Review: "Story of a Girl" by Sara Zarr

Sara Zarr’s 2007 novel, Story of a Girl is a classic story of the consequences of teenage lust, gossip, and social isolation.  Deanna wrestles with her tarnished reputation after her father catches her having sex while stoned with a high school senior, Tommy, when she was just 13. Even three years after this mortifying incident, Deanna, now 16, finds herself socially ostracized and labeled as a slut – especially by her father. While she still has two friends left, Jason (with whom she is slightly in love) and his girlfriend, Lee, she continues to struggle with feelings of isolation. Deanna is forced to deal with her past when she takes a job at a local pizza place where Tommy happens to work. While her family appears to unravel in many ways, Deanna ultimately sets herself free by accepting her actions, forgiving Tommy, and reaching out to repair her relationship with her father.

While the novel may appear slightly formulaic at first glance in terms of plot, there are some notable points of interest that make Story of a Girl an interesting and enjoyable read. For one, Deanna seems to articulate the experience of any girl who has had nasty rumours spread about her through a first-person narrative with her sarcasm and occasional wit. Zarr also uses flashbacks to Deanna’s childhood, where she reminisces about her innocence and her positive, close relationship with her parents, effectively juxtaposing her current situation. Feelings of guilt and a real yearning for her childhood are certainly relatable for most teens struggling with growing up or coming to terms with past lapses in judgment. The journal she keeps effectively shows a progression of her escaping intense self-loathing, and finding closure. Another important theme of the novel is that of double standards of sexuality for boys and girls. While Deanna is judged as being promiscuous, Tommy is seen as masculine and suffers no consequences for his sexual escapades.

Since this novel is character-driven, the plot tends to drag. However, through these moments, the reader gains valuable information on the development of the major characters. Considering the subject matter (and taking into account the gendered differences described above), this novel would appeal primarily to girls. Still, the prose is excellent and makes for a very enjoyable read.

Rating: 4Q 4P S

John Green -- Author Profile

Dr. P. Rothbauer

LIS 9364: Young Adult Materials

12 October 2011

John Green has created a cult of personality through his writing of young adult literature.  While the details of his early life are somewhat vague, what can be traced is very revealing as inspiration for the characters in his novels. Born in Orlando,  Florida in 1977, Green received the better part of his elementary and high school education at Indian Springs Boarding School in Alabama. Not surprisingly, one of his protagonists grew up with nearly identical circumstances and offers a glimpse into his experience as a teenager. Currently, he lives in Indiana, Indianapolis with his wife, Sarah, and baby, Henry. Green also keeps a regular vlog on YouTube with his brother Hank. Initiating in 2007, the brothers agreed to contact each other only by video, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Since then, vlogbrothers has become a YouTube sensation with millions of views on their videos (which are mostly musings about life, literature, science, and anything in between). Through their YouTube following, John and Hank have undertaken several charity projects to “decrease world suck.”

Since the publishing of his first book, Looking for Alaska, in 2005, Green has enjoyed immense success both in  North America and overseas from readers and critics alike. Alaska earned him the prestigious young adult literature award, the Printz Prize in 2006. The same year, Green received several awards from highly sought-after prizes from both the literary and library community. Looking for Alaska was selected by the New York Public Library as the “Book for the Teenage.” Additionally, it proved very popular on teen readers’ book awards lists – which speaks volumes for his ability to attract readers from his target audience. Throughout 2006, Green won a place on the  Top 10 Best Book for Young Adults,  the Teens’ Top 10 Award, and the Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.

His next book, An Abundance of Katherines in 2006 was also well-received. Indeed, the reviews positively glow from a variety of well-respected publications. The New York Times  “Imagine an operating room at the start of a daring but well-rehearsed procedure and you will have something of the atmosphere of ”An Abundance of Katherines”: every detail considered, the action unrolling with grace and inevitability.” Although it was not nominated for any awards, it remains a favourite on the blogosphere and many young adult readers. 2008’s Paper Towns was something of a departure from Green’s usual style of writing and is his first foray into the mystery genre. Not only did it receive very positive reviews from VOYA, School Library Journal, and Booklist, it won the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery.

After a long wait, Green’s novel Will Grayson, Will Grayson, which he co-authored with young adult author David Levithan, was published in 2010. This novel received a considerable amount of positive attention. Will Grayson, Will Grayson debuted at number three on the New York Times’ Children’s Best Seller List – the first time a novel with a gay protagonist made the list. Green fans are currently anxiously awaiting his latest novel, The Fault in Our Stars, to be released later this year. However, reviews from those who have been able to read the pre-order copy of the book have been, unsurprisingly, overwhelmingly positive. At the end of each book, Green tends to add in some reflection questions, as suggestions for a discussion in a high school English class. Perhaps in the future, Green’s novels could be used in a more academic setting. Reading the comments from readers on John Green’s website, his Twitter account, YouTube channel, and Tumblr account reveals something of a cult following among his readers. His popularity among young adult readers could indeed prove valuable in encouraging teenagers’ interest in literature and fiction.

