Little Brother

Reason Book Chosen

This book was required reading for a class. It is already a bestseller and is projected to be a cult classic, by some.

Bibliographic Information

Author: Cory Doctorow

Publisher: Tor Books

ISBN: 0765319853

Copyright Date: 2008

Genre

Fiction, Cyberpunk, Science Fiction, Speculative, Dystopia

About the Author

Cory Doctorow is a Canadian journalist, blogger and author. He writes fiction and nonfiction. Doctorow is coeditor of Boing Boing and the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He writes columns for Make, Information Week, The Guardian online and Locus. He has also contributed to Wired magazine, the Boston Globe, and others. He is a copyright law activist, whom is giving away his book, Little Brother for free.

Reader’s Annotation

Watch out big brother. There is power in numbers (and l3tt3rs).

Plot Summary

In a not too distant future, security measures have become even more advanced, and privacy even more stripped. Technologies tracking where people go, among other things, exist and are in use. Marcus, a smart, technically savvy high school student and hacker (who goes by M1k3Y), is at the wrong place at the wrong time when a terrorist attack occurs in San Francisco. Marcus and a couple of his friends are brought to a secret, nearby, Homeland Security Center and are questioned and abused before being turned loose with a threat that they are being watched. Marcus’s best friend, Jolu, is not let loose and is considered missing, although Marcus is sure the government has him detained somewhere. San Francisco quickly starts looking like a police state. Although Marcus and his friends had nothing to do with this attack, Jolu’s dissapearance and their treatment at what they later call “Gitmo by the Bay” prompts them to start an underground network using Xboxes to communicate and start a revolt against Homeland Security. Parents and school officials are not on their side or in the know, and few adults are their allies. Marcus, whom is still an average kid doing average things like falling in love, takes on the challenge anyhow. Marcus, his new girlfriend, a few close and trustworthy friends, as well as some newfound digital friends, stir things up by going off the grid, and confusing some of the technologies in place. Privacy and Freedom, as well as Marcus and Jolu’s safety (and the safety of many others), are at stake. A few people help them along the way, and a few just get in the way.

Critical Analysis

This book does feel very much like a modern 1984. The plot is interesting, as is Marcus’s character. Moral dilemmas, and a variety of topics such as privacy vs. freedom and safety are explored. The idea that one should stay true to his or her beliefs, is another important theme that teens can relate to. The time period in which this is set - not present day, but theoretically not too far off - is intriguing. This book is great for teens because it explores ideas such as anarchy and questioning authority, ideas teens are drawn to. It also makes activism a cool and powerful thing to get involved in and reinvents the image of the techno geek.

Themes/Issues/Tags

Privacy, Censorship, Terrorism, Technology, Surveillance, Government, San Francisco, Near Future, Homeland Security, First Love, Cyber Warfare, Techno-geek, Authority, Dystopia, Hacking, Civil Rights, Question Authority

Challenging Subject Matters

Rebelling against the government

Pro Terrorism/Anti-Safety/Anti-Patriotism

Curriculum Ties

History- American Government-Homeland Security

History- Civil Rights and Liberties

History- Protests/ Youth Revolt- Vietnam

Reading Level

13+

Interest level

13-17

The Giver

Reason Book Chosen

This book is my favorite book from all of high school. It won the Newbery Medal, has sold over 5 million copies, is considered a classic and is controversial. It has been banned by some schools and embraced by others.

Bibliographic Information

Author: Lois Lowry

Publisher: Bnatum Books

ISBN: 0440237688

Copyright Date: 1993

Genre

Science fiction, Dystopian

About the Author

Lois Lowry is a children’s author whom has written many books and a few series. She often writes about complex issues. Lowry won the Newbery Medal for The Giver and Number the Stars

Reader’s Annotation

Utopia is an illusion not everyone is privy to see.

