I Wade In--Gender and Literature: Contemplating Issues Raised by Shannon Hale and Andrew Smith

So, within the last few weeks, for those of us who are passionate about YA and children's literature, the internet exploded.  A few times.

First, Shannon Hale started a conversation on Twitter and Tumblr about by discussing  some of her school visits and how some schools only dismissed the female students to see her speak.  As though only girls could benefit from hearing from her.   A summary of that discussion by School Library Journal can be found here.

Although I have read some of Shannon Hale's other books in the past, in light of all the discussion, I did use this as an excuse to finally pick up The Princess in Black.  I enjoyed this early chapter book. It's the story of Princess Magnolia, who despite her initial appearance of being the stereotypical princess in pink, must guard a secret from the Duchess Wigtower who has a taste for secrets.  Magnolia is also the Princess in Black, a hero who protects the realm from monsters.  While having tea with the Duchess, the princess is called away on one such mission to defeat a big blue monster.

I enjoyed The Princess in Black.  I think it does a marvelous job of challenging stereotypes within princess cultures.  I did, however, feel like the writing was weak.  It could have used some refining.

So, that was my initial plan for this blog post.  A simple book review.

Then, last night, Twitter started to respond to an interview on male societies that YA author Andrew Smith did.  Particularly, some people took issue with his reply to the question below:

"On the flip side, it sometimes seems like there isn't much of a way into your books for female readers. Where are all the women in your work? I was raised in a family with four boys, and I absolutely did not know anything about girls at all. I have a daughter now; she's 17. When she was born, that was the first girl I ever had in my life. I consider myself completely ignorant to all things woman and female. I'm trying to be better though.A lot of The Alex Crow is really about the failure of male societies. In all of the story threads, there are examples of male-dominated societies that make critical errors, whether it's the army that Ariel falls in with at the beginning, or the refugee camp, or Camp Merrie-Seymour for boys, or the doomed arctic expedition, they're all examples of male societies that think that they're doing some kind of noble mission, and they're failing miserably."

I highlighted the part that everyone is freaking out about.  The essence of the criticism that Smith had received is summed up well by Tessa Gratton on her tumblr.  She notes that despite Smith's impressive imagination, his comment implies that female experience is more foreign to him than the fantastic things he explores in his fiction.

What was I doing while all of this was going on?  Posting pictures of my cat, of course:

So, I plan to share about both of these issues with my multicultural literature class.  Instead of wading into the debate though, my hope is to focus on the following:

1. Gender is a socially constructed concept.  We make it what it is.  What it means to be male and female varies by time and culture.  In contrast, sex is a biological fact.  But even that is more complicated than just "man" and "woman."  *Glances at the definition of intersex.* (yes, that's right...I actually *did* just cite Wikipedia.  Don't tell my students.)
2. When we think of gender as a dichotomy (or in terms of extremes of what it is to "traditionally" or stereotypically be male or female) we ignore a wealth of experience and we tend to get this sense of alien-ness that Smith was probably hinting at.
3. It can be more beneficial for everyone to think of gender more fluidly.  To help demonstrate this, I show one of my favorite videos by John Green:

I show enough videos of John Green that a few of my students have accused me of being in love with him.  I must then remind those students that it is actually Markus Zusak who will always have my heart.

After showing this particular video, the conversation will most likely deteriorate into "in your pants" jokes.  But, I know my students will start to pay more attention to how gender is presented.

So, I'd like to leave you with one last quotation.  It was a bit of perfect timing that Andrew Solomon just happened to say what I think is the perfect comment for this situation in his New Yorker article, "The Middle of Things:  Advice for young writers": 

"We have equal things to teach each other. Life is most transfixing when you are awake to diversity, not only of ethnicity, ability, gender, belief, and sexuality but also of age and experience. The worst mistake anyone can make is to perceive anyone else as lesser. The deeper you look into other souls—and writing is primarily an exercise in doing just that—the clearer people’s inherent dignity becomes. So I would like to be young again—for the obvious dermatological advantages, and because I would like to recapture who I was before the clutter of experience made me a bit more sagacious and exhausted. What I’d really like, in fact, is to be young and middle-aged, and perhaps even very old, all at the same time—and to be dark- and fair-skinned, deaf and hearing, gay and straight, male and female. I can’t do that in life, but I can do it in writing, and so can you. Never forget that the truest luxury is imagination, and that being a writer gives you the leeway to exploit all of the imagination’s curious intricacies, to be what you were, what you are, what you will be, and what everyone else is or was or will be, too."

Well, I'm off to try to live in someone else's perspective for a while.

REVIEW: The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett (might make you cheer for Jabba)

Angleberger, T.  (2013).  The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett.  New York:  Abrams.

208 pages.

Appetizer:  *The author of this blog insists you hum or listen to the opening credits of one of the Star Wars movies as you read the following*

It's the start of the spring semester, and Dwight has returned to McQuarrie, but it is still a dark time for the middle school.  The evil empire of school administrators have implemented a new program called "FunTime" to ensure students learn the fundamentals of the core subject areas for standardized tests that are months away.  The actual video-based lessons prove to be anything but fun.  All electives, like music and art, have been abolished.  It falls to a rag-tag band of seventh graders to try to maintain the culture of creativity and Star Wars fandom that they have worked so hard to create.  They must search for other brave students to start a rebellion.

I love this series so much!  It's not just because of all of the Star Wars puppets.  I love the way Angleberger addresses major issues in education (like the ridiculous over-emphasis on standardized testing!) in an accessible way.  Such an important critique.

It does seem that addressing the issues of testing, overuse of worksheets, and test prep programs are taking over this series.  My biggest critique of this particular book is that it seemed to struggle to find a balance between taking on the fight against standardized testing and dealing with the usual issues of the middle school social scene.  A few "does she like me?  Does she like him now?" scenes were forced in.  There should have either been more attention to those concerns near the end (which is the route I would have preferred), or the initial scenes probably should have been cut.

