by Alicia Rudnicki, Library Mix

I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets: Six Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure, edited by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith, HarperTeen, 2009, ISBN 978-0-06-172684-2
Available at Powell's Books

Ask young adult, better known as YA, librarians about what memoirs teens like and they may draw a blank. However, ask teachers  about the subject and they will say  that students certainly like to tell their own life stories.

Smith Magazine
After creating the popular Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure, the editors of Smith Magazine decided to challenge teens to write their own life stories in six words.

What resulted is a book that Smith bills as having “600 authors.” It is a useful teaching tool for encouraging concise, colorful writing.

Lives in brief
The broad range of subjects in I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets includes frustrations with family, disappointment with achievements, identity and sexuality. Here are some examples:

• Jocelyn wrote that she was, “Defined by numbers: age, weight, SATs.”

• Writing a romance for our digital times, Chris recalled, “Met online; love before first sight.”

• Creating a metaphor for the struggle of her life, Amanda said, “I’m army boots. Ready for battle.”

• The reader can’t help but want to send a hug to Traci, who wrote, “Ripped open, sewn back up, healing.”

• Clever Nic commented, “I’m just a simple human. Being.”

• And Martha offered a caution to all who love print a bit too much: “Spent more time reading than living.”

A rare read
I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets is one of those rare books that reluctant readers are guaranteed to crack open during reading and writing classes.

 Here are six final words to consider: I found it at the library.

by Alicia Rudnicki, Library Mix

The Brimstone Journals, by Ron Koertge, Candlewick Press, 2001, ISBN 0-763-61742-3
Available at Powell's Books

Ron Koertge’s The Brimstone Journals, a novel told in poetry, is a boiling kettle of teenage anxieties, both minor and major. Published shortly after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, its story about the importance of teens speaking up remains timely.

Brimstone is also a good literary vehicle for getting students to consider the storytelling power of poetry.

Voices of small-town America
Nearly 100 years ago, Edgar Lee Masters perfected the art of the novel told in poetry. He wrote about small town America in his classic Spoon River Anthology, in which more than 200 dead residents of the local cemetery share their stories and secrets through free verse poems, which doesn’t rhyme or follow a prescribed pattern.

Masters lived near the actual Spoon River in Illinois and based some of his characters on people that he knew while growing up. Koertge also grew up in small-town Illinois, just across the Mississippi from St. Louis, Missouri.

 It seems appropriate that an excellent online list of teen novels told through poetry also comes from Illinois. The Brimstone Journals is among the excellent choices recommended by Skokie Public Library.

Disquieting thoughts
In Brimstone, 15 fictional, small-town teens share their disquieting thoughts through free-verse poems. All the students attend Branston High, which is popularly known as “Brimstone.”

The novel opens with the chilling comments of Lester, a fat boy who has a semi-automatic pistol tucked in his sock drawer in case he should ever decide to wreak havoc at Brimstone, starting in the gym and making the jocks  who have bullied him “crap their pants.”

In an article published at Goodreads, Koertge said he began writing Brimstone a few months before the Columbine High massacre, which was committed by two disaffected students.

Familiar casting
To some degree, Brimstone is populated by recognizable types, including a totally self-absorbed anorexic girl, a cocky jock who picks on Lester, a preacher’s daughter who is attracted to the bad boy, the teen who loves to play violent computer games but would never imagine hurting anyone, a budding white supremacist, and a sexually active girl with a heart of gold.

Yet it also introduces some surprises such as Carter, an upper middle class African-American, whose parents unwittingly transfer him to Brimstone to avoid inner-city violence.

Fortunately, Carter manages to break through the reserve of another student outside Brimstone's cliques. He befriends Tran, a Vietnamese immigrant who prides himself on paying close attention to the gossipy “buzz” around him but never getting close to any of the students.

When Tran starts musically jamming with Carter, the two of them develop a circle of mutual friends. Tran begins to care about his classmates, and this causes him to tell the police about rumors he has heard concerning a student stockpiling guns.

Speaking up is important
Brimstone demonstrates how disasters such as the Columbine massacre can be averted when students feel like they belong and care enough about the well-being of others to report their concerns.

Tran reflects that “These people are my friends./ Nothing should happen to them/ because of my cowardice or/ indecision.”

