Fallen Angels

Bibliography:

Myers, W.D. (1988). Fallen Angels. New York: Scholastic Inc., 309 pp.

Genre and Awards:

Fiction

A Coretta Scott King Award Winner (1989), ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Booklist Editors' Choice, A School Library Journal Best Book

Fallen Angels chronicles Richie Perry’s journey to Vietnam as a young, black soldier in the United States Army. When Richie first arrives in Vietnam, he believes the war will be over quickly and that he will avoid combat because of a knee injury. Richie’s future after the war is his constant worry throughout the novel. He wants to attend college, but is also concerned about supporting his younger brother Kenny. Richie mainly joined the Army to escape the poor conditions of his life in Harlem.

Richie must begin coping with the harsh reality of war almost immediately upon arriving at his squad’s camp. One of his friends dies on the squad’s first patrol. This is difficult for him and he feels compelled to share the experience with his family, but is unable to discuss his emotions on this and subsequent stressful occasions when he would like to.

Richie suffers an injury and while recuperating at the hospital he remembers what it is like to live in relative comfort and safety. He does not want to return to his squad. When he does, his sergeant has been replaced with a racist who causes racial conflicts among squad members by placing black soldiers in the most dangerous circumstances. These differences become irrelevant as the squad bonds together. The racist sergeant eventually dies and is replaced with Corporal Brunner, one of the squad members.

Brunner leads a mission to attack some guerilla forces. Both Richie and his friend Peewee are injured on this mission. After recuperating in the hospital, Richie’s knee injury paperwork is finally processed and he is allowed to go home. Richie’s friend Peewee’s wounds are significant enough for him to be discharged. They both return home on a plane loaded with coffins containing the bodies of dead soldiers.

Richie questions his reasoning for enlisting in the armed forces throughout the novel. He also ponders the nature of war and the motivations of his supervising officers. As the novel ends, the overwhelming feeling Richie and Peewee seem to experience is relief to be leaving Vietnam alive. The omnipresent silver caskets being loaded onto the plane, as well as the news of Judy Duncan’s death, remind us that not all Vietnam War military personnel were so lucky.

I enjoyed this book because my father is a Vietnam veteran. Reading it helped me to better understand what he went through as a Marine.

I would recommend Fallen Angels for all classroom purposes for ages 13 and older.

Speak

Bibliography:

Anderson, L.H. (1999). Speak. New York: Penguin Group, 198 pp.

Genre and Awards:

Fiction

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak, Melinda loses her voice for an entire year after being raped at a high school party. She also looses all of her friends because they think she called the police to break up their fun, not report her sexual assault.

After realizing that she won’t have any social support at school, Melinda withdraws into herself. She stops caring about her appearance and grades. She also chews on her lips and her fingernails until they bleed. This behavior troubles her busy parents, but they assume she is just going through a troubled adolescent phase.

Only three people reach out to Melinda the entire school year: her art teacher Mr. Freeman, a new girl Heather who is only friends with Melinda until she makes new friends, and David Petrakis, her lab partner who would like to be her love interest.

Melinda’s art teacher provides her some therapy via a yearlong project creating a tree. Melinda becomes more and more isolated until spring when working outdoors in her yard inspires her.

Melinda writes a message of warning about her rapist Andy Evans on the bathroom stall at school. She is validated when other girls respond with more negative comments about Andy. When Melinda finds out that her former best friend Heather is going to prom with Andy, she confides in Heather about the rape. Heather rejects Melinda and accuses her of making the rape up because she is jealous.

At prom Heather breaks up with Andy. After the next school day, Andy confronts Melinda in her janitor closet hideaway and attempts to rape her again. Melinda finally finds her voice, screams for help, and fights back. A group of Lacrosse players arrive after Melinda manages to fight off Andy and she unlocks the closet door. The lacrosse players then help keep Melinda safe from Andy.

At the end of the school year, Melinda finishes her tree project and Mr. Freeman gives her an A. The story ends as Melinda begins to “speak” her truth to Mr. Freeman.

