Haynes, David and Julie Landsman (Eds). (1998). Welcome To Your Life: Writings for the Heart of Young America. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 344pp.

Grade Range: 6-12

Genre: short story, poetry, nonfiction

Summary and Critique

Teenagers enjoy reading something interesting, edgy, funky, strange, warm, joyful, and familiar. Adolescence is a roller coaster, and the stories of young people's lives are all of the above, sometimes even simultaneously. The tales in Welcome to Your Life invite the reader into this space where writers connect words to memory. Forty-three writers of varied races and ethnicities share these memories through poems, short stories, and essays. They explore images of growing up—trying to fit in, loving music, working, eating barbecue, and finding justice. These authors'perspectives show Teens that happiness and success are accessible.

The anthology features an array of styles, from Kerouac-esque to succinct to lyrical. A talented group of authors, including Sherman Alexie, Lucille Clifton, Jane Hamilton, Maria Hinojosa, Li-Young Lee, Philip Levine, Phillip Lopate, Pat Mora, Dwight Okita, David Sedaris, Gary Soto, Sekou Sundiata, and many more contributed to this delicious bouquet of multicultural writings. The book is organized into six thematic sections: Insider/Outsider, Getting By, The Body, Fathers, Generations, and Music. The styles are creative and the content is honest. The combined diversity of writing in Welcome To Your Life echoes awe, confusion, and above all, brilliance. It is a reflection of the explosive spirit of multicultural adolescence.

Themes/Topics

Families

Friends and Enemies

Generations

Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

Challenges and Triumphs

The Individual vs. Society

Nature/Science

Love, Sex, and Romance

Adventure

Author/Illustrator/Editor Information

Editor David Haynes has taught middle school for over fifteen years. Haynes is a winner of numerous awards for his seven previous books, and he recently served on experimental school teams and as Southern Methodist University's visiting writer-in-residence. His publications include The Gumma Wars, Business As Usual, All American Dream Dolls, Live at Five, Somebody Else's Mama, and Right by My Side.

Editor Julie Landsman has also enjoyed success as an educator and writer in Minneapolis public schools for over twenty years. She is a master teacher of students in special education settings, and she has taught at every level. Her publications include Basic Needs: A Year with Street Kids in a City School and Tips for Creating a Manageable Classroom: Understanding Your Students'Basic Needs.

For more information on David Haynes:

http://people.mnhs.org/authors/biog_detail.cfm?PersonID=Hayn203 biography and links to his books

http://smu.edu/smunews/matilda/q-and-a.asp A student interview with Haynes

For more information on Julie Landsman:

http://www1.umn.edu/irp/publications/julielandsman.html Features Landsman's article,"A White Teacher's Perspective on Race in the Classroom" at the Institute for Race and Poverty Web site.

Media Connections

Movies/Documentaries

Smoke Signals (1998) Written and co-produced by author Sherman Alexie, it is the story of one young Native American man's journey outside his reservation to retrieve his dead father's ashes. His friendships throughout his voyage are also central to the film.

Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002) The story of The Funk Brothers, the band who performed backup on tunes like"Signed, Sealed, Delivered,""Heard It Through the Grapevine,""How Sweet It Is,""What's Goin'On," and"My Girl." The film reunites all living members of the band, and recounts their magical decade of popular music.

Mean Girls (2004) A young girl attempts to fit in after transferring to a new school. The satire mainly addresses cliques, gossip, and manipulation.

Holes (2003) A young teenage boy is sentenced to spend time at a camp in the middle of the desert with other young misfits. While examining the hierarchy of the camp and the colorful authority figures running it, the boy finds friendship, legends, and lessons of survival.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993) A story about a teenage boy's struggle to explore outside of his isolated home world. The boy has incredible responsibility in the family – helping shoulder the emotional issues of his mother's obesity and younger brother's mental retardation.

Do The Right Thing (1989) Spike Lee appears in his own film as a young man on a hot summer day. Lee travels the neighborhood observing the increasing tension and eventual outbreak of violence. The film is about choices.

Television

The Simpsons – any episode (growing up, overcoming challenges)

American Family – any episode (family relationships, growing up Mexican American)

Music/Audio Recordings

"No Such Thing." Lyrics by John Mayer. From Room for Squares. Sony, 2001. (A young man frustrated with school sings about his own explosive spirit and enthusiasm to prove himself as a high-school graduate)

Online Resources

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/ PBS Frontline's special "The Merchants of Cool" Web site is all about media's influence on teen culture. Site includes information about "cool hunting," popular trends and music, and the full online documentary.

http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/ A site by former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins that gives high school students access to contemporary poems for every day of the school year.

http://www.saulwilliams.com/ A site about well known slam poet and performance artist Saul Williams. His site includes poetry, downloads of his pieces, and the story of childhood and adolesence.

