Book Review: THE BURN JOURNALS
*Note: this blog was created for a class at TWU

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Runyon, Brent. 2005. THE BURN JOURNALS. New York, NY: Random House Books.

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
Brent Runyon's memoir describes the year he attempted suicide by setting himself on fire from the depression he felt in the days leading up to it, to the excruciating months of hospitalization and physical therapy he underwent until he was able to return to public school.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
THE BURN JOURNALS are shocking, demoralizing, and beautiful all at once. Runyon begins his memoir with the day leading up to his suicide attempt, and the prose reveals a smart, funny, popular kid, who is deeply anxious and depressed about his life and actions. Like his family and friends, the reader is shocked when he pours gasoline on himself and lights it on fire. When he wakes up in the hospital, the prose is short, painfully broken, reflecting his physical state, and I found myself holding my breath, concerned that he wouldn't make it.

As Runyon begins to heal, his entries slowly regain some humor, but it isn't until almost three quarters of the way into THE BURN JOURNALS that he really begins to deal with the depression and guilt he feels for putting his family through everything. The fact that the journals don't try to have the pacing of a Disney movie is one of the aspects that keeps the memoir honest. Brent isn't always insightful or grateful to be alive. He's sometimes petty and stubborn, and fails to recognize how much his life and his family's life have changed as a result of "the accident."

Although at the end of the memoir, Brent is just beginning to attend public school again, and will face many challenges in the future, THE BURN JOURNALS leave the reader with a sense of hope for Brent's future, and a profound respect for his will to survive. At the end of the book, Brent thanks his editor for keeping him honest, and for forcing him to write the book. He also advises anyone who is depressed to get help and admits that depression is something with which he will always struggle. The website http://www.burnjournals.com/content.htmlhas resources for those with depression and who may be considering suicide as well as a photo gallery and information about what Brent is doing now.

THE BURN JOURNALS have been banned in some schools, and while we don't have it in our middle school library, it is available at the high school, and I have recommended it to 8th grade students on an individual basis. Sometimes it is compared with RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, a book which I felt contained a lot of details intended purely for shock value, and I wondered if parts had been exaggerated. In my opinion, THE BURN JOURNALS have much more merit, and should not be put in the same category.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Booklist (starred review): "Runyon has, perhaps, written the defining book of a new genre, one that gazes as unflinchingly at boys on the emotional edge as Zibby O'Neal's The Language of Goldfish (1980) and Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak (1999) do at girls. Some excruciatingly painful moments notwithstanding, this can and should be read by young adults, as much for its literary merit as for its authentic perspective on what it means to attempt suicide, and, despite the resulting scars, be unable to remember why."

5. CONNECTIONS
* This book could be paired with FIREGIRL by Tony Abbott, which compassionately describes the (fictional) experience of a boy who befriends Jessica, a new girl in school who has been badly burned in an accident. The two books together reveal the effects of such a tragedy from different perspectives.

Book Review: ELSEWHERE
*Note: this blog was created for a class at TWU

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Zevin, Gabrielle. 2005. ELSEWHERE. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
Fifteen-year-old Liz Hall just wants to be invited to the prom and get her driver's permit, but when she is hit by a taxi and killed, sending her "elsewhere," to a place both like and unlike Earth where the dead grow younger every year until they return as babies to begin a new life, she must learn how to "live" all over again.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
This is, by far, the most difficult analysis of all the books I've read this semester. Why? Because, unlike the reviewers, I only kind of liked the book, and yet I can't put my finger on why. So, let me start by talking about two books which I liked better, and which came to mind while I was reading ELSEWHERE.

One is a slim novel by Gary Soto entitled THE AFTERLIFE. There are two immediate reasons why I prefer this novel to ELSEWHERE. First, the voice of the protagonist, Chuy, is distinct, clear, and intriguing. He peppers his conversation with Spanish, he reveals more curiosity, and offers more humor. Second, Chuy explores the afterlife more actively and expresses a lot more love and forgiveness. Although he may have taken a lot for granted while he was living, he's a lot less selfish than Liz. And although some critics have called Zevin's prose poetic, Gary Soto is the master of the beautiful phrase ("the sun rose pink as a scar" and "laundry hung like faded flags of defeated nations") Soto's story has been criticized for not really have a strong plot structure, but I think that was inevitable if you've got a character who can't really dictate where he is going. ELSEWHERE bogs down in a similar way, but I still enjoyed THE AFTERLIFE more, maybe because it is shorter?

The second is THE LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel. While it's true that Pi doesn't die in the novel, the world which he knew before being stranded in the ocean certainly did. Like Liz, he loses everything and everyone he knew, but unlike Liz, he has a much more unique voice, an incredible imagination, and a ton of faith. Martel really delved into the philosophical implications of life, death, faith, and fate, and didn't just use the afterlife as a neato setting for a romance novel.

