Module 4: The Giver by Lois Lowry

Bibliographic Citation: Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Laurel Leaf Books, 1993.   

Plot Summary:

Jonas lives in a Utopian society set in the future.  Jonas' family is like very other family, a mom, a dad, one daughter, and one son.  In this society, sameness is the way to live.  Everyone has the same things in their homes, lying is not allowed, there are ceremonies for children, no one has a birthday, books are not allowed, except for the book of rules, everyone is assigned a job, and many other things.  Life seems perfect to Jonas, that is until he is assigned a special job at the age of 12.

Jonas learns that he will be the new receiver, a job that has ben specially selected for him.  He will be the new receiver of memories and he must not share them with anyone.  When he begins his training, Jonas get a glimpse into what the world was like before sameness, and this is when he begins to question the way things are.  Jonas learns the truth about many other things, such as that his father's job is to release (kill) a baby if he is born as a twin, twins are not allowed.  This is when Jonas realizes that his father has been lying to him, and he begins to wonder how many people lie about other things.  The life Jonas thought was perfect, doesn't seem very perfect anymore and Jonas begins to realize that maybe a life with choices would be better.

When Jonas learns that a baby his father has been nurturing for over a year will be released the next day, Jonas decides it's time to run away with the baby, Gabriel.  His escape is successful, and Jonas reaches a place where there is snow, colors, and Christmas music.

My Impressions of the Book:

I must admit that this is a great book for teens that depicts a Utopian society.  When first reading this book, life seems great for Jonas and his community, but little by little, truths are revealed and we learn that life isn't as great as it was portrayed.  At first it seems that the life they live is ideal and you can't help but envy the perfect, worry free life they lead.  Later, I found myself upset that there were so many lies and I felt thankful to live in a world where we have so many choices.  I was appaled in learning what the term "released" really meant and it was then that I realized this novel isn't about a Utopian society, but a Dystopian society.  While I enjoyed reading the book, I must confess I did not like the ending.  We can hope that Jonas and Gabriel lived happily ever after in the new community they found, but don't really know. 

Review(s) About the Book:

Barnes & Nobles Editorial Reviews

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9-- In a complete departure from her other novels, Lowry has written an intriguing story set in a society that is uniformly run by a Committee of Elders. Twelve-year-old Jonas's confidence in his comfortable ``normal'' existence as a member of this well-ordered community is shaken when he is assigned his life's work as the Receiver. The Giver, who passes on to Jonas the burden of being the holder for the community of all memory ``back and back and back,'' teaches him the cost of living in an environment that is ``without color, pain, or past.'' The tension leading up to the Ceremony, in which children are promoted not to another grade but to another stage in their life, and the drama and responsibility of the sessions with The Giver are gripping. The final flight for survival is as riveting as it is inevitable. The author makes real abstract concepts, such as the meaning of a life in which there are virtually no choices to be made and no experiences with deep feelings. This tightly plotted story and its believable characters will stay with readers for a long time.
--Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Giver/Lois-Lowry/e/9780440237686/?itm=2&USRI=the+giver

Amazon Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the "ideal" world into which Jonas was born, everybody has sensibly agreed that well-matched married couples will raise exactly two offspring, one boy and one girl. These children's adolescent sexual impulses will be stifled with specially prescribed drugs; at age 12 they will receive an appropriate career assignment, sensibly chosen by the community's Elders. This is a world in which the old live in group homes and are "released"--to great celebration--at the proper time; the few infants who do not develop according to schedule are also "released," but with no fanfare. Lowry's development of this civilization is so deft that her readers, like the community's citizens, will be easily seduced by the chimera of this ordered, pain-free society. Until the time that Jonah begins training for his job assignment--the rigorous and prestigious position of Receiver of Memory--he, too, is a complacent model citizen. But as his near-mystical training progresses, and he is weighed down and enriched with society's collective memories of a world as stimulating as it was flawed, Jonas grows increasingly aware of the hypocrisy that rules his world. With a storyline that hints at Christian allegory and an eerie futuristic setting, this intriguing novel calls to mind John Christopher's Tripods trilogy and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. Lowry is once again in top form--raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers. Ages 12-14.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0385732554/sr=1-1/qid=1292191453/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1292191453&sr=1-1

Use in Library Setting:

I would use this book in a book club, focusing on the utopian society.  This book would be a great way to teach the term utopia and teach teens about their rights in society, since Jonas' were limited. 

Module 4: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Bibliographic Citation: Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee. New York: Scholastic Inc. 1990. 

