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Laura L. Johnson's BlogPosted by Laura L. Johnson Many schools were in session for the year starting today, though the school at which I teach is starting the third week of class. Of course you all have a lot of important classes: math, science, history, computers, etc. But let's be honest - I'm biased towards English. As I think on my first days as a high schooler and the last 3 years of "first days" as a teacher, I realize that sometimes, as teachers, we miss great opportunities to get you high schoolers excited about books and reading. I remember my first class of English with my junior English teacher - she was so excited. I've always loved to read, but I wasn't really passionate about English. But my teacher was just SO excited - she was obviously loved every moment of what she was doing. It was then that I started to realize maybe there was more to this reading thing than just being entertained by a great plot or an addicting character. Maybe, just maybe, these authors and these books were letting us into great secrets of life - truths throughout the centuries. Maybe, just maybe there's something that could apply to our lives. Challenge your English teachers this year - respectfully - to open up new possibilities in literature. Dare to ask the tough questions. Posted by Laura L. Johnson Certainly if you were to ask me what was the most well-written and entertaining site to learn about teen fiction on the internet, I'd be inclined to mention that lovely teen fiction feature writer for Suite101...and really, I could go on for hours...But, if you've already read and reread my posts, memorized them and taped them to your closet doors, then I suppose the next best stop would be Teenreads.com. All joking aside, this is a fantastic resource. The site has just about everything you could want to know:
See, I wasn't kidding..everything you could ever dream knowing can be found there. Posted by Laura L. Johnson It's an age-old question: is the movie better than the book? You can tell the two groups of people as they're leaving the theatre plain as day: the book snobs are saying things like "Oh - stick to the book" or "That is not at all how I envisioned it; he got it all wrong;" while the movie lovers say things like "this was a book first? Why waste that time?" So when it comes down to it, what's better for teen reads. I was thinking about some of the more recent crossovers: Eragon Book by: Christopher Paolini Movie by: Stefen Fangmeir Movie Rating by IMDB users: 5/10 Book Rating by Goodreads members: 7.4/10 Sisterhood of the Traveling PantsBook by: Ann Brashares Movie by: Ken Kwapis Movie Rating by IMDB users: 7/10 Book Rating by Goodreads members: 7.6/10 Bridge to Terabithia Book by: Katherine Paterson Movie by: Gabor Csupo Movie Rating by IMDB users: 7.4/10 Book Rating by Goodreads members: 8.1/10 Ella Enchanted Book by: Gail Carson Levine Movie by: Tommy O'Haver Movie Rating by IMDB users: 6.4/10 Book Rating by Goodreads members: 8.8/10 Any others you can think of that should be examined? Let me know! Posted by Laura L. Johnson If you've ever wished you could get into the heads of some of your favorite teen authors - Teen Fiction Cafe is the place to be. I just recently discovered this blog of 13 YA authors - and I think it's something about which teen readers all over the globe would be interested. The Authors
This funny and witty blog not only entertains the reader, but is also informative with the latest in teen fiction news and events. Some days the writers post funny videos they've seen that they think their readers might enjoy, or sometimes an anecdote about their day. I find one of the most interesting aspects of the blog to be the wealth of other teen fiction information linked up to this sight - it opens up a whole new world of information, often yet to be discovered by your average searcher, about the world of teen fiction. Finding yourself thirsty for new teen fiction news and humor? Visit the Teen Fiction Cafe! Posted by Laura L. Johnson Stephanie Meyer is currently the envy of all writers – period. Trust me. I’m a writer. I know. It’s not that I envy her success and it is certainly not that I’ve always had a great yearning to write the great vampire novel of this century – actually, I’m quite sure that nothing even close has ever crossed my mind. So why do we all envy her so? Edward Cullen. WAIT. Don’t close this blog yet. This is NOT another ode to Edward which are quickly taking over our world. I envy Stephanie Meyer because it is the dream of every writer to create a character who spawns a life of his own. I certainly can’t speak for other writers, but for me, it’s not the possible marketing craze this character could cause, it’s that I want my characters to be as real to my readers as they are to me. When I create a character, he all but eats the leftovers in my fridge – he really takes on a life of his own – he has to! If not, I’m simply a person putting a decent combination of words together to form a plot – and this, I’m sure most of you would agree, Edward Cullen is not. Edward Cullen does what he wants, goes where he wants and says what he wants, and Stephanie Meyer is but a set of two healthy hands to communicate that. Don’t worry - I don’t actually think my characters live, or that there is some alternate universe