It was a YA—short for “young adult”—librarian who first brought The Brimstone Journals to my attention. YA librarians are good people to get to know whether you are a teen, a teacher or a parent. They truly care about young people. It’s obvious from The Brimstone Journals that Ron Koertge also cares.

by Alicia Rudnicki, Library Mix

Perhaps you know someone like Ethan, Julius, Jake, Lizzie, Hannah, Amanda or Maggie. Perhaps after you read about them in Claudia Mills’ insightful tween-to-teen novels, they will seem like some of the kids on your block or at school.

They are the boys and girls next door worrying about problems including absentee dads, bad grades, cruel classmates, first love and intolerance.

Kids caught in the middle
Mills specializes in telling stories about children in the middle—kids from third grade through middle school and kids caught in the middle of the proverbial rock and a hard place.

Although Ethan doesn’t like Lizzie writing lovesick poetry about him, he doesn’t know how to make her stop without hurting her feelings in the worst way.

Julius has decided to define himself as a slacker. He has given up trying to do well in school, thinking that nothing he does will gain his parents’ approval.

Hannah wants to make friends, yet she fears that by fitting in she will lose herself.

Amanda is caught between two parents she loves but whose bickering has created civil war at home.

And Maggie knows she shouldn’t be falling for bad boy Jake, but fall she must into life-changing trouble.

Creating likable characters
In addition to having published more than 40 books, ranging from picture books to novels for young teens, Mills is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Philosophers excel at pondering problems about making choices.

Mills’ characters are good thinkers who strive to do the right thing, especially after they do what is wrong.  The author succeeds not only at tuning in to the concerns of young teens but also at creating likable characters who seem real and really nice. That is why Mills has won many awards, including the 2008 Colorado Book Award for The Totally Made-Up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish. See Library Mix's May 8, 2010 Mix & Shake Blog for more about this powerful book.

Here are five quick peeks into the lives of some of Mills’ characters beginning with Ethan, Julius and Lizzie, all of whom live in the same neighborhood and inhabit three of the author’s novels. Mills classifies these novels as being among her "oldies," but they are certainly goodies.

Losers, Inc., by Claudia Mills, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997,
ISBN 978-07-8-681274-5
Ethan would like to be an academic and sports all-star similar to his older brother, but he never feels like he measures up in his accomplishments or his height. Peter always towers over him. So Ethan begins detailing his shortcomings in a book titled Life Isn’t Fair: A Proof. His best friend, Julius, suggests that they celebrate their mediocrity by forming a club called Losers, Inc. But Ethan disappoints Julius by deciding to become an excellent student when he develops a crush on his new student teacher. Then he dismays the ever-kind Julius by participating in a mean prank intended to get his lovesick classmate, Lizzie, to stop writing poems about him.

You’re A Brave Man, Julius Zimmerman, by Claudia Mills,
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999, ISBN 978-0-37-438708-2
There is no time for Julius to give in to the temptations of summer. His mother has developed an ambitious plan to improve him. It includes lots of reading, a summer job babysitting a difficult preschooler, and daily French lessons with the dreaded Madame Cowper who mortifies him by making everyone do “le Hokey Pokey.” Poor Julius can’t understand when to put his right foot in, take it out or shake it all about. It also really stinks that he has to potty train little Edison Blue or spend the summer changing diapers. Worse yet, he would like to appear manly to Edison’s beautiful and mysterious neighbor, Octavia, but she teases Julius for playing in the sandbox with Edison and his potty chair.

Lizzie at Last, by Claudia Mills, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000,
ISBN 978-0-37-434659-1
Lizzie loves school but dreads the beginning of seventh grade. She just doesn’t fit in. Classmates make fun of the romantic, old-fashioned dresses she loves and criticize her for being a brainiac in all her classes.  Lizzie’s Aunt Elspeth treats her to a shopping spree at The Gap to help Lizzie take the first step toward fitting in. Then Lizzie seeks advice from her nemesis, mean Marcia, about how to make Ethan like her. That’s when Lizzie learns how to giggle, flirt, and act like she doesn’t know all the answers in math. The only problem is that while Marcia’s boyfriend begins to like her, Ethan grows more distant.

