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Published in New York by MTV Books
(1999)
"So, this is my life. And I
want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure
out how that could be."

These
are the letters of Charlie: the atypical teenager who deals with high school by
writing letters to an anonymous friend.
"I just need to know that
someone out there listens and understands and doesn’t try to sleep with people
even if they could have. I need to know that these people exist."

Charlie is a wallflower—one who seems
to just blend in with all the other students. A boy in the background. Because
of this, Charlie does not have many friends and writes these letters to tell
his story and stay sane. This letters make up the entire book.

Above
are the three characters of Sam, Patrick and Charlie to be played in the 2012
movie make of The Perks of Being A Wallflower. (Charlie--the top black
and white pictures, Patrick--the bottom black and white pictures, Sam--the only
girl).
Charlie
meets Sam and Patrick at the beginning of Charlie's freshman year, the brother
and sister duo that become Charlie's best friends and teach him how to be
himself.
"Sam has brown hair and very very pretty green eyes. The kind
of green that doesn’t make a big deal about itself...She was the first girl I
ever wanted to ask on a date someday when I can drive."

Charlie's
letters show us their journey of one year in high school and take us back to a
time of The Rocky Horrow Picture Show, alcohol, drugs, sex and
discovery.
"Sometimes,
I read a book, and I think am the people in the book."

Anna Marie's blog

Charlie is so open and honest about his
emotions. This makes his story so alive and real. It's almost as if all of his
ideas and thoughts are real questions, jumping out of the page and hitting us
right in the heart. How do you feel tonight?

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And in this moment, I swear we were infinite.

Love always,
Charlie



And in this moment, I swear we were
infinite.
Love always,
Charlie

Arthur Jackson

Adolescent Literature

Mrs. Deborde

1/27/12

Beatrice Sparks is an author/counselor who uses her therapy session tapes to create books for adolescent youths.  (She does not refer to herself as a author of these books since they are thoughts recorded from the child’s mind.)

The story Almost Lost is a collection of therapy sessions, lead by the author Beatrice Sparks that were turned into this remarkable story Almost Lost.  The story tells of a 15 year-old teen that has lived life in a very dark state-of-mind.  The book begins with Samuel Gordon being found on the front steps of Beatrice Sparks.  He is a very depressed adolescent who at first doesn’t want any help from any counselor and wants to die. 

“Who in his right mind wants to talk to a shrink?  I don’t want to talk about anything.  I don’t want to feel anything, taste anything…or anything.  The lyrics ‘just dying die’ run around in my brain day and night.”

However, he really hopes someone will help him get out of the dark pit his mind has been in for the past few years.  He decides to trust he counselor (Beatrice Sparks) he meets who decides to take him through a process to conquer his past for the rest of the book.  She feels compassion for this homeless boy and decides to counsel him.  The book travels through his rehabilitation journey towards freeing his mind of his past.  The book also teaches the reader how to deal with thoughts and their past with certain exercises that Beatrice Sparks teaches Samuel.

   

Letter to a Character: Beatrice Sparks

Hey Mrs. Beatrice,

Thank you for caring for a homeless teenager named Samuel.  I am so glad that you were able to help Sam fight his past and turn his life around.  It was so motivating to see your perseverance and patience with Samuel and his family’s troubled lives.  Your example was very inspiring to me and makes me wonder what I am doing to help teens in trouble like this.  What inspiring moment in your life made you want to be a counselor for troubled teens? I couldn’t tell through the therapy sessions but it seemed like you have some religious beliefs.  How do you manage to explain to your patients the difference between mind control and Christ controlling their lives?  How do you explain this to someone?  I assume that since you’re an expert you would know better than me.  Mind control is very important in the lives of a Christ; Paul speaks on this in the New Testament.  However, someone who doesn’t have a Christian background may unintentionally use mind control as a way to control their lives instead of God.

