A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

This Pulitzer Prize winning play was written by Williams in 1947 and takes place in New Orleans. The play serves as an interesting dichotomy between two major groups in the American South: the belles and brutes. When Blanche DuBois ("white woods") is asked to take a leave from teaching English, she stays with her sister, Stella, and Stella's husband, Stanley Kowalski. Blanche wants to maintain the grandeur of being a southern belle, but lost most of her family and the family plantation, Belle Reve. Stanley becomes very suspicious of Blanche's expensive clothes and jewelry and wants to investigate the status of Belle Reve. Blanche's traditional Southern culture clashes violently with that of Stanley's, and New Orlean's, urban working class culture.
Blanche originally claimed that she was asked to take a leave of absence due to her nerves, but we come to find that she was having a relationship with a seventeen year old student. We find out a lot about Blanche's past through one of Stanley's acquaintances who travels often in Laurel, Mississippi, the area around Belle Reve. The affair happened after Blanche's brief marriage to Allan Grey, who she later finds is homosexual.
Stella and Stanley have their own relationship problems. Stella is pregnant with Stanley's child but he is still verbally and physically abusive. Even after a particularly violent encounter during a card fight, Stella goes back to Stanley almost immediately. (This is also the origin of the well known yelling of "Stella".) Towards the end of the play, Stanley rapes Blanche and this sends her into a mental breakdown. When she is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, a doctor leads Blanche away and she says the iconic line "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
Since A Streetcar Named Desire is a theatrical play, it would be best to perform it or watch a production. One time tested film is the 1951 production featuring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. This film version won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the categories of best actress for Vivien Leigh and was nominated for best actor, director and screenplay, among others.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

A great deal has been said about Animal Farm over the years. It's a satire of the Russian revolution. It's about Stalinism, socialism, the labor force. The characters represent individuals in the past: Old Major is Karl Marx, Snowball is Leon Trotsky, Napoleon is Joseph Stalin.

This can all be true but I believe that, if we get caught up in the symbolism of it all, we miss out on a well written story worth reading and rereading. I understand the short book is basically a lesson in the Stalin era leading to World War II, and it can be taught in school alongside the appropriate section in history class. History and representation aside, Orwell wrote a beautiful, heart-breaking story that can be appreciated by high-school students and the home-reader alike.

I won't go on about the story and the symbolism, because most of you have heard it before. It's been about 15 years since I read Animal Farm, and I was happy to find it was just as enjoyable, if not more so, the second time around.

The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher

Here again is another installment of novels by Chris Crutcher. This one is pretty different from the others. In the first few pages, Eddie Proffit has the unfortunate experience of finding both his father and best friend dead. His father, who works at a full service gas station, forgot to let the air out of a truck tire before repairing it and it exploded, killing him. His best friend, Billy Bartholomew, kicked some Sheetrock leaning against a wall, which fell over and killed him. Crutcher fans will find this strange because the greatest tragedies in the book are, for all intents and purposes, self-inflicted. Nobody shot anyone, nobody gets raped or burned. It's probably the least violent book Crutcher has written.

The story is actually told from Billy's point of view while he "haunts" Eddie. As Billy tells it, he is only staying with Billy for a time and is able to bounce around in the heads of anyone alive (that will allow him) and has all knowledge of folks who have died. He describes a kind of communal and eternal knowledge. You can imagine, there is a great deal of spiritual exploration in the book. One of the characters, Mr. Tarter (a minister at the Red Brick Church and teacher at Eddie's school) attempts save Eddie, religiously, throughout the book.

Eddie takes a class with Ms. Lloyd where the class reads a book by Crutcher. The book is contested (as Crutcher's books often are) and taken from the students until the final ruling by the school board. I found myself laughing out loud at parts where Crutcher wrote himself into the book. The "Red Brickers" oppose him and scandalize him on the basis that his writing is indecent and vulgar. At a church board meeting, Reverend Tarter gives a monologue regarding Crutcher's work and validity as a writer:

Long story short, the author is relatively obscure, has ten books out, no best-sellers. He presents himself as a child and family therapist, though as near as I can tell, he has only a bachelor's degree. he's a self-proclaimed nonreader who spent some time as a teacher in alternative education, I'm assuming because he couldn't cut it in the public schools. Just the influence we need on our kids, huh? (94-96)

Some of the other students, who have shared experiences with the characters in Crutcher's book, visit Crutcher's website and contact him via email and phone. I can't help but think what this process must have been like for Crutcher himself. Was this a kind of therapeutic exercise where he was able to finally give his side of these book challenges? Does this book serve as a kind of defense of his own writing? At one point, Ms. Lloyd discusses with her class the issue of challenging Crutcher's book and it seems that he is speaking to his readers directly through her:

They'll tell you it's about family values and Christian values and morality and our need to get control over our educational system. But it's about you. That's it. Just you. If you're going to stop this, you're going to have to stop it yourselves. Decide whether you think your mind is strong enough to hear tough stories, told in their native tongue - and let the censors know. (100-101)

I was happy to see the return of Montana West and her father, Maxwell West, in their respective character roles. There are a few other nods to some of Crutcher's other books as well. This is a really good read, especially for Crutcher's fans. There are a number of fun surprises for Crutcher's fans and it may also serve as a good introduction to the author for those new to his work. There is a good debate regarding censorship and as Billy describes from his omnipresent state, all sides are really just working for what they believe to be good and right.

