Jean Craighead George's novel My Side of the Mountain is about Sam, a teenage who longs for independence and privacy, so he decides to venture out on his own to live on his great-grandfather's land in the Catskill Mountains. On his own, Sam acquires skills and knowledge for surviving and living in the wilderness.
It would be great to teach in the classroom, and it could easily be used in an interdisciplinary unit. Most of the other books I've read this semester would seemingly appeal to girls rather than boys, but George's novel could certainly speak to the boys and naturalist learners.
My Side of the Mountain is a classic that addresses learning about oneself, fear and the courage to overcome it, independence, and survival. Sam's desire for independence speaks to every teen and pre-teen. I read My Side of the Mountain when I was a kid, and I loved it. It was no different this time.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Heaven
Angela Johnson's novel, Heaven, tells Marley's story. Everything is going well for Marley in her fourteenth summer; she has a job babysitting an adorable and lovable toddler whose father is a great role model for Marley. She has an eccentric, one-of-kind best friend, and her family is tight-knit, fun and loving. She frequently receives letters from her Uncle Jack, who is mostly a mystery to her, but a large part of her life just the same.
Her life is almost blissful until she hears her parents talking about something they should have told her much sooner. When they finally do tell her, it sends her world spinning, and she suddenly feels like she doesn't know who she is or who anyone around her is.
It's a story of identity and secrets, and I really enjoyed it. If I were to teach it, I think I'd use it as a literature circle choice, rather than a whole class text. Although it's not universal in subject, Heaven certainly speaks to shaken identities and the bonds we form with those we love.
Her life is almost blissful until she hears her parents talking about something they should have told her much sooner. When they finally do tell her, it sends her world spinning, and she suddenly feels like she doesn't know who she is or who anyone around her is.
It's a story of identity and secrets, and I really enjoyed it. If I were to teach it, I think I'd use it as a literature circle choice, rather than a whole class text. Although it's not universal in subject, Heaven certainly speaks to shaken identities and the bonds we form with those we love.
Spinning Through the Universe
Spinning Through the Universe: a novel of poems from Room 214 is written by Helen Frost. It's a touching novel of life in a middle school classroom, told through the eyes of the students.
This one's an eye-opener, and it would be great for my Special Education class. In the novel, readers meet every student in Room 214 (we even meet the custodian!), and every single one of them is different. Dustin cheats because his dad puts so much academic pressure on him, Shawna doesn't fit in because she's not one of the popular girls, Monique's father is in the military, and he is killed. Sam's family is evicted, and now they're living on the streets. Antoine has difficulty paying attention (perhaps ADHD?). Maria's father beats her and her mother, and Sharell tells her mother, who gets Maria help. It's a diverse group, and we hear how each one of them is feeling, why they do the things they do. When tragedy strikes, as with Monique, the classmates lean on each other and stand up for each other; as I said, the poems are moving.
I will definitely have this novel in my classroom. I would probably use it as part of a diversity unit, and every teacher (especially one who teaches middle school) should read it. I loved it and found it quite inspiring, as well as informational.
This one's an eye-opener, and it would be great for my Special Education class. In the novel, readers meet every student in Room 214 (we even meet the custodian!), and every single one of them is different. Dustin cheats because his dad puts so much academic pressure on him, Shawna doesn't fit in because she's not one of the popular girls, Monique's father is in the military, and he is killed. Sam's family is evicted, and now they're living on the streets. Antoine has difficulty paying attention (perhaps ADHD?). Maria's father beats her and her mother, and Sharell tells her mother, who gets Maria help. It's a diverse group, and we hear how each one of them is feeling, why they do the things they do. When tragedy strikes, as with Monique, the classmates lean on each other and stand up for each other; as I said, the poems are moving.
I will definitely have this novel in my classroom. I would probably use it as part of a diversity unit, and every teacher (especially one who teaches middle school) should read it. I loved it and found it quite inspiring, as well as informational.
Friday, December 12, 2008
New Moon
Stephenie Meyer's second book, New Moon was just as gripping as her first, Twilight. I didn't want to put it down. I would argue, also, that it is better than Twilight.
Bella's life is once again put in danger, and Edward packs up the family so that they will no longer be a threat to her. However, he convinces her that they're leaving because he doesn't want her. She is broken; she becomes a zombie: she goes through the motions apathetically so she doesn't have to feel the unbearable agony.
