Posts
As promised, here is another post in my 2012 genre review series. This time, it's all about YA (Young Adult) Literature. In recent years there has been a crossover. Not only have tweens and teens been toting around books written for them, but so have their parents, and not just in the interest of knowing what their kids are reading but simply for their own pleasure and entertainment.
Blockbusters like The Hunger Games and Twilight are the ones that make the headlines and even end up on the movie marquis. But the genre has grown and the writers know the audience is more sophisticated. So much so that the 'Young Adult' nomenclature signals propriety for the younger reader, but it is not a limiting factor.
To that end, this list of YA books that I read in 2012, might appeal to both you and your young reader. These are great as read-alouds that you can share (a practice of which I am a huge proponent, yes, even for the middle school demographic and beyond), to read independently and then discuss, to savor yourself (forget about the kid; don't have one? No problem!) or simply to recommend to your child, reluctant reader or not.
In dystopian North America, annual televised games are fought to the death until one player is left standing. Those players are all youth. This book explores class struggles, our voyeuristic 'reality' culture, government control of its people and so much more. Watch Katniss, a strong female protagonist, in the fight for her life in this first volume of this bestselling trilogy.
A WWII story unlike any other you've read, this one follows Lina, a teen girl deported from her home in Lithuania by Stalin's forces. Separated from her father, an academic, punished for expression of ideas, she and her family are loaded onto cattle cars, traveling ever North, ultimately into frigid Arctic Circle conditions. Little known slice of history brought to life in this wonderful fictional piece.
This epistolary novel is told from the perspective of teenager Charlie who is not popular, though not an outcast, either. He manages to plunge full-on into friendships and all the rites of high school life (sex, drugs, alcohol) though it all seems inorganic. He has a trusted teacher and a realization about a beloved aunt. Though this book is beloved by many, for me it fell short. I am in the vast minority. Find out where you stand on Wallflower.
The Earth's rotation has begun to slow. The change was sudden, yet subtle and everything is thrown into disarray. Days and nights grow into uncertainty, gravity changes, agriculture is affected. No one should have to come of age like young Julia. While succumbing Earth's frightening end, she still battle's life's normal uncertainties like relationships, parents, illness and death. This book does what a book should do. It makes you think.
Some books are so full of "wonder" that you read it yourself and immediately read it again, aloud to your children. This is that book. August Pullman had a facial deformity so profound that the surgeries and treatments he required as a child prevented him from attending school. Until the 5th grade, where we are privileged to meet him. He struggles to convince people at school that he is not just his face. Read this, give it to you children, recommend it to friends and also, to your children's teachers.
You are 17 years old in a futuristic world. You were in a coma for a year after an accident and just woke up. You're not sure who you are or what happened. Slowly, you start realizing things. Secrets are being kept. Questions of biomedical ethics abound. Once you pick up this novel, you probably won't want to put it down. Carve out some time.
Trips to the moon. Hackers. Malfunctioning humans. Malfunctioning humans? That's right. But not humans as you and I know them. Consumer-driven humans directly hooked into electronic media, hardwired to their brains at birth. Protagonist, Titus's world is turned upside down when he meets Violet, homeschooled free-thinker, who infects him with her truths.
I read, therefore I am,
the lowercase b
No comments:
Post a Comment