Thirteen Reasons Why

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why
Author: Jay Asher
Publisher: Razorbill
Copyright: 2007
ISBN: 9781595141712

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 8-12

Genre: Issues--Bullying

Reader’s Annotation: Hannah Baker's "Thirteen Reasons Why" are 13 people whose actions contributed to her suicide.

Plot Summary
Hannah Baker was Clay’s longtime secret crush. Just weeks after they finally kissed, she committed suicide. Two weeks later, Clay arrives home to find a package with his name on it. Inside are cassette tapes Hannah recorded before she died. In the tapes Hannah details the incidents that led to her suicide, implicating 13 people whose actions contributed to her decision. Since Clay received the tapes, he’s one of the 13.

Clay has no idea what he could’ve done to make Hannah want to kill herself. To find out, he listens to the agonizing stories while walking around his town, visiting the scenes of the crimes per Hannah’s wishes. He learns how Hannah developed a reputation she didn’t deserve, and how people responded to that reputation in ways that made her feel ever more isolated and hopeless. Some of the incidents are petty, some criminal, but Hannah methodically reveals how they are all connected and how their emotional effects grew overwhelming.

Critical Evaluation
The novel’s compelling voices, tight plotting, and dark themes combine to make it a suspenseful, harrowing read. Asher has managed to create authentic voices for both Hannah and Clay, who trade the narration back and forth as Clay listens to Hannah’s voice and interjects his own thoughts. Both Hannah’s pain as she tells and Clay’s as he listens are palpable.

The biggest plausibility problem is the exactitude of Hannah’s narrative. It’s implied that she’s speaking freely, without a script, but she could hardly tell such a long and complicated story so precisely on the first try. Aside of this detail, Hannah’s narrative is brilliant. The chain of events she describes fits together perfectly—and disturbingly—and its effects on her are eloquently expressed and believable.

Although Hannah’s story definitely adds up to a lot of emotional pain, it’s not totally clear that it adds up to suicide. However, in light of several recent suicides of teen girls bullied for their reputations of promiscuity Hannah’s suicide is all too realistic. The book makes a very convincing case for how even small acts of meanness or callousness can have terrible consequences and how a reputation can ruin a life.

Curriculum Ties: Health--suicide

Booktalking Ideas
Read Hannah's introduction to the tapes.
Talk about statistics on teen suicide.

Challenge Issues: Disturbing subject matter, teenage drinking, sexual content
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." Reviews for the file come from Kliatt (negative) and Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and VOYA (positive).

About the Author
Author Bio:
Except for six months in Wyoming, I've lived my entire life in California. It was during those six months in Sheridan, Wyoming that I came up with the idea for Thirteen Reasons Why. I've worked at an independent bookstore, a chain bookstore, an outlet bookstore, and two public libraries. Before those jobs, I worked at a shoe store, a trophy shop, and an airline. My very first writing award earned me a free fruit smoothie every day for a year. I've won a lot of awards since then, but that one tasted the best!

Book Report Info:
Birth Date & Place: September 30, 1975 - Arcadia, CA
Siblings: one younger brother, Nate
High School: graduated from San Luis Obispo High School in 1993
College: attended Cuesta Community College and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (left during my senior year)
Marriage: married JoanMarie on September 7, 2002
Children: Isaiah Nathan was born on December 11, 2010 (12-11-10 So cool!)
Career: I write books and then I travel around the country talking about them (one part of my job is much less work and so much more fun)

http://jayasher.blogspot.com/p/author-info.html

Why is this title included?
It's on numerous lists, including Kirkus Best Young Adult Books, 2007; YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2008; YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, 2008; and Amazon.com's Essential Books for Young Adults.

Wintergirls

Title: Wintergirls
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Publisher: Viking
Copyright: 2009
ISBN: 067001110X

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grade 9 and up

Genre: Issues--Disease

Reader’s Annotation: Eighteen-year-old Lia plunges back into her old habits of anorexia and cutting after learning of her best friend's death from bulimia.

Plot Summary
Best friends Lia and Cassie made a pact in eighth grade to be the skinniest girls in school. At that point Cassie had already been bulimic for over a year and Lia had started down the path toward anorexia. Now Lia and Cassie are seniors in high school. Though they’ve both been hospitalized for their conditions, neither has been able (or willing) to get healthy. In fact, Lia learns in the first chapter that Cassie has succumbed to her disease “in a motel room, alone.” On the night Cassie died she called Lia 33 times, leaving increasingly desperate messages. Lia didn’t answer because Cassie had cut off their friendship months before.

Soon Lia is seeing Cassie’s angry ghost, who urges Lia to join her in death. Lia, who’s been living in relative health with her dad, stepmom, and stepsister since her last hospitalization, accelerates her progress toward her weight goals—99.00, 95.00, 90.00. She games her weekly weigh-ins so her family won’t send her back to the hospital, and begins cutting again. She shuts out her family and psychiatrist, refusing to believe their concern for her is real or justified. The crisis that has been brewing is finally reached when Lia’s little sister walks in on her cutting herself, but even that is not enough to jolt Lia out of her wildly disordered thinking. She must reach a point of even greater extremity if she is going to decide to live.

