10 Life Changing Amazingly Great Books For Young People

Zusanna Celej

I LOVE book lists. I love books and I love seeing them categorized, listed, discussed, linked to, sold and re-sold, photographed and shared. One of my favorite kind of books is the genre written for adolescents and young adults, a common thing for adults who love books, because this is usually the period of our life when we fell for them hard. For me, it might have been Anne of Green Gables who personally moved me over from the love reading category to the Totally Obsessed Reader. My Grandmother Elizabeth, Ever Elizabeth's namesake, gave me Anne for something- my birthday, Christmas- and I never looked back. Finding out there were more- many more!- was one of the greatest thrills of my childhood.

These books are special because at a time in life when we are being shaped from the inside out as human beings, books help us form our ideas about the world and the people in it. The characters and stories push us to examine our emerging beliefs, opinions, prejudices and paths. We feel less alone. We understand ourselves and others better. We are comforted. And these books stay with us for a lifetime. These are some of the most important books of my adolescent and teenage years.

With that, I give you a list of  Top Ten Amazingly Great Books For Young People*

1. Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Patterson. This was one of the first books I ever read that made me feel the strange magic of being transported from my own perceptions to another, from the opening to the stepping into the rocky shore of a young woman's life on an island. As a young girl I so appreciated the book's delving into the female character's angry, uncomfortable, unsure, confusing emotions. Her love hate relationship with her sister is timeless and the running thread of the novel. The beautiful storytelling merges perfectly with the backdrop of island life, the boats rocking, crabs climbing, sea and sand in everything. The understated love story is so sweet, and the honest laying out of relationships is wonderfully involving. All along there is a particular magic to this author's voice that infuses the story with that something special that makes it unforgettable. Love, love, love this book. I read it a million times.

2. Anne of Green Gables (Sterling Classics) by LM Montgomery. Oh Anne. This might be the book of my adolescence. My Grandmother Elizabeth, Ever's namesake, gave me this book for a birthday or a Christmas, I don't remember. What I do remember is my immediate, fierce and complete adoration of the story and character and writing that makes Anne of Green Gables the magic that it is. The little redheaded orphan girl who cannot stop talking and hides her fear, sadness and yearning for her dead parents with the constant talking, with charm, wit, and a determination to find beauty in the world. For me, lost myself, sad, confused, feeling the darkness of the world at my shoulders, Anne was a lesson in fortitude and attitude. She was my first teacher in the power of pluck. The many novels of her childhood are each as wonderful as the other, and my happiness and satisfaction at discovering that the author wrote three books about Anne's life as a mother was huge. I remember wanting so badly to write or call the author and thank her for not stopping writing!

3. Izzy, Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt. This book is one of those seemingly unremarkable books, that I had never heard of and have never heard mentioned in my adult life, which made an enormous, life changing impact on me. The story follows Izzy, 15, who in the opening of the book goes to a party, leaves with a drunk boy, gets in a car crash... and loses her leg. Eventually she makes friend with a girl she would never have been friends with 'before', but who is the only one of Izzy's friends who can handle the sadness and discomfort of being around Izzy, and who calls her on her bullshit. What struck me so deeply about this story was the head on way the author addresses Izzy's profound sadness and anger, the weight she allows it. And then, the passage that has stayed with me all my life, in which Izzy gazes on her fellow students after she returned to high school, and thinks about how beautiful their healthy strong legs look running, and how horrible it was that they did not know how beautiful and lucky they were. That lesson in perspective- what matters- and in self worth- what is beautiful- still calls out to me at strange times, when I will suddenly remember Izzy, and I will feel the joy of running.

4. The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. My childhood imaginary friend was a black stallion that I 'rode' home from school every day, and who followed me alongside the freeway, galloping along the hills and leaping incredible lengths over gaps to reach another California brush. The Black Stallion was a book that spoke to me in many ways, with its story of adversity, inner fortitude, connection and trust. The story of Alec, stranded on an island after a shipwreck, and 'The Black', an untamable stallion, thrilled me to my bones.The testing of Alec's inner self, and the beautifully expressed connection between Alec and the stallion, will always be with me. The connection between humans and animals was never rendered with such impact, and the entire series became important to me as a girl. Lifelong love.

5. Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune. I don't know how I came across Lad, I'd better ask my mother. However I did, Lad was my personal Lassie. The story of Lad is loosely based on Terhune's own dog; I still remember reading the entire novel and then reading the brief paragraph in the back that describes the author and his real dog and feeling ridiculously excited and happy that Lad was 'real'.An absolutely beloved novel that to this day brings a strong feeling of nostalgia and private happiness. I adored the manners of the time and the values of the family. The story of Lad ( actually told in three novels ) is one of a sensitive, brave, intelligent and loyal dog who lives in a beautiful estate in a romantic countryside in 1919, another reason I love this story. The time period is so lovely to me, so fascinating, a way of life gone now. Lad's actual gravesite remains available for viewing in New Jersey, and is on my list of places to go.

6. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: 35th Anniversary Edition by E.L. Konisburg. Claudia (and brother Jamie) run away from home and lives in the Museum Of Metropolitan Art. What more do you need to know? OK- there is also a wonderful mystery of a maybe or maybe not Michelangelo angel statue, which eventually illuminates the narrator. I absolutely loved this book when I read it as a young girl, and the complete magic of hiding and living in a museum delights me to this day. A classic. I still run across people my age or near who light up when recalling this book, and I still use the title for my own amusement, like when I delete entries on my blog and retitle them The Mixed Up Files...

7.  A Wrinkle in Time: 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition by Madeleine L'Engle. One of the definitive books of my life. A book I still reference, quote, and adore. A book that helped me to feel less alone in the world. A book that helped me understand just a little bit that parents are also- ready?- human. A book that transported me so completely as I read it that finishing reading it brought on a big case of the disgruntled spacies, in which I am a slightly irritable space cadet, still lost in another world. Growing up without this book will not do. ( All of her books are wonderful, even her memoirs, of which I am very fond. She writes about being a mother of many, a writer and a wife, all of which I am. )

8.  I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg. A sixteen year old girl goes insane and is committed to a mental institution. I was gripped, terrified, moved, enlightened, softened- more human after reading this unforgettable ( to a young person, perhaps less so to adults who have probably already come across many accounts of mental illness ) story of a teenagers experience of madness. The copy I link to is the same one I had as a girl.

9. The Borrowers by Mary Norton. Pure magic. The Borrowers are so uniquely magically wonderful that in my humble opinion, nothing on screen has even touched it yet. The movie and series made were just bumbling attempts at recreating the charm of this series of books about very little 'people' ( they have tails ) who live in the homes of humans and borrow their belongings to repurpose them for their life. The little family is Pod, Homily and Arriety- those names alone hint at the delightful magic here. I read these books as a young girl and then continued rereading them all throughout my teenage years.

10. Emily of New Moon/ Emily Climbs/ Emily's Quest (3 Book Set) by L.M. Montgomery. While Lucy's Anne was my first love, Emily might be my soul mate. I don't think I've ever felt such a sense of self recognition as I did reading the stories of Emily, who was as obsessed as I was and always have been with being a writer, with poetry. This is the running storyline for Emily, and her obsession with words, books and being a writer drives her throughout her life, as for me. Emily is an another orphan who ends up with grumpy Aunt Elizabeth and a nicer auntie, and makes close friends with two boys, one troubled and beautiful and passionate, the other kind, gentle and true, and a tomboy named Isle. The children form close, intense bonds, and Emily grows to love her aunts. Emily is intelligent, sensitive, deeply felt, quick to temper, makes bad decisions, has ego, love, devotion, pushes herself to hard work though it doesn't come naturally, and feels herself as an outsider, even in love. These three books are beautifully written, and completely engrossing. I cannot wait for Lola to read them.

*not THE list, because I'd probably- and might!- be able to come up with another ten.

People In Your Neighborhood

Before I had heard anything about a movie being made, ( The Impossible, just released ) I was up late one night and stumbled across this movie (broken up into a series of videos) on YouTube that uses only real footage taken by four or so people or families to recount the story of the tsunami in Thailand. These kinds of 'real footage' things are all over YouTube, but the team that put together and edited the interviews and footage and voice overs did an outstanding,  breathtaking job. The sound editing alone is absolutely phenomenal, gives me chills and is excellent at underscoring the humanity and gravity of the situation without becoming too cloying. It is deeply sad to watch, and the loss of life that is happening is impossible to even truly take in, so I don't recommend this for anyone struggling with depression or the like. I think this movie is one that will stay with me for a long, long time, if not forever in my memory, with the images of the water and the voices of the innocent people trying to react to something they had no warning of and no context for. I think perhaps this is what makes the subject so compelling for me: what do we do when things horrible things happen that we did not prepare for and can barely process is happening?

