Harris, Charlaine (2001). New York: Ace Books. # ISBN-10: 0441008534/ # ISBN-13: 978-0441008537The violence in the novel
Plot
In the world of Dead Until Dark, vampires have come out of the closet. Now that the Japanese have marketed ‘True Blood’, a synthetic blood substitute, they don’t have to hunt people any more and have no reason to hide. Ironically, the blood of vampires has now become a marketable commodity as it confers amazing strength, stamina and healing power on its human consumer. Sookie Stackhouse is excited when her first real vampire comes into the bar where she works. She likes him right away, and not just because he’s vampire cute. Sookie can read minds—she’s barraged by mental messages from others, whether she wants them or not, but the vampire’s mental frequency is peacefully blank for Sookie. Sookie has lived with her grandma on their family property in the countryside outside Shreveport since losing both her parents. She has a fairly worthless brother. Soon after Bill the vampire comes to town there is a succession of murders. At first Bill is a suspect, due to some inconvenient puncture wounds; then Sookie’s brother is the focus, as he was involved with a few of the victims. Sadly, the grandma is the next victim, and Sookie has to work with Bill to investigate a Shreveport club full of shady vampires and their creepy human ‘fangbanger’ girlfriends, all the while sensing that the threat may lay closer to home. Meanwhile, Sookie’s boss, Sam, who may be more than he appears to be, keeps a close eye on Sookie.
Reader’s Annotation
Vampires are out of the closet in modern Louisiana, and into psychic Sookie Stackhouse’s life. When her grandmother is brutally murdered, Sookie joins talents with her new vampire date to solve the mystery.
Critique
Well, if there are shapeshifters and vampires, the peculiar communities of rural Louisiana are where I’d expect to find them. The southern atmosphere, from the juke joint parking lot to the steamy weather, is a contributing strength of the story, and some of the comic touches were deft—especially good was the moment the vampire is roped in to talk to the grandma’s Civil War group—so much for glamour and mystery (Although his actual talk was kind of affecting, as he had known some of the ancestors of audience members). The violence in the book was somewhat repellent. Sookie is beat almost to death about three times, then brought back from swooning near-death with the precious bodily fluids of her vampire, twisting sex and violence a little too tightly together for light entertainment. Similarly, the death of the grandmother doesn’t fit comfortably in the genre conventions of this type of novel—too real; too much grief; too much pain—maybe Harris should break out and do a serious novel.
About the author
Charlaine Harris is a warden of her church, she grew up in and lives in the South, and she writes steamy, violent vampire books. So it goes. Now there is a TV show of the Sookie Stackhouse stories called True Blood.
Genre
Mystery/fantasy
Curriculum Ties
None
Booktalking Ideas
If we could invite a vampire to give a speech…
Vampire comparisons: The Cullens; Bill Compton; Lestat; Dracula…
Mind reading—gift or curse
Reading Level/Interest Age
Crossover
Challenge Issues
Sex and violence!
Gather teen responses; Candace Walton’s “Crossing Over” quotes Time Magazine on the Sookie Stackhouse books as teen
crossover favorites.
Why Included?
Student recommendations
Selection Tools
YA author Annette Curtis Klause recommended on YALSA 2008 teen read week page at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/teenreading/trw/trw2008/resources/index.cfm
Fearless Fourteen
Evanovitch, Janet (2008). [Kindle 2.0.3 version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Plot
This is the 14th Stephanie Plum mystery, and some things haven’t changed. Stephanie is still a semi-incompetent bail bounty hunter working for her cousin Vinnie, with Lula the plus-size ex ho as her assistant, and is still hanging around her old New Jersey neighborhood, the Burg. She still vacillates between gorgeous Italian cop Joe Morelli, her childhood ‘doctor-playing’ partner, and the mysterious Cuban Ranger, big time bounty hunter, and her hamster, Rex, is still alive in his tomato can, making him perhaps the oldest hamster in history. In this installment of the never-advancing saga, Stephanie picks up Morelli’s cousin on a small charge, and ends up having to stay with the cousin's son , Mario, a role-playing game freak, at Morelli’s house. Mario is also known as ‘Zook’, and will grafitti any available surface, including Morelli’s dog. Somehow local stoner Mooner, Stephanie’s old classmate and a big fan of Zook’s’s RPG work, also ends up at Morelli’s.
