Poetry, Drama, Film & Graphic Novels ~ The Rose That Grew From Concrete

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Rose-That-Grew-from-Concrete/Tupac-Shakur/e/9780671028442/?itm=7&usri=tupac+shakur, accessed November 21, 2009. 

Bibliography

Shakur, Tupac.  1999.  THE ROSE THAT GREW FROM CONCRETE.  New York: Pocket Books.  ISBN 9780671028442

Critical Analysis

Written in his own hand from the time he was nineteen until the age of twenty-one, these seventy-two poems encompass the spirit and passion of an up and coming star.  The young rapper-to-be wrote poems of love, passion, depression and hope.  Some are angry, all are powerful.  The poetry is much more delicate than the rap lyrics that would make him famous.  Each poem is written in his own handwriting as well as in typeface, and ideographs are used throughout.  These characteristics will engage young readers from the start.  Broken up inot four parts, the love poetry is sensitive, often with responsibility as an underlying theme.  ""sex" only with my girl because i love her/ "babies" impossible I always use a rubber"  "What Can I Offer Her?" and "Government Assistance or My Soul" speak of unemployment and the title poem celebrates growth in spite of obstacles.  This small volume of poems of his youth were collected by his manager Leila Steinberg and published with the permission of his mother, who also writes the preface.  Readers will understand the helplessness the author felt as a young black male, wanting to become famous but not knowing how to make that happen.  Librarians and teachers should read Tupac's lyrics before recommending them to students and/or patrons.  They may be found at http://www.elyrics.net/song/t/tupac-shakur-lyrics.html.  After reading the lyrics of a selection of his raps songs, you realize, sadly, that this was a talent that died before his prime. 

Review Excerpts

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "A collection of poetry written by the rapper between 1989 and 1991, before he became famous. The poems are passionate, sometimes angry, and often compelling. Selections are reproduced from the originals in Shakur's handwriting, personalized by distinctive spelling and the use of ideographs (a drawing of an eye for I, etc.), and complete with scratch outs and corrections."

VOYA: "When nineteen-year-old Shakur joined the writing circle of Leila Steinberg, as she relates in her introduction to this collection, he became its leading force. The young rapper-to-be wrote love poems, distressed poems, depressed poems. There is passion here, including anger, but this poetry is far more gentle, albeit less powerful, than the rap lyrics that would make him infamous."

Poetry, Drama, Film & Graphic Novels ~ One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/One-of-Those-Hideous-Books-Where-the-Mother-Dies/Sonya-Sones/e/9781416907886/?itm=4&usri=Sonya+Sones, accessed November 21, 2009.

Bibliography

Sones, Sonya.  2004.  ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES.  New York:  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.  ISBN 9780689858208

Critical Analysis

In this touchingly real verse novel, we meet fifteen year-old Ruby whose mother has just died of caner.  When the story begins she is flying across the country to live in Los Angeles with her faher whom she has never met.  Ruby thinks she knows everything she needs to know about her movie star father: he left before she was born, he hasn't tried to contact her all these years, he lives in "Hell-A."  Ruby has resolved that she will not like her father, Whip Logan.  She treats him horribly, and he silently takes her abuse.  But she is not prepared for the fact that under different circumstances, she might actually like her father.  He collects classic cars, has made her room her "dream room" and has Cameron Diaz for a neighbor.  He also has a really great personal assistant, Max, whom Ruby really loves.  Ruby is enrolled in a private school where many celebrities children attend and as the school year progresses, she begins to find a home in Los Angeles.  When a boy that attends her school is killed in a car accident, the effect on Ruby is palpable.  The night of the accident Ruby has a dream that her mother calls her and tells her to "Get out of the House!"  When she wakes from the dream she puts on her clothes and walks to the "Tree of Death" where her classmate died.  Whip follows her here and as he envelopes her in a hug and she cies for the first time since her mother's death, an earthquake hits.  What follows are some important discoveries about Whip, Ruby and the past.  Ruby finds that he is quite the different person than she was led to believe.  Sones writes with a poetic plot-driven style that wondrously connects each new character to the next event in the story.  The story addresses friendship, betrayal, stereotyping and parent-child relationships in such a way that readers will find refreshing.  Young adults will be drawn to the page-long chapters, believable first-person narrative and memorable characters. 

Review Excerpts

ALAN REVIEW: "Ruby Milliken shines as a saga unfolds from the mind of a teenager in this fast-paced novel of vibrant emotions and high drama. Ruby is a fifteen-year-old who has just lost her mother, home, and reason for living. She moves across the country to live with her movie star father leaving behind her boyfriend, Ray, and best friend, Lizzie. A look into the mind of Ruby is like boarding a jolting roller coaster as she thrives on impulsive decisions and peaks of emotion."

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "In one- to two-page breezy poetic prose-style entries, 15-year-old Ruby Milliken describes her flight from Boston to California and her gradual adjustment to life with her estranged movie-star father following her mother's death. E-mails to her best friend, her boyfriend, and her mother ("in heaven") and outpourings of her innermost thoughts display her overwhelming unhappiness and feelings of isolation, loss, and grief."

Poetry, Drama, Film & Graphic Novels ~ Keesha's House

Book Cover Photo Source: Macmillan Books, http://us.macmillan.com/keeshashouse, accessed November 19, 2009.

Bibliography

Frost, Helen. KEESHA’S HOUSE. 2003. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
ISBN 0374340641

Critical Analysis

In this contemporary young adult verse novel we are introduced to seven teenagers whose common thread are the difficulties they face each day. Stephie is pregnant and struggling to make the right decisions for herself and her family, “Love and terror both grow bigger/every day inside me.” Jason is torn between his responsibility to Stephie and the baby, and the dream of a college basketball scholarship. Dontay is in foster care waiting for his parents to get out of prison, and doesn’t feel like he fits in anywhere, “I don’t mind sleepin’ on the floor a night/or two. Three or four places I can spend the night/a couple times before they figure out/I got no place/to live.” We also meet Katie, who has run from an abusive step father, Harris, who is kicked out of his house because he confesses that he’s gay, and Carmen, who after being arrested for DUI, is awaiting her case to be heard in a juvenile detention center. And in the center of it all is Keesha, whose mother is dead and whose father is an alcoholic.

Keesha has found a safe place to live at Joe’s. About a third of the way through the book we find out that Joe was just like they were when he was twelve, “-bruised, scared, clenched fists,-/all I knew then was: I could stay.” His Aunt Annie took him in and told him that he could stay as long as he needed. He stayed until she died and left the house to him. He knows that he can’t give the kids the real care that they need, but what he does say that I found profound was this: “I can give them space-and space is time.”

In the last chapter of this book we have a sense that each character is hopeful for their future. The poems flow into one another freely, one person’s words turning into the next. Dontay talks about his parents getting out of prison in three months, “Three months. That’s a mountain I can climb.” And on the next page is Carmen who is talking about not having a drink in three months, “Three months now on that mountain. I can climb/it step by step.” The characters drift in an out of Keesha’s house, some staying just a few days, some much longer, but all ending up in a better place once they have visited this house with the wide blue door set back off of the street.

Review Excerpt(s)

PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY Review: “Making the most of the poetic forms, the author breathes life into these teens and their stories, resulting in a thoughtfully composed and ultimately touching book.”

KIRKUS REVIEWS: “In a surprisingly rigid format, the poems manage to seem spontaneous and still carry the plot easily. With a number of threads to follow, no one character is at the center, but there is great satisfaction in seeing the narratives gradually mesh as the isolation recedes and support is given. Impressive.”

KLIATT Review: “A new addition to the poetry novel genre, Keesha's House is composed of sonnets and sestinas in both traditional and creative structures. Frost uses these forms to introduce us to the teens who congregate in and around a safe haven, a house owned by a man named Joe who "knows the value" of having a place to stay when your own home has become toxic.”

