Originally created for my Materials for Tweens class, I am a YA Librarian. This blog will include reviews on children's, YA, and some adult books.
I am also academically interested in the importance of series literature, so I will also be blogging about series books.
I may also include updates about things I do with my teens at my library.
For my YA Materials class this semester (Fall 2012), I had, as a final project, to complete a blog of 50 items recommended for a teen library collection aimed at readers 15-18 years old. Since I like my professional blog here which was started as the final blog project for LIBR 264: Materials for Tweens and I then decided to keep it and turn it into the blog for my series book thesis work, I just incorporated the LIBR 265 posts within since I didn't really want to create a new blog for more book reviews and I love the look of my blog (hello original Nancy Drew orange endpapers!). This is why you'll see the formats of the posts being rather different from one to another (there are essentially three "styles" on here--the requirements for LIBR 264 posts, the requirements for LIBR 265 posts, and my own musings on the books for my thesis--so there is a purpose to the chaotic styling!)
Below is the alphabetical list of titles required for the LIBR 265 blog project. If interested in seeing just these entries, they can be found by clicking on the LIBR 265 tag at the end of the post. (I wasn't going to be horrible and make my poor professor sift through tons of blog posts to find the ones for her class! I'm not cruel!)
Plot
Summary: Sixteen-year-old
Sloane Price’s life has been a nightmare. She and her 19-year-old sister, Lily,
have been raised by the strict hand of their father who took his rage out on
the two daughters. Lily, Slone’s protector, always promised to be there for
Sloane and that when she graduated from high school they would run away from
home. Unfortunately, six months ago Sloane woke up to find Lily left without
her and Sloane has just been going through the motions of life with no will to
live. She’s getting ready to return to school after a long absence (in which
the “story” is she has the flu that’s been going around but the real truth is
that her father beat her sad bad she couldn’t leave the house) when all of a
sudden someone is calling for help from outside and a crazed person breaks into
their house trying to attack her father who shoves a shard of glass in the
woman’s eyes. Fast forward seven days and Sloane is now trying to survive a
zombie apocalypse. She’s taken shelter with a few classmates and they all
fought their way to Cortege
High School and have
barricaded themselves inside. As the days pass slowly and they live in intense
fear of being found, they have remote security and safety in the school with
still has a water tank on the roof, food supplies, and more. However, soon they
are pitted against themselves as the stress and horror of the situation gets to
them. Grace and Trace, twins, blame Cary
for getting their parents killed in a zombie ambush on the way to the high
school. Harrison, a nerdy freshman, can’t stop crying at everything. Rhys isn’t
happy when he finds out that Sloane just wants to die and volunteered to go
outside to see a hurt man because she hoped she’s bet bit and die. Things heat
up when they discover their former English teacher found a way inside the
school but when they discover he has been bit (but he insists that it wasn’t
from an infected) they force him outside to die and they live in fear trying to
find how he got in the barricaded building. When the emergency radio finally
says that there are survivor camps set up the teens have to decide if they are
willing to try to make the 100-mile trek to the closest one. As they are
getting ready to leave Sloane finds her lost phone and discovers a text message
that she missed—it is from her father saying to come home, Lily is back, and
it’s safe. The teens set out with the intention of hitting up Sloane’s house on
the way to the camp to see if her sister came back and is alive. What they
don’t bargain on is the fact that the zombies have just been silently waiting
for any living thing to come to them before they attack.
Critical
Evaluation:
This is one of those well-written zombie novels that isn’t about zombies at the
heart of the matter. The fact that the infection is never really explained
(which I don’t like—the most we get is hints that maybe the flu that hit the
town had something to do with the mutation that occurred), there really isn’t
much zombie action throughout the novel. We have the first instance when
Sloane’s house is attacked and then we move forward in time when the teens take
refuge in the school. Most of the novel the teens are surrounded with zombies
banging on the doors and windows but they are relatively safe. When a gas
station a couple of miles away blows up, it attracts the zombies and they leave
the high school for what appears to be the rest of the novel. Their only
outside contact is with their former teacher and then they aren’t attacked
again until they venture out to Sloane’s house. The real meat of the plot is
from the teens’ interactions with one another while trapped in the school
fearing for their lives. It is really about human nature as each teen has a
reason to hate each other, the loneliness causes some to pair off to try and get
any human contact they can, they all face tough decisions (trusting that their
teacher isn’t infecting and letting him stay in the school trusting that they
all won’t die or sending him outside to change or possibly be killed if he was
telling the truth and isn’t infected), and the utter potential hopelessness of
their situation. Sloane is a very interesting choice for the main character as
she starts the novel wishing she was dead anyway but somehow ends up surviving
longer than many people who actually want to live. There are some excellent
moments of pure suspense and horror that will make readers jump. The ending is
sad but there is a resolution for Sloane and she can hopefully move on with her
life.
