This Is Where It Ends - Marieke Nijkamp

Nijkamp, Marieke. This Is Where It Ends. Sourcebooks, 2016.

 

School shootings...the very topic that drew me to this title is the one that made it so difficult to read. The school day, the semester seemingly begins like every other, an inspirational address from the principal, early morning athletic practice, and kids sneaking into the administrative offices. Until all of a sudden a shot rings out. And the nightmare begins

Told from multiple perspectives, this narrative plumbs the depths of the emotions experienced by students trapped in the auditorium with the shooter, including his sister, students other places in the building, and students outside. The changing of location and characters is one of the strengths of the book. Nijkamp successfully considers the differing perspectives of students outside the building, students inside the building, but not locked in with the shooter, and student locked in the auditorium.  We meet the shooter’s sister, her girlfriend, her brother, the shooter’s ex girlfriend, and her close friend.  In bits and spurts through their recollections we learn about the shooter and his potential motivations for taking an entire school hostage - for cold blooded murder.

Some potential distractions did exist for me.  Some of the logistics didn’t work so well for me.  Without spoiling anything, some of the action in the auditorium, especially when kids were trying to escape seemed largely unbelievable. I hated having no insight into the shooter.  I couldn’t completely patch together from the other folks’ remembrances the kind of motivation that would lead to such tragedy.  However, my frustration in this perfectly mirrors real life, when we are left often to piece motivations together with a mishmash of information from outsiders and observers. I bumped a little bit over the developing romance.  I love a good romance, but this development seemed completely unrealistic given the circumstances.  I doubt that my students, by and large, will be bothered by this.

Students are often drawn to these stories of tragedy.  As we all are, they will look for answers and implications in the real world.  Like the ancient Greeks, a certain level of catharsis is applied. Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes and Brown’s The Hate List are fairly popular in my library.  This book while not as strong as either of these, will likely find its place as a type. Just know, that it will be difficult to read.  Violence and evil are powerfully present, as well they would be.

 

Far, Far Away - Tom MacNeal

MacNeal, Tom. Far Far Away.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013. 

 

I can't believe I haven't read this book more quickly. I am super glad that I did a random ghost search of my ebook collection for the Halloween book talk. This National Book Award nominee is phenomenal. I simply can't wait to share Jeremy Johnson Johnson and his guardian ghost Jacob Grimm, of course, with my kids!

MacNeal creates a fairytale like setting worthy of his ghostly Grimm - where magical green smoke from the bakery means delicious magical cakes the next day. But it is, in fact, a somewhat difficult world for Jeremy. After his mom left them, his dad stops leaving their house. Their house, and their book shop, they are in danger of losing to back taxes. And then, Ginger.  He isn’t sure why he has earned her attention, but he kind of likes it, even as she stretches him far, far outside his comfort zone.  Together, they work for the baker, who has unexpectedly forgiven them for a nasty trick.  Kids are being abducted from their town, he says. Their little prank is not such a big deal, he says.  The events that unfold are stunning.  The fairytale, turned on its ear.

I appreciated every bit of this book.  The setting is simultaneously fairy tale and painfully real - complete with small minded bullies and evil.  The characters are fully developed.  Jeremy, Jacob, and Ginger, but with them the minor characters, among them, Jeremy’s father and the woman in town who shakes him from his stupor, and Ginger’s friends, and the mayor and his son.  The plot is clever.  I often pride myself in “figuring things out” as I read, but the twists and turns here kept me guessing...and reading voraciously. The language of this book is beautiful.. I have book talked it to middle schoolers as a scary story, but will surely be sharing it with my older kids as an example of excellent writing and craftsmanship.

 

Liv, Forever - Amy Talkington

Talkington, Amy. Liv, Forever. New York: Soho Teen, 2014.

 

In my quest to find some good, new ghost stories, I stumbled on a good little ghost story set in a boarding school - a win, win for me. When Olivia arrives at Wickham Hall as a scholarship, she is pretty uncertain about what to think. She doesn't exactly know how to relate to the students here. she is attracted to Malcolm Astor, and he seems attracted to her, in spite of their very different social statuses. She likes Gabe, a fellow scholarship student, but he seems just a bit odd, even seeing people who just don't seem to be there. The mean girls hate her for no real reason. But oh the art building and the potential for her art that exists in it - worth all the confusion of being at Wickham Hall. Until she finds herself unexpectedly murdered and a ghost, perhaps doomed to Haunt Wickham Hall forever. She finds help in unexpected corners and finds herself "getting to know" ghosts from a variety of decades in this refreshingly unique tale.