I would appreciate if you wrote back.  Your response to my letter would be a gift for me.  Thank you for writing such a great book,

Arthur Jackson

Twisted

I read the book Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson. I read it with the preconceived notion that the main character, a male, was going to be raped (I may have understood what Prof. Deborde had said about the book) and so i was curious to see how this was going to happen. The story was not about that however, it was about, well, me. not the situations but the main character, Tyler. He was me and in a lot of ways still is me. I am still a nerd on the inside despite my bulking presence, and i am still a person who lives in fantasies because They are unable to really move out into the real world because they are afraid of the possibility of them happening. There are several times during the course of the narrative in the book, where the protagonist Tyler, will break off the flow of thoughts with something out of left field. In one situation he sees the girl of his dream's brother who used to beat him up in middle school while visiting their house and when he comes in he immediately wants Tyler out and this follows
                                         

                                        Chip put the bottle on the counter and walked back to the door. “Don’t be such a slut, Beth. Tyler is leaving.” He smirked and made a sweeping motion with his arm, ushering me outside.

 I cross the kitchen in two steps. I put my hand around his throat and lift him off the ground with one arm. I heave him across the room. He slides the length of the counter and lands on the kitchen table. The fruit bowl crashes on his head, and an apple lands in his mouth. Little stars dance in a circle over him and his eyes roll up and… 

“Are you okay, Tyler?” Bethany asked. 

“Yeah, urn,” I said. “I better go.”"

This is the kind of thing I would think about but never do. and why i liked this book so much. It spoke directly to the kid inside of me who hasn't fully recovered from being so unseen in high school, and still wants attention from the cool kids. This is so sad.

I would recommend this to maybe seventh and eight grade students just so that before they enter High School they can take a look behind the curtain and understand the weight of their criticisms and judgments before they can ruin some peoples lives, plus they are growing and learning new experiences so it is good to know that they are not alone in the world when it comes to raging hormones and, sadly enough, thoughts of suicide and loneliness.


Dear Tyler,
You don't know me but i have a fairly good idea of who you are, I know what you are going through and i have been down that road. I have been steps away from running out that door and inches away from punching the old man in the face. As a matter of fact as i was reading your story i was picturing my father as yours, i couldn't break the resemblance and i really wanted to. I cannot recount the amount of times i have wanted to get up and go to the nearest Air Force recruiting station and get the hell out of my house. But i am a living testament to the fact that it will turn out all right. I am in college living in an apartment that i can pay for, and doing my own thing. You can get through it all, there is no doubt in my mind.
                                                                                                   best of luck, Adrian,

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

This week I read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. The movie came out this past weekend, and when I went to see it I loved it. Needless to say, this book seemed like a natural selection since it dealt with a young boy experiencing the loss of his father's death and how he copes with the tragedy.

After his father, Thomas, gets killed in the 9/11 attacks, Oskar Schell finds a mysterious key in an envelope with one work: "Black." He then sets out on a journey across the five boroughs of New York, meeting in alphabetical order various different people with the same last name. He is desperate to find what the key unlocks, something that he hopes will bring him closer to his father.

Because Oskar fears public transportation, he is determined to get to all of his destinations by walking. Here we see a shot from the movie of him with his Tambourine, and a packet that has his map, some snacks, and other various means for survival.

"I printed out the frames from the Portuguese videos and examined them extremely closely. There's one body that could be him. It's dressed like he was, and when I magnify it until the pixels are so big that it stops looking like a person, sometimes I can see glasses. Or think I can. But I know I probably can't. It's just me wanting it to be him."

"You want him to have jumped?"

"I want to stop inventing. If I could know how he died, exactly how he died, I wouldn't have to invent him dying inside an elevator that was stuck between floors, which happened to some people, and I wouldn't have to imagine him trying to crawl down the outside of the building, which I saw a video of one person doing on a Polish site, or trying to use a tablecloth as a parachute, like some of the people who were in Windows on the World actually did. There were so many different ways to die, and I just need to know which was his."

Later in the book we meet The Renter, a curious older man who lives with his grandmother and doesn't speak. Oskar finds a companion in him because he feels he can talk to this man like he talked to his father. The Renter begins to accompany Oskar on his searches and helps him plan.

I loved this book. It's much different from anything I've ever read. Foer's characters are very specific to him. I would highly recommend this book, as well as the movie. The emotions young Oskar experiences are very complicated, and he begins to realize with frustration that not everything has a logical explanation. It's something that the reader can relate to, feeling like a close friend to Oskar after reading in to his personal thoughts and feelings.

