The First Part Last

Bibliographic Information

Johnson, Angela. The First Part Last. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003. Print. 

Summary

The First Part Last is the difficult story of a teenage boy taking full responsibility for his newborn daughter. It is told in the first person, drawing the reader into Bobby’s story and his love for his daughter, Feather. The narrative switches between the past, before Feather is born and the current day, when Bobby is struggling with raising his daughter on his own. It recounts the very real struggles of raising a child by yourself, especially while still being a child yourself in many ways. 

Analysis

Bobby’s story is extremely touching and very relatable for many teens. Most teens know someone who has gotten pregnant as a teenager too, whether or not they kept the baby. Hearing the story from the perspective of a teen guy who chooses to stay gives a new perspective from many of the stories that exist and draws in both genders. In terms of weaknesses, the book sometimes makes Bobby’s struggles seem a little overwrought. He seems to have parents who are well-off and supportive, but then his mom completely separates herself from him and the baby and dad is barely mentioned until the last third of the book. It seems like these actions would be a bit out of character for the parents as they’re established in the “before Feather” sections. 

I feel like this story would appeal to most teens. It does focus on an inner city black teen, but his story is universal and has appeal to all races, cultures, and even ages. It is developmentally appropriate, especially for older teens who have experienced pregnancy in their social circles or schools. The First Part Last absolutely deserves its place in the canon of YA lit. Angela Johnson is a well known and very accomplished author and this story is well-written and engaging while telling a story which is not often told. Seeing the struggles of a young black man raising his child on his own is realistic and eye-opening to the challenges inherent in that experience. 

Activity

This book is a first person narrative that flashes back between the time leading up to a life-changing event and the results of that event. Have teens try to write their own story of a big event in their life in this same manner. Remind them to hold back some of the past information as they tell the present story and to balance between the times evenly. This will require thinking in a new way about an event that was important to them and help them develop writing skills. 

Related Resources

Coe Booth’s Tyrell series would be a great way to give interested readers another book to read that is similar in protagonist while being different in both plot and voice. It is still a black teenage boy struggle through with little parental support and a younger person to care for, but the circumstances differ dramatically and provide another viewpoint. 

Booth, Coe. Tyrell. New York: Scholastic, 2006. Print. 

If a reader is interested in getting familiar with an outstanding African-American writer, they should consider sticking with Angela Johnson. For young adult audiences, I’d recommend Heaven or Bird, both of which are interesting and developed enough for an older reader, though they may be a bit easier of a read for an older teen. Heaven is even set in Heaven, Ohio, where Bobby’s brother lives in this novel. If they have younger siblings, maybe the YA reader would even consider sharing their new author through some of Johnson’s beautiful picture books. 

Johnson, Angela. Bird. New York: Dial, 2004. Print. 

Johnson, Angela. Heaven. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. Print. 

Johnson, Angela. A Sweet Smell of Roses. Eric Velazquez, Illus. New York: Aladdin, 2007. Print. 

Published Review

Rochman, Hazel. "Reviews: The First Part Last." Booklist, vol. 100, no. 1, Sept. 2003, p. 122.

Bless Me, Ultima

Bibliographic Information

Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. Berkeley: TQS Publications, 1972. Print. 

Summary

Bless Me, Ultima tells the story of young Antonio Márez y Luna’s coming of age. It is the recollections of his adult self on the time when Ultima, a curandera (native healer) came to live with his family. During this time Tony begins school, learns English, witnesses three murders, and becomes a true adolescent. Adult Antonio reflects on the struggles he experienced about who he was to become. His mother’s family, the Luna clan, works the land and cares for crops and the earth. They are stalwart, quiet men who follow the ways of the moon. His mother hopes that Tony will become either a farmer or a priest. His father, on the other hand, comes from the Márez clan, a tribe of men committed to wandering as vaqueros and seeking adventures. Antonio himself cannot decide which path to follow and begins to question his own Catholic faith as he takes his First Communion and realizes God does not always work in as blatant and mystical ways as one may hope. Ultima guides Tony along his path, helping him grow and understand that sometimes life is much more complicated than just choosing one way or the other.  

