No Shame, No Fear

No Shame, No Fear by Ann Turnbull

Published in 2004 by Candlewick Press

293 Pages

Warning: This novel contains some sensuality and mild mention of sex. The novel also includes language and physical abuse towards children. The novel also contains violence and religious persecution.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Religion

This is the story of two young people, Susanna and William, in love. But, there is conflict because of the stirring contention against the Quaker people. Susanna and the people she is boarding with are faithful Quakers. William's father is very anti Quakers, and wants his son to have nothing to do with them. In the beginning, William secretly goes to see Susanna. His father eventually finds out, and begins to threaten and beat his son so he will not see Susanna any more. As their love grows, the two cannot stay apart.

I loved this novel. I never knew that historical fiction could be so enjoyable. William and Susanna had such devotion for one another and lived pure lives. I enjoyed reading about them, and could not help but think of the persecution which they endured being similar to the persecution of the LDS people. I found the language and wit in this novel delightful. Following are my favorite quotes:

From Susanna, "I copied out his name and mine. I thought of this face, his eyes, the sound of his voice. At work around the house, and especially in my bed at night, I imagined being kissed by him, imagined his arms around me. I tried to stop these thoughts remembering Mary's warning, and mother's, too, but could not. It was like being swept away in a fast river" (87).

From Susanna while she is in the stocks, "I closed my eyes and shut out the faces and with it my shame; I tried also to shut out the physical pain. Thoughts crowded in and clamored to be heard: thought of Will, of out marriage, of London, of what my parents would say, or what dangers might be to come. But I knew I should not dwell on them now. I let them go. I turned toward the inward light and withdrew into it. A long way off, it seemed, there was mocking laughter. Someone spat in my face; a woman's voice hissed, "You people should be hanged!" I kept my eyes closed and imagined the light expanding within me. And at last I reached a state of peace; I knew that I could overcome all things and that nothing devised by man could hurt or shame me while I was held in the love of God" (277).

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
Published in 2007 by Square Fish
271 pages
Warning: This novel contains sensuality, language and drinking involving teens.
Genre: Love, Friends and Society

Naomi has fallen on the steps outside of her school; she does not remember why she fell or the reason she was going back to the school. Upon waking, everything and everyone is new to her. As she returns to school, she does not know who to trust and sees new faces everywhere. As Naomi discovers who she was in the past, she begins to redefine herself. Forgetting her previous boyfriend Ace, Naomi dedicates herself to yearbook and drama activities; she discovers love in a place she did not expect and becomes the person she wants to be.

I enjoyed this novel. It explores the idea of one single event changing the course of a life; Naomi opens the book talking about the various possibilities of how her life may have turned out:

"If things had been different, I'd be called Nataliya or Natasha, and I'd have a Russian accent and chapped lips year round. Maybe I'd even be a street kid who'd trade you just about anything for a pair of blue jeans. But I am not Nataliya or Natasha, because at six months old I was delivered from Kratovo, Moscow Oblast, to Brooklyn, New York. I don't remember the trip or ever having lived in Russia at all. What I know about my orphanhood is limited to what I've been told by my parents and then by what they were told, which was sketch at best: a week-old baby girl was found in an empty typewriter case in the second-to-last pew of an Eastern Orthodox Church" (7).

It is interesting that Naomi does not remember her time in Russia, as she does not remember her life before she fell down the stairs. While Naomi is told be people what she was like before her accident, she questions if she really did like those things. I found this novel to be a breath of fresh air, as Naomi is given the chance to redefine herself and question what her interests and morals were based on, if anything.

For deleted scenes from the novel that did not make the book, click here.

I also included the trailer for a movie that was made. But, the movie is Japanese....and there are three additional characters which were not from the book. Disappointing :(

The Friends

The Friends by Rosa Guy
Published in 1973 by Bantam Books
Warning: This novel does contain sensual material, alcohol use, shoplifting, and language.
Genre: Family, Friends and Society, Multicultural, Death

This novel is the story about Phyllisia Cathy, a young girl growing up in deteriorating Harlem in the 1960s. Phyllisia and her family have moved to New York from the West Indies. Phyllisia faces various obstacles as she attempts to overcome being beat up at school, her mothers death and her fathers abusive temper. Phyllisia develops an unlikely friendship with a poor girl Edith, and the two teach each other valuable lessons. Edith is raising her siblings with little help after the death of her mother. Alice Walker from the New York Times has explained the learning process which these girls go through as, "the grim struggle for self-knowledge."

