Holiday Book a Day: Book Three: Refresh, Refresh

As I've shared, this holiday break I've challenged myself to read a book each day as part of a Twitter movement amongst teachers and readers.  This movement can be found under the #bookaday hashtag.  As such, I'll be posting out daily reflections, both to share some info about the book I'm reading and to model how to respond deeply about the novels we are reading.

I knew that Christmas, Christmas Eve, and New Years Eve would be a little tough so I grabbed some graphic novels to read as they tend to be quick reads.  Mrs. Suda has a growing selection of graphic novels in the library.  You really should check them out.


Refresh, Refresh - David Novgorodoff, Benjamin Percy, James Ponsoldt


One thing I found interesting about Refresh, Refresh is the utter hopelessness depicted in the community and lives of the three protagonists.  The graphic novel revolves around three high school seniors all of whom have fathers enlisted in the military and actively serving in Afghanistan.  All three boys wile away their days causing trouble, video taping backyard fistfights, and drinking in dive bars that care little about adhering to local laws governing drinking age.


It's a pretty sad book.  Every character seems broken down.  The boys are all despondent, desperately waiting for some word that their dads are okay.  There mothers have either left or are working extra hours in the local plant.  Peripheral characters get visited by the Marine chaplain as they are advised that a male in their family has been killed in the war.  It's just a hopeless little community where everyone is biding their time dealing with a war which they all have a huge stake in but not much belief in.  


The art in the graphic novel backs this up.  There are few words and the characters are drawn grim and listless.  The artist seems to have drawn them to seem like All American boys but they are grittier, signaling that something isn't quite right.


If you've ever seen the movie Brothers, this book would make a good companion piece.  Many books depict wars, but it was interesting to read a book that deals with life on the homefront under the specter of war.  Good stuff.  I highly recommend.  

Holiday Book a Day: Book Two

As I've shared, this holiday break I've challenged myself to read a book each day as part of a Twitter movement amongst teachers and readers.  This movement can be found under the #bookaday hashtag.  As such, I'll be posting out daily reflections, both to share some info about the book I'm reading and to model how to respond deeply about the novels we are reading.


I've seen many of you pick up various Sharon Draper books throughout the year, so I thought I'd given them a try.  Over the years I've read hundreds of responses about Tears of a Tiger but never got around to reading it.  As it was short (163 pages), I figured now was the time to give it a chance.  Here is my response (and at 361 words it clocks in a little bit above what I'm looking for):


Tears of a Tiger, Sharon Draper
Pages 1-163

Truthfully, I spent 3/5's of this book disliking it.  I liked the the idea of watching a character grieve after a tragedy that he directly caused.  I liked the idea of watching a community grieve the loss of a young life.  But I could not get past the fact that this book was written entirely of dialogue, letters, homework assignments and journals.  Every little bit of this novel is the direct thoughts of the various characters.  This was cool in a sense because I was able to experience the story from multiple perspectives.  For instance, I got to hear Andy, the protagonist's, views on things, as well as his girlfriend Keisha, his friends BJ, Gerald, and Tyrone, and even the thoughts of his grief counselor and six year old brother.  I think that in presenting the thoughts of all these characters directly the author is able to present a fuller story.  Because really, when tragedy strikes, the ripple affects everyone, as do the behavior of those caught up in the ripples.


But I didn't like the lack of description.  The lack of setting.  The lack of a narrator's voice.  It was disconcerting.  Then, near the end of the novel, I started to put together a hypothesis about why Sharon Draper wrote this book as she did.  I think that this novel almost resembles a play.  You get characters exchanging dialogue.  In doing so Draper strips all that extra stuff that would help situate the events in any geographical location or type of high school and, as a result, universalizes her story.  Andy's story can happen at any high school in any part of the country at any time period because Sharon Draper does not include that information.  I think this helps the reader get into the story a little bit better and apply the course of events to his/her own school.


So, all in all, it was a quick read and after some consideration I came to enjoy the book.  Will I go on and read the next two books in the Hazelwood Trilogy (Forged by Fire and Darkness Before Dawn)?  Maybe someday.  But it was definitely worth the read.   

Holiday Book a Day: Day One

As I've shared, this holiday break I've challenged myself to read a book each day as part of a Twitter movement amongst teachers and readers.  This movement can be found under the #bookaday hashtag.  As such, I'll be posting out daily reflections, both to share some info about the book I'm reading and to model how to respond deeply about the novels we are reading.


I know I've mentioned that I had been reading this book, but as I finished the last two hundred pages last night and since yesterday was an actual school day I'm counting it as my first official #bookaday.  Also, you might like this book.  It has some really intense and gory descriptions (I wouldn't recommend eating while reading), has a cool story and a boatload of interesting characters.  One thing to consider, though, is that even though it is a young adult novel it does contain some pretty sophisticated vocabulary.  There were words even your humble teacher had to look up or get by with mere context clues.  It was worth it though.  Great read.  And I think it is the start of a series, so you might be making an investment for the long haul.  Okay, enough about that.  Here's my response to the novel (which clocks in at 246 words, which is in the ballpark of what I'm asking you to write (between 200-300 words):


The Monstrumologist, Rick Yancey
Pages 201-436

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One of the things I really loved about The Monstrumologist was the way the author played with the concept of "monster."  It seems like he was trying to get the reader to question what constitutes a monster.  The actual monsters in the book, the anthropophagi, are mythological headless human eaters rumored to have existed in Africa.  These creatures can leap forty feet in a single jump, rip a human limb from limb, suck out the human's brain matter, and pick his teeth with the bones of the victim.  They are monstrous.

What's interesting is that a character in the novel, a monster hunter named Jack Kearns, questions everyone's characterization of these creatures as monsters.  He says they are simply following their biological imperative;  eat and survive.  In fact, many of the humans in the novel are more monstrous than the anthropophagi because humans have been endowed with free will and a moral code and still perform horrific acts.  One character is left bedridden for decades while maggots devour his body.  Hundreds of people are thrown into pits to be devoured by the anthropophagi.  Kearns himself, who the narrator hints might be Jack the Ripper, makes numerous monstrous decisions, at one point chaining a street woman to a stake and gutting her to be used as bait to attract the anthropophagi to their slaughter.
Wil Henry, our protagonist, is shown all these different versions of monstrous and left to decide what it is that makes us human.