Review: Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr

Deanna Lambert is not a country music star although her name is remarkably similar to one Miranda Lambert.  She is, however, a 16 year old girl trying to escape the reputation attached to her name forged when she was just 13 years old.  At 13, Deanna was caught in the backseat of Tommy Webber's Buick by her dad, and no matter how hard she tries, she cannot escape the stigma of that night in the eyes of her dad, her classmates, or herself.  In a last ditch effort to save herself, Deanna takes a summer job at Picasso's, a crappy pizza joint on the half-dead strip.  While Deanna doesn't emerge from the summer as exactly the person she dreams of becoming, she does come to realize her role in the lives of those closest to her.

What Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl has going for it is it is realistic.  The plot and prose are simplistic but believable.  Deanna struggles with family and friends and crushes and the ramifications of poor choices.  All teenagers can relate to Deanna, and her agony over her 13 year old decisions may act as a cautionary tale for kids trying to grow up too fast.  However, when Tommy reappears in Deanna's life, her conflicting feelings for him resurface, and the reader begins to understand the deeper intricacies of a teenager's first relationship.  These complications are reflected in the supporting characters in the various stages of their relationships.  Deanna's best friends Lee and Jason represent the beginning stages of a relationship when everything is new and exciting.  Her older brother Darren and his girlfriend Stacy along with their baby April represent the challenge of a new family, and her mother and father represent a relationship gone sour under the strain of everyday living.  Deanna knows what she doesn't want - her mother and father's life - what she does want - a relationship like Lee and Jason's (if not Jason himself) and what she wants to improve on - Darren and Stacy's tenuous existence, yet she lacks the right partner and more importantly, she lacks confidence in herself.  Through interactions with all of these characters and her new boss Michael, Deanna embarks on a summer of self-discovery, and although what she discovers is not the fairy-tale formula for family she hoped for, she knows she's going to be alright.   

Although I think Zarr didn't fully flesh out the Jason/Lee/Deanna triangle, Story of a Girl is a relateable, enjoyable read that encourages readers to explore the consequences of their actions without being preachy.

Best matched with teens knee deep in the pressures of junior high and high school.

Here Comes Santa Claus with Ten Books for Me!

Image from The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Broke and The Bookish, and with Christmas right around the corner this week's topic is perfect.  What are the top ten books you hope Santa will stuff in your stocking?  I told my mother that I didn't want any books this year because I am attempting to read all of the books I own, and as this picture of my book shelves shows, I have a lot - not including what's on my Kindle.  But...here are the top ten books that I want to read but don't own yet.


1 -3. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (Don't yell at me!  I haven't had the time to read them yet, but they are number one on my list.)

4. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (When I first read the synopsis for this book, I wasn't terribly interested.  Flesh-eating horses are not my thing; however, I have read some RAVE reviews of this book, and I loved The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, so I am looking forward to picking it up.)

5. Thumped by Megan McCafferty (Thumped is the sequel to McCafferty's Bumped and not due out until Spring 2012, but I am dying to get my hands on a copy.  Bumped was hilarious and thought-provoking, and I know Thumped will only complicate the view of society that McCafferty has created in Bumped.)

6. Scars by Cheryl Reinfield (I read a great review of this book at For the Love of YA's blog.)

7. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare (Like The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments series has been recommended to me by my highly trusted YA reading friends.  I just haven't found the time to pick it up.)

8. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jaqueline Kelly (The beautiful cover caught my eye, and the plot synopsis reminds me of some of my favorite childhood books, which I talk about here.)

9. A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka (The plot synopsis reminds me of one of my favorite books ever, Nicole Krauss' The History of Love.)

10. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (Two of my favorite authors collaborate - I must read this!)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Waiting

This Advent season I have been thinking more and more about its characteristic feature...waiting.  This is an activity (or in-activity) that I am not terribly adept at.  My mother and my sisters could tell you horror stories about my attempts at "waiting" in doctor's offices (where I loudly proclaimed I was about to rot) and long car rides (where I plastered myself to the car window), but for some reason, as this year comes to a close, I have been fascinated by the concept of waiting.

Waiting, and doing so patiently, is not something that many people today willingly engage in.  Social networking sites and online shopping, for all of their benefits, have created a culture infamous for its desire for instant gratification.  While it is nice to immediately see what friends and family are up to or to finish your Christmas shopping with one click, being able to still your mind and body in preparation for an event can heighten the pleasure of that meal/gift/experience when the time comes.

It has been a whirlwind of a year, and after, not so patiently, waiting for the semester to end, I am looking forward to this final week of the Advent season to wait and rest, hoping that with the birth of Christ on Christmas day, I will also be reborn into this New Year, refreshed.

Review: Hold Still by Nina Lacour

I had heard great things about Nina Lacour's Hold Still when it was first published in 2009.  An illustrated young adult book focusing on friendship and the the ways we soldier on when encountered with tough issues like suicide was right up my ally, but I put off reading Hold Still for a while, even when I finally purchased my own copy several months ago, because I knew this was a book that was going to affect me.  Big time.  Like heartbreakingly, devastatingly so.  And it did, it was, but it was a lot of other things too.  In fact, Lacour's novel delivers in the area that has become a hallmark of YA fiction.  She offers a realistic yet hopeful look at the painful and troublesome world we live in.  It is dark and messy, but the characters can make it.  There might be days where they can't get out of bed, but it's not one long novel of days where the main character can't get out of bed.  Nor is it one long maudlin reflection on friendship and death, or a cursory, superficial look at teen depression and suicide followed by a cheery return to an artificial high school experience.  It is a book that cannot be easily categorized because it most closely resembles life in action.  The characters are living, breathing, and in motion - even when the world around them has shattered.  Gayle Foreman, author of If I Stay and Where I Went, said it best when she wrote, "Hold Still may be the truest depiction of the aching, gaping hole left in the wake of a suicide that I've ever read.  But it's anything but depressing and gloomy - it's also about the tender shoots of new relationships that grow unexpectedly out of tragedy."

Hold Still chronicles the year after Ingrid's suicide through the eyes of her best friend Caitlin.  Caitlin is devastated by the loss of her friend and wracked with guilt, especially when she finds Ingrid's journal shoved under her bed full of letters to those she loved most.  As Caitlin attempts to navigate life without Ingrid, she has to reacquaint herself with the places, like the old theater, pursuits, like photography, and people, like their photography teacher, that she shared with Ingrid.  What results are new relationships and new associations and talents that still harbor Ingrid's spirit but give Caitlin the strength to move forward.  Lacour's novel, however, is not a linear progression from grief to anger to recovery.  It mirrors the true grieving process and cycles between days of unbearable sadness and days of refreshing growth and back again.  Although Caitlin's story dominates, readers get an intimate peek at the effect of Ingrid's suicide and Caitlin's retreat on their parents, friends, and potential lovers as well.  It is these emotional snapshots that have stayed with me long after the novel's close.

I highly recommend this book.  I have read several books since my last set of mini reviews, but none of them captivated me as Lacour's Hold Still.  Wonderfully written with bits of philosophy and art woven through, Hold Still "breaks your heart and puts it back together again" (Elizabeth Scott, Living Dead Girl).

Best matched with anyone who has traveled the weary road from darkness to light.

Challenge: What new to do?

Susan Byrum Rountree, author of Nags Headers and In Mother Words, posted a question to her blog, writemuch, the other day.  She asked, "What new did you do this year to challenge yourself?" and encouraged readers to respond in the comments section or on their own blogs.  Susan's question got me thinking about the choices I have made in the past two years that have brought me to the brink of "The BIG Decision" that will not only affect the tail end of this year but will reverberate for many years to come.

Tonight, I am going to my alma mater, North Carolina State University, where I received a Master's Degree in English in May of 2010, to look at a PhD in Education program.  This is a big deal for me because when I decided I wanted to be a teacher "when I grow up" as a second semester sophomore at Peace College, I constructed a plan to get me there.  It looked like this:

BA in English, MA in English, PhD in English (specialization British Literature), and then professorship at the university of my choice.

