Sex is... Popular Paperbacks for teens

So my year of reading books dealing with sex written for (or appeals to) teens is finally over. We had over 40 nominations. We podcast our 2 hour meeting where we discussed the nominated titles. It's not on YALSA's website yet, but hopefully they will put it up soon! The final list can be found on YALSA's website. I think the list is pretty diverse. We have straight and gay love, celebacy, nonfiction and fiction, novels and graphic novels, books on desire. Pretty much however you define Sex there is something for you. My particular favorites of the list are as follows!

Forever by Judy Blume

The Classic book of sex for teens. This has been passed around teen girl readers ever since it was first published in 1975. Hey, this teen book is older than me! This story is all about first loves and how forever may not really last forever. A fabulous story with a new updated cover! Highly recommended even with some corny lines thrown in every once in a while. I read this one sitting on the beach in Mexico!

Hail Caesar by Thu-Houng Ha

Caesar's really not named Caesar, it's just what everyone calls him. He's the all powerful jock, girl swooning heart throb, and king of the school. Everyone loves him--except the new girl at school. And he can't stand that she doesn't adore him like everyone else. If you've ever wondered what guys think, check this book out and also Doing It by Melvin Burgess. Another cool fact about this book is that the author is a teen girl! She's now in college, but she wrote this while in high school.

Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart

This is more about the mechanics of sex than sex itself. Gretchen finds herself transformed into a fly in the boys' locker room after making a wish. As she observes the boys in all their glory, she discovers many new found truths and confidence within herself. Chick lit fun. And let's be honest, girls are curious about boys and all their parts probably just as much as boys are interested in girls' parts! Great pink and white cover too!

Since this is a booklist all about sex, we wanted to find some great, popular (or could be popular) nonfiction books on sex ed. After reading so many books on the topic, our committee discovered that there are a lot of DRY sex ed books out there! Geez, it's kind of sad that a book could be boring on such a "racy" topic! But we found two great titles that we really liked. My favorite one was Doing it Right by Bronwen Pardes. This is a solid resource--lots of fun banter, but very honest and informative text. Heck, I even learned something from here!

The last books I want to highlight from the list are books on desire. Sex doesn't actually take place in these books but desire is pouring out of the pages. The first one is Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. In order to avoid his ex-girlfriend, Nick asks the girl next to him at punk rock show to be his girlfriend for five minutes. This begins a hot and steamy night told in both Nick and Norah's voices. Great music book too!

The other one is a supernatural title, Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause. Vivian is trying to fit into her new suburban home but when she falls for a human, she has to figure out where her loyalties lie --with her werewolf pack or with the "meatboy" human. I first read this when I was living in Indiana. It was nominated for an Indiana award similar to our Grand Canyon Reader Award. I read all the books nominated for the teen list, but this one really stuck with me. I remember sitting in a comfy chair, reading the whole book, finishing it in one sitting, going to take a potty break and then rereading all the good parts again! This book is the first teen book that I can remember reading really talking about desire and what it feels like and what it means to "want" somebody. Oh so good. Just don't judge the book on the movie--I'm sure it was horrible in comparison!

So that's my highlights of the Sex is... list. Don't just take my opinion for the list, read the books and let me know what you think!

Boy Toy

I've been reading lots of teen books in preparation for the upcoming Mock Printz discussion. This is an event in which local teen librarians gather to discuss a slate of nominated books and try to pick which title we believe deserves the Michael L. Printz award (the highest American honor for YA literature.) My latest read was Boy Toy by Barry Lyga, and quite simply, it blew me away.

