Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf

Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf
Written by: Jennifer L. Holm
Pictures by: Elicia Castaldi

This picture book follows Ginny through her 7th grade school year. It was a very fun book to read because it reads like a year book. There are notes, diary entries, instant messaging text blocks, receipts..... Ginny deals with some very typical adolescent issues: younger siblings, popularity, homework, boys and bullying. She also have some very unique struggles: her father was killed by a drunk driver when she was younger and her mother has recently remarried. Her older brother is a juvenile delinquent and ends up being sent to a reform school.

I think that this is a great book for any middle school aged student to read because it gives a realistic perspective of the struggles young people go through. It is written from a female perspective, so it would more than likely be a female audience that would be picking this book up. The pictures and graphics make it a fast read with a lot of details. Overall a fun book!

Chapter 4 Reflection

Realistic fiction is my very favorite type of book to read. I enjoy reading about things that could happen to me and I really like relating to the characters that I am reading about. My husband is the exact opposite of me. He loves to read fantasy books and sci-fi books. As a result, our house is full of an odd assortment of books! :)
Looking at the list of all time best young adult books, I have actually read quite a few, one being for this class :) My very favorite on the list is Holes by Louis Sachar. I used to choose this book as a read aloud when I taught in Third Grade. It is a very engaging story with great characters and a happy ending. The perfect read aloud.
Realistic Fiction, or the problem novel, is such a popular choice for young adults because the material is relatable. When I am engaged in a novel that I am reading, I feel as though I am part of the story. I can feel what the characters are feeling and I can see the story playing out like a movie in my mind. When I was a young adult I often felt as though the adults in my life just didn't understand what I was going through. It what so re-assuring when I would read a story about a character that was going through the exact same things that I was. I think that this is one of the fantastic things about the young adult novel.
I really enjoyed reading about the teaching suggestions at the end of this chapter. I am taking another class right now about how to help adolescents who struggle with reading. We just got through studying about how to conduct a Anticipation Guide. It is such a great tool for getting your students excited about the novel that they are about to read. The open ended questions lead to some great debates within the classroom. It is great to revisit the opinions after they have completed the novel to see if their opinions have changed. What a great tool!

The Chocolate War By: Robert Cormier

I chose to read this particular novel because my husband had read it quite a few years ago and said that it was an excellent story. After finishing this novel today, I can say that it does push the limits on what I would find acceptable for a young adult to read. There are some great messages in the book and it is very relateable to young adults, so I can completely understand why this would be a popular choice. The issues that are brought up in the book are matters that everyone can relate to: bullying, sexuality, and doubt.
The main character in the story is a freshman named Jerry. He is a young person struggling to find his own identity. His mother has recently died and he lives in a small apartment with his dad. He doesn't understand his relationship with his father, so they just coexist in the small space together. Jerry is given an assignment by the group of bullies at his all boys Catholic School, the Vigils. Trinity, the Catholic school he attends, has a fundraiser each year selling boxes of chocolate. His assignment is to refuse to sell the boxes for 10 days. When the ten days are up Jerry continues to refuse to sell the chocolates. This starts a war between, Jerry, The Vigils and the headmaster, Brother Leon.
The book is very relateble to young adults, especially young boys. The story is very violent and the language is very blunt and descriptive. At one point a boy claims to be raping a girl with his eyes. I found this to be a bit offensive, but in the context of the book it was understandable. All young boys speak in ways that their mothers wish that they wouldn't and all young boys will face violence in one way or another. We all hope that they won't, but that is the society that we live in. This book is very honest in its writings. Robert Cormier writes at the end of the novel that he had a lot of trouble getting this story published. Many publishers wanted for his to change the language and to create a happy ending to the story. I think that this is what people have come to expect out of young adult novels. Robert Cormier decided to stay true to his novel and waited years for the story to finally be published. He said that while he understands the subject matter is controversial, he felt as though the book had a message that needed to be said. I found this to be a very inspiring note from the author. Though Mr. Cormier passed away several years ago, I am sure that he would be delighted that many young people are still reading his story.

Student Survey

My survey findings were pretty consistent with all of the other posts that people have made. I am substitute teaching at this point in time, so I did not have a classroom to survey. I asked 20 adolescents that I know to complete the survey. Friends, Family and Neighbors! I think that my findings were pretty varied because of the variety of age levels that I tested. There is a big difference between a 5th graders and an 8th grader in terms of likes and dislikes. My 5th graders enjoyed games such as Mario Brothers and Zoo Tycoon, while the 8th graders enjoyed games like Halo and Fight Simulator. It was interesting that most of them reported watching over an hour of tv a day, but only 20 minutes of reading. 80% of the students surveyed participated in after school sports or other organized programs. They talked about how this really cut into time that they might have spent reading. Twilight was a very popular book series chosen by most of the girls surveyed. This was consistent amongst the grade levels :) The boys liked Calivin and Habbs and Sci Fi Fantasy books. It was interesting that most of them mentioned enjoying time on the computer. A popular choice on the computer was Facebook and game applications from there. I had a lot of fun completing this survey and getting a feel for what the typical adolscent is liking these days. Boy times have changed!

Week 3 Assignment #1

I enjoyed reading Chapter 3 because I just really hadn't put a lot of thought into censorship. I have always taught in younger grades and it just never seemed to be an issue. The interesting thing about the chapter was the writings from authors that had actually been censored. I think that their perspectives were honest and insightful. As an adolescent I was the type of person to follow the rules. If my parents told me not to read something, then I didn't. My brothers were a different story. I don't really think that censorship accomplishes the goal that was intended. I think that we live in a society that thinks too much. We have a tendency to micro-manage. Students need to be given the freedom to explore their own thoughts and interests. YAL is so popular because it deals with the truth. If you hide the truth from students, or censor their exposure, then we are doing a disservice to them. I am happy to say that I have not had to personally deal with this issue, but I will be more aware of this type of thing in the future.

The Graveyard Book By : Neil Gaiman

I am so very excited to talk about the adolescent literature book that I just finished reading: The Graveyard Book! I went on Amazon and found the list of new Newberry winners and just randomly picked a book from the list to read. I originally chose this book because it seemed to appeal to both genders and I wanted to book that I could possibly choose as a read a loud.

The story takes place in present day. It begins one late night in October. A family is asleep in their beds. A stranger, known only as the Man Jack, enters the house. He silently creeps into the parents' room and kills them. He then heads to the daughters' room and also kills her. There is a baby upstairs in the crib and the Man Jack is headed in that direction to go and kill him as well. The baby wakes up because of the strange noise, and toddles down the stairs and our of the house. He heads to the graveyard that is just up the road. The inhabitants of the graveyard are all up and about because it is their time of day. A couple, Mr. and Mrs. Owens take pity on the poor baby and rescue him from the Man Jack. The graveyard takes a vote and they decide to allow the Owens to keep the baby with them because he is in such grave danger. The Lady in Gray bestows upon him the Power of the Graveyard. This means that he can do the same things that the ghosts can do, but he is still alive. And that is where the story begins. I have to tell you that it had my attention right from the start. A murder, a chase and then ghosts!

The story follows Nobody Owen, Bod for short, and he grows up in the graveyard. He is given a guardian who is named Silas. Silas lives between the living and the dead. He can walk among the living, and so they choose him as guardian because he can teach Bod everything that he needs to know and to give him the necessities. Bod knows that he is different from the dead, but he makes many friends in the graveyard. He befriends a witch, named Eliza, and a living girl named Scarlett. Scarlett and Bod are both 5 at the time and she isn't sure if he is an imaginary boy or real. Bod has many gifts that are given to him by the Power of the Graveyard. He can fade, dreamwalk, and terror. Fading means that he becomes forgettable by those that come in contact with him. A dreamwalk is when Bod can enter into some one's dreams and talk to them or have them experience something in particular. Terror means that he have others feel fear, even when they aren't scared. All of these skills come in very handy when he decides that it is time for him to go to school. His life is still in danger because the Man Jack is still looking for him and so he has to be very careful. He uses his fading power at school and most of the kids and the teachers forget that he is even there. He sticks up for some of the kids that are being picked on by two bullies. He uses dreamwalks and terror to make them stop.

