STACKED

books

Contemporary Week 2012

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Because I loved putting together last year’s contemporary YA week, I wanted to do it again this year in conjunction with the YA Lit Symposium presentation on contemporary YA fiction. This year’s contemporary week at STACKED is going to look a little bit different and a little bit the same from last year.

Contemporary YA week will kick off tomorrow with a treat from the Symposium presentation that I’ve been working on for what feels like months, as well as information from the presentation itself. Then Monday through Friday, I have two posts set up for each day: a guest post in the morning from a contemporary author talking on a specific topic, and then in the afternoon, a book list that highlights the topics discussed in the guest post.

I picked topics that highlight the range of contemporary YA, and I sought out authors who I knew could talk about them in thought-provoking ways. Reading these posts separately was exciting, but I found when I read them all at once, there were interesting topics and themes that emerged. They’ll be talking about things ranging from sports to sex and everything in between.

Hopefully this week will bring the spotlight back to contemporary YA again, and it’ll put new titles on your radar. Book lists will cover published and soon-to-be published titles.

Links of Note

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As you’re reading this, I’m frantically preparing for tomorrow’s presentation. I’m also probably collapsing a bit from all the excitement of being around so many friends and colleagues who are as passionate about YA Lit as I am. I’m also collapsing a bit under how much work went into the next pile of blog posts that will be coming to you starting this afternoon.

But it’s all worth it in the end. I cannot wait to share this stuff.

This week’s links of note is chock full of great and thought-provoking posts and stories, as well as some lighter fare. I’m putting this together days in advance of posting, so I’m probably missing some links that came out in the last couple of days. If you’ve read something this week I should know about, feel free to leave a link in the comments!

  • Arguably the most “wtf” story of the past couple of weeks: Penguin and Random House are merging. The night before everything was a done deal, though, News Corp (who owns Harper Collins), wanted to put in a bid to buy Penguin. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Here’s a link to what could possibly happen with the merger. What I’m going to be curious about, since a large part of the talks centered around digital publishing and initiatives, is how libraries will fare in this. It’s a tiny part of a huge puzzle, obviously, but seeing neither publisher plays well with libraries, and that this merger suggests there will be a narrowing of the market, what’s going to happen to readers? 
  • Kimberly alerted me to this blog post on the dangerous world of portal fantasy, and I have been thinking about this since. What Kim pointed out about this story which I found most fascinating is that it seems parallel worlds — which she blogged about not too long ago — seems to have a lot in common with portal fantasy. Is it possible that what we’re hoping for in terms of portal fantasy is actually parallel worlds? Are they separate? Can portal fantasy work? Don’t just read the blog post; the comments are full of gold, too. Also, Kim’s post can be updated with two additional forthcoming parallel worlds stories: Tandem by Anna Jarzab and Parallel by Lauren Miller.
  • This guy can suck it. Reading 125 books a year is hardly remarkable and also, your comments on libraries being depressing are ignorant. Enjoy! (And really his comment on why libraries depress him doesn’t even make sense so I can’t wrap my head around trying to read one of his books).
  • I’m in love with these classic children’s literature inspired bedrooms. My favorite might be Curious George (did I ever mention that Curious George is the reason I got into college? Our entrance essay had to be on any book character we’d like to trade places with for a day, and he was my pick). 
  • Winning the award for most thought-provoking and spot-on blog post in a long, long time is the one by Rebecca over at Crunchings and Munchings on gender in YA dystopias. Please read the post and read the comments.  
  • Booklist has named their top ten first novels for youth in the last year. I’ve read four of them, and I think they were all pretty accomplished novels, even if they weren’t necessarily my favorites. And funny enough, two of the four I read I would argue are much more novels that have appeal to adults, rather than to teens. Do you agree or disagree with this list?
  • Guess what? Like any librarian who does their job right can tell you, young people are using the library! The PEW Research Center offers up statistical information about the hows and whys of young adult library use (summed up, with a link to further information, over at Library Journal). The thing I found most interesting is that while teens are reading ebooks, they’re doing so on devices that aren’t ereaders. 
  • Here’s some food for thought over at Radish Reviews in a post entitled “A Reviewer’s Manifesto.” What is the role of the reviewer? How do you feel about “reviewing for the pull quote?” I can’t say I’ve ever thought about this. In fact, the handful of times that someone’s pointed out I’ve had a quote pulled and used in marketing/publicity, I’ve been shocked. No one has told me (and when I pointed out to Kim how one of hers was used for a Big Book, she was equally surprised — no one tells us these things). 
  • Spoiler alert: you know how I am obsessed with flow charts? It’s possible I have made one to share here in the very near future. So when I stumbled upon this one made by the ladies at Forever YA, I had to share it. Here’s a flow chart to scary books. 
  • Check out this wall of 120+ UK-published YA books, if you’re looking for something new to read. I love when The Readventurer does these posts because I’m a huge fan of book lists, period, and also because I love seeing what is going on in other English-speaking parts of the world. 
  • Have you voted in the Goodreads Readers’ Choice awards yet? Get ye to it. I find it . . . interesting . . . that I hadn’t heard of 5 books in the Young Adult category, and I like to think I know a thing or two about books in YA (they’re all self-pubbed). Alas. I wrote in all of my votes. 
  • The United States of Young Adult infographic — books by the states they take place in. Note that most of them are not realistic (not a huge deal), but I do take issue on a choice or two. For example, Beneath a Meth Moon primarily takes place in Iowa, not in Mississippi (it starts there, but the bulk of the novel is in Iowa). Also, I note how Wisconsin has one of the oldest books by publication date on the chart (more current choices could be Stupid Fast or Ashes by Ilsa J Bick or Drowning Instinct by Bick, too, or Brian Farrey’s With or Without You or, or, or …). Idaho could be newer, too, with The Girls of No Return and Nevada newer, too, with Wanted by Heidi Ayarbe. Kansas gets The Wizard of Oz, but there’s Sprout by Dale Peck (which is a few years old, I guess) and there’s Tessa Gratton’s The Blood Keeper. Perhaps I need to make some kind of blog post with books by states, huh?
This is just for fun — my friend Amanda was in Armenia and Georgia over the last couple of weeks, and she snapped this photo in Yerevan. Did you know it’s the 2012 UNESCO World Book Capital? Me either. I love how the symbol is the same in Armenia as it is in the United States.

