The Books of Blume

On February 12, author Judy Blume celebrated her 76th birthday. Known primarily for such young adult novels as Iggie's House; Deenie; Then Again, Maybe I Won't; and Forever, Blume has written novels for children, tweens, and teenagers -- and used them to address a variety of real-life issues.

Tackling such topics as puberty, religion, sexuality, racism, bullying, and family dynamics, Blume's books have frequently found themselves on the list of challenged titles in school and public libraries around the country. But it's also her realism and honesty about the trials and triumphs of growing up that's made her a best-selling author for over forty years.

So in honor of her birthday, I'm highlighting five of my personal favorite Blume reads. Enjoy!



Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing

Blume's Fudge books have long been among her most popular titles. The series stars nine-year-old Peter Warren Hatcher, who's got one little problem in life: his two-year-old brother, Farley, aka Fudge. (Hey, if your name was "Farley," you might go by "Fudge," too.)

Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing kicks off the four-book series with tales of Fudge destroying homework, making a flying attempt from the playground jungle gym, going on a hunger strike, and mimicking Peter's every move. But when Peter's pet turtle goes missing (and you'll never guess where), it takes the whole family to make things right. 

-- Get Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing from the Catalog

-- Get the audiobook on CD or cassette Catalog



Are You There, God?  It's Me, Margaret

The title's been famous enough to be referenced by episode titles of South Park and The Venture Bros., and has been satirized by authors Chuck Palahniuk and Chelsea Handler. Blume's book takes its title from the main character, who uses the phrase to kick off her conversations with God.

With a Christian mother and a Jewish father, sixth-grader Margaret is trying to navigate both her own spiritual beliefs, as well as the trials and tribulations of puberty. From physical changes to emotional ones, the book takes an honest look at the process of growing up -- including learning how to voice your own opinions.

-- Get Are You There, God?  It's Me, Margaret from the Catalog

-- Get the audiobook on CD or cassette from the Catalog



Blubber

Fifth-grader Linda is the most picked-upon member of Mrs. Minish's class, and when she gives a science report on whales, her nickname is sealed. Everyone bullies her -- well, maybe not Jill, but Jill's not much worried about sticking up for Linda, either.

When Jill and her best friend play a prank on a cranky neighbor and end up caught, everyone's convinced it's "Blubber" who tattled on Jill. The whole class promptly puts Linda on trial for her "crime," leaving Jill to make some hard decisions about whose side she should really be on. With Jill as our narrator, this book becomes not just about bullies and their victims, but also about the problem with standing on the sidelines -- and deciding whether or not to stand up for someone.


-- Get Blubber from the Catalog

-- Get the audiobook on CD or cassette from the Catalog

It's Not the End of the World

Published in 1972 -- when divorce was not yet legal in all states -- sixth-grader Karen has decided she's never going to get married. After all, everybody knows that marriage makes you miserable: just look at her parents for the proof. But despite their constant fighting, their announcement of an impending divorce still shocks Karen to her core.

Karen tries everything she can think of to keep her parents together, from faking an illness to sending anniversary cards. Her dad moves out. Her older brother (briefly) runs away. Her mother announces they're moving. Karen can't stop the changes -- but she can, at least, find a way to realize that things will eventually get better. Though the divorce laws are different now, this book remains timeless.


-- Get It's Not the End of the World from the Catalog

-- Get the audiobook on CD from the Catalog

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great

This light, humorous read shares the same sense of fun as the Fudge books -- which makes sense, since Sheila is Fudge's older cousin. While Fudge (and Peter) view Sheila as a pest, here we meet a character who uses the appearance of cocky self-confidence to mask her various fears: she's terrified of spiders, dogs, and swimming, to name but a few. 

Despite a summer vacation that involves all three of her worst phobias, Sheila's convinced she's got the world fooled ... until she and her friends set to work making slambooks for each other. Realizing her friends have a different opinion of her than she realized, Sheila's eventually inspired to start chipping away at her fears -- with surprising results.

-- Get Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great from the Catalog

-- Get the audiobook on CD or cassette from the Catalog

-- Post by Ms. B

Staff Recommendation #7: "The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir" by Gaby Rodriguez (with Jenna Glatzer).

The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir by Gaby Rodriguez with Jenna Glatzer

Staff Review by Ms. B

You've probably already heard about this high schooler's unique senior project -- I seem to have been the only person who missed the news story when it first broke. Gaby Rodriguez was an eleventh grader living in an economically-struggling town in Oregon. The daughter of a teen mom, Gaby had grown up watching many of her seven older brothers and sisters (Gaby's mum had her when she was in her 30s) also become teen parents. As the youngest child -- born significantly later in the life of her mother than her siblings had been -- Gaby has a strong bond with her mother. It left her with a drive to make her mother proud ... and to make herself proud, too.

