YA Literature Books 17-25
Bibliography:
Thomas, A. (2017). The hate u give. NY: Harper Collins.
Summary:
Starr Carter is a sixteen year old protagonist in this novel, The Hate u give. Starr, her older half brother Seven, and younger brother Sekani, live in an urban predominantly black neighborhood called Garden Heights. Garden Heights is a rough neighborhood where a gang called the “King Lords” rule the roost. Starr and her siblings attend a private school called Williamson, in a nearby affluent neighborhood called Riverton Hills. Starr is torn between the two cultures that are apparently very different. At Garden Heights, Starr can be herself, talk how she wants, act how she wants, and dress how she wants, but when she is in her predominantly white private school called Williamson, she feels the need to hide her true self to fit in with the other students.
As the novel begins, Starr is attending a spring break house party in Garden Heights with her good friend Kenya, when she runs into a boy named Khalil Harris. Khalil is one of Starr’s best friends, growing up. At times Starr remembers her parents looking out for Khalil, because his mother was caught up in drugs, and unable to provide for him. Starr recalls having a crush on Khalil, and still gets butterflies being around him. As they are catching up with one another, shots break out in the house, and Khalil rushes Starr away from the chaos. The two teens get into Kahlil’s car, and drive out of the range of flying bullets. While Kahlil is driving Starr home, an officer pulls the teens over, and questions them. Kahlil is outraged and asks why he is getting pulled over, he hands over his drivers license and registration, but the cop asks Khalil to get out of the car. Khalil is resistant and frustrated but steps out of the car anyways. The cop goes back to his car and calls in to his radio. Khalil turns to lean in the car to ask Starr if she is okay, when all of a sudden, the officer starts shooting Khalil thinking he was reaching for a gun. Khalil drops to the concrete as Starr watches him bleed out onto the black tar. Starr is distraught, confused, and horrified by this horrific experience.
Later, Starr is questioned by the police, but feels that Khalil will not recieve justice for his death as the officers who questioned her, ask only about Khalil and his past, rather than the events that lead up to his murder. Starr is devastated by the loss of her friend, and feels numb about the last moments of his life. When Starr returns to school, she doesn’t feel comfortable enough disclosing any of the details to her white boyfriend, Chris or Mya and Haley who are her close friends on the basketball team.
Starr tries to continue on her life as normally as she can, keeping silient that she is a key witness to the murder of Khalil. News travels quickly, and Kahlii’s death is broadcast nationally on the news. Many neighbors speculate that Starr was the one who was with Kahlil the night he died, but Starr and her family try to keep her identity hidden, knowing that she could be in danger if word gets out. At Khalil's funeral, King, the leader of the “King Lords” gang, tries to claim that Khalil was part of his gang. Starr knows better than to believe that Khalil would ever be involved in that monstrosity of group.
Starr then meets Ms.Ofrah, a community activist and attorney who offers to represent her. April Ofrah is an attorney at the community activist organization “Just Us for Justice” in Garden Heights. She introduces herself to the Carters at Khalil's funeral and offers to represent Starr. After watching a television interview of the officer’s father falsely claiming inaccurate events of the shooting, Starr decides to speak out in a television interview. Starr declares that her neighborhood is run by King, the head of the King Lords. Starr doesn’t regret calling King’s name out because she knows that King is the cause of all the hate, drugs, and violence in her neighborhood. Starr’s house is later shot up on evening, prompting her parents to think about moving out of Garden Heights. Later, Starr testifies her story once more, to the grand jury who will choose whether or not to indict Officer Cruise for the murder of Khalil.
Starr continues to have friction with her so called friend Hailey at school who makes a blatantly racist remark about Khalil, and then tries to laugh it off. The two girls do not see eye to eye on the shooting, and shortly after, Hailey makes another insensitive remark at school, and Starr punches her, causing a huge scene at school. Seven also steps in to defend his sister, and they are both suspended for fighting on school grounds.
As Starr and Seven, go searching for De’vante, a young neighborhood boy, who their family is trying to save from King, they hear on the radio the the grand jury's decision on Khalil’s case. It is announced that Officer Cruise will not be indicted. Everyone is shocked, angry, and confused. Violent demonstrations immediately break out in Garden Heights, businesses are destroyed and looted, cop cars are burned, and the police lob tear gas into the growing outraged crowd. The kids find Ms. Ofrah, who gives Starr her megaphone. Starr uses it to admonish the police for not caring about what happened to Khalil. Everyone is choking on tear gas, when they are picked up in a car by their dad’s friend, who takes them to the safety of the corner store that their father owns. However, it is not safe for long, as someone opens the door and tosses a burning bottle inside setting the store to a blaze with Starr and Seven inside.
Maverick, Starr’s dad, and a neighbor rescue the kids as the store begins to burn. Across the street, King and his gang point and laugh. When the police arrive on the scene, the neighbors come together to declare King the perpetrator of the fire, despite a proposition in the community against “snitching.” King is arrested for arson. Hailey reaches out to Starr with an insincere apology, and Starr decides she does not need insensitive people like this in her life. Maverick vows to rebuild the store, and Starr vows to never forget Khalil and to continue to speak up in the face of injustice.
Commentary
This novel is a Young Adult Novel that is a required read for this course.
The novel The hate u give, is presented in the first person point of view from the protagonist, Starr. Starr lives in the “ghetto-hood” of Garden Heights, but attends a prestigious private school called Williamson. This result of these two different places causes Starr to have a split identity. She monitors her speech and behavior among her white peers, because she is one of the only African American students at the school, and she feels like she must represent her entire race. In other ways, Starr is a typical teenager; she loves basketball and the show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, she is fashion conscious, and like all teens she has a Tumblr blog. Starr’s character is ever evolving throughout the novel as she overcomes challenges, emotions, and society. Her complexity adds to the controversial topics that are at hand in the novel, but at times can be seen as one sided through her eyes. Starr is often a very relatable character experiencing everyday challenges that typical teens face. We see her stress about how she is perceived by her friends and boyfriend, get in trouble with her mom, employ teen slang and lingo, and obsess about her favorite pop culture icons. To an extent, she is an ordinary adolescent, but in certain ways her experience is unique. For instance, her conflict with the murder of her friend along with the blame of law enforcement turns to a serious matter that many teens may see on the news but may not experience first hand. As the narrative unfolds, the reader sees Starr slowly let go of these insecurities and find her voice, no longer so afraid of what people might think of her.
The plot of this story follows typical conflict and solution storyline. The plot structure of The Hate U Give is essentially that of a coming-of-age story, as Starr becomes politically conscious and learns to stand up and speak out about what she believes in. In the process, she learns to accept her own authentic self. Step by step, Starr becomes braver and bolder about speaking out, first to the police, then to a journalist for a televised interview, then to the grand jury. The climax of her journey into political consciousness occurs at the protests at the end of the novel, when she shouts through a megaphone the injustice for Kahlil.
What I found that made the novel authentic is the way that the author uses slang, pop culture references, and some African American Vernacular English to get the reader inside the mind of an African American teenager living a dual life. The use of African American dialect is common to individuals living in urban environments and shares many stylistic similarities to speech patterns from the rural South. This added voice and authenticity to the characters, time period and setting of the novel. Harper Collins did an excellent job at portraying a genuine dialect through her writing.
All teens know what it feels like to pretend to be different to avoid teasing or judgment, and most can probably identify with Starr's yearning to speak out about injustice and fears about doing so. The theme of this novel is the importance of speaking up and speaking out against crime, injustice, and peace. At the beginning of the novel, the reader sees that Starr is unwilling to share her story and speak on Kahlil’s behalf, but once she starts to see the media proclaim false statements, she has the will to speak out against these false accusations.
Overall this novel, incorporates many controversial themes, but brings to light a different perspective of injustice. I found that Harper Collins’s writing is very influential and eye opening. Her style of writing is very authentic and opens up about racial inequality.
Connections
*Show students the movie trailer to The hate you give, before reading the novel. The students can get a sneak peek on what the novel incorporates. Have students write down predictions that they may have after watching the video.While students read the novel, they can correct or check back on their predictions to practice creating sufficient educated inferences on novels.
* Allow students to write an argumentative essay defending either Kahlil or the Officer Cruise from the novel. Students can take a stance on either character and debate who is right and who is in the wrong. Students must use citations from the novel to justify their responses. Allow students to share their writing with the class to prepare for a proper debate.
* Encourage students to create posters that the characters might have seen at the protest in support of Kahlil as the trial of his murder was occuring. Students can take on the perspectives of any character mentioned in the novel and create a poster that would imitate their feelings towards the case.
Bibliography:
Sartrapi, M. (2004). Persepolis. NY: Pantheon.
Summary:
Persepolis begins in Iran in the year 1979, when the Islamic Revolution takes place. Marji is only 10 years old, and attending a bilingual school. However, her school that she has come to love, is quickly closed and the boys and girls are separated to different schools. The new rules are that all the girls must wear veils. Furious at this new change, Marji's mother protests against the veil, but when a picture of her appears in a local magazine, embarrassed, she disguises herself to avoid notice. Marji’s family is modern, and she is deeply religious from an early age and believes she is the last prophet of God: she writes her own holy book, which only her grandmother knows about. Marji believes that God speaks to her every night. One day at school, Marji tells everyone she wants to be a prophet.
In the year 1979, the revolution begins, Marji and her friends “play” a protest in their garden, pretending to be the famous revolutionaries like Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and Leon Trotsky. She learns about revolutionaries from books, and wants to revolt in the streets as her parents do. Marji eavesdrops on her parents talking in their bedroom, overhearing how the police sealed off the Rex Cinema and burned it down with four hundred people inside. While the tragedy is blamed on religious fanatics, everyone knows it is the Shah's fault.
Since childhood, Mehri, the Strapis’s maid, has lived with and worked for them since Marji was born, and has even helped raise her. In 1978, Mehri falls in love with the neighbor's son, Hossein. He sends her a letter but she is illiterate and has now way of responding. Marji reads the letters to Mehri, and helps her write weekly letters back and firth to Hossein for six months. Word of the romance reaches Eby, who speaks with Hossein and reveals to him that Mehri is his maid, not his daughter. Eby confronts Marji, and Mehri is upset, but now she sees a new purpose in the revolution. She realizes that social classes do not intermingle. The two girls attend a protest in the streets, but are seen after-wards by Marji's mother, who in her furry, slaps them both for their foolish behavior. That day is eventually known as Black Friday, a day on which many protesters were killed. This allows the reader to see how dangerous it is to speak out and rebel against the government in ruling.
Marji finds out Kaveh, a boy she likes, is moving to the United States. Many of Marji's relatives also move to the States in refuge of the war torn country. Taji, Marji's mother, also fancies the idea of doing the same, but Eby, Marji’s father thinks otherwise. He is convinced that moving to the United States would mean the family would settle for careers as a taxi driver, and his wife would be given a maid job. Marji's family receives news that freed political prisoner Mohsen has been murdered, by drowning in his bathtub. The sister of the other political prisoner they know, Siamak, is executed as well, and he fled the country with the rest of his family. The once-imprisoned revolutionaries have now become enemies of the new fundamentalist republic.
