A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, By Ishmael Beah

When my dad was in school, Vietnam was the conflict that had many people the world over calling for attention to the abuse of human rights. This was around the same time that many previously uncovered (in the United States media) events in Africa began boiling over, including the conflict in Sierra Leone. Of course, right now, the world conflicts that are garnering attention from human rights groups throughout post-industrial nations include what's happening in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the Darfur region of Sudan, and the civil war in Sierra Leone, among many others.

There are many books out there now in ya and children's literature circles about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the catalog of books is ever increasing. Darfur has moved to the forefront for many who decry what is happening throughout Sudan. A great book that discusses and showcases the human side of the events in Sudan (not necessarily Darfur) is called What is the What, written by Dave Eggers telling the true story of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee. Of course, this book is clearly written for adults, it is quite dense, and would be very cumbersome to read in a high school classroom, so I wouldn't recommend it.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, written by and about Ishmael Beah, a boy soldier from Sierra Leone, is a book that is sized just right for the young adult audience. Content wise, this book is gritty and disturbing, as Beah takes us through his horrible experience of fleeing the rebels after the presumed death of his family, and hiding alone, as a child, in the jungles of Sierra Leone. He is eventually found and turned into a boy soldier, capable of ruthless genocide.

This story disturbed many adults in my reading group to the point that they could not finish the book, yet I was looking at this text as a resource to be used in an 11th or 12th grade literature class. As a non-fiction story (which we don't use often enough), a clear picture is painted here of genocide in our time. This isn't reading about the Holocaust and saying "wow, we must learn from those mistakes," because these things in Africa are happening right now.

First of all, this book is bloody, it is gritty, it is disturbing. It was written for the ya audience, and it is not any less appropriate for them than reading Maus (Art Spiegelman) or showing videos about the Darfur crisis. It's not a long book, which makes it a good two or three week long read, and the discussion that will surely take place upon completion of the book will go in many different directions, including morality, regaining humanity, and the place of an American in this crisis.

Red Glass, by Laura Resau

Red Glass, by Laura Resau, is a great "coming of age" story. Sophie is an outcast (much of it born out of lack of self esteem and other internal conflicts) living in Tucson, when a young boy, Pedro, enters the lives of their family. Pedro was crossing the border illegally when his family died, and he was left alone.

Now, first off, Red Glass is an excellent piece of young adult literature that would be appropriate to the reading levels and content appropriateness for young high school students, possibly 9th or 10th grade. The reading itself is surprisingly easy to get into, I actually read this book in two evening sittings, it's a fluid, wonderful love story.

I can see many students relating to either Sophie or her love interest Angel. The characters are so well written that at times I felt like I was reading a first person biography. The way the story moves from Tucson to southern Mexico and then off to Guatemala is entrancing. This book is great for students living in the desert Southwest or the border areas of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

I highly recommend this book, and its wonderful play with words and metaphors. The metaphor of red glass will not be lost on high school students. This book is one of the better ya novels written in the last few years (published in 2007).

My Take on Watchmen

I had never read Watchmen, the highly popular graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (artist). When the movie came out a few months ago, the book gained in popularity again, and I finally caved and got a copy to see what all the hype was about.

I am by no means a graphic novel aficionado, I have just read a few things that have caught my interest over the years, so I'm not one who feeds on these types of books. I have, however, started branching out and trying to read more, and have found it to be a varied experience.

My first thought when I began reading Watchmen was "wow, this is just a big giant comic book." I was drawing back on my childhood experiences, reading X Men and Superman comics, among others. However, when looking at this book through a historical lens, knowing that it was written during the later years of the Cold War, there was a lot to this book. The cynicism, the disillusionment, and the tongue-in-cheek dialogue, especially from the narrator Rorschach, made this a great adult reading experience.

I'll admit that some of the Dr. Manhattan stuff got a little "out there," but I enjoyed the metaphor that lied behind it. That's a good way to describe my overall experience with this book. It was out there, but was a great story that kept having me go "ah yes, I got that, very nice."

Now, does this book have potential in the classroom? First off, if you're talking anything below AP English Literature for Seniors or really insightful Juniors, forget it, don't even bother. If this book fits some kind of unit of study on, say, the Cold War, or in a greater survey of graphic novels, comic books, or something along those lines, then sure, I can see it fitting in terms of its content along those subject lines.

It is a very witty, very multi-dimensional story. There is a lot more sophistication than I was anticipating, and I'm not saying that in a snooty, "those darn kids won't get it, they're just not smart enough," kind of way. I am saying that it simply might go over their heads and end up being just another comic book with an adult theme.