Get it at Amazon (in hard copy or Kindle edition), Borders and Barnes & Noble (in hard copy and digital edition).
ISBN: 0060502452

And visit Crutcher's website. I hear he answers emails quickly ;)

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

This is probably a little young for the "young adult literature" genre, but I still think many would still enjoy it. It's a quick read (only 81 pages, with illustrations) and probably took me less time to read than the film would talk to watch.
It's a very cute story about a family of foxes that are being hunted by three farmers. These farmers shoot at Mr. Fox, attempt to dig up his home and stalk his fox hole. But Mr. Fox is very smart and, with a little help, he tunnels to the three farms. Mr. Fox plans on feeding his family and the other underground families by these secret tunnels.
The illustrations are really an enjoyment as well. Like I said, it's a very fast read and if you plan on seeing the film (or have seen it already), it is probably worth the time investment.
Enjoy!

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Once again, Collins has written a book that I just could not put down! This book picks up where The Hunger Games left off: Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch have returned to district 12 from the games. Things are strained between Katniss and Gale, who has been sent to work in the coal mines. This year is the 75th anniversary of the Hunger Games, and so there is a Quarterly Quell, where the rules for the games can be changed. The Capitol announces that the tributes to the 75th games will be selected from the existing pool of previous victors. We know that means Katniss is going back to the arena with either Peeta or Haymitch. I don't want to spoil the book for those who have not read it. I'll say that Katniss vows to protect Peeta's life, no matter the cost. The tributes form a much different relationship that we saw previously.

In this book, some of the districts are bordering on revolt against the Capitol. The announcement of the Quell means that Katniss and Peeta's romance cannot pan out, which even the people at the Capitol disapprove of. During the course of this second book, Katniss has to propagate the romance with Peeta. President Snow even suggests that the Capitol throw the couple a wedding. Peeta develops as a lovable character that I would be happy to see Katniss marry, but then there is her relationship with Gale to consider....

The last chapter of Catching Fire is so surprising. Again, I'm trying to not give too much away, but we see history repeat itself in a very frightening way by the end of the book. I absolutely cannot wait until the final book, Mockingjay, comes out in August.

Visit Collins' website for more information on her books:
http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/catching_fire_88086.htm

Get Catching Fire at your library, Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

This trilogy is really very excellent so far and I do hope you will read it!

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

I don't know if American teens read Sedaris, but I believe they should. Sedaris is described as a playwright and NPR commentator. His writing style is hilarious, sarcastic and insightful. The book jacket for Dress Your Family says

David Sedaris plays in the snow with his sisters.
He goes on vacation with his family.
He gets a job selling drinks.
He attends his brother's wedding.
He mops his sister's floor.
He gives directions to a lost traveler.
He eats a hamburger.
He has his blood sugar tested.

Oh, but there is so much more. When Sedaris "plays in the snow with his sisters", it is because their mother locked them out of the house to protect her own sanity. When he "has his blood sugar tested", it's because a man pricks his finger in a guerrilla-type manner when the man thought he requested an erotic maid instead of the more common variety, which Sedaris was working as at the time.

Each chapter is a story that somehow ties together with the others. They are not chronological, but explore different times in Sedaris's life. The stories are of everyday events, but Sedaris has the gift of peeling back the surface of everyday life to reveal the hilarious and absurd. There is a comparison by The New Yorker between Sedaris and Twain or Nathanael West. I would not be surprised if Sedaris indeed becomes a new American classic author.

Please read this collection of stories. It is hilarious.

Get it from Amazon (where you can get it for your kindle) or Barnes & Noble (where it is also available in digital edition).

Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher

After reading Whale Talk, I became a huge Crutcher fan. Chinese Handcuffs, however, was more difficult to read than anything I have picked up by Crutcher. In the first 100 pages or so, there is rape, incest, suicide, child and animal abuse, drug and alcohol abuse. I talked about this with a friend of mine that is also interested in young adult literature. She let me know that it's a common trend of the genre and some teens seek out this content and even enjoy it.

That said, Chinese Handcuffs is written in the enthralling style that makes me enjoy Crutcher's books so much. There are a couple of main characters: Dillion Hemingway, an aspiring Ironman tri-athelete whose older brother, Preston, committed suicide before the time period of the novel, and Jennifer Lawless, a high school basketball star who has to deal with memories of a sexually abusive father and her current step-father with the same problem. Dillion often reminds me of the character T.J. Jones from Whale Talk: both are sensitive, self-driven teens and athletes. Some of the chapters are written in the form of a letter from Dillion to a posthumous Preston. Other chapters are flashbacks of Jennifer's where we are introduced to her little sister, Dawn, who Jennifer struggles to protect from her father and step-father. Dillion and Jennifer are able to bond over not only their athletic abilities, but the pain they have both endured. It is the story of their courage and bravery in the face of this pain.

I enjoyed this book and its character development, but it was a very difficult read. Crutcher's writing is often fairly graphic and I found myself wincing away at parts. I would somehow like to think that the intended audience, presumably high school teens, should know nothing about the horrors encountered in Chinese Handcuffs. I realize, however, that many know it far too well. If you choose to read this book, I wish you luck, since it was very difficult for me personally.
I strongly recommend Kelly Milner Halls' review of the book on TeenReads.com.

Buy it from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.