I recommend the following book to everyone I meet. Whenever I hear someone has to put down their dog, or if their dog has passed, I make sure they read this book.
If you love dogs or are looking for a fascinating and touching read, check out Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain.
I will bring this book to the grave with me. That good.
I want to leave you with a souvenir of this week's book series.
If you find yourself interested in any of the texts covered, please print the following image and bring it into your local independent book store or library closest to you. The people working there will help you find the texts you are wanting to read!
If you have any questions concerning this book series/set, please e-mail me at thealyway@gmail.com.
Next week, be on the look out for my review of The Knife of Never Letting Go.
Why should you read Divergent?
When deciding whether I would read Divergent, I watched this trailer. After watching this trailer, I purchased the book immediately. I feel Veronica Roth says it all, and I look forward to the rest of the series.
How does this text fit this book series?
Imagine you are sixteen-years-old again. Now imagine that you must pick what you will spend the rest of your life doing, decision made at sixteen.
Beatrice Prior's five options include honesty, bravery, peaceful, selflessness, and intelligence. Which one would you pick?
Could you leave your family?
Could you rise above what you've known yourself to be?
Have you ever felt trapped by training regimens or studies?
If you are pondering these questions, then you need to read Divergent. Through discovering Beatrice's/Tris's path, you may discover something about yourself.
Similar to the traps in Hunger Games, Divergent runs a similar path with a more realistic vibe that will keep you turning the pages to see what happens next.
Memorable Quotes:
"I wonder if Tobias will sit in [the empty chair beside me]; if he'll grin at me over breakfast; if he'll look at me in that secret, stolen way that I imagine myself looking at him. I grab a piece of toast from the plate in the middle of the table and start to butter it with a little too much enthusiasm. I feel myself acting like a lunatic, but I can't stop. It would be like refusing to breathe. The he walks in. His hair is shorter, and it looks darker this way, almost black. It's Abnegation short, I realize. I smile at him and lift my hand to wave him over, but he sits down next to Zeke without even glancing in my direction, so I let my hand drop. I stare at my toast. It is easy not to smile now." (p. 340).
Cherry on Top:
Tris's narration is so open and translucent, you will not realize the time flying by when you end up reading this novel in one sitting!
Why should you read this text?
I wanted to include one middle grade YA text in this book set. If you have middle grade children, siblings, cousins, neighbors, you should invite them to join you on your journey of Young Adult literature reading. In reading this text with a middle grade person, you will be impacting their life in a most positive way. This is an easy text, has short chapters, includes a brother and sister main character set, and to top the list it includes a talking weasel and evil men turned into roaches.
Whit (brother) and Wisty (sister) Allgood have magical powers that they don't realize they have until they are arrested by prison keepers/guard of the New Order. While I feel that much of this text resembles The Hunger Games (First District vs. New Order), I do know that it is a trend following book, and it comes at an easier level for those middle grade readers. I'd say this book is a beginners dystopia novel, which makes this a great tool for a teacher first rung of a dystopia reading ladder.
Much of novel takes place while Whit and Wisty are imprisoned. Wisty realizes she can burst into flame, and Whit serves as a strong leader in going against the New Order.
How does this novel fit this book series?
Besides the literal imprisonment of Whit and Whisty trapped due to their powers. They are also trapped in their lack of knowledge of their skills. How do people become trapped with lack of knowledge?
Do you ever get angry when your parents or supervisors seem to know more about yourself than you do?
Whit and Whisty have to work beyond that frustration in an effort to escape the New Order.
As this text is a dystopic novel, there is the social commentary of, for instance the prison being a bombed-out department store. What are we to think about this? It may be symbolic of commercial desires and wants trapping today's youth, and that the need for material goods traps young adults from realizing their own creative and physical potential. That's a leap, but it does make sense.
Memorable Quotes:
"Well, they clearly were at least a little afraid of a furious fifteen-year-old firebrand flying toward them with her arms spread wide, screeching like a total maniac, ' Fire really, really hurts!' and 'I'm a bad, scary witch.'"
Cherry on Top:
Short chapters of 2-3 pages! This bandwagon text serves a great function in drawing a middle grade female audience to dystopic fantasy, as well as being a perfect "inviting" text for fifth graders to jump into a longer chapter book.
