Ender's Game / Orson Scott Card

Ender’s Game is a fascinating tale of three siblings in a future that discourages families from having more than two children. This future also finds mankind preparing for a war with the enemy from a distant planet. Ender is the “Third” child who is chosen to go to battle-school and succeeds, because of his exceptional learning skills and creativity in battle. Ender’s brother and sister are equally talented and affect the course of earths’ history in a different manner.

Ender’s Game has proven to be one of the most popular science fiction titles for teens of all time. As the author comments his introduction to this book, it seems to resonate with many “gifted” children and I would also argue many not so gifted children who often feel isolated, or ostracized by their friends and manipulated by adults. I think this book is one that many children can relate to, not because they can put themselves in Ender’s shoes, but because they can relate Ender’s problems to their personal lives.

Card, Orson Scott (1977) Ender's Game. New York: Tor.

Spud / John van de Ruit

Spud by John van de Ruit is cleaver funny book based in an all boy’s school in South Africa. The premise of the book is that most of Spud’s schoolmates, teachers and his family are somewhat crazy and he is continuously surrounded by outrageous behavior on the part of everyone he knows. Spud has to then deal with all of the issues his life throws at him. Girls are part of the craziness that the 13 year old Spud is involved with along with brutal older schoolmates, friends that want to take unauthorized night swims, a school play and a drunken teacher / mentor who has regular lunches and discusses literature with Spud.

Spud is not one big joke - it is punctuated with serious issues of mental illness, bullying, family problems, post-apartheid South Africa, homosexuality, death, and many dysfunctional relationships. The author handles the many issues in the book in a very realistic manner. The brutality of practical jokes and teasing is often something that the boys simply have to deal with, and the fact that Spud finds himself with two “girlfriends” and a quandary of how to deal with that is a very realistic and sometimes instructive situation. I feel that Spud portrays the life of an adolescent boy in a humorous and accurate manner, filling his life with many of the issues that young boys have to deal with and providing entertainment and an example for readers to think about.

van de Ruit, J. (2007). Spud. New York: Razorbill.

Youth(wired) - Teens @ SAPL Webpage V4.0 / San Antonio Public Library

The teen page of the San Antonio Public Library is titled Youth(wired) - Teens @ SAPL Webpage V4.0. This page is very is user centred page with lots of interactive links and areas to give teens help with their home work, personal research, information about library programming and personal reading choices. Library links include: a homework link with information and online help from tutors; booklinks with lots of reading selections arranged by genre; a MySpace page with a bookshelf, images, blogs, videos, “friend” links and a meebo chat box; a practice test page; a link to library events and a place to submit book reviews.

The Youth (Wired) page in my view functions fairly well as place where teens will gather, with the interactive components, like the MySpace page and the tutor help. There are a lot of “teens” visible on this page which seems to give ownership to those particular library users, which I think should make it more attractive to them as well. I did, however, find a few dead links on the site, including one big link on the main page to the Spanish component of the website. I also found the website may have been a bit lacking in information about how to use the library or links to library resources for teens (aside from the reading lists; audio or video or electronic resources or magazines).

San Antonio Public Library. (2009). Youth(wired) - Teens @ SAPL Webpage V4.0. Retrieved from http://www.youthwired.sat.lib.tx.us/

Rihanna good girl gone bad: Reloaded / Rihanna

Rihanna good girl gone bad: Reloaded is the self titled CD of contemporary music by a very popular musician. Rihanna has been in the news recently (early 2009) because of some troubles she has had with her boyfriend. Pictures of Rihanna have circulated with a black eye and bruised face and there is lots of talk of abuse and the possibility of a court appearance for Rihanna and her boyfriend. The personal lives of pops stars are great food for the hunger of the popular media and Rihanna's fame and her problems have her clearly on the popularity plate.

Rihannna's CD is very popular in its own right featuring hits like; Shut up and drive. Push up on me, Don't stop the music, Umbrella and more. The music on Good girl gone bad, is a mixture of Rhythm and Blues, Motown, and Disco with a strong beat, and the clear, strong leading voice of Rihanna. The lyrics of this album are predictably those that appeal to a young adult audience. Rihanna sings of love and relationships in a direct way and sex in a metaphorical manner. All in all this is a well done entertaining CD that most aficionados of popular music will enjoy.

Evan Rogers et al (Producers). (2006). Rihanna good girl gone bad: Reloaded [Sound Recording CD]. New York: Def Jam.

RAMP / Toronto Public Library

I like the website of the Toronto Public Library which is called ramp: for youth. The website is clean and information heavy. The extensive list of websites are each annotated and classified nicely in understandable categories. The websites listed here are appropriate and relevant for teens and all of the links I checked were active. The links are mainly for local resources which I find appropriate considering the teens live in Toronto and would want to be able to find local resources. There are also links to lots library information as well, from program information and book recommendations to links for article searching and opportunities to contribute to some library publications.

ramp has a lot going for it. There are lots of opportunities one to site that allow teens to become involved with library activities and the site is also a portal to the rest of the Toronto Public Library resources. The site has a clean look and I found it easy to navigate through the extensive resources there with ease. The only problems I could find with ramp were that the search option at the top of the page did not work and the discussion forums were not well used.

Toronto Public Library. (2009). RAMP: for youth. Retrieved from http://ramp.torontopubliclibrary.ca/index.html

Witch Child / Celia Rees

Witch Child is apparently the diary of a young girl from 1659-60 as she lives through the terrible time of witch phobia and witch trials in England and the New World near Salem. Mary is put on a boat with a group of highly patriarchal Puritan settlers bound for America after her grandmother is hung for being a witch. Mary falls under suspicion of being a witch herself, but she befriends some of the settlers and survives in the new settlement for a time. When she can no longer avoid the suspicions, rumours and fear that lead to untimely end for the unfortunate few who were too different in that time and place Mary tries to escape.

Witch Child appears to be based on a real diary that was found sewn into the lining of a quilt from that time period which makes the story all the more realistic and extraordinary. The story weaves an intriguing and suspenseful story of the history of that time and gives the reader a look at the prejudice and fearfulness that prevailed in those days leading to the persecution and death of some innocent people. I think this story would be an excellent catalyst to encourage teens to become interested in this time period or to encourage their interest in general historical topics.

Rees, C. (2000). Witch Child. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.

BOP Magazine

BOP Magazine is fan magazine that one YA librarian told me is popular with teen girls. BOP is heavily laden with pictures of young rock stars, and TV and movie stars. The text that accompanies these images is minimal. The text mostly refers to the likes and dislikes of the star(let) or their job. BOP is also filled with or some contest that will allow the reader to meet their favourite famous person or win some merchandise related to their heroes or heroines. BOP does tell some gossip, but it is usually fairly positive and does not focus on the weaknesses or misfortunes of these young and famous people. BOP is also apparently also very popular for the posters of the stars that are inserted amongst the pages of the magazine.

I can find little or no literary value in BOP. There are no interesting stories, lyrics to songs, writing contests or anything that seems to encourage creativity on the part of the reader. BOP Magazine does not appear to be anything more than a vehicle to promote famous young stars. For a teen, being intrigued by a hero or heroine may be encouraging if the stars role as a positive role model is emphasized, but BOP focus’ on things like “crushes,” who is wearing the latest fashion and who made an appearance on Hannah Montana.

BOP Magazine. (2008). Glendale, CA: Laufer Media Inc.