Sexism in YA

Just a funny sign.

So I know that sexism, along with homophobia and racism, is still a thing and turns up pretty much everywhere (as seen on the ad I have posted above). It's sad really that things like this are still around and people must be told WHY they're being racist, or WHY they're being sexist, and so on.

That's why I believe it's good to write strong female and LGBT characters along with characters who are not white, as they are predominant in most YA writing. I think it's a good thing for people to know that you don't have to be a straight, white, male to accomplish something and be a hero.

Nowadays it seems that these types of books are coming out. They empower all people instead of putting them down and making them feel like they are less because of how they were born. However, there are books that still come out today that just blatantly surprise me on how sexist characters can be. I will not name book titles, as I don't want to skew any views on a book before someone else has read it, but seriously author I will not name, what is wrong with you?

I have talked to my sister about a book in particular and while the character is very sweet to his girlfriend, at least in her opinion, he still says sexist things to her pretty much constantly. And although I'm still reading this book, she has informed me that the other male characters are all pretty much like that. To top off this cherry sundae of stereotypes, the female character is the typical teenage emotional girl that makes bad decisions.

The book I'm working on has a female lead who I believe is strong willed. She may make bad decisions, but that's not because she's a girl, it's because she's human. She's lost someone close to her, and that would make anyone kind of lose it. Now that I'm realizing this kind of thing in other stories, I wonder if my female character is just a stock character.

I want her to stand strong and not be a character that when read you roll your eyes and say "Why is she in this book and not in a high school drama book?"

Ugh, I guess I'll just have to wait and see what my beta readers have to say.

Anything like this in YA anger you?

RTW 186: Best Book of June

Road Trip Wednesday: Best book of June. (Click here to see details)

Let me first say, it's crazy to think that June is already over! I feel like it was just yesterday that June 1st hit and I thought, this summer is going to be long! Now I have little over a month until I have to go back to training for work at school. Luckily it's my senior year.

Back to the best book. The book that really made me say, "wow" was The Mourning Hours by Paula Treick DeBoard.

I won this book on the Goodreads giveaway section. If you haven't noticed, quite a bit of my book collection comes from this website. (Tip: If you don't have much money, the giveaway section is a great place to win free books, just make sure you leave a review as a thanks.)

It's about Kirsten, a young girl who idealizes a teenage girl that ends up dating her brother. The teenage girl goes missing and Kirsten's brother is the last to see her. The town, and even the family, start to implode. When I started reading this book I was weary. While it sounded interesting, it wasn't a book I'd normally pick up.

After I started reading it, I got more and more into the groove of the story. It was interesting reading the book with the teenage girl as a character, knowing she was going to disappear; just waiting for it to happen. (By the way, I didn't spoil anything, it says on the back of the book that the girl disappears!)

Then, I hit a spot in the book where I just felt like I was done. I knew what was going to happen, and I wanted to stop reading. I felt like I had all the answers and the book was just dragging it out to make a page length. I almost put the book down, and almost skimmed parts. Boy am I glad I didn't.

The ending hit. And when I say hit, I mean HIT. This book has one of the most mind boggling endings I have ever read. Others said it was out of nowhere, but looking back there were clues to this ending. I can usually see endings coming when watching movies, tv shows, and reading books, and this often takes the fun out of it. However, upon completing this book my jaw literally dropped and I said "holy crap" really loud, causing my boyfriend to give me a weird look. This ending goes down as one of my favorite endings of any book of all time. (Next to Divergent and Insurgent, which both pleasantly surprised me!)

Definitely give it a read if you get a chance!

RTW 185:Superhuman Skills

This week's Road Trip Wednesday, which you should know about and if you don't can find out about HERE, is "If you were reborn faster, stronger, and quicker healing, what's the first thing you'd do?"

Let me start off by saying, if I were reborn with all those attributes, I'd hope to look like this.

Basically your worst nightmare. (Picture owned by epSos .de)

Beyond terrifying children with the way I look, I'd like to use my newfound life for good. I know you'll probably roll your eyes because every other person out there will say this too, but come on, who would be willing to admit (at least in front of people) that they'd use their powers for bad!?

So, I almost skipped this week because I didn't know what to say, but then I realized, I had to answer. One of my favorite movies of all time was The Incredibles. I loved it growing up and still do to this day. I have finally admitted to myself that I unfortunetly will never wake up being able to control things with my mind, or create force fields, etc. However, with these powers, I could be my own brand of super hero! 

