Christmas Romance With Cheerleaders and Tea Cup Pigs
Popular teen authors, John Green, Maureen Johnson & Lauren Myracle write three intertwined short stories about Christmas romances. Maureen Johnson starts with “Jubilee Express.” Jubilee (yes, that is her name) is heading to her grandparents after her parents are arrested on Christmas Eve for taking part in a riot at the Flobie Santa Village factory. Jubilee is upset that she’s missing Christmas with her overachiever boyfriend, but even more upset that he doesn’t have time to listen to her troubles. On the train, she meets Jed, who we’ll get to know better in the third story. Jubilee’s train gets stuck during a snow storm, forcing her to schlep over to the Waffle Hut with 14 perky cheerleaders. There she meets Stewart. We also meet the interesting “tin foil guy” who makes other appearances as the next two stories unfold.
In John Green’s Cheertastic Christmas Miracle, we find out how the guys at the Waffle Hut feel about being invaded by cheerleaders. It’s a Christmas Miracle!! Kuen phones friends, JP, Tobin and “The Duke” and tells them to get there, pronto and bring the game, Twister. The story is filled with John’s signature hilariously witty friend banter. There is also a great car race in the snow between the friends and two lopsided twins. Tobin realizes he should have been thinking about the girl sitting next to him, instead of perky cheerleaders.
In The Patron Saint Of Pigs, Addie is heartbroken because she ended things with her boyfriend, Jed. (You’ll remember Jed from the train, he is also moping at the Waffle Hut in the 2nd story.) Addie is a bit of a drama queen, as her two friends subtly remind her. Jed is not the boyfriend Addie wants him to be. She would like him to be more romantic (Edward Cullen-like, I am assuming.) After Addie’s huge mistake, Jed is supposed to meet her at Starbucks. When he never shows, Addie suspects the worst. Addie’s friend, Tegan has a pig obsession. Enter the world’s cutest pig, a tiny tea cup pig named Gabriel and lewd boy named Charlie and a bus full of senior citizens and the cast of interesting characters grows even larger.
Some ideas for discussing with teens:
Addie wants Jeb to change. She doesn’t think he’s romantic enough. Talk about how drama can get in the way of a good relationship.
Why are the guys so obsessed with the cheerleaders? Talk about how the cheerleaders pay attention to them at first and why the guys are disappointed later.
Jubilee thinks she has a great relationship with her overachiever boyfriend. Talk about how she may have lost herself along the way.
What drew Jubilee & Stewart, Addie & Jed, Tobin and Angie to each other?
Tobin and the Duke (Angie) are good friends. The Duke likes Tobin, but he is afraid to ruin the friendship. Talk about making that transition between friends and more than friends.
Powerful Read About September 11th by David Levithan
The first few chapters are a very realistic and emotional retelling of the events of September 11th through the eyes of three teens, Claire, Peter and Jasper. I won’t lie to you, these pages are tough to read. They brought back a lot of emotion of the day. This is a good opportunity for teens who may have been too young to remember much of the details. They can see the events through the eyes of characters their own age. Claire is in school and rushes to find her little brother while they wait for their mother to get them. Peter is waiting outside for a record store to open and bares witness to the attack. Jasper sleeps through the most of the attack. The three characters were at a party together just the night before. Jasper and Peter flirted, but a connection is not made until much later. Claire meets Jasper on a nighttime walk to ground zero where they find they are kindred spirits, searching for answers. The three become a source of hope and deep friendship as they navigate through the year after the attacks.
David Levithan’s description of the day’s events is very authentic both in detail and emotion. He forces us to ask difficult questions. He portrays the important politics of the time without evoking fear. He reminds us we share humanity with the entire world, and the post 9/11 events should bring us together instead of tearing us apart. I love how he portrays homosexual teens. They are just like any other teen, searching for love and acceptance. They are friends with straight teens like it is no big deal. And it shouldn’t be a big deal. I read through chapters of this book with tears in my eyes. I am so thankful David Levithan had the courage to write this important book!
Ideas for discussing with teens:
Many teens may be too young to remember details about the September 11th attacks. Talk about what they do remember. As an adult facilitator, add your personal recollections.
If they do remember, talk about how their world changed that day.
Music, specifically U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind album, helps Peter and Claire cope. Talk about how music helps you cope with difficult times in your life.
Have the lyrics to U2’s song “One” on hand to discuss. Take turns reading it out loud. The title of the book comes from the lyrics.
How does tragedy bring people closer together?
Claire says she feels survivors must breathe in the dust of the dead, and do things the dust cannot do. Discuss.
Talk about when Clarire says, “The hitch is you can’t find a common humanity just because you have a common enemy. You have to find a common humanity because you believe that it’s true.”
The characters talk about the different between “drowning” & “the swim of things”. Discuss.