This is a great piece of literature that has aged well, but is an adult piece of literature. I commend anyone who has managed to use this in the classroom and go deeper than surface level with it. Personally, I say it's more of an adult read, but if you've had experiences teaching with this, please share.

In the Small by Michael Hague, a graphic novel book review

What you're going to read from me over the next few days are a few graphic novel reviews, I am currently going through a stack of some that were either recommended to me or sounded interesting.

Today I am going to review In the Small, by Michael Hague. In the Small is the debut for Hague and is likely the first in a story series. In the Small is a post apocalyptic story about a blue flash that envelops the earth, turning humans 1/12 their normal size. Of course, you can imagine the panic that sweeps the world, as life as humanity knows it ceases to exist. Animals once thought benign are now predators on the largest scale, and years of technological advancement are for nothing, because humans are no longer large enough to use any of it.

This is a great premise, an interesting take on the whole apocalyptic story, certainly a departure from the celestial event or nuclear bombing that is the hallmark of 90% of all books and/or movies in this genre.

The first thing I noticed about In the Small is that I didn't care much for the delivery of the story in Hague's artistry or word choice. The story was highly contrived, based around mysticism a little bit too much, and was one of those stories where basically one family does all the work on two separate fronts and everyone else just satisfies themselves with being background players.

The graphics were rather gory, which isn't a problem, and actually comes with the territory, many graphic novels that are classified as young adult appropriate have a fair amount of blood and death, but this one was sensationalized a little bit at times.

I felt that the story was weak, and if I wasn't trying to get through it in order to have the whole story to look at (or the fact that it only took about 20 minutes to read the whole thing and gather my thoughts on it), then I may not have finished it, it couldn't hold interest and was just odd.

If you are a teacher (or just a reader) and have a love for apocalyptic fiction, or your students enjoy it and want more, I guess this book can be tried. I don't know how well received it will be by students, because it's getting highly mixed reviews in the literary world. I can just say that I won't personally recommend it, because I didn't care for it.

This book should carry a high school reading level, I would say 9th grade and up for the language usage, but probably 11th and up for the content, but that's just my opinion on that.

The Dead & the Gone: A Book Review

As a 5th grade teacher in New Mexico, I am responsible for teaching United States history, from pre-Columbian times to the present day. One of the things I start each year with is a study of Mayan, Incan, and Aztec cultures, and their influences on early American culture. One of the things that always comes up is the Mayan calendar, and their belief that December 21, 2012 will be the end of their long count calendar (and, as some say, the end of the world). My students, each year I teach this, become enamored by this idea, and some continue to study it on their own or ask questions on and off for the rest of the school year. This is one small example of how apocalyptic tales and/or warnings intrigue even the youngest among us.

The Dead and the Gone, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, is a companion book to Life As We Knew It(see my review HERE). In the reality crafted by Pfeffer, an asteroid has hit the moon, jarring it out of its precarious orbit with the earth, moving it slightly closer. The consequences of this event, in which the moon has a stronger gravitational pull in relation to the earth, causes massive tidal waves, volcanic eruptions, and near nuclear winter conditions world wide. The apocalypse in this story seems as if it could happen anytime, from the telling of the story, there's nothing ridiculous about it on the surface.

In Life As We Knew It, the story is told from a small town in Pennsylvania, with the struggles for survival in an isolated area. The Dead and the Gone tells this same story from New York City, and as the story moves along, we see a world almost more isolated, more prison like, than the Pennsylvania story.

The Dead and the Gone, in my opinion, is a much more telling read than Life As We Knew It. It's more jarring, more true to the realities of post apocalyptic fiction, and lives up to its billing as a book for ages 12 and up. With its images of death, disease, and the decaying human condition, its a good story from beginning to end. I found that the characters of this story, Alex Morales and his sisters mainly, were easy enough to relate to, and would be for pre-adolescent/teen readers as well.

Post apocalypse has been a topic of interest for me recently, and I've tried to pick up and read books that approach this concept from different perspectives. Most recently, I read Cormac McCarthy's The Road (see my review HERE), and found slight parallels between it and this book, possibly a future topic of research, at least, it's an idea I'm throwing around. If you read both, you will see similar stories of survival, self-preservation, and the stark reality of the world after events that have put an end to life as we knew it.

