Mod 7: 8th Grade Superzero by Reggie McKnight

Summary:

8^th Grade Superzero  follows the story of Reggie  McKnight, who is given the unfortunate nickname of “pukey” after throwing up in front of the whole school at the start of the school year.  He tries to fly by under the radar from here out, and instead spends time with his friend Ruthie who sticks up for him, and Joe who he creates a superhero comic called Night Man with.

He is eventually pressured by a student named Vicky to be her campaign manager during the school election even though he doesn’t want to, and she just wants to run for selfish reasons even though Reggie has a real interest in community service.  He forms an attachment with a kindergartner named Charlie in the Big Buddies program.   He also works with his church youth group doing a project for Olive Branch a housing for the homeless facility by creating a documentary.  His first visit to the shelter he interviews a man named George, whose situation and drinking/substance problem reminds him of his father.  This causes him to question his faith and God.

Reggie becomes more disillusioned with school and Vicky’s campaign, and his friend Joe begins pursuing new interest meaning Night Man is no longer being made.  He instead throws himself more into his work with Olive Branch and helps George and Charlie create a make-believe cardboard city at the shelter.  

Reggie later comes to Charlie’s defense against an 8^th grader bully by making fun of him in front of a school wide audience.  He then fails to stand up for Vicky in a later encounter and she fires him from being her campaign manager.  He feels bad for not standing up for her, and then Charlie makes fun of a little girl who was picking on him just like Reggie made fun of the bully, and Reggie decides he needs to set a better example for everyone and runs for class president himself.  His platform is based on civic responsibility and community service at the Olive Branch.

Back at the Olive Branch George has disappeared, which has made Charlie and the other kids depressed.  Reggie and his father look for George, but do not find him, but instead they engage in real conversation for the first time Reggie can remember.

Ruthie and Joe help Reggie with his campaign, but misses a school assembly to help Charlie who is still upset about George.  Ruthie is upset with him, but realized he did the right thing and forgives him for missing the assembly, and the campaign convinces other students to help out at the Olive Branch.  He ends up loosing the campaign, but he reaffirms his faith despite not understanding why suffering is present in the world, and the story ends with Ruthie and Reggie sharing a kiss. 

Olugbemisola, R. P. (2010). 8^th grade superzero. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books.

My Impressions:

I had a hard time getting into this book as I am not a very religious person and there is a lot of religious overtones to the story.  I feel it has some positive messages and is your typical coming of age story otherwise.  It is well written and good fi you are into these kinds of stories, I simply am not, and never was.

Reviews:

    “Gr 6-8-Reggie McKnight is a smart but somewhat geeky eighth grader growing up in New York City. He earned the nickname "Pukey" during an unfortunate incident at assembly, and he hasn't been able to shake it. Life at his alternative school isn't all bad, though. Reggie's friends Ruthie and Joe C. have his back most of the time, and then there's beautiful Mialonie, who is showing some interest in him. But these days Reggie has a little more on his plate than lie can handle. His dad is out of work, and his mom works too much. He gets involved at a homeless shelter, befriending two of its residents, but is often at a loss for how to make a difference. And will lie ever work up the courage to overcome his reputation as "Pukey" and run for class president? The novel takes on a number of weighty issues including religion, homelessness, and getting involved without the heavy language and situations that are often a part of urban fiction. Although this moderately paced story will likely require some selling, it is a good one to recommend to readers who are looking for realistic fiction with a focus on social responsibility.”

Marie, J. (2010). [Review of the book 8th Grade Super Zero by R. Olugbemisola]. School Library Journal, 56(2), 123.

Usage in a Library Setting:

This could be used as part of a movement to make student sand teens aware of homeless issues in the the libraries town.  There could be a talk about the book and how patrons can help at local shelters or other ways.

