Tag: fiction

fiction

a quick piece on the dark phoenix

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Claremont C. (1984, 1990, 1991, 2000) X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga NY: Marvel Characters, Inc.

A volume with the collection of Uncanny X-Men comic book numbers 129 through 137, Chris Claremont’s X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga is a graphic novel that shows the evolution of superheroine Jean Grey (more commonly known as Phoenix from seemingly the X-Mens’ most weakest member, to the dark and most powerful member. A physical manifestation of the Phoenix Force—which enables her to have telepathic/telekinetic powers, resurrect from death, and manipulate time—Jean finds herself encompassed by absolute power, giving in to an evil side in which she deems herself as the Dark Phoenix. Although throughout this graphic novel we see Jean as the Dark Phoenix, it is made known in the end that Jean is the Dark Phoenix, and one can not exist without the other—leading into Jean’s self-sacrifice. While many may find this dismal ending to be inappropriate for young adults who read graphic novels, it is more important to assess the surrounding theme of Jean’s story, and what young adult readers can learn from it. If one does not realize the power they hold and if it is worth sacrificing, that power they hold so dear may corrupt them.

stories for all

round is a tortilla

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Thong, Roseanne. (2015). Round is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Written by the author of Round is a Moon Pie, this multicultural children’s book encourages there reader to find shapes in the different portrayals of food and objects of Hispanic origin. Not only is it great for children in learning shapes, but this book allows children to learn Spanish words such as paletas, masa, and sandia–encouraging an early learning of a second language. Scenes featuring different Latino traditions and cultural objects allow children to gain a greater understanding of the different cultures that not only are present within America, but all over the world. Bonus to this? There’s a glossary located within the back of the book that parents and children can utilize in order to look up the Spanish terms that occur throughout this bilingual piece of literature.

young adult

boy toy

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

Lyga, Barry (2009) Boy Toy Boston: HMH Books for Young Readers

Now eighteen years old and still dealing with the aftermath from his child molestation suit involving his teacher–Eve–five years ago, Josh Mendel spends his senior year of high-school grappling with thoughts that he caused his own molestation. Written in present tense and flashbacks, Boy Toy is a moving piece that presents itself in a most didactic way, teaching young adults that even if their problems are not similar to that of Josh’s, there are other ways to cope with various difficulties. Pushing the limits on the themes of sexual assault, this novel was not written just for shock-value. Books of the past that have skimmed the topic of molestation, have not only been challenged by concerned and outraged member of society, but have been banned from libraries–deemed as “crude” and “vulgar”. However, Boy Toy is a novel so eloquently written, that we find ourselves not only being shown a sexual assault victim who overcomes his past, but we take a journey that results in the main character taking the first step to realizing it was not his fault. With this, Barry Lyga’s Boy Toy is a story that extends young adults understanding of the world, and is not just sensationalism

stories for all

Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream For Me

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Beaty, Daniel (2013) Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream For Me. New York: Little Brown and Company.

This children’s book tells a powerful and moving story of a young boy’s growth into a man when his father does not knock on his bedroom door as expected. What makes this book so intriguing in the realm of diverse children’s books, is that it explores the emotions and strength development a child goes through when experiencing the loss or absence of a parent. Here I feel that loss and/or absence is interchangeable. When first reading this book, I interpreted the situation to be that the father voluntarily left the boy and his mother, and that he had either decided to write and send the response letter himself, or that the boy’s mother had written it posing as his father. But now I see that there are other interpretations that can be gained from this reading–perhaps the father died, was incarcerated, etc. It makes the story flexible so that children that are dealing with loss such as this can relate.

 

young adult

an annotation for heir apparent

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

Velde, Vivian (2002) Heir Apparent Boston: HMH Books for Young Readers
A sequel in the Rasmussem Corporation series, Heir Apparent is a novel about a young girl named Giannine who finds herself in a roundabout within a medieval themed, virtual reality game. While playing at the virtual reality gaming center with the gift certificate she received for her birthday, the center is then bombarded by an anti-fantasy fundamentalist group who destroys a great deal of gaming paraphernalia–resulting in Giannine being trapped in the game until she wins or time runs out, resulting in her death. Making various blunders throughout the course of the game–in which the game starts over at the beginning, and so on and so forth–Giannine finally finds herself making daring and brave choices that result in her winning the game. In regards to the exploration of science fiction, Heir Apparent challenges the young adult reader to expand their imagination–so as to think about the world that is presented in the novel in comparison to the world they live in now. What is interesting about Heir Apparent is that at the time that it was written, it took a greater deal of thought and creative vision when reading, since it did not seem as plausible that technology could advance to producing virtual reality role-playing games such as this one. When reading any type of fiction, one does have to rely on their imagination and how much they believe in the possibility of something so that they may understand concepts of external objects that are not exactly present to the senses. What this novel does is, yields a way for a young reader to broaden their sense of possibility to future worlds, and analyze the extent to which science and technology are accurately reflected in comparison to the present day.