Melanie of Inward Facing Girl addresses a commonly bandied about subject right now in Bloggers and Creatives Work Hard For The Money

This book trailer for Minimalist Parenting is so exciting to me, because it represents the work of two women whom I respect and admire- Asha Dornfest and Christine Koh- and  AND it is about a book they wrote that really, really fits my parenting profile and is coming out soon!~ You can pre-order now, and I can't wait to read it!

Lola and I are hardcore Downton Abbey fans and I want this shirt!

If you need a laugh

On Mamalode, Stacey makes the kind of choice that person by person will transform our world: to force herself through feeling uncomfortable, vulnerable and embarrassed to take action.

I love stories of marriage.

This man and his story and his tattoo. Incredibly moving and inspiring. I am putting a 'Be Here Now' tattoo on my Seriously Considering list because for me, that has been the number one spiritual practice and idea that has created real change in my life.

'Get Off My Internets' & The FM Ad Pull

 GOMI, or Get Off My Internets, is a place where people go to trash talk bloggers. That's the majority  of what goes down there. Federated Media just pulled their ad network from GOMI due to bloggers complaining to FM about their involvement with the site. Why are the bloggers so against GOMI? GOMI says it's because they tell the truth, point out flaws, expose lies and aren't silenced, completely ignoring that they also tear apart women bloggers from the floor up without any of the same evidence or integrity they accuse other bloggers of lacking. GOMI is Mean Girls. GOMI is that girl in high school who saw your Dad driving your uncle's car that one day and told everyone she knew that you were lying about having money and in actuality you are dirty poor. GOMI can't wait to catch you making a mistake, and point it out with a loudspeaker and floodlights during prom. 

Some GOMI comments have good points, some GOMI comments don't, but as usual, the Mean Girls miss THE POINT, which is that yeah, we all suck sometimes, but most of us don't spend so much energy and time ( or any! ) and effort into the completely cowardly pastime of publicly pointing out flaws, AND that if you are going to point out a perceived flaw or 'lie', you better be able to back that shit up. GOMI doesn't have balls behind their brass. They run on rumor mills that are about as reliable as Star Magazine, and with the exact same bloodsport: humiliate, criticize and speculate on those who are putting themselves out there, and then say it's all right because whine ( as GOMI likes to say, along with frequent usage of bloggers apparently 'flouncing' and 'pouting') : they put themselves out there. Missing again the obvious: what you can do and what you should do are two entirely different things, and while my mother could spend the rest of her life ripping me apart for the various humiliations and mistakes of my childhood, she shouldn't. 

 The forums are where a lot of the real Mean Girl conversations go down; a blogger is named and then the criticism starts, sometimes spiraling into a hate frenzy with lots of exclamation marks and the noticeable odor of self loathing rotting to people bashing. Typical GOMI chats repeat that the blogger is lying about XYZ, and the comments get very 7th grade from there. Reading through the site I found frequent unnamed sources, which could be anyone from a made up person, that cousin who always hated you since you had a girl and a boy and she had two boys, a former jealous co-worker, someone sitting in their basement next to their belly button link collection or an actual source. I've known a few bloggers who tracked down trolls that they had who were constantly claiming the blogger was 'lying' and it's really sad that those trolls ended up being people the blogger knew very well, who were upset at the blogger for whatever reason, be it an angry ex-husband, jilted friend, whatever.

For an example of a GOMI participant here's a comment on Babble's post about FM pulling their ads:

if you feel like someone bullies you then why do you click over and read it. you make the click happen, so don’t click. gomi gives me a place to vent my frustrations with bloggers because my comments get deleted on their sites when i ask them a legitimate question. if you wont answer my question on your site then this is what happens.

 Likelihood of sources being correct seems slim. I know bloggers who have been sited on GOMI for various 'lies' and they aren't lying. Libel. Trying to prove you aren't lying about everything from your income to your family life to your background to how many Pinterest projects with zest and olive oil you've actually made in the last year would be exhausting and ridiculous and boring to most people who aren't reading blogs for lists of evidence, but for laughs, information, great photos, community, good writing. 

Some GOMI participants are saying that it is censorship for FM to possibly cause GOMI's demise by pulling their business, and I can't say it any better than Kristen of Rage Against the Minivan, who said:

Catherine you should probably brush up on what censorship means. The site is free to say whatever they want. But FM doesn't have to fund sites with crappy content or bad reputations. That's not censorship, honey. It's business.