My favorite part in the book was a chapter called Danse Macabre. On very rare occasions a certain white flower blooms in the graveyard in the dead of winter. On this very rare occasion a Danse Macabre occurs. All of the townspeople gather the flowers and wear them in their hats or in their hair. They gather in the town square at Midnight and all of the dead come our from the graveyard and dance. They dance for hours. The living with the dead. The author describes this scene so beautifully. I could really imagine that I was right there with them. At the end of the dance everyone goes back to their homes. The living don't remember the night except for the white flowers that are left on the ground.

I really feel as though this book would appeal to many adolescents. It has a very dark undertone throughout the whole book, but I feel as though many teens would find this appealing. This is not the sort of book that I read, but I absolutely loved this story! Bod has a very unusual life, but the theme of the story is finding out who you are. Bod struggles to understand where he fits in. He isn't dead, but he isn't part of the living world.

You're always you, and that don't change, and you're always changing, and there's nothing you can do about it.

T-S
I have been a teenager before and I can really understand the struggle to find ones identity. I could relate to the struggle that Bod felt and the loneliness that he encounters in the graveyard. He makes some great friends, but they stay the same age and he continues to get older. Eliza is the witch that he helps when he is a small boy. As he gets older, their relationship changes because she feels like they can no longer be friends. They have a wonderful moment together when he is leaving the graveyard one last time.

I just love the language that is used in this story. It is very poetic and magical. Here are some examples:

Macabray
insubstantial
prelude
gloaming
manifest

The language of the book is very interesting because a lot of the book consists of conversations that Bod has with various inhabitants of the graveyard. He states early on that it is polite to speak in the language of the period in which the person died.
Some examples are:
"Evening, Bod. I trust you are keeping well."
"For one of us is foolish to live, and it is not I. "
"It's not as if we can eaily mend those pantallons."

The author also adds in what is written on each of the gravestones of the people in Bod's life. The inscriptions are very telling about each character....

She Sleeps, Aye, Yet She Sleeps with Angels
They Sleep to Wake Again
Deeply Regreted by all who knew him
Lost to all but memory.

I hope that many of you will have the opportuntiy to read this book as well. It was a lot of fun!

Movie Assignment.... The Goonies

Steven Spielberg Presents..... The Goonies
I decided to go with one of my favorite movies as a child, The Goonies. This is about a group of mismatched kids who try to save their homes from being sold to a big developer. the kids go on a big adventure that includes being chased by the mafia, discovering a treasure map and navigating their way through an underground cave created by a pirate named One Eyed Willie.

I really think that this movie would appeal to adolescents because it is all about the journey of self discovery. The kids in this group are very mismatched. You have a group of misfits who call themselves, The Goonie, and a group of older, more popular kids. Throughout this adventure, you see the popular kids being drawn into this world, and by the end, they all declare themselves Goonies.

I think that this would also appeal to the adolescent audience because the adults in this film are the ones that need saving. The parents are at a loss as to what to do to stop their homes from being sold. The parents are ready to throw in the towel and walk away, but it is the kids who want to stand up and fight for what is right. I think that this is a great example for all those adolescents out their who need empowerment!

I think that adolescents really struggle with knowing what group they should belong in. I think that kids are quickly labeled in our schools.... the jocks, the nerds, the popular kids and the misfits. This movie really addresses these labels and in the end you see how silly these labels really are. The popular kid can be a nerd, and the misfit really can be popular. I think that this movie portrays this message in a fun and relate able manner.

I give this movie two thumbs up!!!

literacy autobiography

When I first moved out of my parent’s house to go to college, my parents did what most do in their situation, they turned my room into an office. When I came home for my first real break from school, all of my childhood memories were packed away in boxes and put into a closet. I was horrified. When I was married, my husband and I had the opportunity to take a long honeymoon. My parents watched out house and animals for us while we were gone. When we returned from our trip, all of my boxes from the closet where sitting in my living room. I was told that since I now had a home of my own, then I could be the one to store all of my keepsakes. I have since had the chance to go through those boxes and to really look at all of my school memorabilia. I was especially interested in what type of student I was, since I was then teaching in an elementary school. My memories where for the most part accurate.

