Speak

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York City: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999.

Melinda Sordino is dreading her first day of high school after a summer when an event occurred that forever changed her perspective. This trauma has caused Melinda into turn into herself and rendered her nearly speechless. Her former friends are falling into new groups, leaving her behind and Melinda is infamous around her school for calling the cops during a raucous house party. She struggles not only socially but also at home; with a distracted father and overworked mother, Melinda rarely gets the support she needs. During the first week of school, Melinda cautiously makes a friend in overachiever Heather, a new transfer, whom Melinda does not really like. Unable to cope with joining her classmate in mundane activities, Melinda finds a sanctuary in a forgotten janitorial closet and makes it into a space she can sit and think. As school continues, Melinda’s grades continue to plummet (although she seems to excel in and take interest in art) and it is finally revealed that the source of Melinda’s behavior change is that she was sexually assaulted by Andy, a popular senior at the party she imploded. Disclosing this information to her ex-best friend (who is the first person she reveals this to), who is now seeing Andy, Melinda is met with disbelief and she becomes further defeated. As she is cleaning out her closet toward the end of school, Andy, her attacker, confronts her about the things she is saying, intending to force himself upon her again. Luckily, Melinda is able to shove open the door of the closet, where she finds members of a girls’ sports team have arrived to defend her.

Speak takes the form of diary-like entries following Melinda through the four marking periods in her first year of high school. Anderson does a fantastic job giving Melinda a strong point of view, creating an often witty and sometimes sorrowful outlook on the world she is forced to participate in. Reviewers in both School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly note that Anderson writing style make the “pain” that Melinda is going through “palpable.” Teen readers will find the writing style easy to follow and the plot realistic through the character development that Melinda and other characters are given throughout the story. The reader is easily transported to the surroundings that Melinda is in everyday, with vivid, yet not overwrought, descriptions of classrooms, bedrooms and the outdoors. These descriptions lend themselves nicely to involve the reader further in the story, yet do not detract from the story itself.

What is most intriguing about the novel is the fact that not everything that Melinda is going through is revealed all at once; her story is peeled back like an onion, layer after layer, in a methodical way. Melinda is giving bits and pieces to the reader, slowly, as if she is attempting to forget the situation herself. Melinda is dealing with a weighty situation, one that she has not even come to terms with yet. She runs into her attacker saying, “IT found me again,” a sentence that is indicative of her state in confronting the issue. This writing strategy gives the work a realism that would be overlooked were all of the circumstances of her situation been given upfront. Taking on such a weighty topic could certainly cause a writer to too heavily focus on a sermon about rape and the perils of high school, but Anderson keeps a light hand in this regard. The end of the story, where Melinda is faced with her attacked yet again, feels a bit trite, but the transformation that she makes throughout the story gives a feeling tangibility.

Book cover found on :http://picsdigger.com/keyword/speak%20novel/

An Abundance of Katherines

Green, John. An Abundance of Katherines. New York City: Dutton Books, 2006.

Colin Singleton, former child prodigy, has just graduated from high school and has just been dumped by his girlfriend, Katherine. In fact, he has been dumped by every Katherine he has dated, but this Katherine was the Katherine. In the pit of despair, Colin is persuaded to go on a road trip to clear his mind by his best (and only) friend Hassan. Driving aimlessly, Colin and Hassan decide to make a pit stop in the backwoods of Tennessee to visit the grave of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Gutshot, a decision that turns into a job opportunity for the two friends. Lindsey and her mother (who owns the Gutshot General Store and the local plant that is the town’s livelihood) invite the two boys to stay with them in their sprawling pink mansion. Daily the three teens are tasked with asking every resident in the town about their history in Gutshot and the evening is left open for Colin to work on his mathematical theory that explains why he has no luck with Katherine’s (and some light reading). Eventually, through hearing life stories across the town, having some adventures (boar hunting!) and spending time with Lindsey, Colin realizes that even though he considers himself a has-been or never-was, everyone counts to someone. Though he might not be a genius and cannot predict the future, Colin can mean something to someone, even if it ends up being a Lindsey and not a Katherine.

