Book Trailer for

 Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy

by Gary D. Schmidt

2005 Newbery Award and Michael L. Printz Honor

TWU - LS 5623 - Poetry, Drama, Film & Novels- WHAY MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW

YA

Sones, Sonya. 2001. WHAY MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.  ISBN 9780689841149

PLOT SUMMARY - ANALYSIS

In this poetry novel, Sonya Sones delves into the teenage world of love and friendship when she sets Sophie on her journey. This entire book is written from Sophie’s point of view and is revealed in a chronological diary format. The title of each of the entries is written in a different font than the entries made by Sophie. The dialogue is authentic of teenage girls with the language and the concern over what her peers will think about her if she leaves the popular Dylan to go out with Murphy.

Sones documents the rather self-involved relationship building and then details the relationship demolition with Dylan through Sophie’s thoughts, obsessions and jealousy. "Drawing on the recognizable cadence of teenage speech, the author poignantly captures the tingle and heartache of being young and boy-crazy," wrote PW in a starred review. "She weaves separate free verse poems into a fluid and coherent narrative with a satisfying ending." Publishers Weekly (February 24, 2003)

The school setting gives the readers the feeling of the social dynamic of the school and lets the readers understand how perception issues can cause fear in how relationships are formed. Sophie has only two very close friends at school that she trusts with her personal love life updates. 

Sophie’s own family situation is revealed in her explanation of her mom as spending more time involved in the lives of the soap stars on television than in her life.

“I walk from room to room switching off all the other set, wishing she would show half as much interest in my life as she does in Luke and Laura’s” (page 22).

In between her two real life romantic encounters, Sophie has a sad realization that her computer relationship with someone named Chaz, is really dangerous and a big mistake. Sones takes this opportunity for a gentle reminder about Cyberstalkers and putting too much trust into someone that sounds nice on the Internet.

In a Cinderalla-like twist, Sophie meets a masked dancer at a school dance and they share glances and dances, but he leaves without revealing his identity. Sophie finds her prince charming to be the very person that she has so much in common with and is surprised and a little ashamed at first that he may be her prince charming. She soon overcomes the peer pressure and chooses to be with a person who shares so many common interests and has a great accepting family.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Book Links (ALA) 05/01/04

Notable Best Books (ALA) 01/21/02

Book Report starred 03/01/02

Publishers Weekly starred 10/15/01

School Library Journal 10/01/01

Booklist starred 11/15/01

Books for the Teen Age (NYPL) 05/01/02

Wilson’s Junior High School 01/09/10

CONNECTIONS

Levithan, David. 2008. HOW THEY MET, AND OTHER STORIES. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780375848865

·         Partner this book as another look at teen relationships and falling in love

McMullan, Margaret. 2010. SOURCES OF LIGHT. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

ISBN 9780547076591

·         Partner this book in looking at a different form of prejudice

Trembath, Don. 1998. A BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON YONGE STREET. Victoria, BC, Canada: Orca Book Publishers.

ISBN 9781551431215

·         Partner this book to explore a first love novel from a male perspective

TWU - LS 5623 - Poetry, Drama, Film & Novels- GLASS

YA

Hopkins, Ellen. 2007. GLASS. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books. ISBN 9781416940906

PLOT SUMMARY - ANALYSIS

This mature, poetry novel is based on the author’s experience with her own daughter’s drug addiction. The poetry is written in a very blunt, desperate, and often childish language that takes a distorted look at the way an addict thinks they can fight an addition to drugs on their own.

Kristina is living at home with her mom and step-father and is on the right track to go to college, when she visits her drug using father on a summer trip, is introduced to drugs, cannot break the cycle, and changes her life forever.  

Kristina has named her split personality “Bree” who is much stronger and takes risks without thinking through the consequences.  In a state of perpetual searching and scheming to get a taste of crank which Bree calls “the monster,” Kristina wrecks her life, first getting pregnant in a blur of a drug induced rape and then making poor choices which eventually lead to her loosing custody of her child, Hunter,  and being arrested for drug possession.

Kristina’s infatuation with boys and relationships becomes her downfall into making really poor decisions about her life and the life of her child.  As she leaves her child with her mother for a date with Trey, Hopkins writes “I’ve got to be hot for Trey. I’m in love with him. That scares the hell out of me. Love is the first step toward breaking up” (page 321).

“The tragic push-pull also plays out in Kristina’s relationships with two men, both users, with whom she experiences (explicitly described) sex, love, and abuse.” Booklist (October 1, 2007 (Vol. 104, No. 3))She has quick and flippant relationships with so many boys in the book from Brendan , the father of her baby to Brad, a drug dealer with two young girls and finally Trey, who is the largest part of her demise. She mentally and physically suffers from her lack of self worth.