Plot Summary

Jonas lives in a world, presumably the future, and resembling communism, that is supposedly a utopia. Jobs and children are assigned to members of this world, by a governing body. Each person is to fulfill the part they are given and everything is regulated, even births and deaths. Jonas and his younger sister, Lily, have been raised by the mother and father they were given to, after being taken from the birth parents. This is standard procedure. The reason for all of the rules and regulations in this society are to make things easy and painless for citizens to minimize the emotion people have to experience (ex: in making hard decisions). People even have to share their dreams. Privacy does not really exist and is certainly not encouraged. Careers are assigned at age 12, at a special ceremony. Jonas is approaching that age and is nervous and unsure about what career he will be given. Jonas is given the special job of being the “receiver of memory” and has to meet with The Giver, an older man, whom was the receiver but is now ready to pass on the memories.

Critical Analysis

This is a great book for people who like (soft) science fiction, psychology (especially Jungian psychology), and philosophy. The setting and plot are what make this book particularly interesting, but the characters are also well developed, and the relationship between Jonas and the Giver is complex, interesting, and magical. This book raises some really interesting and important ideas about what perfection really is. This is great for teens, whom often feel idealistic and cynic at the same time, and whom are dealing with or thinking about questioning authority. The language is very simple and so this is also a great read for teens whom may be at a lower reader level.

Character- Jonas’s “Receiver of Memory” job description”, p. 68

Themes/Issues/Tags

Socialism, Communism, Collective Pain/Trauma, Utopia, Future Society, Safety, Freedom, Choice, Suicide, Euthanasia, Choice

Challenging Subject Matters

This book has been banned in many middle schools because of its suicide references and because it details euthanasia and suicide as a means of keeping a “Utopia” in tact.

Defense: This book does not promote suicide or euthanasia in any way. It challenges the reader to look at these issues as complex, complicated ones that are not black and white. It brings about discussions of morality and “the grey” and pushed readers to think.

Other reasons this book has been banned are because it is deemed to be “negative”, violent, sexually explicit, objectionable themes, offensive language.

Curriculum Ties

History – Communism

History - Hitler –Aryan Utopia

American Government/Domestic Policies (ie. Terrorism/Patriot Act) – Safety vs. Freedom

Reading Level

11+

Interest level

12-17+

Go Ask Alice

Reason Book Chosen

This book has sold over five million copies, is one of the most banned books, and is very controversial.

Bibliographic Information

Author: Anonymous

Publisher: Simon Pulse

ISBN: 0133571114

Copyright Date: 1971

Genre

Fiction (now listed as such by publishers but once listed as nonfiction), Realistic

Reader’s Annotation

Alice is far far away from Wonderland.

Plot Summary

Fifteen year old Alice is isolated, depressed and has low self-esteem, especially when it comes to boys. She lives a fairly normal, boring life in the suburbs, the daughter of a college professor, and she doesn’t seem to have a lot of friends. She starts a diary, the format for the book. Soon Alice’s family has to move because of her father’s job. Alice is excited when she is sent to her grandmother’s house during summer vacation. There she runs into an old high school acquaintance, Jill, and a few others, and someone gets the idea to slip acid in Alice’s drink. This leads Alice to do drugs in a very quick decent. She soon loses her virginity and starts doing more and more drugs. Alice also runs into a boy, Roger, whom she once had a crush on, and worries what he thinks of her. At a certain point Alice thinks she might be pregnant, but is not. After returning from the summer, she meets a new friend, Chris, whom also likes to do drugs, and Alice dates a drug dealer and starts dealing a little bit herself. Eventually her and Chris runaway to San Francisco, where it is utopia at first, but then they have a few unfortunate situations happen. Alice goes through some really rough periods and slowly unravels, mentally, and eventually returns home after experiencing homelessness and despair. Even though Alice eventually comes back, gets help (is committed after trying to hurt herself), and things are looking up, especially with Roger, the book ends in tragedy.

Critical Analysis

Some people think this book is exaggerated, is propaganda, is even, perhaps, fiction disguised as preachy nonfiction in a diary format. The question-marked entries make it feel more substantial, but it is hard to know if the author was just not very clever. Reading it as an adult, it felt more like propaganda than it might have had I read it as a teen (I probably would have just been scared but not had the insight to think of it as propaganda).

Regardless of whether it is true or not, many teens can relate to the good-girl-gone-bad (or wanting to go bad), the desire to be popular, to have thrills and adventures, and to experiment. The actual portrayal of drug use and abuse seems somewhat realistic.

