My Brother Charlie

 by Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete

 

Category:  Multi-cultural, Autism, Special Needs Text

Age Range:  All ages

Publisher/Year:  Scholastic Books/2010

Genre:  Realistic Fiction/Autobiographical

Award:  International Reading Association Teacher’s Choice Book, 2011

Pages: 40

Summary:  My brother Charlie is about a boy with autism, told from his twin sister’s point of view.  She describes how hard it is for her brother to make friends and show love, but knows how to do so many things.

Comments:  A beautifully written story highlighting the struggles and exceptional characteristics that children with Autism possess go through in their daily lives.  My Brother Charlie was written by Ryan Elizabeth Peete who is the twin of a brother with Autism, she wanted to tell the story from her  point of view.  Ryan wrote this story with her mother.  The pictures are wonderful as well as the story.

Classroom Application:   I would use this story in any classroom to draw attention to strengths that Autistic children have, helping to better understand others.  If a class has experience with students with Autism, this is a powerful book to use when trying to explain the complexities of Autism to young children.  One way to use this book is to ask students to create a list of things they are good at and than a list of things that they are hard.  Each list will be different, but each has a list, just like students with Autism.  My Brother Charlie highlights the strengths that Charlie has as well as those that he struggles with.  All students can relate!

Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began

 by Art  Spiegelman

Category:  Graphic Novel

Age Range:  Middle School – High School

Publisher/Year:  Pantheon Books/1991

Genre:  Historical fiction

Award:   1992 – Pulitzer Prize Special Letter Award

Pages:   144

Summary:  This book is a continuation of Maus I.  The first book leaves off when Artie’s father Vladek is taken to Auschwitz.  This book begins with Auschwitz and describes how Vladek was able to survive in the concentration camps.  The book ends when Vladek and is wife, Anya are reunited.

Throughout the story, Artie (author), struggles to figure out his relationship with his father, Vladek.  This is an interesting parallel storyline, as you understand more about Vladek’s life now and how his previous experiences changed his life today.

Comments:  As with Maus I, was captivated by the story and imagery.  I didn’t realize how engaging a graphic novel can be before I began Maus I, after Maus II, I felt I had a better handle on reading both the pictures and the words.  Art Speigelman’s use of animals to depict different races was unique and genius.  As this book takes you “inside” a concentration camp, it represents a reconstructed view.  I highly recommend this book!

Classroom Application:  This gives a nearly first-hand account of life inside occupied Poland and can offer students a different viewpoint than what is in their history books.  Discussion and writing prompts could follow the reading of this book.  Maus I and II could not only be used in a history class, but also in a Language Arts classroom when studying/learning about graphic novels.  I would also have this as a choice book in my classroom library for those students that are drawn to graphic novels.

Catching Fire, (Hunger Games Series, Book 2)

by Suzanne Collins

Category:  Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Award Winner

Age Range:   Middle School – High School

Publisher/Year:  Scholastic/2010

Genre:  Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Pages:   391

Warning!  If you haven’t finished Book 1 in the Trilogy, don’t read this post!

Summary:   Catching Fire picks up where the Hunger Games left off, with Peetah and Katniss trying to figure out their relationship.  This book reintroduces Katniss and Peetah with their families and their new lives as District 12 Tributes.  Peetah and Katniss are forced to live out their lives as star-crossed-lovers, when they get word from Haymitch that the Capital is onto their trick during the Games.  President Snow sees their attempted suicide in the arena as a rebellious act.  Katniss is challenged to figure out her true feelings for Gale, her best friend from childhood, and Peetah.  The first part of this book is her struggle with these feelings.

Katniss also comes to realize that her Mockingjay pin has become a symbol of unity across the districts.  As Peetah and Katniss proceed with the Victory Tour of all the districts, they begin to realize that rebels are trying to fight for freedom from the capital.

The end leaves you hanging!  There are too many details that I don’t want to write … I don’t want to ruin any surprises!

Comments:  I struggled with the summary above, as I don’t want to give anything away!  My personal opinion was that the beginning of the book wasn’t as captivating as the first book, but picks up significantly in the middle.  Again, I could not put this book down and found it difficult to find a place to stop, as it engages the reader through the end.  Suzanne Collins has a way of writing that leaves you wanting more at the end of each chapter.  I found that I had to stop in the middle of the chapter to sleep!  As with the first book, the end has a ‘leave you hanging’ ending which left me eagerly anticipating the arrival of the third book, Mockingjay.  Please do yourself a favor and have Mockingjay ‘at the ready’ so that you don’t have to wait!

