The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

I just finished the fourth book for my Adolescent Literature class and I am really enjoying these books.

The Disreputable History... is about a teenage girl, Frankie Landau-Banks. She attends a reputable boarding school that holds great importance to her father. In the beginning of her sophomore year, she begins dating a very popular senior. She and Matthew are like the perfect couple. Frankie gets along well with Matthew and his friends but she longs for something more.

Frankie notices that Matthew inexplicably has to leave her to attend various extracurricular meetings and becomes suspicious. Her father, Franklin Banks had frequently alluded to the existence of a secret society at the school. Frankie believes that Matthew an his friends are a part of this and wants desperately wants to be included. 

I really enjoyed reading about Frankie. I grew up with five brothers and often had male friends. Like Frankie, I got along well with them but never felt that I was really included simply because I was a girl. That is something that many students can relate to, the need to belong to a group. In high school the group that you belong is a part of your identity so it is very important.

I think that this book would be a great way to make women's rights or suffrage more relatable. The secret society in the story is exclusively for males even though the school had been co-ed for decades. Matthew and his friends down play any intelligent or intriguing conversation by commenting about her looks. Her family also demean her gender, though unintentional, by calling her bunny rabbit.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

This week I read the novel Speak. This novel is about a high school freshman, Melinda Sordino. Starting high school is difficult. You leave from being on top in middle school to being at the bottom of the barrel in high school. Melinda has to adjust to these changes on her own because her friends have abandoned her and everyone else at the school glares at her and whispers behind her back.

Trying to get a social head start on their high school careers, Melinda and her friends decide to attend an end of the summer high school party. Something horrible happens to Melinda and she calls the police. Her friends and everyone at the school thinks she called to break up the party but they don't know what really happened.

Melinda is forced to suffer in silence. She blames herself at first and has no one to talk to. She has no friends and can't talk to her parents. This is how high school begins for Melinda. She must struggle within to find the strength to confront what happened to her.

I have to admit that this is not a book that I would have chosen on my own. The author conveys Melinda's feeling very well so it was very depressing to read. I would definitely only read this book in a high school class, but I don't know if I would use it as a whole group because of the subject matter. To me this seems like a really good book to have as a book study for a counseling group.

There is also a movie adaptation of this book starring Kristen Stewart. I started watching it but I couldn't finish. From what I did watch, the first 30 minutes or so, it did follow to novel pretty closely.

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Mockingbird is about a 5th grade girl whose brother died in a school shooting. Dealing with the loss of a loved one is difficult for any child, but Caitlin also a has Asperger's Syndrome. She understands that her brother, Devon, is gone but she does not understand the emotional aspect of it. People whom she rarely saw when Devon was alive are crying at his funeral.

If that tragedy was not bad enough, she is also at the age when students start to become more judgmental and cliquey, especially the girls. Other students in her class this that she is weird and avoid interacting with her. At the same time she really doesn't want to interact with them either.

With Devon gone, Caitlin only has her father to depend on. Devon was her sole companion and the person that she depended on the most and her father is too distraught with grief to notice that she needs him. He falls apart anytime Devon or the tragedy is mentioned.

With the help of her school counselor, Caitlin begins to make friends and tries to come to terms with Devon's death. Her budding friendship and need to find closure, she also helps her father. Her bluntness is endearing in a way because is forces her father to realize that he needs to there for Caitlin.

I loved that the author wrote this book from Caitlin's perspective. I have known and worked with students with Asperger's but I really never understood how they felt or perceived the world. While reading the book I was Caitlin saw the world through her eyes. Everything that people thought was weird about her was just how she coped with her environment. 

I think this is a great book to read as a whole class at the beginning of the year. Most schools prefer that you spend the first two weeks or more of school focusing on rules and procedures and this would be a great multicultural community building book. Through Caitlin's experiences the students could see that just because someone is different from you in any way does not mean that they should not be valued. Caitlin's classmates learned that she was a great artist.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

I have to admit that it has sadly been years since I have read a book for pleasure. Reading becomes a daunting task after being assigned so many text books. Hopefully this class in Adolescent Literature will change that.

That being said I have just finished reading one of my favorite books, The Giver. I first read this book over 14 years ago when I was in the seventh grade and fell in love with it. It was refreshing to read the book again  with a different perspective.

The story is about Jonas, who lives in  a seemingly Utopian society sometime in the distant future. In this community everything runs  smoothly and is almost perfect. There is no crime. Every person is polite and well-mannered (there are actually rules against rudeness.) There is no difference between race or gender and everyone is treated equally.

Jonas lives happily and carefree just as everyone else in the community until his job is selected during the ceremony of Twelves. He is given the most honorable job of the community. However, with this prestige he comes to find that his life and everything that he knows is not what it seems.

With all of the turmoil in our world and the laws enacted to "protect" us from these tragedies, I think this would be a great book to introduce to middle school and high school students. This story is a glimpse of what our future could be. It would open the discussion for students to contemplate how laws and policies that are enacted now can effect their future.

Something that I remember when reading this book in seventh grade is that my teacher asked us to write a continuation of the story because it had an open ending. I wanted so badly to know what happened to Jonas and I found out a few years ago that two more written in the series. Gathering Blue occurs at the same time as The Giver and The Messenger is the final book in the trilogy.

These two books are a must read after you have finished The Giver.

I just found out that there is a fourth book  in this series called The Son. I guess I have another book to read :)