One, Sarah Crossan

Title: One
Author: Sarah Crossan
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Year: 2015
Pages: 400
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Themes: Identity, First Love, Sisterhood, Coming of Age
Age Range: 7th Grade and Above

Summary:
Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins, attached at the waist. Defying the odds, they have made it to their teenage years mostly healthy and pretty happy. After being homeschooled their entire lives, Tippi and Grace transition to a traditional high school. Despite the curious looks and unkind words from many of the students, they manage to find Yasmeen and Jon, who quickly become their first and best friends. But their world is turned upside down when their mother loses her job, and suddenly they are struggling to pay for the girls' expensive medical care. And then a health crisis forces them to make the decision they've been avoiding their while life-whether to undergo separation surgery.

Review:
I really enjoyed this novel, told in a loose free verse. Grace is the narrator, which I thought was an interesting choice. This story certainly lends itself to alternating perspectives, but I think that Crossan made a good decision to focus only on one of the twins. This allowed her to show how Grace developed her sense of self and identity, both because of and in spite of her sister. Adolescence is a turbulent time for most of us, but having to manage hormones and crushes and the need for space while simultaneously being literally attached to another person heightened the angst and emotional impact.

To be honest, while I know that novel told in verse are a thing right now, that would be my only real criticism of this book. Not because I don't like novels in verse-I do. But for this story it felt unnecesary. When I think of novels in verse, I think of powerful poetry from authors like Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming) or Thanhha Lai (Inside Out and Back Again), where the format adds to the beauty and impact of the language. I'm not sure the use of poetry in the case of One actually added much to the story, and it occasionally felt a little choppy. However, the story on its own is engaging enough that the format is really only a minor criticism. I think that reluctant readers, even boys, would find a story about conjoined twins interesting enough to give it a chance, though I suspect some male readers may find it girly. Given the subject matter, there are surely paired informational readings that could be found to make it part of a larger unit of study, but if nothing else it would make a good addition to any classroom library.

Teacher Resources
Bloomsbury Kids Reading Guide
Centre for Literacy in Primary Education Teaching Sequence

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, by Kirsten Cronn-Mills

Title: Beautiful Music for Ugly Children
Author: Kirsten Cronn-Mills
Publisher: Flux
Year: 2012
Pages: 262
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  LGBT, Identity, Acceptance
Age Range: 8th Grade and Up

Summary: 
Gabe loves music, being on the radio, and his best friend, Paige.  Gabe also, until recently, was a girl named Elizabeth.  At least, Gabe was born biologically female, and his parents raised him in the female gender.  As far as Gabe is concerned, he has always been a boy.  But his decision to start living his day to day life that way is new, and it is throwing his family for a loop.  The only people who seem to truly accept the new/old him is his best friend Paige, and his elderly neighbor John, himself a radio devotee.  Gabe gets his own late-night radio show on the local channel, which he calls Beautiful Music for Ugly Children.  Radio allows him to be fully himself in a way he can't be at school or at home.  But things get complicated when one of his fans discovers his secret, and Gabe is forced to confront the very real danger that trans* folks face from people who refuse to accept their identity.

Review:
I loved this book, in large part because I know a few young adults who could have been Gabe.  As a part of the queer community myself, and someone who works with teenagers on a regular basis, the prejudice, discrimination, and violence that trans* folks deal with is something that I am more familiar with than I would like.  I think that it speaks to Cronn-Mill's ability to write a fully-realized character that I was so readily able to identify with Gabe, if not through my own identity, then through the sharing of trans* youth I have worked with over the years.

Not that I have anything against issue driven stories, but ultimately this book is not "just" a book about being trans*.  The reader gains some insight into the experience of trans* folks, but Cronn-Mills does an excellent job showing just how universal the issues that Gabe deals with are in adolescence, even if Gabe has a harder row to hoe than most.  The teenage years are all about separating from parents, creating identity, and navigating increasingly sophisticated social structures.  Many youth struggle to find balance and meaning between the person they have always been, and the person they would like to become.  Gabe's transition from being Elizabeth is a more dramatic example of something that all of us go through.  Instead of diluting the issues surrounding being trans*, though, this universality may help the reader create connections with characters that are otherwise seemingly very different, which can only help create empathy for people in Gabe's position, and for anyone who is identified as "other"

I think that this book would be a great addition to any classroom library at the secondary level.  I also could see it being taught in a human sexuality class, or as part of a course on social justice topics.  Beautiful Music for Ugly Children won the Stonewall Award from the American Library Association, given to books for young adults that show excellence in portraying LGBT themes, an award that in this case is well-deserved.

Game, by Barry Lyga

Title:  Game
Author: Barry Lyga
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Year: 2013
Pages: 520
Genre:  Thriller
Themes:  Serial Killers, Family, Identity
Age Range: 10th Grade and Up

Summary:
Game is the second book in a series about a boy named Jasper Dent.  In the first book, I Hunt Killers, we discover that Jasper's father, Billy Dent, is a notorious serial killer.  Jasper lives in the small town where he grew up with his horrible, racist grandmother, who is suffering from dementia.  In the first book, a copycat killer draws Jasper out, and he makes it his life's mission to capture serial killers, all the while questioning whether his unusual (read: crazy) upbringing by his murderous father made him a sociopath.  In the second book, Jasper's hunt for killers continues when he is approached by a New York City detective trying to catch a serial killer called Hat-Dog, because of the distinctive marks he leaves on his victims.  Jasper agrees to help the detective in an effort to prove that he is not capable of the horrendous acts his father trained him for.  In the process, he discovers that his father, who escaped from prison at the end of the first book, may be involved.

