STACKED

books

YA Books on the Big Screen: At The Hub

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I’ve got a post over at YALSA’s The Hub today, where I am talking about YA books that are either on schedule to come out as movies soon or that are optioned as potential films in the future (and I’m talking about what that even means). Check it out!

I’ll be posting at The Hub tomorrow, too, about April debut novels.

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

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I loved Grave Mercy so much that the two books I read immediately afterward – books I had been looking forward to reading for several months – seemed like shoddy imitations of books in comparison. I loved it for so many reasons: how big the story is, how fresh its ideas are, how well it’s written. It’s over 500 pages of story, and not once does it drag.
Ismae is a handmaiden of death. She was rescued from a terrible marriage at 14 and sent to a convent, where the nuns trained her to serve Mortain, the saint/god of death. What this means is that by age 17, Ismae is a well-trained assassin, and she’s sent out on jobs to dispatch people that Mortain has marked with his inky black stain that only his handmaidens can see.
Ismae’s latest assignment is at the court of Brittany, an independent province that is now a part of France. Grave Mercy takes place in the late 15th century, during a time when Brittany was struggling mightily to keep itself from being absorbed by France. (The existence of the present-day borders of France is a spoiler, but the book is suspenseful regardless.) Anne, the very young duchess of Brittany, is being torn in many directions. She’s unmarried, and she’s been promised in marriage to half a dozen – or more – people. Choosing one man over another, or not choosing anyone at all, will have dire consequences for Brittany.
Ismae’s job is first and foremost to protect her duchess, and she is instructed to do so by determining who at court is betraying Anne – because all signs point to a traitor in Anne’s midst. When she unveils the traitor, the convent will send her orders to kill him (or her). Ismae’s cover is as a “cousin” (read: mistress) to Gavriel Duval, Anne’s bastard half-brother and her closest adviser. Ismae has been told that it is likely he is the spy, so she is to work with him to keep Anne safe while also spying on him to determine if he is the traitor. I knew the romance was coming, but it was so good – swoony in the right parts, some nice repartee, and its development was timed well. When they finally do fall in love, it makes sense and is completely believable.
There’s a lot of political intrigue that pulls in real historical events, which I enjoyed researching while I read the book. It’s fairly complex, but it’s not so complex that it’s impossible to follow. I loved how big the story was, and I don’t mean length-wise. So many things are going on, and they have huge ramifications for many, many people. It reminds me a lot of why I loved fantasy and historical fiction to begin with: huge stories with multiple intricate plotlines and profound consequences for entire countries or even entire worlds.
One of the things I appreciated most about Grave Mercy is that Ismae does kill. And she doesn’t do it only in self-defense or after deep consideration of the target’s crimes. She does it on order, without much regret or much thought as to whether the person deserves to die (at first, at least). I mention this because in a lot of fantasy or historical fiction novels, the authors find a way for their protagonists to not have to do the Bad or Unpleasant Thing that the plot indicates they really should have to do. (Prime example: In Wither, Rhine never consummates her marriage with Linden. Completely unbelievable, but not surprising.) This choice alone proves that LaFevers knows the world she has created and is unwilling to write herself loopholes to save the reader from some unpleasantness. I have a lot of respect for YA authors who do this. It’s much too rare.
Hype isn’t always a good indicator of a novel’s worth, but in this case, it’s well-deserved. If you’re a fan of complex, involving stories that take the time to develop complicated characters and important details, this book is for you. Anyone who likes historical fiction will eat it up, as will fantasy fans and romance fans. There’s a sequel in the works that focuses on Sybella, one of Ismae’s fellow trainees at the convent, and I can hardly wait for it.

So You Want to Read YA?: Guest Post from Julie Cross (Author of Tempest)

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Today’s “So You Want To Read YA?” guest post comes from Julie Cross, author of the time travel romance novel Tempest.
Julie Cross lives in Central Illinois with her husband and three children. She never considered writing until May or 2009 and hasn’t gone a day without it since.  Julie’s website is http://juliecross.blogspot.com/ and she tweets @JulieCross1980.