So in any case, before I go on and on, I want to end this review by saying that I enjoyed The Dead and the Gone a lot, more than Life As We Knew It actually, but understand that its content is a bit more mature. This is a great book, one that I enjoyed from beginning to end.

Graceling, by Kristin Cashore: A Young Adult Book Review

Graceling, by Kristin Cashore, is a book that says "14 years and older" on the back cover. From reading this hefty piece of young adult literature, I would have to mostly agree with this, although I would not feel any reservations to sitting this on my 5th grade bookshelf and letting some more advanced readers try it out.

What caught me about Graceling is that, while this book is a fantasy, set in the fantasy world of Kristin Cashore's imagination, it has so many levels, more levels than some adult fantasy stories. This book is almost equal parts fantasy, combat, romance, survival, and political intrigue.

Clocking in at 480 pages, I would say that it's probably a bit too long to be a read aloud, plus, its content (fantasy), doesn't seem to have universal appeal. Now, before anyone takes offense to that, I'm just saying that fantasy stories seem to really attract some readers while others won't even read five pages of it. I do recommend this for the student or adult who enjoys fantasy reads. I would place this on my bookshelf next to The Land of Elyon (fantasy for pre-teens), and The Lord of the Rings (fantasy for older teens).

For me, the best thing about this book was the concept of Grace. The two toned eyes, the differing gifts, and the interplay of the Graceling's Katsa and Po. Katsa, the main protagonist of this story, is told masterfully. I found myself very intrigued by her, continually trying to form an image of this beautiful, dangerous heroine, and found that my image of her changed throughout the story.

I cannot stress enough how good this book was. I now just need to sit back and hope that Kristin Cashore is working on a sequel.

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy: Possible Young Adult Literature

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, was not written for high school students, it is an adult book. However, its content, as well as the way the story is told, is appropriate for high school and undergraduate college students alike. The Road is a post-apocalyptic story of the survival of a man and his son is told through very roughly formatted text, but in beautiful fashion. McCarthy, the author of No Country For Old Men (which is definitely NOT appropriate for school reading of any age), has struck a chord with this book among both science fiction and literary circles alike.

This book forces one to ask, can science fiction be heralded as a work of classic literature, or if this book even qualifies as science fiction. I wanted to originally classify this book as a dystopia themed one, much like 1984, A Brave New World, and such post-apocalyptic tales as The Planet of the Apes, I Am Legend, and Earth Abides, books that have all found their way into high school classrooms at one time or another. However, after reading it, I found that it fit with none of these books, although I was able to make connections that I found fit. This book defies classification in a clearly defined sub-genre, but is most definitely a work of science fiction and of the highest form of literary art, in my opinion.

This story involves no brutal murder, blood and guts, or even adult situations (other than the ongoing topic of death and suicide, which is not an uncommon theme in works of adult literature, especially such dark tales as this one). I can see high school juniors or seniors, as well as college undergraduates, delving deep into the possibilities of this book, including the origins of the apocalypse that took place, the relationship and goals of the man and boy, and the meaning of this story as a whole.

The prose of the book is especially interesting. McCarthy is known for his interesting style, and this book is no exception. The stripped down writing, with its incomplete punctuation, sometimes erratic structure, and bare bones dialogue are almost poetic at times, but on a deeper level, are a part of the story itself. When the man and boy are on the brink of despair and starvation, the grammatical structure of the story begins to thin, but when they are in higher spirits, it reads more like a novel (which isn't much). I think this would be an intriguing idea to show to students to let them think about on their own, it certainly interested me.

I am writing about this book in part because I thought it was of stunning beauty. It was a work of art, and engrossed me in every conceivable way. Its content is not inappropriate for high school students, and its vocabulary is not beyond 17 and 18 year olds. I recommend teachers take a closer look at this book, both for its value as a true masterpiece, and for its value in the classroom. Hopefully someone sees this and runs with this book. If I taught senior English/Composition, I definitely would.

I would draw possible parallels in the young adult and pre-adolescent literary worlds to this book through the following two books:

Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer - The story of a girl and her family struggling to survive after a massive meteor strikes the moon, knocking it out of its gentle balance with the earth, causing apocalyptic events (ages 10-14). See my review of Life As We Knew It.

The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau - Some sort of unnamed apocalypse occurs, and a group of people are taken to safety in The City of Ember. This story is one of survival through dark circumstances, but is told in a fashion that is appropriate for children (ages 8-12). See my review of The City of Ember.

