Weight in YA and Book Deal Breakers

August 5, 201311 Comments

At Stacked, Kelly talks about how fat stereotypes are her book deal breaker. I freaking love this post. You should read through the whole thing, but some parts I particularly liked:

“It makes me feel ashamed that the message of most YA books featuring fat characters is that your body is wrong, it’s going to kill you, it’s going to hold you back, and it’s not worth the space it takes up on this planet. Because this is a message we already send teenagers…

What I want is for a teen to pick up a book that features a fat character who isn’t a silly sidekick or a laughing stock. Who isn’t seeking a way to better herself by losing weight.”

A-freakin’-men. As an overweight kid, I was particularly sensitive to these kinds of portrayals in children’s books. I remember reading some of the Sweet Valley Twins books, which featured Lois Waller, who was defined by how much she weighed and what food she ate. (Also, in a universe of Jessicas and Elizabeths and Lilas, of course the fat girl has a dowdy name like Lois.) Granted, it’s not like the Sweet Valley books were written to push literary boundaries and create compelling characters, but it reinforced the idea that only the perfect-size-6 Jessicas and Elizabeths can have interests and personalities and hobbies, whereas the we Loises were only defined by our size.

I don’t think YA authors try to only write about thin characters or to depict overweight characters with that being their only characteristic. But I think we, as writers, need to think more carefully about how these characters are represented and how our stories deal with characters of all sizes. So often I roll my eyes at depictions of characters who, when stressed or upset, suddenly lose their appetite. This is a totally realistic reaction to stress, but so is having a cupcake, and not many novels I can think of mention having a cupcake as a reaction to feeling stressed. Things like this may seem minor, but they can have a big impact on readers.

Like Kelly, I’d love to see stories about “fat” characters that don’t have anything to do with their sizes. About heavier girls fighting dragons, about overweight guys engaged in student council political drama, about any topic YA usually covers. In high school, I had a lot of friends of various sizes, and we all went to prom, had fights with our parents, dealt with grief, went driving with the windows down and great music playing. YA should reflect that.

Make sure to read Kelly’s post. And while I’m reminded of it, I’ll leave off with a great quote by JK Rowling about how we use “fat” to describe people in a negative light:

“Fat’ is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her…[Is] ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’?”

Let’s stop looking at fat as the worst thing a person can be, and the only thing that can define someone. It’s certainly one of my book deal breakers, too.

Friday Fifteen

August 2, 2013Leave a comment

Friday, you could not come soon enough. Let’s kick off the weekend with some good ol’ fifteen-word (or fewer) book reviews:

1. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Was expecting more sci-fi; reminded me of The Tree of Life, in a good way.

2. Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
Only read this epistolary medieval children’s novel once, but it’s stayed with me. Should reread.

3. The Berenstain Bears No Girls Allowed by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Sexism sucks. We read this one often, which probably explains a lot about me.

4. A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle
In which I learned what mitochondria are and what cherubim really look like.

5. Conversations with J. K. Rowling by Lindsey Fraser
Because everything Rowling-related made me teary with the feels.

Links Galore

July 31, 2013Leave a comment

A few more links for your afternoon:

Nova Ren Suma talks about author events and overcoming shyness. (As someone who gets way stressed before public speaking, I was so happy to read this post.)
Flying can be stressful; libraries are here to help with that.
Chocolate + books = bliss (at least until all my money is gone).
The etymology of “please” and “thank you.”
GUYS THERE COULD BE A JELLICOE ROAD MOVIE, I WILL HAVE ALL THE FEELS.
The Luckys share their submission stats.
Writing is like playing video games because it’s hard to level up.
Exposition rooster and other literary techniques via Disney movies.
Happy Harry Potter’s Birthday! Celebrate with a little movie trivia.

Be an English Major

July 31, 20135 Comments

Fellow Candlewick YA writer and one of my favorite 2014 debut authors, Sarah Combs, recently sent me this article about why English majors matter. Needless to say, my heart swelled with bookish pride. For example:

“The English major is, first of all, a reader. She’s got a book pup-tented in front of her nose many hours a day; her Kindle glows softly late into the night. But there are readers and there are readers. There are people who read to anesthetize themselves—they read to induce a vivid, continuous, and risk-free daydream. They read for the same reason that people grab a glass of chardonnay—to put a light buzz on. The English major reads because, as rich as the one life he has may be, one life is not enough. He reads not to see the world through the eyes of other people but effectively to become other people. What is it like to be John Milton, Jane Austen, Chinua Achebe? What is it like to be them at their best, at the top of their games?

English majors want the joy of seeing the world through the eyes of people who—let us admit it—are more sensitive, more articulate, shrewder, sharper, more alive than they themselves are. The experience of merging minds and hearts with Proust or James or Austen makes you see that there is more to the world than you had ever imagined. You see that life is bigger, sweeter, more tragic and intense—more alive with meaning than you had thought.”

