Thirteen Reasons Why

I am shocked that I read Thirteen Reasons Why when I was in 7th or 8th grade and was able to sleep at night. I had read the book when it first came out because I was (and still am) obsessed with checking Barnes and Noble website and look at new and popular teen books. I was first shocked with the peeping tom seen that I had read that but then it just escalated. I told my mom yesterday "I should not have read that book in middle school. No way no how." So . . . what I realized is that in my middle school class if I have the book on my shelf students will need to have his parents sign a permission slip to read it and I will not be teaching them this book. This doesn't mean it shouldn't be taught though. I will discuss this later.
This book is one of the few that really shows the reason and the effect bullying and teen actions can have on an individual and the possible repercussions. Even though the novel only takes place over one day it has great character development. The readers get to see the development of Clay throughout his listening to the tapes of Hannah and his emotions and tone develops throughout. We see him sad at the beginning but the farther in the more empathy and depressed he gets. It is no longer him mourning a girl he kind of knows--he starts to mourn the girl she was before she started high school at that school. It wasn't a culturally responsive book but I don't think that took away from the book. It didn't set stereotypes for folks of color nor did it specify that the students or any of the 13 reasons why were white. Otherwise it may have taken away from the book--maybe.
I think adolescents are attracted to this book because it is this huge piece of gossip. Every teen, child, adult love gossip. Maybe not all, but they are interested by it--we as human want to know what's going on. This book feeds that need. It feeds that need to investigate and figure out what really happened and why. Students I think are also intrigued by the idea of suicide. Sad and scary yes but also true. In school it is often walked around and not brought up in a way to truly educate a student. In high school suicide does happen and I think it is something that should be brought up and discussed. I think if someone was to teach this they should teach it in 11th or 12th grade. I also think you could pair this book with The Scarlet Letter to show the differences people take for ridicule. You don't even have to have the students read the book you could watch a clip or go over the plot of The Scarlet Letter.
My rate for this book is A.

Marcelo in the Real World

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I believe that the author Francisco X Stork did a very good job of placing his audience in the mind of Marcelo. At parts it was confusing because I wasn't sure what was going on because of how chaotic his thoughts were. The plot was well done in that it wasn't strictly about someone that was disabled--it was about friendship and growing up. Marcelo learned what it was like to be in the real world but he also learned what it was like to come up with his own opinions and to stick by them (this is an important thing to be seen in YAL and I will discuss later in this post). For character development I couldn't really see until the end. Throughout the novel it sounded and felt as if Marcelo was talking. Until the end when he was talking with his Rabbi did I truly see a character development. I think this is something that would be better seen in a movie version where you notice him not bringing up bible quotes and where they are in the bible, but in the book it felt like the same character throughout. On the topic of cultural and gender stereotypes I did not see this with culture. I do not believe there were cultural stereotypes but there was also not much cultural diversity. This I believe is because it was the point of Marcelo and he was not a character that noticed peoples looks nor cared: as shown by his confusion with Jasmine and her looks. There were a lot of gender stereotypes though. Wendell was seen as this frat star sex king who only cared about what women looked like. Marcelo's mother though seemed--in a sense--like a weak mother who listened and did what her husband wanted most of the time (and was later found to be cheated on). Jasmine was seen as smart but not smart enough to do more then work in a mail room and just tried to get out of her small town; another gender stereotype. Although I did enjoy this book some of stereotypes and lack of obvious character development was a bit frustrating and took away from the overall plot of the story--Marcelo.
I believe adolescents would thoroughly enjoy this novel. I think it would be an interesting text to teach high school students because of the issues that are posed. I think this book would appeal to adolescents because of its quick pace as well as this need to figure out what is right and what is wrong. In high school students often struggle with this idea of right and wrong and don't know if they should stand up for someone or let it slide. This book shows that it is alright to say that something is wrong and to go with your gut. I do not think this book is appropriate for middle school students though. Even though there are good messages I think some of the sexual connotations and family aspects are too much for that age. I would recommend teaching this novel to 9th or 10th grade students.
My grade for this book is a B+

Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray is without a doubt one of my favorite books. I have always loved historical fiction but this one is so unique. It is a story that is not often told--usually popular historical fiction is about World War II. Besides being an important story to tell historically, this book has a plethora of themes: perseverance, family, right/wrong: the book isn't just about surviving but about making sure to stay true to who you are as a person. This book also has a lot of character development with Lina. Everyone else around her stays the same. Her mom is strong. Andrius is strong. The bald man is grouchy. Every character has their "thing" that they stick to throughout the novel except Lina. Lina goes from seeming like a young girl to a young woman who takes control. By having the characters around her stay the same the author really emphasizes the protagonist and puts her under this light. I can't put my finger on what this does for the novel as a whole but will be thinking about it until class on Tuesday. I do not think you can say this text is not culturally responsive because of the fact that it is historical. As an author she can't add a person of color to make it culturally responsive because that is not what happened. Also, because of the fact that it is about Lithuanians that in itself makes it culturally responsive.
This novel shows teens as things that grow. Lina is a totally different character at the beginning than she is at the end--she is stronger and goes through this development that is seen in a lot of young adult literature novels. The theme of family is also appealing to teens as well as this semi romance. But what appeals to teens about this book is that it is not just about love stories. There are so many other factors going on that that is only an eighth of the important of the novel. The speed and ease of this book would also appeal to teens. It is a quick read and you cannot help but get swept up in the story.
I really want to teach this text to middle school students but it may be too old for them--in this case I may just grab snippets of it and compare it with the history. I'd probably start by going over the history with the students for a day or half a day and then do poster boards where each one as a chapter of the book and a question about what that says about the history of the event as a whole.
My grade for this book is an A+.