where all storybook characters live and interact (because if there was, I would SO be living there!). But I do think Stephanie Meyer got it right with Edward Cullen – and, by the way, to set the record straight, I am NOT in love with Edward Cullen(GASP). Posted by Laura L. Johnson I had a conversation with a friend a few months ago about Prince Caspian. Not the movie - we had a conversation about the character of Prince Caspian. See, since she was little, this friend hid a deep crush for the lead character in C.S Lewis' book of the same name. My friend jokingly realized that she was often unfaithful to her dear Prince Caspian, though - sometimes with Jay Gatsby, often with Gene Forrester. I laughed at her, one of those nervous laughs that revealed I knew a little too well what she was feeling. Haven't we all harbored those secret literary crushes? Who wasn't the little girl jealous of MaryAnne from the BabySitter's Club who had Logan, or of Nancy Drew and her ever-faithful, football star boyfriend? As I began to think about these little crushes throughout my life, I stumbled upon the most recent obsession of most teenage girls today: Edward Cullen. I admit, I've never read any of the Stephanie Meyers novels, which to some of you is probably a crime, but I can recognize a well-written character when I see the obession of thousands of teens. Look at the fansites, the MySpace messages, the Facebook bumperstickers and even the tshirts out there dedicated to Edward Cullen and every girls' wih to meet the real world Cullen. But ladies, let me issue you a warning about the growing Edward Cullen obsession: stick to the books - honestly! There is no boy as sweet as Logan Bruno, there is no boy who dons a varsity jacket as well as Ned Nickerson and, even excluding the vampire characteristics, there is no one as dashing as Edward Cullen. Of cousre, that doesn't mean we should stop dreaming... Posted by Laura L. Johnson As a final word on this topic, I want to go back to picture books. When you think of children's literature, you may think of Alice in Wonderland or Tuck Everlasting, but I want you to go even further back. Remember some of your favorite picture books. If You GIve A Mouse A Cookie often tops people's lists. What can you remember about these books? One of my favorites, for example, was a book called Bert and the Broken Tea Pot. In this book, Bert is working for Mr. Hooper, when he accidentally breaks one of his favorite tea pots. Bert then faces the dilemma of either sweeping up the teapot and hoping he doesn't notice, or telling him. No surprise ending here - Bert does the right thing and Mr. Hooper assures him that telling the truth is always better. So why did I ask you to remember you favorite children's picture book? More than likely, your favorite also contained a life lesson - and it seems to me like these life lessons should be read by adults again - especially those in politics. Think of hte latest news stories. Maybe as adults we do need to be reminded that it is better to come clean and be honest than to "sweep something under the rug." But most adults will never be reminding of those books. Most would never set foot in the children's section for their own enjoyment - but who says we don't all need a little reminder now and then and the basics in life. Head to your library soon and peruse those picture books - see what you can't learn. Posted by Laura L. Johnson As I perused my local library's categories the other day, I was more struck than anything at how many books I found in the children's section that I have read recently, or would gladly read again and fully enjoy. I think as adults and teens, we sometimes go to our respective library sections, like we're not allowed anywhere else, and forget that great literature awaits us everywhere. Take, for instance, a more recent children's book, published in 2004, Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. This backstory to Peter Pan is directed at children - it was even published by Hyperion's children's division. However, it is on the reading list in my 9th and 10th grade English classroom. It is also one of my favorite reads so far this summer. If not for the fact that my students recommend books to me, I never would have enjoyed this experience. Think also of the children's classics. Who among us, teenager or adult, wouldn't benefit from re-reading Charlotte's Web, Anne of Green Gables, or even The Giving Tree. Contained in these books are values and ideas that shaped us into the people we are today, but also sparked our imaginations and allowed us to first visit other worlds with other people. I understand there needs to be some division - you don't want eight-year olds picking up a Stephen King novel and reading it. However, it is up to each of us to remember not to stick to our own little section of the library, but to go back to our reading roots and remind ourselves of why we love reading so much in the first place. Posted by Laura L. Johnson A few days ago I was asked what my favorite book of all time was - what an impossible question! I sat back and thought about it, and immediately my mind said "okay, you have to break this down into categories. So I started thinking about my favorite books I read as a child. My mind went to Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree or Where the Sidewalk Ends, E.B. White's