Wrap-up

"This is end my beautiful friend."

I went to the Teen Talent at the Mulberry St. branch yesterday. Daniel, the star of my teen interview, was in 3 of the 5 performances. The teens were nervous and excited. They had invited their families, friends, and their teacher to the show. The teacher kept shushing (SHHHHHH!) them as they scurried around the library. None of the librarians said shush and none of the other patrons complained. It was nice to see how much the library is part of their lives. These teens come to the library every day afterschool and participate in most of the programs the library offers.
Teens are a very important demographic in the library. Librarians should aim to tap into teens enthusiasm for things--when they love something, they really love it. And they really like it when the YA librarian listens to them and is able to create programs for them and recommend new books to them. It was so nice to see how much the teens appreciate Kim (the YA librarian) and how much they use the library.

I really enjoyed discovering YA lit. I loved, loved, loved True Diary and Freakshow and Little Brother. I got to indulge in my love for Gossip Girl and Chuck Bass. We watched The Wire!! It was great. Seriously, I got to been a teen all over again with none the angst.

XOXO

"All in the game yo, all in the game"

So says Omar from The Wire.

Street lit is an interesting genre and it's gaining a stronger presence in libraries. I'm having trouble getting into True to the Game but I can see its popularity. Teens like books that are "real" and "true" and street lit offers that. There's a chaotic rawness to these books and there's no sugarcoating going on.

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I can't make it through True to the Gameright now...too many other things going on. Prior to this class I hadn't read any street lit but now I've discovered
Around the Way Girls which I liked a lot better than True to the Game. While these girls are involved in all kinds of crazy drama involving men, drugs, guns, clubs, and just about everything else, there's also internal reflection. We get to know what these girls are thinking and feeling. (On a totally random note: the character of Frido? All I kept picturing was a gangsta-hobbit.)

I loved Tyrell and will definitely read the upcoming sequel. I know it's a much more emotional read than street lit but I still think it's a good recommendation. I'd want to talk to the patron to see which reading direction they wanted to go in.

Safety

I don't know where to begin. Living Dead Girl is too horrifying for words. I can't find the right words because everything would feel like it is trivializing Alice's story. It gives you the feeling of all the air being sucked out of your body while being kicked in the stomach and back simultaneously. It's something so brutal that you want to scream as loud as you can to have some sort of release but you can't make any noise. This was a terrible and sad story. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be like "why didn't she run away?" and part of me thinks that too but at the same time this girl has been so traumatized and scared and everything that once was has been beaten out of her. She's just a shell of who she was. There was a recent article which I, unfortunately, didn't read but I skimmed it and it said that people who are in terrible situations such as abusive relationships often lose the will to leave. They've become so defeated and broken that escaping has gone beyond them. God, this book was brutal.

I finished ALmost Home and while I can appreciate the stories I wish we had gotten to know the characters a little more...that they had revealed themselves more while telling their stories. Eeyore's story was terrible but at least you had some hope in the end. These are very broken kids and sometimes you can't come back from that kind of brokeness. And I wanted to knock out that teacher of Rusty's...what a predator.

I know that sad and upsetting stories have high appeal to teens. I haven't read A Child Called It but I think I'm going to have to at some point. I think part of the appeal is that adolescence is a very emotionally volatile time...everything seems to felt to the utmost extreme and these books allow them to give into those emotional extremes. I think it's hard in class sometimes because we're not reading these books as teens, we're reading them as adults and sometimes forget that we might have a different viewpoint than teens.

Anyway, I made it through After School Nightmare. Manga and your backwards reading...how your frustrate me!! Seriously, I have a really hard time with it and it always makes me feel like I'm going to miss something important in the plot.

Afterschool Nightmare was SO weird.

Prom and the world's largest collection of black Santas

Prom: it's either the highlight of one's high school career or it's a pointless ritual that forced upon teens. My prom was a bit of disaster and rather boring. I totally could have skipped it.

I really, really liked Brian Sloan's A Really Nice Prom Mess. It was funny and sweet and I think it would make a great movie. I'd want to pair this with I love you, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle. Actually, it would fit in well with Paper Towns. Dennis Cooverman has this image of Beth Cooper that's built on fantasy and Q has the same kind of reverence for Margo Roth Speigelman.

