Fantasy and Science Fiction: Life As We Knew It

Bibliographic Data
Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Life As We Knew It. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2006. ISBN 139780152058265.










Plot Summary
Miranda's life is typical high school stuff - classes, grades, and boys. Then one day, an asteroid hits the moon and knocks it out of its familiar orbit. Back on earth, this causes worldwide chaos - widespread tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and the loss of sunlight because of a massive cloud of volacanic ash. Suddenly everything's different. It's a race for survival. Will Miranda's family survive, against all the odds?

Critical Analysis
In Life as We Knew It, the protagonist, Miranda lives a normal teenaged life in rural Pennsylvania. Then an asteroid hits the moon and everything changes. Life becomes a daily struggle for survival.

The story is written as a series of diary entries by Miranda. At the beginning, she worries about school grades, what her friends are arguing about this week, and how she’ll ever make it through high school. Then the asteroid hits the moon. Pfeffer’s account of this moment reads ominously realistic:

            “And then it hit. Even though we knew it was going to,
           we were still shocked when the asteroid actually
           made contact with the moon. With our moon. At that
           second, I think we all realized that it was Our Moon
           and if it was attacked, then we were attacked.

           Or maybe nobody thought that. I know that most of
           the people on the road cheered, but then we all
           stopped cheering and a woman a few houses down
           screamed and then a man screamed, “Oh my God!”
           And people were yelling “What? What?” like one of us
           knew the answer.

           I know all those astronomers I’d watched an hour
           earlier on CNN can explain just what happened and
           how and why and they’ll be explaining on CNN tonight
           and tomorrow and I guess until the next big story
           happens. I know I can’t explain, because I don’t really
           know what happened and I sure don’t know why.

           But the moon wasn’t a half moon anymore. It was
           tilted and wrong and a three-quarter moon and it got
           larger, way larger, large like a moon rising on the
           horizon, only it wasn’t rising. It was smack in the
           middle of the sky, way too big, way too visible. You
           could see details on the craters even without the
           binoculars that before I’d seen with Matt’s
           telescope….

           It was still our moon and it was still just a big dead
           rock in the sky, but it wasn’t benign anymore. It was
           terrifying, and you could feel the panic swell all
           around us” (18-19).

With the moon’s new position in Earth’s sky, there are immediate widespread tsunamis which destroy the coastlines of every continent. Later, volcanic eruptions occur all over the world, to the point where the sunlight is blocked out by the cloud of volcanic ash filling the sky. Again, Pfeffer’s accounting of this, based on actual science, rings frighteningly true. Since the moon exerts such a strong gravitational pull on the Earth, influencing the tides, any shift in the moon’s position would of course affect the tides. And Pfeffer’s explanation of the increased volcanic activity also is based on sound science.

            “”The moon’s gravitational pull is forcing magma
           through the volcanoes. From what we heard on the
           radio last night and this morning, there are dormant
           volcanoes erupting everywhere. It’s been going on for
           a few days now and there’s no guarantee it’s ever
           going to stop. The earthquakes haven’t. The floods
           haven’t. The eruptions may not either.”

            “I still don’t get how that’s going to affect us,“ I said.
            “You said there are no volcanoes here. Have lots of
           people died?”

            “Lots,” Matt said. “And lots more are going to. And not
           just people who live near volcanoes, either….”

            “Look outside,” Matt said. “Just look at that sky.”

           So I did. It was that funny shade of gray.

            “When a large enough volcano erupts, it clouds the
           sky,” Matt said. “Not just a mile away and not just a
           hundred miles away. Thousands of miles away, and
           not just for a day or two either.”

            “The concern is that the volcanic ash will cover the
           sun most places on earth,” Mom said. “Like it seems
           to be doing already here. And if it lasts long
           enough…”

            “Crops,” Matt said. “No sunlight, no crops. Nothing
           grows without sunlight.”

           ….”They’re starting to issue warnings,” Mom said.
            “The scientists on the radio. They say we should be
           prepared for major climatic changes. Drought’s a real
           possibility, and record cold temperatures. It’s already
           cooling off here. It was eighty-eight when I went to
           bed last night, and it’s seventy-two now. But feel how
           muggy it is. It hasn’t cooled off because of a
           thunderstorm. It’s cooled off because the sunlight
           can’t penetrate the ash in the sky” (121-122).

The plot of this book is filled with such realistic detail that one of my classmates commented, “I have noticed that I look at the moon a little differently now and wonder could the moon really be knocked off kilter and cause such havic [sic] on the Earth?” (Beaird). One of my favorite lines in this book is from Miranda’s diary entry of October 26. Two days before that, Miranda’s mom declares Indian summer when the temperature gets up as high as 29. On the 26th, though, the temperature drops back down, and Miranda writes, “It was 12 degrees this afternoon. I guess Indian summer was pretty short this year” (229).

Christmas is especially poignant. Christmas Eve night, the neighbors, who have never really known each other, all get together to go caroling. It’s so wonderful to see other people again, not just Miranda’s family members. “So much food. So much laughing. It was great” (281). Then Christmas Day, everybody has presents. That night, Miranda writes:

            “The Christmas after Mom and Dad split up, they both
           went crazy buying us presents. Matt, Jonny, and I
           were showered with gifts at home and at Dad’s
           apartment; I thought that was great. I was all in favor
           or my love being paid for with presents.

           This year, all I got was a diary and a secondhand
           watch.

           Okay, I know this is corny, but his really is what
           Christmas is all about” (255).

The winter wears on. No electricity, no heating oil, no gasoline, no water. Miranda’s family is slowly forced to cut back to starvation rations. They gradually cut back to only one meal a day, and finally down to only 5 meals a week. At the beginning of the winter, Miranda sulks and argues when her mother asks her to reduce her meals to leave more food for her little brother. But by the end of the winter, Miranda has nursed her family through a flu epidemic that killed most of the neighbors. She has single-handedly kept her family alive when the chimney catches on fire. She has matured enough now to admit that her little brother, Jonny, has the best chance of survival out of all of them. Miranda makes the conscious decision to sacrifice herself so that Jonny can have more food.

She has the emotional courage to set out on what she believes is a suicidal cross-country ski trip to town. She talks to no one but her older brother because she doesn’t want them to try to stop her.

            “”Do you really think you have the strength to make to
           town and back?” he asked.

           I wanted to say, No, of course I don’t and we both
           know it and that’s one reason why I’m going. I wanted
           to say, Stop me, because if I’m going to die, I want to
           die at home. I wanted to say, How could you have let
           this happen to me? As though it was Matt’s fault and
           he could have saved us somehow. None of which I
           said.

            “I know it’s crazy,” I said… How much longer can I
           last anyway? A week? Two? I’m willing to lose a few
           days for peace of mind. You understand that, don’t
           you?”

            “But if you can, you will come back,” he said after a
           long pause.

            “I hope I can,” I said. I’d rather be here. But if I can’t
           that’s okay, too.”

           ….Well that was it, wasn’t it? I was leaving home to
           give Jonny just a little better chance. We were
           starving ourselves to give Jonny just a little better
           chance.

           I … kissed him goodbye. “And I love you and Jonny
           and Mom more than I ever knew” (228-229).

The theme of this novel is man vs. nature and man vs. man, but mostly man vs. self. Miranda has some growing up to do, and the events caused by the asteroid strike help her maturity develop faster than if it hadn’t happened. If Miranda’s family hadn’t been isolated by the catastrophes that occur throughout the story, Miranda would have continued on her normal path. In January, her Mom tells her, “You’re a very special girl. No, you’re a very special woman, Miranda. Thank you” (311).