Fahrenheit 451: A Young Adult Book Review

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 stands as one of the masterpieces of the 20th century, and for good reason. This book, originally published in its complete form in 1953, can easily be compared to books like George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the works of Ayn Rand, and, for those of you in the intermediate and middle school grade levels, Lois Lowry's The Giver. This book is so widely loved that it's an often read piece in high school, college, and by adults, who see in it parallels between the politics of book burning and dominating the lives of people and the world we live in now (similar things can also be said about the other dystopic books listed here).

Now, if you're not familiar, dystopia themed literature is about a future in which the world has gone wrong. They often closely resemble, and are sometimes even mistaken for, utopia themed books. The Giver is a book that, in the beginning seems to be a perfect world, but as the curtains are pulled back, society is actually quite appalling and horrific, making it dystopic.

Guy Montag is the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451. He's a man who holds a position of respect in society, he is a fireman. He does not fight fires, he starts them, he burns books. Imagine a fireman carrying a fire hose, but the phrases are both literal, firemen who start fires with hoses that spray fire. Guy is drawn into the world of books, and begins stealing some away. His wife, in the meantime, has become a mindless watcher of TV sitting in the TV parlor watching shows all day in which she interacts with the actors and actresses in a futuristic artificial intelligence.

Early in the book, Guy runs across Clarisse, a sharp witted, free thinking teenager who often wanders around instead of going to school. When Guy asks her why she doesn't go to school, she responds by saying (I will paraphrase this quote to include some of the more poignant parts): "Social to me means talking to you about things like this... or talking about how strange the world is... But I don't think it's social to get a bunch of people together and then not let them talk... we never ask questions, or at least most don't; they just run the answers at you."

In the very same paragraph as the above listed quote, Clarisse makes a quote that can basically sum up education in this future, and, if you're cynical enough, in America. She says: "It's a lot of funnels and a lot of water poured down the spout and out the bottom, and them telling us it's wine when it's not."

This book is a timeless masterpiece that can be enjoyed by a sharp minded 15 year old, and anyone older. I recommend this book for a junior or senior level English class, and even then, only with AP students. Use it with students who will look deeper and make those parallels between the book and society, both in the 1950's and now. I also see this book as a great read in a college undergraduate English class or as part of a survey of dystopia themed or politically charged literature. It would work great alongside the other books I listed at the beginning of this article.

Life As We Knew It

Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, is a great "Armageddon-esque" story, but not really to that extent. It's the story of what happens after a massive asteroid slams into the moon, knocking it off balance, sending the earth into spiraling chaos. As dormant volcanoes erupt, the ocean currents are thrown out of whack, and the earth is sent into nuclear winter, we follow the story of Miranda and her family trying to survive that first winter in Pennsylvania.

This book is pretty good, and is currently sitting on my classroom bookshelf for my 5th graders to read if they so choose. It is a little long, and I almost felt like its format, although interesting (it was written like a diary, with daily entries), didn't read like the diary of a pre-teen. The story is good, but in my opinion isn't a very friendly book to do as a read aloud. I think this one is better served for students to choose to read it. It did get tedious, and a little monotonous, but I definitely enjoyed the book in the long run. If you need some higher quality literature for your classroom collection, or are interested in either reading ya literature or possibly spinning this into some sort of research, it's certainly not the worst book out there.

Persespolis: A Graphic Novel Review

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, is one of the great graphic novels of recent years. I was drawn to it after reading Art Spiegelman's Maus, the biography of his father's experiences as a Jewish Holocaust survivor. When I picked up Persepolis, I was first captivated by the simple yet effective graphics in the book itself, as well as the topic. This series, originally published in two parts, but now available as one book, is the autobiography of Satrapi, growing up in the Islamic Republic of Iran in the '70s and '80s, and living in Europe to escape the tyranny of the extremist government.

The story itself chronicles the downward spiral of hope for Iranian citizens at this time as the fundamentalist government came into power and persecuted them. This book is a clear representation of what happens when religion is allowed to rule theocratically, and isn't just a political statement, but a personal account of what DID happen, not what CAN happen.

As far as its relevance in the classroom, this book could consider adults its main audience. BUT, I do see relevance in the high school literature/composition classroom, but nothing with student much younger than 16 or 17 years old. The book does openly talk about executions, sex, and the personal journey of a teenager. Now, I'm not one for censorship, so I personally think it's great that this book touches on these things, and think it's appropriate for the 16 and up age set, because these are issues that are alive in their minds, and the political issues are things they need to know about.