The diary entries work well as a format, the pacing is good, and the entries do seem to capture Alice’s state fairly well. Alice’s self-esteem issues - how she feels about her weight, boys, and sex - also seem to reflect what many teens experience.

Themes/Issues/Tags

Drug Addiction/Abuse, Coming of Age, High School, Pregnancy, Suicide, Banned, Mental Health, Runaway, LSD

Challenging Subject Matters

This is one of the most challenged books of all time. Some reasons include profanity, references to runaways, drugs, sex, and rape, and blasphemy.

Curriculum Ties

Health - Drugs - Addiction

1960s/70s

Propoganda?

Reading Level

11+

Interest level

12-18

Ghost World

Bibliographic Information

Author: Daniel Clowes

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books

ISBN: 1560974273

Copyright Date: 1997

Genre

Graphic Novel, Realistic Fiction

Reason Book Chosen

I chose this book because I enjoyed it when I was a teenager and because it is a popular graphic novel, especially within the category of realistic fiction. Additionally, it won the 1998 Ignatz Award Winner, Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection.

About the Author

Daniel Clowes is an Academy Award-nominated author, screenwriter and cartoonist of alternative comic books. Most of his work appears, first, in his ongoing anthology Eightball, a collection of self-contained narratives and serialized graphic novels. Several of these narratives have been collected and published separately as graphic novels, most notably this one.

Reader’s Annotation

Two jaded hipster girls on the “outside”, harp on their suburban town and its outcasts, while trying to sort out their futures, their feelings, and their friendship.

Plot Summary

High School is ending and Enid Coleslaw and her best friend Rebecca don’t know what to do with themselves or what this really means. They spend most of their time making fun of and hating on all the pathetic people they come across in their suburban town, while on mini adventures. They visit diners, record stores, an x-rated adult store, have a garage sale, watch tv, and hang around. They rope their friend Josh into driving them around, and use other people to get little things they want. They play some mean pranks on people, adults included, whom they think are lame. In Enid and Rebecca’s world, everyone is lame or too wealthy, too pretentious, too geeky, too boring, too annoying, too anything, and everyone is trying too hard to be cool. Except Enid and Rebecca of course. Nothing matters because nothing is significant enough. They are so above everyone and so self aware, at least on the surface. At a closer look, though, we see them question their future, their sexuality, the strength of their friendship, and their feelings about growing up.

Critical Analysis

This graphic novel captures many of the emotions that teens cycle through constantly – sadness, anger, confusion, anxiety, alienation, boredom. It captures the bleak and cruel world of teen girls who want to be different and whom feel different from all other teens - yet they really aren’t that different at all. They face many of the same issues and ask themselves many of the same questions that other teens do. This book covers a vast amount of topics in a short span, mainly how a person (Enid) changes and grows and how her relationship with her friend and her outlook on community also changes. The artwork is bathed in a ghostly light blue, and this adds to the mood and setting. The dialogue is very real, the topics the girls discuss and they way they discuss them. There is a lot of ambiguity in this book (ex: is Enid or Rebecca actually gay? How does Enid really feel about Josh?) which may leave a reader frustrated or satisfied, depending on the reader.

Themes/Issues/Tags

High School, Insecurity, Hipster, Punk, Friendship, Sex, Virginity, Loneliness, Nostalgia, Suburbia, Angst, Boredom, Identity, Sexuality, Individuality, Conformity, Stereotypes, Aging, Change

Challenging Subject Matters

Homosexuality

Defense: It is not clear if Enid and Rebecca are gay. The point is to bring up the idea that teens question these things (i.e. their sexuality) and that this is sometimes normal (i.e. even if it turns out they are not actually gay).

Morality – Some of the things Enid and Rebecca do are cruel and mean and the book and characters don’t seem to have a conscious about it.

Defense – Teens can be cruel! Part of bonding is making fun of “the other” or others, in order to create a “we” (i.e. “we are special, we are different from them”). Underneath, the characters do have a conscience that can be seen.

Derogative Comments and Inappropriate Language – Enid and Rebecca make fun of Jews, Asians, etc.