Analysis

Bless Me, Ultima’s strength comes from Anaya’s own experiences as a young child in New Mexico. He wrote this novel specifically to share the history of a culture and area that was (and continues to be) underrepresented in literature. As one reads the story, they can see the passion and commitment he has to his culture and his own history. The magical elements blend well without pulling a reader out of the story itself. Antonio’s own questions and doubts are also very understandable and real. They are questions most people grapple with at some point, though some of his questioning does seem early for his age. The greatest weakness is definitely Anaya’s tendency to romanticize the time. Much of the story strays into dreamy descriptions and recollections. He does give readers a clear view of some of the down sides to the melding cultures, but much of it is still overly romantic.

It would probably appeal most strongly to youth with a connection to either New Mexico or Chicano history and culture. It is an interesting bildungsroman and the historical commentary is very different than most other novels for this age, though I found the story itself to be somewhat lacking in interest. There is also a good deal of violence and just general “boys being boys” that gets tedious and may bother some readers. It is developmentally appropriate, especially in Antonio’s struggle with his faith and trust, though the violence and some language may bother younger readers. Despite my misgivings about some of the elements of the story, it absolutely deserves its place in the canon of YA lit. Bless Me, Ultima was one of the first YA novels to approach Chicano history and culture in the English canon and needs to be recognized as such. 

Activity

This book would link in really well to a unit on Chicano culture and history. Even in a public library, it could be grouped with books on the history of New Mexico or other Chicano authors. As part of this display, youth involved in the library could create art in a traditional new Mexican style, write their own experiences as Chicano youth, or create other expressions of the culture as they learn about it. 

Related Resources

Doing a reading promotion on banned books would surely benefit from the inclusion of Bless Me, Ultima. This could also encourage young adults to ask about what other banned books they could read. I’d encourage continuing to read about American history and culture with books such as Their Eyes Were Watching God or even The Grapes of Wrath. These both embody an older America and both bring their respective time periods to life in a very real way. 

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1937. Reprint. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print. 

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. 1939. Reprint. New York: Penguin, 2002. 

For older readers, I’d recommend delving into magical realism, which is largely prominent in modern Latin American literature. Two of the most prominent authors in this genre are Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jorge Luis Borges. I would encourage students to find these elements that are also present (and perhaps a little too blatant) in Bless Me, Ultima. There are a number of other authors that are influenced by or writing magical realism, both in Latin America and in other cultures. 

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. One Hundred Years of Solitude. 1967. Reprint. New York: Harper Collins, 2006. Print. 

Borges, Jorge Luis. Ficciones. 1956. Reprint. New York: Grove, 1994. Print. 

Published Review

Rose, David James. "Reviews: Books." Hispanic, vol. 7, no. 8, Sept. 1994, p. 90. EBSCOhost, ezp.twu.edu/login?url=http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2060/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9409227690&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

How I Live Now

Bibliographic Information

Rosoff, Meg. How I Live Now. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2004. Print. 

Summary

How I Live Now is a speculative fiction novel imagining a future in which there is essentially a third World War, created through independent attacks and disparate terrorist groups. It follows Elizabeth, who goes by Daisy, from Manhattan to her aunt’s farm in rural England. She is sent away due to continuing disagreements with her pregnant stepmother, as well as her father’s frustration with her anorexia. Aunt Penn is part of a war council that is meeting in Oslo to try and negotiate peace, so she leaves Daisy and her four cousins alone on their farm shortly after Daisy’s arrival. The 5 children are able to maintain a relatively normal way of life, though Daisy and her cousin Edmond do end up falling in love and begin a romantic relationship. Unfortunately, the fighting progresses much more quickly than anyone expected and the farm is eventually taken over by the army and the children separated to live in other homes. Daisy’s love for Edmond and fierce protection of the youngest cousin, Piper, gets her through the war alive, though not unchanged. 

