IMM 13 & misc.catching up

Hello blogging world! It's been a while!

I am actually alive and well, even though I've been missing from this blog for, oh three months or so... Basically, this summer, I was taking grad classes online, reading books, and blogging. Then at the end of July I went to a teacher workshop in Virginia (which was AMAZING) and when I got back, I realized that I hadn't done anything to prepare for the new school year...and found out I'd have 30 students instead of the 21 I had last year. Since then, I've been in a frantic world of teaching, planning, grading, and of course, grad school.

So...In My Mailbox this week, I had a great surprise! One of my professors published a book about differentiated instruction and included some of my work in it! So on Monday, I came home to find a copy in my mailbox! (Pages 95 and 96 are my ideas.)

Other goodies came weeks ago, but during my "OMG my world is crashing down" phase, so I'm just now getting them on here. James from Book Chic sent me the following to use in my classroom:

Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream by Jenny Han

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

Tumtum & Nutmeg: The Rose Cottage Tales by Emily Bearn

School of Fear: Class is Not Dismissed by Gitty Daneshvari
President of the Whole Fifth Grade by Sherri Winston

& a bunch of fun book marks.

And two weeks ago, on a trip to Philadelphia, I scored a copy of The Words We Live By by Linda Monk, which is a book about the Constitution - another of my passions. She also signed it for me!

Other than that, things have been pretty boring. I've been reading at a much slower rate than normal, but have read some good books! I'm hoping to catch up by doing some mini reviews in the next few weeks...

So that's what's been going on in my world...how about you?

Guest Post: Liz Rettig

Today, I have Liz Rettig, author of Jumping to Confusions, here with a guest post. You can learn more about Liz at here website, and information about her book is available here. I will be posting my review of Jumping to Confusions later this week.

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, so they say, yet publishers spend oodles of time and money on cover design because, let’s face it, appearances count. Readers are more likely to pick up and take a peak inside a book with an attractive cover than a plain one. I’m afraid in life, love and romance it’s the same – pretty girls are more likely to be browsed than plain ones! But take heart – if the story is no good then the book will be discarded. And if the girl is a boring or nasty, well, she might, or might not, be dumped – guys can be shallow sometimes.

I was a fat, specky, frizzy haired and ugly teen - or so I thought. Looking back at pictures now I was maybe a bit overweight but firm, I had a pretty face and nice eyes which the glasses didn’t ruin like I’d believed, and even my hair was, well, no, a bit of a mess actually but still, I wasn’t the ugly duckling I’d imagined. Quite nice-looking in fact. But with zero confidence and attending an all girls school it was a very long time before my first date. Instead, I had to make up romances in my head. Many real life romances –and a happy marriage - later I’m still doing it.

I started writing my first book My Desperate Love Diary when my daughter was a young teen. She was miles better looking than I’d been at that age, as were most of her friends, yet I noticed that they were all worried about some aspect of their appearance. Too fat, thin, tall or small. Eyes too far apart or too close, nose or feet too big, second toe too large (longer than the big toe), didn’t like their ear lobes, even their underarm shape – I mean really! The irony is that when we are at our most attractive as teens and young women this is the very time when we seem to have least confidence in our looks.

By far the biggest issue with teen girls is weight. Having said that, fat isn’t all in the head if you get my meaning. Young people today - boys and girls - are fatter than their parents’ generation and it’s a real health concern. On the plus side – no pun intended – boys don’t get teased quite as much for being overweight these days as dumpy Dudleys are almost normal. And hefty girls can definitely still find partners – there’s even been talk of the NHS having to fund different heavy duty delivery beds to support the growing number of massive young mothers. All the same we really need to tackle our growing waistlines or face serious health consequences in the future.

So, yes, junk food and lack of exercise these days are real problems. On the other hand, girls of perfectly normal, healthy weight still fret over their size, always wishing they were at least a stone lighter, which makes the simple pleasure of eating a guilty misery. Often their mothers are no help at all as they are desperately dieting too!

This is why I chose to write a story about Cat, a slightly overweight but pretty teen with a skinny, constantly dieting mum who exists on crisp bread, cottage cheese and low fat, artificially sweetened yoghurt. A mum who knows the calories in a single Malteser or half a medium Satsuma and who frowns at her daughter tucking into a lasagne or even a second slice of toast. For good measure, I threw in Cat’s non-identical twin Tess who’s blond, naturally thin, and the hottest girl in the school. Poor Cat. But never fear, she finds self-esteem and her prince charming in the end.