Now, I'm going to step away from the book to end this and make a personal statement of opinion. As I said in the previous paragraph, I do have major issues with censorship. I don't think it should be up to the moral majority to decide what is censored. It should be up to parents to decide what is appropriate for their children, not ALL children. Also, teachers need to be aware of age appropriateness, and not just pull a book off the shelf and have the class start reading it without either reading it or researching it themselves.

By the age of 16, students should be exposed to more of the realities of the world. If we expect teenagers to be able to vote at the age of 18, they need to understand the intricacies of the world, and the difference that exist out there. I have met some narrow minded people in my life, and most of them are sticklers on the issue of censorship (they're all for it, and seek to censor those around them). We don't live in 1925, we can't think locally, and about only ourselves anymore in this world. Persepolis is a great book, because it puts a real human face on the citizens of Iran, who have been persecuted for a long time, and demonized in the eyes of many Americans.

I Am The Messenger, by Markus Zusak

I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak, is a great book that will appeal to teenagers and adults alike. As I've begun to get more and more involved in young adult literature, I'm learning that quality young adult books are often times better than quality adult reads. That is the case with I Am the Messenger, it's a strong story with themes that apply to high school students and adults, and the story is also sophisticated enough to find readers in both age groups (although the adult age group is a little bigger and more complex than I'm letting on).

Because of this books dual identity in terms of its appeal, I want to talk about its appropriateness to both young adults and adults. First of all, I wouldn't use this book with any student younger than maybe 10th grade, there is a sexual theme that recurs, and I could almost liken some of the internal dialogue in this book to the internal dialogue in The Catcher in the Rye. Of course, J.D. Salinger's signature novel is one of the most banned books that is still widely read.

I Am the Messenger is a much deeper story in my opinion than Holden Caufield's exploits from The Catcher in the Rye. When I first read Catcher, I was surprised at how shallow Caufield (the protagonist) was for the entire story. I didn't get that impression with Ed Kennedy, the protagonist from Messenger. Students will enjoy this book because of its parallels to the realities of life and failure, they'll also enjoy the mystery aspect to the story, and the many different story lines that take place within the mind of a single character.

Now, for adults, the book I kept relating this too was Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas. The internal monologue is very similar, and the self-deprecating manner that the protagonist treats himself is extremely similar in both books. Plus, we encounter an unlikely hero in both books, so the stories strongly relate. I wouldn't say that Zusak and Koontz write in the same way, but they way they carry on their character portraits were similar in the case of these two specific characters of Odd Thomas and Ed Kennedy, without Ed Kennedy seeing dead people and all of that.

This book is highly recommended from me. Markus Zusak can practically do no wrong. His other best seller, The Book Thief (read my review of that book HERE), is one of my favorite books of all time. Check out both of these books, and have fun, because they're highly enjoyable.

The House of the Scorpion: A Borderland Critique

I have lived in southern New Mexico my entire life. In 2000, I moved to Las Cruces to attend New Mexico State University, and have lived here ever since. That means that I am fairly aware of border politics, border culture, and some of the intricacies of living near the United States / Mexico border.

The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer, is a great book that has so many interesting layers to it. It works as a critique of politics, cloning, caste systems, and slavery, among many others. One of the most glaring layers is its references to border politics and actions. The book goes in to pretty glaring detail to explain how the land lying between Aztlán (formerly known as Mexico in the book) and the United States became its own country, called Opium.

The way this reads out almost sounds like it could be true. The wealth and power of influential drug lords in the border region leads to them basically usurping power and causing a rift between the United States and Mexico, in the guise of 'helping' them take care of their drug problems by dealing overseas instead.

The book never directly says it, but knowing the importance of the relationship between Mexico and the United States, who are almost equally dependent on one another, helps explain Mexico collapsing and America losing its super power status in the book.

It's an interesting read with so many different views, and offers some of the greatest dystopic critique for children I've seen. This book goes up on my shelf next to the likes of 1984, A Brave New World, Anthem, and Fahrenheit 451.

Night, by Elie Wiesel: A Book Review

Night, by Elie Wiesel, is one brutal book to read. Wiesel is the critically acclaimed author of various stories centered around Jewish issues and the Holocaust. Wiesel is himself a survivor of both Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buckenweld concentration camps, and is the 1986 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Night is only about 120 pages long, and that's in hard back. The book is short, but packs a big punch. When I read this book, I could really feel Wiesel's sense of despair, confusion, and fear as his family was torn apart, and as he watched his father waste away. He presents the reader with an intimate look at what evil is, how it tears individuals to shreds, and the lingering effects of such horrible events.

