Bibliography
Kinney, Jeff. 2007. Diary of a Wimpy Kid. New York, NY. Amulet Books. ISBN 9780810982925.
Plot Summary
Greg Heffley chronicles his sixth-grade year as he and his best friend Rowley seek middle school immortality. Greg is determined to raise his popularity and improve his image in the new school year, but seems to stumble at every turn. Following failed attempts at joining the wrestling team, performing in the school play, and drawing cartoons for the school paper, a case of mistaken identity drives a rift into the boys’ friendship. Greg continues his quest alone and eventually an encounter with a moldy piece of cheese re-kindles Greg and Rowley’s friendship.
Critical Analysis
Kinney portrays Greg as a self-centered sixth-grader determined to make his mark on middle school. Greg blames all of his problems on others and believes everything is fine, as long as he isn’t the one in trouble. Essentially, he is an average 11-year-old boy. Accurately and hilariously written as Greg’s journal, complete with hand-printed style font and simple black and white drawings, the overall effect is a true glimpse into a year in the life of Greg Heffley. His adventures reflect the classic middle school experience and Greg is “every student.”
Kinney delights his audience with tales of Greg’s failed attempts at running for student government office and trying to “bulk up” for the wrestling team, all the while illustrating Greg’s egocentricity and lack of social skill. Greg may never achieve immortality, but he does lose a friend, earning the friendship back only when he finally accepts the blame for something he didn’t do – along with the dreaded “cheese touch.” In the end, though, Greg never does seem to realize his past mistakes. Hopefully, clever readers will recognize the error of Greg’s ways and note how not to make friends.
Review Excerpts
Starred Review from Publisher’s Weekly: Greg's mother forces him to keep a diary ("I know what it says on the cover, but when Mom went out to buy this thing I specifically told her to get one that didn't say 'diary' on it"), and in it he loosely recounts each day's events, interspersed with his comic illustrations. Kinney has a gift for believable preteen dialogue and narration (e.g., "Don't expect me to be all 'Dear Diary' this and 'Dear Diary' that"), and the illustrations serve as a hilarious counterpoint to Greg's often deadpan voice.
From School Library Journal: His attempts to prove his worthiness in the popularity race (he estimates he's currently ranked 52nd or 53rd) are constantly foiled by well-meaning parents, a younger and older brother, and nerdy friends. While Greg is not the most principled protagonist, it is his very obliviousness to his faults that makes him such an appealing hero.
Connections
Keep a journal for a week.
Choose one of Greg’s mis-adventures and share what you would have done differently.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
A Review of RULES by Cynthia Lord
Bibliography
Lord, Cynthia. 2006. Rules. New York, NY. Scholastic Press. ISBN 0439443822.
Plot Summary
Twelve-year-old Catherine is standing at the edge of a summer ripe with possibilities: a new neighbor moving in next door, and a new friend in an unexpected place. While joining her mother and her brother David for his visits to an occupational therapist, Catherine meets Jason. Jason is confined to a wheelchair and only able to communicate by pointing at words and pictures in a book. Still, a friendship blooms during their brief visits in the clinic waiting room.
Then Catherine meets Kristi, her sure-to-be-popular new neighbor and her summer is off. But within everything, is David. Eight year-old David is autistic and Catherine just wants a normal life. In an attempt to reach normal, Catherine keeps a list of rules for David in the back of her sketchbook: “You can yell on a playground, but not during dinner. A boy can take off his shirt to swim, but not his shorts.” She struggles to help David learn the rules and balance her new friendships. When Kristi suggests that Catherine invite Jason to a dance, Catherine is torn, afraid her new, and old, friends will make fun of Jason. In the end, Catherine breaks her own rule and learns that sometimes you simply have to accept life as it is.
Critical Analysis
Cynthia Lord takes us on a journey through the world of disabilities, as seen through the eyes of a family member. She reaches into the heart of the middle school quest for normalcy and fear of difference and reminds us that, “Sometimes, you’ve gotta work with what you’ve got.” As Catherine attempts to help her brother David learn the rules of life, she struggles with her own rules. She clearly loves and cares for David, but also worries deeply about how others see him, and as a result, her family. It is this concern for appearances and desire to fit in that will resonate with young readers.
