Why We Need a (Gay) Superhero

This past spring, when looking for a YA novel to fit the GLBTQ genre, I was quite honestly overwhelmed with the list of really good choices. I went to the Stonewall Awards list from the ALA and the Lambda Literary Awards, too.

I would look titles up on amazon and then see where the “you might like” links too me . . . it was a really tough decision. I was torn between some titles, including Perry Moore’s Hero.

Ultimately, I went with The God Box by Alex Sanchez. In the book, Manuel, who is openly gay, pulls Bible verses that show that God and Jesus did not outright say homosexuality is a sin. I hoped my students would like the book, and they did.

However, still interested in Hero, I broke down and bought it (although I have 100+ books I have paid for and not yet read) and LOVED it.

Here’s the summary from Moore’s website:

Thom Creed is used to being on his own. Even as a high school basketball star, he has to keep his distance because of his father. Hal Creed had once been one of the greatest and most beloved superheroes of The League-until the Wilson Towers incident. After that Thom's mother disappeared and his proud father became an outcast.

The last thing in the world Thom would ever want is to disappoint his father. So Thom keeps two secrets from him: First is that he's gay. The second is that he has the power to heal people. Initially, Thom had trouble controlling his powers. But with trial and error he improves, until he gets so good that he catches the attention of the League and is asked to join. Even though he knows it would kill his dad, Thom can't resist. When he joins the League, he meets a motley crew of other heroes, including tough-talking Scarlett, who has the power of fire from growing up near a nuclear power plant; Typhoid Larry, who makes everyone sick by touching them, but is actually a really sweet guy; and wise Ruth, who has the power to see the future. Together these unlikely heroes become friends and begin to uncover a plot to kill the superheroes. Along the way, Thom falls in love, and discovers the difficult truth about his parents' past.

What a great, and might I say, much needed concept and what a complex book to use with students. What I loved most about the book is that the main focus is not that the main character is gay (although I think it is very important that he is) but the emphasis on keeping secrets (can secrets also be lies?) and how that impacts the people around us. Thom has his secrets; so does his dad; so does his mom (what a way Moore introduces her later in the book). Those around him, the other heroes, all have their secrets too. Eventually, the secrets have to come out, but there is a price. Yet, in the end, what Thom feared most (and he had good reason to because of the prejudice and threats), that being gay would ruin him with not only his father but the public, never happened. We need (gay) heroes like Thom Creed for our students, especially those who are GLBTQ. Judging by how many times I still hear “that’s so gay” or “homo” or “faggot” in school hallways, GLBTQ kids must not feel like the heroes they are.

There are many opportunities for discussion with this book and I encourage you to read it for yourself. On a side note, started after he read about how women were treated (abused and killed off) in comics, on his website, Moore has compiled a list of gay comic book heroes!!!

The Beauty of The Book Thief

Three times in the past I have tried to read Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief; I Am the Messenger is my favorite YA book since 2000 (I voted for it when Joan Kaywell sent her email around), so I figured I would dive in and read the monster book in no time flat. Well, each time I was interrupted and had to start over from the beginning. Well, after sitting on my bookshelf for four years and with the fall semester rapidly approaching, I decided it was time to read it so I will have time to plan with the teacher I will be working with.

I will be co-teaching in a local high school again this year in a 9th grade class with the teacher who worked with me and the summer reading program. We will be teaching entirely through YA lit! No boring textbook! No grammar book! No test preparation!

Back to The Book Thief.

Beyond the story, the writing is amazing! Last year, in my teaching writing class, I used Jeff Anderson’s Mechanically Inclined. In it, he promotes the use of “mentor texts,” wonderfully crafted sentences from literature to teach and reteach mechanics and grammar.

I thought it would be worth mentioning some of the beautiful language and stylistic devices in Zusak’s novel as they provide wonderful examples for students. And these are only a few from only the first 35 pages!

Fragments:
• I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that’s only the A’s. (p. 3)
• Then warming up completely. Healing. (p. 21)
• Wirelike shins. Coat hanger arms. (p. 31)

Personification:
• It was like the whole globe was dressed in snow. Like it had pulled it on, the way you pull on a sweater. (p. 6)
• The plane was still coughing. Smoke was leaking from both its lungs. (p. 9)
• The train limped through the snowed-in country. It hobbled in and stopped. (p. 22)
• That strange word was always there somewhere, standing in the corner, watching from the dark. It wore suits, uniforms. (p. 31)

Similes:
• The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. (p. 12)
• The boy’s spirit was soft and cold, like ice cream. (p. 21)
• The cemetery welcomed me like a friend. (p. 22)

Metaphors:
• Liesel was sure her mother carried the memory of him, slung over her shoulder. (p. 25)
• The day was gray, the color of Europe. (p. 27)

Here, Zusak describes the inspiration behind this fabulous book: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/markuszusak/author.html#3

War-Themed Graphic Texts

Today being July 4th, I thought it would be fitting to take a first look (and revisit) some graphic novels that would not only be appealing to teens but fit nicely in the ELA curriculum and promote cross-curricular collaborations.


