11/15/2010 Read 339/439 Quick Picks Discusssion

[Pam Goble]

PART 3 - PARTICIPATION CRITERIA FOR THE NING.

1. Since all of you are reading different books, the idea is to share the many reads students can experience from reading YA literature. For each list you, will get
reviews on approximately 20 or more books.

2. What must be included in your posts are:

            a. A short summary

            b. A connection to YA Lit criteria

            c. A link to a resource for further information about the book/novel( these may include author information, reviews, insight or information
about issues the text references.

            d. Your opinion/recommendations of the book/novel relating back to criteria. A key
question to consider is whether the book is
classroom appropriate, and, if so, what reading
level/grade/studentswouldbenefit from reading the text. If it is not
suited for the classroom, if students are reading the book, what is the
appeal?           

3. Lastly, you must respond to at least 2 other posts in detail.

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!

 Pam

Pam

[Laura Bychowski]

Yes! Tod reveals a lot about his life by what he leaves out. He even calls attention to it, writing things like, "That's all I'm going to say about that" usually to protect his friends but often times to protect his image. He brings up surfing the internet in the library and being displeased "as usual" with what he finds. The counselor asks what he means and he refuses to elaborate. We find out what he sees, but it's a spoiler, so I'll just say it's something that reveals his sensitivity. We get subtle hints of his attraction to a girl, even before he gets to know her, by the level of detail he gives to describe her and the moderate respect he shows her.

[Pam Goble]

My list, too, is getting longer...What high school, Heather?

[Pam Goble]

I am keeping a list of these books with recs.

[Pam Goble]

This one could be a keeper for those who do have "issues".

[Adriana]

Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia

a) This story is told from the POV of three girls all attending the same high school in New York City. The girls are not friends but their lives get intertwined one day early before school when Leticia sees Trina skipping her way to Dominique and her two friends. Dominique's two friends move out of her way however, Dominique does not and gets angry at the fact that Trina rudely invaded her space. Because of this she announces to her friends that she will beat Trina up right after school at 2:45. Leticia overhears this and quickly rushes to call her best friend and let her know the "juicy gossip". Upon hearing the news Leticia's friend says that she's going to warn Trina, right? Leticia is shocked as the thought did not even occur to her. She is not friends with Trina and doesn't really see the point in getting involved in the trouble. The story then progresses throughout the school day with each chapter told from the POV of one of the three girls, learning about each of them in the process. The story keeps you guessing, is Leticia going to end up warning Trina? Is Dominique going to end up changing her mind about beating up Trina?

b) The story is written from the POV of Leticia, Dominique, and Trina. Having three POVs is really great because it allows the reader to get to know about each character through her own view, and through the views of others. While the story mostly takes place in a single school day, we do get flashbacks and references dealing with parents. For the most part however, they are removed as they don't really play an active role in the story. The story is very fast paced. As aforementioned it takes place mainly over the course of a single day with a few pages relating the aftermath. The story also makes the action go by quickly, while reading before I knew it it was 2:45. The story does deal with a variety of subjects as we see violence, sex, gossip, grades, sports, and relationships touched upon in the story. The story seems to deal with a lot of minorities but we are never really told specifically who is what, except for Trina who talks about how much she loves herself and her hispanic roots. In the story we did see some optimism for characters making accomplishments as it is discussed that Trina has a promising career as an artist and Dominique has great basketball skills, she just needs to get her grades up. For a novel centered around three girls, there really was not a lot of emotion. Stereotypical I know but I just now realized this. The main characters all try hard to cover up their feelings and act tough, I feel that the most emotion we saw was anger, both from Dominique, who was angry at having her space invaded by Trina and not being able to play basketball, and from Leticia, who was outraged when no one seemed to care that her perfectly manicured $20 nail had been severed from her finger after hitting a volleyball.

c) Here is a great link which is a video about the book which describes the story through a lively interview with the author.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsm8uUVn6pU

d) When I read the summary for this book I was intrigued however, the actual story let me down a bit. I think it is perhaps like I mentioned above that their really was not a lot of emotion. The girls were all so caught up in their own lives that the idea of someone beat up is not such a big deal. I feel that the story is missing some crucial YA criteria in order to make it a better read. However, I do feel like it could possibly be taught in a classroom if the teacher is looking to help prevent violence. It is told from the POV of students that seem ok with violence, obviously something that other kids feeling the same could connect to. The teacher can use this story to show how violence is something kids should care about and try to prevent, Leticia did not want to directly tell Trina because she didn't want to get involved, however, she could have also just as easily anonymously let her know or let a teacher, counselor, dean, etc know. I would recommend this book to anyone from 7-12 grade depending on their reading level. I think high schoolers would especially enjoy this book as it references other stories commonly read in HS like Mice and Men.

*Sorry about the haziness in my writing, I don't want to give away the ending!

[Samantha Carter]

This book sounds interesting. The book that I read gave the POV from two different characters. I agree that it does help the reader become more acquainted with the characters. It does seem like the Three girls are accustomed to violence so it becomes part of the norm and no one really notices it. It does seem like there should be more emotion in the book than just anger. It is sad that Dominique was so quick to say that she will commit an act of violence just because Trina "invaded her space." If I were one of her friends I would have told her that it is not that serious. Leticia is not really wrong for not wanting to tell Trina about the fight that she may or may not get into at the end of the day but she is not right either. Telling would only put Leticia in the line of fire as weel. You mention that she could tell a higher authority anonymously but its not always that simple. No one wants to be the trick and most YAL will not be the one who told on someone else. I think that this book would be appropriate for 7-12 graders. I do think it would benefit middle school aged children the most.

