EDT763 Susan Berg

Celebrate Reading

2011-06-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

I promised to share with you the reading encouragement ideas from your projects. There are some great ideas here, you may want to copy it for future reference. Remember: A library needs to be a happening place. Here (in no particular order) are the programming ideas from EDT763 spring 2011:

Author visit
"Virtual" author visit using Skype
Reading "challenge" - classroom v classroom or school wide
Class newsletter with student book reviews
Class wiki where students post book review
Book club during lunch time
Art contest - students create posters for their favorite books
Poetry jam for Black History Month
Place coupons in random fiction titles with questions and small prizes
Books and Breakfast
Weekly specials board (like in a restaurant) 5 great books of the week
A Shot at Reading - photo contest with pictures of students reading in a unique or funny place, winners made into Read posters
Leave Your Mark - student created bookmarks
Write a grant to get e-readers for library
Genrepalooza
"Web of books" made with masking tape - inside circle popular titles, working out to classic works
Celebrate banned books week with paper chains made with titles, authors and cited reasons for books being banned
Stop Whining Start a Revolution - book discussions of books where young people try to affect social change
Match popular songs with books (e.g. Lady Gaga's Born This Way and Almost Perfect or The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things)
Promote books made into movies
Teachers post outside their door what they are currently reading
Hallway and library charts of what students are reading
Lunch book club
All school reading time
Dress as literacy character
Reading a chapter of a couple of different books on an e-reader
Mock Printz Award
Wicked Good book cart (nominated by students) and Book Hall of Fame
Meet Your Reader - interview randomly selected students and a teacher. Photograph them reading their favorite book
Books with Bite - displays, Friday night Halloween event to share creepy stories*
Get Your Draw On - anime and manga drawing contest*
Books That Make You LOL*
If You Like This - display*
Books With Beat - poetry contest*

*You can read more about these at Rachel's wiki at http://readingencouragementplan.wikispaces.com/1.++Home

Contempory Fiction - North of Beautiful (Headley)

2011-05-31T03:41:00.000-07:00

Well the James Cook Diversity Award committee met last week - but we didn't decide anything yet :-) We discussed about forty books and eliminated about half of them. There are a few more that we need to read and we will be voting in another month or so. There seemed to be about 6 favorites. One of them is North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley (Little, Brown, 2009). It is the story of a girl with a disfiguring "port wine" birthmark over one side of her face. She has had many procedures to try to remove it but nothing has worked. As a child she was teased about it. As a teen she covers it with layers of makeup. Her self confidence is low - but this stems more from her home life than her face. Terra's father is a mean bully. While he doesn't physically hit anyone, his constant put downs makes family life hell. Her two older brothers have moved out and stay far away. Her lovely, demoralized mother eats to survive and has become obese. On the trip home from one more attempt to remove the birthmark, Terra and her mother literally run into Jacob, a gorgeous Goth, who is traveling with his mother and little brother. They develop a friendship. For Terra and Jacob a hot one!

There is a lot in this book. The theme of maps is throughout. Terra's father is a cartographer. Jacob introduces Terra to geocaching - a treasuring hunting game using a GPS. Terra is an artist whose medium is collages. There is travel: part of book is a trip to China to visit Terra's brother. Very well written. I would recommend this book to high school girls who like Sarah Dessen. Hook? I would show them the cover and simply say, "If you like Sarah Dessen, you will love this."

Graphic Novel - Yummy (Neri)

2011-05-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

Yummy : The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri (Lee and Low Books, 2010) is a very powerful graphic novel. I read it for the James Cook Award Committee and it is on my short list for the award. We meet Thursday - I'll tell you who won at our last class. My other favorites are Hush and Almost Perfect, two books that I have previously blogged about.

Ultimately this book is about our failure as a society to help children in poverty. It is a biography of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer born in Chicago in 1984. He got his nickname because of his love of candy. His parents were continually in prison. His grandmother tried to care for him but had too many grandchildren to deal with. For family, Yummy turned to the Black Disciples Nation gang and by 11 years old, he was a hardened gang banger. Gangs used "shorties", young kids, to do dirty work because they knew they were too young for felony prosecutions. In the summer of 1994, Yummy's gang initiation goes horribly wrong when he accidentally kills an innocent young girl instead of a rival gang member. On the run, he eventually is killed himself by fellow gang members when the heat on them becomes too much. The illustrator, Randy DuBurke, created thick black line drawings set in the "comic book" frame format. They appear ugly. Appropriate for the story.

This book is a very quick read but has a lot of staying power. I would introduce it to middle and high school students by listing Yummy's crimes and then asking the question - was Yummy a born killer or a victim himself? Then I would say "would your answer be different if you knew that Yummy was 11 years old?"

Multicultural - Hush (Chayil)

2011-05-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hush is one of the dozen or so books I read for the James Cook Award committee this year. And it is one that really stayed with me. It is the story of a closed religious community and it's failure to face the reality of sexual abuse. Gittel lives with her loving family in a Brooklyn Chassidic, (ultra-orthodox Jewish) community. They have almost no contact with anyone outside their little world. Yiddish is spoken first, English second. They attend their own schools, read their own magazines, have no television, listen to no secular radio. Girls attend school until it is time for their arranged marriage at 18. After marriage women wear wigs or scarves so that their hair will not be exposed to the view of anyone but their husbands. Boys attend Yeshiva school focusing on studying the sacred text, the Talmud, at the expense of science and mathematics. The story moves back and forth between today and 2003 when Gittel's her best friend, Devory was sexually abused by her own brother. Gittel is a witness though she really doesn't understand what she has seen (of course sex education is confined to a lesson before marriage). Devory hangs herself and Gittel is told by all the adults to not discuss what has happened, to forget. Her parents also tell her to forget. Accusing someone of sexual abuse in this community comes back on the accuser. Since there is no sexual abuse in the community, it didn't happen and the accuser must be lying. It is as if Devory never existed. But Gittel can't forget.

