STACKED

books

On being busy and being stressed

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I’ve gotten emails from people — those I know well and those who I don’t know quite as well — asking me for a favor now and then. It’s usually prefaced with the line “I know you’re busy,” then proceeds to ask me to do something for them. That task can range from writing a blog post for them or reading and responding to something they wrote. Almost every time this happens, the favor is for something I quite enjoy doing. Usually, being asked is flattering. Someone took the time to contact me to help them with something because they value my input. It sounds egotistical, but it also means a lot to be thought of as a person to turn to for something.

I’m just as guilty as contacting people for favors using that same line about knowing they’re busy.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, especially in light of a recent article naming librarianship as one of the least stressful jobs and in light of being a blogger who often wonders what value I’m providing in my role as a book blogger (either in my role as a librarian professionally or in my role as someone who just enjoys reading and discussing books). The first piece — the article about stress — unraveled as librarians began offloading the sorts of stress they deal with daily in the work place. Some librarians saw this as an opportunity to downplay the stress of others, suggesting that their stress wasn’t “real” or wasn’t as “important” as stress in other jobs. The entire conversation has been fascinating and appalling on some levels. Since when do we rank stress and how it impacts everyone on an individual level? I find my job stressful, but a lot of it comes because of out-of-the-ordinary situations. I’ve worked in libraries where my stress was horrible because of factors completely unrelated to doing the job or unrelated to those oddball situations.

The thing I walked away with, though, was that many wear their stress as a badge. As if having a lot of it or having none of it made them somehow more or less important than anyone else. I think it’s easy to have this sort of feeling, especially in a job where there’s no badge in terms of salary. Librarians don’t make money. So do we rank our importance and our value, then, based on stress and how we do or do not handle it well? Does the more stressed librarian do more important work or does the less stressed librarian? How we react to and wear our stresses does not, in fact, mean anything beyond what it means to us on an individual level. Stress management differs among every person. You can’t rank it, nor should you. It differs. It’s situational. It’s relational. It’s not a token of anything.

In terms of book blogging, there’s been a lot of discussion in the last few months about how important the work bloggers do is. Bloggers — myself included — spend a lot of time and personal cash to make things happen on their blogs. They spend money to attend conventions and conferences, to cover the cost of purchasing and shipping prize books, to buy books for themselves, and so forth. They spend money on domains and on whatever extras they choose to include on their website. Then there is the unquantifiable factor of time. Everyone spends different amounts of time doing what they do, but it all amounts to being significant: there’s the reading, then the reviewing, then the posting and promoting of content on the blog and across social networks. It can, indeed, be stressful to be a blogger because of how much there is to do and how much is involved in being effective.

It boils down to the same thing though: does the blogger who spends the most money and effort wear it as a badge to prove their value? Does the blogger who puts in the least effort but still does a good job have more proof of success because they handle their efforts differently? The answer is no. You can’t quantify this except in terms of what it brings you on a personal level. You can’t rank it, nor should you. Again, it differs. It’s situational. It’s relational. It’s not a token of anything.

Whenever I think about being busy, I think about this opinion piece in the New York Times last summer. It got a ton of response, as people weighed in on the value of “being busy.” Being busy, much like being stressed, is something people use to assess their worth and merit on some levels, isn’t it? The busier you are, the more important you are, even if your “busy-ness” is entirely self-imposed. But again. Busy differs. It’s situational. It’s relational. It’s not a token of anything.

Sure, I’m a busy person. But I only do things that matter to me. I don’t blog as frequently as I do because I feel obligated to. If I’m doing something that doesn’t make me happy, I reassess it, and if I need to, I quit. It’s my decision to remove that stress or busy factor out of my life. I do work off hours because I like to. I do it because it brings me satisfaction. I enjoy working. If I didn’t, I would quit. I’ve done that before. Stress stinks, but it’s something you have the ability to manage.

What I don’t do, though, is assess my busy against myself or against anyone else. Because it doesn’t matter. Why should it? I have a handle on task management and time management. Sure, I get stressed out about tackling everything I want to tackle in a day, in a week, in a month, in a year. But I don’t feel the need to make it a public event, nor do I feel the need to wear it as an honor. What I’m doing if I do that is giving myself some sort of arbitrary importance based on . . . nothing.

