Disclaimer: If you have stumbled upon this blog, please be advised that there is profanity in this post as well as SPOILERS for some of these books. Also, some of these books are profoundly moving, so you may be inclined to read them all immediately. Please do.
Garden, N. (1982). Annie on my mind. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
This story follows Liza as she embarks on her
senior year of high school at private school. It begins in a museum one
day when she hears a glorious voice singing and she meets Annie. The girls bond right away and start an
imaginary game of make believe knights and medieval times. They seem to
be the best of friends and meet each other’s families and start to spend all
their time together. Before you know it,
you realize that these girls are falling in love. And it is beautiful. It reminds me of
falling in love and the tenderness and importance of each “first”. And as the girls start to figure it out, you
ache with them because you want them to be together. You want them to be happy and you know they
need each other for it to happen. And then, on the day they finally make
love for the first time and everything is beautiful and perfect, the secretary
from school and a classmate burst in and cause a huge, disruptive scene. The girls are made to feel dirty, like
“whores” as they are looked at. And then
this lady searches the house of the two teachers, Ms. Stevenson and Ms. Widmer)
and find gay literature. A “council” is held at school for Liza and
separately for the teachers. Liza is
allowed to go back to school, but both teachers are fired for their “influence’
and “immorality” they are apparently forcing on the students at Foster. The novel opens while Liza and Annie are
apart for their first semester of college and Annie has written but Liza
hasn’t. The novel ends when Liza
realizes that “the truth will set you free” and that she is gay. And she
loves Annie. And both teachers who lost
their jobs said that the love is the good thing. Nothing else matters if you have the love and
you are you. And she calls Annie and
they are going to see each other! Happy
ending!
This novel broke my
heart when I saw how the protagonists were treated. It filled me with a rage against
people who still- so many years later- treat LGBTQ people this way. And I
feel like if I weren’t already an ally, this book would have changed my heart
enough to become one. It also had an interview with the author that was heart-wrenching. It has been banned and challenged many times.
So I checked and there are no banned books in my district :) This work of realistic fiction is written and
set in 1982, but the topics still resonate with today’s culture, so I feel that
it is still contemporary and relevant, even though the reader can place it as
being several decades in the past. In looking at Kohlberg’s theory on moral
development, the protagonist Liza is struggling between the conventional stage
and the post- conventional stage because she is a rule follower and desperately
wants to do what is expected and appropriate. However, she also holds
beliefs that don’t allow her to do that.
This novel is an excellent example for our students who are between
these two stages to understand how morality works. Liza’s conflict also shows that she is
working through Maslow’s heirarchy.
Although she doesn’t realize it, Liza is torn because in order to reach
self-actualization, she must have Annie.
Understanding these two upper level stages of human development will
help me as a librarian in helping students select this novel. This novel also uses literary devices well.
The character development of both Liza and Annie begins in the first
scene of the book, and the reader has an understanding of all aspects of these
girls that helps to increase the tension of the rising and action and the fear
and rage in the climax. This book has
been banned and challenged many times.
There are some fantastic articles that students may be interested to
read. The interview with the author at
the end of the audiobook version is a great place to start, as well as this
article https://www.hrc.org/blog/nancy-garden-on-my-mind-a-tribute-for-banned-book-week. ANNIE ON MY MIND is the winner of numerous awards, the most
awesome (in my mind) is that the School Library Journal included it on a
list of the “100 most influential books of the 20th century”. If you haven’t
read this book, go read it now. Seriously. Go now.
10.
Albertalli, B. (2015) Simon vs. the homo sapien agenda. New York, NY:
In this work of realistic fiction, the
protagonist, Simon, is growing up in an upper middle class white family with an
older and younger sister. His older sister has just gone away to college and
the family is adjusting to her being gone. Before the exposition even
ends, a boy at school named Marty blackmails Simon about an email he found. You
see, Simon has an alternative identity- Jaques- that he uses in an email
relationship with Blue- another student from his high school. They met on
the school’s student social media page and realized that they have a lot in
common, including that they are both gay.
