Aside from my goal of pairing fiction and nonfiction, I also want to keep up with new, entertaining fiction geared toward young adults because for students who haven't enjoyed reading in awhile, those books may be the lure that pulls them back. Some people get "snobby" about young adult books and claim they don't belong in a classroom, but many of these books examine relevant issues and raise interesting questions ...just like classic literature.
After finishing my double-whammy of tragic nonfiction, I decided to try out a novel that came in a set of books I won on Twitter from e. lockhart, who has written several novels for "young adults." the disreputable history of frankie landau-banks (Ms. Lockhart apparently doesn't like capitalized titles) is set at a boarding school for wealthy kids in the Northeast, and Frankie is a former nerd who has recently blossomed into a boy-magnet beauty. She finally lands the attentions of one of the most eligible bachelor boys at school, but she quickly realizes that her dream man has a secret life, a life that revolves around a secret society that Frankie's own dad was once part of at the school. Feeling let out, Frankie is determined to find a way into this boys-only group, but of course, the reader can tell that won't be easy. Fortunately for Frankie, she has a clever mind that lets her see a way in while also shaking up the somewhat outdated and patriarchal (look it up - you should know that word - it's a good word) system of her school.
Pretty obvious, I suppose, that Frankie is a "feminist," as in one who likes men just fine, thank you, but who would like to be viewed as equal to the men she likes. But Frankie's need for balancing the system goes beyond simply fitting in to her boyfriend's secret club; she wants people to realize how often they follow a set path established by other people's expectations. She becomes fascinated by a concept called the "panopticon as a metaphor for Western society and its emphasis on normalization and observation," a system that makes people "feel like someone's watching" at all times so that they "follow rules whether someone's watching...or not" (54). Frankie realizes also that the "watchers" aren't just teachers and other authority figures, but her peers, who watch each other to make sure no "rules" are broken, and ironically, one rule they follow is to know which rules to break, like walking on the grass. When Frankie notices that EVERYONE breaks that rule, she theorizes that though they think they are being "cool" for breaking a rule, they are instead "treading the exact same path half the student body treads every day," meaning their rebellion is no rebellion at all (209).
And Frankie isn't happy with blindly treading where others have gone. Her entertaining means of making her own path involves pranks and mayhem with props such as basset hounds and bras, but her concerns with how people underestimate girls and how people follow the path set by others should make all of us question what rules we follow without even thinking about them, especially when those rules might keep us from what will truly make us happy.
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