Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Stanley & Hazel
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://joschaffer.com/
CITY:
STATE: UT
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in CA; married Clark Schaffer (an artist and filmmaker); children: three sons.
EDUCATION:Studied arts and British literature in London, and humanities and English in Utah.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Young adult novelist. Writers Cubed, founding member; Teen Author Boot Camp, co-founder; Patheos.com, writer.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Jo Schaffer is a young adult novelist and creative writing instructor who loves to promote literacy and family. She is a founding member of Writers Cubed and writes for Patheos.com. Schaffer is co-founder of the Teen Author Boot Camp, a large conference for teenagers based in Utah, where she presents writing workshops and hosts such writers as Brandon Mull, Kiersten White, and Ally Condie. Born and raised in the California Bay Area, she lives in Utah with her sons.
Against Her Will
In 2015, Schaffer and cowriter Serita Stevens published, Against Her Will, based on real events that Stevens experienced working on the teen ward of a psychiatric hospital. In the story, Cassidy Connor is a troubled teenager and runaway who escapes her harsh parents for the streets of Hollywood Boulevard. She’s picked up by the police and charged with a crime she says she didn’t commit. Her manipulative lawyer father and Bible thumping mother have no patience to deal with her, so they commit her to Oak Dale, a psychiatric institution for mentally disturbed teenagers. But Cassidy knows she doesn’t belong in a ward with an anorexic girl and a pyromaniac boy.
Schaffer told Jill Williamson in an interview online at Go Teen Writers about working with Stevens on the story’s concept: “I have always had an interest in psychology and have worked with teens quite a bit, so it was a subject that I was comfortable writing…It was an interesting process, and a first for me, to further develop somebody else’s concept and flesh out the characters and help to create a plot that worked in their ideas while also contributing my own.”
Speaking with Joan Reeves in an interview on the Sling Words website, Schaffer said that many of the kids in the psych ward where Stevens works shouldn’t be there and are simply dumped by parents who can’t handle them. The story is about how kids not only deal with their parents but also the system and their inner demons. “Teens will either identify with, or be fascinated by, the struggle of the characters. The book is very raw and real,” Schaffer added.
Stanley & Hazel
Schaffer next published the 2018 Stanley & Hazel, set in Great Depression St. Louis in 1934. Stanley is an Irish Catholic orphaned newsie who can barely make ends meet. Hazel is a rich debutante untouched by the Depression. Out on a walk without a chaperone, Hazel meets Stanley and together with Stanley’s gang, the Knights, they discover the body of a girl. As the two teenagers investigate, they become embroiled in a sinister plot by the evil Legion and his plan called “The Winnowing” to rid the city of the undesirables.
A Kirkus Reviews contributor found the characters to be stereotypes, the slang language stale, and the plot unoriginal, adding: “Legion and his organization are far more intriguing.” On the other hand, despite the story’s slightly slow pace, Melissa Lambert commented in School Library Journal: “This historical novel is a well-crafted murder mystery with strong characters and the author uses 1920s dialogue.”
In her guest post online at Confessions of a YA Reader, Schaffer explained why she set her story in the Depression. The Depression saw increases in racial and religious intolerance, deep poverty, classism, fascism, and Nazi sympathizing. But it was also Hollywood’s heyday, with gangster films, musicals, and screwball comedies that helped people forget their troubles. Schaffer reported that “I wanted Stanley and Hazel to reflect these divergent elements of life in the 1930s. Life during the Great Depression was a mix of desolation, loss, progress and overcoming. Americans were down but they weren’t out.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2018, review of Stanley & Hazel.
ONLINE
Confessions of a YA Reader, https://confessionsofayareader.wordpress.com/ (May 18, 2018), Jo Schaffer, “The World of Stanley and Hazel.”
Go Teen Writers, http://goteenwriters.blogspot.com/ (June 17, 2015), Jill Williamson, author interview.
Sling Words, http://slingwords.blogspot.com/ (April 9, 2015), Joan Reeves, author interview.
