Affliction

Thoughts and emotions tend to linger from past experiences as to be expected. They are always with you no matter how you try to shake them. However, the significance of those estranged memories begin to manifest themselves during certain time periods of your life. And in those moments you realize how they have truly affected everything you've become and how you deal with current/future events. 

I've always categorized those that harm themselves to be in another class of reality, that no amount of sadness could ever make me go to such lengths as to hurt the one that loves me the most; no matter how many times it has crossed my mind. But then it occurred to me that those types of things can be readily identified in a seemingly 'normal' individual. It's just harder to spot. There are a wide variety of ways to harm oneself. And the point behind that is not to figure out what it is people find to kill the pain, it's simply 'why is it there to begin with?'. And not only that but why it becomes increasingly difficult to abstain from the very things you know will break you down time and time again. 

I can only imagine some people's recollections of their childhood. There are so many things that occur in ones life at a young age that it isn't surprising how effective environmental influences really can be when shaping ones mind and character.  It is those very things that give rise to our thought processes and actions. This is especially true with decision making. The events in our life make us who we are. The question is how to stop that twisted cycle of guilt and self infliction?

Module 15 - The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things

Summary:

This is the story of an overweight and self conscious teenager.  The main character Virginia, Ginny for short, feels that the people in her life do not understand her.  She especially feels like her parents are unsupportive of the issues that she is dealing with.  She is locked in a world of being told she is not thin enough or she doesn’t dress the way that she is supposed to.  Her mom is actually a psychologist and is constantly comparing Ginny to other girls and body types.  This is particularly hurtful to her.  The most painful thing that Ginny deals with is growing up with what she calls perfect siblings.  Her older sister is working with the peace corps and then going to attend medical school.  And then her brother Byron is idolized by so many that no one could ever think ill of him.  However, Ginny begins to see her friends and family in a much different light after she learns things about her brother and a possible date rape incident.  She begins to realize that she is her own person and that there is so much more than just being known as the fat girl.  She does become a bit wild and leaves town to go see her friend that moved away and changes her physical appearance dramatically.  The important thing is that Ginny grows up and finds out that you don’t have to be perfect to be happy and that it is okay to change yourself if it is for the right reasons.


APA Reference: 


Mackler, C. (2003). The earth, my butt, and other big round things. Cambridge, MA:  Candlewick Press.

My Impressions:

I couldn’t have thought of a better title to go with this book.  I thought that this book had a very interesting and happy twist to a sad story.  I know that many people can identify with Ginny.  So many young girls feel terribly insecure about their looks.  There are no shortage of advertisements and people to remind you that you aren’t skinny, aren’t flawless and aren’t beautiful.  I know that I could have identified with Ginny immediately.  I appreciate how Ginny eventually uses these negative things to lift her up instead of knock her down.  It was much easier when she began to see those around her for what they truly were.  It is important to remember that no one is perfect and you should never feel less than anyone.    

Professional Reviews:

Horn Book Magazine Review

(Middle School, High School)

"You can tell that Ani is angry, but at the same time she's also funny and strong and sassy." Though she's talking about punk folksinger Ani DiFranco, fifteen-year-old Virginia could easily be describing herself. Unfortunately, Virginia buries her anger (toward her picture-perfect but dysfunctional family) and is unable to see herself as anything but a fat girl who's kind of smart.  When her brother Byron, whom she worships, is found guilty of date rape, Virginia finally begins to acknowledge what her older sister Anais has tried to tell her:  that Byron and their parents are far from perfect. Virginia's transition from an insecure girl desperate for her family's approval to a confident young woman might be a little messagey, but it's believable, and she doesn't do it on her own. Support comes from her best friend, from a teacher with eating-disorder experience, from a doctor who stresses health not weight and recommends channeling anger through kick-boxing, and even from the college student her brother assaulted. Readers will cheer Virginia on when she tells her father not to comment on her weight loss ("my body [is] just not yours to discuss"); tells her brother he's "an asshole for date-raping someone"' ignores clothing advice from her appearance-obsessed mother (who recommends "strategic layers and camouflaging colors") and buys a sexy purple dress instead; and realizes that the guy she's been making out with behind closed doors actually wants to kiss her in public. Mackler does a fine job introducing girls to a very coll chick with a little meat on her bones.