ELSEWHERE on the other hand, has a petulant, flat, boring protagonist, who, while bemoaning the mundane nature of her life on Earth, her funeral, her last words (that was pretty funny, that her last word was "Um," - and maybe that's the point and a sum of her character), she still couldn't break out of her pettiness to embrace things like her grandmother's unusual wardrobe. Just as Liz found Elsewhere boring, I found that I was bored and couldn't really get myself to care what she learned in the afterlife.

Nor do I think ELSEWHERE was as "fresh" and "inventive" as it was touted. There are lots of books, not to mention soap operas that use the afterlife, the spirit world, purgatory, heaven, or hell as a setting. (I remember one whole season of General Hospital in which purgatory played an important role.) And although the whole Canine language thing was my favorite part because the dogs had the strongest voices of all the characters in the book, that's not a new idea either (FIRESTORM, HARRY POTTER, just to name a couple).

Sorry to be so personal, but I was truly disappointed in ELSEWHERE because I liked the premise so much!

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Booklist (starred review): "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."

Horn Book (starred review): "With an intriguing and well-developed premise, thoughtful characterization, and refreshing style, Zevin's poignant novel rewards readers with a view of death that celebrates the rich complexities of being alive."

5. CONNECTIONS
* Compare the narrator's view of life and death with that of Chuy in THE AFTERLIFE and Susie in THE LOVELY BONES.

Book Review: HITLER YOUTH
*Note: this blog was created for a class at TWU

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. 2005. HITLER YOUTH: GROWING UP IN HITLER'S SHADOW. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
Through research, eyewitness interviews, anecdotal accounts, and photographs, Susan Campbell Bartoletti reveals the story of the young people who lived through Nazi rule, whether as Hitler Youth, Resistance Swing Youth, soldiers, or prisoners.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
In the Author's Note at the end of HITLER YOUTH, Susan Campbell Bartoletti explains the impetus for the book. After reading an article about how the Nazis "rode to power on the shoulders of politically active youth," her heart turned over and she wondered about these young people. Were they willing participants, brainwashed victims, or something in-between?

These questions led her on a journey to Washington, DC, Berlin, and Nuremburg. Bartoletti's research, interviewing, and reflecting took two years, and in the end, she wrote a book which she says is her "attempt to make sense out of the fact that adults taught young people to hate, to kill, and to feel superior over others. After all, the Hitler Youth weren't born Nazis; they became Nazis." As she says, the stories in HITLER YOUTH are complicated and they include the stories of "Aryans and Jews, devoted Nazis and Nazi resisters, leaders and followers, oppressors and victims."

HITLER YOUTH isn't easy to read, but the stories in it are told so honestly, and so openly that they really do make your heart turn over. Like Russell Freedman in his biography of Marian Anderson, Bartoletti doesn't start with a chronological history of Nazi Youth organizations, but with a snapshot of one incident, the murder of Hitler Youth Herbert Norkus at the hands of the Reds, a gang of Communist boys. Anyone who has ever run from bullies instantly knows how Herbert must have felt when running from the Reds. By personalizing the story of German youths, the author allows the reader to feel empathy for them. This empathy is necessary later, when the hate-filled acts condoned and even perpetrated by these youth are described. Yes, many were brainwashed and others were terribly afraid, but many were also swept up by the nationalism and charisma of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Yet it wasn't all hate, either. Bartoletti depicts the fun and adventure that many enjoyed at the youth camps, showing smiling campers, boys with accordions, and girls dancing. She also describes the combat conditions the young soldiers and medics endured. And finally, the author describes life after the war, including the deNazification process and punishment many of the youth went through.

Reading the accounts is emotionally wrenching, and would not be complete without also reading the Epilogue, in which we learn what became of the young people featured in HITLER YOUTH. Like their stories, their fates were diverse, some wrote books about their experiences, others have difficulty talking about them, some bear guilt over telling on parents and family members even as adults, and still others did not survive the war, leaving only their stories behind.

HITLER YOUTH was a Newbery, Orbis Pictus, and Sibert Honor book, and the 2005 Parents' Gold Choice Award winner. This book is a must read for everyone, because it is a lesson in forgiveness and a reminder to be constantly vigilant against the insidious ways in which hate can creep into our lives.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
School Library Journal (starred review): "The final chapter superbly summarizes the weighty significance of this part of the 20th century and challenges young readers to prevent history from repeating itself. Bartoletti lets many of the subjects' words, emotions, and deeds speak for themselves, bringing them together clearly to tell this story unlike anyone else has."

Booklist (starred review): "What was it like to be a teenager in Germany under Hitler? Bartoletti draws on oral histories, diaries, letters, and her own extensive interviews with Holocaust survivors, Hitler Youth, resisters, and bystanders to tell the history from the viewpoints of people who were there."

5. CONNECTIONS
* HITLER YOUTH has many social studies curriculum connections. At our middle school, students complete an interdisciplinary study of Holocaust in 8th grade social studies and read THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK in language arts class. This book would be a great addition to the reading list for the Holocaust unit along with novels such as THE BOOK THIEF by Marcus Zusak, DANIEL HALF-HUMAN by David Chotjewitz, MILKWEED by Jerry Spinelli, NUMBER THE STARS by Lois Lowry, and SOLDIER X by Don Wulffson, and would be an option for readers who prefer nonfiction to fiction.

