Module 7: Realistic Fiction -- No More Dead Dogs by Gordan Korman

Image retrieved from :http://www.amazon.com/More-Dead-Dogs-Gordon-Korman/dp/0786816015

Book Summary:

Wallace Wallace is an accidental football hero, winning last year’s championship game. He does not seem like your typical football player he did not really even plan to win the game, it just happened. One thing really important to Wallace is honesty. He cannot tell a lie, even if it means the truth will get him it trouble. So when asked to complete an assignment writing a review of Old Shep My Pal, he tells it like it is. He hated the book and has a very good reason why. It is your typical “dog” book. As Wallace puts it if there is a dog and a medal on the cover of a book the dog is a goner. The teacher who requested this review is not happy with his brutal honest. He gives Wallace dentition making him  attend the rehearsals of Old Shep the play. Taking him away from the all important football team. Wallace while attending the rehearsals starts to take an interest in the play and the president of the drama club, Rachel. Wallace will choose the play over the football team, he will choose the new friendships and relationships he has made over the false heroism he has found on the football field. In the end Wallace revamps the whole play, saves the dog, gets the girl, and changes the book he hated into a play enjoyed by the entire student body.

APA Citation:

Korman, G. (2000). No more dead dogs. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Impressions:

This book had me rolling with laughter. It has some great truths, I agree if a dog book has a medal nine times out of ten the dog is not going to make it. I agree with Wallace Wallace in that I avoid books with dogs on the cover I cannot deal with the even possibility that the dog could not make it.  The element of humor made this book really enjoyable there was a good laugh at every turn. I really enjoyed how Wallace went against the grain choosing to be a part of  the play rather than on the football team. This plot point shows the reader that sometimes being an outsider in high school  can be more fun and more rewarding. The book is also written from multiple points of view giving a more rounded view of the story from all sides. The end of the book is absolutely fitting,sabotaged play and all. The play ends on an explosive note the play and everything in shambles. In a deus ex machina moment the book ends with everything working out. The play "Old Shep" ends up being a hit and Wallace gets the girl. This makes the plot feel less real, considering the book  is in the genre of realistic fiction. However, fact that this text is not a straight realistic fiction does not make less of a good read, in my mind it makes it even more entertaining. Overall this is a hilarious realistic fiction for the middle school age group. I highly recommend this read especially for reluctant male readers, the humor will definitely draw them in.  

Professional Review:

Gr. 5-7. Here's one for every reader weary of being assigned novels in which the dog dies. For expressing his true views of Old Shep, My Pal, eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace earns a detention that takes him off the team and plunks him down in the auditorium, where his almost equally stubborn English teacher is directing a theatrical version of--you guessed it. To the delight of some cast members, but the loud outrage of Drama Club President, Rachel Turner, Wallace Wallace makes a few suggestions to punch up the production; by the end, it's a rock musical and the (stuffed) pooch actually pulls through. At least, that's the plan. Briskly stirring in complications and snappy dialog, Korman adds mystery to the fun with an unknown saboteur, caps the wildly popular play with an explosive (literally) climax, and finishes with Rachel and Wallace Wallace finally realizing that they were made for each other. Except for Old Shep, everyone, even the teacher, comes out a winner. ((Reviewed October 1, 2001)) Copyright 2001 Booklist Reviews

Citation:

Peters, J. (2001). No More Dead Dogs. Booklist, 98(3), 319. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA79548265&v=2.1&u=txshracd2679&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=d0e066f168151b4c9e4fa80828a15a3d

Library Uses:

I would use this book in a live audio book program where the book is read aloud twice a week for an hour until finished. While at this program teens can color, finish, homework or enjoy snacks. The humor in this book and lack of vulgar comments make it a great read aloud for most middle schoolers.

Module 6: Picture Books-- Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds

Image retrieved from: http://www.amazon.com/Creepy-Carrots-Aaron-Reynolds/dp/1442402970

Book Summary:

Jasper Rabbit loves carrots and the ones in Crackenhoppers field are the absolute best. He picks them morning, day and night. Everything is fine until the carrot start following him. At least he think the carrots are following him. He starts seeing them everywhere. He finally decides that to save himself form the carrots he must build a fence around the field to keep the carrots in. At the end of the story the Carrots are seen celebrating as their plan worked. This fence made to keep them in, also keeps Jasper out. They are safe for another day

APA Citation:

Reynolds, A., & Brown, P. (2012). Creepy carrots! New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Impressions:

This book was clever and fun. The art work is innovative using one color, to further the plot of the story. The images in this book are in shades of grey with the carrots or carrot like objects being shown in the color orange.  This gives this picture book an element of old time horror films. Creepy Carrots is just the right level of scary for young children. With Jasper becoming more and more paranoid as the plot continues. Thinking he sees creepy carrots at every turn.  The problem is resolved simply as Jasper builds a fence to keep the carrots in, then the child is introduced to the other side of the story. Jasper may love the carrots, but they do not appreciate him. In the end the Carrot's creepy plan is a brilliant plot point. Their plan works,  making it  Jasper's  idea to give the carrots peace by building a fence to keep the carrots in  and keep himself out. I really enjoyed this story and it works really well as a read aloud one on one or in a large group.

