Links for a Thursday

We've entered that unbearably busy and hectic time of year, "the end of the semester" (*insert shudder of fear*). So here are a few lighthearted and stimulating links to liven up our energy for the rest of this week.

1.  Cats, bears, pandas, so many animals get attention in children's books, that a kidlit collection becomes a veritable menagerie. But how many demand the kind of respect that all but requires you to look up to them than the giraffe? (Perhaps the elephant.) Nevertheless, here's a list of top ten Giraffe books in children's lit--to reminisce or explore for the first time. Whatever you do, don't dance with them.
2. Are we finally running dry on our love for werewolves, vampires, and female-centric dystopias? This author seems to think so, identifying upcoming trends in YA Lit, from universal lovelessness to male-centered dystopias. Fair enough, but I'm not sure her argument that fairy tale reimaginings are a NEW trend is a valid one. Nor do I think the conflation of "YA" with "Dystopia" does either category justice. 
3. A quick read from the LA Times in opposition to the rumor going around that books are dead. Because they aren't. Otherwise, such movements like the Children's Literature Festival would be unheard of, anyway. 
4. Lastly, a video of Sandra Cisneros from the LA Times Festival of Books, talking about her newest picture book, border crossings, and more.

Top Ten Best Love Stories in YA

In honor of ol' St. Val's Day, I'm borrowing The Broke and the Bookish blog's most recent Top Ten Tuesday meme: Top Ten Romances in Books. I'm keeping my list in the YA realm, because these books about hormone-laden teenagers are almost always good fodder for a love (or infatuation) story. In no particular order, l'amour:

1. Anna and Etienne, Anna and the French Kiss. I've mentioned this book before, and for good reason. It's simply enchanting, and the romantic tension and build-up from friendship-to-more between Anna and Etienne is spine-tinglingly good.

2. Lyra and Will, His Dark Materials trilogy. These two go from childhood innocence to teenage sexual awakening together. Their realization of love is electrifying, and their destinies are heartbreaking.

3. Duck and Dirk, Beautiful Angels. Francesca Lia Block writes about oddball characters that, after much searching, find a place to call home. Duck and Dirk, two gay teenagers coming of age in the fraught 80s, find each other, and it is beautiful.

4. Cate and Finn, Born Wicked. Finn is the bookish boy-next-door type, and Cate is the stubborn, strong, and fiercely secretive young woman who loves him. Their forbidden first kiss in a closet is intense.

5. Lennie and Joe, The Sky is Everywhere. Lennie is dealing with the intense grief of losing her sister when Joe, the new guy in town, offers a distraction she didn't know she needed. Author Jandy Nelson deftly navigates the complexities of falling in love while nursing an already broken heart.

6. June and Day, Legend. Day is an outlaw in a dystopian future Los Angeles. June is the highly trained Republic officer tracking him down for arrest. Well-matched in wit, secrecy, and hand-to-hand combat, they fall first in like, then in love.

7. Briony and Eldric, Chime. The friendship between charming and creative Eldric and charming and tormented Briony blossoms with such a sense of fun and sparring wit that you'll want to be part of their secret "Fraternitus Bad-Boyificus."

8. Ash and Kaisa, Ash. Malinda Lo envisions a Cinderella story wherein Cinderella falls not for the prince, but for the court's huntress. Ash's dawning realization that she loves Kaisa raises the stakes in this magical story.

9. Katsa and Po, Graceling. I'm a sucker for romances where the two love interests fight each other. Katsa and Po are both fierce fighters, gifted in lethal abilities. What starts as an adversarial relationships blooms into a romantic one as they team together to, you know, save the world.

10. Hazel and Gus, The Fault in Our Stars. Oh my God, this book. Hazel and Gus are normal teenagers just doing what normal teenagers do, only they met at a support group for teens with cancer. So, they're not normal. But they are amazing. Just read the book. Just do it.

  

Top Ten Books I'd Want On A Deserted Island

Oh, hey, remember when I did two other top ten lists? I'm still not on a regular rotation joining in the group of bloggers who consistently do the Top Ten Tuesday lists hosted by The Broke and the Bookish blog, but I haven't forgotten about this charming little meme. The next one I'm going to tackle is this: The Top Ten Books I'd Want On A Deserted Island.

