Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Anderson, L.H. (1999). Speak. New York: Puffin Books.

ISBN-13: 978-0-374-37152-4

Plot Summary

High school freshman Melinda Sordino is an ostracized by everyone, including her best friend. Before school began, she attended a party that forever changed her. She got drunk, and then she was raped by Andy Evans, a popular senior. She called 911, and the police broke up the party. Nobody knows the real reason she called, and they are angry that their merriment was cut short. Because of her trauma, she barely speaks now at all. As the school year progresses and she continually withdraws, her grades decline, she loses the only friend she has left, and she is continually tormented by Andy. The only person who seems to be able to reach her is her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, who encourages her to express her feelings through art. Then, her former best friend begins dating Andy, and he attacks her again. This time, though, she is able to speak and in doing so, finally finds her voice.

Critical Evaluation

The first person narration of Speak expresses teenagers’ emotions spot on. For example, the novel opens with these lines: “It is my first morning of high school. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate, and a stomachache.” What teen cannot relate to that feeling? This example of Melinda’s narration and inner thoughts is just the beginning of prose written with much wit, honesty, and acute insight. Melinda’s pain is felt through her words. The high school setting further provides a realistic portrayal of the conflict, and the novel is divided into four sections to mirror the four grading periods of an academic year. Through the progression of time, readers see the transformation of Melinda from withdrawn to finally finding her voice. The prose is replete with vivid imagery as Melinda describes what she sees and what she feels. Themes of seeds are sown throughout the book and germinate as Melinda grows stronger and is able find her voice. This unforgettable debut novel will resonate with readers on many levels.

 

Reader’s Annotation

High school freshman Melinda is raped at a party the summer before school starts and she is so traumatized, she will not speak. An outcast and hated by her classmates, as the school year progresses she learns who her true friends are and finds her voice again just in time.

 

Author Information

Laurie Halse Anderson is a bestselling author known for writing about tough subjects with sensitivity. She has won many awards, and her books Speak and Chains have been National Book Award finalists. Born October 23, 1961 in Potsdam, New York, close to the border of Canada, she continues to live in Northern New York and enjoys watching the snow fall during the winter. She married her childhood sweetheart, Scot, and they have four children. She would like for people to correctly pronounce her name: Halse rhymes with waltz.

 

Anderson began her career in writing as a picture book writer. Before that, she was a freelance reporter for newspapers and magazines. She is well-known for picture books about American history. Because history is a passion of hers, she has written historical fiction novels Fever 1793 and Chains, which is the first in a trilogy set in the Revolutionary War.

 

More information about Laurie Halse Anderson can be found at her website:

http://madwomanintheforest.com/

 

Genre

Young Adult Fiction

High School

Rape

Book Talking Ideas

How art expresses feelings

Reading Level/ Interest Age

Characters are high school students; appropriate for grades 8 and up

Challenge Issues

Underage drinking, rape

Challenge Defense

In defense of a challenge, I would cite these reviews as well as ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library  Materials.

Book Links (A.L.A.) 01/01/07

Publishers Weekly starred 09/13/99

Booklist 09/15/99

School Library Journal starred 10/01/99

Books for the Teen Age (NYPL) 04/01/99

Wilson's Junior High School 01/09/10

Horn Book starred 09/01/99

Wilson's Senior High School 10/01/07

Why did I include this title?

This is a powerful book about a sensitive subject. Melinda’s cutting voice accurately portrays the struggles of high school, and readers can relate to that. The list of lies they tell you in high school is hilarious.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Hughes, John. Ferris bueller’s day off. Paramount Pictures, 1986. DVD. 103mins. ASIN: B00001MXXH

Summary

On a beautiful spring day, high school senior Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) decides to fake illness and skip school. He persuades his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) to join him on an adventure through Chicago as a last fling before they head off to college. They borrow Cameron’s father's prized possession, his 1961 Ferrari 250 GT, to travel downtown; then, leaving it with parking attendants, they enjoy the city. Meanwhile, back at school, classmates are genuinely concerned for Ferris’s welfare, and set up a donation fund to help “Save Ferris” on his road to recovery. Ferris’s sister, Jeanne, knows her brother is faking it as does the school principal, Mr. Rooney. Mr. Rooney makes a personal visit to the Bueller house to catch Ferris truant, but Jeanne is there and mistakes him for a burglar so calls the police. When the police arrive and find no one breaking in, they arrest Jeanne for prank calling. At the station, Jeanne meets a drug dealer (Charlie Sheen), who tells her it’s more important to worry about herself than her brother. At the end of their fun day in Chicago, Ferris, Sloane, and Cameron realize that the parking attendants have taken the Ferrari for a joy ride, adding hundreds of miles to the odometer, for which Cameron’s father will be very angry. In an effort to situation, they end up totaling the car. Ferris offers to take the blame, but Cameron insists on finally standing up to his dad. Ferris must make it home in time before his parents get there and his sister helps him out.

