Here is a link to my textbook chart
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6fils_mKV8wRU92YU53QnVfV2M/view?usp=sharing
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Smile
Telgemeier, R., & Yue, S.
(2010). Smile. Broadway, New York: Graphix.
Raina is a 6th grade student who just wanted to fit in. After a Girl Scouts meeting, they were dropping Raina off at home and the girls decided to run to the door. Riana tripped, fell, and lost her two front teeth. Raina has to wear braces, headgear, and have various treatment in a span of four years. During those years, she goes through many obstacles that teenagers go through. Through her adolescent years she goes through the typical issues like crushes on boys, zits, insecurities, and bullying by her own friends. When she enters high school, she makes new friends. She finally gets her final surgery and feels comfortable with her smile. I really enjoyed this story. It made me feel like I was back in middle school feeling the way she did as she had her first pimples, crushes, and just wanting to fit in. This book is age-appropriate for middle school students from the ages of 9 and older. I think a good follow-up book is El Deafo. They both are graphic novels that are for the same age group of adolescents that deal with real life issues of middle school students. As a teacher, I would have students write a story about themselves in a comic strip or graphic novel format. A good website would be http://www.toondoo.com/. I could also have them give the story Smile an alternate ending and use http://www.scholastic.com/graphix/createcomic.htm?theme=smile. They would be able to incorporate the characters from the story. The theme of this story is adolescent issues, middle school, dental health, friendships, and pride/self-esteem. The author is the character in this story and tell her story of when she had dental issues through her middle school years. She uses humor and figurative language as she is writing her story like “All I Want for Christmas is my two front teeth.”(103) to capture the audience attention. Her images and text foretell events in the story. She uses dark pages in the book to tell that she is hallucinating, while she is getting her teeth extracted. The author wrote a well-written plot that will keep you engaged through-out the story
The Crosssover
Alexander, K. (2014). The
crossover. New York, New York: Harcourt Publishing.
Josh Bell is in 7th grade at Reggie
Lewis Middle School. He is the son of
former basketball superstar player Chuck Bell.
He has a twin brother name JB. He is very close to his brother and
father. Josh loves his family, his life, and basketball. He wants to follow in his father’s footsteps
and even has dreadlocks like him. Josh
lost a bet to his brother JB and loses five dreadlocks and has to end up cutting
them off. His brother also get a
girlfriend and begins spending less time with him and his dad. This starts making Josh feel lonely,
jealous, and leads to anger against his own brother. While this is happening, Chuck’s health
starts deteriorating from his poor eating habits and his heart condition. It causes him to have a few heart attacks and
he loses his life with the last one.
When his dad dies, Josh understands that his brother JB will
symbolically take his father’s place.
The brothers realize that all they have is each other and put their
differences to the side. The appropriate
age range for this book is 10-12 years old, mostly middle school children. I think this book appeals to readers who love
sports. Personally, that is the reason I
chose to read this book. Even though I
am a girl, I have always grown-up loving sports. As a teacher, I can have
students analyze the relationships between father/son and brother/brother. They can compare it to their own
relationships in their family and write a blog about it. The author chose to write this book in a
poetic format. It was well written and
the basketball action and Josh’s strong narrative voice speaks loud and can be
envisioned by the reader. The author
uses fonts, styles, and unique constructions to make the text more
appealing. He divides this book into
quarters and overtime, which is labeled according to a basketball theme. Family is a very important theme in this
novel. The loyalty, support,
encouragement, and the family structure helps for the family. “In life, family is the court, and the
basketball is one’s heart. The heart
should always be left on the court.” (Basketball
Rule #1, Paragraph 1)
Go
Kidd, C. (2016). Go: A Kidd's
guide to graphic design. New York, New York: Workman Publishing Company.
Go is a book about a guide to
graphic design and how we perceive and look at things. Kidd informs the reader that everything
around us not made by nature is a form of design. Graphic design has been around for many years
in different forms and explains that form is about solving problems. From cave paintings to the Declaration of
Independence, to coke cans, flags, maps, logos, many more, have their own unique
design. This book is divided into five
chapters: Form, Typography, Content,
Concept, and 10 Design Projects. Content and form create visuals to communicate
messages. Form is visuals and typography.
Content is the most important for
of graphic design. It has illustrations
and pictures showing us examples of each part of graphic design. Content + Form +Type+ Concept= Graphic Design.(p.
109) The appropriate age group for this
a book is adolescents from 10-17 years old.
Even at my age, I enjoyed reading this book. I learned many new things that I did not know
about. I learned what serif and sans is
a type of topography. I learned about
points, picas, and kerning. We live in a
time where our world is being ran by technology. As a teacher and parent, I can see why children today are infatuated with technology. This book can be used as a tool
to help them bring out their creativity.
The last chapter in the book gives children projects they can begin
with. This book is an informational
literature. The qualifications of the
author are valid. He uses examples of his
own work in his book to show the different types of steps of graphic design. He
designed the cover for Jurassic Park,
Bat-Manga, Mythology, Superman, and many more. Go has
been reviewed both by The School Library
Journal and Booklists and was
given five stars. Go has accuracy and current information. For example, the author describes how written
words and graphic designs have gone in a full circle. They have evolved into what they are
today.
This One Summer
Tamaki, M., & Tamaki, J. (2014).
This one summer. New York, New York: First Second.
This is a young adult graphic novel
that follows Rose Wallace as she deals with friendships, faamily, and local
drama, while on a summer family vacation at Lake Awago. Rose has spent summers at Lake Awago as far
as she can remember. There, she met her
best friend, Windy, who is a year and a half younger and they do everything
together. Rose and Windy like to watch
horror flicks together. They go rent
movies from Brewster’s. Rose’s crush, Duncan, works there
They spend a lot of time at
Brewster’s with the teen scene there and hear teenagers cursing and talking
about sexual things. Rose’s parents are also going through a tough time. Her dad ends up leaving for a few days and
Rose blames her mother. Duncan gets a girl named Jenny pregnant and doesn’t want to own
up to his responsibilities. Rose and
Windy go through a rough patch, but get passed it. As the summer comes to an end, Jenny
confronts Duncan and he tells her to get lost.
