Hunger Games

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.

In Suzanna Collins The Hunger Games, the distopian country of Panem is broken into twelve colonies in which two participants from each district must participate in a brutal game of survival.  This is televised to the capital and determines which district gets supplies for the next year. 

The main characters are Katniss, a hunter from district twelve and Peeta, also from district twelve.  Katniss and Peeta have a brief past in which after her father’s death Peet helps Katniss’ family survive with food.  A former Hunger Games winner and drunk, Haymitch is their spokesperson, trying to secure resources for Katmiss and Peeta once the Hunger Games begin.  

Before the Hunger Games begin, there is press and preparation.  During this period Katniss and Peeta are introduced to other participants in the games and primped for the television audience.  Also, Peeta either legitimately or illegitimately asserts that he has romantic feelings for Katniss.  This plays out as a love narrative that the sponsors and audience will eat up and ultimately play to their advantage. 

Once the games begin, the each player is killed off with a dwindling amount of contestants remaining.  After the death of her friend and partner, Rue, and a rule change saying there can be two winners instead of one, Katniss eventually teams back up with Peeta.  Katniss is a wise player and uses her intelligence, romantic acting skills, archery and luck to stay alive. 

With only three participants left, the capital creates and uses a genetic dog/wolf mutation of the dead contestants to attack the remaining people.  Cato, is ripped to shreds with only Peeta and Katniss remaining.  They have won the Hunger Games, however the capital changes the rules so that only one person can win. This means they will have to fight to the death. 

Katniss and Peeta decide that it’s all or none and begin to consume poisonous berries.  The capital, realizing this would be a public relations disaster if no one won, changes the rules again so that two can win. 

After the conclusion of the games, the victory lap to the media begins.  It is revealed that Peeta really loved Katniss and Katniss thought it was all a ploy to advance in the games.  Katniss begins to feel stronger feelings for her hunting friend, Gale, back in district twelve. 

Peeta is hurt by this, but realizes he is lucky to have survived the hunger games.  Katniss and him decide to play out the love narrative until the media blitz is over and then go on with their separate lives. 

I found The Hunger Games to be perfectly suited for adolescent readers.  The emotional volatility and action-oriented plot lends itself to pull in girls and boys.  The length of the book supported the fact that it was for older readers, as a younger student wouldn’t have enough stamina or patience to continue reading.  The story follows a largely chronological order and also has rules that guide its plot and outcome.  For a reader to comprehend this, he or she would have to be at least twelve or about sixth and seventh grade. 

Evaluating the text, I found the characters facing realistic issues through survival, family, pride and love.  These are issues that face all of us regardless of age and whether we’re in real life or a reality show focused on killing.  The characters involved in these problems overcome them in a realistic way, albeit in a fantasy setting.  The one common thread I found relating to survival was being opportunistic.  Whether it be fibbing the truth to get necessary goods from the capital or using your natural archery skills to hurt the enemy, characters used the resources available to survive as long as they could. 

When looking at the characters, I found them to be multi-sided and emotional.  Katniss has a family which she sticks up for, taking Prim’s spot in the Hunger games, she is a talented marksman, has possible feelings for her friend Gale back in district twelve and takes a fellow contestant, Rue, under her wing.  Petta has strong feelings of love for Katniss and has a conflict of who he should create an alliance with: Katniss or the career tributes.  These examples are relatable to the average teen by virtue of finding a comfortable social circle and forming friendships or allegiances with people who they can trust. 

While reading Hunger Games, I noticed that there was no weaknesses based on sex and race was never clarified on any of the participants.  For a game so brutal and draconian, I was a bit surprised the issue of race and gender were not brought up.  The only strengths and weaknesses present were related to a character’s personality or intelligence, which did not correspond with their gender or race. 

Through these observations, and putting myself in the perspective of an adolescent reader I would have been inspired to be the smartest and most physically capable person I could be.  Intelligence and strength along with love (to a certain extent) are rewarded through the hunger games.  These virtues are highly regarded in society and often rewarded. 

Three literary elements I found present in the text was setting as an antagonist with contestants and their environment being pitted against each other.  In the plot, there were strong representations of person against society (contestants vs. the capital), person against person (hunger games participant vs. hunger games participant), person vs. nature (hunger game participant vs. the created environment) and person vs. self (Katniss doubting her feelings for Peeta and volunteering herself for the games over Prim). 