Brabander, J. M. (2003). The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. Horn Book Magazine, 79(5), 614-615.

Library Uses:

        a.  This might be an interesting book to use for a health lesson.  Not only physical health but emotional health as well. 

          b.  It would also be a good idea to incorporate social issues such as stereotyping and bias advertising using this story. 

Module 14 - Comets, Stars, the Moon & Mars

Summary:

There are very beautiful illustrations in this book.  There are many different types of poems in this book.  There are poems about each of the planets in our solar system and one about the solar system! The sun also has a poem to describe it.  Some of the poems are about the universe or a galaxy.  Constellations and comets were also highlighted with a poem.  Some of the poems had text that swirled.  The great thing was there was factual information embedded into the poems.  They were fun but proved to be very useful.  There was even a glossary with the definitions of the terms used.  


APA Reference:


Florian, D. (2007). Comets, stars, the moon, and mars. Orlando, FL:  Harcourt, Inc.

My Impressions:

I love this book!  I have used this book since my second year of teaching.  I love the poems and colors.  I would use this in my classroom for my special education students that cannot read well.  When we cover the universe I always make a note of that book to each class.  I really like using it with my ESL students also.  The rhyming is not as clear to them yet but the illustrations always grab their attention and allow for some initial vocabulary building. 

Professional Reviews:

Booklist Review

This large-format book looks at astronomy through the magnifying, clarifying lens of poetry. Each broad double-page spread features a short, accessible poem about a subject such as the sun, each of its planets, a comet, a constellation, or the universe, set within an impressive painting. A concrete poem entitled “a galaxy” is a curling spiral of words set against the midnight-blue sky and surrounded by other galaxies. Stamped type, cutout pages, collage elements with printed papers, and sweeping brushstrokes all figure prominently in the expressive collage artwork, which ably illustrates the verse. The last pages carry “A Galactic Glossary” with a paragraph on the topic of each poem, followed by a list of books and Web sites. Florian’s ode to Pluto matter-of-factly notes its demoted status, but even better is his pithy poem on Jupiter: “Jupiter’s jumbo, / Gigantic, / Immense, / So wide / Side to side, / But gaseous, not dense. / With some sixteen moons / It’s plainly prolific— / So super-dupiter / Jupiterrific!” Read this aloud.

Phelan, C. (2007, April 1). [Review of the book Comets, stars, the moon, and mars]. Available from Booklist Website:  http://www.booklistonline.com/Comets-Stars-the-Moon-and-Mars-Douglas-Florian/pid=1933475

Library Uses:

a.       This could be a fun little research project for students at the elementary level.  They could use the book as a guide to things in the universe as a starter.  It also has some very useful information.

b.      This is a great book to also teach poetry.  There are different types of poetry and this would be a great book to teach the basics.

Module 13 - Amulet Book – 1: Stone Keeper

Summary:

Emily is a young girl that loses her father.  She and her family end up moving.  They move into their grandfathers old house.  The interesting thing is how their grandfather has been missing for a very long time.  No one knows where he is.  Strange things begin to happen in the house and when they finally decide to go and investigate, Emily’s mother is taken by a terrifying creature through a strange door.  Unsure of what to do, they follow their mother down some strange stairs. Her and her brother Nevin want to save her.  It just so happens that their grandfather knew things that they did not.  In one of the rooms of the old house, Emily had found an amulet.  It had been hidden and looked like a necklace.  She uses the power of the Amulet to guide her in this strange new world and to fight off danger.  It was full of very bizarre and fanciful creatures.  Some were animals that could talk and others were robots.  Some were even stranger.  Emily pairs up with one of the creatures, a rabbit that is a robot.  In the search for their mother, Emily discovers more and more about her family and a secret past. Her destiny is to become the stonekeeper but she just wants to save her family and go home.  It ends with them still searching for their mom. 


