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It's that time again! Leaves are falling, stores are decorated for Christmas (and have been since Halloween), and it's time to start speculating on what books will win big at this year's American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards.
Here's my pick for this year's Printz Award—the highest award in young adult literature—plus a few of my other favorite YA books from 2015.
A graphic novel won the Printz Award in 2007 (American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang), and another picked up both a Printz Honor and Caldecott Honor last year (This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki). So there's precedent for graphic novels taking home top awards—but even among these previous winners, Nimona stands out. On the surface it's a story of a shapeshifter apprenticing herself to a notorious villain. But it's also simultaneously an example of—and a deconstruction of—the entire superhero genre (which is, of course, traditionally associated with comics and graphic novels). And while it's busy deconstructing its own format and genre, it also challenges the need to define everything from interpersonal relationships to personal body shapes. Who's good? Who's evil? And why is there never anything edible in the fridge? Like the best graphic novels, this story could only be told with a combination of words and pictures.
As to my other favorites: High-profile books like The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith, Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman (which just won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature) and Bone Gap by Laura Ruby are favored award contenders in many circles—and deservedly so. But here are three somewhat under-the-radar 2015 titles that really stood out for me.
I read the last few chapters of The Shadow Behind the Stars in a coffee shop, and this was a bad idea. Everyone around me must have thought I was drinking something so bitter it made my nose and eyes run. But would you expect anything less from a story narrated by the youngest of the three Fates? In shimmering, almost poetic language, author Rebecca Hahn tells an epic tale of love and death and life within the deceptively simple story of a forbidden friendship between a mortal teenage girl and the immortal life-weavers of Greek mythology.
I know, I know . . . another dystopia. I almost didn't bother with Lizard Radio because I thought, enough is enough already with teen girls overthrowing repressive governments. But this one is different: For one thing, the narrator doesn't identify as either a boy or a girl ("I'm a lizard," she once answered when asked to choose a gender). For another, Kivali's intense spirituality is unusual in both dystopias and YA lit overall: In addition to the daily religious services required at her summer CropCamp, she meditates regularly and is deeply in touch with an otherworldy presence. And there's the argot: Campers eat in an "mealio" and fear disciplinary "culpas." But my favorite part is the way author Pat Schmatz introduces the more unusual aspects of Kivali's world gradually, letting us join her and her fellow campers in making all the wrong assumptions.
Speaking of spirituality, my non-YA-lit life sometimes puts me in contact with a set of medieval Jewish texts called the Talmud. Although it predates modern computers by a thousand years, the Talmud is written in a form of hypertext: Pages of Talmud are arranged with a source text in the center of the page and multi-vocal commentary surrounding it. I'd just been wishing for a YA novel that worked like this when I discovered The Anatomy of Curiosity. Like the Talmud, The Anatomy of Curiosity contains multiple voices telling multiple stories (in this case, three novellas), and its page layout matters: The main text is printed in the middle of the page with authorial commentary in the margins. Meta-textual hashtags ("#theme") within the commentary add to the hypertextual effect. Although the format is similar to that of the authors' 2012 collaboration The Curiosities, The Anatomy of Curiosity extends and develops this format further—using it as a brilliant tool to talk to the text, talk to each other and, most of all, talk to the reader. I've never seen anything like this in YA lit.
What YA books particularly spoke to you in 2015? What are your predictions for the Printz and other major YA lit awards? (Be sure to check out the BookPage Best Children's and Teen Books of 2015!)
Locker Combinations is a Book Case feature by BookPage contributor and young adult (YA) literature expert Jill Ratzan. Using a variety of literary, cultural and educational perspectives, Jill guest blogs about the latest in YA lit and the general direction, trends and changes of the field. When she's not reading, Jill matches readers with books in a small library in southeastern Pennsylvania. Read more BookPage reviews, interviews and posts by Jill here.
For librarians who work with teens, summer is either the busiest time of the year or the slowest. Young adult (YA) librarians who work in public libraries typically have a nonstop schedule of programs to run, volunteers to supervise and events to coordinate, while school librarians are busy developing curriculums and collections for the coming school year. Summer can also be a good time to step back and think about why we do the work we do. What's the point of YA librarianship? What keeps us going day after day?
To start thinking about these issues, I talked to a sampling of YA librarians working in schools and public libraries around the country. I asked them each two questions: What do you love about being a YA librarian? Can you share a meaningful experience in which you connected teens and books?
Some of answers I got were funny, others were profound, and others were totally energizing. Here are some of my favorites. Do they make you as excited about YA librarianship as they make me?
"I love that my work enables me to connect with tweens and teens in a unique way. I'm . . . someone they can trust and be honest with, because I'm not grading the students or judging their reading choices. I love that I can connect with students individually. And I especially love that 'non-readers' and reluctant readers feel just as comfortable with me as book nerds."
—Alicia Blowers, St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School, Alexandria (VA)
"I love that the library is all about their [teens'] individuality. I love to buy all kinds of books, to show kids there are no 'right' books for everyone, just the right book for you. This age group is so special. It's a difficult, transitional time and they have a lot of questions and a lot of exploring to do. I like that they can do that through reading."
— Michelle Reasso, West Stanly Middle School, Locust (NC)
"The gratitude they [teens] show when I provide a new book, some guidance, a safe space for social growth are all ways that my work makes itself important . . . it might not show up on an evaluation or concrete analysis but when teens come in and trust you enough with their ideas, opinions and dreams, it really shows our abilities as librarians to encourage and inspire. Teenage lives can be roller coasters and sometimes the thing you need the most is a good partner for the ride; a book can be that perfect partner."
— Cassandra Black, San Mateo County Library, Belmont (CA)
"A few years ago, I worked with a 6th grade honors student who did an independent study of The Catcher in the Rye. We had some great discussions, but my favorite moment was sharing John Green's videos about Catcher in the Rye with him. We had to watch them twice (John Green talks fast!), and then we had some great conversations about classics and how they can still be relevant. I think it's the only time all year I saw that student smile."
— Gabrielle M. Casieri, Lawrence Intermediate School, Lawrence (NJ)
"I have had a couple of teens actually say that reading certain books changed them, maybe not their whole lives, but changed them and the way they look at the world, in a way that nothing else did."
— Kim Day, Burlingame Public Library, Burlingame (CA)
Maybe the most interesting answer of all came from an adult reference librarian who sometimes works with teens. "I've had a few teens ask me to look for The Hunger Games and I finally picked it up one day and just could not put it down. And I guess it's the same with Harry Potter. I kept hearing about it and finally gave in and read it," Dan Vetrano of Sayreville (NJ) Public Library told me. "So, teens connected you with a great read?" I asked him. He agreed.
Hooray for teens and libraries!
Locker Combinations is a Book Case feature by BookPage contributor and young adult (YA) literature expert Jill Ratzan. Using a variety of literary, cultural and educational perspectives, Jill guest blogs about the latest in YA lit and the general direction, trends and changes of the field. Read more BookPage reviews, interviews and posts by Jill here.
May is a great month for mothers and daughters to celebrate each another's company—and that includes reading together! Here are four great choices for moms to read alongside their teens, or to share in mother-daughter book clubs. With themes like female identity, competing conceptions of beauty, mothers who are absent (or overly present) and even a bit of magic, these young adult picks are sure to spark interesting discussions. (Of course, these books can also be enjoyed by mothers and sons. Or fathers and daughters. Or fathers and sons. Or anyone who likes a great read!)
Glory's mother, a talented photographer, killed herself when Glory was in preschool. Now about to graduate from high school, Glory, a photographer in her own right, reopens her mother's basement darkroom for the first time. Through her mother's photography notebooks, Glory hopes to learn more about her mother, what drove her to her terrible decision . . . and how much like or unlike her mother she herself might be. Her friend Ellie's complicated relationship with her own mother adds a parallel storyline.
