Posted by: smizerak on: July 15, 2009
It is official: I am now a Laurie Halse Anderson junkie. I have really enjoyed any book I have ever read by her and Speak is a great example of why.
Melinda goes to a huge summer bash with one of her best friends right before starting their freshmen year in high school. Melinda feels so cool being at the big party with all the high school kids. She has a few beers and starts to feel tipsy. Andy, a handsome football player even starts flirting with her. One thing leads to another and ultra-cool Andy turns into a monster. Melinda tries to fight back but in her drunken state is unable to find the words and her voice. She tries to scream, “No!” but nothing comes out. She returns to the party and immediately calls 911 but is still in shock and rendered speechless. She says nothing, so the police show up and many of the students get busted. Melinda escapes the police and walks home only to find her house empty and her parents mysteriously missing. Her parents don’t come home until very late in separate vehicles raising suspicions that there may be trouble in her parents’ already strained marriage. Melinda immediately becomes an outcast and is blamed for the bust. She loses all of her friends and no one knows what has happened to her.
Melinda, still grieving over the rape and unable to find the words to talk about it with anyone, starts school as an outcast. High school is hard enough and Melinda is going
through what many high school freshmen go through. On top of things, her relationship with her parents is strained as her parents seem to fight frequently. She is also unsure as to the mystery of where her parents had been on that night of the party so she doesn’t want to talk about it.
Her story is easy for teens to relate to because at the base of this, Melinda is dealing with regular high school stuff that many teens have to deal with. Sometimes you wake up one day and it feels like your best friend has morphed into someone else overnight. Only for Melinda, there is this added layer to her angst because of this terrible secret that is weighing on her soul. She has no friends except for social butterfly wannabe Heather whom Melinda finds fake and in genuine. Melinda keeps quiet and just takes in all that goes on around her trying not to be noticed. She sees no point in going out on a limb to be social or make friends. She is still very much affected by the rape and needs help but will not ask for it. She gets more and more silent as the school year goes on. Her grades slip and she cuts class to hide in the janitor’s closet. Even her parents notice she is barely speaking.
What Melinda does find is an outlet in her art class with Mr. Freedman. Mr. Freedman challenges Melinda artistically and she slowly starts to use this outlet as way of working through her issues. Her “tree” assignment leads to some introspective examinations of her home life and although she receives praise for some of her work, she is always left challenged to push herself further.
The story is written in a very engaging way. At first you aren’t really sure as the reader why Melinda is such a social outcast. Slowly little pieces of the puzzle come together until you learn for certain all the details of her rape. Melinda’s ex-best friend starts dating Andy the “IT” but when she tries to warn Rachel/Rochelle she is only called a jealous liar. You keep reading to find out exactly what will happen as Andy starts to pop up around school harassing Melinda while dating Rochelle. Everything finally comes out during a heated confrontation in Melinda’s janitor closet while Andy attacks her for a second time. It is during this time, and after lasting the entire school year with barely speaking, that Melinda screams for her life and fights back. She yells “No!” and screams for help and even manages to fend off Andy with a shard of broken mirror. Her fighting attracts the attention of the nearby lacrosse team who come to her aid. By the end of the book Melinda has decided she is ready to talk about what she has gone through and start to process her feelings. She has even started to branch off and make a few friends by the end of the book. After receiving her final art class grade the story ends with her about to open up to Mr. Freedman about all that has happened to her this year.
Even though this covers very gritty and serious subject matter, the book itself can be very funny at times. Melinda is incredibly dark and cynical. She is quite intelligent and witty. She makes incredibly detailed and astute observations about the world around her in which she chooses not to speak. She names teachers “Hairwoman” and “Mr. Neck” and “Principal Principal”. She is almost an anti-hero hero that I feel many teens would relate to. Some might even consider her borderline “emo”. She has a no-nonsense attitude about the ridiculousness of high school clichés and social standings after her ordeal at the party. She misses her old friends and wants to fit in but at the same time views the clichés at school with disdain. Her comments are very sarcastic but also spot-on as far as sounding like an accurate teenaged loner. It would be a good read for noncommitted readers because the story keeps moving at a nice pace with short chapters and the author chooses to use interesting chapter headings rather than numbers.
I am not sure why the cover has a photo of a girl with two different colored eyes. I am not sure if this is something I missed in the story about Melinda or if it is supposed to represent something about her. I am also astounded at how well this author can get into teen heads and accurately portray very real teens, with very real problems. She can accurately portray teenagers whether they are boys like Tyler in “Twisted”, girls like Melinda in “Speak” or a bulimics like Lia in “Wintergirls”. I think teens would appreciate the characters that Anderson creates as well and be able to relate to their problems while also learning something through her stories as they always seem to have a moral.
Posted by: smizerak on: July 15, 2009
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Published by Dutton Books, New York: 2006
215 pgs.
Recommended reading age: 15 and up
VOYA rating: 3P, 3Q
I really loved Looking for Alaska so I jumped at the chance to read some new characters from the head of John Green. I was interested to see how completely different this book was compared to the very serious and somber world of Looking for Alaska. It is a very humorous read with lots of great dialog between two newly graduated friends, Colin and Hassan but I was still slightly disappointed.