When Catherine meets Jason in the therapy clinic waiting room, she must explore her concerns from a new perspective. She didn’t get to choose her brother, but what will her friends think if she invites Jason, in his wheelchair, to the dance? Lord honestly portrays Catherine’s turmoil through-out the story, as well as her new-found strength when she finally reaches her decision.
While exploring Catherine’s ambivalence, Lord never leaves the reader questioning Catherine’s love for David. Through-out the book, they share lines from Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad stories in their own language and following their rules: “If you don’t have the words you need, borrow someone else’s.” and “If you need to borrow words, Arnold Lobel has some good ones.” In the end Catherine realizes that she may never find a “normal” life, but what she has can be enough.
Awards and Reviews
Newbery Honor Book
From School Library Journal: Rules of behavior are less important than acceptance of others. Catherine is an endearing narrator who tells her story with both humor and heartbreak.
From Booklist: The details of autistic behavior are handled well, as are depictions of relationships: Catherine experiences some of the same unease with Jason that others do in the presence of her brother.
Connections
Read another book about someone with a disability and compare the experiences and events included.
Lord, Cynthia. 2006. Rules. New York, NY. Scholastic Press. ISBN 0439443822.
Plot Summary
Twelve-year-old Catherine is standing at the edge of a summer ripe with possibilities: a new neighbor moving in next door, and a new friend in an unexpected place. While joining her mother and her brother David for his visits to an occupational therapist, Catherine meets Jason. Jason is confined to a wheelchair and only able to communicate by pointing at words and pictures in a book. Still, a friendship blooms during their brief visits in the clinic waiting room.
Then Catherine meets Kristi, her sure-to-be-popular new neighbor and her summer is off. But within everything, is David. Eight year-old David is autistic and Catherine just wants a normal life. In an attempt to reach normal, Catherine keeps a list of rules for David in the back of her sketchbook: “You can yell on a playground, but not during dinner. A boy can take off his shirt to swim, but not his shorts.” She struggles to help David learn the rules and balance her new friendships. When Kristi suggests that Catherine invite Jason to a dance, Catherine is torn, afraid her new, and old, friends will make fun of Jason. In the end, Catherine breaks her own rule and learns that sometimes you simply have to accept life as it is.
Critical Analysis
Cynthia Lord takes us on a journey through the world of disabilities, as seen through the eyes of a family member. She reaches into the heart of the middle school quest for normalcy and fear of difference and reminds us that, “Sometimes, you’ve gotta work with what you’ve got.” As Catherine attempts to help her brother David learn the rules of life, she struggles with her own rules. She clearly loves and cares for David, but also worries deeply about how others see him, and as a result, her family. It is this concern for appearances and desire to fit in that will resonate with young readers.
When Catherine meets Jason in the therapy clinic waiting room, she must explore her concerns from a new perspective. She didn’t get to choose her brother, but what will her friends think if she invites Jason, in his wheelchair, to the dance? Lord honestly portrays Catherine’s turmoil through-out the story, as well as her new-found strength when she finally reaches her decision.
While exploring Catherine’s ambivalence, Lord never leaves the reader questioning Catherine’s love for David. Through-out the book, they share lines from Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad stories in their own language and following their rules: “If you don’t have the words you need, borrow someone else’s.” and “If you need to borrow words, Arnold Lobel has some good ones.” In the end Catherine realizes that she may never find a “normal” life, but what she has can be enough.
Awards and Reviews
Newbery Honor Book
From School Library Journal: Rules of behavior are less important than acceptance of others. Catherine is an endearing narrator who tells her story with both humor and heartbreak.
From Booklist: The details of autistic behavior are handled well, as are depictions of relationships: Catherine experiences some of the same unease with Jason that others do in the presence of her brother.
Connections
Read another book about someone with a disability and compare the experiences and events included.
A Review of HOW I LIVE NOW by Meg Rosoff
Bibliography
Rosoff, Meg. 2004. How I Live Now. New York, NY. Wendy Lamb Books. ISBN 038590908X.
