Guest Blog from a Teen Reader (Jane, age 15): The Person who Changed my Life (and is still changing it)

For a few months now my mom has been begging me to write a guest blog for her (she was literally on her knees at one point. Mom gets really intense with this sort of stuff). I wanted her to stop feeling so betrayed and neglected, so I went ahead and wrote one. Except that I didn’t.

I would write an introductory sentence and then quit because it sounded like I was too scholarly, too athletic, or too great of a teenager. As my mom’s only daughter, I felt as though I had to produce a magnificent blog that would forever rule the blogosphere. A blog that would hit number 1 on the charts. Maybe I’m reaching for the stars here, but I’m kinda hoping to get a few more followers on Twitter also (I’m trying to break 100).

So I’m sure you are all curious as to what my awesome blog will feature. What literary works are included, who the person is who changed my life, does my mom still feel betrayed and neglected, etc. Well, keep reading, because within the next few paragraphs your questions will all be answered. You should be aware though, after reading this blog, you might shed some tears, be nostalgic of your teenage years, wish you had a friend like I do, and have an insane urge to follow me on Twitter.

So I have this friend. Her name is Ella. She currently lives a few houses away from me and she refuses to stop changing my life. I mean really, she refuses to stop.

Ella has been there through thick and thin. She has been there through panic attacks, bloody noses, tears, and even pee. Yes urine. I have peed my pants more times around her because of laughter than I have peed in a regular toilet. We are so close, that people tend to see us as a married couple--we have our own sides on the bed and we bicker a lot.

We are so close, that the one and only LAUREN OLIVER, author of my favorite book, Delirium, knows us as the Dream Team. At the book signing where we met her, she even told us to make a picture book about our friendship. This picture book will feature a Giraffe named Jane and a Bear named Ella. It will mostly be a collection of mediocre drawings and hilarious animal puns. The title: The Tails of Jane and Ella (That’s the literary work section of this blog. Sorry to let you down). Ella and I are so close that I am often found wearing a pair of her underwear because of a mishap with my bladder. The two of us are so damn close that my very own mother has called me Ella.

Ella has taught me to stand for something. She is as independent as they come, she knows what makes her upset and what doesn’t. She seems to really get it, the whole stand for what you believe in thing. She has helped me carve out what I believe in and what I don’t. She has urged me to go further with my beliefs and everything that I stand for. So the following paragraph is for you, Ella. So that you know that you have made an impact on me deeper than anyone ever.

Ella, 

I’ve finally found what I believe in. And it sucks that it has taken this much tension and tears for me to understand and find it. But here it goes: I believe in us. I believe that our friendship should last a lifetime. I believe that even though we are both different and similar in every way, that we will continue to stay friends. I believe that we will always love each other in that sisterly yet oddly marital way. I believe that we will always be set apart from the crowd as best friends forever. Because, E, I don’t need a religion or a God or a heaven, I don’t need a prayer to say before bed or a church to eat donuts in every Sunday for me to find my beliefs. I have you. 

I stand for us. 

So there. I said it. Feeling nostalgic yet? Feel those tears creepin’ up? Do you feel that urge to follow me on Twitter because I have sparked feelings that you didn’t even know you had? I haven’t answered one question yet- No, my mom does not feel betrayed or neglected anymore--I made the blog, didn’t I?

THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO ELLA FOR EVERYTHING SHE HAS PUT ME THROUGH.

May the Dream Team last forever.

-Jane

The End of the World as We Know It: The Latest in Apocalyptic Fiction

When I was in high school, I was convinced I would never make it out. Maybe all teens have a touch of this fatalistic sense—that they can’t possibly ever grow old, that no way can the world keep spinning, especially as you begin to look around and notice what a big mess things are. Wars, natural disasters, disease, never mind the cruddy way people generally treat each other. And teens are very stuck in the moment, thinking that things can never be so horrible as they are NOW, for THEM. When I was a teen, the Soviets shot down an airliner that had strayed into their airspace and the news was talking about how it might be the start of World War Three. The nuclear war disaster flick The Day After came out on TV, and I stayed up late to watch it. I believed that it was only a matter of time before some loony warmonger pushed the wrong button. The signs were everywhere…

But here I am. Older than I ever thought I’d be, raising two teens who are noticing the sometimes sad state of the world and wondering how it can possibly go on like this. My son read Cormac McCarthy’s post apocalyptic nightmare The Road a few months ago and asked me if we should start stockpiling canned goods. I’ve read that book too and halfway through found myself scrolling around on Mormon websites. (They have really good tips on rotating your pantry, in case anyone’s wondering.)