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You’re out there. I know you are. I’ve seen you in the gym, peddling away on the stationary bike, a book open in front of you, towel around your neck. And what’s that you’re reading…Hunger Games? Or is it a John Green novel? 
 
Wait…aren’t those books for teenagers? 
 
What happened to Jodi Picoult and Janet Evanovich? What happened to cook books and self help magazines? What happened to steamy women’s romance novels with a Fabio look-alike on the cover?
Who cares what happened! Whatever it is, I like it. And yeah, I’m an author who writes for teens so I can stroll through the YA section at Barnes and Noble with a little more confidence and justification than the other thirty or forty something moms who love to read YA books, but really, lots of people want you there. Trust me when I say this, and it’s kind of insider info so try not to rat out the source, but publishers and authors depend, yes depend, on YA book sales from middle-aged mothers like myself.
I can’t remember exactly what made me start writing, it’s a big question I get asked all the time and only answer with, “I didn’t begin writing until May of 2009.” I was twenty nine and a mom of three who just happened to love Harry Potter, read all four Twilight novels in a week, cried and gapped over the awesomeness that is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Anyway, I’m half-convinced that I only started writing because I wanted to feel like I had a good reason to hang out in the teen section of the library. Okay, not hang out. Just check out…books. And…uh…research…for my book.
I tried to read some grown up books and I did like them, but most of them didn’t make me think and feel as much as the YA books. I’m sure that could just be me, but like I said, I’ve seen you guys. I know you’re out there. So, today, I’m sending forth my most important message yet: Fear not. Step into the YA section with confidence. You belong there just as much as those adolescents giggling at you behind your back. 
 
My data regarding moms reading YA fiction is not solely based on observations from stationary bike riders in physical fitness center. I actually talk to lots of moms everyday including my sister, cousins, aunts and most of them started reading YA with a big hit series that was nearly impossible to ignore—Twilight, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, etc. But after those books, they were totally clueless as to which YA to choose next. I have an excellent system and track record for recommending YA books to moms because even though I do read them all the time and have for years, I’m still picky about what I like. My mom perspective is not identical to the teen perspective. 
 
My oldest child has just begun middle school this year, so I don’t have an actual teenager yet, but when I do, I feel like I’m more prepared to use books to help discuss things openly with them. Reading YA has helped me to remember what it’s like to be that age…it’s so, so hard. And we need to be able to sympathize with our children in order to help them make the right choices. And maybe your situation isn’t identical to mine. Let’s say your children (child) are very young, a long way from the teen years and you’re up to your ears and elbows in laundry, finger paint, crumbs on the kitchen floor, walls that never look white, and you just need a world to escape to that’s so different than your own—this is what reading YA can give you. 
 
My family has been so supportive throughout my publication process, they’ve all been reading YA like crazy to give my genre a leg-up, so I’ve been giving suggestions like crazy. Here’s a little list I’ve compiled to help you choose a YA novel beyond the big name books that have crossed genres in the past several years.
I Liked Twilight, So What Next?
  1. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (also the sequels Linger and Forever)
  2. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (lots of NON Twi-hards LOVE this series, too, including me)
  3. Tempest by Julie Cross (had to slide that in)
  4. Across The Universe by Beth Revis (also the sequel A Million Suns)
  5. Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers
I Like Jodi Picoult or Nicholas Sparks and Don’t Mind Tear-Jerkers
  1. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
  2. The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (might even please the literary fans!)
  3. Before I Die by Jenny Downham (This is British…and I LOVE a good English book)
  4. Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
  5. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
  6. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Hunger Games Was Great, But I’m Not Usually Into The Dystopian Stuff
(aka—Dystopian for people who might not like Dystopian)
  1. Divergent by Veronica Roth
  2. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
  3. Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
  4. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
I Like Fun Chic-lit Type Books, like Something Borrowed or Nanny Diaries
  1. Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
  2. Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
  3. Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler
  4. The Future Of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
  5. Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
Coming-of-Age type Books Along The Lines of Catcher In The Rye
(quirky characters and large doses of teenage humiliation)
  1. Looking For Alaska by John Green
  2. And Then Things Fall Apart by Arlaina Tibensky
  3. The Edumacation Of Jay Baker by Jay Clark
  4. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (can you tell I love John Green?)
I Want To Read YA, But I Like Edgy, Issue Books And Darker Themes
  1. Story Of A Girl by Sara Zarr
  2. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
  3. Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
  4. Winter Girls by Laurie Halse Anderson, also Speak—her most widely known title
  5. Crash Into Me by Albert Borris
  6. Clean by Amy Reed
  7. How To Save A Life by Sara Zarr
There you have it! Some of my personal favorites and because I can only read so much and there’s tons of YA I didn’t mention here, maybe we’ll get some more suggestions in the comment section. So, go forth and read those teen books, strut into that YA section of the bookstore like you own the place. And shamelessly enjoy the wonderful, ever-growing genre that is young adult literature.
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Julie Cross’s debut novel Tempest, published January 17, 2012 by St. Martin’s Griffin, is the first in a series by the same name.

