Fiction | Stories of Horror & Magic

When I decided to read a collection of short stories for the Read Harder Challenge, I was happy to find I already had a couple collections waiting in my to-read queue. I chose Kelly Link's recently published (2015) collection called Get in Trouble. The blurb spoke its praise by authors such as Neil Gaiman and Michael Chabon, and it piqued my interest noting this was her first collection for adults in a decade—did I already know this author as a librarian without even realizing it?? (The answer was no.)

Turns out that Get in Trouble was very different from what I expected! I guess I'm one of those people who just assumes a default about most things that can be labelled. For instance, I just assume a book is going to be realistic in story unless obviously indicated otherwise. And initially, Get in Trouble affirmed my assumptions. The collection's opening story, "The Summer People," introduces us to an adolescent named Fran who pretty much takes care of herself. Her father leaves home for undetermined amounts of time for indiscriminate reasons—seeking out a prayer meeting he found online or avoiding some trouble he started while out drinking too much. Seems like a normal, basic, realistic-enough premise. Until we begin to follow Fran's day-to-day as she cares for some mysterious people up in a mysterious house. They're called the "summer people," and their care has been handed down to Fran from her mother. They're rarely seen, but they make things and provide things their caretaker wants. It's like a fairy tale, but you're never certain if it's good magic or dark.

So what I learned quickly from this first story what that Get in Trouble was not going to be based firmly in reality. And to be honest, that scared me off a bit. Because the thing is, though my favorite kinds of stories have always been the ones that felt the most real, the ones to which I can easily relate or understand, I can get behind fantastical worlds if the characters are vivid and developed with real reactions and emotions.

Magical realism, though, this blending the two kinds of worlds, I just cannot seem to get behind. Throughout the following eight stories in this collection, I never knew how to read it—should I focus on the characters? Or is it the unbelievable plot points and details that actually matter the most? I've tried several times, but I always end up finding magical realism to be too distracting for me. That's especially the case here, with short stories, where you have less word-count to get invested in the characters or story, and it's unclear what the "big picture" is trying to say.

I "got" some of the stories more than others. I think "The New Boyfriend" was deliciously creepy enough to make most of my middle schoolers squirm with good-horror-story pleasure. But then "Valley of the Girls," the story of what I think is some Egyptian mystic dystopia, had me so confuzzled by the premise that I could hardly follow the action and dialogue. I believe this will have its audience, but that audience is not me.

Nonfiction | Buggin', Wiggin', and Keepin' it Real

Back when we lived in New York, I hated Spring. HATED it! March was always the absolute WORST. As other, more southern parts of the country were quickly thawing, New York felt stuck in some never-ending purgatory of 50-degrees and a looming potential for one last snow storm.

As the weather started to warm up in April, though, I always got a great amount of joy from walking to my local Greenpoint branch of the Brooklyn Public Library and browsing the shelves for my next reads. It hearkened back to my high school days at the library, when I'd read whatever looked enticing (so yes, a lot of judging by the cover!). It's an entirely different approach to reading than selecting titles from my "to-read" queue to check them off the list; instead of planned, it's an opportunity to embrace the unexpected—and perhaps stumble upon a fortuitous discovery.

The temperatures have already begun to climb here in Nashville, inspiring these Springtime visits to my new neighborhood library. It was under this influence that I found on the "new" shelf Jen Chaney's As If: The Oral History of Clueless as Told By Amy Heckerling and the Cast and Crew and brought it home (and chose it as the "microhistory" for my never-ending Read Harder Challenge!).

Clueless is one of those rare, few movies that occupies a spot in both my AND Colin's top 10 list. We're always in the mood to watch it, and its quotes are a frequent part of our lexicon. Not only is it a witty, creative, self-aware teen film, it was also totally monumental in bringing back the "teen movie" to us, the kids of the 90s. Eighties kids had John Hughes to define their era; and though I was a tad young when Clueless was released in 1996 (a mere preteen at 11, to be exact), one can't deny its influence in ushering in my generation's teen movie glory days. Clueless paved the way for a resurgence in teen movies that brought dozens, from 1998's Can't Hardly Wait all the way to 2004's Mean Girls. (Any issue of the now-defunct Teen People Magazine was substantiated proof of the importance and infiltration of teen movies at the turn of the millennium.)

