Review #1: Posted by April 5
OK, so Review #1 is actually our third review and second-to-last for the course, but it worked out best this way. Post your review, complete with scene ("movie man" preview voice), summary, and commentary by April 5th. It should translate into 2 double-spaced pages in Word.
posted by Bucky C. at 9:41 PM
9 Comments:
Thanks for being the first to post! :)
I prefer that people post reviews of books we didn't read as a class, though. We're all expert enough now not to need reviews on those four. :) I think you might have been absent when I mentioned that, so this post from you is OK.
Everyone else make note, though. Post a review of a book we did not read together in class.
In 1944, life in Sighet, Transylvania, began to worsen. The realities of war are beginning to sink in for the Wiesel family. Trains roll in empty. But they roll out filled with families headed toward an inevitable truth: Auschwitz.
Night opens with an introduction to a man called Moishe the Beadle, the resident Sighet Kabbalist. Elie Wiesel (author) is on the verge of turning 13, and befriends the old man to study Kabbalah. Wiesel also briefly mentions the members of his family: his mother and father, and his three sisters, Hilda, Bea, and Tzipora. One day, the Hungarian police decide to send the foreign Jews off to various concentration camps, and Moishe is the first to go. Spring of 1944 begins with thoughts of the war ending soon. Three days later, German Army vehicles roared into the streets. Two ghettos were created, and soon the residents of Sighet were living a life of waiting to be transported. The Wiesel family was among the last to leave Sighet, so they spent most of their time helping the other families prepare to leave. Each person was allowed to take a backpack of personal belongings and some clothes. Anything of value is taken from them. Wiesel describes the waiting and marching from one ghetto to another as hot and exhausting. There were few people among them who remained hopeful. There was one thing that was important to the Wiesels: staying together.
The Jews were shoved in cattle cars, each containing 80 people. The heat, stench, and death became almost unbearable – but it only became worse once they reached Birkenau. Here, Elie and his father were separated from his mother and sisters forever. Elie stayed by his father's side at all times. Prisoners were later taken to Auschwitz. Here, Elie and his father worked and lived on soup and bread. Elie injured his foot, which required surgery and he spent some time in the infirmary. Rumors were spreading (as they did on a regular basis) of an evacuation; rumors said those in the infirmary would be released. Elie decided to go wherever his father went, as they had been through so much together already. They evacuated to Gleiwitz where they spent three days without food or water. Elie learned much later that those who stayed in the infirmary were freed by the Russians. Time spent on wagons en route to Buchenwald was full of death, as many prisoners simply could not take the cold and lack of nourishment. Elie's father was close to death numerous times, but hung on. His weakness only grew worse at Buchenwald, despite Elie's attempts to give him as much water and food as possible. He died at the end of January; Elie remained at Buchenwald until April 11 when he was freed.
This was without a doubt the most moving and difficult book to swallow I've ever read. I've always had an interest in World War II, but never had a full story about life in concentration camps. Reading Elie's account from the beginning of town evacuations to the end when he was finally free gives readers an accurate, haunting account of what really happened at the concentration camps. Many of the images were disturbing and upsetting, especially the scenes in the cattle cars and wagons. Reading how the deceased were practically shoveled out of the cars and left to decay along the roads showed just how evil the SS were. And reading about his father's slow, inevitable death was heart wrenching. But, it's amazing that Elie survived everything he went through and wrote a book about it. Thankfully, his efforts have provided us a glimpse into Auschwitz so we can better understand what happened. Would I include this in my classroom? Absolutely. I think it's imperative that students read beyond the history textbooks so they have a better understanding and appreciation of the events. However, I would probably write a rationale for the book, since many of the images were just so incredibly strong and at times disturbing. I think collaborating with the school's history department and using this book and Maus I in my English classes would give students a well-rounded education in terms of studying the Holocaust.