Jo Schaffer was born and raised in the California Bay Area in a huge, creative family. She is a YA novelist, speaker, writer at Patheos.com, works in film production and is a Taekwondo black belt.
She's a founding member of Writers Cubed and co-founder of the Teen Author Boot Camp, one of the largest conferences in the nation for youth ages 13-19. She and a crew of local and international bestselling authors present writing workshops to hundreds of attendees at the Utah-based conference as well as hundreds of others worldwide who view the conference online.
Jo loves being involved in anything that promotes literacy and family. She is passionate about community, travel, books, music, healthy eating, classic films and martial arts. Her brain is always spinning new ideas for books and sometimes she even gets around to blogging.
Jo is mom to three strapping sons and lives in the beautiful mountains of Utah.
www.joschaffer.com
Introducing a new Rogue Writer….Jo Schaffer
January 5, 2014 by Jonathan Ryan
1 Comment
So, poor Mel, she has been the only female around here for quite awhile. We’ve heard her cries for estrogen. Allow us to introduce…
Jo Schaffer is a YA novelist, speaker and ninja mama, born and raised in the California Bay Area.
She’s a founding member of Writers Cubed and co-founder of the Teen Author Boot Camp, one of the largest conferences in the nation for youth ages 13-19. She and a crew of local international bestselling authors present writing workshops to over 400 attendees at the Utah-based conference as well as hundreds of others worldwide who view the conference online.
Jo loves being involved in anything that promotes literacy and family. She is passionate about community, travel, books, music, fitness, classic films and martial arts. Her brain is always spinning new ideas for books and sometimes she even gets around to blogging on her own blog.
Jo lives in the beautiful mountains of Utah with her filmmaker/artist husband, three strapping sons and a blue-eyed cat named Smokey.
Teen Author Boot Camp 2015 Interview: Co-Founder and Author Jo Schaffer
March 30, 2015 by Jonathan Ryan
0 Comments
(What better way to start our Teen Author Boot Camp 2015 Coverage than with two of its founders? First up is Jo Schaffer, whose book, Against Her Will, releases today! So, go buy it. She has some pretty fantastic thoughts on writing, her worldview, and how young writers can have fun. Plus, she will be doing a panel discussion and book signing at the King’s English in Salt Lake the night before TABC).
What was the one event in your life that got you writing?
There really wasn’t one event. I always kept a journal as a child and started writing stories by the time I was in elementary school. My older sister, Heather, would always tell the most imaginative bedtime stories and I think that really helped kindle a lifelong love of storytelling.
I was also an avid reader early on. My mother has a Masters degree in English Literature and exposed me to wonderful books in my formative years.
When I became old enough to babysit my mob of cousins and neighbors, I became popular with the children for my stories. I started to write them down in the form of interactive, choose-your-own-adventure type games. That was a hit and I was hooked.
All through high school I wrote poems, short stories and personal essays. I enjoyed the process and people seemed to like reading them. I had a lot of encouragement from family and teachers.
Later, as a university student living in London, I was immersed in good literature, interesting people and beautiful places. The very first novel I wrote (which is awful and hidden for all time) was based on that experience while studying abroad.
Are there themes that you are drawn towards in your books?
I love stories of redemption and self-actualization. The genre doesn’t matter as much to me. It can be paranormal, historical fiction or contemporary realism, but the main characters have to make an inner journey, coming to an understanding of themselves, their own culpability and be empowered by it. It isn’t until a person truly owns their shadow side that they can be at their most powerful and at peace with their potential.
I really enjoy exploring paradigm shifts and moments of enlightenment that build the character and make them more self-aware and “other” aware. I also like to dissect relationships and the effect of amity and enmity on the main character.
How does your worldview play into your writing?