I’ve thought about this in relation to reading and how many times I hear people say to me they can’t believe how much I read or how I find the time to read. It’s simple: you make time for the things that matter to you. I read because I enjoy it and it matters greatly to me. There are other important things in my life, too, and I make time for them. Does it get stressful? Absolutely. Are there times I feel like I am getting nothing done and will never get anything done? All the time. But it doesn’t mean my stress is all-consuming nor that my busy-ness is part and parcel of who I am.

I don’t want people to think of me as the person who is too busy to help out or the person too stressed to be effective. I make those decisions for myself. If something’s important to me, I am going to make time for it.

I think we get too caught up in feeling like we need to do it all, and in doing so, we forget the value of being able to say no. We forget how we are in charge of making our time and our expertise work for us. We choose instead to fall back into the lazy and meaningless excuses of stress and busy.

Another trap we fall into frequently is the feeling like we need to be immediate. Very little is life or death in terms of response. We can take our times to think about the requests asked of us, and we can make the choice to say that something may take us a few weeks or a month to respond to. When we’re not pressuring ourselves to be the quickest and the fastest, we allow ourselves to be thoughtful with our time and with our energy. We find much more satisfaction in helping other people and we do ourselves a massive favor in terms of our own energy and sanity. Stress and busy are fueled by our need for immediacy when in reality, there is no need for immediacy.

I’m making a conscious effort this year and in the future to be careful when I start judging people’s time and energy and expertise and willingness to do something based on factors like busy-ness and stress. I don’t want to preface my favor-asking with “I know you’re busy, but . . .” and instead, I want to make clear I ask for favors because the person I’m asking it from has some expertise or insight I value enough to reach out to. They have the choice whether to return the favor or not, based on their own needs and time commitments. No hard feelings on either side of the board.

We pick and choose where to put our energy and effort. If it’s in airing our importance or amplifying other people’s importance by stress and busy, we’re continuing to feed into an invisible machine that ranks people based on these things which cannot be ranked. What’s important and what’s worth the stress and time is up to you individually. You can’t project it on anyone else, nor should you.

We all have our roles and we all have our passions. We choose where to put our time and our efforts based on those things and those extraneous factors we cannot assess.

We are all stressed.

We are all busy.

If we were not, we would not be living.

Empty by K. M. Walton

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I’m prefacing my review of Empty with a reminder about how weight issues in YA tend to be dealt with in a way that’s problematic. The fat body, in particular, is an easy target. It’s there. It can be seen. Unfortunately, this take on the fat girl story falls exceedingly flat. I warn that I’m going to spoil significant plot points in this review because I need to.

At 286 pounds and size 24, Dell is fat. And frankly, that’s all she is. She’s not a person. She’s meaningless except for being the fat girl, and everyone knows it. Her mom regularly berates her for her clothes no longer fitting, despite grandma just buying her all kinds of new things. Dell’s forced to quit the softball team because she can’t move her fat body fast enough to be an asset to the team. Dell can’t get a job at the local daycare when she needs to help her mom make money because, well, the daycare owner thought that with the space being “a little tight,” Dell might not be comfortable.

Blocked because she’s fat.

Dell’s parents just divorced. Her father was caught cheating on her mother, and the marriage falls apart. No longer are Dell, her little sister Meggie, and her parents under one roof. Now dad has moved out with the girlfriend (to whom he’ll be marrying later on in the story), and Dell’s mom has to move her and Meggie into a smaller apartment in a crummy part of town. To comfort herself from the divorce and from the terrible living situation — they’re paycheck to paycheck now — Dell takes to eating in the same way her mother takes to consuming prescription drugs. Convenient she works at the pharmacy as one of her jobs to keep the habit going.