It’s hard to lose inches from your bum or waist when you’re surrounded by temptation and feeling miserably pre-menstrual but at least it’s possible. Pity the poor girl then who hates being too tall. After all, nothing can reduce vertical inches – apart from advanced age and bone disease (not exactly desirable options). When I was at university I’d a girl friend who was almost six feet tall. She was a brilliant astrophysicist but her main aim in life was to snag a boyfriend who would be taller than her in high heels (I mean my friend in high heels of course not the guy). In Glasgow this reduced her pool of available partners to maybe 0.001 percent of the population. Imagine her fury then when I, or one of her other five-feet-nothingish pals, pulled a six foot three hot guy. You could see her point - we didn’t need someone that tall - but were we going to knock back a fit lad out of sense of fairness? Hmm, yeah you guessed it. Sorry.

My university pal was the inspiration for the character Lindsay, Cat’s best friend, in Jumping to Confusions, whose single minded pursuit of tall guys blinds her to the true love of besotted Peter, a crucial ¼ inch shorter than her. In the end however Peter’s bravery and character triumph over inches.

So the message in this story is, yes, appearances matter but they aren’t everything. As for books – I’ve had so many emails from readers saying the gorgeous cover persuaded them to pick up Jumping to Confusions and then they got totally hooked on the story. Hmm… on the other hand some of them did go on an awful lot about that beautiful cover.

Thank you Liz, for being here and sharing such a wonderful post.

Skinny by Ibi Kaslik

author’s website: Ibi Kaslik
release date: September 19, 2006
appeals to: Young Adult
genre: Contemporary / Body Image
length: 256 pages
publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
overall rating: 2.5 Stars
body image & self perception issue: anorexia

*the inside flap*
Holly’s older sister, Giselle, is self-destructing. Haunted by her love-deprived relationship with her late father, Giselle is fighting an all-consuming battle with anorexia. As a track star, Holly struggles to keep her own life in balance while coping with the mental and physical deterioration of her beloved sister. Once a strong role model and top medical student, Giselle is spiraling out of control. And, together, they are holding on for dear life.
This honest look at the special bond between sisters is told from both girls’ perspectives as they narrate alternating chapters. Gritty and often wryly funny, Skinny explores family relationships, love, pain and the hunger for acceptance that drives us all.

*my review*
I had a lot of trouble getting into this book. I picked it up expecting to read a story about two sisters and how they dealt with one of them having an eating disorder. While the book does have the story of two sisters and of how one has an eating disorder, I thought that it talked about so many more topics that I would almost categorize it as a book about self exploration, not just an eating disorder.

The book is told by both Giselle and Holly, and since the girls are very different ages (22 and eighth grade respectively), they do have very different perspectives, which enhances the story. The chapters alternate the narrator, but they aren’t labeled, and it was sometimes difficult to tell who was narrating, especially if you are just picking it up again after a break from reading. It was interesting to read about the girls different explorations as this book progressed. Giselle tells about many of her explorations as memories, and does touch on topics of bisexuality, drug use, drinking, and her history and experiences at medical school. Holly is experiencing things quite differently because she is younger and is trying to discover herself (although she doesn’t say that is what she is doing, and she may not even recognize that is what she is doing, but it is interesting to read). Holly deals with peer pressure in terms of athletics, drinking, drugs, her own body, and boys. Some of these topics lead to some rather explicit explanations, and while the descriptions may be true to topic, they may also be inappropriate for younger readers of YA books.

This book is written in a kind of “stream of consciousness” style that I didn’t care for. There was especially a lot of this when Giselle narrated. She had an interesting internal struggle with a very different version of herself. It was almost as if her intellect was arguing with the disease, but it was difficult to follow sometimes. Even when I was reading and enjoying certain parts of the story, I wasn’t drawn to pick it up. The book dealt with a number of issues that can be important to teenagers, and may appeal to others, but I didn’t care for it.

In My Mailbox (#12)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme that talks about books that have been bought, swapped, received for review, or borrowed from the library. It is hosted by Kristy at The Story Siren.

This is the first week that I actually received someghing in my mailbox! Last week, Elizabeth Scott had a twitter contest to win a free YA book, and I won! I got my book in the mail on Wednesday and was super excited because it came autographed to me!

In My Mailbox:
The Unwritten Rule – Elizabeth Scott
Other than that, I didn’t get anything because I was preparing to leave for a week at an awesome teacher workshop at James Madison University. I’ve been here two days and the workshop is great and the campus is beautiful.

