Crash

     John "Crash" Coogan is trouble.  Crash earned his nickname as a toddler when knocked over his cousin while wearing a football helmet.  Even though Crash has physically grown and aged since that event, he lacks the maturity that should have come along with the passing of the years.  When reflecting on pushing another student, Penn Webb, he smugly thinks to himself, "I'll tell you it was worth every minute of the three-day in school suspension I got for it, and the one-week grounding when my parents got the letter from the vice-principal" (Spinelli, pg. 89).  Crash is an arrogant 7th grader, and his name is a perfect fit, since he barrels through life without checking to see what damage he's left behind.
   Crash lives with his parents and younger sister, Abby.  Crash's parents both work long hours and it seems like Crash and Abby take care of themselves a lot.  At one point in the book, the family eats dinner together, a fact that does not go unnoticed by the children.  Abby exclaims, "Notice anything?  We all ate a meal together!" to which Crash responds, "Whoopee.  Just like a real family," (Spinelli, pg. 48.)  Shortly afterwards, Crash's grandfather, Scooter, moves in to help take care of the children.  With Scooter, Crash isn't afraid to show a sensitive side.  He narrates that he and Abby snuggle with Scooter at night because they like to hear his made up stories and it is where they both feel safe and secure.  For me, Scooter was an integral part of the story because he made Crash more likable in my eyes. Up till that point,  I didn't really enjoy his disagreeable character very much.    Mocking Penn Webb's clothing "...he gets his clothes at Second Time Around.  It means used.  Like in used clothes.  He wears rags that other people throw away," (Spinelli, pg. 46); reveling in the fact that the vice-principal called him a "loose cannon; refusing to leave the football game because he wanted to run up the score, made him completely obnoxious to me.   Crash is so impressed with himself that he completely neglects to see everything else around him.  The best example of this attitude is the Thanksgiving Day impromptu football game.  During the family game, Crash makes a point to tackle his grandfather hard enough to cause a fumble.  Scooping up the ball, he runs to the other side of the yard and "...spiked the ball in the endzone and did my TD dance..." (Spinelli, pg. 103).  Crash can't pinpoint why he had to tackle Scooter, but later that night he silently watches Scooter sleeping in Abby's bed and realizes, "...he was just about as old as anybody I ever saw" (Spinelli, pg. 106).  Finally, Crash starts to feel remorse for his actions and it is fitting that it was an incident involving Scooter to bring about this change.
     What I've always enjoyed about Jerry Spinelli's writing is his ability to really capture the personality of his characters.  Chapter 31 is his shortest one and it consists of Crash narrating, "Scooter is in the hospital" (Spinelli, pg. 107).  With its brevity, Spinelli captures the worry, guilt, and fear that Crash is feeling.  There is no need to expand on the sentence because the shortness of the thought emphasizes the anxiety Crash experiences.  Thus begins Crash's transformation into realizing what he valued earlier isn't so crucial.  Crash may not be aware of his change, but the reader is.  When his best friend, Mike DeLuca, sprays Penn Webb with an Uzi watergun, Crash walks away.  Crash gives Penn back the essay that Mike stole from him.  Lastly, Crash "lets" Penn win the race off to determine who will be the last spot for the Penn Relay team.   Finally, Crash is learning that winning football games and bullying kids who are "different" aren't the most important things in the world.
     In chapter 2 of the text, Laura Robb mentions using pause points for book discussion.  Pause points are "a place to stop, react, pose questions, and discuss - usually every three to five chapters" (Robb, pg. 30).  Some pause points I could see using with the students would be asking students if the friendship between Crash and Mike Deluca is genuine; if Crash would be a different kid if his parents were home more often instead of at work; what effect does his grandfather, Scooter, have on Crash and why?  It would be important to highlight why Crash and Mike torment Penn and it would be interesting to have the students present scenes from the book as a tableau vivant or "living picture".  Once the students act out the scene, they freeze as characters and one by one, explain what reasoning is going through their minds at that particular moment.  Robb also mentions that in order to have a meaningful book conversation, students can link the title of the book to the story.  In her words she writes, "Connect the title...Explain how the title deepens your understanding of the point an author makes" (Robb, pg. 33).  Typically a crash is a violent or noisy collision that results in breaking an object to pieces.  In conducting an exercise where Penn is examined, I wonder if students would feel that his confidence and self-esteem were crumbling as a result of Crash and Mike's repeated bullying.   An additional writing exercise would be to come up with another scenario Jerry Spinelli could use that would christen the nickname of the main character.
       Typically the sign of a great novel is that it is timeless regardless of publication date.  Crash was originally published in 1996, before cyber-bullying existed.  Sixteen years later, I think that Crash would still resonate with my 6th grade students.  They could still identify with themes like bullying, maturity, and friendship.  Crash is a teachable novel and one that I would encourage my students to read.