Evaluation

This movie is an example of all the fun teens can have skipping a day of school. Ferris’s journey through Chicago makes the audience feels as if they are there too, enjoying all the sights and sounds of such a magnificent city. With Ferris, they see a game at Wrigley Field, go to the top of the Sears Tower, and enjoy art at the Art Museum. Ferris Bueller’s Day off portrays the classic conflicts of teens versus adults as Ferris tricks his parents into believing he is sick, Cameron is afraid of his father, and they escape the clutches of the high school principal. The movie is filled with meaningful lines. Ferris observes, “Life moves so fast, that if you don’t stop to look around, you might miss it.” In fact, that is exactly what the movie is about. It is also about finding one’s self respect and voice as Cameron finally stands up to his father. The plot is uncomplicated and fun, which parallels the relatively simple life of high school before teens face the changes and

responsibilities of adulthood.

Readers Annotation

Ferris Bueller fakes illness to skip school for a day. With his girlfriend and best friend, he enjoys the sights of Chicago before they all have to leave for college.

Information about the Director

Roger Ebert has called John Hughes “the philosopher of adolescence.” Other John Hughes films include The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Some Kind of Wonderful, and Pretty in Pink. Hughes was born February 18, 1950 in Lansing, Michigan and moved to Chicago when he was 13. After graduating Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois, Hughes attended Arizona State University, but dropped out before graduating. His directorial debut was Sixteen Candles in 1984, and his depiction of teenage life was hugely successful. Paramount Pictures then offered him a multi-film contract, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was part of that. Most films by John Hughes are about teenage characters in high school settings. However, films such as Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Home Alone took a break from that setup. He is credited with boosting the careers of many actors such as Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, and Judd Nelson, who are often referred to as “The Brat Pack.”

After 1994, Hughes lived a life removed from filmmaking when went to live in Wisconsin. John Hughes then died of a heart attach while taking a walk in New York City on August 6, 2000. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Nancy, their two sons, and four grandchildren. John Hughes was 59 years old.

Information for John Hughes was obtained from bio.com.

http://www.biography.com/people/john-hughes-476258

Genre

Comedy

Drama

Curriculum Ties

City of Chicago

Booktalk Ideas

What would you do if you skipped school for the day?

Challenge Issues

N/A

Why Included?

How could I not include a John Hughes film? Who can forget the teacher taking roll? “Bueller? Bueller?” “Anyone? Anyone?” I have done that with my classes, and unfortunately, most of the time they don’t understand the reference. This movie is a classic.

Clueless

Heckerling, Amy. Clueless. Paramount Pictures, 1995. PG-13. DVD. 97mins. ASIN: B002A9X9DE

Plot Summary

In Beverly Hills, rich high school student Cher, played by Alicia Silverstone, gets everything she wants. In an attempt to renegotiate her report card grades, she plays matchmaker with two of her teachers so they will be happier and grade easier. It works, and the success goes to her head. Next, she sets her eyes on making over the unpopular new girl, Tai, played by Brittany Murphy. Meanwhile, she and her ex-stepbrother Josh verbally spar over what’s important. A series of high school relationship ups and downs, Tai’s brush with death, and Cher’s failed drivers test ensues, and Tai’s popularity seems to be surpassing Cher’s. When Tai tells Cher that she has a crush on Josh, Cher is confused about her own feelings for him. She finally realizes that she loves him when she goes shopping to clear her head. To impress Josh, Cher does volunteer work, and he is impressed by her new selflessness. In the end, everyone is with who they should be with.

Evaluation
The setting is Beverly Hills, which serves as the perfect backdrop for Cher who has always gotten everything she wants. She lives in a multi-million dollar mansion and goes to high school where she believes she can negotiate her grades. Cher’s narration throughout the movie represent the time and place. Valspeak, otherwise known as Valley girl speak, surfer slang, skateboarding slang, and California English, is a dialect that originated in the 1970’s and became widely heard in California. An example is during Cher’s narration when she says, “Okay, so you're probably going, ‘Is this like a Noxzema commercial or what?’ But seriously, I actually have a way normal life for a teenage girl.” Words such as “like,” “going,” “totally,” and “way” are common words in Valspeak, and Clueless does an excellent job using the dialect as a way to characterize Cher, Tai, Dionne, and the others. Josh’s “granola” persona balances out Cher’s Valley girl. While her outward appearance is superficial, the audience can relate to her inner intelligence. The plot loosely focuses on Cher’s attempt to make-over a “clueless” transfer student, but in the process, she realizes she needs a make-over of her own. She has been “clueless” herself, and she realizes the value of love and of caring for others.

Readers Annotation

Sweet, spoiled, Cher plays matchmaker and makeover artist at her Beverly Hills high school. Popular, yet seemingly vapid, Cher learns about what love is when she finally realizes how clueless she’s been.

