By Dena Little
Originally posted at YALSA’s The Hub
YA books with characters who are deaf or hard of hearing, or live with family members who are deaf, are few and far between, but they’re out there! These books have all the good stuff: first love, heartbreak, peer pressure, growing pains … but with the added perspective of teens who experience life in a diverse community.
Read My Lips by Teri Brown
Serena will do just about anything to fit in at her new high school, so when some popular girls find out that she is crazy good at reading lips, they befriend her hoping she can snoop out all the good gossip. But how far is Serena willing to go to reach the top of the school food-chain?Of Sound Mind by Jean Ferris
Theo has grown up as the only hearing member of his deaf family, and from a young age he was tasked with interpreting between his signing parents and the speaking world. As he comes of age, Theo recognizes his growing resentment of his family — especially his demanding and off-balance mom — but when his father has a stroke, the responsibilities of the family land on Theo’s shoulders.Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John
High school senior Piper is hit with the news that her parents have used her college funds to help pay for her little sister’s cochlear implants, so she strikes out to find a way to replenish her money and her self-worth. When the opportunity to become the manager of popular teen rock band, Dumb, is offered to her she grabs it and runs, soon finding out that her role as manager isn’t just about getting gigs for the band, but to referee the members and provide some needed leadership. However, her role as manager comes into question when Piper’s own deafness appears to be a barrier to her potential success in the music industry.Strong Deaf by Lynn McElfresh
Strong Deaf captures the dichotomous relationship between two sisters who live in the same house but different worlds: Jade, the only hearing member of a deaf family, and her sister Marla, who antagonizes and shuts Jade out for not “fitting in” to the deaf community. These sisters have some serious sibling rivalry going on!Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby
13-year-old Joey Willis feels isolated as she struggles to communicate with everyone around her. Deaf since she was a young child, Joey never learned sign language because her mother insists that Joey “listens” by reading lips. When Joey’s chance meeting with an elderly neighbor and his signing Chimpanzee, Sukari, leads her to begin learning American Sign Language, Joey is finally able to communicate and experience friendship. When Sukari’s life is threatened, Joey has to find the courage to stand up for Sakuri’s rights, as well as her own.
Basically, the thing is, YA writers, if you want to have your love interest be the Bad Boy, that’s fine. But Bad Boys are the guy smoking in the bathroom, not the guy putting his cigarettes out on your protagonist’s skin.
And then talking real pretty about it so it’s okay!
It’s not okay.
Teacher and blogger Jillian Heise shares her must-read young adult books.
Pretty good list! I can vouch for at least 75% of these books.
This year’s Printz Winner (In Darkness) and the four Printz Honor books. People who whine about “no good YA” and “all YA being paranormal romance with drippy heroines:” here. Read these.
“Delirium, penned by Karyn Usher (Prison Break), is based on a bestselling trilogy about a world where love is deemed illegal and is able to be eradicated with a special procedure. But with 95 days to go until her scheduled treatment, lead character Lena Holoway does the unthinkable and falls in love.Oops. Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope join Usher as EPs.”
If all goes well, we could possibly be watching the pages of Delirium unfold on our tv screens this fall!
awww yay guys i can already tell i’m going to LOVE my adolscent literature class! i’m reading the first article and it’s all about taking the genre seriously and how important it is which IS SO GREAT
except i do not want to write a literacy narrative. i’m an english major for god’s sakes how many different ways do you want me to say that I REALLY LIKE READING
Mama, Mama, put me to bed
I won’t make it home, I’m already half-dead.
I met an Invalid, and fell for his art
He showed me his smile, and went straight for my heart.
