A Teacher and a Former Teacher: An Exchange on The Hunger Games

This is a first on TeachYALit.com. Rather than a typical review of a book or series, I invited a teacher friend of mine to engage in an email exchange to post on the site. As this also was our forum for catching up on a more personal level, the emails have been edited for relevance. Laurie's emails are in green text, while mine are in blue. 

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Dave, 

I'd love to have the e-mail exchange on the teachyalit website.

FYI--I read the trilogy first two back to back and then waited for the third one. and read it early last fall.  I also listened to two of them in audio format before reading them, so the voice on the cd also influenced how I viewed the characters.  

I was intrigued by the premise and setting of the first book and fascinated by the secondary characters more so than the main character, Katniss.  I was never able to see her in the way that Peeta and Gale saw her.  I am not sure if that is because of the point of view, and Katniss has such low self-esteem that her character was suppressed or if I needed a little more back story and exposition to be able to see her more clearly.  One of my issues with all of the books was not being able to identify with her as much as I probably should have given she is the main character and the story unfolds through her eyes.

Laurie

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Laurie,

I completely agree about Katniss. I didn't really think she was believable as a beacon of hope (or as the type of girl for whom boys would be willing to die). It was interesting, though, that Peeta and Gale really seemed to be the only two who really loved Katniss. She seemed to grate on everyone else's nerves, perhaps with the exception of Cinna--but that was a different sort of relationship altogether. There's no doubt that Katniss was tough, but she relied heavily on help from others to survive. That, in and of itself, could be a good lesson for adolescent readers, but I can't help that feel that for a heroine, Katniss was much more pawn than queen. 

The weirdest part of all for me was that, even though I didn't really connect with Katniss or buy her as the savior of Panem, I was pretty enthralled by the books. I found them hard to put down, but I can't quite figure out why. Your thoughts on that?

Until soon,

Dave

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Dave,

I also got absorbed in the fast placed plot and the dystopian world of the stories, even though I did not like Katniss at all.  She did so many of the things that make me crazy for female characters to do, such as lead men on, play the game, pretend to be something she was not, feign affection/love, pout to get her way.  I did keep wondering throughout the book if the author was trying to talk about how real all of those characteristics still are, especially in adolescent girls who are "learning" the role of woman, or if she just couldn't write a story with a stronger female character in light of the success of books like the Twilight series (another weak female role model).  With listening to the audio version, I can't get the sound out of my head of the reader calling out "Peeta."  It had such a pathetic quality to it as opposed to grief.  And that definitely colored my perception of Katniss even more.  When I listen to audio books, I often do the theatre school/ acting training thing and think how would I do it differently, and as I pondered that, I really did begin to wonder what the reader was intended to make of Katniss.  Did the reader of the audio file "read" her right?  And if so, the intent was for Katniss to be a fairly pathetic girl thrust into the spotlight and trying to make the best of it, what does that say about the two other female characters, the mother, who does seem to have much more on the ball as a healer, but also lacks in character at important times, and the sister, who to me is the real feminine hero, combining the best of the mother and of Katniss.  And more importantly, what does it say about the two male characters both of whom want to take care of Katniss, and both of whom do not trust her to make decisions for herself or for the greater good if given all of the facts.  One of my favorite scenes is when Katniss and the young girl in the trees become allies and how Katniss reacts to her death.  This is a moment where Katniss shines as a good role model, but she does not maintain that quality.  And I never got a good answer as to why no one trusts Katniss to see the larger picture, especially after this scene.  Why Peeta is so in love with Katniss and has been since he took a beating to give her bread is also never fully fleshed out-- the only reason we are given is that she is beautiful, another superficial quality.  She is a complex character, but not necessarily in the good way.  I totally agree that she is much more pawn than queen, and I wonder if that was the author's intent and if she is has something larger to say or was trying to say something larger.  I would like to be convinced of that, but I just don't have enough evidence.  If I were editing this story or commenting on it, I would have to say that all of the main characters were uneven.

Fantasy and science-fiction are always commentary on our own world, and for as much as I was drawn into this book, I also felt completely gipped by the end, and cheapened somehow.  