After his girlfriend Holly is fatally shot during a violent struggle, nineteen-year-old Jackson uses his supernatural abilities and travels back in time two years, where he falls in love with Holly all over again, learns that his father is a spy, and discovers powerful enemies of time who will stop at nothing to recruit him for their own purposes (description via WorldCat).

Weekend Link Roundup

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I’ve read so many great and provocative things lately, I thought I’d share a bunch of them for the weekend. This post could be subtitled “And then the world discovered YA could be worth learning about after watching The Hunger Games.”


  • The AWL had a post about books that make you cringe to remember reading, written by a host of book-world folks. I’m sharing this one because none of the picks are surprising (really, let’s all hate on Ayn Rand and Jack Kerouac some more), and I’m sharing it because I think the notion of books you’ve read in the past becoming embarrassing to think about is pretty absurd. We all have our phases and we all have our interests at different points, so being embarrassed by them later on seems silly. We read and we grow. The books we read help us figure out who we are.
  • Something I’ve said before out loud was that there are a lot of books that are about someone’s daughter. Looks like I’m not the only one.  The Millions looks at the title trend and even offers up some graphs — who are these the daughters of? How many daughters are floating around? 

  • Not one, but two stories this week about “strong girl characters” in YA/children’s books. First, I stumbled upon this blog post about it, then I was sent this link from The Atlantic Wire. There’s some interesting cross-over in the female leads mentioned and there are some curious missing girls (Frankie Landau Banks!). I can’t help but think both of these lists need to be updated to include books written in the last few years — maybe something worth blogging about down the road. Also, keep your eye on The Atlantic Wire. They’re doing a series of “YA for Adults,” and I’m curious to see what they talk about (also, it reminds me of a little series we’re doing here at STACKED). I’m always interested and skeptical when bigger outlets cover “trendy” topics.
  • Speaking of big outlets covering “trendy” topics, The Huffington Post shared their list of YA books adults would love, and it’s certainly a mix of titles. HuffPo also offered up ten dystopian titles coming out this year (you know, in case you need something after The Hunger Games). Except, a number of these aren’t even dystopian titles, but we won’t go into details since the exposure of YA titles to new readers is good. I mentioned being interested and skeptical when bigger outlets cover trends like YA, right?   
  • Let’s keep this going — what books could become the next screen hit like The Hunger Games? Two articles on this one, including one at IndieWire and one at IGN movies. I absolutely hate how everything has to be “the next ___,” rather than being allowed to stand on its own merits. It’s such a disservice to the work itself and the truth is, we don’t need or necessarily want the same thing repackaged over and over again. Spoiler: I’m writing about this topic over at YALSA’s The Hub blog this week, talking about some of these titles and some that aren’t on these lists, as well as defining what it means when a book’s rights have been optioned.
  • This is probably the best blog post I’ve read in a long time — Stop telling me what to read. Every word here is truth, and so many of the lines I want to plaster all over the place. My favorite is this one, though: “When people dictate what should be read, they often do so from a position of privilege.” I’d go as far as to drop the word “often” and say indeed, they always speak from a position of privilege.
  • I wouldn’t normally post this kind of story but I can’t help myself: James Patterson shares his secrets for selling so many books. This piece is worth reading if for no other reason than it’s really funny. REALLY funny. Best line in the whole piece (on why Patterson thinks his kid books are the best): “I guess they fit right into my wheelhouse. I have a big imagination, a, and b, I think I’m funnier than sh–. And that really lets it loose.” 
  • There are a ton of YA book blogger directories, but this is the first thorough middle grade book blogger directory I’ve seen. Worth checking out! Also passed along to me this week was a blog all about UK YA fiction, so if you’re interested in what’s going on over there, check this out.