I had a troll here who was bent on proving that I was lying about being poor. I call her a troll because she commented repeatedly on each post I put up and all comments were focused on my 'lying'. I deleted her and she repeated, so I deleted her ability to comment at all. I then received an email asking why I was deceiving my readers, hiding the truth, etc. First of all, someone who takes the time to do this is a little scary. Unbalanced, clearly. And we all know I have a good idea of what unbalanced looks like! I've been reading blogs since 2008 and while some have pissed me off, some have confused me, some I was suspicious of, the most I've ever done is leave one questioning comment, because it's not my 'right' to be anything on someone else's blog. If I hate em or distrust em, I don't go back. 

 I don't want a perfect stranger repeatedly asking me to prove my income, and she doesn't have the 'right to be heard' which is a frequent complaint on GOMI. I don't delete anyone who disagrees with me in a non aggressive way. But the second I hear that 'tone' in someone's comments, where you can tell they are off balanced, gripping their point by the jugular and don't, no matter what they say, really want a honest conversation about their point, but instead are trying to engage you in a debate where they get to vent, then delete. That's how most of us function in 'real life' too. If you see someone at Starbucks every week and talk back and forth and then after a few months they repeatedly and forcefully ask you why you SAY you have a job, when they KNOW they've seen you shopping at Target during the afternoon, then the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you make polite disengaging noises and get the hell out of there. That isn't hiding, that's knowing you don't owe people evidence of your life, and you don't owe anyone but your nearest and dearest time in your day to put up with crazy(ish). 

Some GOMI Posts Say:

On A Blogger's Outfit: What IS this? First of all, oh look nude shoes…again. Second, this woman seems to dress in a way to purposely invite speculation about whether her uterus is occupied. I also had a little trouble at first figuring out whether those were wrinkles or panty lines.

With No Irony the lead GOMIR writes about a blogger: For some reason I feel like she missed the point in the criticism, but it’s a blogger we’re talking about here. Do they ever really listen?

That's middle ground. Some GOMI posts are perfectly harmless, and others are horribly mean. Which by itself would be upsetting or annoying but not a big deal. The problem comes with the libel, the rumor mill, the accusations made about a blogger's intentions, life, honesty. Once something gets said enough there apparently it's OK to believe it's true, although they don't give that rope to other bloggers. 

Bloggers who make part or all of their living off their blogs should have accountability for certain things of course, but GOMI makes that point as if that justifies their guesswork and slander, which is ridiculous. Holding a blogger accountable for xyz when it matters is fine, but standing outside the stall jeering and mocking and telling the student body that xyz is having a miscarriage in the bathroom  haha can you believe she was pregnant and she always said she was a virgin ( and really she's just having her first period, you asshat ) is just classic Mean Girl. I myself never bothered to prove ' how poor ' I am to my angry commenter, because she was so intense and persistent, and because HELLO? Who PRETENDS to be poor? Why in the world would pretend to the entire world and everyone I know in real life who read this, including occasionally my SIL, my oldest son, my husband, my ex-boss, ex coworkers who are still friends of mine, etc, that I am poor? Wouldn't I be worried that all those people in my life might ask me why I'm publicly lying about my life? That's the reputation I want to create for myself? If so, then I am a sad, sad person and you should just leave me alone anyway. 

Will someone sue GOMI for libel? I don't know. But it wouldn't surprise me at all. I hope they have Star Magazine money for a lawyer, since they have Star Magazine cruelty for a hobby.

5 Ways To Help Your Child Create Green Change At School

My newest piece is up at a local, newly launched magazine, San Diego Loves Green, and it's all about how to help your child start a Green Movement at their school. Inspired me to do some with Lola! Read it HERE!

Hope all is well in your corner. I did a half hour of Zumba this morning and showered and feel awesome. I've worked out or done yoga every day for about two weeks and it's a huge boost for mental and physical health, thanks to Mr. Curry taking over most evenings, and some morning work outs with Ever cooperating. xo