Marji continues to worry that she may never fulfill her dream of becoming a chemist. A few days later, Marji's mother is threatened by two fundamentalist men, and the government soon announces that all women must wear veils in public. Marji’s family is against all of these strict ridiculous rules and are seen as modern day Islams. Men must also follow a new dress code adhering to Islam laws. When Marji's parents decide to attend a demonstration against fundamentalism, Marji’s father asks her to join them, so that she too can understand the importance of defending her rights. The demonstration becomes violent, and becomes the last protest Marji and her parents attend. In September 1980, Marji and her parents take a vacation to Spain and Italy. They see Iran on the news ,but do not understand the broadcast because it is in Spanish. As they return home, Marji's grandmother tells them Iran is officially at war with Iraq, and Marji has a burning fire to fight for her country.
One day, Marji is with her father in his office when she sees Iraqi jets bombing Tehran, the capital of Iran. They rush home to check on her mother. On the drive, Marji asks her father if he will fight the Iraqis, but he believes the real problem is their own government. They arrive home to find Marki’s mother in the shower. Marji shares her thoughts on the war, and believes Iran should bomb Baghdad, but the current Islamic government has imprisoned all the pilots after a failed coup attempt. Groceries and gasoline have grown scarce. At a gas station, Marji and her parents learn that the refinery in Abadan has been bombed.
Meanwhile, the Iraqis have better technology than Iran, but Iran has more soldiers. There are so many casualties that the traditional “nuptial chambers,” which are totems by which dead unmarried men symbolically "attain carnal knowledge,” begin to fill the streets. At school, Marji and her classmates are forced to beat their breasts twice a day for the war martyrs and the fallen soldiers. Marji and her friends make fun of this gesture, and other pro-government events at school. Young boys are being recruited to join the army, including the son of their current maid, Mrs. Nasrine. She tells Marji and her mother that her son was given a gold-painted plastic key at school, and he was told it would get him into heaven if he was fortunate enough to die fighting for Iran. Marji’s mom brings in Mrs. Nasrine’s son and convinces him otherwise to join in the fighting.
Tehran, the town where Marji lives, becomes a target of Iraqi bombing. Everyone in her building runs to the basement when alarms chime, and after three minutes they climb back up to call in and check on family and friends. Marji's mother tapes the windowpanes and hangs black curtains on the windows, not only to secure glass from shattering in from the bombing, but also to keep neighbors from spying and reporting to the Guardians of the Revolution, the fundamentalist soldiers who monitor all citizens. Though forbidden, parties are occuring. When Marji's family goes to her Uncle’s to celebrate the birth of his child, the hear sirens warning of an air strike, and the party ends. As Marji’s family is returning home from the party, The Guardians of the Revolution stop them. The Guardians smell alcohol on Marji’s father’s breath, the Guardians follow them home to search the apartment. Eby instructs Marji and her grand-mother to run ahead so they can flush the alcohol down the toilet while he stalls the guards. Eby finally enters the apartment alone, and tells them that all he had to do to keep the guard away was bribe him with money.
Marji is about fourteen years old, and is kicked out of school for hitting principal. She starts attending another school, but gets in trouble there for questioning the Islamic Republic's propaganda. While her father is proud of her defiance, her mother is alarmed, not wanting Marji to be killed. Marji discovers that since the murder of virgins is forbidden by law, Guardians of the Revolution "marry” young women then rape them before executing them. As The Iranian tradition is that the groom pays a dowry to the wife's family, the "husband" soldier sends a small amount of money to the girl's family. A week later, Marji's parents tell her they are sending her to school in Austria for her own safety and happiness. They tell her that they will visit her in six months time, and as the day of her departure grows near, she realizes that they will never move away from Iran. Marji fills a jar with the soil of her homeland to keep with her. She says goodbye to her friends, and her grandmother sleeps with her the night before she leaves. Marji's parents take her to the airport. As she leaves, Marji turns around and sees that her mother has fainted in her father's arms, and is devastated by the thought that they will never be reunited again.
Commentary
This novel is a Young Adult Novel that is a required read for this course.
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, was named after the capital city of the Persian Empire, the book is an autobiographical novel that is set during the Islamic Revolution of Iran and the Iran-Iraq War in from the 1970s to 1980s. The story is told brilliantly, through a series of comic-like illustrations on how civil conflict within the country was a damaging, difficult and life threatening time for the citizens. Persepolis incorporates the complex picture of life under the regimes of both the Shah of Iran and the Ayatollah Khomeini.
Satrapi's artistic style is bold and straightforward. Her comic illustrations demonstrate the perspective of a teen and the challenges that she must overcome as her country is being torn apart. She also uses a range of techniques and styles to capture different moods, through other characters such as Marji’s mother and father. There are many dramatic moments that can be shocking to some readers who are not familiar with this time period and the war between Iraq and Iran. There are many complex political injustices that are difficult to grasp but Satrapi does an excellent job of presenting them through the eyes of a young teen.
The content that is presented in this novel, is an accurate account of what Marji witnessed and encountered as she was living with her family in Iran. The historical context that this novel includes from the 1970’s to 1980’s brings to light the government issues that are causing social injustices, protests, war, and religious indifferences to the reader at hand. There are many accounts of brutal and violent accounts that Marji had to experience as a child, but there are also bits of humor as she goes through her rebellious teenage years. She references Michal Jackson, Iron Maiden, and Kim Wilde.
Overall I found that this graphic novel, provided me with great insight into the war torn country of Iran, and the many different governments that were exchanged through the 70’s and 80’s. Although this as a personal account of a historical time, as opposed to an objective historical account with facts and dates, and still found it very intriguing. Students will find that the teenage perspective it was written in, provides connections to their lives as well.
Connections
* After reading Perseppolis, invite students to write a character sketch of the author based on her style and content. What values does she hold dear? What are her hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think she is? Students can anchor their sketches from passages in the book.
* Allow students to create a short comic strip summary of the novel. Students must include the most crucial turning points in the novel that lead Marji’s family to believe that she needs to move to Austria. Students can draw the comic strip summary by hand or use computer graphics to create the summary. Students can share their comic strips in class through short presentations.
* Invite students to read Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi. Students can compare and contrast how Marji’s character changes as she is now living in Vienna, Austria, struggling to find a sense of belonging in a new country. Students can create a prezi presentation depicting the changes that Marji encounters, as well as the similarities that are consistent between both novels.
Bibliography:
Quintero, I. (2014). Gabi: A girl in pieces. TX: Cinco Puntos.
Summary:
Gabriella Hernandez, otherwise known as “Gabi” is a senior in high school. Gabi’s story is told through journal writing in her diary. The diary is insight into Gabi’s personal experiences, on how her day went, exploitations of her pent up emotions, dreams, and worries. Her diary is a safe and special place to keep all her private thoughts and dreams. She begins her story about a month before the beginning of her senior year in high school. She wishes the summer would last longer because she wants to be able to enjoy some more eating beinges like the new super hot wings at Pepe’s House of Wings. Gabi describes herself as a white skinned, fat Mexican-Americacn girl who loves food. The author is unique by intermingling bits of Spanish through out Gabi’s descriptive text. It adds a Mexican flavor to her rounded character.
As summer is coming to an end, and Gabi knows her final year of high school is ahead of her, she looks forward to returning to classes, although she struggles with Algebra II, taking it for the third time. She has to pass Algebra II to move on to college, and she is taking a poetry class as an extra course because she always liked poetry. Her teacher, Ms Abernard is very supportive and encouraging to Gabi and is helpful in guiding her future college education career in writing and poetry.
Gabi has two best friends Sebastian, and Cindy. Sebastian is gay and dealing with coming out to his family, and Cindy is a newly pregnant teen dealing with her conintuation of graduating High School and getting ready to become a mother. The three friends rely on each other and support each other through each ones celebrations and struggles.
Gabi has a flowery family with an intrusive Mother, a hooligan artistic brother, Beto, who is two years younger, a father whom is a meth drug addict, and aunts with different religious and cultural beliefs. Gabi knows who she is, a mixture of some of her Mexican culture, modern woman, and she works hard not to be defined by her weight or wealth. Poetry becomes an essential focus to Gabi and she develops a deep passion for it. It becomes an outlet to write down her ideas in a creative way, as she deals with issues she is struggling with in her life. She writes poems about the loss of her grandparents and she is able to express her disappointment in having a drug addict for a father and how hard he makes her life. As the year progresses, Gabi shares her concern about her father, who has been addicted to meth since she was in elementary school. He sometimes disappears for weeks at a time and Gabi fears he will be found dead. During the course of her senior year, Gabi’s father comes home, claiming he plans to get sober. Unfortunately, his plans do not include rehab so he is soon back on drugs. Ms. Abernath encourages some of the students to attend an open mike in a coffee shop to read their poems aloud. Gabi reads her poem about her father. She does very well and the crowd shows how much they like it.
A little after Christmas, Gabi finds her father dead in the garage with a drug pipe in his hand. It is a very traumatic experience for Gabi. It takes the strength of Gabi’s friends and her family to encourage her to shake off her grief and rejoin life. The family is devastated to lose him and to top it all off, her mother is pregnant and will deliver a new baby in the spring. Gabi wonders what impact the new baby will have on her college plans since it is generally expected for Mexican women to stay at home and help their family.
Gabi continues to grow up and faces many current and controversial adult issues. Gabi is a little “boy crazy,” and her first boyfriend named Eric ends when Gabi sees him kissing a girl at the mall. She realizes they had nothing in common except physical attraction. She begins dating Martin, a boy in her poetry class who understands Gabi’s love of poetry. The two bond through their love of writing, and Gabi learns how poetry can be used as a way to connect generations of very different people and how it can be used as a form of therapy to express feelings of both grief and happiness.
Gabie later finds out that her friend Cindy had been raped by a boy named German, causing Cindy an unexpected pregnancy. Cindy had been drinking too much and things got out of hand. Gabi feels there is a double standard when it comes to the “boys will be boys” mentality. In her final week of High School, Gabi is so angry with German that she cannot help but confront him the next time she sees him. She winds up straddling German and slapping him across the face. This rude offense gets her suspended from school for a week, and loses the privilege to participate in graduation and fears she has ruined her friendship with Cindy. Cindy later tells Gabi she had no right to try to get revenge on German for what he had done to Cindy but she eventually forgives Gabby for her outrageous outburst.
Later Gabi deals with using contraception, exploring her sexuality and whether she is considered a “bad girl” for wanting to be with her boyfriend. This struggle is later overcome when Gabi finds out she is admitted to Berkley, her first choice college. She can’t wait to leave her small town.Gabi feels her final days of being at home with her family are coming nearer. She embraces her family for what they are and love them as the individuals they have become. In the end Gabi realizes that everything she has stressed about in life will work out.
Commentary
This novel is a Young Adult Novel that is a required read for this course.