Blog Review: THE AGE OF ____________?
*Note: this blog was created for a class at TWU

1. ADDRESS:
http://theageof.blogspot.com/

2. SUMMARY:
This blog is created and maintained by Tom Philion, an associate professor at Roosevelt University, and includes reviews, commentary, and booktalks on all of the 2007 Prinz Award Winner and Honor Books as well as Alex Award winners and Top 10 Books for Young Adults. He focuses on making text-to-world connections.

3. REACTION:
Philion's reviews are well-written, and his short booktalk videos would be easy "borrow" from for my own booktalks and teachers who aren't comfortable booktalking could even show them to students.

While the blog doesn't have much visual razzle dazzle (which isn't what I'm looking for anyway), I like the fact that it is fairly focused in both terms of the books he reviews and the text-to-world connections. This is a blog aimed at teachers, librarians, and library science students, and he makes recommendations as to how and to whom to promote the books, how to use them in the classroom, and what themes seem to permeate young adult literature today.

For example, he noted that several of the 2007 Prinz Award Winners dealt with both a fear of terrorism/violence and with cultural confusion. Citing five of the novels, and providing links to government studies and recent media articles, he explores how the books reflect the world we live in now. Here's an excerpt of this commentary:

"According to a report of the Council of Economic Advisors, the United States is becoming an increasingly diverse nation, characterized by an unprecedented degree of social heterogeneity. However, the heterogeneity that increasingly defines American culture is not evenly distributed; gaps exist between regions and locales in terms of the quantity and degree of social diversity. In addition, some evidence exists that members of different ethnic and social groups have very different perceptions of and attitudes toward public policy issues. It seems fair to say that the representation of cultural diffusion and confusion in contemporary young adult literature mirrors the highly dynamic social environment of the United States, an environment that is increasingly multicultural, diverse, and self-aware with regard to issues of cultural diversity, yet also fraught with considerable challenges, misunderstandings, and conflicts."

Philion then continues to tie in each novel to recent events such as the Virginia Tech shootings and the Don Imus affair.

4. CONNECTIONS
* This would be a great blog to refer to when teachers chose to use one of these award-winning novels in the classroom, especially for pulling research and non-fiction articles linked to the major themes of the novels. I remember when I taught SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5 to my 11th graders last year, I spent a lot of time gathering information about the history of post-traumatic stress disorder and about instances of it among Iraq War veterans. The students were fascinated by it, and it helped them not only feel compassion for the characters in the novel, but also to see the novel's relevance today. Using the research and links from this blog could do the same for the new award-winning novels.

Blog Review: PEARLS FROM THE GODDES OF YA LITERATURE
*Note: this blog was created for a class at TWU

1. ADDRESS: http://professornana.livejournal.com/

2. DESCRIPTION:
Teri Lesesne's blog, "Pearls from the Goddess of YA Literature," contains 90% reviews of the latest YA literature, 5% videos and links of interest, and 5% Teri's personal news and life. A perfect mix. And congratulations to her on the ALAN Award!

3.REACTION:
I trust this woman implicitly. So far in my fledgling career as a librarian, I have been able to go to two of her presentations of "Hot Off the Press: The Best and Newest Books for YAs," and I have thoroughly enjoyed both. At the most recent one last month, she pointed us all toward her blog, and it doesn't disappoint. She puts her presentations on it, updates it constantly, and does a tremendous amount of reading and reviewing.

Here's an excerpt of her review of LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL by Jo Knowles: "One thing this taut psychological tale demonstrates so aptly is that there is sometimes a thin line that separates victim and victimizer. Without giving away too much here, readers will empathize with Laine but also not villify Leah in the process. This very careful balancing act provides readers with some real insight into the complexity of friendship and relationships and life."

Teri gives concise summaries, and then, as the above quote demonstrates, cuts right to the heart of the story in her analysis. So far she has never steered me wrong, and I enjoy that she reads so widely, incorporating fantasy, realistic fiction, sci-fi and nonfiction into her reviews.

4. CONNECTIONS
* Teri's blog is a great one to check often for the latest and greatest.

Book Review: THE VOICE THAT CHALLENGED A NATION
*Note: this blog was created for a class at TWU

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Freedman, Russell. 2004. THE VOICE THAT CHALLENGED A NATION: MARIAN ANDERSON AND THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUAL RIGHTS. New York, NY: Clarion Books.

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
With text, photographs, and ephemera, Russell Freedman's biography of Marian Anderson tells not only of this great African-American singer's life and career, but also of the changes her voice as a powerful and popular woman brought to segregationist and discriminatory policies of the United States in the 1920s through the 1960s.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
In my opinion, Russell Freedman is to biography writing as Ken Burns is to documentary filmmaking. Any topic he touches, Freedman makes personal, immediate, fascinating, and important. And with all his topics, he researches and documents his sources meticulously, but does not clog his prose with facts, but allows the theme to shine through. In his photobiography of Lincoln, the thematic thread was that, from the beginning, Lincoln's image often obscured the real man. I remember how well he described details such as Lincoln's household, with his son Tad's goat sleeping in the same bed with the boy, and the way Freedman lined up photographs of Lincoln from the time he was elected to his last year in office so the weight of leading the country could be seen etched into the president's face as time passed. These same techniques, those of personalizing detail, insightful photographs, and a thought-provoking theme are also employed in A VOICE THAT CHALLENGED A NATION.