VOYA Review: “Keesha's house with its blue door is really Joe's-a haven for lost and unwanted teens in trouble, offering shelter, safety, and sober comfort when the loving home for which one wishes just is not happening. Compelling first-person accounts by and about seven bewildered teens grip the reader.”

Connections

Invite students to write their own sestinas and sonnets about something important in their lives or at school. Talk about ways to turn their ideas into a short book. Display these in the classroom of hallway.

Biography and Non-Fiction ~ War Is...: Soldiers, Survivors and Storytellers Talk About War

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/War-Is/Marc-Aronson/e/9780763636258/?itm=2&usri=war+is+soldiers+survivors+and+storytellers, accessed November 4, 2009.

Bibliography

Aronson, Marc and Patty Campbell (ed.).  2008.  WAR IS: SOLDIERS, SURVIVORS, AND STORYTELLERS TALK ABOUT WAR.  Cambridege: Candlewick Press. 
ISBN 9780763636258

Critical Analysis

Two editors, Marc Aronson and Patty Campbell, tell stories of war in this anthology from two different perspectives.  In the introduction, Campbell describes her "passionate revulsion towards war," as Aronson argues that it is an inevitable piece of the human race.  The book contains twenty selections broken into four sections, each one articulating war's destructive nature.  Pieces chosen by Campbell resonate her belief that war is "crazy," "unbearable," and "impossible to win."  Aronson chooses to listen to these men and women who have fought in our wars because he believes that if we ask these people to fight for us "we owe them the respect of listening to them."  Memorable pieces include written accounts of war by Chris Hedges and Ernie Pyle as well as a Nagasaki memoir by renowned Japanese poet Fumiko Miura.  Also included are powerful short stories by Mark Twain, Rita Williams-Garcia and Margo Lanagan.  Other pieces discuss the reality of first combat, dishonest recruitment, the influence of war heroes, and religious convictions.  The "further reading" section provides readers with duly provocative, high-quality selections in anthologies, fiction and nonfiction that cover ancient to modern conflicts.  Teens from varied social and academic backgrounds will be attracted to this engrossing book that offers conflicting perceptions and a wide variety of experiences.  A superb addition for Social Studies and English teachers alike, this anthology would be appropriate in any high school war unit.  It would also be an excellent choice for many book groups, providing endless topics of discussion. 

Review Excerpts

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: "The openness and range of pieces offered in this collection allows for discussions to be mounted in a classroom or home setting. This book will make an impact and holds lasting thoughts for the reader's mind. It is a must read in or outside the classroom."

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "An essay about women soldiers who served in Iraq is excerpted from Helen Benedict's forthcoming book, The Lonely Soldier . And a memoir by poet Fumiko Miura, survivor of the atomic bomb at Nagasaki, is included. The volume closes with a short play and a short story about the aftereffects of war. The editors make it plain that they are antiwar, but they have made an effort to convey a variety of experiences."

Biography and Non-Fiction ~ Hole in My Life

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Hole-in-My-Life/Jack-Gantos/e/9780374399887/?itm=6&usri=A+hole+in+my+life, accessed November 5, 2009.

Bibliography


Gantos, Jack.  2002.  HOLE IN MY LIFE.  New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 
ISBN 9780374399887

Critical Analysis:

In this autobiography by Jack Gantos, we find out how he came to be a writer.  Writing was something that the young Jack had always wanted to do, but didn't have the grades in high school to persue.  He grew up in in Florida, but is living in St. Croix with his family at the age of 20 when the opportunity of a lifetime falls into his lap (or so he thinks).  An aquaintence offers him $10,000 in cash to help sail a boat full of 2000 pounds of hash from St. Croix to New York.  The young Gantos thinks that this is the only way to get off of the island he hates and finally make it to college, so he agrees to the deal.  In the end, Gantos and his partner are caught and he is sentenced to six years in a federal penitentiary in Ashland, Kentucky.  Although he only serves two years for his crime, this is enough time for him to finally slow down enough to begin to write.  Although in prison he is not allowed to keep a journal, he gets around this obstacle by chronicling his thoughts in the space between the lines of The Brothers Karamazov.  This book is evidence of the creative potential that exists in everyone's life.  Although Gantos' prison experience helped shape him as an author and a human being, it did not define his character.  His actions following prison were all aimed at distancing himself from the life of a criminal.  Although he had choices, in prison he quit using drugs, began writing, and used this time to fighure out what he truely wanted to do in life and begin to accomplish it.  Working in the prison hospital proved to provide protection from his fellow inmates while allowing him to witness the prison culture firsthand.  Due to the subject matter, Hole in My Life is best suited for older teens and adults.  It is an honest, fascinating, and life-affirming chronicle of the personal journey of one of young adult literature's favorite authors. 

Michael L. Printz Honor Book
Robert F. Sibert Honor Book

Review Excerpts:

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY: "Gantos uses the same bold honesty found in his fiction to offer a riveting autobiographical account of his teen years [when he agreed to help smuggle hashish from Florida to New York and wound up in jail]," PW said. "It will leave readers emotionally exhausted and a little wiser."

ALAN REVIEW: "This surprising book recounts the popular YA author's late-teen life, his subsequent arrest and imprisonment. It is frank, harsh, and beautifully truthful at times — especially about life in prison. Above all, this is the story of a young writer trying to find inspiration for his work. Ultimately, he finds the greatest inspiration within himself."

Biography and Non-Fiction ~ Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Hitler-Youth/Bartoletti/e/9780439353793/?itm=1, accessed November 9, 2009.
Bibliography

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. 2005. HITLER YOUTH: GROWING UP IN HITLER’S SHADOW. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc. ISBN 0439353793

Critical Analysis

In this unique non-fiction work, Susan Bartoletti introduces us to another angle of the Nazi Party, the Hitler Youth. The book begins with pictures and short biographies of the twelve main characters in the book, many of who end up losing their lives over the course of the war. Officially formed in 1926, “the Hitler Youth offered its members excitement, adventure, and new heroes to worship.” Hitler seemed to understand that young people were a potentially powerful political force that could help to shape Germany’s future. “I begin with the young. Are there finer ones anywhere in the world? Look at all these men and boys! What material! With them I can make a new world.”

Bartoletti offers us a compelling perspective on WWII by centering the story around the young people who followed Hitler from 1933-1945. During this time, the Hitler Youth, the boys, and the Bund Deutscher Madel or DBM, the girls, grew into “the largest and most powerful organization for young people ever known.” Their stories are told with such realism that you feel as if you are there with them. The powerful black and white photos draw you in to a time in history that still is not fully understood.


One of the most riveting chapters of this book entitled “Where One Burns Books,” is about the education of children during this time. Teachers were forced to join the Nazi Party or face harsh consequences far beyond losing their jobs. We are told about one beloved teacher that refused to join and was sent to a concentration camp. Schools were allowed to only study curriculum that was approved by Hitler. These included such new subjects as racial science and eugenics. In racial science lessons, students were taught, “Aryans belonged to a superior master race”, and in eugenics they were taught, “Aryans should marry only healthy Aryans.” Hitler once said that his system of education was harsh, but central to his goal. One of the most disturbing quotes from Hitler included in the book was in this chapter. It reads: “A violently active, dominating, intrepid, brutal youth-that is what I am after. Youth must be indifferent to pain. There must be no weakness and no tenderness in it.” What a sad existence these children must have led.

On April 30, 1945, the American soldiers marched into Munich. Hitler was dead by now and the Hitler Youth vowed to fight, but decided to surrender when they realized how many tanks were coming. The next day the Americans took the captured boys to the liberated concentration camp of Dachau. What they saw there was more than they could have imagined. It would take many years for them to be able to come to terms with the role that they played in the Holocaust. Heinrch Heine, a German poet of Jewish origin whose books were burned by the Nazi’s, was quoted in the book as saying, “Where one burns books, one will, in the end, burn people.” No one could have known how true that statement would turn out to be.

Robert F. Sibert Honor Book

Review Excerpts
 
PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY: “Bartoletti's portrait of individuals within the Hitler Youth who failed to realize that they served "a mass murderer" is convincing, and while it does not excuse the atrocities, it certainly will allow readers to comprehend the circumstances that led to the formation of Hitler's youngest zealots.”