Information about the Director
Please refer to the link for Fast Times at Ridgemont High for information about the director, Amy Heckerling.

Genre
Comedy; Drama; Romance; Teen movie

Curriculum Ties
English/ Language Arts; this film is loosely based on Jane Austen’s novel, Emma

Why Included?
The Valley girl talk is hilarious and makes the audience realize just how ridiculous is sounds to say “like” all the time. Because this movie has so many parallels to the novel Emma, it’s even more interesting. It makes the story and lessons of Emma more relatable to a younger generation. This is, like, a fun movie to watch.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Heckerling, Amy. Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Universal Studios, 1982. R. DVD. 90mins. ASIN: B00029RTCG

Plot Summary

Fast Times at Ridgemont High tells the story of a group of high school students during the course of a school year. The lives of Stacy Hamilton, her older brother Brad, Linda Barrett, Mark “Rat” Ratner, Mike Damone, and surfer stoner Jeff Spicoli intertwine in adventures of love and hooking up, after-school jobs, football games, and pranks. Stacy and Linda are friends at the pizza place, and Stacy enlists her help and advice as she becomes sexually active and later becomes pregnant after having awkward sex in a pool changing room with a classmate, Mike Damone. Spicoli continually annoys his history teacher, Mr. Hand, who eventually gets back at him on prom night by arriving at his house and administering a surprise exam, the outcome of which will determine whether Spicoli, who is often high on marijuana, will graduate. Brad’s life seems to be crumbling as one job experience after another ends badly and his girlfriend breaks up with him to see other people before they go to college. Stacy and Brad develop a sibling bond when he talks to her after she has an abortion, which she and Damone agreed was the correct thing to do. He had promised to pay for half, but he was unable to obtain the money; Linda makes him pay in other ways. Eventually, Brad’s life turns around as he thwarts a robber’s attempt and becomes a local hero, and Stacy and Mark begin to develop a relationship. At the end of the movie, the credits begin rolling with the characters’ futures inscribed.

Evaluation
A classic high school movie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High details the adventures of kids in a Southern California high school. In fact, writer Cameron Crowe spent a year undercover at a Southern California high school before writing the script. His characters can be found in any high school. Spicoli is the quintessential example of the surfer stoner dude, played by Sean Penn in one of his first roles. Innocent Stacy fumbles with love and sex as she begins dating, and her more sexually-experienced older friend tries mentors her. Dating, sex, jobs, cars, friends, football, and school provide the setting and conflicts these teens encounter. They face the traumas of being a teenager in high school with awkwardness and humiliation, and the audience can appreciate and relate to the experience. The end result is a very entertaining movie with unforgettable characters.

Readers Annotation

Students at Ridgemont High try to muddle through the school year as problems seem to occur left and right. After a series of unfortunate yet humorous events, they start summer older, if not wiser.

Information about the Director
Amy Heckerling was born May 7, 1954. She attended New York University, where she studied film and TV, and then received a Masters Degree in Film from The American Film Institute. It wasn’t until 1982 that she received attention. That was the year she made Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In 1987, she got the idea for another movie, Look Who’s Talking, when she was pregnant, and made that movie in 1989. Then, in 1994, she wrote the movie Clueless.

Amy has been married and divorced twice, and she has one daughter, Mollie Israel. She is an environmentalist and helps environmental charities whenever she can. Information about Amy Heckerling was found at imdb.com.

Genre
Comedy; Drama; Romance; Teen movie

Curriculum Ties
Sex education, teen pregnancy

Why Included?
Who can forget Spicoli ordering a pizza to be delivered during history class? When I was a kid, my parents did not let me see this movie. I understand why, now, and even when I did see it for the first time, I didn’t understand all of it. What was Spicoli doing in the van when it was all smoked up? I wanted to include this movie because it is one of the most famous high school movies and also my cousin is in it. He’s the guy at the cash register with the irate customer when Judge Reinhold’s character, Brad, gets in trouble and fired.

Juno

Reitman, Jason. Juno. 20^th Century Fox, 2007. PG. DVD. 96mins. ASIN: B000YABYLA 

Plot Summary

In Minnesota, sixteen-year-old Juno MacGuff and her best friend, Paulie Bleeker, have one sexual encounter in a chair in the Fall, when school starts. They like each other, but they don’t consider themselves exclusively in a relationship, much less parents. When Juno is at the abortion clinic, she decides she cannot go through with it and chooses to have the baby and give it up for adoption instead. When she tells her parents, they are supportive of her decision. Juno searches the local Pennysaver and finds an adoptive couple in the suburbs, Mark and Vanessa Loring. Mark and Juno become close as they bond over horror movies and music. Juno continues to attend high school as her belly continues to grow, and she takes it all in stride as she has always marched to the beat of her own drummer. Paulie is clearly in love with her, but is too passive to tell her while she maintains an indifferent toward him until he asks someone else to the prom. Meanwhile, as her friendship with Mark deepens, problems develop between Mark and Vanessa, who seems to want a baby more than he does. When the baby boy is born, he is ultimately in the hands of someone who loves him.