Is it possible to narrow this list down to just ten? If I were stranded on a deserted island, I would want an entire library. Stranded, with no outside obligations? Think of all the reading time! I mean, after I hunt for food, find a water source, and build a sophisticated fort for shelter, of course. But if I'm limited to ten, these will do the trick:

1. Castaway. I've written about this book before. I'll want it on the deserted island for survival tips.

2. Speaking of survival tips, I'm going to cheat a little: obviously I will need The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook.

3. The Velveteen Rabbit. Because I'm going to want to cry over something other than how much I miss home.

4. War and Peace. Because when else am I going to have the time to read this book?

5. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Because it is the best one.

6. Anna and the French Kiss. Because it is tres charmant, and I will want to escape into a fluffy world of teenage friendship and romance.

7. Macbeth. So that I can recite Lady McB's monologues without fear that anyone will overhear my awkward attempts at acting Shakespeare.

8. The Grimm Reader. Because even (especially?) on a deserted island, I'm going to need fairy tales for escape and imagination.

9. Kate Bernheimer's My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me. To compare these 40 re-envisioned fairy tales (by a variety of authors) to the classics represented in The Grimm Reader.

10. A GIANT blank journal, so that I can write my own story.

What books would you want on your lonely island?

PaperTigers' Tenth Anniversary, with Multicultural Top Tens and More

Paper Tigers, a blog about multicultural books for young readers and world literacy, is celebrating its tenth anniversary of readership in a marvelous fashion. Their multitude of engaging reflective pieces, Top Ten lists, and special giveaways demonstrate the goal of mutual awareness and understanding that PaperTigers has striven to build.

Take a look at this reflection by the founding Producer/Editor Elisa Oreglia to get a sense of their roots and purpose for the last ten years. It started with the idea that

books foster mutual understanding; that the web could help bring books that don't have the budget and marketing force of Harry Potter behind them to a bigger audience; and that a website that spotlighted books (and authors, illustrators, publishers, booksellers, librarians, and the whole wonderful tribe) about and from Asia and the Pacific Rim, written in English, to an international audience might be filling an important niche.  

More works can be found in the Personal Views Section.

The highlights for me are the Top Ten lists they have posted on different subjects. The wide selection they present in each of their subjects (and more to come, I presume) offers an invaluable resource for those largely unfamiliar with the range of ethnically diverse children's books. The lists include Multicultural Kids' Books about Food! (Featuring not one but two top ten lists), Multicultural Ghost Stories, and YA/Crossover Books with a Religious Theme.

And as a special treat, they are hosting a great giveaway of tons of books and other goodies.

Top Ten Characters Who Influenced Me

For more than a decade of my life, I would set aside time each summer to read Two Moons in August by Martha Brooks. Of course, as a self-professed bookworm, I read numerous novels during the summers of my formative years. But this one in particular made it into my repertoire every year from the time I was 12 until I was well out of college. Two Moons in August tells the story of Sidonie Fallows and her bittersweet life in the weeks leading up to her 16th birthday. The setting is a richly-drawn, rural neighborhood in Canada's Qu'Appelle Valley, where a tuberculosis sanitarium is the only source of business. Sidonie's summer is quiet, as her father works 14-hour days and her mother died not a year before, and her only companions are her mercurial older sister, Bobbi, and Bobbi's paramour, Phil. Though Sidonie meets a new boy on her street, Kieran, and her life is predictably more exciting in the flush of first infatuation, the story doesn't make the fledgling romance its center focus. Rather, the author emphasizes Sidonie's emotional fragility and the shattered nature of her grieving family.

I was utterly obsessed with this book when I first read it as a pre-teen, and it's largely because I felt so connected to Sidonie. Her detailed observations -- like the warmth of a lake under the summer sun or the mealiness of a plum past its prime -- felt like my observations. She hung out with her cat, I hung out with my cat. We both had naturally curly hair that we detested. We both loved to read and think. And we had the same birthday. I think I revisited that book every year not only because I loved the evocative, descriptive writing, but also because I needed to check in with an old friend. I don't re-read Two Moons in August every year anymore, but when I do pick it up, I know Sidonie's mannerisms, clever sense of humor, and hijinks as well as I know any of my friends.