They have basically fallen in love through email... and then Marty finds
outs. As Marty forces Simon to help
Marty get close to Abby (Simon’s good friend who all the boys seem to like),
Simon and Blue’s relationship gets serious- but still they don’t know who each
other are. Simon eventually comes out to Leah and Nick and Abby. And once Marty posts that Simon is gay on
school media, Simon tells his family. Everyone is very supportive, as Simon
knew they all would be, he just hadn’t felt ready to do it.
Blue finds out who he is because Jaque is Simon
Says in French. Oopsie. Oh, and
Simon is in the play- he is Fagin’s boy and Marty is Fagin. They have an
amazing theater teacher and Simon thinks Blue may be this kid Cal from theater.
But finds out its not. I was right
and it is one of the soccer guys who eats lunch at his table every day.
The story ends with everyone knowing Simon and Bram are gay. They decide to be a couple and clog fb with
their cute anniversary pics and such because they are “all in”. Happy ending. Marty apologizes. Family and friends are all happy.
This book is absolutely precious. This
story spoke to me because the setting and characters would have been me in high
school. These were my people. And
it was very profound for me to read after reading ANNIE because the reactions
were so completely different and the future for these boys is so much more
hopeful than with ANNIE. This book made it just part of normal life. It
also does a fantastic job of teaching the themes in a subtle way. Albertalli teaches that lots of things in
life are “coming out” coming out isn’t just if you are gay, which will connect
this theme to all readers. This book is an excellent way to pass on our
culture to our students because it teaches diversity and self-acceptance. This book deals with older issues, but is
written in such a way that it could appropriately be both on a high school and
middle school campus. Albertalli touches
on some older YA issues, but doesn’t go to a place that our younger YA students
couldn’t go. This novel also touches on Havighurst’s ideas about children
developing their own morals and values, and shows what happens when blackmail,
bullying, and social media are used for evil instead of good. In exciting news, since I read this novel, a
movie has come out called Love, Simon based on the book. It looks
fantastic, but of course, the book is the book. Here is the link to the
preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0cbWdlQg_8
11.
Thomas, A. (2017). The hate u give. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Thomas, A. (2017). The hate u give. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
This book opens with our protagonist Starr at a
party in the neighborhood she has grown up in. She’s not supposed to be
there and hardly knows anybody because she goes to the “white” school that’s 45
minutes away. When gunshots go off, her friend Khalil grabs her hand and
they run away. They are pulled over and
Khalil is shot by a police officer. He dies in Starr’s arms and the cop-
115- holds a gun on her until backup arrives.
There was no weapon in the car.
Starr is broken. She already
watched her friend Natasha die after a driveby when they were 10, and now her
only other forever friend is gone. And she is the only witness.
Starr has an amazing family, yet has to be two
different people; the Starr who lives in the neighborhood and the Starr who
goes to the “white” school. This incident with Khalil causes these two
versions of herself to meet and explode.
She gets into a fistfight at
school, she struggles with the fact that her boyfriend is white, and basically
challenges everything she knows and believes.
As far as Khalil goes, Starr has to testify to a
grand jury so they can determine if they will press charges against 115.
Starr learns to stand up for herself by standing up for Khalil.
Eventually, the officer- 115- is not charged.
There is a riot and Starr stands on top of a police car and gives an
impassioned speech about Khalil. When the police throw a can of tear gas at
them, she picks it up and throws it back. Starr has let go of her two
worlds and merges them together to become Starr- intelligent, brave, and
advocate. She deletes the racist friend,
stays with the white boyfriend who protested with her, and stands with her
family as they move out of the neighborhood, but plan to rebuild their store
that was burned down.
