Hmmm. What are we watching

Ok. So I’m home sick with Strep. And there is no one to talk to here; so I want to talk about what I have watched over the last couple of days. And perhaps more importantly my issues with them!! These are all shows that I found on Netflix, as that is the only platform that I have currently!

Ginny & Georgia. Alright so this was kind of advertised to me as a modern Gilmore Girls. I LOVED the gilmore girls, although it would seem I have finally outgrown it as I have not be able to watch it again lately. I quite liked Ginny and Georgia, but I did not think it was in any shape or form a version of Gilmore Girls.

So I really liked aspects of this show. I liked that it dealt with a strange kind of female power – although this was almost a little borderline. I really liked the character of Ginny, I thought seeing her make friends and come into her own was really awesome. I liked that it felt like it dealt with some real issues that teenagers face, including self harm, masterbation and sex as well as navigating friendships and relationships at an age where just because someone is your friend today does not mean that they will be your friend tomorrow.

I thought that this show really crossed genres. There was an aspect of which was almost just a slice of life family show, but then the deeper issues were obviously crime based. I don’t want to give away the ending if you have not seen it, but there were some things there that I liked less. I disliked the idea of not going after people you actually like but rather persuing this notion of power. I did not like the message that you stop at nothing to get what you want. HOWEVER I did like the private investigator and the route that he chose. (Being cryptic so as not to give away the ending) and I liked that Ginny was able to see the truth and make decisions that were best for her.

I also really liked the portrayal of racism that Ginny faced. This felt far too realistic and the fact that even the difference between asian and african american was highlighted I thought was really interesting. All up – have a watch would love to hear what you think!

Zero Chill. Ok so this one is a teen drama series – I think the rating for me on Netflix was 7+ (Note that Ginny and Georgia is 16+). However despite watching the whole thing over two days (just ten episodes) there were so many things about this show I did not like. The massive aspect that I did not like was the character of Kayla. Who repeatedly did what she wanted, and took risks, or broke rules and suffered no consequences for this. I get that the purpose of the show was about showing her come into her own, and actually build some relationships, but it really irks me when a character gets away with doing things again and again. It kind of reminds me of the notion that boys are often taught “If she says no then you keep trying..” actually no – if she says no you respect that and move on. This was a lesson Kayla definitely needed to learn and it annoyed me to no end.

The other aspect of this show I did not love was the gender divisions that were really enforced. The boys largely played ice hockey with all the aggression and violence that entails. While the girls largely did the figure skating. Again there was a power hungry female which reminded me a little bit about the traditional way that Disney has villianised stepmothers. At the end I was intrigued that a relationship between a father and daughter was repaired but not with the mother.

Overall this was an average watch, but I do worry about some of the subliminal messages that were included.

Firefly lane. Ok so this one I only finished yesterday, I had actually started ages ago, but then stopped watching. (Which in itself ight say something about how compelling or not compelling it was!!) I think my major problem with this show was that it felt like it was trying to do a This is Us style show with the multiple timelines going, however I do not think that they got the balance right. Rather we ere left not knowing nearly enough to even want to continue the series. It almost felt like everything is building towards a season two.

However – one thing I did really like about this show was the brutally honest discussion by the character of Tully about miscarriage. I think this is something that definitely needs to be done more, and as someone who has had a miscarriage this was real and honest and nearly brought me to tears.

One thing I really did not like was the character of Kate, who for the most part seemed to be too much of a pushover in the present day timeline. Which is something that makes the whole hint of a massive feud even more unbelievable. She seems to forgive everything and then some. She drops her whole life for Tully so what on earth could Tully have done that is so unforgiveable? Once again, I understand that this is a fictional character but I do worry about the message we are sending when we show these types of characters. Friendships or in fact any relationships should be equal, with both parties in similar boats, and respecting each other. I am not sure that this is what this relationship is.

Anyhow! Feels good to get that off my chest! Now back to bed with me.

Mrs K

Book Review: Rebels. (Assassin’s Academy.)

Book 15 of 2021

Rebels. (Assassin’s Academy #1) Written by Everly Frost

So I woke up on Monday with Strep throat and as such spent the day in bed feeling very sorry for myself! Unfortunately because I couldn’t sleep with the pain I found myself reading. This book was already on my kindle, I suspect under the Kindle Unlimited banner that I had borrowed at some point, but I cannot be sure. When I did a quick read about it before I began I saw that it was book one of two – I figured that was ok, as I did not want to get caught up in a massive series again.

