Waves and Radiation

White Noise by Don DeLillo

"TV is a problem only if you've forgotten how to look and listen," Murray said.  "My students and I discuss this all the time.  They're beginning to feel they ought to turn against the medium, exactly as an earlier generation turned against their parents and their country.  I tell them they have to learn to look as children again.  Root out content.  Find the codes and messages, to use your phrase, Jack."

"I've come to understand that the medium is a primal force in the American home.  Sealed-off, timeless, self-contained, self-referring.  It's like a myth being born right there in our living room, like something we know in a dream-like and preconscious way...You have to learn how to look.  You have to open yourself to the data.  TV offers incredible amounts of psychic data.  It opens ancient memories of world birth, it welcomes us into the grid, the network of little buzzing dots that make up the picture pattern.  There is light, there is sound....Look at the wealth of data concealed in the grid, in the bright packaging, the jingles, the slice-of-life commercials, the products hurtling out of darkness, the coded messages and enless repetitions, like chants, like mantras....The medium practially overflows with sacrad formulas if we can remember how to respond innocently and get past our irritation, weariness, and disgust." (50-51)

More

For My Daughter in Reply to a Question

David Ignatow

We're not going to die,

we'll find a way.

We'll breathe deeply

and eat carefully.

We'll think always on life.

There'll be no fading for you or for me.

We'll be the first

and we'll not laugh at ourselves ever

and your children will be my grandchildren.

Nothing will have changed

except by addition.

There'll never be another as you

and never another as I.

No one ever will confuse you

nor confuse me with another.

We will not be forgotten and passed over

and buried under the births and deaths to come.

Go Forth and Read! But first...

(This is how I feel now.  Except my abs are not as well defined...)

I can honestly say I've never read this many books in this short amount of time.  Here are my picks and pans:

Thumbs Up:

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Maus II by Art Spiegelman

The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

Looking for Alaska by John Green

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

American Born Chinese by Gene Leun Yang

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Sold by Sharon Draper

"Meh":

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

The Misfits by James Howe

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga

The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Uglies by Scott Westerfield

The Radioactive Boy Scout by Ken Silverstein

Thumbs Down:

Tyrell by Coe Booth

Gender Blender by Blake Nelson

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

The Tray

from 19 Varieties of Gazelle by Naomi Shihab Nye

Even on a sorrowing day

the little white cups without handles

would appear

filled with steaming hot tea

in a circle on the tray,

and whatever we were able

to say or not say,

the tray would be passed,

we would sip in silence,

it was another way

lips could be speaking together,

opening on the hot rim,

swallowing in unison.

Radiation Burns=Not Pretty

The Radioactive Boy Scout by Ken Silverstein

"...David's ambitions were becoming increasingly grand--and reckless.  No longer would nuclear models built from marshmallows, pill bottles, and Ping-Pong balls satisfy.  As Barbara Auito, the scoutmaster's wife and Troop 371's treasurer, later put it: 'The typical kid [interested in nuclear energy] would have gone to a doctor's office and asked about the X-ray machine.  Dave had to go out and try to build a reactor.'" (114)

For an update on what David Hahn is doing now, check out: http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2007/08/meet-david-hahn.html

(But beware--semi-gruesome facial burns caused by radiation ahead!)

Seeds

from 19 Varieties of Gazelle by Naomi Shihab Nye

"A Single Slice Reveals Them"

An apple on the table

hides its seeds

so neatly

under seamless skin.

But we talk and talk and talk

to let somebody

in.

A light at the end of the tunnel

This semester my reading life has been consumed by books that I HAVE to read. Which is fine--most of them I really enjoyed. But there's nothing quite like finding a book that you WANT to read and reading it, without worrying about finishing by a certain date or leading the book discussion that week. So, without any further hesitation, here are the books that I am looking forward to reading once I scrape together a bit of free time:

• Disquiet by Julie Leigh
• What Happened to Anna K. by Irina Reyn
• The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey
• The Book of Dahlia by Elisa Albert
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• College Girl by Patricia Weitz
• Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies

the....end.....is....almost....here....!

