"One Thing" for Wed. Jan. 15

I wanted to write about some young adult novels that I think are great. I typically have a young adult novel on the go (to stay up with what my students are reading) at the same time as I'm reading an adult book. Sometimes, the young adult ones are better, because I can finish them whereas some of my regular books I can only get to on the holidays...

I might be "late to the party" with this one, but I noticed a girl in my class (Fion) reading this book before the winter holiday: 

Then, Angela and Jacson, students who were in my class last year, were talking about the same book in the hallway. I asked them about it and they both said they loved it. So, I asked Jackson to borrow his copy and started it last night. Given the subject matter (two teens meet and fall in love at a Kids' Cancer Support Group) I'm sure it's going to end in tragic fashion, but it's "smart" and sarcastic (my kind of book) so far. I was laughing out loud (picture me alone in the downstairs of my house at 11:30 at night filling the room with laughter). I call that my "Cheers" laugh (from the old tv show), where it didn't matter if anyone was around. Funny is funny, so I would laugh. Loudly. The same with this book. Given the content, I would only recommend it to "mature readers" but it is thought provoking so far.

Recently, my teaching partner and I read

as a class read-aloud. It's a neat story about someone who looks really different and how the main character, August, is treated when he attends school for the first time. The interesting part about this book is that it is written from the perspective of several different characters along the way (his sister, his friend, another girl in the story) and everyone sort of gets a say. Except the "bully" in the story. Good stuff.

I also read Ender's Game

over the holidays on the recommendation of a couple of my colleagues. I figured it was a recent novel (by the cover) and the fact that the movie just came out recently. I was wrong. Written first as a short story in 1977 and then published (in full) in 1985, it's a sci-fi/military classic that I had never read (even though that's my favourite genre and I have owned the book for about 3 years). I haven't seen the movie, but all of the child psychology and "limit pushing" in this one was interesting.

And last, but certainly not least, is a book that is possibly now my second favourite Young Adult novel (Louis Sachar's HOLES is my favourite). It's called Out of My Mind:

It's a really well researched book that depicts the "school" parts accurately and tells a great story about a girl, who has cerebral palsy (similar to Stephen Hawking) and even though she can't communicate is a really smart girl. She gets some technology to help her communicate and the world opens up for her...

Please excuse me though, as I'm going to go read some more "The Fault in Our Stars"...