This book was a nice “trashy” novel. Which was exactly what I needed on Monday. I felt like it dragged on a little bit towards the end, as you kind of knew where the book was heading at the beginning – which I don’t think is a bad thing, but does mean that the pace needs to be adjusted to match. The romance was predictable but again did not worry me, although does feed into my distaste for the way that we celebrate dysfunctional relationships – or that sense of needing a bad boy who does not treat you right.

I finished the book in the day, but did not reach for the second book. The other thing that intrigued me about this book was it was a school novel, like a boarding school type aspect, which is what I was anticipating – that and the romance, but there was a lot more violence in the world than I was expecting.

Overall – it was a good read, but not one that I would dip back into.

Mrs K

Genre: Fantasy, Speculative fiction, urban fnatasy, paranormal, mythology, Dark, Dystopian, magic, romance, young adult, Everly Frost, Assassin’s Acadamy, Rebels,

Book Review: Half-Blood

Book 14 of 2021

Half-Blood. Covenant #1. Written by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Ok. So this book was interesting. I bought it because I wanted a good kind of comfort read and traditionally have relaly enjoyed everything that JLA so I thought that this would be a good way to go. Because I read a real physical book with my class. (Modelling reading) I like to have a second kindle book on the go that I am able to read at bed time. As such this second book often does not get a lot of attention, as I am often exhausted so might not read more than a few pages at a time.

This book started slow. I will acknowledge this is possible not the book so much as the way that I read it. But it took me a good 30% before I actually felt any sort of affinity for the characters. It was only then that I looked forward to reading it. As you can see, and as most of JLA’s books are – it is a part of a series, so there was definitely a lot of exposition happening.

However ultimately I liked the book. I am not sure I will read any of the others in the series, but I enjoyed this book. I saw a great meme/quote this morning that said if your fans guess your plot twist then you have set it up to be believable. A plot twist should not be about totally shocking your audience. This really resonated with me – I did not think that the plot twist here was shocking at all – but rather it had been carefully set up from the beginning of the book.

Overall – I do not think this is the best series JLA has written. I would certainly recommend Rage and Ruin or From Blood and Ash which are two series that I absolutely loved. I do wonder if some of my bias is my personal preference for Fae fantasy rather than mythology fantasy.

Mrs K

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal, Speculative Fiction, Romance, Mythology, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy, Magic, Romance, Jennifer L Armentrout, JLA, Covenant, Half-Blood.

Hmmm. YA Fiction.

So, I came across this great article in the spinoff which really made me think. It was titled “The YA market is fickle as hell. Is it about to dump its latest crush; diversity.” The second part, other than the topic which really interested me was that it is written by a NZ author – who’s book I am currently reading. Chloe Gong.

The first part of the article that really struck me was this:

YA is fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. But almost half of YA buyers are older than 18, and 78% of those buyers are picking up the books for themselves, despite not being the intended target.

I almost exclusively read YA fiction, which of course I convince myself is necessary because of my job. However the reality is this is not true, I read it because it is a genre that I enjoy, and they are books that on the whole are easy and quick to consume. While the characters and stories are still complex, I find as a rule that they do not take as long to get into as what more traditional adult books.

What I have noticed though, and what is one of my pet peeves is the way that the industry at as a whole moves as one wave – all the books are about the item that is currently popular. So we started off with the vampires – this was during the twilight phase, when Stephanie Meyer was popular. Then from there we have had other phases as well, fae, werewolves, etc. I notice each year when I set my personal goal of reading the Carnegie award shortlist – the the books are all very similar, all dealing with the topical issue of the time. While sometimes there is a breakaway there is also a lot of similarity. . Even I have noticed lately a trend of re tellings, such as a Curse so Dark and Lonely (Beauty and the Beast) and These Violent Delights (Still reading – but Romeo and Juliet) and the Hand they eye and the heart (Mulan) seem to have come back into fashion.

The similarity in the texts becomes even more obvious when you start to compare the covers. The spinoff article talks about the big texts and the fact that white female authors seem to dominate this genre. One thing that I really noticed when I read the book Children of Blood and Bone was just how white washed fantasy was. I understand that I am in a position of privilage to have noticed this not from any kind of personal experience but through reading a book. This to me is the real diversity issue in YA. There is a lot of asian texts where dragons are the focus. In fact one of my earliest fantasy novels that I loved was Kylie Chan’s books which were set in Hong Kong. Lots of these tap into the chinese horroscopes and mythology. However what I think is more lacking is simply asian characters within novels set elsewhere.