Twitterview: AS King

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After Kimberly and I read AS King’s just-released Ask the Passengers and both loved it, we knew we had to seek her out for this month’s Twitterview.


Along with telling us about the inspirations for Ask the Passengers, about the genre of books she writes, and her favorite writing advice, we’ve got a finished copy of her book to give away to one lucky reader.


Without further ado, AS King:

Pitch Ask the Passengers in 140 characters.

Astrid Jones sends her love to the passengers in the airplanes that fly overhead because she doesn’t know what else to do with it.

What inspired Ask the Passengers?

The constant labeling of human beings inspired ASK THE PASSENGERS. And my senior Humanities class. And Plato. And a bar I used to go to.

Setting plays a huge part in Ask the Passengers. Talk a bit about that.

Setting ATP in a gossip hotbed was unintentional, but then I realized that gossip is a setting most people can relate to. We all live in it.

Ask the Passengers is a story about sexuality without being a story ABOUT sexuality. Who or what is Astrid because of this? Does it matter?

It doesn’t matter. Astrid is a human being. People who try to label sexuality weird me out. It’s not about sex. It’s about love.

Tell us your message to the passengers above.

When I look at planes, I send love. It’s a habit I started decades ago. So, I guess the message is: I love you.

What, if anything, should readers walk away with from Ask the Passengers?

Love? And understanding of the process of questioning? A newfound interest in Zeno or Socrates? A craving for crab Rangoon?

If you had to give your book a “____ meets _____” pitch, what two (or three! or four!) books/films/shows would Ask the Passengers be a meeting of?

I am at a loss here because I don’t watch TV or many modern movies. I know it’s a cop out, but I just don’t know. Can you do it? Please?

Your books bend genre. If you had to classify them, how would you label ’em?

They’re A.S. King books. I think. They don’t like to be classified…just like Astrid. And me. And probably hawks or bumble bees.

Do you find yourself relating to or holding a character from any of your books a little more closely than others?

Yes. I relate to Vera Dietz, Lucky Linderman and Astrid. I hold Ken Dietz very close. And Granddad Harry. And Socrates.

Who or what do you write for?

I write for me and the water heater in my office. And the boiler and washing machine. They are my biggest fans.

What was your most influential read as a teenager?

Lord of the Flies and The Republic. Counting early teen years: Paul Zindel’s work.

Who are your top three writing influences?

Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins and Salman Rushdie. Those are the writers who made me want to write.

Who do you believe is breaking ground in YA right now?

