The Latte Rebellion, by Sarah Jamila Stevenson

Title: The Latte Rebellion
Author:  Sarah Jamila Stevenson
Publisher: Flux
Year: 2011
Pages: 327
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Identity, Racism, Social Justice, Friendship, Transition from High School
Age Range:  9th Grade and Above

Summary:  (from Goodreads)
When high school senior Asha Jamison gets called a "towel head" at a pool party, the racist insult gives Asha and her best friend Carey a great money-making idea for a post-graduation trip. They'll sell T-shirts promoting the Latte Rebellion, a club that raises awareness of mixed-race students.

Seemingly overnight, their "cause" goes viral and the T-shirts become a nationwide fad. As new chapters spring up from coast to coast, Asha realizes that her simple marketing plan has taken on a life of its own-and it's starting to ruin hers. Asha's once-stellar grades begin to slip, threatening her Ivy League dreams, and her friendship with Carey is hanging by a thread. And when the peaceful underground movement turns militant, Asha's school launches a disciplinary hearing. Facing expulsion, Asha must decide how much she's willing to risk for something she truly believes in.


Review:
The Latte Rebellion highlights an increasingly important theme of modern American life-the effects of racism on those of mixed racial background.  As our country becomes increasingly diverse, and old social boundaries about who dates and marries who break down, more and more children are coming into our schools who identify as bi-racial, multi-racial, and mixed-race.  The fact that we have our first mixed race president, but the narrative is that he is our first black president, highlights the point that Ms. Stevenson was trying to make by writing the book.  Our society puts people into boxes based on parts of their identity that may or may not resemble the way that they identify themselves.  These labels affect almost every aspect of a person's life, something that Asha discovers.  From a strictly thematic point of view, this novel has important points to make.


Unfortunately, I felt that the story was too slow...there was an awful lot of internal dialogue that I didn't think was strictly necessary, and it felt like it took forever to get to the "event" that caused all of the trouble.  In between chapters, there are excerpts from the disciplinary hearing held towards the end of the book, and all of them are sort of annoyingly vague about what it is that Asha is actually being accused of.  Over all I felt that the action was not well-paced, and the book probably could have been shorter  by about 50 pages.


The other things that I did not care for was the portrayal of Asha's parents in the book, but I will admit that has more to do with my own personal liberal bias than any issues I have with the author's craft.   I was appalled at the lack of support that the parents showed their fairly amazing child in her efforts to make the world a more accepting place for people of mixed racial and ethnic backgrounds.   Their daughter was a straight A student, had never been in trouble before, was in lots of extra-curriculars and clubs, and had a social conscience.  I would be thrilled to have a child like Asha, and I certainly would have backed her up if her school tried to label her a terrorist for starting a peaceful social justice club.  Instead, Asha's parents tell her how disappointed they are in her, and how selfish and childish she is for jeopardizing her future by participating in something so controversial.  I was annoyed by pretty much every adult in the book, and with the attitude of some of the other youth as well.  Really, starting a social justice club should not be something that frightens people, and I thought that the reaction by the school and the parents was completely out of line with what was actually happening.  But then I think about things like the Tennessee law that no one is allowed to use the word gay in the classroom, and I realize that maybe my own liberal views and the fact that I live in a pretty liberal metro area make me blind to the attitudes that exist in other places. 

Boom, by Mark Haddon

Title:  Boom
Author:  Mark Haddon
Publisher:  David Fickling Books
Year: 2009
Pages: 208
Genre:  Science Fiction
Themes:  Friendship, Adventure
Age Range:  4th-7th Grade

Summary:  from Goodreads
From the moment that Jim and his best friend, Charlie, bug the staff room and overhear two of their teachers speaking to each other in a secret language, they know there's an adventure on its way. 

But what does "spudvetch" actually mean, and why do Mr. Kidd's eyes flicker with fluorescent blue light when Charlie says it to him? Perhaps Kidd and Pearce are bank robbers talking in code. Perhaps they're spies. Perhaps they are aliens. Whatever it is, Jimbo and Charlie are determined to find out. 

There really is an adventure on its way. A nuclear-powered, one-hundred-ton adventure with reclining seats and a buffet car. And as it gathers speed and begins to spin out of control, it can only end one way . . . with a BOOM!


Review:  

This middle grade book, originally published under a different title in 1992, is a fun, fast-paced romp full of dry humor and characters that any middle grade child could relate to.  Jimbo is your average boy-suffering through school, hating his big sister and her greaseball boyfriend, worrying about his unemployed dad, and hanging with his best friend Charlie.  Once they over hear that conversation in the teacher's room, his life becomes mystery! intrigue! aliens!  Once the action starts, it doesn't stop...

