LS 5623 Mod 6

amazon.com

goodreads.com

What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones



Module 6 Poetry, Drama, Film and Response


BIBLIOGRAPHY


Sones, Sonya. What my girlfriend doesn't know. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2007. ISBN: 9780689876028


CRITICAL ANALYSIS


The sequel to What my Mother Doesn’t Know, this novel is written from Robin’s (the boyfriend) point of view in free verse poetry. He covers topics that are pressing in his life such as first love, bullying and other typical high school issues and insecurities. The novel is honest and emotional as it offers a perspective rarely shared. Readers may be surprised at how a young man’s actions are so closely tied to his feelings. Robin demonstrates how young men may struggle to express their feelings, deal with the pain that others inflict upon them or handle rejection, teasing and temptation.  Truly insighful and entertaining, this is another important novel of prose for young readers.


BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES


I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Tired Of This: (pg 93)


Of letting


my fingers






Swirl across the silky skin


on Sophie’s hands


While she swirls hers


across mine,






Lacing


and unlacing,






In this kind of floaty,


fingertip dance…






Both of us practically


in a trance.





Author’s website: http://www.sonyasones.com/






EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS






School Library Journal


This sequel to What My Mother Doesn't Know (S & S, 2001) stands completely on its own. Robin's life at Cambridge High School is miserable. The arty outsider's last name becomes the pejorative slang of the school—as in, "Don't be such a Murphy." His lot improves, however, when popular Sophie becomes his girlfriend despite the detriment to her reputation. Better still, the freshman is invited to audit an art class at Harvard. It is his homecoming; for once, he is the comedian rather than the butt of jokes. One of the college freshmen even shows some romantic interest in him. Written as a novel in verse, this title is a fast-paced, page-turning romp that gives authentic voice to male youth even when it is painfully truthful.


Booklist


In What My Mother Doesn't Know (2001), 14-year-old Sophie, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, teen, describes her surprise when she is drawn to Robin, the school-appointed loser who makes her laugh. In this sequel, Robin picks up the narrative in rapid-fire, first-person free verse as he describes their school's reaction to the relationship: "They're gawking at us / like Sophie's Beauty and I'm the Beast." Sophie compares the two to outlaws: "It's just you and me against the world." But after Sophie's friends dump her, Robin feels guilty for the "random acts of unkindness" she endures: "Sophie may feel like an outlaw, / but thanks to yours truly, / what she really is / is an outcast." A talented artist, Robin finds escape in a Harvard drawing class, where a new friendship threatens his closeness with Sophie. The story of a thrilling and faltering first love may be familiar, but Robin's believable voice is distinctive, and Sones uses her spare words (and a few drawings) to expert effect. From bad puns to breathless accounts of locking lips to anguished worries about losing Sophie, Robin reinforces the picture of an awkward, likable, intelligent, and realistically flawed young man. Many teens will see themselves, and they'll cheer when Sophie and Robin thwart the bullies and reclaim their social standing. Like Sones' other titles, this is a great choice for reluctant and avid readers alike.

LS 5623 Mod 6

amazon.com

mowrites4kids.drury.edu

Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by twentieth-century American Art edited by Jan Greenberg


Module 6 Poetry, Drama, Film and Response



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Greenberg, Jan. Heart to heart: new poems inspired by twentieth-century American art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001. ISBN: 0810943867



CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This anthology is a unique pairing of original poetry inspired by iconic 20th century art. The result is both moving and profound. Biographical information is included for poets and artists as well as photograph and poem credits. Some poets and artists featured are Carole Boston Weatherford, William H. Johnson, Jane O. Wayne and Milton Avery. In some cases it is hard to believe that the art and poem were not created by the same person. The parings are so connected that it is difficult to separate the two. Broken into chapters such as “Stories”, “Voices”, “Impressions” and Expressions”, this collection offers a variety of both art and poetry that is playful, emotional, challenging or provocative. The combination of powerful images and compelling language is impressive.

BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

Jan Greenberg has received many awards for her books. They include the ALA Notable, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Booklist Editor’s Choice, IRA Teacher’s Choice, Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book, and Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Book.

Author’s Website: http://www.jangreenbergsandrajordan.com/



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS



School Library Journal

Greenberg invited 43 poets to choose a piece of modern art and to write a poetic response to it. The result is a gorgeous, thoughtful, stimulating collection of art and poetry that turns the standard poetry/art book on its head. "How would you paint a poem?" Bobbi Katz asks in her response to a Mark Rothko painting. "Prepare the canvas carefully/With shallow pools of color/Stacked secrets waiting to be told-." Greenberg's book might best be seen as an embodiment of that poem. Each work of art is impeccably reproduced, the color and design are exceptional, and each poem is given room on the page to breathe. The art glows, the words reflect the images and create more light-"Florine, we would live inside your colors! Red joy,/golden rushes of hope-" Naomi Shihab Nye writes about Florine Stettheimer's The Cathedrals of Broadway. If a picture book is defined as a marriage of word and art, then Heart to Heart is not only a wonderful poetry collection, but also a picture book of the highest quality.





Booklist

Specially commissioned, original poems celebrate some of the finest twentieth-century American art in this beautiful, surprising volume. Such well-known writers as Nancy Willard, X. J. Kennedy, Lee Upton, and Angela Johnson wrote poems inspired by artworks created through the century, but the book's organization is thematic rather than chronological. The poems are grouped according to how the writer responded to the art: some tell a story about the whole painting; some speak from the perspective of an object within the artwork; some transform the visual elements into poetic metaphors; some talk about the artists and their techniques. From a tight diamante and pantoum to lyrical free verse, the range of poetic styles will speak to a wide age group. Younger children, for example, will love Deborah Pope's "On Lichtenstein's 'Bananas and Grapefruit,'" which melts quickly down the page to a delicious ending: "gulppulp / sweet part / eat / art." Teens (and adults) will enjoy the inquisitive depth of such selections as Ronald Wallace's "Mobile/Stabile." Concluding with biographical notes on each poet and artist, this rich resource is an obvious choice for teachers, and the exciting interplay between art and the written word will encourage many readers to return again and again to the book. To learn more about the book's origins, see the Story behind the Story on the opposite page.

LS 5623 Mod 6



goodreads.com




amazon.com


















Falling Hard 100 Love Poems by Teenagers edited by Betsy Franco


Module 6 Poetry, Drama, Film and Response



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Franco, Betsy. Falling hard: 100 love poems by teenagers. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780763634377

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This anthology claims to be written by teenagers of various sexual orientations. The free verse poems represented in this collection are bold, honest, insightful and sensitive. Some are works that depict harsh realities while other poems tell of the sweet, hopeful joy that only love provides. Although this book includes submissions from writers as young as twelve, some topics are of a much more mature nature. Due to the genuine vocabulary, creativity and talent of these young poets this collection remains very popular within a popular young adult genre.

BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

Inside cover: The vertigo-inducing realm of romantic love is captured in the unforgettable collection of one hundred poems by teens. The writers are straight, gay, lesbian, bi or transgender; they live next door or across an ocean; they are innocent or experienced. Poetic explorations range from new love to stale love, from obsession to ennui, from ecstasy to heartbreak, and every nuance in between. Some verses are touching and comical, others are ineffably tragic. Feelings may be tender and sweet or brutal and biting. No matter which stage or shade is articulated, love is exquisitely, endlessly fascinating.



Author’s Website: http://www.betsyfranco.com/index.htm



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS



From School Library Journal

Falling Hard was compiled mostly by email from teenagers from many different backgrounds, and with different sexual orientations. Only their names and ages are given. The poems are written in free verse and are honest, sometimes explicit, and creative (there is an ode to a piano, and a "Pledge of Affection to a Nerd"). Love is variously compared to a psychic leech and the sting of a bee. Some of the poems have strong language. Interracial relationships, being gay ("Kiss a guy, get a man/Be a bi, lend a hand"), sex, break-ups, flirting, the intensity of love ("blinding flashing lightning in my guts") and jealousy are among the topics addressed. "Blackberries" by Emma Marlowe, age 17, uses vivid images of "flying on wings of hemp and silver/waxing sunlight crackles through dust/gold glass on a poisoned oak" and "I had to brush my taste to keep the teeth of him/out of my head."

From Booklist

The teen poets in this lively anthology knock greeting-card clichés even as they celebrate their romance and their passion (“I want to wrap around you / I want to get inside you”) and vent their hurt, anger, and longing. Most poems were submitted to Franco by e-mail from the U.S., but some also came from abroad. Just the teens’ names and ages are given, but their writing reveals a wide diversity of race, sexual identity, maturity, and lifestyle. With a spacious open design, the poems are not arranged in any particular order, true to the way readers will dip in and browse. Some of the simplest lines say the most: “I want you less than I thought I did. / And I love you more than I ever knew.” From the pain of breakup and denial to affection and desire, the feelings in these poems will ring true to gay and straight teens alike.

LS 5623 Mod 5

barnesandnoble.com

War is…by Marc Aronson


Module 5 History, Biography and Nonfiction

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aronson, Marc, and Patricia J. Campbell. War is--: soldiers, survivors, and storytellers talk about war. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2008. ISBN 9780763636258

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Editors Marc Aronson and Patty Campbell do not pretend to have unbiased feelings toward America’s participation in wars. This compilation of interviews, plays, poetry and memoirs provides a varied look at the horrors of war. It does not however, offer an impartial debate with various perspectives represented. This book’s sole intent is to expose readers a specific component of military service-war.

Readers will hear firsthand from soldiers, civilians and parents of military members how savage war is. Accounts of what life is like after a war has been waged are also included and are even more difficult to contemplate.

This resource presents authentic and accurate narrative opinions from the distinct perspective of service men and women who signed up for military service with no intention of fighting in battles. However, it may prove to be more effective in its intended purpose-to persuade readers not to support war- if it included accounts from military personnel and their families who felt compelled and honored to serve their country at times of war. I feel the stories of their sacrifice alongside the stories of those who served only because they had no other choice, would lend more credibility to the editors’ argument that war is horrid. When readers learn of the tragedies the military face on and off the battle field they may begin to feel gratitude for the ransoms paid for their freedom. Perhaps they would then be more apt to support the men and women who gave of themselves and look for ways to avoid war in the future.

BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES/STUDENT REVIEWS

“WAR IS…

         Crazy, History, Deception, Unbearable, Delusion, Male, Linked with religion, Worse for Civilians, Impossible to Win, Inevitable?” (Aronson 3-6)

STUDENT REVIEWAllison's review


Jul 09, 11


bookshelves: ya-lit


Read in July, 2011


This book was interesting. I like the different perspectives they gave from different wars, but it still felt kind of biased. I thought that this book was more about showing both sides of the war debate, and less about discouraging future generations from making was in the first place. I agree that war is a terrible thing, but I also think it's currently a necessary thing. It seemed like the book was kind of pacifist. It was not what I expected, and a little disappointing, but not bad overall.
Warnings: There's some cursing (up to the f-bomb), some yucky descriptions of dead people, and mentions of sexual harassment, but this is about soldiers and war, so it shouldn't be too unexpected.



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS

School Library Journal

Aronson and Campbell have collected an outstanding array of essays, interviews, blog posts, articles, song lyrics, short stories, and letters from people directly involved in war. The book is broken into sections called "Deciding About War," "Experiencing War," and "The Aftermath of War." A former soldier writes an open letter to young enlistees, hoping they will scrutinize their reasons for joining up. The U.S. military recruitment contract is minutely examined by a high school social studies teacher. World War II reporter Ernie Pyle's articles on D-Day are reprinted. An essay about women soldiers who served in Iraq is excerpted from Helen Benedict's forthcoming book, The Lonely Soldier. And a memoir by poet Fumiko Miura, survivor of the atomic bomb at Nagasaki, is included. The volume closes with a short play and a short story about the aftereffects of war. The editors make it plain that they are antiwar, but they have made an effort to convey a variety of experiences. Overall, however, war is shown to be brutal, life-changing (not for the better), and ongoing. Aronson notes that humans have gone to war for all of recorded history and show no signs of stopping now. Many books about war for young people make it seem glamorous, exciting, and noble. This powerful collection shows its inglorious, perhaps more realistic side.

Booklist

In his provocatively titled introduction, “People Like War,” Aronson writes: “If we ask people to fight for us—as we always have and always will—we owe them the respect of listening to them.” Though differing (passionately) about war’s inevitability, his coeditor, Campbell, feels likewise, and joins him in presenting a gathering of reminiscences, interviews, letters, published articles, and literary works that brilliantly convey war’s terrible appeal as well as its realities and lasting effects on those whose lives are personally touched by armed conflict. Contributions include Ernie Pyle’s eloquent account of wreckage on a D-Day beach, a Vietnam vet’s nightmarish memories of combat, jokey letters home by Campbell’s naive doughboy father, scathing accounts of sexual harassment in Iraq and elsewhere from several female ex-GIs, and a disturbing indictment of recruiting practices in today’s high schools. Anyone considering enlistment will find these pieces (not to mention the many titles provided in the ample but not indigestible lists of war fiction and nonfiction at the end) to be mesmerizing reading. With this collection, Aronson and Campbell have provided an uncommonly valuable source of hard information and perceptive insight.

