Jacquelyn+P.

=Book Summaries:=

1. Book Title: Twisted 2. Author: Laurie Halse Anderson 3. Date of Publication: 2007

4. What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words.

Tyler Miller is a high school student who is not popular at school until he paints graffiti on school grounds and gets caught. He works off his court punishment by working on the janitorial staff at the school over the summer—something that benefits him physically as well as personally. Tyler is not afraid of hard work, and even has good work ethic, so it suits him. He is smart in his classes, but seems to push himself more because his father wants him to than he wants to push himself. Tyler also contemplates suicide. In fact, he acts out because he wants his father’s attention. His dad grew up in an abusive home and swore never to hit his kids. In holding true to this promise, he swings to the other extreme and barely interacts with them. Tyler finds comfort in his best friend, his sister (who is happier with him this year than any one previous to this), and his love interest, Bethany. Tyler stands up to bullies at school, and eventually to his father’s extreme form of bullying at home.

5. How could a teacher use this book in the classroom? What instructional strategies might you choose to incorporate with this particular title?

This books easily sparks conversation about abuse (what it is as well as what it isn’t), bullying (a form of abuse), reasons why adolescents act out, and how to move beyond a reputation that is set up against you. I would tie in strategies that include discussion, research and presentation, and relating subject matter to the real world.

6. Write three higher level thinking questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.

1) How important is physical appearance when someone is building his/her own self-image? Why?

2) What do you feel Tyler’s biggest hurdle was in order to become happy with his own life/to feel like he was in control? Why?

3) When Yoda is getting bullied in the locker room, does Tyler do the right thing by starting a fight with the boys doing the bullying? What other options were available to Tyler to get it to stop?

1. Book Title: Artichoke’s Heart 2. Author: Suzanne Supplee 3. Date of Publication: 2008

4. What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words.

Rosemary Goode is a typical high school girl (worried about her looks, faulty self-confidence, distant relationship with her mother, etc.) who is working hard to make positive changes in her life. She is not of the popular crowd, and has no friends when the book begins. She has a job, supports her cancer-infected mother despite a distant relationship, finds a new friend, Kay-Kay, who is her support group for her exercise program, and discovers a boy, Kyle, likes her for who she is, instead of what she looks like. As she learns the many facets of what true love is (from different perspectives), she also discovers that the lives of people she imagines to be “perfect” are far from it. It is definitely targeted to a female audience.

5. How could a teacher use this book in the classroom? What instructional strategies might you choose to incorporate with this particular title?

This teaches self-evaluation, self-control, and self-confidence building skills. It also teaches the value of not judging others by the ways they look. Teaching strategies include pre-reading and post-reading self-evaluation, small group work/projects, journaling, goal setting, and connection activities followed by discussion and evaluation.

6. Write three higher level thinking questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.

1) Create a comparison chart for Rosemary, Rose Warren, Aunt Mary, and Grandma Georgia, the four related women in the story. What characteristics do they share? How do they differ? Include at least five different qualities in the chart.

2) How is the book’s title representative of Rosemary? Include examples from the beginning, the middle, and the end of the book to support your opinion.

3) In the book, Supplee includes a poem by Emily Dickinson about hope. Do you agree with what the poem is saying? Do you think it’s a good fit for the book? Why/why not?

1. Book Title: The Last Lecture 2. Author: Randy Pausch 3. Date of Publication: 2008

4. What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words.

Randy Pausch (a teacher, inventor, spouse, parent, etc.) was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and wanted to spend the last months of his life in ways that would leave his family with the things he would not be able to provide for them in the years after his death. A professor at Carnegie Mellon University, he was able to present “the last lecture” thereby relaying life’s lessons he’d learned over the years to a large crowd, and more importantly, his children. Some of the more important ones: say thank you, achieve your childhood dreams, ignore the small things, head fakes (learning what you don’t know you’re learning), brick walls are there for a reason: they give us a chance to show how badly we want something, power of humility, tell the truth: do it frequently, enable the dreams of others, delegate, take a time out, and change your plans, but only if you make one.

5. How could a teacher use this book in the classroom? What instructional strategies might you choose to incorporate with this particular title?

I would use this in class to help develop introspective skills. Students can only grow if they are able to assess themselves with clear perspective. Moving through this book I would incorporate lessons about making plans and following through with them (mainly based on childhood dreams), //writing// would be a large portion of class direction with this.

6. Write three higher level thinking questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.

1. If you had three months to live, what would be your number one goal to reach before your life ended? Why?

2. How important is it for children to know that their parents love them, even if the parent(s) are no longer alive?

3. What is your most vivid memory from your childhood? Why do you think that it stuck with you?

1. Book Title: Wintergirls 2. Author: Laurie Halse Anderson 3. Date of Publication: 2009

4. What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words.

Lia—18-year-old, anorexic, cutting, step-daughter, mourner—is going through the struggles of anorexia. On top of that, she also has schizophrenia. She sees ghosts in store windows, etc. and has since she was little. However, the bigger problem is the appearance of her (former?) best friend, Cassie. Cassie was a bulimic and they made a pact when they were little to be each other’s support to make it through their diseases. Lia has been in and out of treatment centers, but nothing has worked—mainly because her drive to get better is not greater than her drive to be skinny. She visits a psychologist to help her, but even that doesn’t work until late in the book. Lia eventually gets her weight down to 94 pounds. She has deprived her body of essential nutrients for long enough her brain isn’t working properly. She cuts herself with a large knife (several times between her ribs, once down her sternum) when her step-sister finds her on the bathroom floor. She then goes back into treatment and finally begins the process of getting better.