Glory O'Brien's History of the Future is a multilayered, genre-defying book; it's also about the changing dynamics of teenage friendship, the uncertainty of post-high school plans and the dark and bizarre glimpses of a misogynist, dystopian future that Glory and Ellie begin to see after drinking a petrified bat (really). It's a story about images and visions and how what you see depends on how you look. But at its heart, it's a story about women's relationships with each other: as members of society, as friends and as mothers and daughters.
As was the case with Glory O'Brien's History of the Future, Just One Day doesn't fit neatly into one genre category. The first half of the book follows recent high school graduate Allyson on a whirlwind one-day summer tour of Paris with Willem, a young man she's just met. The second half takes place during Allyson's first year at college. Allyson's always been satisfied to go along with her mother's color-coded schedules and neatly-designed plans, but Willem's spontaneity has shaken her expectations and her desires.
As her mom continues to arrange her future, Allyson faces the need to stand up for herself as a person with interests and hopes of her own. But their newly emerging roles go both ways: Just as Allyson asks her mother to understand her motivations better, her mother asks the same of her newly adult daughter.
Moms and daughters who want to know more about Allyson and Willem can also read Forman's follow-up novel Just One Year and concluding short story "Just One Night."
Unlike the two previous books, mothers are barely present in Bray's imaginative, highly feminist, almost over-the-top Beauty Queens. Most of the book takes place on a desert island populated exclusively (at least at first) by teenage beauty contestants marooned there after a plane crash.
This Lord of the Flies-like premise allows Bray to explore intersections of gender, race and sexuality in an environment quite different from everyday society. Throughout, readers are invited to wrestle with questions related to society's expectations of women and girls: What constitutes beauty? What ideals should women aim to meet, and what happens when they choose other paths? And who counts as a 'woman,' anyway?
Like Glory O'Brien's History of the Future, Franny Billingsley's The Folk Keeper features a long-dead mother whose presence is continually felt. Like Just One Day, it's about a daughter learning to define the direction her own life. And like Beauty Queens, it takes place in a unique setting that's central to its story.
Orphaned Corinna is confident in her identity as a folk keeper: a boy (Corinna cuts her hair and disguises her clothes to look the part) who lives in cellars and protects country homes from mischievous faeries. But when a dying patriarch sends her to her family's ancestral home, Corinna begins to learn secrets about herself and her new surroundings. Many of these secrets revolve around her mother, the mysterious Lady Rona, whose death still haunts the cliffside estate.
Scottish legends, magical abilities and budding romance interweave in this quiet, introspective novel, told in the form of entries in Corinna's journal-like Folk Record. Although theoretically published for middle grade readers, The Folk Keeper is in many ways the perfect YA novel: It's about power, gender, identity and the interplay between who you're born as and who you choose to become. It's also a perfect read for mothers and daughters who want to ask . . . and maybe even answer . . . these questions together.
What are some of your favorite YA mother-daughter reads?
Locker Combinations is a Book Case feature by BookPage contributor and young adult (YA) literature expert Jill Ratzan. Using a variety of literary, cultural and educational perspectives, Jill guest blogs about the latest in YA lit and the general direction, trends and changes of the field. Read more BookPage reviews, interviews and posts by Jill here.
To celebrate National Poetry Month, I've been taking a break from my regular young adult (YA) lit reading to listen to the audiobook How to Read and Understand Poetry by Willard Spiegelman. Spiegelman argues that the English language loves iambic pentameter—that is, Shakespeare's meter—and he even goes so far as to say that this meter is English's default setting . . . with some notable exceptions.
Well, standard prose is also YA lit's default setting . . . with some notable exceptions. Unusual narrative formats can sometimes seem like they exist only for the sake of novelty, but the four books below never feel like their formats are forced. Instead, their formats and content are perfectly matched.
Changing narrators with each chapter is a common enough practice in contemporary YA lit. But what about changing narrators with each sentence? Especially when one narrator is talking in present time, and the other exists only as a sound recording?
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is often praised (and denounced) for its controversial content, a devastating account of a teen's decision to commit suicide. But its format is just as interesting. As teenage Clay listens to the audiotapes left behind by his classmate and crush Hannah, he adds his own running commentary, creating one of the most unusual dual-voice narratives in YA lit. As Hannah talks out of the past and Clay argues with her in the present, the conversation remains hauntingly one-sided: Clay can hear Hannah, but Hannah will never hear Clay.
YA lit has its share of heart-wrenching books, but it also has stories that make readers' hearts sing . . . literally. David Levithan's Hold Me Closer, a follow-up to the author's collaboration with John Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, is told entirely in the form of the script of an autobiographical musical penned by character Tiny Cooper. Dialogue and rhyming song lyrics carry most of the plot and characters, while setting and everything else is told through detailed stage directions. Because the book is written as if it's Tiny's own composition, his confident, hilarious voice can be heard throughout; Tiny "speaks" even when the words belong to other characters.
Even the title of Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral's Chopsticks evokes choppiness. This tale of a lonely teenage musical prodigy and the attractive boy next door contains no narrative text at all. Instead, the story is told through a series of images, letters and other documents. While readers work hard to piece together the plot from these disconnected pieces, they're also being taunted by the creeping idea that what they're seeing may not be entirely true. How much of Glory's relationship with Frank is real, and how much is only in her head? The kaleidoscopic format is a perfect match for the increasingly disorienting content.
Novels in verse aren't a new idea in YA lit (or in literature in general —think of the Epic of Gilgamesh!), but every so often one comes along that's the perfect example of the form. Audacity by Melanie Crowder is a fictionalized account of the real life of Clara Lemlich, an early 20th-century Jewish labor union activist. Just as Clara has the audacity to challenge everything from the gender inequality in her family to the working conditions in New York City factories, Crowder audaciously tells Clara's story in a mix of free verse and concrete (shape-based) poetry, sometimes with as little as one word per line.
Readers, I'd love to know: What are some of your favorite unusual YA lit formats? How does the format work (or not work) with the content?
Locker Combinations is a Book Case feature by BookPage contributor and young adult (YA) literature expert Jill Ratzan. Using a variety of literary, cultural and educational perspectives, Jill guest blogs about the latest in YA lit and the general direction, trends and changes of the field. Read more BookPage reviews, interviews and posts by Jill here.
Last month, I had the pleasure of talking with Andrew Smith, author of the recently released The Alex Crow, the 2015 Printz Honor book Grasshopper Jungle, the National Book Award semifinalist 100 Sideways Miles and other mind-bending, norm-challenging books for young adult (YA) readers. Our conversation was so packed with terrific stuff that some of the best parts didn't fit in the March issue of BookPage. So here are a few more highlights.
Even though the Printz announcement was yet to come at the time we talked, Smith and I spoke at length about Grasshopper Jungle. This book, he said, has acquired a unique following among adult readers, many of whom express the same sentiment. "One of the most common email subjects that I ever get from readers is, 'I really wish that a book like Grasshopper Jungle had been written when I was 15 or 16 years old. It would have really changed my life.'"
This effect is even more meaningful in light of Grasshopper Jungle's own backstory. The novel, Smith told me, wasn't originally meant for publication—instead, it started out as an exercise to prove a point. After being accused in a 2011 Wall Street Journal article of writing books that were too violent and scary for teen readers, Smith decided that he wanted to respond in a unique way. "In the summer of 2011, what could possibly be darker than what was really going on in middle America?" he asked. "Towns were being closed down because of the recession, and people were losing their homes." If he was going to be accused of dark subject matter, Smith figured, he might as well write about something really dark.