This novel is a decent introduction go middle grade readers to the genre of science fiction.  It is a quick, easy read with an easily understood plot.  In fact, it is maybe a little too easy.  Let's just say that the book is long on action and short on backstory.  It is fairly simplistic, but for middle grade readers I suppose that is not necessarily a bad thing.    The idea of an alien race that wants to repopulate their world with sci fi fans is pretty amusing, especially when Haddon starts throwing out Doctor Who references, which kids might not get but some adults certainly will.  All in all, I think this is a great book to add to your classroom library.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly

Title:  The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Author:  Jacqueline Kelly
Publisher:  Scholastic
Year:  2009
Pages:  338
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Themes:  Coming of Age, Feminism, Science, Family
Age Range:  4th-8th Grade

Summary:  (from Goodreads)
Calpurnia Virginia Tate is eleven years old in 1899 when she wonders why the yellow grasshoppers in her Texas backyard are so much bigger than the green ones.With a little help from her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist, she figures out that the green grasshoppers are easier to see against the yellow grass, so they are eaten before they can get any larger. As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.


Review:  

Kelly has done an admirable job of highlighting how limiting society was for girls at the turn of the 20th century, without really demonizing the men and boys that fill this story.  Callie has six brothers, and she landed straight in the middle of the birth order.  Her older brother Henry is her hero, and he calls her his "pet", even as he struggles with the idea that she could do anything else with her life than get married and have children.  All of her brothers, and her father, seem slightly bewildered by her interest in science and the natural world, but their attempts to "put her in her place" are more confused and benign than purposely oppressive.  Men (and women) of that time were just not raised to believe that anything other than the current social order was possible, especially in small town Texas.

Kelly uses quotes from Darwin's Evolution of the Species to highlight the various stages of development that Callie goes through in the course of the novel.  This identification with human beings as part of the natural world was a rather unique perspective to most people in a society ruled by the idea that we were created by God to have dominion over the Earth.  Callie's character is very likable and relate-able, even for a non-sciencey sort of person like me.  Her grandfather, the formidable patriarch of the family and founder of their wealth, turns out to be affectionate in his own gruff way.  They are kindred spirits, and Callie blossoms under his tutelage at the same time that she withers under her mother's prescription of cooking lessons and sewing projects.  At the end of the book, we are left wondering if Callie will be able to break with convention and get her wish of going to university, but it is a hopeful wondering, given how much love her family has for her and her grandfather's confidence in her.

Teacher Resources:  

Enotes Study Guide

DCF Awards Discussion Guide

The Green Glass Sea, Ellen Klages

Title:  The Green Glass Sea
Author:  Ellen Klages
Publisher:  Puffin
Year:  2008
Pages:  368
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Themes:  World War II, Death of a Loved One
Age Range:  4th through 8th Grade


Summary: (from Goodreads):
It is 1943, and eleven-year-old Dewey Kerrigan is en route to New Mexico, to live with her mathematician father. Soon she arrives at a town that, officially, doesn't exist. It is called Los Alamos, and it is abuzz with activity, as scientists and mathematicians from all over America and Europe work on the biggest secret of all-the gadget. None of them, not J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Manhattan Project; not the mathematicians and scientists; and least of all, Dewey, know how much the gadget is about to change their lives.


Review:
World War II, aside from being one of the largest wars ever fought, gave the world two powerful lessons.  Our lesson from Europe was the dangers of racism, xenophobia, and genocide.  The one from Japan was the dangers of nuclear war.  Oppenheimer and his army of scientists gathered in Los Alamos to create a weapon that was so powerful that just the threat of it would be enough to force the Japanese to surrender.  Unfortunately, once it was finished the government couldn't resist its use.  The Green Glass Sea details the months leading up to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  


Dewey Kerrigan is an interesting, quirky little girl.  Interested in science, used to being alone, she enjoys tinkering with bits and pieces of old machines and creating new inventions.  She's unique, and so lonely.  The other main character, Suze, is also lonely, but where Dewey seems to have come to terms with her loneliness, Suze is desperate to get the approval of the other girls on "the Hill".  It really isn't a surprise when they find comfort in each other.


This is a rather quiet novel-much of the "action" takes place in the character's thoughts, and in the interactions between Dewey, Suze, and the other children.  But what it lacks in excitement it makes up for in mood-I could feel the dry desert winds and imagine the dust.  I could visualize the small, identical army housing and the "dump" where Dewey went to look for her spare parts.


My only complaint, and it is a small one, is the age level at which this book is written.  The story of the girls would appeal to girls age ten to twelve, but I felt like I relied a lot on my background knowledge of the Manhattan Project and the origin of Los Alamos to figure out what was going on.  I suppose that it may read as mysterious to someone without such background knowledge, but given the fact that most children won't have any clue about the context it seems like they might miss the import of the "gadget".  Of course, it also made me slightly less in awe of the wonder of the sea of glass created by the extreme heat of the bomb.  And when the girls actually walked out on it and collected pieces of it all I could think of was their future reproductive health and cancer risk.  I suppose there is something to be said for the innocence (ignorance) of childhood.


