been summoned to right a wrong in Jam’s world by hunting a monster (loosely defined as someone corrupted by hatred, bigotry, or fear) and it asks for Jam’s assistance. In Jam’s near-future pseudo utopian town there are supposed to be no more monsters as all of them were rehabilitated long ago in a revolution before she was born but she loves her community dearly and cautiously agrees to help, nonetheless.

DIVERSITY/INCLUSION

As I touched on earlier, this book is highly diverse. The main character, Jam, is Black, trans, and a selectively mute individual who communicates both verbally and with sign language. Jam’s mother is from (I think) Trinidad and her father is from Africa. Throughout the story they speak in a sort of creole English and many scenes incorporate their cultural foods and/or customs. Her best friend Redemption’s parents are a polyamorous thruple, one of which identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. Another peripheral but significant character uses a wheelchair. There is A LOT of diversity in this book but none of it feels forced and most of these facts about the characters are mentioned very casually in ways that feel natural.

DIVERSE BOOKS WITH SIMILAR THEMES

Schrieve, Hal. (2019). Out of Salem. Triangle Square.

Calendar, Kacen. (2022) Moonflower. Scholastic Press.

Ness, Patrick. (2013). A Monster Calls. Candlewick.

White, Andrew Joseph. (2022). Hell Followed with Us. Peachtree Teen.

Badger, Darcie Little. (2020). Elatsoe. Levine Querido.

[thetimetravellercat]

I'm re-reading Divine Madness (Cherub 05) by Robert Muchamore, and wow, he really went "Scientology Bad" without any pretense at subtlety and that still went right over my teenage-self's head

[iambic-stan]

I had no idea that TERFs were coming for aces as well until I noticed acephobic Goodreads reviews of a middle-grade book I read that has an ace protagonist. People were so incredibly offended that an author would dare suggest to teens that they don't have to want sex and/or don't need to be having sex that I wanted to throw my hands up in the air and be like "WTF do y'all want from us?!?!"

one of the reasons TERFs hate asexuals is because they view the world as “all men are sexual predators” and the idea that there are men out there who don’t experience sexual attraction AT ALL is such a worldview-shattering concept that it would bring down their whole house of cards so they just… pretend asexuals aren’t real

[torpublishinggroup]

Though it might be tempting, don’t venture into hedge mazes…no matter what

Be mindful of triggering the wrath of revenge ghosts lest you become a ghost yourself

Beware the dangers of underestimating “docile girls”—it could be a killer mistake

Summoning an ancient evil demon is NEVER a good idea. Seriously. 

Trying to steal someone’s home might cost you your soul. It’s never worth it. 

Understand that haunted houses have feelings too—the problem is sometimes they’re evil.

Tips provided by Terry J. Benton-Walker, editor and contributor of The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Killer clowns, a hungry hedge maze, and rich kids who got bored. Friendly cannibals, impossible slashers, and the dead who don’t stay dead....

A museum curator who despises “diasporic inaccuracies.” A sweet girl and her diary of happy thoughts. An old house that just wants friends forever....

These stories are filled with ancient terrors and modern villains, but go ahead, go into the basement, step onto the old plantation, and open the magician’s mystery box because this time, the white guy dies first.

Edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker, including stories from bestselling, award-winning, and up-and-coming contributors: Adiba Jaigirdar, Alexis Henderson, Chloe Gong, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, H. E. Edgmon, Kalynn Bayron, Karen Strong, Kendare Blake, Lamar Giles, Mark Oshiro, Naseem Jamnia, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Terry J. Benton-Walker.

A collection you’ll be dying to talk about…if you survive it.

[theteenquotes]

[memwazz]

UNTIL SEPTEMBER

A more simple and less fucked-up story, I swear !!

SUMMARY

Some sort of teenage literature, Until September focused around Nero, who's having hard times as a bullied 9th grader and discovers he has water powers. From then on, he befriends the other elementals and has to deal with Hilda, the air elemental who wants to sacrifice all the children to create a Philosopher's Stone.

Created circa 2021.

CHARACTERS

Protagonists :

NERO

he/him

A shy middle-schooler who discovers he's an elementary child with water powers.

MIRA

she/her

The fire elementary girl.

JACE

they/them

The fifth element (metal) and the children's mentor.

HEDWIGE

she/her

The earth elementary girl and Mira's girlfriend.

Antagonists :

HILDA

she/her

Jace's sister and the air elemental.

[dorr-township-library]

What is your favorite Young Adult novel? 