[Adriana]

Yes, I feel that one of the things that students can learn from this book is that one should not always be so quick to do things they might regret later.

[Heather Olson]

"...their really was not a lot of emotion. The girls were all so caught up in their own lives that the idea of someone beat up is not such a big deal." I laughed when I read this because that seems like YA females to me. When they're going through adolescence, they're so self-involved and I could see being annoyed by this aspect of pettiness in YA female characters. However, knowing that's how they are I don't think I would be too surprised or expect much more. I'm fascinated by this book taking place all in one day, though. I think it would be cool to read a book that happens in a day and is also told from three different POVs. That sounds interesting to me as I love characterization and, as you pointed out, you get to see each girl from their own viewpoints of themselves but also from the view of the other girls, as well. This sounds like a pretty neat YA book with an opportunity for a lesson to be taught/learned, too. Thanks for sharing!

[Adriana]

No problem, and yes the book definitely has some really great aspects to it you don't see very often.

[Pam Goble]

We have more fights among girls than boys at my school; female fighting appears to be on the rise.

[Pam Goble]

Yes, do not tell the ending.

[Rosalind Engerman]

A.) Alice in the Country of Hearts V.1 is a fast paced Manga series that is published by TOKYO POP and is written and created by QuinRose and Soumei Hoshino. The story that begins the volume of the "ALICE" series starts off with the reader meeting Alice in the real world where she is in and out of sleep while speaking to her older sister. Alice's older sister Lorina enjoys spending time with Alice, but seems to mock her a bit. Alice looks up to her sister and deems her as being everything she is not; elegant, pretty, the ideal lady, smart, witty, funny, and conservative when it comes to what she wears. Alice looks at her sister as perfect; which is everything that Alice believes she is not. While Lorina (Alice's sister) leaves Alice outside in order to fetch some cards so the two can play a game, Alice falls back into a deep dream state and begins her journey to Wonderland.
It appears as though Alice is still in her surroundings (drifting in and out of sleep), but she starts to see a rabbit/man hopping towards her. When Alice refuses the rabbits plea to be chased, he grabs her, lifts her off the ground and proceeds to a hole he and Alice jump into. After believing she has cheated Death, Peter (rabbit) exclaims to Alice that she has now entered Wonderland. Peter tries to make advances towards Alice, and first forces a kiss from her, then soon after forces Alice to drink a vile full of liquid, and explains after forcing her to drink it, that by ingesting the liquid, she is now "in the game". Every time the empty bottle replenishes itself, Alice must drink it. When the bottle is truly empty, Alice will find her way back home. Through that discretion and onwards, Alice finds herself in a world full of challenging situations, wacky characters, crazy territorial wars, good looking men, and a mysterious wonderland mafia man named Blood Dupre whom interestingly enough, strikingly catches Alice's eye because of the keen resemblance Dupre shares with Alice's Ex-boyfriend (who we learn has pretty much dumped Alice).
Through the many interactions Alice has with the slew of characters she comes across in Wonderland, Alice begins to learn what Wonderland is, and what the dreamland's true meaning is to Alice. A world where she is an outsider; A world where outsiders are a topic of intrigue and mystery to the inhabitants...A world where everyone wants to be in the presence of Alice the 'outsider'...A world where everyone wants to love, be loved, and even be in love with Alice the 'outsider'...A world where a man would never break Alice's heart with unrequited love. Wonderland is the world Alice has unknowingly created through her subconscious, and Alice is stuck in her wonderland until she completes the game.
B). Alice and the Country of Hearts V.1 is a tale filled with both YA criteria and whirlwind adventure. The manga story is told through the eyes of the main character/ protagonist, Alice. Alice comes across as a teenager in high school, at the beginning of her own journey of finding, and defining herself on the outside, to the complicated understanding of accepting who she is and the world she lives in on the inside.
Alice in the Country of Hearts is also fast paced, entrancing, and beautifully illustrated, which makes this book a perfect way to get a YA reluctant reader interested to read. It does take sometime getting used to the Japanese format; Most YA in the states and surrounding countries read left to right, but in Manga land, the book reads from right to left, and the same goes for the word bubbles and illustrations on the pages.
Subject matter and themes present in "Alice" ring true to experiences present in a YA readers life: 1st love, lost love, the questioning of reality and how one fits in that world, learning acceptance, exploration through new situations and events, and realizations that are gained throughout that were not present in the start. The characters in Alice also have a hierarchy: the characters with the least power have no eyes, and are not seen as important. Death is not something these characters are frightened of. Thus everyone in this group is instantly replaceable. A group that has some power in the tale is given that power by name, and duties...not just job title. This is a subordinate group, but each member holds some importance in Wonderland. There are also leaders of Wonderland. Each of these highly powerful beings run separate territories in Wonderland, and since each of the territories are at war, homeostasis lacks balance in the world of Wonderland, and all high power beings remain in their own territory (for the most part). Alice in the Country of Hearts is perfect for the YA audience!

C). Links to more info on "Alice and the Country of Hearts V.1" and the rest of this terrific Manga volumes!

This is a fan/image/info forum:
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/heart-no-kuni-no-alice

This is a review for "Alice"
http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/alice-in-the-country-of-hea...

This is TOKYOPOP's website for more fun info on Alice in the Country of Hearts!
http://www.tokyopop.com/product/2851/AliceintheCountryofHearts/1

ENJOY