Poetry anthology

I've decided to compile a poetry anthology specifically geared towards children. Please follow the link here to check it out!

First Post! (How cliché)

Ok guys, so this is my first attempt at writing this online blog, so stay with me.  I think we’d best start at the beginning and work from there. I started this blog, *Insert Title Here*, to talk about and review books that I’d like to see in my classroom, and possibly yours as well.

For those of you that aren't teachers, but are checking me out for the first time, welcome! I hope you find some great books to introduce to your children while you’re looking through here. My aim is to review and discuss books for all ages of children and YA, sometimes taking a more in depth look at some of the themes and variations within. Some weeks will just be a quick write, others will be written essays. I hope you find a wide variety and selection of topics to keep you interested!

448 pages, High Fantasy setting, tiny font, D&D 2nd Ed rules:
What 9 year old wouldn't want to read it?

Many books touch our hearts and stay with us for years to follow, but many of them are quite personal. My personal views of loving and reading Dragons of Autumn Twilight ¹ in third grade will be wildly different from someone who was just starting to read The Lorax ², and even then, some people will tell me they didn't read a single book until they entered middle school. These kinds of memories and love of books are deeply personal and no one can take them away from you. The first time you read a book that curled your toes, the first time you were late somewhere because you had to finish the chapter, the first all-nighter you pulled because The Shining ³ was too scary to put down (or to put in the freezer!).

But other books touch our lives in cultural ways. They stay with us not for years, but for generations; books that weren’t just read by your father, and grandmother, but by their grandmothers, and their great grandfathers. Stories that have developed so successfully into the common consciousness that many don’t know where they first heard them. Oh sure, they may have a favorite version, or a best-loved printing, but these kinds of stories have been around for generations and sister, they ain’t going anywhere.

I speak, of course, about fables. Stories that, at first glance, seem to be stoic and unchanging; a girl in the woods, a princess in a tower, a boy and his horn, three pigs and a wolf, but that have stayed recognizable for centuries. (Don’t believe me? Try to place the story just from the few words I used to describe them above! I’ll bet you get at least 3 easily.) Fables can be short stories (fairy tales), nursery rhymes (Mother Goose), narratives for lessons (Aesop), and even cultural identities (fables from different cultures). They can be as magical and as whimsical as a Disney story, or as dark and dreary as the Brothers Grimm. They’ve changed their settings, the players, even themes over the ears to reflect the times, but their core story remains the same.

Today, I’ve chosen to sink my teeth into Cinder ⁴, A YA novel that takes the Cinderella story and turns it not quite on its ear, but enough around that it’s fresh and exciting once again. To quote a review I did for an earlier website:

“Cinder is the debut novel in a series of books that take a new twist on the old stock of fairytales. Cinder has everything you need to recognize the underlying story: non-human companions, a wicked stepmother, and an unexpected invitation to the prince's ball. Cinder, a gifted mechanic and second class citizen, is a cyborg. This means that many avoid her, even those she is supposed to be closest to. After a mysterious illness begins sweeping the planet, cyborgs have begun to be rounded up to test cures and vaccines. The reasoning they are given is that science gave them a second chance at life, so they owe it to society to give everything to help find a cure. After a chance encounter with the prince, however, Cinder is swept up in a whirlwind romance and adventure where the fate of two worlds hangs in the balance.”

Cinder has everything you need for a successful YA novel, blossoming romance, strong protagonist (female too! That’s always a plus), and a recognizable story arc for readers who may just be finding their first favorite book. But does it do everything it needs to do to be a successful book? Does it tell a story that stands on its own? Does it engage the reader? Does it live up to its goals and aspirations?

Cinder, a young mechanic in future dystopia Beijing, China, is snarky, affable, gifted, and flawed. A genius mechanic, she earns her keep in her stepmother’s house by operating a shop in the trade district and bringing home money which is used by her family and only scarcely doled out to her for her needs. Astute readers will notice similarities between this and the fable Cinderella. Astute readers will also note that at times this book hits it a little on the nose for being a retelling of the Cinderella fable. While this is my one main gripe with the story overall, it is, admittedly, a small one. It feels like the author, Marissa Meyer (of no relation to miss fever-dream sparkles herself, Stephenie) almost seems to hobble herself with the need to stick to a traditional story while trying to worldbuild a new, albeit engaging, narrative setting.