Big dreams, big plans - certainly not unattainable, for I had the drive to see this through to the end, but by the end, I would have been an unrecognizable ball of nerves with no friends, and probably no husband, to speak of.  My first semester, nay, my first week as a graduate student at NCSU tore the plan in half.  I loved English, I loved teaching, and I still do, but I quickly discovered that the PhD fast track was not for me.  In fact, I vowed I was not going back to school for my PhD.  Ever.  Therefore, upon graduation, a university professorship, now even more competitive than ever due to the current economy, was out.  Instead I applied to community colleges, and even the occasional high school!, across North Carolina, and I was lucky enough to land a full-time position as an English instructor at Nash Community College in Rocky Mount.  The decision to accept this position afforded me with many opportunities over the last year and a half, namely, the opportunities to  move back home close to my family and marry my high-school sweetheart.  However, most importantly, I was able to further develop my teaching style and discover my professional niche.  The experiences I have had as an instructor in the community college environment, working with mostly developmental students, over the past year and a half have encouraged me to see my future differently.  It is the interactions and discussions I have had with students and faculty members here at Nash that have prompted me to reconsider my emphatic stance against a PhD. 

Over the past few weeks, I have begun to think about and research options for returning to school as a doctoral student but in areas and ways I had not considered as an undergraduate or even a naive graduate student.  I focused my research on PhD's in Education with distance education delivery.  Now settled in our new home, I did not want to uproot my husband, who has been the happiest I have seen him in years now that he can step out the front door and look out over fields and tree lines instead of highways.  Lo and behold, this search turned up a surprising prospect in a PhD in Educational Research and Policy Analysis with a specialization in Adult Education and Community College Teaching and Learning.  Immediately, I wanted to know more, and fortunately, the program is hosting an open house tonight on site.  Although my husband is reluctant to lose time with me to studying and paper writing, he is supportive of my quest and will attend the open house with me tonight.  I have not made a decision yet, and when I do, I may decide to wait another year or two before applying to the program, but the decision to look and consider this option has been a big one and one that, strangely, feels right.  We'll see what the new year brings; Dr. Harkins may be on the horizon.

Top Ten Tuesday (posted on a Thursday): Childhood Favorites

Image from The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, which is saving my blogging hide at this point in the semester.  If it wasn't for their engaging and quick blogging topics, "Matched" would be a very quiet place, at least until mid-December when exams are over, grading is done, and all of my students have fled the campus.  Then, in the midst of all of my holiday preparations and parties, I might find time to write.  But until that blessed day, I can always rely on The Broke and the Bookish to give me ideas for quick and interesting recommendations/reviews - although I may also be following Susan Byrum Rountree's advice at writemuch and blogging on her question a day for the month of December.  I am already behind, but I promise I have been pondering my answer to her query, "What new did you do this year to challenge yourself?," and it's a doozie.  But without further ado...here are the top ten books/series that carried me through my childhood:

1. Digby and Kate by Barbara Baker - This collection of short stories about best friends yet opposite species dog, Digby, and cat, Kate, has earned its number one spot on my list.  It was my favorite as a child.  I read it over and over again, and I still pull it out from time to time when I need to lose myself in the simplicity of childhood where a warm bowl of tomato soup and a cold glass of milk were all you needed.

2. The BabySitter's Club series by Ann M. Martin - I was obsessed with this series even though I was not a serial babysitter.  I loved the close-knit friendship the girls shared, their crushes, and the exoticism, to my pre-teen eyes, of fashionable Claudia and California born and bred Dawn.  My favorite book of the series (and the one I still own despite its tattered edges) has to be the Secret Santa novelty edition.  It combines the characters I had grown to love with one of my favorite literary tropes - the interactive letter (which I have also blogged about here).  The story of this Christmas is told through letters and Christmas cards the girls share, and the reader gets to actually open each letter and card, all hand-written in the girls' respective handwriting.

3. The Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner - I was introduced to this series in the third grade when my teacher, Ms. James, read us the first book in the series.  I was hooked.  Although each book centered around a mystery the children had to solve, I was most interested in the development of each character and the evolution of their boxcar hideaway.  The first book remains my favorite because I am forcefully reminded every time I read it of a child's need to inhabit and lay claim to his/her own space.  I credit The Boxcar Children for the inspiration for my own (brief) foray into the genre of mystery, the product of which my grandfather still has copies of today.  Written in the fourth grade, the story centers around the mysterious disappearance of Mrs. Cornflower's diamond.

4. Taffy of Torpedo Junction by Nell Wise Wechter - Another excellent mystery, this one set by the sea, introduced to me by my fourth grade teacher, Ms. Waters.  I loved Taffy's tenacity; she is a gutsy heroine, and she certainly sparked an interest in strong female characters for me.  She was everything I wasn't as a little girl, bold and adventurous.  Bonus points: this book is set in North Carolina (where I am from) and has ties to the Holocaust, which I am always interested in reading about.

5. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder - Like Taffy, Laura, the heroine of the Little House on the Prairie series, was a strong female presence in my reading life.  Although Laura is a more subdued character than Taffy, she is tough in her own way.  She lives in the middle of nowhere with panthers lingering outsider her door!  My favorite scene from this book is the part where Laura receives her homemade doll for Christmas - the warmth and simplicity of the family's Christmas puts the out-of-control consumerism of our modern day Christmas to shame.  Even as a child, I reveled in the true holiday spirit emanating from the page.

6. Little Witch's Big Night by Deborah Hautzig - My maternal grandmother lives around the corner from a library.  My mother taught school, and as a child, I often spent afternoons at my grandmother's house and, of course, at the nearby library.  I loved the silliness and magic of The Little Witch series.  Little Witch is the youngest of her coven, and even though I am the oldest of three, I could relate to her desire for her talents to be taken seriously.

7. Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry G. Allred, Jr. - A fantastic book about the dangers of the substitute teacher, Miss Nelson is Missing! describes a classroom gone wild in the absence of their teacher, Miss Nelson.  The class is quickly put back in order, though, by the terrifying substitute teacher, who some students think have kidnapped their beloved instructor.  The book has a surprising twist when the reader discovers the stern substitute and sweet Miss Nelson may be one and the same.  This book reminds me of one of my favorite teachers, Miss Wilson.  Miss Wilson followed my class from first to second grade, and one Halloween, she dressed up as a witch and came to class as her alter ego.  While some students were not fooled, it wasn't until many years later that I realized that the witch from that Halloween and Miss Wilson were the same person!

8. Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink - Caddie was another girl in my reading life that inspired my adventurous side.  My play time during the fourth grade year I read Caddie Woodlawn evolved into a recreation of Caddie's "live-off-the-land" philosophy.  My best friend at the time, Coley, and I would hunt and gather and write letters to each other, pretending we lived in a much earlier era where this was the only way of life.  Caddie's open minded approach to people and to life is one most eleven-year olds would do good to emulate.

9. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White - One of the most timeless and important pieces of fiction about the power of friendship.  I read this book so much as a child that the cover is literally in pieces, but I cannot bear to part with it for a newer, brighter copy.  My copy carries the memories and emotions created during each new reading.

10. Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. - My sisters and I adored this book as children and read it over and over again.  It is a colorful and fun look at the alphabet sharing the premise of "no more monkeys jumping on the bed."  The lowercase letters in the alphabet all decide to climb a coconut tree, with disastrous results.

*Honorable Mentions: These are books that I read more during my "pre-teen" years then as a child, but they are books that shape my memories of those times and that I returned to over and over again when I had nothing new to read.

