Sarah+W.

**Book Summaries:**
Name: Sarah Wolfe

1.Book Title: House Rules 2.Author: Rachel Sontag 3.Date of Publication: 2008

4.What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words. Rachel Sontag grew up in a home with an overly controlling father and a mother who desperately needed to please her husband. This book tells the story of of the verbal abuse she encountered as a teenager as she struggled to break free from her father's control. Her father truly believed that by belittling his daughter, he could teach her how to protect herself and survive in the world so that she would be able to become the exact person he wanted her to be. From tape recording her phone conversations to forcing Rachel to write down lists of self deprecating words and phrases to describe herself, to establishing a ridiculously strict set of house rules that earn unspeakable punishments if they are broken, Rachel's father fights to maintain control over his wife and daughter while mentally abusing them in ways that would scar them forever.

5.How could a teacher use this book in the classroom? What instructional strategies might you choose to incorporate with this particular title? This is a book that I would use to get my students thinking about how appearance differs from reality. Rachel's family appears somewhat perfect from the outside. Family friends envy the way her father speaks about her at dinner. Rachel's parents both have well paying jobs. From a very young age, Rachel has traveled through Africa, Europe, The Caribbean, and the Middle East with her family. They stayed in youth hostels and her father taught her how to survive away from home. Yet, behind the closed doors of their home, Rachel and her sister suffer constant verbal abuse from their father and watch as their mother stands by to support her husband. I think this book would serve as an excellent way to dissect this theme because it puts it into a real world context. I would also have my students examine the various signs and symptoms of abuse that are shown throughout the book. We would discuss the differences between how Rachel responds to abuse and Jenny deals with neglect. My students would also work on analyzing both of Rachel's parents. It is clear that both of her parents suffer from mental instability, but it would be valuable to look at whether one of them more severely impacts the family than the other.

6.Write three higher level thinking questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book. What did the therapist mean when she told Rachel she wasn't ready to examine her father's mental condition? Why did she encourage Rachel to look more deeply at her relationship with her mother? What might she have been trying to get Rachel to see?

At the end of the book, Rachel drives away from her parents' house for the very last time after watching her father at a Passover service with some of his medical students. What did she finally realize in this moment that finally allowed her to drive away from there forever?

Rachel says, "the versions of ourselves we present to the world are perhaps the versions of ourselves we most want others to know. We split and divide at the core, recreating ourselves until we determine the perception we best like" (Sontag 256-57). How is the version of Rachel that we, the reader got to know different from the Rachel she presented to everyone in her world?

--- Sarah Wolfe

1.Hate List 2.Jennifer Brown 3.2009 4.**What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words.**

Valerie Leftman and her boyfriend, Nick, created their hate list, she saw it as a means of releasing her frustration from years of pain she experienced as she struggled with relating to other students, her family and society. For Nick, this list was so much more. On May 2nd, 2008, Nick entered his high school with a gun and began a shooting spree that would change their high school forever. Valerie watched as Nick opened fire upon the school commons, rushing to help students and struggling to find a way to make him stop. As Valerie dove in front of the girl who was set to be Nick's final victim, she became a hero and he made the decision to his own life. On the advice of her therapist, Valerie returns to school that following August to finish out her senior year. Throughout her journey, she must learn to cope with the anger and contempt from those who refuse to forgive her for the role she played in the tragedy while finding a way to face the girl who keeps reminding her that she was a hero that day. Armed with a new notebook, Valerie begins sketching the world around her, seeing things for the first time as they truly are and finding the strength to face what she has done.

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

If I were to teach this book in the classroom, I would only have students read it as an independent novel. I think the book would have more impact on my students and be easier for them to process if they were reading it on their own and responding to it through a journal format or through art. The main focus I would take with this book is that it is a story about accepting responsibility for our choices and actions and finding a way to look past our own hate to forgive those who hurt us. I might consider small group discussions if I felt students were comfortable talking about this book with each other, but I think a book this sensitive might be better as an independent novel choice for my students.

This book provides an excellent opportunity to discuss the impact of bullying and look at how it affects different people in different ways. In this story, we not see the psychological impact that bullying had on Valerie and Nick, but we also see how how this horrific tragedy affects everyone in their school and community.

Another thing I would have students examine while reading this book is how much the press sensationalizes school violence and how sometimes the things we read in the paper or see on the news aren't always accurate portrayals of the events that occur. It would be interesting for students to look at the way the reporter presented the events of the shooting and the stories about each of the victims and compare this with the information we gain from Valerie and other students from the school.

