The Plain Janes

Castellucci, Cecil. The Plain Janes. Ill. by Jim Rugg. New York: DC Comics, 2007.

After being injured in a bomb attack in her native Metro City, Jane and her parents move to suburbia where Jane’s parents feel safer about living. Jane becomes bored and avoids being friends with the “popular” crowd and instead actively seeks out the friendship of three social outcasts, also named Jane. At first, Jane is met with a frosty reception by the other Janes, but eventually wins them over with her idea to develop P.L.A.I.N. or People Loving Art In Neighborhoods. Together, the four girls commit “art attacks” in order to get people to stop and take notice. After a few of the attacks, the student body begins to rally around the idea, while the local authorities are anxious to stop the perpetrators. Jane also deals with her overbearing mother, continues to write to a John Doe (also hurt in the bombing) and manages a new love interest, all while trying to make a statement in the culturally conservative new town.

In Janes, author Castellucci makes an effort to let the reader know that an dramatic event has had a effect on its main character, forever changing her perspective. In doing so, she allows the reader to understand the foundation in which Main Jane stands on, giving the character the ability to keep the momentum from the initial change go on and grow throughout the graphic novel. By making this decision, Main Jane is fully realized character, with the reader understanding her motivation and history. This attention to character development is imperative for this age group, but the in-depth rendering only seems to be extended to the main character, Main Jane. Other characters within the book, specifically the other Janes, read as caricatures or stereotypes. While their characters are given specific qualities and well-defined traits, the definitions serve to pigeon-hole the characters. Jesse Karp comments on this in Booklist: “The book has its share of stereotypes – the science geek…the irrepressible gay teen.” Even so, having such detailed depictions of supporting characters only serve to highlight the attention that went into developing the main character.

Illustrations within the novel lend well to the stark, dark and foreboding nature of the work. The terrorist attack in which Jane was injured lingers over the whole novel; the black and white illustrations are a reminder of the bleak beginning of Jane’s transformation. By making the illustrations an accompanying element of the text, instead of the focus, allows the reader to engage with the text first, then view the pictures fully. The illustrations, devoid of any color, are afforded the ability to be severe, supporting the gravity of the text. Jane’s mother becomes overprotective and worried after the attack, checking in with Jane constantly. Jane says, “Mom doesn’t see the beauty in anything any longer. She only sees the danger. I want her to stop worrying and love the world again, because if she can, then I can.” Words that carry such weight should be supplemented by illustrations that also carry substance and significance, which this novel does effortlessly.

Book jacket found on: http://www.comicbookbin.com/theplainjanes001.html

Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy

Sones, Sonya. Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy. New York: HarperCollins, 1999.

It was Christmas Eve when her big sister went crazy and now Cookie (as she is referred to) is dealing with the fallout of her older siblings’ sickness. Cookie’s father and mother are fighting with more frequency and her sister’s empty bed is a constant reminder that her sister is no longer herself. She is hesitant to tell her friends about what has happened, because she is afraid of how they will react. When she does let them know they act concerned; then it is revealed that they are making fun of her and her sister, passing notes about what Cookie had told them in confidence. Cookie has a great dislike of visiting her sister in the asylum where she is staying and is confused by her sister inability to get better. Eventually, Cookie figures out there is a new normal in her life. She makes a new friend, finds a boyfriend and her home life with her parents begins to stabilize. While things will never be like they were, things can get better from what they were at the beginning.

In her first verse novel, Sones creates a world in which poetry comes to the forefront easily and logically. Using poetry in a linear format, she relates the story of a girl dealing with the mental breakdown of her sister (which is based on the author’s own experiences). The poems differ in length, format, rhythm, tone and sound. All of these elements help to increase the forward movement of the reader as they follow along with the story, giving them little pause to become bored or uninterested. What is most striking is the emotion conveyed throughout the work; the reader feels the complex emotions that Cookie deals with in the poems. From uncertainty about how her friend will treat her once they know the truth about her sister (“If I told them that my sister’s nuts/they might act sympathetic/but behind my back/would everyone laugh?”) to her fears about ending up like her sister (“If I stay/any longer/than an hour/I’ll see that my eyes/have turned into her eyes”), Cookie’s voice and emotions are the focus of the work. The reader gets the voice of the character through the poems, not just words and phrases. It does seem, however, that taken out of the context of the collection, the poems may be difficult to understand.

