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!!!

[Rosalind Engerman]

PART 1-
For my top Ten Books for YAL readers, I chose to read GEEKTASTIC; Stories from the Nerd Herd. This book is a compilation of short stories by many acclaimed authors; M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, John Green, Hope Larson, David Levithan, Kelly Link Barry Lyga, Tracy Lynn, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Bryan Lee O'malley, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Lee, and Sara Zarr. Between each short story, there is a comic (I loved this part!!). The Comics are illustrated by either Bryan Lee O'malley, or Hope Larson. The entire compilation of short stories is edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci (both have stories in the book as well). Ms. Black and Ms. Castellucci came up with the idea for a story when attending a Comic- Con in San Diego. Moving forward from there, they gathered the rest of their geeky writer friends and asked for stories that would ultimately contribute in the creation of this seemingly nerdy version of Chicken soup For the Soul.
The book begins with the defintion of geek; 1. A person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked. 2. a person who is so passionate about a given subject or subjects as to occasionally cause annoyance among others. This is a perfect starting point for a book geared towards YA readers and beyond. There are 15 short stories in this compilation, with subject matter surrounding love, discovering sexuality and the self, facing reality during puberty when used to the comfortable Role Playing Game reality that one has lived in for so long, and facing adversity. GEEKTASTIC is written for not only the role-playing, Star Wars loving, Klingon speaking YA audience. It is a book that brings the definition of GEEK to a seemingly new chic perspective (in my opinion) by displaying the many flavors of life and the necessary Trials and tribulations every person goes through when growing up.

[Laura Bychowski]

This sounds so interesting. Collections of short stories can be a really effective form of writing by introducing a wider variety of protagonists and keeping plots concise. Sometimes its easier to understand a larger concept by taking in many small examples. Have you ever read Sideways Stories from Wayside School? The short stories help better define the characters and it has a comedic style similar to GEEK.
What was your favorite story from GEEK?

[Adriana]

I love the idea of this book. It seems that students would really love to read this book as nowadays we all seem to claim we have an "inner nerd." Also, I imagine students in class bonding over their inner "nerdiness" which is also great seeing as how it is always nice for classmates to really get to know each other. Do you feel this could happen?

[Zia Jusufi]

I got to read Twenty Boy Summer, by Sarah Ockler. This has by far been one of the sweetest books I have read in a long time!! Anna, Frankie, and Matt are all best friends, but Frankie and Matt are brother and sister. Anna had always had a crush on Matt, but she kept it to herself because she did not want to make it wierd between the three of them, so she kept it to herself. Well, during her fifteenth birthday, Matt kissed Anna in private making her promise not to tell Frankie, because he wanted to tell her during their family vacation. Anna promised not to say anything to Frankie before Matt did. One day, a few weeks before the family vaction the three best friends go out for ice cream. On their way home, they have the radio blasted and are all singing along to the lyrics. On the way home, they get into a terrible accident. Matt dies because of "a hole in his heart," and Frankie and Anna survive the crash.
Anna decides to keep the secret of her new relationship with Matt a secret from his sister, but is heartbroken and cannot stop thinking about him and what she was to him.
Anna goes on a family vacation with Frankie's family, and Frankie decides that they must get to know 20 guys in the three weeks they are there. Anna learns that she can still hold on to Matt's memory and still fall in love with another boy. Frankie finds about about the relationship Anna had with Frankie's brother and was hurt that Anna was keeping this secret from her.
This story is a young adult novel for so many reasons. It deals with friends, first loves, secrets, peer presure, and so many things that take the reader back into their teenage years. I cried a lot in reading this book because the thoughts going through Anna's head are so realistic and heartwrenching that it is truly impossible not to cry.
I would love to have this book in my class room because I know it is a book that everyone could relate too and find to be a wonderful piece of writing. The characters and the situation is so real, it makes one feel as though they are apart of the story.

