Top English 2 Blogs to check out!

Hey all!

I spent some time today re-reading through some of your blogs and I'd like to highlight a few that are doing an awesome job.  Keep up the good work everyone, and take a look at these blogs for inspiration and examples of really good writing, detailed explanation, and voice!

CHECK OUT YOUR AWESOME CLASSMATES!!

• Charlie D.
• Arely F.
• Nora P.
• Jessica L.
• Adrian R.
• Ariana A.
• Christina F.
• Egan L.
• Andrea C.

Thirteen Reasons Why Jay Asher's Book Failed to Impress Me

As your English teacher, it's really hard for me to write a negative book review.  As a person (which, surprise!  your teachers are people too!) I tend to be very critical of what I read and quite a bit of a book snob.  So in this review, I have to balance the two.  I want you all to learn that it's okay to not like a book, but that you must have critical reasons to back up that opinion.  It's true that I want you all to be reading, but I need to set an authentic example for you all.  Authentically - I didn't like this book.  If I weren't reading it to review it on the blog, honestly, I probably wouldn't have finished it.  So let me lead by example and tell you exactly why I didn't enjoy Jay Asher's new book.  

Thirteen Reasons Why Jay Asher's Book Failed to Impress Me:

#1:  The book is about suicide.

Suicide books are immediately depressing and I don't like feeling uncomfortable throughout the entire process of reading a novel.  Losing a student, family member, or anyone to suicide is probably one of my greatest fears, and I'm not comfortable reading through a story that is one long suicide note.  The basic premise of the story is a young man who receives thirteen cassette tapes that a young lady named Hannah recorded before taking her own life.  The entire novel is the main character listening to the tapes and hearing her reasons for committing suicide.  It gives me the creeps.  

#2:  The book has very little interesting language.

I'm a poet at heart and love to be taken away into the depths of my imagination with language.  The narration in the story was boring and basic.  Easy to read, but no imagination!

#3:  The narration is confusing

The narration goes back and forth between the tape and the main character's reactions to the tape. Sometimes he is thinking about himself, sometimes about the tape, and overall it creates a very distracted and confusing effect.  Maybe you'll like it, but I wanted to just hear the tapes without the main character's thoughts getting in the way.  Maybe the author could have alternated back and forth, but the mixing of the voices was irritating.

#4:  The characters are one dimensional

I love characters that I can really imagine, characters that I can relate to and remember from my own life experience.  The characters here?  Superficial and flat.  

#5:  There is no real emotion experienced

The only thing I remember feeling throughout the course of this novel is depressed.  Not even for a good reason! 

#6:  The climax is disappointing

The whole story we are waiting to figure out why the main character has been chosen to listen to the tapes.  I won't ruin it for you, but I will tell you not to get your hopes up.

#7:  The entire book takes place in 24 hours

Now this has been done before and can be an interesting way to tell a story, but for me, it just dragged the story out even more.  254 pages to describe a 24 hour period felt like an unrealistic way to tell the story.  I read 100 pages in an hour just waiting and waiting to figure out what was going to happen.  Like I said in my earlier point, when I finally figured out what I was waiting to find out, I was disappointed.

#8:  Some of the chapters seem unnecessary

...and unbelievable.  I don't totally believe that each of these stories really happened to the narrator in the time span that she claims.  It's really convenient that they all overlap into one another.  Instead of believing the story, I kept imagining the author contriving the stories to make them fit - it just didn't feel natural.

#9:  There is no thematic development

The great things about To Kill a Mockingbird and Julius Caesar and all of those other "boring" books we make you read in English is that they are timeless.  They bring up issues and situations (themes, essentially) that resonate with the readers no matter what stage in life or place in the world they may be.  Those books make you question things that you previously believed and have the potential to shape your outlook on life.  This book?  Nada.  It was a story that I will soon forget.  

#10:  The cover deceived me

After looking at the cover and reading the synopsis, I invented a way cooler story in my head than was actually contained in the book.  I don't like to be disappointed like that!

#11:  Too. Much. High. School. Drama

Now I know.  I graduated high school a long time ago.  I'm a dinosaur.  Normally, however, I can handle reading Young Adult books that deal with high school issues and be entertained, compelled, and really care about the characters.  But holy cow.  The parties, and boys, and girls, and popular kids, and football team being jerks to the new girl in town - it was just too much to handle.  Not to mention, that kind of drama doesn't actually happen in high school.  It's only in the movies, which leads me to my next point:  

#12:  I feel like I've read this before...

Every other chapter or so, I felt like I had heard the same scenario before.  In a movie, in another book, on TV...Where's the originality, Asher??

#13:  I just finished The Book Thief.  

Seriously...there's no comparison.  It's hard to read another book after you've just finished the best book of your life.  Sorry 13 Reasons...you just didn't measure up!

So there you have it folks.  I challenge you to pick it up and prove me wrong!  More importantly, I challenge you to read everything with a critical eye.

Happy reading,

Miss Cordes

Before the school year ends, you MUST read The Book Thief!!!!!

