Thursday, December 23, 2010

When a Good Girl Does a Bad Thing



Jayne Thompson, the protagonist of Susan Colebank's first YA novel, is on top of things: she's valedictorian of her junior class and she's a star on her tennis team. But on top of things isn't always that great. Her mom, a local TV reporter, is more concerned with appearances than reality; her younger sister, a diabetic, is completely irresponsible (and Jayne is pressured and counted upon to cover for her, make up for her, do things for her); her dad, while nice, seems out of touch.

And Jayne never complains out loud. But what she does do, as a knee-jerk reaction, is run a red light.

That one instance results in the death of a young girl, the sister of a "mean girl" at Jayne's school. Jayne suffers terribly for her actions--her grades drop, she isolates herself, she shuts down.

Things change when she is sentenced to a year of community service at Outreach Arizona. Jayne initially seems to be headed down a dangerous path: drinking, a tattoo, a piercing, but all of that is part of Jayne finally finding herself, rather than who others want her to be.

I liked this novel and think that teen girls would relate to it, especially those like Jayne (I was kind of like her) who are under tremendous pressure from a parent to be what the parent wants.

The book would work well in a unit on chances/second chances. Students could also read Looking for JJ and We Were Here, for example, and talk about the juvenile justice system and what seems to be fair/unfair punishments.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Could You Survive?

How could/would you handle:

not having
a) your mp3 player or ipod?
b) your ipad?
c) your cell phone?
d) your computer?
e) internet access?
f) TV and radio?

It would probably tough for most of us (including me) to think about losing 1-2 of these, but what about all of them?

You could do it?

What if you lost:

g) running water?
h) electricity?
i) natural gas?
j) coal?
k) sunlight?
l) gasoline?
m) food?

It's hard to imagine.


Losing all of this is what Susan Beth Pfeffer explores in her 2006 book Life As We Knew It, the first in a trilogy. Told in diary format by Miranda, an average teenager living in Pennsylvania, from May 7 until March 20, the story takes place sometime during GW Bush's presidency [Pfeffer lets us know her political views through characters' negative comments about Fox News and the former president (evil jerk)].

At the beginning, everyone is excited: a meteor is set to crash into the moon. It's a festive time, with everyone outside waiting to see the big event. Then, something went wrong. The astronomers were not accurate about the angle of impact. Suddenly, the crash bulleted the moon closer to the earth. Almost immediately, the world felt the impact: tsunamis that wiped out the coastline and cities of every continent; then earthquakes; storms; volcanic eruptions.

Everything was chaos. And then it got worse. The ash blocked out the sun. Crops died. The weather changed. People were starving, including Miranda's family. This goes on for months and months.

I loved this book and can't wait to read the next two. I think that while girls would like the book more than boys, there certainly is enough in here to interest everyone (Miranda has two brothers, one older and one younger). While there is nothing "evil" like in Lord of the Flies or the Gone series, this book is a nice connection.

This book would also work in a cross-disciplinary unit with both science and social studies.

I loved this novel and can't wait to see what its sequels are like.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

And the winner is . . .



From the National Book Awards website:

ABOUT THE BOOK

In Caitlin’s world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That’s the stuff Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon’s dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger’s, she doesn’t know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white—the world is full of colors—messy and beautiful.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kathryn Erskine was a lawyer for fifteen years before turning to her first love: writing. Her debut novel, Quaking, was one of YALSA’s Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. She lives in Virginia with her husband, two children, and dog, Maxine.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

The Curse of the Wendigo

"Lush prose, devilish characterizations, and more honest emotion than any book involving copious de-facings (yes, you read that right) ought to have...Yancey has written both books in the Monstrumologist series as if they were the last, going for broke and playing for keeps, no matter who or what ends up on the chopping block. This is Warthrop's The Hound of the Baskervilles; if we hold our breath, maybe part 3 will come faster."
-- Booklist, starred review

"A page-turner of an historical horror that will simultaneously thrill readers and make them sick to their stomachs."
-- Kirkus Reviews




I didn’t think that Yancey could top The Monstrumologist. As we all know, sequels—in both print and film-- often bomb (the follow-up to Grease is the one that does it for me). However, as the reviews above suggest, The Curse of the Wendigo is just as good—I would argue it is better than—Yancey’s first book in the series.

Wendigo opens, like its predecessor, in the twenty-first century, with its “author” trying to figure out the mysterious William James Henry. How old was he? Could he really have been born in 1876?

The story begins in 1888, and to open this saga is a mysterious visitor—a woman (Muriel Chanler)! And it becomes quite clear that she and Dr. Warthrop have a past. This, to me, is one of the smartest details to add complication to the book. We gain an understanding about why the doctor is like he is. He loved and lost. His wall is deliberate. This backstory is integral to the action.

Muriel’s husband, one of the doctor’s oldest friends and colleagues, has gone missing in the Canadian woods and is feared dead. What seems to have gotten him is the Wendigo (also called Mossmouth, ‘high wind,’ and Lepto lurconis). Although he initially laughs it off, Warthrop and Will Henry travel to Canada and trek into the woods to find John Chanler.

They find “him,” but what they find is not what went into the woods . . . I won’t spoil the book for you, but I will say, run out and get it now!

The writing is fantastic. The pace and storyline in this book expand on the prior tale picking up speed and action. I also think this book has more personality. I found myself laughing more than gagging (like I did with the first book). [describing a man impaled by a tree: “We can’t leave him stuck here like a pig on a stick,’ Warthrop replied. “Snap to, Will Henry.”]

Yancey gives Warthrop more wit and sarcasm—which fits considering we learn more about his “person” in this volume. Yancey also introduces women—strong women—into this story, both in Muriel and in a young girl, Lilly Bates, who by all accounts has the resolve, wit, countenance, and strength of stomach to be the first female monstrumologist (I would add she is sneaky and evil, too, but you’ll have to judge for yourself).

Read a sample chapter here

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Annie on My Mind


I recently had the pleasure of reading an incredible love story, but it was not your typical love story.  Annie on My Mind is the story of a chance meeting between two young girls, Liza and Annie, at a museum.  Liza knows that there is something different about Annie, something that she cannot put into words.  However, the reader knows exactly what is happening.  Liza has a crush on Annie.

Everyone around them believes that Liza and Annie are developing a powerful friendship, which they are, but a friendship that is so much more.  They spend all of their time together, and, eventually, Liza reveals to Annie that she loves her.  Liza and Annie explore what this love means both emotionally and physically.  They are both scared and confused, but they are also hopeful.  They envision spending the rest of their lives together and growing into old ladies with one another.

The two girls are discovered in quite a compromising situation, and they are outed before they have had the chance to truly accept who they are.  What surprises Liza is the support she receives from her family and other adults when she is faced with one of the most difficult trials of her young life.