Center Field

     Mike Semak seems to have it all.  A popular athlete at Ridgefield High School, he is surrounded by friends, has an adorable girlfriend, and is about to be named starting center fielder for the varsity baseball team.  Math is his favorite subject because "there's always an answer, right or wrong" (Lipsyte, pg. 19).  Mike likes to think that baseball is like math; "You play or you don't" (Lipsyte, pg. 19).  And he thinks that life should be "simple, not complicated" like math and baseball (Lipstyte, pg. 19).  Then Oscar Ramirez arrives and suddenly center field is no longer a sure thing.  Kat Herold starts occupying his thoughts and she isn't even his girlfriend.  Mike and Zack Berger, a cyber savvy student, have a confrontation that further divides the cool kids from the unpopular ones.  In Center Field, Mike discovers that life isn't always so simple and people are not what they appear to be either.
     There are two figures in the novel whom Mike reveres.  One is his baseball coach, Coach Cody, who also serves as the school's vice principal.  The other is Billy Budd, center fielder for the New York Yankees.   Coach Cody represents the tangible hero, someone accessible that Mike can go to for guidance and advice.  Billy Budd is the man that Mike strives to be, constantly thinking to himself, "What would Billy Budd do in this type of situation?"  He refers to his website, even using the "Buddline" to ask him for help in baseball.  As the novel unfolds, Mike discovers that his role models are far from what he believed them to be.  It's a telling sign of Coach Cody's duplicitous nature when he calls Mike to his office under the pretense of discussing his fight with Zack Berger.  At one point he tells Mike, "There are lots of things people don't know about me.  Don't need to know" (Lipsyte, pg. 124).   Mike is confused when Coach Cody gives him instructions to spy on the Cyber Club and dangles center field as the incentive for reporting back on the club's doing.  The coach's actions and requests seem to contradict the moral code that he holds for his baseball players and the rest of the students at the high school.  Coach Cody even buys into the notion of cliques at the school.  "You know, there are basically two kinds of guys in the world, jocks and pukes.  We're jocks.  We want to live by the rules, win fairly, work hard, and be rewarded for it.  The pukes want to rebel and disrupt so they can slide through the chaos" (Lipsyte, pg. 126).  Mike's character shows growth by his uncertainty over his coach's directive.  If he were an immature character, he would just accept his coach's order to spy on the "pukes" and report back to him.  Mike realizes that Coach Cody is toying with him to get what he wants, and begins to question why the coach wants the information so desperately.  Eventually Mike teams up with his nemesis, Zack Berger, and the two unite to reveal Coach Cody's fraudulent identity.
     Another way we see Mike's character grow is when he meets his idol, Billy Budd.  Mike wins a contest to spend a day with Billy Budd at Yankee Stadium.  It is not what Mike has expected.  At the their initial meeting, Billy Budd mistakenly shakes the wrong person's hand and addresses Mike's guest, Zack,  as "Mike"; the public relations man corrects the error, telling Mike, "Billy hasn't had a chance to study the video carefully" (Lipsyte, pg. 233).  Mike pictured himself enjoying the day with his hero, but winds up spending most of the day with public relations people.   Mike's disenchantment grows when he learns that it's a media team who creates the answers for the Buddline web page and not Billy himself.  At day's end, Mike still admires Billy for his athleticism and dedication to the game, but is let down Billy's shallowness.
     Center Field was probably my favorite book so far.  The teen characters in the novel seemed very real to me in terms of their thoughts, dialogue, and actions.  While I didn't always like some of the choices Mike made (dating Lori while pursuing Kat, for example), I enjoyed his character and the growth he showed.  While a main focus is on baseball, Robert Lipsyte provides enough teen romance and drama to make it appealing for both boys and girls.
     Chapter 2 of the textbook focuses on thinking about books on paper.  Laura Robb believes that using notebooks to record ideas, particularly using fast writes, is a beneficial strategy (Robb, pg. 34).   I can envision my students using Center Field to discuss how cliques are presented in this book.  The athletes are given top billing in the school, while the computer kids are labeled "pukes" and looked down upon.  Cliques are present in middle school, and it is a topic that students would have experience with.  Another fast write that could provoke discussion would be heroes versus false idols.  Students could debate what are the true characteristics of a hero and do their idols meet those criteria or is their image based on a facade.  Teens are impressionable, and like Mike, they can discover through book discussion that their heroes might not live up to their expectations.