[missjukebox8bit]

Hold up I'm connecting the dots

[feelsforsterek]

[themoonsaid]

Hindi is not difficult. reading in Hindi is not difficult. writing in Hindi is not difficult. counting in Hindi is not difficult. Hindi numbers are not difficult (१२३४५६७८९०). alphabets क्ष,ष,फ are not difficult. you just consume, are surrounded by and have been taught english and the latin alphabets way more than your native language and script use some sense

(this goes for any language not just hindi btw)

[moonandmustache]

Review: “Heartstopper (Volume 1) by Alice Oseman

OVERVIEW

For this category, I selected the first book in the Heartstopper series. I had a lot of books I was considering for this category and just couldn’t pick one from (very long) short list.  So, I did what I do in such situations and consulted an expert and asked my friend Aaron’s teenage daughter who is an avid reader and this was her suggestion. Aaron actually said their whole family has been reading this series and it’s much loved by all so I was sold.

The story is presented in graphic novel format and the visual storytelling works well overall for the narrative. The author/illustrator does some interesting visual things here and there but it’s not really drawn well at all. It’s hard to tell the characters apart because everyone looks basically the same and there are barely any backgrounds for most of the story so it’s just talking heads in fields of white. It’s interesting that this was adapted for the screen because the drawing style feels like a quickly-drawn storyboard for a future film production.

I read online that this graphic novel is based on very minor characters in another of the author’s books. Heartstopper was originally published as a webcomic on the author’s blog and that is exactly what this feels like visually–a quick collection of webcomics assembled not intended for print but that was printed later. The serial nature of a web comic also helps explain the episodic nature of each little scene. It’s not that the story doesn’t flow or feels choppy, just that it’s clear that it was drawn a few pages at a time over many weeks or months. At the time of this post, I’ve only read the first volume but I am definitely curious to see if the later volumes intended for print are drawn in a more thoughtful way.

RELEVANCE

This book is very age-relevant as it focuses entirely on high school-age characters. The characters are not terribly deep and the story is very straightward but nonetheless it feels very real.  It’s a very relatable story for teens as it involves a situation many teens find themselves in–a friendship that blossoms into a crush which may or may not be mutual; in this story it is mutual and that leads to an eventual first kiss and (maybe in later volumes?) first relationship. It’s a very sweet (somewhat predictable and optimistic) high school romance story of the “opposites attract” variety. For LGBTQIA+ teens it’s relatable as a coming out story, as a story of falling for someone who may not even be gay, and the possibly familiar and often toxic “friends with benefits” sort of situation.

DIVERSITY/INCLUSION

This book focuses almost entirely on white teenagers at a private all boys school. There are two peripheral characters in the main character’s circle who are not white–Tao Xu, a fellow student, and (I think) Tara Jones, a student from another school who appears briefly towards the end of the story. The author/illustrator, Alice Oseman, is white, British, and identifies as an aromantic asexual. So, other than the fact that it’s an LGBTQIA+ love story with an LGBTQIA+ author, it’s not very diverse in any other way.

DIVERSE BOOKS WITH SIMILAR THEMES

Albertalli, B + Silvera, A. (2018). What If It’s Us?. Harper Teen.

Kobabe, M. (2019). Gender Queer. Oni Press.

La Sala, R. (2021). Be Dazzled. Sourcebook Fire.

Panetta, K. + Ganucheau, S. (2019). Bloom. First Second.

Sie, J. (2021). All Kinds of Other. Quill Tree

[torteen]

This advertisement is for Infinity Alchemist, a dark academia fantasy about a quest that leads three young alchemists toward dangerous truth, legendary love, and extraordinary power from the bestselling and award-winning author of Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender.

The art featured in this image is by Chris Sack. 

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

Defy All Limits.

For Ash Woods, practicing alchemy is a crime. Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic—so when Ash is rejected by Lancaster College of Alchemic Science, he takes a job as the school’s groundskeeper instead, forced to learn alchemy in secret. When he’s discovered by the condescending and brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he's about to be arrested—but instead of calling the reds, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an offer: Ramsay will keep Ash's secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power. As Ash and Ramsay work together and their feelings for each other grow, Ash discovers their mission is more dangerous than he imagined, pitting them against influential and powerful alchemists—Ash’s estranged father included. Ash’s journey takes him through the cities and wilds across New Anglia, forcing him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he and other alchemists will go to seize it.

[burgirrrr-rants]

"can you multitask" yes I'm actually losing my mind and doing my assignment at the same time

[splattered-ink]

"It hurts."

"Where?"

"My soul."

[torpublishinggroup]

This advertisement is for The Lies We Conjure, the new contemporary supernatural thriller from Sarah Henning.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

Thirteen witches. Two ordinary sisters. One locked-room murder. This whodunit is giving Knives Out meets The Inheritance Games with magic. 

An eccentric old woman approaches sisters Ruby and Wren with an offer too good to pass up: attend a fancy dinner party posing as her granddaughters for two grand each. Sounds like a great arrangement—what could possibly go wrong? Literally EVERYTHING! 

Shortly after arriving at the mysterious Hegemony Manor, the hostess is dead and a killer lies among the dinner guests. Did we mention the guests are all powerful witches? Ruby and Wren must solve the murder if they hope to make it out of the manor alive.