This One Summer is my pick.  Summer takes me back, beautifully to that time where reality interfered with my innocence—the time in every girls' life just before the emotional demands of womanhood beset and upset them.  This is a graphic novel and the superb drawings evoke the long summer days and the pre-teen exploration of the world, the slight understanding of sex and the desire to know more in some lazy summer way.

Two young friends are the observers of the life around them- a life that seems very hostile to women.  The mother is depressed; the teenager manning the corner store denies culpability in another teenager's pregnancy and is the object of the tween’s faint lust.  Not too much happens in this observation- though the mother breaks through her depression when saving another's life.  The tween’s are watching the summer unfold and then it is over.  Summer’s end.  Thinly disguised , this is a fairly typical Wasaga Beach (called Awago in the book) summer narrative, where young girls watch horror movies, discuss sex and commit small betrayals as they grow up.  

The Impossible Knife of Memory is my partner's original choice..  It is a somewhat heartbreaking story of a high school senior, Hayley. Her blocked memories of her past, both good and bad, unfold.  Along with her edgy character and anger, she has built her own protective shield as she looks after her father, a veteran of Afghanistan.  Both suffer forms of PTSD.  Neither experience magic answers but as painful memories creep forward, Hayley slowly builds skills to face her past and future, and learns to trust in meaningful relationships.  She is real and tough and Anderson builds character expertly.

I found Impossible Knife a formulaic teenager’s novel with the new twist of PTSD though it works as an narrative in a way that Summer did not.  The character build in This One Summer was left mainly to the drawings and not the dialogue and the plot was weak. They were both journeys through childhood— the Impossible Knife a little less overt discussion about sex but there was just a bit more magic in This One Summer.

I won.  I am bigger and Nancy didn't dislike This One Summer.  So this we choose.

Round 1

Two books battle in Round 1...This Song Will Save Your Life and Belzhar.  

Both books focus on teenage angst...both are easy reads....both produce happy endings....both have likable characters.  So how do you decide on a winner to move forward?     This Song Will Save Your Life is a book that many teens can identify with.  Themes of believing in yourself and knowing that we all have a path to take in life are prominent in this book; however we are not sure the book is really that memorable. We believe that readers will identify with the characters in Belzhar and likely will remember reading it.  With the plot twist, as well as the additional element of the "magical literary world" we think this book is more likely to be recommended to others.  So, the book moving on to round 2 is Belzhar.  

Maureen + Donna

We Were Liars vs. The Wrap-Up List

The Wrap-Up List is a futuristic (sort of) book about a society where fish-like creatures called "Deaths" stalk the earth and claim people after they have been given a letter notifying them of when they will die. Usually, this occurs within one week. The main character receives such a letter early in the novel and proceeds to write her "wrap-up list," which consists of all of the things she wants to accomplish before she dies. After talking to a priest, she decides the best approach is to try and help others through her list, and ends up writing down all of her friends that she would like to see have their first kiss before she dies. Laura and I both ended up liking this book more than we expected to, but felt that making a list of first kisses was a bit weak for someone's dying wish. It did unfold in somewhat of an intriguing way and some interesting plot twists were introduced as more information was revealed about the Deaths themselves. For example, they each have names, and personalities, and spouses, and have a morbid sense of humor. However, the premise of the book was never fully explained. When did these Deaths come about, and why? What year are we in here anyway? If there was a strong message meant to be given about how to life your life, or how to be selfless, it wasn't very well-executed. Overall, it was an ok read, but not spectacular.

We Were Liars tells the story of a wealthy American family who vacations on their private island each summer. They are superficial and materialistic, and do everything possible to hide their true emotions and preserve the family image. The three sisters, who are the mothers of the teenage main character and her cousins, are only concerned with who will inherit the grandfather's money and possessions when he dies. Most are living off of their trust funds and have done nothing to better themselves or generate income personally. They argue all the time and use their children to try and persuade the grandfather to award them with the most desirable inheritance. Super likeable people. At some point, the main character Cady suffers an injury and spends the rest of the novel trying to piece together the summer she can no longer remember after the trauma and memory loss she experienced. She fears something terrible has happened but does not know what.

Despite the fact that we were not really very sympathetic to any of the characters, this book was mysterious and kept us guessing. Both of us made a prediction about what the big secret was, and neither of us were right in the end. The writing was unexpected and deserved a second read in some places as the author uses many gory, hyperbolic descriptions for how Cady is feeling. It was an enjoyable read and we both liked being surprised in the end. I think this would be a good pick for many of our students as it has the teen romance aspect to it in addition to the suspense and twist ending.

