All Souls by Michael Patrick MacDonald

All Souls by Michael Patrick MacDonald,  Beacon Press, Boston, 1999, ISBN 0-8070-7212-5

Summary
All Souls is Michael Patrick MacDonald's memoir about growing up in the 1970s in the projects of South Boston. The eighth of his mother's ten children, MacDonald was eight years old when busing in Boston put his neighborhood, Southie, on the nightly news. Violence erupts, and South Boston, a working class Irish neighborhood, becomes the poster child of racial intolerance. He writes about those years from the perspective of one who remembers throwing rocks at buses of black children from Roxbury--and who later in life became an activist whose work aimed to stem violence in Boston's poorest communities, both black and white. MacDonald writes of the loss of four of his siblings, all of whom succumbed to the poverty and violence that afflicted his community.  MacDonald took a risk in writing All Souls as it unveiled parts of life in Southie--namely violence, addiction, and organized crime--that few in this proud community wanted made public.

Critical Evaluation
MacDonald opens All Souls with a phrase about South Boston, known as “the best place in the world” by those who lived there. Having grown up in Southie, MacDonald knew that pride, but he also saw what it masked. Having lost four of his ten siblings to addiction and violence on Southie’s streets, MacDonald broke a code of silence and told his story of growing up in a white community that wasn’t really all that different from Roxbury, the poor black section of town just a few miles away. Like Roxbury, South Boston had an overabundance of drugs and rats in its public housing projects, drive-by shootings and high school drop outs. For living authors, there can be a high price to pay for breaking silence and telling one’s story. Shortly after the publication of All Souls, MacDonald moved from the Boston area--there were many in his community who did not appreciate his work. Still, if his memoir opened any dialogue, allowed for more social programs in his community or helped even a few young people understand that they are not alone--then it seems that some of the struggle might have been worth it.

Reader’s Annotation
In his memoir All Souls, Michael Patrick MacDonald breaks a code of silence about what it was like growing up poor in the 1970s and 1980s in South Boston, a community plagued with drugs and violence.

Information about the Author
According to the author’s website, “Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in South Boston’s Old Colony housing project. After losing four siblings and seeing his generation decimated by poverty, crime, and addiction, he became a leading Boston activist, helping launch many antiviolence initiatives, including gun-buyback programs. He continues to work for social change nationally, collaborating with survivor families and young people.

MacDonald won the American Book Award in 2000. His national bestseller, All Souls, and his follow-up, Easter Rising: A Memoir of Roots and Rebellion have been adopted by university curriculums across the country. MacDonald has written numerous essays for the Boston Globe Op-Ed Page and has completed the screenplay of All Souls for director Ron Shelton. He is currently Author-in-Residence at Northeastern University. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.”

Genre
Memoir/ Non-Fiction

Curriculum Ties
In an interdisciplinary study looking at the legacy of the Civil Rights era in the US, All Souls would be an excellent book to include alongside Danzy Senna’s Caucasia and J. Anthony Lukas’ Common Ground.

Booktalking Ideas
Juxtapose the line “The best place in the world” with one of the tough passages from the memoir, for example, when his sister has a serious fall after overdosing and goes into a coma.

Reading Level/ Interest Age
Ages 16+

Challenge Issues
N/A

Why Included?
This is one of my favorite memoirs, and I think it helps to open up dialogue and thinking on some common misconceptions i.e. all poverty and its associated problems are concentrated in communities of color. A certain kind of reader has a preference for “real” stories, and this is a great one. 

Caucasia by Danzy Senna

Caucasia by Danzy Senna, Riverhead Books, New York, 1998, ISBN 1-57322-091-4

Plot Summary
Birdy Lee is born in the midst of the black power movement in the early 1970s to a white mother from an elite Cambridge family and a black father, a Harvard educated intellectual. She and her sister Cole share the same parents, but Birdie is fair-skinned while Cole is cinnamon-toned. At the height of radical political movements in Boston, their parents' marriage falls apart as fault lines around activism and racial identity emerge in the family. The two sisters, so close as young children that they created their own language, are separated when their parents go underground--Birdy flees with their mother, Cole with their father. To protect her fugitive mother's identity, Birdy passes for years as white, while Cole experiences life as a young black woman. This novel is a thought provoking exploration of identity and family love and a page-turner with a gripping portrayal of the racially polarized US in the 1970s and 1980s.