Colin is a “prodigy”, not a genius. Clearly being told that he was prodigy and being incredibly good at useless things has messed with Colin’s psyche. Although Colin is incredibly good at things like learning languages and anagramming things, he isn’t very good at coming up with original ideas and thoughts. He still hasn’t had his “Eureka” moment and fears he never will. To be praised as a prodigy at a young age and then growing up to produce nothing of merit has left Colin feeling inadequate and depressed. Colin instead tries to find happiness in other ways like dating. For poor Colin though, the dating scene is difficult. Since his anagramming fetish has caused him to be attracted to “Katherines” Colin keeps coming across them and every time, he gets dumped. The day after graduating from high school and on the cusp of his future, Colin is dumped again for the 19th time and this time it stings worse than normal. Colin is truly in love and infatuated with this Katherine. Colin is left utterly heartbroken by Katherine the 19th.
In an attempt to take his mind off things and get Colin out of a funk, best friend Hassan (who by the way, is not a terrorist) shows up to wish Colin away on a random road trip. What happens next is a strange series of events that are at some time boring but other times hilarious. Hassan and Colin wind up meeting Lindsey, a young store clerk in Gutshot, and before they know it, they are staying with her and her mother being paid to help do research about Gutshot. Colin also finally has his own Eureka moment and he decides to formulate a theory that will mathematically determine whether or not a person is a dumper or a dumpee. The trio gets into a few madcap adventures, one that involves a crazed “feral pig”. They also have some more tame adventures that involve learning about the history of Gutshot through the townspeople as slowly Lindsey and Colin start to get closer and closer. Colin finds himself attracted to Lindsey even though he still keeps thinking about Katherine the 19th and obsessed with his formula.
The story deals a lot with teen friendships and teen relationships during that weird time just after graduation but right before moving off into the world on your own. It is a time that older teens deal with and can struggle with because you are leaving one part of your life behind to go of and do something new and sometimes scary. For Colin, it takes the persistence of his best friend to get him out into the world and out of his depression. Parts of this novel drag and got boring for me to read but then there would always be this hilarious dialog going on to keep me with the story.
Something that rally bothered me to no end was the use of the word “fug” which is consistently used in place of the real “f-bomb”. I was confused and bewildered as Colin and Hassan would use every other swear word in the book but “fuck”. It was utterly ridiculous. It made me want to stop reading the book. I was only able to get over the use of the word “fug” because about halfway through the book the word “fug” is explained.
According to the book, Norman Mailer had gotten in trouble with a publisher once for using the word “fuck” too many times. So to mess with his publisher, he went back and changed all the “fucks” to “fugs”. In An Abundance of Katherines, it is explained that Hassan and Colin found this so hilarious that they in turn decided to only use the word “fug”. Once I got to this part it didn’t bother as much but it was still annoying. They didn’t slip up once! Not even during a fist-fight that leaves both Hassan and Colin badly bruised. I kept thinking of all the negativity and controversy that surrounded Looking for Alaska after it won the Printz award and how some people wanted it banned from bookshelves for its realistic language and content. I couldn’t help but wonder if the use of “fug” was a direct hit at those critics and publishers who didn’t appreciate the authentic language and swearing that he included in that book. If this is true then John Green succeeded in making those critics look just as “mother-fugging” ridiculous as the word “fug” itself.
I wouldn’t suggest this book to a reluctant or noncommitted reader because of all the graphs and footnotes. I can appreciate a good footnote but they got a little too boring after awhile. I still read them but I found myself skimming over them rather quickly. I also got bored with the graphs. Some readers really enjoy this type of nonlinear story telling so for that clientele this would be a great book. Since there wasn’t a lot of action in the book I felt that the copious graphs and footnotes only made the story drag.
I agree with what was said in class about the cover of this book. It looked too girly when this is a story that would really be more relatable to guy readers. The girly rainbow cover was not a good idea.
Posted by: smizerak on: July 15, 2009
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Published by Litter Brown and Company, New York: 2007
240 pages
Recommended reading age: 16 and up
VOYA rating: 4P, 4W, JS
This is a realistic fiction books that feels very much like an actual memoir. It is technically fiction but based on Sherman Alexie’s very real experiences growing up. It is fun, witty, humorous and authentic in the language and teen issues presented. It uses sexual references, talks about masturbation and deals with bullying and friendship issues from the perspective of an intelligent adolescent boy growing up on a reservation.
Junior lives on the reservation with his sister and parents. Growing up on the “rez” means growing up in near poverty with a poor educational system. Alcoholism and other drug addictions are part of Junior’s every day life. Aside from the normal struggles that Native Americans typically deal with growing up on a reservation, Junior has the extra added bonus of being gifted with “water on the brain”. In other words, Junior was born with too much cerebral spinal fluid which now results in occasional seizures. He has to be extra careful not to injure himself and any head injury might prove fatal. This is all bad news for a boy growing up in an environment where fighting and bullying is a part of every day life. At least Junior has his strong, loyal and scary best friend Rowdy to help him get through each day.