Plot Summary:

Jeffrey, Maniac, is an orphan who doesn't have a home.  Maniac runs away from his aunt and uncle's house because they fought too much.  Maniac decides to just run, run until he finds a place he can call home.  He ends up in a town called Two Mills, where he meets Amanda Beale.  She befriends him and lets him borrow one of her precious books.  Maniac is soon known by many people, but because of the odd things he does, like run everywhere, throws a football farther than any football player, and he's able to undo knots.   

Maniac makes the East Side his home, he lives with the Beale's, but he doesn't quite feel like it is home.  So, he moves to the West Side, where he meets Grayson.  Grayson doesn't have any family either and together they make a little family.  Things seem to be looking good, and Manic finally feels like he has a home, and then Grayson dies.  Then Maniac moves in with the McNab's, they take him in, even though it is an ugly, dirty, and chaotic house.  Eventually Maniac leave this home as well.  In the end, Maniac ends up back in the Beale's home, and this is where he feels comfortable and finally can call a place home.  

My Impressions of the Book:

Where did this kid come from!  That's exactly what I kept thinking as I read this book.  Jeffrey's life is a sad one, he is a homeless orphan that doesnt seem to really fit in at first.  This was definitely a sad story because all he wants is to have a place to call home.  Racism was definitely an issue addressed in this novel and I think it made me feel uncomfortable, there seemed to be a clear division between African Americans and Caucasians, and I just found it upsetting to see society divided.  I enjoyed this book but can't say that I loved it.  I was very upset when Grayson died because he was the closest thing to a family that Maniac had and even that was taken away from him.   

Review(s) About the Book:

Barnes & Nobles Editorial Reviews

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-Half tall tale, half novel, Jerry Spinelli's Newbery award winner (Little, 1990) is beautifully narrated by film and television actress S. Epatha Merkerson. The story, which explores such complex concepts as home and race relations, is consistently fresh and surprising. Maniac's search for an address to call his own is poignant, while his feats such as untying Cobble's knot and hitting an "inside-the-park home-run but" with a "frogball" are pure tall tale. Merkerson's word-for-word narration is excellent. She gives subtle distinction to the accents and speech of such varied characters as McNab, Mars Bar, Amanda Beale, and Grayson. Her voice could serve as a definition of the word mellifluous, which makes listening to the story even more pleasurable. No music or other sound effects interrupt the text. Technical quality is excellent throughout. This would be an excellent choice for group listening in classrooms, and is equally good for individual listening. Definitely a first purchase choice for all audiobook collections serving elementary grade students.-Louise Sherman, formerly Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Maniac-Magee/Jerry-Spinelli/e/9780316809061/?itm=1&USRI=maniac+magee

Amazon Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Maniac Magee is a folk story about a boy, a very excitable boy. One that can outrun dogs, hit a home run off the best pitcher in the neighborhood, tie a knot no one can undo. "Kid's gotta be a maniac," is what the folks in Two Mills say. It's also the story of how this boy, Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee, confronts racism in a small town, tries to find a home where there is none and attempts to soothe tensions between rival factions on the tough side of town. Presented as a folk tale, it's the stuff of storytelling. "The history of a kid," says Jerry Spinelli, "is one part fact, two parts legend, and three parts snowball." And for this kid, four parts of fun. Maniac Magee won the 1991 Newbery Medal. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0316809063/sr=1-1/qid=1292192333/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1292192333&sr=1-1

Use in Library Setting:

I would use this book in a book talk to promote reading with upper elementary students and/or 6th graders.  This book can also be recommnded to teachers to read in their classrooms because the book touches on many important elements, such as racism, being homeless, etc. 

Module 3: Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg

Bibliographic Citation: Van Allsburg, Chris. Jumanji. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981.

Plot Summary:

Peter and Judy'a parents go out one evening and leave the kids home alone.  Since the kids are bored, they decide to go to a park.  At the park, the kids find a board game, Jumanji., and they take it home to play.  As soon as they start playing the game the kids realize they are in for an adventure.  The game is not just a board game, every move they make really does happen in their home.  Next thing the kids know, it is raining and they have monkeys in the kitchen, along with other animals in the house.  The kids continue to play because they need to finish the game and get rid of the mess before their parents get home.  Luckily, the game ends and the animals dissapear and the house is back to normal.  Peter and Judy run back to the park and make sure to leave the board game there. 

My Impressions of the Book:

There are so many great things about this book, but the part I like the most are the illustrations.  Even though the illustrations are in black and white, they are still beautiful illustrations.  The plot is great as well, the book keeps the reader interested in finding out what's going to happen next.  The animals that showed up page after page added suspense to the story and I kept thinking of what would happen if the parents showed up.   

