"This is Your Life" Meets a Book Tour with a dash of Thelma and Louise

If you're even a casual reader of this blog, you know I've been writing and pursuing publication for years and day dreaming for just as many years about what it would be like to have my book on the bookstore shelves. My day dreams tended to be very specific. I could visualize myself signing books and doing library and school visits. I imagined the book launch party and the interviews and the movie deals and the large advance and royalty checks.

Some of these things have come true (see: book signings, library and school visits, interviews, book launch parties)

Some, alas, have not (see: movie deals, $$$) 

But, one thing I did not ever think about was what I will call the This is Your Life aspect of book promotion.

My book launch party last September had a guest list that included my book club, my neighbors, my Bunco group, my local SCBWI chapter fellow writers, my best friend and her teen daughter, my best friend from college who now lives in Minnesota, my mother, and my in-laws. Plus, numerous librarians and teachers from the area.

When I went to Lexington KY (a place I lived for ten years) to sign books at Morris Book Shop, I visited a school where I used to teach and had a blast catching up with old teacher friends and students, and I reconnected with friends from my uber-volunteer PTA days, many of whom had no idea that I was a writer. 

During my visit to Memphis (where I went to college and taught high school English) I signed books at the Booksellers at Laurelwood and saw old college friends, including my roommate and several sorority sisters, a few of my former students (and their parents!), the best man from my wedding, and my cousins.

A trip to Nashville to sign books at Parnassus Bookstore led to a reconnection with a college friend (and a trip to the university where she is now a professor) and a cool bonding experience with my in-laws. I also had a chance to have dinner with a sorority sister and lunch with another college friend who is now a sociology professor at Vanderbilt.

I feel like I'm caught up in that old game show "This Is Your Life," where the announcer parades long lost relatives and friends on stage while you cry. (I've never actually seen this show, but I have seen the Sesame Street version.)

But now, the grand daddy of all book tours is about to begin... 

Tomorrow, I embark upon a whirlwind trip to Connecticut (where I grew up). I'll be visiting schools and libraries and a bookstore. Also, I'm doing my first ever TV interview at a local public TV station. 

It's all very exciting and cool but I must admit there is an anxiety factor involved too. Picture how you feel before you attend your 25th high school reunion. You're curious to see old friends. You're a little nervous about how they'll perceive you vs how they once knew you. Now, throw in a talk at the library where you checked out books when you were ten and a bookstore visit with three writers you don't know and

a ten hour car trip with your mother

if you want to get a sense of how I'm feeling as I pack my suitcases today...

Yeah. This is going to be interesting. 

Here's the schedule--in case you live up that way and want to poke your head in to see how I deal:

Monday April 7

*Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Wilbraham, MA

*Storrs Library, Longmeadow, 6:30 (open to the public) (My college friend and sorority sister Noel set this visit in motion. Fun fact about Noel that she may not know: she is the reason I married my husband.)

Tuesday April 8

*Interview for the Meet the Author series at Wethersfield TV14 (thanks Uncle Don for getting this one in the works!)

*New Britain High School (thanks to Beth M., now an English teacher there, once my across the street neighbor) 

*Book Club and dinner with Beth's mom and her book club. Also, my mom.

Wednesday, April 9

*Willard School, Berlin, CT (I keep forgetting I have story in Highlights Magazine. I will be reading and discussing it with the second graders there. Thanks to my Mom and darling niece for setting this visit up)

*New Britain Library, New Britain CT 7-9 pm (Open to the public) I'm talking writing and growing up in New Britain (This is going to be a fun one--equal parts Casella family reunion and St Joseph School and Aquinas High School class reunions....) Also, I may once and for all solve the Mystery of the Missing Librarian. 

Thursday, April 10

*Metropolitan Business Academy, New Haven CT and the all-city New Haven teen book club

(Plus, a side trip to see my son at college)

*RJ Julia Bookstore, Madison CT 6:00 (open to the public) Book Panel discussion with Jennifer Castle, Kim Purcell, and Phoebe North. We're talking "Survivors in YA Fiction," answering questions about writing and publishing, and signing our books. 

Tune in soon for the post trip recap.

