Citation:
Green, John. Looking For Alaska. Dutton Books: New York. 2005. Print.
Annotation:
Miles has never had friends and when he is enrolled in a private boarding school in Alabama, he doesn't have high hopes, but he finally becomes accepted. He meets a remarkable girl named Alaska who changes his life more than he could imagine.
Justification for Rejection:
While this book is interesting and enjoyable to read, it isn't one that I would give any award to. The main character, Miles, is lonely and rejected. When he arrives at his new school he immediately follows around his independent roommate, Chip, who introduces him to Alaska, the girl of his dreams. Miles finally becomes accepted for the last-line-loving boy that he is and has some people to relate to and be rebellious with.
It sounds like a nice story, right? And it is, but something is lost in the cracks in the novel. Something about heart and finding your own independent way. This journey of "who am I" is forgotten by Green. Miles, in the end, is the exact same (maybe a little sadder) that he was in the beginning. He still follows his stronger-willed friends to lead the way for his lack of personality.
This novel does do a wonderful job testing the boundaries of authority with all its drinking and sex or possible sex. But, never do the friends ever pay for the wrongs that they do. The reader is meant to think that they suffer when they allow their friend to drive drunk and the friend gets killed. But, instead of getting lost in the grief they pass the time trying to figure out why she died and where she was going.
The plot of the story is adequate, but certainly not memorable. The characters are complex and unusual, but they lack authenticity. It is hard to believe that these teens could actually exist in this Culver Creek Academy. The authority figures are a joke and have no authority at all.
All in all, this novel is nice to read, it isn't one that I would care to read again. The characters and the setting, while interesting, but lack a certain luster. They lack the depth and insight of a truly moving story. The reader is left saying "So what?" at the end instead of sighing in relief.
Genre:
Edgy / Realistic / Coming of Age
7/28/11
Extra Credit: Review One
Citation:
Whelan, Gloria. Homeless Bird. HarperCollins: New York. 2000. Print.
Annotation:
Koly is a 16-year old widow living in rural India with no skills exept her extraordinary talent at embroidery. When she is abandoned in an unfamiliar town for widows she has to find her own way out of poverty and into love.
Justification for Nomination:
Whelan uses her wonderful descriptions and character development to tell Koly's story. This girl was married at thirteen to a dying boy. When he died, she was left in the custody of his parents. His mother, a sour woman who never trusts Koly, forces her to do chores each day. His father, a teacher at a local school, lovingly teaches her how to read. When he dies, the mother abandons Koly in a town full of unwanted widows. She finds her way, with the help of a kind stranger, to a home for young widows where jobs and food are provided. It is here that Koly finds her strength to reveal her talent making tapestries and saris.
This book leads the reader on Koly's incredible journey through sorrow and heartache to eventual happiness. The graceful description of Koly's emotions and her actions paint a lovely picture that the reader can fully appreciate. Each event or person that knocks Koly down makes the reader squirm with its horridness, but each time she rises above makes reading the last few lines like a sigh of relief.
Whelan's language is simple and beautiful especially describing Koly's sewing talents and the nature around her. Sound and the setting are portrayed wonderfully. Each character is set up with an easy physical description, but their actions convey their personality without the reader being told.
Any reader could identify with this girl and her troubles. She has to find her own way in a life that doesn't give her any breaks. Her innocence is lost at a young age and is forced to grow up much sooner than anyone should have to.
While the cover of the book could use some color and zest, I think that if teens gave the story a chance they would be immersed in the unbelievable story of an uncommon girl.
Genre:
Mulitcultural / Coming of Age / Romance
Whelan, Gloria. Homeless Bird. HarperCollins: New York. 2000. Print.
Annotation:
Koly is a 16-year old widow living in rural India with no skills exept her extraordinary talent at embroidery. When she is abandoned in an unfamiliar town for widows she has to find her own way out of poverty and into love.
Justification for Nomination:
Whelan uses her wonderful descriptions and character development to tell Koly's story. This girl was married at thirteen to a dying boy. When he died, she was left in the custody of his parents. His mother, a sour woman who never trusts Koly, forces her to do chores each day. His father, a teacher at a local school, lovingly teaches her how to read. When he dies, the mother abandons Koly in a town full of unwanted widows. She finds her way, with the help of a kind stranger, to a home for young widows where jobs and food are provided. It is here that Koly finds her strength to reveal her talent making tapestries and saris.
This book leads the reader on Koly's incredible journey through sorrow and heartache to eventual happiness. The graceful description of Koly's emotions and her actions paint a lovely picture that the reader can fully appreciate. Each event or person that knocks Koly down makes the reader squirm with its horridness, but each time she rises above makes reading the last few lines like a sigh of relief.
Whelan's language is simple and beautiful especially describing Koly's sewing talents and the nature around her. Sound and the setting are portrayed wonderfully. Each character is set up with an easy physical description, but their actions convey their personality without the reader being told.