Last week I read the new novel everyone is buzzing about, a YA version of The Road that has the added element of zombies. Like the poor survivors of the apocalypse need anything else to worry about. The book is Ashes by Ilsa Bick and it’s brilliant. I’m giving you fair warning here. If you get your hands on it, clear your schedule. You won’t be able to put it down. Having a well-stocked pantry will help too, so you won’t have to worry about that while you’re reading. Also, you might want to reconsider your squeamishness about guns. Guns are big in this book. You need them to fight off the freaking zombies.

Before I sell you on Ashes, I want to say a word about dystopian fiction (a fancy way of describing End of the World books). This is the latest trend in YA fiction. I don’t know if it’s ever not been a trend. But it’s very big right now and kind of bleeding into other genres such as fantasy and science fiction. These books all have their own take on the apocalypse and/or its aftermath. Here are a few of the really good ones I’ve read lately, in no particular order:

1. The new classic that all of these are measured against is the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. If you’ve been living under a rock, here's the rundown: a sick, gritty society emerges after the end of the world in which kids compete in real-life, Survivor-style games for the entertainment of the privileged. The “lucky” selected boy/girl pairs are thrown onto a nightmare TV show set where they literally must kill each other. It’s horrifying, addictive, thought provoking and masterfully written. And there’s a movie coming out soon. Added bonus: all three books have been written so you can read them all without waiting.

2. Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts (official release date is November 2011) is a teen twist on Stephen King’s The Stand. The narrative alternates between the points of view of various kids across the country as the end of the world begins. There’s an added pressure of townspeople turning on each other in zombie-like rage. And there will be sequels. In fact all of the books on my list are part of a series. Something that sort of ticks me off. Can’t a book just END anymore? Give the reader a satisfying conclusion? Tie up all the loose ends in one neat volume? Apparently not.

3. Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie. I’ve blogged about these before because they are SO good. They take place well after the apocalypse and society has evolved and/or degenerated to the point that nearly everything is decided for its members, including who they will marry. One girl buys into all of this until she’s mistakenly given two “matches,” which gets her questioning the system and wondering what else the powers that be have gotten wrong.

4. Across the Universe by Beth Revis is dystopian on a space ship. The world is so messed up a few scientists volunteer to be cryogenically frozen and put on a ship for hundreds of years to start anew on another planet. A larger number of volunteers have been running the ship and their descendants grow up not knowing exactly how it all started. One girl who is frozen with her parents wakes up to find that someone has (inadvertently/purposely?) pulled the plug on her. And the ship she’s trapped on is VERY unlike the world she left behind.

5. Ashfall by Mike Mullin. More realistic and therefore more disturbing. The super volcano lying (supposedly) dormant under Yellowstone erupts and destroys half the country. A fifteen year old boy has the bad luck to have been left home alone for the weekend while his parents visit relatives he doesn’t particularly feel like visiting. The book is his horrifying journey to find his family.

6. Delirium by Lauren Oliver. Long after the apocalypse we find ourselves in a world where love is defined as a disease. The solution is some kind of surgery to take away desire. Our heroine is all set for her cure when she falls in love. Teen girls LOVE this book. And adults (okay, just women, let’s be honest here) will read it and remember those crazed romantic feelings churned up when they first fell.

And now to Ashes.

The author Ilsa Bick (and let me just pause to say that I love the name Ilsa) throws her heroine Alex into a non-stop, heart-pounding, terrifying adventure. At the beginning, ironically, Alex's world already feels like it’s over. She has a brain tumor and knows she’s dying. Her parents died years before and because the tumor robbed Alex of her sense of smell, she can hardly remember them anymore (funny how closely our memories and sense of smell are intertwined). On a final trip to say goodbye—Alex is hiking in the mountains to scatter her parents’ ashes—BAM—comes the end of the world. In this case it’s an electromagnetic pulse which destroys all electronic devices and causes most people to drop dead. (Sheesh, do we need another fear?) Throw in a bratty kid and a marine on the run/possible romantic interest. Also add flesh-eating zombies. And a cliffhanger at the end of EVERY chapter that amps up the tension to heights you can’t imagine. Ilsa isn’t totally heartless. SPOILER ALERT: Alex gets her sense of smell back. And possibly a super power. Another warning: there will be sequels. That you will have to wait for.

Not sure what it is exactly that attracts me to these end of the world books. My son, after his class read The Road and his classmates dragged around depressed for weeks, has a theory that these novels aren’t as dark as they appear on the surface. Sure, they take the negative elements of our world to their extreme and terrifying conclusions, but in the end, there is always at least one person standing. See, these books are really about the resiliency of the human spirit. If that volcano explodes or we poison ourselves or blow the planet to smithereens, someone’s going to be left to carry on.