Interview with Jennifer Castle

One of my absolute favorite reads of 2011 was a novel called The Beginning of After by debut writer Jennifer Castle. The book was an advanced review copy, in a stack of other ARCs, and at first, I put off reading it. The subject matter seemed so...dark. A girl's entire family dies in a car accident and she's got to figure out how to live her life after that utterly devastating event. When I finally did pick it up, I found to my surprise that the novel totally transcends that synopsis.

Yes, the girl does have to deal with the tragic loss of her family, but The Beginning of After is about so much more than that--it's a true coming of age story that's brilliantly written and moving and complex. I knew as soon as I finished it that I'd discovered an author that I'd eagerly follow from that point on.

A cool coincidence: a year later my publishing company sent me a comp sheet, which is basically a list of books that the marketing department thinks are comparable to yours, and The Beginning of After was on my list. I wrote to Jennifer Castle to tell her that fun fact and to point out that maybe one day soon our books would be "shelf buddies" because of our last names. She graciously replied and we've been corresponding ever since. She kindly read and blurbed my book Thin Space. And a few weeks ago I was able to read her latest book You Look Different in Real Life. I wasn't surprised, this time, to find that I absolutely loved it. This book is different from The Beginning of After in theme and tone--there's some humor and snark--but it's just as insightful and thought provoking, and proves that Jennifer's Castle's debut was no one-hit wonder.

I'm thrilled that Jen has agreed to let me interview her today, so without further gushy adoration from me, I'll start as I always do, by asking:

Where do you get your ideas?

Jen: My ideas don't come to me in those economical AHA! moments that some writers get. Mine come slowly, picked up as fragments I learn about or discuss with people around me, news stories, non-fiction books, my own memories ignited by something random in the here and now. Then there are the bizarre notions that pop into my head, seemingly out of nowhere, as I try to go about my day -- you know the classic inopportune spots like traffic lights or in the shower. All this stuff stays in orbit for a while and then eventually, gravitates into the shape of something. Characters and their journeys usually come to me before actual story elements.
                     
Jody: That sounds like how it works for me too. I carry ideas around (sometimes literally, on scraps of paper) for years. And thank goodness for the shower, right? I read once that there's something elemental about water when it comes to creativity. Not sure if this is true or not, but I'll take it. Anyway, once you have your idea, what's your next step? Do you outline the story in advance or just start writing and see what happens?

Jen: I do sort of a combo. I used to write screenplays, so my mind naturally travels around the classic three-act framework. I need to know where I'm starting, where I'm going to be halfway through a story, and where I want to end up. I need to know where things get effed up in the story, and what's at stake. But I don't like to outline the whole thing, because I want to leave breathing room for the characters to evolve as I write them. I'll usually map out 50 pages at a time. I'm also a big fan of the "vomit draft" where you just pound out that first go-round, some of it raw and very much half-planned, and doing the real work in revision. In other words, I feel completely disorganized and this is probably why drafting is much longer and more excruciating than it should be.

Jody: Ha! I like that term "vomit draft." I work that way too and find that you've got to have a lot of trust in the process when so much is done by the seat of your pants. Plus, there's a thought in your mind the whole time about how much work you'll still have left to do once that vomity draft is finished.

But everything about this process seems to take a long time. Has that been your experience? Did you have to write many practice novels before hitting your stride? Did you get many rejections?

Jen: Okay, so you're totally going to hate me for this answer: The first book I wrote was the first book I sold -- The Beginning of After. Originally, TBOA was not a YA book, and I had written about 100 pages of Laurel in college, so maybe that version counts as a separate book? And it did take me six years to write, on and off, so it sure feels like more than one book to me.

As for rejections...well, um. Again, you're going to hate me. I queried two agents and both offered to represent me. But I did receive rejections when the manuscript went out on submission to editors. Quite a few, actually, for various reasons, before it was acquired by the exact right editor at the exact right publishing house: Rosemary Brosnan at HarperCollins. I know my experience is not typical and believe me, I'm still grateful for how heartbreak-free it was. I got very, very lucky. I have enormous respect for authors who struggle through years of multiple manuscripts and rejections before finally getting that first deal. Those experiences usually translate into some mad skills for an author moving forward.