I loved getting to know Liv and watching her find her footing, first at her new school and next in her ghostly dimension. Readers will relate to her uncertainty, and the honesty with which she shares it. Certainly, her developing romance will be a lure for many of the girls. Others will be intrigued by the decades long mystery that Liv, Malcolm, and Gabe uncover. The brief glimpses into the other decades, artfully rendered are a lovely bonus.

I set out to add the to my creepy Halloween book talk for junior high. However, I am leaning toward my boarding school favorites now...Liv is a bit like e lockhart's Disreputable Frankie Landau Banks, and I've loved her for while now. I think Liv is just a bit more suited for my older readers and will be introducing her to them soon.

 

Long Lankin - Lindsey Barraclough

Barraclough Lindsey. Long Lankin.

Not a book for the faint of heart - Long Lankin is at ghost tale of epic proportions - it is history, folklore and gothic horror. As I prepare for my spooky ooky seventh grade book talk, I got into quite the tale. Cora and Mimi find themselves unceremoniously dropped at their Aunt Ida's house by their dad as their mom is mysteriously away...again. Aunt Ida certainly seems less than pleased and dictates a series of rules that the girls must follow as Ida tries to find a way to send her home - windows remain nailed shut; don't go to the church; stay inside if the tide is out. Together with 2 neighborhood boys, Roger and Pete, Cora finds herself inexplicably drawn into the horrific mystery that is Long Lankin. A story that spans generations and decades the has nearly destroyed Cora's mom and aunt, and very nearly Mimi.

This horrific title requires a dedicated reader. I worry a bit that my typical 7th grade readers won't stick it out. The book is lengthy. The story bounces back and forth quickly among several narrators. The vocabulary is at times intense. The setting, it's time and location may create some confusion. That being said; I hope my lovers of ghost stories will give this one a try. The residents of this small village are uniquely individual, and this large cast is fully rendered. These readers will be challenged, intrigued, and I'm guessing just a little bit scared. All worthwhile adventures in reading!



Shakespeare Saved My Life - Laura Bates

Bates, Laura. Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, 2013.

Surely not a new title, but one I have been interested in reading.  I am grateful to the committee who chose this title as part of a local reading competition, providing me with the perfect reason to purchase and read this memoir. I love a good memoir.  I am fascinated by the genre. I love reading and teaching Shakespeare.  My passion for exposing students to quality literature, just to expose them to quality literature aside, this title offers a variety of ways that Shakespeare speaks to men and women of today.

 

I find myself fascinated by Dr. Bates’ work. I sometimes fancy myself as awfully brave, offering up Shakespeare to reluctant high schoolers.  But her work in a maximum security prison in her home state of Indiana puts me to shame.  Further, the results she gets both in writing and orally, stunning.  Certainly I will share the videos and transcripts of some of this work that is available with my students who are seldom convinced of the bard’s accessibility. I am actively trying to locate the workbooks that she wrote in conjunction with Larry Newton, one of her first and most successful Shakespeare students.

 

Dr. Bates does a lovely job of intertwining her own life, learnings, and inspirations with that of the prisoners with whom she works, creating a bridge that many readers might refuse to believe exists between those in and outside of prison.  Larry Newton’s insistence on the idea that we all are imprisoned, some just more physically irrevocably than others is certainly one for my students to consider.  I see them create and maintain boundaries all of the time.  What a challenging way for them (&me!) to look at life.  The idea that we are not all that difference from the maximum security prisoner is also one worth consideration. At some level this notion is explored in The Other Wes Moore also in my library.

Certainly, I will be using this in my AP Literature course, and have already mentioned it to our other teachers who teach Shakespeare. I am also seeing potential for some book talking.  Because of the core, we have intentionally increased the focus of these talks on nonfiction.  I can certainly pair this with the Wes Moore titles.  I also have many modern renditions of Shakespeare’s work that would work nicely for a whole Shakespeare theme. I am eager to get started in all of these directions.

I enjoyed this Ted talk as I was working through the memoir - Shakespeare in Shackles: The Transformative Power of Literature: Laura Bates at TEDxUCLA. And...and an NPR interview to look at.