Review #1
Please Don't Kill the Freshman: A Memoir
by Zoe Trope
Embark with freshman Zoe Trope on an adventure back to high school! ...As if you’d really want to relive those four years. From Zoe’s perspective, you see it all- the good, the bad and the ugly. She addresses the labels and social structure of the high school world, starting with herself. On the outside, Zoe is your stereotypical overemotional teenager. You know— the angst-ridden, emo-listening, black-wearing type. She attends an average high school in an average state and has average friends. Unknown to her friends, however, she is a writer on the verge of her first publication. As Zoe experiences the excitement and stress of her new career, she struggles to keep up with high school life and questions her sexuality and society’s expectations.
"Please Don’t Kill the Freshman" is a collection of the author’s actual diary entries about life, written and published under the pseudonym Zoe Trope after her freshmen year of high school. The first part consists of the 44 page chapbook she wrote and anonymously published as a 14 year old. The remainder of the book is Zoe’s memoir about the changes in her life since publication. Her work is dedicated to her parents and she acknowledges them on page one with the inscription: “This is all your fault.” So begins her whiny narrative in which, it seems, everything is always someone else’s fault.
Zoe’s diary entries are made up of inconstant ramblings that vary in subject and style. She questions every aspect of “normal” life in comparison with her own, including topics such as public education, heterosexuality and love. Many of Zoe’s observations and statements are shockingly and disturbingly true. From her first entry, it is apparent that although she is extremely bright, she has an apathetic attitude towards basically everything. She constantly describes her high school as a “day care” and exerts no effort whatsoever. Still, she receives A’s on her tests and report cards, which leads to the further mocking of public education.
In order to protect the identity of the people she writes about and to avoid defamation lawsuits, the author refers to each character by a specific and often confusing alias. At first, Zoe is in love with her gay best friend, a 14 year old she calls Linux Shoe. When he outgrows his awkward stage, he ditches her for a group of cooler friends. Minor characters and teachers receive random names as well. Among the most outrageous are Plum Sweater, Wonka Boy, Braid Bitch, Greasy Buddy Holly, and Midwestern Tackiness.
Zoe’s narrative also focuses on her family life. When she begins her first romantic relationship, her parents try to accept the fact that her significant other happens to be female. Although they support their daughter, Zoe’s parents seem to ignore the subject of her homo/bi-sexuality in hope that it is a stage she will soon grow out of. Scully, the butch girlfriend, decides to become a man and changes her (his?) name to Scull. Madly in love, Zoe describes her significant other’s symbolic sex change as the event that turned her straight. Although the controversial relationship does not work out in the end, it reinforces the book’s recurring theme that one learns and grows from each experience. The end result of Zoe’s analysis of life may best be described by a statement from the final page of her chapbook: “I’d like to sum it all up in a really prophetic way, but I can’t. I’m fourteen. I don’t know anything. The truly beautiful thing is that I can admit it. And I’ve got a long, long time to learn everything” (47).
While I appreciated the young author’s honesty, I found this memoir rather disappointing. After spotting it in the YA literature section at Barnes and Noble, I selected it because the title sounded interesting and I thought my future students would relate well to a book written by someone their age. I expected it to be a comic portrayal of high school life and although the author does attempt comedy, funny is the last adjective I would use to describe this book. Rather, a work with the initial potential to entertain and inspire seems whiny, annoying and redundant. While Zoe does mention the general tribulations of growing up, she basically just complains for 312 pages. Either that or she praises herself on the supposed quality of her writing. As irritating as I found Trope’s narrative, I was strangely intrigued as to what would happen next. Very little action occurs in this book, it is mainly made up of random thoughts. Therefore, I kept reading in hopes that I would finally get to a good part. Unfortunately, that never happened. With that being said, I do not plan on using "Please Don’t Kill the Freshman" in my future classroom. Some high school students, however, may relate to Zoe’s story, as she talks in depth about her emotional and sexual confusion. Thus, I may make the book available to students for their personal reading. There are definitely some content issues though. Very profane language and descriptions are used unnecessarily throughout the memoir, which makes me wonder if wannabe rebellious adolescent girls with intent to shock really should be given their own book deals.