Defense – Enid and Rebecca make fun of everyone. The book does not say that this is ok. The book ops to show life and its characters “as is” without making too much commentary, or pushing opinions about how we should feel about these characters.

Curriculum Ties

End of High School - Graduating Seniors

Reading Level

12+

Interest level

14-17

StarGirl

Reason Book Chosen

I chose this book because it is the winner of the 2001 ALA Best Books, and a New York Times bestseller. Also, I had yet to read a book by Jerry Spinelli, a well-known young adult author.

Bibliographic Information

Author: Jerry Spinelli

Publisher: AlfredA. Knopf

ISBN: 0439444438

Copyright Date: 2000

Genre

Realistic Fiction

About the Author

Jerry Spinelli has written more than a dozen books for young readers, including Maniac Magee, for which he won the Newbery Medal.

Reader’s Annotation

A new girl in town brings out the wonder, imagination, jealousy, magic, resentment, and confusion in a small town and a star struck boy.

Plot Summary

Leo Borlock moves to a small, Arizona town and goes to a small, suburban high school where not much happens. Then, one day, Stargirl shows up, wearing funny outfits, playing her ukulele, singing happy birthday to students in the cafeteria, and walking around school with her pet rat. No one knows what to make of her, not even Leo. Her differences are confusing, but also celebrated. Everyone is curious and everyone wants in. Stargirl suddenly becomes wildly popular, then wildly unpopular. Leo falls in love with her, but as the students’ perspectives change, so do Leo’s. While Leo is attracted to her eccentricities and her oneness with the universe, Leo also wants a normal girlfriend, someone that other people will like, will acknowledge, will talk to. He doesn’t think it is so much to ask her to be just like the other girls, to give up a piece of who she is really is.

Critical Analysis

This is, above all, a story about the universe, the lessons it teaches us, and the funny ways it works. It is about relationships with others and with oneself, about individuality, about the power of trusting what is right and real. It is about love, and growth, and loss, and the way people change over time, but never really change who they are at the core. It has many wonderful timeless qualities and a few long, beautiful earthly passages. Stargirl and the world she lives in, and the world she draws Leo into, is magical. This book has a lot of soul, a lot of heart, and works like a magical charm much like Stargirl herself, whom resembles a younger and stronger version of the movie character, Amelie. The tone is reminiscent, even ominous. Leo’s voice echoes the wisdom and naivety of Fred Savage in the wonder years. The plot is realistic, but the world created, the essence of the novel, teeters on magical realism.

Themes/Issues/Tags

Conformity, Individuality, Stereotypes, First Love, Popularity, Acts of Kindness, Being True to Oneself, Timelessness, Wisdom, Intuition, Reality, High School, Identity, Worldliness, Rebellion/Revolution

Challenging Subject Matters

New Age, Hippy Dippy, Teaches Rebellion

Defense: On the surface this book might appear cultish or socialist, preaching love and acceptance and individuality. Stargirl’s character might have some parents concerned – her zen-like, prophetic nature. The book’s focus though, is not on Stargirl, but on the way others react to Stargirl. More than anything this book teaches youth to have their own opinions, to wonder, to ask, and to question others, beliefs, systems around them, and the world, and not to pick everything up like a sponge.

Curriculum Ties

Diversity

Acceptance

Individuality/Conformity

Reading Level

15+

Interest level

12-17

FOUND: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items Around The World

Reason Book Chosen

This is my absolute favorite anthology. I wish it was around when I was a teenager to help me make sense of the world, the people in it, and the culture around me.

Bibliographic Information

Author: Davy Rothbart

Publisher: Fireside/Simon & Schuser

ISBN: 0743251148

Copyright Date: 2004

Genre

Nonfiction

About The Author

Davy Rothbart is the creator, editor and publisher of Found Magazine. He is also a filmmaker and has published a book of short stories, The Lone Surger of Montana, Kansas.

Plot Summary

This book is, as the title suggests, a collection of found notes, letters, and items. Originally a magazine, Found and its creator, Davy Rothbart, had so many items sent in from people around the world, that they put out this anthology. Anything is fair game! Love letters, diary entries, emails, flyers, faxes, signs, grocery lists, pictures, and more. The found items are sad, funny, angry and everything in between. Each item includes who found it and where, and each has a title given to it by Found staff. The items read like short stories unto themselves.