Plot Summary
As war looms around the world, 15-year-old New Yorker Daisy is sent to spend the summer with family she has never met in the English countryside. Sent away for a variety of reasons, Daisy quickly falls into the pattern of farm life amongst her dead mother’s family. When her aunt travels to Norway to help with the “Peace Process,” the cousins expect to enjoy a short time with only 16-year-old Osbert in charge. Life changes quickly and permanently though, when “The Enemy” attacks London, severing it from the outside world. Soon “The Enemy” has occupied England, but Daisy and her cousins “didn’t really care.” They continue to live a quiet life on the farm, enjoying their freedom. When the British Army sequesters the family home for quarters, the children are separated and sent to other families. As events escalate, Daisy and nine-year-old Piper work to return home, hoping to find Osbert, Isaac, and Daisy’s love Edmond on the way. What they do find are the horrors of war and an empty farm. Suddenly, Daisy finds herself back in New York longing for her life on the farm.
Critical Analysis
Rosoff voices Daisy in a way only a teenaged girl can speak – quickly and with infrequent punctuation. While the voice rings true, the lack of properly punctuated dialogue quickly becomes annoying, and occasionally confusing. Still, the story is engaging and the action moves at a quick pace. Daisy wastes no time in becoming romantically involved with her cousin Edmond. While the romance, and Edmond’s apparent mind-reading abilities, does provide an interesting twist, the incestuous nature of the relationship is troubling. Also troubling is Daisy’s struggle with anorexia, made even more so by Daisy’s admission that she starves herself not just to be thin, but to manipulate those around her. While the plot does keep the reader involved and Rosoff’s descriptions of the atrocities of war are frighteningly accurate, the incestuous relationship does not outweigh the writing skill.
Awards and Reviews
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2004
Michael L. Printz Award 2004
From Publisher’s Weekly: Teens may feel that they have experienced a war themselves as they vicariously witness Daisy's worst nightmares. Like the heroine, readers will emerge from the rubble much shaken, a little wiser and with perhaps a greater sense of humanity.
Connections
Research the experiences of people living in occupied countries and experiencing sequestration of their homes.
Rosoff, Meg. 2004. How I Live Now. New York, NY. Wendy Lamb Books. ISBN 038590908X.
Plot Summary
As war looms around the world, 15-year-old New Yorker Daisy is sent to spend the summer with family she has never met in the English countryside. Sent away for a variety of reasons, Daisy quickly falls into the pattern of farm life amongst her dead mother’s family. When her aunt travels to Norway to help with the “Peace Process,” the cousins expect to enjoy a short time with only 16-year-old Osbert in charge. Life changes quickly and permanently though, when “The Enemy” attacks London, severing it from the outside world. Soon “The Enemy” has occupied England, but Daisy and her cousins “didn’t really care.” They continue to live a quiet life on the farm, enjoying their freedom. When the British Army sequesters the family home for quarters, the children are separated and sent to other families. As events escalate, Daisy and nine-year-old Piper work to return home, hoping to find Osbert, Isaac, and Daisy’s love Edmond on the way. What they do find are the horrors of war and an empty farm. Suddenly, Daisy finds herself back in New York longing for her life on the farm.
Critical Analysis
Rosoff voices Daisy in a way only a teenaged girl can speak – quickly and with infrequent punctuation. While the voice rings true, the lack of properly punctuated dialogue quickly becomes annoying, and occasionally confusing. Still, the story is engaging and the action moves at a quick pace. Daisy wastes no time in becoming romantically involved with her cousin Edmond. While the romance, and Edmond’s apparent mind-reading abilities, does provide an interesting twist, the incestuous nature of the relationship is troubling. Also troubling is Daisy’s struggle with anorexia, made even more so by Daisy’s admission that she starves herself not just to be thin, but to manipulate those around her. While the plot does keep the reader involved and Rosoff’s descriptions of the atrocities of war are frighteningly accurate, the incestuous relationship does not outweigh the writing skill.
Awards and Reviews
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2004
Michael L. Printz Award 2004
From Publisher’s Weekly: Teens may feel that they have experienced a war themselves as they vicariously witness Daisy's worst nightmares. Like the heroine, readers will emerge from the rubble much shaken, a little wiser and with perhaps a greater sense of humanity.
Connections
Research the experiences of people living in occupied countries and experiencing sequestration of their homes.
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