August 6, 2012

LUNCH LADY AND THE LEAGUE OF LIBRARIANS

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Krosoczka, Jarrett. 2009. Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN: 0375846840 

PLOT SUMMARY

LUNCH LADY AND THE LEAGUE OF LIBRARIANS is a humorous graphic novel about lunch ladies who are secretly crime stoppers. Dee, Terrence, and Hector are three students who are in the "Breakfast Bunch" and alert the lunch ladies.  This second book of the Lunch Lady series involves librarians stealing money from fundraisers, banding together, and trying to put a stop to the new video game console that is about to be released.  The lunch ladies figure out what is happening through a spy cam and go on a quest to stop them.  The lunch ladies are almost defeated by the librarians, but the Breakfast Bunch makes it just in time to join in and help. The librarians are caught red handed trying to destroy the video game consoles and arrested.  The lunch lady steps in as librarian and uses the new video game system as encouragement to read during the Read-A-Thon.  The lunch ladies save the day once again. 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS


Krosoczka has created the characters of Lunch Lady and Betty who are similar to the typical superhero and sidekick. They have normal everyday jobs, but behind the scenes they work to fight crime. They have a secret place in the school to conduct business, the boiler room, and a wide variety of gadgets that are disguised as regular objects. The Breakfast Bunch are a group of kids that are sidekicks to the Lunch Ladies.  They appear to be average students at school and even deal with bullies, but The Breakfast Bunch are also secret superhero crime fighters.   

The plot deals with the villains coming up with an evil plan and the heroes working together to defeat them and stand up for what is right. There are two different settings throughout the story.  The school is the most familiar to readers, allowing them to connect with the characters, events, and places described.  The docks, where the shipment of video games comes in, is the second setting.  This is also where the battle takes place with the librarians.  The villains have names like "Rhonda Page" and "Jane Shelver" which represent their job of a librarian.  A good over evil theme is present throughout the story.

The illustrations are drawn in four colors, white, black, gray and yellow. The color yellow is used to to highlight the pictures and draw your attention to key elements within them. For example, the Lunch Ladies are all wearing yellow aprons setting their characters apart from the others and making them easily recognizable.  Although the illustrations are fairly simple, they add energy, interest, and details to the story.

AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS

Winner 2010 - Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices



"With its appealing mix of action and humor, this clever, entertaining addition to the series should have wide appeal." School Library Journal (September 1, 2009)
CONNECTIONS

-LUNCH LADY Series Book Trailer - http://youtu.be/bWLFSW839tY
-Any other book in the LUNCH LADY series.
-Other Books by Jarrett Krosocka
     -PUNK FARM. ISBN: 0-375-82429-4
     -PUNK FARM ON TOUR. ISBN: 0-375-83343-9
-Amazing list of resources on the subject of graphic novels http://noflyingnotights.com/resources/
-Excerpt from LUNCH LADY AND THE LEAGUE OF LIBRARIANS and activity where students continue the comic http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/randoEMS/LunchLady_Sampler.pdf


Posted by at 1 comment:

FEATHERS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Woodson, Jacqueline. 2007. FEATHERS. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN: 0-399-23989-8


PLOT SUMMARY

Frannie is an African American sixth grade girl who attends a school that has a predominately black population.  Although there is no more official segregation in 1971, the highway separates the African American community from the white community causing Frannie to wonder what life is like on the other side of town.  When a white boy with long, curly hair shows up in Frannie's classroom, she immediately wonders what has brought him to her school and remembers how she felt in first grade when she was the new student.    Because of his appearance and his ability to calmly ignore the school bully, the students nick name him "Jesus Boy."  Frannie feels badly for Jesus Boy and becomes more interested in him when she realizes that he knows sign language.  Through her conversations with her deaf brother and her new friendship with Jesus Boy, Frannie starts to see life differently and is able to find hope for herself and her family.



CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Jacqueline Woodson uses Frannie, an eleven year-old girl, to tell a story on the subject of racism and hope in her novel, FEATHERS.  This book is set during the early 1970’s when parts of America were still practicing segregation although it had officially ended.  All readers, regardless of skin color, will be able to relate to Frannie’s struggles of friendship, religion, and family issues. Woodson uses Frannie’s internal thought processes and conversations and interactions with the other characters help the reader to fully understand these struggles.

 While every culture will be able to connect with this story, Woodson writes from her own race to share the African American culture. Through the description of the cornrows and Afro hairstyles, the fried chicken and greens that Frannie’s family eats for dinner, the different skin types and colors, and the “jive” language spoke by the characters as they call each other “cat” or “brother-man,” it is obvious that the story is showing life from the African American point of view.  The cultural details included show the time period which this story is set as well as the fact that African Americans are the cultural focus of this story. 

Everything that Frannie has worried about comes together at the end of the story.  Frannie’s mother is doing well with her pregnancy, Trevor, the bully, starts to change his ways, Jesus Boy is starting to be accepted by everyone, she understands more about her brother, and Frannie realizes that hope is alive in everyone.  The combination of well represented cultural aspects, the development of believable characters, and the interwoven message of religion, hope, and acceptance makes this book one young adults would surely enjoy. 




AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS

Newbery Honor 2008


"The theme of "hope" recurs in the description of the Black Power movement, and in Frannie's musings on the Emily Dickinson poem, "Hope is the thing with feathers." Developing this metaphor, Woodson captures perfectly the questions and yearnings of a girl perched on the edge of adolescence, a girl who readers will take into their hearts and be glad to call their friend." Kirkus Reviews (February 1, 2007)


"Set in 1971, Woodson's novel skillfully weaves in the music and events surrounding the rising opposition to the Vietnam War, giving this gentle, timeless story depth. She raises important questions about God, racial segregation and issues surrounding the hearing-impaired with a light and thoughtful touch."  Publishers Weekly (January 8, 2007)

 "As sixth-grader Frannie puzzles over the meaning of a line from an Emily Dickinson poem, "Hope is the thing with feathers," lots of questions start coming up. What does the music her deaf brother hears sound like? Why is Mama so tired during the day? How come the new white boy in class named Jesus says he's not white, and could he possibly be the Jesus, as Frannie's friend Samantha thinks? How does it feel to have that kind of faith, anyway? Frannie eventually works out her own answers, finding hope not in Samantha's big miracles but in everyday bits of goodness-the "moments" her teacher tells her to write about." Horn Book (March/April, 2007)


CONNECTIONS
-Biography on Jacqueline Woodson - http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/bio.shtml
-Other books by Jacqueline Woodson:
     LOCOMOTION. ISBN: 0-14-241552-9
     PEACE LOCOMOTION. ISBN: 0-399-24655-X
-RULES by Cynthia Lord. ISBN:0-439-44383-0   Deals with a family member with a disability



Posted by at 1 comment:

August 2, 2012

SPEAK

BIBLIOGRAPHY


Anderson, Laurie Halse. 1999. SPEAK. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.  ISBN: 0374371520 

PLOT SUMMARY

Melinda Sordino's freshman year of high school is starting out terrible.  The summer before school started she was raped by a senior.  She called the police to report the rape, but everyone thought she was just trying to break up the party.  As everyone scattered, so did she, and a report was never made to the police.  As a matter of fact, she never told anyone.  Since the party, her friends and classmates will no longer have anything to do with her, leading to a miserable school year.  Not only has her relationship with her friends deteriorated, so have her grades and her home life.  Her silence is a plea for help, but it mostly goes unnoticed.  As the summer sun starts to shine after a long winter and spring, Melinda finally finds the strength to speak.    

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Laurie Anderson creates fabulously written tale of teenage life and trauma of a young girl in this contemporary realistic fiction novel.  SPEAK is written from the perspective of Melinda, the main character, who is funny, real, and relatable.  The reader is able to fully understand what Melinda is going through because of the language and details that are shared about her thoughts, interactions, and feelings throughout the story.  The story is broken up by marking period, beginning on the first day of school and ending on the last day, reminding the reader how long it takes Melinda to even begin to overcome the traumatic event that occurred during the summer. 

Melinda's lonely journey through her freshman year is one that most high school students today could relate to on some level.  The story deals with the cliques and harsh realities that kids in high school face.  Her character starts out as a very weak girl, dealing silently with a traumatic event.  She deals with absolute torment from her classmates and people she used to call friends.  Her one escape from everything is her art class which eventually helps her to speak again.  As she learns to cope with the terrible incident and the maltreatment by her peers, she finally gains her strength and her voice back after her attacker tries to assault her again.  Although she is not healed, she can now begin to recover with the help of others.  

This is an compelling story of honesty and strength in the face of a terrible sexual assault.  Anderson does a great job of focusing on the issues Melinda deals with in her daily life instead of on the rape itself.  This allows for a wide variety of readers to connect with what Melinda goes through during her freshman year in high school while learning a valuable lesson about perseverance.  


AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS

Awards:

Michael L. Printz Honor (2000)
National Book Award Nominee for Young People's Literature (1999)
Golden Kite Award for Fiction (1999)
Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (2000)
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (1999)
Edgar Award Nominee for Best Young Adult (2000)
South Carolina Book Award for Young Adult Book Award (2002)
ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2000)
Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee (2005)

Review Excerpts:

"A ninth grader becomes a social pariah when she calls the police to bust a summer bash and spends the year coming to terms with the secret fact that she was raped during the party. A story told with acute insight, acid wit, and affecting prose." School Library Journal (December 1999)

"A frightening and sobering look at the cruelty and viciousness that pervade much of contemporary high school life, as real as today's headlines." Kirkus Reviews (1999)

"In her YA fiction debut, Anderson perfectly captures the harsh conformity of high-school cliques and one teen's struggle to find acceptance from her peers. Melinda's sarcastic wit, honesty, and courage make her a memorable character whose ultimate triumph will inspire and empower readers." Booklist (Vol. 96, No. 2 (September 15, 1999))


CONNECTIONS

-Have students write about a time when they or someone else has tried to ignore something that couldn't be ignored
-Have students write down anonymously something that they need to speak out about
- Resources:

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)