Water for Elephants

I recently picked up a copy of Water for Elephants because I felt a little culturally out of the loop for not reading it or seeing the movie. Before I start, I will say that I would not select this book for a young adult collection. It is about two things that I know very little about from my own personal experience, living in a circus and struggling with poverty during the Great Depression. I would recommend this book for a supplemental reading list if I high school Social Studies class were studying the Great Depression.

Jacob starts the story with a very charmed life, just like many Americans started life at the beginning of the Great Depression. As a Vet student at Cornell, he is pulled from one of his final classes and told that his parents have died in a car accident. He quickly discovers that his parents were hit hard by the Great Depression and have put themselves into extreme debt to pay for his Ivy League education.

Lost and slightly delirious by the prospect of his looming "future," Jacob finds himself on a circus train, a circus in need of a vet. Any observant reader can tell that he is going to fall in love with the show's star before Jacob even realizes it. However, to find out if he wins her away from her husband, the unbalanced master of animals on the show, you'll have to read it.

When I watched the movie, I was disappointed by the differences. There were more flashbacks to Jacob as an old man in a nursing home in the book and I felt that made him a more sympathetic character. However, both the book and the movie are worth your time to read and enjoy. Interesting lessons for readers can be found in how people struggle and cope with poverty. I felt like a complete jerk as I read this one on the beach! The reality of life for a little person or a struggling alchoholic in the Great Depression are stark and should impact any reader.

The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games Trilogy has captured the attention of readers and non-readers alike. The series starts with The Hunger Games and Katniss Everdeen volunteering to go in to the sickest reality television show you can possibly imagine. Collins brings in an interesting love triangle that includes fellow district 12 tribute Peta and Gale, a hunting partner to Katniss. Throughout the series, which includes Catching Fire and Mockingjay, this love triangle is what makes the story interesting, beyond the obvious government gone-wrong/ save the world theme.

I was wildly entertained and I deeply enjoyed this series. As a matter of fact, I read it in a week. However, I have a serious problem with the way that the first book ends. SPOILER ALERT. Because of this ending, an attempted suicide, I have a problem recommending this book to kids and with the popularity that it has maintained over the last few years. As an educator, I am upset with librarians and English teachers alike because I feel like we have missed another opportunity to discuss a serious issue.

When Bella attempted suicide in the Twlight series, we barley mentioned it. In that series, immature readers might have even missed that she was trying to kill herself. However, no one can miss the attempted suicide in The Hunger Games. All action stops and they talk about it. I hate that this is treated so lightly by teachers and I'm not sure that most parents would even know that it is there.

Now that I have said my piece there, I have to say that I thought the movie was great. I had problems with the fact that Madge is not a character in the movie, the bodies are not picked up during the games, and Lenny Kravitz felt like a strange casting choice to me. However, I imagine that I will see it again and deeply enjoy it again.

Finally, Dystopian literature in this manner is doing social studies teachers a favor. Readers are learning to question government. It is so obvious to readers that what the Capital is doing is wrong that drawing parallels about wrongs from our own government is a natural jump.

The Secrets of Peaches

The Secrets of Peaches is the second book in a series that begins with Peaches and I will be very excited to pick up the third book as soon as possible. Reading the Princess Diaries series and this series have made me remember how much I enjoy reading for pleasure. Something doesn't need to be loaded with academic merit for me to like it and that is surley the case here, though there is some great symbolism with a sick pecan tree and bats flapping around.

As the second book of a series, this book is more mature because it address much more mature topics like leaving home for college, serious depression, and premarital sex. The girl who had sex is the last of the three that I would have expected to do so. With that thought in mind, I don't think that some middle school students would enjoy this book because so much of the content would feel very distant to them. On the other hand, depression and premarital sex may have become middle school topics since I finished middle school.

We have the same three characters, Murphy, Leeda, and Birdie, and we pick up in the same place, Bridgewater, GA, very close to the ending of the previous novel. The girls test each other's friendship in this story as they and members of their family proceede to let each other down, almost constantly. We should learn from reading this that people make mistakes and that they often won't ask for help when they need it the most.

As an avid reader, and some sort of writer, I have come to enjoy Jodi Lynn Anderson's writing because of her ability to write about smells and have me actually smell them. I find this refreshing, whether she is writing about a peach orchard in Georgia or a kitchen in Mexcio.

This book belongs in school libraries because it gives readers the opportunites to learn from the mistakes of the characters. However, I do have reservations about middle school libraries, as I expressed above.

Anderson, Jodi Lynn. The Secrets of Peaches. Harper Teen: New York, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-06-073310-0.

The Incredible Book Eating Boy

The Incredible Book Eating Boy is a great book to read to a class when attempting to promote the idea that reading is cool because it makes you look smart.

The main character, Henry, loves to eat books. But, when he starts to feel sick from the eating of such non-food items, he decides that maybe, just maybe, he should be devouring the book in another way.

The art work for this book was created on pages from weeded books from libraries, found books, or throw away books. The paint and pencil drawings are detailed, striking, and colorful. When the words from the old book pages show through the paintings, the concept or idea behind the knowledge of books is all the more powerful.

I've recently become a fan of Oliver Jeffers because of the way that he can write a book with powerful lessons in it and not sound condescending.

Jeffers, Oliver. The Incredible Book Eating Boy. Philomel Books: New York, 2006. ISBN: 978-0399-24749-1.

Up and Down

Up and Down is a story of friendship and is a great opportunity to help young readers learn to cope if they have to move away or they have friends who move away. The watercolor paintings do an excellent job of conveying emotion and movement.

The story is simple.

Even though the penguin and the boy are very close friends and do everything together, they penguin decides that he wants to fly and he wants to do it on his own.

But Penguins have short stubby wings and fat bodies? But what if the penguin gets hurt blasting out of a cannon? Answer that with, but he has a really good friend, right? Then your child will learn a lesson or two about friendship.

Jeffers, Oliver. Up and Down. Philomel Books, New York, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-399-25545-8.

Roller Coaster

Roller Coaster is the story of "one person's" journey on the roller coaster. Frazee gives the readers the message that it is okay to be scared and okay to be fearful of something new. Because some of the writing contains great examples of onomatopoeia and that onomatopoeia is cleverly used there is a special sense of anticipation created in the roller coaster ride.

The drawings would be great for study in an art class because they show a great sense of movement. Where one loop on the page ends, when you turn to the next page, the drawing picks up.

I believe that Roller Coaster is a a clever book not only because of the continuous roller coaster throughout the book but because of the moral message we can learn from it: it is okay to be scared or afraid. Oftentimes, we forget to let children know this.

Frazee, Marla. Roller Coaster. Harcourt Inc.; San Diego, 2003. ISBN: 0-15-204554-6

Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor

Amelia takes everything literally. For example, when the mayor is with the press because he has to iron some things out, Amelia promises to bring him some actual shirts to iron. This discussion of literal language against figurative language would be useful in older, high school, classrooms. While middle schoolers often are unentertained by a teacher who whips out a picture book, oftentimes high schoolsrs are very entertained by them.

Amelia makes a cake in a pan when she is asked to make "pancakes" and sticks a French flag in toast when asked to make French toast. When a citizen says it is time for change, Amelia offers him the 43 cents in her pocket.

Most or some of these jokes might go over picture book reader's heads, but these books with all the plays on words, is a great or different way to engage reluctant readers in a discussion that they hear from an English teacher every year. This is an opportunity to get reluctant readers to sit up an pay attention in class.

Parish, Herman. Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor. Pictures by Lynn Sweat. Greenwillow Books, New York; 1999. ISBN 0-688-16722-5.