Critical Evaluation
What was most provocative about reading Caucasia for me was its in-depth exploration of a particular place and time, namely Boston on the heels of the civil rights movement. (Disclaimer: I grew up in Boston around this time.) I think she does a particularly stunning job of capturing the sometimes misguided idealism of this era by taking on the perspective of a child whose parents’ beliefs trumped all else. As Senna demonstrates so masterfully in the novel, this idealism, while thrilling and all-consuming for the parent, can lead to a certain blindness when it comes to raising children. Both of Birdy’s parents, in spite of their good intentions, cause considerable harm to their two children, but these emotional bumps and bruises would likely be chalked up to the revolution. With its many subplots and complex characters, this would be a great novel to discuss with others.

Reader’s Annotation
When their parents go underground, biracial sisters Birdy and Cole must part ways. Birdy leaves with their white mother and passes as white, while darker-skinned Cole goes with their father. How will these experiences of race have shaped them when they re-unite?

Information about the Author
According to the author’s website, “Danzy Senna is the author of the national bestselling novel Caucasia, winner of the Book of the Month Award for First Fiction and the American Library Association’s Alex Award. Caucasia was a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, was named a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year and has been translated into eight languages. A recipient of the Whiting Writers Award, Ms. Senna is also the author of the novel Symptomatic, and the memoir, Where Did You Sleep Last Night? A Personal History, which she researched and wrote as a fellow at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. Her latest work, a story collection, You Are Free, was recently published by Riverhead Books. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the novelist Percival Everett, and their sons, Henry and Miles.”

Genre
Realistic Fiction/ Cross-over

Curriculum Ties
If a Humanities class were looking at the legacy of the Civil Rights era in the US, this would be a great book to include as a literature circle choice, along with, say, Common Ground by J. Anthony Lukas.

Booktalking Ideas
Read aloud from the section in which Cole and Birdy attend the all-black school in Roxbury, and talk about the experience from the two different perspectives.

Reading Level/ Interest Age
16+

Challenge Issues
N/A

Why Included?
This novel is a favorite of mine that expertly addresses issues of race and class in the US. Students of mine have read it as a literature circle choice, and it has pretty consistently gotten favorable reviews.  When I saw that it was an Alex Award winner, I knew that I had to include it.

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

Francisco X. Stork, Marcelo in the Real World, Scholastic Press, New York, 2009 ISBN 978-0-545-05474-4

Plot Summary
Marcelo Sandoval is a seventeen year old boy on the high functioning end of the autism spectrum. His father, a high-powered lawyer, wants Marcelo to leave his special school and enter the "real world" where he will learn to socialize with "regular" people. Marcelo is initially crushed because he wants to work at his school over the summer and tend to ponies there. However, Marcelo is unable to refuse his father, and so he goes to work in the mail-room of the law office. Through his work there, Marcelo finds an object he is not supposed to see, a picture of a girl with half of a face. His brushes with the real world force him to encounter the confusion of interactions with “regular” people, injustice and the bittersweetness of romance. There is loss but also growth for Marcelo as he ventures out from the protections of his previous life and into the wild and unpredictable terrain of mainstream society.

Critical Evaluation
Marcelo is not “normal” in the sense that he finds casual conversations  painful--he feels easily confused by all of the subtext of human interactions and does not quickly pick up on social cues. He feels more comfortable with scripted interactions and finds great solace in the music that he hears inside his mind and his devotional life. Inspired by his devout Mexican grandmother, Marcelo has developed an engaged life of prayer that does not necessarily fit well with the rest of society: he must be trained not to quote scripture to people he does not know well. This contributes to some very funny, but also moving moments in the novel. While Marcelo has unusual instincts, he also has a sweetness about him which leads to great confusion on his part when he encounters evil in the world. What is transcendent about Marcelo’s encounter with injustice is that he, with so few coping skills and experiences with the messiness of humanity, does brave it and comes through with his basic goodness intact.

Reader’s Annotation
Seventeen year old Marcelo is autistic and finds it challenging to relate to many people. His father forces him to enter the “real world” and face his greatest fears, and, in one summer, Marcelo learns far more than he could have ever imagined.

Information about the Author
On Teenreads.com, we learn about author Francisco X. Stork, “Francisco X. Stork was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and moved to the United States when he was nine. He studied Latin American literature at Harvard before completing a law degree at Columbia University. Publishers Weekly praised his first novel, THE WAY OF THE JAGUAR, as a “splendidly intense debut.” His second book, BEHIND THE EYES, was selected as both a Commended title for the Americas Award and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.

Francisco works as an attorney for an affordable-housing agency in Massachusetts. He lives near Boston with his wife.”

