Speak

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY: Anderson, Laurie Halse. 1999. SPEAK. New York, NY: Penguin. ISBN 0142407321.

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Melinda feels like a complete outcast at Merryweather High as a freshman.  She was at a party where there was under-age drinking and ends up calling the cops.  Melinda refuses to explain or talk to anyone about what went on and why she made that choice.  Her best friend, Rachel, will now no longer talk to her.  She goes through the motions of the days, but she stops really relating with others except Heather, who is joining the Marthas clique.  She becomes near mute. The one person that keeps reaching out to her and that she feels understands her pain and emotion is Mr. Freeman, the art teacher, although she never confides in him.  Readers slowly learn that she was raped at the party by Andy Evans, and that is why she called the cops to come and take her home.  Her grades are dropping as a result of not being able to talk about what happened to her, and she begins ditching class by hiding in the janitor’s closet.  She makes that her haven to do art work.  Finally, she starts writing notes in the library to her old best friend Rachel.  Melinda is worried about her, since Rachel has become the most popular girl in school by dating the senior boy that raped Melinda.  Melinda shares her worry with Rachel, who then storms off and calls her a liar.  Another friend finds words on the bathroom wall exposing the fact that Melinda is not the only one to go through this horror with this particular boy.  Andy Evans retaliates by locking her in her janitor’s closet with him and tries to repeat his previous incident.  Melinda fights and struggles until finally she has help show up.  She is shown support.  Rachel leaves a message for her, and Melinda is finally able to tell an adult, Mr. Freeman, what happened to her and the trauma she went through.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The book is very dark, deep, powerful, and haunting.  It is told from the point of view of Melinda.  We mostly only get her thoughts, since she is not communicating much with others.  Her thoughts are very choppy and jumpy, like you would expect a teenage girl’s thoughts to be.  The author’s style really captured the thoughts and emotions of a teenage girl.  The directness in the language helped capture that authentic teenager feel.  The headings helped the organization of knowing what was going on in the world around her and aids understanding the plot.  The plot keeps unfolding the tragedy that she went through and how she deals with it internally.  The setting of showing her struggle at school and home is critical to show how it affects her whole life.  The story does not include any stereotypes.  It is a contemporary realistic fiction novel that can help another person get through a similar experience.  There are so many themes that teens can relate to including depression, loss of friendship,  gaining friendship, gaining trust, and dealing with issues outside of your control.    

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

A Michael L. Printz Honor Book

A National Book Award Finalist

An Edgar Allan Poe Award Finalist

A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist

Winner of the SCBWI Golden Kite Award

A New York Times Best Seller

A Publishers Weekly Best Seller

An ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults

An ALA Quick Pick

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

A Booklist Top Ten First Novel of 1999

A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

A Horn Book Fanfare Title

Winner of 8 state book awards – and a finalist for 11
Starred Review in HORN BOOK:  “An uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness, SPEAK will hold readers from first word to last.”

Starred Review in PUBLISHERS WEEKLY:  “A stunning first novel….Anderson infuses the narrative with a wit that sustains the heroine through her pain and holds readers’ empathy….Melinda’s hard-won metamorphosis will leave readers touched and inspired.”

5. CONNECTIONS

*It would be great to use in conjunction with an author study.

Other books that are by Laurie Halse Anderson:

Anderson, Laurie Halse.  FORGE.  ISBN 1416961445.

Anderson, Laurie Halse.  FEVER1793.  ISBN 0689848919.

Anderson, Laurie Halse.  WINTERGIRLS.  ISBN 067001110.

Anderson, Laurie Halse.  CATALYST.  ISBN 0142400017.

Babymouse Queen of the World!

1.    BIBLIOGRAPHY:  Holm, Jennifer L, & Holm, Matthew. 2005.  BABYMOUSE QUEEN OF THE WORLD!. New York, NY: Random House. ISBN 0375832297.

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Babymouse is bored with her everyday routine.  She wants something more exciting like a life in books.  She is sick of curly whiskers, her chores, and homework.  She wanted to be Queen of the World; however, the Queen of the World (at least at school) was Felicia Furrypaws.  Babymouse tried to be her friend, but she kept getting ignored or mistreated.  Luckily, she had a good friend named Wilson the Weasel.  Felicia gets Babymouse in trouble by talking her into passing notes and then uses Babymouse’s paper as her own.  Babymouse agrees to this, because she wants to go to Felicia’s sleepover even though it coincides with plans that she already has with Wilson to watch scary movies.  She goes and has a miserable time.  Babymouse gets bored by all the gossiping, burns her finger and Felicia’s rug while trying to straighten her whiskers, explodes nail polish all over Felicia’s fur, gets stuck watching a romantic movie rather than a scary one, and then gets stuck making popcorn.  She gets so upset with people being rude to her and not being herself that she pours the butter and popcorn on Felicia and runs over to her friend Wilson’s house to watch the movie that they had originally planned to see and apologizes to him for being late.  