The book starts with Josh, now a senior in high school, recounting the things he learned when he was twelve. Among history lessons and the Pythagorean Theorem, is: "How to please a woman." And pleasing a "woman" is exactly what our narrator means. In junior high, Josh's life derailed when he started an affair with his young and pretty history teacher, twelve years his senior. Josh, who is very bright and mature for his age, blames himself for "seducing" Mrs. Sherman. For several months, the two kept their relationship secret until Josh unwittingly revealed his experience at a female classmate's birthday party when he joined his friend, Rachel, in a closet for a "seven minutes in heaven" game that went wildly out of control. Accused of attacking Rachel, Josh lets it slip that he'd learned his maneuvers from his teacher. It is a slip he can't forgive himself for. Everything comes out into the open. Eve Sherman is arrested. Josh has to testify at her trial. And Eve, of course, ends up going to prison. Flash forward five years: Josh, the senior, has grown up a little but the shame of his public past, the disintegration of his friendship with Rachel, and his unshakable sense that everyone knows his secrets and everyone talks about him, have marred his life. Josh can't wait to graduate and get out of his town. He's never come to terms with his guilt--or faced the truth about just which person was responsible for his and Eve's downfalls. When Josh learns that Eve Sherman is being released from prison his world turns upside down again. Baseball, math, and his best friend are the only things keeping him tethered, until Rachel re-enters his life, and he's forced to confront his past for real.

One of the things that works so well in this book is the way Lyga paints Josh's seduction. While Josh blames himself--he thinks he must be a "perv" for going after his teacher--the reader understands, almost immediately, that Josh is the one who has been abused. But Josh doesn't get this. His first sexual experience comes far too early, from someone Josh reveres and finds attractive. Since Josh wanted the relationship, he doesn't realize that he has been molested. Josh's slow growth towards understanding his past is told in a sophisticated and well-structured novel that weaves between present and past. It is frank about sex. There's sex here--lots of it. A Booklist review accuses the sex scenes of bordering on soft-core porn. I disagree. The scenes are vivid, but necessary to plot, realistic but not gratuitous. This book is clearly written for an older teen, one who can see what Lyga is telling us---Josh may have been abused but if he doesn't know it and blames himself, how does he progress past the shame? Lyga makes it crystal clear just how confusing--and wrong--the "relationship" with Eve was, although it takes Josh a long time to reach a similar conclusion. To make his character complete, Lyga had to be honest when describing the sexual portions of the novel. The graphic nature of these scenes helps the reader to understand Josh's conflicting emotions. He believes he loves Mrs. Sherman. Mrs. Sherman tells him she loves him. How does a young boy deal with all of this? For instance, how does a person come to realize he has been abused when his abuse was something he enjoyed? If Lyga had pulled his punches and toned down the description of the seduction, the book wouldn't have been nearly as successful. The sex scenes are uncomfortable for the reader, as I suspect they were meant to be. After all, there is a fair amount of ick factor in reading them---the reader is well aware that what is going on is wrong, while Josh doesn't know. The more obsessed Eve grows with Josh, the more dangerous the affair becomes until, of course, it all explodes.

This book isn't all about abuse, and that's what makes it a sophisticated read and not a melodramatic problem novel. Yes, it's about an abusive sexual relationship, but it is also about friendship, and a family falling apart, the struggle to decide one's future, academics versus athletics, going to prom, choosing a college, getting a girlfriend . . . all of it tied together and seen through Josh's eyes as he grows as a person. (In one way he has worlds of experience other kids his age don't have, but as a a result of it, he is stunted emotionally.) I'm impressed that Lyga managed so many subplots that all came together. These varied plots worked, making for an incredibly satisfying read. (And here again I disagree with the Booklist reviewer who suggests that Lyga took on too much, to the novel's detriment. No,no! I say. This is what makes the novel rich and layered instead of a one-dimensional whine fest). This is a novel that makes a reader think, based around a situation (seduction of a student by a teacher) that is an unfortunately timely one these days.

I'd already read Barry Lyga's first novel, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl which I liked but didn't love. I'd recommend it, but it wouldn't be the first title that came to my mind when suggesting books. Boy Toy, I loved (although I must say the title disappoints. Really, Boy Toy? You couldn't come up with anything better, Mr. Lyga?) It's probably best for an older reader, but it definitely delivers its punch. Now, I can't wait to see what the author publishes next.