A mini-lesson that could be developed from The Hunger Games is having a student write in their journals about three things they would bring with them if they were in the hunger games and why they would bring them.  The students would then explain in an open classroom forum what they think would be their most useful tool/object.  Throughout the class there could be no repeated answers from one student to another.  The student responses/answers would be put on the board and we would have a discussion about what would be most advantageous to bring to the hunger games and why.  Just like the Hunger Games there would be a dwindling amount of choices.  When there were four tools remaining, we would vote, as a class, to determine which object or tool would be best to bring to the games. 

London Eye Mystery

Dowd, Siobhan. The London Eye Mystery. New York: Yearling, 2007. Print.

In The London Eye Mystery, Salim, a cousin of Kat and Ted Sparks is coming to visit along with his mother before they move to New York City.  While in London, the kids decide to go to London’s Eye, a gigantic ferris wheel on the Thames River.  Salim gets on the wheel but does not appear to get off.  The cousins look for him, but there is no sign of him.

From this point on, the novel is a search for Salim, using pictures, recreating events, theories (of varying believability) and and any other clues they can discover.  Ted and his unique way of looking at the situation slowly unscrews the bolts of the mystery and discovers that Salim, his friend Marcus and his cousin Christy were in on a disguise plot that would allow Salim to go back to Manchester and not New York City.  After more tinkering with the known facts, Ted is able to track where Salim is and he deicdes to give New York a six month introduction to see if he likes it. 

After reading The London Eye Mystery, I felt this was book meant for a seventh or eighth grader.  I say this because metaphors, sarcasm and figurative language were firmly present. If a student is a struggling reader or english language learner these tropes would prove to be hurdles that may impede comprehension.  Also, the amount of reasoning and ordering of events requires a high level of understanding and reasoning to fully appreciate the story.  In the same beath, I think that in order to relate to the storyteens could see themselves in Ted’s place in the book and how he is viewed (awkward, odd, unique).  In order to fully appreciate the emotional relationship and struggles of each character, an older reader is necessary. 

Reflecting on The London Eye Mystery, the characters face issues that are believable and interesting to the reader.  Every day we hear about someone who has gone missing and occasionally about how one clue or one person allows finds a solution.  The fact that there are thousands of mysteries concerning people, especially in a big city, shows this is a plausible plot. 

The story offers unique characters, especially Ted, Marcus and Salim.  Ted probably has Aspergers and sees the events in a different light, like some early teenagers may see the world.  Marcus and Salim are going through an identity crisis and unsure of where life will take them.  All of these characters question authority and go over the heads of their superiors to attain their results.  These traits are hallmarks of growing up. 

This novel made me use higher thought processes and making inferences about the story, characters and clues.  The clues were all present and I was trying to figure them out as the story went on, but reaching dead ends.  This examination of the clues and information presented was a thought process and a sort of sub-plot going on in the reader’s head.  Ted’s mystery solving is amazing and inspirational to the reading audience.  Based on his success I think he inspires others to look at problems or mysteries differently to find a solution. 

There were no visible stereotypes in the book except Marcus being called “Paki-boy” by his classmates.  This was only briefly mentioned in the last forty pages of the book.  Otherwise, the characters were represented culturally even-handed. 

Several literary elements I found while reading the text were characterization, person against person and setting as a mood.  Ted was the most interesting character in the text because of his way of looking at the evidence and eventually finding a solution to the mystery.  Characters such as Marcus and Salim had an ace up their sleeve in their disguising and sneaky tricks.  Ted carried most of the character’s weight with his thoughts, theories and personality.

Person vs. person conflict was on full display with all the characters supporting one another but still becoming angry, usually out of concern.  One example of this is Salim and his mother.  They obviously love one another, but Salim went over her to try and escape and she was furious when she found out his plan.  Love was the base of their relationship, but on the surface they were disagreeing and not on the same page about moving to New York City.  Finally, setting as a mood was highlighted throughout the text.  The setting of the London Eye, the motorbike show, the Sparks house and Barracks were all described in detail and central to the plot. 