LS 5623 Mod 5

educationworld.com

cincinnatilibrary.org

33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women’s Historyby Tanya Bolden


Module 5 History, Biography and Nonfiction



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bolden, Tonya. 33 things every girl should know about women's history: from suffragettes to skirt lengths to the ERA. New York: Crown Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0375911227



CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Bolden has skillfully selected articles, poetry and entries to be included in this album of important history. Readers are taken through the toughest and most merciless trials of women in America as they struggled to ensure a fair and equally valued life for all future women in this country. We meet the female athletes, artists, politicians, astronauts and soldiers that pressed through unimaginable obstacles to secure their own dreams and to provide a way for others to follow their dream as well.

After gleaning the knowledge one does from reading this book, empowered readers may also be awakened to a sense of responsibility and duty to all who will come after them. A common message throughout the anthology is that it is imperative that the freedoms enjoyed today are not taken for granted tomorrow.

Readers cannot read this collection and not feel indebted to the women who dared to fight for our future. Some of these warriors gave up their dignity, physical health and lives for girls and women they would never meet but believed would have a more fulfilling life due to their sacrifices.

Bolden has provided an important resource for all Americans; one that should be studied by every young woman and the men who care for them.

BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

“Some leaders are born women.” Geraldine Ferraro, politician (Bolden 66)

“I am not belittling the brave pioneer men, but the sunbonnet as well as the sombrero has helped to settle this glorious land of ours.” Edna Ferber, novelist (Bolden 66)

“She (First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt) called weekly press conferences restricted to women reporters (as a way of forcing newspapers to hire some)…” (Bolden 106)

“History is full of women who stuck their neck out, heroic women who braved isolation or ridicule to be the first females in their fields.” (Bolden 141)



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS



School Library Journal

In an impressive collection of articles, poems, diary entries, and fiction, Bolden builds a strong historical foundation about women's history. The opening poem, "Past Is Prologue," sets the tone: "You can't go anywhere in this world really without knowing where you as a woman have been." Abigail Adams's remarkable 1775 correspondence with her husband, in which she asserts the need for equality, follows: "-I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors." Thoughtful selections about the suffrage movement, the 1848 Women's Convention at Seneca Falls, men who are feminists, women's firsts, fashion trends, and rebels are also included. Wise quotations by women will find their way onto many bulletin boards and mirrors: "What we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down" (Mary Pickford) and "I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself" (Rita Mae Brown). The tone throughout is positive and informative, empowering teens with neglected facts about and contributions of women to the history of the United States. With plentiful black-and-white illustrations and photos and an appealing format, this is a valuable book.

Booklist

Bolden, the compiler of 33 Things Every Girl Should Know (1998), focuses on women's history this time, providing a cornucopia of information, some of which will surprise readers. Drawing from a number of sources and authors, she covers a wide range of topics, arranging her material mostly chronologically. There's the famous letter from Abigail Adams reminding her husband to "remember the ladies," essays about the suffrage movement, and information on women of the West and women in war, Eleanor Roosevelt, beauty, and girl singing groups of the 1960s. A chart shows the ways women's fashions have changed and a time line follows the progress (and lack thereof) of the women's rights movement. There are also bibliographies, biographical profiles, and poetry, with everything set down in a format that cleverly uses typeface and photographs to draw readers in. This is a very strong, highly readable offering that gives context to the feminist movement--and demystifies that controversial term.

LS 5623 Mod 5



barnesandnoble.com



barnesandnoble.com












A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly


Module 5 History, Biography and Nonfiction

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Donnelly, Jennifer. A northern light. San Diego: Harcourt, 2003. ISBN 0152167056

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Set in the early 1900’s in the mountains of New York, Donnelly introduces readers to sixteen year old Mattie Gokey. Via flashbacks, readers discover that she is a gifted writer, the oldest of four daughters and is struggling to fill the shoes of her recently deceased mother. Although she is missing her mother and older brother (who ran away after a terrible fight with her father), Mattie is also battling her feelings of guilt as she secretly prepares to attend college and escape her harsh, meager, farm life. We meet her at this critical time and immediately learn that she is intelligent and strong yet compassionate and honest, too. Finally, her father allows her to go to work at the Glenmore. Mattie trades the overwhelming responsibilities of helping to run her family's failing farm for a job as a serving girl at the fancy hotel in the Adirondacks, and begins saving as much of her salary as she can. She finds she has a tough decision to make when the summer comes to an end.

Along with encouragement from brilliant, fearless, young black man, Weaver and her controversial teacher, Ms. Wilcox, Mattie's gift for writing affords her getting accepted to Barnard College in New York City. She’ll need to borrow from their strength, too as her sense of duty to her family and a budding romance with handsome Royal Loomis threatens to trap her in a life of service to others and suffocation of her talents and dreams.

While working that summer at the hotel, Mattie gets pulled into a mysterious young couple’s tangle of deceit. It is the mysterious death of the young woman, Grace Brown that ultimately pushes Mattie to find the courage to leave the mountains for the city and fight for a life for which she yearns. Just before Grace drowned in the lake, she gave Mattie a packet of love letters and frantically asked her to promise to burn them. Instead, Mattie reads the letters and discovers that Grace’s death was a murderous act committed against her by someone she trusted-the father of her unborn child. Donnelly masterfully weaves the true story of Grace Brown into her fiction tale as Mattie is the perfect person to understand the impact of Grace’s tragic situation.



Mattie's voice is authentic and reveals interesting nuances regarding poverty, racism, and feminism in the early1900’s. Her unpretentious accounts of illness, death, birth, dating and marriage will dispel any romantic illusions readers might have concerning these events in life.



BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

“I know that it is a bad thing to break a promise, but I think now that it is a worse thing to let a promise break you.” (Donnelly 374)

Author’s website: http://www.jenniferdonnelly.com/

Biography:

“My first childhood memories are of dad trying to get me to eat lima beans, and my mom telling me stories. I still won't eat lima beans, but the stories have stuck with me, and these days, I'm telling a few of my own.

I've written three novels so far: A Northern Light, The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose, and Humble Pie, a picture book for children.

My first novel, The Tea Rose, an epic set in London and New York in the late 19th century, was called 'exquisite' by Booklist, 'so much fun' by the Washington Post, a 'guilty pleasure' by People and was named a Top Pick by the Romantic Times.

My second novel, A Northern Light, set in the Adirondack Mountains of 1906, against the backdrop of an infamous murder, won the Carnegie Medal, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Borders Original Voices Award, and was named a Printz Honor book. Described as 'rich and true' by The New York Times, the book was named to the Best Book lists of The Times (London), The Irish Times, The Financial Times, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and the School Library Journal.

The Winter Rose, my third novel and the second book in the The Tea Rose trilogy, is out now in the United Kingdom and will be published in the United States in January 2008.

