Upper-School Reading Team

Unfortunately, I must say that neither of these books really captured my interest. after the first chapters of each, I simply had no desire to continue reading, which happens occasionally and is always disappointing.

The style in which The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing was written was entertaining, but the story was to unusual to pick up on fast and in the end it was not the type of book I would enjoy reading over the summer. The Kite Runner failed to reach me and I soon grew bored of both books, and I found no reason to force myself to continue when I wasn’t enjoying them.

This is only a statement of personal preference, but really these are not the types of books I enjoy, and I do think it would be hard to find a book that would interest everyone. Though I have heard many good things about each book, I did not enjoy what I read so I would not recommend either to be the upper school reading choice.

Although this Persepolis offers some good insight into the history of Iran and the middle-east, it is scant and I was left unsatisfied with Satrapi’s sparse comments and opinions on the entire matter, from past to present. It was more a chronology of her own life, sometimes becoming distant where I got a bit bored or couldn’t feel any empathy for some of the characters. It is, nonetheless, a great story. I don’t, however, think it really fits the requirements for a school-wide book.

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1,000 Splendid Suns is a long book full of colorful characters, and set in Afghanistan, focusing on the hardships that women have endured in this culture. Although it goes fairly quickly because it spins a good yarn and is highly episodic, it struck me as relentlessly grim. Iin spite of lengthy descriptions of the female characters’ sufferings, we are eventually delivered a happy ending (I don’t want to give it away), an ending that felt pretty contrived to me. I was disappointed in this book because many had raved about it. While it satisfies some components such as exposure to another culture and advocating for women, as well as a love story, and a celebration of female friendship, these elements felt too transparently planted in the interest of achieving a PC bent and attracting a large audience. I didn’t experience it as a great work of literature, and I fear that its length and probably limited appeal to younger or provincial students might make them hate to read altoget
her.

While I enjoyed reading this graphic novel, it does not seem to be the right choice for us.  The book never digs deep enough into the young woman’s life.  I consistently felt that I was never reading a coherent story, but rather a series of vignettes that prohibited me from caring that much about the characters.  If we want to go the route of a young woman growing up in a dynamic, Islamic culture, I think 1000 splendid suns is better.

This is a wonderful book about a young boy named Piscine ‘Pi’ Molitar Patel and some of his ‘mis-adventures’ as he searches for a sense of spirituality and meaning in his life. Pi is the son of a zookeeper and his family is from Pondicherry, India.  As the family decides to move to Canada they travel on a large freighter that unfortunately shipwrecks. Pi is found adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a 26-foot lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a 450lb Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Needless to say that for 227 days, they are all trying to survive. This is one of those crossover books found in both adult fiction sections and young adult fiction sections, as it is suitable for both. I absolutely loved this book and read it while I was on a trip to Puerto Rico and Gregg read it at the same time from here. It’s one of those books that is a wonderful to read when more than one person is reading it along with you for deep discussion. There is also a luscious illustrated version of the book  by Harcourt books. the book is 336 pages and is readily available everywhere in trade and quality paperback. For students or anyone considering reading the book (even if you have read it) there is a phenomenal conceptual computer animated and interactive promo which could be great with the tablets. The internet has quite a few plot summaries available, as well as, analysis of writing elements.  This is an international bestseller and : WINNER 2002 - Man Booker Prize WINNER 2001 - Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction NOMINEE 2001 - Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book FINALIST 2001 - Governor General’s Literary Awards - Fiction.Though I do not officially sit on the US reading team and my opinion may be neither here, nor there for some- this is my pick! ;9Even if the book has been read already, I for one would gladly reread it and welcome the opportunity to do so, with peers and students. 

Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder is similar in tone to Three Cups of Tea yet Doctor Paul Farmer comes across as almost a zealot in his work as a doctor to the poor in  Haiti, Peru, and Siberia. His zeal and perseverance in bringing clinics and medical care to people in abject poverty and isolation are remarkable and admirable but even the author remarks that his genius and work ethic are so beyond the norm for most individuals that I wonder if our students would be drawn to his story as much as to Greg Mortenson’s work in Three Cups of Tea?

In Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson, whose story is recounted by author David Relin, is a determined young man from Montana, a former US Army officer, trained nurse, and well-known mountain climber who decides, after being nursed back to health from a mountain climbing accident, to dedicate his life and efforts to building schools in rural Pakistan. Relin recounts in great detail Mortenson’s perseverance in  learning and respecting the culture and language of the tribal leaders and his efforts to raise funds for his projects, from his mother’s school students in Wisconsin raising “Pennies for Pakistan” to his first $10,000 donation, allowing him to establish the Central Asia Institute through which his work will continue to grow. His incredible drive, humility, and single-minded pursuit has resulted in 55 schools where 24,000 students are being educated.

I think this is a book that would appeal to the humanitarian interests of many of our students, particularly those who were active as 7th graders in the effort to raise funds for schools and scholarship in Kenya. It is relevant, timely and illuminates in great detail a culture and country that we as Americans will be involved with for a long time to come. Mortenson is young, idealistic and, I think, would be an inspiring role model if willing to participate as a guest speaker.

Sandy Moore

This is a lovely book about an unusual 14 year old boy growing up on the Spokane rez in Washington State.  The book hits almost all of the points we discussed last Friday.  It’s about a different culture; it’s about a young person’s experience but is not condescending; you could easily program around it, etc.  It’s also very entertaining and no one would complain about actually reading it. Yet, I thought that it was a bit too cheesy.  Things tie up a bit too easily for the main character.  He has problems, yes, but they are all overcome without too much trouble. This might be a result of the fact that it is a children’s book, so it needs a happy ending.

 Plusses:

• Readability.  I read this in about 3 hours
• Amusing.  It’s funny, entertaining, and compelling.

Negatives:

• Age Appropriateness:  It’s technically “young adult literature.”  This could be a great book for freshman, but I have trouble imagining a serious conversation with seniors.

Hi folks!  Sorry to chime in out of the blue, but left the country before list came out.  Am currently marooned on tropical island with limited reading choices.  Wife finished and passed on “40 Signs of Rain”  (a colleague of hers had recommended it.)  I’m about 2/3 through it and HIGHLY recommend it.  It’s about a  congressional staffer, his scientist wife, their 2 small kids, global warming, environmental policy, venture capital, the biotech industry, with a dash of Tibetian Buddhism.  The characters are real, their situations believable, and their lives interesting.  What I particularly like is the book gives a realistic glimpse of what various people really do - there’s an interesting chapter on grants being reviewed by NSF for funding priority, for example.  A biotech CEO meeting with a venture capitalist and what that meeting would be like.  The only downside that I see is that the age of the characters are young-adult to adult.  Might be a bit of stretch for 9th graders to relate to, but might not be a bad thing.

Ender’s Game is an emotionally compelling coming-of age story set in the future. Embedded in a well- crafted story of war one has; the development of self from child to young adult, the isolation of early adolescence, the issue of conformity vs. being an isolated brainy kid, and all the anxieties of leaving childhood—this book speaks, and speaks eloquently to the crisis of early adulthood. It also is a story about finding friendship, courage, and understanding in a world in essence devoid of the latter. The themes emerge in a story line of some complexity, which includes with some good plot twists. The characterization is good and deep—you feel for and with Ender as he tries to cope with a world of older teens and adults.
The plot revolves around a war with an insectoid alien race. Ender the main character is recruited to the military at age 6. The book traces his growth at the academy, and just after. Here are some detailed plot summaries;
http://www.sfreviews.net/endersgame.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/endersgame/summary.html

I think this is a book which will seriously engage young adults. It will speak to their condition. Indeed it is a book with a large devoted following of young adults. It is a good choice. That said, my concerns center around maledicta on p 99-100, in which a riff by Rose the nose, et seq, includes “jewboy…goy…kike” and the statement on p 131 on Hitler “…mostly he got to power on the right words at the right time” I think the author could argue that both instances are used legitimately to limn some of the more offensive characters in the book. Nonetheless, as a Jew, I just wish he hadn’t. Card expresses an admiration for Isaac Asimov—Isaac wouldn’t have. Is this a knockout? I don’t know and I mention it for discussion. I guess there could be misreading in the lower classes. If I can find Card’s email I will ask his opinion