This is a really intense book. What makes it so powerful is the truth that is told. The author's name is given as "Eishes Chayil". This is a pseudonym meaning virtuous wife. In the author's note at the end of the book, the author explains that the book is based on her own life. She grew up in "the chosen Jewish nation" in Brooklyn. When she was young she watched her friend being molested, though she didn't really understand what she was seeing. A young boy in her community did hang himself. The author presents the joy and warmth of the ultra-Orthodox world while taking on its terrible inability to confront anything that goes against tradition and its deeply ingrained delusions.

This book is for older readers (gr.10-adult). Readers will learn a lot about life in a closed communities and parallels to other cultures are abundant. Plenty to discuss with this book. I would introduce it to teens with the description I wrote in the first paragraph.

Poetry - You Don't Even Know Me (Flake)

2011-05-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

Sharon Flake, You Don't Even Know Me: Stories and Poems about Boys (Jump at the Sun, 2010)

I SIT IN YOUR CLASS
I PLAY BY THE RULES
   I'M YOUNG
I'M FLY
             I'M BLACK
        SO OF COURSE I THINK
   I'M COOL

I wanted to read this title because we can never have enough good books that urban African American boys can relate to. It is a mix of free verse poetry often with a freestyle rap beat and short stories tackling big issues: teen fatherhood and marriage, relationships with father figures, HIV, seduction by an older woman, living in the suburbs and "talking white", the attraction of the gang life. One of the strongest of the nine short stories "DON"T READ THIS" is written in diary format about a teen whose twin who killed himself because of the abuse he endured from a club adviser. The diary writer is preparing to do the same thing, giving away his belongings, buying a rope, setting a date, practicing.

I liked the mix of poetry and short stories. Some of the poems had more appeal than others but I think boys (or girls who want to understand boys better) will like the book and it may inspire some to write their own poetry.

Sharon Flake's books were very popular in the middle school urban library where I worked in Dayton. They include Money Hungry, Begging for Change, The Skin I'm In, Who Am I Without Him: Short Stories About Girls and the Boys in Their Lives. Check out her website that includes a video of the first poem from You Don't Even Know Me read by teens. I would play that to introduce the book to grades 7-10.

Nonfiction - Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing

2011-05-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

Janis Joplin: Rise up Singing (Ann Angel, Amulet Books, 2010)
YALSA Award for Excellent in Nonfiction for YA 2011

     Rock singer Janis Joplin is one of those 60s rock stars who died young, leaving a huge legacy (think Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison) of music that still resonates with today's teens. Janis grew up in a middle class family in Port Arthur, Texas where girls were expected to marry their high school sweethearts and everyone listened to Pat Boone. But Janis pushed the limits and listened to the blues. Odetta, Bessie Smith and Leadbelly were her idols. She drifted in and out of college, hitchhiking and spending time in Austin, Greenwich Village and California; drinking, taking drugs and playing small gigs. In the San Francisco of 1966 (the "summer of love") she teamed up with Big Brother and the Holding Company and threw herself "headlong into the 'hurricane', giving the band --and the music --everything she had" (p.38) Pushing her voice to the edge, she developed her trademark raspy, rough and raucous sound (and image). We get to know Janis as someone who was outrageous yet needy. Someone who wanted somebody to love. As Janis sings in Piece of My Heart, "Come on come on - take another little piece of my heart now baby". She died of an accidental overdose at 27 years of age in 1970.
     This book is very attractively put together with great photos and colorful marginal designs that fit the psychedelic time. The photos make the book. Included are pictures of her from high school where she was part of the Future Teachers of America and the Slide Rule Club -- as well as pictures of her bare breasted in a bed with the partially nude long haired members of her band, album covers, concert posters and Rolling Stone covers.
     I'd recommend this book for high school. Janis had an Mexican abortion in 1967 when the procedure was still illegal in the U.S. The book of course talks a lot about Janis's drug and alcohol addiction, including the facts that she periodically tried to quit using and that drugs eventually killed her at a young age. Interestingly it does point out that, at the time, a lot of these drugs (speed, LSD) weren't even illegal. The obvious way to introduce this book to young people is to play some her music - Piece of My Heart, Mercedes Benz, Down on Me, and Bobby McGee are among my favorites.

Historical Fiction - Revolution (Donnelly)

2011-04-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution (Delacorte 2010) is a rarity - historical fiction created for older readers. It is a sophisticated mix: part wrenching realistic fiction and part historical fiction - with a little supernatural twist. Andi's younger brother has been murdered. Her mother has lost her grip on reality. She is in trouble at school because she hasn't started her senior thesis. Suicide is constantly on her mind. Music is the only thing that is holding her together (Andi plays guitar). Her distant, work-obsessed father who has remarried and moved on, is going to Paris and decides to take Andi with him. Once in Paris, Andi begins research for her thesis on an innovative 18th century musician. She also finds a diary written by a girl who lived during the French Revolution and risked all to help the pitifully imprisoned Louis Charles, the son of Marie Antoinette & Louis XVI. The more of the diary that Andi reads, the more she is absorbed in the story. While in a party at "The Beach" in the Catacombs under Paris, time shifts and Andi finds herself stranded in dangerous and chaotic Revolutionary Paris.