Review(s) About the Book & My Thoughts:

Barnes & Nobles Editorial Reviews

Children's Literature

Thickly shadowed pencil drawings add mystery and intrigue to the tale of two children who enter a jungle adventure board game. Energized and perilous, the book is a journey into the remarkable imagination of Van Allsburg. Like the Robin Williams movie based on this book, the story is a masterpiece of fantasy.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Jumanji/Chris-Van-Allsburg/e/9780395304488/?itm=2&USRI=jumanji

Barnes & Nobles Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The game under the tree looked like a hundred others Peters and Judy had at home. But they were bored and restless and, looking for something interesting to do, thought they'd give Jumanji a try. Little did they know when they unfolded its ordinary-looking playing board that they were about to be plunged into the most exciting and bizare adventure of their lives.
In his second book for children, Chris Van Allsburg again explores the ever-shifting line between fantasy and reality with this story about a game that comes startingly to life.
His marvelous drawings beautifully convey a mix of the everyday and the extraordinary, as a quiet house is taken over by an exotic jungle.

"Mr. Van Allsburg's illustrations have a beautiful simplicity of design, balance, texture, and a subtle intelligence beyond the call of illustration."

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Jumanji/Chris-Van-Allsburg/e/9780395304488/?itm=2&USRI=jumanji

Use in Library Setting:

I would use this book to teach students about famous illustrators and awards given.  This could be tied to an art lesson where kids/ teens get to draw their own scene for the book.  

Module 3: Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez

Bibliographic Citation: Alvarez, Julia. Before We Were Free. New York: Laurel Leaf, 2004.

Plot Summary:

Anita is a 12 year old girl living in the Dominican Republic under a dictator, Trujillo.  Anita lives in a compund with her family and extended family, but little by little, her cousins, aunts, and uncles begin to move to the United States.  Anita's young uncle is missing and she hasnt seen him in months.  So, Anita and her immediate family are the only ones left in the compund.  One day, Anita looks out the window and the secret police have their cars parked outside her compund, and she does not know why.  

Anita and her peers attend an American school, but soon that changes.  Things all around her seem to be changing for the worse, but whenever Anita asks her parents any questions, they don't give her any answers.  The only person that reveals tid bits of information to Anita is her nanny, Chucha, an older lady from Haiti.  Chucha shares her dreams with Anita, where she sees Anita tkaing flight soon.  So, she tells her to prepare herself.  Soon Anita's older sister is sent to the United States and again, Anita loses another loved one to the U.S.

One day Anita and her friend notice that someone is staying in one of their back rooms in the compound, and being children, they make sure to keep a close eye as to what is going on.  Turns out her uncle is in hiding, and then Anita begins to notice her father and his friends meet up and hold meetings in the compound.  What the men don't realize is that they hold their meetings outside of Anita's window and this is how Anita learns that her father and his friends are planning something big against El Jefe, Trujillo.  Her father and his friend go with their their plan and then some men force their way into Anita's house.  Anita and her mother go into hiding, living in a friends closet.  Eventually, Anita and her mother escape to the United States and are reunited with their family members.     

My Impressions of the Book:

Anita is a young girl living life under a dictator in the Dominican Republic.  This is one of those books that makes you appreciate your freedom and teaches you a history lesson at the same time.  I really enjoyed this book, and I think it was mostly because I had the opportunity to see what life under a dictator is like.  The harsh reality is that this is not just a novel, this novel depicts what life was like for some people living in the Dominican Republic in the 1960's.  This book holds so much culture and history, one can enjoy a good read and learn a thing or two. 

Review(s) About the Book & My Thoughts:

Amazon Editorial Reviews

 From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. What is it like for a 12-year-old girl living under a ruthless dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1960? Alvarez draws on her own cousins' and friends' experiences to tell the political story through the eyes of Anita, whose father is involved in a plot to assassinate the dictator and bring democracy to the island. This doesn't have the passionate lyricism of Alvarez's great adult novels. The pace, at least for the first half of the book, is very slow, perhaps because the first-person, present-tense narrative stays true to Anita's bewildered viewpoint and is weighed down with daily detail and explanation of the political issues ("I feel just awful that my father has to kill someone for us to be free"). Yet it is Anita's innocence, her focus on the ordinary, that young readers will recognize. She's busy with school, friends, getting her period, falling in love, even as the secrets and spies come closer and, finally, the terror destroys her home. Her father is arrested; she and her mother are in hiding. There's no sensationalism, but Anita knows the horrific facts of how prisoners are tortured and killed. Trying to block out the truth, she loses her voice, even forgets the words for things, until she starts to write in a secret diary. Readers interested in the history will grab this. Like Lyll Becerra de Jenkins' The Honorable Prison (1988), about a young girl whose father resists a Latin American dictatorship, and Beverley Naidoo's The Other Side of Truth (Booklist' s 2001 Top of the List winner for youth fiction), Alvarez's story will also spark intense discussion about politics and family. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Amazon Editorial Reviews