Connecting with the Text:
Four Minutes of the Audio book ~ Fabulous Quality
Because of the author... check out these professionally made book trailers.
While James Patterson jumped on the YA trend-novel set of mixture of dystopia and wizardry, many middle school students will enjoy this text. I specifically included this book in this series, because I know many of the people who follow my other blog are teachers. This is an exciting read for those reluctant readers in your classroom. While I found it exceptionally easy to read, I did enjoy myself, and found the characters entertaining.
I have to be honest, the following book trailer really makes me want to read James Patterson's The Gift. Book marketers at their best.
(Please excuse my constant motion during my vlogs. I often speak with my hands; keeping still for two minutes is apparently too difficult for me!)
My immediate reaction to this book, "It's as if Laini Taylor took all that I love in a book: romance, fantasy, beauty, Gypsy-appeal, & other-worldly intrigue to make a very special novel."
How does this text fit this book series?
Lips Touch Three Times contains three short stories. The short story I feel that fits this text set best is Spicy Little Curses Such as These. A traveling soldier stumbles upon a diary that is full of the secrets and desires of a beautiful maiden cursed to silence, as well as cursed with an amazing voice. She can't sing or speak or those who hear her will instantly die.
Anamique, the maiden, suffers from this curse at birth. While Anamique is an exceptional singer, yet she can not share it with others.
Have you ever felt trapped by a disability or talent?
Are you good at playing the piano, but secretly hate it? Are afraid to voice your opinion, in fear of the consequences?
Reading Spicy Little Curses Such as These will make you think again about making your voice heard.
Memorable Quotes:
"There's DNA in saliva. You're like carrying his cells in your mouth like one of those weird frogs that incubates its eggs in its cheeks!' With a squeal, Evie added, 'You could have his mouth baby." (p. 31 from Goblin Fruit)
"Kizzy wanted to be a woman who would dive off the prow of a sailboat into the sea, who would fall back in a tangle of sheets, laughing... she wanted to make love on a balcony, ruin someone... Kizzy wanted. (p. 41 from Goblin Fruit)
"Some would assert that Providence was at work, shaking out its pockets in Humanity's lap. Other would argue for that mindless choreographer, Chance. Either way it was a simple thing: a lost diary fell into the hands of a soul-sick war heron on a train from Bombay to Jaipur just when he grown tired of the scenery and need some thing to keep his thoughts from the minefield of his wretched memories." (p. 82 from Spicy Little Curses)
"Even after all these centuries, his arms remembered the curve of Mahzarin's body, the weight and the warmth of her, and when she shimmered forth form the feathers of her eagle cithra, he would be there to catch her." (p. 265 from Hatchling)
Cherry on Top:
The page illustrations are marvelously creative. Images like these will aid your imagination in forming the tale in your mind.
Meet Laini Taylor:
Book Trailer
Here is a great interview with Laini on her highly popular book, Daughter of Smoke and Bones.
While this book is marketed to young adults, women of all ages will find this book an entertaining read. Kristin Cashore intertwines fantasy and romance into prose so beautifully written, this novel is not one to miss. In a land of seven kingdoms there are normal humans, and then there are those with graces. Those with graces have eyes two different colors. Katsa learns that she has the grace to kill with her bare hands at age 8 when she murders her cousin after he makes an unwelcome advance on her. Rather than being punished, her uncle and King, Randa, uses her to his advantage.
It's not till Katsa disobeys Randa that she leaves his rule (her other option: punishment by death). The rest of the novel follows with her discovering the truth of the kingdoms, the ability of her grace, and the developing of a relationship with a graced fighter, Po.
I read this book in 2008, ordering it before its release. Critics and websites talked this book up, and the strong heroine, Katsa enticed me. Katsa has the ability to beat many of the men around her with her grace and understanding. The issues of marital bonds Katsa faces (check out video below) trap her into much emotional distress, but she goes to the beat of her own drum. One could say that Katsa and Po are the "Brangelina" couple of the seven kingdoms.
How does this novel fit this book series?
Types of entrapment: Stereotypical Female Roles, Customary Bonds of Love/Marriage, Physical Traps (eyes showcasing her difference), as well as Po's undoing/becoming at the end of the text.
