Summary
Esmeralda Santiago's memoir When I Was Puerto Rican is rich with language that recalls the lush rural landscape of her childhood home in Puerto Rico, her parents' tempestuous relationship, the raucousness of life with seven siblings, and the challenges of the move from her rural island home to urban Brooklyn. Most of the memoir focuses on her childhood in Puerto Rico, but she does touch on her adjustment to New York City. She describes the awkwardness of learning a new language in adolescence, her break of gaining admittance to New York City’s prestigious High School of Performing Arts and later acceptance to Harvard. Santiago weaves her mother tongue into the narrative by leading each chapter with a Spanish language dicho such as, "La verdad, aunque severa, es amiga verdadera” which translates “Truth, although severe, is a true friend." In her memoir, Santiago explores some of the unique questions of Puerto Rican identity. Is she American? Is hers a story of immigration? If she is American, why did she feel so foreign when she arrived in New York City? With her fine eye for detail and honest recollections, Santiago's memoir is a pure pleasure to read from start to finish.
Critical Evaluation
Readers hoping to learn about integrating sensory language into personal narrative might take cues from Santiago’s memoir. With fine detail, the author brings to life the experience of learning how to peel a guava and the sound of the tree frogs in the night such that the reader feels that she is actually there on the island. Santiago writes, “A ripe guava is yellow, although some varieties have a pink tinge. The skin is thick, firm, and sweet. Its heart is bright pink and almost solid with seeds...When you bite into a ripe guava, your teeth must grip the bumpy surface and sink into the thick edible skin without hitting the center” (3). Santiago could focus on the desperate poverty that she and her siblings experienced growing up with an itinerant father and mother who was always pregnant--and she does--but she also trains her eye on the some of the joys and richness of the physical environment that surrounded her.
Reader’s Annotation
Does the idea of a childhood in a rural part of a Caribbean island sound like a dream to you? Read When I Was Puerto Rican to hear about Esmeralda Santiago’s experiences.
Information about the Author
On the author’s website, we learn “ESMERALDA was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She came to the United States at thirteen, the eldest in a family that would eventually include eleven children. Ms. Santiago attended New York City’s Performing Arts High School, where she majored in drama and dance. After eight years of part-time study at community colleges, she transferred to Harvard University with a full scholarship. She graduated magna cum laude in 1976. In 1977, she and her husband, Frank Cantor, founded CANTOMEDIA, a film and media production company, which has won numerous awards for excellence in documentary filmmaking.
Her writing career evolved from her work as a producer/writer of documentary and educational films. Her essays and opinion pieces have run in newspapers like the New York Times and the Boston Globe, in magazines like House & Garden, Metropolitan Home, and Sports Illustrated, and as guest commentary on NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition.”
Genre
Memoir/ Non-Fiction
Curriculum Ties
This would be an excellent choice as a literature circle option for students who are writing personal narratives and considering word choice, sensory details, and voice. This would also be a good pairing for a Humanities class that is studying the subject of immigration/ emigration.
Booktalking Ideas
Bring in a guava, serve to students, and then read excerpts from the prologue “How To Eat a Guava.”
Challenge Issues
N/A
Why Included?
This is one of the most compelling memoirs I’ve ever read and think that the language is a treasure for anyone hoping to learn about the use of sensory language. I think this work might be a compelling read for immigrant students who will definitely be able to relate to the stories of coming to New York City, and the initial dissonance and confusion of that period.
E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, Disney Hyperion Books, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7868-3819-6
Plot Summary*
This novel spins the tale of Frankie Landau-Banks, a smart, sassy fifteen year old who infiltrates her boyfriend's all-male secret society at their elite boarding school. Her freshman year, Frankie was an awkward, angular girl with frizzy brown hair who got by socially by hanging onto her older sister’s coattails. By sophomore year, she's a knock-out with one of the hottest guys at school, Matthew Livingston, flirting with her. They become an item, but Matthew keeps secrets from her, specifically about the all-male society that he leads, the same one that Frankie’s father belonged to eons ago. Frankie refuses to be excluded. She takes matters into her own hands and finds a way to covertly mastermind the secret society leading to the Canned Beet Rebellion and the abduction of the Guppy.This is a terrifically funny girl-power novel that might just stir up the reader's inner longing for rebellion.