Review:
As an avid reader of thrillers, I am very much enjoying this series.  The premise is unique-in all of the thrillers that I have read over the years, I have never come across one where the main character is the child of a serial killer, nor one where the main character is a teenager.  That said, I must admit to being baffled as to why this book is published as a YA novel at all.  Lyga does not pull any punches when it comes to describing the terrible acts committed by his villains.  Jasper's character is undergoing one of the most unusual coming-of-age narratives ever described in fiction, but I don't really think that is enough to justify marketing this as a book for young adults.

Not to say that mature readers in their teens won't enjoy this series, especially if they are as fascinated by serial killers and their capacity to do violence as many adult readers.  But this book being placed in the YA category means it will be marketed to tweens and teens alike, and I'm just not sure that it fits in that category. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I am not squeamish about violence in books for younger readers, nor do I generally shy away from books with controversial topics that some other adults may think are inappropriate for readers of a certain age. My general feeling is that kids and teens will self-select when it comes to reading.  If something they pick up is more mature than they are ready for, usually they either don't understand it or put it down as uninteresting to them.  But I think that this book really belongs with the other thrillers in the regular fiction section of the store.  Adult readers of thrillers will certainly enjoy it, and mature teenage readers who are transitioning to that section will find it, but younger readers aren't as likely to come across it.

The story itself is fast-paced, and Lyga spends more time developing the characters of Jasper's girlfriend and best friend, both of whom play major roles in the plot line.  Like many middle books in a series, it opens up more questions than it answers, though there is a resolution to the Hat-Dog business.  The ending is very much a cliff-hanger, and since the third book in the series doesn't come out until this fall, if you are an impatient reader you may want to wait to start the whole series.

Kimchi and Calamari, by Rose Kent

Title:  Kimchi and Calamari
Author:  Rose Kent
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Year:  2007
Pages:  220
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Adoption, Family, Identity
Age Range:  3rd-6th Grade

Summary: from Goodreads

Kimchi and calamari. It sounds like a quirky food fusion of Korean and Italian cuisine, and it's exactly how Joseph Calderaro feels about himself. Why wouldn't an adopted Korean drummer-comic book junkie feel like a combo platter given: (1) his face in the mirror (2) his proud Italian family.

And now Joseph has to write an essay about his ancestors for social studies. All he knows is that his birth family shipped his diapered butt on a plane to the USA. End of story. But what he writes leads to a catastrophe messier than a table of shattered dishes—and self-discovery that Joseph never could have imagined

Review:
I've been considering using this book as a part of a "one school, one book" type project for the school where I work.  I've been looking for books with multicultural characters that have depth and substance.  I am happy to report that this book has both, with some self-deprecating humor thrown in.  Kimchi and Calamari is an entertaining read that also has lots of avenues for discussion, and that highlights issues of identity, both cultural and familial, with grace and charm.

The character of Joseph is a good kid.  He loves his parents, dotes on his little sisters, and tries hard to be a good student.  It is this last thing that gets him in trouble.  When asked to write a paper about his ancestry, which he sadly knows almost nothing about, it never even occurs to him to just not do it, or to explain to his teacher his situation.  Instead, he makes up a fantasy about being the grandson of a famous Korean Olympian, which only makes the situation worse.  His very proud Italian father can't understand why he doesn't write about the family he does know (the Italian one), but Joseph feels like that would be lying, and he clearly isn't comfortable claiming an Italian heritage for himself.  His mother seems to understand a little bit better, but you can tell how ambivalent she is to his desire to learn more about his birth mother.  Add in confusion about girls and the new Korean neighbors who act like he's a "fake" Korean, and poor Joseph finds himself in quite a mess.

I think that the adoption angle is handled well in this book, and while it ends very satisfactorily, it does not end with a "Hallmark moment" reunion between Joseph and his birth family.  But as Joseph struggles along on his journey of self-discovery, everyone learns a little something about what family actually means.

Zen and the Art of Faking It, by Jordan Sonnenblick

Title:  Zen and the Art of Faking It
Author:  Jordan Sonnenblick
Publisher:  Scholastic
Year:  2007
Pages:  264
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Friendship, Family, First Love, Identity
Age Range:  5th Grade and Up

Summary:  from Goodreads

When eighth-grader San Lee moves to a new town and a new school for the umpteenth time, he doesn't try to make new friends or be a loner or play cool. Instead he sits back and devises a plan to be totally different. When he accidentally answers too many questions in World History on Zen (only because he just had Ancient Religions two schools ago) all heads turn and San has his answer: he's a Zen Master. And just when he thinks everyone (including the cute girl he can't stop thinking about) is on to him, everyone believes him . . . in a major Zen way.

Review:
I saw Jordan Sonnenblick speak at the Illinois Reading Council Conference this past March, and since then I have been on a mission to read all of his novels.  I had read After Ever After a couple of years ago, and I found it humorous and moving in a way that I don't always expect books about middle school age boys to be.  Sonnenblick, a former middle school English teacher, seems able to perfectly capture the angst, confusion, and general awkwardness of kids at the cusp of adolescence.

There are two things that I really love about this particular book.  The first is the fact that he uses the Zen philosophy as a framework for the events that take place.  While no one in the novel is actually practicing Zen Buddhism in any real way, kids who read it will get a glimpse of a religious cultural tradition that may be completely new to them.  Learning something new in the context of a really good story is never a bad thing.  The other thing that I really like about this book is the way that it looks at issues of family and identity.  San is Chinese, adopted by a white America family as an infant.  Raised by a con man and his hard working mother, who is apparently blinded by love to her husband's faults, San is basically taught that people are gullible rubes who can be manipulated to get you what you want.  When his father is arrested and imprisoned, San must question everything he's been taught about how the world works, and he completely rejects his father, refusing to talk to him.  But he finds himself acting like him, lying to people he cares about in an effort to reinvent himself, and keep people from knowing about his family's past.  Eventually San has to choose between being honest and jeopardizing his budding romance, or living a lie, just as his father did.  This struggle provides rich fodder for conversations about identity, how much our family affects who we are and who we become, and healthy relationships.

Sparks, by S.J. Adams

Title:  Sparks
Author:  S.J. Adams
Publisher:  Flux
Year: 2011
Pages:  256
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Identity, Belonging, GLBT
Age Range:  8th Grade and Up

Summary:  from Goodreads

Do you feel lost? Confused? Alone? (Circle one): Yes or No. The Church of Blue can help. We are not a cult. $5 for a holy quest is a good deal. Since sixth grade, Debbie Woodlawn has nursed a secret, heart-searing crush on her best friend, Lisa. But all those years of pretending to enjoyFull House reruns and abstinence rallies with Lisa go down the drain when her friend hooks up with Norman, the most boring guy at school. This earth-shattering event makes Debbie decide to do the unthinkable: confess her love to Lisa. And she has to do it tonight--before Lisa and Norman go past "the point of no return." So Debbie embarks on a quest to find Lisa. Guiding the quest are fellow students/detention hall crashers Emma and Tim, the founding (and only) members of the wacky Church of Blue. Three chases, three declarations of love, two heartbreaks, a break-in, and five dollars worth of gas later, Debbie has been fully initiated into Bluedaism--but is there time left to stop Lisa and Norman from going too far?

Review:  

Adams story of a young girl struggling with her unrequited first love is funny, with a cast of characters that felt very authentic.  Debbie is alternately confused, confident, self-deprecating, and courageous; the mix of emotions felt very much like I remember from my own adolescence.  In a way, that was one of the nice things about the book-even though it deals with a young woman coming to grip with her own feelings towards girls, it shows just how alike the experience is for young people, whether gay or straight.  Of course, Debbie deals with a few things that make her situation unique, but the story is written in such a way that it feels universal.

One of the things I also appreciated about the story was that it didn't demonize the rather conservative Christian values of some of the other main characters.  In fact, it was clear that while Debbie was dealing with her own romance troubles, the "abstinent" kids in the book were also struggling with how to live up to their principles, given all of the urges that overtake us in those years.  While Debbie comes to realize that the world of abstinence only clubs and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes might not be the world for her, Adams doesn't go so far as to suggest that it might not be right for anyone.

Sparks also deals with some of the repercussions of adolescent culture's sometimes rabid insistence that everyone has to fit into a box.  Debbie was a clean cut, feminine girl who happened to like other girls instead of boys.  Her rather effeminate friend Tim is assumed to be gay after a girl he rejected in middle school starts a rumor about him, but he is really in love with his friend and fellow Bluedaite, Emma.  Emma plays the fat, funny, sarcastic girl that everyone thinks she is-until she confesses her love for Tim.  No one is exactly what they seem-not even Lisa, who, it turns out, knew about Debbie's crush on her for years, but stayed her friend anyway.  Overall, I think that high school students will recognize something about themselves in reading this book, and even though Debbie's unrequited love is never, well, requited, the book ends on a positive, hopeful note.

Eight Keys, by Suzanne LaFleur

Title:  Eight Keys
Author:  Suzanne La Fleur
Publisher:  Wendy Lamb Books
Year:  2011
Pages:  224
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Loss, Family, Identity, Growing Up
Age Range:  4th-6th Grade

Summary:
Elise has just started middle school, and so far things are not going well.  Her best friend Franklin suddenly seems babyish and embarrassing to be around,  she's being bullied by a girl at school, and her schoolwork is overwhelming.  Things are changing at home, too.  Elise has had her aunt and uncle all to herself since she was a small child, coming to live with them after her parents died.  Now her cousin Annie is coming to live with them, and bringing her infant daughter.  Elise tries to solve her problems on her own, but nothing she does seems to do anything but make things worse.  Then, right around her twelfth birthday, she finds the key.  Her father, who died of cancer before she was old enough to start school, left her eight keys, each one opening a mysterious door in her uncle's barn.  When Elise opens the first door, she discovers a room that is full of her mother, who died the day Elise was born-pictures, mementos, her favorite chair, and her childhood teddy bear.  Her father left a note in each room, and as she discovers the keys to the other doors, she learns more about her parents, the uncle who took her in, and finally herself.

