On My Wishlist: The Last Summer of the Death Warriors

Ever since I devoured Marcello in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork, I have become more interested in reading everything that he has written. This desire happens to coincide with a really positive review that I read for his book The Last Summer of the Death Warriors. Here is a review that I found on amazon:

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up—Orphaned Pancho's 20-year-old mentally disabled sister is found dead in a New Mexico motel room. He meets D.Q., dying of a rare cancer, at a home for boys. D.Q.'s mother, Helen, forces him to undergo experimental chemotherapy, despite the gruesome side effects. Pancho cares for D.Q. during his stay at a Ronald McDonald-type residence. The one bright spot is Marisol, who works there. D.Q. knows that Pancho plans to find and destroy Rosa's killer. He tries to teach his new friend the way of the Death Warrior: only when you love do you truly live. Though Pancho plots the murder methodically, his plan is never believable. This derails the novel considerably and cancels any mystery that might have quickened the pace of the story. However, the New Mexico landscape is vivid and the author explores Anglo/Mexican relations subtly. Stork's characterizations are solid, from D.Q.'s probing intensity to Pancho's silent rage. Female characters are vivid as well, from Helen's passive aggression to Marisol, who displays a soulful intelligence. The narrative is dialogue heavy, but even philosophical conversations between steely Pancho and effusive D.Q. are natural, and often funny.—Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library

I don't know that I love this description of the book, but I so loved Marcello in the Real World that I can't help but think that this writer is probably a genius.  Therefore, I am feeling the need to buy this book ASAP and test my theory. 

On My Wishlist: Bella Should Have Dumped Edward

One of the best aspects of the whole Twilight debate, in my opinion, is that there is a debate at all. Whether you think that the Bella/ Edward affair was a great romance or puke-worthy, I think that it is awesome that people care enough to feel passionately one way or the other. Because, in between arguments, people are reading. Thousands of pages. An English teacher's blissful dream!

I've read the entire series. Was I entertained? Yes. Did I think that these books were brilliant literature? Hardly. Do I think that Edward's dominance and control over Bella has influenced a generation of young adults to engage in risky relationships? I certainly hope not!

It is interesting that most of my students read this entire series last year during our SSR time (Silent Sustained Reading), yet not a single student read any of these books this year during SSR. Is that because most of them have already read the series? Maybe. I think, though, that as the movies have come out, the popularity of the series has decreased. It's like the opposite of the Harry Potter series. Those books seemed to gain in popularity with each movie release.

I am excited to read a variety of opinions from other bloggers--even though I've read a ton online already--in book format. Interesting topic and a great debate!

On My Wishlist

"On My Wishlist" is a variation on several memes I've seen in the blogosphere. What makes this one different is that I take a screenshot of an item on my actual amazon wishlist every week. Usually, I end up buying the items that I post about after I write about them for this post. All of the thought that goes into these weekly posts makes for an argument that my checking account cannot refute.

This week's pick is a new graphic novel that is going to be part of a series. It's called Resistance: Book One and it was written by Carla Jablonski. I've never read anything by this author, but need to create a list of materials for a course I'm teaching next year. The subject of the course is the Holocaust, and the central text I'm using is The Book Thief. That should keep us busy for some time, but I like to immerse myself in other works while teaching a particular unit of study. Hopefully, this graphic novel will broaden my understanding of the events of the resistance movement in France during WWII.

I'll let you all know what I think after I read it!

On My Wishlist: Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P.L. Travers

I have honestly never thought about the person behind the Mary Poppins story. This is weird for me, because I always think about the author of a book. Always. I love reading biographies and autobiographies of authors. I just find it fascinating to find out about the person, life story, and inspiration behind my favorite stories.

Perhaps this is the reason that I never thought about the person behind the Mary Poppins books: I've never read any of them. Sure, I've seen the movie adaptation a billion times. I can sing along to all of the songs and can even quote word-for-word from some of the scenes. I loved that movie as a child and have even watched it a few times as an adult. It never gets old.

Apparently, though, the book is not like the movie. You're shocked and surprised about this, I'll bet. And, there were apparently some bad feelings between P. T. Travers and Disney during the book-to-movie adaptation process. Again, you're shocked. But, it seems that this woman lived an interesting life and had a horrible childhood. Maybe Ms. Poppins is the nanny Travers wished for as a child? I don't know.

At the price that this book is listed for, it will probably stay on my wishlist for some time. But, that's the beauty and wonder of my wishlist. It only gets bigger and books get less expensive as the years go by. I can wait for this one, but I would still love to read it at some point!

