Searching for the great perhaps

Miles Halter seeks the "Great Perhaps" in John Green's Looking for Alaska. His public school life in Florida is uneventful, uninteresting, and unfriendly. He leaves for Culver Creek Boarding School, Birmingham, AL seeking a more fulfilling existence. He finds his meaning of life in Alaska. The "hottest girl in all of human history." She is smart, adventurous and mischievous. Her past is somewhat of a mystery which she slowly divulges during late night smoking and drinking sessions.
Miles is drawn to the excitement of Alaska. But, can he handle the excitement and its consequences?
This award winning first novel is a classic for young adults. Recommended for grades 8-10.

Little Brother

w1n5t0n and his friends are arrested as a suspected terrorists in the confusion surrounding the terrorist attack on the San Francisco. They are held by the Department of Homeland Security. Their families are in mourning as their children are missing and assumed dead . w1n5t0n is released after days of interrogation. In the wake of the attack and the United States' security fears he vows to use his computer skills to fight back against the increasingly Orwellian tactics used in the guise of safety.
Doctorow's near futuristic narrative is filled with techno-geek hacking and subterfuge. The extensive bibliography offers readers the opportunity to explore the writers research as he learned about hacking and security. A fascinating read for grades 8-10.

Books and Movies

Need to present a book talk? Try choosing a book that has been made into a movie. Use this guide to help you construct your presentation.
Book or Movie

Losing My Cool (2010)

Thomas Chatterton Williams reflects on his dual persona growing up in suburban America. He portrays the struggle between the academic opportunities his father, a self taught scholar, provided in the family home, a home filled with 15, 000 books and the allure of Hip Hop culture that permeated black youth in the 1990's. The story is punctuated with lyrics from Hip Hop fame such as Biggie Smalls, Dr. Dre and Ice-T.

While Williams offers a peak into the black male psyche of what it means to be a young black man, it is the unconditional love and confidence that his father exudes that strongly shapes Williams' choices of self over the black community. I found myself waiting for Williams to recount another story of his father's experience as an educated black man from the south. His father was forced to read by flashlight in the closet as his family frowned on his academics. His marriage to a white woman, Thomas' mother, occurred when interracial marriage was against the law in many southern states.

Williams' story speaks of the black experience but I can see the struggle that many adolescents, black or white, endure during their teen years as they navigate the foundations of family and the pull of peers and popular culture.

This book is recommended for students in grades 11 and 12.

Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffenegger (2009)

Julia and Valentina Poole, 20 year old twins, are given an opportunity to escape their sheltered suburban Chicago home. Elspeth Noblin, their mother's twin sister, has died and left them her fortune. She has also bequeathed her London flat, which borders on Highgate Cemetery. The Poole twins have always wondered about their estranged aunt. Their mother, Edwina, has cut off all ties with her twin sister. There is a catch to how the young Americans can claim their inheritance; Elspeth has stipulated that the girls are to live in her flat for one year, and their parents are not allowed to enter. Their London flat neighbours include Elspeth's younger lover, Robert and Martin, an eccentric crossword composer whose OCD Niffenegger poetically portrays.
Julia and Valentina embark on a journey that takes them deep into themselves and the ghosts of their family and Highgate Cemetery.
Her Fearful Symmetry brings suspenseful supernatural mystery the unsuspecting Poole twins and the reader. Niffenegger also weaves in a history of London's famous Highgate Cemetery, where likes of Karl Marx, Christina Rossetti, George Elliot and Malcolm McLaren are buried. The novel is rich in topics and themes that students can explore for book talks or for the pure enjoyment of reading. I would recommend Niffenegger's latest work to grades 10-12 as well as the enthusiastic junior reader.

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

Your life has been designed for you to give to others. You will most likely not survive past 30 years old. What is your life like?
Ishiguro creates a disturbing narrative that explores the life of clones destined for organ donation.
Set in futuristic England, Kathy H. reflects on her schooling and friends from Hailsham. She reveals the personal and emotional struggles that she endured upon leaving her protected sanctum of Hailsham.
Ishiguro brings to light the morality of child rearing, education, and cloning through the eyes of adolescence. Never Let Me Go is a powerful read that will have you reflecting on the purpose of your own life. The Vintage Canada edition that we have comes with a reader's guide and discussion questions regarding the movie version. These are GREAT resources for your English book talks. I would recommend Never Let Me Go to students in grades 10 - 12.

DEAR

SDSS celebrated Drop Everything and Read on October 19, 2010. Special thanks to Ms. Crump's English 9 class who allowed me to join them in their silent reading time.