Chaney's history of Clueless is not your typical author-narrated history. Instead, she compiles soundbites from hundreds of interviews with Clueless's pertinent players to tell the story through the eyes of the people that experienced it firsthand. Not only do we hear from the obvious sources (writers, directors, actors), Chaney includes anecdotes from crew members, studio employees, extras, musicians, critics, professors—anyone who could share a small piece of the Clueless story.

It would be easy for this book to simply be a helter-skelter work of chaos—an onslaught of stories that serve only as reminiscence. Chaney succeeds, though, in establishing a structure, and thus significance, to this history by organizing it into chronological, themed chapters and sections. "When Emma Met Cher: Clueless and the Spirit of Jane Austen" discusses the inspiration behind the story, especially its literary roots. "The Language of Clueless" investigates the research behind its unique dialogue—much of the reason for its lasting status as an era-defining piece of pop culture. Other chapters cover the search for a cast, location scouting, wardrobe curation, music compilation, premier and press, critical response, merchandising, and ultimately, most significantly, the magnificent impact of Clueless—on its cast, its filmmakers, and on the audience that flocked to theaters to see it.

As If! is an entertaining read for fans of Clueless, but it's also a well-curated reflection on a piece of pop culture that had a significant impact on the world in which my Oregon Trail Generation grew up and consumed culture.

Fiction | Celebrating Truth in a World of Lies

It would've been easy to count any one of my random reads as the YA title in the Read Harder Challenge. I'm constantly reading books from my school library, after all. I decided to be purposeful with this choice, though, so I depended on my Goodreads "want to read" queue to provide a YA book I had probably long forgotten I wanted to read.

The one I settled upon was The Truth Commission by Susan Juby. It's organized as a book within a book (so meta)--the final Spring Special Project authored by 11th grader Normandy Pale. In this project, she relays the stories surrounding the formation of the Truth Commission, an informal group begun by Normandy and her two best friends that seeks truths from their peers.

But before I jump into that part of the story, let me give you the background...

Normandy attends Green Pastures Academy of Art and Applied Design, a total hippie art school where students are encouraged to find their voice and express them as loudly as possible. Normandy is actually one of the quieter, less showy students there; she's exploring writing as her avenue of focus, as demonstrated by this final project of narrative nonfiction. She's also used to being secondary to her sister, the legendary Kiera Pale, a best-selling graphic novelist whose familial inspiration unfortunately doesn't portray Normandy and her parents in the best light.

So Normandy is used to the background, and she's created quite a nice little world for herself with her best friends Neil and Dusk. But one random conversation starts to shift Normandy's world off-kilter. When Neil breaks the unwritten code against directness and asks a fellow student about her very obvious plastic surgery (and it's not a totally offensive disaster), the Truth Commission is born with the mission to discourage hearsay and celebrate the beauty of openness. Normandy, though, is more hesitant to jump into the truth than her friends, especially when her truth mission involves a very touchy target—the infamous Kiera herself, who has suddenly returned home from college, seemingly traumatized by some unknown incident.

This was a really odd book. I think most readers will have strong reactions to it, one way or another, and I can't say mine was totally positive. Often, if I have a negative reaction to a book, it's the characters that prevented my enjoyment. This time, it was the less common opposite—I didn't mind the main character so much; I just found the story to be lacking. And not even the story itself, because I like this premise of a "truth commission." Maybe there were too many other small factors that bothered me. Like Normandy's sister who, with her whole ridiculous story is a total UGH, like one of those terrible people you know must exist in the world but is so absurd she seems unbelievable. And her parents who are total doormats. And also the fact that the ENTIRE BOOK is littered with FOOTNOTES, which is basically the most annoying text feature ever, especially when coming from the brain of a 16ish-year-old AND when you're reading it on a Kindle and have to click back and forth and back and forth.

I don't know. I think my adulthood cynicism comes out most often with YA books. Some I love, some I hate, and I think my more negative reactions usually stem from kitschy teen tropes that I know aren't geared towards my 30-year-old self anyways but that I can't get past because I hate teens being defined and pigeonholed any certain way in the first place.

I didn't mean for this to be a whole diatribe of negativity, because really this book isn't bad, and though YA is a genre, really it's just a target demographic, and there are—and should be!—as many different styles and voices for this audience as for any other. So maybe I should just end my commentary here with a 100% personal opinion-based verdict of "good concept, didn't like the execution." But by all means, give it a try—it's got some rave reviews on Goodreads!