Let’s hope it’s a couple of kids.

With possibly a gun. And some nonperishable food.

Top Teen Books

First, let me say that I am an adult who loves books for teens. I don’t know if this means that somewhere, maybe not very deep inside, I still am a teen at heart. (Okay. Yikes.) But I do write for teens. I used to teach them. (Although it’s probably debatable that real, useful information was actually transmitted from me to them.) One thing I do know for sure is that I love books about them.

Books for teens are faster paced. There’s a story at the heart of them, something that makes you want to keep turning the pages but at the same time makes you wish the world of the book wouldn’t end. The characters are faced with big problems, but the problems are believable and solvable in the end. There’s a real emotional core in many teen books. I will admit that I have cried reading some of them. There have only been a few adult books that have done that to me.

So, if you know someone who is a teen, or if you want to reconnect with your inner teen, or if you just want a good book to read on an airplane, here is a list of my favorite books from the past few months: (In no particular order)

1. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. Mean Girls meets Ground Hogs Day. The main character goes about a normal day, which for her means hanging with the popular girls, dating a jerk, cheating on a quiz, and drinking too much at a party. At the end of the day, she dies. So that’s surprising. But even more surprising, she wakes up and the day begins again. And again. And again. Somewhere along the way, she realizes that she isn’t a very nice person. What was interesting to me about this book was how much I was rooting for this bitch of girl to figure her life out and make things right.

2. Delirium also by Lauren Oliver. I want to do a shout out to Lauren Oliver here for writing two really good, very different books. I heard she is young (like still in her twenties) and I am totally envious of her talent. If she’s churning out books like this now, then she is on her way to being a powerhouse of YA literature. So, Delirium is one of those Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian, Futuristic, Orwellian books that’s so popular right now. But with a twist. In this one, love is considered a disease that must be eradicated. The main character buys into this concept until a few months before her “procedure” when she meets a boy and falls in love.

3. Across the Universe by Beth Revis. Also dystopian fiction. The narrative goes back and forth between a boy and a girl. The boy is the soon to be leader of a strange spaceship allegedly heading to a better world. The girl has been cryogenically frozen for the future and accidentally woken up. Cool side note: this book appeals to both boys and girls (my 13 year old daughter and 17 year old son both read it and loved it. The key to selling them on it was the reversible cover. For the girls—it’s a romantic kissing shot. For the boys—it’s the blueprint of the spaceship.) Lots of interesting things to say about what it takes to be a leader, what it means to be normal, and the price a society will pay to survive.

4. Bruiser by Neal Shusterman. Girl meets boy. Brother hates boy. Boy has some strange powers. Girl and brother find themselves sucked into strange boy’s world. Lots of clever details. Funny and alternately horrifying. The mystery will suck you in and before you know it, you’ll be gasping out loud.

5. If I Stay by Gail Forman. This book was the focus of a glowing review on NPR recently, which is why I picked it up. Main character is in a car accident that kills her entire family and leaves her hovering in a coma between life and death. The characters are real and quirky and funny. (Hippy-ish parents. On the verge, rock star boyfriend.) Okay, I cried multiple times reading this book. And it has stayed with me. Apparently it has stayed with other people too, including the author, because she wrote a sequel, Where She Went, which is told from the point of view of the now famous rocker boyfriend. Here is a rare thing in the book world: I think the sequel was better than the original.

6. Stay by Deb Caletti. Yikes. I was chewing my fingernails through this one. Story goes back and forth between the present and the past. In the present a girl and her father are basically on the run from the girl’s stalker ex-boyfriend. In the past, we get to see how that relationship developed and twisted. Eventually the two narratives collide and you know the guy is going to find them. I loved this book. Somehow it was funny in places. And so real and believable. You LIKE the guy at the beginning, just like the girl does, before his dark side is exposed. There’s so much in here about love and obsession and guilt. Plus, there’s an added mystery where the girl discovers a secret about her parents’ relationship, a lie that her father has kept from her all these years.

A side note for the handful of people who took my book club challenge: (We’re reading The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett, On Beauty by Zadie Smith and Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins) I’ve read The Magician’s Assistant and loved it. But I am embarrassed to say that I didn’t quite get the ending. In fact, I came to the end and turned the page, thinking there had to be another page. Have I read so many children’s books that I’ve forgotten how to read a piece of adult literary fiction? I don’t know. But please please, someone else read this book, so we can talk about it….