Annie on My Mind is the most powerful young adult LGBTQ fiction that I have ever read.  Although it was originally published in 1982, its two courageous female protagonists show that love knows no bounds, including sexuality.  The author, Nancy Garden, creates a dichotomous reaction to the girls with adults taking both sides on the issue. 

Additionally, Garden fires back at the Bible verses often used to vilify homosexuality with a story from Greek mythology that is older than the Bible.  Liza reflects on a Greek legend she heard in school.  It was the speech given by Aristophanes in Plato's Symposium.  This story states that, in the beginning, every person had four arms and legs and two heads.  We were essentially two human beings in one.  We were constructed as forms of man/man, woman/woman, and man/woman.  These original humans angered Zeus, but, instead of destroying them, he became greedy and realized that if he cut them in half, he would have double the sacrifices.  Thus, everyone was cut in half and spent the rest of their life looking for their other half.  To me, this is a powerful statement of reassurance to anyone who may be curious about their sexuality.  Moreover, it is a powerful statement about love and the concept of "soul mates", in general.

What Garden has done is not only written a young adult LGBTQ novel, but a powerful love story that all can enjoy.  This book should be in every classroom library.

Monday, November 8, 2010

National Book Award Finalists!


YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE

Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker (Little, Brown & Co.)

Kathryn Erskine, Mockingbird
(Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group)

Laura McNeal, Dark Water (Alfred A. Knopf)

Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown
(Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Rita Williams-Garcia, One Crazy Summer
(Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

I feel ahead of the curve this year! Not only have I read Ship Breaker and Lockdown, but we (a local teacher and I) are teaching Lockdown to a class of ninth grade students!!

Now, I just need to read the other three titles!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Kick Ass Females, Past and Future: Katniss and Gemma

I haven’t posted in a while, partly due to my insane teaching schedule and partly because I have been READING! My post today is—literally and figuratively—on the past and the future.

I read The Hunger Games trilogy as the books were published, sadly finishing the series with Mockingjay in August. (As with the two books before it, I finished the book in one day.) Katniss, the female hero in this dystopian future, kicked ass and won me over from the start. In the past two days, I finished up the last two books (yes, all 1400 pages of them!) in the Gemma Doyle trilogy. Gemma is equally heroic, just kicking ass in the past.

As I was reading Libba Bray’s final two books—I can’t believe it took me this long to buy and read them!—I couldn’t help but think of Katniss Everdeen, Collins’s heroine of the future. What I like about them is that while they are great, they are also flawed. While they are likable, they are also contemptible at times. In short: they are real and they are us.

Beyond the two characters as areas of study, both sets of novels provide a range of perspectives for students to analyze, discuss, argue about, and critique—from violence, to societal ideals, to the roles of women, to man’s inhumanity towards the planet and each other. I would love to see both series being taught in school.


Let’s start with The Hunger Games. In the future, in what was once America as we know it, the country is a place of vast extremes. In The Capitol, excess rules and it takes more and more stimulation (food, clothes, color) for the citizens to exist. The ultimate stimulus is the annual “hunger games,” where two people are chosen (if you can call it that) from each of the twelve other districts to fight to the death—the entire gruesome spectacle is televised for “enjoyment.” Katniss, our heroine, steps in for her younger sister and through smarts, skill, luck, and strength manages to outwit the President: she and her fellow district choice, Peeta, win. And, that is just the first book in the trilogy. For those that haven’t read the series, I won’t spoil it.

However, what I want to stress is that even though I cheered for Katniss, she is not the infallible heroine; some may call her a tragic hero, but I am not sure about that. Perhaps she is simply a “real” hero. She is a reluctant hero. She hates the limelight. She doesn’t like the attention. She goads people. She can be fickle. Again, in short: she is each of us.



Then, there’s Gemma Doyle in Libba Bray’s historical/fantasy trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing). When the series opens Gemma is a typical teenager: pouty, selfish, and immature. These (self-recognized) traits are brought to the forefront when within the first 50 pages, her mother is murdered and Gemma is forced to think about her last words and actions toward her mother—and the strange vision she had where she saw her mother murdered. Shortly thereafter, Gemma is shipped off to England and The Spence School—where she is to be made a “proper” young lady. The remainder of book one and throughout books two and three, the reader is taken on Gemma’s fantastical journey to figure out not only who her mother was, but who she is—and what her role is in The Order, a group of priestesses who have ruled a mystical and powerful world called “the realms.”

Like Katniss, I cheered for Gemma. She is a reluctant hero. She goads people. She can be immature. At times I wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her. Yet, she does good and makes positive changes. She is, again, like us.


Both series put social issues in the forefront: expectations for women and “proper” women’s roles; capitalism and greed; poverty; prejudice and racism; substance abuse (Bray even tackles lesbianism). All six books could easily be taught in conjunction with often used canonical works or on their own. For example, The Hunger Games trilogy could be taught with 1984 and/or A Brave New World. Bray’s three novels could be used with a number of Austen’s works (although I think Pride and Prejudice is best suited) or alongside Kate Chopin or Edith Wharton (or Emily Bronte).

Both series have enough allusions and cultural references for students to conduct any number of research projects. For example, after reading the Collins series students could investigate organ and limb transplants or stem cell research. With Bray’s novels students could research the prejudice against gypsies or the suffrage movement.

I could go on and on . . . and, literally, I wish I could read on and on.

I guess I will have to wait for the next kick-ass female series.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Birthday Poem

On November 1, I (Susan) turned 40. I don't feel any different, maybe just a little bittersweet about saying goodbye to my 30s, which were some awesome years. Got married when I was 31, got my PhD at 33, bought my first home at 34, got tenure (and ran a half marathon) at 39. I kinda feel like I should spend my 40s celebrating. :) Anywhoo. Here's a poem I love to read every year on my birthday:

For the Anniversary of My Death by W. S. Merwin

Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me
And the silence will set out
Tireless traveler
Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer
Find myself in life as in a strange garment
Surprised at the earth
And the love of one woman
And the shamelessness of men
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And bowing not knowing to what

W. S. Merwin, “For the Anniversary of My Death” from The Second Four Books of Poems (Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press, 1993). Copyright © 1993 by W. S. Merwin. Reprinted with the permission of The Wylie Agency, Inc.