*No spoilers here. We learn of Frankie’s infiltration of the Society of the Basset Hounds on the first page of the novel.
Critical Evaluation
For those who worry that all contemporary YA novelists litter their novels with LOL and TTYL to remain relevant, have no fear. The character of Frankie Landau-Bates is a P.G. Wodehouse reader and word-loving nerd with a terrific vocabulary that she regularly twists and subverts to make her own stamp on the world. One of her favorite tricks from Wodehouse is to create “neglected positives” by taking a word such as “impugn” or “disgruntled” and use the root without the prefix. For example, if earlier on a rainy day, one was feeling “disgruntled” she might feel “gruntled” once the sun comes out and so on and so forth. Frankie is smart and wordy, and she’s got the ability to pull the whole school into her (covert) operations. If she’s smarter than all of the boys in the secret society, shouldn’t they let her in? Keeping up with Frankie and her master-minding schemes and word-games are much of the fun of this novel.
Reader’s Annotation
Frankie’s father was part of an elite all male secret society at his private boarding school, and now it’s Frankie’s boyfriend who leads the very same secret all male Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. Haven’t times changed? Frankie decides to take matters into her own hands.
Information about the Author
On the author’s website, we learn “I am the author of three Ruby Oliver books: The Boyfriend List , The Boy Book, and The Treasure Map of Boys — plus a fourth, Real Live Boyfriends, that comes out December 28, 2010. Other books: Fly on the Wall, Dramarama, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and How to Be Bad.
Disreputable History was a Printz Award honor book, a finalist for the National Book Award, and recipient of the Cybils Award for best young adult novel.
My books have been translated into 10 foreign languages. Or maybe more. I have a doctorate in English Literature from Columbia University and have taught composition, literature and creative writing courses at Columbia, Barnard and NYU. I have given guest lectures on writing for children at places which include Hamline University, VT College, and Kindling Words.”
Genre
Realistic Fiction
Curriculum Ties
N/A
Booktalking Ideas
Read aloud selections from Frankie’s confession to the headmaster and board of directors of her private boarding school to being the mastermind behind the recent activities of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hound. (From the first and second page of the novel.)
Reading Level
14+
Challenge Issues
N/A
Why Included?
I included this because it came recommended from a trusted source, was a National Book Award finalist, a Printz Award winner, and seemed like a fun read.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon,Vintage Contemporaries, New York, 2003, ISBN 1-4000-327107
Plot Summary
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time begins with the murder of a poodle, Wellington, that has had a pitchfork stuck through it. The narrator, Christopher John Francis Boone, is the first person to find the dog, and he holds its still warm body. He resolves to uncover the mystery of the dog's death, and doing so proves to be particularly harrowing for Christopher because he is autistic. Christopher is very comfortable with facts including all of the countries of the world and their capitals, mathematics, and animals, but he is confused by the wide spectrum of human emotions. Solving the mystery of the dog leads Christopher to confusing information about the death of his mother two years ago. Ultimately, investigating the dog's death demands that Christopher uncover the truth when he is being told a lie, take a trip away from the comforts of his home, and face some of the contradictions of the people he loves. Told in first person, the novel is written as Christopher's journal and includes his interpretations of events but also the math problems, charts, and models that make sense to him and provide comfort and order in the midst of an unruly existence.
Critical Evaluation
Part of the joy of reading this novel comes from thinking about the events from an entirely different perspective. As an autistic young man, Christopher longs to understand the world at face-value, hates being touched, feels confused by jokes and anything else that involves double meaning. In spite of these challenges, he finds the courage to face the world and solve a mystery in the spirit of one of his heroes, Sherlock Holmes. Through Christopher’s journal entries, we get a peek into his mind, including the pictures of human faces that he refers to to make sense of what might be going on with other people, the math problems that give him great joy, and the colors of taxis that he views during the day which determine the outcome of how he will feel throughout the day. These entries give us insights into what makes Christopher tick and a sense of pride in his accomplishment when he finally triumphs in solving the “mystery of the dog in the nighttime” which demands that he engage with far more than raw data.
