Gone, by Michael Grant (cont)

Would you change the ending of the story in any way? Tell your ending. 

Why would you change it?

I enjoyed reading Gone and wondered about the ending I'd eventually encounter. While reading it, I was reminded of Golding's Lord of the Flies (as children move into good-vs-evil groupings) as well as the current tv dramas preoccupied with supernatural events and happenings. Ward leaves the reader with an obvious craving for a sequel (I understand there are at least three books in the series) and many unanswered questions and loose ends.

One issue I found with the end of the novel was that there is an almost-preachy avoidance of going "too violent" with the characters. The final "war" scene has the perpetration of violence being found principally outside the main characters. I find this interesting for several reasons.

One, one of the most powerful themes in Lord of the Flies is that evil is found within us, not outside of us. In Golding's novel (written for adults), children are evil and cruel; does Ward's reticence in this area shed light on YA literature as a whole, or just Ward's personal boundaries? YA is typically perceived as having no boundaries--incest, violence, murder, rape--all have been addressed in YA literature, and Ward creates some characters who seem to delight in cruelty and evil; yet he reigns these features in for the novel's climax. Why?

Two: Can a novel's characterization suffer from this kind of authorial choice? Should a novel have a different focus or redemptive purpose if it's written to be read by children? How much "real" is too real? I think this novel offers an interesting space for discussing the role, purpose, and use of violence in children's literature.

Gone, by Michael Grant

If you were a teacher, would you want to share this work with your students? Why or why not?

I'm currently reading Gone, by Michael Grant. The first lines immediately grabbed my attention:

One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. 
And the next minute he was gone. 
There.
Gone.
No "poof." No flash of light. No explosion. 

I was immediately engaged in the story, but I confess that I am sucker for interesting premises. I think that's why I've always loved certain fantasy or science-fiction, futuristic dystopians, and "what if" scenarios. I love a story that centers around "what if" questions. In Grant's novel, the 14-year-old protagonists are on a quest to discover what has happened to make all of the above-fifteen-year-olds vanish from their sleepy, quiet, seaside town. I am 95 pages in and enjoying every bit. So far, the characters are interesting and well-written; most are round and nuanced, and the dialogue is witty and engaging. I like the way Grant uses the novel to also teach vocabulary; I just watched as one of the characters described herself as pedantic (and then explained what it meant) and then realized that I, too, can be pedantic. Awkward self-illumination, there.

I'd love to have Gone in my classroom library because it is easy to read without being badly written. The story is interesting to readers of any age, I think, and the front cover recommendation by Stephen King supports my initial impression of Gone. King says, "Exciting, high-tension stories. I love these books." BOOKS? As in, more than one? A series, perhaps?

Here's to all of us who experience spurts of joy from hearing that a good book might, indeed, be part of a good series.

Happy reading, ya'll!

Walter Dean Myers, the author...

What kind of person do you feel the author is? What makes you feel this way?

Because I finished Shooter "too quickly," I thought I'd use my second post to talk about the author, Walter Dean Myers.  When I read a Myers book, I'm immediately struck by how compassionately he views his adolescent protagonists. Whether they are engaged in criminal activity or caught up in complex social confusion, Myers' protagonists are always written through a lens of deep humanity and compassion. In this PBS interview, the interviewer asks why Myers feels so strongly about literacy and helping children read. Myers says, "I'm telling them that their lives are worthwhile." Later, when he is asked whether he could be offering books that are "more positive," Myers wisely says that "the most positive thing I can give them is their own presence [in the novel]." Myers' personal story is so compelling (his own father never learned to read), and his characters are so beautifully written -- his books are always both entertaining and a powerful reminder to view all students through a lens of compassion and human vulnerabilty. 

Enjoy this short interview, courtesy of PBS.

Interview with Walter Dean Myers

www.historydetectives.nyhistory.org

Shooter, by Walter Dean Myers

Do you like this piece of work? Why or why not?

Shooter instantly captivated me because, in true WDM style, the style of the book is unusual and attention-grabbing. The novel is structured like an FBI file; it's full of interview transcripts and is not divided by chapters -- it's divided by the different interviews. Also, the opening interview between the psychologist and Cameron is fascinating, because it appears that Cameron was involved in a school shooting with his now-dead friend, Len. Cameron is very likable so far (I'm only ten pages in), and I'm full of questions about what has happened and how Cameron is involved.

** update: I finished the novel the next time I sat down to read it. Engaging, thought-provoking, and extremely relevant for today's societal issues, Walter Dean Myers' Shooter is a book I'd definitely include in my classroom library. The final pages include some interesting "appedixes," including Len's journal (the shooter). Reading this diary was significant for me because of the sadness I feel over people who struggle through difficult, cruel childhoods while suffering from mental illness.  In an interview, Walter Dean Myers said that the shootings at Columbine were his impetus to research and then write Shooter. I remember Columbine, but I am sadly aware that for my high school students, the events of Columbine have become almost "normal" in the present-day culture of school violence. In the same interview, Myers said that he writes to offer students a chance to think about their actions and the consequences that will ensue from them.