Review:
This is a beautiful, thoughtfully written book.  LaFleur does an excellent job showing how Elise changes from a rather selfish, immature girl into a young woman who understands what it means to be a friend, and who learns to appreciate the people in her life in new ways.  The other characters are equally well-written:  Franklin, her best friend from early childhood, with his allergies and Star Wars figures; Amanda, the bully; Aunt Bessie and Uncle Hugh, who know just how to help Elise find her way; and Caroline, the new friend that shows Elise that sometimes things change for the better.  And while he may have passed away prior to the start of the book, her father is very much a character.  As a parent myself,  I was especially moved by the effort he took to ensure that his daughter would learn the important lessons she needed to be happy.

This would be a great book for discussing how characters change from the beginning of the story to the end. It would also be good for looking at character motivation-even the school bully becomes a more sympathetic character when you realize what motivates her to be so mean.  It is also an excellent vehicle for talking about what makes a family, or how we handle adversity.  Just a wonderful gem of a book!

Insurgent, by Veronica Roth

Title:  Insurgent
Author:  Veronica Roth
Publisher:  Harper Teen
Year:  2012
Pages:  525
Genre:  Dystopian Science Fiction
Themes:  Family, Survival, Oppression, Identity
Age Range:  8th Grade and Above

Summary:
Roth has created a fictional Chicago in ruins, cut off from the rest of the world by a high fence.  The lake and river have dried up, and the people who live within the city must get their food from farms on the outskirts of town.  Society has been divided into five factions:  Amity, the peaceful food growers; Erudite, the ultra-intelligent innovators; Candor, whose purpose is to always find and tell the truth; Abnegation, the self-less leaders of the community; and Dauntless, the fearless peace-keepers and informal police force.

Insurgent is the second book in the Divergent series.  It follows Tris Prior, former Abengation, and her love interest and fellow Dauntless fighter, Tobias, in the aftermath of the battle between Erudite and Abnegation for control of the city.  Tris and her friends are on the run from the Erudite leaders and the Dauntless traitors who have joined them.  As the old order breaks down, Tris and her fellow divergent are targeted by the Erudite.  They find temporary safety with Candor, but everyone knows that the current situation can't stand.  When Tris find out that the Erudite attack was a cover for the theft of valuable information from Abnegation, she sets her sights on discovering the information and bringing down Erudite.

Review:
As I wrote when I reviewed Divergent last year, this series is an anomaly for me, in that I am completely engrossed in the fictional world Roth has created, even though I don't really like the protagonist that much.  Tris is a complicated character, for sure, but her aggressive nature and her instincts to fight first and ask questions later is pretty antithetical to my worldview.  This book actually helped me like her a bit better, though.  She becomes a much more sympathetic character once she is loaded down by guilt over the acts of violence she committed in the first book.  Sad, but true...I liked her better when she was suffering.

Roth's fictional society and the rules under which they live provide rich fodder for discussion about how society is organized, and about governmental power.  Each of the factions provides the basis for a discussion about the relative merit of each aspect of humanity in society.  And Tris's journey through grief and guilt can lead to discussions of friendship, family, and being true to yourself within a crazy world.  Or you can just read it for the pleasure of reading a fast-paced story filled with action and adventure.  Either way, I recommend this series to anyone who loves science fiction generally, and dystopian fiction specifically.

UnWholly, by Neal Shusterman

Title:  UnWholly

Author:  Neal Shusterman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster for Young Readers
Year:  2012
Pages:  416
Themes:  Social Justice, Morality, Survival, Identity
Age Range:  8th grade and Above

Summary:  from Goodreads

Thanks to Connor, Lev, and Risa—and their high-profile revolt at Happy Jack Harvest Camp—people can no longer turn a blind eye to unwinding. Ridding society of troublesome teens while simltaneously providing much-needed tissues for transplant might be convenient, but its morality has finally been brought into question. However, unwinding has become big business, and there are powerful political and corporate interests that want to see it not only continue, but also expand to the unwinding of prisoners and the impoverished.

Cam is a product of unwinding; made entirely out of the parts of other unwinds, he is a teen who does not technically exist. A futuristic Frankenstein, Cam struggles with a search for identity and meaning and wonders if a rewound being can have a soul. And when the actions of a sadistic bounty hunter cause Cam’s fate to become inextricably bound with the fates of Connor, Risa, and Lev, he’ll have to question humanity itself.

Review:
If you read Unwind, you know that Shusterman has created an alternate history for America that includes a violent war between pro-choice and pro-life forces that led to the Unwind Accords-abortion is illegal when the child is a fetus, but when the child turns 13 parents can decide to retroactively abort their child through a process called unwinding, and all of the teens organs and tissue will be donated.

When discussing UnWholly, Shusterman said that he never intended for Unwind to become a trilogy, but he just couldn't let the story go.  This novel continues the themes introduced in the first book.  At its most basic level, the unwind culture is about what defines being human.  Despite being set in a fictional future, Shusterman draws on the current debate about the power of corporations, both in our government and in society at large, as well as the debate about privatizing education (which in itself is at least partly also about corporate power).  The addition of Cam as a completely made up "person" brings a new level to the discussion of the morality of unwinding.  It's hard to argue that people's lives are saved by the constant flow of "donated" organs and tissue, but just because technology allows us to create new life from old, does that mean we should?  And if we do, then can there be such a thing as a "soul" as religious people define it, as coming from the divine?  This book would make a great choice for a book club discussion for teens (or grown-ups who love books for teens...you know who you are!).