Mod 7: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Summary:

In Hatchet Brian Robeson is a 13-yr old boy with a lot on his mind.  His parents are getting divorced, and he knows a secret about an affair his mother was having.  He is flying to visit his father in Canada in a bush plane.  The pilot allows him to fly a little, but it doesn’t take his mind of his problems, and even when the pilot starts to complain of strange pain in his arm Brian can’t stop thinking about the divorce.  That is until the pilot suddenly dies of a heart attack.

Brian crash lands the plane in a lake in the middle of the Canadian wilderness, and things go from bad to worse.  The only tool he has is a hatchet given to him by his mother before he left.  He has trouble with animals, finding shelter, eats some poison berries, and fails to signal a plane passing overhead.  At his lowest point Brian attempts to kill himself with the hatchet, but fails. 

After he wakes up Brian takes on a new outlook and becomes determined to survive.  It is still hard for Brian but he always remembers that crying about things solves nothing and he is able to catch birds, fish and even finds the plane wreckage and is able to get the survival kit out of it.  He messes with a transmitter in the pack, but is unsure if it ever works, but he is eventually rescued, but his outlook on life is forever changed.

Paulsen, G. (1987). Hatchet. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

My Impressions:

This book is great.  I feel it stands out as realistic fiction because it is an appealing story for boys unlike most realistic fiction that is chosen for youth to read in school settings.  It is wonderfully written and descriptive.  Paulsen is also able to really get into the mindset of a 13-year old boy and I find Brian’s reactions and actions in the book incredibly believable.

Reviews:

“Gary Pulsen’s Hatchet has been loved, reread and, sometimes, done to death by teachers and kids since it came out. There’s a good reason for all this attention: Hatchet is an outstanding survival story, simply and beautifully written, but with real meat to it.  Since I first read it, I’ve eagerly grabbed every Paulsen book I could find an I’ve never been disappointed. Now Paulsen has given us a sequel to Hatchet and we’re off again to the beauty and dangers of the woods.”

Hurst, C. O. (1991). Survival story [review of Hatchet by G. Paulsen]. Teaching Pre K-8, 22(1), 128.

Usage in a Library Setting:

This book could be used as part of a wild survival program were perhaps either speakers who survived in the wild themselves are brought in to speak about their experiences along with some book talks about this and other survival books, or there can be lessons on how to create things in the wild using information from non-fiction survival books in the library. 

Mod 6: The Dark by Lemony Snicket, Illustrated by Jon Klassen

Summary:

Written by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by Jon Klassen, The Dark tells the story of Laszlo, who is afraid of the dark.  The dark in the story is personified as a character, and Laszlo will visit and greet the dark every morning where it lives during the day by saying hello at the basement door.  He hopes this will keep the dark from visiting him when it spreads out at night. 

One night, however, Laszlo’s nightlight burns out and the dark does visit and wants to show the boy something.  Armed with a flashlight Laszlo searches all the parts of the house trying to find what the dark wants to show him. 

Eventually the dark leads Laszlo into the basement, where he explains the importance of the dark, and reveals a supply of light bulbs to Laszlo in a small chest of drawers.  Laszlo thanks the dark and replaces the bulb in his nightlight and is able to sleep once more.  From this point own Laszlo continues to visit and greet the dark, but is no longer afraid nor bothered by it.

Snicket, L. (2013). The dark. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.

My Impressions:

The artwork is what really makes this story for me.  Klassen is able to play so well with the contrast between the light beam and pure black darkness that each page can be strikingly visual.  The story it self is a great take on the “afraid of the dark” trope as well, which could help give smaller children piece of mind when coming to terms with this fear.  The fact that the Dark itself is a character is what makes the story so clever.