Reader's
Annotation:Sloane’s sister has run away without her
leaving Sloane left behind with the desire to die. The last thing she expects
to happen is for zombies to take over and her sudden death wish slowly turns to
a strong sense for survival.
Author
Information:Summers was born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, in 1986 and currently
resides in a small town not far from there. When she was five, sheI wanted to
be a “singer on Sunday and a geologist on Mondays.” When she was around nine, she
gave up her geology and music-based dreams and decided she was meant to be an
actor and then a director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. At 14, she became
Vice President of her town’s local theatre guild and she also dropped out of
high school. At eighteen, she decided to write a novel. Cracked Up to Be was her fourth written novel and her first to be
published. She was twenty-one when it sold and twenty-two when it hit shelves.
Since then, she has published three more books—Some Girls Are, Fall for Anything, and This is Not a Test. All the
Rage will be out in 2013 (Summers, n.d.).
Genre: Horror
Curriculum
Ties: N/A
Booktalking
Ideas: Read
the scene where Sloane’s father, not even knowing the infected are zombies,
kills a crazed woman by shoving a shard of broken glass into her eye.
Reading
Level/Interest Age:
14+
Challenge
Issues: Violence,
language
Challenge
Defense: If
this book were challenged, I would make sure the library has a Challenge
Defense File ready for such a situation. Inside the Challenge Defense File,
librarians and the public could find:
·A
copy of the library’s own selection policy (my library, the La Vista Public
Library, has a policy but it is not online so I can’t link to it as an
example).
·A
copy of the library’s citizen’s complaint/reconsideration form (my library, the
La Vista Public Library’s, form is called the City of La Vista Service Request form).
·Copies
of reviews—both good and bad—from reputable library and publishing services to
justify why a book was selected for inclusion in the collection. These include
not only reviews from such journals as School
Library Journal, VOYA, Horn Book, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist, but also any mention of books
on YALSA lists and other copies of articles about any awards or nominations
such books may have received.
·Include
a short rationale file for other coworkers so if the librarian in charge of
selecting materials is not available when a challenge occurs the other staff
members have some information to go by (the rational would include such
information as a short summary, what could be challenged, reviews, awards and
nominations, etc.)
·Include
for staff members a copy of “Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to
Library Materials,” a document written by the American Library Association.
Make sure that staff reviews this document periodically so they are prepared
and know how to face such situations. (Can be found and printed from ALA’s website at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips)
Reason
for Inclusion:
An excellent zombie novel that perfectly mixes horror with great character
development.
Critical
Evaluation:
Random, aka Mega Ran, calls himself a “Teacher. Rapper. Hero.”His music is an ideal selection for teens,
especially for the self-professed geeks and gamers. His masterful storytelling
covers subjects from games and gamer culture to the classics of literature. His
rap narratives are underlain with charged hip-hop beats (often chip tuned) that
accentuate the subject of each song marvelously. Born Raheem Jarbo, Random
started his career as a middle school English teacher before focusing on his
music. This history is represented in his three-album epic called Language Arts. Narrating the struggle
faced by both students and teachers in schools around the country, the songs
often include tongue-in-cheek references to outright and dead-on criticism of
our myopic school systems. Interspersed between these true to life and forward
leaning narratives are songs that tell the story of literary classics,
including Flowers of Algernon and
Kafka's Metamorphosis. While taken
individually, these songs are a fun homage to the original material, but when
taken as a part of the album, in its entirety, these tracks are a fitting part
the overarching story. Random's talents really come to play for the interests
of teens in his video game themed albums.As Mega Ran, his chip tuned beats support lyrics about popular video
games and the ups and downs of a young gamer's life that any geek/gamer will
empathize and enjoy. His self-titled Mega Ran albums, celebrating the iconic
video game series, as well as Forever Famicom and many other video game albums,
are tastefully done featuring beats crafted from the music of the very video
games they reference combined with expert lyricism that leads to an experience
that is genuine and infectious to anyone who's life is often defined by the
enjoyment found in video games.
