Trying to Find One’s Place
When I met author Matt de la Pena at the ALAN Convention in Chicago, I was immediately drawn to his almost shy, but warm presence. He is very real. He seemed as glad to meet me as I was to meet him. When he spoke at the convention, he told his story—he was a reluctant reader like many of my students. I had made a decision then that we need him to talk to our students at West. If that was going to happen, I needed to read his books.
I started with We are Here. It tells the story of three troubled teens in juvenile detention and then a group home. All three have lived lives I couldn’t even imagine. All three have pretty much given up, feeling they had nothing else to lose. They decide to run away.
We hear the story through Miquel’s journal. A judge had told him to do that, and in the beginning he seems to tell the tale begrudgingly, not opening up much at all. But as he does see his journal as a way to speak his mind, he lets the reader in bit by bit. I did love learning what Miquel was hiding. Giving it to the reader in this way really enhanced the book.
As an English teacher, I also liked the parallels to some classic books that Miquel read along the way. I do think we could help students understand a classic like Catcher in the Rye by pairing it with a novel they may connect to more. They can take that connection and maybe get a better understanding of what Holden was going through.
I know you’re thinking right now, oh, please—Catcher in the Rye, really? That is so cliché. It may be, but I still bought it. As a young adult novel, the story does have a positive message. It does wrap itself up nicely at the end—maybe a bit too well. So be it. That’s the nature of this beast.
I’m glad I read this. I’m going to read the excerpt Tuesday in class about the girl he meets, Flaca. I’m hoping I catch a reluctant reader. Maybe this will be the book that turns him or her around.
Can’t Wait for the Discussion
I’m going to just be honest: sometimes I procrastinate reading the student book club selection. First of all, I do like to read the book closer to the discussion, so I can remember what I read. Second, sometimes I’m not that excited about the novel and want to keep reading what I want to read. Third, time gets away from me.
That’s what happened with our January Book Club novel, The Cold Earth by Sarah Moss. I was in the middle of a Matt de la Pena book and realized that Book Club is Wednesday, and I hadn’t read any of The Cold Earth. Sigh. I had a lot to read. I thought I would give it a try, so I started reading Saturday morning.
It’s Sunday, and I’m finished with the book. It caught my attention right away. The story is gripping. I tried to figure out what was going to happen. The book is divided into letters from these archeologists who have gone to Greenland to try to learn through an excavation why this settlement left.
I know being on a dig doesn’t sound very interesting, but it was. I did learn some things about the unearthing of relics, but the story around the excavation is fascinating. An announcement for students I ran this week said: It’s a book about archeology. It’s a book about ghosts. It’s a book about a deadly epidemic. What a mix. I can’t wait to discuss it. I want to talk about the ending. I also want to talk about the characters. I want to know what was real and what wasn’t.
I had this same problem with the December Book Club selection, Room by Emma Donoghue. Although I didn’t make it to the discussion because I was too sick, I did finish the book in about 4 days. I’m afraid, though, if I hadn’t thought I was going to try to make the discussion, I would have stopped reading. I don’t like to go to a discussion without reading the entire book.
Room tells of a woman who is kidnapped and kept in the shed in the backyard of this man who uses her for his sexual pleasure. She gets pregnant and has a boy. She raises the boy in the room until he is about five. She then worries about his safety, and they make a plan to escape. It works. This is the first third of the book.
From there, the story talks about fitting back into society. The boy doesn’t know life outside the room. He doesn’t even know what it’s like to be outside. The change for him is huge, and it is hard for him. His mother, too, is reunited with her parents who have now split. She is having a hard time as well.
On top of all of this, the book is written from the boy’s point of view. I think that worked in the beginning but grew thin by the end of the book.
This book was interesting, but I kept wanting it to wrap up. I don’t know why exactly. Maybe I just wanted to be done reading. Maybe it was because I didn’t feel good. It was like watching a movie that was good but could have been 30 minutes shorter.
I didn’t write about Room after I finished it. Once I read Cold Earth, it reminded me that I hadn’t. My final comment would be I’m glad I read the January selection, and I’m not sad that I missed the December discussion.
A Look Back 2011
Another year – how does it go so fast? As I determine some of my reading highlights, I notice that my book list in 2011 was really only young adult fiction. I know that I read these books so that I have suggestions for the readers in my classes, but if I am really honest, I enjoy the stories.