This novel is a current and powerful realistic
fiction novel. My review of this book is intensely personal, but I can’t
write it without including what I feel. I had to stop reading this book
after Khalil died. I still had most of
the book to read and it was so hard to pick the book back up. But I
did. And the weight of this story, of
the #Blacklivesmatter movement weighs on my white lady heart. I teach kids like Starr. I I need to teach them that their voices
matter. I cried so many times while reading this book, and I am crying
now. Thomas explains why she wrote it
here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CorQppCdxEI which opens up the option for
teachers/ librarians to connect the novel to the cases this book was inspired
by and also to the music of Tupac who is referred to throughout the novel.
This book is amazing. I don’t love the
profanity (and the very abundant use of the word “fuck,” but I can live with
it). The story is so well done.
Thomas successfully pulls the reader in and uses wonderful characterization
that makes you love Starr, her family, and even the kids like DeVante who do
terrible things, but who are people. Thomas also uses dialogue and
dialect in an effective way to create a believable world. This novel addresses Kohlberg’s moral stage
of development because Starr must choose between obeying the law and civil
disobedience when faced with the choice of participating in a riot. One
important lesson that Starr learns about Khalil is that “he was more than his
mistakes,” which we all need to understand about ourselves and others. She also learns from her mom that “You have
to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them” when her mom
explains why she took her dad back after he cheated on her and went to prison.
These are lessons our young people desperately need to successfully
adult, and they are taught here without guile, without sugar-coating. Life can suck, but you can rise above.
Since I read this book, it has received a heap
of awards. This novel is so popular at our high school library, our
librarian has ordered 20 more copies. Our middle school library does not
carry it, probably in part because of the language and the death and mayhem.
There are, however, middle school students who could handle this book. This book is absolutely necessary in our
current society. Every American needs to read and process this novel.
12.
Ness. P. (2008). The knife of never letting go. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
This book opens with Todd out in the swamp with
his dog, Manchee, who he can hear thinking words. In this world, men’s
and animals’ thoughts are heard by everyone (they call this “noise”). Then he finds a quiet in the midst of the
noise, and he knows something is wrong. Todd goes home, and as he walks through
town you get to hear all the men’s depraved thoughts, and makes it home to Ben
and Cillian. When they find out that he has heard the silence, they
give him a rucksack with a book from his ma, a map, and a few things they have
had packed for him for a long time.
Apparently they had been planning on kicking him out, and that is why
they got him a dog he doesn’t want. They
send him away, and as Ben runs back toward the far, Todd hears the guns and the
battle that is taking place. As Todd runs, he finds a girl in the swamp and
protects her from a man named Aaron. He takes Viola with him and they run
together toward Haven- the only city they believe will be big enough to protect
them from the army that is rumored to be growing as it comes.
Through the course of the novel, Todd and Viola
are attacked multiple times. No matter how faar or fast they run, they
are constantly attacked. Todd watches as
his dog is killed, finds Ben, and saves Viola. They travel across New
World and discover that every community handles the “noise” and women
differently. He learns that his
community killed all of the women and are banished from the rest of the world
because of it. Todd also learns that in order to become a man, he is supposed
to kill someone, so that is why the lunatic Aaron has been stalking him (and
trying to kill Viola and actually killing his dog). In the climatic
ending, Viola kills Aaron so that Todd remains a good man. Then, as they walk out into the sunshine and
begin the last walk down to Haven, Viola is shot. Sheesh.
Todd runs with her straight down the mountainside into Haven, calls for
help, and nobody is there.
And then… in a moment of sheer terror, the mayor
of Prentisstown comes walking out and, by some special hidden road, made it to
Haven first and took over the entire planet. And then the novel ends.