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Babymouse is a very relatable character to teens.  She wants to fit in more than anything and be popular.  The theme of being yourself and wanting to be popular are common issues among young adults.  The plot continually shows her trying and failing at fitting into the popular crowd.  It cycles in a way that moves the plot forward at a quick pace using different issues with the same underlying theme again and again.  The settings are ones similar to ones that our students face on a daily basis, such as school lockers, class, the library, sleepovers, and home.  The style used in this graphic novel is quite unique.  Babymouse has someone narrating her actions and she responds to that person in addition to her actual dialogue.  The authors show her daydreams indicating what she wishes will happen, which was clever.  The illustrations are also done in black, white, and pink which really allows the illustrations to pop.  Pink is used to emphasize what happens in dream sequences, like at Castle Weaselsten.  It shows what Babymouse wants to happen.  This graphic novel is a very fun and relatable book for students.   It is also a very captivating medium for students who are struggling or reluctant readers.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Starred review in BOOKLIST: " In this energetic comic by a brother-sister team (Jennifer's Our Only May Amelia was a Newbery Honor Book), Babymouse, a wise-cracking rodent stand-in for your average, adventure-seeking nine-year-old, strives to capture popular Felicia's goodwill, finally achieving her end at the expense of Wilson Weasel, truest of friends. But, wouldn't you know it, Felicia's world has little to offer a smart, fun-loving mouse, after all. The Holms spruce up some well-trod ground with breathless pacing and clever flights of Babymouse's imagination, and their manic, pink-toned illustrations of Babymouse and her cohorts vigorously reflect the internal life of any million-ideas-a-minute middle-school student.”
5. CONNECTIONS
*It would be great to use in conjunction with a lesson about acceptance.

*It would be great to use in conjunction with an author study.

Other books that are by Jennifer and Matthew Holm:

Holm, Jennifer, & Holm, Matthew.  BABYMOUSE OUR HERO.  ISBN 0375832300.

Holm, Jennifer, & Holm, Matthew.  BABYMOUSE BEACH BABE.  ISBN 0375832319.

Holm, Jennifer, & Holm, Matthew.  BABYMOUSE ROCK STAR.  ISBN 0375832327.

Holm, Jennifer, & Holm, Matthew.  BABYMOUSE HEARTBREAKER.  ISBN 0375837981.

The Graveyard Book

1.    BIBLIOGRAPHY:  Gaiman, Neil. 2008. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK.  McKean, Dave. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 9780060530938.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
A family is hunted and killed by a man, except for a baby.  The baby manages to crawl out and make its way to the nearby graveyard.  The dead Mrs. Owens finds him and brings the baby back to the community for the graveyard people to adopt.  They finally agree as long as Mr. and Mrs. Owens are the parents and Silas is the guardian.  The baby becomes named Nobody Owens or Bod for short.  He grows up under the protection of the graveyard, meaning he can do some magical things, like shrink through a crypt and talk to the dead.  Bod receives lessons from Silas about life until Silas has to go away for a bit.  Miss Lupescu teaches him about other creatures while Silas is away and ends up having to save Bod’s life when he meets ghouls.  While he is in the graveyard, he makes a couple of friends.  Bod makes friends with a witch in the Unsacred Grounds by acquiring a tombstone for her to be remembered by.  She ends up saving him from a shop clerk who wanted to turn Bod into Jack, his family members’ assassin.  Scarlett, his other friend, is a little girl that comes and plays games with him when they are five.  She moves away much to her dismay; however, her parents later divorce which forces a move back to near the graveyard with her mom.  She is with Bod when they stop Bod’s family’s killer once and for all; however, she calls him a monster and her memory of Bod is erased for good.  Bod ends up discovering who his family’s assassins were.  They are part of a group called the Jack of All Trades.  Bod takes care of them by opening the Ghoul Gate and letting them be the master of Seer, which caused him to be eaten.  He is considered grown-up at the age of fifteen and sent off into the world to enjoy the land of the living.  Bod is excited to travel and explore the entire world that he has heard so much about. 

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book deals with issues that young adults can relate to.  There is the desire for independence that Bod wants from the graveyard and having to always do what he is told.  There is Scarlett’s desire for things like a cell phone.  There is Bod’s desire to explore and learn.  There is the desire to fit in and not be invisible; for example, Bod’s school experience was where he was told to be invisible, but he sought out revenge on those that were bullying him.  He wanted to know more than what the basic things were that people were telling him, even if it was safer for him not to know.  These themes are very relatable to young adults and deal with the coming of age.  Bod is a character that they are rooting for more than just for mere survival.  His is the classic underdog story of one that survives against all obstacles, then he gets the magic of the graveyard, even if in the end all of that has to be let go and he starts fresh.  Bod shows compassion to others and knows true loss, such as friends leaving, family dying, and family leaving for long periods of time.  Bod’s adventures keep you guessing about the dangers that he will face in a life outside the graveyard.  His adventures all lead us to him figuring out his own history.  The graveyard is an ideal setting for the mystical story, since it really emphasizes the dark tone of the book.  The styles that the author used helped to keep the reader’s hope strong through the dark tone and all the loss.  This was also mirrored by the illustrations that were all done in black and white.    

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
#1 New York Times Bestseller

John Newberry Medal

Starred review in HORN BOOK: “Lucid, evocative prose and dark fairy-tale motifs imbue the story with a dreamlike quality. …this ghost-story-cum-coming-of-age-novel as readable as it is accomplished.”

Starred review in BOOKLIST: “This is an utterly captivating tale that is cleverly told through an entertaining cast of ghostly characters. There is plenty of darkness, but the novel’s ultimate message is strong and life affirming….this is a rich story with broad appeal.”

Starred review in KIRKUS: “Wistful, witty, wise—and creepy. This needs to be read by anyone who is or has ever been a child.”

5. CONNECTIONS
*It is great to use in an author study.

Other books by Neil Gaiman:

Gaiman, Neil.  CORALINE.  McKean, Dave. ISBN 0380807343.

Gaiman, Neil.  M IS FOR MAGIC. Kristiansen, Teddy. ISBN 0061186473.

Gaiman, Neil.  STARDUST.  ISBN 0061689246.

Gaiman, Neil.  ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS.  Helquist, Brett. ISBN 9780061671739.