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

[Monika Andes]

Perfect Chemistry is a book by Simone Elkeles. It's about a girl named Brittany Ellis and a boy named Alejandro Fuentes, although he would much rather be called Alex. It's a lot like Romeo and Juliet. Two good people that would otherwise be perfect together, but circumstances keep them apart. Brittany is the stereotypical popular girl. She's the captain of the pom squad, and her parents are rich and give her whatever she wants. The only catch is that she has to be perfect, and no one can know her secrets. She lives on the north side of the city (the book is set in Fairfield, a town just outside Chicago). Alex Fuentes is a Blood. He lives on the south side, and he is obviously not wealthy. He wants to be a good person, but he has to be a member of the gang otherwise his family will be killed. He too has his secrets. This unlikely pair is partnered together in chemistry class, and Alex bets that he can sleep with Brittany. The book is about the two of them finding that they are more alike than anyone could ever imagine and whether that is enough.

My connection to young adult literature is that the book deals with controversial issues. Both Alex and Brittany are torn between duties to their families and the normal desires of teenagers. Brittany wants to and has to be perfect, because if she isn't, her parents will send her disabled sister away. Alex needs to graduate high school and keep his brothers out of the gangs. The issue of sex is also represented. We all know that a lot of teenagers are having sex while in high school, and this is accurately described in the book. It was really well done.

For more information about the book, check out http://www.simoneelkeles.net/chemistry.html.

I definitely loved the book. It deals with a lot of issues very well. The book was very fast paced and I wanted to know if they ended up together. I am a real romantic in that sense. However, I think that the book is not one that I would teach in my class, unless it was a complement to Romeo and Juliet. I think that anyone in high school would like the book, because it is set in a high school, and the there are a lot of problems that these kids are facing. I think that a lot of people could relate to the characters. Overall, I really liked the book. It didn't glorify anything about being a teenager. It was very realistic.

[Samantha Carter]

Stories on forbidden love always grabs my attention. I think it is so interesting that certain things in life keep people from being with who they want to be with. It is really hard to maintain the lifestyle of a perfect person because no one is perfect. You say that Brit want to be perfect as well as she has to be perfect. It seems like the idea of perfection has been brainwashed in her head by her parents. Every family has secrets and Both Brit and Alex are holding secrets. They both want to reach goals that seems impossible to help out another family member. I think that that is very noble and loyal of them both. I can understand why Alex feels he has to join a gang to keep his family safe. When people live in neighborhoods that have gangs it seems like that is the only thing to do because you will need some type of protection. This book does seem realistic from what I have read and what you described are things that really happen in the lives of YA. This would be a good read for HS students because of the content of it.

[Heather Olson]

I'm like you, in that I love forbidden love stories. This reminds me a bit of the movie "crazy/beautiful," which is one of my favorite films on forbidden love. It seems like it could be really good for students because it is a situation they could actually face and is local, which I think is always a bonus for students in that it's helpful for them to be able to truly picture the events and put themselves in the shoes of the characters so they can get lost in the story. Are there lessons to be learned about gangs that would be good for our students to read?

[Heather Olson]

P.S. Do you have plans to read the 2nd book in the series? (I just discovered there's a 2nd book when I added the first to my to-read list on GoodReads.com)

[Kymberly Mosley]

That movie came to mind immediately for me too!

[Adriana]

This book looks like a really great read. I can't help it, the Romeo and Juliet forbidden love theme is totally making me want to read it!

[Kymberly Mosley]

This sounds like it'd be a really good book for the fans of forbidden love stories. It's not my favorite genre, but I think it's good that it seems to be more realistic than some novels turn out. I don't know if I would pick this one out, but on the off-chance that I did, I'd probably be more interested in reading about their social comparisons and their family issues. That's right, I choose issues over love...I'm obviously not the romantic type.