KEVIN BEACH – VOYA: “This book offers through simple and powerful primary sources an important though tearful lesson in history, citizenship, and responsibility.”

KIRKUS REVIEWS: “Case studies of actual participants root the work in specifics, and clear prose, thorough documentation and an attractive format with well-chosen archival photographs make this nonfiction writing at its best.”

Classroom Connections

This book could be used when studying about WWII, particularly the early part of the war and how Germany came into power. It could also be used as a guidance lesson on how easy it is to get caught up in something that is bad and the consequences of our actions.

Fantasy and Science Fiction ~ Weetzie Bat

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Weetzie-Bat/Francesca-Lia-Block/e/9780060736255/?itm=1&usri=weetzie+bat, accessed October 23, 2009.

Bibliography

Block, Francesca Lia. 1989. WEETZIE BAT. New York: Harper and Row Publishers.

ISBN 0060205369

Critical Analysis

When I first read Weetzie Bat I closed the book and said to myself, "that was weird." So, I read it again. This book is one of the few that I have read that I really wasn't sure what to make of it, except that I liked it.

The heroine in the book is Weetzie Bat. Weeizie's parents, Charlie and Brandy-Lynn Bat, are unhappily divorced and often retreat into a world of booze and drugs. We find out early on that Weetzie's best friend Dirk, is gay. "I'm gay," Dirk said. "Who, what, when, where, how--well, not how," Weetzie said. "It doesn't matter one bit, honey-honey," she said, giving him a hug. To which Dirk replies, "But you know I'll always love you the best and think that you are a beautiful, sexy girl." "Now we can duck hunt together,"Weetzie said, taking his hand. Together the two friends weave an outrageous web of Hollywood illusion and stuanch reality, but the one thing they both wish for most is someone to love. The book is full of magic, from the genie, who grants Weetzie's wishes, to the vicious witch Vixanne, who visits the family three times. There are beauties and beasts, castles and Cinderella-like transformations. Through these adventures Weetzie and Dirk manage to fall in love, Dirk with Duck, and Weetzie with My Secret Agent Lover Man, move in together, and have a baby. "I don't know about happily ever after......but I do know about happily," Weetzie Bat thinks at the end of the story.

The author of WEETZIE BAT, Francesca Lia Block, grew up in Los Angeles where she and her friends were enchanted by Hollywood. One day while driving through Laurel Canyon with friends in a blue vintage Mustang convertible, they passed a "punk princess with spikey bleached hair, a very pink 50's prom dress, and cowboy boots." This image stuck in her mind as the "spirit of Los Angeles," and later when she spotted another blonde pixie wearing big pink Harlequin sunglasses and driving a pink Pinto with the license plate "WEETZIE" her character was born. The book WEETZIE BAT was written in 1989. The subject matter it deals with, sex, homosexuality, drugs, and the unconventional family, are all familiar in the YA genre, but are told in such a way that you feel as if you are hearing it for the first time. The book won the Phoenix Award in 2009, which is given to a book that failed to win a major award at it's publication 20 years before.

Review Excerpts

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "A brief, off-beat tale that has great charm, poigancy, and touches of fantasy, Weetzie, now 23, is a child of hollywood who hated high school, but loves the momories of Marilyn Monroe and Charlie Chaplin, plastic palm tree wallets, and the roller-skating waitresses at Tiny Naylor's.....Nobody understands her, least of all her bi-coastal divorced parents, until she meets Dirk, who takes her slammdancing at the hot clubs in L.A. in his red '55 pontiac. When he tells her he's gay, they decide to go "duck hunting" together."

Fantasy and Science Fiction ~ Among the Hidden

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Among-the-Hidden/Margaret-Peterson-Haddix/e/9780689817007/?itm=3, accessed Dec. 3, 2008.

Bibliography

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. 1998. AMONG THE HIDDEN. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0689824750

Critical Analysis

In the book AMONG THE HIDDEN, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, families are forbidden from having more than two children. There is a government agency called “The Population Police” that enforce this law among its citizens. The hero of the story is Luke, a third child, or shadow child as they come to be known, who is hidden in his farmhouse attic. At the beginning of the story thick woods surround his farm so he is able to play outside, work in the garden, and roam the house freely, but when the government buys the land next to his family’s farm in order to build new houses, he has to stay hidden in the attic to keep from being seen by the outside world. One day, after being caught in the kitchen by his father, Luke is upstairs looking out through the vents in the attic when he sees a child’s face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. He finally gets up enough courage to run next door, where he meets Jen, a shadow child like himself. Jen is unlike any other child he has ever known and is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows and be free. Jen wants Luke to join her on a dangerous plan to free all of the shadow children, but will Luke have the courage to do so?

In this frightening and exceptional novel, Haddix envisions a near future where a tyrannical United States limits families to only two children. Focused on government policies and the Internet, the plot development is sometimes hard to believe but the disturbing, thought-provoking premise will keep readers hooked from the first page. Students will sympathize with Luke’s character for how he handles each new situation he is thrust into. The question of if he should obey his parents wishes and stay out of trouble or help Jen on her dangerous quest for freedom, will be a topic of discussion among all who read this story. As in other books by Haddix, the underlying theme is loss of freedom, that brings us a dramatic and compelling story of one young person’s journey of defying those in power to make a difference in the world. Readers will have a new sense of appreciation for the freedoms that we are all afforded in the world in which we live.

Review Excerpt(s)

ALAN REVIEW: “Although the denouement is swift and tidy, the fully realized setting, honest characters, and fast paced plot combine for a suspenseful tale of two youngsters fighting for their very existence.”

VOYA: “This is an easily understood, younger reader's 1984 or Brave New World, presenting a chilling vision of a possibly not-too-distant future.”

KIRKUS REVIEWS: “Haddix offers much for discussion here, by presenting a world not too different from America right now. The seizing of farmlands, untenable food regulations, and other scenarios that have come to fruition in these pages will give readers a new appreciation for their own world after a visit to Luke's.”

Connections

Have the students discuss the possibility that anything like this could really ever happen. Research how some other countries (ex. China) have started to try and control their population and the laws that are already in place. Discuss their findings in class.

Fantasy and Science Fiction ~ Ender's Game

Book Cover Photo Source: Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Enders-Game/Orson-Scott-Card/e/9780812550702/?itm=2&USRI=enders+game, accessed October 22, 2009.

Bibliography

Card, Orson Scott. 1977. ENDER'S GAME. New York: Tor Books. ISBN 0812550706

Critical Analysis

“He’s too malleable. Too willing to submerge himself in someone else’s will.”
“Not if the other person is his enemy.”
“So what do we do? Surround him with enemies all the time?”
“If we have to.”
“ I thought you said you liked the kid.”

Ender’s Game is a story about a boy named Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggin. He is the third child of Mr. and Mrs. Wiggin. Being the third is not a gift, it is a curse, for in Ender’s world Parents are not allowed to have more than two children. But Ender is different. In many ways large and small, Ender differentiates himself from his brother Peter, his sister Valentine, his friends and his schoolmates at the Battle School.

The World is at war with an Alien race called the buggers. In a desperate attempt to end the war the military begins a secret campaign to find the world’s greatest General in the children of today. The best and the brightest are sent to a space station called the Battle School. There they learn the fundamentals of fighting in zero gravity. Ender’s two brilliant siblings Peter and Valentine are each considered for the school, but it is Ender who is ultimately chosen to attend. There under the watchful eye of General Graff, Ender begins his transformation to become more than Ender and General Graff Can imagine.

Though Ender and his friends are ultimately successful in defeating the Buggers, what the reader comes to understand is that it is not the alien race that proves to be Ender’s enemy, but the cadre of handlers who keep Ender isolated, over worked, and fearful of the impending alien invasion that are the real enemy. Told from a variety of perspectives, this story engages the reader in a psychological drama that has many twists and turns on multiple levels.
Published in 1977, and winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, Ender’s Game will be an intense and riveting read for young adult readers. The story is rich in detail and the plot keeps the reader engaged. The novel asks the reader to think about leadership and what it takes to lead others in the face of self doubt.