The Thing about Georgie, by Lisa Graff

Title:  The Thing About Georgie
Author:  Lisa Graff
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Year:  2007
Pages:  224
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Disabilities, Acceptance, Friendship, Family
Age Range:  3rd through 6th Grade

Summary:  
Everyone has a "thing"-something about them that other people see that defines a part of who they are.  Like the thing about me is that I love books, or that I am an opinionated liberal.  Well, the thing about Georgie is that he is a dwarf, and now that he is in fourth grade he is starting to realize what that means for his future.  He is never going to get much taller than the 42 inches he has already attained, which makes managing in school, with too-big furniture and more and more activities he can't participate in, that much more difficult.  His mother is pregnant, with a baby who is likely NOT going to be a dwarf, and Georgie feels like the new Godzilla baby will overshadow him.  His best friend Andy made friends with the new boy in their class, and Georgie is pretty sure he like him better.  And his is forced to be partners with Jeanie the Meanie for a class project.  How do you grow up when you aren't getting any taller?

Review:
I thought that this book was absolutely charming.  As far as I'm concerned, the thing about Georgie is that he was such a normal little boy, even if he is a dwarf,  This kind of story can quickly devolve into the children's book equivalent of a Lifetime Movie, with lots of sappy sentimentality and tear-jerker moments, but Graff does an excellent job showing that children with physical disabilities have the same feelings, and can act in the same obnoxious ways, as any other kids.  Georgie's feelings are informed by his condition, but they are not because of his condition, and in the end he finds he is not really defined by his condition, either.  Georgie's worries about his friendship and the fears he has about the new baby taking his place with his parents are fairly universal...whether a person has dwarfism or not.  I think that kids will really relate to Georgie, and this book is a great way to introduce disabilities in such a way that students understand that people with disabilities are people first, and should be treated as such.

Teacher Resources:
TeachingBooks.net
TeacherVision Reading Guide
Scholastic Book Wizard

Divergent, by Veronica Roth

Title:  Divergent
Author:  Veronica Roth
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Year:  2011
Pages:  487
Genre:  Dystopian
Themes:  Identity, First Love, Coming of Age
Age Range:  7th Grade and Up

Summary:  (from Goodreads)
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. 

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.


Review:

This book was all over the place last year, and was voted the readers' favorite book on Goodreads in their Reader's Choice Awards.  It obviously has wide appeal to the same audience of YA readers that loved The Hunger Games, and they proved it by making it a huge bestseller.  I think that part of what took me so long to read it is that I am leery of clones...you know, like all of the vampire/werewolf/normal girl love stories that came out after Twilight hit it big.  But since everyone I know that's read it has raved about it, I made it the first book on my summer reading list.

And the praise they heap on it is well deserved.  It does not feel like nearly 500 pages, even as a young adult book.  The action is well-paced, and interspersed with enough of Tris's internal struggles to make it more than just an action book, but less than navel-gazing.   And what an interesting character Tris is.  While obviously the protagonist and a sympathetic character, I didn't always like her or approve of her choices.  I was turned off by the violence inherent in the Dauntless lifestyle, and how easily it sometimes was for her to use violence.  But I liked the book more for my ambivalence.  It made the story more thought-provoking.

Though really it didn't need much more than the basic premise to be more thought-provoking.  The idea of my city falling to pieces, the lake replaced by a giant dead marsh, with five different factions running the place gave me plenty to think about.  I think that this book would be an excellent choice for a teen book club.  I don't know that there is enough literary substance there to make it a teachable book for a whole class, but as a way to get reluctant teen readers to read and discuss what they are thinking it would be great.  What I think could produce the most discussion in a book club setting is the re-ordering of society.  I loved the fact that only the selfless could go into leadership and public service-makes what's happening in today's political culture seem small-minded.  And I imagine that a good discussion could also center around which faction the people in the group would choose.  I know what my answer is, and it is not Dauntless, that's for sure.  

Like most YA fiction, there is a love story.  What I appreciated about it was that it appeared to be an even partnership, with each person having power in the relationship and neither one having to change who they were to be together.  I also appreciated that it did not become the focus for the action of the story.  It was great that they fell in love, but it was not the main driver for why they did the things they did in trying to save their city.  It also did not completely conform to gender role stereotypes.  Tris, though diminutive in physical stature, was both strong and sometimes cold in her ability to do what needed to be done, which is often a masculine trait in media.  Tobias, while physically strong and skilled, was often shown as being emotionally vulnerable-a female trait, according to society.  


The ending was very up in the air, so don't expect a tidy conclusion.  But the second book in the series, Insurgent, came out May 1st, so if you are the kind of person who needs to know now, I suggest you buy both books together!

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. 

