April Reading List
This month I have a few really good recommendations to make. I also have a few that you would be better off leaving on the shelf. That is how things go most of the time though: you win some and you lose some.
I’ll start with the winners, and then go to the losers this month.
1. “Looking for Alaska
” by John Green—Okay, I may have a new candidate for favorite author. John Green continues to make my day with books that really engage the reader. His style is accessible for student readers, and his content is interesting enough to keep the attention of the 14-18 year old age range. This particular novel deals with death in a very real way. Any of you teachers out there that have worked in a school where a student dies unexpectedly will know that nothing is easy about death, especially when it could have been avoided. This book is from a boy’s point of view and combines issues of friendship, a school with a “no rat” culture, and coming into your own. I cried, and I laughed, but I mostly thought about the teenage experience in a new way.
--------------------------> I even added it to my "You Must Read This" List.
2. “Best Foot Forward
” by Joan Bauer—The first Joan Bauer book I read was recommended to me by one of the only people who I know that reads more books than I do: Barbra Strader. She is the librarian at St. John-Endicott Middle and Elementary School and she had recommended “Backwater” to me when I first started teaching there. It became one of our “Everybody Reads” books, and most of the town read it. This novel, although very different than “Backwater”, is just as readable and could easily be an “Everybody Reads” book for a community. For all of us women, it deals with shoes, well a shoe store to be more exact. For you men, it deals with business, more specifically, what happens when businesses cut corners. The narrator is a real go getter of a gal who learns that she needs to give people the chance to prove they can do the right thing, like she was given.
3. “Girls at War
” by Chinua Achebe—this is a short story collection that we will be using in the IB here starting next year. This is similar to “Things Fall Apart” in that it deals with African tribal life in juxtapose to modern life. The battles between genders are evident here, as they are in the other, but in the short story form you get to experience more points of view and see the development of the continent over many years.
And things go swiftly downhill.
4. “Confessions of a Not It Girl
” by Melissa Kantor –this is a middle of the road, “I’m glad you’re reading SOMETHING” book. The main character is a high school girl who can’t see what she has got. She wishes for things that her best friend has and wants to change herself to be like her friend. What she can’t see is that other people feel the same way about her. This is a plot line that has been done, and done, and done. It offers nothing revolutionary in the way of character or style. Maybe one for a rainy day when you are on cough meds.
5. “The Comet’s Curse
” by Dom Testa– This book is set up to be the first in a series. It deals with the end of the world caused by a disease killing all humans over 18 years old. Kids are sent into space on a mission to find a new planet to inhabit. I can see how this might be good, but there are so many things that are problematic about the setup that I had a hard time getting into it. Not to knock adventure books or series books. I did love “The Baby-Sitter’s Club” like the next girl, but even I knew it was not a “good” book then.
6-8. “Vampire Kisses: The Beginning
” by Ellen Schreiber – this is really three novels in one cover. I started reading it because I saw that it had been checked out a few times. I kept reading it because I didn’t believe it could really be that bad. I finished it because I realized that I was more than half way done, and I hate to leave things unfinished! This is a book/series that is capitalizing on the coattails of “Twilight” and the current teen obsession with vampires.
And that’s it for this month. This month I have a four day boat cruise in the Mediterranean and I hope to have a more “Adult” list for you to enjoy for the summer. I must say that pickings are slim for Adult books here on campus, but I’ll do my best.
I’ll start with the winners, and then go to the losers this month.
1. “Looking for Alaska
” by John Green—Okay, I may have a new candidate for favorite author. John Green continues to make my day with books that really engage the reader. His style is accessible for student readers, and his content is interesting enough to keep the attention of the 14-18 year old age range. This particular novel deals with death in a very real way. Any of you teachers out there that have worked in a school where a student dies unexpectedly will know that nothing is easy about death, especially when it could have been avoided. This book is from a boy’s point of view and combines issues of friendship, a school with a “no rat” culture, and coming into your own. I cried, and I laughed, but I mostly thought about the teenage experience in a new way. --------------------------> I even added it to my "You Must Read This" List.
2. “Best Foot Forward
” by Joan Bauer—The first Joan Bauer book I read was recommended to me by one of the only people who I know that reads more books than I do: Barbra Strader. She is the librarian at St. John-Endicott Middle and Elementary School and she had recommended “Backwater” to me when I first started teaching there. It became one of our “Everybody Reads” books, and most of the town read it. This novel, although very different than “Backwater”, is just as readable and could easily be an “Everybody Reads” book for a community. For all of us women, it deals with shoes, well a shoe store to be more exact. For you men, it deals with business, more specifically, what happens when businesses cut corners. The narrator is a real go getter of a gal who learns that she needs to give people the chance to prove they can do the right thing, like she was given. 3. “Girls at War
” by Chinua Achebe—this is a short story collection that we will be using in the IB here starting next year. This is similar to “Things Fall Apart” in that it deals with African tribal life in juxtapose to modern life. The battles between genders are evident here, as they are in the other, but in the short story form you get to experience more points of view and see the development of the continent over many years. And things go swiftly downhill.
4. “Confessions of a Not It Girl
” by Melissa Kantor –this is a middle of the road, “I’m glad you’re reading SOMETHING” book. The main character is a high school girl who can’t see what she has got. She wishes for things that her best friend has and wants to change herself to be like her friend. What she can’t see is that other people feel the same way about her. This is a plot line that has been done, and done, and done. It offers nothing revolutionary in the way of character or style. Maybe one for a rainy day when you are on cough meds.5. “The Comet’s Curse
” by Dom Testa– This book is set up to be the first in a series. It deals with the end of the world caused by a disease killing all humans over 18 years old. Kids are sent into space on a mission to find a new planet to inhabit. I can see how this might be good, but there are so many things that are problematic about the setup that I had a hard time getting into it. Not to knock adventure books or series books. I did love “The Baby-Sitter’s Club” like the next girl, but even I knew it was not a “good” book then. 6-8. “Vampire Kisses: The Beginning
” by Ellen Schreiber – this is really three novels in one cover. I started reading it because I saw that it had been checked out a few times. I kept reading it because I didn’t believe it could really be that bad. I finished it because I realized that I was more than half way done, and I hate to leave things unfinished! This is a book/series that is capitalizing on the coattails of “Twilight” and the current teen obsession with vampires. And that’s it for this month. This month I have a four day boat cruise in the Mediterranean and I hope to have a more “Adult” list for you to enjoy for the summer. I must say that pickings are slim for Adult books here on campus, but I’ll do my best.
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