The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to a Nation

When I finished listening to The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing I found myself at a bit of a loss for explaining what the story is. I tried to explain to my eighth grade daughter in this way….it’s a historical science fiction of sorts.

Octavian is the son of an African princess re-named Cassiopeia by the white man who purchased her while pregnant and brought her to live at the Novanglian College of Lucidity in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 1700s. Octavian knows only an odd life of privilege and scientific observation as the college’s academicians are engaged in all kinds of ongoing experiments. Eventually, Octavian learns that he is the college’s largest and most valuable experiment….which is why I include science fiction to my description of the book. The pseudo-science of the 1700s is very much part of this novel.

The college sets out to observe whether or not African boys have the same capacities as white, European boys. Octavian shows not only at least equal ability but a tremendous capacity for learning the Classics, language and music. He also demonstrates a keen ability to observe in the scientific sense and  by scientific method. This is all well and good for Octavian and his mother until the college loses its funding source and must align itself with a corporation of southern businessmen who fund the college and re-direct the experiment of Octavian to prove that African boys have less capacity for thought, reason and learning than white European boys.

Octavian escapes the college just as revolution breaks out in  surrounding Boston. He has good reason to question what and for whom liberty is being fought for during his participation in the Battle of Bunker Hill as a runaway. After re-capture and return to the college, Octavian battles the desire to end his life, obtaining freedom through death--witnessed during his stint in the patriotic forces, and confronting his “enlightened” masters. When given an opportunity to escape to freedom again, will he take it?

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing earned the National Book Award in 2006 and many, many additional literature prizes. Much has been written about its unsettling gothic tone and unique look at the American Revolution and its portrayal of the lives of African Americans in our History. There are several links below that can shed better light on the book than I can. The best link, in my opinion, is the interview of the author by NPR about the book.

The Astonishing Life … is a great read for older teens, as M.T. Anderson intended as well as for adults fascinated with the Revolutionary War era. I think it would make a fantastic book for US History teachers to read and discuss….the tone, perspective and direction of the novel would definitely impact my teaching of the time period and events. I would ask students to consider more questions about freedom and property and enlightened ideals.

Anderson, M.T. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation. Volume I. New York: Listening Library, 2007. CD.

Additional Reviews and Interesting Information:

http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0763624020.asp

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/books/review/Davidson.t.html

http://www.historicalnovels.info/Octavian-Nothing-Pox-Party.html

Fabulous Audio Interview of author M.T. Anderson on NPR

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7060904

Yikes---what's my recent past is now historical fiction?!

I've not read this book but the review makes me want to:

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/adult4teen/2011/08/19/along-the-watchtower/

The Red Necklace: A Story of the French Revolution. by Sally Gardner

The Red Necklace is a fabulous book by Sally Gardner. It is  also a nominee for a 2012 Virginia Readers Choice Award in the High School category. However, I know this book is in the middle school library where I work and I'm delighted that it is.

The Red Necklace is a story of the French Revolution that involves love, intrigue, deception, evil and a bit of magic. Even though the book reads like a good ole fashioned romance, the main character is a teen gypsy boy of uncommon magical talent who uses it for good as the tide of Revolution carries away logic and reason in 1792. The main character is so interesting and real that the book has great potential as a guy AND girl read. I recommend it for readers in grades seven and up.

A quick search of google didn't turn up any awards for The Red Necklace. However, the author has a website and interesting blog. On her blog, I read a speech that she had given to prize winning authors at a school. Her speech was as much for the students not winning a prize that day as the winners. Ms. Gardner also discussed difficulties in her life overcoming dyslexia. Wow! This author who spun a wonderful, page-turning, magical tale of the French Revolution spent time in her life unable to read?! Amazing. I can't wait to read a bit of this action packed book to middle schoolers and then let them know it was written by a woman who once could not read...and struggled to learn how. This kind of triumph really does inspire students.

Check out Sally Gardner's website to see publicity for The Red Necklace, its sequel The Silver Blade and more books that are in the works from her. I will be looking for The Silver Blade as I must know what happens to the main characters I came to love so much in this book.

http://www.sallygardner.net/

Gardner, S. The Red Necklace: A French Revolution Story. New York: Speak. 2007. Print.

I love this list inside the front cover of the book--historical novels:

OTHER BOOKS YOU MAY ENJOY

Aurelia by Anne Osterlund
A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson
A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson
General Winston's Daughter by Sharon Shinn
I, Coriander by Sally Gardner
The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson
Queen's Own Fool by Jane Yolen & Robert J. Harris
Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells
The Safe-Keeper's Secret by Sharon Shinn
The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli
A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson
Wolf Queen by Tanith Lee

The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon

One cannot be the rock and the river.

