InLand/YA Booktalks

Booktalk: A Series of Unfortunate Events books 1-3, by Lemony Snicket

By Amanda Renslow

 A Series of Unfortunate Events is a miserable tale about the ill-fated three Baudelaire siblings, Violet, Klaus and Sunny, who find themselves orphaned and homeless after their parents are killed in a fire that destroys their mansion as well. Mr. Poe, a boring and continuously ill banker, is placed in charge of the three children as well as the enormous fortune that they inherit from their parents. Regrettably, the orphans have no right to their inheritance until Violet is old enough to claim it, thus they are forced to go live with a distant relative named Count Olaf.

Count Olaf may seem like a nice enough fellow at first glance, adopting three children and all, however, he may just be the most sinister villain to have ever lived between the pages of a book. His sole purpose in adopting Violet, Klaus and Sunny is to steal their enormous fortune. Throughout each book, the three children are forced to face the dastardly plans of Count Olaf and his homely troop of accomplices. In Book the First: The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket, the author and narrator of this unpleasant tale, tells the story of how Count Olaf contrives a villainous plot to marry Violet under the pretence of acting in a play. His evil brilliance almost sees the plan through, but luckily, the clever and incredibly resourceful Baudelaire children escape his clutches and reveal his villainy at the last moment. Klaus’s incredible reading abilities, Violet’s amazing inventing skills and Sunny’s outrageous biting talent save the siblings and their fortune.

In Book the Second: The Reptile Room, Violet, Klaus and Sunny are relocated to a strange and, at first glance, unpleasant neighborhood, but soon find themselves contentedly settled with their new guardian, Dr. Montgomery Montgomery. Dr. Montgomery, or Uncle Monty, as they come to call him, is a herpetologist, or a snake researcher. His large library, pile of snake catching devices and giant incredibly deadly viper, which is actually quite friendly and not deadly at all, keep the children busy and happy during their short stay with him. Quickly, the deplorable Count Olaf discovers the new happy home of the Baudelaire’s and creates a ploy to get his hands onto their fortune. He disguises himself as a herpetologist assistant named Stephano, murders Uncle Monty and tries to blame it on the completely innocent incredibly deadly viper and tries to kidnap the three orphans to take them to Brazil. Happily, the remarkable talents of Violet, Klause and Sunny save the day and they narrowly escape the clutches of Count Olaf once again.

Book the Third: The Wide Window follows Book the Second very closely in plot. The Baudelaire children, once again, are relocated and find themselves suitably suited with a distant aunt named Josephine, who is a bit neurotic and overly zealous for safety measures. She never uses her oven or stove, for she is exceedingly fearful of causing a fire and she refuses to use the telephone for fear of being electrocuted.  Violet, Klaus and Sunny try their best to follow all of the strange rules of their new home while trying to adapt to three cold meals a day, but their efforts are fruitless. They do not be live with Aunt Josephine long enough to adapt to anything because, no sooner are they unpacked when Count Olaf appears disguised as a crippled sailor by the name of Captain Sham. And what a sham he is. He forces Aunt Josephine to write a suicide note that leaves the three children in his care before leaping to her death. Most fortunately, the ingenious Baudelaire siblings discover a secret message within the note, steal a boat and sale across flesh eating eel infested waters to rescue Aunt Josephine, who escaped to a sea-side cave. No sooner do they push off of shore with the rescued Aunt Josephine, when Captain Sham (Count Olaf) appears and pushes poor Josephine into the water. She experiences a horrible death at the teeth of the flesh eating eels. The children reveal Captain Sham as a sham and save their fortune, and their lives, once more.

I would highly recommend these three outrageously funny and entertaining books to anyone who is looking for a good laugh. I would judge the writing style as best suited for elementary age; however, the amusement gained from the story deems these books appropriate for all ages. These books, and the following 10 in the series, are a perfect collection to have in an elementary grade classroom. Lemony Snicket includes a complete vocabulary lesson in each of his books, which could be utilized as a fun teaching tool for an elementary aged group as well. 

 

Booktalk: Target by Kathleen Johnson

by Scott Shigeoka

 You find out early in Kathleen Johnson's Target that 16-year-old Grady West is dealing with a lot. He was the target of indiscriminate rape, abducted by two men in a van and then savagely violated, attacked, and then dumped on the side of a road. Grady doesn't understand why he was a target. Why me? he often asks himself. He goes through some of the same feelings that Melinda goes through in Laurie Anderson's Speak. Isolation. Sadness. The inability to speak up for himself. But unlike Melinda, Grady actually had a positive school life prior to the traumatizing event. His life is flipped upside down because of the event, and it causes him to question everything about himself. Now, he won't talk about what happened, not even to his family or his closest friends, whom he thought he could have shared anything with.