Memorable Quotes:
"And she felt it then, how near he was. She felt his hand and his wrist, warm under her fingers. He was here, right here, breathing before her; she was touching him; and she felt the risk, as if it were water splashing cold on her skin. She knew that this was the moment to choose. She knew her choice. He turned his eyes back to her, and in them she saw that he understood. She climbed into his arms. They clung to each other, and she was crying, as much from relief to be holding him as from the fear of what she did. He rocked her in his lap and hugged her, and whispered her name over and over, until finally her tears stopped. She wiped her face on his shirt. She wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt warm in his arms, and calm, and safe and brave. And then she was laughing, laughing at how nice it felt, how good his body felt against hers. He grinned at her, a wicked, gleaming grin that made her warm everywhere. And then his lips touched her throat and nuzzled her neck. She gasped. His mouth found hers. She turned to fire." (p. 241)
Cherry on Top:
Who is the steamiest couple in Young Adult literature? Edward and Bella. Ron and Hermione. No, it's Katsa and Po. Turn to page 242.
Connecting with the text:
Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the audio-book, Graceling.
It's interesting to see the face behind the voice, as well as the director's take on this YA novel. Enjoy!
Check out Kristin Cashore's Blogspot Blog here. Want to read more by Kristin Cashore, her blog is full of wonderful resources about her upcoming book, Bitterblue (character from Graceling).
Before I answer this question, please scroll down and watch the final video of Celtic Women singing "Scarborough Fair." I read this YA novel, because I loved the song.
If that is not enough for you read the synopsis: Lucy Scarborough becomes victim to an inherited family curse that runs down the maternal line; the curse comes from an evil elfin knight. The Scarborough women become impregnated (Lucy is raped), and then must complete three seemingly impossible tasks.
Make a magical shirt without any seam or needlework
Find an acre of land between the salt water and the sea strand
She must plow the land with just a goat's horn and sow it all over with one grain of corn
If you did not notice, the curse comes from the lyrics of "Scarborough Fair."
With the help of her foster parents and very good friend (to become something more???), Zach Lucy faces the challenge.
How does this novel fit this book series?
While this the topic of teenage pregnancy can be slippery at times, this book tackles teenage pregnancy as the product of rape in a prose so touchingly and ingeniously (song influence) written that these topics are easy to discuss.
Many teenage mothers may feel trapped by their situation or new life plan. Lucy Scarborough's story of struggle and overcoming impossible physical and mental challenges in the name of the curse could help readers understand the fear and trapped feeling of teenage pregnancy.
This text also works with a rape scene, and the feelings of not being comfortable talking about it, but when Lucy finally does speak to Zach and her family about her situation and history, she feels better and not as in control of the Elfin Knight's trap.
Memorable Quotes:
"I look in the mirror now and see my mother and I am so afraid you will end like us: doomed, cursed... all sorts of melodramatic, ridiculous, but true things." (p. 5)
"Lucy discovered she was pacing. Visiting the test device to look at it. Then up and down the room again. She would wait until seven o'clock, she though. Then, if Soledad was not already awake, she would wake her. Then she realized that she could not wait. That she could not be alone between now and seven. That, more than anything in the world, right now, she needed her mother." (p. 122)
"Zach had told his parents the full story, but they had not believed it. There had been strong words about duplicity and taking advantage and, of course, insanity. Nonetheless, on this wedding day, the Greenfields had chosen to be kind and to say welcoming and polite things. Above all they were here." (p. 265)
Cherry on Top:
Lucy Scarborough is a masterful heroine. (Side note: Within the first few pages, you find out that she keeps The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.) Lucy must face a rape, teenage pregnancy, and a curse that could impact her and her unborn child, as well as future generations.
Mothers, adoptive parents, foster parents, and daughters alike will cherish this book for the strength imposed upon feminine family bonds.
Connecting with the text:
Book Trailer
Book Trailer
Celtic Women's addition of the song "Scarborough Fair," which the book is based on.
Why should you read Octavian Nothing Volume 1?
Do you remember watching The Titanic or Gladiator for the first time? How you cried and cried and cried at the end? How you found the fictional depiction of history so mesmerizing? This book, may be, one of the best books of historical fiction I have ever read, if not the BEST book I have ever read. Like many people, I appreciate a good tear-jerker, but this books made me cry tears so full of the realization of human-failure that I couldn't stop.
