Rewind To You - A Review

Johnston, Laura. Rewind to You. New York: Kensington Publishing Corp., 2014.
          ISBN-13 978-1-60183-350-1

Sienna and Austin are two broken people who find each other unexpectedly on a hot summer’s night in Savannah.  The pair is drawn to each other immediately, and in spite of her boyfriend and his future plans a romance begins. While the romance will likely engage my teenage readers, the other plot lines are also where meaning is found.  Sienna is mourning the loss of her father in a tragic accident for which she blames herself.  She suffers serious PTSD symptoms.  Austin, too, mourns the loss of his father to prison and after a friend is caught with drugs in his car, is working to rebuild his own life on the back of a scholarship to play football for the Florida Gators.

Quite a few other problems plague these two.  At times I thought, “Oh come on; you’ve got to be kidding,” but many students will be drawn to the drama of the conflicts. Also, several rather unbelievable coincidences move the plot along a bit too conveniently; however, again many students will be willing to overlook these because of the chemistry between these star crossed kids. The attraction between them is intense (& a bit exaggerated for an aging cynic like me), but the interactions between them are tasteful and suitable for most readers. The coming of age themes surely makes Rewind to You worth the read.

I think my Sarah Dessen fans will like this because of its beachy feel.  Sienna also becomes a strong young lady throughout the course of the novel, which is also like Dessen. It looks to be available only in Kindle form right now, so I won't be able to lend the title. I can certainly recommend it to my avid readers.

Literary Snobbery?

In "Jennifer Weiner: Why I'm Waging War on Literary Snobbery," author Jane Mulkerrins asserts Jennifer Weiner has long been aware of the sort of writer she wants to be. “I knew the kind of books I loved myself, which perhaps aren’t considered great literature, but are great stories, with strong characters and smart observations,” she says. “You might not stop and gasp over every sentence, but those books get put in lots of beach bags, and taken on lots of aeroplanes, and read in lots of hospitals: they keep people company and they make them feel good. Those are the books I wanted to write.”

She is certainly very successful.  As a librarian I book talk the young adult versions of Weiner's books on a regular basis.  I enjoy reading them.  I enjoy talking about them.  As an Advanced Placement Literature teacher, I am a bit uncomfortable with her disdain.  Certainly, I needed to read a bit further.  I did, only to discover that her complaints are not necessarily about the literary merit of a work.  

In reference to a fairly well publicized social media "battle" with Jonathan Franzen, she reveals her concern that works written by women for women is reviewed much less seriously and much less often than works written by men. I am often aware of the dearth of women in the accepted literary canon as I work through my curriculum each year. She also notes disappointment when other women speak disparagingly of "chick lit" - noting. "I’m not saying that we all need to hold hands and sing Kumbaya, but I wish that there was some recognition of what the real problem is. Chick lit is not the problem.”

While I agree her concerns are valid.  I think, perhaps, she begs the question of whether or not levels of literary merit exist in the publishing and reading world.  She openly admits that she is not that concerned with literary merit, but blames gender bias for the lack of respect her work receives.  I am not sure her reasoning is entirely valid - but thought provoking nonetheless.

Paper vs. Digital: Does It Matter?

"Do people read as well on screens as they do on paper?"

According to the New York Times article "Reading Literature Online: A Price For Convenience?" researchers in France and Norway looked at this question.  I found the results a bit surprising.  Readers who used e readers and those who used paper books responded similarly to emotional measures and to questions regarding setting. But...the e readers fell apart quite a bit on questions about time and sequencing.

Such results raise questions certainly in the field of education.  More and more we are using electronic books and tests and online resources to teach our curriculum and meet our standards.  Further, we are even beginning to evaluate our success rate by testing more and more digitally.  Students' graduations and teachers' evaluations depend on these results.  We need to be sure we are providing the best opportunities for success.

One researcher noted, “It’s all one complex web that we need to start disentangling...” The study might still provide fodder for those who insist that reading a novel on a screen just isn’t the same. “It’s a confirmation that these ergonomic dimensions, the tactile feedback of holding paper, might actually matter,” she said. Certainly educators will be watching and reading as this web is disentangled!

Score One For the Library Over Amazon

"But it turns out librarians haven't just been sitting around shushing people while the Internet drove them into irrelevance. More than 90% of American public libraries have amassed e-book collections you can read on your iPad, and often even on a Kindle. You don't have to walk into a branch or risk an overdue fine. And they're totally free."

So says The Wall Street Journal  in its timely article "Why the Public Library Beats Amazon - For Now." The author explored a variety of best seller lists and found that public library e collections have many more of these titles than subscription services like Scribd, Oyster, and Kindle Unlimited. And of course - no monthly fee. The library card is still free! Certainly drawbacks like wait lists and due dates still exist. But - a variety of popular titles, for free should be hard for serious readers to resist.

Because of a grant, I was able to create an fairly substantial e book collection in my library.  Students are pretty excited to be able to check out books on their devices, day or night, in any place that they can connect to the internet.  I am pretty excited because these books are never returned three months late and/or damaged.  While the older students seem to prefer physical books, the junior high kids are loving the accessibility of our e book collection. 

Go libraries!