Book Review: Gravity by Leanne Lieberman

Gravity
Leanne Lieberman
Victoria, BC: Orca Book Publishers, 2008.
245 p., pbk., $12.95.
ISBN 978-1-55469-049-7

Ellie Gold is facing a major problem. She is an Orthodox Jew who believes both in God and her religion. Her mother and father are strict followers of their faith. They have a nice life in Toronto and are active in their community. So what is Ellie’s problem? The fact that she is a lesbian, which is an abomination according to her religion. The fact that she has fallen in love for Lindsay, a goyische (non-Jew), only makes things worse.

Leanne Lieberman’s Gravity, winner of Orca's So You Think You Can Write? contest, tackles some important themes in a very clean and readable prose that skillfully navigates Ellie’s journey as she tries to come to terms with her religion and sexuality. However, there are some factors that might make the book unappealing to teens. There is a lot of Jewish terminology in the book, which might turn away teens that are looking for a character like them, though there is a glossary in the back of the book.

Another strange element is that the book takes place in 1987, and a lot of cultural references seem forced (shoulder pads, Dirty Dancing, New Kids on the Block). Gravity is a fine book, but teens might not connect with it.

Recommended with reservations. 2P

The Post In Which I Talk About A Book

A couple of things you should know about my book talk:

1) The baseball player is Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez. iMovie wouldn't let me add a title over the image.
2) Yes, I stole a gag from Arrested Development. It had to be done.
3) I'm trying to change the default image. Apparently Youtube likes fried chicken. Done!
4) I hate iMovie.

ATDoaPTI

1.

A couple of different things happened to me while I was reading Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. On one hand, I found myself becoming more physically relaxed as I progressed through the book, probably because I needed something humourous after a number of rather depressing reads, both for this course and in my recreational reading. Even when things get tough for the main character, Junior, it was easy to tell that he would persevere and there would be a happy ending. And there is always some humour in Junior’s narration, even when life is in the shitter.

I also found myself needing that happy ending, which is not something that is common for me. As a reader, I kept thinking that Junior must succeed and the book must end with the idea that he will eventually leave the reservation (and wrestling with the notion of what it meant for me to want that for Junior).

2.

One thing I really liked, caused by both the text and my history as a reader, was the play between comic and written form. Not only is there a really nice interplay between the two elements, but they seem like natural extensions of each other. The idea to have the cartoons be written by Junior is smart, not only because it further expands his character, but it continues his sense of humour. As a reader of graphic novels, the point of view of the comics really stuck out to me and enhanced the reading experience.

3.

To enjoy this book, I think readers have to be willing to believe and accept that Junior can laugh at himself, his family and the culture, both white and Native American, that he is growing up in. I don’t think the book calls for a dark sense of humour, but the reader has to understand how Junior’s drawings and jokes act as a coping mechanism for dealing with what is a very rough upbringing, as well as the loss that he experiences throughout the book. It’s also necessary to forget a lot of the first chapter as you keep reading. Junior’s initial description of himself seems odd once you get to the end, in my opinion.

4.

Thinking back to last weeks presentation on humour, this book is worthwhile because a) it’s really funny and b) endearing at the same time, containing a character with real problems and dreams, with the requisite barriers in his way. Even though Junior’s life is full of hardship (surrounded by alcoholics and death, for one thing), he does not approach it with angst, but gets through life my laughing at his situation and surroundings. ATDoaPTI is not merely funny, it also has substance and depth. Humour is used effectively and with a purpose.

5.

I think the best way of interesting a young adult to this book would be to give it to them and just tell them to flip through it and pay attention to the comics. Especially for reluctant readers, this would be a great way of saying, “This book isn’t like other books.” Most of the illustrations are humourous in nature and it would be easy for teen readers to get a quick idea whether or not the book would appeal to them. The paragraphs are often only one or two lines, so that would be another element that would appeal to reluctant readers if they were to peruse the book.

6.

One thing that would attract any reader to the book (and something I didn’t know until working on this question), was that ATDoaPTI is closely based on the author’s life (I obviously thought the title was lying to me). It’s hard to tell where the autobiography starts and the fiction ends, in retrospect, but the book acts as a wonderful way of encouraging teens that they can rise above their surroundings. There is not a rag to riches story, but a true story of human courage, especially when it’s told in such a manner, will no doubt lure in readers.

7.

My assumption reading ATDoaPTI was that there was very little young adult literature written about the indigenous peoples of North America. While most of Alexie’s artistic works, which also includes poetry and films, are about this approach, this is his only work that is for young adults (of course, that does not mean teens should be discouraged from reading more of his work).

Some other titles I found that are about Native Americans are: Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvell, Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac, Offsides by Erik Esckilsen and a collection of short stories called Moccasin Thunder that includes a story by Alexie. These are all works that have been published this decade, so hopefully they are still in print and/or on library shelves.

Our Bodies Spent Among the Dust and the Microfiche

I don't know if anyone else has heard of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, but I finally got around to listening to their debut album, only to discover they have a song called "Young Adult Friction," which is obviously quite awesome. Here's a Youtube video which is just the song over the album cover. You may also need the lyrics, unless your ears are really good at sifting through distortion.

[Insert Witty Title Here]

I am fairly certain that everyone has probably encountered NoveList in some form or another through their MLIS so far, but I thought an evaluation of the sites young adult content was still warranted. As a recap for those who might need it, NoveList is a readers advisory website that features many useful functions for librarians. I was fairly familiar with the options it had for adult readers, but was unsure how much content was YA specific.