This book can be used in the classroom, even in the younger grade levels. If you have a progressive principal, and/or are dedicated to showing your students a true perspective of the Holocaust (forget all that textbook nonsense), then this is a great book to read. Bear in mind that classically this book is used in high school, but it has been on my bookshelf this school year and has been read twice, and has led those two students to find more books on the Holocaust and learn more, so I've seen this book open doors to learning.

I recommend this book for kids and adults alike, I have this book at home, and am currently writing a research paper comparing this book to the graphical elements in Art Spiegelman's Mausand in the movie The Pianist. It is powerful, it will stay with you, and is a lifetime learning opportunity for your students, whether they're 11 years old or 18.

Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History, by Art Spiegelman

Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History has had a reputation since the late 1970's as being one of the hardest hitting graphic novels ever written. Art Spiegelman wrote Maus as a biography of his father, Vladek Spiegelman, and did it through very straightforward but well drawn and written metaphor.

The metaphors I'm talking about are Spiegelman's portrayal of the Jewish as mice, the Nazi's as dangerous looking cats, of Russians as noble looking dogs, and of the Polish as pigs. Spiegelman himself described this metaphor as stupid but necessary, which you can see by watching the 1 minute and 5 second clip at the end of this review.

You have to be cautious when teaching this book in class, cautious to make sure you approach it correctly. Right now, I am using this book in my 5th grade class, and feel that my students are getting quite a lot out of it. We're using the book as a discussion on the holocaust, something that we studied in depth a little over a month ago, and we're also using it as a discussion on literary and visual devices, and how they work together to make a graphic novel. Students are working on their own autobiographical graphic novel as well, attempting to use the same visual cell types and word play used in Maus.

Graphic novels are still considered fringe in terms of their value in the classroom. Many teachers, parents, and literacy experts argue that graphic novels do nothing more than give students something they want (comic books) other than something they need (a valuable, learning literacy experience). I have found graphic novels to be valuable, when considering that, on top of the words on the page, students have to understand the immediate connection between words and pictures.

Maus is a great story, it's one of my all-time favorite reads, and considering that I didn't read it for the first time until earlier this year, that means that, as an adult, it's one of my favorite reads. I am currently doing research on the book, and am teaching it in my class. I will provide updates on both of those things as they move along over the next few weeks. But for now, I would consider reading Maus I (and II), and seeing if you think it would be a valuable classroom experience.

Redefining Classic Children's Literature

One thing we are all familiar of in the world of literature are the classics. I'm sure we all read them when we were in school, and many of us probably have some of them collecting dusts on the book shelves around our homes or offices. It's one thing for adults to keep classics around and actually read them, for whatever reason, either because they actually enjoy it or because they think they're supposed to enjoy it.

These same rules do not apply to children's and young adult literature however. I am young enough (I'm in my late 20's) to remember sitting bored out of my mind in school trudging through 'classics' of children's and ya literature like Little House on the Prairie and Wuthering Heights. These are books I was supposed to read, right? They're rites of passage or something, that's all I could assume, because they certainly didn't connect with me in any way, and actually led me to despise reading for much of my K-12 experience.

Youth literature is quite unique, because many of the students are just beginning to experience literature, to test it, and to decide whether or not it is an experience they enjoy. As a teacher, it is our job to make your students become more proficient and effective readers, but it is also our job to develop a love of reading and students who are aware, on a person and metacognitive level, of what makes them a good reader, how they read, and what they enjoy.

Therefore, children's literature classics are in fact becoming largely irrelevant in the 21st century classroom. I actually had an entire boxed set of Little House sitting on my book shelf, given to me by a parent who no longer wanted them. The books sat there for months and months, and were never touched. I ended up trading them off at the used book store for books that my students would enjoy more.

Yes, the classics are there, and they're there for a reason. They've sold millions of copies, have been made into movies, and have been read in the classroom for decades. I believe it's time for many of the classics to be put to rest. Students need to read books that are relevant to the world around them, books they connect to in some way, and books that keep them wanting more. What do you think?

Censored Literature and You: How to Stand Up For Your Rights When the Book Censors Attack

I'm going to start discussing this complex topic by telling a personal story, something that happened to me earlier this school year. If you want to skip right past my story to what you can do when challenged on a book, CLICK HERE to jump down to that portion of this post. Someone who works in my department came in to my school new this year, and has worn their christian religion like a badge of honor all year, even to the point that eventually others began speaking out against this persons preaching at their students and telling other teachers what to do.

