Module 5: Looking for Alaska by John Green

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Book Summary: Miles Halter lives a boring high school life with no friends and no purpose. Searching for his “Great perhaps,” he decides to enroll in a prestigious boarding school in Alabama. There, he meets the wild and intelligent Alaska among his new circle of friends. Life seems great. Miles, or “Pudge,” opens up, tries new things, enjoys discussing religion and famous last words, and becomes a prankster. His great new life changes when Alaska suddenly gets in a car accident, and Miles and their group are desperate to find answers.

APA Reference of Book:  Green, J. (2005). Looking for Alaska: A novel. New York, NY: Dutton Children's Books.

Impressions: This book is incredibly powerful. I love all the “last words” that Miles quotes. I love the realistically sarcastic dialogue. Most of all, I love how this book makes me think. What is the “Great perhaps” for me? How do people get out of the labyrinth of suffering? The novel was written well and can definitely be used as a mini-mystery as the reader follows the foreshadowed clues to figure out what happened to Alaska. This story is so grippingly real.

Professional Review: Looking for Alaska. (January, 2015). School Library Journal, 61(1).

Gr 10 Up-The Printz Award-winning novel that kickstarted John Green's career and introduced a whole generation of teens to a new era of YA literature is turning 10 this year. Though the text itself remains the same, there are many extras included in this edition. There is an introduction by Green himself, a helpful Q & A section, and, perhaps most interesting for scholars, portions of the original manuscript that didn't make it into the final book, along with correspondence between Green and his editor. Purists may gasp to hear that the now-iconic "smoking" cover has been redesigned. But take heart; the new jacket, created by Rodrigo Corral, pays homage to the original with a deep black background and a subtle wisp of smoke. Replace worn copies and introduce a whole new crop of teens to this new classic. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.

Library Uses: Have high school students write a personal literary analysis based around Alaska’s great question: “How will you personally ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?” Answer the question based on your personal experiences and thoughts and include any quotations or examples from the text that help support your writing.

Module 4: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

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Book Summary: All Jesse cares about is proving that he is the best runner in the fifth grade. He also really cares about drawing, but he can never admit that because nobody at school or in his family truly understands him. That all changes when Leslie Burke moves to their small town and flips Jesse’s world upside down. He is able to stand up to bullies and befriend her, much to his surprise, and he finds that he is drawn to her spirit and imagination. Together, they find a place in the woods where their misunderstood creativity can flow free in their own world, Terabithia. Here, they are no longer lonely kids but kings and queens who protect their lands from invaders and giants and mystical spells. Soon Jess learns that while the world is not as magical as the time he spends with Leslie in Terabithia, he can overcome any obstacle in life through the transformation that takes place in him after creating the world with Leslie. When Leslie dies in a tragic accident, all that he has learned from her is put to the test as Jess must find ways to surpass his guilt and keep Terabithia alive for her.

APA Reference of Book:  Paterson, K. (1977). Bridge to Terabithia. New York, NY: T.Y. Crowell.

Impressions: I cannot stop crying after reading this book! It is enchanting in its imagination, and I can feel everything that Jess feels as he grows through his experiences. Leslie helps Jess discover who he was always meant to be through their adventures in Terabithia, and Jess becomes a better person for it. It is not just the experience of loss that makes me emotional, but it is the way that Patterson has woven a tale of growth, connecting people, and overcoming life’s obstacles that makes me feel strongly about this story. I love how Jess introduces his sister, May Belle, to Terabithia in the end because it shows that while he will always hold on to Leslie and what she taught him, he will use everything he learned from her to give others a life full of purpose and imagination. It is a well-written novel that I would love to explore again.

Professional Review: Forman, J. (1977). Bridge to Terabithia [Book Review]. School Library Journal, 24(3), 61.

“Gr 4-6 – Jess’ ambition is to be ‘the fastest runner in the fifth grade,’ and he is well on this way when Leslie arrives on the scene…and beats him in a race. The two quickly find that they have much in common – and each has something to give the other. Leslie opens Jess to a whole new world of myth and fantasy while he gives her an empathy for the underdog, even when the underdog is a big, ugly seventh grade girl bully. The two friends build a secret hideout and invent an imaginary kingdom they call Terabithia, but soon torrential rains make it risky for them to get there. When Jess gets back from a day trip to Washington, D.C. with a teacher he learns that Leslie drowned trying to reach their meeting place and reacts first with shock, then selfishness, and finally grief. Though he gets support from most of his large, usually bickering family and from his teacher, Jess alone has to work through his shattering loss, and it is he who decides how to best memorialize Leslie and what she meant to him. Not only is the story unusual because it portrays a believable relationship between a boy and a girl at an age when same-sex friendships are the norm but it also presents an unromantic, realistic, and moving reaction to personal tragedy. Jess and Leslie are so effectively developed as characters that young readers might well feel that they were their classmates.”

Library Uses: Students can choose five traits that they believe make a great friend. Each student will then be paired with another student who matches most of the same chosen friendship traits. They can then work together to create a world that represents them and explain why it is important.