Take, for instance, the cyborgs. This fits in perfectly with the futuristic setting and new technology we come to experience, but it gets shoehorned in as a way of creating parallels between Cinder and Cinderella, a future reasoning for the unwanted stepdaughter. This idea would have been perfectly acceptable as a narrative piece, and letting us see it unfold with the believable characters and natural conflicts would have been great. Instead we get a large number of seemingly forced references within the first 5 chapters to how much it sucks being a cyborg and how much her stepmother hates her for it, and how decent society can’t stand the thought of cyborgs, but they are a necessary evil because otherwise these people (before they became cyborgs) would have died. I will be interested to note and see if this particular piece of backstory develops as the series progresses.

So does it stand on its own? It does, but it almost feels like it needs a crutch to get there, and relying on age old Cinderella tropes is just what the doctor ordered.

Image Credit: https://cluestolife.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/blog-594-copy.jpg

Ok, let’s look past the framework. How about engagement? (So soon? How sweet, but never on the first date!) Does the story engage the reader? Boy Howdy! It was one of those books that I couldn't get enough of. Clocking in at just under 400 pages, the easy, quick reading, fun characters, snarky dialogue, and bite-sized chapters (38 in all, so just over 10 pages a chapter on average) made this a hard book to put down. This book is perfect for aspiring readers who want a familiar tale (see previous data point) but would prefer a little Millennium Falcon with their shining knight. The futuristic setting coupled with familiar tropes (just because I don't like them doesn't mean they aren't useful) gives readers a sense of familiarity while still being able to push things in new directions. No longer do we have to worry about glass slippers, instead we have mechanical feet. Yes, Cinder must finish all her chores before she can go to the ball (yup, still have lavish dances) but her chores are less sweep the house and more change the magbelt on the car.

You'll notice I'm not focusing too much on the main story. "But Steve! What about that mysterious illness? Multiple worlds? I need to know!" you wail. But I cannot hear you, because you are at your computer, and I have written this a few days ago. (pretty slick, right? I knew what you were going to say even then. Be quiet, your neighbors are trying to study.) I am not focusing on the main story for two reasons. The first is that I am more looking at this as a review of an adaptation of a story rather than a straight up book review.  So in this post I'm more interested in how it pertains to the original Cinderella rather than the book itself. Secondly, it's part of a series and I don't know how I feel about reviewing part one of a story without reading the rest. That's not rhetoric, I honestly have conflicting feelings. I think each individual story should stand up by itself, but I also think that the series isn't done until all the books are read, and it would be like reviewing individual chapters of a book. And lastly I don't want to spoil anything for people who want to read it. Ok, so three. Sue me.

As I mentioned before, fairy tales can be used to teach lessons. Aesop Fables are most famous for this, but to some extent, all fairy tales are guilty of this, and Cinderella was no exception. While many morals and goals can be gleaned from one that has none outright, I think it best to examine the things that were most often considered "Cinderella-esque" The cynical would say that the moral is wait for a prince to save you. But Cinderella is not quite the passive party that sentence makes her out to be. She is downtrodden, placed in a position of no power when women traditionally had none to begin with. Her stepmother's (and to an extent her stepsisters') treatment of her was almost indicative of the time and they took frustrations out on her. At the risk of being misquoted and maligned for saying girls should just grin and bear it with a happy face, (no! not the lesson!) Cinderella chose to do her duty and do what was asked of her, regardless of the fact. I think what should really be taken from this is no matter how badly you have it, you have to keep looking for the best in people and situations. Cinderella did this, and Cinder did as well. Both could have easily turned into snarky, vengeance-filled cesspools of hatred and bitterness, but instead are kind and considerate to those around them who have it worse. I see that as a special, strong kind of character who can still have an honestly good heart while life kicks the everloving crap out of them. And yes, Cinder continues this role with a passion. Even being snarky, she's a good person with a kind heart. If more books had this kind of message, (and more people learned it) the world would be a better place.

Lest my cynicism lead you to other conclusions, Cinder is a wonderful retelling of the old Cinderella storyline. one part fractured fairytale, one part Joss Whedon, and one part Disney, Marissa Meyer does a fantastic job not only bringing this age old fairytale into the 21st century for young adult readers. I am a fan of old stories (Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales ⁵ holds a special place on my bookshelf) and Cinder instantly grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. I look forward to reading the other 4 books (Red Riding Hood-Scarlet⁶ Rapunzel-Cress ⁷ The Wicked Witch-Winter⁸   and Snow White-Fairest ⁹) and seeing where the story goes. I'm sure your young adult readers will too.