Ooh. Ouch. Might seem a little morbid to some, but I think considering one's death is all about affirming one's life. And, to make the YA tie here, has anyone noticed lately a lot of great YAL books being published about death and dying? or the consideration of death? This poem would make a good intertextual fit with Chris Crutcher's Deadline,


Jenny Dowhnham's Before I Die, Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall, and
Gayle Forman's If I Stay (which I've posted about it here), all of which encourage teen readers to consider and affirm the life they're living.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Reading YA Lit at Freedom School

In case you haven't heard about the Children's Defense Fund, or the Freedom School initiative, check out their website and get educated. Freedom Schools is a wonderful summer/after-school program that has one main goal: "to help readers and nonreaders fall in love with books: the stories, the characters, the pictures, the ideas, and the values—and to give nonreaders an overwhelming desire to read, which is a basic step toward reading." The program also aims to provide safe spaces where youth can go after school and during the summer to celebrate literacy and citizenship. Personally, I think the program serves as a very necessary counterstory to the popular discourse surrounding minority youth as readers--"Black kids don't read," "Black kids are lazy," "Black kids don't have books at home, or role-models who read." Blah, blah, blah. These are dangerous lies, and the Freedom Schools serves to poke some crater-sized holes in these lies, showing that Black kids are indeed engaged, skilled readers who are passionate about books!

I had the incredible honor of being a part of the Knoxville Freedom School this summer. I met some incredible youth, some incredible adults, and read some incredible young adult literature. Every year, a committee of bad-asses meets at the Haley Farm in Clinton, TN, to read and read and read and read and select books for Freedom School (sounds like my kind of retreat). The committee wants Freedom School participants to read whole novels (not excerpted texts), and they want Freedom School kids to read literature that affirms the non-White identities and cultures of Freedom School participants--predominantly Black youth.

The Freedom School kids in grades 6-8 (called Level III scholars) read six young adult novels during the six-week program.

The first novel the Level III scholars read was Sharon G. Flake’s (2007) Begging for Change. In this book, due to a turf war, 13-year-old Raspberry Hill’s mother has been beaten with a metal pipe, and lies in a hospital. Raspberry’s father is an alcoholic and a drug addict. No wonder Raspberry decides to steal money from her well-off friend, Zora, even if it is Zora and her father, Dr. Mitchell, who treat Raspberry and her mother like family. But Raspberry’s stealing doesn’t stop there, and soon she’s lost the trust of people she cares about most. When her own father steals from her, Raspberry begins to wonder if she’s any different from him. As Raspberry mother tells her and other thugs on the street, “To be better, you gotta want better.” Ultimately, Raspberry must do some hard soul-searching to decide who she’s going to be and what “better” looks like for her.





Next, the scholars read Joseph by Shelia P. Moses (2008). This young adult novel tells the story of fourteen-year-old Joseph Flood, who is a victim of his mother’s chronic drug abuse. Spending all of the child support money sent by Joseph’s dad, who is away fighting in Iraq, Joseph’s mother lands the two in a homeless shelter. Joseph has the opportunity to go live with his mother’s sister in the suburbs, where he can attend a good school and join the tennis team. But Joseph doesn’t want to leave his mother—who will look out for her? Who will take care of her? Joseph must navigate the slippery slope between loyalty to family and self as he scrapes out a stable future for himself.

For week three, the scholars read another Sharon G. Flake (2005) novel, Bang! This young adult novel depicts the violence that mars some impoverished urban neighborhoods, and the constant state of terror its residents live in as a result. Mann, the main character, has just seen his little brother, Joseph, shot to death on the front porch of their house—an innocent victim, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mann’s mother and father are grieving in their own ways, none of which are helpful to Mann, who has started smoking weed with his best friend, Kee-Lee, and skipping school. When Mann’s father decides Joseph got shot because he was “too soft,” he abandons Mann and Kee-Lee miles from town and tells them to find their own way back home. Mann’s journey back to self-hood is fraught with violence, disappointment, mistakes, and regrets, but Mann ultimately decides what kind of man he is going to be, and what it might take for Black men to stop killing one another.



Week four, Level III scholars read Phillip Hoose’s (2009) National Book Award-winning Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. This nonfictional work gives voice to the fifteen-year-old girl who refused to give up her seat to a White woman on a segregated bus nine months before Rosa Parks did. But instead of being celebrated, like Rosa Parks was, Claudette found herself shunned by her classmates and ignored by the black leaders of Montgomery, Alabama. Why was Claudette shunned and ignored? Why didn’t she get the credit for jumpstarting the Civil Rights Movement? What did Rosa Parks have that Claudette didn’t? This book answers these questions and elucidates a little-known piece of American history.

For week five, scholars read Sharon Draper’s Coretta Scott King Book Award-winning young adult novel, Copper Sun, which I've written about here.

Finally, for the last week of Freedom School, the Level III scholars read David Colbert’s (2009) young adult biography, Michelle Obama: An American Story. This rich biographical portrait traces Michelle Obama’s life from her ancestors who were slaves on a rice plantation in South Carolina, to her working-class, Southside Chicago childhood, to her rise as one of the most influential women living today. Unique to this biographical telling, Colbert contextualizes Michelle Obama's life story within larger movements in African American history: slavery, freedom, the Reconstruction era, the Civil Rights movement, and finally, her own era.

These are all good reads, and if you're looking to add some African-American YA lit to your classroom library or curriculum, I highly suggest all these titles. Sharon Flake, especially, proved popular with the Freedom School kids--her writing is gritty and real, and doesn't back down from honestly portraying the violence and terror and chaos that defines the lives of too many urban youth.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

For the Love of Animals



Despite a shelf filled with close to 100 YA novels I have yet to read, in one of my recent trips to the bookstore I picked up Kenneth Oppel’s Half Brother (Harper Collins). Set in Canada in the 1970s, the story revolves around a thirteen-year-old named Ben who becomes the big brother to a chimp named Zan. Ben’s father is a famous behavioral scientist and wants to see if a chimp can learn human language. So, Ben’s mother takes baby Zan from his mother (this is heart-wrenching) and brings him home to begin their research. When the funding for Project Zan is pulled, Ben’s father sells Zan to a university in the Southwest United States to prevent the chimp from winding up being used in medical testing. However, this new arrangement quickly seems not as promised: the director uses chains and leashes to move the chimps; a cattle prod scares the chimps into submission; and Zan winds up with a missing tooth.

On a trip to visit, Ben and his mother find out that Zan is being sold (along with several other chimps) to a medical testing facility—one with a horrible reputation. Rather than let this happen, they steal Zan and take him back to Canada. Yet, realistically, what can they do with a growing chimp who was raised to think he was part human? This is the question that they ultimately must answer. It is also the question at the heart of the novel. Even if their research wasn’t “harmful” and was only meant to help us communicate with chimps, harm was inevitable. [As an educational researcher, this question of harm is something I must always consider.]

I really liked the novel. While at times I felt the voice, dialogue, and thoughts did not match a thirteen-year-old male, I would need to get feedback from a male teenage reader to ultimately decide.



Like Ginny Rorby’s Hurt Go Happy, this novel asks readers to think about why and how we use animals for testing—whether that testing is to create shampoo or cure cancer. After reading either or both of these novels, teachers could have students complete research projects that center on issues of animal rights.Students could learn about how to be a compassionate consumer and how animals are used in labs and for experimentation (warning: some videos are disturbing).