5. How could a teacher use this book in the classroom? What instructional strategies might you choose to incorporate with this particular title?

I would use this to look at several different things: medical stigmas in society, psychology, family support/structure, and body image. Discussion over themes, character analysis, and plot would take place. Individual research and project time would be given for an assignment that would relate news stories/true stories with the content of the book. A comparison paper would also be assigned to accompany that project.

6. Write three higher level thinking questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.

1. Define what you think the title “Wintergirls” means in relationship to the girls in the story. Does this term fit them?

2. What ultimately changes for Lia by the end of the story?

3. What is Lia using her thinness to communicate to her parents? What is her body saying that her voice cannot?

1. Book Title: Graceling 2. Author: Kristin Cashore 3. Date of Publication: 2008

4. What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words.

Katsa is someone who has a special ability, a graceling. From her young childhood, she has believed her Grace is killing. Her uncle, Randa, is King of the Middlunds and he controls Katsa and uses her ability for his own gain. However, Raffin, Bann, Oll, Helda, and a select few others, members of Randa’s court, make up a secret council in which Katsa is given a task to do good instead of Randa’s evil. One of her assignments from the council is to find a man that has been kidnapped from the next territory over, Lienid. As Kats finds and rescues this man, she meets an unexpected man in the courtyard blocking her way out. She knocks him out, but meets him again later in her own king’s courtyard. He is Prince Po of Lienid and is searching for his kidnapped grandfather. Katsa and Po become friends, and eventually lovers, while they are tracking down the source of the kidnapping. They are led to Monsea, and a monstrous man acting as king who has a Grace of his own: being able to control others’ minds. He also has a propensity to watch others suffer in pain. He kills his own wife (the sister of the King of Lienid), and goes after his daughter, Bitterblue, but is stopped by Katsa and Po. As they flee for their lives, Po is injured and Katsa and Bitterblue continue on without him for the girl’s safety. When they reach what they believe is safe, Po’s castle, they find King Leck from Monsea waiting for them. Katsa kills him before he can do further damage. Po’s family, Katsa, and Queen Bitterblue all return to find Po and plan for the future. Po and Katsa are eventually reunited and life will continue. Through all of this, Katsa discovers that she has feelings and that she should allow herself to act on them, not always keep them to herself.

5. How could a teacher use this book in the classroom? What instructional strategies might you choose to incorporate with this particular title?

I would incorporate this book into a unit about problem solving and critical thinking. I would have them come up with original solutions to the problems the characters face as well as lists of possible outcomes of those solutions. Vocabulary, writing, and comprehension checks through character analysis, plot analysis, and themes would all be used throughout the unit.

6. Write three higher level thinking questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.

1. As you read the book, the theme of blindness (or not being able to see truth clearly for whatever reason) grows stronger and stronger. What do you feel was Katsa’s struggle with blindness?

2. What does the word “survival” mean? What was Katsa’s essential requirement for survival throughout the story?

3. Do you think that humans have anything like Graces? Explain why you believe this.

Name: Jacki Papstein

1. Book Title: Lips Touch Three Times 2. Author: Laini Taylor; Illustrated by Jim Di Bartolo 3. Date of Publication: 2009

4. What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words.

This is a collection of three short stories entitled "Goblin Fruit", "Spicy Little Curses Such As These", and "Hatchling". The first is about a girl named Kizzy who comes from a different kind of family who lives on the outskirts of town. Her family is highly superstitious, believing in all elements of the supernatural world, especially demons. Her grandmother warned her about them, and things are happening in Kizzy's life to make her question whether or not her grandmother was right after all. The second story is about a demon and an old woman who live in hell and make bargains over lives. The old woman saves as many children as she can. During one deal with the demon, in order to save 22 children, she has to curse one. The curse on this child is that whomever she speaks to will die. The rest of the story is how that curse molds and shapes the lives of that girl, her family, and her first and only love. The last story is about a mother and daughter pair who have escaped from a life of abuse within a group of shape shifters who have the ability to control other humans by taking over their bodies. In the escape, the mother and daughter have broken a cycle that has gone on longer than anyone can remember. The story unfolds when the shape shifters find them and try to take the girl. Instead, an old friend takes the girl to them, promising no harm will come to her and for her safe return. However, that is only half the truth...

5. How could a teacher use this book in the classroom? What instructional strategies might you choose to incorporate with this particular title?

To me, all these stories center around the importance of belief. What the characters believe in helps to shape their characters, guide their actions, and determine their futures. One of the biggest challenges that adolescents face is the creation of the type of person they want to be. What they believe in, more than anything else, is the thing that helps them become those people. I would use these stories to teach a unit on the importance of having a belief system, whether it is religiously based or not. I would incorporate journaling, a belief graphic organizer, multicultural research about different beliefs/philosophies from around the world, and vocabulary instruction (It had me checking the dictionary a few times as I read!).

6. Write three higher level thinking questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.

1) How much do you feel beliefs control in the world today?

2) Before reading each story, look at the pictures included before each and write story summaries based on the pictures alone to practice your foreshadowing skills. After reading each story reflect on how close or distant you were from the actual plot line in a journal entry.

3) Which of the stories did you find the easiest to believe? Why? How much does belief have to do with that?