Humble Pie, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Stephen Gammell, tells the story of a selfish little boy named Theo who ultimately gets his just desserts.

I live in New York's Hudson Valley with my husband, our daughter, and Hannibal Lecter, our snapping turtle, whom we love dearly, but from a distance.”



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS


From School Library Journal

Mattie Gokey, 16, a talented writer, promised her dying mother that she would always take care of her father and younger siblings. She is stuck on a farm, living in near poverty, with no way of escaping, even though she has been accepted at Barnard College. She promises to marry handsome Royal Loomis even though he doesn't appear to love her. Now, Mattie has promised Grace Brown, a guest at the Adirondack summer resort where she works, to burn two bundles of letters. Then, before she can comply, Grace's body is found in the lake, and the young man who was with her disappears, also presumably drowned. This is a breathtaking tale, complex and often earthy, wrapped around a true story. In 1906, Grace Brown was killed by Chester Gillette because she was poor and pregnant, and he hoped to make his fortune by marrying a rich, society girl. Grace's story weaves its way through Mattie's, staying in the background but providing impetus. The protagonist tells her tale through flashback and time shifts from past to present. Readers feel her fears for her friend Weaver-the first freeborn child in his family-when he is beaten for being black and his college savings are stolen, and enjoy their love of words as they engage in language duels. Finally, they'll experience her awakening when she realizes that she cannot live her life for others. Donnelly's characters ring true to life, and the meticulously described setting forms a vivid backdrop to this finely crafted story. An outstanding choice for historical-fiction fans, particularly those who have read Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy.



From Booklist

Donnelly's first YA novel begins with high drama drawn straight from history: Grace Brown's body is discovered, and her murder, which also inspired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, is the framework for this ambitious, beautifully written coming-of-age story set in upstate New York in 1906. Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey is a waitress at the Glenmore Hotel when Brown is murdered. As she learns Brown's story, her narrative shifts between the goings-on at the hotel and her previous year at home: her toil at the farm; her relationship with her harsh, remote father; her pain at being forbidden to accept a college scholarship. "Plain and bookish," Mattie is thrilled about, but wary of, a handsome neighbor's attentions, and she wonders if she must give up her dream of writing if she marries. In an intelligent, colloquial voice that speaks with a writer's love of language and an observant eye, Mattie details the physical particulars of people's lives as well as deeper issues of race, class, and gender as she strains against family and societal limitations. Donnelly adds a crowd of intriguing, well-drawn secondary characters whose stories help Mattie define her own desires and sense of self. Many teens will connect with Mattie's deep yearning for independence and for stories, like her own, that are frank, messy, complicated, and inspiring.

LS 5623 Mod 4



barnesandnoble.com



us.macmillan.com











Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin


Module 4 Fantasy and Science Fiction


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Zevin, Gabrielle. Elsewhere. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. ISBN 9780312367466

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

When 15 year old Lizzie is killed by a hit and run driver she finds herself in Elsewhere. It takes her a while to realize she is dead and quite a bit longer to accept that she cannot ever return to her old life. Her grandmother, Betsy, tries to encourage Liz to enjoy all that Elsewhere has to offer but she is too bitter about everything she won’t get to experience (driving, college, marriage) and becomes obsessed with the Observation Deck and even plots a way to communicate with the living before finally accepting her new life after death. Once Liz decides to stop being a moody teenager, she realizes that Elsewhere looks and feels like Earth. There are gardens, beaches, museums and parks to appreciate. She begins to look for ways to get to know her grandmother (Betsy died before Liz was born) and learn what she can from her new neighbors. Although she will miss out on some very important milestones as she ages in reverse (and will eventually return to Earth as a newborn), Liz decides to embrace life in Elsewhere and accepts a position to help newly deceased pets acclimate to their new life.

Zevin’s tone is upbeat and hopeful not dark or intense as she offers an explanation of what happens when we-and our pets-die. She creates such a believable character that young adults will easily identify with the struggles Liz endures. When Lizzie thinks she is dreaming, she calls out to her mother and waits for her mother to come wake her with a glass of water like a typical adolescent that is not as ready to leave the care of her parents as she’d like to think she is. As she remembers being hit by a car and tracks down the driver she battles with her feelings of anger and sympathy. Then when the realization sets in that she'll never fall in love, never get her driver's license, and never see her family again, readers will surely understand her self-pity and loneliness.

BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful. You can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice.

Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she’s dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward? (Description from publisher)


“Speak up”, says Myrna who has a fuzzy white caterpillar of a mustache. “My hearing’s not so good.” “I WAS SHOT IN THE HEAD.” Liz turns to Thandi. “I thought you said you didn’t remember how you got the hole in your head.” Thandi apologizes, “I just remembered.” (Zevin 16)



Awards:

American Library Association Notable Children's Books

American Library Association Popular Paperbacks for Young Readers

Amazon.com Top 10 Editor’s Picks: Teens

Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year

Books for the Teen Age, New York Public Library

Booklist Editors' Choice

Horn Book Magazine Fanfare List

Kirkus Reviews Editor's Choice

School Library Journal Best Books of the Year

Connecticut Nutmeg Children's Book Award

Tennessee Intermediate Volunteer State Book Award Master List

Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS

School Library Journal

What happens when you die? Where do you go? What do you do? Zevin provides answers to these questions in this intriguing novel, centering on the death of Liz Hall, almost 16 years old and looking forward to all that lies ahead: learning to drive, helping her best friend prepare for the prom, going to college, falling in love. Killed in a hit-and-run accident, Liz struggles to understand what has happened to her, grief-stricken at all she has lost, and incapable of seeing the benefits of the Elsewhere in which she finds herself. Refusing to participate in this new life, Liz spends her time looking longingly down at the family and friends back on Earth who go on without her. But the new environment pulls her into its own rhythms. Liz meets the grandmother she never knew, makes friends, takes a job, and falls in love as she and the other inhabitants of Elsewhere age backward one year for each year that they are there. Zevin's third-person narrative calmly, but surely guides readers through the bumpy landscape of strongly delineated characters dealing with the most difficult issue that faces all of us. A quiet book that provides much to think about and discuss.



Booklist

Narration from beyond the grave has been cropping up with some frequency in YA novels this year, including Chris Crutcher's The Sledding Hill and Adele Griffin's Where I Want to Be (both 2005). But this example, Zevin's second novel and her first for the YA audience, is a work of powerful beauty that merits judgment independent of any larger trend.

The setting is an elaborately conceived afterlife called Elsewhere, a distinctly secular island realm of surprising physical solidity (no cottony clouds or pearly gates here), where the dead exist much as they once did--except that no one dies or is born, and aging occurs in reverse, culminating when the departed are returned to Earth as infants to start the life cycle again.

