Erica B�caro

November 29, 2011

ENGL 112B

Warner

Annotated Bibliography: Realistic Fiction

My overall theme for the annotated bibliography assignment was to focus on books that had a main character who was trying to find his place in life. I wanted to emphasize the books that showed teens learning about themselves and overcoming obstacles to reach their goals. Every book I chose has to do with �becoming your own person�. Some are books I have read, and absolutely love, while others are books that I am looking forward to reading.

The books included in this annotated bibliography each follow different teens with a similar theme, they are trying to find themselves. They all have different backgrounds and have different experiences and obstacles to overcome. The most memorable come from stories of abandonment, loss of loved ones, disorders, and homeschooling. Others, that are more common and generic, are about teenagers who are entering high school and learning how to get by dealing with bullies, teachers, and homework. A couple are about girls younger than high school age learning about the world around them and trying to deal with differences. Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird is learning about the prejudices that are spread in her small town of Maycomb, Alabama; and Margaret Simon, though slightly older, is learning about her body, religion, and what it means to be normal.

All of the books introduce us to new characters who inspire us to become our own person, regardless of our various environments, challenges, and upbringings.
1. Blume, Judy. Are You There God? It�s Me, Margaret. London: Gollancz, 1970. Print.

Margaret Simon, almost twelve, has just moved from New York City to the suburbs, and she�s anxious to fit in with her new friends. When she�s asked to join a secret club she jumps at the chance. But when the girls start talking about boys, bras, and getting their first periods, Margaret starts to wonder if she�s normal. There are some things about growing up that are hard for her to talk about, even with her friends. Lucky for Margaret, she�s got someone else to confide in . . . someone who always listens.

My aunt gave me this book when I was in 4th or 5th grade and I thought it was the best book ever. The situations that Margaret experiences are perfect lessons for young readers. She learns about herself and is able to form an identity with the help of her family, new friends, and her surroundings.

2. Crowley, Suzanne Carlisle. The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous. New York: Greenwillow, 2007. Print.

�Welcome to Jumbo, Texas, home to the most memorable cast of characters you�ll ever meet. And home to the Monroe family. Everything is all lined up in Merilee Monroe�s life - including her prized collection of Pez dispensers - and if anything is out of order she gets, as Grandma Birdy would say, all �nervy.� To Merilee, a derailment from her Very Ordered Existence feels like being on fire.

And then two strangers come to town. Biswick and Veraleen not only derail the V.O.E., they just about obliterate it. And how does Merilee put out the fire? A beautiful, deeply moving, and often comic novel about love, redemption, finding one�s place in the world, and the power of family.�

�Mama says change is God�s way of showing us a tender miracle, kinda like the chocolate inside a Tootsie Pop.�

This novel is great because it deals with someone with OCD, who just refers to it as having VOE (a Very Ordered Existence). Like Rose Kent�s novel, it gives a new look to growing up with disorders that are more common now (or finally given names) than they were when our parents were growing up.

3. Hart, John. The Last Child. New York: Minotaur, 2009. Print.

Thirteen year-old Johnny Merrimon had the perfect life: a warm home and loving parents; a twin sister, Alyssa, with whom he shared an irreplaceable bond. He knew nothing of loss, until the day Alyssa vanished from the side of a lonely street. Now, a year later, Johnny finds himself isolated and alone, failed by the people he�d been taught since birth to trust. No one else believes that Alyssa is still alive, but Johnny is certain that she is---confident in a way that he can never fully explain. Determined to find his sister, Johnny risks everything to explore the dark side of his hometown. It is a desperate, terrifying search, but Johnny is not as alone as he might think. Detective Clyde Hunt has never stopped looking for Alyssa either, and he has a soft spot for Johnny. He watches over the boy and tries to keep him safe, but when Johnny uncovers a dangerous lead and vows to follow it, Hunt has no choice but to intervene.