Genre
Realistic Fiction

Curriculum Ties
Within a cross-disciplinary Health/ English unit, this would be a great book to include within Literature Circles that focused on the theme of disabilities and mental health. Other books that could be included would be Speak, Catcher in the Rye and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

Booktalking Ideas
Take two perspectives on what Marcelo should be doing for the summer--include Marcelo and his father.

Reading Level/ Interest Age
14+

Challenge Issues
N/A

Why Included?
I wanted to include a few novels from other (non-mainstream) perspectives and thought that Marcelo sounded like a compelling narrator. Also, this book came highly recommended from a trusted source.

Honey Blonde Chica by Michele Serros

Michele Serros, Honey Blonde Chica, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2006, ISBN 978-1-4169-1591-1

Plot Summary
Eveline Morales is a Mexican-American surfer girl growing up in southern California. She lives in a wealthy gated community, attends a fancy private school and is part of a group of friends who call themselves the Flojos or the lazies. They wear flip-flops as a sign of their commitment to laid back beach living. Life is going just fine with her and the rest of the Flojos (including her sharp-tongued best friend Raquel Diaz) until her former best friend moves back from Mexico City. When Evie first see her former best friend, Dee-Dee, she doesn’t even recognize her--Dee-Dee  has been transformed from a quiet, bookish girl who recently lost her mother, to a heavily-made up, spoiled boy-crazy teenager. Dee-Dee and Raquel get off on the wrong note, and tension simmers among the three girls.  Evie soon realizes that she needs to figure out who she is, who her true friends are, and where she wants to give her heart.

Critical Evaluation
Part of the fun of this book is that Spanish and Spanglish are threaded throughout--the competing clique to Evie's group is called Las Sangronas (the stuck-up girls), insults begin with pinche, and the music thumping through her headphones is reggaetone. The blending of languages gives the readers a good sense of Evie’s Mexican-American identity and her existence in both worlds. The other language that Serros' weaves into the novel is text-speak. Evie’s blossoming romance happens through a series of heart stopping set of text messages--it feels real and reflective of romance in the digital age.  Anyone who has ever felt that texters cannot possibly speak the language of love should take a look at these passages. They might lack flowery language or the personal touch of handwriting, but the sentiments, albeit briefly stated, are all there.

Reader’s Annotation
If you like a series like the Gossip Girls but want a little Latin flavor, check this one out. It's an escapist page turner and a fun romp through a high school existence that involves surfboards, bikinis, backyard pools, romance and not much schoolwork.

Information about the Author
We learn the following about Michele Serros on the the author’s website, “Named by Newsweek as “One of the Top Young Women to Watch for in the New Century,” Michele Serros is the author of Chicana Falsa and other stories of Death, Identity and Oxnard, How to be a Chicana Role Model, Honey Blonde Chica, and her newest young adult novel, ¡Scandalosa!

A former staff writer for The George Lopez Show, Serros has written for the Los Angeles Times, Ms. Magazine, CosmoGirl, and The Washington Post and contributes satirical commentaries regularly for National Public Radio (Latino USA, Morning Edition, Weekend All Things Considered, Anthem, Along for the Ride, and The California Report) An award-winning spoken word artist, she has read her poems to stadium crowds for Lollapalooza, recorded Selected Stories from Chicana Falsa for Mercury Records, and was selected by the Poetry Society of America to have her poetry placed on MTA buses throughout Los Angeles County.  

While still a student at Santa Monica City College, Michele’s first book of poetry and short stories, Chicana Falsa and other stories of Death, Identity and Oxnard, was published. After LaloPress, the original publisher, ceased business, Michele continued to sell copies from her garage  while maintaining a devoted following of fans as well as a place in academia where Chicana Falsa became required reading in many U.S. high schools and universities. In 1998, Riverhead Books (Penguin/Putnam) reissued Chicana Falsa in addition to publishing Serros’ Los Angeles Times Best Seller, How to be a Chicana Role Model.

Serros' work garners a diverse fan base ranging from Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (“Michele is the great Californian writer who makes me proud of my state. When I read her books I cry and laugh and cry.”) to author Sandra Cisneros (“ Serros is a young, sassy writer whose brilliant weapon is her humor.”) Originally from Oxnard, CA, Michele is currently working on a new novel, A (sorta) Unmarried Mexican.”

Genre
Realistic Fiction/ Chick Lit

Booktalking Ideas
Read aloud the description of Evie and Los Flojos or set the stage for the central problem of the novel when Evie first encounters Dee-Dee after not having seen her for years.

