Module 8 Divergent

Summary:  In Beatrice’s world, the society is broken into 5 factions.  At the age of 16, each person must decide which faction to join.  Leaving the faction of one’s upbringing means a separation from parents, family, and every known thing.  Before making that choice, each person is given a test to determine which faction would be ideal for him/her based on aptitude.  Beatrice gets unusual results that mystify the person giving the test.  The person encourages Beatrice to never tell anyone about the results.  On the day where the factions are announced, Beatrice chooses to leave her family and her Abnigation life for a life of adventure and risk.  Initiation is intense.  Adjusting to the dramatic lifestyle changes is tough.  Fist fighting is completely in opposition to the lifestyle Beatrice knew.  All of it must be overcome, or she risks being factionless.  Tris, as she refers to herself, survives initiation into Dauntless, but more danger awaits her when she realizes what another faction is doing with Dauntless people.  The risks that she’s willing to take for those she loves are truly remarkable.  Impression:  I absolutely loved this book!  It was not just another dystopian Hunger Games wannabe.  I really felt as though the writing had me more engaged than the second two installments of Hunger Games.  The plot twists and turns were very creative, and the layers to many of the characters were evident.  Suggestions for library setting:  Since reading this book, I’ve shown my very amateur book trailer to classes as well as the one created by the publisher.  Before showing the trailers, I talk about the basic premise of the book and a few of the reasons why I thought it was so good.  With the buzz about it, there’s quite a wait list to get the book, and I’ve ordered another copy of each of them.  I also did a book talk with read-alikes like Legend , Uglies, Matched, and  The Giver for those wondering what to read while they’re waiting for Divergent.

Roth, Veronica.  (2011).   Divergent. New York: Katherine Tegen.

DIVERGENT The remnant population of post-apocalyptic Chicago intended to cure civilization’s failures by structuring society into five “factions,” each dedicated to inculcating a specific virtue. When Tris, secretly a forbidden “Divergent,” has to choose her official faction in her 16th year, she rejects her selfless Abnegation upbringing for the Dauntless, admiring their reckless bravery. But the vicious initiation process reveals that her new tribe has fallen from its original ideals, and that same rot seems to be spreading… Aside from the preposterous premise, this gritty, paranoid world is built with careful details and intriguing scope. The plot clips along at an addictive pace, with steady jolts of brutal violence and swoony romance. Despite the constant assurance that Tris is courageous, clever and kind, her own first-person narration displays a blank personality. No matter; all the “good” characters adore her and the “bad” are spiteful and jealous. Fans snared by the ratcheting suspense will be unable to resist speculating on their own factional allegiance; a few may go on to ponder the questions of loyalty and identity beneath the façade of thrilling adventure.  Guaranteed to fly off the shelves.

Divergent.  (April 15, 2011).  Kirkus Reviews.  Retrieved from:
          http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/veronica-roth/divergent/

Set in the future, this is a book thatwill keep readers reading. Chicago has been divided into five factions. When students are 16, they can choose to move to another faction that they feel is more suited to their personalities. Tris is alarmed to learn that it isn't really clear which faction she is best suited for, and she is told that she might be a "divergent," which is bad and dangerous. Most of the book's action is focused on Tris's initiation exercises which are brutal and full of rancor and danger. To fail the initiation is to be condemned to the underclass and have no future at all. The action centers around a dystopian citythathas lost its path to good, and the tasks and fears that must be overcome are creative and believable. This is one of the better books of its type.

Foraker, B.  (2011).  Divergent.  Library Media Connection, 30(3), 78.

Module 7 Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading

Summary:  Charlie Joe doesn’t read.  Period.  He has found ways to avoid it his whole life.  He starts the book with all kinds of tips to avoid reading that have worked for him, like suggestions about reading the beginning chapter, the ending chapter, and a few pages in the middle.  For book reports, he relies on his friend Timmy to read it and tell him about it.  When Timmy no longer agrees to help Charlie Joe, he finds himself in a dilemma.  With the drama of lacrosse and Eliza, the prettiest girl in school, Charlie finally attempts to convince his sister to read the book for him.  When his plan goes awry, his options are to read books and report over them or write one.  The book he writes becomes the book we read.  Impressions:  I listened to the audio version of this book, so I can’t vouch for the illustrations.  It was an adorable book that I thought would appeal to most reluctant readers.  All of us, at one time or another, have tried one of Charlie Joe’s methods for not reading a book.  For me, it was the Cliff’s notes for Brave New World in high school. Suggestions for library setting:  I had purchased one copy of this book for our library before this class.  As soon as I finished reading it, I immediately got another copy and convinced my reading department chair to read it as well as my friend who teaches reading recovery.  She ended up deciding to use the book with her class.