In Pre-School we did a year book at the end of the school year. There is one page where we were asked to draw what our house looked like. In my drawing, I am laying in my bed and my mom is sitting in a chair next to me with a book in her hand. This really sums up what type of household I was raised in. Both of my parents were learners. My dad is a Veterinarian and he was always reading medical journals and books. He had a desk in our front room that was covered with these materials. My mom was more of a recreational reader. She would start one or two books at once and read when she had time.

As I young child, I really struggled with reading. I was enrolled in our local public school and we were very crowded. I remember it being very noisy in the classroom. At the end of the year, my teacher told my parents that I was not grasping the concept of reading and that she feared that I would need to repeat the first grade. She told my parents that if they would work with me over the summer, and if she saw improvement, then she would let me continue on to second grade. That was a very important summer in my life. We a reading workbook that we did every day that summer. I just remember ideas and concepts finally clicking in my head. By the end of the summer I was hooked on the idea of reading. From that point on, I always had a book in my hand. My parents were very supportive of my reading addiction. My mom took us to the local library and got our family our first library card. Every Wednesday we would go and check out a new book. By the time I was in fourth grade I was allowed to check out two or three books at a time. I was never really interested in picture books. I loved a good story. My very favorite series as a child was Little House on the Prairie. I have probably read those books a dozen times. As I got older, Ann of Green Gables and Judy Blume were some my favorites.

One of my favorite assignments was when our fourth grade teacher taught a thematic unit on theater. We read all sorts of plays and skits and then she assigned our class to put on a play for the entire school. I was a very shy student, but for some reason I was very excited about this play. We practiced for weeks and weeks. I can still remember that feeling of excitement and anticipation right before the play began. For the rest of the school year my group of friends and I would put on plays during recess and then show them off to our class.
I have never been much of a writer. I never kept journals or diaries when I was young. In sixth grade, our teacher had our class keep a Writer’s Workshop Journal in our desks. Each day we had to write in our journal. She would sometimes give up topics, but for the most part, it was a free write. I remember that the only thing that got me motivated was that my teacher would read our journals each night and leave us a note. I just loved those notes!

In high school we were required to a variety of novels, both fiction and nonfiction. There were a few books that stand out as favorites, My Antonia, Catcher in the Rye, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby….
I have never been motivated to read these books again, but I am glad that I did read them once upon a time.

As a teacher, I have really enjoyed incorporating the lessons and units that I remember from my childhood into my classroom. I hope that my students will one day look back upon their childhood school memories, think about some of the lessons that we did, and smile.

Assignment #2

My definition of an adolescent........

I think that an adolescent is a person who is 13 to 19 years old, in the process of self discovery, striving to figure out who they are.

I have to say that my opinion of what an adolescent is did not change with the chapter readings, but what the reading did do was make me reflect upon my own adolescent experience. I think that for the most part we all have a tendency to block out that part of our lives. It is just a really awkward time when we are trying to figure out who we are. We make mistakes and grow and learn from them. I think that this is the time in our lives when we need literature that we can relate to the most. I know that it was my friends and my books that got me through my adolescent stage.

Assignment #1

The Question: Were your readings as an adolescent part of that perspective?

I first wanted to talk a little about the first chapter of YAL. I just loved reading about the defining moments! There were some that I am still thinking about a week later! It is so interesting and thought provoking how small things can really impact who we will be as adults. I have to say that it made me reflect upon the childhood that we are providing for our 2 year old son and 8 month old daughter. You want it to be the most happiest experience possibly. I don't want either one of them to say that their defining moment as a child was something that we did wrong! :)

I definitely related to what the author was discussing in chapter 2. I really liked how it was discussed that reading is a social act. I really think that this is the case. There is one particular 6th grade class that I substitute in quite often that this reminded me of. The students in this classroom just love books. Their free choice time is spent reading books and talking about them. Every desktop has two or three YAL books out. I actually got the idea of what YAL book I am reading for this class from one of the students! I also agree that one wrong book choice can throw off a student. I had flashbacks to my high school literature experience. So many of the books that we were required to read were just boring! I had such a hard time relating to them. I am glad that I have had the opportunity to read many of the classics, but I wouldn't choose to read them now.