I suppose I can’t separate my writing from the way I think. The things that I value or that I’m opposed to, will come across in the stories I write. But I do try to balance what I think and what characters with opposing beliefs and world views would think. Writers, like actors, need to have empathy if they want to be able to write believable characters. I hope to capture authenticity and truth in what I write. By truth, I don’t just mean the perceived absolutes of right and wrong in the universe. Truth is what is. An honest look at the human experience. Sometimes for me, means writing things that may demonstrate that what I hold as true as having a possible downside or contradiction. Other times it means that things that are generally accepted by our current culture as good are not as innocuous as we tell ourselves. Hopefully, if I write honestly… nobody is safe.
How do you deal with criticism and bad reviews?
Unless a friend points out–hey listen to this good review–it may be a bad idea to listen to negative reviews. However, if the criticism is sound and comes from a trusted source, I’m all about considering what they say if it can improve my writing. Sometimes, I can be too close to my work and fresh eyes are helpful.
But you can’t please everyone and some people are just going to hate it no matter what.
What advice will you have for the teen writers at TABC?
Have fun writing! Learn all you can about the tools of how to write well and to reach your audience.
Write about things that matter to you and never stop working on your craft. Don’t worry about reviews or what people will say—you can’t please all readers and everyone is a critic! Don’t even worry about if you will ever get published. Just write for the love of it and pursue publishing if that is what you want—there are so many options for getting your stories to readers now. Most writers will never achieve fame or fortune. Do it because you love it.
Tell us about your book. Where can people get it?
Teen psychiatric wards can be “throw-away” places for kids whose parents can’t or won’t deal with them. In Oak Dale, teens battle their inner demons and not all of them win.
The concept of Against Her Will came from the experiences of co-author, Serita Stevens who has worked in a teen psych ward for many years. It was interesting and fun to develop characters based on some actual patients she had known and put them together into a story line and a plot that will hopefully show the emotional journeys of teens who struggle with mental illness and other challenges.
The main characters have all experienced different forms of bullying. Cassidy, from a wealthy home, has parents who have no time to show her love. Their primary concern is that she upholds the proper image. Her parents manipulate and shame her until she acts out and makes a string of bad decisions. Rather than trying to understand or support Cassidy, her parents have her locked up. Tony comes from serious domestic violence which has left him feeling powerless so he turns to pyromania to feel in control. Gina, is a defiant trouble maker who becomes a bully herself after enduring a childhood in the foster care system, in and out of unsafe homes. Erin, the anorexic, was horribly bullied and humiliated by peers from school and controlled by her perfectionist mother. And Julia is an endangered child, exposed to drugs and prostitution because of her mother’s lifestyle. They all play off one another within the walls of Oak Dale where unfortunately, some things only get worse.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
An Interview with Jo Schaffer, coauthor of Against Her Will
by Jill Williamson
Today I'm interviewing an author I met at Teen Author Boot Camp. Go Teen Writers, I introduce to you Jo Schaffer.
Jo Schaffer was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area to a literary, intellectual mother and an artist, naturalist father. Her parents instilled in her a love of art, books, nature, people and philosophy. Jo wrote her first book when she was six and has written ever since. She is now a YA author, speaker, blogger, and a contributing writer on The Rogue at Patheos.com. Jo studied Arts and British literature in London as well as Humanities and English in Utah. She is married to artist/filmmaker Clark Schaffer and has three sons. Her debut novel Against Her Will released from True North Publishing in March 2015. You can find her online at www.joschaffer.com.
Welcome to Go Teen Writers, Jo. Tell us about yourself and your book Against Her Will.
I was born and raised in the California Bay Area into a huge, creative family. I’ve loved storytelling from the time I was little, filling notebooks and journals with all kinds of stories. I grew up reading a lot. A lot.
I also love good food, martial arts (I have my black belt in taekwondo), traveling, old movies and dyeing my hair weird colors. I have three creative, handsome sons and my husband works in the film industry so it can be quite an adventure.
I’m a founding member of Writers Cubed and co-founder of the Teen Author Boot Camp, one of the largest conferences in the nation for teens. It is so fun working with teens and meeting a lot of great authors who come to participate.
