#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.

[teen-media-review-world]

"Sometimes writing is running downhill, your fingers jerking behind you on the keyboard the way your legs do when they can't quite keep up with gravity."

[REVIEW] Coming-of-Age Teen Novel - Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Image credit: Noelle Stevenson (illustrator)

Awards and Accolades

2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize

2015 Heartland Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

2018 NCSLMA Battle of the Books

Related Media

In Fangirl, the main character writes fanfiction about a fictional book series called Simon Snow. Author Rainbow Rowell would go on to actually write a Simon Snow book trilogy.

Image credit: Rainbow Rowell's website

This sparked tons of IRL fan edits shipping the main characters, Simon and Baz.

Plot Synopsis

In her 2013 novel, author Rainbow Rowell introduces us to Fangirl Cather, a freshman at the University of Nebraska. Since her tween years, Cath has been writing gay MLM fanfiction based on the mystical misadventures of the two main characters in Simon Snow book series--Simon and Baz. Her newest fanfic, Carry On, Simon, has amassed a huge readership, which motivates Cath to keep writing, even as the last book in the actual Simon Snow series is set to debut at the end of the school eyar.

Cath was dragged to university by her cooler, more popular twin sister, Wren. Cath didn't even know what to major in, so she picked English because writing fiction (fanfiction, to be precise) is her passion. Cath and Wren were inseparable growing up--Wren even helped Cath edit her fanfiction. But, as the twins arrive to college, Wren spends more time drinking and partying, leaving Cath alone in her dorm, too anxious to even go to the dining hall.

Wren didn't even want to be Cath's roommate. Instead, Cath is roomies with Reagan, a junior at UN with an abrasive, tough-love personality. Reagan has a rotation of boyfriends and exes, and one in particular can't seem to leave Cather alone. At first, Levi and Cath are just friends--he walks her back to her dorm after her midnight meetings at the library with her writing partner, Nick. Cath is intrigued by Nick's creative mind, but is also starting to crush on Levi, especially after the two share an unexpected kiss. As Cath is trying to navigate her love life and her difficult fiction writing class, her father suffers a bipolar episode and is hospitalized. This prompts her to leave school early before finishing her finals.

Cath isn't used to any of this--her tough academics, her sister not being by her side, or her new serious relationship. Plus, she still has to write chapters for Carry On, Simon as all of this is going down. Cath's story ends as her freshman year comes to a close. She supports her dad. She keeps her estranged mother at a distance. She patches things up with Wren. She opens up more to Levi. She even finishes Carry On, Simon right as the last book in the Simon Snow series comes out. She learns that she can be a supportive daughter, an excellent student, and encouraging sister, a loving girlfriend, and a huge fangirl.

Review

This novel touches on one of the most challenging times of the teenage experience--turning 18 and shipping off to college. Teens during this time are no longer stifled by parental control, but are still not yet full-blown adults. But, those adult responsibilities to yourself, your friends, your family, and your academics can still start to creep in, making it a really overwhelming time. Fangirl highlights the fact that you can't be the perfect sister, daughter, girlfriend, or student 24/7. But, you can be true to yourself, and that will put you in the right place to walk through life with the best intentions.

Rowell artfully navigates complex issues, like mental health crises, underage drinking, relationships, dating, sex, and more, which all can present themselves simultaneously while trying to navigate college life. These heavy-hitting topics are carefully interlaced with scenes that either brought on uncontrollable laughter and smiles, or heartache and tears. Nerdy, bookish girls like Cather can feel ostracized at every turn--mocked for their interests and uniqueness. Fangirl is for those girls heading off to college that are looking for the green light to truly be themselves.

Credit

Rowell, R. (2013). Fangirl. St. Martin's Griffin.

[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]

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.

[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

[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)

[feelsforsterek]

[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

[teen-media-review-world]

"We're all to blame... At least, a little."

[REVIEW] Classic Teen Novel - 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Image credit: Ryan McVay (photographer), Christian Fuenfhausen (editor)

Awards and Accolades

2008 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults

2010 South Carolina Young Adult Book Award

2013 Abraham Lincoln Award

Related Media

In 2017, 13 Reasons Why was adapted into a Netflix show. The first season follows the plot of the novel.

Plot Synopsis

In Jay Asher's 2007 novel 13 Reasons Why, high schooler Clay Jensen's everyday life is upended when his classmate and secret crush, Hannah Baker, dies by suicide. It's even more upended when, a few weeks after the tragedy, a shoebox full of cassette tapes addressed to him arrives at his house. With no return address, Clay is left with zero idea as to who the tapes came from or what could possibly be on them. In fact, who even listens to cassettes anymore?

Luckily, with his dad's old radio cassette player (and, later, a Walkman stolen from his friend Tony), Clay discovers what the tapes hold. And when he does, he wishes he never played the tapes at all. Through the speakers comes the voice of Hannah Baker, the girl who just died. The girl whose desk is empty in English class.

Through the tapes, Clay finds out that there are 13 people on Hannah's list. 13 pieces to the puzzle of why she died. 13 reasons why she chose to take her own life. And Clay's name is somehow on that list. Throughout the night, Clay listens as Hannah puts those puzzle pieces together, calling out the people and situations that drove her to the point of no return.

In the beginning, Clay is confused--Why is he on this list? What did he do to Hannah? Why didn't she ask him for help when he was right there? But, by the time he passes off the tapes to the next person on the list, he understands--all 13 people are to blame for Hannah's death.

Review

13 Reasons Why is a heavy hitter in more ways than one. We've all seen someone be bullied, mocked, and taken advantage of at school. This book makes you reflect on how many times you could have spoken up, but didn't. And, how hard it really cane be to help someone when nothing seems wrong with them on the surface. 13 Reasons Why touches on dark themes that can be part of the high school experience for many teenagers--suicide, sexual assault, drinking, partying, and more. Asher is brave enough to acknowledge that, yeah, high schoolers do have these things happen to them. They do end up in these horrible situations. This stuff isn't just for adults.

Hannah telling her story through the tapes and slowly revealing the mystery of why she died makes for a thrilling story. From chapter to chapter, from tape to tape, I was on the edge of my seat, asking, Who's next? Clay is the perfect conduit for Hannah's story. His confusion and anger at Hannah for putting him on the list becomes compassion and resolve to do better by the end of the book. This reflects exactly what someone should get out of 13 Reasons Why. There are signs of tragedy everywhere if you know how to look for them. Jay Asher's novel prompts us to really start paying attention.

Credit

Asher, J. (2007). 13 Reasons Why. Razorbill.

[crookedneighbour20]

"You are different"

"How so?"

"Look at everyone else. They're merely words. While you, you are poetry."

[burgirrrr-rants]

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

[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.