11/29 Teens Top Ten Best Books Discussion for Read 339/439

[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/students would benefit 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.
on people of the week!!!

[Christina Abruzzini]

Amber,
This book reminds me of the movie "Mean Girls" with Lindsay Lohan. I could be way off, but from your summary, that movie came to mind. In that movie, there are so many kinds of cliques but the main one AKA "The Plastics" are the "queen bees" of the school. They are in charge and everyone looks to them like they are some type of Gods. "The Plastics" though are not very nice which sounds like the clique in your book. Back when I was in high school, there was a group called "The 12" and it was made up of 12 popular girls. I'm not even sure what their purpose was or if they just liked having that name, but it really didn't have much of an effect on anyone. Your book seems to really define the term "Mean Girls." While bullying is an issue in schools today, I do not feel like this book would be very useful in a classroom setting. It definitely sounds unrealistic and almost frustrating to read. If I understand your summary correctly, it seems as though almost everyone goes against Regina. To me, that seems a bit dramatic and unrealistic. I'm not sure that one girl would really cause such a chaotic mess in a high school, although I guess you never know! I also just feel that this story does not offer much of a moral lesson or theme for students. It does not seem to even have much depth or analysis for a classroom to discuss. This book just kind of seems useless to even read for classroom purposes. Did you feel the book had enough life lessons/themes/depth/analysis that it would be able to possibly be used effectively in a classroom? From what you wrote, I doubt it, but I was just curious.

[Alexander Wm. Evers]

I watched that film, for the first time, for my Film Review and was pleasantly surprised. I was thinking the same thing as I read Amber's summary- the similarities are evident. However, I must note that the ending of Mean Girls was not "melancholy". Rather, it was quite idealistic- she and her college-student (long distance) boy friend are doing fine, freshman and seniors share hierarchal significance, traditional expectations of femininity have been dispelled, etc. I''m not sure which ending I prefer. Although, in my opinion, life (especially high school) is much more often melancholy than ideal.

[Alexander Wm. Evers]

Yes ma'am. I had never seen the film before. I think that, as a man, every time I heard "lets watch 'Mean Girls'", I instinctively ran away. But, as I mentioned, I really enjoyed the film.

[Rosalind Engerman]

I can see that it is difficult to decipher realistic from an unreal scenario.  What seems interesting to me, and what would draw me to this kind of YA book (in a curriculum or personal setting) is the flavor of overstating the 'queen bee' principle to make it more salient (the bullying), and almost turning it in to a satire.  In my high school, (as in every high school) there was definitely the queen bee, the wasps, the bumble bees'....all sorts of nasty people.  I sort of have a familiar past in High school like Amber; teachers may have gotten involved, but not to the extent that Amber speaks of.  Plus, a lot of the negative plotting of havic on ostrasized individuals happened off of school property.  Prank calls, nasty texts, etc.  When I was teased in high school, i knew I was alone in the battle and to just get over it and surround myself with the people that truly cared about me.

It seems as though the high school popular clique experience is the norm for everyone.  The sad thing is that many high schools have situations (such as bullying, settling vendettas  against a seemingly vulnerable individual) that seem to be illustrated in this book....I guess if a teacher or school wanted to use this in a curriculum, the extremes in the school environment would have to be accounted for.

[Monika Andes]

I agree with the "Mean Girls" reference. The book also sounds like this Lifetime movie called "Odd Girl Out" about a girl that is ostracized from the popular clique, because everyone likes her and thinks she's pretty. The popular girls pretty much turn the whole school against the one girl, and she ends up trying to kill herself. It's really sad, but she ends up with real friends. So, there is a happy ending.

[Rebeka Mirza]

Amber,

This book definitely reminded me of the TV show, "Gossip Girl." When all the girls are just trying to against one person. It is such an odd thing to do, but many girls in high school are like this. They all want to achieve that queen bee status, and be popular than everyone else. Some may think that the only way to get all the way up there is to go against someone or spill someone's secrets. Even worse, spread rumors about someone, so everyone will hate that person. There is so much jealousy that exists among girls. I think it would be useful to teach this book among high schoolers.

I think this book could go along with the book that Nicole read, Hate List. If a school was focusing on bullying and its consequences, these books would work well. This book could be read first, with Hate List right after. I think it's important for teenagers to realize that there is so much more out there than the things that they engage in such as backbiting, bullying, and retaliation. It might be a good idea for them to read these books and realize that for themselves.

I could understand why you wouldn't teach this book in the classroom, but it does display real world examples. Since teachers were not really standing up for what was going on, teachers could tell how in this school they do not tolerate bullying. Furthermore, students will get punished for such behavior. I think they could read these books, which both are real life examples.