While there is a small resolution at the end of the book in regards to the Origami rebels fight, the characters are left gearing up for a larger battle and I'm very curious to see how Angleberger will take it on in the next book:  Princess Labelmaker to the Rescue.

One of the reasons I love showing this series to my education students is because all of the books are framed as being an inquiry.  In The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett, one of the main characters, Harvey, who is often the nay-sayer of the group, attempts to do an experiment to track the learning of himself and his cousin.  At one point, Harvey's dad pipes in with a critique of the experimental design.  The plot also features several of the characters doing a variety of calculations to determine how many students have to get certain scores for their testing rebellion to have an impact.  So many across-the-curriculum connections!

As always, the end of the book provides the how-to steps to create finger puppets.  This time both an illustrated guide for Jabba AND an Ewok are included.  Here's a picture of the Jabba I made from the cover page of a draft of my tenure-track portfolio for work.  I'm thinking of handing it in with the final portfolio:

Dinner Conversation:

"Me and Kellen knew we would be starting a new case file when Dwight got back.
We just didn't know what it would be about.
I mean, you never, never know what to expect from Dwight." (p. 2)

"Today was January 6, the first day of the spring semester.
We found out that there are going to be a lot of weird changes at school.
Judging by how excited Principal Rabbski was about them, they could not possibly be good.  And judging by the posters that were going up around school--"Get Ready for a Fun Time with FunTime!!!!"--they're probably really, really bad." (p. 3)

"Instead of going to your elective classes each day, you'll be assigned to a new classroom, where you'll use the FunTime system to prepare for your upcoming state Standards of Learning tests." (p. 13)

"The first thing on the worksheet was the exact same problem that the Professor had done on the video.  Then there were nine more very similar problems.  It took about twenty seconds to do the whole thing.  Like I said, we all learned how to do these a long time ago.
When we were all done, Mr. Howell hit the play button and Gizmo went over the answers....very, very slowly...and showed us how to do each one...very, very slowly.
And then he sang!" (p. 20)

"By the time we all met in the cafeteria for lunch, we were all thinking the same thing:  How is Origami Yoda going to get us out of this?" (p. 22)

"'It is time for faithfulness...solidarity...courage...all the qualities of a Jedi.'
"But for what?" Kellen and I asked at the same time.
Origami Yoda looked at each of us...even at Dwight.  For a second I thought about how crazy it was, all of us sitting there staring at a finger puppet and then the finger puppet staring back at us watching while the finger looked at the guy who owns the finger.
But something else told me it wasn't crazy.  When Origami Yoda looked at me with his crinkly eyes, I knew what he was going to say.  And I knew I was going to agree.
"Come the time has...." Origami Yoda said slowly, "for rebellion."
Snort," snorted Harvey." (pp. 25-26)


Tasty Rating:  !!!!

Review: The Catcher in the Rye

Salinger, J.D.  (1945).  The Catcher in the Rye.  Boston:  Little, Brown and Company.


Appetizer: 16-year-old Holden Caulfield is about to be kicked out of his prep school.  Rather than waiting for the letter to reach his parents' house in the dorm, he decides to take the train to New York City to spend several days in the city before arriving home to face his family's disappointment.

His trip is far from a lighthearted skip through town, rather he feels lonely and depressed as he contemplates his boardings school acquaintances, the girls he's almost slept with, and his siblings.  He seeks out people from his past, has a run-in with a young prostitute and her pimp, and seeks out his little sister, Phoebe.  His few days in New York won't quite be the vacation he'd been hoping to enjoy.

This is my third time reading The Catcher in the Rye (once as a high school sophomore or junior at my father's recommendation, once as required reading when I was in my MFA program, and now, for the first time, as a teacher.  I have joined The Catcher Cult!)  I absolutely hated this book both the first and second times that I read it.  This time around...I can't believe I'm typing this, but I enjoyed it more.  It's still a book that as I read, I quietly wonder when a plot will develop, and contemplate what exactly is Holden's damage.  But this time, his voice did feel honest as I read it.  So many contemporary YA novels try so hard to capture an angsty, quirky, YA voice.  The Catcher in the Rye just *is* that voice, with Holden's unwillingness to shy away from the darker aspects of his character.

During this reading, I was struck by all of the subtle ways Holden desires to help others maintain their innocence.

I was still far from crazy about the way all of the female characters were depicted.

But now I'm left to ponder if it's my ever advancing age that has changed my mind about The Catcher in the Rye.  All of my students, who range in age from about 19 to somewhere in their 40s, gave the book mixed reviews.  There was one person each at the extremes of loving and hating the book and a scattering of everyone else along the spectrum.

Also, just this past weekend NPR's Weekend Edition just reported on a new biography of Salinger.  Part of the broadcast focused on the creation of and the reception of The Catcher in the Rye.  It's a good listen.  I'd planned to show it to my students, along with John Green's comments about the book, to get the conversation going.  But, when it came time for my class to meet, it was the absolute *perfect* weather to have class outside.  So, we went "old school" and technology free to have an intense discussion of the book in the shade of a tree that sits beside a pond on campus.

Dinner Conversation:

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to now is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." (p 1)

"I forgot to tell you about that.  They kicked me out.  I wasn't supposed to come back after Christmas vacation, on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself and all.  They gave me frequent warning[s] to start applying myself--especially around midterms, when my parents came up for a conference with old Thurmer--but I didn't do it.  So I got the ax.  They gave guys the ax quite frequently at Pencey.  It has a very good academic rating, Pencey.  It really does." (p. 4)

"All of a sudden, I decided what I'd really do, I'd get the hell out of Pencey--right that same night and all.  I mean not wait till Wednesday or anything.  I just didn't want to hang around any more.  It made me too sad and lonesome.  So what I decided to do, I decided I'd take a room in a hotel in New York--some very inexpensive hotel and all--and just take it easy till Wednesday.  Then, on Wednesday, I'd go home all rested up and feeling swell.  I figured my parents probably wouldn't get old Thurmer's letter saying I'd been given the ax till maybe Tuesday or Wednesday.  I didn't want to go home or anything till they got it and thoroughly digested it and all.  I didn't want to be around when they first got it  My mother gets very hysterical.  She's not too bad after she gets something thoroughly digested, though.  Besides, I sort of needed a a little vacation  My nerves were shot.  They really were." (p. 51)


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: Amy & Roger's Epic Detour

Matson, M.  (2010).  Amy & Roger's Epic Detour.  New York:  Simon & Schuster.