Professional Review:

 Creepy Carrots!

Aaron Reynolds, Author, Peter Brown, Illustrator

In a spot-on parody of a paranoid thriller, a hungry bunny senses “creepy carrots” watching his every move. Jasper Rabbit doesn’t think twice about plundering the carrots of Crackenhopper Field “until they started following him.” Jasper glimpses three jack-o-lantern–jawed carrots behind him in the bathroom mirror (when he turns around it’s just a washcloth, shampoo bottle, and rubber duck—or is it?), and he yells for his parents when a carrot shadow looms on his bedroom wall. Reynolds (Snowbots) makes liberal use of ellipses for suspense, conjuring the “soft... sinister... tunktunktunk of carrots creeping.” Brown (Children Make Terrible Pets) illustrates in noirish grayscale with squash-orange highlights and dramatic lighting, framing each panel in shiny black for a claustrophobic film-still effect that cements the story’s horror movie feel. Jasper’s grin grows maniacal as he constructs a fortress and moat to contain the offending carrot patch, giving the carrots a happy ending in this Hitchcock spoof (Brown even sneaks in a sly Vertigo reference). Watch out, vegetarians—these carrots have bite! Ages 4–8. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management. (Aug.)

Citation:

Rodeen, P. (2012). Children's Book Review: Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds, illus. by Peter Brown. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved October 13, 2015, from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4424-0297-3

Library Uses:

I would use it as an introduction to an art program where the participants would be given only black and an accent color. This book shows how only one color can be critical to illustration. 

Module 5 Other Award Winners: Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Image retrieved from:

http://www.amazon.com/Going-Bovine-Libba-Bray/dp/0385733984

Book Summary:

Is this real life or just a dream. That is what the audience wonders. Cameron is diagnosed with Mad Cow disease and it is fatal. At 16 his life has been cut short. While he was looking forward to the end of High School, now he can look forward to losing his mind. A former outsider, now the entire school starts to pull for him. As they hold pep rallies in his honor. As the disease progresses the story takes more manic turns. At Cameron's lowest point in the hospital awaiting his end, when he is challenged by Dulcie ,an angel with pink hair,  who sends him a mission. To go on a road trip to find the elusive Dr. X. save the world and  receive his miraculous cure. He and his friend Gonzo head out on what can be best described a  crazy and unreal trip around the United States. Adventures include visiting a long dead jazz musician in New Orleans, a religious cult bent on making everyone happy by taking away choice , finding a crazy talking garden gnome inhabited by the spirit of Balder, and other crazy shenanigans along the way. In the end the reader finds that this is all in Cameron's mind, but that does not make it any less real? Sorry to spoil the book, but Cameron dies in the end. The reader know from the point of  his diagnoses that this will happen. This story is not about the end, as in the end we will all perish. This story is about the journey, about life and holding on to it until the very end. 

APA Citation:

Bray, L. (2009). Going bovine. New York: Delacorte Press.

Impressions:

This novel is very much a young adult novel, but the concept is so outside the norm I was worried about even getting through the novel. This book is funny at times and then incredibly sad a times. The reader wants Cameron to fulfill his quest, but in the end we know even while reading that it is a lost cause. The writing style was long and drawn out a times, but I was worth the ride. This book was a roller coaster ride with its crazy twists and turns, it holds the reader making them want to continue on to see where the next turn takes Cameron. This book is very different, unlike anything I had ever read. At times the plot was disruptive, but that was very intentional. As this jerky motion of the plot makes the reader feel just as disjointed as Cameron is as his grasp on reality wains. It is not my new favorite book, but it was one of the most interesting books I have ever read. This maybe why it won the Printz award. It's a novel about a teenager dying, but it is not typical. Cameron is depressed about the prospect of dying young, but he isn't going down without a fight. The best way to describe this book is different.  This book is about life, a little about death and the journey between. It speaks to the point that the meaning of life is the journey. It is what that happens on the journey that counts not the end. Overall a challenging but worthwhile read.

Professional Review:

Morbidity and Hilarity

By LISA VON DRASEK

Published: February 12, 2010

You could say that this year’s winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for young adult literature, announced last month by the American Library Association, begins with an off-putting premise. The narrator, Cameron, a self-­proclaimed slacker (“I’m a drifter — right downstream and over the falls with the rest of the driftwood”), learns that he has contracted a fatal condition: Creutzfeldt-­Jakob, or mad cow, disease (as it’s known in animals). Who wants to read a 480-page novel about a 16-year-old who has four to six months to live and suffers from progressive muscle weakness, dementia and delusions?