Nine million dollars from an old bank robbery is missing. Loretta’s angry brother in involved, and somebody keeps breaking in to Morelli’s basement—apparently word on the street is that the money is down there. Meanwhile, Loretta’s angry brother confronts Stephanie with the news that Mario may be more than Joe’s cousin, but Stephanie has bigger worries—she is hired by Ranger to do body guard work on Brenda, a famous fading singer, but does not protect Brenda from an insane monkey who jumps into her hair. Although someone’s pinky toes do arrive in a box, the resolution at the end is happy if complex.
Reader’s Annotation
Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter, only she’s not very good at it. Fortunately she has a lot of help from cop almost-fiance Joe Morelli, and almost-more-than-friends security expert Ranger. In this episode, former robbers have hidden nine million dollars in the Burg, Stephanie’s own neighborhood, and everybody wants it—even Stephanie’s grandmother is digging in Morelli’s yard!
Critique
I was never a fan of humorous mysteries till my students kept passing Stephanie Plum books on to me. Now I make an exception for her alone and read every one. As mentioned, the plot situation is static, clearly a conscious choice by Evanovitch—she keeps the sexual tension and the romantic suspense high by leaving Stephanie undecided. The books are frequently laugh—out-loud hilarious. Especially funny is always the comedy concerning old New Jersey residents—every old person in Stephanie’s apartment building has a big gun and will come out with that thing flailing and blazing whenever they think something is up. Her grandma goes to all the funerals in the Burg to compare refreshments and ceremonies. Not only do these books have fast-paced, if improbable plots, entertiaining dialogue, and great Jersey settings, they have a romantic triangle situation that is really...fun.
About the author
Janet Evanovich actually does come from a close-knit Jersey immigrant community. She published 12 successful romance novels before moving into the action/adventure genre. After the first 3, all the Stephanie Plum titles have been chosen by fans (which may be why they are kind of dumb).
Genre
Mystery/romance
Curriculum Ties
Just for fun
Booktalking Ideas
Advice on choosing between Morelli and Ranger
Stephanie’s Wild Jersey World
Being a Bounty Hunter
Reading Level/Interest Age
[Crossover]
Challenge Issues
Mild sexual allusions
Share this Mass. Library Ppt on Adult fiction for Young Adults, with its mention of Evanovich
Why Included?
A student bought it for me!
Selection Tools
14th in a popular series
Plot
This is the 14th Stephanie Plum mystery, and some things haven’t changed. Stephanie is still a semi-incompetent bail bounty hunter working for her cousin Vinnie, with Lula the plus-size ex ho as her assistant, and is still hanging around her old New Jersey neighborhood, the Burg. She still vacillates between gorgeous Italian cop Joe Morelli, her childhood ‘doctor-playing’ partner, and the mysterious Cuban Ranger, big time bounty hunter, and her hamster, Rex, is still alive in his tomato can, making him perhaps the oldest hamster in history. In this installment of the never-advancing saga, Stephanie picks up Morelli’s cousin on a small charge, and ends up having to stay with the cousin's son , Mario, a role-playing game freak, at Morelli’s house. Mario is also known as ‘Zook’, and will grafitti any available surface, including Morelli’s dog. Somehow local stoner Mooner, Stephanie’s old classmate and a big fan of Zook’s’s RPG work, also ends up at Morelli’s.
Nine million dollars from an old bank robbery is missing. Loretta’s angry brother in involved, and somebody keeps breaking in to Morelli’s basement—apparently word on the street is that the money is down there. Meanwhile, Loretta’s angry brother confronts Stephanie with the news that Mario may be more than Joe’s cousin, but Stephanie has bigger worries—she is hired by Ranger to do body guard work on Brenda, a famous fading singer, but does not protect Brenda from an insane monkey who jumps into her hair. Although someone’s pinky toes do arrive in a box, the resolution at the end is happy if complex.