I'm having brain block right now. I'm going to have to come back.
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I decided to read Looking for Alaska (Thanks, Joelle!!) after finishing Paper Towns. Now I want to know who is this mysterious, crazy, beautiful girl in John Green's life. It seemed to bother a lot of people that Margo didn't go back with Q after he had come all that way for her but I don't see how else to could have ended.

Q had a very good support system with his friends...they went with him on this adventure but they also pointed out how he was ignoring everything else in favor of the ever elusive Margo Roth Speigelman. Q's parents are also supportive and he seems to talk to them more than other teens we've encountered this semester.

I think we all want these kind of intense friendships where support is always given even if there are disagreements. Q has this kind of friendship with Radar and Ben. Cameron is a little more on his own but he picks up all these people along the way. I really loved Prom Mess. I wish I could have gone to prom with Cam.

I'd like to pair Prom Mess with Freak Show so the similarities between Shane and Flip could be discussed but I wouldn't want to pigeonhole either of these books.

And this is totally random but I think I might want to pair Freak Show with Little Brother. Both characters experience a traumatic event which would make some people want to run and hide and act like it never happened but these two characters decide to fight back and stand up for what they believe in and who they are.

Equity & Social Justice

School has officially hit its overwhelming point in the semester. SO much to do and not nearly enough time.

Ivan Velez's Dead High Yearbook was not for me. I don't think graphic novels in general are for me though I did really like The Plain Janes (Thanks, Nicole, for the awesome book talk!)so maybe I just need the right graphic novels/manga. Anyway, Dead High Yearbook is a fast read and I think it would be a good pick for a reluctant reader. The gore and gross-out factors make it good for fans of horror. The stories themselves are a pretty good take on high school life: cheating significant others, academic pressure and the SATs, struggles to fit in and look a certain way. The book even tackles homophobia so there are a lot of interesting themes running through the book and it could generate an interesting book club discussion.

The Dark Knight is a huge, blockbuster movie that you just know everyone is going to see especially after Heath Ledger's untimely death. So, at first, I thought it was just hype about his performance--greedy studios taking advantage of a terrible situation--but it wasn't and Ledger created a truly terrifying and unsettling Joker. I think teens would have seen the movie no matter what but I think they were saddened by his death especially since he has a young daughter.

TI!!!! It's no secret... I think he's very cute and his songs are pretty catchy and I love that he teamed with Justin Timberlake(!!!) for Dead and Gone. Ok, TI is not the greatest role model and his show, Road to Redemption is probably more of a publicity fix-his-damaged image rather than a genuine concern for troubled youths but it works in its own way. Celebrities seem to have a certain amount of influence in the teen world so when TI preaches against the street life, the message may get through to someone.

Social Competencies

I love the title Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You although the idea of it can be hard to believe when you're smack in the middle of adolescent angst. So, when I finished the book I originally thought "It's ok but I didn't really like it" but after our discussion in class, I had to think about it again. James Sveck is a mess. He's out of place wherever he goes with the exception of the time he spends with Nanette. He's so painfully awkward that it seems to make everyone uncomfortable to be around him or pity him. He's very socially disconnected. It's easy to dismiss him as a "freak" or "weird." The fake profile he posts in response to John's personal profile can be seen as cruel but the thing is James does not mean it in that way at all. He has a crush on John even though he isn't able to actually fully admit this which breaks your heart. James doesn't have any friends either. He's so alone.

He feels like he doesn't fit in anywhere and I think that's a big part of adolescence. A lot of teens feel like they don't fit in anywhere, that they are different from everyone else around them and there is the desire to escape from it all (James wants to move to the Midwest, Holden wants to spend his time in the rye field).

This book is the most "literary" one we've read for class so it had a very different feel. James does not sound like a typical teen with his intense focus on language and words. I don't think this book is for everyone so I'd recommend it to teens with more "literary" tastes or if they were Salinger fans (I love Holden Caulfield). I'd recommend it to someone who was feeling like an extreme outsider and people who were looking for something different and a little more challenging. I'd like to pair this book with Freak Show. The main characters are so different...James wants to get away from everyone and Billy is throwing himself into the fray headfirst.