Gabi’s character addresses the double standard between teen boys and girls, as well as her own desires to break away from the accepted roles of Mexican women and attending college. Gabi uses many curse words, and slang terms in her writing. As a nod to her heritage, Gabi uses both English and Spanish words in her writing. She includes the Spanish quotes from those people who speak in Spanish to her like her mother. Gabi also uses stray Spanish words occasionally mixed in with her English narration. The code switching between English and Spanish gives the book a unique take on a Mexican-American perspective. Quintero did a brilliant job with the characterization of Gabi. She is representing a different culture and bringing to light the Spanish language and culture. I found Gabi to to be a refreshing character who uses her creative writing abilities to tell her life’s story.
Since Gabi’s story is written as a journal, it does not have the same plot development structure as a typical novel. For instance, the exposition comes throughout the novel as Gabi is always giving the reader new information about what is happening in her life. There are few points in the novel that could be considered a climax. For example, when Gabi discovers her father died from an overdose in the garage, could be a possible climax. Thus, Gabi’s worries about her father and fears that he will be found dead are foreshadowed many times throughout the novel. Gabi’s concern about her father could even be considered the rising action to this climax.
A reoccuring theme in this novel, is the power of writing and literature. Gabi quickly finds a way to express her feelings through poetry in her Senior English class. This way of expression provides Gabi an outlet to reveal all of her frustrations with her difficult father and family relationships. Her writing becomes a form of therapy. Even when she works with other students in her class, she uses the form of writing to connect with her boyfriend Martin.
Overall, I found that this novel, written uniquely through journal writing, provides readers with a fresh perspective from the eyes of a Mexican-American teen who is overcoming many challenges, such as family drama, relationships, rape, pregnangy, stresses of school, and exploring her sexualtiy. The book lends itself to many relatable characters who are going through changes as they transition from young teens to young adults.
Connections
* Have students write a journal entry as if they were Gabi, entering their first day of college at Berkeley. Students need to incorporate the same style and voice that Gabi would use in her diary entries. Students can share their diary entries with the class and identify the different storylines that appear from creativity.
*Allow students to view the authors website to get insight into the reasons behind the storyline for the novel. Students can create their own “author’s websites” and post their writing pieces as blog posts for readers to view their writing.
* Choose one of the poems listed below that Ms. Abernand assigns the class. Read it and then answer the following questions. Why do you think Ms. Abernand chose this poem for the class? How does it apply to Gabi? Now that you’ve read the poem, what do you think of it? Can you apply it to anything in your life?
- Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
- We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
- Loose Woman by Sandra Cisneros
- Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath
Bibliography:
Ness, P. (2008). The Knife of Never Letting Go. Boston, MA: Candlewick.
Summary:
This novel begins with the character Todd, who is one month shy of turning 13. Todd lives on a planet called, “The New World,” with his adoptive parents, Ben and Cillian. Todd is the only boy left in his small town called Prentisstown, and is eager to turn of age to finally be called a man. As told by his adoptive parents, all of the women were killed off by an alien race known as the “Spackle.” The Spackle released a genetic weapon on humankind, infecting them with something called the Noise germ. The Noise germ gave all of the humans and animals the ability to mentally communicate with one another, hear each other’s thoughts, memories, and images. Todd was told that the women were simply killed off by the virus.
One day Todd was gathering apples and exploring the swamp with his dog Manchee by their farm, when he hears “no noise.” He is startled by this finding, and quickly races home, accidentally leaking to the neighbors what he discovered down at the swamp in his thought noise. As soon as he discloses the information to Ben and Cillian, they quickly pack a survival bag for him including a journal that belonged to his mother. They demand that Todd leave, head for the swamp and escape, promising them that he will not return. The mayor is then forcefully knocking on the door wanting answers as to what Todd discovered down by the swamp.
Todd follows orders, knowing it is for his survival, but is left with so many unanswered questions. While running from his town, Todd encounters the silence again. He finds out that it’s from a girl, Viola. Viola is being pursued by Aaron, a preacher from Prentisstown. Aaron uses his strong force to capture Viola, but Todd saves her, and the two run away from Aaron. Viola at first stays very silent as they trek through the swamp. In her silence She brings Todd over to the crashed remains of a ship, and then She takes him to another crashed ship, where Todd finds two bodies, a male and a female. Todd guesses that they must have been her parents, making him wonder where she came from. Todd starts to spend more time thinking about Viola, and He realizes that if she doesn’t have any “noise,” she must have come from somewhere else. He worries that she’s going to get infected and die. When the two teens are discovered by Aaron again along with the mayor in the swamp, she uses her supplies to save them by burning down a bridge.
Todd and Viola start to finally talk, and Viola explains that she and her family were flying over the swamp when a fire caused them to crash. Viola expresses how strange the “noise” is to her, and how she isn’t always able to hear it. Soon Viola and Todd run into Hildy. Hildy questions the two teens for a moment, and eventually decides they’re trustworthy. She offers them the chance to stay at her farm before taking them to someplace she just refers to as the Settlement. Shortly after, Todd and Viola meet Tam, Hildy’s husband. He is just as friendly towards the teens as Hildy was. Todd doesn’t hesitate to ask about the germ, and Tam assures Todd that women are immune. Todd is taken aback by this statement, and tries to argue that’s not the case, since all the women in his town died of it, including his own mother. Hildy says that Prentisstown is a sad case, but she doesn’t go into much more detail about the topic. When they arrive at the farm Todd can see that it’s made out of metal, and he realizes that the metal is old remains of a ship. Viola and Hildy talk about ships for a moment, and Todd soon realizes that Viola is a new settler. He confronts her about this and she admits that it’s the truth, and explains that she was part of a scouting expedition and how thousands of other setters will soon be arriving. Tam also chimes in about how the old planet was falling apart years ago when the original settlers left, thus creating the reason as to why more settlers are looking for a new planet to live on.
Hildy then takes Todd and Viola into the town of Farbranch. To Todd’s surprise he spots men, women, and children roaming around the town. He is flabbergasted to see a town with both sexes. One man named Matthew in the town reads Todd’s noise and quickly gets defensive wondering why Todd has entered his town. Todd reads Matthew’s noise as well and discovers that he too came from Prentisstown. Todd feels so threatened by Matthew and overly protective of Viola that he pulls his knife out ready to kill. Hildy is able to calm the tension between Todd and Matthew. Hildy takes Todd and Viola to her sister Francia, who is the town’s deputy mayor. She is hesitant to allow the newcomers to stay, but evaluates the situation and confirms that they can stay in her town. Todd is then sent to work in the barn with Ivan, another worker. They want to keep Todd out of sight until they can have a town meeting to talk about his arrival, as well as the news from Viola, that there are new settlers coming in.
Matthew spots Todd again, and violently attacks him, Manhee protects Todd, but is injured losing part of his tail. Todd is able to quickly lure Matthew into a trap in the bar, cutting several barrels free to collapse on top of Matthew. Francia comes running back, telling Todd to hide with Viola. Prentisstown is attacking in force. Viola and Todd decide to flee towards Haven, not wanting to put the town or any other town in any more danger.
Todd and Viola begin to travel towards Haven, but eventually stop to rest and Viola wishes to see Todd’s journal. Todd reluctantly hands it to her, and Viola reads the note, which says that Todd was supposed to go to Farbranch and warn the people that Prentisstown was getting ready to march. The journal continues to say that the people in the town have just been waiting for Todd to become of age, so everyone in the town would be men. The journal doesn't have an explanation as to why, still leaving Todd with many unanswered questions.
Todd and Viola then run into a herd of giant beasts. Todd and Viola encounter a traveler named Wilf, who offers to take them through the herd on his cart. Viola, wanting to protect their identities, and lies about their names. As they travel together, Viola tries to explain to Wilf, that the growing army of Prentisstown are encroaching closer and closer and that he should warn the people in Brockley Falls. Wilf ignores her warning knowing that his town people will not believe him.
Soon they run into the Mayor’s son, Prentiss Jr. He was pleasantly surprised to find Todd and Viola they try to run away, but Jr. is able to chase them down on his horse. Todd manages to get a sneak attack off on Jr. disarming him and pinning him to the ground. Todd threatens Jr. with his knife, but Jr. knows Todd doesn’t have it in him to kill. He continues taunting him, insults Viola. He talks about how he killed Ben and Cillian, which urkes Todd to snap. Todd still hesitates before the killing blow, giving Jr. an opportunity to escape and counterattack. Jr. knocks Todd down and takes his knife, threatening to show him how to really use it. Viola returns and uses her dismantled communication device to shock Jr. Todd reclaims his knife and gets ready to kill Jr. but Viola talks him out of it, insisting that he’s not a killer.
Todd and Viola continue to travel, with little to no communication to one another. They come across a campsite and Todd quickly pulls his knife when he realizes the person there is a Spackle. With all his fury, and anger of his inability to kill, Todd stabs the Spackle, but is left feeling guilty, for all the things that he was taught in Prentisstown may not be completely true. He feels as though he made a mistake killing the weak Spackle. Aaron shows up unannounced once again and stabs Todd in the back, lucky the journal from his mother saved him as the knife doesn’t go as deep as it could have without the protection of the thick journal. Aaron takes Viola, and Todd follows behind, using Manchee to follow Viola’s scent.
Todd has a set back when he becomes ill and weak, but luckily Wilf crosses his path and nurses him back to health in his cavern. Todd continues on his journey to find Viola, but despite the care he received, his fever is still getting worse. Todd frequently hallucinates. After a couple of days traveling, Todd comes across Aaron’s campfire where he is holding Viola. Todd executes his plan perfectly by using Manchee as a distraction. The plan works and Todd manages to get to Viola, who is sadly drugged but still alive. He starts to bring her to the boat when Manchee comes in, followed by Aaron chasing after him. Todd gets Viola into the boat, but before he can get in Aaron grabs him. Manchee bravely tackles Aaron, letting Todd get in the boat. Manchee is caught by Aaron before he can get on, and Aaron forces Todd to choose between giving up on Manchee or giving up on Viola. Todd heartbreakingly pushes the boat down the river, hearing a loud crack and knows that Manchee died a hero.
Todd and Viola wake up in hospital beds in Carbonel Downs. As the rest and recover they explore the town, warning them of what's to come. Todd finds Ben and they have a mournful reunion as Ben explains how Cillian did not escape the wrath of the explosion. Ben is able to explain the history of the innocent Spackles, and how women were resistant to the noise, but the men were not, making them jealous of their quiet minds. Each town began to come up with their own reasoning therefore creating the different towns. Ben is interrupted by the accumulating army of Prentisstown.
Todd once again confronts Aaron with the truth. Todd has figured out, through the writings in his mom’s journal, that Aaron has been pursuing Todd because he wants Todd to kill him. When a boy becomes a man in Prentisstown, the Mayor forces them to take a life, to murder someone that has tried to escape. They wanted Todd to murder Aaron because his sacrifice should be “special,” since he was going to be the last man in their army. Aaron believes God wanted them to start their army, to purify the new world and turn it into Eden. Their plan was to kill Ben in front of Todd, to encourage his rage and make him murder Aaron.
