Summer Reads: Chapter & Verse (The Impossible Knife of Memory)

2014 has been the summer of the audio book. Between family visits, my son's college search, and driving kids back and forth to camp, we've racked up enough miles on the Mars Rover for a cross country trek.

(The kids nicknamed our red mini van "The Mars Rover" many years and over 120,000 miles ago. Because we are geeks. But more about that on Friday.)

I can only listen to Coldplay, Queen, and Temples so many times. That's why my first stop on any road trip is the local library, which has a great selection of audio books.

Recommended listening

For this edition of Summer Reads: Chapter & Verse, I'm pairing one of my road trip books with a poem. If you'd like to know more about this series -- in which guest bloggers and I are matching a summer read with a poem that complements the novel -- check out this post.

My daughter went to field hockey camp at University of Delaware last month. I spent both drives -- dropping off and picking up -- listening to Laurie Halse Anderson's most recent novel, THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY.

THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY
featured on NPR

After spending years on the road together, high school senior Hayley Kincaid and her veteran father decide to settle down. Hayley hopes that returning to their run-down family home will help her father recover from PTSD. When living in her childhood home triggers her own long-buried memories, Hayley begins to realize she can't care for her father alone.

If you're following this series for classroom discussion ideas, THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY is upper YA. The poem that I'm pairing with it is complex enough for high school juniors and seniors to dig into.

The you that's left
     In memory of 1523 Calliope St., New Orleans  

by W.M. Rivera

The end is not, so wrote Herodotus on looking back,
apparent from the outset. Amazing what's forgot
or not, the blanks, nostalgia, childhood's steps
or aches to see that silent gnaw, the house a vacant
lot, a broken jar, remaining bits of too-long
absent egos. What's the use to know it,

far-off thunder, that earlier ignorance, who thought
grown-up was ten-times tall, conceiving
secrecies at each closed door, and running running
never still, the sky off blue--few cares, slow

leaping walks again. All this on un-retaining walls
in chalk expecting rain, while forward's still a stop
an aimless nowhere and that endless wait
for one you never meet, the you that's left.

There are so many lines in this poem that speak to Laurie Halse Anderson's book. The phrase "ten-times tall" fits the way Hayley saw her father when she was little. "Amazing what's forgot/ or not, the blanks,/ nostalgia, childhood's steps" reminded me of the holes in Hayley's memory and how images begin to seep back in, helped by being in the physical space of this house. Most of all, I felt that the last three lines of Bill's poem could be in Hayley Kincaid's voice. She's got to deal with the part of herself, and of her father, that are left. She can't wish either one of them back to wholeness.

Huge thanks to Maryland poet W.M. (Bill) Rivera for giving me permission to post "The you that's left" today. The poem is from his chapbook, The Living Clock, published by Finishing Line Press.

Want to check out more posts in this series? Here you go!

So far, we've paired:

THE GIRLS AT THE KINGFISHER CLUB (Historical YA) with Edna St. Vincent Millay's "First Fig"

DARIUS & TWIG (Contemporary Urban YA) with Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool"

STARGIRL (Contemporary YA) with Eileen Spinelli's, "Poem for a Bully" and "Advice to Rapunzel" -- Shared by guest blogger Janet Wong

Do you have an idea for Summer Reads: Chapter & Verse. Guest bloggers are welcome! For more information, find a full explanation of the series and a sample Chapter & Verse pairing at this post.

12 Steps Cover Reveal

Hello, Writerly Friends!

One of my real life Writerly Friends is celebrating this week. MG/YA author Veronica Bartles is having some kind of WOW year.

In 2012, Veronica was a pre-published author packing up her family for a move from Maryland to New Mexico. How do I know? This talented lady was in my critique group. Veronica had been sharing a few different manuscripts with us. One was a YA romance called Kissing Frogs.

In June, I dropped off a turkey lasagna at Veronica's house (the kitchen was packed a few days ahead of the move), hugged her goodbye, and wished her the best.

But Veronica was too good for our critique group to lose! She keeps coming to  meetings via Skype and reports back to us about her life in New Mexico and her involvement in online pitch contests.

In the year since she left us (sob) for life in the desert, Veronica did something amazing with her Kissing Frogs manuscript. She played around with telling the story from a supporting character's point of view. That "playing around" became a YA romance called 12 Steps. Which sold to Swoon Romance early this fall.

You can read about Veronica's road to publishing at the Sub It Club.

I am so excited to be part of Veronica's cover reveal for 12 Steps. A HUGE shout out to my Writerly Friend, critique partner, cheerleader, awesome knitter, and cookie baker extraordinaire Veronica Bartles on her first published book!

***

Twelve Steps

by Veronica Bartles

Release Date: 03/25/14

Book Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Andi is tired of being a second-class sibling to perfect sister Laina. There in Laina's shadow, Andi's only noticeable feature is her pretty awesome hair. And even that is eclipsed by Laina's perfect everything else.

When Andi’s crush asks her to fix him up with Laina, Andi decides enough is enough and devises a twelve-step program to wrangle the spotlight away from Laina. After all, great hair must count for something.

Step 1: Admit she’s powerless to change her perfect sister, and accept that her life really, really sucks. OK, maybe that's two steps in one.

Step 4: Make a list of her good qualities besides great hair. There have got to be at least three good qualities, right?

Step 7: Demand attention for more than just her shortcomings, and break out of her shell. Easier said that done, but worth the effort in the long-run. 

When a stolen kiss from her crush ends in disaster, Andi finds that her prince isn’t as charming as she'd hoped, and realizes she may need a new program--perhaps with less steps!

As cracks in Laina’s flawless façade begin to show, the sisters work together to find a spotlight big enough for both to shine.