APA Reference: 


Kibuishi, K. (2008). The stonekeeper:  Amulet book 1. New York, NY:  Scholastic Inc.

My Impressions:

I love these types of stories.  Anything sci-fi or fantasy always catches my attention.  However, I am not the greatest fan of comic style books.  I am not fond of books that create the images of the story for me.  I also don’t care for the type of illustrations used.  The car wreck and the death of the father might also be a little hard for some to read about.  I did like the storyline, however.  I am usually the type of reader that locks themselves into only a few genres of reading material.  That being the case I always make comparisons.  This story reminded me of The Labyrinth.  I love new and creative ways to portray wild and unknown creatures.  My daughter enjoyed it.  Now of course we have to go get the others! 

 

Professional Reviews:

Library Media Connection Review

Grades 4-9 – After seeing their father die in a car accident sister and brother, Emily and Navin, move with their mother to an old family home to get a fresh start.  Little do they know that the house has some interesting secrets and surprises in store for them.  When their mother is lured through a door into a world populated by fantastical creatures, the children follow to save her.  This fantasy graphic novel will appeal to those reluctant readers with its interesting monsters and adventures.  The dark pictures aid in portraying the dark shadow of the story and help set the mood.  The prologue of the story relays the car accident and tragic loss of the children’s father and may be traumatic for some readers.  Kaylia Thomas, Librarian, Colt Elementary School, Marble Falls, Texas.

Thomas, K. (2008). Amulet Book 1: The Stonekeeper. Library Media Connection, 26(5), 67.

Library Uses:

a.       This story would be great for book talks.  There are more than one and that could make for an exciting and suspenseful semester.

b.      I think there is room for creativity with this tale.  I would use it to demonstrate adaptations in the environment.  This would be  a great science lesson.  They could use the creatures from the story and discuss what the environment might be like based on their physical characteristics and powers. 

Module 12 - The Burn Journals

Summary:

Brent Runyon is a troubled teen.  He has attempted suicide many times and still feels like a failure.  He is a typical teenager going through normal ups and downs.  However, in his mind, the things he has done and seen are just too much for him.  He feels that he is causing others pain and that he should not live because of it.  Even the girl he likes is one that his friend already likes.  He hates himself for this too.  He just can’t seem to find a suitable place in life for himself and does not see why he should.  With his many attempts to commit suicide he finally decides on a sure fire way to get the job done.  He goes home and pours gasoline on his robe, puts it on and lights the match.  Even as his family is telling him it is going to be alright after they find him, he is mentally drained and still thinking about the things around him.  This journal is actually written by Brent Runyon himself. They are his accounts of the feelings he had that led up to the ultimate suicide attempt and how he tries to reexamine his life in an attempt to piece his life back together. 


APA Reference:


Runyon, B. (2004). The burn journals. New York, NY:  Random House, Inc.

My Impressions:

Yikes.  It just breaks my heart to know that there are people out there that feel so horrible about themselves that they feel they need to die or want to die.  It is also very tragic that many of them have people around them that don’t know what is happening or just don’t care.  It just makes me ill to think that people can be that ignorant.  I feel that anyone that has attempted suicide more than once should be heavily treated with therapy and other such methods.  No one should feel as if they are alone.  That is what Brent felt like.  He makes that statement that thousands of kids make every day and that is that no one understands them.  Some people found this book controversial and I just say they are ridiculous.  How on earth are some of these kids supposed to wake up every day and know they are not alone? Many of them can’t because they may not know anyone that is dealing with what they are.  This is a very sad and real occurrence.  Books like this teach reality and pain.  However, they also teach hope and forgiveness.  That is important because so many children do not get that at home and even if they do, a child’s life is not always easy.