Through his vlogs and interviews (often with bloggers or small websites dedicated to young adult literature) Green often hints at why he writes specifically for young adults and what inspires his novels. Most importantly, he writes for this core audience because he has said that he simply cares about them the most. In an interview with the website PopMatters, he had some insightful comments about writing for teens. He believes that having a core audience is positive as a writer. In this way, he believes that the only way to reach teens is by writing specifically for them – where as for previous generations, teens were targeted through adult literature.

Perhaps the broad appeal for Green’s novels is that they are nearly devoid of common pop cultural references. The universality of his work lies within the coming of age experience. As he tells PopMatters “‘Huck Finn’ didn’t talk about the Coldplay of its day, for instance, and teens still liked (and like) it.’ The inspiration of his books is also interesting. He writes that he has no “formula” of what he describes as wizard schools or suburban vampire dreamboats. Rather, he uses broad, somewhat unanswerable questions to inspire his work. For example, Looking for Alaska centres around the question of finding meaning in suffering or tragedy. These broad-sweeping intellectual constructs form the skeleton of his writing, as he describes on his own website. The reflection questions described above ultimately help the reader in creating his or her own understanding of the issues he writes about. A common comparison made is between Green’s Colin Singleton character in An Abundance of Katherines and JD Salinger’s Holden Caulfield character. While Salinger probably had little interest in writing for teens, the type of language, ideas, and issues tend to resonate with certain teen readers.

Green has some very interesting insight into the YA industry. He tells PopMatters that the general ignorance and slights towards young adult fiction could be corrected simply by exposing more readers to it, particularly adults. While he admits there is a lot of bad young adult writing, the more ambitious and thoughtful works rival anything found on adult shelves. Ultimately, Green writes about, and celebrates intelligence, nerds, and geeks. Most of Green’s protagonists are thoughtful and bright teens, who are simply different from most of their peers. Although some of his books have been challenged by more conservative-minded parents or educators for his discussions of sex, drug use, underage drinking, and other types of debauchery, he succeeds in cultivating the teen experience on a more profound level.   

Review: An Abundance of Katherines

In John Green’s Prinz Award nominated novel An Abundance of Katherines, Colin Singleton, the protagonist and self-professed washed-up child prodigy finds himself in a familiar break up situation – that is, he has been dumped by 19 girls named Katherine (no spelling variations allowed). At this point, Colin tries to deal with his break-up, prepare for his first year of university, and most importantly, try and discover a formula for any break up, in order to reaffirm his status as a prodigy. On a whim, he takes a road trip with his underachieving best friend Hassan and they find themselves in Gutshot, Tennessee. Upon their arrival, they meet Lindsey, with whom they stay for the summer working on an oral history of the town. Colin’s relationship with Lindsey changes over the course of the novel. While he finds himself increasingly attracted to her, his obsession with Katherine XIX and his formula nearly consume him.

Green develops Colin’s character through two main channels, both of which are effective. Like many YA novels, he tells his story through a first-person narrative. This was a good choice because it works well with his use of flashback. Most of these flashbacks involve different Katherines over time, and how each have affected Colin’s current situation (and ultimately leads to his “formula.”) Colin’s character is not altogether likable, which is a realistic expectation for most teenagers. He is profoundly self-absorbed and can be moody. Still, his sensitivity and neuroticism (i.e. compulsive anagramming) become endearing. The novel is appealing in other ways as well. For one, Hassan is Muslim, which is refreshing in a typically “white-washed” writing industry. Also, the male perspective on heartbreak is another point of interest. The premise of An Abundance of Katherines explores a different side of cliché teenage angst, because Colin is thoughtful and rather complicated, as he struggles with carving a post-prodigy life.

Colin’s theory involves a lot of real-life math and formulas, that may well mean little to readers. However, it is written very well, and could appeal to an older teen, who could be at the end of his or her high school career.

Rating: 4Q, 4P 

Reader's Advisory Services for Teens

Unfortunately, I will not have the opportunity to take the RA course before I leave the program. If I work in a public library, it seems like one of the more stressful jobs, because I think I would feel terrible if I suggested a book someone didn't like. I found that  Heather Booth's article this week was quite interesting because she emphasises the importance of teen RA to keep them reading and in the library.

Reading about proxy RA made me think that parents and/or caregivers could indeed be very valuable in bringing teens materials they may enjoy. However, I couldn't help but wonder if in certain circumstances, it could have the reverse effect. For example, if parents insist on a book or genre their son or daughter is simply not interested in, then the librarian is essentially unable to effectively help a potential patron. Frankly, I found the idea of proxy RA overwhelming -- it is a process that can be simplified just by having the teen there with their parents. To me, that seems like the most productive RA interview if parents are interested in finding fiction that will interest their child. Also, I liked the idea of having email exchanges with teens if it is true they cannot come in to the library.

As I read Booth's article, I had a sneaking suspicion that one too many parents have brought home "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens" -- and that's a deal-breaker. In my opinion, proxy RA has to have at least some input from the teens themselves.

The Outsiders: A YA Nostalgic Classic

I haven't read The Outsiders since grade 8, although I distinctly remember enjoying it very much.

Although the book was published in 1967, many themes of the book remain relevant to teens today, although social interactions have obviously undergone massive change with the rise of technological forms of communication. One theme that I feel stands out as very relevant is that of belonging and, along with it, conformity. Throughout the novel, Ponyboy grapples with being part of the greaser brotherhood, which contradicts his tendency towards academic pursuits and self-reflective character. For the most part, teens struggle with coming to terms with different parts of their identities, trying to mesh themselves together to eventually be confortable with themselves. (Though, I'm not really sure this ever happens.)

Social class is also something that I found interesting in the novel. Perhaps because I'm a dirty pinko, seeing what can only be described as class warfare between high school kids was fascinating, as I don't think much has changed. At least in my experience, rich kids and poor kids typically didn't associate with one another. In the same vein, bullying makes up a big part of the novel which is still regrettably prevalent in schools.

The Outsiders may lose touch with younger readers, if only for the (hilarious) dated slang. Although the slang hasn't necessarily aged well, it gives an accurate depiction of how young'uns talked at the time. For me, it adds authenticity to the novel as a whole. (Although, all of Hinton's  characters are impossibly and painfully attractive at a profoundly awkward age, which I simply cannot identify with, as I cringe at the thought of my teenage appearance.)

Growing Up in Theory

As soon as I started reading this article, the fact that YA literature lacks a wide criticism base the way children's and adult fiction do, resonated with me. Starting this class, I found that trying to define parameters for this type of writing is awkward, simply because there is not enough study about it, in the same way fiction for other age groups. This is unfortunate, because as Karen Coats points out, these books have a profound effect on how a teen begins views him- or herself through different sociological lenses -- gender, ethnicity, etc. As a historian, this type of writing deserves more attention because it often reflects how the youth perceived themselves or were perceived by others, as different types of issues affect different generations.

I kind of liked the idea of seeing YA lit as a transition towards more challenging adult works. As the author points out, a young reader could make better sense of issues or characters if they are more relateable. Why it is not valued in the same transitionary function as children's literature serves seems odd and somewhat illogical. Coats' description of relevant works in YA literature shows the value in allowing teens an outlet to explore issues of sexuality, identity, moral challenges, social conformity in mostly articulate ways and often through different perspectives. To me, this adds to its sociological and/or psychological developments of teens. On the other hand, I can somewhat see why not all YA literature is taken very seriously. Coats uses the example of popular Chinese novels that are criticised for being unsophisticated, entertaining, and not of value to add to the country's literature. Still, totally discounting its social value among young Chinese people seems wrong too.

Putting some thought into what kinds of themes separate children's literature from its YA counterpart is one way to start encouraging more academic thought for the writing in general. Although some writing may be better than others, it nonetheless presents value for librarians trying to reach out to teens and providing interesting material that they can identify with.

Teen Section at LPL's Masonville Branch

Today I popped in to the Masonville branch of the London Public Library. I tried to put myself into my 15 or 16 year old self, which was somewhat traumatising. Still, I found that it was a useful strategy to get a sense of how a teenager would feel in the library's young adult space.

To be fair, the Masonville branch is pretty tiny, so for the limited space, at least some effort was made to draw teens in. Still, the section was so tiny, (maybe two short shelves and a half) and so sparsely furnished, that it wasn't necessarily welcoming. Also, the space was more or less amalgamated with the children's section, to the point that there was no separation. With so many young kids around, basically annexing the two pieces of furniture designated for teens, I personally would not want to hang around too long.

The collection was in great shape, in terms of the physical condition of the books, so perhaps the section has had more priority recently. Teen series (Gossip Girl was the most pervasive), Manga, and graphic novels seemed to make up the bulk of the collection. Oddly, there did not seem to be any separation between fiction and non-fiction, so perhaps the materials could have been better organised in that sense.

On my way out, I picked up a few pamphlets in the teen section for programs specifically directed towards them. One I found was dedicated to high school English courses, which would definitely come in handy for  a student who has little experience in doing academic-ish research. More recreationally, there was a yoga program, Wii nights, and craft nights that I think would have been fun, which were all offered at different branches.

Somewhat disappointingly, I didn't see any teenagers in the section when I went (it was after school was out). Perhaps LPL could focus on adding some more services or programs that would encourage teen socialisation, and more importantly, reading.