As the title implies, Freedman focuses on the theme of challenge in Marian Anderson's life. He begins A VOICE not at her birth, as many biographies would, but at a crucial point in her life, her concert at the Lincoln Memorial before 75,000 people. And Freedman does not begin with a description of Anderson herself or her singing, but with the weather and the atmosphere in the crowd. He has placed the reader right there, squeezed in with the young mothers, Boy Scouts, and businessmen, all waiting to hear the woman who had sung for royalty, but who had been denied access to the Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution simply because of her race. The reader sees her on the steps, lonely and vulnerable, until she opens her mouth to sing.

Throughout the next chapters, Freedman does go back to the beginning, and we learn that Marian Anderson had trained for that moment her entire life. From her single-minded focus on singing, to her travels to Europe to train, this great woman challenged the ideas of what a woman, an African-American, and above all, an African-American woman could and should do with her life. She refused to marry until she was good and ready, and even then chose not to have children. When she did marry, she married a white man (although he was a high school sweetheart). Upon her return from Europe, she chose to keep her Finnish accompanist, also a white man, in spite of warnings that American audiences, particularly in the South, would not accept a white man in that role. Even in her choice of music, she challenged the mores of the day, singing opera right along with gospel favorites.

While relating the events of Anderson's life, Freedman always brings the reader back to the voice, the power of Marian's voice. He does this with lyrics from the songs she sang, eyewitness commentary on hearing her in concert, and clippings of newspaper articles, recital program, and candid photographs. Finishing this book, I felt that I had not only learned a lot about Marian Anderson's life and United States history, but also about the power of following your heart and being true to yourself.

I wish everyone wrote biographies like Russell Freedman, and every time a student checks out that horrible biography we have on Nelly, I want to say, "That's not a biography, this is a biography," and put A VOICE THAT CHALLENGED A NATION into the student's hands. Sadly, Marian Anderson's biography hasn't ever been checked out of the library, not even by a teacher since it was purchased three years ago. But it will be this year, because I have plans for this book - I will feature it during Black History Month in February, play her music in the library, read an excerpt from it during announcements, and display it prominently along with Walter Dean Myers' biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. I'VE SEEN THE PROMISED LAND.

A VOICE THAT CHALLENGED A NATION has won several awards including the Robert F. Sibert Medal and is a Newbery Honor Book.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
School Library Journal: "This inspiring work once again demonstrates Freedman's talent for showing how a person's life is molded by its historical and cultural context."

Booklist: "In his signature prose, plain yet eloquent, Freedman tells Anderson's triumphant story, with numerous black-and-white documentary photos and prints that convey her personal struggle, professional artistry, and landmark civil rights role."

5. CONNECTIONS
* This, I think, would be a perfect mentor text for any biography unit. Short enough to be read aloud to a class using a document camera, the class could discuss how the book was organized structurally - by starting with a "snapshot" to grab the reader, then telling the person's life chronologically, as well as thematically, focusing on the "challenges" Anderson faced. I would then have students choose someone in their lives to write a biography on, structuring it similarly, and choosing a thematic thread (a list of character traits and thematic words could be supplied for those who might struggle with choosing one.) Once the biographies were written, students could present them, perhaps in multimedia format (PPT), to an audience of classmates and family, inviting the subjects of the biography if possible.

Book Review: THE MEDIATOR SERIES
*Note: this blog was created for a class at TWU

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Cabot, Meg. 2000. THE MEDIATOR 1: SHADOWLAND. New York, NY: Avon Books.

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
In this series, high school sophomore Suze Simon wants to be a normal teen, but since she's a mediator, a liaison between the living and the dead, in a new town with a new stepdad and three new stepbrothers, and residing in a 200-year-old house fraught with ghosts, her life is far from simple.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Fans of Meg Cabot's other series (PRINCESS DIARIES, ALL-AMERICAN GIRL) and fans of the TV Series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Heroes" will enjoy the adventures of Suze in THE MEDIATOR.

With her usual talent for capturing the witty, sarcastic, voice of a teen girl, Cabot hurtles the reader through one adventure after another, stopping only briefly to interject some romance, friendship, school politics, and family dynamics. THE MEDIATOR SERIES is a really relaxing, fun read, but I grew a little tired of Suze's boy crazy yearnings toward almost every guy in the book - her stepbrother, who had a "defined six-pack," Bryce the high school student she saves from an angry ghost, who had "curly, soft-looking hair, the kind of hair I could picture myself running my fingers through," and even the resident house ghost Jesse, whose face had "perfectly sculpted planes" to match his smoldering eyes and dark hair.

