Mod. 4 - NEW MOON by Stephenie Meyer

Bibliographic data
Meyer, Stephenie. New Moon. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008. ISBN 9780316024969


Critical analysis
This fantasy-romance novel is the second book in the Twilight Saga series.
Sidenote: Edward is gone throughout most of this novel. I know…it’s sad. But some readers might be happier because Jacob is with Bella as a replacement. I, however, wasn’t impressed and missed Edward tremendously.

Bella is celebrating her 18th birthday at the Cullens’ residence. She opens a gift and gets a paper cut. Jasper cannot control his vampire hunger and lunges for her.

Jasper slammed into Edward, and the sound was like the crash of boulders in a rock slide. There was another noise, a grisly snarling that seemed to be coming from deep in Jasper’s chest. Jasper tried to shove past Edward, snapping his teeth just inches from Edward’s face. (28-9).

To protect Bella, Edward decides that the Cullens family must move away to keep her safe. Bella is brokenhearted and lonely. He asks her to keep herself safe, but the only way Bella can still “hear” Edward is when she is risking her life in daredevil stunts. Jacob and Bella become closer and she finds out he is a werewolf. There is a bit of miscommunication and Edward thinks Bella has died. He cannot go on with living and goes to the Volturi so that he may die. An action-packed track across the world keeps readers at the edge of their seat in hopes that the two may be reunited again.

This installment of Twilight Saga parallels Romeo and Juliet. Both stories deal with losing your true love, a forbidden love. It’s forbidden because of the, me vampire – you human concept of course and also because of the rivalry between the werewolves and the vampires. Juliet and Bella both appear to commit suicide and Romeo/Edward is so distraught by the news that they go and try to commit suicide themselves. Edward fans are lucky though because he does not succeed in this attempt. The beginning of the book has:

These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume. (Act II, Scene VI)

This novel is less romance and more action this time around for the series. Thank goodness because how long can Bella long for Edward in a 563-paged book? However, there is some love-tension concerning Bella and Jacob. It is nice that there is a change in the relationships in this book. Jacob’s character has really starts to develop and create a mold for himself in this novel. About the middle of the book the story started to drag and I once again longed for Edward’s return to keep me interested. Bella is still a flat and boring character in my opinion, which moviegoers will be in luck because she’s depicted in the same way, thanks to Kristen Stewart’s lack of acting skills. For any readers that have been dumped by their loved ones before and then if they’re lucky reunited with that handsome vampire…er boy, this book will tug at their heartstrings.

Practical suggestion
Book website: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/
Author website: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/

Prepare a book/movie trailer
Of course – go see the movie in November!


Questions:
How do you think Edward and Bella’s relationship will change when she transforms into a vampire? Will Edward be as attracted to Bella? Will she be as attracted to him? Do you think they'll stay in love forever?

How well does Bella deal with the pain of losing Edward? Does she grow as a person from the experience of losing and then regaining him?

Will Charlie and Renée notice the change in Bella if she transforms into a vampire?

External assessments
Kirkus Reviews
Psychic miscommunications and angst-ridden dramatic gestures lead to an exciting page-turner of a conclusion drenched in the best of Gothic romantic excess. Despite Bella's flat and obsessive personality, this tale of tortured demon lovers entices.

Children’s Literature
Readers who have not read Twilight may find some of the references to previous relationships and plotlines hard to follow. This is an overly long novel with a minimum of action. The ending makes it clear that there is another sequel to follow.

VOYA

While certainly better written than its predecessor, it may leave the reader wishing for something different-a more empowered and self-assured heroine, comic relief to balance the perpetually brooding Edward, fewer references to the vampires' innate beauty. Meyer is at work on the third addition to the Forks saga so there is hope these transformations can occur. Despite the flaws, expect this book to remain checked out by its legions of fans as they await the third novel's release.

