Celebrating 200 Years of Pride and Prejudice (1813): Austen-Inspired

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Celebrating 200 Years of Pride and Prejudice (1813): Austen- Inspired Literature for Young Adults

Christina Miller

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A s Miss Bingley from Pride and Prejudice aptly notes, there AUSTEN'S WORLD Z A is "no enjoyment like reading"—especially when reading .J. \Jiiisten-'mspned literature for young adults. In Jane Austen: A Life Revealed, Catherine Reef inter- "It is a truth universally acknowledged . . ." that )ane Austen's sperses historical events, primary documents, quotes life and works have inspired hundreds of adaptations, sequels, from letters, photographs, and paintings to give the prequels, and retellings. Adult-level books and series, like Shannon reader a very good sense of Jane Austen, the person, Hale's Austenland and Midnight in Austenland and Carrie Bebris' and how the time, place, and social stratum she highly rated Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mysteries, are enjoyed by both occupied shaped her perception of the world and forged her novels. adult and teenaged Austen enthusiasts. The young adult titles below Readers learn of the stratified society, mores, manners, and enter- complement Austen's novels and satisfy the "anything-Austen-is- tainments of Austen's late 18th- and early 19th-century England, par- good" appetite of budding Janeites; they also scaffold her novels by ticularly the status of women. Reef, with numerous quotes, describes introducing the archetypes, vocabulary, and historical and social the influence of other authors and how Austen's books came to be conventions that are portrayed in her stories. Hopefully, these published and were received. books—enjoyable reads themselves—will encourage reading of Austen's novels, but all will be enjoyed on their own merits. ADOLESCENT AUSTEN

AUSTEN, GRAPHICALLY RENDERED Cora Harrison's fictional memoir, I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend, provides a peek into the life of fifteen- These adaptations of Austen's Sense and Sensibility, year-old Jane Austen through her sixteen-year-old Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Northanger Abbey cousin Jenny Cooper's (fictional) journal entries. closely adhere to the original novels' plots, characters, These entries, based on fact, span a period of three months in 1791, and settings. The pictures and dialogue give the read- from Jane, Jenny, and her sister Cassandra's time as students at er a good feel for Austen's style and her characters' personalities and Mrs. Cawley's boarding school in Southampton, England, through attitudes; text boxes clarify and advance the story with Austen-like Jenny's move to the Austens at Stevenson. Jenny Cooper's journal succinctness. Readers will learn of the mores, etiquette, and conven- entries include an extraordinary number of details taken from his- tions depicted in Austen's novels; modern-looking characters help torical Jane Austen's life, including her plays, books, balls, travels, and the reader appreciate the novels' timeless themes and character traits. friends. The memoir is a wonderful look into Jane Austen's life and times, and, by extension, her novels. ADORABLE AUSTEN - ABRIDGED AUSTEN'S ARCHETYPES For a quick overview, especially for younger YA readers, Gü Tavner's Real Reads Classics: Jane Austen provides short, easy retellings of her six major In Sass & Serendipity, Jennifer Ziegler's modern novels. Ann Kronheimer's ülustrations give readers vivid images of the 1 ctelling of Jane Austen's novel. Sense and Sensibility, characters and setting. Each volume is divided into three parts: part one seventeen-year-old Gabriella (Gabby), a hard-work- comprises illustrated descriptions of major characters; part two is an ing student with a part-time job, blames her "dead- ulustrated retelling of the story; and part three contains useful resources beat" father for her parents' divorce and serious including: "Filling in Gaps" (detaus ñ^om the original novel omitted from financial problems. Younger sister Daphne, impulsive the retelling); "Background Information" (understandable literary criti- and quick to judge, struggles with school, plans to get cism of the novel); "Books" (recommended reading about Jane Austen's a job, and adores Dad. High school sophomore Daphne falls in love life and times); and "Food for Thought" (questions to ponder and/or and fantasizes about marriage; if only she would be more sensible discuss about the novel's characters, style, and themes). This series is a like her sister Gabby ("Crabby Gabby," per Daphne). In spite of all nice addition to middle school library and classroom collections. the fighting, sisterly love is just beneath the surface. Ziegler tells the story from each girl's perspective and the reader empathizes with AUSTEN'S LIFE, TIMES AND WORKS both, each dealing with the normal trials and tribulations of adoles- cence with superimposed poverty and divorce. Though marketed for adults, Jane Austen for Beginners is a good place for students to start their Austen education. AUSTEN-FLAVORED Robert Dryden provides biographical information about Austen's family and draws parallels between In Stephanie Strohm's Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink, people and events in Austen's life and world to people seventeen-year-old Minnesotan Libby loves Jane and events in her novels. Summaries of Austen's six Austen novels and "dream [s] of a time of true love, major novels provide a feminist perspective and char- courtly manners, and real gentlemen." Libby is mad acter and archetype analyses (how she punishes or for history and fashion and spends the summer interning at a living rewards her archetypal rake and Cinderella, for example). An appen- history museum, set in the year 1791. dix contains a list of film and print adaptations, Austen-related blogs Not directly based on a particular Austen novel, this story has and websites, and a bibliography. This is a well-organized introduc- gothic (think ghost) and romance (think shirtless lumberjack) tion to Austen and a useful supplement to her novels. overtures and Austen-like characters—from the gentleman "look-