Against Her Will is about teens in a psych ward battling their inner demons. It explores how the decisions of others can and do affect us, but in the end our own choices weigh in powerfully.
The main characters have all experienced different forms of bullying. Cassidy, from a wealthy home, has parents who have no time to show her love. Their primary concern is that she upholds the proper image. Her parents manipulate and shame her until she acts out and makes a string of bad decisions. Rather than trying to understand or support Cassidy, her parents have her locked up. Tony comes from serious domestic violence which has left him feeling powerless so he turns to pyromania to feel in control. Gina is a defiant trouble maker who becomes a bully herself after enduring a childhood in the foster care system. Erin, the anorexic, was horribly bullied and humiliated by peers from school and controlled by her perfectionist mother. And Julia is an endangered child, exposed to drugs and prostitution because of her mother’s lifestyle. They all play off one another within the walls of Oak Dale where unfortunately, some things only get worse.
Can you tell us about your journey to publication?
I have been writing for so many years. There have been ups and downs and will continue to be. So I just keep writing. Being a part of a writing group has really helped me become a better writer and has kept me encouraged through a lot of rejection and struggle.
Against Her Will was the fifth novel I wrote and was sold by my second agent. I am currently on my third agent, so the journey continues.
How many books did you write before your first book was published?
I had written four, and since AHW, I have written another book that is currently being shopped.
Your book, Against Her Will, sounds powerful. Where did you come up with that idea?
My co-author, Serita Stevens, had the concept, based on her experiences as a nurse in a psych ward for teens. I have always had an interest in psychology and have worked with teens quite a bit, so it was a subject that I was comfortable writing.
Although the topics in the book are heavy and sometimes devastating, it was important to me to infuse the book with hope for those who struggle.
You wrote Against Her Will with a coauthor. Could you tell us about how that happened and what it was like?
Serita and I had the same agent. She had other projects and deadlines going on and had not written YA before so we were put together. It was an interesting process, and a first for me, to further develop somebody else’s concept and flesh out the characters and help to create a plot that worked in their ideas while also contributing my own and putting it all together as a cohesive storyline. It was a lot of work in a limited amount of time, but it took on a life of its own as I immersed myself in the characters. I had Serita’s real life experiences to draw from. I learned a lot in the process.
Many of our teen authors are trying to write books with friends. Do you have any tips for them?
Write with somebody you are compatible with and decide ahead of time who does what. Have a great outline and lots of open communication. Be organized and make goals and deadlines that are reasonable for you both. Be honest but respectful in your feedback, and be open to each other’s ideas.
Check your ego at the door and “play” together in the world you are creating.
What advice would you give teen writers?
Have fun writing! Learn all you can about the tools of how to write well and to reach your audience. Write about things that matter to you and never stop working on your craft. Don’t worry about reviews or what people will say—you can’t please all readers and everyone is a critic! Don’t even worry about if you will ever get published. Just write for the love of it and pursue publishing if that is what you want—there are so many options for getting your stories to readers now. Most writers will never achieve fame or fortune. Do it because you love it.
Is Against Her Will a stand-alone novel or is there a book two?
Against Her Will is a stand-alone novel, although Serita may one day decide to add to that on her own.
What's next for you?
I have four other novels I have written myself that I am getting ready for submissions.
My new agent is currently shopping a YA book I co-wrote with friend and author, Jonathan Ryan. It’s a possible five book series about teens during the Great Depression. The boy, Stanley, is a newsie from the streets, and Hazel is from a wealthy family. They meet and sparks fly.
One night Hazel runs away only to find she is not equipped to deal with the world outside her rich neighborhood and luckily runs into a handsome street boy who offers to walk her home safely. They stumble across a murder that they decide to solve together and they begin to uncover some pretty scary corruption in their city. This has been a blast to write, with all of the fun 1930s slang and the interesting culture of the time. It’s already generating interest so hopefully you’ll hear more soon!
That sound great, Jo. Thanks so much for talking with us today!
