King, A. (2010).  Please ignore vera dietz.  New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

This story is told primarily through the eyes of the Protagonist, Vera and her now deceased friend Charlie. Prior to his death he betrayed Vera by selecting a group of friends known as the over her.  They tormented her in some pretty awful ways.  She uses drinking as a way of coping with Charlie’s death and struggles with the knowledge that she has information about his death that no one else knows. In notes Charlie left in his tree house, Vera learns that Charlie and his girlfriend had been making sex videos for money.  When Charlie decided he wanted to quit, Jenny broke up with Charlie, threatening to burn down the store and kill him. Vera eventually goes to the police with the info she has before she and her father leave on a road trip.

The target audience for this book is 9^th – 12^th grade at a Lexile of 830.  It falls under the YA Mystery/Suspense genre.  It deals with such difficult subjects as grief, loss, death.  I loved the way the story progressed.  There is some strong language, violence and adult content, but I enjoyed the novel.  It was easy to relate to Vera and Charlie as I had a friend in high school that was my friend in private but not in front of his very cool friends.  He never really mistreated me too badly but he admitted what he was doing and 35 years later actually contacted me on Facebook and apologized after a mutual friend of ours passed away.

Crutcher, C. (1993). Staying fat for Sarah Byrnes. New York, N.Y.:  Greenwillow Books.

This is a story about Moby, Sarah and Virgil.  Moby is an overweight high school senior whose best friend is a girl named Sarah.  Suffering burns when she was 3 years old, she has significant scaring and refuses to speak which lands her in the hospital.  Moby visits her everyday reminding her of their experiences of being bullied in Jr. High. At one point Moby joins the swim team and begins losing weight, but he quits out of fear of losing Sarah.  We find out that Sarah is faking her illness to “have time to think.”  This is when we learn that the burns were caused by her father (Virgil) and that she is extremely afraid of him and what else he will do.  Eventually, Virgil attacks and tries to kill Moby, which gives the police a reason to arrest him.  Sarah is adopted and given a second chance at a happy life.

Staying fat is a great book about coping, choices and coming of age.  Its target audience is 9^th through 12th grade with a reading lexile of 920.  It addresses the common high school experience from the perspective of the bullied.  It has moments of poignancy and anticipation.  Some good follow up texts are Life is Funny – Frank, Fat Kid Rules the World – Going and Mexican White Boy – de la Pena.  This text could easily be used to discuss the social issues of abuse and bullying.  Some essay topics could include compare and contrast of several characters of your choosing.  Analysis of character development and discussions regarding friendship and bullying could also be developed for instruction.

Myers, W. D. (1999).  Monster.  NY: Harper.

Monster is set in Manhattan and Harlem, NY in the city lockup and partially in the neighborhood where the main character Steve Harmon lives.  In this story Steve is on trail for murder where he faces 25 to life if he is convicted.  It is written in both script and diary form supposedly by the main character.  The murder occurs while Steve was supposedly participating in a robbery.  It goes back and forth between the present and flashbacks.  Even though he is on trial there is no real clear information that puts him at the scene, in spite of being implicated by another.  It gives a close up yet very adversarial view of the judicial system and its underlying tenants of prejudice.  Ultimately Harmon is found not guilty, but his attorney’s reaction lets him know that not everyone is convinced of his innocence.

This novel’s target audience is grades 9 – 12 with a reading lexile of 670.  It is considered YA fiction.  The book includes issues such as the African American experience with the criminal justice system, elements of peer pressure and nature and consequences of violence and crime. I found the text to be intense. The alternating writing genre for this book would make it applicable for instruction in both drama and writing.. It does contain some vivid descriptions of violence as well as some adult content, which I think needs to be addressed before beginning the reading.  This text could also be used for considering the civil rights of people and how the constitution is applied.  Lesson plans abound for this text in both ELAR and Social Studies.

Sartrapi, M. (2004).  Persepolis.  NY: Pantheon.