Sex, sex, and more sex

Let's see if that headline gets us blocked on any filters! Since Karen seems to think she has all the power of blogging, I figured it was a good time to jump in and correct her...So I'm on PPYA, right? And man I am soooooo behind in my reading. ALA conference is a week away and I still have 18 books to read. I've acknowledged that I will not finish all of the titles to discuss them at this conference. Luckily, the voting doesn't take place until January!

Anyway, I'm on the Sex is a Touchy Subject committee. This requires me to find and read books for teens about sex--both fiction and nonfiction. So far we have 20 titles nominated. I'll be honest, I reall need to nominate more books. I've been slacking off this first 6 months of the year. I'll have to work harder after summer reading ends. There's some newly published books that have been nominated that I really have enjoyed--much more than I thought I would too!

The Making of Dr. Truelove by Derrick Barnes

This novel focuses on Diego's secret efforts to win back the girl of his dreams, Roxy. After a humiliating sexual incident, Diego brushes Roxy off. When he sees the consequences of his actions, which has led Roxy to only be his friend and to give her affections to a hot-shot basketball player, he is devestated. His best friend comes up with a plan--an online love columnist complete with a secret identity, promotional posters, t-shirts, and appearances. While Diego loves writing the column and gains some valuable romantic confidence, he worries that his friend takes things with Dr. Truelove too far.

Diego is real. He has many different layers that come out in Dr. Truelove. His columns are filled with double entendres that will make the readers chuckle and think "Man, that's a line I could use!" The beginning chapters detail his embarassing incident, and Barnes keeps it genuine. There's no tip-toeing around the sex talk here! This urban title hasn't seen alot of circs at Foothills, but I think once word gets out about it, there will be plenty of readers for Dr. Truelove.

Lost It by Kristen Tracy deals with Tess and her ridiculous life. Her parents abandon her to attend a survival camp, leaving her cigarette smoking, lottery winning grandmother to stay with her; her best friend is trying to build a bomb to kill a poodle; and she thinks she wants to lose her virginity. A lot to pack into a 276 page book. One of my PPYA committee members said that this is like an episode of a beloved sitcom. I definitely agree that it's sitcom worthy, but not just one episode--maybe half a season. The other half would take care of the things left behind at the end of the book.

Tess has always had her best friend and vica versa, but when Tess gets a boyfriend, she forgets for awhile that she's supposed to be a friend too. It's hard to be a friend to a friend in need, especially when you're trying to figure out these other things on your own. How scary would it be to have your parents just leave you behind while they tried to figure out their own lives? Sure it'd be great the first bit, but what about food? the Bills? Help with your own problems?

The first chapter tells the ending of the love story and then the rest is told in a long flashback, so you know that the boy she thought would always love her and possibly give her a wedding ring one day, isn't speaking to her anymore. Even with all these bad things happening to her, the book is still absolutely hilarious and real. Try it out, girls; you won't be disappointed!

And finally, my favorite of the three books: Pop! by Aury Wallington. First of all, I love the author's first name. How cool is that? Second, check out this cover. It's bright and cheery and totally plays on the title! In this book, Marit discovers that she always breaks up with her boyfriends when it gets a little too physical. She freaks out. At first, she thinks that she'll be able to move past this on her own now that she knows about her
"fault", but then on the beach with Noah, the hot new guy in school, she totally freaks after accidentally grabbing his, you know what, when she loses her balance. Her older sister, Hannah, suggests that she should have sex with someone she feels safe with--just to get her virginity out of the way. Then, she probably wouldn't freak out with her boyfriend! great advice, right? Marit decides that her best boy friend Jamie fits that bill perfectly. And quickly learns the consequences of Friends with Benefits.

Wallington has an ear for dialogue, which makes perfect sense since she wrote for Veronica Mars and Sex in the City. While the ending may be looking through the world with rose colored lenses, it is definitely enjoyable. The realistic depictions of sex aren't as blushworthy as in Truelove, but curious readers will find enough about the emotional and physical side to romance to fulfill most of their curiousity.

So now Karen, there's proof that other people are reading. Maybe my next post will be on fantasy since that's the other committee reading I'm doing!