The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Alexie, S. (2007). The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. NY: Little Brown.
This coming of age, semi-autobiographical tale centers around the life of 14-year-old Arnold Spirit, better known as Junior, growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Junior is very intelligent but his spirit is broken from the constant struggles and despair that his family and him have faced living on the reservation. He feels destined to repeat the cycle of desperation and alcoholism his family has faced for generations until, encouraged by a teacher on his reservation, he makes the unheard of move to an all-white high school at the edge of the reservation. While this all white high school offers a significantly better education, Junior feels constantly torn between life at his new high school and life on the reservation. He loses his best friend due to his move and faces the loss of his grandmother and sister during this year. At the bleakest time in his life, Junior creates new friendships and finds his first girlfriend while excelling at school and basketball. Despite Junior’s struggle to mold a new identity for himself, he is hopeful for future.
This 2008 Best Books for Young Adults award winner was written by Sherman Alexie. Alexie himself grew up on an Indian Reservation and states this book is a semi-autobiographical tale. Some of the topics hit in this book are alcoholism, racism, sexuality, poverty, death, depression, and bullying. This book was told in first person by Junior, with his illustrations throughout the book. I believe this format gave the reader a very vivid and realistic look into the world Alexie created. The reader gained a powerful look into the lives of people on the Indian reservation and the despair the residents deal with on a daily basis.
To see more works from Sherman Alexie, visit his website at http://fallsapart.com/novelsandshortstories.
Speak
Anderson, L. H. (1999). Speak. NY: Penguin
In this young adult novel, Melinda Sordino is a lonely, withdrawn teenager starting her first year in high school. She often thinks of better days when she was happy with a group of best friends, but she tries desperately not to think about that night when everything changed. It is revealed that at the end of the last school year, her and her friends snuck out of a sleepover and went to a high school party. At this party, Melinda is raped by a popular high school upperclassman. She calls 911 but is too afraid to speak and runs home. The police come break up the party and everyone blamed Melinda for ruining the party. Her friends cast her aside and turn their backs on her. After the rape, Melinda isolates herself at home and school, only finding solace spending time alone in an abandoned janitor’s closet at school and attending to her art class. As the school year progresses, Melinda slowly begins to heal and, in a harrowing encounter with her rapist, Melinda finally regains her voice.
The protagonist Melinda Sordino narrates her story of rape, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, loneliness, and perseverance. The title Speak alludes to the fact that Melinda was not able to speak her truth and becoming more withdrawn and quiet as a result. It also is symbolized in her constantly biting her bottom lip, resulting in bruising and scabs. I found this to be a very powerful book which adolescents could relate to, regardless of being assaulted or not. I believe students will connect to the loneliness and despair Melinda spirals into, as we all have periods like this. Students can gain the lesson that it isn’t until we speak the truth that you are truly free.
Speak has recently been formatted into a graphic novel, which you can preview at https://us.macmillan.com/speakthegraphicnovel.
Penguin has provided teachers with a comprehensive educator's guide for Speak at http://www.penguin.com//LessonPlans_LHA.pdf.
To see more works by Laurie Anderson, visit her website at http://madwomanintheforest.com
Annie on My Mind
Garden, N. (1982). Annie on My Mind. NY: FSG
In Annie on My Mind, Liza Winthrop is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art looking for inspiration for a school project. There she meets Annie Kenyon, and her life is forever changed. While the girls have different backgrounds and interest, their friendship quickly becomes very intense and develops into love. Both girls are fearful of their relationship being discover for various reasons. However, after a housesitting job turns badly, Liza’s family and school discovers the truth and she fears the consequences will be catastrophic. Ultimately, Liza discovers the true nature of some former friends and her school administrators, while coming to grips with the new aspect in her identity.
While Annie on My Mind was written over 30 years ago, many in the LGBT community can attest that many of the same prejudice Liza and Anne endured are still faced today. This book humanizes these girls and narrated their love story just as you would any other. CIS and LGBT adolescence can both learn so much from this, and that love is love and sees no gender. I really enjoyed how the author Nancy Garden approached the material in this realistic fiction book and never became too preachy or didactic and just told an interesting love story.
Other young adult works by Nancy Garden can be found at http://www.nancygarden.com/books/teens.html.
A free discussion guide created by David Bruce on Annie on My Mind can be found at https://davidbruceblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/garden-annie-pdf.pdf. He provides some great discussion questions and resources.
Lily and Dunkin
Gephart, D. (2016). Lily and Dunkin. NY: Delacorte.
Lily and Dunkin is the interweaving tale of Lily, formerly Timothy, who is a transgender girl struggling for acceptance with her father and classmates and Dunkin, a teenage boy with bipolar disorder who is new to town. The two meet briefly right before their first day of 8th grade. It seems like they will become friends until Dunkin falls in with a group of kids who bully Lily. While Dunkin doesn’t agree with them bullying Lily, his desperation for acceptance and friendship keep him from speaking out. This need for acceptance also leads him on a dangerous path of skipping his medication in order to please his friends by being a better basketball player. Lily deals with constant bullying and harassment from her classmates. Everything comes to a head when Lily is physically exposed in her gym class by her peers and Dunkin has a mental episode during a basketball game and is institutionalized. They both never want to return to school due to the humiliation and embarrassment they feel, but together find the courage to attend the school dance and be themselves.
This book tackles really heavy topics like mental health, gender identity, suicide, tolerance, and bullying. It is evident that the author Donna Gephart did her research for this book and handle these topics beautifully and with an empathetic heart. She humanized her characters and the reader can really sympathize and feel compassion for the plight of these character. While she deals with tricky subjects, the overall feeling of hope and acceptance can be felt throughout the book. I believe this book can save students dealing with these issues and create kinder individuals for those who aren’t.
Random House created a rich teacher and counselor guide, that includes vocabulary words, discussion questions, curriculum connections, mental health and LGBTQIA resources, about Donna Gephart, other works from this author, related titles and more, which can be found at https://www.perma-bound.com/static/TPR/000457607.pdf
It's Perfectly Normal
Harris, R. (2009). It’s Perfectly Normal. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press.
In this nonfiction book, Robie Harris and Michael Emberley tackle sex, sexual health and changing bodies for young adolescents. Young adolescents can be an extremely awkward and strange time where information on their changing bodies and feelings is essential. This books mission is to make sure young adolescents understand that everything they are feeling and experiencing is normal and not to feel ashamed. Information is presented in a scientific matter of fact way and infused with humor and levity. Some topics discussed in this book are puberty, birth control options, sexual orientation, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual abuse and being responsible with your body.
It's Perfectly Normal is a revolutionary book in my opinion and a book I wish I would have had when I was a young adolescent. This book speaks respectfully and maturely to adolescent, while giving straightforward information which they may never discover otherwise. This book takes the stigma away from talking about sexuality and lays out how normal it is to be curious about it. The authors display accurate visuals for the students to reference and organizes the book in a way that is easy to digest.
Candlewick created a pamphlet with some talking points for parents and educators at http://www.candlewick.com
For more works by Robie Harris, visit her site at http://robieharris.com.
GO
Kidd, C. (2014). Go:A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design. NY: Workman.
Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design is a fun, innovated introduction into the world of graphic design. It is a visually stunning book which uses dynamic photos to demonstrates form, line, color, scale, typography, and how to use them in imaginative ways. Author Chip Kidd uses his immense talent and experience to cleverly examine the different graphic design elements and explain how to weave them all together. Kidd also includes 10 lessons at the end of the book for students to try. In this digitally visual world, this book is a must read for all students.
I never realized I had an interest in graphic design until I read this book. Chip Kidd made the subject of graphic design jump off the page. He made the topic relatable and easy to understand for students. Including real world examples for how graphic design is used in our everyday lives is exactly something every nonfiction book should emulate. It was evident throughout the book how knowledgeable Kidd is on the subject.
Tommy Brookshire created the perfect book preview for Go at https://www.youtube.com
Monster
Myers, W. D. (1999). Monster. NY: Harper.
Steve Harmon is an aspiring screenplay writer and movie loving teenager when his world is turned upside down. The book opens in which Steve details in a journal entry that he is in jail facing prison time for an armed robbery which resulted in a convenience store owner’s death. The prosecution paints Steve as a “monster” and he begins to wonder if there is some truth in it. It remains ambiguous what, if any, role Steve had in the robbery. There is almost no substantial evidence to convict Steve of any crime and he is found not guilty. Steve is left shaken from this experience and left question what is really true.
I loved how differently this book was formatted. The mixture of journal entries and screenplay format keep the book interesting and was inventive. I also quiet enjoyed the ambiguity of Steve's guilt and the actual role he played in the crime. I felt like that element gave the reader a lot to think about and discuss. I think the ambiguity also allowed for the theme of the nature of "truth" emerge naturally and leave the reader mulling it over.
HarperCollins includes a teacher and reading guide on their website at https://www.harpercollins.com.
To see all the works by Walter Dean Myers, visit his website at http://walterdeanmyers.net.
Ness, P. (2008). The Knife of Never Letting Go. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press.
In The Knife of Never Letting Go, Todd Hewitt, a soon to be 13 year old, lives in all-male Prentisstown, the last known settlement in the “New World”. All women and most men were killed in a war with the planet’s native creature the Spackle, which were all wiped out during battle, and the remaining men were infected with “The Noise”, in which they can hear each other’s thoughts. After the discovery of a patch of silence in the woods, Todd confronts his parents about it. The town hears about his discovery through the noise. His parents send him off quickly with his dog, a knife and the diary from his mother. Todd leaves the town quickly, confused by what is going on, and being aggressively followed by some of the townsmen throughout his entire journey. Through his trek to Haven, a settlement marked in his mom’s journal, Todd discovers that there are still women and Spackle. He learns the gruesome truth about Prentisstown and it’s founders. After countless trials and tribulations, the book ends with Todd finally arriving in Haven only to have to surrender to the Mayor Prentiss.
This science fiction book is the first of three in the "Chaos Walking" series and starts the series off with a bang. The tension and drama are palpable throughout the whole book and you have to force yourself to put it down. Most of the tension is created by not knowing the whole truth and being on that journey of discovery with Todd. Despite the fantastical elements, the reader is able to suspend their disbelief and become completely enthralled in Todd's journey to Haven. The book leaves the reader on a huge cliffhanger so is best to have the next installment ready.
Other books by Patrick Ness can be found at http://patrickness.com/books.
A discussion guide can be found on the Candlewick Press website at http://www.candlewick.com.
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