Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes
Crutcher, C. (1993). Staying fat for Sarah Byrnes. NY: Greenwillow Books. Eric, the fat boy, and Sarah Byrnes, the girl with a scarred face, have been friends for many years. Eric joins the swim team and no longer has to be fat to be Sarah Byrnes' friend. Sarah Byrnes stops talking and is taken to a hospital where Eric visits her daily. Eric learns that the story of how she was burned is a lie, and her father purposely burned her face when she was a little girl. The side story is that of Eric and his classmates debating social issues like abortion and religion in a class. Sarah Byrnes' dad becomes violent went his daughter leaves the hospital and stabs Eric. Sarah Byrnes life turns around when the swim coach adopts her right before her 18th birthday. We want to share books with young adults that will help them develop empathy. Reading this book will give them insight on people that have difficult childhoods and being disfigured. I hope that this will help readers become kinder towards others. I was listening to an interview from a high school girl who had been in poverty and abused. Instead of letting that be her story, she was an honor student and was planning on going to the University of Houston to study engineering. That reminded me of this book. Your childhood should not define who you will be for the rest of your life. You have the power to change your future. Sarah and Eric are strong characters and show how one can be different than a parent or decide to change one's lifestyle. I enjoyed this book and I was so glad it had a happy ending.
Discussion Questions:
Still Life With Tornado
King, A.S. (2016). Still life with tornado. NY: Dutton Books. Sarah is not going to school after the art club wrecks her art work. She has always loved art, but she can't draw anymore. She is told that she could be expelled if she does not return to school. Sarah won't tell anyone what happened to the headpiece that she made for the art show or that she saw a student kissing the art teacher. Meanwhile, her parents do not communicate and she is having flashbacks to a trip to Mexico that was so bad it caused her brother Bruce to leave home six years ago and never return. Sarah is having a mental episode because she is seeing herself as a ten, twenty-three, and forty year old Sarah. She has been following a homeless man named Earl, eating out of trash cans, and changed her name to Umbrella. When Sarah gets to her breaking point, she calls her brother, and he comes to visit. He tells her of the physical and emotional abuse that their dad caused him and their mother. Finally, Sarah's mom decides to get a divorce so healing can start to take place. I found this book confusing. I thought that Sarah was having multiple personalities, but I couldn't understand why other people could see them. This is an award winning book, but it is not one that I would recommend. It seemed to me that Sarah should have been hospitalized if this was happening to her. I think society has to be very careful when talking about mental illness, plus it was just too hard to follow. Students dealing with dysfunctional and/or abusive families might find comfort when reading about themselves in a book like this.
A.S. King's Book Trailer:
Winger
Smith, A. (2013). Winger. NY: Simon & Schuster. Ryan Dean West attends a boarding school, where he is two years younger than his friends, he has recently gotten in trouble so he has to stay at Opportunity Hall, plays rugby, and is in love with his best friend Annie. The boarding school setting is nice because many of are curious about what really happens at a boarding school. To make it more dramatic, Ryan Dean is boarding with all the trouble makers. The reader will have a fun time reading as he has to do a "consequence" when he is the loser of the poker game. Readers will laugh when he mixes his pee and Gatorade and gets his peers to drink it. Yuck! Then there is the love story that develops between Annie and Ryan Dean that will melt your heart because it is so sweet. I loved it when he went to spend the weekend with Annie and her family. Sports fans will like the hard knock of the rugby talk. What no one expects is the beating death of Ryan Dean's friend at the end of the book. So, as the book is a fun read about a boy growing to manhood, the end is a terrible tragedy. The lesson is no one wants to be alone and everyone wants love. When I saw the cover, I thought it might be a book that mostly boys would like, but I think it is an "everybody" book! Readers will want to read the next book in the series!
