The Rules of Survival, Nancy Werlin

Title:  The Rules of Survival
Author: Nancy Werlin
Publisher: Dial
Year: 2006
Pages: 272
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Overcoming Obstacles, Family, Child Abuse
Age Range:  7th Grade and Up

Summary:
Matt and his sisters are used to living with their physically and emotionally abusive mother.  They spend their days constantly on the alert for their mother's moods, trying to gauge how whether they are in for a peaceful or tumultuous day.  One sweltering night, after their mother has locked them in the house while she goes on a date, Matt and his middle sister sneak out to get a Popsicle.  While at the convenience store, Matt witnesses a man stand up to a father who is physically bullying his son, and he creates a fantasy where the man rescues him and his sisters from their miserable life.  Imagine Matt's surprise when the man ends up actually dating his mother.  However, when the inevitable break-up happens, Matt holds on to hope that the man, named Murdoch, will still be the hero he hopes for.  As his mother's obsessive behavior towards Murdoch escalates, will Matt be able to protect his sisters from the toxic tornado that she creates?

Review:
This book totally sucked me in!  Written as a long letter from Matt to his youngest sister, explaining things that she may have been too young to understand, the book is at times heartwrenching, heartbreaking, and heart stopping.  Matt and his sisters live in a state of constant fear, with the kind of hyper-alertness that is common among the abused, similar to what soldiers and people living in war-torn countries experience.  It is not always easy to read.  Matt's honest portrayal of the abuse that they suffer at the hands of the person who is supposed to care for them is sometimes raw, and sometimes disturbing in its dispassion.  Werlin does a great job of showing, through Matt, how noramlized the emotional and physical abuse becomes when that is all that you know.

There are lots of triggers in this book for youth who may have experienced similar experiences, but there are also many things to discuss, both in the writing style and the themes presented in the story.  I don't think that the subject matter should be avoided, but if you want to use it in a school setting it should be read with adult supervision and discussion.  If it is part of a classroom library, there may be kids who seek it out as a cathartic experience, but I'd keep an eye on who was reading it and how they respond to it.  I firmly believe that kids self-select the books that they are ready for, and put down or ignore the ones they aren't, and this novel certainly has an emotional impact that will engage readers in a very visceral way.

Teacher Resources:
Rhode Island Teen Book Awards Discussion Guide
Discussion Guide from Nancy Werlin

Imani All Mine, by Connie Rose Porter

Title:  Imani All Mine
Author: Connie Rose Porter
Publisher:  Mariner Books
Year:  2000
Pages:  224
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Teenage Pregnancy, Perseverance, Overcoming Obstacles, Overcoming Loss
Age Range:  9th Grade and Up

Summary: from Goodreads

Imani All Mine tells the story of Tasha, a fourteen-year-old unwed mother of a baby girl. In her ghettoized world where poverty, racism, and danger are daily struggles, Tasha uses her savvy and humor to uncover the good hidden around her. The name she gives her daughter, Imani, is a sign of her determination and fundamental trust despite the odds against her: Imani means faith. Surrounding Tasha and Imani is a cast of memorable characters: Peanut, the boy Tasha likes, Eboni, her best friend, Miss Odetta, the neighborhood gossip, and Tasha's mother, Earlene, who's dating a new boyfriend.

Review:
Earlier today I was in a discussion with a friend about whether certain books with more mature themes should be present in the middle school library in her children's school district.  My feeling is that mature, sophisticated readers should not be kept away from  hard stories or controversial topics if they have demonstrated the ability to think critically about what they read, and that instead those types of books should be used as discussion pieces between children and parents.

During the discussion, it was not lost on me that the discussion we were having really only pertained to those children who have not been subjected to real-life violence, poverty, neglect, or sexual activity in their every day lives.  It is privilege in its various forms that put my friend and I in the position to have a conversation about whether tweens should be exposed to sex or violence in media-for too many of our children and youth the cultural context of their lives brings them into contact with these topics whether they are ready for them or not.  Imani All Mine is a good example of the type of story that I mean.

Porter's main character and narrator, Tasha, is at once naive and more experienced in the world than we'd want any fourteen year old to be.  She and her mother live in poverty, trying to make ends meet with a combination of government assistance and part time work.  Tasha's baby, Imani, is the result of a rape she experienced outside of a roller rink at the age of 13.  Her mother, a hard woman with little patience for raising her daughter, assumes that she got herself in trouble as a result of promiscuity, and basically leaves Tasha with only the most basic support in raising the resulting child.  Luckily, Tasha goes to a school that has both parenting classes and a daycare, and she tries her best to be a good mother to Imani.  But despite her hopes and good intentions, tragedy strikes, and Imani is killed by a stray bullet in a drive by shooting. Sinking ever deeper into grief, Tasha turns for comfort to her boyfriend, and soon finds herself pregnant again.