In a verse novel, the idea of organization is of utmost importance, as each poem leads to another conclusion or enlightment. The way that the poems are put together in the work is done is such a way that the reader can immediately engage and follow the story. Kirkus Reviews notes the power of the collected poems, stating, “[i]ndividually, the poems appear simple and unremarkable…[c]ollected, they take on life and movement, the individual frames of a movie that in the unspooling become animated, telling a compelling tale.” The topic of the novel is made clear through the tone and style of the poems and the language used supports the work. It truly feels as if a teen is relating their issues to the reader, not as if it is forced by the author for a work.

Book jacket found on: http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/cgi-bin/vlib.sh?enqtype=RLIST&rlist=45&doc=doctype.teen

Rapunzel's Revenge

Hale, Shannon & Dean. Rapunzel’s Revenge. Ill by Nathan Hale. New York: Bloomsbury, 2008.

In this graphic novel, the story of Rapunzel is retold and reinvented, with the classic elements of the story remaining intact. Rapunzel is a young girl living with her very strict mother behind a wall that separated her from the rest of the world. As she grows up, her curiosity of what lies behind the wall becomes greater. One day she decides that she will find out what is on the other side of the wall and when she does she is quite shocked. Her surroundings are green and lush, but the rest of the land governed by her mother is bleak and desolate. She finds slaves getting water and realizes she knows one of them. This female slave is, in fact, Rapunzel’s real mother. Rapunzel was taken from her because her husband had stolen some lettuce from the garden owned by the evil woman who Rapunzel knew as her mother. Upon learning this Rapunzel confronts her “mother”, who then traps her in a tree far beyond the reach of wooded floor. Years ago by and Rapunzel grows, as does her hair. Once it is long enough, she uses her long locks to free herself from her tree prison. After escaping, she runs into Jack (who we later in find out is Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk), who becomes her traveling companion. The duo traverses the land in hopes of stopping the evil mother and freeing the real one from captivity. Along the way, they meet the various inhabitants of their homeland, each with a different perspective. Finally, Rapunzel is victorious over the evil mother (but not before her hair is chopped off), is reunited with her long-lost mother and finds a love companion in Jack.

What makes this story more interesting than a regular written version is the fact that striking pictures are included. In fact, some of the panels in the novel are truly without words, meaning that the picture speaks for itself. Reading a story in this way, the graphic novel version, will also be more intriguing to some children that may be uninterested in reading a chapter book. It is an easy way to introduce a longer story to some readers that could be overwhelmed or intimidated by chapter books. Kirkus Reviews agrees with this assessment saying that the “art…provides a snazzy counterpoint to the text.” Tina Coleman in Booklist also comments about Nathan Hale’s art saying that it “matches the story well, yielding expressive characters and lending a wonderful sense of place to the fantasy landscape.” The use of pictures in telling the story also makes the reader feel like they are reading a more adult work, rather than just a picture book. This feeling can give the reader a sense of accomplishment.

Transforming a traditional story can be difficult, but the authors do a lovely job of incorporating the old elements of the story with new fantastical ones. They do not forget the essence of the story, but they make sure to give Rapunzel her own voice and identity. School Library Journal’s Cara von Wrangel Kinsey comments that “the dialogue is witty, the story is an enticing departure from the original.” By making this effort, the reader is shown that Rapunzel is not a victim or passive, but rather an active participant in her destiny. Dialogue between the characters is humorous which lends to ease of readability. The authors and illustrators truly work together in order make the new Rapunzel and her journey come to life.


Book jacket found on: http://thebooksmugglers.com/2009/08/joint-review-rapunzels-revenge-by-shannon-hale.html

Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler's Shadow

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler’s Shadow. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2005.