»4 I VOYA December 2013 www. voyamagaztne. com alike" to Libby's cargo-pants-and-fanny-pack-wearing, know- Harrison, Cora. I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend. Random House, 2010. 352p. $17.99.978-0-385-73940-5. VOYA December 2010.4Q 4P M J it-all, foolish roommate. The plot has an Austenesque romantic Peterfreund, Diana. For Darkness Shows the Stars. HarperCollins, 2012,448p. twist (think Sense and Sensibility) and a mystery as well; fans of S9.99 Trade pb. 978-0-06-200615-8. VOYA April 2012. 3Q 3P M J romance will enjoy this book. Reef, Catherine. Jane Austen: A Life Revealed. Clarion, 2011. 208p. $18.99. 978-0-547-37021-7. AUSTEN TODAY Shulman, Polly. Enthusiasm. G. Putnam's Sons, 2006. 208p. $15.99. 978-1- 4294-1977-2. VOYA April 2006.4Q 4P J S Ashleigh is an Enthusiast with a capital E; her latest Strohm, Stephanie Kate. Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink. Graphia/Houghton obsession is Jane Austen. She dresses Regency-era and Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. 208p. $8.99 Trade pb. 978-0-547-56459-3. VOYA speaks "Austenese"—"Let us repair to your abode, February2012. 3Q3PMJS Tavner, Gill. Real Reads Classics: Jane Austen. Windmill Books, 2009. 64p. PLB where there is more room." She wanted to address friend $13.55. Julie as "Miss Lefkowitz" but was reminded that Pride . Sense and Sensibility. 978-1-60754-144-8. and Prejudice's Elizabeth Bennett called her best friend Charlotte. .Pride and Prejudice. 978-1-60754-141-7. Julie and Ashleigh make frequent references to Austen's novels . Mansfield Park. 2008. 978-1-60754-389-3. and characters; events and dilemmas in Enthusiasm are similar . Emma. 978-1 -60754-147-9. to those in Austen's novels, as when Ashleigh mistakes a "mild . Northanger Abbey. 978-1-60754-150-9. regard" for a "more intense emotion" (à la Harriet in Emma). . Persuasion. 978-1-60754-389-3. With characters that resemble Austen's fictional archetypes (i.e., Ziegler, Jennifer. Sass & Serendipity. Delacorte/Random House, 2011. 384p. the seductive creep), this fun read is a good introduction or $15.99. 978-0-385-73898-9. VOYA Online September 2, 2011.4Q 4P J S complement to her novels. ALSO CONSIDER