Reader’s Annotation
When Christopher finds a dog with a pitchfork stuck through it, he resolves to solve the mystery of who killed it. Solving a mystery is that much more difficult for Christopher because he is autistic and has a hard time interpreting human emotions.
Information about the Author
According to the British Council, “Mark Haddon was born in Northampton in 1962. He graduated from Oxford University in 1981, returning later to study for an M.Sc. in English Literature at Edinburgh University. He then undertook a variety of jobs, including work with children and adults with mental and physical disabilities. He also worked as an illustrator for magazines and a cartoonist for New Statesman, The Spectator, Private Eye, the Sunday Telegraph and The Guardian (for which he co-wrote a cartoon strip).
His first book for children, Gilbert's Gobstopper, appeared in 1987 and was followed by many other books and picture books for children, many of which he also illustrated. These include the 'Agent Z' series and the 'Baby Dinosaurs' series. From 1996 he also worked on television projects, and created and wrote several episodes for Microsoap, winning two BAFTAs and a Royal Television Society Award for this work.
In 2003 his novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, was published and has been hugely successful. It is the first book to have been published simultaneously in two imprints - one for children and one for adults. It has won a string of prestigious awards, including the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year. His second novel, A Spot of Bother, was published in 2006 and shortlisted for the 2006 Costa Novel Award.
...
Mark Haddon teaches creative writing for the Arvon Foundation and Oxford University.”
Genre
Realistic Fiction/ Mystery/ Cross-Over
Curriculum Ties
This would be an excellent literature circle option for an interdisciplinary English/ Health unit on disabilities, mental health, and wellness.
Booktalking Ideas
Describe the scene of the crime. Explain that other mysteries lurk behind this one--is Christopher up for the job of solving the crime?
Reading Level
Ages 14+
Challenge Issues
N/A
Why Included?
This novel has broad appeal to a wide range of readers. It is not just a mystery that investigates what went wrong with the dog Wellington--it is also a window onto an autistic young man’s thought processes. Many of my former students have loved this novel (an Alex Award winner), and so I decided to include it.
Obasan by Joy Kogawa, Anchor Books, New York, 1981, ISBN 0-385-46886-5
Plot Summary
The narrator of this novel, Naomi Nakane, receives news that the uncle who helped raise her has died. She returns to her childhood home and Obasan, her aunt. During this visit home, she tries to piece together the mystery of what happened to her family shortly after the Pearl Harbor invasion. A Japanese Canadian citizen, she has hazy memories of her childhood as the daughter of loving parents, her father a well-to-do shipbuilder in Vancouver, B.C. After the invasion, the family is forced to leave their coastal home in an affluent community and are removed to the dusty interior of Canada where they work on a sugar beet farm. Naomi's mother, who had left on a trip to Japan shortly before the invasion, is never seen again. On her return home, Naomi tries to piece together the mystery of what happened to her mother by examining newspaper articles, scraps of poetry and family letters.
Critical Evaluation
Kogawa is a poet, and the spare, elegant prose reflects a careful precision with language. The narrative is non-linear which will demand patience for those accustomed to a more traditional story line. Finally, it is important to note that this novel is autobiographical in nature--Joy Kogawa's family was interned in the interior of Canada during WWII. Some of the power of the narrative comes from it being grounded in true events, which the author solidifies by weaving primary source documents throughout the novel. Many readers may be surprised to learn of this piece of Canadian history; this novel explores this little known history, one that stands as a cautionary tale for all of us.
Reader’s Annotation
What happened to Naomi’s mother? She left for Japan before the invasion, before the rest of the Nisei family was interned in the dusty interior of Canada. Naomi returns home to Obasan, her aunt, to see if she can piece together the family history.