Mod. 4 - UGLIES by Scott Westerfeld

Bibliographic data
Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies. New York: Simon Pulse, 2005. ISBN 9781415586198


Critical analysis
Uglies is set in a dystopian world, in the future, where when teenagers turn sixteen, they are given an operation to make them pretty. Pretties have big eyes, fat lips, not too skinny and not fat. Sounds perfect, right? This “pretty” comes at a cost to the teenagers, but they do not know what that cost is…even after their surgery.

Tally is the main protagonist in this first book in the trilogy. She is nicknamed “Squint” because of her eyes. She is tired of being an ugly and dreams of the day she can return to Peris, her best friend in New Pretty Town. Tally meets Shay and they become fast friends. Tally believes in the Pretty transformations and doesn’t understand why Shay hasn’t decided to start planning her new look. Shay is more adventurous than Tally. She knows of another place, another town, called Smoke, where Pretties don’t matter.

When her friend lives to go to Smoke to evade her own surgery, Tally does not go with her and instead chooses to stay for her surgery. However, she is forced to go seek Shay by a Dr. Cable. Tally is faced with a decision to either turn in her friend or never turn pretty at all.

Westerfeld’s take on this dual society, The Pretties and The Uglies is different and familiar at the same time. In the Uglies’ world the government raises the children – not the parents. The government keeps them all controlled with many rules and regulations. The Pretties are allowed to do whatever they want. All Pretties want to do is party and socialize. Because of their transformation from Uglies, the government is not worried about Pretties getting into trouble.

Tally finds love in the Smoke, which seems a bit rushed and forced to this reader. Because of it’s hurried romance it seemed less believable, but he and his parents (former doctors that helped perform the transformation) helped Tally see the truth behind the prettiness. David informs Tally of the disagreements with The Uglies/Pretties and the others that live in the Smoke. In school Tally tells him they say it's a complicated matter and don't discuss it any further. David tells her that it's not so complicated. He explains,

Maybe the reason war and all that other stuff went away is that there are no more controversies, no disagreements, no people demanding change. Just masses of smiling pretties, and a few people left to run things. (267)

Tally figures it out...and says,

Becoming pretty doesn't just change the way you look.

And David answers,

No [...] it changes the way you think. (268)

The great storyline of Pretties that conform to the rest of society and the others in Smoke have minds of their own is reminiscent of our society today. With reality shows about making people look “pretty” and transforming themselves it’s no wonder teenagers will think this is an enticing and thrilling read. It’s a wonderful parable of adolescent life that teens will quickly relate to. The ending left readers searching to find out what happened next for Tally. It is definitely a keep-you-at-the-edge-of-your-seat reading with all the suspense.


Practical suggestion
Book website: http://www.scottwesterfeld.com/books/uglies.htm
Author website: http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/

Because a movie is in works for this project, have teens create a book/movie trailer for this first book in the trilogy. And, of course, read the rest of the series and do the same.

Discussion questions to ask:
Would you give up your ability to think independently in exchange for being happy, beautiful, perpetually healthy, and rich?

Other than the pretty operation, what are the main differences between the pretty society and our own? (Are there any ways in which the pretty society is healthier than ours?)

On your sixteenth birthday, how would you feel about being forced to have the surgery to become pretty? Would you feel like Tally -- looking forward to being beautiful and bubbly -- or like Shay -- wanting to escape the surgery and stay ugly, but remain herself? If your best friend asked you to not have the surgery, what do think you would have chosen to do?

Activities:

Have teenagers develop their own hoverboard.

Watch for the movie scheduled to come out in 2011!

External assessments
School Library Journal
Ethical concerns will provide a good source of discussion as honesty, justice, and free will are all oppressed in this well-conceived dystopia. Characterization, which flirts so openly with the importance of teen self-concept, is strong, and although lengthy, the novel is highly readable with a convincing plot that incorporates futuristic technologies and a disturbing commentary on our current public policies. Fortunately, the cliff-hanger ending promises a sequel.