[Samantha Carter]

Geektastic {Stories from the Nerd Herd}
This is book of short stories and I will go through the first story in the book. The first story is entitled Once You’re a Jedi, You’re a Jedi All the Way and it is about a crush that was never suppose to happen. I do not know much about Star Wars and Star Trek but I did learn a few things from this story. Arizhel, a Klingon, wakes up in a hotel room that does not belong to her but to Thomas, a Jedi. They had met the previous night and Arizhel chaperone Noggra had encouraged her to talk to the Jedi. Noggra is the mother of one of the other YA that Arizhel had gone to the convention with but she had been a Klingon her entire life and had introduced them to the hobby. Arizhel and Thomas had been drinking that night even though they were under age. However, that did not stop Arizhel from spending the night in Thomas’ room. After Arizhel had left Thomas room she had gotten ready to start a new day. She and Thomas had seen each other that day and began having a conversation. Another Jedi had seen Thomas talking to a Klingon and had confronted him on it and another Klingon had seen Arizhel talking to a Jedi and confronted her on it. It was forbidden for them to talk because they represented two different concepts. The Klingon’s and the Jedi’s began to have a battle. Meanwhile, Arizhel and Thomas had left the battle, which was caused by them, to have lunch.
This relates to YAL because of the love aspect of it. Arizhel and Thomas were not supposed to like each other because they were not from the same origin but they still ended up liking each other and going out to lunch despite what everyone thought about it. This story focuses on the issue of underage drinking. Noggra was the adult but she still let them drink. When Arizhel woke up in Thomas room she was not sure if she had sex with him, and he did not tell her until the end of the book. A lesson could definitely be learned about the effects of drinking. Arizhel and Thomas had spoken for themselves in first person; the book flip flopped their parts so the reader could get the view of both of them. There were no adults that were really present in the book. The adults that were present did not have a major role in how the story was.
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780316008099 this link is just a very brief description of the book and the author.
I would definitely recommend this book to people. I did only go over one story but all of the stories were similar to it. This book would be perfect for YAL in middle school. I think that the older YA get the more likely the book would not apply to their level.

[Rosalind Engerman]

Continuation on my opinion/ recommendations for Alice in the Country of Hearts

D). I had a great time with this book because I not only love manga (since I write my own comics, I have had to look outwards into the field to understand what works and what does not work), but I am a huge fan of Japanese culture. I even have gone to the lengths of buying Japanese magazines (and yes...all Japanese no English between the pages..just fabulous visuals for the onlooker!!) at Mitsuwa (Japanese mini mall in Des Plaines, IL)! Anyways, this Manga definitely displayed the essence of rich Japanese Pop culture, and for that reason, and because Japanese culture is quite intriguing, I would use this manga as a tool in a social studies / sociology/ cultural studies course. I am currently in the process of continuing to get my psy.D, so the rest of this fabulous future teachers of America's YA's class needs to help me a little bit on this one because I feel there is some grey area. I remember taking both social and cultural studies in Junior High/ Highschool. I remember studying region by region/ culture by culture and relations in accordance with changes through time. Japanese pop culture can be a class in itself (possibly a college course?) but as a quick peak into the visual/ conversational rich factor this culture brings, this book may be useful as a beginning eyeopener for an 8th grade junior high course in social/ cultural studies.

Once again..Please correct me if I am wrong....Will not under any circumstances take it personally.

I would not use this in an English course environment, but I could see "ALICE" on a further recommended reading grouping for a junior high/ high school English class. I remember when I was in high school, and teachers provided lists such as "further recommended reading" to each class at the end of the semester, in order to further develop the self/ likes of course materials, etc. Alice in the Country of Hearts is written in a way that is pretty straight forward, and fast paced, so the discussion in an English class would surround the themes present, and not take an entire week or two devoted to one novel. So if this were to be a recommended book (and not used in the actual English course), I would recommend it for finishing freshman high school students, since I believe at that age, themes such as acceptance, finding who it is that you are as a person is still quite prevalent at that age.

[Pam Goble]

That is what we try to do, which is create another list for kids to have, so they read.  We  should always have recs for them.