Information about the Author
According to Gale’s Books and Authors database, “Joy Nozomi Kogawa is best known for the novel Obasan, a fictionalization of her own experiences as a Japanese-Canadian during World War II. Like Obasan's narrator, Kogawa was exiled into a detention camp in the Canadian wilderness. She published her first book of poetry, The Splintered Moon, in 1967. After two follow-up volumes, she received national acclaim for Obasan. With Obasan, wrote Gurleen Grewal in Feminist Writers, "Kogawa proved herself to be among the finest of feminist-humanist writers." Out of Obasan came the sequel, Itsuka, and Naomi's Road, a version of the story for children. In addition to pursuing her career as a writer, Kogawa has turned her attention to political work on behalf of Japanese-Canadian citizens.
Kogawa turned back to poetry after publication of her novels. The "insight found [in Woman in the Woods]," wrote Frank Manley in Books in Canada, "is enlightening." He also lauded the book's "passion for life" along with "its ability to say volumes with only a few words." A more recent poetic text, A Song of Lilith, takes as its theme the Biblical story of Adam's first companion, Lilith, who was created out of clay to be his equal. When this harmonious relationship is destroyed, Lilith escapes from Eden and is subsequently banished from earth. Yet she returns many generations later to comfort and help humanity in its distress. The poem was commissioned by theater director Kristine Bogyo as part of a multidisciplinary production incorporating poetry, projected paintings, and original music. The piece has been produced in Toronto, Vancouver, and other Canadian cities.”
Genre
Historical Fiction, Cross-Over
Curriculum Tie
This would be an excellent literature circle option for a unit on WWII.
Booktalking Ideas
It is likely that many readers will be unfamiliar with this history, so reading from some of the primary sources woven through the novel might be one way to enter into the novel.
Reading Level/ Interest Age
16+
Challenge Issues
N/A
Why Included
This is a beautiful, little known novel that addresses a little known piece of history. The language is haunting, and for more mature readers, this novel is a revelation. I’ve had students who have loved it and so I decided to include it.
The Beast by Walter Dean Myers, Scholastic Press, New York, 2003, ISBN 978-0-439-36842-1
Plot Summary
Anthony "Spoon" Witherspoon has grown up in Harlem and returns home after his first semester away at an elite boarding school in Connecticut. Upon his return, he looks forward to spending time with his high school girlfriend, Gabi, an aspiring poet. But things have changed in the four months that he's been gone, and Gabi, unable to cope with the pressures of a dying mother, no money, and a brother who's started to run with gangs, is now addicted to heroin. This is a short, powerful novel that explores love, loyalty, and the interior struggles of a young man trying to stay faithful to two worlds that couldn't be further apart.
Critical Evaluation
One of Walter Dean Myer’s trademarks as an author is his portrayal of young black men making their way in a world that is rife with racism, drugs, and violence. In The Beast, Myers portrays a young man who has “escaped” the hard streets of Harlem by going off to a boarding school in Connecticut but knows that his ties to home make him who he is. As a character, Spoon is mostly noble and kind--he does his best to rescue his high school girlfriend, Gabi, from her heroin addiction. However, Myers adds complexity to the character of Spoon by also revealing his imperfections and moments of weakness when he is tempted by the wealth and ease of his new boarding school friends. The ending of the novel reveals Spoon to be an intelligent young man of integrity who has been accepted to Brown University but who finds a way to integrate Gabi and other parts of his old life into his new reality.
Reader’s Annotation
Spoon has returned to Harlem from his private boarding school only to find his girlfriend Gabi in the grips of a heroin addiction. Can Spoon rescue her and still hold onto himself?
Information about the Author
On his website, Walter Dean Myers writes, “I was born on a Thursday, the 12th of August, 1937, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. My name at birth was Walter Milton Myers. For some strange reason I was given to a man named Herbert Dean who lived in Harlem. I consider it strange because I don't know why I was given away.