Smith is on a roll; he's published three books in a little over a year, always finishing one before starting another. "I think my style is evolving," he told me. "I think you can definitely see a maturation in the style and the structure and the tools that I've used compared to my earlier work." Changes in his personal life also "thread through all three of those books," including his son leaving for college while he wrote 100 Sideways Miles and being away at college while he wrote Grasshopper Jungle.
Smith also expanded on his point about gender in YA lit, specifically in The Alex Crow. All but one of the book's half-dozen settings is all-male, and the one setting that includes a woman portrays her as not much more than a highly caricatured plot device. So at first, The Alex Crow looks almost explicitly anti-female . . . until readers think more about how deeply flawed the gender-imbalanced settings truly are. "All of the narratives point out the failures of male societies . . . the [summer] camp, the survivors on the ship, the military, the refugee camp—all of these keep pointing out how misguided male-dominated societies have been," Smith explained.
Smith cautioned readers not to confuse his opinions as an adult writer with the sometimes "sexist, misogynous . . . immature . . . impulsive" voices of his teenage characters, especially when these voices are talking about girls and women. Specifically, when a teenage boy narrator (like Ariel in The Alex Crow or Austin in Grasshopper Jungle) views a female character as one-dimensional, uninteresting or seemingly existing only to move his own story along, it's the character talking, not Smith himself. This subtle distinction—or rather, its lack—comes up repeatedly in the criticism against Smith, including a recent controversy sparked by an interview with journalist Hugh Ryan.
Despite this distinction, Smith said that he often finds himself becoming absorbed in his characters' identities. "When I'm working on [my books], they become so intense—almost like there's no line between myself and the people I'm writing about. When I'm writing something, I start to talk like my protagonist, and I might be wearing the same t-shirt that the person is talking about wearing. I need to make the words on the page ring so true, they need to sound like a real person—and so during that time, I need to be that person."
Finally, Smith touched on an area of which many teachers—and promoters of social media—will be glad to hear. "I hope that readers always have the opportunity to critically examine their reading by talking to somebody else about it, and asking questions to open up their interpretation of what's actually being put in front of them on the page."
Smith disabled his Twitter account following the recent controversy, but considering that reluctant teen readers like to connect with Smith on social media—and he always writes back—I hope he's back online soon. And I think I join the rest of Smith's fans in itching to know what he's going to write next.
Locker Combinations is a Book Case feature by BookPage contributor and young adult (YA) literature expert Jill Ratzan. Using a variety of literary, cultural and educational perspectives, Jill guest blogs about the latest in YA lit and the general direction, trends and changes of the field. Read more BookPage reviews, interviews and posts by Jill here.
It's February, and everyone has their favorite literary couples: Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. Sometimes the best duos are the ones you'd never think had anything in common . . . like, who would've thought that Ron and Hermione would stop fighting long enough to fall in love?
Oh, it's just so difficult when everyone loves you. Where will the two medals go, anyway? Here's an attempt to pile them on via Mariko Tamaki's website.
With the recent announcement that This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki had won both a Printz Honor and a Caldecott Honor—the first graphic novel to win the latter—these two supposedly irreconcilable seals now sit side by side on the book's cover. The young adult (YA) world is buzzing with debate over this pairing, but I'd like to suggest that it's a terrific chance to challenge assumptions about these awards, and to think about what happens when they come together. Here are three ideas worth considering.
The Caldecott has pushed boundaries before.
The Caldecott medal is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children, with Honor books considered to be similarly distinguished runners-up.
Most Caldecott winners and Honor books have looked like picture books—they've been 32 pages or so, and generally taller than they are long—and many are appropriate for preschool audiences. But in 2008, the Caldecott medal went to The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, a book most likely to be enjoyed by late elementary school and early middle-school readers. Clocking in at a hefty 534 pages (and longer and almost wider than it is tall), Hugo Cabret was an unusual choice. And yet its detailed black and white drawings, and its mix of verbal and pictorial storytelling, could certainly be argued to be distinguished.
The two medals' criteria overlap in interesting ways.
In December, I'd predicted that This One Summer would walk away with the Printz award as the best book written for teens this year, based entirely on literary merit. Although "literary" seems at first to refer only to words, books that include both words and pictures have been recognized in the past. Consider American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, the medal winner in 2007.
Similarly, while the Caldecott's "for children" designation seems at first to exclude teens, a deeper dig through its terms and criteria reveals that "children" is actually defined as "persons of ages up to and including fourteen" (possibly a holdover from before the Printz and other YA awards were established, or before YA lit as it's currently understood existed at all). While the Caldecott is usually thought of as a children's illustration-based award and the Printz as a YA word-based one, there's no definitional reason why an illustrated book aimed at 12- to 14-year-olds can't qualify for—and win—medals in both categories.
This One Summer is all about in-between-ness and liminality.
And if any book was the one to show how this overlap might work, it's Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki's monochromatic, intensely reflective graphic novel. As discussed on this blog series all the way back in November, narrator Rose's age is never actually specified. We know that her younger friend Windy is still very much a child and her aspirational "like eighteen"-year-old crush is too old for her, making Rose probably around 12.
But by writing (and drawing) Rose as an in-between character, the Tamaki cousins actively invite readers to think about liminality, or what it means to be part one thing and part another. Suspended between childhood and young adulthood, Rose is the perfect protagonist of a book that's the first ever to be recognized by both the Caldecott and the Printz committees.
Sure, there've already been calls to redefine the Caldecott criteria to include only books aimed at children 12 and under—and already questions of whether collections that're determined to buy every Caldecott book will wind up with a title that doesn't quite belong. But I think the dual recognition of This One Summer is great for the book, great for children's and YA lit, great for graphic novels and great for ongoing discussions about what these awards are . . . or should be. Like Ron and Hermione, these two opposites might have more in common than they first appear.
What do you think of This One Summer's dual win? Do you think young-leaning YA graphic novels should be eligible for the Caldecott? Tell us in the comments!
Locker Combinations is a Book Case feature by BookPage contributor and young adult (YA) literature expert Jill Ratzan. Using a variety of literary, cultural and educational perspectives, Jill guest blogs about the latest in YA lit and the general direction, trends and changes of the field. Read more BookPage reviews, interviews and posts by Jill here.
Once upon a time, BookPage sent me a copy of The Kingdom of Little Wounds (originally marketed for ages 14 and up) to read and review for the October 2013 issue. After I read it, I got out my drum and cried, "But it's not YA!" Associate Editor Cat Acree and I emailed back and forth about this issue for a whole day, and we ended up with enough talking points to write a (very, very short) dissertation. Or, as she suggested, to stick it on the blog (here).
And with that, Locker Combinations was born.
If you haven't been reading this series from its beginning, you probably aren't familiar with why we named it Locker Combinations. Here's why:
Locker Combinations is a way to "see inside" YA (young adult) literature. By opening a locker, sometimes you find meaningful objects, like photos and mementos. Sometimes you find useful objects, like pens and pencils; informative objects, like your history textbook; or secret objects, like that note your friend slipped between the grates. Sometimes you find gruesome objects, like those gym clothes you've been meaning to take home and wash. And sometimes you find a mirror, where you can see an image of yourself.
With only a few more days before the launch of BookPage's new teen e-newsletter, Yay! YA (you can sign up for it here), I was asked to share with readers what exactly is so great about YA lit—and why it resonates with me!
The new year is a time to think about transformations. But year-round, YA lit focuses on the space between being one thing and being another, with characters sometimes choosing one option unequivocally and other times finding a way to embrace both. Teens think about these issues . . . but adults do, too.