I was fascinated by the setting though and thought that was where the power of the story lay.  Having a society that so dishonors children as to watch them fight to the death as entertainment was a powerful commentary on greed. It seems to have some roots in sweatshops and outsourced Western work to third world countries where child labor, daily poverty and starvation, and polluting of the environment are daily occurrences.  I do wonder what we as Americans would do, if our reality television relied on workers in those factories.  

I do want to explore the relationship with Cinna and the other adults, and also with family members.  

One thing, is that most of the students whom I talk with about this book also feel very let down at the end of the series.

I am loving these conversations.  We need to choose another YA book or series and read it so we can discuss it.  

Laurie

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Hey, Laurie,

You make a great point about the unevenness of the main characters. (And I think "uneven" is the perfect word, as I wouldn't settle on calling them particularly static or rounded. 10 points to you for word choice.) I also was frustrated with Katniss's approach to "managing" the men in her life. I was also truly surprised at times by how much her emotions seemed to be driven by sexual contact. For all the desire of Peeta and Gale to take care of her, and for all the non-sexual ways that they showed their affection for her, her emotions seemed to hinge more on whom and how frequently she was kissing than on anything else. 

I agree also that the recklessness with which Panem treated the lives of children was fascinating and powerful, although I admit that I did not make the connection to sweatshops, etc. I thought of it at a little more zoomed-out level, wondering if Collins was making a broad statement about ways in which our society may not be great at protecting its children. And I think the relationship of the adults are a perfect example of that. For me, there wasn't a single grown-up character in the series who really stood out as a proper adult. Katniss's mother was a great nurse, but she wasn't much of a parent; Haymitch was a good coach for the Games, but he was an unreliable alcoholic and was willing to risk his proteges in the interest of bringing down Panem. I thought Cinna came the closest to being a proper adult--in some ways, he reminded me of a good teacher: he developed a strong relationship with Katniss, he listened to her problems, he struck a good balance between giving her solutions and planting them inside her to discover on her own--but even he was a bit too passive and not wholly honest. Maybe he can't be blamed too much, though, being that he was pretty entrenched in the Capital way of life. What did you think about Cinna and the other adults?

Also, I'm curious to hear more about what the students have said to you about the books and their ending.

Talk to you soon,

Dave

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And that's all there is on that for now. Please feel free to add thoughts and comments on The Hunger Games, questions for either Laurie or myself to expand on claims we made, or, indeed, suggestions for another book or series for this kind of exchange. And, of course, if we continue to email about the series, further notes will be posted here.

Note: This won't likely be the end of reviews on this site, but I hope to do more of this kind of thing--it was fun. If you would like to submit an (edited) email exchange on a book or series, please email info@teachyalit.com to discuss the particulars. (This is all voluntary, so there's no money in it, but you'll surely get credit as a contributor to the site and we'll happily link to your own personal blog or website.)

A Villain You'll Love to Hate (Review of FIRST FLIGHT | Sean Hayden & Connor Hayden)

TITLE: First Flight (The Magnificent Steam Carnival of Professor Pelusian Minus)
AUTHOR: Sean Hayden and Connor Hayden
PUBLISHER: Echelon Press
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2011
PAGES: 141 KB (e-book only)
GRADE LEVEL(S): 4-6
RELEVANT CURRICULA: English Language Arts
CLASSROOM USES: Summer/Independent reading, Literature Circles, Read-Aloud

NB: This is the first book in a 6-book series. At time of writing, 2 of the 6 books are available to the public. [UPDATE: The third book is now available.]

Professor Pelusian Minus is more slave driver than carnival proprietor. He loves money and meanness, and not much else. As a reader, I loved to hate him. Minus's actions all contain some amount of venom. He doesn't get up from chairs; he slams them against walls. He calls his minions--er, employees--idiots and morons, and he terrorizes and denigrates the best performers in his carnival.

Minus is a car-wreck of a character: you can hardly stand to look at him, but at the same time, you won't want to miss a single one of his evil words or deeds.

Conversely, brother Dade and sister Paige are just the kind of heroes for whom any reader will want to root. They are kind and protective toward one another, while at the same time sly operators against Professor Minus. On top of that, they're blessed with considerable ingenuity. The irony, of course, is that their inventors' spirits are not only their only hope for escaping Minus's carnival, but also the carnival's only hope of making minus rich. As such, he'll do all in his power to keep them there.

