Smackdown Books 2021

Ordinary Hazards
We Dream of Space
If These Wings Could Fly
We Are Not Free
The King of Jam Sandwiches
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team
The Companion
Punching the Air
Show Me a Sign
Land of the Cranes
Furia
Dragon Hoops
When Stars Are Scattered
Snapdragon
The Radium Girls: The Scary But True Story of the Poison That Made People Glow in the Dark
American as Paneer Pie
Tune It Out
The Gilded Ones
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
Switch

Thursday, November 29, 2018

The Goat vs Moxie

After some discussion group 12 has picked The Goat for the win in round 1.

We felt The Goat has a wider audience and deals with such a wide range of topics. It would make for a great read-aloud for div 2 and a great lit circle for jr high. Not only does it talk about parental loss but it touches on moving to a whole new country, perseverance, friendship, social media, and working towards self-regulation. Even the goat has a voice in the book. It's a good amount of funny with serious.

Moxie is great and would totally suggest it for high school. Just felt it was limited in its audience.

Hard pick. 2 great books!

Long Way Down vs. Love-ish

DDM teachers read Long Way Down, which was a novel written in verse about a boy named Will attempting to get retribution for the shooting of his older brother. As he goes along his journey to carry out this revenge plan, he encounters many individuals from his past that give him perspective on the situation.

Our other pick was Love, ish, which was sort of like The Fault in Our Stars in the sense that a terminally ill girl has cause to reassess her dreams and relationships.

Our pick to move forward is Long Way Down. It was the more compelling of the two books, and when I lent it to two of my very reluctant readers, they read the entire thing and enjoyed it. That alone tells me that this is a winner (at least in round 1)!





Far from the Tree-  By FAR the better book!
Krystal:
Luckily I was able to download this as an audiobook right away and loved listening to the story develop. Perhaps I should say the ‘stories’ as three siblings, given up at birth, find their way to each other and discover how their ‘stories’ intertwine while learning about each other.
There are so many facets to these young people and their struggles, which I feel the plot addresses adequately, and they were not the typical struggles I find in YA fiction.
Karen:
I found the characters to be relatable and realistic. I loved how the events unfolded through the eyes of the three characters. Just enough foreshadowing to keep the reader’s interest. I love how the author, in the acknowledgments, ends with “I am endlessly grateful that they chose me to tell their story, and I hope they’re doing well, wherever they may be”!

#Murdertrending -
Krystal:
I was so excited to get to choose this as our first read and as I sat waiting to choose our first books,  I was ready to wrestle it away from others!
How deceiving a book can be… but this deception will encourage kids read it at the very least.
The idea of Social Media and a Murder will certainly attract many young readers (look at the hashtag...instant appeal), yet I could not push forth past the first few chapters. I could not connect with the character(s) and felt that the plot was just too ‘out there’ to have any true connections or compassion with.
However, I did enjoy the unexpected- edge if your seat suspense of never knowing when the characters might be murdered, the book just didn’t have enough to sustain my interest. Perhaps it was the vivid description of the decapitation that really ruined it for me?!?
Karen:
I hate to say this, but I just could not get through this book. The concept, characters and events did little to hold my interest. I really tried to read it, but it just did nothing for me.
Rachel:
I read the back of the book and thought it was an interesting concept. I was hoping for Hunger Games meets Big Brother but sadly it was not. I read the first chapter and was not impressed. We all know “don't judge a book by its cover,” or in this case, the first chapter so I read on. It was work to get through. The characters were not of interest to me. Dee, the main character, was not even a driving force to continue reading. Although I liked the idea of the book the plot fell flat. Considering that the plot involves countless gruesome murders that’s quite a feat. I finished the book simply because I thought it had to get better. It did not! At one point I actually thought that this is more like a Scooby Doo episode than a young adult novel. Not a fan of this book at all!!


Wednesday, November 28, 2018

I Should be Able to Craft A Witty Title Out of These Titles, But I Can't





So, as some of you will recall, our little contingent secured the first pick in the Smackdown draft,and I’ll have to be honest that I was getting all judging-a-book-by-its-cover and not really feeling either of our selections from the outset. Now, some (Brad) might suggest that I was just being sulky over us not choosing the Spider-man graphic novel, which my comic loving self was feeling very protective of, but I have it on good authority that Spider-man is moving through, so I’m writing in the spirit of generosity about both of our books. The covers of both Starfish and Piecing Me Together have actually grown on me, now that I can see the connections with texts, but I can’t even make a premise of close fight in this one: We all just flat out liked Piecing Me Together better.