Adolf Hitler harnessed the power he saw in children and young adults for his advantage during his reign in Germany. In Hitler Youth, the stories of young people that fell under the spell of the well-spoken and dynamic, yet ruthless leader are told and examined. At first a voluntary organization, the Hitler Youth program grew into a political and war machine. As Hitler grew in power, the Hitler Youth did as well, teaching children the tenants of the Nazi beliefs, heralding intense nationalism, instilling a sense of narcissism about their race and building foundation of military knowledge. All this education began at the tender age of 7, so early that did not allow children to fully understand what they were participating in or to refuse. Children were brought through the program as they grew and once the war was under way, some of them even served in combat. Some children rejected their parents’ ideals for a peaceful Germany and followed their new leader with fervor. There were even some children who turned in their parents and loved ones for speaking ill of the Nazi regime, leading to their arrest (and possible death). Not every young person followed blindly, however; in the case of the Scholl siblings, some young adults fought against the things they believed to be wrong. The book follows the story of the growth and demise of Nazi Germany in chronological order.

Much is written about World War II Germany and the Holocaust, but the fact that this book looks at the war from the point of view of children is a marked difference. A student that is 12 who reads this book can identify with the pictures and stories of the people that are including in the work, as 12 year old boys and girls were active participants in Hitler-era Germany. It allows a child that reading the work to recognize their own self within the subjects in the book. Hazel Rochman speaks of this in Booklist stating, “What was it like to be a teenager in Germany under Hitler? Bartoletti draws on oral histories, diaries, letters, and her own extensive interviews with Holocaust survivors, Hitler Youth, resisters, and bystanders to tell the history from the viewpoints of people who were there.” Often, children and young adults feel as if their voice is not being heard, but the stories of how children of all ages spoke up against injustice can reinforce the idea that young people can make a remarkable difference. School Library Journal’s Andrew Medler relates that “[t]he book is structured around 12 young individuals and their experiences, which clearly demonstrate how they were victims of leaders who took advantage of their innocence and enthusiasm for evil means… Bartoletti lets many of the subjects' words, emotions, and deeds speak for themselves, bringing them together clearly to tell this story unlike anyone else has.” Being written from the perspective of a child in this time will surely draw readers that would otherwise be disinterested in the topic.

Vocabulary within the book lends itself nicely to a wide variety of age groups. Pictures, although black and white, are stark reminders of the time period. Each photo is clearly and succulently captioned, and every photo is in support of the information included in that particular section of the work. Most importantly, Bartoletti makes certain that the reader knows where her information was gathered. A lengthy bibliography, which includes notations for source that may be of interest to young readers, is broken up into categories. Quotes used in the book are also cited. A timeline specific to the growth and function of the Hitler Youth and index is also included. All of these items will relate that the author did her best to ensure the information she was presenting was accurate.

Book jacket found on: http://www.isbnlib.com/list/shadow?page=24

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Knopf, 2005.

It is the late 1930’s Nazi Germany and Liesel Meminger and her brother are being taken to live with a family in the town of Molching, Germany by their mother when he unexpectedly dies on the way. When she arrives to her foster parents’ home, she only has one book, The Gravedigger’s Handbook, which she finds as they are burying her brother. Soon after she arrives, Liesel begins to have nightmares and her kind foster father wakes up to take care of her, teaching her to read during the nighttime interruptions. Liesel begins to get into a routine, going to school, helping her mother in her laundry business and befriending a neighborhood boy named Rudy. Liesel and Rudy grow up together as the war increases in violence, getting in trouble along the way. The war continues to rage on, with the family having to take on the added worry of bombing attacks. Liesel’s foster mother’s business decreases, while her foster father has trouble getting work because he is not a member of the Nazi Party. To further complicate matters, her foster family helps to hide a Jewish man, with whom Liesel becomes close. Liesel, who has become an excellent reader along the way, devours and longs for book so much so she begins to steal them from the large library of the mayor’s wife. The story culminates in the sudden bombing of Liesel’s street, devastating and demolishing the life to which Liesel has grown to love.

A novel replete with lavish vocabulary, rich with themes and seeped in history, The Book Thief gives the reader an opportunity to learn about World War II by using the voice of a young girl. Focused and calculated, the story is flowing and intense. The text reads with intent given to every sentence, lending to the purposefulness of each word. School Library Journal’s Francisca Goldsmith speaks to this fact: “Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrase and lines.” The consideration given to the manuscript allows the author to truly create a specific and all-encompassing style and setting that contributes to the novel in innumerable ways.