Reader's
Annotation:
N/A
Author
Information:
N/A
Genre: Rap (Music), Hip Hop (Music)
Curriculum
Ties: Language
arts, literature
Booktalking
Ideas: N/A
Reading
Level/Interest Age:
14+
Challenge
Issues: N/A
Challenge
Defense:N/A
Reason
for Inclusion:
Mega Ran himself cares about the literary skills of teens after working as a
junior high language arts teacher when he saw the disinterest many inner city
teens had in reading. He always loved music so he decided to try to reach out
to them with his unique form of rap and hip hop that focused on classic video
games and also rap songs about books they had to read as required readings in
school. A lot of teens can enjoy his music and find it fun. Plus, it is also
rap music that doesn’t focus on the violence of ghetto life, sexually themes,
or even use bad language.
References: Feel free to sample some of
Random’s music at the following links:
Plot
Summary: Designed
for 1-8 players, Arkham Horror is a cooperative adventure game of survival,
horror, and investigation based on the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft’s
horror and science fiction short stories. Players take on the role of an
investigator, each with their own unique back story, abilities, and equipment. Together
they must close portals and stop an Ancient One from awakening and destroying
the world. To close these gates investigators have to gather clues, investigate
alternate dimensions, and then return to Arkham to close the gates. If they
gather enough clues, they will be able to permanently seal the location so no
more gates can be spawned. Enough of these seals will ensure that the Ancient
One remains dormant and Arkham is saved . . . for the time being.
Critical
Evaluation:
At my library’s first Teen Advisory Board lock-in during the summer of 2011, I
introduced my teens to Arkham Horror, a cooperative adventure game that is
themed around writer H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Asides from being a game,
Arkham Horror also encourages reading. Since game play is based on the works of
Lovecraft, teens are encouraged to read the original source material the game is
based off of. The company’s publisher, Fantasy Flight, has also started to
release paperbacks based off the game and characters from the game adding yet
another game-to-reading connection for my teens to explore. The game is
cooperative based (everyone against the board, not each other) and very
complex. It requires critical thinking, creativity, and mathematical skills. An
average game takes 30 minutes to set up, about two hours to explain rules to
new players, and between six to eight hours for actual game play. One would
think teens would quickly lose interest, but mine actually dived right in and
loved it—so much so we got a Nebraska Library Commission Youth Excellence grant
in October 2011 to implement our Arkham Horror Gaming Club (AHGC). We had our
first meeting during Spring Break in April 2012 and it was an astounding
success. In October 2012 we received a YALSA/Dollar General Teen Read Week
grant to have an Arkham celebration which included the big event of turning the
complex board game into a Life-Size version (which took nearly three months of
planning and over 350 volunteer hours from my teens to pull off!).
Gaming
in the library has always been a hot topic. However, when most think gaming
they don’t go beyond the Wii and the Xbox and traditional board games. The AHGC
brings a whole new dimension to the idea of gaming in the library and opens
possibilities for more complex means of gaming that attract older teens and get
them interested in the library. Teens are very interested in complex table top
games which are traditionally not part of library programming because you
really have to be a gamer yourself to fully understand such games and be able
to confidently introduce new players to them. Arkham Horror not only has
literary connections since it is based off the work of Lovecraft, but because
of its own complex gaming nature it requires players to do a lot of reading
aloud from the various cards that are drawn. Arkham Horror also teaches a
variety of skills that other video games typically don’t teach. Asides from
improving reading skills, game play also requires critical thinking (choosing
between two lines of action and trying to predict which is the better move),
teamwork and cooperation (since it is everyone versus the board instead of competitive
competition), mathematical skills (various skill “checks” are required to earn
items and all forms of combat with monsters require doing calculations to
determine how many dice to roll and what is needed for success), and it also
requires patience, commitment, and attention to detail since an average game
can take six hours. Arkham Horror appeals to different kinds of teens. Whereas
crafts might bring in more girls, Arkham Horror is of interest to all ages and
genders. The members of my current AHGC are evenly split among girls and guys
and, while their ages average 12-16, my youngest member is 9 and the oldest is
20 (siblings of other members). We even have had parents stay and play, so the
club is also multigenerational. Overall, Arkham Horror based gaming programs
encourage various life skills making it a valuable learning tool that teens
view as a way to have fun with friends.