Monster

     Self-examination.  Soul-searching.  Reflection.  Sixteen year old Steve Harmon stands accused of felony murder and as he experiences his trial, he questions who he is and who he has become.  Is he really the monster that the prosecuting attorney portrayed him as in her opening argument?  Is he a high school kid who is guilty of wanting acceptance by a tougher crowd?  Or is he completely innocent and just in the wrong place at the wrong time?  In Monster, Walter Dean Myers crafts a courtroom drama which plays out as a screenplay that the narrator, Steve, constructs in order to discover who he really is.
     Decision-making is a dominant theme that runs through this book and Steve acknowledges that idea in the beginning.  In the opening pages, Steve writes "The incredible story of how one guy's life was turned around by a few events..." (Myers, pg. 9).  I would try to focus my students on the significance of the choices they make, as small as they may be.  By opting to hang out with thugs like James King and Osvaldo Cruz, Steve opens himself up to the consequences of being linked with these unsavory characters.  A life lesson that I always emphasize with my classes  is that today's decisions will be tomorrow's realities.  Because Steve chose to be with hang with these young men, he might be spending the rest of his life behind bars.
     I don't believe that Steve ever believed that the store owner would die, but I did question whether he truly knew what James King intended to do.  In flashbacks, Myers establishes that he sat with King while he discussed his desire to get money.  "If I had a crew, I could get paid.  All you need is a crew with some heart and a nose for the cash," King says (Myers, pg. 50).  Later in another flashback, King becomes more specific with Steve and even outlines Steve's role in the robbery.  "I got a sure getover.  You know that drugstore got burned out that time?  They got it all fixed up now.  Drugstores always keep some money.  All we need is a lookout.  You down for it?" (Myers, pg. 150).    Myers never lets the reader know Steve's answer, and I wonder why he chose not to.  Through Steve's recollections, it is made known that he was in the drugstore prior to the botched robbery and murder.  So did he give the men a signal as he was supposed to do?  That part is never made clear, and it makes me wonder if he truly played a role in the crime or not.
     Another part of the story I would draw attention to is the style in which it is written.  Recently I read a journal article which focused on how to draw reluctant readers to reading.  One line of thought was to expose students to books which incorporated a different font, like personalized handwriting.  Monster is unique because not only are Steve's inner thoughts reflected through a handwritten journal, but the story is set up as a movie script.  This format, plus the use of sporadic photography, breaks up the amount of text presented on a page and doesn't seem so overwhelming to a struggling reader.
     In chapter 5 of the textbook, Barbara Moss focuses on using tradebooks to complement the curriculum.  While Monster is not a tradebook, I do like one of the points she makes.  While citing another study, Moss agrees that "students are captivated by the most courageous or cruelest of acts, the strangest and the most bizarre natural phenomena, the most terrible or the most wonderful events.  These are staples of the TV shows, books, and films that exploit this prominent characteristic of students' imaginations..." (Moss, pg. 90).  Teenagers are intrigued by high drama and extreme events.  Monster fits that bill with a young man, fighting an uphill battle to prove his innocence in a court of law.  I like the idea of pairing this book up with Myers's memoir, Bad Boy.  I've used his memoir before as a read aloud with my younger students when instructing them on how to expand moments in their lives.  It could make for a good discussion to parallel the chapters where Myers recounts his own difficulties during his teenage years; why did others see him as bad, like the prosecuting attorney saw Steve as a monster?  Monster is a good read for my 7th graders who would be interested in the subject material and who also could appreciate the introspection that Steve's character undergoes.