Now, normally in such a lopsided affair, I’d lick my chops and start ripping into the unfortunate book that is about to depart this smacky vale, before waxing poetic about the victor’s many merits, but a conversation I had on Friday gives me pause. The one kid I know who has read both books, actually likes Starfish better. Yeah. I know. It kind of calls whatever I’m about to write into question. As I reflect on this, though, it doesn’t really surprise me. Starfish is one of those books - and there are some in every edition of the Smackdown - that reads like a Frankenstein monster of YA tropes: angsty teen, lots of references to angsty teen’s object of affection’s hotness, family drama, unfulfilled goal, mysterious strangers who provide just in the nick of time insight etc. You get the picture. I know that sounds dismissive, but really, I’m dismissing myself because all of this stuff works in YA - and even, if we’re honest, more highbrow stuff - because it speaks to things we can all connect to and for this young man, this book really spoke to him. And I mean that almost literally: one of the strengths and the weaknesses of the book is a narrator (and an author) who paints in pretty broad strokes and I can see this being very effective for some kids, even if it left all of us middle-agers clamoring for more nuance.

So this is not a terribly subtle book. Our young narrator, Kiko, lives in a broken home whose dysfunction is exacerbated by a mother whose narcissism might have even Donald Trump raising a blow-dried eyebrow. Her art is her solace and her albatross as her failure to get into her chosen art school leaves her adrift. And  . . . the hottest boy ever, her childhood crush, is back in town. There’s lots more, including a couple of biggies: ongoing sexual trauma and struggles with cultural and racial identity.  If that seems like a lot, it is, and there are times where we felt that there was more going on here than the author could be expected to do justice to in a relatively slim 330 pages. In our discussion, what we kept coming back to, however, was a lack of nuance in the prose that really boils down to the author not trusting her audience, and perhaps her own writing. Throughout the novel in pivotal moments we find our experience of the novel is actually hijacked by a narrator who tells us not only her every thought and feeling, but also her takes on the thoughts and feelings of those around her. This probably doesn’t sound like a bad thing, and sometimes it’s not, but there are other times where it feels like we’re getting a few more “Get it?” nudges than we need. This extends to the basic structure of the book where the connecting thread of Jade’s art rang somewhat hollow for us, particularly through the use of the sometimes cloying end of chapter encapsulations of what Jade is drawing in the moment. Again, I don’t want to get into too many examples of what wasn’t working because there are strong moments that would resonate with kids, but this was not a book that any of us found ourselves compulsively reading.

While I’ve sometimes found the opening round of The Mighty Smackdown quite jarring, where very disparate selections are matched up together leading to forced choices between books that are great (or, occasionally, not great) in fundamentally different ways. These books do not fall into that category as they have some similar features, perhaps most notably that their female narrators are young female artists who are struggling to find their own identity in a complex cultural landscape. If Kiko was at times a, a hard character to connect and maybe even like, Jade in Piecing Me Together was someone we all felt quite connected with. Part of this is a testament to the formal structures of the novel and Watson’s ability to craft an authentic voice for Jade. That concept of voice is the controlling conceit of the novel even more so than Jade’s work with collage, and ultimately there is a very empowering message here about the importance of speaking truth to power and I don’t mean this just in the more familiar context of looking at larger social injustice, although this does play a role in the novel and one that is all the more effective for it’s understated nature. More importantly though, this is a book about speaking truth to that power in your own head; that dominating voice that at some point tries to stop so many of us from doing what we want -and more importantly, need - to do. I know this probably sounds hypocritical after criticizing Kiko for TMIing, but while we certainly get her interior thoughts it is how that interior monologue links up to her spoken words that makes a tremendous difference. It is, in many ways, a primer for young people to contemplate how to have tough conversations. Jade has a lot going on too - friend and family issues, exploring her identity as a young woman of color and her body image, her relationships with authority figures in her life etc. - and yet this is all woven together in an artful and eloquent manner. There are some profound moments throughout the novel and some sparkling bits of prose -and poetry- that really made this a compelling read. We all really enjoyed the book and could envision kids who we’d really like to give it to. Piecing Me Together is our number one with a bullet.

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Drum Roll.... and its Nevermoor!

