“Finished” Product

Today, I am turning in my presentation to be shared with the rest of my class, which is hard for me to wrap my brain around, as I still feel like it is not complete. There is so much more reading for me to do, so much more for me to still discover about contemporary realistic YA.

I put together my presentation using emaze. I had a little trouble trying to add audio to each slide.  I borrowed my boyfriend’s microphone and could not for the life of me figure out how to actually make a recording.  I felt incredibly incompetent.  When I plugged it into my laptop a window popped up “You have plugged in a device!” and I thought, “Great! Now how do I use the device, computer?”  Once I finally figured out how to use Sound Recorder for Windows 8, my recordings were saved in an app.  I couldn’t figure out how to access them from the app, so I had to email each recording to myself to download to my computer, so that I could upload them to my each slide only to realize they weren’t in the correct format. Fortunately, Zamzar allowed me to convert them from M4A to MP3.

I’m a little disappointed with the audio component of the presentation. I think part of my presentation style is frantic and self-depricating. And that just didn’t come across at all.  Also, I sound like a robotic child.

Anyway, to make a long story short (too late), I finished my presentation. So as part of the sharing phase, if you’re interested in viewing it, you can find it here.

Bibliographies

Now that my personal inquiry assignment is coming to a close, I have compiled a list of all of the resources I used in my study.  I wish I had been able to read more and really delve deeper into contemporary realistic fiction.  As it stands now, I have read 16 YA novels (about 5000 pages); I also examined about 6 books from the research collection of Wells Library at IU Bloomington on the subject.

---

Bibliographies:

• Professional Resources Bibliography
• Bibliography of Contemporary YA

Evaluating Contemporary Realistic Fiction

If contemporary fiction is what teens want to read, then as librarians, teachers, etc., I think it is important to know how to recognize good young adult literature and know how to evaluate it, so that we can make smart decisions in collection development and readers’ advisory.

In my research, I found two guides to evaluating realistic fiction. The latter was developed more for children’s contemporary realism, but many of the evaluation criteria applies to YA literature as well.

Considerations for Selecting Young Adult Literature: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
When evaluating a contemporary realistic fiction novel, ask these questions:

• Are they engaging, true-to-life, well-rounded characters, who are both wise and foolish while they are growing and changing?
• Is there an accurate reflection of the human condition and contemporary life, without stereotyping?
• Is there a sensitivity to all people regardless of sex or sexual orientation, race, religion, age, socioeconomic level, social group, or culture?
• Does the plot appeal to young adults? Address the challenges, hopes, and fears as well as the problems faced by contemporary adolescents? Offer hope for the future?
• Does the plot ask young adults to consider or reconsider their own values and beliefs , inspire without providing pat resolutions, and avoid talking down to readers or telling them what to think?
• Is the setting believable?
• Is there an appropriate treatment of violence that never glamorizes it, records it more graphically than necessary, or includes it gratuitously?
• Does the language accurately reflect the characters as well as their educational status, social class, culture, and the place where they live?

Evaluating Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Consider the following when evaluating realistic fiction:

• Does the book honestly portray the realities of life for today’s children?
• Does the book illuminate problems and issues of growing up in today’s world?
• Does the story transcend the contemporary setting and have universal implications?
• Are the characters convincing and credible to today’s child?
• Are controversial topics such as sexuality dealt with in an open and forthright way?
• If violence or other negative behavior is part of the story, does the author provide motivations and show aftereffects?
• Does the author avoid stereotyping?
• Does the book truly represent the experience of the culture depicted?
• Does the book help children enlarge their personal points of view and develop appreciation for our ever-changing pluralistic society?

If I Stay

“Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.”

If I Stay
by Gayle Forman
201 p. Dutton. 2009
Gr 9 Up

When snow cancels school, 17-year-old Mia and her family decide to take a drive, but the trip takes a turn for the worse when they are hit by an oncoming driver, killing her parents and gravely injuring her and her younger brother.  As she is separated from her body, she becomes a spirit-like observer forced to decide if she should stay or go.  Over 24 hours, Mia narrates the care given to her by her medical team, friends, extended family, and boyfriend and reminisces on her past, revealing the details and complexities of her relationships.  Mia is torn not only between pursuing her love of music at Julliard and a future with her boyfriend in Oregon, but also the decision to fight to survive and giving in to the resulting sadness and despair over the accident.  Beautifully written, this is a thought-provoking story that will stay with teens long after the final page.

The Feels

I don’t know if I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind or what, but I, honestly, was not a huge fan of this book.  That is to say, I did not weep one bit, and from the description, I really thought I would be an emotional mess.  The story is beautifully written, however, seamlessly weaving the past and present narratives together to create an affecting story about tragedy and grieving.  Teens will easily identify with Mia’s honest portrayal of her insecurities and doubts.

Exploring Presentation Tools

For my creating phase of my personal inquiry, I am supposed to make some sort of visual product creation.  My instructor gave us a list of possible ideas like Prezi, Glogster, easel.ly, and Pixton.

