Dairy Queen

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Dairy Queen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.

Working on a dairy farm alongside her nearly mute brother is not D.J. Schwenk’s idea of a great summer, but after her father hurt is hip, she does not have much choice in the matter. She dutifully takes care of the disintegrating farm, at the cost of failing her English class during her sophomore year, rendering her ineligible to play any sports. This is hard for D.J. to take, considering she comes from a family of jocks; her two older brothers were even town football heroes, although they never come home after a fight with their father. When the coach for the opposing team (who also happens to be a close family friend) sends over their quarterback, egotistical Brian, to work, D.J. is less than happy. After a brief confrontation and reconciliation, the two decide that D.J. should help train him for the upcoming season. Over the summer, the duo actually becomes friends and he enlightens D.J. to the fact that she is a bit of a doormat. After realizing that he may be right, she decides that going out for football is what she really wants to do. D.J. gains perspective, the ability to speak up for herself and the tenacity to go after what she wants.

The Schwenk family is not good about communicating with one another, causing several rifts between family members and making it hard for D.J. to say what she wants. Young readers may identify with this aspect of the flawed heroine, in that sometime it is hard for them to say what they are really thinking. Tense family interactions further show how the family’s communication skills (or lack thereof) have affected D.J. to her core. A quip from Brian to D.J. telling her that, “when you don’t talk, there’s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said,” is indicative of D.J.’s reluctance to speak her mind. With a suggestion by Brian that she follows along blindly, much like the cows she tends to, D.J. begins to open her mind up to the possibility that she has the ability to do what she wants, not do what everyone else wants her to do. The reader is given a first-hand view into the journey that she takes in figuring out who she is and who she wants to become.

Most notable about the work is the fact that D.J.’s point of view and characterization is solid from beginning to end. D.J. never breaks character, saying things like "that was real nice" and never getting far from the character she actually is and was meant to be. Sometimes, when you have a novel about a character going through a change, the writer gets carried away with the metamorphosis and the character completely changes. D.J. does change and grow mentally and emotionally, but how she speaks and relates her thoughts to the reader remains the same, giving her characters' transformation more realism. In fact, her tomboy ways may appeal to a group of readers that find a lack of strong female characters like D.J. In School Library Journal, Amy Pickett is in accord with this idea saying the work may, “appeal to girls, like D.J., aren’t girly-girls but just girls, learning to be comfortable in their own skin.”

Book cover found on: http://blogs.skokielibrary.info/explorer/tag/awards/

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things

Mackler, Carolyn. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2003.

Chubby, blond and unremarkable, 15-year-old Manhattanite Virginia feels completely separate from her family of dark-haired, beautiful successes. Making matter worse is the fact that her best friend has just moved clear across the country to Walla Walla, Washington, so she is alone to face her sophomore year at her very exclusive private school. Virginia has a burgeoning romance with fellow classmate Froggy, but the “Fat Girl Code of Conduct” she has written for herself prevents her from speaking with him in public. She adores and idolizes her older brother, Bryon, who is making a name for himself on his college campus. Everything is relatively normal (her mother, a prominent child psychologist, constantly brings up her weight, Virginia decides to go on a diet and her father attempts to remain blissfully ignorant), until Bryon is accused of date rape and has to move home. Virginia struggles to come to terms with the implications of what Bryon has done and the confusion that it has caused. Once bullied and overlooked by her parents, Virginia begins to make her own decisions and break out of the mold that she has developed over time, slowly becoming her own person.

Feeling as if you don’t belong, neither in school or at home, is a prominent theme in The Earth. Covered in a number of ways, you get the feeling that Virginia feels nearly invisible to her family and the other kids at school. Her brother, a former golden boy at Virginia’s school, was extremely popular and well-liked, while Virginia prefers to spend her time huddled in the restroom or helping a kind teacher in her classroom. At home she is left to her own devices, is reminded of her shortcomings by her parents and feels jealous when her best friend becomes friendly with other kids in her new town, because she is by herself. All of these elements bring together a characterization of someone who feels left out and alone, something that nearly every teen has felt at one time or another. Ilene Cooper agrees with this in Booklist , observing that readers “will immediately identify with Virginia’s longings as well as her fear and loathing.” The stylized writing, sections of the book appear in emails, instant messages and diary entries, and modern language will no doubt appeal to the young adult audience, as will the self-deprecating humor and straight-forward observations of the protagonist.