Any reader could identify with this girl and her troubles. She has to find her own way in a life that doesn't give her any breaks. Her innocence is lost at a young age and is forced to grow up much sooner than anyone should have to.
While the cover of the book could use some color and zest, I think that if teens gave the story a chance they would be immersed in the unbelievable story of an uncommon girl.
Genre:
Mulitcultural / Coming of Age / Romance
7/25/11
Review Nine: ALEX Award Winner
Citation:
Rebeck, Theresa. Three Girls and Their Brother. Shaye Areheart Books: New York. 2008. Print.
Annotation:
The Hellers are a dysfunctional family consisting of an overbearing mother, absent father, three daughters and one son. The daughters become famous because of their red hair and get tangled in the web of parties and those who want to take advantage of them.
Justification for Rejection:
While the subject of fame and its destructive powers is interesting and intiguing, Rebeck falls short with her cast of typical characters and predictable plot. The family is unkind to each other from the start and fake in every sort of way imaginable. Their mother has no authority in the story nor any kind of strength. Each daughter has her own distinctive personality, but they do not act in any way toward each other like they are sisters.
Everything about this novel, from the setting to the events, seems so forced and fake. It reads as if it were written by someone who has no idea what someone in the limelight really goes through. Everything that the Hellers encounter could be found on the front cover of a magazine. Nothing seems real except for the fact that the youngest doesn't want to be a model after all, but is forced into it by her sisters and mother.
The style of narration with its constant tense shifts and point of view shifts is distracting and hard to read. Also distracting was the sparse way that information is given. The descriptions of the family age order and also their apperances come in small droplets that the reader has to mold together with difficulty.
This novel is one that does not give the reader a chance to absorb the story at all. Everything is thrown together in a stack of pages that the reader has to sort out. The reader is not given a chance to care about any of these people because they don't care about themselves.
All in all, this novel is one that should be passed on the shelves. The subject may be enticing, but the book leaves something to be desired.
Genre:
Edgy / Coming of Age
Rebeck, Theresa. Three Girls and Their Brother. Shaye Areheart Books: New York. 2008. Print.
Annotation:
The Hellers are a dysfunctional family consisting of an overbearing mother, absent father, three daughters and one son. The daughters become famous because of their red hair and get tangled in the web of parties and those who want to take advantage of them.
Justification for Rejection:
While the subject of fame and its destructive powers is interesting and intiguing, Rebeck falls short with her cast of typical characters and predictable plot. The family is unkind to each other from the start and fake in every sort of way imaginable. Their mother has no authority in the story nor any kind of strength. Each daughter has her own distinctive personality, but they do not act in any way toward each other like they are sisters.
Everything about this novel, from the setting to the events, seems so forced and fake. It reads as if it were written by someone who has no idea what someone in the limelight really goes through. Everything that the Hellers encounter could be found on the front cover of a magazine. Nothing seems real except for the fact that the youngest doesn't want to be a model after all, but is forced into it by her sisters and mother.
The style of narration with its constant tense shifts and point of view shifts is distracting and hard to read. Also distracting was the sparse way that information is given. The descriptions of the family age order and also their apperances come in small droplets that the reader has to mold together with difficulty.
This novel is one that does not give the reader a chance to absorb the story at all. Everything is thrown together in a stack of pages that the reader has to sort out. The reader is not given a chance to care about any of these people because they don't care about themselves.
All in all, this novel is one that should be passed on the shelves. The subject may be enticing, but the book leaves something to be desired.
Genre:
Edgy / Coming of Age
7/18/11
Review Eight: Challenged or Banned Book
Citation:
Farmer, Nancy. A Girl Named Disaster. Orchard Books: New York. 1996. Print.
Annotation:
Nhamo, a twelve-year-old escaping her home to avoid an arranged marriage, travels alone for years through the jungle and dangerous rivers to Zimbabwe to find her father's family.
Justification for Nomination:
Farmer does an excellent job creating a strong and remarkable character in Nhamo. This girl escapes a potentially life-threatening arranged marriage and lives on her own in the wild for many years. She has to find her own food, find her own way, and protect herself against predators and pests. With the knowledge that she gained throughout her time in her village with her grandmother and her aunt, this girl survives in a place where many others have perished. Nhamo, up until leaving her home, had always felt like an outsider and unwelcome to everyone but her grandmother. She hated her village and the way that they made her feel. But, during her solo journey she realized that she needed human companionship and connection. She longed for her aunt and her cousins.
The way that Farmer showed this shift was unforgettable. This child was forced to grow up much faster than she needed to, but she discovered many things about herself that she would never had without this experience. The parts that were most enjoyable as a reader were the many instances when Nhamo described food that she was eating. From dried fish to tomatoes or mealies (corn) each food source makes your mouth water. This child is basically starving and surviving on what she has brought from her village or what she can find so anything she eats is so wonderful.
