Cassie+S.

= = = =
 * ====**Book Title:**==== || ==== Alex Rider Series: Crocodile Tears ==== ||
 * ====**Author:**==== || ==== Anthony Horowitz ==== ||
 * ==== **Date of Publication:** ==== || ==== 2009 ==== ||
 * ==== **What is the book about? Give brief plot summary in your own words.** ==== ||
 * ==== //Crocodile Tears// is the eighth book of a nine-book series started in 2000 by British author Anthony Horowitz. The title stems from “fake or hypocritical tears based on the belief that crocodiles will pretend to cry in order to attract their victims…and will then cry for real as they devour them.” Hypocritical ruthlessness is a central theme. The series’ characters are Alex Rider (a 14-year-old boy and spy for MI6), Jack Starbright (his American housekeeper/guardian), Mr. Blunt (head of the Special Operations Division of MI6) and Mrs. Jones (Mr. Blunt’s deputy). ====

==== In //Crocodile Tears//, the story’s villain, Desmond McCain, attempts to sabotage genetically altered grain seeds into poisoned wheat to manufacture a plague (and a profit for his world aid organization) in Kenya. After Alex spies on the genetics company supplying the seeds while he’s on a school trip, McCain has Alex kidnapped and flown to Kenya so Alex can witness a plague beginning—a plague Alex can supposedly not stop. Even then, McCain is determined to avoid witnesses and begins the conclusion of the story by hoisting Alex above a crocodile gathering: “Was it really over at last, the journey that had begun in a Scottish castle and had led to an airport in Africa? How had he ever gotten himself into this?” ====

(Chapter 24)
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 * ==== **How could a teacher use this book in the classroom? What instructional strategies might you choose to incorporate with this particular title?** ==== ||
 * ==== Throughout the stories, technical and mechanical details are provided that make for excellent examples of descriptive writing. Horowitz successfully writes for the male reader by including technical specifications and details most authors gloss over. For example, instead of writing “fighter jets took off” Horowitz writes “The F-4 Phantom 11 fighter jets had taken off at exactly 3:45 local time, their Rolls-Royce Spey engines powering them down the runway and into the air, climbing at 40,000 feet per minute” (Chapter 23). ====

==== The settings throughout the series span the globe. In //Crocodile Tears// alone, the settings include India, Scotland, England and Kenya. Readers are introduced to cities around the world and languages like French and Italian as Alex demonstrates the early training he received from his uncle, a deceased British spy. Horowitz also covers current issues through most of Alex’s missions and vocabulary words like “moonlighting”, “tarmac” and “cyclorama” are incorporated into the text. ====

==== The Alex Rider series would be a great choice for a boys book club because of the themes and issues presented. Discussions could range from Alex’s gadgets and escape vehicles to witnessing deaths and being manipulated by adults in trusted positions. ====

==== As a mild deterrent, the content of the Alex Rider series grows more and more serious as Alex is slightly aged by each story. Spy life is rarely glamorized and Alex is a reluctant spy from the beginning. While his age endears him less and less to his enemies, surviving near-deaths and torture begin to show affects on Alex towards the end of this novel and the series. In the end of //Crocodile Tears//, for example, McCain refers to very serious forms of torture and death: “There are many horrible things I could do to you, Alex. We have electricity here and wires attached to various parts of your body could produce excruciating pain…We could cut pieces off of you. We could boil you alive. And do not think for a single minute that I would hesitate to do any of this because you are fourteen. MI6 clearly does not think of you as a child, so why should I?”; “I’m going to shoot you now. Not once but several times. And then I’m going to walk away…Good-bye, Alex. You’re going on a slow journey to hell.” ====

|| = = = = =“Time You Let Me In: 25 Poets Under 25” = =
 * ==== **Write three higher level thinking questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.** ==== ||
 * # ====Explain McCain’s statement from Chapter 18: “a very wise man once defined charity in the following way. He said it was poor people in rich countries giving money to rich people in poor countries.”====
 * 1) ====Describe the different motivations for protecting Alex that are between Mrs. Jones and Jack Starbright. How are these motivations similar? How do these motivations differ?====
 * 2) ====How does Anthony Horowitz use money to gauge a person’s integrity throughout the story?==== ||

= = Author: (selected by) Naomi Shihab Nye (2010) = ====With typical young adult themes, the poems from "25 Poets Under 25" are accessable and insightful: "...I know that some people are like / sunny and seventy-five / sunny and seventy-five / sunny and seventy-five / but you take me as I am and never / forget to pack an umbrella" ("Rain, Snow and Other Weather" by Lauren Stacks). Predominantly free verse, two prose pieces are incorporated and one is epecially powerful: "You walk, like an open wound, your heart peeking from the skin, swallowing the pain of the city. He is in every curve of your face. As life becomes ordinary for passersby you want to scream, 'I am his mother. I am his mother and he died and I saw him twirl and curl into a thud. ..." ("The Falling Man [and every person who jumped from the twin towers (sic) as they fell to the ground] by Tala Abu Rahmeh). For the young reader, insight into a twenty-something’s mind and life is intriguing. For the readers over 25, editor Naomi Shihab Nye explains “we never realized how beautiful we were then.” Taken around the world and forward and backwards through time, a reader can be left with the Nye’s main intent: “writing and reading remain the cheapest arts—and they’re portable, too. May your interest continue to exceed your investment. Whatever age we are, we need to figure out how to keep letting one another into our worlds.”====

====Teachers can use this book as an approachable introductory poetry compilation for most students. Some poems have PG-13 content. Author biographies/blurbs are also included and provide interesting paragraphs of self-expression, some of which point towards well-known authors. Since the compilation is predominately free verse, this book is not suggested as a sole introduction to various poetic forms.====