Book Musings: The Splendor Falls

The Splendor Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore

A friend gave this to me for my birthday back in February, and it was on my to-read pile for ages thanks to the Notre Dame de Paris re-read and the other three paperbacks I'd bought the week before my birthday. But I finally picked it up this week, and I'm so happy I did!

I'm not a huge fantasy fan, but the ghost-story, fantasy in this book reminded me in a vague way of the Betty Ren Wright books I read as a young teen, where the real story is the main character's life changes, and the ghosts are part of it. The story was woven very well, and took place on an old Alabama estate, which made this Southern transplant very happy. Cousin Paula--by the way--reminded me of both my mom (whose name is Paula) and her friend Miss Paula (or Big Mama)--not because they share the cousin's somewhat busybody attitude--but because at least Big Mama has the Higher the Hair the Closer to God down pat. 

There's a lot to love about this book. Sylvie, the MC, is a ballerina who can't dance. She broke her leg at her debut as the youngest soloist at Lincoln Center. My friend gave me the book for this reason. One of my MCs is a gymnast who has a similar accident. Sylvie's voice is spot on, and you really feel her pain. As much as I subscribe to the "don't cure the disability" school, I wanted her to be able to dance again as much as she did! 

The love interest is a Welshman, which sold me on him, and incredibly debonair and intelligent. All the characters are smart, and unabashedly so, which I loved. I've read reviews that want the first fifty pages or so consolidated, but I disagree. I love the careful way everything is developed, and how Sylvie gradually comes to terms with the changes in her life.

A must read if any of its many intriguing elements interests you!

I'm Not The Only One!

A few weeks ago, I contacted YAHighway to ask about doing a guest post on disabilities in YA. They said, yes! fabulous! but....

We've got someone doing that already.

And here's the thing, I withheld judgement, but I wasn't disappointed. I was (potentially) thrilled, because I wanted there to be someone out there in the YA world who thought the same things I did.

The post went up today.

It's fabulous. Sarah hits all the necessary points (Like NOT curing your MC in a fantasy). Also, she has some book reqs I didn't know about, which gives me great fodder for this blog! :D

Go read and comment!

Friday Five!

1. My madre linked me to this article in the Huffington Post about Florida's current governor Lex Luther Rick Scott. It's a bit tongue-in-cheek, but the facts stand. Scott has, in a short time, attempted to pass much legislation that will cut funding seriously for projects to help children with disabilities. Florida is my home state, and it's there system that I sprang from and spent years helping my mom to improve. It shouldn't be torn apart.

2. This has been a downer week for me. Query breakdown, misunderstandings with friends, lack of news from other things... just not a great few days. So, trying to look on the upside, I've talked to some great people in the YA lit world over the past few days, participated in some awesome discussions and read some fabulous books. These are things to be happy about.

3. Seriously, though, yesterday I left my phone on campus, had to trek back, run all around the building like a mad woman because they'd already cleaned the classroom (after twenty minutes!) and almost cry in front of a very nice janitorial staff member. These things are not okay. *saves for future protagonists*

4. This video gives me hope for one day finding nerd love! Yay!


5.  Reason eleven-hundred to move to NYC one day? There's a screening of the first two episodes of series six of Doctor Who there on Monday. Oh how I wish I could go. If I didn't have my volinternship on Monday, I probably would, let's be real here.

The Grey's Connection

Mornin' y'all (You can put me in Boston, but you can't take out the Southern).

I've got a book to be reviewed this evening, but first I wanted to share a blog post I saw yesterday that is super timely with yesterday's post on issue books. It's about the so-called "pandering" to gay couples happening on Grey's Anatomy, which, as we know, is the love of my life. Read it here. I'll wait.

Back? Cool. As the post notes, Shonda Rhimes was very outspoken against this idea for the very reasons I cited yesterday about making sure minorities OF ALL KINDS are represented in YA just being themselves. Shonda's young woman in the Midwest who is a lesbian is my girl with Cerebral Palsy in Florida. They must be able to see themselves in the media.

