Fearless 3

I have to admit that I intended to read a different novel for my last book, but I was drawn into reading this one instead. I was obsessed with the Fearless series when I was younger and I wanted to revisit what was my favorite of the series. This is one of those really extended series, with over 15 books I believe. It's very much a trashy series, but I knew a lot of reluctant reader, including myself, who read these with enjoyment and always anticipated the next book. They are about a seventeen year old girl, Gaia, who is living in NYC without a fear gene. Okay, I know this sounds really lame, but it is actually a pretty catchy mystery that reveals itself slowly, book by book.

Gaia is being stalked throughout the series by an unknown person. Whoever it is causes turbulence in her life every time he appears and Gaia continues to use her lack of fear to uncover where her troubles are stemming from. She is strong and tough and stands up for herself, her friends, and her love interest at every bump in the road. In this particular book, she must complete the demanding tasks of the stalker in order to save her boyfriend from getting murdered.

It all sounds much cheesier than it is. I included the book here because it is SO different from the other books on my list. It is light, yet dark in substance and something I think kids could get hooked on. It's one of those books that has no place in the classroom, but could help get reluctant readers reading for reading's sake. I would recommend it to the right student as a means of inspiring interest in books.

Margaux with an X

This book really surprised me. I read it somewhat out of desperation for a short novel that I could get through quickly. However, it turned out to be a pretty awesome read. In a world where Margaux stands above everyone around her in looks, it seems she has quite a long way to come in terms of emotional stability. Her brain is racked with bad memories by which she becomes jaded and wary of life. What saves her is the friendship of a boys who acts as her equal, her friend rather than the royal treatment she's used to getting from other people. Through this down to earth relationship she learns to break out of her "pretty girl" mold and become the strong, independent person she's always longed to be.

The part of this novel that stood out the most to me is the strong sense of language that Koertge uses. She has instilled in Margaux a love of English and through that outlet comes a flood of wordplay and witty commentary. She exhibits a desire to discover new words and manipulate language to suit her needs. Besides the fact that this educational value sets her apart from her peer beauties, it also adds a real literary element to the novel. I enjoyed relating to a girl who I would have otherwise hated through her use of interesting words.

This book is also just morally refreshing. It has a protagonist that I haven't seen before, a kind of honesty and wit that allows her to have these serious problems without being a huge downer to the reader. She ends up being strong and admirable although she starts out seeming like that girl we all loved to hate back in High School. I was told that I would like this book because the main character is kind of a "bitch." And- I have to agree. Real people have attitudes and I love discovering new characters with unique attitudes that don't fit into any other literary mold.

I would definitely teach this book. It fits with others like Speak and Perks and could be really interesting for Young Adults to experience.

Miracle's Boys

This book is totally different from any of the others I've read this semester. It has a voice distinctly rooted in the urban culture and youthful insights of the narrator, Lafayette. He and his two brothers, Ty'ree and Charlie, are fighting to survive as a family without the pillars of a mother or father, both of whom have passed away before the novel begins. With Ty'ree taking on the responsibility of raising his two brothers, and Charlie dealing with the stress of being the trouble making middle child, Lafayette often imagines his mother is there and carries out conversations with her memory as a means of surviving his situation. It is through such memories that we, as readers, are able to piece together the picture of this family and how each character has come to be what they are now.

What ends up resolving the story, which takes place during a very short time, is Lafayette's ability to break down the barrier between himself and Charlie. He realizes how distanced he has been from the only family he has left, and decides to unite his brothers once again. We are left with a feeling of hope at the conclusion of the novel as the three brothers are pictured together, ready to try and build up a family if for no other reason than to make it in a really harsh world.

I was a little turned off of this book at first because it has such a young feel to it. However, it's message is strong and universal. I guess my initial dislike of it was very much a result of never having read "inner city" literature before. Which, in itself, is really kind of sad. I would hope that more and more books like this could be used in schools to create a greater feeling of connections for a bigger scope of students. It has something in it for those kids who aren't reached by books about the typical angsty white kid who just isn't satisfied with suburban living.