Booklist

Although the narrative's brisk pace is more successful in scenes of hover-boarding action than in convincingly developing Tally's key relationships, teens will sink their teeth into the provocative questions about invasive technology, image-obsessed society, and the ethical quandaries of a mole-turned-ally. These elements, along with the obvious connections to reality programs such as Miami Slice, will surely cause this ingenious series debut to cement Westerfeld's reputation for high-concept YA fiction that has wide appeal. Suggest M. T. Anderson's Feed (2002) and Westerfeld's own So Yesterday (2004) to readers antsy for the next installment.

Mod. 4 - GOING BOVINE by Libba Bray

Bibliographic data
Bray, Libba. Going Bovine. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009. ISBN 9780385733977


Critical analysis
“The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World. I’m sixteen now, so you can imagine that’s left me with quite a few days of major suckage” (1). This is how Cameron’s journey begins in Going Bovine. Libba Bray’s dark and twisted novel poses many questions about life. A few questions that Cameron seeks are: Why are we here? What is real? Why must we die? How do we really live? Cameron is given some terribly bad news in his early life. He finds out he has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is mad cow disease. It’s a degenerative neurological disorder, incurable and fatal. Bray certainly did her homework in researching this disease and how it affects the victim. Somehow, the fact that Cameron has mad cow disease and he will die does not sadden this novel at all because readers are on this fantastic hallucinating and weird journey with these crazy characters. Readers will definitely enjoy Bray’s dark, twisty, sarcastic humor throughout this novel.

This humorously dark novel parallels Don Quixote’s storyline. It begins early in the novel, when Cameron’s class is taking part in reading and discussing the Spanish novel. The characters in this book are all similar to many different characters in other pieces of magnificent works, like Don Quixote, Metamorphoses, and On the Road.

Cameron meets Dulcie, a punk/angel that helps guide him when he needs that extra push in the right direction. She has quite a sugar habit. Cameron, along with readers, does not quite know if Dulcie is real or part of Cam’s hallucinations. Cameron takes friends along for this journey. Gonzo is a video-gaming dwarf who thinks he’ll die of common circumstances. His mother makes him fear everything will kill him, he won’t eat nuts because he could be allergic to them and die. Also along for the ride is Balder, a yard gnome. Balder is tired of being strewed around the world having his pictures taken with fraternity boys and getting urinated on by dogs.

In the end, Cameron finds out what it really means to live. It had to take death for him to actually do it though. The threat of death somehow woke up his life and he enjoyed this hallucinating journey. Bray writes an excellent journey and it shouldn’t just be marketed for teens because adults will get a kick out of Cameron’s voyage, too. The old lady in the hospital with Cameron says it best, “I don’t think you should die before you’re ready. Until you’ve wrung out every last bit of living you can” (97). Whether Cameron actually lived or just hallucinated these events is up to the reader to decide, but he lived it.


Practical suggestion
The book website: http://goingbovine.com/
The author website: http://www.libbabray.com/

A book talk video would be a great idea for teens to attempt. Let them watch the author’s video of this book on the book’s website to get some ideas.

There are many storylines within storylines in this book. Have teenagers flesh out these people/groups in more detail. Have the CESSNA group create smoothies, create music to the “happy” songs and lyrics that the group sings about incessantly.

Find the parallel stories in the works Bray provide links for in GB. She uses many great novels and stories within GB. What are these stories? Where do these stories connect in GB? Similarities? Differences?


External assessments
Publishers Weekly
Bray's surreal humor may surprise fans of her historical fantasies about Gemma Doyle, as she trains her satirical eye on modern education, American materialism and religious cults (the smoothie-drinking members of the Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack 'N' Bowl). Offer this to fans of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy seeking more inspired lunacy.