Her mother plays a stabilizing role in the life of Hunter, and tries to administer hard love to Kristina, but fails when she sees Kristina as her father’s daughter as in the birthday all-nighter that happens in a casino. The setting of Reno plays an important role in that there was a casino for Kristina’s birthday trip with her father and the availability of fake IDs and proximity to drug dealing from Mexico.

This book is a long fall for Kristina. The reader cannot believe that her life could keep getting worse, but it does.  This novel keeps spiraling out of control until final an arrest puts a stop to her life, relationships, and future. Kristina admits that “No longer will Trey and I share an apartment, a car, a bed,. Won’t share a pipe. A cigarette. A kiss. Won’t share promises. Dreams. Vows” (page 672).

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Booklist 10/01/07

Publishers Weekly 08/13/07

Kirkus Review 07/15/07

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) 08/01/07

CONNECTIONS

Ratcliffe, Jane. 2001. THE FREE FALL. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

ISBN9780805066678

·         Partner this book as another teen fighting addiction

Hopkins, Ellen. 2004. CRANK. New York: Simon Pulse. ISBN 9780689865190

·         Partner this as a prequel to Glass

McCaffrey, Kate. 2009. IN ECSTASY. Toronto: Annick Press. ISBN 9781554511754

·         Partner this book as a look at another first time addict

 

TWU - LS 5623 - Poetry, Drama, Film & Novels- MAKE LEMONADE

YA

Wolff, Virginia Euwer. 1993. MAKE LEMONADE. New York: H. Holt. ISBN 9780805022285

PLOT SUMMARY - ANALYSISThis story is about teenage mom, Jolly, and her 14-year old friend LaVaughn, who tries to get Jolly’s life on track with the help of LaVaughn’s mom and teachers. LaVaughn takes a babysitting job with Jolly and discovers that she has a compulsion and almost an addiction to help Jolly and her two small kids. LaVaughn’s goal of saving money to go to college is in contrast to Jolly who seems to be overwhelmed by her circumstance in life.

 A deadbeat job has Jolly living in an apartment where she struggles to pay the rent each month and has barely enough food and diapers for her children. Wolff’s description of the dirty living conditions for Jolly’s kids is so depressing with old food on the dishes and floor and the soiled state of the kids’ clothes. The reader can picture and almost smell the rotten state of Jolly’s life. “Those kids, that Jeremy and that Jilly were sloppy and droppy and they got their hands into things you’d refuse to touch. They acted their age so much they could make you crazy”(page 20).

The constant denial evident in Jolly’s speech throughout the book is a result of her absence of a family support system. The fact that Jolly lived alone from the age of twelve sets up the circumstances in the plot and lets LaVaughn’s character guide her future.

The format of the book is written in LaVaughn’s words and is arranged as a diary with short, numbered chapters. The dialogue of both Jolly and LaVaughn are reflective of a fourteen and seventeen year old. “LaVaughn's narrative--brief, sometimes ungrammatical sentences in uneven lines, like verse--is in a credible teenage voice suited to readers like Jolly herself; yet it has the economy and subtlety of poetry.” Kirkus Review starred (1993)

LaVaughn is in a “Steam” class where students work on their self-esteem and so she has this vulnerable side of her that wants Jolly to work on her self-esteem as well. LaVaughn has lost her father and Jolly did not have any parents so both girls share this void in their lives.

LaVaughn’s mother plays a minimal role in the story, as a constant reminder in LaVaughn’s head to keep her on her college track and to come only once to the rescue of Jolly.

The lemon seeds that LaVaughn brings to Jolly’s son, Jeremy, finally grow. Jolly finding her way back to high school with the insistence of LaVaughn gives Jolly the chance she needs to make lemonade out of the lemons in her life.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Book Links (ALA) 05/01/04

Publishers Weekly

Booklist starred

School Library Journal starred

Books for the Teen Age (NYPL) 03/01/97

Wilson’s Junior High School 01/09/10

Child Study Children’s Book Committee

Wilson’s Senior High School 11/01/02

CONNECTIONS

Wolff, Virginia Euwer. 2000. TRUE BELIEVER: A NOVEL. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers ISBN 9780689828270

·         Partner this as a sequel to the book

McDonald, Janet. 2002. CHILL WIND. New York: Frances Foster Books, Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN 9780374399580