Memorable Characters And A Beautiful Love Story In Gayle Forman’s New Book
Mia is now a senior in high school in Oregon. She is a gifted musician and hopes her talent at the cello will lead her to Julliard. Her mom and dad are unconventional. Her dad is a former punk rocker and her mom is a self proclaimed tough feminist chick! They both are surprised when Mia develops a taste and talent for classical music. Mia also has a boyfriend, named Adam whose band is up and coming. They were an unlikely match. At school they are called groovy and the geek. Mia is struggling to admit to Adam that she may go across the country to college and that worry occupies much of her mind. During a rare Oregon snow day, her family decides to take a drive to visit some friends. As Mia drifts off to sleep she is jarred away by the accident that throws her from the car. She discovers her parents are killed. While searching for her little brother she comes across her own severely injured body. As the paramedics take her away and med flight her to a hospital she follows her body through surgery and the post operative coma where her grandparents, aunts and uncles sit in vigil. At this point the only choice weighing on Mia’s mind is should she stay or simply drift away. While Mia watches doctors try to save her life we are taken in a series of flashbacks to her life with her loving family and her relationship with her rock star boyfriend, Adam.
The character development in this story is beautiful. I became attached to Mia’s wonderful and quirky family. The relationship she has with her parents is loving and respectful. I became attached to these characters which makes it all the more painful knowing they are dead. Mia’s relationship with Adam is not without problems. However, their relationship is based on respect and a mutual love of music. There is a scene where she and Adam first become intimate that is so original and beautiful. Adam is never rude or mean to Mia. He treats her with kindness. It is a nice change of pace from many romances found in young adult books.
Some ideas for discussing with teens:
Talk about the relationship Mia has with her parents. Why does it seem to work so well?
Discuss the theme toward the end talks about how living is much harder than dying.
Talk about the tough decision Mia has to make about college and Adam.
Talk about her relationship with Adam. How is it different from other characters in books you read? How is it alike or different than your own relationships?
The sound of the cello brings Mia back. Talk about what is most important to you and what would bring you back.
Strong Female Character in Baseball Book For Girls!
Eighth grader Molly loves baseball! She can throw a wicked knuckleball pitch. Ever since she could stand she’s been playing catch in the backyard with her father. Her beloved father is killed in a car accident. Molly and her mother attempt to rebuild their lives. Molly plays girl’s softball but she craves more of a challenge. Molly tries out for the boy’s baseball team, knowing she can pitch just as well as they can.
Molly is brave and strong, while staying realistic to how an eighth grade girl would behave.
Some ideas for discussing with teens:
Molly is not satisfied by just playing softball. She wants to play baseball. In your opinion is she brave or a trouble maker?
Lonnie does not fit a stereotype. Discuss how you feel about that.
Talk about how Lonnie creates something beautiful out of the hate message left on Molly’s locker.
Molly’s friend compares her to Amelia Earhart. Earhart’s story ended tragically. How does she compare with Molly?
Molly looks out her window at what she perceives to be the perfect family next door. Talk about perceptions and how they may be true or false.
Brutally Honest Story of Eating Disorders in Laurie Halse Anderson’s Brilliant New Novel
Lia and Cassie were best friends since grade school. They shared a pact to see who could be the skinniest. Lia was anorexic and Cassie was bulimic. The story begins with Cassie’s death. She was found dead in a hotel room, but we don’t know the exact details of her death until later in the book. Laurie Halse Anderson’s dramatic prose takes us into the painful mind of a girl with a hideously deformed self image. She describes in great detail Lia’s self loathing as she trains her body to go without food.
Lia takes us into pro-anorexia chat rooms where girls encourage each other not to eat.
“My fingers reach through the screen and comb through the garbage until they find the home of the shrieking chorus, hungry girls singing endless anthems while our throats bleed and rust and fill up with loneliness. I could scroll through these songs for the rest of my life and never find the beginning.”
Lia’s parents are divorced so she moves in with her father and step-mother after another stint in a hospital. She hides the fact that she’s losing more weight with a fixed scale and baggy clothes. As her body craves food, she chants painful insults to keep herself from taking a bite. Cassie’s ghost haunts her at night, further driving down her self-esteem and size.
This was such a painful and powerful read! I felt Lia’s despair, along with her parents who were begging her to “just eat, don’t you want to live?” Anderson’s beautiful writing just gets into your head and swims around. I can’t wait to share this book with my teen girl book club.
Some ideas for discussing with teens:
Talk about body image and other factors that could have lead up to Lia and Cassie’s eating disorders.
Is the destruction of their health worth being skinny?
Have the teens read aloud some of the passages, such as the one listed above and discuss them.
Talk about other ways teenage girls degrade themselves. How can they become so lost?
Do they think Cassie’s ghost is real? Have they ever felt haunted?