Evaluation
Juno received four 2008 Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Ellen Page, and Best Original Screenplay for Diablo Cody, which she won. There was much talk about the movie being pro-life and anti-abortion propaganda, while many others saw it as pro-choice. Ellen Page herself commented, “What I get most frustrated at is when people call it a pro-life movie, which is just absurd... The most important thing is the choice is there, and the film completely demonstrates that.” The character of Juno shows this throughout the movie in all her decisions. Likewise, Juno has been labeled feminist because of its portrayal of the main character as an intelligent and confident teenage girl. The dialogue and actions support this assertion, as Juno’s wit is sharp and original. The setting takes place over three seasons beginning at the beginning of high school, which mirrors the three trimesters of pregnancy. Furthermore, Juno’s struggle with adulthood provides the audience with an opportunity to question their own values and decisions in their lives.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_%28film%29)

Readers Annotation

Offbeat, sixteen-year-old Juno sleeps with her best friend, Paulie, only once but gets pregnant. When she decides to place the baby with an adoptive couple, she learns about true love and friendship.

Information about the Director
Director Jason Reitman, who also directed Up in the Air and Thank You For Smoking, is known for making comedy films that touch on serious subjects that have highly subjective narration by the main characters. His films usually contain a theme of some kind of generational gap between older and younger characters, and his films often center around characters who are self-confident but who also begin to rethink their lives.

He was born October 19, 1977 in Montreal, Quebec, he is the son of director Ivan Reitman. He graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood, CA in 1995 and then graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with a major in English. He frequents STK, a steakhouse restaurant in Los Angeles.

Information for Jason Reitman was found at imdb.com.

Genre
Comedy; Drama; Romance; Teen movie

Curriculum Ties
Sex education, teen pregnancy

Why Included?
This movie is hilarious. Juno is such a strong female character who defies stereotypes. This movie is an example of how an unplanned teen pregnancy can be handled in a pragmatic way that ends with love all around.

With Their Eyes: September 11th, the View From a High School at Ground Zero edited by Annie Thoms

Thoms, A. (2002). With their eyes: September 11^th, the view from a high school at Ground Zero. New York: HarperTempest.

ISBN-13: 978-1-40464-285-0

Summary

Tuesday morning, September 11, 2011 began like any other day at Stuyvesant High School, a magnet school for high-achieving students four blocks from the World Trade Center in New York City. Five days into the new school year, hundreds of students watched in horror through their classroom windows as the Twin Towers burst into flames during first period. Following evacuation and relocation, English teacher Annie Thoms contacted playwright Anna Deavere Smith with an ambitious idea: create a play in which Stuyvesant students told their own stories and the stories of others in the community about their experiences that day and in the days that followed. Ten students auditioned and became the play’s actors. They interviewed fellow classmates, faculty, and staff and recorded it all on tape. Then, they transcribed the interviews, which create the monologues that make up the play. The play was performed on February 8 and 9, 2002 to standing ovations and national attention.

Critical Evaluation

With Their Eyes is a fusion of recording history and creating art. The monologues are the stories of real people and their voices. The unfinished sentences left with words like “um” and “uh” and the breaks in thought echo the jarred and jagged memories of that day for them: “It’s just that, it’s interesting, it was like,/ the, the air felt on the outside like something that you/ might smell at a,/ or feel at a barbecue,/ but it didn’t, it…it hurt you./ It hurt your windpipe” (44). Perhaps they show us that there truly are no words that can express their feelings. Each monologue paints with words the images they saw first hand and terrifyingly close. The play has two acts that follow a chronology of events. Act One is about the morning of September 11 and evacuating the school. Act Two is about the days following September 11. Frank discussions about reasons for the attacks take place, and the monologues are peppered with occasional explicit language. Again, the language is part of the reality of the people speaking. Readers will recognize how the actors placed themselves in another person’s words, just as we are encouraged to put ourselves in others’ shoes. The emotion and empathy is strong, and this play, through its linguistic art, records history. Through these words, real people told their stories and by doing so, art was created. Art endures through time. This play symbolizes that New York City, and the rest of America, will also endure.

 

Reader’s Annotation

 

Ten high school students at Stuyvesant High School, four blocks from the World Trade Center, create a play of monologues about what it was like that day and after. These words from eye-witnesses will stir emotions and ultimately remain a lasting piece of historical art.

 

Author Information

 

Annie Thoms herself graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1993. She received her BA from Williams College and then her MA in English education from Teachers College at Columbia University. In 2000, she became an English teacher and theater advisor at Stuyvesant High School.

