Month: August 2016

Reading, School, Writing

There are problems, and they are not resolved

sashikaufman

Wired coverThis, in my mind, is the difference between writing for and about teenagers.

There are problems and they are not resolved.

I have a book coming out this week and one of the things on my mind, besides the fact that I’m a teacher and I’m going back to school and my kid is starting first grade and I selectively forgot to do all the major cleaning projects I thought I might tackle over the summer, and the damn Subaru dealer won’t call me back about replacing my faulty airbags, yeah besides all that. I’ve been thinking about the fact that not everyone will like my book.

Art and literature is subjective. I accept that because if I didn’t I’d be an idiot/insane. In WIRED MAN AND OTHER FREAKS OF NATURE there is a lot of (teenage) drinking and some drug use. I didn’t think that much about it when I wrote it because it was consistent with my high school experience.  I did most of the things my characters did without any major related tragedies. This is not to say I condone those behaviors -whether I do or not is not the point -the point is they happen.

SOME PEOPLE think that if you write YA fiction, you should write books in which teens who have sex regret it, or get pregnant or a disease. If teens drink or do drugs they should regret it or get in car accidents or develop addictions. That way no actual teens will read the book and think these things are a good idea. As though teens (or any of us) might be more influenced by fiction than the trusted people around us. SOME PEOPLE like things tidy and morally unambiguous. That’s not the kind of fiction that interests me whether it’s written about teenagers or adults. It’s not what I’d choose to read so it’s not what I choose to write.

There are problems in WIRED MAN AND OTHER FREAKS OF NATURE. Big problems about friendship and identity, about moving past life in high school and reconciling the future with the past. There will be some resolution because a story needs that. But life is messy and often times morally ambiguous and I think it’s okay for teenagers (and all of us) to know that too.

 

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Reading

My dander is up

sashikaufman

This morning I listened to a re-broadcast of an interview with David Denby on his book Lit Up: One Reporter. Three Schools. Twenty-four Books That Can Change Lives. There were a few moments when I was white knuckling the steering wheel from annoyance. Here are two older white dudes hemming and hawing about kids on their smart phones and the fact that no one reads Huck Finn anymore. In the next breath they were totally dismissive of Twilight and  The Hunger Games, which great or not, got thousands, if not millions of kids to read.

There is so much wonderful YA literature beyond the mega-franchises and the interviewer and his guest were acting like reading Dickens is the only way for teenagers to become readers. There was also an element of youth-shaming. As if it’s all well and good for adults to be on their devices 24-7 because they actually read Tom Sawyer (and not the Spark notes) when they were in high school.

Technology is not destroying culture. Stories will always be relevant to our society even if the form they take is something different than what we’ve seen before.

Here is MY list of “great” books to engage your teenage or old fuddy-duddy self in reading.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Winger by Andrew Smith

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King

Dante and Aristotle Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Gabi a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

I’ll Give You The Sky by Jandy Nelson

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Feed by MT Anderson (see this one for commentary on technology in society)

In Darkness by Nick Lake

Uncategorized, Writing

Book Launch Party and Contests

sashikaufman

There are two great ways you can win a copy of WIRED MAN AND OTHER FREAKS OF NATURE before its official pub date of September 1!

First -my publisher, Carolrhoda Lab is giving away a copy on their blog.

Second -I’ve got a giveaway up on goodreads through September 2nd. So please spread the word!

Book Party

I wrote this book about two years ago -my first book took about four years to go from draft to publication. The point is it’s fun to celebrate with all the people who have supported me and this book along the way.

When: SEPTEMBER 9TH AT 7PM

Where: MECHANICS HALL LIBRARY 519 CONGRESS ST. PORTLAND, ME

What: Cupcakes, Reading, Wine/Beer in a really cool old school library!

Poster Book Launch