Speak

Speak Evaluation

Good Characteristics:
• A strong, interesting, and believable plot centering around a problem that a young person might really have.

The story was strong, interesting, and very believable. It centered around a problem that too many young people might really have and dealt with it in a very engaging way.

• The power to transport the reader into another person’s thoughts and feelings.

The first person cynical view of the writing took me back to being a cynical high school student with a chip on my shoulder and the ability to compartmentalize everyone around me.

• A setting that enhances the story and is described so that the reader can get the intended picture.

The high school setting described, and more importantly the people in it, came alive in the vivid descriptions of our observant protagonist.

• A worthwhile theme. The reader is left with something to think about.

I am definitely left with something to think about as I ponder my own students and what may be causing some of the issues they’re facing as they mature and begin dating / partying / maturing.

• A smoothness of style that flows steadily and easily, carrying the reader along.

This book is so smooth and easy to get caught up in. It reads like a series of short stories as the one or two paragraph events of her days and weeks move along and we piece things together.

• A universal appeal so that is speaks to more than a single group of readers.

The appeal I’m thinking that it has for multiple groups of readers comes from the writing style and opinions expressed by the protagonist. As I wrote earlier, the writing takes me back to that feeling of angst and superiority I had then.

• A subtlety that stimulates the reader to think about the various aspects of the story.

The author doesn’t just come out and say anything, really. The story is subtle and builds on events and ideas that are planted and nurtured as the story goes along.

Poor Characteristics:
• Characters who are cardboardlike exaggerations of people and are too good or too bad to be believed.
• Many stereotypes

I put these together because they’re both representations of the protagonist’s point of view. As such, I don’t necessarily think that they are negative characteristics in this instance, but rather how the main character views the people around her. To her, they are cardboard exaggerations and stereotypes (the robotic teachers trying to convince students that math is important, the blonder than blond cheerleaders, etc.).

Holes

1. Holes, by Louis Sachar

2. 1998, Random House (New York)

3. 233 pages

4. Appropriate for intermediate and middle students (grades 4-8)

5. Stanley Yelnats has always been unlucky. His father blames the family misfortunes on Stanley’s no-good-dirty-rotten-pigstealing-great-great-grandfather, so it’s not surprising to Stanley when he ends up being unfairly sent to Camp Green Lake, a hot and arid corrections facility for young boys. While there, Stanley digs holes: five feet deep and five feet in diameter, one a day. The warden of the camp is looking for something out there in that dried up lake bed, but no one knows what, exactly. While Stanley is there, he meets some interesting characters and befriends Zero, another boy incarcerated at the camp. Eventually they find out that all of their paths intertwine in the past and present, and holes in the story are filled in one at a time as everything begins making sense.

6. Circulate it. The book is a great read, but it would be much more appealing to students if they could read it and go back at their own pace to piece the stories together.

7. Essential Question: How does the past affect the present?

8. Literary Elements: Allusion, Antagonist, Archetypes, Backdrop Setting, Characterization, Dénouement, Dialect, Dynamic Characters, Figurative Language, Foreshadowing, In Media Res, Integral Setting, Metaphor, Narrative Hooks, Plot, Protagonists, Setting, Static Characters, Style, Symbols, Theme, and Tone

Whale Talk

1. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher

2. 2001, Random House (New York)

3. 220 pages

4. Appropriate for secondary students (middle and high school)

5. TJ is an intelligent, athletic, good-natured high schooler that doesn’t take much guff from anyone around him and tends to buck authority. As an African-Anglo-Japanese-American, he tends to stick out a bit in rural Washington State, a land where high school sports rule. In order to stick it to some of the bully letterman jocks, he puts together a swim team of outsiders so that they can earn their own letter jackets, despite the fact that they don’t have a pool for practice or tournaments and will have to compete on the road every time. They overcome the odds and get their letters at the end… well, everyone but TJ, that is.

6. Circulate it. It’s an adequate book, but I’m thinking it would appeal way more to male students than female students. Also, the main character is just so perfect, smart, and strong in just about every way; I don’t know how easy it would be for many students to relate to him.