Reader's
Annotation:
N/A
Author
Information:
Roseville, Minnesota, based Fantasy Flight Publishing
was founded in 1995 by Christian T. Petersen. Since the release of its first
game product (Twilight Imperium) in 1997, the company has been doing business
as Fantasy Flight Games.Since that
time, FFG has grown to become one of the biggest names in the hobby games
industry, being a marketplace leader in board games and maintaining strong
businesses in the card game, roleplaying game, and miniature game categories.
FFG is known for its quality of game components (often enhanced with highly
detailed plastic miniatures and beautiful artwork), innovative gameplay,
professional dedication to customer service, and a cutting-edge online presence
providing information and support for its many products. FFG's best-known
titles include games based on licenses such as Battlestar Galactica, World of
Warcraft, and The Lord of the Rings; proprietary titles such as Arkham Horror
and Descent: Journeys in the Dark; as well as re-releases of classic titles
such as Cosmic Encounter, Fury of Dracula, and DungeonQuest (Fantasy Flight, 2012).
Curriculum
Ties:Literature, mathematics, reading, critical
thinking skills, teamwork, 1920s and Prohibition history
Booktalking
Ideas: N/A
Reading
Level/Interest Age:
12+
Challenge
Issues: Horror,
violence, Prohibition era (thus drinking, smoking, etc.)
Challenge
Defense: If
this book were challenged, I would make sure the library has a Challenge
Defense File ready for such a situation. Inside the Challenge Defense File,
librarians and the public could find:
·A
copy of the library’s own selection policy (my library, the La Vista Public
Library, has a policy but it is not online so I can’t link to it as an
example).
·A
copy of the library’s citizen’s complaint/reconsideration form (my library, the
La Vista Public Library’s, form is called the City of La Vista Service Request form).
·Copies
of reviews—both good and bad—from reputable library and publishing services to
justify why a book was selected for inclusion in the collection. These include
not only reviews from such journals as School
Library Journal, VOYA, Horn Book, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist, but also any mention of books
on YALSA lists and other copies of articles about any awards or nominations
such books may have received.
·Include
a short rationale file for other coworkers so if the librarian in charge of
selecting materials is not available when a challenge occurs the other staff
members have some information to go by (the rational would include such
information as a short summary, what could be challenged, reviews, awards and
nominations, etc.)
·Include
for staff members a copy of “Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to
Library Materials,” a document written by the American Library Association.
Make sure that staff reviews this document periodically so they are prepared
and know how to face such situations. (Can be found and printed from ALA’s website at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips)
Reason
for Inclusion:
While a complex game, if you have the right teens with patience to play it you
will get diehard fans. Also, unlike passive games played on the Wii or Xbox,
Arkham Horror is a “complex” board game that incorporates a number of valuable
skills.
And when you have teens who fall in love with this complex board game this could happen . . . you apply for a YALSA/Dollar General Teen Read Week grant of $1,000 to not only have Arkham and Lovecraftian themed programs but to be insane and turn Arkham Horror into a Life-Size version!
The cards and various tokens made life-size
A view of the whole room--you can see various locations and our six-foot tall portal paintings
Abby shows off some goods in the Science Building
Kayla went insane at Arkham Asylym and Pierre was sent to jail
And here is a clip of Pierre, during one of our gaming club meetings, trying to read the gibberish on the back of the Cultist monster token (video taken from our TAB YouTube account):
Plot
Summary: There
is a new threat to Gotham
City that is out to get
Batman. When an explosion at Arkham Asylum results in a number of criminals
breaking free, Batman has to push himself to his limits as he has to fight and
recapture numerous villains one right after another. He faces the Joker, Poison
Ivy, the Riddler, Scarecrow and Killer Croc plus many other minor villains as
well. Unbeknownst to him, the villain responsible for the break out is Bane—a
ruthless killing machine that is watching his every move and studying him. Bane
is waiting for the right moment in which to approach the Batman for a final
showdown. Pushed to him limits and near exhaustion, Batman and his fight with
Bane results in Bane delivering a crippling blow that changed the Caped
Crusader’s life forever.