Ashleigh's Diary (Thoroughbred Series) by Joanna Campbell
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume
Sweet Valley High series by Francine Pascal
Both Sides of Time by Caroline B. Cooney
It Happened to Nancy Anonymous
The Diary of Anne Frank

Top Ten Tuesday: A Very Literary Thanksgiving

Image from The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  In honor of the upcoming Turkey Day, bloggers were asked "Who are the top ten authors you wish you could invite to Thanksgiving dinner?"  Earlier this month, I posted on Twitter (follow me @kharkins1120) that I am thankful for the YA authors that helped me through my angsty teen years and made me into the teacher I am today.  Here are the writers I would be honored to share my table with:

1. Sarah Dessen: I have met her a few times, and she is always so warm and funny.
2. Laurie Halse Anderson: I respect and admire her desire to stand up for the things she believes in.
3. Maggie Stiefvater: I am dying to read The Scorpio Races after hearing such wonderful things about it, but also, she is hilarious in person!
4. Megan McCafferty: I grew up with Jessica Darling, and McCafferty's newest series beginning with Bumped and ending with Thumped this spring offer a critical look at a topic I find it hard to get my head around, teen pregnancy.  She is also a genuinely funny person.
5. Judy Blume: The teen girl goddess herself - no dinner party would be complete without her!
6. Nicole Krauss: My first "adult" novelist and my writing idol.  Her ability to weave a story amazes me.
7. Charlotte Bronte: This is my party, and I'll invite who I want, and I want Charlotte Bronte, so she can give me further insight into my favorite male hero of all time, Mr. Rochester.  That's right Darcy fans, I am "Team Rochester."
8. Margaret Atwood: Her womanly wisdom would be an asset to our gathering, and I would love to hear she and McCafferty discuss female dystopia.
9. Harper Lee: My question for her, why only To Kill a Mockingbird?
10. J. K. Rowling: Last but not least, Rowling's Harry Potter books changed my life.  She is a master of her craft.

Not all are YA, but all are women, and I think women writers need to be celebrated for their unique perspective on the world.  Now, let's crack open a bottle of wine and read the night away!  With these intelligent, sassy women, it's sure to be a good time.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

You Had Me at Hello: Top 10 Book Covers/Titles

Image from The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog spot hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, who I learned about from Anna Reads.  Today's topic - the top ten books you've judged based on their cover/title - was too good to resist! 

Here's my list:

1. Shiver, Linger, and Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
I was not interested in reading about werewolves....or so I thought until I spotted Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver on the shelves.  After passing the book over several times because of its plot, I finally picked it up.  I just couldn't resist that beautiful cover(!), and I am so glad I didn't.  You can find my thoughts on the entire trilogy here, but suffice it to say, the content of Shiver is executed as beautifully as the cover.  The subsequent volumes in The Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy are also eye-catching.

2. Any Ellen Hopkins cover
If I didn't already know what an accomplished writer Ellen Hopkins is, the simple, but surprisingly forceful covers of her books would lure me into reading them.  Many of the titles are designed to reflect the book's theme (see Crank and Burned), but my favorite at the moment is her most recent young adult novel Perfect.

3. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn
I read Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, the first collaboration between David Levithan and Rachel Cohn, solely because of the cover - the original cover.  The newest edition's cover is also cool, but I am partial to the original - blame my sense of nostalgia.  Nick and Norah is hilarious, moving, and fast-paced all at the same time - like your favorite song.  Levithan and Cohn's Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List is not quite as compelling (or well-designed), but their most recent collaboration, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares is outstanding.  Smart and quick-witted, Dash and Lily are the people I wish I could be or at least be friends with.  It also has a pretty cool cover.

4. Speak, Wintergirls, and Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
I am noticing a theme in my list: awesome authors tend to have awesome designers.  Case in point: Laurie Anderson and the trifecta of Speak, Wintergirls, and Chains.  I haven't had an opportunity to read Chains yet, but Speak and Wintergirls are hauntingly beautiful books with hauntingly beautiful covers.  I know Chains will not disappoint.

5. Labor Day by Joyce Maynard
I have mentioned in a previous post, that the cover of Joyce Maynard's Labor Day caught my attention before I even knew what the book was about.  It's a good thing too because the plot - a single mother falls in love with an escaped (and wrongfully accused) convict over the course of a weekend - is so far-fetched, I may never have read it otherwise.

6. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Don't let this book's placement on this list fool you, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss is my favorite book of all time, and while it may not have the most eye-catching cover, I was drawn to its title.  Anything that claims to explain "love" is a must-read for me, and Krauss does not disappoint.  The History of Love is the epitome of craftsmanship and utilizes one of my favorite literary tropes - a book within a book.

7. The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue
This is another novel whose title rather than its cover grabbed by attention even though its cover is equally gorgeous and intriguing.  The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue paints a moving portrait of the afterlife and first love.  Domingue's prose, like her title, is as delicate as gossamer.

8. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
I stole this one from Anna Reads, but The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin has been on my to-read list ever since I saw its arresting cover.  This one speaks for itself.

9. Sabine and Griffin by Nick Bantock
I was introduced to the Sabine and Griffin series by Nick Bantock in graduate school when a girl I knew presented a project on "interactive" novels for a composition theory course.  Although I have collected a few, I have yet to read any, but they relate a correspondence between two friends, Sabine and Griffin.  The best part is the reader gets to "open" each letter, which come in all different shapes, sizes, and penmanships.

10. Postsecret by Frank Warren
This last book may be a cheap shot, but it is a book (and a project) that has infiltrated every aspect of my life - personal and professional - so it deserves some props.  Frank Warren's Postsecret project is now a worldwide phenomenon, and I can remember vividly the first time I picked up his first published collection of postcards bearing the shocking, hilarious, and downright heartbreaking secrets anonymously shared with him on the back of a postcard.  The entire book is, in fact, a piece of art, but the simple brown paper wrapping stamped with an unfamiliar address was just begging to be opened, so I did - along with millions of other readers - and what I found inside is the purest definition of humanity.

Have you ever judged a book by its cover?  What are your top ten? 

Happy Reading!

Mini Reviews

I have seen several book bloggers use mini reviews to quickly cover books that they didn't like or couldn't finish.  I will be writing mini reviews of several books here - for some that I didn't love - but for some that I loved so much that all I can say about them is YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK; IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!  Those two sentences I am screaming about one book in particular do not seem to warrant a full post, and it may liven up my "Debbie Downer" look at the other books reviewed in this post.  So without further ado, here is a brief history of what I have read over the past few months (I am saving the life-changing book for last to build suspense):

One Day by David Nicholls

I loved the premise of this book - it follows two friends verging on lovers for twenty years but only on the same day each year - September 15th - a sort of anniversary for this misfit couple.  As much as I wanted to love it though, I just couldn't.  The overall effect of the book was distant.  I never felt connected to the characters or their interactions.

Best matched with the British.   

Thirsty by M. T. Anderson

I have become a connoisseur of vampire literature ever since the phenomenon of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series swept the nation.  As an English teacher and self-proclaimed lover of young adult literature, I had to know what it was about vampires that had the general public so hot and bothered.  I have attempted to answer that question here (where it has been posed to students in my many ENG 111 courses as well), and my literary travels have taken me all the way from John Polidori's The Vampyre and Joseph Sheradin LeFanu's Carmilla to M. T. Anderson's Thirsty.  Thirsty was published in 1997 before the insanity of Twilight, and it bears the hallmark of Bram Stoker's Dracula - vampires as bloodthirsty, uncontrollable, violent, and frightening.  It is markedly different in that the vampire in question is a teen boy.  Chris is not only struggling with puberty and high school, but somehow he has become a pawn in a game between good and evil, which leaves him with a desire to rip into the throats of his family and friends.  My trouble with Thirsty is that instead of tying up loose ends, the novel continues to unravel as it nears its conclusion.  I don't mind a cliffhanger, but Anderson's Thirsty had too many plot holes for me to feel satisfied with its ending. 

Best matched with the violence and angst of adolescence.

