My most mediocer book

Dear Joshua,

This weeks book is “My Most Excellent Year” by Steve Kluger. As a class, we decided that it is not the most excellent book, however it does have something to offer.

The novel is told through journal entries and IM chats of three different friends, T.C., Augie, and Ale. The parents and other supporting characters can be found by way of memos to each other. This is a story about friendship and family and it’s all wrapped up in a neat little package. T.C. and Augie are brothers, although not by birth. They became friends when they were six years old and decided that being brothers would be much more fun. Ale is T.C.’s love interest and a socially and politically minded individual. She is a strong female character, which I can appreciate. Augie is most certainly gay; although he doesn’t know when everyone else does (he writes his journal entries to his “Diva of the Week” for crying out loud!). He does figure it out and falls in love for the first time. T.C.’s mother died when he was 6 and he has taken in another 6 year old, Hucky, as his friend/little brother. Hucky is deaf so T.C. and everyone else learn sign language pretty quick so they can all communicate.

I cannot honestly say what the story was trying to do. What was the plot? Ummm….I guess it was some friends during their Freshmen year and how they got to know each other with some parents and a deaf child mixed in. I don’t have a clear answer. There was no big drama, no big dilemma; everything was fixed in the end and you are left with a fuzzy feeling inside.

Needless to say, this week was the week on “Innovations With Form.” I enjoyed the book and did not find it difficult in the least to read, but I was part of a select few. After having read plenty of graphic novels I was able to get into the swing of things pretty easy. There is a lot of changing view points and messages and letters and chats that make up the story, but that’s what I found most interesting. I doubt you would like it, Joshua, but it’s still a pretty easy and fun read.

Your sister,

Paige

Relatability, Shrematablity

Dear Joshua,

During this blog, I have been trying to find ways to get you to relate to the books I review. I have tried using your interests, your experiences (that you have had or will have eventually), or lessons you should probably learn. This time I have a book that caused quite a commotion in class, due to the subject of relatability.

“We Were Here” my Matt De La Pena is a book about a Mexican American teen, Miguel, who winds up in Juvenile Detention in California. He is sent to a house to work off his sentence with a Judges request that he write a journal. The journal is to help counselors help him. He meets Rondell, an African American teen, in Juvi who also ends up in the same house. At the house already is Mong, a Chinese American teen who just looks plain crazy to Miguel.

Miguel and his new acquaintances decide to run away to Mexico and find jobs. On the journey, we learn a lot about where the boys come from, what kind of family life they had, what their aspirations are. Miguel is the narrator, we have a limited perspective, but we can see the progression of an unlikely friendship between three kids brought together by actions deemed irresponsible.

“Throughout Missouri, the Division of Youth Services operates 32 residential programs serving 72 groups of 10-12 youth and 10 day-treatment programs. Division of Youth Services programs are located in both rural and urban/metropolitan areas throughout the state.” This was found at http://www.dss.mo.gov/dys/faq/genopt.htm. This means that, in the state of Missouri, there are 23,040 – 27,648 kids in the DYS database at a given time. The discussion raging in class was over how students could relate to a book about Juvi kids. I believe the numbers above deem relatability a moot point.

We know these kids. We see them on the street, in the grocery store, at the mall, cleaning trash on the side of the interstate. To not present a book like this would pretend that these kids don’t exist. I didn’t work at a non-profit crisis care center for abused and neglected children for 12 months to walk away thinking that I will always be surrounded by white, middle to upper class, privileged kids.

Joshua, I know that at your Super Nerd Tech School (just poking fun) probably doesn’t have a lot of Juvi kids, if any at all. But your school recently ended up having the largest Toledo Public High School, Scott, merge into your building. That school is riddled with gangs and violence like you wouldn’t believe. And you share a building with them, despite TTA’s best efforts to prevent that from happening. You are going to see Juvi kids. And you would be better off knowing that they come from a home life that you could only imagine. They need extra guidance and a hell of a lot of support. Read “We Were Here.” These kids are human and worth taking a look at. I don’t care if you can’t relate. Suck it up, boy.

Your sister,

Paige

Now that's more like it!

Dear Joshua,

You are a big fan of Tolkien, just like me and Justin. Justin got us into the books and I can remember reading The Hobbit on our way to Florida the first time. We were sitting in the car and I was reading Gollum’s riddles to dad. I remember you (how old were you? You had to have been super little) trying to guess the answers. It was so cute!