Work

I work so hard for peace that when it comes, I freeze like a virgin erection about to enter the warmest harem. I hardly know what do do. My arms encircle my girls. My eyes find Mr. Curry and he is here, he is here, for a moment or a day or a week, I do not know, but we don't know anything about the future, we really don't. We work so hard. Driving to pick Lola up from school today, I saw a woman on the right sidewalk running, her arms held awkwardly to her sides, fists balled, one hand jammed into her side, a stroke like expression on her sloping face and startled mouth. Her left foot his the pavement like a dead bird. She worked so hard. Lola meets the principal's suited cheerfulness with her perfunctory charm, turned on already at will, like girls learn to do. She moves through anxiety with my mantra in her mind ' Hold your head up. Be proud of who you are and where you come from. Never forget your family is behind you. You are not alone. You are one of us. Smile. Work hard and play hard. ' I tell her these things and they slide into her lunchbox in the daily note I write in multi colored pens. She says ' Mom I remembered what you said, and I had a great day. ' And I think I will never do anything else as perfect as that. My daughter created a club called Friend Finders; at lunch her and a girlfriend used to comb through the children, seeking the alone and lonely, and making conversation. She works so hard. My friend M is dying. She is in hospice. Her children are boy and girl, ages 3 and 6. She says she hopes to go home soon. I reply back I hope so too. She works so hard. Mr. Curry takes his medication night after night after night. He sleeps on a rigorous schedule. He wakes each morning in the dark and cold and rises to shower quietly. He wakes in the night covered in sweat and confused, immediately trying to fall back asleep. He heads to work with the morning talk shows murmuring into the rising steam of his coffee. He works so hard. My dogs are old and one older than that. His eyes are encircled in grey hair and a large ball of fat hangs from his abdomen. The vet drew a sample tissue and said it was not dangerous. Our dog waits every night in the hopes that his boy, now a grown man, will tonite come home, will tonite pet his head and roughhouse on the floor and fall asleep underneath him the way they did for years and years. All night he holds his urine though his hips and bladder bother him. He works so hard.

the late crew

midnight mass

the bathtub full of steam and old soap and that single pubic hair
full of me. my legs and breasts full of milk. crying midnight baths
become ritual: father, i have sinned. full of sin.
a cup full of wine. pressed to my lips, the back of my hand,
even i can see the poignancy of my own hand, aging and alone.
i start crying for my husband, and by the time the puddles are
at my feet and the tub is loudly belching the last of the water,
i am crying for children that no one loves. children left to weep.
i cannot stand those children, their voices cry out to me as if my 
ears are pressed to God. more than my own pain, it is theirs that 
haunts. i believe if i could find my way into the baby's bedroom,
in the dark, and pull that tender sweaty tear soaked body from the
crib or the bed, and hold that child to my chest and tell them i love you,
i love you, i love you, everything is ok
you are not alone
- i would heal myself.

mme

at night i listen for the wind outside my window

A great and terrible silence has fallen on a part of my life that has been, for all these years...all of our years... a noisy, joyful, painful, pleasurable, messy and jubilant space, full of... full. Just full. And now it is so quiet. I feel Winter as a comfort for it speaks to my bones. White, silent, still, waiting, yet held aloft, arms upright, lifted in anticipation of some small movement, some wintering storm that will snarl through and snap the branches and break open the ice on the river. Of all things, myself a Scorpio, this kind of suspended animation is the least bearable. I can run in the river of fire but I die on top of the frozen tundra. Agitation begins to burden me until I am forced into either a massive, childish breakdown that artists are- used to be- famous for, or a retreat. For now, for the love of my family and my loyalty to them, I retreat. So my words lose their force and their heat and their life and fall like dead leaves... Jack White, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground. I go to write and want to hold my keyboard close and weep over the words that will. not. come. I cling to music. I reside there and the books I read and the vanilla necks and closer than close eyes of my children. I pray and cry like women have done for centuries, in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep. I pray for guidance to do the right thing. I pray for strength beyond my expectations of myself. I pray for clarity. Most of all, I pray for patience, this the least of all my graces. I hear the echoes of priests I've never spoken to telling me to wait. Have faith. The answers will come. I hate waiting. I feel the days slipping by and want to break open the sky with a mighty Thor like swing of axe, I want to scream the birds out of the trees, I want to force life. I want to make, and do, and create, and this is my nature. Please help me, please help me, my prayers just say thank you and please help me.

“Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.” 
― Victor Hugo

People In Your Neighborhood

take a seat and read!

Allison Carmen writes often about the power of 'maybe'. In this recounting of a woman facing the possible death of her mother, she illuminates how powerful remembering 'maybe' is.

I loved reading this account of the 'island where people forgot to die'- I could read a book on this. I hope someone is writing one, with lots of photos!

Emily Rapp writes about why you should stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. True wisdom here. Saving this one.

How to balance hormones for health and reduction of acne. Simple and so true.

On curing RSI/back pain with your mind. I read stories like this all the time and used these ideas in my own recovery from chronic pain.

Fascinating. The title says it all: Abandoned Suitcases Reveal Private Lives of Insane Asylum Patients

I think everyone should read this: Big Sugar's Sweet Little Lies It's not only about the health risks of the amount of sugar Americans consume, but how big companies lie and control the information we receive.

An app for recording one minute of every day of your life.

POETRY. You need it. Rich Ferguson's new collection 8th & Agony is here for you.