One mini lesson that could be conducted from the text is to pull up a map of London Manchester and the other specific places mentioned in the novel.  With the intricacies of programs like google maps you could re-trace Salim’s journey.  This would take some research from the class and teacher, but it would make the book and Salim’s journey come to life. 

Never Take a Shark to the Dentist (And Other Things Not to Do)

Barrett, Judi, and John Nickle. Never Take a Shark to the Dentist. London: Simon and Schuster, 2008. Print.

In Judi Barrett’s Never Take a Shark to the Dentist (And Other Things Not to Do) the reader is invited to journey into the world animals and humorously observe what you should never to with them.  Examples such as, “Never hold hands with a lobster” and “Never go to the bank with a raccoon” honestly made me chuckle and enjoy the light-hearted simplicity of putting human traits on animals and then putting them in everyday situations. 

The illustrations are what made it particularly funny for me.  Seeing a rhinoceros in a blue dress, a pearl necklace and red painted nails was hilarious or a giraffe in the movie theatre with an extra long sippy straw genuinely brought a smile to my face.  The illustrations used what looked like acrylic paint to describe the simple “Don’t ever…” sentence on the left side of the page.  The illustrations were lifelike with little artistic embellishment outside of the humanistic traits—it was clearly visible what was being described. 

While reading through the text I couldn’t help but notice how the silliness of the examples really enhanced the characterization.  The expressions on an anteater when the porcupine he sat next to on the subway left him with needles stuck in his side was priceless.  The characters are playful receivers of the unfortunate traits of their animal buddies.  In a way, I think this contributed to the larger plot theme that we all aren’t perfect and sometimes our lesser qualities annoy others but deep down we’re all good natured beings (humans or animals or, well human-like animals in this case).  We are who we are and those differences help, in this case, playfully define us. 

Evaluating the text, I need to do so with a grain of salt.  This is a silly book, not intended to discover the meaning of life.  However, it has plenty of merits, especially in the “problems” the characters face.  The problems are simple and often a lost cause, which creates the humor and lightheartedness.  These problems are never really overcome, they are dealt with and tolerated on each page.  This is acceptable though since the story isn’t linear but instead individualized examples that contribute to the larger humor theme.  The animals characters clearly have emotions as evidenced by the illustrations.  They are simply defined by their appearances and the environment or prop that they are interacting with.  Most of the weaknesses are on full display, but they are accepted and embraced (at different levels) by the other animals.

I believe this text would really inspire the readers to make their writing come alive and welcome it to be wacky and upbeat.  The fact that students can create their own example of what animal show never do is a clear cut motivator to make it their own.

Throughout the text I didn’t see any stereotypes since their weren’t any humans, however certain traits that apply to an animal were shown.  This is a stretch and not the authors intended message. 

I particularly enjoyed the use of point of view on each page, with the animal and cooperating animals trying to relate to what is happening.  A great example of this is the pig eating its lunch. From the pig’s point of view he is too immersed in his lunch to care about anything else.  However, the other animals in the lunchroom are shocked, have stopped eating the lunches and are watching the “entertainment”.  Almost every page has at least two point of views present. 

The setting of the animals was unique and new for each page.  I enjoyed how this was something fresh for the reader to examine.  In the span of several pages you were transported from a movie theatre to a picnic to a dentists' office and then subway.  These changes I believe keep the reader interested even though the concept remains the same throughout the text.   

The style of the book, while extremely simple, is effective in having children examine the plight of the animal and in some cases the animals on the receiving end of their unique traits.  Each page acts as a vignette to the style of silliness and acceptance to someone’s identity. 

The readability in this book is easy with one sentence per page, word enhancement (“Never” being bolded), no more than ten words per page and a repititious style.  Any child would be able to understand the consistent and simple way the book is presented.  Based on these observations, the audience for this book is early elementary boys and girls.  Since animals are loved by most boys and girls, it is a great gender “overlap” book that celebrates silliness.  Since the pictures openly describe what is being read, it would be an effective text for beginning readers, struggling readers and english language learners. 

A great idea for a mini lesson associated with the book would be to have students come up with several examples of “Never…..” with the traits of their chosen animal.  They can list as many as they want and have to draw one.  When they draw one of their examples they cannot write what they are visually explaining.  The class will have to guess what their intended “Never….” Message is.  This will help the classroom better interpret pictures and incorporate text to them. 