Then a second child goes missing . . . Undeterred by Hunt�s threats or his mother�s pleas, Johnny enlists the help of his last friend, and together they plunge into the wild, to a forgotten place with a history of violence that goes back more than a hundred years. There, they meet a giant of a man, an escaped convict on his own tragic quest. What they learn from him will shatter every notion Johnny had about the fate of his sister; it will lead them to another far place, to a truth that will test both boys to the limit.

Another great book of the realistic fiction genre that focuses on overcoming obstacles and learning about yourself. I especially liked the incorporation of the mystery and suspense genre.

4. Jackson, Jeremy. Life at These Speeds. New York: St. Martin�s, 2002. Print.

In eighth grade Kevin Schuler is a popular kid with a decent, if not stellar, record on the track. Yet after fate takes him off a bus that crashes and kills his fellow students, including his girlfriend, Kevin inexplicably becomes a track phenomenon. Separated from his memory and distanced from his own life, he effortlessly smashes records and gains national attention, until he finds that he can no more remain apart from himself than he can from the ground beneath his feet.

Such a tragic book where the main character has to overcome loss and try to return to the life he used to have, before fate intervened. This is definitely a book on my to read list!

5. Juby, Susan. Alice, I Think. New York: HarperTempest, 2003. Print.

A few weeks into first grade Alice's parents took her out of school and have taught her at home ever since. Now she's about to enter high school, with the stated goal of boosting the self-esteem of her counselor, Death Lord Bob. Bob is happy now. But what about Alice? Will she be able to interact with people her own age who are not home-based learners? Will she be able to survive some sort of boy-girl interaction? Or is this best left until after high school? Until middle age? What about a unique and innovative career path? A new look? (This must, like career choice, reflect uniqueness.)

Alice, I Think is the story of a teenager attempting to survive her parents, her hometown, and her reentry into society.

This fits the genre with a realistic look into the life of a teenager in high school. I especially liked the way Juby took a different route and made Alice come from a homeschool background. Definitely a unique take on the story of the incoming freshman trying to find her place in life.

6. Kent, Rose. Rocky Road. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print.

Rocky Road revolves around a mother�s attempt to start a new life in Schenectady with her two children by buying an ice cream store with the last of her savings.  The novel is told from Tess�s point of view.  As the oldest child, she is both parent and child, trying to help her mother keep it all together when her bipolar disorder knocks her sideways.  As a story that revolves around ice cream, I think it�s a perfect choice for a summer coming-of-age summer read on the beach for a girl ages 9-14.

This novel is perfect in showing a unique perspective on finding who you are. Kent�s inclusion of bipolar disorder gives it a fresh plot. Disorders like this are becoming more and more common and it is realistic to expose young readers to situations such as this one.

7. Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. Print.

To Kill A Mockingbird is a story about innocence, knowledge, prejudice and courage. In the beginning the main character, Scout, starts out to be a very immature child not knowing the prejudice times around her, as the story goes on she gains knowledge of these times by fellow kids around her accusing her dad of being a "***** lover" which then, it was an insult. Her dad was being courageous of a black man being falsely accused of raping a white girl. Her dad, Atticus, is a criminal defense attorney only doing his job and not discriminating against this man. The line in the book "Shoot, all the bluejays you want, but remember its a sin to kill mockingbird" is referring to the black man in the story, Tom. He symbolizes a mockingbird because all mockingbirds do is sing for our enjoyment and stay out of harms way, so if you kill them its a sin. He is the mockingbird in the story and all he does is stay out of harms way and is accused of a crime and in the end is eventually guilty and dies.

This is one of my most favorite books of all-time. This book is perfect because it follows the growth of Scout and Jem Finch and their understanding of the crazy-messed up world they live in. Their father helps them by teaching them to avoid the same prejudices that their peers are overcome by.

8. McGough, Matthew. Bat Boy: My True Life Adventures Coming of Age with the New York Yankees. New York: Doubleday, 2005. Print.

