Module 6: Book Reviews
Fantasy, Fiction
Bibliography:
Lin, Grace. 2001. WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company Books. ISBN: 9780316038638
Plot Summary:
WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON, is a fictional chapter book based on Chinese folklore, this story has many stories within it, such as “The Story of Fruitless Mountain,” “The Story of the Old Man on The Moon,” “The Story of the Dragon,” “The Story of the Goldfish Man,” and many more. Ma, Pa, and Minli work tirelessly day in and day out in the shadow of Fruitless Mountain in the rice fields, and everyday Ma complains about their poor lifestyle, same old rice dinners, and wishing for a better life. To change her family’s fortune, the main character Minli, strives to meet the “Man on the Moon” in order to ask him how to change her family's fortune. Minli encounters many friendly characters along the way such as a dragon who cannot fly, a buffalo boy, the King, and the village of happy people. Through each encounter Minli learns new lessons from stories that each one of them share with her. After Mini's treacherous adventures the Dragon and Minli finally reach the Old Man on the Moon. Minli can only ask one question and decides to ask why the Dragon can not fly. The simple answer was to take the large stone off of the Dragon’s head. Minli was selfless and instead of asking how to change her family’s fortune, she asked how to make her Dragon friend’s life better. When Minli returns home to her family things start to change. The Fruitless Mountain turns into a green luscious mountain, and her Pa realizes that the stone from the Dragon’s head that kept him from not flying, was actually a precious Dragon pearl. Mini's family fortune begins to turn around, and she spends the rest of her days sharing her travel adventures to the villagers in her town.
Critical Analysis:
The main Character Minli, is easily the protagonist in this fantasy novel. She is a selfless, easy to please, adventurous little girl, who only wishes to make her family’s life better. Minli obeys her parents, shows her hard work through the mending of the rice fields everyday, and takes a big leap of faith in hopes that her father’s legends are true. The reader can easily feel a connection to Minli and the hardships that her family deals with, as well has the excitement of the never-ending adventures that she faces. There are many supporting characters in this novel that emerge over and over to help tie the entirety of the storyline together.
The plot is different than any other book that I have ever read. There is a clear beginning, middle, and end, but there is a twist to this storyline. Because there are so many “mini” stories within the main storyline, it made for an interesting read. For example, Grace Lin started each new story with a title such as, The Story Of The Old Man On The Moon. This notified the reader that a new story was about to begin. Each legend within the story plot was pleasantly tied to one another in a beautiful story web. Within the storyweb, Grace Lin also involved a dramatic quest for Minli to discover the legendary Man on the Moon and ask him a desiring question that lingers throughout the story edging the reader to find out Minli’s future. The plot was well organized and was written very creatively to keep the reader's interest.
Grace Lin’s writing was very descriptive, and easily lent itself to the magical beings that Minli encounters. The setting was eloquently written and pleasing for the reader to visualize and imagine. For example Grace Lin writes, “Crowded in the corner of where Fruitless Mountain and the Jade River met was a village that was a shade of faded brown. This was because the land around the village was hard and poor. To coax rice out of the stubborn land, the fields had to be flooded with water.”
The general theme of this fantasy is selflessness and friendship. The main character is faced with many obstacles to overcome in order to reach her final destination. In the end, once she is in the grasp of her answer to changing her family’s fortune, Minli sacrifices her whole quest to ask for a solution as to why the dragon remains flightless. Minli and the flightless Dragon, who accompanies her through her journey, create a bond that can not be broken. Therefore when Minli can ultimately only ask one question of The Man on The Moon, she could not bare the thought of letting him down. Her great sacrifice doesn’t leave her empty handed though.
Review Excerpt(s):
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "The author's writing is elegant, and her full-color illustrations are stunning."
BOOKLIST: "Lin creates a strong, memorable heroine & mystical land...children will embrace this story..."
Connections:
*Students can visit the author’s website: https://www.gracelin.com. Here students can read more information about the author and will find a wide variety of resources such as podcasts, other books written by Grace Lin, and activities that students can complete as an extension from the novel.
* Invite students to bring in items that they would bring along on a quest or journey, as Minli had. As students present these items to their peers, ask them to discuss a reason or purpose of the items that they choose.