VOYA
Readers will be rooting for Cameron to overcome his obstacles to save himself and claim his love for Dulcie. The novel is a laugh-out-loud, tear-jerking, fantastical voyage into the meaning of what is real in life and how someone can learn to live. It is a must-purchase for any libraries wanting to reach out to all teens who need to know there are stories out there for them.

School Library Journal

It's a trip worth taking, though meandering and message-driven at times. Some teens may check out before Cameron makes it to his final destination, but many will enjoy asking themselves the questions both deep and shallow that pop up along the way.

Mod. 3 - FALLEN ANGELS - by Walter Dean Myers

Bibliographic data
Myers, Walter Dean. Fallen Angels. New York: Scholastic, 1988. ISBN 0590409433


Critical analysis
Richie Perry, an African-American protagonist and the narrator, joins the Army right after graduating from high school in Harlem, so he may be able to attend college when he returns. Having Richie tell his story in the first person gives readers an intimate glance into his personal thoughts throughout his time in Vietnam. He and others in his squad joined for many different reasons, but all have one goal in mind – leaving alive. Some views portray war as a romantic event, as in a lover goes off to war and returns to his love a hero and all is well. This is not that type of novel.

Richie finds himself in the depths of Vietnam, and having to deal with race issues within the Army along with the troubles of combat. The crew is a mixture of all different cultures, religions, as well as race. One soldier is even gay while another is Jewish. These differences are put aside once they all come to the realization that they must come together in order to survive.

Richie finds that the line between good and evil is sometimes ambiguous. Richie’s captain is all too focused on rising up in the ranks in the Army than keeping his platoon safe. The platoon search for answers on why they are there fighting in the first place. This seems to have happened a lot during Vietnam. The soldiers, families, friends, and neighbors all wondered the ambivalent question of “Why?” In this search for answers, Richie also searches to find himself. Myers writes a beautiful, sad, and realistic portrayal of a coming-of-age story.

His friend in his squad, Peewee, tends to get through the trials of war by using humor. He seems immature at the beginning, only interested in drinking wine, smoking, and making love to a foreign woman. Peewee later leaves a more mature man looking to take a responsible role as a stepfather to his girlfriend’s child. Many soldiers, like Richie, are at a loss as to what they should do when they return to home. These boys enter this war, some not by their own choice, but throughout their trials and tribulations they are able to leave as men.

The language of the book is the usual basic language of survival in the armed forces. There is plenty of curse words, hateful language, derogatory name-calling, etc. Words are usually exchanged quickly and without a flowing narrative. This quote from the book demonstrates the type of conversations that are exchanged in wartime. Something goes awry in combat.

The machine gun on the right opened up again, and Doyle started screaming.

“Cease fire! Cease fire!” Doyle was jumping around and waving

both of his arms over his head.

“Oh, shit!” Scotty turned around and leaned against the sandbags.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I hope not what I think it is,” Scotty said.

We waited as Doyle walked a little ahead of his position, hands on his hips, and

looked out to the field ahead of us. Behind us I heard choppers. I turned and

saw them headed for us. They went by us out to the target zone.

“Hey, Scotty, did we…?”

“Yep, we just shot the shit out of the first platoon.”

(102-103).


Practical suggestions:
Invite a local Vietnam Vet to talk to the class about problems that soldiers faced both in Vietnam and in the United States upon their return. Students will prepare interview questions for the guest speaker.

Have students prepare a book talk using a story telling medium, such as PhotoStory. Students use a combination of music, images, and carefully chosen quotations from the novel.

1989 Coretta Scott King Award
Fallen Angels is listed as number 24 in the ALA’s list of 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990–2000 due to its use of profanity and mature themes involving war.


External assessments:
Children’s Literature
By showing what is going on in the minds of teenagers both drafted and volunteering to serve their country, the reader is drawn into the experience, sharing the good and the bad. Hiding no horrors, the reader experiences death, fear, loss, friendship, hate, racism, and hope for the future along with the characters in the army, particularly Richie's friends, Peewee, Lobel, Johnson, and Brunner. A useful book for any literature tie-in with a history class studying war or racism, this work will assist students in gaining a real-life understanding of what occurs during such situations, rather than solely the facts studied in a traditional history course.