Reader’s Annotation
Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter, only she’s not very good at it. Fortunately she has a lot of help from cop almost-fiance Joe Morelli, and almost-more-than-friends security expert Ranger. In this episode, former robbers have hidden nine million dollars in the Burg, Stephanie’s own neighborhood, and everybody wants it—even Stephanie’s grandmother is digging in Morelli’s yard!
Critique
I was never a fan of humorous mysteries till my students kept passing Stephanie Plum books on to me. Now I make an exception for her alone and read every one. As mentioned, the plot situation is static, clearly a conscious choice by Evanovitch—she keeps the sexual tension and the romantic suspense high by leaving Stephanie undecided. The books are frequently laugh—out-loud hilarious. Especially funny is always the comedy concerning old New Jersey residents—every old person in Stephanie’s apartment building has a big gun and will come out with that thing flailing and blazing whenever they think something is up. Her grandma goes to all the funerals in the Burg to compare refreshments and ceremonies. Not only do these books have fast-paced, if improbable plots, entertiaining dialogue, and great Jersey settings, they have a romantic triangle situation that is really...fun.
About the author
Janet Evanovich actually does come from a close-knit Jersey immigrant community. She published 12 successful romance novels before moving into the action/adventure genre. After the first 3, all the Stephanie Plum titles have been chosen by fans (which may be why they are kind of dumb).
Genre
Mystery/romance
Curriculum Ties
Just for fun
Booktalking Ideas
Advice on choosing between Morelli and Ranger
Stephanie’s Wild Jersey World
Being a Bounty Hunter
Reading Level/Interest Age
[Crossover]
Challenge Issues
Mild sexual allusions
Share this Mass. Library Ppt on Adult fiction for Young Adults, with its mention of Evanovich
Why Included?
A student bought it for me!
Selection Tools
14th in a popular series
Speak
Anderson, Laurie Halse (1999). New York: Scholastic. ISBN-10: 014131088X
ISBN-13: 978-0141310886
Plot
No one at her high school is talking to freshman Melinda, ever since she called the cops to break up a teen drinking party the summer before, and Melinda’s not talking either, hardly ever. That’s because, we find out later, of what happened at the party between Melinda and Andy Evans, a predatory senior. As the year goes on Melinda becomes more isolated and depressed. She fixes herself a little refuge in an old janitor’s closet, decorating the space with her art and a poster of Maya Angelou, and spends time alone in there. The book is divided into the grading periods of freshman year; Melinda and her teachers both rate her lower and lower as the year goes on. Only the art teacher keeps making connection and pushing at Melinda. With spring Melinda begins to make a fragile connection with her science lab partner, David. Then Rachel, Melinda’s former best friend, starts going out with Andy, and Melinda forces herself to speak. Even though this does no good at first, the suspicion does move Rachel to back off from Andy, and provokes Andy’s behavior out into the open, where Melinda can assert herself against him and his behavior is witnessed by others.
Reader’s Annotation
Since she called the cops during a teen drinking party last summer, nobody’s speaking to Melissa during her freshman year, and she herself can barely speak at all. The reason Melinda made that call, and the reason why she now spend her school days hiding in a janitor’s closet, clearly has to do with Andy Evans, a senior referred to by Melinda as IT.
Critique
This was an excellent book. Melinda is acute and observant, and even when so depressed, her observations of high school are very keen and humorous. Her mental state is reflected in the recurring images—trees, mirrors, skin, and all the examinations of speech, voice, and silence. Her pain and isolation are realistic and piteous, and the ending of the book was cathartic.
About the author
Laurie Halse Anderson was born in 1961 in upstate New York, near where Speak is set. She has written many very successful YA books, but she started out her writing career as a journalist. She says Speak is not based on her life or her daughter’s, thank God.
Genre
YA/Mental, Emotional, Behavioral problems (Genreflecting)
Curriculum Ties
English
Booktalking Ideas
Why wouldn't someone tell?
What was the connection between Art class and Melinda’s healing?
What could her parents have done differently to help her?
Reading Level/Interest Age
Middle school through high School (Genreflecting)
Challenge Issues
Rape
Be knowledgeable about the book and prepared to discuss it calmly. Provide complaint form per board policy; Provide SLJ, Booklist, Library Journal reviews available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/014131088X/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
National Book Award finalist
Why Included?