After months of despair, she decides she can't do it anymore, so she allows herself to become closer to and depend on Jacob Black. Things are going great until she discovers Jacob's secret and that Victoria is still in Forks, and obviously out for revenge. Excitement, adrenaline, and danger erupt when Alice Cullen comes back to town; Bella's quiet life is thrown into chaos once again as she and Alice embark on a perilous journey against the clock to save Edward.
As with Twilight, I wouldn't teach this novel in my classroom, but teenagers would love it. Bella's pain is very real; the way Meyer describes this agony allows anyone who has had their heart broken or lost someone to relate--I was in tears a few times throughout. Despite the sadness that creates the tone of at least the two-thirds of the novel, I couldn't put it down, and I suspect my students who picked it up in the first place would have the same problem.
Bella's life is once again put in danger, and Edward packs up the family so that they will no longer be a threat to her. However, he convinces her that they're leaving because he doesn't want her. She is broken; she becomes a zombie: she goes through the motions apathetically so she doesn't have to feel the unbearable agony.
After months of despair, she decides she can't do it anymore, so she allows herself to become closer to and depend on Jacob Black. Things are going great until she discovers Jacob's secret and that Victoria is still in Forks, and obviously out for revenge. Excitement, adrenaline, and danger erupt when Alice Cullen comes back to town; Bella's quiet life is thrown into chaos once again as she and Alice embark on a perilous journey against the clock to save Edward.
As with Twilight, I wouldn't teach this novel in my classroom, but teenagers would love it. Bella's pain is very real; the way Meyer describes this agony allows anyone who has had their heart broken or lost someone to relate--I was in tears a few times throughout. Despite the sadness that creates the tone of at least the two-thirds of the novel, I couldn't put it down, and I suspect my students who picked it up in the first place would have the same problem.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Margaux with an X
I was gripped by Ron Koertge's Margaux with an X. I couldn't put it down; Margaux's attitude and wit is captivating. She's not the shallow, dimwitted "plastic" that most beautiful girls are portrayed as; she's a very profound and intelligent young woman with pain and wounds that cause her to act the way she does when she's with Sara.
The odd and unlikely yet understandable and comfortable relationship between Margaux and Danny is also part of the novel's ability to grip readers; Danny also has past hurts that shapes who he is, but his pain is manifested positively. This is partly because of Evie, his aunt, who takes him in and helps him heal. Margaux has no one. Until Danny and Evie.
The figurative language is also captivating. She speaks of the larger journals in Evie's collection as "large as the screen on a confessional" (134). Instead of telling a boy "no," she tells him she'll talk to him later; she's not sure why she did it. She was "hedging her bets, perhaps. Not burning her bridges, but at least buying matches and starting to gather kindling" (68). She refers to her mother's fingernails as talons, and she describes the front door of their apartment as having "long scratch marks on it, like the insides of a coffin in a horror story" (85). The imagery is unique and refreshing.
I did not, however, like the feelings the novel evoked. I felt as though I reverted, like I was a teenage girl again, and Margaux was the girl we all desperately wished we could be --she's drop-dead gorgeous, witty and quite intelligent, even if she appears mean. So, I recommend caution when recommending this novel to teenagers. It certainly would be a little too old for middle schoolers. I suppose if I were teaching eleventh or twelfth grade, and we were doing literature circles I would allow it; I'd have them focus on vocabulary and figurative language.
The odd and unlikely yet understandable and comfortable relationship between Margaux and Danny is also part of the novel's ability to grip readers; Danny also has past hurts that shapes who he is, but his pain is manifested positively. This is partly because of Evie, his aunt, who takes him in and helps him heal. Margaux has no one. Until Danny and Evie.
The figurative language is also captivating. She speaks of the larger journals in Evie's collection as "large as the screen on a confessional" (134). Instead of telling a boy "no," she tells him she'll talk to him later; she's not sure why she did it. She was "hedging her bets, perhaps. Not burning her bridges, but at least buying matches and starting to gather kindling" (68). She refers to her mother's fingernails as talons, and she describes the front door of their apartment as having "long scratch marks on it, like the insides of a coffin in a horror story" (85). The imagery is unique and refreshing.