What I Saw And How I Lied by Judy Blundell
I get the sense this is the current “it” book to be passed around youth librarians. 
A number of youth librarians I know have read this and loved it. I really liked it too. It is part mystery, coming of age and historic fiction.
Evie has a gorgeous mother who turns heads and invites a lot of gossip. Her step-father, Joe, recently returned from fighting in World War II. He decides to take Evie and her mom on a vacation to Palm Beach in the off-season. There she meets Peter, a beautiful man who is not what he seems. She falls in love and into a web of lies that keep the reader guessing until the final chapters. The story takes twists into murder, anti-semitism and first love.
The thing I really loved about this book is that it really sets the tone of an authentic post World War II America. The girls use chocolate cigarettes to practice smoking. They don’t wear pants. People are enjoying the boom of a rising economy (ironic to be reading this book at this time.) They get to have sugar again and the victory gardens are growing weeds.
You get a real sense of Evie’s struggle to figure out what is going on with her parents and Peter. Is it a chance meeting with Peter, or did he follow them to Florida? Why does Joe hate him so much. Is her puppy love for Peter real?
In What I Saw and How I Lied, Evie must figure out when does the lie become reality.
I love John Green’s latest masterpiece!
Like many of you, I am a huge Looking For Alaska fan! I could not wait to pick up John Green’s new book, Paper Towns. There are so many things I want to talk about; I will have to number them to keep them straight. Margo Roth Spiegelman, is popular, beautiful and lives next door to Quinten. They were childhood friends and once found a dead guy in the park together. Once the teenage years hit, she largely ignored him until one night she knocks on his window and takes him as her accomplice on a night of delicious revenge.
1. John is so great at creating strong, misunderstood, beautiful female characters. Both Margo and Alaska are not what they seem. Margo is so tormented and searching for meaning in what she views as her meaningless “paper” life.
2. John describes fantastic pranks. As in Alaska, John takes his characters on a journey of humiliation as Margo and Quinten use fish and cameras to get back at those who have done Margo wrong. She says, “we bring the f***ing rain, Q. Not the scattered showers.”
3. His supporting characters are fantasic! I loved Radar the best. He is obsessed with Omnictionary which is best described as Wikipedia. His parents have the world’s second largest collection of black Santas which is a constant embarrassment to him (In the book the largest collector dies, so the parents hone in to buy his loot.) Seriously, they have black Santa wall paper and everything. The house is set up like a museum, very funny!
4. John takes the opportunity to educate while he tells us a story. His books teach us about works of poetry, literature (Looking For Alaska) or mathematical theory (An Abundance of Katherines). In Paper Towns, he helps us better understand Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. We also learn what a paper town actually is. I would tell you, but I don’t want to ruin anyone’s ending.
This is one of my favorite quotes, when Margo says this to describe her town, Orlando, “It’s a paper town. I mean look at it, Q: look at all those cul-de-sacs, those streets that turn in on themselves, all the houses that were built to fall apart.” (p57)
Margo disappears the day after their night of revenge. Q becomes obsessed with finding her. She leaves him clues so he can solve the riddle she has left for him. Why does she go to an abandoned strip mall? What is hidden in the door jam and what is really a paper town?
Some ideas for discussing it with teens:
1. Do you think Margo is brave or a coward for running away?
2. How do you feel about her description of paper towns? Does this resemble your community?
3. Why do you think friendships like Q and Margo end after childhood? Why didn’t they stay close before the night of revenge?
4. Why do you think Margo picked Q for the night of revenge?
5. Discuss Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.
6. Q’s mother is happy one of the bullies got into college. When she describes how hard school was for him did it change your perspective?
You will not be disappointed by John Green’s latest story. John, please keep writing! I can’t wait for the next one! This book has Printz Award written all over it!
Life As We Knew It really freaked me out!
Every so often a book will get under my skin and alter the way I think. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer is still swimming around in my head. The main character is a teenage girl named Miranda. The world witnesses a huge event, a meteor is heading straight for the moon. Families stand outside with telescopes to watch the impact. But not even the scientists predict what will happen next. The meteor hits with such an impact the moon is knocked off kilter, pushing it closer to earth. This creates a change of catastrophic events with tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and winter in August.
The story is told through Miranda’s diary entries as they try to survive. They live in rural Pennsylvania, so while the tsunamis cannot reach them and there are not any volcanoes nearby, the ash covers the sky, blocking the sun. They have little information about what is happening outside their small town. They know large parts of the county have been wiped out. Her family is lucky though. Her mother has the foresight to purchase as much canned food, medical supplies and batteries as possible. They also have a wood burning stove. Miranda tells her story as they slowly starve; making each can last as long as possible.
Let me just say, as I was reading this book, my power went out and the house became a little chilly. So many aspects of the book stick with me. Although the chance of a meteor hitting the moon that hard is remote, it is not outside the realm of possibility. Once disaster hit, all the technology became irrelevant. They had to survive primitively.
