Why Read (or Write) YA? By Jacqueline Seewald

 When I attended Rutgers University for my M.L.S. degree, I took the additional courses needed to specialize in becoming an educational media specialist—a fancy description for a school librarian. I took a course in children’s literature and another in young adult lit. Both courses required reading a huge number of books and reviewing them. However, I very much enjoyed doing this.

As to young adult literature, I often felt the novels were better written than many of those for adults, something our professor said as well. So it’s no surprise that I decided to write some of my own. As an English teacher at the high school level I taught novels like J.D. Salinger’s THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, Harper Lee’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, and Golding’s LORD OF THE FLIES. These are just a few of the classics of YA literature worthy of note. I believe every author should try writing at least one meaningful coming-of-age book.

My novel THE DEVIL AND DANNA WEBSTER has proved popular with readers. It was written for teenage girls, as was STACY’S SONG. But the truth is that adult readers can and do connect with these books as well.

Black Opal Books has now brought out WITCH WISH, my current YA novel. I think it will be a good read for adult readers as well as teens.

Here’s something about the book:

Val Williams believes she will never be as pretty or as popular as her older sister Ailene. When Ailene dumps her on an unfamiliar road after an argument, Val decides to ask directions of the only person she sees, an old woman engaged in a garage sale. Val purchases a music box which the old woman claims has magical qualities and will grant Val one wish. Val wishes that that her sister would stop being so perfect.

When Ailene starts acting weird, breaks up with her boyfriend, stops talking to her friends, starts dating a “bad” boy, and cuts classes, Val is troubled. Val begins to fear she caused all this to happen by making her wish. She suffers a guilty conscience. How she goes about setting matters right makes for some unusual complications and surprises.

Excerpt (prior to editing):

PROLOGUE

Central New Jersey, 1985

My sister Ailene pulled the car to the side of the road, reached over and opened the door on the passenger side.

“Get out right now!” Ailene spoke through gritted teeth.

“No way!”

“Yes, way. You’re an obnoxious brat. I don’t have to put up with you, and I won’t for another minute.”

Maybe I had gone a tad overboard in the rude department today, but she’d deserved it. I had to stand and wait while she giggled and gossiped with her airhead friends by the lockers for what seemed like forever. I stood there being ignored and feeling like a leper. Then finally when she finally turned to me all she said was: “Come on. Hurry up.” Like she’d done me this great honor giving me a ride home.

Now she was all indignation. Well, I wasn’t going to stand for it. “I’m not getting out of the car,” I said.

Unfortunately Ailene’s taller and weighs more than I do. She shoved me out, hurled my backpack after me and drove off, burning rubber. She didn’t even look back. So there I stood at the side of a rural road with no idea exactly where I was.

Ailene had veered off the main highway when traffic stopped. There’d been an accident on the highway. No way of getting through any time soon. That pissed her off too. She’s not the most adaptable individual.

It was a warm afternoon. I didn’t mind walking, but the road was totally unfamiliar. I’d have to travel back in the direction of the highway. From there, I could find my way. Maybe my sister had done me a favor. Anything was better than being around her. She found me annoying but I felt the same way about her.

 As I walked, I fantasized.

Cheerleader shot dead at football game--mystery as to who pulled trigger. As a student of journalism I considered this possible headline. Were I to murder my sister, I wouldn't want to be caught.

Don’t judge me in haste. If you had a sister like Ailene, you'd probably hate her too. I’d like to say Ailene was nasty, selfish and spoiled, but it wouldn't be true. I have my share of faults. Lying isn't one of them. The truth? Ailene was polite, intelligent, beautiful, and even charming—when it suited her.

So why did I hate her? Maybe because she was everything I wished I could be but didn’t think I ever would be. Someone like Ailene, who was so much better than most people, you envied, idolized or hated her. It wasn’t easy living in the same home with perfection day after day.

A house came into my line of vision. It was an old Colonial with white clapboard shingles and black shutters that had paint peeling. There was an old woman sitting in a chair with all kinds of items set out on folding tables in cardboard boxes. I guess she was having a garage sale. I figured I’d stop and ask for directions back to the highway. She was kind of creepy looking dressed all in black. But she was the only person around. So I walked over to her. She stood up, smiling through crooked yellowed teeth.

“I’m kind of lost,” I said.