Rabbits, Tigers, and Mice--oh my!

A random sampling of the books that had an impact on me as a teenager, in no particular order:

• Watership Down by Richard Adams
  
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon 
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• The Hours by Michael Cunningham
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin
• The Fearless (Francine Pascal) and Everworld (K.A. Applegate) series (don't judge!)

Sadly, I don't remember a lot of the books I read.  I wish I would've kept a list of the all the books I've ever read.  I'm thinking I should start one now...

Unbearable

Sold by Patricia McCormick

"Men come.

They crush my bones with their weight.

They split me open.

Then they disappear.

I cannot tell which of the things they do to me are real,

and which are nightmares

I decide to think that it is all a nightmare.

Because if what is happening is real,

it is unbearable."

First the colors

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

"I could introduce myself properly, but it's really not necessary.  You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables.  It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible.  Your soul will be in my arms.  A color will be perched on my shoulder.  I will carry you gently away.  

At that moment, you will be lying there (I rarely find people standing up).  You will be caked in your own body.  There might be a discovery; a scream will dribble down the air.  The only sound I'll hear after that will be my own breathing, and the sound of the smell, of my footsteps." (4)

"Nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age."

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

"Bruno thought about his question, wanting to phrase it exactly right this time, just in case it came out as being rude or unco-operative.  'Who are all those people outside?' he said finally.

Father tilted his head to the left, looking a little confused by the question.  'Soldiers, Bruno,' he said.  'And secretaries.  Staff workers.  You've seen them all before, of course.'

'No, not them,' said Bruno.  'The people I see from my window.  In the huts, in the distance.  They're all dressed the same.'

'Ah, those people,' said Father, nodding his head and smiling slightly.  'Those people...well, they're not people at all, Bruno.'

Bruno frowned.  'They're not?' he asked, unsure what Father meant by that.

'Well, at least not as we understand the term,' Father continued.  'But you shouldn't be worrying about them right now.  They're nothing to do with you.  You have nothing whatsoever in common with them.  Just settle into your new home and be good, that's all I ask.  Accept the situation in which you find yourself and everything will be so much easier.'

'Yes, Father,' said Bruno, unsatisfied by the response.

He opened the door and Father called him back for a moment, standing up and raising an eyebrow as if he'd forgotten something.  Bruno remembered the moment his father made the signal, and said the phrase and imitated him exactly.  

He pushed his two feet together and shot his right arm into the air before clicking his two heels together and saying in as deep and clear a voice as possible--as much like Father's as he could manage--the words he said every time he left a soldier's presence.

'Heil Hitler,' he said, which, he presumed, was another way of saying, 'Well, goodbye for now, have a pleasant afternoon.' (52-54)

Christopher John Francis Boone

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

"And Siobhan says people go on holidays to see new things and relax, but it wouldn't make me relaxed and you can see new things by looking at earth under a microscope or drawing the shape of the solid made when 3 circular rods of equal thickness intersect at right angles.  And I think that there are so many things just in one house that it would take years to think about all of them properly." (178)

Top 5 Most Requested/Read Books in Middle School

(This is not an official survey...just what I've noticed.)

5.  The Diary of Anne Frank (Anne Frank)

4.  I Know What You Did Last Summer (Lois Duncan)

3.  Twilight (Stephenie Meyer)

2.  The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)

1.  Joke books (I'm not kidding.  Kids love joke books, and the cornier the better.)

To be a littlie again...

"I'm Tally Youngblood...Make me pretty." (425)

In Tally's world, turning 16 is more than just an important birthday.  The day you turn 16, you turn from an "ugly" into a "pretty"--with the help of extensive plastic surgery.  But when Tally meets Shay a few months before her birthday and she begins to question the operation, her future seems uncertain.  What does turning "pretty" actually mean?  And is being an "ugly" really that bad?

(Isn't that one of the creepiest/most awesome book cover ever?  I love it.)

Kissing Cousins

"My name is Elizabeth but no one's ever called me that.  My father took one look at me when I was born and must of though I had the face of someone dignified and sad like an old-fashioned queen or a dead person, but what I turned out like is plain, not much there to notice.  Even my life so far has been plain.  More Daisy than Elizabeth from the word go." (1).