I did not, however, like the feelings the novel evoked. I felt as though I reverted, like I was a teenage girl again, and Margaux was the girl we all desperately wished we could be --she's drop-dead gorgeous, witty and quite intelligent, even if she appears mean. So, I recommend caution when recommending this novel to teenagers. It certainly would be a little too old for middle schoolers. I suppose if I were teaching eleventh or twelfth grade, and we were doing literature circles I would allow it; I'd have them focus on vocabulary and figurative language.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Sing Down the Moon
Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell is a great multicultural text; it is the story of different dangers the Navajo Indians faced as the United States was expanding. Through Bright Morning’s eyes, we receive a Navajo girl/woman’s perspective of the Spanish who captured young Indian girls to work for wealthy whites, and the forced migration of the Navajos to New Mexico when the U.S. acquired Arizona and New Mexico. The author has provided a piece on the historical context of the story at the end of the novel that is also worth discussing with the class.
Bright Morning was one of the girls kidnapped by the “slavers,” but she escaped, along with her best friend. Then, along with the rest of her village and thousands of other Navajos, she was forced to walk from her beloved Canyon de Chelly to Fort Sumner in New Mexico.
This novel could be taught in an interdisciplinary unit, and I would certainly use it as a multicultural text. I think seventh grade should be the cut off, however; this novel is probably ideal for students in fifth through seventh grades.
Bright Morning was one of the girls kidnapped by the “slavers,” but she escaped, along with her best friend. Then, along with the rest of her village and thousands of other Navajos, she was forced to walk from her beloved Canyon de Chelly to Fort Sumner in New Mexico.
This novel could be taught in an interdisciplinary unit, and I would certainly use it as a multicultural text. I think seventh grade should be the cut off, however; this novel is probably ideal for students in fifth through seventh grades.
Life on the Refrigerator Door
Alice Kuiper's Life on the Refrigerator Door is a novel told through notes, specifically notes between mother and daughter. In their busy lives and seemingly opposite schedules, they find themselves primarily communicating via notes stuck to the refrigerator door. Through these notes, they discover the need to strengthen their relationship, their changing roles as respective working mother and maturing daughter, and how much they need each other when tragedy strikes.
It’s a quick read; it took me an hour and a half to two hours. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t teach it in my classroom, but I might give a book talk on it to introduce a different writing style that some students might enjoy. In this book talk I would also mention that it deals with a painful and difficult topic as well as the ever-changing, but certainly necessary, communication and relationship between mother and daughter. Students who read books like those by Lurlene McDaniel or Nicholas Sparks will probably enjoy this novel and the unique style in which it’s written.
It’s a quick read; it took me an hour and a half to two hours. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t teach it in my classroom, but I might give a book talk on it to introduce a different writing style that some students might enjoy. In this book talk I would also mention that it deals with a painful and difficult topic as well as the ever-changing, but certainly necessary, communication and relationship between mother and daughter. Students who read books like those by Lurlene McDaniel or Nicholas Sparks will probably enjoy this novel and the unique style in which it’s written.
Perks of Being A Wallflower
The coming-of-age story Charlie shares with us in his letters in all at once heart-warming, depressing, humbling, and eye-opening. Many students—different kinds, personalities and groups of students—will be able to identify with at least one of the several phases Charlie goes through and the assorted experiences he must successfully navigate.
Although I certainly think Stephen Chbosky's novel is too old for seventh graders, this is teachable text, and it is much more accessible than other coming-of-age novels that are taught in schools. I thoroughly disliked Catcher in the Rye when I read it as a freshman, and I’m sure part of that was because I wasn’t ready for such topics. Also, as a more canonical text, Catcher in the Rye is less accessible, so, as others have suggested, I would certainly support teaching Perks of Being a Wallflower, perhaps in conjunction with Catcher in the Rye.
Although I certainly think Stephen Chbosky's novel is too old for seventh graders, this is teachable text, and it is much more accessible than other coming-of-age novels that are taught in schools. I thoroughly disliked Catcher in the Rye when I read it as a freshman, and I’m sure part of that was because I wasn’t ready for such topics. Also, as a more canonical text, Catcher in the Rye is less accessible, so, as others have suggested, I would certainly support teaching Perks of Being a Wallflower, perhaps in conjunction with Catcher in the Rye.
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