On My Wishlist: An Off Year

At the end of the school year, I always make sure that I'm talking about and reading about journeys with my seniors. I think that adults tend to downplay how scary and crazy and jumbled that last year of high school can be. So, I like to address the fact that kids are making a huge transition and the fact that their lives are forever changing with books. Ah, books. They're so awesome!

I'm interested in gathering a whole collection of books with a central "journey" theme. An Off Year by Claire Zulkey seems to fit this goal. It's about a girl who decides to put off college for a year. I don't know much more about this book than that, but I think it's enough of a connection to the journey theme to have it available to seniors who are grappling with the tough decision of whether or not to head off to college or to work or explore for a year.

Plus, the cover feature fuzzy pink shag carpeting and bunny slippers. How cool is that?!

On My Wishlist: The Replacement

The cover of The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff reminds me of one of my favorite childhood flicks, Edward Scissorhands. I don't know what this book is about and I almost don't think that I need to. I just want it. The cover is awesome, and the fact that it looks so creepy and is being released on my mother's birthday (September 21st; Happy birthday, Mom!) has me really, really wanting this book.

I haven't found much of a synopsis about this book yet, so if you know of one feel free to share. Here's a tiny little teaser of a book trailer with kind words from Maggie Stiefvater and Lauren Kate:

On My Wishlist: Grace by Elizabeth Scott

I absolutely cannot wait to read Grace by Elizabeth Scott. If this book is as good as the description sounds, I predict that this will be a groundbreaking YA book. I know that this book will not come out until September of 2010, and I'm thinking that this would be a great selection for the Chick Lit Book Club next year. We've never read about suicide bomber psychology, and I'm thinking that this would be a timely discussion to have with the Chicks. If you've heard anything about this title, please let me know!

Here's a description of this title from goodreads:

On My Wishlist: Shark Girl

I love novels told in verse, and this one sounds particularly gripping. Apparently, this is a fictional account of a scenario that plays out at least once or twice a year: A young person is attacked by a shark and survives, but requires prosthetic limbs to carry on a "normal" life. Although, in this age of reality TV and media supervision, is there ever a "real" life after something as drastic as a shark attack? This book (according to reviews on amazon) included news clips and letters of support from other amputees.

I can imagine this novel in verse hitting my free reading shelves and being promptly snatched up by all of my hungry little teen readers. A feeding frenzy!

On My Wishlist: Poetry Speaks Who I Am

What's better than a cool collection of amazing poems? Why, one that comes with a CD of course! There are a mix of poems and poets in this collection, from modern to classic to young to old. Sherman Alexie, Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Bishop, Julia Alvarez. These are some of my favorite authors ever. I can just imagine the undiscovered goodies that I'll find in this group of poems/ poets. Plus, it looks hip and dynamic. There are over 100 poems included in this collection. I cannot wait to read it!

And, Donna at Bites is giving away three copies of this title. Thanks, Donna, for commenting on this post and letting us know!

On My Wishlist: Essential Pleasures

This month is National Poetry Month, so I am going to try and choose collections of poetry and/or novels written in verse during the month of April. This week, I chose to profile a collection of poems that I really want.It's called Essential Pleasures: A New Anthology of Poems to Read Aloud and it's edited by Robert Pinsky.

I love to read poems, but not all are great to read aloud. In fact, some are powerful in a visual sense and not in an aural sense. Also, I have undertaken a huge task this year: To find a poem that's related to whatever book I'm teaching every Friday. To me, this sounded easy at first, but quickly became challenging. It has forced me to look at the books I teach in new ways and to seek out a huge amount of poetry and poets. I have learned more about poetry this year than in college and my first six years of teaching combined!

But, I need more poems, specifically those that are great when read aloud. As the title this text promises great read-aloud poems, I should be able to find a number of gems inside this collection!

On My Wishlist: Fallout

As I've mentioned previously, I love poetry. And I love fiction. So, it goes without saying that I love poetic fiction. In this genre, Ellen Hopkins is one of my favorites. I've read four of her books at this point. And, included in those four books are the first two titles in the Crank series. Fallout, which will be released in September 2010, which is awesome news for fans of Ellin Hopkins.

I will most likely pre-order this title waaay before it comes out. I just cannot help myself.

On My Wishlist: Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?

Out of all of the books, poems, and plays I teach, William Shakespeare's works are my favorites. Every year, I spend quite a bit of time with the Bard. I teach about six or seven Shakespeare plays every year. Some years, I teach more than this. The result? Unlike some of the other units I teach regularly, I don't get tired of teaching Shakespeare. Every year I try to put a different spin on the standard plays I teach (Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet) to keep my interest from waning. Kids get super excited to act and perform and the grapple with the language and their excitement keeps me going.