This book has many elements that will appeal to teens, particularly girls (grade 8-12). Music is a huge theme in the book as it is in many successful realistic novels (Perks of a Wallflower, Nick & Norah's Playlist, Fat Kid Rules the World, and this year's Harmonic Feedback). And there is the romance with hot taxi-driving Virgil. He's a musician too of course. And Paris IS the most romantic city in the world...

I listened to the book on audio and enjoyed it. For one thing the French pronunciation of Virgil is much sexier than the English :-) Some suspension of belief is required. The author did a good job weaving the story lines with the parallel themes of the death of an innocent boy, revolution, and music. In booktalking it to students, I would probably introduce the contemporary Andi and then describe the party in the Catacombs.

YALSA's Top Ten Fiction Titles 2011
ALA/ALSC Odyssey Honor Book 2010 (audio)

Fantasy/Science Fiction

2011-04-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite genre. I love high fantasy and science fiction - horror not so much. I had planned to blog on Ship Breaker (Bacigalupi). However I have the idea that some of you may plan to blog on this terrific book. So instead of going into detail, I will just say that I really enjoyed the 2011 Printz winner set in a drowned New Orleans in a dystopian future. Reminded me in some ways of Terry Pratchett's Nation (Printz Honor 2009) though more violent. Nation has an alternative universe island setting rather than dystopian future but both books are adventure/survival stories with a male character who is "native" helping a shipwrecked upperclass girl.

Instead I'd like to discuss Megan Whalen Turner's Conspiracy of Kings. It is the fourth book in The Queen's Thief series - and yes I've read them all, breaking my rule of "read the first in a series and move on". So this book clearly has the Berg seal of approval. I noticed my 21 year old niece (who is at the University of Maryland Baltimore on a full academic ride) reading it on the beach last summer. I picked it up and started reading it while she was out in the surf boogie boarding. When she finally got cold and came ashore she reclaimed the book. I stopped at the library on the way home.

Horn Book (March/April 2010) summarizes it like this. "In this eagerly awaited fourth novel set in a semi-classical world, Turner focuses on Sophos, prince of Sounis, who has been kidnapped by rebel barons in cahoots with the Persian-like Medes. First encountered in The Thief as blushing and inept, Sophos here gives his account of a momentous period of maturing: he becomes a slave, rescues his father from murderers, becomes king, falls in love, fights a war, and negotiates the difficult territory of state and personal relationships in order to establish his kingship." Yep that is what happens. Action, adventure and relationships. Really well written. Follett lists for grades 5-8, Booklist grades 7-10.

The Thief (1996)
The Queen of Attolia (2000)
The King of Attolia (2006)
Conspiracy of Kings (2010)

Realistic Fiction Continued

2011-04-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

I wanted to read something funny for this post since I've been reading lots of "heavy" problem-type novels for the James Cook Award committee. I decided on Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Kinney). Even though the series is mega-popular with kids, I've always viewed it as elementary fodder and never felt any great need to read it. However since Gretchen Yonata included the books in Dayton Metro's top YA circulated titles, I decided to read the first title. I was interested to see how a book can appeal to and be appropriate for readers in grades 3 - high school.

Written in diary form (though the reader is informed right up front that this is a JOURNAL not a sissy diary), Greg recounts daily life as a middle school student. He points out, "Let me just say for the record that I think middle school is the dumbest idea ever invented. You got kids like me who haven't hit their growth spurt yet mixed in with these gorillas who need to shave twice a day." Celebrating Halloween, wrestling in gym class, participating in the school play and the safety patrol, changing friendships - its all there. One thing is for sure: Greg will make dumb choices that seemed like a good idea at the time. The text is "hand lettered". The kid-like drawings that appear on every page make the book. The chapter are short. Lots of kids appeal.

To be honest, Wimpy Kid bored me as an adult reader (which brings up the question - why is it so hard to find funny teen titles??). But it's not about whether I like it - clearly kids do. Most reviews put it at grade 5-8 but I know younger kids enjoy too. It does surprise me that high school students would want to read it. For sure elementary and middle schools will need lots of copies of all the books in the series. Available in e-book format, different languages including simplified Chinese, audiobook - you name it. And of course there are the films - check out the movie Trailer

Realistic Fiction - almost perfect (Katcher)

2011-03-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

Logan's girlfriend of 3 years has just broken up with him. He's enduring his senior year at the small town Missouri high school that he attends, when a new girl shows up in his biology class. Sage is like no one Logan has know before. He really is attracted to her vivid, unconventional personality. He is shocked, disgusted, and angry when he learns that Sage was born a male (right after kissing her). The worse part is the worry that his own sexuality might be challenged. As he calms down he learns more about what Sage has gone through. From a very young age all she has wanted is to live as a girl. Logan realizes she needs a friend but he finds it hard to be there for her when she needs him.
Almost Perfect is an honest look at the rarely explored subject of transgender issues (Luna by Julie Ann Peters is another good one). As one reviewer noted, it is a pretty "clean" book for one that deals with sexuality and identity. There are some funny parts mixed in all the angst. It is written by a school librarian, Brian Katcher. I liked it a lot and have nominated it for this year's James Cook award. Winner of this year's Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award. I'd recommend it for high school and progressive middle school libraries.
I'm not sure that I would book talk except to individuals and small groups or mature classes that I knew well enough to be feel they could handle the topic.