The text of the story, written from Colin’s perspective, reads with the geekiness you might expect when going through the brain of a child prodigy. Complete with footnotes and an appendix (which might help explain Colin’s theory to those remedial in math), the novel is stocked full of anecdotal trivia; for instance, Colin explains to a townsperson that the shower curtain flies inward because a vortex is created from the shower head spitting out water. Moments like these personify the fact that Colin is knowledgeable about nearly everything and his character develops in little flashes like these. However, some readers might find all the extra information a little difficult to follow. Amy Pattee warns of this in her critique in School Library Journal. She says, “[t]he narrative is…peppered with anagrams, trivia…and interrupted by footnotes that explain, translate and expound upon the text in the forms of asides. It… has the potential to both win over and alienate readers.” Not only can the additional notes be hard to follow, but some readers may find them overwhelming or be disinterested with them altogether.

The interactions between Hassan and Colin (and Lindsey, in certain sections of the book) are believable and read genuine. These conversations also provide important comic relief to what could be an otherwise heavy scene and assist in rounding out the main characters. Cindy Dobrez agreed with this idea by stating “the…humor ranges from delightfully sophomoric to subtly intellectual, and the boys sarcastic repartee will help readers navigate the slower parts of the story.” (Booklist). Colin, in dealing with his new situation, occasionally reminiscences about some of the Katherines, a devise that further cultivates the readers understand of Colin’s history and motivations. The reader comes to understand that Colin is not just smart, but that he works hard to be that way. Colin and other major characters in the story are given depth, are multi-faceted and have attributes with which teen readers can identify. Lindsey goes as far as to tell Colin that she is never authentic with anyone; she acts and behaves differently with each group of people she is around, never getting the chance to be Lindsey. Teens can identify with the struggle of figuring out who they are and what they want rather easily.

Book cover can be found at: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/john-green/abundance-of-katherines.htm

What I Saw and How I Lied

Blundell, Judy. What I Saw and How I Lied. New York City: Scholastic Press, 2008.

Fifteen year old Evie Spooner lives with her mother (Bev), stepfather (Joe) and Joe’s mother in post World War II Queens. Joe Spooner has come back from the war and done fairly well for himself, opening up a series of appliance stores, but his formerly happy-go-lucky attitude has begun to sour. After a phone call that shakes Joe up, he gathers the family and they leave on a vacation to Palm Beach. Once they arrive, they find that the majority of the town is gone for the season, save for one hotel. Settling in, the family becomes fast friends with the Grayson’s, a husband and wife who are hoteliers back in New York. Joe makes a plan to buy the hotel with Mr. Grayson and tells the family they may eb staying for a while longer. Soon after, Evie meets Peter, a handsome young man who just happens to know Joe from the war. Joe does not seem keen on Peter spending so much time with the group, but Evie continues to seek him out, falling deeper into infatuation. Evie reads all of Peter’s body language and listens intently to his words, only to convince herself of her intense feelings being reciprocated. Eventually, she learns that Peter’s trip to Palm Beach was purposeful rather than coincidental and Joe did something during the war that he can never take back. Meanwhile, the hotel deal has fallen through, and a hurricane is whipping up nearby. Joe convinces Peter and Bev to go out on a boat before they all leave; though the water is treacherous, Peter assures Evie he is good on a boat. The storm nears and passes, but the three adults did not return before it hit shore. When Evie’s parents return, they soon learn that Peter died on the trip and Joe and Bev are implicated in the murder. Evie must step up, swallow the knowledge that she has since gained (it seems that Bev was truly the object of Peter’s affections, not Evie) and help her family overcome the situation they now face.