I ended up feeling really good about the book as something I could use in my classroom. I want to have a library that includes novels that reach beyond the kind of student I am, the only kind of student that I've experienced. I know I am going to encounter all sorts of students with a multitude of different problems and I feel better about it each time I read or experiences something that could act as a reference point. It has thematic value, things like family, survival, hardship, etc, that could make it really worthy of discussion and student response. In short, this one's going on the bookshelf.

Dairy Queen

This is a book that took me a while to get into. At first glance, I was a little turned off by the football based premise. I am totally anti-football and I wasn't sure I'd be able to stand it. However, once I got past that, I ended up reading most of the book in two days. It was actually way better than football...

The story follows DJ in her own coming of age tale. She has to overcome the silence that her family practices and learn to speak up for herself. One major way she does this is by befriending another town's QB and training him over the summer. As she becomes closer to him, she learns to speak and ends up trying out for her town's football team. This brave act of hers, while it immediately causes more trouble for her, ends up breaking the family silence, healing the wounds between DJ and her friends, and giving her the outlet she needed.

This is a really inspiring book. In some ways it reminded me a lot of Speak. It has a totally different plot, but the theme of speaking was so prevalent in both that I think students could easily tie the two together in discussion and writing. DJ has to learn to accept her family, her situation, and become comfortable enough with herself to have a voice. Once she does, everything seems to fall into place for her. There is just so much material in this book that is worthy of a classroom. If not for a whole class text I would definitely have this novel available for my students. DJ's voice is appealing to the YAL reader and her message is strong for anyone, not just the football playing farm girl. All in all, this is probably one of my favorite books this semester.

The Chosen

As pretty much my entire list of books has changed, this had now become my challenge book. The reason being, it is much more classic (canon worthy?). I must admit, however, that I loved loved loved it. It is the story of Danny, a Hassidic Jew, and Reuven, an Orthodox Jew. The novel follows these two boys (and even their two fathers) as they deal with their religious differences. As they first meet, these differences seem to be too much for them to overcome, but as the novel progresses, they find common ground and become good companions. This friendship is given the interesting backdrop of how differently their fathers raise them and this theme become very much the secondary plot of the novel.

Having done a bit of research on this novel, I've gathered that it is pretty commonly used in classrooms. It's over forty years old now but still has such a strong message for kids to grasp. It is a novel about tolerance, about differences, about friendship, about religion. It is a difficult read because it is so packed with details and religious references but if you can stick with it, it to SO worth the time. Potok has a great style, the writing is pretty outstanding. I would teach this novel in an upper level class. I would need motivated students who are willing to put forth the effort to read such a dense novel, but there is no doubt that this book is classroom worthy. It could actually be used at many different levels, I would say even into college classes.

For me, this was an eye opening experience. A lot of critics talk about how it is good for people of every religion because even if you aren't Jewish, the religious concepts are universal. However for me, as I am not religious at all, it had a meaning as well. I was so fascinated by the Jewish religion that it actually kind of shocked me how fast I got through the book. I got a good picture of both the Hassidic and the Orthodox Jewish traditions and even I could see how a friendship between boys of two such influences could be problematic. But what makes this novel truly poignant is getting to see how they work their differences out, how they learn to respect and love each other despite what their fathers have to say about it.

Rule of the Bone

Again, I find myself posting about a novel that I wouldn't ever teach. I actually might teach this book to a certain group of kids. This may sound horrible, but I think it would be better received at an alternative school than a mainstream one because of its content. It is about a teenager, Chappy, who leaves his home in order to escape a sexually abusive step father and an emotionally absent mother. He takes on a deviant behavior and the name Bone to match his new destructive personality. Bone becomes addicted to drugs, ends up staying with a gang, at a mall, with a pedophile, and finally, in Jamaica with a pot-dealing Rastafarian who teaches him his ways.

