Book Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

By now, you should all know that I love Teen Lit. I'm not ashamed of that at all...okay, maybe slightly embarrassed. But someone who willingly takes pictures like this:

just really should learn to embrace the weirdness...so I'm going to!

Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher, is about a teenage girl who commits suicide. She leaves behind 13 cassette tapes for a list of people to understand why she committed suicide. As a health teacher who spent several days discussing the warning signs of suicide and how to help potential victims of suicide, I was very wary of this book. I don't like anything that glorifies suicide or makes it look like an satisfactory answer to the difficulties we all face in life (understandable, some more than others). Our major take home message in my class was that, "Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem."

I was so happy (and quite relieved) that this book never glorified suicide. It depicted the very real consequences of teens' actions. Asher showed that it's never too late to fix a reputation, it's never too late to give someone a second chance, it DOES matter how you treat each and every person you come in contact with, and the choices you make do, indeed, have an impact on all those around you. Like I've mentioned before, I HATE when bad things happen to kids--whether it's real life, TV, or books--it's just too hard for me to take! I always personalize everything I read or hear, and I've loved too many young people in my life to just brush those things off. I never want to become desensitized to the horrible realities that are so casually depicted in our everyday media. However, I did appreciate Asher's way of shining light on many teenage cliches that, all too often, live up to their stereotypes. (I.e.: girl gets drunk and can't control, nor remember, what happens to her).

Lastly, I love when books are written in an interesting format. We were able to hear the tapes and then understand the main character, Clay's, reaction to the recordings. I love any kind of spin on a traditional narrative!

Overall, I really liked this book and would recommend it to anyone that is into teeny-bopper lit!

Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars

This is a Teen Lit novel--so of course I liked it! I just love teen novels, I don't know why, but I always have! I think it has something to do with the fact that my life has always had virtually no drama in it, so reading about other people's is fun! That's probably the same reason I enjoy crappy Reality TV..?

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green, is about two teenagers who both have cancer. It's about their relationship with each other, their families, and ultimately, themselves. Having watched my mom battle cancer from afar, this book had me full on ugly crying more than once. Something I found interesting about this book was that the teenagers were faced with a terrible illness that many times emotionally debilitates adults, yet in the midst of them dealing with their ailments, they still wanted/needed to go through all of the same coming of age obstacles that every other teen faces.

There was one particular scene that I felt the author did such an awesome job writing. I could picture it so well and the dialogue between the teens and their actions were so realistic to students I had had in classes. I was laughing so hard! (If you decide to read the book, egg + car is what I'm referring to). I wish I had remembered to write this review right after I read it...whoops! Overall I enjoyed the book, it was a quick and easy read. I could have done without some of the smut that was thrown in there, but such is life. A good read for older teens to adults like me who have some weird obsession with teen lit.

Book Review: The Glass Castle

This book was recommended to me by my friend, Megan, after I had mentioned in my last book review how I'm so interested in family dynamics.

The Glass Castle is a book of memoirs written by Jeannette Walls. Her family is essentially a bunch of nomads, traveling around the U.S. dodging bill collectors. Any time a situation got a little harry or her dad got sick of working, the family would up and move. I'll be honest, this book was a lot to handle at moments. I had to keep reminding myself that this was actually a set of memoirs and that I had found it in the "Non-fiction" section of my library. "No way this could happen in real life!" or "No way people like this actually exist!" were the thoughts that continually kept creeping back into my mind. I had to convince myself to keep reading a few times because it is too hard for me to hear about awful things happening to children. I've mentioned before, becoming a mother made a new kind of heartache arise in me every time something bad happens to a child. I can't watch Law and Order: SVU anymore because it's just too much! 

I felt myself getting physically mad--no, not mad--livid/furious/irate over many of the responses the parents had to Jeannette and her siblings. The situations the parents put them in, the way the children were treated,  the fact that more often than not, the kids were more responsible than the parents, drove me up the wall! 

It brought me right back to when I was a teacher. I remember one student that came to me with a drop-out form. "What's this?" I asked him. "It's a form you have to sign so I can drop out." "But you're a senior, you literally have 6 months until you can graduate. Why don't you just stick it out until graduation?" "Because my parents disowned me and I have to work so I can eat and pay bills." AHHHHHH! If I could have told him everything I was thinking I would have told him, "You'll never go back for your GED like you think you will. It's not that you can't or don't have the intellect or intelligence to do so, it's because GEDs are expensive and quite frankly, not even close to the same as a high school diploma. Also, you're parents suck! That's right, I said suck! You only get to be a kid once and they stole that from you. They literally stole some of the most precious memories you will ever have right out from under you. The saddest part is that you will probably never fully understand what you missed out on! The amount of wasted potential that is balled up inside of you makes me want to cry, real tears of sorrow because you and I have come so far since you called me a 'bitch' the first month of school. I had big hopes and dreams of showing you just how awesome you could be! But instead, you're going to quit. Again and again and again, you're going to quit. Because your parents suck!"

But teachers don't get to say things like that. Especially not new teachers that haven't reached tenure yet. So instead I told him I wouldn't sign it. If he was going to drop-out, I didn't want any part of that. Then I learned I had to sign it. So I did. It makes me sick just thinking about it.

So yeah, it hurts me when bad things happen to children. The one thing that kept me going was that I knew the ending. I didn't actually know the ending, but being around kids enough, you start to get the sense about the ones that rise above. The ones that say, "screw you" to all the garbage their parents had filled them with and decide to find out what the world is really like for themselves. The book was written so well that I knew Jeannette had been one of those kids that rose above her parents and her upbringing. 

Just thinking about this has got me all fired up again! It was a book filled with raw emotion. If you want a book that will make you feel, this book delivers.

Book Review: The Wednesday Letters

I've been trying to take J to the library once a week. When I was growing up, I hated to read! It just never interested me at all. My senior year of high school I took a Teen Lit class and began to realize I actually loved to read--I just needed to find books that interested me. College came and I never had time to read anything but textbooks. Towards the end of my college career I started to crave books (or was it just the time to read a book?). Now days, I have to be very careful when I read books because I have the ability to shut all else out and, lets be honest, neglect my family :). I'm hoping that if I help J have a love of reading early on then it will carry with her for the rest of her life. Plus, my roommates that loved to read could read so much faster than I could. Faster reader = more time for fun when you get into high school and college.

This week I decided to read a book that my good friend, Randi, had recommended to me right after college. It's called The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright.

The book is about three children that, after their parents' death, find out their father had written a letter to their mother every Wednesday of their marriage. Through the letters, the children begin to gain a better knowledge and understanding of their parents and their family dynamic.

I truly loved this book! I am so incredible fascinated by family make-up and dynamics. I love books that write about families because my family is such an integral part of my life. Whether a person is close or distant with their family, that dynamic plays a significant role on who they are as a person. It's awesome! I wish there were some socially acceptable way for me to ask people right as I meet them, "Tell me about your family, where you fit in, who are you closest to, who are you not close to, spare no detail, tell me everything!" I feel like you can learn so much about people based on their relationship with their family.

Sorry, a bit of a tangent. But that's why I loved this book! Wright opens the backdoor into the most personal pieces of the Cooper family's puzzle. You grieve with them, you go into shock with them, and you learn the last lesson their parents wanted them to learn--forgiveness--right along with these three siblings. I was constantly picturing my brothers and I as I read this book. I feel Wright did an incredible job at making his characters and their dialog seem so believable and real.

Go read the book...then come back so we can talk about it :)