Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Why: This is part of my 2014 YA Lit challenge

When: January 2014

How: as an ebook on my iPad

Thoughts: I loved this book. Lots to think about. It's set in a high school that doesn't operate on the heteronormative view that organizes our society for the most part. The GSA in this book, for instance, exists to help the straight kids learn how to dance for homecoming. The quarterback of the football team is transgender and also the homecoming queen. And in the middle of all of that, a romance builds--a realistic, honest, teenage romance.

Click on the book image to read about the book on Wikipedia.

Review Haiku:
teenage love without
the obstacles of our world
human loves human

Adaptation by Malinda Lo

why: Malinda Lo spoke at last fall Colorado Language Arts Society conference. She's a product of BVSD. She writes YAL with LGBTQ characters.
when: January 2014

how: as an ebook on my ipad.

thoughts: Lo's work is important. Young people who identify as LGBTQ need to see themselves in books, to see their stories and experiences represented. And that's what we have in this book. This was a great read as a work of science fiction. The beginning opens with some birds falling dead from the sky--and not in a magical realism sort of way where the characters don't seem to notice and this all seems to be normal in the world of the text. The characters are freaked out. And it only gets weirder. And in the center of this there is a character trying to figure out her sexual identity, and that struggle is woven fully into the science fiction-y issues at the center of the text as well. Very cool how Lo has done that. There's a sequel. I'll read it after I conquer The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (which so far is delightfully strange).

Click on the book image to go to the author's website.

review haiku:
birds dead from the sky
airplanes downed by birds. Girl gets
alien DNA

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

why: I loved Eleanor and Park and was really sad when that book was over, so I thought another Rainbow Rowell book would be good.

when: December 2013 (again, due to ignoring of blog updating, I'm not certain of the actual dates, but again about three days this took me).

how: as an ebook on my iPad.

thoughts: I loved this. I really did. Rowell builds very complex adolescent worlds. I loved the whole fanfiction thread--something I have known very little about prior to reading this.

Click on the book image to learn more about the book.

review haiku:
is fanfiction mere
plagiarism? professor
thinks so, but not Cath

The Giver by Lois Lowry

why: Every time someone mentions this book, I wonder why I haven't read it yet.

when: December 2013 (I've been ignoring updating this blog, so I don't have the exact dates--but it only took me three days maybe.)

how: as an ebook on my iPad

thoughts: Great book. I can see why it is so loved by so many. I bought it for my kid for Christmas--her first dystopian novel. She hasn't read it yet. She would have if it were in graphic novel format...

Click on the book image to get to the wikipedia entry for the book.

review haiku:
our world but messed up
dystopias freak me out
a few steps away

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

why: This officially begins the year where I will read as much critically acclaimed YA lit as I possibly can. (ok, so maybe I'm starting on my 2014 challenge a month early here)

when: 12/2/13-12/7/13 (I just realized I read three books this past week)

how: as an ebook on my iPad

thoughts: I loved this book. Loved loved loved it. And maybe it's because of the two teenage characters who connect over the same new wave music that was so vivid in my own teenage years. And maybe it's because the book was such an honest and genuine portrayal of a relationship unfolding. And maybe it's because the ending was perfect. Just perfect. And maybe it's because Eleanor and Park are such an unlikely pair but the totally work. I don't know but I just loved it. And now I'm reading Fangirl--another by the same author.

Click on the book image to get to the author's website.

review haiku:
the cure, depeche mode
U2, school bus, teenagers
my own nostalgia