This is a coming of age story much like Perks, and Catcher in the Rye. It could easily be taught alongside those novels, but it does seems a bit more mature in its content, which is always something I consider as a future teacher. Its biggest success is the voice of Bone. He is an enjoyable narrator to read and he offers such a strong presence that I found myself soaring through 400 pages just to keep hearing his story. I haven't found such a strong example of voice in a while and I would definitely use at least excerpts from this novel to teach that literary concept. I may even frame it as the mentor text to a lesson on voice in a writer's workshop setting.

I really think that the content is not worth throwing out the book for students. So many kids would love reading it that I would have a hard time censoring their choice to. Yes, it does deal with abuse, drugs, sex, and violence, but so do teenagers on a day to day basis, and this is just too good a book to deny them the pleasure of reading it. I am such a sucker for the coming of age novel that I was pleased to find another recent "version" of Catcher in the Rye. I believe students would relate to Bone and find his story compelling. I definitely recommend this novel to anyone who liked Perks enough to read a much more extensive, intense story of a teenage boy discovering life.

The Things They Carried

I have to say I wasn't sure if I could count this as one of my fifteen, because I did a project on it for Content Lit. However, the reason I am posting anyways is because I have now finally read the whole thing as a novel. Previously, I've been assigned a short story from it in High School, and I've used parts of it for my own teacher education, but it was much better as a whole novel. I mean, it's a fabulous collection all the way around. It can be effectively broken into it's short stories and used that way, or it can be assigned as a book. I have said before that I am NOT AT ALL a history person. However, this book (collection of short stories) blends an account of the Vietname War with a strong literary presence and therefore appeals to me as a writer. The prose was beautiful and it attracted me instantly to a subject that would have otherwise gone right over my head.

I know this book is used a lot now in schools and I can see why. As I've said above, it has a high appeal for more students than just those who are into history. I would absolutely use this book in my classroom. I feel comfortable teaching it even though its historical and I really believe in its value for students. The themes, the plot, the literary elements, they all provide so much material for teaching and learning. I have read do many books this semester that I'd feel uncomfortable teaching, but this is inspiring to me that some novels are just built for the classroom and give me so many ideas for lessons, assignments, and discussions. I've said that I want to read more about the kinds of students I want to teach, but I also need to be reading more literature like this, that inspires my teaching self and gives me hope that I can find current novels that are just as important to teach as canonical texts.

I am so fascinated by O'Brien's ability to write to beautifully that I have ordered a few other of his books. I am just really excited to have found another author to add to my list.

if i should die before i wake

This is novel that I've had kicking around for years, and I just decided to give it a shot. The main reason I'm posting about it at all is because it's another story about the Holocaust and I was interested how it would compare to novels, such as The Book Thief, that we've been talking about in class. It follows Hilary, a young girl who is part of a neo-Nazi gang in her town. She ends up in a Jewish hospital after a serious motorcycle accident. While there, she lucidly fades in and out of visits with her religious mother and neo-Nazi boyfriend. As she fades away, she ends up living this dream alternate reality as a Jewish girl, Chana. This ends up being her roommate in the hospital and they are sharing memories of their opposing lives through some sort of telepathic communication. Have I said enough yet?

I really can't even continue summarizing the plot because it is too obvious and predictable to waste time on. I have to say, as a completely unrealistic story, it wasn't that painful to read. However, it doesn't work at all as a reading of the holocaust and as many critics have said, it's almost insulting to novels such as The Diary of Anne Frank and The Devil's Arithmetic. It's very readable, and I would never discourage a student from choosing this book because it is challenging enough to have value as literature, but it could never be a part of a Holocaust unit, at least not for me.

