Must Have YA and Diverse Titles for Every Library

School Library Journal recently linked to a list of 100 Must have YA titles (pdf here); New Trier has over 90% of the titles in our collection.

We faired slightly less well in terms of the 42 Diverse Titles for Every Library (having 27 of the 42, or almost two-thirds) which are included on the above pdf.  Next step: look at ordering and featuring some of these in future book talks.

Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore

JANE, UNLIMITED by Kristin Cashore was a book that I eagerly anticipated because I know how much I – and students – have liked her writing, particularly Graceling. And I found the first two-thirds or so of JANE, UNLIMITED to be a fun, engaging read. Jane, just out of high school and looking for a life direction, is mourning the aunt who raised her and is creating one-of-a-kind umbrella works of art when she is invited to Tu Reviens, the family home of a very well off acquaintance.  She visits, remembering her promise to Aunt Magnolia to go there, if anyone ever asks. And then the strange behaviors start: disappearing works of art; spies and espionage; magical realism as the house seems to have powers of its own.  While I liked the mystery element, there is a significant shift in the story and Jane starts repeating her day, depending on the choices she makes (kind of a choose-your-own adventure feature ultimately across five genres) with the events becoming more weird, horrific, and unreal.   

Honestly, these multiple realities felt like more of an interesting writing challenge for the author than an entertaining story for the reader. At over 450 pages, this book may appeal to ambitious readers, but I wonder if most students will be patient enough to keep struggling with Jane through all of the strange events.  JANE, UNLIMITED received a starred review from School Library Journal.  

A year or so ago, I had some very positive comments about Jessica Cluess’ A Shadow Bright and Burning and I am happy to see that a second book in the series, A POISON DARK AND DROWNING, was recently released. This one, too, is filled with magic, romance, secrets and monsters! And isn’t the cover absolutely beautiful?  Read both of Cluess' books, in order. Then you will be ready for the third!  Yes, these titles also appear long, but the lexile levels are low (670) and both middle school and reluctant high school readers will enjoy the page-turning fantasy adventures of Henrietta (Nettie), her dear friend Rook, flirtatious Magnus, and the Earl of Sorrow-Fell.  Author Jessica Cluess is a graduate of Northwestern University and I love that she has worked for Writopia Lab – here’s hoping that we can get a representative to consider attending our annual Literary Festival held every Fall. 

Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi

I am doing a short post about two books which discuss technology in very different ways.

BORED AND BRILLIANT by Manoush Zomorodi is a fascinating read and one that is so popular I am having difficulty getting a hard copy from the public library.  Zomorodi, who hosts the podcast Note to Self, challenges readers to explore “how spacing out can unlock your most productive and creative self.” She cites social science and neuroscience research plus comments from over 20,000 listeners about their concerns regarding cell phone use.  Their top 3 concerns? “It’s messing with my productivity; I feel addicted; and it might be affecting my health.”

Ultimately, Zomorodi suggests a seven step plan involving tracking digital habits and modifying them through avoidance or elimination challenges (no use while walking/driving, a day without pictures, delete an app, no email replies for a day). Instead, she advocates really observing one’s environment and creatively building on newly found free time and any sense of boredom. I found her description of living with increased tech consumption to be apt: “my brain was always occupied, but my mind wasn’t doing anything with all the information coming in.” Similar changes in habits are discussed in this article about increasing creativity from Entrepreneur magazine. BORED AND BRILLIANT seems like a thought-provoking resource for some of our Health classes and has the potential to mesh well with work that our Social Work Department and advisery rooms are exploring with regards to mindfulness. Imagine the original thinking and problem solving we could encourage!

CAN YOUR SMARTPHONE CHANGE THE WORLD? by Erinne Paisley had the potential to be a primer on activism and social justice.   It definitely tells her story of creating a paper prom dress and donating proceeds to the Malala Fund in order to promote education for girls around the world. However, it felt somewhat juvenile and shallow at times with an over-emphasis on social media, including separate chapters on Instagram, Youtube and Twitter.  There may be some interest by students, but I think those will tend to be younger. For older high school students, turn instead to Girl Rising, available as an excellent film and accompanying book. 

Update: on a related topic see Nicholas Carr’s “How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds” from October 6 in The Wall Street Journal or the iGen review elsewhere in this blog.