What did you get in your mailboxes?

Second Star to the Right by Deborah Hautzig

author’s website: Deborah Hautzig
original publication date: August 1981
reissued in 1999 by Puffin Books
appeals to: Young Adult
topic: Eating Disorder (anorexia)
length: 158 pages
overall rating: 3 stars
body image & self perception issue: anorexia

*the back cover*
Leslie Hiller is a bright, attractive, talented teenager who leads a privileged life in New York City. She is also a perfectionist. When she starts something, whether it’s a drawing or her homework, she will not stop until it is truly finished. This time, she has started to diet. And Leslie finds herself becoming obsessed, getting thinner and thinner, until she is forced to realize that her quest for perfection is killing her.

*my review*
There were many things about this book that I liked, and many that I didn’t, but the first paragraph of this book was at the top of things I did like. The book starts, “It’s hard to know where to begin . . . I wonder if there’s even such a thing as a beginning . . .” In terms of a story about a girl with an eating disorder, it was interesting that our narrator couldn’t even define where or when it began. She goes on to describe her life as a normal 14-year-old girl living in New York. However, soon we realize that Leslie is obsessed with how she looks. In fact, by page 12, she is describing herself - 5’5.5” and 125 pounds – and says, “If I were think, my life would be perfect” (p. 12). This becomes her mantra throughout the story.

The major struggle with the eating disorder doesn’t begin there. In fact, the beginning of the problem reminded me of a line in the movie, “The Devil Wears Prada,” where a character says, “I’m on stomach flu away from my goal weight.” That seems like such a crazy statement, but for Leslie, that is exactly how her downward spiral into the eating disorder began. During winter break, Leslie had the stomach flu, and when she realizes that the flu caused her to lose enough weight that her jeans were too big, she is motivated to start (and stick to) a diet. The diet she chooses doesn’t seem to bad at first: healthy food and some sit ups are things we could all try. But she takes it to the extreme, working her way from 45 to nearly 700 sit ups, and restricting her food to what I’d estimate is no more than 500 and probably closer to 400 calories a day.

As the story progresses and her disorder becomes more and more severe, a number of changes happen, both physical and psychological. She stops having her period as her weight falls and falls and falls. Even when people point out how thin she is getting, she doesn’t believe it. At one point (p. 51) she and her best friend Cavett have a conversation that captures how twisted Leslie’s self image is. Basically, Cavett wants to know when Leslie is going to be eating again, and Leslie replies by saying, “When I’m thin enough.” Cavett is shocked and says as much, but Leslie continues to affirm that while Cavett IS thin, she isn’t.

At different places in the book, Leslie comments on her current weight and on her goal weight of 105. The scary thing is that when she reaches her goal and still doesn’t feel thin, she keeps losing. She restricts her food intake even more and soon loses the energy to get through the day. But still, she loses weight. There are sentences scattered throughout the novel that count down the pounds with ticks (for example “100, 99, 98, 97, tick, tick, tick.” p. 63) and still, Leslie’s mantra is “I’ll know when I’m thin enough because I’ll be happy.” (p. 61).

One thing that was strange in this novel is that Leslie didn’t want to be sick, she was willing to go to doctors, therapists, psychiatrists, and even to be hospitalized. She just wanted to be thin above all else. When her mother suggests doctors, Leslie goes willingly, even though she knows she is well below the healthy weight for her body. She even agrees to be hospitalized, and yet, she continues to lose weight.

Even though this book was relatively short, I found that it took me a long time to read it. Some places were very slow moving, and others were just difficult to read. Sometimes, there would be paragraphs of Leslie’s thoughts that kind of spiraled around without really making a point, and I kind of got lost during those sections. I didn’t think that they really advanced the plot or added much to her character. And the part I was most disappointed with was the ending. As the end of the book drew closer, I wanted there to be some kind of closure or conclusion, but there really wasn’t. In fact, the book ends with one of Leslie’s thought sequences, and while there were a few good points, it didn’t have enough for me. I even turned the page hoping for a little bit more conclusion! Instead, I found the author’s afterward, and truthfully, that made the best conclusion the book could possibly have had. The afterward doesn’t have spoilers in it, so you could read it at any time, and I think it makes the book so much more meaningful. I’ll leave you with a quote from the afterward:
“Anorexia . . . is not something to be ashamed of. It’s not something to be proud of. It isn’t anybody’s ‘fault.’ It’s an illness – a life-threatening illness – and it’s treatable.” (p. 157 – in the afterward)