The front of the novel has a quote from Voice of Youth Advocates which states that the book is, "Page-turning." However, I'm thinking that this is only because of the subject matter. It is an imaginative way to deal with the Holocaust, and I did get into it, wanting to hear more about Hilary's experience as Chana, but the plot fell apart as she became Hilary again. It was a frustrating experience at best and in the end I decided there are much better resources for this particular historical event than this weak novel.

A Child Called It

This is one of the most intense books I've ever read. It is certainly not for the sensitive reader, that's for sure. It is Dave Pelzer's autobiographical novel and it follows him as a very young child dealing with an unbelievable amount of maternal abuse. This isn't just a kid who gets slapped around a little by an alcoholic mother, this is the most extreme case of violence I've ever heard of. He is one of three boys and for reasons I'm not sure he ever understands , he is the only one who his mother abuses. She tortures him, makes him her personal slave and beats him to the point of near-death more than once. One of her choice forms of abuse is locking him in the bathroom with a toxic mix of chemicals that gives off fumes that would eventually kill him. He cowers in the corner, shirt over face, trying to survive, all the while wondering what she has in store for him next. He has dealt with this for several years now, and this book begins and ends with his school administration finally taking a stand for him. He has been too afraid to tell anyone, although adults around him have been suspicious for a while. When one teacher finally has the courage to take a stand for this little boy who can't stand up for himself, Dave is freed from his outrageous situation.

Now, I have to say, I am not a very sensitive person when it comes to things that I read. Having said that, I think you'd have to be a pretty cold person not to cry over this particular story. One incident after the other, you're never quite sure if this amazing boy is going to live to tell the rest of his story. Pelzer has actually lived to finish this trilogy of his gruesome childhood. I haven't read the other two books, but having read this one, I can't imagine not wanting to find out what happens to him next. He has also written three other books, all of which I believe are inspirational books for people struggling with the same kinds of issues he has overcome.

This is definitely an adult book, the content is worse than any movie I've ever seen. However, I did read this when I was a teenager and I know a lot of other teens have read it also. That isn't to say I'd ever assign it, but it's such an amazing story that I would encourage anyone who can handle it to read it. It is hard, I almost wanted to get sick a few times, but if you can get over that, you're left with one of the most touching, inspirational stories I've come across. I'm still not sure how to justify even having a book like this in my classroom library. I worry about the kid who wants to read it but who's parents freak out about its content. I am very open and I believe in letting kids experience lots of different things, but not everyone is going to agree with me on that, so I would tend to just avoid the whole risk altogether. I guess, then, the reason I read this was for more selfish reasons. I do realize it doesn't fall under our YAL category, but I wanted to spend some of the 15 books on things that would contribute to my study of the tortured child. I want to read more literature like this that will open my eyes to situations that I never even heard of in my town, never mind came close to dealing with myself. These are situations that I might come across in teaching emotionally disturbed kids. I am, in a sense, building up my nerve and learning to hear stories like this with less of a shock value and more of a desire to help and motivate, if that makes sense.

Finally, I can't imagine a better use of my time than reading Pelzer's stories. It was an amazing book and I wish I could just have everyone read it! Definitely keeping this and re-reading it for years to come.

Go Ask Alice

Reading this book was a total experience for me. I had read it and reread it and read it again when I was much younger, probably 14 or 15, but now, at almost 21, I had a completely different take on it. It's an anonymous diary of a drug-addicted teen in the 70's. It chronicles her roller coaster of a life, her battle with drugs and social pressures as she runs away from home and lands herself in a mental hospital. As soon as I picked the book up I was a little turned off by the author's overly-cheery disposition and outdated language. It took me a minute to realize that this is an OLD BOOK. That hadn't even occurred to me when I read it years ago but I think that's mostly because, back then, I was reading it for the thrill of reading something about mysterious drugs and the secret concept of sex. I was so caught up in feeling devious for reading such mature content that I wasn't even noticing how outdated it all was.

