BOOKTALK: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Our class assignment this week was to make a "booktalk". For this unfamiliar with what a booktalk is, here's a basic description from Wikipedia:

"A booktalk in the broadest terms is what is spoken with the intent to convince someone to read a book. Booktalks are traditionally conducted in a classroom setting for students. However, booktalks can be performed outside a school setting and with a variety of age groups as well. It is not a book review or a book report or a book analysis. The booktalker gives the audience a glimpse of the setting, the characters, and/or the major conflict without providing the resolution or denouement. Booktalks make listeners care enough about the content of the book to want to read it."

Me and my partner for this assignment, Avery, decided to do ours on a favourite we both share: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins which you can view above. Take a look, and I hope you enjoy! 

REVIEW: Wet Moon vol. 1: Feeble Wanderings by Ross Campbell

Wet Moon vol 1.: Feeble Wanderings 
Author: Ross Campbell
Illustrator: Ross Campbell
Publisher: Oni Press
Genre: Contemporary / Realistic Fiction
Pages: 184
ISBN: 9781932664072

Review: For class this week, our primary readings were graphic novels. The other selections were Smile Raina Telegemeier, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki and Black Hole by Charles Burns. I was fortunate enough to be able to read all of these titles, but I decided to focus on Wet Moon, as it was my favourite reading of the five.

The Story: Wet Moon takes place in a fictional southern U.S. town of the same name and largely follows the life of Cleo Lovedrop and her group of friends. There are some secondary characters who are featured as well: Myrtle, who works at a video store and encounters Cleo and her friends, and Fern, a young Asian woman living in a mansion in the bayou who is clearly interested in Cleo (though it's not clear why at this point.) 

There is no plot perse; the plot consists of Cleo and co.'s every day lives. There's gossip, and parties and the woes of moving out of home and starting community college. At first this turned me off somewhat.. I was wondering what the point of everything was. But the more I became acquainted with the characters, the more I found myself immersing myself in these characters lives. There are also several threads introduced in this first volume that are not resolved by the end, leaving readers with something to look forward to in future ones. For example, what is the deal with Cleo and Vincent? Why is Fern interested in Cleo? How is Myrtle going to be incorporated into the plot? 

The characters, following the realistic style of the plot, are realistically drawn themselves. Who hasn't experienced the angst and cynicism that Cleo exhibits? Or the nervousness of moving out and having to live with strangers? The supporting characters are equally vivid and brought to life, and also represent a wide swath of young adult experiences (alternative lifestyles and glbtq most prominently.) 

The Art: Campbell's art style is what initially drew me to this title. I loved Campbell's clean lines and attention to detail (especially in the clothing and styling of the goth/punk characters.) I also loved that the characters presented a breadth of body types. One of the stereotypes of comics (though this is more akin to superhero comics) is the idealized and fetishized versions of women's bodies that are often presented, with the large busts and perfect hourglass figures. This is not the case here: we have characters like Cleo, Myrtle and Mara who are on the rounder side, alongside characters like Tilby who have narrower frames. 

The great things about graphic novels is the interplay between the images and the words, and sometimes it's the images that say a lot more than the words. Wet Moon has many pages where there is absolutely no text; there is so much subtext, so much left unsaid that must be inferred from the images and Campbell's pulls off this feat wonderfully. For example, no explanation is given about Cleo's behaviour around Vincent, but the recurring image of her putting her hand to her stomach, and then subsequent scenes of her shown spinning in front of the window in the moonlight can give readers a pretty good idea of what may be going on. In this way, Campbell truly embraces the graphic novel format and it is this subtlety that made me fall in love with it.

Reader's Advisory: From a reader's advisory perspective, I am curious how this graphic novel would resonate with teen readers. I think that older young adults (17-25 age range) would relate to the characters and the plot of the story. The characters and their interactions feels like it was ripped right out of real life and transplanted on the page. But the story is very understated, which may appear slow or pointless to some readers. Readers must also be adept visual readers, as much of the story is not found in the words, but the pictures, and a lot is left unsaid that can only be inferred from the visuals.

Overall, I loved this graphic novel and would not hesitate to recommend it to young adult readers (though I would be cognizant of the points I listed above). The amazing art, and the authenticity of the characters and their relationships drew me in, and there are several threads left unresolved that have made me want to come back for more.

REVIEW: House Party by Eric Walters

House Party (2007)
Author: Eric Walters
Publisher: Orca Soundings
Genre: Contemporary/Realistic Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 102 (pocket paperback)

Summary: As the new girl in a strange town, Casey is trying desperately to fit in and make friends. When her parents leave town for the weekend, her friend suggests she have a house party. Casey is reluctant to go along, until she realizes maybe this is the answer to fitting in and making friends--and getting back at her parents. They invite a few people and then a few more, using msn and text messaging. Hundreds of people show up and things get out of hand. Casey is in more trouble than she thought possible and now she must decide whether--and how--to do the right thing. 

Review: This week, my YA class was assigned to read a title published under the Orca Soundings imprint. I had no prior knowledge of this publisher before, but after reading this title I've discovered that this is an imprint that publishes novels for presumably reluctant readers, often featuring some kind of "issue" driving the plot. In this case, we have our main protagonist Casey, who's lying to her mother about staying at a friend's house while her parents are away on a trip and caves under the pressure of aforementioned friend to throw a party at her now-empty house. 

It's hard to properly review this book because it sets out to be a specific kind of story and it does so. This book is short, the language is simple, there's a lot of dialogue, and the action moves at a clipping pace. Was it riveting? For me, personally, not really. But I'm also not the intended audience. I am curious how reluctant young adult readers would receive this. Since the majority of the novel is dialogue, it stays pretty focused on the plot and doesn't bother with too much description which I think is a good way to approach enticing reluctant readers -- in my experience, oftentimes they feel drowned in the details or their minds wander when there's too much description. The clipping pace due to the short length of the story should also hopefully keep them hooked; there's no meandering here. 

What does bother me about this book -- and this whole imprint actually -- is that it appears to be reverting back to the "issues book" trend that was so prevalent in the '80s. Every book in Orca Soundings deals with some kind of heavy teen issue and it is the focus of the story at the expense of all else. There's no character development, the secondary characters are flat and are present merely to fill in specific roles and stereotypes, and the moral lessons are about as subtle as a hammer to the head. Do reluctant readers need to be talked down to and have merely shocking issues thrown at them to entice them to read? I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with this kind of fiction, nor is there anything wrong with reading and enjoying it (I'm trying to be conscientious of being judgmental of what others read after our class discussion from two weeks ago when we discussed award winners) but surely we can present reluctant readers with more quality literature while still adjusting to their reading needs?

I was also annoyed by the short instances of fat-shaming.  Casey notes that her friend is only "plump" and not "fat", but also berates her for liking sweets and baked goods, and notes how she has a "weight problem" and is always trying to lose a few pounds. Considering the short length of this novel, every detail is important and has an impact, so I was annoyed that this is how Walters chose to characterize Jen. What was the point? It had no bearing on the plot whatsoever, except maybe to highlight that Jen was insecure, but this could have been accomplished in a number of different ways.

 Overall, I wasn't particularly impressed with this title. While it's largely inoffensive and serviceable, the fat-shaming and the less-than-subtle moral lesson deterred from being able to enjoy it for what it is. While the simple writing style and the large amount of dialogue could potentially hook reluctant readers, the morally-driven plot felt too condescending to the intended audience. I like to think that there's a way to present more quality literature to reluctant readers without having to resort to "issue novels" to grab their attention, but maybe I'm being too idealistic? Am I being too snobby? I'm not sure, but I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts!