Cinderella (the ashen faced girl) and Cinder (the "lunar" cyborg)

I chose Cinderella by the Grimm brothers as my fairy tale, their story of Cinderella goes as follows: One particular Rich man’s first wife dies, after giving birth to good pious girl, and the man remarries a control freak and the wife brings two externally beautiful but internally vile, wretched and ugly daughters into the house.  The good and pious daughter forced to be maid and servant nick named Cinderella because she sleeps near the fireplace and ashes or cinders get on her.  As it just so happens there is a three day royal festival coming to town.

The tree growing from Cinderella’s mothers grave (where she cries and prays every chance she gets) and its birds give Cinderella a spectacular and gorgeous dress and slippers were so dazzling was her dress that her no one recognized her, the prince dances with Cinderella. On day two of the festival the tree and birds give Cinderella an even more beautiful dress, everyone was too astonished for words. Except the princess who calls Cinderella his “partner.”

One of Cinderella’s glass slippers is caught on stairway upon Cinderella’s quick escape. The Prince goes on quest to find the lady who will fit the “dainty” shoes. The evil step sisters cant mangle their feet without getting noticed and so Cinderella gets to marry the prince and the step sisters are rendered blind by birds for the rest of their miserable lives.

As a totally different take on the Cinderella story I chose Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer published in 2012.  In this dystopian sci-fi retelling of Cinderella, Cinder is a girl mechanic and servant who is also a “lunar” cyborg living in a dystopian New Beijing, on a planet earth that has been ravaged by a plague. Cinder is a servant who is, in disguise the single last hope for a planet doomed by the plague, but she has loyalties to the “lunars” who are because of a evil dictator woman hell bent on taking over the planet. Because of Cinder’s attraction to earth’s Prince Kai, Cinder finds her self in the midst of a intergalactic struggle that seems poised on the edge of war.

Caught between loyalty to her identity and her hearts desire, between honesty to who she is, and loyalty to her hearts desire. What is Cinder going to do? Common elements include the royal ball, a love interest that is also an important prince, a royal festival, a dropped slipper, horrible self image, abuse, bullying, and protagonist who is forced to be a servant for a long time (a number of years).

Cinder is a story book that is a great example of the mixing of science fiction and classic fairy tales. Cinder is a very likable character despite her mysterious and strange identity, and her sometimes quirky and clumsy behavior.  Marissa Meyers’s book speaks of betrayal of identity as a means to be honest to ones heart, an important lesson.

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. "Cinderella." 1999. National Geographic.com. 3 July 2003 <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/cinderella.html>
 Meyer, M. (2012). Cinder. New York: Feiwel and Friends.

Blind Eyes on the Prizes

Blind Eyes on the Prizes

I think that the focus on prizes skews the discussion from what is to what gets rewarded.  The books are written the same with or without any award, awards are simply, in my honest opinion most useful as marketing devices. The sales of books that win any youth literature awards are all but guaranteed to skyrocket sometimes exponentially after they are recognized or “win” the award(s).

 Some books are chosen by the Newberry committee that is so carefully described by Bonnie J.F. Miller in her Fall 1998 article “What Color is Gold?. The books that win the famous Newberry award or win Newberry Honors, certainly give evidence to how the award is used and tremendously successful at selling those books. 

The critique by Marc Aronson in his article “Slippery Slopes and Proliferating Prizes” is fascinating in its approach to defining some awards as “limited by” the award committee’s identity.  MY response is that I agree with Miller’s point that “literature is subjective” and that awards are, as she quotes Joan Lyon Atkinson, “chosen by imperfect human beings who are of a particular time and place; they reflect the values and priorities of their eras and backgrounds.” (Miller, 1998)

  

I think we should add more awards for every category whether it be quality in a genre or more awards for more specific identities to increase the knowledge and understanding of all identities racial or otherwise.

There is simply no way to take the human aspect and the identity aspect out of a single person much less a whole committee of people, so why be upset at the human condition, and humanity in general, when we can work with each other. Identity is always a factor as long as we hold on to, and are attached to those identities, we will have to distinguish literature based on those identities, especially ethnicities or other identities who are treated as maligned and marginalized minorities whose youth literature could otherwise be ignored entirely or worse. If we do not distinguish literature, it can be and I think will be lost to our library users.

pairing YA lit with classics

Bruce Robbins article about using YA lit in high school English classes, is full of insight. I particularly enjoyed his idea that with out help some readers can be lost in the gap between middle school and high school because some kids can't effectively jump that gap alone, and this can make the young adults distrusting of books. This distancing from books can make some young adults become forced to read classic literature, which are usually books reluctant readers don't enjoy and because of this some readers can disengage and struggle to understand books through out the rest of their lives. I also like the methods and strategies Robbins article suggests for using new YA books and integrating them with the classics. 

As for how to incorporate more contemporary YA materials I would consult the award winners, as well as doing my own research to find what classic could fit with what new YA book or material (suggest non print materials for my students to use to better understand themes, plot, dilemmas, etc.).   

