True Believer

Author: Virginia Euwer Wolff
Original Date of Publication: 2001

Characters
LaVaughn – a girl who is sure about going to college but is confused about everything else.
Jody – a childhood friend of LaVaughn who acts like he loves her but is confusing.
Myrtle – a childhood friend of LaVaughn who joins the Cross Your Legs for Jesus, with Annie.
Annie – a childhood friend of LaVaughn who does not like Jody
Jolly – a friend of LaVaughn whose children, Jeremy and Jilly, LaVaughn babysat.
Patrick – LaVaugn’s lab partner in Biology who is great at memorizing.
Dr. Rose – the teacher in Grammar Built-Up
Ronell, Artrille, Doug – friends with LaVaughn, who along with her calls themselves the Brain Cells.
Lester – the man LaVaugn’s mother grows closer to.

Setting
Although the specific setting is not mentioned in True Believer we get the impression that it takes place in a larger inner city, such as Chicago or New York City.  LaVaughn talks about how she lives in an apartment in the city with her mother in a poorer part of town.  She continues to mention throughout the book how she plans to attend college and get herself out of this particular part of town.  LaVaughn also talks about riding the bus instead of having a car, which also leads us to believe that she lives in the inner city.
In the beginning of the book LaVaughn says she's fifteen and attending high school.  She never says what the name of the high school is, but we get the sense that the school is somewhat divided between the kids who plan to attend college and the students who don't.  LaVaughn is actually placed in a a higher science class and an after school grammer program to help her prepare for college.

Questions and Issues
There are many issues that can be found throughout True Believer that can be related to young adult readers.  One of the issues that is addressed is the idea of teen pregnancy.  LaVaughn's friend, Jolly, became pregnant at an early.  Now, she is struggling with raising her two kids, Jilly and Jeremy, all the while trying to maintain her grades at school.  Violence in schools is another issue that is addressed in the book.  In the book, LaVaughn has several experiences with school shootings. Another issue is religion.  Throughout the book, LaVaughn deals with her relationship with God.  Also, LaVaughn's friends, Myrtle and Annie, are very involved with their religion.  They join the "Cross Your Legs for Jesus" club and try to dictate how people should live their lives.

Themes, Symbolism, and Recurring Patterns
In the book True Believer there are a few themes that are evident.  The one theme that is a major theme that is carried throughout this novels is the theme of God and religious belief.  LaVaughn through this novel shares her growth in her religious beliefs.  In the beginning she doesn't know how she can love a God that has created evil in this world. As LaVaughn grows through the novel she is starting to learn about what she believes in and how she believes in God.  She believes she has to trust God when she goes through rough patches in her life.  Another theme is growth.  In this book there is a lot of growth mentally she goes through. Religion is one, but you also see her growing into the woman she is supposed to become. You see her growth in school and in her social life.

There are two main symbols that are talked about. The main symbol is the fish tank. The fish tank symbolizes looking at life from the inside out. We are looking and reading what is going though her mind.  We are able to understand her thoughts and feelings. The other symbol is the tree and bird nest on her ceiling.  This resembles her dreams. Where she lives now, there are no trees or nests, and this shows her every night where she wants her life to go.  Her dream is to go to college and get a good job and move out of the area where she lives to a place with grass and trees.

There are recurring patterns through the writing of the book. There are a lot of thoughts that are re-written through the novel.  Like the thought of asking Jody to the dance recurred multiple times until she finally asked him. This book is focused on LaVaughn thoughts and thought processes through her life and a lot of the thoughts reoccurs throughout this book.

Keesha's House

Author: Helen Frost
Original Date of Publication: 2003

Main Characters
Keesha: A girl who ran away from home when her mom died and when her dad started drinking a lot and becoming abusive. She found a home with a blue door that she tells other kids to go to when they need a place to stay.
Joe: Owner of the house with the blue door.
Stephie: Young girl who gets pregnant.
Jason: Boyfriend of Stephie.
Dontay: Young boy who gets placed in foster homes due to his parents being in jail.
Carmen: Girl who lives with her grandmother and gets arrested for a DUI when driving Dontay home.
Harris: Guy who is gay and ends up getting kicked out of his house.
Katie: Mom remarried a man who provided a home for them however, the man was sexually abusive toward Katie causing her to go to Keesha's house.
Tobias: Brother of Keesha.

Setting
The stories of the lives in Keesha’s House takes place in a rural or urban area.  The ambiguity allows for a wide range of readers to step into the city or town, and take in the story.  As the children try to find their way, Keesha’s house is what they use or go to. 

