Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me-- rethinking YA lit?

Similarly to the way I spent all of my allowance money of the late 1990's on "Official" books about Leonardo DiCaprio's life (Lovin' Leo, anybody?), I think about kids of this decade as being hypnotized with love for books about vampires who make out, werewolves who make out with vampires, and Justin Bieber biographies (this Amazon bestseller, which is subtitled "First Step 2 Forever", is a hearty 240 pages and claims to be"100% official"). I've just assumed that the Twilight kids were the ones responsible for the YA industry's big sales boom of the past few years. But when you take a look at the New York Times Bestsellers list for children's books, it is a refreshing surprise: there is not one Twilight book in sight, and only one book's tagline makes mention of a werewolf. In fact, the top three bestselling children's book paperbacks of the moment deal with rather serious and consequential themes-- censorship, the absence of love (ok, it's close), and being different (and accepted for it), respectively. Meanwhile, the NYT Bestseller's list for adults is rounded off by James Patterson and two Stieg Larsson books-- granted, adults don't have schools buying mass quantities of books to teach in English classes but still, whatever this contrast says is interesting to think about.I've taken an interest in Young Adult fiction ever since I realized how many books I read as a child have stuck with me in ways that a lot of literature I've read in the past five or so years has not. And when I say "stuck with me" I don't mean just books I remember-- I mean these books have impacted, subconsciously or not, the things I write about now. When I googled the entire list of Newbery Award winners (1922-present), I realized that I distinctly remember reading and enjoying most of the books that won or were honored by the award's academy between the years 1993-2000. Even now, looking back to Lois Lowry's Number the Stars or Jerry Spinelli's Maniac McGee, I am not simply fond of the nostalgia these titles generate, but of the stories these books told.And I suppose ogling at ALA's Newbery list is how I found/decided to read Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me, which won the 2010 Newbery medal and is also #7 on the NYT children's bestseller list mentioned above.Stead's When You Reach Me takes place in slippery-sketchy 1970s Manhattan and tells the story about a mature-enough sixth-grade girl who begins to discover mysterious notes left for her in places only she would think to put them. The book's genre is tricky to delineate-- I suppose it is marketed as being part mystery, part sci-fi, but only because time travel plays a part in the crafting of protagonist Miranda's journey. The most refreshing part of the book, I found, is that it doesn't rely on its sci-fi twist to make sense of the story-- the book is, above all things, a story about life-- specifically, observing it.What I enjoyed about this book is that because you go into it looking at Miranda's life as if the entire thing is the scene of some crime (Miranda herself is looking at it that way as she tries to figure out which person is suspicious enough to have left the notes), the book at first seems like some sort of typical, formulaic mystery. Until you realize that Miranda isn't really getting anywhere with her findings. All Miranda is trying to figure out, really, is how to live and how to keep living. She's dissecting and dissecting, making astute (not just for a sixth grader) observations about the girls in her class or the guy who works at the deli around the corner-- as a reader you become interested in the mystery of the notes she's trying to solve, but simultaneously, and more importantly, you become invested in the indirect ways she's attempting to solve the inviolable mystery of life.There's something existential going on in this book, which is surprising for a story whose target audience is ages 10-13. As you're reading it it might not seem so at first until you finish it and you're kinda just like .... "Woah?" It's quite a story, and it's different, and it confirmed my suspicions that YA books can do the same things that literary fiction can, except in a more straightforward, honest way.There's my suggestion of the week. Quit being haughty, read more YA.