344 pages.




Appetizer:  It's been three months since the accident that killed her father and Amy Curry still refuses to drive.  And as long as she doesn't have to spend time with anyone for too long, she can fake her way through seeming normal. But after her mom enlists nineteen-year-old Roger, to drive Amy from California to Connecticut to the new home that her mom is establishing for Amy and her twin (who is off at rehab).  Amy's concerned that she won't be able to hide everything she's going through and feeling from her attractive road trip partner.

Then, when Amy and Roger decide to ignore her mother's itinerary and have a real road trip, she knows this trip will not be what she had expected and feared.  It may actually be a way for both Amy and Roger to deal with everything that they have both been dealing with.

Including emails, receipts tickets, playlists, photos, and excerpts from Amy's travelogue, this book does a good job of incorporating many different materials to help expand the story.  I really liked the use of mixed media.  I thought it was effectively done.

I really enjoyed this book.  I thought Amy's grief was thoughtfully characterized and I loved the way pieces of her past were slowly revealed by things that triggered her memory.

I also like that there were a bunch of playlists included throughout the book.  It provided a nice soundtrack.  (But there were so many lists of songs!  It made downloading them way too expensive...but you can find copies of at least the first playlist to listen to online.)

I do have a few tiny complaints about the book though:

1. Why did the font have to be so small!!!!  I felt like I should have been reading a scholarly article on psychoanalysis or something.
2. Ohmysweetgoodness, Amy and Roger have the worst eating habits on the road!  I mean, I know they're teenagers and I know it's normal to eat unhealthy when travelling, but I kept waiting for one of them to go into a diabetic coma.
3. At one point a fashionista provides Amy with a new wardrobe from her own closet.  Speaking as a clothes horse, while I believe this character would totally have been nice and let Amy borrow some outfits, I really doubted she would have actually given a bunch of her clothes away.  I suppose these means I'm a special brand of selfish fashionista.
4. Roger was a little too obsessed with his ex-girlfriend for a little too long.
5. At the end of the novel all of the themes and Amy's issues were wrapped up a too perfectly. Like with a bow with sequins and curlicues that is so over the top that you know your loved one must have had a store professional wrap it instead of doing it his or herself.  

Nonetheless, this was a great summer read!


Dinner Conversation:

"An Email from Amy's mom:
I'm sure all will go well on the drive.  I'll expect you and Roger no later than the tenth, according to the itinerary I've mapped out for you (attached).  You have reservations at the hotels listed.  pay for them, meals, and gas with your emergency credit card.
And please be safe!" (p. 3)

"I sat on the front steps of my house and watched the beige Subaru station wagon swing too quickly around the cul-de-sac.  This was a rookie mistake, one made by countless FedEx guys." (p. 8)

"' I can't drive,' I said, when I felt I could speak again.  I hadn't driven since the accident, and had no plans to start again any time soon.  Or ever.
..."Oh, you won't have to drive!" She was speaking too brightly for someone who'd been yawning a moment before.  "Marilyn's son is going to drive.  He needs to come East anyway, to spend the summer with his father in Philadelphia, so it all works out." (p. 13)

"'You want me to spend four days in a care with someone I've never met?'
"I told you, you've met," my mother said, clearly ready to be finished with this conversation.  "And Marilyn says he's a lovely boy.  He's doing us a big favor, so please be appreciative." (p. 14)

"As soon he turned toward me, I blinked in surprise.  The sticking-out ears were gone.  The guy coming toward me was shockingly good-looking.  He had broad shoulders, light brown hair, dark eyes, and he was already smiling at me.
I knew in that instant the trip had suddenly gotten a lot more complicated." (p. 15)

"I tore open the package and shook out a book.  It was heavy and spiral-bound, with a dark blue cover.  AWAY YOU GO! was printed in white fifties-style script.  And underneath that, Traveler's Companion.  Journal/Scrapbook/Helpful Hints.
I picked it up and flipped through it.  It seemed to be mostly blank pages, with a scrapbook section for preserving "Your Lasting Memories" and a journal section for recording "Your Wandering Thoughts."  There also seemed to be quizes, packing lists, and traveling tips.  I shut the book and looked at it incredulously.  This was the "present" my mother sent me for the trip?  Seriously?
I tossed it on the counter.  I wasn't about to be tricked into thinking this was some sort of fun, exciting adventure.  It was a purely functional trip that I was being forced to take." (p. 19)

"For the first time, it struck me that this trip could be something worth recording in the scrapbook, after all.  "Well," I said, not entirely able to believe I was about to suggest this.  "I mean, I guess we could go other places.  As long as we're there in four days, does it really matter which way we go?"
"Really?" Roger asked.  "What about your mother's reservations?"
I shrugged, even though my heart was pounding.  It was a legitimate question.  Knowing my mother, she'd probably be calling every hotel to make sure we'd checked in.  But there was a tiny, reckless piece of me that wanted to be the difficult one for once.  That wanted to mak eher worry about me for a change.  That wanted to show her what it felt like to be left behind." (p. 37)


Tasty Rating:  !!!!

REVIEW: The Year of the Beasts

Castellucci, C. & Powell, N.  (2012).  The Year of the Beasts.  New York:  Roaring Brook Press.

175 pages.




Appetizer:  One weekend each June, the carnival comes to town.  For the first time, Tessa's parents have decided she's old enough to go alone with her best friend Celina.  Aaaand Tessa's eighth grader little sister, Lulu.  Tessa was hoping to spend her night of freedom getting closer to her crush, Charlie Evans, but it looks like Lulu may be the one who gets that honor.

Lulu's budding relationship with Charlie drives a wedge between the sisters, but Tessa finds a new love interest with an outsider named Jasper.

Intermixed with the contemporary realistic novel-like narrative of Tessa and Lulu's jealousies and difficulties is a graphic novel of a young Medusa trying her very best to live a normal life despite turning everyone she sees to stone.  Feeling like an outsider, she must learn how to return to being a normal girl and whether that is possible and what she truly wants.

In the style of American Born Chinese, these two narratives are collide together near the end of the book in a way that is, ahem, freaking awesome--excuse my French.  (Seriously, I was feeling "meh," about the entire book when it suddenly took a dark and tragic turn and some serious issues were presented and *bam* the narratives collided and it was glorious.)

Now, in terms of my reactions before I got to that awesome collision of narratives:  While at first I was very entertained by the idea of a novel and graphic novel combined, I found that I wasn't that engaged with the traditional novel.  I wasn't crazy about the writing.  I thought the sentence structure needed to be more varied and needed to focus more on showing instead of telling.  There was also a bit too much repetition...and it didn't strike me as being a stylistic choice.  Take this for example:

"Tessa tried to look as though she was thinking of other things.  She tried to look casual.  She laughed a little too loudly when Charlie spoke about his riverboat" (p. 11).  She posed.  She brushed her hair back.  She chased the ball.  Run, Tessa.  Run.

Or read through this example:

"She put her arms around her friend and they lay there like they always had since they were little girls.  Celina knew just what she needed.  Just like the old days.  Tessa knew that she could count on Celina no matter what.  Celina was Tessa's best friend.  Celina was on her side.  And best friends always knew when to show up" (p. 113).  I guess they were best friends then.  If only some of these sentences had been cut or combined to be less redundant....

Having now complained extensively, there were still a lot of great lines.  The tensions and jealousies between Lulu and Tessa were compelling.  (As someone who's an only child, it was an interesting window into a different experience.)

I did find the graphic novel story to be more engaging.  I liked the way the girl was depicted as being disconnected and ostracized.  I thought it was a great use of the Medusa figure as a metaphor.


Dinner Conversation:

"They rolled into town in the middle of the day:  large covered wagons and flatbed trucks hauling disassembled rides that looked like futuristic dinosaur bones.  They settled over by the highway, by the river, near the empty muddy brown field and planted themselves.  Two days later, sawdust, lights, and swinging rides that screamed against the sky sprouted." (p. 1.)

"Tessa wondered what kind of sister she would be if she weren't truly happy for Lulu.  Would she be a mean sister, like those in fairytale books they both loved?  When she spoke would only toads and bugs fly out of her mouth?  Would she be condemned to be the true ugly one?  Would her road always be dark and barren?  Would her soul grow more and more twisted?" (p. 30)

"Tessa began kissing Jasper in secret whenever she had the chance, and not one person said that she looked any different.  No one teased her that she was in love.  No one cooed and cawed as though her first love was as cute as a passel of puppies.  No one sighed around her or smiled.  But Tessa felt different.  She was blooming, too.  She could tell it was true when she caught sight of herself in mirrors and windows." (p. 67)

Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: Give a Boy a Gun (Or Better, Don't!)

Strasser, T.  (2000).  Give a Boy a Gun.  New York:  Simon Pulse.


207 pages.


Appetizer:  After a tragic school shooting at Middletown High during a dance, a sophomore journalism student named Denise Shipley returns from college to her home town to interview the survivors, families and neighbors to try to understand what had happend to cause Gary Searle and Brendan Lawlor to decide to try to kill their classmates.

This young adult novel has a mixed media structure that consists of quotations from fictional schoolmates, teachers, friends and family members, excerpts from Gary and Brendan's emails and suicide notes.  The author also intermingled facts various news articles and statistics at the bottom of many pages.

I...in theory...loved this structure.  The reality was a little harder to follow.  This will seems picky, but I wished the quotations included tags of who had said them at the beginning instead of the traditional ending spotting.  Since many quotations went on for pages, it would have helped to have a better sense of characterization if I knew who was speaking before I finished reading his or her comment.  It also would have been nice to have more hints at who they were than their names.  (In a classroom, character logs could help extensively with this.  But as a casual reader who is awful with names, I confused a few of the people.)  Add to this the fact that the quotations and stats at the bottom of the pages often came mid-character comment made it difficult to know where and what to read when.  Here's a sample page so my grumbling will at least have some context:

See the New York Times Quote at the bottom left?  It comes mid-sentence.  When am I supposed to read it?  When?!  And who is speaking through most of these two pages.  I have to turn the page to find out.  *Whines*

I feel like an old fart to lodge all of those complaints.  I know it's up to each individual reader to choose how to tackle the book.  I just thought it could have been a little easier.  I do appreciate the experiment though.

Give a Boy a Gun does a great job of exploring Gary and Brendan's journey toward desperation.  I like the structure of going grade by grade until the night of the awful attack in terms of what contributed to their bad choices.  Strasser explores the influence of media, cliques, privileging of sports, bullying, family dynamics and a few other factors that influenced the characters.  He also includes a some suggestions in terms of the changes he'd like to see as well as a list of resources:

"I have no one answer.  But I do have suggestions:  The manufacture, importation, and possession of all semiautomatic assault-type weapons should be banned.  The sale of handguns should be restricted to the military and law enforcement agencies.  Children should be taught from the earliest age to respect one another's differences.  Schools should enact zero tolerance for teasing.  Students' achievements off the field should be valued as highly as those on the field." (p. 204)

When using this book in a classroom, my central assignment might be a research project to have students research more recent statistics.  (Most of the stats in the book are from the mid to late 1990's.)

Overall, an intense read that is important to help readers critically understand the issues surrounding potential school shootings and gun control.  It's an effective argument for stricter gun control and anti-bullying campaigns.


Dinner Conversation:  

"Dear Mom,
By the time you read this, I'll be gone.  I just want you to know that there's nothing you could have done to stop this.  I know you always tried your best for me, and if anyone doubts you, just show them this letter.
I don't know if I can really explain why I did this.  I know that every day of my life will hurt and and be a lot more bad than good.  It's entirely a matter of, What's the point of living?" (p. 7)

"Around 10 P.M. on Friday, February 27, Gary Searle died in the gymnasium at Middletown High School.  After the bullet smashed through the left side of his skull and tore into his brain, he probably lived for ten to fifteen seconds.
The brain is a fragile organ suspended in a liquid environment.  Not only does a bullet destroy whatever brain tissue in its path, but the shock waves from the impact severely jar the entire organ, ripping apart millions of delicate structures and connections." (p. 8)

"I was a sophomore studying journalism.  As soon as I heard the news, I went home to Middletown, determined not to leave until I understood what had happened there." (p. 9)

"Gary wasn't always like that.  When we were in eighth grade and some big jock would body-slam us into a chalkboard or rip the pocket off our shirt, we'd be pissed, and we'd grumble about how we'd like to kill this guy and kick his face in.  The thing was it was all sort of make-believe wishful thinking.  Maybe you'd go home and play Doom for an hour and just blow everyone to bits.  But you never really considered getting a gun and going after them.  At least, I didn't.  --Ryan Clancy"  (pp. 35-36)

"You're walking down the hall, minding your own business.  You see this guy, and he just sneers at you and says, 'Hey, f@&&*t.' Thing is, to him it's nothing.  Two seconds later he's probably forgotten he even said it.  But it's burned in your brain.  It's a permanent scar.  A week later you're still asking yourself, why'd he have to do that?  Why'd he have to pick you?" (pp. 49-50)


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: Whirligig

Fleischman, P.  (1998).  Whirligig.  New York:  Dell Laurel-Leaf.


133 pages.




Appetizer:  Brent Bishop moved to the Chicago suburbs about three months ago.  He's still working on establishing himself among the rich and popular juniors at his school.  When he attends a party hosted by the king of popularity, Chez, he tells small lies and tries to flirt with Brianna in the hopes of her raising his status.  When things don't go as he has planned, he finds himself drunk, driving, and feeling suicidal as he speeds down an express way.

Instead of killing himself though, he accidentally kills another girl, Lea Zamora, who had been driving behind him.  Despite the court's decision to only give him probation, he seeks punishment and retribution.  He finds it with the mother of the girl he killed.  She assigns him the task of placing whirligigs, Lea's favorite childhood toy, at the four corners of the country.

People have been recommending this book for years.  It then sat in my To Be Read Mountain for years until an Earthquake struck, the snow caps of my TBR Mountain collapsed and Whirligig was unearthed.  Or something.

As I began reading, I wasn't sure if it was going to live up to all of the recommendations.  It was clear within the first few pages that Brent was a jerk.  I found myself rooting for tragedy to strike so I could finally feel some sympathy for him has be began to change (Although, the fact that he suddenly turned suicidal on page 18 was a little surprising and didn't necessarily match social-climber characterization I had imagined).

Then I hit the second chapter and the story switches to the first-person point-of-view of a girl named Steph who describes the impact one of the whirligigs had on her.  And I was won over.  I didn't enjoy some of the other perspectives that were included as much, but it was still an enjoyable look at the impact of actions and at Brent's reassembling of his identity after causing a tragedy.

In terms of uses for the classroom, Whirligig lends itself to some diverse uses.  Reading about Brent assembling his first whirligig made me want to go out and buy supplies and try to make my own.  Throughout the book, he also explores a number of works of literature (and discusses why writing in books is awesome!), learning to play the harmonica, studying astronomy, various history topics, etc.

I think it's a great book to include in a thematic unit on identity.  It also can be used to focus on the impact and consequences of action (it could be one option for literature circles.  Other books that could be paired with it include Looking for Alaska and The Book of Blood and Shadow.)


Dinner Conversation:

"Brent turned toward his clock.  It was five thirty-five.  He hated the hours before a party.  A nervous energy whipped back and forth inside him.  He focused again on the computer's screen and careened through the video game's dark passages, firing at everything speeding toward him, borne along by the never-ending music." (p. 3)

"He shouted out the catalog of the night's injustices, rained punishments on his enemies, wailed at his disappointments and deprivations.  The flood of words seemed to bear him down the road.  His head reeled with drink and despairs.  Then he saw that he'd gotten on the wrong express way." (p. 16)

"They are the pawns.  You are a king.
He took his hands delicately off the wheel again.
You have a king's absolute power within you.
He hold his hands in midair for several seconds.  They shook slightly.  Gradually, he lowered them and laid them lightly on his thighs.  He stared blankly at the lights before him.
You have absolute power over you own life.
He saw that the car was drifting to the left.  He felt his hands jerk, but kept them on his thighs.
You have the power to end your life.  Now.
Very slowly, he closed his eyes." (p. 18)

"'So why are we here, of all places?'
"That's why."  Alexandra stopped and pointed at a strange contraption near the edge of the cliff.
"What is it?"
We approached.  It was as big as a box kite and mounted on a pole, gesticulating wildly with moving arms, vanes, wheels and propellers larger and small.  I'd never seen it.  It was all different colors.  It didn't resemble anything in particular, except at the top, where there was a woman's head.  Attached to her hair were three reflectors.  Shells and chimes hung around her neck.  Even with half the moving parts stuck, a gust blowing through it set off a flurry of fluttering and shimmering and ringing, as if a flock of exotic birds was taking flight.
I squinted my eyes against the wind.  "Who made it?"
"I think we can rule out the Pilgrims.  How should I know?  It's always been here."
"What's written on the wood?"
"'Lea Rosalia Santos Zamora'."
"What's that?"
"I'm pretty sure it's a prayer to the wind." (p. 24)

"His second life had eclipsed his first.  Its moment of birth had been the crash.
He didn't remember the actual impact.  He did recall the ambulance lights, the policeman asking how he felt, the discovery that he'd escaped with only cuts and a minor head injury.  Then came the alcohol test.  Then the drive to the police station, being booked for drunk driving, the photographs and fingerprints--registering his new birth, he thought now.  Then the realization that the ambulance at the scene had been tending someone else, that he'd hit another car." (p. 34)

"'Lea is gone.  I'm learning to accept that.  I thought I had nothing I could ask you that would help.  You can't bring back her body.  Then I thought about her spirit.'
Brent's skin tingled.  He stared at the photo, then at [Lea's mom], anxious to hear her bidding.
"This is my only request.  That you make four whirligigs, of a girl that looks like Lea.  Put her name on them.  Then set them up in Washington, California, Florida and Maine--the corners of the United States.  Let people all over the country receive joy from her even though she's gone." (p. 41)


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: A Monster Calls (A stunning examination of grief, recovery and story by @Patrick_Ness)

Ness, P.  (2011).  A Monster Calls.  Somerville, MA:  Candlewick Press.

206 pages.



Appetizer:  Thirteen-year-old Conor has a multitude of problems:  His mom is sick and the treatments may not be working.  His grandmother, who he doesn't get along with, is coming to the house to help.  He almost never hears from his Dad who has a new family in America.  He's bullied by three kids at school and all of the teachers and other students treats him differently because Lily, who had once been a close friend, told everyone about how ill his mom is.

Oddest of all, a monster begins to visit Conor some nights at 12:07 AM.  Surprisingly, Conor isn't frightened by it.  He has a nightmare that is far worse; one that he fears more than anything and refuses to tell anyone....

The monster insists he tell Conor three stories and in return Conor must tell him the truth of his nightmare.  The monster's stories prove strange and Conor seeks ways that they and the monster can help him with his grief and difficult situations, most important among them, saving his mother.

The characters of A Monster Calls were originally the children of Siobhan Dowd, who died far to young.  The novel I most associate with her name is Bog Child, a book that I have been meaning to review for several years.

A Monster Calls recently won two (COUNT THEM!  TWO!!!!!!  One and one equals two!...boy, am I good at math....) Carnegie Awards:  One for text and one for illustration.  I think both awards are well deserved.  It was wonderful to ease into a well-written book and the art did an amazing job of adding to the tone and eeriness of the story.  Here are some of my favorite images:

I set this one as one as one of my desktop backgrounds!

Also, if you'd like to read about the creation process for A Monster Call's, click here.

I found A Monster Calls to be a great complex read (although, certainly not a book to pick-up if you want a laugh).  It has the feel of a classic.  The way Ness deals with the emotions Conor is avoiding and enduring is beautifully done and can provide a lot of comfort to anyone who has shared some of the feelings Conor struggles with.


Dinner Conversation:

"The monster showed up just after midnight.  As they do.
Conor was awake when it came.
He'd had a nightmare.  Well, not a nightmare.  The nightmare.  The one he'd been having a lot lately.  The one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming.  The one with the hands slipping from his grasp, no matter how hard he tried to hold on." (p. 1)

"He felt a rush of panic, his guts twisting.  Had it followed him?  Had it somehow stepped out of the nightmare and--?
"Don't be stupid," he told himself.  "You're too old for monsters."
And he was.  He'd turned thirteen just last month.  Monsters were for babies.  Monsters were for bedwetters.  Monsters were for--
Conor. (pp. 2-3)

"I have come to get you, Conor O'Malley, the monster said, pushing against the house, shaking the pictures off Conor's wall, sending books and electronic gadgets and an old stuffed toy rhino tumbling to the floor.
A monster, Conor thought.  A real, honest-to-goodness monster.  In real, waking life.  Not in a dream, but here, at his window.
Come to get him.
But Conor didn't run.
In fact, he found he wasn't even frightened.
All he could feel, all he had felt since the monster revealed itself, was a growing disappointment.
Because this wasn't the monster he was expecting." (p. 8)

"The monster gave an evil grin.  The wind died down and a quiet fell.  At last, said the monster.  To the matter at hand.  The reason I have come walking.
Conor tensed, suddenly dreading what was coming.
Here is what will happen, Conor O'Malley, the monster continued, I will come to you again on further nights.
Conor felt his stomach clench, like he was preparing for a blow.
And I will tell you three stories.  Three tales from when I walked before. (p. 35)


Tasty Rating:  !!!!!

REVIEW: Wonder

Palacio, R.J.  (2012).  Wonder.  New York:  Alfred A. Knopf.

310 pages.



Appetizer:  Ten-year-old August "Auggie" Pullman is going to school for the first time in his life.  He, his parents and his sister, Via, who is starting the ninth grade at a different school, are all nervous about this.  Auggie's face looks different from those of other kids.  Due to a one in several million chance of genetics, people stare at Auggie wherever he goes.

Despite the fact that his parents, the principal, and some of the teachers and students try to create a welcoming environment for Auggie at Beecher Prep, Auggie still faces bullying, questions and betrayals from his classmates who fear being near him.  At times, Auggie will want nothing more than to return to homeschooling.

What a powerhouse of a book with such a moving story!  Experiences of love and loss, kindness and cruelty, and devotions and betrayals abound.  With content related to science (genetics), social studies (Ancient Egypt) and messages about bullying, acceptance and being kind, this is a great classroom read for 4th-6th graders.

Wonder is an allusion-rich text.  I found myself wishing I'd watched all six of the Star Wars movies more recently so I could know exactly what Auggie was describing.  There are also references to The Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Our Town, and a particularly powerful reference to the Cheese Touch from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, that truly demonstrates how ostracized Auggie was during the first part of fifth grade:

Tristan didn't even care about the spilled powder on the floor or that he ruined the experiment.  What he was most concerned about was getting to the lab sing to wash his hands as fast as possible.  That's when I knew for sure that there was this thing about touching me at Beecher Prep.
I think it's like the Cheese Touch in Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  The kids in that story were afraid they'd catch the cooties if they touched the old moldy cheese on the basketball court.  At Beecher Prep, I'm the old moldy cheese." (p. 72)

Yikes!  And very moving!  The way Palacio and Auggie describe his classmate's behaviors ring true.  This book can be a very upsetting mirror for some readers' behaviors.  (But don't worry, this metaphorical mirror doesn't always reveal the worst of ourselves.  Palacio does a great job of showing the complexity and varied natured of a lot of the characters' struggles.)

