Life in Pictures

The month of February has been pretty eventful thus far....

At the beginning of the month, I visited John King Books on Lafayette Boulevard with fellow librarian and friend, Jeanette.

 It was my very first visit. A pilgrimage of sorts. I bought a few books -- one of which The Fight for America by Joseph McCarthy which is a fabulous addition to my intellectual freedom collection.

My last post focused on the need for multicultural literature -- February is African American history month. As you can surmise, this month's YA display features African American literature and historical materials. I created this graphic:

Here are some various pictures from work:

While working on weeding the YA collection, I discovered
this awesome note inside Or Give Me Death by Ann Rinaldi
when checking its circulation

My doll, Verity, joins the staff at CADL

And a couple of pictures of my coworkers and I:

On Monday, I toured Loutit District Library in Grand Haven, Michigan. I'll be uploading pictures and some notes from my visit in the near future.

Mr. Darcy

Quote from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen...

Other Darcy-related posts:
Austen and Alcott
Creativity and Innovation
Pride and Prejudice
Riding with Severus Snape

Dark Blue Wallflowers

As of late, I've been culling through recommended works of realistic fiction and compiling a list for a young yet "intelligent beyond his years" patron. While working on this project, I cannot help but think about Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Tonight while piecing together a mixed CD for tomorrow's road trip to ArtPrize, I was once again reminded of Perks -- Charlie's mixed tape.

Even better... I think Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin, a song I added to my iTunes playlist, could possibly be a favorite of Charlie's, if the story was set later.

Challenging Your Own Assumptions

Yesterday, while doing a bit of reading about Perks author Stephen Chbosky, I stumbled upon this quote from an interview:

"You can learn a lot from challenging your own assumptions and admitting you don't know everything."

Love it!

Learning

 "...I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It's hollow."
--Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (E.L. Konigsburg, 1967)

A Mysterious List

Recently, I worked on pulling together a reading list for a mature "tween" patron who was interested in mysteries. The patron being a guy, I opted to build a list which consisted mainly of books featuring male protagonists. Age recommendations, from School Library Journal, are just that merely recommendations -- to be used loosely. On the original document, I also included the location of each book and had a separate list of items in which we could interloan from other libraries.

Want a copy of this list? Download here.

The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
First book in a series – 39 Clues
Recommended for grades 4 – 7
Summary: What would happen if you discovered that your family was one of the most powerful in human history? What if you were told that the source of the family's power was hidden around the world, in the form of 39 clues? What if you were given a choice - take a million dollars and walk away ... or get the first clue? If you're Amy and Dan Cahill, you take the clue - and begin a very dangerous race.

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
First book in a series – Chasing Vermeer
Recommended for grades 5 – 8
Summary: When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Recommended for grades 4 – 9
Summary: Orphan, clock keeper, and thief. Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shullman
First book in a series – Grimm Legacy
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: New York high school student Elizabeth gets an after-school job as a page at the "New-York Circulating Material Repository," and when she gains coveted access to its Grimm Collection of magical objects, she and the other pages are drawn into a series of frightening adventures involving mythical creatures and stolen goods.

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
First book in a series
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site. From the bestselling mystery novelist comes this story for younger readers. New to Florida, Roy is on the school bus when he spots the running boy--running away from the bus, carrying no books or wearing no shoes. Sensing a mystery, Roy sets himself on the boy's trail, which leads him to potty-trained alligators, a fake-fart champion, and a renegade eco-avenger.

Heist Society by Ally Carter
First book in a series – Heist Society
Recommended for grades 6 – 10
Summary: A group of teenagers uses their combined talents to re-steal several priceless paintings and save fifteen-year-old Kat Bishop's father, himself an international art thief, from a vengeful collector.

Shelter by Harlan Coben
First book in a series – Mickey Bolitar
Recommended for grade 9 and up
Summary: After tragic events tear Mickey Bolitar away from his parents, he is forced to live with his estranged Uncle Myron and switch high schools, where he finds both friends and enemies, but when his new new girlfriend, Ashley, vanishes, he follows her trail into a seedy underworld that reveals she is not what she seems to be.

Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery by Peter Abrahams
First book in a series – Echo Falls
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her home town of Echo Falls.

Acceleration by Graham McNamee
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: Stuck working in the Lost and Found of the Toronto Transit Authority for the summer, seventeen-year-old Duncan finds the diary of a serial killer and sets out to stop him.

Don’t Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon
First book in a series -- PERSEF0NE
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: After waking up on an operating table with no memory of how she got there, Noa must team up with computer hacker Peter to stop a corrupt corporation with a deadly secret.

Trash by Andy Mulligan
Recommended for grades 7 – 10
Summary: Fourteen-year-olds Raphael and Gardo team up with a younger boy, Rat, to figure out the mysteries surrounding a bag Raphael finds during their daily life of sorting through trash in a third-world country's dump.

Who Could That Be At This Hour? By Lemony Snicket
First book in a series 
Recommended for grades 4 – 7
Summary: Thirteen-year-old Lemony Snicket begins his apprenticeship with S. Theodora Markson of the secretive V.F.D. in the tiny dot of a town called Stain'd By The Sea, where he helps investigate the theft of a statue.

Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis
First book in a series – Timmy Failure
Recommended for grades 3 – 8
Summary: Meet Timmy Failure, the founder, president, and CEO of the best detective agency in town, probably the nation. And his lazy sidekick, Total, a 1,500-pound polar bear.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Catherine Edwards Sadler
First book in a series
Recommended for grade 7 and up
Summary: Magnificently illustrated with 12 powerful watercolors by award-winning artist Moser, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" features the complete text of the original collection of Doyle's short stories and is an ideal introduction to the fascinating world of this mesmerizing detective.

Hardy Boys series by Franklin Dixon

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
Recommended for grades 4 – 7
Summary: Washed ashore as a baby in tiny Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, Mo LoBeau, now eleven, and her best friend Dale turn detective when the amnesiac Colonel, owner of a café and co-parent of Mo with his cook, Miss Lana, seems implicated in a murder.

Code of Silence by Tim Shoemaker
First book in a series – Code of Silence
Recommended for grades 6 – 8
Summary: When thirteen-year-olds Cooper, Hiro, and Gordy witness a robbery that leaves a man in a coma, they find themselves tangled in a web of mystery and deceit that threatens their lives.

Shadowlands by Kate Brian
First book in a series – Shadowlands
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection with her father and sister, Darcy, leaving their friends and family without so much as a goodbye. Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children, but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. But just as theyre starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?

The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson
First book in a series – Forensic Mysteries
Recommended for grade 9 and up
Summary: On the payroll as an assistant to her coroner father, seventeen-year-old Cameryn Mahoney uses her knowledge of forensic medicine to catch the killer of a friend while putting herself in terrible danger.

Shift by Jennifer Bradbury
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: When best friends Chris and Win go on a cross country bicycle trek the summer after graduating and only one returns, the FBI wants to know what happened.

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Cullen's summer in Lily, Arkansas, is marked by his cousin's death by overdose, an alleged spotting of a woodpecker thought to be extinct, failed romances, and his younger brother's sudden disappearance.

The Dragon’s Tooth by N.D. Wilson
First book in a series – Ashtown Burials
Recommended for grades 5 – 8
Summary: When their parents' seedy old motel burns down on the same night they are visited by a strange man covered in skeleton tattoos, Cyrus, Antigone, and their brother Daniel are introduced to an ancient secret society, and discover that they have an important role in keeping it alive.

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
First book in a series – Monstrumologist
Recommended for grades 8 – 10
Summary: 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.

Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer
First book in a series – Chronicles of Vladimir Todd
Recommended for grades 5 – 8
Summary: For thirteen years Vlad has kept secret that he is half-vampire, but when his missing teacher is replaced by a sinister substitute, he learns that there is more to being a vampire than he could have guessed.

The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci
First book in a series – Steepleton Chronicles
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: Chris Creed grew up as the class freakthe bullies' punching bag. After he vanished, the weirdness that had once surrounded him began spreading. And it tore the town apart. Sixteen-year-old Torey Adams's search for answers opens his eyes to the lies, the pain, and the need to blame someone when tragedy strikes, and his once-safe world comes crashing down around him.