Normally when I talk with students about transformations in YA lit, we talk about teenage shapeshifters: werewolves, selkies, dragons, etc. But to me this year's best example of transformation in YA lit is less metaphorical: Girls Like Us by Gail Giles. Over the course of this short, accessible book, developmentally disabled high school graduates Biddy and Quincy and their recently widowed landlady Elizabeth gradually transform from characters weighed down by their pasts—and by the labels society has assigned them—into people who can build friendships and careers and find happiness despite obstacles.
Veteran YA author Andrew Smith is no stranger to metaphor: The dark horrorscapes that mirror real world terrors in The Marbury Lens (and its companion novel Passenger) established him as a master of the form. Last year, though, Smith took metaphor to yet another level with Grasshopper Jungle, telling two stories, one about teenage boys and the other about giant hungry mutant praying mantises with only one thing on their minds. But are they really two stories, or is one a running metaphor for the other?
You don't have to be a teenager to appreciate the power of metaphor. Adult fiction deals with metaphor too, of course—especially in genres like fantasy, science fiction and horror—but YA's metaphors tend to be more immediate and closer to the surface. Like Smith's oversized insects, this makes them impossible to ignore.
YA lit is often dismissed as more simplistic than adult fiction, but books like E. Lockhart's We Were Liars refute that notion.
Some stories have a beginning, a middle and an end, in that order. Sometimes only one story is being told at a time, and sometimes readers can trust a story's narrator to tell the truth. None of these are the case in Lockhart's postmodern, boundary-pushing YA novel. Narrator Cady's tale of summer friendship and romance on a privileged family's private island is constantly interrupted by flashbacks, bits and pieces of fairy tales and hints that a mysterious accident may be linked to sinister secrets that Cady's bouts of amnesia won't let her access. Lockhart's highly literary, experimental style challenges teen readers to create their own understandings out of disjointed, sometimes complimentary and sometimes contradictory narrative threads.
Lockhart's novel is only one of innumerable YA books that demonstrate that YA can be just as complex, nuanced and multilayered as literature written for adults.
How much power do teens—especially teenage girls—have over their lives and the lives of others around them? Conversion by Katherine Howe explores this question through two parallel stories, one taking place at the time of the Salem witchcraft trials and the other set in a modern Massachusettes high school. In 1692 Salem, teen Ann Putnam Jr. finds herself at the heart of the town's witchcraft hysteria, while in the present day an unexplained neurological illness is creating panic at all-female St. Joan's Academy. Are the sick girls—and the supposed witches' victims—being controlled by outside forces, or have they been the ones in control all along?
Determining, negotiating and reworking questions of social power are definitely not the exclusive purview of teens. Adult power dynamics can be so complicated, and can have such high stakes, that reading about teens who change the world is a good way to put things in perspective.
In some ways, the issue of identity is central to all of YA lit. Consider Noggin by John Corey Whaley: Sixteen-year-old Travis, dying of leukemia, has agreed to an experimental, last-chance treatment. His head has been attached to another teenager's formerly-dead body. In part because the body he inhabits isn't his original one—and in part because five years have elapsed since his head was frozen and then thawed—Travis quickly finds that a lot of rethinking is in store. Although the premise sounds silly, Travis' identity struggle (and his highly punnish sense of humor) will resonate with any teen who's ever wondered who they really are.
And who doesn't sometimes feel like they're walking around in a body that's completely different than what's in their head?
Reading YA lit, especially recent books that accent some of the most interesting ideas that YA tackles, is a great way to get through the winter doldrums. And if your 2015 New Year's resolution is to read more YA (and why shouldn't it be?), don't forget to subscribe to Yay! YA to learn about the latest reviews, author interviews and web exclusives on BookPage.com. Happy reading!
Locker Combinations is a Book Case feature by BookPage contributor and young adult (YA) literature expert Jill Ratzan. Using a variety of literary, cultural and educational perspectives, Jill guest blogs about the latest in YA lit and the general direction, trends and changes of the field. Read more BookPage reviews, interviews and posts by Jill here.
In only a few weeks, the American Library Association names the winners of its Youth Media Awards! In the spirit of the season, here are my predictions for the two biggest young adult (YA) lit awards, the Michael L. Printz Award and the William C. Morris YA Debut Award.
The Printz Award recognizes each year's best book written for teen readers, based entirely on literary merit. Up to four second-place Honor books can also be named. Established in 2000 to help bring legitimacy and visibility to books for teens, it's the highest award in YA lit.
What I think will win: This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki.
BookPage loved this monochromatic graphic novel about happenings large and small in the beachfront town where teenage Rose and her parents spend every summer. Reviewer Molly Horan writes that the story "perfectly captures . . . the dawning realization that no matter how static a place may stay, the process of growing up forces a change in feelings and perceptions."
On School Library Journal's award speculation blog Someday My Printz Will Come, librarian Sarah Couri has also tagged This One Summer as a good Printz candidate, and I completely agree with her reasons:
To these reasons I'd add two of my own. At the risk of getting too academic, children's and young adult literature is traditionally defined by its lack of authenticity. Although it's written for young readers, it's written by adults. But occasionally an authentic piece of childhood culture will creep into an adult-authored piece, as when Rose and her friend Windy play the aspirational pencil-and-paper game M.A.S.H. (Mansion Apartment Shed House). Lots of preteens (or readers who were once preteens) will recognize this game, but many won't have seen it mentioned in a book before.
And, as discussed on this blog last month, narrator Rose's age is never actually stated. This intentional lack of information forces readers to actively engage with the text (and the illustrations) to figure out for themselves Rose's place among the other characters. In scholarly parlance, this facilitates active, participatory meaningmaking.
So far, Printz medals have always been won by single authors (although author Daniel Handler and illustrator Maira Kalman shared a Printz Honor for Why We Broke Up in 2012). Maybe the time has come for a creative team—like cousins Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki—to take home the gold. And since a graphic novel has won the Printz Award before (American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang in 2007), the committee may be open to naming another sequential art winner.
Can I pick another? I'm doing it anyway . . . but this one's more of an outside contender: Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn.
Speaking of authentic preteen pasttimes, Kuehn's books are like those origami fortune tellers you might have made in middle school (or might have read about in the middle grade hit The Secret of the Fortune Wookie: An Origami Yoda Book by Tom Angleberger). Each flap unfolds to reveal something interesting, until one final unfolding turns the entire structure inside out.
Complicit, a suspenseful psychological thriller about a teen investigating a fire set by his sister, features an unreliable narrator with unusual psychosomatic symptoms and a past speckled with violence and loss. It stands out, even in a year with other strong unreliable narrators (like We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and Love Is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson), and holds its own in comparison to older, similar works like Invisible by Pete Hautman. And even though I suspected that, like Kuehn's 2013 Morris Award-winning Charm & Strange, Complicit would have a twist at the end, I still finished the story feeling turned inside out . . . in a good way.
A relative newcomer to the scene (it was first awarded in 2009), the Morris Award honors YA debuts. Unlike the Printz, the Morris Award publishes a list of five finalists each year during the first week of December.
I'm rooting for The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos. Told in the form of a college admission essay, it's the story of a teen boy falling in love with music and finding himself after trauma. The book, inspired by the author's own experience touring with a band, is set in the 1980s—which means lots of pop culture references (and no cell phones!). Even in a year where high-profile titles like Andrew Smith's Grasshopper Jungle also address friendship among boys, Vlahos' treatment of the topic still stands out.
What YA books would you love to see recognized by these, or other, YA lit awards? Let us know in the comments!
To keep up with YA news and reviews, sign up for our new YA e-newsletter, Yay! YA, coming in 2015!