She nodded. “I can see that.” She had dark, penetrating eyes. She studied me in an eerie way that made my blood freeze.

“Can you direct me back to Route 516?”

“Certainly. But first why don’t you look at these things I have for sale. They are unique.”

“Sure,” I said, figuring to humor the old gal.

I began looking around. She had a lot of weird stuff, old crap that I had no interest in. But I figured if I offered to buy something I maybe could get the directions quicker. So I glanced at the stuff on one of the tables. A polished wooden box caught my eye.

“I see you like my music box. Actually, I have a bit of a collection.” She picked up the box and wound it up. “It plays Fur Elise by Beethoven.”

I listened and liked what I heard. “How much does it cost?”

“Whatever you can afford.”

I was surprised. I checked the pocket of my jeans. I had some allowance money with me but there wasn’t much. “I’ve only got four dollars.”

“Just the right amount,” she assured me. “There is just one thing about the box itself.” She hesitated. “You see, how should I put this, the box has a certain unusual quality. If I bestow ownership upon you, the music box will grant you a wish.”

I blinked and stared at her open-mouthed. Clearly the old lady was a few slices short of a loaf.

“Sure,” I said, trying to appear agreeable and humor her. “Great.”

“You don’t believe me, do you?” She gave me a knowing smile. Then she laughed, except I swear it sounded more like a cackle. The wind lifted her long, steel gray hair giving her an otherworldly look. “It’s all right. I don’t mind. But I think I should warn you. Once you open the box and make a wish out loud, you won’t be able to take it back. You get only one wish, you understand. So think carefully about it. Make certain you wish for something you truly want.”

You can also read more about the novel here:

https://black-opal-books.myshopify.com/products/witch-wish

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DRB3VVH

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/witch-wish/id1401568260?mt=11

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/witch-wish-jacqueline-seewald/1128937209?ean=2940162153894

Comments welcome!

Censorship: Pro and Con by Jacqueline Seewald

When a reader/reviewer of my novel The Inferno Collection asked if inferno collections actually exist, I responded that not only did inferno collections exist in the past but still exist in more sophisticated and subtle forms today.

I am not saying that we should anticipate a burning of the vanities as with Savonarola's followers in the past, nor do I believe as in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, that the firemen of the future will feel compelled to burn and destroy books.

It is a fact that librarians have viewed themselves as gatekeepers. For example, libraries such as Boston Public at one time found it necessary to maintain separate inferno collections of banned books considered inappropriate for general public display and reading. Often these were books deemed salacious such as James Joyce’s Ulysses. Another example is the Robert Winslow Gordon "Inferno" Collection in the Archive of Folk Song, Library of Congress, consisting of material separated out because of bawdy and scatological subject matter. Paul S. Boyer in his article “Boston Book Censorship in the Twenties” observed that Boston’s censorship began with the very first governor of the Plymouth colony, William Bradford, but became notorious in the 1920’s when the phrase “banned in Boston” took on new meaning (American Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring, 1963), pp. 3-24). William R. Reardon observed that the first American book burning took place in Boston during the year 1654 (“The Tradition behind Bostonian Censorship,” Educational Theatre Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2 (May, 1955), pp. 97-101).

As Americans we take pride in our constitutional right to freedom of speech. Yet in 1873, the Comstock Law, or the Federal Anti-Obscenity Act, was passed. The law stated that “whoever, within…the United States...shall have in his possession for any such purpose or purposes, an obscene book, pamphlet…print picture or drawing...of immoral nature…shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof in the court of the United States…he shall be imprisoned at hard labor in the penitentiary.” Under the law, books like The Canterbury Tales by William Chaucer and Aristophanes’ Lysistrata were banned.  American masterpieces such as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass were also outlawed.

Did narrow attitudes end with the Victorian era’s sensibilities and prejudices? Apparently not. In the 1950’s, Senator Joseph McCarthy instigated one of the most notorious waves of censorship the nation has ever experienced. Because of McCarthy’s ‘Red Scare’, classics like Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, which encouraged men to peacefully protest unjust laws, was pulled from the shelves of the State Department’s overseas libraries. It was one of more than 300 titles McCarthy had banned or burned.

J.D. Salinger's 1951 classic coming-of-age novel, The Catcher in the Rye, has been the object of challenges nationwide for decades because of its language, references to violence and sexual content. According to the American Library Association, the book was the 13th most frequently challenged book in the country's school systems from 1990 to 2000.