The Running Dream, by Wendelin Van Draanen

Title: The Running Dream

Author: Wendelin Van Draanen

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Year: 2011

Pages: 352

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Themes: identity, friendship, survival, overcoming hardship

Age Range: Sixth Grade and up

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: Wendelin Van Draanen, the prolific author of the Sammy Keyes and Shredderman series (among many other books), has created an emotional and inspirational tale with The Running Dream. The book opens as sixteen year old Jessica wakes up in the hospital following a bus accident and the subsequent amputation of the lower portion of one of her legs. Told in Jessica's voice, the story follows her journey of recovery and reinvention. The details, though interesting (and true to the life of a contemporary high schooler), are not what made me love this tale. It is the bigger ideas that readers will take from it: endings are almost always beginnings, true friendships can be found in the most unusual of places, an individual is not defined by his/her disabilities, and with love and hope one can achieve the seemingly insurmountable. This book speaks to students, athletes, and anyone who has ever been humbled by a challenge. Read The Running Dream.

Troublemaker, by Andrew Clements

Title: Troublemaker

Author: Andrew Clements

Publisher: Atheneum

Year: 2011

Pages: 160

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Themes: school, identity

Age Range: Third through Fifth Grade

Summary (from Goodreads):There’s a folder in Principal Kelling’s office that’s as thick as a phonebook and it’s growing daily. It’s filled with the incident reports of every time Clayton Hensley broke the rules. There’s the minor stuff like running in the hallways and not being where he was suppose to be when he was supposed to be there. But then there are also reports that show Clay’s own brand of troublemaking, like the most recent addition: the art teacher has said that the class should spend the period drawing anything they want and Clay decides to be extra “creative” and draw a spot-on portrait of Principal Kellings…as a donkey.
It’s a pretty funny joke, but really, Clay is coming to realize that the biggest joke of all may be on him. When his big brother, Mitchell, gets in some serious trouble, Clay decides to change his own mischief making ways…but he can’t seem to shake his reputation as a troublemaker.

Review: Let me begin by saying that I wanted to love this book. I truly did. I have been a fan of Andrew Clements for ages, and count many of his books amongst my favorites - Frindle, The Landry News, The Report Card, No Talking...I even loved Room One. I was hoping that after reading Troublemaker, I'd have another Clements classic to add to my list of faves. Sadly, that is not the case.

Though I believe that there are plenty of kids who can relate to Clayton Hensley (and I have certainly known a few Clays in my day), his transformation from gleeful mischief maker to considerate rule follower felt altogether too simple to me. It seemed that, within a short period of time, Clay had managed to change his behavior, learn the error of his ways, rebuild a relationship with his beleaguered principal, and discover new insights into the nature of his best friend. Quite a list of accomplishments for a kid who started behaving just because his brother told him to.

All my grouching aside, I do think that this book will speak to many students, especially those who are proud to call themselves troublemakers. It would also be a good choice for read aloud because it could spark some interesting discussion about rules and why we follow them, as well as the nature of friendship.

The Summer I Learned to Fly, by Dana Reinhardt

Title: The Summer I Learned To Fly

Author: Dana Reinhardt

Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books

Year: 2011

Pages: 224

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Themes: Coming of age, friendship, family, identity

Age Range: Fifth through Ninth Grade

Summary (from Goodreads): Drew's a bit of a loner. She has a pet rat, her dead dad's Book of Lists, an encyclopedic knowledge of cheese from working at her mom's cheese shop, and a crush on Nick, the surf bum who works behind the counter. It's the summer before eighth grade and Drew's days seem like business as usual, until one night after closing time, when she meets a strange boy in the alley named Emmett Crane. Who he is, why he's there, where the cut on his cheek came from, and his bottomless knowledge of rats are all mysteries Drew will untangle as they are drawn closer together, and Drew enters into the first true friendship, and adventure, of her life.

Review: In honor of the Book of Lists that Drew obsessively reads in order to connect with her deceased father, I am writing my review as a list, entitled...

What I Loved about The Summer I Learned to Fly

1. This book is set in the 80s, but never makes obvious jokes about the decade.

2. Drew's mother owns a gourmet cheese shop, and Drew makes mention of the difficulties Mom faces as a small business owner. This is a topic to which many of our students can relate, and has potential for rich discussion.

3. Drew's voice (and point of view) remind me of being thirteen. The things she says, and the choices she makes, feel 100% real.

4. I consumed this book in two, big gulps. It is simple, honest, and lovely.

5. The ending doesn't give you all the answers, but it gives you just enough.

6. Since completing the book, I still find myself thinking about Drew, Emmet, and Nick. I wish them well.

Teaching Resources

www.danareinhardt.net

The Absolute Value of Mike by Kathryn Erskine

Title: The Absolute Value of Mike

Author: Kathryn Erskine

Publisher: Philomel

Year: 2011

Pages: 256

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Themes: Family, Friendship, Identity

Age Level: Grades 5 and Up

Summary (from Goodreads): Mike tries so hard to please his father, but the only language his dad seems to speak is calculus. And for a boy with a math learning disability, nothing could be more difficult. When his dad sends him to live with distant relatives in rural Pennsylvania for the summer to work on an engineering project, Mike figures this is his big chance to buckle down and prove himself. But when he gets there, nothing is what he thought it would be. The project has nothing at all to do with engineering, and he finds himself working alongside his wacky eighty-something- year-old aunt, a homeless man, and a punk rock girl as part of a town-wide project to adopt a boy from Romania. Mike may not learn anything about engineering, but what he does learn is far more valuable.

