Reading Street Lit

A few years ago I was completely unfamiliar with street lit. I had no idea it existed, and I guess I did not know anybody who read this kind of thing. This was before I started working in a library, and I wasn't having conversations about trends in urban fiction or what teenagers were reading. I first saw street lit being read among a group of teens at an old job. They did exactly what we talked about in class last night: one would read a book, and the others waited to read it next. I heard a couple of them say their mothers had read the book before them. I remember feeling like, what kind of books are these? At the time I thought it was kind of funny, but now I see the value that those books had for this group of people. They almost definitely would not have been reading much if these books were not available to them.

Not that many teens ask me for street lit titles at the branch where I work. I do get requests for that genre, but usually from adults. One woman was really surprised and dismayed when she came in asking for True to the Game II and I told her it was in the Y.A. section. She said something along the lines of, "That is definitely not a y.a. book; It's a very adult book." I explained to her that it was really popular with a teen audience, but I could tell she was shocked, and this was someone who was reading the book herself. Now I feel better equipped to explain teenagers' interest in the genre and also to recommend titles.

On a side note, I can't believe Quadir comes back from the dead and I have to read True to the Game II as soon as possible. I'm assuming he faked his death but how did he fake being cold and dead when Gena wouldn't leave his side in the hospital?? I understand why people are anxious to pick up the next book. For me, it might be more of a fun thing, but I now appreciate the value for someone who has never been a big reader. Being anxious to pick up a book is a feeling that a lot of teens haven't had before, and street lit gives that to them.

"Pretentious" vs. "Trashy": Do I really have to choose?

It was interesting to hear the varied reactions to Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You and Gossip girl. Although I enjoyed both books in different ways, I see where most of the critiques people had are coming from. I can agree that Peter Cameron's book is a bit pretentious and see how people could James to be tiresome.

After thinking about it, I disagree with what some people thought, that James did not learn anything form his actions. Although he lacks empathy, I thought he did learn from his mistakes and regretted the trick he pulled on John. His running away from the gallery and going to his grandmother's house was something he wouldn't have done if he hadn't been feeling inner turmoil. His decision to go to college after all and lose interest in his dream of buying a house in some random state showed that he made some kind of progress in the book.

Gossip Girl I liked in a totally different way; it was fun and trashy. I might even take 2 and 3 along with me on vacation this month. Learning about how the books were developed and how it turned in to this huge brand was fascinating. I had never heard someone speak about having their name on something that they didn't actually write before. Cecily described a side of authorship that we hadn't heard in class before.

There is always room in the world for books that don't take themselves too seriously, like Gossip Girl, and books that definitely take themselves seriously, like Someday this Pain.. I feel lucky to have both kinds of books to recommend to teens at the library.

Missing Misfit

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You is beautifully written, often funny and sometimes touching. I laughed out loud at certain passages, and James' disinterested narration is appealing. Peter Cameron paints some great character sketches in this book, and I got the feeling each one was a labor of love and took a long time to create. James uncannily reminds me of my old friend Jonathan, but that's another story. After reading this, I started thinking, is this a new Catcher in the Rye, one for contemporary times? It's been ten years since I read that book, but I seem to remember Holden Caulfield as a rich and unenthusiastic teenager who thought those around him were irritating and dull. I might have to go back and read that book again someday soon.

Many of the books we've read this semester had characters I found it easy to identify with, despite the fact that I usually held little in common with them. Not so for this one. I did not really identify with James, but I still felt for him. It seemed to me that there was a lot of pain behind his sharp observations and superior air. He is a witty narrator, definitely intelligent and funny. "Missing Misfit?" So great.

His relationship with his grandmother is very sweet, and I love how he saved all of her belongings in storage. It really was very touching. This kid had a lot of support, although most of the people who can offer it to him are caught up with their own lives. It seemed like at the end of the book he had begun to think differently about steering clear of them and being by himself. We all have the urge to be alone, but we need support from our family and friends too. I think this book communicated that point without cheesiness or sentimentality. I will definitely be sending a copy to my friend Jonathan!

A book with a happy ending

I picked up Grace After Midnight from the Y.A. Biography section of my library and started reading without looking at the information on the back cover. So, I had no idea whatsoever how the book would end until the very last part. I had been feeling so sad for Snoop, who got out of prison and got one job after another only to be let go because of her record. It's horrible to think about how many people there are out there who go through the same thing, eventually having to return to selling drugs or running whatever scams can make them money.