[Rebeka Mirza]

The book I read was Girl, Stolen by April Henry. It’s about a fourteen year old girl named Cheyenne who is kidnapped while she is sleeping in the car. Her stepmother, Danielle is picking up her medication for pneumonia. A young man in the hopes of stealing the Escalade to impress his father, Roy, drives away with it. Little does he know that everyone is sleeping in the backseat. Moreover, he finds out that she is blind. He is not interested in kidnapping, but has to drive away with Cheyenne because he doesn’t want to get caught. Cheyenne is taken to Griffin’s home where Roy, Jimbo, TJ, and Griffin hold her captive and tie her up so she won’t get away. The “home” environment is a little creepy because it’s the four men that reside there. The house also has an outside area which consists of stolen car parts because they sell them for less. While Cheyenne is here, Griffin sympathizes with her. They both get to know each other. He feels bad for what he has done and seems to be the only one to save her. They find out that Cheyenne is the daughter of the President of Nike, and they want a ransom. After they are offered a ransom, they don’t seem to want to give Cheyenne up. Even though she is blind, they understand that she is smart. They believe that she will be able to describe who they were to the cops. Griffin does what he can to help her get away. While she is escaping, Roy tries to fool her by telling her he is a cop. Cheyenne calls 911 and cops come to rescue her. At the end of the story, Griffin calls Cheyenne’s home. The last line of the book reads, “’Can I call you again?’” Griffin said quickly. Cheyenne took a deep breath and thought about her answer.”

This book is written in the viewpoint of the sixteen year old girl, Cheyenne. It is also written in the viewpoint of a sixteen to eighteen year old boy, Griffin. Each chapter switches narrators so we get the viewpoint of both characters. One is from a blind girl, the other from a so-called “criminal.” This book also gets rid of her Cheyenne’s parents. She is literally removed from them. Because she was kidnapped, her parents were not very much involved in the story. The only parts they appeared at were when they were on t.v. and talked on the phone to about the ransom. Cheyenne was on her own to accomplish the task of escaping from a disturbing situation. This book was a fast read. The plot takes the course of less than three days. For Cheyenne, it seems like a long time. The book didn’t seem to have different cultures or ethnicities. Cheyenne said she was part Native American. The ethnicities of the criminals were not given, but they are assumed to be white. There are different social statuses in the book. Cheyenne was the daughter of the president of Nike. On the other hand, the criminals were at the low end of the spectrum , they lived by stealing. This book was definitely optimistic with worthy accomplishments. This book presented that anything is possible. Cheyenne is depicted as vulnerable with her disability. She does not let this prevent her from escaping. She remained positive and hopeful throughout the book and let her other senses help her out. This book deals with emotions that are important to young adults. Cheyenne is removed from her parents, which can be a difficult situation for teenagers that are young. She has no one to depend on, but herself. Also, she is scared because she has been kidnapped. This is what teenagers need to be aware of: their surroundings. Also, Cheyenne remained positive and hopeful throughout the book. She wanted to escape so bad, that she did. It’s a message to readers that anything is possible.

Here is a link to April Henry’s website: http://www.aprilhenrymysteries.com/teen_books/girlstolen.php You could read the first chapter of this book. She seems to write mystery novels, you could take a look at the books she has written for both teens and adults.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I think it could be utilized in the classroom depending on what is being taught. I think middle school students would enjoy reading it. If they learn about disabilities or crimes and self-defense, this book would work well with the lesson. I think students can come out learning a few important things from this book. I think it would make them view others with disabilities the same way. Also, it would also help them be aware of their surroundings. They would also realize that it is important to never lose hope. Anything is possible once you put your mind to it.

[Laura Bychowski]

Sounds like a very compelling story! It challenges the reader's preconceived notions of "good" and "evil" with Griffin's character; a thief with good intentions. Cheyenne's character reveals the strengths and talents of those typically viewed as "disabled". I agree, it would be interesting to integrate this book into a discussion about cultural stereotypes. Perhaps the last line indicates that, regardless of her answer, Cheyenne has developed the important ability to see past a person's cultural stereotypes to the complexities within. What do you think it means?