Critical
Evaluation:
At nearly 700 full-color pages, this graphic novel collects nearly 25 issues in
the first story arc originally published in 1993 that told the epic story of how
Batman was paralyzed by Bane. Any comic book fan today or Batman fan needs to
be introduced to this historically important comic book storyline. I love how
it is full color (most of the DC’s other “Showcase” line of large reprint
graphic novels are all black and white to keep the cost down—which is evident
at the $30 price tag of this volume) and it brings back a lot of memories for
me as I grew up as a comic book collector when this story was first published
(and have the original issues in my collection). The volume starts out with the
“Batman: Vengeance of Bane” special which introduces readers to the back story
of Bane and how he came to be, which is sad. It allows readers to realize that
Bane really isn’t a criminally mad villain but was forced that way because of
the circumstances of his life. He becomes that rare sympathetic, yet evil,
villain. The book shows how Bruce Wayne, of the few superheroes that doesn’t
have magical powers and fights crime with his own physical limits, is pushed to
his limits by fighting villain after villain and falls at the hands of Bane. As
he recovers, he entrusts Robin to place Jean Paul Valley, formerly known as
Azarael, in the shoes of Batman but since Jean Paul has a bad past of being
brainwashed by a secret society to be the vengeful Azarael he turns the symbol
of Batman from a man of justice to a mockery of pain and brutality, which leads
to the story continued in the other volumes Knightquest
(which focuses on Jean Paul’s reign of terror and Bruce Wayne’s absence in
Gotham as he recovers) and Knightsend
(in which Bruce Wayne finally comes back to reclaim the cowl from the crazy,
out of control Jean Paul). Since the comics of the 1990s featured a lot of crossovers, the only downside
to these volumes is that sometimes things mentioned in passing refer to issues
that weren’t critical to this storyline and so readers might be like “what the
heck” to mentions of these stories. Also jarring might be the constant change
in writing and art styles since the issues all come from different comic book
lines that had different artists and writers creating each issue. The only
other thing that might be different to today’s comic book readers is the art
style of the 1990s which might seem archaic compared to today’s glossy eye catching
comics. However, true comic book and Batman fans can look past these issues
(hey, they are teens they can easily Google for any of the missing back story
information they need) and this is an important story to the history of comic
books that they need to be exposed to. For three total volumes (reaching about
2,100 pages) the narrative is really engaging and it tells an excellent story
in the Batman mythos that will engage readers.
Reader's
Annotation:
Read the pivotal story arc of the Batman mythos where Bane destroys the
Batman.
Author
Information:
N/A (too many writers, illustrators, etc.)
Genre: Action (Graphic Novel)
Curriculum
Ties:
Important stories/moments in comic book history
Booktalking
Ideas: The
historical importance of the story arc—where Batman is paralyzed—and maybe read
a few scenes of the history of Bane, which is moving and sad as he totally was
a product of his environment and not just a crazy evil dude.
Reading
Level/Interest Age:
14+
Challenge
Issues: Violence,
language, sexual images (mainly in costumes though these are much tamer than
they are nowadays)
Challenge
Defense: If
this book were challenged, I would make sure the library has a Challenge
Defense File ready for such a situation. Inside the Challenge Defense File,
librarians and the public could find:
·A
copy of the library’s own selection policy (my library, the La Vista Public
Library, has a policy but it is not online so I can’t link to it as an
example).
·A
copy of the library’s citizen’s complaint/reconsideration form (my library, the
La Vista Public Library’s, form is called the City of La Vista Service Request form).
·Copies
of reviews—both good and bad—from reputable library and publishing services to
justify why a book was selected for inclusion in the collection. These include
not only reviews from such journals as School
Library Journal, VOYA, Horn Book, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist, but also any mention of books
on YALSA lists and other copies of articles about any awards or nominations
such books may have received.
·Include
a short rationale file for other coworkers so if the librarian in charge of
selecting materials is not available when a challenge occurs the other staff
members have some information to go by (the rational would include such
information as a short summary, what could be challenged, reviews, awards and
nominations, etc.)
·Include
for staff members a copy of “Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to
Library Materials,” a document written by the American Library Association.
Make sure that staff reviews this document periodically so they are prepared
and know how to face such situations. (Can be found and printed from ALA’s website at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips)
Reason
for Inclusion:
This historical importance of the story arc. Batman and general comic book fans
will be intrigued. Also, great value for the money—three huge volumes (700+
pages each) in full color unlike many other DC and Marvel omnibus editions.
Also get the other books in the trilogy—Knightquest
and Knightsend. Would also recommend
the purchase of the anniversary edition of A
Death in the Family, in which readers actually voted for the Joker to kill
off Jason Todd, the current Robin. What may be confusing to some readers
reading Knightfall is why Batman is
already so defeated and worn down. The reason, which isn’t explained well due
to the collective nature of the volumes, is because of Robin’s death so this
volume is kind of a prequel to the Knightfall story arc.