Reading Level/ Interest Age
Ages 14+

Challenge Issues
This novel could be challenged because of its strong language and/or representations of under-age drinking. If the book were challenged, I would turn to ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library  Materials.

Why Included?
I wanted to include in my collection a book that was something like popular Gossip Girls series and learned about the author Michele Serros from some classmates. I liked that this novel fit the Chick Lit category but had a cultural twist. 

Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman

 Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith, Henry Holt, New York, 2009, ISBN 13:978-0-8050-8721-5

Plot Summary
For lovers of science and history, here is a work of non-fiction that chronicles the interior lives of Charles Darwin, author of The Origin of Species, and his wife Emma. The two married each other in spite of a fundamental difference: Emma's devout faith and Charles' theory which would prove to be highly controversial in religious communities. In spite of this difference, she was one of his most trusted readers whose feedback informed his famous works. In addition to the excellent history lessons, the book also reads as an inspiring love story set in a tumultuous time. The books opens with a pro and con list as the ever-methodical Mr. Darwin weighs the decision of whether or not to marry. Will marriage detract from his life as a scientist?  Ultimately, he lands on the ‘pro’ side and marries his first cousin Emma who proves to be a perfect companion, editor, and mother of their ten children. Their dedication to each other and to ongoing dialogue in spite of fundamental difference could be a ‘how-to’ manual for those embarking on long-term relationships.

Critical Evaluation
One of the most compelling aspects of this novel is considering Charles and Emma’s relationship to each other, family, and the world of ideas within the context of the Victorian era. Considering this work within its historical context helps readers better understand why first cousins married each other or why Emma, a bright and competent woman, had no career to speak of outside of the home.  Heiligman helps the reader to enter into this time period and mindset through various primary sources, including family letters and papers. After reading Charles and Emma, this reader was left thinking about mortality rates during the Victorian era. It is the loss of her beloved sister at a young age that leads to Emma’s devout faith, and the death of their favorite daughter proves a lifelong heartache to both Charles and Emma. These two were of the upper echelons of British society, and yet they were not spared the ravages of disease during this time. This reader entered into this reading experience expecting to think lots about religion and science: the increased curiosity (and knowledge) about the Victorian era was a bonus. 

Reader’s Annotation
In its day, Charles Darwin’s Origins of Species was a ground-breaking and widely read book. Some argue that the reason it was so popular and widely read was that is was edited by his wife Emma, a devout Christian. Charles and Emma tells the story of their marriage.

Information about the Author
On the author’s website, Heiligman writes about her background. “I was born in Allentown, PA. I lived in the same house my whole childhood, mostly alone with my mother and father and my dog, Missy. My sister and brother were so much older than I was I don't remember much about them when I was little. Here's what I do remember: my sister got married in our living room when I was four.”

…

I went on to BROWN UNIVERSITY, which I fell in love with at first sight. As is befitting a children's book author, I majored in Religious Studies. For about one week I thought about becoming a rabbi. I didn't. My best friend did. I had no idea what I would do after college. I wanted to be a writer, but I didn't think real people were writers. I thought writers were like movie stars and that regular people like me couldn't be writers. At Brown all the people who said they were going to be writers wore all black, smoked lots of cigarettes (something I never did: my father was a lung doctor!), drank endless cups of coffee, and used such big words I couldn't understand what they were saying (I don't think they knew what they were saying either). My bet is that most of those people are lawyers or stockbrokers or maybe ski bums. Anyway, I bet they're happy. And so am I.
   
My first job out of college was at a magazine called MOMENT. Then in 1981, I started interviewing for jobs in New York City, and found, quite by accident, a job at Scholastic News Explorer, the 4th grade classroom magazine. I got a trial assignment and discovered that I loved writing for children. I have never looked back!”
   
Writing for Scholastic News was the best job I could have had. I had to write every day, all day, and on all kinds of subjects. Soon after I got there the magazines were reorganized, so I wrote for children in grades 1 through 6. I loved it. In the morning I would write about panda bears or Pac-man for second graders, and in the afternoon I'd write about war or pesticides for sixth graders. I also had the opportunity to interview famous people, to write fiction in the form of plays, and to do a lot of research. I stayed there until 1985 and by the time I left I was in charge of all the magazines and teachers guides! So why did I leave? I had a baby and I wanted to be home with him. That's when my life as a freelance writer began.”

Genre
Non-Fiction/ Biography

Curriculum Ties
This would be perfect companion read for a study of evolution, the Victorian era, or a specific read about Darwin including The Origin of Species or Inherit the Wind.