·         Partner this as another story of a teenage mom raising two kids

Wild, Margaret. 2004. ONE NIGHT. New York: Knopf. ISBN 9780375829208

·         Partner this book as a free verse novel about a pregnant teenage mom, the result of a one-night stand

TWU - LS 5623 - History, Biography & Nonfiction- KING OF THE MILD FRONTIER: AN ILL-ADVISED AUTOBIOGRAPHY

YA

Crutcher, Chris. 2004. KING OF THE MILD FRONTIER: AN ILL-ADVISED AUTOBIOGRAPHY. New York: HarperTempest. ISBN 9780060502515

PLOT SUMMARY - ANALYSIS

This autobiography of author Chris Crutcher is a look at his life as an awkward adolescent growing up in a small town in Idaho. As Crutcher writes about his anger and dysfunctional family relationships, he also reflects on the part that religion, sports, and working at his dad’s gas station played in his life.

“His own struggles with organized religion are reflected by many of his characters, as they try to make sense out of chaos” (VOYA, June 2003 (Vol. 26, No. 2)) He speaks of his disbelief in the God that is present in the red brick church that he is attending and eventually flees to become a more inclusive Episcopalian.

The book is sprinkled with inspirational stories gathered while Crutcher was a mental health professional. The language is tough, blunt, and sometimes a little too graphic.  But young adolescent males can connect with Crutcher’s lack of experience with girls, self-esteem issues, and countless questioning of the way the world works. The author enters the book as a sad, weak “bawlbaby” who is constantly being manipulated by his brother and ends with a look at some people who touched his life, including some inspirational figures, like Michael Jordan.

When asked about life being fair, Crutcher responds with “People aren’t always fair, and it seems the less we know the more unfair we are, but I think that a big part of the business of religion should be to understand that nothing is fairer than life and the mysterious ways are mostly mysterious because of our ignorance” (page 126).

The Epilogue provides a further look into the author’s life including how this book was born and some pictures with captions of Crutcher’s childhood. He ends by stating what he has learned from writing this book and his life, “As predictable as life seems, as many times as I have done things over and over and over, hoping for a different result, it is, in fact, not predictable” (page 256).

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Book Links (ALA) 11/01/06

Publishers Weekly starred 03/03/03

Booklist starred 04/15/03

School Library Journal 04/01/03

Kirkus Review starred 04/01/03

Wilson’s Junior High School 01/09/10

New York Times 05/18/03

Wilson’s Senior High School 10/30/03

CONNECTIONS

Gantos, Jack. 2002. HOLE IN MY LIFE. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374399887

·         Partner this book as another look at a writer’s not so ordinary life

Sedaris, David. 2002. ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY. London: Abacus. ISBN 9780349113913

·         Partner this book in viewing essays about a writer’s life

Bagdasarian, Adam. 2002. FIRST FRENCH KISS. New York: Melanie Kroupa Books.

ISBN 9780374323387

·         Partner this book to explore another writer and his autobiographical stories of being an adolescent male

TWU - LS 5623 - History, Biography & Nonfiction- A NORTHERN LIGHT

YA

Donnelly, Jennifer. 2004. A NORTHERN LIGHT. Orlando: Harcourt, Inc. ISBN 9780152053109

PLOT SUMMARY - ANALYSIS

This historical fiction begins with a mysterious murder of a guest at the Glenmore hotel in the Adirondacks where Mattie is handed a stash of letters. Mattie Gokey is a sixteen year old girl who has taken the place of her deceased alcoholic mother on an early 1900s farm.  She is responsible for feeding herself and her siblings and her unhappy, harsh father. Mattie dreams of going to college with her best friend, Weaver, and has an inspirational teacher, Miss Wilcox who has secrets of her own.

Mattie works for her aunt cleaning her house and is witness to her very self-righteous behavior.  She fails at getting any financial help from her aunt or her long lost Uncle Fifty and so she starts considering her other life options.

 “Pointedly drawn characters reflect the limited choices available to women of that era. Mattie can either marry a local farm boy or go to college, but she can't do both; and, as various individuals around her demonstrate, each scenario has its drawbacks” Horn Book (May/June, 2003).

Mattie fights her fate of marrying a local boy, Royal, and following the cycle of being a farmer’s wife. Mattie sees the “box” that her friend, Minnie lives in with her two newborns and her husband and Mattie yearns to have a different life. She contemplates if people can have both family and learning in their life. “Miss Wilcox had books but no family. Minnie had family now, but those babies would keep her from reading for a good long time…Nobody I knew had both” (page 97).