Blankets by Craig Thompson

This is my first true graphic novel, and I must commend Thompson on his beautiful, intricate, and compelling illustrations (see left).  But however arresting the graphics were, I found myself at times focusing on the word bubbles and ignoring the drawings altogether.  I had to force myself to slow down and take in the whole picture in front of me.  At a hefty 582 pages, Thompson's Blankets seems daunting, but the story - part autobiography - is relatable and easy to follow.  I sped through it in a day or two, but what began as a cohesive story about the relationship between siblings and first loves became disjointed and lost its focus towards the end.  I think Thompson got caught up in two different stories - first of his relationship with his brother Phil - and second the intoxication of his first love Raina, and although they appear in the same book, they really have little else in common.

Best matched with artists. 

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

If there was a book in this line-up that I would like to scream about, this book would be it, but I just. can't. seem. to. make. myself.  I am a huge fan of Ellen Hopkins.  She is a fearless writer, which shows in her medium - verse - and her subject matter - anything uncomfortable, unnerving, or just plain upsetting.  Here is a quick run-down of some of her books' plots: meth addiction, teen prostitution, molestation, suicide, self-mutilation, and the list goes on.  Hopkins is the master, though, at finding hope in the dark, gritty corners of the world.  In addition to her engaging, activist writing style, her books are aesthetically pleasing.  The covers are phenomenal, and Perfect has one of the best (see above).  Hopkins is one of those authors that I have grown up with, but I find myself growing too old (gasp!) to find the teen drama relatable.  All of her novels move me, but Perfect more often annoyed me with its lofty, idyllic prose at the beginning of each section.  This was an unexpected emotion for me because Perfect is the sequel to my favorite novel by Hopkins, Impulse.  Impulse is one of Hopkins' first experiments with multiple narrators.  The story is told through the perspective of three troubled teens who all tried to take their own lives and end up in the same rehabilitation center.  Perfect picks up their story several months before Impulse concludes but from the perspective of four different teens linked genetically or peripherally to the characters in Impulse.  Like all of Hopkins' characters before them, the voices narrating Perfect have issues ranging from eating disorders to roid rage.  Although I was not completely captivated by Hopkins' newest novel, I do continue to recommend them to my students - Hopkins' characters and their experiences really resonate with them, which is the purpose of good literature.  It can be life-changing.  It can make a difference, and although Perfect might not have shaken my world, it can certainly do so for the right reader.  I am looking forward to Hopkins' foray into "adult" literature with her newest novel Triangle, set to drop on October 18th.  I am hoping to be recaptured by Hopkins' magic in a novel whose plot is more aligned with my current life choices and expectations.

Best matched with solace seekers.

How it Ends by Laura Wiess

Here it is.  We have arrived.  THIS is the book I was shouting about at the beginning of this blog post.  THIS is the book that YOU MUST READ.  IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.  Laura Wiess' novel, How it Ends, is narrated from the perspective of "Grandma" Helen and fifteen year old Hanna.  Under the surface of mundane high school dating fiascoes and canning capers runs an undercurrent of ageism - or the attempt to understand the differences between the young and old.  Wiess also employs a technique used by my favorite author, Nicole Krauss, in my favorite novel, The History of Love, which is a book within a book.  Helen writes an autobiography - conveniently titled How it Ends - for Hanna.  This book is an extremely intimate look at the life of the young and old and the places they overlap.  It is uncomfortable and unsettling at times, but it is worth reading for the raw poignancy of its storytelling alone.  I never ever saw the conclusion coming, and to think about it now almost reduces me to tears, but Wiess skillfully has me considering the choices one makes at the end of one's life in a a way I never have before.  I won't say more because there is nothing else to say.  I loved this book.  Read it.  It could change your life.

Best matched with anyone who has ever been young or worries about getting old.

Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I mentioned two months ago that I was participating in a mini book club and reading Kathryn Stockett's The Help.  I finished the book weeks ago, but conflicting schedules meant my book club members and I could never find a time to chat and see the movie together.  The founding member and I finally found time Friday night to meet and see the movie.

Stockett's The Help has received a lot of attention since it debuted in 2009 and even more so since the movie premiered in August 2011.  Like Joyce Maynard's Labor Day, I was first attracted to the striking yellow cover of The Help.  Now, after reading it, I am reminded forcibly of Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Stockett's characters sing movingly in this novel.  Told from the perspective of three characters, two maids, Aibileen and Minny, and the woman who captured their stories, "Miss" Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, The Help seeks to highlight the injustice of maid servitude in Jackson, Mississippi at the height of the civil rights movement.  Stockett captures the mood of fear and turmoil of the 1960s well, but although each character has an easily discernible and distinct personality and voice, I found Skeeter's innocence about the true state of civil rights in her hometown to dominate the first half of the book - to its detriment.  (This, however, is a failing that the movie rectifies.)  Within the first two hundred pages of the book, I was so mad at Skeeter's ignorance and her desire to superimpose her voice on top of the maids really telling the stories that I thought about quitting the book.  However, I rarely leave a book unfinished, and I am so glad that I kept reading The Help.  It was worth it.

Many years ago, when I fancied myself a writer of sorts, I wrote a brief manifesto on writing in which I stated a good writer has the ability to elicit strong emotions from his/her audience.  A good writer can make the reader laugh, cry, scream, or throw the book across the room.  By this definition, Kathryn Stockett is a good writer.  The Help moved me to laughter and tears more than once.  The poignancy of Aibileen's love for the children she tended to and her own son who didn't make it past his early twenties reminded me of my own childhood babysitter Neen-Neen.  Her real name is Evelene, but as children, my sisters and I could not pronounce "Evelene," so she became Neen-Neen to us, and she always will be.  When I got married last November, Neen-Neen and her sisters sat in the pews with my family because she is my family.  Yes, some white mistresses, like Hilly Holbrook, did horrible things to their maids, but often the bond between family and maid was tight and full of love.  I am under no circumstances condoning the mistreatment of others, but I think The Help really captures that perilous and tenuous line that both maids and the families they served walked between love and servitude.  Everyone is caught up and constrained by their titles, which makes it difficult to move or breathe.  Nowhere is that more evident than in the story of Constantine and Skeeter's mother.  Although the movie took some creative liberties with this scene, the image of Skeeter's mother, literally caught between the DAR biddies and her love for Constantine, highlights this conflict.  Unfortunately, she conceded to the pressures of her life as a white woman in the South.  Her tearful sorrow over that fact later in the film does little to assuage her previous actions.

Stockett's novel is timely because prejudice and racial injustice of all types still exists - God only knows why, and I think Stockett realizes this, so she, like Skeeter, wrote about what disturbed her, but unlike Skeeter, I think Stockett lacked the bravery to write about what was happening in the here and now - not that that diminishes the power of her novel or the film.  I think the film is such a success because it captures the true essence of the book.

Best matched with the courageous, Southern spirit that exists in Southern women of all backgrounds.

Review: The Bride Stripped Bare by Nikki Gemmell

Nikki Gemmell's The Bride Stripped Bare, published in 2003, is an intimate look at what Betty Friedan in her explosive 1960s research study, The Feminine Mystique, termed "the problem with no name."  An anonymous young bride begins a secret journal, starting with her honeymoon, revealing the truth about marriage.  As she attempts to understand her new role as wife, her marriage begins to unravel around her, and although she is unhappy with her husband at times, she desperately tries to save what they have created together.  Her experiences and musings on the matter of marriage are captured in eloquent yet very frank prose.

The real power of Gemmell's novel, though, is her use of the second person.  The reader is never told the bride's name, and her use of "you" makes it hard for the reader to disentangle the unnamed narrator from herself.  Her experiences and feelings become every woman's experiences and feelings as she tries to locate and staunch the unsettling dissatisfaction in her marriage and her life as "wife."  As demonstrated by Friedan and by the unknown seventeenth century author of the little book on marriage Gemmell's bride constantly references, this unnerving "problem with no name," or the hole in my chest as I tell my husband, is not exclusive to this bride alone.  It is a shared experience among all women that in fictionalized form, Gemmell is able to explore more thoroughly than Friedan's women of the '60s could.