I was initially disappointed that their didn't seem to be a "Author Read-alikes" section, as there is for adults. On further investigation, I found a "If You Like..." list in the "Recommend Reads" area, which give read-alikes for popular books. There are only 31 read-alike lists so far, though the list has only existed for slightly over one year, so that must be taken into consideration. And yes, there is a read-alike list for Twilight.

For those running book clubs, there are currently 220 book discussion guides for teens in NoveList, providing an expansive database for those looking for a little help generating their questions. I glanced through the guide for Whale Talk, having just discussed it on Tuesday, and it was fairly expansive, containing a plot summary, author biography, discussion questions and read-alikes. After looking at the NoveList entry for Whale Talk, I noticed a "Related Features" part of its entry that showed all related NoveList content dealing with the book. Learn from my mistake: when you know the title, look up the main entry instead of wasting your time searching through the lists.

For a fun activity, click on the "YA Fiction Checklist" tab on the right side of the homepage. On the next page, you can download a checklist of YA authors and titles, compiled by that Adult Reading Round Table, which will let you test your knowledge of authors in YA genres. The checklist allows you to find out if there are certain genres where you need to increase your knowledge (or you can simply use it as a cheat sheet if a patron comes up to you and asks for a sports novel). The list from 2002, so it's not the most current, but still features a number of well known authors and books.

They do have some articles, but they're really just glorified reading lists, nor are they frequently added to the site (only one article in each of 2007 and 2008). Other than this, I was impressed by the scope and quality of YA content on NoveList.

The ALAN Parsons Project

While not a library journal, the ALAN Review (only available online through UWO) is devoted entirely to young adult literature, albeit primarily meant for the teaching profession. ALAN, or the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents, is part of the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) in the United States. A lot of the content is relevant to our discussions on YA materials, so I thought it would be worthwhile to examine the journal a little further.

Looking through the two most recent issues, I was initially pleased by the number of articles aimed at pointing readers towards materials meant for marginalized teen groups. Out of two issues, three articles were about LGBT content and one was concerned with finding quality texts that dealt fairly and honestly with the issues faced by teen mothers. It should be the duty of professional journals to raise awareness of these issues and texts, which is exactly what the ALAN Review is doing. Even with some of the articles being slanted towards the use of these books in the classroom, there is still information that YA librarians can take away, even if it is just a list of titles that may appeal to a certain demographic.

The article "Creating a Space for YAL with LGBT Content in Our Personal Reading: Creating a Place for LGBT Students in Our Classrooms" (vol. 35, iss. 3) may not sound relevant, but it addresses many of the same questions that librarians have. How do we deal with parental pressure or other forces? What responsibilities do we have to various groups of people? By seeing how educators deal with some of the same problems that librarians do, perhaps their solutions will become ours as well.

Another article that stuck out to me was "Where the Girls Are" (vol. 35, iss. 3), a comment on the author Naomi Wolf's attack against the Gossip Girls and A-List series. My personal hatred of Gossip Girl aside (I hate it for no other fact than that they are rich and live in New York. I prefer the more romantic starving artist view of New York as seen in Flight of the Conchords. But I digress), I thought the article made a valid point that we should not automatically assume these books, which emphasize such nasty things as rampant consumerism and sexual voraciousness (or so I've heard), are forever warping the minds of young women. Assuming what a reader gets out of a book is a dangerous approach to dealing with materials. Instead of trying to sway readers away from those series, we must think about how society has manufactured the tastes of teenagers and make sure they have the resources to be able to make informed decisions.

One negative aspect to the ALAN review is that the book reviews are pretty much filler. They sometimes only contain plot synopsis, often make no comments as to whom the book would appeal to and end with the standard amount of glowing praise. A disappointing side to an otherwise wonderful journal.

Strange Fruit (Or, A Book Display For Whale Talk

Chris Crutcher's Whale Talk is a challenging book. As we debated between creating a display or writing a booktalk, part of our process was knowing what to talk about in a book that contained two plots that addressed very different issues. On one hand, the story was about T.J. Jones' quest to form a swim team to get athletic jackets for a bunch of his high school misfits. The other plot dealt with T.J.'s life as a person of mixed-race in a very white town with some very racist citizens.

Trying to deal with both plots in a booktalk would have been too confusing. We ultimately eliminated the booktalk route because we thought no one would want to read the book after being hearing what would no doubt be a thoroughly depressing booktalk (Whale Talk involves many instances of child abuse, the death of a young child and a brain damaged teenager who gets picked on by students and teachers. And that's just a taste.) We decided to do a display of other materials that deal with issues of race over the theme of outsiders because racially motivated storyline had a greater impact for all of us when we were reading the book.

Taking a cue from Hello, Groin, our display would consist of a human face divided to racial sections (do not ask how exactly this would be done, as we did not discuss the practicalities). Materials would then be displayed that dealt with issues of race and would point to the appropriate section of the face. These would not necessarily be items specifically for teens, partially because we couldn't brainstorm a lot of YA books that dealt with race. Some possible materials could be: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Hurricane directed by Norman Jewison, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King. We also would want the display to have strong Canadian component that could either support or question the idea of Canada as a multicultural country.

There was also talk of pulling quotes from Whale Talk, with this one from the first page fitting in quite well: "The facts. I'm black. And Japanese. And white. Politically correct would be African-American, Japanese-American and what? Northern European-American?" This quote not only summarizes T.J.'s struggles of figuring out who he is, but also works with the visual design of our display.

-Kayleigh, Lauren, Meghan and Mike