Rat Life by Tedd Arnold
Recommended for grades 6 – 10
Summary: After developing an unusual friendship with a young Vietnam War veteran in 1972, fourteen-year-old Todd discovers his writing talent and solves a murder mystery.

The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: When Will Halpin transfers from his all-deaf school into a mainstream Pennsylvania high school, he faces discrimination and bullying, but still manages to solve a mystery surrounding the death of a popular football player in his class.

Paper Towns by John Green
Recommended for 9 and up
Summary: One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.

Snatched by Pete Hautman
First book in a series – Bloodwater Mysteries
Recommended for grades 7 – 11
Summary: Too curious for her own good, Roni, crime reporter for her high school newspaper, teams up with Brian, freshman science geek, to investigate the beating and kidnapping of a classmate.

Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookery by Susan Juby
Recommended for grade 9 and up
Summary: Ninth-grader Sherman Mack investigates the "Defilers," a secret group at his British Columbia high school that marks certain female students as pariahs, at first because he is trying to protect the girl he has a crush on, but later as a matter of principle.

The Boxer and the Spy by Robert G. Parker
Recommended for grades 9 – 11
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Terry, an aspiring boxer, uncovers the mystery behind the unexpected death of a classmate.

The Death Collector by Justin Richards
First book in a series – Department of Unclassified Artifacts
Recommended for grades 6 – 10
Summary: Three teens and a curator of unclassified artifacts at the British Museum match wits with a madman determined to use unorthodox methods to reanimate the dead, both humans and dinosaurs.

The Weirdo by Theodore Taylor
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: Chip Clewt, whom people have named the "weirdo," is determined to protect the Powhatan swamp from the local hunters. "An eloquent debate pitting human and animal rights against each other is both informative and moving as this murder mystery/love story/environmental thriller weaves its uncommon spell. Deftly drawn characterizations, from the admirable to the loathsome, and an engrossing journalistic format are two of the many strong points that make this timely and compelling novel a winner."—Publisher’s Weekly

Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Recommended for grade 7 and up
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Claire Ryan has always felt invisible, always lived beyond people's notice, which causes trouble when she instantly connects with seventeen-year-old Nix, who really can become invisible and has been sent to assassinate her.

SilverFin: A James Bond Adventure by Charlie Higson
First book in a series – Young James Bond
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: Prequel to the adventures of James Bond, 007, introduces the young James when he is just starting boarding school in England and is about to become involved in his first adventure.

Death Cloud by Andrew Lane
First book in a series – Young Sherlock Holmes
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: In 1868, with his army officer father suddenly posted to India, and his mother mysteriously "unwell," fourteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes is sent to stay with his eccentric uncle and aunt in their vast house in Hampshire, where he uncovers his first murder and a diabolical villain.

Guys Read: Thriller edited by Jon Scieszka
Summary: A collection of short mystery/thriller stories by various authors.

Breakwall

This summer, I have taken to reading atop the outermost breakwall in the Port Sanilac harbor:

1984 by George Orwell

A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

Review: Unspoken by Henry Cole

2012, Scholastic Press
New York, NY
Unpaged (40 pp), $12.23 (hardcover)
ISBN: 9780545399975; OCLC: 769141329

As a new addition to the children's collection at work, I couldn't resist taking a peek inside of Unspoken: A Story From the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole.

Synopsis
Unspoken, a wordless book, tells the story of a young farm girl, via illustrations, who discovers a former slave embarking on a northern trek towards freedom. An illustration depicts the girl looking curiously over her shoulder, towards shocks of corn drying in the barn, while completing her chores. On the next page, amidst a sea of corn, a single eye peers at the reader -- which startles the young girl. As the story progresses, the girl begins offering food to the slave and keeps their hiding place a secret when Confederate soldiers on horseback visit the farm with a "Wanted" poster. The story closes with the girl visiting the barn at night and finding a doll fashioned out of corn husks wearing a gingham dress -- a fabric napkin, which the girl had originally used to carefully wrap the food that she secreted the slave in hiding. 