I just finished Refresh, Refresh which was written by Danica Novgordoff based off the award-winning short story by Benjamin Percy (also adapted into a screenplay by James Ponsoldt). [the graphic novel has also been honored: one of the top 10 graphic novels by USA Today, ALA great graphic novel for teens,The Young Adult Round Table (YART) of the Texas Library Association (TLA) named it A Texas Maverick Graphic Novel.]


The story centers on three teenage boys--Josh, Cody, and Gordon--living in Oregon whose Marine reservist fathers are fighting in the Iraq War. The boys, trying to stay strong and prove they are men (to themselves and their absent fathers) engage in increasingly self-destructive behaviors as the novel progresses.

I won't give away the ending, but this novel is one that left me feeling hollow . . . in a good way. There is so much teachers could do with this novel, although I would love a multi-point of view war study unit, which would include the next title, one of my favorites of all time: Pride of Baghdad.


Pride of Baghdad (Vertigo) is the powerful grahic novel written by Brian K. Vaughan with art and cover by Niko Henrichon, and edited by Will Dennis. In this allegorical tale Vaughan recounts how a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad zoo after a 2003 US bombing raid. Confused, hungry, and scared the animals roamed the streets before being killed by US soldiers.

The artwork is breathtaking.


The story is horrific.

We (a ninth grade teacher and I) are actually going to use this novel to open up the school year. The students have had a hard time with "taking action" after reading many of the books we have taught, Ties that Bind comes to mind, because either the book is set too far in the past or too far away, geographically. However, we are using this novel as a springboard to social justice/action oriented research [sadly, we have some recent and present issues relating to animals that we can work from--Katrina and the Gulf oil spill].

I HIGHLY recommend this graphic novel--if you haven't read it, you need to.

Finally, I am left with Howard Zinn's (with Paul Buhle and Mike Konopacki) A People's History of the American Empire, which I bought last summer and never got around to reading. With his passing this year and my re-reading of Pride of Baghdad, I pulled it from the shelf--and it fits nicely with my war-themed graphic novel talk.

A colleague in social studies education and I are going to have our methods students collaborate and co-plan their unit plan this fall in methods and Zinn's book is one that we are going to list as an option (all units must include a YA title).

The book opens with the September 11th attack as a prolouge and then begins from "our" beginning, note the irony ("The Internal Empire") and goes all the way up to Bush II and Guantanamo Bay. The graphics are amazing, combinations of black and white photos with comic illustrations, maps, primary documents, etc. There's even a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg narrated by Viggo Mortensen as a supplemtnal text.

For supporting work, there's also the American Empire Project: http://www.americanempireproject.com/americanempireproject.htm.

Middle School YA Lit?

Okay, I admit it: I am a snob and lazy. As much as I know I should read more "middle school" YA literature, I just find it hard to do. I was never a middle school teacher and haven't spent any extended time in a middle school since I was in eighth grade (1982, I think). I love high school! I love YA and Alex award winners that push the boundaries. So, what do I with middle school YA lit?

I received a copy of Torrey Maldonado's Secret Saturdays recently and picked it up after a very happy reading of The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate--which I loved.

However, I just am having a hard time with Secret Saturdays.



His book has gotten some good endorsements, and two very good reviews on amazon.com, but I am not loving it but I think it is because I (a) don't know how middle schoolers, especially sixth graders talk; (b) don't know how urban, big city middle schoolers talk; (c) don't know how middle schoolers think.

I am just over halfway through and am curious to learn the mystery of the secret Saturdays. I do think this novel, subject-wise, would resonate with many students: bullying, self-image, doing the right thing, single-parents.

I am curious if anyone has read this book yet and can tell me if it is authentic.

A Real Life Lesson: Students' Inability to "Find" Books to Read

Today is one of my favorite days in our summer reading program: Barnes and Noble Day! We set aside money each year to take the high school students to Barnes and Noble to buy books. Each student is allowed up to $15 to pick any type of book he or she wants. I encourage my YA lit students to help--letting the class out 1.5 hours early. I provide my students with tape recorders and flip cameras to "record" their conversations with the teens: What book are you looking for? What type of book do you want to buy? Do you have any favorite authors?

The questions start there, but what my students quickly find out is that it can be hard for them to help the high school students find books. One female student stared at the teen section shelves.

"Can I help you find something?" I ask.

"I want a scary book," she replied.

"Okay," I say. "What type of scary would you like? Monster? Vampire? Blood and guts? Teenagers involved?"