I could be Kevin: Man of Steel (I saw Man of Steel in a special premiere the night before and LOVED it!). I would come up with a much more awesome name of course, but I'd be an incredible! Who could pass up on that? Some of my blogger friends on YA have picked other things like spy and I say BAH! (That might be fine for you, but come on, YOU COULD BE AN INCREDIBLE!) 

Although, Spy Kids was one of my favorite movies growing up too, but I am too old to be a spy kid and I feel like adult spies die way too often. I'm to the point of rambling.

So I cut myself off.

Incredible. I'd be an incredible. =D

RTW 183: Best Book of May

This one was really hard for me. Last week the RTW was what book really swept you off your feet. For it I talked about Recipes for Disaster by Tess Rafferty. The thing is, it really did sweep me off my feet, AND I read it in May. However, I didn't want to do the same book, or put the same link up, so I'm deciding to not give all my praise to one book and do another that I really liked that I also read in May!

I'm a little torn here. I've read plenty of good books in May, but it's hard to choose one to talk about. I think I'll go with a different approach and talk about one I won on Goodreads, SURPRISE THERE (sarcasm), that is a Middle Grade book. Hold up, before you roll your eyes and close your browser, read the rest of this post, hear me out!

I normally don't read middle grade novels because, well, they don't appeal to me. Don't go yelling at me, "It's because they're for middle grade aged readers!" Bologna! If Young Adult books were only read by YA aged readers, well, you can only imagine! But, I won the book The Dreamcatcher Adventures: Greedy Jack Wallace by Adam C. Veile and let me tell you, it really surprised me at how good it was! Veile even signed the book and sent me a personal message on goodreads to top it off!

Anyway, the book is about a boy who faces things most kids his age face, girls and bullies, then moves onto him dealing with things like foreclosure on his house. Veile has managed to intertwine subjects usually meant for adults into a kids book so that they can relate too. It's sad that in today's time kids that age actually have to deal with things such as this. Blake, the main character, even talks about what it would like to live on the streets!

The storyline was actually really compelling, and even managed to address things like death in a way that younger kids can understand while not being completely freaked out. The idea of the dreamcatcher that Veile uses is something really unique that I had never heard of. Blake is so realistic, you'd think the book was written by Blake himself. The suspense, yes there's suspense!, is so good I actually found myself not able to stop reading!

There's so much more that I could say about this book, and if you have any questions feels free to comment, but I would like to keep this post shorter than book length. I find myself actually interested in reading the second book when it comes out. (The first cleverly set up a storyline in passing conversation that could be stretched into a series.)

I highly recommend this to anyone that would like a quick read or even to those of you who have kids, you could read it to them if they're younger or have them read it. Definitely worth picking up!

Have any of you ever been surprised by liking a book in a genre or subject matter that you normally don't gravitate towards?

Genre Writing

If you can't tell, I like GIFS... and Spongebob.

I've been thinking a lot about what I write lately. A couple of different things have popped up that have really got me thinking about the fact that I write Young Adult. First was over Winter Break when I started looking up MFA programs that I wanted to apply to. I knew most of the programs wouldn't have any kind of YA type things but I wasn't prepared for the fact that almost all reputable programs say specifically no genre writing. This really got me down. But I've talked to my sister, who is getting her PhD at University California Riverside and my personal mentor, and she helped me realized something. Just because I don't get into my program off my YA writing does not mean I can't still write YA.

Another thing that happened was I recently applied for a position at the schools undergraduate literary magazine Grassroots. For my interview I had to bring them a writing sample. I know most people look down on YA writing as not real writing, so I decided to bring in one of my non-YA works. This also made me realize, and I will restate, most people look down on YA writing. For all you YA writers out there, you know this stinks and is a common thing. It really is a bummer that most people see YA writing as not real or not good.

The third thing that happened that made me think about it was an article I read on YA Highway's blog. It asked the question, do you read outside your genre. My answer is yes. I have to. Because of my school classes I am required to read almost exclusively things that are out of the genre that I write. I think this is good for me though. It really helps me improve my writing. However, it makes me realize how little YA is read in college and the fact that it really isn't credited well.

I know I have led you down a long and depressing road of what seems like anti-YA but I have a point. The thing is, if you're out there and are like me, feeling like YA isn't looked upon well, then what I have to say is, forget them. Really all that matters is you're writing, right? You're doing what you love, no matter what genre. While I think it is a good idea, and very important, to read other genres, just remember to stay faithful to what you love. Don't let someone else persuade you that your writing will never be good enough because the characters aren't the right age, or the fact that your setting may be a little fantasy. Do what you love, and forget the rest.