Hunger Games

Here is the podcast I created with my students about Suzanne Collins novel Hunger Games

American Born Chinese

This was quite different.  The drawings were superb.  The dual story line was engaging.  The switching between the two story lines maintains interest.  It is clear why some would love this story.  Still, part of it seemed like a Saturday morning cartoon.  Perhaps this is because of the excellent drawing, the dual story line, all the things that make this story a great graphic novel also make it an excellent cartoon.  Is this a bad thing?  Not necessarily, there are some excellent cartoons out there that tell wonderful stories – some even with lessons to learn about life. 

There clearly is a lesson to this story.  The lesson(s) is not explicit but is not difficult to determine.  Also, it is a quick read, could be read in one (extended) sitting.  Though it is a quick read, it is not simple – there is plenty of room for some great discussions.  Undoubtedly, teens would enjoy this.  

Persepolis

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

 

Two years ago my book club decided to read a graphic novel. 

Persepolis was, at that time, a newer movie so they selected the book with the intention of watching the movie after reading.  I must admit I hurried through the book and just thought it was OK.  Since I had read all of the CHOICE books, (love Maus, Arrival I just read and really enjoyed – it was a difficult “read” though) I decided to reread Persepolis because it is the novel I least recalled.  There are a few things I noticed during my second read that I completely missed during my first.  When you focus more on the pictures, as well as the words, MUCH more is gained.  This may seem like a no-brainer, but when you are 

rushed in your reading of a graphic novel, you skim and it is quite difficult to skim a graphic novel and get everything out of it that you should.  Until I reread Persepolis, I hadn’t realized this as much. 

This makes perfect sense.  After recognizing this I have a much greater appreciation for the complexity of graphic novels.  Since I began reading graphic novels I truly enjoyed the genre and just looked at it as another method of engaging students – especially reluctant readers.  Because of this I guess I assumed the reading was easier.  This is just not the case.  

I struggled with The Arrival – and not because there were no words but because there was so much going on and so much had to be inferred (the area of greatest difficulty for student readers) When you think of picture books, you think of elementary 

school and The Arrival really contradicts that belief.

Maus – without the pictures the story is not nearly as interesting or deep.  The symbolism alone in the drawings is quite impressive.  Entire 

discussions could be held regarding just the symbolism. 

Persepolis – a story I thought was OK upon the first read and am so grateful I read it again – there is more to the story than skimming through the words can give the reader. 

Through these works (and others I have read) I have gone from enjoying this alternative story option to believing graphics novels should be required in literature (and other) classes.  I actually feel that (good) graphic novels are the most challenging of texts and offer the greatest interest and greatest discussion for students. 

As a teacher I have said countless times – don’t just tell, show.  Graphic novels literally and figuratively do just this.

They all survived... Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World by Jennifer Armstrong

They all survived.

Those three little words drew me in to what I was otherwise skeptical to read.  The circums

tances were harsh to the point of unbelievable – yet they all survived.  How?  How is this possible?  I had to find out.  Was it luck?  Skill? Clever thinking?  All these factors?  They all survi

ved – unbelievable. 

Not once while reading did I forget they all survived; yet, the way the author told the tale, the suspense at times was nerve wrecking.  To accomplish something like this is an impressive feat. 

Nonfiction is not my favorite genre.  Adventure tales are not my topic of choice.  Stories without any female characters are not my usual read.  Everything was stacked against me appreciating this book.  Not only did I appreciate the book, I truly enjoyed it.  I read it in one night, not because I was rushed and couldn’t put it down but because I had to see how – They all survived.

As a teacher, I can think of MANY students, especially boys, who would really enjoy reading this book.  This would be an excellent book in a geography, history, or social studies classroom.  There are a lot of teachable possibilities in this tale.

The other big draw of this book was the pictures.  The fact that the crew had a professional photographer and, as you read you could actually see the ship and crew and dogs as everything was happening, really added to the story.  Again, you look at some of the images, and the map and those three words come back again – They all survived. 

Great story – the fact that it is nonfiction makes it all the better.

 

The Circuit: stories from the life of a migrant child

The Circuit:  stories from the life of a migrant child by Francisco Jimenez

 

The Circuit was a very quick read.  When I completed reading it, I felt like I may have missed some things since it seemed as though I went through it so quickly.  At the same time, I think it might just be a simple read.  Why does this matter?  Well, I am trying to process what reading level it may be best suited for in the classroom.   I know we are not supposed to read these selections like teachers – but I couldn’t help it with this book.  So much of the story deals with schools and education that I had a hard time going away from my teacher eyes. 