The language and attention to detail in regard to the setting of the novel truly casts the story in the time it was set. Clothes, shoes, hairstyles and makeup are given extra attention, as they might be when a teen girl is the narrator of the story. In 1947, Palm Beach was a highly segregated community; Jews and African-Americans were not welcome into hotel or even on the island (no deed could be given to members of either community). Returning from a rather tense dinner, Mr. Grayson is given a message and it is revealed that the Graysons are Jewish. The demeanor of the hotel manager changes dramatically, every point of which Evie notes, down to the fact that the manager now seems disgusted to even have the Graysons in the lobby. It evokes emotions in Evie that remind her of how she watched a friend mistreat a Jewish girl back home in the neighborhood. Attention to detail such as this crafts a story that has a foothold in history. Jennifer Hubert remarks on this aspect saying, “Using pitch-perfect dialogue and short sentences filled with meaning, Blundell…subtly explores issues of post WWII racism, sexism and socioeconomic class.” (Booklist)

The whole plot of the story revolves Evie’s changing perspective; she is directly in the middle of her teen years, figuring out love and having her first pangs of affection. Burgeoning womanhood is coupled with a new view on her parents. Always an obedient child, Evie is beginning to notice that not everything that her parents do is in her (or their own) best interest. She starts to comprehend the way that adults communicate with each other, sometimes in subtle undertones and that not everything is on the surface. Evie grapples with the idea of justice, truthfulness and integrity, much as a teen reader would at the same age. She is discovering that not everything is as it appears, nor is everyone the same after traumatic events. Through Evie, the reader can appreciate wrestling with something that seems to difficult, but ultimately knowing and choosing to do the right thing.

Book cover can be found on http://nicolepoliti.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/what-i-saw-and-how-i-lied-by-judy-blundell/

Seventeenth Summer

Daly, Maureen. Seventeenth Summer. New York City: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1942.

In the summer just after graduation from high school Angie, a quiet girl, sees handsome Jack Duluth at a local hangout. While she does not date, Angie finds herself thinking about Jack quite a bit. Jack’s father owns the local bakery and stops by to make a delivery one afternoon and asks Angie to spend some time with him that evening. Angie finds herself self-conscious and feeling a bit awkward on the date comparing herself to other girls she thinks that Jack may find attractive. Even so, Jack asks her to accompany her to a dance and it is there that Jack confesses how much he likes Angie and they kiss. Over the summer, Angie and Jack have a falling out, but once the pair talk they are inseparable. As time passes, Angie begins to question the strength of the feelings she is having, thinking they are too advanced for someone her age, finding herself falling in love with Jack. The end of the summer looms over them, for Angie will be leaving their Wisconsin town for school in Chicago, when Jack reveals he will be returning to Oklahoma with the rest of his family. Bittersweet and honest, Jack and Angie leave each other at the train station with Angie thinking to herself that there would “never be a summer as sweet as [her] seventeenth.”

Maureen Daly began work on Seventeenth Summer while she was still in college, which gives the novel a different feel than if an adult, completely removed from childhood, would have written the work. Daly also sets the novel in an area close to where she herself grew up, providing her the opportunity to give delightful and detailed descriptions of the lake and countryside of Angie and Jack’s hometown. The author describes the smell and taste of the summer, truly drawing in the reader to the surroundings in which Angie and her family reside. In fact, the background could easily be considered another character in the story, it is so well developed.

The story itself is written in a style reminiscent to a diary – this technique lends itself well to the narration given to the reader by Angie. Sometimes written in desperate tones, the reader feels as if they are the only one who understand how deeply Angie feels, following her through elation, disappointment, wanting, needing, anger and desire. Although the story takes place in the early 1940’s, Angie’s story reads reminiscent of many young women’s first love tales. Angie struggle to understand love and finding contentment in a relationship can be understood regardless of the generation gaps between modern day teens and 1940’s teens. The New York Times noted that the novel is “both a timeless romance and a period piece, making it an utterly enchanting book – one which rings true and sweet and fresh and sound.” Some of the terminology and struggles that the characters face (Angie wonders if it makes her seem “fast” to be kissing Jack so soon, which is something that a modern day teen may think is very old-fashioned) are going to seem foreign to the reader, but in the end, the story is about two teenagers finding first, true love, something with which any reader can identify.

