Now that I'm working full-time as a young adult librarian I haven't been posting nearly as much, but I wanted to at least do my end of the year lists! 1) Ms. Marvel: Generation Why by G. Willow Wilson I love this comic series overall, but this one so clearly nails a lot of the things I've heard from teens recently. Their annoyance at older generations misjudging and underestimating them, their ability to come together despite differences, and their genuine desire to make their worlds a better place. Kamala Khan is just a fabulous protagonist overall, relatably trying to juggle her friends, family, faith, education, and, oh yeah, newfound superpowers. Plus, the cameos. The cameos. So many familiar faces from the Marvel universe have appeared, which is especially fun because Kamala is such an unabashed fangirl. I really can't praise this series highly enough- just go check it out for yourself. 2) Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson Sensing a theme? 2015 was a huge year for ...
I came across a really interesting piece on the Tor blog today called "Is There a Right Age to Read a Book?" by Jo Walton. In it, Walton introduces thoughts from both sides of the argument. Claire, the blogger responsible for The Captive Reader , suggests that while we won't get everything out of a book read too young (i.e., we'll enjoy the characters and plot, but miss the deeper themes and allusions), it does us no harm as we can always go back and reread things later. However, she does emphasize just how much of an effect the age at which we read things can have. I love that she uses Jane Eyre as an example: "I read Jane Eyre , one of Kaye-Smith’s ‘approved’ books for youths, when I was fourteen in school and hated it. Was this the fault of a too early introduction? Or perhaps a too late one? Would I at twelve, when for one brief summer I understood... the allure of gothic novels, have been more receptive to the absurdities of the plot and the odious...
