Module 10 - The Plain Janes by: Cecil Castellucci

PLOT:  A terrorist attack in Metro City forces Jane and her parents to move to suburbia.  Jane is a teen that was a victim to this attack and helped save another person who is called John Doe and is in a coma at the cities hospital.  Forced to a fresh new start in a new high school she makes friends with girls that are loners and rejects.  However they are also named Jane, “Brain Jane”, “Theatre Jane” and “Sporty Jane”.  They become good friends and start a group called P.L.A.I.N.  This stands for People Loving Art in Neighborhoods. The girls go around committing “art attacks” at night to try and make the suburbs more cheerful since the terrorist attack left many people scared. The Jane’s plan a ball dropping to celebrate New Year’s but things go sour because the police are trying really hard to catch the group committing these acts.

Castellucci, C. & Rugg, J. (2007). The plain Janes. New York, NY: DC Comics.

IMPRESSION OF THE BOOK:  I liked the story line it was simple and interesting.  I really liked the different types of art that they displayed.  The art display that I really liked the best is when the girls put hoodies and scarfs on the fire hydrants.  The other art display was the messages in the bottles.  They hung bottles from a tree and put written messages inside the bottles.  The messages were all different some said “Dance”, “Hug” or just to express a great feeling by doing something.  This book reminded me of the organized flash mob dances that were occurring all over the different busy places a while back.  It was art and it was organized to show some sort of emotion.  I really liked the way the teen girls united and worked together to do something fun.  I honestly thought that everyone would show up at the end to see the ball drop full of paint but it was sad that they couldn’t leave the house party because the cops raided the party.  I think the ball dropping would have really brought joy to the city and to all the people there to symbolize a new year and to try and forget the terrorist attack. 

REVIEWS:  The first entry in DC Comics new Minx line, Cecil Castellucci & Jim Rugg's The Plain Janes is a well-intended piece of adolescent lit whose modest charms threaten to be overwhelmed by its status as a Significant Publishing Event: DC Comics' much-touted attempt at snagging the long elusive tween- & teen-girl audience.

Janes' story is narrated by a city girl named Jane Beckles, who survives a seemingly random terrorist bombing (writer Castellucci keeps the details behind the attack vague, though an early visual reference to Orange Alerts can't help but bring up thoughts of 9/11) as she's strolling past a street-side café. Following this life-changing event, Jane dyes her hair black and becomes a More Serious Person (though we're not really shown her past as a frivolous blond). When her parents, freaked out by the newly perilous-seeming city, move to suburban Kent Waters, our heroine has to find a new set of friends as she's simultaneously working toward building a fresh identity.

She settles on a group of "misfit" girls sitting together in the lunchroom: a bespectacled science nerd, a pudgy drama type and a strapping girl jock – all of whom are also named Jane (or a variation thereof). Though the threesome initially rebuffs our girl's advances ("Even the reject table doesn't want to sit with me," she grouses), Jane ultimately wins 'em over by proposing that they band together as an Art Gang.

Her creation of this group, which she calls P.L.A.I.N. for "People Loving Art in Neighborhoods," arises from two moments that had occurred immediately after the bombing: the sighting of a dandelion growing out of the sidewalk ("If that dandelion could survive, so could I," Jane thinks) and her acquisition of an artist's sketchbook dropped close to where she's fallen. On the sketchbook is the legend, "Art Saves," and Jane takes this as her new personal credo. With the other Janes, she creates works of guerilla art throughout the town of Kent Waters, first being a trio of pyramids on the site of a proposed strip mall: "The pyramids lasted thousands of years," the piece's poster notes. "Do you think this strip mall will?"

Though Jane's stated intent is to bring a moment of beauty into mundane suburban life, the response to the P.L.A.I.N. Janes' work is decidedly mixed. To Jane's parents and the local authorities, even something as harmless as an "art attack" serves as a reminder of how tenuous their safety is. Instead of seeing the P.L.A.I.N. statements for what they are – fairly obvious adolescent didacticism — they react as if the terror alert's been just been upped. What started out as an effort on Jane's part to bring a new sense of control to her life ("I feel like I'm asking the world to keep me safe by making them pause just one minute," she states) winds up sparking new terror fears throughout much of the community.

Sherman, B. (2007). [Review of the book The plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg]. Blogcritics.org. Retrieved August 5, 2013, from http://blogcritics.org/graphic-novel-review-the-plain-janes/

USE IN THE LIBRARY: For a book like this a book talk on different Graphic Novels could be used.  This is a good book to introduce reluctant readers into a different type of book or read.  I would use this book and possibly two others to show how many different types of Graphic Novels are available. I would also show that the art is different once you get into Manga and Anime series and stories. 