Book cover can be found at http://maureendaly.com/?attachment_id=4

Princess Academy

Hale, Shannon. Princess Academy. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. 2005. ISBN: 9781582349930

Plot Summary:
High in the mountains of fictional Danland lays Mount Eskel. The people of the mountain are strong, large and hard-working, daily working to mine linder, a marble-like stone, which is their livelihood. Every capable man and woman (including teens) are put to work in the quarry, with the exception of Miri. Miri, who is smaller than girls older than she, is made to stay home by her father, making her feel as if she is missing out on something essential with her friends and neighbors. One day, a royal announcement is made that all eligible girls are going to be sent to a princess academy. At the end of the academy, the prince will choose a bride from the girls that pass.

Miri finds it difficult to be away from home, especially when the tutor at the school is strict and punishes girls for the smallest of reasons. She loses the friendship of many of the girls after a run-in with Tutor Olana and throws herself into her studies. Miri finally finds a friend in Britta, a girl who grew up off the mountain, and eventually wins the friendship and admiration of many of her classmates after she stands up to the unfair Tutor Olana. In her studies, Miri finds out how valuable linder is to the rest of Danland, helping her village to trade for things they have never had before. Additionally, she is chosen academy princess and meets the prince, who does not seem to measure up to her best friend, Peder. After the royal ball, the academy group is captured by bandits, but Miri saves the day by using ‘quarry-speech’ to call the people of her village to their aid. In the end, Miri learns that family and community is worth more than a crown or palace.

Critical Analysis:
Miri is the type of character that is not afraid to show her flaws, making the character that much more identifiable to the reader. She is strong-willed, nervous around the boy she likes and struggles with the fact that she does not work in the quarry with the rest of the village. These elements make the character real, not one that is better than anything the reader could ever attain in their lives. Other characters in the book are equally rounded and not one of them is easily explained. Each has their own secret wish or hidden desire that is revealed in due time. This helps the story root itself in realism in the midst of fantasy.

Hale draws such a distinctive picture of the village, the reader is able to get an instinctive feeling for the village. Views, houses, even beds, are described with such vividness that the reader can truly imagine how it would have felt, smelled or be seen from Miri’s perspective. In the same way, the village and villagers are described, allowing the reader to get authentic understanding of the closeness that would exist. Vocabulary used by the different characters enhances this visual, in that the children speak differently to one another than they would to an adult or the prince himself. The theme is consistent with the struggles that Miri finds during the course of the book. While speaking out is difficult, in the end it is the right thing to do.

Awards and Reviews:
“This is not a fluffy, predictable fairy tale . . . Instead, Hale weaves an intricate, multilayered story about families, relationships, education, and the place we call home." – Linda Plevak, School Library Journal

“[N]icely interweaves feminist sensibilities in this quest-for-a-prince-charming, historical-fantasy tale. Strong suspense and plot drive the action as the girls outwit would-be kidnappers and explore the boundaries of leadership, competition, and friendship.” - Booklist

2005 Honorable Mention for "Favorite Novel of the Year", Publishers Weekly's Cuffie Awards
2006 Newbery Honor Book
2006 Utah Children's Book Award
2007 Beehive Award winner
An ALA Notable Children's Book
A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
A Book for the Teen Age by The New York Public Library
A Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year, starred entry

Connections:
*What is life really like for a princess? Find some famous real-life princess and what they spend their time doing. Have students work on a “week in the life” project based on the life of the princess of their choosing.
*Create a reader’s theater based on the book! This will be appealing to boys and girls alike; girls will get to be princesses and boys get the chance to be a bandit or quarrier.
*Linder is VERY important to Mount Eskel. What things are important exports for your town? Read and research the exports that help to feed and clothe the families of your hometown.