What feels a bit unlevel about is work are the number of issues that are covered and remain unaddressed in the text. Virginia engages in some self-harm, she burns her finger with a candle commenting that, “…at least the pain is concentrated in one spot rather than dominating [her] entire body” and also pinches herself so fiercely that she bruises. A kind doctor, whom her mother initially brought her to for diet advice, subtly and vaguely investigates, but no resolution is given. Additionally, Virginia’s issues with food and overeating are left mostly untouched, with the exception of her mother’s desire for her to lose weight. Bree, another seemingly perfect student, also deals with an eating disorder, but it is almost completely glossed over and is added in what appears to be an effort to give the extraneous character depth. Introducing characters and not providing them motivation, complexity or backstory causes some of them to become caricatures rather than full, rounded, active elements of Virginia’s life. Making marginal references to significant issues and neglecting to expound on their detrimental aspects will do no favors to the reader, especially to the reader who is suffering from any one of these problems.


Book jacket found on: http://www.candlewick.com/bookxtras.asp?isbn=0763619582&id=&browse=&view=jacket&jacket=./images/cwp_bookjackets/648/0763619582.jpg&bktitle=The+Earth%2C+My+Butt%2C+and+Other+Big+Round+Things

Before I Die

Downham, Jenny. Before I Die. Oxford: David Fickling Books, 2007.

Tessa Scott’s body is failing her. Diagnosed with leukemia at 12, she has fought unsuccessfully for six years to beat the disease and now the cancer is no longer responding to treatments. Before the cancer can completely ravage her already ruined body, Tessa decides that she is going to make a list of the things that she would like to do before she dies. Items like trying drugs, having sex, committing crimes and saying yes to everyone for a single day top the list that continues to grow throughout the novel. Tessa’s friend Zoey and neighbor Adam (who Tessa meets the afternoon after checking off her first item), help Tessa check off different things. Soon Tessa and Adam become mutually attracted to each other and begin a relationship. Tessa’s father, a single parent, tries to protect Tessa as much as he can, but Tessa refuses to sit still and just die. She continues to go through her list, occasionally stopped along the way by her ever-worsening disease. Eventually, after a valiant fight and lasting longer than even doctors expected, the cancer begins to take over Tessa’s body and renders her languid and lethargic. Captured in quick prose, the last chapter of the novel relates the last memories and thoughts of the teen as she leaves the world, surrounded by her friends and family.

Death is a topic not for the light of heart, but Jenny Downham does the best to create a portrayal of a teen facing the end of her life prematurely in a realistic and readable way. Tessa is given a wide range of emotions, from anger, confusion and lust to happiness, tenacity and discernment. As the reader sees Tessa through her last months, each facet of her life is shown, but the cause of her journey, the reason for her writing the list is never far from the forefront of the story. The effect of her sickness on the people in her life is also treated with a great deal of attention, giving depth and quality to the secondary characters in the novel. Occasionally, however, the characters are presented with emotions for which no motivation is given. Furthermore, Tessa’s mother is reintroduced into the picture, characterized as someone who left her family, but flits in and out of the story without much regard.

Downham has a tremendous gift in creating elegant prose that describes the scene. The Kirkus Review of the work remarks on this “lurid language [that] makes a painful journey bearable, beautiful and transcendent.” This talent is especially evident toward the end of the work; Tessa is nearing the end of her voyage and she observes she “can’t hold onto anything. Like a tree losing its leaves. I forget even the thing I was thinking.” At times though, the imagery can be too heavy handed and may lose a reader. Asides expounding on the feel of the dirt, the smell in the air and the colors of the leaves feels overly focused and often forced. Not so forced, however, is the theme of the book, which is difficult to do with such subject matter. Tessa soon realizes that is not about the things that she has done, but rather the manner in which she completed them and who stands beside her as she accomplishes these things.