The children are in high school, and there is not a reference to a certain time period, except we know it has to have taken place sometime after child welfare was established. This element is evidence for the good literature in this book.The themes in the book, like teen pregnancy, sexual harassment, and drug abuse are classic issues. And the lack of a time period indicates that for these classic young adult issues, young adult readers will still be able to be drawn into the book’s story and will be able to relate to its characters in years to come.

The poetic forms used to write the book are sestina and sonnet. While the sonnets might be easier to detect, sestinas are the majority of the book. Sestinas are used for the main characters and sonnets for the adults, except in part eight of the book. From the title of each poem, that together forms a broad poem for each part, to the sonnets in part eight that are connected by the words of the last line of the preceding poem to the first line of the succeeding poem, the constant and linked structure of the book gives a sense of the connection the characters share and works well to depict their unstable lives.

Themes, Symbolism, and Recurring Patterns
There are many recurring patterns in Keesha's House that point to various themes and symbolism.  Some of the themes include:  personal growth, harassment and abuse, lack of a stable family or family support, teen pregnancy, and drug and alcohol use. 

Majority of the characters go through a growth process throughout the book.  For example, Jason learns what is more important in his life; Dontay realizes that maybe living with his foster parents isn't so bad after all; and Carmen understands that she has a problem that is way worse than she had originally thought. 

Harassment and abuse is another theme that is shown throughout the book.  Harris faces harassment when he finds a threatening note about his sexuality in his locker.  Katie encounters sexual abuse from her mother's new husband.

The theme of there being a lack of a stable family or a lack of family support is another theme that is involved in this book.  Keesha's father is an alcoholic, making him unsafe to be around.  Both of Dontay's parents are in jail, forcing him to live with foster parents.  Carmen lives with her grandmother because her mother chose not to be in her life.  Harris lacks the support from his father because of his sexuality.  Katie's mother refuses to listen to Katie when she tries to explain why it's unsafe for her to live at home.

Stephie and Jason both face the theme of teen pregnancy.  Stephie feels like she has no one to talk to and that no one will understand what she's going through; while her boyfriend, Jason, struggles to figure out how to balance a pregnancy and his promising future of basketball at the same time.

Drug and alcohol use are seen throughout the book.  Dontay is pressured by one his friends to sell drugs, while Keesha tries to convince her younger brother Tobias that selling drugs is a bad idea.  Both, Carmen and Keesha, deal with the effects of alcohol use.  Carmen has an alcohol problem that always seems to get her into trouble.  Keesha, on the other hand, faces the effects of alcoholism due to the fact that her father is an alcoholic.

The poetic forms used to write the book are sestina and sonnet. While the sonnets might be easier to detect, sestinas are the majority of the book. Sestinas are used for the main characters and sonnets for the adults, except in part eight of the book. From the title of each poem, that together forms a broad poem for each part, to the sonnets in part eight that are connected by the words of the last line of the preceding poem to the first line of the succeeding poem, the constant and linked structure of the book gives a sense of the connection the characters share and works well to depict their unstable lives.

Questions and Issues
Keesha's House addresses many different issues that young adults may experience in their high school years or beyond.  The main issue behind these young men and women coming together is their problems at home.  Helen Frost does a wonderful job of touching on real life subjects that effect young adults today, including drugs, homosexuality, teen pregnancy, foster homes, and sexual assault.  There are a number of characters in the book that struggle to get out of the "drug scene" and are trying to clean up their lives.  One young woman actually faces jail time because of her bad behavior.  Another character in the book, Harris, is actually kicked out of his house by his father because of his homosexuality.  Teen pregnancy is approached in the book right from the beginning when we find out about Stephanie's pregnany.  Frost shows how Stephanie struggles with her emotions towards the pregnancy throughout the book.  Another teen in Keesha's House is sexually assaulted by her stepfather, which leads her astray from her mother and their home together.  14-year-old Dontay runs away from his intolerable foster home to find a better life for himself.  Watch as these memorable characters deal with their individual struggles and come together in a place called Keesha's House.