Miranda makes it to the City Hall, where she finds out that food is now being given away to all survivors. She takes food back to her starving family on a snowmobile. And Miranda has learned what the important things in life are. On her 17th birthday, Miranda writes the last entry in this journal:

            “…today, when I am 17 and warm and well fed, I’m
           keeping this journal for myself so I can always
           remember life as we knew it, life as we know it, for a
           time when I am no longer in the sunroom” (237).

Awards and Honors
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, 2009; Winner High School Maryland.
Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, 2009; Winner Washington.
Hal Clement Award, 2006; Finalist United States.
Quill Awards, 2007; Nominee Young Adult/Teen United States.
Sheffield Children's Book Award, 2008; Shortlist Longer Novel United Kingdom.

Review Excerpts
Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2007)
In this taut survival story, an asteroid hits the moon, knocking it closer toward Earth, which results in cataclysmic natural disasters. Sixteen-year-old Miranda's journal entries provide a riveting account of how lack of information and resources, and, subsequently, loss of hope for the future shrink her world. Against mounting dismal conditions, her family's drawing together to find meaning in their altered lives is all the more triumphant.

CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2007)
When Miranda begins writing in her new diary, there are few surprises. She is an average teenage girl, living in an average Pennsylvania town, prone to adolescent self-absorption. But when an asteroid hits the moon, a nearly apocalyptic weather change occurs and her shift in attention is sudden and palpable. No one can predict the long-term outcome of the catastrophe. Mass hysteria is followed by the slowly dawning realization that things may not get better. Months go by and Miranda’s diary reveals the growing anxiety and fear within her family. There is scarcely power, the water supply is threatened, and meals soon need to be rationed to one or two cans of food a day. Her family survives illnesses and injuries, and the death of close friends, all the while cut off from knowledge of what is happening beyond their town. The sense of doom in this fast-paced, speculative novel is overwhelming, but so, too, is the humanity of its characters and the will to survive.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 18))
Sixteen-year-old Miranda begins a daily ten-month diary documenting the survival ordeal her rural Pennsylvania family endures when a large meteor's collision with the moon brings on destruction of the modern world and all its technological conveniences. The change in the moon's gravitational pull begins to cause natural havoc around the globe in the form of catastrophic tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes and other weather-related disasters. Miranda's American teen view gradually alters as personal security, physical strength and health become priorities. Pfeffer paints a gruesome and often depressing drama as conditions become increasingly difficult and dangerous with the dwindling of public and private services. Miranda's daily litany of cutting firewood, rationing canned meals, short tempers flaring in a one-room confinement is offset by lots of heart-to-heart talks about life and its true significance with her mother, older brother and religiously devout best friend. Death is a constant threat, and Pfeffer instills despair right to the end but is cognizant to provide a ray of hope with a promising conclusion. Plausible science fiction with a frighteningly realistic reminder of recent tragedies here and abroad.

Book Hook or discussion questions
Pair this book with Pfeffer's other books in this series, The Dead & the Gone (2008) and This World We Live In (due out in 2010).

Online Connections
Susan Beth Pfeffer's blog titled Meteors, Moons, and Me.

Sources:
Beaird, S. 10/24/2009. “Re” What may be – Life as we knew it.” TWU Fall 2009      Blackboard posting for LS5623 (Advanced Literature for Young Adults).

Sports, Adventure & Mystery: Vanishing Act

Bibliographic Data
Feinstein, John. Vanishing Act. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. ISBN 97806375835926.










Plot Summary
Middle schoolers Stevie and Susan Carroll attend the US Open Grand Slam Tennis tournament as junior reporters. Media darling Nadia Symanova is the favorite to win, but on the way to her first match she disappears, the victim of a kidnapping. Who kidnapped her and what do they want? Stevie and Susan Carroll decide to find out, but then they find themselves in danger also. Who are the good guys and who are the badf guys?

Critical Analysis
First of all, I didn't like this book. I'm into neither tennis nor sportscasting, so this book's tournament action left me wondering when the game would be over and Feinstein would get back to 'the real action.' I agree totally with the remark Karen Leggett made in her reiew, "The story is slow to take off and often includes enough extraneous detail to read like a play-by-play account." The constant stream of names that I felt like I should recognize but didn't also left me frustrated, which is just what another reviewer, Elizabeth Bush, was talking about when she mentioned how "Feinstein continues to have a ball name-dropping, stirring real-life sports journalists and personalities into the fictional broth..." However, if your young adult IS into that sort of thing, this book will hold their iterest. The plot seems predictable, but just when you've resigned yourself to 'knowing' what will happen next, Feinstein throws in a plot twist, and more than once.

There are some funny running gags that most teens will relate to, such as every time Stevie tries to check in with his press credentials, the security guards can't believe that somebody as young as he is could possibly have valid credentials. Meanwhile, Susan Carroll, who looks mature for her age, gets in with no questions asked. How many teens do you know who can realte to that kinid of frustration?

The setting was unrealistic - I don't know too many parents who would send their 13 year old son from Pennsylvania to New York City for a whole week with only $250, and to stay with strangers. However, this would also appeal to teens who long for their own independence.

The story is told in a limited omniscient point-of-view. We are privy to Stevie's thoughts, and so we see the other characters through his perspective. Foir this reason we see almost no characterization of some of the newscasters mentioned since Stevie isn't very concerned with them in this story. However, we see lots of characterization of Susan Carroll and the tennis players in the tournament. Especially interesting is how Stevie's perception of Nadia Symanova changes. Stevies moves from "Stevie did not have a cursh on Symanova. That would have implied that he knew her or might somehow have a chance someday to even meet her" (4), to "It occured to him that he no longer even thought about Nadia Symanova that way. She was involved n soemthing dirty--or at least her family was--and there was no way for Stevie to see her as attractive anymore" (187).

The presence of certain adults in the plot also makes this book unrealistic. These adults either mysteriously appear and just as quickly disappearm, never to be seen again; or act so contrary to what another adult would do in this situation that it's hard to take these scenes seriously. For example, in Chapter 12, a USTA official named Mark Preston appears just long enough to get family credentials for Stevie and Susan Carroll to use to get into places where media is not allowed but family members are, then disappears, never to show up again. Huh? Who was that maked man? And after Stevie gets beaten up in the subway by two thugs who tell him not try to find out anything more about Nadia Symanove, the doctor who treats Stevie completely disregards the fact that Stevie is a minor and his parents legally have to give permission for him to treat Stevie. Every doctor knows this cold quite possibly result in the doctor's license being revoked. And yet, a doctor who routinely deals with minors in the tennis world doesn't know this?

According to Nilsen & Donelson, young adult mystery readers are expected to "suspend most of our disbelief" (200). Taken all together, these shorcomings were too great for me to enjoy this book. However, a young adult who enjoys mysteries or stories about sports might be willing to suspend disbelief and aactually enjoy the book.

Awards and Honors
Best Children's Books of the Year, 2007; Bank Street College of Education; United States.
Book Sense Children's Picks, Fall 2006; American Booksellers Association; United States.
Children's Choices, 2007; International Reading Association; United States.
Children's Pick of the List, 2006; NAIBA; United States.
Core Collection: Sports Fiction for Girls, 2007; Booklist; United States.
Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Supplement to Ninth Edition, 2007; H.W. Wilson Company; United States.

Review Excerpts
Gillian Engberg (Booklist, Sep. 1, 2006 (Vol. 103, No. 1))
Although too many logistical details slow the pace, sports fans will be fascinated by the insider's view of the tournament, and even teens ambivalent about sports will connect with the memorable, high-achieving kids and the messages about maintaining integrity versus selling out--in sports and in life.