Book jacket found on: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/jenny-downham/before-i-die.htm

Speak

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York City: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999.

Melinda Sordino is dreading her first day of high school after a summer when an event occurred that forever changed her perspective. This trauma has caused Melinda into turn into herself and rendered her nearly speechless. Her former friends are falling into new groups, leaving her behind and Melinda is infamous around her school for calling the cops during a raucous house party. She struggles not only socially but also at home; with a distracted father and overworked mother, Melinda rarely gets the support she needs. During the first week of school, Melinda cautiously makes a friend in overachiever Heather, a new transfer, whom Melinda does not really like. Unable to cope with joining her classmate in mundane activities, Melinda finds a sanctuary in a forgotten janitorial closet and makes it into a space she can sit and think. As school continues, Melinda’s grades continue to plummet (although she seems to excel in and take interest in art) and it is finally revealed that the source of Melinda’s behavior change is that she was sexually assaulted by Andy, a popular senior at the party she imploded. Disclosing this information to her ex-best friend (who is the first person she reveals this to), who is now seeing Andy, Melinda is met with disbelief and she becomes further defeated. As she is cleaning out her closet toward the end of school, Andy, her attacker, confronts her about the things she is saying, intending to force himself upon her again. Luckily, Melinda is able to shove open the door of the closet, where she finds members of a girls’ sports team have arrived to defend her.

Speak takes the form of diary-like entries following Melinda through the four marking periods in her first year of high school. Anderson does a fantastic job giving Melinda a strong point of view, creating an often witty and sometimes sorrowful outlook on the world she is forced to participate in. Reviewers in both School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly note that Anderson writing style make the “pain” that Melinda is going through “palpable.” Teen readers will find the writing style easy to follow and the plot realistic through the character development that Melinda and other characters are given throughout the story. The reader is easily transported to the surroundings that Melinda is in everyday, with vivid, yet not overwrought, descriptions of classrooms, bedrooms and the outdoors. These descriptions lend themselves nicely to involve the reader further in the story, yet do not detract from the story itself.

What is most intriguing about the novel is the fact that not everything that Melinda is going through is revealed all at once; her story is peeled back like an onion, layer after layer, in a methodical way. Melinda is giving bits and pieces to the reader, slowly, as if she is attempting to forget the situation herself. Melinda is dealing with a weighty situation, one that she has not even come to terms with yet. She runs into her attacker saying, “IT found me again,” a sentence that is indicative of her state in confronting the issue. This writing strategy gives the work a realism that would be overlooked were all of the circumstances of her situation been given upfront. Taking on such a weighty topic could certainly cause a writer to too heavily focus on a sermon about rape and the perils of high school, but Anderson keeps a light hand in this regard. The end of the story, where Melinda is faced with her attacked yet again, feels a bit trite, but the transformation that she makes throughout the story gives a feeling tangibility.

Book cover found on :http://picsdigger.com/keyword/speak%20novel/

An Abundance of Katherines

Green, John. An Abundance of Katherines. New York City: Dutton Books, 2006.

Colin Singleton, former child prodigy, has just graduated from high school and has just been dumped by his girlfriend, Katherine. In fact, he has been dumped by every Katherine he has dated, but this Katherine was the Katherine. In the pit of despair, Colin is persuaded to go on a road trip to clear his mind by his best (and only) friend Hassan. Driving aimlessly, Colin and Hassan decide to make a pit stop in the backwoods of Tennessee to visit the grave of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Gutshot, a decision that turns into a job opportunity for the two friends. Lindsey and her mother (who owns the Gutshot General Store and the local plant that is the town’s livelihood) invite the two boys to stay with them in their sprawling pink mansion. Daily the three teens are tasked with asking every resident in the town about their history in Gutshot and the evening is left open for Colin to work on his mathematical theory that explains why he has no luck with Katherine’s (and some light reading). Eventually, through hearing life stories across the town, having some adventures (boar hunting!) and spending time with Lindsey, Colin realizes that even though he considers himself a has-been or never-was, everyone counts to someone. Though he might not be a genius and cannot predict the future, Colin can mean something to someone, even if it ends up being a Lindsey and not a Katherine.