This book is powerful and has a strong message for teens about where to find friends. I also enjoyed this book because of the multicultural element. The teens in this book experience different struggles I (growing up LDS and White in a very conservative are) have never encountered. I learned a lot about culture and how family is universally important to so many different people of various cultures.

Wintergirls

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Published in 2009 by Viking Juvenile
288 pages (7 hours audio)
Warning: This novel is NOT for the faint of heart. It contains extremely disturbing images and explicit narration throughout of self harm and negative feelings. Anderson does not hide anything. There is also explicit language in the novel.
Genre: Body Image, Friends and Society, Family, Death

Wintergirls tells the chilling details of Leah, a teenage girl dealing with the death of her friend. After her friend's death, Leah claims she is being visited by her ghostly friend who just died. The two shared one thing in common. Both had eating disorders.

Cassie called Leah over 30 times the night she died, and Leah never picked up the telephone. Full of regret, Leah leads a life of destruction and harms herself, as well as those around her.

Rather then reading the novel, I listened to it. The novel, which is already shocking, was even more intense to listen to. For those who can handle the detailed and descriptive narrated scenes, I highly recommend it. I would not have gotten the same reading if I had simply read the novel.

How Joe Succeeded

How Joe Succeeded by Mary Morrison
Published in 1905 by David C. Cook publishing Company
64 pages
Warning: mild language and a cross dressing lumber jack
Genre: Time period novel, Friends and Society

This is the story of a young boy named Joe and his adventure to make his family proud as a lumber jack. Joe has a special secret. He wears his grandma's gold beaded necklace around his neck; the necklace is his prized possession. While the novel is very well written and I enjoyed the various dynamics, the generational gap which exists for a person reading this novel having been born in 1990 makes this novel hilarious. Joe is very successful when he attempts to pull a number of logs out of the forest using a team of horses. No other lumber jack has been successful, but Joe is convinced he can do it. He does. Upon completing the task, the other lumberjacks ask him how he did it:

"It wasn't any trick," Joe persisted. "I just used [the horses] as I'd like to be used myself if I was a horse, that's all," he added empatheticaly (41).

The novel is also entertaining when it discusses gambling, and tells an experience Joe had while gambling.

"His eyes were fastened on the monster which was steadily devouring his hard earnings, which he still fed to it desperately, coin by coin, with a gambler's fierce persistence" (46).

Over one hundred years later, gambling still persists as a trap to many. I love this novel. It is strange, entertaining and short with a good lesson to tell. If you have a sense of humor willing to work, you will love this little novel.

MAUS: A Survivor's Tale

MAUS: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman
Published by Pantheon Books in 1986
159 pages
Warning: MAUS contains graphic images, gruesome language, graphic language, nudity, violence and suicide.
Genre: Holocaust, War, Family


MAUS: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman has been reviewed as "a remarkable work, awesome in its conception and execution...at one and the same time a novel, a documentary, a memoir, and a comic book. Brilliant, just brilliant." -Jules Feiffer

I picked up this book to read it with great expectations. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The book, a graphic novel, did not deliver like I had hoped. The plot involves a man hearing his father's survival story through the Holocaust. While the illustrations are chilling and some details are gruesome and hard to forget, I was not able to emotionally connect with the characters or the text of the novel. While there is fascinating symbolism and interesting cultural elements, I simply was unable to connect with the characters.

What I did enjoy is the symbolism as the different groups of people were represented by different animals. For instance, the Nazi's were cats, the Jews were mice and the Polish were pigs. A person may read into this symbolism how ever they choose.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Published by Henry Holt and Company in 2008
265 pages
Warning: This novel contains violence, mild gory images, language and drinking involving teens.
Genre: Family, Science Fiction

This is a fascinating novel which deals which challenging and thought provoking issues. The novel begins with a teenage girl, Jenna, who has just woken up from a comma. She has no memory of what has happened to her and she has been in a coma for a year. Her parents tell her she was in an accident. To help jog her memory, they tell her to watch video after video from her ballet recitals, beach trips and birthday parties as a child. Jenna begins to notice that her body now is different then her body from the videos. Curious, she looks for the truth behind what happened when she realizes her parents, and others, are lying to her.

Readers, throughout this novel, can expect to question what is the essence of a person that makes them a distinguishable human. After reading this novel, we begin to look at others differently and we question what is the essence of ourselves.

It is also interesting to look at the different covers which have been printed for this novel. Both provide readers with a different insight into this ground breaking novel.

Watch the following video for an enticing introduction.