Stardust

Image credit: LibraryThing.com

Gaiman, Neil. Stardust. New York: Avon Books, 1999.

Annotation: Tristran Thorn crosses a wall into the magical world of Faerie to find a fallen star to present to his love, Victoria. However, in Faerie, adventure awaits because some things are not how a person would imagine them to be. 

Book talk:

In our town – the town of Wall – there is a wall that separates our town from Faerie. We are not allowed to cross the wall; there’s even guards there to prevent us from crossing the wall. We are only allowed to cross every nine years during a fair. And boy do they sell the strangest things, like storm-filled eggshells and glass flowers. If the fair is any indication, Faerie must be a magical place indeed. Well, I’m about to find out because I have to cross the wall. I’m in love with Victoria, you see, and she promised to marry me if I bring her back a fallen star that just fell on the other side of the wall. What is Faerie like? Are the people as strange as they are during the fair? I’ve overheard talk of unicorns, witches and flying pirates. What does a fallen star look like? Well I’m going to find out because I need to bring it back to Victoria. So how do I get past the guard and cross the wall into Faerie?   

Awards:

• Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature
• Alex Award from the American Library Association.

Awards source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust_%28novel%29

Extras:

• Link to movie: http://www.stardustmovie.com/index2.html
• Audio Except: http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/works/audio/102_Chapter_One.mp3
• Interview with Neil Gaiman and Jane Goldman (screenwriter) about Stardust: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md7qa2HxoU8&feature=related

Forever

Image credit: LibraryThing.com

Blume, J. (1975). Forever. New York: Pocket Books.

Annotation: Two high school seniors experience the highs and lows of love they are convinced will last forever.

Review: 
Katherine and Michael are convinced their love will last forever. They meet on New Year’s Eve and fall into a journey full of the joy and curiosity of a first love. Who wants to think about the end for the relationship? They are prepared to be together for the rest of their lives, but then they are separated for a summer.

The story captures what falling in love for the first time is like, with all the ups and downs of saying “I love you” and fights. Although Forever has explicit scenes of teen sex, they are honest, realistic accounts that show the first time isn’t always a sweeping epic but can be awkward. Those scenes sometimes have influenced people to want to ban Forever from teens, but because of the book’s honesty, it can be a good starting point for discussion of teen pregnancy, using protection and love lasting forever. Judy Blume also includes a note about safe sex at the beginning of the book. Teens going through similar experiences could find the book relatable. Although the book was written in the 1970s, few of the references are dated (mostly that Robert Redford was the teen heartthrob and the kids can drink at age 18).

Forever also includes references to other stressful topics teens deal with, such as suicide and a grandparent’s death. However, these topics could have been given more description to capture the depth of emotions felt because it seemed they were backdrops to the main emotional struggle: first love. Some of the relationship situations also could have used more emotional depth. For example, when Katherine is dealing with a new attraction, there could have been more emotional descriptions to prepare the reader for the way she reacted. In general, the story is a quick read, but the main focus of first love still is relatable for teens, capturing how one can react to the first time.

Award: 1996 Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner
Award source: http://www.judyblume.com/books/ya/forever.php