The subject matter is handled gently, if not delicately, and there is no sense of sensationalism in this story. Nor is it a morality tale, where the reader is invited to revile Tasha and her choices.  But nothing can make this story anything but what it is-a tragic, heartbreaking story of not one, but two childhoods lost.  I think that for some young girls, this story mirror the kinds of things they see their friends, sisters, cousins, and neighbors going through.  Should we deny them the opportunity to read about the issues they deal with because others perceive it to be too mature for their young age?  Seems like that old cliche about closing the barn door after the horse gets out works here.  That said, I think that ninth grade seems like the youngest I would recommend read this book, and then with adults to discuss it with.

The Running Dream, by Wendelin Van Draanen

Title:  The Running Dream
Author:  Wendelin Van Draanen
Publsiher:  Knopf Books for Young Readers
Year: 2011
Pages:  332
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Overcoming Obstacles, Disability, Loss, Friendship
Age Range:  6th Grade and Above

Summary:  from Goodreads

Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run? 

As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she's missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her.

With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her

Review:
 I wasn't sure what to expect from Van Draanen's book, The Running Dream.  I knew her best as the author of the Sammy Keyes series and the Shredderman series for intermediate age readers, and to be honest while I find the characters in those books pretty endearing, I wasn't sure whether Van Draanen could pull off the level of depth that a story like this seems to require.  I shouldn't have been concerned-The Running Dream is a touching story about a girl who learns to deal with the devastating loss of her dream of running in the Olympics, while at the same time learning the importance of not stereotyping someone based on their disability.

Jessica goes through the well-known stages of grief over the loss of her leg, as well as the death of her teammate in the bus crash.  She alternates between depression, anger, denial, and hope during her time at the hospital, and throughout the process of transitioning back to home and school.  Luckily for her, she has a best friend that won't give up on her, and a team that comes together to get her back on the track.

Her support system is definitely a major factor in her recovery, but what really makes her come to terms with her new reality is her friendship with Rosa.  Like many people, Jessica always assumed that anyone with the type of physical disabilities that Rosa has must also be cognitively impaired, which is often far from true.  Rosa is smart and funny and warm, and she reminded me of the character from Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind, which also busted some stereotypes about the physically disabled.  Their friendship definitely ups the emotional impact of the book.

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, Wendy Mass

Title:  Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life
Author:  Wendy Mass
Publisher:  Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Year:  2006
Pages:  304
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Dealing with Loss, Coming of Age, Overcoming Obstacles
Age Range:  4th through 8th Grade
Summary:  from Goodreads

In one month Jeremy Fink will turn thirteen. But does he have what it takes to be a teenager? He collects mutant candy, he won't venture more than four blocks from his apartment if he can help it, and he definitelydoesn't like surprises. On the other hand, his best friend, Lizzy, isn't afraid of anything, even if that might get her into trouble now and then.

Jeremy's summer takes an unexpected turn when a mysterious wooden box arrives in the mail. According to the writing on the box, it holds the meaning of life! Jeremy is supposed to open it on his thirteenth birthday. The problem is, the keys are missing, and the box is made so that only the keys will open it without destroying what's inside. Jeremy and Lizzy set off to find the keys, but when one of their efforts goes very wrong, Jeremy starts to lose hope that he'll ever be able to open the box. But he soon discovers that when you're meeting people named Oswald Oswald and using a private limo to deliver unusual objects to strangers all over the city, there might be other ways of finding out the meaning of life.

Review:

The death of a parent is an event that is destined to have a profound impact on anyone, but especially a child.  In that regard Jeremy Fink seems to be doing better than most.  He misses his dad, but he was a great relationship with his mom, and his best friend Lizzy's daughter, plus his dad's best friend,  provide positive male role models for him.  But as he approaches his 13th birthday, he can't help but wonder what advice his dad would have for him about navigating the murky and sometimes dangerous waters of adolescence.  When he is given a box from his father labeled "The Meaning of Life", he is desperate to find out what's inside.  The only way to open the box and preserve the contents is to find the keys, which sends Jeremy and Lizzy on a city-wide search for old key collections.  As in many aspects of life, it turns out to be the journey, rather than the destination, where he learns the most about just what the meaning of life could be.

Mass has done a wonderful job creating an authentic emotional landscape in this novel.  Jeremy's very tween-ness reminded me of just how awkward and painful the land between childhood and adolescence can be, and would be very relateable to young people reading the book.  The character of Lizzy keeps Jeremy (and the reader) from becoming too angsty, though.  Their friendship is one of the best parts of the book.  I especially appreciated that it is a boy/girl friendship.  Too often I think we make an artificial divide between "boy" stories and "girl" stories, and Jeremy and Lizzy prove that boys and girls can be close friends, even as their differences become more obvious.  There are tender moments in the story, and hilarity occasionally ensues, but what Mass has given us is a fairly straightforward story of being lost, and somehow finding our way, even if the destination is not the same as the one we thought we were traveling towards.