First Flight, well, flies. The story is fast-paced, and the pages are few. It's the perfect book to use for a read-aloud in the last few minutes of class, or to give to a reluctant reader who is wary of a too-long story. Written by author Sean Hayden and his son, Connor, the language strikes a perfect balance: there's an economy of language that demonstrates Sean Hayden's finely honed craft as a writer, paired perfectly with the kind of exuberance that only a student writing for other students could produce.

I could go on, but suffice it to say, First Flight is well worth both your time and your money. At $0.99, it may even be worth the price of that e-reader you've been eyeing. (Note: you can get the Kindle app for almost any mobile device or personal computer for free.) Once you've read First Flight, I'd recommend saving your allowance and putting another five dollars aside. You'll want to move on to Second Chance right away, and you'll be drooling to get your hands on the last four installments.



FTC Disclosure: This review is based on a copy of the book we received from the authors.

Bridging The Pull of Gravity and Of Mice and Men

An Essay by Gae Polisner, Author of The Pull of Gravity

People often ask why I incorporated John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men into my contemporary young adult novel, The Pull of Gravity (FSG, May 10, 2011). The short answer is that it was part intention, and part serendipity.

The Pull of Gravity follows teens Nick Gardner and Jaycee Amato who, armed only with the wisdom of Yoda, a rare first-edition copy of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, and the vaguest of plans, embark on a secret road trip to try to keep a promise to the Scoot, their dying friend.

With the words “vaguest of plans,” those familiar with Of Mice & Men will already recognize a glaring connection between the works: In both stories, plans go awry, and, in the course of the unraveling, Nick and Jaycee (like Lennie and George) learn some valuable, if at times painful, life lessons.

Intention vs. serendipity.

When I started writing The Pull of Gravity, I knew first and foremost that I wanted to write a character-driven piece, the ilk of which I read as a kid from the likes of Zindel, Blume, Konigsburg. To me, character-driven means that the characters are *the* reason you want to know the story, and not the other way around, with the plot driving the story. As Nick and Jaycee formed on the page, I thought, ‘how better to see if Jaycee is as persuasive and intriguing as I want her to be (and the chemistry between the two teens as real as I hope), than by seeing if she can *sell* the merits of an often-taught work of classic literature to Nick, a 15-yr old boy.’ Hence, the sort of muse-driven idea of incorporating a classic novel was born.

But which piece of classic literature to choose? That is where intention factored in, and the connections between The Pull of Gravity and Of Mice and Men began to take shape.

Why Of Mice and Men?

One of the main reasons I chose Of Mice and Men was that it seems to hold more appeal for teen boys than some of the other mandatory classics still assigned, perhaps for obvious reasons. George and Lennie, the two main characters, are male. Most of the supporting characters are men. Given that I consciously wrote a novel that might appeal to both girl and boy readers, it was key not to alienate my male audience.

A bigger reason, though, was the theme of friendship that reverberates through Of Mice and Men. Indeed, the ending of Of Mice and Men may contain the ultimate act of friendship to be found in modern literature. Likewise, friendship is the main theme in The Pull of Gravity. Nick and Jaycee need each other, and their friendship buoys them through a time of change, heartache and pain.

I’ve also attempted to keep some structural similarities between the pieces. Of Mice & Men is a short work of fiction – a novella at 107 pages. George and Lennie’s story takes place over a mere four days. They set out on a Thursday and the story concludes on a Sunday.

While The Pull of Gravity is a longer work at 208 pages, the time frame of the story is brief, and the main part of Nick and Jaycee’s journey, to wit, their time in the Rochester hotel, also unfolds Thursday through Sunday.

Certainly, when I go into classrooms, I love to talk to students about how amazing it is that Steinbeck was able to create so much empathy for, and connection to, his characters in the space of so little time and so few words – the reader gets to know George and Lennie and, more importantly, to care about them, in not much more than a mere breath.

Similarly, Nick and Jaycee’s relationship unfolds quickly; they become important to one another – and, I hope to the reader— over a brief period.