As Dell continues to eat, she continues to get fatter and fatter. As readers, we’re reminded how fat she is constantly. We aren’t given feelings. We’re given fat. Dell’s only got one friend, Cara, and she’s convinced Cara doesn’t like her much. Since we don’t know the truth, since we’re blocked out by Dell’s constant fat talk, we can’t know whether or not Cara really does like her. Cara teases her, but Cara does seem to care on some level. More than that, though, Dell finds herself the butt of the joke at school. People tease her for being fat. And it’s not just teasing. Dell is asked to assume a sumo squat and moo like a cow for the amusement of her classmates.

She does it whenever they ask.

It gets worse when Cara drags Dell to a party, though. Dell’s escorted to an upstairs bedroom by Brandon, a boy who she thinks is cute. He wants to show her a video on YouTube. It’s a video of a sumo wrestler (of course). Isn’t that what all boys do at parties? They drag the fat girl upstairs to show her videos of sumo wrestlers alone? Of course not. From there, Brandon begins to take off Dell’s clothes and grabs at her body. Dell, shocked and horrified about what’s happening to her, can’t speak up though. She’s too fat. She is literally choked out by her fat. She cannot say no. Well, maybe she said no. She’s not sure because her fat body is stopping her from thinking about whether or not she did. This is a traumatic scene in the book — Dell is raped. But the problem is that despite being raped, this plot line falls out of the story.

Not everything is awful in Dell’s world, despite the way it sounds. She’s got a marvelous singing voice, and Cara encourages her to sign up for the talent show (again, where it’s unclear whether or not Cara likes Dell or not — she really wants Dell to show off her amazing voice). Enough persuasion gets Dell to sign up. But she’s not encouraged about it. She’ll have to find something to wear, and it’s impossible for a fat girl to find good looking clothes. Especially if it means shopping with skinny Cara.

Then the day comes where she’s going to perform. She’s just hurt her foot, and she’s limping. The pain is out of control for her, from the foot and mostly from being fat. So before the show, Dell takes some vicodin her mother had. She begins feeling loopy, and despite that, she still performs. It’s not the greatest performance, but it’s done and it’s good enough. The school claps and cheers her on.

Until someone from the crowd tells her to do the sumo cow thing. And she does, right there on stage. Embarrassed, Dell leaves soon after, making her way home (but not before peeing her pants and explaining how this was, for once, a time it was good to be fat because of the absorption factor of big-size pants). It’s at this moment when Dell decides that between her father’s remarriage, her mother losing her job and her battle with addiction, and mostly her being fat, she can no longer stand living.

She’s going to kill herself.

Not going to. She does. Dell dies in the book, after driving back to school and overdosing inside. She left a suicide note so everyone knew.

Empty is never once about Dell. It’s never once about the pain of parental divorce nor about the trauma of being a rape survivor. It’s never about bullying. It’s about Dell’s fat body. That fat body is why she is who she is. It’s why she’s bullied. It’s why she is teased at home. It’s why she’s raped. Because she is fat. That’s it. Fat.

Never is this an excuse for what happens to her, but it is and becomes a continued excuse when Dell’s body is literally the sacrifice for the story.

I’m not unrealistic in thinking that bullying happens and no adult knows about it. But, the bullying in this story came only at the expense of Dell’s fat body. In other words, it is all she is teased about and for and there’s nothing else to it. She also gives into it, further encouraging the bullies to act upon her fatness. Her fat is the tool for the message in this book, which is that bullying can lead to terrible consequences. As a reader, as someone who is fat, and as someone who has spent some time in high school (now and then), I find it impossible to believe one girl who is a size 24 — which isn’t all that huge — is the target of such ridicule for simply being fat. Where her own mother berates her for her size and for her poor eating choices, she does nothing to solve the problem. Mom works all the time, but mom also does the shopping. Mom knows what is in the house (Dell doesn’t sneak stuff here — it’s all in the fridge).

Then there’s the additional issue of the coach cutting Dell from the softball team without offering to help her work out further or get in shape. It was never clear whether her weight had been an issue in prior seasons. It was over and done in three pages at the start of the story. From what it seemed like, the weight came on quickly. Dell hadn’t always been fat. So, if that’s the case, why did no one actually suggest a plan here? Why did no one ask questions? Advocates existed in Dell’s life. I needed more back story to know why these advocates were failures or to explain that really, Dell didn’t have a soul to help her.