This book is filled with very complex characters, so I would probably use this piece to work on character analysis with my students. Valerie, Jessica, Ginny, Nick, and Valerie's father are all characters who change throughout the book. We see them at both their strongest and most vulnerable points and we can empathize with all 5 of them while also disliking them for their actions and words.

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

At the end of the book, Jessica adds items from both Nick and Valerie to the time capsule memorial along with items from each of the victims of the shooting. Why does Jessica do this? How were Nick (contributor to the hate list and the shooter) and Valerie (creator of the hate list), victims of this tragedy?

This book opens with the words "We'll show the world they were wrong and teach them all to sing along" which are lyrics from the Nickelback song, If Everyone Cared. Explain how these lyrics apply to both the opening actions (the shooting and the events that led up to it) and the ending of the book

During their first meeting, Bea tells Valerie, "I get the most inspiring sun of the day. They can have their sunset. It's the sunrise that gets people's attention. Rebirth always does" (Brown 246). What moment or event in the story marks the beginning of Valerie's rebirth?

Name: Sarah Wolfe

1.The Hunger Games 2.Suzanne Collins 3.2008

4**.What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words.** In a nation called Panem, the citizens of 12 districts are forced to sacrifice 2 of their children every year to an event known as the Hunger Games. These games, which involve the children hunting and killing each other to become the sole survivor, are meant to symbolize the casualties of war. Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her 12-year-old sister, Prim's place when her name is drawn for the event. Katniss believes she won't survive against competitors who have been training for these games despite the fact that she is a very skilled hunter and has a vast knowledge about plants and the environment. Katniss' other district, member, Peeta and her agree to complete some of their training together. They are mentored by Haymitch, a drunk who is District 12's only Hunger Games winner. Peeta has been in love with Katniss since he gave her a piece of bread when he was a starving child. He professes this love on national television, and Haymitch decides to make this part of the strategy for his district's competitors. During the training sessions, Katniss is transformed from a scared little girl into the girl who is on fire. A team of stylists completely make her over and attempt to play up the love story between her and Peeta. The pair is deeply admired by their nation after their debut, and Katniss is heavily favored to win the games. During her closed-door training session, Katniss became frustrated when she could not gain the attention of the people in charge of the games. As a result, she shot an arrow at them, causing one of them to fall in a punch bowl. This behavior earned her the highest rating out of all of the competitors in the games. She also agrees to wear the pin in the shape of a mockingjay, a mutation bird that symbolizes the failure of the Capitol. When the games begin, Peeta teams up with Career competitors to begin knocking off the weaker children in the games. Katniss decides to work on surviving alone until she receives help from a young girl from District 11, Rue. Rue reminds Katniss of her younger sister, Prim, and proves to have some very useful knowledge about survival. Katniss and Rue decide that their best strategy of defense is to take out the career competitors' food supply. After Katniss is able to accomplish this, the career members kill off her ally, Rue, and inform her that Peeta is near death. Katniss makes a symbolic gesture of covering Rue in flowers, which later helps her connect with the people of District 11. She also seeks out Peeta and attempts to nurse him back to health.

Katniss and Peeta are informed of a rule change in the games that will allow both competitors from a district to survive if they are the last people left. The two team up in an attempt to fight off the other competitors, and Katniss plays up what she believes to be a fake love story between her and Peeta despite the fact that she is truly in love with a boy named Gale, who is her hunting partner at home. After the last remaining competitor is killed, Katniss and Peeta are informed that they will have to kill each other. In an act of defiance and frustration, Katniss pulls poisonous berries from her pouch and hands some to Peeta. The two threaten to commit suicide so that there will be no winner of the games. The Capitol then decides to allow both competitors to be the winners. This single act makes Katniss and Peeta symbols of a rebellion that is set to occur between the people of the districts and the Capitol.