Grady feels trapped by the horror of what happened that afternoon, so his parents decide to switch him into a new school, further enabling him into his self-voluntary isolation. Grady only speaks when he has to, and he tries to isolate himself because he doesn't know how else to deal with everything that is going on in his life. Somehow, in Grady's near-lifeless state, he is able to somewhat function in his new school. But even with the change of scenery, Grady can't escape the horrible images and memories of his assault. He is driven so far into his shell, developing social anxiety and depression, that he stops eating.

And then he meets Jess, a cool and outspoken guy with dreadlocks, at his new school. He's furious and intelligent, reminding me of the spark that the character Alaska embodied in John Green's Looking for Alaska. Jess has his occasional rants about whites, women and gay people, so it was difficult for me to understand why he reached out to Grady, when he found out about his rape. While attending his new school, Grady is confronted by his old friends. He doesn't want to let them know what really happened because he thinks that they won't want to be his friends anymore. But his friends react to the contrary, helping Grady move past the horrific event.

I've never read a young adult book that discussed the topic of rape on a male character. Johnson's descriptive style of writing really pulls you into Grady's world, forcing you to feel the pain, embarrassment and helplessness that he was feeling. You are brought into Grady's mind, and similar to how Melinda felt in Speak, you want him to speak up. Johnson's Target is a coming of age story for Grady West, and can convey how men can build their lives back up after they are raped.

 This would definitely be something that I would teach in class. If I was an English teacher, I would have the girls in the class read Target, while the boys in the class read Speak. I think it will be a beneficial learning experience for students to get a firm understanding of how being raped, as a member of the opposite sex, may feel like. I feel that this way, it would increase the chances of each student reading both books. I think that Target will naturally draw to male audiences, while Speak will draw readers who are female. After reading the book, I would encourage class discussions about the different societal pressures on Grady and Melinda based on their genders, differences in gender roles and comparing their feelings of isolation. I would have my class analyze not only the content of the books, but the writing styles as well because there are a lot of differences in Anderson and Johnson's styles of writing. I would then encourage my students to switch copies and read the other book on their own time, offering extra credit if they write a paper that compared and contrasted the experiences of Grady and Melinda.

 

Booktalk: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

By Dane Dezellem

The book opens by introducing us to Ashima Ganguli.  She is Indian and as is custom her parents have arranged her marriage.  She has married Ashoke Ganguli who lives in America as a college professor.  He went to school in America so he is somewhat accustomed to the different lifestyle, but it is quite a transition for Ashima because she is newly married, uprooted to a whole new world, and now she is pregnant.  Jhumpa Lahiri is the author of the book and she does a phenomenal job of depicting the differences in cultures without coming right out and telling the reader.  We see this through Ashima’s thoughts when she hears an American couple’s conversation which includes, “I love you.”  Ashima states that she never expects to hear that from Ashoke and that is just the way they are; she does not depict this as abnormal, just a cultural difference.  But this book is not about Ashima and Ashoke, it is about their son who is about to be born.

            When the baby is born they attempt to stay with their customs and ask Ashima’s grandmother (who named the other grandchildren) to name the baby.  But there is a problem with the mail so the letter is delayed. Although this does not concern the Ganguli’s because infant names are “not important,” the American hospital system does create a problem.  The baby must have a name on the birth certificate, and this is important to do now because of the hassle later on.  Ashoke decides to put a name on the birth certificate because that’s what the nurses want and he chooses the name of his favorite author Gogol.  This marks the title of the book because Gogol is named after someone else, but he continuously struggles with his Indian culture meeting his American culture. Gogol marks his Indian side although he is named after someone else he is himself a different person.  The book charts the struggles and success of a first generation American and the role that their culture plays on their life.  

