Module 4: Newbery Winners

February 2, 2018 

Module 4: Newbery Winners

Title: Criss Cross  by Lynn Rae Perkins

Genre: Young Adult/Realistic Fiction/Love & Romance

Book Summary: 

Criss Cross traces the summer experiences and personal growth of a group of friends, taking place during a summer in the 1970s. Debbie has a wish that something, anything, would happen to her, as does her friend Hector. Both Debbie and Hector long for “something” or “some change” to happen to them. Together, along with their friends Patty, Phil, and Lenny, they take walks to town, visit the local Tastee Freez, and sit in Lenny's dad's truck listening to the nightly radio show, "Criss Cross." Hector is inspired to take guitar lessons after hearing a guitarist play at the Coffee House. Debbie begins her own adventures and declares her own independence by moving into the front part of her family’s house. She begins a part-time job, caring for Mrs. Bruning and meets her grandson, Peter, which results in a weeklong, short-lived romance. Lenny discovers his penchant for teaching as he helps his father with home projects and building a roaster, experiments with chewing tobacco, and gives Debbie a lesson driving a stick-shift truck. The teens' personal growth comes to fruition at a neighborhood block party, where each teen realizes the changes in their lives.

APA Reference of Book:  Perkins, L. R., (2005). Criss cross. New York : Greenwillow Book.

Impression

This was a different type of young adult novel, not the typical teen romance. The book takes a serious look at how teenagers view themselves and their perceptions of the world around them. I was surprised that the age range was 10+. There isn't anything gratuitous in the book, however, a ten-year-old may not be able to relate to the struggles a 15-year-old girl may be having with struggling to establish her own independence. It will definitely resonate with teens who are seeking to find their own individuality and figuring out how they fit in.

Professional Review:

Catching fireflies in a jar, fourteen-year-old Debbie (first met in Perkins’s spectacular debut novel All Alone in the Universe, rev. 9/99) watches the bugs’ “glow parts go on and off,” appeasing her guilt over capturing them by convincing herself that “once they were free, their small, basic brains would
. . . have no memory of being imprisoned.”

Perkins’s wonderfully contemplative and relaxed yet captivating second novel, again illustrated with her own perfectly idiosyncratic spot art, is a collection of fleeting images and sensations—some pleasurable, some painful, some a mix of both—from her ensemble cast’s lives. Like All Alone in the Universe, the story is set in a 1970s small town, but teen readers won’t have to be aware of the time period to feel connected to Debbie, Hector, Lenny, and the rest as the third-person narrative floats back and forth between their often humorous, gradually evolving perspectives. The book’s title refers to a radio show that the neighborhood teens listen to on Saturday evenings; on a thematic level, it also refers to those barely perceptible moments of missed communication between a boy and a girl, a parent and a child, when “something might have happened” but didn’t. In keeping with Perkins’s almost Zen-like tone, such flubbed opportunities are viewed as unfortunate but not tragic. “Maybe it was another time that their moments would meet.” Like a lazy summer day, the novel induces that exhilarating feeling that one has all the

time in the world. C.M.H.

Heppermann, C. M. (2005). Criss Cross. Horn Book Magazine, 81(5), 585-586.

Library Use

1. Debbie and Patty are looking through the yearbook as the school year comes to an end. They consider making Haikus about the seniors. The teacher can review the Haiku format and students can write a Haiku about themselves, and create a "Haiku wall" in the library, where they can share their work with others.

2. Debbie's necklace is lost and takes an interesting "trip" throughout the novel. Have students draw a map of the travels of the necklace, making sure to label all the places it was "found".

Read alikes: These books have similar themes of self discovery.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

What Every Girl Knows (Except Me) by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Okay for Now by  Gary D. Schmidt

Module 7: Realistic Fiction

March 6th, 2018 

Module 7: Realistic Fiction

Title: Eleanor & Park

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Romance

Book Summary:

Eleanor & Park is the story of two “outcast” teenagers living in Omaha, Nebraska during the 1980’s. Eleanor has wild, curly red hair and wears bizarre looking clothes. Park is half Korean and half white and is into alternative music. Elanor's home life is one she is tyring to escape: she lives with her younger siblings, mother and stepfather. Her stepfather, Richie is often verbally and physically abusive to Eleanor, Eleanor’s mother and siblings. Park comes from the traditional family of four: a brother and two supportive parents. When these two characters first meet, there is anything but a "love connection". As they begin their adventure on a path to some kind of odd, yet tender, love connection, the reader will learn that judging a book by it's cover is not always the best bet and you never know what you may miss out on without looking inside the book.

