Bad Island

Bad Island

TenNapel, D. (2011). Bad Island. New York: Scholastic.

Bad Island just seemed to grab my attention quickly with its parallel stories of young adult “boys”, both human and alien, struggling to find their own independent footing in the world as Reese and his family embark on a boat trip that is intended to bring them closer together.  When Reese’s family becomes shipwrecked on what appears to be an island, they quickly realize they are targets of strange inhabitants on the island.  They soon find themselves literally fighting for their lives and making discoveries about themselves and each other along the way.  One of Reese’s struggles, and one so common to young adults, is to be trusted enough to be treated like the adult he is becoming, and likewise, his father is struggling with trusting him.  As the family works together to overcome the aliens, the reader discovers that the island is not an island after all, but some sort of alien-machine disabled years ago and together, they provide the piece that restores it to life.  There is a happy ending for all (except the bad guys, of course) and readers leave off with closure.  Bad Island would be a great read for upper elementary readers all the way through reluctant 12^th graders as the reading is easy and the content has emotional depth that younger readers can understand and older readers can relate to.  I enjoyed Bad Island so much (surprisingly!) that I’m tempted to read Ghostopolis.

The First Part Last

The First Part Last

Johnson, A. (2003). The first part last. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Growing up in the city, sixteen year old Bobby is a typical teenage boy with great friends, a girlfriend he is really into, and a family who loves and cares for him while teaching him the responsibilities of life until he finds out that his girlfriend, Nia, is pregnant.  Life comes crashing down almost immediately—his mom is angry, his friends seem alienated, Nia’s parents are judgmental and controlling, and Bobby is confused.  As the novel flashes back and forth between the time prior to “Feather” being born and the time after, we get a bird’s eye view of the complexity of Bobby’s thoughts and emotions as a young father-to-be/father.  Because of Feather’s traumatic birth which renders Nia incapacitated, Bobby is forced (literally by his and Nia’s family) to deal with his situation as an adult and then, eventually, leads him to move with Feather to a slower paced life with his brother and family.  The content of The First Part Last would not be emotionally appropriate for readers younger than 14 but would be a great source to use in a child development or health class as I think boys and girls alike could benefit from the angst and emotional twists and turns caused by the physical and emotional involvement of the characters in the book.   

Feed

Feed

Anderson, M. T. (2002). Feed. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.

Feed is a futuristic novel where space travel is a common thing and manners are not. People’s brains are implanted, most of the time at birth, with a direct feed which can be compared to the way Google tracks our interests and then displays ads suited to them. Titus and Violet are teenagers from very different backgrounds—Titus is the typical privileged kid whose life IS the feed and Violet is not.  Violet is the girl from “the wrong side of the tracks” and was raised by a father who is the futuristic version of the anti-establishment type and didn’t allow Violet to have her feed installed at birth, both because they couldn’t afford it and because he didn’t believe in them.  When their feeds are hacked by a lunatic, Titus and Violet find themselves on a path that both drives a wedge between them and pulls them closer together with Violet constantly questioning the feed and its effects and ultimately causing Titus to question everything he’s ever been comfortable with.  For multiple reasons, Violet’s feed is killing her and Titus is incapable of dealing with her situation until the very end.  While I did not care for Feed, it does deliver a strong message about the need to question and think for ourselves and points out the reality of our culture today.  Readers would need to be able to delve into the unknown and think abstractly in order to appreciate Feed.

The Chocolate War

The Chocolate War

Cormier, R. (1974). The chocolate war. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Jerry Renault is a freshman in high school who, after his mother’s death, lives with his emotionally detached father and is struggling with loss, emotional bonds, and self-identity.  When the “cool kids” known as The Vigils issue a challenge to Jerry in order to prove himself worthy of being one of them, he initially accepts it and refuses to sell chocolates, a choice that paints a large target on his back for Leon, the corrupt private school interim headmaster in charge of the fundraiser.  After his initial refusal, Jerry decides to take a stand on his own in an effort to forge his own path and even takes a stand against Archie when he tells Jerry to back down, making that target even bigger and creating an open-season order for The Vigils.  As Jerry continues to defy those around him, we see him becoming the victim of the ruthless struggle for power that exists at school, as well as the struggle of others against their own cruel human behavior and eventually, Jerry suffers physically when he’s brutally beaten by Emile.  The Chocolate War is appropriate for high school students and, even though it was written 40 years ago, the themes of belonging, moral code, courage, connections with others and even psychological defeat are still common in the lives of teens today and reinforce three of Havighurst’s Theory of Developmental Tasks as outlined in Dr. Lesesne’s textbook, Making the Match.