The text of the story, written from Colin’s perspective, reads with the geekiness you might expect when going through the brain of a child prodigy. Complete with footnotes and an appendix (which might help explain Colin’s theory to those remedial in math), the novel is stocked full of anecdotal trivia; for instance, Colin explains to a townsperson that the shower curtain flies inward because a vortex is created from the shower head spitting out water. Moments like these personify the fact that Colin is knowledgeable about nearly everything and his character develops in little flashes like these. However, some readers might find all the extra information a little difficult to follow. Amy Pattee warns of this in her critique in School Library Journal. She says, “[t]he narrative is…peppered with anagrams, trivia…and interrupted by footnotes that explain, translate and expound upon the text in the forms of asides. It… has the potential to both win over and alienate readers.” Not only can the additional notes be hard to follow, but some readers may find them overwhelming or be disinterested with them altogether.

The interactions between Hassan and Colin (and Lindsey, in certain sections of the book) are believable and read genuine. These conversations also provide important comic relief to what could be an otherwise heavy scene and assist in rounding out the main characters. Cindy Dobrez agreed with this idea by stating “the…humor ranges from delightfully sophomoric to subtly intellectual, and the boys sarcastic repartee will help readers navigate the slower parts of the story.” (Booklist). Colin, in dealing with his new situation, occasionally reminiscences about some of the Katherines, a devise that further cultivates the readers understand of Colin’s history and motivations. The reader comes to understand that Colin is not just smart, but that he works hard to be that way. Colin and other major characters in the story are given depth, are multi-faceted and have attributes with which teen readers can identify. Lindsey goes as far as to tell Colin that she is never authentic with anyone; she acts and behaves differently with each group of people she is around, never getting the chance to be Lindsey. Teens can identify with the struggle of figuring out who they are and what they want rather easily.

Book cover can be found at: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/john-green/abundance-of-katherines.htm

What I Saw and How I Lied

Blundell, Judy. What I Saw and How I Lied. New York City: Scholastic Press, 2008.

Fifteen year old Evie Spooner lives with her mother (Bev), stepfather (Joe) and Joe’s mother in post World War II Queens. Joe Spooner has come back from the war and done fairly well for himself, opening up a series of appliance stores, but his formerly happy-go-lucky attitude has begun to sour. After a phone call that shakes Joe up, he gathers the family and they leave on a vacation to Palm Beach. Once they arrive, they find that the majority of the town is gone for the season, save for one hotel. Settling in, the family becomes fast friends with the Grayson’s, a husband and wife who are hoteliers back in New York. Joe makes a plan to buy the hotel with Mr. Grayson and tells the family they may eb staying for a while longer. Soon after, Evie meets Peter, a handsome young man who just happens to know Joe from the war. Joe does not seem keen on Peter spending so much time with the group, but Evie continues to seek him out, falling deeper into infatuation. Evie reads all of Peter’s body language and listens intently to his words, only to convince herself of her intense feelings being reciprocated. Eventually, she learns that Peter’s trip to Palm Beach was purposeful rather than coincidental and Joe did something during the war that he can never take back. Meanwhile, the hotel deal has fallen through, and a hurricane is whipping up nearby. Joe convinces Peter and Bev to go out on a boat before they all leave; though the water is treacherous, Peter assures Evie he is good on a boat. The storm nears and passes, but the three adults did not return before it hit shore. When Evie’s parents return, they soon learn that Peter died on the trip and Joe and Bev are implicated in the murder. Evie must step up, swallow the knowledge that she has since gained (it seems that Bev was truly the object of Peter’s affections, not Evie) and help her family overcome the situation they now face.