In using a different voice (a child instead of an adult, a German instead of a Jew) the story is able to tell a tale, so many times told before, from an unusual perspective. The author is then able to show the struggle of a young person trying to find herself amid the chaos by which she is surrounded. Narrated by Death himself, Liesel is faced with the struggles of girl coming into adulthood, but also one who is coming aware of what is happening in the world. She and the people in her life have not completely bought into the Nazi regime, but they do what they have to in order to get by and not bring attention upon their family. This open-ended aspect allows Liesel to freely make up her own mind about how she feels about the war, instead of her family deciding that for her. This allowance gives the author an opportunity to invest time in creating personal triumphs and tensions for Liesel without the added pressure of accepting a life her foster parents have created for her.

Using the time period he did, Zusak is able to use the war and its conflicts to create a setting that becomes a second character. The war is a distant concern, until it becomes real by the promise of possible bombings and having to run to underground shelters with nearly her entire street. In doing this, the war becomes a character with the same sort of growth and development as a main character. Battles and clashes seem like a faint distraction in the beginning, but as time goes on and the war escalates the formerly far-away unease becomes localized and the sense of impending death grows. By giving the war an ever-increasing prominence, a sense of reality is given to the work. At the beginning of the Hitler administration, his rule trickled down little by little, until Germany was completed immersed in his thoughts and ways. In writing about the slow progression of the war’s effects on the people of Germany, the story reads as genuine, authentic and truthful.

Book Jacket found on: http://www.fanpop.com/spots/the-book-thief/images/3262339/title/book-thief-photo

A Northern Light

Donnelly, Jennifer. A Northern Light. Boston, MA: Harcourt, 2003.

Growing up in the woods of mid-1900’s northern New York, Mathilda "Mattie" Gokey is in charge of taking care of the motherly duties after her mother’s death. An aspiring and gifted writer, Mattie longs to attend school every day and go to college, but her father is more concerned with her assistance in running the family farm. Mattie is charged with taking care of her younger siblings and tending to farm duties, however her love of words is never far away. Each day she picks a different word out of the dictionary her mother bought and commits it to memory, cheering on her sisters to do the same. Ms. Wilcox, the teacher at the local school, encourages Mattie to further her schooling so Mattie can achieve her dream of becoming a writer. Mattie is not alone in her desire to go to college; her friend, Weaver Smith, has gotten accepted to Columbia. She finds out that she is accepted into Barnard and struggles with her desire to go off to school and her promise to her dying mother to take care of her family. Her personal distress is complicated by the fact her gruff father does not support her leaving. Nearly resigning to staying in her town, marrying handsome Royal Loomis and being a housewife, Mattie gets the opportunity to work at a local hotel, where she begins to save money. There she meets Grace Brown, a woman who is later found drowned in the lake. Grace has entrusted Mattie with destroying personal letters, which Mattie is unable to do before Grace’s body is found. After uncovering some truths about herself, her family, her town, Grace and her beau, Mattie comes to the realization that she can no longer stay put and must move on and go to college.

A Northern Light creates a story around the true life murder of Grace Brown; a story that attracted a great deal of attention in the time it took place. The story is not in chronological order, going back and forth from present to the recent past, showing how Mattie ended up working at the hotel. Donnelly could have merely made a Grace a secondary character, but by allowing Mattie to play a role in the context of the situation. Giving Mattie the ability to read and glean knowledge from Grace’s actual letters, Mattie is able to draw conclusions about her own life. This historical element allows Mattie to make the internal change she needs to in order to make the decision to go off to school, which is what she desires to do the entire novel. Lisa Prolman in School Library Journal also indicates this in saying that “Grace’s story weaves its way through Mattie’s, staying in the background but providing impetus.” Mattie learns from Grace’s story and that fact is related to the reader, but not in a harsh or pointed way.

Adding to the realism of the unfolding events and Mattie’s connection to them is the fact that the author words and descriptions are steeped in the time period. From depictions about daily house and farm work, to the imagery about the clothes and food, Donnelly creates a world in which Mattie grapples with the same issues that modern teens face. Though the exterior and time is different, Mattie’s own longing to be her own person and the strain of defining herself rings true even today. Booklist’s Gillian Engberg agrees saying that “many teens will connect with Mattie’s deep yearning for independence.” This balance of creating an authentic environment for Mattie to live in and her universal struggle to be herself is delicate and well-thought out.

