Review of "Mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was impressed by how authentic the voice of the main character, Caitlin, seemed as a portrayal of a young girl with Asperger’s Syndrome. On Kathryn Erskine's website she shares a long list of books she read to research Autism and Asperger’s; it also mentions that she interviewed experts and teachers and had them read her manuscript and give her feedback. I think this level of detailed research shines through this book. I took a literature class last semester that focused on portrayals of disability in fiction, and one of the commonalities we discussed was the tendency of authors to give disability some sort of heightened symbolic meaning, or for the characters with disabilities to be defined wholly by their disabilities/differences rather than being portrayed as whole and nuanced human beings. I thought Kathryn Erskine avoided both of these tired tropes in Mockingbird. Caitlin’s voice is unique, but not in a way that impeded me from seeing her as a vivid, real character. As I read further along into the book, it was like her disability faded into the background and I knew Caitlin more for her other traits: her artistic talent, her bravery and curiosity, her quick thinking, her stubbornness, and her compassion and thoughtfulness.

This book tackles difficult subjects—grief, violence, bullying, difference—with a gentle and generous spirit. It is a great reminder to students (and teachers and parents!) that we all have our differences, but we also all have much the same about us. Mockingbird seems to argue that the only way to combat exclusion and meanness is to strive towards understanding each other and being patient with each other, and though some adult readers might find the treatment of this theme/motif a bit heavy-handed, I think it is a valuable lesson for all readers and one that is worth sharing.

Caveats: A school shooting plays a major plot point in the book, which may be upsetting for some students to read about. Teachers should be extra sensitive to this topic and perhaps use the book as a jumping-off point for discussion on school safety, violence, bullying, etc.

Teaching idea: This book would be excellent to pair with To Kill a Mockingbird (and possibly the film version of the novel as well.) Teachers might also work in creative art time by giving students an assignment to draw a mockingbird as a charcoal or pencil sketch (black and white) and then to do another version with pastels or watercolors (color). What different beauty can be found in each version? A reader-response question might be: Think of a time you had an argument or disagreement with someone. Write down your point of view of what happened. Now, turn over the piece of paper and write about the same event as if you are the other person telling the story. Get inside this person’s head/perspective, much as Caitlin tries to do in the book when she is learning to empathize with others.

Other books by Kathryn Erskine: Quaking (2007) and The Absolute Value of Mike (2011)

Themes/motifs: grief and healing, art, family, community, friendship, loss, disability and difference, black & white vs. color & nuance

View all of my Goodreads reviews

Review of "Will Grayson, Will Grayson"

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

I greatly enjoyed this book. I have read and loved a number of other YA books by John Green (Looking for Alaska is one of my all-time favorites) and I just read David Levithan’s first novel for adults, The Lover’s Dictionary, which I also found clever and fun and surprisingly wise, much like Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

I think teenagers will be drawn into this book immediately by the by turns sarcastic, witty, and almost painfully honest voices of the two Will Grayson narrators. The structure of alternating chapters is addictive and really pulls the story forward, and it is a satisfying moment when the storylines first intersect. I was happy that they remained interconnected throughout the remainder of the novel. Technology and the Internet are of high importance to the plot of the book, which I think teenagers will relate to, and I was impressed by how these two authors manage to thoroughly inhabit the world of teenagers—everything from text messaging to IM conversations/ lingo to the logistics of getting a fake ID so you can go see a band you love at an over-21 club. The voices of the two narrators feel distinct, which is heightened by one will grayson only writing in lower-case.

I think this book is also an important and worthy read for the way it portrays gay characters with nuance, compassion and honesty. Tiny I think represents one possible portrayal of a gay man, that perhaps is closer to a stereotype we often see in media and pop culture of the “gay best friend.” But I think this resists empty stereotype in the book because Tiny is juxtaposed with will grayson, who is still in the process of understanding his identity as a gay man, and Gideon, who seems somewhere in the middle —accepting of his gay identity, yet not as flamboyant or outspoken about it as Tiny is. Moreover, this book is not just about queer identity, but about identity in general and about all the many different ways to love and be loved by others.

Caveats: The book includes underage drinking, cursing, and going to over-21 clubs with fake IDs. It might be most appropriate for a high school audience.

Themes/motifs: friendship, family, class issues, gay/queer identity, technology and Internet communication, happiness, anger, music, self-identity, memory, love, guilt, redemption, insiders/outsiders

Teaching ideas: In the book Tiny writes Tiny Dancer, a musical about his own life and experiences as a gay teenager, and it is through this act of writing his story for the stage that he reevaluates his friendships, comes to acceptance of the pain he has gone through, and traces broader "themes" of his life. Along a similar vein, teachers might use this book to challenge students to revisit a scene from their own lives, perhaps a painful or intense memory or turning point that shaped their identity, and write this as a scene that might appear in a play. In writing about it in this format (rather than a journal entry or a poem, for example) students are forced to pull back from the memory and consider it from an outside perspective, and also perhaps delve a little inside the hearts and minds of the other people who took part in the memory, the other "actors" in the "scene."

Other books by John Green: Looking for Alaska; An Abundance of Katherines; Paper Towns; The Fault in Our Stars; contributor to the short story anthology Let it Snow.