Reading Encouragement

2010-06-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Students in our class have come up with many exciting ways to interest students in voluntary reading. I've given contact info for some of the ideas that may require some more explanation :-)

Book talks
Book clubs
Student book reviews - morning announcements, blogs, podcasts (Morgan), posted in library catalog (Denette)
Reader's theater
Displays - display case in hall, banned book week
Library webpages - top 10 lists, promote new books, newsletters
READ posters with teacher and favorite books
Student book talks - 1st person
Author studies/visits
"Book Fair" of library books (check out not sale) - MaryAnn
Reading incentive prizes
Culture Share of Literature - Nancy
Booktalks to Go (powerpoint/ book basket classroom visits)
SSR
Reading Aloud
Book Pass - Caryn
Whole school 1,000,000 pages read
After school book party
Book of the month voting
Sports corner with magazines, books, guest speaker - Bethley
Movie night
Speed dating books- Colleen, Lori
Read-aloud list for teachers
Question of the Week - Colleen
Shelf Talkers - Colleen
Technology Trance - Lori
YALSA's Top Ten - Jan
Great Works of Cow Literature - Jan
Trackstar Interactive Book Activity - Jan

Graphic novel: Stitches: A Memoir (Small)

2010-05-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

"If there’s any fight left in the argument that comics aren’t legitimate literature, this is just the thing to enlighten the naysayers." (Booklist starred review, July 2009).

David Small is a Caldecott Award winning illustrator (2001 Medal, So You Want to Be President? written by Judith St. George and 1997 Honor Book, The Gardener written by his wife Sarah Stewart). He also illustrated one of my daughter's favorite books when she was young, Imogene's Antlers. This is his memoir of growing up in Detroit with a mother who was cold and cruel and a distant physician father. It is bleak. It is horrible. The pictures add tremendous power to the story. The story is told in shades of gray: the father is always shown as smoking. His mother is scary. Almost as scary as HER mother who eventually locks her husband in a room and sets the house on fire (she is -thankfully- committed to a mental institution at this point). Small gets cancer from the X-Ray treatments his father gave him to treat his sinus problems as a young child. The growth on his throat was left for years before it was removed and cancer discovered. This story is bleak, bleak, bleak. Finally Small gets help from a psychologist who is drawn as a white rabbit (think Alice in Wonderland).

This is an adult book with appeal for high school students. It was on the Best Book for Young Adults and on the Alex Award List (books written for adults with appeal to YA). It was nominated for the National Book Award (Young Adult section). Readers with happy home situations will be reminded how lucky they are and become more aware of what terrible obstacles others may be facing. Readers who have their own difficulties at home may find hope in Small's ability to come to terms with his experiences. He is at his mother's bedside when she dies and forgives with a squeeze of a hand.

A powerful book.

multicultural - three cups of tea (Mortenson)

2010-05-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World -- One Child at a Time by Greg Mortenson, with coauthor David Oliver Relin, was the whole campus read at WSU this year. It is an important book that can be read by middle and high school students. It has been adapted for grades 3-6 (reading level 5.6) and also for K-3 in a picture book titled Listen to the Wind.

Mortenson first came to Pakistan to climb K2, the world's second-tallest peak. The attempt failed, and Mortenson's life was saved by villagers who found him and nursed him back to health. He vowed to return and build them a school - and thus begins the inspiring story how Mortenson managed to build 50 schools in rural Pakistan and Afganistan.The portraits of con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, village elders and ambitious school girls are compelling. There is plenty of suspense, at one point Mortenson is kidnapped. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and his coauthor Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls.

These books can help young people understand the culture of this part of the world and help them think critically about what is the best way to improve our relations with other countries. The books inspire too - showing that one very determined person can make a real difference. The book adapted for upper elementary focuses more on young people including the perspective of Mortenson's 12 year-old daughter who accompanied her father one of his trips. The picture book is close in content to the longer books but is written in the voice of the children in the first village where Mortenson was rescued and built his first school.

I don't know of many nonfiction adult titles that have been adapted for young readers like this one. Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth is the only one I can think of. I would introduce the book by talking about Korphe the small village in Pakistan where Mortenson was rescued and his work to provide a school for its children. I would start by asking students if they believed that one person could make a real difference in the world.

Poetry - how to (un)cage a girl

2010-05-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Edwards winner, Francesca Lia Block (Weetzie Bat) writes of love and sex, food and bulimia, and vampires and Hollywood in this small volume of autobiographical poetry. How to (un)cage a girl has 3 parts: "year at the asylum", "in the lair of the toxic blond", and "love poems for girls".

Fans of Block's books and "older angst-filled poetry readers" (if they are girls) will love these poems though some poems will be more appreciated by adult readers since they move far past teen territory to motherhood and marriage. A fan who met Block on her MySpace page helped create the photo on the book jacket.