So here are my top picks of 2011 (all YA):
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork: An engaging story, but its brilliance comes getting a peak into the world of someone who has Aspergers Syndrome.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs: This book is a page turner. It’s on many best of lists for this past year. It deserves it.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor: Like Miss Peregrine, Daughter of Smoke and Bone is on many lists. I really enjoyed this supernatural story, and I will read the next installment. That says a lot.
MY FAVORITE READ OF 2011: The Maze Runner by James Dashner: I was hooked in the first ten pages of this book. It is clever, action-packed, and full of twists. It is the next Hunger Games.
MY FAVORITE NON-YA READ OF 2011: I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive by Steve Earle: It didn’t hurt that I like Steve Earle and his CD of the same title has some really good songs. The story is different and engaging. Listening to Earle read it only made it better. I really cared about the characters. I have a feeling that the story came from real life experiences. Just like his music, I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive is gritty, and there is not always a happy ending.
Here’s hoping that 2012 is another great year of reading. I have just started another YA novel. This one is by Matt de la Pena. It’s a whole different voice. I’m excited to see where this story takes me.
Personal Artifacts are Important
Over the Thanksgiving break I saw Hugo at the movie theatre. I was skeptical because I thought the story, which I really liked, would be hard to capture. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised. Director Martin Scorecese captured the magic of the book.
I was so happy when Brian Selznick came out with his next book, Wonderstruck. Finally, I had time to read it. It is in the same style as The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Would this style work again? Yes, it did.
I love winter break because I have time to start a book and finish it if I want. I wanted to on this one. Besides the wonderful illustrations, Selznick has come up with another engaging story. This one involves the world of the deaf and the wonder of museums. Seems weird, doesn’t it? It’s not.
Just like Hugo, Ben has had a side turn of events in his life. After his mom is killed in an auto accident, he feels the need to meet his dad. In a weird turn of events, Ben finds hints to who his father might be. That’s where the story really begins. The picture story at the beginning is completely different. Even though I worried how the two stories would meet, they do. Just hold on until the end.
I know the next time I go to New York I want to go to the Brooklyn Museum of Art. You’ll understand why when you get to the end of the book. It’s a quick, good read.
Dystopia With Hope
There are book suggestions in all kinds of places. I think I saw Legend by Marie Lu on a list in Entertainment Weekly. The list suggested that adults would enjoy this YA book as much as younger readers. That intrigued me, and I’m glad I picked it up.
The book’s chapters go back and forth in perspective. One chapter is Day, then the next June. They are almost identical in talents and drive but each was born in a different social class. Day is very poor; June comes from money and trains with the elite soldiers of the ruling party. Their paths cross when Day breaks into a hospital to steal a plague cure for his ailing brother, and then is accused of killing June’s brother. The story takes off from there.
This dystopian novel is engaging. I liked going back and forth between the two characters. I also liked learning more and more about what happened to break apart the United States.
What disappointed me some, though, was by the end of the novel, I felt like the story became somewhat predictable. Two-thirds through the book, I pretty much knew where it was going. It did not deviate from that, unfortunately.
Even with the ending, I enjoyed the read. I know many of my students who will enjoy this type of book.
Sports With a Message
The librarian at school wants to challenge the football team to read a book. She wants to use Chris Crutcher’s Deadline. It’s a good book, and the protagonist is an athlete. When we were in Chicago and met Chris Crutcher, he said that the coach in Deadline is also in his book Running Loose. I decided I would read it.
Louie Banks is a good guy. He wants to start on the football team and works all summer to get in shape. He makes it but then disagrees with something the coach does and stands his ground. He quits. The story is about doing what is right. I really liked the message.
At the conference, Chris Crutcher told about growing up in a small town. A lot of the stories he told are reflected in this book. It is so true that you write about what you know.
I’m glad I have another book to suggest with an athletic theme. I also think once the football team gets through Deadline, some will now have another choice to keep on reading. I hope they take this challenge and succeed. The librarian also got Chris Crutcher to sign an agreement to talk to the team if they meet their goal. How cool!
Science Made Interesting
When I was in high school, I enjoyed science especially biology. Not all of my peers did. I can also see that in school now. What if all science readings were like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot? I think I would have understood cellular biology a little better. Maybe more would choose the science path as a career. Who knows?
The other part of the book that I really found interesting was the politics of science. I had never really thought about that. It was
interesting and disturbing to hear.
I actually listened to this book. It was really well done. I almost felt like I was on the journey to learn more about Henrietta Lacks with the author. One of the best parts of the audio tape was the interview with Skloot at the end. Writing this book must have been quite the experience.