Jenny gets drunk and goes into the lake.
Rose screams for her mom and her mom saves Jenny from drowning. Later
the same night, Rose learns that her mom had a miscarriage last summer and that
why she had been acting that way. They
make peace with each other. Rose and
Windy say good-bye and look forward to next summer. The more graphic novel I
read, the more I enjoy them. Even though
the reading level for this book is a 2.4, I would like recommend this book for
young adult because of its content and
language. I would say that it is for high school students from grades 9th-12th. The strengths in this book are how the
illustrations come to life. It has a lot of small details to it, which helps bring the story to life. Family is a very important theme is this
story. Rose’s family visits Awago Beach
every year. It is something that her
family is accustomed to do. Rose’s
family is going through a difficult time during this time and Windy and her mother
have a good relationship even though she is adopted. The vocabulary and word
choice of the author is more of a young adult because of words such as “blow
job” and the straightforward language used throughout the novel. Everything I Never Told You
Ng, C. (2014). Everything I never
told you. Westminster, London: Penguins Press.
The Lees are a middle class family
from Ohio. One morning as the family
sits down for breakfast, they realize Lydia is missing. She is found dead at the bottom of a lake
nearby their house. Her death is ruled a suicide and to answer the reader’s
questions the author goes back to the 60’s to recount the events leading up to
her suicide. Her father is Chinese
American and is a young professor at Harvard.
There he meets his wife, Marilyn, and she becomes pregnant with her first
child Nath. She leave medical studies at
Harvard to become a housewife. When
Lydia was 6 years old, Marilyn leaves her family to go back to medical school,
soon after she leave she realizes she is pregnant with her third child, Hannah,
so she goes back home. When she returns,
she starts to live her dream of becoming a doctor through Lydia. Putting the
other children to the side, both parents focus on Lydia becoming what they
never where. Lydia becomes extremely
overwhelmed. Never feeling like he fit in, James has an affair with Louisa,
another Chinese women. This affair goes
on for a while. Lydia starts to suspect that her father is having an
affair. Lydia not having any friends,
befriends her neighbor Jack, who is in love with Nath her brother. The night before she died, she tried to kiss
Jack and he rejected her telling her he was in love with Nath. All these events, led her to commit
suicide. After her death, her family
discovers things about Lydia that they did not know about. In the end, James comes home to Marilyn and
they both start to renew their love for each other. At the end, Nath and Jack have a fight and
Hannah accidently pushes him in the lake.
While he is down there, he feels a connection with Lydia and swims back.
The appropriate age group for this book
would be high school students from the age of 14-18. I feel like this story is something that
young adults can relate too. Young
adults not only have peer pressure, but this book show how parents put pressure
on their children as well. The family
dynamics in this story are reality for some children today. As a teacher, you can discuss how
seeking help can help you and that suicide is the answer to someone’s
problems. This story is contemporary
realistic novel. It deals with family
issues like maternal expectations, sibling conflict, and interracial
marriage. The plot is very well written
with developed characters. They style
which the author used to write this story is frequently lyrical and have rhythm
and poetic quality. The characters’
thoughts are italicized to separate them from each other.
Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different
Blumenthal, K. (2012). Steve Jobs: The man who thought
different: A biography. New York: Feiwel and Friends.
Steve Jobs was
adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs. He didn’t like the school or the structure
of school. He would get into mischief. He knew he was different
from others and loved to take apart electronics and devices and put them back
together. He was living in a world where technology was in boom. In his
neighborhood, he become friends with some boys that loved technology like he
did. Steve Wozniak worked at Hewlett-Packard, was a computer whiz, and
brilliant inventor. Jobs dropped out of college and started working for
Atari. Later Jobs and Wozniak formed Apple Computer Company in Job’s
garage. They knew they needed each other, Wozniak created the technology
and Jobs sold them. They both helped each other to assemble the
product. A small company invested in them and when they grew they got an
office. The company became Apple, Inc. Today, it is one the biggest
technology forces in the world. It has created our personal computers,
iPhones, iPods, iTunes, iMacs, and iPads. Jobs changed the world and made
$7 billion dollars from it. Personally, I have been intrigued with Steve Jobs
and would recommend this book to others. I love to read biographies and
learn about people who have impacted our world. We see Steve Job and all
his accomplishments even though he did not have a perfect life. This book
is age appropriate from 12-18 years old, but I think adults would also enjoy
reading it. Students can create a timeline of his life using a prezi or a
timeline maker. Then they have to present it to the class. This
book is a biography about the life and accomplishments of Steve Jobs. The
information in this book is accurate and current it starts from his early life
to his today where we all use his Apple products. The book is divided
into three parts: 1st his early life, college,and Steve Wozniak, 2nd his exile from Apple and how he never
lost sight of it, and 3rd his
last years with pancreatic cancer.
Catching Fire
Collins, S., & Parisi, E. (2013). Catching fire.
Broadway, New York: Scholastic.
Catching fire starts off six months after Katniss Everdeen
and Peeta Mellark defy the Hunger Games previous rules and become the first
pair of tributes to win the games. Katness and Peeta are hailed as victors and
must play out the roles of lovers that where developed during the 74th
games. President Snow meets with Katniss
and lets her know that her move of attempting to eat the berries with Peeta was
seen as too rebellious and he fears that she could cause an uprising with the
districts. Snow tells Peeta that Katness must convince everyone that she is
truly in love with Peeta, so that the attempted suicide is not viewed as a
rebellious act. If she convinces
everyone of their true love, Snow will spare the family of Katniss. A gesture
of three middle fingers held in the air, and the whistling of the mockingjay
tune starts to unify people and ends up with an old man being shot during one
of the visits that Katniss and Peeta are having at District 12. Peeta and Katniss get engaged and it causes
an uprising in District 8. The grounds
of the games end up being set up like a clock. Each hour has a different danger.
Some of the tributes begin to work as a team and the group rigs a way to get
out of the games. They attach wire to a tree that gets struck by lightning and
they shoot an arrow up into the sky which is actually formed by a series of
panels. This act causes an explosion. Katniss gets knocked out by the
explosion, and is taken away. She wakes to Johanna stabbing her arm and thinks
that she is being attacked, when in fact, Johanna is removing a tracking device
that was placed in Katniss. A full-scale rebellion is taking place against the
Capital, and Show. Katniss is not
informed of the plan that unfolds to end the games, or of the rebellion because
they fear that it is too dangerous to inform her. She finds out that Peeta has
been captured by the Capital, and loses her will to live. She stops eating and
speaking. Gale ends her state of depression when he tells her that District 12
no longer exists because it has been bombed.
The appropriate age for this
novel is 12- adulthood or from 7th grade and up. I love this book
because it has romance, hope, despair, humanity all in one. Once you are done reading this entire series,
I would recommend you read Divergent. It
is a sci-fi thriller as well. I
recommend you watch the movies as well, but read the books first. As a teacher, I would have my students
compare the movie to the book. They
would create a presentation and present it.
This is a fantasy and science fiction.
The characters are in the future in an environment that doesn’t
exist. They can manipulate the game
grounds by computer software in a remote location. The three themes in this story are love, survival,
and rebellion. There is a love triangle
between Katness, Peeta, and Gale.
Survival is the goal in the hunger games. Rebellion takes place outside of the games
between the districts and the capital.
The Fault in Our Stars
Green, J. (2012). The fault in
our stars. New York: Dutton Books.
Hazel Grace is a 16 year old
teenager who has cancer and attends a Support Group. There she meets Augustus, a survivor of
osterosarcoma. He was there to support
his friend Isaac who was about to lose his second eye. They are flirtatious with each other and talk
to each other about everything. They
even share her favorite book, An Imperial
Affliction, and they discuss the ending of the book. August manages to communicate
with and the author invites her to come to Amsterdam to discuss the ending of
the book. August tells her that he still
has his wish from when he had cancer. He
says he would like to use it to take her to Amsterdam to meet the author, Peter
Van Houten. Hazel convinces her parents and doctor to let her go and her mom
ends up going with her. In Amsterdam,
Peter Van Houten, was not who they thought.
He was a mean drunk and didn’t answer any of their questions. It upsets Hazel, but Van Houten’s assistant
takes them to explore. They see Anne
Frank’s house and Augustus and Hazel finally kiss. Augustus tells Hazel that his cancer has come
back. His health is deteriorating and
doesn’t have much time left. Hazel is
there for Augustus till the very end. When he passes, Hazel is filled with
grief. She give a eulogy at his funeral
tailored to his parents. Peter Van
Houten shows up at the funeral and he tells her he wrote An Imperial Affliction for his daughter that died of cancer. She learns from Lidewij that Augustus wrote
her a eulogy and had sent it to Van Houten.
She reads the eulogy, and it states that he hopes she is happy with the
choices she made. She is happy. I think the appropriate age level for book is
14-18 years old. I am the kind of person
who gets very emotional with sad books and movies, and just thinking about the
story brings tears to my eyes. In class, you
can use quotes from the book and have students agree/disagree with it and
defend their answers. Some examples of
quotes are, “Grief does not change you, Hazel. It reveals you.” or “the real heroes anyway aren’t the people
doing things; the real heroes are the people NOTICING things, paying
attention.” Other good books to
follow-up reading after this one are Looking
for Alaska or Paper Towns. I recommend reading more novels from John
Green. One of the themes of this novel
is friendship. Hazel has a hard time
with friendships due to her illness. The
book also incorporates Isaac and Monica’s relationship and Augustus and Hazel’s
relationship. Family is another theme in the story because of their illness. The
plot in the story is not a happy plot.
Hazel is the main character and is witty and well-spoken.
Friday, October 30, 2015
When You Reach Me
Stead, R. (2010). When you reach
me. Yearling.
Miranda is a middle school student
who lives with her mother in an apartment.
Her best friend Sal lives in the same apartment complex. One day
after school he got punched by a boy name Marcus. After
that incident, Sal wanted to take a break from their friendship. Her mother works at a law firm as a
receptionist and is practicing to appear on a game show The $20,000 Pyramid. A
homeless man lives outside on Miranda’s street.
She calls him the laughing man because he laughs all the time. He is
always saying the phrase “book bag pocket shoe.” Miranda starts receiving letter from an
unknown person. The person writing these
letter asks her to write about things in the future. Miranda favorite book is about time travel and
this plays an important part of the book.
She becomes good friends with Annemarie and Colin and they start working
at a sandwich shop for a while. Later,
she begins to see that the letter are coming true and she is intrigued. One day, Sal sees Marcus and Marcus wants to
apologize for punching him, but Sal flees.
He runs into traffic, but before a truck can hit him, the homeless man
gets in front of the truck. He later finds a note in Richard’s shoe and learns
that the man had come from the future to save Sal’s life. While her mom is on stage at the game show,
Miranda starts thinking about a conversation she had with Marcus about
time- travel and realizes he is the “laughing man” in an older Marcus and
that he came from the future to save him.
The appropriate age group for this book is 8-12 year old. I like how the author connected the notes to
her everyday life. Even though it is an
older book, I think a good follow-up book would be A Wrinkle in Time by M.
L’Engle. It talks about time travel as well
and is the book Miranda loved in the story.
The theme of this story is time travel.
It is first introduced when we learn Miranda’s favorite book is A
Wrinkle in Time. Next, Marcus explains
to her how time travel might be possible one day. Then, she begins to see subtle hints of time
travel in the reader’s notes. Last, she realizes that the homeless man living
outside is actually Marcus who has time traveled to save Sal from being hit by a
truck. The point of view of this story
is told in a first person by Miranda.
The author used simple English because the audience is for young
children. The plot includes the main
plot, which is notes from a mysterious writer and subplots, which talks about
her friendships with Sal, Colin, Annemarie, and Julia.
All the plots get resolved at the end of the novel.
Doll Bones
Black, H. (2013). Doll bones.
New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.
Poppy, Alice, and Zachary are friends that like to play imagination games. It is their way to
escape from reality. One day, Zach’s
father returns home after 3 years and throws all his action figure away, only
leaving the ones that Alice and Poppy have.
He becomes unhappy and doesn’t want to play anymore. Poppy decides that Zack needs a real quest to
take him out of his misery. They run away from home on a real quest with the
porcelain doll that Poppy’s mom has that his made from bones and ashes. The doll is a ghost and want to be returned
to her grave. They go on an adventure that tests their friendship dealing with
many twists and turn. Zach finally tells
them why he stopped wanting playing with them and runs off. Alice realized that the tombstone that Zach
has been crying on is the doll's family grave and they bury the doll there. They all promise to keep the Story alive and going. I found
this to be a good adventure book. I like
how they go out on an adventure and learn about themselves as well. The
appropriate age-group would be middle school students from the ages of 10-15. I think a good paired reading for this book
would be The Friendship Doll by Kirby Larson.
Students could then compare blog about the dolls and their reactions to the
story. The genre of this book is fantasy
fiction because it deals with dolls, ghosts, and monsters. The style the author chose to write this
story is a third person point of view and shifts to narratives at times. The theme of this book is friendship. They begin with a strong friendship and
during the adventure their friendship gets tested. In the end, they realize that there are no
obstacles that their friendship cannot conquer.
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
Angleberger, T., & Books, L.
(2010). The strange case of Origami Yoda (Unabridged. ed.). Prince
Frederick, MD: Recorded Books.
Tommy
wants to know if Origami Yoda is real.
He is a finger puppet that Dwight has made and speaks for. Dwight
is does a lot of weird things and Tommy tries to figure out how his Origami
Yoda can give good advice. Tommy gathers a case study with entries of
stories that his friends and himself have about how Origami Yoda has given them
advice. Harvey is Tommy’s friend who
thinks Origami Yoda is just a piece of paper.
In each entry made, Tommy and Harvey add comments at the end and their
friend, Kellen, makes illustrations for the entries. Tommy has a crush on a girl named Sara. He has to decide if Origami Yoda’s advice is
real in order to ask Sara to dance at Fun Night. I think this book is for young readers from 4th-8th
grade. I like the way it talks about
issues that middle school students go through, such as friendship drama,
crushes, and sports. This is a good book for reluctant
readers. The humor in the book can catch
their attention. This is the first book
in the series so young readers can continue reading the rest of the
series. Once they finish this series,
they may follow-up with The Diary of a
Wimpy Kid series. As a teacher, I can have students analyze the characters
and their traits. Students can use clues from the story to show how the
character exhibited that trait. This story has various themes like friendship,
middle school, good vs. evil, growing up, and feelings. The style used in this book was that it looks as it was
handwritten with kid drawn illustrations and has funny blurbs like “The
Force-always may it be with you." The author used vocabulary that young
boy readers can relate to like name-calling like dipwad, loser, butt, fart
face, and jerk. The author uses figurative language like “When he’s not actively annoying us, he’s usually
sitting there like a hypnotized chicken, staring into space and completely
ignoring everybody.” (p. 45), “Hmmm, I
almost don’t want to tell this story because I’m still a little bit mixed-up
about. (p. 97), or “ As far as I can see, all this story proves is that Dwight
is crazy as a bald gorilla.” (p. 73) The books ends with instructions on how to make your own Origami Yoda.
Grasshopper Jungle
Smith, A. (2014). Grasshopper
jungle: A history. New York, New York: Dutton Books.
Austin and Robbie are best friends
and Shann is Austin’s girlfriend. Austin
struggles with feelings about both Robbie and Shann. One day, while skateboarding, Austin and
Robbie get attacked by a gang, led by Grant Wallace. They get their things stolen and thrown on a
roof of a consignment store. When they
go to retrieve them, they sneak inside and discover mysterious objects. While they were there, they see Grant Wallace
take the globe that had Contained MI Plague Strain 412E. They shatter the vial, and the people infected people turning into giant praying mantis. Austin, Robbie, and Shann go hide
underground, in a bunker known as Eden.
This bunker was made in the 70’s by McKeon Industries, who also made the
Contained Plague. They begin to explore and find out McKeon industries had been
developing “unstoppable soldiers”, which were the praying mantises. While trying to retrieve the film, Austin
gets attacked. Later, they learn that
Robbie’s blood can defeat the soldiers, but when they return to the surface it
is too late. The world gets taken over
by large praying mantises. Shann has a
baby from Austin name Arek, and Robbie and Austin live underground only leaving
in the winter months to find food. Due
to language and content of this book, I would say the age-appropriate for this
novel is high school students and older.
It talks a lot about sexuality and words like sperm, ball, and horny are
used a lot in this book. When I first
picked up this book, I was hesitant because I prefer to read more historical
books or realistic fiction. As I kept
reading, it captured my attention with its strange content. I think anyone who reads this book, really
has to be open to what they are going to read.
This story is science fiction because people infected with the plague of
Strain 412E turn into praying mantises.
The setting takes place in the town of Ealing, Iowa, where the
characters live. The author chose to
write this story in a retrospective style narration. The story would venter off to omniscience
narration. The story has many angles to
it, but you are able to keep up with everything that is going on. The theme of story is history because Austin
records his own life in this story and his ancestor’s life as well.
Please Ignore Vera Dietz
King, A., & Knopf, I. (2010). Please
ignore Vera Dietz. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Vera Dietz is a senior in high
school, while working full-time delivering pizzas. She just lost her best friend Charlie when
he supposedly died in a pet shop fire that he set up. She is having a hard time
getting over the death of her friend.
She knows he didn’t do it and wants to clear his name. In flashbacks, we learn that Charlie and Vera
were best friends since they were young. To escape family problems, he
hangs out with Vera and they build a treehouse. Charlie’s dad abuses
his mother and Vera’s mother left her father when she was twelve years
old. As they get older, Charlie starts
hanging out the wrong crowd and starts selling his underwear to perverted men,
which scared her. Vera is still doing
good in school and volunteers at a the pet shop because she loves animals. Vera
does not like Charlie’s new friends, especially a girl named Jenny Flick, who
becomes Charlie’s girlfriend. This causes conflict between her and
Charlie. They stop speaking to each
other and he even throws dog feces at her. In her flashback before Charlie died, he had
gone to Vera to ask for protection because Jenny was going to kill him and burn
down the pet shop. Vera did not believe
him and thought he was just being dramatic. Vera decides to meet Charlie anyways
at the pet shop, but when she gets there she sees Jenny burning down the
building, but doesn’t find Charlie. She thinks Charlie has stood her up and
gets upset. The next morning, she finds
out he is dead and the people blame him for the fire. In the present day, Vera sees Charlie’s
ghosts telling her to go to the police and tell them what she knows. She is also trying to repair her
relationship with her father. She
finally decides that she want to clear his name and goes to the treehouse they
built. There she finds a note that Charlie left her with the events leading up
to his death. She decides to go to the police station with her dad and gives
them the letter. At the end, Vera and
her dad go on a trip to enjoy their lives. I think this book is age-appropriate
for high school students from 9th-12th grade due to some
the content in it. It talks about sex
videos, perverted men, selling underwear, arson, and many other topics. This book in my opinion would not be
appropriate for kids any younger. As a
teacher, I would have students compare Vera and Charlie’s relationship with
that of Romeo and Juliet’s, and have them come up with their own literary
couple to compare them to as well. This
book has several themes like friendship (Vera and Charlie growing-up), lies and
deceit (She knows that Charlie didn’t do it and is faced with a choice of
clearing his name.), choices, guilt and blame (She blamed herself for not
believing him and struggles with his death.)
The author also uses some literary style when she has the Pagoda, an
inanimate landmark, talk. It shares its
thoughts and feelings in a conversational style. The plot of the story was
well-developed. It started with the
exposition that Charlie is dead, then the rising action where Vera is not able
to deal with his death, drinks, and doesn’t want to clear his name due to him
being mean to her. Next, the climax when
she drinks too much, hit her head, has therapy, and starts to repair her
relationships. Then the falling action, where he decides to tell the police to
clear Charlie’s name, and finally the resolution, after she finds peace with her dad.
Persepolis
Sartrapi, M. (2004).
Perseplis. NY: Pantheon.
In 1979, during the Islamic Revolution, Marji’s life
is forever changed. Her bilingual school is closed and she is separated from her friends.
Boy and girls were no longer allowed to go to the same school. They made all girls wear veils. Marji is very religious and believes she is
the last prophet of God. She secretly
writes her own holy book. She doesn’t
want her parents to know that she wants to be a prophet. She later changes her
mind because of the revolution. Her mother and father would attend political
protest. She grew very close to her
Uncle Anoosh. He teachers her about the
world. He is later executed and she has
a hard time dealing with it. She is very
headstrong and her behavior gets her expelled from school. Worried at what can happen to her, her family
sends her to Vienna. There she is put in
a boarding house ran by nuns and it does not go well for her. She misses her family and becomes depressed
and homeless. She ends up sick and moves back home to Iran giving up her
freedom once more. She continues to do
social activism. She then gets married
to Reza, parities, and then gets divorced.
She felt trapped and drew herself behind bars after she was
married. Her father new she wasn’t
happy. She realized Iran was not for her and moves back to Europe. She only gets to see her grandma one more time
before she dies. I like this book
because it lets you see the world in a different perspective. Sometimes, we get to wrapped up in our lives
and forget about what other people around the world go through. This book would be age-appropriate for middle
school students. I would say as young as
5th graders. You can analyze the characters in this book and compare how their life is different in Iran compared to ours in the USA. As a teacher, you can teach students how
governments are ran differently in other countries and how freedom is taken away
from people. This is an autobiography
graphic novel. The author wrote about
her life in Iran and how she dealt with politics, growing-up, and family. Some
of the themes used in this book are family, politics, freedom, confinement, morality,
and religion. All these themes play a
vital part in the book. Her family was
very important to her, especially her grandma, but she also liked her freedom
from Iran and all its political and religious confinement. Sartrapi uses black
and white illustrations to show how Iran is black and white in many aspects like dress codes and rules. She doesn’t
use a lot of adjectives because she uses pictures to reflect her writing.
The Knife of Never Letting Go
Ness, P.
(2008). The knife of never letting go. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press
This story takes place in a planet that is referred to
as “the new world.” Todd lives in a town Prentisstown with his adoptive
parent Ben and Cillian. He is the last boy and becomes a man when he
turns 13. There are no women in the town because they were killed off by
Spackle. Then Spackle infected everyone with the noise germ.
It is a germ that allows all humans and animals to mentally communicate.
Todd was told that noise killed off all the women. One day, Todd and
Manchee, his dog, were exploring the swamp and discover silence. Ben
tells him that he has to leave and gives him a journal and map that his mom
left him before she died. On his journey, he meets a girl name
Viola. He gets chased by Aaron and the Prentisstown Army. He
discovers that noise didn’t kill off women. Women can hear the noise, but
no one can hear their noise. They endure lots of hardships and
Aaron even captures Viola. When Todd finds her, he has to choose between
his dog and her. He chooses and her and Manchee dies protecting
him. They continue their quest to Haven, so they can start a new life
there. Todd finally discovers that Aaron is after him because he
want him to kill him. They learn that Aaron’s death is suppose to be a
blessing since Todd was the last boy. It is suppose to bless the army and
they could find their new Eden. Viola ends up killing him, so that Aaron
wouldn’t win and get what he wanted. When they get to Haven, they
realize that Mayor Prentiss has already taken the city and he rules it
now. The books ends with Todd surrendering to Prentiss because he wants
to defend Viola. I think this book is appropriate for children who are 12
and older because of the violence and language content. It is filled with
action, twists, and turns that will captivate their attention. As a
teacher, this is a good book to pair with Hunger Games. Students can find
the similarities in the theme of both stores on resisting authority and
fighting for what is right and contrast the plots or characters. This is a fantasy and
science fiction book in which the authors places its characters in a secondary
world. This story deals with the theme of gender equality. In
the story men are superior to women and they formed a rebellion to kill all
women. Through-out the settlements that Todd and Viola visit, it is
visible that men control the towns. The sentence patterns in this
story is unique. Since Todd is from Prentisstown where education was
shunned, the story has misspelled words, he uses local terms that make sense to
him. The character Todd is the protagonist of the story. He is
obsessed on being a man and cares about how other view him. He easily believes
what has been told to him. By the end of the book, he learns to make his
own judgment and stand up for himself.
Monster
Myers, W.D.
(1999). Monster. NY: Harper.
Steve Harmon
is a sixteen year old African-American teenager who is on trial for partaking
in robbery and murder. He starts to
write a movie script with the details of his trial. During the book, he also includes journal
entries of his life. Two other men named Richards “Bobo” Evans and
James King went into a drugstore in Harlem to rob it. The robbery went wrong and Mr. Nesbitt the
owner pulled out a gun and ended up getting shot. Steve Harmon faces 25 years to life or even
the death penalty for his supposed involvement in the robbery and murder. Steve Harmon is
found not guilty of murder. When
the verdict is read, he goes to hug his lawyer, but she turns away. He questions himself if he is really a good
person or a “monster.” I think this book
is for high school students and adults.
It has racism, sexual references, and violence that is inappropriate for
young readers. The story is left with an
open-ended question if Steve Harmon really is innocent or is he
guilty. As a teacher, I would have
students give their opinion of his innocence or guilt and defend their answers. There are various themes to this
story. One can be peer pressure. Steve had to make choices when it came to
prove himself around other guys. Another
theme is the justice system and race.
Since Steve is African-American, jurors are more likely to think he is
guilty. It reveals how the legal system
works to determine someone’s innocence or guilt. This book was written in the main characters
point of view. He wrote his trial in a
screenplay, as well as, describing his life in prison. He uses bold face words
to specify the main points he want to convey.
He uses the position of the camera in the screenplay too change the
points of view of the other characters in the story. Dialogue is used to show the other
characters remarks. This also showcases
his struggles before, during, and after the trial.
It's Perfectly Normal
Harris, R.
(2009). It’s perfectly normal. Boston, MA:
Candlewick Press.
It’s
Perfectly Normal is
a nonfiction book about changing bodies, growing up, sex and sexual
health. It discusses topics like what is
sex and puberty. It
goes into detail about sex, the different kinds of sex, how a girl can get
pregnant, and how to protect yourself from pregnancy and diseases. It covers birth-control option and how to
have safe sex. It also shows illustrations
with great detail of each topic discussed in the book. The book is very frank about each topic. I think the age- appropriate
for this book is middle to high school students. I think is book is logical in terms of using
words, pictures, and diagrams to explain each topic. I like the fact that when it comes to
discussing a controversial issue like abortion, it provides both sides to the
controversy. It is also a good book to
use for parents whose children are asking questions about the “birds and the
bees.” This book is an informational
literature that provides information for tweens and teens about puberty,
reproduction, sexuality, and many more topics.
The author’s style in this book has humor and as well informative
information. This makes the book more
understandable and adds some light-heartedness to embarrassing subjects. It provides accurate and current information
about questions that tweens/teens may have and are too embarrassed to ask.
Annie on my Mind
Garden, N. (1992). Annie on my
mind (Aerial ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.
Liza and
Annie are both 17 years old. Liza attends a private school, which she is school
president at and wants to go to MIT.
Annie loves music and loves to sing.
They meet the Metropolitian Museum in New York. There they develop an
attraction for each other. As time goes
by, they fall in love. Liz and Annie hide their feelings away from everyone around them.
One Christmas, they give each other gold rings as gifts. They both shy away when one tries to touch the
other one, which leads to an argument, and they agree to stop running away from each’s
other feelings. One day, Liza’s teachers, Ms. Widmer and Ms. Stevenson, asked
her to watch their cats while they are out of town. They decide to spend some private time
together. There they discover that their
teachers are gay too. They decide to take it to the next level. The next morning, they get caught by Sally
and Ms. Baxter. They eventually have to
come out to their parents. They both
went to college and Annie wrote to Liza for a whole year. Liza wouldn’t write back for a whole
year. Through-out the story, Liza was
writing a letter back to Annie, but in the end Annie ends up calling. They both
agree to meet up again. The book is
age-appropriate for 7th-12th graders. I think this book shows an innocent romance
that blooms between two young girls.
“Have you ever felt close to someone?
So close that you can’t understand why you and the other person have two
separate skins” (p. 91). This quote
shows how the girls felt about each other.
In my opinion, it was well written and it tackled homosexuality very
well. This book may help students who
are struggling with their own sexuality.
Some good follow-up books are Keeping You a Secret by Julie Ann Peters
or The Gravity Between Us by Kristen
Zimmer. The theme of this book is love
and friendship. The girls become friends
first then end up falling in love.
Another theme incorporated in this book is sexuality, Liza had not
realized her sexuality until she met Annie.
The characters in this story are well-developed, and Nancy Garden does a good job in telling their
story. This is a contemporary realistic
fiction. Many teenagers today have gone
through an identity crisis about their sexuality. Even though today homosexuality has become
more of the norm, many teenagers still battle with it.