One day, after “accidentally” acting out and throwing a text book at one of his teachers, Junior is convinced of his potential and is motivated to leave the rez for a better school system. He takes the advice of his teacher and convinces his parents to allow him to attend Reardan, much to the chagrin of Rowdy and his other fellow classmates. Rowdy and Junior have a huge falling out which results in Junior getting decked. Junior becomes the “white lover” of his peers.
Junior goes off the Reardan and sees what life is like off the reservation in a fancy private school. Although he does well in school he finds that it is hard to fit in. Without Rowdy to help him bully his way into the social scene he starts to try and bully himself in on his own. Junior quickly learns that although adolescence has its challenges no matter where you are from, the same social rules from the rez aren’t the same at Reardan. After trying to pick a fight with a kid for cracking a racist joke Junior learns that fighting isn’t as important or as necessary around here as it is back home. He even manages to get himself a spot on the basketball team, something that he and Rowdy used to spend much of their time playing while they were still friends. Junior meets a girl named Penny and eventually they even start dating. He makes a few friends and manages to make a decent name for himself on the basketball team. Things start to look up for Junior.
This frail peace doesn’t last for Junior. Not only does he deal with normal high school issues like girl trouble and school work. He has plenty other things to deal with like the fact that his alcoholic father can’t remember to pick him up from school half the time. He is from a different socioeconomic class than the other students and fights to keep the fact that he is poor a secret. On the other hand, he now is not accepted by his own people on the reservation. Above all, he misses his old best friend Rowdy a great deal. Junior is stuck in-between two worlds and feels like he can’t quite fit into either one. Also, Junior’s sister dies after leaving home in search of her own hope. She dies one night in her trailer where she lives with her husband after a drunken party. Junior blames himself citing that she only ever left home to begin with because he left first.
For Junior there is always death on the reservation due to the lifestyle that many of his people live which is fueled by crime and alcohol. For someone who grows up in such a dark place he seems to be able to remain incredibly well-adjusted by using his humor and his doodling to make it through each day.
Junior eventually finds a type of balance between his two worlds after going head to head with Rowdy and his other old classmates as the their two schools play each other in basketball. Junior learns hat even if it isn’t easy, sometimes you have to take your life into your own hands go out in search of a new and better one. This book shows teens that using humor, your friends, and finding some type of positive outlet, even the direst of circumstances can become manageable. It is a very hopeful book that doesn’t come across as preachy and it would be very entertaining for the older teenaged reader. It also has lots of great illustrations which are meant to symbolize the comics and drawings that Junior does as a means of coping and dealing with his stress. I would suggest it for ages 15 and up because of the language but younger teens would be able to understand these themes and issues discussed in the book.
The cover is funny too because it depicts a stereotypical little Indian and Cowboy toy flying through space. It reminds the reader how Junior is stuck in space between these two worlds trying to find a way to exist in both.
Posted by: smizerak on: July 15, 2009
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Published by Arthur A. Levin Books, New York, 2006
There are no page numbers
Recommended reading age: 12 and up
VOYA rating: 2P, 2Q MJS
I find it funny that a graphic novel with no words at all would nearly leave me with no words to write. I am almost speechless. I don’t know what to say about this strange graphic novel. I have no idea what just happened. I keep going over pages again and re-viewing the panels but I don’t really get it.
I am guessing this is an interpretation of the immigrant experience, hence the title, “The Arrival”. The story depicts a man, leaving his family whom he seems to adore, as he boards a Titanic-like ship to go to a foreign land. The man arrives in the new land but everything is strange. He can’t communicate. He can’t speak. Things are different here than back home. All the signs and letters that would normally be words in English are drawn with strange symbols that the reader can’t make sense of. I assume this is the illustrator’s way of showing us how hard it is for an immigrant from a different country to have to come here and not be able to communicate. The illustrator then takes this a step further. Some things have strange and arbitrarily drawn shapes. For example, there is this strange cup that the man brings home which he keeps on the windowsill and eventually hatches birds in it. The man works in a non-descript factory sorting something unidentifiable. The “food” all looks rather strange and resembles oddly shaped vegetables with tentacles. At one point giant vacuum cleaning guys show up and suck the world clean and the man just narrowly escapes with someone whom I believe to be a shopkeeper. It was all just plain weird and reminded me of a Pink Floyd music video.
I could accept the fact that I am confused if that was the point. If the illustrator wanted me to be confused so I could understand how frustrating and confusing it is to come to America for the first time when you are from another country. If this was the point then the goal was reached. I would be alright with that. However, there are these strange paper animals flying an swimming around and this odd vegetation everywhere. There are these animals that resemble a Jim Hensen creation and other flying or floating animals that look like aliens or cats. I seriously don’t get it.
Somehow the man’s family is able to join him. They arrive in the same toll booth looking contraption that he originally did and are attached to what looks like a hot air balloon. He somehow knows they are coming and runs to meet them. They arrive and quickly you can tell that the girl is easily able to acclimate herself to the new way of life. She is already giving direction to another person and seems to be communicating just fine rather than the dad who took awhile to understand his surroundings. This is what would happen in real life too, as a younger mind would most likely absorb a new culture and language easier and quicker than their parents.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved the illustrations. I enjoyed looking at the photos. I just couldn’t make sense of it. This a beautifully illustrated graphic novel completely devoid of any text. It is done in all sepia tones. There are no thought or speech bubbles. There are no labels or internal dialog. All the reader has to go on are the beautiful illustrations and their own imaginations. It might open up interesting discussions in the classroom or in a book discussion. It might be fun to sit as a group and try to figure out what exactly is going on in the story. The illustrations remind me of M.C. Escher and also a bit like “The Snowman” by Raymond Briggs. They are admittedly gorgeous and very imaginative. It just wasn’t really my taste of graphic.