In Mattie’s life one her most prized possessions is her dictionary.  Each day she chooses a new word to integrate into her daily life and the words serve as chapter titles.  The book chapters alternate between the present day and the past, Mattie’s life on the farm and her life working at the Glenmore hotel. During Mattie’s investigation into the murder of the hotel guest, she finds that the girl had made a dreadful mistake that cost her life. Mattie was determined to make her life her own and so follows her dream of making a change in her life and choosing to better herself through education.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Booklist starred 05/15/03

Publishers Weekly starred 03/03/03

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books 07/01/03

School Library Journal starred 05/01/03

Horn Book 10/01/03

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) 04/01/03

Library Media Connection starred 10/01/03

Wilson’s Senior High School 10/30/03

CONNECTIONS

Clark, Clara Gillow. 1993. ANNIE’S CHOICE. Homesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press.

ISBN9781563970535

·         Partner this book as another young woman in the early 1900s faced with choosing between family and education

Hesse, Karen. 2001. WITNESS. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN 9780439271998

·         Partner this book in discussing further racial prejudices in the North East United States in the 1920s

Gray, Dianne E. 2002. TOGETHER APART. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 9780618187218

·         Partner this book as a look at a young feminist in the late 1800s.

TWU - LS 5623 - History, Biography & Nonfiction- HATTIE BIG SKY

YA

Larson, Kirby. 2006. HATTIE BIG SKY. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0385733135

PLOT SUMMARY - ANALYSIS

When Hattie receives a letter, her life changes.  Her uncle has left her a land claim in Montana.  It can be hers if she can build a fence, raise a crop, and sustain her animals.  This beautifully written book invites so many people into the life of the once orphaned, Hattie.  Her neighbors become her family and she grows up in this book learning how to live alone, stand up for her friends, and become a part of a community.

In this piece of historical fiction, Larson explores her great-grandmother’s adventures in Montana using primary documents like local diaries, homesteading paperwork, and land management records. “Based on a bit of Larson's family history, this is not so much a happily-ever-after story as a next-year-will-be-better tale, with Hattie's new-found definition of home” (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 17))

Hattie is given a daunting task for a sixteen year-old girl in the early 1900s – to travel alone and take over her uncle’s working farm. In the first ten pages of the book, the relationship with her Aunt Ivy and Uncle Holt is established, as well as her sad life as an orphan being passed from relative to relative. As Hattie is leaving for Montana she says “I pushed all doubts and worries away the moment they crept into my thoughts. All I could see was the chance to leave Aunt Ivy and that feeling of being the one odd sock behind” (page 10).

The setting of the tough Montana plains along with epidemics like drought and the Spanish influenza make this novel an emotional read. Hattie becomes so much more than just a new farmer trying to prove her worth in this barren land, she becomes a true neighbor, an adopted aunt and the defender of friends no matter what the consequence. With the war, people had become suspicious of all people of German descent.  This part of the plot plays on the time in history where people were afraid of anything different, so Hattie’s relationship with Perilee’s husband, Karl who is German, is a vital part of this story. Hattie befriends this family and will not exclude Karl because of his heritage.

Through Hattie’s written correspondence to her friend, Charlie, serving in the military in World War I, the reader gets a view of Hattie’s eternal optimism. In Hattie’s letters to her Uncle Holt, she shows her more vulnerable side of living alone and working hard to make a go of the farm. Finally her column in The Arlington News, gives more of a historical look at social norms and the female role in this time period. All of these letters inserted throughout the book give the reader access to the many dimensions of Hattie’s character.

Even though Hattie’s adventure in Montana ended differently than she had hoped, she claims that “I did find a home in my year on the prairie. I found one in my own skin. And in the hearts of the people I met” (page 283).

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Booklist starred 09/01/06

Notable Best Books (ALA) 01/01/07

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books 03/01/07

School Library Journal starred 11/01/06

Horn Book 04/01/07

Wilson’s Junior High School 08/01/07

Newberry Medal Honor 01/22/07

Wilson’s Senior High School 10/01/07

CONNECTIONS

Myers, Anna. 1996. FIRE IN THE HILLS. New York: Walker and Co. ISBN 9780802784216

·         Partner this as a sixteen year-old head of household in 1918 Oklahoma

Larson, Kirby. 2010. THE FENCES BETWEEN US: THE DIARY OF PIPER DAVIS: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, 1941. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc. ISBN 9780545224185

·         Partner this as a WWII story of a young girl living with friends who are deemed foreign

George, Jean Craighead. 1988. MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN. New York: Dutton.

ISBN 9780525443926

·         Partner this book as a male heroine who lives off the land in the Catskill Mountains