Beth GoobieAnmeldelser

Mature readers book in that it contains language that may offend. Jujube is asked out by Brent. When she snubs him in the back seat of his car, the next day he spreads rumours around the school about how "easy" she is. Soon it gets out of hand and there is graffiti on her locker and in the toilets. Jujube and her best friend decide to do something to stop it by filming it all and creating a powerful presentation in front of the school. Slightly dated because there is no mention of phones anywhere in the text, but still an important story about standing up for yourself.

Spirits

I could not put this book down. It is not an easy subject matter. It is definitely not an easy book to read. I do think it is an important one. It is one I would tell friends to read with their teenagers and talk about it. It is one that I would tell those moms and dads listen carefully and with an open, no judgment mind when they talk to their teenager. Nothing will be easy about that. The act and what happened after will make you uncomfortable. Listening to your child may make you, and them, uncomfortable. That’s okay because that is how you know growth and change are not only possible but happening. Read this book. Talk about it. Pass it on.

Maddy is gang raped after a play in March and her life spirals downward. When she has to be in class with two of the boys who were there, she almost cannot cope. She is threatened so she won't tell ans in fear most of the time. A class story in English, where everyone writes a chapter even turns into a form of bullying for Maddy, as it tells the story of Farang, the pain eater. But she finds the strength through her art to finally get help.

Things I liked--Maddy's parents weren't clueless idiots; they noticed that their daughter wasn't the same girl she'd been. After a while in class Maddy makes a friend who sticks up for her a bit, or at least covers for her.

Things I didn't like--Maddy's parents didn't insist on getting her help, I fell like they let her parent herself. It worked out, but for many it wouldn't. The English teacher's sometimes obliviousness to her students behavior in the classroom.

I wish we could give half stars, because I'd give this one 3.5.

I wanted to like this book.

I think the trauma experienced by the main characters is important to represent in literature. I wasn't a fan of its execution, though. I'm not sure if the expression of emotions and sexual experiences were written by someone who was never a teenager, or they were purposely disjointed and strange for mood and foreshadowing purposes.

The extended metaphor was too drawn out, the connection with real life too unrealistic, and the wrap-up was too tidy.

Plus, although I'm sure there can be a valid reason to discuss farting in literature, this instance seemed wholly unnecessary. A lot of the dialogue was unrealistic, and I don't know anyone whose only response to adults is "yeah yeah."

A heartfelt, blisteringly honest book about censorship and sexuality.

Maddie Malone has been a train wreck since that terrible day last March. She tries to control her nightmare pain so it does not consume her, but the only method she has found to make it bearable may consume her first. No one knows why she changed, or just how deeply-- not even herself-- but as her English class progresses on an assignment to write a collective novel, she begins to discover the missing pieces of her own story.

This was a difficult story to read, not because it was bad, but because it forces the reader not only to witness a young girl’s agony in as raw and terrible a state as it can get, but also face down aspects of victimization that are unusual to have in the forefront such as self-blame, self-destruction, and remorse. This is not just the story of Maddy’s pain, but the lingering effects and the coalescence and evolution of the many unintended individual pains surrounding her and the awful event.

Beth Goobie did a great job on this book. It is complex and tightly woven. The characters are deep and I felt I could understand them, even when they were not being nice people. The story was fresh and revealed itself over time to be full of surprising layers of meaning. The ending was perfect for the story. Overall, I really felt this was a stellar offering from Second Story Press and Beth Goobie.

A hard 4.3 stars.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy through Netgalley in return for this honest review. This review and more at annevolmering.com.

Booktalk: Reputation. How does one earn a reputation? Sometimes you earn it on your own. If you're the kind who gets good grades, always helps people or is cool with everyone, no matter who they are, then you've probably got a good reputation. Sometimes though, people give you your reputation, whether you like it or not. It's like Jujube's friend tells her: "It's a power rush sort of thing. They know they can turn you into anything they want. Unfortunately, Jujube finds out people at school have turned her into something she's not. How will Jujube fight a huge lie that everyone else wants to believe?