Age Aint Nothin But A Number

In honor of my mother's birthday today and the impending end of my teenage years over the weekend, I though it would be fun this week to consider how our age and our perception of our age both affects what fiction we choose to read* and how we write**.* It's fascinating to realize that some of the most celebrated and popular works of all time were written about and for children + teenagers, i.e., to name just a few obscure ones, Harry Potter and Twilight, but also that a tremendous number of stories aimed at children have very adult themes such as James and the Giant Peach or the original Grimm's Fairy Tales (which have a name that's really quite apropos).**Deciding the age of a character can be terribly stressful--the reader's preconceptions of an age-range, and how a character fits or defies those assumptions, can largely affect how the story is perceived.  For example, if the peeps on Skins were all elderly, their partying and sexual, um, "rambunctiousness" would come across as (even more) age-inappropriate and distinctly unbelievable.  One small detail can set off an intricate balancing act throughout the piece.As I face down my own mini-quarterlife crisis, I encourage y'all to explore questions of age in your own work this week.  What does being 19 or 20 or even 87 mean to you?  How does it force you to relate to others?Look to these two sources for inspiration, the first is classical:All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances,And one man in his time plays many parts,His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchelAnd shining morning face, creeping like snailUnwillingly to school. And then the lover,Sighing like furnace, with a woeful balladMade to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,Seeking the bubble reputationEven in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,In fair round belly with good capon lined,With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,Full of wise saws and modern instances;And so he plays his part. The sixth age shiftsInto the lean and slippered pantaloon,With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wideFor his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,Turning again toward childish treble, pipesAnd whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,That ends this strange eventful history,Is second childishness and mere oblivion,Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.And the second is a bit more contemporary: And that's about the time she walked away from me Nobody likes you when you're 23 And you still act like you're in freshman year What the hell is wrong with me, my friends say I should act my age What's my age again? That's about the time that she broke up with me No one should take themselves so seriously With many years ahead to fall in line Why would you wish that on me, I'll never wanna act my age What's my age again? What's my age again?

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a favorite classic for many people. Those who have not read the book really should do so. Jane Eyre is about a rather plain looking governess who falls in love with her employer, Mr. Rochester, and finds out things are not what they seem to be. The novel starts with a child-Jane living with relatives, then continues on about her life in boarding school, and then about her years as a governess.On March 11, Jane Eyre will play in theaters; I'm sure those who have read the book already knew this and are excited about the movie. There's still time before the movie comes out for those who have not read the book to do so (the movie and book are never quite the same, you know.) and for those who have to reread and enjoy the tale once again.

The Revolution Was Not Televised

Hello all, hope you are keeping calm, and carrying on, and suchYesterday, an adventurous group of us headed uptown to the Community Church of New York for a special reading/fundraiser by Junot Diaz.  Since, I went with a group I was unaware of the details until we arrived.  I discovered that the event was part of an ongoing effort to save Revolution Books from closing.  It took me a while to recover from the shock that a store with decidedly leftist views was holding a fundraiser in a church.  But it certainly provided more space than a bookstore would have and Diaz really did inspire us from the pulpit like a priest would his congregation.Diaz is a great writer, but I've discovered the real fun in going to see him read is in the long Q+A's where he mixes hilarious anecdotes with highbrow descriptions of his process.  One minute he can be cracking jokes about a rich, but stingy friend who wanted to be comped a ticket...to a fundraiser, and the next he can drop pure wisdom: "isn't it the goal of all writing to make the language new again?  We want the reader to suddenly realize the strangeness of something they experience everyday."    The actual reading was brief--an older short story and then a new piece that he described as "absolutely terrible."  (Even though it was great writing by most standards, it was fascinating when Diaz articulated how he needed to fix it.) It was a true move of solidarity with the writers in the crowd who, as he aptly put it, "suffer through the pain of early drafts."Diaz also stressed the importance of Revolution Books as an independent bookstore, rather than as a political entity, and I agree.  I feel it would be a great loss if it were to close.  No matter your political views, the truth is independent bookstores are a precious resource.  While the call for money was a little heavy-handed throughout the night, it was easy to look past it and recognize the reading for what it was: an illuminating "Evening with Junot Diaz"Now peeps, one final thing.  Your assignment, should you choose to accept, is to write a love poem/story! Or better yet, an anti-love poem/story!