Jody: Nah. I don't hate you! You're making it sound like you just fell into it, but six years working on a book isn't overnight success. You earned your mad skills, is what I'm saying. For me it took, um, a tad longer, *cough*-- twenty years, give or take a few --*cough* but it's necessary time, I think, looking back. Every writer moves at her own pace, figures out what works and what doesn't, even down to the nitty gritty of scheduling your writing time. I was talking to Jennifer R. Hubbard last month and she sets a very specific work schedule for herself every day. Do you do that kind of thing?

Jen: I'm a morning writer. Unfortunately, I have young kids, who are by definition morning people (alternatively known as Crazy Demanding Why The F*&$ Are You So Energetic at 6am People?). So my work doesn't start until well after the school bus has pulled away with my children on it. I usually write from 10am until noon, take a break, then work again for another hour or two. Sometimes that second session doesn't happen, and I try not to feel guilty about it. I tend to work in short, intense creative bursts and then flame out, and once I'm getting diminishing returns on the page, it's time to stop. When drafting, I go for 1,000 words a day. My other thing is that I don't let myself take two consecutive days off from writing; if I skip a day for whatever (usually dumb-ass) reason, I have to write the next day, even if it's just for 90 minutes at a coffee house on a Sunday morning, surrounded by hungover college students.

Jody: Isn't it funny how we have to set rules for ourselves? And how we have to deal with guilt when we break those self-made rules? I know this might sound crazy to non-writers out there, but I think that it's one of the things that goes along with working for yourself. Unless you're given a specific deadline, it all comes down to you and the blank computer screen every day, and if you're going to write the words... or not.

Add to that all the other day to day life-stuff we have to deal with. At the risk of making a sexist generalization, I think this may be more of an issue for women writers. Like, I don't picture Stephen King having to clean toilets. Maybe that's not fair though. Even Stephen King lives in the world and has other junk he's got to do, pay bills etc. You mentioned waiting until your kids get on the bus each day, how do you balance your writing time with everything else that's going on?

Jen: It's very, very hard. I've learned to be hyper-protective of that morning block of writing time, not just from others but also from myself. As in, "Yes, Jen, I know you want to watch last night's Downton Abbey before you go online and accidentally see who died in this episode, but GO WORK NOW." My endless task list of assorted life-crap also has to wait. I don't even look at it until after the words are done. I don't know if you experience this too, but people often assume that because I write for a living, I can work or not work as the mood strikes, and why can't I make that coffee date/Pilates class/PTA event/doctor's appointment? I just behave as if I have to go into an office and report to a boss for a certain period of time, and find that saying "Sorry, I have to work" or "I'm on a deadline" is something nobody argues with.

Jody: Oh, yeah, I get that too from people and it's very tempting to give in, to "just this once" blow off work. But then I think: when I was teaching, could I skip out of my classroom and go to a movie or spend an hour scrolling around online? Uh, no. Speaking of scrolling around online, it's pretty clear lately how much marketing and promotion writers are expected to do now, and so much of this involves social media. What's your take on this aspect of the job?

Jen: Sometimes I feel pretty lame and rather lost about that stuff. What really works? What should I be doing that everyone else seems to be doing but I don't feel comfortable doing? When I feel that way, I go back to the thing that always guides me: I do what feels natural. I can only be myself in social media, and it may not be as "effective" at selling books as some people's selves, but I'm okay with that. So I post on Facebook, on my personal page as well as my author and book pages, only when I have something I feel compelled to share. I use Twitter the same way, although I'm still not comfortable jumping in on conversations; the whole thing feels like a big high school cafeteria and I'm the shy new girl looking for a table that won't shun me.

I enjoy blogging on my own website and look forward to blogging as a new member of YA Outside the Lines, but again -- I try to do it in a way that says, "When I post, you know it's something worth reading." The part of "promotion" that I enjoy the most is connecting personally -- through social media or email or in person -- with readers, bloggers, booksellers, librarians, teachers, and especially other authors. These connections often lead to great bookstore or school events, coffee chats, lovely rambling email threads, and other experiences that may or may not help sell my books, but make me feel so blessed to be doing what I love and sharing it with the world.