The Humane Society of the US has a wealth of information on chimpanzees and other animals used in research.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Bones Tell Stories

I may have missed my calling in life because if I had it to do all over again, I might have tried to be a forensic anthropologist. "Suuuurrrreeee, Susan," you're probably saying. "Riiiiigggghhhht." That would mean I would actually have to stomach the sight of blood or worse, decomposing flesh. And I might actually have to touch a dead body. Ok, you're right. That wouldn't be for me. I have a hard time cleaning up cat vomit.

So I guess I'll just have to stick with reading books about forensic anthropologists. See, maybe this is all about that adolescent who is still stuck inside me, because teens LOVE murder mysteries! And forensic anthropology is all about solving some murder mysteries. It's about storytelling, too--about listening to the stories bones tell and being the voice for voiceless victims.

If you're looking for some good young adult novels (or books teens will pick up and consider reading) about forensic anthropology, consider Alane Ferguson's forensic mystery series that begins with The Christopher Killer. The series follows teen-aged Cammie Mahoney as she assists her coroner-father in solving murders in their Colorado town. Cammie, who wants to be a forensic scientist when she grows up, is attracted by the science of forensics, and she--and readers--will learn a lot about the field as they read. Check out Alane Ferguson's interactive website here: http://www.alaneferguson.com/

You might also want to check out Jefferson Bass's novel, Carved in Bone, or other books based on the work of famous UT forensic anthropologist David Bass and the Body Farm, located on the UT campus.

Carved in Bone is a fun story, especially if you live in or near Knoxville or the Great Smokies. Dr. Brockton (we can assume is Dr. Bass) is called in by the Cooke County sheriff's office to help solve the case of Leena Bonds, a woman discovered preserved in Russell's Cave. Her murder involves lots of colorful locals, though, who would prefer the truth about her death not get out. Lots of local flavor and history here (maybe a little too stereotypical for my tastes), and a good mystery story to boot. Readers will learn more about how forensic anthropology is done. Perfectly fine for the upper middle school and high school classroom.

A more sombre read is Clea Koff's nonfiction account of her UN-sponsored missions to Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo to unearth physical evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Here's the editorial review from Booklist:

"Any title containing the words mass graves portends some tough reading, and Koff's unblinking, direct memoir is not lacking in ghastliness. One of her aims, however, is to contrast her interior reactions to her work of exhuming and examining the victims of the Balkan and Rwandan massacres of the early 1990s with the meticulous professionalism needed to conduct it. Koff's observation that "when I analyze human remains I am interested, not repulsed" is shown in her objective descriptive writing about particular victims' physical characteristics and traumas. Away from the grave or autopsy table, however, Koff allows glimpses of the mental effort her professionalism requires by relating her numerous nightmares and manifestations of stress. She accepts this burden out of a deeply idealistic motivation--her hope that her career in forensic anthropology will reduce human rights violations in the world. Koff also writes about incidents of her field experiences such as privations, the dangers of gunfire and mines, and the interpersonal relations with her colleagues and UN guards."

This is a much grimmer, darker read without all the fictional cushions. Still suitable for older, mature adolescent readers, especially those adolescents who--like Koff--want to make a difference in the world.

Also, consider this fun book series for the classroom: the Bones books, based on the Fox TV show by the same name. The investigative crime show drama is inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist and best-selling novelist Kathy Reichs (the Temperance Brennan novels).

Last but not least, these CSI books were hugely popular when I taught middle school. Might make a good addition to your classroom library shelves if you're trying to motivate reluctant readers.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Monsters for Halloween

Lisa talked a bit about this book in an earlier post, explaining that it scared the bejezus out of her when she read it. I second that emotion. I'm the type who has to leave the room when commercials about scary movies come on TV. And recently, there's lots of scary movie commercials on TV. There's that weird "Case 39" movie with Renee Z., and Wes Craven's got a new one out, "My Soul to Take." Don't ask me what any of these are about--like I said, I leave the room when the commercials come on. All I have to hear is the creepy music, or see claws, or heads spinning, or children saying things like, "I see dead people," and I'm outta there.

So WHY? Why would I subject myself to Monstrumologist, a bona-fide horror YA story if ever I've read one? I guess because the cover's so cool. I mean, just look at it. And the title's cool. I mean, do "monstrumologists" even exist? Is that a real word? And then Rick Yancey is coming to Knoxville in March, to a middle school where I'm doing some research with some bad-ass teachers who use YAL every day to motivate the life-long love of reading in the adolescents they teach. So I figure I better be familiar with his oeuvre (although I've yet to read his Alfred Kropp series, or his books for adults. But I will, before March. I promise).

There are certainly monsters in this one--monsters so scary you hope to GODDESS they are just fiction. But what's scary about this one, too, is the humans--humans who are so ambitious and driven by their hunger for knowledge (and bloodlust) they will do anything to satisfy that hunger. The lines between right and wrong blur here--or, at least, they do when the scientist and the serial killer start trying to rationalize their madness.

But there's also the stuff of great YA fiction here: Will Henry, the orphan-monster-apprentice, who longs for his dead parents, for connection, to anyone--even if it's a mad scientist who must bear the weight of his own emotionally absent father's misdeeds--is the clear(er) conscience, the lone light in the underground tunnels of human darkness. He comes off clean and true, and you'll find yourself rooting for him and hoping he's got your back when the anthro-popo show up.

I think sophisticated readers will appreciate all the allusions in this one--this book is a literary scavenger hunt in its own right. I could also see teachers pairing this with Frankenstein and/or using the book in a small-group literature circles activity (perhaps with Nancy Farmer's House of the Scorpion and Pearson's Adoration of Jenna Fox, or even some of Darwin's works) and focusing on the theme of "humans playing God."

Get it, and read it, but don't put this in the "by the bed" stack. You'll want to read this one in broad daylight, with all the lights on.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Stolen



Patty Hearst.
Elizabeth Smart.
Natalie Holloway.

Their names conjure up images of young females kidnapped and not always returned. Lucy Christopher’s Stolen (2009, Chicken House Publishing) brought these stories to mind from the moment I started reading.

It has been a while since I have sat down and read a book in one day—not even a whole day at that (and that book was Catching Fire). From the first line, I was sucked in reading with sweaty palms and heart palpitations. I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN.