Andrew Smith writes ground-breaking, mind-blowing books. I’m especially excited for GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE, coming fall 2013.

What’s the best writing advice you ever received?

Writing advice: Get your ass in the chair. Publishing advice: Enjoy every second.

What’s your best writing advice to give?

Check out my Writer’s Middle Finger series. Part Six will come soon.

What is your writing routine?

Write as often as I can as much as I can. Made easier this year by my youngest kid going to school all day.

What gets you jazzed to write?

Music. Ideas. History. But mostly, writing. Writing gets me jazzed to write. I wake up, I run to the office, and I write.

Do you have a writing soundtrack? Care to share a bit?

Every book has a different soundtrack. But the one song that weaves though all my work is Bob Marley’s “Burnin’ and Lootin’.”

What’s next for you?

ASK THE PASSENGERS came in late October. REALITY BOY will come in Oct. 2013. It’s about Gerald Faust. He’s angry. With good reason.

Favorite ice cream?

My classic favorite was mint chocolate chip. But the giant ice cream cone down the road sells this black raspberry soft serve that I love.

Want to win a copy of AS King’s latest, Ask the Passengers? Fill out the form below, and we’ll pick a winner at the end of the month. 

Dual Review: Ask the Passengers by A. S. King

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Kimberly’s take:

There are very few contemporary realistic novels that I seek out. At this point in my life, I know what I like to read, and I stick to it, mostly.
But for some reason, I picked up Everybody Sees the Ants last year (a book that straddles the line between fantasy and reality anyway) and it was all over from there. I was hooked on King’s writing, on the way she gets readers into her characters’ heads and makes us love them even when we’re exasperated by them.
Ask the Passengers is another winner from King, and I loved it even though it is the lightest on fantasy elements of the three of hers I’ve read.
Astrid Jones is a girl who is falling in love with another girl. She keeps it a secret for a long time, not only because of pressure from her family, friends, and schoolmates, but also because she just isn’t sure what it means to her. When she does let people know that she’s been dating another girl, the reactions are varied: disbelief, anger, hatred, and some happiness, too. What sets this apart from other books about a girl exploring her sexuality is the way King handles it. She’s an expert at her craft – I knew Astrid, I felt her struggles, and I related to her need to be accepted, to be loved for who she is. It’s a well-trod theme but such an important one. It could have seemed stale in anyone else’s hands, but in King’s hands, it was fresh.
Astrid’s family is by turns loving and cruel, and
King is so good at getting us as readers to see these ancillary
characters as whole people, who are often hateful out of fear. Astrid’s
sister in particular does some truly awful things, but realistic things, things that Astrid must accept and get past for the sake of her relationship with her sister. I saw a very strong theme of forgiveness here: forgiveness when it’s not asked for and perhaps not deserving, but necessary nonetheless.
The metaphors King excels at are here too, in the form of the passengers in the planes that fly over Astrid’s town. Astrid will “send her love” to the passengers above, and we as readers get the passengers’ stories in return. They’re varied, some happy, some not, but they’re connected to Astrid and to each other and allow the meaning of the story to expand. The passengers are also a way for Astrid to express herself fully to others, since she feels so stifled by the people around her.
Stories about “coming out” are being published with more frequency lately, but I wouldn’t call this story a coming out story. It’s about Astrid’s relationships with her family and friends as they realize she loves another girl, yes, but it’s even more about Astrid’s relationship with herself. She’s frustrated when her gay (and straight) peers demand a definition for her sexuality: Is she gay? Is she straight? Astrid comes to accept that she just is, and she demands that other people not put her in a box too.
Kelly’s take:

A. S. King gets better with each book. There’s no question in my mind that Ask the Passengers is her best to date.

Astrid Jones feels alone and confused and lost, but rather than wallow in that, rather than try to figure herself or her family out, she sends her love to everyone around her. She loves sending it up to the passengers in the planes who fly over her tiny, rural town. It’s her escape from this place, from herself, and from her life. It’s her way to feel connected and to feel accepted for who she is without ever having to face it head on. Except, of course, she will have to. 

This is a story about sexuality and about love and acceptance — all of the self, not of anyone else. Astrid struggles to figure out where she fits in, when the truth is, she just needs to keep a little bit of that love she’s sharing for herself. It’s also a story about people and individuals and how amazing it is we even exist. That that in and of itself is worth appreciating and loving. King deftly tells a story about how important it is to be yourself and understand and love yourself for who you are while also emphasizing how you do that through doing the same for other people. Because human existence and the diversity of experience is mind-blowing. 