[Tiffany Shreve]

Along for the ride is the story of a girl named Auden who is very much an overachiever. She does not know how to let loose, live her life, or have fun. After she graduates from high school she decides to go visit her father rather than do her regular staying at home with her mom doing nothing. She has not been in contact with her father for quiet sometime. When she got to their house she found out that her father was to immersed in his writing a novel to care about his family. So she finds herself very alone at night until she decides to spend time with a local guy named Eli. Eli for whatever reason cannot sleep at night so that is when they would spend time together. At the time the two meet both are dealing with pasts of what they have missed out on because of their parents. Auden starts with a rough go when she finds herself with a guy who she finds out has been a recent ex of a girl who works with her step mother. A lot takes place in this summer and it all deals with Auden learning to step out and live life and not to be so uptight about things.
I say that this book relates to some of the YA lit criteria. In some areas it is written in the view point of the young adult however I felt that the parents view was shared a lot in this book. But that could be because the young people spent a lot of time with their parents. I think this book offers hope that people can deal with their past and move on in life to a better place. Those relationships can be reconciled. The book for sure covers issues that are important to teens for example relationships, parent children issues, and finding out who you are as a person.
I did not find a link that I felt could add anything to this book. I felt it was just another love story for a young person to read. So I guess that is also my opinion of the book. It was good and I would recommend it to a young girl who wants a good read but I don’t know how much it would teach someone.

[Rosalind Engerman]

PART II

B). Does Geektastic; Stories from the Nerd Herd meet YAL criteria?

Geektastic certainly meets many points necessary in order for it to be qualified as YAL. In fact, Geektastic meets most of the criteria! Each of the stories acts as a personal eye into the events the young characters are experiencing. The stories in Geektastic may mention parental figures (if they have anything to do with the events that are incorporated in the stories), but there is no direct influence from parents on the young adult characters view points, which makes personal accomplishments and credit for accomplishments possible on the YA characters part.
Geektastic is around 400 pages, but each of the stories can be read in under 30 minutes. Plus, every time a short story ends, an entertaining comic appears, and makes the next short story just as pleasurable as the previous told. Geektastic is filled with a multitude of subjects, and different character types, which allows a YA reader a truly flavorful experience!
Geektastic is filled with many optimistic themes and many of the stories contain characters that make worthy accomplishments. Usually the accomplishments the characters make in Geektastic surround a final realization, or better understanding of self. A couple of the stories will help to demonstrate this factor; in Quiz Bowl Anitchrist, by David Levithan deals with a YA coming to terms with his sexual orientation, and through that journey he encounters self discovery of his own sexuality. Everyone But You deals with a 15yr. old high school girl that has just had to pack up and move to Hawaii with her family, and when she enters High School, she is labeled as the new kid, which puts her at the bottom of the popularity chain. Instead of turning this fact into an everlasting negative feeling, she learns to understand what really matters to her in life and grows significantly as an individual. The Truth About Dino Girl is about a girl who takes on the challenge of seeking revenge to the one that has wronged her. Though this short story presents a dark message to the reader, Dino girl gets her revenge and ultimately learns the damage words and actions can provoke.

C). Links for GEEKTASTIC; stories from the nerd herd

This is Holly Black's (one of the editors') website
http://www.blackholly.com/geektastic.html

This is a book review from a fan
http://blog1.wandsandworlds.com/2009/08/book-review-geektastic-stor...

This is a website that reviews books for teens specifically
http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/9780316008099.asp

TO BE CONTINUED....

[Shelly Fields]

My choice for Best Books for Young Adults is “Into the Wild Nerd Yonder” by Julie Halpern.
This book is a light-hearted coming of age novel about a high school sophomore named Jessie Sloan. Jessie is in search of new friends and a place to belong. Her two best friends, Bizza and Char have changed, and in Jessie’s opinion, not for the better. Her friends “go punk” and start hanging around Jessie’s punk older brother, who is in a band. To make matters worse, Bizza pursues Jessie’s long-time crush, Van (who is also “punk”). Jessie learns through the grapevine that Bizza performed oral sex on Van at a party and contracted gonorrhea in the process (not a rumor, she actually did). Feeling used and betrayed, Jessie sets out to find new friends and herself in the process. She ends up with the Dungeons and Dragons crowd (the ultimate nerds) and falls for one of them named Henry. She frets over being labeled a “nerd” but realizes the friends she makes are more important than being labeled a nerd so she sets off Into the Wild Nerd Yonder.
This book could be the manuscript for the high school experience for the way it shows how friendships grow and sometimes die, high school cliques, teen sex, and the way teenagers define and redefine themselves.
The YA reader faces these same challenges and will feel a connection to the characters. Jessie is a normal teen who experiences normal high school problems. How many of us can relate to that?
I would definitely recommend this book for the young adult reader. It is set in high school but I would recommend it for the 8th grade reader and up. I think it will benefit the junior high reader because she/he can see what they have to look forward too when getting to high school.

Here is a link to the author's website: http://www.juliehalpern.com/nerd.html


Here is a link to the author's website: http://www.juliehalpern.com/nerd.html

[Adriana]

By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters

The story is about a 15 year old girl named Daelyn Rice who has had a rough life to say the least. She has never had any friends, and as a child she was overweight and constantly teased, at one point even sexually assaulted. Her parents move her around from school to school and take her to different therapists to help her out however nothing seems to help. She has also attempted suicide at least a couple of other times, and in the story she is unable to talk and wears a neck brace because her last attempt consisted of her drinking ammonia and bleach. Because of all this her parents are very involved with her life, unable to trust leaving her alone and trying to do anything to reach out to her. When we meet Daelyn she has recently joined an online community about suicide which tells her she will die in 23 days (through suicide). She then slowly starts preparing for this, determined not to 'fail' at killing herself again. She slowly makes herself invisible, even slowly getting rid of all her possessions. However, the monotony of her life is broken up when a guy her age starts trying to talk to her while she waits for one of her parents to pick her up after school. Daelyn tries her best to ignore him however, refusing to feel anything. After time he manages to break her shell and they even begin dating. A girl in her school also befriends her, and we see Daelyn becoming closer to her parents as the novel reaches her end. All of these changes build the story up and really make one wonder what will happen in the end and if she will end up killing herself or not.

To begin with the story is told from Daelyn's POV, following all her thoughts and fears thoughout the story. The novel does not really take away parents, they play a large role in the story however Daelyn still manages to break away and accomplish things on her own. The story also seems very fast paced as each chapter is not very long and is titled with the days Daelyn supposedly has left to live, adding to the suspense and making time seem like it is flying by. The story is not very varied in terms of themes however it does deal with very important ones such as suicide, bullying, body image, and cancer. The story is also not very varied in terms of diversity in characters, highlighted especially with Daelyn feeling like a complete outsider. In the the novel we do not see a lot of optimism however towards the end when things start looking up for Daelyn and she is coming out of her shell the reader cannot help but hope that her recent changes lead to her not committing suicide. Finally, we do see a lot of strong emotion especially sadness, terror, and frustration.

Here is a Youtube clip which helps explain a little more about the website Daelyn constantly checks throughout the story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUo-Fv3pVQQ

Here is another link written by the other explaining why the author chose to write the story:
http://julieannepeters.com/files/InspirationBTT.htm

As much as I enjoyed the novel I'm not sure I would teach it in a classroom. It is a bit graphic in talking about suicide and it honestly makes me nervous that someone will find this book inspiring and commit suicide themselves. However, at the end of the book there is a section filled with discussion questions and information about bullying and suicide for teachers, and if I had to teach this book I would definitely only teach it at a high school level. This book reminded me a bit of Speak, as the protagonist goes through a lot of the same things Melinda did and in the end we see that speaking about her traumas does help. I think what is best about the book however, is the honesty with which it was written. The fact that it is graphic I feel would help draw students as it seems very real.

[Pam Goble]

I just had a student review Twilight and suggest that it,too, promoted suicide and was a problem...which we know, but it was the hot book series for the last few years.  We are now into Hunger Games, which is violent...

As educators, we need to know how to work with those ideas in a positive way.

[Monika Andes]

I think that's really interesting. I actually think that Twilight is a book that promotes abusive relationships. If you analyze the relationship that Bella and Edward have, it's really sick. The suicide issue is one I hadn't noticed before, but it makes the saga even more disturbing.

[Shelly Fields]

"If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

My heart is still aching from reading this book…

If I Stay is the story of Mia, a girl whose entire family died in a car accident on a wintery day in Oregon. Mia is standing outside of her body looking at her deceased parents and herself and her brother being worked on by paramedics. The moment is heartbreaking. Mia is taken to the hospital where she lies in a coma, deciding whether to let go and be with her family or to stay with her boyfriend, friends, and grandparents. The story is told from Mia’s perspective. In the span of 24 hours, we learn of Mia’s past through flashbacks and we learn about those fighting to keep her alive in the present.
I won’t tell you what happens. This story must be read to be appreciated. It is both heartbreaking and stirring.
The viewpoint is that of Mia but it deals with intense emotions young readers may have never experienced before. It will inspire them to ask themselves, “What would I do?” Would they leave to be with their family or stay and live? This is a choice no one wants to have to make but the author forces us to think about it.
This book is hopeful, sorrowful, enlightening, moving, emotional, and insightful. I would definitely recommend this book for the 14-year old and up. This would be a valuable book to add to the required reading list students.

"SPOILER" There is a sequel to this book entitled, "Where She Went" that picks up on Mia's life after the coma

Some links relating to the book:
http://www.ifistay.com/book.php
http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/9780525421030.asp

[Kymberly Mosley]

 Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

 

Summary:

     Set in an alternate history at the cusp of World War I, Leviathan is a tale of Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition, otherwise known as Clankers. The British Darwinists rely on genetically engineered animals as their weaponry, including the Leviathan, a whale airship and the British fleet’s most powerful air-beast. The orphaned prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Aleksander Ferdinand, is on the run from political enemies who seek to destroy him before he can ascend the throne. He flees his own country with a small group of loyal men, dodging the Austrian and German patrols hunting them. Meanwhile, a Scottish girl named Deryn Sharp has dreams of joining the British Air Force--a dream that cannot be fulfilled simply because she is female. However, she disguises herself as a boy and joins the Academy, becoming a brilliant (for lack of a better word) airman. The paths of Deryn (or Dylan, as she renames herself) and Aleksander cross in an unlikely encounter and they soon find themselves aboard the Leviathan on a wild adventure around a world at the brink of war.

 

Connection to YA Criteria:

     Both Alek and Deryn have had their parents literally removed, leaving them to fight their own battles. Alek is left alone with a dangerous title that he must conceal in order to survive, while Deryn completely switches genders to keep her dream alive. Being left without parents and having to manage hidden identities is an extreme scenario, but this is a fantasy novel. Nonetheless, the characters can still be praised for taking control of their lives and accomplishing their goals in spite of the war that is brewing right in front of them.

 

Links:

 Book trailers are always so interesting to me. Here’s one for Leviathan

 

And for those of you who, like me, aren’t so familiar with the steampunk genre, here’s a great website that goes more into detail about it. My favorite quote: “It’s sort of Victorian-industrial, but with more whimsy and fewer orphans."

 

 Recommendation:

     This is the first book I’ve read in the steampunk genre, and I have to say that it was pretty cool. I’m not a big history buff, but Westerfeld’s alternate history was a really interesting twist on social studies class, with pretty pictures too. The characters are young, but are taking control over their own futures. I would recommend this book for anyone who is a history, science fiction, and/or fantasy novel fan and who has the attention span to last through the 400+ pages. It might not be such a great read for elementary school readers, but it is definitely engaging for older readers (high school or even early college students) looking to get lost in alternative history. I’m all for twisting the classics.