Here’s part of the first two pages:
You saw me before I saw you. I’m sure of it. In the airport, that day in August, you had that look in your eye, as though you wanted something from me, as though you’d wanted it for a long time. No one had ever looked at me like that before, with that kind of intensity. It unsettled me, surprised me I guess. Those blue, blue eyes, icy blue, looking back at me like I could warm them up. They’re pretty powerful, you know, those eyes, pretty beautiful too. Surely I’m not the first girl to be frozen up by them.
You blinked quickly when I looked at you, and turned away, as if you were nervous…as if you felt guilty that you’d just been checking out some random girl in an airport. But I wasn’t random, was I? And it was a good act. I fell for it. It’s funny, but I always thought I could trust blue eyes. I thought they were safe somehow. All the good guys have baby blues. The dark eyes are for the villains…the Grim Reaper, the Joker, werewolves. All dark.
I’d been arguing with my parents. Mum hadn’t been happy about the dirty jeans I’d chosen for the flight, and Dad was just grumpy from lack of sleep. So, seeing you … I guess it was a welcome diversion from that. Is that how you’d planned it; wait until my parents had a go at me before you approached? I knew, even then, that you’d been watching me for a long time. There was a strange sort of familiarity about you. I’d seen you before … somewhere … but who were you? My eyes kept flitting back to your face.
You’d been with me since London. I’d seen you in the check-in line with your small carry-on bag of clothing. I’d seen you on the plane. And now, here you were, in Bangkok airport, sitting in the coffee shop where I was about to order coffee.
I ordered the coffee. I waited for it to be made. I fumbled with my money. I didn’t look back, but I knew you were still watching. It probably sounds weird, but I could just feel it. The tiny hairs on my neck bristled every time you blinked.
The cashier held onto the coffee cup until I had my money ready. Stan, his name badge said; strange I can remember that.
“We don’t take British coins,” Stan said, after he’d watched me count them out. “Don’t you have a note?”
“I used it in London.”
Stan shook his head and pulled the coffee back towards him. “There’s a cash machine next to duty free.”
I felt someone move up behind me. I turned.

**********************
What happens after this? Even if you didn’t know the premise of the book, by this point as female, you know deep down. The narrator, Gemma, gets “taken” by a man she meets in the coffee shop in the Bangkok airport.

Christopher wrote this debut novel as part of her doctoral program in the UK; I am impressed with it both in terms of content, writing, and genre. It was the winner of the 2010 Branford Boase Award and was short-listed for the CBCA Award.

The novel is, in essence, a letter to Gemma’s captor, a man named Ty who has been watching (stalking?) her since she was ten.

I think all young females should read this book to see just how easily it can happen (I am a grown adult and it scared the shit out of me!). We learn how he was able to get her out of a crowded airport in one country and to another. We see how the Stockholm Syndrome happens. We can also see how a “bad” person can have good qualities [earlier this year I wrote about Elizabeth Scott’s Living Dead Girl; the kidnapper in that novel, Ray, has no redeeming qualities].

To watch an interview

Friday, October 1, 2010

Pitch Black



PITCH BLACK: DON”T BE SKERD by Youme Landowne and Anthony Horton is one of the most powerful graphic novels I have come across of late. Not only could it be used as a stand-alone text in secondary classrooms, but it is a natural for a supplemental text in a range of units. The novel tells the story of how Youme and Anthony met and provides a brief, but powerful and shocking glimpse into the world of the homeless (and the homeless that live under New York City’s subways.



The drawings--all in black and white with some comic-book style--are beautiful yet sad and will haunt you. Youme and Anthony seemed to capture the breadth and depth of life for our country's forgotten citizens.



I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but if you want to know more, you can see an interview with Youme and read a New York Times Story. The graphic novel was selected as one of YALSA’s Top Ten Best Graphic Novels for Teens in 2008.

What I love about this graphic novel is the range of teaching possibilities, from the “traditional” (i.e., New Critical analysis), to new literacies, to critical literacy, to visual literacy, and on and on.

This past summer, in my advanced YA literature course, I used Latrobe and Drury’s Critical Approaches to Young Adult Literature (2009, Neal-Schuman) which provides a range of approaches teachers can take when studying YA literature. When thinking about Pitch Black, some clear directions emerge. For example, teachers could start with reader response techniques and then move to a close reading of the text (I particularly think that studying the role of conflict, setting, tone, and theme apply here).

Likewise, teachers could study the novel in terms of the moral development of those that impacted Anthony. Using Gilligan’s “Caring and Connectedness Perspective” teachers could ask students about the extent to which others (and Anthony) recognized the interdependence of humankind, condemned exploitation and violence while making decisions (p. 35). Teachers could also try the sociological lens and look at social content, the reader, the author, and the text (p. 156).


I would also suggest using Root’s (1996) notion “border crossings” with it . . . and, of course, Marxist, race, and critical race theories apply as well.

Incarceron

I have found myself becoming obsessed with dystopic, big brother-esque, totalitarian YA Lit recently.  (Please see my last blog on The Line for a great example.)  Incarceron turned out to be no exception to this trend.  And, yes, I am still judging books by their covers.  That is how teenagers choose books, so, if I want to know what they are reading, I have to choose like they do.  Look at this cover.


It is hard to pass this cover up.  So...I did not, and I bought it without even knowing what it was about.  It turned out to be a good choice.

As I am not a blurb writer (and never will be), here is the blurb on the inside cover:

"Incarceron is a prison unlike any other:  Its inmates live not only in cells, but also in metal forests, dilapidated cities, and unbounded wilderness.  The prison has been sealed for centuries, and only one man, legend says, has ever escaped.  Finn, a seventeen-year old prisoner, can't remember his childhood and believes he came from Outside Incarceron.  He's going to escape, even though most inmates don't believe that Outside even exists.  And then Finn finds a crystal key, and through it, a girl named Claudia.  Claudia claims to live Outside - her father is the Warden of Incarceron and she's doomed to an arranged marriage.  If she helps Finn escape, she will need his help in return.  But they don't realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye.  Escape will take their greatest courage and cost far more than they know.  Because Incarceron is alive."

If that does not give you chills, then I do not know what will. 

The book is wonderfully written.  It flashes back and forth between Finn's world of Incarceron and the Outside world of Claudia.  There is never a dull moment between the two, either.  This book has so many twists and turns, and it constantly leaves you guessing, which, of course, forces you to keep reading.  This should explain to you why I am writing this blog at 4 in the morning.

However, it has so many more merits to it than just "edge of your seat" fiction.  The main character of Claudia is a powerful female protagonist.  She is quite intelligent and very "take charge" in the most dire of situations.  She also is forced to resolve some serious ethical dilemmas regarding the bonds between family and what is just.

An important evaluation of every YA text that I read is to determine what is its classical alternative currently used in secondary schools.  In a standards driven system of education, we find ourselves constantly defending YA Lit to every colleague, principal, and supervisor in the school system.  As with my last blog, which connected The Line to Brave New World or 1984, Incarceron has several connections to the current "canon".  The connection that stands out most is 2001: A Space Odyssey.  In both stories, an artificially intelligent machine is making decisions based on what it thinks is right for humanity, as well as what is necessary to preserve itself.  Both texts lend themselves to great class discussions regarding universal themes, including what is the place of technology in today's society, is the innate nature of man so evil that machines are necessary to keep man in check, and what will lead to the destruction of humanity: man himself or the technology man creates?  Another "canonical" link can be made to Lord of the Flies.  Inside Incarceron, humanity has deteriorated to every man for himself, even within the small communities that have been created.  Thus, a great conversation can be had regarding the state of man.  Does man desire civilization or savagery, order or chaos?  What about reason versus impulse?

