272 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780375866593
Reading Level/Lexile: 7th grade and up/860L
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Romance
Annotation/Teaser: When Lily leaves a red notebook full of challenges on a bookstore shelf, she is waiting for the right guy to come along and take the challenges. Dash finds the notebook but are they just destined to trade dares and their desires, as the notebook is passed around and they are taken on adventures all over New York City? Or could this be the connection that Lily is longing for?
Plot Summary: Dash and Lily are left alone during the Christmas break from school. Lily leaves a red notebook on a random shelf in a book store hoping that the right guy will find it. Dash just happens to be the guy who finds it. The red notebook is full of clues and dares and so begins the adventure of two people who have never met. Lily and Dash begin to construct dares and pass the notebook back and forth and visit places all over New York City. They only know each other from the pages of the notebook but they realize that their ideas may be totally different than reality. But when they finally meet Dash and Lily are in for a wonderful surprise.
About The Authors: Rachel Cohn Rachel Cohn is the author of the highly regarded young-adult novel Gingerbread and its sequel, Shrimp, among other works. Cohn knew that she wanted to become an author at an early age. As she stated on her home page, "from the time I learned how to read and write I was always trying to create stories. I grew up surrounded by books and by family who were educators—the desire and encouragement to write came readily in my household."
Rachel grew up near DC, and attended Barnard College, Manhattan at the age of 17. She graduated with a B.A. in Political Science, thinking she wanted to be a journalist. Instead, she moved to San Francisco - where Gingerbread was set - to work at a law firm and began writing. After moving back to New York City. Gingerbread was published followed by a number of other books, often about a strong, witty female protagonist. Rachel Cohn is now a full-time author living in New York City.
Rachel Cohn Bio (n.d.) Retrieved from www.wikipedia.org
David Levithan David Levithan was born September 7, 1972 in Short Hills, New Jersey. He graduated from Brown University in 1994 where he double majored in English and political science.
Since he published his first book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003, David Levithan has been making a positive contribution to the genre of LBGTQ YA novels. Boy Meets Boy, a “dippy happy gay teen book” as Levithan likes to describe it, features an openly gay main character named Paul who faces his sophomore year of high school and all of the drama that goes with it (davidlevithan.com). Levithan wrote this book with the purpose of creating gay characters who break the stereotypes of past literature; he does this by featuring gay teenagers living normal, satisfying lives without dwelling upon their social abuse. Often in LBGTQ literature, gay characters are defined by the way their social abuse affects them, but Levithan aims to define his characters based on who they are without conflict. Levithan says that Boy Meets Boy is neither fantasy nor reality, but is instead a novel about “where we are going, and where we should be,” as a society (davidlevithan.com). Other books that Levithan has contributed to the LBGTQ genre of young adult literature include The Full Spectrum, Wide Awake, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List and Will Grayson, Will Grayson. (2011)
Levithan’s strong background in writing about LBGTQ teens has surely influenced his writing of “A Word from the Nearly Distant Past,” Levithan’s contribution to How Beautiful the Ordinary. Despite many readers’ understandable assumption that Levithan himself has a homosexual orientation, he is very ambiguous about his sexuality and will not admit to being either gay or straight. Levithan’s sexuality may remain a mystery, but his understanding of the LBGTQ community is clearly shown through his literature. In his latest book in the LBGTQ genre, Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2011), Levithan creates a gay character who is by no means perfect. Levithan explains he did this because a perfect character would simply be boring to read about. By creating an imperfect character, Levithan faces the “danger” of representing the LBGTQ community negatively. Levithan was asked how he, as an author, deals with the criticism that he may be feeding into a stereotype of gay men. He responds by saying, “I can honestly say I’ve never thought for a second about whether a character reflects poorly on any group. All that matters to me is that the character is true to my belief in who he or she is” (Advocate contributors 2011). The fact that Levithan strives to represent the LBGTQ community in such a genuine manner makes his works highly eligible for use in the classroom.
David Levithan Bio (n.d.) Retrieved from www.beyondthepalebooks.net
Critical Evaluation: This is a well written romance about two main characters, Dash and Lily. The way this book was written makes it work. David Levithan and Rachel Cohn took turns writing the chapters, Levithan writing Dash's voice and Cohn writing Lily's voice. This works because both characters are likeable and while, not perfect, are made to seem real. Dash is a typical teenage boy filled with sarcasm and wit. One of the thing that makes him so real is his response to people and situations in the book. For example, when he finds the notebook and he is trying to find the Fat Hoochie Prom Queen. He decides to ask the man at the counter. He tells the man that he is looking for the Fat Hoochie Prom Queen and the man just stands there and looks at him. He then says, "It's a book, not a person." The development of the romance is not your typical romance story. The plot is slowly developed without the characters meeting until the end. But this is what works about this book. The plot in this book is unique and the idea of meeting someone and getting to know someone through a notebook in of all places, New York City is an exciting concept. While there were several slow parts in this book, mostly in the character of Lily, this is a great read for males and females.
Curriculum Ties: English
Book Talk Ideas: What would you do if you found a notebook on a random book shelf in your favorite book store? Tell the story of the dares (clues).
Controversial Issues: gay relationships, sex, and language
Defense:
*I will keep the library's selection policy on hand and memorized with a good understanding of the standards and policies to show that the selection meets the standards.
*I will keep
good and bad reviews (both electronic and print) and make sure they are from
reliable and respected sources such as School of Library Journal, Booklist, and
YALSA. I will have copies of these reviews to give away.
*I will confirm
the library's position to provide intellectual freedom as stated in the Library
Bill of Rights and keep a copy of this.
*I will keep
a written rationale to justify the reasons this material is included in the
collection, such as educational significance and curriculum ties.
*I will be
respectful and calm and practice "active listening".
*I will make
sure I read the material and are very familiar with it.
* I will keep a reconsideration form on file
in the event that my other strategies don't work.
Why I Chose This Book? I chose this book because it was such a fun read. I felt that young adults would love the characters in this book as I did.
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