I think kids and teens would be intrigued and interested at first to start this book, but I think they might get bored quickly without a little more indication and direction about the plot or story line. Some panels are huge, two-page layouts while other pages have very tiny detailed squares all lined up on the same page. I still don’t know that there would be variance to keep a teen interested enough to finish the book.
The cover makes the book look like it is going to be a science fiction graphic about aliens from outer space. I don’t think that is what the book was about. But I could be wrong.
Posted by: smizerak on: July 15, 2009
Skim by Mariko Tamaki
Illustrated bu Jillian Tamaki
Published by Groundwood Books, Toronto: 2008.
143 pgs.
Recommended reading age: 15 and up
VOYA rating: 3P, 3Q, JS, G
This is a strange little graphic novel with some nice meat behind it. The story takes place in 1993 in a Catholic school where you meet Kim, a training Wiccan. Kim, or “Skim”, as she is called, is trying to become a witch with her best friend Lisa. Only things at school have been happening and Kim isn’t so sure that she likes her friend Lisa as much as she used to.
First, Kim breaks her arm on accident falling offer her bike (or so we are told) which Lisa promptly makes fun of. Then, a boy in school commits sluiced leaving his girlfriend Katie to mourn his loss in school. Next Katie jumps of a roof (or so the rumors say) injuring herself and breaking her arm too. All this talk of suicide and depression gets the school counselors and parents going on overdrive, looking out for any other teens that might be suffering from any signs of depression. The guidance counselor even specially asks Kim if her “Goth tendencies” aren’t making her more sensitive than others. (Kim is not Goth.) Everyone starts to worry that perhaps one suicide will start a trend and prompt fragile teens like Kim to go over the edge. Some of the popular girls even start a ridiculous “Celebrate Life” club and force themselves on poor, unwilling Katie who rather be left alone.
Kim is not suicidal, but she is depressed. Even though she is slowly getting more and more fed up with her best friend Lisa, she has found a special connection to her English teacher Ms. Archer who happens to be a woman. Basically you learn that Kim is gay, or at the very least, questioning her sexuality, and has strong romantic feelings for Ms. Archer. The two begin having secret meetings in the woods to smoke during the school day. They strike up a relationship of sorts although the book never tells you specifically how intimate or serious the relationship is. For a brief moment in time, Kim actually feels alive and nearly happy.
On top of everything going on at school with the teachers on suicide watch, and the new crush on her English teacher, Kim’s home life is no picnic either. She comes from a broken home with a mother who is never around and a father who has suffered two heart attacks. Suddenly, one day Ms. Archer is gone and you never truly learn why although one would assume it has something to do with kissing Kim one day. Kim starts an obsessive infatuation for Ms. Archer which involves finding her house, visiting her at home, leaving her letters and tarot cards and longing for her. Before long Kim gets the news that Ms. Archer will be leaving school and Kim feels alone again.
Even though Kim still has Lisa, she is really getting fed up with Lisa’s know-it-all attitude and mean streak. Still, who else does she have? Slowly a friendship starts to build between Katie, the “widowed” ex-girlfriend and Kim as the two “Cast-offs” starts to talk more in school. One of the turning points n the story comes after Kim agrees to get fixed up with Lisa for a date to the school dance. Kim dies her hair and goes to the dance but runs into a distraught Katie who is frustrated over all the “celebration of life” paraphernalia that has been going around. Kim and Katie get to talking and start to form a friendship that slowly builds after the dance. By the end of the novel Lisa has found a new boyfriend but is still as pretentious and snobby as she ever was but manages to make amends with Kim. It is hinted at that Kim and Katie will start a relationship as one of the last panes of the story shows Katie’s beret walking off into the woods to meet Kim, much like how Kim used to meet with her teacher Ms. Archer.
I think this is a good book for teens even though I personally didn’t care for it entirely. The illustrations were all in black and white and done very well but some of the lapses in time bothered me when I didn’t know what actions were happening in between the panes. I also got confused with which panes to read when and didn’t always read the talking bubbles in the correct order. I liked the details and the style that the characters drawn in. The fact that this deals with changing friendships is good because teens go through a lot of changes during that time in their life. One day your best friend and you seem to drift apart and you either make new friends or find yourself alone. This is what Kim goes through. On top o that, this is a book that really examines sexuality and bisexuality in teens when they are just starting to experiment and figure out who they really are inside. Katie’s ex-boyfriend was also rumored to have been gay which might have been part of the reason he committed suicide. The story shows teens finding their way, exploring who they are, and moving on after loss and tragedy one day at a time. Kim is shown in a positive light as she makes new friends with Katie and the two start a new relationship together.
