5

By reading a novel written in verse, as is Virginia Euwer Wolff's Make Lemonade, I cannot help but initially try to analyze it for its poetic merit. Personally, I am not fond of novels of verse. While Make Lemonade has very enjoyable episodes, reading for pleasure is difficult for me. With YA novels, so many genres are lumped into this marketing category -- romance, poetry, adventure, et cetera. If this book was geared toward adults, it would have been marketed as poetry rather than a YA novel in verse. I read poetry differently than I do prose and the whole time while I read this, I kept trying to think of ways I had to make sense of it. However, I do feel that the most enjoyable aspect was listening to people read it out loud in class as it allowed the poetry to leap off the page.

I do appreciate what Wolff has done with these books -- as an artistic venture, her novel in verse allows individual episodes strikes a chord independently from the rest of the novel, if need be. I still hold that 12 is my favorite, as I felt very connected to the idea of LaVaughn's anxiety being represented by Zimbabwe taking away the points from her. I think there is something relatable about Make Lemonade -- the teenagers can related to the verse. I do tend to think of all the writing teenagers can do, even if it's angsty poetry about high school. In that manner, I do think there is something appealing to teenagers about this book.

4

In Julia Watt's Finding H.F., I found the titular character, a lesbian teenager H.F. (short for Heavenly Faith) the most likeable.

The traits that drew me to the character was her disarming laid-back attitude. As a reader, I can immediately connect to her feelings regarding her first big crush (Wendy) and how she processes any little action toward her from the object of her affection. Wendy describes H.F. as a storyteller and any reader can agree with the description. It makes H.F. the perfect person to tell this story -- while it may have been interesting from Bo's perspective, I cannot say I'd be interested to hear it from Wendy's. H.F.'s voice is what kept me reading as well as her frank emotions.

The pleasure I take from the book and the character can be attributed greatly to Watt's writing -- from H.F.'s perspective, we truly see the world as she sees it. Her voice is very strong and vivid and at once, charming.

3

I've had a discussion recently with my boyfriend about homosexuality in children's and young adult literature. While we had varying views on homosexual protagonists in children's picture books, he was not surprised by my adoration of Julia Watt's Finding H.F. and my desire for my future children to read books like it.

To me, books are about being introduced to new ideas -- even ideas that may be far outside your worldview. My feeling as a future parent would be that I would like to run a household that open and frank about discussing issues that may be taboo in the South (such as race and sexuality). Young adult literature would be a great introduction for teenagers to understand what someone like H.F. experiences in her small, rural community as a lesbian.

So I would feel completely comfortable with teenagers reading such a book -- in Finding H.F. the most striking thing to me was the sincerity of the vulnerability and the realness of H.F.'s reactions. It makes it more approachable and you can relate to it -- no matter what your sexuality may be.

2

When considering the Caldecott Medal and its honor toward illustrators (which may or may not be the author as well), I can't help but think about the different types of modes of illustration. In class alone, we have seen cut paper, mixed media, scratch board, and regular pens and pencils. With an award that focuses on the artwork of the book, I do think like it is hard to judge between so many different types of artwork.

Obviously, the illustrations must fit the story. Even if the story is a simple tale, the illustrations can make the story pop. I also feel that innovation is a very important consideration when deciding the winner. In a world where there are so many more forms of art that are being represented in children's picture books, it is getting harder to move through nominees that are so vastly different from one another.

So should the Caldecott only honor the illustrator? In the cases where the illustrator and author are not the same person, I do think it is necessary to recognize that the author's words did help inspire the illustrator; however, the illustrator does take those words and make the story come alive through their art. Additionally, when the award itself is named after a famous illustrator, it's hard to award the book for something else other than the artwork. Of course, you could get into the whole debate about describing 'illustration' if you want -- whether the art is hand-drawn or painted rather than cut from paper or glued together. But if you think about illustration in the sense that is a visual aid, many forms of art can be included.

Having an author's words illustrated by an award-winning artist brings attention to the author's work even if the award does not honor the author. It is honor by association, even if the author and the illustrator were assigned to each other by the publisher. There are a few things that come to mind when I think of this situation: one, it will be great for the author's sales, obviously but two, everyone might be so preoccupied to look at the art that they forget to focus on the story. But then I thought about it some more, and I think that any award winning illustrations would bring more depth to the story and the author's words that maybe even the author did not realize.