Reviews:

You do not know the temptation I am fighting right now to begin this review with some grandiose statement equating a fear of the dark with a fear of death itself. You have my full permission to slap me upside the head if I start off my children’s books reviews with something that bigheaded. The whole reason I was going to do it at all is that after reading a book like Lemony Snicket’s The Dark I find myself wondering about kids and their fears. Most childhood fears tap into the weird id (see, here I go) part of our brains where the unknown takes on greater and grander evils than could possibly occur in the real world. So we get fears of dogs, the color mauve, certain dead-eyed paintings, fruit, and water going down the drain (or so Mr. Rogers claimed, though I’ve never met a kid that went that route), etc. In the light of those others, a healthy fear of the dark makes perfect sense. The dark is where you cannot see and what you cannot see cannot possibly do you any good. That said, there are surprisingly few picture books out there that tackle this very specific fear. Picture books love to tackle a fear of monsters, but the idea of handling something as ephemeral as a fear of the dark is much much harder. It takes a certain kind of writer and a certain kind of illustrator to grasp this fear by the throat and throttle it good and sound. Behold the pairing of Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen. You’ll ne’er see the like again (unless they do another picture book together, in which case, scratch that).

“You might be afraid of the dark, but the dark is not afraid of you.” Laszlo is afraid but there’s not much he can do about it. Seems as though the dark is everywhere you look sometimes. Generally speaking it lives in the basement, and every morning Laszlo would open the door and say, “Hi . . . Hi, dark.” He wouldn’t get a reply. Then, one night, the dark does something unprecedented. It comes into Laszlo’s room and though he has a flashlight, it seems to be everywhere. It says it wants to show him something. Something in the basement. Something in the bottom drawer of an old dresser. Something that helps Laszlo just when he needs it. The dark still visits Laszlo now. It just doesn’t bother him.

There is nothing normal about Lemony Snicket. When he writes a picture book he doesn’t go about it the usual route. Past efforts have included The Composer Is Dead which effectively replaced ye olde stand-by Peter and the Wolf in terms of instrument instruction in many a fine school district. Then there was 13 Words which played out like a bit of experimental theater for the picture book set. I say that, but 16 copies of the book are currently checked out of my own library system. Besides, how can you not love a book that contains the following tags on its record: “cake, depression, friendship, haberdashery, happiness”? Take all that under consideration and The Dark is without a doubt the most normal picture book the man has attempted yet. It has, on paper anyway, a purpose: address children’s fear of the dark. In practice, it’s more complicated than that. More complicated and better.

Snicket does not address a fear of the absence of light by offering up the usual platitudes. He doesn’t delve into the monsters or other beasties that may lurk in its corners. The dark, in Snicket’s universe, acts almost as an attentive guardian. When we look up at the night sky, it is looking back at us. In Laszlo’s own experience, the dark only seeks to help. We don’t quite understand its motivations. The takeaway, rather, is that it is a benign force. Remove the threat and what you’re left with is something that exists alongside you. Interestingly it almost works on a religious level. I would not be the least bit surprised if Sunday school classes started using it as a religious parable for death. Not its original purpose but on the horizon just the same.

It is also a pleasure to read this book aloud. Mr. Snicket’s words require a bit of rereading to fully appreciate them, but appreciate you will. First off, there’s the fact that our hero’s name is Laszlo. A cursory search of children’s books yields many a Laszlo author or illustrator but nary a Laszloian subject. So that’s nice. Then there’s the repetition you don’t necessarily notice at the time (terms like “creaky roof” “smooth, cold windows”) but that sink in with repeated readings. The voice of the dark is particularly interesting. Snicket writes it in such a way as to allow the reader the choice of purring the words, whispering them, putting a bit of creak into the vocal chords, or hissing them. The parent is granted the choice of making the dark threatening in its initial lures or comforting. Long story short, adults would do well to attempt a couple solo readings on their own before attempting with a kiddo. At least figure out what take you’re going for. It demands no less.