Speed Dating with Middle Grade: Part 11

Title: Masterminds
Author: Gordon Korman
Genre: Adventure
Read If You Like...: Fast-paced plots, ensemble casts, and a Stepford Wives-level mystery
Three-Sentence Thoughts: Serenity, New Mexico, is the most perfect place to live in the country—at least, that's what Eli and his friends have been told their entire life. But the perfect houses, perfect lawns, perfect everything in this tiny idyllic town are starting to seem suspicious to Eli, and when a freak occurrence during a lightning storm gives a glimpse of life outside Serenity, Eli begins a quest for the truth. This conspiracy adventure is totally engrossing and just plain fun for all readers—and luckily its sequel just came out, which I can't wait to get my hands on!


Title: Goodbye Stranger
Author: Rebecca Stead
Genre: Realistic
Read If You Like...: Alternating point of view, quirky characters, and friendship sagas
Three-Sentence Thoughts: Three points of view tell the story of Bridge, her best friends Tabitha and Emily, wallflower Sherm, and an unnamed high school girl struggling with the betrayal of a best friend. Seventh grade is proving tougher than expected as friendships change, new relationships emerge, and the cast of characters struggles with individual identity. The style of storytelling may be unappealing for some readers [I've gotten mixed reviews from my students], but Stead gives us a real story about finding yourself and finding your place.


Title: The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible...on Schindler's List
Author: Leon Leyson
Genre: Memoir
Read If You Like...: Child survivors, WWII/Holocaust stories, historical settings
Three-Sentence Thoughts: Leon Leyson credits his life to one man, Oskar Schindler, and in this middle-grade memoir he chronicles the collapse of his 12-year-old world when the Nazis invaded his homeland of Poland and his fight for survival through four years of horror. As an adult well-versed in Holocaust stories, I feel it's a story that is the same no matter how many times it has been told, simply because, at this point in my life, I've read so many of them that I know how things were, how they ended. For young readers, though, who are encountering historical moments like this for the first time, this is a welcome new perspective that introduces the gray-area definitions of people—that individuals are often more than a label.

Fiction | This Ain't Hollywood

I picked up this next book based totally on judgment of its cover. Its retro setting and road-trip adventure plot didn't hurt, either; nor did the mission of its indie publisher. To All My Fans, With Love, From Sylvie by Ellen Conford was originally published in 1982 and has recently been re-released by Lizzie Skurnick Books, an imprint of Ig Publishing, dedicated to bringing new life to YA classics from decades past. [This is my Read Harder "indie press" category choice.]

So, I've been wanting to read this one ever since I first set eyes on this gorgeous imprint. [Its titles follow the same beautiful, retro design scheme; the type looks good; the pages feel good.] But because it's such an old book and new reprinting, NO ONE HAS IT! No public library, no school library... Finally, I bought a copy for my own school library, along with many others in the imprint, just so I could read it!

Conrad tells the story of a 15-year-old girl named Sylvie who has spent her young life hopping from one foster home to the next. She's had neither a stable or safe upbringing; her moves tend to be the result of some purposeful misbehavior, Sylvie's own found defense mechanism against creepy foster dads with wandering eyes and hands. Her only comfort is the escape to Hollywood she's been planning for the past three years. If Sylvie dresses up with the right makeup, hair, and shoes, she can pass for 18, and that's what she's counting on to get her across the country to begin her new life as a star.

After a series of unfortunate events (aka, all her money gets stolen), Sylvie finds herself stranded in middle American and dependent on a ride from a Bible salesman named Walter to take her the rest of the way. Obviously, her decisions are misguided here. Walter is fairly young and pretty charming, but he's definitely got that smarmy quality. Knowing Sylvie's past encounters with untrustworthy men, it seems somewhat surprising she'd agree to hitch a ride with this shady dude, but maybe she just figures she can handle whatever is thrown at her. Regardless of her reasons, the result is a cringe-inducing journey across the country where all we can do is sit back and hope she survives the trip.

I have to say that this daunting plot with a seedy under-belly isn't exactly what I expected for this story. It's more like an after-school special in book form. To All My Fans broaches issues like molestation and sexual assault in a way that introduces a great distrust of adults who are in positions of supposed trustworthiness. For a brief moment, I questioned whether this was "middle school appropriate" for my library, but then I decided that "middle school" doesn't need to mean watered down. This book is by no means overly graphic, nor would I consider any of the content "too mature" for kids in this age group. In fact, there are probably middle schoolers who deal with some of these issues and need to encounter stories and characters that mirror their own lives.

