The Rose and the Beast

Block, Francesca L. (2000). The Rose and the Beast: fairy tales retold. HarperCollins: NY.  At first glance this book looks like it will be Beauty and the Beast retold but surprisingly the author has many different versions of different fairy tales. Snow is a freak and Tiny turns the prince into a tiny person as well. I see this as a grown way to explore fractured fairy tales and reexamine what we consider happily ever after. Due to the innuendos, this book would be best for high school students.  I see it working as a jig saw assignment where each group takes on a fairy tale and compares Block’s work with Grimm’s and Disney’s versions. This is one of those books that catches you off guard. According to Donelson and Nilsen, reading for unconscious delight is the first stage to becoming a lifetime reader and this book does just that as it is unexpected and truley delightful after you consider how it could otherwise go. 

Shiver

Stiefvater, Maggie. (2009). Shiver. Scholastic Inc.: NY. Grace is a high school student with a love of the local wolves she interestingly only sees in the cold months. She has her wolf with yellow eyes. Her wolf saved her when she was a kid and attacked by the pack. Over the summer she meets a boy who stirs something deep down inside her. Sam is her wolf in boy form. Sam will not be a boy much longer and Grace can’t bear the idea of living without him. She has to find a cure and she does. I love this book. I am not one to go for werewolves but this transcends all the noise over vampires and such. Such a great story that anyone could fall in love with the book. Most suitable for high school but if it ever gets made into a movie I know I would be fighting a loosing battle not allowing 5^th graders to read it do to some sexual content. This is a trilogy! Pecks questions allows us to look at this book in a new light. I think if I could only choose one question to ask of this book it would be: If you were to film this story, what characters would you eliminate if you could not use them all. It is so hard because almost all the characters add richness to this story. 

Ask the Passengers

King, A. S.. (2012). Ask the passengers. Hatchet Book Group: NY.  Astrid is not loved, not fully. Not by her parents, her friends or even herself, not fully is she loved. Yet, she has so much love to give that she finds herself on her back looking at airplanes and sending her love and questions to them.  She will never know that her love is received and her questions help passengers on the plans answer questions they are struggling with.  Astrid goes along with her gay friends cover that they are dating each other while she herself is finding herself attracted to a girl. Underage clubbing at a gay bar gets them all busted and then the truth is dragged out all the while Astrid is pushing and pulling for more love and acceptance until she no longer needs to send her love away. While this is a quirky character to say the least, I felt love for Astrid. She was real in a way that many authors miss.  Depending on how conservative a school is, this would be a good book for middle and high school.  It is worth reading in a psychology class and evaluating the interactions of the people in the book. This is a book that I would love to use Peck's questions with, especially Why is the story set where it is? They are in a small town with high expectations, it adds a lot significance to the actions of the characters.  

The Time Hackers

Paulsen, Gary. (2005). The time hackers. Random House Children’s Books: NY. Dorso and his friend Frank have no idea why history viewing is changing.  The were always able to view history through the holograms by going back in time but when Dorso realizes that he is interacting with history, things get interesting. Soon Frank and Dorso are being pulled into history. Little do they know that they are being played like a piece of a game to catch the hackers and keep them from altering time. This is a quick read at only 84 pages that will bridge to other great books about time for students as young as 4^th grade all the way through high school where the students currently are. This is a great book for reluctant readers because it is deceiving, it loos so short. Paulsen delivers a thought provoking dilemma for the characters and readers about the concept of tie and how we influence our past. This book can thus be used to foster a reading for philosophical speculation about time and the ability to change the time space continuum.  

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

Crutcher, Chris. (1993). Staying fat for Sarah Byrnes. Greenwillow Books: NY. Eric is a high school student who has been fat his whole life and even now as a swimmer, is still chunky and called Moby. His best friend is a girl named Sarah Byrnes who will only be referred to by her whole name and is severely burned on her face and hands.  She has gone silent and sits in a mental hospital.  As Eric struggles with his swimming, a tough class that causes him to solidify the beliefs he stands upon, and a peers he finds himself sitting with Sarah Byrnes each evening remembering and questioning with hope s to bring her back.  As the truth starts to emerge of the monstrosities that is her father, Eric finds himself fighting for Sarah Byrnes when she has always fought for him when he never would stand up for himself. This book would offer some great discussions.  The religion aspect and abortion issue in the plot line might cause teachers to pause using it in their lesson. It would be a good book club choice or author study contribution. This very book is the true definition of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development in postconventional stance. The status quo that some people are more valuable than others and that the marginalized should stay just that goes to show how complacent society can become but it is through the discussions and character building that the status quo is overturned and all people are of worth.