Title - Teen Ink.
Editor - Stephanie H. Meyer
Publication - 1989 - Present
Plot - While I would not exactly call a magazine to a specific plot line, it is certain that Teen Ink wishes to be able to generate a magazine for teens that consists of materials that teens are interested in by having them be the people who write for the magazine. While perusing through the various Teen Ink Magazines, it is possible to see a larger picture emerge, where the editors want to reflect a little bit of teen life in all stages. They have sections about parents, relationships, political opinion, books, movies, etc. And while some issues such as political ones seem to be limited to a particular time, they are not so current issues focused that the book reviews have to be current ones. In fact, I saw reviews of Fahrenheit 451 in the book section and a review of Titanic the Movie in the film section. While Titanic may not be quite as old as Fahrenheit 451, in terms of film history, 13 years is quite a bit of time. The magazine desires to engage the reader in such a way that they can connect to the teenage experience of something else.
Critical Review - Teen Ink develops a fascinating connection with its readers almost instantaneously. The essays here maybe be grouped by certain subject matter, but the important part of them is the human element in all of them. They are about how the teen relates to a particular problem or issue. I was heartily engaged by one essay about a girl who was trying to relate to her step dad. There is a magical moment when the two, almost disinterested, parties share a connection. And the girl feels that her step dad is now connected by a deeper love than before.
Of course whatever things may be gleaned and appreciated from the magazine will change from magazine to magazine as they have an open invitation for anyone to write to it. But the project of trying to get teens to connect to a magazine in a meaningful way I believe is accomplished. If I was to level one complaint at the magazine is that occasionally I found the pieces to be slightly silly, especially some of the interviews done for the magazine. It was a good interview that was done by the person doing it, but then there was an essay about how she got the interview and gushed about it. Then there was another essay asking the interviewer questions about her experience. I thought that it brought down the level of the intellectual content that had preceded it.
Readers Annotation - If you want to connect to someone who just "gets" you; if you want to read about movies, music and literature from someone who knows what its like to be a teen; if you want to watch your own literary talents shine; come to Teen Ink. Its the magazine by teens, for teens.
About the Author - Stephanie H. Meyer helped create the Young Author's Foundation with the assistance of her husband John Meyer. This foundation was created to help teens achieve a voice in the modern world. She also authored Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. She has spent much of her times since attaining a masters degree in education and social work helping disaffected teens and other youth.
She has taken the profits from her work and translated that into action. She takes the finances and puts them towards the Foundation which then helps with youth publishing throughout the world. She is also the mother of two children.
Genre - Magazine
Curriculum Ties - Teaching the art of the Short Story in Literature.
Booktalking ideas - N/A
Reading/Interest Level - Grade 9+
Challenge Issues - None
Why included - I have a great deal of affection for the short story format, and this was another magazine that was aimed at teens. It also had the added distinction of being written by teens and I was curious as to the level of their writing.
Showing posts with label Short Story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Short Story. Show all posts
Monday, December 6, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Blood Roses
Title - Blood Roses
Author - Block, Francesca Lia
ISBN - 9780060763848
Publication Date - 2008
Plot - To try to attempt to write the plot of Blood Roses would be impossible unless you were going to write out everything for each of the short stories in the set. The beginning story, Blood Roses, consists of Two sisters who enter into a house where a person they seem to know keeps discussing with them about serial killers and how people survived the serial killers. There is an air of brooding that exists where the two have to make a mad dash to escape and get out through some barbed wire, but they are missing something, a screwdriver. Another story called Grant deals with Rachel Sorrow, who is trying to adjust to all of these intense new feelings she is having. This is causing her some problems as she now fears relationships with boys and what may happen if she attempts to connect to the boys she likes. She instead fades away into a bunch of questions about the outcome of the story. Block leaves it open ended leaving us to understand that when we are in the middle of a story, its hard to see what the end is going to be like; its hard to move forward. Each of the stories consists of vivid imagery and a great deal of confusion about what is real.
Critical Review - A series of stories generally has some dramatic theme to them, developed to have a consistent message. I would argue that the author put this together as a collection of stories to question the reality versus perception of the characters of the individuals, and sometimes things that are perceived to be big are not quite as big as they would seem. The visual imagery used to convey the theme is amazing. I think that the stories often remind me of Flannery O'Connor with her extensive use of metaphor and allegory to tell a story.
Reader's Annotation - Come to the world of Francesca Lia Block, a world of darkness, mystery and wonder, where love is the real magic.
About the Author-- Francesca Lia Block focuses much of her tales in the Los Angeles scene, being this is where she is from. She believes that she tries to tell stories that blend magic and realism to try to tell a story. It is through this she tries to convey the message that love is the one thing that can bring us through,. It is this love that has a sort of magic quality that can take anyone through anything.
Primarily her way of telling stories is through fairy tales, created to further her messages to her audience. These can take the form of allegory or some sort of mystic realism. She desires to tell stories with a harsh realism, yet at the same time with room for grace and escape.
Author - Block, Francesca Lia
ISBN - 9780060763848
Publication Date - 2008
Plot - To try to attempt to write the plot of Blood Roses would be impossible unless you were going to write out everything for each of the short stories in the set. The beginning story, Blood Roses, consists of Two sisters who enter into a house where a person they seem to know keeps discussing with them about serial killers and how people survived the serial killers. There is an air of brooding that exists where the two have to make a mad dash to escape and get out through some barbed wire, but they are missing something, a screwdriver. Another story called Grant deals with Rachel Sorrow, who is trying to adjust to all of these intense new feelings she is having. This is causing her some problems as she now fears relationships with boys and what may happen if she attempts to connect to the boys she likes. She instead fades away into a bunch of questions about the outcome of the story. Block leaves it open ended leaving us to understand that when we are in the middle of a story, its hard to see what the end is going to be like; its hard to move forward. Each of the stories consists of vivid imagery and a great deal of confusion about what is real.
Critical Review - A series of stories generally has some dramatic theme to them, developed to have a consistent message. I would argue that the author put this together as a collection of stories to question the reality versus perception of the characters of the individuals, and sometimes things that are perceived to be big are not quite as big as they would seem. The visual imagery used to convey the theme is amazing. I think that the stories often remind me of Flannery O'Connor with her extensive use of metaphor and allegory to tell a story.
Reader's Annotation - Come to the world of Francesca Lia Block, a world of darkness, mystery and wonder, where love is the real magic.
About the Author-- Francesca Lia Block focuses much of her tales in the Los Angeles scene, being this is where she is from. She believes that she tries to tell stories that blend magic and realism to try to tell a story. It is through this she tries to convey the message that love is the one thing that can bring us through,. It is this love that has a sort of magic quality that can take anyone through anything.
Primarily her way of telling stories is through fairy tales, created to further her messages to her audience. These can take the form of allegory or some sort of mystic realism. She desires to tell stories with a harsh realism, yet at the same time with room for grace and escape.
Genre- Fantasy/Realism
Curriculum Ties - Allegorical Studies - Literature; Short Stories - Literature
Booktalking Ideas - Encourage each person in the group to read the book and write a short story of their own.
Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 10+
Challenge Issues - No obvious issues
Why Included - I write short stories for fun and enjoy the art form of the short story. It is fascinating where an author has to convey a large theme in a limited amount of space.
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