Greenwald, Tom. (2011).  Charlie Joe Jackson's guide to not reading. New York:

     Roaring Brook.

Fans of Wimpy Kid, take note that there's another non-reading middle schooler with attitude in town Charlie Joe proudly proclaims that he has only read one book cover to cover and intends never to do so again. Including 25 tips on how to read as little as possible, Charlie Joe describes his shenanigans in order to not read a book in its entirety for his position paper about school cliques. With twists and turns aplenty, he is brought down by his own finagling and scheming. Greenwald's use of first person draws the reader in, and the action of the book makes it a fine choice for a read-aloud. Cartoony ink illustrations are lightly sprinkled throughout, adding chuckles and punch to the text. Non-readers and readers alike will enjoy this debut novel. Hopefully we'll see more from Charlie Joe.

Bange, S. (2011). Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading. Library Media Connection, 30(3), 66-67.

Charlie Joe will do just about anything to avoid reading in this humorous cautionary tale for book-hating middle-grade students.  Debut author Greenwald takes on the persona of Charlie Joe Jackson, a middle-school boy who hates reading. His avoidance techniques get him into serious trouble with his parents, his teachers and his friends. After a year of avoiding reading—paying off a friend in ice-cream sandwiches to read books for him and manipulating his friends so he won’t have to read for the all-important position-paper project—Charlie Joe is forced to spend his summer vacation writing a book about his poor choices. Charlie Joe’s insider knowledge of the inner machinations of middle-school cliques will make younger readers smile in anticipation, and his direct address to readers makes make him feel like an older buddy showing the way. Sprinkled into the narrative are “Charlie Joe’s Tips” to avoiding reading books, written on faux notebook paper, that serve as a little diversion from the plot. As amusing as this is, Charlie Joe’s voice is not consistent and occasionally jars with the intelligent, smart-guy sarcasm that characterizes most of Charlie Joe’s prose.

That aside, slackers everywhere have a new, likable hero in Charlie Joe Jackson.
Charlie Joe Jackson’s guide to not reading.  (June 15, 2011).  Kirkus Reviews.  Retrieved from:
      http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tommy-greenwald/charlie-joe-jacksons-guide-not-reading/

Module 7 The School Story

Summary: Natalie Nelson has had a tough time since her dad died.  Her mother works at a publishing firm, and Natalie dreams of writing books.  When she shows her friend Zoe a story she’s been working on, Zoe is determined to help Natalie get it published.  The two solicit the help of several grown-ups in their lives, starting with their English teacher.  Everyone who reads the story falls in love with it.  The girls create a publishing firm and take on alternative names.  In the end, the book is published, and Zoe’s mom is the editor.  She is shocked to learn that her daughter wrote the book that she found so endearing.  Impression:  Perhaps I like my realistic fiction to be more realistic.  It just seemed like everyone was way too stereotypical.  I listened to this one on audio, and I found myself talking to the discs.  Of course, everyone who read the book loved it.  Of course the girls were able to convince the CEO of the publishing firm to help push the book along.  Of course the teacher was willing to break some rules to do the right thing to help the girls.  It was entirely too convenient how everything came together.  Suggestions for library setting:  In an elementary setting, children may not be as jaded as I was as a reader.  They could certainly enjoy cheering for the underdog in the teenaged writer and rejoicing when her book is so successful.

Clements, Andrew, and Brian Selznick. (2001). The school story. New York: Simon &

      Schuster for Young Readers.

Like the author's popular Frindle (rev. 11/96), here's a story about a young hero who takes on the adult world and triumphs. Frindle's Nick invented a word; School Story's Natalie writes a whole book and gets it published under the eye of her unsuspecting mother, children's book editor Hannah Nelson, who only knows that she has an exciting manuscript from an unknown author. Natalie's story, "The Cheater," is just what the publisher ordered--a school story. Hannah's explanation of the genre fits Clements's book as well: "a short novel about kids and stuff that happens mostly at school." After reading Natalie's novel-in-progress, best friend Zoe is full of plans and chutzpah to get Natalie published. The more cautious Natalie insists they recruit their sixth-grade English teacher Ms. Clayton to advise, and thus is born the "publishing club" and two useful pseudonyms: Cassandra Day (Natalie) and Zee Zee Reisman (Zoe, reborn as Natalie's literary agent). Clements's storytelling is as good as Natalie's as he confidently charts the motives and actions of the two girls, their teacher, and Natalie's mom to make the scheme seem entirely plausible and its deviousness almost wholesome. Fun of a slightly more wicked kind can be found in the portrayal of Hannah Nelson's boss, the aptly named Letha: "Letha was never a picnic to work for, but when she was like this, things got broken, things like vases and computers--and careers." Family read-aloud and publishing comedy are two genres you don't often see brought together, but that's exactly what Clements has done here. Occasional pencil illustrations by Brian Selznick are warm and, where warranted, witty.