One way a teacher could use this book is to pair it with the Shakespearean play, Julius Caesar because many of the characters in the Hunger Games are named after conspirators from the play. Students could use the events of the hunger games books and how they trigger rebellion to help them better understand how these same events occur in Julius Caesar. A teacher could also tie the themes of this book in with themes of other stories that deal with rebellion and betrayal, such as Animal Farm. Students could learn about the stages of a rebellion and apply them to the events of the Hunger Games. This book also ties in with themes from Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm. Aspects of utopian vs. dystopian society could be explored along with themes about survival and betrayal, and love being stinger than hate. Another way that I would approach this book is to use it to explore the concepts of symbolism and motif. There are many pieces of symbolism throughout this book and they all tie into the rebellion. The mockingjay pin, the berries, Katniss' fiery costume, the names of the stylists, and the Hunger Games themselves are just a few examples of symbolism in the story. The mockingjay reoccurs as a motif throughout the story to show how the rebellion progresses.
 * 5.How could a teacher use this book in the classroom? What instructional strategies might you choose to incorporate with this particular title?**

6.**Write three higher level thinking questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.**
 * 1) Why do you think the Capitol uses children as participants in the Hunger Games rather than drawing from all of the citizens in the districts?
 * 2) It is quite obvious that Katniss possess some real feelings for Peeta, yet she immediately dismisses them, saying that she is simply acting her part. Why do you think she does this?
 * 3) Haymitch serves a mentor for both Katniss and Peeta, yet he only goes out of his way to help Katniss survive until she asks him to send help for Peeta. What qualities make her the better choice to win these games?

Name: Sarah Wolfe

1.Catching Fire 2.Suzanne Collins 3.2009

4.**What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words**. In this sequel to the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta begin by touring the districts to celebrate their victory. The two have become icons to the people of Panem, which causes the president to feel threatened about a rebellion against the Capitol. The president sees through Katniss and Peeta's love, telling Katniss that she must convince him her stunt with the berries was an act of love rather than a symbol to begin a rebellion. The president threatens Katniss' friends and family if she act in any way that shows she is promoting a rebellion among the districts. During their travel through the districts, Peeta and Katniss cause the people to begin rising up in defiance against the Capitol. They witness a public execution in District 11 after she publicly mourns the death of Rue. In other districts, they hear of acts that occur in the square and are kept under close supervision of the government. Peeta decides to help Katniss convince others of their love even though is knows Katniss is really not in love with him. He proposes to Katniss on television, causing the government to begin planning their wedding. Back at home, Katniss struggles with her feeling for Gale and her obligation to Peeta. Katniss encounters two people in the woods who have escaped from government control in their district. They claim to be fleeing to District 13, which the government present to the people as a nuclear wasteland. The tell Katniss about the capabilities of this district and inspire he She tries to persuade Gale to run away with her and their families, but he tells her he wants to stay and begin a rebellion. That day, Gale is arrested by an army of Peacekeepers and is publicly beaten for hunting on government grounds. Katniss is injured trying to save him from being beaten to death. On the night of the unveiling of Katniss' wedding dress, the Capitol announces that they will have an all-star version of the Hunger Games using previous winners as competitors. Katniss and Peeta are thrown into the ring again, only this time, they are facing previous winners. Little do they know, Haymitch joined forces with people from other districts who agreed to sacrifice themselves for Katniss and Peeta in the name of the rebellion against the Capitol. Part of the way through the games Katniss breaks the forcefield and many members of heir alliance are scooped up from the ring. The Capitol is able to capture Peeta before he can be saved, and Katniss knows he will be used as bait against her. She discovers that one of the head Game Makers aided her alliance so that she could become a symbol of the rebellion. She also learns that District 12 has been completely annihilated by the government. Her mother, Prim, and Gale were removed before the explosions. Their mission now is to team up with the other Districts, including District 13 to engage in a rebellion against the Capitol

5**.How could a teacher use this book in the classroom? What instructional strategies might you choose to incorporate with this particular title**? A teacher could use this book in a similar way to the Hunger Games. The books would be best read together so that students can examine the stages of rebellion. This book goes into further depth about the government's control over the people in the districts than the Hunger Games did, so this is one aspect that I would point out. Students could examine real world examples of government control to see how people are kept isolated from the outside world. I would bring in real examples of propaganda and have students create their own propaganda to go along with this book using different techniques. I would also have students examine how participating in a war and killing others in order to survive changes a person. They would first examine Katniss and Peeta to see how they have changed from the beginning of book one. Then, I would have them look at some of the Hunger Games all-stars and Haymitch to see how the traumatic events they have witness may have changed them.

6. **Write three higher level thinking questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.**
 * 1) Why does Katniss instantly trust Beete and Wiress yet she struggles with trusting Finnick and Johanna?
 * 2) Katniss decides that this time, she and Haymitch must focus on Peeta's survival because he is a better leader for the people. At the end of the book, Haymitch ensures that Katniss is pulled out of the ring while Peeta is captured. Why does he still choose to save her first?
 * 3) The president use several images and sounds to represent the torture of Katniss' family and friends as a means to weaken her, yet these events seem to have the opposite effect. Explain why these horrific images and sounds appear to bring her more strength.