Review #1: The Book Thief
Note: you shouldn't read my review if you want to read the book, which you should.
In Germany during World War II, some ten percent of Germans were not Nazi supporters. Liesel Meminger’s foster family is a part of that ten percent. In the midst of hiding a Jew in her family’s basement, Liesel is learning to cope with the loss of her family, to love her foster parents, and, most importantly, to read and unlock the power of words.
The Book Thief is the story of Liesel Meminger’s life in Nazi Germany. At the story’s beginning, Liesel is traveling by train with her mother and brother to a town just outside of Munich, where she and her brother will live with a foster family. Her story opens on the train to Munich, but the trip is interrupted when Liesel’s little brother dies after suffering for weeks from a bad cough. Liesel and her mother disembark from the train to bury her brother at the next stop. Her brother’s death becomes not only a moment that haunts Liesel’s dreams in years to come, but also becomes a major defining moment in her life. Leaving her brother’s gravesite, Liesel spots a small book in the snow, which had been dropped by the gravedigger’s apprentice. Although she does not know how to read, she picks it up and takes it with her. The Book Thief is born. Liesel forms a special bond with her foster father—lovingly called Papa—and over time he teaches the struggling girl to read, using the small book she stole: A Twelve-Step Guide to Grave-Digging Success. Once Liesel and her Papa unlock the words, the girl is hooked. She steals a book from a Nazi bonfire in the middle of Munich; she steals books from the mayor’s wife’s library. Nothing can satiate Liesel’s hunger for words. As time goes on, she becomes a better and better reader. She reads to the sick—nearly comatose—Jew her family is hiding, thinking the words will nurse him back to health. She reads to all the families in her neighbor’s basement when her entire street has to seek shelter from the bombing raids, her words keeping everybody calm. Finally, words save young Liesel’s life. Having been given a blank book as a gift, Liesel writes late into the night in the basement of her own home. Her street is bombed without warning, and Liesel loses everything—her new family, her friends, her very street—but her life. She is taken in by none other than the mayor and his wife—from whom she used to steal books—and at the novel’s end, the reader is transported years later to find out that Liesel herself had moved to Australia, lived a long and happy life, and died just a few days ago.
Narrated by Death, this book is riveting, enthralling, moving, and absolutely fantastic. From the molding of Liesel’s character—she is immediately and fully sympathetic—to the quirky asides of the narrator, this book is nearly impossible to put down. It is, quite simply, a good story. However, it is also a complex work of literature, suggested by the very fact that Death personified is the narrator—in such a death-filled setting as Germany in World War II—and that this lovely young girl is discovering the power of words—much the same way a vicious dictator discovered, and used, the power of words to turn the world on its head. A commentator on NPR suggested that this book belongs on the shelf along with Weisel’s Night and The Diary of Anne Frank, such is the power of this story. It is absolutely worthy of being taught in its own right, but also would be an interesting book to teach in conjunction with Maus, as it is also, in a sense, a survivor’s tale. Having just been published this year, it is impossible to say that this novel has had a major impact on YA lit, but it takes no stretch of the imagination to say that it will.
What if you had no way of fighting the discrimination? Who would you be? Where would you run? These men, from the Jewish race, turned to baseball.