Dramacon was great. I really liked it and already picked up volumes 2 and 3 from the library. I think it's a very relatable story for a lot of girls. You know the story: Girl stays with boyfriend because he's cute and he CAN be sweet-even though he's a jerk most of the time-and he was her first and there's that connection. And even though part of her knows she needs to dump his sorry ass, she still stays because of the times he does decide to be nice. And hopefully, she meets that other guy who's awesome and nice.
I would definitely recommend this books to most girls, fans of manga and graphic novels.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is a great move to pair Dramacon with. Norah is Chriss. I really like this movie even though there was THE GUM SCENE!!! I am traumatized. I <3 Michael Cera and Kat Dennings is awesome. Again, this is a very relatable story for girls and makes a great pairing with Dramacon. I just want to tell these girls "This guy isn't worth your time. You don't have to stay with him because he was your first. And never let any guy make you feel like you're worthless. He's petty and mean and small."

So, I guess none of these characters feel very socially competent (James doesn't want to be around people, Chriss is nervous about her first 'Con, and Norah has her own issues about guys.) They all feel awkward and out of place. James Sveck reminded me of this guy I met at a bar one time. He sat next to me reading this book called "The Inextinguishable Fire: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany." I'm nosey and dorky and asked what he was reading and he started to tell me about how hard it is for him to connect with people and going out was terrible and disappointing and how he hated it because he felt like he didn't fit in and then he finished it up with "I want to find my true-love...the person who fills in the cracks in my sidewalk." I didn't know what to say to that one. Anyway, this is what I pictured James to be like.

It's easy to ignore or not even see people like James...the awkwardness is so obvious that other people want to avoid it. Maybe it's because they can see themselves in that outcast place, feel that painfully awkward or maybe it's just because people can be insensitive jerks. I don't know.

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I think defending intellectual freedom is one of the most important things the library does. The materials within a library should not be censored because of controversial subject matter. I think what I was wondering about Tyrell and how it would fare in libraries that aren't in urban environments was more like are teens as interested in these titles, are there a lot of requests for these genres? Part of the library's mission is to provide what the patrons want...do these teens want urban fiction books? I think it would be great if all libraries had all these books so people could be opened to a world different from their own. Mow much does region affect what titles are most popular? Obviously, there are those titles that are popular everywhere (Twilight, Harry Potter) but what other titles are most requested?

Empowerment!!

As I wrote in a previous post I picked up the 2nd book in the Hotlanta series and let me say again "Hotlanta is bananas!" The book just moves along dropping designer and brand-names and then all of the sudden at the end, it explodes with all kinds of craziness. So, of course there's always the comparison of this series to the AWESOME Gossip Girl and it does have shades of GG in it (status, image, shopping) but it doesn't have any of GG's snark. There's no mocking, snarky tone to it at all which is one of the reasons I like GG so much. Anyway, I have the 3rd Hotlanta book waiting to be read. I also picked up the first Around the Way Girls book. I can't wait.

I could NOT make it through Deathnote. I tried. The whole reading it "backwards" was disconcerting and I just wasn't into the story or the character either. I don't think manga is for me. But I know how hugely popular it is so I'd definitely recommend this book to fans of manga and graphic novels. I'd also recommend it to someone who was looking for something "different" to read. It could make for a interesting discussion on society and what it deems morally right. I don't think I'd recommend this to a reluctant reader though.

Tyrell made me so sad. His mother is horrendous and vile. The saddest thing is that while *she* is a fictional character, there are mothers who actually do this in real life. Again, she reminded me of Namond's mom, DeLonda, on The Wire (I think it always comes back to The Wire universe for me)and Keisha in Hotlanta. Mothers who seems void of any maternal protective instinct although they seem to think by hooking up with these gangsta men, they're actually providing a good life for their children. Coe Booth really captures Tyrell's voice. It really feels like he's talking to you. I'd recommend this book to fans of urban fiction and teens living in urban environments, fans of The Wire, "troubled" teens. The thing is I think the book could appeal to any teen no matter where they live or anything like that. Tyrell is a very good and strong character and the way that Booth captures who he is makes him seem like he's a real-life person and I think that the honesty in the way he says everything would be very appealing.