*short and snappy*
writing: the book was published in 1981, and I think you can feel the age of the writing. It sounds weird, but I really think that the writing style of YA literature has changed a lot in the last 29 years, and this is reflective of its time.
plot: varied – some places were slow, others moved quickly and kept you hooked
characters: frustrating – Leslie really captures the essence of a girl with anorexia, but it is still frustrating to read her flippantly talking about how she just isn’t thin enough – what makes her a bit more likable is the fact that she doesn’t want to be hurting her family and she does make an effort to explain to them that she can’t help her disorder.
judging by the cover: As I was looking for images of the cover, I actually found three. The first is the one that matched the book I read, but the other two paint interesting pictures too!

Interview with Allen Zadoff

Today, I have Allen Zadoff, author of Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have, here for an interview. You can find my review of his book here, and more information about him on his website.

What are your feelings/opinions on how YA books deal with the topic of body image and self esteem?
I have to be honest and say I don’t really know how YA deals with this issue as a whole. I’m really writing my own experience in these books. In FOOD, GIRLS, I tried to write about what it felt like for me to be different in the world, both in high school and as an adult. I will say this: Life was complex for me as a kid, and I prefer books, films, and tv shows that portray it this way. I like stuff that is juicy, interesting, difficult, and amazing. What doesn’t work for me: “fat kid miraculously becomes thin and life is perfect”. That may happen from time to time, but it never happened to me!

There is a lot of pressure on teens (from the media and from their peers) to look a certain way, but it seems like more books are aimed at girls than boys. What are your thoughts about this? Do you think a market exists for more body image books for boys?
Absolutely! And I’m writing them. I think the male perspective in YA is very important, and I actually get more letters from girls than I do from boys. I think it’s exciting for girls to get a window into the male mind, and to know that boys have feelings, too, including feelings about their bodies, how they look, and how others look at them. I think it’s less cool for boys to talk about this stuff in our culture, so I try to write about it. I hope boys will read it and feel less alone. When I was a kid, I felt like I was crazy and I was the only one thinking about this stuff. Only much later did I learn that it wasn’t true.

The main character in your book is a high school sophomore, but the book could appeal to readers who are older or younger (in my opinion). Was there a reason for Andy’s age?
When I wrote FOOD, GIRLS, I was thinking about my own life when I was 15 years old. I fell in love for the first time around then, and I was really struggling with food and my weight. That’s why I made Andrew that age. But as a novelist, it’s my job to write from a lot of different perspectives, and I get a surprising number of letters from adults who really connect with the book. My favorite type of letter: “I’m reading this at the same time as my son/daughter, and we’re both laughing and loving it!”

What was the most challenging part of writing “Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have”? What was the most rewarding?
I really enjoyed writing FOOD, GIRLS, and I think the biggest challenge was to tell the truth as best I could but to do it in an entertaining way. Although I did not have Andrew Zansky’s exact experience in high school (I never played football, for instance, though I was asked), I was definitely a fat kid and felt many of the same feelings as Andrew. The most rewarding thing is to be able to share it with readers. As was mentioned before, there’s not a lot of YA from the male perspective, especially when it comes to body image issues.

You’ve also written a memoir that is aimed at adult audiences. How was that experience different from writing for teens? Do you prefer one over the other?
I wrote a memoir for adults called HUNGRY: LESSONS LEARNED ON THE JOURNEY FROM FAT TO THIN. It talks about my real world experiences losing over 150 pounds when I was 28 years old. Imagine that. I was fat for nearly 28 years, and now I’m a normal weight. It’s like I’ve lived two different lives, and I wanted to talk about that. While I loved writing HUNGRY and I hope it’s helped and inspired a lot of people, I’m a big fan of the YA community. The readers are more passionate, more organized, and really excited about books! There’s nothing that makes an author feel better than to meet people who love reading, and YA people are like that. So no offense to the adult marketplace, but YA is much cooler!

What are you working on now?
I’m very excited about my next novel. It’s called MY LIFE, THE THEATER, AND OTHER TRAGEDIES. It’s a high school theater novel with a very interesting twist. It’s told from the perspective of the techies, the backstage crew who are at war with the actors. The main character is an aspiring lighting designer. I loved theater when I was in high school, and I actually ran the undergraduate theater company when I went to Cornell, so this is a topic that is really personal to me. The novel is funny and sad all mixed together. It’s due next Spring from Egmont-USA. You’ll be hearing a lot more about it soon.