Module 3: Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg

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Book Summary: When Peter and Judy’s parents leave them home alone for an evening, they decide that they need to do something exciting to pass the time. They go outside and discover a board game with a note that says to “read instructions carefully.” Having found something exciting to do, they go home and begin playing the jungle adventure game, Jumanji. Judy follows all of the instructions and notes that “once a game of Jumanji is started it will not be over until one player reaches the Golden City.” Once they begin playing, situations and jungle animals begin to appear from the game, causing them a lot of stress. True to the rules, Judy pushes Peter to finish the game, and they are relieved when their adventure is finally over. However, soon the game is being played by a couple of boys who do not normally follow the instructions…

APA Reference of Book: Van, C. A. (1981). Jumanji. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Impressions: First of all, the illustrations in this book are beautiful. The use of black and white toned pictures and realistic lines portrays a story where the mundane turns into an exciting adventure. While the book does not have the emotional depth of the movie adaptation, it is a great story for teaching children to make their own excitement and to always follow the directions carefully.

Professional Review: Pollack, P. (1981, May). [Review of the book Jumanji, by Chris Van Allsburg]. School Library Journal, 27(9), 60.

Jumanji is a jungle adventure board game come to life via the magic that, in Van Allsburg's world, is always waiting to leak into the everyday. With successive dice rolls, deepest, darkest Africa invades the neat, solid, formally arranged rooms of the unsuspecting players' house. The players-a blase brother and sister home alone-are momentarily dumbstruck but not really upset. They steadfastly go on with the game as monkeys, grinning with wicked gleam, raid the kirchen and hunker around the game board; rhinos charge intently through the living room (and righ into once line of vision); a Python coils on the mantel, its pattern set off by leafy slipcover design to give a jungle camoflage effect. S in The Garden of Abdul Gasazi (Houghton, 1979), which Jumaji outdoes in story terms, real ad unreal rub shoulders in three-dimensional drawings extraordinary for the multiplicity of gray tones the artist chives and the startling contrasts with brilliant white. The eye-fooling angles, looming shadows and shifting perspective are worthy of Hitchcock, yet all these "special effects" are supplied with only a pencil.-Pamela D. Pollack, "School Library Journal"

Library Uses: Librarians can use this book to teach students how the artist’s style of illustrations (line art, use of black and white versus color) can contribute to the story the author is portraying. 

Module 2: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

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Book Summary: Margaret Simon is almost twelve, and she has a lot to worry about as she starts to grow up! Will she fit in with the suburb kids after moving from New York? Does she like the cutest boy or the neighbor who mows her lawn? Will she EVER get her period and grow breasts? While these questions seem to plague most girls, Margaret feels that she is different. Every other girl feels so certain on their faith and their opinions, but Margaret is not so sure about what to believe in or what type of person she wants to be. It seems that the only person that she can confide in is God, but she must take a journey of self-reflection and discovery to connect with him.

APA Reference of Book: Blume, J. (c1970). Are you there God? It's me, Margaret. New York, NY: Dell Publishing Company.

Impressions: The book was great in its simplicity. It is important for a story about a young girl to actually feel like it was being narrated by an eleven-year-old and not an adult. It really does connect to the realities that any pre-teen girl faces, no matter the time period. However, the ending was way too abrupt for me. I feel like there is no solid conclusion on Margaret’s feelings about God, religion, and prejudices. The story ends right when Margaret begins to see that her perceptions of people shouldn’t be determined as truth, and her character growth isn’t elaborated due to the swift ending. I am disappointed in that fact. Also, her faith in God is restored based on the fact that she got the body maturation that she prayed for? I feel like this ending is weak and unsatisfying to me as a reader. The book was great for expressing a pre-teen’s journey of self-discovery, but I just wanted more of the story.

Professional Review: Elson, A. (2012). Are you there God? It’s me Margaret [Review of the book Are you there God? It’s me Margaret, by J. Blume]. Moment, 37(3), 68.

Are You There God? It's Me Margaret is an outstanding book about a girl with a very hard life. To start off, she just moved to a new town. Moving is challenging enough, but, in addition, her body is changing, and she has to choose a religion for herself.    

It definitely is not easy to move. I know much about this because I, being a member of a military family, have moved several times to new duty stations across the United States. When Margaret moves, she feels very alone until she bonds with a group of friends. I, too, have made some amazing new friends without forgetting my old ones.

This book made me think about what it would be like if I had no religion and had to choose one. How do you choose a religion? Though Margaret says she has no religion, I think that she has a Jewish perspective on life. I see this because Margaret always seems to have a personal relationship with God. Whenever she needs help dealing with the everyday problems of a tween, she always turns to God. For example, when Margaret needs confidence about her body changing, she asks God for advice.

Are You There God? It's Me Margaret is a timeless classic. The questions about tween life are still the same. I know this is true because even my mother, who read this book about 40 years ago, still remembers turning to the book for questions about her body changing. I have her original copy of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, which I hope to pass down to my children when they are ready.

This book has made me think about friendship, religion and how tweens live. Everybody should read this book because it is amazingly great.

Library Uses: This novel can be used to teach students about internal conflict. Margaret has many internal conflicts in this story, such as worrying about her growing body and debating her religion. Students can do a quick write on internal conflicts that they are personally facing and discuss how internal conflicts can influence the plot of a story.