"Looking for Alaska" by John Green is an excellent book but questionably so for educators. I do not believe in censorship one bit so that would not be the issue that motivates me to say that it may not be appropriate for students.
Summary:
The main character, questionable is Miles or Pudge. He is a nerd, much like John Green claims to be. He went to highschool at a public school and didn't really fit in so he has been dying to go to this private school called Culver Creek. There he meets the Colonel, ironic, because he is so small and Alaska who is the other "main character." He also meets their mutual friend Takumi and his later "girlfriend" lara. they are all buddies and slightly mischevious. They like to pull pranks and annoy the Eagle who is the prinicipal of the school even though he likes them all, especially Alaska. They get into their fair share of minor troubles and try to pull pranks. At the beginning, the "weekend warriors" strip him and throw him into the lake and he could have drowned because they tied him up. The colonel Alaska and him decide they have to get them back so they plan and plot and scheme. Pudge has an instant crush on Alaska but she has a much older boyfriend. Pudge goes out with Alaska's friend lara and they have maybe one date and he throws up on her and part of what is considered innapropriate is when Green details some sexual activities between Pudge and Lara. This clearly means nothing because soon after when Pudge and Alaska and the Colonel are drinking, eventhough Pudge isn't drunk he and Alaska kiss. She then drives off to put flowers on her mothers grave and dies on the way. This is considered the before.
"After." Pudge and Takumi and Colonel find out and they are naturally distraught and are dying to find out the nature by which her death occured, suicide or otherwise. He and Colonel do not want to tell anyone that they could have stopped her but didn't and they feel guilty. They ignore takumi and he is upset. At the end of the novel Pudge finds out that really Takumi was the last to see her alive and he too could have stopped her.
I think this book is wonderful and it was probably my favorite so far, but I do not see any real value in teaching it to a class of high schoolers or otherwise. Maybe on a far off idea if and ONLY IF you go to a PRIVATE SCHOOL you can discuss the aspect of religion and how that was dealt with in the book because there is quite a bit of talk about religion, and harmony and death in this book. However, this is NOT appropriate in a public school. I think though that this could be atleast on a summer or otherwise reccomended reading list for children in high school because it such an awesome book and I believe of all the books that we have read in my YA literature class that this has the most sufficient Literary Merit. I think this because Green really incorporates huge and deep themes into very subtle cues throughout the book.
Overall, fantastic book , quick read and possible lesson plan for: understanding death, the human condition or even teenage mentalities.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Astonoshing Effort Required "Octavian Nothing"
!@#$%^&&*() SPOLIER ALERT)(*&^%$#@! (Not really a spoiler but Kind of )
"The Astonoshing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party," by M.T. Anderson first of all has a very long title. I really love titles and I was drawn in simply by the title. The book takes place in the 18th century in Boston and follows the life of Octavian Nothing, the only son of an African Princess who is very young. Octavian lives in a home with scientists that are measuring his every move and comparing it to that of equally educated "European Princes." The men are not really mean to Octavian just simply indifferent, he is an experiment. Cassiopea, Octavian's mother still feels like a princess. She makes a member of royalty mad and thus takes state funding away from the experiment and then Mr. Sharpe, a slave trader type of guy, comes in and takes over the experiment. He is really a business man and desires only to prove that Africans are of an inferior race and he wants to enslave Octavian even though he is quite clearly a brilliant child. Since it is somewhat historical, the slave revolt of the approaching revolutionary war has potential to reach the house. They move all the slaves into a "diseased" house to weaken them and Cassiopea dies. Octavian is angered at his mothers death and their continued experiments on her so he runs away and joins the army. This is no longer Octavians Narration but the colonels. Octavian finally gets back and they continue to hold him like a prisoner until he escapes again at the end of the book.