LGBT characters are becoming more prevalant however still not the norm, likewise characters of colour. I think the reality is that while so many authors are still white women this cannot change. Instead we need to find a way to celerate a bigger range of authors.

One other aspect that really intrigues me about these books, particularly the ones that lack diversity are those that focus on the class system. Here I am thinking about books like Red Queen and even A Court of thorns and Roses. These books I imagine are careful in the way that they have all white people in their cast of characters, but still deal with a class system, where there is an under class who struggle and ultimately rise up against the rich upper classes.

Finally I have two other points I want to make about YA fiction. One is about the need for trilogies! Which drives me absolutely nuts. Sometimes trilogies work, but perhaps more often than not it feels like a money making scheme, where a story is drawn out where perhaps it does not need to be. I again blame Twilight, the Hunger Games, and Divergent for this trend.

My final peeve ties in with my last hmmm post – which is about the types of relationships that often these books showcase. Our Young Adults need to see examples of healthy relationships, rather than relationships where one party has all the power, and spends his nights watching the others sleep.

YA is a genre that is able to really influence our students, our upcoming generation of students. We should have the ability for them to see themselves in these texts, whether realistic texts or fantasy. As well as this they should be texts that act as a mirror, that enable us to reflect on our own society but use texts as a safe ground to talk about these. Having safe vehicles to have difficult conversations is really important.

I genuinely hope that the YA industry does not break up with its crush diversity, instead we really need it to embrace it even more, so that we are truely reflecting the world that we live in.

I still think that one of the best Meta books which talks about the YA genre itself is The rest of us just live here by Patrick Ness (reviewed this one when I was still doing paper reviews just for my students!) where one of the best lines goes along the lines of “not like last year when they were all dying beautifully of cancer” which of course is a tongue in cheek reference to the book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. The whole premise of Ness’ book is about those that live in these towns where all these things happen – but for them life just goes on as normal.

Just my thoughts!

Mrs K

Tags: Young adult fiction, YA, Patrick Ness, John Green, Diversity, LGBT, LGBTQ, literature as a mirror, literature as a window, society, reflection, trilogies, fiction, class systems, white washed fantasy, retellings, asian characters, trends, genres,

Teaching; Managing Wellbeing

“A Day in teaching contains 100s of interactions. … A day in teaching is a mental health roller coaster, and it can take its toll.”

(NZIWR, p.210)

Last Friday, at the end of another busy week. (Although thankfully a week in the classroom rather than in lockdown) I sat through a professional Development session. This session was based on wellbeing. One of the things it started with was the above quote. Although, much of the session frustrated me – this quote has remained with me over the last four days and I thought I would explore it some more.

A day in teaching is a mental health roller coaster. It is surprising really, that more teachers are not hermits. In some extend the image that many students have of teachers simply “powering off” and shutting down at the end of the day is not wrong. When you consider the number of emotions and interactions that we have it can be really nice to simply shut down and stop those interactions at the end of the day.

What makes this further interesting is the fact that learning theories are increasingly showing that we are unable to seperate the emotional well being of students from their learning. A student who is in a good emotional place is more receptive to learning, and will do better at school. Nothing new here necessarily but it put an a greater strain on an already tough job.

What I think makes this whole issue even more complex is how do you balance students well being against staff wellbeing? Inititives that are put in place to help with student well being ultimately impact on staff well being. We need to consider the impact of extra tasks. There is a massive danger in saying “well this only takes xx minutes”.

Further to this is the way that schools approach well being. It needs to come from a genuine place rather than being perceived as a way “to better manage your workload and stop whinging” which is somehow how things can come across.

I don’t have any answers. I know for me; shutting off at the end of a day is important. As is understanding that I can not solve every problem and every issue every day. SOme of them will take longer, and will require more work than others. It is not my job to solve everything before I go home at the end of the day.

So how do we help teachers on this mental health rollercoaster? I don’t know, but it is an issue we need to address, so that all teachers can attain some sort of balance which enables them to continue teaching, and not burn out.

Mrs K

Tags: Well being, teaching, mental health, roller coaster, teachers well being, students well being, powering off, shutting down, burn out, teaching in new zealand, musings of a teacher,

Book Reviews: Kingdom of the Wicked

Book 13 of 2021

Kingdom of the Wicked. Written by Kerri Maniscalco

Wow. So this book my school librarians had put to one side thinking that it might interest me and boy were the right!! I definitely needed to buckle in and prepare myself for a halloween season full of witchy black magic, a brooding prince of hell, and a spooky murder mystery.

