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Imaginary Girls: Annotated Bibliography Entry #2

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Imaginary Girls: Annotated Bibliography Entry #2

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Suma, N.R.  (2011).  Imaginary girls.  New York, NY:
Penguin Young Readers Group.

Another dark and mysterious book by Nova Ren Suma, here we have Imaginary Girls. The book is written with magical realism, where truth and fantasy are intertwined to tell a story that is rich with metaphors. Ruby is the younger sister of Chloe, and everyone in town (including Ruby) feels enamored, obsessed and under the influence of her power. One night Ruby goes swimming at the reservoir with Chloe and her friends. Ruby (after pressure to dangerously swim to the other side by her sister) swims upon the dead body of a classmate. This leads her to be sent away for two years in order to be kept from the influence of Chloe. Chloe eventually comes to get her back, and when Ruby returns to live with her sister things get eerie. This is speculative fiction, with a paranormal twist. For some reason, Ren uses the first few words of each chapter for the chapter titles, which is a unique and new technique.

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Dani Noir         Annotated Bibliography Entry #3 

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Dani Noir         Annotated Bibliography Entry #3 

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Suma, N.R.  (2009).  Dani noir. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster/Aladdin.

Dani Noir is Suma's first published novel. An updated version of this book is available in paperback under the name Fade Out. Dani Noir/Fade Out centers around the story of a middle school girl whose parents are going through a divorce. She escapes her family problems by spending time at an art house theater that shows film noir. This book deals with common themes of middle school, like friend loss and crushes on inappropriate/unattainable people. The style of the book is written with an almost dark and shadowy noir style of it's own. This is the only book aimed at middle school students that Suma has written. A good read containing a love triangle and big secrets. This book has enough drama in it to keep the pages turning.

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17 and Gone:      Annotated Bibliography Entry #4

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17 and Gone:      Annotated Bibliography Entry #4

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Suma, N.R.  (2013).  17 and gone.  New York, NY: Dutton/Penguin.

17 and Gone is a suspense novel with supernatural themes. Suma's skill of complex and compelling storytelling is on full display. The main character, Lauren begins having visions of missing girls in her town, each of them (like Lauren) is seventeen. She becomes wrapped up in their stories and in saving them after their families have given up hope of bringing them home. The theme of the story is dark and riveting, and soon the reader finds Lauren's visions could be hallucinations due to early-onset schizophrenia. Suma's love of plot twists and the paranormal are represented in this book. We get to learn the stories of the missing girls as Lauren gets to know them through her visions/hallucinations, leaving the reader glued to the pages.

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This picture is from an interview with Model Behaviors where Suma talks about female characters dominating her stories. She discovered female writers on her mother's bookshelves in the '80's, (Margaret Atwood, Erica Jong, Marge Piercy, Sheri S. Tepper) all women who were writing about girls and women, making her feel like she had a place in the world. "I had learned from the men in my life that I wouldn’t become much of anything, because I wasn’t a man like they were, because I was only a girl. Books by women showed me otherwise." she states.  She explains that she is so committed to the female perspective because she has never forgotten what it was like to be one.

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The Walls Around Us: Annotated Bibliography Entry #1

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The Walls Around Us: Annotated Bibliography Entry #1

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Suma, N.R.  (2015). The walls around us.  Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Young Readers.

In 2015 The Walls Around Us became a #1 New York Times best selling young adult novel.  The story centers around three girls who are all at one point accused murderers, focusing mainly on the viewpoints of two main characters who live at different times. The first is  Amber, a ghost who had been in juvenile detention for the murder of her stepdad. The second is Violet, a living ballerina and can see Amber's ghost. Amber can also see Violet, after she has a paranormal experience. The third character is the also dead Orianna, who weaves in and out of both stories, and unfortunately for Violet, Orianna is brought back to life in her place. The viewpoints of Violet and Amber are written separately, like two stories in one dark book. This is Suma's most well known and acclaimed novel to date.