Guest Post: Wherein A Male Responds

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When my husband read my earlier post about gender and reading, he vehemently disagreed with everything I said. Rather than having this be a one-sided conversation, I offered him the chance to share his piece in response to the boy cave/gendered reading idea. While I still disagree with the notion we should offer separate spaces or push the idea that gender matters, he makes a really thoughtful argument I can’t help but share.

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In 1928, when Virginia Woolf wrote “A Room of One’s Own,” based on her lectures and arguing that “women must have money and a room of her own to write fiction,” her explicit point was to illustrate the need of women authors for independence but more implicitly, the need of women in general to rise above their impoverished place in society. That they have, at least in relative degree to 1928. To deny that sexism still isn’t in the board room, the classroom and, indeed, the library would be simply ludicrous. Yet, you must concede, women have come a long way in their pursuit of equality, and progress continues to be made every day.
The pursuit of equality, in fact, has been so successful that women are, if not welcome, at least an increasingly familiar sight in many areas long dominated by men such as the board room and classroom. Whereas there was no female Supreme Court Justice prior to 1981, there are now three. In 2010, twelve Fortune 500 CEOs were women versus 2000 when there were only three. My point again is not to say that women have reached full equality, but rather that progress, while perhaps slow, is still occurring.
This should be celebrated. However, simultaneously, the rise in the status of women has not so much achieved equality and equilibrium between the sexes as it has encroached on mens’ status. Over the last half century, books ranging from the beat classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to non-fiction Guyland explore the modern male psyche as an increasingly confused, wayward place that has been deprived of key psychological needs by the fact that women have somehow been injected into all spaces.  In order to achieve equality, men are made to cater all of our actions to a sensibility which is not ours naturally.  What this did, initially, was bring about sorely needed equality, but while it continues to exist in the same form it did 40 years ago that makes men cater and not resist.
Our code of conduct is increasingly narrow both by the entrance of women and the conflict we have between our social construct of masculinity and what society expects. Boys are told not to fight or play in the house, and when faced with a conflict, we are not entirely sure how to respond. Rites of passage used to be commonplace, but not so any longer (“too dangerous” or “too stupid”). Our age-old role models, our fathers, are increasingly rare. Thus, our ideas of masculinity and what it means to be a man are increasingly convoluted. We compensate, invariably, by seeking to find out what is masculine. Some men go to the extreme and rebel, hoping brute strength makes them a man. Some join mens’ social groups, one of the few bastions left to confer amongst ourselves. Some simply search and fail. The point is that, without a firm sense of identity, we struggle. I, myself, try to form strong male friendships which, in tandem with my marriage, ground my sense of self. Though, when I first relocated somewhere as an adult and had no male friends yet, I was very much lost.
This all brings me to possibly one of the most unfortunate losses in identity: the loss of space. Our homes are one of the greatest losses of all. Prior to modern architecture, men and women did both have their spaces. Now, with homes designed to be open, men ended up being the losers. We retreated to the less desirable places in the home – my dad practically lived in our basement. As a boy, I had my room, but even that had limitations that my mom enforced. I distinctly remember the woods being where my friends and I could play and be “boys,” without the constant guard of the parental big brother.
This all leads me to the case of “the Cave,” a boys-only reading space in a public elementary school. The library is to the boy much as the “Victoria’s Secret” is to the grown man. It can be an utterly terrifying place. Part of that is how we are socialized, it’s true. But, that’s ultimate irrelevant when it comes to practical considerations. This is not our place – never was, never will be. Why? We were told that girls, who are “made of sugar and space and everything nice,” read. Add to that the fact that boys inherently learn better through interaction versus reading, and you there you have it. Books, the library, the whole kitchen sink isn’t for us.