Scholastic Read 180 Program, YALSA Lists
Selection Tools
YALSA Lists
ISBN-13: 978-0141310886
Plot
No one at her high school is talking to freshman Melinda, ever since she called the cops to break up a teen drinking party the summer before, and Melinda’s not talking either, hardly ever. That’s because, we find out later, of what happened at the party between Melinda and Andy Evans, a predatory senior. As the year goes on Melinda becomes more isolated and depressed. She fixes herself a little refuge in an old janitor’s closet, decorating the space with her art and a poster of Maya Angelou, and spends time alone in there. The book is divided into the grading periods of freshman year; Melinda and her teachers both rate her lower and lower as the year goes on. Only the art teacher keeps making connection and pushing at Melinda. With spring Melinda begins to make a fragile connection with her science lab partner, David. Then Rachel, Melinda’s former best friend, starts going out with Andy, and Melinda forces herself to speak. Even though this does no good at first, the suspicion does move Rachel to back off from Andy, and provokes Andy’s behavior out into the open, where Melinda can assert herself against him and his behavior is witnessed by others.
Reader’s Annotation
Since she called the cops during a teen drinking party last summer, nobody’s speaking to Melissa during her freshman year, and she herself can barely speak at all. The reason Melinda made that call, and the reason why she now spend her school days hiding in a janitor’s closet, clearly has to do with Andy Evans, a senior referred to by Melinda as IT.
Critique
This was an excellent book. Melinda is acute and observant, and even when so depressed, her observations of high school are very keen and humorous. Her mental state is reflected in the recurring images—trees, mirrors, skin, and all the examinations of speech, voice, and silence. Her pain and isolation are realistic and piteous, and the ending of the book was cathartic.
About the author
Laurie Halse Anderson was born in 1961 in upstate New York, near where Speak is set. She has written many very successful YA books, but she started out her writing career as a journalist. She says Speak is not based on her life or her daughter’s, thank God.
Genre
YA/Mental, Emotional, Behavioral problems (Genreflecting)
Curriculum Ties
English
Booktalking Ideas
Why wouldn't someone tell?
What was the connection between Art class and Melinda’s healing?
What could her parents have done differently to help her?
Reading Level/Interest Age
Middle school through high School (Genreflecting)
Challenge Issues
Rape
Be knowledgeable about the book and prepared to discuss it calmly. Provide complaint form per board policy; Provide SLJ, Booklist, Library Journal reviews available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/014131088X/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
National Book Award finalist
Why Included?
Scholastic Read 180 Program, YALSA Lists
Selection Tools
YALSA Lists
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
Little Brother
Doctorow, Cory (2008). New York,:Tor. ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-1985-2
Plot
Reader’s Annotation
Critique
About the author
Genre
Curriculum Ties
Booktalking Ideas
Reading Level/Interest Age
Challenge Issues
Why Included?
Selection Tools
Doctorow, Cory (2008). New York,:Tor. ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-1985-2
Plot
Reader’s Annotation
Critique
About the author
Genre
Curriculum Ties
Booktalking Ideas
Reading Level/Interest Age
Challenge Issues
Why Included?
Selection Tools
Rocket Science
HBO Films (Producer), and Blitz, Jeffrey (Director), (2007). USA: Picturehouse Entertainment.
Plot
The unfortunately named Hal Hefner who has a debilitating stutter, is recruited for the debate team by Ginny, an aggressive champion whose former partner had a breakdown at the State Championships the year before. This is the insane world of traditional policy debate, where not only bins full of evidence and reams of analysis are necessary, but lightening-fast delivery virtually unintelligible to the uninitiated is also required. Ginny’s motives are unclear, perhaps even to her, but she works with Hal on his stutter, as does a school therapist, and she drills him in research and argumentation skills. At the same time, Hal’s parents’ marriage disintegrates, causing his already unstable older brother to increase his weird kleptomania . Soon, Mom has a new boyfriend, a Korean judge, who has a son also gradually drawn in to debate. Gradually, Hal improves, but he is still far from ready for major competition, and at a certain point, Ginny dumps him, transferring to a neighboring private school. Hal finds his sense of self-assertion and goes into the city to find and partner up with Ginny’s legendary drop-out genius former partner. Do they practice long hours? Does the pressure mount as the competition date draws nearer? Will there be an inevitable showdown with the female betrayer? Well, not exactly—it’s an indy movie; things don’t go quite as we might expect.