     Ladies and gentlemen...this is it.  This. Is. It.  I have just finished reading The Book Thief by Mark Zusak and I officially have a new favorite book.  You absolutely MUST read this book before the school year gets out...it is a treasure, an adventure, and a completely life changing novel.
     The story begins with a prologue -- a moment for the reader to be transported.  It is at the beginning that the reader learns that he or she has been invited by the narrator to take part in the journey of the novel.  The narrator, however, is not only writing in second person, but he is also not human.  In fact, he is the personified form of Death.  Yes.  The novel is narrated by Death during Hitler's reign of Europe during World War 2.  Are you intrigued yet?
     If that doesn't get you wondering, just wait until you check out the fascinating style that Zusak gives his narrator to use.  Constantly, the narrator interrupts regular story telling for interruptions, announcements, and statements of fact.  He makes lists, pauses for observations, and steps away from the plot of the story to hold the readers gaze at a particular angle and helps us linger over beauty, sadness, terror, and love.

***** FACT:  You are thinking, seriously?  Another novel about the Holocaust? *****

This is not just another novel about the Holocaust.  In fact, it is centered on the lives of Germans living under Hitler's rule and their experience with the dictatorship.  Our main character, Leisel was brought to Molching, Germany to live with foster parents Rosa and Hans Hubermann.  On the train ride to Molching, Leisel's younger brother dies and when she arrives at her foster family's home, she cannot even bring herself to go inside.  She's so young and unable to bear the pain of losing her brother and being given away by her mother that she can't be coaxed to leave the car to go in the house.  That is until Hans, her soon to be Papa, calmly and quietly earns her trust and brings her in the house.
     Rosa and Hans Hubermann are fascinatingly opposite.  Rosa is loud, aggressive, and curses like a sailor.  Hans is sweet, docile, and much more of a conversationalist.  The two parents love and care for Leisel, however unconventional the circumstances or the methods they use.  Leisel suffers nightmares after her brother's death, which ultimately leads to her close relationship with Hans.  Whenever she had a nightmare, Hans would go to her room and comfort here.  It is here that Leisel reveals her first stolen book, The Gravedigger's Handbook.  She stole this book from the grave site where her brother was buried and it is the only material possession that she has to remind her of her brother and her family.
     This story of childhood and growing up is set against a dark, cold background of Nazi Germany.  Leisel grows up enjoying soccer, her neighborhood friends (I think her friend Rudy was my favorite character), beating up boys, learning to read, and stealing books (among other things).  As Leisel grows up, she begins to learn about the world around her, how fragile it is, how terrible it can be, and the extremes of joy and pain that humans are capable of feeling.
     The story felt like listening to my best friend recollect memories from her past as we sat by a fire.  The narration is so personal that reading The Book Thief doesn't even feel like reading for the most part...it feels like listening to a friend.  Like I said earlier...best book I've ever read.  Let me know if you want to borrow my copy!!


Read another great, detailed review at The Book Smugglers website:  http://thebooksmugglers.com/2009/08/guest-review-the-book-thief-by-markus-zusak.html
    

New Music..."Snow" by Sleeping at Last

It snowed!!  So pretty outside!!  This is what it looks like outside my front door -->

I hope you are all having a fun day playing out in the snow or curled up in a comfy chair reading your books.  I'm currently reading The Book Thief and can't put it down!  I'll be recommending it to you soon...

As some of you know, I'm a total music junkie :)  I wanted to share with you a new song that I just downloaded by a band called Sleeping at Last called "Snow".  It's some beautiful poetry to describe this snowy, beautiful day!  Enjoy....

Example Book Review

"Envisioning Our Future"


SUMMARY:
I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins over the summer, but over Thanksgiving break, I absolutely had to pick it up again.  The Hunger Games tells the story of sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen and her life living in District 12.  Set in the near future, the United States is nothing like it is for us today.  A tyrannical capitol city exists and it controls all of the outlying twelve districts.  Part of the capitol's ultimate control is it's hosting of the Hunger Games every year.  In order for the districts to stay viable, they must each send two tributes per year to the capitol to fight to the death in the Games.  The narrative of the story really gets going when Katniss's younger sister, Prim, who is only eight years old, is chosen by lotter to be a sacrifice to the games.  Katniss's protective instincts take over and she volunteers herself to go to the games instead.  The narrative tells the story of Katniss's adventure to the capitol, the inner politics of the corrupt government, and the action of the Hunger Games.
        
CRITIQUE:
The Hunger Games is without a doubt one of the best books I've ever read.  What makes it so good is the originality of the characters, complexity of the plot, and imaginative ideas that Collins has crafted.  Katniss is a strong female protagonist - a rare character in much modern fiction.  The plot itself weaves in and out of adventure, romance, mystery, suspense, humor, and back to adventure seamlessly.  This is what makes it such a page-turner.  Lastly, the creation and imagination behind the concept of the Hunger Games is clever and original.  I loved reading and delving into the new world that Collins created using great detail and new ideas that are totally possible to imagine for our future.

RECOMMENDATION:
I would highly recommend this book to each and every one of my students.  As mentioned above, it has a little something for every reader.  Both girls and boys would enjoy reading the story.  I would give this five out of five stars for this action-packed, futuristic read!