Karen Leggett (Children's Literature, n.d.)
John Feinstein tells a very good story....The story is slow to take off and often includes enough extraneous detail to read like a play-by-play account, but this title will still be a good choice for readers who thrive on tennis, novels of suspense, or dreams of being a great sportswriter.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October 2006 (Vol. 60, No. 2))
Feinstein continues to have a ball name-dropping, stirring real-life sports journalists and personalities into the fictional broth, and even recruiting a pair of characters from his adult mystery Winter Games to serve as the kids’ New York guardians and journalist mentors during the Open. With only two sports down and so many more to go, readers can expect Stevie, Susan Carol, and their laptops to be back in the news soon.

Book Hook
Pair this book with John Feinstein's other books about teen reporter/sleuths Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson: Last Shot: A Final four Mystery (2005), Cover-up: Mystery at the Super Bowl (2007), and Change-Up: Mystery at the World Series (2009).

Online Connections
Teen Ink, a magazine, website and books written by teens since 1989. The nonfiction sports section of their website can be found here.

Sources
Nilsen, A.P. and Donelson, K.L. Literature for Today's Young Adults Eighth Edition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2009.

Sports, Adventure & Mystery: I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Bibliographic Data
Carter, Ally. I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You. New York: Hyperion, 2006. ISBN 1423100034.










Plot Summary
Cammie Morgan attends the Gallagher School for Exceptional Young Women in a fictional town called Roseville. Gallagher is secretly a school for spies, but the Roseville residents think it's a snooty private girl's school. Then Cammie meets Josh, a boy from Roseville, and all the rules change. Cammie needs to decide fast which world she wants to belong in, her world of spies, secrets, and espionage, or Josh's 'normal' world.

Critical Analysis
Cammie Morgan is smart, friendly and attends an exclusive girl’s school, The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. She also knows a huge secret—Gallagher Academy is actually a school for spies. Spying is the Morgan family business. Cammie’s father was killed on a spy mission. Her mother was also an active spy who retired when her husband died and is now the headmistress of Gallagher Academy. Spying is Cammie’s world. She like what she does. She’s good at what she does. She knows no other life.

Then one day, Cammie is on a class reconnaissance mission, and gets ‘made’ by a civilian. The civilian looks “like a cross between a young George Clooney and Orlando Bloom” (80), and his name is Josh. Josh has lived in Roseville his entire life, and he’s ‘normal.’

          ”Plain curtains? Striped curtains? What kind of society
          had I stumbled into? I should be getting COW extra
          credit for this! We walked farther, down a winding
          street with manicured lawns and perfect flower beds
          that couldn’t possibly have been mere miles from the
          Gallagher walls. I was getting an insider’s tour behind
          the picket fence. I was going where no Gallagher Girl
          (well, at least this Gallagher Girl) had ever gone
          before—into a normal American family” (187).

Cammie is suddenly exposed to a world she hardly had suspected existed. Yes, she knew she was different than other teenagers, but she had never realized just how different. She tries to exist in both worlds, but finally realizes that she needs to choose between one or the other.

The climax comes when the Gallagher girls go to town one Saturday, and Cammie is forced to choose between pretending she’s not a Gallagher girl, or telling Josh she’s been lying to him about who she is. She stands back while some of the town boys try to bully one of her classmates. Back at the school later, Cammie is ostracized by her friends, who feel that she’s betrayed them by choosing Josh over them. And Cammie has to admit to herself that they’re right. She finally makes her decision, even though somebody’s going to get hurt. She decides that spies can’t fall in love with civilians.

          ”I couldn’t see anything but Josh. I couldn’t hear
          anything but the fear in his voice when he said,
          “Cammie, tell me the truth.”

          The truth. I could hardly remember what it was. I’d been
          eluding it for so long that it look me a moment to
          remember what it was and what had brought me to that rooftop.

          I do go to the Gallagher Academy....”

          “I don’t believe you.” He didn’t sound hurt then—the words
          were a dare.

           “What do I have to say?“ I snapped. “Do I have to tell you
          that my father’s dead, and my mom can’t cook, and that
          these girls are the closest thing I have to sisters?...
          Do I have to say that you and I can’t ever see each other
          again? Because it’s true. It’s all true.” He reached out
          to touch me, but I jerked away, saying, “Don’t come looking
          for me, Josh. I can’t ever see you again.” And then I
          looked into his eyes for the first time. “And you’ll be
          better for it” (264).

But Cammie has forgotten one important thing: "the persistence of a regular boy who has the misfortune of loving an exceptional girl" (271). Josh comes to resuce her from what he thought was a kidnapping, but was actually just the final for Cammie's Covert Ops class.

After the dust settles (literally, since Josh drove a forklift through a wall to 'rescue' Cammie), Cammie and her mother have a long overdue talk. Not as a student/headmistress, but as a mother and daughter.

          "Cammie," she said, moving to sit beside me. "I'm not glad
          you lied to me. I'm not glad you broke the rules, but there
          is one part of this that has made me very proud..... Do you
          know that your dad and I weren't sure we wanted you to go to
          school here?...When we came here, I knew I'd be taking away
          everything that isn't inside these walls. I didn't want this
          to be the lnly life you know. Your dad and I used to talk
          about whether this was the best place for you.... But the
          thing I worried most about was that you'd spend your childhood
          learning to be hard and strong and never learn that it's okay
          to be soft and sweet. Doing what we do, it doesn't mean turning
          off the part of yourself that loves, Cam. I loved your father...
          I love your father. And you. If I thought you would
          have to give that up...to never know that...I would take you as
          far away from this place as we could go" (278-279).

So Cammie has learned something new about herself, her mother, and her world - there MUST BE room for love in it. However, at the end of the story, Josh has been told everything by Mrs. Morgan and one of Cammie's teachers. From Cammie's CovOps report of the night's occurences, we know that there is a 'memory modification" tea that leaves its drinker with absolutely no memory of the few hours before he or she drank the tea. On his way out the door of Mrs. Morgan's office, Josh's final words to Cammie are, "Oh, tell your mom thanks for the tea" (283). It'll be interesting to read the sequel to this book and find out if that was a teaser or true foreshadowing.

Awards and Honors
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, 2009; Winner Grades 6-9 Maryland.
Kansas Notable Book, 2007; Winner United States.
Amelia Bloomer Project, 2007; Feminist Task Force SSRT ALA; United States.

Review Excerpts
Mary Loftus (Children's Literature, n.d.)
Clearly chick lit for teens, this story is amusing with engaging characters and a lighthearted plot.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2006)
Cammie attends Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a school allegedly for geniuses but actually for spies. The coursework is rigorous, the teachers are experts in their fields, and her mother is the headmaster. Disappointingly, Cammie's undercover skills are only used to investigate a boy she likes, but the book--more romance than spy thriller--is still entertaining.

Claire Rosser (KLIATT Review, May 2006 (Vol. 40, No. 3))
This is escapist fiction for those who like unusual school stories.

Book Hook
This book is just the first in a series of adventures featuring Cammie and the Gallagher Academy. Ally Carter has also written Cross my Heart and Hope to S (2007) and Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (2009). Both books are published by Hyperion.

Online Connections
The CIA actually offers a program for high school seniors called the Undergraduate Scholarship Program. For more information, click here.

Sports, Adventure & Mystery: Double Helix

Bibliographic Data
Werlin, Nancy. Double Helix. New York: Dial Books, 2004. ISBN 1423100034.











Plot Summary
Eighteen year old Eli takes a year off from college to work in a bioengineering lab. While there, he finds that his family has been involved with the head of the lab, Dr. Wyatt, before. Now his mother is dying of Huntington's Disease, a genetic disorder. Does Dr. Wyatt's lab hold the secrets to Eli'a past, his future, or both?

