Apologies for this week

Major apologies for not posting this week. I should have forseen it, however, with getting the classroom ready and teacher inservices, I was unable to sit down and get a post set up. This week was also supposed to be a Writer Friday, but I'll have to post pone that to either tomorrow, or bump it to next week.

Being a teacher is crazy! I'm not even a "real" teacher and it's crazy!

However, I did make an AWESOME bulletin board for current young adult literature in my classroom. I'll post a picture of it on Monday when I take one.

Later, all!

[Review] Eon & Eona by Alison Goodman *****

And we're back! Welcome back to LEIO and the reviews! I've been on a book binge as of late, and I'm definitely back logged on books to review and place up here. So in the spirit of giving you a bunch of reviews at once, I'm actually recommedning two books at once.  


The Story

Eon takes us to a world inspired by ancient China and magic, where a 16 year old girl disguises herself as Eon, a potential apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons, the protectors of her world. Crippled, and hiding her potentially fatal secret, Eona soon finds herself twisted into the politics and mystery of the lost Mirror Dragon and a country whose throne is under threat from within.

What's So Great About It?

I have always been a big fan of epic adventures and Eon caught my eye instantly because its a story of a girl who pretends to be a boy in order to follow her heart and passions. The books are rated for grade 8 and up, but there are a lot of life lessons and hard choices within the pages that even an adult could relate to. The maturity of the circumstances, and the very real mistakes that Eona makes and potentially makes, raise the stakes. The books create a world where small missteps can lead to much larger catastrophes, which Eona finds out through her journey to becoming an apprentice.

Like many of the books I review, it's the characters that truly make the book shine. Eona herself is determined and realistic, with a compassionate side that shows as a lion might show affection to her cubs; with a strong hand. She makes mistakes and lets her fears influence some of her decisions. She acts as many people do and learns from her mistakes. The supporting characters in these two books have just as much heart as their main protagonist, and the books cover topics such as gender identity, homosexuality, loyalty, and obsession in mature and insightful ways.

Why These Books??

I suggest Eon and Eona for the classroom because of the quality of story, maturity of the material, and the characters. These are books that any teacher, or professor even, could pull discussions and paper topics from for their students.

I give Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman  5 out of 5 stars for readability in the classroom. My only exception is that I believe these books would be great as supplemental material. For example, if you gave students a list of similar books to choose from, as apposed to forcing the whole class to read one book. The reason for this being that some students may not be as interested in the story as others. Just as some like certain flavors, these two definitely have a flavor.

Writer Friday: The Story Lives

I have officially decided to dedicate every other Friday as Writer Friday. On these days I will post something about the current status of my writing/stories if not a tip/trick/topic that any who wants to is more than welcome to respond to. So, to start us off, this Friday is a quick review of what I am actually writing and where I am.

 "Eyes on Fire"

This is the main novel that I have been working on and is kind of my biggest baby. The story came from a dream I had of this very vivid scene of a girl making a pact with a spirit to save her own life. The story of why this happened to her evolved in my head over a few years, then one summer I became compelled and wrote the remainder over a period of about 3 months. The story is now sitting at 90% done, with the end waiting for me to actually put it to paper. At that point it will need to be read through and edited.

This is the novel that I want to send out for beta reading, edit, and send to publishers. If I go into a Ph.D program that allows me to use past work, I would like to have this be my main work as well. This story does have a sequel, but it is bare bones in my head at the moment.


"WTTS" [Working title]

The working title of this book is "window to the soul" and focuses on a girl who can see into others souls via their eyes. The idea that the eyes are the "window to the soul" is a very old proverb that has always intrigued me and quite honestly, I think could really be true. So the idea came to me, "what if you really could see into someone's soul through their eyes...or worse...mess with them?" Thus, this story was born. The main idea had been bouncing around my head for a few years until the story finally came to me.

I have just begun writing this story since I stalled on EOF, so I have maybe 30+ pages on it. I am still hammering out the plot, but I have at least 50% of it figured out. This is a companion piece to the book below and is in the same realm as EOF.


"CC" [working title]

CC is actually the abbreviated title for an anime that I got the tiny, tiny inspiration for this story from. The main reason that this story exists is because it's main character popped right out at me and stated that she has a story to tell. Her story is pretty much known to me and how her story fits in with WTTS is also clear. The rest, however, is not so clear. I have some plot written for this and a little bit of the main characters' back story so that I remember it for when I start writing.




If anyone here is interested in beta-reading any of my stories, please, I would love to hear from you. I have at least one that's ready and perhaps that would get my booty in gear to being active on the rest of the.

Writer tip: Write. Write write write.

[Writing] Some of that Writer Input I was telling you about.

Not only do I hope to give those who read this blog some input on the novels that I think are shining in the YA genre, but also some input from a YA Writer herself. Over the next few months I hope to post on topics including "characters that sound similar but aren't", "writing is like a marathon", and "writer tough love". Until then, here is some info about me as a writer to wet your palate.

A little about me and my writing experience: 

The very first instance I remember creating stories was probably when I was about 4 or 5. I had gotten together a bunch of toys and had created this whole elaborate story line (a princess was in danger, a prince helped to save her, there were some evil henchmen) which I actually think was stolen partially from Beauty and the Beast. I remember being so excited about the story that when I had come to the end of the tale, I tried to set it up again and act it out for a 2nd time.

As I reached the ability to write my ideas down on paper, I did so how ever often I could. At the time, it didn't even occur to me that I could physically write these things down. My first full length, written out story was a fanfiction for Amelia Atwater-Rhodes nyeusigrube vampire world. That was my crack. I started writing fanfiction (fiction written by using already existing literary works and expanding upon them) like it was my business. I believe I have about 15 or 20 different stories for about 5 of my favorite shows as a middle/high schooler. Sadly, I was only ever able to finish perhaps one.

To this day, my inability to finish a story I have started still haunts me. My process is one that most writers would caution against. I like to work out a story in my head, and then, when I feel comfortable about it, I write it down. Slowly and surely, I've been putting myself through "write it down" boot camp, which actually propels my stories further. A lot of my stories also come from dreams I have. My very first novel series came from a dream that I had that was so vivid, I was forced to write it down. As I began to ask why certain things occurred in the dream, the story itself came to me.

As of now, I am working on two stories in two seperate veins. One only needs its ending, and the other two are currently being written. Writing, to me, is a release. It gives my brain a chance to take all of the things it sees in one day and allows me to form those thoughts into ideas, those ideas into voices, and those voices into characters who try to find their way in the worlds around them.

The Break's Almost Over

Long time no update.

Because of my first internship with my masters degree, the site has been inactive for awhile. Starting at the end of May, I will begin updating again with many books at once that I have been reading over the course of the semester!

See you all in May! 

[BIR] Glimmerglass and My Blood Approves

Here is the second part of this blog which I'm calling BIR or Books I've Read.

Because I am a book reading monster, I go through a lot of books very quickly, however, some I can't necessarily recommend in an academic sense, but I do think they are great fun reading for students and any YA fans. Therefore, once in awhile I'll have a post where I give some brief reviews of books I have recently finished...Ie, like I'm doing now.

Glimmerglass by Jenna Black

This book suffers from what I would refer to as "series disease". The author was probably asked to produce a 3 book series and therefore the events occur rather slowly and sometimes I wasn't quite sure where the plot was headed. The best part about this book is definitely the characters and their motivations. I'm really interested in seeing what happens with their relationships and what the Fey want with Dana. I just wish that more had occurred. This might be a personal preference on my part, but I like my novels to have a bit more action in them. I definitely suggest that fans of YA check this out and I do look forward to the next book in the series, Shadowspell.

My Blood Approves - Amanda Hocking 

When this book arrived in the mail, I was a little taken aback because I realized that I couldn't find the publisher anywhere in the book. Turns out this series (as well as the rest of her books) are self published, something that I'm not a big fan of ...but BOY, was I pleasantly surprised.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Alice and Jack, and the blossoming of their friendship into something more. The vampire mythology in this novel is also a mixture of many other authors, but also takes an interesting view point. The book has a lot of aspects (such as the structure of the family) that remind me of the Twilight Saga, but it also has a voice that is completely its own. I have actually been on the fence about recommending this as an academic reading suggestion, because near the end it does cover the ideas of choice, homosexuality and family that I felt were very powerful. I think I will have to wait to see how the rest of the series plays out before I flip this one into that category, but for now I'll leave it as a STRONG recommendation.

The next books in this series are, Fate, Flutter and Wisdom.

In Which I try to do NaNoWriMo....again.

Soon it shall be that time again!

And I shall be trying NaNoWriMo....again. For those of you that don't know nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month. From November 1-30th the goal is to write a novel, ie 50,000 words.

I tried this event last year and failed miserably ( I never started). However, I think that my problem was that I tried to start it with a new story and got stuck in the brainstorming. This year I already have a story in mind and I'm going to use NaNo to flesh it out. I think that way I'll be much more productive and actually be able to get it done.

So wish me luck! Here is my NaNoWriMo site!! Keep posted!

[Review] Matched by Ally Condie *****

So, I promised reviews, and therefore, here we go.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to get my hands on an advanced reader copy of Matched by Allie Condie. The story is set in the future where everything from the food people eat to who they will marry and what they wear is controlled by the Society. The book takes the idea of "for the better of the whole" to the extreme, and each person fits into their own little space in the wheels of the greater world.