 From School Library Journal

Grade 6-10-By the morning of her 12th birthday, in December, 1960, Anita de la Torre's comfortable childhood in her home in the Dominican Republic is a thing of the past. The political situation for opponents of the dictator Rafael Trujillo has become so dangerous that nearly all of her relatives have emigrated to the U.S., leaving only her uncle, T'o Toni, somewhere in hiding, and her parents, still determined to carry on the resistance. Over the next year, the girl becomes increasingly aware of the nature of the political situation and her family's activities. Once her father's cotorrita, or talkative parrot, she grows increasingly silent. When the dictator is assassinated, her father and uncle are arrested, her older brother is sheltered in the Italian Embassy, and Anita and her mother must go into hiding as well. Diary entries written by the child while in hiding will remind readers of Anne Frank's story. They will find Anita's interest in boys and her concerns about her appearance, even when she and her mother can see no one, entirely believable. Readers will be convinced by the voice of this Spanish-speaking teenager who tells her story entirely in the present tense. Like Anita's brother Mund'n, readers will bite their nails as the story moves to its inexorable conclusion.Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC 
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Use in Library Setting:

This book can be used to teach students about Dominican Republic history, dictatorship, and refugees.  It would be a great read for a book club because it reflects real events and teens can discuss what life might have been like.

Module 2: The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

Bibliographic Citation: Hinton, S. E. The Outsisders. New York: Speak, 1967.

  

Plot Summary:

Ponyboy is an orphan who lives with his two older brothers, Soda and Darry.  Even though Ponyboy doesn't have a normal family, he does have a great group of friends.  The gang, or the greasers are Ponyboy's family.  The greasers live in the east side, and their enemies, the socs, live in the west side.  One night, Ponyboy and his best friends Johnny, are apprehended by a couple of socs, they get into a fight and Johnny ends up stabbing one of the socs, Bob.  The boys must decide what to do, so they turn to the toughest greaser they know, Dally.  Dally gives them money, a gun, and a plan.

Ponyboy and Johnny run away to Windrixville to hide out in an abandoned church, where they hide out for a week.  Eventually Dally visits them, takes them out to eat, and brings news from home, the socs and the greasers have planned a big rumble to settle their differences.  When the boys go back to the abandoned church, they find the church in flames, and Ponyboy and Johnny realize there are children in the church.  The two boys quickly take matters into their own hands and rescue the children from the burning church.  In the process, Johnny gets badly hurt, he ends up with 3 degree burns and a broken back.  

The boys are taken to the hospital, where Johnny is in critical condition.  The rumble still goes on and the boys fight.  The greasers end up winning the fight, but its useless.  When Ponyboy and Johnny visit Dally in the hospital, after the rumble, they realize Johnny is about to die.  Minutes later, Johnny dies and this is Dally's breaking point.  Dally runs out and gets himself in trouble, but before being arrested he takes out a gun and police officers kill him.  Ponyboy looses to friends in the same night.   

My Impressions of the Book:

I absolutely love this book!  As soon as you start reading this book, you can't help but fall in love with the characters and can't help but shed a tear when Johnny and Dally die.  This is one of those books where at least one of the characters reminds you of someone you know.  The social issues the greasers face on a dailybasis are social issues teens face today; I think this is why this book seems so real and it is still popular today, 40+ years after it was written.  This book was definitely a quick read, and I could not put the book down because I wanted to know what was going to happen next.   

Review(s) About the Book:

New York Times

‘The Outsiders’: 40 Years Later

By DALE PECK

Published: September 23, 2007

Few books come steeped in an aura as rich as S. E. Hinton’s novel “The Outsiders,” which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. At a time when the average young-adult novel was, in Hinton’s characterization, “Mary Jane went to the prom,” “The Outsiders” shocked readers with its frank depictions of adolescents smoking, drinking and “rumbling.” Although other pop culture offerings had dealt with these themes — most notably “Rebel Without a Cause” and “West Side Story” — their intended audience was adult. By contrast, “The Outsiders” was a story “for teenagers, about teenagers, written by a teenager.” Hinton’s candid, canny appraisal of the conflict between Socs, or Socials, and Greasers (for which one might substitute Jets and Sharks), published when she was 17, was an immediate hit and remains the best-selling young-adult novel of all time.
For the complete essay review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/books/review/Peck-t.html

Barnes & Nobles Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The Outsiders is a book that delves deeply into the hearts, minds, and stories of a group that had no voice before S. E. Hinton gave them one. She began writing the book at age 15, spurred on by the disturbing trend she saw growing in her high school towards division between groups. "I was worried and angered by the social situation," Hinton writes. "I saw two groups at the extreme ends of the social scale behaving in an idiotic fashion -- one group was being condemned and one wasn't.... When a friend of mine was beaten up for no other reason than that some people didn't like the way he combed his hair, I took my anger out by writing about it."