In 2005, the Metropolitan Library Commission of Oklahoma City overruled recommendations made by library staff and established a special collection of children’s books with gay themes. The collection would be accessible only to adults. The Oklahoma debate began when a state representative worried that children would have access to books about gay marriage and sponsored a resolution to segregate all library books with gay and/or adult themes.

The list of “condemned” banned or censored books boggles the mind; a good source of information on this subject can be found online at: http://title.forbiddenlibrary.com/

It is not only governments and libraries that have chosen to ban books found objectionable for various reasons. Materials are often deemed unacceptable for political or religious reasons or are considered profane, pornographic or sexually too explicit for youth. Publishers and booksellers make these decisions and determinations as well.

A majority of book challenges come from concerned parents and are related to young adult fiction. GalleyCat spotlighted an article which provides detailed statistics on this topic: http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/censorship-statistics-infographic/110876?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=galleycat&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter20151007

My most recent YA novels are with Clean Reads Press. THE DEVIL AND DANNA WEBSTER is a romantic book with a serious underlying theme, appropriate for teens thirteen and older.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZYXW7K/

STACY’S SONG returns in a completely rewritten, re-edited edition on October 27, 2015, also appropriate for teens thirteen and above.  Here is the new cover reveal:

July Blume, who like me writes for children, YA and adults, doesn’t believe in any form of censorship and opposes “trigger warnings” (Time Magazine, June 8, 2015 Interview). I don’t agree with her on this. I think that there need to be some indicators—especially when the author writes for diverse audiences. For example, in the case of my latest adult romance novel

DARK MOON RISING, I have made it clear that the novel is for mature readers. I suggest it for no one younger than eighteen. I feel such distinctions are needed.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z7824A4/

 However, it is well to keep in mind that good books often do stir controversy. They are designed to question and make people think. That is not something to fear or repress but rather to admire and respect. As Voltaire, author of the banned satire Candide, once stated: “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.” Today the internet is an unrestricted location to find information, including the subject of banned book collections.

If librarians continue to see themselves as gatekeepers, then it is imperative that they attempt to provide a variety and diversity of materials for public consumption. As a teacher and librarian I feel strongly about this. As to inferno collections, are they a thing of the past? Knowing human nature, it is indeed doubtful.

Your thoughts and opinions welcome here!     

E-Book Revolution

The E-Book Revolution

by Jacqueline Seewald

Attention: The E-book revolution is now! Amazon reports they are selling more e-books than paperbacks. Forget about hardcover sales! Even libraries have cut back on hardcover orders. Borders filed for bankruptcy. Many independent bookstores are going out of business. Should writers panic? Is literacy being challenged? Doubtful. What’s happening is a new intellectual revolution partially fueled by a depressed economy and also new technology. This is nothing unique in the annuals of history.

To us today, faced with an amazing knowledge explosion in the world of computer and internet technology, it may seem as though people in the Renaissance knew very little. However, they were very interested in the improvement of mankind.

The word "renaissance" means "rebirth". To Italians of the fifteenth century, this rebirth meant a revival of interest in the Greek and Roman classics. Yet this interest was not totally lacking in the Middle Ages. The scholars of the Renaissance put their emphasis on rediscovering the art and humanities of antiquity. In that sense, they were reactionary rather than forward-looking in their movement. But gradually, the Renaissance became something larger, a rebirth of the human spirit, a realization of the human potential for development. That realization led to many discoveries: scientific and geographical as well as artistic, philosophical and religious.

It is hard to overstate the impact and importance of the printing press on civilization at large, both in its own right and as part of the vast re-ordering of society that appeared in the Renaissance and Reformation. Did the invention of the Gutenberg printing press begin an intellectual revolution or was this technology a product of the intellectual revolution that was the Renaissance?

Before the invention of the printing press, in the Middle Ages or Medieval period, monks in monasteries copied bibles and important books by hand. It was a slow and painstaking process. It also made books quite expensive. Books were rare. Only the very rich could afford to own many books. Many books were religious in nature. Reading was for people of privilege: clergy, scholars, men of the court. Very few ordinary people had the opportunity to learn to read. Most important works were written in Latin, which was not the language of the average man.
Printing came to Europe from China in the early fifteenth century. The technique of printing from wooden blocks had been practiced by the Chinese since the tenth century and was introduced in Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg around 1418. A revolutionary advance in the art of printing, the invention of movable type, which made possible the production of many copies of the same text, was achieved in the Rhineland of Europe during the middle of the fifteenth century.