As for my own pairing of a classic with a relatively new YA book Ophelia by Lisa M. Klein copyright 2006, and Hamlet by Shakespeare would be my first choice of pairing for High School English Classes, that is not discussed by Robbins. I like Ophelia by Klein because it presents an alternate take where Hamlet takes a back seat to his lover Ophelia, and the book tells of the alternate point of view and different plot in a way that has Ophelia surviving, and searching for her life's meaning. It is a page turning thriller where all is revealed in the end.  

The Treasure Chest Series

The Treasure Chest series by Ann Hood is an ongoing series (book 7 comes out this fall and book 8 comes out next spring) that stated with Angel of the Battlefield that was published in January 2013. The series (meant for ages 8-12) tells of the adventures in current time the journeys in time travel of brother and sister 12 year old twins  (Felix and Maisie) of divorced parents. The series is a collection of stand-alone books about traveling back in time to different historical figures. In book one, Felix and Maisie have been forced to move to a new house because of their parent’s divorce, the mother decides to move with them into their great aunt Maisie’s old apartment in a mansion that is owned by a historical society/restoration museum.  The twins explore the mansion, first as part of a tour then they explore the off limit parts of the mansion called Elm Medona on their own.

                                                                                        

 On the first of their escapades in the forbidden areas of the huge house, then find a room containing a treasure chest full of fascinating and historical things, notes, coins, and other mysterious objects. The twins end up going make visits to a different historical figure in each book, and time and time again they try to not alter history (this is tricky as often the twins need to learn the history they are visiting) in the process.

The character development and the dynamics between each of the twins and their elderly great aunt Maisie (who now lives in a special assist senior living home) is carefully thought out and described in depth. I especially enjoyed the humor that is sometimes resounding and the levity that is sometimes carefully hidden in this series. It warms my heart that there is such an awesome series that reminds me a lot of the Time Warp Trio that I read when I was a 2^nd grader. 

lets have a serious talk about youth series

I am irked by Anne Scott MacLeod and her rant/tantrum about the limitations and her issues with juvenile series fiction. I understand her perspective about the different books she brings up, but I have a problem with going from old fashioned/classic series and drawing generalized conclusions about all series based on a handful of series from at least 40 years ago.  Lets carefully deconstruct some of her claims in the second to last paragraph in her diatribe. The generalization about series being predictable might have some merit to it, but as for the series book “always ending satisfactorily for the protagonist, who is the reader’s surrogate“ I see a logical fallacies. 1. Things end satisfactorily for the protagonist, this is not always the case, there are several series where there is devastating circumstances in which the protagonist barely survives and loses a lover, a dear friend, a family member.

Moving on, series books “reaffirm, rather than challenge”. I have been challenged by a number of series, from Goosebumps to Delirium, to the Books of Elsewhere.

As for “their grievous lacks as literature” this is simply empty angry banter. I know many series books that could become classics someday, they are that good as literature. Anne Scott MacLeod wrote an article about series fiction where she made dismissive comments about a huge diversity of books based on a few older examples, this, especially her second to last paragraph, is to me simply a quite insubstantial rant. 

I like the last paragraph in Mark I. West’s 1985 article, where it says that the objections that librarians had against “unrealistic child heroes found in series books were based on the notion that childhood innocence should be both protected and prolonged.”   Kids should as soon as they are able, learn some emotional resilience, and test their boundaries and learn how they can enhance their own personal growth and well being thorough books that challenge them.

Do series books encourage a lifelong love of reading? 

Series defiantly encourage a lifelong love of reading, as one good book deserves another is the idea of reading and the same idea of a series.

Do they promote shallow intellectual habits? 

Not all series promote shallow intellectual habits, and honestly I have yet to find one series that even tries to shallow thinking and analysis.

Should schools and libraries include this lightweight material in their collections? 

I don’t really know what lightweight materials means, but if your talking about fluffy, less serious, more happiness and peace, and goodwill then yes, lightweight materials are essential.

How would you encourage a reader to move beyond the familiar and explore literature that does not necessarily have a sequel? 

I would encourage a reader to move beyond the familiar and explore literature that does not have a sequel by telling him or her that all the same elements in a series book can be found in many non-series books. 

Macleod, A. S. (1984). Secret in the trash bin: On the perennial popularity of juvenile series books (PDF). Children’s Literature in Education 15(3):127-140.

West, M. (1985). Not to be circulated: The response of librarians to dime novels (PDF).  Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 10(3):137-139.

Dont Criticize what you don't or can't understand, Folks!

Young adult fiction in all its complexities, from its beauty, and pain, to it’s themes, it’s villains, it’s hero’s and all the lessons hidden in their pages, there is always something new, either a new understanding, a new insight, or just simply enjoyment to be gained from reading them. None of this is shameful, none of this is “depraved” or “dirt.” We must keep an open mind to what can be gained from reading. YA books before we, in self-righteous indignation and selfish anger try to censure a literature of which many of us do not understand. There is plenty of truth to the old saying “Don’t criticize what you can’t or don’t understand.”

