Fierce Awesomeness. "Preserving Samoan-ness through Popular Fiction. A Researched Analysis of Hybridity in Telesa The Covenant Keeper"

You write a book. You send it out to agents with a hopeful heart. It gets rejected. Your hopeful heart gets a little bruised. You publish the book yourself. You send it out to the world with a terrified but hopeful heart. Some people read it. Some people like it. Some people hate it. You rejoice because your book is real. And its being read. And then your book is chosen as a literary text of study at a university. Or two. Wow. You reel with the shock of it. As an English Lit degree graduate, you can't believe that there's actually enough literary 'stuff' in your book for real University students to discuss, analyze and write about. And then, you get sent a copy of  a final essay paper written by a fierce, brilliant woman. An essay she wrote on your book. An essay she got an A grade for. You read it. You are stunned. ( You are also feeling kinda dumb because you're trying to follow the discussion and realizing its been a LOOOOONG time since you were in University, writing and reading critical lit stuff. Wow.) You try not to fall on the floor with the awesomeness of it all. Because its really real. Its truly true. Jessica J.Perez-Jackson studied my book Telesa at the University of Guam, wrote a paper on it for her 'Pacific Women Writer's' course. It's long. It's fiercely awesome.  And I am honored and beyond thrilled to share it with you here.
Thank you Jessica.
  “Preserving Samoan-ness through Popular Fiction”:A Researched Analysis of Hybridity in Lani Wendt Young’s Telesā: the Covenant Keeper 
In partial fulfillmentof the requirements for the coursePacific Women Writers. EN461 “Riding/Writing In the Eye of a Typhoon”
Dr. Evelyn Flores, ProfessorUniversity of GuamMangilao, Guam July 21, 2012  “Preserving Samoan-ness through Popular Fiction”:A Researched Analysis of YA Literature in Lani Wendt Young’s Telesā: the Covenant KeeperSubmitted by Jessica J. Perez-Jackson
In her paper, “Experiencing Samoa through Stories: Myths and Legends of a People and Place,” Samantha Lichtenberg writes that “language is the lifeblood flowing through the veins of a culture. It is the holder of cultural knowledge and preserver of tradition” (10).  In her book, Telesā: the Covenant Keeper, Lani Wendt Young preserves a bit of Samoan legend, culture, and language, and provides a refreshing take on Young Adult (YA) literature.

Works Cited
Articles
Colley, Ann C. "Robert Louis Stevenson's South Seas Crossings." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 48.4 (2008): 871+. Questia. Web. 25 Mar. 2012.
Cote, James E. "A Social History of Youth in Samoa: Religion, Capitalism, and Cultural Disenfranchisement." International Journal of Comparative Sociology 38.3-4 (1997): 217+. Questia. Web. 12 May 2012.
Haapoja, Margaret A. "Samoa's Rain Forest Savior - Looking for a Cure for Breast Cancer, Paul Cox Harnessed the Wisdom of Women in the Forest He Loved and Discovered a Promising Anti-HIV Compound Instead." World and I Sept. 2002: 118. Questia. Web. 12 May 2012.
Lichtenberg, Samantha, "Experiencing Samoa through Stories: Myths and Legends of a People and Place" (2011). ISP Collection. Paper 1057.
Books
Avia, Tusiata. Bloodclot. Wellington: Victoria UP, 2009. Print.
Leonard, Scott, and Michael McClure, eds. “The Female Divine.” Myth and Knowing: An Introduction to World Mythology. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. 102-22. Print.
Young, Lani Wendt. Telesā: The Covenant Keeper. Auckland, N.Z.: L. Wendt Young, 2011. Print.
Online Sources
"U.S. Department of State." Diss. SIT Graduate Institute. U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. .
"U.S. Religious Landscape Survey - Religious Affiliation: Diverse and Dynamic." The Pew Forum On Religion and Public Life. The Pew Forum, Feb. 2008. Web. 13 May 2012. .
“Why Zita Martel Rocks.” One Samoana - Worldwide Samoan Community Online. Manaui Media: Samoa Mo Samoa, 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 May 2012. .
Young, Lani Wendt. "Lani Wendt Young @Sleepless in Samoa. Thoughts from the Quiet Side of Midnight..." Weblog post. : My Books. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. .
"Zita Martel Speaks about Nafanua." YouTube. Forsamoa, 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2012. .
Other
Flores, Evelyn. “Pacific Women Writers. EN/WS/MI 461/EN561 ‘Riding/Writing In the Eye of a Typhoon’.”  University of Guam, 2012. Print.