Review Excerpts

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "The buggers have invaded Earth twice. The last time mankind survived only because of the brilliance of Mazer Rackham, commander of the International Fleet. Years later, a third invasion is feared and a new commander is sought. Ender Wiggin is only six years old when he is plucked to succeed Rackham and sent to the space station Battle School. He is isolated, ridiculed, bullied, and persecuted-but he survives and thrives. Using his astonishing intelligence, the boy learns to be a top-notch solider and, despite his youth and small stature, is quickly promoted up the ranks. By the age of 12, Ender learns the art of command and earns the respect and fear of his fellow soldiers. "

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: "Ender is portrayed as just a pawn in the larger game being played by the I.F., and readers will alternately sympathize with his exploitation and cheer when he is able to make friends in spite of the tremendous forces working to isolate and dehumanize him. The political and philosophical material at the novel's end may get too heavy for some readers, but for the most part, this novel will deservedly reach a new generation through this new edition."

Adventure, Sports and Mystery ~ The Killer's Cousin

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Killers-Cousin/Nancy-Werlin/e/9780142413739/?itm=1&USRI=the+killer%27s+cousin, accessed October 10, 2009.

Bibliography:

Werlin, Nancy. 1998. THE KILLER'S COUSIN. New York: The Penguin Group.
ISBN 9780142413739

Critical Analysis:

Set in Cambridge, Massachusetts, THE KILLER'S COUSIN tells the story of David Yaffe, a seventeen-year-old from Baltimore, who was recently aquitted of killing his girlfriend, Emily. His uncle has agreed to take him in, which will allow David to repeat his senior year at a private Catholic School nearby. When the story begins, you are not told the specifics of how Emily died, or any of the other details of David's affluent family, what you are told is that the story is about Lily.

When David arrives at his uncle's house, he finds a family on the edge of collapse. His Uncle Vic and Aunt Julia's oldest daughter Kathy, died four years earlier, and her death seems to have destroyed the lives of not only his aunt and uncle, but also his eleven-year-old cousin, Lily. Lily was seven at the time of her sister's death, and seems to be mentally unstable at best. She displays odd behavior and David finds himself unnerved by her actions. When he finds Liliy going through a box of his things and asks her to leave, Lily replies "Tell me something," she said, as if casually. "How did you feel when she went down?"......"Tell me. Did you feel.....powerful? Were you glad? Even....just for a minute?" After this alarming encounter, David starts school, begins filling out college applications and even manages to make a friend, all the while knowing that something is terribly wrong with Lily. He tries talking to his aunt and uncle, but is met with denial that there is a problem with Lily. David wakes up many nights hearing a humming noise in his small apartment. At first he thinks that it is Emily, trying to talk to him in some way, but he soon realizes that it is Kathy. Over time, the humming intensifies and he begins to see the fuzzy outline of a person. It is then that he begins to understand that Kathy is trying to tell him to help Lily. As David learns more about Kathy and her death, he is convinced that Lily is responsible.

The author's vivid descriptions of Harvard Square, row houses, and the Brattle theater give readers a glimple of what Cambridge is actually like and the climactic ending will allow them to learn the whole truth about David and Lily and the secrets that they keep.

Winner of the Edgar Award

Review Excerpts:

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY: "Many secrets bubble just beneath the surface of this skillful thriller narrated by a high-school senior who has been accused--and acquitted--of murdering his girlfriend," said PW in a starred review. Ages 14-up.

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "David Yaffe, 18, having recently been acquitted of murdering his girlfriend, is sent to live in Cambridge, MA, with his aunt Julia, uncle Vic, and cousin Lily to repeat his senior year of high school. Lily, 11, is resentful of his presence; she feels that her dead sister Kathy's room is rightfully hers, and that he should not be staying in it. Lily taunts and torments David until he begins to doubt his own sanity. His emotional fragility is compellingly revealed as he works through the loss of his girlfriend and the complicity he feels over her death."

Classroom Connections/Discussion Questions:

1. At the end of the story Lily tells David that she killed her sister. Do you think she really killed her or she just thinks she did? Does she deserve to be punished if she did?
2. Do you think that Kathy's was in David's mind or do you think she really appears to him as a ghost?
3. Did you feel differently about the title of the book once you had read it?
4. When did you first suspect that Lily had something to do with her sister's death?
5. After the fire, David says that saving Lily had somehow given him hope that he would find ways to atone in the future. Do you think David will ever forgive himself?
6. The author skillfully resolves many of the puzzles but leaves a few questions. What are some of these? How do you feel about what she accomplished by doing this?

Adventure, Sports and Mystery ~ I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Id-Tell-You-I-Love-You-but-Then-Id-Have-to-Kill-You/Ally-Carter/e/9781423100034/?itm=3&usri=i+d+tell+you+i+love+you+but+then+i+d+have+to+kill+you, accessed October 10, 2009.

Bibliography:

Carter, Ally. 2006. I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU. New York: Hyperion Books for Children. ISBN 9781423100034

Critical Analysis:

"I suppose a lot of teenage girls feel invisible sometimes, like they just disappear. Well, that's me-Cammie the Chameleon. But I'm luckier than most because, at my school, that's considered cool."

In Roseville, everyone thinks that the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is nothing more that a snobby boarding school. But in reality, it's an undercover, all-girl school for geniuses that teaches the latest methods in espionage. The curriculum includes "Advanced Encryption" and "Covert Operations," not to mention how to speak fourteen different languages. Cammie Morgan attends the school along with her best friends Liz and Bex. Her mom also happens to be an ex-CIA operative and the headmistress of the school. This fall there is also a hunky new teacher on the grounds. His name is Joe Solomon and he does things his way. When the girls go out for their first Covert Operations field experience, things go wrong and Cammie ends up separated from the rest of her classmates. The town, which resembles Mayberry in terms of quaintness, is holding it's town carnival and Cammie finds herself smack dab in the middle of dunking tanks, carnival rides and funnel cake stands with no place to hide. On her way home she meets Josh, a regular boy whose few words to Cammie during their encounter sweep her off her feet. Back at school, she confesses to her friends what happened and the girls go on a mission to find out all they can about Josh and his family, while trying to figure out the biggest enigma of all-BOYS! Keeping her true identity under wraps, Cammie continues to meet Josh through a series of messages left behind a stone in the gazeebo in town square. When she finally figures out a way to go on a real date and her cover is blown, Cammie must make a choice between what she knows she loves and who she thinks she might. The characters in the story are captivating and the relationships real, making it especially appealing to young adult females. Told in an easy-to-read, conversational tone, this book will have it's readers impatiently waiting for the next installment of this engaging series.

Review Excerpts:

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY: "Cammie is a sophomore at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women a place that lives up to its name, as Cammie knows 14 languages and is a skilled killing machine. Of course, Gallagher girls become the most elite spies, and Cammie fires ahead on that career track (as was her mother, now the school's headmistress) until romance with an ordinary guy, no less threatens to derail her progress. Despite any shortcomings, aficionados of this burgeoning fiction genre will be tempted to give this title a go." Ages 12-up.

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: "Everyone in the town of Roseville thinks the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a regular boarding school for snobs. But it is actually an undercover, all-girl spy training school, and Cameron Morgan is both a sophomore and the daughter of the headmistress. The curriculum for these high school girls includes "Covert Operations," "Culture," and "Assimilation." Students are expected to speak one of the fourteen languages they know during lunch in the Great Hall. There are lots of other fun spy-related details in the story, which will have most readers chuckling."