            As we follow Gogol we see him try to renounce his Indian side through changing his name and his interaction with his second girlfriend Maxine.  She is a white, blonde haired, blue eyed, rich American girl who Gogol thinks would dislike his heritage.  During his relationship with her he continues the live the spoils of wealthy Americans and feels the need to hide his family and culture form her. She feels that he is keeping her out because he continues to hide such an intimate part of his life from her, but he finds his Bengali culture embarrassing and nothing that she would be interested in.  Gogol’s father’s death eventually shows him the pain of hiding from his culture.  He realizes that he spent so little time with his father because he was wrapped up in Maxine and her parent’s way of living.  This leads to their break up and Gogol returning to his mother in her time of need.  Ashoke’s death allows us to see Ashima’s struggle as she lives on her own for the first time in her life.  She had always either been with her parents or Ashoke, but she has to learn now so late in her life. 

            Gogol eventual goes on a date with a Bengali girl named Moushumi that his mom keeps trying to set him up with.  She is first generation cultured too, although her parents traveled so her experiences are not just in America.  This experience really allows Gogol to find who he is as he relates to her American side and is not afraid of showing her his Bengali side.  Eventually they are married with Bengali traditions playing a strong role in the wedding.  Their relationship is great until Moushumi betrays Gogol by telling her friends his real name, because although he is comfortable letting her into his heritage he does not like others.  This is just the beginning to their problems and to what eventually lead to the climax and resolution.  

 

Booktalk: What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Coman

By Alison Van Woert

 

Introduction

            What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Coman follows the experiences of Jamie, a third grade boy, after his mother leaves his abusive step father, Van, with Jamie and Nin, Jamie’s baby half-sister, and starts a life away from Van.  The story is told in a limited third person narrative that reflects Jamie’s experiences and thought without transforming into a first person narrative. 

Novel Summary

            The writing at the very beginning of the book is jarring, simplistic, and repetitive.  At first glance, it is easy to jump to the conclusion that it is just poor writing, but after reading further the reader begins to realize it is a technique that Carolyn Coman uses wonderfully to reflect the jarring, and confusing experience that Jamie has just endured. This young adult novel starts off with Nin, Jamie’s little sister, being thrown across the room by Van and although it is not explicitly stated, it is implied that Van throws Nin because she was crying continuously in the middle of the night.  Thankfully Jamie’s mom, Patty, caught Nin before she was hurt.  The novel’s narrator describes it “as if she’d [Patty] been waiting her whole life to appear at that moment, exactly in that place to raise up her arms and catch her flying baby” (Coman, 9). And it is in this moment, presumably, that Patty decides she needs to leave Van, for her children’s sake. 

            Patty takes Jamie and Nin to the car, and makes several trips back into Van’s house to grab some necessities, such as blankets, pillows, clothes, and Jamie’s prized magic book and supplies.  And each time Patty walks into the house, Jamie worries that she will not return, even though he saw that Van had hung his head and shoulders, like he was defeated.  Even though Jamie knew “He wasn’t going to hurt anyone [tonight].  He was done with that” (Coman, 15).

            After this, Patty drives to her close friend, Earl’s house and stays there for the rest of the night, and the next day.  Jamie likes Earl, and occasionally fantasizes that Earl is his father even though he knows Earl is not.  Jamie does not know who his father is, although it sounds like Patty might know since Jamie got a United States map from his father for one of his birthdays.  At Earl’s place, Jamie begins to relax and Patty does her best to make him and Nin feel as comfortable and calm as possible, a trend that continues throughout the whole novel. 

            After Earl gets off of work on the afternoon after the incident with Van, he takes Patty, Jamie, and Nin to a tiny old trailer in the middle of the woods and tells Patty that she can have the place, although he sounds nervous about how unprotected Patty is in the middle of nowhere.  Patty insists that it is the best place and thanks Earl profusely. 

            After Earl leaves, Patty gets the children settled in.  She fixes up a drawer for Nin, because the crib is back at Van’s place, lets Jamie sleep on the only bed, a small twin, and settles herself into the reclining chair.

            The next day, Patty wakes Jamie up to go to school, and even though Jamie likes his teacher this year, and enjoys school, he wants to stay in the trailer.  Patty, who does not seem to have the heart to make Jamie go and seems hesitant to leave herself, calls in sick to work and tells Jamie he can stay.  This pattern continues for a few weeks. During this time, Jamie scouts out the places he and Nin can hide in the small trailer, incase Van shows up, and is angry.