Sutton, R. (2001). The School Story (Book Review). Horn Book Magazine, 77(4), 448.

THE SCHOOL STORY A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of your heart and never lets go.”

The school story.  (April 15, 2001).  Kirkus Reviews.  Retrieved from: 
                http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/andrew-clements/the-school-story/

Module 6 A Bad Case of Stripes

Summary:  In this book, Camilla worries too much about what other people think.  She likes lima beans, but she doesn’t want to admit it.  Eventually, it leads to a bad case of stripes, where she transforms into what others around her think or want.  It leads to such a distraction that she’s asked not to go to school.  Doctors only make the situation worse by giving her medicine, which turns her into a pill, or by turning her into her room when she visualizes herself.  Eventually, a sweet old lady convinces Camilla to be herself, lima beans and all, and she’s cured.  Impression:  I love when stories illustrate an important life lesson.  This was great for showing kids the importance of being themselves, no matter what others may think.  Suggestions for library setting:  This book would be perfect for teaching theme.  It lends itself to the concept beautifully.  It could be used with the social issues unit to open a discussion about all of the ways people try to fit in with their peers and the traps that often ensnare them.

Shannon, David.  (1998).   A bad case of stripes. New York: Blue Sky.

A highly original moral tale acquires mythic proportions when Camilla Cream worries too much about what others think of her and tries desperately to please everyone. First stripes, then stars and stripes, and finally anything anyone suggests (including tree limbs, feathers, and a tail) appear vividly all over her body. The solution: lima beans, loved by Camilla, but disdained for fear they'll promote unpopularity with her classmates. Shannon's exaggerated, surreal, full-color illustrations take advantage of shadow, light, and shifting perspective to show the girl's plight. Bordered pages barely contain the energy of the artwork; close-ups emphasize the remarkable characters that inhabit the tale. Sly humor lurks in the pictures, too. For example, in one double-page spread the Creams are besieged by the media including a crew from station WCKO. Despite probing by doctors and experts, it takes än old woman who was just as plump and sweet as a strawberry" to help Camilla discover her true colors. Set in middle-class America, this very funny tale speaks to the challenge many kids face in choosing to act independently.

Noah, C. (1998). A bad case of stripes (Book Review). School Library Journal, 44(3), 188.
 

A BAD CASE OF STRIPES Camilla Cream wants to fit in, so she conforms, denying herself the things she craves--lima beans, for example--if the other kids frown upon them. She wakes up one morning covered head to toe with party-colored stripes--not the state of affairs aspired to by a conventionalist, but it's only the beginning of her troubles. Her schoolmates call out designs and Camilla's skin reacts: polka dots, the American flag--``poor Camilla was changing faster than you could change channels on a T.V.'' Specialists are called in, as are experts, healers, herbalists, and gurus. An environmental therapist suggests she ``breathe deeply, and become one with your room.'' Camilla melts into the wall. It takes a little old lady with a handful of lima beans to set Camilla to rights. Shannon's story is a good poke in the eye of conformity--imaginative, vibrant, and at times good and spooky--and his emphatic, vivid artwork keeps perfect pace with the tale.

A bad case of stripes.  (December 15, 1997).  Kirkus Reviews.  Retrieved from:
                http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/david-shannon/a-bad-case-of-stripes/

 

Module 5 My People

Summary:  Charles R. Smith, Jr. takes the poem “My People” by Langston Hughes and adds pictures to it.  In the process, he creates a beautiful representation of the human spirit in all of its glory.  Pictures include serious, lighthearted, young, old, silly, and serious.  It celebrates people in all of the facets of their lives and matches beautifully to the poem celebrating the beauty of my people, based on physical traits like eyes and intangible traits like souls.   Impression:  I loved the book.  I found myself going back and looking at the pictures multiple times.  What a great celebration of life!  Suggestions for library setting:  This could be a great book to talk about mood and tone.  While some of the pictures represent more serious moods, many are happy and lighthearted.  The tone of the author is very clear, and it would be easy for students first trying to figure out these very abstract concepts. Hughes, Langston, Sonia

Chaghatzbanian, and Charles R. Smith. (2009).  My people. New York: Ginee Seo.