Daisy is 15.  She has what the shrinks call an "eating disorder."  She was sent by her father and step-mother to England.  Now it's World War III. 

Oh, and to make things more complicated, she's fallen in love.  With her cousin. 

If your reaction is "Whaa?," don't feel alone.  I was the same way.  I stuck through it, and although it's not the best dystopian novel I've ever read, it does have it's merits.  One of the better parts involves how Daisy overcomes her eating disorder despite the war ravaged countryside around her--or actually, maybe because of it.

YouTube and Twilight and Puppies

My reading has slowed down considerably, and one reason for this is that I now go to middle school every day. No, I'm not going undercover as a 14 year old to write a scathing expose on teens. Nor am I trying to relive my middle school years. I am doing my student teaching in the library, educating the youth of America on how to properly cite sources, pick out a book they might enjoy, and take effective notes. Oh, and to STOP PLAYING GAMES. THANK YOU.

One of the best parts of being in a middle school is witnessing all of the funny/embarrassing antics of 12-14 year olds. Here's a random sample of some of the more interesting anecdotes I've experienced.

-Isn't YouTube awesome? A kid came up to me and started telling me about how he posted a video of himself playing a video game on YouTube and how people are now commenting on his video. I expressed how cool that was, and that led to a 5 minute discussion about the video game and how you play it and why it is the best.

-Every morning a girl comes in to check out books about dogs. Her mom told her that if she passes all her classes she can get a puppy. After much consideration, she has decided that she wants a Burmese mountain dog. This conversation somehow ended up veering into a discussion about grammar and pizza. I don't know how.

-Twilight! Is! The! Best! Book! Ever! :
"Wait, did you just say you were 'Team Jacob? I can't believe that! She just said 'Team Jacob'! Get her!!" (Said as the girls thundered out of the library. I hope the girl on "Team Jacob" is okay...)

-Google Earth is perhaps the best creation in the history of the world, at least when games are not available. Because students aren't allowed to play games on the computers, they usually end up going to Google and messing around with satellite images of their towns. I can't count the number of blurry images of houses and streets I've been shown these last few weeks.

More to come on middle school later. Plus--have you ever wanted to read a book about World War 3 AND incest? Have I got the book for you!

Salmon, like the fish

The Lovely Bones

By Alice Sebold

I've read this particular book 3 times--and only the first time was by choice.  It's not my favorite book, but I have to admit that every time I read it I discover something new I never noticed before.  I also cry each time I read it, even though I know what happens almost by heart.  The writing is wonderful, so instead of trying to describe it, I'll just give you some quotes and set you on your way.  

Also, if you're looking for another good read, Sebold's first book, Lucky, is, in my opinion, much better than this one.  Her newest book, The Almost Moon, is not, but it's worth a read anyways.  

"These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections--sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent--that happened after I was gone.  And I began to see things in a way that let me hold the world without me in it.  The events that my death wrought were merely the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable time in the future.  The price of what I came to see as this miraculous body had been my life." (320)

"Now I am in the place I call this wide wide Heaven because it includes all my simplest desires but also the most humble and grand.  The word my grandfather uses is comfort.

So there are cakes and pillows and colors galore, but underneath this more obvious patchwork quilt are places like a quiet room where you can go and hold someone's hand and not have to say anything.  Give no story.  Make no claim.  Where you can live at the edge of your skin as long as you wish.  This wide wide Heaven is about as flathead nails and the soft down of new leaves, wild roller coaster rides and escaped marbles that fall then hang then take you somewhere you could never have imagined in your small-heaven dreams." (325)

"And in a small house five miles away was a man who held my mud-encrusted charm bracelet out to his wife.  

'Look what I found at the old industrial park,' he said.  'A construction guy said they were bulldozing the whole lot.  They're afraid of sink holes like that one that swallowed the cars.'

His wife poured him some water from the sink as he fingered the tiny bike and the ballet shoe, the flower basket and the thimble.  He held out the muddy bracelet as she set down his glass. 

'This little girl's grown up by now,' she said.

Almost.  Not quite.

I wish you all a long and happy life." (328)

The rest is still unwritten...

I'm still working on the books for next week, so I've decided to do a TV post. Everyone likes TV, right? Plus, I've recently seen the preview for season 5 (!) of The Hills, that "reality show" shown on MTV.

I’ll admit it—I’m addicted to reality TV. I’m not entirely proud of this fact, but I can’t deny it. When watching reality shows, I sometimes question the actual “reality” being portrayed. How real are these shows? Are they scripted? And who are the “stars” of the shows?

The Hills, a prime staple of MTV’s primetime offerings, is called a “reality show,” but there has been a great deal of speculation over how “real” it actually is. It’s hard to believe that the conversations always take place in front of the camera, and with the perfect amount of lighting, no less. And some of the dramatic “confrontations” seem too staged, and the “stars” seem all too well to know the characters they are supposed to be playing.

The show follows the lives of Lauren Conrad and her friends as they live, work, and play in Hollywood. It is actually a spin-off of the show Laguna Beach, which chronicled Lauren’s high school experience in ritzy Orange County. The “villains” are Heidi and Spencer, a pair who used to be on friendly terms with Lauren but are currently her sworn enemies.

Nevertheless, The Hills is one of MTV’s highest rated shows, and it has even spawned a spin-off of its own, The City. I think teens and preteens like it because it depicts the glamorous LA life that they would like to lead, complete with swanky clubs, beautiful clothes and accessories, and trendy jobs. What the show doesn’t make clear is that Lauren gets all these lucky breaks because she is on a popular reality show. Additionally, she can afford to buy these clothes because she is getting paid to be on the show. Also, the stars of the show are constant tabloid fodder, which I think is another draw for kids. They see gossip from magazines concerning Lauren and Co., so they tune into the show to learn more.

There is a fair share of subtle drinking and partying on the show, but it is never the main focus and it is known that Lauren and her friends are of the drinking age. I might even go as far to say that Lauren is actually a sort of role model, as she holds down a good job and also goes to school for fashion design. While at times the show is bogged down by petty arguments and partying, I’d say the overall message is a positive one: support your friends, find a significant other that respects you, and stay true to yourself in the process of making your way in the world. Whether or not the show is an accurate description of real life is a different story.

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yan

Graphic novels are extremely popular with young people today, and I have to admit that I love reading them too.  This particular graphic novel combines three seemingly diverse story lines that merge together in the end in a way that I didn't really expect.  You can really flip through this book quickly (I started and finished it during lunch at Subway), but it doesn't disappoint.  It's hilarious and poignant, and I would definitely recommend it, for adults and teens.    

"But Paul, we're having your favorite, breakfast for dinner!"

This week's "theme" is teenage pregnancy, which meant that we had to watch the contemporary classic Juno, a movie about adoption, orange Tic Tacs, and tiny yellow running shorts.  I thought in honor of the movie, I'd post some of favorite quotes (I know, I know, my last post was about quotes, but they're easy and I'm feeling lazy.)

Juno's Dad: Liberty Bell, if you put one more Baco on that potato, I'm gonna kick your little monkey butt.

Juno: Who's ready for some chromo magnificence?

Girl lab partner: Yeah, I have a menstrual headache.  So I can't really look at bright lights today.

Guy lab partner: Amanda, I told you to go to the infirmary and lie down.  You never listen!

Girl: No, Josh.  Because I don't take orders.  Not from you and not from any man.

Guy: You know you've been acting like this ever since I got back from visiting my brother in Mankato...I already told you nothing happened.

Paulie: Well I'm going to set up the apparatus.  Um, Juno would you like to plug in the Bunsen burner?

Juno: It's my pleasure.

Girl: I'm going to the infirmary.

Guy: Good.  Call me when you get off the rag!

Girl: Fine!  Call me when you learn how to love someone instead of cheat at your brother's college.  Just because you had four Smirnoff ices and a bottle of snow peak peach flavored Boones.

Guy: Good, Amanda.  I'll be sure to do that.  I'll make a note of it!