Classroom Connections/Discussion Questions:

1. Do you think that there could really be someplace like the Gallagher Academy for Girls?

2. If so, would it be a place you would be interested in attending?

3. How would the story been different if Cammie had told Josh the truth from the beginning?

4. How do you think Cammie's father dying changed her character?

5. Did you like the ending of the book? Why or why not?

Adventure, Sports and Mystery ~ Inside Out

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Inside-Out/Terry-Trueman/e/9780064473767/?itm=6&USRI=inside+0ut, accessed October 10, 2009.

Bibliography:

Trueman, Terry. 2003. INSIDE OUT. New York: HarperCollins Children's Books.
ISBN 9780066239637

Critical Ananlysis:

This story begins with Zach, a 16 year-old schizophrenic, sitting in a coffee shop waiting for his mother to bring him his medication. When two teenage boys attempt to rob the shop, Zach is one of seven people held against their will. All of the other people in the coffee shop start to panic. Zach does not. Because of his illness, Zach has a hard time differentiating between what is real and what is imagined. He has two imaginary "psychokiller enemies," Dirtbag and Rat, who murmur evil thoughts in his head when he doesn't take his medication. It is the voices whom he truely fears. "Hey, Wasteoid, time to die," Dirtbag whispers. Rat laughs and screams, "Yeah, time to die, Wasteoid!" Compared to the voices, the two robbers do not seem threatening at all and when the situation escalates, Zach finds himself volunteering to become their hostage. When this happens, we start to find out more about the desperate situation the brothers are in. Their mother has cancer and little money to pay for care, and the boys see the robbery as a way to help her. The gun they have has no bullets and as the story progresses we see them as basically good kids who have gotten in way over their heads. An unusual bond begins to form between Zach and the brothers, and when one of them is wounded by a stray police bullet, it is Zach who aids in ending the standoff. Ultimately the boys surrender and Zach is reunited with his mother and given his much needed medication. Narrated by Zach, the reader gets a sense of the bewilderment and silent struggle which take place in the schizophrenic mind on a daily basis. The book is disturbing, especially the ending, but it is riveting nontheless. Young adults will without doubt come away from this read with a stronger appreciation for those who battle mental illness.

Review Excerpts:

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY: "While a 16-year-old battling schizophrenia waits in a coffee shop for his mother to arrive with his medication, two boys attempt to rob the cafe and take hostages. PW called this "a vivid story of three desperate teens that recalls Robert Cormier, with its dark, disturbing theme and narrative shifts in rapid-fire succession." Ages 14-up.

VOYA: "Sixteen-year-old Zach suffers from schizophrenia. He hears two voices in his head, Dirtbag and Rat, whenever he needs to take his medicine. Those voices tell him to kill himself. If this condition was not enough to live with, Zach now finds himself in the middle of a holdup at the coffee shop after school. The two robbers are around Zach's age, and Zach tries to talk to them through the veil of his disease. Although his doing so tries the patience of the robbers and confuses the police outside, Zach is able in his own way to help work things out for everyone, except possibly for himself. Trueman is a master of point of view, as shown in his award-winning novel Stuck in Neutral (HarperCollins, 2000/VOYA December 2000). His research into the disease really helps make Zach's warped thought patterns believable to the reader. Every reader will have sympathy and new understanding of this devastating illness."

Classroom Connections/Discussion Questions:

1. Before reading this book, what did you know about schizophrenia? Was the portrayal of this diasese different that what you thought it would be?
2. Was the plot of the story plausible to you?
3. If the boys mom hadn't been sick, how would the story have been different?
4. How are the two brothers and Zach the same? How are they different?
5. Why do you think that Zach is so afraid of Rat and Dirtbag, but not of Joey and Alan.
6. Why do you think the author included exerpts of the letters between Dr. Curtis and Zach's mom in the story?
7. What do you knoe about suicide? How have your feelings changed after reading this book?

Realism, Romance & Censorship ~ Story of a Girl

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/imageviewer.asp?ean=9780316014540, accessed September 26, 2009.

Bibliography:

Zarr, Sara. 2007. STORY OF A GIRL. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
ISBN 9780316014533

Critical Analysis:

One moment caused everything to change for Deanna Lambert. "I was thirteen when my dad caught me with Tommy Webber in the back of Tommy's Buick, parked next to the old Chart House down in Montara at eleven o'clock on a Tuesday night." Deanna's dad hasn't looked her in the eye "or talked to me, really talked to me since." Her peers have labeled her "the school slut" which, in the small town she lives in, defines who she is for the next three years.

Sophomore year is over and Deanna decides to get a job for the summer. Deanna's brother, Darren, and his girlfriend, Stacy, live in the family's basement with their baby, April. Deanna has decided that she will save enough money for them all to move out of her parent's house and into an apartment. Her friends Jason and Lee try to be supportive of Deanna, but she ends up feeling at odds with them as well. When Deanna shows up for her first day of work at the pizza parlor and discovers that Tommy, now 19, works there too, old feelings resurface. "My body did things again, nerves awake, something not quite good and not quite bad creeping over my scalp." Told in honest first-person dialog, the story is both credible and clever. Zarr explores Deanna's dysfuctional family life with sensitivity and perception, which in turn is convincing and believable to the reader. Her effective use of flashbacks, explains how Deanna became involved with Tommy and helps to tie up questions the reader may have about the relationship. Deanna's journal entries are scattered throughout the book like leaves blowing down an empty lane, adding a profound sadness to the story. In the end, forgiveness defeats fear and Deanna is able to overcome her past and find her true voice.

2007 National Book Award Finalist

Review Excerpts:

KIRKUS REVIEWS: "Sophomore Deanna Lambert made just one mistake to turn herself into the "school slut." Back in eighth grade, Deanna's father caught her having sex with a high-school boy. Nothing has been the same since that painful night, and Deanna's extremely dysfunctional family is not much help. There are just two people who are willing to take the razzing of being the friends of "slutty Deanna," and she misses her loving dad who has turned into a man who can neither look her in the eye nor give her any affection.

KLIATT: "Deanna Lambert is a girl with a past. Ever since she was caught by her father having sex with her brother's friend in the backseat of a car, her life has become a high school joke. The event not only haunts her but also defines who she is. Now that summer is here, Deanna is looking for a job that will give her enough money to help her brother and his wife and daughter to move out of a difficult home situation, taking her with them. The only job she can get is one working in a pizza parlor with Tommy, the high school boy from the backseat. Her brother Darren and his wife have a falling out and Deanna is caught in the middle. Deanna's friends Lee and Jason provide support and encouragement, but she finds herself uncomfortably in the middle of that relationship as well. In one weak moment she goes out with Tommy and almost becomes the girl in the high school joke. Instead she channels her frustrations, forgives Tommy and is finally able to put the past behind her."

Classroom Connections:

This book is a great way to talk to teens about how one mistake can make such a profound impact on our lives. After reading the book talk about what might have happened to Deanna if she had chosen not to sleep with Tommy at such a young age. How do you think the story would have been different?

What if Deanna's dad had been different after he caught her with Tommy? Would that have made a difference?

Realism, Romance & Censorship ~ The Chosen One

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/imageviewer.asp?ean=9780312555115, accessed September 25, 2009.

Bibliography:

Williams, Carol Lynch. 2009. THE CHOSEN ONE. New York: St. Martin's Press.

ISBN 9780321555115

Critical Analysis:

In her book, THE CHOSEN ONE, Williams finds the right balance of information and warning in her riveting story about a 13-year-old girl living in a polygamist cult. Kyra who longs to be free, finds shelter in a Russian Olive tree at the back of the compound where she lives in the isolated desert, with her father, his three wives and their 20 children. She loves climbing high in it's branches, the only place in the world that is truly her own. "I love being here," I say. "I love being able to see it all and having no one see me." She even goes so far as to walk outside the confines of the compound where one day she meets Patrick, who drives the local Bookmobile. Ever since "the cleansing" seven years before, books have been banned. Eventually, she begins to check out one book at a time, hiding them within the folds of her dress. Literature opens up a whole new world for Kyra, who learns of what life is like in the outside world. Kyra also has another secret, Joshua. Joshua is the boy that Kyra shares her first kiss with, and the boy who would choose her for himself if he could. One night, Prophet Childs comes to see Kyra's family and tells her father that Kyra has been "chosen" to be the seventh wife of her sixty-something year-old, uncle, Brother Hyrum. Kyra vows to herself that she cannot let this happen, but even with the support of her family, her pleas go unheard and she is faced with the unimaginable choice of running away and giving up her family, or staying and being forced into a marraige that will break her spirit.

