Huck Finn’s America by Andrew Levy

I already have a list of teachers who are waiting to read the newly published Huck Finn’s America: Mark Twain and the Era that Shaped his Masterpiece by Andrew Levy.  Once I began enthusiastically recommending this scholarly work they, too, were excited by the premise it explores regarding the idea of childhood and youthful violence in relation to Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Andrew Levy has extensively researched this topic, providing over 100 pages of notes.  Levy provides a fresh, engaging, and thought-provoking perspective on Twain’s influences and his views on society, including racial politics and children. I know that the US History and American Studies teachers and students who read Huck Finn will be attracted by the parallels to today’s social issues in addition to the varied information shared about the life and times of Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain.I am looking forward to the conversations which this book will most certainly prompt.

Regarding another title related to curriculum (several classes read The Other Wes Moore) and full of inspiring adventures, don’t forget that Wes Moore will be speaking at New Trier this Wednesday evening January 14th at 7pm.  More details and comments on his new book, The Work: My Search for a Life that Matters, are available on our companion blog.

The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

     The Truth About Alice may or may not be true, and so few "formerly-known-as-friends" believe what Alice says. Popularity, and striving for it in a small town, is a goal of many high school students, and some will do almost anything to get to the top and stay there. It's about survival and maintaining one's position. 

     Alice was part of a cool crowd, even as her own person, yet when the most popular guy in school, has something to say about Alice, no one questions him nor believes Alice, not even one of her best friends. At Healy High, lies can be made into truths, and truths can be hidden.  Alice isn't the only one with a story, and this parallel story definitely has shock value and adds a level of complexity to the plot.

  
       The Truth About Alice is told by various characters, which provides for the full story, yet the reader never gains the perspective of Alice and her own truths. However, the reader has no problem imagining just how she feels.

     While this book could come across as the passive-aggressive behavior of girls, it also illustrates the social awkwardness of some high school students, the inability for some to do the right thing when necessary, even when one knows he/she must do or say something, the unfortunate circumstances of a social hierarchy, and the ability for some teenagers to look and think beyond themselves.

     Survival isn't just about the fittest. It's also that silver lining when you know you can and are going places in life.  

     Similar to Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, I think this would be a great book for all freshman in high school to read - girls and boys. Until it becomes required reading, the covers will limit its audience to girls.  

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

All the Bright Places opens with two high school students, Finch and Violet, literally standing on the edge/ledge and contemplating their futures. From there, we learn about their relationships with family and peers and “wander” with them about the Midwest for a school project as they gradually build trust and move beyond friendship to an intimate romantic relationship. This book is beautifully written – one of the best I have read in the past year – and evokes many emotions. I so enjoyed “meeting” Finch and loved the tenderness with which he treats Violet. He is truly a memorable character. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is a book that teachers, counselors, and many parents should read. Why, then, am I not comfortable with promoting this excellent book to students (even 10th grade and older as suggested in School Library Journal’s starred review)?

The essence of depression, bipolar disorder and contemplation of suicide is handled deftly by Niven’s writing, but it includes many specific details and actions compared to other fiction books in our collection which deal with these sensitive topics.  In some ways, All the Bright Places makes me think of A Man Called Ove but that one deals with a much older person, not high school teens who are so much more relatable to our students. In the author’s notes, Niven herself notes, “For a long time, it was too painful to even think about, much less talk about, but it is important to talk about what happened.”  I plan instead to recommend and share All the Bright Places with adults on our social work staff and have already spoken with representatives of Erika’s Lighthouse – an organization formed to “get depression out of the dark.”  They will have more professional expertise to put this book into the right hands – adult or teen – where it can make a difference in understanding and coping.

