Tender Morsels

This novel from Margo Lanagan was my stretch book, I had to check it out of the library 3 times. I put it down several times and started new books. Its a retelling of childhood fairy tales, but its done in a dark, vivid manner set in two different worlds and includes old age English.

Liga lives in her own personal heaven given to her by natural magic in exchange for her earthly life. She had two daughters, Branza and Urdda. Branza is gentle while Urdda is the curious type. Both of these girls reside in a "soft" world protected from violence, predators, and village prejudice. All these things they are protected from once hurt their mother and in this magical world, her mother strives for the well-being of her two girls. But the "real" world cannot be denied forever.

I feel like this is a symbol of adolescents and finding belonging. In knowing the safety of heaven, will these girls be able to face the brutality that lies side by side?

This novel is engaging, but was not a book I would ever pick up again because of my distance between the two worlds. This novel would be extremely difficult for me to teach because I was not engaged, but I feel this type of telling of the two worlds may be more relatable to my students. I may have this as an option for students to read event though I may not teach it.

Bounce

Natasha Friend's novels all revolve around issues teenage girls face. They are more focused and attracted to the female sex. Therefore these novels would be hard to teach in a classroom of males. But, her novels are fun, easy reads that make us think. I believe I would place this novel in the shelf of my class for students to have the choice to read.

Bounce is a novel about a father getting remarried. Evyn, a thirteen year old girl and her brother Mackey are now forced to move to Boston with their father who is marrying into a female of six children. She knows this change will make her father happy, but she just wants to be left alone.

She longs to be back in Maine with her best friend in the same school and fit in. This novel will be relatable to all students who's mother or father got remarried. It is an adjusting factor. Will Evyn be able to bounce with the changes or will she always be unhappy from here on out?

Afterall, thirteen is a hard age for this change. They strive to fit in and be accepted. She faces this same challenge in going to a new school (a private school), leaving her friends and her town all for her father. Is he going to give her anything from this journey? Will their love for each other grow? One must read to find out!

I believe through this read, you will learn the love of this little girl and the change and the "bounce" one must face when a parent gets remarried. Your life truly changes and sometimes not for the best. But those students who's parents have gotten remarried will now know that they are not alone, even though it is through the words of a fictional character who speaks to her dead mother.

Book Talk #2

Alicia Kenison
12-2-10
Book Talk

Lush By: Natasha Friend

Think back to middle school…it was a tough time, right? Relationships formed, friendships were broken or strengthen and of course development happen and some developed faster than others…Samantha Gywnn for example. She was 13 and had 3 best friends and two large breasts. Boys NEVER looked at her eyes and often stuck oranges in their shirts to poke fun at Sam. But, that was the least of her problems… She lived with an alcoholic father. She wanted more than anything for that to change. She wanted his bottles behind the toilet to disappear she wanted his family to come first and she wanted him to see what this drinking was doing to the family and one day he did. He was keeping an eye on Sam and Luke as he worked and their mother went off to Yoga, it was a nice day but the kids played inside and Luke was bouncy and making a lot of noise and accidently spilt his juice on the blue prints his father spent hours on. So, Patrick Gywnn went ballistic. He swung his Jim Bean bottle and smacked Luke square in the face, blood gushing everywhere. Sam knew this was the last straw. Luke came home with 26 stitches and a possible scar and Patrick was sent to rehab. Meanwhile, the library and books became Sam’s stronghold. She began writing to a secret pen pal revealing everything about her life and asking advice. AJK was the responder, male or female? That was her goal to find out…AJK gave advice on boys, her father, Luke, school, everything. Then a crush began with a high school boy, Drew. They’d kiss in the library and he asked her to go to a party. So she skipped the weekly sleepover at her friends and went to the party, got drunk and slept in a bed with a boy…nothing happened, but she became a slut and whore in an instant. Would she be able to rekindle her friendship? Will her dad quit drinking for good?

Friend’s books are all intense because they revolve around issues. I feel it would be good to teach but difficult because of all the emotional strings. I also feel that it would be crucial to get permission to teach something like this. I feel the end of 8th grade or beginning of freshman year would be a good place to teach this novel because it’s a warning of high school struggles and prepares students for what could happen and is also a great opportunity to talk about being in control when you drink, having sex with someone special and the rumors and silly games that are played to make you feel like shit ultimately. Friend is intense but real, that is what I enjoy about her , she doesn’t hold back and talks us exactly what the middle school jungle was like the only question is are students ever really prepared for what they learn that does not involve a textbook? Are they ready to face reality? When are they ready to face reality?