I discussed this book with the mother/daughter book group at the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library. The mothers and I all shared the same fears about the economy. The girls enjoyed the story, but the book made us mothers very nervous. When someone losses their job and the source of food and heating fuel become in jeopardy it is very terrifying indeed. You take on the same mindset, how can we make what we have stretch?
This book also reminded me of the power outage in 2003, when the all the cities in our region went without power. I remember the fear as I first heard it was not just Cleveland. Was it a terrorist attack? I am sure this is the same feeling of fear and uncertainly as Miranda and her family tried to figure out what was happening with the rest of the world. When we lost water during that outage it was truly terrifying. I remember going to the store to pick up a few things and watching the panic as people filled carts with bottled water.
This book made me want to take a trip to the wholesale club and stock up on canned goods and water. It may not be such a bad idea.
Susan Beth Pfeffer has also written The Dead And The Gone, which takes place in New York City as the tsunamis hit. I will read this one too, as soon as I can get up the courage. She is also writing a third book in the trilogy which continues the Miranda storyline called The World We Live In.
What I Was should be a Printz contender!
I was such a big fan of Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now, I couldn’t wait to read What I Was. What I was… was not disappointed! Rosoff completely changes her writing style in this latest book. In How I Live Now, her writing was more of a stream of consciousness. Her prose is beautiful in What I Was. I have a feeling this will be a contender for the Printz award.
Our main character is H. He is sent to a boarding school at St. Oswalds. It is a stark, cold place. Then H meets Finn. Finn is a beautiful young boy who seems to not have a past. Finn is not gifted with conversation. So H must clumsily move the friendship forward. H risks getting in trouble as he makes trips to Finn’s fisherman’s shack. H has feelings for Finn that are a mixture of love, intrigue and loneliness. Rosoff has a gift for describing relationships that are often taboo in a beautiful manner. In How I Live Now, the two first cousins fall in love. In What I Was, there is a relationship seemingly between two boys. But we soon find Finn is not at all what he seems.
Here is an example of Rosoff’s wonderful writing. H is speaking of Finn:
“He listened politely, without comment, head turned away from the sound of my voice. He might have been asleep for all I knew, so complete was his lack of response. And yet I thought I could feel him listening; I could almost see my words wandering in long trails around his head, circling, searching, until he sighed and yielded and granted them entry.”
The story takes a much unexpected turn I did not see coming. It was brilliant. I can’t say any more. I do not want to ruin it for anyone. It is like the Sixth Sense where Haley Joel Osment sees dead people. You will find yourself replaying scenes in the story to see if you could detect the foreshadowing.
Teen Discussion:
1. Talk about the foreshadowing. Did they see it coming?
2. What clues did Rosoff leave along the way?
3. Discuss the levels of friendship? Do they think H and Finn have a taboo relationship?
There are more ideas, but I don’t want to ruin the ending!
Does My Head Look Big In This?
Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
This is the story of Amal, a Turkish/Australian who is in the 11th grade. During winter break she makes the decision to wear the hijab full time. This is the scarf head covering many Muslim women wear to cover their hair when they leave the house. Amal makes this decision by herself. She is not forced by her parents. In fact her parents are concerned and don’t want her to rush into any decision. After years in an Islamic school where the hijab was part of the uniform, she is going to a mostly white private school where she is the only Muslim. (Her Islamic school only went to the 10th grade because of funding.)
Amal knows there will be repercussions. Many people do not understand her culture and will probably think she’s a terrorist. But she’s worried most of all about the boy she likes, Adam. He has been pretty friendly lately; will he still want to be her friend?
Amal shows such strength. When her principal tries to ban her from wearing the hijab she is able to convince her otherwise. While her friends accept her for who she is, Amal still has to endure comments, especially when a night club in Bali is attacked by terrorists. The snobby and popular Tia does not make her life any easier either.
Amal has two good friends outside of school from her Islamic school, Lylia and Yasmeen. Lylia is part of a very traditional Turkish family. Her mother wants to marry her off right now, and she’s only 16. Amal and her parents have to deal with family and friends who are extreme and other family members that want to forget their roots and become more Australian.
This book shows how hard it can be to straddle two worlds. Amal likes Adam, but can never be his girlfriend because she does not believe in dating. She is able to make friends and have a lot of fun, while not disrespecting her family and beliefs. Amal is such a great character. I think young women will feel empowered reading her story no matter what culture they come from.
Some ideas for discussion with teens:
Would you change your outward appearance for you faith?
Do you know someone who has?
What kind of risks would you take to be different?
How do you think this decision changes Amal?
Talk about the different families portrayed in this story: from the ones who are more extreme to the ones who want to give up their culture and assimilate.