When I think back on my reading of The Bride Stripped Bare, I am reminded of a song by the Eli Young Band entitled "Crazy Girl."  The chorus goes like this: "Crazy girl / Don't you know that I love you / I wouldn't dream of going nowhere / Silly woman / Come here let me hold you / Have I told you lately / I love you like crazy girl."  On the surface, it seems like a sweet reassurance of the singer's love for his significant other; however, calling her a "crazy girl" and "silly woman" only serve to belittle her fears and doubts in her lover.  The artist of this song, as does the bride's husband in Gemmell's novel, pats the woman on the head and dismisses her feelings, saying "there, there - nothing to worry about" instead of taking the time to understand why she is upset and address her specific concerns.  Similarly, when our anonymous narrator tells her husband specifically what she wants in bed, he is amused instead of receiving, and although he complies, he response to her is like that to a kid playing dress up in her mother's clothes - cute but ultimately unrealistic, a role she is not equipped to fulfill just yet.  But is it so crazy for a woman to doubt her lover's faithfulness?  To be reminded that he cares?  To need to be told that she is loved?  And Gemmell's bride has reason to be concerned, her husband may have had an affair with her sexy best friend.  Gemmell's bride begins her long spiral into identity crisis at this point in the novel, culminating in an affair of her own, but what's worse is she no longer has another woman to confide her.  The bride and her mother have had a strained relationship their entire lives, and now she has lost her faith in her best friend.  The battle between her often conflicting responsibilities and desires wages on internally.   

Gemmell offers a cure for the bride's "problem" or "hole in her chest" in the form of a baby.  I, however, was disappointed that her supposed "cure" is to have a child - I may have mentioned elsewhere on this blog that I am sick of the unexpected pregnancy, the pregnancy to save a marriage, or just the plain pregnancy/baby turned my life around plot.  I realize I may offend all current and aspiring mothers here when I say I am a woman who does not (for the foreseeable future) want a child.  In fact, I am so tired of the pregnancy plot that I seriously contemplate not reading or giving up on reading books that employ the thematic use of pregnancy - Gemmell's introduction of the pregnancy plot occurs late in the novel, so I was invested.  The only other novel that springs to mind in which I knowingly accepted the pregnancy as key theme concept was Megan McCafferty's Bumped and that's because McCafferty proves herself to be the master of dystopia in this novel and takes on pregnancy as topic, not to defend or elevate it, but to critically examine its popularity as a plot and media device today. McCafferty knows that dystopia is meant to disturb your view of the future, and she does just that by investigating the impact of social networking sites, teen pregnancy television shows, and the teen pregnancy pact on adolescents in a future society, and what she discovers is unsettling.  But like McCafferty, Gemmell seems to realize that pregnancy is not the solution to the unnamed problem because her novel ends with the bride and her child missing - only her car and her son's stroller at the top of a cliff in England as a clue to their whereabouts.

I am dying to know what happened to her and her child - there was mention of a sequel, but I can't seem to find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Gemmell's own website.  Any help here would be greatly appreciated!

Best matched with wives, mothers, and lovers at all stages, but beware, the book contains some R-rated lessons.

"Hosting" a Supernatural Party: Vampires, Werewolves, and Souls - Oh My!

I was discussing the prevalence and popularity of vampires with my students today (wouldn't you like to be in my class?) when a student suggested the popularity of all things supernatural stems from their ability to represent what we think and feel.  I was intrigued and responded with this question of my own:

"If vampires today represent society's thoughts on sex and love and vampires are supernatural, does that make sex and love supernatural?"

I was met with mostly silence and shrugged shoulders, but the question stuck with me.  My thoughts meandered down the most obvious path: equating sex and love with the supernatural is indicating that they are an arresting, but ultimately unbelievable, fantasy perpetrated by teenage girls.  Upon further meditation on the poster-boy for vampire love, Stephenie Meyer's Edward Cullen of the Twilight series, I decided instead that the vampire as lover is actually a metaphor for the enduring qualities of love (and sex in love).  When a vampire says he (or she) will love you forever, he/she does not mean until next week, next month, next year, or even the next fifty years.  He/she means until the world implodes, the second coming of Jesus forever.  Teen girls are especially susceptible to this definition of "forever love," which explains the fascination with gentlemanly Edward Cullen.  All of the vampires in the Twilight series mate for life (and their life has no end for the foreseeable future).  Even the evil vampires like James and Victoria have mates who they would die for.

The monogamy of supernatural creatures seems to be a hallmark of Meyer's fiction.  The werewolves of The Host.  It's a lengthy tome that I finally finished after lamenting its repetitive plot in an earlier post.  Despite the slow start, the plot is a refreshing step away from Meyer's traditional vampires vs. werewolves dance.  The world of the souls is at once desirable, i.e. peaceful, and creepy, read: terrifying.  Although it takes awhile for Wanderer's, aka Wanda, story to unfold, her life amongst the souls demonstrates careful thought and ingenuity on Meyer's part.  Once Wanda becomes comfortable in her new cave-dwelling, human existence, she loosens up, and so does Meyer, and begins to share stories of her travels.  From here on out, I couldn't put the novel down.
Forks, Washington are also proponents of forever love as evidenced by their ability to "imprint" or recognize their soulmate in another, barring age, as Jacob and Quil creepily exhibit.  Supernatural, everlasting love is a theme carried over into Meyer's "adult" novel published in 2008,

Of course at the heart of the novel is not one love-knows-no-bounds story but two.  After the first half, the novel speeds towards a predictable ending, but Meyer has learned from the anticlimactic conclusion of the Twilight series that love and happy endings are not without sacrifices.

Best matched with an interest in sci-fi, an affinity for Meyer's particular brand of storytelling, and a need for repetition.

"Beware of the Book" Banned Books Week 2011

So I am a little late joining the Banned Books Week celebration, but in reality, I celebrate Banned Books Week all year long.  In my ENG 111: Expository Writing class, I provide students with a list of the top 100 Banned/Challenged books from the past ten years (courtesy of the ALA).  They are required to choose one book off the list to read and research; then they write an argumentative essay for or against the banning of the book they chose.  I have received sound, convincing essays arguing both sides of the issue, and I am never disappointed in the discussions that spring up around the issue of censorship - (man, are my students surprised by some of the books they see on that list!).  I round out the unit with a narrative essay in which my students share their experiences with censorship (in any form).  In turn, I tell them about my first (remembered) experience with censorship and my first banned book, which in honor of Banned Books Week, I will share here.

I was about 13 or 14 years on the cusp of adolescence and an avid reader.  I had already devoured Judy Blume's teenage girl's Bible Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, and my mom had picked up her Forever for me to read next.  She flipped through the book before giving it to me, and noticing its sexy content, revoked my right to read it with a resounding "NO."  Instead of returning it to the bookstore, she hid it in the top of her closet under a plastic beach bag with light blue straps.  I discovered it by accident one day, and proceeded to lock myself in the bathroom to uncover what was so scandalous.  For those of you who have never read Forever (is there a girl left in this world who hasn't?) the novel is about a teenage girl, Katherine, who loses her virginity to her first boyfriend, Michael.  I was intrigued...and confused.  But Blume taught me two things about being a woman:

1. Sex without love means nothing.
2. You have to respect yourself.

And if a banned book can teach a girl those two lessons, then I say pass 'em around.

Celebrate the freedom to read!