 

Annie Thoms currently lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters, Eleanor and Isabel. She says, “Too often, adults looking for authors that teenagers will want to read ignore one of the greatest talent pools possible: other teenagers. High school students have incredible voices and vivid, powerful stories to tell, not only in the face of national tragedy, but in the everyday sorrows and joys of their lives as well.”

 

Information about Annie Thoms was found on the Harper Collins Publishers website. http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/24990/Annie_Thoms/index.aspx

 

Genre

Young adult

Nonfiction

Drama

Curriculum Ties

9/11

Book Talking Ideas

How is history recorded? What is the significance of art?

Reading Level/ Interest Age

Appropriate for ages 14 and up

Challenge Issues

Language

Challenge Defense

If it were challenged, I would consult ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library  Materials.

I would also cite these reviews:

Book Links (A.L.A.) 04/01/03

School Library Journal 01/01/03

Booklist 09/01/02

Voice of Youth Advocates (V.O.Y.A.) 10/01/02

Books for the Teen Age (NYPL) 05/01/04

Wilson's Junior High School 11/01/05

Publishers Weekly 09/02/02

Wilson's Senior High School 10/30/03

Why did I include this title?

I was intrigued when I read that an English teacher, like myself, thought of this idea and was able to pull it off. You can see the people and feel the words of the monologues. I think that talking about the pain helps heal the pain; this play is an example of that.

Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

Tamaki, M. (2008). Skim. Illustrations by Jillian Tamaki. Toronto, Ontario. Groundwood Books.

ISBN-13: 978-0-88899-753-1

Plot Summary

Asian-American Kim is called Skim by her friends because she’s not. Skim attends an all girls private school and is not part of the “in crowd.” She and her only real friend, Lisa, explore Wiccan goth culture, consult tarot cards, and smoke outside school. When their classmate Katie is suddenly dumped by her boyfriend and then kills himself, the entire school mourns and wonders about his true sexual orientation. Counselors arrive and the popular girls start a Girls Celebrate Life! club. Skim sinks into depression as she appears to the others as someone to be concerned about. She develops a close relationship with her eccentric English teacher, Ms. Archer, and is devastated when Ms. Archer unexpectedly leaves school to teach at another. After Lisa persuades Skim to attend the school dance, which is a fundraiser for a service for depressed people, Katie and Skim become better friends as Skim begins to see Katie in a new light. Her friendship with Lisa changes when Lisa begins dating a boy from another school, and as a result, Skim learns about the many forms of love.

Critical Evaluation

Skim is a graphic novel and is written in first-person narration, often in a diary-type format, from the point of view of the main character, Skim. The diary entries, internal narration, and dialogue are seamlessly woven together and give the characters a realistic voice that is self-aware and often deprecatingly humorous. The setting of an all girls private school is significant because it magnifies the relationships they have with each other and brings attention to how Skim stands out: she is not thin like many of the other girls and it is evident in the graphic drawings. The pen line drawings are expressive and add dimension to the characters and setting. They are often in contrast with the narration and the effect can be ironic. The illustrations and narration work together to bring the characters and story to life with all the confusion of a teen-age girl’s thoughts. The last full-page illustration is especially significant. Two small pullouts show Skim walking away. These illustrations are laid on top and to the left of the larger image of a dark and tangled wooded area. There is a theme here; life only gets more complicated as you go on. Readers will also appreciate and connect with all the confusion of being a young adult.

 

Reader’s Annotation

 

Kim, a.k.a. “Skim,” goes to an all-girls high school where a classmate’s ex-boyfriend commits suicide, throwing the entire school into grief overdrive. Skim must navigate through depression, Wicca, friendship, crushes, and sexual orientation and learns that everything you do leaves a mark on other people.

Author Information

 

Mariko Tamaki is a performer and writer in Toronto. She has appeared on stage with a variety of troupes including PPPO (Pretty, Porky, and Pissed Off), which was founded in 1997 and lasted eight years. The women of PPPO performed productions of stories about large women with large attitude; “Move it Fatty” and “Wide Side Story” are some of their plays. Members of the troupe still enjoy occasional guest appearances and performances. Tamaki has also starred in a solo production of her graphic novel, Skim, in which she herself played the main character.

Tamaki is also a columnist for two Toronto magazines as well as a graduate student of Linguistic Anthropology at the University of Toronto. There, she also studies language, performance, and gender. Her humor shines through her webpage as she lists things she thinks are fantastic including dinner parties, music with a good beat, and documentaries about people growing older.

More information about Mariko Tamaki can be found on her website, where you can also contact her:

http://www.marikotamaki.com/

Genre

Young adult

Graphic novel

Alternate format

Coming of age

Suicide

High School

Depression

Friendship

Curriculum Ties

N/A

Book Talking Ideas

How does a school react when something tragic happens?

Reading Level/ Interest Age

Appropriate for ages 14 and up

Challenge Issues

Language, homosexuality

Challenge Defense

If it were challenged, I would consult ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library  Materials.