A Fine, Fine School

Creech, Sharon. A Fine, Fine School. New York: Joanna Cotler /HarperCollins Pub., 2001. Print.  Illustrated by Bliss, Harry.

In A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech with illustrations by Harry Bliss an overzealous principal, Mr. Keene, begins to start having school on weekends, holidays and Summer vacation.  This gesture comes from his enthusiasm for the school and passion for learning.  The students and teachers are not on board with this decision and bite their tongues because they, “Don’t know how to tell him” that this isn’t a popular or beneficial decision.  He wants students to keep learning and growing in their knowledge. 

Before long, the main character, Tillie, doesn’t have any time to spend with her parents, brother or dog.  One day she goes into Mr. Keene’s office and tells him that there is someone who isn’t learning.  He is shocked and asks her to explain.  She tells him her dog hasn’t learned how to sit and her brother hasn’t learned how to skip and that for them to learn school needs to be only Monday through Friday.  Mr. Keene sees his decisions in a new light based on what Tillie has told him and he reinstates normal school hours.  Everyone is happy along with Mr. Keene. 

Looking at Norton’s characteristics of of high quality literature, there are some strengths and weaknesses to Creech’s book.  The prospect of having a principal allow a seven day school week is completely impossible.  How Mr. Keene got the job of Principal, much less instated a rule like this is absurd.  However, students can relate to subjects about school; it is their social life and where they spend most of their waking hours.  This is a subject so silly and outrageous I can see students relating to the frustration and ultimate triumph of the students and teachers (to a lesser extent, probably).

The characters overcome their problems in an interesting way.  Instead of talking to Mr. Keene when he first instigated a six day school week, they rolled over.  They didn’t address the problem and then Mr. Keene upped the school week to seven days.  It was only when holidays and summer vacation became mandatory for school attendance when Tillie stepped up.  Talking to someone in a civil manner and expressing your concerns is a great way to solve problems but to wait as long as everyone did is a shame and certainly doesn’t promote speaking up when something is wrong. 

As a result of this problem I believe the characters experience a growing number of students can relate to: not having enough time to spend with others or have fun.  It seems life has become busier for a younger and younger group of students.  Even though Tillie’s lack of time was a result of Mr. Keene’s decisions, she is let down by how much work and how little free time she has.  Tillie’s main strength is speaking up when something is wrong, but her main weakness is not being proactive and forthright when there is more and more school. 

The main theme I saw displayed in the text was “Too much of a good thing is a bad thing”.  The students seemed to enjoy to school and Mr. Keene obviously enjoyed his role as principal.  However, once school became never-ending everyone but Mr. Keene was sick of it and began to hate it.  Also, speaking your mind in a respectful manner is the best way to get what you want.  Tillie could have stomped around, yelled and insulted Mr. Keene, however she spoke to him and presented her request in a mature way. 

The text is relatively straightforward with prediction or inference the main higher thought process that exists.  Mr. Keene’s journey toward having school every day was slow and I believe a student would able to see this is inevitable.  He goes from M-F to M-F plus Saturday to seven days a week to holidays and finally to summer vacation.  Every student would be able to tell that it is only a matter of time until school is 24/7 365 in Mr. Keene’s school.  Otherwise, I didn’t find much higher level thought processes present. 

Within this framework I found males and females to be represented well.  Even though the principal was male, his poor decisions aren’t really a a stereotype of males or females.  I did appreciate the mention of students attending school on Christmas, Ramadan and Hanukah instead of only simply mentioning Christian holidays.  Twenty years ago these holiday examples would have never made it in a children’s book.  In the same breath, there are various ethnicities visible in the student group shots. 

Following this multicultural example, I was pleased to see a child solving the problem of non-stop school by herself instead of taking it to her parents.  Obviously not all problems can be solved by students or their parent(s), but she took matters into her own hands and showed resolve to tell the happily headstrong Mr. Keene how this was hurting her and the entire school. 

The story is told through two very different points of view: Tillie and Mr. Keene.  Mr. Keene, while well-intentioned, sees school as a great thing, so great it must be increased to we can all enjoy it even more.  Tillie and the rest of the school seem to enjoy school but begin to get exhausted and frustrated as the school days pile up.  It isn’t until the end where the two main points of view converge to allow a regular five day school week. 