This book was actually amazing. It started off interesting enough, and I happily looked forward to it while reading one period at a time with my year 12s. Then it got really good and I finished it that day, after pretty much just making sure that I found a reason to read non stop!

The setting and atmosphere in this book is fantastic, and the book takes twists which while perhaps were not totally unexpected were very engaging. This book was actually fantastic. With characters who were amazing and I loved.

The romance was one that while perhaps not sizzling it was so kind and considerate and I loved that. It was nice for achange for the romance to be based on kindness rather than just a lot of smut!

This book was actually amazing and I loved every page. I also feel like if you are not into series, you could happily read this just as a single book. However I will be anxiously looking for the next book in the series.

Defintely go and check this out!

Mrs K

Genre/tags: Fantasy, Paranormal, Witches, Young Adult, Romance, Family, twins, historical fiction, mystery, young adult fantasy, speculative fiction, Kerri Maniscalco, Kingdom of the Wicked, princes from hell, demons, halloween, murder mystery, seven deadly sins,

Book Review: Neighbours

Book 12 of 2021

Neighbours. Written by Danielle Steel

When I was like 18-20 I read a lot of Danielle Steel – like there was a point that I had read every book she had published. In more recent years my reading style has changed and it has been a longtime since I read one of her books. So it was somewhat surprising to find myself putting my name on her new book (I think it is a new book!) at the library.

I talk about Kristin Hannah being like a warm hug, Danielle Steel is the full picture – like a warm bed and jumper, hot chocolate on a raining day. It was so lovely and cathartic. Danielle Steel has a real knack for getting you to instantly fall in love with the characters that she has created. I thought this book was interesting because she used Shakespeare’s technique of letting the reader or audience know more than what the characters in the book do themselves. This made you root for the main character more. Which was fantastic.

I had forgotten the way that Danielle Steel was able to detail domestic abuse, and the emotions that come with that. However, one of the entire reasons that I used to read her so much is because you know it will all end ok. There is no danger of being left hanging, or not having the ending for the characters that you want.

I also love – that for as much as this is a book about finding love, it is more a book about finding yourself, and standing up again for who you are and what you need from your life, which I think is absolutely fantastic.

I read a meme lately which talked about life not ending when you turn 25 and that we should normalize finding love in your 50s and starting again in your 40s and so on – I think this is certainly an aspect which Danielle Steel really embodies. Her characters regardless of their ages have the opportunity to discover themselves, and discover what they need or want from life, often starting again and stepping back out into the world.

I loved this book! Note it could be triggering if you have some component of domestic abuse in your life, but other than that definitely recommend it as a nice light trashy read!

Mrs K

Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Adult, fiction, Survival, Domestic abuse, slice of life fiction,

Hmmm. What are we teaching our youths.

What are we teaching the youth of today about love. I think that we have long had an issue with the way that Disney and other such shows perpetuate love as an idealized end game which women should head towards. We all know that despite their independence Belle, Cinderella and even Sleeping Beauty need to be saved by a man in order to live happily ever after.

However over the past week as I was listening to more radio than normal due to working from home in lockdown – I no longer think that it is just the Disney movies that are ultimately setting an unrealistic expectation for our young people.

I think to start with there are issues with the metaphors and the way that we talk about love – the reference and metaphors to war and battle is setting a bad example about how we should approach the opposite (or same) sex. I think this is a deeper issue than anything else. Metaphors such as “love is a battlefield” and “All’s fair in love and war” suggest that love is about power and rather than everyone entering a relationship on equal footing we need to battle it out. I wonder what this also takes into account of how much both sexes accept domestic abuse.

This week though – I think that this issue goes even deeper. I found that the more I listed to the popular music the more frustrated I was getting about what it was saying about love. About the importance of waiting or not giving up on love. I guess that we have always had these sorts of songs. I remember angrily singing along to Alannis Morrisette after break ups – I guess to me the difference here was that that was in anger. The lyrics of the Alannis Morisette song say “Does she know how you told me/You’d hold me until you died/’Til you died, but you’re still alive” it is anger here in this song – anger that the relationship and the promises that they made were not kept. The song in itself is directed at the ex partner, but in general shows an understanding and acceptance of the break up.

In comparison I searched up the songs in the top ten NZ singles charts today (8 March 2021) Almost all of them referred to love in some description. However rather than the anger from the 90s we get a much more passive I will wait for you forever and put my pride to one side.  One of the biggest songs at the moment is Drivers Licence by Olivia Roderigo, the lines “And I know we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt this way for no one/ And I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay now that I’m gone” do not show the acceptance or the anger rather it is a song about the devastation. While I accept that this is a valid feeling, I do worry that this person is getting her drivers licence – so in theory is still at school. As much as a break up hurts, surely we are not encouraging our students to feel this obsessed at this age.