The cover art is a close-up color illustration of Kim with her hand on her head, staring off into space. It makes her look like she is in dire despair, when really, she is just introverted and thinking. This is a theme of the novel. Everyone just assumes that Kim is obviously suicidal when all she is doing is just processing the world in a different way than other more socially accepted teens. Also, I wondered why exactly the writers chose to place this story in the year 1993.
Posted by: smizerak on: July 14, 2009
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
Published by Speak, New York: 2007
272 pgs.
Recommended reading age: 15 and up
VOYA rating: 4P, 4Q, JS
Twisted is one of the few books in my life that I have sat down and read all at once in one continual sitting. I became so enthralled in Tyler’s life that before I knew it, it was 1:00am and I could barely see straight. For some reason I got very attached to this realistic fiction story of a regular teen guy growing up in a modern-day high school.
Tyler is in big trouble after choosing to deface school property in an act of rebellion and to make a name for himself. Tyler was tired of being overlooked and tired of being a nobody. Suddenly, over the summer, doing community service and working for a landscaper, Tyler not only builds his muscles but his reputation as well. When he starts to get bullied around by classmate Chip at his dad’s company picnic in front of the beautiful Bethany, Tyler grins and bears it. Tyler does this for his father’s sake even though he knows Chip is the one who knocks over Bethany and breaks her leg. For the sake of his family, he obeys his father’s wishes and tries to be a good guy.
Tyler starts the school year with his faithful and loyal “nerdy” friend but the rumors about him precede him. Still hsi best buddy, who winds up dating Tyler’s little sister, stands by him in support. People are looking at Tyler different and he is even catching the eye of his crush, the beautiful Bethany. Although Tyler seems like a good kid you can tell as a reader that there is this quiet rage building inside of him. A bit of this rage starts to seep out when Tyler steps up for his best friend in the locker room while Chip and his goons are trying to beat him up. There is this subtle impending sense of doom building throughout the course of the novel inside of Tyler as he talks about death and dying and his curiosity of the subject. It is a book that talks about anger and depression and dealing when your school and family life seem to be spinning out of control.
During a party Tyler does the right thing when a completely drunken Bethany, ready to pass out, wants to make out with him. Seeing she is drunk he tries to take her home but instead drunken Bethany gets incredibly upset and dumps him, calling him a couple nasty names. Feeling terrible and angry, Tyler still tries to watch out for Bethany and even insists on driving her and her evil brother Chip (who is also drunk) home. Later the next day, when pictures show up on the Internet of a naked Bethany, passed out and sprawled on a bed, everyone immediately blames poor Tyler. A legal battle even ensues as the police seize Tyler’s computer and begin investigating him.
There is a lot about relationships between teens and their families in this book. It examines Tyler’s relationship with his sister, his mother and most prominently his father. It also deals with how aware Tyler is of his parents and their marital problems and the way his father seems to rule the household with an iron fist but not really seem to care affectionately for anything but his job.
There is a huge blow out during the turning point in this story when Tyler confronts his father. (This is after an “almost” suicide attempt/experiement.) He literally forces his father to sit downby threatening him with a baseball bat. This is the turning point where both father and son, after taking a day to cool off, have a real talk and start to work through their relationship and work on their family. The reader and Tyler’s father both learn by the end of the book, just how close Tyler may have come to committing suicide or going off the deep end.
This book is would appeal to teens because it is about a very realistic teen with realistic problems. He has girl trouble, sister trouble, family trouble and bully trouble. He makes a huge mistake and winds up paying for it. On top of it all the reader would probably assume that he may suffer from depression or aggression issues too. It gives the reader and idea of what might go through the mind of a person before committing a violent act. With so much violence being broadcast on the news with school shootings, it makes this very real subject matter for teens to read. You get to see the characters work on their feelings and ask their families and friends for help instead of succumbing to violent or suicidal urges which leaves a positive message for the reader. It brings up some good things for teens to think about. I also think it would appeal to boys especially because of the main character and the issues he faces.
I don’t know that the cover was perfectly chosen but it was a very simple and cool. The bright red twisted pencil, like one he might use in class, suggests how twisted and tormented Tyler is inside. It’s clever and memorable and describes the title well so that it would stick in a teen brain.
Posted by: smizerak on: July 14, 2009
The Boy in the Stiped Pajamas by John Boyne
Published by David Fickling Books, New York: 2006
215 pgs.
Recommended reading age: 13 and up
VOYA rating: 5Q, 4P, MJS
This was a disturbing and heartbreaking book about two young children living in Auschwitz. One German boy named Bruno is the son of a German Commandant in the Nazi army. Bruno’s father moves his family to a place which Bruno mispronounces as “Out-With” because of a very important promotion he has received. Bruno is only 9 years old and doesn’t fully understand the entire Nazi situation because his parents have left him very sheltered. All Bruno knows is that he is being taken away from his home to live in an awful place where he has no friends and is home-schooled. He is very unhappy and lonely until one day he notices these groups of people all dressed the same in striped pajamas on the other side of the fence.