Module 10 – The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by: Sherman Alexie

PLOT:  Arnold is a fourteen year old that was born with a brain disorder.  He had surgery when he was an infant but he was left with many physical problems, he had forty-two teeth, a big head, large feet and was really skinny and lanky. His eyesight was also very bad and he had to wear special glasses. He was born to an Indian family that lives on a reservation located in Spokane, Washington.  The family along with everyone on the reservation is very poor. His father is a drunk and his mother is an ex-drunk.  His older sister has been living in the basement for over 7 years until she decides to run off and get married.  Arnold also known as Junior is always bullied and picked on by his peers and even by older people.  He is constantly called a retard or a hydro, because of his big head.  One day at school, sitting in Geometry class, he realizes that the school is so poor because the textbook he gets has his moms name in it.  That meant that the text book was over 40 years old, out of anger he throws the book at the teacher and breaks his nose.  This teacher then decides to visit him at home and has a heart to heart talk with him, somehow he convinces Arnold that he has to get off the reservation and go to a better school.  Arnold then realizes that he must make a change if not he will just be sucked into the life of the reservation and never become anything and eventually just die.  Arnold decides to transfer to Reardan High School that is over 22 miles away from him and it is an all-white kid school.  With the everyday struggles of getting to and from school he doesn’t give up.  Eventually, he gains his place at the school and kids learn to respect him.  Teachers are willing to help him and his basketball coach even selects him to play on the varsity basketball team, even though he was just a freshman. Faced with ridicule from the reservation and seen as a traitor by many he learns to accept this and continue his dream of wanting more out of life. The story takes a few turning points because his grandmother, Eugene his father’s best friend and his sister all die in a span of about 3 months.  He sees his mother pretty much fall apart and knowing they live in poverty and he has drunk for a father, doesn’t help the situation. Arnold somehow shows courage and finishes his first year at Reardan High School along with conquering many life challenges.

Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time indian. NewYork, NY: Little Brown and Company.

IMPRESSION OF THE BOOK:  This book was just absolutely awesome. I really enjoyed reading this book.  It was hilarious, sad, witty, and you can’t help but to root for Arnold.  Along with the quirky funny situations that Arnold faces, this book is also very inspiring.  It just goes to show that if you really want something you will do it and accomplish it.  Arnold really wanted to more than what he was getting at the reservation so at times he walked over 22 miles to go to an all-white school because he felt he had a better chance of getting a better education and more opportunities would be available to him. At the reservation he was constantly picked on and bullied and his only friend Rowdy would be the only one to really defend him.  When he transferred over to Reardan High School (the all-white school) he had to prove that he wasn’t the wimp he was known for and a little at a time kids learned to respect him.  He started dating a really pretty girl named Penelope and he even was the only freshman starter on the Varsity Basketball team.  There was a lot of positive encouragement from his classmates, teachers and coach that allowed Arnold to really see that he was someone and that he could make a difference.   Now, you might ask what makes this book so funny well one, Arnold is telling the story, and he doesn’t hold back in talking about his experiences.  One time he actually described his masturbation in the bathroom and how he got an erection because he hugged the counselor.  The way Rowdy and him talk to each other is just right down hilarious because they really go off on each other.  There are some sad parts to this story because Arnolds grandmother, and sister die and you see his suffering through his character.  Also his dad’s best friend, Eugene dies because he got in a drunken brawl with this friend and the friend shot him in the face. Arnold really has to face many challenges in this book.  He faces bullying, racism, poverty, death, and he somehow manages to be heroic to his family, tribe and school.   This book is a great read and I really enjoyed it. I give this book two very big thumbs up.

REVIEWS:  Kirkus Reviews starred (2007)

Alexie nimbly blends sharp wit with unapologetic emotion in his first foray into young-adult literature. Fourteen-year-old Junior is a cartoonist and bookworm with a violent but protective best friend Rowdy. Soon after they start freshman year, Junior boldly transfers from a school on the Spokane reservation to one in a tiny white town 22 miles away. Despite his parents' frequent lack of gas money (they're a "poor-ass family"), racism at school and many crushing deaths at home, he manages the year. Rowdy rejects him, feeling betrayed, and their competing basketball teams take on mammoth symbolic proportions. The reservation's poverty and desolate alcoholism offer early mortality and broken dreams, but Junior's knowledge that he must leave is rooted in love and respect for his family and the Spokane tribe. He also realizes how many other tribes he has, from "the tribe of boys who really miss . . . their best friends" to "the tribe of tortilla chips-and-salsa lovers." Junior's keen cartoons sprinkle the pages as his fluid narration deftly mingles raw feeling with funny, sardonic insight. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Review. (2007). [Review of the book The absolutely true diary of a part-time indian, by Sherman Alexie]. Kirkus Reviews Issue.  Retrieved August 5, 2013, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sherman-alexie/the-absolutely-true-diary-of-a-part-time-indian/.

