Teen reviews and my analysis

Reviews

Patrick Ness delivers an emotionally compelling story in this fantasy novel,  A Monster Calls. Conor is a 13 year old boy with a sick mother who is dying of cancer. Bullied in school, having an absent father, and a grandmother he can’t stand, Conor lives a pretty  miserable life. After continuously waking up from the same nightmare every night at 12:07, the monster from the yew tree in his yard visits and thats when the fun begins. The monster tells Connor three stories, the fourth will be Connors “truth.” Through out the story, Connor represses a lot so his meetings with the monster certainly bring out his emotions. When he finally reveals his truth, your heart will ache for him and your face drenched in tears. The book is relatable to anyone who has suffered loss. The illustrations in the book are dark, give the story depth and reels you in. A Monster Calls is a story of a young boy who needs to come to terms of his own truth. It will definitely give you all the feels on this fantastical journey.

Paper Girls is a fun filled comic book series following four 12-year-old girls who deliver newspapers Halloween morning.  Their town is under invasion from a mysterious force from the future. It is up to the girls to figure out what is happening and fend for themselves as seemingly most adults are MIA. At first it may seem hard to follow,  but that is just the mystique being the story. Read along to find out what happens. It certainly  has a cool undertone to the story, 80s theme, and there is a lot of action going on. The pace is fast but satisfying. You’ll definitely want to read the next in the series. If you’re into sci-fi and like retro looking graphics you should definitely check it out. This comic book also gets a major kudos for featuring female leads that kick major butt. This book appeals to boy or girl, comic geek or not. Check it out  at your closest comic book dealer near you!

Review Analysis (A Monster Calls)

For the professional reviews, I consulted with Common Sense Media, Kirkus Reviews and Publisher’s Weekly. The alternative reviews were retrieved using google from Blogs of a Bookaholic and another blog called ReadRantRock&Roll.

• First thing to point out with the professional reviews, they restrict themselves to 200-250 words. The blog reviews have no limit and write as much as they need to. For instance, the Bookaholic blog practically writes an entire essay on the novel.
• The target audience is specified in all the professional reviews. Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly includes it at the end, in parentheses. The age is specified immediately on Common Sesne Media. The blogs make general reviews for anyone to read.
• While there is no mention of the cover art, both professional and amateur reviews did speak of the illustrations in the book. It is important to note that these illustrations add to the story so if neither mentioned it would lack merit, in my opinion at least. Bookaholic actually includes the illustrations in her review which I think should be excluded so readers can experience it for themselves.
• Of course writing is a big difference between professional and amateur reviews. Professional reviews are concise, comprehensible and grammatically correct to a tee.  That’s not to say the bloggers didn’t write well, they did, but their structure is different in which you can see the professionalism. Professional reviews are simply that: professional.
• The biggest point to add is writing style it self. I mentioned professional reviews are professional, it’s to say that amateur reviews are more customizable. They can be biased, where as professional will never include nouns like “I” or how they felt. Constructive criticism is active in professional, where as amateur includes emotions.

Well there you have it! Hope you enjoyed!

 

 

Comparative Discussion on Documentaries

For years, media has been the go-toto find out what is trending. Whether it be movies, music, tv, or in recent times the internet, we are always looking for the next big thing. When it comes to the teen demographic, the biggest consumers, there is a deep fascination marketers seek and ways they work around to appeal their trending taste buds.

Douglas Rushkoff presents, in two similar but different documentaries, the relationship between the media and teens. Teens are notably the biggest consumers so it is interesting to see how 13 years was a lot different from how things are marketed today. Merchants of Cool (2001) shows how corporations go as far as “cool hunting” to engage in whats the latest fad for teens. It definitely was a blast from the past to see how marketers reached teens in a time with no social media to influence us. I do remember as a teen watching Sprite commercials featuring hip hop, which was the hottest (still is) genre of music, as well as NBA players to sell their product. By marketers using these tactics, they’re baiting these teenagers to buy into their product. However, if marketers and other media conglomerates need to look to teens interests to sell their products, who is in control of the market?

Over the years, with the creation of social media, Myspace to start, teens began generating their identities and sharing their personality. With Facebook taking the social media by storm, teens began to swarm the site. Rushkoff is also the correspondent in Generation Like (2014), which focuses on teen use of social media and how it affects corporations. The like button seems to matter to society as a whole honestly. In the beginning of this documentary we see teens at a table on their laptops trying to figure out which profile picture works best. While clicking that “like” button on a peer’s picture may seem important and garnering these likes, marketers are also looking to see what these teens like to promote their  brand, whether it be a film, band, clothing, etc. Corporations use this to their advantage, even hiring teens to retweet things to grow their target audience. At one point in the documentary, we see a teenaged girl promoting for The Hunger Games, being offered rewards. However, it is up to the teen to decide if they want to continue. The people behind these marketing schemes may be using the teens as a pawn, but the end game is the teens building upon it. The success is in the consumer’s hands, it is just up to how marketers capitalize on their resource.

When you compare Generation Like to Merchants of Cool, you can see the shift in who controls how things are marketed. Being that social media wasn’t a tool in 2001 marketers had to figure out on their own by direct contact with teens. Social media just made it easier for them to find out what teens like. With “92% of teens going online daily” (Lenhart, 2015), it is no surprise that this is the route to follow when looking out for the latest trends. Lenhart reports that 71% of teens use Facebook, compared to Instagram and Snapchat. Her research also indicated that “91% of teens go online from mobile devices at least occasionally.” With smartphones, teens have more access to the internet. It takes a flick of a fingertip to hit that like button. Especially with teens using social media to get famous, whether it be through Instagram or Youtube, which Generation Like discusses in-depth. Companies usually pick up on this and will send their products to these kids to promote. While it may seem as if they are being used by free advertising, it is the teen that is attracting the attention and their choice to display it.

In my future library work, after viewing these documentaries, it became crystal clear that I would need to communicate with my young patrons to get an idea of what they would like. I think the focus groups are a very intelligible way to get an idea of what the teens want. It is my job to help them look for it. However, being that we are in a digital age we should find ways to connect with teens. Martens has a lot of discussion about gatekeepers and notes that by teens participating with publishers, we remove the adults as the gate keepers. We ourselves no longer serve as the gatekeepers because teens have found a way to express their opinions. As a librarian it is possible to achieve a personable relationship with a patron in regards as to what material should be on the shelves by way of social media. This generation responds well to this form and as long as libraries keep up with this age then we will continue to strive in supplying the demand. So who has the upper hand? Teens definitely do, we just need to know how to supplement the consumer’s needs.

References

Lenhart, A. (2015). “Teens, social media & technology overview 2015.” Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media- technology-2015/

Martens, Marianne (2011). “Transmedia teens: Affect, immaterial labor, and user-generated content.” Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 17 (1), 49-68.

Rushkoff, D. (2001). Frontline: Merchants of Cool. [Video file]. Retrieved from  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/view/

Rushkoff, D. (2014) Frontline: Generation Like. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/generation-like/