Jody: Love that philosophy Jen, and it seems to me that you're doing it all exactly right. Before I let you go, what are you working on now?

Jen: I'm gearing up to start the draft of a new novel, for which I'm already under contract with HarperCollins. I think it's time I tackled a full-on love story, don't you think? I'm ready to fall head over heels as I write and hopefully take the readers with me. Right now, I'm having a lot of fun building the characters and mapping out their relationship. This is going to be the most personal piece of fiction I've ever written and I can't wait to start. I'm not able to just yet -- I don't start drafting until I've done a lot of what I call "character journaling" first: I write journal entries as if I were the character. It really helps define a character's voice as well as develop who they are, where they're coming from, and where they want to go.

Along with promoting You Look Different in Real Life and the companion short story "Playing Keira," this is what the rest of 2013 will be for me.

Jody: I can't wait to read it! And I should mention here that I've read  "Playing Keira" (out May 7). I love the idea that you were able to take a character from the novel and further explore her POV. I'm also really intrigued about putting a short story out there, as opposed to a novel. You don't see that much in YA, but with the rise of e-books, maybe short stories will find a niche. I hope so. And I hope you write a story for each one of the characters in YLDIRL.

Thanks, Jen, for talking with me, and dear loyal blog readers, if you want to learn more about Jen and her work, you can find her in the usual places:

Her website JenniferCastle.com
On her facebook author page
On Twitter @Jennifer_Castle

And if you'd like to check out her new story "Playing Keira," click here. 

Please Buy My Mulch, Er, I Mean, Please Read My Book

A few years ago when we moved to our lovely little Ohio town, my son, then in 8th grade, went out for the lacrosse team. The sport is a big deal around here, and although my son had never seen a game played before, he borrowed a stick and a ball and a big net, and started practicing in the backyard. It's a hard sport, apparently, to pick up in a couple of months, and he didn't make the team.

In ninth grade he tried out again. No cuts for freshmen, the coaches assured the kids, but they would have to participate in a team bonding activity before the try-outs: sell 200 bags of mulch at 4 bucks a pop within one week. This directive came down in January when it happened to be 10 degrees outside.

Let me say here that I HATE fundraisers. Wrapping paper, cookie dough, candy bars, magazines, whatever. I sympathize with schools and clubs having to raise money, but I hate that kids (and parents) get roped into being salespeople for overpriced products. I was never the mom pushing my kid out the door to hawk that stuff to the neighbors, and my husband never schlepped the packets to his office to hit up his co-workers. We either wrote a check and ate the freaking candy bars ourselves or donated the money they expected our kid to raise.

But that day in January, I could see there was no way we could afford 800+ dollars worth of mulch. Never mind that we had nowhere to put 200 bags of the stuff. I pushed my son out the door.

Most of the neighbors turned out to be pretty cool about it. The lacrosse mulch sale is a known tradition around here, and they must've felt bad for the lanky kid shivering on their doorstop. He sold his quota and my husband and I resolved to buy every kid on the street's candy bars until the end of time.

The next year when he tried out for the team, I shoved him out the door again. He sold his quota, and then he got cut. That was pretty devastating for him and it wasn't much consolation when the kids who made the team delivered the over-priced mulch to all our neighbors.

Year three, I was proud of my son for trying out again and sympathetic when he brought home that damn mulch packet for a third time, but geez! How much mulch did our poor neighbors need? And what kind of team bonding activity is it when you're not actually on the team?  

He got cut again. Which was really cruddy but a good learning experience--blah blah resiliency and hard work and pursuing a dream and living through rejection, yadda yadda, but I must admit that every spring when I see those mulch trucks zooming around town, I feel a surge of yucky feelings.

It's hard to put yourself out there and ask for something--something that's kind of a big deal--something that makes another person feel obligated to say yes, or worse, no to you.

I didn't mean to spend so much time writing about mulch. What I really want to talk about is how I felt asking authors I respect and admire if they would read my forthcoming book Thin Space and possibly write a blurb about it.