Other books by David Levithan: Boy Meets Boy; The Realm of Possibility; Are We There Yet?; Marly’s Ghost; Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist; Wide Awake; Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List; How They Met, and Other Stories; Likely Story; Love is the Higher Law; Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares; The Lover’s Dictionary. He is editorial director at Scholastic, and the founding editor of the PUSH imprint, which is devoted to finding new voices and new authors in teen literature.

View all my Goodreads reviews

Review of Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

What drew me in right away was the voice of Abilene Tucker, the book’s spunky, curious, and honest young narrator for the present line of action. In the acknowledgments at the end of the book, Vanderpool thanks her grandparents, whose voices were in her head while writing: “Their voices and their stories, which I heard as a young girl, are the heart and soul of this book” (349). It is a book that begs to be read aloud. The voice sweeps the reader into the world, and it is not long before Abilene seems like a friend we know well.

In addition, I was greatly impressed by the way Vanderpool weaves history into a highly engaging narrative. By choosing to set the “present” storyline of action in 1936, and the past in 1918, Vanderpool is able to paint a vivid portrait of two distinct periods in U.S. history. In the 1936 storyline, Abilene thinks of 1918 as being in the distant past; for today’s young readers, who likely think of both 1918 and 1936 as a blurred "looong time ago," this subtly pushes them to consider the many different periods of the past, and that their grandparents and great-grandparents were once children like Abilene (and readers themselves.) The historical framework is reinforced by Vanderpool's choice to use newspaper clippings and letters home from World War I to tell the story in addition to a more straightforward narrative.

Other books by Clare Vanderpool: "Navigating Early" is forthcoming

Themes/motifs: the importance and healing powers of storytelling; collective memory; love of family and friends; home is “not down on any map; true places never are”; history: World War I, Great Depression, Prohibition/Temperance Movement, immigration, mining community, small town life

Teaching idea: Ask students to become historians themselves by writing down an oral history narrative, much as Abilene does in the novel. They could talk to their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or even visit a nursing home and talk to residents there. What was life like for them as children? What are some funny stories they remember from growing up? Ask students to write one of these stories down, as if they are Miss Sadie divining the past, or Abilene piecing together the information she hears about Jinx/Gideon.

View all my Goodreads reviews

Review of Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was completely riveted by this book from beginning to end. The book starts off “in medias res” with Nailer in the pitch-dark bowels of an oil tanker and the tension and action only builds from there. I never found myself glancing ahead, waiting for the action to pick up—the tension was always palpable. Bacigalupi does an incredible job building a world that seems vivid, dangerous, and wholly real. Set in the future, there were enough details recognizable from life today (hurricanes, oil tankers, the Gulf Coast region, tension between rich and poor) that this dystopian future felt eerily possible. This would be a great book to teach in conjunction with a science unit on hurricanes or a history unit on New Orleans and the recent oil crisis.

Nailer is a character that I think many young people, particularly boys, will relate to. He is brave, daring, intelligent, and also has a lot of heart. He is easy to root for, and I was very quickly swept up into his life and perspective. The prose is fast-paced, filled with vivid imagery and details, yet also easy to follow.

Caveats: There is a great deal of violence, and also mentions of drugs, underage drinking, and innuendos of sexual violence. It might be most appropriate for a high school audience.

Other books by Paolo Bacigalupi: The Windup Girl and Pump Six & Other Stories. (He is known as a “biopunk”/sci-fi writer for both adult and YA audiences.)

Themes/motifs: human destruction of nature; climate change/global warming; wealth versus poverty; corruption of power; compassion and being generous and kind towards others; “family” defined as people who make you feel safe; gumption and courage

View all my Goodreads reviews

Fantastic read: "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" by Aimee Bender

While at USC, I was fortunate to take the Advanced Fiction workshop taught by Aimee Bender both semesters of my senior year. Aimee is not just a phenomenal writer, she is a gifted teacher who genuinely cares about each of her students. When I entered her class, I was in a "writing rut" -- everything I put on the page felt stale, trite, overdone. Then along came Aimee. It was impossible to sit in her class and not come away inspired. She has an energy about her that is contagious.

Cue the movie montage. Aimee rejuvenated my love for writing, reading, and the magic of language. She introduced me to the zany, intense, beautiful work of Lorrie Moore, George Saunders, Denis Johnson, Ron Carlson. She inspired me to tackle difficult subjects and explore new terrain in my fiction. My writing – and my self-confidence – developed in wonderful ways thanks in no small part to her unwavering support.

Even though it has been a full year since I've graduated from USC, I will always think of Aimee as my teacher. I am happy to consider her my friend, too. A couple weeks ago, I got to see her give a reading at the marvelous independent bookstore Skylight Books in Los Angeles to celebrate the release of her new novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. Even if I didn't know and love Aimee, I would give this book five stars. It is an absolute gem. My own personal scale for truly "great" books are those that linger with me after the cover has been closed and the book put back on the shelf. This is one of those books.

If you haven't read any of Aimee Bender's work before, you are especially in for a treat. She has a way of bringing out the extraordinary in the ordinary world. And, when it comes to writing from a child's perspective, Aimee is one of the best writers I have ever come across; in this case, the novel's protagonist Rose is nine when the book begins. I highly recommend The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake to anyone who is looking for an imaginative, entrancing read that delves into the bittersweet complexities of family, love, and growing up.