I know that All the Bright Places, like Thirteen Reasons Why, will be very popular, especially if the promised movie is produced. I applaud Jennifer Niven for her bravery and honest portrayal in tackling the tough issues of bullying, labels, and mental health and will look for titles by this very talented author. I hope that she and publisher Random House will use the interest in All the Bright Places to actively share timely information like the November 2014 School Library Journal article “Books that Help” about bibliotherapy for teens, or the many excellent articles from Phi Delta Kappan’s December 2014 issue on Learning and Mental Health or the teen-friendly and doctor-reviewed materials posted at TeensHealth.org. The list could go on and All the Bright Places has already made a start by including a short appendix with other recommended sites and organizations. As Niven says,
.

“If you think something is wrong, speak up. 

You are not alone.

 It is not your fault. 

Help is out there.”

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley

Those who read this blog already know that I adore Flavia de Luce, the pre-teen sleuth and chemist-in-training whose family estate, Buckshaw, is located in Bishop’s Lacey, England. The series is set in the 1950’s and in this newest title Flavia is transported to boarding school, Miss Bodycote's Female Academy, in Canada.  There she encounters a corpse almost immediately and readers have the fun of joining her in solving this country house type mystery while meeting a whole new cast of students and faculty created by award-winning author, Alan Bradley.

Flavia and her droll observations of people and situations remains charmingly at the heart of the story:

• “Whenever someone tells you that they want to have a little talk, you can be sure they mean a big one.”
•  “It requires a certain nerve to play at this kind of game: a kind of steely bluff combined with the innocence of a baby lily, and I must say that I was rather good at it.”
•  “A hissing in the garden is a sound that cannot be ignored by any human female since the time of Eve and I was no exception.”

Give yourself a New Year’s treat and enjoy As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust available on Tuesday, January 6^th.

There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake

There Will be Lies by Nick Lake surprised me.  At first, I did not care for the mother-daughter characters, but I quickly came to empathize with them and did not want to see the book end. The Mom seems overbearing and stifling at the onset of the book and I kept wanting her 17 year old daughter, Shelby, to stand up for herself. The action and suspense really begins, though, when Shelby is hit by a car and begins to experience visions/dreams involving the trickster, Coyote, from Native American mythology.

Are the dreams some kind of portent? What does it all mean? Maybe the plot will seem evident to you, but I was constantly surprised at the twists and connections from Printz award winning author Nick Lake. Rather than spoil the surprises here, I strongly recommend reading There Will be Lies – a creative mix of fantasy and reality - and a page turner to enjoy.

Man Who Would Not Be Washington by Jonathan Horn

Overall summary: The Man Who Would Not Be Washington is a scholarly work with extensive footnotes. I was certainly intrigued by the numerous connections to Washington which were obviously a major research focus for author Horn. I also learned quite a bit of new information about Lee’s life – such as his travels to fight in Texas and his role at Harper’s Ferry, but I wanted to learn even more about him as a person. What was he like as a cadet at West Point? Did he really want to be a soldier or was that a route to an education and career for a younger son? How did his own children, his slaves, his peers regard him? To what extent was he a reflection of his times versus these family connections?

From the notes, one sees that author Jonathan Horn clearly cares about his own family and about the idea of family and his writing made me pause to think about Lee’s actions. I am definitely inspired to search out and read some of the primary sources. What (besides his father’s absence, his mother’s illness, and father-in-law’s abdication of responsibility) were strong motivating factors for Lee? In particular, I still wish that I had a better understanding of why he chose to fight for the Confederacy and not for the Union.  In the context of the times, was his decision at all about loyalty or potential glory (this weekend, think Harbaugh and Michigan)?

As an aside, I also think that Jonathan Horn made Lee’s wife, Mary Anna Custis (who was also the child of George Washington’s adopted son), sound like a very strong-willed and colorful woman – I hope that someone writes a novel about her and the mansion at Arlington. Or maybe instead writes about Ann Pamela Cunningham and the private efforts to save Mount Vernon, including the founding of the oldest private preservation organization in the United States. (Anita Diamant or Sue Monk Kidd, are you listening?)