Physical as well as emotional abuse run rampant through this book as does fear and even murder. The final scenes of the story are gripping and terrifying, and though you know what you are reading is fiction, you find yourself wondering if things like this ever actually happen. Although most teenage readers will not directly identify with Kyra's situation, her emotions are so complex and global that young adults will find this enticing book impossible to put down.

Review Excerpts:

VOYA: "Kyra has been Chosen. Prophet Childs received a vision: she is to be the seventh wife of Apostle Hyrum. Kyra is thirteen; her uncle Hyrum is in his sixties. They live on a desert compound, miles from town. Ever since Prophet Childs led the New Cleansing seven years earlier, books have been outlawed, medicine and doctors banned, children harshly disciplined, and young girls saved for older men. Such is life in a polygamist sect, but Kyra has rebellious thoughts and often walks beyond the walls of the compound to feel free for a few minutes. Recently she met the local Bookmobile along the road and has been checking out one book at a time, concealing them under her dress. Reading and playing the piano are two of her favorite things. The other is Joshua, the boy who would Choose her if he could. Suddenly Kyra is faced with an impossible choice—run away and never see her family again or stay and be forced into an unbearable marriage. "

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "In this thriller, 13-year-old Kyra lives in an isolated polygamist cult. Life in the compound is as dry as the surrounding desert, more confining than the chain-link fence on its perimeter. But Kyra finds small freedoms despite the tightly controlled communal environment and is able to slip outside to wander the desert. There she chances upon a friendly book-mobile driver who opens the world of children’s literature to her. Kyra even begins a flirtation with her classmate, Joshua, a dangerous sin for which they will both pay dearly. The brutal leader, Prophet Childs, has plans for Kyra and will brook no disobedience."

Classroom Connections:

Have students list some of the things that intrigued them about the book. Do they think that this book was over the top or can something like this really happen? This book will make students think, but could also be problematic to teach in the classroom due to some of it's subject matter.

Realism, Romance & Censorship ~ Speak

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/imageviewer.asp?ean=9780142407325, accessed September 25, 2009.

Bibliography:

Anderson, Laurie Halse. 1999. SPEAK. New York: The Penguin Group. ISBN 9780142407325

Critical Analysis:

SPEAK is a story about rape, conflict and depression. At the beginning of the story we meet Melinda, who is getting ready to board the bus for her first day at Merryweather high school. "I am an outcast." This is how she sees herself and how she is viewed by others. As the story progresses we learn that Melinda called 911 during a teen drinking party over the summer. This is why she is an outcast. What her friends don't know is that she was raped by a popular boy in school whom she refers to as "IT". "I see IT in the hallway. IT goes to Merryweather. IT is walking with Aubrey cheerleader. IT is my nightmare and I can't wake up. IT sees me. IT smiles and winks. Good thing my lips are stitched together or I'd throw up." As the school year passes, Melinda withdraws more and speaks less and less. Her relationship with her parents is awkward at best and you find yourself wondering how they can be so ignorant of the increasingly alarming situation their daughter is in. Although Melinda is tortured by the memory of what happened to her, she chooses to suffer in silence.

At school, Melinda makes friends with a new girl named Heather, that she doesn't even like. Art turns out to be Melinda's sanctuary. "Art follows lunch, like dream follows nightmare." Mr Freeman, her art teacher, sees her potential and encourages her to use art as a form of personal expression. In turn, she finds refuge in her work as well as in his classroom. Mr. Freeman is also the only person who recognizes that something is terrribly wrong and lets Melinda know that he is there when she is ready to talk about her situation, whatever it may be. When Melinda has a physical altercation with her attacker, and finds her voice to scream "NNNOOO!!!", she can finally face her fears and begin the healing process. Many teens today face similar issues, as well as huge amounts of stress, and will identify with Melinda's character. Written in superb descriptive dialect, SPEAK will hold readers from the first sentence, "It is my first morning of high school." to the last, "Let me tell you about it."

1999 National Book Award Finalist

Review Excerpts:

KIRKUS REVIEWS: "A frightening and sobering look at the cruelty and viciousness that pervade much of contemporary high school life, as real as today's headlines. At the end of the summer before she enters high school, Melinda attends a party at which two bad things happen to her. She gets drunk, and she is raped. Shocked and scared, she calls the police, who break up the party and send everyone home. She tells no one of her rape, and the other students, even her best friends, turn against her for ruining their good time. By the time school starts, she is completely alone, and utterly desolate. She withdraws more and more into herself, rarely talking, cutting classes, ignoring assignments, and becoming more estranged daily from the world around her. Few people penetrate her shell; one of them is Mr. Freeman, her art teacher, who works with her to help her express what she has so deeply repressed."

HORN BOOK: "Speaking out at the "wrong" time-calling 911 from a teen drinking party-has made Melinda a social outcast; now she barely speaks at all. A conversation with her father about their failed Thanksgiving dinner goes as follows: "Dad: 'It's supposed to be soup.' / Me: / Dad: 'It tasted a bit watery, so I kept adding thickener....'/ Me: ." While Melinda's smart and savvy interior narrative slowly reveals the searing pain of that 911 night, it also nails the high-school experience cold-from "The First Ten Lies They Tell You" (number eight: "Your schedule was created with your needs in mind") to cliques and clans and the worst and best in teachers. The book is structurally divided into four marking periods, over which Melinda's grades decline severely and she loses the only friend she has left, a perky new girl she doesn't even like. Melinda's nightmare discloses itself in bits throughout the story: a frightening encounter at school ("I see IT in the hallway....IT sees me. IT smiles and winks"), an artwork that speaks pain. Melinda aches to tell her story, and well after readers have deduced the sexual assault, we feel her choking on her untold secret."

Classroom Connections:

After reading the book, discuss some of the different issues facing young adults today. Rape, depression, conflict, stress. Have students reflect their experiences in a journal.

Laurie Halse Anderson's website, http://www.writerlady.com/ has several units of study available to download in many subject areas.

A Young Adult Classic ~ The Outsiders

Book Covre Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Outsiders/S-E-Hinton/e/9780439903462/?itm=1, accessed September 14, 2009.

Bibliography:

Hinton, S. E. 1967. THE OUTSIDERS. New York: Viking. ISBN 9780670062515

Critical Analysis:

THE OUTSIDERS, by S. E. Hinton, was published in 1967 and is as popular today as it was then. It is the story of three brothers Ponyboy, Sodapop and Darry and their fight to stay together as a family. It is also the book which is credited for starting the revolution of modern young adult literature and remains the best-selling YA novel of all time.

The story is told from Ponyboy's perspective and includes the three bothers as well as Steve Randle, Soda's best friend, Two-Bit Mathews, the oldest of the bunch, Dallas Winston, the character of the gang, and Johnny Cade. "If you can picture a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers, you'll have Johnny." Ponyboy and the others belong to a group of poor teenage boys called greasers. Many of these boys come from broken families where abuse is not uncommon. They are resilient teens who live a sometimes turbulent life but always make it through what comes their way because they have each other. They are often antagonized by the socials, or "socs", a group of affluent, indulged boys who beat them up for fun. It is during one of these fights that Johnny kills a soc that is trying to drown Ponyboy. This action sets up a chain of events that is out of their control.

Told in candid detail, Susan Eloise Hinton brings the reader into this world with superb dialog and profound realism. The characteristics are credited for forever changing the way that Young Adult fiction was written. Hinton's novel also changed the way that teenagers read, enabling a generation to demand stories that reflected their actuality.

Since its publication, Ponyboy has become a hero for generations of teenagers across the nation and continues to impact their lives today.

