Please post in the comments any books you would recommend for our students to read. If you can also provide a short summary of the book (cut and paste from Amazon) or your own thoughts from reading it, that would be great!
Example:
Example:
WINNER of the NATIONAL BOOK AWARD for FICTION
Finalist for the Kirkus Prize
Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal
Publishers Weekly Top 10 of 2017
Finalist for the Kirkus Prize
Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal
Publishers Weekly Top 10 of 2017
"The heart of Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing is story - the yearning for a narrative to help us understand ourselves, the pain of the gaps we'll never fill, the truths that are failed by words and must be translated through ritual and song...Ward's writing throbs with life, grief, and love, and this book is the kind that makes you ache to return to it." (Buzzfeed)
In Jesmyn Ward's first novel since her National Book Award-winning Salvage the Bones, this singular American writer brings the archetypal road novel into rural 21st-century America. An intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle, Sing, Unburied, Sing journeys through Mississippi's past and present, examining the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power - and limitations - of family bonds.
Jojo is 13 years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. He doesn't lack in fathers to study, chief among them his black grandfather, Pop. But there are other men who complicate his understanding: his absent white father, Michael, who is being released from prison; his absent white grandfather, Big Joseph, who won't acknowledge his existence; and the memories of his dead uncle, Given, who died as a teenager.
His mother, Leonie, is an inconsistent presence in his and his toddler sister's lives. She is an imperfect mother in constant conflict with herself and those around her. She is black, and her children's father is white. She wants to be a better mother but can't put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use. Simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she's high, Leonie is embattled in ways that reflect the brutal reality of her circumstances.
When the children's father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the state penitentiary. At Parchman, there is another 13-year-old boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering. He, too, has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love.
Rich with Ward's distinctive, lyrical language, Sing, Unburied, Sing is a majestic new work and an unforgettable family story.
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry was my April read. I chose this novel because of its connection to the Salem Witch Trials and The Crucible. (I have taught this play in past years.) This book focuses around a group of teenagers (seniors) on a field hockey team in Danvers, Mass. They were a down on their luck team until they made some changes to their team allegiance in the pre season. Their goal was to win the state championship. The beginning was difficult to get into because of the massive list of characters and character description. What was interesting was how the author continued to develop each characters even into the last section of the book. Through this omniscient narrator we learned about each girl's past, which helped us understand their choices. Most of these girls, especially Abby Putnam (yes, she is related to the Putnam family of the 1692 Witch Trials) had a promising future. The girls started by tying a light blue band around their arms and pledging allegiance to a book called "Emilio" because of a picture of Emilio Estevez on the cover. The 80's allusion used throughout was welcome, since I grew up during the same time. At times the references seemed a bit over the top, but the narrator was trying to build the setting and the lives of the teenagers.
ReplyDeleteAs the girls added pages to "Emilio" by dancing around fires, smashing windows, acting reckless, their winning streak increased. Their mischievous actions were driven by their research into what happened during the witch trials. I will not share how the story ended, but it was interesting to see the evolution of these characters as they changed throughout their senior year.
I would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in the Salem Witch Trials. It would be difficult for me to recommend this to my ninth graders because of the devious and sexual exploits of the teenage girls. It may also be difficult for them to make connections to the allusion in the text because of it's focus around the 1980's.
The above post was from Nija.
ReplyDeleteA Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles was my April read. I have included a link to the NPR book review from 2016. This novel was a reccomendation of my neighbor, and I actually started it a long time ago and then neglected it for way too long. I finally came back to it towards the end of March and honestly, it was the best time to read this book. The protagonist, Count Alexander Rostov is a Russian aristocrat who is forced to live at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. Forced may be too harsh of a word. The hotel is opulent and amazingly luxurious and at first Count Rostov (Sasha to his friends) is allowed to live in his very spacious and beautiful suite. That all changes soon and he is forced to live in sort of an attic in small quarters. Alexander is not allowed to leave the hotel not even one foot outside of the entrance. It was fitting in this strange time that we are living in to read about a character making the best of his personal quarantine. And he certainly does make the best. He lives a life full of friends and interesting characters and believe it or not, full of meaning as well. I'm not sure that our students would be able to make the commitment to reading this text as a whole, it is quite long...a whopping 462 pages, but I do think that excerpts could be used in Creative Writing classes or even in history classes. The novel starts in 1922 just after WW 1 and the Russian Revolution and ends in the 1950's. I really loved this book with its rich dialogue and beautiful narrative voice. It is a commitment to read, but well worth it in my opinion.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.npr.org/2016/09/03/490101866/a-gentleman-in-moscow-is-a-grand-hotel-adventure
I tried to post an image of the book, but could not figure out how to do it!