USE IN THE LIBRARY: This book is way too long to do a class lesson in the library so what I would do is put it in a display with other books that relate to this topic. The display could be called “Sex in the Library” and other books such as Crank, Forever, Shiver, The Perks of Being a Wild Flower and many more books. I think students especially my teens would really go hay wire over the display and want to check out the books.

Module 9 – Crank by: Ellen Hopkins

PLOT:  Kristina who was once a great teenage kid comes in contact with her worst, or should we say her best friend, “Crank” (methamphetamine) or should we call it the “Monster”.  Kristina who originally lives with her mother and step-father has the ideal life of a teenager.  Nice house, nice room and nice friends.  Kristina is 16 years old when she goes to visit her real father, whom she hasn’t seen in year, for three weeks and discovers she has an alter ego named Bree.  She quickly realizes that her father is a dead beat drug user who works at a bowling alley.  He lives in a very nasty apartment with not much furniture.  However, there is a neighborhood good looking teen boy, named Adam, who lives on the first floor of the apartment complex and he begins to gain some interest in Bree (Kristina) even though he has a girlfriend.  Adam is to blame for Bree’s (Kristina) addiction, he introduces her to drugs (crank) and she likes it.  There are a couple of times that her father joins in on the fun and gets high with her.  After the three weeks Kristina must return home and try to forget her past, except her past is addicting and so is Bree’s life style.  She quickly begins making new friends that will join her in her monster addiction to crank.  Kristina or Bree is faced with making very poor choices because she gets raped and pregnant.  She decides to keep the baby but continues with an inner struggle of wanting crank and Bree in her life.

Hopkins, E., (2004). Crank. NewYork, NY: Simon Pulse.

IMPRESSION OF THE BOOK:  I really liked this book because of the way it was written. Crank is a verse novel and is an easy, quick but detailed story.  I was really into this read.  At times I wanted to reach into the book and knock some sense into Kristina’s character but I know that is impossible. Bree is the alter ego who takes over Kristina’s perfect life.  Bree’s character is braver when talking to boys and making careless and life threatening choices.  Some of the parts that are pretty gruesomely detailed are how she feels when she is totally high.  Bree describes the feelings when she gets high for the first time. She states “Fire! Your nose ignites, flameless kerosene (and some say Drano) laced with ephedrine you want to cry powdered demons bite through cartilage and sinuses, take dead aim at your brain, jump inside want to scream troops of tapping at your feet fall into rhythm, marking time right between your eyes… through arteries and capillaries, pulsing, rushing, raging torrents pounding against your heart.” This type of description is throughout the entire book. It is very detailed and if you have never tried drugs then this could be one of the great descriptions of what it feels like and what the consequences are when doing drugs.  Every time Bree gets high she describes different feelings because she gets involved with stronger drugs than just cocaine. She tries meth, ecstasy and many laced drugs to get a higher effect.  Towards the end of the book you find out she is pregnant due to a rape situation.  This is where I totally want reach in the book and slap some sense into this character.  She decides she will keep the baby and fight the monster but the monster wins a few times. She tries really hard to stay clean for a few months but after having the baby she really can’t handle being a mom because of the crying and needs of the baby, and you just know that she will go back to using drugs.  The author does a great job leaving you curious as to what Kristina will do so you have to read the next book, Glass to find out.

REVIEWS:  Kirkus Reviews (2004)

Hypnotic and jagged free verse wrenchingly chronicles 16-year-old Kristina's addiction to crank. Kristina's daring alter ego, Bree, emerges when "gentle clouds of monotony" smother Kristina's life-when there's nothing to do and no one to connect with. Visiting her neglectful and druggy father for the first time in years, Bree meets a boy and snorts crank (methamphetamine). The rush is irresistible and she's hooked, despite a horrible crank-related incident with the boy's other girlfriend. Back home with her mother, Kristina feels both ignored and smothered, needing more drugs and more boys-in that order. One boy is wonderful and one's a rapist, but it's crank holding Bree up at this point. The author's sharp verse plays with spacing on the page, sometimes providing two alternate readings. In a too brief wrap-up, Kristina keeps her baby (a product of rape) while Hopkins-realistically-offers no real conclusion. Powerful and unsettling. (author's note) (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Review. (2004). [Review of the book Crank, by Ellen Hopkins]. Kirkus Reviews Issue.  Retrieved August 3, 2013, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ellen-hopkins/crank/

USE IN THE LIBRARY: This would be a good book to create a display in the library during Drug Awareness Week.  I would use along with other books to promote how drugs can really damage the body and mind. 