Review: In my last review, I was fairly critical of Close to Famous for being riddled with cliched characters. The Absolute Value of Mike is similar to that novel in the sense that Mike, like Foster McFee, lives in a town of misfits, many of whom are all too familiar. However, the characters in The Absolute Value of Mike were drawn with a depth that made me care deeply for them, even if their stories weren't entirely brand new. There's Poppy, paralyzed with grief over losing his adult son; Moo, Poppy's absentminded wife who fancies herself a collector of lost souls; a punk rock girl looking for a normal family, and a homeless gentleman who is not at all what he seems. Of course there's also Mike, a boy struggling to accept the fact that he is not the boy his father wants him to be. Mike's journey to discover his "absolute value" is a touching one, and the relationship that develops between Mike and his father feels genuine. The book has many possible points of discussion, one of which being that each chapter is titled with a mathematical term and definition that is somehow connected to the plot. I think that this novel could provide interesting discussion in a guided reading group or literature circle.

Heather's Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Issues

This week's Top Ten list from The Broke and the Bookish gives me a chance to make two lists.  The topic of the week is books that deal with societal issues, and I've already posted my list of adult books at my other blog, Book Addict Reviews.  But because so much good children's literature also has social justice themes, I'm going to make a second list right here at Second Childhood Reviews. 

1.  The Friendship, Mildred Taylor:  This short novella tell the story of two men, one black and one white, and how the racism of the south in the middle of the 20th century led them from being friends to violence.  Great book-every class I've ever read this with has literally gasped at what happens.

2.  The Misfits, James Howe:  With all of the recent news about bullying, this book is a must read for the 5th through 8th grade set.  Includes bullying based on weight, gender, intelligence, and sexual orientation.

3.  Keeping Corner, Kasmira Sheth:  A historical fiction tale of a child-bride in India during the rise of Ghandi.  When her betrothed dies of a snake bite, 12 year old Leela is forced to live as a widow, which means never wearing bright colors or bangles again, never being able to marry or have children, and being considered bad luck by the others in her town.  Really interesting look at Indian culture.

4.  Monster, Walter Dean Myers:  Really thought provoking book about a teenager on trial for murder.

5.  Bait, by Alex Sanchez:  Deals with childhood sexual abuse with a male protagonist.  Sanchez's books are so good I have to list two, the other one being...

6.  The God Box, Alex Sanchez:  Reinterprets the Christian arguments against homosexuality through the story of a closeted Christian teen and his new out and proud Christian friend.

7.  The Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins:  OK, I know that it is cool and trendy to love these books (and I did, love these books that is), but I also happen to think that they can be read and discussed as social commentary.  Classism, the value of democracy, the voyeurism of "reality" television, the power of perception and the media-all really topical stuff!

8.  Number the Stars, Lois Lowry; The Book Thief, Markus Zusak; The Devil's Arithmetic, Jane Yolen; The Boy Who Dared, Susan Campbell Bartoletti; The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, John Boyne:  All books about the holocaust, all really well done.

9.  19 Minutes, Jodi Picoult:  I know that she's usually considered an author of adult fiction, but this novel about a school shooting is perfect reading for teens.

10.  Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson:  Great story about finding your voice after a sexual assault.  And a pretty good movie with Kristin Stewart, before she became enamored of sparkly vampires.

Unwind, by Neal Shusterman

Title:  Unwind
Author:  Neal Shusterman
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Year:  2007
Pages:  352
Genre:  Science Fiction, Dystpoian
Themes:  Reproductive Rights, Ethics, Morality, Survival, Identity
Age Levels:  7th-10th Grade


Summary:

Set in the future, the second civil war is fought over abortion. To end the war, a compromise is reached that ends the practice of abortion but creates an alternative called "unwinding." Between the ages of 13 and 17, parents or guardians can choose to have their children unwound, which involves having every part of their bodies harvested to be "donated" to another person so, technically, they don't really die. The complex and compelling plot follows three teens whose stories intertwine when they escape while on their way to the harvest camps. Fifteen-year-old Connor's parents can no longer control him. Lev, a tithe, was raised by religious parents for the sole purpose of being unwound. Risa, a ward of the state, is a victim of shrinking budgets since she is not a talented enough musician to be kept alive. (From School Library Journal)

Review:
My first thought upon finishing this book (in practically one sitting, I might add) was "Holy crap!".  Not the most literary of sentiments, I realize, but I was so blown away by this story that "Holy crap" was as articulate as I could get.

When  this book was first recommended to me by a close friend, I was a little bit concerned about the subject matter.  Not that I consider myself squeamish, nor and I averse to a good debate over something I feel strongly about, like a woman's right to choose-I was more afraid that the book would come off as preachy, which is something I find pretty abhorrent in a book (though less so when the author's preachiness agrees with me!).  I was assured by my (many) friends who had read Unwind that was not the case, and they were 100% right (I can hear them all saying, "Of course we were, stupid!"-well, maybe without the stupid part!)  In fact, after reading the entire book I'm not sure where Shusterman himself would come down on the subject of reproductive rights-but I do know how he feels about respecting and protecting  the children already here.