Under the Persimmon Tree

     A quest for meaning.  In order to find significance in one's life, journeys are started and completed.  Depending on the individual, these explorations will have varied destinations.  In Suzanne Fisher Staples's novel, Under the Persimmon Tree, we meet two protagonists, Najmah and Nusrat, whose stories are intertwined as they discover what their life's meaning is to be.
     Najmah is a young Afghan girl who finds herself alone after tragic events.  The Taliban raid her family's farm and force her father and older brother to leave with them.  Najmah is left to fend for her pregnant mother and to sustain the farm.  Days later, she witnesses another trauma when an airstrike kills her mother and newly born brother.  The episode leaves her shocked and voiceless.  With no one left to trust in her village, she begins a journey to Pakistan in hopes of reuniting with her father and brother in a refugee camp, and ultimately, returning to their homeland.
     Nusrat is an American woman, formerly known as Elaine.  She still feels grief over her sister Margaret's death and then she meets a young Afghan man, Dr. Faiz Ahmed Faiz.  They fall in love and Elaine feels a peace and contentment she hadn't felt since Margaret was alive.  Elaine converts to Islam and changes her name to Nusrat.  After they marry, Faiz feels the need to return to Afghanistan to set up medical clinics.  Nusrat agrees to go with him and it is decided that she will live in Peshawar, Pakistan where the rest of Faiz's family resides.  They relocate and Faiz leaves for Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan.   Nusrat teaches refugee children in the school she establishes in her backyard, but she becomes anxious and unsettled as too much time goes by without word from Faiz.

     Stars were an important image in this book and Najmah's name translates into "star".  Symbolically, stars are used to "light the way" and can provide guidance via a physical journey or an introspective one.  Najmah looks to the stars and recalls the words he father told her, "As long as you know the stars, you will never be lost.  From them you can tell time and distance and you can find your way home" (Staples, pg. 10-11).  After Nusrat and Namjah meet at Nusrat's school, Namjah explains to the older woman about polaris or al-Qutb, "It's the most constant star, and I'm never lost knowing it's there" (Staples, pg. 226).   Not only does Namraj believe the stars will help her find her father and brother, but she also believes they will illuminate her way home as well.  Nusrat also looks to the stars, but for different purposes.  She looks to them and hopes her husband is still alive and will return to her.    She uses them as a way to communicate with her husband.  "If you come out here every evening and look up at the stars, they will tell you where I am and that I am safe," Faiz tells Nusrat before he leaves Afgahnistan (Staples, pg. 220).  Both females search among the stars to find the ones they love.
     At the book's end, Namraj is reunited with her older brother, Nur.   Their significance lies in their determination to return to Afghanistan and reclaim their home.  Nusrat knows that her next destination will be in returning to the United States to make amends with the family she left there.  In a way, I wish the children would have returned with Nusrat, but I understand that their journey would then be unfulfilled.  And they must restore importance to their disrupted life.
     I liked this book because of its multiculturalism.  Most of the information that students have about the Middle East is based upon the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Students may form stereotypes based on one-sided information.  They need to realize the Middle East is not just comprised of the Taliban and terrorists.  In particular, I thought the example of Akhtar and Khalida's family showed great kindness and compassion to Najmah.  At great risk to themselves and their children, they disguised Najmah as a boy and brought her along with them on the road to Pakistan.  They provided her with food, water, and they protected her as if she were one of their own during a battle with explosions and gunfire.  Students may not appreciate or understand the danger Najmah faces, but they can hopefully relate to the goodness that is given to her.  In reading chapter 3 of the textbook, Young Adult Literature in the Clasroom:  Reading It, Teaching It, Loving It, a final thought regarding multiculturalism emerges.  Barbara Samuels contends, "We must help our students become part of the diverse, interconnected world in which they will function as adults.  Using multicultural literature is a way of empowering all students by building their self-esteem and expanding their ability to make contact with those whose experiences are different from their own" (Samuels, pg. 64-65).  This thought reminds me of how I explain Farewell to Manzanar to my 7th grade students.  I always tell them that I don't expect them to understand what it's like to be dragged away from your home and forced to live in barely furnished barracks, eating disgusting food, sharing filthy bathrooms, and essentially living in fear and guilt because you happen to be Japanese.  The point I make with them, however, is this:  If you can understand the unfairness of the situation, and understand the inhumanity of the situation, and understand the indignity that was suffered, then they have made a successful connection with the book, and therefore, the world around them.