The whole article is fantastic. Edmundson defends not only the act of reading, as above, but also the act of writing and how deft handling of language allows us to “not merely to represent the world but to interpret it.” Isn’t every other major or career made better by the ability to represent and interpret the world and its ideas? Definitely click through to read the rest.

I’m a former English major and, even though people often make jokes about how unemployable we are and how useless it is to “sit around and read,” I can think of nothing more valuable than understanding language and being sensitive to the human experience. My English major certainly helped me get jobs (with health benefits!) and has made me a more thoughtful person overall.

Also, I gave a little cheer when I saw that the article writer was, in fact, Mark Edmundson, professor at the University of Virginia, my beloved alma mater. (Woohoo, English department!)

Thanks again to Sarah for sharing such an inspiring article! (And guys, you are totally going to want to read her book, Breakfast Served Anytime when it comes out next spring.)

Billy Murray, Coming to Your Next Poetry Reading

July 29, 20131 Comment

When you think “poetry,” you don’t necessarily think of Bill Murray. (Okay, maybe you do, but it’s probably because of the innate poetry in Ghostbusters.) But Murray can pull of a surprisingly good poetry reading. Here, at the 16th Annual Poets House Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge, he reads Billy Collins’ poem, “Forgetfulness”:

I’ve seen Collins at a couple of readings and Murray really hits that Collins vibe–humorous at first, with that great thoughtful turn at the end.

Click through to see Bill Murray tackle more poetry readings.

(via Tweetspeak Poetry)

Friday Fifteen

July 26, 2013Leave a comment

It’s the end of July and a surprisingly chilly Friday here. (And by chilly, I mean not 93 degrees and 100% humidity.) Let’s get cozy with this week’s fifteen-word (or fewer) book reviews:

1. Belles on Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
More about the Gilbreth family, minus Dad. Same big family/turn-of-the-century fun.

2. The Ocean World of Jacques Costeau: Oasis in Space (Vol. 1) by Jacques Costeau
The first of Costeau’s classic series. Probably the reason I love giant sea creatures.

3. Guarding the Moon: A Mother’s First Year by Francesca Lia Block
First time I learned about things like how physically rough breast feeding can be. Yay?

4. Clifford’s Family by Norman Bridwell
Clifford knows what it’s like to be the “weird” one in your family.

5. The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr
I love stories about prodigies, and Zarr’s look at what’s beautiful is fantastic.

Links Galore

July 26, 20132 Comments

A few links to round out the week:

In case you’re still looking to flesh out your summer reading list.
Jane Austen is so money.
Love the Books on the Underground project. (via Book Riot)
Rapunzel Syndrome sounds way less creepy than it actually is.
I bet the letters of Roald Dahl are fascinating.
Lots of useful online resources for writers.
What to say when people tell you YA is automatically less thoughtful or well-written than adult literature.
Surprised not to see The Fault in Our Stars on this list of book titles taken from Shakespeare.
You’re never too old for fairy tales and their adaptations.

Happy 116th Birthday, Amelia Earhart!

July 24, 2013Leave a comment

Happy birthday to my favorite female pilot, Amelia Earhart! She was born on July 24, 1897, making this the 116th anniversary of her birth.

Although Earhart herself doesn’t appear in The Chance You Won’t Return, she’s an important figure in the novel. I’ve mentioned before that I first got the idea for the book when the line “My mother thinks she’s Amelia Earhart” popped into my head. As I started writing, I found that Earhart was really the perfect historical figure to have permeating the novel. She was bold and smart and talented and pushed major boundaries for women. But she was also very much a public figure in that she had a carefully crafted public persona, much like a celebrity today would have. That, along with her disappearance, makes her such an enigmatic figure and one we always want to know better. In the same way, much of The Chance You Won’t Return is about the secrets we carry and how we function in our public and private lives.

More about the book and Amelia to come, but in the meantime, make sure to check out these fun Amelia Earhart links:

(image via Boston Public Library)

Friday Fifteen

July 19, 20131 Comment

Happy Friday from Savannah! To kick of a Southern retreat weekend, let’s check out some fifteen-word (or fewer) reviews of Southern stories.

1. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Touching story about the isolation we all feel; loved reading it with ASL studies.

2. Sounder by William H. Armstrong
Early into the book, the dog gets shot. Things go downhill from there. Sad stuff.

3. Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
I remember the act of reading this and the cover well, just not the story.

4. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Depression-era black family confronts racism; not as crushing as Sounder. School scenes stuck with me.

5. Georgia Music by Helen V. Griffith
Girl visits grandfather, they bond over “Georgia music.” Next summer he has dementia, I cry.

Getting Psyched for the Fourteenery Retreat

July 18, 2013Leave a comment

This weekend marks the first-ever Fourteenery retreat, in which thirteen of our fourteen debut 2014 authors descend on Savannah, GA for a few days of writing, bonding, cooking, nail polish, wine, and lots of Southern gothic fun. Which of course means I need to share my feelings and expectations of the experience in gif form:

What I wish packing were like: