Sharon Draper

Sharon Draper has written a multitude of young adult and children's literature.  This prolific author has a novel that will please any reader.  Not only does she write high interest, engaging novels that students can't seem to put down, but it's clear that she is just as interested in the education behind it.  She wants kids to read her books in school, and she makes it easy for teachers to teach her novels and ensures that students get the most out of them.  Draper’s website has a multitude of student activities including discussion questions, project ideas, and cooperative group activities, all separated into parts.  In order to teach this novel, all a teacher would need to do is visit Draper’s website for more ideas for activities than she could possibly ever use. (sharondraper.com) 

I had the pleasure of seeing Ms. Draper speak at a conference a few years ago, and it was an incredible experience to watch her perform excerpts from some of her novels.  She didn't just read; she put so much passion and emotion into her delivery, it was clear that she had created these characters with love and her entire heart was with them.  She truly has a gift, and I love the fact that I can share that gift with my students.

I have not read all of her novels yet, but of those I have read, Copper Sun is my favorite.  It is the story of Amari, a happy young African girl who suddenly is taken by slave traders to be sold.  She is forced to serve a cruel teenage boy, but meets unexpected allies in her search for freedom.  This is a story of unexpected friendship, survival and hope, and the reader learns about the inhumanity that many people endured during this awful time period in American history.  

I highly recommend her novels, as they are inspirational and touching, and the stories stay with you for a long time.

(Click on the video bar in the right sidebar to see interviews other clips of Sharon Draper)

Ray Bradbury and I would have been good friends...

“I still love books. Nothing a computer can do can compare to a book. You can't really put a book on the Internet. Three companies have offered to put books by me on the Net, and I said, 'If you can make something that has a nice jacket, nice paper with that nice smell, then we'll talk.' All the computer can give you is a manuscript. People don't want to read manuscripts. They want to read books. Books smell good. They look good. You can press it to your bosom. You can carry it in your pocket.” - Ray Bradbury

“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” - Ray Bradbury

If I were to include every quote I love by Ray Bradbury, this post would go on for pages.  I'm not the kind of person who idolizes celebrities or would even care to meet anyone famous, but I would have loved to have met Ray Bradbury.  What an insightful, thoughtful, forward thinking man he was, and he had such a fresh outlook on the world.  If there were more people in the world like him, our world would be such a better place.

I love reading Fahrenheit 451 with my students.  It is one of my all-time favorite novels, and I sort of take it personally when a student tells me he doesn't like the book or that it's boring.  I feel like shaking him and yelling, "Read it more carefully!  Think about what Bradbury is saying!  He's brilliant, and there are so many thought-provoking ideas in the story!"  If I had a captive audience and a class full of students willing to discuss it with me, I could spend an entire semester picking out and talking about the "golden lines" in the novel.  There are so many connections to our current society it's almost scary, and when people give this novel a chance, I think they really appreciate the beauty of this story. 

For those that haven't read it, Mildred is protagonist Guy Montag's wife, and she is the epitome of idiocy. She represents the non-thinking, empty-minded, simpletons that make up the bulk of society in the novel.  I warn my students "Don't be a Mildred. How would you like to live in a world of Mildreds?"

Here is a video of Ray Bradbury speaking about his love of reading and Fahrenheit 451.  He was truly an inspiration, and the world will miss him.

The Maze Runner

Of all the novels I have read for the annotated bibliography I am creating for my Adolescent Literature class, The Maze Runner by James Dashner probably one of the most compelling.  This is the first in a series, and it definitely left me wanting to read the rest.  The story begins with Thomas, the protagonist, emerging from a box into a place called The Glade, with a bunch of boys he doesn't know.  He doesn't know where he came from or how he got there; the only thing he can remember is his first name.  The first several chapters draw in the reader very successfully; the reader is just as confused as Thomas as he tries to figure out what is happening.  The reader also begins to feel more at ease as Thomas starts to feel more comfortable in his new surroundings.  Thomas learns that he has been dropped into a maze that has no apparent solution.  He also learns that the walls to the maze close at night, and while the maze mysteriously transforms in the dark, terrifying creatures roam the maze, searching for Gladers foolish enough to stay in the maze after dark.  Eventually, Thomas begins to realize that the maze is very familiar, and one day, the first girl ever shows up in the box, and Thomas begins to piece together memories from his previous life.  With the girl's help, Thomas hopes to figure out the mysteries surrounding the maze and free himself and his new friends from this prison...

As soon as I finished this novel, I knew it would be a perfect selection for literature circles in my intensive reading class.  This is the type of novel that is engaging and near impossible to put down.  Not only is it very high interest, suspenseful, and thrilling, even for reluctant readers, but it also inspires a great deal of discussion, especially in the beginning when there is a lot of confusion in the novel.  This novel has been one of the most sought-after selections this year so far, and I have had to buy additional copies of this book to keep the demands at bay!  I would love it if I had this reaction to every book I offer to my students.  My goal is to find additional novels that elicit this reaction from students.

Here is a Q&A with the author, James Dashner.  In this interview, he discusses his inspiration for writing The Maze Runner and what readers can expect in the next two books in the trilogy.

Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth is close to 500 pages, and I read it in two days.  I hadn't expected it to be so captivating and difficult to put down, and I was very pleasantly surprised.  My first impression was that it would be a Hunger Games rip-off, and there were definitely similarities, but I found myself even more enthralled with this novel than I was with The Hunger Games series.  Like Suzanne Collins' novels, Divergent has something for everyone: action, suspense, and some romance; however, the love story does not take over the main events of the plot, and the main character Tris is a strong, believable character.  Adults and teens alike will enjoy this story, and I wouldn't be surprised if a movie is on the horizon.

I found a fan-made book trailer on YouTube that I feel perfectly captures the tone and excitement of the novel.  The follow-up, Insurgent, is just as captivating, ending with a nail-biting cliffhanger.  The last installment of the trilogy doesn't come out until the fall of 2013, and I will be not-so-patiently waiting for its release!

I love recommending this book to my students, but the length scares some of them away.  Sending them to YouTube to view this trailer would be a great way to draw them in.  Once they start the book, they're hooked! 

(check out the Veronica Roth video bar in the sidebar to the right for author interviews and other video clips!)