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Tag Archives: young adult lit
A Novel Forged by Voice and Determination
My Bias
It is only fair to you, Dear Reader, that you know that I have known Erica George for a long, long time. I first met her in 1999 when she was an eighth grader walking into my English language arts class for the first time. Even then, she was a writer. The year I had Erica our curriculum had changed, and students no longer had a period for reading and a period for language arts (which was a writing class). Instead we were trying to cram everything into one 42-minute class. And I felt like I wasn’t doing her or any of my other writers justice because we lost the time to work in our notebooks. We lost time to explore. And we lost writing choice. Gone was the time when we could take a deep breath and emerge ourselves in words. However, as I followed Erica’s journey from student to ELA teacher to writer author, I learned that my students will most likely succeed in spite of me and not because of me.
Posted in Words/Language
Tagged as: dual narratives, erica george, poetry, romance, YA, YA Lit, YA Literature, young adult lit, young adult literature
On Pointe
After reading The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert, I decided to check out her back list. I chose Pointe and Little & Lion to add to my classroom library. Pointe initially intrigued me because the protagonist dances. I can’t think of one single book in my classroom library that features dance as part of the book and yet I have a lot of students involved in dance. The tagline on the cover also grabbed my attention: “First he stole her heart. Then he took her friend. Now she knows the truth.”
Book Cover
Posted in Coming of Age
Tagged as: eating disorder, pointe, sexual abuse, Voice, YA, YA Lit, YA Literature, young adult lit, young adult literature
Stealing Power
“With a smart and stealthy heroine who should appeal to Gallagher Girls fans, Carter’s story is fast-paced and popcorn-ready” (Publishers Weekly).
In my last post, I explored the problematic relationships found in Pretty in Pink and The Anatomy of a Misfit. I was (and still am) concerned about the images we present to our girls about being female. I’m still bothered that Andie and Anika did speak up and yet they were silenced. But not all portrayals of female characters in YA are still stuck pre-second wave Feminist Movement.
Posted in Coming of Age, Uncategorized
Tagged as: Heist society, YA, YA Lit, YA Literature, young adult lit, young adult literature
Pretty Misfit
Yesterday morning I was up early and flipping through the channel guide looking for something mindless to watch. My brain was still half asleep, and I just wanted the tv equivalent of comfort food. I was surprised to see that Pop TV was showing Pretty in Pink. Admittedly, this was not one of my favorite 80’s movies, but I could resist the pull of the Duckman, so I flipped to it.
Posted in Coming of Age
Tagged as: anatomy of a misfit, gen x, pretty in pink, YA, YA Lit, YA Literature, young adult lit, young adult literature
This Is Not Your Typical Coming-of-Age Book
In exploring This Is Not the Jess Show by Anna Carey, I’m going to do something I normally don’t do. I’m going to start with a very brief summary. I’m playing with the structure of the blog a bit, and I really think this post lends itself to lists. So you’ll see a lot of them this week.
Summary:
It’s 1998, and Jess is a junior in high school. She’s dealing with normal high school things:
- A crush on her best friend, Tyler
- An unwanted date to the Spring Formal
- Trying to get out of the house even though she’s grounded
Posted in Coming of Age
Tagged as: Coming of Age, Identity, The is not the Jess Show, YA Lit, YA Literature, young adult lit, young adult literature