We Were Liars is our pick to move forward!

Grasshopper Jungle vs. Jumped In

I'll start with Jumped In. I found this book so incredibly boring. The premise of a life changing friendship being formed around a relatively minor poetry assignment seemed completely contrived and unlikely to resonate with students. The un-ironic Nirvana references made the book feel like a product of 1994 (I checked the publication date a few times!) The gang-related plot line was never fully realized. The interspersed poetry pieces were weak and uninspiring. The teacher character seemed to suffer from that all-too-common YA novel condition - not the one where they're absent or disinterested (see Falling into Place), but the one where they are just too over-the-top, too unrealistically knowing of exactly what kind of remedy (always a literary remedy - see Belzhar) their students need to heal every hurt that exists in their life. The protagonist of the novel summed up the total banality of the story in his explanation of his mission: "two people that barely know each other looking for someone they barely know." Then, just when you know the novel is going nowhere interesting, it gets the John Green kids-with-cancer treatment. Even dying teenagers were not enough to resuscitate this book. Am I being too harsh? Maybe. See Barb's blog post for what I believe from our e-mails will be a more favorable review.

Grasshopper Jungle is certainly a book that warrants discussion and I suspect will evoke many mixed feelings. I actually started reading the book before it was assigned to me. I had read Dia's post that no one had wanted it at the first Smackdown meeting ( I was absent). So I had to see what all the fuss was about. I admit, I still don't know entirely if I like the novel. I do know, however, that I was kept intrigued enough to return to the book as frequently as I could until I finished it. I should also say that Grasshopper Jungle is not the kind of book I normally read. In fact, I'm still trying to think of what kind of read might normally read a book like this. I would be hesitant recommending it to a lot of students. Chris, the narrator, talks often and openly about his horniness and masturbatory habits. Similarily, the giant praying mantises that hatch from the infected bodies of residents of his small Iowa town are interested (as we read many, many times) in only two things: "eating and f--cking." And while the frank talk about sexuality is believable for a teenage boy, I could see it being uncomfortable or inappropriate for many students. The whole bug-invasion plot was surprisingly interesting, if not entirely weird. At first I thought it should be read as a metaphor for Chris' discomfort with his sexuality (he's dating a girl and is also in love with his male best friend). And maybe there is some metaphor there, somewhere, buried under the strangeness. I found myself consistently annoyed with Chris' discussion of his sexual "confusion." (and annoyed that author Smith never fully allowed the character to come to terms with his bisexuality in any kind of positive way). Instead, his "confusion" takes the form of a series of increasingly awful actions that are unfair to his girlfriend and his best friend. In short, he's completely selfish and never really has to overcome that (living instead in some kind of fantasy world with two lovers who both want monogamy. Again, I'm skeptical about the treatment of bisexuals here.)  As for Smith's writing style, I found myself enjoying the repetition of lines and the poetic way that he incorporated Chris' ancestral history, along with very recent events of the past, along with the contemporary narrative - often unfolding at the same time in different places. Is this the best book of the year, as some enthusiastic reviews have claimed? No. Best book of Smackdown? I don't think so.  (In fact, I am throwing very early support behind I'll Give you the Sun which I absolutely LOVED). BUT if you're looking for something completely different, and aren't put off by horny teenage boys and giant insects that eat and copulate and kill everything in sight, then you might want to check out Grasshopper Jungle. If only because I'm dying to hear some more opinions! This is my vote to move forward to round two.

N.B. I should add that Barb knew I would like the book because I'm "Hip, Young, and Cool" - Thanks Barb!

The Horrors of War

Pretty dramatic title, eh?  But when you are dealing with two books that explore aspects of WWII, you can claim that tone.  The first read for Amanda and me was The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb. The story takes readers into the hunt for Adolf Eichmann, who oversaw Hitler's Final Solution.

For young readers who are interested in WWII history, this book will satisfy.  It provides a descriptive narrative tracking the actions of the major players involved in hunting Eichmann, with photographs, maps and other documents to not only reinforce the research, but give faces to names and events.

Because the book does not swarm in academic minutiae (ie. you are not footnoted to death), it is a quick read that is both engaging an informative.  Amanda and I both easily voted this book as our gift to round two.

That means that we both rejected Graffiti Night by Karen Bass. Amanda and I mentioned when chatting how much we wanted to like the book, because it was written by an Albertan author.  However, the plot was too contrived and melodramatic to ultimately make it a great read.  We have read too many stories of rash nobility, and the main character in Graffiti just doesn't evoke compassion or interest.