The First Part Last

Author: Angela Johnson
Original Date of Publication: 2003


Main Characters:
Bobby: A 16-year old boy who struggles with the problems associated with teen pregnancy.
Nia Wilkins: Bobby's girlfriend and mother of Feather.
Feather: The daughter of Bobby and Nia.
Mary: Mother of Bobby with a hard exterior and tough attitude.
Fred: Father of Bobby with a soft heart and nurturing soul.
L.J. and K-Boy: Close friends of Bobby.
Coco Fernandez: Neighbor to Bobby who helps out often with his problems.
Jackie: Babysitter of Feather.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins: Parents of Nia.
Paul: Bobby's brother who also struggles with raising children by himself.

Setting

In this book there are a lot of different settings that play a major role.  Bobby describes about four different house settings throughout the book.  Bobby's parents are separated but he describes both houses to have color and lots of pictures of family vacations that cover all surfaces in the houses.  His parents' houses may look similar but the personalities carried through both houses are different.  He talks about how his dad's house smells of food.  The personality in his dad's house is more caring and "babying" almost. His mother's house, on the other hand, is more strict. Bobby's mother is always mentioning that she will not take care of his baby for him.  She may be strict but there is no doubt that she does not love her son and his baby.  He goes on to describe his girlfriend Nia's house.  He says it is very white and there are paintings.  He makes it come across like there is not as much life or joy.  When comparing his house to his girlfriend's house you can tell that there may be a class difference.  Nia may be in the upper middle class, while Bobby may just be solid middle class.  The next house is the house in Ohio that he moves into in the very last chapter.  He does not describe this house with very much detail but we know it is not in a city, and that it has a small yard where there is grass and trees.

Time is another setting that is developed through the book.  The chapters are divided up into now and then chapters.  The book starts out with a now chapter where he talks about the present and him with his daughter.  It then goes to a then chapter where they talk about the time during the pregnancy. The chapters alternate with each other, giving it a nice flow of the present and the past.  In reality you are getting a sense of two different time settings, which help develop and enhance the meaning of the book.

Themes

Teen Pregnancy is a major theme in the book.  Bobby’s girlfriend, Nia, is pregnant with a baby and they are trying to figure out whether to keep the baby or give it up for adoption.  They are both 16 years old, so Nia is spending time at the doctor's and after the baby is born, Bobby is spending time changing diapers after school.  He has support from his family and friends but he has to take care of the baby on his own, and his mother has made that clear.

Being a man is the next major theme in the book.  Although there is not a reference to Bobby’s father with respect to this theme, Bobby takes it from Just Frank, a man who drinks 40’s at 10:00 in the morning but ultimately dies when he tries to save a girl from her assaulter.  Just Frank always asked Bobby if he was being a man and Bobby thinks he sees him when he decides to take care of the baby.  Bobby has to grow up quickly as he takes care of his baby, Feather.

Questions and Issues

The First Part Last addresses issues that involve the young adults within the book that perhaps may be relatable to the readers, who may be young adults as well.  The main issue covered in this book is teen pregnancy.  Bobby, the main character, finds out that his girlfriend, Nia is pregnant, and they both have to deal with the consequences of unprotected sex and a hard decision that they are now forced to make.  The issue of teen pregnancy is shown here in this book written for young adults because it is part of a reality that we are faced with every day.  The statistics of teen pregnancy have grown immensely throughout the years, and it is a subject that teenagers are often faced with.  Another issue is adoption.  Because Bobby and Nia are so young, they aren’t sure whether or not they are able to take care of a child.  They decided on adoption so that the baby can have a better life.   Single parenthood is another issue that is addressed in The First Part Last.  When Bobby’s girlfriend is unable to fulfill her role as a mother, he takes it upon himself to raise Feather, their newborn daughter.  Raising Feather on his own forces Bobby to put his teenage years to rest and become a good father for his child.  The First Part Last does a great job of explaining the challenges that single parents face while raising a child.

Speak

Author:  Laurie Halse Anderson
Original Date of Publication:  1999


Main Characters
Melinda Sordino:  A ninth grade girl who stays silent for a reason unknown to others
Heather:  A new student from Ohio who befriends Melinda in order to establish herself in a group
Rachel (Rachelle) Bruin:  Melinda's former best friend who eventually dates Andy Evans
Andy Evans (IT/Andy Beast):  A senior who Melinda has a fear of
Ivy:  One of Melinda's former friends who rekindles a friendship with Melinda during art class
Mr. Freeman:  The art teacher who helps Melinda find her inner-art and her inner-self
Mom & Dad:  Melinda's parents who have other things on their mind besides their daughter
David Petrakis:  Melinda's lab partner who influences her on speaking out
Mr. Neck:  A cruel social studies teacher
Nicole:  A former friend of Melinda's