This story begins with Marjane about a year after the Iranian Revolution.  Even though her family isn’t religious she must now wear a veil and attend an all girls school.  The story is told from a child’s point of view with all the confusion and wonder of a child.  As the country becomes more religious the bombing in Tehran begins and the family spends time in a bomb shelter.  All along Margi is trying to become a normal teenager.    Her parents send her away to a school in Austria.  Soon she moves into a boarding house run by nuns where the nuns make cruel comments about her heritage.  She moves in with a friend and wonders why European teens are so interested in sex.  She experiments with sex and drug use and eventually ends up on the street.  Eventually she returns home only to realize she doesn’t fit in there either.  She marries and divorces and realizes she must leave to find the life she desires.  As an adult and an artist she realizes that that leaving is also painful.

Target audience for this text is grades 9 – 12.  It is a Graphic Novel and has a Lexile of about 380L.  It could easily be used for current world issues as we see a rise in ISIS and Al Queda.  It could also be used as a way to instruct Middle Eastern morals and customs.    As a coming of age novel, it may be relatable to a wide audience.  Monitoring the student’s perceptions can provide opportunities to encourage tolerance and respect for others.  This is a chance to introduce graphic novels and discuss culturally relevant comic strips

Quintero, I.  (2014).  Gabi: A girl in pieces.  TX:  Cinco Puntos

This book chronicles Gabi Hernandez’ last year in high school via her diary.  She talks about the cute boys, how bad her father’s drug habit is, the foods she loves, her friend, Cindy’s pregnancy and Sebastian coming out as homosexual.  It also touches on subjects such as death, rape religion and race.Gabi wants to connect with her primarily white social culture, but she’s afraid that her mother might accuse her of trying to be white.  The poetry that helps her forge her identity is a huge part of the story.

I really enjoyed the language and character development.  We get a clear view of Gabi’s emotions and feelings through her diary entries and poetry. This text could be used for students to emulate her writing both in style and genre.  Encouraging letter writing to deal with personal issues and creating poetry to express their feelings a both excellent ways of adapting this text to writing lessons.

Some others books that could be offered as follow ups are “What Can’t Wait” by Ashley Peres and “Under the Mesquite”I  by Guadalupe Garcia MacCall.

1.       Harris, R.  (2009). It’s perfectly normal.  Boston, MA:  Candlewick Press

This great non-fiction text lets kids know that people and bodies come in all shapes an sizes and that even though different they are all perfectly normal.  Texts that honestly answer questions about sex and sexuality are very difficult to come by.  This book provided easy to understand answers to questions that all kids have.  Information included is birth control, HIV and sexually transmitted illnesses.    It’s successful in it’s unbiased response to common everyday questions that kids have about these topics. 

I think this book was amazing.  I loved the illustrations and the straightforward responses.  The target audience is grade 6 – 8, but some more mature 5^th graders could probably use the text especially considering the fact that early onset puberty is becoming more common.  With a genre of general no –fiction, this text could easily be adapted to a health class or science class.    Candlewick press has a great resource for using this text both at home, in class by caregivers and other adults in a child’s life.

http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763626104.mis.1.pdf

1.       Harris, R.  (2009). It’s perfectly normal.  Boston, MA:  Candlewick Press

This great non-fiction text lets kids know that people and bodies come in all shapes an sizes and that even though different they are all perfectly normal.  Texts that honestly answer questions about sex and sexuality are very difficult to come by.  This book provided easy to understand answers to questions that all kids have.  Information included is birth control, HIV and sexually transmitted illnesses.    It’s successful in it’s unbiased response to common everyday questions that kids have about these topics. 

I think this book was amazing.  I loved the illustrations and the straightforward responses.  The target audience is grade 6 – 8, but some more mature 5^th graders could probably use the text especially considering the fact that early onset puberty is becoming more common.  With a genre of general no –fiction, this text could easily be adapted to a health class or science class.    Candlewick press has a great resource for using this text both at home, in class by caregivers and other adults in a child’s life.

http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763626104.mis.1.pdf