Some great connections can also be made to prominent popular culture movies, such as The Matrix or Escape from New York/L.A.  For those interested in language and mythology, the book relies heavily on Greek and Roman mythology, including the use of Latin throughout the text.

There is only one problem with the text.  As usual with every book I seem to choose, this is not the end of the story.  Once again, I read the last page of a book, only to find a note about the release of a sequel, which is Sapphique, scheduled for release in December of this year.  However, do not worry, my fine YA fan friends, this book has already been released in the U.K.!  Apparently, Incarceron was released in the United States this year and in the U.K. in 2007.  Sapphique came out in 2008 in the U.K.  For £4.49, you can order the book from the U.K.'s Amazon.com.  I am seriously contemplating this, and I probably will.

The author, Catherine Fisher, is a prominent fantasy writer and has won several awards for her work.  Incarceron won The Times Children's Book of the Year award.  Incarceron is already set to be a big budget motion picture, as Fox 2000 won a bidding war for the right to produce both Incarceron and its sequel, Sapphique.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

I want a Grace

Kristin Cashore's second YA novel, Fire, won the Walden Award for YA Fiction this year, so I've been wanting to read it and find out what all the buzz is about. It's a pre-quel, a companion novel to Cashore's first YA book, Graceling. So I read Graceling first, and thought it was pretty rockin'.

Katsa (very close to Katniss, huh?) is a bad-ass, a femme fatale, the adolescent "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (and bad attitude). She is graced, meaning she has a special talent, only hers is killing people. Or so she thinks. It takes meeting a dreamy guy named Po and helping him save the Seven Kingdoms from a bad guy named Leck to realize her Grace might be something she didn't expect after all.

While I thought the book's pacing was uneven and it got yawner long in some places, I can't help but respect Cashore's brand of YA feminism. Katsa will be no one's wife, or mother. She will take Po as a lover, and to hell with anyone who thinks that's wrong. She's a fighter, and decides that she will spend her life training young girls to fight. At one point in the novel she wonders why the weaker gender (in physical strength) never gets encouraged to learn to fight when young, like boys do.

(Got me thinking about my own childhood, how I was encouraged to set the table, do laundry, wear panty hose, while my twin brother was encouraged to play with GI Joe figurines and watch "The Incredible Hulk." Me, spoons and forks. Him, a big green man with bulging muscles, a short temper, and a penchant for violence. Interesting).

The book also made me want a Grace..but what would I want my Grace to be? Mind-reading? I think that would get exhausting, but it'd be fun. Camouflage? That'd be cool. I always wanted one of those capes Harry Potter wore, the one that makes you invisible. Or maybe I would just settle for being able to multiply myself by 10 so I could get everything done in a day that needs to get done. Yes, I like that Grace idea very much.

Cashore's second book, Fire, is the pre-quel companion novel to Graceling, which means it is set some 30 years before the events in Graceling take place. There's one crossover character who plays a big role, but you'll have to read the book to see who that is. My complaint with this one (and this may just be a sign of me getting old) is that I couldn't keep up with everyone and the who's-who of which kingdom. I had to turn back a couple of times and re-read to remember--why is Fire at that castle again? What is she supposed to be doing? Who is Murgda? And Mydogg? (I couldn't tell if some of the names were meant to be funny...I mean, don't you just want to say, Whassup Mydogg?! ha).

But other than that, again, I really like the strong female protagonist. Like Katsa, Fire refuses to marry or have children (for one, she's a human monster, and human monsters are hated by just about everyone, so ethically, there's that issue with bringing another little monster into the world), and like Katsa, she sleeps around, with girls and boys alike. And Fire kills her father because he has a serious screw missing in the morality department. And this book kept me guessing, and surprised (as did Graceling). Not predictable at all.

I like how Cashore doesn't shy away from the dark underside of life that is, well, present in everyone's life, whether we admit or not. Fire has a lot of insight into this underside, since she can read minds. She can also control others' minds, and the book raises interesting questions about privacy and power, and why some people with power choose to do good, while others abuse their power.

I think the book also presents opportunities to talk about the "male gaze"--Fire, as a human monster, is gorgeous--brightly colored and flashy and mesmerizing. You can't help but look at her. But Cashore does a nice job of showing the reader what it feels like for women to be constantly objectified--leered at as objects to be consumed. It takes its psychological toll, in ways we probably don't even realize. Because Fire can read minds, she always knows what the male (and female) gazers are thinking--and wanting--and she constantly has to defend herself, mentally and physically, against their insults.

Ultimately, I think we need more fairy tales like Cashore's. Reminiscent of the Tatterhood tales.

Check out Cashore's blog for more information on the books. Cashore is at work on her 3rd book, Bitterblue. Bitterblue is a character in Graceling.

Check out Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog for more info. about the Walden Award.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Bullied: A YA Media Text


I just finished watching the documentary Bullied, from the Southern Poverty Law Center, about the true story of Jamie Nabozny, a kid tormented in middle and high school because he is gay.

The irony of his being bullied is not lost on me as I read Anne's and Susan's posts about Speak (where a "Dr." is essentially bullying readers).

If you have not ordered this free documentary from Teaching Tolerance, do so now!

There is also a facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/BulliedMovie.

I am going to use this film tonight, instead of a short story, to talk about the levels and dimensions of setting (Smith & Wilhelm, 2010).

Amen, Sister (Teri)

I love, love, LOVE Teri Lesesne. Check out her latest response to the Doc who thinks Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak is "soft porn." http://professornana.livejournal.com/

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The banning continues... Next up, SPEAK?!

The situation regarding censorship in the United States is becoming a little ridiculous.  It is one thing to teach your own children what your own family values and believes, but, when you start forcing those values and beliefs upon others and their children, you have crossed a line, especially when it comes to a book like SPEAK

SPEAK is one of those rare books that has the ability to assist an adolescent in putting a horrible experience that they may have had into a perspective that they so desperately need.  SPEAK teaches adolescent girls that it is okay to speak up against violence and rape.  It is okay to confront your accuser.  You do not have keep in the emotion and be silent.  Tell someone and the closure may begin.

However, according to Dr. Wesley Scroggins, SPEAK is nothing but "soft pornography".  Wait...what?!?!?!  Can someone please explain to me how a young girl being raped is "soft pornography"?