Illustrations
Cole used Staedtler Mars 4B pencils on Canson charcoal paper. The illustrations were printed on beige paper which gives the book a vintage look reminiscent of the time and the use of brown endpapers pay homage to the earthy, farm setting. I'll admit: upon first glancing at the book, the cover illustration reminded me of Chris Van Allsburg's work...beautiful.

My Thoughts
Cole's exquisite and powerful illustrations did a phenomenal job of depicting a relatively deep and complex story without the use of words. Young readers are given ample opportunity to elaborate upon the panels by creating their own dialog between characters.

A lengthy author's note provides the reader with a brief historical synopsis as well as personal background information.

While the book typically shelved with children's picture books, I concur with a School Library Journal review that states this item is appropriate for grades 3 - 8.  Unspoken would be a great addition to any public library and school media center.

Tags: children's picture book, historical fiction, African-American history, Civil War, military history, slavery, Underground Railroad, wordless book

A Satisfying Day

Today at work, I tapped on the reading I did for my BA in psychology (Oakland University) as well as professional  experience working with clients in the human services field in order to cull through a list of materials for a patron in order to address her information needs on a very specific topic. While assisting the patron, I was pleased that I had read several of the materials on the list -- even personally owned a few -- and was able to provide her with on-the-spot summaries. This moment helped to cement the fact: varied academic and/or professional backgrounds contribute to the LIS-field, specifically in the public libraries arena.

Just a short time later, I was asked to develop a reading list comprised of historical fiction books focusing on two specific time periods. Producing a list of materials in which the library actually owned involved use of Library of Congress Subject Headings in order to generate meaningful search results using the library's OPAC -- not something the average John Doe could do merely using Google or a basic catalog keyword search using "historical fiction." Books and Authors, a database by Gale, provided me with a short list of materials which the patron could borrow via ILL (inter-library loan) if/when the main list gets exhausted. Since the patron had showed an interest in non-fiction materials relevant to these time periods, I supplemented the list with said materials.

And...at the close of my shift, I was down to just 3 shelves left to review for the 745 (Decorative Arts) weeding project. 

It was a very, professionally, satisfying day...

Lesen

Recently, I finished reading two books:
These is my Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy Turner
The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø

Currently, I am reading (and anticipate finishing before the weekend):
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

For my upcoming train trip to California:
The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam

How to Cook a Wolf

Nearly a month has passed since my last post and I pleased to note that I am not at a loss for news! I think I'll write a few posts just for simplicity...

Last semester, the director of Caro Area District Library -- who was my practicum supervisor -- asked me if I would be interested in a paid position working on special projects and covering the circulation/reference desk from time to time. As you can imagine, I was completely geeked and, of course, accepted the offer. I started working at CADL in early February -- after I sufficiently healed from my surgery and had the drainage tube removed. (Ick, I know.)

Discovering an old "date due" slip

While being trained on the desk, I couldn't help but ponder how much the field and its practices have evolved over the years. Even looking back just 25 years, when I first started using libraries, the changes which have taken place with the advent of the OPAC and the retirement of the traditional card catalog. I made a conscious effort to take in my surroundings in hopes that I'll be able to accurately recall, someday towards the end of my career, what my first few days as a newly minted LIS professional felt like and what the work entailed.

So what have I been working on? My first project focused on weeding the library's business collection (the 650s) and building a pathfinder to assist patrons with navigating the materials. I found using an Excel spreadsheet to be the easiest method as it afforded me with an actual visual of the collection as well as greatly aided me with building the pathfinder as I included subject headings. Now that the 650s are weeded, I've turned my attention to the culinary collection (the 641s) which consists of about 15 tight shelves of materials. I got to work with M.F.K. Fisher's The Art of Eating which included How to Cook a Wolf! Loving it thus far.

Both the director and the assistant director are whom I consider to be "veterans" in the LIS field and therefore a wealth of knowledge. I've enjoyed my experiences and look forward to each and every shift at the library.

A partial view of the business collection
after reviewing some 430 books...

Culinary collection: four of 15 shelves weeded

A bookplate from when the library used to be
Indianfields Public Library

The renowned Art of Eating which includes How to Cook a Wolf (1942)

Goodreads

Love it...

