IraqiGirl: diary of a teenage girl in Iraq

The United States’ involvement in Iraq is regularly reported on the news. Lately the news has reported on the approaching elections, bombings and killings, and the United States’ exit strategy. For a young adult these matters may be of little interest, unless you have family and friends who are somehow involved or based in Iraq.
The United States’ occupation of Iraq began in 2003. In 2004 a 15 year-old girl, Hadiya, began blogging about her life in the city of Mosul, Iraq. Her blog was known as IraqiGirl. Recently a collection of her earlier blog posts were collected and published as IraqiGirl: diary of s teen age girl in Iraq (call number 956.704431 Iraqigir). Her firsthand accounts and reflection of the situation occurring in her country provides a unique perspective to everyone living outside this situation, especially young adults.
Hadiya is just like most teenagers. She worries about school, watches television when there is electricity, and discusses her relationships with family and friends. However, her experience is unique because she is constantly surrounded by war and the effects it has on her country. Her blog is an honest recollection of loss, grief, and a determined survival. She loses family members. Friends and family are forced to flee their homes. She is open about her choice to be a Muslim and responds to criticism from comments made by her readership. She also discusses U.S. and Iraqi military enforcements, such as curfew.
Hadiya is still contributing to the IraqiGirl blog. Once you finish this collection of earlier blog posts, I recommend continuing to read her unique firsthand account of the ever-changing political spectrum in Iraq.

Punkzilla by Adam Rapp

Punkzilla is considered an epistolary novel, which is a story told through documents. In this case, Punkzilla’s (Jamie is his real name.) story is told through letters. He is conversing with his brother, Peter (referred to as “P”), who is dying of cancer. Jamie is writing to him on a bus on his way from Portland, Oregon to Memphis, Tennessee to see his brother before he dies. Jamie writes his brother of the adventures and experiences he has while on this cross-country journey. Travelling by bus is pretty sketchy, which is made abundantly clear based on the things Jamie sees while staying at seedy motels, stopped at eerie bus stations, and with the bevy of oddballs who accompany him on his journey. Jamie’s language is blunt, lucid, at times raw, but still poetic as he describes his current adventure and his memories. This is also an emotional journey for Jamie as he tries to reach his brother in time. The reader is fully in-tunes with his roller coaster of emotions as he travels across the country.

This book is dark, edgy, and contains some graphic content, which is typical of Adam Rapp’s work. I would recommend Punkzilla for older teens (Grades 10 & up).

Author Adam Rapp is a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. Other books written by Rapp available in the Moore Young Adult collection are: Under the wolf, Under the Dog; 33 Snowfish; Little Chicago, The Buffalo Tree; and Missing the Piano.

National Novel Writing Month

(X posted to the Moore Musings blog)

Ever wanted to write a story or a novel, but felt like you needed a little push? A growing international phenomenon, which last year included almost 80,000 registered participants, declares that November is the month to begin!

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as it is affectionately called by participants, begins in November. The idea is to write a 50,000 word book in the thirty days of November. For those of you counting, that's about 1,670 words a day. Or, in simpler numbers, 2,000 words a day means finishing a rough draft in 25 days.

Participants can register at the NaNoWriMo website which also includes message boards, word meters, posted drafts, and more to support the writers. You can even order supportive emails from best selling authors including Neil Gaiman, Sue Grafton, Garth Nix, and Tom Robbins to name a few.

Begun in 1999 with a total of 21 participants, National Novel Writing Month is the brainchild of Chris Baty, who has written a book-No Plot? No Problem (808.3 Baty)-that tells the story of how NaNoWriMo came to be and provides many useful tips for writing a novel in just thirty days.

In his book, Baty explains that after his first experience trying to write a novel in only 30 days he realized, "The biggest thing separating people from their artistic ambitions is not a lack of talent. It's the lack of a deadline." He also states that writing at such a crazy pace helps people to overcome their need for perfection in their writing and to take risks that they wouldn't otherwise.

The book is positive and upbeat. Included with the writing tips are time management tips (make large dishes with lots of leftovers so you don't have to cook every day), questions to ask yourself about your writing style and about the story that you want to write, week-by-week information about potential pitfalls, and ideas for revising your messy rough draft once you finish.

So are you thinking you may be interested? Let us know here at the Moore Memorial Library. We'd be happy to set up a writing group/support group for anyone interested.