Apart from the over-the-top (for me) romanticism, the fantasy lover in me enjoyed Suze's brave yet rash "whooping" of wicked ghosts, and the knowledge that since this is a series, Suze will always manage to get out of any predicament and live to fight spirits again. THE MEDIATOR series was challenged at our middle school a few years back, because of the way the Catholic faith was portrayed (Suze attends a Catholic school), and even I thought that she could have refrained from saying "Oh, God," as much as she did while at school since it didn't really add to her character or the story.

THE MEDIATOR will appeal to many female teen readers who like lots of action with a heavy dose of romance and don't mind a few ghosts.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Publishers Weekly: "As a narrator this teen is a bit too tough-talking and cocky to be credible. Still, the intriguing premise of a 16-year-old with a sixth sense may stand more than a ghost of a chance at snaring teen readers."

5. CONNECTIONS
* Girls who enjoy this series might also enjoy the VAMPIRE KISSES series by Ellen Schreiber, the DAUGHTERS OF THE MOON series by Lynne Ewing and maybe Scott Westerfeld's MIDNIGHTERS.

Book Review: ALL-AMERICAN GIRL
*Note: this blog was created for a class at TWU

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Cabot, Meg. 2002. ALL-AMERICAN GIRL. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
Less-than-popular Samantha Madison wants to impress her sister's artsy-emo boyfriend, on whom she has a crush, with her own artistic talents, but when she saves the president of the United States from an assassination attempt, her whole life changes. She learns that people are more than stereotypes, that fame has its disadvantages, and that she has a lot more to offer the world than she ever thought.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Not to harp on the subject, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I am not a huge chicklit fan. I tend to lean more toward the sci-fi fantasy genre, so it was with gritted teeth that I picked up ALL-AMERICAN GIRL.

In this novel, Samantha Madison, in a spur-of-the-moment act of bravery, saves the president from assassination, and goes from school outcast to instant national celebrity. Celebrity is something author Meg Cabot knows about. At the middle school library, we opened our doors at the beginning of the year with three shelves full of THE PRINCESS DIARIES series, ALL-AMERICAN GIRL series, and THE MEDIATOR series. Within a week, we were down to one shelf, since two-thirds of the books were checked out, and it has remained that way almost 9 weeks into the school year. Her popularity is only matched by that of Lisi Harrison (Clique Series), the Bluford High series, and of course, anything by R.L. Stine.

At first, I wasn't too impressed. Apart from Cabot's knack for capturing the teen voice of Sam and her friends, I found the novel predictable and less funny than Louise Rennison's ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING. But then I became hooked into Sam's journey from "knowing to seeing." An accomplished artist for her age, Sam is used to drawing what's in her head, rather than really looking at what's in front of her with an open mind. And this is true of her relationships with people as well. She thinks her sister's poser boyfriend is a true rebel, and brushes off the president's son as a geek. In the end, our protagonist is humbled and does learn the lesson: "Sometimes you want what is right in front of you. All you have to do is open your eyes and see it." A truism even forty-year-old women like me could do well to remember now and then. Having opened her eyes to really see, Sam earns her happy ending by dumping the poser, standing up for what she believes, and opening her heart to David, the president's son.

ALL-AMERICAN GIRL is humorous and romantic and more accessible in terms of readability than ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING. It would make a great segue into more realistic fiction for those girls who get stuck in PRINCESS DIARIES mode. (The ones who constantly ask, "Do you have any other princess books?")

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Publisher's Weekly: "Sam's spunky and intermittently affecting narrative, as well as the true-to-life voices of the supporting cast of characters, make this a convincing and diverting tale. As Sam learns important truths about herself, Cabot interjects a worthy message into her comedic caper."

Booklist: "Absurdly far-fetched? Absolutely, but like Cabot's previous books, that's exactly why this is so much fun. Cabot throws in plenty of obstacles and well-paced social angst to keep up the suspense, making Sam's romantic happy ending hard earned. There's also surprising depth in the characters and plenty of authenticity in the cultural details and the teenage voices--particularly in Sam's poignant, laugh-out-loud narration."

5. CONNECTIONS:
* Like Louise Rennison's ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL FRONTAL SNOGGING, this book is just plain fun, and may not have too many curricular connections. See the ANGUS, THONGS blog entry for a discussion of books with lists as a story element. ALL-AMERICAN GIRL does have a tie-in with the theme of what it would be like to be the son or daughter of the president. Maybe as an extension activity in US History, students could study the children of presidents, including both real accounts such as FIRST DAUGHTERS: LETTERS BETWEEN U.S. PRESIDENTS AND THEIR DAUGHTERS by Gerard Gawalt and fictional accounts such as ALL-AMERICAN GIRL and FIRST BOY by Gary Schmidt.

Book Review: ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING
*Note: this blog was created for a class at TWU

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Rennison, Louise. 1999. ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishing.