Classroom Application:   I wouldn’t use this book to teach a specific reading strategy, but would have it as a choice book in middle/high school classrooms.  I would be cautious about the maturity level of students before recommending.  Some students are able to handle the content, while others may not be ready.  Because of the suspense and intriguing plot, this book has the ability to engage even the most reluctant readers.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

by Sherman Alexie

Category:  Multicultural

Author:  Sherman Alexie

Publisher/Year:  Little Brown Books for Young Readers/2009 

Genre:  Realistic fiction

Award:   National Book Award – Young People’s Literature (2007), School Library Journal’s Best Books of 2007, California Young Reader Medal (2010)

Pages:   288

Summary:   Arnold Spirit (Junior) grew up on the Spokane Reservation, as he calls it the ‘Rez’.  He was born with water on his brain, thus was bullied everyday of his young life.  He has one best friend, Rowdy, who sticks up for him.  He finds himself in many fights and battles issues such as; gambling, alcohol and poverty.  Junior’s family, as well as the other families on the rez is extremely poor.  The school is also lacking resources, but Junior is smart.  He decides to transfer to the public high school off the rez in Reardon.  All of the students are white; in fact the only Indian is the mascot of the school.  Junior has a hard time ‘fitting in’ as he is the only Indian at Reardon and ‘the Indian that left the rez.’  Rowdy even refuses to speak to or see him.  He is treated as a traitor on the rez.

Junior tries out for the basketball team at Reardon and makes it.  He becomes a standout basketball player and has to face his former high school on the rez with his team from Reardon.   Junior uses his humor and sketches to get through all of the tough times in his life.  He has a strong desire to break the cycle of poverty that he sees on the rez and lead a better life for himself.

Comments:   I truly enjoyed this book and could see how a thirteen year-old boy could identify with the main character, Junior.  The book has crude humor, swearing and violence, but not unnecessarily so.  It was just enough to make it funny and interesting.  I feel that reluctant readers would really enjoy reading this book, as it is a fast read, but very interesting with a powerful message of hope.  Sherman Alexie offers an alternative viewpoint and an insight into life on a ‘rez’.

Classroom Application:  I don’t think that I would use this book to ‘teach’ but to have as a choice book and would not hesitate to recommend it to reluctant readers.  It would be important to make sure that a student’s level of maturity is appropriate.   Students that choose to read this book, could have great discussion about stereotypes and whether or not they could do what Junior did – leave their comfort zone in pursuit of their dream.

The following video is a Book Trailer that I found on YouTube.  It was very well done!

Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History

 by Art  Spiegelman

Category:  Graphic Novel

Age Range:  Middle School – High School

Publisher/Year:  Pantheon Books/1986

Genre:  Historical fiction

Award:   1992 – Pulitzer Prize Special Letter Award

Pages:   159

Summary:   The author tells his father’s survival story as a Jew in Nazi occupied Poland.  Artie visits his ailing father to interview him for the book he is writing about the Holocaust.  Artie’s father is remarried to another Holocaust survivor and it isn’t until the middle of the book that you find out what happened to Artie’s mother.  The mice are the Jews, the Germans are cats and the Poles are pigs.  The pictures tell their own story, as well as add to the words.

Artie’s father begins when “things were good” in Poland and he was working in textiles.  This leads to how his father and mother met, their marriage and the birth of their children.  The story then turns to when the Germans began to invade Poland.  Artie’s parents and in-laws try to survive by hiding, bribing and cunning their way to safety.  Obviously, the protagonist, Artie’s father survives, as he is telling the story, which almost makes it bearable to read.  The story ends when his father is taken to Auschwitz.

Comments:   This was my first time reading a graphic novel.  I wasn’t thrilled to begin, but after a few pages I was completely drawn in to the story.  The pictures tell their own story and have such deep symbolism that rereading will surely provide more details than I picked up on the first time.  The topic of the story is tough to read, but an important part of the world’s history.  I was moved to tears during many parts of the book.