While the content of this novel is depressing, the writing is crisp and clear. I enjoyed reading Melinda’s unique perspective. I have been out of high school for a long time and her insights on adolescent emotional development (or in her case temporary lack of development due to trauma) will be helpful when interacting with students.

I would recommend this novel for readers 13 and older for literature circles and individual reading.

Dancing on the Edge

Bibliography:

Nolan, H. (1997). Dancing on the edge. New York: Penguin Group, 214 pp.

Genre and Awards:

Fiction

National Book Award, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Booklist Editors’ Choice, A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

Dancing on the Edge opens bizarrely, Miracle McCloy is invited by her highly spiritual (CRAZY) grandmother Gigi to participate in a séance to contact Miracle’s dead mother. Miracle received her name because she was pulled from her dead mother’s womb after a tragic accident. During the séance, Miracle’s mother’s spirit notifies the family that Dane, Miracle’s depressive writer father, is gone. Gigi claims that Dane has melted when the family finds his bathrobe and other clothing heaped in a pile in his room full of burning candles.

Miracle accepts this explanation for his absence and takes to wearing her father’s bathrobe to school because she misses him so much. Miracle and Gigi’s wacky claim that Dane melted does not go over well in their small Alabama town and they relocate to Atlanta to live with Miracle’s grandfather Opal.

Gigi resumes her odd spiritual activities in their new hometown: conducting séances, reading auras, and placing great emphasis on colors and energy fields. Opal realizes that Miracle is lonely and bored and helps her sign up for dance lessons, which Gigi strictly forbids. Miracle attempts to use her spiritual knowledge learned from Gigi to make friends, but the “normal” kids view her as a freak.

When Opal’s home is destroyed in a tornado, Miracle looses her grasp on reality. She badly burns herself attempting to melt, as she believes her father did.

Miracle is taken to an institution and finally begins to get the help she needs to establish her own sense of identity thanks to her Aunt Casey and a physician named Dr. DeAngelis. Gigi comes to the institution and kidnaps Miracle, but in a strong statement of independence Miracle asks Gigi to take her back. Gigi refuses to take her back to the hospital, but eventually drops Miracle off at a train station.

This bizarre novel conveys a strong account of healing from the damage caused by a dysfunctional family crippled by mental illness. Miracle has to reject her Grandmother’s brainwashing to see the truth regarding her past so that she can grow up and function in normal society.

I recommend this novel for literature circles and individual reading. I think females age 13 and older would enjoy reading this book.

Deadline

Bibliography:

Crutcher, C. (2007). Deadline. New York: HarperCollins Children’s Books, 316 pp.

Genre:

Fiction

Chris Crutcher’s novel Deadline follows Ben, a high school senior, through the last year of his life. Ben learns of his terminal illness through his cross-country physical and decides to decline treatment and keep his disease a secret.

In clichéd fashion, Ben decides to make the most of his last year living. In his 18-year-old world that includes playing football (instead of running cross country) and pursuing Dallas Suzuki. Ben also devotes himself to learning as much as possible, ostensibly for the sole purpose of giving his teachers a hard time. He eventually reveals his illness to those around him.

Ben seems to think of Dallas as his unattainable dream girl, but after what seems to be their first real discussion, they go to homecoming and end up sleeping together. Later we find out that Dallas is an incest victim and teen mother. After this quick shock, we learn that Rudy, the town’s alcoholic mechanic, is a former priest and child molester. Ben works with Rudy on his Malcolm X project and tries to help Rudy stay sober. Rudy eventually commits suicide. Crutcher must have included Ben’s time with Rudy to build understanding of the awful cycle of sexual abuse for young readers of this novel.

This book also addresses the lingering racism in Trout, Idaho, where the story is set. Ben attempts a social studies project to gather signatures to rename a street Malcolm X Avenue. He is unable to get anyone to sign his petition.