Critical Evaluation
Wintergirls is one of the scariest books I’ve ever read, both as a ghost story and as a profile of a disturbed and deteriorating mind. Anderson has crafted a voice that is pitch-perfect and all too realistic. Lia’s narration is poetic, obsessive, and harrowing. She describes her deadly pact with Cassie this way:
“We held hands when we walked down the gingerbread path into the forest, blood dripping from our fingers. We danced with witches and kissed monsters. We turned us into wintergirls, and when she tried to leave, I pulled her back in the snow because I was afraid to be alone.”
Lia recites a mantra of self-hatred when she’s upset:
“::Stupid/ugly/stupid/bitch/stupid/fat/
stupid/baby/stupid/loser/stupid/lost::”
and often begins reflections on her past with “When I was a real girl.” The tone of her account is dark and foreboding throughout—Lia makes sure to squelch any glimmers of hope that break through the gloom.

Lia is not especially likable—she hates the people around her almost as much as she hates herself (with the exception of her eight-year-old stepsister, with whom she’s very sweet). It’s clear, though, that before she started destroying herself she was smart, talented, and loyal. Even when she’s cruel, it’s impossible not to hurt with her and hope for her.

The other characters are almost as complex. Lia’s perceptions of them are sometimes dead on, as when she notes that her stepmom thinks her daughter is “fat plump,” but sometimes overly harsh. Although Lia won’t recognize their love and concern for her, their vulnerabilities are revealed to the reader in their reactions to her worsening condition.

Wintergirls is a brilliant look at a disease that’s very hard for the unaffected to understand. Through Lia, readers will be able to empathize with the struggles of people in their lives, and may even be inspired to be kinder to themselves.

Curriculum Ties: Health--eating disorders

Booktalking Ideas
Read the description of Cassie and Lia's eighth-grade pact to "be skinniest together."
Describe the circumstances of Cassie's death ("in a motel room, alone") and read the increasingly desperate messages she left on Lia's phone.

Challenge Issues: Disturbing content, possible trigger effect
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll put in the article from the New York Times "Well Blog" on the dangers of Wintergirls and books like it to vulnerable readers (available at http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/the-troubling-allure-of-eating-disorder-books/). I'll also include positive reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and School Library Journal.

About the Author

Laurie Halse (rhymes with "waltz") Anderson pretended she was a polar bear when she walked to school through the snow of Syracuse, New York. As a little girl, she would pound away at her father's old typewriter for hours, writing newspaper columns, stories, and letters. She loved watching her father write poetry and reading the funnies on the floor of his office. Laurie fell in love with words when her second-grade teacher taught her how to write haiku. Her favorite book is the dictionary, which is a good thing because she is a terrible speller. She tried to read every book in her school library, a heavenly place. She loves librarians! One of her favorite books was Heidi. This led to curiosity about foreign cultures. As a senior in high school, she was an American Field Service exchange student to Denmark, where she lived on a pig farm. She skipped both her prom and graduation ceremonies and had a great time there. She can still speak Danish.

Laurie Halse Anderson never intended to be an author. At Georgetown University, she majored in foreign languages and linguistics. She hit the real world with no idea of what kind of work she wanted to do. She tried everything, including cleaning banks, milking cows and working as a stockbroker. She hated all of it. Working as a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer was a slight improvement, but she eventually quit to write books. After eight long, rejection-filled years, she has finally qualified as an overnight success.

Laurie's books for children and teenagers have attracted a lot of attention. Her first novel, Speak, was a National Book Award Finalist, a Michael L. Printz Honor book, a New York Times bestseller, and an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. Publisher's Weekly called Speak "a stunning first novel," in which Ms. Anderson "uses keen observations and vivid imagery to pull readers into the head of an isolated teenager." Speak has been translated into sixteen foreign languages, including Chinese and Catalan. In 2005, the movie version was released. In addition to novels, Laurie writes chapter books for elementary age children and picture books for the pre-school set. She received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, given by the American Library Association for significant and lasting achievement in young adult literature, in 2009.

Laurie lives in Northern New York with her husband, Scot, and their dog, Kezzie. Scot designed and built a writing cottage for Laurie, where she writes daily. Along with writing, she enjoys gardening, running and hanging with her family.

http://www.amazon.com/Laurie-Halse-Anderson/e/B000AP5REO

Why is this title included?
Laurie Halse Anderson is one of YA's most talented and popular authors. Although it's possible that Wintergirls may have a triggering effect on some readers, it may well help others recognize their own disordered eating and decide to change. It's also an important read for anyone trying to help a loved one dealing with an eating disorder.