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
Georgia Nicholson just wants three simple things: to be left alone by her parents, Uncle Eddie, and three-year-old sister, to hang out with her friends, and to have a boyfriend. In ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING, Georgia's diary entries reveal that she gets at least two of her wishes, along with always funny, sometimes sad ups and downs of being a teenager.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
As a self-proclaimed non-chicklit reader, I was ready to hate this book, but the funny title, and the Britishness of it drew me in since I spent three of my own early teen years living "on the economy" in the small British town of Bury. And I wasn't disappointed. ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING is laugh-out-loud, tears streaming from your eyes funny.

Written in diary form, Georgia's voice immediately shines through. She laments that her Uncle Eddie ("bald as a coot") treats her like a child and wishes she could scream at him, "I am bursting with womanhood, I wear a bra! OK, it's a bit on the loose side and does ride up round my neck if I run for the bus..." And that's just the first entry. Alternating between scathingly funny observations about the world, "Someone farted in assembly this morning...Whoever it was, it was really loud and during the silence we were having to think about all the poor people. And it wasn't just a quick one, it was a knee-trembler," and self-deprecating commentary on herself, "In my room in front of the mirror. Practicing smiling without making my nose spread. It's impossible. I must never smile again."

Yet sprinkled among the silly, funny, episodes of home, school, friends, and growing up, are some honest lessons about self-acceptance and not trying to grow up too fast. Georgia is the friend we all had who could make us laugh when things got tough, who always had the fun, crazy ideas, and didn't let what others thought stop her from being herself. I'd recommend ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING to any teen girl, although the author's constant use of slang and dry wit might cause some reluctant readers to struggle (although there is a "dictionary" in the back). And if the books aren't enough, her website has "fabbity-fab" extras such as the snogging scale and dance moves! http://www.georgianicolson.com/index.html

Louise Rennison captures voice of a teen much like Meg Cabot does, but with even more wicked humor, and less fantasy elements (princesses, saving The President, mediating with the dead), so I would definitely put it in the read-alike list with THE PRINCESS DIARIES, a cute little series by Nancy Krulik called HOW I SURVIVED MIDDLE SCHOOL, and SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS by Ann Brashares.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
School Library Journal: "It will take a sophisticated reader to enjoy the wit and wisdom of this charming British import, but those who relish humor will be satisfied. Fresh, lively, and engaging."

The Guardian: "You know when you really should stop laughing and everyone is looking at you? This was me reading the manuscript on the train. This is a brilliant book! ... I can't recommend it highly enough."

5. CONNECTIONS
* I don't know if there are any curricular connections with this book, since it's just plain fun, but I did think it might be neat to do a display of books that include lists as a story element. ANGUS, THONGS has "Six Things That Are Very Wrong With My Life," ALL-AMERICAN GIRL has "Top Ten Reasons I Wish I Were Gwen Stefani" among others, K.L. Going's book THE LIBERATION OF GABRIEL KING has his list of greatest fears (with humor), and HOW I SURVIVED MIDDLE SCHOOL has multiple lists such as "How I Know My Best Friend Is Really My BFF." I could then have a competition where students could submit their own funny lists. It could be done at the end of the school year, and the lists could be "Top Ten Ways to Survive Middle School/Seventh Grade/Algebra." Or maybe the ELA teachers could use that as a journal entry and springboard into listing as a drafting technique or story element. Lists are fun!

Book Review: A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL
*Note: this blog was created for a class at TWU

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Nelson, Marilyn. 2005. A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

2. PLOT SUMMARY:

Marilyn Nelson's book tells the story of Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old boy who was murdered in 1955 because of his race, in the form of a heroic crown of fifteen interlinked sonnets, with each sonnet beginning with the last line of the preceding sonnet.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

Many Americans know the story of Emmett Till's brutal murder and the subsequent trial in which the white men accused of the murder were found not guilty through documentaries and history books on the civil rights movement, but Emmett's story has never been told in such a unique, personal, and moving way as in A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL.

Beautifully illustrated by Philippe Lardy in a symbolic, collage-like style, A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL begins with a note from the author explaining how she came to write a book about this horrific incident that she remembered happening when she was nine. The complex poetic form was, for her, a protection "from the intense pain of the subject matter, and a way to allow the Muse to determine what the poem would say."

Nelson's first sonnet considers what flowers would be chosen for Emmett's wreath, drawing from the language of flowers, a theme she twines, like a wreath, throughout the poems. The flowers are accompanied by the underlying structural theme of the tree, at times rotten to the core, at times the keeper of history (through its rings), and at times the bearer of death in lynching. Echoing these central themes, the illustrations incorporate elliptic shapes to recall the wreath and, as the artist explains in the note at the end of the book, "the 'cosmic egg,' the mythological origin of the universe."
There are a lot of layers here for the reader. For more advanced readers, vocabulary such as "dendrochronology," "populace," and "consciencelessness" would be an enticing challenge. In addition, each of the fifteen sonnets is full of allusions, which the author explains in a commentary at the back. Yet even without fully understanding the allusions, the poems' emotionally charged words and imagery combine with the content to create a powerful whole that would capture the interest of even reluctant readers. In the sonnet describing Emmett's mother's preparations for his train trip, the language is simple and heart wrenching:

and comic books. She'd given him a note
for the conductor, waved to his chubby face,
wondered if he'd remember to brush his hair.
Her only child. A body left to bloat.