El Deafo
Bell, C. (2014).
El Deafo. BY:
Abrams
At four years old, Cece got ill with meningitis and
lost her hearing. As she goes to school,
she struggles with her friendships, her hearing aid, and her acceptance of
it. She did not like her Phonics Ear
because it was a big box she had to wear.
She had many obstacles at school, especially with friends. First, she has a bossy friend named Laura and she didn't know how to stand up to her, next she meets a girl who talks loud and
slow to her name Ginny. They got along
great. One day, she gets so annoyed she
yells at her how she feels about her talking loudly and slow to her. Their
friendship was the never the same after that. Then she meets a girl named
Martha, who is a year younger than her.
She becomes great friends with her.
One day, they were playing tag and Cece ran into a tree branch and hurt
her eye. Martha felt guilty and avoided
Cece from then on. She finally realized
that she had superpowers that no one else had with her Phonics Ear and things
started looking up. She was able to hear everything the teacher was doing from
going to the lounge to going to the bathroom.
She would imagine she was a superhero and called herself El Deafo. She
shared this power with her crush, Mike Miller.
She started using it while her teacher would step out of the classroom to
warn the kids when she was coming back.
At the end, her and Martha become friends again. I would suggest that readers from the ages 8
and up can read this book. As an adult, I
enjoyed reading this book and getting to know Cece through-out the book. It had lots of humor, while telling a story a
true story of how Cece Bell dealt with her struggles growing up deaf. As teacher, we can teach students about
self-acceptance and healthy relationships with their friends. A good follow-up
book is Smile. Cece Bell chose to write her memoir in a
graphic novel style. She used a
character with long ears as the character in her story as a metaphor. The themes of this book is acceptance and
friendship, which the character had to deal with through-out the whole
story. She had to accept her hearing
aid, how children would treat her different, and how life was more of a
challenge for her. It is written in the
character’s point of view. The sentence
patterns were used to help readers understand what hearing loss feels like. The use of fading and vivid colors and the
structure and design of her thoughts helped them relay the way Cece was feeling
at the moment.
Speak
Anderson, L. (1999). Speak.
New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.
Melinda is
starting high school with no friends, including her good friends from middle
school and her best friend Rachel. At an
end of the year party, she was raped by a senior named Andy Beast who she
refers to as IT. She was drunk and
called the police. Not knowing that she
was raped, everyone was upset because they thought she called to cancelled the party and break it up. Melinda carries this burden
with her that not even her parents know about. She begins to hardly speaks, her grades
have gone down, and is depressed. Her
teachers and parents think she is going through a phase in her life. In art class, her teacher, Mr. Freeman, is
aware of her talent. She is given an
assignment of a tree and she needs to create something with it and struggles
with it. Melinda befriends a girl named
Heather. They become friends, but
Heather gets involve with cliques at school and only looks for Melinda when she
needs something artistic done. Andy starts to approach her and taunts her,
which makes her more emotional. One
spring day, Melinda starts planting flowers and cleaning her house. This makes her feel better and she starts to
regain her confidence. Rachel begins
dating Andy and Melinda decides to tell her what happened and she doesn’t
believe her. During prom Andy becomes
aggressive with Rachel and she confronts him about Melinda. Andy tries to attach Melinda again and gets
caught. In the end, she finishes her
tree with low dead branches, but with strong branches as well symbolizing her
life. Due to its content about rape, I
think this book is more appropriate for young reader that are 14 years and
older. I think this book sends out a
strong message to anybody who has been raped, depressed, and has kept it to
themselves. I think one of the major strengths of this
book is that only that it targets a subject that is important to society, but
at the end of the book it lists ways to get help if you have ever been raped. It lists some websites and phone
numbers. It gives information for sexual survival tips as
well as statistics of assault victims. This
book is realistic fiction and opens up the readers mind to the aftermath of
someone who has been raped. The book is
divided into four marking periods symbolizing a part of the school year. It’s theme is about rape and its aftermath and
how it left Melinda vulnerable, confused, and depressed. Many victims feel like it is their fault and are
ashamed they don’t tell anyone.
Depression is also a theme because Melinda deals with it through-out
most of the book. She works through it
by taking small steps and becomes successful at the end of the book.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Alexie, S., & Forney, E. (2007).
The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York: Little,
Brown.
Junior lives
in an Indian Reservation near the town of Wellpinit. His family was poor and so were the people
who lived there. One day at school, he
opened up a book and noticed that it had his mom’s name in it. He got upset and threw it and it hit his
teacher, Mr. P. Junior got expelled and
went to a white school outside the Reservation in Reardan. This made his best friend Rowdy very upset. Even the other Indians in the
reservation rejected him. He develops a
crush on a girl named Penelope. When they start dating, Junior becomes
popular. Junior even makes the
basketball team. There he goes up
against Rowdy and is booed. During the
game, he gets knocked out and becomes unconscious. He suffers through many deaths because of
alcohol in his family. He copes with
this pain by embracing joy in his life. At the end of the book, Rowdy accepts
that Junior has left the reservation and they play a game of basketball. They do not keep score meaning they put their
differences aside. Because of the
material covered in the book like racism, homophobia, sexual references, and
alcoholism, I recommend it for high school students and older. The ages of
14 and older would be appropriatr. As a teacher, I would
before reading the book with my students, I would show a video of a summary of
the story from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su_GVGWVHUs.
As I read the story, I we would discuss character analysis and show text
evidence with how Junior acts, speaks, or thinks.
The author writes this story in a diary format in first person point of
view. The author writing style is divided
this book by narrative, dialogues, and illustrations. The illustrations represent supplement and
provide storylines. For example on page 43, there is a drawing of Junior
choosing a path of hope in Reardan or staying at home in Wellpinit. Symbolism is also used in the story like the
death of his dog Oscar. They were so
poor that they couldn’t afford to take him to the vet and the dad shot and
killed him. It showed that senseless
destruction can be cause by their poverty.
