LS 5623 Advanced Literature for Young Adults

Blundell, Judy. 2008. What I Saw and How I Lied. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 9780439903486


Evie thought everything would be perfect once her stepfather, Joe, returned home from the war. Aside from the friction between Joe's mother and her own, life pretty much was. Except for a few phone calls that always seem to upset Joe. When Joe suggests that they take a vacation down in Florida, it all seems too good to be true.
In Florida they run into a soldier from Joe's company, twenty three year handsome Peter. Evie falls in love, despite her parents' wishes for her to stay away. Little does she know that her age is the least of their concerns for wanting her to stay away from him. A shocking event rocks Evie from her innocent life view and forces her to choose how far loyalty goes and who she will betray.

A true coming of age novel, this book take you back to those awkward years when you're not a little girl, yet not quite a woman either. Evie is always in the shadow of her gorgeous mother, trying on her clothes, working out the mannerisms that make her mother a paragon of femininity. A reviewer from the 2008 School Library Journal says it better than I do, "it is Evie and her rapidly maturing perception of herself and those around her that carry the story. In many ways she becomes the adult in the group, motivated by truth and justice rather than greed or superficial appearances."

The author does a wonderful job of keeping the first person narration, but at the same time letting the reader see and understand things that the young character is not yet able to understand. For instance, the reader understands that her mother is having an affair when Evie mentions that her mother always tips the hotel bellman for washing the orange puffs off of her car every afternoon; and then later when Evie has fled to Peter's house she mentions the same orange puffy flowers falling on the ground. This author also does not shy away from the anti-Semitic prejudices that governed behavior after World War II, which I think will shock young readers, as it did myself. Growing up and learning about the Holocaust, one tends to believe that antisemitism was a European prejudice, and not an American one.

One of the strengths of this novel is the ambiguity of the morality of Evie's decision to essentially cover for her parents while they are on trial for the murder of Peter, the man she was in love with. She doesn't know that her parents did or did not kill him for certain, and indeed it shakes her that she can no longer trust or look up to them. But she lies for them anyway. Perhaps she should have let them go to jail. Isn't that what the justice system is designed for? To convict the guilty? I think had Evie chosen to betray her parents instead of Peter, the reader would had accepted that as the right course of action too.

On the whole, I'd recommend this book to readers from about 8th grade and up.





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Anderson, M.T. 2006. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Traitor to the Nation: Volume I The Pox Party. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN 0763624020

Compared to other boys, Octavian Nothing leads a very strange life. But Octavian knows nothing of how other boys spend their childhood. Aside from his mother, called Cassiopeia, the people around him are not addressed by names, but numbers according to their station. You see, Octavian is the subject of study by a group of scientists at a place called the College of Lucidity. Their study? To discover if Africans are a separate and distinct species or if they are the equal to any white man. The scientists measure everything about Octavian: his food intake, the weight of his excrement, his height. He is even given an education "equal to any of the princes of Europe," to test his mental capacity. While the scientists are not cruel to him, they are scientific in their behavior to him. One day, the benefactor of the college dies and his heir is appealed to to continue supporting their experiment. Only this man is not interested in discovering if Africans are equal to the white man. In fact, it is in his interest to prove that they are not.

This book is set in the years leading up to and during the American Revolution. It is written as a series of journal entries, newspaper clippings, and even letters for a large portion of the novel. The style of the language, while true to the time period I imagine, will probably put off many teens from wishing to finish the novel. Agreeing with me on this point is a Mr. Cooperman from the June 2007 edition of School Library Journal. He says that "While the idea and the scope of Anderson's novel are fresh, the plot and the prose are so confusing that it becomes difficult to follow the story."

However this book does touch upon many themes that are well worth exploring. For a world like today, where science has almost become the new religion, this novel points out the fact that while science has its uses not everything in life can be weighed and measured. Mr. Gitney, a.k.a. 03-01, chronicled everything he could about Octavian's life in a volume of books. When Octavian finds them, he immediately notes that it cannot be his whole life, for though it they could record a peach he ate one night, the books would not mention the hue of the sunset or the feel of his mother's hands. Another important theme in this novel is that of slavery and freedom. Much like Laurie Halse Anderson's Chains, the dilemma of black people during the Revolution is brought into focus. Why would a black man choose to fight for the freedom of the white men of the American nation when their own freedom, should they win, was by no means guarantied?

While this book is well worth the read, I would only recommend it to students in the upper levels of high school.


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Hinton, S.E. 1995. The Outsiders. New York: Penguin Books.
ISBN 0143039857


Ponyboy is a 14 year old "greaser" who lives with his two brothers after their parents die. Despite being labeled as a "greaser," Ponyboy makes good grades; but he doesn't always think through the consequences of his actions. Greasers, kids from the poorer side of town who wear their hair longer and with grease, constantly clash with the "socs," rich kids who have so many things handed to them in life that their lack of want actually leaves them wanting and unfeeling. One night things go too far and the consequences leave their mark on greasers and socs alike.

I was browsing through a few Amazon reviews for this novel and decided to read a few of the one star ratings. Many of the reviewers were young adults who condemned it because it promoted violence and gang activity. They seemed to miss the point that the violence was a symptom of a deficiency in the needs of these young adults who are trying to find themselves and their way in the world. The story is told entirely from the point of view of Ponyboy, whose parents have been dead at least six months at the beginning of the story. These two characteristics are two of the qualities outlined by the Exeter University researchers. I chanced to listen to a portion of the audio book read by Jim Fyfe, who captured the dialect exceedingly well. When I sat down to read I found that the text of the novel flowed just as easily, as though I could hear Ponyboy speaking in my head.

There are many themes woven throughout the novel. Perhaps the most obvious one is that of brotherhood. It is shown by how Ponyboy's brothers sacrifice education in order to keep him living with them and to give him opportunities they won't get. It is shown by their "gang," who may not always get along, but always band together against a common enemy. It is shown by Dallas and Johnny, who've each had rough lives and bonded through the identification of the other's pain. It is even shown by the socs in the conversation Ponyboy has with Randy, the friend of the socs that Johnny killed.

Hinton gives us a great symbol to show the reader that Ponyboy has lost his innocence in this story. During an early encounter with the socs, one of the gang hands Ponyboy a broken glass bottle to fight with even though both acknowlede in the end that he would never have used it. After the major events of the novel when Ponyboy finds himself confronted with socs once more, he doesn't hesitate to break the glass bottle to threaten them off. Two-Bit, one of the gang, notices that he really would have used it this time. In order to reassure us that Ponyboy isn't completely hardened, the author has him pick up the glass from the bottle so that no one else steps on it.

Perhaps the most succinct review I've read so far comes from the March 1990 issue of Booklist. "Peer relationships, poverty, sacrifice, and a search for self underlie this story about Pony~boy, Sodapop, and Darrel--"greasers" who face death, defeat, and socioeconomic struggles." As evidenced by a few negative reviews from Amazon, this book may not please all young adults but it is worth the read and recommended for 6th grade and up.





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