At Harry Ainlay, we vote for Nevermoor for this round. We found this novel was a text that will engage younger readers who are familiar with other dystopian worlds created in other series like Harry Potter, Divergent, Hunger Games, etc. It is accessible to younger readers who are intimidated by more complex fantasy/dystopian texts but a bit simplistic for more advanced YA readers. We found some scenes were intriguing and cinematic.

Drum Roll Please had strong characterization and was diverse, but fell flat at the end of the novel which made it lose credibility.






The Marrow Thieves vs Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess



I'm posting on behalf of the ABM Team of Lisa, Angie, Ben, Arlene, Andrea and Annabel.

What a delight to read these two books.  They are quite different from each other, yet both valuable in their own ways.  The Marrow Thieves is a heavy, emotional, layered read about a dystopian Canada in which the dreams of Indigenous Peoples are being drained in places reminiscent of Residential Schools in order to fuel the lives of others remaining in a country that has become desperate in the face of social and environmental devastation.  The importance of story. Family. Kin. Lessons from elders. Blood memory. The land and the importance of place. The environment and language are all explored in this beautiful novel.

Rainbow Goddess is the story of complex the relationships woven into the life of Macy McMillan who is part of the deaf community but is attending her neighbourhood school.  She is on a journey of identity and trying to figure out her story while immersed in the stories of those around her. Written in verse it has a clear voice and is accessible for students at the grade 5 or 6 level.  References to books students will recognize such as The Tale of Desperaux, El Deafo and Anne of Green Gables abound in this novel.  

Our reading team felt both were worthwhile novels and both deserve to be in the hands of students.  There was some conversation about Marrow Thieves being more appropriate for high school aged students while Rainbow Goddess is one that our reading group feels can be shared with upper elementary students.  

In the end our tally was 4 for Marrow Thieves and 1 for Rainbow Goddess and 1 abstain.  Marrow Thieves moves on from our bracket.



The History of Jane Doe vs. Obsessed


I wasn't a big fan of either of these two books for this round. However, having to choose one to move forward, my vote goes towards The History of Jane Doe. I was more interested in the storyline than I was with Obsessed. I felt that Obsessed kind of dragged on and I lost interest soon into the book. With that said, I do appreciate this author telling her story about dealing with mental illness. The thing that interested me about The History of Jane Doe was learning more about Jane and her story. I liked that it touched on teenagers dealing with mental illness but I found the teenagers' fascination with the town's history a bit unrealistic. My vote is for The History of Jane Doe.

Image result for the history of jane doe                                                  Image result for Obsessed (book)

The 57 Bus powerfully overtakes Amina's Voice



 One book that was a good a read and one book that was a powerful read.  

The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives is an emotional and compelling nonfiction story.  2013 in Oakland, California and assault takes place when an African American teen boy, Richard, sets fire to a gender-fluid white teen named Sasha who was sleeping on bus 57. Be prepared to navigate a barrage of emotions and the reality that very few situations are "black and white".





Amina's Voice is a  novel that reads gently.  It tackles weaving two cultures as Amina looks to find her internal strength and her voice.   As Amina's community experiences a disturbing hate crime targets the strength of neighbors and friends helps all voices to rise together. 


A few musings for others to consider as we vote for The 57 Bus to continue on in the Smackdown....

"I found the novel to be quite simplistic and basic, both in terms of the character development and the overall writing style. As I read, I tried so hard to become invested in Amina’s story. Soon, my worries about relating to the character turned into wondering, "when will this start getting interesting?" I'll be blunt about it... I was bored."

"I must say that initially, I grappled with her "news reporter" approach to writing. I found that, at times, the writing seemed to lack emotion and the characters tended to be quite detached. I don't know quite how to put it into words... but, overall, she did do a wonderful job of weaving the 2 sides into one succinct, narrative."

"The book overall felt unfocused and took on many serious issues with a light hand. Everything was simple and simplified – which felt like a disservice to the issues (racism, identity, etc) Khan was bringing up. The plot read as superficial and without a driving force. What I thought would be the central conflict changed a couple times through the book and in the end, it left me feeling disappointed and wondering… what did I read? "

"I genuinely liked this novel. The style of writing drew me in and it felt like I was reading a Netflix docuseries. I was intrigued. I had a movie playing in my head whilst reading. I liked how not everything was revealed up front. I thought it was a smart choice to give equal air time to the major players of the incident. "

"I thought 57 Bus was a powerful book - immediately recommended it to my 16 year old daughter and friends"

"Amina's voice was pleasant but not inspiring"

"I read Amina's Voice, enjoyed it but found it simplistic and a bit cliched"

Initial thought about The 57 Bus: "my first take is that it is very American"

Submitted by: Maureen (on behalf of the whole group - Nancy, Joanna, Cindalee, Rachel, JT and Maureen)







Devils Within vs. Children of Blood and Bone


Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha, #1)

Well, our team (Barb, Kim, Cathy, Amanda) was unanimous with our verdict: Devils Within, we could do without; Children of Blood and Bone is moving on!