APA Reference of Book: 

Rowell, R. (2016). Eleanor & Park. New York: St. Martin's Griffin.

Impression:  I absolutely loved this book. I was able to connect with the two protagonistsdue to the fact that I was a kid during that time period and can remember what it felt like to try and fit in. The author hit it right on the head, showing the reader what it was like to be a teen, filled with the teen angst of an 80s teen -- fitting in, finding your place, building your self-esteem while feeling like a complete outcast, dealing with bullies. Ms. Rowell did not play anything down. I would love to read a sequel to this book, to see what happens to these two characters and if their love connection continues into the future.

Professional Review:

Awkward, prickly teens find deep first love in 1980s Omaha.
Eleanor and Park don’t meet cute; they meet vexed on the school bus, trapped into sitting together by a dearth of seats and their low social status. Park, the only half-Korean fan of punk and New Wave at their high school, is by no means popular, but he benefits from his family’s deep roots in their lower-middle-class neighborhood. Meanwhile, Eleanor’s wildly curly red mane and plus-sized frame would make her stand out even if she weren’t a new student, having just returned to her family after a year of couch-surfing following being thrown out by her odious drunkard of a stepfather, Richie. Although both teens want only to fade into the background, both stand out physically and sartorially, arming themselves with band T-shirts (Park) and menswear from thrift stores (Eleanor). Despite Eleanor’s resolve not to grow attached to anything, and despite their shared hatred for clichés, they fall, by degrees, in love. Through Eleanor and Park’s alternating voices, readers glimpse the swoon-inducing, often hilarious aspects of first love, as well as the contrast between Eleanor’s survival of grim, abuse-plagued poverty and Park’s own imperfect but loving family life.
Funny, hopeful, foulmouthed, sexy and tear-jerking, this winning romance will captivate teen and adult readers alike. (Fiction. 14 & up)
Eleanor and Park [Review of book Eleanor and Park]. (2012, December 15). Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved March 5, 2018, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/rainbow-rowell/eleanor-park/

Library Use:
A display could be created for Valentine's Day, focusing on relationships, including Eleanor & Park and other books. Another type of display could be over books that focus on kids during the 1980s, a type of flashback display, celebrating the 80s.

Read alikes:

Each of these books would be good readalikes due to the connections the characters make with each other, due to their similiar outcast status, love of music and comics and outlook on life.

How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Staniford
Guy in Real Life by Steve Brezenoff
Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Porter

Module 5: Other Award Winners

February 12, 2018 

Module 5: Other Award Winners

Title: The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Genre: Young Adult/Realistic Fiction

Book Summary:

Jessica has lost her leg in a car accident and now feels like life is over as she knows it -- no more track, no more running, and worse, she will need a prosthetic leg. Her life was all about running and now it's over...or is it? As her new "normal" begins, she learns to cope with having first crutches and being stared at by her classmates and friends. She resents the looks of sympathy, of being in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. She doesn't like being ignored, which is what she has done to Rosa, a girl with CP. Rosa becomes her tutor, helping her catch up with all the math she has fallen behind on, while at home recuperating.

Jessica learns that she may be able to run again, with the help of a "bionic" prosthetic. While she is thrilled to learn she may be able to run again, she doesn't want to do it alone...she wants to run with Rosa, a girl who has taught her that it's ok to be ignored, a girl who just wants to feel what it's like to "run".

APA Reference of Book: 

Draanen, W. V. (2012). The running dream. New York: Random House Publishing Group.