I'm a polyamorous reader. At one point last month I had two books open at the same time: Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison (for this blog post) and The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier. Angus, Thongs is a laugh-out-loud contemporary realistic fiction young adult (YA) book; The Night Gardener is a ghost story set in the mid-19th century and written for middle grade readers (ages 9 to 12, or grades 4 to 7). Both feature 14-year-old protagonists. What makes one YA and the other middle grade?
Literary agent Carlie Webber wrote in 2013 that she eschews manuscripts with 14-year-old characters. Fourteen-year-olds, Webber argues, lack the childlike "outlook of wonder" that characterizes middle grade fiction—but despite beginning to acquire a jaded teenage outlook, they're stuck being chauffered by their parents, so "there's not a lot they can do to really affect a ton of change." And marketing books with 14-year-old protagonists is tricky, because this age is where two major priorities start to conflict. Conventional wisdom says that young readers like to read about characters a few years older than themselves. But readers also like to be able to relate to characters—and at age 14 "delightful things like puberty" start to differentiate children's experiences from those of teens.
More recently, writer Dianne K. Salerni, author of The Caged Graves, writes of similar issues. At her publisher's request, she reduced the protagonist's age in her middle grade book The Eighth Day from 14 to 13, because "age 14 was a No Man's Land as far as book stores . . . are concerned. If my main character was 14, the book would be shelved in the Teen section, where it didn't belong." Salerni goes on to brainstorm factors that might be relevant to character age, including popularity ("Percy Jackson ages past 14" but "I was not . . . Rick Riordan"), character or author gender, and genre and setting. She insists that "the premise of the story, the tone, the voice, and the themes matter more than the age of the main character."
One of this year's standout YA titles, the graphic novel This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, is a great example of a book that not only avoids these pitfalls but actively subverts them. Protagonist Rose's age is never explicitly mentioned. Instead, she's sandwiched between her childlike friend Windy ("one and a half years younger than I am") and her sort-of crush, who she admits is way too old for her ("He's like eighteen. That's like perverted."). Rose and Windy often joke about sex, but its real implications—like teen pregnancy, marital relationships and infertility—are harder for Rose to process. Because the story is set on a small-town beach, transportation is never an issue, and because it's summer, neither is school. Is Rose an older kid, or a younger teen? How do others see her? How does she see herself? (This One Summer's exploration of these questions is part of what might make it a serious contender for this year's Printz Award.)
With all this in mind, let's take another look at YA Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and middle grade The Night Gardener, both with 14-year-old main characters. Unlike the realistic Angus, Thongs, the spooky The Night Gardener takes place in a semi-fantastical historical setting. When protagonist Molly and other characters need to travel they do so by horse-drawn wagon, but most of the action takes place in and around a self-contained family mansion in the first place. Middle grade readers can relate to Molly not only because of her inherant hopefulness but also because she doesn't have to contend with, say, the daily social politics of ninth grade (or in British-speak, fourth form) the way Georgia Nicolson of Angus, Thongs does.
And then, of course, there's that puberty thing. Georgia's constantly thinking about boys, makeup and the eponymous undergarments, while these matters never seem to cross Molly's mind. Identity as a sexual being—blended with genre, setting and jadedness vs. optimism—may be what makes some 14-year-olds' stories YA and others middle grade.
What are some of your favorite books with 14-year-old characters—or characters whose age is never specified? Are these characters still open-minded kids, or world-weary teenagers? And who do you see picking up these books—adults, kids or teens?
Locker Combinations is a Book Case feature by BookPage contributor and young adult (YA) literature expert Jill Ratzan. Using a variety of literary, cultural and educational perspectives, Jill guest blogs about the latest in YA lit and the general direction, trends and changes of the field.
Locker Combinations is a Book Case feature by BookPage contributor and young adult (YA) literature expert Jill Ratzan. Using a variety of literary, cultural and educational perspectives, Jill guest blogs about the latest in YA lit and the general direction, trends and changes of the field. This month, Jill looks at one of our favorite classic YA novels, Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison.
Teen Read Week kicks off this Sunday! As an annual celebration of reading for fun, this is the perfect time to look back on one of the most fun YA books of all time.
Fourteen years ago, 14-year-old Georgia Nicolson made her debut in the pages of Louise Rennison's laugh-out-loud funny Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. Nine more books, an online short story and a movie would follow.
In hour by hour—and sometimes minute by minute—diary-style entries filled with British slang and her own neologisms, Georgia relates her adventures with her half-wild cat Angus ("I used to drag him around on a lead, but as I explained to Mrs. Next Door, he ate it"), her 3-year-old sister Libby, her best friends Jas, Ellen, Rosie and Jools, and most of all her attempt to snag—and snog—Robbie, the Sex God. In between, she and her classmates study geoggers and blodge (geography and biology), debate what boys really mean when they say "see you later" and handle various beauty mishaps, like shaved eyebrows and attempts at hair dying.
If these seem like silly concerns, they're supposed to be. As Rennison told BookPage in 2003, her path to writing about Georgia started when a newspaper column of hers caught a publisher's attention in an unusual way. (The publisher "asked me if I would consider writing a teenage girl's diary book. I said, er . . . why me? and they said, because we have never read anything quite so self-obsessed and childish, so we thought you could do a really good job.")
The glossary at the end of the book might be even more fun the main story. Georgia spells out the exact meanings of deely-boppers (an amusing piece of headwear), nuddy-pants ("literally nude-colored pants, and you know what nude-colored pants are? They are no pants"), "double cool with knobs" (which means "very" but is "altogether snappier") and other terms, to hilarious effect.
Recently the Guardian featured a guest piece by author Louise Rennison reflecting on how well the British humor of Angus, Thongs and its sequels has translated to "Hamburger-a-go-go land"—that is, the United States. Among other points, Rennison relates a confusion as to whether or not Americans wear knickers and an oddly impossible interpretation of the British title of the fifth book, . . . And That's When It Fell Off in My Hand.
Rennison's article was perfect timing, because I had recently been reminiscing on the bizarre incidents, urban folklore and noteworthy reputations that've accumulated around this cult classic over time.
First, there's Rennison's unusual path to writing about Georgia's "fabbity fab fab" life. As Rennison told BookPage in 2003, a newspaper column of hers had caught a publisher's attention in an unexpected way. (The publisher "asked me if I would consider writing a teenage girl's diary book. I said, er . . . why me? and they said, because we have never read anything quite so self-obsessed and childish, so we thought you could do a really good job.")
Then there's the climate of YA lit into which Rennison was writing. Angus, Thongs, a 2001 Printz Honor book, entered the American YA lit scene in April 2000, at a time when the Printz Award had just recognized its first crop of winners, John Green was about to graduate from college, and Harry Potter fans were eagerly awaiting the upcoming fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Technology was different, too: Georgia and her friends pass notes in class rather than texting, call each other from "phone boxes" and listen to music on audiotapes. But their desire to evade school rules, their interest in kissing lessons and their frustrations with their parents are universal teen themes.
And don't forget about the longstanding appeal of the diary format itself. Georgia's entries are immediate and highly emotionally charged, with the quick ups and downs characteristic of teens' feelings ("6:00pm: Is my life over? Is this all there is? . . . 8:05pm: Jas has just phoned to say we've been invited to a party at Katie Steadman's and . . . Katie has asked Tom and Robbie. YESSSSS!!!!")
Although Angus, Thongs didn't invent diary format or even bring it to YA lit for the first time (it's a defining feature of 1971's anonymous Go Ask Alice, for example), Rennison's book might very well have popularized and encouraged this way of telling stories. Diary format has gone on to be used in dozens of other YA novels, ranging from The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (also published in 2000) to Girls Like Us, longlisted for the 2014 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
And finally, there's the book challenges, the complaints and the apologies. In 2005, the second book, On The Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God, was challenged in a Bozeman, Montana, middle school on the grounds that "an unstable person seeing a girl reading the book might think from the title that the girl was promiscuous and stalk her." (Louise Rennison had appeared on the American Library Association's most frequently challenged authors list two years before, in 2003.)