There seems to be a lot of discussion in class regarding the ability to relate to a character--if they can't relate to the character they generally aren't big fans of the book--I wonder how teens living in environments that are the complete opposite of Tyrell's would feel about the book. I'm not saying that it shouldn't be recommended or taught, I'm just wondering what people would say about it. I think that's one of the best things about books. Books can open you up to something you never would have known or thought about before. How awesome is that?

I'm still reading Poison. It's a fun read but I'm not deeply invested in the story. I think I'd recommend this to girls who want to buck the norm and fans of fantasy. Poison is a strong character right away. She's fierce, defiant, belligerent and a loner but she also loves her father and sister very much and is wildly protective of them. I think that she cares about her stepmother too but she's too busy being angry to actually admit it to herself.

***To be continued after class
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I'm so excited there is going to be a sequel to Tyrell!! I need to know what happened to him.

I'm almost finished with Poison. It's still a weird book and Poison is kind of a violent girl. The whole dog-killing-skinning and wearing their skins was so gross and then she killed that moth thing by throwing an apple through its wing. I haven't encountered that many female characters who are like Poison. She's more like a male warrior character at times. Also I can't get that movie Labyrinth with Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie out of my head as I read this book.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UoG-xQ9Lqc

Positive Values

I think a lot of times teens feel powerless and alone...like no one is really listening to them or takes what they have to say or how they feel seriously. It can be a very lonely time.

Robin Bowman's It's Complicated: The American Teenager is a very moving and empowering book. It shows these kids as survivors. Their stories are really amazing: Shavaris from Brooklyn trying to move his family out of the projects, Hilario the migrant worker from Honduras, April from Missouri who's mom gave her meth so she'd clean the house (WTF?!?!), Jassmond from Watts who made it to the 12th grade, Faduma and Said who escaped from Somalia, Charlotte the visually impaired football player...I could go on and on. Most of these stories are moving and some make you want to roll your eyes but they're all very honest. I think teens would like this book because of those qualities: there are stories they can relate to, stories that will make them indignant, stories that will make them say "that's so messed up." I think teens--just like everyone else--appreciate honesty and that's what these stories are.

OK, so I guess most of cannot relate to Felicia "Snoop" Pearson's Grace After Midnight but it's still a very compelling story. I don't think she was glamorizing the street life but she wasn't exactly begging for forgiveness. She was just telling her story. (Side note: quite a few of the actors on The Wire have a criminal past--Melvin Williams who portrayed the deacon was a major dealer back in the day.)Her story is one of survival--born addicted to crack to a crack addict mother, years in prison, and life on the street. I think it's an empowering story because she survived. I also think her attitude toward her sexuality was very empowering. She accepted that aspect of herself and never felt like it was "wrong" or "bad." I think I'd recommend this book to fans of The Wire, urban teens, and teens looking for something different. Teens like tragedy and drama...this book has that.

I watched Home Rooms from the 4th season of The Wire. This season focusing in on the kids and the schools is so brutal. It's like being kicked in the stomach, chest, and face repeatedly. These kids have everything in the world stacked against them. They are constantly surrounded by violence and drugs and death that they don't even blink an eye when one girls slices the check of a fellow classmate. It scary to think about but I think there are plenty of teens out there who could relate to these stories. Over the summer HBO was airing a documentary about the school system in West Baltimore and it gave one of the most depressing statistics: they lose 50% of their freshmen class by the end of the year. Kids drop out, deal drugs, get pregnant and don't finish school, or they end up dead. There are very few parents around...many of these kids are being raised by grandparents or they're raising themselves and their younger siblings. I don't think the teens in The Wire are empowered at all. Watching this episode and seeing Delonda (Namond's mom) made me think of the mom from Hotlanta. (I totally had to get the 2nd book in the series. I needed to know what was going to happen with those Duke twins and their drama.)

Time is on my side

After reading Cory Doctorow's Little Brother I SO want to be a computer geek. This was a great book and it's so awesome that Doctorow made it available for downloading. It really is in character with the whole book. I think Little Brother is great read for teens and librarians, as we are defenders of intellectual freedom.
There seems to be the assumption that teens do little but hang out and waste time. I don't think this is true at all. This is a time when they really start to explore a wide variety different things and figure out what they really like and what they're into. It's a time to discover their self-identities. The techie stuff that the kids in Little Brother can do is amazing. They spend a lot of time playing games but it's not just a meaningless game. Through these games they do a lot of social interaction, they have to work in a team and cooperate with and listen to each other, they have to solve a lot of puzzles and problems. It's actually a very productive use of time.
Another important part of this book is its political message. I think adolescence is a time when people start to become interested in and passionate about politics and societal issues. It is also a time of rebellion and going against authority figures.
I think this is a good book for teens because of these things. It never talks down to teens. Teens are highly empowered in this book.

Noah Scalin's Skulls project is such a creative endeavor. He takes everyday objects and reimagines them into these skulls. I think teens are very much into creative self-expression and this book would be of interest to them. It gives a feeling that anyone could do this type of project if they want to. They might be inspired by the books to embark on their own art project.

Boundaries & Expectations or "I'm Chuck Bass"

This week’s readings were on complete and total opposite ends of the spectrum. Hotlanta is fluff and No Choirboy is beyond serious and real.

Susan Kuklin’s No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row is the most somber and depressing book we’ve read this semester. I didn’t want to continue reading it after the first chapter. It’s an interesting read though. I think teens are particularly interested in and passionate about moral issues and justice and fairness. This book has all that. You get to see these men as human beings with deep and complex feelings and I think that’s very important to teens. I think that they like to be understanding of things especially when society as a whole does not want to understand these men on death row.
The men in this book are surrounded by boundaries and rules and yet they've broken society's ultimate rule by killing. In prison they have live to their lives by very specific rules or they could die. It also seems that they’ve lost all expectations of anything good happening. They only expect anger, violence, and sadness.

Hotlanta is bananas! I think the authors really nailed how viciously siblings can fight and the kind of crazy hyperemotional states teens can get into. The book is like a soap opera—almost completely implausible—which is part of its appeal. I think teens (and a lot of adults) like that super over-the-top, crazy drama and this book definitely has that. These girls don’t really seem to have any boundaries either. They act without thinking of any possible consequences. However, they do seem to have a lot of expectations of themselves. Sydney in very driven in her academic and extra-curricular activities. She wants to get into the best colleges. Lauren is driven as a dancer and is hard on her dance team. She wants to be the best dancer.
Their mother kind of reminds me of Delonda, Namon's mother, on The Wire. In some ways, I guess she is driven too. She wanted out of her former life and wanted one of extreme riches.

Sadly, this book does not compare to the sheer awesomeness that is Gossip Girl. OMG, I love this series (both the books & the show). I especially love Chuck Bass in all his depraved, smarmy glory. It’s like Chuck has a vague idea of how people are supposed to act but most of the time he doesn’t really understand it. (I also kind of wish they’d give TV Chuck a monkey like his monkey, Sweetie, in the books.) Anyway, it’s that same over-the-top, crazy drama that is so appealing. Also, everything is beautiful and glamorous on the outside in the GG world but behind that glossy façade lie some seriously dark secrets. I don’t think fans of GG are necessarily sitting around dreaming of being filthy rich. I mean part of it is that completely different life: shopping at the 3 B's (Barney's, Bergdorf's, and Bendel's), fabulous parties all the time, amazing vacations, running around the city going to all the hottest clubs and restaurants. But it’s also the totally ridiculous drama that brings them in. They know life isn’t really like this but the characters act on their every emotion all the time and being a teen is a highly-emotional time. It's like the viewers can be like "OMFG! I can't believe Blair did that. That's so f'ed up."

