Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel by Rick Riordan

For the most part, I really liked the comic book art done by John Rocco and other artists with a digital-painting style. Again, I am a big fan of the use of spatial imagery and text to help students connect words with pictures. With the help of the artists that imagined this illustration in the book, the student can also begin to see words as images in which to bring a story alive in their minds. Since words are abstraction of actual events, the graphic novel format can be very useful in the classroom. I liked Riordan’s main character, Percy Jackson, because he is a demigod/hero persona that enjoys reading. Through his textbooks, Percy imagines himself as a son of Zeus, which sets a plot structure in which reading becomes the crux of his adventures. More so, his reading skills promote a positive role model for learning. In the classroom, the graphic novel format not only allows students to better visual Percy and his adventures, the entire book is based on this theme. I found this aspect of Riordan’s characterization and plot structure extremely clever for students needing inspiration to read. I feel that this book entices the imagination and it provides a positive role model for students integrate visual imagery in the text that accompanies each image. I feel the students would love to read this book because of the mythic heroism that Riordan inspires through the premise of reading.

 

Dust-bowl-era

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

 

I really enjoyed this novel as a means in which young students can understand the grim history of the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression. While many written histories discuss the suffering of farmers that had lost their crops in the Great Depression, Billie Jo brings a young adult perspective to suffering and poverty in the Dust Bowl. Also, Hesse’s use of a free verse provides an effective way in which a young adult could communicate in a diary format. In the classroom, the stanza form simplifies the dark emotions that are represented in Billie Jo’s own education and through her mother’s discipline: I do as she says. I go to school,/ and in the afternoons I come home,…and all the while I glare at Ma’s back with a scowl/foul as maggoty stew (Hesse, 1997, p.29). This type  free style verse made an impact on me because of the honesty and clarity of Billie Jo’s writing. More so, it does not hide emotions that many young people feel, especially in having to do their homework. Personally, I enjoyed the realistic portrayal of young girls struggles, which I feel that some of the students can learn the historical and personal realities of life in the Dust Bowl. More profoundly, Billie Jo’s tragic loss of her mother and father can also teach young people resilience and self-reliance. I liked this book and I would highly recommend this book to be used in classrooms for young adult readers.

 

Storm......breaker

Stormbreaker: The Graphic Novel by Anthony Horowitz

I feel that the Stormbreaker graphic novel is an excellent way to spatially influence young people to read complex plot structures. Alex Rider’s role as a “superspy” is one example of complex storyline that reveals illustrated action, scene segments, and multiple plot development in a compartmentalized manner. I also enjoyed the mange art, which captures much of the action that as young adult reader might miss if they read Horowitz's text-only original novel version. I feel that this book could definitely be used in class, but only within certain parameters of reading instruction. I disliked the character of Alex Rider because he presents unrealistic expectations of young adults in reality. This was a “turn off” to me because Alex is really behaving like an adult through the lens of a young adult perception of the world. To be able to accomplish heroic feats of physical strength and to also have an extremely high IQ at this age level is unrealistic (Horowitz, 2006, p.15). In some ways, I think it will make the students become awe inspired at Rider’s abilities or it will discourage them to learn in the classroom. However, I felt that Horowitz can challenge students to grasp multiple plots in the spy novel format.  Overall, I felt that that this book would be excellent for bridging spatial and text-based reading skills in the classroom, but not as a strong example of realistic characterization for teaching young adults literature.

 

The Dear One

The Dear One and From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun by Jacqueline Woodson

I felt a sense of pity for the main character, Melanin Sun, in the Notebooks of Melanin Sun because of the gender confusion he experienced in his mother’s lesbian relationship. When Melanin becomes angry and confused about his mother’s sexual identity, it reveals the secrecy and taboo that affects him because of homophobia in American society. In one example, Sean, an enemy of Melanin, yells: “You mother’s a dyke” in front of crowd when he is with his mother (Woodson, 1995, p.106). A feeling of vulnerability and despair ripped though me as Melanin and his mother were humiliated in this part of the novel. I think this type of gender challenge is crucial for student to read in the classroom. They need to know that stereotypes about a person’s sexuality do not make them “different” and that lesbians are, in fact, human beings too. Woodson’s The Dear One also gave me a feeling of pity and compassion for a pregnant teenager having to live with a family in a middle class suburban neighborhood. Rebecca is a city girl that has a very poor education and she has become accidentally impregnated. This book can be extremely helpful to the class by understanding how suburban girls, such as Feni, must come to understand poverty, ignorance, and class status that cloud her stereotypes about urban life. I enjoyed this book because Woodson has a impressive ability to communicate issues of sexuality that teach diversity and tolerance towards young women from differing backgrounds. 

Esperanza

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

I really enjoyed this book because it teaches the humility and wisdom of class diversity through the experiences of Esperanza. The student can learn the differing behaviors and values of a wide range of classes in Esperanza’s fall from grace as a daughter of a wealthy Mexican rancher. After her father is killed during a conflict with a rancher relative, Esperanza and her mother, Mama, must work as immigrant workers in California in the midst of the Great Depression. I felt that it was heartbreaking to see anyone lose their home, but it teaches an important lesson about humility in a typically class divided culture. In my opinion, it is a great gift that Esperanza must interact with poor children of all races and understand how poverty eradicates racism, classism, and bigotry when there is very little money involved.  More so, it is the American Dream that gives Esperanza the opportunity to see real poverty in the hopes of improving their dire situation: “The work is hard in the United States but at least there we have a chance to be more than servants (Ryan, 2000, p.36). I feel type of theme can be used within the classroom because there are so many students from differing class backgrounds and racial identity. The heartbreaking poverty that Esperanza witnesses not only teach her humility, but it also allows her to experience diversity in racial and class-based lifestyles in the U.S. I really enjoyed this book because of Ryan’s ability to show that young women like Esperanza (from wealthy families) found humility and gratitude as typically privileged members of the upper classes. 

Summer Swans..................

The Summer of the Swans

I felt that this book was too focused on the way people and family members respond to the mentally disabled, which negates their own perspective of life.  While the book teaches compassion and care for the mentally disabled, it does very little to help the student learn about Charlie’s mindset and where he is coming from in the book. Actually, I was very curious as to why Charlie ran away and what he was thinking when he decided to disappear. I am not really fond of the other characters because they appear in a constant state of anxiety about caring for Charlie, especially in the character of Sara. I don’t think that I would recommend this book because it makes the caregiver the center of attention, when it is Charlie that deserves our full attention. More so, Charlie becomes the center of a mystery styled plot. This not only insinuates that no one the story really understands Charlie, but that he has become part of a cliché plot structure. I disagree with this type of plot and characterization of Charlie, which alienates the mentally disabled and puts an overt focus on the confused and often-irritated caregivers found in this story. While I do enjoy the compassionate way that Byers brings together the community to help the mentally disabled, I would not use this book as a means in which to better understand persons, such as Charlie. In the classroom, I would not recommend this book.

Skin......

The Skin I’m in

I feel that this book provides an important insight into the varying degrees of “blackness” that are part of minority communities. I was often stunned at the racist hierarchy of the students, which had caused Maleeka so much alienation and pain. For the most part, I think middle school students should know about this rarely mentioned problem of racism amongst minorities. I felt that it was extremely alarming that the closer a minority was to being white, the greater their popularity in the school. This book can definitely be used in the classroom as a way to help students of all races realize this various grades of racism outside of the typical black or white dualism. I have witnessed this type of minority racism towards a Kenyan girl in my classroom. She had very dark skin and some of the lighter skinned girls would often give her a hard time or demean her in the class. Often, she sat in the corner and seemed distant from the other African American students. I feel that this book is not just a historical story, but also one that can easily be understood by present-day behaviors of minority-on-minority racism. By having a dark skinned girl from Africa in the classroom, it is obvious that this book could have a major impact on racial behaviors that I have experienced. Yes, this book should be a mandatory because it would make the students aware of this aspect of racial identity amongst minority groups.

 

Birmingham

 

The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963

I agree with the fictional storyline of the Watson’s trip to Birmingham, since it really made me feel connected with the suffering of Kenneth and his family after the 16^th Avenue Church bombings. Of course, the lessons to be gained from reading this book is that of the “separate but equal” laws in America that hid much of hideous assaults on black people and their communities in the South. I really liked the main character, Kenneth, since his curiosity and intelligence provide a balanced view of Byron’s delinquency and his parent’s authoritarian mindset. I feel that Curtis created Kenneth as a middle ground in which a narrator can get all sides of the story. I agree that this book would be appropriate for the classroom of middle school students because they can understand how history tends to underscore the violence aimed at black people the South. For instance, the fear of being stopped by white “redneck“ locals and/or the police in the Deep South is one such danger that forces Kenneth’s father to keep driving non-stop into the night (Curtis 146). I feel that students can really get a historical insight into the danger that black people faced against violent white southerners. I disagree with the combative nature of racial language in the book through the usage of the N-word and redneck dichotomy between blacks and whites. While the racial tensions are real and we understand the hatred is mutual between the two races, it does not provide a means to understand the Civil Rights Era mentality of equality through Martin Luther King Jr. I think that this book can be really effective in making history come alive through the experiences of the Watson family in Birmingham.