Finding out, right at the end, that Snoop was spotted for The Wire and ended up with a role was a surprise. It made me really happy because I felt for her while I read her story. Her writing style is clean and simple, and I related to her though I have nothing in common with her whatsoever. Her humanity came through as she described shooting people, fighting and killing a stranger. People have already been harassing me about not having watched The Wire. I have got to start watching this show! I mean, can the show really be as good as everyone says it is? Literally everyone is in love with this show.

So, after I finished the book I got around to looking at the jacket and see that she is now in a couple of feature films. If this was fiction, the ending would have seemed to good to be true. Happy endings are nice, sometimes, especially when you don't expect one.

Books with wide appeal

Tyrell and The Vast Fields of Ordinary don't have much in common on the surface. Both are about teenage boys going through struggles with family and personal relationships, but the two main characters and their families are totally different. Both books have a wide appeal, though.

I'm a 29 year old white woman from the south and I was completely hooked on Tyrell within ten pages. I read it on my day off and never put it down. Tyrell is a great character and I felt for him. Besides being a sweet boy who tries hard in a bad situation, he is believably imperfect. He gets frustrated with his mother putting too much responsibility on him, he's tempted by Jasmine, he gets high, he gets in fights. If those things hadn't been present in the book, this character might have come off as too perfect. As it is, he seems real.

Dade is going through his own struggles, but like Tyrell, he seems like a good person that deserves better. I definitely would have loved this book in high school. Like someone said in class, stories about gay men can have an appeal for straight girls, and I was one o those girls who tried to date a gay guy and took him to the prom. I'm hoping I wasn't too much like Fessica but maybe I was. Dade's story has something almost everyone could relate to: struggles with his parents, love for someone who treats him poorly, and the thrill of that first relationship that makes you happy. Not everyone can relate to what it is like to come out, but I think a lot of us can empathise.

These two books are about totally different characters and environments, but of the books we've read so far they have some of the widest appeal.

Teen Programming

Our discussion in class last night gave me a lot of ideas for programming. I loved that each group came up with a kind of ongoing activity that would develop over time. My group talked about Skulls, and I am really glad, because I had looked at the book without thinking about how perfect it is to build a program around. I would love to work with a group of kids on a blog, where everyone could post photos, like the skull-a-day blog, but with a different theme. I think I'm going to talk to some of the more regular teen patrons and see what would interest them. We threw the idea of smiley faces around in class last night, but I'm not sure if they would want something a little darker.

I'm thinking that if I can get even two or three kids to start working on a project like that, more will join if I start displaying what they make in the library. We are about to start moving our Y.A. area to the second floor at Kip's Bay, where the children's room circulation desk used to be. I'm told we will be getting a small amount of furniture for it. Now that teens will have an area in the branch, displaying things will be easy. Also, the space is right next to the community room, which is perfect for doing crafts. I also really like the idea of working on manga and graphic novels, because I loved to draw when I was younger and it's a great outlet for expression.

Community Profiles and Little Brother

I have found Little Brother to be such an invigorating book. We have talked in class about how passionate teenagers can be about music, and about whatever scene they're in. As we get older most of us tend to lose that passion and that strong identification with a particular band, ideology, or fashion. That's not to say that older people don't have strong tastes and enthusiasms, but teenagers have an enviable ability to be swept up in whatever they're in to at the time. Reading Little Brother reminded me that young adults can be passionate about ideals and committed to issues of major importance. Yes, the book is fictional, but I found the narrative and the characters so gripping that I could really envision what was happening.

Maybe it's a loose connection, but working on my list of community resources for teens made me want to get more involved with my community and give young adults places to go and a voice to be heard. I focused my list on the area where I work, Kip's Bay?Murray Hill, because I knew it could help me professionally, but also because this isn't a particularly teen-centric part of town. It's decidedly un-hip, which gives it a particular charm of its own, but I had to do a lot of research to come up with what I thought was a good mix of resources. It made me want to do more! It has also made me really notice teens whenever I see them on the street and in the branch. I started handing out surveys in an attempt to recruit young adults for a group to help me with programming. I've only had a couple who seem interested in taking part in a discussion, but the survey answers have been interesting none the less.