Snow Day

Due to the bad road conditions, I stayed home from the library today and made a book loving snowman! 

Note: No books were harmed...

Road Trip: Miniature Book Exhibit

On 12.10.2012, Janet and I took a road trip to the Library of Michigan in Lansing to check out the miniature book exhibit put on by the Miniature Book Society. Naturally, we took some time to browse the stacks...our beloved Z class. Here's a few photos from our visit:

Risk Taking

Whatcha Reading?

SP said, "Wondering what kids are reading these days? Our STACKS site asked, and this image depicts their answers. The bigger the text, the more kids who mentioned the title. For more information go to: http://ow.ly/gqtls"

Image courtesy of Scholastic Parents

His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman (Golden Compass), Inheritance Cycle tetralogy by Christopher Paolini, and the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan are on my radar this year.

Upcycling

Upcycling!

Image courtesy of 1,000,000 Pictures

A Part-Time Indian

Yesterday, I finished reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

As you can probably surmise, I was pretty irritated when I read an article about a recent challenge to this book in the West Valley School District.

Alicia Davis, a parent (and elementary school teacher in the district), expressed her concerns about the book -- citing a specific passage in which a racial slur was used against the book's protagonist. The slur was also offensive to African Americans. Davis read the book herself and came to the conclusion: "I just would not want my 12th-grader reading something like this in public school."

While I admit, the passage upset me, too...but I realize that was the very point of it. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is classified as a piece of contemporary realistic fiction which is known to focus on tough issues such as suicide, anorexia, racism, and bullying.

Alexie wanted to give the reader a true taste as to what Junior was experiencing in his life as a freshman in an all-white high school -- not a sugar-coated one. This is a story about a boy who experiences bullying and who is struggling with his identity -- all while attempting to hide his poverty from his classmates. Alexie touches upon at least two major issues, bullying and identity struggles, which I can see high school students nodding their heads in collective agreement.

Three cheers to Joshua McKimmy, the English teacher:

"Our job as English teachers is to promote reading and to give kids access to life through reading. If kids are just given the classics all the time — I wasn’t a student like that; I wouldn’t read classics or anything...Then I read some young adult books that I could identify with, and then I’ve become a reader because of those books...The book is a gateway for reluctant readers, and more, it deals with issues his students are very familiar with as teenagers...They really identify with Junior’s problems...One of his main problems is that he exists in the Indian world and the white world...Kids struggle with identity; that’s kind of what high school is."

Earlier today, I worked on my reflective essay (a requirement for graduation) and cited a quote by Lester Ashiem which is very relevant to this situation:

Selection, then, begins with a presumption in favor of liberty of thought; censorship, with a presumption in favor of thought control. Selection’s approach to the book is positive, seeking its values in the book as a book, and in the book as a whole. Censorship’s approach is negative, seeking vulnerable characteristics wherever they can be found – anywhere within the book, or even outside it. Selection seeks to protect the right of the reader to read; censorship seeks to protect – not the right – but the reader from himself from the fancied effects of his reading. The selector has faith in the intelligence of the reader; the censor has faith only in his own (Preer, 2008, p. 79).

My thoughts:
To the concerned parents: Would you rather have your child check this book out at the public library (which is very likely) and read it without the supervision, guidance, and subsequent classroom discussion? This is a teaching moment...an opportunity for growth and perspective taking. USE IT.

 I wish that I had something more profound to say about the book, but alas, I am still feeling under the weather. I thoroughly enjoyed the read and wholeheartedly concur with a colleague (Jaema) when she stated that she wished the book was longer. Like Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I found this piece particularly moving and felt empathy for the protagonist. If YA lit, and/or contemporary realistic fiction is your thing, this book should definitely be on your radar.

