Book trailers & YA Lit

I've been working on coming up with assignment ideas to really make YA books come alive in my classroom. As book bloggers are well aware, book trailers are becoming increasingly popular, especially with YA books. I think this could translate well as a classroom activity and a much more engaging assignment for students than a traditional book review or even a book talk. I think for the next independent reading assignment or lit circle reading assignment, I'm going to show students some book trailers, and maybe even movie trailers to get the point across. Then, their assignment will be to create a book trailer of their own, using powerpoint, photostory, windows movie maker, i-movie etc. I'll set up a screening party the day the assignment is due, and each student or group can show their trailer. The class could then rate the trailers with movie ratings - thumbs up/down, how likely they are to read the book based on the trailer etc. Hopefully by allowing the assignment to translate into multimedia terms that the students already engage with, it'll create more interest in not only the assignment, but in the book as well.

An example that I think will get the students' attention, from P.C. Cast. (I'm having trouble figuring out how to upload the video. For now, here's the link - )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHsaYbqIcgg

Favorite memoir?

My student teacher starts next week, and she's teaching Elie Wiesel's Holocaust memoir Night to my 10th graders. She'd like to start off by introducing the topic of memoirs and get the kids thinking about what they'd put in their own memoir. We want to show the students some examples of great memoirs (just excerpts - a page or two), but I want to help her to find examples that the kids will really find interesting. I'd like to start a memoir reading list to use not only to introduce the concept, but also to offer my students some suggestions once they've finished this unit, in case they're intrigued by the genre.
So I figured it's worth asking - do you have any memoirs you particularly like? Anything that you think 15 and 16-year-old kids would enjoy? Please share! Thanks!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie
categories: coming of age, male relationships, culture, Native Americans, poverty, high school, anorexia, basketball, hope, alcoholism, despair, death, cartoons
Grade: A

I just finished the book and I'm blown away. This short, quick read of a novel had more of an impact on me than anything I've read in a long time. While I expected Alexie to have brilliant insight into Indian issues, I wasn't expecting his brilliantly original, authentic, funny insight into teenage boys. Arnold Spirit is a lovable, dorky, sweet, intelligent, moving narrator - a better voice is impossible to imagine for this novel. It's amazing how absolutely heart-breaking and absolutely funny this novel is at the same time. The cartoons are an awesome addition - they are more telling than Arnold's written desription at times, and add a level of sweet humor that make Arnold that much more endearing. I highly recommend this endearing, sad, sweet, paradoxically hopeless and hopeful book.

The Realm of Possibility

The Realm of Possibility, David Levithan
categories: coming of age, book in verse, alternating narrators, romance, gay/lesbian
Grade: A-

This book has been on my list of books to read for a while now, and I'm so glad I did! Levithan accomplishes a few things of note to an English teacher. First, he manages to write an entirely coherent, beautiful book entirely in various types of verse. My favorite is "the day," Jamie's chapter in which he details, excruciatingly well, the difficulty of making it through the day after his girlfriend has broken up with him. Levithan walks the reader through the day alphabetically, each stanza taking on the next letter of the alphabet, not stalling or getting too caught up in the plot device, but instead becoming better for it. The "t" stanza starts every line with "the" and goes through the entire alphabet again. Another device of note for those looking for literary techniques is the alternating narrators. Each chapter is a different narrator, and yet the stories begin to entertwine more and more as the book progresses. It is a bit difficult to keep track of who is talking and how they fit into the greater story, but a little extra reflection solves this problem relatively easily.
Overall, a brilliant book. It could easily be read and used as a whole or in parts, as each chapter stands alone and yet the book in its entirety is equally as strong.

An Abundance of Katherines

An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
categories: coming of age, comedy, romance, friendships (boy), travels, transition to college
Grade: B/B+

First, let me say that I am definitely a fan of John Green - we use his Looking for Alaska as our 12th grade summer reading title. So I don't feel quite as bad admitting that I was really prompted to read this book for the workshop I'm giving next week on YA Lit in the Content Area and I needed another math book. That said - this is a great book! (even though it does have math throughout it...)
I like the interesting combination of characters - Colin is a complex protagonist, though I have to admit that his social peculiarity seemed a bit too strong for him to have dated 19 girls. He sounded much more like Christopher from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nite-Time, a character battling Aspberger's. His relationship with Lindsey does seem fairly realistic, though I enjoyed his friendship with Hassan much more.
While I'm not sure how accurate the math is, it is entirely understandable, even for an English teacher like myself. The Appendix with the math explanation is also great - it's a wonderful plot technique, since the story can exist without it but is so much better for the inclusion.
Overall, it's a strong story - my favorite of Green's so far.

Persepolis 1 & 2

Persepolis 1 & 2
categories: graphic novel, contemporary & historical fiction, girl power
Grade: A-

This was my first forray into graphic novels and I found both books really appealing. Marjane Satrapi's images really compliment her narrative, and at times, tell the story in a much more compelling, stark way than her words. Seeing such a harrowing time in Iran's history through the eyes of a teenage girl make the story that much more intriguing, and she somehow manages to keep a comic undertone when so many of the situations she describes are anything but funny.
Both books are quick reads, so I highly recommend them both.
Marjane Satrapi is actually coming to Syracuse at the end of the month, to the Rosamund Gifford Lecture series, so I'm hoping I'll get to hear some of her stories in person.

The Hunger Games?

Thanks so much for all of the YA Lit suggestions you've been sending me. Our presentation is nearing completion, but by all means, please continue to send me titles as you think of them.

For those of you who have read it, I'm curious your thoughts on Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. Some middle-level teachers in my district would like to use it with 7th - 8th graders. What do you think about the appropriateness of the book for that age level.

It's on my list of things to read and I'm hoping to get to it soon, but I'd love to hear what you think.
Thanks!