Next book in series:
Reading Group Discussion Guide:
http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Winger/Andrew-Smith/9781442444935/reading_group_guide
Kids will be excited to know that this is the first book in a series of "Inspector Flytrap" books. This is a book like "Nate the Great" or "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid" that is funny and easy to read. Therefore, it gets kids hooked and they will want to read the whole series. Since the authors have written other books, its a bridge to read more.
Here is a link to information about Tom Angleberger with more books that they may enjoy reading http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/tom-angleberger.
The next book in the series:
Inspector Flytrap
Angleberger, T. (2016). Inspector flytrap. NY: Abrams. The flytrap is a funny main character who always wants respect given as he insists on being called "Inspector" Flytrap. Inspector Flytrap solves mysteries with his associate Nina the Goat. You have to laugh at such a funny combination of characters. Thankfully, Nina the Goat is there to push him from client to client on a skateboard since flytraps don't have legs. This book has three"Big Deal" mysteries to solve. They discover that there is no mystery substance on a famous painting, it is just a booger. Then, Inspector Flytrap has to find out why there is a stinky shoe damaging a bakery business. Finally, he risks his life to save a runaway rose. Elementary students will love the illustrations by Cece Bell. Boys will love the "booger" and "earwax" humor. It is a great combination of story, slapstick humor, and graphic novel.
Kids will be excited to know that this is the first book in a series of "Inspector Flytrap" books. This is a book like "Nate the Great" or "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid" that is funny and easy to read. Therefore, it gets kids hooked and they will want to read the whole series. Since the authors have written other books, its a bridge to read more.
Here is a link to information about Tom Angleberger with more books that they may enjoy reading http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/tom-angleberger.
The next book in the series:
The Darkest Part of The Forest
Black, H. (2015). The darkest part of the forest. NY: Little, Brown, and Company. Hazel lives in a unique town named Fairfold with her brother Ben. The horned prince breaks out of his glass coffin after many years. It is up to Hazel to save her town from the monsters. Hazel's character drastically changes throughout the book. When we meet Hazel, she is drunk, kissing boys at a party and seems like she is lost. Then, we see that she is a caretaker of her brother. Finally, we learn that Hazel has been dividing her waking and sleeping hours. At night, she has been a knight. Hazel saves her prince, brother, and town. Readers will enjoy the setting of the story. Fairfold is a place of faeries, changlings, and elves. I thought the beginning of the story was slow, but as soon as it got past the teen dating, I was hooked. Music also plays an interesting role in the book. Ben is "gifted" in music and received a music scholarship that sent his whole family to Philadelphia. The music school ended though because of Ben's relationship with a boy. I loved the strong character that Hazel became. Even after she learned that years were being stolen from her, she said " If you set Sorrow on the town, I'll stop you." At the end, she was named a champion.Book Trailer:http://blackholly.com/books/darkest-part-forest/
When You Reach Me
Stead, R. (2009). When you reach me. NY: Random House.
Miranda is in sixth grade and she has to make new friends after Sal decides he doesn't want to be her friend anymore. She gets anonymous notes about saving someone's life. The setting of this story is important. Miranda and her mom frequently talk about staying safe in New York and by their apartment building. There is some violence, a naked man, and the laughing man. I think readers will like that Miranda and her friends have jobs during their lunch time. This is very different than many students. I know our students can't leave campus for lunch. It's fun to read about someone with a different lifestyle. It is also amusing that Miranda can't cut her roll to the sandwich shop owner's satisfaction. Readers probably think it would be fun to work at a sandwich shop for a an hour with your closest friends and then get a free lunch. Miranda's mom makes some major changes in the story. At first, she practices to be on the 25,000 Pyramid and complains about work. Then, at the end of the story, she is happier because she is going to marry her boyfriend and she is going to go to law school. Miranda's character changes because she learns about friendship. At Miranda's age, girls are looking to see how is my friend's mom different than mine and what does my friend's bedroom look like. This can be hard if you aren't comfortable with not having enough money or being from a single parent family. The time travel makes the story appealing to many readers.
Reading Guide:
No comments:
Post a Comment