After a long battle between Todd and Aaron, Viola grabs Todd’s knife and kills Aaron. Viola didn’t want to let Todd murder Aaron because that would be letting him win. Todd and Viola start to march towards Haven, but Viola is suddenly shot by Prentiss Jr. Todd tries to bandag her up long enough to get her help and goes to confront Jr. Todd knocks Jr. off his horse and disarms him. Todd leaves Jr. behind, carrying Viola and running the rest of the way to Haven. Mayor Prentiss steps out and tells Todd that he always knew there was another way to Haven, and the army chasing after them was just an intimidation tactic for the rest of the settlements. Haven surrendered to him, and now he is in charge of the new world.
Commentary
This novel is a Young Adult Novel that is a required read for this course.
This science fiction novel, was infused with a futuristic planet, aliens, telepathic mind reading, spaceships, and action fighting. The story is filled with misspelled words, because Todd relies on his phonetic pronunciation. The story is told through the eyes of Todd in present tense as everything is happening in a straight forward style. The structure of this novel followed an ordinary storyline except for the cliffhanger at the end, leaving the reader with many unanswered questions about the survival of Todd and Viola. The content in the novel is clearly science fiction as it deals with futuristic planets, and capabilities of reading each other’s thoughts. There is plenty of action associated with the storyline as Todd and Viola are traveling from settlement to settlement looking for relief from the forceful army of Prentisstown. The antagonist is Aaron and the Mayor as they are relentlessly pursuing Todd and Viola.
Todd, the main protagonist, is able to eventually defeat Aaron, but he can’t bring himself to kill him. This is a recurring trait for Todd throughout the majority of the book. Todd believes that he’s a coward because he isn’t able to take a life, reflecting on the brutal upbringing and the general violent nature that comes from being raised in Prentisstown. The theme of violence is demonstrated through this crossroads for Todd, and shows that violence can happen all around someone, but in the end, it still boils down to the choice to allow it to change who you are on the inside. Todds emotions and feelings can be relatable for a reader as he encounters losses, and voids of parental guidance in his life. Many of his situations are not relatable due to the fictional setting and conflicts that occur.
Overall, this novel has plenty of action, anticipation, and qualities that make it a great read. Although some of the concepts are hard to understand, because of the fictional conflicts, it allows the reader to be taken to another world and embrace an unrealistic storyline. I was not a fan of the cliffhanger at the end, but I am encouraged to read the sequel to this novel to discover the result of Todd’s efforts to keep Viola alive. I think many young adult readers will find relatable characters who overcome their inner fears, and enjoy the imagination of the author Patrick Ness. His writing is unique and establishes a creative storyline for the genre science fiction.
Connections
*Using the title, The knife of never letting go, ask students to connect instances in the novel that integrate the symbolism of the knife that Todd uses for protection. Students can write an essay with text evidence supporting how the knife is used as a symbolic feature in the novel.
* Invites students to make connections that Todd’s world has with our world. What stereotypes are the same? What gender inequalities are evident throughout the novel? What about violence, and the similarities that occur on both worlds? What about the differences? How is the “New World” similar to ours? How is it different. Students can create a powerpoint presentation using text evidence, drawings, graphics, and photographs to help make connections to the novel’s setting and plot.
* Allow students to create an imaginary “germ” that would cause some type of apocalyptic issue in our society. In small groups students can use research on epidemics that have occured and use those for inspiration. Students can compile their findings and present with the use of a tri-fold poster, video, power point, prezi, podcasts, or other means of transferring the information.
Bibliography:
Green, J. (2012). The Fault in our Stars. NY: Dutton Books.
Summary:
Hazel Grace Lancaster is a sixteen year old girl living with thyroid cancer. Her worrisome mother forces her to attend her support group at the church, and their Hazel meets Augustus. At first, he stares at her the entire meeting, and Hazel feels very uncomfortable. Augustus explains to the group that he used to have a “touch” of cancer, but he is only attending the meeting because of his friend Isaac. After the meeting, Augustus, starts a conversation with Hazel, and flirts with her, explaining that she is as pretty as Natalie Portman, and he invites her to watch a movie at his house.
On the car ride over to his house, Hazel concludes two things about Augustus. Augustus is a horrible driver, since he uses his good leg not his prosthetic leg to drive, and he “pretends” to smoke by holding an unlit cigarette in his mouth. Augustus introduces Hazel to his parents and they watch the movie in his basement. The two teens begin to talk about each other’s livers, families, and interests, when Hazel brings up her favorite book An Imperial Affliction. After Hazel drives Augustus’s car home, Augustus shares how he wants to see her again, but being her cautious self, Hazel declines and suggests that he read her favorite book, and she will read up on his favorite video game. They make a pact that as soon as Augustus finishes reading the novel, they can meet up again. That night Hazel stays up reading the book that Augustus demands she reads, and the next morning her mother wants to celebrate Hazel’s thirty-third half birthday. To celebrate this milestone Hazel meets up with her friend Kaitlyn at the mall. The next day, Hazel gets frantic texts from Augustus asking her to urgently come to his house. His friend Isaac just got dumped by his girlfriend Monica and he needs backup. Hazel meets the two boys at Augustus’s house, and she watches Isaac destroy all of Augustus’s basketball trophies in fury of his devastating break up.
To Hazel’s dismay, Augustus doesn’t talk to her for a week. When he finally calls her he explains to Hazel that he didn’t want to reach out to her, until he had a proving response to her novel. He explains that he has reached out to Peter Van Houten the author, and learns that he will not be writing any time soon. Both Hazel and Augustus want the author to write a sequel to An Imperial Affliction. Hazel decides to write an email to Peter Van Houten she poses the questions she has that go unanswered after the novel ends in hopes that he will respond. Later that night Hazel and Augustus spend hours talking on the phone about their first kisses, Augustus’s ex Caroline, and of course Hazel’s favorite author Peter Van Houten. Two days later Hazel receives an email back from the author stating that if she wants answers she must travel to Amsterdam and he will tell her in person. Hazel is thrilled and shares the news with Augustus.
Augustus shows up on Saturday with orange tulips in his hands asking Hazel to join him for a “Dutch” picnic. As Hazel is getting ready she overhears her father talking to Augustus about how Hazel will be sick her whole life. Augustus takes Hazel out to picnic and tells her that the “Genies” at the Make a Wish Foundation have granted him his wish. His wish is to take Hazel to Amsterdam to meet her favorite author. Hazel tells her mother, and best friend Kaitlyn the amazing news. Hazel assumes Anna, the girl with cancer in An Imperial Affliction, dies. She wants to know what happens to Anna's mom and some of the other characters in the book because it is symbolic of how life will go on after Hazel dies, if she dies of cancer.
Hazel is taken to the ICU at her hospital from an excruciating pain in her head. The nurse explains that she does not have any new tumors, but the cause of her head pain was from deoxygenation form the fluid that had filled and now was drained from her lungs. At a cancer meeting, the doctors share detrimental news that Hazel’s cancer in not going away. Her doctors have differences of opinions as to whether or not Hazel should attend her trip to Amsterdam. Augustus comes over to comfort Hazel, and the two spend quality time together in her backyard. Later, Hazel’s parents agree to let Hazel attend the trip. Hazel, her mother and Augustus board the plane. Both Hazel and Augustus’s goodbyes to their family are very emotional and difficult. When the plane takes off, Hazel realizes it is Augustus's first time flying. She kisses him on the cheek because his enthusiasm is adorable. After watching a couple of movies on the flight to Amsterdam, Hazel and Augustus discuss death. Then Augustus admits that he is in love with Hazel. While Hazel is wallowing in joy, she cannot say anything back. Hazel is a bit confused by Augustus’s acting as if everything is okay when really she heard him yelling at his mom before he left for the trip. Hazel's health seems to be waning. Hazel is fighting though her weakness so that she can complete her trip.
Peter, the author of Hazel’s book, books a romantic reservation for the couple at a restaurant on the canal. They have a complimentary bottle of champagne from the restaurant. They both say their traditional “OK” as they clink their glasses together. They choose the chef's special. Hazel doesn't want to get drunk though because this is a night that she wants to remember. When they start to talk about death and the belief in the afterlife, Hazel gets upset because Augustus says that the dead either live or die for something. The next morning, Augustus takes Hazel to Peter’s house, as soon as he opens the door, Peter is rude and impolite. Peter keeps insisting that nothing happens to the characters in the book because it is a work of fiction. He says they cease to exist when the novel ends. His assistant gets so upset with Peter's behavior that she resigns. Augustus ends up pulling Hazel and her oxygen tank out of the house to get away from Peter. They traveled such a long way to meet Peter and were sadly disappointed by his horrible attitude. Hazel is outrageously devastated When Augustus says he'll write an epilogue for Hazel, she starts to cry even harder.
Peter’s assistant chases down Hazel and Augustus and apologizes for her boss’s rude behavior. To make it up to them, she takes them to the Anne Frank house. When they get to the Anne Frank house, they realize there are many stairs, but Hazel insists on walking them, all of them. At the end of the tour, Augustus and Hazel kiss before the video of Anne Frank's father, Otto, talks about his daughters. A small group forms around them and starts applauding their love for one another. They go back to Augustus's room at the hotel and crawl into bed together. Hazel declares her love for Augustus and they lose their virginity to one another.
Later, Peter tells Hazel that he had a scan recently that showed his cancer throughout his body. He claimed that he started chemo but that he stopped the process to come to Amsterdam. This determines the reason for why he and his mother were arguing when they picked Augustus up for the airport. Augustus says he felt like it wasn't working anyway and that they'll come up with some other treatment by the time they get to Indiana. When they get back, Hazel is upset that everyone knew Augustus was sick, including her own parents. She meets up with Isaac and Augustus and they drive to Isaac’s ex girlfriend’s house and egg her car. Hazel mentions that she never took another picture of Augustus after that day.
Augustus’s health starts to decline quickly after his family and Hazel’s family had a lovely dinner together. Agustus is hospitalized for a few days, and he and his family decide that for the next couple of days they will spend “family time” together discluding Hazel. Hazel understands, but receives multiple nerve racking phone calls from Agustus and his family members, thinking that it is his final moments. Agustus starts to hallucinate and has an infection from his feeding tube where he injects his medication. One night Augustus calls Hazel to join him at a support group and come prepared with a eulogy. Hazel agrees, and Isaac also shows up. The three friends create what Augustus’s funeral would be like, each reading the eulogy that they wrote fro him.
Eight days after the “pre-funeral” Augustus dies in the hospital. He was with his mom, dad and sisters. His mom called Hazel at 3:30 in the morning to let Hazel know. when Hazel's parents come in the room, Hazel senses they are feeling the terror that will one day face them, when she dies. Hazel is distraught and can’t bare the thought of losing him. She calls his cell phone multiple times to hear his voice, and goes on social media to look at his pictures, noticing that strangers who have heard the devastating news, are writing their condolences on his web page. Five days after Augustus’s death, Hazel attends his funeral. Peter Van Houton attends and wishes to speak with her about the novel, but Hazel now despises him and dismisses listening to the sequel, of her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction. Hazel is grieving the loss of Augustus and finds out from Isaac, that Gus was writing his own sequel to the novel. In shock Hazel is interested in finding it, and asks Augustus’s mother about it. They both search all over his room, but do not locate the sequel.