Which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it at all...because I really did! It was hard to get through because I am so much older but once I did I felt that I was worthwhile. It tells a lot about a world that I certainly don't know much about at all. Like I've said before, I always appreciate any insight into the world of struggling teens because those are the kids I'm aiming to help as a teacher. I think this diary is most successful because it shows a girl who is brought up by a LOVING family in a GOOD home in a SAFE neighborhood. So many of the other journals or books like this that I've read have become cliche in the way they portray the poor, abused kid growing up in a cardboard box getting addicted to drugs. Well- as harsh as I'm sounding- DUH! What seems more pertinent for the kinds of kids I've encountered is for them to see that other privileged suburban kids can fall victim to drugs and promiscuity too. This is a girl who has everything going for her but she still suffers at the hands of peer pressure and addicting drugs.

I would NEVER assign this book. It's just too inappropriate as a school book. However, I think that kids will always be fascinated by book and journals like these. Like "angst", reading books like this is a phase that a lot of kids just have to go through. They have to feel devious and alone for a time in their youth or they'll never learn or grow up. Therefore, I would hope that all my students get exposed to things like this. Yes, it's scary and mature but so is Junior High and High School and the only way I made it through was reading about people who had it worse and seeing how much worse it could be for me.

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup

I read this book in about an hour and a half. If you know me at all, that's about as much as I have to say in order to recommend it to someone else. It caught my attention primarily because it blends a lot of my interests. I'm a big baseball fan, I LOVE writing, I appreciate small novels, and have recently gotten into books written in poetry. It was a really well constructed short novel that accomplished what I think it set out to accomplish; to get kids into writing (while they're reading). It is an incredible accessible read for all sorts of students.

I liked that we weren't given all the details about Kevin's life (his mother's death, his past, etc), but that we were allowed to wonder, to infer, to question. He was an honest, interesting protagonist to follow. I've really started to like teen novels because of how useful they could be to me as a teacher. I want to have books like this to offer my students, books that they can relate to and in which they can find a part of themselves. This is a book that I would absolutely use with my students. There are literary as well as life lessons abundant in this book and I am always excited to find a book short enough that any student in my class could easily finish and enjoy.

you remind me of you

I wasn't planning on reading this book, I just happened upon it one day. I was looking at a website for PUSH. PUSH is a small publishing house that focuses on new writers with something fresh and honest to say. I came across their website when I was researching McCormick's Cut which was also published through PUSH. You Remind Me of You is a true story written in poetry by Eireann Corrigan. It is about her struggle with anorexia/bulimia as well as her obsessive relationship with her boyfriend. It chronicles her obsession with her body and her repeated visits to the hospital.

I am a sucker for a story like this. I am interested in teaching kids with emotional disturbances so, as weird as this sounds, I look at reading experiences like this as a chance to learn more about how these kids think and operate. I was fascinated by her disease and, as disturbing as it naturally is, I couldn't wait to see how she evolved. Having said all of this, I was really confused at times about the timeline of the story. The poems bounce back and forth in time and it would take an extremely close read to distinguish the exact order of things. This makes it really tough to fully engage with the plot because at times it's hard to know what we're supposed to be feeling bad, sad, happy, or angry about as readers.

I'm not sure I could teach a novel like this. I believe it has value and is a very good read, but it is a dark, confusing story that not all students would appreciate. I really think some students would be offended or scared of the content and others wouldn't even be able to follow the poetry. There is just not enough value in it to make it worth all of the work it would take to fully examine it with a class. This is another that I would keep available for students but never require as a read in my class.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I started reading this book because I was read part of it by Dr. Overstreet in Teaching of Writing. I was instantly hooked. The narrator, Arnold Spirit, has such an honest, distinct voice that it is really hard to put the book down. I was constantly engaged from beginning to end and found myself finishing it in two days. I feel that this would be a great book to offer students. It has the same youthful, honest teenage voice that students love to read, but within the context of a different culture. I never got the chance to read much outside of my own culture and would have benefited from knowing that the themes I was learning about my own world existed in other societies too.