Other songs in the top ten include Heat Waves by glass animals “Sometimes, all I think about is you” Without You by The Kid Laroi “You cut out a piece of me, and now I bleed internally” and Hearbreak Anniversary by Giveon “I’m buildin’ my hopes up/Like presents unopened ’til this day/
I still see the messages you read, mmm/I’m foolishly patient” All of these to me showing a depressed kind of approach to love where you are either waiting hopelessly or you are not giving up (Which potentially I think when we cannot take No for an answer leads into Rape culture – but that is a whole other blog!!) Where is the songs about moving on and finding happiness in yourself?

I am happily married and have been for the past 13 years. However, if something was to happen to me I really honestly hope that my husband find happiness in his life. I do not by any means expect him to spend a life wallowing after me or trying to attain for some sort of perfect love. I love him dearly – but our love is not perfect. It works because we both work to make it work. That to me is the reality, not a battlefield, not a sweet pining – but a mutual respect and a mutual decision to work on our relationship.

So how do we portray this reality to our young?

Mrs K

Book Review: The Four Winds

Book 11 of 2021

The Four Winds. Written by Kristin Hannah

So interestingly I was having a chat to my sister about Kristin Hannah is one of the few authors that I have read consistently since I was 18. While other authors I outgrew, I think Kristin Hannah, you appreciate differently the older you are. I also was explaining to my sister that her books, while perhaps being pigionholed as “women’s fiction” the books rarely deal with a relationship between a husband and wife, or lover of some description. Instead the key relationship is often that of parents, or siblings, and I really appreciate Kristin Hannah for this.

For me – reading a Kristin Hannah book is always like curling up with a comfortable blanket and a hot cup of coffee. The books offer me a real window to another time, they always come across so well researched and I learn about times or places in history that I had no idea about.

The Four Winds is no different. This is a book ultimately about survival, and what parents will do to see their kids survive. It was absolutely gorgeous, and so well written. It was set during the time of the great depression, and dealt with the aftermath of that. The way that humans treated other humans absolutely broke your heart, but so did the absolute strength of a parent that will do whatever is needed to make her family work.

This book – I would give 5 stars, I definitely want to go and learn more about the cotton pickers and that time in history, and the story of survival is very powerful.

Mrs K

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historial, Adult, family, contemporary fiction, novels, literary fiction, Survival.

Book Review: The Bone Shard Daughter

Book 10 of 2021

The Bone Shard Daughter. Written by Andrea Stewart.

Wow. So this book I have read over two days, while being in lockdown, teaching remotely and starting a uni course! However this was absolutely totally worth it. This was the last of my sumer book bag (Don’t worry – it is onlt the second day of autumn) It is one that I held onto after I returned all the others for just one reason: Sarah J Maas was the author who had written the endorsement on the front cover. She had written “One of the best fantasy novels I’ve read in a long time”. Given how much I enjoyed her writing, I figured if she said a book was good then surely it was!

Perhaps not surpisingly – this book did not disappoint. It was about four stories all entwines, which the first time you switched was a little bit jarring, but as expected over time they all came together. Wow. This book was full of twists and turns, it felt like it was set in the east of the world, probably mostly because of the way they talk about the empire, and have emporers. In fact the first chapter reminded me of an older book now ‘Across the Nightengale floor” which was a series I loved 15 odd years ago!

I liked that this book sort of did not have a love story – there was one there, and even better it was a dominant LGBT relationship, however the main characters were not after a love story, but more a journey of self discovery, a journey of right over wrong, and a journey of hope. Hope that the next generation can ake it better and fix the mistakes of the past.

It is interesting – my husband, who reads more science fiction than I do – understood instantly the concept of the bone shard constructs, much better than I did – which shows perhaps where that idea came from.

Over all I really highly recommend this book. It was a lovely read, that had surprises and twists and turns, it looks at the importance of leadership and as I said above, the idea of figuring out who we really are. It is also original – it feels like a different sort of fantasy book to the way that many are. Although in terms of unpacking that thought in someways it is still about the upheaval of the lower classes, in much the same way a series like The Red Queen is. However it feels different, less cliche and predictable.

I am very much looking forward to the next book in this series!

Mrs K

Genre: Fantasy, LGBT, Adult, Fiction, High Fantasy, magic, Young Adult, Science fiction Fantasy, Drowning Empire, Speculative Fiction,