In Memory of Peace

October has begun and with the change in month comes the promise of cooler, crisper temperatures, colorful leaf turnings, and the return of the pumpkin spice latte - oh the rapturous odes I could write about the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte...but even with all of these exciting changes on the horizon, I cannot enjoy them.  The turmoil at my alma mater, Peace College, has reached critical mass in the past few months.  New indiscretions continue to be uncovered almost daily, and current students' testimonies about the lack of communication and support when faced with major changes and transfers break my heart.  But instead of belittling the current President and her regime, including the Board of Trustees (again), I want to share a defining moment from my time as a student at Peace.

Sitting at a low table in the back of the oversized art classroom of third floor Pressley, I stared at the pencil drawings of women with downturned eyes and romantically disheveled hair strewn across the surface.  In the center of the table lies a small round mirror, ornately carved.  A copy of Kathryn Byer's poem "Vanity" is partially visible amid the clutter, proclaiming "Without hands / a woman would stand at her mirror / looking back only, / not touching, for how could she?"  A flutter of papers and a long, printed dress draw my attention to the right.  Carolyn Parker, Peace's art teacher, emerges from her tiny corner office, various canvases and wire sculptures stacked around the entrance.
"How's it going?" she smiles as she settles into a chair beside me.
"It's ok - I found some great photos online, but I am having trouble deciding which one to use.  This one is my favorite though."  I indicate the one closest to me, a profile of a lithe young woman with loosely curled ringlets falling to her shoulders.
Carolyn picks up the picture and studies it silently.  "Hmmmm..."  She places the picture back on the table and scans the handful of others spread out around the mirror.  "Hmmmm...."
I have always been able to appreciate art, but my own artistic intentions rarely ever come to fruition.  I have nothing to say in return to her noncommittal response to the pictures I chose to complete my project with.  Before I can fumble my way through a justification of the images littering the table, Carolyn asks, "What is the poem you are basing your piece on?"
"Kathryn Byer's 'Vanity'" I hand her the poem.  She reads it silently, mouthing the last lines "who dared eat / from her own hand / the fruit of self-knowledge."
"What attracted you to this poem?  Why did you choose it?"
Finally.  I am more comfortable with words than images.
"Well, I liked the images she evokes - like "the lips rubbed rose with a forefinger" and the poem's simplicity.  I think Byer is attempting to expose the illusion of beauty - how women spend so much time at a mirror altering a reverse reflection of the self - something that is not even real."
"Yes," Carolyn nods, encouraging, "I agree."  She pauses, glances at the pencil drawings of women whose beauty is almost unearthly.
"Have you thought about using a picture of yourself?"
"Myself?"
"Yes.  I think your project would make more of a statement if you used a picture of yourself."  She gestures across the table.  "These women all have their eyes downcast.  In your picture, you should look out as if challenging your viewers to eat "the fruit of self-knowledge" for themselves."
I am momentarily stunned into silence.  "Ummm...Maybe I could try that?"
Carolyn nods decisively.  "Yes.  Try that.  Bring me your self-portrait when we meet again."
"Okay?"  I slowly gather the scattered pieces of my project.  "I'll see you in class."
Back in my dorm room, I grab the digital camera I just opened over Christmas break and contemplate the best way to snap a self-portrait.  I haven't yet joined the social networking revolution of MySpace and its emerging competitor, Facebook, so I am unsure of how to capture the infamous "MySpace angle."  I back up against the slice of wall separating my closet from my roommate's - the only neutral backdrop in our room - and tentatively press the button.
Not bad, but my face barely fills the screen.  It seems lost and a little unsure.  Fortunately my roommate and best friend, a graphic designer, returns.
I share with her my conversation with Carolyn, and she offers to frame the shot.
"There.  That's it."  And she's right.  My face fills the screen, and I look content, confident.  Like I have a secret, but one I am willing to share.

Peace is a place that encourages you to be comfortable and confident in your own skin.  Without Carolyn, I never would have chosen to share myself with the world.  Without Mr. Smith, I never would have tried out for the Chamber Singers.  Without Dr. Duncan, I never would have considered being editor of The Prism.  Without Dr. Hiscoe, I never would have been published nor would I have discovered my passion for teaching.  These people, and countless others, molded me into the person I am today, and it is with deep gratitude that I offer them thanks.

My art project featuring Kathryn Byer's "Vanity"

On Excused Absences

Hello Friends and Fellow Bloggers -

You may have noticed that my posts are not coming as frequently as they once were, and for that I apologize, but I thought I would offer my justifications (and hope you will deem them excusable) and some teasers for what's in store when I return in full force!

1. The Fall school semester has begun, which means my days have been full of lesson planning, course schedules, and fielding questions about financial aid and registration (in that order).  This change of events leaves little time for non-course related reading and blogging.  While I am saddened that my summer reading time has come to an end, the following anecdote lifted my spirits: 

A student from one of my classes last Fall stopped me in the hallway today and told me that she recommends my class to all of her friends who need ENG 111 because I am one of her favorite instructors.  She said, "Your assignments were more fun because you put more thought into them."  She also expressed an interest in transferring to my alma mater.  Although faithful readers of this blog know my current feelings about Peace College, posted here, I told her I would be glad to discuss all of her options with her.  THIS is what my job is all about, and it is moments like these that warm me all the way to the cockles of my heart.

2. Despite my busy schedule, I have been reading, but the book I am reading is very long and very involved to say the least.  I have been reading it for weeks, and my Kindle still tells me I am only 35% through. Gah!  What is this gargantuan volume I am dedicating my time to?  I squirm a little as I write this: Stephenie Meyer's The Host.  I read Twilight because of all the hype surrounding it, and I was interested to see what she would do with an "adult" novel.  I must admit, the premise is intriguing - a collection of "souls" are populating Earth and injecting themselves into humans and taking over their bodies.  It's all done very peacefully, but of course, the humans are incensed that their very thoughts and memories are being stolen out from under them.  The novel follows the life of one soul in particular - Wanderer, or Wanda for short.  I am attempting to reserve judgement for later (although Meyer's over-reliance on metaphors like "his touch ignited a fire in me" is really grating my nerves), but 35% into this novel, and I still don't know the backstory of these souls.  What makes them different from human souls?  They seem to function in most of the same ways.  I hope this is a question Meyer answers in the remaining 65% of the book.

3. Finally, I have been intrigued by all of the hype surrounding Kathryn Stockett's The Help, and a dear friend of mine from Peace approached me about starting a mini book club and reading that book.  I immediately jumped at the chance to share time and reading material with some of my friends I see far too little of, and I will be sure to post all about the novel and our group discussions when they occur.  Maybe I can get my friends to guest blog their thoughts about the novel - it's worth asking!

So that's what's on my plate - What's on yours?  Do you ever start reading novels that you think you will NEVER finish?  What's your protocol for those types of books?  Any book club experiences you would like to share as I delve into this world for the first time?  Those of you who have never read The Help, care to join me?  I look forward to hearing your experiences and advice.

Happy Reading!

Review: Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

Forever is the final novel in Maggie Stiefvater's The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy.  I have been anxiously awaiting its publication since I read Shiver and Linger in quick succession last summer.  The trilogy chronicles the lives of a group of werewolves in Mercy Falls, MN as they alternate between their human forms in the summer and their wolf forms in the winter.  Like most young adult paranormal literature, the series focuses on the intense love affair between sometimes werewolf Sam and werewolf at heart Grace.  Unlike most young adult paranormal literature, the teens are interested in more than pre-marital sex, and Stiefvater's writing style is eloquent and educated.  Larger themes throughout the trilogy include parental authority and teen responsibility, human versus bestial personalities, abuse, and identity - all themes that teens experience and relate to (even if they are not turning into a werewolf when its cold outside).

Despite the fresh premise and writing style, Forever suffers from the same ailment that afflicts many trilogies - it is the last of the series, and therefore, the characters and plot remain where the author has left them.  There is no hope for change or reconciliation because this is the end.  I have read several conflicted reviews of Forever since its release, and unfortunately, my review will join those ranks.  It pains me to say that because I do love the series and the characters, but in my eyes, the quality of the plot has greatly diminished from the first novel, Shiver, to the final, Forever.  In fact, I will go so far as to agree with several other reviewers who professed Shiver may have been better as a stand-alone novel.  *Note: There are potential spoilers in this review.