Johannes Gutenberg, to whom the invention is credited, printed a number of books between 1450 and 1455. He worked and lived in Strassburg, Germany until returning to his native town of Mainz where he went into partnership for the making of books. His type was used to create the first book made with movable type, the so-called Gutenberg Bible, which was issued in Latin.

Gutenberg did not invent the printing press. As a master goldsmith, he knew how to cut symbols, designs, and letters into metals and into wax to form molds with which he cast jewelry and seals. Building on the earlier Chinese idea of movable wooden type, he realized that casting it in metal would solve most of the problems with wooden type.

Gutenberg’s work was of major importance in the advancement of learning that marked the Renaissance. Not long after Gutenberg's invention, presses began turning out books in at least ten other European cities. By 1500, about nine million books had been printed. More people were learning how to read. Ideas could be more readily exchanged. The cost of books was considerably lower. More people could afford books. Also, since most people were not educated in Greek, Latin and Hebrew like the scholars of the university, the church or the court, there was a demand for books printed in the vernacular languages, the languages that people actually spoke. There was also a demand for non-religious literature. Spelling became standardized. Language generally became more accurate. Important ideas were now discussed and debated through the printed word. When the Bible was finally written in the vernacular, it became understandable to all those who could read without the need of interpretation or the aid of a priest. This helped to lay the foundation of the Reformation, a religious revolution.

After the invention of the Gutenberg press, people who could read would have access to all kinds of knowledge and information at the same time. With such information available, it allowed for complex thinking to develop, where ideas could be pulled together to form new complex ideas. It allowed for research, the basis for developing new theories and identifying accurate information. There was a great demand for secular literature, an expansion of knowledge and learning in all areas.

So now we have a new intellectual revolution, an e-book revolution. As for myself, I have only had one e-book published so far: L&L Dreamspell published my YA coming of age/romance novel STACY’S SONG in both paperback and all e-book formats. And yes, it is selling better as an e-book!

Where do you think the e-book revolution will lead? Do you as a reader and/or writer see this as a good thing?

Perfect Gifts by Jacqueline Seewald

Emerson wrote:

“Gifts of one who loved me--Twas high time they came;

When he ceased to love me, Time they stopped for shame.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson had some outspoken thoughts and opinions regarding gift-giving. Emerson, nineteenth century transcendental philosopher and theologian, observed in his essay entitled “Gifts” that flowers and fruits are always appropriate gifts “because they are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out values all the utilities of the world.” Emerson went on to observe that things of necessity are also appropriate gifts as well.

Emerson stated that the only true gift is a portion of ourselves. Something we create is of more significance than anything we could possibly buy in a store: “It is a cold, lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy me something which does not represent your life and talent, but a goldsmith’s.”

However, let’s face it, modern man is a materialistic creature, unlike Emerson. Maybe it’s too bad more of us don’t read Emerson’s essays and aren’t influenced by his advice. But if we did, commerce as we know it would be seriously impacted.

To avoid mall madness and still manage to give gifts that friends, family and fellow workers appreciate definitely takes time and planning. Internet shopping is one approach never dreamed of in Emerson’s philosophy.

Books are in my opinion perfect gifts. Even those people who are basically nonreaders enjoy a beautiful coffee table book. There are books to suit every taste. Many men appreciate useful nonfiction how-to books. Many women like cookbooks. Children enjoy picture books.
Romance and mystery novels are always in demand. (Check out the Five Star/Gale’s line. Each month, brand new mysteries and romance novels are offered.)

Of course, some readers prefer large print books since they’re so much easier on the eyes. I’m pleased to say that my historical romance TEA LEAVES AND TAROT CARDS was just published in a large print edition by Thorndike Press.

Books are also great gifts for teenagers as well as adults and children. Teens actually do read for pleasure, not just for school assignments. My new young adult novel STACY’S SONG published by L&L Dreamspell is an uplifting coming of age/romance that ends at Christmas and would be a good gift for teenage girls ages 12 to 17 . It's published both in paperback and Kindle/e-book editions.

What would you recommend as perfect holiday presents? If books, which would you suggest?