The setting of “A Fine, Fine School” illustrates the burgeoning frustration with Mr. Keene’s policies.  The story begins with a typical schoolyard, hallways and classrooms showing the student body playing, talking and studying.  As the story goes on, the same settings become places of stress, frustration and extreme responsibility.  They also become dirtier and more cluttered because they are constantly being used. 

Another prominent literary element is the characterization of the major and supplemental characters.  Tillie is very relatable to the image of many elementary school students in that she is hard working, loyal to her family and is kind to others.  In this respect, many of the students may see Tillie as being themselves awash in the crazy world of elementary school, family, friends and home.  The other major character, Mr. Keene, is relatable in that he takes pride, albeit too much, in his school and students.  Most students are familiar with their principal in that he takes pride in the school and is generally supportive of students and their learning.  Mr. Keene however takes this too far and his good intentions are misplaced, much to the chagrin of everyone, including the elementary readers of the book. 

The illustrations are quite basic, as I see them.  They are done in watercolor and bold/dark in their appearance.  There are some humorous events going on in the background, especially with Beans the dog mowing the lawn, enjoying coffee (where his namesake comes from) and playing baseball. 

Looking back at A Fine, Fine School, the target audience is young elementary school students.  I say this because of the readability lexile and appearance of pictures that describe but do not explicitly tell the story.  The sentences are mid-length and have common easy to pronounce words.  The presence of repitition (Mr. Keene often says, “This is a fine, fine school!”) and a pattern of increasing the amount of school shows a level of predictability that allows the reader to be drawn into Tillie and Mr. Keene’s world. 

For my mini lesson, I would ask students to bring in three items they would need to have with them in a seven day a week school.  Throughout the book you can see students carrying a toothbrush or letter from mom and dad in the hallways.  This could act as a show and tell related to the story and serve as a looking further step in the text.  If you were in the story, how would you have to change your everyday life?  What objects would you bring to school that are usually reserved for home?  Why would you bring them?  What is their importance? 

Until They Bring the Streetcars Back

West, Stanley Gordon. Until They Bring the Streetcars Back. Bozeman, MT: Lexington-Marshall Pub., 1997. Print.

In Stanley Gordon West’s Until They Bring the Streetcars Back, Cal Gant, an eighteen year-old high school senior is thrust into a world of promises, cover-ups, love, friendship, family drama and a struggle to expose the horrible truths without exposing himself.  Set in 1949 and 1950 in St. Paul, MN Cal’s high school innocence is broken by a revelation from a school outcast: Gretchen Lutterman. 

Before Cal is thrown into the hurricane of Gretchen’s world, it’s important to note that he is a popular, upbeat, highly regarded person and valued athlete in his community.  He has very little to gain from getting involved with someone like Gretchen and everything to lose by trying to solve her problems.  Regardless, after she discloses she is being beaten by her father, Cal feels he has to do something to make it right. 

After some teasing by his friends that he is associating with someone like Gretchen, he continues about his successful high school career.  As of now, Cal’s main concern is unrequited love to Lola Muldoon, a girl he has had feelings for sometime now and who is currently seeing his best friend Tom Bradford.  Much like Gretchen’s cause, Cal has been in denial that this isn’t a problem that needs correcting—the status quo is uncomfortable but fine for now. 

Cal is an everyman in the school and life in general; he has a good head on his shoulders, is successful, cares for others and knows how to cause good-natured trouble.  As the story progresses, Tom and Lola “break up” to appease Tom’s mother only to actually break up.  Cal sees an opportunity and after some awkward attempts to express his true feelings, he and Lola are boyfriend and girlfriend. 

With all seeming well in the world, he is subsequently sucked in Gretchen’s world of horrible secrets.  While working his job delivering groceries he often encounters Gretchen at her job in a local bakery.  Between school and these work encounters, she reveals more about her life, family and past.  Cal is skeptical but learns her stories are true and her situation is dire. 

Although this is a situation anyone would take to the authorities, there is a sticking point to Gretchen’s disclosures: her father is extremely strict and may kill her if the truth about what he has done is revealed.  This puts Cal in a tough spot; he must expose the truth without really telling anyone.  It is a tightrope Cal must walk.  In addition to this burden, his father will soon be unemployed and the future of the family is uncertain.