One day while exploring, Bruno meets Schmuel, another little boy about his age who lives on the other side of the fence. They slowly share stories and start to reveal to each other that one is a German while the other is a Jew. They aren’t allowed to be friends, but they decide to become secret friends anyway and meet at the same place at the fence each day. They can’t play together so instead they just talk. They slowly learn bits of information about each other. It is so sad how naïve and how in the dark both Schmuel and Bruno are about their circumstances. They both are just innocent enough not to realize that one is a Jew, living in Auschwitz and will probably die. They don’t realize that it is Bruno’s father who is taking orders from Hitler, the “Fury”, himself.
After living in Auschwitz for about a year, Bruno’s mother has had enough and convinces the Commandant to get permission for her to take Bruno and his sister back to their home in Berlin. In one final attempt to play with each other and say goodbye they decide to sneak Bruno under the fence so that they can explore together and go in search of Schmuel’s father who has been missing. They even get a pair of striped pajamas from storage to give to Bruno to wear so he will blend in and look like all of the other Jews on that side of the fence. Suddenly a death march begins and the two innocent children unknowingly are taken into a gas chamber where they are both executed along with several other panicked Jews. Bruno’s parents never find out what happened to their son but he dies holding hands with Schmuel, each looking a lot like the other, terrified and unaware. When you get about halfway through the book you assume that Schmuel is “the boy in the striped pajamas” will be Schmuel when in fact it ends up being Bruno.
This would be a fantastic book for the classroom to read in conjunction with a history unit that covered the Holocaust. It isn’t difficult to understand and would be easier for the middle school child although, depending on the child, it is a bit disturbing. Then again, the Holocaust was definitely disturbing so a fictional book about it should be as well. Where Lois Lowry’s “Number the Stars” is more hopeful, “The Boy in the Striped Pajama’s” is not. It shows the very real horrors of the Holocaust without getting overly graphic.
I did think the scene where Hitler and Eva visit Bruno in his Berlin home was a bit cheesy, but other then that it was a nicely written historical fiction book that was would tie in nice to a curriculum.
The cover shows a tattered striped pattern that matches the “pajamas” from the story. It is simple but memorable and easily distinguishable from other covers.
Posted by: smizerak on: July 14, 2009
Hunger Games by Sizanne Collins
Published by Scholastic Press, New York: 2008
374 pgs.
Recommended reading level: 11 and up
VOYA rating: 5P, 5Q MJS
There were many people at work who had loved this book. Everyone raved about it. It was even on our library’s summer recommended reading list for teens. Basically this book had a huge reputation to live up to which usually means I will be disappointed. Luckily, this one did not disappoint.
The very first two chapters drag ever so slightly but that is just to get you introduced to the family and establish the setting. The story takes place in a futuristic world that is now known as Panem rather than North America. After a major war and then a violent rebellion, the spirits and people of Panem are now completely broken and controlled by the privileged governing body called the Capitol. As a means of punishment and a way to keep their subjects scared into never rebelling again, the Capitol holds the Hunger Games each year.
The Hunger Games are like a really cruel version of the television show “Survivor” where two “tributes” from each district are chosen at random to compete. The tributes are taken through an elaborate ceremony and then dropped off into an unknown playing arena where they all must fight to the death against each other. The show is broadcast on television to all the districts each day. The districts have no choice in the matter and are forced into the games by the Capitol. Anyone from 12-18 are viable tributes and must have their names in the drawing which is eerily named “the reaping” at least once. In order to receive extra grain and oil for your family, you may purchase a tessera by entering your name in more than once which many people do because their families are poor and starving. Katniss enters her name in 14 times. It reminded me of “The Lottery” or “Running Man”. (I read a lot of Stephen King when I was a teen.)
Katniss, a teen who lives in a place called the Seam is a member of District 12, one of the poorer districts. Although many of the districts struggle a bit for survival, some are more privileged and in a slightly higher class based on what the Capitol allows. Some districts are the farming districts. Some are known for other industries that keep the district running. District 12 is known for its dangerous mining industry. Katniss is 16 and is taking care of her mother and sister after losing her father in a mining accident. She is able-bodied, clever and a gifted hunter who illegally hunts with her friend Gale to provide food for her family and trade for other supplies on the black market.
Katniss ends up participating as a tribute in the Hunger Games after volunteering herself to take the place of her beloved 12 year old sister. She winds up playing alongside the baker’s son Peeta who is a young man she has a memory of but whom she doesn’t know personally very well. The two go through the ceremonies, are given training and strategies and then are launched into the games. Eventually there are weapons, food and other items that are available to the tributes. The Capitol can control a lot of things and tries to entice the tributes to fight when not enough death and destruction are occurring. They manufacture weather, use their camera shooting to create characters and catch every death as it happens. It is a sick, twisted and fun adventurous story.
Of course, Katniss is our hero so she doesn’t disappoint the reader. She manages to fend for herself rather well, particularly considering that fact that she is such a good hunter. Even without a lot of training she does very well for herself. The playing field is never fair in the Hunger Games. Some tributes that come from wealthier districts are better trained. Some form alliances in the arena while others cunningly work alone. I kept waiting for this book to take the sappy, safe route. I didn’t expect the teens really to kill each other. I thought something would happen that would cause all of the tributes to somehow come together to stand against the Capitol, but that did NOT happen. There is killing, blood and deceit. You can’t quite tell who to trust in the story which kept me on the edge of my seat. Although you do feel a sense of remorse from Katniss as she kills another human she does it a couple of times to survive. A romance even forms between Katniss and her fellow tribute that leaves the door open for the sequel, “The Fire Catches”. There is even a suggestion that a love triangle may be forming for the sequel that might force readers to choose “Team Gale” or “Team Peeta.”