Well, today I have a really great fantasy book for you! It’s called Graceling by Kristen Cashore. It doesn’t have very many of the same elements as Tolkien’s world, but it’s still pretty darn good. Katsa is a Graceling, someone who has a Grace. A Grace in this world is a gift of tremendous ability. Not everyone has one and you know a Graceling by their eyes being two different colors. Katsa has the gift of killing. She can kill any person at any time with any method. She’s quite a phenomenon. She is used in her kingdom as a hit-man (hit-woman?) by the king. She doesn’t like her job and doesn’t appreciate her skill being used to solve petty crimes.

Katsa creates her own secret society to put her Grace to good use. She and her friends stumbled upon a mystery and have decided to take it into their own hands. Someone is causing a lot of trouble, namely kidnapping an elderly man for no apparent reason. Katsa meets another Graceling, Po, who happens to have a strong connection to the elderly man. Katsa and Po’s relationship unfolds into something beautiful and intimate and together they learn of a terrifying man who destroys the minds he meets. It is their duty to put an end to him.

We talked in class about fantasy books and what types of questions they raise and how those questions can be answered by fantasy. Basically, a fantasy book can ask any of the same questions a non-fantasy book can ask. We have discussed how The Lord of the Rings is similar to the Second World War, raising many of the same issues. Well, Graceling presents questions on gender, power, altruism, and relationships. Remember how I said that Frankie was about how NOT to treat a girl? Well, Graceling is about how you SHOULD treat a girl. Po is an excellent male figure, one that I think most young adults would appreciate.

It doesn’t matter what you’re vehicle is. You can write in plain old fiction or amp it up with fantasy. As long as you have some pertinent questions and make use of our higher cognitive functioning, you’ve got yourself a good book. Graceling is one you must read.

Photos!

Dear Readers, Here is a fun post! My older brother, Justin, got married in September and Joshua just sent some pictures to me that were taken from his camera. The first is one of Joshua himself. You can see Justin in the background, just look behind all of Joshua's bulk. The second one is of both Joshua and myself. We really do love each other, I promise!

Take care,

Paige

Remember: I can always bring you down, I don't care how big you are.

Dear Joshua,

I know you. You're an upstanding guy. But I also know you're a guy and probably could use some help in the romance department, not to mention the gender issue department. This is why you should read "The Disreputable History of Frankie Landaue-Banks" by E. Lockhart. This National Book Award finalist is a funny and engaging read that I read in about a day and a half. It's easy to get through, has some awesome pranking material, and offers a little lesson in love on top of that.

Frankie is a sophomore at a boarding school on the East Coast and she has "blossomed" from her freshmen year. "She gained four inches and twenty pounds all in the right places." So she's a hot tamale and now, all of a sudden, everyone is noticing her, including the super hot Senior Matthew Livingston.

She and Matthew start dating and he's kind of a jerk. Here's where gender roles come in: he likes it when she needs him, he likes to do things for her, he doesn't open up to her, etc. Frankie doesn't like this so she follows him one day after he's blown her off for his friends (again) and finds out he's in some secret all boy society that pulls lame pranks on the school. Long story short, she infiltrates the group and organizes a plethora of pranks worthy of getting certain people in deep trouble.

What I want to discuss with you, little brother, is the gender and romance stuff. You know me, I am independent and can fend for myself quite easily. This is what you need to know about most girls: we can do things on our own. Frankie is sick and tired of being looked at as a little girl, defenseless and in need of help. So she does something about it. I would have to say that if any girl you ever date acts the way Frankie does because of you, then you deserve it. Matthew leaves her all the time in favor of his friends. Every once in a while is fine. You know Les (Readers note: Les is my husband) goes off with his friends, that's cool. But he never blows me off to be with them. When you make plans, keep them. Unless of course you end up having knee surgery the day before Halloween and end up having to stay home by yourself (good luck with that!).

I say gender and romance together because they do go together. A man is expected to do certain things for his lady and the lady is expected to do other things for her man. Frankie does not like this. Hence infiltrating an all guys secret society without letting her identity be known. But it's ok to let down societies gender roles and do your own thing. For example, Les does more laundry than I do. Do I object? Haha. And one more important thing about gender that you cannot escape: when guys get even, they do it overtly. Girls, however, are covert. Always. Remember. That. It may save your face someday if you cross a girlfriend.