Here is what Dr. Scroggins has to say:

"This is a book about a very dysfunctional family. Schoolteachers are losers, adults are losers and the cheerleading squad scores more than the football team. They have sex on Saturday night and then are goddesses at church on Sunday morning. The cheer squad also gets their group-rate abortions at prom time. As the main character in the book is alone with a boy who is touching her female parts, she makes the statement that this is what high school is supposed to feel like. The boy then rapes her on the next page. Actually, the book and movie both contain two rape scenes." (Read the full article here.)

I am not sure what book Dr. Scroggins read, but it sure was not SPEAK.

If you go to any YA author's blog right now, you will find a discussion of this situation.  Here are a couple of good reads:
However, if you do not quite feel angry enough, yet, why not read Dr. Scroggins 29 page manifesto about everything that is wrong with the curriculum in his town of Republic, MO, which includes a discussion of how the separation of church and state is a myth and freedom of expression was created by a liberal Supreme Court to "justify many perversions in our society".

This needs to stop.  It has to stop!!!!  What will be next on the chopping block?  

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Ship Breaker: A Tale of Foreshadowing?



Earlier this summer--during the middle of the Gulf oil spill crisis--I came across a review (somewhere) of Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker, a futuristic story set in the Gulf Coast. When the story opens we meet Nailer, the teen protagonist working for a light crew whose job it is to go into old, rusted out tankers and strip their parts. Nailer, being so small, gets into the innards of the old ships and strips the copper wire.

It is a rough, sad world, where everyone on crew is tired and hungry and half-men guard the men running the crew, men who live slightly better lives than the workers. Nailer and his friends see the huge clippers way out in the water rushing to bigger and better places where the "swanks" (the wealthy; i.e., anyone who is not poor like them) live. In essence, Nailer and his friends keep the swanks in their lifestyles.

It is a place where luck and fate are talked about and lived every day. People make sacrifices to the rust gods and other incarnations of "religious" figures that happened over the years.

Nailer becomes one of the lucky, in terms of fate, when he survives falling into an old oil holding tank in one of the ships, even after his coworker, Sloth (who swore a blood oath with him) found him but left him to die. Luck follows him when he and his friend Pima finds a wrecked ship after a city killer (hurricane) that contains a single living passenger: a girl, Nita, whose family controls one of the largest shipping companies in the world at the time.

But, luck does not last for long. Nailer's father and his mean crew finds the trio and knows that Nita is worth money, and he won't hesitate to do anything, even kill his son to get it. Nita and Nailer make their escape, jumping a train to Orleans (a new city built on the edge of the underwater New Orleans) to find one of her family's ships.

I won't divulge any more of the story from there.

While this book has some gaps in terms of plot, it is a fantastic read. I could not put it down and read it every chance I got. What I like most is the many messages it delivers for readers. For example, there is quite a bit about the future of the planet and the environment and characters provide the warning and scolding. At one point, as they are on the train going over the old city of New Orleans Tool (their half-man guard) says, "No one expected Category Six hurricanes. They didn't have city killers then. The climate changed. The weather shifted. They did not anticipate well."

The novel is an examination of social class, too. While they are in Orleans trying to find Nita's people, they can't afford a water taxi and are forced to wade through the filty water using a system of buoys and wooden planks under the water (p. 209).

[Nita asks] "Why don't they just use boats?

"For these people?" Tool looked around at their fellow waders. "They are not worth it."

"Still, someone could make a boardwalk. It wouldn't even cost that much."

"Spending money on the poor is like throwing money into a fire. They'll just consume it and never thank you," Tool said.

Tool himself is an interesting character for discussion. As a half-man (essentially half man half dog), he was created and bred to be loyal to his patron, to the death. But Tool is not and throughout the book we never quite learn why--although this would make a great discussion question for students to explore.

Another issue in the book is the idea of family and loyalty. Nailer's father is loyal only to himself, so friends become family. Throughout the book Nailer and others have to choose between trying to get rich(er) or staying true to themselves. Some are and some aren't. Given the state of our culture, this is too good a theme to not explore.

All of these themes--our planet, conservation, loyalty, fate, greed, family, etc.--are interrelated in this novel. I highly recommend it.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Sherman Alexie Banned. Can I Move to Canada?

Can you imagine being told your life story isn't "appropriate"? is "indecent"? I'm feeling really down about this.

http://ncacblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/sherman-alexie-novel-officially-banned-from-missouri-school/

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100909/NEWS04/9090375/Stockton-book-ban-upheld-7-0-in-packed-public-forum

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/an-introduction-to-native-amer.html

I'm posting Ellen Hopkins' rage against censorship, her "Manifesto." Makes me feel a little better reading it:

To you zealots and bigots and false
patriots who live in fear of discourse.
You screamers and banners and burners
who would force books
off shelves in your brand name
of greater good.

You say you're afraid for children,
innocents ripe for corruption
by perversion or sorcery on the page.
But sticks and stones do break
bones, and ignorance is no armor.
You do not speak for me,
and will not deny my kids magic
in favor of miracles.

You say you're afraid for America,
the red, white and blue corroded
by terrorists, socialists, the sexually
confused. But we are a vast quilt
of patchwork cultures and multi-gendered
identities. You cannot speak for those
whose ancestors braved
different seas.

You say you're afraid for God,
the living word eroded by Muhammed
and Darwin and Magdalene.
But the omnipotent sculptor of heaven
and earth designed intelligence.
Surely you dare not speak
for the father, who opens
his arms to all.

A word to the unwise.
Torch every book.
Char every page.
Burn every word to ash.
Ideas are incombustible.
And therein lies your real fear.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Amen, Sister (Sarah)

Check out YAL author Sarah Ockler's (Twenty Boy Summer) excellent blog post on why censorship sucks: http://sarahockler.com/blog/

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

A Poem About YA Lit

I am currently taking a course regarding composition techniques for secondary students. One of my assignments was to create a map poem. This type of poem is generally a list poem that maps an area. We were supposed to map some place that was important to us. I decided to map my YA book shelf. However, I took it a step further, and, instead of just a list, I wrote a full poem using YA Lit titles. The titles are capitalized, and I was somehow able to do this in alphabetical order by author. I hope you like it.

The YAL Path

The CATALYST which helps me break my CHAINS
is the desire to SPEAK up against the FEED of oppression.
I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS,
and I do not need to GO ASK ALICE.
The isn't THE SONG OF AN INNOCENT BYSTANDER
or a HATELIST about ALL THE BROKEN PIECES.
But BEFORE I DIE I will be FORGED BY FIRE in the DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN,
because there is SOMETHING WICKED about this world,
and I must break the RULES before I WAKE, FADE, and am GONE.
But FALLEN ANGELS are not always MONSTERs,
and BEFORE I FALL I will write one LAST SONG.
It will cause some to SHIVER and others to LINGER.
The UGLIES will rise and overcome the PRETTIES, SPECIALS, and EXTRAS.
But in the end this is just THE STORY OF A GIRL.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Our Book...Coming Soon!