Not to mention the fact that Dell is raped and ridiculed for it because she is fat. There’s a fine line between feeling like there are lazy writing choices and victim blaming. I don’t think Dell is anything but a victim in the book, but what happens when her body is the subject of the story entirely, it’s challenging to then feel the horror for Dell in this situation. Because there is no Dell. There is Dell’s body, and what happens to it is awful and shameful. But being choked out by her own fat flesh means we readers don’t understand the consequences and pain she endures internally for this. Because what’s inside Dell doesn’t exist.

She’s just fat. Or as Brandon and his girlfriend (who perpetuates the rumor Dell raped Brandon) call her, “the fat bitch.”

Fatness is sensationalized repeatedly. The acts of eating are, too. The way ice cream drips down Dell’s chin is in strong detail. We hear about the cheese puffs and how much she eats because they make her feel good inside. But when it comes to hearing what it is Dell likes outside food — her sister, Meggie — all we ever hear is how much Dell likes her. How she “breathes her in,” a line that was repeated every time Meggie and Dell were together. In other words, this wasn’t about Dell. It was about her body. The choice in details, in descriptions, further bang the point that fatness is the issue. It’s the driving force in the story.

It’s the only story.

Walton’s sophomore effort is an incredible disappointment following what I thought was a good portrayal of bullying in Cracked. The message in this book is that bullying is bad. But that message only comes at the expense of Dell’s fat body. Where there were opportunities to develop a full character, one with depth and pain, they were squandered in favor of reminding us of the 286 pound, size 24 fat girl. There’s not depth of character. There’s not depth to the plot. There’s a message and that’s all. Even the writing lacks substance.

And anyone who is fat can tell you, too, 286 pounds doesn’t make you a cartoon character. Despite the fact you shouldn’t compare yourself to a book character, you do. In this instance, the portrayal of the fat character came off as silly, rather than honest. Living in a fat body is just that — living in a fat body. It’s living, despite the body. It’s not the body living, despite you.

If you’re looking for a book that thoughtfully explores bullying as it relates to a fat person? Then check out Erin Jade Lange’s Butter. There is a fully realized character, as well as tension building (rather than simply an out at the end of the book). If you’re looking for a book about the effects of divorce on a character? Then go with Kody Keplinger’s great A Midsummer’s Nightmare. I’d still recommend Walton’s first book, Cracked, since it does offer two strong characters and the theme of bullying, but I have a hard time saying the sophomore novel is worthwhile. There are much better books tackling these issues and they do so without trivializing and sensationalizing fatness to deliver the message.

Empty is available now from Simon and Schuster. Review copy received from the publisher. 

30 Day Shred: The Follow-up

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Remember back in August, when I blogged about my experience doing Jillian Michaels’s 30 Day Shred? It was never my intention to revisit that post, but in the last couple of weeks, I’ve had so many hits regarding the 30 Day Shred I thought I’d answer some of the questions and offer a little more insight. It’s that time of year when everyone’s resolving to make fitness and losing weight part of their routine.

First: Yes! I am still doing this. I am not always the most consistent in my workouts, but I manage to get in 4 or 5 days of Shredding a week. Sometimes I take one day off and sometimes, I end up taking three days off in a row. I think there was a period of time I took a whole week off because I was tired/cranky/stressed/sick and working out was the last thing on my mind. The most effective workouts are the ones where your head is in the game. So if you’re not willing to put your head in it, it’s best to just skip it. Also, it is crucial to take days off while doing the program. Take at least one day, but two days are fine, too. Your body needs recovery time.

This is the longest I have ever stuck to a fitness routine. I usually peter out a few weeks in, but I’m going on six months now. The 30 Day Shred works for me because it’s short. I am still doing some modifications on stuff, but every time I work out, I get a little stronger and can push a little harder. Some of the advanced stuff I can now do. I love that it’s still a challenge.

I don’t do all of one level in a row. I mix it up. I might do Level 2 for a few days, then go to Level 3. I might do Level 1 then try Level 3. The set up of doing ten days per level is probably more about the marketing than the actual results. For beginners, it’s likely a good evolution through the program. For those who’ve been doing it, well, you do how you need to do the workouts. If it takes you ten days per level, fine. If it’s every day a new level, that’s fine, too.