Other Common Themes

- The American Dream (“Everybody Wants a Place of their Own”). Both The Pull of Gravity and Of Mice and Men deal with the desire to attain the American Dream: work that is bearable (if not more) and a small patch of land that feels like home. In The Pull of Gravity, Nick’s father is unable to attain this goal, to balance metropolitan career aspirations with his family’s move to the suburbs, which is one of the failures that spurs the main action of the book. Similarly, Jaycee is relegated to her mother’s new husband’s gaudy house, and, moreso, to the fluffy pink bedroom of the new husband’s daughter that will never feel like home.

- Disability. Of Mice and Men illuminates the prejudices suffered by Lennie because of his retardation, but also the burden on George, his friend, in trying to care for him. In The Pull of Gravity, the Scoot has a physical, rather than mental, disability, and while he doesn’t suffer the direct prejudices Lennie does, Nick – just like George with Lennie – struggles with his role as a loyal friend versus obligated caretaker to the Scoot.

- Loss & Loneliness. The Pull of Gravity opens with this quote from Of Mice and Men:

“Lennie broke in. ‘But not us! An’ why? Because…because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.’ He laughed delightedly.”

This quote epitomizes the friendship theme that resonates through both stories. Without each other, George and Lennie have no one. Similarly, Jaycee and Nick experience a lack of fitting in, connecting, until they find one another.

Of course, the counters to friendship are loneliness and loss, and these themes also run through both stories. George and Lennie have suffered loss when we first meet them, and, once at the farm, there is the loss of Candy’s dog, of Lennie’s puppy, of Curly’s wife, and ultimately each other. In The Pull of Gravity Nick, Jaycee and the Scoot have all suffered parental loss (whether temporary or permanent). It is a bond they have in common. They also each suffer the loss of their family structure, and ultimately, Nick and Jaycee suffer the loss of their dear friend, the Scoot.

Connector Texts for The Pull of Gravity:

Freak the Mighty, Rodman Philbrick

Godless, by Pete Hautman

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Additional Information

You may find additional information about The Pull of Gravity including advance praise at the author’s website, http://gaepolisner.com, as well as an early review here at http://professornana.livejournal.com/520777.html.

Gae Polisner is the author of The Pull of Gravity, Frances Foster Books/FSG, May 10, 2011. She is also a practicing attorney-mediator and avid open water swimmer. The Pull of Gravity is her debut novel. You may learn more about her here: http://gaepolisner.com

*this essay was written with the generous assistance of Paul W. Hankins.

Review: THE EDUCATION OF BET | Lauren Baratz-Logsted

TITLE: The Education of Bet

AUTHOR: Lauren Baratz-Logsted 

PUBLISHER: Houghton Mifflin

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2010

PAGES: 186

GRADE LEVEL(S): 6-7

RELEVANT CURRICULA: English Language Arts, Social Studies

CLASSROOM USES: Class reading, Literature Circles, Independent Reading

BRIDGE TEXTS: Any 19^th-century English literature

Life can hardly ever accurately be described as fair, but young Elizabeth Smith—better known as Bet—has most certainly gotten short shrift. Growing up in the 1800s, Bet had the unfortunate lot in life of being a female from a poor family. At the age of four, her parents were killed by typhoid. She was “rescued,” as it were by the great-uncle of another child, Will, whose parents had also died of the illness. This certainly was preferential to an orphanage, but such was Bet’s family’s social stature, that she could not exactly be treated as Will’s equal. Instead she became a sort of servant and attendant to the old man, while her contemporary was sent off to school.

As luck would have it, though, Will neither excelled at nor was very interested in school, and he was routinely being expelled from one of them or another. Will wanted to join the military. Bet wanted to go to school. They were the same age and, despite the obvious gender-related differences, looked strikingly similar. 

Thus Bet hatched her plan to dress herself as a boy, assume Will’s identity, and go to school for him. This way, they would both get what they wanted. Bet would have an education; Will would have freedom; and his great-uncle (not privy to the plan) would be satisfied that his young ward had finally succeeded in school. Nothing could go wrong. 

As people are wont to do, Bet had idealized what getting an education would truly be like, and she finds that school is not the academic haven she had expected.