Juno's Dad: What's that thing?

Vanessa: It's a Pilates machine.

Dad: What do you make with it?

Vanessa: Oh you don't make anything with it, its for exercise.

Dad: Oh.  My wife ordered one of those Tony Little Gazelles off the television...I don't know about that guy.  He doesn't look right.

Juno: I could so go for a huge cookie right now, with like, a lamb kabob simultaneously.

Juno: He said her house smells like soup.

Leah: Oh my god it does!  I was there like four years ago for her birthday party.  It's like Lipton landing!

Juno's Dad: Are you having boy troubles?  Because I gotta be honest with you; I don't much approve of dating in your condition, 'cause well... that's kind of messed up.

Juno: Dad, no!

Dad: Well, it's kind of skanky.  Isn't that what you girls call it?  Skanky?  Skeevy?

Juno: Please stop.

Dad: Tore up from the floor up?

Juno: That's not what it's about.  I just need to know that it's possible that two people can stay happy together forever.

"It's very beautiful over there." (Thomas Edison)

Looking For Alaska by John Green

"...We are as indestructible as we believe ourselves to be.  When adults say, 'Teenagers think they are invincible' with that that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are.  We need never be hopeless, because we can never never be irreparably broken.  We think that we are invincible because we are.  We cannot be born, and we cannot die.  Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations.  They forget that when they get old.  They get scared of losing and failing.  But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail." (220-221)

I love that quote.  And since Miles, the main character in the book, was obsessed with the last words of famous people, I also love these last words I found after a little digging:

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898): "Take away those pillows.  I shall need them no more."  

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904): "It's been a long time since I've had champagne."

E.E. Cummings (1894-1963): "I'm going to sharpen the axe before I put it up, dear."  

And Abraham Lincoln?  He was laughing at a line that was ad-libbed in the play he was watching right before he was shot. 

Drama at Pfeiffer Middle School

Surfing the web for information on my current book, Gender Blender by Blake Nelson, I found this little jewel: 

http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/genderblender/ 

All you have you do is enter your own information in the blanks, and it creates a personalized Gender Blender story based on your own experiences--kind of like Mad Libs with a middle school twist  I tried to put myself in a middle school frame of mind as I attempted to pick out the cutest guy in school, the most annoying, etc, etc.  Here's my story:

Here is your personal Gender Blender experience...

It's the big night of Joel's birthday party, the event of the school year.  You're excited since everyone will be there, especially Brian, the cutest guy in your English class.  You think about what to wear until you notice your reflection in the full-length mirror.  You take a second, third, ok, maybe even a fourth glance in the mirror.  Frantically, you run towards the mirror.  At a closer view, you are even more shocked by what you're finding or, in this case, what you are no longer finding anymore.  You are trapped in a boy's body--not to mention Brian's body.  You oogle over your new body until a new thought hits you.  Does this mean you can't marry Hugh Jackman anymore?  You are determined to switch back.  

Before you can even think of a plan, you hear someone's voice calling out for you.  "Sweetie, are you ready yet?  Stephen is waiting for you in the living room."  That must be Brian's mother.  You scurry to your closet and throw on your jeans and leave the room.  Before you manage to get down the stairs, Stephen laughs, "Hey butt-nugget, nice outfit.  Joe will be sure to look at you now!"  You ignore his crude remark and quickly leave for the party.

As you two head towards Joel's house, you manage to pick up a few boys along the way.  At the party, Stephen rambles, "Dawg, did you see me torch that guy in the hundred-meter?  He runs like a girl!"  All the boys laugh except you.  You certainly didn't want to be caught torching anyone, let alone a guy.  You look across the room to see Katie, yourself.  You wonder if Brian was in your body thinking the same thing.  You try to catch your own eye until Katherine shows up right in front of you.  She says, "Hey Brian, they're playing apples to apples upstairs--want to go?"  She then winks at you and you immediately feel like throwing up--you're totally grossed out.  You manage to kindly turn her down by telling her that you're waiting for Katie, your real body.