Having sailed into Elsewhere's port aboard a cruise ship populated by mostly elderly passengers, 15-year-old head-trauma victim Liz Hall does not go gently into Elsewhere's endless summer. She is despairing, intractable, sullen, and understandably furious: "You mean I'll never go to college or get married or get big boobs or live on my own or get my driver's license or fall in love?" She rejects her new existence, spending endless hours keeping tabs on surviving family and friends through magical coin-operated telescopes, and refusing to take the suggestions offered by a well-meaning Office of Acclimation. Eventually, though, she begins to listen. She takes a job counseling deceased pets, forges an unexpected romance with a young man struggling with heartbreaks, and finds simple joy in the awareness that "a life is a good story . . . even a crazy, backward life like hers." Periodic visits with an increasingly youthful Liz, concluding with her journey down the "River" to be reborn, bring the novel to a graceful, seamless close.

Although the book may prove too philosophical for some, Zevin offers readers more than a gimmick-driven novel of ideas: the world of Elsewhere is too tangible for that. "A human's life is a beautiful mess," reflects Liz, and the observation is reinforced with strikingly conceived examples: a newly dead thirtysomething falls in love with Liz's grandmother, who is biologically similar in age but experientially generations older; fresh arrivals reunite with spouses long since departed, creating incongruous May-December marriages and awkward love triangles (as Liz experiences when her boyfriend's wife suddenly appears). At one poignant moment, four-year-old Liz loses the ability to read. The passage she attempts to decipher, which comes from Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting, is another meditation on the march of time and change.

Although Zevin's conception of the afterlife will inevitably ruffle many theological feathers, the comfort it offers readers grieving for lost loved ones, as well as the simple, thrilling satisfaction derived from its bold engagement with basic, provocative questions of human existence, will far outweigh any offense its metaphysical perspective might give. Far more than just a vehicle for a cosmology, this inventive novel slices right to the bone of human yearning, offering up an indelible vision of life and death as equally rich sides of the same coin.

LS 5623 Mod 4



amazon.com



mt-anderson.com


Feed by M.T. Anderson

Module 4 Fantasy and Science Fiction



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, M. T.. Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2002. ISBN 0763622591

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Today people and computers are separate. We need to use our hands to operate our electronic devices. We carry them in our pockets, backpacks or special cases. In Feed, a futuristic tale of a society with computer brain implants, Titus thinks things have gotten a lot better since the feeds. But the reality is that no one thinks for oneself and there is never any silence.

Titus is a teenage boy who, like everyone around him, is almost completely inarticulate. He's dimly aware that something is missing in his head. Yet he knows exactly where to get the latest clothes and where to go when he gets bored. He and his friends don’t read because they stopped going to School™ when they were about seven. Why would they need to go to School™ when everything they want to know is on the feed? Their spring break trip to the Moon changes everything Titus ever thought he knew about the world. He meets Violet who once lived without the feed. She has experienced silence and learning and reading. She can use a pen with her hand! Violet is not content with the feed and fights it as it destroys her body. She begins to draws Titus into her rebellion against government control but he proves to be too weak in character to offer any value to her cause or what is left of her life.

Anderson has done an incredible job of describing a way life that mankind has not yet experienced. Titus and his friends move about in flying vehicles operated by their minds. Medicines are delivered by way of floating orbs and all communication is delivered electronically from brain to brain. Enticing descriptions of parties on the Moon, skin lesions that enable ones internal workings to be seen, going “mal” (futuristic drug abuse), group kissing and foul language intensify the lure of this novel to young activists as well as those who enjoy thought provoking, science fiction writing. As technology continues to bring us into a new age of communication, this novel explores the possibility of a future of morally and intellectually bankrupt citizens as consumerism rules the planet.



BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

She said, "Look around you." I did. It was the mall. She said, "Listen to me." I listened. She said, "I was sitting at the feed doctor's a few days ago, and I started to think about things. Okay. All right. Everything we do gets thrown into a big calculation. Like they're watching us right now. They can tell where you're looking. They want to know what you want”. "It's a mall," I said. "They're also waiting to make you want things. Everything we've grown up with - the stories on the feed, the games, all of that - it's all streamlining our personalities so we're easier to sell to. I mean, they do these demographic studies that divide everyone up into a few personality types, and then you get ads based on what you're supposedly like. They try to figure out who you are, and to make you conform to one of their types for easy marketing. It's like a spiral: They keep making everything more basic so it will appeal to everyone. And gradually, everyone gets used to everything being basic, so we get less and less varied as people, more simple.” (Anderson 97)



M. T. Anderson is on the faculty of Vermont College’s MFA Program in Writing for Children. He is the author of the novels THIRSTY and BURGER WUSS and the picture-book biography HANDEL, WHO KNEW WHAT HE LIKED. He says of FEED, "To write this novel, I read a huge number of magazines like SEVENTEEN, MAXIM, and STUFF. I eavesdropped on conversations in malls, especially when people were shouting into cell phones. Where else could you get lines like, ‘Dude, I think the truffle is totally undervalued’?" http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/feed-m-t-anderson/1100305951



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS



Publishers Weekly

In this chilling novel, Anderson imagines a society dominated by the feed-a next-generation Internet/television hybrid that is directly hardwired into the brain. In a starred review, PW called this a "thought-provoking and scathing indictment of corporate-and media-dominated culture."



School Library Journal

Taking a nap on the way to the moon for spring break might be boring, so Titus does his best to stay alert and have fun with his friends. The "feed" in his brain is continuously spewing advertisements, music, game shows, hairstyle alerts and many other necessary bits of information. Hundreds of years ago, people actually had to use their eyes and fingers to get information by computer, but now, in M.T. Anderson's future world (Candlewick, 2002), the computer chips are built right in, and bombard everyone with exactly what the corporate world wants them to know. In the midst of this overwhelming flow of information, Titus becomes friends with Violet, a girl who cares about what's happening in the world, is not afraid to question things, and is opposed to the "feed." What will happen when their feeds are damaged and they decide to go against the feed? Anderson's book is written to be read aloud. Titus's stream of words and the rhythm of the "teenspeak" are read to perfection by actor David Baker. The intermittent feed commercials give listeners a taste of this society and help them understand the media attack the teens here are forced to endure. Baker's presentation will make this satiric cautionary tale very real for listeners.