7. Essential Question: What does a letterman jacket mean in this book?

8. Literary Elements: Allegory, Allusion, Antagonists, Archetypes, Backdrop Setting, Characterization, Dialect, Dynamic Characters, Figurative Language, Metaphor, Open Ending, Plot, Point of View, Protagonists, Setting, Static Characters, Stereotypes, Stock Characters, Style, Symbols, Theme, and Tone.

The City of Ember

1. The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau

2. 2003, Random House (New York)

3. 288 pages

4. Appropriate for intermediate and middle students (grades 4-8)
5. “In the city of Ember, the sky was always dark.” The people of Ember live in a very old city without natural light, and the darkness makes anything outside of their city completely unknown to them. The only way that they can see is by the old lights in the city running on power generated by the underground river. Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, 12-year-old fellow students in Ember, each receive their randomized jobs on Assignment Day, but they can’t stand the jobs they’ve picked and decide to switch with each other. This begins a relationship that will take them on a journey to find out just what the city of Ember is, and more importantly where it is.

6. Circulate it. It’s a cool book with different characters and plot twists, but it might drag on in class because of its length. I wonder about teaching books in a whole class setting anyway because of the different levels of my students. This would be a good book to use in a small group focusing on predictions, character development, and creative writing.

7. Essential Question: Why is this city called Ember?

8. Literary Elements: Allegory, Antagonists, Archetypes, Dénouement, Dialect, Dynamic Characters, Figurative Language, Foreshadowing, Integral Setting, Metaphor, Narrative Hook, Plot, Protagonists, Static Characters, Style, Symbols, Theme, and Tone

A Single Shard

A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park, tells the story of an orphan named Tree-ear. Through fortunate accident, he is taken in by a master potter and sent as his agent to show off the master potter’s work to the emperor. Along the way, bandits attack Tree-ear and the pottery is broken. However, Tree-ear is so confident that the single shard of pottery he has left will impress the emperor that he carries on with his quest.

The Good

A setting that is integral to the story
• Being set in the Korean village of Ch'ulp'o, famous for it’s beautiful pottery, is integral to the story.

An authentic rendition of the time, place, and people being featured
• What little I know about ancient Korea seems to fit with what I read. In doing a bit of research, it seems plausible that an orphan could be taken in by a childless master potter in a small village due to Buddhist and Confucian beliefs that people must care for the poor and orphaned.

An author who is so thoroughly steeped in the history of the period that he or she can be comfortably creative without making mistakes
• Linda Sue Park, born to Korean immigrants, has written many books dealing with her Korean heritage. She was an English major as opposed to a history major, but she seems to have researched enough about the time A Single Shard took place to know what she was doing (see the Author’s Note at the end of A Single Shard).

Believable characters with whom young readers can identify.
• Tree-ear is a very believable main character with emotions and desires that make sense without making him the perfect little orphan protagonist. He lives in a hard world with other realistic characters trying to hammer out lives for themselves and the interactions seem genuine.

Evidence that across great time spans people share similar emotions
• Tree-ear wants a family, wants to belong, and wants to make something beautiful. He wants direction in his life and doesn’t want to live under a bridge for his whole life. He takes pride in his task and wants the emperor to acknowledge that his master is the best potter around.

Readers come away with the feeling that they know a time or place better. It is as if they have lived in it for at least a few hours
• Readers can learn a lot about the pottery world centuries ago in Korea and about village life by reading this book. It’s not going to make them ancient Korean scholars, but it gives a bite-sized introduction to a time and place that I’ll bet not many American students have given much thought to.

The Lacking

References to well-known events or people or other clues through which the reader can place the happenings in their correct historic framework
• I think this is more due to the lack of attention given to East Asia and Korea specifically in American culture. I can’t say that the time, place, or characters would be “well-known” to the readers in my school. As I said above, though, this could give them bite-sized introductions to the history and culture.

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Tales of COLOSSUS

1. Tales of COLOSSUS, by Mark Andrews

2. 2006, Image Comics (Berkeley)

3. 208 pages

4. Appropriate for secondary students (middle and high school)

5. Orlant, a knight fighting in the crusades, is captured during the fall of his stronghold. An evil sorcerer uses his soul to animate a giant fighting machine with the express purpose of killing Orlant’s king. Before that can happen, Orlant breaks free from the mind-controlling powers of the evil sorcerer and begins roaming the countryside, doing good while avoiding xenophobic peasants. When an evil paladin shows up from the crusades and strange things begin happening, Orlant the outcast machine becomes the savior of the kingdom.