Impression

Professional Review:

Gr 7 Up-Jessica has run her personal best at a track meet-then there's a tragic bus accident and the high school junior loses her leg as well as her future dreams. From waking up in the hospital and coping with the trauma, to her return home, then school, she tries to grab her life back. On one level the story offers inspiration to those dealing with physical changes in their own lives and the stages of recovery, fight, survival, and victory as Jessica reaches deep to push past her wall of self-pity and loathing, and moves beyond the "finish line." On a deeper level, there is her blind discrimination toward a fellow classmate who has cerebral palsy. Rosa is hard to understand and easy to ignore. She is anchored to a wheelchair. Jessica, encumbered by her crutches and her tender "stump," is seated in the back of the class, out of the way, next to Rosa. She learns that the girl is smart, wise, and friendly. They pass notes and share lunch. Rosa writes, "I wish people would see me and not my condition." When Jessica is running again-on specially engineered prosthesis-she challenges herself to help her friend be seen. How Jessica orchestrates putting Rosa in the forefront of a community race and pushing her wheelchair across a finish line is a study in faith and determination. Readers will cheer for Jessica's recovery and be reminded to recognize people for their strengths and not overlook them because of their disabilities.

Follos, A. (2011). The Running Dream. School Library Journal, 57(2), 121.

Library Use:

These books could be used to showcase during the Paralympics or the Special Olympics, sparking discussions about supporting these causes.

Read alikes: Each of these books have characters who go through similar experiences as Jessica, told from different perspectives from cancer survivors to disfigurement and how they overcome obstacles due to their physical limitations.

 After Ever After by Jorden Sonnenblick
Crazy Beautiful by Lauren, Baratz-Logsted
Stotan! by Chris Crutcher

Module 6: Picture Books

February 28, 2018 

Module 6: Picture Books

Title: The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

Genre: Picture Books

Book Summary:

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs is told from the Wolf’s perspective.  The Wolf claims that he is not the bad guy and that he was framed.  He says that all he wanted was a cup of sugar to make his granny a birthday cake, but a terrible cold caused him to sneeze and blow down the pigs’ houses.  When he gets to the third pig’s house, the pig said something mean about the Wolf’s granny which made the Wolf mad. When the cops showed up and found out that he had eaten the pig’s other two brothers he was arrested.  He claims that the newspapers made up the whole big, bad wolf thing. The Wolf ends the story with the claim that his version is the true story and that he was framed.

APA Reference of Book:  Scieszka, J. (1989). The true story of the 3 little pigs! New York: Puffin Books.

Impression

This was a great story. Sharing the Wolf’s side of the story is a great lesson to teach the kids that there are always two sides to the story.  As the Wolf tells his side, the use of humor will get even kids to rethink the claim that the Wolf ate the pigs and that it was all an accident. The illustrations are well drawn with great detail, keeping the colors simple, with brown, tan and orange hues. Readers will laugh out loud at the pigs’ butts sticking straight up in the air.

Professional Review:

PreS–Gr. 2. Scieszka’s sardonic retelling (1989) of the old tale from the wolf’s point of view is given new life
in this read-along. Giamatti’s soft, slightly raspy voice is a perfect, satiric match for Lane Smith’s stylized, hip
illustrations. Adding an occasional chuckle at appropriate moments, Giamatti creates a full-bodied characterization
of Alexander T. Wolf as he tells his side of the story, making the case that he was framed. Sound effects for
the wolf’s huge sneezes excellently back up his claims that a bad cold caused the destruction of the pigs’
houses of straw and twigs. Understated music never overwhelms this fine production, which includes
a hardcover book.

Rockman, C. (2008). The true story of the 3 little pigs. Booklist, 105(8), 59.

Library Use:

High School Library: This would be a great story to use with Debate students. They could hold a trial and do a
debate, based on the trial presentation, as to whether they think Wolf is guilty or innocent.

Read alikes:

Each of these books tells the other side of the story, by the original antagonists from Cinderella, Red Riding Hood
and Goldilocks & The Three Bears.

Seriously, Cinderella Is SO Annoying!: The Story of Cinderella as Told by the Wicked Stepmother
(The Other Side of the Story) by Trisha Speed Shaskan

Honestly, Red Riding Hood Was Rotten!: The Story of Little Red Riding Hood as Told by the Wolf
(The Other Side of the Story) by Trisha Speed Shaskan

Believe Me, Goldilocks Rocks!: The Story of the Three Bears as Told by Baby Bear
(The Other Side of the Story) by Nancy Loewen