In honor of Sidonie, I want to highlight her and nine other protagonists or characters who are, essentially, a part of who I am. In no particular order:

1. Sidonie Fallows, Two Moons in August. I related to Sidonie's frank commentary ("Don't believe what anybody tells you; naturally curly hair is a royal pain"), her pervasive gloom ("I feel sad and lonely, as though something has just been pulled from deep inside"), and all of her observations about the things around her.

2. Charlie Brown. Don't laugh. I read dozens (maybe hundreds?) of Schulze comics as a kid, and I always sympathized with poor, beleaguered Charlie Brown. Rats!

3. Elsha, Winter of Fire by Sherryl Jordan. This was the first fantasy book I really loved. Elsha was fierce, damaged, and gifted. She was not afraid to confront authority and to push her own limits and those of the people around her. People called her "Firebrand." I wanted to be as dynamic and strong as Elsha.

4. Claudia Kishi, The Babysitters Club by Ann M. Martin. Go ahead and mark this one in the frivolous column if you must, but Claudia made an indelible impact on my young self. (And hey, I never professed to have been a literature scholar at age 10.) With her cracked-out clothing choices (see this link for inspired Halloween ideas) and artistic sensibilities, Claudia was the cool older sister I never had. Plus, she had hiding places for junk food all over her room. I would have tried that, but I was actually allowed to have junk food. (Thanks Mom and Dad!)

5. Hazel, Watership Down by Richard Adams. Level-headed, calm under pressure, and faithful, Hazel was a wonderful blueprint for how to be awesome, whether you're a human or a rabbit. I think the fact that I was tremendously moved by The Velveteen Rabbit also contributed to my utter adoration of Hazel.

6. Dickon, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I used to want to grow up and marry Dickon. Perhaps this subconsciously influenced my decision to marry a kind, green-thumbed fellow with an uncommon name?

7. Frankie Addams, The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers. I associate Frankie somewhat with Sidonie, even though their regions are completely different. They're both thoughtful loners coming of age in the mid-century, and each narrator manages to infuse mundane details with a melancholy flavor. Frankie's tireless search for self within her own gangly repression of adolescence is evocative and poignant.

8. Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Oh, Jane. Plain yet bewitching. Repressed yet feisty. Reserved yet witty. She was an exercise in dichotomy, which was just what I needed in a character when I first read this at age 15. Jane will always, always be with me.

9. Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. I couldn't leave 'ol Tom off this list, now could I? Tom was the ideal example of pastoral mischievousness, as frustrating as he was loveable, and well on his way to being a gentleman. 

10. Daniel Ross, The Castaway by Arthur Roth. I was OBSESSED with this book as a child. I must have read it at least a dozen times, never tiring of the adventure story that follows the resourceful and unflagging Daniel, stranded on a rocky island and missing his hometown love with the crooked front tooth. Daniel was my Robinson Crusoe. (A book that my grandfather frequently encouraged me to read but I never got around to doing, because, well, I was so busy reading The Castaway.)

Top Ten Books That Made Me Think

I'm borrowing this "meme" from a friend of mine (and SDSU grad - hi Jenna!), because I think it's an interesting idea to explore. What are the top ten books that you found most thought-provoking? Which books have you finished with a sigh, closed the cover, and then pondered before getting up from your favorite reading spot? To narrow it down, my list below features ten children's or young adult books from the last decade (in order of publication), but you're invited to chime in about any book in the comments!

Feed, by M.T. Anderson (2002)
This book is the cornerstone of contemporary dystopian fiction. Narrator Titus's society is an America that is set far into the future and yet disturbingly imaginable today. The "feed" refers to what is essentially an internet implant in the brain of everyone who can afford it. If you can't afford it, you're automatically set back in a society where everything has been corporatized and your worth is measured by how many things you buy. In our world of ever-increasing internet surveillance (Were you just looking at shoes on Nordstrom's website? The internet knows! Get ready to see pop-up ads on every site you visit!) and accessibility, the possibility of a life lived almost entirely within our own heads feels alarmingly close.