About the Author

As the second of eight children and the mother of four, Veronica Bartles is no stranger to the ups and downs of sibling relationships. (She was sandwiched between the gorgeous-and-insanely-popular older sister and the too-adorable-for-words younger sister.) She uses this insight to write stories about siblings who mostly love each other, even while they’re driving one another crazy.  When she isn’t writing or getting lost in the pages of her newest favorite book, Veronica enjoys knitting fabulous bags and jewelry out of recycled plastic bags and old VHS tapes, sky diving (though she hasn’t actually tried that yet), and inventing the world’s most delectable cookie recipes.

TWELVE STEPS is Veronica Bartles's first novel.

Author Links:

http://vbartles.com/

https://twitter.com/vbartles

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorVeronicaBartles

Cover Reveal Organized by:

YA Bound Book Tours

Thanks for YA Bound Book Tours for including me in Veronica's cover reveal. 12 Steps definitely looks Swoon-worthy.

Stand up for Girls

Today is the International Day of the Girl.

According to the website LitWorld, 2/3 of the world's illiterate population are women. Wherever you are at noon today, stand up for ten seconds. LitWorld -- a global literacy nonprofit -- will be posting photos of people standing up for girls at their website.

For the last two weeks, my daughter and I have been talking about girlhood and awesomeness. I've been following the blog Redefine Girly, which has been tackling some interesting issues that U.S. girls face, from back-to-school t-shirts that promote the idea that being pretty means playing dumb, to the television show Toddlers & Tiaras.

My kid is new to middle school, and she's facing some of those issues. This morning, she told me that -- despite anti-bullying training at school -- her outfit got a disapproving once-over from a girl who "thinks she's popular or whatever."

She said, "Mom, talking about 'Waking up Full of Awesome' really helped me."

The two of us posted about some of our favorite books featuring girls who hold tight to their own sense of awesomeness. Today, I'm adding YA titles to that list. Miss J is too young to read most of these books. I'm glad she'll have some great characters to show her how to stay awesome when she heads to high school.

Parents -- these books put the "adult" in young adult. Make sure you know what your kid is ready for before handing her one of these books.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Colin, a genius high schooler, strikes out on an adventure and finds down-on-her luck Lindsey. The story is too full of quirky details to summarize here. Among a list of love interests named Katherine, Lindsey is like a not-Heather in the movie Heathers. She's unapologetically different. That's why I think she's awesome (and Colin comes around to sharing that POV.)

Side note -- my teenage son loved Green's Looking for Alaska. He would not touch Katherines. Maybe he could have gotten past the girl-centric title, but the cover was too much for a boy reader. I hope it comes out with a new design soon.

A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer

Nhamo runs away from her village in Mozambique. Not only does no one recognize she's an awesome kid, but she's in danger of losing her inner-fire as the child bride of an older man. Nhamo's harrowing journey tests her resources, but also leads her to a new life. Taken under the wing of a female scientist, Nhamo gains access to education and thrives.

Good Girls by Laura Ruby

The more I thought about this novel, the more important I realized it was. It's not a comfortable read for a parent. At a party, someone snaps a cell phone photo of high schooler Audrey Porter performing a sex act. The photo gets around school, is sent to her parents -- worst case scenario. The book focuses on how Audrey questions her self-view. Is she still a good kid after what happened? What does that even mean? Audrey re-invents herself, makes some new friends (kids she had previously labeled as "bad girls")  and finds her way back to that inner sense of awesome.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
In this fantasy novel, some people have a "grace" -- a special ability. Katsa's is her ability to kill, or so everyone thinks. The story follows Katsa as she handles political intrigue and assassination attempts without losing sight of who she is. She never plays along or does what she's told. Obedience isn't on her menu. Eventually, Katsa learns to redefine her grace and see herself as more than a killing machine.

This book met the boy seal-of-approval at our house. If your son liked The Hunger Games, he will love Graceling. My guy also liked Fire, a novel set in the same world.

Harry Potter Books 5-7 by J.K. Rowling

Miss J and I discussed this one at length. We are not going with the obvious choice, Hermione Granger. While Hermione never apologizes for being smart, we both think she's too judgmental of others to be on our list.

The honor goes to Ginny Weasley. In the first three books, Ginny's crush on Harry Potter makes her goofy, shy, and leads to her victimization. In the later books, though, Ginny learns to be herself around Harry. It turns out she's a fabulous Quidditch player (who wouldn't be with six older brothers) and has a mean bat-bogey hex. Ginny is tough. She doesn't let others tell her who she is or should be. We both liked that Ginny realizes the only guy worth dating is a guy who likes you for who you are.

The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

I avoided reading this fantasy novel for a long time. What parent wants to read about kids fighting to the death on TV? Finally, I gave it a chance. So did everyone else in the world.

What makes Katniss Everdeen so appealing? She's tough. She stands up for herself, feeds and protects her family. She's smarter than the politicians who want to manipulate her for their own purposes. I liked that she didn't give in to the excesses of "The Capitol" -- where everything is about appearance and consumption. In this future, people matter only for their usefulness to the government. Katniss shows that one independent spirit can change the world.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli


Stargirl captures the heart of Leo BorlockStargirl's uniqueness. But it doesn't last long. The pressure to conform is too great and Stargirl is anything but a conformist. If you've read the "Waking Up Full of Awesome" post -- I think Stargirl has never lost the wild and wonderful sense of self we see in five-year-old girls.

I am sorry to say that this list is short on awesome girls of diverse backgrounds. That's more about what's on my bookshelf, unfortunately, than what books are available. If you have an awesome YA heroine to recommend -- no matter what heritage -- please let us know about her in the comments.

Stand up for girls today!