School: Why we are who we are.

Hmm, back to school time.  My favorite time of year as a parent.  I’ll even put it out there that I actually kinda liked it as a kid, too.  I know.  NERD ALERT! as my son would say.

But I will say as much as I enjoyed school and enjoy the time my kids are in school, I’ve never actually had any of my YA characters IN school.  And this is especially true in RENEGADE where school (as we know it, anyway) doesn’t exist at all. 

And even though we never see her actually in “school”, or doing any of the normal school things someone would do in a non-dystopian setting, Evelyn’s education is a HUGE plot point in the story (as it is in almost every YA.  Even if it doesn’t seem like it), and makes her who she is, despite the fact she doesn’t even realize every decision she makes is completely dependant on that education.  Even as twisted and warped as that education was…

But…isn’t that the way it is for all of us?  The teenage years are the years each person really forms who he or she is. It’s pretty much the glue that will bond us on our life path. And we spend the majority of the days in those years in school.  So is it really that surprising that school and our experiences in school shape who we are and what decisions (good or bad) we make in the future.

J.A. Souders is the author of RENEGADE a YA dystopian that takes place in an underwater utopian society, coming Fall 2012 from Tor Teen.  For more information visit her blog or website.

School sucks

There are no schools in STORMDANCER. Not in the sense that you or I understand, anyway.

Sounds awesome, right? No homework. No teachers. No jerks or Cool Kids.

*puts on ranty-pants*

But the truth is, in historical times, illiteracy was a tool used by governments to control their populace. An illiterate populace couldn’t educate themselves on concepts like ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’. They couldn’t easily be exposed to new ideas. They were completely reliant upon the literate (usually the people who wanted to keep them down) to interpret law, history and philosophy. This is the way it works in STORMDANCER.

The sad thing is, even today, illiteracy is a weapon being used in the same old war. We're not talking fantasy. This is real life now.

According to UNICEF, nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names and two thirds of them were women.

In the US 85% of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate. Over 70% of inmates in America's prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level. Penal institution records show that inmates have a 16% chance of returning to prison if they receive literacy help, as opposed to 70% who receive no help. 90% of welfare recipients are high school dropouts.

In America today, right now, this very second, 22% of adults are below Basic level literacy (indicating they possess no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills). 14% are functionally illiterate (meaning they cannot read or write with any degree of proficiency)

14%. In America. Today.

School sucks. I hated every minute of it. No doubt. But compared to the alternative, it's pretty frackin' awesome.

Make with the clicky:

The Reading Tree - http://www.readingtree.org/

The ABC literacy Site - http://www.theliteracysite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=6

National Literacy Trust UK - http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/

Oxfam Australia - http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/rights/

Jay Kristoff is the author of STORMDANCER, a dystopian fantasy set in steampunk feudal Japan, out in Spring 2012 through St Martin's Press & Tor UK.

You can watch him rant some more here and here.

Back to School Week

It's back to school week here on Brave New Words!

Though it's not boarding school, the Academy in my novel Glitch is a full-time lifestyle for my characters. They go for eleven hours a day, after all. School is the setting for a lot of great YA lit, and I think for good reason (beyond, you know, the fact that kids have to go to school and it's familiar): Drama always seems to erupt when you stick a bunch of teenagers together, even partially cybernetic mind-controlled ones :)

A lot of what gets explored in my novel is the newness of feeling emotion and how it can be sparked by contact with other people. I think this is a beautiful concept--that no matter how much those in power might try to control others, the simple fact of people in relationships with other people (sometimes just because of close proximity alone) has been the catalyst across time for both romance and revolution.

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Heather Anastasiu is the author of GLITCH (St. Martin's Press/Summer 2012) Glitch in three words: Dystopia, Superpowers, & Love :) Check out my website for more info, news, and updates.