Tagged: novel study
The Best and Worst of October
Well it hasn’t exactly been a record-smashing month like September was, but in comparing it to my normal stats, everything is up since August. In October I received 5,421 views, as compared to 4,846 in August. That’s not bad because I’m only around 1,500 views down from September, which more than makes up the difference Anne Rice’s publicity gave me. Now let’s look at which articles received the most traffic, shall we?
2. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
3. The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome
5. Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz
Okay, I completely understand the first four being on the list. I mean, most of my traffic is from search engines and looking at the search terms makes me suspect it’s mostly kids doing homework for novel study. But what is with Ark Angel‘s sudden appearance? There seems to be a resurgence in the now finished Alex Rider series, although I’ll likely never know why. But why Ark Angel in particular? It’s the sixth of nine books.
I’ll be puzzling over that for a while, so let’s take a look at the five worst articles in October.
1. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
2. YA News and Upcoming Releases
3. The Iron Legends by Julie Kagawa
4. Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
5. Genghis: Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden
Okay, I can see ‘YA News and Upcoming Releases’ placing on here. I wrote it ages ago and those kinds of articles don’t age well. However, what is with Julie Kagawa’s Iron Legends anthology placing on the worst list? Has all the hype for it died down now that The Lost Prince has been released? Who knows? The good thing is that while the best articles seem to be consistent, the worst articles seem to rotate. Well, except for ‘YA News and Upcoming Releases’.
So how was October for everyone? Stats-wise and life-wise.
Messenger by Lois Lowry
(Cover picture courtesy of Tower Books.)
For the past six years, Matty has lived in Village and flourished under the guidance of Seer, a blind man known for his special sight. Village was once a place that welcomed newcomers, but something sinister has seeped into Village and the people have voted to close it to outsiders. Matty has been invaluable as a messenger. Now he must make one last journey through the treacherous Forest with his only weapon, a power he unexpectedly discovers within himself.
Messenger is another one of those favourite novel study books, or at least it was in my school. After reading The Giver and discovering that the boys in my class (I was the only girl) didn’t completely hate it, our English teacher decided to do a Messenger novel study. True, Messenger is the third book in what used to be a trilogy, but reading the second book, Gathering Blue isn’t necessary for understanding the story. It does enhance your enjoyment, but you won’t be in the dark if you haven’t read it.
Messenger isn’t a bad book, but what annoys me is that there is no explanation for any of the fantastic elements in it like Seer’s ability to See Beyond, Forest’s transformation from good to evil and even Matty’s special power. I like it in books where the author has figured out an explanation for magic, but Lois Lowry never, in any of her books, explains the fantastic elements she includes. I suppose it’s not necessary to have an explanation, but it would be nice.
With that said, to me it seemed like Lois Lowry was guilty of beating-you-over-the-head-with-a-stick-obvious symbolism. Forest, which is friendly toward Matty before the people in Village become selfish, grows ever more hostile, dark and tangled as selfishness takes over. Obviously, Forest symbolizes the growing web of selfishness that is engulfing Village; it’s basically a mirror. Yes, it’s great to include it because you need to analyze literary devices in novel study, but does it have to be so glaringly obvious?
Other than the symbolism that seems ridiculously obvious, Messenger is a pretty good novel. Matty isn’t a great character, but he’s not a bad one either and the plot is interesting enough that we don’t get bored out of our minds. Up until October of this year, Messenger was supposed to be the last ‘Giver’ novel, so we see the protagonists of the first two novels, Jonas and Kira and most plot lines are tied up. I didn’t really like the ending (it wrapped things up a bit too nicely), but it truly was inevitable and there was a lot of foreshadowing throughout the novel that hinted at it.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
(Cover picture courtesy of Redditor’s Choice.)