Since I am being honest here, I picked up Shiver several times because of its beautiful cover but always put it back after reading the book summary blurb.  I was only marginally interested in the werewolf sect, and the plot hit a little too close to the Twilight home for me to want to read it.  However, after about the fifth time I picked it up (curse that beautiful cover design!) I said, why not, bought it, read it....and I loved it.  As I have already pointed out above, Stiefvater has an eloquent and persuasive way with words.  Her characters are real teens, dealing with real issues and emotions, who just happen to turn into werewolves in the winter, and even that struggle becomes poetic.  For example, Sam has a hard time relinquishing his humanity while Shelby, Cole, and even, it's hinted at, Beck see being a werewolf as an exit, a way to avoid the pain that invades their human lives.  I didn't read Shiver until Linger was already published, so as soon as I finished Shiver, I opened up my Kindle and immediately downloaded Linger.  While I found Grace's struggle with the wolf inside of her to be a bit drawn out and overwrought compared to the simple longing of Shiver, I was still moved by the book and frantic with worry about how Sam and Grace's future would play out in Forever.  I anticipated that I would speed through Forever like I did Shiver and Linger, but it actually took me several days to finish the book.  I had to keep putting it down because of the intensity of emotion and conflict expressed by the characters.  I found myself flipping to the end of chapters to see what was coming next, a reading trait that is completely uncharacteristic for me, because I was bored with what was happening now.  Where the introspection of Shiver moved me, the constant wondering about what to do next instead of executing a plan of action in Forever irritated me.  I love the series, but I was unsatisfied by its conclusion in Forever.  To make sense of this conflict, I have created a pro/con list, detailing what I see as the novel's strengths and weaknesses.

Pros

• Each novel is narrated from multiple point-of-views.  Shiver alternates between Grace and Sam and highlights the change in temperature with the change in chapter and perspective.  This technique is effective because it emphasizes the intimacy of their relationship as well as its biggest threat.  Linger adds two new narrators, Cole and Isabel.  The addition of Cole and Isabel as narrators demonstrates the widening of the world of the werewolves and the world of Grace and Sam.  They must begin to consider how their lifestyle is affecting those around them.  These four narrators remain in Forever with the exception of a brief prologue narrated by Shelby, another werewolf.  Shelby's prologue offers sinister foreshadowing and narrates a pivotal event of Forever that puts all of the werewolves in danger.  At a recent singing at Quail Ridge Books, Stiefvater was asked why she chose to narrate the series from multiple points-of-view, and she replied that she felt that certain characters needed to narrate certain scenes - ones where they changed or had a revelation - and that sometimes characters lie, and it served the reader well to pull out of one character's perspective and gain a fuller understanding of a situation.  I agree.  Switching between narrators allowed me to shake off Sam's emo funk and Isabel's bitchiness for a few minutes and get a different perspective on the situation.

• Grace and Sam's relationship may seem overly earnest to some, and I admit, when I first read Shiver, I thought these kids are way too serious, but then I was reminded of my own relationship the summer I turned seventeen to the man I am now married to, and I remember that it is perfectly likely that you will find your soulmate at that age.

• To me, one of the most poignant scenes of Forever occurs towards the end of the novel when Grace and Sam are both wolves together for the first time.  The joy they experience when sharing their wolf skins and the natural way they communicate and enhance the pack's dynamics is so effervescent I was moved to tears.

• Another scene from the novel that I loved is the scene where Cole drives the black, Mustang die-cast car Isabel gave him up her arm.  I tend to picture Cole as older than he really is because of his "been there, done that" personality, but this sweet moment reminded me vividly that he is only eighteen or nineteen and that his lifestyle choices have caused him to grow up too fast.  It was nice to see him regain some of his childhood.

Cons

• I know you are thinking, didn't this plot point just appear in the "pro" list, and it did, but I also have some problems with Grace and Sam's relationship as it is portrayed in Forever.  In between the end of Linger and the beginning of Forever, Grace and Sam are separated for several months because she is a wolf and he is not.  As the weather begins to warm up, there are some near misses where Grace becomes human for a few minutes or a few hours and calls Sam, but she returns to her wolf body before he arrives to see her.  When the two are finally reunited, their meeting is anti-climatic.  It seems unrealistic to me that two lovers who have been separated with very limited communication for such a long period of time would merely hug and have a mundane conversation upon their first meeting.  This lack of physical intimacy continues throughout the course of the novel with the notable exceptions of the white dress scene and the scene where they are wolves, which I described in my "pro" column above.

• As I have already indicated, Forever is slow going.  The reader is stuck in the characters' heads suffering through their internal conflicts for so long that he/she finally wants to side with Isabel and shout, "Why the hell aren't you doing anything?!?"  The action picks up in the last fifty pages or so, but decisions should have been made and decisive action taken long before that.

• Finally, Forever leaves me with some unanswered questions that will remain unanswered because Stiefvater has vowed that this is the last book in the series.  I am not a reader that needs to have everything spelled out for her, and I can even enjoy an open conclusion if the author has given me all of the pieces along the way to fit the puzzle together for myself.  However, Stiefvater drops hints about several key aspects of the plot throughout Forever but fails to provide the reader with the thread needed to connect the dots.  Thus, here are the notable plot sinkholes:
• Beck's history remains a mystery even after Cole turns him back into a human to set the record straight.
• The use of a meningitis "vaccine" is considered a cure in Linger, then a masking of the symptoms in Forever, before being offered as a cure again.  Is it a cure or not?  The answer to this question is very important to understanding the novel's conclusion.
• What does it mean for the werewolves that the wolf toxin acts like malaria?
• Is Sam fully cured, or will he suffer from the same disease as Grace in Linger and be forced to shift again?  If he shifts will he be able to shift back?  
• Who were the other wolves that died?

Despite my qualms above, I recommend this series for teen readers.  The defining factor in all teenagers' lives is their inability to fit in.  They are no longer children, but they are not quite adults either - an issue Grace and her parents struggle with continuously.  Yet, occasionally, they must assume adult responsibility, like Sam does in Beck's absence.  The characters in The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy are straddling the same line of liminality that defines the teenage experience.  They hover between human and wolf, summer and winter, hot and cold, love and hate, child and adult.  Their experiences can be a very compelling example for other teens who are struggling to figure out who they really are.

Best matched with an appreciation of poetry and aesthetics, a cursory interest in science, the paranormal, and animals, and an investment in the series.

Recommendation: Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts series is not your typical teenage-drama.  Jessica Darling, or as her father not-so-affectionately calls her Not-So-Darling, and her biting realism are a far cry from the fluff and filler of contemporary teen chick lit on the market today.  Jessica's journey from high school horror to post-graduate professionalism gives McCafferty's novels a staying power that continues to attract new fans of the series ten years after Jessica Darling and Marcus Flutie make their appearance in Sloppy Firsts.  In celebration of a decade of angst-ridden high school humor, I am highlighting ten ways that Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts series has impacted my life.