I Am The Cheese

At the time of his death in 2000, Robert Cormier was considered by many the most important writer in the whole of adolescent literature. Hitting stride during the sixties and seventies, Cormier was most certainly influenced by the prevalent social issues, writing often about conspiracies, uprisings, and governmental control. His plot lines often echoed fears of the underground communist movement and pitted his protagonists against powerful government organizations.

 I Am The Cheese was written by Cormier in the early seventies and was first published in 1977. He uses a layered narrative in which the protagonist, Adam, struggles to recover the memories of his past. Adam is journeying on bike from his home to a hospital where he believes his father is staying. While the present narrative progresses and he encounters obstacles along the way, the reader is also presented with tape recordings, where he's questioned by a doctor, Brit, who seems to be attempting to help Adam recover his memory.

The suspense rises continuously throughout the novel as Adam begins to uncover the truths of his childhood, but while it's refreshing for him to see the cause of his family's dysfunction, he begins to get weary of the doctors motives. His ride to the hospital is riddled with questions. Attempts to call his girlfriend seem to be blocked by an outside source, and hotels that he remembers to be thriving seem to have been closed for years. As occurrences become stranger on his ride, they also become more intriguing in the interview process, where facts seem to overlap and Adam is confronted with strange coincidences that don't add up. The narratives continue to progress side by side and as Adam reaches the hospital where he believes his father is being kept, his questioning ceases and he's taken back to his room. The following pages tie the plot lines together and present the reader with an interesting mix of questions and answers, culminating in a twist that does much to engage the imagination.  

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski

I had the opportunity this past week to reread a book a read a few years ago called Ham on Rye. This is one of a handful of semi-autobiographical novels, written by Charles Bukowski, that follow the life of a character by the name of Henry Chinaski. The majority of Bukowski’s works are in poetry and prose which brings an element of beauty and fluidity to his writing. This book follows Henry Chinaski through his horrendous childhood, acne-covered teenage years, and eye-opening post high school life.

All the pictures have what is intended to be a look of white air covering them. White air is a constant theme throughout the book. Chinaski finds entertainment in very strange things and couldn’t be less interested by the mundane routine of life that he refers to as “white air.” The pictures represent the things in his life that shined through the white air.

All through Chinaski's childhood he is abused by his father in multiple ways. The most graphic way that is depicted in the book is when his father makes him drop his pants in the bathroom and beats him with his strop. The first beatings are bad and Chinaski can't handle them. As time goes on, he builds up a mental and physical barrier against them and doesn't allow the beatings to affect him.

"My father seemed to sense the difference in me and he began to lash me harder, again and again, but the more he beat me the less I felt. It was almost as if he was the one who was helpless. Something had occurred, something had changed. My father stopped, puffing, and I heard him hanging up the strop. He walked to the door. I turned.

"Hey," I said.

My father turned and looked at me.

"Give me a couple more," I told him, "if it makes you feel any better."

"Don't you dare talk to me that way!" he said.

I looked at him. I saw folds of flesh under his chin and around his neck. I saw sad wrinkles and crevices. His face was tired pink putty. He was in his undershirt, and his belly sagged, wrinkling his undershirt. The eyes were no longer fierce. His eyes looked away and couldn't meet mine. Something had happened. The bath towels knew it, the shower curtain knew it, the mirror knew it, the bathtub and the toilet knew it. My father turned and walked out the door. He knew it. It was my last beating. From him."

Being a "tough guy" is one of the few things Chinaski has going for him in the book. He is consistently fighting, arguing, cussing, and talking about women. Fighting is an outlet for him. He enjoys it. He isn't the most technical fighter but in most of his fights he can last long enough that the other guys is worn out and then he goes after them. Fighting is a way of life for Chinaski and his friends all through this book.

"Then it was just head-to-head, no more boxing. His punches came fast and hard. He was more accurate, had more power, yet I was landing some hard shots too and it made me feel good. The more he hit me the less I felt it. I had my guy sucked in, I liked the action. Then Gene and Dan were between us. They pulled us apart.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Don't stop this thing! I can take his ass!"