Critical Analysis
Eli Samuels has just graduated from high school. His mother, Ava, is dying of a genetic disorder known as Huntington’s Disease. When offered the chance to work at a genetic research facility, a job that most graduate students would jump through flaming hoops for, Eli takes the position despite his father’s objections. Eli wants to help out with the finances since his mother’s illness has inflicted a major blow on the family’s finances. He is stunned when his father is adamant about him not working at Wyatt Transgenics Institute. Even more frustrating, Eli’s father refuses to explain his objections to working with Dr. Wyatt. All he’ll tell Eli is that his objections are not because of some past involvement between Eli’s mother and Dr. Wyatt. But that’s not enough for Eli.

           Later on, I would remember that moment as the
            turning point. Odd, because I’d have thought other
            moments would feel more decisive. But that was the
            one that stood out in my memory, the moment in
            which what I said, what I decided was the single vital
            factor. The moment in which I stood with words—
            important, life-changing words—on my lips just
            waiting to come out.

            I’ll quit the job. I’ll do what you ask, without any more
            questions. And you owe me.

            But I didn’t say them. Instead, I said, “I’m sorry, Dad. I
            want to do this. If it had been about Mom—well, I
            would have quit. But since you say it isn’t…”

            I waited. I gave him a chance to tell me what it was
            about.

            He didn’t. After a moment, he simply picked up the
            William Blake, opened it and began to read.

            I left his room, closing the door behind me. I went to
            mine. I sat there in the dark, on the edge of my bed.

            I was sorry to hurt my father. But I wanted to know Dr.
            Wyatt. There was at that time no force on earth that
            could have kept me from getting to know Dr. Wyatt
            and the world that he was promising to me.

            And so, the next Monday, I went to my new job at
            Wyatt Transgenics.” (60-61)

Eli is so tired of being treated like a child. If his father would only treat him like an adult, give him rational, adult reasons to not work for Wyatt instead of his silent agreement “to just let me do what I had decided to do” (70). Eli feels his father doesn’t understand him.

Eli wants to feel like he contributes to the family’s well-being. He has learned about all the bills that have been accumulated from his mother’s illness and unwillingly resents both his mother for causing them, and his father for not letting him know. Their financial affairs are one reason why Eli wants to put college off for a year. After his mother’s death, Eli wants his father to get on with his life. But his father is stuck in mourning for his mother.

           “He had thrown so much of his life away. Was he
           planning to salvage what was left? To indulge, finally
           in wine, women, and song? He deserved all of that.
           He’d been good to her. To me. He could have a full
           life now, a new life. He ought to want it.

           But as far as I could tell, he was still stuck dwelling
           on the past.

           She was an extraordinary person.

           So what? Who cared? She’d caused devastation
           and destruction. She’d wrecked lives, mostly his...
           She hadn’t meant to do that, of course. But she had
           all the same.

           Well. One thing I knew, I could make sure that my
           father didn’t have any additional burdens, any
           additional debt, any additional heartache, any
           additional life wreckage. Enough was enough.
           I was eighteen, and employed. In every way, I could
           take care of myself now. I could move on, and in
           doing so, force him to do it, too.” (141-142)

While working at Wyatt Transgenics, Eli inadvertently discovers that he is actually a genetic experiment conducted by Dr. Wyatt at his mother’s request to ensure that she would have a child without Huntington’s Disease, which kills its victims early in life after they go insane first.

While trying to learn more, Eli also learns that the cost for providing his parents with a healthy child (himself) was having to give Dr. Wyatt all of his mother’s other ova. Eli’s father didn’t find out about that horrible price until Ava was pregnant with Eli. Eli finally learns the truth.

            “”I didn’t know at first.” There was a pleading note in
           my father’s voice. “I swear to you, Eli, I didn’t know
           about that part of the bargain until after Ava was
           pregnant with you and Wyatt had assured us that you
           did not have HD. Ava knew I’d have a problem with
           their agreement. She told me it was her business,
           hers and Wyatt’s. Her body, her choice. Not mine. I
           was only involved in your conception.”

            “But I dream about them,” my father said starkly. “I
           feel that they…wherever, they are, maybe still in
           embryo, frozen—that they are my children somehow.
           Not genetically, I know that. But my responsibility.
           And I’ve failed them, because…because he’s not a
           man you would trust with a child. I knew that the
           minute I met him. Brilliant, yes. But that’s not
           important. At least, I don’t think it is.”

           He swallowed. “Eli, we let him have the eggs. We
           gave him dozens of potential children to play with, in
           exchange for you.”” (205)

Wow. Talk about a climactic moment! Finally, Eli understands his father’s feelings - Eli has other siblings all over the country that have also been genetic experiments of Dr. Wyatt’s, and his father has had to live with this knowledge all these years. Dr. Wyatt views these children as scientific experiments, and has been involved in the other children’s lives since they were born. But Eli, Eli was the one who Dr. Wyatt “considered… irretrievable data.” (220). That’s why Dr. Wyatt offered him a job too tempting to turn down. And that’s why Dr Wyatt is suddenly so much a part of Eli’s life. And that’s why Eli’s father can’t bring himself to even be in the same room with Dr. Wyatt.

While spending time with Dr. Wyatt, he also meets a 19 year old girl, Kayla, who is related to him genetically. In Dr. Wyatt’s words, they “have some DNA in common” (179). ” While trying to find out more about Kayla’s conception, Eli also learns that Kayla DOES have Huntington’s disease. She was Dr. Wyatt’s first, unsuccessful attempt at producing an embryo without the chromosomal marker. Dr. Wyatt expected the embryo to not be viable, but instead, Kayla has grown up into a beautiful, intelligent young woman.

When Kayla learns that she has Huntington’s Disease and Dr. Wyatt could have possibly prevented it, she is so furious that when Dr. Wyatt shows up in the room where Eli and Kayla are looking at Dr. Wyatt’s notes, Kayla tries to kill Dr. Wyatt. As Eli grabs Kayla, Dr. Wyatt escapes. Kayla and Eli turn over their discoveries to the police, but keep a backup CD of the notes for themselves, to try to figure out where they fit into Dr. Wyatt’s scheme.

Eli not only holds himself emotionally back from his father, but from his girlfriend, Viv, also. Eli tells himself that it’s for her own good that she doesn’t’ know about his mother, and that she doesn’t know that there is no future in a relationship with him. During Eli’s voyage of self-discovery though, he realizes that he hasn’t held back from Viv to protect her, but to protect himself from getting hurt by yet one more person who loves him. Ironically, after Eli finally trusts Viv enough to tell her about himself, it’s Viv who brings father and son together for the talk they should have had long, long ago.

Eli has made quite an emotional journey during his employment at Wyatt Transgenics. He began as an 18 year old kid who thought he was mature enough to handle the world alone, by himself. By the end of the story, he has matured enough to realize that being adult doesn’t mean you have to rely only on yourself and never on others. Eli has Viv, he has Kayla, and most of all, he has his father.

           "But we do have the data. We have each other. We
           have two healthy little sisters, in Chicago and in
           Edgecomb, Maine. And in Clearwater, Florida, and in
           Los Angeles, we have one little brother, and one infant
           sister, who have all sorts of problems….

            “And it’s not like there isn’t medical hope,” Viv says.
            “It’s not like scientific advancements are all suspect or
           evil. Far from it.”

           …We have the data, then and I will learn how to read
           it and I will learn what it means. Chromosome by
           chromosome, gene by gene, I will learn who and what
           we are. But no matter what I learn, no matter what the
           gene map says, I don’t believe it predetermines who
           we—who anyone—can be. l don’t believe it.

           I have only to look at my father, after all. We don’t
           know the exact nature of our genetic relationship, my
           father and I—or even if there is one. We don’t know
           the extent of Wyatt’s tinkering with me. But that most
           profoundly does not matter. Jonathan Samuels is my
           father. I am his son.