Module 9 – Dinosaurs Before Dark by: Mary Pope Osborne

PLOT: This time travel story starts with Jack and Annie who are brother and sister walking home from school one day.  As they are walking through the woods close to their home they come across a tree house with a very long rope ladder.  Annie decides to climb up and her brother Jack follows, to their surprise they find lots of books.  Jack begins to look through the books and realizes that there is even a book about Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, that’s where they live.  Jack begins to flip through a book about dinosaurs and he carelessly makes a wish about wanting to see a flying Pteranodon.  All of a sudden the tree house begins to spin and the adventure begins.  They end up traveling through time and end up in the Cretaceous period where dinosaurs roam the land.  They begin to explore the land and they come across several different types of dinosaurs including a Tyrannosaurus (T-Rex). They realize that a T-Rex is a meat eater and they make it back to the tree house without getting caught by the T-Rex.  Annie manages to make it to the tree house but Jack is left behind.  With the help of Annie and the Pteranodon Jack makes it safe back to the tree house and they quickly make a wish to return to Frog Creek, Pennsylvania.  When they return back home it’s as if time froze and they returned back to the same time they left. They make a promise not to tell anyone about their adventure because they don’t think anyone would believe them anyways.  They soon hear their mother calling out for them and they go home.

Osborne, M.P., (1992). Dinosaurs before dark. New York: Random House.

IMPRESSION OF THE BOOK:  This is a really cute book for kids from about 6-9 years old.  There is plenty of excitement and adventure to keep kids returning back for more stories about the Magic Tree House.  My favorite part of this book was when they landed back in time and they actually made contact with the dinosaurs.  Annie, who is a very brave and a trusting young girl has a way with the dinosaurs and gets the opportunity to pet the Pteranodon.  Jack who is more reserved and likes to take notes is much more precautious.  Annie literally goes up to the Pteranodon and she feels that she can trust the dinosaur and the dinosaur can trust her.  They also get to see a triceratops eating magnolia flowers and gigantic duck-billed dinosaur with her baby eggs hatching.  A really funny part is when the two kids get to close to the duck billed dinosaur nests and the kids fall to the ground and pretend they are chewing because big momma dinosaur is right above them.  They slowly crawl out of that situation to come in contact with a T-Rex.  Another part of the story that really shows that Annie can communicate with the dinosaurs is when she tells the Pteranodon to rescue her brother and bring him back to the tree house before T-Rex eats him.  Without the help of Annie and the Pteranodon Jack would have been eaten up alive, by the T-Rex.  This part of the book is exciting and will really get kids wanting to finish the story.  Overall, I think this book is really cute and this series will have kids wanting to know what other adventures Jack and Annie get into.

REVIEWS:  Kirkus Reviews (1992)

In classic E. Nesbit tradition, Jack's wishes go awry while he and his sister Annie, seven, are time traveling. Reluctantly followed by her eight-year-old brother, Annie enters a mysterious treehouse full of books. Examining a dinosaur book, Jack blurts, "I wish I could see a pteranodon for real"--whereupon one flies in, with a rushing wind. Like Dorothy and Toto, they're blown to a land of adventure: the treehouse takes them to the Cretaceous Period, where they meet a triceratops and a duck-billed dinosaur and find a gold medallion engraved "M." Elation gives way to terror when a tyrannosaur shows up; Annie escapes, but Jack is cut off while retrieving his pack and the book. Just in time, the pteranodon flies him back to the treehouse, and a hasty wish spins them safely home, to ponder several questions: Whose treehouse? Why all the books? Who is "M"? In the "First Stepping Stone" series, this initial "Magic Tree House" book is a fast-paced tale offering both mystery and dinosaurs--powerful enticements for newly independent readers. Illustrations not seen.

Kirkus Review. (1992). [Review of the book Dinosaurs before dark, by Mary Pope Osborne]. Kirkus Reviews Issue.  Retrieved August 3, 2013, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/mary-pope-osborne/dinosaurs-before-dark/

USE IN THE LIBRARY:  This is a great book to create a science lesson about dinosaurs.  However, since I don’t have the time needed to read the entire book in one class sitting I would do a book challenge.  I would create a book challenge display and do a quick 30 second book talk about this book and I would have crossword puzzles, word searches and other kinds of puzzles and challenge kids to read the book and solve a puzzle for a prize. My display would be called “Book Challenge Puzzle for a Prize” and I could even team up with teachers and ask if they would be willing to give a student some extra credit points if they took on the challenge of reading the book and solving a puzzle.