If you've read either of my blogs a few times, you probably know that I have major issues with being censored. So, anyways, it was time to read a new chapter book, and I pulled the Lois Lowry classic The Giver off the shelf and started reading it. In a very odd fashion, this teacher came in to my classroom one day and asked if she could borrow a copy of the The Giver. I let her, and didn't really think much about it, until about two weeks later, when the principal sided with the teacher and decided we shouldn't be reading this book to our students.

I quickly fought back, and asked for the reasons as to why this book was being censored in the school. The letter I was given cited concerns over euthanasia, 'sexual themes,' and the books treatment of religion. That was my tipping point. I then asked to have the specific passages given, and of course, this teacher gave them. I was able to cite examples in other literature that is used very often in elementary school that deals with similar issues, and saved the religion thing for last.

Teachers aren't allowed to push religion in the classroom, it's a law. Teachers are only allowed to teach the differing cultural values of religions. In this case, I debated, this teacher was literally shoving her religious views down the throats of both me and my students.

To make a long story short, my supervisor decided this was not a battle worth fighting, and after sitting down and looking at some legal precedents (some of which went way over my head), overruled the censoring of this book. The cool thing was, three other teachers in my building also decided to use this book in their classrooms, so triumph felt good, and my students were able to partake in a valuable literary experience.

Here are some recommendations about how to 'cover your bases' if you decide to proceed with a book that has potential to be challenged, has been challenged in the past, or is a frequently banned book (a list of frequently banned books will be at the end of this post as well).

• Keep your parents and principal(s) informed from the start: I always send home, in my bi-weekly newsletter, a rundown of the activities we're doing, including the content of the current literature we are using. I always leave contact information at the bottom of the newsletter and tell parents to contact me with any concerns. I pass a copy of this on to the principal so that my bases are covered in this way.
• Be ready to explain yourself: Explain in words your principal (and other co-workers who have challenged you) will understand why you have chosen this book. Be able to go into the multicultural and subversive aspects of the book, but also how it will meet content standards and benchmarks, literacy guidelines, and how you will assess 'literacy learning' as well. Of course, most of this is total bull, but it makes people happy.
• Understand beforehand: Don't pick a book BECAUSE it is banned or has been challenged, then you're asking for trouble. In my case, this was a book that I enjoyed very much, and was ready to step up for what I believed in. Know why you picked the book, why you believe in it, and be ready to explain yourself every step of the way.

Personally, the issue I have with censored books is that a lot of times the reasons aren't very good. Of course I'm not going to pull something horribly inappropriate and start reading it to young children. Books are frequently challenged because they offend a persons religion, and we need to remember that this is not a reason to ban a book. Once the doors are open to book censorship, how far is too far? Herein lies the issue with censorship, it can be interpreted to the point that we're banning Dr. Seuss because the characters worship false gods.

Know your rights, and understand that just because you're in the classroom, you haven't lost your freedom of expression rights.

Now, finally, before I stop here, I wanted to give a short list of some frequently challenged books in public schools lately:

• Harry Potter series (yes, all 7), by J.K. Rowling
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
• Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
• The Giver, by Lois Lowry
• The Goosebump Series, by R.L. Stine
• To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
• Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
• The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer

Good luck if you have any issues arising with book censorship. Please, share your stories, both triumphs and setbacks, and remember, no one (other than an objectionable parent, which you must always work to accommodate), has the right to push you around and censor you, fight back!

Sold, by Patricia McCormick

Sold, by Patricia McCormick is one of the most brutally real books I've ever read. It's the story of a poor girl from Nepal who is sold into prostitution in Calcutta, India, and yes, it's young adult literature.

I consider this book to be the teenagers version of A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, with one notable twist, the girl is sold into unwilling prostitution, and this is based on what actually happens.

The story broke my heart, it troubled me in many ways, and actually drove me to take action as much as a white middle class man living in New Mexico can, by donating to the cause of saving these girls from their doom.

If you tried to read this book with an elementary class, you'd probably lose your job, and I would seriously question using it with any class younger than maybe 10th or even 11th grade. But, once the students are that age, and have engaged in discussions about the hatred and evil that is alive in the world, this book could be a life altering experience for them.

The story itself focuses on Lakshmi, a 13-year-old girl living in the high mountains of Nepal. She is the daughter of a step-father who gambles and eventually loses everything, both by being a lazy jerk, and by their home and crops being washed away in the monsoon. Lakshmi is sold into what the family believes is maid service in India, but when she arrives, she is thrown head first into a horrible brothel.