           We chose.

           I fight my way through the snow and the wind and
           then I am home.” (247-248)

The setting is Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, which is a suburb of Cambridge. Since Harvard University and MIT are both located in Cambridge, this setting contributes a background atmosphere of intellectual intensity to the story. Eli also takes long walks along the Charles River when he needs to be alone, but otherwise, this setting is fairly insignificant. The point of view is first person, narrated by Eli Samuels, the protagonist.

The themes of this story are man vs. nature, man vs. man, but primarily man vs. self. Eli must come to grips with the facts of his existence and decide for himself how this will affect his future. By the end of the story, Eli has decided that he still wants to work in the biogenetics field, and in the final scene, we find Eli meeting with an MIT bioethics professor to request admission to her usually senior and graduate level bioethics seminar. The words he says to her contrast directly with the conversation he had with Dr. Wyatt the night of Eli’s graduation from high school.

           On the night of Eli’s graduation:
            “I looked him right in the eye. “I think that, as a
           species, we visit this topic in fiction over and over not
           because—or not only because—we’re obsessed with
           the human soul. I think that just gives us a framework
           for discussion. The real reason is because, as a
           society, we’re on the verge of making the creation of
           life, by humans, reality. We’re trying to find ways to
           talk about it with people who aren’t necessarily able to
           understand the science—because we all have to
           participate. As a species, I mean. We all have to
           decide what’s best to do.” I wanted to add, what
           choices to make, but then I remembered that Dr.
           Wyatt had just said that he didn’t really believe in free
           choice. Just in neurons.” (53-54)

           At the end of the story:
            ““I don’t trust us,” I say. My voice cracks. “I don’t trust
           us to be able to decide. Even with the best of
           intentions—we might think we’re eradicating suffering,
           but are we? We’re only human—we don’t know what’ll
           happen even tomorrow. How can we make decisions
           that will affect all our descendants forever? How can
           we possibly know what’s best?”” (245)

The story definitely raises some intriguing ethical points. Most older teenagers will enjoy this book and its call to readers to decide for themselves where they stand on the issue of genetic manipulation. Reading about how it could affect the life of other teens just like themselves makes these issues all the more real.

Honors
Best Books for Young Adults, 2005; American Library Association YALSA; United States.
Booklist Book Review Stars, Feb. 1, 2004; United States.
Capitol Choices, 2005; The Capitol Choices Committee; United States.
Children's Literature Choice List, 2005; Children's Literature; United States.
Core Collection: Character Education In YA Fiction, 2006; American Library Association-Booklist; United States.
Editors' Choice, 2004; American Library Association Booklist; United States.
Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Ninth Edition, 2005; H.W. Wilson; United States.
School Library Journal Book Review Stars, March 2004; Cahners; United States.
School Library Journal: Best Books, 2004; Cahners; United States.
Senior High Core Collection, Seventeenth Edition, 2007; The H. W. Wilson Co.;
United States.
Senior High School Library Catalog, Sixteenth Edition, 2004 Supplement, 2004; H.W. Wilson; United States.
Top 10 Youth Mysteries, 2004; American Library Association-Booklist; United States.

Review Excerpts
Stephanie Zvirin (Booklist, Feb. 1, 2004 (Vol. 100, No. 11))
Werlin has proved herself to be one of the best youth thriller writers working today. … She is a master at building suspense and creating the sort of clever manipulations that keep readers eagerly turning the pages…. A solidly crafted, thoughtful novel featuring a clever, obsessed kid who finds truths, small and large, about life, family, and, of course, himself.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2004 (Vol. 72, No. 2))
Tragedy and family politics combine for a suspenseful exploration of love and bioethics…. Thought-provoking, powerful, and rich in character.

Sarah Briggs (The ALAN Review, Winter 2005 (Vol. 32, No. 2))
This gripping novel explores some serious themes such as morality and the ethics of genetic engineering. It is also a story of the ties of love and loyalty that bond a father and son.

Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February 2004 (Vol. 57, No. 6))
Werlin carefully crafts this emotion-packed and thoughtful story…. The taut pacing gives this thrilleresque appeal, the emotional intensity and contemporary plausibility will suck in even readers usually skittish about speculative fiction, and the challenging exploration of genetic ethics will definitely prompt some thoughtful discussion.

Book Hook
1. Pair this book with Frankenstein by Steve Parker (Copper Beech Books, 1995).
2. More advanced readers will also enjoy reading the original Frankenstein, or, The
    Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, available in many versions.

Online Connections
1. For information on the Human Genome Project, click here.
2. In 2005, a group of middle-schoolers and research scientists from Harvard and MIT     met to discuss the ethics of topics such as stem cell research, bioenginering,
    etc. The article summarizing this discussion can be found here.

Realism, Romance, and Censhorship: Girl 15, Charming, but Insane.

Bibliographic Data
Limb, Sue. Girl 15, Charming but Insane. New York: Delacorte Press, 2004. ISBN 0385732147.









Plot Summary
Jordan's best friend, Flora, is beautiful, smart, everything Jordan wishes she could be. But when Flora tries to become a singer in her boyfriend's band, Jordan learns that looks and intelligence aren't everything. Sometimes, what you've really wanted has been there all along...

Critical Analysis

The plot of Girl, 15, Charming But Insane, is about a normal (?) 15 year old, Jess Jordan, who is trying to reconnoiter the whys and wherefores of growing up. First crush, first love, parents’ odd foibles, best friends who don’t know they’re perfect, trying to figure out who she is, they’re all in here. The story is told from the limited omniscient point of view, so the reader is privy to Jess’s view of her slightly crazed world. One of the funniest moments in the story is when Jess goes to a party after having stuffed her bra with minestrone soup in sandwich bags. During the party, a particularly obnoxious boy squeezes her breast and the bags burst all over the boy and Jess. Jess goes to the bathroom to clean herself up, removing her top and bra. She later finds out that somebody had placed a hidden video camera in the bathroom, and the video was going to be seen by everybody who was anybody among Jess‘s circle of acquaintances.

          ”She didn’t have to worry about being sick on CCTV. What she had
     done was much, much worse. She had stripped to the waist. She had
     thrown her homemade bra inserts down the loo. And she had washed
     minestrone off her boobs—-while talking to them and calling them
     Bonnie and Clyde! Jess wondered how far it was to the nearest
     nunnery, because her life was definitely over.” (65).

The book’s style flows like Jess’s life, in a series of ups and downs. One moment she’s in total despair, the next she’s elated. She has an argument with her mom about giving up her bedroom to her Granny, storms out and spends the night at a friend’s house. One the way home the next morning, she daydreams in the “they’ll be sorry” mode, until she reaches her house. “By the time she got home, her insides had screwed themselves up into a dreadful knot, and she wished she hadn’t eaten…”(43). Then she walks in and finds a note from her mom telling her Jess didn’t have to take the dreaded small bedroom after all. “Tears of joy ran down Jess’s cheeks. Her mum was so kind! Jess loved her so much!” (44) Within 5 minutes, Jess has gone from the pits of despair to the heights of ecstasy. For those of us who have already finished with the roller-coaster ride of adolescent hormones, this book is poignantly reminiscent. But for teens that are still deep in the throes of puberty, reading about the realistic mood swings of another ‘normal’ teen can be helpful – “Hey, other kids feel this way, too! I’m not so strange after all.”

Later in the story, Jess realizes that she is a very funny person. One of her teachers. Mr. fFthergill, encourages her to do a standup routine for the school show, but Jess is taken ill and unable to perform the routine. Mr. Fothergill, who has a copy of Jess’s standup routine, “Girl, 15, Charming but Insane,” gives it to Flora, Jess’s perfect, beautiful, gets-all-the-breaks friend. Sure enough, Flora steals the show.