Name: Sarah Wolfe

1.) City of Bones

2.) Cassandra Clare

3.) 2007

4.) What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words. When teenager Clary Frey rushes home after a disturbing phone call from her mother, she discovers that her mother has been kidnapped and her home has been destroyed. The previous evening, Clary encountered 3 Shadowhunters, Jace, Isabelle, and Alec, who are charged with the task of hunting down and killing demons, werewolves, vampires, and other Downworlders. Unlike most other mundane (ordinary human) people, Clary is able to see these creatures and the Shadowhunters. Jace Waylund, Alec Lightwood, and Isabelle Lightwood team up with Clary to help her find her mother once they discover that her mother has been kidnapped by Valentine, a rogue Shadowhunter who is searching for the Mortal Cup. During this time, a love interest develops between Clary and Jace. Clary struggles with her feelings for Jace as they put here in the middle of a love triangle between her, Jace, and her best friend, Simon.

As the story unfolds, it turns out that Clary's mother, Jocelyn, is a former Shadowhunter who escaped from that world after she discovered that her husband, Valentine, burned her parents and young son to seek revenge upon her for falling in love with a Shadowhunter turned werewolf, Luke. The Shadowhunter teens and Clary discover that her mother has hidden the Mortal Cup inside a set of Tarot cards that she painted for a neighbor. When the teens arrive at the apartment to bring home the cup, they encounter a demon who wounds Alec. The Lightwoods tutor, Hodge, then reveals that he has made a deal with Valentine to give him the Cup in exchange for his freedom from a curse that confines him to the mortal world. Valentine steals the cup from Clary and takes Jace with him through a portal.

After Jace's disappearance, Clary teams up with Luke to hunt down Valentine, recover the Cup, and find her mother and Jace. When Clary and Luke find her mother and Jace, she learns that Valentine is also Jace's father, making her and Jace brother and sister. This means that Valentine faked his own death and the death of his younger son, changing their identities so that they could escape from punishment. Clary is able to use her connection with Jace to convince him that Valentine is evil. Together, they save Luke from being killed by Valentine, but not before Valentine disappears through a portal with the Mortal Cup.

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

One of the ways I would use this book is to teach students about the hero's journey (epic hero cycle). The main character, Clary, encounters each element of the epic hero cycle throughout the book as she begins her quest to find her mother and acquire the mortal cup, struggles with her identity, faces a villain who is stronger than she is, and has companions to help her along the way. We would then use Clary's experience through the epic hero cycle and compare it the the experience that other characters such as Beowulf, Dante, Odysseus, or Perseus. The nice thing about this book is that it features a strong female character. It would be a nice to compare the female hero's journey to that of the male heroes we read about in some of the classical pieces of literature.

I would also use this book in my classroom to examine stereotyping and discrimination. Many books in our curriculum expose students to these things, but students sometimes feel uncomfortable discussing them when they have to look at race or gender. In this book, the stereotyping and discrimination comes between Shadowhunters and werewolves/vampires and humans. The Shadowhunters have been at war with werewolves/vampires for centuries, so they obviously hate them. When a Shadowhunter is bit by a werewolf during a fight, all but one of his fellow Shadowhunters turn agains him. Luke is asked to take his own life rather than turn into a werewolf, yet he chooses not to. He accepts what he has become, yet he never fully adapts to it. Unlike other werewolves, Luke fight with his Shadowhunter weapons. Exploring his story along with the way that the Shadowhunters view mundanes (humans) could help students to better understand how stereotypes hinder our ability to get to know and accept others who are different.

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

1.) Valentine is viewed as the villain of the story, yet when he tells Clary and Jace the full version of the story behind why he started the Circle, one can see that some of his actions were warranted based upon his experiences. Reread the section of the book where Valentine tells his full story and decide whether he fits into the category of fallen hero.

2.) At the end of the book, Valentine gives Jace the opportunity to kill him, stating that he knows Jace is incapable of doing so. Based upon Jace's previous actions and behavior throughout the book, how did Valentine know this?

3.) When Clary and Luke first team up, she makes some remarks that suggest that she despises werewolves and Downworlders, considering their lives less valuable than the lives of humans or Shadowhunters. Yet, Clary mourns for the deaths of Alaric and Gretel when they are killed in front of her. Explain why these events suddenly change Clary's opinion of werewolves. Do you feel that Clary will continue to feel this way about werewolves in the future? Explain why or why not.