     Another important point that the text brings up is in chapter 4, which focuses on engaging readers through historical fiction.  Barbara Illig-Aviles emphasizes using historical fiction because, "It helps them (adolescents) gain a deeper understanding of the effect historical events have on the social, political, and economic issues of the times" (Illig-Aviles, pg. 84).  Undoubtedly, 9/11 has been the event to most shape today's world.   My students from last year have never known a time before 9/11, and for most of their lives, the United States has been involved in military operations in the Middle East.  This situation presents a scenario of "good vs. bad", but as exposed by the reading, not every Afghani or Pakistani is evil.  Our school librarian teaches a literary investigations class, and in recent years she has read The Bread Winner with the 6th grade students to expose them to Afghanistan history and culture.  It's refreshing to see that instead of stereotyping Afghanistan people as terrorists, our students realize that many of them are innocents who are subject to land mines left over from the Russian invasion or who are terrorized by the Taliban.  It is my hope to incorporate a global literary study into my classroom.  Books that focus on different cultures would be read and discussed.  If I can make that happen, then I would definitely use Under the Persimmon Tree as one of the selections.

From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun

     In chapter 3 of Young Adult Literature in the Classroom:  Reading It, Teaching It, Loving It, the claim is made that "...literature also helps free us from the stereotypes that we have about those whose backgrounds are different from our own" (Samuels, pg. 48).  From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun presents a brutally honest story of an African-American male teenager coming to terms with his mother's homosexuality.  From the opening chapters, it's apparent that Melanin is not open to homosexuality.  "The other kind of 'faggy' was the really messed-up kind.  That kind actually wanted to be with other guys the way I get to feeling when Angie comes around.  That kind made me want to puke every time I thought about it-which wasn't a lot" (Woodson, pg. 19).  Melanin is shocked and upset when his mother reveals that she is in love with a white woman.  His reaction is painfully candid and I appreciated that the author, Jacqueline Woodson, didn't pull any punches with his response.  Melanin is accusatory and even throws slurs at his mother, "You're a dyke!...Nobody wants you...That's why my father disappeared and even the ugly guys didn't come back.  Nobody...Please, Mama, be anything.  But please don't be a dyke" (Woodson, pgs. 58-59).  Melanin is humiliated by Mama's revelation and fearful of the neighborhood repercussions that are to come from it.
    Prior to his mom's news, Melanin walks on the beach and reflects on an earlier time when he encountered prejudice from a group of white boys on the same beach.  He recalls how their racist comments made him feel "...stupid (then), dark and ugly.  Alone" (Woodson, pg. 44).  I can imagine that Melanin harbored the same feelings as people who are afraid to unveil their sexuality.  Recently, journalist Anderson Cooper released a statement to the media.  He wrote, "The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn't be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud."  Cooper put this information out there because he didn't want people to think he was concealing anything from the public.  I think that in sharing her sexuality with her son, Mama wanted to erase the darkness she felt in hiding the truth.  It took a lot of courage for her to share her lifestyle with her son.  After all, she had a choice.  She could have harbored her secret and remained in the dark, which would deny her a happy and comfortable life.
     I felt for Melanin's character because Woodson portrays him as a likable, sensitive kid.  He writes in a journal, collects stamps, is shy about calling a girl...he wasn't drawn as a macho, testosterone raging character.  And I wonder if that characterization was deliberate on her part.  Because if he was a sensitive type, it would seem more in line that he wouldn't have had such a negative reaction to his mom's news.   It was hard to see how the closeness between mother and sun was threatened by Melanin's inner prejudice.  It was hard to read the sections where he rejects his mother and even tells her "Sometimes I hate to think that you're my mother" (Woodson, pg. 72).  It was hard to like Melanin in those parts, even though I knew he was having a realistic reaction to the news.  Another thought I have involves Mama's girlfriend, Kristin.  Woodson chose to make her a white woman and I wonder if Melanin would have reacted so strongly if she was African-American?  It seems like Melanin's humiliation is compounded by the fact that Kristin is white.  He even goes so far to tell his mom, "'Cause she's white and I'm black" when Mama asks him what makes him think she can't love them both (Woodson, pg. 105).
     There are so many parts of this book I want to discuss:  how Melanin's relationship with Angie could be compared to Mama's relationship with Kristin; the demise of his friendship with Sean while Ralphael remains a reliable friend; how Kristin finally breaks through to Melanin when she unveils how she lost her family when she came out to them.  But I feel like this post would never end if I started to look into each of those situations!

