Week 4

Just a few things thus far...more later, I'm sure.

• I am halfway through surveying my students of what they think defines YA literature. The results so far are fairly typical. Simply stated, they believe it's YA lit if it relates to their general interests and the interests and questions that most teenagers have (peer pressure, friendship, sex, drugs, etc.). I will bring in the stack of journal responses to class next time.
  
  
• I am currently reading Angus, thongs and FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING by Louse Rennison. I read this book back in 2002, so I had forgotten most of it. It is very funny and is written from the point of view of Georgia Nicholson, a teenage girl in England. She explores all of the typical realms of being a growing girl: zits, embarrassing parents, teen lust, friendship, being outcast, and more. It is a Printz Award Honor book, and it is the first in a series. Her lexicon is very odd reading it as an American, but she is nice enough to explain her idiosyncrasies in a tidy glossary. I will book-talk this one more in class. I highly recommend it, though. :)
  
  
• I just read the first article in the course pack, and my first response is that it is interesting that not much attention has been paid to gender issues and literature. I find it more interesting that there has been a "reawakening" of this since the Columbine tragedy. Also, I enjoyed the true/false quiz and found the answers surprising in places and not so much in others. Looking back, I always saw my dad reading the paper or a newspaper, and my mom didn't read much else. They would both read me stories, though. However, growing up and even to this day, I am embarrassed to say that I'm not an avid reader. I have picked it up more as I teach and take classes, though. I guess the environment I grew up in was different from the environments my reading fanatic friends had. I recall some of their parents reading long books all the time, which explains the child's interest in reading.

These are all the thoughts I have up to this point. I am interested to read more from you all and facilitate discussion from there.