I think “the Cave” is an awesome idea because it not only brings boys into the library, it gives them a space they don’t really have and can’t really have. Further, it makes that space inviting by appealing to a boy’s interests, particularly gross things but also adventure and action, those things that many of us, later in life want so desperately to have when we’re wearing ties and driving mid-price sedans. It also exposes boys to books that they almost certainly would not have been exposed to before. One parent in the Cave article remarked about how her son’s reading interests grew beyond Harry Potter. Awesome. What possible problem could you have with this place?
Well, many of you reading this, including my wife, believe that gendered books and gendered space are bad things which create inherently hostile environments. On the contrary, they make some of us more comfortable in a world in which we are afraid to even think about stepping out of line. The terms “boys book” and “girls book” are, of course, simplifications as there are many diverse tastes. But, boys have very few safe things that are universally agreed to acceptable, and they cling.
When I was in third grade, I must have been a brave kid, because one day, during reading time, I marched over to the shelf of books and got the Baby Sitter’s Club. I didn’t have the slightest interest, and I may have even done this on a dare. It was awful – I had no interest. But I read the thing, possibly to see what would happen (I’m still slightly a troublemaker, as my wife will tell you). Here’s what happened: I was ostracized by boys and girls alike for a few days. Neither side found this acceptable. It gradually faded, as these things do. But I learned a lesson – step too far outside of the realm of acceptable, and you’ll pay. So, argue with me now, books are not gendered.
Now, I was asked to comment on some of the more popular YA books of the last few years that I read at my wife’s request and comment on their gender appeal. So, I’ll discuss them here briefly:
  • The Hunger Games: The full series is not inherently gendered, though I think there is more girl appeal overall. There’s a lot of themes that many boys would find alien: (I) sisterhood, (ii) a female character struggling with her emotions with two male characters and (iii) the idea of media sensationalization. True, there is a significant amount of action, which even I, as a grown man, enjoyed. But, we have to realize that, at some point, boys are not Katniss.
  • Glow: Glow, inherently, is a girl’s book. The book does a good job of moving between the plight of the boys and the drama of the girls’ capture, and in doing so, attempts to appeal to those traditional archetypes: the girls escape by cunning, the boys in-fight. Do you see a pattern? Girls read, boys fight. How much more interesting this could have been had the boys been captured and the girls abandoned to fend for themselves.
  • Divergent: I loved Divergent, as would, I suspect many boys. Why? Can you see the appeal of going from a life of rules and order to one in which there is danger and excitement? This book does an excellent job of merging the likes of boys and girls. Yet, with a female lead character with emotions for a boy, is still foreign.
Books are, in some way, inherently gendered for women. That’s because boys are not naturally drawn to reading entirely in and of itself. In a study done in Wehrwein, Lujan and DiCarlo (2006), researchers found that among undergraduate physiology students, the majority of women preferred one dominant learning style while men preferred a combination of learning styles including visual, auditory, reading and kinesthetic learning. Thus, a book is sometimes but not always thing that everybody wants, but boys are less likely to prefer it alone. Yet, given the space and given the chance to start within my comfort zone, I can be brought to read even YA, which is not my interest at all. I suspect many boys would feel the same way about reading in general.
My wife and her colleague, Liz Burns, make some valid points about gender equality, and I see their argument. It would seem patently unfair to cater to one group, such as boys, while not providing a separate area for girls. What may not be so obvious is that the intimidation of that girls’ area would be far worse for a boy than vice versa. The point made in the article about the Cave – that placing items in the girls’ area would inherently cut access – is true. It is the modern inverse of placing Woolf’s books in a Roaring Twenties barbershop.

Over 80 years ago, Virginia Woolf demanded a room for a woman’s one. Nowadays, it’s us guys asking. Can you let us have it?  And once we have it, let’s both respective our separate spaces while having a very large common space.