RTW: Hot Stuff Coming Thru

Welcome to our 122nd Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.


We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link in the comments - or, since this week's topic is a short one, you can include your answer in the comments either here on my blog or back on the prompt post at YA Highway. It doesn't matter where

This Week's Topic: 

A long-awaited kiss, a surprise ending, a character's sudden decision… these are the moments that make us smile, gasp, and LOVE a book for the rest of our lives.

What is your favorite literary moment?

Making this decision was not easy. I've been blessed to have the opportunity to read many books in my life and there are countless memorable moments to go along with them. 

I can still remember the first time I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and the magical feeling I got when Harry is finally allowed to read his letter. It's not a big moment in the grand scheme of the series, but it's important to me because it emphasizes the spectacular journey that Harry will soon embark on. Looking back as a long time Potter fan, I take away so much more from that moment than I did perhaps the first few times I read it. 

And then you can't forget the memorable scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as Molly Weasley takes on Bellatrix Lestrange with a "Not my daughter, you b*tch!" That's one instance of raw feeling that continues to catch me off guard and fill me with a sense of thrill just imagining Mrs. Weasley finally ridding the world of the depravity of Bellatrix Lestrange. The doting mother versus the deadly widow. Poetry in fiction. 

I promise not all of my favorite literary moments are from Harry Potter novels, but a good deal of them are. That's just the way the cookie crumbles. 

Until next time...

RTW: Required Reading, Oh Yeah

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link -- or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This week's topic: In high school, teens are made to read the classics - Shakespeare, Hawthorne, Bronte, Dickens - but there are a lot of books out there never taught in schools. So if you had the power to change school curricula, which books would you be sure high school students were required to read?

This question is right up my alley. As an English education major, I've been considering this very problem for a while now. Actually, I was thinking about what I would make kids read if I were a teacher back when I was still in high school.

I like to plan ahead like that. I never really had a problem with reading some of the "classics" that were on the required reading list. I like them. A Tale of Two Cities is one of my favorite books of all time. Same goes for the rest of the lot.

However, I feel like today's fiction and even the fiction of a few decades ago is also worth exploring in the high school setting. Yes, it's good to keep the classics well in mind and to introduce students to them while they're still under some sort of obligation to at least look at them.

But it's also important to show them that some of the more modern texts are worth reading as well. A few that I would include are:  


The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (Although I know that some high schools do teach it, or so I've heard, but mine didn't.)
 
 


Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (The post is now complete!)  






The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (In conjunction perhaps with Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.)  


 
The Princess Bride by William Goldman (Because we all need to read a little ridiculous into our lives.)









I could go on forever like this, naming books that I want other people to read and to love, but then I'd be here forever and you'd all get tired of reading this post. Besides, I rather like the list as it is. It's eclectic, but not too much so. I have a modern work, a book that's a classic in my opinion, a YA dystopia, and a farcical whimsy of a tale.

So, what books would y'all require students to read?

Friday Fives: A Whole New World(s)

Hello everyone! It's Friday yet again, which you may or may not already know, but if not, that's okay. Paper Hangover has provided the prompt, and as you can see, it's a good one. I only know the days of the week because my Google calender alerts me. Isn't that nice?

Before I digress too far down that road of whether or not Google calender alerts are the best things in the entire world, let's go to a few different worlds.

This is my Pottermore profile. Nice, huh? Yeah, it's swell. 

1. The wizarding world of Harry Potter. Yes. That's right. Another Friday Five list with The Boy Who Lived. You really shouldn't be so surprised. If I could just go to Hogwarts and be sorted into a House (Gryffindor!), my life would truly be complete. Seriously. I'd die happy. As it is, I have to settle for Pottermore, and even though it's pretty nifty and I'm in Gryffindor, the real thing would be so much better, as is always the case.

2. Just in case that genie in the lamp doesn't wanna take me to Hogwarts, my second choice would be the Star Wars universe. Why? Two reasons: 1) Space travel with handsome rogues and alien worlds, and 2) Lightsabers. Need I say more? Of course, being in that universe is contingent upon me being a Jedi, and I would fully plan on being the first Ewok Jedi ever. Just imagine the possibilities. I'd be super adorable and deadly. Best of all worlds right there.