The key to this portion of the Personal Inquiry Assignment is to choose something “novel” to us.  Therefore, since I normally use Prezi for all of my presentations, I wanted to choose something different.

You can use easel.ly to create infographics, but I didn’t think my inquiry really lent itself to this format.  However, it is a really neat and free tool; it is something I will keep note of for future projects.  I can really envision myself using this tool to present information in the professional field.

Pixton is really cool; it is used to create comic strips! And while I love comics, I couldn’t see myself using this tool for sharing my project.

I initially planned on using Glogster, which allows you to create multimedia format posters, until I stumbled upon emaze. I liked the emaze was different from PowerPoint and Prezi but was in a similar format so it would be easily recognizable and understandable for my intended audience.  It has the tagline “Create Amazing Presentations!” which seemed a little lame to me.  However, the online software has free templates that you choose from to make slideshows, video presentations, and even 3D presentations! Their home page features this nice infographic (I really love infographics) about why you should use emaze over PowerPoint.  

Honestly, I don’t really need much convincing; PowerPoint has become a little tired for me.

So it’s settled: I’ll be using emaze for my visual product creation tool.

Rubric Review

It just got real, folks.  My instructor uploaded the rubrics for our personal inquiry journal, presentation, and paper today.  My initial reaction when reviewing the rubric? Panic. The due date kind of sneaked up on me, and I still feel like I have not done enough for this project. I’ve been working diligently on my journal (i.e. this blog), and after reviewing the rubrics, I think I might have to go back and redo a lot of it.

I feel a little overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed seems to be the recurring theme of my personal inquiry project so far…

Fortunately, the rubrics fall in line with the Alberta Inquiry Model, which is the model I am trying to follow.  The whole personal inquiry project is new to me, and I feel like I am stumbling through all of this meta-cognition. I am so accustom to just going right to work on the product, rather than talking and writing about my thought process for each phase.

My strategy for this is to do some serious work in order to satisfy the highest levels for each of the rubrics, which will probably include going back and doing some editing of my previous blog posts.

---

Rubrics:

• Personal Inquiry Presentation
• Personal Inquiry Journal
• Personal Inquiry Reflection Paper

This One Summer

I’m a big fan of graphic novels, and I loved the gorgeous artwork on the cover, so I was already drawn to it. Then the summary said it was going to be “heartbreaking,” therefore I had to read it:

“In This One Summer two stellar creators redefine the teen graphic novel. Cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, the team behind Skim, have collaborated on this gorgeous, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful story about a girl on the cusp of her teen age—a story of renewal and revelation.”

This One Summer
by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
320 p. First Second. May 2014.
Gr 8 Up

Every summer, Rose and her family vacation at a lakeside cottage in Awago Beach where she reunites with her younger friend Windy.  The summer is usually their refuge, where they can spend their days swimming, digging holes in the sand, and playing MASH–but this summer is different.  Rose, on the cusp of adolescence, is fascinated by the local teens and their experiences. Meanwhile, the tension between her parents is growing, and she doesn’t understand it.  Told through tones of monochromatic blue-on-white illustrations, the mood is thoughtful and quiet.   The story is captivating, resolving with an imperfect hope that will have readers wishing for summer.

The Feels

This One Summer is a leisure read that slowly unfolds just like you expect a summer day on vacation.  There’s no tidy resolution to the story; the end has a lot of loose strands, which is strangely okay.  It is after all only one summer, not everything can realistically be wrapped up in a perfect bow after such a short period of time.  The story is beautifully illustrated though in blue and white that really complements the nostalgic and meditative feel of the story.

And I have got to hand it to First Second (who always publish amazing graphic novels), they’re not just publishing a coming-of-age graphic novel about two girls spending the summer in a lakeside cottage.  They’re publishing a graphic novel that tackles bigger issues like teen pregnancy, adult infertility, martial stress, friendship, sexuality, and more.

I didn’t cry, but I did not really expect to with such a quiet piece; I did have a lot of feels.  This graphic novel is definitely worth a read if just for the breathtaking art.

 

Winger

“Joey told me nothing ever goes back exactly the way it was, that things expand and contract- like breathing, but you could never fill your lungs up with the same air twice.”

Winger
by Andrew Smith
439 p. Simon & Schuster. May 2013.
Gr. 9 Up

14-year-old junior Ryan Dean West, nicknamed Winger for his position on Pine Mountain’s rugby team, is a self-proclaimed loser.  Told through frenetic first-person narrative, short comics, charts, and diagrams, he relates the story of his first couple of months at school.  He’s hopelessly in love with his best friend Annie, who sees him as a little boy and stuck in Opportunity Hall, the dormitory for troublemakers, rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team.  Ryan Dean’s narrations of his missteps are laced with wit and profanity, revealing the thoughts of a 14-year-old boy authentically.  Smith’s writing displays his understanding of teenage boys and he cleverly depicts the inner turmoil of boy just trying to fit in.  Despite being 400+ pages, the book is a quick read with a fast-moving and engaging pace.  Humorous, and ultimately devastating, this moving, coming-of-age story is impossible to forget.