Reader’s Annotation
Is a spot on a championship debate squad the best cure for the debilitating stutter that plagues Hal Hefner? That’s the contention of Ginny, whose last partner did a mental walkabout during the state championships the year before. But what does she see in Hal, and can he live up to her expectations?
Critique
The film has good intentions—to use competitive debate and parental relationships as a way of looking at the difficulties of ‘finding a voice’ and understanding the complexities of love. These things, Hal says, shouldn’t be Rocket Science. Anyone who has been involved with high school debate can attest that Blitz gets some things perfectly right—the drab hallways; the cheap suits; Ginny’s insanely competitive personality--but the film is pretty much a mess. A narrative voice-over is often an admission on the part of the film-maker that things aren’t making sense, and that certainly holds true here. There just isn’t room in one film for a berserk kleptomaniac brother, a philosophizing debate drop out, an Edward Hopper-inspired interlude with depressed dad in a run-down Jersey shore resort, and the hero, in a John Cusack moment, throwing a cello through the window of his former debate partner love object’s house. After re-watching the end, I still can’t decide whether Ginny and Ben’s behavior is ambiguous or just incoherent, but I lean toward the latter.
About the author
The film is very autobiographical, as Blitz, who also directed Spellbound, the documentary on spelling bees, does suffer from a serious stutter, and did attempt to improve it through high school debate participation.
Genre
YA film
Curriculum Ties
Excerpts-speech and debate
Booktalking Ideas
Use Youtube of real champion policy debaters—is this public speaking?
The ambitious high school student type
Getting used to Mom’s new boyfriend
Reading Level/Interest Age
Challenge Issues
Sexual language and content.
Rated R, but the director has complained that the main objectionable content is the ancient Indian art used to illustrate an edition of the Kama Sutra featured in the film.
Be knowledgeable about the book and prepared to discuss it calmly. Provide complaint form per board policy;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Science_(film)#Awards_and_nominations
Why Included?
Looking for Debate movies
Selection Tools
Sundance Film Award Nominations
Plot
The unfortunately named Hal Hefner who has a debilitating stutter, is recruited for the debate team by Ginny, an aggressive champion whose former partner had a breakdown at the State Championships the year before. This is the insane world of traditional policy debate, where not only bins full of evidence and reams of analysis are necessary, but lightening-fast delivery virtually unintelligible to the uninitiated is also required. Ginny’s motives are unclear, perhaps even to her, but she works with Hal on his stutter, as does a school therapist, and she drills him in research and argumentation skills. At the same time, Hal’s parents’ marriage disintegrates, causing his already unstable older brother to increase his weird kleptomania . Soon, Mom has a new boyfriend, a Korean judge, who has a son also gradually drawn in to debate. Gradually, Hal improves, but he is still far from ready for major competition, and at a certain point, Ginny dumps him, transferring to a neighboring private school. Hal finds his sense of self-assertion and goes into the city to find and partner up with Ginny’s legendary drop-out genius former partner. Do they practice long hours? Does the pressure mount as the competition date draws nearer? Will there be an inevitable showdown with the female betrayer? Well, not exactly—it’s an indy movie; things don’t go quite as we might expect.
Reader’s Annotation
Is a spot on a championship debate squad the best cure for the debilitating stutter that plagues Hal Hefner? That’s the contention of Ginny, whose last partner did a mental walkabout during the state championships the year before. But what does she see in Hal, and can he live up to her expectations?
Critique
The film has good intentions—to use competitive debate and parental relationships as a way of looking at the difficulties of ‘finding a voice’ and understanding the complexities of love. These things, Hal says, shouldn’t be Rocket Science. Anyone who has been involved with high school debate can attest that Blitz gets some things perfectly right—the drab hallways; the cheap suits; Ginny’s insanely competitive personality--but the film is pretty much a mess. A narrative voice-over is often an admission on the part of the film-maker that things aren’t making sense, and that certainly holds true here. There just isn’t room in one film for a berserk kleptomaniac brother, a philosophizing debate drop out, an Edward Hopper-inspired interlude with depressed dad in a run-down Jersey shore resort, and the hero, in a John Cusack moment, throwing a cello through the window of his former debate partner love object’s house. After re-watching the end, I still can’t decide whether Ginny and Ben’s behavior is ambiguous or just incoherent, but I lean toward the latter.