This was such a fun read with tons of action and adventure. It doesn’t dumb down the book for younger readers and instead of wussing out promises all the violence that the games are meant to show. It shows a very different world than that of “Feed” by M.T. Anderson because this future keeps its people bruised, and broken, controlled by their hunger where “Feed” keeps their people controlled through instant gratification and gluttony. The names used and invention of this alternate reality are very creative. Although I don’t think society has gone quite so far in their reality television programming today, it definitely has shared similarities with the Hunger Games. I think teens would love this and because it moves quickly it would be good for a noncommittal or reluctant reader. It has romance and a little soap opera story line for the girls but plenty of killing and blood for the boys. I even got my 29 year old husband, (who behaves like 12 year old most days) to read this and he loved it too.
Posted by: smizerak on: July 14, 2009
The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier
Published by Laurel Leaf, 2003
176 pgs.
Recommended reading level: 13 and up
VOYA rating: 5P, 5Q, MJS
This is a very quick and suspenseful read for teens. Even though there isn’t a lot of action it is a psychological thriller. Much of the story happens either in dialog or in the head of the protagonist and antagonist. It all unfolds very quickly with lots of suspense that keeps you turning the pages. This would be a great book for reluctant readers, particularly boys I think, because it features a young boy and an adult man as the two main characters. Since it is short it is also a good choice for noncommittal readers. It is not intimidating.
Even though this is a shorter novel it is packed tightly with dark and dubious themes and social commentary. It would be a great book discussion book for teens. It is very creepy and left me feeling very uneasy the entire time I read it which is why I feel it was effectively written for such a tiny book. The book reminded me of the old Stephen King stories that left you feeling that same queasy feeling in your stomach from the creepy and uncertain ending. In fact, it actually reminded me of “Apt Pupil” by King quite a bit.
Jason is a 12 year old boy who is the last person to see little 8 year old Allison alive. Allison is a girl in the neighborhood and is the younger sister of a boy that Jason sometimes hangs around with. Jason likes Allison just fine, though he finds her also a little odd, and he likes to sit and watch her expertly put puzzles together. One day, after Jason leaves Allison’s house after playing by the pool, Allison is found dead in the woods. She has been murdered and there are no clues to indicate who killed her, how or why. The city is in an uproar and is looking to point the finger at someone so investigators start to suspect the only person to see Allison before her murder: Jason.
Jason is innocent, but that seems to matter very little to the adults in this book. I love children’s and teen books that feature corrupt adults that cause all sorts of trouble while the kids remain the heroes or at least the ones who remain honest and true. It makes for a more interesting story for a teen to relate to. In the case of The Rag and Bone Shop, the adults do a great job of being self-serving and conniving. With politicians and the local neighborhood in an uproar over the lack of evidence, the investigators know they need someone to blame and quick. Even though there is no evidence against Jason the police decide to try and burn him at the steak. They call on Trent, a professional and famous police interrogator who has quite the success in getting criminals to confess. He is very good at his job and although he claims that all he is doing is trying to get the “truth” out of these people, it seems to suggest that he is more interested in getting the kill and returning a confession regardless of the truth at all.
This bodes just fine for the local politicians who would happily take a confession out of innocent Jason, if only Trent can get the job done. Trent is called in like a rock star to get the job done and poor Jason unknowingly walks into the interrogation room like walking into a den full of lions. Much of the book takes place within the confines of that interrogation room while Trent evilly plays on naïve Jason’s inexperience and starts to coerce him into a confession. Trent, a true professional, is able to recognize finally that Jason is clearly innocent and has not committed this terrible murder that they have accused him of. There is brief moment where you think Trent will do the right thing and completely end this terrible torturous interrogation against Jason. He almost does the right thing. Almost. Instead of listening to his initial instincts that point to Jason’s innocence, Trent goes in for the kill. He tricks Jason into confessing to the murder when he knows it is a false confession, simply to make the politicians happy and complete the job he was sent there to do. Smugly happy Trent leaves the room proud of his confession only to find out immediately that the real killer has been caught. Trent is shamed and exposed for the manipulative jerk that he is. This truly messes with Jason’s head. He is left psychologically scarred having gone through such an ordeal. He is completely bewildered by they fact that he allowed himself to be tricked into confessing such a heinous crime that he never though he could possibly have committed. Well, he THOUGHT he wouldn’t have been able to commit such a crime. Now that he knows so many other people could so easily believe such a thing about him, perhaps he might as well just go ahead and do something as equally violent. He wonders, why not embrace the evil persona that the law enforcement officials and Trent seemed to want to push on to him anyway?
There is also some interesting background information on both Jason and Trent that lead me into thinking that they are both main characters in this book. Both their stories and histories are important. Trent is the antagonist to Jason’s protagonist, but both characters are experiencing internal and external struggles and both drastically change through the course of this short book.
This is a scary book. I would recommend it for teens over 14 only because it is psychologically disturbing, not because it is overly graphic. The cover is just a weird picture of a young boy but I don’t know that there is anything all that appealing about it. I wouldn’t have been drawn to the cover on its own. It was unremarkable.
Posted by: smizerak on: July 14, 2009
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Published by Simon Pulse, New York: 2004
537 pgs.
Recommended reading ag: 15 and up
VOYA rating: 5p, 4Q, JS
I picked this book up for a challenge. I enjoy poetry and I love lyrical writing but an entire long, epic story told completely in verse? I didn’t think that this long novel would do it for me so with trepidation I decided to give this 537 page book a try and I loved it.
This story tells the tale of Kristina, a 16 year old teen struggling with identity at home with her mom, step-father and two siblings. Her sister has recently announced she is gay and Kristina doesn’t feel incredibly close to her younger brother anymore. She remembers happy times at her mom’s house. She knows they were all happy at one time but somewhere along the line for some reason, Kristina started feeling like she didn’t belong. She started to feel there was something missing in her life. These issues of identity and lack of belonging are feelings that many teens deal with but don’t understand. Even teens who come from warm and loving homes deal with identity issues. It something that sometimes just happens during the teen years. Kristina is just going through a questioning phase and starting to feel like an outsider in her own family so she decides it is time to track down her absentee father to find that missing side to her history. Reluctantly Kristina gets her mother to agree to a summer vacation trip to visit her father.
Kristina learns very quickly that the old memories of her father are not accurate and the stories her mother has warned her about are true. Still, Kristina quickly learns to accept her father for who is: An easy-going partier who is not committed to anything and works in a bowling alley. He is also a substance abuse addict who lives in a community where drug use it rampant. Her bubble of her father has been broken but at the same time Kristina feels like he opens up a new person inside of her as Kristina starts to experiment with her identity. She takes on the persona of Bre and mentions several times that Bre had always been this other half to her, living dormant inside that now has surfaced.
Kristina meets a boy named Adam and quickly falls in love/lust with him in a very obsessive manner and he turns her on to crank. From the turning point of her starting to experiment with Adam with drugs (and other physical experimentations) Kristina’s/Bre’s life takes a dark and dangerous turn for the worst. Although they obsessively swear love to one another, Adam is already in a relationship and when his other girlfriend finds out about Bre she has an accident that leaves her in a coma near death. Adam is so grief stricken and guilty but still wants and needs to be with Bre. Their short-lived torrid affair is cut short when she has to return home to her mother. She foolishly dreams that her and Adam will somehow stay together and visit one another but she quickly learns otherwise.
Back home now, Kristina manages to skate under her mother’s radar for awhile and she starts to flirt and play the same games with other boys her age that Adam had played on her. She catches the eye of pretty-boy lifeguard Brendon and notorious bad-boy Chase. She leads them boy on, enjoying the thrill of the game but also hoping to find ways to score some crank. She even tries to use Brendon to score some crank but when she refuses to have sex with him he calls her a tease and rapes her. One thing leads to another and before you know it she has found more and more people to help her score and to experiment different drugs with. Her grades start slipping and she starts getting grounded. Her mother and stepfather both can tell something is up but either are in denial or just not entirely sure to the extent of how fall she has fallen.
By the close of the novel Bre is pregnant from being raped by Brendon and in a relationship with Chase who actually turns out to be a good guy. Chase cares about Bre, but is unfortunately a user too. He even offers to marry her even though the baby is not his. She gives birth and tries to be a good mother but you can tell that her addition is mentally still in her brain. There is a sequel to her story called “Glass” which picks up where “Crank” leaves off.
As I mentioned I was concerned about such a long book that was all verse. I really got into it. I read this all in a matter of a few hours. I enjoyed her writing and descriptions. There was still dialog and plot with plenty of characters but it was also still lyrical. It was plenty straight forward enough to understand the full and epic story of Katrina’s journey through addiction. I loved the shapes and white space that Ellen Hopkins uses in telling the story. She keeps the storytelling fresh without getting boring. I think teens would eat this up especially because it is so different and unique. She is so great at painting a vivid picture with her few short words in each piece. She makes some meaningful shapes with the words that follow the feeling of the poem. In one poem where she talks about salvation, she uses the words on the page to form a cross. In one she forms the picture of a house while talking about being home. It touches on lots of issues that many teens deal with including that of isolation and broken homes and the loss of oneself. It shows teens how terrible her life ended up when she made bad choices and tried to use drugs to fill her depression and void. The consequences she suffers as a direct result of her actions make this a very worthwhile book for teens I think.
I loved the cover with the lines of crank forming the title against a black cover. The author’s other books all have similarly styled covers, all with one word and a solid black background that teens will find recognizable. Also, although this is a work of fictional prose, the author states that it is loosely based on her daughters true life experience with crank, whom she refers to as “the monster” and what id did to the family. This ads another unique element to the story because many of these events actually happened to the author’s daughter. It makes it hit all that more closely to home for the reader.