3. On the flip side of the coin, if Jedi mindtricks and lightsaber battles were not an option either, I'd have to choose Middle Earth. It's a bit less technological, and I'd probably miss my computer and robot side-kicks, but the trade-off would be worth it, I believe. Although, deciding what to be in Middle Earth is a bit more problematic. I'd like to say I'd want to be an Elf, but they don't seem to have a lot of fun. So, I think being a Hobbit would be cool. Yet with that choice comes the fact that I'd be the shortest humanoid, and if I get to choose, I'd like to be tall. I think I'll have to go with Rohan. They have horses.

4. Next on the list of fantasy lands is Tortall. I haven't talked much about Tamora Pierce on this blog, and I don't know why because I love her books, but Tortall is a cool place. It's got magic, knights, rogues, villains, wars, mythological creatures--basically, the whole kit-and-kaboodle.

5. Last but not least, Narnia! There is just something about talking animals that makes me think that is a place I'd fit in. I'd have to get rid of all the pesky white witches and evil uncles, but once that was done with, I'm sure Narnia would be a nice home for me. Besides, I've always wanted to know why a dog chases its tail. Living in Narnia might finally answer that question.

Alright folks, thanks for hanging in there if you indeed did! I didn't mean to ramble so much, but I'm bored, so that's what happens. Happy Halloween weekend!

Friday Fives: There Was a Time

Welcome to our weekly Friday Fives!

What are the FIVE best ages of your life and why?


This is so easy. It's amazing how much time I actually spend thinking about what my life used to be like when I wasn't average height.

1. Two years old. This is the age that I believe--with the aid of baby pictures--that I was in my prime in the cute department. I was freaking adorable. If I had digital pictures, I'd show you.

That is my funny looking hand on the steering wheel.
I'm on the road. I have flowers and I'm driving a
bright blue bug. Those other cars are afraid.
Or laughing.

2. Five years old. I don't really remember much about kindergarten, but I'm pretty sure it was awesome. I recall making pumpkin bread, butter, green eggs & ham, and tons of crafts. That's pretty much the summation of how I would like to live my life.

3. Eight years old. Is there a Friday Five where I haven't mentioned Harry Potter? Anyway, this is the age that I was first introduced to that magical world. You can say that my life truly began at age eight.

4. Sixteen years old. Freeeeeeeeeedom! Not really. I could drive and I had a car, but since I was one of those weird kids, I didn't go anywhere. I just stayed at home to read, and whenever my family went somewhere, I had the ability to remove myself from the equation early so I could go home and read. Yeah. I was living the life back then.

Sunset over Mobile Bay. One of the many
times that I found myself in the company
of wonderful people. 

5. Twenty years old. This is modern day (although I'm quickly approaching twenty-one) and I have to say, I'm probably the happiest I've ever been. Not to say that my childhood wasn't fun, but I just don't remember very much of it to be honest. I guess you could say I live in the moment. Sure, I'm always busy, I work too much, my classes are hard and getting harder by the day, and I don't have time to read as much as I would like, but all of that is perfectly alright with me. I'm content.

Friday Fives: Banned Books

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
(Actually, the entire series. But I'm just listing it once.) I LOVE these books. Absolutely, one hundred percent, cannot live without them in my life. I know y'all probably hear this all the time from other fans, but my life would not have been the same without Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger to keep me company, along with all of the other memorable characters within the wizarding world.

2. The Hunger Games
Fabulously frightening. The first time I read it, I found myself forgetting to breath in places along the story because it just felt so real.







3. Brave New World
What's not to love? I can see how this book could freak people out, but it doesn't give them the right to "ban" it. Heck, it freaked me out, but I didn't stop reading it. You have to be willing to see everything in order to make your own decisions; other people can't make those for you.















4. The Call of the Wild
This book, and other London stories, instilled in me a fierce love of nature and the elements. The natural world is unforgiving and primitive, but capable of great beauty and enlightenment. London captures those qualities perfectly, and it amazes me that someone could object to such wonderful prose and exploration of humanity.




5. The Lord of the Rings
I often talk about how much I love LOTR, and I do, I really do, but I think that the thing I love the most is J.R.R. Tolkien's attention to detail and language. His other books and poems (I'm currently trying to digest The Silmarillion) show just how much he cared about getting things right, no matter how many words he had to use to do it. Some people find his works to be tedious, but I derive a sense of immense pleasure from reading his densely explained works.

