John Green's Looking For Alaska

Geez. I certainly can relate to Miles. He's the main character in the book in the title of this blog entry. The number one reason why? Like every other boy, there is a girl in his life that he desires but just cannot have. And after that girl dies? Well, every kid should read this story. Because I certainly would have dealt with it in a much more devastatingly emotional way. Miles and the Colonel are an odd couple. Miles never had friends before really, but I find that hard to believe. I guess a lot of kids have been there before. And that is where he serves as a great influence. Although there is a lot of general tomfoolery in this book, none of it is truly bad. You know...the BAD kind of bad. Like violence and such. He just plays pranks and smokes cigarettes. And while students who read this should certainly stay away from these activities (obviously, and especially, smoking), Miles finds himself, and friends through his newfound sociability. A lot of students might read this and realize that, hey, if Miles can find lifelong friends, maybe they can too? The only thing I am worried about is that some students might see the negative acts and take that as a way to escape the confines or alienation. But I think that would not giving credit to young people. I think that a large majority of them would certainly recognize that smoking and pranks and drinking and the like are common among young adults and there are those who will do it or won't do it regardless of their reading this text.

Alaska. She's that unattainable girl. I found myself wanting to be Miles just so I could talk to her. She seems so...likable, yet she is obviously somewhat psychologically ill. She has dealt with a lot in life, and the death of her mother seems to be the thing that affected her most. That's what makes me apprehensive about saying she is ill in the mind. Everyone goes through emotional turmoil and she just needed someone to be there for her, to help console and counsel her. Unfortunately, that didn't come in time and she died. A few pages before her death, Alaska was giving advice on fellatio, and then was making out with Miles, the boy she often flirted with (and many young men probably wish they were at the time). Unfortunately she made a mistake, and everyone had to emotionally pay for it. In the end, lessons were learned and people moved on, but no one would forget Alaska Young, the girl who chose her own name.

The book also touched on some other great themes that would well suit a young adult classroom. Especially the concept of social cliques and moving upward socially. It isn't that a lot of kids want to be popular, but nearly no one wants to be rejected by all of their peers. Miles felt that way before going to a boarding school states away from his home. His friends, and especially his roommate the Colonel, all helped him grow. Dr. Hyde, however, was the mentor who showed an outright display of compassion. Even at the end, the school's headmaster the Eagle, seemed to favor the young men by acknowledging their prank in honor of Alaska. The story is a great tale and was a fun read and really, although its cliche, a page-turner. I am convinced many young adults would agree. I still am in that in between stage at being twenty-four, and I find that I can relate to some of these issues as they are still fresh in my mind. Kids. will. love. this. book. The pranking and fun and foolishness and then after. The grief. The planning of the major prank. The students all coming together, and banding together. And the subtle tones of religion, especially Buddhist mantra, all cover a wide variety of themes. The book serves not only as an educational tool on school life and culture, but on life itself and how to deal with grief and come together as a group. Miles is the type of boy so many other young boys can relate to and for that and these aforementioned reasons, this book should sit on any young adult curriculum there is.

G. Neri's Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty

The two things about Yummy that stuck out to me were: it is a relatively true story about something kids in Chicago can understand and potentially relate, and the graphic novel is a great way to represent such a harrowing tale involving the protagonist/antagonist Yummy.

Any amount of discussions could be started with a text like this. First off: Why did this happen? Why are so many kids in gangs? What can we as society do to ameliorate the problems of gangs, particularly in rough, impoverished areas like the deep southside of Chicago?

As far as teaching this to a group of Chicago teenagers, I think that the graphic novel nature, the low-level reading aspect, the connections to their own city, the age of Yummy and those he affected through his actions, and the problems that still exist today similar in nature to that of the Roseland murders, all enhance the teachability of this book. It could theoretically be done in 2-3 lessons. The important thing is not the strength of the text as it stands alone, or the literacy, but that the story sparks discussion. It gets students wondering, and it keeps them interested.

On p. 50, the narrator Roger asks: "Why was Yummy the way he was?" Students could write essays on this, have group or class discussions, or even do some research into gangland Chicago and its impact on culture and young people in 1990's Chicago. On p. 62, an anonymous reporter was quoted as saying "This young kid fell through the cracks. If this child was protected 5 years ago, you save 2 people. You save the young woman who was killed, and you save the young offender." This definitely could spark debate: was it ever possibly to save Yummy? If so, how? What more can be done for youth in gangs? Was Yummy good or bad or both?

The end of the novel has a quote from the Time reporter who covered Yummy's murder and the subsequent trial and he didn't "know what he found more appalling: [Yummy]'s life or [Yummy]'s death." This is a great question. There are so many angles to focus on. Where does the problem start? How do we go about educating our youth on the atrocities gangland warfare elevates?

