Melissa McDonald LBSC 646 Article Reflection and Discussion Prompt #19 Buehler, J. (2009, January). Ways to Join the Living Conversation about Young Adult Literature. English Journal, 26-32. The author suggests numerous websites to explore in order to engage in conversation about Young Adult books. Please try one out and write about your experience on the site and what benefits it would have for us as professionals in the field. If you thought the site was a bomb, let us know that, too! ______________________________________________________________________ As I read through the list of websites noted in the article on page 27, I focused on the list of sites which highlight photographs. I love photos, and I love photography. I am a hobbiest photographer (I have even made a little money with it on the side), so whenever the word PHOTO pops up, I am there, with my eyes open- wide open. I chose to review Sonya Sones’ website because it mentioned her “album of stunning photos she herself took of YA authors she’s met”, including Carolyn Mackler, who was the subject of my recent author talk. (She does have some wonderful portraits!) I have always been curious about book covers, especially when in reprint, they change. I have wondered what goes into designing the covers, and why elements change from the hardback to softcover. For each of her books, she includes information about the cover, and how it was designed, and how and/or why it changed. With her photography background, she was able to use many of her own photographs in her book covers. For each of her books she includes an “intro page”, “poems”, “about the cover”, “honors” and “reviews”. For Stop Pretending: What Happened When my Big Sister Went Crazy, an autobiography about her big sister when she had a nervous breakdown at age 19, she also includes a section to help teachers introduce mental health issues to their classes, as well as links to mental health websites. Sones writes her novels in free verse, and she includes an extensive list of books that are also written in free verse. She honestly admits that she has not read them all, but that if her readers do, to please send her a review! She also has contact page that tells her readers how to best contact her, and even has a signed portrait of herself that is downloadable (which at first I thought was a bit conceited, but after reading her entire site, realized she was not).
She has a “Writer’s Only” section and gives tips, as well as links to websites that can assist teen writers. Lastly, she had a contest when her last book, What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know, was published: she challenged her teen readers to write the next twenty pages after the last page of her book. I thought this was a great way to encourage youth to write! I definitely give her site (www.sonyasones.com) a reading it, also plan to start reading her books.
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As a side note, Myra, for one of your future MCPS media workshops, Sones is available for speaking engagements, and appears to be highly recommended:
http://www.sonyasones.com/visits.htm.