25 (Music Album)

Bibliography: Adkins, Adele Laurie Blue. 25. By Greg Kursten, Tobias Jesso, and Bruno Mars. Adele. Columbia, 2015. MP3.

ASIN: B016WW10S

Genre: pop, rock, soul, R&B

Reading Level/Interest Age: 14+

Plot Summary/Description: The album 25 is a collection of 11 songs that reflect the year Adele was 25 years old. She wrote songs that incorporated the myriad of emotions she was feeling as she became a mother for the first time, struggled with career decisions and wrestled with her past choices. Interwoven into the lyrical melodies are stories of past relationships, the challenges in letting go “of all our ghosts” (1) and moving on to new adventures. She vows eternal love to her child, declaring that “I will be your remedy” (2) during life’s most anguishing moments. Each track is inspired by deep emotion realized through the soaring vocals that launched Adele into superstardom.

Critical Evaluation: Adele’s album, 25, incorporates her trademark vocals with some techniques that are new to her published music. This is the first time she’s used “electronic elements and creative rhythmic patterns”. The songs, as a collection, fall very much into the coffeehouse-background-music category, but taken individually, each has a distinct personality. “Hello” uses electronic techniques to combine vivid and beautiful piano music with Adele’s wide range of vocals. It’s successful more because of Adele’s reputation as a master in the music world than on the merits of the song itself. In several of the songs, the electronic elements seem out of place, giving an artificiality to music that would be much stronger without it. Adele’s vocal range has such a commanding presence that every single song she sings should hang on her voice; electronics simply serve to muddy otherwise perfect waters. While this collection is not as strong as her 21 album, it highlights Adele’s desire to experiment with her music and grow as an artist.

Reader’s Annotation: Crooning her way into every listener’s heart, Adele shares her passion and deep emotion through powerful melodies and captivating lyrics.

Author Information: Adele Laurie Blue Adkins is an English singer and songwriter. Graduating from the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in 2006, Adele was given a recording contract by XL Recordings after a friend posted her demo on Myspace the same year. In 2007, she received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award and won the BBC Sound of 2008. Her debut album, 19, was released in 2008 to commercial and critical success. It is certified seven times platinum in the UK, and double platinum in the US. At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in 2009, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Adele released her second studio album, 21, in early 2011. The album was well received critically and surpassed the success of her debut, earning the singer numerous awards in 2012, including a record-tying six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year; two Brit Awards, including British Album of the Year, and three American Music Awards. The album has been certified 16 times platinum in the UK, and is the fourth best-selling album in the UK of all time. She is the first woman in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have three simultaneous top 10 singles as a lead artist, and the first female artist to simultaneously have two albums in the top five of the Billboard 200 and two singles in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100] 21 is the longest running number one album by a female solo artist in the history of the UK and US Album Charts.

In 2011 and 2012, Billboard named Adele Artist of the Year. In 2012, Adele was listed at number five on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music, and Time magazine named her one of the most influential people in the world. In 2013, she received an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for her song "Skyfall", which she wrote and composed for the James Bond film of the same name.

After taking a three-year hiatus, Adele released her third studio album, 25, in November 2015. The album debuted at number one in most major markets and broke first week sales records in a number of countries, including the UK and US. The lead single, "Hello", debuted at number one in the UK and US, and became the first song to sell over one million digital copies within a week of its release in the latter.

Curriculum ties: n/a

Booktalks: What themes from your life would you write music about?

Challenge issues: n/a

Reasoning: Adele’s previous recordings have garnered worldwide attention and broken countless music production records. Her high level of popularity secures a high circulation rate of this album, thereby suggesting the library should obtain multiple copies of the album.