A tasting:
from vampire in the city of the lost
once there were these two girls
   who were really bored
and they put on their shortest skirts
   and their highest heels
the ones that made their toes bleed
and they applied perfume to all their pulse points
and they went out into the shiny city
where they met this tall vampire with a shaved head
and a body tattooed with the stories of the centuries
and the face of a matinee idol
please please drink our blood they begged
tossing their hair away from their long swan necks
please make us into the immortal dead

from happi happi joy joy and sad in hawaii
...sad had heard that bit of folk wisdom--
if you knew you were going to die tomorrow
wouldn't you feel stupid for not eating more
   birthday cake
or, should it be added, going to Hawaii?--

Nonfiction - Charles and Emma Darwin

2010-05-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

Charles and Emma: the Darwin's Leap of Faith (Heiligman)
YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction 2010
Printz honor book 2010
National Book Award nominee 2009

To marry/not to marry - the first chapter opens with Charles Darwin, recently returned from his historic voyage on the Beagle, deciding whether to enter into matrimony. He has drawn a line down the middle of a page and is entering reasons pro and con for this big decision.

Happily he decides to marry and finds a wonderful partner in his cousin Emma. They have a long and happy marriage resulting in 10 children, mutual support and intellectual discussions. Emma is deeply religious. She was extremely close to a sister who dies and she looks forward to one day seeing her again in heaven. During their marriage, Charles doubts Biblical teaching more and more as he develops his theory of natural selection. This is a terrific biography based on Darwin family letters and papers. The reader learns much about Victorian life and how Darwin's scientific ideas developed. Darwin was very worried about how society would accept what he knew was a revolutionary theory. Actually by the time he went public with his ideas, it was accepted pretty easily. Interesting that it can still cause such a fuss today.

Probably not for everyone, but students who are interested in science should certainly be introduced to this excellent biography. All middle and high schools should own a copy.

Fantasy - Graceling (Cashore)

2010-04-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

Some people in Cashore's fantasy world have special "graces" or superhuman powers. Lady Katsa's grace seems to be killing. From early childhood, she has been feared. Now she is in the service of her uncle, the King, discouraging unrest by killing or maiming disloyal subjects. But Katsa isn't happy with this life. She has secretly formed a Council that seeks to right wrongs. Katsa meets (and fights) Po, a foreign prince who has a special grace of his own. Together they embark on a quest to rescue Po's cousin. Lots of action and romance. Katsa is a strong female character trying to figure out how to live with her grace. As the Booklist review notes "...from her first kill to her first experience of lovemaking, Katsa’s womanhood is integral to her character".

Graceling was Cashore's first published book. The prequel Fire came out this year. I really enjoyed Graceling and plan to read Fire this summer when I allow myself the luxury of reading related books (my general plan for trying to stay up with YA lit is to not read other books in a series, continually moving on to new authors, new series). Graceling is recommended for grades 8-12 and a good one to suggest to Tamora Pierce fans. It also reminds me of Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia books with their political intrigues. I would introduce it to students by describing when Katsa's grace is first identified: at age 8, a man tried to grope her and she struck him dead.

Mystery/Survival Adventure- The White Darkness

2010-04-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

Sym is obsessed with the Antarctic and the romantic figure of Captain Oates from Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole. But Uncle Victor is even more obsessed.

The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean, a British writer, won the 2008 Printz Award. It is both a mystery and a survival story. Teenage Sym heads off on a weekend trip to Paris with her mum and her dead father's business partner who she calls Uncle Victor. Somehow it turns into a trip to Antarctica while her mother is left in English searching for her passport - which Sym eventually finds in her Victor's raincoat pocket. Creepy hah? Other travelers on the luxury trip begin failing ill and dying and the rescue plane is blown up. Victor steals an all terrain vehicle and sets off across the frozen land with Sym, a filmmaker and his teenage son in search of the mythical Symmes's Hole. Soon Sym needs all her courage and survival skills.

Despite lots of action, this book is for better readers because of its sophisticated use of language and imagery. I liked it - not sure how popular it is with students.

Historical Fiction: Storm in the Barn (Phelan)

2010-04-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

This year's winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction is Matt Phelan's first graphic novel, The Storm in the Barn. It is a story of the Dust Bowl but much more. It is interesting how a graphic novel can pack in action and emotions. Jack is an 11 year-old boy living in Kansas in 1937. He hasn't seen rain since he was 7 years old. The story is told in dust colors, tans and grays, with other colors only used to emphasis something - blood or memories of green fields. Jack is small for his age, tormented by bullies, and considered useless by his frustrated father. His sister is suffering from dust pneumonia. When he begins to see flashes coming from an empty barn, he worries that he may have dust dementia. Here the realistic story moves into the folktale realm - a "Jack" tale of a brave boy who saves his family by facing a monster with courage and ingenuity.
Hstorical fiction, fantasy, action and aspects of a problem novel work altogether in a book that you can read in an hour. I like it because the emotion in this book is very real. I think middle school and even high school students who read this book will be left with a very distinct idea what it was like to live in this time of history. I would pair it with Out of the Dust (Hesse), one of my favorite historical fiction titles. That book is also a different sort of historical fiction since it is written in free verse. Both books involve you and make you appreciate the suffering of people at this time.