"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home...." ~ Ponyboy Curtis

Review Excerpt:

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW: "Few books come steeped in an aura as rich as S. E. Hinton's novel "The Outsiders," which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. At a time when the average young-adult novel was, in Hinton's characterization, "Mary Jane Went to the Prom," "The Outsiders" shocked readers with its frank depictions of adolescents smoking, drinking and "rumbling." Although other pop culture offerings had dealt with these themes--most notably "Rebel Without a Cause" and "West Side Story"--their intended audience was adult. By contrast, "The Outsiders" was a story "for teenagers, about teenagers, written by a teenager.""

Classroom Connections:

This novel can be read in any High School English class as a classic and the first Young Adult novel of the 20th century. Some of the discussion questions that could be introduced are:

Compare and contrast the Curtis brothers Darry, Sodapop, and Ponyboy. How does their relationship change over the course of the novel?

Think about the role of physical violence in the novel. Is the violence shocking, predictable or boring? Do you think that such violence has a different effect on readers today than it did when the novel wa first published?

How is "Nothing Gold Can Stay," the Robert Frost poem that Ponyboy recites to Johnny at the church, relevant to Ponyboy and Johnny's story?

Recent Award Winner ~ What I Saw and How I Lied

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://searh.barnesandnoble.com/What-I-Saw-And-How-I-Lied/Judy-Blundell/e/9780439903462/?itm=1, accessed September 13, 2009.

Bibliography:

Blundell, Judy. 2008. WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN 9780439903462

Critical Analysis:

"The match snapped, then sizzled, and I woke up fast. I heard my mother inhale as she took a long pull on a cigarette. Her lips stuck on the filter, so I knew she was still wearing lipstick. She’d been up all night.”

Judy Blundell's WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED is a fast paced, intriguing novel set in the months after World War II has ended. Evie, the main character, is a naive fifteen-year-old being raised by her glamorous mother, Bev, and stepfather, Joe, in Brooklyn, New York. One night, after receiving a phone call that obviously agitates him, Joe tells Evie and her mother that they are going on an extended vacation to Palm Beach, Florida. Once there, they meet Tom and Arlene Grayson, whom Joe decides to go into the hotel business with. They also meet Peter, the dashing young army acquaintance of Joe's, who becomes upset by Peter's presence in Florida. As Evie falls in love with Peter, the reader is drawn in to the mystery and intrigue surrounding the complex characters in the story. When a hurricane hits and causes a suspicious death, Evie must grow up quickly, examine what she knows to be true and do whatever it takes to save her family.

The author's use of dialogue is superb and her use of chic language and imagery keeps the reader focused on all that the book has to offer. "I breathed in and out, perfume and smoke, perfume and smoke, and we lay like that for a long time, until I heard the seagulls crying, sadder than a funeral, and I knew that it was almost morning." The underlying message of of anti-Semitism and hidden agendas will keep you guessing and the courtroom drama leads to an unpredictable and climactic ending. This book would be great as a classroom assignment or as a pleasure read as it gives good insight to the details of the era.

Winner of the 2008 National Book Award for Young People's Literature

Review Excerpts:

VOYA: "This smart 1940's coming of age novel is steeped in noir mystery, suspense, deceit, scandal and lies. Fifteen-year-old Evie lives in the shadow of her mother's glamorous beauty. amidst the intense changes wrought upon daily civilian life by the impact of the end of the Second World War. Her stepfather Joe's return from war put the family on a new track headed down to Florida where they stay in a posh hotel, meet wealthy and intriguing guests with secrets of their own, and Peter, a young, handsome veteran and the focus of Evie's first crush. The reader finds herself peeling awkward little Brooklyn Evie like an onion, page by page, until a confident, in-control and mature Palm Beach Evelyn emerges."

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "In 1947, 15-year-old Evie, her mother, Bev, and her stepfather, Joe, leave Brooklyn for a vacation in Palm Beach, FL, during the off season. There they meet Arlene and Tom Grayson, who lavish attention on the family and convince Joe to go into the hotel business with them. When Peter, an army acquaintance of Joe's, appears, Evie is smitten by his charm and attention. Her budding interest in romance, while protectively discouraged by her parents, is actually encouraged by Arlene, who helps Evie develop a sense of style. Evie enjoys her outings with Peter and interprets her mother's insinuating presence as protective, when in reality Bev is having an affair with the younger man."

Classroom Connections:

Although this book has some mild adult situations, it could be used for discussions on the pre and post World War II era in the United States. Students are exposed to terms such as rationing and Victory Gardens and learn what happened economically in the United States after the World War II ended.

Discussions about the Holocaust and how Jewish citizens were treated in Europe and the United States could also follow the reading of this novel.

A Michael Printz Award Winner ~ The First Part Last

Book Cover Photo Source: Barnes and Noble: http://searchbarnesandnoble.com/first-part-last/Angela-Johnson/e/9780689849237/?itm=1, accessed September 12, 2009.

Bibliography:
Johnson, Angela. 2003. THE FIRST PART LAST. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0689849222

Critical Analysis:
In THE FIRST PART LAST, by Angela Johnson we meet Bobby the teenage father of Feather, who at the beginning of the book is just days old. At 16, Bobby is struggling to come to terms with the fact that he is now a father, while trying to keep up with school, his childhood friends, and his parents sometimes high expectations.

Told in alternating chapters of "Now" and "Then" the language in this brief novel is both believable and appealing to young adult readers. In these, we learn that "Then" refers to the period of time when Bobby and Nia, the baby's mother, find out about the pregnancy and struggle to make the right choice regarding it. "Now" refers to the present with Bobby struggling to care for Feather, as a tragedy surrounding her birth has left him to do this alone. Bobby, who comes from a middle-class, supportive family, fluctuates between total love and adoration for his daughter, and panic of his situation. Johnson's superb writing urges the reader to analyze the changes that take place in Bobby's character and his situation. The ultimate tragedy in the story is that Bobby doesn't realize what he has in Nia until it is too late. The author does a great job of not revealing the climax until it happens, although the reader wonders why Bobby is alone all through the book.

Unique in that it is told from the boy's point-of-view, this emotional, novel does a great job in showing the awesome responsibility that comes with teen pregnancy and parenthood, without lecturing the reader. Given the length of the story, it could easily be listened to in 2 class periods, making it a great choice for high school classrooms.

Winner of the 2004 Coretta Scott King Award (Writing category)

Winner of the 2004 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

Review Excerpts:
KIRKUS REVIEWS: "Sixteen-year-old Bobby has met the love of his life: his daughter. Told in alternating chapters that take place "then" and "now," Bobby relates the hour-by-hour tribulations and joys of caring for a newborn, and the circumstances that got him there. Managing to cope with support, but little help, from his single mother (that wants to make sure he does this on his own), Bobby struggles to maintain friendships and a school career while giving his daughter the love and care that she craves from him at every moment."

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: "Narrated in first-person point of view from the perspective of Bobby, a young, black male, this adolescent novel depicts life before and after having a child. By showing the tremendous responsibility that accompanies teenage parenthood, Johnson attempts to compel teenagers to evaluate the ramifications of premarital sex and pregnancy. Because most stories are written from the viewpoint of the teenage mother, the author presents her story in a unique way by writing from the viewpoint of a teenage father."

Classroom Connections:
Pre-reading Question: How do you think your life would change if you suddenly had the responsibility of an infant? Based on your answer make a schedule of your life as it is now, and how you think it would be with a baby.

Cooperative Learning Project:

In groups of 3 or less explore and research one aspect of teen pregnancy from the list provided (or choose one of your own):

• How sex education affects pregnancy rates


• Social implications of teen pregnancies on communities


• Long-term effects for the mother (and/or father) for future success


• Long term success for the infant in health and education


• The availability of birth control and other services on pregnancy rates


• Which children are most at risk for teen pregnancy


• Adoption


• Foster care system


• Teen shelters


• Outstanding programs for young mothers and fathers
  
• Abstinence programs

Report your findings to the rest of the class.