George
Gino, A.
(2015). George. NY: Scholastic.
George is 10
years old. She knows that she is a
girl. The only problem is that everyone
else sees her as a boy. She feels very
uncomfortable in her skin. Her fourth
grade class is putting on a Charlotte’s Web play. George wants to audition for the part of
Charlotte. Her friend Kelly and George
rehearse together and Kelly believes she is good enough to get the part. When it was George’s turn to audition, her teacher did not allow her to do it.
George was very disappointed, but Kelly came up with a plan. The day of the performance, George would take
over the part of Charlotte without anyone knowing. It would be too late to try to get him off
the stage. She successfully pulled it
off and everyone knew who she was.
George finally told her mom, brother, and Kelly and they were all
accepting and supportive of her. At the
end, Kelly and Melissa (George) went to the zoo and George got to dress like a
girl. She was so happy and excited. She said it was the best of her life so
far. This book is age-appropriate for
children from 8-12 years old, but I would recommend it to adults as well. George allows you see how children his age
feel trapped in a body that doesn’t feel like he belongs too. I think one of the strengths of this books is
that it allows readers to be emotionally invested in her life. It can teach children who are struggling with
their gender identity, self-acceptance.
This is a realistic fiction book.
Many children today can relate with George’s feelings. One of the themes of this book is
friendship. Kelly and George develop a
friendship where Kelly encourages George to pursue what he is feeling. Some other themes are gender identity, bullying
experiences, and self-acceptance.
Gabi: A Girl in Pieces
Quintero,
I. (2014). Gabi: A girl in pieces. TX:
Cinco Puntos.
Gabi is a
Mexican American girl who lives in Southern California. She is about to start her senior year in high
school. Gabi has two best friends. Cindy is pregnant from a guy who name
German. She later confesses to Gabi that
he raped her. This makes Gabi very
upset and she tries to help her friend out by getting her to talk to someone
about it. Sebastian is another of Gabi’s
friends. He comes out to her and his
family. His family is not accepting of
him and kick him out. He ends up living
with his aunt. Gabi’s dad is a meth
addict and ends up dying of an overdose.
She journals her everyday life in this book. Gabi describes her life with boys she dates
and her boyfriend, Martin. Her dream is
to go to Berkley College. She gets
accepted to it and is excited. At first
her mom, did not want her to go and leave the house. She later accepts it. One day, Gabi decides to confront German
about him raping Cindy. It does not go
well for Gabi and she gets suspended.
Due to her suspension, Gabi does not get to walk for her
graduation. She goes to reserve a table
at Pepe’s House of Wings, while her friends are at the graduation ceremony.
There she fantasies about Martin and her going to Berkley together. This book is age-appropriate for high
schools students. Being Hispanic, I
enjoyed how the story incorporated a lot of Mexican traditions and
beliefs. As her mom spoke, I could hear
my mom, grandma, and aunts saying the same things. I found humor, drama, and diversity in this
book. This book is contemporary
realistic fiction. Gabi’s everyday life
and problems are situations adolescences go through too. The author’s style in language and vocabulary
helped readers understand the Hispanic culture.
The way her mom would make comments in Spanish made the content more
realistic. For example her mom would
say, “Quien sabes en donde andabas.” or “Ya parate!” Those are words that
Hispanics use a lot. The author wrote this book in a journal style and used
poetry Gabi wrote as well. Dates were
used on top of each journal entry. She
used imagery in her poems written in the story.
The poem about her dad, you could feel her pain, she writes about
distraught thoughts and endless guessing with a meth man. This story was beautifully written.
Deadline
Crutcher, C. (2007). Deadline.
New York: Greenwillow Books.
Ben Wolf is 18 years old and a
senior in high school. He goes to get a
physical and the doctor tells him he has a rare blood disorder and only has a
year to live. He decides to forgo his treatments and not tell anyone that he is
dying. He wants to live life to the
fullest. He lives in a small town in
Idaho and excels in track, but decides he wants to play football his last year.
He has a really close relationship with his brother Cody, who plays football as
well. The coach is like a second dad to him.
Before he passes, he wants to go out with Dallas, a smart, beautiful
girl and he wants to learn as much as he can in school. He loves to read nonfiction books and it
frustrates him that his history teacher uses biased material to teach. He frequently challenges his teacher Mr.
Lambeer. His goal is to get a street
Malcolm X named in town. Mr. Lambeer
threatens to fail him, but he doesn’t care.
Ben becomes really close to Dallas and Rudy, the town drunk. As the time progresses, it becomes for
difficult to keep this secret everyone.
The only person he can talk to is Hey, Soos, who comes to talk to him
when he is in dream state. As he starts
feeling the negative affects of his illness, he realizes it wrong to keep it
from the people that love him. He starts
telling and they help him get through his final days. The principal asks Ben to speak at
graduation, but he doesn’t make it and his brother Cody reads the speech he
wrote. At the end, Dallas and Cody make
plans for the future. I think this book
would be more age-appropriate for high school students and older because of the
use of profanity is through-out the book.
I cried through-out the book. As a mother and teacher, it broke my heart
that someone so young was living his last days.
I liked how the book used his death to help Ben accomplish his goals in
life as well. This book was inspiring,
yet touching as he was making choices in his life for himself. Deadline
is a realistic fiction book. One of the
themes of this book is death. Ben is
facing that he only has a short time to live, the town drunk commits suicide,
and a classmate at school dies in a car accident. The setting is in a small town of 983 in
Idaho. Everyone knows everyone in this
town. His school only as 93 students. The vocabulary used in this book is of a
typical teenager. Slang, swearwords, and word abbreviations like “gimme” are
used. Ben made the choice he thought was
best for his life and says, “When I took risks like this was my last chance and
at the same time kept it in my head that my action have consequences not only
for me but for every one I touched, forever, I made my best decision.” p. 312
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