I never, under any circumstances, do the Shred twice in one day. It’s an intense work out — you do not need to do it twice in a day for it to be effective. If you’re feeling the need to do more after the work out, go for a walk. Do something else. I would think doing it twice in a day would burn you out quickly. I have a friend who does Shred one day and runs the next. Sometimes she does them both the same day. Cross training! It’s never a bad thing. For me? Shredding is more than enough.

Over the course of my six months, I’ve had a ton of progress. First, the weights. I started with two pound hand weights. I did that for a long time, and then I moved up to three pounds. After doing that for a long time, I took the leap for five pounds. That was not easy. This was especially painful in Level 3, circuit 2 of cardio. That’s where you’re punching with the weights, then you’re doing butt kicks, then you’re doing jumping jacks with them. My arms killed. But you know what? After doing it for many weeks, it got easier. I would never say it got EASY, but it became easier.

So after the holidays, I bought six pound weights. I have just implemented them into my Shred and it is not easy. I cannot do Level 3, circuit 2 with them all the way through. I have to modify and go down on the weights. But it’s not a big deal — I keep lighter weights beside me in the event I need to do that. Eventually, I’ll work up to it, but my thought is doing the higher weights with some stuff is still being effective. It’s making the challenge harder.

I think I mentioned previously how important it was to wear shoes and socks with the workout. I still believe that, especially as I’ve run into some ankle issues. I’m so prone to cracking and popping joints (listening to my shoulders during the walk out push ups is incredible — my shoulders pop on the walk out and the walk back) but I get particularly nervous when I hear my ankle crack. And it’s happened a few times. Had I not been wearing good workout shoes? It wouldn’t have just been a crack or a pop. It’d have been a snap or worse. In other words, this is an intense workout, and you need to be prepared for it all the way.

Something I worried about — and yes, this will tread too much information territory, so go ahead and skip down a paragraph if you don’t want it — was a proper workout/sports bra. Here’s the thing: they don’t make real workout bras for ladies who are beyond a certain size. I’ve got an average band size but the cup size is another story all together. Anyone who has this particular challenge knows the options are to double up on cheap bras from a place like Target or to wear an underwire beneath a sports bra. What a pain. It wears out the bras and it isn’t actually supportive and doesn’t allow you to really get the workout you need. So I polled a lot of people about this issue and came back with a few options. I tried three bras: the Hallelujah bra by title nine, the Double Dry by Champion, and the Maia by Moving Comfort. The first one was terrible. It offered no support, had no wire under it, and while it kept everything separate, it was just uncomfortable. The second one, while supportive, squashed everything together and was uncomfortable. Again, no wire. The third one? I love it. I cannot possibly say enough good things about the Maia. It’s supportive. It’s got built-in underwires. It keeps everything separate and squashes everything down. There is nothing moving when working out, and it’s not uncomfortable. It’s held up spectacularly well. I don’t notice it when I’m working out and that is how a really good sports bra should be. Obviously, everyone’s mileage and needs vary, but that’s my experience. I’d buy the Moving Comfort again, and I might have to because the original purchase is now about two sizes too big.

I talked about my results before. As of now, I’ve lost ten pounds and a ton of inches. It’s noticeable in my hips (where I’ve lost almost 10 inches) and my waist (5 inches), in my chest and especially in my shoulder area. My arms are so much smaller than they were before (over three inches in each arm — I still don’t love how my arms look but the difference is super noticeable and that makes me happy). I can definitely see the difference in my face and chin, too. So what I haven’t necessarily seen on the scale in terms of results — though I’m thrilled about ten pounds — doesn’t reflect the actuality. My clothes fit well! I’ve had to buy new, smaller things. But beyond just the actual change in my body size, I’ve noticed a tremendous change in my skin. I’ve always had terrible skin, but since implementing this into my routine, my skin has become so much better. I find, too, when I do put in the workout — I almost always do it in the morning around 6 a.m. — I have so much more energy during the day. I sleep really well at night, too. Other benefits? Well. It’s great to feel healthy. It’s great to know how much you can push yourself and see the change. It’s great to feel confident about your ability to endure hell for 25 minutes and come out alive on the other side.