Book Reviews ~ Advanced Young Adult Literature, Fall 2009

The book reviews that will follow this post are to fulfill the requirements for LS 5623 ~ Advanced Young Adult Literature ~ with Dr. Sylvia Vardell. This class is being taken in the Fall 2009 semester to fulfill the requirements of the Graduate Program in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Women's University in Denton, Texas.

Shannon Dutton

Blogging About Books ~ Advanced Children's Literature Spring 2009

The following fifteen blog postings are to fulfill one of the requirements for Advanced Children's Literature with Dr. Janet Hilbun. This was completed in the spring semester of 2009 at Texas Women's University in Denton, Texas, as part of the Masters Degree Program in the School of Library and Information Studies.

~Shannon Dutton
5613-20

Popular Authors - Andrew Clements ~ A Week in the Woods

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Week-in-the-Woods/Andrew-Clements/e/9780689858024/?itm=1, accessed May 9, 2009.



Bibliography



Clements, Andrew. 2002. A WEEK IN THE WOODS. New York: Scholastic Inc. ISBN 043953108X



Summary

A WEEK IN THE WOODS by Andrew Clements is another great young adult book by this award winning author. Mark, a rich kid from New York, moves to New Hampshire after the renovations on their new home there are complete. His parents won't be with him, of course, they will be in San Francisco running a stockholders meeting. Leon and Anya, the gardner and housekeeper, will move with Mark and help keep and eye in him until they arrive. Mark is forced to leave his old school, Lawton Country Day School and will be attending Runyon academy in the fall as a boarding student. In the meantime, his parents have enrolled him in the local elementary school, Hardy Elementary, where he finds it difficult to fit in with the other students.

In the beginning, Mark's snobbish attitude distances him from the other students and makes the teachers not like him. Especially Mr. Maxwell who can't stand rich people or "their lazy, spoiled kids." Eventually, Mark changes his attitude and actually starts to make some friends. The teachers also begin to warm to him, except for Mr. Maxwell. As the annual fifth grade camping trip approaches, Mark decides that this will be his opportunity to prove himself to Mr. Maxwell and show him that he is more than just a spoiled rich kid. But just as things start to get better, Mark is caught on the trip with a camping tool that includes a knife, something they were specifically asked not to bring. It is not really Mark's fault and he tries to explain, but Mr. Maxwell won't listen and decides to send him home. Before this can happen, Mark runs into the woods and gets lost. Mr. Maxwell goes after him and ends up getting hurt and having to rely on Mark to get them out of the woods. A story of courage, loyalty and fairness, students will enjoy this book and learn what it takes to survive "a week in the woods."

Reviews



SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: Gr 4-6-Angered by his family's move from Scarsdale, NY, to rural New Hampshire, Mark refuses to make friends or please his teachers. Because of his indifference, one teacher decides that he's dealing with a "slacker" and a "spoiled rich kid." To make matters worse, the fifth grader acts unimpressed with Mr. Maxwell's annual outing to the state park for a week of nature studies. However, the boy becomes increasingly interested in the outdoors and camping and signs up for the trip. On the first day there, the teacher discovers Mark with a camping tool that contains a knife, an item that students were asked not to bring. He decides that someone needs to teach the boy a lesson and decides to send him home. Mark runs away, gets lost, and must use his newly acquired skills to survive a night in the woods. The story explores both Mark's and Mr. Maxwell's point of view, and the final resolution of their conflict is effective. The boy's relationships with his ever-absent parents and his caregivers are interestingly developed. The novel includes a helpful map of the state park. Like many of Clements's titles, this one will be a popular choice, particularly with fans of Gary Paulsen and Jean Craighead George.-Jean Gaffney, Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library, Miamisburg, OH Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.



KIRKUS REVIEWS: Playing on his customary theme that children have more on the ball than adults give them credit for, Clements (Big Al and Shrimpy, p. 951, etc.) pairs a smart, unhappy, rich kid and a small-town teacher too quick to judge on appearances. Knowing that he'll only be finishing up the term at the local public school near his new country home before hieing off to an exclusive academy, Mark makes no special effort to fit in, just sitting in class and staring moodily out the window. This rubs veteran science teacher Bill Maxwell the wrong way, big time, so that even after Mark realizes that he's being a snot and tries to make amends, all he gets from Mr. Maxwell is the cold shoulder. Matters come to a head during a long-anticipated class camping trip; after Maxwell catches Mark with a forbidden knife (a camp mate's, as it turns out) and lowers the boom, Mark storms off into the woods. Unaware that Mark is a well-prepared, enthusiastic (if inexperienced) hiker, Maxwell follows carelessly, sure that the "slacker" will be waiting for rescue around the next bend-and breaks his ankle running down a slope. Reconciliation ensues once he hobbles painfully into Mark's neatly organized camp, and the two make their way back together. This might have some appeal to fans of Gary Paulsen's or Will Hobbs's more catastrophic survival tales, but because Clements pauses to explain-at length-everyone's history, motives, feelings, and mindset, it reads more like a scenario (albeit an empowering one, at least for children) than a story. Worthy-but just as Maxwell underestimates his new student, so too does Clement underestimate his readers' ability to figure out for themselves what's going on in each character'slife and head. (Fiction. 10-12)

Popular Authors - Dan Gutman ~ The Homework Machine

Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Homework-Machine/Dan-Gutman/e/9780689876783/?itm=2, accessed May 9, 2009.

Bibliography

Gutman. Dan. 2006. THE HOMEWORK MACHINE. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. ISBN 0689876785

Summary

When their teacher puts them into a work group together, Sam, Kelsy and Judy think that Brenton is a big computer nerd. But when he tells them that he had invented a machine that will do your homework, they insist on him proving it. When he does, the three convince him to let them use it and things quickly get out of hand. The machine starts to put pressure on the foursome, for different reasons. Judy feels guilty about cheating, but feels the need to be a perfect student. Kelsy is afraid her other friends will make fun of her for hanging around the "nerds." Sam is always making fun of Brenton, but needs his help in learning to play chess by mail with his dad who is serving in Iraq. When Sam's dad is killed in combat the four start to bond and what follows involves trouble with the law. Told in short chapters by each of the characters, the story is often funny, but at times exceptionaly sad. Despite this, it carries a strong message of friendship, honesty and tolerance that will engage readers from the first page.

Reviews

CHILD MAGAZINE: Only a miracle -- like a homework machine named Belch -- could unite this unlikely foursome: genius inventor Brenton, overachiever Judy, slacker Kelsey, and smart-aleck Sam. At first, only the machine connects them, but after enough sessions of "doing homework" together, they begin to value each other's differences and become friends. Ideal for middle-grade readers, this highly entertaining story unfolds in short, first-person interviews at the police station. (Yes, they do get caught.) Tucked in between the laughs are excellent messages about tolerance, honesty, and the importance of what the students' teacher calls the "homework machine [that] already exists. It's called your brain." (Ages 8 to 12)

Child magazine's Best Children's Book Awards 2006

KIRKUS REVIEWS: When fifth-graders Judy, Sam and Kelsey discover their classmate Brenton Damagatchi's homework machine, they think they are on to a good thing and begin to visit him regularly after school. Alphabetically seated at the same table, the brilliant Asian-American computer geek, hardworking, high-achieving African-American girl, troubled army brat and ditzy girl with pink hair would seem to have nothing in common. (They would also seem to be stereotypes, but young readers won't mind.) But they share an aversion to the time-consuming grind of after-school work. Their use of the machine doesn't lead to learning-as a surprise spring quiz demonstrates-but it does lead to new friendships and new interests. The events of their year are told chronologically in individual depositions to the police. In spite of the numerous voices, the story is easy to follow, and the change in Sam, especially, is clear, as he discovers talents beyond coolness thanks to a new interest in chess. Middle-grade readers may find one part of this story upsettingly realistic and the clearly stated moral not what they had hoped to hear, but the generally humorous approach will make the lesson go down easily. (Fiction. 8-11)