Though I've read quite a few of his plays (and all of his sonnets), I've not read too much about the man himself. I did read one book a couple of years ago called Will in the World. More than answering questions about this extraordinary figure, I was left wondering if William Shakespeare could have possibly written all of the plays and poems attributed to him. I have watched a couple of documentaries about this very subject, but no argument was so convincing that I subscribed to it completely. Maybe this new book will sway me once and for all? I don't know, but I am willing to read it to find out.

I'm not sure that I buy into Shakespeare conspiracy theories, but I'd still like to read Contested Will. At the very least, though, I hope that I will learn more about the man behind all of these amazing works. Whether that is Shakespeare or not, I will continue to read and learn and teach these phenomenal plays and sonnets!

On My Wishlist: Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser

I still have not seen the new Alice in Wonderland movie. I've heard that it's amazing, I've heard the good and bad, but I know that I need to see it for myself. I plan on seeing it this weekend. Going to the movies in rural Maine is not as simple as setting aside a few hours on a weeknight. I live about half an hour from our only movie theater in this county. Seriously. So travel time included, a movie experience can take three to four hours. And I don't have that much free time on a weeknight.

Anyway. Besides having an interest in seeing my favorite books turned into movies, I also love to read books that claim to be related to the original text. I've read a couple of books on philosophy that work on this premise. One such read is The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'Oh! of Homer. This book is a collection of philosophical essays that (somewhat) tie-in with the Simpson's cartoon series. It's an interesting read and I've shared it with a bunch of people and most have enjoyed it. So, when I saw Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: The Curiouser and Curiouser, I couldn't help but be excited.

It is obvious that Lewis Carroll did not mean for us to sit and ponder the implications of LSD on our society or to wonder whether Alice is a feminist icon, but Carroll could not possibly have foreseen his cute little story becoming the box office smash that it is today. Because Alice is in our culture, she could be a feminist icon. Because productions of Alice in Wonderland have been trippy, people connect LSD to the story. It would be interesting to think about the implication of all of these connections. That's why this book is now a part of my wishlist. I hope to buy it soon before I (potentially) lose my interest in this topic!

On My Wishlist: Alice's Adentures in Wonderland

I prefer to have read the print version of a story before I see the movie version. I've heard of others who are okay with seeing a movie or stage performance first, but I like to have a basic understanding of the original text before I try to grasp an adaptation. That's just my style.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is going against the grain for me because I watched the old movie version way before I could even read. I've seen it a few times over the years, and was always intrigued by the plot and characters and magic of it all. I don't know why I never actually read the book; maybe I thought I already knew it? Well, in preparation for 3-D movie event that is this new Alice in Wonderland, I thought it was high time that I read the darn book. I wanted to be privy to all of the inside jokes and see the changes that have (inevitably) been made to turn this short children's book into a souped-up blockbuster.

So, I headed to Barnes and Noble one fair afternoon (before we got three feet of snow) to purchase a copy of this book. Since it's a classic, I thought that I'd be able to get a copy fairly cheaply, and I was right. I purchased a low-maintenance, garden variety copy for about five dollars. But, what really made me drool was the new graphic version of this story. As much as I wanted to, I could not bring myself to drop almost twenty dollars on a graphic novel. But, I did have the presence of mind to put it on my amazon wishlist once I returned home.

I am happy to report that the amazon price is far less expensive than the Barnes and Noble. After I see the movie, I know that I won't be able to hold myself back much longer and I'll end up buying a copy on amazon. But, I will have saved a cool ten bucks or so in the meantime. I'm sure I'll come up with another title that I simply have to have to get rid of my savings!

On My Wishlist: Return to Sender

I have always loved Julia Alvarez. I have read several of her adult novels and I've taught her young adult novel Before We Were Free a few times. I find her writing to be a bit magical and her use of language is powerful. Here is a synopsis of why Alvarez wrote Return to Sender from her website:

The seed for the novel came when I got involved translating at local schools for the children of Mexican migrant workers who have now made their way up to Vermont. (And boosted our compromised Latino population!) These workers are now doing the milking on many of our dairy farms. Without them, many of our small farmers could not survive, as they, too, are being squeezed by the high cost of farming and a dearth of workers.