It’s empowering.

Of course, there are bad days. I’ve had entire workouts feel like failures because I’ve had to take so many breaks or modify everything. But that’s part of the challenge of working out. Somedays you’re on and other days, you’re not. I find for me a lot of it is the issue of not having my head in it all the way. It requires focus.

The workout is not easy. It’s not fun. There are days getting through one circuit — let alone a whole level — sucks. But as Jillian says, the more you push yourself, the better results you get. Sometimes the result is that you made it through the workout, and that is okay. I think it’s very easy to quit this workout. It’s hard, especially if you haven’t worked out in a long time. But that’s why you are doing it. The first few days, even the first few weeks, are awful. Quitting doesn’t make it easier, though. Level one is hard. Level two is hard. Level three is hard. They’re all hard. And they build on each other. Now that I’ve been doing this for a while, I don’t think Level two is harder than Level three, as I did before. They’re hard for different reasons because the focus is on different muscle groups. Level two is arms, shoulders, and chest. There are a lot of plank moves. Level three is abs, low back, quads, and glutes. There is a lot of jumping and squatting.

I don’t think you need to diet for the Shred to be effective, but I don’t know. I eat healthfully as it is, so I haven’t needed to adjust my diet. I’d assume dieting would make it more effective. But I’d also say that trying to change so many things at once will lead to burnout. Your body has to adjust its needs based on the workout to start. From there, I think implementing a diet routine would work. I can’t dish any diet secrets or tips other than saying vegetables are your friend, not your foe. I will say that one thing I learned as a morning workout person is the cravings for food I get in the morning I never did before. I’ve been eating Greek yogurt with oats and honey for a breakfast for a couple years and that’s all. Sometimes a banana, too. But with working out, I find myself starving by 9 or 9:30. So I eat something with peanut butter to supplement my diet with more protein. It helps significantly. Other people may have other food items that help them, but for me, it’s peanut butter.

You get the most out of 30 Day Shred by doing it and sticking to it. Push yourself. Try non-modified versions of moves as you can. You don’t have to do everything. I can’t, for example, do jumping lunges (Level 3, circuit 2 strength) all the way through. I can do three or four, then I am done. I just do the modification. It’s still progress. The 30 Day Shred can be done by beginners as much as it can be done by those who workout all the time. I send the same warning as before: if you have physical restrictions or injuries, modify as you need to. I have weak ankles. I can’t do so much jumping. It’s okay. That’s a minute or two of working out in Level 3 I cannot do. It doesn’t make the other 23 minutes ineffective.

The Shred hurts. When I take a few days off, returning the next day sucks. It’s hard, and I ache afterward. This is not an easy program, but it’s effective. The pain is worth it. Stretch. Cool down. Treat yourself kindly after, especially if you’re hurting so badly. Lying on the couch writhing in pain is sometimes par for the course. Complain if you have someone who will listen. I do not envy anybody on day one. IT STINKS. But you will get through it.

I’ve tried Jillian’s Ripped in 30. I made it through all four levels. While the concept is the same — three minutes of strength, two of cardio, and one of abs in each level — I found the use of three strength moves per circuit, rather than two, one move too many. It’s a minor criticism, but it felt like trying to cram too much into a workout. Rather than feel like I was really progressing in strength, things were mixed up too quickly. I also tried Jillian’s Killer Abs. It was fine, but it was almost entirely abs. Not enough strength stuff for me. My best area is in strength, so not having it for the workout meant I didn’t have enough “feeling awesome” in my workout. Yeah, those small moments of victory matter to me.

What else to say about this? It works for me. Yes, there are times I still whine and vent about how tough it is. Yes, there are days I skip and feel guilty. Yes, there are days I want to punch Jillian in the face. But then I remember how much progress I’ve made and it gets me through. Twenty-five minutes is easy to give.