Devils Within - This book was an interesting, but sometimes disturbing read. It is based on a true story  about a young boy who is born into, and raised in, a white supremacy compound. The story begins when Nate is sent to live with his uncle after an event at The Fort lands him in lock up. It would be a good book for discussion about humanity and how powerful our upbringing can be when looking at the beliefs and values we have. It is heartbreaking to watch Nate try to move forward even when he feels the weight of his past weighing him down. We wanted to cheer him on as he dealt with both the typical teenage angst, his racially-charged past, and his new role as high school student. Although an interesting story line, the writing was underwhelming (some might say, "borderline terrible"). We would have liked to have the secondary characters such as his uncle, his partner and some of his peers at school, developed more completely. More information on how the uncle and his partner came together would have been appreciated. The author did do a good job of accurately describing the manifestations of trauma.

Children of Blood and Bone - Our whole team started out by saying that this is not the type of book any of us typically read, but we all loved it. The plot was well developed and it had enough twists, action, and hints of romance to keep it interesting. Although a lot of unique information and vocabulary was introduced to build this fantasy world, it was easy to follow and remember. The characters were well developed and their complexity kept you intrigued and wanting to know more about them. Watching them each go through their journey and interact with other characters was fascinating. It certainly evoked a variety of emotions throughout the read, and our team would happily read more texts by this author.

The Train Steamed Right Over Nowhere

Image result for train i rideImage result for 24 hours in nowhere

It's unanimous - The Train I Ride wins. Fake Holes is not moving on.

24 Hours in Nowhere has a quote on the cover saying that it's reminiscent of Louis Sachar's Holes. It is, in fact, a poor knock off of Holes. While the story line is interesting - dirt bike racing, extreme poverty, historic mysteries, survival in caves - the author is heavy handed with her lessons. Even younger readers can appreciate subtle messages.

The Train I Ride captures your attention quickly and Rydr, the main character, is quick to capture your heart. She's a clever scam artist who has spent her life in survival mode. The subject matter is difficult, but Mosier maintains a sense of optimism. Still, you'll want the tissue box nearby.

The tale is set on a train - metaphoric and unique. This story couldn't have happened any other place. No one is on their home turf. Everyone is moving. The interaction between travelers and employees makes the story. What could have been a cliche orphan tale is eloquent and reaches surprising depth for a quick read that spans a three day ride. 

Alisha, Dianne, Megan and Renee
Ottewell Junior High

Going Places vs. The Spill Zone (Book 1 of 2)

    

Two different books. Two very different genres. One, a novel about misplaced love from the perspective of a high school boy named Hudson Wheeler. The other, a graphic novel concerning badass girl, Addison, and a radioactive spill that gives inanimate objects very creepy abilities.

Going Places by Kathryn Berla
Hudson’s story has a slow start and a disappointing ending. A high school boy meets and obsesses over a few girls, gets involved in a bit of a mystery with one of his Distress Dial clients, all the while having gone through losing his father in Iraq a year prior. The sub-plot involving the mysterious old man ended up being the most interesting part of the story. Unfortunately, the love story seemed to go on forever and his decisions, in the end, were uninspiring.

We didn’t love it but we can definitely see the appeal to a young-ish audience that can relate to teenage love and angst.

The Spill Zone (Book 1 of 2) by Scott Westerfeld
Three years ago, Addison, the main character, lost her parents and most of her hometown to a mysterious event that created “the spill zone”. She is left taking care of her scarred little sister, so she drives her motorbike into “the zone” to take illegal photographs and sell them. This zone is a place where nightmares come true and danger is waiting around every turn.

The Spill Zone was suspenseful, engaging and surprisingly creepy. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! I read this alongside a few students in my grade 8 class. We all enjoyed it. Me, a bit too much. One afternoon, while reading this in class, I was just entering “the zone” with Addison; she was teaching me the rules to stay alive when… BRRRRING! My phone goes off and I nearly leap out of my chair. The grade 8 students had a good laugh and it motivated a few more to pick the book up. Nothing like a book with a bit profanity, that manages to scare even the teacher, for a bit of motivation eh? Not recommended for elementary students but a great read for Junior High and up. Looking forward to reading part 2.