Later, Hazel finds Pter in the backseat of her car reeking of alcohol. He admits that his daughter died of Leukemia when she was eight, very much like the character Anna, in his novel. He continues to admit that grief doesn't change you, it reveals you. Hazel assess that the character in the book was written in order to give his daughter the teenage life that she never was able to experience. Peter admits to his wrong doings, and Hazel tries to move on with the little bit of time left in her life. Later Hazel realizes that the missing pages out of Augustus’s book could very well have been mailed to Peter. Sure enough they were, and Peter’s agent locates them immediately sending the letters to Hazel. Hazel reads the letters and the reader knows that Hazel has closure now and can finally let go and die.
Commentary
This novel is a Young Adult Novel that is a required read for the author John Green.
The protagonist in this novel is Hazel Lancaster. She is not an ordinary teen overcoming anything ordinary. She is fighting for her life, trying to outlive thyroid cancer. She knows her time on Earth is limited, and tries to make the best of it is not until she meets Augustus, does she truly live. Hazel’s beginning relationship with Augustus, full of jitters, and butterflies, can easily be related to. She rebels against her parents despite what they might think is for her own good, but her heart wants what it wants, and Hazel grows to love Augustus. Young readers can relate to Hazel’s longing for love, and passion for reading. Although she does not overcome her cancer, she definitely overcomes her fear of missing out on many firsts. The novel includes realistic events such as first dates, first kisses, first flight, and many more enduring moments between Hazel and Augustus.
The plot in this novel follows a very structural and typical flow of events. The reader learns of the characters and gain knowledge on Hazel’s treatments along with Augustus’s. As the novel continues the reader sees a strong bond growing between Hazel and Gus, which in turn blossoms into love. The turning point of the novel, is the trip to Amsterdam, when the teens realize what a let down Peter Van Houten is, they decided to make the trip worth it by falling deeply in love, they let go and let love in. The twist and turns that come next help keep the reader engaged in the plot, after Augustus passes away, Hazel still searches for a letter that he sent to Peter Van Houten that includes his eulogy for Hazel. This last bit of hope keeps Hazel alive for her last remaining days.
One of the primary themes that is apparent throughout the novel is growing up and coming of age, even against adversity, such as fighting cancer and losing a battle with cancer. Hazel struggles with the aftermath of her cancer treatments, which leaves her hooked up to an oxygen tank and breathing machines. Hazel has a hard time forming bonds and relationships with other people outside of her parents. Instead, Hazel's coming of age forces her to focus on what is important such as love, and she realizes that a relationship with Augustus is one of the most important things she could do for herself. Rather than look at life as just a mundane routine, Hazel learns to appreciate what she has and what she was able to experience while Augustus was alive, and while she is still living.
Overall, this romantic novel was brilliantly written and seemed very realistic. I enjoyed the plot twists, and tender moments between both lovers and family members. It creates a mood of living life to the fullest, and treating each day as if it were your last. There are many lessons to be learned from the characters, and I think young adult readers will enjoy this romantic fictional story.
Connections
*Allow students to research the type of cancer that Hazel was diagnosed with. What impact does it have on the characters of the novel? How does it motivate them and how does it derail their lives? Allow students to write in an essay form to answer these questions. Students should use text evidence from the novel to justify their answers.
*Students can create a plot diagram of events that happen in the story. Students can create these story maps on any digital resource. Students must provide citations from the novel in their story maps. At the end of their story maps students can add on a prediction element that describes what they predict will happen to Hazel on her final days.
*In this activity, students will create their own cancer awareness t-shirt or poster. By researching a specific type of cancer, students will design a t-shirt or poster that is designed to bring attention to a particular type of cancer, and use colors and symbols that are commonly used to promote advocacy for the cancer.
Bibliography:
Reynolds, J. (2014). When I was the greatest. NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Summary:
Allen Brooks otherwise known as “Ali” is a young 15 year old teen who lives in Brooklyn, New York with his strict, worrisome mother Doris, and his sweet, sassy little sister named Jazz. Doris tackles two jobs to try and make ends meet to provide for her family. John, Ali’s dad, was put in jail for robbing and killing someone at a convenient store. John stops by every now and then to keep a relationship with his kids, but rarely co-parents with Doris.
Needles and Noodles are Ali’s two best friends in the neighborhood. They live adjacent to each other and are always seen together sitting on Ali’s stoop in front of his brownstone building. The neighborhood is no walk in the park, there are drug dealers, hood rats, and gang members that lurk in the corners, but Ali stays away from trouble, keeps to himself and most of the time is around his two best friends. Needles and Noodles got their nicknames from Jazz. Needles is the younger of the two brothers, and has tourette syndrome. He regularly breaks out into tics, yelling curse words uncontrollably, so one day Doris passes along knitting, as they all discover, the knitting is a means of helping calm Needles down during a tic. He loves the activity, as it keeps both his mind and his hands busy. Ali thinks it’s kind of neat that Needles is so taken with it, but Noodles is far less into it. He thinks it makes his brother look even weaker than he already is. Noodles is all bark and no bite. He likes to pick on Noodles and tends to get himself caught up in dangerous situations because of his big mouth. Ali is one of those kids who has his head on straight. He’s logical, follows the rules, and has sense built in from his mother. He’s very level headed, and so he is usually cleaning up after Noodles’s mess that he gets himself into. Ali gets his name from having a passion for boxing. He takes lessons at Malloy’s boxing club. He doesn’t fight anyone in the neighborhood or even using his boxing for protection, but Ali does love to box.
One day Noodles’s girlfriend Tasha, jokes about her brother MoMo throwing one of his famous, invite only, parties that the whole neighborhood knows is exclusive. MoMo throws the most outrageous parties, and Ali wants in. Tasha explains how the basement of their house is sound proof so the cops will never hear the loud music, and only the most elite members of the neighborhood are invited. Tasha jokes that they can come only if they bring Needles too. The boys contemplate going, knowing that Needles’s condition could cause a ruckus, but Ali wants in, and so he convinces Noodles to attend the party.
The boys stop by a young man named Black’s apartment to get “fresh” haircuts for the party. Black is not a true barber, but will do anything to make a buck or two. The boys agree to have their hair trimmed by Black, but when Noodles looks in the mirror he is disappointed with the end result, and refuses to pay Black. These are the types of sticky situations that Noodles puts Ali in all the time. Noodels’s temper and bad attitude causes Ali to pay Black even more money than they had anticipated, and Ali bites his tongue in retaliation of Noodles’s poor decision skills. The last thing the boys need to get before the party, are new clothes to fit in with the crowd. Ali calls his dad to hook them up. John complies, but on one condition...Ali must text him as soon as he gets home from the party. John provides the top of the line brand name clothing, hats, and shoes, and the boys are ecstatic with excitement.
The night of the party, the three boys meet up at 9:30 and walk to MoMo’s place. Tasha lets them in, but warns them to not let MoMo see them, or he will be furious. The boys separate as Noodles dances with Tasha, and Needles stands in the corner watching the party goers. Ali meets a beautiful girl named Candance who looks to be way out of his league. He attempts to talk to her, knowing that she will turn him down immediately, but to his surprise she ends up talking to him and carrying on a conversation leading to kissing and dancing. Candice takes him to a bedroom, and Ali is nervous knowing he doesn’t want to give himself away to a stranger. Luckily, Ali hears a fight break out and runs to see if Noodles is in the middle of it, as he usually is. To Ali’s surprise, it is Needles getting pummeled by another man. Ali spots Noodles just staring at Needles getting beat up without doing anything to help him. Ali steps in and starts swinging punches to save poor Needles from an excruciating beating. Someone yells, “cops,” and the party goers run sporadically trying to escape the wrath of the police. Ali carries Needles out with the help of Noodles.
Ali is worried for Needles’s life and acts quickly to help stop the bleeding and help keep him comfortable as he moans in pain. His bruises spread all over his body, and Needles can’t move or function normally. Ali strips Noodles of his urinated pants and cleans him up as best he can. Meanwhile, Noodles is of little to no help. Ali is furious at Noodles for his lack of effort to save his younger brother. Ali leaves Needles to rest and heads home to make his curfew, forgetting to message his father like he had promised.
John breaks in Ali’s house to make sure that his son is okay. Ali explains to his father all that had happened, and soon his mother Doris finds out as well. Ali is grounded and must clean the house as punishment for his lying, and sneaking around. The next day, Black comes to speak with John about how the guys that Ali beat up to save Needles are looking for Ali to get revenge. John is forced to find the men and take care of it for Ali. Ali is worried that his father will be killed on his behalf.
Luckily John survives and sells all of his merchandise and vehicle to call it even between Ali and the men that he beat up. Needles heals slowly, and Noodles apologizes to both his brother and Ali for his lack of action to protect Needles. Ali has a difficult time forgiving Noodles but eventually realizes that Noodles is and will always be his best friend.
Commentary
This novel is a Young Adult Novel that is a required read for the author Jason Reynolds.
This urban fiction novel embraces many moving and thought-provoking studies of the connectivity among family and friends. The story centers around Ali and his two best friends, Needles and Noodles. These characters are the main foundations of the novel and capture the essence of the African American culture and setting in Brooklyn, New York in a positive light. Ali the main protagonist, tells the story from his point of view. Ali is a complicated character with deep feelings and strong ethics that keep him grounded. He is a very relatable teen who experiences strong friendship bonds, dysfunctional family life, and complicated societal issues. Overall, I felt that Ali represented reason and loyalty to his friends and family, he feels the need to fill the void of the man of the house, with his absent father, and has a good head on his shoulders. Needles, who spends the novel grappling with issues of family, loyalty, crime, and the complexity of living with a disability represented the population of students who struggle with disabilities.
The plot of this novel is arranged and evolved around Ali and his friends Needles and Noodles. The reader becomes familiar with these characters and how their conflicts with one another and others creates friction and issues. Their goal of gaining access to MoMo’s party is reached once they come up with a plan to attend. The conflict comes closer to the end of the novel, while the beginning and middle sections builds slowly to the rising action.
The setting of Brooklyn, New York, gives the reader background knowledge of where the characters come from, and the environment that they were brought up in. Although when people think of Brooklyn, they think of thugs, drugs, and theft, in this novel Ali’s character veers away from these pressures and tries to be a good role model to his younger sister Jazz. Even though these things are present in the novel, Ali’s character steers clear of these negative influences.
A reoccuring theme in this novel, is the theme of strong friendship bonds between teenagers, who are ever evolving and growing, but the same friends are always there for you. Ali, Needles, and Noodles are the perfect example of evolving friends. This trio sticks together through thick and thin. When Needles is involved in a physical fight, Ali doesn’t hesitate to step in and protect him. Even after the fight, when Ali is highly disappointed by the little effort that Noodles puts in to save his own brother, all is forgiven at the end of the novel. These three friends act like brothers, and care for one another as if they are family, thus one of the reasons why they will defend each other as if they are blood relatives.