The picture accompanying it on the next page is equally haunting, showing Emmett, peering through an oval, as if through the train window, surrounded by thorns, chains, and the five crows, waiting to lynch him. The boy's expression is one of curiosity and anticipation for the adventures he hopes to have on this trip to visit his aunt and uncle. He cannot see and could not imagine the horrors awaiting him outside the train.

Because of the multiple layers, A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL has something for everyone: the poetry lover, the voracious reader, the reluctant reader, the visual learner, the child, and the adult. It is a beautiful and respectful homage the boy whose death has become a symbol of the ignorance and hatred the world needs to eradicate from our hearts.


4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Booklist (starred review): "When matched with Lardy's gripping, spare, symbolic paintings of tree trunks, blood-red roots, and wreaths of thorns, these poems are a powerful achievement that teens and adults will want to discuss together."

School Library Journal: "This memorial to the lynched teen is in the Homeric tradition of poet-as-historian. . . . This chosen formality brings distance and reflection to readers, but also calls attention to the horrifically ugly events."

5. CONNECTIONS
* Using an Elmo or other document camera, this book would be a powerful read-aloud in the social studies or language arts classroom. The teacher could show the illustrations while reading the text. A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL would be an excellent mentor text for a poetry unit that went beyond the usual haikus, acrostic poems, biopoems, and diamantes we see in many middle and high school classrooms. I think in our district, students write some form of biopoem every year between 7th and 10th grade. Enough! It might help students not only write poetry which is deeper and more symbolic, but also technically more complex. While it would be difficult to write a heroic crown of sonnets, students could choose an element to explore such as iambic pentameter, the sonnet rhyme scheme, or the idea of writing a cycle of poems in which the last line of the preceding poem became the first line of the next poem. For the visual learners, the collage-like illustration techniques would also be an element to explore in illustrating poems.

Book Review: Fallen Angels
*NOTE: This book review was created for a class at TWU.


1. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Myers, Walter Dean. FALLEN ANGELS. 1988. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

2. PLOT SUMMARY: Inner-city teen Richie Perry enlists in the Army after high school graduation to help earn money for his mother and little brother, but gets sent into combat in Vietnam where he makes friends for life, witnesses man's inhumanity to man, and searches for the role he will play in his own future.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

Walter Dean Myers, one of America's preeminent African-American authors for young adults, is noted not only for his ability to accurately describe the lives of young urban African-American teens, in novels such as MONSTER and SHOOTER but also for the variety of his work in both genre and content. From the diverse poetry of HERE IN HARLEM to the historical details of Victorian England in AT HER MAJESTY'S REQUEST, Myers takes any topic he chooses and makes it accessible, personal, and deeply reflective.

In FALLEN ANGELS, Myers draws from his own life and experiences to weave a story of growing up, finding friendship, and discovering one's role in the world through the horrific combat of the Vietnam War. He says, "My ideas come largely from my own background. I write a lot about basketball, and I've played basketball for years and years. I was in the army and I wrote FALLEN ANGELS. I lived in Harlem, and I write about Harlem... Ultimately, what I want to do with my writing is to make connections--to touch the lives of my characters and, through them, those of my readers." (www.teenreads.com) Myers' dedication to the novel reveals an even stronger connection to the war, as he honors his brother "whose dream of adding beauty to this world through his humanity and his art," ended when he died in combat in Vietnam.

Like Myers, the novel's main character, Richie Perry, joins the Army right after graduating from high school in Harlem, hoping to send money home to help his mother and younger brother, but also hoping never to see real combat. After a basketball injury, he is supposed to have a medical "profile" preventing combat duty, but as a result of the military's slow and arbitrary system of red tape, Perry finds himself in the "boonies" of Vietnam, witnessing horrors no one should ever face. Between intense scenes of battle, Perry and the friends he makes in his company try to make sense of the meaning of life and their roles in the world.

The beauty of FALLEN ANGELS lies in its complexity and clarity. Surrounding the story of Perry are important questions of race, sexuality, class, power, and ambition. The racial tensions go both ways, from the soldier who wants all the African-Americans to swear allegiance to each other, to the commander who seems to give the worst jobs to them. One soldier is gay, another Jewish, while others are fighting to rise in rank, or to fulfill the dreams of their parents. Yet all these differences melt away when the men fight with and for each other to survive. In the end, that seems to be the message Myers wants us to hear most clearly in FALLEN ANGELS. On the novel's last page, Perry, wounded but returning home, prays for the "fallen angels," the wounded, and those still fighting, "I knew I was mixing my prayers, but it didn't matter. I just wanted God to care for them, to keep them whole."