6. Circulate it. The themes covered are a bit specialized and I can see certain students really taking to it. It doesn’t feel like a whole-class sort of text, though, and might draw giggles for some of the brief nude shots. I don’t know that I’d like to promote the violence class wide, either.

7. Essential Question: Can a machine be “human”?

8. Literary Elements: Allegory, Allusion, Antagonists, Archetypes, Characterization, Dénouement, Dialect, Dynamic Characters, Euphemism, Figurative Language, Foreshadowing, Integral Setting, Metaphor, Narrative Hook, Personification, Plot, Protagonists, Static Characters, Stereotypes, Style, Symbols, Theme, and Tone

All Shook Up

1. All Shook Up: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley, by Berry Denenberg

2. 2001, Scholastic Press (New York)

3. 176 pages

4. Appropriate for secondary students (middle and high school)

5. All Shook Up is a rather pessimistic view of the life of Elvis that spans the time from his birth to his death. In it, one can read about his poor upbringing, his love of music at an early age, his relationship with Colonel Tom Parker, and his roller-coaster career. All throughout, the author offers very cynical views concerning Elvis’ father, Colonel Tom Parker, and other people Elvis had relationships with. Though I have no doubt many people wanted to take advantage of Elvis, I kept wondering if the author was writing about his research or putting his own pessimism into the story.

6. Circulate it. I think Elvis is cool, but I don’t know about the interest value he has with many of the students I teach. Though the book has interesting side stories and tangents, I don’t know that I would want to teach it with the whole class. It would be great for the student who is interested in Elvis and who wants a darker viewpoint of how his life was lived.

7. Essential Question: How can famous people be happy?

8. Literary Elements: Antagonists, Archetypes, Dialect, Didacticism, Dynamic Characters, Euphemisms, Figurative Language, Foreshadowing, Integral Setting, Metaphor, Narrative Hook, Open Ending, Protagonists, Static Characters, Stereotypes, Style, Symbols, Themes, and Tone

Black Potatoes

Black Potatoes is an informative nonfiction book outlining The Great Irish Famine of 1845 – 1850. With story after story, author Susan Campbell Bartoletti gives faces and names to the unfolding tragedy as one million people die and two million emigrate. Even during the hardest times, English-controlled Ireland was still exporting food as it’s own citizens died of starvation. Furthermore, English aid efforts and organization were woefully inadequate and slow. All of this lead to even higher levels of resentment concerning English rule that would later manifest as rebellion.

Good Aspects

A subject of interest to young readers, written about with zest. Information that is up-to-date and accurate.
• I’ve found that tragedy tends to interest many adolescent students, especially when the tragedy is widespread and relates to the United States (this time in the form of immigration). The information presented seems up-to-date and accurate in the extensive Bibliography and Sources section, at least to my untrained eye.

A reading level, vocabulary, and tone of writing that are at a constant level appropriate to the intended audience.
• The author does a good job interspersing Irish terminology with scientific and socio-economic reasons for the famine without bogging the story down. Additionally, the presentations of the human stories of tragedy are well written and make the history come alive.

An organization in which basic information is presented first so that chapters and sections build on each other.
• The book starts with the background needed to understand how things in Ireland got to the point where a potato famine could cause so many calamities. Thereafter, calamity ensues.

An index and other aids to help readers look up fats if they want to return to the book for specific information or to glean ideas and facts without reading the entire book.
• Includes a great index, map, and timeline in the back.

Adequate documentation of the sources of information, including some original sources. Information to help interested students locate further readings on the subject.
• Extensive Bibliography and Sources section giving lots of detail and explanation of where to find this information along with where to find more.

Illustrations that add interest as well as clarity to the text.
• Period ink on paper illustrations from newspapers and publications showing artist renditions of the time.

A competent author with expertise in the subject matter.
• This is hard to really know, but reading this book makes it clear that she is both competent and has expertise in the subject matter.