I would also cite these reviews:

Book Links (A.L.A.) 01/01/10

New York Times 11/09/08

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starred 05/01/08

Publishers Weekly 02/04/08

Horn Book 10/01/08

Wilson's Junior High School 01/09/10

Horn Book starred 07/01/08

Wilson's Senior High School 06/01/10

Why did I include this title?

I haven’t read very many graphic novels, and after doing a little research, I sought out this book. I’m glad I did. The illustrations make the text so poignant and meaningful. I remember in particular one scene where Katie “smiles the smallest smile on the planet” and in the illustration, you can just make it out. The subject matter is handled with layers of humor, honesty, and depth that seems only possible with the illustrations. I am hooked and I look forward to reading more graphic novels.

Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos

Hijuelos, O. (2008). Dark dude. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

ISBN-13: 978-1-41694-804-9

Plot Summary

Fifteen-year-old Rico is the “palest Cubano who ever existed on the planet.” He loves comic books and dreams of being a writer. However, his New York City neighborhood increasingly makes life difficult. His family is struggling to survive, and Rico must attend a dismal Harlem public high school. When his “big brother” Gilberto miraculously strikes it rich playing the lottery, he makes a huge impression on Rico by showing him the peaceful landscape picture of the college he enrolls in as a way of getting out of the neighborhood without going to Vietnam. On the other hand, Rico’s other good friend Jimmy, an artist, turns to drugs as a different means of escape. Deciding to leave the inner city and a hopeless life behind, Rico and Jimmy hitchhike their way from Harlem to the promising pastures of Wisconsin, the land of milk and honey. Rico compares his new life to his life in New York and wonders if he made the right decision.

Critical Evaluation

The setting of Dark Dude is important to the story. Rico lives in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. New York City itself is rich with many ethnicities that historically are in constant conflict with each other: Peurto Rican, Cuban, African-American, Jewish, and Irish. When Rico’s best friend displays the Wisconsin college brochure, the stark contrast between the dirty inner city New York and the rolling green hills of Eden-esque Wisconsin are obvious. The book’s division into Rico’s first person narration of his life is dotted with humor throughout Dark Dude. One example is when he decides to stay away from his Harlem school, which they referred to as Jo Mama’s (demonstrating total lack of respect), as much as possible: “I just couldn’t go back to Jo Mama’s on a regular basis. It was like an antimagnetic thing, and I was a piece of metal” (115). This kind of humor balances out the conflicts he faces with stride. Many of the conflicts are a result of his skin color. He is Cuban, but instead of having dark skin and eyes, he is pale with freckles and hazel eyes. As a result, he does not fit in with any group. Readers will connect with Rico’s desire to be accepted as part of a group and his conflict of identity. Readers will also appreciate Rico’s desire to get out of the problems that plague his life through whatever means it takes. Readers will also understand the theme that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you are, everyone has problems; it’s how you deal with them that counts.

 

Reader’s Annotation

 

Fifteen-year-old Rico feels out of place in his Harlem neighborhood because of his light skin and his aspirations to be a writer. Hoping to find a better life, he runs away and finds his life’s purpose.

 

Author Information

 

Oscar Hijuelos was born August 24, 1951 in New York City. He is the son of Cuban immigrants and his experiences influence his writing; his books explore life as a Hispanic in America. His first novel, Our House in the Last World (1983), is about a Cuban family living in 1940s America and received much critical praise. However, it was The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989) that earned him international recognition. In 1990, Hijuelos received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Mambo Kings.

Hijuelos has been a National Book Award nominee, has received the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Rome Fellowship and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation as well as the National Endowment for the arts. He currently lives in New York City but spends part of his time in Durham, North Carolina, where he is a visiting professor at Duke. Dark Dude is his first young adult novel. Of it, Hijuelos says, “This is the kind of book I wish I’d read when I was a teen.”

More information about Oscar Hijuelos can be found where I found this information at Biography.com:

http://www.biography.com/people/oscar-hijuelos-188849

Genre

Young adult

Coming of Age

Historical Fiction

Curriculum Ties

Vietnam War, Cuban immigration to the United States

Book Talking Ideas

What are your goals for the future? What do you want to be?

Reading Level/ Interest Age

Characters are in high school; appropriate for ages 15 and up

Challenge Issues

Drug use, language

Challenge Defense

If this book were challenged, I would refer to these reviews and consult ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library  Materials.

Booklist starred 11/01/08

Publishers Weekly starred 09/01/08

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 10/01/08

School Library Journal 11/01/08

Horn Book 04/01/09

Voice of Youth Advocates (V.O.Y.A.) 10/01/08

Kirkus Review 09/01/08

Wilson's Senior High School 06/01/10

Why did I include this title?