Poem-a-day and Prompt

Hello all!Am I the only one who gets ecstatically happy at the prospect of receiving a new poem every day in my inbox? Ah, thank you, my ears are tingling with the echo of that resounding "NO! Tell me more!"If you haven't already, take a moment to subscribe (for free!) to The Academy of American Poets poem-a-day email list. In 2009, the blissful poem-a-day routine only lasted for the month of April (National Poetry Month! I know, as if anyone needs a reason to love April more) but since April 2010, the Academy decided--with the help of internet voters--that the poem-a-day extravaganza should last year round. Hear, hear.So sign up, sit back, and start every morning by reading a new poem by an author you may or may not have heard of before. LOVE IT!And, to sign off, a prompt:Write a poem made solely of observations. As in, not putting you or your mind in there--just what you see/hear/smell/taste/touch. For example: I saw a blue wool coat lying across a cream-colored quilt. Not: I saw my roommate's coat lying across my bed. 10-20 lines. See what kind of scene you can create using these sparse images.

Oh Canada

This week's post, by necessity, will have to be very short...though, I hope, not overwhelmingly sweet.  I find that it's often difficult for writers, when trying to craft a solid poem, to boil their language down to the precise images the poem needs.  I'm going to go ahead and give out a great poetry prompt, stolen (with the best of intentions) from Deborah Landau.  She once asked our class to write in the style of (Canadian!) Anne Carson's "Town Poems" from Plainwater.  This one in particular may prove helpful:Town of the Death of Sin "What is sin?You asked.The moon stung past us.All at once I saw you.Just drop sin and go.Black as a wind over the forests."Yep, that's it...powerful stuff huh?  I wish the best of luck in all penned adventures this week!

Send us your Photos!

Submit your photos to the 2011 print edition of West 10th!>>> Photographs will be published at 4.25 inches (width) x 6.56 inches (height). Please make sure they are at least 300 DPI at this size. Photos must be black and white (gray scale). Attach both your submission form and photographs (as separate attachments) in an email to west10th.submissions@gmail.com.>>>The submission deadline is Monday, February 21, 2011.Looking for inspiration? Check out these websites --Flak Photo publishes a photo every day on their website. They have a fabulous archive of images.Days With My Father is a photo essay from Phillip Toledo. Toledo's images of his father's final three years of life are both heartbreaking and full of hope for a time worn relationship. Beautifully rendered throughout.We love all of Matt Eich's work. Make sure not to miss "Carry me Ohio," a series that seamlessly combines the arts of documentary, portrait and landscape photography.**Please note that all photographs will be printed in black and white. You should take this into consideration when selecting your submissions as some photographs will not look as strong once desaturated. Check out Michael Kenna's work to admire some monochromatic landscapes that make beautiful use of the tonal range of black and white photography. The editors will make final content selections early in the spring semester. The 2010-11 Issue of West 10th will be released on April 2, 2011, and will be distributed widely around campus. If you have any questions, please send an email to west10th.submissions@gmail.com.

For the future novelists

Hello everyone.I suppose everyone's excited about starting the spring semester (okay, maybe some of us are still in vacation mode). The first week can be a little hectic with not knowing how your schedule might change and all. Anyway, for those of you who love writing stories and someday want to have a book published, there's good news. I stumbled upon a book  called "The Breakout Novelist";  the book gives  information/ advice for undiscovered beginner novelists and answers questions like: should I write a sequel? How long is it necessary  to be in front of my computer typing? What is the best genre for my first book? Should I quit my job/everything else important to focus on my manuscript?Writer's digest (a highly recommended website)  has an excerpt on the book for those interested:http://writersdigest.com/article/breakout-novelist-excerpt