References:

25 (Adele album). (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25_%28Adele_album%29

Adele. (n.d.). Adele - Remedy. Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://www.directlyrics.com/adele-remedy-lyrics.html

Adele. (n.d.). Adele - Send My Love. Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://www.directlyrics.com/adele-send-my-love-lyrics.html

Adele 25. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://www.amazon.com/25-Adele/dp/B016WW10SA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448851798&sr=8-1&keywords=adele+25

Gerard, C. (2015, November 20). Adele 25. Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://www.popmatters.com/review/adele-25/

A Brief History of Montmaray

Bibliography: Cooper, M. (2009). A brief history of Montmaray. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

eISBN: 978-0-375-89359-9

ASIN: B002RLBKNQ

Genre: historical fiction

Reading Level/Interest Age: 12+/14+

Plot Summary: The year is 1938 and 16 year-old Sophia lives on a desolate island hundreds of miles off the coast of Spain. Her family rules over this tiny Kingdom of Montmaray, but there are more people in her family than there are subjects in the kingdom. Sophia chronicles both history and daily life in her beloved diary, sharing how her family came to be alone, poverty-stricken, without capable adults and in desperate need of help. When Nazi historians arrive on the island searching for information, Sophia’s family bars them from the castle. They ignore the warning, breaking in during the dark of night to search for any clues the library may hold. The terrifying events of that night trigger a visit from even more soldiers and when insane King John infuriates their leader, the family knows they are in mortal danger. Leaving the island is impossible and without a way to communicate with the outside world, help is not likely to come. Veronica, Sophie’s slightly older cousin, has always been more than able to lead their motley little kingdom, but when she reaches a breaking point, Sophia knows that her family can only be saved if she can find the courage she’s never thought she had.

Critical Evaluation: A Brief History of Montmaray uses a diary format and thus, a first person perspective. While diary formats can often be trite, author Michelle Cooper allows her protagonist, Sophia, to share conversations as well as events and imaginings. She’s given Sophia a voice that is reminiscent of Anne Shirley and Jo March--humorous, romantic, hopeful, honest and ever aspiring. The facets of this story-- secrets caves, intrigue, murder, treasure--all flirt with the fairy tale trope, creating what can most definitely be called an adventure. Yet at the same time, Sophia has a romantic heart and spends time dreaming of kisses, dresses and balls. Her desire to leave the island to pursue these girlish dreams comes up over and over again in her diary, as does the crush she has on Simon and her intense jealousy when he pays attention to others. Romance (or the desire for it) weaves it way through the story just as intently as adventure does, so the book as a whole cannot be classified as one genre or the other. Author Cooper places a huge importance on literature throughout the story. Both Sophie and Veronica write; both read voraciously. In a world without other entertainment, books became the hallmark of their past and their present. Sophie, either in her own narratives or notations of conversations with others, frequently mentions or alludes to literature, including Treasure Island, Northanger Abbey, David Copperfield and The Importance of Being Earnest. She also quotes Shakespeare, Kipling and Tennyson, bringing a realism to the story and underscoring the cultural significance of those authors and works.

Reader’s Annotation: Princess Sophia is sure that the adventure and mystery surrounding her family is all in the past. But when strangers arrive on the rocky shores of her family’s island kingdom, she’ll discover that her part in her family’s history is just as exciting.

Author Information: Michelle was born in Sydney, Australia. She attended a succession of schools in Fiji and country New South Wales, then went to university in Sydney. She worked as a speech and language pathologist for fifteen years, helping students with learning problems. Michelle liked this job a lot. She got to watch students improve their literacy skills and become happier, more confident learners - also, she got to work in an office covered in Harry Potter posters and give herself smiley stamps when she did a good job.

The Rage of Sheep was her first novel. An early draft of the novel won a mentorship with the Children's Book Council of Australia. This meant she was lucky enough to work on the manuscript with Young Adult author Alyssa Brugman. The Rage of Sheep was published in paperback by Random House Australia in 2007, with an e-book edition released in 2012.

Michelle's second novel, A Brief History of Montmaray, was published by Random House Australia in 2008, with an audiobook version, narrated by Melissa Chambers, released the same year by Louis Braille Audio. The novel was awarded the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards and was shortlisted for the Gold Inky, Australia's teenage choice book award. A Brief History of Montmaray was published in North America by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers in 2009, and was named in the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults list. An audiobook version of the North American edition was published in 2010 by Listening Library, and a Vintage Classics paperback edition was released in Australia in 2012.