Questions and Issues
This book addresses multiple questions and issues young adults may face while going through their high school years.  The main issue that is brought up is sexual assault.  The main character in the book ends up getting raped at a party.  This incident brings up more issues and questions in young adulthood.  Because Melinda was raped it leads to her being bullied by her peers.  However, her peers do not know the truth about that night.  The bullying, and the fact that she was raped, leads into the issue of her becoming depressed.  Melinda can not look at herself in a mirror for the longest time because she blames herself for what happened.  She also does not feel like she can talk and speak up to anyone about that night.  She feels as if she needs to hide it.  You can tell the signs of her depression because she sleeps a lot, she does not talk much, she stops taking care of herself, and she just wants to be alone.  The depression leads to her then cutting herself.  She bites her lip and also scratches her wrist.  Melinda probably feels numb and she wants to physically feel pain from what she went through.


Themes, Symbolism, and Recurring Patterns
There are a number of themes, recurring patterns, and signs of symbolism in Speak.
- One of the main recurring patterns in the book is self-injury, whether it be accidental or purposeful.  Melinda has a tendency to bite her lips, which is evident throughout the book.  One of the first examples we see of this is on page 5 when Melinda is in the auditorium on the first day of school.  Another example of Melinda's purposeful injury is on page 87 when she cuts herself with a paper clip.  These injurys are significant in the book because they illustrate Melinda's pain associated with her depression. 
- Another recurring pattern in the book is Melinda's obsession with bunnies.  It is seen throughout the book that Melinda has a number of stuffed bunnies in her room and is very fond of them.  It isn't until later in the book that we realize that Melinda compares herself to a bunny.  On page 97 when she encounters Andy Evans (IT) on the street she makes a "BunnyRabbit bolt" away down the street to get away from him.  She is very much seen as the prey in this encounter much like a bunny would be towards a predator such as Andy Evans.
- Mirrors seem to be another recurring thing in Speak.  We can tell that Melinda is not fond of mirrors from the start.  For example, on page 16, Melinda looks at herself in the mirror and does not like what she sees.  This mirror scene ends in  Melinda biting her lips once again.  She ends up taking the mirror down and facing it against the wall in her closet.  Although mirrors seem to be portrayed as evil towards Melinda through a majority of the book, they actually become her saving grace in the end.  On page 195, when Melinda finds herself trapped in the janitors closet with Andy Evans, she manages to break the mirror she had hidden previously and threatens Andy's life with it. 
- Trees are a major theme throughout the book.  It all begins when Melinda receives her art project.  On page 12, Mr. Freeman gives Melinda the assignment to draw, sculpt, and paint a tree with emotion.  Melinda struggles with this for a long time and nearly gives up the entire assignment.  However, as time goes on she begins to relate with the tree.  One of the turning points with this assignment is towards the end when Melinda sees the tree in her front yard being trimmed.  She realizes that you need to get rid of the old, dead pieces before you can move on and continue to grow. 
- Speaking out is the last major theme in the book.  We watch throughout the book as Melinda becomes silent and refuses to speak to most anybody.  There were a number of times when Melinda wanted to speak out and tell her story, but slowly retreated back into solitude.  Eventually, with the help of others, and through her art, Melinda gets the courage to speak up about what happened to her.  I think it's safe to say that everyone is rooting for her by the end of the book when she finally speaks up.

Allusions
There are important references to other artistic works.  A poster of Maya Angelou covers a cracked mirror in an abandoned janitor’s closet, which Melinda uses as a haven.  Maya Angelou wrote I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings that explores subjects such as identity, rape, racism, and literacy. It is an autobiography where young Maya transforms from a victim of racism with an inferiority complex to an honorable and confident woman capable of responding to prejudice.  Here, the Caged Bird is Maya and Melinda.  Another reference is Picasso, who goes through different phases in his life, and works with Cubism that re-assembles broken up pieces as art.  Melinda’s art teacher gives her a book of Picasso’s works for her paralyzed imagination on her tree designs. Here as Melinda identifies herself with her tree, she is begining to put the broken pieces of her life together.  Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is dissected in Melinda’s English class.  In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne conceives a daughter through an adulterous affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity.  Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt. And in Speak, Melinda struggles with sin and guilt.

Welcome to the BC YA Lit Lovers' Group

This blog will showcase the analysis and thinking of the Literature for Young Adults class at Bridgewater College. First assignment for Summer 2011: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.