*Topic 6 of LS 5623, Young Adult Literature, focuses on Poetry, Short Stories, Drama, and Film.   Listed below are reviews of two poetry books and one short story.

 

Glenn, Mel. Split Image. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0-06-000481-9

 

“Everyone has an image of Laura Li, the most popular girl in school: stone-hearted, warm hearted, conceited deceiver, humble achiever, a virgin, the hottest girl in the world.” (From the back cover)

 

Split Image is a novel written in verse about a seventeen-year-old girl named Laura Li.  Laura Li and her family came from China to live in the United States when she was a young girl.  Her father is constantly away on business, her mother is controlling and her brother needs constant care.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?

Am I the one

Forced by my mother

To be the mother” (From page 1)

To escape her controlling mother and escape the responsibilities of taking care of her disabled brother, Laura Li gets a job in the school library as a library assistant to Ms. Binder, the school librarian.  At school, Laura Li projects the image of the happy, helpful student.  She is beautiful and smart, but underneath it all Laura Li is an unhappy teenage who craves attention and love from her parents.

“Yes, mother, I will do anything you ask,

To prove that a second-born

Can take first place in your heart.” (From page 19)

This novel depicts Laura Li’s life as it centers on her family and life at school. 

 

In Split Image, “each poem takes the point of view and the voice of one character: Laura herself, her mother, her father, and her brother; Ms. Binder, the high school librarian,  Alejandro, who loves Laura; Tyesha, Lana, Yana, and Amy, girls who see Laura as friend, rival, and enemy.  These voices and others, from teachers to drug dealer, work like acid on copperplate to etch the outlines of Laura’s life: her feverish weekend escapes into bars; her weekday refuge working in the library.” (Grace Anne A. DeCandido ~ Booklist) Glenn uses the school library as his main setting for unfolding Laura Li’s story who has grown up as an American trapped between cultures, expectations, and her search for her true identity.  As Laura Li’s story progresses, Glenn provides readers with glimpses of the inner turmoil that rest inside of Laura Li.  From smoking in the school restroom, to sneaking out at night to go partying, to flirting with strange men, Glenn conveys through verse how his main character, Laura Li, craves to understand her place in the universe. 

 

“A powerful look at perceptions and what lies behind them,” (From School Library Journal) Split Image provides young adults with thought provoking insight into the world of high school life among a lonely and confused teenager who appears on the surface to have it all.  Filled with action, Split Image is a sensitive, powerful read for teens.  The ending is somewhat surprising, but follows the theme of story, despair and longing. 

 

References and Works Cited:

Amazon.com. 2004. Internet. Available from http://www.amazon.com accessed 1 December 2004.

Bowker’s Books in Print Professional Title Reviews. 2004. Internet. Available from http://www.booksinprint.com/bip/ accessed 1 December 2004.

DeCandido, Grace Anne A. “Split Image by Mel Glenn Review.” Booklist 96 (April 2000).

 

 

 

Janeczko, Paul B. Blushing: Expressions of Love in Poems & Letters. New York: Orchard Books, 2004. ISBN 0-439-53056-3

 

Blushing: Expressions of Love in Poems & Letters is a collection of poems and love letters that looks at love through the eyes of a variety of poets from long ago and today.  Janeczko organizes the poems into five sections: The beginning of love, in love, alone in love, the end of love, and remembering love. In the introduction, Janeczko explains why people turn to poetry when they are in love. In addition, he also explains why he chose to classify each of the poems selected into the various five categories. Each category begins with a double-page, rose-tinted black and white photograph, and a letter from a famous poet, written to a love one.  The letters fit the theme of the poetry collected in each section.

 

Janeczko has included poems from Shakespeare, E.E. Cummings, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Dickinson, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and Naomi Shihab Nye, to name a few. “The collection includes contributions obscure and familiar, solemn and playful, in rhyme and free verse.” (From Horn Book Guide review) A table of contents makes it easy for a reader to select a poet, a poem or a section of the book for reading pleasure. This book also contains an acknowledgement section at the end of the book in which readers could use as a reference source for additional poetry reading.  “Teens looking for ideas for their own missives and poems will find lots of inspiration here.” (Sonja Cole ~School Library Journal)

 

References and Works Cited:

Amazon.com. 2004. Internet. Available from http://www.amazon.com accessed 1 December 2004.

Bowker’s Books in Print Professional Title Reviews. 2004. Internet. Available from http://www.booksinprint.com/bip/ accessed 1 December 2004.

Cole, Sonja. “Blushing: Expressions of Love in Poems & Letters Review.” School Library Journal.

 

 

Gallo, Donald R., ed. No Easy Answers: Short Stories about Teenager Making Tough Choices. New York: Delacorte Press, 1997. ISBN 0-385-32290-9

 

“It has always been my intent to publish collections of short stories that are lively, entertaining, insightful, and of high quality—new stories, not ones selected from previously published sources—about teenage activities and concerns, written by the most highly respected writers in the field of literature for young people.”—Donald R. Gallo

 

No Easy Answers: Short Stories about Teenager Making Tough Choices represent Donald R.Gallo seventh publication of original short stories for young adults.  This collection contains sixteen stories whose theme centers around moral dilemmas.  Divided into five sections, How Did I Get Myself into This, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, What Do I Do Now, How Do I Get Myself Out of This, and I’m Sorry, each short story within a section represents in some way the section title.  Short stories written by Alden Carter, M. E. Kerr, David Klass, Ron Koertge, Gloria Miklowitz, Walter Dean Myers, Lensey Namioka, Graham Salisbury, Will Weaver, and Virginia Euwer Wolff are just of a few of the authors featured in this anthology. “While there are no easy answers to the problems and issues raised — computer blackmail, peer pressure, parental pressure, gang violence, drugs, sex, pregnancy, war, retaliation, and atonement — this book provides an easy and fruitful place to start pondering answers.” (William R. Mollineaux ~ The ALAN Review)

 

A table of contents makes it easy for readers to select a story or author in which they would like to read.  “Some of the stories will make good read alouds, and a few, like Williams-Garcia’s, will be excellent for class discussion.” (Zvirin, Stephanie ~ Booklist review) In addition, according to reviewer Tracy Taylor of School Library Journal, teens who read this anthology independently might find the collection less satisfying than those who read the collection within a group setting that provides opportunity for discussion. No Easy Answers: Short Stories about Teenager Making Tough Choices provide young adults with the opportunity to ponder some of life’s tough teen topics.

 

References and Works Cited:

Amazon.com. 2004. Internet. Available from http://www.amazon.com accessed 1 December 2004.

Bowker’s Books in Print Professional Title Reviews. 2004. Internet. Available from http://www.booksinprint.com/bip/ accessed 1 December 2004.

Kids@Random. 2004. Internet. Available from http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/author/results_spotlight.pperl?authorid=9616 accessed 1 December 2004

Mollineaux,William R. “Clip and File Reviews of Short Story Collections.” The ALAN Review 25 (Winter 1998)

Zvirin, Stephanie. “No Easy Answers: Short Stories about Teenager Making Tough Choices review.” Booklist (November 1997).