The FitzOsbornes in Exile, the second book in The Montmaray Journals trilogy, was published in Australia in 2010, as a paperback and audiobook. It was shortlisted for the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature (NSW Premier's Literary Awards) and the Western Australian Premier's Young Adult Book Award, longlisted for the Gold Inky Teenage Choice Award and named a Notable Book for Older Readers by the Children's Book Council of Australia. The book was published in North America in 2011 as a hardcover, e-book and audiobook, and was listed in the Best Teen Books of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews and in the American Library Association's 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults.

The FitzOsbornes at War, the final book in The Montmaray Journals trilogy, was published in Australia and New Zealand in April, 2012 and in North America in October, 2012. The film and television rights to The Montmaray Journals have been optioned by a US production company.¹

Curriculum ties: European history; Religion; Legends and Mythology; Geography

Booktalks: secret languages; would you prefer to be sensible or emotional?

Challenge issues: parental abandonment

Challenge resources (for usage in a challenge situation):

• Library Selection Policy

• Rationale explaining why the item was chosen for the collection
• Active listening skills
• Awards
• Reconsideration form (as a last resort)
• Illinois Library Association (Banned Books Listings)
• National Council of Teachers of English “Right to Read”
• Positive and negative reviews: expert, parent, student
• ALA Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials
• ALA Bill of Rights on Intellectual Freedom

• Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
• Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

Reasoning: A Brief History of Montmaray follows much in the format of classic novels like Jane Eyre. It will entertain and educate readers who are delighted by vivid descriptions, enchanting characters and damsels who find themselves the heroes of their own stories.

References:

¹Cooper, M. (n.d.). Michelle Cooper. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from http://www.michellecooper-writer.com/bio.html

Cooper, M. (n.d.). A Brief History of Montmaray Teaching Support Kit. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from http://michellecooper-writer.com/montmarayteachingkit.html

Romancing the Dark in the City of Light

Bibliography: Jacobus, A. (2015). Romancing the dark in the city of light. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin.

ISBN: 978-1250064431

Genre: realistic fiction/fantasy

Reading Level/Interest Age: 12+/14+

Plot Summary: Summer is an only child. Her father is dead and her mother is preoccupied with her own agenda. But when Summer is kicked out of yet another boarding school, the only option is to join her mother in Paris and attend an international high school. She’s seeing the entire situation not so much as an opportunity to enjoy French culture or develop a bond with her mom, but more to find a boyfriend. Summer is sure that having a boyfriend will help her feel settled and secure. Moony, a guy she meets at school, isn’t exactly her type, but there’s something about him that attracts her. He’s funny and more than that, he seems to like her. Kurt, a guy she keeps running into around town, is dark and alluring and sexy. He’s also dangerous and keeps leaving her in precarious situations. Yet she even when she pushes him away, he keeps returning. Confusion over Moony and Kurt, as well as the pressure to abide by her financial trust’s requirements, drive Summer to drink. She’s no stranger to alcohol and has used it in the past to help take the edge off, but her drinking becomes all encompassing. Moony wants to help her, but she keeps pushing him away too. She’s alone. Except for Kurt. She agrees to go on one final adventure with him, but is it going to give her the security she desperately craves?

Critical Evaluation: Ann Jacobus has a subtle talent for creating beautiful imagery. Through figurative language, she presents the reader with images that are immediately recognizable yet not worn by constant usage. “Shed-sized mausoleums crowd together like bad teeth” (12) provides so much more depth and personality to both the story and the protagonist. Figurative language, regardless of its beauty, isn’t typically how adolescents think, so the third person omniscient perspective works especially well for the book. The reader can hear Summer’s thoughts and feel her emotions as if they were their own, but still have the privilege of enjoying Jacobus’ carefully crafted imagery. Jacobus also did a wonderful job of portraying the black and white attitude of adolescents, giving readers yet another way to bond with the protagonist. Summer, like all adolescents, is still learning to see the many shades of grey in any given situation. “All her feelings seem to have two sides--a hot and a cold. A heads and a tails. A truth and a dare” (220). The story was starting to feel a little bit stale until the plot twist, which grabs the reader’s attention and refuses to let them put down the book until the very end. All in all, a good story, but memorable mostly due to the gorgeous figurative language.