About the author
The film is very autobiographical, as Blitz, who also directed Spellbound, the documentary on spelling bees, does suffer from a serious stutter, and did attempt to improve it through high school debate participation.
Genre
YA film
Curriculum Ties
Excerpts-speech and debate
Booktalking Ideas
Use Youtube of real champion policy debaters—is this public speaking?
The ambitious high school student type
Getting used to Mom’s new boyfriend
Reading Level/Interest Age
Challenge Issues
Sexual language and content.
Rated R, but the director has complained that the main objectionable content is the ancient Indian art used to illustrate an edition of the Kama Sutra featured in the film.
Be knowledgeable about the book and prepared to discuss it calmly. Provide complaint form per board policy;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Science_(film)#Awards_and_nominations
Why Included?
Looking for Debate movies
Selection Tools
Sundance Film Award Nominations
The It Girl
Von Ziegesar, C.(2005). [Kindle 2/0/3 version]. ISBN-10: 0316011851/
ISBN-13: 978-0316011853Retrieved from Amazon.com.
Plot
Jenny has been kicked out of her old Manhattan school, Constance Billiard, which is featured in The Gossip Girl series. For some reason, she decides the best way to make a fresh start at her new boarding school, Waverly Academy, will be to intimate to a boy she meets on the school-bound train that she had been involved in naked modeling, so she starts out faced with the rumors that she had been a stripper. Jenny is a bit schizophrenic though—where Old Jenny might have been at some pains to correct the rumors, New Jenny prefers the salacious interest to obscurity. She also prefers her new roommates, popular Callie and Brett, to other, more virtuous ‘Waverly Owls’—the ‘old school’ nick-name for people at her new prep school. Jenny gets caught at night in the girls’ dorm with Callie’s boyfriend, Easy, and although their encounter is accidental, Jenny agrees to take the blame, because neither Easy or Callie has any free chances left before expulsion. Jenny gets involved with field hockey, at which she turns out to be a natural, and continues with an interest in Art. Everybody drinks; all the cool kids smoke. Will privilege and subterfuge triumph? What do you think?
Reader’s Annotation
Fresh-faced Jenny arrives at Waverly and is soon embroiled in the gossip, romance, and field hockey of this hard-drinking, chain-smoking, e-taking, exclusive prep school. Will the other Waverly Owls accept her even though her skirt is only a Marc Jacobs knock-off? Possibly, since her breasts are very large.
Critique
I really hate these books. That the writing is competent only reveals that the people creating these know just how evil the books are. It’s not the small-time glorification of smoking and drinking or other teen rebelliousness that is so repulsive—it’s the pervasive materialism and shallow vanity which are unquestioned values for all the main characters. I will admit to reading Judith Kranz in the past with enormous guilty pleasure—no one could love vicarious couture and exotic travel more than I, but those books always held on to the old romantic notion that these things are ultimately worthless without True Love. In The It Girl ,love isn't even in the running with status and wealth, and a true character flaw is when your Marc Jacobs skirt turns out to be a knockoff.
Plus, the plot is lame and the writing has no wit, except for the contrast between the starchy maxims of the old Waverly Owls handbook and the licentious behavior of the current students, which is a pretty fun device.
About the author
Cecily von Ziegesar is apparently actually this lady’s name. She went to Nightingale-Bamford, a Manhattan girl’s prep school like the one in Gossip Girl, and has said that ideas for her stories came from her classmates and their parents. Wikipedia says the It books have a ghostwriter.
Genre
Chick Lit--privilege
Curriculum Ties
None
Booktalking Ideas
The dangers of teacher/student romance
Which boy is the best?
Which character would make the best friend?