I was raised in Harlem by Herbert and his wife, Florence. Herbert was African American. Florence was German and Native American and wonderful and loved me very much.
As a child my life centered around the neighborhood and the church. The neighborhood protected me and the church guided me. I resisted as much as I could.
I was smart (all kids are smart) but didn't do that well in school.
I dropped out of high school (although now Stuyvesant High claims me as a graduate) and joined the army on my 17th birthday.
Basketball has always been a passion of mine. Sometimes at night I lie in bed thinking about games I've played. Sometimes I think about what would have happened if I had gone into the NBA (I was never good enough) or college ball.
Anyway.... I wrote well in high school and a teacher (bless her!) recognized this and also knew I was going to drop out. She advised me to keep on writing no matter what happened to me.
"It's what you do," she said.
I didn't know exactly what that meant but, years later, working on a construction job in New York, I remembered her words. I began writing at night and eventually began writing about the most difficult period of my own life, the teen years. That's what I do.”
Genre
Realistic Fiction/ Problem Novel
Curriculum Ties
N/A
Booktalking Ideas
Briefly discuss Spoon’s absence (boarding school) from his and Gabriela’s perspectives.
Reading Level
Grades 8+
Challenge Issues
N/A
Why Included?
Walter Dean Myers is a granddaddy of YA literature, and I wanted to read a new novel of his. I found this one and thought I’d give it a try. His novels tend to be quite popular with boys, and so I’d like to be able to talk to them about a wide range of his books.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Penguin Books, New York, 1999, ISBN 0-14-240732-1
Plot Summary
Melinda Sordino made a phone call that brought the cops to an end-of-summer party, and now she's an outcast. Even her ex-best friend tells her that she hates her, and she has nowhere to sit at lunchtime or on the bus. She retreats into herself, finding safety in silence but making snarky comments in her head about the carnival of cliques, teachers and parents she suffers through each day. She battles with depression and finds limited solace in a janitor's closet that she claims as her own, outfitting it with a discarded Maya Angelou poster and the remains of an art project. Her parents are fairly clueless about how to reach out to her, and only an eccentric art teacher seems to recognize her need for help. Melinda's wall of silence is strong--the question is, how will she break through it?
Critical Evaluation
As she did with her most recent Young Adult novel, Wintergirls, Halse Anderson proves herself to be a master of illuminating the interior lives of young women haunted by demons. In Speak, as in Wintergirls, the moments of silence, the words that are thought but not articulated are the most powerful. Traumatized by the events of the summer party, Melinda no longer speaks--it is not until the very end of the novel that we actually hear her in conversation with anyone. Melinda’s outsider perspective gives her full licence to engage in an ongoing commentary about everyone in her life, and she spares no-one her sarcastic, cutting wit. Most everyone who has come of age in the US will be able to recognize the world that she describes with the cheerleaders, the burnout teachers, the overworked and distracted parents. It is only when Melinda speaks her truth that she is able to see this world with somewhat kinder eyes.
Reader’s Annotation
Could high school possibly get worse? After a traumatic event, no-one is talking to Melinda and she spends her free time in an abandoned janitor’s closet.
Information about the Author
(See Wintergirls entry)
Genre
Realistic Fiction/ Problem Novel
Curriculum Ties
This is a widely taught novel in 8th and 9th grades and could be used for, among other things, looking at the use of concrete detail to make a narrative stronger. This would certainly supplement and support a unit in which students are working on personal narratives.
Booktalking Ideas
Read aloud from the first few pages in which Melinda explains why her school has to change the name of the school mascot.
Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 8+
Challenge Issues
The novel addresses the subject of rape and could be challenged for this reason. If the book were challenged, I would turn to ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.
Why Included?