[Samantha Carter]

If I Stay

Mia is a teenage girl who has everything that she wants in life right now. She loves spending time with her mom, dad and little brother, she has a boyfriend and they are absolutely in love, and she is about to graduate and is looking to pursue a career in music. One day school was put because there was a snow day and her and her family decided to take a drive and enjoy the day and this where the story turned for the worst. A little after they began their drive they got into a tragic accident. Mia thought that she survived until she saw her body in a ditch. She searched for her family and found her mom and dad dead but she did not have enough time to find her little brother. The ambulance took her to one hospital and her brother to another hospital. A close friend of the family worked at the hospital where her brother went and told Mia’s extended family what happened. Mia soon realized that all of her family was at the hospital where she was, including the friend of the family. She now knows for a fact that her little brother did not survive the accident and that she was the only one out of her family that did survive and so the choices begin. Mia is torn between rather or not she should go on with her family or stay without them. Many different people came to talk to her while she was in her coma and she heard all of them because was still out of her body. Her grandfather, a man of few words, came to let her know that he would be okay if she decided not to stay. He told her that he understood if she did not want to fight to live. By him saying this, Mia felt that he gave her permission and she was ready to leave to be with her family. However, when Mia was ready to go, her boyfriend came in to talk to her. At first she did not want to hear what he had to say because she knew he would want her to stay. He told her that he could understand but they were not the only family that she had. He told her about all the people in the waiting room not wanting to leave and wanting to be there for her. When Mia heard this she knew that she had more than what she thought she did. As she realized this, she began to move.

This book connects in a different way to YAL. This is a very rare situation that YA can relate to but it is relatable. YA know people that die and depending on where they live they might know a lot of people that have been killed rather it be friends or family. It relates because some YA wish that they could talk to their loved ones begging them not to die; I can relate to this. This is also about love. Mia boyfriend went through a lot to see her. He almost got arrested trying so hard to see her. The only thing that he was concerned about was making sure that Mia knew he was there. He knew that she was in a coma but that did not matter he had to be face to face with her. This book is also told from the pov of Mia.

http://www.suite101.com/content/book-review-if-i-stay-by-gayle-form... this is a book summary of If I Stay

I thought that this book was amazing. My eyes were watering on parts of this book. I believe she chose life because she moved at the end of the book, however, it does not go any further than that. I would definitely recommend this book to YA. This book is suitable for junior high and high school students. I think that everyone can take something out of this book.

[Nicole Priester]

This book literally is an emotional roller coaster. How would you use this in a classroom? I think it is a very interesting book and would probably want to find some way to use it in my own classroom. this book reminds me of Ghost i think its called with Bill Cosby which was a great movie in my optinion, and it would be neat to use those together as a visual aid.

I wanted to ask, does Mia ever see her family when she is in the inbetween. Do they let her know what they want her to do at all? Does the book end with just her chosing to live or is there an epilogue of sorts that tells about the life she lives?

[Samantha Carter]

I am not sure how this book would be taught I jusst know that it is appropriate to teach. Maybe the lesson could be something along the lines of there are some hard choses that YA have to make or focus on living for yourself and knowing that there is always a support system even if you lose valuable people in your life.
Mia does not see her family so they do not tell her what they want her to do. The decision is up to her and she asks herself a lot if she should stay. Throughout the entire book she could not move and as long as she did not the doctors said that she might not make it. The last few sentencess in the book says that she tried with all the strangth that she had left in her... and she squeezed his hand. From that I came to the conclusion that she lived. Her moving was a positive sign so I took the positive ending.

[Alexander Wm. Evers]

I think you hit the nail on the head- "there are some hard choices...to make". I firmly believe that a skill that is rarely, if ever, addressed by academic curriculum is the subject of Decision Making. Young Adults crave responsibility, in fact, they will take every opportunity to control their own destiny; how many times have you seen/heard a YA do something ridiculous simply because they could. Similarly, their underdeveloped brains convince them that the decision(s) they make are the best ones. Consequently, I believe that teaching about decision making skills and, especially, discussing consequences and principles of accountability would be profoundly advantageous to YAs.

[Pam Goble]

This is somewhat reminiscent of Lovely Bones...the life and death theme, but in LB the main character was murdered.

[Heather Olson]

Whoops! Should have read through the posts after hers before I responded. It did sound like The Lovely Bones to me, as well, seeing the main character caught between life and death in a way due to unfinished business on earth before they're able to let go.