An exceptional student, Gaby had strong opinions about people's abilities to not necessarily follow the path of their parents and to make their own choices instead. (She writes more than once about her determination to "not live down to other people's expectations" of her.) When it comes time for her to pick a senior class project, Gaby knows she wants to do something that will help the teens of her high school -- and maybe of her entire community -- realize that they can make their own choices, live their own lives, and be who and what they want to be. That they don't have to live down to people's expectations of them.

So for her senior class project, Gaby decides to fake a pregnancy. Her own.

It's a daring, daunting task to take on, isn't it?  After getting approval from her school principal and superintendent, Gaby only told four other people the truth about her project: her mother, her boyfriend (who had a healthy dose of courage of his own), one sister, and one friend at school. No one else -- her other siblings, her teachers, her friends, or even her boyfriend's own parents -- knew the truth. It was the only way for Gaby to see what people's reactions would really be like if she lived "down" to their expectations of her. (The sister and the friend who were in on the secret were able to monitor other people's reactions and report back to Gaby on what people had to say about her when she wasn't around.)

She faked the pregnancy for six months. Then an assembly was held, giving Gaby the chance to present her findings about the experiences and social treatment of teen moms -- before pulling off her fake pregnancy belly in front of the entire school. I've never called a senior class project "epic" before, but this pretty strongly fits the bill.

I cannot tell you the amount of courage I saw in this teen. Some of the results of her experiment are exactly what you'd expect -- but others were astonishingly surprising, revealing surprising insights about Gaby's community, family, and Gaby herself. And through it all is an important message about family, friends, expectations, and choice ... a message which, now more than ever, needs to be heard.

Staff Recommendation #4: The Works of Vivian Vande Velde

Today we've got a very special book review, written by teen volunteer Amanda. Enjoy her funny, insightful look into two YA fantasy reads!

* * * * *

The Changeling Prince by Vivian Vande Velde

Let me start this off by making one point clear: I hate the Twilight series. (Irrelevant as you might think it is, that’s important.) That being said, I did not expect much from The Changeling Prince. Ever since I had the displeasure of reading the new “Stephenie Meyer” rendition of werewolves, picking up a book with werewolves in it has brought me both mental and physical pain (the physical pain being caused by me violently throwing the book against my foot whenever I read a new passage about how attractively attractive the werewolf looked). So once I’d finished reading The Changeling Prince and my feet were still in perfect condition, I knew it had been a success.

Here’s the story: For his entire life, Weiland (the main character, in case it wasn’t completely obvious from me mentioning his name first) has been under the control of the evil sorceress Daria. She kidnapped him when he was still just a wolf pup, and changed him into a human. Now, he isn’t the only animal-turned-human that Daria owns. She has a wide variety of bears, wolves, birds, etc. (like a Beanie Baby obsession gone bad). Whenever Daria wants them to do something for her, she’ll change them back to their original animal form and send them out. Naturally, being a main character and all, Weiland is not satisfied with this lifestyle. He doesn’t want to kill people, he doesn’t like waking up and tasting blood in his mouth: the usual. But how can he manage to escape when Daria has complete control over him? And that’s when the adventure begins.

Now I can tell you that Weiland is one of my favorite characters I’ve read about. Ever. And that’s because he isn’t all moral. Sure, he doesn’t like to kill people, but he’ll beat you pretty hard if you deserve it (and maybe sometimes even if you don’t). That’s a characteristic you often see in side characters -- while the main character is being moral and brave, trying to hold the side-character back. To see this from the main character was really refreshing. In any case, I don’t want to spoil any more (actually, my fingers are starting to hurt from this annoying computer keyboard, but same difference), so the main point I am trying to get across is: read the book.



The Conjurer Princess by Vivian Vande Velde

Now, after finishing The Changeling Prince, to my extreme joy I discovered that there was a sequel. Oh, how I wish I hadn’t. Apparently, Vande Velde wrote this book ten years before she wrote The Changeling Prince, and it shows. Honestly, I liked it so little that I can’t even remember most of the plot … or the main character’s name. (I just Googled it: It’s Lylene.) Alright, so Lylene is supposed to be this good, caring, brave, perfect (I know … already you can’t stand her) heroine. Instead, the author accidentally made her bratty, annoying, awful, flirty, and just plain unbearable. The only reason I could even finish this book at all was the fact that Weiland was in it (and honestly, he wasn’t nearly as awesome as he had been in The Changeling Prince). So, the main point I’m trying to get across with The Conjurer Princess is: don’t read this book. Don’t. You will regret it. I promise.