In The Chrysalids John Wyndham takes the reader into the anguished heart of a community where the chances of breeding true are less than 50 per cent and where deviations are rooted out and destroyed as offences and abominations. The narrator of The Chrysalids is David, who can communicate with a small group of other young people by means of ‘thought shapes’. This deviation from a cruelly rigid norm goes unnoticed at first. But sooner or later the secret is bound to be discovered, and the results are violent, horrific…and believable.
The Chrysalids is one of those few high school novel study favourites that actually doesn’t talk down to students. Heaven forbid they read an age appropriate novel that has practical messages about life in it! Well, the reading level is far below what I would consider high school, but it’s definitely a case of content making this a high school book. Incest (between half-cousins), sexuality, torture and death are some of the things students will encounter in The Chrysalids. By grade ten, which is when it is usually taught here in Saskatchewan, I would hope that fifteen and sixteen-year-olds are mature enough to handle such things.
The Chrysalids is a very short novel that covers a fairly large time period and there were times I was confused as to what the heck was going on. However, John Wyndham generally managed to keep the plot on track while developing his characters decently well. David won’t win any prizes for greatest male lead ever, but he’s not a bad character and you really do feel for him and his predicament in Waknuk as a telepath in a society that banishes ‘deviations’ to the Fringes.
My favourite part of The Chrysalids is how John Wyndham constructed the Waknuk society. It’s heavily implied that many centuries ago a nuclear war wiped out the ‘Old People’ (us) and the people of Waknuk are still dealing with the nuclear fallout. How do they deal with it? By turning to a warped version of Christianity and a book called Repentances written during the time of Tribulation (the nuclear war) that reflects the fear of the new radiation-induced deformities. While I won’t get too much into religion, let’s just say that the version of Christianity preached by the community leaders is not the version that I saw when I read the Bible and leave it at that.
The Chrysalids can be enjoyed on many different levels. Some could see it as a crusade against religious fundamentalism and the role of fear in keeping citizens obedient. It could be seen as social commentary on the hypocrisy of people’s fear of anything “Other”, especially when the New Zealand woman calls David’s people ‘primitive’ for not embracing telepathy. It can even been seen as a story of forbidden love between two half-cousins, if you’re so inclined. I’m not, but it can still be interpreted that way.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Books that Should be Taught in School: Feed by Mira Grant
You’re probably thinking I’ve gone insane right now, aren’t you? At least, literary snobs, those of you that have read Feed and those of you that have seen my review are. I mean, a zombie novel in school. How crazy can you get? Well, it’s actually not that crazy. So please hear me out before you pass judgment:
1. It will engage high school students.
Yes, Feed has violence and coarse language. Yes, it’s a zombie novel. But I know for a fact that ‘worse’ books (content-wise) have been studied in school. Does anyone here remember reading Catch-22 in high school English? When I first read it, I was shocked that anyone ever studied this in school, yet it was still studied because it was a good novel. Feed is an excellent novel and in my honest opinion, it’s no worse than Joseph Heller’s classic novel. In some aspects, it is less ‘offensive’.
In most people’s minds zombies=awesome. By high school, most people (especially boys in my experience) hate reading passionately. Educators are always asking themselves how to improve reading scores and get kids interested in reading again.
Do you see where I’m going here?
Feed has all of the themes, messages and three dimensional characters that educators love to analyze to death while having all of the zombies, weapons and gross science that teenagers love. It has bad language and violence (obviously), but for kids in grade 11 and 12…they’re going to see and hear a lot worse on television on an ordinary day. Continue reading
Books that Should be Taught in School
1. The Accidental Hero by Matt Myklusch
Two words: killer robots.
Yeah, you read that right. The Accidental Hero has everything kids love (killer robots, superheros and adventure) while including themes educators love to over-analyze (friendship, doing the right thing and believing in yourself). It also will actually appeal to boys, who are incredibly neglected in both children’s and young adult literature. Besides, with excellent writing, sympathetic characters, and incredible world-building, kids will be able to enjoy novel study for once. Continue reading