          “The thought of Flora doing her stand-up routine was just
     absolute torture. It made it worse that the feeling was kind of
     selfish, and Jess felt ashamed of herself. It was all her own work,
      and though she had really loved writing it, she had been looking
     forward to getting up on the stage and performing it to a live
     audience more than she had ever looked forward to anything.
     She hated Flora for having stolen it. She couldn’t help it.
     She knew it wasn’t Flora’s fault. Mr. Fothergill had asked her
     to do it. But Jess simply hated her.“ (192).

Not only is it tough enough being an adolescent, but it’s even tougher when you have a wonderful, beautiful friend like Flora who can’t help being perfect. But learning who your real friends are and how to deal with their quirks is the theme of this book. For young adults who are trying on different aspects of the world to see how they fit, this novel shows them that no matter who you are or how you act, your real friends will always remain true to you.

Awards and Honors
Heartland Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, 2006; Finalist United States.

Review Excerpts
Frances Bradburn (Booklist, Sep. 15, 2004 (Vol. 101, No. 2))
...Limb's novel features Jess Jordan, big of bum and small of boob, who covets her best friend Flora's body, beauty, and popularity. Jess is ... friends with Fred, the class clown and nerd. After Flora confesses a crush on Fred, Jess suddenly realizes what everyone else has known for years: she and Fred are perfect together! Limb's characters are memorable. Jess is funny although occasionally over the top; her dad, whom we meet via his daily horoscopes, which delineate the chapters, is funny, too, but unreliable; and her peacenik librarian mother is a source of both embarrassment and security. Most endearing is Fred, whose wit, integrity, intelligence, and outward confidence earn him the love and respect of his peers and probably of readers, too. Full of bawdy humor, this is a charming, easy read that handles issues of body image, popularity, and adolescent insecurity with humor.

Donna Freedman (Children's Literature)
This book will no doubt be compared to Bridget Jones' Diary, and with good reason: it's written as the journal of a misfit-in-her-own-mind English gal who's at war with her own body and looking for love in all the wrong places. But Limb's story succeeds on its own as a hilariously droll and at times touching tale that hits all the usual teen-angst stops: parties, clothes, embarrassing parents and, of course, snogging.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2004 (Vol. 72, No. 14))
Plucky and mouthy, Jess Jordan manages to get herself in a variety of messes, mostly having to do with boys. Convinced that she is hopeless compared to her best friend, Flora, she relies on her humor and dry wit to stay afloat. She soon finds that while her mouth can get her in trouble, it can also get her the kind of attention she wants. Romance blooms in improbable places as Jess makes it through a long spring full of funny adventures and lucky mishaps. A tendency towards an easy laugh keeps the story rolling, but also keeps it from reaching any depth. Timely references to pop culture will cause this one to date quickly, but an occasional well-crafted scene and witty dialogue help it along.

Book Hook

• Sue Limb has also written a prequel and two sequels to this book:
  1. Girl, Barely 15: Flirting for England,
  2. Girl, (Nearly) 16, Absolute Torture, and
  3. Girl, Going on 17, Pants on Fire.
• If you liked this book about teen-aged English schoolgirls, try Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison.

Online Connections
Sue Limb's website.

Realism, Romance, and Censorship: Son of the Mob: Hollywood Hustle

Bibliographic Data
Korman, Gordon. Son of the Mob: Hollywood Hustle. New York: Hyperion, 2004. ISBN 0786809183.










Plot Summary
In this hilarious sequel to Son of the Mob, Vince has escaped his New York mobster family roots and taken off for his freshman college year in California. But when his older brother shows up with homemade ziti and some 'Uncles," Vince is quickly and unwillingly drawn back into "the family business." Throw in a gorgeous undercover FBI agent, a roommate who is the son of a popular but secretly corrupt Congressman, and the foibles of film school, and Vince wonders if he'll even make it through his first semester. At the end of the book, though, he is left with a new understanding of how much his father really does care for him, despite his Godfather persona.

Critical Analysis
Vince Luca has escaped his Mafioso roots back in New York to come to California, only to find his past coming after him. Son of the Mob: Hollywood Hustle is filled with “cardboard exaggerations” (Vardell, 2003) such as Mafia thugs with hearts of gold, a California beauty of the stunning starlet variety, and assorted clueless college students. The movie-making industry is based on illusions and making things seem larger than real life. Vince wants to make movies. But his life IS a movie. When he despairs of ever completing his film class project, Vince turns in a film of an actual crime taking place, courtesy of some of his “Uncles” from New York. While this desperate ploy wins him accolades from his film professor, the Uncles later steal the tape back –- after all, it’s “evidence.” Meanwhile, Vince’s girlfriend is caught up making her own movie debut, his best friend has made a new, very suspicious (to Vince, at least) friend in Las Vegas, and Vince’s roommate is spiraling downward into Vince isn’t sure what kind of mental state. Sounds like a B movie from the 1950s.

Even though both the plot and characters seem over the top, these exaggerations work on a visceral level. How many teens have ever wished they belonged to any family but their own? Vince has this same desire, except when he talks about family, he’s talking about the Family, with a capital F. Reading about Vince and his Family problems shows other teens that their own families maybe aren’t as bad as they could be. At the end of the story, Vince is left with a new understanding of how much his father loves him.

          “Crowded out by so many other revelations, the real top story of
     tonight is just beginning to sink in.

          My father was willing to take a bullet for me.” (240)

This story is told in the first person point of view by Vince. His laidback approach to life is obvious in the narration. He’s probably seen things other people can only imagine, so nothing should phase him, right? Well… Let’s let Vince tell the story of when his girlfriend came to dinner at their house in New York for the first and only time.

          “And then the meal is seasoned with a little dash of the vending
     machine business.

          There’s a pounding at the door, and in staggers Benny the Zit, who
     sometimes does odd jobs for Tommy. He looks like something out of
     Dawn of the Dead-—covered from head to toe in blood, with a
     stainless-steel corkscrew buried in his neck up to the third spiral.

          My father, who just turned sixty and claims to be slowing down,
     leaps out of his chair, charges across the foyer, and leaves his feet
     like an NFL linebacker. He hits Benny right between the numbers,
     driving him back outside. The door slams shut behind them.

          “Old family friend.” Mom tells Kendra confidentially. “Poor boy
     cut himself shaving.”

          From our front stoop comes an earsplitting scream as Dad yanks
     the corkscrew from Benny’s flesh.

          Mom has an explanation for this, too. “Owls. They‘re all over the
     neighborhood.”

          For the rest of the meal, we pretend to concentrate on our food,
     and not the howls of agony that come as my father, who includes
     amateur surgery on his list of talents, stitches up Benny the Zit in
     our not-very-sterile garage. Kendra hangs tough, but at one point,
     I look over, and she’s gone so pale that she appears to have no
     lips.

          She’s still a little shaky when I drop her at home. “Is your house
     like that every night?”

          “No,” I deadpan.; “Mom only makes gnocchi on special occasions.”
     And we crack up laughing.

          Mom hands down her judgment that night. “A beautiful girl—a
     lovely person. Don’t bring her here no more. Do her a favor.” (19-20)

And other teens think their families are strange? Maybe not as much as they first thought after reading this book. Between the hilarious episodes and farce, there’s a definite message in this story, that family is family, whether it’s spelled with a capital F or not.

Awards and Honors
M. Jerry Weiss Book Award, 2007; Winner Grades 7-12 New Jersey.

