Review:  I received an advance reader’s copy of Rivals by Daisy Whitney at the NCTE Convention this fall.  This is the sequel to The Mockingbirds and continues to look at the darker side of boarding school.  This book is a little less intense focusing on prescription drug abuse rather than date rape but does not ignore that Alex is still coping with the events that transpired the year before.  This was a great read and was much more of a mystery than The Mockingbirds.

Like its predecessor this is definitely a book written for high school students.  I think it would attract more females than males, but males could get into it as well.  This isn’t a book I’d teach, but I would/will have it in my classroom library.

The Lowdown:

RL: My guess is about 4th grade
Interest Level: High School

Look for this book to hit shelves in early February!!!

Paper Towns

Review:

I have been looking forward to reading Paper Towns by John Green since it came out but never got around to it.  While I was at NCTE 2011 in Chicago I had the opportunity to stand in line and have John Green sign a book.  They were selling Paper Towns at a discounted price so I jumped at the opportunity!  I’m so glad I did.  I’ve read other books by Green, An Abundance of Katherines  and Looking for Alaska and enjoyed both so I wasn’t surprised that I liked Paper Towns as well.  I really enjoyed that there was a male protagonist that seemed relatable and that there were significant characters that were male and female which should make this a book that can appeal to all teens.  The book follows one boys quest to find his neighbor, a beautiful girl, whom he has admired for years.  There is quite a bit of mystery and suspense in the novel which appealed to me.  This was not an easily predictable book.  One other thing that I really liked about this book was the including of poetry from Walt Whitman- I like to think that perhaps it will not only expose teens to another form of writing but spark an interest in it as well.

I do not see myself using this book as a classroom read in the future but I would put it on my classroom book shelf.  There is some talk of sex and drinking but in a frank and realistic way that does not glorify it or condemn it.  You will find some “inappropriate” language in the book but again it’s well places and not gratuitous in  nature.  Scholastic labels this book as being a 9-12th grade interest level and I agree.  The characters are seniors in high school and I think the content makes it a high school level book despite it’s lower reading level.

The Lowdown (Via Scholastic)

Interest Level: Grade 9 – Grade 12 (I agree with this)

Grade Level Equivalent: 5.5

Lexile® measure: 850L

Educational Materials Available: SRC! Quiz, AR Quiz

Awards:

2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,300 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

The Mockingbirds

Review:  I downloaded The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney to my Kindle in anticipation of reading the ARC of its sequel The Rivals.  I am so glad I did.  The Mockingbirds seemed to combine some of the best aspects of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War and Knowles’ A Separate Peace.  At times it even reminded me of John Green’s Waiting for Alaska.   But this book stands on its own and has its own merit.  From the first paragraph on the first page you are thrown into the life of the main character Alex, a junior girl at an elite boarding school, who has been date raped.

What I enjoyed about this story is how it dealt with the rape in a very realistic way.  You see Alex attempting to discern where the responsibility for the rape lies and how to move on with her life.  With such a serious subject this book could have become very dark and depressing very fast.  But it isn’t.  There are times where it is graphic, the imagery and the language may make you squirm but that is offset with the very regular interactions the teen characters have.  Crushes, school work, clubs and more.  Whitney also does a great job of examining what happens when schools have a history of caring more for their record than for their students and what types of change students can initiate.

This is definitely a book written for high school aged students.  I think it would appeal more to females than males, but males could get a lot out of it as well.  I think that if I were to teach a book about a subject such a date rape I would be more likely to teach Speak due to some of the graphic nature of this book.  I could however, see myself recommending this book to students or having it on a list (along with most of the other titles I mentioned earlier) to read alongside Speak for some sort of comparison project.  The Mockingbirds is also one of those books that I will be recommending to my friends who don’t read YA the way I do.  I believe this is a crossover book that adults can read and learn from as much as teens.

The Lowdown:

RL: 4-5 grade, lexile rating of HL720L (THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT A BOOK FOR 4th or 5th GRADERS)
Interest Level: High School (I could see 8th graders reading it but it might get a little heavy for younger teens)

Awards:

• A Romantic Times Best Book of 2010
• A Best Book for Young Adults – American Library Association
• An NPR Best Book of 2010
• An Association of Booksellers for Children New Voices Pick for 2010
• Chicago Public Library Best of Best Books for Teens in 2010
• Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award Honorable Mention
• An Indie Next List Pick
• A GoodReads Mover and Shaker for November 2010
• The Books-A-Million teen book club pick for January 2011

Stay tuned for my upcoming review of The Rivals!

Review:

Winter Town was one of the ARCs I received at NCTE11 in November.  Finally, while on winter break, I got a few free hours together to read it.  I have to say I enjoyed it.  The story has two main characters, a teen boy and a teen girl and follows their friendship as they navigate their own teenage problems.  What I thought was unique and interesting is that throughout the story are little comic strips or images that coincide with the story as illustrations, or are part of the story as examples of what the characters are writing.  It is not the type of story that I would use in my classroom to teach but I would feel comfortable recommending it to students and having it on my shelf.  There is some mention of drinking (and throwing up because of it) and casual mentions of sex but nothing is explicit nor does it come across as encouraged.  I think that this book is very timely and modern discussing texts, emails and evening mentioning Glee.  That, actually, might be one of my concerns for the book that it will become dated quickly but only time will tell with that.

The Lowdown: 

Interest Level:  High School

This book was published on December 5th, and as of now I have not found any information regarding the reading level or awards that it has won.  If I come across any in the future I will update this post!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time  by Mark Haddon was a very interesting and thought provoking read.  I purchased this book for my Kindle over the summer because my local school district assigned it to all of their students for summer reading and hosted book discussions for the community and encouraged the city to join in reading this book.  I finally got around to reading it while traveling this past week and I’m so glad that I did.

The book is told from the perspective of a teen male who is mathematically inclined and describes himself as having behaviors problems.  In the book he investigates the death of a neighbor’s dog.  What you get however is not just a mystery but insight into the life of a teen who displays autistic-like tendencies.  I do work with students on the autism spectrum so for me I was able to relate to the struggles the narrator describes.  In fact Haddon’s descriptions provided an easily accessible and plausible explanations of why a person with autism might have certain personality quirks.  (Haddon does not claim to be an expert and there may be no way to fully know what goes on in someone else’s head but it rings true to me.) By the time I was nearing the end of the book I couldn’t put it down and was very invested in the life of the main character.

I would recommend this book for any adult who works with autistic children.  I would also use this as a classroom read or recommend it for an individual student to read.  I feel it could spark great discussion about family relationships, disabilities and abilities, along with questions of morality.

AWARDS:

WINNER YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
WINNER 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year
WINNER Booklist Editor’s Choice for Young Adults
WINNER School Library Journal Adult Books for Young Adults
WINNER ALA Best Books for Young Adults
WINNER New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
WINNER New Jersey Garden State Teen Book Award
WINNER 2004 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize of Europe and South Asia

On Thursday at the Secondary Section kick off I heard Chris Crutcher (Whale Talk) speak!

I stood in line for 20 minutes to get a copy of Paper Towns by John Green signed! He was just as quirky and funny in person as I’ve seen on his YouTube videos and heard about! I also saw him speak about using Chicago as a backdrop for at least one of his books.

I saw David Levithan speak twice- once also about using Chicago in his books and once about censorship. I haven’t read anything by him, but my interest is definitely piqued now!

Walter Dean Myers (Monster) was signing books, but unfortunately I had a session to get to. I did see him though!

Katherine Paterson (author of Bridge to Teribethia) and Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak) were also on the panel discussion censorship and were extremely interesting!

Laurie Halse Anderson, Katherine Paterson, David Levithan

And here, is a picture of me meeting Angela Johnson (The First Part Last) and Sharon Draper (Battle of Jericho).  Both ladies were super nice and took at least a minute to listen to me tell them just a few things about my students. I had Draper sign a copy of Battle of Jericho to my students because we just finished reading it in our “book club.”  They thought it was pretty cool when I showed them!

Angela Johnson, Me, Sharon Draper

I came away with approximately 30 books- most of which I got for free and which are ARCs.  So keep your eye peeled here for upcoming reviews!   If anyone teaches English and is on the fence about attending the conference next year you should go!  I learned so much, got tons of free books, met lots of authors and generally enjoyed myself!  And, if those aren’t reason enough- it’s in Las Vegas next November!

I recently spent 5 hours straight reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I really enjoyed this story.  Many of you have probably seen the movie or heard the hype and I have to say I agree.  This is a fantastic book.  While not a YA book I could see this being in a high school classroom.  It’s very female centered which I think would be great at an all-girls school.  The content is appropriate an it is an interesting look at a point in history in the southern United States.  I’d be curious to find if teachers have started embracing this yet.

What did you think?  Was it worth the hype?  Would you use it in a classroom?  Should I see the movie?

Perhaps making it into a movie that is accessible on youtube is a bit ironic- as I think it’s perhaps better received in it’s natural form of A BOOK!

I’d love to use this book at the beginning of the year with any class but especially grades 7-12 when they’ve gotten past a lot of the children’s books and are now going for technology over paper books.  Though I do own a Kindle so I can’t be too judgmental.

I am working with another teacher to start a school library.  Our school services students from age 5 to 22.  We are a school for emotionally disturbed and cognitively delayed students though some do read at grade level.  We’d like to create a levelled library so students can become independent readers.  This is branching out of my YA range so– what do you think?  Do you know of any MUST HAVE books for all age levels?  Any ideas for high interest books for my high school students that can’t read at all, or are at a 3rd grade or lower level?

Secondly I am going to be attending the NCTE conference in Chicago in a month!  I’m so excited.  Several YA authors, John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Chris Crutcher to name a few are going to be there and I’m hoping I can make it to their sessions.  Anyone else going?  I’ve never been to a conference before (other than the Key Club Conference I went to 10 years ago) and am not sure what to expect.  Advice?

Thirdly, I am using The Battle of Jericho by Sharon Draper as a read aloud book in my class right now.  We are using it to examine fitting in, bullying/hazing, and relationships.  The majority of my class gets visibly excited when I read it.  It really is making me feel good.  We should be able to finish the book by Thanksgiving, so I need to come up with another book to read that deals with mental health/social-emotional themes.  Suggestions?

That’s all.  I hope my absence hasn’t been too horrible.