The story is told through the experience of Lakshmi, you feel her confusion, rage, how scared she is, and how horrible the adults around her truly are. I was disgusted, I was shocked, I was saddened, and finally I was angered by what I read, angered not by the book itself, but by the fact that there are human beings capable of such horrible things.

If you can read this book, as an adult, I would recommend it for so many reasons. It's truly a book that I will never forget, and if you approach it correctly, with a heavy sense of what the topic is about and how serious it is, you will teach your students a lesson in the evils of the human spirit that they will never forget. This book will sit on my shelf forever as a reminder of this.

Teaching a Unit on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

First off, let's get one thing pretty straight. Teaching your students about Martin Luther King Jr. is more than something you do in January when his birthday is near. Of course, it's a great thing that we have a day set aside to commemorate the life of Dr. King, but he's more than just a day of coloring pages and a quick read aloud.

Many of us spend weeks and weeks teaching about presidents, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson. Marting Luther King Jr. is easily one of the most important figures in American history that we can teach our students. The man stood for so many good things, he stood for pride, peace, justice, equality, and respect for everyone.

I actually teach a civil rights unit, with the impetus of the entire thing being the life and teachings of Dr. King. There are many ways to approach such a unit, so I'll simply provide the example of what I do, and some of the resources I use when teaching about King, and hopefully some of it will be helpful for you. Just remember, making the decision to focus an extended period of teaching on men of integrity like King is the right decision, don't question it.

I always start my civil rights unit with a letter home to parents asking them for permission to teach their students through visual means. What I mean by this is that I do show them images of the struggle of civil rights, they hear and read accounts of the struggle, of the blood, the humiliation, and the death. It's important not to shock students, but to make the reality shine clearly. Civil rights was not simply a list of non-violent struggles to help African Americans gain equal rights, it was a bloody time. They were humiliated, beaten, and killed, and while we must be careful with what we show our students, we must also focus on the truth and the reality.

My school always shows the one-hour-long cartoon Our Friend, Martinright before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in January. This video is appropriate for kindergartners to watch, but even the older students, as old as 8th or 9th grade, sit and watch this video and always seem to retain quite a bit of what is presented, the life and historical importance of Reverend King. I recommend this video as an introduction to your unit if you can get ahold of it.

From there, we move into some literature on King, and begin the unit itself. First, let me explain some of the activities, and then I'll end by providing a list of some good picture, chapter, and reference books about Dr. King.

One overall activity that I have my students do is a biography of King. Each student is responsible for making a timeline of his life, and a list of the important events of his life. We do a bulletin board in the hallway with the letters KING in the middle, with short blurbs about King's life and importance around the name on the bulletin board. The students make the short blurbs from their biographies.

Obviously there are many approaches to the unit, I just gave a brief overview of a quick idea how to begin. You could also have your class make a video, which is something I'm doing right now with my class. Students will each record a 2 minute video where they discuss why King is important to them, and then, by mixing their clips with pictures, audio, and clips of King, make a video to show to the school. These are just a few ideas, now for the literature:

Here are some great picture books to use in your unit:

• My Dream of Martin Luther King (Dragonfly Books),by Faith Ringgold - Ringgold tells the events of a dream she had about King. This book shows children the struggles that King faced, as well as how truly remarkable his life really was.
• I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.by Walter Dean Myers - This is a good introduction to the life of King. It's very timeline oriented, with great visuals. Many students would benefit from reading this book early on in your unit.
• . . . If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther Kingby Ellen Levine - The question and answer format of this book makes it absolutely perfect for read aloud. I used this book just last week and the class had a very deep and appropriate discussion about King during the reading of the book.

And here's some great chapter books and reference style books to add to your library or read with your class:

• King: A Comics Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. (The Complete Edition), by Ho Che Anderson - This 228 page graphic comic book is a masterpiece among masterpieces. It's a stunning visual and written account of the life of King. I don't know that I could recommend this book for students younger than say 7th or 8th grade, but as far as books about Dr. King goes, this one is stunning in every way.
• Children of the Dream: Our Own Stories Growing Up Black in America by Laurel Holliday - This 450 page book presents individual stories, diary excerpts, and essays of African Americans during and after King's "I Have A Dream" speech. It's a good book, you can definitely use bits and pieces of it, although probably not the whole thing.
• My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. by Coretta Scott King - This book is unique because it's partly a retelling of King's own autobiography, but also shows you the extraordinary life of Dr. King's wife.