Professional Reviews:

Booklist Review

On the sixteenth page of this incisive memoir, eighth-grader Brent Runyon drenches his bathrobe with gasoline and (“Should I do it? Yes.”) sets himself on fire. The burns cover 85 percent of his body and require six months of painful skin grafts and equally invasive mental-health rehabilitation. From the beginning, readers are immersed in the mind of 14-year-old Brent as he struggles to heal body and mind, his experiences given devastating immediacy in a first-person, present-tense voice that judders from uncensored teenage attitude and poignant anxiety (he worries about getting hard-ons during physical therapy) to little-boy sweetness. And throughout is anguish over his suicide attempt and its impact on his family: “I have this guilt feeling all over me, like oil on one of those birds in Alaska.” Runyon has, perhaps, written the defining book of a new genre, one that gazes as unflinchingly at boys on the emotional edge as Zibby O’Neal’s The Language of Goldfish (1980) and Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak (1999) do at girls. Some excruciatingly painful moments notwithstanding, this can and should be read by young adults, as much for its literary merit as for its authentic perspective on what it means to attempt suicide, and, despite the resulting scars, be unable to remember why. 0

O. (2004, June 1). [Review from the book The burn journals]. Available from Booklist Website:  http://www.booklistonline.com/The-Burn-Journals-Brent-Runyon/pid=228385

Library Uses:

a.       This account would be a great example used during lessons on entering adolescence and the everyday troubles that children face.  Many things are normal and it is important for people to realize they are NOT alone.

b.      This would be another book that could be used to share information about social services in their local community and to discuss options for those in trouble. 

Module 11 - Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow

Summary:

Susan Bartoletti writes this book about twelve people that were part of the Hitler Youth during the time of World War II.  She uses the research and personal interviews to tell the story.  The book is not about Hitler, the Holocaust or the politics surrounding the war.  This book was intended to be told from the perspective of those that were recruited by the Nazis as children.  There are twelve different stories that are told and followed.  Each individual had their own personal accounts to relive and share.  Each experience was unique as to how and why they were recruited.  The Hitler Youth were among the most powerful groups in the world.  When people talk about the Nazis they do not always realize that the majority of them were teenagers and young children.  Bartoletti compiles the information beginning in about the 1930’s from the time many of the people interviewed were recruited.  She tells their story.  


APA Reference: 


Bartoletti, S. C. (2005). Hitler Youth:  Growing up in Hitler’s Shadow. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc. 

My Impressions:

This was one of my favorite books.  When I read this several years ago I was astounded.  We had gone to the Holocaust museum every year in Dallas.  Our 8^th graders learn about the war and the Holocaust during nine weeks of lessons, movies and books.  I had read about this time period and felt I was well versed in it until I came across this book.  When you try to understand why Hitler did what he did, it is clear to see why he chose children to be the backbone of his efforts.  Children are impressionable and easily swayed.  It is hard to imagine waking up every day, attending school and seeing the face of your leader on the classroom walls.  His face was in every classroom and inside every church.  Teachers were teaching what they were told to.  Children were basically being brainwashed every single day of their existence.  These young people did not have the proper defenses to ward off this dictator.  However, like many of those Bartoletti interviewed, there were some that chose to put their efforts in on the other side of the war once they realized what was happening to them.  It is a very inspirational book and will be one of the last books that offer quoted material from people that were actually there.

Professional Reviews:

Booklist Review

What was it like to be a teenager in Germany under Hitler? Bartoletti draws on oral histories, diaries, letters, and her own extensive interviews with Holocaust survivors, Hitler Youth, resisters, and bystanders to tell the history from the viewpoints of people who were there. Most of the accounts and photos bring close the experiences of those who followed Hitler and fought for the Nazis, revealing why they joined, how Hitler used them, what it was like. Henry Mentelmann, for example, talks about Kristallnacht, when Hitler Youth and Storm Troopers wrecked Jewish homes and stores, and remembers thinking that the victims deserved what they got. The stirring photos tell more of the story. One particularly moving picture shows young Germans undergoing de-Nazification by watching images of people in the camps. The handsome book design, with black-and-white historical photos on every double-page spread, will draw in readers and help spark deep discussion, which will extend beyond the Holocaust curriculum. The extensive back matter is a part of the gripping narrative. — Hazel Rochman