What are some of your favorite books or authors?
I’m very lucky to meet and work with amazing YA authors now, people who inspire me as artists and a few of whom I’ve gotten to hang out with. Forgive me for just mentioning the guys here, but here I go: Andrew Smith, Barry Lyga, Ben Esch, James Lecesne, Francisco Stork, Blake Nelson. If you haven’t read their work, I recommend it!

Thanks Allen for answering some questions and for participating in Body Image and Self Perception Month!

Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have by Allen Zadoff

author’s website: Allen Zadoff
release date: September 8, 2009
(paperback release: February 22, 2011)
appeals to: Young Adult
genre: Contemporary / Body Image
length: 320 pages
publisher: EgmontUSA
overall rating: 5 stars
body image & self perception issue: obesity (male protagonist)

*the inside flap*
What’s worse than being fat your freshman year? Being fat your sophomore year.

Life used to be so simple for Andrew Zansky – hand with the Model UN guys, avoid gym class, and eat and eat and eat. He’s used to not fitting in: into his family, his sports-crazed school, or his size 48 pants.

But not anymore. Andrew just met April, the new girl at school and the instant love of his life! He wants to find a way to win her over, but how? When O. Douglas, the heartthrob quarterback and high-school legend, saves him from getting beaten up by the school bully, Andrew sees his chance to get in with the football squad.

Is it possible to reinvent yourself in the middle of high school? Andrew is willing to try. But he’s going to have to make some changes. Fast.

How far should you go to be the person you really want to be?

Andrew is about to find out.

*my review*
This is an interesting novel that covers many more topics than it would seem by reading the cover. This book talks about weight, self esteem, divorce, insecurity, friendship, and the hierarchy of “cool” that happens in high school. That’s a lot of meat for a novel that’s only 311 pages long, but it works beautifully. Allen Zadoff merges these topics into a truly excellent story about the life of an overweight teenager.

Andrew Zansky isn’t just a little overweight. He is big enough that he actually has to worry about fitting into the new desks at school. He even refers to himself as fat – he says it runs in his family. And while he doesn’t want to be fat, he doesn’t do a ton to change it, which I think has to do with the pressure his mom puts on him. She isn’t comfortable with her weight, and she projects those insecurities toward Andy by encouraging diets. Truthfully, it is because she doesn’t want Andy to struggle with the same problem, but putting pressure on Andy isn’t helping. Also creating issues is Andy’s sister Jessica, who happens to be super skinny. (Enter one of my favorite lines of the book: “There’s a lot of fat in our family, but there’s some thin, too. Dad is thin and athletic, and my sister Jessica is super skinny. She’s also a super bitch, so there’s clearly no correlation between being skinny and being nice, at least in her case.” p. 2-3)

Andy seems to be living a pretty decent high school life, until he meets April – the girl of his dreams – and decides that he wants to impress her. This leads to perhaps the most embarrassing situation I can imagine happening in high school. And obviously, it isn’t very impressive either. Things seem to go worse and worse for Andy, until the quarter-back (and high school superstar) O. Douglas suddenly becomes Andy’s friend. Andy goes out for the football team and finds that he actually isn’t half bad. What is interesting is that throughout this transformation, Andy loses touch with his old best friend, and begins to change who he is.

Anything else would spoil the ending, but I highly recommend this book to female or male readers of any age. It is an incredibly story with a lot of depth to it if – especially if you really pay attention.

*short and snappy*
writing: easy and fun to read – the writing pulls you into the story and definitely captures the feel of high school life
plot: not at all what I expected – this is not the cliché high school novel
characters: Andy has a lot of depth, but it is the well developed minor characters (Eyton, Mom, Dad, O, and April) that make the book come alive
memorable line:
judging by the cover: brilliant! The cover ties directly into the story if you look at the details
miscellaneous: You can read an excerpt from “Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have” here (scroll down for the link), and tomorrow, Allen Zadoff will “be here” for an interview!

If you’ve read the book, or don’t mind spoilers, I have a bit more to say:
I absolutely loved the depth of Andy's character and the fact that he realized that he wasn't playing football for the right reasons. It sounds a bit pessimistic, I suppose, but I liked that Andy didn't get the girl and lose 100 pound at the end of the book - it would have been too cliché. This story felt much more realistic because those things didn't happen, and I think that people will really be able to better relate to the character because of that.