To thank Jo for coming, we're giving away a copy of Against Her Will. Enter on the Rafflecopter form below. International winners are welcome and will be shipped from The Book Depository.
Jo is a YA novelist, speaker, writer at Patheos.com, works in film and is a Taekwondo black belt.
She’s a founding member of Writers Cubed and co-founder of the Teen Author Boot Camp (NPO), one of the largest conferences in the nation for youth ages 13-19. She and a crew of local and international bestselling authors present writing workshops to hundreds of attendees at the Utah-based conference. Some NYT Best selling authors who have keynoted at Teen Author Boot Camp include: Brandon Mull, Kiersten White, Ally Condie, Shannon Hale, Jessica Day George, James Dashner and Brandon Sanderson.
Jo loves being involved in anything that promotes literacy and community. She is passionate about the arts, travel, books, music, healthy eating, classic films and martial arts. Her brain is always spinning new ideas for books and sometimes she even gets around to blogging.
Jo is a native Californian now living in the beautiful mountains of Utah with her three strapping sons.
Q&A with Jo Schaffer, author of STANLEY AND HAZEL
Today we’re talking to Jo Schaffer, author of STANLEY & HAZEL, releasing May 15, 2018!
Q: Your book takes place in St. Louis in 1934. Why St. Louis? What do you love about St. Louis the most?
Jo Schaffer: St. Louis is a beautiful and diverse city with an interesting and rich history. There have been people living in that area since Pre-Columbian times. Frontiersmen, French trappers and immigrants from all over the world have settled in St. Louis, and it was at one time one of the four largest and most influential cities in America. It is a fertile and vibrant place between where the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers flow. It has great museums, beautiful gardens and parks. It is a perfect place to find good food and watch some baseball.
But, like most great places, St. Louis has a dark side. It has a long rap sheet of institutional racism and classism. Bigotry against and persecution of outliers has been a recurring theme in the story of St. Louis. During the Civil War the area was split in half and literally went to war with itself. There are some old and established power dynamics in St. Louis that I explore in my book. One of the things I love most about St. Louis is the drama and tension of it. It is like a microcosm of America and there is so much we can learn from the good and the bad things that have played out there over the centuries.
Q: Tell us more about your book!
A: My book is an exploration of another time and place that is still so relevant to today. On the surface it is an emerging love story between two people who, by cultural norms, should not love one another. By crossing the established social boundaries, Stanley and Hazel learn to see past their differences and become galvanized and united by a common cause. Even though it addresses some serious issues, the story is also fun and looks at what it’s like to be young and to question “the way things are”. There is a dead body, a secret diary, forbidden love, society parties and street gangs. Something for everyone!
Q: What were your biggest hurdles while writing this book? Biggest celebrations?
A: Finding a good home for the book was tricky because it is a little different than what is commonly out there in the YA world. But I feel like that is an opportunity more than a barrier. I like the fact that my book has turned out to be different, fun and thought provoking. There were a few things that the characters did that came as a surprise as I wrote… they took on a life of their own. One thing that both Stanley and Hazel have in common is that they do not like to be told what to do! Even by their author.
Q: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
A: Read a wide variety of books. Don’t get stuck in a genre. Explore a variety of fiction, nonfiction and history. If you have a story idea that you are excited about but it’s not popular or trending, write it anyway! Tell the stories you are passionate about. Also, write often and let people read what you write and give honest feedback. It may take a while to get comfortable with criticism but it is the only way to get better at communicating to your reader in a rich and effective way.
Q: Finally, what are some of your favorite reads? TV shows? Movies?
A: I love to read just about anything. Some of my favorite books have been old school. Anything by Jane Austen, L.M. Montgomery, and Louisa May Alcott. Many of the classics from the nineteenth century as well as modern novels, including a lot of great Young Adult books. Most recently the Nameless trilogy by Jennifer Jenkins and anything by Jay Asher. TV shows I like span the decades. Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed my life. And I love shows like The Office, Parks and Rec, Stranger Things, This is Us and Speechless. When it comes to movies, I love classic film the best. Much of my book was inspired by movies from the 1930s like It Happened One Night, and The Thin Man mystery series. But I also grew up loving Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I like a lot of action films and creative independent films that make me think and examine things from new perspectives.