Plot
Summary: Tessa
and Luke have been joined at the hip for as long as anyone in their small Indiana town can
remember. They are now seniors and everyone is waiting for Luke to finally make
his move and ask Tessa to prom. The last thing he suspected in reaction to his
dramatic prom proposal is Tessa telling him she’s a lesbian. Hurt, confused,
and feeling betrayed, he lets Tessa’s secret get out and soon a misquote from
him about Tessa and her newly admitted sexually sends the town into an uproar,
especially when Tessa announces her intentions of going to the prom with her
girlfriend. Will Tesss be able to be who she is? Will Luke be able to support
his best friend and most of all will Tessa Masterson make it to prom?
Critical
Evaluation:
This is one of the best GLBT titles currently out there! It is also very timely
since it is loosely based off the real life event of Mississippi high school
senior Constance McMillen and her struggle to be allowed to attend prom with
her girlfriend. If you believe in equal rights the portrayal of small town hate
in this story will make you so angry at how ignorant some Americans can be.
Tessa is a very believable character—she’s always felt different and is
confused at how she is supposed to be herself. Luke is believable in his
feelings of being rejected and also how to handle the “betrayal” of Tessa not
telling him sooner and his attempts to make it better. The ending has a bit of
suspension of belief (it doesn’t hurt the story though) but the end is a box of
Kleenex-worthy.
Reader's
Annotation:
After humiliating himself in front of the whole town to ask his life-long best
friend, Tessa, to go with him to prom, Luke accidentally, in anger, bashes
Tessa for why she turned him down—she’s gay. What neither one of them is
prepared for is the media news storm that follows this revelation as the very
conservative town makes their feelings known about Tessa and her determination
to take her girlfriend to prom.
Author
Information:
Growing
up, Emily Franklin wanted to be a singing, tap-dancing doctor who writes books.
Having learned early on that she has little to no dancing ability, she left the
tap world behind, studied at Oxford University, and received an undergraduate degree
concentrating in writing and neuroscience from Sarah Lawrence
College.After extensive travel, some
“character-building” relationships, and a stint as a chef, Emily went back to
school at Dartmouth
where she earned her Master’s Degree in writing and media studies. Franklin is the author of
two adult novels, The Girls' Almanac
and Liner Notes and more than a dozen
books for young adults, including the critically acclaimed seven book fiction
series for teens, The Principles of Love.
She has collaborated with Brendan Halpin on three books, Jenna and Jonah’s Fauxmance, The Half-Life of Planets, and Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom. Franklin lives outside of Boston with her husband and their four young
children (Franklin, 2012).
Brendan
Halpin grew up in Cincinnati, went to college in
Philadelphia, and also lived in Taipei
and Edinburgh
along the way. He has lived in Boston
since 1991. He became a professional writer in 2000, writing about his late
wife Kirsten's breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Kirsten died in 2003,
leaving him to raise their daughter Rowen. He got remarried in 2005. He and
Emily Franklin have written three books together: Jenna and Jonah’s Fauxmance, The Half-Life of Planets, and Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom (Brendan, n.d.).
Genre:
Realistic
Curriculum
Ties: Tie
it into the real-life story of Constance McMillen and individual rights (do schools
have the right to ban students from prom because they want to take a date of
the same sex, etc.?)
Booktalking
Ideas: Read
the prom proposal. Read the section where Tessa’s family’s business is
boycotted.
Reading
Level/Interest Age:
14+
Challenge
Issues: People
who don’t believe in homosexually will not like “impressionable” teens reading
about a gay girl.
Challenge
Defense: If
this book were challenged, I would make sure the library has a Challenge
Defense File ready for such a situation. Inside the Challenge Defense File,
librarians and the public could find:
·A
copy of the library’s own selection policy (my library, the La Vista Public
Library, has a policy but it is not online so I can’t link to it as an
example).
·A
copy of the library’s citizen’s complaint/reconsideration form (my library, the
La Vista Public Library’s, form is called the City of La Vista Service Request form).
·Copies
of reviews—both good and bad—from reputable library and publishing services to
justify why a book was selected for inclusion in the collection. These include
not only reviews from such journals as School
Library Journal, VOYA, Horn Book, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist, but also any mention of books
on YALSA lists and other copies of articles about any awards or nominations
such books may have received.