I think the article from the Wall Street Journal titled: “Darkness Too Visible” by Meghan Cox Gurdon is a massive exaggeration of what some consider the “moral depravity” and “dirtying” of the youth of the United States through literature. No one is, as Gurdon claims some publishers “try to bulldoze coarseness or misery into” the lives of children. In my experience, most children much less youth these days are quite well aware of the suffering and misery of others especially those around them before they get into new adulthood. Compassion and understanding of others life circumstances including all degrees of suffering and misery is actually a crucial aspect of many peoples definitions of maturity. This full and manifest maturity is, some argue, the goal of effectively making it through adolescence into young adulthood.  I don’t think it is the role of a parent or any other gatekeeper to inhibit the intellectual, personal, creative, or any other type of healthy and effective growth and development of any child or youth.

On top of this Gurdon chooses a few of the most troubling books in the YA literature genre, while ignoring many of the less extreme books not to mention avoiding the lessons that are to be learned from even the most “depraved” books. I hasten to admit that there might be something to be learned from the kids killing kids in the Hunger Games, I just haven’t figured it out even with my interactions with a number of Hunger Game fans.

I agree entirely with Laurie Halse Anderson in her blog post “Stuck between rage and compassion”, that young adult literature saves lives ever single day. I also agree when she writes that “Kids and teens need their parents to be brave and honest to prepare them for the real world.”  

There is a world of difference between exposure and advocating. Creating an understanding and promoting an illicit or sinister act are not at the same thing.

I am reminded of my own limitations, and narrow views about the Hunger Games especially when I read Linda Holmes’s blog entry “Seeing Teenagers AS we wish they were: The Debate over YA fiction “of the similarities between Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies. I appreciated Holmes’s statement about how Shakespeare himself was quite full of controversial and potentially “depraved” themes, characters and events. 

The comfort level of the parents in terms of the newly darker and grimmer fiction of this current generation is not always going to be the same level of the teenager in terms of accepting the diversity of life experiences. This discretion discrepancy is not a viable excuse for censorship, but is in fact an indicator  of not a warning sign for increase parental involvement and care, not parental  suppression.  I would bet a lot of books that these YA books of today save and improve more lives daily then they could ever “ruin”. In terms of younger people wanting to read material which is potentially unsuitable for them I would only give advice through discussing themes, characters, subject matter and plots in book talks as I would to any person in my library. 

To respond to challenges to the dark materials I would point to the first amendment, and to the intellectual and creative freedoms for which librarians stand for.

Sources:
Anderson, L. H. (June 5, 2011). Stuck between rage and compassion (WEB). Laurie Halse Anderson.
Retrieved January 19, 2012 from http://madwomanintheforest.com/stuck-between-rage-
and-compassion/.

Gurdon, M. C. (June 4, 2011). A darkness too visible (WEB). Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 16, 2012 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576357622592697038.html.

Holmes, L. (2011, June 6). Seeing teenagers as we wish they were:  The debate over YA fiction (WEB).   Money See, National Public Radio. Retrieved June 22, 2013 from             http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/06/06/137005354/seeing-teenagers-as-we-wish-they-were-the-debate-over-ya-fiction.

Nel, P. (June 5, 2011). Why Meghan can't read (WEB). Nine Kinds of Pie. Retrieved January 19, 2012 from
http://www.philnel.com/2011/06/05/cantread/.

Ivy: Homeless in San Francisco

The book I chose to talk about for Family Life Example post 1900 is:  Ivy: Homeless in San Francisco by Summer Brenner which is masterfully illustrated by Brian Bowes published in 2011 by PM Press and distributed by Reach and Teach. This book is a sometimes funny, often delightful, sometimes painful but most of the time it is a moving story with a crucial lesson about the energy, vitality, strength and pivotal role of family in the lives of young children. This children’s novel is about Ivy and her father Poppy. More importantly Summer Brenner’s marvelous work is a book is about an average eleven year old girl named Ivy who has some extraordinary experiences and adventures which include living in a loft, to being homeless in San Francisco (everything form living in a car, living in a park, to living in a shelter) to finding and in effect adopting dog before they are taken in by an elderly couple.  Ivy sometimes misses school for extended periods of time through out her experiences as homeless because she is so often on the move. Ivy slowly gets her new life together in more effective and heartfelt ways through her relationship to her dad and the humor, hope, resilience and love they share. She learns that life itself, and lessons from her dad, can have lessons that are more practical, impactful and lasting than any lessons from school.

Homelessness, particularly for youth, children and single parent families is steadily rising every year across the United States.  The publishers of the book are trying to do something about it through Project IVY.  

Reach and Teach has also successfully integrated the book with California state standards so it can be taught in schools around the bay area with this study guide.

To relate this to the assignment, Poppy and Ivy have a phenomenal father-daughter relationship that is carefully crafted through out the book. The missing mother is explained and Poppy’s relationship to his own dad (Ivy’s paternal grandpa) is explained in bits and pieces as well.  Ivy: Homeless in San Francisco examines the role of family in single parent (in Ivy’s case single father) homeless families, which is an overlooked but tragically growing population in the Bar Area and across the United States. I for one am incredibly impressed by the resilience, strength, integrity, humor, and love through out this book, especially the unique but somehow universal father daughter bond Poppy and Ivy share.