Connections
*Have students work with a partner to research “invisible disabilities.” Introduce Tourette’s Syndrome to your students as an example. For example some questions that can be researched are: What is it? How is it an unseen disability? After each team has explored, researched and created a presentation on their topic, have teams explain the disability to the class and hold a class discussion. How could an unaware person misjudge or discriminate against someone with an “invisible disability?” What impact could the disability have on the impaired person, their family, and their environment? Relate “invisible disabilities” back to the character Needles in the novel and how he coped with his disability.
*Do an author’s study on Jason Reynolds. Introduce Jason Reynolds to your students and encourage students to check out other books by this author. The books below are great reads written by Jason Reynolds. Many of his novels incorporate the African American culture and how his characters evolve in society. Show the website for the author and allow students to browse through his blog.https://www.jasonwritesbooks.com
- The Boy In the Black Suite. By: Jason Reynolds
- Long Way Down. By: Jason Reynolds
- All American Boy. By: Jason Reynolds
*Invite students to create an anti-bully slogan to help protect students with disabilities. Students can create the poster digitally or by hand. Students can campaign there slogans in class and vote on the top slogan that delegates the message clearly.
Bibliography:
Nijkamp, M. (2016). This is where it ends. NY: Sourcebooks Fire.
Summary:
In this novel, the story takes place in a small town named Opportunity, Alabama. The story is told through the perspectives of four students attending Opportunity High School: Autumn, Sylv, Tomas, and Claire. The reader follows each of these students in time sequences of about 5 minutes. From the beginning they are in an auditorium where they listen to the principal’s speech before the start of their last semester of senior year. Claire however, is outside at track practice. Time seems to pass slowly as the reader bounces around to the different perspectives of the characters and begins to learn about them.
Autumn is the daughter of an abusive father whose mother passed away in a car accident. Torn between her love of dance and pleasing her father she struggles to be happy and to be herself. Her brother, Tyler also has deep struggles which we learn about later. Sylv, Autumn’s girlfriend comes from a supportive family. Sylv’s brother Tomas also plays a major role in the story. Tomas is not in the auditorium like the rest of the school because he is breaking into the principal’s office viewing confidential files with Fareed.
As time goes on the reader learns more about the characters and their inner thoughts. The faculty and students quickly realize that the auditorium doors are locked from the outside and no one is capable of exiting the auditorium. Tyler opens the auditorium doors and appears to have a gun. He opens fire on the teachers and students. This scene is told from the perspective of his sister, Autumn who quickly recognizes him. He begins his terror stating his intentions and beliefs about his former classmates. For example, Opportunity cast out Tyler, he expresses how no one listens to him. Soon in a state of shock the teachers and students are paralyzed and unable to do anything to stop him. Outside Claire and Tomas both react to the situation. Claire runs to get help with her good friend Chris. Tomas and Fareed run to the janitor’s office to find the janitor strangled to death. They then get supplies to try and help open the doors. As Tomas struggles to open the doors he determines his sister is just on the other side when she completes a tapping tune on the door. In his emotional state he is able to open the door with Faeed’s help and they begin to sneak out students. At this time Tyler is distracted by the discussion he is having with his sister Autumn. She knows what is happening and helps distract him from the opened door as students escape quietly. Tyler then realizes her tactics, and hits Autumn on the cheek knocking her unconscious. Sylv then confronts Tyler and is empathetic to his situation explaining that she knows what is it like losing a close family member and the struggles one is left to deal with. Sylv explains that she did not mean to distance Autumn from Tyler. Sylv is able to get away from Tyler and escapes the auditorium.
Claire is now dealing with the mental struggles that come from her knowing Tyler because they previously dated. She thinks what she could have done and thinks that maybe she caused this horrific event. She offers her help to the police in anyway. Tomas, Fareed, and Sylv escape to the second floor with Tyler following behind her. Autumn remains in the auditorium with the other students and the fallen. Here she finds Tim, Claire’s brother who has Lupus. He is weak from being shot and does not make it out when the SWAT team arrives. Autumn is forced to evacuate with the remaining students, but veers off to the second floor knowing that Sylv, Tomas, Fareed, and Tyler are up there.
Tyler is searching for Sylv, who has made her way to the roof with Fareed. After Thomas gets Sylv on the roof, he stays back to buy them time to escape, and determines “This is where it ends.'' Tomas encounters Tyler. Suddenly Tyler points the gun at Tomas verbally attacking him, before taking his life. Autumn finds Tyler standing over Tomas’ dead body. She speaks with Tyler about his struggles and issues having lost their mother. But it is no use, the evil in Tyler overcomes him. There is no talking sense into calming Tyler down. He knows Autumn’s love is dancing and as the SWAT team closes in he shoots her knee then takes his own life. Sylv comes to Autumn’s side and rides with her to the hospital.
As the whole town is struck in awe and the story makes the national news, the victims feel isolated. In the middle of the night Fareed breaks onto the school grounds inviting the entire student body and faculty together at the high school. Everyone gathers around and Fareed leads in speaking a few words while candles are lit and lanterns with the victims’ names are released to the sky.
Commentary
This novel is a Young Adult Novel that is a required read from the “Quick Picks” for Young Adult readers.
The characters of this story tell their perspective of the day of their high school shooting. While only over the span of an hour we learn about the characters, their feelings, and their attitudes. Each section is titled with one of the four primary character’s names before expressing their inner thoughts. The titles of each chapter in the book is very helpful for the reader to be able to follow the storyline amongst numerous flashbacks. Throughout the novel flashbacks are used to give a deeper perspective and background information on the characters and their upbringings, despite the short timeframe when the story takes place. The characters in this story are all portrayed accurately to your typical small-town high school students. They all deal with the pressures and stresses that life deals them at that age. They ponder at the future and cherish the present because they know there will be change soon. Some of the characters are dealing with more than normal pressures with losses in their immediate family, bullying, and alcoholic parents. The antagonist Tyler, is incapable of coping with extraordinary struggles, and commits an evil act of violence at his high school. He creates fear and instills terror amongst the people he encounters.
The setting takes place in Opportunity, Alabama. While definite class sizes are unknown, the reader gains the sense of a smaller size due to the referenced familiarity of the victims amongst the characters and the fact that other surrounding towns send their students to Opportunity High School. During the story, the characters move from the principal's office, janitors quarters, auditorium, the outdoor track field, to the second floor hallway in the school building.
The overall mood of the novel is grief stricken, heartbroken and mournful for the loss of so many young lives. With Tyler’s desperate attempt to get revenge on the student body. His actions create a mass murder scene and can easily be connected to the many school shootings that we view on the news in recent years. Towards the end of the novel, the mood does change to an uplifting positive light. As the students create a memorial lighting for the loss of their fellow classmates, there is hope that the students will overcome this tragedy and take steps in the right direction to pursue their goals and continue on living their everyday lives.The structure of the novel follows a time clock of events that lead up to the horrific attack. At times the author uses tweets to capture minor character’s feelings and current states of mind while not distracting the reader's attention and involving too many characters all at once. These tweets also serve a purpose to emphasize the character’s age as they are millennials and are sometimes quick to judge and react. Lastly they do help identify the time period as modern day.
The overbearing theme of violence and hatred is encrypted in every page of the novel. The evil in Tyler runs deep and is very present at the end of the novel when he doesn’t even spare his own sister relief, and shoots her in the knee, knowing that his actions will cause her pain and hardship. Many readers can relate to horrific events in the storyline, due to the many school shootings that have been aired on the news. It is a difficult topic to discuss and read about, but also brings to light the importance of knowing the signs of mental illnesses before they go unnoticed for too long.
Connections
* In an argumentative essay format, ask students to research gun laws in their state. Students can create an essay depicting their stance on gun laws. Students can cite sources, and quote statements from the characters in the novel.
* Allow students to create a poster that can be hung in their school hallways that can be used as a public service announcement for bullying. Students can work with a partner to come up with an action plan for students to follow in case of a live gunman on campus. Students can share ideas and gather an action plan based on research and data online.
*Invite students to write another chapter to this story as the students begin to pick up the pieces, cope, heal, and rebuild their school community.
* Allow students to create a news report of the events that occurred in the novel during the school shooting. Students can incorporate characters, setting, and conflict as they discuss the events that lead up to the shooting, as well as the events that followed after the school shooting, when the student held a vigil for the fallen.
Bibliography:
Lippincott, R. (2018). Five Feet Apart. NY: Simon & Schuster.
Summary:
Stella Grant is a senior in high school fighting an illness called cystic fibrosis. She is one of the two narrators of Five Feet Apart. Stella has been in and out of Saint Grace's Hospital since she was six years old. She knows the in’s and out's of the hospital, as well as the nurses extremely well. She has two best friends at school named Camila and Mya, and a best friend and fellow cystic fibrosis patient named Poe at Saint Grace's. When Stella is around Poe they have to remain 6 feet apart. The reason for the distance is to avoid cross contamination of each other’s bacteria. She has a YouTube channel with thousands of followers where she posts many videos about her condition, life, and events that mean the most to her. Stella enters the hospital for a sore throat and rough cough. She is very upset, knowing that her symptoms are keeping her from a senior trip to Cabo with her best friends.
Will Newman is the novel's second narrator. Will is about turn 18 when the novel begins, and he too is suffering from cystic fibrosis. Will arrives at Saint Grace's Hospital to take part in a drug trial meant to treat B. cepacia, a bacterial infection that has worsened his condition and kept him off the lung transplant list. Will is very artistic, always drawing cartoon like characters in his sketchpad. Will's mother has taken him to hospitals all over the world to try to get the best possible care, but in two weeks when Will turns 18, he plans to take his medical treatment into his own hands, to stop spending all of his time in hospitals, and to travel the world instead.
Will spots Stella one day in the hospital realizing that he is very attracted to her, that night he stays up all night watching her youtube channel, googling her, and finding out all about her. Will retreats to the roof of the hospital to view the city lights. To his surprise he can see into Stella’s hospital room. The two teens make eye contact, but when a gush of cold wind causes Will to have a horrific coughing fit, Stella runs to the rescue. Stella being the mindful patient she is, yells at Will for putting himself in danger. She quickly remembers that she forgot a face mask to protect her from contamination, and leaves Will on the roof sounding the fire alarm.
