The Diary of Anne Frank

The Kite Runner

Good masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz, illustrated by Robert Byrd

Voices from a medieval village. This book won a Newberry award for its distinguished contribution to American children's literature. Laura May Schlitz brings this historic period to life through the stories of villagers. She includes people from all sectors of society. We meet Jacob the moneylender's son and learn about his his encounter with Petronella the merchant's daughter. We find out how children and youth lived and worked in the medieval period. This book reminds me of Karen Cushman's wonderful medieval novels . I highly recommend Good Masters !Sweet Ladies!

Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns is a funny but insightful look into the lives of high school students who are on the brink of graduation. Green's portrayal of his characters is realistic and relatable, and I think that students will enjoy the humour as well as the more challenging material.

Heather Sherrard

(Please see comments)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Two students are reading the Hunger Games. Please read their comments.

The Nine Lives Of Charlotte Taylor by Sally Armstrong

Students in the secondary English class are reading this book. Please see their comments.

Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks

How about a curriculum that lists contagion, mutatation, pure evil, loopholes, misinformation,and embezzlement as courses. Then there is Thaddeus Roth as the professor who teaches basic lying. The young evil genius of the title is Cadel Pigott ,he has a brain beyond belief and loves nothing better to than disrupt city services with such novelties as a bomb threat. The plot whips along filled with action and suspense filled moments. The character of Cadel is not as real as Phin in Amphibian. I found the book filled with funny lines and ideas and generally off the wall. I think it will be popular due to its breakneck pace and fantasy plot lines.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesaic by Gabrielle Zevin

We live vicariously through the heartbreak of the 'teen angel' years . Naomi Porter loses a coin toss to William Landsman and subsequently gets herself knocked out. She and William are co editors of the yearbook , and she has a boyfriend named Ace and her mom and dad are divorced and she and her dad live in a new house. Unfortunately for Naomi she does not remember any of this as she has amnesia.
A charmingly funny and tender book about a girl growing up .It is beautifully written.

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

Also set in the UK, is Brick Lane by Monica Ali. The setting of this book is significant as it is the location of the Jamme Masjid or Great London Mosque ;which is on the corner of Brick Lane and Fournier Street. This building is a perfect illustration of the East End's role as the point of entry for immigrant groups. It was originally founded as a church for Hugenots - French Protestants who fled to London to avoid persecution at home. The chapel was later used by Methodists. In the late 19th century, when Whitechapel became the centre of the Jewish East End, it became the Machzike Adass, also known as the Spitalfields Great Synagogue. With the dispersal of the Jewish community and a new influx of Bengali immigrants, it became the Jamme Masjid or Great London Mosque in 1976.

IN Monica Ali ‘s story the historic forces of the past , shape the father’s view of life in the UK .He lives in Brick lane here only to return to Pakistan while wife and two daughters are attempting to colonize themselves in British ways on Brick Lane London
This story is important as it provides and example of extremism and the radicalization of Brick Lane’s Muslim youth . - confusing the daughters’ complacency. There is to be no peaceful solution to life in the UK . for the second generation immigrant or cultural minority. Brick Lane provides a powerful post colonial perspective .“Colonialism is… destructive historical force that shapes not only the political futures of the countries involved, but also the identities of the colonized and the colonizing people”(p.189).

White Teeth by Zadie Smith
A well written at times grim view of the life for first and second generation immigrant in the United Kingdom..

• Most reviews focus on the supposed hilarity of the novel
• “Quirky, sassy, Extremely funny... witty... comedy ..”
• Only the financial times
• writes” hope for a multicultural society”
• This Whitbread winner could not be ignored by the literary establishment

  Zadie Smith writes:

  • But despite the intensity of the hunger- spiritual, physical, sexual- Samad still did his twelve hours daily in the restaurant.
  • By mid August he had upped his working hours to fourteen a day.. the ritual of it – folding pink napkins… polishing a glass…
  • He had taken one tedious skill and honed it to perfection… Here he was a one handed genius.”(p.141)
    
  • By reading a collectivity of popular cultural texts one may begin to reflect on the newcomer and minority sense of marginalization, and exclusion. However no single story provides a full understanding of the journey towards a cross cultural understanding.
  • We look for repeated patterns of behaviour and repeated storylines. These are important in understanding the total concept of how people live in new life worlds .