The Feels

I am utterly heart broken. I had heard that something happened in the end of this book that would probably make me cry–one review I read said they cried until they were dehydrated!–but I still wasn’t quite expecting the emotional gut punch.  I was laughing out loud for 400 pages to the hormonally charged humor and misadventures of Ryan Dean until the book took a dark turn.  There are subtle hints along the way, so I thought I was prepared, but I was wrong.  I was completely shocked by the climax that left Ryan Dean speechless and forever changed, and I couldn’t help but cry.  I’m glad no one was around, because I was curled into a ball crying big, ugly tears.

No, I take it back. I actually could have used a hug at that point, in all honesty.

I wish there had more attention given to the aftermath of the dark conclusion, but I am still blown away by Smith’s book.

Also, there is apparently a sequel in the works: Stand-Off.Welcome to my TBR list, Stand-Off.

“The John Green Effect” and “GreenLit”

I just finished Andrew Smith’s Winger, which last year had been given the title of GreenLit by New York Times.  “GreenLit” according to New York Times is a thing used to define writers that either write in the style of John Green or writers John Green celebrates (e.g. Rainbow Rowell, A.S. King, e. lockhart).  I’m not going to go into what I think of the whole “GreenLit” definition (some people even call it a “genre”!) too much, but BookRiot pretty much sums up my thoughts on the term.

I know Green really helped bring the realistic genre featuring smart, self-aware teenage narrators with witty dialogue back to life, but he did not invent the genre.  Anyone else remember Blume, Hinton, or even Salinger? (Okay, technically, The Catcher in the Rye (1951) was originally published for adults, but it has since become really popular with youth because of its themes.) …And can we just talk about the reigning queen of contemporary YA? Sarah Dessen, folks. Sarah Dessen.

To me, it is honestly kind of demeaning to the authors’ talents and accomplishments; I’m sure these other authors would appreciate their books being evaluated on their own merits.

I recognize the importance of John Green. In fact, my blog might not have existed without Green, because he really did help usher in the trend in the revival of contemporary, realistic fiction.

https://twitter.com/johngreen/status/467020907169738752

But even Green think it’s ridiculous to claim he is the sole reason for the contemporary YA revival.

I want to make it clear that this blog is not about GreenLit; it’s about emotionally intense contemporary YA of which John Green’s books belong.  As a librarian, I love read-alikes, which are so important in reader’s advisory, and therefore can appreciate the whole, “Oh, you liked John Green? You may like one of these…” But what I can’t get behind is the idea that authors’ books be generalized based on the narrative style of Green or that Green should somehow be placed on a pedestal for all other YA contemporary realism to be compared against. There is so much range and nuance in contemporary realism, and grouping them all into GreenLit (or not GreenLit) really ignores the innovation and brilliance of the other authors.

Is it for boys? 2

Today, I tried to find some more information on contemporary realism and male readers.  I stumbled upon an article in The New York Times, “Boys and Reading:  Is There Any Hope?” that lists some theories as to why boys aren’t reading: the books being published, teachers don’t know what is out there for boys, boys prefer nonfiction, female editors/librarians/teachers, etc. I had high hopes for the article, but found myself agreeing more so with The Mary Sue‘s reaction to the article.

Fortunately, I stumbled upon, in my opinion, a better perspective. In a guest post on Stacked, Steve Brezenoff, author of The Absolute Value of -1 and Guy in Real Life, discusses “boy books.”  In it, he explains that there is no such thing as a book “for” boys, as not all boys are looking for the same things in a book.  He states:

“We need to see more characters that we find compelling, be they boys or girls, not because there’s a shortage, but because that’s what realistic fiction is, and we love realistic fiction. So yes, we want more. Implicit here (and throughout this column) is the idea that our boys/guys/dudes/bros should (yes, should; I don’t much like to use that word, but I am in this case) read realistic fiction that features girl protagonists. Would it be easier probably for many boys to pick up a novel if the main character were a boy? I suppose. And I suppose that I wish that weren’t the case.”

He does note some of the same things I was trying to convey in my earlier post as well about the boys in some works the don’t feel realistic, e.g. “boys with boys with beautiful abs and arms and eyes and hair. Boys who, despite being firmly in their adolescence, can charm and disarm a girl with the greatest of ease.”  I like these handsome and charming characters as much as the next and sometime this is what I want in my books, but I also want compelling and realistic male characters.

He closes,

“Let’s not pretend that there’s something inherently anti-girl about being a boy, and that there’s something inherently emasculating about empathizing with girl characters, or with empathy itself. Our boys are complex creatures, just like our girls, and they can (and should!) read stories about all people and all things, and we must stop pretending that they mustn’t.”

I completely agree that it’s important for young men to read and feel empathy for girl characters, and I honestly hope they are willing to do so.

Also worthy of checking out is teacher and author Jon Sciezka’s site, Guys Read, which contains suggestions for books and activities that guys may appeal to guys.