Farmer also creates places effortlessly in this novel. Each place that Nhamo sleeps or visits is vividly described and allows the reader to picture it with the girl. Although this novel is written in third person instead of the usual first person, this does not take the reader away from experiencing Nhamo's emotions. On the contrary, the reader feels Nhamo's loneliness and her fear from page one.
This novel is the most wonderful journey that any teen would be happy to take. The idea that this young person could accomplish everything that she does is breathtaking. By reading this book and the glossary and history in the back, a reader will learn a little something about African culture and how it feels to cut your own path in life without anyone's help.
Genre:
Coming of Age / Multicultural / Historical
Farmer, Nancy. A Girl Named Disaster. Orchard Books: New York. 1996. Print.
Annotation:
Nhamo, a twelve-year-old escaping her home to avoid an arranged marriage, travels alone for years through the jungle and dangerous rivers to Zimbabwe to find her father's family.
Justification for Nomination:
Farmer does an excellent job creating a strong and remarkable character in Nhamo. This girl escapes a potentially life-threatening arranged marriage and lives on her own in the wild for many years. She has to find her own food, find her own way, and protect herself against predators and pests. With the knowledge that she gained throughout her time in her village with her grandmother and her aunt, this girl survives in a place where many others have perished. Nhamo, up until leaving her home, had always felt like an outsider and unwelcome to everyone but her grandmother. She hated her village and the way that they made her feel. But, during her solo journey she realized that she needed human companionship and connection. She longed for her aunt and her cousins.
The way that Farmer showed this shift was unforgettable. This child was forced to grow up much faster than she needed to, but she discovered many things about herself that she would never had without this experience. The parts that were most enjoyable as a reader were the many instances when Nhamo described food that she was eating. From dried fish to tomatoes or mealies (corn) each food source makes your mouth water. This child is basically starving and surviving on what she has brought from her village or what she can find so anything she eats is so wonderful.
Farmer also creates places effortlessly in this novel. Each place that Nhamo sleeps or visits is vividly described and allows the reader to picture it with the girl. Although this novel is written in third person instead of the usual first person, this does not take the reader away from experiencing Nhamo's emotions. On the contrary, the reader feels Nhamo's loneliness and her fear from page one.
This novel is the most wonderful journey that any teen would be happy to take. The idea that this young person could accomplish everything that she does is breathtaking. By reading this book and the glossary and history in the back, a reader will learn a little something about African culture and how it feels to cut your own path in life without anyone's help.
Genre:
Coming of Age / Multicultural / Historical
7/10/11
Review Seven: Science Fiction/ Fantasy
Citation:
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1993. Print.
Annotation:
Jonas lives in a regulated world where rules run everything and when he is given the power to receive all memories of all humans that no one else but The Giver has, he realizes how terrible his world is.
Justification for Nomination:
Lowry creates a place in the future without colors or music or weather. This place is strictly regulated and no one makes their own choices. The Elders choose spouses and when someone can have children and they also decide what a twelve-year-old's occupation is going to be for the rest of their life. Jonas at twelve is given the rare honor of Receiver which means that he receives all memories that no one else knows. Memories of snow and war and colors. This child is exposed to all of humanity's ups and downs and times when people made their own decisions. But, it is when Jonas sees his father Release a newborn (which essentially is murdering it by lethal injection) he snaps and escapes.
Jonas is made to feel special with this honor that only is bestowed upon few people. He embraces his task with vigor, but as he realizes the truth he begins to resent the community. Jonas loses his innocence each time he sees a new memory and he tests the boundaries of authority by giving his memories to the newborn that his family is caring for when it is strictly forbidden for him to do so.
The conflict in the story is a wonderful social commentary on lethal injection and also what a world would be like without choices and everything else we take for granted. Jonas has an inner conflict when he has to realize what to do about everything that he knows. He has to decide to turn his back on his family and his home or go on living a lie.
Everything about this novel from the plot to the language to the setting is immaculate. Lowry's writing is rich and easy to follow. Her characters are deep and meaningful. Each sentence is inviting and relatable. The quest for truth and Jonas' initiative to create truth in his world is mesmerizing. This is one book that wholeheartedly deserves every award it has ever gotten. Reading this book will make you think of your own life in a different way and make you appreciate everything you may take for granted. Have you ever really looked at snow? Have you ever noticed that the color red is everywhere? Read this book and you'll never look at those things the same way again.
Genre:
Science Fiction / Coming of Age / Realistic
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1993. Print.
Annotation:
Jonas lives in a regulated world where rules run everything and when he is given the power to receive all memories of all humans that no one else but The Giver has, he realizes how terrible his world is.
Justification for Nomination:
Lowry creates a place in the future without colors or music or weather. This place is strictly regulated and no one makes their own choices. The Elders choose spouses and when someone can have children and they also decide what a twelve-year-old's occupation is going to be for the rest of their life. Jonas at twelve is given the rare honor of Receiver which means that he receives all memories that no one else knows. Memories of snow and war and colors. This child is exposed to all of humanity's ups and downs and times when people made their own decisions. But, it is when Jonas sees his father Release a newborn (which essentially is murdering it by lethal injection) he snaps and escapes.
Jonas is made to feel special with this honor that only is bestowed upon few people. He embraces his task with vigor, but as he realizes the truth he begins to resent the community. Jonas loses his innocence each time he sees a new memory and he tests the boundaries of authority by giving his memories to the newborn that his family is caring for when it is strictly forbidden for him to do so.
The conflict in the story is a wonderful social commentary on lethal injection and also what a world would be like without choices and everything else we take for granted. Jonas has an inner conflict when he has to realize what to do about everything that he knows. He has to decide to turn his back on his family and his home or go on living a lie.
Everything about this novel from the plot to the language to the setting is immaculate. Lowry's writing is rich and easy to follow. Her characters are deep and meaningful. Each sentence is inviting and relatable. The quest for truth and Jonas' initiative to create truth in his world is mesmerizing. This is one book that wholeheartedly deserves every award it has ever gotten. Reading this book will make you think of your own life in a different way and make you appreciate everything you may take for granted. Have you ever really looked at snow? Have you ever noticed that the color red is everywhere? Read this book and you'll never look at those things the same way again.
Genre:
Science Fiction / Coming of Age / Realistic
7/3/11
Review Six: Horror/Supernatural/Vampire Novel
Citation:
Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia. Demon in my View. Delacorte Press: New York. 2000. Print
Annotation:
Jessica is an adopted teen writer who has vivid dreams about vampires' histories which she uses in her novels and becomes immersed in the very real truth that her dreams are true to life and is being hunted for revealing secrets.
Justification for Rejection:
Although this novel is very easy to comprehend, has likeable characters, and a concept that makes the reader think just for a second that this could be real, it is not one that is extraordinary or even memorable. Atwater-Rhodes shows her immaturity in her writing by focusing on general descriptions of her characters and stereotypical images of vampires. Jessica has a fiery personality, but it feels forced throughout because the novel is written in third person. The author does a disservice to her teen readers by not letting them experience the story with Jessica.
Jessica's character is relatable with her inability to identify with her classmates and her anger toward her adopted mother. Also, Aubrey, the vampire who lusts after Jessica, is painted as the heartthrob in the story although he lacks much of a personality.
The story itself does not give Jessica or any of the characters much room to change and grow with the emergence of the truths and trials. The plot is superficial at best and does not show much more than the words typed on the page. Atwater-Rhodes tells the story in such a way that the reader's brain can basically turn off and flow along with the words without much thought.
Lack of conflict within the main characters and the lack of any type of figurative language or imagery make this story one to move on from on the shelf. Although I think that Atwater-Rhodes is a talented author, this is not one of her best. The entire novel is rushed and glossed over and leaves the reader waiting for that sigh at the end of a good book when you know everything has just come together.
Genre:
Vampire/Coming of age/Romance
Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia. Demon in my View. Delacorte Press: New York. 2000. Print
Annotation:
Jessica is an adopted teen writer who has vivid dreams about vampires' histories which she uses in her novels and becomes immersed in the very real truth that her dreams are true to life and is being hunted for revealing secrets.
Justification for Rejection:
Although this novel is very easy to comprehend, has likeable characters, and a concept that makes the reader think just for a second that this could be real, it is not one that is extraordinary or even memorable. Atwater-Rhodes shows her immaturity in her writing by focusing on general descriptions of her characters and stereotypical images of vampires. Jessica has a fiery personality, but it feels forced throughout because the novel is written in third person. The author does a disservice to her teen readers by not letting them experience the story with Jessica.
Jessica's character is relatable with her inability to identify with her classmates and her anger toward her adopted mother. Also, Aubrey, the vampire who lusts after Jessica, is painted as the heartthrob in the story although he lacks much of a personality.
The story itself does not give Jessica or any of the characters much room to change and grow with the emergence of the truths and trials. The plot is superficial at best and does not show much more than the words typed on the page. Atwater-Rhodes tells the story in such a way that the reader's brain can basically turn off and flow along with the words without much thought.
Lack of conflict within the main characters and the lack of any type of figurative language or imagery make this story one to move on from on the shelf. Although I think that Atwater-Rhodes is a talented author, this is not one of her best. The entire novel is rushed and glossed over and leaves the reader waiting for that sigh at the end of a good book when you know everything has just come together.
Genre:
Vampire/Coming of age/Romance
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