Wildhood by Natterson-Horowitz and Bowers

WILDHOOD by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers is subtitled “The Epic Journey from Adolescence to Adulthood in Humans and Other Animals.” And what an intriguing read it is!  Readers can explore peer-pressure in salmon (who knew?) and courtship behavior in humpback whales, plus many more examples from the animal kingdom. The authors (Natterson-Horowitz is a visiting professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard and Bowers is a science journalist) previously collaborated on the New York Times bestseller Zoobiquity. In WILDHOOD, they use chapters divided into four parts representing key life skills (Safety, Status, Sex, and Self-reliance) in order to discuss parallels with our own species. Natterson-Horowitz and Bowers write about impulsivity and the “teenage brain” as well as social hierarchies and “association with high status animals.” Truly fascinating, their writing is scientific, but accessible and of interest across disciplines like Psych, Science, and Kinetic Wellness classes. The authors also raise issues that some Junior Theme students are already exploring, too, like the impact for humans of having to learn these life skills both in a real world and a virtual one. Natterson-Horowitz and Bowers recently published an essay, called “Adolescents Go Wild – And Not Just Humans” in The Wall Street Journal (available online at school) which gives a brief overview of their research.

The text itself includes a glossary of terms, almost fifty pages of detailed notes and a helpful index. WILDHOOD received starred reviews from Booklist (“Teens might like reading about their counterparts in the animal kingdom”) and Publishers Weekly. Find it on our shelves soon!

Reading, Reading, Reading!!

Happy Labor Day – here are a couple of great resources to help with the "work" of developing a love of reading! 

 

HOW TO RAISE A READER by Pamela Paul (My Life with Bob) and Maria Russo is a fabulous resource from the editors of The New York Times Book Review.  In this very helpful text geared to parents, Paul and Russo use four sections (Born to Read, Growing a Reader, Your Middle Grade Reader, and A Reader for Life) to offer ideas and titles for young people from babies to teenagers. As a high school librarian, I was most interested in the fourth section where the authors point out that “literature can provide powerful company” and “many lifelong readers remember adolescence as a time of intense immersion in books, a period in which you read to help figure out who you were, what you believed in, and where you stood in the world.” They define a Young Adult (YA) book as one which “plunges the reader directly into the experience of being a teenager – that confusing, exhilarating, hormone-fueled, high stakes time when you really don’t know what the future will hold for you or what adulthood is really like.” In addition, they mention several sites like Book Riot, The YA Bookshelf, and Girl Plus Book, which help readers stay informed about new YA titles. Paul and Russo also offer a lengthy lists of themed books (dealing with fear and bravery, kindness and empathy, family stories, etc.) for ALL ages. The choices are informed and varied – we plan to check the YA recommendations against our high school collection, but a quick review says we have many they recommend on our shelves already. Please stop by if you would like to discuss HOW TO RAISE A READER with any of our librarians.

 

JIM TRELEASE'S READ-ALOUD HANDBOOK is now available in its 8th edition, revised and updated by Jim Trelease and Cyndi Giorgis.  This title is truly a “classic” work worth consulting by anyone with children younger than 8^th grade. Trelease has spent decades advising on children’s literature.  In 2010, Penguin named THE READ-ALOUD HANDBOOK as one of the 75 most important books it had published in its history. This new edition has chapters about the Importance of Dads and on the Impact of Electronic Media on Reading. Giorgis is currently a professor at Arizona State University where she, too, promotes the importance of reading aloud, especially to younger children. 

 

Another 2019 title worth considering is Meghan Cox Gurdon’s The Enchanted Hour; this first book from the Wall Street Journal’s children’s book reviewer received a starred review from Library Journal.  

Color Me In by Natasha Diaz

COLOR ME IN by Natasha Diaz is a new young adult novel and I am honestly having trouble deciding if I would recommend it or not. Some positives are the ideas that the main character, a high school sophomore named Nevaeh, is bi-racial and has a mixed religious heritage (Christianity and Judaism); plus, her main friend, Stevie, is very interested in the fine arts and is competing for a dance scholarship. These are the types of characters not often featured in realistic fiction for middle or high school students and we need to see more of them.  The biggest negative however, is that Nevaeh is not at all like-able.  As Stevie says to her, “It’s always about what you need and you want…. I had one shot to get into that program and you couldn’t even support me. I needed you, and you’re so full of yourself you couldn’t see it.” In addition, her parents are in the midst of divorcing and her Mom is almost totally checked out and depressed. Her Dad has suddenly (and manipulatively) decided that Nevaeh should be studying for a bat mitzvah even though she is much older than the traditional age. That provides a reason for her to develop a relationship with a young female rabbi (another positive aspect) who, however, also berates Nevaeh for her attitudes and actions: “I think you spend a lot of time complaining about what’s out of your control instead of considering and appreciating what you’ve got.”  School Library Journal suggests this debut book for grades 8 and up and I think that it would probably have more appeal for students in late middle school and very early high school although there is some casual alcohol and substance abuse.