* Students can be encouraged to read other books written by Grace Lin such as:
- Lin, Grace. THE YEAR OF THE DOG. ISBN:0316060003
- Lin, Grace. THE YEAR OF THE RAT. ISBN: 978-0316114264
- Lin, Grace. STARRY RIVER OF THE SKY. ISBN:9780316125956
Bibliography:
Alexander. Kwame. 2014.THE CROSSOVER. Arkansas: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books. ISBN: 9780358008408
Plot Summary:
THE CROSSOVER is a fictional story about twin brothers and their family bond. The protagonist Josh Bell, and his brother Jordan otherwise known as “J.B,” are seventh grade basketball players who learn the game of ball from their father. This story is mainly told through Josh’s eyes as he deals with the many stresses that teenagers deal with such as teenage relationships, basketball team drama, and his father’s health. Josh’s brother engages in his very first teenage relationship, with a girl named Alexis. This new partnership, puts a deep strain on the brother’s friendship and trust. Josh’s relationship with Jordan is also affected on the court. Due to this friction amongst the brothers, the team’s chemistry loses its spark, resulting in a close game placing them in the playoffs. During this time, Josh and Jordan’s father, has a series of health scares that lead to his bedside in the hospital. Through these difficult times, Josh struggles with coping skills over his Dad’s health scare. Right before the playoff game, Josh’s father is checked into the hospital. Meanwhile, Josh decides to attend the game while his father sadly passes away from a second heart attack. In the end, Josh and Jordan comfort each other by coming to terms with one another by restoring their relationship.
Critical Analysis:
The main character Josh, also named “Filthy McNasty,” is a static character who is a relatable middle school basketball player. He likes rap music, ball, and spitting some rhymes. Josh is very short tempered. For example, in the novel he intentionally hurt his brother during a basketball game. Thus there brotherly relationship suffered. Josh and Jordan mirror a typical brother relationship as they go through the ups and downs of middle school problems.
This novel has a very logical and common plot that provides the events in a sequential order, thus making it a very realistic story. There are many obstacles that Josh overcomes such as the tension between him and his brother, Josh and his father, and Josh’s brother’s new girlfriend. The climax of the story happens at the end, when Josh’s dad unexpectedly has an unexplained massive heart attack. Josh who is unaware, was attending the team’s playoff game, and doesn’t find out until after. After the funeral, Josh and his brother resolve their personal issues with one another by coming together by doing what their father taught best...basketball. The setting takes place mostly at Josh’s house, his middle school, and the local recreation center. Each one of these places are realistic and common for a young middle schooler to be seen at.
A reoccuring theme that is present in this story is the conflict among a brotherly relationship. Josh must find a way to have a healthy bond with his brother. Brotherhood and family play a big role in the main character’s life and is the main center of his conflicts. Another theme that is portrayed in this novel is the idea of growing up and the challenges that young teenagers face with relationships that are most important to them such as their family relationships, girlfriend relationships, and brotherly relationships.
This novel had a very unique style of writing. Kwame Alexander creates a character that is very confident about his abilities by describing his style of play on the basketball court by using short rhymes. Alexander uses short simple sentences that show the main characters age appropriate thoughts. The text is a very uncommon but unique in its own way. Alexander does not write the story like any normal novel with paragraphs that go edge to edge on the page. In this novel, Alexander’s text follows no format. Each page has words that are written to match what Josh is thinking, for example, some words are bolded or move down the page in different formats. This grabs the reader's attention and deepens the meaning of the rhymes that Josh is saying. Alexander uses many onomatopoeia devices such as, swooosh, swooping, popping, thumping and many more to describe his basketball game.
Throughout the novel, Alexander uses vocabulary words to describe his feelings. He starts off by stating the word along with its part of speech and its definition then gives multiple examples, each more personal than the last. Each example sentence, starts off as a vague meaning to the main character and ends with a deeper meaning of the word that relates to events that are occurring to Josh.
Review Excerpt(s):
KIRKUS, starred review: “This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. . . . Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch."
KIRKUS, starred review: “This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. . . . Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch."
PUBLISHER WEEKLY, starred review: "The poems dodge and weave with the speed of a point guard driving for the basket, mixing basketball action with vocabulary-themed poems, newspaper clippings, and Josh's sincere first-person accounts that swing from moments of swagger-worth triumph to profound pain."
