YA Realistic Fiction: Looking for Alaska and Darius & Twig

**This originally appeared on a YA Realistic Fiction discussion board for my Children's Literature class**

Title: Looking for Alaska

Author; John Green

Genre: young adult, realistic fiction, award winner 

Looking for Alaska is the second John Green book I have ever read. (the first was The Fault in Our Stars). When I began this book, I thought to myself, “I wonder if John Green is going to kill off a character in this book?” Well, so far, we are two for two. While Looking isn’t as emotionally gut-wrenching as Fault, it’s still a pretty sad book. The book itself is divided into two sections: Before and After and the reader doesn’t find out what exactly Before and After are referencing until the beginning of the second half of the book. I thought the book was divided this way because the massive prank the Colonel and Alaska were plotting against their frenemies. Now that I am a veteran of two John Green books, I know Before and After mark a great tragedy in the life of Miles Halter and his boarding school buddies.

When the novel opens, Miles Halter leaves his boring life behind in Central Florida to attend the Culver Creek boarding school in Alabama, his dad’s alma mater. He quickly befriends his roommate The Colonel (birth name: Chip Martin), Takumi, Lara, and the beautiful Alaska Young: “I stared, stunned partly by the force of the voice emanating from the petite (but God, curvy) girl and partly by the gigantic stacks of books that lined her walls…If just one them moved, I thought, the domino effect could engulf the three of us in an asphyxiating mass of literature” (Green, 2005, p.15). Miles soon earns the ironic nickname of Pudge from The Colonel and then proceeds to navigate multiple illicit adventures of all kinds with his friends while keeping up with his studies: smoking, the secret drinking spot, pre-calc tutoring sessions with Alaska, playing pranks on the weekend kids, kissing a girl (and other things) for the first time, and pining away for the girl he could never have- Alaska.

The first half of the book has its mixture of humorous, snarky, and serious moments. Miles learns that Alaska’s mother died of aneurism, the Colonel is fiercely protective of his mother who lives in poverty, Lara is an immigrant from Romania whose parents never took her seriously until they moved to the United States, and Takumi misses his grandmother whom he never met. All four of them came to Culver Creek to leave a dead-end situation (Darius & Twig feature characters that also dream of leaving their current environment).

The second half of the book understandably gets darker in tone as Miles and his friends grieve over Alaska’s senseless death and undergo the grieving process. The Colonel and Miles take it upon themselves to investigate the last hours of Alaska’s life as a form of grief therapy. They also want to know if Alaska killed herself deliberately or if it was, indeed, a freak accident. Unfortunately, the boys (and the reader) never come up with solid evidence either way. Throughout the novel, Miles and Alaska had been researching the meaning of the “labyrinth of suffering” referenced in a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel (supposedly Simon Bolivar’s last words). This search intermingles with the religion class Miles and crew attend and Miles’ affinity for memorizing the last words of famous people: “People die how they live. And so last words tell me a lot about who people were, and why they became the sort of people biographies get written about” (Green, 2005, p.128).

This book could fit into so many subcategories of realistic fiction as listed in our lecture notes: humor (for the first half of the book at least), contemporary realism, school and friends, coming of age, and social problem (Alaska dies due to drunken driving) (Carruth, 2018). This book was “challenged but retained at the Marion County High School in Lebanon, Ky. Planning to use the novel in her senior English class, the teacher sent home permission slips, so parents would have the option to keep their child from reading the book. One parent accepted the offer for her child to leave the room during those lessons. That parent, however, didn’t want other children discussing it either and filed a challenge against Green’s novel, igniting an overwhelming show of support for the book from students, alumni, community members—and even Green himself” (Doyle, 2016).

My readalike recommendations (disclaimer: I have not personally read these):

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider (synopsis courtesy of Goodreads): “Varsity tennis captain Ezra Faulkner was supposed to be homecoming king, but that was before—before his girlfriend cheated on him, before a car accident shattered his leg, and before he fell in love with unpredictable new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Funny, smart, and including everything from flash mobs to blanket forts to a poodle who just might be the reincarnation of Jay Gatsby, The Beginning of Everything is a refreshing contemporary twist on the classic coming-of-age novel—a heart-wrenching story about how difficult it is to play the part that people expect, and how new beginnings can stem from abrupt and tragic endings.”

How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford (synopsis courtesy of Goodreads): “An amazing, touching story of two friends navigating the dark waters of their senior year. New to town, Beatrice is expecting her new best friend to be one of the girls she meets on the first day. But instead, the alphabet conspires to seat her next to Jonah, aka Ghost Boy, a quiet loner who hasn't made a new friend since third grade. Something about him, though, gets to Bea, and soon they form an unexpected friendship. It's not romance, exactly - but it's definitely love. Still, Bea can't quite dispel Jonah's gloom and doom - and as she finds out his family history, she understands why. Can Bea help Jonah? Or is he destined to vanish?”

Citations:

Carruth, D. (2018) Realistic fiction [Word document] Retrieved from https://vsu.view.usg.edu/d2l/le/content/1710195/viewContent/27687980/View?ou=1710195

Doyle, R.P. (2016). Books challenged or banned in 2016. Retrieved from https://www.ila.org/initiatives/banned-books-week/books-challenged-or-banned-in-2016-by-ro

Green, J. (2005). Looking for Alaska. New York: Dutton Books.

Schneider, R. (2013). The beginning of everything. New York: HarperCollins.

Standiford, N. (2009). How to say goodbye in robot. New York: Scholastic Press.

Title: Darius & Twig

Author: Walter Dean Myers

Genres: young adult, realistic fiction, award winner, sports fiction

Darius & Twig chronicles the everyday life of best friends Darius Austin and Manuel “Twig” Fernandez. Darius dreams of being a writer that changes the world while Twig aspires to be a great runner. Unfortunately, their environment tries to work against their dreams- they live in the poor section of Harlem where violence and other crimes are an everyday occurrence. Darius and Twig also have two nemeses at their school- Midnight and Tall Boy, opposites to Darius and Twig in almost every way. Throughout this novel, Darius is struggling with the suggested edits from the editor of the Delta Review. As Darius changes throughout the novel, he uses his growing emotional maturity and awareness of the world to flesh out his short story in more vivid detail. Darius views this essay as his ticket out of Harlem but his guidance counselor (and I use that term loosely here. I personally thought his guidance counselor was too negative) thinks otherwise: “He got right to the bottom line, He said that right now I wasn’t scholarship material… He said maybe I should drop put and do my junior year over again” (Myers, 2013, p.4). Darius does not accept this less-than-encouraging news; with an absent brother, and overworked mother, and a little brother to care for, Darius wants to change his life for the better: “The thing was that I needed a scholarship that would get me out of my house, away from my mom, away from the hood, and most of all, away from the crap that was going on in my head everyday” (Myers, 2013, p. 6).

To mentally escape his environment, Darius envisions himself as a falcon named Fury and some of the chapters open with segments about Fury’s sky-high view of the world and his hunting escapades. The little vignettes mirror the emotions Darius experiences within the corresponding chapter. Between Fury’s “flights” and his own walks around the neighborhood, Darius knows that he needs to leave Harlem and attend college to better himself. His greatest fear (and this mentioned multiple times in the novel) is that “if I didn’t get a scholarship, it would mean taking my place with all the other guys on the block who look like me. Young, black, dangerous, unless proven otherwise (Myers, 2013, p. 12).

While the novel is told from Darius’ point of view, we also learn about Twig’s situation. His family is ruled by his sleazy uncle who wants to leave the family store to Twig. Twig, like Darius, does not want to stay in Harlem for the rest of his life. As his best friend, Darius assists Twig with his training regimen and lives vicariously through Twig’s races: “Twig had found a real joy in running, had found a pleasure and a freedom that he didn’t have anywhere else in his life. It was something he could do, a statement that his body could make to the world” (Myers, 2013, p. 109).

In our “Realistic Fiction” lecture notes, we are encouraged to review realistic fiction novels with the following criteria in mind:

·       the plot involves a common problem that most teens can relate to as part of “an interesting and believable plot” (Carruth, 2018).

·       The characters in realistic fiction should not be perfect children who make no mistakes.

·       The setting should contribute to the story and written vividly to transport the reader to another place.

·       The themes of the novel should not come across as preachy.

·       The dialogue between characters needs to sound as natural as possible.

Although the ending was more positive than I expected and wrapped their problems a little too neatly (while reading this book I had a sense of mild dread that Darius or Twig were going to get into some kind of trouble with huge consequences), I believe that this book meets the requirements listed above. Most teens can relate to wanting to leave a stifling environment and receiving no help for this goal with the adults in their life. Teens also have best friends that they can share secrets with and go to bat for, like Darius did when he convinced Twig’s uncle to watch Twig race. Despite their circumstances, Darius and Twig are considered “good kids” but they are not perfect- they do end up in a fist fight against Midnight and his cronies. The negative conditions in Harlem are written vividly but do not overtake the plot; the boys are never completely hopeless about their situation, although they sometimes waver about their future choices. I think perseverance and friendship are the themes of this novel and they are presented in a believable manner throughout the novel. Once again, because Darius and Twig are not perfect, their dialogue isn’t perfect either- there is some swearing (some readers might cringe over the few F-bombs sprinkled throughout the book). This book also fits into the subgenres of coming of age and sports novel (I’m still trying to decide whether this book fits into the social problem novel. What do you guys think?).

Readalikes disclaimer: Since I am not familiar with YA sports novels, I consulted Listopia on Goodreads for the following recommendations:

Gym Candy by Carl Deuker (synopsis from Goodreads):”Runningback Mick Johnson has dreams: dreams of cutting back, finding the hole, breaking into the open, and running free with nothing but green grass ahead. He has dreams of winning and of being the best. But football is a cruel sport. It requires power, grace, speed, quickness, and knowledge of the game. It takes luck, too. One crazy bounce can turn a likely victory into sudden defeat. What elite athlete wouldn’t look for an edge? A way to make him bigger, stronger, faster?
This novel explores the dark corners of the heart of a young football player as he struggles for success under the always glaring—and often unforgiving—stadium lights.”

The Contender by Robert Lipsyte (synopsis from Goodreads): “This is a sports fiction novel that tells a story of Alfred Brooks, a seventeen-year-old high school drop-out, living in Harlem, finding his way in the world and in boxing. Alfred learns that getting to the top is not as important as how you get there, and that before you can be a champion, you have to be a contender with the will to get back on your feet after you have been knocked down.”

Citations:

Carruth, D. (2018) Realistic fiction [Word document] Retrieved from https://vsu.view.usg.edu/d2l/le/content/1710195/viewContent/27687980/View?ou=1710195

Deuker, C. (2007). Gym candy. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers.

Lipsyte, R. (1996). The contender. New York: HarperCollins.

Myers, W.D. (2013). Darius & twig. New York: Amistad.