Booktalking Ideas
Read aloud excepts from Charles Darwin’s pro/ con list about whether or not to marry.

Reading Level
Grades 8-12

Challenge Issues
N/A

Why Included?
I wanted to include a range of fiction and non-fiction works in my collection and thought that this book would provide fascinating insights into both faith and science. I thought it might be a good read for students with interests in science, history and human relationships, and I’m happy to report that this is true.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls, Penguin Group, New York, 2009, ISBN 978-0-14-241557-3

Plot Summary
After her best friend's death from an eating disorder, eighteen year old Lia is haunted with memories and other demons. She thinks back to the pact that she and Cassie made in the eighth grade about who would be skinniest and to the night that Cassie died and Lia didn't pick up her calls. Cassie continues to battle with her weight hoping to suck all of the marrow from herself until she achieves zero. Like she did with Speak, Halse Anderson triumphs again in getting inside the mind of an angry and sad young woman and unveils what she is really thinking (as opposed to what she says to please her doctors, parents, therapist, and teachers). Reading this novel is a harrowing but worthwhile journey into the world of eating disorders where young women live as "wintergirls" caught somewhere between life and death.


Critical Evaluation
Anderson uses poetic devices as she portrays Lia’s internal life. She relies on repetition to allow readers a window into the self-loathing refrain that constantly circles through Lia’s brain, constantly taunting her and negating her self-worth. To demonstrate the disconnect between what Lia says to those who monitor her (doctors, therapists, parents and stepmother) and what she actually thinks, Anderson makes effective use of the strikethrough to illuminate the filtering process that goes through Lia’s brain--she says what she knows they want to hear, silencing the loathing, biting thoughts that are actually going through her head. The strikethroughs help the reader dive more deeply into Lia’s psyche, helping us to understand that Lia is a. an unreliable narrator who lies to get her way and b. Lia has not yet begun to heal because she still wants her body to disappear. In spite of her best friend’s death from an eating disorder and the sorrow she has caused her own family, Lia lacks perspective and, through most of the novel, remains committed to vanishing. In one section of the novel, Anderson demonstrates Lia’s silence by leaving two entire pages blank, a powerful move at this moment in the text.

Reader’s Annotation
Lia’s best friend recently died from an eating disorder. Does this mean that her friend “won” their competition over who would be skinniest?

Information about the Author
According to the author’s website, “Laurie Halse Anderson was born on October 23, 1961 in Potsdam, a very cold, cold place in Northern New York State. It was (and still is) close to the border of Canada. She was born Laurie Beth Halse. This would be a good place to clear up the matter of the pronunciation of her name, because it is, after all, her name, and she is weary of hearing it mangled by well-meaning people. Halse rhymes with waltz. Not hal-see. No, no, no, no. Halt-z. If she could have anything she wanted, it would be world peace. But if she could have a second thing, it would be having people say her name correctly.

…

Laurie is probably best known for her Young Adult novels. Her debut novel, Speak, was a National Book Award Finalist, a New York Times bestseller, and a Printz Honor book. Even more thrilling, Speak was quickly placed into curriculum at hundreds of middle schools, high schools, and colleges around the country. (The film version of Speak features Twilight star, Kristen Stewart, as Melinda!)

…

Laurie lives in Northern New York, with her childhood sweetheart, now husband, Scot. She has four wonderful children and a neurotic dog, all of whom she dearly loves. When not enjoying her family and her large garden, she spends countless hours writing in a woodland cottage designed and built just for that purpose by her Beloved Husband. She also likes to train for marathons, hike in the mountains, and try to coax tomatoes out of the rocky soil in her backyard.
She is quite sure that she leads a charmed life and is deeply grateful for it.”

Genre
Realistic Fiction/ Problem Novel

Curriculum Unit
Health curriculum--unit on body image and eating disorders

Booktalking Ideas
Explain Lia’s condition from three different perspectives--her mother, Lia, and her step-sister.

Reading Level
Ages 14+

Challenge Issues



This novel may be a tough read for sensitive readers due to the narrator’s self-destructive behaviors. If the book were challenged, I would turn to ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library  Materials.

Why Included?
I had read Speak years ago and loved it and wanted to read another Laurie Halse-Anderson novel. I watched a short video clip of Halse-Anderson discussing Wintergirls, felt intrigued and checked it out of the library. I think this will be a powerful read for a wide range of readers, but especially those whose lives have been affected by eating disorders or other forms of self-harm.