Beth Goobie has written novels for teens before and now turns her hand to a coming-of-age novel which exposes the complexity of a young woman’s shifting identity.

Mary-Eve Hamilton has already experienced some radical alterations in her understanding of her place in the world before readers meet her on the page.

“From that moment on, I knew my mother could not see me. The landscapes we inhabited were too different – what she saw was not what I saw; what surrounded her disdained and shut me out. By haunting her footsteps, I was able to catch occasional glimpses into her realm, but she wandered a part of the mind I could not enter; I stood on the edge of a world she had passed through to, a world I had been refused.”

Had Mary-Eve’s mother simply withdrawn, that would have been difficult enough, but her main source of communion is a religious fervour which distances her even further from her family and the wider community. The effect on Mary-Eve is dramatic and lasting.

Naming in this novel is crucial and Mary-Eve’s transformation into Jez (Jezebel) presents a swatch of conflict for readers, who understand her inner struggle to test and pass the limits she has felt upon her identity. Readers’ understanding grows as more information about the family’s experiences is revealed and challenges force Jez to grapple with questions about friendship, sexuality and faith, while testing the boundaries of her own self.

The style is intense and highly emotive, which reflects the heightened drama of Jez’s age and stage in life. This is emphasized by a series of dream-like passages which are almost overwhelming and work to depict the intensity of the transformation that she is experiencing.

The novel moves at a steady pace and culminates in a fervour of activity which is unexpected but, in hindsight, seems inevitable. Much of The First Principles of Dreaming is like a bad dream readers might want to shake, but it is a testament to the author’s skill that scenes perhaps-better-forgotten persist and linger in readers’ minds.

These thoughts first appeared here, on BuriedInPrint.

This is a great story about a girl who is struggling to be the perfect child in order to keep her father from beating her. However, with a recent arrest and currently on probation, the family dynamics gets worse. Sophie wants to tell her teachers and friends what her bruises are from, but she is scared she will end up in a group home if she tells. It isn't until Sophie is in the hospital from such a sever beating that she finds the courage to speak up.

I’m not sure how to preface this review of Saskatoon-based Beth Goobie’s young adult novel Hello, Groin except to admit it: I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, Hello, Groin is as earnest a teen novel as you’ll ever find. I really appreciated this quality. It’s also heartwarming as hell, which (young) adults or not, is something we all need a little bit of now and then. On the other hand, there were quite a few things that irritated me while reading this book—kind of like an itchy sweater. Mostly, it was the combination of shaky characterization and clunky storytelling that eventually got to me. Either of these on their own would have been frustrating, but the two together really took away from some of the positive experiences I had reading the novel...

See the rest of the review on my website: http://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/an-earnest-but-flawed...

Shirley is the ugliest girl in school. Tormented by her peers and unloved at home, she finds refuge in her part-time job at a small market. Until she realizes that her perfect boss is also using her.

I think this was a good book. It reminded me a alittle bit about my life. About how I don't always get along with my parents, how I have boyfriends, and how my sister and I are close. I can relate to this book because it has a lot of similar things that happens with my life. I would recommend this book to teenage readers, because it has a teenage setting; teenagers in school, having boyfriends, moving out.

As Kelly, a suicidal teen in a lockup facility, seeks to answer the titular question, she learns more about herself and her will to survive than she ever thought possible. Her interactions with fellow patients and social workers gradually lead her to a better understanding of her own trauma and ability to heal.

Dedicated to featuring "realistic teenage characters in stories that focus on contemporary situations or problems", Orca Soundings represents some of the best of Hi-Lo storytelling. Though readers know relatively little about Kelly's life outside of lockup, they will swiftly bond with this profoundly troubled but good-hearted 15-year-old. The relatively simple vocabulary and larger print encourage reluctant readers to try it out, and, for the most part, they won't be disappointed. Goobie's empathetic and very immediate depiction of Kelly's innermost thoughts both explains her state of mind and prompts the reader to hope that she gets better. As she spars with and later learns to pity her dramatic foil "Pit Bull", we are treated to a front-row seat of Kelly's emotional development. When, in the end, she determines that she owns herself, the moment is neither trite nor cliched but painfully earnest.