I think it’s very easy to underestimate yourself if you haven’t had a workout routine in your life. I think this is especially true if you’re overweight and out of shape. It’s easy to continue to tell yourself or listen to other people tell you that because you’re fat (or too thin, it goes both ways) you can’t possibly do it. You CAN do it. No one promises it to be easy. That’d be ridiculous. But if you’re committed to it, it’s possible. Working out is one thing you do for nobody but yourself, so you have to determine how much it matters to you. No one can do that for you.

Do I sound like an infomercial at this point? I’m not going to blog about this anymore, but because of the influx of hits, I thought it was worthwhile to follow up my original review. I like this program. It works for me. But I put in the work to make it happen. It’s not just handed to me.

Want further inspiration? Go to this blog. It helped me through a lot of days. Her progress is much like mine. She lost in a lot of the same ways I have. This is the kind of stuff you look at for inspiration on those crummy days. She’s also done Ripped in 30 and talked about the results.

With that, I have offered every bit of wisdom I have on the Shred. If you’re looking for something to try for a workout, I recommend it highly.

Get Genrefied: Horror

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The theme for Angela’s reader’s advisory challenge in January is horror. I decided to take her challenge as a jumping point and offer up a book list of recent YA books that fit the genre, as well as offer up additional resources for those looking to beef up their YA horror knowledge.

Let’s start with a definition, shall we? The Horror Writers Association offers up this great explanation for horror. The long and short of it is that horror isn’t necessarily a distinct genre in and of itself. It’s an emotion. That emotion pervades all genres, then, meaning that horror can be a part of realistic fiction as much as it can be a part of science fiction or mystery or thriller (the latter two being the genres most likely to be tied to horror).

As such, the books I’ve teased out as examples of YA horror span genres. There are some paranormal titles, alongside some realistic titles and thrillers. I’m going to start with books that are already out and I’ll end with a preview of some 2013 titles. All descriptions are from WorldCat, and I’ve noted where books are part of a series (including only the first in series here). 

I hope other people jump in with additional horror titles in the comments. 

One note about horror I think is worth mentioning: like science fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance, and other genre fiction, I think many teen readers find that adult titles are just as satisfying as young adult titles. Keep an eye out for not only new adult titles by the classic horror names, but having a few names of lesser-known authors is important, too. If you have any good suggestions for adult horror with YA crossover appeal, leave those suggestions, too. For me? I’ve got my eyes on Liz Jensen (her 2013 title The Uninvited looks fantastic).

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (first in series): For three years, seventeen-year-old Cas Lowood has carried on his father’s work of dispatching the murderous dead, traveling with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat, but everything changes when he meets Anna, a girl unlike any ghost he has faced before.

Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough (stand alone): When Cora and her younger sister, Mimi, are sent to stay with their great Auntie Ida in an isolated village in 1958, they discover that they are in danger from a centuries-old evil and, along with village boys Roger and Peter, strive to uncover the horrifying truth before it is too late.

The Devouring by Simon Holt (first in series): The existence of Vours, supernatural creatures who feast on fear and attack on the eve of the winter solstice, becomes a terrifying reality for fifteen-year-old Reggie when she begins to suspect that her timid younger brother might be one of their victims. 

Velveteen by Daniel Marks: Velveteen was murdered at 16, but that’s not her real problem. Life in purgatory is hard work when your side job is haunting the serial killer who killed you.

Ten by Gretchen McNeil: Ten teens head to a house party at a remote island mansion off the Washington coast . . . only for them to picked off by a killer one by one. 

The Diviners by Libba Bray (first in series): Seventeen-year-old Evie O’Neill is thrilled when she is exiled from small-town Ohio to New York City in 1926, even when a rash of occult-based murders thrusts Evie and her uncle, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, into the thick of the investigation.

 

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers (stand alone): Barricaded in Cortege High with five other teens while zombies try to get in, Sloane Price observes her fellow captives become more unpredictable and violent as time passes although they each have much more reason to live than she has.

Beyond by Graham McNamee (stand alone): Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Jane has attempted suicide more than once, but Jane knows the truth: her shadow is trying to kill her.