Teacher Resources:
Scholastic Discussion Guide
Web English Teacher

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

Title:  The Book Thief
Author:  Markus Zukas
Publisher:  Alfred A Knopf
Year:  2007
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Themes:  War, Racism, The Holocaust
Age Levels:  9th Grade and Up


Summary:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak takes place during World War II, and tells the story of 10 year old Liesel.  Her mother is forced to place her children into foster care.  Liesel's brother dies on the train taking her to Munich, where she is given into the care of a couple on Himmler Street.  Through the tough love of her foster mother, and the sweet compassion of her foster father, she finds a way to cope with not only her brothers death but the quickly declining standard of living in Germany.  Things go along OK, until the dark night that a Jew shows up at their door looking for sanctuary.


Review:
Despite the tragedy and the devastation contained within the story, when I think of a word to describe this book I can only say beautiful.  This book is so heartbreakingly beautiful, I could almost weep just from the use of language.  But the story is so compelling that even if it weren't written so beautifully I would have had a hard time putting it down.  So often books about World War II focus solely on the fate of the Jews-and rightfully so.  There is nothing so important as ensuring that the world never experiences that level of genocide-or any genocide-again.  But the fact is that most of the German people were suffering as well, and this book shows so clearly how the poison of hatred and fear spreads, and how it takes an incredible strength not to give in to the despair.  Despite the constant threat of being found out, of starvation, of being killed by bombs, Liesel and her parents held on to their humanity and compassion.

Teacher Resources:
Lesson Index
Web English Teacher
Bookrags

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Title:  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
Publisher: Quirk Books
Pages:  352
Genre:  Fantasy
Themes:  Family, Friendship, Hero's Journey, Good vs. Evil
Age Ranges:  8th Grade and Up


Summary: (from Goodreads)
A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.


Review:

One of the things that has been happening in children's publishing is a variety of new formats and narrative structures.  The rise of the graphic novel for more than telling stories about superheroes has allowed authors to create genre-bending texts that appeal to children through a wide range of narrative structure, illustration, and technology connections.

Compared to some of the current children's and young adult literature, Miss Peregrine's is almost old-fashioned by comparison.  But the way this story came about is what makes it so interesting.  The author collects interesting period photos.  These photos gave her the framework for an amazing story of a young man who discovers that his world is much more magical and horrifying than he even knew.  

The photos have a very eerie quality that gives the while story a very dark feel.  Jake, the narrator, is a rather cynical young man, prone to swearing, which makes this a book more suited to older children and youth.  The story takes a bit to get going, but it is engaging enough for me to want to keep going and find out what the mystery behind Jacob's grandfather's history.  This is obviously the first in the series, and I'm looking forward to reading what happens to Miss Peregrine and all of her peculiar charges.

Savvy, Ingrid Law

Title:  Savvy
Author:  Ingrid Law
Publisher: Puffin
Year:  2008
Pages:  368
Genre:  Magical Realism/Fantasy
Themes:  Family, Identity, Coming of Age
Age Range:  4th Grade and Up


Summary:  (from Goodreads)

For generations, the Beaumont family has harbored a magical secret. They each possess a "savvy" -a special supernatural power that strikes when they turn thirteen. Grandpa Bomba moves mountains, her older brothers create hurricanes and spark electricity . . . and now it's the eve of Mibs's big day.

As if waiting weren't hard enough, the family gets scary news two days before Mibs's birthday: Poppa has been in a terrible accident. Mibs develops the singular mission to get to the hospital and prove that her new power can save her dad. So she sneaks onto a salesman's bus . . . only to find the bus heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly Mibs finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up -and of other people, who might also have a few secrets hidden just beneath the skin.

Review:

I started reading this book at the beginning of the school year so I could model a reading journal for my students.  Once my students were independent on our independent reading routine, I put the book aside for days and weeks at a time.  It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the story, because I did.  But one busy day as the teacher bled into the next, and the book got buried under papers to grade, projects to finish, an drawings that my students made me.

Yesterday I was cleaning out a bin and discovered it again, and I am so glad that I did.  This story is frankly charming.  Mibs' voice is uniquely her own-the musings of a girl from a unique family with a unique perspective on the world.  Despite the impossibility of the circumstances, Mibs' voice rings true as she begins the awkward, often painful, usually embarrassing  transition from little girl to young woman.  I think that there are many children who would relate to the changes that Mibs is going through-we may not all have special powers, but who doesn't feel as though the world has suddenly tilted on its axis when we have our first crush, or our first grown up party, or when we realize that our own parents may not live for ever.  

This novel is also a good teaching tool for fantasy that is different than fairy tales or fables.  The magical realism in the book makes the most mundane activities take on an air of wonder, and yet still be totally relateable in a way that high fantasy is not.  There is also a chance to talk about character motivation and feelings with this novel.  Between Mibs' feelings about her father's accident and her crush, her brothers' reactions to their savvies, and the conflicted feelings of the bus driver and the waitress they pick up, and Mibs' ability to hear what other people are thinking, this book as s rich emotional landscape that will pull the reader in and make talking about issues of identity, self-worth, and responsibility easy.

Teacher Resources:

Penguin's Teachers Guide

Teachervision Discussion Guide

Bookrags Discussion Guide