What Night Brings, by Carla Trujillo (2003) This is a tough book to get through, focused as it is on a young girl's story of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her father. Narrator Marci speaks with a maturity beyond her years – she knows it’s not her fault that her father abuses her – but she is still young enough and naïve enough to believe that praying will be her salvation. She struggles with her sexuality, but she doesn’t think that’s the reason her father beats her. With a wry sense of humor and a fierce determination to protect herself and her sister from their parents, Marci brings a thoughtful levity to this difficult story.

Looking for Alaska, by John Green (2005)This story of a teenage boy's first year of boarding school and the people who make his life worthwhile will sucker-punch you. Tucked into this coming-of-age tale full of true-to-life observations is a heart-wrenching twist that remains unresolved, which emphasizes the trauma even further. Not only does John Green's realistic, poignant storytelling elevate this book above the popular fiction fray, but his characters are so finely and vividly drawn that what happens to them feels like it could be happening to you.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling (2007)
Ramble Alert: My assessment of this one is completely un-theoretical and lies simply in the fact that I personally felt devastated by Rowling's narrative choices. Spoiler Alert: I'm going to talk about who dies. Five years later, I still feel morose when I think about Fred's death. How could J.K. Rowling kill off a twin? My brothers-in-law are twins, and knowing their bond made the death of a Weasley twin all the more emotional for me. I cried and cried and cried. While there are certainly many aspects of this book fit for pondering, I'll be honest: the only reason this is on my list is because I am heartbroken for life.

Last Night I Sang to the Monster, Benjamin Alire Sáenz (2009) 
Teenage alcoholic Zach is in rehab, where he encounters other troubled souls with ambiguous pasts. Zach reluctantly works through his own psychological trauma with the help of a counselor and a fellow inmate, but his progress is not without setbacks. This is a thoughtful, poetic look at addiction and redemption.

Before I Fall, Lauren Oliver (2010)Lauren Oliver's eloquently written debut novel follows the unusual story of a quintessential mean girl, Samantha, who...dies in the first chapter. Living in a purgatory not unlike Groundhog Day, Samantha has to figure out the significance of her death. By the end of the book, I found myself rooting for this character who was originally hateful. Lauren Oliver manages to represent the seedy side of high school, contemplate teen suicide, highlight meaningful interactions with family, and explore untimely death in such a way that you contemplate your own life choices even if you're not in high school anymore.

Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline (2011)
Complementary to Feed in many ways, Ready Player One brings to life a world of ubiquitous virtual reality. In a ruined and poverty-stricken America, tech-savvy citizens go about their entire lives on the internet, hooked into rigs that allow them to go to school, hang out with friends, and journey to other worlds all from the relative comfort of one location. Tying the narrative together is a global quest for millions of dollars, hidden in the vast internet communication system by its inventor. The world-building in this book is simply incredible, with so many worlds-within-worlds that by the time you finish the story, you're not even sure of your own reality.

Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein (2012)Two brave young women from Great Britain, one intense friendship, and World War II comprise the main elements of Code Name Verity. This fictionalized account of a significant moment in European history will make you want to embark on your own historical research after you close the back cover.

The Drowning Instinct, by Ilsa Bick (2012) I adore Ilsa Bick's writing. She also wrote one of my favorite dystopian novels, Ashes, which I urge you to read because it is so freaky and good. But The Drowning Instinct is based entirely in contemporary reality, and it tackles a taboo sexual relationship between a 16-year-old girl and her science teacher. There are no good guys or bad guys, no black-and-white good decisions or bad decisions, and no happy endings in this book. The narrator, Jenna, is complicated and troubled, but so is her teacher, so are her parents, and so is the detective who tries to help her after a traumatic incident. The Drowning Instinct carefully examines the different perspectives of people who all have their own questionable motivations.

Every Day, by David Levithan (2012) 
What if you didn't have your own body and always had to exist in someone else's? Would you identify with one gender more than the other? The narrator of Every Day, simply called "A," has no body. A wakes up every day possessing a different teenage body, boy or girl or transgender. A falls in love with Rhiannon, who tries to love A back, even though A often appears as a girl and Rhiannon identifies as straight. This book brings up wonderful, thought-provoking questions about the nature of love, the restrictions of gender, and the ever-present human desire for self-control.