Some of Bet’s challenges are predictable. She has to look, dress, and act like a boy. More troubling, she realizes, she has to live among boys. Even the best of disguises, however, cannot hide one’s true identity, and Bet has many more obstacles to face in passing herself off as a boy than she first anticipated. Ultimately, she is a young woman, with all the hormones and other trappings incumbent to them. 

The Education of Bet would make a fantastic read for many young girls, and quite possibly for quite a few young boys as well. Her story is intriguing, her character endearing, and the writing flows easily. Students will root for Bet in making her dream of an education come true, and they will root for her in other aspects of life, as well. 

And in the end, no one will be disappointed.



FTC Disclosure: This review is based on a copy of the book we received from the author.

Another Review of THE HUNGER GAMES

Over at The Rumpus, as a part of their "The Last Book I Loved" series of reviews, Tasha Cotter writes about The Hunger Games. Like us, she loved it.

NEW - Review Submission Page for Teachers!

Hey, teachers! We would LOVE for you to submit reviews, and we're hoping this will make it pretty easy for you to share your thoughts about the great YA books you read and teach. Soon, we will be adding a page for students to do the same, and after that a page for everyone else.

For now, though, there's only the page for teachers. If you're a student, parent, or other reader of YA Lit and would like to submit a review, please send us an email, and we'll send you what you need.

Review: THE HUNGER GAMES (Book 1 of the trilogy) | Suzanne Collins

TITLE: The Hunger Games

AUTHOR: Suzanne Collins

PUBLISHER: Scholastic, Inc.

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2008

PAGES: 374

GRADE LEVEL(S): 7-8

RELEVANT CURRICULA: English Language Arts

CLASSROOM USES: Class reading, Literature Circles

BRIDGE TEXTS: The Giver, What Is The What?, Fahrenheit 451

NB: This review is based on the text of Book 1 of The Hunger Games Trilogy. Later reviews will cover the remainder of the series.

Adolescence is marked by struggling to find the line between right and wrong, between making choices and following directions. Every day of his life, every middle school students feels that his free will has been undermined, that he has suffered some injustice. It is the condition of being an adolescent.

What student hasn’t felt trapped—either at home, at school, or both? What student hasn’t felt that she has been wrongly vilified due to some arbitrary decision made by an authority figure? What student hasn’t attempted to elude the watchful eye of a parent, teacher, or administrator, hasn’t broken some rule in order to achieve something that she knows just has to be done. And what student hasn’t felt, at one time or another, that she has been pitted against her peers for no good reason? 

The Hunger Games attacks all of these adolescent struggles in a fast-paced story that teaches strong lessons, but never feels didactic.

The story is set in an almost post-Apocalyptic version of North America called Panem, in which the main role of government is to suppress any sort of uprising of the micro-communities under its control. Each “District” is self-contained, except for once a year, when one boy and one girl from each locality are sent to the capital for a televised fight to the death. The “tributes,” as they are called, are to serve as reminders of the complete control that the central government has over its citizens.

Katniss Everdeen—the book’s heroine and narrator—has fought to survive for most of her life, but never on the level that she will when she is sent as a tribute in the Hunger Games. She faces the very same issues that every student faces in their own lives—feeling trapped, victimized, forced to break the rules—but on a scale they can only imagine.

Parents have protested the inclusion of the Hunger Games Trilogy as required reading in their children’s school’s curricula, and there are legitimate questions to be raised about the content. The Hunger Games does not portray adults—particularly those in positions of authority—in a favorable light. Events of the book are sometimes violent, and almost always hard to fathom.

Ultimately, however, The Hunger Games provides teachers and parents to broach difficult issues. Moral issues abound in this novel, but even for those who want schools to avoid as much as possible the teaching of moral issues, this book cannot be ignored. Students will relate to Katniss and her plight, and The Hunger Games is a wonderful tool to get students to think about big questions. Keep it out of schools, and—don’t look now, but—you’ll be putting the same kind of restraints against students and teachers as the rule-makers in Panem’s capital city put on their districts.

Video: NYPL Panel on YA Lit

The New York Public Library recently hosted a panel on the state of Young Adult Literature. Panelists include educators and librarians; as well as editors from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Atheneum Books for Young Readers; and the Penguin Book Group.