            Eventually, Jamie asks Patty if they can go to the winter carnival.  Patty initially says no because they are too poor, but she later decides to take him.  She leaves Nin with Van’s mother, who does not communicate with Van anymore, and she and Jamie go to the carnival to have a marvelous time.  When they get there, Jamie is so excited that he plays the first game he sees, the ring toss.  At the carnival, Patty and Jamie are able to get away from all their problems and fully enjoy themselves until they go to leave and think they see Van.  Patty quickly grabs Jamie by the arm and crouches next to the snow cone cart in an attempt to hide. Fortunately, the man they saw was not Van, but many of the snow cone customers noticed Patty’s strange behavior, including Mrs. Desrochers, Jamie's teacher.  They return home, but Patty acts strange and snaps at Jamie.  This angers Jamie and he winds up kicking the drawer that Nin is asleep in.  He hopes it will go in and hide her like he imagined, but it only wakes her up.  Patty yells at Jamie for this, but Jamie runs to the bathroom and pukes everything up from the carnival.  Patty runs to comfort him, and assures him that they are just scared, and everything is alright.  This is the first substantial sign the reader gets that Jamie has some anger problems, probably as a result of the abusive house he had once lived in.

            After Jamie, Patty, and Nin had hid out in the trailer for several weeks, entertained by Jamie’s magic tricks, Mrs. Desrochers shows up to ask about Jamie.  Jamie resents the fact that Mrs. Desrochers is there because he feels she is running the sanctity of their trailer because she wants him to go to school.  Frustrated, Jamie begins turning the volume up really loud on the TV, in an attempt to act out, but he tries to listen because Mrs. Desrochers is saying “Jamie needs to go to school if I’m going to find a way in” (Coman, 82).  The reader never fully finds out what she means by this, but it is implied that the teacher is trying to find a way to help Jamie, possibly with his anger problems.  Eventually Patty makes Jamie go outside so that she and Mrs. Desrochers can talk.  Once outside, Jamie begins running.  He runs and runs and runs until he winds up running into his mother, who he did not recognize at first. Once Jamie calms down, Mrs. Desrochers tells him that he will stay with her on Wednesday afternoons so that his mother can go to a meeting.  It is never said what the meeting is, because Jamie is never told what kind of meeting it is, but Mrs. Desrocher’s comments imply that it may be a meeting for women who have been abused. 

            During Christmas break, Earl takes Jamie ices skating for the first time.  Excited, Jamie puts on the skates and steps out onto the ice, where he proceeds to fall instantly.  Earl helps teach Jamie how to skate by holding him up for a while and giving him tips to improve.  Eventually, Jamie is able to skate on his own.  Jamie loves it.  Through skating, he felt like he had power.  He had power over how he moved and what he did.  He even had power over falling, because it was his fault that he fell, no one had made him.

~SPOILER ALERT~

            The climax of the novel comes in the last chapter, when Van suddenly shows up at the trailer on Christmas Eve.  Jamie sees Van’s car pull up and he quickly hides Nin, careful not to wake her up incase she would start crying and make Van mad.  Then he attempts to hide (Patty had left to go to the store.)  Even though no one answers the door, Van walks in.  Afraid that he will find Nin, Jamie comes out of hiding to tell him that Patty wasn’t there.  Eventually Jamie see’s Patty’s coming up the driveway and he attempts to distract Van, so that his mom will have a chance to escape, a chance to turn around and leave.  But Patty runs inside the trailer and stands between Jamie and Van.  After Jamie assures Patty that Nin is alright and she was only hiding, Patty stands glaring at Van.  Sensing he is not welcome, Van decides he should go, but promises to come back later, but Patty, finally able to face Van, strongly tells him not to come back again.

 Conclusion – Using this novel in the Classroom

            This novel would be a great book for students with lower reading levels because the writing is purposefully simplistic, while still using rare words to help expand vocabulary, and creating an intriguing story line.  Although, this book would be a great quick read for students with higher reading levels as well, since the characters seem developed well enough and the point of view is unusual.

Another benefit of this book is that it not only provides readers with a unique perspective on the after effects of abuse, but it makes the reader think twice about the kids they know who act out, even violently.  At one point Jamie mentions that his past teacher had told him he was bad a lot.  What that teacher may not have known is that Jamie was acting out because he was witnessing abuse, or being abused at home.  This traumatic experience was causing him to act out similarly in an attempt to get back some of the power that had been striped away by Van.  However, his new teacher did not automatically assume that Jamie was a bad kid.  Instead, she did what she could to help Jamie be better.  She paid attention and was able to reach Jamie a little, although it is unknown how big of an impact she had on Jamie.  She was still an adult that Jamie could rely on in an unstable situation.