Through the realization that life is fleeting and that things are not always as they seem, Mattie is allowed to make the critical change needed of any main character. The interweaving of the two stories also allows for the plot to show the main struggle, between what Mattie wants and what other people want from her. Grounding the story in a factual event, the author was able to give Mattie insight by way of a cautionary tale. In the end, as Mattie waits on the train that will take her to her new life, she is filled with a mix of anxiety and excitement. Standing on the train platform Mattie thinks, “I am standing, frightened but resolved…Is there a word for that? Feeling scared of what’s to come but eager for it too? If there is I mean to find it.” In particular, this sentence has a resonance of truth for a reader regardless of time period.


Book Jacket found on: http://thebooksmugglers.com/2009/09/book-review-a-northern-light-by-jennifer-donnelly.html

Twilight

Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. New York City: Little, Brown, 2005.

Bella Swan is new in town. After her mother’s minor league baseball player is traded, Bella has to move in with her sheriff father, who she does not know very well, all the way in Forks, Washington. Forks is quite a change from her old town, Phoenix, but Bella tries her hardest to get used to her new school and life. Some teenagers from family called the Cullens, catch Bella’s interest, especially Edward Cullen. The only problem is that Edward acts like Bella is the most repulsive thing he has even come across. After a little investigating and some inquisitions, Bella and Edward become friendly and their mutual attraction becomes prominent. Being that close to Edward and his family, Bella begins to take notice of some distinct eccentricities and after some research comes to the conclusion that Edward and his family are vampires. Questioning Edward, he confirms Bella’s theory, noting that his family is “vegetarian”, because they do not consume human blood. After she meets his family and begins to get comfortable, they are confronted by a group of nomadic vampires, who have been killing people in the area in and around Forks. James, the lead vampire wants to kill Bella, but Edward and the Cullen’s do their best to protect her. After a flight from Forks to Phoenix to keep Bella safe, she is captured by James and nearly murdered, but Edward and a few other Cullens come in at the right moment and save her from certain death.

Bella is the type of heroine with which modern fantasy readers can identify. She is flawed, awkward and suffers from an unrequited crush on what could be considered an unattainable, uninterested male figure. However, Bella eventually discovers that as interesting as she finds Edward, she has special points intriguing to him in the same way. Edward has the ability to read everyone’s thoughts, but is completely unable to read Bella’s. With this addition, Meyer gives Bella a characteristic that makes her special, like any good fantasy main character. Meyer also cuts in to some of the heavier parts of the story to giving Bella some humor, lightening up her desperately in love, almost too serious protagonist. In regard to finding an appropriate outfit to meet Edward’s family, Bella notes, “I doubted there were any etiquette books detailing how to dress when your vampire sweetheart takes you home to meet his vampire family.”

Meyer’s writing is simplistic and modern, with an easy to follow story arc. This writing style affords the reader the ability to get involved with the story, without having to decipher too many plot turns and overreaching vocabulary. The School Library Journal not only said that “the pacing is appropriate for teens who want to learn all the details in this suspenseful tale”, but also that the writing was “realistic, subtle, succinct and easy to follow.” Meyer also gives great focus to the surroundings in the story, detailing the landscape as if it were another character in the story. Meyer’s imagery illustrating the often gloomy, rainy Washington days, fits in with the darkness of the tale, adding to the mystique of the setting.

Reluctant readers or those indifferent to the genre may have be grabbed by the flow of the wording and substantial romantic interludes; the tying together of love, the unreal and danger makes for a story that appeals to a wide variety of readers. The sheer popularity of the novel goes to further accentuate the fact that the work can be enjoyed by reader with different interests. Though the work is easy to read, it can be said that first-time writer Meyer’s inexperience shows in pieces of the work. Particular adverbs and descriptions are used ad nauseam (Bella’s reference to Edward being “beautiful” and “striking” occurs quite often, nearly every time she sees him), to the detriment of the story. By varying phrases and tightening story elements, Meyer’s fantastical world of good and bad vampires, future werewolves and regular humans would shine a bit brighter.

Book jacket cover found on: http://www.nassaulibrary.org/SyoTeensBlog/2009/05/-3-apples-book.html