"Cut the shit, Hank," said Gene. "Look at yourself."

I looked down. The front of my shirt was dark with blood and there were splotches of pus. The punches had broken open three or four boils. That hadn't happened in my fight with Gene."

 Women are a fascination for Chinaski. Although he doesn't really get involved with them, he is constantly talking about the women he sees. He has a special interest in their legs. He is always talking about how when the women readjust and cross their legs again, they reveal more of their legs. He finds real beauty in the women though, more than just a superficial beauty. He points out some thing of beauty in almost every woman he describes.

"One fine Spring day we were sitting in English class and Miss Gredis was sitting on the front desk facing us. She had her skirt pulled especially high, it was terrifying, beautiful, wondrous and dirty."

Chinaski becomes...attached...to alcohol at a very early age when his friend Baldy takes him into his father's wine cellar and they drink together. Through the way Chinaski speaks you can tell that drink would soon become a normal occurrence. As time goes on, he moves from being attached to dependent. He loves alcohol. He drinks whiskey, cheap wine, or whatever is free. He would rather drink than do anything else, especially anything that involves other people. As the book progresses, there are few to no times that Chinaski is not drinking when alcohol is available.

""Every time I see you you have a drink in your hand. You call that protecting yourself?"

"It's the best way I know. Without drink I would have long ago cut my god-damned throat."

"That's bullshit."

"Nothing's bullshit that works. The Pershing Square preachers have their God. I have the blood of my god!"

I raised my glass and drained it.

"You're just hiding from reality," Becker said.

"Why not?"

"You'll never be a writer if you hide from reality."

"What are you talking about? That's what writers do!""

The Fault in Our Stars Blog Review by Tony Simpson

Recently I got the chance to hang around with Augustus Waters, one of the protagonists from John Green's novel "The Fault in Our Stars." Well, I suppose 'hang around' is the wrong word; we spent several days together, flew to Amsterdam and back, met some memorable characters and ultimately had quite the adventure. During the intervening time, I had the opportunity to ask him a couple questions.

Me: So, how old are you, again?

Augustus: Seventeen and still kicking.

Me: What do you like to do? Any hobbies?

AW: Well, I’ve always loved a good action flick. You know, the one where the main guy heroically throws himself on a grenade for a girl. Also, Hazel Grace got me hooked on a pretty amazing book…

Me: Hazel Grace?

AW: What? How do you NOT know Hazel? She’s great.

Me: Sorry…how did you guys meet?

AW: Oh, the usual. Cancer Support Group and a movie night.

Me: Cancer?

AW: Seriously? Did you even READ the book? We’ve both got the stuff flowing through our veins.

Me: Wow, I’m sorry to hear that.

AW: Don’t worry about it. We’ve been dealing with it forever. We’re pretty used to it by now.

Me: What were you saying about that book?

AW: Oh, the one Hazel lent me? It’s called An Imperial Affliction. The worst part about it, though, is that it just ends. You’ve got all these unanswered questions and then all of a sudden it

Book/Novel blog by Isaac Gregorio

Author's name: Walter Dean Myers.
Book Title: RIOT
Publisher Location: New York

Summary: This is a non-fiction novel written in third person multiple (many characters talking within the story).  It is written from a historians perspective, dealing with the era of the civil war with the Irish and African Americans in a heated enconomic battle.  The main character Claire, a fifteen year old half Irish and half Afican American who is raised up in a moderate home helping her mother and father open up a hospitatility center.  However, things take a rapid change when President Abraham Licon orders a draft for the north that would help abolish slavery and help Afican Americans to have more opportunities in society.  Further more, the Irish at this time don't like the way things would end up if African Americans get more opportunities within in the economy because African Americans and the Irish would be competing for the same jobs.  This is because many of the Irish at this time are struggling economically to survive in America.  Therefore, the Irish start a riot and kill African Americans, rich people, and anyone who they feel is a threat to their economic competition.  During all the riots in New York, the fifteen year old Claire and her family stay safe in their hotel which was going to be made into a hospitality center until the riots calm down.  As the riots continue Claire doesn't understand why people are killing each other because of skin color and other differences.  She feels as if everyone should feel what she feels when it comes to people.

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