School Library Journal
This is a compelling, graphic, necessarily gruesome, and wholly plausible novel. It neither condemns nor glorifies the war but certainly causes readers to think about the events. Other difficult issues, such as race and the condition of the Vietnamese people, are sensitively and realistically incorporated into the novel. The soldiers' language is raw, but appropriate to the characters. This is a book which should be read by both young adults and adults.

Mod. 3 - I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU - by Ally Carter

Bibliographic data
Carter, Ally. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You. New York:
Hyperion, 2006. ISBN 9781423100041


Critical analysis
This story follows Cammie who attends Gallagher, a school for extremely gifted girls. Girl spies run very few in the mystery/adventure world, especially those with genius IQs and that can assassinate someone using a spaghetti noodle.

Cammie is dealing with her mother being the head mistress of the Gallagher house. Cammie’s father was killed in a covert operation, which is also difficult for her to deal with because many instructors and other VIPs she meets send along their condolences.

Carter’s book is not full of “girl-power” and fluff. These young women are smart and witty. However, Carter does not reach the heights of more popular Young Adult authors that write adventure stories for other females. The Gallagher house is full of secret passageways, hidden rooms, secret gadgets, and CSI/FBI/CIA-type of classes. Some of these descriptions remind readers of a Hogwarts-type environment, such as the group house with different passageways.

When Cammie meets a cute boy she handles the situation as any normal girl would…a normal Gallagher girl, that is. Cammie and her friends wire tap his house, dig through his trash, hacks into his email accounts, and finds out anything else that the can using their skills they’ve learned in the Covert Operations class. Despite her intelligence and familial ties to the Gallaghers, Cammie struggles to find her true self outside of the house, staff, and cohort. Cammie feels a stereotype about outsiders just as outsiders have a stereotype pegged on the Gallagher girls.

This story is a great adventure for readers to enjoy. It has many aspects that young girls will appreciate. The novel is easy and fun to read, filled with witty humor, typical teenage-girl conversations but mixed with a secret agent attitude.

Excerpt:
Report of trash taken from the home of Josh Abrams
Number of empty cardboard toilet paper rolls: 2
Preferred variety of canned soup: tomato (followed closely by Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom).
Number of empty Ben & Jerry’s containers: 3 – two mint chocolate cookie, one plain vanilla. (Who buys plain vanilla ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s, anyway? Is there a greater waste?)
Number of Pottery Barn catalogs: 14 (No items marked or otherwise identified, even though the Windsor Washable Throw Pillows were on sale and appeared to be quite a bargain.) – (p. 124-5).


Practical suggestion
This novel would be fun to get some classmates together and have them create a book talk video for a class assignment. It could be in a “James Bond” type theme.

Follow up with readings of the rest of the series:
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover

External assessments
http://www.allycarter.com/

http://www.allycarter.com/blog.html

Awards

2007-2008 Texas Lone Star Reading List Book

2007-2008 Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers

2007 Amelia Bloomer List


School Library Journal
Subplots include Cammie's relationship with her mother–the headmistress at Gallagher–and her grief over the loss of her father, who died while on a spying assignment. The teen's double life leads to some amusing one-liners, and the invented history of the Gallagher Girls is also entertaining, but the story is short on suspense. The stakes never seem very high since there are no real villains, and the cutesy dialogue quickly becomes grating. However, the novel has been optioned for a film and will likely attract readers who enjoy lighthearted, frothy tales and squeaky-clean romances. Unfortunately, it lacks the warmth and appeal of other teen books turned into movies, such as Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries (HarperCollins, 2000) and Ann Brashares's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.


