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Teen Read Week: Stories to Give You the Shivers

As I’ve said in the past, what better audience could there be for short stories than the teen audience? For every teen who loves hauling around gigantic tomes, there is another who prefers to consume reading material one small, satisfying, bite at a time.  October is the season for short and scary stories, in my opinion– a fall campfire is the perfect occasion for the right tale,  or a sleepover could involve tempting “Bloody Mary” out of the mirror.  There are so many opportunities to fit a scary story in as we approach the day of the dead.

So here’s a short list of short story collections you (and by you I mean anyone, but especially teens) can check out if you’re seeking out a story to give you the shivers.

 

    The Restless Dead: Ten Original Tales of the Supernatural, edited by Deborah Noyes. With authors like Kelly Link and Annette Curtis Klause contributing, you will surely find something here to give you the creeps.

 

 Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror,  edited by R.L. Stine.  This collection has an interesting collection of writers, including F.Paul Wilson and Heather Graham, who write thrillers for adults, and Peg Kehret, who writes middle grade mysteries and suspense. So it’s not surprising that the collection is somewhat of a mixed bag– but there’s also quite a lot of variety!

 

 All Hallows’ Eve: 13 Stories by Vivian Vande Velde. This is an individual collection, and again, these are stories of the supernatural and spooky rather than the gory. Vivian Vande Velde is a fantastic writer and this could be a good way to see if you like her stuff before trying out a longer work. And, of course, this collection is thematically about Halloween, so how could I leave it out?

 

 Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link. One of the stories in this book, “The Wrong Grave”, is also in The Restless Dead, mentioned above. So if you tried that and liked it, definitely pick up Pretty Monsters.  These are not typical scary stories, but they’ll definitely creep you out!  Kelly Link is a favorite author of mine, and I really recommend this one.

 

 Extremities: Tales of Death, Murder, and Revenge by David Lubar is his first venture into the young adult genre. We’re giving a copy away this week, that’s how good it is!

 

 Ghostly Gallery: Eleven Spooky Stories for Young People edited by Alfred Hitchcock. This is just one of a series of short story anthologies that Hitchcock published in the 1970’s and that were available in libraries and through Scholastic book orders in the 1980s as well. It’s really a tragedy that these volumes and others like them are no longer in print, as most of the early exposure I had to scary stories was through these types of books.

 

 Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories edited by Roald Dahl. You may think of Roald Dahl as a children’s author, but he also wrote for adults and really, even in his children’s books, proves that he is a master of the macabre. His choices here include many older, classic, ghost stories, from authors such as Sheridan Le Fanu, Edith Wharton, and Robert Aickman. These are literary horror stories, some quite frightening, so I’d recommend it for older teens.

 

The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural by Patricia McKissack, illustrated by Brian Pinkney. These stories have the eerie feeling of truth to them, possibly because of McKissack’s introduction, where she describes listening to the stories the adults around her told when she was a child. This is a Caldecott Award winner, and also a Coretta Scott King award winner, but beyond that, it’s just really good storytelling, made even better by the dramatic illustrations. I have this on Kindle, and I’ve got to say, this is one of the books that you really need to hold in your hands and see the artwork complementing the story across a double page spread, to truly appreciate. Don’t let the award for children’s book illustration fool you: this book is often used with and appreciated by middle school aged kids and older.

 

 The Scary Stories Treasury: Three Books to Chill Your Bones, Collected From Folklore, edited by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell.  Make sure you have the books illustrated by Stephen Gammell. I don’t care how old you are, these are still scary. And I’m definitely not the only one to think so– read this article and you’ll see what an impact these books make.

I really can’t follow that up with anything better, so I’ll stop now and give you a chance to track these down and give yourself a fright!

Posted on October 17, 2013 by , Reply

Teen Read Week: Guest Post by David Simms– “Teens with Disabilities and the Power of Music”

 


David Simms is the author of Dark Muse, a dark fantasy for young adults released earlier this year. Dark Muse focuses on the journeys of four friends with a variety of disabilities, brought together by their love of music, as they search for the protagonist’s older brother in a fantastic realm where music is alive.

He’s also a special education teacher, a musician who belongs to the Killer Thriller Band, and a reviewer for MonsterLibrarian.  For Teen Read Week, I asked David if he would share his thoughts on writing about disability in YA fiction and the power of music to change teens’ lives.

For more on representations of disability in YA fiction, check out the blog Disability in KidLit (link).

 

Teens with Disabilities and the Power of Music 

By David Simms

My first novel, Dark Muse, was released a few months ago, realizing a lifelong dream. It’s exciting that a publisher enjoyed it enough to sign me, and receiving high praise from both colleagues I respect, and, most importantly, from my readers, is enough to keep me smiling for years. I see that smile reflected in the eyes of students I work with every day, who remind me why I wrote the tale in the first place.

 

If someone had told me a decade ago that my first novel would be young adult, I would’ve laughed. However, marrying music and kids with disabilities seemed to happen by itself. Writing from the misfit’s point of view wasn’t exactly rocket science for me. I was a small kid until almost 17 and only felt at home when playing music with my friends, much like Muddy, Poe, Corey, and Otis, the teens who form the Accidentals. The Accidentals bond together and find resiliency, as they often push each other to bring out the best they have, and many times, that strength displays itself in music.

 

Dark Muse centers around the mythology of “the crossroads”, an old blues legend that a musician playing at the crossroads of Memphis would summon the devil and could make a deal for fame and fortune, but I wanted to change it up a bit. What if by playing your heart out there, you’d be transported to a world where music came alive, where the inspiration for many classic rock songs still lived? Creatures threaten the band of four in a gauntlet which includes a “stairway” to somewhere, “smoke” on the water, and an “iron man.”

 

I noticed that I’d never heard of a novel with teens with disabilities as protagonists before, at least none without using it as a novelty device. I wanted to celebrate my students (many of whom now make more money than me)! After teaching for special education for several years, I had volumes of experience to draw from, and hundreds of great kids from which to draw characters. All of the teens in Dark Muse stem from past students, of all backgrounds and musical persuasions. Muddy, Poe, Corey, and Otis fight through their demons, which include disabilities or their place in life. For example, Poe is nearly blind and Otis, the drummer extraordinaire, couldn’t be more fragile with brittle bone syndrome. Yet when they’re in the land of the crossroads, their disabilities fade. Instead of using it as an easy fix, though, each learns how to tap into inner strength to rise above adversity in our world. Muddy, the protagonist, has a father and brother who are technically more talented than him, yet his drive and purpose propel him much further than both. Dark Muse is just as much about the teens fighting daily just to survive in a school setting as it is a dark, mythological adventure.
Unfortunately, many public schools still have not picked up on the fact that not everyone learns–and tests—in the same way. “Respect differences and tolerate all – except when it comes to test scores” seems to be the mantra of many in government. Thankfully, many teachers and some administrators, like mine, understand the difference. I think that more teens, those with disabilities and those without, would flock to books more often if they could relate to characters similar to them. Just look at Harry Potter. It isn’t the magic or creatures that resonate with the millions—many books for kids have similar plots and setups. It is the characters. Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren’t the cool kids–not at first, anyway. Readers got to grow up with them, flaws and all. Dark Muse is no Potter, but I hope to reach kids who battle daily with problems of all kinds, whether they’re disabled or just having trouble fitting into that odd-shaped contraption that is our society.

 

My students are proof that success for all is possible if the dream is strong enough, and music (and other arts) give teens the opportunity to discover that they have amazing, magical powers. In fact, my favorite song, Triumph’s “Magic Power” is all about the power of music in young people’s lives. It’s a great song because it’s all about how music can cut through everything that’s going on.

 

I hope that in my future efforts I can continue to create characters based on those I’ve had the pleasure of working with, and develop unique ones that make readers feel they’re not alone in the halls and lunchrooms, at dances and sports, or in the dating scene. Of course, my characters just might have to survive in an even more twisted setting. I’m looking forward to revisiting the band many more times if readers enjoy them!

 

Posted on October 16, 2013 by , Reply

Banned Books Week: America’s Top Ten Countdown

 

Hey, it’s Banned Books Week!  The news is out now from ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom– the top ten banned and challenged titles for the year! And we’re counting them down here, just like Casey Kasem!

Thank you, Casey Kasem, for counting them down with us!

At number 10, Beloved by Toni Morrison took the place of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  Both titles are often challenged, and have appeared on and off the top ten list over the last several years.

At number 9, newcomer The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls took the place of The Gossip Girls series by Cecily von Ziegesar, a series that has been in and out of the top 10 over the last ten years.

At number 8, Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a favorite here that’s no stranger to challenges (last seen on the top ten list in 2008), jumped back into the top ten, displacing What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones, which also made the top ten in 2010 and 2011.

At number 7, newcomer Looking for Alaska by John Green displaced Brave New World  by Aldous Huxley. Brave New World had been in the top ten since 2010.

At number 6, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, which also made the list in 2008, took the place of the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor,  which has made the list three times in the past ten years.

At number 5,  the heartwarming story of a penguin family, And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, moved The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie… but we haven’t seen the end of that, so stay with me! As a side note, And Tango Makes Three has been number one four times and number 2 once in the past ten years already. Those penguins are alarming folk, apparently.

At number 4, the controversial erotica title Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, overshadowed My Mom’s Having a Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy by Dori Hillestand Butler.

At number 3, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher displaced… The Hunger Games trilogy. Yes, really. With all the media attention directed to The Hunger Games, I’m kind of surprised those books didn’t make the top ten.

At number 2, guess what shows up? The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie actually moved UP the list, displacing The Color of Earth, a Korean manga series, entirely.

And… the number one banned or challenged book in the United States this past year is….. drumroll, please….

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS!  

Now, I’m not a fan of potty humor, but really? What does this say about us as a society that the books most objected to in the country are challenged because of poop jokes?  Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series knocked the series ttyn; ttyl; l8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle out of first place. Both series have had frequent appearances, in the top ten, though. That means her books will probably be back.

Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to have a list like this every year? It’s great to hear how we should all promote literacy and do our best to put books into kids’ hands, to give them ownership. But look at the books in our top ten countdown here. Every one of them is a book a teen or child might read. Some might only read them in school, but some of them are absolutely written for and intended to be set in the hands of the people we want to be growing readers and thinking individuals. So a book makes a few people uneasy. How can we dare to take it away from everyone?

And that’s the Monster Librarian, counting them down. America’s Top Ten Banned Books. Now go find a copy of one and read it! And find a second one, and give it to a teen or child who otherwise might miss out on some really good reads. Or at least some quality potty humor.

 

 

 

 

Posted on September 23, 2013 by , Reply
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