NOTHING. Not a sound.

It was clear that she had no idea what type of scary she wanted. I pressed on.

"If it was a movie, what type of scary movie do you think you would want to see?"

Still nothing.

At that point, another student came up and I grabbed a Lois Duncan book and asked her to read the back and let me know if this was the type of scary she was looking for.

This scene was being played over and over throughout the store. I could tell by my students' faces--and the way the high school kids looked lost.

After the bus took the high school students back to campus, my students stayed behind with me, voicing their frustration over not being able to help the kids (six of us tried to help one student--he ended up getting a nice sketch book instead of a book to read).

Gretchen Dougherty** writes, "One thing that I have taken for granted as a lifelong reader is how I choose books that are right for me and that I know I will enjoy. I noticed that this skill does not come naturally for many of my unmotivated and uncommitted readers. Non-readers are unfamiliar with different authors and genres, and they don’t know how to use the book itself to determine whether or not they might enjoy reading it. These students also have unformed ideas about the types of books that might interest them."

For students to know what they want or like to read, they need exposure to and many opportunities to read for pleausre--without the penalty of lost points for AR. Without a 10 question quiz. Without the mandatory book report. This problem is compounded for our students who are reading several grades below level. They don't like to let others see them reading "baby books." So, they often don't read, not realizing the consequences that lie ahead.

I hope that the experience today stays with my students as they enter their methods block this fall and student teaching in the spring--and their own classrooms down the road.




**http://www.otterbein.edu/education/JTIR/volumeII/dougherty.pdf

Printz Award Winner and Honor Books

From year to year, the set of titles that make it to the top of the Printz award are interesting. Some years, I completely agree (like when John Green won for Looking for Alaska), while in other years I am surprised and left wondering (I won't name years for this).

In my YA lit class this summer, we read four of the five the final titles (I left Punkzilla off the reading list--no room).

The first book we read was Madman Underground. From there, we read The Monstrumologist, then Going Bovine. We finished the list with Charles and Emma this week.

Here are thoughts from some of my YA students:

And I thought And Then There Were None was an awesome horror novel! The Monstrumologist is incredible, though I was definitely scared out of my mind for half of the book! As far as teaching this novel goes, I think it would be fascinating to have it read aloud. There is so much action and suspense from beginning to end, and I think a class would fly through this book. If I was in high school and reading this book, I would LOVE my teacher for letting us read something so unique and engaging.
*****
As for the books, the winner in my mind is definitely Tales of the Madman Underground. Don’t get me wrong, I thought The Rock and the River was excellent. However I enjoyed “Madman” more because the characters are just so complex. Karl is so incredibly witty and I loved the jokes, the language, everything that kid thought or said worked for me. At the same time, he lives this difficult life and can be so dark and cold, but it all weaves in and out perfectly. The same thing goes for his mom, Beth. You have these scenes of her just being the worst mom and doing terrible things to Karl that had me hating her. Then you get these glimpses of her being “normal” and caring and really protecting her son. I don’t know about anyone else but as much as I wanted to hate her fully, I had moments where I just felt sorry for her and you kind of realize she’s just mixed up, too. Repeat everything I just wrote about Beth for Coach Gratz. We are painted a picture of this guy just being a real jerk, (I won’t call him what Karl does), but again there are moments where you see he is in fact human after all.
*****
I think my absolute favorite book so far (and possibly going on my list of favorite books in general) is Tales of the Madman Underground. The main character is so different, and so endearing. It reminds me a lot of Keesha’s House in that it is relaying the stories of all these different kids with troubled lives, who carry on as normal as they can. I know that this story is told extremely well because of the fact that I am a reader who cannot relate at all with the situations of these kids and yet I empathize with them and desire to know more of their stories. I feel like I know them the way any reader should know their characters.
****
I chose Barnes’ Tales of the Madman Underground, and I was glad I did. I am a pretty slow reader, but I read the book in about two or three sittings. I really liked it for a lot of reasons. The narrator was clever, and he was very personable. While reading, I really felt like this kid was opening up to me. It was like I was listening to a recording he made of each day.
While I was reading, I thought about how this book applied to so many different people: misfits, athletes, ‘socials’ as Barnes’ named them, parents, and teachers. It was interesting to see how many types of kids were in the Madman Underground. It gave several accounts of how people from seemingly different backgrounds had more in common than anyone would think. The story showed how students could be brought together through their individual struggles. One student may have problems with anything from just being sad and another may have a family member with boundary issues, but they all recognized how hard like could be for each other, and took care of one another. It was really kind of a cool way to show a bond between an eclectic group of friends.
****
The books we covered this week were Going Bovine (my new favorite), and Charles and Emma: The Darwin’s Leap of Faith. I cannot lie, I have not finished Charles and Emma yet, but it is promising and I am interested to see how the story unfolds. Going Bovine is, by far, one of my new favorite books of all time. I never stopped laughing from beginning to end. I was sitting in the library reading it and on more than one occasion, I laughed out loud to point of having to be “shushed” by my peers. I could not get enough of every part of this book. The characters were brilliant, for lack of a better word, and the development of the story was enthralling; I never wanted it to end. I instantly fell in love with Cameron. No seriously, I had a crush on him throughout the book! The thick sarcasm was perfect and accurately depicted the mind of a sixteen year old boy as I would imagine it. The author, Libba Bray, could not have written that story in a better way. It was creative and enticing, leaving the readers with a sense of self-fulfillment through Cameron’s journey of life and death. I think the intended audience ranges to every person with the ability to pick up a book and read the words on the page; this book is limitless and also an inspiration. Though the surface of the book is awesome, there is a deeper element present that made me realize how important it is to not let life pass you by until it is almost over. Cameron taught us that life is too precious for us to simply wait around until it happens. I believe that readers of all kinds and preferences, no matter their qualms with reading, would enjoy this book to the full. I will definitely keep a copy with me at all times and recommend it to everyone I meet.