Hannah On Her Way, by Claudia Mills, MacMillan Publishing Company, 1991, ISBN 0-689-71754-7
At ten years old, Hannah still loves to play dolls and wear her long, blonde hair in a braid. She enjoys building ice sculptures with her parents and spending long, solitary hours sketching her cat. Unlike the popular girls, Hannah isn’t interested in make-up or talking about boys. But she has no friends. It bothers her when the noisy, new girl, Caitlin, must sit next to her. What bothers her more is the ease with which Caitlin befriends the popular girls. Then Caitlin surprises Hannah by trying to become her friend. Of course, the surprises don’t stop there, and some are uncomfortable for Hannah.

Standing Up to Mr. O, Farrar, by Claudia Mills, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, paperback by Hyperion, 1998, ISBN 0-786-81404-7
Similar to Lizzie and Hannah, Maggie is an excellent student. Her favorite teacher is Mr. O., the biology instructor who always cracks corny jokes at the beginning of class. Normally the best student in his class, Maggie gets in trouble with him when she expresses her moral aversion to cutting open a live worm. Instead of participating in the dissection, she chooses to earn an “F” on her lab assignment. When the class tough guy, Jake, joins in the protest, things start getting ugly yet romantic at the same time.

Contacting the author
Claudia Mills is becoming  increasingly popular, so chances are good that you will find her books at your local library. Although she enjoys all the awards that she has won, Mills says the greatest reward is hearing from students who have enjoyed her books. To send her a note or learn more about how she became a writer, visit Mills homepage.

by Alicia Rudnicki, Library Mix

Click Here (to find out how I survived seventh grade), by Denise Vega, 2005,
ISBN 0-316-05899-8

It is the beginning of Erin Penelope Swift’s first year in middle school, and she is scared of the social challenges to come. In short, she isn’t feeling too swift.

Erin’s feet are way too big and present a great opportunity for teasing. Her body is straight as a yardstick and holds no promise of curves. Her best friend, the beautiful, theatrical Jilly, has been assigned to another “track” and only sees her before school and at lunch. Her worst elementary school enemy, Serena, is on her track and out to get her.

Finally, Mark (also known as “Cute Boy” in Erin’s private blog) is friendly, but doesn’t seem to think of her as “Cute Girl.” She is just one of his best friends in the computer club and on the basketball court.

 Welcome to Molly Brown Middle School. Welcome to Erin’s “Year of Humiliating Events.” Welcome to Denise Vega’s truly funny tween novel Click Here (to find out how i survived seventh grade).

Click Here won the 2005 Colorado Book Award for young adult fiction. Vega notes that it was the sixth novel she wrote and the first to get published. Four years later, she won the Colorado Book Award again for another teen novel, Fact of Life #31. This year, Vega’s vibrant picture book, Grandmother, Have the Angels Come, has been nominated for a Colorado Book Award for children’s literature.

In Click Here, 12-year-old Erin is confused about a lot of things. Does she really not have a mind of her own as Serena Worthington (a.k.a. Serena Poopendena) implies by calling her a “puppet?” Is it true that she always lets Jilly dress her and tell her what choices to make? Will she be kicked out of school for popping Serena Poopendena in the nose? Is Jilly really blind to Erin’s crush on cute Mark? Doesn’t Mark see that it is torture for her to discuss Jilly while shooting hoops one-on-one with him?

The messier her life gets, the funnier Erin’s story becomes. Fortunately, she befriends the philosophical school custodian, Mr. Foslowski, who advises her not to be too sad about not having a boyfriend.

“Friends are like a good Tootsie Pop,” Mr. Foslowski. “They last longer.” Mr. F encourages Erin to reach for a cherry Tootsie Pop whenever life gets tough.

 Like a Tootsie Pop, Vega’s novel is sweet and gives readers plenty to chew on. Readers who have just entered their teen years will likely also enjoy the novel’s sequel, Access Denied (and other eighth grade error messages), which is more bittersweet than sugary.

by Alicia Rudnicki, Library Mix

The Comet's Curse, A Galahad Book, by Dom Testa, Tor Books, 2010,
ISBN 0-765-32107-6
Available from Powell's Books

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, Vintage, 2009 Movie Edition,
ISBN 0-307-45529-7
Available from Powell's Books

Pride an Prejudice and Zombies, by Seth Grahame Smith and Jane Austen, Quirk Books, 2009, ISBN 1-594-74334-7
Available from Powell's Books


What do these stories have in common?