Reader’s Annotation: Summer believes that two things will help her get her life on track: finding a boyfriend and drinking copious amount of vodka. But when neither one helps her find the security she so desperately need, she’s got to decide if has enough strength to find it on her own.

Author Information: Originally from Texas, learned to tap dance at age six and sang off-key in musicals as a teen. She then went on to earn an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA from Dartmouth College.

She and her family spent many years in the Island Kingdom of Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf and in Paris, France. She now lives in San Francisco where she writes, reads, teaches writing, and volunteers weekly on a suicide crisis line. She volunteers weekly at San Francisco Suicide Prevention, loves Tex-Mex, and believes the world runs on stories.

Curriculum ties: health

Booktalks: darker attractions in major tourist destinations

Challenge issues: suicide, death, drinking

Challenge resources (for usage in a challenge situation):

• Library Selection Policy

• Rationale explaining why the item was chosen for the collection
• Active listening skills
• Awards
• Reconsideration form (as a last resort)
• Illinois Library Association (Banned Books Listings)
• National Council of Teachers of English “Right to Read”
• Positive and negative reviews: expert, parent, student
• ALA Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials
• ALA Bill of Rights on Intellectual Freedom

• Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

• Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

Reasoning: It’s important to provide books about characters that struggle with a wide variety of issues, including depression and suicidal tendencies. This can provide hope to readers facing similar challenges and give them the much needed support to remember they are not alone. Romancing the Dark in the City of Light aligns with library standards of supporting education and diversity.

References:

¹Romancing the dark in the city of light. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2015, from http://www.amazon.com/Romancing-Dark-City-Light-Novel/dp/1250064430/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448239013&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Romancing+the+Night+in+the+City+of+Light

M. (2015, October 15). The Debut Club: An interview with Ann Jacobus, author of ROMANCING THE DARK IN THE CITY OF LIGHT. Retrieved December 3, 2015, from https://thesweetsixteens.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/the-debut-club-an-interview-with-ann-jacobus-author-of-romancing-the-dark-in-the-city-of-light/

Big Fat Disaster

Bibliography: Fehlbaum, B. (2015). Big fat disaster. New York, NY: Merit Press.

ISBN: 978-1440592676

Genre: realistic fiction

Reading Level/Interest Age: 12+/14+

Plot Summary: Colby is overweight and undervalued. As the sore thumb in an otherwise perfect family, she is used to people telling her that she needs to lose weight, eat less, be more like her sisters. She seeks comfort in her secret snack stash, but even that isn’t enough to help when the world as she knows it explodes in chaos. First, she finds proof that her dad, who is running for Senate, is having an affair. When she tells her family and he leaves, everyone blames her for stirring up trouble. Colby, armed with a box of Ding Dongs, could handle their anger, but seeing their family troubles plastered all over the media breaks her down. No one will support her, though, especially when their assets are frozen because of her dad’s shady deals. Now there’s no family and no money and no way to pay for their home. Colby’s mom moves them three hours away to a rattle-trap camper behind her aunt’s house. As if that’s not bad enough, Colby’s cousin hates them and takes every opportunity to make them miserable--including filming Colby in the middle of a very private moment. When that video hits Facebook, Colby becomes the laughing stock of the school. Between that, the guilt from her binge eating and her mom’s devastating comments, Colby decides to check out of life. Does anyone care enough to save her?

Critical Evaluation: Fehlbaum jumped right into her protagonist’s character development in the very first sentence of Big Fat Disaster. The reader immediately starts to feel the confusion and isolation that Colby battles on a daily basis. Within the first chapter, the reader has a complete view of all the main characters and their family dynamic. Questions slide into the reader’s mind--why does Colby’s family acts and reacts like this? How does Colby cope with their constant berating and demeaning comments? Like the immediate character development, the first person perspective works to bond the reader and the protagonist. It gives immediacy and significance to the story; it enables us to see Colby’s true personality, her heartbreak, loss of control and the dire hopelessness she feels. Using a third person perspective would have created a distance between the reader and the protagonist which, in a story that is so much about emotion, could cause a major break in believability. Colby’s tone of voice was realistic and completely believable. She wasn’t too glib or too clever; she didn’t have snappy come-backs or use an inordinate amount of complicated words. Comparisons were also minimal which, again, helps develop credibility in a character since most people don’t think with similes and metaphors. While the rhetoric of Colby’s thought process was mostly spot on, her descriptions run the risk of becoming dated. Her references to “Axe body spray” (8) and “Michael Phelps” (139) can very easily affect the book’s staying power. But overall, Beth Fehlbaum has created a memorable character whose personality and strength can’t help but make a deep impact on the reader.