1. I named my iPod "Chaos Called Creation" after a poem bad-boy Marcus Flutie writes for Jessica in Sloppy Firsts.  His way with words will make even the most straight-laced, do-gooder swoon at his feet.
2. When Perfect Fifths was published in the spring of 2009, I forwent studying for my final exams and instead re-read Fourth Comings before immediately devouring Perfect Fifths.  (Don't worry; I still passed my exams!)
3. Marcus Flutie's ironic wearing of a Backstreet Boys t-shirt made me feel slightly less embarrassed about blasting the boy band in my car.
4. Jessica and I were united in the war against teen angst and acne.
5. Beginning with Sloppy Firsts, I was introduced to teen lit encouraging me NOT to conform - a message I was only too happy to comply with.
6. Jessica made it okay to quit the activity you were good at but you hated - for her, running - for me, Math Counts (Yes, once upon a time, I, the English teacher, was part of an organization that called its participants "mathletes" - I shudder at the memory.)
7. Perfect Fifths taught me to find the perfection in the imperfect moments.
8. My best friend Bonnie and I are an abstract version of Hope and Jessica.  Bonnie is a creative artist, a la Hope, yet cynical, like Jessica.  I am more of a hopeful (Hope) do-gooder (Jessica).  We have been inseparable since 8th grade, and lived together for five years until I got married last November.  Looking back on Jessica and Hope's sophomore separation gives me hope for our friendship now that we are learning to live apart.
9. Older and wiser Kristin has learned from younger and more naive Jessica (circa Sloppy Firsts) to look beyond stereotypes.
10. Marcus, Marcus, (marred kiss) demonstrated that not every marred kiss is a marred opportunity.

This series is witty and engaging, and Megan McCafferty has a way of making you feel like she is writing for you. yes. you.  This is one of the few series where I find the final book to be as compelling, interesting, and well-written as the first.  I think that is because we as readers get to grow with Jessica.  I picked up the series when I was in high school, and the subsequent books about Jessica's college and post-college life came out as I was navigating my way through college, the workforce, and a committed relationship.  Unlike a lot of the "Bubble-Gum Bimbo" voices on the market today, Jessica Darling offers a very real, very honest, and very raw look at the world that 99% of teens and twenties can relate to because they too, at one time or another, have felt like an outsider with sarcasm and cynicism as the only weapons in their arsenal.  If you are looking for a saucy, smart heroine and her mysterious, slightly troubled counterpart to help ease you into the new school year, I urge you to pick up Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts.  McCafferty's insight and mastery of teen melodrama is as relevant today as it was ten years ago.

Best matched with bitter high school memories, notes passed in the hall, and reminisces of your own, personal high school bad boy.

Celebrating 154 Years of Tradition: Peace College

The famed fountain

I interrupt this regularly scheduled book blog to call attention to an issue that is weighing heavily on my heart.  I am a proud alumna of Peace College in Raleigh, NC and was shocked and outraged to discover that my beloved institution, whose mission for 154 years has been to offer women the highest quality educational and professional opportunities, has announced that it will become a co-ed "university."

Main Building (the tiny figure in
the wedding dress is me!)

Peace College was founded in 1857 when William Peace, a member of First Presbyterian Church in downtown Raleigh, donated $10,000 dollars and a parcel of land to establish an institution dedicated to women's education.  Like most colleges, Peace has not been immune to change throughout the years.  Used briefly as a hospital during the Civil War, what began as a junior college started offering bachelor degrees in 1995.  Throughout its entire history, Peace has been a leader in offering women educational and professional opportunities that traditional co-ed universities did not provide.  Peace focused on individualized education, cultivated professional relationships with businesses in all sectors of Raleigh through internships, and enhanced the cultural awareness of her students through study abroad programs.  The recent changes to the college, from its name to its educational mission, arrive on the heels of changes that have already rocked the foundation of Peace such as removing prominent faculty members and eliminating established majors and programs.

I entered Peace College, a wide-eyed and naive freshman straight from a tiny, podunk high school, in the fall of 2005.  Since my high-school graduating class was made up of twenty-eight students, thirteen of whom I had known from kindergarten, Peace seemed like a vast resource of knowledge, professors, and fellow students that I couldn't wait to tap, and I was not disappointed by what I found there.  Although over time its vastness was diminished in  my eyes, this freshman preconception was replaced with a more important and lasting fact - Peace was a community, a sisterhood where students and professors encouraged each other's growth as leaders.  I was challenged from my very first to my very last moment on campus to think critically and assert myself and my ideas confidently.

Proudly displaying my diploma

I graduated from Peace in 2008 and entered North Carolina State University as a graduate student in their English Literature program.  If I ever doubted that Peace was the right place for me as an undergraduate, those doubts were dispelled the moment I set foot on N. C. State's campus.  The classes were challenging and engaging, but it lacked the feeling of camaraderie and communal learning that I so treasured at Peace.  I was fortunate enough to be offered a teaching assistantship while I was at N. C. State, but opportunities like this are few and far between.  At Peace, I was involved in every sector of the college campus.  I was co-editor of the Prism, Peace's literary magazine; I pioneered one of the first teaching internships in the English department; I helped lead several chapel services under Rev. Tara Woodard-Lehman; I toured Europe with the Peace College Chamber Singers; I spent hours reminiscing with alumnae and soliciting donations for the Loyalty Fund; I attended basketball games to support one of my suitemates who was a member of the team; I presented a paper at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Salisbury, Maryland, which was published in the conference proceedings.  If I had not had the support and encouragement of my Peace professors, especially those in the English and Music departments, I never would have had the confidence to pursue these endeavors, and what's more, I succeeded at them.  N. C. State is a fine institution of higher education, but the same educational and professional opportunities were not extended to me, and although I successfully completed a teaching assistantship, which directly prepared me for my current profession as a full-time instructor of English at Nash Community College, and presented papers at two conferences while a student at State, I had to go after these opportunities on my own.  If it had not been for my education at Peace, which fostered self-confidence and intrinsic motivation, I would not have had the aplomb to chase these opportunities unprompted.

It's customary for graduates to toss roses into the fountain.

The Women's College Coalition has published much research on the benefits of attending an all women's college on their website, www.womenscolleges.org.  The benefits they highlight can be summed up by my experiences listed above.  The opportunities for women at a women's college are numerous, and they are encouraged to seek and explore them all.  Perhaps most importantly though, women's colleges encourage their students to embark on a journey of self-discovery.  Historically, women have been discriminated against and told to be ashamed of their intelligence, creativity, and successes.  Taking a college that has traditionally celebrated the achievements of women and opening it to men does not foster equality but encroaches upon the space that we women have carved out for ourselves where we are free to explore educational, cultural, and professional opportunities uninhibited.  Peace College is losing the essence of itself, and now has little to distinguish it from its nearby university competitors.

My best friend wore my robe!

As many of my fellow alumnae have already indicated, we are more so upset about the lack of communication and the secrecy that surrounded this change.  The strength of a liberal arts education is that it teaches people how to communicate effectively with others and be aware of their audience.  The President and the Board of Trustees deliberately flaunted this educational foundation by avoiding an open and honest discussion with the people the change would affect the most: Peace alumnae, current students, and faculty.  This has now become a battle of words, and the name change from Peace College to William Peace University further disassociates alumnae, current students, and faculty from the college they have served, attended, and loved. None of us are so naive as to think that change is avoidable, and as President Townsley pointed out in her webinar on Wednesday, July 27, Peace College has been through several changes already in her 154 year history.  She began as Peace Institute, a school that educated girls beginning in kindergarten, morphed into a high school and then a junior college, before finally becoming the four-year baccalaureate institute it is known as today.  However, during this time, it never wavered from its mission to "challenge women to an adventure of intellectual and personal discovery, preparing them for graduate and lifelong learning, for meaningful careers, and for ethical lives of purpose, leadership and service."  To become a co-educational university would mean desecrating the original legacy and mission of the college, of which women were the focus and recipients.  These changes, to paraphrase another alumna, are not merely an adaption to the current economic climate, but a reinvention of 154 year legacy and tradition, and in only a year's time!  As the daughter and granddaughter of teachers and a teacher myself, I can say with certainty that viable, quality curriculum change on this scale in the space of one year is virtually impossible.  A more appropriate timetable might have garnered the support of more alumnae. 

Photo in the fountain

However saddened I am by the changes, and believe me, I am deeply distraught, I do think that this tragedy has proven Peace College's success in creating strong, outspoken women who band together to fight, organize, and stand up for what they believe in.  And that is a legacy I am proud to carry on.