11/22/2010 Read 339/439 Grad Discussion on Alex Award Winners
PART 3 - PARTICIPATION CRITERIA FOR THE NING.
Again have fun...after the
class is done you can still keep those reviews coming on the NING and
talk to each other about what your are reading for the year.
You are the 3 main discussion people of the week!!!
Have a great Thanskgiving.
Pam
Again have fun...after the
class is done you can still keep those reviews coming on the NING and
talk to each other about what your are reading for the year.
You are the 3 main discussion people of the week!!!
Have a great Thanskgiving.
Pam
Views: 34
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Danielle Sonni on
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Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Summary: 18 year old Lia is anorexic and is stuck between life and death, a "wintergirl". Lia's ex-best friend, Cassie, dies in a hotel room alone, as a result of being a depressed bulimic. The story details Lia's daily struggle to stay thin and fool her family into thinking she is okay. Lia hates herself but it does not seem like she wants to change; she has been to an intensive rehab program twice but has not changed her ways. Cassie haunts Lia throughout the book, trying to get her to kill herself and join her as a ghost. Most of the story is pretty disturbing and depressing until the last 20 pages or so when Lia decides she wants to live and begins a long road to recovery.
YA Lit Criteria: This books fits the YA criteria in that the story is told from the POV of a young person, Lia. We know all of Lia's deepest secrets, thoughts that no one else in her life is privy to. I'm not sure how many people could relate to Lia (unfortunately, probably more than I would think), because she is a very troubled young girl. Lia's parents are a huge part of her life/the story, they are mentioned on most pages, but although they are physically in her life she is emotionally distant and does not allow them to help her. I know eating disorders is a prevalent issue in the lives of YAs, so this book covers that. There are also themes of friendship, belonging, and coming of age.
Personal Response:
I did not like this book at all! If I didn't have to finish it, I probably would have stopped reading it all together. It was really disturbing to read. Lia seriously hated herself and had terrible thoughts. The figurative language used was really great and effective, but not something I would ever consider using in the classroom. Not even for my class library. I would think this book could encourage girls with eating disorders in the same way that those pro-rexia websites give support for people to "be strong" and not eat. Yes, at the end Lia did decide that her life was worth living and she got help, but that's after 275 pages of depression. Lia cuts herself, almost succeeds in killing herself at one point, and exercises off any calories she consumes. She constantly talks about how fat she is and doesn't understand why she see something different in the mirror than other people. As a healthy person, it is easy to see how crazy Lia is, but maybe a young girl with similar problems would side with Lia and use her character as reasoning for self-destructive tendencies. This book is by the same author as Speak (which I liked and would use in the classroom), by the way.
Here's a link to the author's site for Wintergirls. Has a Q&A and teacher resources.
This is a link for a site with information on teenagers with eating disorders. We may have some of these kids in our classrooms. When reading the book, you saw how Lia floated through school, sleeping during class (because she had no energy) and couldn't think (because her brain didn't have food)
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I can't get my links to show up for some reason...I'm just going to copy and paste instead of using the hyperlink button.
http://madwomanintheforest.com/youngadult-wintergirls/
http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=Teenagers+with+Eating+Disorders&s... -
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Permalink Reply by Heather Olson on
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Wow, Danielle! This book does sound deeply troubling. I really wanted to read it, and may still do so. However, your take on it does make it sound depressing! I agree that even if she decides to make changes in the end, it could be too much pro-anorexia and not enough pro-healthy living. I would certainly hesitate to keep it available in the classroom, as well. I often feel I should be reading material like this because my students with eating disorders such as these are one of the few groups I feel I will be completely unable to relate to. As a plus-size person myself, I used to consider being anorexic or bulimic in high school, too, but I like food toooo much! :) (plus the fact that I think anorexia/bulimia are mental health disorders that you can't just BE, necessarily) It will be hard for me to relate to these students, not knowing what they're going through at all, as I think it will be hard for them to relate to me, too, perhaps. But I'd like to be prepared if they do wish to confide in me. Do you think this book helped you in that way at all, to be better prepared to help students you may have who have eating disorders like these?
Also, do you actually see her best friend die in the hotel room or is that something that happened before the novel begins that is alluded to frequently? That may be tough to handle in addition to everything else in the novel. Perhaps I will pick it up anyway, to see what students are reading and what the character is going through. Thank you for your review & links! -
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Heather,
This book did give me a lot of insight into the mind of a teen with an eating disorder and did help me to realize how much a disorder could affect every second, of every day of a person's life - especially school. It made me realize that some students will be struggling to get out of bed each day and that paying attention in class doesn't even make their priority list. I don't think this book would prepare me to help students with an eating disorder at all, though. I don't even know how professionals help this people!
As for Cassie's death, it happens at the very start of the book and Cassie calls Lia 35 times before she dies - much of the reason why her death is so traumatic for Lia. Lia later finds out that Cassie died from an esophagus rupture, from years of being bulimic. She died in a motel room, drinking and taking pills, alone. Horrible! -
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Fortunately, it's not our job to help them to that extent but to even know how to comprehend any of what they are going through, I am hopeful this book could be useful for teachers who may be confidantes to our students. Cassie's death sounds tragic! I'll have to read this book during a time I know I'll be able to glide through the depressive aspects instead of getting pulled down with it.
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Permalink Reply by Pam Goble on
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I agree that this book sounds depressing. i had many kids who were gifted and were severely depressed, so I read as much as i could about the whole vicious cycle of depression and found myself very upset with all the info.
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I do love LHA and am disappointed that her book is that depressing this time.
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Soulless by Gail Carriger is a short novel about Miss Alexia Tarabotti. Alexia is a twenty-six-year-old spinster in the 19th century London, under the rule of Queen Victoria. She's Italian, has a "large" nose and dark skin and is hot-tempered. Oh, yeah – and she's soulless. As a soulless preternatural, Alexia can remove the supernatural abilities of werewolves, vampires, ghosts and the like, returning them to their human form for as long as she maintains physical contact with them. While werewolves think of her as a curse-breaker, vampires think she's a soul-sucker. Only one thing is for certain – someone wants to experiment on her, whether or not it kills her!
Soulless is from the viewpoint of Alexia, who is not a young adult. In fact, there were no children or young adults present in the novel at all. Being a spinster in the 19th century, Alexia's mother was present frequently as she could not leave the house unchaperoned. However, Alexia frequently did what she wished, regardless of the damage it could have done to her reputation. The novel was fairly fast-paced and entertaining but I do not think it would be for a young adult. There are a lot of historical references and the women are old-fashioned in their manner – prone to fainting and gasps at the mere mention of anything that could be scandalous. It is a fiction novel that is fantasy/sci-fi in nature, dealing with a soulless preternatural so I believe it deals with a variety of subjects in that way. Additionally, Alexia is verbally persecuted frequently for being Italian and having dark skin, a large nose, etc. in comparison to her fair-skinned, blonde and perfectly British half-sisters. The book is silly and fun and optimistic as the characters achieve their individual accomplishments but I find no emotions that would be important to young adults.
For further information, you can visit the author's website at http://www.gailcarriger.com/. She provides information on the novels (it is a series) and London at the time in which the novel takes place.
Having read the first two books, I really like this series so far and will continue reading them for entertainment. However, I would not include this in the classroom or even on my classroom shelves for independent reading. There is no educational value that I can see for young adults, no lesson to be learned. I am not even sure why this book is on a young adult reading list. There is a lot of steamy romance scenes in it that, although they take place in the 19th century, may be too much for a teacher to include on her classroom shelves, especially since there is no underlying educational lessons or themes in the novel. I feel that those things can be overlooked in search of a grander lesson. Instead of being a historical novel, it is a novel that happens to take place in that time period and all references to Queen Victoria's rule are in direct relation to the supernaturals in London and do not portray the events that occurred under her rule. I suppose if students are reading this novel, the appeal could be the entertainment it provides and the love that develops within it, in addition to the vampire/werewolf craze that is currently happening among young adults today. -
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Sometimes books for entertainment are just fun; we need to have those kind of books for a release. This does fit in to the vampire craze we are experiencing.
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Heather,
This book seemed liked a fun, easy read and I can see YAs liking the whole vampire part. I personally do not really like sci-fi books so I'm not sure if I would enjoy this book or not. Alexia does seem like a very likable character from your review though, so maybe I should give it a whirl. She seems rebellious and I could see YAs relating that and the fact that she doesn't really fit in. The way Alexia is described in the book kind of reminds me of Shakespeare's Dark Lady and how she is portrayed in his sonnets. -
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I really liked how rebellious she was - that's a fitting description of her! She's the spinster who doesn't really care what people think of her, who stands up for herself and what she believes in and is rewarded with the love of another character, when all hope seemed lost that this "old" woman would be married. It wasn't sci-fi in the science way as much as in the fantasy/sci-fi crossover of supernaturals. I guess there is science in the experimentation that takes place but it's very small and I glossed over it without getting bored because it was so fast-paced. I definitely don't think this book is for everyone but I did get great entertainment out of it (enough to read the second and now I just got the 3rd in the mail today).
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