Written by Chelsey McPherson and the L.A. Team at Westminster Junior High (Wendy Dawson, Laura Johnson, Kerri Boyle and Carla Gust)

Obsessed vs. The Diary of Jane Doe

Jeff Chinn and I contributed to this review together, and here are our thoughts:

The History of Jane Doe is our suggestion for best book for this round. While both books were well written and dealt with mental health issues with sensitivity, the alternating timelines (before the incident and after) helped to build up the tension and added emotional depths to the story. While Obsession was a great story, it was a heavy read and, as Jeff cited, "As someone who suffers from OCD himself, it was not a fun read." The History of Jane Doe, however, added romance, humour, sadness and fear in alternating measures. It’s the difference between a roller coaster and a drop of doom...one is scary and you’re glad when it’s over. The other, with its ups and downs, makes you want to share the ride more than once. For these reasons, The History of Jane Doe is our choice for first round of the smack down. 

Poet X vs We Are Okay

We Are Okay by Nina LaCuor
This is a interesting story and a great character study novel.  
This book started off very dark and sad and I had my doubts but as I continued to read
the main character Miran was very believable.
The journey takes you along a girl escaping her problems at home and avoiding going home
during Christmas break.   The problems Miran that was going through would be relatable to a lot
of students, especially ones dealing with depression or loneliness.
We all think this would also be a good Jr. High or High School read due to some mature content.



The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
This was everyone’s favorite.  The story was very believable and the character was very relatable.
We would recommend this book for Jr. High and High school.
I got so caught up in the narrative I forgot it was poetry--rather, the format added to the story
rather than retract from it (with other stories told through poetry, this hasn’t been the case for me).
 I also loved the redemptive ending--a family that has to work through a lot but pulls
together to work through it and is brave enough to seek out help. There are many
themes from religious oppression, to struggling to find your voice that will speak to many students.  


I enjoyed the book so much, and I thought of a girl in our school that for the talent show,
who performed spoken word poetry.  I lent her the book after I read it, thinking this might
be a book for her and she left me this note:


Thank you for blessing me with the curse of sleepless nights and zoned out math classes
for the past few days.  X’s words and her story will forever be in my heart and has inspired
me to write more and speak myself more. This book has the capability to change the view
of so many students which makes it a library must.
From a fellow avid reader,
H


Ellerslie votes for POET X


 The first rule of punk       vs.           Spider-man: Miles Morales 
     Image result for the first rule of punk                                Image result for spider-man miles morales    


Miriam:
Spider-man: Miles Morales and the First rule of punk both have protagonists who are people of colour; this is where the similarity ends.  While Spider-man is tongue-in-cheek funny and self-referential, Punk is trite and derivative.  Both narratives explore issues surrounding racial identity and cultural heritage (for Spider-man that's pop-cultural heritage, to be precise) Punk does it without comedy or subtlety, while Spider-man doesn't take itself too seriously, but gets the message across nonetheless; I choose Spider-man to move ahead!

Judy:
The First rule of punk reminds us that your roots define who you are but only you can decide how important they are in your life.  It also reminds us how to be yourself among a group of popular teens.  Nice easy story and I liked the zines but... Spider-man is my first CHOICE.  The graphics are appealing and the story line is engaging and covers a variety of social issues.  Spider-man would appeal to more teens who might want to read the rest of series.    

Suanne:
It was great to read a comic, not graphic novel, because it was not something I would have chosen myself even though so many of my students read them.  While reading the Spider-man comic I had to do a lot of self-monitoring and re-reading to figure out how the panels went and what was going on, and in doing so I could feel what some of my struggling readers must go through, which was a good experience for me.  Once I understood the structure I thoroughly enjoyed the humour and story very much and Spider-man is my choice to move on.  

Katrina:
If you go on Good Reads there is so much love and praise for The first rule of punk and it is a good book it is just not my favourite book.  I have read so many of these books where the new girl comes to town, makes some enemies and some friends, find herself and must overcome her relationship with her mom.  I am making the story very simplistic but the book was fairly simplistic in how it dealt with its issues so my vote is for Spider-man.  I am really glad we were the last pick and had to read it otherwise I probably would not have picked it to read; I found it very entertaining and I laughed several times.