100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith

1. Summary: Fin Easton is a character in a book. Well, at least he feels that way. His father wrote one best-selling book and a character with two different colored eyes, who suffers from epilepsy and has a unique scar is the lead. Coincidentally, these are all characteristics of Fin. His best friend is Cade Hernandez, a typical high school boy who loves baseball and sex. College is on the horizon, but Fin can’t seem to figure out who he is away from that character in the book. He soon falls in love with the new girl in town, Julia, and begins to take risks. Julia and Fin have a whirlwind love affair before suddenly moves back home. Cade and Fin take off to visit Oklahoma and the college they plan to attend together when suddenly they are jumping into a raging creek in the middle of a storm to save a grandfather and his grandson trapped in a car. Hero status helps open Fin’s eyes to new adventure and who he really is.

1. Textbook: The setting of this novel is barren and haunted by a strange past. It isn’t the California of people’s expectations. Instead, It is a dessert-like canyon that was involved in a horrific dam break that caused many people to die and an entire town to be washed away. This is connected to Fin’s life because when he suffers from an epileptic seizure, he sees twin girls who died in the flood. He is haunted by them and struggles to figure out why. Also, Fin’s life is blank and boring because he feels stuck in the character of his dad’s book and unable to have his own adventures. Cade and Julia help drag him out of this show him adventure and life. This contrast of life and the setting keeps the reader engaged in the growth of Fin.

Smith, A. (2014). 100 sideways miles. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Andrew Smith talks about his book 100 Sideways Miles.

Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart

1. Summary: Lily McGrother has known most of her life that she is a girl trapped in a boy’s body. As 8th grade approaches, the need to be her true self fills her with agony daily. She is picked on at school and not accepted by her father. But one day, she puts on a dress and steps outside to help her dad get the groceries and her life changes. A boy named Norbert Dorfman sees Tim (Lily) in that dress and doesn’t forget those blue eyes on the first day of school. Their friendship grows, despite some bumps (Norbert aka Dunkin joins the basketball team and hangs with the boys who pick on Lily) and soon Lily learns that Dunkin is bipolar when he quits taking his medicine in hopes of being a better basketball player. They are both able to accept each other’s differences and be their true selves despite how the world sees them.

1. Textbook: Middle school gets getting picked on for being different and struggling with growing up and issues with parents: this is a great example of realistic fiction that revolves around the very current topic of transgender children and kids suffering with mental illness. This novel is able to address both topics in a way that helps the reader understand the issue, but also teach the truth about both being transgender and bipolar. Never does the author take on a negative tone in regards to either topic; she even brings to light a background issue for one of Lily’s aggressors: his father reams him after a basketball game and Lily recognizes that the way Vasquez treats her is possibly because he is treated that way by his father, as well as has never been taught not to act that way.

Gephart, D. (2016). Lily and Dunkin. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

Below is an incredible set of lessons over this novel to help students understand the topics of this book in an educational way.

Lily and Dunkin Educators/Counselors Guide

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

1. Summary: Jazz’s childhood was anything but normal. His dad was an infamous serial killer who racked up over 100 kills before being caught by small town Sherriff G.Williams in Lobo’s Nod. Jazz has spent the last four years of his life caring for his grandmother and avoiding two future scenarios: him being removed from his grandmother’s care and placed into the foster care system and becoming just like his father. His best friend Howie and girlfriend Connie keep him grounded in reality and focused on forgetting his gruesome past. But when murders begin again in his small town, his killer instincts and inside knowledge allow him to help G. Williams catch a copy cat killer whose ultimate goal is to convince Jazz he IS a serial killer and needs to live up to his father’s legacy.

1. Textbook: The character of Jazz is so incredibly complex. He was literally raised up and trained to be the perfect killer. He saw incredible horror and even figures out as he grows up that he was involved in his own mother’s death by being manipulated by his father. On the flip side, he is a high school senior with a best friend and a girlfriend, trying to figure out how to grow away from his past. Watching him struggle with his own feelings and then overcome his own beliefs about himself to become the good guy make this novel incredible reader friendly and intriguing. You are drawn to his development and hope things turn out well for him.

Lyga, B. (2012). I hunt killers. New York: Little, Brown.

I Hunt Killers is part of a trilogy. The following are the two other novels.

     

Please Ignore Viera Dietz by A.S. King

1. Summary: Vera and Charlie have been friends their entire life. Growing up just across the woods from one another, they both are drawn to each other due to their broken home lives: Vera’s mom left her dad unexpectedly and Charlie’s dad abuses his wife on a regular basis. As they grow up, their friendship is pushed to the breaking point when Charlie starts dating Jenny Flick, and evil, lying girl who puts a wedge between Charlie and Jenny. Jenny goes psycho and in the end, burns down a pet shop and Charlie is killed. Vera is wracked with guilt because she knows Charlie wasn’t the one who set the fire and Jenny is responsible for his death, but she cannot muster up the courage to tell everyone the truth.

1. Textbook: This novel creatively uses omniscient point of view of providing commentary from Charlie postmortem. This creatively engages a character in the life of Viera and connects the ghosts she sees of him to his story that is being told. This movement between who is speaking will keep readers engaged, especially when Viera leaves information out and it is later revealed to them via Charlie’s ghost. Beyond devices, this novel establishes itself as realistic fiction through the very real lives of Viera and the other characters. She struggles with losing her best friend, keeping a big secret, and trying to mend the relationship between her and her father. These are all common feelings and situations amongst teenagers.