Realistic fiction - Punkzilla

2010-04-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

Punkzilla (Adam Rapp)
14 year-old runaway, Jamie (nicknamed Punkzilla because of his love of music), was living in a shelter in Portland, Oregon when he learned that his older brother was dying of cancer in Memphis. He sets off across country to be with his brother who had been exiled from the family after coming out of the closet. The story is told through stream-of-conscious letters that Jamie writes to his brother, interspersed with older letters from his family that he carries with him. Jamie has ADD and is physically immature for his age. He can't or won't live up to the expectations of his rigid, retired military father (the Major).

This is a very raw book to read. There is drug use, stealing, violence and sex. Jamie is living on the edge. The cover illustration is a good one - showing a vulnerable young person with a mask pushed up. The wearing of a mask happens in the story but it is also symbolic.

Punkzilla is a Printz Award honor book (2010). The author, Adam Rapp, is an accomplished playwright and screen writer. His young adult novels are bleak in their unflinching look at marginalized youth. Other titles are Under the Wolf, Under the Dog and 33 Blowfish.

2010 Printz Winner - Going Bovine

2010-03-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

Part road trip & part fantasy, tragic yet humorous and heartwarming- this year's Printz winner, Going Bovine by Libba Bray, is special. I had it sitting around for quite awhile before I started reading it - I think I was confused by the cover. But once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. I think older teens will feel the same way.

Cameron is a 16 year old slacker. His family is somewhat disfunctional and he is drifting though high school. Odd things begin happening to him and he is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob (Mad Cow) disease. In the hospital he meets Dulcie, an alluring angel and sets off on a wild road trip to save the world. Dulcie flits in and out of his life but he has a constant companion in Gonzo, a hypochondriac dwarf. It's a hallucinogenic event mixed with adventure from New Orleans to Disney World.

Readers will have to sort out what is real and what is dream but they will find the experience both fun and powerfully moving - my definition of a great YA book.

Wintergirls

2009-06-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

Thirty-three times Lia's estranged friend Cassie called her on that fateful night. Lia doesn't listen to the increasingly frantic messages until its too late. Cassie is found dead in a motel room, a victim of her eating disease. Lia is left with terrible pain and guilt that causes her anorexia and cutting habit to spin out of control.

Wintergirls is a chilling novel in which every piece of food eaten is listed by its calorie count. It is told in the first person in a stream of consciousness with parents referred to in parenthesis by their professional titles, crossed-out. There are blank pages. The self-loathing permeates.

This year's Edwards Award author Laurie Halse Anderson has chosen to write about a very serious problem. I kept wondering what teens who have eating diseases will think as they read it. Anderson indicated that she consulted with professionals who work with teens with eating disorders to be sure she portrayed the thinking realistically. As Publisher's Weekly (Jan. 26, 2009) put it, "As difficult as reading this novel can be, it is more difficult to put down." An important read for librarians and other adults.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

2009-05-25T04:33:00.000-07:00

I enjoy reading young adult historical fiction. In fact, now that I think about it, I enjoy reading all the genres when I'm reading books written for teens. This is interesting because, when it comes to adult fiction, I am much pickier. I read mostly mysteries and historical fiction with occasional ventures into realistic fiction and some poetry. In my teen reading, I especially enjoy fantasy and science fiction but I rarely read those genres in my adult reading. Correspondingly, I haven't found a teen mystery series that really engages me. Now that you have sampled the major genres of teen books, what genre did you especially enjoy?

This is all a lead-in to the fact that I am blogging about a book that isn't historical fiction. Hey, when you are the instructor, you can break the rules. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare is an urban fantasy that has been on the list of books that I want to read for some time. It was number 6 on ALA's 2008 Top Ten Teen Books. The second in this series (Mortal Instruments), City of Ashes, is nominated for 2009. You can learn how the list is created and see the other titles nominated for this year at:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/teenreading/teenstopten/teenstopten.cfm

Clary goes to an all-ages club with her friend Simon. There she witnesses a murder - but not your average murder. The attackers, she learns, are spectral Shadowhunters, charged with killing demonic creatures called Night Children. When Clary returns to her home, her mother is missing and the apartment has been tossed. Attacked by a horrible slithery beast, Clary winds up in The Institute where she learns that her mother (and her world) is not what she always believed. Vampires, werewolves, fairies, demons, and warlocks are everywhere and a giant struggle is going on to find the Mortal Cup. There is also a sexy love interest and fans of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series should like this. Reviewers have pointed out a parallel to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

PS- This week I also read a really good adult mystery - Look Again (Lisa Scottoline).

Multicultural

2009-05-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

Fourteen year old Kendra lives with her loving but very strict Nana in the Bronx. Her mother, who she calls Renee, is just finishing up her Ph.D. and starting her first teaching job. Kendra yearns to live with her and be a bigger part of her life. The abandonment and rejection she feels when her mother shows no sign of wanting her is searing. She becomes sexually involved with hot Nashawn who her best friend (and aunt) also has a crush on. She is ashamed yet excited by what she is doing with Nashawn (including oral and anal sex). When Nana discovers what is going on, she cries and says, "Why are you doing this? Why? I'd been doing so good with you, and now"... She shakes her head. "What did I do wrong this time?" (Renee was 14 when she became pregnant with Kendra). Nana insists that Renee take Kendra in. The first part of the book is very gritty and real feeling. In the final section of the book, Kendra and her mother come together, Nashawn and Kendra develop a relationship that is more than sex, and Kendra's best friend forgives her. This seems to me to be a bit too easy to be realistic.