I am still amazed at the impact Henrietta’s cells had but how little her family gained from her contribution. How nice it would have been if her family could have had good free health care or her descendents could have had college educations.
Honestly, I looked forward to the chapters about Henrietta. When the book would go into the more scientific chapters, I would be anxious to return to the Lacks. Yet, I’m glad I never skipped through the CDs. I did learn a lot. The human element made the science so much more palatable and interesting.
When I put my copy of the audio of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on the bookshelf in the English Office, I hope one of my colleagues picks it up—especially if he or she teaches science. Wouldn’t it be great if this read spurred the Science Department to get class sets of this book and use it in biology classes. That would be great!
A Fun, Girl Teen Series
Two girls in my sixth hour class asked if I had read Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty. They thought I would enjoy it. I looked the title up and saw that it was the first of five books. I also read that it was about a teenage girl and her troubles with trying to fit in. Sigh. It didn’t really sound like my kind of book, but I ordered it along with Second Helpings. I would give it a try.
The book is written like a journal, divided by each month with days as chapters–not every day, just select days. I read the first couple of entries, and I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to see what my students saw in this book. The next day, I read a couple of more days, and Jessica Darling’s life started to intrigue me. Her best friend has moved, and Jessica was having trouble adjusting to her sophomore year without her.
All of a sudden, I was looking forward to getting back to the book each night before going to sleep. I wanted to hear Jessica’s take on her life. I laughed aloud at times and gasped at others. As the story unfolded, I cared. The plot is a little predictable,
but because of the way it is written, I didn’t care.
When I reached the end, I went through series shock. The book leaves off right at a part where Hope, the best friend, is coming back to visit and a romantic relationship may or may not happen. To find out, now I need to read the next book. Argh.
I’m not a series reader. I’m going to move on to another book, but maybe over winter break or next summer I may read another installment or two. Or I may not. I do know that I know some young readers who will like this series. I also know the
two who recommended the book scooped up Second Helpings and giggled as they left the room, excited to read book two. I like seeing that.
New Book Worth the Read
I’m not sure how to describe Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor, but I do know that I liked reading it and bought into the premise completely. I liked the book enough that I might even read the next book when it comes out. That is saying a lot!
Coming off directing The Diary of Anne Frank where hope was such an important element, it was wild to have the same theme throughout this book:
Hope? Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, just like magic.
Karou is an artist in Prague who has been raised by chimaera, creatures with multiple types of animal parts. I know, sounds confusing and hokey, but it’s
not. Karou has lead a secret life on Earth because Brimstone has portals to their world because he buys all types of teeth from hunters around this world. The chimaera and seraphim have been fighting for years, and it all comes to a head when Karou meets Akiva, an angel who comes to close the portals to try to defeat the chimaera.
Okay. Okay. I’m not going to try to explain the story anymore because I’m not doing a good job of it, and I want people to read this book. It is grittier than Twilight yet just as engaging and sprinkled with romance. I thought I
figured out Karou’s and Akiva’s attraction, and I was completely off-base. I like that.
If you’re looking for a new series or a single book that is different, engaging, worth the read, try Daughter of Smoke and Bone. By the end of the book, you’ll understand the title, and it will all make perfect sense.
We are the Rotters
When I read about a young adult novel that centered on grave robbers, I thought it would be way too gross to read. Since I try to look for books to recommend of all types, and because the review was good, I decided to give Rotters by Daniel Kraus, a try.
To me this book was more about being alone and bullied then about robbing graves, at least the first two-thirds of the read. In the forward, a young boy worries about his mother. He is afraid she is going to die. He imagines all kinds of scenarios. None come true, until he lets his guard down, and she is hit by a bus. Even though Joey Crouch has never met his father, his social worker sends him to live with his dad because his mom’s will dictates it.
Once he gets to a small Midwestern town, his dad doesn’t want him, the kids at school don’t like him, and his best friend from New York has moved on without him. Eventually, Joey is determined to find out what his dad does and tails him. He finds that he is robbing graves. He eventually convinces his dad to teach him his trade. The book then enters into the world of diggers.
Learning about the grave robbers’ code of ethics and network was really interesting. It was also interesting to follow Joey as he gains a new sense of worth. I cared about each character. As much as I wanted to not like Joey’s dad, I did. Even the creepy subject didn’t “creep” me out.
If I had one complaint, it was the good vs. evil aspect of the story. That part got a little heavy handed at the end. This did not, though, stop me from recommending the book to some of my students. I have one boy who read it and liked it. I’m glad I didn’t turn up my nose to the subject.