Student Review: THE MAZE RUNNER | James Dashner

Many thanks to Reilly, a 5th grade student in Texas, who submitted this review. We appreciate his input (and, by the way, are quite impressed with his writing ability). If you or someone you know would like to submit a guest review, please email us at info@teachyalit.com.

Title: The Maze Runner

Author: James Dashner

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Date of Publication: 2009

Pages: 374

What Grade Are You In?: 5th, age 10

How did you learn about this book?  

My mom found it online and she said that a whole bunch of people liked it. Then I read the description and the part about The Maze sounded cool and the part about the main character waking up in the lift made me curious, so I checked it out from the library and read it in two days. 

Had you already read any books by this author before you started this one? If so, which one(s)? If not, what made you think this would be a good choice for you?

No, I haven't read any books by this author, but it sounded like a good book and it's description reminded me of the Maximum Ride books, which I really liked. 

What were the two or three things you liked most about this book?

A few things I liked were the Maze, a giant labyrinth surrounding the home of the characters, and the Runners, the people who try to solve The Maze, and the part where Teresa figured out she was telepathic.  I also liked it when the walls moved to close The Maze at night. 

What do you wish had been different about this book?

There's not really anything I would change about this book. People should know that some parts of the book are a little bit scary, and once the characters start to figure out things, the book is very tense.  

Overall, on a scale of 1-5, what score would you give this book?

I would totally give it a 5! It was awesome!

Who do you think would like this book? (Even if you didn't like it, might someone else?)

I think that anyone who likes the Maximum Ride books would totally love this book. This book is probably best for kids at least ten and higher, not younger than ten. For class reading, it might be better for older kids because of some violent and tense situations, and maybe for some mild language. It would be interesting to see other people's reactions to the book, and to compare what other people notice and how they react to different parts. 

Is there anything else you would like to say about this book?

The only other thing I would like to say is that Chapter 59 is really sad. 

Why YA

I’ve always been a big reader. My mom took us to storytime at the library and made sure that we got library cards and could check out our own books. She likes to read and I would see her with huge books and I think that passed on to me. I remember going to the library as a child and the teen section was a single cart of books. Luckily, by the time I was a teen the library had a brand new building with a separate teen section. Libraries on Long Island were generally well supported and the teen section was a decent size with its very own librarian.

Nancy Gorman was the YA librarian at the Longwood Public Library and responsible for stocking those shelves. Back then we didn’t have the internet, let alone book blogs and twitter, so teen access to books was limited to those at the library or the bookstore. We relied on the librarians to buy good books because we weren’t hearing about them any other way. Mrs. Gorman did a good job of selecting books and having fun programs for teens to get us in the library so we could find those books. When I eventually started working at the library (at 16) I knew that I wanted to be Mrs. Gorman—I wanted to be a YA librarian and bring teens and books together.

I’ve read mostly YA books ever since. The few grownup books I read as a teen/young adult were all cross-over books—adult books that have large teen appeal. Anne Rice’s vampire series and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy were the extent of my adult book reading experience. I went to library school, got a job as a YA librarian and did that for seven years, reading YA as part of the job to better serve my population. I started my book blog in 2004 and at the time there were only a handful of other blogs about YA books. When my second child was born I switched to part time work and believing that teens deserved a full time librarian, I gave up that aspect of my job.

But I never stopped reading YA.

I’ve read a few grown up books since then as part of a book club with my friends, but I still focus on YA. I could have stopped since it was no longer part of my job, but I noticed something interesting after I became a parent, I could easily read a teen book about horrifying topics—rape, murder, abuse, etc—and while it wasn’t a great pick-me-up, it was okay. But if I read a grown up book on those same topics, I instantly had the point of view of the parent in the story and I couldn’t read it. I would much rather read the teen’s point of view than the parent’s. When I read a YA book I’m just a reader, but when I read a grownup book I can’t help but bring myself and my children into it. If Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) had been an adult book told from the point of view of the mother in the story there is no way I could have read and enjoyed it. But luckily it’s a teen book.