"Katie, that dweeb in English class?  Was she even invited to this party?!"  Offended by Katherine's remark, you defiantly bark back, "Yes, she is here and personally I'd rather spend my time with a dweeb than with a thief like you."  She laughs out load, turns away, and joins the other girls.  Stephen smacks you on the head and screams, "What are you crazy?  This could of been your chance to touch her ear."  You shake your head and walk away...this was sure to be a long and weird experience indeed...

"So, like, how do you guys know each other?"

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

"My heartbeat accelerates.  I am in the here, in the now.  I am also in the future.  I am holding her and wanting and knowing and hoping all at once.  We are the ones who take this thing called music and line it up with this thing called time.  We are the ticking, we are the pulsing, we are underneath every part of this moment.  And by making the moment our own, we are rendering it timeless.  There is no audience.  There are no instruments.  There are only bodies and thoughts and murmurs and looks.  It's the concert rush to end all concert rushes, because this is what matters.  When the heart races, this is what it's racing toward." (174)

In honor of this book, here's my own personal playlist, sorted randomly by iTunes party shuffle.  Think of it as the soundtrack to this blog (however odd it turns out to be).  Enjoy!

1.  Billy Joel--"A Room of Our Own"

2.  Red Hot Chili Peppers--"C'mon Girl"

3.  Dashboard Confessional--"The Rush"

4.  Barenaked Ladies--"Eraser"

5.  Cornbread Red--"If I Had a Million Dollars"

6.  The Cure--"(I Don't Know What's Going) On"

7.  Mute Math--"Typical"

8.  Jason Mraz--"Please Don't Tell Her"

9.  The White Stripes--"St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)"

10.  Barenaked Ladies--"Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank"

11.  Spoon--"Vittorio E"

12.  The Shins--"Australia" 

Okay, I admit it...I cried

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

"But I figure if the world were really right, humans would live life backward and do the first part last.  They'd be all knowing in the beginning and innocent in the end.  Then everybody could end their life on their momma or daddy's stomach in a warm room, waiting for the soft morning light." (pg. 4)

 

Burnin' Up

As promised, your Jonas Brother's post...

So I've heard a lot about the Jonas Brothers lately.  Apparently they're big teen sensations.  So I thought, how fitting would it be to review their CD on this blog, the melting pot for all things teen?  First, some boy band personal history.

I first CD I ever purchased with my own money was Hanson's Middle of Nowhere, which, I found out after a quick Wikipedia search, came out in 1997.  I was 11 and I was in love with these long-haired boys that looked like girls and sang songs with titles like "MmmBop."  I memorized the words to all the songs, and in fact I still remember most of them.  

As I got older I moved on from Hanson to older, "edgier" boy bands.  Backstreet Boys were acceptable, but I loved N'Sync.  JC Chasez could sing ridiculous pop lyrics to me all day.  

98 Degrees were good too, especially since one of the members attended my middle school and carved his name into the desk (according to middle school lore).  There were a lot of throw away bands during this period, but those three bands made up my trinity of music icons.

Now I've grown up and my musical tastes have turned elsewhere, but I still have a special place in my heart for sugary pop songs.  And I was not disappointed in the Jonas Brothers.

"Burnin Up" is by far my favorite song.  Not familiar with it?  Well, it's my pleasure to introduce you:   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z1kSdk7y1A 

 (sorry I couldn't figure out how to embed it!  You might have to copy and paste)

"Lovebug" is another favorite of mine.  Overall, although I don't think I could listen to the CD more than a few times, it's actually pretty catchy and cool.  Way better than Miley Cyrus, by the way.  Maybe not as classic as "MmmBop," but it'll do. 

  

On your mark...

Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher, is a book about the following things:  swimming, racism, small towns, abuse, alcoholism, high school, and outcasts.  Sound overwhelming?  If this was any other book it might be, but Crutcher does something magical with this book--he blends all of these elements together, so in the end it's a book with a message without being "a book with a message" (we've all read books like that, or at least watched a Lifetime movie).  The main character's name is "The Tao Jones," so right off the bat you know it's going to be a good book.  He's just so...cool.  I don't know how else to describe it, but never have I met a more interesting protagonist.  "The Tao Jones" creates puts together a swim team with the unlikeliest of candidates, and, amazingly, he succeeds in doing something the jerky football jocks never even saw coming.  This book makes you want to cheer in some part, but sob quietly in others (which I admit I did).  Here's a sample:

"What I like about the meets more than the swimming though, is the bus ride.  When Icko pulls the door shut and fires up the engine, it feels almost cocoonlike.  We talk about things we'd probably never mention in any other arena: Simon's mother drinks like a fish, Mott spent most of middle school in drug rehab, Tay-Roy lost a baby brother to SIDS, Dan Hole's father has heart trouble, Chris's aunt plays bingo, and Jackie Craig may or may not have a voice box." (117)

I was on the swim team in high school, and this book brought the memories rushing back--the camaraderie of the team after a meet when we gulped down our Subway sandwiches, the 5 am practices in the dead of winter, the never-ending relays and sets, the joy of beating your opponent by a finger length in the last leg of a race.  T.J. has it right in the book--swimming is definitely not a "fun" sport, but it's worth every second in the end.  

Fan Boy hearts Goth Girl

Fanboy is a comic book geek.  He has one friend, a beer-guzzling neanderthal for a stepfather, a pregnant mother, and a single lucky bullet that he keeps in his pocket.  To top it all off, he's in high school, and all he wants to do is get out of there as quickly as possible. 

Soon he meets Kyra, a "goth girl" who drives like a maniac and lies constantly. When he shares with Kyra that he is writing his own graphic novel, things begin to fall apart.  He loses his one and only friend and the comic book convention he has been looking forward turns into a disaster.  Plus, he has to deal with feelings for a girl who seems to hate his guts.  What is a comic book geek to do? 

 

The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl, by Barry Lyga, was the next book I read in my journey into the teenage mind.  The thing that makes this book great is the dialogue between the main character and everyone else in the novel, including his internal monologue.  It's just so real--I felt like I was on the inside of my brother's mind when he was in high school.  It's hilarious in parts, but equally touching in others.  Here's a snippet of Fan Boy talking to his best friend Cal on the phone after the two have an argument:

"Why did you call me?"

He pauses, and there are infinities in the pause before he says: "Because you're my friend."

"Cal, can you hang on for a second?"

"Sure." 

I put the phone down and walk to the other side of the room, where I indulge myself in some quiet tears. 

You probably have to have read the rest book to get the significance of this interaction, but I almost cried myself when I read that.  At times I just wanted to give little Fan Boy a hug.

That said, the ending disappointed me a little, and I felt like more could've been resolved, but ultimately I was satisfied by this book.  I recently finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, which is discussed in Lyga's book, so I felt like I could relate to Fan Boy a little better.  I've also been starting to get into graphic novels myself, so it was nice to see that interest reflected in the text.  I think the graphic novel element to this book is so appealing to teens today, so they will definitely not hesitate to pick up this book.  

Coming in the near future: my reactions to the teen music sensations known as "The Jonas Brothers."  Yes, I got there most recent CD at the library, trying to get myself in the YA mood.  Details and reviews to come...  

(Please Don't) Kick Me

"Another thing I think about names is that they do hurt.  They hurt because we believe them.  We think they are telling us something true about ourselves, something other people can see even if we don't.

Lardo fluff fatso faggot fairy dweeb mutant freak ree-tard loser greaser know-it-all beanpole geek dork...

Is that me? we think.  Is that who I am?" (from The Misfits, by James Howe)

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Maybe you could have guessed it, but I was never the most popular kid in school.  I was quiet, and I hated when all of the attention was focused on me.  I was in band, which put me into a certain category at my school.  I was also a "smart kid," so apply whatever stigma that phrase comes saddled with.  But I was never seriously bullied or picked on.

The closest feeling I came to feeling bullied was when I was in 8th grade.  My brother (2 years younger and also smart and quiet) and I had the perfect Halloween costumes: we were going to be nerds.  Complete with short pants, high socks, suspenders, pocket protectors, glasses, and all the trappings of a stereotypical nerd.  To complete the outfit: a "kick me" sign on both of our backs (We should have known better, I suppose...)