Because of frank discussions of prostitution, drug use, smoking, drinking, and sexual abuse, this book is recommended for older high school students from more sheltered backgrounds, but could be used effectively with troubled teens of younger ages. Recommended (widest parameters) for grades 7 through 12.

Dime is a problem teen living who provokes her conservative parents at every turn. She's a self-described "headbanger" with an older boyfriend who rides a motorcycle and has a jealous girlfriend who wants to fight Dime. When her parents can't take it anymore, she is sent to live with her quadaplegic brother in hopes that a different environment will help her get back on track.

Kicked Out is an Orca Soundings publication and written at a low reading level but on a subject that will appeal to teens. It is unfortunate that most of the choices for teens with low reading levels are like this book: poorly written, overly simplified, out of touch with real teen experiences. Dime is a stock character who chooses to be troubled and then rather inexplicably and rapidly (due to the scant 92 pages of large text) solves her problems and makes everyone happy. There is little in the way of character development leading to an altogether forgettable book.

This is a poor quality book with little to offer reluctant or struggling readers. Additionally, the proportion of these "hi-lo" books that deal with troublemaker teens is an implicit, and deplorable, judgment on low-reading-level teens. Nevertheless, there are few books on the market that attempt to provide teens with interesting stories at lower reading levels, so Kicked Out and other books from Orca may fill a needed gap in some high school, middle school, and public libraries. Librarians and educators serving teens are highly encouraged to inform publishers of the need for more and better hi-lo books.

Meh. I have really liked the Orca Soundings books thus far, but this one didn't cut it for me. I think it was partly because I'd read so many similar stories before, and partly because the ending seemed really rushed and way too happy. It would have been more believable if there had been more detail -- but the Orca Soundings books are supposed to be really short. The other characters at the residential treatment center were definitely believable though, as was Kelly herself.

Not sure about phrases such as `still nibble-breathing skin'.. Bought really for the poem I found loose in the book called Late autumn by May Sarton or Sartin. . How did it get there?

Bright yellow lockers with red graphitti shouting "SLUT" on the cover will cause teens to pick up Sticks and Stones. The high interest content in the book will keep them reading. Jujube is a freshman in highschool. On a Friday, she attends a dance with a guy from school. When she returns to class the following week, rumors had been spread about just how far Jujube goes on a first date. The book describes the evolution of her feelings from embaressment to anger to fighting back. The Orca Soundings series is written for low-level readers. Although younger children might be able to read the book, the concepts are appropriate for teenagers. Recommended ages: 13+.

When frade ten student, Sal is chosen by Saskatoon Collegiate's Shadow Council to win the Lottery, she is set up for year of victimization and shunning by the entire student body. Having survived the grieving process after the death of her father, she is stronger than she, or any of the Shadow Council, thinks. Her relationship with her brother deepens when she discovers his secret and she comes to grips with the conflicted emotions she feels about being a victim who has to obey all the S.C.'s wishes. Goobie builds tension effectively and while there is an occasional use of profanity, it is not gratuitous. Like Sal, my stomach alternated between feeling like I'd swallowed Javex or Drano as the increasingly nasty "tortures" are handed out by the senior students of Shadow Council. Effectively, Willis, the president of S.C. proves to be likeable, but complicit in the culture that allows for an annual scapegoating of one student.