Book Jacket found on: http://bookbutterflyangel.wordpress.com/2008/06/

Going Bovine

Bray, Libba. Going Bovine. New York, NY: Delacorte Press. 2009. ISBN: 9780385733977

Plot Summary:
Cameron Smith is unpopular, has a job he hates, a popular twin sister, doesn’t do very well in school and finds it hard to communicate with his parents. He finds himself in the middle of a suburban wasteland and longs to get out. Soon after the reader meets Cameron, something inside his head begins to change. He is having trouble controlling his body and keeps having visions of fire giants along the landscape of his seemingly normal hometown. After a toaster catches fire in the kitchen and Cameron has another hallucination, his parents take him to the doctor where they find out Cameron has Creutzfeldt-Jakob – or mad cow - disease. The disease is incurable and will eventually leave Cameron without any brain function.

Soon after the diagnosis, Cameron is sent to the hospital where he shares a room with Ignacio “Gonzo” Gonzales. After a visit by a “punk-rock” angel, who tells Cameron he has to search for the cure, Cameron and Gonzo embark on a road trip to find the doctor that holds the key to cure. They stop in New Orleans, where they play with a jazz legend, get taken to a commune where there is no unhappy thought allowed, find themselves in the company of a living breathing garden gnome named Balder and make a stop at an MTV-style beach house. Along the road, Cameron and Gonzo find out different things about themselves, but are always on the lookout for Dr. X and the cure. Eventually, Cameron figures out that this journey is all a figment of his imagination and that there is no cure. While Cameron of this world passes away at the end of the novel, he finds himself living in the afterlife with the punk-rock angel.

Critical Analysis:
A work of low fantasy, Going Bovine does its best to allude to the reader that not everything is as it seems in the story. Cameron has flashbacks to the “real” world during the moments that he stops to sleep on his adventure. These include moments when he sees and hears his parents, his nurse and feels some connection to his actual surroundings. Bray does an excellent job of connecting the main character’s adventures on the road trip, to stories that Cameron has shared with the reader prior to his diagnosis. For instance, his mother would regale he and his sister with Norse tales and that translates to the inclusion of the talking gnome, Balder, in the story. This consistency in thought brings continuity to the story, amid the fantastical things that are happening to Cameron.

Cameron is identifiable to many readers of the target audience of the novel. He is on the fringe, not in the inner circle, but does his best not to care. During his expedition, Cameron figures out what how self-centered he has been his whole life, bringing a new depth to his character. Prior to this discovery, Cameron is not a character the reader may particularly care about, but his journey into understanding the importance of letting other people in makes his character admirable and likable. Clearly, the theme of this work is within the growth of Cameron’s awareness that love, living and friendship are more important than he knew.

Awards and Reviews:
“[M]eandering and message-driven at times…[s]ome teens may check out before Cameron makes it to his final destination, but many will enjoy asking themselves the questions both deep and shallow that pop up along the way.” Suzanne Gordon, School Library Journal

“Bray portrays Cameron so realistically that he is every teen struggling with his or her identity. At times, readers will both love and hate Cameron as his adventures are alternately comical, nail biting, and heart wrenching.” – Laura Panter, VOYA

“This is a huge book in every way: an epic, picaresque 480-page journey; a scathingly observed social satire of the ways in which we numb ourselves to avoid the pain and risk of actually engaging with our lives; a stay-up-late-to-finish-it page-turner; and a sprawling, hilarious, and deeply moving meditation on what it is, in the end, that makes life worth living.” Claudia Mills, Ph.D., Children’s Literature

2009 - Children's Book Sense Pick
2009 - Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year
2009 - Booklist Books for Youth Editors' Choice
2010 - Michael L. Printz Award Winner
2010 - ALA Best Books for Young Adults
2010 - NCSS/CBC Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies
2010 - New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age

Connections:
*How does one get mad cow disease anyway? How does it affect the body? How can you prevent it? Break students into groups that answer different questions about the facts of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
*Cameron in the first chapter is very different than Cameron in the last chapter. In what ways did each character change on the trip? Compare and contrast the characters at the beginning of the journey to who they were at the end.
* What were some of the things that Cameron mentioned about his life that returned during the road trip in different ways? (Look for ways that the author included facts Cameron mentioned before the introduction of his illness into different parts of the story.)