Rochman, H. (2005, April 15). [Review of the book Hitler Youth:  Growing up in Hitler’s shadow]. Available from Booklist Website:  http://www.booklistonline.com/Hitler-Youth-Growing-Up-in-Hitler-s-Shadow-Susan-Campbell-Bartoletti/pid=1180952

 Library Uses:

a.       Use this book in the teaching of the Holocaust but also of the conditions of Germany during this time period. 

b.      This book would be a great use for an activity involving young children and allowing them to see how easy it is to be manipulated and how so many were put under this spell.

Module 10 - The Devil’s Arithmetic

Summary:

This book is about a young girl is learning about the Holocaust.  Her grandfather was a part of it and has to hear about it often.  She is actually very embarrassed by all of it.  However, during a special Jewish ceremony, Passover Seder, Hannah gets to greet Elijah the prophet.  She is immediately thrown back into time in Poland during World War II.  She has a new identity and a new home.  It just so happens that she is then taken by the Nazis and placed in a concentration camp.  Rivka befriends Hannah, now Chaya, and tries to make her time at the camp as comfortable as possible.  Eventually Chaya is among those that will be put into the gas chamber.  As soon as the door closes on her she is transported back to her own family again.  She learned a very hard lesson and finally understood what her grandfather truly endured.


APA Reference:


Yolen, J. (1988). The devil’s arithmetic. New York, NY:  Viking Penguin Inc.

My Impressions:

This is an excellent story.  I can really appreciate this as a parent and as a teacher.  There is nothing harder than trying to explain something to a child that has no particular relevance in their life or they were not there so they don’t care.  I can remember when our middle school pulled out all the stops one year and even had us piled into “cattle cars” in the hallway marked by tape.  Some of us had paint on our face and could not speak the rest of the day.  These were the people that had been gassed, tortured to death or had died from some other unspeakable thing.  Even then it was hard to understand what these people had gone through.  It was not until I was an adult that I could truly appreciate what these people had faced.  This book allows the reader to identify with Hannah in that the Holocaust was just some time period that did not pertain to her and did not care to know about it.  Then you are thrown into this frightening and very real experience with her.  It makes you truly appreciate not only the people that suffered but your own existence.  It is a very powerful story.

Professional Reviews:

School Library Journal Review

Gr-4-8 – In this novel, Yolen attempts to answer those who question why the Holocaust should be remembered. Hannah, 12, is tired of remembering and is embarrassed by her grandfather, who rants and raves at the mention of the Nazis.  Her mother’s explanations of how her grandparents and great-aunt lost all family and friends during that time have little effect.  Then, during a Passover Seder, Hannah is chosen to open the door to welcome the prophet Elijah.  As she does so, she is transported to a village in Poland in the 1940’s, where everyone things that she is Chaya, who just recovered from a serious illness.  She is captured by the Nazis and taken to a death camp, where she is befriended by a young girl named Rivka, who teaches her how to fight the dehumanizing processes of the camp and hold onto her identity.  When at last their luck runs out and Rivka is chosen, Hannah/Chaya, in an almost impulsive act of self-sacrifice, goes in her stead. As the door to the gas chamber closes behind her, she is returned to the door of her grandparents’ apartment, waiting for Elijah. Through Hannah, with her memories of the present and the past, Yolen does a fine job of illustrating the importance of remembering. She adds much to the children’s understanding of the effects of the Holocaust, which will reverberate throughout history, today and tomorrow. – Susan M. Harding, Mesquite Public Library, Tex.

Harding, S. M. (1988). The devil’s arithmetic (Book). School Library Journal, 35(3), 114.

Library Uses:

a.        This is a great book to use while discussing the Holocaust.  We use this one.

b.      It can also be used to highlight the time period with discussions and activities pertaining to both sides of the war, the different countries involved and the culture surrounding the people involved.