Sticks and Stones was an interesting book.
It was about a girl who was with a guy one night and everybody at her school found out and started calling her names and wrote her name all over the bathrooms.
The girl got really upset and told her mom. Her mom then went to the school's principle and told him to erase everything in the bathrooms but the principle said they didn't have enough money so the girl herself, went into the boy's bathrooms and looked at all the names in there and gathered together the girls whose name was written down and they made a little club and erased it themselves and that was the end. I thought it was an interesting book while i was reading it but i thought it had a bad ending.

Part of the Orca series: high interest stories for teens with reading levels from 2.0 to 4.5. Accelerated Reader quiz available. Interesting cover may be offensive to some but will attract others. The book cover features a picture of a locker bank with one of the lockers vandalized with the word 'slut' in red paint.

This book takes the concept of Shirley Jackson's short story of the same name and places it in a high school setting--like Jackson's short, The Lottery raises questions about why society needs a victim. The protagonist is Sal, a fifteen-year-old third clarinettist and this year's Shadow Council lottery winner: the dud of the year. Nobody will speak to her or acknowledge her existence except the mysterious Shadow Council, an elite group ruling the school with fear.

I enjoyed the concept of this book and the interplay between Sal and the other characters. There was an interesting motif of the musical duet called "Inside the Question"--the song written by the president of the Shadow Council and practiced in secret with Sal--and this gave the tense and haunting story some extra symbolic layers. I liked the way even the worst of the Shadow Council was a complex character who says, "I look in the mirror and my face gets further and further away..."

The novel has a way of feeling not quite contemporary--nods to The Chocolate War and A Separate Peace give it a sort of timeless feel to it. Sal's character is generally strong and funny, even when she is playing the docile victim.

I do think the book possibly tries to tackle too many things at once--the plotline about Sal's guilt about her father's car crash, the autistic girl, the wheelchair-bound friend who first betrays her and then is redeemed, and especially the issue with her former best friend's brother--and it's sort of like there isn't enough space in the book to adequately explore and resolve all of these. Still, the book was engaging from beginning to end, with strong prose and interesting conflicts.

I thought I would enjoy this book, the premise seemed interesting and very pertinent to teens. It is about high school mind games, bullying and popularity. The story was slow and predictable. The ending did not tie up any loose ends, the book just stopped without a feeling of closure.

Reviewed by Long Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

The title will make you laugh, the story will provoke you to think.

Dylan lives the good life: great family, amazing boyfriend, and a best friend she can rely on. That is until she confronts her real identity, when she admits to herself that she prefers girls rather than boys. Beth Goobie, in a stellar effort, portrays the life of a lesbian teenager too afraid of the repercussions upon her life if and when she comes out to her friends and family.

Dylan doesn't want to make her life any more difficult but her best friend, Jocelyn, has become presently absent in her life; she isn't able to give her boyfriend what he wants, no matter how hard she tells herself she can do it; and things only get more complicated when Dylan volunteers to design the new book display for the school library.

HELLO, GROIN, along with a voicing out of the wrongness of such a social taboo as being homosexual, is a fight for freedom from censorship. The display Dylan creates says something important, both to her and to certain others, whether they were contributors of ideas or the understanding kind. But when the school principal decides to censor parts of the display, rumors begin to spread about Dylan, and she begins to let her secret take control of her life, in a negative way.

Goobie does a fantastic job in portraying a character that is very much believable in her thoughts and actions. She speaks out against censorship and how hard it is on a person who, along with the regular angst and struggles of being a teenager, must also now ask herself who she is and whether or not self-sacrifice for the people around her is more important than making herself feel human and allowing herself to be, simply, herself.

HELLO, GROIN is a thought-provoking novel that asks questions that are important to face in this day and age of social faux pas and suggests a few select answers which readers should certainly take upon themselves to consider wholeheartedly. HELLO, GROIN is well told story by a great novelist.

Excellent. Chapters alternate between her dream and reality. She cuts herself. As the story progresses, the reader finds out that it was her boyfriend and his friends who ganged raped her. Skeys befriends Lick who is also plagued with demons. Skey offers her help. The carvings on her arm are represented as drawings on walls in her dream.