 

 

In his first book using digital prints and the iris-printing process, photographer/poet/author Charles R. Smith Jr. uses sepia-toned photos that, when paired with the classic Langston Hughes poem "My People," create an intense and nuanced montage. "The images are printed on a watercolor paper," says Smith, who trained at the Brooks Institute of Photography. "This gives…a great richness and adds a little texture to the highlights." The subjects of the photos are drawn from Smith's personal world. "My kids are featured in my books whenever I can use them," he says. "The older gentleman…trains with me in boxing…the older women take kickboxing classes…a few of the kids belong to parents in the gym, my sister-in-law helped me 'recruit' a few of the younger ones." Each are paired with the 33 words of the timeless Hughes poem. "The trickiest part in re-interpreting another poet's work is who will get what line,'" says Smith. "All of the models have great energy, and I knew if they allowed me to photograph them, all I had to do was let that energy come through." Permeated with a sense of pride and celebration, the book satisfies and enriches. 

My people.  (2009).  Kirkus Reviews.  77(22), 6.

Smith's knack for pairing poetry and photography is well documented in books such as Hoop Queens (Candlewick, 2003) and Rudyard Kipling's If (S & S, 2006). Here, his artful images engage in a lyrical and lively dance with Langston Hughes's brief ode to black beauty. Dramatic sepia portraits of African Americans-ranging from a cherubic, chubby-cheeked toddler to a graying elder whose face is etched with lines-are bathed in shadows, which melt into black backgrounds. The 33 words are printed in an elegant font in varying sizes as emphasis dictates. In order to maximize the effect of the page turn and allow time for meaning to be absorbed, the short phrases and their respective visual narratives often spill over more than a spread. The conclusion offers a montage of faces created with varying exposures, a decision that provides a light-filled aura and the irregularities that suggest historical prints. A note from Smith describes his approach to the 1923 poem. This celebration of the particular and universal will draw a wide audience: storytime participants; students of poetry, photography, and cultural studies; seniors; families. A timely and timeless offering.

Lukehart, W.  (2009).  My people.  School Library Journal, 55(2), 92.

Module 5 Looking for Alaska

Summary:  Miles has lived an unexciting life.  It fully hits him at his birthday party.  As a result, he decides to go to the boarding school his dad attended in search of “The Great Perhaps.”  Miles hits the roommate jackpot in The Colonel, who, with the help of Alaska, Takumi, and Laura, teach Miles about life.  They pull pranks, they disobey all of the school rules, and they have more fun than Miles has ever had in his life.  Alaska is not well, though, and she goes through massive mood swings.  The book is broken into a countdown “before” and then a section “after.”  In all actuality, that is before and after Alaska’s ambiguous accident/suicide.  Pulling the student body together to pull the prank of all pranks helps everyone begin the healing process to cope with Alaska’s death.  Miles’s obsession with last words leads to an investigation into Alaska’s death that leads to inconclusive results.  Impression:  Alaska is completely irreverent, and unfortunately, her story can’t be found in a middle school library.  It’s such a shame, because I think there are many readers who could relate to the story on some level.  John Green’s writing is superb, and his characters challenge us to be better people.  I’ve been in love with his writing since A Fault in our Stars.  Suggestions for library setting:  Unfortunately, this can’t be in my middle school library.  I have recommended it to our LEAP teacher, who read it and loved it.  There have been a small handful of students to whom I have recommended this book, based on their love of other similar books like Thirteen Reasons Why. 

Green, John. (2005).  Looking for Alaska.  New York: Dutton Children's.

A collector of famous last words, teenage Miles Halter uses Rabelais's final quote ("I go to seek a Great Perhaps") to explain why he's chosen to leave public high school for Culver Creek Preparatory School in rural Alabama. In his case, the Great Perhaps includes challenging classes, a hard-drinking roommate, elaborate school-wide pranks, and Alaska Young, the enigmatic girl rooming five doors down. Moody, sexy, and even a bit mean, Alaska draws Miles into her schemes, defends him when there's trouble, and never stops flirting with the clearly love-struck narrator. A drunken make-out session ends with Alaska's whispered "To be continued?" but within hours she's killed in a car accident. In the following weeks, Miles and his friends investigate Alaska's crash, question the possibility that it could have been suicide, and acknowledge their own survivor guilt. The narrative concludes with an essay Miles writes about this event for his religion class--an unusually heavy-handed note in an otherwise mature novel, peopled with intelligent characters who talk smart, yet don't always behave that way, and are thus notably complex and realistically portrayed teenagers.