Thirty years after it was first published, The Outsiders still carries the same frightening and unifying messages for teens (and readers of all ages). The ruthlessly realistic and violent story of the Greasers and the Socs, rival gangs from very different sides of the railroad tracks, is narrated by Ponyboy Curtis, a smart, sensitive kid who has grown to become one of the most recognizable figures in the history of young adult literature. Any teen who has ever felt isolated or different can identify with Ponyboy, a kid forced to be tough on the outside, but who underneath is just as scared and needy as anyone. Hinton herself has said that she has never written a character as close to her own self as Ponyboy is. Young Adult fiction was shaped and defined by Susan Eloise Hinton, and the realism she attached to the genre became the norm, enabling later writers like Robert Cormier and Judy Blume to find characters and voices that actually spoke to adolescents. Since 1967, Ponyboy has become the hero for countless teenagers nationwide as The Outsiders stands to influence an entire new legion of adolescents who need Ponyboy as much as ever.

Use in Library Setting:

I would use this book in a book club, with teens of course.  I would also display this book as part of a classics display, books that every teen should read at least once.   

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

Bibliographic Citation: Blume, Judy. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. New York: Yearling Books, 1970.

Plot Summary:

Margaret has just moved to a new city with her parents, away from her Jewish grandmother.  Margaret is in 6th grade and she has realized that she doesn't really have a religion.  One side of her family is Jewish and the other is Catholic.  Aside from trying to decide on a religion, she is also going through young girl dilemmas, such as buying her first bra, her bra size, getting her period, and being jealous of another peer whom has developed.  Margaret thinks its great she has developed and envies her, but later learns the young girl doesn't feel comfortable with her body.  Margaret prays to a god every night, and then stops one day when she is mad at him.  Eventually she begins praying again.

My Impressions of the Book:

This is definitely one of my favorite books!  I loved Margaret and her honesty.  She reminded me of when I was in 6th grade and the novel took me back to the days when worries were pretty petty but seemed to be huge at the time.  Margaret goes through all the issues a young girl goes through, the body changes or lack of, and the panic that comes with that.  I think this is a cute novel that should be read by all pre-teens because it reminds girls that they aren't alone in their worries.     

Review(s) About the Book & My Thoughts:

Barnes and Nobles Editorial Review

Publishers Weekly

Judy Blume's body of work returns to her original editor, Richard Jackson, with the rerelease of four classics in hardcover. An African-American family moves to all-white Grove Street in Iggie's House, to be released in April. The author's breakthrough title, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, about 11-year old Margaret Simon's struggles with puberty and religion, is now available in hardcover as well as in a Spanish-language edition, Estas ahi Dios? Soy yo, Margaret. Two additional titles came out last season: Blubber takes on preteen teasing; and It's Not the End of the World explores the effects of divorce. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Barnes and Nobles Editorial Review

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret is Judy Blume's account of what it is like to be an almost 12-year-old girl whose greatest desire is just to be normal. The novel is honest and forthright. Margaret Simon worries that she doesn't have anything to fill her bra, that she will be the last girl in her group of friends to start menstruating, that she just won't fit in. And to compound things, she has no religion, so she can't join either the Jewish Community Center or the Protestant Youth Center in her new neighborhood. This recorded version of Margaret's conversations with God, her parents, friends and us, the audience, is even more authentic than the book. Laura Hamilton's reading captures Margaret's anxiety in her conversations with God, her indignation in some conversations with her parents, and her enthusiasm and vulnerability in conversations with her friends. She can emphasize the girls' fixation with the pronunciation of new words in their life, as well as Margaret's pain when she is forced to cancel her planned holiday visit to Florida to see her much loved grandmother. Listeners seem to be co-conspirators, sympathetic friends, and always important members of Margaret's entourage. This conversational story is well-served here.Edith Ching, St. Albans School, Washington, DC

Use in Library Setting:

I would use this book in a book talk to a group of girls, promoting it and giving some interesting details from the book.  I would also recommend this book to 6th grade teachers and/or middle school counselors, adults that can recommend this book to girls learning how to love and appreciate who they are.