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, starred review: "Alexander has crafted a story that vibrates with energy and heat and begs to be read aloud. A slam dunk."
Connections:
*After reading the novel have students create a venn-diagram comparing and contrasting the twin brothers Jordan and Josh. Afterwards, they can create sketches of what the characters look like based off of the descriptions in the novel. Allow students to share their assignment with the class.
*Several of the poems in the novel lend themselves to reader’s theater. Allow volunteer students to perform a few of the scenes by reenacting the characters in the novel.
* Many of the poems in this novel are centered around rhyme and rap, encourage students to create their own verses that tie into the novel. Allow students to share with the class and explain which part of the novel they are connecting to.
Bibliography:
Tan, Shaun. 2008. TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA. New York. NY: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN: 9780771084027
Plot Summary:
This fictional fantasy novel shares 15 illustrative stories about the interesting yet unusual findings in the suburban lifestyle. Each story is unrelated to one another and describes strange and bizarre tales of unrealistic creatures, events, and discoveries. Some of the stories within this novel are, “Eric,” a short story describing a foreign exchange student who has a fettish for collecting strange items. “Broken Toys,” is about a mean neighbor who returns lost toys in ruins to the neighborhood children, when one day a man in an old fashioned diving suit appears to make a deep connection with the old lady. “Distant Rain,” is a collection of short sentences describing what happens to all the poems that people write. “Grandpa’s Story,” focuses on grandma and grandpa’s adventurous wedding day and how they managed to survive a treacherous scavenger hunt. Tan’s short stories are dark, but humorous, and many young adult readers will enjoy this graphic novel.
Critical Analysis:
The characters in this novel are all very different and are portraying different roles of society. For example, in “Eric” the child that is describing their encounters with the foregin exchange student doesn’t seem to be afraid of the differences that they have with Eric and the unique ways that he communicates to the family. In “Broken Toys,” there is a strained relationship between the neighborhood kids and mean Mrs. Katayama. She is known for returning toys in bad conditions if they cross into her yard, until one day she is softened by a strange asian man in a divers suit.
Although each story has its own setting in the suburbian town, Tan does an excellent job at describing the surrounding scenery. He uses detailed descriptions of colors, feelings, and tones. While implementing all of these elements, it sets the backdrop for each short story. For example in “No Other Country,” Tan writes, “The green painted concrete out in front of the house, which at first seemed like a novel way to save money on lawn-mowing, was now just plain depressing...the newly planted fruit trees died in the sandy soil of a too-bright backyard and were left like grave-markers under the slack laundry lines, a small cemetery of disappointment.”
There are many extraordinary twists and turns throughout each short story. Tan’s writing shows so many appealing childlike feelings and imaginative plots. There are many mysterious creatures such as the water buffalo who sits in a yard giving directions, a Dugong marine animal in a neighbor's front yard, stick figures who roam the neighborhood without a purpose, and decorative missiles in everyone’s backyard. Many of these stories have an overlay of political and environmental issues such as terrorism, global warming, cruelty to animals, and immigration.
The illustrations in this novel, help explain and visualize all of the strange appearances in the novel. Some are drawn in pen, watercolor, acrylic or oil paints, and some collages are completed in the form of torn pieces of paper. Many of these illustrations create powerful images on their own. Tate takes a normal suburbia image that most people view as ordinary, and creates the most mystifying and obscure perspective filled with peculiar characters, and even more outlandish storyline to complete a great storybook.
Review Excerpt(s):
NEW YORK TIMES book review: "You almost can't stop yourself from saying 'Wow...' Tan's work overflows with human warmth and childlike wonder."
BOOKLIST, starred review: "The thoughtful and engaged reader will take from these stories an experience as deep and profound as with anything he has ever read."
KIRKUS, starred review: "Graphic-novel and text enthusiasts alike will be drawn to this breathtaking combination of words and images."
Connections:
*Encourage students to read other books written by Shaun Tan such as:
- Tan, Shaun. THE ARRIVAL. ISBN: 9780439895293
- Tan, Shaun. CICADA. ISBN: 9781338298390
- Tan, Shaun. LOST AND FOUND. ISBN: 9780545229241
* Allow students to cut magazines, newspaper clippings, and articles to create their own collage that depicts one of the short stories from the novel. Allow students to share their work with the class.
