CCBC-Net Archives
The F-It List
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 20:56:03 -0500
We're launching this week's discussion of “The F-It List” by Julie Halpern (Feiwel & Friends, 2013) tonight since we'll be at a conference for much of tomorrow.
I hope you've had a chance to read "The F-It List." It's a book I found notable for a number of reasons, but certainly one of the things that stood out for me in the novel was the refreshing matter-of-factness regarding sex. Main character Alex is grounded about sex in a way that was striking to me in terms of young adult literature. She isn’t portrayed as desperate or looking for affection; she isn’t out there looking for sex; but she enjoys it when the right situation presents itself.
Put simply, Alex, who has agreed to help her best friend, Becca, carry out items on her “Bucket List” after Becca is diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, finds sexual activity pleasurable, and we see this play out in several ways, from a masturbation scene early on to a wonderful sex-in-the English-Department storage-room closet scene.
The relationship aspect of things are a little more challenging for Alex. And this was something I thought was terrific about the characterization of her. She doesn’t know how to give emotionally. It’s not that she doesn’t care about Leo, her boyfriend, it’s that she doesn’t know how to show it. She is angry when Leo says, “I love you.”
I found this dimension of the story—Alex’s emotional landscape, her discomfort with expressing herself emotionally—wonderfully done. She is grieving her father’s death, but this is deeper; this is about who Alex is and how she relates to those around her. She isn’t broken; she doesn’t need to be fixed, but she does need to see and acknowledge when she has hurt someone because of it.
And like so much else in the story, how this plays out is funny in the delivery, but deeply resonant emotionally.
Midweek, author Julie Halpern will join us to take questions. In the meantime, I hope those of you who’ve had a chance to read “The F-It List” will share your thoughts.
Megan
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 20:56:03 -0500
We're launching this week's discussion of “The F-It List” by Julie Halpern (Feiwel & Friends, 2013) tonight since we'll be at a conference for much of tomorrow.
I hope you've had a chance to read "The F-It List." It's a book I found notable for a number of reasons, but certainly one of the things that stood out for me in the novel was the refreshing matter-of-factness regarding sex. Main character Alex is grounded about sex in a way that was striking to me in terms of young adult literature. She isn’t portrayed as desperate or looking for affection; she isn’t out there looking for sex; but she enjoys it when the right situation presents itself.
Put simply, Alex, who has agreed to help her best friend, Becca, carry out items on her “Bucket List” after Becca is diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, finds sexual activity pleasurable, and we see this play out in several ways, from a masturbation scene early on to a wonderful sex-in-the English-Department storage-room closet scene.
The relationship aspect of things are a little more challenging for Alex. And this was something I thought was terrific about the characterization of her. She doesn’t know how to give emotionally. It’s not that she doesn’t care about Leo, her boyfriend, it’s that she doesn’t know how to show it. She is angry when Leo says, “I love you.”
I found this dimension of the story—Alex’s emotional landscape, her discomfort with expressing herself emotionally—wonderfully done. She is grieving her father’s death, but this is deeper; this is about who Alex is and how she relates to those around her. She isn’t broken; she doesn’t need to be fixed, but she does need to see and acknowledge when she has hurt someone because of it.
And like so much else in the story, how this plays out is funny in the delivery, but deeply resonant emotionally.
Midweek, author Julie Halpern will join us to take questions. In the meantime, I hope those of you who’ve had a chance to read “The F-It List” will share your thoughts.
Megan
--
Megan Schliesman, Librarian
Cooperative Children's Book Center
School of Education
University of Wisconsin-Madison
600 N. Park Street, Room 4290
Madison, WI 53706
608-262-9503
608-262-4933 (fax)
schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
==== CCBC-Net Use ====
You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: ccbc-archive_at_post.education.wisc.edu.
To post to the list, send message to...
ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu
To receive messages in digest format, send a blank message to...
digest-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to...
leave-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu
==== CCBC-Net Archives ====
The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members.
The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion
topics (including month/year) is available at...
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp
To access the archives, go to...
http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net
...and enter the following when prompted...
username: ccbc-net
password: Look4Posts
Received on Sun 23 Mar 2014 08:56:22 PM CDT