Seeing how baffled the Mexican children and their classmates were about how to understand this situation that had thrown us all together, I thought: we need a story to understand what is happening to us! The title comes from a dragnet operation that the Department of Homeland Security conducted in 2006, named, Return to Sender. Work places were raided and undocumented workers were seized. Their children were the biggest casualties of this operation -- left behind to be soothed and reassured until they could be finally reunited with their parents.

Because we do not live anywhere near Mexico, it can be hard for students in my school district to understand the multitude of issues related to immigration. I have lived in the Southwest, though, and know that there are no simple solutions to any of the issues related to immigration. I can't wait to read Return to Sender and to share it with my students!

On My Wishlist: The Writer's Block

I'm always looking for games and inspirational writing-prompt type books and materials to have in my classroom for student (and teacher) use. I've known about this little Writer's Block for a long, long time now, but it's been too expensive for me to purchase. I just have this moral sort of boundary about spending money on extra items that I probably won't really use too much in my classroom. This is a weird bit of morality, since I'm fine with spending all sorts of money on young adult titles and poetry and silly things like fancy magnets and markers and glitter. But, there's no way I'm spending ten bucks on a little Writer's Block! That would be crazy! Well, now that this cute little idea-packed block is listed for .68 cents, I think it's high time I purchased it.

On My Wishlist: IraqiGirl

Though most of the students I currently teach were just little munchkins when 9/11 and the ensuing Iraq War broke out, it seems like they don't quite understand all that this war has meant for the Iraqi people. (Not that I do either.) I would love to know more about the ways in which this war has affected Iraqi teens who, like my students, were little kids when this war started. Basically, many teens in today's Iraq have grown up in a war zone.

When I find books like IraqiGirl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq, I am excited by the possibility of opening my live of vision and my students' to a world that (for me at least) is hard to imagine. I think it's one thing to watch the nightly news and read Time magazine, but it's another to listen to the words of a teenager who's grown up with the destruction and uncertainty of war. I know that when I read books, I am able to create a movie in my head much more so than with a magazine article or a news clip. I look forward to reading this book and learning more from this brave young woman.

On My Wishlist: Poem in Your Pocket

Every April, National Poetry Month comes around and I get an excuse to be an out-and-out poetry dork. There are all kinds of great poetry promotions that happen in April, but the coolest and funnest is definitely Poem In Your Pocket Day. On this day, you can print out or write out a poem and carry it around in your pocket all day. I've used this celebration in my classroom with my students and it has been enormously successful.

Now, to add to this most excellent celebration, there is a Poem In Your Pocket book. This book is a collection of poems that you can carry year round. These poems in this book can literally be ripped out and put in your pocket. I can think of no better item to land in my pocket than a poem. So, I know I need to take this great book off my wishlist before this April. I'll post more about National Poetry Month before April comes along.

On My Wishlist: Hamlet

I have to admit that I'm a bit nervous to read a version of Hamlet that's told in novel form. I am excited about this new possibility, but hope that enough of the magic from the original version survives in the novel.

I love a good retelling. I am not a purist and love to think about how a writer's choices affect the overall storyline and message of the original. I've read some modern versions of old favorites that were done well and others that were not done with much care. I love books like Wicked, My Jim, and Zeena, which take characters from The Wizard of Oz, Huckleberry Finn, and Ethan Frome and rewrite the story from the point of view of a different main character. I even loved Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead, which is a play based on Hamlet but told from the perspective of two minor characters.

Hopefully, I'll muster up the courage and the five dollars (for a used copy) so that I can see for myself if all that I love about the original Hamlet can survive in a novel format. We'll see!

On My Wishlist: Dizzy in Your Eyes

This is a fairly new addition to my amazon wishlist. I heard about it on the Random Buzz site (where there's a free giveaway of this title) a few weeks ago. This year, I'm using tons and tons of poetry with my students. This is mainly because of Poetry Fridays, where I introduce a new poem for each of my English classes every Friday. I love this weekly feature and so do my students, but the tricky part for me is that I always match the poem to whatever text we're reading. And, when you teach English 9-12, this can be a bit of a tricky feat to pull off on a weekly basis.

So, I'm always looking for collections of poetry for young adults. It's great to use the famous poets of today and yesteryear, but frankly, I want some fresh, YA-focused poetry to get my kids excited about language. This collection of poems seems like something I need to keep this whole Poetry Friday thing going. It contains 50 poems, written in a variety of poetic forms, and it's FOR teens. I think I like that combination.

So, I don't forsee this title being stuck on my wishlist for too long. It seems like it's a title that I can't put off for too long. Poetry Friday is calling!