The Golem’s Might Swing by James Sturm takes place in the earlier 1900’s in America. A group of men, all Jewish but one who is African American, play together on a Triple A professional baseball team. As the graphic novel begins, we are introduced to the main character of the story, Noah Strauss. Noah is the manager and also the third baseman for the Stars of David Baseball Club. He is the glue that eventually holds the team together. Along with Noah, there are other characters most of which are unnamed until later in the story. The setting begins as the Stars of David arrive at their first game of the season. The novel describes their poor bus transportation, their fatigued bodies from the inflexible travel schedule, and provides the reader with the insight that these baseball players have a lot on their plate. As we get to know the characters we begin to see that the baseball club is not doing well financially. Noah is approached by an agent who offers to turn his only “African American” player into the team’s icon. Let me mention that this player is also the biggest and best hitter on the team. The agent proposes to pay premium prices and give the team enough money to live comfortably if Noah agrees to allow them to turn their solo African American player into “THE GOLEM”. It is explained in the novel that a golem was an overpowering character in the movies in New York City. The character had superpowers and could outlast any other human. With hesitation, Noah finally decides to give in and signs a contract with the agent. As the agent begins to advertise “THE GOLEM’S MIGHTY SWING”, problems begin to occur. The discrimination of not only an all Jewish team but one that has an African American “golem” begins to erupt. As we come to the end of the novel, we are witness to an extreme revolt in the middle of a game. The Stars of David baseball club has to escape to their bus and quickly leave town, just to avoid possible injury or death.
I feel as though this book teaches us that there are discriminations that come in all forms: black, white, Jewish, other religions, strong, weak, athletic, or not, and we as humans constantly have to fight the discrimination by doing positive things, in this case, it was baseball. The Golem was only my second Graphic Novel, my first being Maus I. I have to admit that after reading Maus I, I thought I was on to a new genre of literature that would keep me interested and would be something I could use in the future in my classroom. I do still believe this to be true even after reading Golem. Golem was not easy for me to read. There was not a lot of character/plot development throughout the book and quite frankly it was dry. I was waiting for the “hook” that never came. After reading this novel, I am convinced that the major theme the author is trying to convey is one of discrimination. Yet, it is written prior to World War II, prior to the Holocaust and Hitler, so I guess I was uneducated on the issues Americans had with the Jewish population. I didn’t know that there were problems with the Jewish nation in the U.S. and so I am stuck trying to believe that this was realistic or just made up for the sense of a good fictional story in this graphic novel. Overall, I will continue to read more graphic novels and try to enhance my knowledge and understanding of this genre (not only because I am writing my final project on graphic novels) but because I do feel as though this could be a wonderful tool to use in my own classroom one day.
Night by Elie Wiesel
Looking for a thriller? A terrifying record of real life near-death experiences? Try Night by Elie Wiesel, an internationally acclaimed author whose works have been providing his readers with the "unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again." Perfect for cross-curricular use, Night is the author's personal account of his life as a teenager in Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. Night takes its readers through the concentration camps of 1944 and into the heart of a survivor. A story of the conflict between a mans religious devotion and feelings of doubt in the face of despair, Wiesel's work is astoundingly full of depth yet also not an overly complicated storyline making it perfect for a collective read in a class with varied reading abilities. A story of the tragedy of lost youth, Night is filled with heartbreak and horror, loss of faith and desperate attempts at renewals of hope, this book transcends gender boundaries and is of interest to all who care about the worth of the human condition. Teenage students might especially enjoy the story because of its approachable relatability since the protagonist/writer was thier age at the time of the events.
Although this book is not recommended for much younger students, specifically those not yet in middle school, it is recommended highly by the American Library Association for older readers. Night provides its readers and their teachers with great examples of literary devices such as symbollism and metaphors, flat and static character representations including loss of identity as well as intense philosophical thoughts which could spark some envigorating discussions. Cross-curricularly, Night can be used to discuss current issues of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and even topics of ignorance especially with regard to racism. In addition, Night can well serve as a personal account from which to set the scene for more historical lessons.
Emphatically recommended as a great read for children and adults alike, Night is one of those life-changing works which cause the reader to reevalute his own perception and perhaps emerge, as Wiesel hopes, aware of the fragility of peace and sanity. Enjoy!
Review #1: Mona in the Promised Land by Gish Jen
Mona in the Promised Land is a novel about a second generation Chinese American girl growing up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Scarshill, New York in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Her parents own a pancake house and refuse to see themselves as a minority in the US, reasoning that they were never a minority in China, so why should they be one here? Although they choose to Americanize themselves (they never even bother to teach Mona or her sister Callie how to speak Chinese), they still expect Mona to be a “nice Chinese girl.” Thus, Mona has to find her own identity in the midst of conflicting values and cultures that seem impossible to reconcile.
She first attempts to capitalize on her Chinese-ness as something exotic that makes her special and different from her friends. As the only Chinese – and for that matter the only Asian – kid in the neighborhood, Mona is able to construct what it is to be Chinese in her own fanciful way. Then one day, a new student shows up at her school who is also Asian (although Japanese and not Chinese), and she begins to realize just how American she is. Mona is once again forced to reconstruct her own identity, and this time she chooses to become Jewish. Living in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, she has already internalized most of Judaism’s cultural and religious practices and so conversion seems only natural.
All of this is happening during a time when any teenager would be experiencing some confusion about who he or she is merely because he is going through adolescence. Place the confusion of adolescence on top of cultural conflicts on top of the revolutionary spirit of the 60s and 70s and you’ve got yourself quite an identity crisis! Thus, Mona in the Promised Land follows Mona from middle school into early adulthood as she experiments with religion, with love, and with who she is as a person, eventually deciding that she is not and cannot be simply Chinese or Jewish or anything else in isolation, but that she is all of these things at once in a way that makes her uniquely Mona.
I think Mona in the Promised Land would be an excellent text to teach at the high school level. It fits the traditional adolescent literature definition of a coming-of-age story in which the protagonist is searching for a personal identity, but it also includes so much more in Mona’s search for who she is. The novel deals with heavy race and political issues in a lighthearted manner that helps to introduce students to such issues without seeming overbearing. Almost more importantly, however, the book is funny. Gish Jen is incredibly witty and clever in her presentation of all aspects of the novel, making it extremely entertaining and pleasurable to read. I believe that we can never underestimate the value of humor in getting students encouraged to read, especially since one of the most common complaints about reading is that it’s “boring.” This book would be great to use as part of a minority studies unit or even to challenge the very definition of what a minority is (Jewish people are generally considered a minority, but in this novel they are clearly the majority – can we still call them a “minority?”) There are so many directions to take this book in terms of teaching; I think it is an ideal candidate for the high school English classroom.
Have you ever thought that your family was weird? Did you ever wish you could trade your brother? Did it ever feel like growing up was just too hard? Now you know how Kenny feels about his family and to top it all off they are going on a road trip. While the drive may be long and the company leaves a something to be desired, no one realizes that they are heading into a town that will be forever changed. Birmingham Alabama will never be the same once the Watsons come to visit and neither will the Watsons. The Watsons Go To Birmingham – 1963 is a sure fire hit.
This is the story of young Kenny Watson and his family. Being the Weird Watsons of Flint Michigan brings a lot of responsibility. Kenny’s older brother Byron is thirteen and has officially turned into a juvenile delinquent. This requires him to get his tongue frozen to the car, which is known as the Brown Bomber. It also allows him to cut class and skip turning in his work. Byron also has evolved into not touching anyone, even if it means huddling for warmth in the winter. Kenny’s sister Joetta seems to be a real cry baby. She is always trying to protect Byron from getting a wooping. All she wants is peace around the house. Kenny is a bit of a push over. He is always falling for tricks that people are playing on him. He gets his toy dinosaurs stolen and always falls for whatever Bryon is doing.
One day Mr. Watson brings home the amazing Ultra Glide, a turn table for your car, and announces that they are traveling down to Birmingham Alabama to go visit their grandmother. It is also announced that Bryon is going to be spending the summer with her and if he doesn’t get his act together, the whole rest of the year. The children are a little shocked. They never thought that their parents would actually go through with it. Yet the car is loaded and the trip begins. Three days later they make it to Birmingham and while there experience one of the darkest moments in history. Kenny is deeply affected by what has happened while visiting his Grandmother. He can’t understand why it happened and how. There is no sense to it and he becomes rather depressed. It is through the help of his family, the weird Watson’s, that he actually gets though it.
I LOVED THIS BOOK! It was one of the funniest and most enjoyable reads I have had so far. It was laugh out loud funny and the scenarios were so engaging. The family, while weird, was also extremely lovable. Each character was well flushed out and complimented the others around them very well. The story was so cute and accessible that anyone could relate to the Watsons. While it is an African American family as the main characters, that aspect began to fall away as I read. I was beginning to love the characters for what they brought to the story and how they made me feel.
Christopher Curtis does a wonderful job in constructing this book to make it something that the reader invests in. By the end of the novel, you love the characters so much that when they hurt you feel their pain. When they laugh you laugh. And when the family is rocked by what happens in Birmingham, you are too. I honestly didn’t see it coming. I felt as if I was one of the family experiencing with them the hurt and shock and confusion. I would recommend it for middle school, lower level readers in high school, really anyone in high school. A lot can be taken from it if the teacher is creative enough and I know students will love reading it.
Tired of annoying TV commercials? Can’t stand pop up ads? Think the media affects our lives today? Imagine not being able to turn it off…
M.T. Anderson’s Feed is a science fiction novel set in the not too distant future. In it, the people have all been equipped with a tool that is promised to improve the quality of human life forever: the feed. The feed is a connection to the world, a microcomputer in the human head that acts as a connection to the internet. The corporation selling the feed advertises it as an educational and functional tool that will improve the overall quality of human life. People will have access to information at the speed of thought, be able to communicate for free anywhere in the world, and elevate human intelligence all over the world because of this technological marvel.
Someone has to pay the bills, though, and for advertisers across the world, a permanent connection to people means a permanent opportunity to reach their demographic targets. Companies begin advertising over the feed, tailoring their pitches to the individual. Once someone thinks about a product, the feed supplies information about the product, as well as complementary products from the same or new companies. While people from earlier generations recognize this inconvenience, the new generation does not know a world, or a thought, without the feed.
Titus, the novel’s main character, does not think much about what the feed means to his life until he meets Violet, a girl who is determined to fight the feed. She is the daughter of a professor who is constantly aware of the effect of the feed on human life, especially language. Violet resolves to confuse the feed by ‘liking’ products that have no logical connection, and Titus is smitten with her personality as she is completely different from his friends who are totally lost in the feed. On a spring break trip to the moon, Titus, Violet and their friends are hacked by a man who is also resisting the feed by creating virus programs. While at first the effects of the hacking aren’t apparent, they start a series of events that will change Titus and Violet’s lives forever.
M.T. Anderson’s novel is a wonderful critique on consumerism, peer pressure, language, and many other topics that make is a wonderful novel for adolescents to be exposed to. With some strong language and a honest but harrowing depiction of a degenerative death, Feed could generate some objections. The number of discussions this novel is likely to start however is in my opinion worth fighting for. Anderson is careful to demonstrate the effects of the feed in many aspects of life. The teenagers’ vocabulary starts to shrink as they use instant messaging between themselves and start to vocalize the abbreviated speech. Their thoughts are dulled as they don’t have to think about much with all of the world’s knowledge accessible in their minds. They are concerned solely with product acquisition, driven by the feed. They even start to acclimate to the sores that the feed starts to produce on their bodies, and the wounds become fashion statements.
This novel could be the start of many thematic explorations. Since it is contemporary and familiar for students, it is also relatable and entertaining for today’s adolescents (my 15 year old sister says it is one of her favorite books). One startling connection is Channel One, a fixture in schools across the country. The Channel One corporation gave away televisions to school systems on the condition that they subscribe to Channel One programming, a daily news show produced with adolescents in mind. By giving guaranteed access to a valuable demographic, Channel One sells ad space at a premium. Making this connection for students at such a local and familiar level can ground the effect that Feed would have for students. Feed is therefore a novel that should be considered for anyone teaching today’s adolescents as they live in a world where a feed is always directed at them.
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