Analysis

The greatest strength of the story is the honesty found in Daisy’s own thoughts. She is 15 at the beginning of the story and never once do you doubt it. She focuses heavily on her romance with Edmond prior to the war separating them, just as many oblivious teenage girls would. She questions the morality of that choice and rationally recognizes the many problems society would have with them being together, both her being older and the more dramatic problem of being first cousins. She also mentions and struggles through the feelings of abandonment from her father sending her so far away, sadness at never properly knowing her mother, and the control she feels through anorexia. As such, the war becoming such a serious battle comes as a surprise to the reader, too. 

The greatest weakness was the romance with Edmond and it’s incumbent doubts and worries, which took away from the other issues Daisy faced. I speculate that Rosoff included it to show the degradation of society as a whole, but they never truly interact with society for that to be really true. Edmond could have been an adopted, orphaned family friend and the strength of the relationship would have functioned the same without the distracting element of being close relations. Sexual first cousin relationships are not something that need to be normalized in society, so it seems unnecessary. 

The story as a whole has a lot of appeal to YA audiences- and a lot of good that can come from it. Many teens feel abandoned by adults in their lives, have disorders of varying forms (such as Daisy’s anorexia), and feel too alone and defiant to change anything. This book helps show why it’s important to move beyond these struggles and begin to live again. It is definitely a book intended for older readers. While Daisy is 15, I would only suggest this be read by a mature readers. The sexual relationship with Edmond can be distracting to readers who will focus too heavily on it, but much more importantly, there are some graphic depictions of the war and the carnage that comes alongside such violence. It certainly deserves its place in the canon of YA literature and should continue to be read by both teens and adults. 

Activity

A great activity would be to have students speculate about their own future. This book makes the possibility of a world-wide guerrilla war situation seem like something that could be in our near future. It’s interesting that this book was published 13 years ago and seems like such a real possibility for the future we could experience. Having students work together to imagine a future- even a very dark one- could help them realize the possibility of this book becoming a form of reality. They could form this in a written format, such as a play or a story, or as a visual representation in art or media. Hopefully from this discussion and speculation students could see how the future go poorly and would be inspired to make the world move in a more positive direction. 

Related Resources

This book would certainly appeal to fans of the recent influx of apocalyptic literature set in realistic futures. Series such as Divergent and The Hunger Games are the most well-known of these recent block-busters, but there are a variety of other individual novels and series to get to know, too. I think it perhaps more closely relates to other YA books about World War II, since they have the same sense of realism and relationships that sometimes lack in the post-apocalyptic literature. Code Name Verity would be a great suggestion for a reader who enjoyed the war elements of the story, as well as having the relationship development, though it is not romantic. 

Wein, Elizabeth. Code Name Verity. New York: Hyperion, 2012. Print. 

For older readers, Children of Men  or The Handmaid’s Tale would be a great suggested read. They are both set in a speculative future, with average people at their center. Children of Men also includes the elements of war that come to the forefront in How I Live Now, while The Handmaid’s Tale is set in a time after society has been reestablished. Neither of these focus quite so specifically on developing relationships, however, so that should be considered in what the reader liked about How I Live Now.  

James, P.D. Children of Men. 1992. Reprint. New York: Vintage, 2006. Print. 

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. 1986. Reprint. New York: Anchor, 1998. Print. 

Published Review

“How I Live Now.” Review of How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff. The Guardian. Accessed at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/01/review-how-i-live-now-meg-rosoff. 

This review from The Guardian covers the book in depth from a popular British culture standpoint- which is, after all, the audience it was originally written for. 

Seventeenth Summer Review

Seventeenth Summer

Bibliographic Information

Daly, Maureen. Seventeenth Summer. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1942. Print. 