In another incident posted on a children's lit listserv at the time, a bookseller found herself awkwardly explaining to a horrified parent what "snogging" meant (it means kissing, not to be confused with the significantly more R-rated "shagging").
Lastly, one of my own YA lit students shared an incident of her own with our class. Echoing Seventeen magazine's review—"You might want to refrain from reading this one in public"—my student found that Angus, Thongs and public transportation didn't quite mix. "I was reading it on the bus and laughing hysterically, and everyone was looking at me funny," she mock-complained.
Fans of Rennison's latest work might want to check out last year's The Taming of the Tights, her third book featuring Georgia's theater-loving cousin Tallulah Casey. But to some readers, nothing quite compares to their very first encounter with one of YA lit's funniest teens.
What retro YA book have you been meaning to read . . . or re-read? Let us know in the comments!


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Consider a real life situation. A personnel staffing analyst is assigned the task of developing and implementing a selection system for an occupation in his or her organization. The analyst knows that there is a vast research literature in the area of industrial/organizational psychology on the validity and utility of various selection methods. However, the staffing analyst may lack the technical knowledge to fully understand this technical literature, and may not have the time needed to survey and absorb the vast literature.
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Austin, TXUSA
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Boats and transportation may be provided, depending on availability and on the needs of each activity; please don't be afraid to ask.
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See definition in Oxford Advanced Learner's DictionaryLine breaks: nu|clear en¦ergy
Definition of nuclear energy in English:
noun[mass noun]
The energy released during nuclear fission or fusion, especially when used to generate electricity.
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Fly from Vancouver to Fort McMurray, Alberta . Typical airfare prices on the Vancouver (YVR) to Fort McMurray (YMM) flight route vary greatly depending on the season you are looking to book in.
Please note, our system could not find pricing for this route in our database cache. Please use the search box above to find up to date pricing. If no flights can be found for this route, please try to search again using the closest major cities.


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User:Antonio Lopez
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Categories: Amateur, Hardcore, Voyeurism
Pornstars: Elizabeth Del Mar
Submited: 6 years old
Views: 5906
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Section 2257
Amateur Housewife busted by shadypi


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Charlotte Casiraghi by Mario Testino for Vogue Paris September 2011
Enjoyed this update?
7 Comments
Not as dynamic as one would have thought, for a Vogue Paris cover. I like the strong use of makeup to make you focus on her eyes.
Was hoping for something with a little more excitement/drama for the September issue of French Vogue… I'm not mad that Charlotte Casiraghi is on the cover, I just wish there was something more….
that's exactly what I thought when I saw it!


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Gathering Crows by TamberEllaWatch
©2012-2016 TamberElla
Sweet! ! ^~^
This is so unique I don't even have words for it O.o except, awesome!
so nice colours **
What a sky! Well done!
wow! love the lighting in this one!
the way you draw scenery is amazing! ^^
such beautiful colours!
such beautiful colours!
this pic should be considered as daily deviation u.u well done, I just have no words to describe it *.*
awesome effects
can i have ya skillz for colourin? plz imma treat them VERY nice!
Wowm those colours, it looks so vivid and amazing, it adds so much depth and interest to the image!
i bet
k im gonna say 3/4th of the time was spent doing all those windows on the buildings.
Good use of color~
This is absolutely amazing!!
This is absolutely amazing!!
This is amazing
The colors are really fantanstic. The stars are great too. (:
I love the colors!!!!
o D o
Lovely colours, looks so playful
Beautiful mix of colours
This is beautiful, I love the colors.
omg this is beautiful
I am so jealous of your works :') i love this!! It makes me filles with all kinds of inspiration!!
superb, and such an interesting composition
awesome pic
Oh wow, this is too good.
Every little detail you add.
Such magic.
Such magic.
your use of color A;DSFKAHSDKFJ fantastic <333
this is amazing!
Beautiful! I love this so much.
You are an excellent artist, and each new piece you add is always something grand to see.
You are an excellent artist, and each new piece you add is always something grand to see.
so pretty 8DDDDDDD
Wow this is really cool!
awesome lights!
Love the colors!
makes me think of chinese dragons
Love the colors .
hnnnnggg yes!
love your colors!
i accidently read the title as gathering cows. XD
That is all
That is all
OH. MY. GAWD. -stare-
by far one of the most well done and unique city backgrounds I've seen. Especially the way the creatures interact with the scenery! Such a cool perspective. Gosh you're just so amazing XD. I especially love all of the colors on the buildings. Just super impressive in general lol!
The space you've rendered into this image is fantastic! I adore the midnight city colour pallet too.
This is really nice, it is really awesome ^^ Nice work
OMG! i LOVE the colors of the city!theyre gorgeus! *-*


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1 Review
I had this dessert I a restaurant a few weeks ago and I LOVED it! I was so happy to find this recipe so I could recreate it at home. Although this recipe didn't quite look like what I had in the restaurant, it tasted just like it; maybe even a little better! It's very sweet, but not too sweet. I used a mix of walnuts and pistachios for the walnuts. Thanx for sharing!


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Sole developer for the poetry-prose hybrid visual novel, Kill The Din. Environment artist for The Royal Trap, and Sickness. Composer for myself. Writer for the blog Visual Novel Criticism. The rumours are true. Not that one.
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He's Back: A Guide to the Upcoming Schwarzenegger Resurgence
- By Robert Fure
- @RobertFure
- August 19, 2012
Just like a cybernetic killing machine from the future, Arnold Schwarzenegger just can't be stopped. Sure, he can take long breaks between sequels or be a two-term Governor of one of the biggest states of the union, but he'll always be back. Now that his political tenure has come to...
Terrence Howard and Dawn Olivieri Set to Join Newly-Titled Schwarzenegger Flick 'Breacher'
- By Nathan Adams
- @templeofreviews
- July 27, 2012
Up until this point they've been calling David Ayer's upcoming Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring crime film Ten. Which has made sense, because its a story about 10 DEA agents who rip off a drug cartel and then get bumped off one by one. But Ten is also a generic title that could...


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Simple Definition of clandestine
: done in a private place or way : done secretly
Full Definition of clandestine
: marked by, held in, or conducted with secrecy : surreptitious <a clandestine love affair>
See clandestine defined for English-language learners
See clandestine defined for kids
Examples of clandestine
The clandestine meetings, the passing back and forth of messages between Lodge and the plotters, the coaxing along of the generals, all had the emotional lift of a strong amphetamine. —Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 1988
The CIA's great innovation has been to concentrate in peacetime on 'covert action'—that is, the use of clandestine means to challenge policies and regimes in other countries. —Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Cycles of American History, 1986
And Pym was in London for a conference—no, he wasn't, he was attending a three-day course on the latest methods of clandestine communication in a beastly little training house off Smith Square. —John le Carré, A Perfect Spy, 1986
<I took a clandestine peek at the price tag on the diamond necklace.>
Origin of clandestine
Middle French or Latin; Middle French clandestin, from Latin clandestinus, from clam secretly; akin to Latin celare to hide — more at hell
First Known Use: circa 1528
Synonym Discussion of clandestine
Rhymes with clandestine
Learn More about clandestine
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for "clandestine" Spanish Central: Translation of "clandestine" Nglish: Translation of "clandestine" for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of "clandestine" for Arabic speakers
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What made you want to look up clandestine? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).


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But those shadows have been sinking into the waters over the last three weeks. That is because the rainwater the Indus River carries has turned the Punjab plain into an inland sea.