Soon after, Stella decides to help Will organize his medications, and follow a strict regimen to become more attentive of his illness. Will agrees on one condition. If Stella will let him sketch her, he will follow her orders. Later, Will talks with Poe wondering if Poe is interested in Stella, but to Will’s surprise, he finds out that Poe is actually gay, and prefers males. One day while Will is in his room sketching, he receives a phone call from Stella. She explains how concerned she is that he might not be following through with his treatments, and therefore breaking their deal. The two teens do a breathing treatment together over FaceTime, and they slowly start to open up to each other. They begin to meet up quite often, and during their time together, Will starts to sketch Stella, he admires her beautiful eyes, and bright personality. Will comes up with a plan and takes the drawing out to the hall, slides it under her door, then goes back to his room. He waits for a response, and then hears her bursts of laughter. Stella calls him through FaceTime, and Will gets a glimpse of her room. He admires Abby's drawing of lungs behind her in her room, and she tells him her sister Abby created it. Will looks through Stella’s social media images and quickly realizes something must have happened to Abby. He finds Stella in the gym and asks her if Abby is dead. They argue and Stella storms out. Will realizes he has intense feelings for Stella. In a flashback, Stella recalls the days after Abby's death. Abby had passed away in Arizona on a trip that Stella was supposed to accompany her on, but she becomes ill at the last minute and couldn’t attend. Stella has survival guilt for living on without her sister.
The next day Stella has horrible pains her abdomen, being responsible, Stella goes to see Dr. Hamid, who informs her they will have to do surgery to replace her G-tube. Back in her room, she finds another drawing from Will, a picture of himself with a caption that says “Sorry.” Will peeks into Stella's room and asks if she forgives him. She empathetically does, but she is stressed, overwhelmed, and concerned about her surgery, which could potentially be very dangerous. Will recognizes that this is her first surgery without her sister Abby. Stella prepares for surgery, listening to her divorced parents bicker. Will sings her the “Bushel and a Peck,” song Abby referenced in the YouTube video. Will promises Stella she is going to be okay, and they touch pinky fingers. Stella instantly realizes her strong feelings for WIll and is in love. As she loses consciousness under anesthetic, she believes she hears Abby's voice.
Will sits impatiantly in the waiting room with Stella's bickering, obnoxious parents, who are arguing. Barb, Stella’s nurse enters the waiting room and orders the parents to stop. She takes Will aside and tells him he needs to stay away from Stella, because he is hazardous to her health. She recalls an earlier couple with CF, that she cared for in the hospital who infected one another with each other’s bacteria, causing one of them to die. This startells Will and he begins to believe in the importance of keeping his distance from Stella As Stella wakes up and talks to her parents, she calls Will and leaves a message, then calls Poe. They talk about Poe's ex-boyfriend Michael. Poe reveals to Stella that Will does not want to see her anymore, then admits that it was because of something Barb said. Stella begins to form a plan to get Will back. Meanwhile Will is feeling depressed over leaving Stella without an explanation. Suddenly, he sees a note slide under his door. It is a hilarious drawing created by Stella of the two of them, with a caption that says, “FIVE FEET AT ALL TIMES.” He hears a notification on his laptop, and it’s formStella who has posted a new video. In the video, she states numerous safety protocols, and rules that she plans to implement when interacting with Will in the future. She continues to state that she will no longer stay just six feet away from Will, but now, only five feet. She is holding a pool stick, and she tells Will to meet her in the hospital's atrium at nine o'clock for a date.
Will and Stella start to roam the hospital and talk continuously about their different upbringings, death, and relationships. Stella tells Will that her sister Abby was cliff diving in Arizona when she died, and that she still feels very guilty for not being there. As the two teens near the pool in the gym, Stella admits that she has never been intimate with anyone because she feels highly insecure about her scars from all of the surgeries that she has had. Will declares her beauty, ad they both remove most of their clothes and jump in the pool together. In this scene Will feels like he is falling in love. Later, on WIll’s birthday, he listens to his mother argue with Dr. Hamid. She is upset because there has been no change in Will's condition since starting the drug trial. Will and his mother argue over his treatment, and he declares that she knows nothing about him, because all she sees when she looks at him is his disease. Stella texts Will to meet her in the cafeteria, and to Will’s surprise all of his friends are there waiting to celebrate with him for an intimate birthday dinner. The dinner is interrupted by Nurse Barb, who disperses everyone back to their rooms and tells Will she is going to transfer him to another hospital.
That night, Stella hears an alarm blaring, warning that someone is in distress. She runs into the hall, realizing that Poe is in trouble. She watches helplessly from the hall as Barb and Dr. Hamid perform life-saving measures, but could not save Poe’s life. Will tries to reach for Stella to comfort her, but she pulls away. She returns to her room sobbing. In the morning, tormented with grief, Stella goes up to the hospital roof and stares off at the holiday lights in the nearby park. She can see Will in his room, and notices that he is grabbing a duffel bag and preparing to leave. Stella races to the exit doors in hopes to change Will’s mind. Stella requests that they walk to the nearby park and gaze at the lights. Stella gets a text saying that she has been approved for a lung transplant and her lungs are arriving soon, and she needs to be prepared at the hospital immediately. Stella ignores the message and instead wants to choose to be with Will. Will confesses his love to Stella, but when he is notified that the hospital staff can’t locate Stella he argues with her pleading her to go back to the hospital and accept the lung transplant. Stella ignores his wishes, and suddenly the ice she is standing on cracks and she falls through. Stella gasps for air and soon becomes unconscious. She talks with Abby and Abby tells Stella to accept the transplant and go on living. Will pulls Stella out of the icy water and performs CPR on Stella, he becomes unconscious and an ambulance pulls up to take them back to the hospital.
As stella wakes up Will and her family, her doctors, persuade her to accept the lung transplant and she finally agrees. Will expresses his concern to Dr. Hamid about having given Stella CPR, worrying that she might contract B. cepacia. Dr. Hamid tells him that he did the right thing, and Stella's mother appreciates Will for saving her daughter’s life. Nurse Barb brings Will his art supplies so he can draw while Stella is undergoing the surgery. Hours pass, and finally Dr. Hamid emerges to tell everyone that Stella is okay. The transplant was a success, and as of now, she does not have B. cepacia. However, Barb tells Will that the medication he is taking has had no effect on his own bacterial infection. Will comes up with a plan to surprise Stella with the help of her family and friends.
Stella wakes up and is given a sketchbook. Inside are drawings Will has made featuring scenes from all of their moments together. Stella gets an iPad and plays a video. In it, Will tells Stella he is sorry she did not get to see the lights in the park. Suddenly, the lights in the hospital room go out, and Stella can see that the courtyard outside her window is filled with Christmas lights. Will is on the other side of the window. Her phone rings, and it is him. He tells her that he has to go away so that she can recover. He asks her to close her eyes so he can walk away from her. He kisses the window and leaves.
Eight months have passed, when Will is at the airport. He is taking a trip to Brazil. He watches Stella's most recent YouTube video and admires at her recovery. Suddenly, in the distance he hears her laughing. She is there in the airport right across the room. Stella notes that her parents are back together and that she is taking her own trip to the Vatican City to see the Sistine Chapel with Mya and Camila. She is shocked when she looks up and sees Will. She walks toward him until they are five feet apart.
Commentary
This novel is a Young Adult Novel that is a required read from the New York Times, Best Selling list.
The main character, Stella Grant is a strong willed, stubborn, organized teenager, who struggles with Cystic Fibrosis. She is very responsible, follows the rules, and takes care of herself and her condition. She has never been in love until she meets Will. Will also narrates the story and he has the opposite character traits as Stella. Will is on the cusp of turning 18 years of age and cannot wait to break free of his mother’s reign over his well-being. Will is tired of his illness defining his every move, and every chance he gets he breaks the rules. When WIll meets Stella his world is flipped upside down. He instantly falls for her and her stubborn rules. The two characters overcome many health challenges and bond over a rare illness. Readers will find that besides the health issues, the characters undergo similar everyday battles with parents, friends, and relationships.
The plot of the novel follows a structured storyline that portrays the lifestyle of two hospitalized teens. The chapters alternate back and forth between these two characters, with the novel beginning and ending with Stella's perspective. The entire plot takes place over the span of about two weeks while Will and Stella are both staying in Saint Grace's Hospital receiving medical care for their illnesses. The alternating perspectives is a unique element that adds depth to the novel. The reader is able to have insight on both female and male perspectives, as well as make comparisons of the two characters. The language that is used in the novel by Lippincott, imitates the conservative features of Stella and the loud boisterous slag that she uses to portray Will.
A prevalent theme that is centered around the novel's basic mora that life is simply too short, and it is important to take chances in order to realize its full potential. When Stella first meets Will, she is committed to her medical regimen, and does not want to complicate her life with boyfriends and other distractions. Yet she decides to take a chance on Will, despite the fact that his B. cepacia puts her in danger. For Will, taking chances appears to come more naturally, but this is partially because he feels resigned to his fate.
Connections
* Invite students to create a movie poster for a movie adaptation of Five Feet Apart. Require students to include a tagline that will make people want to see the movie. Play the movie trailor for students to see a short excerpt from the movie interpretation of the novel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7YWtkH4nU8
*Just like Stella’s Youtube channel, allow students to create a book review video with a partner that depicts their opinion on the quality of the storyline, characters, theme, setting, events, climax, and end resolution.Students must include textual evidence and justify their explanations of their overall ratings of the novel.
* Initiating Will’s personality, have students create a sketch that illustrates Will’s emotions when he sees Stella at the airport at the end of the novel. Students can write a prediction on what they think a sequel to the novel will incorporate.
Bibliography:
Lee, H. & Fordham, F. (2018). To Kill a Mockingbird. NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
Summary:
Jean Louise Finch, also known as “Scout,” the younger sister to Jem Finch, narrates the story as an adult as she is looking back at the summer she learned important life lessons like courage, kindness, and the importance of what is doing right. Atticus Finch, their father is a lawyer with a not so reputable record of winning. Scout begins relating the stories of her childhood that build up to the night that Jem broke his arm.
Scout’s mother passed away when she was only two and does not have any memories to cherish her by. Calpurnia is their cook, and acts like the mother figure around the house when Atticus isn’t home. Over the summer, Scout and Jem meet Dill, playing in Miss Rachel’s garden. The three soon became fast friends and were interested in the Radley house. There were many rumors about “Boo Radley,” the Radle’s son, and the three children were highly interested in getting Boo Radley to come out of the house. The more Dill learned about Boo, the more determined he was to find a way to make him come out that summer. Dill soon went back to Meridian and Scout attend her first day of first grade, although she was highly disappointed when her teacher Miss Caronline was not encouraging of how well she could read and write.
When Jem started across the schoolyard to go home for lunch, he found Scout rubbing Walter Cunningham's nose in the dirt. She blamed him for getting off on the wrong foot with her teacher. Jem called his sister off of the little boy and invited Walter to come home with them for lunch. The rest of the school year passed in a haze of boredom as did the following years of her public education. For Scout, the saving grace of that year was the excitement of finding surprises in the knothole of the Radley oak tree she passed on the way home from school. Inside she would find small treasures like gum, two dolls, and other nic nacks that she found astonishing. When Dill returned for the summer, the kids were fascinated by Boo Radley, they played games acting out as what they thought he would be like, and even attempted to place a note in the knothole of the tree to ask him to come out, but that plan failed when they were caught by Atticus. Although Atticus had instructed the children to leave Boo Radley, his house and his family alone, Jem and Dill just couldn't let it go. On Dill’s last night he dared that Jem peek through the Bradley’s window. Jem gathered up courage and did it. He claimed he saw a dark shadow, but when a gunshot went off he made a mad dash back to their house, but as he was leaving his shorts got caught on the fence. He left them behind knowing he was in danger. Soon a large crowd gathered around the Bradley house and Nathan Radley said he saw a colored man creeping around his house.