In 1968 America, civil rights activists are working against a growing tide of youngsters who are not seeing a changed society as fast as they would like. Sam’s mother and father are staunchly committed to non-violence and the principles of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Sam’s father is famous as a civil rights activist and speaker, in his own right, in their home city of Chicago. Dr. King is a family friend and comes to dinner for his mother’s chicken pot pie.

However, Sam’s elder brother, Steven a.k.a. “Stick” has just joined the Black Panther Party and Sam is witness to his friend Bucky’s unjustified brutalization and incarceration by the police. Tensions in Chicago spill over into violence as news of Dr. King’s assassination spreads. How can Sam be the son his parents raised him to be, Stick’s younger brother and Bucky’s friend? Sam’s world suddenly fills with impossible choices.

The Rock and the River is a page turner, an intense and crucial story—I’d put it in a “must read” category for young people. The book would work especially well with Virginia 8^th grade history and civics curriculum. I have never read a better fictional story to illustrate the emotions and stresses of living in 1968. Even though the main character in the story is in early high school, I will be talking up this 2012 Virginia Readers Choice nominee with as many middle school students as I can. They will “get” this book.

The Rock and The River author, Kekla Magoon, has a wonderful website friendly to teen readers. I love that the site is geared for her readers and not literary critics or influential adults.  YA readers that enjoy this book should check out her website and books.

http://www.keklamagoon.com/

The Rock and the River has won many distinguished awards and recognitions. This is an author to know and keep up with.

The Rock and the River has earned:

• Winner of the 2010 Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award by the American Library Association
• 2010 NAACP Image Awards nominee, for "Outstanding Literary Work for Youth/Teens"
• 2010 ALA/YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
• 2010 ALA Notable Books for Children
• A 2009 Junior Library Guild Selection
• 2009 Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction for Teens
• 2009 Booklist Top Ten Debut Novels

Magoon, K. The Rock and the River. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009. Print.

Pop

Truth: I didn’t get around to making dinner because of football—the TV wasn’t even on. If you know me, you know this is weird. I’m the kind of gal that would rather cozy up to an old episode of Lawrence Welk than a football game but Gordon Korman’s YA novel, Pop kept me in the game and I read through to the end of the story, hungry children all around me, and no mom that made dinner. OOOOPS! Thank heavens for cereal and a large jar of peanut butter.

The Story:
Marcus Johnson is a pretty good football player from Kansas, uprooted the summer before his junior year of high school to a school that has just celebrated a perfect, undefeated season. Marcus wants on the team….but why would the team want to mess with perfection and take Marcus on…especially as Quarterback? They already have a star quarterback who led the team to its undefeated status.

The lonely situation of being new kid in town and wannabe for the school team leave Marcus with a lot of time alone…which leads him to Three Alarm Park to practice his passes. One day Charlie shows up and Marcus begins practice sessions like he’s never known. Charlie, is a man in his fifties but unbelievably good at passing, tackling, running, jumping—all things football. He loves to hear the “pop” of a good tackle. Charlie is so good, that at school practice, a super-conditioned Marcus gains the attention and respect of stand-off-ish players and the head coach.

Marcus wonders what’s up with this old man, Charlie. Who is he, why is he so good at football and why does he keep showing up to run drills with a kid he doesn’t know and refuses to call by the right name? Why do town shop keepers let Charlie just take stuff without paying? Why does Charlie pull weird sophomoric pranks that Marcus gets in trouble for and not own up to them? Answers to these questions have to do with being a small town hero, NFL retiree and Alzheimer’s disease...perhaps not in that order or in the ways a reader might expect.

For lovers of the game, Pop delivers complex football story, strategy and “game think”. Pop is also a page turner! There is drama in this book that keeps the reader hanging on for a resolution and just when there is resolution, a surprise ending keeps one turning until the very last page.

Pop is a nominee for the 2012 VA Readers’ Choice Award for middle school. I think it’s got potential. However, this book is a true YA story. The mindset is high school. One of the cheerleaders in the book has the “hots” for Marcus and that’s described in appropriate older teen terms. Many sixth graders could read through that and not blink an eye….but there are plenty of sixth graders who would shy away from that kind of story. There’s nothing over the top to worry to worry about. There’s one super short make-out scene that wouldn’t even cause a blush. It’s just that the voice of the characters and feel of the story is truly YA.

I loved Pop and am so glad I can now recommend a football book to kids who love the game.

Korman talks about Pop and how the story came to be in this short video: http://www.harperteen.com/books/Pop-Gordon-Korman/?isbn=9780061742286

Gordon Korman is one of those super-writers for young people. He’s got over fifty successful published books under his belt and there’s no sign of him slowing down. His website is fun, fascinating and full of cool information. The official Gordon Korman website is at: http://www.gordonkorman.com/



Korman, G. Pop. New York: Balzer & Bray, 2009. Print.