Reader’s Annotation: Colby has a better relationship with her snack drawer than she does with her family. But when her world explodes into chaos, she’s going to need more than Ding Dongs to pull her through.

Author Information: In addition to writing Young Adult Contemporary Fiction, Beth Fehlbaum is a secondary English-Language Arts teacher who frequently draws on her experience as an educator to write her books. She has a B.A. in English, Minor in Secondary Education, and an M.Ed. in Reading.

Beth is a featured author on the 2015-2016 Spirit of Texas Reading List- High School. She is the author of the Kirkus Starred Reviewed Big Fat Disaster (Merit Press/F+W Media, March 2014) and The Patience Trilogy (Courage, Hope, and Truth).

Beth is a member of the RAINN (Rape , Abuse, Incest National Network) Speakers’ Bureau. She has a following in the young adult literature world and also among survivors of sexual abuse because of her work with victims’ advocacy groups. She has been the keynote speaker at the National Crime Victims’ Week Commemoration Ceremony at the Hall of State in Dallas, Texas and a presenter for Greater Texas Community Partners, where she addressed a group of social workers and foster children on the subject of “Hope.”  (If you are interested in having Beth speak at your event, please use the “Get in Touch” tab.)

She is in-demand as an author panelist, having presented/appeared at the Texas Library Association Annual Conference, the American Library Association’s annual conference, YALSA, and N.C.T.E./ALAN. Young Adult Book Festivals that Beth is a featured author for in 2015-2016 include (but are not limited to): the YAK (Young Adult Keller) Bookfest in Keller, Texas;  the Montgomery County Book Festival in The Woodlands, Texas; Books by the Bay, a YA book fest in Corpus Christi, Texas; the Dogwood Trails Book Festival in Palestine, Texas; and the Mansfield ISD Book Festival (Mansfield, Texas).

She is the founder/administrator of UncommonYA, a thirty-member-strong marketing group and website for traditionally-published authors of “gritty” YA, which posts new content five days a week, 52 weeks a year. Members support one another by sharing/retweeting links as well as inviting each other to participate in events on-line and in-person. UncommonYA has grown to include authors from around the world including the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Japan, who write for all sizes of traditional publishers. She is a member of The Author’s Guild.

Beth is a survivor of a traumatic childhood, like Ashley in The Patience Trilogy, and the day-to-day manager of an eating disorder much like Colby’s in Big Fat Disaster. These life experiences give her a unique perspective, and she writes her characters’ stories in a way meant to inspire hope.

Beth lives with her family in the woods of East Texas.¹

Curriculum ties: health; societal ideals

Booktalks: How do you make yourself feel better when you’re down?

Challenge issues: obesity, abuse, death, suicide, eating disorders, infidelity, bullying, family dysfunction

Challenge resources (for usage in a challenge situation):

• Library Selection Policy

• Rationale explaining why the item was chosen for the collection
• Active listening skills
• Awards
• Reconsideration form (as a last resort)
• Illinois Library Association (Banned Books Listings)
• National Council of Teachers of English “Right to Read”
• Positive and negative reviews: expert, parent, student
• ALA Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials
• ALA Bill of Rights on Intellectual Freedom

• Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
• Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

Reasoning: Big Fat Disaster a great title to expand the diversity of a collection. There aren’t enough realistic portrayals of overweight people in books and media today, so it’s important to include books like this one that not only provide relatable and astute characters, but also develop empathy.

References:

¹Fehlbaum, B. (n.d.). Beth Fehlbaum Realistic Fiction: "Problem Novels" Retrieved December 3, 2015, from http://www.bethfehlbaumbooks.com/

Fehlbaum, B. (n.d.). About Me... Retrieved December 3, 2015, from http://www.bethfehlbaumbooks.com/about-me/