Summary

Seventeenth Summer is the remembering of Angie Morrow’s seventeenth summer, 1938. She is the third of four sisters in a small town in Wisconsin. Her two older sisters have dated, both at home and at college, but Angie is surprised when she is courted by the high school’s basketball star, Jack Duluth. They spend the summer developing their relationship, but both know that Angie is going to go off to college in Chicago when the summer ends while Jack will be required to stay and work in his family’s bakery. In the end, they must decide what that separation means for them. The story is told from Angie’s perspective, looking back and telling the story of the summer she first fell in love. 

Analysis

The story is a great early embodiment of the genre of teen summer love from the teen’s own perspective. It certainly has the same feel as many of the realistic fiction teen romances out there currently, just more chaste in many ways. I found it very interesting to see how our cultural understanding of dating and relationships have changed. It is mentioned often that it seems inappropriate for a girl who is only 17 to be seeing the same boy night after night, which would seem almost scandalous to many today. We’re much more focused on only dating one person at a time for teenagers than this book seemed to be. On the other hand, Angie wonders if she’s too young to have a crush on a boy. In a culture where we start using crush as an innocent infatuation that even young girls have, that sounds absurd. These contrasts will appeal to an audience who enjoys the structure and feel of young adult romance while also wishing to learn about the past. 

Daly began writing this story when she herself was 17 and it is loosely based on her own experiences, so her style of writing is very personable and nearly diary-like. However, it is very of its time and can sometimes feel overwrought or even aimed to a younger audience. These could be turn offs to some readers, though it may be easily overlooked with the understanding of it being written in such a different time period. Perhaps most disconcerting to me was the knowledge that in a mere few years, these 17 year olds would be the boys shipping off to World War II. I think this may also hit many teens, who have often studied World War II in depth in school, and feel a little eerie, just as it did to me. 

Overall, Seventeenth Summer is essentially an early example of a book written for teens, by a teen. This, alongside its evident development of the genre of young adult romance, secures it a place in YA literature for many years to come. The lack of heavy issues, sex, or language also makes it accessible from an earlier age than many of the modern books in this genre of YA. The most scandalous mentions are of beer drinking (with Jack’s classmates, who are all the legal drinking age of 18) and smoking (which was not considered scandalous at the time). Presented correctly, this book could certainly appeal to many young adult readers and still feel interesting and intriguing, even as it pulls the reader into an older time period. 

Activity

An interesting activity (especially if you choose to correlate Our Town as suggested in my related resources) would be to have a group turn the story of Seventeenth Summer into a short play. They could do it three acts and develop the characters via dialogue rather than seeing it all through the eyes of Angie. This would help the group flesh out and identify with more characters from the story and feel like they’re experiencing the time period. 

A less interactive but just as productive activity could be to encourage journalling of one’s own summer. I would recommend this simply be an encouraged activity (rather than a shared one) so that the writers could feel that they’re writing in privacy, much as it seems Angie is. This would open students or patrons to assessing their own growth and hopes for the future. 

Related Resources

Seventeenth Summer is a clear and direct predecessor to some of the “chick lit” that is popular today. For readers interested in the coming of age and romance of the story, I would absolutely recommend looking into Sarah Dessen’s work. She even specifically has a few books related to the theme of a teenager over the course of a summer. 

Dessen, Sarah. That Summer. New York: Orchard Books, 1996. Print. 

If a reader is interested in seeing more of small town life in the late 1930’s, Our Town would be a wonderful read. While some readers may be turned away by the challenge of reading a play, many other young adults will enjoy the format. Published in 1938, it gives a fuller view of what life around Angie would have been like, especially for someone like Jack.

Wilder, Thornton. Our Town. New York: Harper Perennial, 1998. Print. 

Published Review

Leggett, Karen. “Seventeenth Summer.” Review of Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly. Children’s Literature. Accesed via CLCD, http://ezproxy.twu.edu:4529/#/bookdetail/1/0/PePnjKklgqepIOMk/bdrtop.