Review Excerpts
Todd Morning (Booklist, Oct. 1, 2004 (Vol. 101, No. 3))
The complicated plot involves the kidnapping of a union boss, the unmasking of a seemingly high-minded congressman, and Vince's brief fling with a beautiful FBI informant. By the end, Vince has managed to sort through the thickets of corruption, thievery, and colossal misunderstandings, finding that his first semester of college has been much more lively than the average freshman's. Korman delivers many funny lines throughout as he deftly balances satirical elements with an action-packed story.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2004 (Vol. 72, No. 17))
Korman's cleverly conceived and plotted followup to Son of the Mob (2002) will keep fans in stitches as hero Vince Luca, the son of a Long Island-based mafia boss, again tries unsuccessfully to extricate himself from "The Life." Determined to leave all things mob behind him, Vince crosses the continent to study film in California but soon finds himself up to his camera lens in dirty doings. Worse, the love of his life, who also happens to be the daughter of the FBI agent investigating his father, is starring in a pretentious classmate's film project and no longer has time for him. Although the focus is on funny, to his credit Korman doesn't ignore the harsher realities of the underworld nor the uneasy alliance between powerful fathers and their struggling-to-define-themselves sons.

Leslie McCombs (VOYA, December 2004 (Vol. 27, No. 5))
Vincent Luca is off to college at last… Unfortunately for Vince, one cannot escape the mob that easily. In no time at all, his oldest brother, Tommy, and a flood of "uncles" start appearing at his dorm, armed with trouble and his mother's famous five-cheese baked ziti. Vince is certain that they are not there for a vacation to Disneyland. But Vince has his own problems when his roommate's goddess of a girlfriend starts chasing after the son of the mob. Vince spends his first semester away from home tying to retain his own girlfriend, avoid his roommate's girlfriend, and figure out what his father is up to….The complicated plot is neatly bound together by one-liners and awkward situations that Vince cannot seem to avoid, no matter how hard he tries. Each character is portrayed with deft touches of reality that mix perfectly with the clever comedy of errors. It is easy to relate to Vince's problems with his father, friends, and girlfriend. Korman's latest offering is a wonderful sauce filled with brilliant characterization, sneaky plot twists, and humor that will make teens fall off their chairs with laughter.

Book Hook

• If you enjoyed this book, try its prequel, Son of the Mob (2002).
• Korman has also written many other books for middle and high school, among them, One False Note in the "39 Clues" series and "on the Run," a series of books about teen siblings Aidan and Meg Falconer who get involved with the FBI when their parents are imprisoned for a crime they didn't commit.

Online Connections
Gordon Korman's official website, including his brand new blog.

Source
Vardell, Sylvia. 2003. Texas Woman's University. LS 5623 Adv. Lit for Young Adults. Online Lectures > Module 2: Realism, Romance & Censorship > Evaluation Criteria. Accessed 9/22/2009.

Realism, Romance, & Censorship: The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

Bibliographic Data
Lyga, Barry. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. ISBN 0618723927.










Plot Summary
Fanboy is a geek and more intelligent than even most of his teachers, which makes him an easy target for bullies. He's kept a "List" of students, teachers and other people who have made his life miserable since 6th grade. He fantasizes about the school being taken over in a Columbine like incident and all the members of the List being struck down in the resultant gunfire. When he first meets Goth Girl aka Kyra, they initially bond over their similar fantasies of the school being violently taken over. But Kyra doesn't have a List, though. She wants everybody in the school to die. This is the story of how the two teens help each other, but in the end, just as in real life, both Fanboy and the readers of this story are left wondering if it's enough.

Critical Analysis
The plot of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl is very realistic in today's world of Columbine and similar incidents. A Google search for "Columbine wannabes" turned up about 576,000 hits. And almost everybody over the age of 18 can remember at least one incident of feeling alienated and different in high school. In this novel, feelings of wanting to actually destroy those who are making them feel that way are crucial to the plot. Donnie, nicknamed Fanboy by Kyra, fantasizes about somebody else taking over the school and himself being the hero of the day, while Kyra, the Goth Girl, has even stronger fantasies about doing the shootings herself. The problem that these 2 main characters have to deal with is that they both know, on some level, that these feelings are 'wrong.' How each of them deal with those feelings and their awareness of this 'wrongness' is the main storyline. There are also minor storylines about how Fanboy copes with his mother's pregnancy and new husband (the step-fascist), two-faced friends, clueless teachers, and adults who refuse to see him as anything more than a child.

The climax of the book takes place when Brian Michael Bendis, a real-life graphic novelist, refuses to read Fanboy's graphic novel. Feeling hurt and stunned by the rejection of his idol, Fanboy's feelings change. He now steps over the line and wants to hurt somebody himself instead of relying on faceless others to do the shooting for him.

           "I want to kill them all. No, better yet, I want to die, No, even better
     than that: I want to kill them and then die. I thought high school was the
     end of it, the end of the bullshit cliques and the groups and kewl kids.
     But it's not. It's just the beginning. It's just the beginning and it only gets
     worse from here. College won't be any better and after college won't be
     any better and I might as well finish it. Finish it now. There's no point.
     I'll always be a loser. I'll never have friends, real friends, friends I can
     keep." (242-3).

Only after Fanboy realizes that Kyra has stolen his talisman, his "totem," the bullet he's been carrying around since 6th grade, does he snap out of this dangerous line of thought. He realizes that rough as he may have it, maybe Kyra has it rougher. He goes looking for her to prevent what he's worried she'll do. But he can't get any adults to listen to his concerns for Kyra. Not even Kyra's father seems to believe him. When he finally finds Kyra and confronts her with his worries for her, she strikes back at him both physically and verbally.

          "Go away," she whispers, and stands up.

          "I'm trying to help you." I scramble to my feet, the moment lost.
     So close. "I'm just trying to help."

          "I don't need your help, fanboy."

          "You need someone's help, and I'm the only one around you haven't
     managed to scare off."

          "Bite me. Here." She flips the bullet into the air and I reach out
     for it as my lower gut explodes in pain and a familiar agony. I
     swallow the air, claw for breath and collapse to the ground. She
     got me right between the legs while I was distracted by the bullet....

          And she's gone" (306).

Fanboy finally manages to get home after Kyra's attack. Once there, he finds a text message from Kyra. She's still alive. He greets his mother and at the very end of the book, he finally asks his mother for the very first time if he can feel the baby in her belly. This is a very important passage in the book because the first time Lyga writes a scene showing interaction between Fanboy and his mother, Fanboy rejects the baby and his mom's attempts to bring peace between her son and husband. Fanboy has come a long way from who he was at the beginning of the book. Bendis's rejection, the interactions with Kyra, even finding out that his step-father isn't as bad as he always thought - all of these incidents have led him to the moment when he can finally accept himself.

One interesting thing about this story is how Lyga uses two techniques to hook the reader into caring about Kyra, this deeply troubled and suicidal teen. The first one is that the story is told in the first person narrative by Fanboy. As a result, we don't learn enough about Goth Girl and her feelings, just what Fanboy guesses at with his limited knowledge of girls specifically and the world in general. The second technique Lyga uses is to write an open ending to the novel. The reader is left hanging, not knowing what will happen to Kyra, but caring very deeply. For those readers, Lyga has written Kyra's story, due to be published in October 2009 under the title Goth Girl Rising.

The adults in this story, with the exception of Fanboy's mother, are left very much to our imagination. This is an effective literary device since Fanboy narrates this story, and he sees them as weak, characterless, shallow stereotypes. Cal, Fanboy's best friend, is characterized in greater detail. He is pictured as a typical middle class teen around Fanboy who changes into somebody totally different around jocks and girls.

          "Well, that's life being Cal's friend. When the jocks call, he goes.
     On the mean streets of hick rural high schools, you have to keep up
     your popularity and your cool factor if you want to survive as a black
     kid. And being seen with me--especially talking comic books--is the
     best way to see your cool stock plummet.

          Cal doesn't even really know he's doing it. I can tell because
     he never refers to it, never acts as if he's done anything wrong. It's
     just survival. Just high school crap.. It doesn't bother me. Not
     anymore. Not really." (12)

The story takes place in a "hick rural" town (12). Most rural towns don't have public transportation, so Fanboy, being only 15, has to rely on the schoolbus and other drivers to get him around. Some of the most interesting interactions between Kyra and Fanboy take place when Fanboy is trying to deal with Kyra's erratic driving in yet another new vehicle. We later find out that Kyra has been lying about all these cars and they might even have been stolen. This realization on Fanboy's part just deepens the concern that both he and the reader feel over Kyra's future. In another crucial scene that takes place in a car, Fanboy is going with Cal to a party. When Fanboy gets into the car, he finds that some of the jocks he's despised for years are also in the car. On the way to the party, Fanboy realizes that the boys who have picked on him for years pick on each other too, not just nerds. This is a real revelation to Fanboy.

          "I can't believe it. I just sit there, silent, as three of my
     tormentors gang up on a fourth. It's like I'm a diver who's
     been saved from a shark by other sharks.

          "--smells so bad," Lorenz is saying, "that his zipper has
     a hazard alarm hooked up to it!"

          More howls. Wow. The pecking order doesnt' just peck me.
     Cool." (255)

The theme of this book is deep and troubling - violence and/or suicide is not the answer. While many teens today are emotionally troubled, the two protagonists in this story seem especially troubled. By the end of the story, Fanboy has grown emotionally, and we as the readers wonder very much about whether Kyra has grown enough to survive.

The style is consistent with what I imagine a teen boy's thought processes are like. He knows that the Senior Goddess, Dina, is out of his league but he wants to look at her anyway. He doesn't because he's afraid somebody will notice and pick on him about it. He notices a female acquaintance's underwear on a regular basis and is embarrassed that he tries to keep track of the colors. He is both incredulous and embarrassed when Kyra exposes himself to Bendis, but can't stop thinking about the parts of her body that he saw. He fantasizes over Dina, the Senior Goddess, but the fantasy Dina keeps getting mixed up with the reality Kyra. Add this to his concerns over Kyra and her emotional fragility, and he feels like he doesn't know what he's supposed to be doing next. All the time, we as readers, are privy to this jumble of thoughts that are Fanboy's narrative.

Even though I haven't been a teenager in many, many years, this book touched me on a level that I haven't considered for some time. It reminded me of how tough it was, and still is, to be a teenager, a child/adult; and feel frustrated, useless, ignored, and uncertain. This book will also appeal to teens who will relate to Fanboy. Seeing that other teens, even if they are fictional, have the same confused feelings that they do and there's no happily ever after is a very strong feature of young adult problem novels. This book leaves us hanging, wanting more. What happened to Kyra, What happened to Fanboy?

Awards and Honors

• Best Books for Young Adults, 2008; Young Adult Services Divison of the American Library Association.
  
  
• Best Books of the Year, 2006; School Library Journal; United States
  
  
• Book Sense Children's Picks, Fall 2006; American Booksellers Association; United States
  
  
• Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Supplement to Ninth Edition, 2007; H.W. Wilson Company; United States
  
  
• School Library Journal Book Review Stars, November 2006; Cahners; United States
  
  
• Senior High Core Collection, Seventeenth Edition, 2007; The H. W. Wilson Co.; United States
  
  
• Teen Books, 2006; Bank Street College of Education; United States
  
  
• Teen List, 2006; Bank Street College of Education; United States
  
  
• Top 10 Art Books for Youth, 2006; American Library Association-Booklist; United States

Review Excerpts
Gillian Engberg (Booklist, Sep. 1, 2006 (Vol. 103, No. 1))
Fifteen-year-old Fanboy is miserable at school, where he is bullied, and at home, with his pregnant mother and her husband, the "step-fascist." His only relief is the late hours spent creating his own comic book. Then he receives an instant message from Kyra, an enigmatic Goth who seems to be the only witness to the violence he endures, and the two form a cagey, charged friendship…. Lyga's debut novel is a darkly comic, realistic, contemporary story of bullying and a teen's private escape in artistic pursuits. Fanboy entertains plenty of violent thoughts. He carries a bullet, keeps a tally of his abusers ("The List"), and lashes out with sometimes-cruel remarks, which feel sharply authentic…. Fanboy's whip-smart, often hilariously sarcastic voice skillfully captures a teenager's growing self-awareness, and adds a fresh, urgent perspective to age-old questions about how young people cope with bullying and their own feelings of helplessness, rage, and being misunderstood as they try to discover themselves.

Amie Rose Rotruck (Children's Literature)
Fanboy's life consists of being abused in gym class every day, tortured by the very sight of a gorgeous girl named Dina, fighting with his mother and the stepfacist--stepfather, and working on a graphic novel that he hopes to show his idol, Brian Michael Bendis. Fanboy's only friend is Cal, who shares Fanboy's interest in comics and graphic novels but is also a jock. The only thing that keeps Fanboy sane is a bullet that he carries with him every day. One day Fanboy is e-mailed a picture of him being hit in gym class by “Promethea387” and asking “Why do you let them hit you?” This leads Fanboy to meeting Kyra, otherwise known as Goth Girl. The two of them begin a rather intense on-and-off friendship colored by their own issues and their feelings towards each other. Barry Lyga perfectly captures teen angst and ironic humor in this gritty portrayal of the life of a teenage geek. Fanboy's voice manages to be truly original and, at the same time, speaks to everyone who ever felt like a geek, even for a moment.

April Spisak (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December 2006 (Vol. 60, No. 4))
Fifteen-year-old Fanboy knows that he is an outsider: he is ignored or bullied at school, he feels misunderstood at home by his pregnant mother and her husband, whom Fanboy calls the “step-fascist,”…. Goth girl,” Kyra … sees Fanboy being bullied and decides to become his friend. Kyra won’t be ignored: she demands that Fanboy share his graphic novel with her and, though Fanboy doesn’t see this, she is clearly using their newfound relationship to avoid dealing with her own problems… Unfortunately, this Fanboy-centric narrative means that intriguing questions about Kyra’s behaviors go unanswered because Fanboy doesn’t think to ask them…. (The) characters strictly adhere to all-too-familiar stereotypes (of course the goth girl is a deeply troubled cutter and the comic-book geek has unrealistic expectations about the bodies of real women). Indeed, the most interesting and complex character in the novel is Fanboy’s stepfather, whose awareness that his wife “married down” is poignant, and whose patience with the years of unfriendliness from his stepson is never rewarded.

Book Hook
Goth Girl Rising (Fall 2009) is Kyra's story:
"After six months in the Maryland Mental Health Unit, Kyra Sellers, a.k.a. Goth Girl, is going home.

Unfortunately, she’s about to find out that while she was away, she lost track of more than time.... Kyra is back in black, feeling good, and ready to make up with the only person who’s ever appreciated her for who she really is.

But then she sees him. Fanboy. Transcended from everything he was into someone she barely recognizes.

And the anger and memories come rushing back.

Fanboy. The Spermling. Miss Powell. Roger.

Her mother.

There’s so much to do to people when you’re angry.

Kyra’s about to get very busy." (From "Goth Girl Rising" at Barry Lyga Dot Com)

Internet Connection
Barry Lyga's website

Sources
Lyga, Barry. Goth Girl Rising at Barry Lyga Dot Com. 2007 and Beyond. Accessed 9/26/2009 from http://barrylyga.com/new/goth-girl-rising.html.