My publisher suggested I do this many months ago but it took me a long while to gear myself up to ask anyone. I didn't want to put people on the spot. Asking someone to take the time to read my book is a big enough imposition but then asking them to put their name on an endorsement is even bigger. And what if they didn't like my book? Would they feel weird telling me?

When I finally pushed myself out that metaphorical door, I was shivering and clinging to my mulch packet--I mean, my book. But like my kind neighbors, the writers I asked were cool. More than cool. They seemed flattered that I asked them. They were prompt in their responses. Only one person said no, and he was sweet and apologetic about it. The others said yes. They promised to be honest. One told me, "Hey, if I love it, I'll blurb it, and if I don't, I'll keep my mouth shut!"

There's a lesson in here. Sometimes you've got to swallow your pride and put yourself out there. People are kind. They like to help when asked. And things have a way of working out well in the end.

My son never made the lacrosse team after ninth grade, but he did parlay that experience into a kick-butt college essay that caught the eye of the admission counselors at the college of his dreams. Our neighbors have stunning flower beds filled with the highest quality mulch. And I got three endorsements for my book from writers I love. Please check out their books:

Jennifer Castle's moving and beautifully written The Beginning of After and her soon-to-be released You Look Different in Real Life.

The absorbing and heartbreaking debut What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton.

Mike Mullin's edge-of-your-seat page turner Ashfall and the riveting sequel Ashen Winter.

And if you want to see these awesome writers' blurbs of Thin Space, click here.

The First Annual Jody-intz Awards

Today the American Library Association announced this year’s award-winning books for children and young adults. The ALA held a very exciting ceremony for writers and librarians, and I followed along with them on Twitter and watched the podcast of the event while occasionally drifting into pleasant daydreams where I get that call in the morning (someday in the future when I actually have a published book) from the ALA committee. You may have heard of these awards: the Caldecott Medal, for the most distinguished picture book; the Newbery for the best children’s book (which is typically defined as a book written for readers aged 8 to 12); and the Printz, for the best novel written for young adults. Because I write for young adults and love to read books written for young adults, the Printz is the award I’m most interested in.

While I was waiting for the winner to be announced (and/or falling into lala, coveted-medal-on-my-book-cover, fantasy land) I started making a list of the awards I’d give if anyone at the ALA ever asked me for my opinion.

So here it is, without further ado, the first annual Jody-intz Awards (and at the end, I’ll tell you which book actually won the Printz.):