The most Snicketish verbal choice, unfortunately, turns out to be the book’s Achilles heel. You’re reading along, merry as you please, when you come to a page that creates a kind of verbal record scratch to the whole proceeding. Laszlo has approached the dark at last. He is nearing something that may turn out to be very scary. And then, just as he grows near, the next page FILLS . . . . with text. Text that is very nice and very well written and perhaps places childhood fears in context better than anything I’ve seen before. All that. By the same token it stops the reading cold. I imagine there must have been a couple editorial consultations about this page. Someone somewhere along the process of publication would have questioned its necessity. Perhaps there was a sterling defense of it that swayed all parties involved and in it remained. Or maybe everyone at Little, Brown loved it the first time they read it. Not quite sure. What I do know is that if you are reading this book to a large group, you will skip this page. And if you are reading one-on-one to your own sprog? Depends on the sprog, of course. Thoughtful sprogs will be able to take it. They may be few and far between, however. The last thing you want when you are watching a horror film and the hero is reaching for the doorknob of the basement is to have the moment interrupted by a five-minute talk on the roots of fear. It might contain a brilliant thesis. You just don’t want to hear it at this particular moment in time.

Canadians have a special relationship to the dark that Americans can’t quite appreciate. I was first alerted to this fact when I read Caroline Woodward’sSinging Away the Dark. That book was about a little girl’s mile long trek through the dark to the stop for her school bus. The book was illustrated by Julie Morstad, whose work reminds me, not a little, of Klassen’s. They share a similar deadpan serenity. If Morstad was an American resident you can bet she’d get as much attention as Mr. Klassen has acquired in the last few years. In this particular outing, Mr. Klassen works almost in the negative. Much of this book has to be black. Pure black. The kind that has a palpable weight to it. Laszlo and his house fill in the spaces where the dark has yet to penetrate. It was with great pleasure that I watched what the man did with light as well. The colors of a home when lit by a flashlight are different from the colors seen in the slow setting of the evening sun. A toy car that Laszlo abandons in his efforts to escape the dark appears as a dark umber at first, then later pure black in the flashlight’s glow. We only see the early morning light once, and in that case Klassen makes it a lovely cool blue. These are subtle details, but they’re enough to convince the reader that they’re viewing accurate portrayals of each time of day.

The dark is not visually anthropomorphized. It is verbally, of course, with references to it hiding, sitting, or even gazing. One has to sit and shudder for a while when you imagine what this book might have been like with an author that turned the dark into a black blob with facial expressions. It’s not exaggerating to say that such a move would defeat the very purpose of the book itself. The whole reason the book works on a visual level is because Klassen adheres strictly and entirely to the real world. An enterprising soul could take this book, replicate it scene by scene in a live action YouTube video, and not have to dip into the film budget for a single solitary special effect. This is enormously important to children who may actually beafraid of the dark. This book gives a face to a fear that is both nameable and not nameable without giving a literal face to a specific fear. It’s accessible because it is realistic.

When dealing with picture books that seek to exorcise fears, one has to be very careful that you don’t instill a fear where there wasn’t one before. So a child that might never have considered the fact that nighttime can be a scary time might enter into a whole new kind of knowledge with the simple application of this book. That said, those sorts of things are very much on a case-by-case basis. Certainly The Dark will be a boon to some and simply a well-wrought story for others. Pairing Klassen with Snicket feels good when you say it aloud. No surprise then that the result of such a pairing isn’t just good. It’s great. A powerhouse of a comfort book.

On shelves April 2nd.

Bird, E. (2013). Review of the day: the dark by Lemony Snicket [a review of the book The Dark by L. Snicket]. School Library Journal website.  Retrieved from           http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2013/03/11/review-of-the-day-the-dark-by-lemony-       snicket/#_

Usage in a Library Setting:

This could be used as part of a science program where the nature of light is examined after reading the book.  Flashlights could be used to study light beams, and prism crystals could be brought in to examine the light spectrum.