XOXO

Committment to Learning

I cannot express how much I loved Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. It was so funny and so sad and so hopeful and triumphant all at once...much like life itself. I think a large part of the YA appeal of this book lies not only in the humor but also in the sadness and fear that Junior feels. He's so honest about being scared and nervous about life and that's the way we all feel sometimes but especially so during those teen years. He overcomes these tremendous obstacles and there are always going to be obstacles for him but you know that in the end he's going to be ok, that's he tough and a survivor. Junior actually has a lot of support even though he's bullied on a regular basis. He's got the teacher who tells him he has to get off the reservation, he has his parents and his dad's best friend, Euguene. He has his basketball coach at his new school (Hooray for a good coach) and he even starts to make friends at the new school like his transulucent, semi-girlfriend Penelope. I also really loved his friendship with Rowdy and how even though Rowdy was so furious and hurt at Junior for leaving, he knows that Rowdy still loves him.

Sherman Alexie has great descriptions: Rowdy's avalanche laugh. I love that line. *sigh* I could go on and on about how great this book is. :-)


Frankie Landau-Banks is a great character. I liked her smarts and attitude. I really liked that she knew she was smart and used that to her advantage. I read a book called Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher which all about how girls suffer in their teen years and how often they dumb themselves down either to fit in or impress boys and whatnot so I really appreciated Frankie's intelligence and quick wit. YAY for smart, funny girls. Frankie is fiercly independent. She has support in her older sister, Zada, but seems to reject the support of others like her roommate, Trish.

Both Junior and Frankie put an enormous value on education. They know it's their key to open doors in life. They're both very self and socially-aware. I think they're relatable characters as well.

So, Superbad was SO funny. I have a totally inappropriate crush on Michael Cera plus I <3>Freaks and Geeks!!! I love that we watched it in class...not enough people appreciate that show.) I think that this is a glimpse into the teenage male mind. It's very funny and crude and gross but it also has a lot of heart and is very sweet. It made the anxiety of going away to college and being separated from your best friend funny. I think a lot of people feel the same way Evan and Seth did in the movie. (Total side note but I thought this movie was kind of like Swingers for the teenage guy.)

Support

Ohhh, Rachel Cohn's You Know Where to Find Me was so heartbreakingly sad. You just want to hug Miles and reassure her that life does get better...not that she'd believe you. I think it's very hard to actually hear and believe that things will better, that things won't always be so sad when you're in the very lowest of places and hating everything about yourself. Miles' pain and heartbreak is excruciating. She feels like she's been left completely alone after her cousin's suicide. Laura was like her other half...her beautiful, talented, beloved other half and when she dies Miles is left with what she thinks of as an ugly, fat, stupid, and and unlikable self. I think that part of the pain stems from loving Laura so hard and yet not knowing how sad Laura really was.

Boy Toy by Barry Lyga is definitely not something I would have picked up on my own. It was a very different story since it deals with a 12-year old boy being molested by his teacher. EEEWWWW!!!! He was 12!!!! I think that this might be part of the appeal of the book though...it's a very taboo topic and there's that "Hot for Teacher" vibe. Josh is, self-admittedly, SO screwed-up when we meet him. I just kept thinking "this poor kid" as he feels very alone in all this. He's never really talked to anyone other than his psychiatrist about it. The weight of what he's carrying (the guilt he feels because he thinks HE seduced his teacher) is crushing and it's a wonder he's surviving.

The thing that struck me about both these books was the lack of parental support. Miles is abandoned by her mother and her father for the most part has been absent in her life. Josh's parents don't seem to connect with him at all...they're there but they're not really fully present in his life. This seems to a recurring theme in the teen world today. Where have all the parents gone? Also, what is up with all these evil coaches? The football coach in Freak Show obviously did not say anything to the guys on the team after they almost killed Billy and the coach in Boy Toy is also a total jerk. I wonder where the evil, a$&^%#@ coach stereotype comes from.

Both characters though have these silently supportive best friends. Jamal is there for Miles (even when she doesn't see it) and Zik is always there for Josh. There's a lot to be said for the friend who is just there for you no matter what even when there's no conversation.

I tried to watch Family Guy (Stewie and his football shaped head kind of creep me out) and I think the appeal is in that "I can't believe he just said that. That is so wrong" humor. It has the same kind of "shock" off-color, irreverent humor that South Park does.

Freak Show & Positive Identities

I am still waiting for Alter Egos and Serving Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens to come in at the library. I was able to get a copy of Freak Show by James St. James.

