March Reading List

April 11th already and I’m just now getting to talk to you about my March reading list? Well, this has been for a number of reasons, the least of which is the continuing Blogger.com Blockage here in Turkey. I’m not hopeful that it will end any time soon.

Other exciting things included a wedding and visitors from the US of A! John and Vicki were with us for the last week and I have many exciting pictures to share with you, but not right now.

Now is for books!

1. You Are Here by Jennifer E. Smith—this is all about the road trip. Really, it’s about the road trip you wish you could have taken in high school when you did not feel like you fit in anywhere else. This is a tale of self-discovery via the American highway system.

2.I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore—this feels like a book mill book as you read it. The adventure is great for the 8-12 boy, but it lacks something in the way of creativity and character development—like having any. Grab this book when you want to sate your fantasy jones, but don’t want to invest much time or attention to it.

3. As Easy As Falling Off The Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins—This story of summer adventure starts when the main character gets left behind the train while going to summer camp. In the end, his adventure is way more interesting than any summer camp could have been, but it takes a bit to get going. Some of the story is not all that believable, but the writing is good and the characters are interesting to know more about. This is what you want to give that 12-18 year old boy that you know.

4. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson—The premise of this is that the older sister dies of an unknown heart arrhythmia and the younger sister needs to figure out how to deal with the loss. This was a hard story for me to read because (a) I am and older sister, (b) I have the same type of heart condition and (c) I miss my sister bunches. The romance aspect of the plot is the typically high school in nature, but the complications are not. I really enjoyed this one.

5. King Dork by Frank Portman—This book is hailed as the new “Catcher in the Rye”. I should have known better than to pick it up and start reading it. I don’t know if you know this, but I really could do without ever having to read “Catcher in the Rye” again. I hated it in high school, and I continue to hate it as I have had to teach it in the past. This book has some of the same whininess that makes me want to kill Holden Caulfield, but it also has some aspects that kept me reading it. I like how the main character pokes fun at AP classes, and the “Catcher Cult”, but also mimics the very thing it mocks. If you hated CITR you will hate this too, but if you liked CITR you might give KD a chance.

6. De: Tales Stories from Urban Brazil by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba—A graphic novel that I was previewing for IB. I find it interesting that the IB has included several graphic novels in the list of approved titles, so this was one I hoped would fit this school and population. There are three frames (of boys in the bathroom) that make this book impossible to include for this school, but it is one that I personally enjoyed.

7. Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez—A page turner. It’s short. It’s written in a newspaper reporter may research a 20 year old story with few leads. The account of the death starts with the first sentence “On the day they were going to kill him…” and ends at last when he “… fell on his face in the kitchen.” The 120 odd pages connecting the first and last sentence will bring you joy and excitement as well as showing you what good story craft is. I was reviewing this for the IB and I’m going to fight to include it in the changes.

8. The Medium is the Message by Marshall McLuhan and Quenitn Fiore—Originally from 1967, this is something that talks about Memes and how information has become the new source of power in the modern world. As I look at it from today, it was way ahead of its time.  This "book" uses text and images the way television and internet can to develop menaing.  This was also a IB review book for next year. 

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