Wintergirls is on many best-of lists, including Booklist Editors’ Choice: Books for Youth, 2009; Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books, 2009; YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2010; YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, 2010; and YALSA Teens' Top Ten, 2010.

Hope in Patience

Title: Hope in Patience
Author: Beth Fehlbaum
Publisher: WestSide Books
Copyright: 2010
ISBN: 9781934813416

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 10-12

Genre: Issues--Abuse

Reader’s Annotation: Fifteen-year-old Ashley works hard at recovering from years of sexual abuse with the help of her family, therapist, and an eclectic group of friends in the small town of Patience, Texas.

Plot Summary
Ashley Nicole Asher is 15 and recovering from the sexual abuse she suffered for years at the hands of her stepfather. Now living with her father, stepmom, and stepbrother in the tiny town of Patience, Texas, Ashley is starting a new school year and a new season of cross-country. Ashley encounters many obstacles on her road to recovery that propel the episodic plot. Her abusive stepfather is let off without jail time. The school principal shakes her violently in his office. She gets lost in the woods after a haunted house triggers a flashback. A classmate overhears Ashley’s friends talking about her past and confronts her cruelly. Throughout the novel, Ashley meets with her therapist, who forces her to acknowledge feelings she would rather deal with in other ways—hiding and self-harm. Ashley develops relationships with schoolmates, including the new girl, a lesbian whose sexuality is rejected by her parents, and Joshua, the cute guy from cross-country. She also struggles with her schoolwork, especially assignments on family. A final confrontation with her mother (who denies Ashley’s abuse) threatens to undo all of Ashley’s progress, but her family and friends won’t let that happen.

Critical Evaluation
The literary elements that most drew my critical attention in Hope in Patience are plot and characterization. This book has been much praised for its honesty. While I agree with critics that Ashley’s emotions and reactions feel authentic, many of her experiences do not. A couple of dramatic incidents, in particular, are unrealistic and seem manufactured to inject conflict into an already angst-ridden story. In one, Ashley is sent to the principal's office for swearing in the hall, and in the course of the brief meeting he violently shakes her. In another, Ashley's history teacher humiliates a student for yawning, including herding her around the classroom with a yardstick.

Many of the characters, especially the adults, are painted in black and white—the principal, history teacher, stepdad, grandparents, and mother are evil, and the dad and stepmom are angels. The intolerant conservative Christian character is offensive in his cartoonishness, and the tattletale girl has no discernible motive for her obnoxiousness. Ashley’s best friend, who is black, and the new girl, who is a lesbian, are well-drawn, but still seem to have been created to instruct Ashley in the variety of human suffering and the reader in tolerance. The therapist, whom all of the characters seem to love, comes off as creepy, if not mildly abusive. He repeatedly yells at Ashley during their sessions, and sometimes startles her with loud noises he knows she dreads.

Furthermore, the episodic plot fails to coalesce into a coherent narrative. This book is intended to be both the middle title of a trilogy and a stand-alone novel, and the combination is not entirely successful. More backstory is included than is usual for a mid-series book, but it is told in scattered bursts rather than consecutively. Perhaps because it's supposed to be followed by a third book, the ending of Hope in Patience comes more suddenly and anticlimactically than is ideal for a stand-alone novel.

Curriculum Ties: Health--sexual abuse, self-harm

Booktalking Ideas: Read pages 10-13, Ashley's description of a typical night spent hiding in her closet and a typical morning in her mother's house.

Challenge Issues: Disturbing descriptions of sexual abuse and self-harm; language; homosexuality
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy."  I will also include reviews from School Library Journal (a positive review that explains the benefits to readers of the book's sometimes brutal honesty) and Library Media Connection (a negative review that nevertheless acknowledges the book's usefulness).

About the Author
I was inspired to write this story by my own recovery from childhood sexual abuse. In the process of working through my own grief, disbelief, and anger, I was writing poems and short stories, and sharing them with my (long-suffering) therapist. One day, he suggested that I try writing a novel.

I was born in Dallas, Texas, and I have one brother, who is a police sergeant. My husband and I were high school sweethearts, and we married young. We have three daughters who are amazing and brilliant. My oldest is getting her doctorate in Sociology; my middle daughter is getting her MFA in Publishing and Creative Writing, and my youngest child is studying to be a neonatal nurse.

When my youngest daughter started Kindergarten, I went to college to be a teacher. ... I have a B.A. in English, minor Secondary Education, from the University of Texas at Arlington, and an M.Ed. in Elementary Education, specializing in Reading, from Texas A & M -- Commerce. I still teach. I taught middle schoolers for the first part of my career, and now I teach 5th grade students in a bilingual education program in East Texas. I am fortunate to love both my jobs, as teacher and author!

http://www.bethfehlbaumya.com/bio.htm

Why is this title included?
In spite of its flaws, Hope in Patience is an important addition to the collection because of its forthright treatment of sexual abuse and the long, hard road of recovery. It is also a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers.