Kellee

“The Complexity of the Teenage Experience”

About a dozen years ago, I brought the writer Tom Perrotta to the school where I teach. Tom’s novel Little Children had just been published to much acclaim so, in addition to assigning the work to my eleventh graders, I offered to lead a book group with parents. Since I work at an independent school, I’m fortunate enough to have the freedom of teaching contemporary literature in addition to inviting authors to visit my classes. Some fairly controversial works have entered my syllabus, but I was very surprised at some of the parents’ reaction to Little Children. They were agitated by the extramarital affairs in the novel and questioned whether the book should be read by their own (not so little) children. I realized that since this novel was set in a community not unlike ours, it hit a bit too close to home. I asked Tom to address the parents, and he offered them the story of his own reading life and how, by tackling challenging fiction, he was able to develop a relationship with his own mind. He didn’t defensively argue that most internet-fluid teenagers had access to far racier material. Instead, he highlighted the benefits of thoughtful art to young minds.

As a teacher and a writer, I think often of Tom’s talk. We are in such a fearful and reactionary time that I worry that complex and challenging reading can be easily reduced to trigger warnings or quotes pulled out of context. Many people don’t give the young mind the benefit of the doubt and allow apprentice readers to decide if a book is right for them. In my twenty-five years of teaching, I’ve never seen a book do any harm. In fact, I’ve noticed how literature has ignited teenagers or connected to a voice deep inside a boy or girl. Every year, I teach Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and I usually get one or two parent complaints. I offer to meet with the parent to discuss Diaz’s novel and the possibility of assigning a different text only after the parent has finished reading Oscar Wao in its entirety. In the nine or so years I’ve been teaching Oscar, I have yet to have one of those meetings.

I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot since I wrote NICKEL. I really wanted to capture the truth around the characters of Coy and Monroe and not worry about trigger warnings or censorship. I have spent thousands of hours around teenagers and read tens of thousands of pages of their work, and I didn’t want to simplify or diminish the complexity in the teenage experience. Not all of the thoughts, words, and actions of any individual are safe, harmless, or politically correct. We need to look at the whole of any book the same way we look at the whole child. Anything less would be detrimental to their identity and our own understanding of the world.

About the Book: A STORY ABOUT LOVE, LOSS, AND LOYALTY. Being a teenager is hard enough without your mother in rehab and your slightly inept stepfather doing his best not to screw things up. But at least, Coy has Monroe. Coy is a quirky teenage boy and his best friend Monroe is a girl who is just as odd and funny and obsessed with 80’s culture as he is. So when Monroe comes down with a mysterious illness, his inner turmoil only grows. As Monroe gets sicker and Coy gets a girlfriend from another social crowd, the balance tips and Coy has to figure out how not to give up on his friend, his family, or himself. Nickel is a hilarious, heartbreaking and honest portrayal of the complicated world of being a teenager today.

About the Author: Robert Wilder is the author of two critically acclaimed essay collections, Tales From The Teachers’ Lounge andDaddy Needs A Drink, both published by Delacorte Press. His young adult novel, Nickel, was published by Leaf Storm Press in 2016.

A teacher for twenty-five years, Wilder has earned numerous awards and fellowships, including the inaugural Innovations in Reading Prize by the National Book Foundation. He has published essays in Newsweek, Details, Salon, Parenting, Creative Nonfiction, plus numerous anthologies and has been a commentator for NPR’s Morning Edition. Wilder lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Website. www.robertwilder.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobertTWilder/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobertTWilder
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robert.t.wilder/

Thank you Robert for this post on respecting the teenagers in our life!

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“How a Novel Can Save Our World”

I was scrolling through my newsfeed recently and caught an article about gymnast Gabby Douglas. She’s a beautiful example to so many young women in our world—at twenty-years-old, she’s barely out of her teens, yet she’s an Olympic hero. Which means she’s in the limelight. This is a cause for celebration, but it’s also a moment to take cover, because people facing that much publicity will oftentimes also be hit with a wave of judgment and scrutiny. I won’t even get into the comments I’ve read about her physical appearance, how so many people have suggested that she change aspects of her beautiful self. That part is so crazy, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to see the haters getting worked up over Gabby’s stance on the podium as she stood with her teammates to accept the gold medal in the 2016 all-around competition. But I was surprised. Shocked, even. All of this makes me wonder who we have become as a society, why so many of us are so quick to judge.

Gabby might not have been smiling through every moment of the National Anthem, and she may not have stood at attention with her hand on her heart for the duration, but that young lady deserves respect and honor during one of the greatest moments of her lifetime. None of us—not one—know what was going on in her mind as she stood up on that podium. She was probably exhausted. She was likely overwhelmed. She may have been thinking of someone she’d lost, wishing they were there to see her shine. Her mind was probably in a million different places as she stood alongside her teammates. And none of us will ever understand. We are walking our own individual paths, different from that of Gabby Douglas, and we all need to show some compassion, some loving kindness, and give it a rest.

This is a motto that I’ve tried to live by for years now. I’m human, after all. I judge, too. At times, it’s a gut-level reaction. If I like something, I label it good. If I don’t, it’s bad. The thing about this, though, is that most of us don’t like things that we fear. And we often fear things simply because we don’t fully understand them. This can cause unrest and friction where peace and harmony might exist if only there were a more mindful approach. If those haters in the Twittersphere had calmed their itchy fingers long enough to think—really think—about what it might feel like for Gabby Douglas to stand up on that podium, to consider her youth as well as all that she had gone through to get to that moment, they might have experienced the appropriate reverence and awe.

This line of thinking helped drive the plotline and character development in my latest novel, A Million Times Goodnight. I wanted to showcase a character who was the target of hatred within his community, a character who had been shunned for something only he truly understands, someone who would push my main character to her limits and cause her to look at the world from a whole new perspective.

Hadley Miller’s best friend Penny was killed in a tragic accident just one year ago. On the anniversary of Penny’s death, Hadley goes to The Witches’ Tower to visit Penny’s memorial, and she runs into Josh Lane. Josh is an outcast, shunned by all for his role in Penny’s death. He was the only one present the night she died, which means he’s the only who really knows what happened. Yet everyone blames him. It’s the easiest choice, after all, a nice, tidy ending to a horrific event. Except that nothing’s ever that easy. Josh has secrets. And the story of Penny’s death has more layers than anyone could possibly imagine. As the book progresses, Hadley is forced to learn the true story, as well as face the emotions that arise when she realizes the part she played in the rejection Josh has faced since that fateful night.

So many books offer this type of twist, one in which a reader believes they understand a character, but soon learn they had only been scratching the surface, that there are hidden truths that explain and motivate everything a character thinks, says, and does—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I think of Hannah Baker in Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Kirby Matheson in Violent Ends by Shaun David Hutchinson (and a whole slew of other YA authors), Melinda Sordino in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Margo Roth Spiegelman in Paper Towns by John Green, Auggie Pullman in Wonder by RJ Palacio, and so many others.

This is true in life as well. We only know a person as well as they allow us to know them. And then, we only know them through our own lens, using the one-of-a-kind perspective that we bring to the table based on the collective experiences we, as individuals, have amassed over the course of our lifetime. Something that I label as good could very well be viewed as bad in the eyes of many others. It’s this universal truth that so many of us forget as we walk through our days, interacting with others. Very few things are completely black or white, good or bad, right or wrong.

If it were possible for everyone’s life story to be known and understood in the flash of time that it takes for two people to lock eyes, there wouldn’t be so much hatred in the world. If we really took the time to know one another, we might just understand the things we fear, and then we might offer a compassionate hug instead of barbed words.

As teachers, we prepare many lessons. If we can add just one more—a life lesson about humanity—it would be amazingly powerful. It’s kinda sweet to think that this can be accomplished through the use of books. This won’t require slaving over a new unit, I promise. As you introduce your next class read, simply ask your students to keep track of the judgment they feel for each character. Then ask them to note how those judgments change as they move through the beginning, middle, and end of the book. How did those judgments change as they uncovered the truth of who those characters really are, deep down. Focus a discussion on what motivated the shift in perspective, and how this can be applied to the people who surround them in their every day lives. Through the analysis of a novel, using a fictional character to exemplify the layers that every human is made of, you might just help save a life, a community, or possibly, our world.

About the Book: A teen Sliding Doors. One choice creates parallel dual narratives in this romantic contemporary mystery-thriller perfect for fans of Just Like Fate and Pivot Point.

One Night. Two Paths. Infinite Danger.

On the night of the big Spring Break party, Hadley “borrows” her boyfriend Ben’s car without telling him. As payback, he posts a naked picture of her online for the entire senior class to see.

Now Hadley has a choice: go back to the party and force Ben to delete the picture or raise the stakes and take his beloved car on a road trip as far away from their hometown of Oak Grove, Ohio, as she can get.

Chapters alternate to reveal each possible future as Hadley, her ex-boyfriend, Josh, and her best friends embark on a night of reckless adventure where old feelings are rekindled, friendships are tested, and secrets are uncovered that are so much worse than a scandalous photo.

About the Author: Kristina McBride has published three novels for young adults – The Tension of Opposites, One Moment, and A Million Times Goodnight.  Her fourth novel, The Bakersville Dozen, will be released July 2017. Kristina is a former high school English teacher and yearbook advisor, as well as an adjunct professor at Antioch University Midwest and Wright State University. Kristina has a thing for music, trees, purses, and chocolate. You might be surprised to learn that Kristina was almost kidnapped when she was a child. She also bookstalks people on a regular basis. Kristina lives in Ohio with her husband and two young children. You can learn more at www.kristinamcbride.com.

Thank you to Kristina for this very thought-provoking and important post!

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**Thank you to Cheryl at Skyhorse Publishing for setting up the guest post!**