This novel has now entered the contemporary canon and is a must-read for anyone who works with young adults. It is both funny and serious, the kind of novel that turns many a student back onto reading.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan, Dutton Books, New York, 2010, ISBN 0-7636-1958-2
Plot Summary
Two narrators, both named Will Grayson, live their lives in an emotional state of paralysis in the suburbs of Chicago. They do not know each other and have little in common until their lives intersect outside of an unlikely spot in Chicago. They are unwittingly brought together by a huge football player/ high school student/producer/ director/ actor/ drama queen named Tiny Cooper who is described as, "the world's largest person who is also really, really gay, and also the world's gayest person who is really, really large." Tiny is in the midst of writing and producing a high school musical about his own life, and both Will Grayson and Will Grayson achieve epiphanies as the musical approaches opening night. This novel is co-written by John Green (author of Looking for Alaska) and David Levithan (author of Boy Meets Boy and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) and the two alternate chapters taking on the voice of one of the Will Graysons. Take the cynicism and dark humor of a high school depressive and blend it with the camp, drama and queeniness of a high school musical, and you've got Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
Critical Evaluation
Part of the pure pleasure of reading this novel is reading the alternating chapters from the perspectives of the two different Will Graysons. The one Will Grayson signals his depression with an all-lower-case narrative, a relentless barrage of snarky comments, and his two pseudo-relationships, one with an emo girl who has a crush on him, and the other with an online friend. He’s miserable, closeted, and unfulfilled in almost all ways. The other Will Grayson is an amiable fellow who’s been best friends with Tiny Cooper for years but is beginning to struggle to figure out his identity--does he really want to be friends with the ever flamboyant Tiny, or did Tiny just happen to him? He keeps a handle on things by playing it cool, always friendly and reliable but never fully showing how he feels. The spectacle that is Tiny Cooper (both the person and the musical) have a big impact on both Will Graysons as they begin to discover that showing how you feel can have really, really great effects.
Reader’s Annotation
Love the campiness of “Glee”? The snarkiness of “The Office”? Read Will Grayson, Will Grayson which might just make you roar laughing while causing your heart to soar.
Information about the Authors
According to John Green’s website, “John Green is the New York Times bestselling author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns. He is also the coauthor, with David Levithan, of Will Grayson, Will Grayson. He was 2006 recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award, a 2009 Edgar Award winner, and has twice been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Green’s books have been published in more than a dozen languages.
...
Green’s book reviews have appeared in The New York Times Book Review and Booklist, a wonderful book review journal where he worked as a publishing assistant and production editor while writing Looking for Alaska. Green grew up in Orlando, Florida before attending Indian Springs School and then Kenyon College.”
Of David Levithan, we learn from his website, “I find it downright baffling to write about myself, which is why I’m considering it somewhat cruel and usual to have to write this brief bio and to update it now and then. The factual approach (born '72, Brown '94, first book '03) seems a bit dry, while the emotional landscape (happy childhood, happy adolescence - give or take a few poems - and happy adulthood so far) sounds horribly well-adjusted. The only addiction I’ve ever had was a brief spiral into the arms of diet Dr Pepper, unless you count My So-Called Life episodes as a drug. I am evangelical in my musical beliefs.
Luckily, I am much happier talking about my books than I am talking about myself. My first novel, Boy Meets Boy, started as a story I wrote for my friends for Valentine's Day (something I’ve done for the past twenty-two years and counting) and turned itself into a teen novel. When not writing during spare hours on weekends, I am editorial director at Scholastic, and the founding editor of the PUSH imprint, which is devoted to finding new voices and new authors in teen literature. (Check it out at www.thisispush.com.)”
Genre
Realistic Fiction
Curriculum Ties
This could be included as a literature circle option for an interdisciplinary English/ Health unit on mental health and wellness.
Booktalking Ideas
The language in this novel is a knock-out--just reading two brief passages from each of the Will Graysons will give a great sense of this novel.
Reading Level
14+
Challenge Issues
This novel features strong language in places and two gay characters. If the book were challenged, I would turn to ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.
Why Included?
Both authors are widely known and highly regarded in the YA field, and this novel came highly recommended to me from two trusted sources. It touches on subjects that are relevant to a wide range of readers, and so I wanted to include it in my collection.