The story doesn't end with a big climactic situation or confrontation; rather, it peters out by bringing this plot-driven adventure back around to the main character, ending with a "checking in" (for lack of a better phrase) with Sylvie—what she's thinking and feeling, where's she's going from here. Readers looking for a simple thriller or adventure story may be disappointed, but there are substantial talking points raised for discussion.

Nonfiction | Aging, Forgetfully

Back when I committed to the Read Harder Challenge, I did a fair amount of book research and made a whole big list of the titles I was going to read for each category. For the category requiring "a book written by someone when they were over the age of 65," I had originally picked Joan Didion's A Year of Magical Thinking, because I've never read any Didion.

Well, that was a year ago that I made that selection, and at this point, I'm really not in the mood for some deep, depressing literature. So a quick browse through my library's eBook offerings led me to something shorter and sweeter—Nora Ephron's humorous observations on aging, I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections.

Knowing that Ephron passed away just a couple years after this was published, this series of essays and comedic ponderings feels almost like her final reflections on the meaningful moments and serendipitous situations of her life. She talks about her early career and entry into journalism in an era during which women were relegated to lower, menial job titles for no reason other than blatant sexism and gender inequality. She jokes about her constant battles with technology, despite penning a rather successful screenplay based on just that [though funnily enough, though, her recent encounters with technology seem to be stuck in the You've Got Mail era of internet communication]. She discusses the satisfaction of professional success and the heartbreak attached to flops. 

Obviously, Ephron is an engaging, enjoyable, observant writer. This collection, though humorous, certainly has a bit of melancholy tagging alongside. Sure, she shares lots of funny anecdotes and on-point observations that inspire that chuckle of agreement, but what she's really speaking to is the act of GETTING OLD. And that's not without some small level of sadness, be it because of fear or unfulfillment or whatever. But what I think Ephron is trying to do here with this book, as with all her works, is bring a lightness to a disagreeable idea, to trigger a realization that this experience is universal, to make molehills out of the mountain of Aging.

I didn't love this. Some bits seemed more worthy of a recollection over drinks with a friend than an essay published to the masses. And I'll probably forget most of what she said by this time next month. But then again, Ephron is writing plainly, jovially here about life experiences, ones that I don't currently have but that many do. If this connects with the right reader, and brings a little humor to a daunting concept, then I guess it has served its purpose.

Speed Dating with Middle Grade: Part 10

Title: Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History...and Our Future!
Author: Kate Schatz
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography
Read If You Like...: Reading about famous people, short spurts of learning, feminism
Three-Sentence Thoughts: A work like Rad American Women—one that celebrates the achievements of a diverse array of women—is totally needed in the realm of literature for young people. Each page spread includes a pop-art-esque illustration of a celebrated woman and a one-page, quick-summary bio that gives just a teaser of said important figure. To me, the content amounts to little more than what an entry-level researcher could quickly compile from a browse through Google, and though I was left with the feeling that way more could be said, perhaps this is the only way a middle schooler will willingly connect with this information to hopefully inspire further independent reading.


Title: The City of Ember
Author: Jeanne DuPrau
Genre: Dystopian
Read If You Like...: Boy-girl adventure duos, stories with mysterious circumstances, realistic yet improbable worlds
Three-Sentence Thoughts: Ember is a city created hundreds of years ago by a group of people called the Builders, meant to keep its people safe and living for the rest of time, but now the electricity is getting unreliable and food is running out. Lina and Doon stumble upon pieces of a very old document from the days of the Builders, and, as they start to unravel the mystery of Ember, they begin to wonder if they've found the answer that will save them all. This is a great dystopian story that is still packed with adventure and lacks much of the heaviness and despair usually found in YA dystopian novels. (The first in a series of four.)


Title: Sunny Side Up
Author: Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm
Genre: Realistic, Graphic Novel
Read If You Like...: Fun, cartoonish illustrations; realistic stories on everyday issues; books by Raina Telgemeier
Three-Sentence Thoughts: Ten-year-old Sunny is sent to Florida for the summer to live with her grandfather in his retirement community—a vacation she envisioned very differently (more beach and Disney, fewer golf carts and fake teeth). Things look up when she meets another kid her age, Buzz, and many adventures ensue, but Sunny's still wondering why she was sent down to Florida in the first place. With bubbly and bright artwork, the Holm team has created an appealing story about everyday adventures that manages to broach more serious family issues in a manner that is accessible, and still enjoyable, to a younger middle school audience.