At first,
this novel is maddening because it takes a while to get into the story and
figure out the world (this is of course hard science fiction), and then every
obstacle is someone getting beat up by the same people over and over and over
again. Every time it seems as though there will be hope, it is
destroyed. And the ending leaves no hope
either. Although it takes a few
chapters, Ness does a good job of creating a believable fantastical world
through the rules he sets, the vocabulary he gives meaning to, and the
descriptions he gives. He stays true to the rules he has set in New World
and does not stray from them. The protagonist, Todd, is being forced to grow up
too fast and without all of the information that he needs for survival. He is torn between Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs throughout the novel as he sways from just trying to have safety and food
to figuring out where he belongs and who he should be loyal to. The main
reason for students to read this novel will be for enjoyment because it is a
creative and interesting story. This
also would be great fodder for writing assignments about what it would be like
to live in a world with no secrets or a world with no people of the opposite
gender or a world where we can hear our animals talking. The only part of this book that frustrates me
immensely is not the science fiction aspect, but the fact that the 9 lives of
Aaron and the ability of the Mayor of Prentisstown to do what they do does not
seem realistic, even in the fantastical world the novel is set in.
Students, once they can get their bearings and
understand about the noise and the other planet, will like the novel because it
is full of action and gore. This novel will be great for kids who like
THE HUNGER GAMES, DIVERGENT, and other books in this subgenre. This novel has won several awards, including
The Guardian Award, and is set to have a movie made of it (currently in the
works). It is the first in the CHAOS WALKING series and is followed by THE
ASK AND THE ANSWER.
13.
Smith, A. (2014). Grasshopper jungle. New York, NY: Penguin.
Smith, A. (2014). Grasshopper jungle. New York, NY: Penguin.
The novel
starts out with our narrator Austin, a stinky, horny teenage boy. Who is
kind of in love with his two best friends (Robbie and Shann). The novel presents as realistic fiction in
which Austin has to determine if he is gay, straight, or bisexual. Austin
has lots of self-doubt and self-revulsion. But then… before you realize what is
happening, all of a sudden the novel turns sci-fi and there are weird giant
preying mantis’ being born out of people’s bodies and eating everyone they
encounter- when they aren’t busy having bug sex with the only female bug.
As the novel goes along, Austin is keeping his
history. He goes back in time to his great grandfather traveling across
the Atlantic. He talks about the marriages and children being born in
terms of “strong Polish sperm found a receptive egg.” All of the history
seems to converge at different points throughout the novel (the characters all
seem to either be related to or connected to someone who was connected to his
ancestors). He also records what is happening with various characters in
the story “at this very moment”.
Eventually, Robbie and Austin figure out that
Robbie is the god to the big bugs and that his blood can kill them. Right
when you believe they are going to defeat the bugs, a new section of the book
begins… a section that is four years later because the bugs overtook the world
and our cast of characters is all living underground in the magical Eden bunker
that the crazy scientist step-uncle created fifty years before.
This novel is masterfully done. Smith’s
style and voice are beyond unique and that makes this work stand out. The
reader starts out reading a work of realistic fiction, but as it turns out a
few chapters in, this is science-fiction. Smith’s characters are
fantastic. His protagonist is so
well-written that the reader can literally smell Austin and his grubby socks
and clothes. The reader can feel his nasty, grimy skin and see him
cringing at his own BO. Through his
beyond-words-amazing characterization, Smith creates a completely unlikeable
character in the stinky and horny and jerkish Austin- which is a
challenge and not often done.
Through the device of Austin’s history keeping,
the flashbacks of past events and the omniscient third-person narrator are
given voice. The connections and intersections are amazing- even if totally
bizarre.
For readers who always figure out what is going
to happen, this is the challenge. I am one of those readers, and I was continually
surprised until the end that left me completely stunned. The novel is
very interesting and pulls everything together, even though you are totally
confused and can’t figure out what is going to happen. There really is no
resolution- I mean, there is, they don’t die. But Austin never decides
who he loves, and they are all just in a holding pattern because they can’t
leave the bunker. So I guess this is a
denouement moment and not a resolution.
This isn’t my kind of book, but it is a
compelling read. Students will connect with the developmental stages of
Maslow with the feelings of self-loathing and thinking everyone around them is
better than them. The protagonist is undergoing physical changes that
lead him to the “goldilocks syndrome” that many of our readers will relate
to. The author has a unique style that
some people will love. Smith does use very vulgar and crass language, which
will be off-putting for some readers. It is a weird book, but oddly
gripping. Readers who enjoy this novel may want to read 100 SIDEWAYS MILES or
WINGERS, both by Andrew Smith.
