trifecta of book reviews

Hell Week by Rosemary Clement-Moore: This is a sequel to Prom Nights from Hell, a book that I enjoyed very much, so I was excited to see that it seems to be an ongoing series. What I like about this book is that the characters are interesting, there's a complex female friendship, and Clement-Moore doesn't shy away from the concept of religion in her demon fighting. What's also really cool is that she tackles sororities as being an excellent site of evil because of the rituals and secrecy already inherent in them. (For the record: sororities are not bad in and of themselves, but the cloak of secrecy around them allows--in the book anyway--dirty dealings to go on kind of without question because of the secrecy. If that makes sense.) Reading the book, I was kind of on the fence about how I feel about it, but the more I think about it (and the fact that I think about it after reading!), the more I like it.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan: I had actually tried to read this before and didn't really care for it so quit. Mostly I found the narrative really annoying. Like, REALLY annoying. However, after seeing the movie, which I liked a lot, I gave it another go. I still find the narrative annoying, but it was easier to get through because I kept picturing the movie in my head. I also still much prefer the movie to the book. (One of my favorite bits from the movie--the bit about holding hands--was lifted straight from the book.) But the book wasn't quite as obnoxious as I first found it. Don't get me wrong! It is still obnoxious. Just not so much that I couldn't get through it this time.

Also, I've read some of the reviews over on Goodreads that complain about the language, and I have to say that although I, too, was annoyed by the dropping of the f-bomb and the fact that the girls referred to each other as "bitch," I found that to be pretty realistic, so it didn't bug me as much as some of the other reviewers.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling: My favorite two tales are "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" and the "The Tale of the Three Brothers." Otherwise, I found the stories cute and/or horrific, depending. It's an easy breezy read made better by all of the anti-censorship comments and the fact that Dumbledore uses "simulacrum." I seriously got a kick out of that. Here's an anti-censorship bit:

Mrs. Bluxam believed that The Tales of Beedle the Bard were damaging to children, because of what she called “their unhealthy preoccupation with the most horrid subjects, such as death, disease, bloodshed, wicked magic, unwholesome characters, and bodily effusions and eruptions of the most disgusting kind.” Mrs. Bloxam took a variety of old stories, including several of Beedle’s, and rewrote them according to her ideals, which she expressed as “filling the pure minds of our little angels with healthy, happy thoughts, keeping their sweet slumber free of wicked dreams, and protecting the precious flower of their innocence.” […] Mrs. Bloxam's tale has met the same response from generations of Wizarding children: uncontrollable retching, followed by an immediate demand to have the book taken from them and mashed into a pulp.

Hahaha! I love that so much. I plan on using that excerpt when we get to Harry Potter in the class. How the authors respond to censorship is kind of a big deal and that she did it pretty explicitly in one of her books is fantastic.

Bridge to Terabithia, Day 2 (spoilers)

One of my students said he wasn't upset by the end of the novel because "it's just a book." I couldn't even respond to that. My other students laughed.

We had an interesting discussion about (SPOILER ALERT!) why Leslie had to die in the novel. They actually gave pretty well-thought answers about character and lessons learned, etc. In the end, I was like, "Well, sometimes people just die, don't they?"

On Wednesday, I have to remember to tell them that that's a flat answer that's unacceptable in papers, but I wanted them to stop thinking so darn much. The whole point of the book is that sometimes these kinds of tragedies happen, and they are unexpected and just kind of suck. (I mean, there is more and it goes deeper, but that's basically it.)

One student did say that she was mad at Jess for not inviting Leslie along to the musuem, and that she wanted him to somehow prevent Leslie's death, so I thought that was an interesting response.

We did talk about why the book is banned (religion, death), and they seemed interested in that. I don't know. The first couple of weeks are always kind of weird discussion-wise because the students are just getting used to sharing their opinions with the class, so I'm hoping we can start getting a little more interesting/involved as the semester goes. So far, I have a good group. Almost all of them are participating and they have smart things to say, and that's always a plus. We'll see how it goes.

Bridge to Terabithia, Day 1

Today we opened our discussion of Bridge to Terabithia. As usual, I had them start with telling me about the book, getting a feel for what's going on in it. We talked a lot about Jess, Leslie, and their relationship. None of that is very exciting or unusual, I guess.

Anyway, we talked about the "safe spaces" for Jess in the book, and identified them as Teribathia, Ms. Edmunds, and art. We also talked about the implications of them all being secret, and the necessity of them being secret AND safe. Mostly, it came down to an issue of freedom. Jess controls his art and can take it as far as he wants, he's able to dream freely in Terabithia, and Ms. Edmunds doesn't ridicule him about the things he loves, so with her, he's able to be himself whereas with his family he has to constantly try to be what they want.

I had my students preview the theme of the novel using the first half of the story. Unfortunately, quite a few of them missed the boat on the theme being a statement, so I'm hoping that fixes by Friday. If not, we'll have to do a writing exercise that turns their fragmented theme ideas into actual statements. Not my idea of fun.

A little less than half of the class has read the book before, so it'll be interesting to see how Friday's discussion goes as we talk about the ending.

Book List

I should have included this info with the course overview. D'oh! Here are the books I'll be using this semester:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice on Her Way by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky

I got the list from the ALA's list of most banned/challenged books. I went with top twenty books, and picked from the three lists they have. There was a lot of overlap, obviously. The only book(s) I didn't use from the top ten were Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories series.

Course Overview

Just to give an idea of how my class will go this semester, here is the course overview as printed on the syllabus:

This course aims to take a critical look at children’s and young adult literature that is frequently challenged and banned in public schools and libraries. While we will discuss issues of censorship throughout the semester, our primary concern will be with understanding these books first and foremost as works of literature. As such, we will consider the choices that authors make in composing these works, focusing on the functions of the literary elements contained within. Throughout our discussions, we will be able to determine how these “bannable” ideas or elements are or are not necessary for the books to function as cohesive narratives with specific themes. In the end, we should be able to determine if or when restrictions should be placed on novels intended for young people and who gets to make that decision.

It was a struggle coming up with a clear idea of how I wanted to approach the course. It is kind an intro survey, and I turned it to a special topic, but I also (always) want to give my students room to form their own opinions and ideas. I won't be doing a lot of outside reading--although I will refer to blogs and articles from time to time--instead focusing on approaching the books as literature that people find objectionable for whatever reasons. So our focus will mainly be on the literary elements (plot, pov, setting, character, form, theme) and how the "objectionable" stuff fits into those categories, specifically relating to how they emphasize/enhance the overall theme of the novel.

This is my first time teaching the course this way, so we'll see how it goes.

Blog reboot

After much thinking, I've decided to refocus the content of this blog. Instead of adding it to the pool of book review sites out there, I am instead going to focus on talking about what it is I do with books: teach.

I teach young adult books on the college level, and I'm going to use this as a place to talk about my approach as well as reflect on in-class discussions, ideas for lesson plans, and all other things related to teaching.

From time to time, I will also include book reviews because, well, how can I not?

Feedback encouraged!