This book is clearly a difficult read and has what some may consider a great deal of literary merit. However, I would say that it is possible that this book was never written in the tone of 18th century, and Anderson proclaimed Gothic tone. I say this only because it seems akward that a 21st century author attempt to write in such a tone because the difference in the "old English" and today is almost un transferrable to our modern tongue today. It is difficult to understand, and almost gives a sense of falsity from the narrator. Octavian was hard to understand or agree with at times becuase first of all he was from this time and secondly he was very smart and well articulated. I heard someone in our class suggest that it is written in a futuristic tone and I think that is a fabulous idea for several reasons.::
As far as teaching methods this book could be projected to the future and comparatively analyzed. Look at minority status today and then, although the obvious positive changes have been made I do not feel as if it is, in an experimental manner, all that much different. I do not know for which class this would be good for however, the children could do an experiment of probability. Take two babies and project their lives in a game in a sort of "experiment" like they did on Octavian. Take a poor minority and a rich white kid and play out the chances and probabilities of where each of their lives would lead. This could be a class for "cultural diversity" or just an effort to understand societal influence.
Other than that I would say that just breaking the book up for the students maybe 40 or 50 pages at a time and really spending alot of time discussing it would do the students some good. This could be a great read along book for sometime during the revolutionary war in a history class to get a narrative and fictional tone of what it may have been like under extreme and potentially real circumstances for African Americans.
"The Astonoshing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party," by M.T. Anderson first of all has a very long title. I really love titles and I was drawn in simply by the title. The book takes place in the 18th century in Boston and follows the life of Octavian Nothing, the only son of an African Princess who is very young. Octavian lives in a home with scientists that are measuring his every move and comparing it to that of equally educated "European Princes." The men are not really mean to Octavian just simply indifferent, he is an experiment. Cassiopea, Octavian's mother still feels like a princess. She makes a member of royalty mad and thus takes state funding away from the experiment and then Mr. Sharpe, a slave trader type of guy, comes in and takes over the experiment. He is really a business man and desires only to prove that Africans are of an inferior race and he wants to enslave Octavian even though he is quite clearly a brilliant child. Since it is somewhat historical, the slave revolt of the approaching revolutionary war has potential to reach the house. They move all the slaves into a "diseased" house to weaken them and Cassiopea dies. Octavian is angered at his mothers death and their continued experiments on her so he runs away and joins the army. This is no longer Octavians Narration but the colonels. Octavian finally gets back and they continue to hold him like a prisoner until he escapes again at the end of the book.
This book is clearly a difficult read and has what some may consider a great deal of literary merit. However, I would say that it is possible that this book was never written in the tone of 18th century, and Anderson proclaimed Gothic tone. I say this only because it seems akward that a 21st century author attempt to write in such a tone because the difference in the "old English" and today is almost un transferrable to our modern tongue today. It is difficult to understand, and almost gives a sense of falsity from the narrator. Octavian was hard to understand or agree with at times becuase first of all he was from this time and secondly he was very smart and well articulated. I heard someone in our class suggest that it is written in a futuristic tone and I think that is a fabulous idea for several reasons.::
As far as teaching methods this book could be projected to the future and comparatively analyzed. Look at minority status today and then, although the obvious positive changes have been made I do not feel as if it is, in an experimental manner, all that much different. I do not know for which class this would be good for however, the children could do an experiment of probability. Take two babies and project their lives in a game in a sort of "experiment" like they did on Octavian. Take a poor minority and a rich white kid and play out the chances and probabilities of where each of their lives would lead. This could be a class for "cultural diversity" or just an effort to understand societal influence.
Other than that I would say that just breaking the book up for the students maybe 40 or 50 pages at a time and really spending alot of time discussing it would do the students some good. This could be a great read along book for sometime during the revolutionary war in a history class to get a narrative and fictional tone of what it may have been like under extreme and potentially real circumstances for African Americans.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Hunger Games
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, not to sound like a movie critic but... there was love, betrayal, violence and romance all wrapped in 374 pages. The book is part one of an anticipated three part series, two of which are already out. The Hunger Games describes a futuristic look at north America after it has become the fictional nation of Panem divided into 12 districts and run by the "capitol." Each district has a different skill or objective that they maintain, for example district 11 is the agricultural district. The districts get poorer as they go from 1-12. The main characters are Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, Prim Everdeen and Gale from district 12. The capitol makes the 12 districts give 2 people every year to fight in the Hunger Games to the death. There can only be one winner. Prim, Katniss' younger sister is chosen from district 12 along with Peeta. Katniss volunteers for Prim because she is only 12 years old. Peeta and Katniss decide to play the angle that they are in love in order to get sponsors for the games and a good rating with the crowd. There is only one problem...Peeta really is in love with Katniss. This creates a love story and naturally the crowd falls for it until the end when they are asked by the capitol to kill eachother. They both act like they are going to eat the poisinous berries that they discovered but the capitol intervenes and lets them both live. Once again Gale was not joking around he was planning on killing himself. Throughout the story there are alliances made and revenge plots and everything a good story should have.
Okay...now looking at the "literary merit" of this story...debatable. I have always felt that a plot driven story ie: the hunger games, does not necessarily need to rank high in literary merit because for most readers they are into the fast paced and adrenaline feel that the story provides. However, for this story considering that it is three parts and the first two are just slightly under 400 pages there is certainly room for a writer to display their talents. Now...does she do it? I would say yes. While this story is very typical love/action story I will give it the benefit of the doubt that it is going to have a better twist as the series goes on. I say this only because I have faith in Collins writing ability because of a few aspects of the story. She really created the characters well and provided a sublety about their character that is hard to fake. It is hard to tell until he actually says it if Peeta is really in love with Katniss or is just playing it for the show. As a matter as a fact since it is in first person, Katniss brings this into question herself by singing the Whitney Houston song "Does he really love Me?" Well...not quite. Another sublety that I was impressed with was when Rue, the little girl from district 12 that reminds readers of Prim said to Katniss about Peeta, "I didn't think he was faking it," or something to that effect. I realy like when authors utilize somewhat minor characters for major themes, although that can be seen as a desperate attempt to interject a thought that the writer simply could not imply by simply writing and letting the story be.
In my Literature class we were discussing some themes about this book and people suggested a potential "Marxist lens" for the story. I believe that some books ie: Anthem really try to put a political spin on things and make it so obvious that the author loses credit as collateral to an agenda. I really do not think that this author had any politics in mind other than providing a thought for an extreme future world. However, this in itself could be a comment on literary merit. With a 1000 pages (considering that this series will be around that) can an author re-create a more realisitc look at what our world would be in the future? Not to say that this author is not talented however, it seems easy to avoid literature because readers will be blinded with the extreme notion of this future world. Once again who is to say which is better, if a reader smiles, cries, or gets involved in a book the author has done their job, I am not ashamed to say I did atleast a little of each of these things.
Okay...now looking at the "literary merit" of this story...debatable. I have always felt that a plot driven story ie: the hunger games, does not necessarily need to rank high in literary merit because for most readers they are into the fast paced and adrenaline feel that the story provides. However, for this story considering that it is three parts and the first two are just slightly under 400 pages there is certainly room for a writer to display their talents. Now...does she do it? I would say yes. While this story is very typical love/action story I will give it the benefit of the doubt that it is going to have a better twist as the series goes on. I say this only because I have faith in Collins writing ability because of a few aspects of the story. She really created the characters well and provided a sublety about their character that is hard to fake. It is hard to tell until he actually says it if Peeta is really in love with Katniss or is just playing it for the show. As a matter as a fact since it is in first person, Katniss brings this into question herself by singing the Whitney Houston song "Does he really love Me?" Well...not quite. Another sublety that I was impressed with was when Rue, the little girl from district 12 that reminds readers of Prim said to Katniss about Peeta, "I didn't think he was faking it," or something to that effect. I realy like when authors utilize somewhat minor characters for major themes, although that can be seen as a desperate attempt to interject a thought that the writer simply could not imply by simply writing and letting the story be.
In my Literature class we were discussing some themes about this book and people suggested a potential "Marxist lens" for the story. I believe that some books ie: Anthem really try to put a political spin on things and make it so obvious that the author loses credit as collateral to an agenda. I really do not think that this author had any politics in mind other than providing a thought for an extreme future world. However, this in itself could be a comment on literary merit. With a 1000 pages (considering that this series will be around that) can an author re-create a more realisitc look at what our world would be in the future? Not to say that this author is not talented however, it seems easy to avoid literature because readers will be blinded with the extreme notion of this future world. Once again who is to say which is better, if a reader smiles, cries, or gets involved in a book the author has done their job, I am not ashamed to say I did atleast a little of each of these things.
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