School started back up again, and Scout discovered that second grade wasn't much of an improvement on first grade. One afternoon Jem confessed the secret he'd been mulling over since the night he went back to the Radley place to retrieve his pants. He told Scout that when he'd wriggled out of his pants in such a hurry, they'd been tangled up in the fence, but when he went back to get them, they were folded across the fence and had been sewn up in a crude manner. They had seemed to be waiting for him, and that worried Jem. As days passed they found two soap carvings that closely resembled Scout and Jem, an entire pack of gum, a spelling bee medal, and a broken pocket watch with an aluminum knife on its chain in the knothole of the tree. The kids decided to leave a note for the person leaving the gifts, but before they could leave a note in the knothole, Nathan Radley had cemented the knothole over.
One night Miss Maudie’s house caught fire during one of the coldest winter nights, the kids went outside to watch and a mysterious brown blanket appeared around Scout’s shoulders. Neither her or Jem recall who wrapped it around her. Atticu mentions Boo and asks the kids to return it to them. Frightened to return the blanket, the kids spill all their secrets about the encounters that had at the Radley house. Atticus agrees that those events can remain secrets. Scout learns that Atticus has a new case involving a black man, when one of her classmates taunts her and makes fun of her father. Atticus explains to her that he is defending Tom Robinson, a black man, in a trial. He said that he had to do it although he knew he wasn't going to win because if he didn't take on this fight, he couldn't expect Jem or Scout to ever mind him again, and he couldn't represent their town in the state legislature.
Scout starts to compare Atticus to the other kid’s father’s and comes to the conclusion that her father doesn’t have an interesting job, nor does he play sports, and never even showed Jem and her how to shoot their air rifles. However, one day when a rabid dog that belonged to Tim Johnson, Atticus grabs the sheriffs rifle, aims at the dangerous dog, and hits him with one shot. Jem and Scout think differently about their father after the see how well he does with a rifle. On Jem’s 12th birthday he takes his money to buy a steam engine train, and with the leftover money he promised Scout he would buy her a baton. On the way there Mrs. Dubose verbally attacked Jem and Scout about their father representing a black man in court. Jem is furious, and on his way back from the store, he tears off all of Mrs. Dubose’s flower bushes leaving baton behind in the rubbish. Atticus is aware of the damage and forces Jem to go read to Mrs. Debose for a month. The kids later learn from Atticus that Mrs. Debose was addicted to morphine and wanted to be clean of her addiction before she died.
That summer Scout felt lonely as Jem was changing and growing out of the fun little games that they played. Even Dill was not going to be coming to Maycomb for the summer, because his mother got remarried. Aunt Alexandra, Atticus’s sister, comes to stay with them to teach the children manners, and shows the children how “Finches” are supposed to act. The children were upset and had a hard time with their Aunt in the house. One night, Scout finds Dill hiding under her bed. He said that he had run away because his parents didn’t need him anymore. Scout agreed to keep it a secret but when Jem came in he called them out and told Atticus. Atticus notified Dill’s aunt and Dill was able to spend the night at the Finch's house. Dill begged and pleaded to his parents if he could stay in Maycomb, and they eventually agreed. One summer night, a mob crowded the FInch’s house and the men seemed angry that Atticus was representing Tom Robinson. The next night, Atticus went out late after dinner to watch over Tom in jail, knowing that another angry mob was coming for him. Jem, Scout, and Dill follow Atticus, and stick behind him when the crowd approaches Atticus. When they returned home, Scout started crying when she went to bed because the full weight of what happened that night hit her and she was scared. Jem put her in bed with him and told her that it all might be over by the next day because that's when the trial was. The following morning Atticus ordered the children to stay at home and then he left for court.
Of course the kids couldn’t resist not seeing all the action. Inside the courthouse, the room was packed, so Reverend Sykes took the children upstairs with him and they watched the trial from the colored section of the court. Heck Tate testified that on the evening of November twenty-first, Bob Ewell came to get him claiming that his daughter, Mayella, had been raped. When Heck and Bob returned to the Ewell home out by the town dump, Mayella was beat up and lying on the floor in one of the rooms of the small, dirty house. When Heck asked her who hurt her, she blamed Tom Robinson for the rape and beating, so Heck took him to jail and that was that. Bob was up next on the stand and he claimed that he saw Tom on top of his daughter, ran in and helped her, but didn’t catch Tom as he was running out the door. Next, Mayella came to the stand. She claimed that she had given Tom a nickel to help her chop up the wood. Then the next thing she knew Tom was on top of her, her father ran in to help her then she fainted. Atticus questions Mayella, and her story seems to shift. He also asks Tom to show the courtroom that his left arm and hand were limp, do to a cotton gin accident when he was younger, so how could he have forced himself on Mayella?
Tom came up to the stand and spoke his truth. He told the courtroom that Mayella would invite him in almost everyday to do a small chore. Tom explained that the only reason he agreed to help her, was because no one else would and he felt sorry for her. Tom went on to say that Mayella clung herself onto his waist, startling him, and then Bob walked by just as Mayella was trying to kiss him. During the cross-examination, Mr. Gilmer, was impolite, rude, and manipulating Tom’s words. Dill watching the whole scene, walked out crying with Scout following behind him. The children couldn’t believe the harsh treatment that Tom was receiving. Atticus made his final statement to the jury, explaining that all that was required for acquittal was reasonable doubt. He reminded the jury that there was no medical evidence that the crime was ever committed, much less that Tom Robinson did it. The only evidence the state had presented was the testimony of two white people whose testimony was contradicted by the defendant and called into serious question in cross-examination. Atticus told the jury that what happened was that Mayella was trying to cover up her shame at tempting a black man by having him executed.
The kids went home to eat dinner with Cal and quickly returned to the courtroom to her the final verdict. They declared Tom guilty, and Atticus gathered his papers, said a few words to Mr. Gilmer, whispered to Tom, and then left the courthouse.What it all boiled down to was that a white jury convicted a black man because he was a black man and they couldn't rule in his favor against white folks. Atticus was adamant that any white man who would take advantage of a black man is trash. Later Atticus hears terrible news, that Tom Robinson was dead. He'd been shot trying to escape the prison. Atticus wanted Cal to go with him to tell Tom's wife.
The night of Scout’s school pageant, she dressed up as a ham, but fell asleep missing her cue. After the show the children waited for everyone to leave because Scout was so embarrassed. As the kids were walking home, they heard footsteps behind them. It being Halloween the kids knew it could be a prank, but when Scout gets intentionally knocked down, Jem and Scout run for their lives. Jem is pulled back into the darkness, screaming as Scout runs towards their house. Scout hears ruffles in the leaves as two large bodies scuffle and fight. The next thing she sees is a large country man carrying Jem into their house. The stranger who carried Jem stood in the corner of Jem’s room while the sheriff came to question everyone. Come to find out Bob Ewell was stabbed in the forest with a kitchen knife. Heck examined Scout's crushed costume and pointed out a long, clean cut through the chicken wire where a knife had slashed the costume without harming Scout. The ham costume had saved her life. Scout went on to describe the scuffling. As Scout got a closer look at the large, pale, gentle body in the corner of Jem’s room, she realized that he was Boo Radley.
Heck insisted that he just couldn't bring himself to drag into the limelight a man as shy as Arthur Radley although Arthur had done the whole town a favor by killing Bob Ewell. He'd killed the man to save Scout and Jem, but if Heck had aired that to the whole town, the man's privacy would have been destroyed and Heck didn't want to do that to him. When Atticus asked if Scout understood that Ewell fell on his knife, she assured him that Heck was right. She explained to Atticus that exposing Boo would be like shooting a mockingbird.
Commentary
This novel is a Young Adult Novel that is a required read from the “Great Graphic Novels for Teens” list.
This graphic adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, tells the classic story of race, class, heroism, and injustice in the South. In this beautifully drawn adaptation, the reader can relate to the material in a new and modern way. I am a huge fan of Harper Lee’s original version, but when I discovered this graphic novel, I enjoyed the illustrations and cartoon-like characters that resemble Jem, Scout, and Atticus. It brings the story to life, and is a fresh take on a classic tale.
Scout is the narrator of this graphic novel. Although the time period is in Alabama in the 1930’s, there are still many relatable events such as race, culture, and equality, that can easily be connected to our modern society today. Scout starts off at the age of six and is a curious, tomboy, who is more wise and knowledgeable than she thinks. She looks up to her older brother Jem, and at first doesn’t see her father as strong or important, but once she realizes how crucial his job is, she discovers to appreciate her father for who he is. She learned from her father and her neighbors that doing what is right isn’t always rewarded, but it’s the right thing to do and that protecting innocence is a large part of that. Through the events of those two years, Scout learns that no matter their differences or peculiarities, the people of the world and of Maycomb County are all people. No one is lesser or better than anyone else because they're all people.
Scout’s character, being as young as she is, gives the reader a glimpse of a child’s perspective of the world. Scout asks many questions, but also helps the reader understand the laws, rules, and social class views during this time period. The illustrations not only help aid in the visualization of the time period, but give the reader insight into the emotional drain that the children go through as their father represents an African American man in court. The plot follows the original version of Harper Lee’s novel very closely. The speech bubbles make the novel an easy read and gives a hint of comedic features. Each character resembles the descriptions that Harper Lee created in the original novel, and the story comes to life as Fordham portrays the ghostly Boo Radley.
One of the themes that is present is how good does not always triumph over evil. Throughout the book, Scout and Jem make the classic transition from innocence to maturity. Jem obviously leads this change, as he is four years older than Scout, but both children experience it. At first, the siblings approach life innocently believing in the goodness of all people, thinking everyone understands and adheres to the same values they and their father live by. However, during Tom Robinson's trial, the children are sorely disappointed when the jury, made up of their own townspeople, convicts the innocent Tom Robinson, simply because he is an African American man and his accuser is white. The realization that there is true evil within their society shakes both Jem and Scout to the core.
This graphic novel is a great read for young adults even if they have already read the original classic Harper Lee version. This novel has dramatic twists and turns that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat. I highly recommend this graphic novel, knowing that it stays true to the original version.
Connections
*Encourage students to read the Original Version of To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee, and have students create a venn diagram that compares and contrasts the two novels. Students can create a venn diagram digitally with a partner as they collaborate ideas. Students can share their findings with the class.
* Students can create a newspaper article that describes the case between Tom Robinson and Bob Ewell. The newspaper article must follow the events in court, but students can add their own individual twists to the dialog sharing their opinions on the court case. Students can use online applications to create the article.
* Allow students to watch a short clip on Fred Fordham, the illustrator who drew the graphics in this novel. Students will learn what inspired his drawings and how he came up with the idea to create the graphic novel. Allow students to create a summary comic strip that incorporates one of the main themes in the novel. Students can freehand drawings or use online applications.