I was rather surprised when I reached Part II of Wonder and I realized that the book jumped to Auggie's sister's point of view (and in later parts to those of some of both siblings' classmates).  I wanted to stay with Auggie!  But, the more I read, I saw the importance of seeing different characters' perspectives and motives.

Also, I'm rather fond of Wonder's booktrailer.  You can watch that here:

Here's also a Publisher's Weekly article describing how support for Wonder has lead Random House Children's Books to launch an online anti-bullying campaign called Choose Kind.

Dinner Conversation:

"I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year-old kid.  I mean, sure, I do ordinary things.  I eat ice cream.  I ride my bike.  I play ball.  I have an XBox.  Stuff like that makes me ordinary.  I guess.  And I feel ordinary.  Inside.  But I know ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds.  I know ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go." (p. 3)

"'I don't want to go to school,' I answered, folding my arms.
"It would be good for you, Auggie," said Mom.
"Maybe I'll go next year," I answered, looking out the window.
"This year would be better, Auggie," said Mom.  "You know why?  Because you'll be going into fifth grade, and that's the first year of middle school--for everyone.  You won't be the only new kid."
"I'll be the only kid who looks like me," I said.
"I'm not going to say it won't be a big challenge for you, because you know better than that," she answered.  "But it'll be good for you, Auggie.  You'll make lots of friends.  Any you'll learn things you'd never learn from me." (p. 12)

"They were just being normal dumb kids.  I know that.  I kind of wanted to tell them that.  Like, it's okay, I know I'm weird-looking, take a look, I don't bite.  Hey, the truth is, if a Wookiee started going to the school all of a sudden, I'd be curious, I'd probably stare a bit!  And if I was walking with Jack or Summer, I'd probably whisper to them:  Hey, there's the Wookiee.  And if the Wookiee caught me saying that, he'd know I wasn't trying to be mean.  I was just pointing out the fact that he's a Wookiee."  (p. 62)

"For me, Halloween is the best holiday in the world.  It even beats Christmas.  I get to dress up in a costume.  I get to wear a mask.  I get to go around like every other kid with a mask and nobody thinks I look weird.  Nobody takes a second look.  Nobody notices me.  Nobody knows me.
I wish every day could be Halloween.  We could all wear masks all the time.  Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks."  (p. 73)

"August is the Sun.  Me and Mom and Dad are planets orbiting the Sun.  The rest of our family and friends are asteroids and comets floating around the planets orbiting the Sun.  The only celestial body that doesn't orbit August the Sun is Daisy the dog, and that's only because to her little doggy eyes, August's face doesn't look very different from any other human's face." (p. 82)


Tasty Rating:  !!!!!

REVIEW: The One and Only Ivan

Applegate, K.  (2012).  The One and Only Ivan.  New York:  Harper.

304 pages.

I've taught one of Katherine Applegate's other books, Home of the Brave, four or five times over the last several years and with each rereading I'm still impressed by Kek's perspective and the level of empathy Applegate manages to create for her characters.  I was super excited to pick up her latest book The One And Only Ivan.


Appetizer:  Ivan is a lone silverback gorilla who has lived in a small exhibit in a mall for decades beside an elderly elephant named Stella, parrots, a macaw and a stray dog named Bob.  While Ivan makes do with his small domain, more than anything, he longs to see other gorillas.

After a new young elephant named Rosy arrives at their small mall, it falls to Ivan to help take care of her, bringing up some painful memories and cementing the fact that the small band of animals need a different possibility for their future.

With some parallels to the classic Charlotte's Web and based on a true story, Applegate anthropomorphizes Ivan the silverback gorilla to capture his unique perspective, sense of longing and explore issues related to animal abuse.

At first I struggled with how humanized and well spoken Ivan was.  But despite this difficulty of suspending my disbelief, I still found the text to be accessible and a quick read.  Each of Ivan's vignette's is short, causing me to think, I'll read just one more...one more...oh, look, I've read fifty pages...."

In terms of topics to teach, Ivan proves himself to be quite the artist.  Picasso and Rembrandt are mentioned and a teacher could use these mentions and Ivan's own discussion of art as an opportunity to discuss how art can inspire change and influence emotions.  A teacher could also have students research the behavior patterns of gorillas or elephants.  You could also focus on issues of animal abuse with students examining instances reported in the news, exploring laws related to the treatment of animals or maybe writing creative stories about animals that include happy endings.

With a little bit of extra work, a teacher could also discuss bias and the way the story leads the reader to see from a particular perspective.  (To help draw out the way a book employs ideology to try to sway readers, I might pair The One and Only Ivan with the picturebook Vegan Is Love:  Having heart and taking action by Ruby Roth which has caused a bit of controversy and is pretty overt as the title expresses about its stance toward the treatment of animals.)

This is a complex story with a lot of beautiful and poetic language that also takes on a lot of serious and difficult issues:  Cruelty towards animals, removing them from their natural habitats, the experience of losing a loved one and of having to take care of others, feelings of isolation, etc.
This novel also serves as an examination of human nature.  Ivan and his animal friends have both been loved and mistreated by the humans in their lives.  And while humans do largely serve as the villains throughout the book, they aren't always found wanting (pages 102-104, for example).