I also happen to think that most grown up books are a bit boring. YA books—even the bleakest ones—are generally full of hope. Teens have their futures ahead of them. I like the stories they have to tell. YA books are exciting and adventurous, dramatic and emotional. Most of them are well-written and engaging in ways that grownup books just aren’t for me. Like the teens they are written for, YA books are full of potential and promise. They stay with you long after you’ve read them.

After the birth of my third child I stopped working at the library completely. But I still keep my hand in YA literature. I review all the books I read on my book blog (http://goddesslibrarian.blogspot.com) and I also write about YA fiction for the examiner (http://www.examiner.com/young-adult-fiction-in-albany/jennifer-mcintosh). When I’m done having children and they’ve all found their way to school I hope to find other ways to bring teens and books together.

- Jennifer McIntosh

Review: WHEN YOU REACH ME | Rebecca Stead

TITLE: When You Reach Me
AUTHOR: Rebecca Stead
PUBLISHER: Wally Lamb Books
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2009
PAGES: 208
GRADE LEVEL(S): 5-7
RELEVANT CURRICULA: English
CLASSROOM USES: Required reading, Summer/Independent reading, Literature Circles
BRIDGE TEXTS: A Wrinkle In Time


The first time I wrote anything--in fact, the only time I wrote anything--about When You Reach Me, I could hardly think of words to do the book justice. I quoted from commentary from Nancy Pearl on NPR (which was how I first learned about the book), and then wrote:

When You Reach Me is a wonderful descendant of Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time; it never once even comes close to imitation, or cheap knock-offery.  No, it's the classiest of descendants--it's an evolution.

One of the most beautiful aspects of fantasy is how completely it takes the reader from her/his own world into that of the novel. What better way for students to learn first-hand of the magic of literature than by being transported to the planet Uriel? Or to Narnia? Or Middle-earth? Or Oz?


But Stead's novel takes place in New York City. (No doubt, NYC can be magical and unreal, but it's no outer space...) Miranda, Stead's protagonist, is a relatively normal girl, living in a relatively normal world, with the everyday drama that inhabits the world of every 11 year-old. 


The fantastical elements of When You Reach Me are subtler than magic or space travel. Stead's fantasy world is more mysterious than magical, as Miranda receives unexplained notes about events yet-to-happen in her life. Miranda is understandably skeptical; this could as easily be a prank as it is magic, and neither Miranda nor the reader has to take a huge leap of faith to feel that life is carrying on more or less as usual.


This fantasy-based-in-realism approach is sheer brilliance. By staying firmly rooted in real-world places and problems, Stead's novel will appeal to students who may already possess a bit of world-weary reluctance to get fully sucked into a novel. Any reader unwilling to blast into outer space will slowly but surely get sucked in by the bully on the block or the struggles of growing up with a single parent. But magic will just seep in, slowly but surely--and before long, When You Reach Me will make readers out of kids today in the same way that A Wrinkle In Time made readers of them in 1962.

Review: LITTLE BROTHER | Cory Doctorow

TITLE: Little Brother
AUTHOR: Cory Doctorow
PUBLISHER: Tor (Tom Doherty Associates, LLC)
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2008
PAGES: 365
GRADE LEVEL(S): 9-10
RELEVANT CURRICULA: English, American History, Contemporary Affairs, Ethics
CLASSROOM USES: Required reading, Summer/Independent reading, Literature Circles
BRIDGE TEXTS: 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The 9/11 Commission Report

Why do we ban books in our schools and libraries? To protect our students, right? They are young and impressionable, and we must protect their fragile minds. So we block off books that contain profanity, references to sex, or drugs and alcohol, or subversive ideas.

So, let’s give Little Brother the test. Profanity? Check. Sex, drugs, alcohol? Check, check, check. Subversive ideas? Double check.

Doctorow’s main character and narrator is a 17 year-old high school student with a penchant for using technology to scare up excitement. He starts innocently enough, hacking his school-owned laptop so that he can IM friends during classes or putting rocks in his shoes to fool the gait-recognition technology in the school’s security cameras. When Marcus’s hacking exploits make him a terrorism suspect in the eyes of the Department of Homeland Security, his world changes in nearly every possible way. His friendships are pushed to the limit, he wonders why his parents can’t see his point of view, and he loses faith in his government as an advocate for the innocent and guarantor of freedom.