I felt like reading Little Brother at the same time I was compiling my list of resources and trying to talk to teenagers has given me a much needed boost of energy. I feel like I want to get involved, get swept up in some cause I really believe in. This feeling will probably last about a day, but, for what it's worth, it feels good.

Winter Girls and high school experience

Yesterday I finished Wintergirls and I have to say I loved it. I mean really, really loved it. I had heard from several classmates it was extremely depressing, and I suppose it was. I could see my high school self being so in to this book, though. There were many things in it that I could relate to, from my own experiences and those of friends and family. Someone who didn't like the book as much as I did might see some of these things as being cliche. I'm not sure if anyone will take that stance in our discussion tonight, but I can see how one could feel that way.

I could identify with Lia, as I'm sure many women can. Those of us who spent high school trying not to eat and trading tips for self-denial certainly can relate to the obsession that plagues her. And there is some hope in the end, at least in Lia's resolution to use her treatment to save herself. Something that could be slightly worrying is that a y.a. reader with an eating disorder might treat Lia as a heroine, using the book as validation for their own anorexic behavior. I can totally see my friends in high school trading this book around and mimicking her tricks. However, people will find validation on the pro-Ana type websites mentioned in the book and among their own peers. There are detailed descriptions of the physical and emotional anguish Lia suffers from, so I don't think this book would cause anyone to develop these habits.

I'm going to do my book talk on this tonight. Hopefully I can do it without completely forgetting what I want to say... This is the first book we've read in class that I really identified with, and that reminded me of my own high school experience in some ways. I would definitely recommend it to certain teen readers. Even if you can't relate to the eating disorder thing, the strained relationships with the parents, the imperfect family life, and the fall-out between friends are things that teens see in their own lives.

Books and my mood

One thing I've realized in the past week is just how much influence a book can have on my mood. Especially if that book happens to be Living Dead Girl. Reading this book last Thursday put me in one of the worst moods in recent memory. I told co-workers, friends, my mom and my boyfriend about the book. Feeling depressed and morose at work, I decided I could not recommend this book to anyone, at any point in time. The next day, as I read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, the world suddenly seemed not so bad after all.

As disturbing as Living Dead Girl was (at least to me), the author, Elizabeth Scott, certainly accomplished a powerful work. I don't think an author has ever been able to plunge me in to such a mood in such a short amount of pages. What I'm not sure about is whether I would want to inflict this on other readers, especially a young adult who might not need any help in feeling down. Is this a book people recommend as a cautionary tale? Sort of a don't-talk-to-strangers type of thing? Or something to give a teen fascinated by serial killers or other morbid subject matter?

At any rate, I'm glad to have read the book and also to be done with it. When I read the jacket of 13 Reasons Why, I thought, "Oh God here we go again, more depressing stuff." I'm finding myself wanting to know what happens, though, and get to the end of the tapes. Almost lunch time -hooray!- and I'll be finishing it up over my sandwich. And when this class is over I'll probably be sticking to strictly light-hearted fare for a while.

Where to start?

I have to admit I have young adults on the brain. Having just recently (last week in fact) been given the opportunity to take charge of Y.A. programming at my branch, I am feeling excited and motivated. My first order of business has been the summer reading program. Unfortunately, I am also feeling lost and unsure. It's not my lack of knowledge of young adult titles that's leaving me confused. I see which titles go out frequently, and I can always refer to book lists for help. This class gives me a great excuse to read titles I otherwise might not have gotten around to.

What's stressing me out is how I will get teens in to my branch, where we have never had a young adult presence. Last week I went to four area schools and the children's hospital at Bellevue, dropping off materials for summer reading. At all of these places I met with enthusiastic administrators and teachers, encouraging them to arrange class visits with me to check out books and get prizes. Although I have not yest heard back from any of them, I hope that I will before long. And I have managed to get a dozen teens to sign up at the branch, most of them were lured in by the grand prize of an iPod Nano. Whether or not they will keep coming back to the branch I don't know. My goal is to improve Y.A. services, but what if I never get any teens in the branch to see what I do?

I just want to prove that we can have a teen presence, even is I had to constantly ask them to be quiet. I'm envious of those of you in the class who are having to ask teens to leave or be annoyed by whatever the sword trading game is that came up in Monday's class. At least they're coming in noticeable numbers. My hope is that through this class I can get some ideas and make a whole lot of progress.