 King, A. S. (2010). Please ignore Vera Dietz. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 

Book Trailer

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

1. Summary: Tana wakes up in a bathtub following what must have been an epic party only to find out that everyone else who was there is dead and her ex-boyfriend, Aiden, is possible going to turn into a vampire. Her past tells her to get to a Coldtown, a walled city-within-a-city that houses both vampires and lovers of them, in hopes of saving herself and her friends. Along the way she falls in love and wrestles with her own mother’s infection and eventual death at the hands of her father to save Tana’s own life. Inside Coldtowns, people are literally dying to be part of a hollywood style society, filled with power and danger.
2. Textbook: Despite the fantasy world of vampires and a world where they are revered, as well as feared, this novel still has characters that feel real. Tana is a high school girl who ends up in extreme situations but always keeps her head on straight and the drive to help others and stick together are both familiar topics in life. The world full of Coldtowns still has universal rules and expectations, making the idea of a life with these circumstances feel very real despite the fantasy elements. There are bounties for turning in these dangerous creatures, government funding and regulations for Coldtowns, and schools teach students the basics of vampirism and what to do in the case of a potential infection.

 Black, H. (2013). The coldest girl in Coldtown. Little, Brown Books. 

Other books by Holly Black:

                                

My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf

1. Summary: Jeffery Dahmer was known as “Jeff” in high school. He was an odd guy who kept to himself, but also managed to become part of Backderf’s group of friends for comic relief purposes. Little did anyone know that his extremely dysfunctional home life, crippling and dangerous thoughts, and anxiety would overwhelm him, drive him to drinking, and eventually turn “Jeff” into the notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The small town he spent his life in and the people who walked the same halls as him were turned upside down when his killings became public. But despite his oddities and crimes, Backderf portrays Dahmer as a victim of his mind and not wholly the evil he became.

 Backderf, D. (2012). My friend Dahmer: A graphic novel. New York: Abrams ComicArts. 

1. Textbook: Not only is this a great piece of nonfiction, but it also uses the form of a graphic novel to portray the strange happenings of the life of Jeffrey Dahmer. The author, Derf Backderf, is a highly credible author as he walked the halls with Dahmer and included him in his circle of friends and some activities. He witnessed his spiral into depression and alcoholism, as well his odd behaviors and eccentricities. His facts are correct and he incorporates his own research on events he was not part of to accurately tell the story of Dahmer. In regards to this being a graphic novel, colors are kept monochromatic with black and white as the only colors throughout the story. The textbook discussed the ability of graphic novels to reveal mood and tone, and this novel portrays the balance or lack off between good and evil in Dahmer’s life.

Teaching Ideas for My Friend Dahmer (high school students only)

#1

Lesson/Assignment:  In small groups after reading about Dahmer's life in high school and knowing what he did after he graduated from high school, come to a consensus as to if the author was trying to gain sympathy for Dahmer by writing the book or not.  Be prepared to support your theories and ideas using the book.  If your group cannot reach a consensus, give support for both theories.  Share your results using Powtoons, Haiku Deck, Smore or Powerpoint.

#2

Assignment:  Use your knowledge of the people, feelings and events in My Friend Dahmer to add text to the drawing on page 14. (A copy of the page will be provided) Choose a perspective- Dahmer's, Backderf's or a neutral narrator.  Use thought balloons (Dahmer) or captions above or below the drawing to clarify or expand on what the art is showing in the drawing. What is happening? What emotions are going through Dahmer's mind?

#3

Assignment:  Jeffrey Dahmer was an alcoholic teenager. Research the affects of teenage drinking.  Include the following:  Average age a teen begins drinking, how it affects school work, family life, and sports.  Include behavioral changes involved with alcoholism.  Use such sites as www.cdc.gov, pubs.niaaa.nih.gov, and www.webmd.com.  Create a Prezi, Powerpoint, or Haiku Deck to share your findings. Work individually or paired partners.  Presentations will be presented in class.

#4

Assignment:  What adjectives come to mind when you think of different parts of the novel? Are the words 'dark'? Find 15 adjectives that support a sentence you create related to the novel.  For example, the word 'menacing' could be used to describe Dahmer. 

#5

Assignment:  This assignment is a reflective piece.  After reading the novel, write how you feel about it.  Has the book saddened or frightened you or made you angry? Should Backderf have written the novel, or just kept his story to himself? Backderf makes comments that no one at school or home helped Dahmer.  What should the school have done when they noticed the changes in Dahmer? Should they have intervened? What about his parents? Do you think they were neglectful? If so, in what ways? Your reflective essay should be a minimum of 3000 words, double spaced. 

Lesson plan reference:

Holmes, R. (2015, July 14). My Friend Dahmer [Web log post]. Retrieved August 28, 2016, from http://robinsreadingideas.blogspot.com/2015/07/my-friend-dahmer-how-would-you-feel-if.html

Speak by by Laurie Halse Anderson

Melinda, a high school student filled with anger and hurt, must confront the demons of her past as she starts a new year. Her friends have abandoned her and the evil that haunts her mind lurks through the hallways with a wink and a smile. An unoccupied janitor’s closet becomes her place of refuge as her grades began to fall and her anxiety grows. Everyone is angry that she called the cops the night of the big party and no one believes her when she says she was raped. But Melinda grows in confidence and knows the truth will come to the surface to save her.

 Anderson, L. H. (1999). Speak. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. 

Speak embodies the characteristics of realistic fiction by being set in a high school and having characters who represent today’s teenagers and the struggles they go through as they navigate the exciting and sometimes dangerous roads of the teenage years. Rape is a very taboo topic that isn’t discussed enough in regards to young adults. This novel not only addresses the situation and how a young woman can overcome this hellacious event in her life, but also the issue of seeing young men who have positions of popularity in society as not being capable of doing horrible things. No one believed Andy could do what he did until it almost happened again for people to see.

Speak Book Trailer