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Fiction and Fantasy For Young Adults
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Fiction and Fantasy For Young Adults
Fiction and Fantasy For Young Adults ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This site is part of a class project for LS 5603, a graduate level children's literature course offered at Texas Woman's University. On this page I review fiction and fantasy for young adults. See Below: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Henkes, Kevin. 1992. Words of Stone. New York: Puffin Books. ISBN 0140366016. This book is set in summertime in the modern-day mid-west. It tells the story of two 10-year-old children, a boy named Blaze and a girl named Joselle. The author alternates between telling the story from Blaze’s perspective and Joselle’s perspective. The two children have a lot in common. For example - Blaze’s mother Reena passed away from cancer 4 years ago; and Joselle’s mother is off on a romantic getaway with one of her numerous boyfriends. Blaze’s father lives with him and has a new girlfriend, Claire. Joselle’s father left before she ever knew him. Blaze and Joselle are both living with their respective grandmothers. However, Blaze and Joselle have very different personalities. Blaze is timid, shy, depressed and fearful; Joselle is brash, bossy, angry and daring. Each year after the death of his mother, Blaze invents an imaginary friend to help him overcome his fears, and each year when the friend fails, Blaze ‘buries’ him under a white rock and creates a new imaginary friend. Therefore, there is a circle of white stones under a tree in Blaze’s yard. Joselle’s grandmother tells her about Blaze’s mother’s death. Before she ever meets Blaze, Joselle uses the white stones under the tree to spell out “Reena” in Blaze’s yard. Once they meet, Blaze and Joselle become fast friends. Blaze finds out about Joselle’s practical joke with the stones and is very hurt. The rest of the story is about the reconciliation between the two children. I would recommend this book for older children struggling with the issues of parental death, abandonment, step-parents, and forgiveness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lowry, Lois. 1994. The Giver. New York: Econo-Clad Books. ISBN 0785734988. This story is set in an unknown time in the future and is told through the eyes of the main character, Jonah. Jonah is coming of age in what appears to be a utopian society which has no poverty, sickness, crime, unemployment or overpopulation. As the children of this community become a year older, they go through a rite of passage that provides them with tasks for the coming year. Jonah turns twelve and gets his adult work assigned to him - the task of ‘Receiver of Memories.’ He receives his training from the current Receiver, who transmits to Jonah both beautiful and horrifying memories from the history of humanity. The people of this utopian society have none of these memories, they literally see everything visually in black and white, and have never heard music. The old Receiver (called ‘The Giver’ by Jonah) shows Jonah that everything he has been led to believe is a lie. For example, when people leave the community, it is referred to in a positive way as ‘being released.’ What Jonah discovers is that releasing means killing. Elders, babies, and those that do not fit into society – are killed. Jonah and the Giver decide that Jonah must leave the community in order to force the people to deal with the memories that he has received. Jonah does so, taking with him a baby boy who is scheduled to be ‘released.’ They are hunted for a long time before reaching safety. I would recommend this thought-provoking book to adults both young and old. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wolff, Virginia Euwer. 1993. Make Lemonade. New York: Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 0805022287. This modern-age story is prose, but the format it is written in makes it look like it is poetry. It is written from the perspective of the main character, Verna LaVaughn, who is a 14 year old girl living in poverty in the inner city. LaVaughn wants to go to college to get out of her poverty-stricken community, so she gets a babysitting job. She baby-sits for the 2 young children of a 17-year old single mother, Jolly. Jolly and LaVaughn become good friends even though they are very different. LaVaughn is tidy and positive, if serious in her perspective, Jolly is messy and discouraged, yet has a sense of humor. LaVaughn continues to baby-sit and does so for free after Jolly loses her job, even though LaVaughn’s mother disapproves of that decision. LaVaughn helps Jolly get enrolled in a program that provides free daycare, education and training so that Jolly can finish her high school education and receive training for employment. Jolly reluctantly goes along with the plan, learns CPR, and saves her daughter’s life when she chokes on a toy. Jolly becomes more self confident after that incident and she and LaVaughn drift apart. I especially like the way the author does not mention race, but rather focuses on the struggles of young single mothers living in poverty, who are without an education. I would highly recommend this book for adults, both young and old. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are Some Links To Pages about Children's Literature (On this Website)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Home ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Picture Books ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Traditional Literature ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Poetry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Non Fiction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Historical Fiction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author Study about Lloyd Alexander ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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