STANLEY & HAZEL
A great depression has gripped the city of St. Louis in 1934. Stanley, an orphaned newsy and son of police detective lives in a poor part of town hit especially hard by the economic downturn. One night, Stanley runs into Hazel, a restless debutante in waiting who has begun to question her posh lifestyle in the midst of the suffering she sees. She’s out and about without an escort and against her father’s wishes.
When they discover the body of a girl with her head bashed in by a baseball bat, the very different and separate realities of the two teens inform their decision. Together they will figure out what happened to her and bring those responsible to justice.
But getting involved with each other and digging into the secrets behind this murder earns them some powerful enemies, including a secret group seeking to rid society all those they deem “undesirable.” They’ve put into motion “The Winnowing”, a plan seeking to take over the city and enforce their will.
As Stanley and Hazel’s forbidden feelings for one another grow, their investigation turns deadly. Now, it is up to Stanley and his gang of street kids to save her before she becomes the next victim.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jo Schaffer was born and raised in the California Bay Area in a huge, creative family. She is a YA novelist, speaker and a Taekwondo black belt.
She’s a founding member of the nonprofit organization that created Teen Author Boot Camp, one of the nation’s biggest conferences for teens where bestselling authors present writing workshops to nearly a thousand attendees.
Jo loves being involved in anything that promotes literacy and family. She is passionate about community, travel, books, music, healthy eating, classic films and martial arts. But her favorite thing is being mom to three strapping sons and a neurotic cat named Hero. They live together in the beautiful mountains of Utah.
www.joschaffer.com
Thursday3Some: Against Her Will by Serita Stevens and Jo Schaffer
Posted by Joan Reeves at 4/09/2015 02:00:00 AM
When did you write Against Her Will?
Persistence is the key here. I started Against Her Will nearly fifteen years ago - -- when Serita worked as a nurse at a psychiatric hospital specializing in teens. I let the partial languish until my current literary agent, Italia Gandolfo of Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary Management, asked for a list of my works in progress. Immediately, Italia saw the potential in the book and teamed me up with Jo Schaffer, a writer who co-founded Teen Author Boot Camp. We finished the book based on my original outline, and Jo added her own unique style of writing.
What was the spark that gave you the story idea?
It was inspired by the events I experienced on the teen ward in the psychiatric hospital. Teen psych wards are often "throw-away" places for children whose parents can't handle them. I saw many kids who did not deserve to be there, but were admitted by parents who could not or did not want to deal with them. In reality it was the parents who needed the lessons.
Why do readers want to buy Against Her Will?
Teens will either identify with, or be fascinated by, the struggle of the characters. The book is very raw and real. The reader experiences the journey of being a "throw- away" teen first hand. Against Her Will is a story of how kids deal not only with their parents and the system, but with their own inner demons. Some won't make it through unscarred -- or alive.
Schaffer, Jo: STANLEY & HAZEL
Kirkus Reviews. (Apr. 15, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Schaffer, Jo STANLEY & HAZEL Month9Books (Young Adult Fiction) $15.99 5, 15 ISBN: 978-1-946700-65-0
Newsie Stanley is just making do in 1934 St. Louis, Missouri, when he meets wealthy socialite Hazel at the movies and they become embroiled in a shocking murder that apparently connects their disparate worlds.