How I (and my students and their students) Am Spending My Summer Vacation

A recent USA Today news story opened with the quote "Can a $50 stack of paperback books do as much for a child's academic fortunes as a $3,000 stint in summer school?"

I don't know about a $50 stack of books, but what about one book (@$7.99) and four weeks working closely with preservice English teachers?

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We are two weeks in to a four week free summer reading program for rising 9th and 10th grade students in our town. I got the idea when I came to Alabama in 2005 after reading about the success of programs in the Baltimore area.

The summer is critical for all students, but especially poor students and students of color. Consider the following statistics from www.summerlearning.org/:

--All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. Research shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of summer vacation (Cooper, 1996).

--Low-income children and youth experience greater summer learning losses than their higher income peers. On average, middle-income students experience slight gains in reading performance over the summer months. Low-income students experience an average summer learning loss in reading achievement of over two months (Cooper, 1996).


--Summer learning loss contributes to the achievement gap in reading performance between lower and higher income children and youth. Research demonstrates that while student achievement for both middle- and lower-income students improves at similar rates during the school year, low-income students experience cumulative summer learning losses over the elementary school grades (Alexander & Entwisle, 1996).


--Large numbers of students who qualify for federally subsidized meals do not have the same level of access to nutritious meals during the summer as they do during the school year. Only one in five (21.1 per 100) of the 15.3 million children who receive free or reduced-price school lunches on a typical day during the regular school year participate in federal nutrition programs during the summer (Food Research and Action Center, 2002).


--Studies show that out-of-school time is a dangerous time for unsupervised children and teens. They are more likely to use alcohol, drugs, and tobacco; engage in criminal and other high-risk behaviors; receive poor grades; and drop out of school than those who have the opportunity to benefit from constructive activities supervised by responsible adults (Carnegie Council, 1994).

***********

I am working closely with a local high school's English department who identified the required summer reading novels--in this case YA novels (historical fiction for ninth graders and realistic fiction for tenth graders)--and then students enrolled in my YA literature class "teach" the novels over the month of June. **I added a common title (Keesha's House) to bring the two grades together.

It is amazing to watch. The fifteen students in my class range from juniors with little to no education courses under their belts to master's students getting ready to graduate with their second English education degree. They collaborate, teach, reflect, collaborate, teach, reflect--a looping process that occurs every day of the week. Many of them had not had much experience with YA novels until now (except for the Harry Potter fans). To see them see the power of YA lit and the limitless instructional possibilities gives me hope for the future.

It is also amazing to see the students transform. I'll be honest, many are there because their parents are forcing them to (or because if they don't attend, they'll be stuck babysitting younger siblings all summer). Hey, we'll take them! By the end of the second day, they are hooked!

Today was the fourth day that we had them for reading and on the way in off the bus one young 9th grade male asked me if I had another book like Keesha's House. I asked whether he meant the topic or the format. He said the format because he can't "read when the words go all across and down the page."

So, during a break, I went to my office and got a copy of Sold for him. On the way out to leave, he asked if I had any more that were like the stories in Keesha's House!! I have also been doing raffles each day, and the one day I forgot, boy, did they let me know (which is a GREAT sign that they are enjoying the reading).

As soon as I can, I will post some pictures and video clips from our time together. I will also be posting excerpts of the students' (mine and the high schoolers) work.

******

Free summer reading programs-ones that are more than remediation--are hard to find for students. With increased budget cuts, I fear that there will be nothing for many students in the summer other than "summer school" which more and more is being reduced to little more than worksheets and babysitting.