La Linea - Accessibility

I am curious (pending that people read this beyond the end of class today) what people think about the accessibility of this book.

The novel was written to fill in a gap in cultural relevancy that Ann Jaramillo was noticing. That is, her students from Central America and South America were not represented in the things they were reading in school. Enter La Linea.

I'm curious about accessibility on two levels.

First, for the students it was intended to represent. Do they feel accurately represented? Do they feel like they are accurately represented? I would be curious to find that out. What are all ya'll's thoughts? Also, for these students, I am curious about the number of students who would want to read this story. I imagine that if I had experienced some of the things in the story, I would not want to sit down and read about them. I feel like it could be a little overwhelming for some. Again, what are all ya'll's thoughts.

Second, for other middle or high school students. The book has quite a bit of Spanish in it (a technique that I have a love/hate relationship with, but that's another story for another time) and I would be curious to know how students who do not speak Spanish, or those who are just beginning to learning, feel about. I don't mean in a socio-political sense, but in a motivation sense. That is, I wonder how many students would dismiss this because they struggle to get through those parts. I realize that Spanish is only used here and there, and that most of the time it is translated in the next sentence, but I can definitely think of a student or two that I know who would use it as an excuse for not reading it.

I'm not trying to make a bunch of underhanded anti-Spanish language comments of anything. You all know my background. I just think this is a perfect example of how fine a line there is between the inclusion of some student populations and alienation of others; and a reminder that we should be cognizant of our students needs in this realm.

La Linea - Overall

So, I read La Linea yesterday. I was pretty excited for it for two reasons:

1. Ann Jaramillo wrote it because her "students find very book that reflect their lives and experiences" and she felt the need to fill the cultural gap in literature (more on why this intrigues me later)

and

2. All of the freshman at Memorial read it and I was curious to see what it was all about.

While there were a few hang-up along the way (more on that later too) I really enjoyed the book. That is, until the end. The final "chapter" was just bad. I can appreciated what Jaramillo was trying to accomplish with it, but it wasn't a success. Considering everything else that the children had been through, and how detailed in writing about it Jaramillo was, the ending seemed a little dismissive. Kind of like she was saying "OK, they made it. Now they're fine. A little sad on this day, but other than that life is awesome", which kind of killed the authenticity aspect for me. The book isn't very long (which is fantastic for a lot of reasons), so I feel like she could have expanded juuuuuuuust a little bit more. Maybe do a chapter (which in this novel is only 3-5 pages long) that is about their first year in the US, and then on the first five years, and then have the final chapter catch the last five years of their first decade in the country. I don't know. I was just a little bummed out by the way she ended it. It's a fantastic story, though, for what it was hoping to accomplish.

Everest: The Contest

I just started and finished this novel in the last couple of hours. It is an INCREDIBLY easy read, but don't dismiss it (as I almost did)! I was going to skip the novel until, quite honestly, I needed to get through another novel quickly in order to write a decent blog post. I'm really glad that I did.

The Contest is undoubtedly meant for the middle school crowd. It's less than 150 pages long, The font is large and spaced out. The writing is pre-teen friendly. It is definitely not too juvenile to enjoy, though. Here is why:

The corny jokes: They're really quite funny. They are, more often than not, over the top and obvious, but they're still pretty funny. Think an actor making a joke in a TV show and then turning towards the camera to "look" at the audience; like they're saying, "Check it out! I made a joke!". Family Guy is what kept popping into my head. I giggled quite a few times despite the ridiculousness of some of the jokes/funny moments.

It's honestly super interesting: There are a few transparent moments (those that you knew where inevitably coming), but those did nothing to dull the intrigue. At one point I actually scanned down to the bottom of the last page of the chapter because I was so anxious and didn't want to wait and read the paragraph between where I was and the end to find out what was going to happen. At another point, I literally gasped out loud twice within a single paragraph because it was so dramatic and enthralling.

The classic characters are there: There is the little brother who is lives in his older brother's shadow, the jock, the ho-hum average kid who no one pays any attention to, the class clown, the child of divorce, the oddball, and the redhead who gets constantly ridiculed. Maybe classic characters isn't the right term, but there are prime representations of the characters that we look to/for in stories about high schoolers. They're the characters that we can all relate to. They're what bring everyone to this single book (more on that in a bit too). It's like The Breakfast Club.

It's a novel for everybody: As I mentioned before, this book is definitely geared towards younger audiences, but I really enjoyed it; it's a novel for all ages. There are several key characters who are male and several key characters are female, and the story isn't told specifically from one gender's perspective; it's a novel for all genders. Also as I mentioned before, the cast of characters is so relatable; it's a novel for all social strata. Additionally, the book really taps into several genres: adventure, mystery, books-about-kids-like-you (whatever that would be called), etc; it's a novel for all types of readers.

Basically what it comes down to is that this is a diamond in the rough, of sorts. I highly recommend it. It's going on my YA Library book list, because I honestly believe ANYONE could read and enjoy this. It may be, for this reason, an excellent choice for reluctant readers. I'm really excited to track down the rest of the series and add it to my post-class summer reading list.

The Declaration: Part Two

So. I spent the week at home in Sun Prairie and managed to leave my copy of The Declaration at my mom's. Oops? Because I'm awesome like that, I'm going to have to write a "The Declaration: Part Three" posting now too. Here are a few more thoughts on the book thus far, though:

One thing that has struck me as super odd (and has been somewhat distracting) is the friendship between Peter and Anna. I don't entirely understand it. It seems really intense and went from 0-60 in a matter of no time. Plus, Anna is always commenting on how weird she finds her draw to Peter. I find it a little unbelievable that Anna, who is so incredibly strong-headed and dedicated to her way of life as a Surplus, would so easily give in to Peter and his ideas.

For those who have read it: What are your thoughts on this?

Keep in mind that I'm still only about half way through, so maybe there is more to come. Until then, I think it's a weird relationship.

The Declaration - Part One

Last night I started Gemma Malley's The Declaration. While I was pretty intrigued by the concept of the book, I have to say that I am, so far, unimpressed. Granted, I'm only two chapters in (haha), so we'll see how it goes.

The most poignent aspects of the novel so far, for me, are the parallells and points of commonality between it and other, well established by the publication date of this one, novels.

Example #1: Prefect. So, I just learned that the term prefect exists in a whole multitude of ways outside the world of the Harry Potter series (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefect), but that is my first and most automatic association; as I'm sure it is for many people. Apparently this is a (common?) title for students of advanced standing in schools within the UK and countries that were formerly part of the British Empire, but I feel like maybe she should have chosen another term. Maybe she was trying to hook Harry Potter audiences. Maybe it's just a common enough term that those who are familiar with it wouldn't stumble over it's repeated use. I'm not sure, but it struck me.

Example #2: A child who should not exist that is hidden away in an attic. When Anna is found in The Declaration, she is a child who exists illegally in a world that has limited reproductive rights and is, thus, hidden away in an attic. In the Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix, the main character is a boy named Luke who exists illegally in a world that has limited reproductive rights and is, thus, hidden away in an attic.

Maybe neither of these things really matter, but they have served to form my first impressions of the book. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully this won't turn out to be just a compilation of bits of stories told in other novels.

Thirteen Reasons Why

Wow.

That basically sums up my feelings about this novel at this point. I just finished it a couple of hours ago, so I'm still trying to process. I knew it had the potential to be intense given the general premise (to be expounded on shortly), but it was more so than I had anticipated.

I will get my little complaint out of the way by saying that I thought the ending was a little corny, but I'm willing to overlook it considering all that this book accomplishes otherwise.

So, a summary of what the book is all about (straight from the book jacket):

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker--his classmate and crush--who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice explains that there are thirteen reasons she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a first-hand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself--a truth he never wanted to face.

I will be the first to admit that that may not be the most catching description to some. Some may read it as potentially cheesy (i.e. you may be asking yourself how the author is going to pull this off without being melodramatic) but please please please do NOT brush it off. Read it. Like, right now. The topics addressed in this book are incredible, and I think especially poignent for teen readers: suicide, depression, love, sex, drinking, social pressures, friendships, loneliness, confusion, frustration, moments of elation over "the small things", trust, forgiveness, and on and on and on. It's intense, to say the least. I was blown away to learn that this was the author Jay Asher's first novel. It's so well done. The way he handles the emotions of both the individual characters and the story as a whole is so authentic. There isn't a moment of stereotypical-ness in it.

Just before writing this I read Anna's posting on this book (which I suggest you all read) and she made a fabulous point that I am going to share as well: While this book was amazing, and while I will suggest it up and down and backwards to anyone who may be even a little bit interested in reading it, I don't think that I will revisit it. Maybe in the classroom setting, but never again for the joy of reading it. When I say that Asher portrayed emotions authentically, I mean you will, no matter who you are or what your life is like or what your story is, undoubtedly empathize with Hannah's pain to the point of lasting personal discomfort. For those who have read it, or plan to read it: I wanted to vomit during the telling of Clay's story. I wanted to hit something or someone during Hannah's visit to her English teacher/guidance counselor. I honestly believe that her pain is too much to bare twice...even as someone just reading about it.

A super fascinating factoid (or at least I think it is) is that Asher got the idea for the book while using a guided audio tour at a museum. He was intrigued by the experience of being told exactly what he was seeing by someone who wasn't there with him.

Side note: While looking for the image included in this post I stumbled across the poster for a film adaptation of this book. It stars Selena Gomez and, based solely on my viewing of the poster, I am 99% sure that it blew any credibility this book had. Unfortunate.

Maybe it's because I'm not a 13 year old boy...

but I really disliked The Outsiders. Like, disdain is not too strong of a word for me to apply to it. In many ways, it was like reading Catcher in the Rye for me (in that I hated them both for more or less the same reasons). In Catcher it was really Holden that ruined it for me. I found him incredibly obnoxious. The characters in The Outsiders were, I guess, at least kind of interesting. Maybe I'm a bad person (haha). Or maybe I just don't get it. Or maybe I just shouldn't read slice of life/coming of age stories. I'm not sure, but I really disliked it. I've read plenty of books that I haven't particularly enjoyed, but nothing has ignited the feelings within me that these two novels have. I mean, I actively hated it throughout the entire novel. Maybe someone just needs to explain it to me. I'm willing to listen to anyone who wants to try...