So, if you’re an author, and you’re reading this, it is a warning. If you ever decide to write a prequel to a book you wrote ten years ago, don’t. No matter who you are, or how good you think you were at writing ten years ago, your style will have changed within the last decade (hopefully on the improving side -- but really, it goes both ways). If you’re not careful, you could end up with this disaster happening to you, and the next time someone writes a review like this, it will be about your book series. Be warned.



Request The Changeling Prince by Vivian Vande Velde

And, if you care to risk ignoring Amanda's sage advice, borrow an interlibrary loan copy of The Conjurer Princess


-- Our thanks to teen volunteer Amanda for her fantastic reviews!

Not Just For Teens: The "All Ages" Reading Phenomenon

Most young adult librarians will tell you that young adult literature is a comparatively modern genre. Now, it's certainly arguable as to exactly when novels written with a teen audience in mind first started to appear. Are Dickens's Oliver Twist and Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer the first real books for young adults? Or should we count the beginning of the "teen literature golden age" as the 50s and 60s, when The Catcher in the Rye and The Outsiders were published? Others might argue that it wasn't until the 70s and 80s -- when authors such as Judy Blume, Lois Lowry, Robert Newton Peck, and Madeleine L'Engle gained mainstream popularity -- that young adult fiction really took off.

But regardless of when you decide teen literature became a mainstream genre, there's no denying that we're in something of a teen lit renaissance at the moment. Much of this burst of popularity is due in no small part to J.K. Rowling, who published her first Harry Potter book in Great Britain in 1997 (the book would make its stateside debut in 1998), and whose famous series would, over the years, grow from best-selling children's book series to worldwide phenomenon.

Harry would pave the way for other, explosively popular teen novels -- Percy Jackson, The Hunger Games, Maximum Ride, and Twilight, the latter of which ushered in a plethora of teen paranormal romance fiction (House of Night, City of Bones, the Shiver series, and Hush, Hush, to name but a few). If the 70s and 80s were the Golden Age of young adult fiction, we're clearly in the Silver Age now.

But if Harry Potter and the Twilight series opened the door to a new generation of teen literature, it also opened the door to another new phenomenon: adults reading books "intended" for kids.

In some ways, this isn't really a new phenomenon at all. Adults have been reading stories with teenage protagonists for years: Oliver Twist, Tom Sawyer, and Holden Caulfield just for starters. But those books weren't considered "young adult literature" the way the Harry Potter books are today; even The Catcher in the Rye, with its quintessential teen protagonist, was originally marketed to adults. Harry and Twilight were considered "children's" books from the start -- and yet a substantial part of their readership is made up of adult readers.

And it's not to say that this is simply a matter of adults reading their children's books. Enough adults are purchasing teen books for themselves that they constitute a complete audience for these books in and of themselves. "Adult" editions of the Harry Potter books were published in Great Britain (the idea being that grown-ups might be too embarrassed to be seen in public reading a children's novel, so sophisticated new covers were given to the books to leave them looking more "mature"). Grown-up fans of the Twilight series can join groups like Twilight Moms, clubs devoted to adult members of Stephenie Meyer's vampire series. And you'd be surprised how many adults confess (because it is usually a sheepishly-admitted confession) to being big fans of Percy Jackson or The Hunger Games.

The opinions for why grown-ups are suddenly devouring kid lit vary with each person you ask. Some people will tell you that adults are tired of heavier, serious fare and are looking for the light escapism that young adult lit brings you. Other people (fans of The Hunger Games, for instance) are quick to point out that there's nothing inherently "light" about the entire teen lit genre -- there are plenty of teen books that deal with heavy issues and high stakes -- and that adult readers love them for exactly that reason.

As for me, I suspect both theories are right. Even if I weren't the Teen Services Librarian here at MPL, I'd still have a deep affection for many of today's most popular young adult novels. I can tell you that the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books are indeed a lot of escapist fun: who doesn't enjoy reading a fast-paced, funny, high-rise adventure about wizards and demigods, mysteries and quests, monsters and magic?

And yet these books -- like much of young adult literature -- aren't simply brain candy. I think the other reason so many adults are picking up today's teen books is because most of these stories are telling a universal tale, one that readers find appealing regardless of their age. Young adult books, perhaps more than any other genre, tell and retell the archetypal tale of the Hero's Journey, the story of a hero undertaking a quest and facing trials and obstacles before transforming into a truer version of themselves. Although many people refer to these as "coming-of-age tales," there's no denying that this most elemental of stories is one that everybody can relate to -- no matter how young or old. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Lyra Belacqua, Meg Murray -- they all star in their own fantastical adventure series, but their stories are as much about determination, courage, and sacrifice as they are about flying cars and golden compasses.

Young Adult Literature today is smart, fun, and can make for a great read for anyone, teenager or adult. And its stories are also about something, which makes it a satisfying read on more than one level. So the next time you stop by the Library, be sure to check out our Teen Collection.