Tests

That word has come to mean many things, to me in particular.

As a college student, I have tests in my classes (although honestly they often feel like Herculean tasks). As a writer, I have deadlines which are tests in themselves, since I'm one of the world's worst procrastinators. As a daughter/sister/friend, I am constantly tested on all sides by those who know me, and whether or not they know they are testing me is another question altogether.

Life is full of tests, some bigger and some smaller than others, but in order for us to pass, we must learn how to face ourselves and develop our test-taking skills.

I'm trying not to delve too deep into the nether-region of psychoanalysis, but how we deal with the tests in life is definitive of who we are as individuals. I have this idea that it isn't the test itself that frightens us. We fear taking tests because we're afraid they will somehow reveal something about us that we would rather keep hidden.

The same goes for characters in a book. Whether you are writing a book or reading one, we all realize that at some point the main character is going to undergo some sort of test. Harry Potter is a prime example of a character that was constantly tested, often to the extremes of physical pain and emotional loss, but it is how he dealt with the aftermath that makes his story so gripping.

Harry Potter doesn't always say or do the things we as readers might think right, but he does use his own judgement and conscience to do what he feels is right. While we may not be acting under the high pressure situations that Harry finds himself in in every book, we can appreciate as outsiders the fact that he never chooses to give up and he does what others would not.

In the end, that is what we must do when life tests us. The only way to get past a trial is to keep going despite the knowledge that something bad may happen.

So there you have it, folks. My spiel for the week. Hopefully I haven't depressed anyone, because this post was actually intended to be uplifting. I guess that's just goes to show how words can just get away from you.

More Potter, or is it Pottermore?

The end of the dedication for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Attention all Potter fans! I don't know how late to the party I am or not, but J.K. will be making a huge announcement in 3 days, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I squeeeeee'd when I found out. It's about something called Pottermore. No one knows what it is...and it's frustrating.

There's a YouTube countdown going on right now (here) and the gathering owls are making me more excited! Because whenever the owls gather you know something big is going to happen!! Squeeeeeeeeee!!!

Calm down. Caaaalm. Okay. I'm good for now. Whew. As to what the announcement will be, or even what Pottermore is all about, I haven't got a clue. A troll would have a better guess than me. I'm really horrible at guessing games. Always have been.

But, I do know that it will be awesome. If it's Potter related and J.K. Rowling has got her golden hands on it, it can't help but blow my mind and the minds of Potter fans everywhere. We're a super loyal crowd. I even have a Deathly Hallows tattoo to prove it.

But that's enough about me and my obsession with all things Harry Potter. Pottermore is rumored to be an online community for Potter fans. I don't know how that will work, maybe like Facebook or MySpace? I have no idea. But if you're a fan, just keep your eyes open for J.K.'s announcement.

Until then, stay magical!!

Heighdy Ho Neighbor

Which book character would you like most as a next door neighbor?

Happy YA Highway: Road Trip Wednesday! I didn't miss it this week, and I'm super pumped about the prompt. I mean, who doesn't wish their favorite book characters existed in real life and lived next door to them? Umm, no one!

I did, however, have a difficult time actually choosing who I would want as my neighbor. It wasn't easy. There are just sooooo many characters that I absolutely adore, but in the end, one stood out and I'm happy with my decision.

Drum roll please...

Molly Weasley.

I would have said the entire Weasley family, but wherever Molly goes, they go as well, so I really think I've covered that with my choice. My reasons for choosing the fiery mother of the redheaded wizarding family are many.

A few include:

She's awesome.

She can cook like nobody's business.

She killed Bellatrix Lestrange (easily something I wished someone would do.)

She doesn't take smack from anyone.

Obviously: She's in Harry Potter and I'm a sucker for that series.

Why didn't I just choose the man himself, Harry Potter? Well...I would, but I thought that wouldn't be nearly as fun as living next door to the Weasleys. There's always something going on at the Burrow, and I bet Harry just wants to live a nice quiet life after all that hard work of defeating evil and destroying Voldemort for good. I 'll leave him in peace.

Besides, this way I would get to see ALL of them on a pretty regular basis and I bet Mrs. Weasley might invite me to dinner every once in a while. She's the motherly type after all. And I'm just a wee lass. I need fattening up.

What character would you like to have as a neighbor?