Kendra is the second book by Coe Booth. The first book, Tyrell, was also critically acclaimed. In an interview in Teacher Librarian (April 2009), Booth was asked whether her books were too edgy for young readers. She answered that when she was a crisis intervention counselor, she made frequent home visits and got to see firsthand the chaos so many children and teens are living in. "All too often these teens are carrying adult burdens before they are ready. So I choose to write about teenagers in these situations because they exist and they are not often reflected in literature."Coe Booth communicates with her fans in various ways including Facebook and Twitter.

Nonficton - No Choirboy

2009-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

No Choirboy by Susan Kuklin

In an Booklist interview (9/15/08), Susan Kuklin said she originally planned that the book would be about capital punishment. However, "As I began writing, violence became the thread that held the book together. All three inmates grew up witnessing or being the direct recipients of acts of violence. Then they themselves committed their own violent acts. Now they will spend the rest of their lives in a very, very violent place."

Kuklin devoted 5 years to researching this book. She interviewed three prisoners who were given death-row sentences when they were teenagers. Most of the book consists of the prisoner's own words from the interview transcripts. She said it was very difficult to write because she had promised their attorneys not to discuss the crimes (their cases were still under appeal) and she promised her publisher not to use too much "legalese". She also interviewed the family of a man who was executed in 2002 for a murder he committed when he was 17 years old. The final chapters are interviews with the family of a murdered teen and a capital appellate lawyer who was the attorney of two of the interviewed inmates.

This book demonstrates the power of quality nonfiction. It is not a balanced overview of capital punishment in the Opposing Viewpoints series mode. It is not a website where a student gathers information and spits it back in a report. It is a book that gives insight and provokes thinking.

Note: The inmates interviewed are off death-row today because the Supreme Court ruling in 2002 (Atkins v. Virginia) that juveniles cannot be given the death penalty.

Teen Love Poems

2009-05-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

When I was at Fairview Middle in Dayton, there was a girl who asked me several times for love poems. I wish I'd had this book then. Partly Cloudy: Poems of Love and Longing (Soto) is divided into two parts. The first part are poems told from the girl's point of view (A Girl's Tears, Her Songs) and the second from the boy's (A Boy's Body, His Words). Poetry is free verse and explores jealousy, tenderness, fear of rejection, joy, breaking up, humor.

Don't You See

If only you would turn
And see me. I think I am nice.

And you're nice too.
Doesn't that mean we are compatible?

And look! We go to the same
School, at the same hour,

And under the same sun.
The blossoms are fluttering

From the fruitless cherry tree.
Is this fruitless? I'm flying

In and out of your shadow,
Stepping up steps,

Down steps, slowing
For water at the drinking fountain,
And bending over to tie my shoe.

If only you would turn
And see me

Seeing you.

Graphic Novel

2009-04-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

To dance: a ballerina's graphic novel (Siena Cherson Siegel with artwork by her husband Mark Siegel) is a memoir of one girl's life in dance as she trained to be a professional. Siena attended the School of American Ballet in the 1970s when the great George Balanchine reigned. I loved the graphic novel format for this book. The joy and pain shine through the spare words and lively art. For such a little book (you can read it in 30 minutes) there is a lot of information about the world of ballet as well as a character who you can care about. I think it would be enjoyed by upper elementary through high school - mostly by girls.

Nation

2009-04-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

This 2009 Printz Honor book is a terrific adventure story but much more. In an alternative universe in the age of the great sailing ships, a tsunami wipes out the people of a tiny island that proudly calls itself The Nation. Only Mau survives. Shipwrecked on the island is an English girl who is unknowingly in line to inherit the British throne. This book is a survival story - a story of culture class between native people and Europeans. It is also a story about religious belief as Mau struggles to align the beliefs of his people and the eternal question: why does God(s) allow bad things to happen to innocent people? Why did I survive?
Oh and did I mention there is a little romance? Teens should enjoy this one.

The Big Splash

2009-04-12T11:09:00.001-07:00

The Big Splash (Ferraiolo) is a mystery that only a middle schooler could love. It's a tongue-in-cheek "tough guy" mystery. Matt Stevens is a private investigator who takes a job from Vinny who runs a 7th grade organized crime organization specializing in forged hall passes, test copying, and black market candy. Vinny's former partner, Nikki, helped him come to power by taking out the bullies with well-placed squirt gun shots causing such humiliation that the bullies become social outcasts. Nikki has retired - but then she is hit. Can Matt find out who did it?

Actually I really meant it when I said this is a mystery only a middle schooler could love. I had to force myself to finish it. But VOYA (Feb. 2009) named it one of the top five "Top Shelf Books for Middle School Students" and it is nominated for the 2009 Edgar Award in the YA category.

What I Saw and How I Lied

2009-04-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

The most sophisticated mystery I read recently, by far, is this year's National Book Award winner for young adults: What I Saw and How I Lied (Blundell). The story takes place post-WWII. Evie is an insecure teen who is vacationing with her parents in a mostly deserted hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. The story revolves around a terrible secret somehow connected to her step-father and the handsome young ex-GI that Evie has been flirting with. This is a mystery but also a coming of age story that explores socioeconomic class and anti-Semitism. This book has a "noir" flavor and will be enjoyed by teen girls who would appreciate a stylish, atmospheric mystery that ends with some ambiguity.