A Jagged, Gorgeous, Winter Day

...Nights filled with longer hours, HEY Happy Snow Day Y'all!Hope you are all having a great first week back.  While break was very relaxing, I'm definitely excited to be back in the bustle of the city.  Plus, now that I'm forced to walk everywhere, I can burn off all those holiday calories.  Question for the universe: can someone build a treadmill with a built in Kindle?  Or better yet, bookholder with automatic page-turner? Get back to me whenever.  My reading list over break was small, but considering their scope, I think, West Tenthers, you will forgive my lack of ambition.  I finished Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and White Teeth by Zadie Smith.  Though they were written a decade apart, with very different settings, I was struck by how similar these books were at the core.  They both observe the effects of modern society across generations by focusing closely on very dysfunctional (read: realistic) families.  What is the dark side of our cherished Western freedoms?  Can love survive despite sex/infidelity, difference of culture, and good ol' fate?  These are the types of heavy questions I contended with, but, after all, the heavy novels are the most satisfying kind, in a way.  And the two authors wrap their piercing observation in such humorous situations that you don't even recognize their full implications until you're forced (reluctantly in my case) to put them down.      One unfortunate consequence of this otherwise glorious snow day is that tonight's reading at the Writer's House with Michael Cunningham was canceled.  Although I had prior commitments, I would have highly recommended it.  In lieu of the real deal, we can use our free time today to get started on his celebrated works The Hours, A Home at the End of the World, or his newest By Nightfall.  And, if you're already worn out by your school reading, the movie versions aren't too shabby either.  The Reading Series this spring doesn't have as many, for lack of better term, star authors as in the fall, but I'm grateful that more time and  opportunity will be given to lesser-knowns.  Some readings at NYU that I will definitely be looking forward to this semester are ones by Matthew Rohrer, Nick Flynn, and Colson Whitehead.Stay warm chicos! Hot Cocoa and a good book are the doctor's orders... 

Defining Your World

Hello all!Welcome back to the real world (insert hard stare). The gloves come off!But do keep all gloves and mittens on because it was 6 degrees today and no one wants any fingers to fall off. You need them to write! And what good writing weather it is. Because you can’t go outside.During the last few days of freedom before the spring term began, I spent my time immersed in book called ROOM by Emma Donoghue, daughter of NYU’s esteemed Henry James Professor of English and American Letters, Professor Denis Donoghue.The book has been nominated for many prizes and has been on many best-seller lists since September 2010, when it was published. It is an utterly absorbing story told from the point of view of 5-year-old Jack. Jack is kind of amazing. And so is his story: he is the child of a woman who was kidnapped seven years before the novel begins. The novel takes place in the 11-by-11-foot room he and his mother have been trapped and living in.ROOM is by turns a thrilling escape story, a hilarious and frightening explorer’s tale, part literary horror film (horror…novel?), and the heartbreaking and heart-strengthening chronicles of a boy and his mother. The mother-son relationship is the life-blood of the book and if you were a child or have a parent (YES I MEAN EVERYONE YES THANK YOU) you should read ROOM. You won't put it down until you've finished it. Guaranteed.But besides giving a quasi-review of the book (OK a full-blown, passionate argument on its behalf)—I meant to post a writing exercise. In ROOM, Jack speaks of the objects surrounding him as if they were Close Friends. A rug is not just a thing on the floor. For Jack, it is Rug, a good friend and confidant who is there to be played with. So too with Table, and with Plant. He does this because his world is 11-by-11 feet wide. Your world is not this size, but try to scale everything down. This is an exercise in description.So: Try writing about an object like Jack might. You don’t have to write what it is, but try to write from a perspective that incorporates more than an object’s physical appearance—write in a way that informs what that object DOES to your world, how you interact with it. What does Lamp (that weird little lamp in your bedroom that your mom got you from an antique store when you were really young and didn’t care about presents that weren’t stuffed animals, that one with the peeling lace around the shade) mean to you? What light might this throw on the way you look at your surroundings? 