The Turning by Francine Prose (stand alone): A teen boy becomes the babysitter for two very peculiar children on a haunted island in this modern retelling of The Turn of the Screw. 

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson (first in series): Rory, of Bénouville, Louisiana, is spending a year at a London boarding school when she witnesses a murder by a Jack the Ripper copycat and becomes involved with the very unusual investigation.

Tighter by Adele Griffin (stand alone): Based on Henry James’s “The Turn of the Screw,” tells the story of Jamie Atkinson’s summer spent as a nanny in a small Rhode Island beach town, where she begins to fear that the estate may be haunted, especially after she learns of two deaths that occurred there the previous summer.

Rotters by Daniel Kraus (stand alone): Sixteen-year-old Joey’s life takes a very strange turn when his mother’s tragic death forces him to move from Chicago to rural Iowa with the father he has never known, and who is the town pariah.

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff (stand alone): Sixteen-year-old Mackie Doyle knows that he replaced a human child when he was just an infant, and when a friend’s sister disappears he goes against his family’s and town’s deliberate denial of the problem to confront the beings that dwell under the town, tampering with human lives.

Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore (stand alone): Seventeen-year-old Amy Goodnight has long been the one who makes her family of witches seem somewhat normal to others, but while spending a summer with her sister caring for their aunt’s farm, Amy becomes the center of weirdness when she becomes tied to a powerful ghost.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (first in series): After a family tragedy, Jacob feels compelled to explore an abandoned orphanage on an island off the coast of Wales, discovering disturbing facts about the children who were kept there.

White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick (stand alone): Sixteen-year-old Rebecca moves with her father from London to a small, seaside village, where she befriends another motherless girl and they spend the summer together exploring the village’s sinister history.

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry (first in series): In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother’s footsteps and become a bounty hunter.

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey (first in series): In 1888, twelve-year-old Will Henry chronicles his apprenticeship with Dr. Warthrop, a New Escientist who hunts and studies real-life monsters, as they discover and attempt to destroy a pod of Anthropophagi.

Ruined by Paula Morris (first in series): Rebecca goes to New Orleans to stay with her aunt and sees the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and meets a ghost girl named Lisette.

Frost by Marianna Baer (stand alone): When Leena Thomas gets her wish to live in an old Victorian house with her two closest friends during their senior year at boarding school, the unexpected arrival of another roommate–a confrontational and eccentric classmate–seems to bring up old anxieties and fears for Leena that may or may not be in her own mind.

Don’t forget the solid horror that Charles Higson and Darren Shan write for teens. Both have high appeal, particularly to male readers. Shan’s written numerous series, including Cirque du Freak and Zom-B.

In the past couple of years, I’ve blogged YA books featuring zombies, and I’ve talked a bit about psychological thrillers. Books in either list certainly encompass horror. 

As for some 2013 YA horror titles, here’s a handful:

The Murmurings by Carly Anne West: After her older sister dies from an apparent suicide and her body is found hanging upside down by one toe from a tree, sixteen-year-old Sophie starts to hear the same voices that drove her sister to a psychotic break.
The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd: Dr. Moreau’s daughter, Juliet, travels to her estranged father’s island, only to encounter murder, medical horrors, and a love triangle.
Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn: A year after vanishing from a party, screaming and drenched in blood, seventeen-year-old Annaliese Rose Gordon appears hundreds of miles from home with no memory, but a haunting certainty that she is actually another girl trapped in Annaliese’s body.

In the After by Demitria Lunetta: In a post-apocalyptic world where nothing is as it seems, seventeen-year-old Amy and Baby, a child she found while scavenging, struggle to survive while vicious, predatory creatures from another planet roam the Earth.

The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington: New student Jade uncovers a murder mystery when she moves into a house haunted by the ghost of a beautiful, mean girl who ruled Jade’s high school.

Looking for further information or resources on horror? Check out the following:

  • Becky at RA for All — she’s THE reader’s advisory expert on horror. The resources on her blog are unparalleled for readers and reader’s advisors. 
  • Matt Jackson, blogger for Blastr.com, has written about horror here at STACKED a number of times. You can catch all of those posts, as well as our own horror posts, here.