We're not crazy about the cover (we had little input in that decision), but we're super excited about our book on YA lit coming out in November. (You can pre-order through the NCTE Bookstore website now, though). :)

Description of book:

Sales of young adult literature are stronger than ever. When we pay attention to what teens are reading outside of the classroom, we see that young adult novels are the books teens buy with their allowance money, pass around to their friends, and write about in their blogs or at fan fiction sites. These are the books that tell teens their lives matter and their own life stories are important.

Authors Susan L. Groenke and Lisa Scherff offer suggestions for incorporating YA lit into the high school curriculum by focusing on a few key questions:

•Which works of YA literature work better for whole-class instruction and which are more suitable for independent reading and/or small-group activities?
•What can teachers do with YA lit in whole-class instruction?
•How can teachers use YA novels to address the needs of diverse readers in mixed-ability classrooms?


Each chapter opens with an introduction to and description of a different popular genre or award category of YA lit—science fiction, realistic teen fiction, graphic novels, Pura Belpré award winners, nonfiction texts, poetry, historical YA fiction—and then offers suggestions within that genre for whole-class instruction juxtaposed with a young adult novel more suited for independent reading or small-group activities.

Groenke and Scherff present a variety of activities for differentiated instruction for the novel they’ve chosen for whole-class study, and provide an appendix of titles, by genre, that interest adolescent readers.

This book helps English teachers address the different reading needs and strengths adolescents bring to our classrooms. Highlighting some of the best young adult literature published since 2000, this book shows that YA lit is for all students and deserves a more central place in secondary literature instruction.


Go ahead and get your copy, and we'll sign it for you! :)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Remembering Katrina

It's been a while since I posted (thanks to new semester starting and other job duties that keep me from reading YA lit, boo hiss), but on this 5th anniversary of Katrina I thought it appropriate to FINALLY read Josh Neufeld's A.D. New Orleans: After the Deluge. It's been reviewed here, and it's available in its original SMITH Magazine format here. I love the graphics, from the first pages of slanted rain and the before/after bird's-eye views of the city, to the use of muted greys to denote flashbacks.

The story follows 7 very different New Orleanians in the days leading up to the flood, and then a year later. There's Leo and Michelle, young hipsters who decide to leave town at the last minute. Leo frets about leaving his beloved comic books behind. Abbas owns a convenience store, and although his family leaves town for Houston, he decides to stay to protect the store against looters. Darnell is Abbas' friend, who decides to wait out the storm with him. Kwame is a high school senior, son of a pastor, who flees with his family to his older brother's college dorm in Tallahassee, FL. Brobson is a rich doctor who doesn't believe a storm's really coming. In fact, he throws a "hurricane party" the night before the storm hits. Denise is living with her mother, a surgical tech at a hospital. They plan to wait out the storm and take shelter at the hospital. Only, when they get to the hospital, it's overcrowded and Denise decides to head back home.

Then the storm hits, and the levees hold at first...

...but then they breach, and the flooding starts.

Denise and her family end up at the Superdome, and when no one arrives with water or medical attention, or help of any kind, all she can think is, "They are trying to kill us all." Abbas decides to leave his store behind when Darnell, who has asthma, has an attack. They are able to hop on a boat that happens by the store's rooftop and both men are eventually reunited with family. Nothing happens to the rich white doctor--he's safe in the French Quarter, and bemoans the loss of his favorite snazzy lunch spot, Galatoire's. Kwame and his brother are sent to live with relatives in California, while his mother and father struggle to rebuild their church in New Orleans. Leo loses all his beloved comic books, and he and Michelle spend time with various family members until deciding to return to New Orleands to re-build.

This is a touching, poignant read, especially as you watch Denise, Leo/Michelle, and Abbas agonize over what they lose in the flood--material items, their homes, their sense of place/identity, and time. Denise struggles further in her decision to return to New Orleans, and Abbas struggles with the decision he made to leave his store during the flooding. To stay, or flee, or return home? Agonizing questions, made all the more tragic against the backdrop of larger unanswered questions about humanity and our responsibilities to each other.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Mudbound


I just finished rereading Mudbound by Hillary Jordan as I am preparing to teach it to a class of ninth grade students. I read it over the course of my flight from Birmingham to Madison, Wisconsin. I completely marked up the margins with notes, comments, and questions, and I underlined so much of the text that it is ridiculous.

You must read this Alex award winner! I'll be honest, I can't do the book justice trying to write my own summary, so I have copied and pasted from Jordan's website (where you can also read the first couple of chapters and download a reading guide):

In the winter of 1946, Henry McAllen moves his city-bred wife, Laura, from their comfortable home in Memphis to a remote cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta — a place she finds both foreign and frightening. While Henry works the land he loves, Laura struggles to raise their two young children in a rude shack with no indoor plumbing or electricity, under the eye of her hateful, racist father-in-law. When it rains, the waters rise up and swallow the bridge to town, stranding the family in a sea of mud.

As the McAllans are being tested in every way, two celebrated soldiers of World War II return home to the Delta. Jamie McAllan is everything his older brother Henry is not: charming, handsome, and sensitive to Laura’s plight, but also haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black tenant farmers who live on the McAllan farm, comes home from fighting the Nazis with the shine of a war hero, only to face far more personal — and dangerous — battles against the ingrained bigotry of his own countrymen. It is the unlikely friendship of these two brothers-in-arms, and the passions they arouse in others, that drive this powerful debut novel.

Mudbound is told in riveting personal narratives by the individual members of the McAllan and Jackson families. As they strive for love and honor in a brutal time and place, they become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale and find redemption where they least expect it.

This is storytelling at its most indelible — fierce, unflinching and deeply human. Mudbound won the 2006 Bellwether Prize for Fiction, awarded biannually to a first literary novel that addresses issues of social justice.

You can hear the author read from the novel here: http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/writersblock/episode.jsp?essid=24835

Friday, August 20, 2010

Common Core Curriculum Maps

I encourage you to check out the Common Core's Curriculum Maps in English Language Arts...dodgy business, as some are saying these are not grounded in good literacy research. Not only do teachers have lists of books to teach, now they have maps of what to teach, when. These maps are available for public comment until 9/17...take a look and respond! http://www.commoncore.org/maps/

Common Core’s Curriculum Maps in English Language Arts were written by public school teachers for public school teachers. The maps translate the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Kindergarten through 12th grade into unit maps that teachers can use to plan their year, craft their own more detailed curriculum, and create lesson plans. The maps are flexible and adaptable, yet they address every standard in the CCSS. Any teacher, school, or district that chooses to follow the Common Core maps can be confident that they are adhering to the standards. Even the topics the maps introduce grow out of and expand upon the "exemplar" texts recommended in the CCSS. And because they are free, the maps will save school districts millions in curriculum development costs. The draft maps are available for public comment until September 17. Please tell us what you think!