Shakespeare Bats Cleanup ~ Ron Koertge

yeah, I already posted about this one, but, then, I wrote more of a real "review"/brief description, so, decided to post that, too.

In Shakespeare Bats Cleanup, our main character, Kevin Boland, has been confined to his bed, due to a case of mono. He’s missing both his mom, recently deceased, and baseball: both playing and being with his friends from the baseball team. He has a decent relationship with his dad, a writer, though the fact that the dad is a writer makes Kevin not want to appear too outwardly engaged in or interested in writing.

Nevertheless, as is the case with a number of books I have read recently (Dairy Queen, The Rules of Survival), the story is not just being told in the first person (as is the case of Crispin), but is actually being written by the first person narrator as it is being told (for some reason, right now, I think this is a cool feature…). Furthermore, the writing is an element of the story that is important to pay attention to. In this case, growing out of his boredom, his dad casually handing him a composition book, and his sneaking up and grabbing one of his dad’s books on poetry (just as a kid might furtively squirrel away a Penthouse magazine, Kevin observes), he decides to experiment with writing poetry. The writing (story) that follows is a series of poems, and, as Kevin experiments with poetry, he also reflects on his world: grieving (in a very low level and not mushy way) for his mom, missing baseball and his friends while he convalesces, and providing alternately poignant and funny commentary on adolescence.

This is an easy read, in terms of density, as there is not that much text, basically, a short poem per page, with a few extending over more than one page. While it has some heavy stuff – his dead mom, for one, and his sort of loneliness at being excluded from the team while he recovers from mono – it is, at the same time, a really sweet book, especially when Kevin’s efforts to have some success in the girl department begin to be rewarded.

Crispin: The Cross of Lead ~ Avi

Set in the 1300s, in England, Avi’s Newbery Award winning novel, Crispin: The Cross of Lead, is narrated in the first person, by Crispin, and tells of his adventures, which are, indeed, adventurous. The book opens with his mom having just died, and Crispin (who at that point did not even have a name, he was considered so inconsequential in the community) finding himself pretty much alone and bereft.

He soon discovers that not only is he alone and bereft because he has lost his mom (there’s no dad to speak of, at this point in the story), but he is alone and bereft because it turns out the town leaders want to kill him and consequently have falsely accused him of a crime and put a bounty on this head. Even though he is terrified, Crispin realizes his only chance of survival is fleeing, even though he really has no idea how he’ll survive. So, he takes off, and the book chronicles what happens to him along the way, his slow discoveries about himself (discoveries of a factual nature as well as of a personal/character nature…), as well as descriptions of the different people and problems he encounters.

Suspense, action, and foreshadowing, as well as compassion for the main character all help to drive the story and keep the reader engaged.

The Chocolate War ~ Robert Cormier

Reading this book was a harrowing experience. Totally harrowing. I wonder if I am just a wimp…. Have I become really sensitive and weak in my old age, not up for the reality of the meanness of human nature? I really would like to know what other people think. If they are as “disturbed”, or find this as dark a read as I did. [I think I need to credit Mandy here, I think it was she who first used the word dark to talk about this book. Or, was it Katie Rose?]

Nevertheless, I have to say, I am glad that I kept reading. Sure, part of that is just so I can say that I read it, that I read this book, which is a book that people seem to “talk about.” And, part of it is so that I can feel like I read a “challenge” book. And, really, it was a challenge.

The weird thing is, I was sort of gripped throughout. It was one of those books where I wanted to keep reading because I wanted to find out what happened. Yet, at the same time, while reading, I really would not say that I was having fun (as opposed to say, the actual reading experience of Maniac Magee, during which I really was having fun).

Not sure if my reasons for being glad that I kept going are all that valid or make much sense. But, I wanted to at least note that.

This book did make me think: some questions…

*Why was this book so popular? I don’t actually know much about its popularity, I just have this general sense that it is a much-recommended, often taught, sort of canonical YA lit book. I do also know that Cormier is considered big, a huge presence in the field, and this is one of his signature books. In that sense, I am glad I read it.

Is this book still popular? I am curious about how much it is now taught, or read. Does it still have the weight it apparently once had? Assuming kids in the 70s really liked it and thought it was good, would “kids today” have similar reactions, or would they think it is sort of dated and old and not so great.