On one hand I was disappointed when I got towards the end of this book.  I wanted something monumental to happen.  I was waiting for this major climax – this profound resolution that would just blow me away.  When I began to realize I wasn’t going to get one, I was a bit bothered that I had just read this book and that was it – that was all I was going to get.  After I was away from the book for a bit, I realized that books always have climaxes but life doesn’t.  Not only that, but it is the little moments we remember and take with us that make us who we are, and what we are to become.  Francisco took his pennies, his notebook, his memories, and his many short term friendships all with him wherever he went.  The little daily encounters and moments with his family were monumental.  The secret he and his brother shared about not wanting to move anymore, the plan to stay in Santa Maria, the unconditional love of family, all those things combined made for a great memoir.  No where in the story was resentment for their lives – selfishness was only existent at Christmas when he so wanted a ball – but that quickly dissolved with the tears of his mother and the gift between her and his father.  This memoir appears to be an accurate description of just living life.

This brings me to the other side, the side I came to after walking away from the book for a bit – the stuff I really enjoyed.  I like that this book seems very honest.  Working in a school with a handful of children of Hispanic immigrant workers, having some families come and go is not out of the norm.  I often wondered why a parent would do that, couldn’t they see how difficult it would be for their son/daughter to receive a proper education.  I have always believed that all parents try their best but because of circumstances, everyone’s best is quite different.  Still, I never understood the moving and returning year after year.  Now – I guess I do.  I really liked that reading this made me open my eyes more on this topic.  This life they live is, for some, the only way to provide for their family; doesn’t mean any of them like, want, would choose this lifestyle – but poverty usually removes much choice.  This book does a good job of showing that.  It also does a good job of showing how loving and connected this family is.  From my culture that values education, things, money, homes, clothes, and more things – it is hard to imagine that a family like Francisco’s could really be happy.  I would argue, that despite their poverty, they are happy as a family unit who loves and cares deeply for each other.  Many families in our culture who appear to have it all may very well lack this essential ingredient of happiness. 

Makes one remember that to understand one culture through only the eyes of your own culture is quite difficult to do; people need to change perspective and look through other lenses as much as possible to truly gain insight into a situation.

 

Bad Boy - a memoir by Walter Dean Myers

Bad Boy – a memoir by Walter Dean Myers

 

Having read some of Myers’ work, I was excited to read his memoir.  The title mislead me (which I was pleased with) because, after picking up the book and reading the title I stereotyped that I was going to read a story about a terrible childhood and rebellious child who was saved by some teacher/author/book – and I just didn’t want to read that story – I wanted 

there to be more to Myers.  It turns out there was. 

Bad boy is more a story of misunderstanding, as Myers shows throughout the novel.  Because he didn’t do much homework, because he didn’t always go to school, because he appeared not to care, people around him assumed he was a bad boy who truly didn’t care.  The reality that Myers exposes is just how much he did care.  He cared a great deal but was confused by what it was to be a man, to be black, and to be poor.  His struggles with his identity and finding his place, as well as his unwillingness to talk to those around him about these things, leads him down a destructive path that 

could have ended terribly.  Actually he cared a great deal about his life and where it was going (which was no where) that he sunk into a pit of shame that he barely escaped from.  His story is articulated so well, which is really ironic since it was his inability to articulate his thoughts that got him the label of “bad boy” to begin with. 

Myers also talks about race in a unique way.  He never really thought about race until he was kind of forced to.  Once he was aware (the job where he lost his position to the new white worker and was moved to the back) he thought about it more and more and struggled even greater with identity.  He states:

 But it seemed to me that both of these concepts, career and maleness, were only subdivisions of the larger idea of race.  When I thought of the major careers, I thought of whites, not blacks.  When I thought of maleness, I thought of whites with political or economic power and blacks with muscle.  My definition of a black man was, except for the rare instance, a man without an outstanding career, and a man who had to define his maleness by how muscular he was.  These definitions were reinforced everywhere I looked.  (176-177)

For a young man wanting more out of life, wanting to go to college, to write, to be someone, he really didn’t have a lot of examples to look up to or emulate.  In fact, the first successful blacks he mentions include Billie Holiday (who was addicted to drugs) and Langston Hughes (whom he viewed as quite ordinary).  The author he mentions, Dylan Thomas, is a drunk whom circumstances Myers romanticizes.  Needless to say – for a lost “bad boy” he doesn’t have a great troupe to follow.  Not until he reads Sonny Blues by James Baldwin does he become exposed to a different role model.  A black man and author who seemed to have his act together a bit more than the other success stories mentioned above.  He also meets Hughes again and seems to have a different take on him at this stage in his life. 

Ultimately though, it is Myers himself who has to come to terms with his life and his identity to gain confidence and success as an author.  He does that, and Bad Boy takes us through that journey.  It was an insightful journey to experience.  

A Book Review - Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

Myers, Walter Dean.  Fallen Angels.  New York:  Scholastic Inc., 1988. 

When there isn’t much to look forward to in your present situation, most people change things – but change isn’t always good.  This is the case for Richard Perry, a seventeen-year-old, recent graduate from New York who had big dreams of going to college, but realistically knows he could never afford it.  So instead of sticking around the projects he calls home, answering questions about why he hadn’t left and receiving looks of disappointment, Perry decides to join the Army to escape his current situation.  This answer to his perceived humiliation could turn out to be a fatal one as he is dropped in the crazy world of the Viet Nam war.  Here, Perry finds friendship with a crew of teens from very different places, as they all try to survive the harsh reality they are now faced with – boys in a man’s war. 

 

Many historical fiction novels have been written about wars – what makes this one great is the narrator’s perspective.  Perry is so real and a constant reminder to readers that kids were over in Viet Nam fighting.  Through their fighting, swearing, smoking, and talking, Myers’ characters give a clear glimpse of what life could have been like for any number of young men in Viet Nam who just wanted to survive, go back to their families, and just have the chance to grow into real men – not the men the war forced them to become over night. 

 

Myers does an impressive job of weaving the inhumanity of the war with the normality of daily life/thoughts.  Very natural conversation is placed beside unbelievable events.  At one point in the novel, Perry and his pal Peewee are on watch, playing cards to pass the time.  Some guys from another company bring a “VC” lady and her two children they found on the road, they try questioning her but with no luck.  They decide to let her go.  Peewee is obsessed with giving the kids something, anything, when:

I watched as Peewee stood, putting the last touches on the doll.  I thought it was cool when the woman stopped just before she reached the dikes and handed one of the kids to a guy from Charlie Company.  The GI’s arms and legs flung apart from the impact of the blast.  The damn kid had been mined, had exploded in his arms…I saw the woman running across the paddy.  I saw her fold backward as the automatic fire ripped her nearly apart…The woman’s other child stood for a long moment knee deep in water and mud, before, it too, was gunned down.  I turned and saw Peewee walking away.  The doll he made lay facedown in the endless mud.  It was raining again.  230

A scene like this shows how in a moment a soldier’s world can be turned upside down and immediately after they have to keep on focusing or their life could be jeopardized.  Be aware of everything, yet, remember nothing; this paradox exists throughout the book.  But how does a young man be constantly alert without thinking?  The young soldiers wrestle with this numerous times, “I tried to control my imagination, to keep the shadows from becoming things they weren’t…Don’t think.  Stop thinking.  Stop.  Look ahead of me.  Don’t think, don’t daydream.  Look”(194) but the young men have little success and in showing this complexity to the readers, Myers shows the struggles of the soldiers.

Myers also shows the emotional and physical toll the war took on the young soldiers.  Getting ready to embark on the plane ride home, Perry is having a conversation with another character thanking Perry for saving his life, for bringing him back to life, Perry responds, “We’re all dead over here  Monaco…We’re all dead and just hoping we come back to life when we get into the World again” (300).  It is clear to the readers that Perry is not the same youth he was at the beginning of the novel.  Perry seems to be not of his previous world.  In fact,  Myers repeatedly capitalizes World, signifying that it is a specific place, a place they have not been living in but will return to – as of now, Perry is not of the World, his naivitee, innocence, and world of old is gone.

Many more themes are dealt with in Myers’ novel.  There are issues dealing with race, religion, relationships, priorities, reality, brotherhood, and obviously survival.  The candid conversations, coping techniques – healthy and unhealthy – that the soldiers use to make it through their days, are all told so vividly and believably that readers can picture the scenes, the horrors and hopelessness the young boys in Perry’s world experience.  Fallen Angels should be read by all teenagers and by all people interested in humanity and war.