Shusterman's characters are well-drawn, and sympathetic while still being flawed, each in their own way.  Connor, the character who sets the rest of the events in motion, is a perfect example of a good kid gone bad through lack of impulse control.  I see two or three of those go through my classroom every year.  Risa is actually the most functional of the three youth, which is ironic given the fact that she spent her entire life in a state youth home with no family.  Lev is the one that got to me the most-a boy raised from birth to believe that he was destined to honor God by allowing himself to be "tithed" to the church by being unwound.  Let's see, young men raised to believe that it is an honor to die for their religious beliefs-sound familiar to anyone?

Obviously the whole concept of unwinding could lead to some pretty intense discussion of morality, ethics, and the existence and/or nature of the soul.  But there are points all along the way to take that discussion into different directions.  What about the doctors?  Don't they take and oath to do no harm?  What happens to the parents?  What kind of belief about the sanctity of life does unwinding lead to in the society?  Do people seem to value life more or less as a result of storking and unwinding?  Should people be allowed to pay for body parts?  Should scientists do something, like the neurobonding in the book, just because they can, or is there a higher ethical standard to meet.  This book has a ton of different ways you could go.

Teacher Resources:
Simon and Schuster Reading Guide
Teachervision Reading Group Guide
 eNotes Study Guide

School for Tricksters, Chris Galaver

Title:  School for Tricksters
Author:  Chris Galaver
Publisher:  Southern Methodist University Press
Year:  2010
Pages:  248
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Themes:  Racial Identity
Age Range:  7th-12th Grade

Summary:
In School for Tricksters, Gavaler examines racial identity through the true, though fictionalized, lives of Ivy and Sylvester.  Ivy is an orphaned white girl trying to move up in the world, Sylvester is a black Southerner trying to escape the Jim Crow south.  Both end up at Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania-a school designed for assimilating Native Americans into mainstream society.  Both of them are "passing" as Indian in order to escape their poor upbringing.  Through Carlisle they come into contact with some famous-or infamous-names.  Pop Warner, activist Angela De Cora and her husband Lone Star Deitz (himself passing as Indian to further his sports career) and future Olympian Jim Thorpe.  Told in alternating stories about each main character, the book shows the ultimate price for "pretending" to be someone you are not.

Review:
Gavaler takes on a shameful period in American history-the destruction of Native American culture through forced attendance and boarding schools-and turn it on its head.  This is not a story of Native Americans overcoming the threat to their identity, but rather the affects of defining people by race at all.  While the very idea of someone having to "pass" is abhorrent, you can't help but understand the impulse.  Our racial policies over the years have pitted groups against each other, causing people to act against their own long term interests to try and get ahead.  This book would be a great way to introduce the idea of passing and what that meant to people of different backgrounds.  Ivy and Sylvester are both written in a way that is promotes thoughtful discussion about character motivation and the narrative structure showcases a different way of thinking about storytelling.  
  

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, By Sherman Alexie

Title:  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Author:  Sherman Alexie
Publisher:  Little, Brown for Young Readers
Year:  2007
Pages:  230
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Age Level:  9th Grade and Up

Summary: 
Arnold Spirit, a goofy-looking dork with a decent jumpshot, spends his time lamenting life on the "poor-ass" Spokane Indian reservation, drawing cartoons (which accompany, and often provide more insight than, the narrative), and, along with his aptly named pal Rowdy, laughing those laughs over anything and nothing that affix best friends so intricately together. When a teacher pleads with Arnold to want more, to escape the hopelessness of the rez, Arnold switches to a rich white school and immediately becomes as much an outcast in his own community as he is a curiosity in his new one. He weathers the typical teenage indignations and triumphs like a champ but soon faces far more trying ordeals as his home life begins to crumble and decay amidst the suffocating mire of alcoholism on the reservation. (from Booklist)

Review:
Alexie does not pull any punches in this young adult novel about race, culture,  and individuality.  Arnold Spirit, known as Junior on the reservation where he lives, is conflicted.  His family and culture encourage him to stay with the tribe, to stay on the reservation, to not look to the white man's world for hope.  But Junior feels trapped on the reservation.  He watches his family and friends deal with poverty, alcoholism, and violence, and he knows that if he does not leave the reservation he will succumb the the same hopelessness that is slowly killing the very culture of their Spokane tribe.  But leaving opens him up to a whole different set of challenges.  The other students at the small-town high school he attends treat him with suspicion, and he never truly feels like he belongs.  At home, the members of his tribe treat him as a race traitor-someone who thinks he is better than the rest f them, and is betraying them by trying to "be white".  Caught between these two worlds, Junior feels like a part-time Indian.  When he is at school, he is always part-Indian, and on the rez he is always considered part-white.  This duality of his existence begins to help him understand that identity is more than simply the race or tribe you are born into.  It is also about what you do with your gifts, and about coming to terms with the fact that all of us have to make our own way, regardless of the challenges that stand in front of us.  On the reservation he sees Indians who have given up, who have refused to face their challenges and try to cover them up with alcohol and violence.  Despite his feeling that he is leaving something important behind, he knows what he needs to do to be a whole person.

Teacher Resources:  
Sherman Alexie @ Web English Teacher 
eNotes Study Guide 
Oak Park River Forest High School Summer Reading Packet