Mod 5: Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers

Summary:

Aidan Chamber’s book Postcards from No Man’s Land tells two different distinct yet interconnected narratives.  One of the narratives follows an English tourist named Jacob as he finds himself initially lost and depressed in Amsterdam.  He is visiting in place of his ill grandmother at the request of a woman who helped out his grandfather during Word War II.  He is pick-pocketed, mistakes a man for a woman, even visiting the one time home of his idle and secret crush Anne Frank does little to cheer him up.  The other narrative is set during World War II and tells the story of a teen age girl named Geertui who takes in a wounded English paratrooper who failed to push the germans out of Holland.  The English solider, who also happens to be named Jacob, starts to grow close to Geertui.

In modern Amsterdam, Jacob’s luck starts to turn around when he finally meets up with his friend Daan, who is the grandson of Geertui.  The two of them visit museums and engage in a few romantic relationships, and it is revealed the Geertui is dying from cancer, and wants to tell Jacob about her time with his grandfather, the previously mentioned Jacob from World War II.

Back in the past we learn that Geertui and Jabo become romantically involved, and devlop a physical relationship when his wounds are healed.  He dies of a heart attack, however, but not before it is revealed that Geertui is pregnant.  Daan’s grandfather agrees to marry Geertui as long as it is never revealed that the child she carries is not his. 

When young Jacob meets with Geertui in the present, she reveals on her deathbed that Daan’s mother is actually the daughter born from her and Jacob’s relationship.  In the end Jacob returns home, but is unsure as to what he will tell his grandmother, but has learned a lot about life and his family in the process.

Chambers, A. (1999). Postcards from no man’s land. New York, NY: Dutton Books.

My Impressions:

An interesting book that deals with one of my favorite time periods of World War II.  I initially thought there would be more connections to Anne Frank and the Holocaust than there was when it was revealed that Jacob had a crush/felt a connection to her.  Even so it tells and interesting tale and even though I was able to put together what was going on quite early in the book, I don’t feel the story suffered because of it. 

Reviews:

“ Since Jacob's grandmother, Sarah, is too ill to make a trip to Holland to meet long-ago wartime acquaintances of her late husband, Jacob is sent in her place to attend a ceremony at his grandfather's grave in Arnhem, honoring him and other fallen soldiers from World War II. When he arrives in Amsterdam, Jacob is hosted by young Daan, who is also the grandson of Geertrui, the woman who nursed Jacob's grandfather in the war. In fact, this relationship turns out to have been more intimate; Jacob's grandfather had an affair with Geertrui, and Jacob and Daan are half-cousins. Throughout most of the book, two narrative threads run concurrently: one tells the story of Jacob's present-day trip while the other tells the story of Geertrui's survival of the war and devoted tending of Jacob's grandfather. Interspersed among the chapters of Geertrui's story are excerpts from real war journals (a note in the acknowledgments credits the authors) that tell more about the grisly battle of Arnhem in which Jacob's grandfather was mortally wounded. Chambers' writing is complex and intense, with equal attention and detail given to characters in both time frames. Both Jacob and Geertrui reach milestones of maturity in their respective stories, and they experience parallel (albeit very different) sexual awakenings: Geertrui in her love for a wounded soldier (Jacob's grandfather), and Jacob in his attraction to two young people, a girl in Arnhem and a boy in Amsterdam. Chambers creates a heady flood of sensory and emotional detail while keeping tight reins on several powerful plots and subplots, crafting an unusually compelling and balanced portrayal of two young people coming of age. Fans of Anne Frank's diary will be particularly drawn to this volume, both because of Jacob's own fascination with Anne Frank and because of its similarly unflinching honesty in depicting both life during war and the process of growing up.”

McDowell, K. (2002). [Review of the book Postcards from no man’s land by A. Chambers] . Bulletin Of The Center For Children's Books, 56(1), 9-10.

Usage in a Library Setting:

With the strong theme of family history in this book, maybe it could be used as part of a Genealogy program to get users interested in what the library has to offer in the way of researching Genealogy and family history.  This book could be discussed and showcased as a possible example of what people may find out if they did look into their own family histories.   

