Creech, Sharon (2004). Heartbeat. New York: Harper Collins, 180 pp.
AWARDS: Creech is a Newberry Medal award winning (for Walk two Moons)
Genre: Coming of age fiction, free verse poetry
Here's what Miss Martha says about HEARTBEAT . . .
Heartbeat is the story of a 12-year old girl who is in transition. Annie narrates her story in free verse, as she copes with: 1) her mother's pregnancy, 2) her grandfather's Alzheimer's Disease, 3) being a 'tween, 4) her expectations of herself v. the expectations of adults around her, 4) her platonic friendship with Max, her best friend and running buddy, and 5) her burgeoning interests and abilities as a visual artist.
This book could be a beautiful way for girls to start the 6th grade school year. It is written with simple, honest language, and brings up many life issues in an emotionally safe way. Annie is a strong, level-headed, but also curious and questioning 'tween, wedged between the child who uses silly words when talking to the neighbor and the young woman who argues head-to-head with the girls' track coach. She is solidly in-between childhood and teenager-dom; the ideal example of a middle school girl. Annie is very self-possessed for someone her age, yet she never comes across as falsely sagacious. Author Sharon Creech does a superb job of putting herself back in the shoes of a 12-year old girl. The numerous metaphors, images, and frameworks in this book provide a number of opportunities for teaching reading and writing techniques. One of my favorite sections of the book is one in which Annie learns about footnotes at school, and then starts to use them generously throughout her monologue.
Wouldn't it be great, if you were a 6th grader, to get a 180 page book under your belt at the beginning of the school year? I know a lot of students who would wear that accomplishment like a badge of honor. This is a quick and easy read with many opportunities for discussions, writing and further reading. It was enjoyable and fresh, just like the apple that Annie learns to draw in her art class.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
And that's what Miss Martha Says.
Friday, July 18, 2008
MONSTER, a novel by Walter Dean Myers
Myers, Walter Dean. MONSTER. (New York: Harper Colllins, 1999) 281 pp.
Genre: Screenplay, Mixed Media, Trials, Prison, African-Americans, Fictional Autobiography, Male teen issues, Urban America issues
AWARDS: National Book Award Finalist, Coretta Scott King Award, Printz Award
Here's what Miss Martha says about MONSTER . . .
Told in a mixed media format (screenplay, "handwritten" journal entries, and photographs) MONSTER tells the story of 16-year old Steve Harmon and his experiences while on trial for his alleged involvement in a drugstore holdup turned murder. One of two defendants on trial during the course of the book, Steve is accused of being the "Lookout" for the others, making sure that there were no other people or police officers in the drugstore before the two primary robbers (one of whom ended up shooting and killing the store owner) went in the store to commit robbery. While Steve is on trial (and locked up in jail for the duration) he chooses to disassociate himself from being "in the moment," by telling his story as if it is a movie. In a disconnected screenplay, events, relationships and feelings are projected on a screen in a fictional movie house, removed from the life he experiences each raw, challenging, violent, terrifying and guilt-ridden moment. Because Steve has a media teacher at school with whom he's connected in the past, and a passion for making movies, his choice of a screenplay format to tell much of his story is a natural one. Throughout the course of the novel, we learn about Steve's past, his family, his experiences in jail, his account of the alleged conspiracy to hold up the drugstore, and his struggle with whether he is innocent or guilty.
Wow! I wish I had known about this book when I worked in Kansas City, Missouri with adjudicated youth. While this book is DEFINITELY not for everyone, and certainly not for every adolescent (boy or girl) there are many young people who have had a brush with the law (or who are involved with the penal system) who could benefit from reading this book just for the story alone. The authenticity of voice in this novel is exceptional. I kept checking the biblio information at the beginning of the book to make sure it was really fiction. While you read MONSTER, you believe Steve Harmon is a real person; and you become emotionally invested in his fate. This book is thematically rich and diverse. You can crack open almost any page in the book and find a topic that could stimulate potentially deep conversation and debate among adolescents. Adults, too, could find this novel particularly challenging. I myself am still unsure of how I feel about the trial, the issue of guilt, and the novel's conclusion.
For young men and women who are particularly challenged when assigned to write a traditional narrative, MONSTER provides examples for alternative ways to tell a story. I love the idea of using excerpts from this book as models for student writing. I could simultaneously teach a new format (the screenplay), prompt discussions about relevant social issues, and make writing more accessible to exceptional students. In terms of this novel as a bridge to classic literature, I see this as an incredible partner to To Kill A Mockingbird. Issues of race, justice, social inequality, youthfulness, coming of age, and the efficacy of the American penal system are just a handful of the commonalities shared by these two books.
In terms of age range, this book requires evaluation on a case by case basis. In an urban setting, where students are more sophisticated and aware of the issues and events depicted in MONSTER, the book would be appropriate at the 7th-8th grade level. In Northwest Arkansas, I'd hesitate to offer this as a whole class, read-at-home novel, and I'd identify the book for sophomore English. The book would be better used (and less provocatively so) as a read-aloud in class -- the script format makes it a natural -- or as an individual choice or small group novel.
My copy of the book has 10 bright green post-its sticking out of its pages (at last count.) Each of these post-its represents a score of teaching ideas and classroom activities generated by a few lines of dialogue, a cut-scene, a photograph or a theme. The text is rich with possibilities for writers and readers. It can appeal to a variety of learning styles. Ultimately it also serves a great social function as a cautionary tale for our young people who skirt the edge of danger and could all-too-easily transform from the neighborhood kid we wave to in passing to the dangerous monster whom we cross the street to avoid.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
P.S. Visit www.teenreads.com There is an awesome autobio of Walter Dean Myers, a q&a, and information on all of his other books !
. . . and that's what Miss Martha Says.
Genre: Screenplay, Mixed Media, Trials, Prison, African-Americans, Fictional Autobiography, Male teen issues, Urban America issues
AWARDS: National Book Award Finalist, Coretta Scott King Award, Printz Award
Here's what Miss Martha says about MONSTER . . .
Told in a mixed media format (screenplay, "handwritten" journal entries, and photographs) MONSTER tells the story of 16-year old Steve Harmon and his experiences while on trial for his alleged involvement in a drugstore holdup turned murder. One of two defendants on trial during the course of the book, Steve is accused of being the "Lookout" for the others, making sure that there were no other people or police officers in the drugstore before the two primary robbers (one of whom ended up shooting and killing the store owner) went in the store to commit robbery. While Steve is on trial (and locked up in jail for the duration) he chooses to disassociate himself from being "in the moment," by telling his story as if it is a movie. In a disconnected screenplay, events, relationships and feelings are projected on a screen in a fictional movie house, removed from the life he experiences each raw, challenging, violent, terrifying and guilt-ridden moment. Because Steve has a media teacher at school with whom he's connected in the past, and a passion for making movies, his choice of a screenplay format to tell much of his story is a natural one. Throughout the course of the novel, we learn about Steve's past, his family, his experiences in jail, his account of the alleged conspiracy to hold up the drugstore, and his struggle with whether he is innocent or guilty.
Wow! I wish I had known about this book when I worked in Kansas City, Missouri with adjudicated youth. While this book is DEFINITELY not for everyone, and certainly not for every adolescent (boy or girl) there are many young people who have had a brush with the law (or who are involved with the penal system) who could benefit from reading this book just for the story alone. The authenticity of voice in this novel is exceptional. I kept checking the biblio information at the beginning of the book to make sure it was really fiction. While you read MONSTER, you believe Steve Harmon is a real person; and you become emotionally invested in his fate. This book is thematically rich and diverse. You can crack open almost any page in the book and find a topic that could stimulate potentially deep conversation and debate among adolescents. Adults, too, could find this novel particularly challenging. I myself am still unsure of how I feel about the trial, the issue of guilt, and the novel's conclusion.
For young men and women who are particularly challenged when assigned to write a traditional narrative, MONSTER provides examples for alternative ways to tell a story. I love the idea of using excerpts from this book as models for student writing. I could simultaneously teach a new format (the screenplay), prompt discussions about relevant social issues, and make writing more accessible to exceptional students. In terms of this novel as a bridge to classic literature, I see this as an incredible partner to To Kill A Mockingbird. Issues of race, justice, social inequality, youthfulness, coming of age, and the efficacy of the American penal system are just a handful of the commonalities shared by these two books.
In terms of age range, this book requires evaluation on a case by case basis. In an urban setting, where students are more sophisticated and aware of the issues and events depicted in MONSTER, the book would be appropriate at the 7th-8th grade level. In Northwest Arkansas, I'd hesitate to offer this as a whole class, read-at-home novel, and I'd identify the book for sophomore English. The book would be better used (and less provocatively so) as a read-aloud in class -- the script format makes it a natural -- or as an individual choice or small group novel.
My copy of the book has 10 bright green post-its sticking out of its pages (at last count.) Each of these post-its represents a score of teaching ideas and classroom activities generated by a few lines of dialogue, a cut-scene, a photograph or a theme. The text is rich with possibilities for writers and readers. It can appeal to a variety of learning styles. Ultimately it also serves a great social function as a cautionary tale for our young people who skirt the edge of danger and could all-too-easily transform from the neighborhood kid we wave to in passing to the dangerous monster whom we cross the street to avoid.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
P.S. Visit www.teenreads.com There is an awesome autobio of Walter Dean Myers, a q&a, and information on all of his other books !
. . . and that's what Miss Martha Says.
Monday, July 14, 2008
SPEAK, A Book by Laurie Halse Anderson
Regarding: SPEAK.
Anderson, Laurie Halse. SPEAK. New York: Penguin, 198 pp.
Adolescent Literature: Depression, Surviving Sexual Abuse, Coming of Age
Here's what Miss Martha Says about SPEAK...
Told in the first person, this book leads us through the tormented school year of a rape survivor. Melinda Sordino confides in us the daily humiliations she experiences at the hands of her classmates and schoolmates over a misunderstanding. Students in school believe that she called the police to break up a party with underage drinking. Actually, Melinda called the police because she had been raped at that party; however, when 911 picked up, she couldn't speak. Over the course of the school year, Melinda sinks into a deep, self-destructive depression. She chews at her ineffective and useless mouth as she fights between the desire to talk about what happened and the desire to keep the words from flowing out of her bloody mouth. She finds an exploratory outlet in the somewhat unconventional classroom of the Art teacher; but, outside of Art class, she is met with only hostility, apathy, shallowness, and selfishness from her parents, other teachers, the school, and people she calls and used to call friends.
I don't think that I was a huge fan of this book. While the story may actually represent someone's experience, I found it unlikely that Melinda would be so completely, unilaterally unhelped by every human being but the dotty art teacher. Her world was so very dismal and populated with shallow, self-serving apathetic jerks, that I wasn't sure if I wanted her to speak. The only time I had any hope at all was when there were responses to the writing about her rape that she put on a door in the bathroom. I was also encouraged by a character who seemed to come into relief only later in the book, Ivy, who actually takes a modest interest in Melinda's recovery from silence and rape.
The pert ending, after being dragged through 9 months of hell, was jarring, to say the least. In my personal experiences with bullying, abuse and neglect, there is just no way that things swing around for the better so quickly. More accurately: if things do swing around quickly, they usually don't stick! It's too much change, too soon, and there is usually a correction.
While I enjoyed Anderson's word choice, structure, and pace (most of the time) I'm not sure that I'm thrilled with her character development or her depth of knowledge about adolescent girls. It seems to me like Anderson placed Melinda's "old friends" in convenient cliques, after the party was over, almost like she had misplaced game pieces and just stuck them here and there to get them out of her way. While, as a writer, I've done that type of thing for myself so that I could attend to whatever was immediately at hand, I would then go back to those characters and work on each of them, shaping and shading them until they would reveal themselves more completely rather than just being stereotypes. So, all in all, most of the characters seemed like they were in "first draft" land.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. There is simply too much literature out there to choose from that better captures stories of rape and/or depression and/or abuse and/or PTSD. However, having said that, I think it's very important, when recommending a book with one or more of these themes, that the student to whom you are suggesting it, is READY to face these issues. A book like this one could easily boomerang back and hit a student who's already down, legitimizing a further slide downward. By the same token, for a student who's ready for a book like this, the story can give multiple opportunities for reflection and personal growth. That's what Miss Martha Says.
Anderson, Laurie Halse. SPEAK. New York: Penguin, 198 pp.
Adolescent Literature: Depression, Surviving Sexual Abuse, Coming of Age
Here's what Miss Martha Says about SPEAK...
Told in the first person, this book leads us through the tormented school year of a rape survivor. Melinda Sordino confides in us the daily humiliations she experiences at the hands of her classmates and schoolmates over a misunderstanding. Students in school believe that she called the police to break up a party with underage drinking. Actually, Melinda called the police because she had been raped at that party; however, when 911 picked up, she couldn't speak. Over the course of the school year, Melinda sinks into a deep, self-destructive depression. She chews at her ineffective and useless mouth as she fights between the desire to talk about what happened and the desire to keep the words from flowing out of her bloody mouth. She finds an exploratory outlet in the somewhat unconventional classroom of the Art teacher; but, outside of Art class, she is met with only hostility, apathy, shallowness, and selfishness from her parents, other teachers, the school, and people she calls and used to call friends.
I don't think that I was a huge fan of this book. While the story may actually represent someone's experience, I found it unlikely that Melinda would be so completely, unilaterally unhelped by every human being but the dotty art teacher. Her world was so very dismal and populated with shallow, self-serving apathetic jerks, that I wasn't sure if I wanted her to speak. The only time I had any hope at all was when there were responses to the writing about her rape that she put on a door in the bathroom. I was also encouraged by a character who seemed to come into relief only later in the book, Ivy, who actually takes a modest interest in Melinda's recovery from silence and rape.
The pert ending, after being dragged through 9 months of hell, was jarring, to say the least. In my personal experiences with bullying, abuse and neglect, there is just no way that things swing around for the better so quickly. More accurately: if things do swing around quickly, they usually don't stick! It's too much change, too soon, and there is usually a correction.
While I enjoyed Anderson's word choice, structure, and pace (most of the time) I'm not sure that I'm thrilled with her character development or her depth of knowledge about adolescent girls. It seems to me like Anderson placed Melinda's "old friends" in convenient cliques, after the party was over, almost like she had misplaced game pieces and just stuck them here and there to get them out of her way. While, as a writer, I've done that type of thing for myself so that I could attend to whatever was immediately at hand, I would then go back to those characters and work on each of them, shaping and shading them until they would reveal themselves more completely rather than just being stereotypes. So, all in all, most of the characters seemed like they were in "first draft" land.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. There is simply too much literature out there to choose from that better captures stories of rape and/or depression and/or abuse and/or PTSD. However, having said that, I think it's very important, when recommending a book with one or more of these themes, that the student to whom you are suggesting it, is READY to face these issues. A book like this one could easily boomerang back and hit a student who's already down, legitimizing a further slide downward. By the same token, for a student who's ready for a book like this, the story can give multiple opportunities for reflection and personal growth. That's what Miss Martha Says.
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