Imagine watching your son or daughter (or future son/daughter) weigh and record their own excrement in order to prove misconstrued social conceptions.
In high school biology class, do you remember dissecting different deceased animals? Now imagine that as a family member being picked apart by scientists. (I am sorry about the terrible image, but imagine how that would affect you, how heartbreaking and disturbing that would be.)
M.T. Anderson deals with the earliest onset of slavery in America in a way no other author ever has. Young Octavian is the son of an African princess, Cassiopeia. They live in a mansion in 18th century Boston run by 03-01, Mr. Gitney. Mr. Gitney believe in a ranking a person's status though numbers. Mr. Gitney along with philosophers, artists, and scientists are running an experiment using Octavian and his mother to see if the African race is inferior to the European race in the Novanglian College of Lucidity.
That being said, this novel pushes young adult literature to a level of such supreme quality that those of you in the world who disregard young adult literature will be astonished after reading this book. It's at a level superior to adult novels in content and social commentary.
This book is also extremely intertextual in that (PAGING TEACHERS) it explores and describes a segment of history not touched upon by many: the earliest beginnings of the Revolutionary War. While I was reading this text, I couldn't help but think how wonderful of a teaching tool this text would be. I remember wishing in grade school that my teachers would be more creative in the class room. Using supplementary texts, such as this one would be an excellent way to make students interested in historical studies.
How does this text fit this book series?
This novel will make readers question social traps of race and prejudice issues that remain today. While reading this novel you should question American history, and how people have felt trapped through slavery and during the Civil Rights movement with Jim Crow laws.
Octavian is literally trapped by a system that seems inescapable in more ways than one: mentally, physically, and socially.
There are numerous novels on slavery; while reading this text I was also enrolled in two African American novel courses. Because this text is written by a white author (similar to Kathryn Stockett's The Help and Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks), you wonder how authors become trapped by stereotype in being accused of not being able to tell a true story of a different race. This book tears down that stereotype in evoking such feeling and sentiment, it's not even an issue.
Memorable Quotes:
"For strangers know more of us, and can judge of us more without reproach than ever those we love." (219)
"And then they imprisoned me in darkness; and though there was no color there, I was still black, and they still were white; and for that, they bound and gagged me." (p. 314)
"May the Lord remind me of this always as I walk free upon paths, and may I thus always give thanks unto Him for the strange small gifts of gesture, of simple tasks done with requisite care and sphere of action." (p. 318)
Cherry on Top:
The best part of this novel is the epic final scene, which I must keep private due to spoiling the novel. I have already recommended this book to a handful of people, and now I recommend it to you. You'll want to pass this novel down to your children and grandchildren after reading.
Connecting with the text:
Here M.T. Anderson speak at the 2010 National Book Festival.
Why should you read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children?
The first reason, would be to see images like this...
As well as the completely real and spell-binding images included in this text, the storytelling capability of Ransom Riggs is wonderful. He mixes fantasy with historical fiction (WWII) to create a young adult novel so refreshing and creative, it feels like something that has never been done before! While some may say this is a middle grade novel, I'd select it more for a 9th/10th grade audience. This novel also reads extremely fast, and for me this text was one of the books that I could not put down. Instead of starting papers, clearing my DVR, holiday shopping, the list goes on... I put all these tasks aside to finish this book. My honest opinion, I LOVED it, and yes the degree of love that it has to be in all-caps.
This novel is suspenseful, terrifying in the way ghost-hunt shows scare me, yet so sincere within the relationships of the main character, Jacob, and the children of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar children.
Without giving too much away, Jacob travels through time warps to meet and interact, and possibly do more with these peculiar children. Jacob had heard of these different children (super strong, floating, fire-orb creating, etc.) through the fantastical stories of his grandfather. When Jacob grows older, he realizes there is a world out there he had no idea existed, and those he comes to care for in that world are in trouble.
How does this novel fit this reading series?
Similar to Impossible, Jacob's "curse"/history derives from his grandfather. After failing to believe his grandfather and after witnessing his grandfather's death Jacob must decipher difficult images and what others deem to be insanity on his own. Jacob's trapped by others disbelief, his inherited skill/curse from his grandfather, as well as between choosing between his family and the children and people he feels closer to at the end of the novel.