Classroom Application:  This gives a nearly first-hand account of life inside occupied Poland and can offer students a different viewpoint than what is in their history books.  Discussion and writing prompts could follow the reading of this book.  Maus could not only be used in a history class, but also in a Language Arts classroom when studying/learning about graphic novels.  I would also have this as a choice book in my classroom library for those students that are drawn to graphic novels.

Witness

by Karen Hesse

Category:  Poetic Prose

Age Range:  Middle School – High School

Publisher/Year:  Scholastic/2003

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Pages:   176

Summary:   The Klu Klux Klan invades a small Vermont town and tries to sway residents to join their ‘cause.’  The novel, written in poetic prose, tells the stories of twelve residents of the small town from their points of view.  Each event that happens is written in the first person, from the viewpoints of the characters involved.

Comments:   When I first heard that one of the requirements was to read Poetic Prose, I was quite disappointed, as poetry is my least favorite to read.  I must have had a negative experience when I was in school.  After reading this text, I have since ordered another of Karen Hesse’s books, Out of the Dust.  I thought this was an easy read and found that I wanted to read other character’s perspectives of certain events.

Classroom Application:  Great to teach poetic prose to students, or writing one event through differing perspectives.  This would be a great text to use in a middle school or high school classroom, as some of the events are graphic, posing unease for a less mature audience.  You could use this not only in language arts, but also in a content course, such as social studies when studying racial oppression.

Please Stop Laughing at Me

by Jodee Blanco

Category:  Autobiography/Bio/Memoir

Author:  Jodee Blanco

Publisher/Year:  Adams Media/2003

Genre:  Memoir/Autobiography

Pages:  304

Summary:   Jodee’s story begins with many friends and happy times during her early elementary school years and takes a turn for the worse when her ‘friends’ begin to pick on her for working with disabled students.  Jodee’s ‘friends’ pick on the students and tell her that she cannot be a friend with them if she continues working with the disabled students.  Jodee complies at first and than when she begins to miss her friends from the other class the torment of her classmates begins.

She is shunned, harassed, and abused both physically and emotionally nearly every day of her schooling.  Jodee’s parents talk with the principals, teachers, other parents and even seek psychiatric help for Jodee.  The family moves to a new neighborhood and allow her to change schools multiple times to escape the torment.  She attends both public and private schools and has no escape in any of the different settings.  One of the objects of her torment is that she has a breast deformity that she desperately tries to hide from her classmates.  When she has surgery and attends a writing camp the summer before her senior year of high school, she begins to feel better about her chances and can’t wait to begin college.  She finally sees a ‘way out’ of the torture.  Jodee is now a motivational speaker and is often asked to speak at schools to talk about bullying.

Comments:   I read some comments about this book before I purchased on Amazon.  It was interesting to read what others said and I can see both sides.  Some reviewers mentioned that Jodee missed chances to be friends with others, because she was always trying to break into the “popular crowd.”  At times I felt that way, but nonetheless, she was physically and emotionally abused.  Whether or not she was “out of her league” trying to make friends, she was tormented.  That is inexcusable.  Bullying is at the height of conversations in schools lately.  This book is a first had account and makes it ‘real.’

Classroom Application:  This book could be used in a classroom setting, as a autobiography/memoir.  Again, the topic of bullying is something that many school districts are working to extinguish.  This book helps parents; teachers and other school personnel see that bullying can happen everywhere.  This could also be a launch to deep discussions about bullying.

Schools could also create service projects to help bring Jodee to their school as a keynote speaker.  Having this book as a discussion tool could help curb bullying.

Hunger Games, (Book 1)

Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

Category:  Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Award Winner

Age Range:   Middle School – High School

Publisher/Year:  Scholastic/2010

Genre:  Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Award:  The New York Times Notable Children’s Book of 2008, Golden Duck Award in the Young Adult Fiction Category (2009), Cybil Winner (2008), School Library Journal’s Best Books 2008, California Young Reader Medal (2011).

Pages:   384

Summary:   Set in futuristic North America, the story is told from a young girl’s perspective.  The countryis divided into 13 districts, all oppressed by the Capitol district.  The capitol sets up a ‘fight to the death’ Hunger Games and televises it live to all residents, forcing them to watch every last second.  This is to remind all of the residents that the capitol is all-powerful and to never try to overthrow the government.