As Amanda Palmer says, "We are the media" and it's time to take it over. We need to stop pandering to the nay-sayers, because they're the ones already represented!

The Issue with Issue Books

As someone who tries to read as much disability-oriented fiction as possible, I often come across issue books. Like Follow My Leader these books often deal primarily with a protagonist whose goal is to deal with their "issue". In this case, it's blindness. Sometimes it's drug addiction, homosexuality or something other "taboo" subject. Frequently, as in books like Luna, the protagonist's sibling has the "issue" and the viewpoint character is nothing but a lens.

A lot of people dislike books like these. I have my problems with them--usually due to the stereotypical depictions of characters--but I think they're necessary. Having read From Romance to Realism: 50 Years of Growth and Change in Young Adult Literature, and other books dealing with the history of children's lit, I see them as part of a pattern. The issue books emerge before the "problem" can become mainstreamed in literature without question. They serve a purpose, they give immediate satisfaction, immediate I'm-not-alone, how-this-can-be-dealt-with, this-is-what-this-looks-like. After all, often in a teen's life, the issue is everything. But they are NOT enough.

I read Follow My Leader so many times that my copy may fall apart. I have low vision, the fear of blindness is real to me and I use some of the MC's techniques to deal with life without my contacts. But I'm also aware of how rare it is to have a secondary character who is blind. Just an MC's friend, or an MC with a whole other set of problems who happens to be blind. The issue hasn't been solved with the issue book.

LGBTQ characters are doing better. They exist in the back and foreground without the whole book focusing on this element. We're not there yet, by any means, but the issue books have opened the doors. The toys are out there and can be played with. It's the job of authors now to utilize these things and weave them into larger narratives.

After all, would you want your life to be depicted only in the issue books?

Book Musings: My Most Excellent Year

My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger

Again, I have a different cover. What gives, Amazon? 

Anywho, I read this book in one day and LOVED it. It had some quirks I don't normally go for--like adult voices in a YA novel--but the way they're presented, as ephemera I imagine the kids coming across and maybe even posting into the journals the story is made up of, works. 

Plus this book had two key elements I'm passionate about in YA fiction: LBGTQ issues and disability. The disability isn't even alluded to in the back-matter, which almost impresses me. The little boy who is deaf in the book is just another kid, granted with a tragic past, who happens to sign and read lips (very efficiently, except when it works for the plot, but still). 

It has theatre, French, Julie Andrews and Boston. The voices are unique, the kids are endearing and I really connected with the era. It takes place in '03 and the main character's birthday is five days before mine (as in, February 16th, 1989, literally five days before my birth), so I think that helped me connect too. The characters are intelligent (!) and witty. 

This book is what I most want to see in YA novels.  

Friday Five

1. My query is up for discussion over at The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment. Go play!

2. I am in unabashedly love with the Grey's Anatomy musical event. I understand all possible objections, but see, Shonda and I are quite similar in our love for all things nerdalicious and musical. I am her target audience for the event. Me. Just sayin'.

3. I've been waiting on an email for a week and a half. My mother says my freaking out about this means I will be impossible to live with if/when I'm ever on submission. She doesn't live with me, so the point is moot.

4. I've transfered my domain off of GoDaddy. If you haven't heard about the kerfuffle, their CEO filmed himself killing and elephant and put it on the internet. When I called support last night, the girl sounded like she'd fielded about a million calls to cancel already. Jump ship. (More about that here) Namecheap is doing a deal where you can transfer for $5.

5. This is my friend Shelby. I've known her since we were about nine, and she and her dad have always been up on the latest in accessibility tech. I think the coolest thing about the video, though, is that her Personal Care Attendant isn't some old woman getting paid by an agency. It's her friend. I think that's what comes out of inclusion these days. The people who care enough to do things like that are your friends. The way it should be.