Image Source: Amazon.co.uk
The Manifesto on How to Be
Interesting is Holly Bourne’s second teen novel and
tells the story of Bree, a seventeen year old girl who is desperate to be a
writer. Bree does not fit in at her affluent private school and apart
from her one equally unpopular friend, Holdo, her social life is non-existent. When
her book is rejected by publishers for being “boring”, Bree decides to reinvent
herself by creating a blog - The
Manifesto on How to Be Interesting.
The manifesto comprises of six steps
Bree believes will make her “interesting” which include: an image transformation, infiltrating
the popular crowd, losing her virginity and forbidden love with a teacher. As part of her journey, Bree has many heart
warming and hilarious moments but also has to contend with cyber bullying,
depression and self-harm before finally seeking the help she desperately needs.
Bourne intelligently deals the insecurities and identity crisis we
all tackle with as teenagers (Flowers, 2011, p. 19). All the characters in the book, even Jasmine,
the most popular girl in school have moments of despair and self doubt. This is
a reassuring thought for youth readers. The novel raised my awareness of the added
pressures the Internet and social networking have created for youths today
which previous generations did not face. As youth librarians, it is important
we read this type of literature so we stay engaged with teens and have a better
understanding of their needs and interests. This will help us provide relevant
and exciting collections (Derr & Rhodes, 2010, p. 95). Youth culture changes quickly so we must keep up (Shay,
2011, p. 45).
While some librarians may have concerns regarding the explicit
language, as well as sexual and disturbing themes in the book, authors such as
Norma Klein argue their work is popular with teens because it is honest and
realistic (Kidd,
2009, p. 209). As Walter McVitty warned
in 1980, if we censor such titles from youths and select “safe” reads we run
the risk of becoming “a boring irrelevance” (Macleod, 2011, p. 31). McVitty was
discussing Australia’s book awards but the same argument can be applied to youth
library collections.
Bourne’s novel has been
nominated for the Leeds Book Awards 2015. It will be interesting to see if it is selected as a winner. Critics
of the awards system argue that while more controversial titles are short
listed for prizes, the winners are usually safe and traditional (Kidd, 2007,
p. 183).
It is also worth noting that The
Manifesto on How to be Interesting is told through the eyes of a girl and
from looking at blog posts
Bourne’s readership is largely female. Another criticism posed at young
people’s literature awards is that women are over represented on judging
panels. They do not fully understand or appreciate books aimed at boys and so
these titles are under represented on the short lists (Macleod, 2011, p. 31). Youth librarians must be aware of this potential bias if they are to develop collections which are diverse and representative.
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| Image Source: Amazon.co.uk |
The manifesto comprises of six steps Bree believes will make her “interesting” which include: an image transformation, infiltrating the popular crowd, losing her virginity and forbidden love with a teacher. As part of her journey, Bree has many heart warming and hilarious moments but also has to contend with cyber bullying, depression and self-harm before finally seeking the help she desperately needs.
Bourne intelligently deals the insecurities and identity crisis we all tackle with as teenagers (Flowers, 2011, p. 19). All the characters in the book, even Jasmine, the most popular girl in school have moments of despair and self doubt. This is a reassuring thought for youth readers. The novel raised my awareness of the added pressures the Internet and social networking have created for youths today which previous generations did not face. As youth librarians, it is important we read this type of literature so we stay engaged with teens and have a better understanding of their needs and interests. This will help us provide relevant and exciting collections (Derr & Rhodes, 2010, p. 95). Youth culture changes quickly so we must keep up (Shay, 2011, p. 45).
While some librarians may have concerns regarding the explicit language, as well as sexual and disturbing themes in the book, authors such as Norma Klein argue their work is popular with teens because it is honest and realistic (Kidd, 2009, p. 209). As Walter McVitty warned in 1980, if we censor such titles from youths and select “safe” reads we run the risk of becoming “a boring irrelevance” (Macleod, 2011, p. 31). McVitty was discussing Australia’s book awards but the same argument can be applied to youth library collections.
Bourne’s novel has been nominated for the Leeds Book Awards 2015. It will be interesting to see if it is selected as a winner. Critics of the awards system argue that while more controversial titles are short listed for prizes, the winners are usually safe and traditional (Kidd, 2007, p. 183).
It is also worth noting that The Manifesto on How to be Interesting is told through the eyes of a girl and from looking at blog posts Bourne’s readership is largely female. Another criticism posed at young people’s literature awards is that women are over represented on judging panels. They do not fully understand or appreciate books aimed at boys and so these titles are under represented on the short lists (Macleod, 2011, p. 31). Youth librarians must be aware of this potential bias if they are to develop collections which are diverse and representative.
References
Bourne, H. (2014) The manifesto on how to be interesting. London: Usborne Publishing Limited.
Derr, L., & Rhodes, A. (2010). The
public library as ürban youth space: Redefining public libraries through
services and space for young people for an über experience. Australasian
Public Libraries and Information Services, 23(3), 90-97.
Flowers, S. (2011). Young adults deserve
the best: YALSA’s competencies in action. Chicago: American Libraries
Association.
Kidd, K. (2007). Prizing children's
literature: The case of Newbery Gold. Children's Literature, 35(1), 166-190.
Kidd, K. (2009). "Not Censorship
but Selection": Censorship and/as Prizing. Children's Literature in
Education, 40(3), 197-216.
Macleod, M. (2011). The children’s
book council of Australia book of the year and the image problem. Access, (1), 27-34.
Shay, C. (2011). The twilight zone:
Bringing youth into libraries. Australasian Public Libraries and Information
Services, 24(1), 42-46.
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