Sieruta, P. D. (2005). Looking for Alaska. Horn Book Magazine, 81(2), 201-202.

 LOOKING FOR ALASKA  The Alaska of the title is a maddening, fascinating, vivid girl seen through the eyes of Pudge (Miles only to his parents), who meets Alaska at boarding school in Alabama. Pudge is a skinny (“irony” says his roommate, the Colonel, of the nickname) thoughtful kid who collects and memorizes famous people’s last words. The Colonel, Takumi, Alaska and a Romanian girl named Lara are an utterly real gaggle of young persons, full of false starts, school pranks, moments of genuine exhilaration in learning and rather too many cigarettes and cheap bottles of wine. Their engine and center is Alaska, given to moodiness and crying jags but also full of spirit and energy, owner of a roomful of books she says she’s going to spend her life reading. Her center is a woeful family tragedy, and when Alaska herself is lost, her friends find their own ways out of the labyrinth, in part by pulling a last, hilarious school prank in her name. What sings and soars in this gorgeously told tale is Green’s mastery of language and the sweet, rough edges of Pudge’s voice. Girls will cry and boys will find love, lust, loss and longing in Alaska’s vanilla-and-cigarettes scent.

Looking for Alaska.  (March 1, 2005).  Kirkus Reviews.  Retrieved from: 
     http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/john-green/looking-for-alaska-2/

Module 4 The Giver

Summary:  Jonas is unusual.  His eyes are lighter than most of the people in his futuristic society.  He is about to find out what job the government has chosen for him, but he doesn’t feel a particular affinity to any of the jobs he’s tried.  In his society, the government is all about efficiency, so weather has been regulated, animals have been killed, and emotion has been removed.  Jonas gets the job of receiver, which essentially means storer of memories.  The Giver is getting old, and he’s passing along the wisdom and memories of the past.  Because of his new experiences, Jonas is no longer satisfied in his old life.  When he discovers what the government is really doing to twins, he and The Giver hatch a plan that means changes for everyone.  Impressions:  What made this book great to me was the fact that I could see bits and pieces of so many other dystopian novels that have come after this.  There were bits of Uglies, Matched, and even Hunger Games. I like a book that makes me think, and the way this dystopian world was set up was fascinating to me.  Suggestions for library setting:  I have book talked this book with many classes.  Hunger Games definitely ignited a love of dystopian books for many students, and this book has regained popularity because of it.

Lowry, Lois. (1993).  The giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

In a complete departure from her other novels, Lowry has written an intriguing story. . . . The Giver, who passes on to Jonas the burden of being the holder for the community of all memory 'back and back and back,' teaches him the cost of living in an environment that is 'without color, pain, or past.' The tension leading up to the Ceremony, . . . and the drama and responsibility of the sessions with The Giver are gripping.The final flight for survival is as riveting as it is inevitable.The author makes real abstract concepts, such as the meaning of a life in which there are virtually no choices to be made and no experiences with deep feelings. This tightly plotted story and its believable characters will stay with readers for a long time.

Kellman, A. (1993). The giver (Book Review). School Library Journal, 39124.

In a radical departure from her realistic fiction and comic chronicles of Anastasia, Lowry creates a chilling, tightly controlled future society where all controversy, pain, and choice have been expunged, each childhood year has its privileges and responsibilities, and family members are selected for compatibility. As Jonas approaches the "Ceremony of Twelve," he wonders what his adult "Assignment" will be. Father, a "Nurturer," cares for "newchildren"; Mother works in the "Department of Justice"; but Jonas's admitted talents suggest no particular calling. In the event, he is named "Receiver," to replace an Elder with a unique function: holding the community's memories--painful, troubling, or prone to lead (like love) to disorder; the Elder ("The Giver") now begins to transfer these memories to Jonas. The process is deeply disturbing; for the first time, Jonas learns about ordinary things like color, the sun, snow, and mountains, as well as love, war, and death: the ceremony known as "release" is revealed to be murder. Horrified, Jonas plots escape to "Elsewhere," a step he believes will return the memories to all the people, but his timing is upset by a decision to release a newchild he has come to love. Ill-equipped, Jonas sets out with the baby on a desperate journey whose enigmatic conclusion resonates with allegory: Jonas may be a Christ figure, but the contrasts here with Christian symbols are also intriguing. Wrought with admirable skill--the emptiness and menace underlying this Utopia emerge step by inexorable step: a richly provocative novel.

The giver.  (March 1, 1993).  Kirkus Reviews.  Retrieved from:  http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lois-lowry/the-giver/