Your big sister,

Paige

Blargh!

Dear Joshua, Sometimes there comes a book that makes you want to throw it across the room. I have encountered this a few times for different reasons. I have wanted to throw a book because it was just plain terrible. I have wanted to throw one because it hit so close to home that I wasn't prepared for the blunt honesty and the vacant rooms of my soul opened up unexpectedly.

This time I wanted to throw a book because I just couldn't like it. I tried, I really did. I tried finding the literary merit but was blindsided with a truly bore of a book.

"The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing" was written by M.T. Anderson, the same guy who wrote "Feed," my first review. I raved about "Feed" so I thought for sure that I would love "Octavian." Alas, I did not.

"Octavian" is about an African boy and his mother who were brought into a household during the time of the American Revolution. The house contained a group of scholarly men who were apt to perform experiments on just about anything. Octavian and his mother were obviously part of an experiment. Octavian finds that he is being groomed as an intellectual under the presumption that he could never be one, given his race. He grapples with the concepts of logic and feeling, freedom and slavery. Is intellectual slavery worse than physical slavery?

My professor asked us what makes a book literary. Turns out the majority of students (being English savvy and much better at this sort of thing than I am) decided that there needs to be a good use of literary devices (you know, symbolism, metaphors, etc.) and an outstanding plot. My immediate mental reaction to the question was "It's a work of art." I was thinking about how some people really like Jackson Pollock, even though his stuff sucks so bad that no one can tell a counterfeit from an original. And some people find the Mona Lisa to be the symbol of beauty because of her smile (even though it was the fact that this was the very first depiction of a vanishing point that actually made this piece impressive as opposed to totally ordinary).

I want a book to *thunk* me over my heart and say “Wake up!” That’s what I find literary. Maybe it’s not literary as much as something else entirely, but that’s what makes a good book for me. When you look at the Sistine Chapel, you cannot help but be moved by it. The care, the craftsmanship, the fact that this was the culminating work of one of the greatest artists of all time (note: do not eat your lead paint, for crying out loud!) and everyone can respect it for what it is. You do not have to like art, you do not have to be Christian; you just look at it and another room to your soul opens that you never knew was there. That’s what a good book is. Literary? Maybe, maybe not. I’m not an English major, I don’t know these things. What I do know, is what a good book is.

Your opinionated sister,

Paige

Let's rewind

Dear Joshua,

For our week on dystopian literature, I chose to read a second book since I knew this would be a good genre for you. (Yes, I like it too...) My professor brought some books in for those of us who chose to read a second book for this week. Laying on her desk were a handful of books, one of which was M.T. Andersons Feed, the first book I reviewed for this blog. I picked up one that had a fuzzy human figure holding up their hand, pressed to what looks like a screen. I was instantly reminded of Requiem for a Dream, particularly when the mother is tripping on the speed she thinks are diet pills (which, I guess in some sick and twisted way, could be true). If you've never seen the movie, wait until mom and dad are gone, watch it on dads giant TV and try not to cry yourself to sleep that night. That scene at the end...*shudder*.

Task at hand! I chose that book with the cool cover (Unwind by Neal Shusterman) only after reading the first sentence on the inside flap: “In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would ‘unwind’ them.” I was hooked. So basically, in this futuristic world, no one is donating organs and the pro-lifers and pro-choicers are still at odds with each other. So to kill two birds with one stone, it is now common legal practice to retroactively abort a child once they are between the ages of 13 and 18. They are “unwound” and 100% of their body parts are distributed to other people. How does this satisfy the pro-lifers? The kids are still technically alive. Ever heard of muscle memory?

This book could have easily been made preachy. The author could have imposed his views but he chose not too. You only get the idea that chopping up body parts and distributing throughout the country (Need a left big toe? No problem!) while keeping these people alive is wrong. Duh. So we have to ask ourselves how on earth we would ever get to such a point. Here’s a link to an absolutely true report from 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6171083.stm

I’ll stop right here for now. I suggest you read the book and start tackling ethics on your own. The things you find in Unwind are issues that are going to be discussed, fought over, and voted on for a long, long time.

--Paige