14.
Anderson, L. H. (1999). Speak. New York,
NY: Penguin.
I read SPEAK many years ago, and was hesitant to
pick it up because since then, I someone very close to me was raped and I knew
it would be hard to get through because the topic is a trigger for my anxiety.
But I know as a librarian, I will have to read all the books- the ones
about trigger topics, the ones about things I disagree with, and everything in
between. So, I picked it up and fell
back into the narrator’s world…
Speak tells the story of
Melinda, an incoming freshman who has been cut out from her group of friends
and made an outcast because she called the police to a party she was at the
previous summer. The novel is divided into sections by “First Marking
Period,” et cetera and follows Melinda as her year unfolds. She is despondent as the novel opens and she
has no friends left. It seems that
everyone at school hates her, except the new girl Heather who tries to take her
on a journey to become popular with her. As the novel unfolds, Melinda
sees “IT” walking through the halls and you realize this boy, who we learn is
named Andy, is the cause of all her fear.
As it turns out, he raped her at the party and she called the police for
help, but was too scared to speak, so everyone thought she was just ruining all
the fun. As the novel progresses,
Melinda is so damaged that she skips school, hides in an old janitor’s closet
she decorates for herself, and only finds solace in art class where her entire
year is spent trying to turn the word “tree” into a meaningful art piece.
Eventually Melinda starts making decisions instead of living inside her
fear. Andy, IT, has started putting the
moves on her former best friend Rachel, and Melinda is so afraid for Rachel
that she starts to become brave. She writes on a bathroom stall about Andy, and
is amazed when many, many other girls start writing that he hurt them too. This gives Melinda strength, and by the
climatic ending scene, she has found strength and courage to speak, to be LOUD,
and to use her voice.
This work of realistic fiction handles a taboo
subject. The novel is about a very tender subject, but is told with
sensitivity and enough support for the reader that even younger YA readers can
read it. Melinda, the protagonist, is able to find her voice only when it
is needed to save another person, which shows her development in the Moral
stage as explained by Kohlberg. She is also an excellent example of what
happens to a human when they don’t feel safe, and when they don’t get proper
care for trauma and the ensuing mental illness.
This novel hits home for me. I can’t even explain why because it is
someone else’s story to tell, but my heart breaks when I see victims of crimes
silenced by fear and the way they are treated by society. I think this is
a powerful book for anyone who doesn’t feel that their voice is strong enough
to be heard, for anyone who has felt like they don’t belong, and especially for
anyone who struggles with anxiety or depression or hides a huge secret. Definitely this will build empathy for those
who don’t struggle with these things by providing them with a window into the
world of anxiety and depression and trauma.
There is also a graphic novel version of this
that is striking and beautiful by Laurie Halse Anderson and Emily Carroll.
Anderson also has other novels such as CHAINS and FORGE that can be found
on her website at http://madwomanintheforest.com/.
Gephart, D. (2016) Lily & Dunkin. New
York, NY: Delacorte.
This novel tells the story of two teenagers,
Timothy McGrother and Norbert Dorfman- or Lily Jo and Dunkin as they prefer to
be called. The novel is narrated by Lily and Dunkin, depending on the
chapter. Gephart tells the story of
Lily, a transgender girl who is seeking acceptance as a girl and desperately
wanting her parents to accept this fact and allow her to take hormone blockers
before puberty sets in and she is forced to grow a man’s body. There is a
great adventure about Lily trying to save the tree “Bob” from developers who
want to turn the property into a park, adventures with Lily’s best friend Dare
who lives up to her name and constantly pushes and motivates Lily to be
herself. Gephart simultaneously tells the story of Dunkin, a great big kid who
is new to town and happens to be bipolar. Dunkin (for Dunkin’ Donuts)
also hides two big secrets- he has an imaginary friend named Norbert and a
father who recently committed suicide.