2009 Edwards Winner

2009-04-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

This year's Margaret Edwards winner is Laurie Halse Anderson. The award honors an author and specific titles for lasting contribution to young adult literature. “Laurie Halse Anderson masterfully gives voice to teen characters undergoing transformations in their lives through their honesty and perseverance while finding the courage to be true to themselves,” said Edwards Committee Chair David Mowery.

She is an interesting writer because she writes very emotionally involving contemporary realistic fiction (Speak, Wintergirls, Twisted, Catalyst, Prom), historical fiction (Fever 1793, Chains) and even nonfiction history (Independent Dames: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution). Usually YA authors seem to stick with one genre. In an interview in the journal, Teacher Librarian (Dec.2008, p.70-71), Halse Anderson says, "I write the stories that I can hear in my heart."

I've read several of her books. I have a reserve in with Dayton Metro Library to get an audio version of her latest title, Wintergirls.

You can learn more about this important author by visiting her website
or reading her blogs

Welcome

2009-03-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to EDT763. If you like to read, you will really enjoy this course. You will learn about the wide range of literature that is being written for teens and have a chance to read some really great books. I look forward to reading your blogs!

2008-05-31T05:41:00.000-07:00

I agree with the review in Horn Book that says, "Though the lengthy analyses on everything from female body image to Palestinian food give the book more message than momentum, the girls' thoughts and dreams are authentically adolescent, providing a bridge between cultures -- as the author clearly intends."

Death of Jason Porter

2008-05-31T05:16:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned during Jaime Adoff's visit, I picked up this book several times before really getting into it. It wasn't that I didn't like it - it was just that I'd read so many "problem novels" recently that I wasn't in the mood for more misery. Having worked with urban young people recently, I feel their difficulties particularly keenly. But I am glad I finally did settle down and read the book. Jaime's language is always very expressive. This book is well plotted with a satisfying (if not entirely realistic) ending. He has definitely stepped up here - this book is for a more mature reader than his other books and includes some sex and drug use besides the physical abuse and suicide attempt. I'm so glad that you all got to meet Jaime - he is a terrific writer and a fun guy for sure! The Booklist review commented, "It’s a hard book to read, and even harder to put down."

Poetry

2008-05-14T12:28:00.001-07:00

I enjoyed preparing for this class. There are so many terrific poetry books available in such a variety of formats. I wish there were more audio recordings of poetry available. Searching the Dayton Metro and OhioLink catalogs didn't yield anything I wanted to listen to.

More historical fiction

2008-04-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

I'm listening to Spite Fences by Trudy Krisher, an terrific author who lives in our area. It different than I expected, dealing frankly with strong issues of racism and family abuse. It takes place just before the American Civil Rights Movement in a small town in Georgia. The main character, Magnolia April Pugh (Maggie) is a strong, spunky character.

historical fiction

2008-04-28T06:34:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a bit ahead. Just finished Coffin Quilt by Ann Rinaldi. It's about the infamous feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys. It was interesting. The clans, one living in Kentucky and one living just across the border in W.Virginia, carried on open warfare - shooting each other on sight, going on raids, burning houses. We follow the story from the perspective of the youngest McCoy, Fanny. It is a an interesting book with the central organizing motif of the coffin quilt: a quilt that is more of a family record than a bed covering.

2008-04-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not much of a fan personally of "spooky" books but many teens really enjoy them. Unsophisticated readers often enjoy the Goosebump series. I have been wanting to read Coraline by Neil Gaiman because Neil Gaiman is such a huge name in YA lit (he is often mentioned by other writers as being an inspiration). Coraline is a short book and I read it in an afternoon. It IS creepy with the "other mother" and the parallel world she has created. That hand thing at the end probably has resulted in a few nightmares... And those button eyes...

Then there are the vampire books. I like Stephanie Meyers' highly popular Twilight series - but they are really more like romance or suspense than of the horror genre. Klause's Silver Kiss was good too. Am now reading Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. His books are popular with the teens in my family- they refer to them as urban fantasy. I love his Uglies, Pretties, Specials series (broke my rule about only reading one book in the series). But this one - I don't know.

2008-04-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

It was a nice change of pace to move from reading edgy problem novels (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Fanboy and Gothgirl, Fat Kid Rules the World) to a sweet sports novel: Mike Lupica's New Your Times best selling Heat. This is a terrific baseball story but also a heart warming story of a Cuban immigrant family with lots of good guys.

What am I reading?

2008-04-08T11:16:00.001-07:00

Realistic fiction that I have been reading this past week includes Fat Boy Rules the World (Going) and Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Nicolson) - very different books. Fat Boy is definitely on the edgy side. Angus? Think Bridget Jones Diary for teens. Just started Postcards From No Man's Land (Chambers).

Student Blogs

2008-04-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

I have been very pleased with the blogs that have been started. Last time I taught this course I had students submit book "notes" that I didn't read until they were submitted at the end of the course. I think the use of blogs is going to be much more interactive and should result in some good discussion.
If any of you are having difficulties setting up your blogs don't hesitate to contact me or one of the students who have already "taken the leap"!
Thanks for being pioneers.

WSU EDT763 Blog

2008-04-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

I am excited to try using blogging for our class in Young Adult literature. I look forward to reading your blogs!