     I have so much to say about this book.  I think it is an important book, but I would opt to keep it in my classroom library instead of use it as a read aloud.  From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun is sophisticated in its tone and subject; I don't know if my 6th graders would be mature enough to  comprehend its material.   Nowadays middle school kids have more exposure to homosexuality from television, movies, and novels.  However, as aware as they are, it doesn't always mean they are accepting, and I think of the tragedy that resulted from Tyler Clementi's story.  I do feel it is important to include literature in the classroom that includes homosexuality.  If I were to use a book with my 6th graders that discussed sexual character,  then I would choose The Misfits by James Howe. It was published years ago and it centered around a group of middle school friends who were on the outside looking in.  They band together and decide to run as a ticket for the student council positions.  Their platform is based on the slogan "No Name Calling".  One of the four students is Joe, an openly gay student, and the story is told through shifting point of view.  Since each character gets his/her own chapter, the reader does get to see Joe's perspective on what it's like to be a gay 7th grader.  Hopefully the outcome would be to open their minds to differences and to celebrate what makes each of us individual.

Lyddie

     "A troublemaker, Mr. Marsden?"

     "...I at one time thought of her as one of the best on the floor.  But I am forced, sir, to ask for her dismissal.  It is a matter of moral turpitude."

     Moral what?  What was he saying?  What was he accusing her of?

     "I see," said the agent, as though ass had been explained when nothing, nothing had.   

(Paterson, pg. 167-168)

     Lyddie is a historical fiction novel by Katherine Paterson.  In the segment above, the protagonist, Lyddie Worthen, is fired from working at the Lowell Mill because she protected another girl from the advances of their overseer, Mr. Marsden.  In order to protect himself, the overseer destroys Lyddie's career without giving any concrete examples of her alleged depravity, because he can get away with slandering her character.  This example brought to mind why trade unions were formed in the United States; to maintain and improve working conditions for a company's workers.  In chapter 4 of Young Adult Literature in the Classroom:  Reading It, Teaching It, Loving It, author Barbara A. Illig-Aviles notes that historical fiction helps the reader "appreciate the struggles and acts of personal courage required by people who, although they lived at different times, were essentially the same as we are" (Illig-Aviles, pg. 71).   Lyddie would be a terrific companion piece in a history class where the curriculum studies the history of workers' rights.  Students should be made aware that workers may have turned a blind eye to doing the right thing, because they feared losing a job or getting on the wrong side of a superior.  Students could also connect their learning to modern day situations and evaluate why children are taken advantage of in the workplace (i.e. cheap labor, intimidation).  Exposing students to child labor could be done on a national as well as international level.  

     While analyzing Lyddie's strong character, at times I thought about Junior from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian.  Both characters wanted to better themselves academically and show determination and courage in choosing education.  Junior goes to Rearden High School to get away from the school on the reservation, while Lyddie buys a copy of Oliver Twist to teach herself how to read.  There's a part in Junior's story where he befriends a student at Rearden named Gordy.  Gordy teaches Junior, "And no matter how much you learn, you just keep on learning there is so much more you need to learn" (Alexie, pg. 97).  Like Junior, Lyddie begins her journey with disadvantages.  Where Junior is impoverished and lives on a reservation, Lyddie is poor, uneducated, and has no parental guidance.  Lyddie's character grows from a hardworking farm girl turned factory worker into a young woman who realizes that there is much to be gained from the world.  I liked how Lyddie ends with her decision to go to college in Ohio, instead of her deciding to marry Luke Stevens and become a farmer's wife.  