WEBSITES 4 WRITERS

Welcome back erryone. I'm Christina, and I sincerely hope you all spent as much time in bed this break as I did. I'm new here, and so is the West 10th Twitter-- how exciting! You should follow us immediately, before we blow up. What we're hoping to do via "social media" (shudder) is create a little window that will at the very least introduce you guys to the nice literary community that exists over the internets. If you're like me, a lot of your IRL friends do not classify themselves as "writers"...and a few of them might not even read. You might have a little circle of book club friends, but look at you, are you really in a book club? It's true-- people like us, they doooo exist! And they've got smart and helpful things for you to read and think about. It helps when you know other people are struggling the same way you are.Since all I read this break was Columbine by Dave Cullen and one-half of In Cold Blood (sorry, on a kick here), I didn't want to start off my first blog with a sad touchy violent review. So instead, in !!!celebration!!! of all the tweets and retweets in our near future, I've put together a list of websites I as a reader/writer/kollege student have found to be the most helpful, the most entertaining, and/or the most fun. RESPOND! BE INTERACTIVE! by posting your favorite lit-themed websites. And do browse these-- I promise my taste is OK.Advice to Writers- Really, really, really fantastic collection to browse through when you feel like your work isn't %!#&ing working. Cheesy quotes=very rare.Electric Lit - This Brooklyn-based literary magazine's blog is surprisingly entertaining, not pretentious, and informative about readings and release parties that go on in the NY/BK area. Also, I like whoever tweets for them-- they're funny.The Millions- They're big on lists, which are always helpful/nice to read in the morning with yo coffee. Always new essays, features, and reviews to read, too.Book Bench-  The New Yorker book blog. Doing their thang.Book Forum- I've been introduced to a few new writers via articles from their website-- definitely something to check out.Thought Catalog- Nope. Not a literary site. Just a well-organized blog where people can share their funny/cute/gross thoughts about pop culture and ex-everythings. They're all short, and they're all good. Literally just spent an hour on here today.Don't forget to FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! And plz, go gentle into this spring semester. CD

Resolutions Re:Solutions

Happy new years and hallo from the Netherlands! I've blogged halfway around the world to bring you 37 literary resolutions from the LA Times. I don't think I have ever followed through on a New Years resolution for more than a week, but it's 2011, which means we're one year closer to 2012, so we had all better start boosting our karma now. The LA Times literary blog has provided us with a collection of authors' resolutions, just in case you're lazy, unmotivated or simply lack a dexterous prefrontal cortex.As for myself? I plan to write more believable fiction from the female perspective, as most of my female characters to date sound either as vapid as Snooki or as grungily post-oppy as J. Edgar Hoover.  Also, I'd like to write more by hand to see if it affects my voice and style. Comment if you have a literary resolution, and enjoy the rest of the break.

Bad Writing

Hello All!Please blame my absence the past few weeks on a pile of final papers as d-dense as Derrida (the extra D is for a double dose of DERRIDA.) Ha! Ha! Sadly enough, I am choosing to celebrate finishing my final final with a 5 am blog post. I just wanted to quickly call attention to this new short film that just came out called Bad Writing. Here's the trailer (yeah I know this was on HTMLGiant like a week ago but, meh.) This looks hilarious:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raWLS2_PEfI]It just played over the weekend at Sunshine Cinemas, but I'm sure it will return! Leave a comment if you saw it, I want to know if it was worth it.

Gilded Ink Writing Contest

To all you fiction writers: want to enter a short-story contest judged by acclaimed author David Rakoff? Here's your chance!The College Group at the Met and Selected Shorts, a short story performance series at Symphony Space and on public radio around the country, co- present another student writing contest.  Students are asked to write 500 words or less about a “private paradise,” in celebration of the upcoming exhibition, The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City, opening on February 1, 2011.  Four winning entries, selected by the CGM committee, Symphony Space, and special guest judge David Rakoff (author of  Half Empty and  Don’t Get Too Comfortable and frequent contributor to NPR’s This American Life), will be read aloud at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday, February 4, 2011, recorded, and possibly aired later on Public Radio International.  The special event will be hosted by David Rakoff.Download the submission form here and start writing! GildedInk

A distraction from finals & such

Good luck with studying, dear people.I should be writing a paper right now. But I'd rather be having a coke with you. When you're at your wit's end, read Frank O'Hara. He'll pull you up.

Stress, Finals, and a prompt

Final papers, presentations, and tests are here...unfortunately. We're all stressed out and about to collapse because we're pulling all nighters (I know I am). It's around this time that we see students falling asleep in the library, their heads on the tables. I'm sure  some of us  have turned to more cups of coffee than usual (hmm..how many cups have you increased?).Try writing about how you're like during finals. Are you cranky or a bully to those around you? Do you look like one of the living dead? Do you fall asleep in front of the computer in the library? Are your eyes red as if you put blood colored contacts on? If you feel like you staying up all night to finish that essay isn't interesting enough and you've seen something more interesting or plain weird, then write about that. Have fun!