I enjoy reading anything about New York City. Having lived there for a short time myself, I can appreciate the tension between the ethnic groups. I enjoyed reading about the Harlem neighborhood with the street numbers and bodegas. This novel paints a vivid picture of Harlem life, yet it does so in an endearing way. Anyone reading this novel will be able to connect with Rico’s struggle to find his way in life.

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

Crutcher, C. (2001). Whale talk. New York: Greenwillow Books.

ISBN-13: 978-0-688-18019-5

Plot Summary

T.J. Jones is the articulate mixed-race son of white ex-hippie parents who adopted him after his biological mother got caught up in drugs when he was two. Now a senior at Cutter High School, he is persuaded to form a swim team for his teacher, Mr. Simet, who would rather coach a swim team than be the school’s next wrestling coach. With a group of seemingly misfits, the swim team beats the odds and is successful. Each member of the team is subject to his own conflicts, and each member brings to the team a unique strength. T.J. faces many conflicts along the way including making the team eligible for letter jackets, dealing with racism, and facing bullies. During this time, he meets Heidi, a small, mixed-race girl living in an abusive household. T.J. learns about life with the encouragement and support of his parents and his therapist, Georgia. When tragedy strikes his family, T.J. learns one of life’s most important lessons from his father.

Critical Evaluation

The location of the setting is significant to the plot and characters. Cutter is a fictional town set near Spokane, Washington, which is well known for its white-supremacy attitude. The fact-paced plot is adrenaline packed with swim meets and emotional episodes that cause the reader to think about what it means to be a family. Classic, one-dimension high school characters such as the oppressive bully and worshipped athlete contribute to the conflict. T.J. and his friends are more fully developed, each having their own back-story, conflicts, and motivation. Readers might associate with the feelings of being an outsider and an underdog in school and sports and the need for camaraderie and connection. Furthermore, the language in this first-person narration told by T.J. does not shy away from what could be considered offensive by some. The story is rich in themes, one being, as T.J. says, “to be loud when I run into racism” (3). Other themes include “we take what the universe gives us, and we either get the most out of it or we don’t, but in the end we all go out the same way” (20), and that revenge is never the answer.

 

Reader’s Annotation

 

 T.J. and his diverse group of swimmers must overcome odds and obstacles on their road to victory. Meanwhile, T.J. learns some valuable lessons about how to get by in this world despite what life might throw at you.

 

Author Information

 

Chris Crutcher was born July 17, 1946 in Dayton, Ohio. His parents were a WWII bomber pilot and a homemaker, and Crutcher credits the loving relationship he had with them for his ability to think and feel. He was not good in school, however, and the only novel he had read by the time he graduated Eastern Washington State College was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. He received a BA in sociology and psychology, earned a teaching credential, and became a popular, although not very good, teacher. He currently works as a therapist and child protection advocate and uses his life experiences in rural Idaho, urban Oakland, and in the education and mental health fields as inspirations for his writing.

Crutcher currently lives in Spokane, Washington, and enjoys swimming, basketball, running, and music. He often speaks at schools and conferences. Crutcher has won many awards for his writing, and his writing is frequently challenged for its content and language. In a response to a parent’s challenge in 2010 of his novel, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Crutcher writes:

            To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, one of the tough things about standing up against censorship is some of the (crap) you have to stand up for. (And yes, I edited myself - or Mr. Vonnegut - in deference to the complainant.)  But I have been an educator and I have been a therapist for families in particularly tough circumstances and the characters and situations in this book come from real places.  When we ban books about kids who feel marginalized and diminished, we ban the kids themselves.  We say, "Your life is not worth examining, not worth being brought into the light.  You don't matter."  I would want to think long and hard before allowing my school to be perceived in that way. (emphasis mine).

Information was obtained from Chris Crutcher’s website. For more information, please see:

http://www.chriscrutcher.com/

Genre

Young Adult

Reality Fiction

Sports
Swimming
High school
Racially mixed people
Adoption

Racism

Abuse

Curriculum Ties
N/A

Book Talking Ideas

High School sports culture, racism, bullies, adoption

Reading Level/ Interest Age

Characters are high school seniors; appropriate for ages 14 and up.

Challenge Issues

Language, racism, content

Challenge Defense

In defense of a challenge, I would cite these reviews as well as ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.

Book Links (A.L.A.) 12/01/02

Notable/Best Books (A.L.A.) 01/21/02

Book Report starred 09/01/01

Publishers Weekly starred 03/12/01

Booklist 04/01/01

Books for the Teen Age (NYPL) 05/01/04

Why did I include this title?