     I thought Katharine Paterson's research for the book was impressive in its scope.  Not only did she need to be familiar with the history behind the Lowell Mills and the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association, but she had to understand the mechanical workings of a mill and be able to explain it to an average reader.  "Threading the shuttle was, if anything, worse.  Lyddie popped the full bobbin into the shuttle and then as always, put her mouth to the hole and sucked the thread through, pulled it to length, wrapped it quickly on a hook of the temple, dropped the shuttle into the race, and restarted the loom" (Paterson, pg. 110).  Her description of the mill's operations deepened my comprehension of what a typical shift was like for Lyddie and how absurd the working conditions were.  Even though I haven't yet read the assigned work on the Shirtwaist Triangle Fire, I would imagine that both books could be used jointly to teach about unfair working conditions.  I think students would be curious to read about Lyddie's story; a girl their own age forced to work to provide for her family is a compelling read.  When students can relate to characters in historical fiction, those situations have become alive for them and successful connections to literature have been made.

     

The Crossroads

     Bloody Mary.  Alligators in sewers.  A hook-handed murderer who preys on lovestruck teenagers in their cars.  All are examples are urban legends, stories that have been circulated for so long that details metamorphosized into a fantastic tale.  The teller is never even quite sure if the story is true or not since the facts have changed from their original form.  Kids love urban legends and spooky stories; Chris Grabenstein's, The Crossroads, weaves both of those elements into a thrilling novel.
     The Crossroads would be a terrific book to use in the classroom for a variety of reasons.  One of my objectives is to teach students how to write a "hook" or "grabber"- that opening sentence which will capture the audience's attention and not let it go.  Typically, I like using opening lines of novels to provide students with concrete examples.  Grabenstein begins his novel with this line, "Have you ever seen a face hidden in the bark of a tree and known the man trapped inside wanted to hurt you?" (Grabenstein, pg. 1).  That sentence establishes multiple moods of tension, suspense, and mystery.  After reading that sentence, I was hooked into the story's plot and had a hard time putting the book down.  I read the book while folding laundry, stirring dinner on the stove,  and in between watching my daughters at their swim practice.  Additionally, the alternating narration could also be used to instruct point of view.  Seeing the story unfold through the eyes of Zack, Gerda Spratling, Judy, and Billy O'Clair, affords readers the opportunity to understand characters better and to realize their motivations for their actions.  Billy O'Claire's character provides a terrific lesson in internal monologue.  As he struggles with the demon that is sharing his body, the text changes in appearance to reflect his inner thoughts.  "Clint Eberhart, the evil spirit, wasn't with him!  Wasn't inside him!  Billy had to think.  Who else does Eberhart want dead?  He already gave Mee Maw a heart attack.  Now he wants to hunt down this Jennings family.  But what about the rest of the O'Claire clan?  What about me?  And Aidan!  Oh, no.  What about Aidan?  What if he wants to kill my son?" (Grabenstein, pg. 176).  When writing memoirs, I try to encourage students to use internal monologue so that their written work shows evidence of reflection and sophistication.  Seeing internal monologue in print helps them with understanding how to write it and why it is used.
     Finally, I think the book would be useful in teaching reading comprehension skills.  Because our school has a set reading curriculum in place, I envision using this book as a read aloud to teach students inference, prediction, and sequencing.   Students could keep a reading journal to keep track of unfolding clues, predict why the tree is so sacred to Gerda Spratling, and infer from the bus passenger list the true identity of the Rowdy Army Men ghosts.  

     Ghost stories and mysteries are popular because their plots are built around the unknown and kids are usually curious to discover the answers.  The Crossroads would be a great fit for my 6th grade class and is a novel I plan to use next year.