After contacting several people that normally help those in need, Cal gets no solutions and comes to the conclusion that any solution to Gretchen’s problem will have to be on his terms.

After hearing a particularly horrifying tale from Gretchen that her sister had a child through her father, he takes the extremely bold step of breaking into the Lutterman house to get evidence.  He learns the baby’s body is in the freezer and eventually steals it, only to have Gretchen’s father give chase and snatch it back. 

After escaping unharmed but extremely frustarted and shaken up, Cal begins to hatch a plan to frame Gretchen’s father.  While at his job, he will steal liquor in an attempt to later plant in her father’s car and crash it into the front of his the grocery store where he is employed.  This will lead the police to the Lutterman house and question the father, hopefully allowing the police to discover the truth. 

This plan hits a serious snag when his alcohol theft is discovered by his boss.  As result, his plan will have to wait until he is done serving thrity days in the state workhouse.  In the meantime, his whole world is falling apart around him—Lola dumps him, he will not graduate, his reputation is shattered, his family has lost faith in him and Gretchen is losing hope.  The worst part of Cal’s imprisonment is that his father has passed away.

Before he is done serving his time he finally puts his plan in motion.  After hotwiring the Lutterman car, he plants the alcohol inside and crashes it in to the grocery store to draw the attention of police.

Upon his release from the workhouse he learns that Gretchen’s father has been arrested for the crime and stabbing a policeman.  This is excellent news for Cal, however this won’t put Mr. Lutterman in jail for very long—the truth about the baby must be revealed.  At the trial, Cal is called as a witness, where the defense tries to paint him as trying to protect his “girlfriend”, Gretchen, from her caring father.  Cal does not do well on the witness stand until Gretchen’s mother breaks down and explains that there was a child through Gretchen and her father and that it was killed by Mr. Lutterman.  Upon this revelation, Cal is attacked by Gretchen’s father and subsequently sentenced to life in the Stillwater, MN prison. 

Although Cal has sacrificed so much, he has saved a life and corrected what was wrong in Gretchen’s life.  At the end of the novel, he is content with himself as a person and realizes most of what happens in life is simple and really not important.  The events that have transpired have given him a new perspective on life and outlook toward a the future. 

Upon reflection, Until They Bring the Streetcars Back meets many of the requirements of high quality literature.  The characters face problems that are believable and interesting to students.  Much of the book has one startling development after another to the shock of the characters.  Going through high school, there was always a bombshell about someone or something unexpected floating around in the social circles.  I believe this is relatable to the average reader in that they no doubt have heard horrible rumors about their classmates and wondered who to talk to or how to solve the problem.  

Despite the common thread of a student being in a an unsafe environment, Gretchen’s plight is not solved in conventional ways.  We all have had experiences that don’t have conventional solutions, however I found Cal’s plan a bit short-sighted in its execution and believability.  I don’t know if Stanley Gordon West is setting a solid example to his younger readers by saying a crime being committed is okay as long as it exposes another crime being committed.  This “ends justifies the means” mentality may put some of his readers in a tough spot in their opinion of Cal. 

While reading through the text, I found the characters to be developed well and, although only told through Cal’s eye’s, he describes each important character with past anecdotes and effect observations.  I felt enough information was given for each character representative of their role in the text.  The best example of this was Cal’s descriptions of Lola.  As with any person, when you’re in love with someone, especially someone who may be out of reach, you realize every amazing part of them, whether it be physical, emotional, mental or social.  Cal didn’t skimp on his descriptions of Lola and this took me back to the awkward middle and high school days of daydreaming of my female classmates. 

The words used throughout the text and general social norms were the best indicators that showed the setting of Streetcars. Words and phrases like, “crummy,” “jeez,” “bombed it down to…” and “golly” were dead ringers the story took place in the late 40’s and 50’s in America.  Also, the fact that you could buy hamburger for $0.15, easily and safely hitchhike, or take pleasure in having a complete stranger chase you through the night in a large city is clearly from a simpler and safer time.  Also, Cal’s father remarks about how communists are evil, which was a common sentiment in America during the Cold War.