But Libba Bray, author of the best-selling gothic-fantasy-romance Gemma Doyle trilogy, manages to turn a hopeless situation into a hilarious and hallucinatory quest, featuring an asthmatic teenage dwarf, Gonzo; a pink-haired angel in combat boots, Dulcie; and Balder, a Norse god who is cursed with the form of a garden gnome. If Dulcie is to be believed, Cameron must find the mysterious Dr. X who is responsible for releasing dark energy that could cause the end of the world. If he succeeds, he may just save his own life. (Or, it’s all just a hallucination.)

Despite the novel’s length, Bray doesn’t waste a sentence. With just one chapter heading (regarding “High School Hallway Etiquette and the Fact That Staci Johnson Is Evil; Also, Unfairly Hot”) she can neatly suggest an entire subplot.

For readers who enjoy intertextual connections, there are “Don Quixote” references dropped in throughout, including windmills, Dulcie (Dulcinea) and trusty sidekicks. Everyone else will just want to see where this amusement park ride is taking us.

Cameron does or doesn’t travel to New Orleans to see a trumpeter who comes off as a kind of oracle, get duped by a religious cult, explore parallel universes and realize that along the way, “It’s not all sand castles and ninjas.”

Why keep reading, when we know our hero is still going to die? As Balder chides Gonzo during a scene involving a wizard and a burning pancake restaurant: “Cameron is our brother, our friend, and we do not abandon our friends. . . . This is a quest. I pledged my loyalty to Cameron back on the cul-de-sac. I shall see it through to the end.”

Libba Bray not only breaks the mold of the ubiquitous dying-teenager genre — she smashes it and grinds the tiny pieces into the sidewalk. For the record, I’d go anywhere she wanted to take me.

Lisa Von Drasek is the children’s librarian of the Bank Street College of Education.

Citation:

Drasek, L. (2010, February 13). Morbidity and Hilarity. New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/books/review/VonDrasek-t.html?_r=0

Library Uses:

I would hold a debate in the library about the reality of this book. I would have two groups work together to show their arguments that the story is actually happening or that the story is only taking place in Cameron's mind. I will have another librarian judge the debate and choose the winning group.

Module 4: Newbery Award Winners-- A Wrinkle In Time

Image retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wrinkle_n_Time

Book Summary:

The Murry children’s father has been missing for months, the family believes he is gone forever. That is until Mrs. Whatsit shows up to tell the children the truth. Their father is not missing and the tesseract  a space and time travel program their father was working on. The children then learn that their father was lost using the tesseract to travel through space. The guides that will take them on the journey are Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Who Then Meg and Charles Wallace Murry along with their friend Calvin O’Keefe set off through time and space to find the Murry’s father. Traveling across the universe they fight the evil force that threatens to take happiness from the world. This is a story of adventure and growing up. Meg Murry goes on this journey which has its difficulties, but in the end she overcomes the forces of evil saving her brother and bringing her father back home.

APA Citation:

L'Engle, M. (1962). A wrinkle in time. New York: Ariel Books.

Impressions:

This book was one of the first books I read that dealt with a science fiction/ fantasy theme as a child. Revisiting this book allowed me to see more than I did as a child.  I felt for Meg Murry and her awkward plight. Meg made me feel normal. Like most adolescents Meg is struggling with growing up, its awkward and messy. This makes Meg relatable to the juveniles reading this book. They can see themselves in Meg it makes the story more relatable. The story is imaginative and beautiful. The worlds are so different and interesting. The author create more than a world it is a whole universe with intricate worlds that tell us in turn more about the human condition. In the end it is a story of good versus evil and finding the courage in oneself to rise above the obstacles put in one’s path

Professional Review:

KIRKUS REVIEW

An allegorical fantasy in which a group of young people are guided through the universe by Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which and Mrs. What -- women who possess supernatural powers. They traverse fictitious regions, meet and face evil and demonstrate courage at the right moment. Religious allusions are secondary to the philosophical struggle designed to yield the meaning of life and one's place on earth. Young Meg's willingness to face IT in the form of a black beast in order to save a dear friend is one sign of her growing awareness. Readers who relish symbolic reference may find this trip through time and space an exhilarating experience; the rest will be forced to ponder the double entendres.

Citation:

A Wrinkle In time. (1962). Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved on September 29, 2015 from 

             www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/madeline-lengle/wrinkle-time-lengle/

Library Uses:

I would use this book in a book club that compares books to their movie counterparts. In this program we would watch the movie and compare this version to the actual book and debate whether the book was better or not.