VOYA
Think Alias meets Gilmore Girls. The causal explanation for the complex inner workings of the secretive Gallagher Academy and the diversity of the group inside its walls make a unique and enjoyable setting. The characters and their relationships, including Cammie's mother-Headmistress of the Gallagher Academy-propel this story beyond just being an action-packed novel into something special. The promise of a second Gallagher Girl book is the promise of good times to come.

Mod. 3 - STAYING FAT FOR SARAH BYRNES by Chris Crutcher

Bibliographic data
Crutcher, Chris. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. New York Philadelphia: Econo-Clad Books, 1999. ISBN 9780785735656


Critical analysis
This story is told from a perspective of a boy that is overweight. This problem novel deals with many complex family issues as well as with how young people view and treat one another based on physical appearance. People judge others by how they look on the outside and teenagers do so more quickly and ruthlessly. Eric Calhoune, known as Moby, and Sarah Byrnes became friends to deal with the fact that they were both outcasts. Eric is overweight and Sarah’s face and hands are disfigured from a mysterious burn accident. Eric starts to lose weight when he joins the swim team, but is afraid to lose Sarah as a friend, so tries to stay fat to be an outcast with her. Sarah explains that he doesn't need to intake massive amounts of calories to be an outcast with her to stay friends.

In Contemporary American Thought (CAT) class, Eric discovers that dealing with issues is never easy, especially when the issues revolve around sex, religion, and the existence of God. The theme follows the same template as many other young adult novels, which is, do not judge someone solely based on how they look. Sarah is so disfigured that she has lost control of how her life is managed. The only things she can now control are her peers. She even makes them all call her by her first and last name.

The tone of the novel is very straightforward; nothing is ambiguous besides how Sarah became hideously disfigured, which readers finally find out the real reason why she is disfigured later in the novel. The manner in which the teenage boy, Eric, speaks to adults, including his mother is not normal. There is foul language scattered throughout the book. It is not just the foul language but also the manner in which Eric talks to his mother, using disrespectful language.

The book is a thrilling adventure of going with Eric in this quest to find out what really happened to Sarah Byrnes’ disfigured face and hands. It simply was not accidentally a spill from cooking spaghetti, is it? Her cold, daunting father must have something to do with it, right?

Practical suggestions

Serve crispy pork rinds for a discussion group get together.

This website has lesson plans for this novel:
http://www.chriscrutcher.com/content/view/726/64/


External assessments
ALA Best Book for YA

SLJ Best Book for YA

American Booksellers Pick of the List

California Young Reader Medalist

1995 Joan Fassler Memorial Book Award

ALA Best of the Best Books for YA

Publisher's Weekly Starred Review

1994 South Dakota YARP Best Books

Nominee 1995-1996 Iowa Teen Award

Nominee 1995-1996 SC YA Book Award

Nominee 1996 Young Reader's Choice Award

Nominee 1996-1997 ILF Rosie


http://www.chriscrutcher.com/content/blogcategory/65/54/


Publisher’s Weekly
A subplot centering on a self-righteous teammate drives home the point that nothing is as it appears on the surface, and leads to Eric being caught between his menacing vice-principal and the even more malevolent Mr. Byrnes--with spine-tingling results. Superb plotting, extraordinary characters and crackling narrative make this novel one to be devoured in a single unforgettable sitting.

Kirkus Reviews

Though Crutcher doesn't always play fair in developing his themes--all the conservative Christians here are humorless dupes or hypocrites, and one tries to commit suicide after it comes out that his girlfriend had an abortion--his language, characters, and situations are vivid and often hilarious. In the end, he deals out just deserts all around: Eric gets a stepfather he can respect; Virgil, a vicious mauling plus 20 years in stir; Sarah, a new and loving set of parents. Readers may find the storybook ending a welcome relief, though it does seem forced after the pain that precedes it. Pulse-pounding, on both visceral and intellectual levels--a wild, brutal ride.