Several years ago, I heard Simone Elkeles speak at an ALAN conference. I was impressed with her enthusiasm and the direct way she talked about how adolescents deal with intimate relationships, between parents, siblings, friends, or those individuals they are romantically attracted to, whether they understand how to articulate their feelings or not. I began to follow her career more closely. I asked teachers and librarians about how Simone’s books faired in their classrooms and libraries. Well, the news is great. Her books are always being read. Her books automatically reach the readers who are interested in realistic, contemporary romance. In addition, many of the main characters of her books are kids that adults consider are only existing in the margins of school or society. Kids who are being pulled in to gang activity or trying to leave it. Kids who might function on the playing field, but not seem to succeed academically. Kids, who might appear popular in school, but are dealing with difficult family situations.
Those of us who have worked with adolescents realize that most kids are actually pretty good kids. If anything, they manage remarkably well in the face of challenges that they silently endure. Despite what some parents might think, these adolescents are less naïve than they appear. They know who uses foul language, who is in or on the edge of the drug culture, or who is sexually activity. What Elkeles seems to understand is that most adolescents are dying for someone to engage them in conversations that acknowledge their struggles, questions, and awareness of the reality they are rapidly trying to navigate. Her novels, while they deal with romance, are often about adolescents navigating the liminal space between childhood and adulthood (Bickmore and Youngblood 2014). In many ways, it seems that Elkeles has looked at these students through a Youth lens (Sarigianides, S. T., Lewis, M. A., & Petrone, R. 2015) as she writes about them with respect and understanding.
I am not saying that some kids and parents won’t find problems with some of the situations or language that occurs in the book, but these concerns should be contextualized. Not every student or family shares the same values nor ideological outlook on how literature does or does not help students. I am one that believes kids should read what they want. Of course, I also believe that parents should be talking openly with their children from the get go. If that were the case, realistic fiction that is open and frank, just as Elkeles writes, wouldn’t be as problematic. Instead, Elkeles work would be more celebrated. When you get done browsing the information below, check out the interview at the bottom of this blog entry.
Those of us who have worked with adolescents realize that most kids are actually pretty good kids. If anything, they manage remarkably well in the face of challenges that they silently endure. Despite what some parents might think, these adolescents are less naïve than they appear. They know who uses foul language, who is in or on the edge of the drug culture, or who is sexually activity. What Elkeles seems to understand is that most adolescents are dying for someone to engage them in conversations that acknowledge their struggles, questions, and awareness of the reality they are rapidly trying to navigate. Her novels, while they deal with romance, are often about adolescents navigating the liminal space between childhood and adulthood (Bickmore and Youngblood 2014). In many ways, it seems that Elkeles has looked at these students through a Youth lens (Sarigianides, S. T., Lewis, M. A., & Petrone, R. 2015) as she writes about them with respect and understanding.
I am not saying that some kids and parents won’t find problems with some of the situations or language that occurs in the book, but these concerns should be contextualized. Not every student or family shares the same values nor ideological outlook on how literature does or does not help students. I am one that believes kids should read what they want. Of course, I also believe that parents should be talking openly with their children from the get go. If that were the case, realistic fiction that is open and frank, just as Elkeles writes, wouldn’t be as problematic. Instead, Elkeles work would be more celebrated. When you get done browsing the information below, check out the interview at the bottom of this blog entry.
Wild Cards
I just finished Wild Crush, the second book in the Wild Card series. I like the way the book was centered around members of a football team and their significant others. You should explore Elkeles' blog to find out about other cool things associated with the series.
Perfect Chemistry
The Perfect Chemistry series falls within the star-crossed lover genre. As I stated before, Elkeles work is widely read and reviewed by many on Amazon, Goodreads, and several blogs. For this series, I included a link to review from the Mother, Gamer, Writer blog.
Leaving Paradise
For the Leaving Paradise series. There were several review options. I chose to link to the blog Kimberly’s Novel Notes. Here is the link for these reviews.
How to Ruin
I found another readers blog that reviewed Elkeles’s Ruined series. The Reading after Midnight Blog written by Paula Stokes. The review of the ruined series is here.
Please find the interview with Simone below:
References:
Bickmore, S. T., & Youngblood, K. (2014). ‘It's The Catcher in the Rye… He said it was the kind of book you made your own': Finding Holden in Contemporary YA Literature. English in Education, 48(3), 250-263. doi:10.1111/eie.12049
Sarigianides, S. T., Lewis, M. A., & Petrone, R. (2015). How Re-thinking Adolescence Helps Re-imagine the Teaching of English. English Journal, 104(3), 13.
Bickmore, S. T., & Youngblood, K. (2014). ‘It's The Catcher in the Rye… He said it was the kind of book you made your own': Finding Holden in Contemporary YA Literature. English in Education, 48(3), 250-263. doi:10.1111/eie.12049
Sarigianides, S. T., Lewis, M. A., & Petrone, R. (2015). How Re-thinking Adolescence Helps Re-imagine the Teaching of English. English Journal, 104(3), 13.
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