But the point, the point, is that whenever I hear someone talking about how it’s wrong to have sex and sexiness in YA novels, what I actually hear is this:
I’m terrified that the first fictional sex a teenage girl encounters might leave her feeling good about herself. I’m terrified that fictional sex might actually make teenage girls think sex can be fun and good, that reading about girls who say no and boys who listen when they say it might give them the confidence to say no, too – or worse still, to realise that boys who don’t listen to ‘no’ aren’t worth it. I’m terrified that YA novels might teach teenage girls the distinction between assault and consensual sex, and give them the courage to speak out about the former while actively seeking the latter. I’m terrified that teenage girls might think seriously about the circumstances under which they might say yes to sex; that they might think about contraception before they need it, and touch themselves in bed at night while fantasising about generous, interesting, beautiful lovers who treat them with consideration and respect. I’m terrified of a generation of teenage girls who aren’t shy or squeamish about asking for cunnilingus when they want it, or about loving more than one person at once, and who don’t feel shame about their arousal. I’m terrified that teenage girls might take control of their sexuality and, in so doing, take that control of them and their bodies away from me.
"# !!!
# eep
# so proud of john and this novel is so deserving
# book:
# the fault in our stars
# ya lit
Time Magazine just named The Fault in Our Stars the best novel of 2012—ahead of (Booker Award winner) Bringing Up the Bones, ahead of J. K. Rowling and Zadie Smith and Junot Diaz.
Unbelievable. I am astonished and grateful and I have a strong desire to curse with joy, but I won’t, because this is tumblr, where no one uses foul language.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Portion of Goodreads.com summary:
Up until senior year, Greg has maintained total social invisibility. He only has one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time—when not playing video games and avoiding Earl’s terrifying brothers— making movies, their own versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Greg would be the first one to tell you his movies are f*@$ing terrible, but he and Earl don’t make them for other people. Until Rachel.
This book has not only one of the more interesting titles of 2012, but also one of the most enticing covers. I was instantly drawn to it for these reasons and was looking forward to a story with the same sort of spunk.
Greg is definitely a one of a kind narrator. He is extraordinarily candid and honest with the reader. He is the first to admit that that he is a bad writer and that this book will probably be awful. Despite this, Greg’s personality and unique writing style are the main reasons why this book is enjoyable.
Greg narrates the story in a variety of ways including regular prose, lists, and screenplay format. By doing this, Andrews (and Greg) is able to effectively get his point across without including copious amounts of unnecessary detail.
Greg is a likable narrator and Earl is quite the interesting sidekick, however besides the creative format, there was nothing that I loved about this book. It’s a pretty good story and a quick read, but I didn’t really take anything away from it.
Pretty much from the beginning you realize that this book is supposed to be the antithesis of other YA books that feature kids with cancer. Nobody has any earth shattering revelations about the meaning of life, there are no poetic monologues, etc.
Although I agree that some books get a little cheesy/cliche in that way, I also think that some of the unrealistic-ness of those types of books are what make them good fiction. What we read in books shouldn’t be and usually isn’t something that would normally happen in real life. So while I appreciated Andrews’ approach to the story, I’m not sure it necessarily made it “better” than other kinds of YA novels.
Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)
Read If You Like: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, It’s Kind of A Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, Filmmaking
Chris Colfer introduces John Green at the BEA breakfast (and then John talks about fanfiction)
![girlwithapumpkintattoo:
But then I wanted more time so we could fall in love. I got my wish, I suppose. I left my scar. […] What else? She is so beautiful. You don’t get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is smarter than you: You know she is. She is funny without ever being mean. I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.
— The Fault In Our Stars](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4gj96K1H71qdop7jo1_500.png)
But then I wanted more time so we could fall in love. I got my wish, I suppose. I left my scar. […] What else? She is so beautiful. You don’t get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is smarter than you: You know she is. She is funny without ever being mean. I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.
— The Fault In Our Stars
top five ships | quentin “q” jacobsen/margo roth spiegelman (paper towns)
you can’t divorce margo the person from margo the body. you can’t see one without seeing the other. you looked at margo’s eyes and you saw both their blueness and their margo-ness. in the end, you could not say margo roth spiegelman was fat, or that she was skinny, any more than you can say that the eiffel tower is or is not lonely. margo’s beauty was a kind of sealed vessel of perfection - uncracked and uncrackable.
