In strange times I sent out my email to the team expecting nothing and was pleasantly surprised that a few colleagues got back to me. The others...hard to say. They could be weeping quietly because Screencastify has booted them out for the 18th time, they could be hiding from their family or they could be in their basement counting toilet paper rolls. Here are the thoughts from the people I can account for:
Andrew: Mason all the way. Ghost Boys made me feel as if I was in a history class disguised as a YA novel. Too much of the "Hey let me just tell you about the history of...." Mason Buttle is a wonderful story that I connected to. His story and the struggles of Mason had me hooked from the beginning. Going to wash my hands now.
Lisa: I think the political issues in Ghost Boys will sway my vote. I loved the way it dealt with the white police office who did the shooting. You could see how conflicted and confused he was, and I think sometimes this aspect of police shootings is lost in the books that deal with these tragedies. I appreciated how the author tried to show all sides of this issue while keeping the focus on the vulnerability of the African American boys/men who are the true victims in all of this.
Shocker Lisa and Andrew disagree.
Lil: I found both stories followed very similar story lines - two boys that don't fit in for varying reasons, both get bullied and both befriend another that they can trust. I was taken into the story line of both and loved Ghost Boys with the lens of storytelling from the before and after. Mason Buttle started slow but layered the story that made you cheer for Mason's tenacity even when the bullying was appalling. I did love the karmic twist that often mimics real life. I find Mason's character sticking with my thoughts much more. Mason Buttle for the win.
And just as I go to close this doc...here comes Holly: I'm voting for Mason. My kids read it last year and loved it. It is a silent sleeper. By the end if you aren't suffering a case of the sads then you might want to check if you have a pulse. I sobbed when I read it the first time when Matt's mom came to pick up the dog - or so he thought. Ghost Boys is a relevant story for today's society with lots of ties to real life victims, but most kids don't have the background knowledge to properly understand what a piece of craft this truly is.
Dia: I very much enjoyed Ghost Boys and recommend it for a lot of my kids. I learned more history from this story - which some of you know is my favourite way to learn history other than sitting next to Andrew and Lisa. However, Mason Buttle was one of my few 5/5 books last year and I absolutely love it. It starts slowly, has an eccentric family and slowly starts boiling into an intense who dunnit with a narrator we are not sure we can rely on. Buttle all the way.
Tally: 4-1 Buttle from the ABM Survivours.
No comments:
Post a Comment