homelessness-runaways « WordPress.com Tag Feed

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Kathryn Fay — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:22:04 +0000

GENRE: Realistic Fiction

Title: Salvage the Bones
Author: Jesmyn Ward

Recommended for: Mature ages 14 and up

Readers Annotation: Hurricane Katrina is coming, 14-year-old Esch is feeling the effects of her pregnancy and her sordid life with the males she lives with; there is simply no way to prepare for what is coming…

Plot Summary: Esch, pregnant and 14, is the only daughter among four male siblings whose mother died during the birth of the last one. Her father is a drunk doing his pitiful best to hold the family together. Precocious and sensitive, Esch speaks almost entirely in phrases that reflect the poverty that defines her community-gritty, raw, brutal and alive. Salvage the Bones takes place over twelve days told in twelve chapters surrounding Hurricane Katrina. Esch and her brothers – Skeetah, whose life and passions revolve around his prized fighting pit bull dog and her puppies…Randall, whose dream is to get a basketball camp scholarship…and Junior, the youngest – are a unit who support each other. As Katrina closes in…and the internal storms play out…we view an unforgettable world steeped with violence, tenderness and unimaginable loss.

Critical Examination: Whoa. Beautifully and brutally written. Layers upon layers of complex vulnerability pared with the strength that can only manifest along the deep journey of love. This book leaves you with the taste of blood, visceral raw emotion, and a sense of deep, powerless connection to the one thing we can all count on in life-CHANGE.

Information about the Author: Jesmyn Ward is a former Stegner Fellow (Stanford University), and the Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi. She is an assistant professor of Creative Writing at the University of South Alabama. Her novels, Where the Line Bleeds (her first book) and Salvage the Bones, are both set on the Mississippi coast where she grew up.

Book Talking Ideas: What examples of love amidst the fierce brutality are found in this story?

Challenge Issues: Violent and truthfully brutal. This book is not for everyone, but those who cannot hack it, will stop reading.

Why I included this book: I am a sucker for brutally honest, heart-wrenching and beautifully written realistic fiction stories-this one fits to the core.

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman

Kathryn Fay — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:23:34 +0000

GENRE: Historical FictionTitle: The Midwife’s Apprentice
Author: Karen Cushman

Copyright Date: 1996, August
Publisher: Harper Trophy
ISBN: 006440630XRecommended for: young adults ages 12-18, adults too love this book-a quick read

Readers Annotation: In medieval times, life was dirty, smelly, hard and short, especially if you weren’t upper class; for Beetle, life is about starting with nothing, and with some luck and smarts, making a path for herself.

Plot Summary: In early 14th century in England, a bold and street-smart (actually, dirt, country-road smart) urchin prevails through grit and wit. The main character is small and weak, but she fits the criteria of a hero. Often frightened but never cowed, Alyce knows what she wants: “a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.” Only through fierce determination, trial and hardship does she find a solid footing. Alyce has just about everything against her that could be against her. She’s the lowest creature on a strictly observed social ladder: female, young, homeless, and nameless. She is called “dung beetle” or worse by everyone, is regularly kicked and slapped by her mistress, and suffers much humiliation from local folk. Everybody around Alyce cheats, steals, and abuses those lower than themselves. Societal ranking ensured that everyone is superior to someone, and that someone had better watch out. But Alyce has a more compassionate heart, and when she discovers one lower than herself, a runt of a boy barely 7 years old, she becomes his protector.

Details about 14th-century birthing practices and beliefs are rendered with sharp clarity, as are those regarding food preparation, living conditions and social customs. For a time Alyce works at an inn, learning myriad ways to “economize” by cheating the customers (e.g. adding sawdust to pies and water to beer). But she finds her true calling as the apprentice to the local midwife, and one does not doubt that someday she will be a formidable one herself.