Tracy and Amanda

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson is the story of the author’s early childhood growing up in Ohio, South Carolina and New York.  Set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement and written as beautiful poems this book is as important for what it says as for what it does not say.  In this book there is no major ‘action’ but underneath each poem a life is shared along with the struggles, joys, relationships and realizations.  To me, this was literature.  I feel that if one of my junior high students was to read it they would miss some of the lessons about civil rights and race as they do not have the background knowledge to grasp those messages, however a patient and sympathetic reader would enjoy this quiet tale of a young life lived and enjoyed.  As an adult it provoked me to think, especially in light of the current events in the US today.  Reading this in a US classroom would be a different experience completely, and one in which I imagine many more students would have background knowledge.  If I were alone in my decision I would send this book on.

Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A. S. King is edgy, creative, thoughtful, abrasive and interesting.  It hooked me but it also turned me away!  I had no trouble finishing it and it sticks in my mind.  It is the story of Glory; her mother committed suicide by putting her head in her oven, left nude pictures of her photography subjects for Glory in a journal along with pictures of Headless Bill.  Her best friend lives on a commune and needs Glory to get her access to the modern necessities in life, STI medication, the mall, a car and so on.  Once they both drink bat juice they gain amazing powers.  From there on the book is written as Glory’s present day life as she graduates high school and her ‘memory’ of the future in the second civil war.  This is the part that made me think and what I imagine might grab the creative reader along with the underlying discussion of feminism.  I would not feel comfortable passing this on to a junior high reader but will leave the older reader audience decision up to those with more experience with high school readers.  

So, two different books, very different books, two great books, two books with strengths and specific audiences.  My pick was a tough decision and we will have to see what my colleagues Holli and Tristin say and what our final decision is for moving on to the next round!   

And...Another Post on I'll Give You the Sun versus Through the Woods

I know that Tracy has posted a brief synopsis for both of the books, so I’ll get right to the discussion.  Thankfully, we were totally in agreement.  And, having just read her post, we share most of the same thoughts about the two books.

I’ll Give You the Sun in three words?  Poetic and moving.

You know those books where your heart is breaking for the characters, and most of what is catalyzing your reading WAY past the time when you should be asleep is the fact that the protagonists have become so indelibly real to you that you have to get to the end of the book to know if they are going to be okay?  Yep.  This is one of those books.  Also:  the room will get dusty.  More than once.  But you will also snort laugh.  Frequently.

I sort of expect this one to go pretty far in the Smackdown this year.

There is so much to like, maybe even love, about this book:  the extremely clever structure, temporally oscillating between Noah and Jude at very different periods in their lives, echoes and resonances and motifs bolstering how very similar they are even when they feel that the gulf between them is insurmountable:  “A painting is both exactly the same and entirely different every single time you look at it.  That’s the way it is between Jude and me now.” The structure opens up more than a few mysteries throughout the novel, ultimately resolved when seemingly insignificant details converge together with John Irving-like precision. Also kind of remarkable?  The authentic clarity of the two voices of the two protagonists, particularly the poetry of Noah’s inside voice:  “hanging out with her is like sitting in an empty church.  That’s why I like her.  She’s quiet and serious and a thousand years old and seems like she can talk to the wind.”  By the midpoint of the book, you will feel like you have known these people for years.

There’s quite a bit of S-E-X talk (and action) in this book, and this is one for the more mature readers in your classroom—unlikely to be a whole-class novel in the near future.  But, OMFCG, the wistful heartbreak of teen longing and individuality and courage is palpable in this one.

Through the Woods in three words?  Disquieting, not scary.

I was really looking forward to this one.  Really a lot.  And it was fine.  But I wish there was more.

It could very well find a place in your classroom, particularly while teaching visual literacy. Carrol does such incredibly interesting things with text and font and borders and gutters and colour and layout—all ABSOLUTELY made for the Junior High/High School classroom.  The illustrations are staggeringly effective, creepy and disquieting.  But the stories themselves?  Not so much.

With the exception of the last story, “The Nesting Place,” the stories are more ambiguously odd and perplexing than scary, which I think would frustrate most of our younger readers.  Very few resolutions, and lots of question marks hanging in the air; I had more than a bit of “huh?-face” myself for a few of the stories.

Anyway, it would behoove you to check out the book.  Or, at the very least, Carrol’s website (http://www.emcarroll.com/), which has a few of the stories collected in Through the Woods and a whole lot more. Teachable.  Occasionally creepy.  Put one up on the SmartBoard.  See what your kids think.  I liked it; I just didn’t love it.

Certainly not enough to knock off the unfettered joy to be found in I’ll Give You the Sun.