Dunkin quits taking his meds pretty soon once he starts school because
he thinks they keep him from making the basketball team and by taking them he
will get thrown off the team. However,
it isn’t until pretty far into the book that we learn that Dunkin’s dad
actually killed himself and Dunkin has been lying to himself the entire time.
The novel follows Lily as she transforms into a girl in the eyes of the world
and Dunkin as he quits taking his meds and his mental illness takes over.
This is a work of realistic fiction. Gephart has
taken two issues that are in the spotlight in America today and woven them
together to create a window for those readers who don’t understand either-
transgender and mental illness- and put them into a novel written for young
adults (even our youngest YA readers will benefit from this story).
This novel tackles the issue of physical
development with the challenge of writing about two characters whose physical
development is not typical. In the creation of these characters, Gephart
creates a way for readers to see that everyone develops in different ways, at
different times, and that it creates a struggle.
The themes in this novel are for our youth, but
also for adults. The portrayal of Lily’s father and his reason for allowing her
to begin treatment is profound- he tells Lily something to the effect of, “the
doctor said I could have an alive daughter or a dead son” after telling him the
suicide rates for trans people.This is a powerful story of being a teenager
living with a mental illness and sheds light on a topic that is usually kept
hidden. It also follows the family dynamics of Lily, her sister, and parents as
well as the family disaster of a dead father, and a mom who takes her son to
live with his Bubbie (grandma) in order to try to move forward. Gephart has
a website with further reading and resources to use with this novel at http://www.donnagephart.com/lily-and-dunkin.html. It also includes links to previews of her other novels for
the interested reader.
16.
Myers, W.D. (1999). Monster. New York,
NY: Workman.
Steve Harmon, a sixteen year old student who
wants to become a filmmaker, is in jail during his trial. He has been
arrested for his alleged involvement in a robbery of a convenience store that
left the store owner dead. The novel opens with Steve in his bed at
night in fear. The story follows his trial with flashbacks and what is
happening now. There are scenes from him at school and with his family;
his mom is devastated. Harmon works with
his attorney to separate himself from the other men/teens in the group because
they are trying to make him not look like a “thug” from the ghetto, as some of
the defendants have a history to be. His attorney tries to prove that the
“witness” against him cut a deal by testifying against Steve. They bring
in his teacher to serve as character witness.
There are big gaps in the events and we never get a clear-cut, black and
white answer as to if Steve is guilty.
His attorney seems to dislike him and it seems that she believes he is
guilty. In the end, Steve is found
innocent and goes home to piece together his shattered life.
This
realistic fiction novel is told in the format of a screenplay/ diary/ different
types of text interspersed to tell the story. It includes lighting and stage
directions. This novel also has elements of a mystery because as you
read, you are trying to put the pieces of evidence together to figure out if
Steve is guilty or innocent or somewhere in the middle. The author uses
the literary device of an unreliable narrator, which leaves the actual guilt or
innocence of Steve up to the reader. As
a reader, I believe that Steve was involved in a very small way, but the
reviews I read shared other readers’ beliefs. This novel leads into a
great conversation about what makes guilt and innocence. This novel would put some fear into readers
about what it would be like to be in prison. Where a middle school librarian
may not want to shelve a novel like THE HATE U GIVE, this novel is appropriate
for younger YA readers. Some of Peck’s questions would be interesting to ask
here. “If you were to film the story, would you use color or black and
white and WHY?” as well as “What one thing in the story has happened to you?”
to further the format of the novel and to create connections for the reader,
respectively.This novel was written in 1999, several years before the Black
Lives Matter movement began. It is interesting to read in today’s social
climate and see the connections. With that in mind, some other novels that
would be good to read would be- YUMMY: The SHORT LIFE OF A SOUTHSIDE SHORTY or
THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas.
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