Lush

Natasha Friend's novel Lush is one that would be hard to teach because it involves the issue of alcoholism. To many families, mine included, this is a reality. Sometimes students don't want to talk about or read about what they thing they already know and it could also be an emotional, touchy subject to tackle. I feel it is a good book for 8Th graders or freshman though because it could make the transition from middle school to high school a bit easier. But because of the explicit details the main character goes into, the drinking habits of the father and the whiskey bottle being smashed on the litte brothers face, I would feel it my duty to send out permission slips for parents to approve my teaching of this novel and maybe even hold a conference to summarize the material so that they understand what their children are about to read.

Anyhow, Samantha Gywnn is an 8Th grader with 3 best friends, who know nothing about her father's drinking. Middle school is hard enough, but Sam has an alcoholic father, a little brother to take care of and big breast. She finds comfort in the books at the library and begins a friendship with whoever AJK is that reads the whale book. Each day Samantha writes asking advice and then this secret person 'AJK' writes back. Sam tells him/her her whole life story: dad, brother, boobs, drinking, Drew, her friends, everything and then after the party fiasco that gave Sam a hangover and a bunch of bad rumors that caused a fight between friends AJK needed to meet her. This of course, was after that night her dad went ballistic and smashed a Jim Bean bottle on little Luke's face and Luke got 26 stitches and her father got put in rehab. She met AJK and found out that he was a boy, the library stacker.

So, does Sam's life get put back together? What about Drew? Does her father go back to drinking? Does Luke's face have a scar? What about AJK? Is Sam's long lost friendship with Charlie Parker, the boy who stole her bra for money, rekindle? I guess you'll just have to read to find out...

Friend's book was a page turner in which I completed in 4 hours, but it causes a lot of questions in which a great classroom conversation could spark. I also want to read Bounce and Perfect by Friend. She makes her novels short but meaning full and they all deal with issues somehow. This one dealt with Sam Gywnn's father being a Lush, Perfect deals with anorexia and Bounce is dealing with divorced parents.

Pictures of Hollis Woods

Patricia Reilly Giff's novel was a Newbury Honor book with chapters of the here and now with in between snip-bits or "pictures" of life before.

Hollis Woods was an orphaned baby she was found in Hollis Woods with a note that said, "name her Hollis." All her life she was trying to belong. All she wanted was a family, hope and someplace to call home. The agency that dealt with her care referred to Hollis as a "mountain of trouble" because she had a mind of her own and ran when she felt unwanted or got too close to a family. The two families that she loved the most are intertwined in the chapters as she tries to figure out what it is in life that she really wants. They are also the two families she stayed with the longest.

First, we have Izzie, Steven and the Old Man, as she called him, they lived in a summer home in Branches. They made Hollis a "Welcome Home" cake. She was satisfied because she found everything in her 'W' poster, a mother (M), a father (F), a brother (B), a sister (S) and a house (H). This picture was dear to Hollis and was the center of the story. Although her teacher saw no (W), what Hollis saw was 'want,' 'wish,'and 'wouldn't it be loverly.' But after the terrible truck accident, Hollis did what she did best and ran.

Now, she was placed in a home with Josie and her cat Henry. Josie was an elderly women, an artist whom often forgot things. Hollis learned to be her memory. They became great friends and stayed up til midnight watching movies, having a big shopping trip when Josie got her check each month and Josie even let Hollis skip school multiple days in a row to walk down by the river and hangout. Hollis liked this life very much but she yearned to have a family again, the type of family she had with Izzie, Steven and the Old man.

When the state found out about Josie's Alzheimer's they needed to remove Hollis from the house and find a replacement home. Hollis was determined to stay by Josie's side. Josie needed someone to remember things for her and finish her sentences. So, they escaped for the summer home in Branches right before the agency came to pick up Hollis.

I find this book interesting, intriguing and easy to teach. I was always hoping Steven would find her and maybe he did, I'm not giving the ending away ;) Hollis may have been a "mountain of trouble" but she had a wish and want and hope to belong because she had never belonged to anyone before.

Through her pictures we hear the real story and see the family that is really hers. I'm not going to write down what I would do if I taught this book because you will find out in my curriculum design project. I definitely hope that I will be able to teach this book in my classroom.

Most teenagers would have the same reactions as me and want to know the story of Hollis Woods because teenagers feel like they don't always belong either. Hearing someone else's story tends to help us relate to the reality of life, it could be so much worse than it is...What if you were Hollis? Wouldn't you be a "mountain of trouble"? I know I would!