·Include
a short rationale file for other coworkers so if the librarian in charge of
selecting materials is not available when a challenge occurs the other staff
members have some information to go by (the rational would include such
information as a short summary, what could be challenged, reviews, awards and
nominations, etc.)
·Include
for staff members a copy of “Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to
Library Materials,” a document written by the American Library Association.
Make sure that staff reviews this document periodically so they are prepared
and know how to face such situations. (Can be found and printed from ALA’s website at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips)
Reason
for Inclusion: One of the best GLBT YA novels of 2012.
Starring:
Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean,
Martin Mull, Lee Ving, and Lesley Ann Warren
Released
by Paramount Pictures, 1985
Plot
Summary: Six
strangers—Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Mrs. White, Miss Scarlet, Colonel
Mustard, and Mr. Green—are invited to a party in a secluded New England
mansion. They are met by the butler, Wadsworth,
who reminds them each that they have been given pseudonyms to protect their
true identity. After dinner, Wadsworth
reveals the true nature of the party: All of the guests are being blackmailed
to hide their various secrets. Wadsworth
then reveals that the seventh guest, Mr. Boddy, is the blackmailer and he is
soon murdered. The rest of the film follows the characters as they use their
classic weapons and discover more murders. Who is the murderer and with what weapon
did they commit the murders? The film version does include the original three
theatrical endings allowing the viewer to watch all three or one ending at
random.
Critical
Evaluation:Clue is a classic mystery/comedy that
all teens should be introduced to if they have ever played the game. Many of my
teens when they first watch it at the library are all like, “Clue had a movie?”
and it is even more important to show them this classic before the (will
probably be horrible and ruin it) remake hits theatres in 2013. All the
characters are there and all the potential murder weapons too. The setting—a
rainy night in a spooky mansion full of hidden passageways—is greatly
atmospheric and adds to the creepy elements of the movie and adding to the
overall murder mystery, making it a great choice for a Teen Halloween Party.
Tim Curry, as Wadsworth, shines in the film as
many of the comedic elements come through his performance, especially in the
crazy and hectic endings (all three) where Wadsworth plays Sherlock Holmes and explains
who did it with what and where. There is some mild language and some mild
sexuality (Miss Scarlet is clearly a vixen, Professor Plum’s secret is that he
was fired for sleeping with one of his psychiatric patients, and Yvette, the
maid, is wearing a stereotypical maid uniform which accentuates her large
breasts) but the violence of the murders is pretty tame—nothing too gory or
over the top. Teens will enjoy the fast-paced endings (my teens always want to
watch all three options) and love to try and figure it out along the way (if
they are first time viewers). Pair this with a session of playing the board
game and it will be a hit. One thing to keep in mind is teens might ask what
socialism is as the historical background of the film takes place in the late
1950s in the beginning of the McCarthyism scare.
Reader's
Annotation:
N/A
Author
Information:
N/A
Genre: Mystery (Film)
Curriculum
Ties:
Critical thinking if tied with the game
Challenge
Defense: If
this book were challenged, I would make sure the library has a Challenge
Defense File ready for such a situation. Inside the Challenge Defense File,
librarians and the public could find:
·A
copy of the library’s own selection policy (my library, the La Vista Public
Library, has a policy but it is not online so I can’t link to it as an
example).
·A
copy of the library’s citizen’s complaint/reconsideration form (my library, the
La Vista Public Library’s, form is called the City of La Vista Service Request form).
·Copies
of reviews—both good and bad—from reputable library and publishing services to
justify why a book was selected for inclusion in the collection. These include
not only reviews from such journals as School
Library Journal, VOYA, Horn Book, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist, but also any mention of books
on YALSA lists and other copies of articles about any awards or nominations
such books may have received.
·Include
a short rationale file for other coworkers so if the librarian in charge of
selecting materials is not available when a challenge occurs the other staff
members have some information to go by (the rational would include such
information as a short summary, what could be challenged, reviews, awards and
nominations, etc.)
·Include
for staff members a copy of “Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to
Library Materials,” a document written by the American Library Association.
Make sure that staff reviews this document periodically so they are prepared
and know how to face such situations. (Can be found and printed from ALA’s website at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips)
Reason
for Inclusion:
A classic movie full of murder, mystery, and humor teens that have played the
board game and love it should be introduced to the movie version. My teens
request to see it at least once a year during a movie night program.