Sooner Cowans, a bully on the football team, is beaten by his father. Sooner’s father eventually breaks his collarbone, ending his football season. Sooner ends up dying before Ben in a car crash.

This depressing chain of events is intended to stir up emotions and lead readers to attempt to live more meaningful lives, but my reaction to the book was very flat. I was unimpressed with the way women were presented in this book. Ben’s inept therapist Marla resigns because she can’t handle the sadness he causes her. And Ben’s mentally ill mother cannot manage the ups and downs of her life. She is his main reason for not sharing his fatal diagnosis with his family. He was worried that he would have to spend his last year alive attempting to help her deal with the trauma.

While I did not enjoy reading this book, I believe adolescents will, particularly boys. They will appreciate the sports references and high school social setting. They will also be comfortable with Crutcher’s choice to just brush the surface of these intense topics. I recommend this book for ages 14 and up for the following purposes: read aloud, individual choice, or small group.

Go Ask Alice

Bibliography:

Anonymous. (1971). Go ask Alice. New York: Simon & Schuster, 213 pp.

Genre and Awards:

Fiction- Drug Abuse

ALA Best Books For Young Adults, ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults,

Before beginning this blog, I must record my ignorance to the controversy regarding the authorship of Go Ask Alice. I assumed the anonymous author, who I will refer to as Alice, was an actual person.

In the diary, Alice, a relatively normal middle class girl, inadvertently tries LSD by drinking a Coke laced with it at a party. She experiences an incredible trip, but vows to never use drugs again. In her next few diary entries, which occur in less than a week’s time, she progresses from being horrified by the “low-class” and “despicable” nature of drug use to allowing her new friend Bill to inject her with speed.

Alice’s accelerated progression from accidentally ingesting LSD to intravenous drug use was the cause of my skepticism. I didn’t find the timeframe or description of events realistic at all, so I Googled the book. The “diary” is reported to have been written by Beatrice Sparks, a psychologist and Mormon youth counselor, who claimed to be the book’s editor.

I finished the book (even though I hate being intentionally mislead) and it was relatively entertaining, but continually unrealistic. Particularly troubling is the way addiction is dismissively presented. Alice goes through several promising periods of sobriety even after trying such addictive drugs as heroine. During these periods of abstinence from drug use Alice documents almost no cravings.

The most disturbing relapse occurs after Alice and her friend Chris return home from San Francisco. They fled to San Francisco after turning in their ex-boyfriend drug dealers to the police. At first, Alice is happy to be welcomed back into the comfort and safety of her family home. But shortly after returning home, she gets some drugs at school and runs away. On the road, she loses complete track of reality and prostitutes herself in exchange for drugs. The diary continues in this up and down fashion. The ending, as you might expect from a manipulative fake diary about drug abuse, is down.

This book does not address multi-cultural issues beyond selecting a white, middle-class family to confront this topic, suggesting drug abuse can affect any home.

I would not recommend this book to students because the language is outdated and the writing is contrived and poorly developed. I believe even unsophisticated readers will determine that the diary is a fraud. If I had to select an age range, I would select ages 14 and older.

Selecting Books

Selecting Books for our Adolescent Literature Project was more difficult than I anticipated. I spent the majority of Tuesday afternoon on the internet and in book stores researching books.

Four Award Winners:

• Dancing on the Edge, Han Nolan. National Book Award Winner (1997)
• Fallen Angels,* Walter Dean Myers. A Coretta Scott King Award Winner (1989), ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Booklist Editors' Choice, A School Library Journal Best Book
• Godless, Pete Hautman. National Book Award Winner (2004)
• Twilight, Stephenie Meyer. ChristianGoering MAT Award for Acceptance (2008)

Non-Fiction:

• Little Rock Nine,** Marshall Poe, Illustrated by Ellen Linder
• Go Ask Alice, Anonymous

Graphic Novel:

• **Little Rock Nine

Representative Latino & African American Authors:

• The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
• *Fallen Angels

Required Class Reading:

• Deadline, Chris Crutcher
• Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie, National Book Award Winner (2007)