The book also challenged assumptions that people tend to make about single mothers, especially when they are in a situation that is not best for the children.  Rather than showing Patty as a bad mother for staying with Van as long as she did and allowing her children to be abused, it shows Patty as a caring mother that lives her life for her children.  The whole time, Patty tries to do what is best for her children.  She leaves Van when he gets violent toward their daughter.  She instantly removes the children from danger by placing them in the car but makes several trips back into Van’s house to get things for her children, including favorite toys.  Patty finds a way to take Jamie to the school’s winter carnival even though they are poor.  And she sends Jamie back to school even though she is afraid.  Time and time again, Patty places the children above herself, which shows that she does her best to provide what she can for her children.

However, my biggest critique for this novel is that I’m not sure a character like Van would have left so easily at the end, since it seemed as if the abuse was not a one time incident.  The resolution seemed to happen to quickly and easily.  As if the author got to page 112 and realized she had a 126 page limit.

Overall, this is a good novel to have in your classroom because it can provide students with a new point of view on a tough, real life situation.  This book could even be beneficial to those who have experience abuse because it explains some of the feelings they may have from a third grader’s perspective, and it provides them with some constructive outlets, such as physical activity, that will allow them to gain back some of that power while they are trying to heal.

 

 

BookTalk: Celine by Brock Cole

By Jillian Clark

            Celine by Brock Cole follows the quest for maturity of Celine Morienval, high school junior and artist extraordinaire. Celine is on track to graduate a year early (as long as she passes Swimming), and her father has promised to take her on a trip to Italy for the summer; she hasn’t told him, but Celine has no intentions of returning come fall. The one criterion of this journey is that Celine “show[s] a little maturity.” Such a task proves difficult when one disapproves of the ubiquitous acceptance of a book such as Catcher in the Rye, has a perfectly reasonable phobia of water because one’s mother threw one into a pool as a baby, and has been appointed temporary role model slash babysitter slash guidance counselor to the little boy living downstairs. Celine has her work cut out for her.

            We meet Celine as she is struggling to carry her newest masterpiece back to the apartment she shares with her step-mother, Caroline. Caroline fell in love with her French professor (Celine’s father) as an undergrad, and Monsieur Morienval had the mistaken assumption that since Caroline and Celine were so close in age, they would be great chums. While walking up the stairs to her apartment, Celine runs into Jacob Barker, a boy of probably eight or nine who is sitting on the steps because he has been locked out of his own apartment until his mother gets home. Jake’s parents are in the midst of a nasty divorce, and while Mrs. Barker is not entirely sure she approves of Celine, she is grateful that Jacob has a young person to turn to for fun and support.

            Celine has an unwanted boyfriend, Dermot, who claims that Celine is afraid of his love for her, and she is also on a mission to create a portrait of Lucile Higgenbottom, the most beautiful girl in school. Lucile and Dermot take Celine to a party after a school dance, and Celine attempts to use her newfound maturity to care for a very sick Lucile. The result is disastrous, but Celine is not entirely certain why.

            While Celine is hell-bent on spending an entire weekend dedicated to her Catcher in the Rye paper and an inspired self-portrait (because Lucile is no longer talking to her), Jacob shows up at her doorstep again because his father hasn’t come to pick him up. They spend the weekend together in Celine’s last attempt to be responsible and mature.

            Celine had its moments of brilliance. The main character is witty and extremely creative; I had an affinity for her right off the bat. However, her fast-paced, almost scatterbrained way of narrating her tale made the story very difficult to follow. I found myself wearing of her tangents and scathing tone and almost didn’t want to read on. While Celine does bring an artist’s eye to the world (and a young artist’s eye, so we have the opportunity to see her potential and her naïveté), I saw very little growth in her throughout the book. Her quest for maturity does not end satisfactorily, and there were several symbols of self-reflection and conversations about growing up which could have been exploited by the author and were not. The last choice she makes (I won’t give it away) I believe was very mature, but I’m not sure that she was self-aware enough to be conscious of this decision. I was left wondering if she or Jacob had learned anything at all, and, if not, why I was reading about them in the first place.

            Celine does have some beautiful observations at the beginning and two very heart-wrenching scenes towards the end, but they do not redeem this book in my eyes. I think that any lessons about the pain of maturity and divorce can be accomplished better through other books, and even for pleasure reading, Celine is confusing and, towards the end, tedious. Read it for a bit of a laugh, but don’t be afraid to set it back on the bookshelf.