Sixteen-year-old Matthew McGough was a fairly typical teenager, obsessed with getting through high school, girls, and baseball, not necessarily in that order. His passion for the New York Yankees was absolute, complete with a poster of his hero, Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly, hanging on his bedroom wall. Despite having no connections whatsoever with the ballclub, Matt dreamed of sitting in the dugout with the fabled Bronx Bombers. So, in the Fall of 1991, he wrote a letter in his very best penmanship to the New York Yankees asking for a position as a bat boy.

Miraculously, he got the job, and on April 7, 1992, Matt walked into the madness of the Yankee clubhouse on Opening Day. And there was Don Mattingly, Donnie Baseball himself, asking him to run an errand, an errand which soon induced panic in the rookie bat boy. Thus began two years of adventures and misadventures—from the perils of chewing tobacco while playing catch with the centerfielder, to being set up on a date by the bullpen, to studying for a history exam at 3:00 a.m. at Yankee Stadium, to his own folly as Matt gradually forgets he�s not a baseball star, he�s a high school student.

BAT BOY captures the lure and beauty of the American pastime, but much more it is a tale of what happens to a young man when his fondest dream comes true. Matthew McGough wonderfully evokes that twilight time just before adulthood, ripe with possibility, foolishness, and hard-won knowledge.

Bat Boy explores the character growth of Matthew McGough and his realization of his goals. He becomes a man throughout the course of the book. It helps young readers to believe in themselves and their dreams. No dream is too big in this story.

9. Murphy, Rita. Looking for Lucy Buick. New York: Delacorte, 2005. Print.

Lucy is a baby when she joins the Sandoni clan: Rocco (one of three Sandoni brothers) wins a Buick convertible in a poker game; Rhodi (one of five Sandoni sisters) finds Lucy abandoned in the backseat. Eighteen years later, all six of her Sandoni �aunts� having died, Lucy waits for a sign that it�s time to leave the stifling New York household of her domineering �uncles.� After all, signs, as Rhodi taught her, are meant to be followed! So when a fire engulfs the Sandoni Brothers� business, Lucy flees town. She heads west, getting off at Gardenia, Iowa, where the offbeat folk welcome her. The past, however, isn�t easy to leave behind. Lucy�s deceased aunts pay her regular visits. Lucy also fears that her uncles will track her down. Should she stay in Gardenia or should she push on? And as her old life catches up with her, Lucy feels lost. She�ll have to remember that wanting to get lost is often the quickest means of finding your way.

A captivating twist to the same dull �going on a journey to find myself� plot. I was intrigued by the way Lucy was abandoned and think it makes for an excellent read.

10. Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Intensely Alice. New York: Atheneum for Young Readers, 2009. Print.

This twenty-fourth title in the popular Alice series will grab readers with the contemporary coming-of-age story of friendship, family, love, sex, loyalty, faith, work, and loss. Alice, 17, serves as a bridesmaid at her cousin�s wedding (and enjoys the wild, sometimes raunchy, bachelorette party), volunteers with her friends at a homeless shelter, visits her boyfriend in his college dorm (she packs condoms but does not use them), and much more. At the story�s climax, a tragic loss makes Alice confront what she believes.

I mentioned this series when I presented a book that changed my life in the beginning of the semester. The Alice series is perfect for the pre-teen, teen, and adult group because of the different experiences and obstacles that Alice encounters and overcomes. I have yet to actually read every novel in the series, but it is definitely on my �Post-Graduation Books to Read� list.

Synopses Sources:

1. Amazon: Looking for Lucy Buick, Life at These Speeds, The Last Child, Alice, I Think, Bat Boy

2. Suzanne Crowley�s website: The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous

3. Random House: Are You There God? It�s Me, Margaret.

Book Sources:

1. Literature for Today�s Young Adults: The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous

2. �Book List: Coming of Age Books �Nomadic Noesis.� Nomadic Noesis. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://thedamari.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/book-list-coming-of-age-books/>.