1. Best Page-Turner. This award goes to the book I read in one long sitting/walking from room to room with it because I could not bear to put it down for one second and then stayed up half the night to finish it. Drum Roll. Ashes by Ilsa Bick, the addictive and heart-stopping tale of an allegedly dying girl who goes on a camping trip when an electromagnetic pulse pulses the world, kills most of humanity, and turns the remainder into flesh-eating zombies. This book is also a runner up for the Biggest Cliff-hanger/Oh Crud, Now I Have to Wait for the Sequel Award. Also receives an honorable mention for Book That Most Inspires You To Hoard Canned Goods. Warning: Clear out your schedule before turning to the first page.
2. Coolest Premise. The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. Two teens living in the olden days of 1995 log online and discover their Facebook pages fifteen years in the future. What else is there to say about that? A very cool idea that I wish I’d thought of. (P.S. The book lives up to the hype too.)
3. Most Original Voice. I read a ton of YA books so it’s surprising when I come across a voice I’ve never heard before. The winner in this category is Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff. The main character is a kid called Kid who tells the story of a warehouse fire in Brooklyn and the growing relationship with a kid named Scout. Oh, and by the way, the reader never learns the genders of either Kid or Scout.
4. Best Teen Love Story—A three-way tie between Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard, and If I Stay by Gayle Forman. If you love love stories and either hated Twilight and crave an alternative or loved Twilight and crave an alternative, read any of these. Or all of these. Sigh.
5. Best World I’d Love to Fall Into. Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. This book could be a runner up in the Best Love Story category too, now that I think about it. The setting is a remote island where every year killer horses rise up out of the sea and the townspeople risk their lives to race them. This is one of those old-fashioned books that takes its time, developing the cast of complicated and quirky characters and building the intricate plot. When I knew I was coming to the end, I read slower so I could stay in the fully realized, luscious world just a little bit longer.
6. I guess I should follow up this award with one for World I Wouldn’t Want to Fall Into. And this honor easily goes to Ashfall, by Mike Mullin. Yeah, let’s just say it’s a bleak landscape after the super volcano hidden under Yellowstone erupts and destroys most of the country. (Runner up in the page turners and canned good categories too.)
7. New Writer to Watch. This is a tie between Jennifer Castle, author of the beautifully written novel The Beginning of After, about a girl coping in the year after her parents die (note: it is NOT as dark as it sounds), and Emily M. Danforth, author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post, about a girl coping with her realization that she is a lesbian (note: it is not as dark as it sounds). Because both writers know how to tell a really good story and I can't wait to see what books they write next.
8. Awesome Series. There are so many to pick from in this category because, if you’ve spent any time perusing the YA section in your local bookstore (which I hope you do), series are very big these days. The award goes to Ally Condie’s Matched series, a thought-provoking, dystopian story of a girl growing up in what seems to be a perfect world. The sequel, Crossed, accomplishes what all writers of successful series dream of: it ups the ante while at the same time carrying through everything loyal readers of the first book loved.
9. Writer I Wish I Could Be. Another tie. First, Sara Zarr, author of this year’s moving and brilliant How To Save a Life (and for her entire body of work –Story of a Girl and Sweethearts and Once Was Lost—all I can say is I bow down to her talent. Ditto to Lauren Myracle for her moving and brilliant novel (that should have won a National Book Award!) Shine. (Love her other novels too, especially Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks and had the great honor of meeting Lauren at a book signing. Full disclosure: a picture of the two of us is my screen-saver on my cellphone.)
10. Novel That Changed the Way I View the World. Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. The story of a boy in a small dying town whose brother goes missing, and a disturbed kid obsessed with the Book of Enoch, and the appearance of the thought to be extinct Lazarus bird. You might just discover the meaning of life in this one.

And maybe that’s what the ALA committee was thinking when they awarded it this year’s Printz Award.

In Praise of "Dark" Literature

I just read two great books. One is an advanced review copy (won’t be out until Sept, so make a note of it) by a first time author. The other is at least the tenth book out by one of my favorite young adult writers, Lauren Myracle. Before I share, I want to get something off my chest, though, that’s been nagging at me. Several weeks ago Meghan Cox Gurdon, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, published a piece called "Darkness Too Visible: Contemporary Fiction for Teens is Rife with Explicit Abuse, Violence and Depravity. Why Is This Considered a Good Idea?"

The gist of the article is that young adult fiction delves into topics no parent in her right mind would want her kid to read about.

It’s true that you can stroll into the young adult fiction section of any bookstore and find an array of “dark” books. (Literally, they are dark. This is one of the results of the Twilight phenomenon. That book had a black cover so many books now have black covers. I heard an art director at a conference call this trend “the wall of black.”) But I digress. As a writer and extensive reader of young adult fiction, I’m here to tell you that there is much more out there than black books and more importantly, there is much more TO those black books than Meghan Cox Gurdon is leading her WSJ readers to believe. I suspect that she was simply trying to be provocative, specifically choosing books that have disturbing premises and using those to make her point. I haven’t read or heard of any of the books she mentioned (gruesome-sounding things that she sums up by saying, do not have happy endings) except one. And that is Lauren Myracle’s new book Shine.

And note, to Meghan Cox Gurdon: It has a happy ending. Shine is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Period. I’ve read nearly all of Lauren Myracle’s books and if you haven’t heard of her, let me give you a quick run down. She’s a rare author who writes both middle grade and young adult fiction. Which is where she may run into trouble. Her books for younger readers—the series beginning with Eleven—is one of the sweetest, most real and honest depictions of preteen life I’ve ever read. If you have a daughter about to start middle school, run out and buy these books, and read them yourself too. You’ll be thrown back to your own middle school years and you’ll have a new understanding of what your daughter will be going through. Bonus: they're funny.