Book Jacket found on: http://hamiltonteens.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/going-bovine-by-libba-bray/

The Green Glass Sea

Bibliography:
Klages, Ellen. 2006. The Green Glass Sea. New York, NY: Viking. ISBN: 1417820152

Plot Summary:
Dewey Kerrigan is a smart kid, but has faced many challenges in her short life. Her mom abandoned her, her father is away working and her grandmother, the only stability she has had, has just had a stroke. Dewey finds herself on her way to meet her father at a top secret location, where is working on a project for the Army, in the middle of World War II. Although Dewey is nervous about the new life she is in for, she finds she is surrounded by some of the greatest scientists in the world (who are all working on “the gadget”), much to her delight.

Along the way, the reader is introduced to Suze Gordon, a tomboy who just wants to fit in, but doesn’t quite. She is leery of Dewey, even bullying her at certain points, to show the other kids that she is nothing like “Screwy Dewey”. Eventually, Dewey must move in with Suze and her family when her dad is called away on assignment, creating a tense situation for both the girls. After the president dies, the girls find common ground and find out the other is not as bad as they may have once appeared. Each encourages the other in what they excel at (for Suze, it’s art, for Dewey, it’s building things) and find that even in the face of tragedy, they can rely on each other.

Critical Analysis:
Klages creates a mystery around what is truly happening at the site that has become known as Los Alamos, just as it would have been to the children that lived on the Hill. She focuses on the human connections that are made between children and parents, as well as between the children themselves, using Los Alamos as a backdrop. The setting is described in such a way that the reader truly gets a vision for how cut off from the rest of the world Los Alamos was in the time. Much of the description of the base is describe in detail by the characters, allowing the reader to get an account of what a child would find important about life on an army base. Vocabulary used by the characters is typical for the time period and contributes to the feeling of the novel.

Characters in the book are knowledgeable about things that kids would be, leaving what is really happening at Los Alamos to be a mystery that is revealed as the book progresses. Historical figures that lived and worked in Los Alamos are introduced throughout the course of the book, adding to the authenticity the book creates. Most of all, the characters are thoughtfully developed, growing into their own in the course of the novel.

Awards and Reviews:
Winner, 2007 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
Winner, 2007 Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature
Winner, 2007 New Mexico State Book Award (YA)
Finalist, 2007 Quill Awards (Young Adult)
Finalist, Northern California Book Awards, 2007 (Children's)
Finalist, Locus Awards, 2007 (Best First Novel)
Book Sense #1 Children's Pick - Winter 2006/2007
One Book, One Nebraska for Kids - 2009
2009 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award Master List, (Illinois)
2008 NeNe Award List (Hawaii)
2008 Bluegrass Award Master List (Kentucky)
2007-08 Maine Student Book Award List
2007-08 Isinglass Teen Read List (New Hampshire)
2009 Rhode Island Teen Book Award List
2008-09 South Carolina Junior Book Award List
Starred Review in Publisher's Weekly
Starred Review in The Horn Book
A Horn Book Fanfare selection
A Junior Library Guild selection
A Scholatic Book Club selection

"The novel occasionally gets mired down in detail, but the characters are exceptionally well drawn, and the compelling, unusual setting makes a great tie-in for history classes." – John Green, Booklist

"Many readers will know as little about the true nature of the project as the girls do, so the gradual revelation of facts is especially effective, while those who already know about Los Alamos's historical significance will experience the story in a different, but equally powerful, way." – Steven Engelfried, School Library Journal

Connections:
*What really happened at Los Alamos? Find some historical picture books that show Los Alamos as Suze and Dewey would have seen it and share them! Look for books about what children at Los Alamos would have done in the days that Dewey and Suze lived there.
*Comic books are mentioned quite a bit in the story – find some comics from the time period the book is set in and compare/contrast them to modern day comics.
*”The gadget” is a code work for the atomic bomb, but how was it used? Using age-appropriate literature, cover the aftermath of the bomb’s invention and its use in the second World War.

Book jacket found on: http://northchicagopubliclibrary.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/the-green-glass-sea-by-ellen-klages.jpg