Placing this context on real life, choosing between loved one is an awful situation to be in, but something many do every day. When you fall in love with somebody and choose to live with that person or get married, often times due to work or circumstances out of your control you may have to choose to leave your family that has loved you, behind. Jacob faces this issue.
An other for entrapment in this text surrounds the peculiar children, and their inability to leave a single day. They face their entrapment with the help of Miss Peregrine, but when murderers monsters (yes, there are monsters in this book and they are frightening!) threaten the safety of the children, they put their unsettling circumstances and risk their personal safety in order to save the lives of other peculiars.
Memorable Quotes:
"Inside were the photos I knew so well: the invisible boy, the levitating girl, the boulder lifter, the man with a face painted on the back of his head. They were brittle and peeling - smaller than I remembered, too - and looking at them now, as an almost adult, it struck me how blatant the faker was.... in the other a pair of freakish twins were dressed in the weirdest costumes I'd ever seen. Even my grandfather, who'd filled my head with stories of tentacle-tongued monsters, had realized images like these would give any kid bad dreams." (p.45)
"Within five minutes I was half-asleep in the grass, smiling like a dope, wondering serenely what might be on the menu for lunch. It was if just being here had some kind of narcotic effect on me; like the loop itself was a drug - a mood enhancer and a sedative combined - and if I stayed too long, I'd never want to leave. If that were true, i though, it would explain a lot of things, like how people could live the same day over and over for decades without losing their minds. Yes, it was beautiful and life was good, but if ever day were exactly alike and if the kids really couldn't leave, as Miss Peregrine had said, then this place wasn't just a heaven but a kind of prison, too." (p. 209)
"I'll go, but I'm not going to kiss her, I told myself. I repeated it like a mantra as she led me across the bog. Do not kiss! Do not kiss!" (p. 236)
Cherry on Top:
We get glimpses of the relationship between Abe (Jacob's grandfather) and one of the peculiars, Emma. This relationship later dissolves, and we see and experience a relationship between Jacob and Emma that is innocent and exuding of young love. Their relationship adds a softness to the terrible circumstances they find each other in.
Why should you read We Were Here? And how does it fit this reading series?
(Again, please excuse all the movement. This is something I need to work on.)
Memorable Quotes:
"I told my moms the same thing when we were walking out of the courtroom together. I said, 'Yo, Ma, this isn't so bad, right? I thgough those people would lock me up and throw away the key.' She didn't say anything back, though. Didn't look at me either. Matter of fact, she didn't look at me all the way up till the day she had to drive me to Juvenile Hall, drop me off at the gate, where two big beefy white guards were waiting to escort me into the building.... I looked over my shoulder as they walked me through the gate, but she still wasn't looking at me. It's okay though. U understood why. It's cause of what I did." (p. 6)
This quote is from Miquel's descriptions of paintings in his group home.
"All of a sudden she started sobbing and she rushed up and hugged me mad tight. Laid her old grandma head on my shoulder. And I'm not gonna lie, man, I went stiff as a board in her arms. And it wasn't nothing to do with her. I love the hell out of my grandma. I just knew her hug was trying to tell me I was still her grandson, even after everything I did, and it made me sick about myself. 'Cause we both knew I didn't deserve it." (p. 330)
Cherry on Top:
The use of real life vernacular may startle you at first and it may disrupt your reading pace, but once you become used to the vocabulary, this language will illuminate a story and tale so current in its needs to be written about and read upon that you won't be able to put the text down.
Connecting with the Text:
Author Interview
Matt de la Pena
Insightful Quote from Matt de la Pena's webpage:
"I follow another bi-racial character in WWH. The book was also inspired by two major elements that I pulled from my own experience. First, for two years I worked in a group home in San Jose, California. These kids were just out of juvi and thuggish, but many of them also had an incredible amount of heart. I wanted to show them to readers. But I also had a basketball teammate in college who had unintentionally committed an awful, unthinkable crime. I often watched him. Sometimes he would laugh and joke with the rest and then drift away, his eyes emptying out. In the book I use his crime.
The novel is also my ode to some of the literature that inspired me to pick up a pen myself including: Of Mice and Men, The Color Purple and Catcher in the Rye."