Girls who love the Eleven series, though, may drift over to the YA section and pick up some of Myracle’s books for older teens. Some of these are dark, but not all. A very good one is Peace, Love and Baby Ducks. It's a portrayal of a sister relationship—with all the highs and lows that go along with that. I don’t have a sister, but after reading this book, I knew what it would be like to have one, and it made me envious. It’s meant for older teens though. So there is some drinking (with negative consequences) and complicated, dysfunctional parental interactions and a close encounter with a member of the opposite sex (also with negative consequences, meaning it doesn’t glorify it).

Here’s the thing: I don’t see young middle school girls reading this book (or the other YA books) until they’re emotionally ready to read them. Kids tend to “read up.” They like to try on the next step before they get there. So a ten year old will read books about twelve year olds. A young teen will be drawn to books about older teens. But this is a safe way to explore issues they’re not dealing with yet in real-life. At the same time, I think kids will put a book down or gloss over the stuff that doesn’t make sense to them. You can do that with a book. You can close it. You can drift over passages that bore you or disturb you. My daughter read the Harry Potter books long before she saw the movies and when she did see the movies, there were parts she had to shut her eyes to. Images in movies stay in your head forever. If you really want to get on a high horse about brutality and violence, Meghan Cox Gurdon, turn your sights on movies. (And words of advice for parents who are stressing about what their kids are reading: 1. Your kids ARE READING. Congratulations; pat yourself on the back. 2. Read with them. You might get a nice conversation going. I said this once to someone and she scoffed and said, I don’t have time for that. Well, lady, then your kid’s got bigger problems than what kinds of books she’s reading.)

But I’m digressing again. Gurdon mentions Shine by Lauren Myracle as a perfect example of her thesis about dark literature, and this is where she loses me because I know she didn’t read it. It’s true that it starts out with a disturbing scene. A boy is beaten and left for dead, a victim of a vicious hate crime. The main character, Cat, was once best friends with the boy, and the book is about her attempt to make amends for that loss of friendship by trying to figure out who was responsible for the attack. On a simple level the novel is a detective story. Cat goes around the small, economically depressed town in the North Carolina mountains “interviewing” suspects—who happen to be her friends and former friends. But on a deeper level we’re learning about the complexities in relationships, the reality of small town Southern life, the real and disturbing consequences of prejudice. I closed the book feeling hopeful about humanity and I would not hesitate to give it to my thirteen going on fourteen year old daughter.

Maybe what’s bugging me is the implied disrespect some adults have for teens. That teens can’t “handle” certain topics in literature. That teens will copy or be influenced by what they read. That their fragile innocence will be forever shattered. This reminds me of that proposed Tennessee law that would outlaw teachers saying the word gay. As if not saying something makes it disappear. Teens mock that kind of stuff. They see the inherent hypocrisy and idiocy of it and it makes THEM lose respect for adults. The reality is some kids are dealing with what Gurdon calls “dark” issues and reading about these issues makes them feel less alone in the world. Other kids are fairly sheltered. But here’s a news flash: kids are human. They’re going to die. Some day they’re going to have…gasp….sex (hopefully when they’re married and over thirty but…) Reading young adult fiction is the safest way to delve into these topics and go through stuff without actually going through it. Catharsis, Aristotle called it. Or maybe that was Plato.

Which brings me to my review of The Beginning of After by debut author Jennifer Castle (pub co. Harper Teen; release date Sept, 2011) The main character is a typical suburban teen whose family dies in a car crash. BAM and she enters the world of After. How do you cope when something like this happens? How do people treat you? What does the future hold for you? Now hopefully a typical teen reader doesn’t have to deal with this issue, but I’d bet that many of them in a moment of fury might wish for a split second that their family would disappear. I loved this book because there were no gimmicks. The writing wasn’t purposefully lyrical. It was straightforward, only there to tell the story. The characters weren’t cleverly quirky or wise-cracky. They were complex and normal and real. Every single reaction and interaction the main character has is spot on realistic. There’s nothing didactic or preachy. It’s simply this girl’s story of the year after her family's deaths. By the end you feel like you’ve spent the year with her and wish you could keep following her along. Great book. And I have high hopes that this is the beginning of many more great books for teens by Jennifer Castle.

PS. It has a hopeful ending and the cover is not black.