Poetry

So the best part about this blog is that I am doing the entire post using my smart phone.  This week we read just one book, YOU HEAR ME? : POEMS AND WRITING BY TEENAGE BOYS.  It was a good book.  I'm not a huge poetry fan but as a librarian, I am always looking for new books for this weak section of the library.  It is difficult to find books that the young students will be able to relate to.  I believe this poetry book would be a good addition to a high school library.  I am concerned about the language in some poems.  I enjoyed the fact that the editor did not critique or comment on the poems.  I do wonder where these boys are now, 10 years later.  I hope that some of them continued writing.  My favorite was NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH which detailed what one young man saw as he sat on his front porch. 

Graphic Novels



What I love about graphic novels:  Easy to read, quick, and beautiful.

Three of the four graphic novels that we read this week fit perfectly into the graphic novel mold.  American Born Chinese, and Twilight Part 1 and 2, each read like a comic strip with word balloons and the appearance of boxes of pictures.  Tales from Outer Suburbia is a little different.  Actually, it's very different.  I'm sure many librarians have difficulty with how to catalog this book.  I would probably not shelve it with graphic novels but rather with illustrated books.  Then you have another issue though.   Should it be shelved with children's books?  The "tales" that are included attempt to examine our societal views.  They may be too complex for younger readers (and for older readers in fact). 
As soon as I brought home American Born Chinese, my young daughter picked it up and started reading it.  There are three stories that at first appear to be each a separate story about Chinese culture and growing up as a Chinese American.  In the end they all come together in a surprising way.  This was my daughter's first graphic novel and she really seemed to enjoy it.  I think she was looking at the pictures mostly.  She was sure to point out the part when the Monkey King gets stabbed and blood drips.  She really got a kick out of Chin -Kee.  She thought he was funny looking.

And finally Twilight.  Ahh, Edward....  I read the original Twilight while I was pregnant with my second child.  If she had been a boy, she would have been an Edward.  I love the way Edward talks.  I think most girls do.  The graphic novel takes the story and makes it more visual.  There is a lot of descriptive dialogue that is missing but I enjoyed getting my dose of Twilight.  If you haven't read the entire novel (and I can't understand why not) and want to see what the hype is all about, reading the graphic novel will give you a good background and possibly the extra nudge you need to go read the novel.

Selection, Censorship, Diversity

This week we read books all dealing with different topics but seem to have the theme of getting through a difficult time.  Each of these books main characters have a label that have been placed on them.

In the book Mockingbird by Katherine Erskine,  Caitlin is a young girl that has been diagnosed with Asperbergers Disease.  Caitlin has a hard time looking at people's eyes and understanding emotions.  It is difficult enough to live with this disease but now she must learn how to live with out her brother Devon who has been killed.  Devon has been Caitlin's support while her mother has already died.  Her Dad is suffering in his own way until Caitlin helps them both find closure.

Steve Harmon has been arrested for murder and faces time in jail if he is found guilty.  He is a black teen that simply looks guilty.  The story Monster by Walter Dean Myers is written by Steve's point of view as a screen play if he was to make this trial into a movie.  Steve  claims he is innocent but now he must convince the jury of the same.  Steve worries that his parents and lawyer look at him like he is a monster.

Shawn is telling us the story in the book Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman.  Shawn is labeled exceptional because he has Cerebral Palsy.  He can not move a muscle; he cannot chew food, cannot point to words, and he cannot talk but he has the most remarkable memory.  No one knows about this though and think that Shawn has a low IQ.  This is all wrong, in fact, he has learned how to read by his sister playing school with him.  Shawn wants so badly to scream out that he is in there and wants to tell his father that he is not suffering.

The last book in this group is The Absolutely True Diary of Part-Time Indian by Alexie Sherman.  We are reading Junior's diary.  Junior is living on an Indian Reservation and has decided that he needs more for his education so he decides to go off the Rez and attend school with the White students.  This is not easy, Junior must overcome the racism at his new school and he must explain to the other Indians that he is not a traitor.  Most importantly, his friend Rowdy needs to understand why Junior has left him.