DeleteUsually you can copy an image and paste it. I don't know if the comment section lets you do it.
ReplyDeleteBelow is my write up for the choice book for April. From Sea to Stormy Sea edited by Lawrence Block. I had accompanying photos. Unfortunately, they will not post on the blog.
ReplyDeleteFrom Sea to Stormy Sea: 17 Stories Inspired By Great American Paintings edited by Lawrence Block
The title accurately sums up the book, but the selection of stories inspired by American Art is without question an ideal collection for adolescents. In the forward, Block recalls as he would explore museums, he would think how particular painting were catalysts to stories and how wonderful if someone would actually write one. Block’s sole contribution rounds of off the collection with his The Way We See The World, inspired by Raphel Soyer’s 1936 Office Girls. Block’s story imagines a viewer at an eponymous exhibition at the Whitney gazing at the painting imagining the potential dynamics among the painting’s figures. Her musing seem eclectic, as she analogizes the characters interactions to a chess board, comic Ben-Day dots and the works she recalled from The National Gallery from Rembrandt to Vermeer to Bierstadt. A shared conversation with a man, who too was intrigued by the painting, leads to coffee, conversation, a shared night and “the warm satisfaction of knowing that a warm and personable man found her warm and attractive”, which leads her back to title The Way We See the World.
I began with Block’s story, as this captures the thematic unity of the collection. The stories and images vary. I’ve included some images below. All the storytellers are establish, well-known contemporary American writers; this assemblage attests to Block’s draw. The images too are all American, but vary. Some are narrative images, others abstract; there are portraits, landscapes, realism and modernism. Brendan Du Bois Adrift Off The Diamond Shoals is inspired by Winslow Homer’s Reeling Sails Around Diamond Shoals, the story’s singular substitution from the painting’s “adrift” to “reeling” shifts the tone of the painting to one of the freneticism and ultimately a passive aggressive murder.
Mother of Pearl by Charles Ardai took Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie for his inspiration. The setting mirrors the graphic map of New York, the streets crossing and seldom intersecting, much like people. But when they do… There is a sense of agitation, a vibrancy, Pearl from suburban New Jersey searches for “Harry Castle, who sold penknives, the sort with phony mother-of-pearl handles”, her long abandoned father and the truth of her mother, who had parked the infant to be raised by the more stable sister. Our unnamed first person narrator hints with half-truths and lies to Peals, as he equally justifies his actions to himself.
Probably this a variation on this idea has been used in Creative Writing. But in an ELA class the writings and art could be paired outright with students explaining and analyzing the validity of the connections. Of course, painting inspired poems and stories are not uncommon, but Block’s collection serve as excellent models. Some other images that inspired the stories.
Rothko The Prarie ..Havey Dunn Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitey Robert Henri Hollywood Thomas Hart Benton
See my comment under Maria Semple's thing...
ReplyDeleteThe Sun is also a Star, by Nicola Yoon
ReplyDeleteFantastic story about young love, but intertwined with racial stereotypes, immigration issues, and life in a city. It would seem to me that this book would appeal to many students from 8th through 12th grade, it is a fast read, but as I stated some higher level world problems.
Halsey Street, by Naima Coster
Much darker book, with a happy ending, intended for students in 11th or 12th grade. Racial issues, gentrification and family issues are the main theme of this book.
'Nickel Boys' Colston Whitehead
ReplyDeleteAn important work very much worth consideration for our bookclub in the coming year.
A story that traces a "wrong place, wrong time" narrative following Elwood Curtis as he goes from good kid to incarcerated juvenile. I feel there's a lot that our students could connect to, or would certainly find interesting at the least.
It's a tough story to get through, though the importance of the message outweighs the challenges that present themselves.
Additionally the fact that the story is based loosely on many actual institutions adds to the value of the conversation, as well as the ability for this story to be integrated across curricula.
I would consider this work for 11th Grade Students studying American history, or more mature younger audiences.