Amid Astrid’s narrative are snippets of stories from the passengers in the planes above. These are the people to whom Astrid sends her love, and even though it doesn’t necessarily seem like it, the passengers’ stories all fit perfectly with her own struggle. Likewise, the plane metaphor in and of itself was brilliant without being over the top. We’re all our own pilots but we all carry other people with us. Our destines are our own to control but we aren’t alone. 

There’s plenty of philosophy in this one, and there’s the voices in Astrid’s head which operate a bit like the ants do in Lucky’s mind in Everybody Sees the Ants. What I love about King’s work is how internally focused it is, how much it’s about the individual and what’s going in in their minds. When Astrid breaks out though, she breaks out. 

Readers won’t walk away with a story about sexuality or a message about it, even though it’s part of what the story’s about. That’s where this is a smart, smart book — it’s dense and meaty, but it’s not done in a way that feels like it’s a lesson nor in a way that feels condescending to readers. There aren’t going to be a whole lot of labels tossed around or a real in-depth exploration of bisexuality or homosexuality. This is a story about being a person, not a label. Good readers will see that. I think defining this as simply a book about sexuality belittles the depths to which King aims to talk about the varied human experience. 

King nails small town life like few are able to do. This book had a number of similarities to M Molly Backes’s The Princesses of Iowa, down to the way the family operates, the mother-sister relationship, the facade and image needing to be presented to have status in a small town, the need for tolerance and respect for people, sexuality. These would be incredible read alikes not because Astrid and Paige are similar to one another, but instead, because the two of them are so different from one another. I also think this would be an interesting read alike to The Sky Always Hears Me But the Hills Don’t Mind by Kirsten Cronn-Mills. Astrid is almost a perfect hybrid of Morgan and Paige and their situations and stories. 

This book walks a fine line between being utterly sad and utterly hopeful and because of that, I held my breath many times, with the goal of not shedding a tear. But then I read the last couple of pages and knew what side of that sad/hopeful line the story fell and, well, I needed some kleenex. This is one of my favorite books this year, and I think it’s a masterpiece of YA fiction. Ask the Passengers is contemporary YA done right. 

Review copies received from the publisher. Ask the Passengers is available now. 

AudioSynced: October Edition

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First, check out our new look! After using the old image for more than a year with incorrect blog addresses, we thought it about time to update that. To make sure we were completely updated, we swapped out our ear bud image for the big headphones because, well, it looked neat.

AudioSynced is hosted by yours truly and Abby, and we swap each month who hosts the roundup of all things audiobook in the blogging and book world (best as we can, anyway!). This month, I’m covering the audiobook reviews and news posted in October, and Abby will take the charge next month. If you posted something and want it included, drop a link to your post in the comments. Missed out this month? Abby will host next month, so send her your goods.

Apologies for a relatively thin edition of AudioSynced. It seems like a lot of the usual audio reviewers are taking a listening hiatus this month. So if I missed something or you want to add to it, don’t be shy!

Reviews

Heidi over at Bunbury in the Stacks has a couple of reviews, including Kendare Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood and Mary Roach’s Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.

Lisa at Shelf Employed reviews an early chapter book, Nancy Krulick’s What’s Black and White and Stinks All Over, which is the fourth book in the George Brown, Class Clown series.

Beth of A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust reviews Gabrielle Zevin’s Because it is My Blood, Yes Chef by Marcus Samuelsson, and Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.

Lee at Reading With My Ears lends her thoughts on Maryrose Wood’s The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Hidden Gallery, Mark Haddon’s The Red House, Christian Burch’s The Manny Files, Ian Rankin’s The Falls, and Georgette Heyer’s The Convenient Marriage. She also snuck in a review of Joseph Delaney’s The Last Apprentice: Rage of the Fallen.

Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead is this month’s audiobook contribution from Sarah at YA Librarian Tales.

Over at Good Books and Good Wine, Allison takes a stab at reviewing an audiobook. Her choice? Amanda Quick’s Seduction. April offers up an audiobook reviews of Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula and Walter Dean Myers’s Sunrise Over Fallujah.

Flannery at The Readventurer reviews David Levithan’s recently released Every Day.

News & Other Audio Bits


Janssen has a thought-provoking question: do you reread audiobooks? Would you? She enjoyed her audiobook “reread” experience quite a bit.

Sharon Grover and Liz Hannegan talk about how educators can use audiobooks to meet STEM initiatives, including common core standards.