As we went from house to house, grandparents, parents, and kids complimented our costumes.  We were feeling pretty good until Stephen, the typical "bully" in my class, came up, and yes, kicked us, right square in the back.  Hard.  It hurt, and consequently that was the last year my brother and I went trick-or-treating.  Part of it was that we were getting older, yes, but that memory was still a painful one.

What was the point of this story?  Well, never put a "kick me" sign on your back, for one.  But more importantly, this story proves that bullies do exist, names do hurt, and the middle and high school years are usually pretty tough for those without the "popular" formula down pat.

The kids in Misfits, the next YA book I read, are, by the standard definition, nerdy.  One is fat.  One is borderline genius.  One is gay.  One is named "Skeezie."  But out of nowhere they decide to put together their own party and run for student council.  A noble idea, to be sure, but is it a realistic one?

The author, James Howe, does a great job of teaching about the pain of bullying and the labels we use without even realizing it.  Better yet, he does it without cramming "values" and "kindness" and "equality" down your throat.  I appreciated it, and I appreciate this book.

 

Requisite Twilight Post (you knew it was coming!)

The first YA book that I read this semester makes teen girls all over the world sigh and wish they had a vampire boyfriend just like Edward Cullen.  That's right, I just finished reading Twilight.  For the second time.  

I first read Twilight about a year ago, in my senior year of college.  This was before "Twilight Mania" hit, and at that time I thought it was an intriguing read.  I finished it really quickly and actively went in search of the sequel (which I still have yet to read.  I'm a little behind!).  Little did I know just how obsessed girls would become with Stephenie Meyer's vampire chick-lit young adult novel in just a few short months.  Reading the book the second time, for my class, I couldn't help but cringe at some of the dialogue and the repetitive vocabulary.  If you've never read Twilight, here is a choice quote:

This is Bella, the main character of the story, talking about Edward, the hot vampire love interest: "About three things I was absolutely positive.  First, Edward was a vampire.  Second, there was a part of him--and I didn't know how potent that part might be--that thirsted for my blood.  And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him." (195).

There's a lot of "I can't live without you's" and "You are my life now's."  There are even more burning eyes and fluttering hearts.  It's a bit too much sometimes, but I do have to say that for pure entertainment value, there is no substitute for the Twilight series, even for someone who is much older than it's intended audience.

If you can believe this, I actually saw the movie as well.  TWICE.  That's right, I did.  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the movie, actually.  I thought it was well acted and directed, and while the special effects left a little to be desired, the overall feeling of the movie was great.  And Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward, is not too hard on the eyes, if you know what I mean.

So I recommend Twilight to the general public, and yes, even to the male reader out there.  It's good to know the teenage female perspective on issues of love (and lust), and also to stay up on what the kids are reading these days. 

YA reading, Holden Caulfield style!

So here we are: the first post.  You might be wondering why I am doing this, or at least why it is called "Blogger in the Rye."  First things first...this is a class assignment for my LIS 2600 course, which is called Introduction to Information Technology.  Get it?  Blogging=information technology!

Secondly, the name refers to the official patron saint of this blog, Holden Caulfield, made famous in the 1945 novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.  This may not be as easy to understand.  

This focus of this blog, I've decided, is going to be centered around young adult literature.  I'm also taking a class called "Young Adult Resources," which entails that I read about 795348397 young adult books this semester, one of them being the story of young Holden.  

If you've never read the book, Holden is your typical, whiny, narcissistic teenager.  He calls everyone a hypocrite and he doesn't care what people think.  This is a characterization that most of the narrators of young adult literature share, and something I'm sure I'll be sick of by the end of the semester.  

So sit back, think back to your teenage days, and join me as I talk about the books I read.  Read as I dissect Twilight and try to figure out why the heck it's so popular (which I may never understand...).  Journey with me through The Outsiders, The Lovely Bones, and every other young adult book known to man.  

I'll leave you with a typical Holden quote that will set the tone the semester, I'm sure:

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." (Chapter 1)