I loved this book and there is no other way to describe the main character, Billy Bloom, other than fierce and fabulous. Billy, a teen drag-queen, has everything stacked against him: a new school, no support from his mother and seemingly little support from his father, no support at his new school. But Billy triumphs and is so amazing because of that. He stands up for himself, he fights against the hate mongering and visciousness, and never apologizes for who he is. He's a very admirable character. He embraces who he is wholeheartedly and celebrates it.

I was cringing in the beginning of the book because I just knew something terrible was going to happen to Billy. It makes me sick the way school reacted to the coma-inducing beating that Billy's fellow students put on him. It's sickening to think that nothing would happen to these kids...there were no consequences or punishments. I don't think that a "zero tolerance for hate policy" means anything if there are no consequences for those who commit hate crimes. The school really angered me. Unfortunately, I think this happens in a lot of school. Homosexuality seems to make people so uncomfortable. It's so irritatingly stupid on their part. There are stronger words for it but I can't find them right now.

I love the message of this book. No matter what ugliness and hate others hurl your way, you can't be afraid to be who you are because we're all "freaks" in someway. "Accept the Universal Freak Show is us all." Amen to that, Billy Bloom.

Superheroes and the supernatural seem to be everywhere in mainstream popularity today. There are countless books--vampires in particular seem to be at the height of popularity--graphic novels, movies, and TV shows involving superheroes or the supernatural.

I think part of the appeal of the superhero/supernatural are the awesome powers that accompany come with "super" status. It gives a strength that most others don't have which makes the person special and unique. This is a very important part of being a teenager...finding one's own unique identity. It's a confusing time. You want to be unique and different than the mainstream crowd and yet there's still a desire not to be too different, not to stand out too much. Superheroes seem to go through the same thing. The powers they have are thrilling and set them apart from everyone else. But there's also a feeling of isolation and lonliness which seem to go hand-in-hand with being a teenager. There are a lot of times where you feel lonely and isolated from the crowd and even friends. The superhero, much a like a teen, doesn't feel like he/she fits in with everyone else.

After reading Freak Show, I wished I had know Billy Bloom in real life. We could all benefit from his self-belief and pride. Here's to accepting the universal freak show.

Audrey, Wait! & Twilight

My first blog post EVER!!

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway was a cute read even though I couldn't particularly relate to Audrey. The language (conversations, IMs, text messages) all seemed very real. I think the topic of fame is an interesting one. It seems that with all the various reality shows, social networking sites, and YouTube that almost everyone wants to be famous and that fame is something to strive for even if you have to embarrass yourself. This book shows the fun perks of being famous--backstage passes and parties--and the flipside of not being able to do anything normal like go on a first date or go to the record store.

As far as developmental assets go, Audrey seems like a very realistic and strong character. Her family was very supportive of her and wanted her to be strong and handle the events occuring in a responsible and mature manner. Audrey also seems to have high self-esteem. She also exhibits "peaceful conflict resolution."

Anyway, on to Twilight. Oh Twilight! I have mixed feelings about this book: on one hand the main character Bella seems underdeveloped in some ways...she doesn't seem to have many friends or really want to make any friends and she wants to give up EVERYTHING for ol' Edward but I think my main issue with this is the writing. I think it's rather sloppy and weak but for this class that's neither here nor there. So, on the other hand the book is highly entertaining. It is over-the-top romantic. It's the ultimate teen crush/romance. I think it captures that first intense crush where you just think the guy is SO beautiful and perfect and this is so much better than real life because he is crushing right back on her. And even though I think Bella could be a stronger female character in some ways, there are things that I really appreciated about her. The scene in biology class where she's able to identify all the samples under the microscope...I liked that she didn't play dumb for Edward. I like that she reads too. I also think that she's a relatable character for a lot of teen girls: she's shy, she feels insecure and like she doesn't quite fit in.

As for my reading habits, I read a lot of fiction and quite a few YA novels but I'm all over the place with books. Recently, I've read a lot of war memoirs. I follow a lot of recommendations too. I recently read the Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz which is like a vampire version of Gossip Girl.