The enemy is known as Legion, and he is mightier than these two can handle--but don't underestimate their grit, nor the growing attraction between the two that simply is not acceptable in their own rigid communities. To Hazel's family, Stanley's Irish Catholic background is as much anathema as is his poverty. Most characters are strictly stereotypes, including the main white duo whose chatter in the supposed slang of the day is neither fresh nor entertaining. Legion and his organization are far more intriguing. While Stanley is working several jobs, he never seems to actually do much work and always has a few spare coins to share, illustrating his heart of gold. Hazel, who begins as a spoiled rich debutante, is gradually awakened to the advantages her life of luxury has given her as she sees the sufferings of Depression-era life. It's all been done before and with more elan. There might be some connections to actual history related to the Veiled Prophet Ball, but the fictionalized account provides only speculation that the organization is similar to the Ku Klux Klan.
Stock adventure out of 1930s central casting. (Historical fiction. 13-17)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Schaffer, Jo: STANLEY & HAZEL." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A534375093/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bcf1f12e. Accessed 27 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A534375093
SCHAFFER, Jo. Stanley & Hazel
Melissa Lambert
School Library Journal. 64.4 (Apr. 2018): p138.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
SCHAFFER, Jo. Stanley & Hazel. 328p. Month9Books. May 2018. pap. $15.99. ISBN 9781946700650.
Gr 8 Up--In the midst of the Great Depression in St. Louis, two teens from very different socioeconomic backgrounds meet by happenstance. Hazel Malloy is a debutant, a "swell." She lives on Lindell Street where the Great Depression has hardly had an effect. Hazel begins to question her grandiose lifestyle as she becomes more aware of those struggling to make ends meet. Stanley is an Irish-Catholic newsie who lives in the poor neighborhood of Dogtown. He is leader of the Knights, a gang that "robs" garbage cans on Lindell Street to feed the poor. The night the two teens meet, they stumble across the body of a murder victim. At the crime scene, they find a baseball bat and a sequence of numbers on the victim's arm. Something doesn't add up and the police seem to be covering up pieces of evidence. Hazel and Stanley decide it is up to them to solve the murder while uncovering an even bigger scandal involving the city's wealthy elite. This historical novel is a well-crafted murder mystery with strong characters and the author's uses 1920s dialogue like "bananas," "his goose was cooked," and "dollface" to take readers back in time. The story line is slightly slow paced but it still entices readers to solve the mystery alongside the main characters. VERDICT A secondary purchase recommended for larger collections.--Melissa Lambert, Trenton Public Schools, MI
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Lambert, Melissa. "SCHAFFER, Jo. Stanley & Hazel." School Library Journal, Apr. 2018, p. 138. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A533409108/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=87a78c84. Accessed 27 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A533409108
The world of Stanley and Hazel (guest post)
The 1929 stock market crash caused widespread unemployment and poverty throughout America. By 1934, The Depression had reached its zenith. The resulting hardships pushed racial, social and economic tensions to the breaking point in the city of St. Louis which had long struggled with such issues.
In retaliation to the Great Strike of 1887 and the unrest of the working class, the economic elite in St. Louis held an event that was designed to put the poor and minorities in their place. The Veiled Prophet parade was led by a mysterious veiled figure holding a rifle, who was elected among the ruling elite. He symbolized the power and superiority of the upper class, and served as a warning to the poor to never rise up in rebellion again.
This history of racism and class tension made Depression Era St. Louis, fertile ground for the ideologies of fascism and social Darwinism. These philosophies and attitudes made many of the educated and wealthy elite, sympathetic to the theory of Eugenics, the science of eliminating unfavorable traits and creating a superior human race where those with favorable genes and the “right” pedigree are propagated.
This system of thought was deeply influenced by the growing Nazi party who seized control of Germany in 1934. Many Americans, including Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford had close ties with the new regime and an underground society of Nazi sympathizers thrived in the United States.
In the midst of this poverty and rising darkness, Hollywood had its heyday. The business of the silver screen thrived while many other businesses struggled. Gangster films, musicals, and screwball comedies, shaped the culture and provided a much needed escape from hopelessness at 15 cents per ticket. Depression films reinstated the American values of individualism, classlessness, and progress. Things Americans desperately wanted to cling to despite the reality they lived in. The glamor of Hollywood influenced the culture and dictated fashion in a time when many people struggled to put food on the table.