The language and attention to detail in regard to the setting of the novel truly casts the story in the time it was set. Clothes, shoes, hairstyles and makeup are given extra attention, as they might be when a teen girl is the narrator of the story. In 1947, Palm Beach was a highly segregated community; Jews and African-Americans were not welcome into hotel or even on the island (no deed could be given to members of either community). Returning from a rather tense dinner, Mr. Grayson is given a message and it is revealed that the Graysons are Jewish. The demeanor of the hotel manager changes dramatically, every point of which Evie notes, down to the fact that the manager now seems disgusted to even have the Graysons in the lobby. It evokes emotions in Evie that remind her of how she watched a friend mistreat a Jewish girl back home in the neighborhood. Attention to detail such as this crafts a story that has a foothold in history. Jennifer Hubert remarks on this aspect saying, “Using pitch-perfect dialogue and short sentences filled with meaning, Blundell…subtly explores issues of post WWII racism, sexism and socioeconomic class.” (Booklist)

The whole plot of the story revolves Evie’s changing perspective; she is directly in the middle of her teen years, figuring out love and having her first pangs of affection. Burgeoning womanhood is coupled with a new view on her parents. Always an obedient child, Evie is beginning to notice that not everything that her parents do is in her (or their own) best interest. She starts to comprehend the way that adults communicate with each other, sometimes in subtle undertones and that not everything is on the surface. Evie grapples with the idea of justice, truthfulness and integrity, much as a teen reader would at the same age. She is discovering that not everything is as it appears, nor is everyone the same after traumatic events. Through Evie, the reader can appreciate wrestling with something that seems to difficult, but ultimately knowing and choosing to do the right thing.

Book cover can be found on http://nicolepoliti.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/what-i-saw-and-how-i-lied-by-judy-blundell/

Seventeenth Summer

Daly, Maureen. Seventeenth Summer. New York City: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1942.

In the summer just after graduation from high school Angie, a quiet girl, sees handsome Jack Duluth at a local hangout. While she does not date, Angie finds herself thinking about Jack quite a bit. Jack’s father owns the local bakery and stops by to make a delivery one afternoon and asks Angie to spend some time with him that evening. Angie finds herself self-conscious and feeling a bit awkward on the date comparing herself to other girls she thinks that Jack may find attractive. Even so, Jack asks her to accompany her to a dance and it is there that Jack confesses how much he likes Angie and they kiss. Over the summer, Angie and Jack have a falling out, but once the pair talk they are inseparable. As time passes, Angie begins to question the strength of the feelings she is having, thinking they are too advanced for someone her age, finding herself falling in love with Jack. The end of the summer looms over them, for Angie will be leaving their Wisconsin town for school in Chicago, when Jack reveals he will be returning to Oklahoma with the rest of his family. Bittersweet and honest, Jack and Angie leave each other at the train station with Angie thinking to herself that there would “never be a summer as sweet as [her] seventeenth.”

Maureen Daly began work on Seventeenth Summer while she was still in college, which gives the novel a different feel than if an adult, completely removed from childhood, would have written the work. Daly also sets the novel in an area close to where she herself grew up, providing her the opportunity to give delightful and detailed descriptions of the lake and countryside of Angie and Jack’s hometown. The author describes the smell and taste of the summer, truly drawing in the reader to the surroundings in which Angie and her family reside. In fact, the background could easily be considered another character in the story, it is so well developed.

The story itself is written in a style reminiscent to a diary – this technique lends itself well to the narration given to the reader by Angie. Sometimes written in desperate tones, the reader feels as if they are the only one who understand how deeply Angie feels, following her through elation, disappointment, wanting, needing, anger and desire. Although the story takes place in the early 1940’s, Angie’s story reads reminiscent of many young women’s first love tales. Angie struggle to understand love and finding contentment in a relationship can be understood regardless of the generation gaps between modern day teens and 1940’s teens. The New York Times noted that the novel is “both a timeless romance and a period piece, making it an utterly enchanting book – one which rings true and sweet and fresh and sound.” Some of the terminology and struggles that the characters face (Angie wonders if it makes her seem “fast” to be kissing Jack so soon, which is something that a modern day teen may think is very old-fashioned) are going to seem foreign to the reader, but in the end, the story is about two teenagers finding first, true love, something with which any reader can identify.

Book cover can be found at http://maureendaly.com/?attachment_id=4