Bystander, an outstanding read

Bystander, by James Preller has been nominated for the 2012 Virginia Readers Choice Award….and deserves it.


Bystander is a book I could gush about. The basic story involves Eric, a seventh grader new to town, meeting the biggest bully at Bellport Central Middle days before school begins. However, Griffen Connelly is astoundingly charming, cool, popular….almost charismatic. When Eric actually begins school it seems a blessing that he’s quickly accepted into Griffen’s crowd at lunch. However, Griffen is not what he appears to be and Eric finds himself witnessing Griffen’s mean streak and dishonesty.

Despite the fact that the school is involved in an anti-bullying campaign, it’s extraordinarily difficult for Eric or anyone else to untangle themselves from Griffen’s web enough to stand up to him. All the seventh graders know the answers to questions posed by teachers and counselors about bullying…but what can they do when caught in the situation themselves as either a bully, victim or bystander? The real answers away from adults are much harder to come by.

Eventually, Eric comes to realize, “I’m just as bad as the rest of them.” (p. 86) But, before Eric can turn things around he finds himself attacked and at the center of Griffen’s cruel attention. An on-the-ball Language Arts teacher gets to Eric and his friend Mary with a frank talk about bullying with specific examples from history and some sharp quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that begin to steer Eric’s thought in a different direction. He knows he has to do something about Griffen but, what?

Will Griffen be able to come to terms with his part in being a bystander and a victim? Will he be able to confront Griffen in a positive and effective way? Will he survive seventh grade?

One of the best aspects of this book is that is that the conflict is resolved by the characters as real-life kids would without the help of adults or parroting of lessons learned in anti-bullying class. For sure, there are some aspects of the way Eric deals with Griffen that parents and teachers need to at least ask their young readers about. But, the fact that Eric does take action in his situation is important.

Bystander is unquestionably a book for Middle School students. The voice and feel of the book are very middle school. I hope that I can encourage middle school students that I know to read this book. It is a wonderful YA read bursting with discussion opportunities and teachable moments. And, I think Bystander is a very strong contender to win Virginia Readers Choice Award.

Bystander has been nominated for Readers Choice Awards in several states:

-Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award (Vermont)

-South Carolina Junior Book Award

-Kentucky Bluegrass Award

-Oklahoma Sequoia Book Award

-Florida Sunshine State Young Readers Award Master List

-Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Master List



A great Youtube trailer for Bystander can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vis3I_hXsY

A Discussion Question Guide can be seen at: http://media.us.macmillan.com/discussionguides/9780312379063DG.pdf


Author, James Preller’s website has a lot of great stuff about Bystander, his life as a writer and information on more books that he’s written: http://www.jamespreller.com/q-a/

Preller, J. Bystander. New York: Feiwel & Friends: 2009. Print.

Does My Head Look Big In This?

OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming…..no going off on creative writing tangents based on personal angst. Although, I’m just about to leave India in Eat, Pray, Love….and well, that’s just a whole discussion and then some I’d love to have with someone right there! I really should join a book club one of these days.


Does My Head Look Big In This? Is a wonderful Young Adult novel by Randa Abdel-Fateh. This is the first book that I can remember reading where the heroine is a young Muslim woman. As a middle school teacher-librarian this is important to me….and I hope important to more young women of all backgrounds because we don’t often get to see female Muslim heroines unless they are depicted in extreme circumstances.

Amal is a feisty, smart, argumentative, ambitious young girl who at the age of seventeen decides to take her faith seriously by wearing a hijab, Muslim female head covering, in her average teenage life in Melbourne, Australia. Although she knows that she will face some questionable looks, negative remarks, sterotyping and possibly racism, it’s important to Amal to be authentic in her identity as a Muslim, Palestinian-Australian girl. Amal makes many discoveries in her new life under the veil….some of them she expected….many of them surprises. By the end of the novel, readers are satisfied that Amal has grown as a person and as a Muslim through her experience...."all this time I've been walking around thinking of become pious because I've made the difficult decision to wear the hijab......But what's the good of being true to your religion on the outside, if you don't change what's on the inside, where it really counts." (333)

What I especially enjoyed in this story is that by seeing the world through Amal’s eyes, under her hijab, are the many layers of being Muslim and of Middle Eastern descent. As our heroine struggles with her new visibility, she becomes sometimes a willing and many times an unwilling representative of her religion and culture to her peers. It’s a lot to go through when also dealing with boy crushes, make-up, keeping up with Cosmo, sleepovers, pimples and studying for tests at school! Amal teaches us that Islam has many aspects and that its doctrines are not what we think we know from our media. She also learns much about what it means to be Australian when viewed by so many of her compatriots as an outsider.