This book was just so good that I haven't even had a chance to process it into classroom worthy material, other than being positive I would use it. Besides relating to other teenage survival stories, it presents new and perhaps unknown problems that only certain people face. Arnold relates his struggles with being a motivated Indian living amongst poor, drunken Indians on a reservation. He fights to make a better life for himself than anybody in his family has had and catches slack from his friends and family for doing so.

I would use this book in a multicultural unit or amongst a variety of other teen novels. It stands out so much to me as the perfect answer to the same old whiny white kid who can't get a date...try being a poor Indian living on a reservation for a day. It is such an important book and I can't wai to share it with my students.

Stargirl

I have owned this book for several years but had never found the time to crack it open until I was looking for YAL novels for this course. I was always put off by it's title and appearance and had a hard time believing that it was anything worth reading. However, after reading and very much enjoying Spinelli's Maniac Magee for this class, I decided to give Stargirl a chance. What I found was a really nice story that could spark change and appreciation if put in the hands of High School students. It has a little something for boys and girls as the narrator and main character is a male, but the hero and second most central character is a female.

I was really impressed with this story and found it to be much more useful as a part of a classroom than I had previously thought. It is definitely a younger YAL novel than some, but it does have enough maturity to be useful at the 9th grade level for sure. That would also be a good year for it because of the morals that it embodies. It speaks of individuality and acceptance. Through the model of Stargirl herself, this book shows kids how important it is to look past the differences of their classmates and appreciate the great things each person has to offer. Now, as corny as that sounded is exactly how un-corny the actual novel presents these ideas. It manages to pass on a good message without sounding preachy or out of date. I think it could appeal to a lot of kids as it is relevant and easy to read.

I would definitely use this novel in my classroom. I might not teach it to the whole class but rather offer it as a free read. I wouldn't want to make it cheesy or ruin its wholesome message by beating it over the heads of my students. I think it finds the most success as an individual experience which each student could react to on his or her own. I think it could really inspire kids who have felt like the outsider to embrace those unique qualities and realize them as good assets.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I first read this epistolary novel, by Stephen Chbosky, when I was a sophomore in High School, for fun not class. It really touched me as a reader of that age and I was particularly curious to see if it would have the same effect on me if I read it with a nod towards using it with my future students. I found myself falling in love with the story and it's main character, Charlie, all over again. It made me excited to share this book with everyone I know, as well as to offer it to my students.

This is a novel which is frequently likened to Catcher in the Rye, but which I feel is far superior. I enjoyed Salinger's book immensely when I read it for my Senior year English class but I don't think it is as accessible to as many students as Perks could be. Perks has the advantage of being set in today's society and deals with much more recent and relevant topics. Throughout the novel, Charlie deals with life as a teenager- unrequited crushes, social pressures, and , oh yeah, school. He writes to an unknown reader about the ups and downs of just making it through High School on a day to day basis. It is impossible not to relate to his experiences as he begins to hang out with an older crowd. Interwoven with realistic depictions of his new found partying lifestyle are memories of his aunt Helen. These memories seem to the reader to hold some importance but it doesn't become clear until the end of his letters what this significance might be. In the end, it is this aunt, his own blood relative, who causes Charlie most of his heartache and suffering even though she dies before the novel starts.

I believe this novel could really change the lives of students, at least in the way that they regard literature. Students who have never felt connected to a character or who have never fell in love with a book and finished it all in one sitting might be able, like me, to relate to this novel. It offers a reader friendly format and teenager friendly topics. It lends itself to discussions on voice, epistolary writing, and making inferences.

I feel like I just can't do this book enough justice. It is a really solid read, particularly for students that are Charlie's age. Considering that I am not really a "reader," I could read and reread this book and still find myself emotionally invested in the well being of the protagonist.

You really have to read it in order to appreciate it!!!