Dinner Conversation:

"People call me the Freeway Gorilla.  The Ape at Exit 8.  The One and Only Ivan, Mighty Silverback.
The names are mine, but they're not me.  I am Ivan, just Ivan, only Ivan.
Humans waste words.  They toss them like banana peels and leave them to rot.
Everyone knows the peels are the best part." (p. 2)

"I live in a human habitat called the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade.  We are conveniently located off I-95, with shows at two, four, and seven, 365 days a year." (p. 6)

"'He looks lonely,' they say.
Not long ago, a little boy stood before my glass, tears streaming down his smooth red cheeks.  "He must be the loneliest gorilla in the world," he said, clutching his mother's hand.
At times like that, I wish humans could understand me the way I can understand them.
It's not so bad, I wanted to tell the little boy.  With enough time, you can get used to almost anything." (pp. 21-22)

"Because she remembers everything, Stella knows many stories.  I like colorful tales with black beginnings and stormy middles and cloudless blue-sky endings.  But any story will do." (p. 63)

"When I say the words, they surprise me.  "You want me to take care of Ruby."
Stella nods, a small gesture that makes her wince.  "If she could have a life that's...different from mine.  She needs a safe place, Ivan.  Not--"
"Not here," I say.
It would be easier to promise to stop eating, to stop breathing, to stop being a gorilla.
"I promise, Stella," I say.  "I promise it on my word as a silverback.'" (p. 112-113)

"It didn't take long for my parents to find my name.  All day long, every day, I made pictures.  I drew on rocks and bark and my poor mother's back.
I used the sap from leaves.  I used the juice from fruit.  But mostly I used mud.
And that is what they called me:  Mud.
To a human, Mud might not sound like much.  But to me, it was everything." (p. 125)


Tasty Rating:  !!!!

Audiobook Review: The Fault in Our Stars

Green, J.  (2012).  The Fault in Our Stars.  New York:

313 pages.


So, my signed copy of Green's novel arrived on its release date and it has dutifully sat on my bedside table, begging to be read.  But alas, I lacked the time.

I even had a student who came in to talk to me about the book, but I had to tell her I hadn't read it yet; like a failure.

*Points skyward.*  To the audio book I went (the Kate Rudd version, not the John Green...sorry, Kate's recording was cheaper)!



Appetizer:  Hazel Grace Lancaster is living with cancer.  Worried that she's depressed, her mom makes Hazel regularly attend a support group.  At one meeting, Hazel meets Augustus, a cancer survivor who is there to support his friend Isaac who is having surgery soon.  Augustus and Hazel trade book recommendations that leads to a quest to know what happens to the characters in Hazel's favorite book.  Along with their quest, romantic tensions arise, but with Hazel's terminal diagnosis and Augustus's regular scans to check for more cancer, their future together is uncertain.

So, I loved The Fault in Our Stars.  The audiobook was wonderful.  The way Kate Rudd brought Augustus's voice to life was great.  This was one of those audiobooks that I didn't want to stop listening to even after there was nothing I could think of to do while listening.  (I actually dusted my apartment so I could keep listening!)

Green does a good job of sharing about a realistic romance (which I imagine was one of his many goals with writing this book).  He specifically critiques paranormal romances and "cancer books."  Here's one example:

"AIA is about this girl named Anna (who narrates the story) and er one-eyed mom, who is a professional gardener obsessed with tulips, and they have a normal lower-middle-class life in a central California town until Anna gets this rare blood cancer. 

But it's not a cancer book, because cancer books suck.  Like, in cancer books, the cancer person starts a charity that raises money to fight cancer, right?  And this commitment to charity reminds the cancer person of the essential goodness of humanity and makes him/her feel loved and encouraged because s/he will leave a cancer-curing legacy.  But in AIA, Anna decides that being a person with cancer who starts a cancer charity is a bit narcissistic, so she starts a charity called The Anna Foundation for People with Cancer Who Want to Cure Cholera."  (pp. 48-49)

Yay!

I absolutely loved Hazel's friend Kaitlyn, who is described as a girl "who just happened to be an extremely sophisticated twenty-five-year-old British socialite stuck inside a sixteen-year-old body in Indianapolis.  Everyone accepted it" (p. 42).  I've been friends with a Kaitlyn sort of girl.  They're fun.

When I teach, I tend to use Looking for Alaska, but I think in the future, I may switch to using The Fault in Our Stars.


Dinner Conversation:

"Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.
Whenever you read a cancer booklet or website or whatever, they always list depression among the side effects of cancer.  But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer.  Depression is a side effect of dying.  (Cancer is also a side effect of dying.  Almost everything is, really.)" (p. 3)

"'What?' I asked.
"Nothing," [Augustus] said.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Augustus half smiled.  "Because you're beautiful.  I enjoy looking at beautiful people, and I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence."  A brief awkward silence ensued.  Augustus plowed through:  "I mean, particularly given that, as you so deliciously pointed out, all of this will end in oblivion and everything."  (p. 16)

"'I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things.  I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you."  (p. 153)


Tasty Rating:  !!!!!

REVIEW: Stitches

Small, D.  (2009).  Stitches.  New York:  W.W. Norton & Company.

329 pages.


So, you're looking for some nice, speedy, light reading over the winter break?

Stitches is a speedy read, that much is true.  But it is by no means light or nice.  Unless "nice" can be interpreted to mean riveting in a horrified and traumatized-by-proxy kind of way.

Yikes.

My reading buddy, Monica, tackled this graphic novel during a readathon a couple of years ago.  Here's her reaction.


Appetizer:  In this memoir, amazing children's illustrator David Small shares about his dysfunctional childhood.  At six, he and his mother visited his maternal grandmother.  The woman would prove to be unstable.  At eleven, David would begin to develop a growth on his neck that would not be operated on until he was 14-years-old.  The series of surgeries would leave David with only a single vocal chord.  Silenced and living in a house with people who barely speak, Stitches is the story of David finding his voice and avoiding the insanity his mother and grandfather could easily drive him towards.

This memoir is both stunning and moving.  I am forever impressed by Small's illustrations and ability to capture perspective.  But seeing the familiar style of his drawings was that much more disturbing, because as I read, I was repeatedly reminded of Imogene's Antlers, a childhood favorite of mine that is also by him.

The graphic novel repeatedly references Lolita and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  The allusions to Alice and the white rabbit are particularly wonderful.


Dinner Conversation:

Tasty Rating:  !!!!

Wow, I'm off to find a something with some humor now.