* Introduce the authors website and allow students to search for new and interesting insight into the behind the scenes of the author Shaun Tan at: http://www.shauntan.net
Bibliography:
Telgemeier, Raina. 2014. SISTERS. New York, NY: Scholastic. ISBN:9780545540605
Plot Summary:
SISTERS, is wonderful graphic novel, inspired by a true story of Raina the author, and a family vacation in her childhood. The story starts off with a family of five packing for a road trip from California to Colorado. Raina is a big sister to Amara and younger brother Will. As the family travels on the road, Raina has flashbacks to the past of when she yearned for a sister, how they grew up together complaining about one another, sharing a room, getting fish pets, and drawing pictures together. Throughout the road trip, the family overcomes a few speed bumps along the way, but once they make it to Colorado, they are greeted by their cousins, and celebrate a family reunion. On their trip back, when everyone is getting on each other’s nerves, the family van quits working. Raina’s mom and younger brother hitchhike on the side of the road and are picked up by someone who takes them to town to get a tow truck. Raina and Amara, are left alone in the wilderness in a hot steamy van. As the two become bored and tired of waiting they start talking and learn that they in fact have some similarities and grow closer.
Critical Analysis:
The protagonist character, Raina is a young teen experiencing growing pains and a changing family dynamic. Raina and her family struggle with many relatable issues that readers can find charismatic and empathetic. One of Raina’s biggest obstacles is her relationship with her younger sister Amara. This sibling rivalry is the root of Raina’s problems. The two sisters find many reasons to argue and are very different, with only one hobby in common...they both find a love to draw. There relationship grows over time throughout the novel and they come together in a time of need, eventually leading them to find common ground to build upon their sisterhood.
The plot of this novel focuses on the week long drive from California to Colorado Springs. The storyline is easy for young readers to follow, and incorporates many humorous touches along the way. This story is told through Raina’s eyes about how she wishes to be a big sister, and eventually regrets to be becoming a big sister. The reader is taken back to many flashbacks along Raina’s trip to get a better understanding of the foundation of the sister’s relationship. The flashbacks are great for readers to get a solid back story on where their relationship went wrong.
Although this graphic novel has a comic-feel, this relatable story explores a lot of issues that touch on sibling rivalry, feeling of not fitting in, anxiety of becoming a teen, and parents who don’t get along. Telgemeier creates a great piece that features a realistic family experiencing realistic problems while keeping it light hearted and humours by the style of the text.
The illustrations create expressive characters and carry the storyline perfectly without being a distraction. Telgemeier’s cartoon-style drawings bring many exasperating expressions out of each character giving more depth to the content that is presented. Most all of the writing is written in a dialog format as readers go through “panels” of illustrations. Most all of the panels were colored in and easy to follow along giving life to the characters.
There are many illuminating themes in this graphic novel but one that stuck out the most was the meaning of family and dealing with life together rather than alone. Raina learns that life is easier to navigate difficult times as a whole, rather than alone.Especially for young children transitioning into their teen years, I feel that this book is so easily relatable to this delicate time, and creates a feeling of wholesomeness.
Review Excerpt(s):
KIRKUS, starred review: "A wonderfully charming tale of family and sisters that anyone can bond with."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review: "Alternately poignant and laugh-out-loud funny."
BOOLIST, starred review: "Telgemeier's art complements her writing to great effect, offering a cheerful, vivid cartoon simplicity that allows readers to instantly engage even as it leaves room for deeper truths to take hold."
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, starred review: "A must-have follow-up to Smile."
Connections:
*Invite students to create their own memoirs. Discuss how the author of this graphic novel, used her own personal testimony into her storyline. Allow students to create their own cartoons depicting a time when they overcame an obstacle.
*Students can journal write about the many uses of flashbacks, and foreshadowing have on novels and how these elements are important in writing.
* Encourage students to read other novels by Raina Telgemeier that relate to teenage years and growing up such as:
- Telgemeier, Raina. SMILE. ISBN:9780545132053
- Telgemeier, Raina. DRAMA. ISBN:9780545326995
- Telgemeier, Raina. GUTS. ISBN: 9781338598599