In 1989, a year after the novel was first published, it received the Coretta Scott King Award, and was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Since then, FALLEN ANGELS has been challenged at many high schools and middles schools for its language, graphic violence, and sexual content, but without these elements, the story wouldn't ring true, and to focus on them is to dwell on the details and miss the heart of the novel. I would recommend this novel to many young adults, and to all teachers of US History, especially 11th Grade Social Studies teachers in Texas.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Kirkus (pointed review): "War-story fans will find enough action here, though it isn't glorified...thoughtful readers will be haunted by this tribute to a ravaged generation."

Booklist (starred review): "...this gut-twisting Vietnam novel...breaks uncharted ground."

5. CONNECTIONS:
* 11th Grade Social Studies: this novel would be a great class novel to read or literature circle read during units on the Vietnam War. An excellent photoessay lesson plan using the novel can be found at: http://www.galileo.org/schools/strathmore/english/english_33/index.html, along with a Thinkquest multimedia introduction.

Book Review: AMONG THE HIDDEN
*NOTE: This blog was created for a class at TWU.


1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. 1998. AMONG THE HIDDEN. New York, NY: Aladdin Fiction.

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
Luke Garner is the "hidden" third child in a totalitarian society where families are limited to two children, and people live within a strict class system. Because a new housing development is encroaching on the family farm, Luke must never go outside or even look out the window for fear that the "Population Police" will discover his existence. But when Luke makes a discovery of his own, that another "hidden" has moved in next door, he learns the truth about himself and the world in which he lives.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

During adolescence, young adults often question authority and their right to freedom as they explore their own identities and assert their independence. In doing so, they also engage in "social perspective taking," or seeing an issue from another person's point of view. Dystopian titles such as Margaret Peterson Haddix's AMONG THE HIDDEN tap into this developmental stage of exploration by allowing young adults to experience a world in which people are much less free than they are in our society today, seeing it, in this case, from the point of view of a boy their own age, who, due to government restrictions, should never have been born.

Reminiscent of Lois Lowry's THE GIVER, Haddix's series, of which AMONG THE HIDDEN is the first installment, paints a picture of a society, not too different from our own, where the people in power have taken away the freedom of the population in order to "protect" them. In THE GIVER, society was protected from memories and emotions that were strong enough to result in conflict, anger, and sorrow, but paid the price by losing the other end of the spectrum: joy, diversity, and triumph. Haddix's society is "protected" from food and energy shortages through population control and a strict class system. Although their lives are happy, they've lost the freedom to have more than two children, buy what they want, and live as they want. Luke comes to the realization that if he remains hidden, he will never be free, but that he may pay for his freedom with his life. The action is fast-paced and the vocabulary is accessible, making it a quick read for even reluctant readers.

As a teacher, one of the most valuable parts of the novel is the way in which Luke Garner learns why he must stay "hidden." Jen, the "hidden" child who lives next door gives Luke stacks of books and articles discussing the issue of population control from both the point of view of the government and those who oppose the two children per family policy. He discovers the concept of bias and also the ways in which groups of people can attempt to change government policy by writing to media, staging rallies, and infiltrating the government itself. At the same time, his eyes are opened to the hypocrisy of the ruling class "barons" who break and flaunt the rules almost as a status symbol.

Bias and hypocrisy are difficult concepts to teach, and with students getting much of their information from the internet and media, it is vital that they look at information with a critical eye. AMONG THE HIDDEN provides a concrete and thought-provoking example by which to discuss bias, hypocrisy, and the role of the government in our lives.

At the end of the novel, Jen attempts to confront the government with the existence of the "hidden" and pays for her act of defiance with her life. She had argued that hope wouldn't change the world, only action would, but in reflecting on her death, Luke has a revelation that there are different kinds of actions, just as there are different perspectives. "Maybe he could succeed where Jen failed," he thinks, "precisely because he wasn't a Baron - because he didn't have her sense that the world owed him everything. He could be more patient, more cautious, more practical." Haddix then leaves the reader to pick up the next volume and cheer Luke on in his quest to free the "hidden" shadow children.

AMONG THE HIDDEN has won numerous awards and was both a Top 10 ALA Best Book for Young Adults and an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Publisher's Weekly: "the unsettling, thought-provoking premise should suffice to keep readers hooked."

School Library Journal (gr. 5-8): "As in Haddix's Running Out of Time (S & S, 1995), the loss of free will is the fundamental theme of an exciting and compelling story of one young person defying authority and the odds to make a difference. Readers will be captivated by Luke's predicament and his reactions to it."

5. CONNECTIONS
* Middle School English Language Arts classrooms could use this novel as part of lessons on point of view and persuasive writing. The class could read it together, analyzing the arguments for and against population control and control of food/energy resources. Then, as a group project, students could choose a book out of the "What's That Got to Do With Me?" series of titles from Smart Apple Media. Topics include racism, elections, war and conflict, drugs, etc., and each title shows different points of view through personal stories, articles, and interviews. Students could then choose to create a PPT presentation aimed at persuading the audience to agree with their stand on the issue, write a letter to a government official persuading him/her to take a stand on the issue, perform a debate giving pros and cons, or write a fictional story like "Among the Hidden" using information on their issue.