All Will Be Quiet On My Midwestern Front

Hello all, hope this deep freeze has not kept your pens and keyboards at rest.  If you're caught in some winter doldrums, just keep in mind: THERE ARE ONLY 6 DAYS TIL THE END OF THE SEMESTER, HELL TO THE YESSS (See I gave it a few extra letters cause I'm just so excited).  Unfortunately, since I will soon be returning to the cultural wastelands, also known as the suburbs, I will not be able to post weekly until we start up again.  However, I do plan to make some decent headway on my insanely long reading list...are y'all in a similar situation?  Leave comments with some good recommendations!I did want to clue you guys in about a great source if you're in the area and looking for events over break.  The listings in the Books section of TimeOut NYC are quite useful.  Also, allow me to shamelessly plug the NYU Bookstore as a good venue for events next semester.  Once the rush period at the beginning of the semester is over, the calendar of events will fill up with a pretty wide variety.  It's definitely worth checking out.HAVE A FANTASTIC BREAK WEST TENTHERS!

Ten Minutes to Submit to West 10th Print Journal

It's Monday, what are you doing? Sitting in your jammies trolling the webs, procrastinating writing your term papers? Me too.But here's a more productive way to procrastinate: submit your prose or poetry to West 10th Journal! The deadline is today, Decemeber 6th, but with ten more minutes left in the day, it's not yet too late.Maybe you're computer is stuffed with short stories you've penned, but have been too nervous to show to anyone, or maybe you have the uncanny ability to write a haiku in seconds. Or maybe, you're so excellent at procrastinating that you've developed the ability to speed-write. Whatever the case, you've got nothing to lose.Plus there's a prize!Editors select one fiction and one poetry piece as "The Best" and the authors get $200, eternal bragging rights, something to put on their resumés, and to read they're stories at the West 10th launch party where Darin Strauss will probably shake your hand and then you'll feel pretty cool.So get your submission form here. And START WRITING!

Favorite Titles

Hello everyone! Now that we've had the first official flurry-sighting of the season, it's time to break out those down coats, drink warm things like soup (soup! Does anyone else miss soup like I miss soup in warm weather?) and hug your friends. Just go hug them.But onwards to the point of this post: I wanted to open up the stage for anyone to share their favorite TITLES of books. This way, if anything strikes your eye you can check it out and possibly request it or give it as a gift this holiday season. Writing a novel or collection of poetry--PAH! (That was the sound of air quickly exiting my mouth in a smug sort of way). Easy.We all know that the hard part of writing really comes down to creating The Title. The Epic Thing that Will Catch Your Audience's Eye and Not Let Them Leave The Book's Presence.Here are a few of my all-time favorites....Of Poetry:Pity the Bathtub Its Forced Embrace of the Human Form - Matthea Harvey. Also the title of one of her poems.Lunch Poems - Frank O'Hara. Just read the inscription on the back of book: "Often this poet, strolling through the noisy splintered glare of a Manhattan noon, has paused at a sample Olivetti to type up thirty or forty lines of ruminations, or pondering more deeply has withdrawn to a dark ware- or firehouse to limn his computed misunderstandings of the eternal questions of life, co-existence and depth, while never forgetting to eat Lunch his favorite meal..." GLORIOUS.Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada - Pablo Neruda. Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair.Of, erm, Everything Else:A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers.Another Bullshit Night in Suck City - Nick Flynn. (Also a poet!)The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - Anne Fadiman....What about you?

Blog Contest Winner

Congratulations to Jessica Kagansky, the winner of our latest blog contest!In a Corner of a Chinese LaundromatJessica Kagansky the slant of the sparkles in the snow kept changingi looked up to find you sharply therestanding next to me with eyelids rosy from the cold.i wrapped my warm towel around your head like a garland of daisiesyour black curls were matted and I watched the red pigment leave your eyes and creepdown to crisscross your cheekbones and unfurl quietly across your lips where it belonged.you told me over the hum of the washing machines that my eyebrows were overgrownand i tried not to raise the corner of my upper lip in a sneer as you said itwe looked out the streaked window at a car stuck in the snow,blackened as a swordfish.