I'd be happy to recommend some of my favorite titles to you.


-- Post by Ms. B

Staff Recommendation #3: "The Faerie Path" by Frewin Jones

"The Faerie Path" by Frewin Jones

Staff review by C.O.

At first, I thought this was going to be your typical faerie princess story -- where princess meets prince, princess loses prince, and then in the end the princess gets her prince and lives happily ever after. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn’t the case.

Anita Palmer was living the typical British teenage life, with school, friends, a boyfriend, and parents. But what she didn’t know was that she was in fact the Princess Tania, the lost princess of Faerie and the youngest daughter of King Oberon and Titania. On her 16th birthday, she finds herself in a boating accident with her boyfriend Evan, landing her in the hospital with no recollection of what happened. Evan has disappeared and a mysterious book is mailed to her. When she opens the book, she finds that the pages look empty ... but are they really? Believing that she is suffering ill effects from the boating accident, she hears a mysterious voice calling to her. What comes next is both exciting and frightening for young Anita -- when she finds herself in the land of Faerie.

While in Faerie, Anita meets Gabriel Drake, a man with power and evil on his mind. (He's also the man who brings through the fold into Faerie.) As Tania, she'd been engaged to Gabriel but had vanished on the eve of her wedding. She also meets up with the missing Evan, who's also in the land of Faerie -- and who has been working for Gabriel. She feels betrayed and hurt because she really believed the love shared between her and Evan was real. She doesn’t know what to think now.

Anita also finds out that she is one of seven daughters of the royal house. Each sister has different magical powers and Anita/Tania finds out that her magical power is the ability to travel between the two worlds. She meets her father, King Oberon, but finds out that her mother the Queen is dead. But is she? Something is fishy and Anita/Tania must find out what really happened.

The land of Faerie is nothing she could ever imagine, but she is torn between the love of her mortal family living in England and the duty she feels towards her Faerie family and the kingdom of Faerie. She has to make a choice, but what that choice will be has everyone guessing. The land of Faerie, the people she meets, the sisters she comes to love -- they all play a part in her decision. One thing she does know is the love she feels for her sisters: Eden, Sancha, Zara, Cordelia, Hopie and Rathina. One of them is harboring a dark secret which could tear the land of Faerie apart.

One of my favorite characters was Cordelia, because she shared a special bond with the animals, and they in turn were very loyal to her. When called upon, the animals were a great help in Anita/Tania’s quest.

I enjoyed the story of Anita/Tania and all that happens to her. Does she discover what happened to her mother, Queen Tantia? Does she fulfill her fate? Does she stay in Faerie or go home to her mortal parents? Come join me in finding out what happens to Anita/Tania as she follows her destiny.

Request "The Faerie Path" by Frewin Jones

New Mysteries for Teens (& Teens at Heart)

Case Closed
Gosho Aoyama

Nothing can keep high-school mystery fan Shin'ichi Kudo from solving a case -- that is, until he's transformered into a puny grade schooler! Kudo finds a home with an eccentric inventor who promises to cure him -- and, in the meantime, joins his friend Ran to help her incompetent private detective father on all his toughest murder mysteries.




Fallen
Lauren Kate

Seventeen-year-old Luce -- accused of murdering her boyfriend -- is sent to a Georgia reform school ... where she meets two strange boys and learns the truth about her own life.




A Spy in the House
Y.S. Lee

Rescued from the gallows in 1850s London, young orphan and thief Mary Quinn is offered a place at Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls -- where she will be trained to be an investigator and a spy ...




The Big Dip
Melanie Jackson

Joe Lumby, track star extraordinaire, was only breaking his curfew to take a quick ride on a roller coaster. But when a man is shot right in front of him -- and the man's dying words involve Joe in the mystery of the Margaret rose -- there can be no turning back from the unexpected twist his life has taken.




Jonas
Eden Maguire

Something strange is happening at Darina's high school. Four students have died in the past year, and rumors of ghosts and strange happenings are swirling through the town. Then the ghost of her boyfriend appears to Darina ... and tells her that only she can right the wrong linked to the death of their friend Jonas ...




A Thousand Cuts
Simon Lelic

Recommended for older teens, A Thousand Cuts tells the story of Detective Inspector Lucia May, hired to investigate a murder at the local high school -- only to discover that she has more in common with the killer than she ever could have imagined.




Ghost in the Machine
Patrick Carman

Stuck in the house after an eerie accident, Ryan continues to investigate the weird occurances in Skeleton Creek, keeping his findings in a journal and viewing email video clips sent by his fellow detective Sarah.

(You can follow the clues along with Ryan at SarahFincher.com!