Relevant links:
American Indians in Children's Literature: Reviews of Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie: Why the Best Kids Books are Written in Blood
American Library Association: Top Ten Challenged Books by Year, 2001 - 2011
Hermionish: On Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Darkness Too Visible
Gurdon: My 'Reprehensible' Take On Teen Literature

A Bookish Holiday

Image courtesy of Simon & Schuster

Books this bibliophile got for Christmas:

• The Black Belt Librarian: Real-World Safety and Security by Warren Graham
• Broken Pieces: A Library Life, 1941-1978 by Michael Gorman
• The Librarian's Book of Quotes compiled by Tatyana Eckstrand
• The Inheritance Cycle (series) by Christopher Paolini
• The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember by Fred Rogers

Currently reading: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Recently finished: The Southern Vampire Mysteries (Sookie Stackhouse #12): Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Two hours ago, I finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. It's been on my radar for awhile now, but I just haven't had the freedom to make much progress on my list of books for pleasure reading as of late.

With the likes of Megan Cox Gurdon and her infamous article about the dangers of contemporary YA fiction, it should come as no surprise that The Perks of Being a Wallflower landed itself among the top ten on ALA's Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books list for the 2000-2009 decade. (Read an earlier post I wrote about Gurdon's article.)

Sherman Alexie, author of the YA novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, said in an article for WSJ titled, Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood:

Does Mrs. Gurdon honestly believe that a sexually explicit YA novel might somehow traumatize a teen mother? Does she believe that a YA novel about murder and rape will somehow shock a teenager whose life has been damaged by murder and rape? Does she believe a dystopian novel will frighten a kid who already lives in hell?

In which Gurdon responded with the following in her second article on the subject:

No, I don't. I also don't believe that the vast majority of American teenagers live in anything like hell. Adolescence can be a turbulent time, but it doesn't last forever and often—leaving aside the saddest cases—it feels more dramatic at the time than it will in retrospect. It is surely worth our taking into account whether we do young people a disservice by seeming to endorse the worst that life has to offer.

Fall of 1999

My own thoughts? I don't believe that by publishing "edgy" fiction for young adults that adults or society is "endors[ing] the worst that life has to offer." In the case of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie experiences a range of events in which I personally encountered while in high school including the suicide of a classmate and dating violence.

I loved the book and found it to be powerful, perspicacious, and moving. In fact, I wish I would've read it back when it was first published in 1999 as it would've given me much comfort during such a tumultuous time in my life. (The crazy part: Back in the day, I likely shelved it many times while working as a Page at Oxford Public Library.) I believe that YA has the power to save hence my support of the YA Saves Project.

My favorite passage:

"And we could all sit around and wonder and feel bad about each other and blame a lot of people for what they did or didn't do or what they didn't know. I don't know. I guess there could always be someone to blame. Maybe if my grandfather didn't hit her, my mom wouldn't be so quiet. And maybe she wouldn't have married my dad because he doesn't hit her. And maybe I would never have been born, so I don't know what to say about it all especially since my mom seems happy with her life, and I don't know what else there is to want.

It's like if I blamed my aunt Helen, I would have to blame her dad for hitting her and the friend of the family that fooled around with her when she was little. And the person that fooled around with him. And God for not stopping all this and things that are much worse. And I did do that for a while, but then I just couldn't anyone. Because it wasn't going anywhere. Because it wasn't the point.

I'm not the way I am because of what I dreamt and remembered about my aunt Helen. That's what I figured out when things got quiet. And I think that's very important to know. It made things feel clear and together. Don't get me wrong. I know what happened was important. And I need to remember it....So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them" (pp 210-211).

Favorite quotes:

"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

"And I guess I realized at that moment that I really did love her. Because there was nothing to gain, and that didn't matter."

"I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and then make the choice to share it with other people. Maybe that is what makes people 'participate.'"

"I am both happy and sad at the same time, and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."

"I just want you to know that you’re very special… and the only reason I’m telling you is that I don’t know if anyone else ever has."

"I just hope I remember to tell my kids that they are as happy as I look in my old photographs. And I hope that they believe me."

"I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why."

And I leave you with one of my favorite censorship quotes by Lester Asheim:
"Selection seeks to protect the right of the reader to read; censorship seeks to protect—not the right—but the reader from himself from the fancied effects of his reading. The selector has faith in the intelligence of the reader; the censor has faith only in his own."

Here's a playlist of songs I put together from the book -- "Charlie's Mixtape"