In that inland sea are vaguely visible roads and coincidentally remaining desolate homes and villages on the small islands. I am imaging the images news agencies have sent out while flying over the region in a helicopter and the numbers, the close to 20 million people waiting for help, the women at the brink of death, the young girls and boys with thin necks. It's a little comforting to know that they are not still there, under threat. But the danger is not completely gone. Millions of people who've lost their lands are waiting for the world's compassion in the shelters they've taken refuge in.
So far only a few of the promises that have been made about aid have been kept. But even if promises were fulfilled, the current government's ineptitude has left many people feeling skeptical. Some people have expressed concern that aid sent to Pakistan would benefit al-Qaeda. But Pakistani Foreign Affairs Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has stated that the lack of foreign aid would actually make al-Qaeda stronger. Pakistan's other problem continued even during the three days that we were there. An explosion in Lahore left 31 Shiites dead. The continuous internal strife in the country appears so hopeless that there isn't the slightest sign of democracy on the horizon.
The source of Emine Erdoğan's compassion
It's a known fact that major disasters shake oppressive and pro-status quo administrations. My hope is that by becoming dependent on foreign aid the isolated pro-status quo Pakistani regime will be opened up to scrutiny. A member of the press whom I spoke to there mentioned the stereotypes that have been broken by foreign relief teams that came after the flood disaster. Apparently seeing blond and blue-eyed Westerners whom conservative groups in Pakistan thought were "devils" until now struggle tooth and nail to provide relief has helped them to realize that they aren't bad people. In every good there is evil; in every evil there is good!
I visited disaster victims gathered from the Indus Valley at the Sukkur camp. The incredibly dedicated medical team from Turkey is providing treatment in the field hospital located in a camp that houses close to 2,000 people. The temperature is 40 degrees Celsius in the camp. With humidity, it reaches up to 50-55 degrees. The unbearable humidity that makes it difficult to breathe is a serious threat to especially children and pregnant women. Most people have injuries on their faces. It is said that there are thousands of children suffering from mosquito and snakebites. The sanitary supplies and food relief are not enough. I try to speak with the Sindhi children at the camp. Not knowing a single word that would help me to learn their name, I look into their dark, black eyes. The sound of children's laughter from the camp where the beloved Amber Zaman was putting a smile on the children's faces with her affection gave me a sense of relief like a flock of birds flying away.
The care and attention shown by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's wife, Emine Erdoğan, who visited each camp where dozens of wounded, sick and elderly people had gathered, was admirable. Some people may think it was a symbolic visit. But there were serious challenges there that would have easily been exposed if the compassion was just for show. At times when many of us, from press members in the delegation to other participants, were having difficulty breathing because of the heat and humidity, Mrs. Erdoğan was showing sincere affection to every single victim. She asked all of them how they were doing and caressed their hair.
On the flight back, I wanted to speak with Mrs. Erdoğan privately partially because I was moved by what I saw. Even though I have never had any interest in the behind-the-scenes value of interviews with politicians I wanted to learn the source of her sincere compassion and unending kindness directly from her.
Following the visit to Brussels this past spring, I wrote that "the prime minister's biggest luck was having a wife like Mrs. Erdoğan." It was exciting to see if I was correct. She truly does have the affection and warmth that a woman from Anatolia should have. As well a wisdom acquired naturally. In brief, she is a lot like a mother. Her hands, touching talks, and tears are all too real.
Another facet of the picture I saw in Pakistan was this: Mrs. Erdoğan began her speech at the ceremony saying "When my husband and I came to Pakistan last year." She could very well have said, "When the prime minister and I." I think this style that she developed naturally reflects her strength and awareness of equality.
Caroline Koç, an important name in Turkish high society, was also a part of the Pakistan trip.
The wife of a leader of a party known to have conservative values espouses the values that Turkey has created and carries them to different parts of the world. To me this seems like a critical sociological case. For obvious reasons, it is not easy for conservative and secular values to unite in Turkey. For now this union takes place abroad, just like on the Brussels trip. But it's inevitable for the cooperation achieved abroad to manifest its effect inside the country.
After all, normalization has already started. How much longer can women who've made peace with Mrs. Erdoğan's headscarf continue to militantly defend the headscarf ban? The ice is breaking. What's nice is that this rapprochement is happening with natural dynamics.
Koç's participation in the Pakistan trip, which is a trip of compassion, is like the crux of many problems in Turkey. In an Eastern society like ours that is trying to become Western, the reconciliation of values and classes depends on reconciliation between women. First, women need to make peace. First, women need to speak out. Only then will normalization be achieved. Only then will a great speech have impact.
Not too long ago, a businessman from Diyarbakır who was talking about the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) said: "Women and youth are the most militant ones. They are the ones who escalate severity." In response, I had said: "Just like the women in İzmir. Just like blond women who have the nerve to pull the headscarf off of women wearing it." This is the case in every society. Women are inclined to become radical because their emotional world is bigger. But womanhood has another side to it as well. When they act with common sense and sensitivity their womanhood turns into an incredible transformative power. This is the great strength of motherhood and womanhood. It is for this reason that the reconciliation of values between women will reveal society's real strength.
This is how we need to interpret the dialogue presented first in Brussels and then in Pakistan.
The ability of secular women to learn from and contribute to conservative values is Turkey's main strength. The ability of lifestyles and rights won starting from the Ottoman Empire to learn how to coexist without surrendering to each other is a critical case.
Secularists and conservatives can continue to bicker on the political scenes because it is these kinds of ties that establish social peace. Not only does Koç have no problem with the values Mrs. Erdoğan represents, but she is taking them to different parts of the world, portraying a powerful womanhood.
A similar power exists in just about every field. Turkey is immersed in international activities that far exceed what it has done throughout the history of the republic. Anywhere you go you come across Turkish businessmen, entrepreneurs, nongovernmental organizations, politicians and members of the media. In the past, when a disaster happened in another part of the world, our only news source was Western agencies. Today, reporters from Turkey are sending news to the world. One of these people is TRT Türk's correspondent Levent Öztürk. He sent tragic images from the area starting from the first day the flood started. Not just members from the media but the number of people from other fields who go to remote parts of the world to provide relief, teams that carry out constructive work and entrepreneurs is rapidly increasing. I had felt the same way when I saw Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency's (TİKA) projects in Afghanistan.
'We didn't come for the disaster, we were already here'
The same kind of effort is being shown in Pakistan. After bringing aid to the region following the earthquake in 2005, the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) set up a permanent unit. "We didn't come here for the disaster. We were already here," said Chairman Tekin Küçakli, without trying to hide his pride about it.
Indeed, aside from Turkey's known image, Turkey is a country that is strengthening its relations with the outside world. It is not enough to just have a strong economy or a high national income per capita to be able to help others. You also have to have a confident spirit that is not afraid of developing relationships. Mehmet Ersoy, the president of the recently established Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), which is designed to provide immediate relief in 60 countries, says, "We've developed into a country that is respected in international relief meetings."
When you observe all of these improvements, you realize that the politics inside the country is far behind what's happening outside. With unprecedented momentum Turkey is heading from one country to the next and presenting itself as a powerful country that helps poor people, disaster victims and groups in conflict. And it is doing all this without neglecting modern values. A wonderful example of this was the bags featuring the logo of the Secretariat General for European Union Affairs (ABGS) that accompanied us during our tour in Pakistan. Plastic boots and raincoats were not the only thing in the blue bags prepared by ABGS under the leadership of State Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bağış.
I think the image of Europe delivered to Pakistan by way of Turkey is a significant new political situation. In helping Pakistan, Turkey is not relying solely on the compassion that is heightened during Ramadan as Mrs. Erdoğan hinted. It is also bringing with it a combination of values including those represented by Koç and the ABGS logo, the well-equipped medical teams of the Health Ministry and Kızılay's works.