The story begins with Katniss, a young girl in one of the districts, who in order to protect her sister from having to fight, enlists herself to participate in the Hunger Games.  She is paired with a young boy with whom she knows from school and her younger days.  The book chronicles their travel, preparation and participating in the Hunger Games, highlighting the vast differences between the Capitol and the surrounding districts.  The actual Hunger Game is the highlight of the story, in which Katniss and other district drafts compete to the death.  The end is a cliffhanger!  Have the second book, Catching Fire, in the queue.  That way you won’t have to wait to read the second book, which you will want to!

Comments: I could not put this book down and found it difficult to find a place to stop, as it engages the read through the end.  The end has a ‘leave you hanging’ ending which immediately had me purchasing the next two books in the series!  Do yourself a favor and have the second book, Catching Fire, in the queue.  That way you won’t have to wait!

Classroom Application:  I don’t know that I would use this book to teach, but would have it as a choice book in middle/high school classrooms.  I would be cautious about the maturity level of students before recommending.  Some students are able to handle the content, while others may not be ready.  Because of the suspense and intriguing plot, this book has the ability to engage even the most reluctant readers.

The following is a YouTube video of the March 2012 Movie Trailer.  Enjoy~

Chinese Cinderella

by Adeline Yen Mah

Category:  International, Multicultural, Memoir

Age Range:  High School

Publisher/Year:  Delacorte Press (Random House Children’s Books)/1999

Genre:  Memoir/Autobiographical

Award:   ALA-YALSA (American Library Association – Young Adult Library Services Association) Best Book for Young Adults, Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year

Pages:   205

Summary:   A coming of age book for a young Chinese girl in China in the 1940s.  Her mother dies giving birth to Adeline, which causes her family to believe she will bring ‘bad luck’ to all of them.  When her father remarries she is basically shunned in her own home.  She and her siblings are treated very poorly, while her stepsiblings are spoiled.  Everything that goes wrong for the family is blamed on Adeline.  She makes her way through school at the top of her class, but has a hard time keeping friendships, as her parents have a tight rein on her freedom.  All of her prizes and accomplishments in school go unnoticed by her family, except for her beloved Aunt Baba and grandfather, who were also shunned by the stepmother.  During the story, her family moves to Shanghai to hide during the Japanese invasion during WWII.  Her family sends her to live in an orphanage with nuns while her family is “on the run.”  They disown Adeline.  She continues to defy the odds and continues to earn awards for her schooling.  The story tells of her rise from the hatred of her family to become successful.

Comments:  I enjoyed the history of the book, recognizing many events from history classes.  The book is rich with Chinese culture.  I was inspired by Adeline’s ability to preserve through the conditions that her family put her through.

Classroom Application:  Classrooms studying Chinese culture would benefit from reading this book, or portions.  I would also have this as a choice book in a high school classroom.  It allows for rich discussion of perseverance and determination.

Esperanza Rising

by Pam Munoz Ryan

Category:  Reconstructive, Award Winner, International, Content Course, Multicultural

Age Range:  Upper elementary – middle school

Publisher/Year:  Scholastic, Inc./2000

Genre:  Realistic fiction

Award:   Pura Belpre Award

Pages:   262

Summary:   A young girl of privilege in Mexico suffers a series of tragic events (her father’s death and her plantation burning).  She is forced to leave the only country and way of life she has ever known.  She moves to the United States and lives under conditions that are worse than the conditions her servants lived in Mexico.  This story tells of a young girl’s journey into young adulthood during the Great Depression.  Esperanza faces racism from a firsthand account.  Spanish traditions and language are incorporated in this moving text.

Comments:   I enjoyed reading this story and felt like cheering on Esperanza throughout.  Pam Munoz Ryan, as a tribute, wrote this story to her grandmother.  Through stories passed down by her grandmother, Ryan ‘filled in the details’ with her own interpretations.

Classroom Application:  This could be used as a read aloud in upper elementary and middle school classrooms, as well as used for literature circles.  This is a great text to use when teaching of oppression or having students sees what the world may be like for others.  Students could have great discussion about feelings of oppression as well as a text to use when learning about the Great Depression from a different perspective, a Mexican-American working in the fields.