Reading Level/Interest Age
9-12 (Booklist)
Challenge Issues
Sexual situations; smoking; drinking; profanity
Best to gather teen response
Lukewarm SLJ and Booklist reviews at
shttp://www.amazon.com/Girl-1-Cecily-von-Ziegesar/dp/0316011851
Why Included?
Genre project
Selection Tools
Popularity with Students (girls)
ISBN-13: 978-0316011853Retrieved from Amazon.com.
Plot
Jenny has been kicked out of her old Manhattan school, Constance Billiard, which is featured in The Gossip Girl series. For some reason, she decides the best way to make a fresh start at her new boarding school, Waverly Academy, will be to intimate to a boy she meets on the school-bound train that she had been involved in naked modeling, so she starts out faced with the rumors that she had been a stripper. Jenny is a bit schizophrenic though—where Old Jenny might have been at some pains to correct the rumors, New Jenny prefers the salacious interest to obscurity. She also prefers her new roommates, popular Callie and Brett, to other, more virtuous ‘Waverly Owls’—the ‘old school’ nick-name for people at her new prep school. Jenny gets caught at night in the girls’ dorm with Callie’s boyfriend, Easy, and although their encounter is accidental, Jenny agrees to take the blame, because neither Easy or Callie has any free chances left before expulsion. Jenny gets involved with field hockey, at which she turns out to be a natural, and continues with an interest in Art. Everybody drinks; all the cool kids smoke. Will privilege and subterfuge triumph? What do you think?
Reader’s Annotation
Fresh-faced Jenny arrives at Waverly and is soon embroiled in the gossip, romance, and field hockey of this hard-drinking, chain-smoking, e-taking, exclusive prep school. Will the other Waverly Owls accept her even though her skirt is only a Marc Jacobs knock-off? Possibly, since her breasts are very large.
Critique
I really hate these books. That the writing is competent only reveals that the people creating these know just how evil the books are. It’s not the small-time glorification of smoking and drinking or other teen rebelliousness that is so repulsive—it’s the pervasive materialism and shallow vanity which are unquestioned values for all the main characters. I will admit to reading Judith Kranz in the past with enormous guilty pleasure—no one could love vicarious couture and exotic travel more than I, but those books always held on to the old romantic notion that these things are ultimately worthless without True Love. In The It Girl ,love isn't even in the running with status and wealth, and a true character flaw is when your Marc Jacobs skirt turns out to be a knockoff.
Plus, the plot is lame and the writing has no wit, except for the contrast between the starchy maxims of the old Waverly Owls handbook and the licentious behavior of the current students, which is a pretty fun device.
About the author
Cecily von Ziegesar is apparently actually this lady’s name. She went to Nightingale-Bamford, a Manhattan girl’s prep school like the one in Gossip Girl, and has said that ideas for her stories came from her classmates and their parents. Wikipedia says the It books have a ghostwriter.
Genre
Chick Lit--privilege
Curriculum Ties
None
Booktalking Ideas
The dangers of teacher/student romance
Which boy is the best?
Which character would make the best friend?
Reading Level/Interest Age
9-12 (Booklist)
Challenge Issues
Sexual situations; smoking; drinking; profanity
Best to gather teen response
Lukewarm SLJ and Booklist reviews at
shttp://www.amazon.com/Girl-1-Cecily-von-Ziegesar/dp/0316011851
Why Included?
Genre project
Selection Tools
Popularity with Students (girls)
Youth in Revolt
LPayne, C.D. (1993). New York: Broadway Books. ISBN-10: 0385481969/ ISBN-13: 978-0385481960
Plot
Nick Twisp is 14 and has an active sexual imagination and a diary. After his mom’s truck-driver boyfriend Jerry has a run-in with some angry sailors over a lemon car he sold them, Nick goes with Jerry and his mom on a ‘vacation’from the East Bay where they live, up to a cheesy Christian-run trailer park in Lake County. There he meets his great love, Sheridan Saunders, usually called Sheeni—“One of two intellectuals living in Ukiah, Ca.” What follows is a complicated string of crimes and misunderstandings that leave Nick forced to hide from the law masquerading as Carlotta Ulansky, an old dead lady. Nick inherits a fortune, gets cheated out of it, finally receives his dream for Christmas, and succeeds in the end in a creative and unexpected way.