A 21st-century ark blasts into space with a crew of teens who must abandon Earth to avoid a mysterious epidemic and preserve the future of humankind.

A weary and nameless father and son trudge the ashen landscape of what appears to be a post-nuclear war America.

Finally, a plague of zombies terrorize late eighteenth century England.

End-of-the-world fervor
Three books have sat on my desk far too long, all begging to be returned to the library for other borrowers. They are Dom Testa’s young adult novel The Comet’s Curse, Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winner The Road, and Seth Grahame-Smith’s clever bit of literary piracy Pride and Prejudice and  Zombies.

Mixing the three in one article may seem unfair , yet together they provide a picture of the current rage for end-of–the-world tales.

This is particularly exemplified by a Hollywood’s current apocalyptic fit ranging from the hilarious Zombieland to the special effects blockbuster 2012 to the grim and grimy movie based on McCarthy’s novel.

Plus, it appears that a television mini-series is planned for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and that Testa’s novel—book 1 in his Galahad outer space series—has also been optioned. It is easy to imagine a teen television series based on the Galahad stories. Here are three views of the end of time as posed in the novels mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Teens in space: The Comet’s Curse
Where does this author get all his energy? Dom Testa is a morning drive-time radio personality on Denver’s lively “Dom and Jane Show.”

Testa is also the author of six YA novels in the Galahad series about super competent teenagers who are chosen to save humankind from extinction by voyaging into outer space when Earth becomes tainted with a deathly virus.

As the young crew of spaceship Galahad departs Earth, they leave their families behind forever. While this is deeply sad if one takes time to ponder it, the characters in Comet’s Curse are far too busy doing their jobs and solving a dangerous mystery to let grief overwhelm them.

Plus, Testa, who is naturally lighthearted on air as well as in his writing, has created a wise-cracking central computer called Roc not only to help the crew run the ship but also to cheer them up.

Roc is glad to be out of the box and into its “new digs” aboard the circuitry of Galahad. “I like the crew I’m sailing with. I like the challenge.”

I like Roc and I like this book. It makes you think about just how big the leap is from childhood into the scary reaches of adulthood.

Paternal love prevails: The Road
The two main characters in Cormac McCarthy's novel, The Road, are nameless. As the novel opens, the father and son are simply identified as “he” and “the child.”

Their daily lives are a grim progression from one frigid hideout in an ashen landscape to another as they try to avoid roving bandits, some of whom it appears have sunk to cannibalism.

Humankind seems to be in its last, brutal days. What caused this downfall is unclear and unimportant. One way or another, the world has gone mad.

While some have found this new world too harsh to bear and have escaped through suicide, the father cannot give up on the idea that his son will have a future.

When you are in desperate need of cheering up, this is hardly the novel to provide it. Although The Road is beautifully written, it is depressing enough to make a reader seek the somewhat jollier company of zombies.

The plague: Pride & Prejudice &  Zombies
In Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride jand Preudice and Zombies it is amusing to read how the eighteenth century English heroine, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bennet, and her sisters have trained with a martial arts master in China in order to become efficient zombie fighters. In fact, it is Lizzie’s great fighting skill that the rude yet attractive Mr. Darcy finds so appealing.

Remember the scene in Austen’s novel where the pushy, empty-headed Mrs. Bennet is delighted, because her husband has befriended the wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley? In Grahame-Smith’s version, Mr. Bennet warns his wife that the girls may attend a ball, but must “continue their training.”

‘Of course, of course!’ cried Mrs. Bennet. ‘They shall be as deadly as they are fetching!’

The author provides other funny twists such as when Lizzy discovers that her best friend, Charlotte, has only agreed to marry Lizzy’s repulsive cousin, the Rev. Collins, because she has been infected by a zombie bite and become a member of the "sorry stricken."

Collins is so self-centered that he doesn’t notice as his new wife gradually begins to drool, rot, and slur her speech. It can’t be long, the reader thinks, before Charlotte will be cracking open his head to get at his brains and shut him up.

You can find all this apocalypse and more at the library.

Click here for the original, longer version of this article, "Apocalypse on the library shelves."