Mod 5: Midwinter Blood by Marcus Sedgwick

Summary:

Midwinterblood is the story of the seven lives of Eric and Merle. Each section of the book represents one of the lives. The story begins in 2073 with Eric as Journalist. He travels to a mysterious island known as Blessed Island (the island is featured in all seven stories). He meets Merle and falls instantly in love with her while investigating the Dragon Orchids, which supposedly give island inhabitants immortal life. He is eventually captured by the natives and is to be sacrificed to the gods when he gets the strangest impression of De Ja Vu.

The second story picks up at this point om 2011 when Edward, an archeologist, is digging for tombs on Blessed Island. A small boy named Erik helps Edward discover a tomb with the skeletons of two vikings within it. Edward then meets Erik's mother, who is a woman named Merle.

In the next story a World War II pilot crashes on Blessed Island, and is taken care of by Erik, who is a farmer this time. Erik dislikes the pilot, and the war, but changes his mind when he sees a photo of the pilot's daughter, a girl named Merle. He helps the solder flee the island, but is killed in the process.

In 1902, we meet Merle as a little girl going to pick the dragon orchids with her mother. She meets up with Erik, who is a famous painter, and inspires him to finish his painting, which is titled Midwinterblood, and he then is rejected from the National Musem in Sweden, and dies unhappily, but not before adding Merle to his painting.

The 1848 story is about an old woman telling a star-crossed love story to her grandchildren about Erik and Merle, but it turns out the old woman was really Erika (this lifetimes erik), and Merle was her forbidden lesbian lover.

In the next Story an older Melle recounts a terrifying story about herself and her twin brother Erik and their Uncle Tor, who adopts the twins and refuses to let them go even in death, and returns from his gave nightly to look for them until Erik offers to return to his grave with him.

In the 7^th tale we are revealed the origin of the Erik and Melle line, when we learn that Erik was originally a King who was forced to sacrifice himself to appease the gods and save the people of his island, where everyone is dying of famine and disease. His wife Queen Melle is devistated by this and King Erikr promises here they will live again and find each other.

We cut back to 2073 at the point where Merle tries to save Erik and escape with him. They are both caught and sacrificed together instead, and they both remember all their lives and time together as they die and all that is left is the two of them.

Sedgwick, M. (2013). Midwinterblood. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press.

My Impressions:

The stories in each section of the book could have easily been separate tales, but tying them together was both interesting and a little strange. I think the past lives was a pretty cool idea, and I also liked that the two characters were not always lovers in each life, but still somehow connected or relater whether it be siblings or parental ties. It's hard to say too that the ending was happy as they both die. It was definitely a different book than you normal read, and I am unsure as to how much I actually liked it.

Reviews:

“Midwinterblood is comprised of seven vignettes, with settings ranging from the future to Viking times and a variety of characters, including vampires, ghosts, and humans. Common to all the stories is the Scandinavian island, Blessed; a mysterious dragon orchid; and Eric and Merle, who play different roles in each story. This unusual book for teens (many of the stories feature adult characters only) goes backwards in time, beginning with a story that takes place in 2073. While each narrative could stand alone, combining them into one volume with the barest threads of connections (similar to Olive Kitteridge or Let the Great World Spin) makes the book noteworthy. The audiobook is expertly narrated by British actor Julian Rhind-Tutt, whose hushed English voice is perfect for the recording. Sedgwick's sparse prose is beautifully read with a haunting, dreamlike quality that lets listeners experience the horror, mystery, romance, and tragedy that abounds in the book. Melancholy yet lovely music briefly separates the vignettes. “

Paladino, J. (2014). Midwinterblood [review of the book Midwinterblood by Sedgewick, M]. School Library Journal, 60(7), 55.

Usage in a Library Setting:

Perhaps this book could be used for an activity where young patrons or students are encouraged to create a past life forthem selves in one of the historic time periods used in the book. Imagine themselves as a viking and research what vikings did, or a WWII solider, etc. Use the book as springboard for a history lesson and creative writing project.