I wanted Stanley and Hazel to reflect these divergent elements of life in the 1930s. Life during the Great Depression was a mix of desolation, loss, progress and overcoming. Americans were down but they weren’t out.
Review: Liese O'Halloran Schwarz's The Possible World
Updated / Thursday, 2 Aug By Eileen Dunne
RTÉ newscaster and radio presenter2018 15:10
Set in Providence, Rhode Island and spanning almost a century from the Great Depression, through the Vietnam War and up to modern times, The Possible World left RTÉ's Eileen Dunne underwhelmed.
This book comes highly recommended and no less a personage than Jodi Picoult is quoted on the cover saying ‘Every now and then I come across a book I wish I’d written. The Possible World is one of those. A gorgeously wrought exploration of the story of our lives.’
That it’s ‘gorgeously wrought’ in parts is undeniable, but at times I found it confusing and the characters difficult to empathise with.The story grapples with the issues of turmoil, loss and loneliness and how these affect the identities and actions of the three main characters Ben, Lucy and Clare.
The story is set in Providence, Rhode Island (whose state motto is 'Hope') and it spans almost a century from the Great Depression, through the Vietnam War and up to modern times.
The author, Liese O’Halloran Schwarz is an Emergency Department doctor from Washington, who now lives in North Carolina and maybe that’s why I found Dr Lucy Cole the most convincing character of the three. Dr Lucy is an ED doctor who is coming to terms with life as a singleton following a recent separation. Her job gets the blame, and she supplies a handy axiom: ‘you have to love medicine, it won’t love you back’.
One night, six-year-old Ben arrives in the Emergency Department. An anxious child and the sole survivor of an horrific crime, he remembers nothing. As the story develops, it turns out Lucy knew his mother and she feels drawn towards him. Could he be suffering from Disassociative Identity Disorder and how should he be treated?
Meanwhile, in another part of town, Clare is approaching her one hundredth birthday in a nursing home, guarding the secrets of her life closely. In fact she is barely speaking to anyone until new resident Gloria causes her to re-think. We’re all obsessed with our own story, especially those of us near the end of it.
Her life too has been hit by tragedy, and she has been forced to re-invent herself. How these stories intertwine shows how the threads of human connection can tie us in ways beyond what is tangible, but also forces us to suspend belief at times - to say any more would spoil the outcome.
There are references to Roscommon and a reform school, so I kept expecting the narrative to cross the pond - it didn’t - and I got a bit annoyed when several passages of Spanish were not translated for the reader (though some lines of French were.)
The story carries the reader along but I have to admit I was a little disappointed after all the hype.
The Possible World
It was just another night shift for Dr. Lucy Cole in an emergency room in a hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. As she is dragging her way through the night, police bring in six-year-old Leo they had rescued from a violent crime scene. The traumatized boy is unable to recall anything about the crime and his life although he has lost everything as a result of that violent crime including his mother. Then she learns that the boy’s name is Ben, and not Leo. Leo or Ben may be having dissociative identity disorder. But, was he ever called Leo? As Dr. Lucy Cole struggles to treat and save the life of the child, she is suddenly reminded of her own past personal trauma. She feels a strange but deep connection with the boy as she ponders if he will ever be able to recall his past. The story now shifts to a nearly hundred-year-old woman called Clare who lives with her own secrets across Providence. She never shared her secrets with anybody because she believed her secrets don’t matter for anybody else. But the reason was that she had something to hide. But as she is about to turn hundred years, she believes she should tell her story. When Clare shares her secrets, it will bring Ben, Lucy and Clare together in a most surprising and strange way. The Possible World spans nearly a century – beginning with the Great Depression. Liese O’Halloran Schwarz weaves three captivating stories into one entertaining story, showing how our pasts shape our present, and how some human bonds can help us overcome our emotional and psychological pain. The Possible World is a brilliantly written moving story about human struggle with identity and loneliness.