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I would say the majority of Nova Ren Suma's 4 novels would be read by a target age range of 14-18. She states on her website that most of her books are for 14+, listing no cut off age perhaps due to her vocal belief that YA books should be enjoyed by adults as well. Although her themes are dark and extremely strange at times, they're on a level that can speak to high school students who are capable of understanding complex and sometimes uncomfortable or creepy themes.  I think in some cases these books can work to attract young readers to new and unexplored genres like horror or magical realism. A few of her books are almost psychological thrillers, which seem like a rare style for a YA novel. This is an exciting perk for students of this age to encounter at a time when their brains would think paranormal or spooky tales are extremely cool and interesting. Dani Noir is the only book of the 4 that doesn't fit into this older age range. It is a simpler read, suitable for middle school kids or a little younger. Suma lists that age range as 9+, and I'd say the prime reading age would be 9-14 years old. I think this is an appropriate age range since a middle school child developmentally would be going through much of what the main character is going through in the novel  (the character in the book is a middle school girl herself). Even though it's theme is dark, the story doesn't deal with anything too inappropriate. It focuses on divorce, escapism, friendship problems and complicated romantic feelings, all which are appropriate for this age ranges developmental maturity level.

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Images 3: Book Launches  of the Past and Future

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Images 3: Book Launches  of the Past and Future

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Here is a picture of Nova at one of her past book launches. She has published 4 books, and the next launch party for her 5th book will happen when it is released this September 4th, 2018. The book is titled A Room Away from the Wolves, and like her other novels will be an eerie YA novel. The book will come out via Algonquin YR.

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This is a photo of Nova Ren Suma wearing a "YA is not a genre" tshirt. She explains, "YA IS NOT A GENRE. (It is a marketing & age category encompassing all genres.) But maybe that's just me!" (@novaren link.) The author likes genres to defy labels and not be relegated to a single shelf. Her words are reflected in her writing style. While the themes and tone of her novels are read and understood by young adults, they also captivate adults.

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Below is a photo advertising a retreat workshop taught by Nova Ren Suma and fellow author Micol Ostow. The retreat, much in the style of Suma's books, focuses on horror and haunted novel writing. The workshop promises to cover "Horror and heart-pounding suspense… Ghost stories and serial killers…Psychological thrillers, Gothic tales, dark magical realism, and the occult." (link) In Suma's books she is constantly using paranormal themes, or twists where nothing is often what it seems. She touches on dark and moody plots throughout her writing and this illustrates her obsession with this kind of story.

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Nova Ren Suma's books are read BOTH for pleasure and as academic reading.  I'd give it a 50/50 split, since the books are so popular and also so highly recommended for the classroom. NYT best selling novel The Walls Around Us is taught in many high school classrooms. In fact, it was named Best Book of the Year by School Library Journal, further proving it belongs in the classroom.  I think based on the complexity of the material it would do best in junior or senior english classrooms. This novel in particular is beautifully written and the story engages the reader, it is complex enough to be critically analyzed in class after it's read.  It's a dark and mysterious novel and it really makes you think, unlike stereotypes of some YA novels that are seen as just fluff. Dani Noir is read by middle school kids in classrooms.  It was listed by Amazon.com as an Editors’ Pick for the “Top 10 Children’s Books: Middle Readers” for 2009. Imaginary Girls is also read in school, but might warrant a warning to parents of freshman if taught in more conservative districts as it contains bad language, underage drinking and sex scenes, despite that it was listed as Outstanding Books for the College Bound by YALSA (link) so one would assume it's appropriate to assign for juniors/seniors. I would recommend teachers giving these books a chance.

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Nova Ren Suma has won many awards, especially for her novel The Walls Around Us.  A few of them include the Cybils Award in YA Speculative Fiction, (also known as the Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards) as listed here. The book was also named the #1 Indie Next Pick on the Spring 2015 kids’ list (Link). It was named A Boston Globe Best Book of the Year, and also appeared on the School Library Journal's Best Books 2015 list. These are all great honors and it's also notable that this book was shortlisted or nominated for a long list of other awards as well. A full list of nominations and awards can be found on Suma's website here.

Her novels Imaginary Girls and 17 & Gone were both named Outstanding Books for the College Bound by YALSA. Imaginary Girls also won an award for being named one of YALSAs Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults in 2016.

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Nova Ren Suma is an author, obviously, but she is also a teacher, working with future YA writers in a number of capacities. Currently she teaches in the MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts as visiting faculty. In the past she has taught YA novel writing at Columbia University in the School of the Arts, at Arizona State University, and at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Below is a picture of her teaching. She also offers workshops, mentorships and currently teaches non-MFA students.