The questions Neri poses through this short graphic tale are all great ones and can go a long way in teaching our youth the ramifications of getting involved with gangs and the horrors it can bring, among others.

Jacqueline Woodson's After Tupac & D Foster

When I first started reading this text I was wondering what in the world Tupac was doing in the title. What is the significance of this highly acclaimed too-young-to-die rapper from the mid-90's to these three girls, besides the fact that they like his eyes and find his music enjoyable.

I know a little bit about Tupac, and recognize the lyrics and songs mentioned in the text. Specifically, Dear Mama. Tupac wrote the song about his mother raising him and the struggles a single mother must go through to raise a child. On top of this, she was pregnant with him in prison...and she was addicted to crack. Tupac didn't have a great childhood and had it rough. Reading his lyrics and listening to his songs, one can certainly discover this after just a few reads/listens. And then I started thinking about the character D Foster. She had a rough upbringing. Her father isn't around, beginning to end, much like Tupac's. Her mother was disengaged, had drug (particularly alcohol) problems and spent some time away (perhaps prison, much like Tupac's mother). D also grew up in New York. Okay, so we have similarities...but what's the story here? Where is the connection?

D walks in and out of her two friends' lives. She strolled into their lives one day, and eventually strolled right out. This signifies just how Tupac kind of strolled into these young girl's lives with his music, and strolled out upon his death. Maybe he still has mixtapes floating around today, but the man isn't here. It shows the importance of friends, and music, which can often serve as a friend to those without much to appreciate or someone to love. We don't know where D goes at the end of the novel and I don't feel we need to. I've discussed the ending with friends, and they were disappointed because we find no solace. I suppose it is slightly ambiguous what happens to D, but it didn't hand it to the reader on a plate. There is nothing to infer. And sometimes young adults who will read this book should be exposed to these types of endings. There doesn't always need to be a happy ending to these stories, or a sad ending. Life goes on, friends come and go. It is an important lesson we all learn anecdotally at some point, but to have a book show kids that this isn't always a bad thing sends a good message, in my humble opinion.

How Beautiful The Ordinary

There certainly seems to be a lack of literature with characters that might fall into the LGBT 'category' (for lack of a better term). Thinking about this, I am a vegetarian and hardly ever do I see vegetarian characters in novels, short stories, television or film. If I do see them, the medium I see them in goes out of the way to make their vegetarianism an issue central to the show's theme. It is never just left aside, it always takes prominence. The reason for this? Because it goes against the grain; it isn't mainstream. When someone is or does something that isn't what society deems as 'normal' then, in these forms of media, the issue is nearly always a central theme. The great thing about the text How Beautiful the Ordinary is that although there is a character in all of the dozen stories that is either gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered, it is not essential to the story's overall progression. Sure the stories might no exist with an LGBT character, but many of the stories don't make it a point to point out to the reader that, "HEY GUYS! Look! Its a gay dude! We need to ride this gay wave to the moon so we can invite readers and show much they are ostracized in society for their lake of sameness!" No, this book isn't like that at all. Its about normal people, normal people who if I may borrow a line from Lady Gaga, are born this way. They are ordinary, just like everyone else. We all have something different about us, and these stories go to show their differences, not in their sexual preferences, but in their daily lives. They are different because we are all different, not because of anything else. Its an arbitrary classification and these stories prove that.

I think the thing I enjoyed most about the text, even though I didn't find all the stories interesting or even full of depth, is the different styles the writers practiced. There is one story, My Life as a Dog that is both interesting in theme and characters as it is for the style it possesses. The story is interrupted by the narrator with side conversations and the style is completely different from the rest of the story itself.

My Virtual World takes a pragmatic look at teenagers and finding love on the internet. Simple fact: this happens, and it happens a LOT more than either we suspect or is evident in contemporary fiction. The style, in that of social networking messages, takes a great look at kids discovering who they are while never interacting with someone face to face. This would be a great story to teach in a modern classroom because of its vast relatability. Kids go online, they go to social networks, and they seek out friends they might not seek out in real life. One could argue the ethics of morals behind this non-traditional form of courting, but it exists nonetheless.

Perhaps my favorite story in the selection is First Time. I would be apprehensive to teach this in a classroom because it portrays the female orgasm in a very mature and sophisticated manner with wonderful prose. What I did like about it the most, however, is the style and form. Back and forth narration between two characters perspectives of an encounter with one another. It seems this could be stretched into a much longer, more in depth story. I could envision a movie following the likes of this. It would be an excellent way to teach multiple perspectives definitely.