My only small criticism is that help is voluntary, and unless it is crowned with humility it turns into a show. The aid that has been provided is very valuable and necessary, but making desperate children and elderly people you help hold the Turkish flag in their hands seems like an attitude that is far from humility to me. With efforts being underlined this much, I'm not sure what impression the aid will leave on people.
What difference will there be between you and the old colonialists if you seek more when you've won so many people's hearts?
*Bejan Matur is a poet.


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"Turning and turning in the widening gyre" is an appropriate last chapter for a book that is an amazing picture of the wheels of global capitalism as it lifts some and crushes others over centuries, continuously depleting "the reservoirs of human energy" and "the limited treasures of a wasting planet". Continue reading
Category Archives: Garments
Reflections on "Unprecedented Changes" in the Garments Sector of Bangladesh
by Farida Khan for AlalODulal.org
The Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza collapse has made many Western consumers shudder at the thought of their complicity with sub-human conditions in the Third World factories where their clothes are sewn. While consumers are often careful to avoid purchasing soccer balls sewn by child labor Continue reading
Unprecedented Changes in the Garments Sector of Bangladesh
by Farhad Mahmud for AlalODulal.org
Soon after the Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza collapse, there were two types of reaction from the buyers who were sourcing garments from Bangladesh. There was one group who felt they need to move away from sourcing from Bangladesh. Another group felt somewhat responsible Continue reading
TUBA STRIKE: What a country have we become!
Just as it is a crime to use hapless humans as shields in wars, the Tuba group has committed a crime by using hungry and wage-depraved workers. The Labour Minister has legitimised this use. The Shamim Osman(s) rely on the support of the party in power, and garment factory owners rely on the government support. What a dreadful situation.
The smell of siege and the fragrance of freedom
The Smell of Siege and the fragrance of freedom
'Like fish in a barrel, with nowhere to go'
Galloway, on Gaza
by Seema Amin for AlalODulal.org
It must be that nothing is inviolate in a violated world. Continue reading
Do they know it's Eid Mobarak?
জিয়া হাসান: "আজকে যদি এই রাষ্ট্রে একটা মানবিক এবং নৈতিক সরকার থাকতো, তবে তার দায়িত্ব হতো, তোবা গ্রুপের সকল ডাইরেক্টরদের স্থায়ী অস্থায়ী সকল ধরনের সম্পদ এবং মেশিন বিক্রয় করে, এই গ্রুপের শ্রমিকদের বেতন পরিশোধ করা।"
Continue reading
'Beauty' for the Owner, 'Deformity' for the Labor
In scores of rallies and public meetings, workers raised questions about the luxurious life led by factory owners while they lived in sheer misery. `While you (factory owners) eat the chicken's thigh, we chew its feet, its claws."
'Beauty' for the Owner, 'Deformity' for the Labor
by Saydia Gulrukh Continue reading


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Overdue Christmas Present: Naughty boy by bebob4999Watch
©2014-2016 bebob4999
Elves tickling the feet of a naughty person, the perfect excuse for us to include tickle torture in christmas. This dude is certainly going to be here for quite a while it seems! And seeing his reaction from a mere feathering, I dare not think what happens when the tickling on his feet gets ''serious''.
hee-hee! cool!
I would love to see when it gets serious
Good Job,also love the feet/facial expression of the lee
Nice job, I like his feet and facial scruff Mean little elves!
Haha zon cadeaus mogen ze nog veel geven , wel liefst met iets vrouwelijk in maar de rest mag ook plezier hebben XD , tof gedaan zo.
The perfect time of the year for the naughty ones to receive such punishment, which is a gift to the rest of us >XD Loving the gift box stocks~
Great pic
He shoulda taken coal...


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According to this report from Reuters, legendary software design guru, Larry Tesler, is leaving Amazon.com for a job at Yahoo where he will serve vice president of Yahoo's User Experience and Design Group. He will also be a Research Fellow for Human-Computer Interaction within Yahoo Research Labs.
Tesler has one impressive (understatement) resume. He worked at Amazon from 2001 until about a month ago. At Amazon, he was vice president in charge of improving the online shoppipng experience for consumers. Tesler worked at IBM's PARC Research Lab (1973-1980) as well as Apple during the early days of the Mac (1980-1997).
This news release from Yahoo has more about Tesler's background.


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Girl Pride is back — bigger and badder than ever!
One of the mainstays of Circle City Pride Week, last year's Girl Pride had the entire city talking! This year will be no different, with an even larger production value!
Tickets for this event will definitely sell out, so you will want to take advantage of online pre-sales, which you can secure now!
From TV stars to acrobats , DJs to drag queens, and everything in-between, Girl Pride is going to rock your socks off!
Wright released her debut album in 1994 on Mercury/Polygram. That album, Woman in the Moon, attracted positive reviews and Wright would go on to win the Academy of Country Music Award for Best New Female Vocalist for that year. Wright reached commercial success with her release on MCA Nashville: "Shut Up and Drive," from her third album Let Me In, hit the Top 20 US Country chart securely at #14. She continued along her successful arc with her follow-up up, 1999's Single White Female, which scored her first Number 1 for the eponymous single.
Ivy Levan's blossoming talent has been recognized by some of the most respected players in the music community, including world traveling DJ and producer, Diplo. Returning to her southern roots with a sound that she alternately dubs "swamp-hop" and "punk-rock Motown," Levan serves up a brand of blues-infused pop that boldly flaunts both her larger-than-life voice and gritty-yet-glossy, in-your-face energy. Ivy Levan's performances are high-powered and passionate, but they never skimps on good, filthy fun.
The Vallures bring their audiences soulful and endearing Motown music with a twist (and a shout)! The Vallures are the sounds of the summer of '66 at a Go-Go/sockhop. They dance & shake, move it and groove it with old hits, rarities, and a dash of originals that point and nod to that special style of '60s lush pop that will make you wanna do The Jerk and Boogaloo while your friends do the Watusi and the Bug all over your Mashed Potato. The Vallures experience is uptight, all right, outta sight, and is guaranteed to have you singin' and dancin' all night!
For local acoustic cover duo, Crackhead Patty, crowd participation is the key ingredient to their energetic shows. They've covered everything from pop hits like J.Timberlake's "Sexyback," to classics like The Carpenter's "Close to You," to indie kinda-hits like the Rusted Roots' "Send Me On My Way." You will likely know the words to everything they play and you'll want to sing along. And yes, they will let you. 😉
G!RL PRIDE DJs
Closing out the night, from 1am-3am, will be some of Indy's Best DJs — the G!rl Pride DJs. This prolific collective of local DJ extraordinaires — Gabby Love, DJ Chachi Guerrero, AriAtari, and DJ Fate — have collectively played all across North America, and have held down residencies at some of Indy's most discerning dance-floors, including the Vogue Theatre, Metro Nightclub & Restaurant, Talbott Street, just to name a few.
To handle the growing scale of this annual tradition, Girl Pride has been moved to the award-winning Vogue Theatre. With over 25 years experience in handling top-tier shows with high production demands from international recording artists such as George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse, and many more, the Vogue is the perfect spot to ensure the best experience for concert-goers.
Price: $25 online presales. If the show hasn't sold out, like it has in previous years, they will be $30 at the door, day-of.
A very limited number of $75 VIP tickets are also available, which will include a meet-and-greet with all of the performers. (VIP tickets are SOLD OUT!)


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Mapex 330B Series Boom Stand
Sku #H81696000000000
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A hardy cymbal boom stand with advanced features for entry-level rockers.
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