Charlotte's Web, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, or Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew series. But then I stopped - what is the classification of those last two? I read them as a kid, but certainly teens could read them and be entertained. So I moved on to teen fiction. Growing up I loved the tragedy of Lurlene McDaniel's fiction, but I also spent most of my young adult years reading "classic literature." In junior high I read Pride and Prejudice and Mark Twain. And what about Anne of Green Gables? I enjoy them as much now as I did when I was 8! This thought process got me thinking - can we even draw genre lines across fiction? As a high school English teacher, I read a great deal of what my student's read - Haddix, Westerfeld, Meyers, etc. - and I enjoy it! I also enjoyed reading Mary Higgins Clark and Tom Clancy throughout my high school years, and certainly those are always classified as adult fiction. Though I clearly see the necessity of cateogirzing a library in such divisions, as it makes it easier for patrons to find books, I wonder if we end up missing out on great fiction and great adventures, simply because we never think to look in another section of the library. Posted by Laura L. Johnson According to IMDB, here are a few of the movies slated to be released in the next 3 years: Certainly, this is good news for the genre, and the authors. Many people who have not even heard of these books will go out and see the movies. Perhaps they will then discover the story first flourished in book form and decide to rush to their local bookstore, or, better yet, local library, and pick up a copy, to discover for themselves the magic of these worlds. But what about the stories. Does it really matter how the ideas and plot lines of these authors get out, as long as they are being heard? I would argue yes. The authors do not write the screenplays. While most are consulted in the process, it is still not their vision - not their precise building of a scene. And no, dropping poignant quotations from the book does not make the author's intended message more clear, it just makes it more trite, and less meaningless when not in context. So what can we do about this? Not much, I'm afraid. In fact, even as you are reading this and may find yourself nodding in agreeance, you still, somewhere deep in side probably may be saying "I think i want to see that one, though!" I'll probably give in and go see them too - these stories have touched and changed my life. I can find. So even though i feel like I'm "giving in," I find solace in the fact that, at the end of the day, I'm still going to run to my local library the day they get a new adventure, and fall in love all over again with words - not CGI animation. Posted by Laura L. Johnson In early 2008, Francine Pascal, author and creator of the Sweet Valley Series released the first two books in the popular Sweet Valley High series, but now with updated jargon and situations. The Wakefield twins now carry Blackberrys, have BFF's and hang out in internet cafes. I'm personally a bit skeptical about this. I grew up with Elizabeth and Jessica, following them and their innocent pranks and their lessons learned, but never did I feel like they lived in my world. The world of the Wakefields was always unapologetically "perfect" and had neat, wrapped up endings, and that was okay. These new additions seem to try to make the series more like the lives of teens in 2008, and frankly, I think it destroys a bit of the magic of Sweet Valley. It all goes back to the age-old question of "why do we read?" Some believe we read to learn more about the world around us and to experience through others experiences. Others believe we read to escape from the reality in which we live and to find adventure and live vicariously through others lives. I think I read for both reasons, but when it comes to Sweet Valley, I've never felt like I was being taught a lesson - I felt that I was being entertained. That being said, I'm not sure how I feel about these new additions. I suppose time will only tell how it affects the success of the series. Posted by Laura L. Johnson As I was writing my article, Teens Reading the Classics, I found myself in the midst of semi-hypocrisy. I looked down in my lap to find my current read: Scott Westerfeld's Pretties (the second in the Uglies series). As important (and entertaining) as I think the classics of literature are for teens to read - I know I dearly enjoyed reading Jane Austen and Ernest Hemingway as a high schooler - I wonder if there is even any competition when they have shelves upon shelves of series written about their generation sitting at their fingertips. I have nothing against the current YA fiction - like all genres in all times, there are good books and bad books. In fact, I am actually a big fan of the Westerfeld series, as well as the Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. What concerns me is that the generations of teens who found themselves so bored on a summer day, they picked up their father's old copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is no longer around. Perhaps we won't know until far into the future what affect this may have on teens. Sounds to me like a great sequel to Fahrenheit 451 to me... |
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