This was one of the first Chris Crutcher books I read and it remains one of my favorites. I admire Crutcher to bring to the forefront issues of racism and abuse in a sort of “in your face” kind of way. I have handed Chris Crutcher books to many of my reluctant reader boys and they always ask for another one.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Doctorow, C. (2008). Little brother. New York: Tor.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-1985-2

Plot Summary

One day, Marcus Yallow, a techno-geek high school senior in San Francisco whose Internet name is w1n5t0n (pronounced “Winston’), decides to ditch school to play Harajuku Fun Madness with his friends. Escaping the school’s high-tech security system proves easy compared to what he endures that day. When San Francisco is attacked by terrorists who blow up tunnels, the BART system, and the Bay Bridge, Marcus and his friends are captured by the Department of Homeland Security and held for interrogation for days. They believe he is part of Al Qaeda. Marcus is released, but not before he is tortured. When he realizes that the government has taken away people’s civil liberties and privacy and is tracking their every move in the name of security, Marcus creates a movement with the help of his technologically-gifted friends and the Internet to counter the DHS’s surveillance under the name of M1k13y. He is spurred on by the memory of Darryl, stabbed and bleeding, whom he believes might still live, the encouragement of his new girlfriend, Ange, and the resolve to wrought revenge on the people who did this to him and his city.

Critical Evaluation

Reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, a theme of Little Brother is individual rights and privacy vs. national security in the name of unity. In fact, the main characters of both novels share the same name, Winston. The terrorist acts that set the plot in motion parallel 9/11 and set the stage for the mysterious Homeland Security’s arrival. The immediate future setting of this novel, San Francisco, is significant because this city is known to be a hot bed of free-thinking activists and technology, just the thing to get under the skin of the government. Doctorow brings the city to life with specific details such as real places; Marcus and Ange ride the Muni and the Bart, have a party at Sutro Baths, and attend a concert at Dolores Park. The first-person narration of Marcus is sometimes a blur of techno-speak and readers who do not understand things like crypto and private keys might get lost in the sometimes long-winded explanations, but the effect is powerful. While the reader might not understand, he will understand that there are hackers able to control the Internet to their advantage. The characters are well-developed as they not only show concern for their own friends, but are genuinely worried about the public in general and are willing to San Francisco’s next activists. The motto, “Don’t trust anyone over 25” will ring true with young adults who believe that those older are jaded conformists who do not fully understand the digital generation and who question the government. This book will make readers question their own stance on individual privacy vs. national security and never look at intersection cameras the same way again.

 

Reader’s Annotation

 

When Marcus is kidnapped and interrogated by Homeland Security after terrorist attacks on San Francisco, he does not take this encroachment on his individual rights lightly. With the help of his friends and the Internet, he rebels against authority and strives to regain his, and the city’s, personal liberty.

 

Author Information

 

Cory Doctorow, born July 17, 1971 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a blogger and science fiction author whose awards include the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, John W. Campbell Memorial Award, Prometheus Award, and Sunburst Award. Doctorow was a Greenpeace campaigner as a child and attended four universities but never received a degree. He began writing fiction when he was 17. In 2007, he received a Canadian Fulbright Chair for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy and a professorship at USC included a one year writing and teaching residency. He returned to London, where he became a naturalized citizen in 2011, and continues to be a public speaker on copyright issues. His first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (2003), was released in two ways. At the same time as its physical printing, it was released with a Creative Commons license, which allowed readers to circulate the electronic edition as long as they made no money off of it. After that, the license allowed derived works and all of his novels have been released the same way.

 

He is married to Alice Taylor and together they delight in their little girl born February 3, 2008, Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow (I had to include that wonderful name). He frequently does public speaking engagements, podcasts, and blogs on BoingBoing (http://boingboing.net/).

 

There is much more to know. Please enjoy yourself as you visit Cory Doctorow’s website:

 

http://craphound.com/

 

Genre

Young Adult Fiction

Science Fiction

Suspense

Romance

Curriculum Ties

9/11, First Amendment Rights, civil liberties and privacy vs. national security

Book Talking Ideas

How much personal freedom and privacy are we willing to give up in the name of national security?

Reading Level/ Interest Age

The protagonist is a senior in high school; appropriate for readers 14 and up.

Challenge Issues

None I can think of, except some people might disapprove of the characters’ irreverent attitudes towards the U.S. government. There is also some non-graphic, but palpable tension-filled sex that occurs off page.

Challenge Defense

In defense of a challenge, I would cite these reviews as well as ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.

Booklist starred 04/01/08

Publishers Weekly starred 04/14/08

Horn Book 10/01/08

School Library Journal starred 05/01/08

Horn Book starred 07/01/08

New York Times 09/14/08

Why did I include this title?

This book really made me think about my own personal liberties and privacy post 9/11. It is often seen as un-American to resist the government’s infringement on our own privacy. If we’re not doing anything wrong, why should we worry about that? Obviously, I disagree. However, I understand that this situation exists. All those intersection cameras, parking garage cameras, police vehicle cameras? Who is watching, and why? I’m not doing anything wrong, but I don’t like what’s going on. Unlike Marcus, though, I am in no place to change it. In fact, unfortunately, I don’t think it can be changed.