In Streetcars, West has several major and supporting themes.  Through my examination, I found love, friendship, morality, and sacrifice the major themes with popularity, success and honesty to be supporting themes.  The text provided a spectacular forum for discussion of these themes.  The circumstances surrounding the themes and how they play out, not perfectly but ultimately effective, is true to real life and many situations some adolescents encounter.  At every tough decision we hear Cal’s inner thoughts, the options he has and how these could play out until the platform of the major themes.   

Although all has been generally positive in the review so far, I felt Mr. West explained too much in the novel instead of letting the reader figure parts of the story.  Many of the revelations were simply blurted out, like the fact Jacob was Gretchen’s child, not Helga’s.  This is important, but for its shock value, I have a hard time believing she would loudly disclose this with little prompting.  Instead of drawing us deeper in, too much was revealed too easily.  This could have drifted very easily into the mystery genre, however it was an action/drama (as I interpreted it).  I didn’t have to make many inferences while reading; I read the text and it told me, without having me to do any work to discover the story and its secrets. 

Although I felt the story was revealed a bit too easily, I thought the characters and ethnicities were portrayed positively, especially considering this was newly post-war America.  Jerry is revealed to be Jewish with Cal not really caring.  The closest example I could find of a stereotype was Norwegians being portrayed as quiet in relation to Cal’s father.  This is not an egregious or offensive example and only mentioned in passing.  Cal’s younger sister, Peggy, is viewed as a spitfire but only to improve the fortunes of others such sneaking out to put out carrots for the rabbit and coming to Cal’s basketball game to support him.  His mom, is viewed as subordinate in the family by cooking, cleaning and not working, however, this was the 1940’s and 1950’s so it was more socially commonplace than in 2011. 

Through Cal’s actions and his hardships, I believe students would easily be able to be motivated and inspired by the story’s resolution.  We’ve all felt like the world is collapsing around us and we can’t get out of bad situations, but through determination and hard work we can often achieve our goal and learn something about ourselves in the process. 

The literary elements I saw on display were setting, characterization, style.  The setting was extremely vivd with street names, environment descriptions (inside and outside buildings), local parks, establishments and details included.  I was actually surprised there wasn’t a map included in the book its regional descriptions were so frequent.  The description of the alley by Cal’s house and the abused dog’s pen, while not essential to the story, was described in a way in which I had an image of it tattooed in my mind.

Within these well-described environments the characters were life-like, believable and fit the descriptions of their personalities very well.  While reading, the essence of the character was shown through dialogue, actions and Cal’s descriptions.  Gretchen’s character is a prime example of this.  She was deeply damaged and the book described her very well in this regard by detailing her appearance, her social standing, her few (but important) words and rumors.  Cal would repeatedly describe the emotion in her voice and her appearance to reflect her plight. 

The style of writing is vintage 1950’s.  Although I never heard the phrase, “Bombed down”. I figured it meant, “Went to”.  I honestly don’t think I have heard the term, “Necking” since before my grandma passed away.  Period hallmarks such as Frank Sinatra records, drive ins and cruisin’ around identified the style as sort of sweet “aw shucks” in its delivery.  This got annoying to me after a while, however the style can’t change unless the time period changes, which it didn’t.  In this sense, the book stayed in character and maintained consistency in its style to the reader. 

In retrospect, I believe this book’s prime audience would be middle teenagers, perhaps sophomores or juniors in high school.  Although it takes place in a generally “safe” period in American history, the content and Gretchen’s secret is serious stuff that shouldn’t be discussed until the class can be mature about the subject matter.  Since the main character and hero is a boy and the Gretchen is the female in distress, I believe it would appeal more to boys/men. 

One idea for a mini lesson would be to have a pro and con list of Cal getting involved with Gretchen.  What are the positives associated with him helping her?  What are the negatives associated with helping her?  I would have the students brainstorm and write in their literacy journals.  After ten minutes or so we would conveine as a class and discuss our answers.

Is the pro and con side lopsided?  Do certain examples carry less weight when compared to examples in another column?  I am trying to show that saving someone’s life isn’t as important as missing the big game, etc. and that sometimes what looks like less is really more. 

As a journal activity I would have the students write about how they would handle Gretchen’s situation in 2011 as opposed to 1950.  This would be evaluated on the number of examples listed, depth of answers and relation to self and text.