Comments | dreams_of_wings: Help from the Hive Mind

dreams_of_wings

Help from the Hive Mind

Jun 13, 2011 13:32

so! In the fall I am going to be teaching two sections of introduction to women's studies at Suffolk University, which I am beyond thrilled about. But perhaps even more exciting is the fact that the department has asked me to develop and propose an upper division course for the spring semester, and the idea of mine they were most excited about is a ( Read more... )

reading, teaching, ya

Comments 34

beah June 13 2011, 20:44:42 UTC

Most of the books I was thinking of have already been mentioned, but here are some other thoughts:

The color purple
Little house on the prarie (too young?)
Misty of chincoteague (too young?)
The hunger games (!)
The dragons of pern series
Clan of the cave bear

beah June 13 2011, 20:53:14 UTC

And because I'm *shocked* that no one has said it yet, Twilight! Really.

beah June 13 2011, 21:10:29 UTC

And what about The Virgin Suicides? White Oleander? Girl, Interrupted? The Bell Jar! The Lovely Bones (which, fwiw, I hated...), The Handmaid's Tale, Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, To Kill a Mockingbird (!), Julie of the Wolves (too young?), The Witch of Blackbird Pond (too young?), something from here?

cos June 14 2011, 02:08:19 UTC

I obviously did not read anything *as* an adolescent girl, but estheruth did, and she introduced me to her favorite - the Weetzie Bat series, which I think would do well on your syllabus.

I read different things sweetmmeblue June 14 2011, 03:17:08 UTC

I was reading Roger Zelazney at that time (13). Also Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew

As far as female leads, at that time I read Madeline L'Engle's A wrinkle in time, Swiftly tilting planet, wind in the door, and the third in the trilogy that is escaping me though I just reread them last month. I still have the poem from the third book framed that gilana gave me.

The non-white leads all came from school books and I can't remember any of them. OH! We read Diary of Anne Frank. That was HUGE for me.

queen_of_wands June 14 2011, 06:04:56 UTC

Possibly you would find it useful to look up my friend from college lj user=arias. She is of Indian (South Asian) descent and currently writing YA. She recently stretched herself to make me some awesome recommendations for toddler reading, but I think is much more comfortable recommending YA.

queen_of_wands June 14 2011, 06:06:03 UTC

Gah, thumb typing! lj user=arialas

ricevermicelli June 16 2011, 00:02:31 UTC

The thing that springs to my mind tonight is the incredible proliferation of the supernatural in books for adolescent girls. Is there some kind of cultural trajectory that runs from Buffy the Vampire Slayer through Twilight and the assorted Werewolf/Demon/Fairy/Vampire in high school titles that dominate YA these days? Does it go further back (Dracula, early 19th century gothic novels, and so on)? How do these works reflect the cultures that produced them? What do they say about adolescence, and about the social and cultural expectations facing young women?

ANd why are so many damn vampires white?

radtea June 19 2011, 22:41:14 UTC

ANd why are so many damn vampires white?

'Cause a NON-WHITE immortal killing machine would be Way Too Scary! :-(

With regard to the original question, "Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver is something I'd recommend. It features a number of strong female protagonists who are finding their way in unexpected worlds in unexpected ways.