This young adult novel reveals that as people going through the phase between being child-like and mature, junior high students have so many thoughts and conflicts going on in their hearts.
Title: No One Lonely In Junior High
Subtitle: Young Adult Boogie-Woogie
Genre: Young Adult / Teens, Literature and Fiction
Author: Yeongmi Hwang
Illustrator: Sinjae Gang
Pages: 192
Dimensions: 143*210mm
Format: Paperback
Date of Publication: Hardcopy: June 15, 2016 / eBook February 15, 2016
ISBN: 979-11-87312-01-7 (hardcopy)
Marketing Information
Logged-on Now, an earlier version of this book, was a finalist for the Korea Literature and Film Content Competition, and was a serial fiction in the online Catholic news site, Here Now. Hwang is a protégée of novelist Cheol-u Im, and her book comes highly recommended by counselors who work with teens.
Themes
Adolescence, mourning, loss, friendship, first love, coming-of-age
Target Readership
Teens
Media Review and Ad Copies
“It ain’t easy being a teen.”
“You think this is just growing pains? You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Reaches a better understanding of what is generally dismissed as “teen angst” and points out the courage it takes to grow up. – Reader’s News
This young adult novel reveals that as people going through the phase between being child-like and mature, junior high students have so many thoughts and conflicts going on in their hearts. – Media Today
Reader Review
I’ve been teaching middle school for over twenty years, but this is the first I’ve gotten such a thorough look at what goes on in the students’ hearts. – Sangho Kim, Korean teacher at Gungnae Middle School
About the Author
Yeongmi Hwang has an undergraduate degree in education and a graduate degree in creative writing. After observing how teens live in Canada, she started writing in order to make friends with Korean teens. Her previous works were finalists for the Biryongso Blue Fiction Prize and serialized on online media, and this book received screen adaptation offers before it even came out. She depicts with wit and sophistication the situations and emotions teens encounter.
About the Book
- A coming-of-age story that can be taught in literature, debate, social studies, and ethics classes.
- A peek at teens’ thoughts through their conversations and SNS.
The narrator often has dreams about her deceased mother. Her best friends are very important to her: Hyebin, who obsesses over her appearance and cannot love herself as a result of prolonged exposure to domestic abuse; Seungni, who goes through her parents’ divorce while studying abroad in Canada; and Suji, who is perhaps too naïve for the cutthroat competition she’s about to face at private school. But it is Junghun who makes her swoon. Hyebin says she has a new boyfriend, and the narrator worries it might be Junghun. At the age of sixteen, at the brink of graduation, not everything is smooth sailing.
“I don’t know how to coolly let someone I love go. I said goodbye to my mom, but I never formed immunity against goodbyes.” – What I Don’t Have
“I watched Suji as she walked away. I was worried for her. I didn’t know how someone as soft as her would survive the insane competition of private school.” – Suji
“Blaming is easy. If you don’t want to sympathize, go for blame.” – Incurable Disease
“I’m a nihilist and an optimist. It’s possible to be both when you’re sixteen.” – Dream of an Optimist
“Last days of junior high? You’re right. Last chance to get myself into some real trouble!” Danbi whispered in my ear. I smirked. Only kids who’ll never get in trouble say things like this, waiting for someone else to get in trouble. – Love Is Free
Chapter 1. What I Don't Have
Chapter 8. Immunity Against Goodbyes
Chapter 14. A Space of My Own