Critical Analysis

It gives great insight into what is taboo in our culture, what is funny, sad, and everything in between. It is psychologically gripping and would help any teen understand people better (people, in general, that is). It especially shows how people are all different- what they care about, how they react, and what drives them. It covers love, loss, and angst, and taps into almost every human emotion out there.

Themes/Tags/Issues

Voyeurism, Collective Conscious, Taboo, Culture, Love, Loss, Humor, Sadness, Love, Loss, Human Condition, Angst

Challenging Subject Matter

Privacy

Defense: These items were found (not stolen, etc.)

Reading Level

Any

Interest Level

Any (some content is suitable for children, some for teens, some for adults, and some for all).

Stoner & Spaz

Reason Book Chosen

This book won the 2003 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Children's Literature, was chosen as a Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, and as a Top 10 Romance Fiction for Youth in 2002. It is an ALA best book for young adults, a Booklist Editor’s Choice, a Blue Ribbon Winner and was chosen Best Book of the Year by Publisher’s Weekly.

Bibliographic Information

Author: Ron Koertge

Publisher: Candlewick Press

ISBN: 0763616087

Copyright Date: 2002

Genre

Romance

About the Author

Ron Koertge has written and published children's books and young adult books. His other books include Deadville, Strays, Boy Girl Boy, and Margaux with an X.

Reader’s Annotation

An awkward, charismatic pair meet and move right into a dark, gorgeous place in your heart.

Plot Summary

Benjamin has Cerebral Palsy, lives with his grandmother, has no friends, and absent parents. He has never talked to a girl on the phone, let alone brushed elbows with a girl, and he spends most of his time studying or watching movies. He is polite, sensitive and caring. Colleen wears tall silver boots, is on the edge of the music scene, sells drugs, and lives in a world revolving mostly around drugs. Her family is dysfunctional, she admits to doing anything with any guy when she is fucked up, she rarely picks up a book, and rarely remembers movies she sees because she is usually too drunk or baked. She is brutally honest, and has no “pc” sensor. Benjamin and Colleen have a chance encounter at a movie theatre that leads to an unlikely friendship. As their friendship develops, Benjamin’s entire world broadens and changes, including his relationship with his Grandmother, his neighbor, and the community at large.

Critical Analysis

The dialogue in this book is phenomenal. The characters are unique, but not in a quirky, contrived way. I have never been introduced to a disabled character, let alone a teen one, that resembles Benjamin. The relationship between these two outcast characters, “freaks and geeks”, would be interesting enough on its own, but the witty and funny writing make it that much better. Colleen calls Benjamin a spaz, a cripple, and a slue of other derogatory terms, yet somehow the reader is left genuinely smiling about these things. Somehow Colleen’s honesty comes off on the page as endearing. The transformation of both characters, whom inch towards one another, is a perfectly slow and natural progression, as is their retreat backwards into parts of their old, familiar selves. This book is one to keep and treasure for a very long time.

Themes/Issues/Tags

Drug Addiction, Sex, Disability, Cerebral Palsy, High School, Romance, Friendship, Differences, Dysfunctional Family

Booktalking Ideas

Character Hooks- Read the character description from the critical analysis, above.

Topic Hook- Having a friend so different from you, yet someone you feel really similar to. Having a relationship where the differences is what brings you together

Topic Hook- Being sensitive to someone and their problems without pitying them or enabling them

Challenging Subject Matters

The Use of Non-Politically Correct Language

Defense: Everyone else in Benjamin’s life is overly sensitive to his condition or pretends it does not exist, which is just as enabling. Colleen’s words are just words. They are not hurtful because they come from a place of good intention, which they do. What she is actually doing is acknowledging Benjamin’s condition (and flirting with him!). The book does not condone teasing, bullying, or ostracizing, and instead teaches tolerance, learning from differences, and the importance of breaking away from stereotyped environments.

Curriculum Ties

Diversity

Disabilities

Stereotypes

Reading Level

12+

Interest Level

13-17