Critical Examination: A very quick read, with a lot of historical research, very well done. The setting is described well and the conditions Beetle had to endure were accurate with the time period. I’m amazed at both how much and how little people of this era new about pregnancy and childbirth.While the cover of this book seems to be geared toward children, it is NOT a child’s book. Childbirth and pregnancy (in medieval times) are covered in detail and are not pretty. The author includes a helpful closing note explaining medieval midwifery practices (“a combination of common sense, herbal knowledge, and superstition”).

Information about the Author: Karen Cushman was born in Chicago, Illinois and lives now on Vashon Island west of Seattle, Washington. She received an M.A. in human behavior and one in museum studies. Ms. Cushman has had a lifelong interest in history. She says, “I grew tired of hearing about kings, princes, generals, presidents. I wanted to know what ordinary life was like for ordinary young people in other times.” Research into medieval English history and culture led to the writing of her first two novels, the Newbery Honor book CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY and the Newbery Medal-winner THE MIDWIFE’S APPRENTICE. She is also the author of MATILDA BONE, THE BALLAD OF LUCY WHIPPLE, RODZINA, and most recently ALCHEMY AND MEGGY SWANN.

Book Talking Ideas: What was it truly like to live as a peasant woman in medieval times? How hard was life truly?

Challenge Issues: There are some touchy moments (the near rape of Beetle by drunken boys, the midwife’s affair with the baker, the well described births) that might make the squeamish (or their parents) uncomfortable. But all are delivered in an honest, realistic way. The birth scenes were especially graphic. In another disturbing scene, a cat is tied into a sack and thrown in the river by some boys.

Why I included this book:As a young woman and mother, this book had a profound effect on me. The details and descriptions in the book were written with such clarity that the scenes I painted in my mind remain memorable and vivid to this day. I birthed two of my three children with midwives and have always been interested in herbal remedies and woman’s historical tribulations and innate powers…this book is a quick read and I recommend it often to all ‘mature’ women.

Teen Voices Magazine

Kathryn Fay — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 07:15:08 +0000

Genre/Format: Print & Online Magazine

Title: Teen Voices (magazine)

Publisher: Teen Voices, Inc Boston, MA (published 2x a year)

Features editor: Katie Bayerl

ISBN: 10747974

Recommended for: Young women, ages 14 to 18

Readers Annotation: Teen Voices is an intelligent alternative to boy-crazed, fashion-oriented teen magazines. Written by and for teen girls, it is packed with thought-provoking, positive solutions on real-life topics.

Plot Summary: Teen Voices is not your average teen magazine. It is a print and online magazine for teen girls, WRITTEN BY teen girls. The mission: “Teen Voices supports and educates teen girls to amplify their voices and create social change through media.” Teen Voices is not just a magazine but a non-profit organization that supports teens’ development in creating the magazine and mentors teens through the process. Teen Voices also supports teen girls’ leadership development and social justice awareness and activism by providing positive, powerful, and empowering media that are the alternatives to mainstream media that often exploit women and girls.

Articles in Teen Voices cover a wide breadth of topics, like arts and music, book reviews and author interviews, diversity and equality, food, health, the media, careers, teen activism, relationships, social networking. The magazine also includes fiction and poetry written by teen girls. Recent articles include:

*Missing in Mexico: The disappeared Girls of Juarez

*Crossing Boundaries: Transgendered Lives

*When Girls Drop Out

Critical Examination: The content of Teen Voices, like the voices it represents, is diverse and intelligent. Since teens are creating content, the magazine is highly relevant and authentic. Articles cover real-life issues and, while there is always room for fun, the magazine addresses young women as competent, intelligent people with the ability to think and analyze and question the status quo. Other teen magazines, with their emphasis on appearance and social status, do not compare to the depth and strength of the content in Teen Voices. Teen Voices and its staff have received awards and honors, that acknowledge the important and life-changing work that the organization does.

Challenge Issues: There are many real issues that young women deal with covered in this magazine, so there might be a challenge to some of the content. However, this magazine has won awards and has a positive review in School Library Journal.

Why I included this magazine: It is so important to positively empower young women! Offering literary alternatives to the status quo and leadership mentoring is one way. This magazine is doing all of this well; I wish I had a resource like this growing up.