LS 5623 Mod 4

fictiondb.com



amazon.com












The Dead & the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer


Module 4 Fantasy and Science Fiction


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. The dead and the gone. Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt, 2008. ISBN 9780152063115

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Seventeen year old, Alex Morales and his sisters, Briana and Julie, are left on their own in New York City to survive after an asteroid collides with the moon and positions it closer to Earth. The world is now plagued with volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, tidal waves, earthquakes, famine caused by food shortages and disease. Alex must take care of his sisters in the absence of his mother and father. He is forced to raid dead bodies for valuables he can trade for food. The siblings struggle with their religious convictions and faith while trying desperately to survive. They fight desperate thoughts and hopelessness as conditions worsen and they begin to come to grips with a reality that is too dreadful for their adolescent psyches to completely accept. Gradually they concede that there will be no “getting back to normal” and that their parents will never return. Although Alex believes that it is his role to protect what is left of their family, his sisters prove their own strength and value as they sacrifice and care for one another.

Alex blames himself for all of the things happening to his sisters and feels that they are not mentally or physically tough enough to survive without him. However, when he becomes sick with the flu, he lives through it due to his youngest sister’s (Julie) determination and attention. Julie is a typical thirteen year old girl who is forced to mature very quickly in order to aid in the family’s survival. Briana is a gentle, sensitive fourteen year old girl who develops asthma when she goes away to an abbey in the country. Throughout the entire book, she holds within her a strong, overwhelming belief that her parents are still alive and will come back to save them. Ultimately, her unwillingness to accept the truth is what leads to her death.

This novel is a very realistic look at how difficult it would be for survivors of a catastrophic event to endure a live without any of the necessities and luxuries our society takes for granted. It causes readers to consider their dependence on the most basic needs for safety, nourishment and companionship and how valuable these essentials would be to their perseverance.

BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

Inside cover: Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated readers with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event--an asteroid hitting the moon, setting off a tailspin of horrific climate changes. Now this harrowing companion novel examines the same events as they unfold in New York City, revealed through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Puerto Rican Alex Morales. When Alex's parents disappear in the aftermath of tidal waves, he must care for his two younger sisters, even as Manhattan becomes a deadly wasteland, and food and aid dwindle. With haunting themes of family, faith, personal change, and courage, this powerful new novel explores how a young man takes on unimaginable responsibilities.



Author’s Blog: http://susanbethpfeffer.blogspot.com/



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS



From School Library Journal

An asteroid knocks the moon closer to Earth, and every conceivable natural disaster occurs. Seventeen-year-old Alex Morales's parents are missing and presumed drowned by tsunamis. Left alone, he struggles to care for his sisters Bri, 14, and Julie, 12. Things look up as Central Park is turned into farmland and food begins to grow. Then worldwide volcanic eruptions coat the sky with ash and the land freezes permanently. People starve, freeze, or die of the flu. Only the poor are left in New York—a doomed island—while the rich light out for safe towns inland and south. The wooden, expository dialogue and obvious setup of the first pages quickly give way to the well-wrought action of the snowballing tragedy. The mood of the narrative is appropriately frenetic, somber, and hopeful by turns. Pfeffer's writing grows legs as the terrifying plot picks up speed, and conversations among the siblings are realistically fluid and sharp-edged. The Moraleses are devout Catholics, and though the church represents the moral center of the novel, Pfeffer doesn't proselytize. The characters evolve as the city decomposes, and the author succeeds in showing their heroism without making them caricatures of virtue. She accurately and knowingly depicts New York City from bodegas to boardrooms, and even the far-fetched science upon which the novel hinges seems well researched. This fast-paced, thoughtful story is a good pick for melodrama fiends and reluctant readers alike.—Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library

From Booklist

In Life as We Knew It (2005), veteran writer Pfeffer painted a terrifying picture of what happened in a rural Pennsylvania town after an asteroid hit the moon and cataclysmic changes on land and sea caused familiar life to grind to a halt. For readers who wondered if things were any better in a bustling city, here is the horrifying answer. On the night the moon tilts, 17-year-old Alex and his younger sisters are alone; their mother is at work, and their father is visiting Puerto Rico. No matter how the kids wish, hope, and pray, their parents don’t return. It’s up to Alex to do what’s best. At first that means bartering for food and batteries and avoiding fighting with the rambunctious Julie—especially after sickly Bri is sent to live at a rural convent. Later it means rescuing Julie from rapists and steering her away from the corpses that litter the street, providing food for rats. Religion is one of the strong threads running through the novel. It would have been interesting to see Alex wrestle more with his staunch Catholicism, but in many ways, the Church anchors the plot. The story’s power, as in the companion book, comes from readers’ ability to picture themselves in a similar situation; everything Pfeffer writes about seems wrenchingly plausible.

LS5623 Mod 3



betterworldbooks.com




amazon.com

 Downriver by Will Hobbs


Module 3 Adventure, Mystery Sports

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hobbs, Will. Downriver. United States and Canada: Bantam, 1992. ISBN 0553297171

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Jessie is angry when her father forces her into a "wilderness therapy" program conducted by a Vietnam veteran. Her father is convinced that she has been hanging out with the wrong crowd and is on a path to self-destruction. Jessie blames his new girlfriend but the truth is she still hasn’t gotten over her mother’s death even though it was more than nine years ago. The camp is pretty boring and no one respects Al, Discovery Unlimited’s guide but things take a dangerous turn when Jessie and the other delinquents decide that they can raft down the Colorado River alone and without a river map. The descriptions of the canyons, rapids and near fatal accidents create an intense setting and drive the characters through one thrill-seeking event after another. This novel explores the Grand Canyon as well as the meanings of friendship and leadership. Although each teen has his or her own problems, they must work together to survive. They quickly learn what they are capable of and who they can trust.



BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

No adults, no permit, no river map. Just some "borrowed" gear from Discovery Unlimited, the outdoor education program Jessie and her new companions have just ditched. Jessie and the others are having the time of their lives floating beneath sheer red walls, exploring unknown caves and dangerous waterfalls, and plunging through the Grand Canyon's roaring rapids. No one, including Troy, who emerges as the group's magnetic and ultimately frightening leader, can foresee the challenges and conflicts.

“WARNING: STORM KING PEAK IS INFAMOUS FOR ITS EXTREME WEATHER, EXPOSURE, AND ROTTEN ROCK. THREE HAVE DIED HERE. THINK BEFORE YOU ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LIST.” (Hobbs, 21)



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS

Booklist

Jessie, 15, is one of eight problem teens participating in a nine-week outdoor survival education program known fondly as "Hoods in the Woods." Jessie's problems are hanging around with the wrong crowd and lots of friction with her widowed father over his new girlfriend. The idea of the program is to help kids "find themselves" and "come of age" by putting them in life-threatening situations that they work as a group to resolve. The first part of the program, mountain climbing, almost ends in disaster when Jessie panics and has to be talked down. But the real challenges start when the group, led by charismatic Troy Larsen, decides to ditch the counselor and head for the Grand Canyon to do some unsupervised white-water rafting. Although the characters are stock (Adam is the clown, Star plans her life with Tarot cards, and Freddy is silent but resourceful) and the adults aren't very visible or trustworthy, there are some interesting group dynamics, and the kids learn to face consequences. The rafting sequences are exciting, although it's hard to believe the teens would be so successful without experience or maps. (Troy doesn't believe in planning.) There's not the depth the plot promises, and the ending is too tidy to be believable, but there's enough action to keep kids reading.