Most high school students will never be terror suspects, or even much more adept with computers than to load basic software and create powerpoint presentations for class projects. But they can all relate to friendships on the skids, feeling estranged from parents, or worrying that the system has somehow abandoned them. Students will relate to Marcus Yallow’s story.

While students will find an ally in Marcus, teachers will find an excellent vehicle for a variety of lessons and units. Coming of age. Loss of innocence. Personal privacy versus national security. To what extent does the government’s responsibility lie more in protecting its citizens’ constitutional rights, and to what extent are those rights expendable in the interest of public safety?

There is no end to fodder for discussion and debate in this novel; creative teachers will see opportunities for all manner of classroom activities and cross-curricular assignments. But before throwing this book into the syllabus, teachers are going to have to answer questions about the profanity, the sex, drugs, and alcohol, and (perhaps most of all) the subversive ideas. Doctorow’s position in this novel is not, shall we say, “fair and balanced.” Detractors will point to the book’s overt liberalism and anti-government sentiments. Any of these fears can be allayed easily enough with a well-written rationale and some ancillary reading material that presents a more conservative viewpoint.

The alternative is to leave this book out of classrooms and libraries altogether, to add it to another list of banned books. Over the years, we’ve banned William Chaucer, James Joyce, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, and the Bible. Among such company, it could be a real honor for Doctorow were his book to be banned—but to keep this book from kids would be a real miscarriage of justice.

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Banned Books

From The Guardian, in honor of Banned Books Week 2010, here the the 10 most-banned books in American schools and libraries. Many of the books that grace this and other banned books lists are wonderful for the classroom, and several from this Top Ten will be reviewed on this site in short order.

Soon to be Reviewed:

The following books will have reviews posted on TeachYALit.com as soon as possible. (The list below is not in any particular order. If you have reviews or lesson plans of any of these books--or others that you feel should be added to the list, please email info@teachyalit.com for details on how to submit those materials for publication here.

• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• Gatherine Blue by Lois Lowry
• Messenger by Lois Lowry
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• Tex by S.E. Hinton
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

While the site has been launched, we're obviously still ramping up in the content department. We LOVE feedback and help. Again, if you have any recommendations regarding books to add to this list, or reviews of these texts, or lesson/unit plans for them, please contact us. At the moment we cannot pay you for any contributions, but we will give you hearty thanks and attribution.

Welcome to TeachYALit.com - The YA Lit Review!

Greetings and welcome!

At the moment, this website is just a kernel of an idea. It's an offshoot of my current reading/writing/book review blog, which can be found here.

While I include YA Lit on my other blog, I wanted to create a different vehicle that would focus exclusively on young adult literature. I'd like this site to serve several different purposes:

• Be a resource for teachers/educators who want to find and share great ideas for books to include in classroom libraries, bridge texts to canonical literature, or any other lesson/unit plans that would benefit from the inclusion of great YA lit.
• Be a resource for students who devour books faster than the publishers can print them, can't find a book worth reading that feels real and relevant, or need suggestions for books to read for school projects, book reports, or just plain pleasure
• Be a resource for parents who want to read with their kids, steer their children towards some great books, or relive their own middle and high school glory days by reading books for teens.
• And, of course, I hope the format and content of this site proves to be useful and welcoming to anyone who has an interest in young adult literature.

The primary content for a while will focus on reviews and commentary on individual books, authors, or series. For now, this site is hosted by blogger, and it will likely stay that way for the early part of its life, while we let it evolve and adjust to the type/amount of traffic it generates. In the not-too-distant future, however, I anticipate migrating this to a larger and more flexible hosting service in order to add features and functionality. Possible additions include a wiki for lesson/unit planning, file storage for media and other ancillary materials, and user forums to promote more flexibility in organizing and contributing to discussions.

As a former teacher and administrator in both middle and high school settings, I have a huge collection of YA lit in my own personal library, so I have a pretty large backlog of books to review here. I'll start posting those immediately, but in the meantime, please comment with suggestions for books to include, lesson/unit topics, or anything else that seems relevant! Guest posts are most heartily welcome; if interested, you can email me here.