Reader’s Annotation
Nick Twisp is a smart 14 year old who thinks about sex all the time, especially after he meets his dream-girl, a brainy and curvaceous Ukiah intellectual nicknamed Sheeni. Following his libido leads Nick to the wrong side of the law—can he find safety in cross-dressing?
Critique
This book is a disappointment; it didn’t live up to the recommendations. Everybody is pretty much a cartoon—at first each seems to be a hip, underground cartoon, but on longer acquaintance the characters are more like the daily comics—repeated depictions of the same set of traits and behaviors. Of course, this is true of many great comedic figures, but the trouble is, Nick doesn’t wear well. At first the mashup of lofty diction and baser nature is funny, but it never varies. The plot is a sequence of escapades which soon blur together. The cross-dressing section of the book was the liveliest—the outfits seemed to bring out the best in Nick. The Bay Area settings, especially of the weird out-of-the-way areas like Ukiah and Santa Cruz are one of the more enjoyable aspects of the book for an area native. Also, I want a wart watch.
About the author
Sources say C.D. Payne was christened C. Douglas Payne. What kind of name is ‘C.’? He graduated from Harvard in 1971, and lives in Sonoma County, the origin of this blog!
Genre
Contemporary/Diary
Curriculum Ties
Recreational
Booktalking Ideas
Designs for Wartwatches
I Hate Sheeni
Where in the World is Nick Twisp? (Bay Area locations)
Reading Level/Interest Age
It's YA, but adults don't like it.
Challenge Issues
Profanity, sex
Use student responses
Why Included?
Upcoming movie sure to bring it back into my classroom
Selection Tools
Student popularity
Challenge Issues
Why Included?
Selection Tools
Plot
Nick Twisp is 14 and has an active sexual imagination and a diary. After his mom’s truck-driver boyfriend Jerry has a run-in with some angry sailors over a lemon car he sold them, Nick goes with Jerry and his mom on a ‘vacation’from the East Bay where they live, up to a cheesy Christian-run trailer park in Lake County. There he meets his great love, Sheridan Saunders, usually called Sheeni—“One of two intellectuals living in Ukiah, Ca.” What follows is a complicated string of crimes and misunderstandings that leave Nick forced to hide from the law masquerading as Carlotta Ulansky, an old dead lady. Nick inherits a fortune, gets cheated out of it, finally receives his dream for Christmas, and succeeds in the end in a creative and unexpected way.
Reader’s Annotation
Nick Twisp is a smart 14 year old who thinks about sex all the time, especially after he meets his dream-girl, a brainy and curvaceous Ukiah intellectual nicknamed Sheeni. Following his libido leads Nick to the wrong side of the law—can he find safety in cross-dressing?
Critique
This book is a disappointment; it didn’t live up to the recommendations. Everybody is pretty much a cartoon—at first each seems to be a hip, underground cartoon, but on longer acquaintance the characters are more like the daily comics—repeated depictions of the same set of traits and behaviors. Of course, this is true of many great comedic figures, but the trouble is, Nick doesn’t wear well. At first the mashup of lofty diction and baser nature is funny, but it never varies. The plot is a sequence of escapades which soon blur together. The cross-dressing section of the book was the liveliest—the outfits seemed to bring out the best in Nick. The Bay Area settings, especially of the weird out-of-the-way areas like Ukiah and Santa Cruz are one of the more enjoyable aspects of the book for an area native. Also, I want a wart watch.
About the author
Sources say C.D. Payne was christened C. Douglas Payne. What kind of name is ‘C.’? He graduated from Harvard in 1971, and lives in Sonoma County, the origin of this blog!
Genre
Contemporary/Diary
Curriculum Ties
Recreational
Booktalking Ideas
Designs for Wartwatches
I Hate Sheeni
Where in the World is Nick Twisp? (Bay Area locations)
Reading Level/Interest Age
It's YA, but adults don't like it.
Challenge Issues
Profanity, sex
Use student responses
Why Included?
Upcoming movie sure to bring it back into my classroom
Selection Tools
Student popularity
Challenge Issues
Why Included?
Selection Tools
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