School Library Journal

Eight problem kids (four boys, four girls, high school age) have been sent to a camp called Discovery Unlimited where they are to meet problems, make responsible decisions, and develop as adults. "Hoods in the Woods" the kids call themselves. Action occurs in the outback of southwestern Colorado and northern Arizona as Al, their adult leader, programs the group first to climb Storm King Peak (which nearly results in fatalities) and then to raft the white water of the San Juan River. The Hoods decide rafting the Colorado River will be wilder; so they steal Al's van and equipment, drive to the put-in at Lee's Ferry, sneak past the park rangers, inflate their rafts, and seven embark--one deserts. Rafting the wild Colorado is heady but difficult and dangerous. Misadventures develop the kids, but also breed disasters. So when the rangers capture the group near Havasu Creek, not all resent the rescue. The book is exquisitely plotted, with nail-biting suspense and excitement. Jean Craighead George's River Rats (Dutton, 1979; o.p.) is similar but lacks such intricate development of characters and interpersonal relationships.

LS 5623 MOD 3



juniorlibraryguild.com

 

randomhouse.com





Notes From the Dog by Gary Paulsen

Module 3 Adventure, Mystery Sports

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Paulsen, Gary. Notes from the dog. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2009. ISBN 9780385738453

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Finn was a sensitive, insecure young man before Johanna moved in next door.  His world was womanless, quiet and lonely.  But caring for Johanna as she battles cancer, teaches Finn to cherish the people he cares about and that his family is whoever he loves.   Johanna uses Dylan, Finn's dog, to send him notes of encouragement and affirmation.  Finn's confidence and social life begin to grow as he finds the strength and belief in himself to build Johanna a beautiful garden, compete in a triathlon in her place and get the girl of his dreams.  The turning point for Finn comes when he finds a way to use the wedding china his mother left behind the day she also left him and his father.  It is as though he unwraps a new Finn when he unpacks the china that has never been used.  This is a heartfelt story of a young man who is surrounded by good male role models but is hurting from the lack of a loving mother.  Finn struggles with wanting to love and be loved but not having the confidence to risk getting hurt. The notes from the dog are just what he needs.


BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

“A completely bald woman drove up, parked in front of the house next door and jumped out of her car. I knew she'd moved in a couple of weeks ago to house-sit for our neighbors, professors on sabbatical. I'd seen her a few times from my kitchen window, but I hadn't spoken to her. I hadn't noticed she was bald, either, and that kind of detail didn't seem like one I'd miss. She was probably in her early twenties. She was wearing faded jeans that looked way too big for her and purple cowboy boots. She carried a leather backpack and had one of those bumpy fisherman sweaters draped over her shoulders even though it was hot. She saw me, waved and headed in our direction. Dylan sat up as she got closer and looked at her with that teeth-baring border collie grin that scares people who don't know that dogs can smile.”



Meet Gary Paulsen on Scholastic’s website

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/iditarod/top_mushers/index.asp?article=gary_paulsen



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS

School Library Journal

Fourteen-year-old Finn is terrified of meeting new people, and conversation is painful. His true friend, Matthew, is talkative, overly confident, and sometimes a thorn in his side. The boy is content with books and Dylan, his canine companion. He's determined that his summer vacation will not be marred by the intrusion of people, and thus, the discomfort they cause him. Then he meets his pretty new neighbor, 24-year-old Johanna, who shares her joy of life with Finn and Matthew and employs Finn to help her create gardens in his sorrowful-looking backyard. Johanna's enthusiasm for research, compost, fertilizer, and all things garden break down Finn's barriers. When she tells the boys that she is a breast-cancer survivor, their initial trepidation shifts to friendship. As she trains for a triathlon to raise money for cancer awareness, Finn and Matthew join her team. Right before the race, more adverse reactions to chemotherapy thwart her run, and the two boys take up the torch. Johanna's spirit and optimism infuse Finn with courage and love, and he finds his voice. Paulsen's fans may miss his trademarks: the notorious exploits of boys, the page-turning wilderness adventures, or the sled dogs that often take center stage. Yet this candid and tender tale, told with his signature humor, is a salute to the bravest of the brave.

VOYA Voice of Youth Advocates
This brief novel explores one eventful summer in the life of a meek and geeky teen, Finn, who would rather have his nose in a book than interact with family or friends. Then in moves a force of nature next door named Johanna, a bald but ebullient twentysomething cancer patient. She immediately turns Finn's life upside down by hiring him to plant a garden, coercing him to help her raise funds for a cancer fun run, and making a date for him with a girl he has been too shy to approach. Thrown into this mix are Finn's only real friend, Matthew, his single-parent father, and his unusually human dog, Dylan, who keeps showing up with handwritten notes for Finn in his mouth. Consequently Finn discovers a developing talent for connecting with others as he breaks out of his seclusion and soon the lives of his father and even his granddad are touched by his efforts. There is an undercurrent of lighthearted comedy in Finn's efforts with the garden and his fundraising speeches. Given the brevity of the book and its inclination to be a book for "boys," it could be recommended to reluctant readers. The author certainly has a long history of success in reaching the teen audience, however, in this book, the dialogue and story line seem a little too pleasant and the lives of the teens lack any real angst or conflict outside the horrors of Johanna's chemo side effects. Reviewer: Kevin Beach

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LS 5623 Mod 3

 

ala.org



harpercollinschildrens.com





 Nation by Terry Pratchett



Module 3 Adventure, Sports and Mystery



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pratchett, Terry. Nation. New York: HarperCollins, 2008. ISBN 9780061433016

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

While Mau has gone to leave his boy soul and gain his man soul, a wave comes and wipes out his entire Nation. When he returns, he begins to bury the bodies and wonder what will become of him since he has no soul now at all. Ermintrude, washes up on the beach of Mau’s island and joins him as they reinvent themselves and the Nation. They learn each other’s languages and customs as they piece together a new community from the refugees that continue to land on the shores of the island. As Mau continues to look for spiritual answers concerning the beliefs of his people, Ermintrude or Daphne as she renames herself, explores the island and uses her extensive European education to try to solve the mysteries she discovers. Daphne proves that she is a wise and strong leader while she confidently awaits the arrival of her father and his search party. Although Mau never views himself as his nation’s new leader, he is the one they depend on to solve all their problems and guide them into a future. Pratchett combines clever humor with serious introspection, adventure and harsh survival situations in this unique coming of age story.



BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

What if you woke up one morning and you were the only one left alive? What if you were washed up on an island and you had to learn a strange language, eat foreign things and use a weapon just to survive? In Nation, a young boy without a soul and a princess learn what they are willing to do to rebuild a nation.

Interview with Terry Pratchett:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m1S8OILL1C4YWF/ref=ent_fb_link



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS

Booklist

*Starred Review* “Somewhere in the South Pelagic Ocean,” a tidal wave wipes out the population of a small island—except for Mau, who was paddling his dugout canoe home after a month spent alone, preparing to become a man. The wave also sweeps a sailing ship carrying Daphne, an English girl, up onto the island and deposits it in the rain forest, where Mau finds her. Over the months that follow, they learn to communicate while welcoming more people to their shores and building a community of survivors. Mau searches for the meaning behind his people’s gods, while Daphne applies her nineteenth-century knowledge of science and history to the many puzzles she discovers in this unfamiliar place. Broad in its scope and concrete in its details, this unusual novel strips away the trappings of two very different nations to consider what it is people value and why. Certain scenes are indelible: Mau’s nonverbal communication to Daphne that a pregnant woman has landed, and she must help with the birth; or the terrifying yet awesome descent into a cave. Quirky wit and broad vision make this a fascinating survival story on many levels. -Carolyn Phelan



School Library Journal

Starred Review. In this first novel for young people set outside of Discworld, Pratchett again shows his humor and humanity. Worlds are destroyed and cultures collide when a tsunami hits islands in a vast ocean much like the Pacific. Mau, a boy on his way back home from his initiation period and ready for the ritual that will make him a man, is the only one of his people, the Nation, to survive. Emintrude, a girl from somewhere like Britain in a time like the 19th century, is on her way to meet her father, the governor of the Mothering Sunday islands. She is the sole survivor of her ship (or so she thinks), which is wrecked on Mau's island. She reinvents herself as Daphne, and uses her wits and practical sense to help the straggling refugees from nearby islands who start arriving. When raiders land on the island, they are led by a mutineer from the wrecked ship, and Mau must use all of his ingenuity to outsmart him. Then, just as readers are settling in to thinking that all will be well in the new world that Daphne and Mau are helping to build, Pratchett turns the story on its head. The main characters are engaging and interesting, and are the perfect medium for the author's sly humor. Daphne is a close literary cousin of Tiffany Aching in her common sense and keen intelligence wedded to courage. A rich and thought-provoking read.—Sue Giffard

Many Stones

Many Stones

Click here to view my trailer for Carolyn Coman's Many Stones.

LS 5623 Mod 2



sarahdessen.com



ebookstore.sony.com



Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen


 Module 2 Realism, Romance and Censorship


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dessen, Sarah. Lock and key: a novel. New York: Viking, 2008. ISBN 9780670010882

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

What is family? Readers will all have their own answers but Ruby’s story of survival and friendship examines this question in depth. Abandoned by an addicted mother, soon to be eighteen year old Ruby, tries to make it on her own. Soon she is reluctantly reunited with her older sister who “got out” several years ago and now lives in an half million dollar home – a complete contrast to the house with no running water or heat in which she was living. Ruby dreams of “being free and clear” but never believed she would find love and a family more important. Dessen takes readers along on Ruby’s journey from desolation and neglect to love and security. Deliberate dialogue and surroundings enhances distinctions between the old, yellow, country house where Ruby was abandoned and Cora’s newly constructed brick and cream home complete with balconies and huge walk in closets and the overcrowded, hostile Jackson High to the green lawns and cause supporting student body at Perkins Day private school. Ruby is changed throughout the novel by her environment and the characters she meets. So much so that when the story is complete, readers may find it hard to recall the Ruby they met at the start.



BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

“Minor child is apparently living without running water or heat in rental home abandoned by parent. Kitchen area was found to be filthy and overrun with vermin. Heat is non-functioning. Evidence of drug and alcohol use was discovered. Minro child appears to have been living alone for some time.” (Dessen 14)

“I felt a lump rise up in my throat, raw and throbbing, but even as the tears came I wasn’t sure who I was crying for. Cora, my mom, or maybe just me.” (Dessen 153)

“My view was blocked by my sister, who had moved to stand between us, one hand stretched out behind her, toward me. Seeing her, I rememebered a thousand nights in another house: the tow of us together, another part of a pattern, just one I’d thought had long ago been broken, never to be repeated.” (Dessen 225)



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS

Booklist

Ruby hasn’t had much success with family. Her father left; her protective older sister, Cora, left; and her boozing mother finally leaves, too. Ruby is alone until Cora learns of her situation and swoops in. Suddenly, Ruby finds herself living with Cora and her wealthy brother-in-law, attending private school, and wondering just where she fits in. As in previous books, Dessen takes on a central theme—here the meaning of family—and spins many plots and subplots around it. Most prominent yet least successful is the thread about Cora’s relationship with boy-next-door Nate, who rescues her when she needs it, but has difficulty accepting Ruby’s help, tentative at first, when she discovers he’s being physically abused. Nate seems too good to be true (as does Cora’s husband), while his father is a caricature. And one of the most important elements, the issue of the girls’ mother lying to them, gets lost. Despite the uneven narrative, Dessen’s writing can be beautiful, and her story is involving.


School Library Journal

Ruby, 17, is taken in by her older sister and brother-in-law when her mother abandons her. Ruby and her sister haven't spoken since Cora left for college a decade earlier. She moves from a semi-heated, semi-lighted farmhouse to a McMansion in a gated community. The theme of abandonment permeates the narrative-Ruby's mother's disappearance, Cora's perceived abandonment, and all of the small abandonments around every corner throughout Ruby's life. The plot hinges luxuriously on character arc. Ruby's drama of pathological self-reliance to eventual trust plays out through thoughtful, though occasionally heavy-handed, inner monologue and metaphor. As always, Dessen's characters live and breathe. Ruby's sweet hipster brother-in-law and Nate, the freakishly affable hottie next door, are especially vivid, and Cora's change from bitter control freak to sympathetic co-protagonist is subtle and seamless. Though Ruby and Nate don't have quite the cinematic chemistry of many of Dessen's couples, their cautious friendship into romance seems that much more realistic. The author's feel for setting is as uncanny as ever, and Ruby's descriptions of the homogenous nouveau riche Anytown are sharp, clever, and honest. The dialogue, especially between Ruby and Cora, is crisp, layered, and natural. The slow unfolding adds to an anticipatory mood. What's more, secrets and situations revealed in the second half of the novel are resolved more believably by already deeply developed characters. Recommend this one to patient, sophisticated readers.