Throughout her typical, busy Junior Year, Amal, carefully thinks about how wearing hijab might or might not be part of the experience. We learn that being a teenage Muslim girl is a lot like being a teenage girl of any religious background….and that’s cool.

Does My Head Look Big In This? is Abdel-Fattah’s first book. It’s won several awards including: Australian Book of the Year Award 2006, Notable Book of the Children’s Book Council 2006, on the long list of books considered for the UK Galaxy Book Awards 2006 and on the short list of books considered for the UK Grampian Children’s Book Awards 2006. This author has written several more books about identity issues for Muslims and specifically Palestinians. More about Abdel-Fattah can be learned at her very informative website: http://www.randaabdelfattah.com/novel.asp?ID=6&title=Does%20My%20Head%20Look%20Big%20In%20This

Abdel-Fattah, R. Does My Head Look Big In This? New York: Orchard Books, 2005. Print.

The Leanin' Dog

The Leanin’ Dog by K.A. Nuzum


Eleven year old Dessa Dean knows exactly how many days ago she watched her mother freeze to death. The shock and trauma of the event has left many scars….a bad case of frost bite may be the easiest to deal with. Harder are the night and day mares as well as a deep fear of going outside beyond the porch of her home in the Colorado Mountains. As Christmas approaches, Dessa Dean’s father struggles to bring enough food home from hunting and trapping to feed their tiny family and Dessa Dean fights to convince herself she “isn’t daft” from grieving when a fudge-brown dog shows up at their place.

The stray dog clearly has experienced trauma of her own as she will not come into the house without a LOT of coaxing ….and certainly will not stay with the door shut despite the cold weather. As hero dogs will, Leanin’ Dog’s love and devotion to Dessa Dean begin to pull the girl out of her grief and toward life. Will Dessa Dean be able to handle walking in the outside world again? Will Leanin’ Dog trust Dessa Dean as a friend and master? The answers to these questions are what the reader works toward in this book nominated for a 2012 Virginia Readers Choice Award--in the Middle School category. As the book jacket suggests, “Angels are everywhere.”

From the language, spelling, reference to an Indian-head nickel and lack of running water or electric in the house, readers know that this is a story from the past. That might confuse readers in grades 4-6 a bit. However, the focus of the story on Dessa Dean’s relationship with the dog is strong and clear and that is what kids will want to discover.

Author K.A. Nuzum has provided additional information about herself and this book at: http://www.kanuzum.com/leanin_dog.html

The Leanin’ Dog has been named a School Library Journal Best Book, been placed on the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Masterlist (Vermont) and has received an IRA children’s and Young Adult’s Book Award.

Nuzum, K.A. The Leanin' Dog. New York: Harper Collins, 2008. Print.

Catching Up ….. post vacation thoughts

Whew! I needed a vacation from my vacation. Since last writing, my family went to Colorado for a vacation and our cousin's wedding. We slid into home the night before school started. Thank goodness my kids are well versed in the "drill" of our school routine and had backpacks packed before we left the state. While on vacation I finished a great book and returned home to start another. Both books are worth talking about.

The Art of Racing in the Rain is a fabulous book….I loved it even though from chapter one, I knew I would need a box of tissues to get through it. I laughed out loud many times as the story of a family was told through the eyes of the family dog from puppy hood to old age and "evolution". The story of the crows was so funny that I'll never be able to look at the birds in quite the same way again! Even though this is a fictional novel for adults, it would make a great YA book in a high school collection. My eleven year old read it ahead of me after our Nana suggested that she might like it. By the end of the book there were definitely some scenes that I thought were beyond her maturity level….but we talked about them and she doesn't appear to be warped or damaged by reading them. She's actually more mature than I'm ready for her to be anyway! Because of the aspect of race car driving and the dog narrator is male, this is a super book for teen boys. And, despite the need for a box of tissues, there is a very satisfying ending to the story that isn't cliché or predictable.

Nothing But the Truth by Avi is a book that my eldest brought home from her first day of 7^th grade as a Language Arts assignment. It's an older book….published right around the time that I remember stories told by multiple points of view was a popular method of novel writing. The story does indeed present a middle school controversy surrounding the singing of the Star Spangle Banner through the viewpoints of students, teachers, administrators, parents and members of the press. The ending is purposely left open for the reader to decide what will happen…which is perfect for discussion of facts and opinions among middle school students. I was very glad to have read this novel. Avi is a major author in children's literature and I haven't read much from Avi yet. I will definitely read more.

Stein, G. The Art of Racing in the Rain (2009). Harper Paperbacks. New York

Avi. Nothing But the Truth (1993). Harper Collins Children's Books. New York