The Story
The story centers around Cassia, a young girl who begins the novel attending her Match Banquet, the moment in which she will find out with whom she will be Matched with (ie. eventually marry). Instead of seeing one face, she sees two, and is torn between the young man she is supposed to be with, and one whom she can not get out of her mind.

What's so Great about It?
Perhaps the best part of Matched is the existence of a dystopian world in the center of a "perfect" one. As the book progresses, not only does Cassia begin to see the threads unraveling, but the reader as well.  The topic of feeling different, or like an outcast, is one that many young adults struggle with, and seeing Cassia's inner thoughts and how her thoughts progress is an interesting ride. The thing that I like most about Cassia is that she isn't a rebel. For much of the book she follows the life that she is supposed to lead. We see her rebellion, not in her actions, but in her thoughts, and there is a quiet, but driven fight that she carries out below the level that can be detected by those around her. This is something that I haven't seen much in these types of novels and gives it a much needed refresher. I think that novels where the characters are gung-ho about their beliefs and "sticking it to the man" are great, but this is a side of rebellion that I believe is much more realistic and a very interesting view. What about those that fight quietly? Of course, as the events of the novel rise in action and Cassia needs to come to a decision, she does break out and show the courage and determination that she has held within her throughout the novel. But I think it's her quiet fight and her thoughtfulness is really where she shines.

Why This Book?
I found a lot of topics and thought processes in Matched that I think a lot of students from 7-12 could identify with. The idea of feeling like an outcast, that there is more out there than meets the eye and even making tough decisions are ones that every student will come up against during their entire lives. Cassia's choice of whether to follow the path set out before her or to take her own road is also one that I think many students can identify with in a time of their lives where they're told they need to pick a path. The setting of the Society and the world Cassia lives in is also a great comment on modern society today. Could we one day become like the Society? Controlling everything in order to create a "perfect world" where everyone lives to be 80 and no one has any diseases? Is that even a "perfect world"? Matched brings up a lot of topics about society and people that would be fantastic spring boards for other subjects, not just English. Not only can Cassia's fight for her freedom to choose light a fire in the students that read about her, but HOW Cassia chooses her freedom and how she goes about it bring to students a new idea of what it means to rebel.

I give Matched by Ally Condie  a 5 stars out of 5 (*****) for readability in the classroom. I highly suggest picking this book up for your own classes or just for a great read. I am definitely looking forward to the next two books in the series.

In which I actually use this blog for good use

This all stared with an ARC of Matched by Allie Condie.

After having put my hands on an ARC of Matched that I won during a giveaway by my favorite author, I think I may have found my Writing/Reading/Ph.D calling.

Current Young Adult Literature and it's Impact on the Millennium Generation and Literacy.

Boo yah.

To start off this ridiculously long calling (and my now addiction to possibly having more ARCs in my hand), I've decided to use this blog to start my own Writing/Reading/Reviewing site based on Young Adult novels and how they can impact literacy for young adults. Yes, I am 23. Yes, I still read young adult novels and yes, I do still find joy in them. I also think that the era of novels that we are in now can greatly impact the reading and literacy experiences of a generation that many have seen as being lost to the world of the hardcopy, writing, and literature in general.

I have always been a huge fan of education, and it wasn't until my graduation from undergrad that I believe I really found my passion. Which is ironic, because I have always been a passionate reader/writer/student...things that have been staring me right in the face.

With my passions leading me to a Ph.D, I feel that this is the perfect time to put all of my wants and work to the test of true academia. Not only will I be working on my theory and compiling work on it, but also continuing to read the books that I have always loved and reviewing them for the masses. Also, continuing to work on my own writing and hopefully filling up my portfolio with work that a Ph.D program will want.

So thus, the true Last Exit in Ohio is born.

Sometimes my brain explodes with Genius

Wheeeew! It's been awhile!

Graduate school has definitely inhibited my writing attempts. I tried, unsuccessfully, to do some private work with a professor on campus, however he didn't have the time.

I have had a breakthrough, however. There has been this story that has slowly, but surely, been taking root and growing in my head. Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to write a story inspired by the idea of "the eyes are the window to the soul", taking this literally in which a character would have the ability to look into and manipulate the "soul" or "being" of another by looking into their eyes. The idea has floated, and drowned, for many years in my head.

Finally, I had a couple (or 5) characters finally come out of the woodwork. They are very new and still talking to me, but the story is forming. What is even more interesting is how this story is beginning to tie into Eyes on Fire. EOF is about Demons...this story is slowly becoming about Angels. I'm not sure if these two stories are part of the same world...however the characters feel very familiar and they may just be in the same world.

Writing is amazing to me. It was the same with understanding the character of Isaac, I just all of the sudden realize and thought "of course! Duh! THAT'S why." The pieces just seemed to fall into place, and the same has begun happening with this story. I'm going to be calling this story by the codename Windows to the Soul for future reference, or WTS for short.

SOOOO excited to get this started!