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/popularpaperback/popularpaperbacks.htm A site by the Young Adult Library Services Organization with book award winners over the past five years.

http://www.teenlink.umn.edu/index.asp The University of Illinois Extension's Teen Link site is an easily accessible directory of teen issues such as eating disorders, friendships, drugs, sex, being a minority, school, and much more.

Related Texts

Rosenberg, Liz. Ed. The Invisible Ladder: An Anthology of Contemporary American Poems for Young Readers. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1996. This anthology features stories about making friends, perspectives on family, sports, the connection with past generations, and more. Its voice is clearly the sound of young America overcoming hard times.

Reed, Ishmael. Ed. From Totems to Hip Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas, 1900-2002. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2003. This collection examines the roots of contemporary teen literature with stories about African spirituality, youth interest in politics, a survey of woman/man dialogue, protest, heroes, visions, and more.

Nye, Naomi Shihab. Never in a Hurry: Essays on People and Places. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996. This compilation is Nye's observations of the world. Always a bright-eyed participant, Nye's character makes new friends, imagines others' lives, and finds her roots.

Kingsolver, Barbara. The Bean Trees. New York: Harper Perennial, 1988. A poor young Taylor Greer makes the trip across America, and ends up in a loving friendship with an American Indian girl that she never expected. Her barren life blooms when she meets other down trodden people along her journey.

Cao, Lao. Monkey Bridge. New York: Viking Penguin, 1997. Cao's story about her own girlhood in the U.S. and her mother's life in Vietnam is breathtakingly honest. She straddles vivid memories of two worlds, and in the telling of her mother-daughter bond, she tells the story of Vietnamese-America.

Frosch, Mary. Ed. Coming of Age in America: A Multicultural Anthology. New York: New Press, 1995. These short stories about facing the challenges of adolescence allow readers to feel their way through memories of this phase. Emotional boundaries are a definite focus throughout the stories.

Jimenez, Francisco. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 1997. As a child, Jimenez attended school while also helping his family survive by working with them in the fields of California.

Teaching Ideas

(1) "Three Writers Writing – Three Readers Reading" To experiment with group writing, perspective, and character development, students read" Love Song No.23" by Bruce Andrews (found in None of the Above: New Poets of the USA). In groups of three, students each evaluate a magazine photo from three different perspectives. The first student writes as the person in the photo. The second student writes as the person's mother, father, sibling, lover, or best friend and clues the group into the person's background, childhood, and personal stories. The third student writes as the omniscient narrator and talks about the first student from a distance both physically and in time. This student is responsible for bringing societal information in about the person in the photo—famous things said or done, for example. After they finish writing, the groups of three read aloud in a triangle in front of the class. Students have about three minutes to read scripts aloud. Lines may be read in any order.

[Summarized from "Three Writers Writing – Three Readers Reading" by Sandra G. Brown in Ideas Plus 8. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, pp. 8-9.]

(2) "Evaluating the Issues" Students receive an 11''x9'' two-pocket folder (with brads or rings), and fill it with two sections full of notebook paper. Students pick two political, social, or economic issues that are of great interest to them, and spend a few weeks gathering information from the media (newspaper, magazine, ads, cartoons, etc.). Students organize collected materials into the folders, and then answer questions on issues. Possible issues may include abortion, women's rights, elections, drinking age, drug use and abuse, education, or specific local issues. During the gathering phase, students discuss fact, opinion, purpose, audience, and bias in their collected information. After the collection period ends, students answer as many of the following questions as possible: "Comment on the current situation with regard to the issue. Describe what movement or changes you would like to see take place in regard to this issue. Would you life to be involved in promoting progress in this area? What could you do to promote progress? What organizations, political parties, or political figures hold the same point of view as you?"

[Summarized from "Evaluating the Issues" by Judy Ide in Ideas Plus 8. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. pp. 60-1.]

(3) "Introducing Students to Genre: Converting Memories to Fiction" After reading an excerpt from Zora Neale Hurston's autobiography Dust Tracks in the Road, students read Hurston's short story"Isis," and then talk about her real life "gatepost" experience, as told about in the story. Students convert their own memoir pieces to fictional stories, and discuss the differences between the memoir and fictionalized accounts of theirs and Hurston's stories.

[Summarized from "Introducing Students to Genre: Converting Memories to Fiction" by Carol Zuccaro in Ideas Plus 15. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, pp 31-2.]

(Review written by Robyn Attebury and edited by Jennifer E. Moore)