I definitely also could see elements that would lend themselves to classroom use, as it were.
There’s that T. S. Eliot quote about "daring to disturb the universe". Seems to me there’s some conversation to be had there.

Related, but not completely, the main character Jerry reflects on what seems to him to be his father’s incredibly dull life. Is this all there is, he wonders… Now, as an adult, reading a kids’ book, and “listening” to the kid look at the adult world, I am intrigued by Jerry’s questions and reactions to his dad there. Do we seem so boring to our kids, I wonder?

Also, essential questions about things like physical versus emotional abuse, perhaps. And, about standing up to peer pressure, or, standing up for what you believe in.

Sorry for not doing more by way of summary. I just needed to sort of react… reflect…

The Higher Power of Lucky ~ Susan Patron

note: this is a book I read several months back, late winter/spring, maybe. Wrote a quick reaction about it then, and so am including that here now.

This won the 2007 Newbery. Got all sorts of press and controversy because it uses the word scrotum in the first few pages [just need to get that out there right away…].

Lucky is an 11? 12? (can’t remember right now and I don’t have the book in front of me anymore) year old girl, living out in what seems like a totally barren dry dusty wasteland – out in the middle of nowhere in California. Her mom is dead and she is being cared for by her dad’s ex-wife. She is really anxious because the arrangement might be temporary, but she really likes Brigitte (the dad’s ex-wife), and wants Brigitte to want to stay with her.

So Lucky is just this kid, living in a whacked out community in the desert, and a fun part of the book is the slightly disreputable cast of characters in this town she lives in (barely a town, really, but, I think my use of the word community is telling – in spite of the remote, small, weird nature, this odd array of people is in some way a community, and it matters to Lucky to be a part of it). Ultimately, I think the book is about her desire for some stability. Her need to know that she is safe and that she is not going to be shipped off to foster care.

This was a good, though not great, read. I liked Lucky and thought she was a fun and interesting character – and, I think that while the book is told in the third person, we are seeing the world through Lucky’s eyes (I’m stretching here, adding this part to this reaction I wrote a long time ago, and not totally sure I am getting it right), and because of Lucky’s character and particular perspective, this works and makes the book more fun and engaging.

More of a younger young adult book. And, in spite of the word scrotum appearing early on, it really is a totally “clean” book.

The White Giraffe ~ Lauren St. John

note: this is a book I read a while ago, but, wrote a reaction to after reading it. So, I am posting about it anyway. Also, see comments below about mean school kids and such. I read this before The Chocolate War. For mean school kids, Chocolate War trumps this one hands down.

I think I saw this written up in one of those Book Sense flyers (lists of good books, with short reviews). They really liked this and so I bought it for the library. Finally read it sometime in the late winter/spring (having brought it home for the winter with me).

Main character is a young girl, Martina, who was living in England until her parents were killed in a fire. This is how the book begins (so, I am really not spoiling anything here) – and it is not the sort of beginning that works super-well for me. Just too damn painful and tragic. I am such a wimp. While on the “things that don’t work for me” topic – mean school kids being mean to each other (which happens when Martina starts at a new school. Just your better basic kids being mean, excluding, teasing, etc. Again, I am a wimp and I hate that sort of thing. But, I suppose that it is a very real part of this world, and so, noting it and exploring it is not a bad thing for a book/author to do).

So, Martina goes to live in Africa, with her grandmother. They have a tense relationship, and there is a bunch of mystery that emerges when Martina arrives in Africa (to live with a grandmother that she never even knew she had…. Hmmmm. Like I said, mystery…) they live on a game preserve, and the setting is interesting and rich. Martina is super-lonely and has to figure out how to make her way in this new world.

The title comes from a “character” in the book – an elusive white giraffe that Martina befriends (or, that befriends Martina?). I think this book has that “magical realism” thing going on. Stuff happening that is not quite real. But, it’s not full blown fantasy or sci-fi.

I persevered with it, in spite of the horrific beginning and the mean school kids. As you get more into it, the “plot thickens” and you get drawn in by the mystery, and it is a pretty compelling story. Definitely more for younger kids, but a good read regardless, and, as I said before, I was pretty drawn in to the setting.

Shakespeare Bats Clean Up - Ron Koertge

I just finished reading Shakespeare Bats Clean Up.

Really liked it. In part because it has that poetry thing going on, which, as some of you know, I really like....

It was written in poetry rather than prose - always sort of an interesting change.

And, it was also about poetry. Told in the first person, the main character is writing, in a sort of journal form, and then begins experimenting with various poetic forms. Very reminiscent of Love That Dog, but slightly older.

hmmm - text to text connection: books that are essentially written as journals. Different, to some degree, from books that are told in the first person. Reminds me of Dairy Queen, which is also essentially a journal (in addition to being first person narration). I feel like that is sort of a spoiler, but, oh well.

EDU 212 Library

Skellig – Almond, David
Speak – Anderson, Laurie Halse
Crispin At the Edge of the World – Avi
Crispin The Cross of the Lead – Avi
Nothing But the Truth – Avi
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle – Avi
Rules of the Road – Bauer, Joan
Fire, Bed, and Bone - Branford, Henrietta
Gregor the Overlander – Collins, Suzanne
What Mr. Mattero Did – Cummings, Priscilla
The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 – Curtis, Paul Christopher
Catherine, Called Birdy – Cushman, Karen
The Blue Hawk – Dickinson, Peter
Shadow of a Hero – Dickinson, Peter
The City of Ember – DuPrau, Jeanne
At Freddie’s – Fitzgerald, Penelope
Whiligig – Fleischman, Paul
Your Own, Sylvia – Hemphill, Stephanie
Out of the Dust – Hesse, Karen
The Misfits – Howe, James
Totally Joe – Howe, James
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci – Jones, Diana Wynne
The Phantom Tollbooth – Juster, Norton
Weedflower – Kadohata, Cynthia
The Tail of Emily Windsnap – Kessler, Liz
The Green Glass Sea – Klages, Ellen
Mischling, second degree My Childood in Nazi Germany – Koehn, Ilse
Margaux with an X – Koertge, Ron
Endurance, Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage – Lansing, Alfred
Memoirs of a Bookbat – Lasky, Kathryn
Camilla – L’Engle, Madeleine
Rules – Lord, Cynthia
The Giver – Lowry, Lois
Number the Stars – Lowry, Lois
Inexcusable – Lynch, Chris
The Earth, My Butt, & Other Big Round Things – Mackler, Carolyn
Parrot in the Oven – Martinez, Victor
sloppy firsts – Mc Cafferty, Megan
The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie – Moriarty, Jaclyn
Jasmine – Mukherjee
Dairy Queen – Murdock, Catherine Gilbert
Monster – Myers, Walter Dean
My Name Is Not Angelica – O’Dell, Scott
Sing Down The Moon – O’Dell, Scott
Bread and Roses Too – Paterson, Katherine
Lyddie – Paterson, Katherine
Life as We Knew it – Pfeffer, Susan Beth
Max the Mighty – Philbrick, Rodman
The Golden Compass – Pullman, Philip
Angus, thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging – Rennison, Louise
I Was There – Richter, Hans Peter
The Lightning Thief – Riordan, Rick
Becoming Naomi León – Ryan, Pam Muñoz
Esperanza Rising - Ryan, Pam Muñoz
A Fine White Dust – Rylant, Cynthia
But I’ll Be Back Again – Rylant, Cynthia
I Had Seen Castles – Rylant, Cynthia
Missing May – Ryland, Cynthia
Holes – Sachar, Louis
The Wednesday Wars – Schmidt, Gary D.
Enthusiasm – Shulman, Polly
Jesse – Soto, GaryEggs – Spinelli, Jerry
Love, Stargirl- Spinelli, Jerry
Maniac Magee – Spinelli, Jerry
Treasure Island – Stevenson, Robert Louis
The Mysterious Benedict Society – Stewart, Trenton Lee
The Amulet of Samarkand – Stroud, Jonathan
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Taylor, Mildred D.
The New Policeman – Thompson, Kate
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ - Townsend, Sue
Uglies – Westerfeld, Scott
Pretties – Westerfeld, Scott
Specials – Westerfeld, Scott
Feathers – Woodson, Jacqueline
The Book Thief – Zusak, Markus
I am the Messenger – Zusak, Markus

Another experiment...

Just trying to see if I can make this work, given what my goals are.

Course goals:

Ø To read a lot of young adult literature
Ø To consider why we teach literature, and why we teach the different types of literature that we teach
Ø To practice planning for teaching literature
Ø To consider the role talk and discussion play in the [literature] classroom

Blog goals:

shared space for noting resources, sharing lists, discussing books, linking to other things, etc.