ANACHRONISTIC ANNE ELLIOT Bennett, Veronica. Cassandra's Sister: Growing Up Jane Austen. Candlewick Press, 2007. 227p. $15.99. 978-0-7636-3464-3. VOYA December 2007. 4Q For Darkness Shows the Stars is a post-apocalyptic 3PMJ parallel to Jane Austen's Persuasion. After a terrible "Bennett constructs a readable fiction of how Jane [Austen] could have genetic accident and the War of the Lost nearly destroy been motivated to write her early novels."-Julie Scordato. humanity, Luddite lords, saved by their contempt for Bradbury, Jennifer. Wrapped. Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, 2011. 320p. technology and modern medicine, manage large but $16.99. 978-1-4169-9007-9. VOYA June 2011.4Q 3P M J S declining estates worked by the greatly diminished "Regency period Agnes WiUcins . . . uses poignant Austen quotes in response "Reduced" caste and their descendants. Elliot North to her mother's constricting attentions to her dress and demeanor."-Ann manages her ruthless and inept father's estate. Striving to maintain Reddy Damon. appearances and feed the laborers, she rents an adjoining estate and EuMberg, Elizabeth. Prom and Prejudice. Scholastic, 2011. 288p. $17.99. 978- 0-545-24077-2. VOYA February 2011. 3Q 2P S shipyard soon visited by the Cloud Fleet led by Elliot's childhood "Everything revolves around . . . dates for prom [instead of] wedding infatuation who, years previously, had fled. Elliot's Luddite beliefs proposals. Major plot and characters stay the same [as Pride and are at odds with her benevolence and sense of duty, forcing difficult Prejudice]."-Teresa Copeland. decisions. For Darkness Shows the Stars brings Austen's characters Kiely, Tracy. Murder at Longbourn. St. Martin's Minotaur, 2009. 336p. $24.99. and enduring themes to a futurist society. 978-0-312-53756-2. VOYA December 2010 (Clueless? Adult Mysteries with Young Adult Appeal 2012). WORKS DISCUSSED "Fans of Jane Austen will delight in this wickedly funny contemporary mystery, which features among its cast of characters several modern day Bebris, Carrie. Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mystery Series interpretations of Austen's immortal characters." - John Charles and Joanna . Pride and Prescience (Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged). Forge, Morrison. 2004. 288p. $6.99. 978-0-7653-5071-8. VOYA October 2004. 4Q 4P J S A/YA Locke, Juliane. England's Jane: the Story of Jane Austen. Morgan Reynolds. _. Suspense and Sensibility (Or, First Impressions Revisited). Forge, 2006. 60p. 978-1 -931798-82-1. VOYA December 2006. 3Q 2P J 2005 304p. $6.99. 978-0-7653-5092-3. VOYA June 2005. 4Q 3P J S A/YA "England's Jane does an excellent job of describing the time in which _. North by Northanger (Or, The Shades of Pemberley). Forge, 2006. Austen lived ... and offers young readers an interesting view of the life and 320p. $12.99. 978-0-7653-2382-8. VOYA April 2006. 4Q 3P J S A/YA times of this famous author." - Heather Pittman. _. The Matters at Mansfield (Or, The Crawford Affair). Forge, 2008. Olsen, Kirstin, Cooking with Jane Austen. Greenwood, 2005. 432p. $55.00. 288p. $14.99. 978-0-7653-2383-5. VOYA February 2009.5Q 3P S Y/YA 978-0-313-33463-4. VOYA February 2006. 5Q 2P M J S _. The Intrigue at Highbury (Or, Emma's March). Tor, 2010. 320p. "Everything [readers] will need to know about cooking in Regency $13.99. 978-0-7653-2821-2. VOYA June 2010.5Q 4P J S A/YA England." - Anita Beaman. . The Deception at Lyme (Or, The Peril of Persuasion). Tor, 2011. 304p. Rushton, Rosie. The Dashwood Sisters' Secret of Love. Hyperion, 2005. 336p. $14.99.978-0-7653-2798-7. $15.99. 978-0-7868-5137-9. VOYA June 2005. 3Q 4P J S . Pride and Prejudice. IUus. by Hugo Petrus. Marvel Worldwide, 2010. "The spirited Dashwood sisters—sensible, thoughtful Ellie; flighty drama 120p. $14.99. 978-0-7851-3916-4. queen Abby; and sporty tomboy Géorgie—are having quite the life drama ... Butler, Nancy. Sense and Sensibility. Ulus. by Sonny Liew. Marvel Worldwide, [in this] lighthearted romance." - Carlisle Kraft Webber. • 2011. 128p. $ 14.99. 978-0-7851 -4820-3. . Emma. Illus. by Janet Lee. Marvel Worldwide, 2012. 120p. $14.99. 978-0-7851-5686-4. VOYA August 2012. 5Q 3P M J S . Northanger Abbey. Illus. by Janet Lee. Marvel Worldwide, 2012. 112p. $14.99. 978-0-7851-6440-1. JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) member, VOYA Dryden, Robert. Jane Austen for Beginners. For Beginners, 2012. 176p. $16.99. reviewer, and school media spcciaHsl Cliristina Miller is York 978-1-934389-61-4. College (CUNY) Library's "Jiigh Scliool Librarian," the library's Hale, Shannon. Austenland. Bloomsbury, 2007.208p. $12.99.978-1-59691-286-1. liaison to the on-campiis Queens High School for the Sciences ai . Midnight in Austenland. Bloomsbury, 2011. 288p. $15. 978-1-59691- York College. She also provides library services for York's early 289-2. VOYA February 2012. 5Q 4P M J S college school, York Early College Academy, and serves York College stiidenis.