Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

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1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 1999. ISBN: 0374371520

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Melinda Sordino is an outcast from the first day of her Freshman year at Merryweather High. She called the cops at an end-of-summer party, resulting in several student arrests, and now her friends want nothing to do with her. She is harassed and ridiculed. What no one knows is the real reason Melinda made that phone call. She was raped by a popular senior boy whom she refers to as “IT.” “I see IT in the hallway. IT goes to Merryweather … IT is my nightmare and I can’t wake up.” Instead of telling someone - anyone - she hides away inside her head and stops speaking. With the help of Mr. Freeman, her art teacher, she learns how to draw a tree that is alive and breathing, and in the process she gains her own life back - and her voice.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Laurie Halse Anderson creates a character in Melinda who has no voice. She says, “Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze.... It's like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis.” Ironically, by creating a character with no voice, she gives her a voice that is loud and clear. She is a voice speaking out on behalf of all young adults who have been the victim of sexual assault or rape. She says that there is life and breath beyond the hurt and pain. While Anderson creates a good story about a high school freshman who is outcast because of a bad decision at a party, Melinda’s journey to regain her voice, and her life, is the true story.

The story in this novel is true to life and portrays a typical high school experience. There are cliques, clans, bullies, hunks, and jocks. Rumors are spread quickly, and reputations are at stake. Melinda’s voice inside her head is characteristic of the typical high schooler. She makes up nicknames for the teachers and administration like, “Principal Principal” and “Mr. Neck.” She plays on words and calls Phys Ed “Fizz Ed” instead. These small details are appealing to high schools because they can relate to her feelings about her teachers. The reader is pulling for Melinda and for the truth to be revealed to everyone.

The setting for Speak is Syracuse, New York. A date isn’t given in the book, but the reader can assume it takes place in the 1990s. While much of the novel is set in Merryweather High School and Melinda’s house, the action mostly takes place inside Melinda’s head. The reader gets a front row seat to Melinda’s thoughts and feelings.

There are several themes throughout this novel - isolation, finding your voice, fear, life, and more. The one that stands out most is the theme of life. This theme begins when Mr. Freeman, the art teacher, assigns Melinda an object that she will spend the rest of the year learning how to turn into a piece of art. She is assigned a tree. Trees are a universal symbol for life - for growth and redemption. Melinda struggles throughout the book to turn a tree into a piece of art that doesn’t look dead. It is only at the end of the book, when she regains her own life, that she finally gets her tree right. She says, “My tree is definitely breathing; little shallow breaths like it just shot up through the ground this morning … Roots knob out of the ground and the crown reaches for the sun, tall and healthy. The new growth is the best part.” She is finally alive again, after her “long undersnow dormancy” and her new growth is the best part. She has survived.

Anderson’s organization of this novel is much like the organization of a high schooler’s life. It’s divided into four sections - a section for each of the marking periods for the school year. Each section concludes with Melinda’s report card for that marking period. By organizing the book this way, Anderson relates to high school students whose lives beat to the same rhythm. She also relates to adult readers who are well past this stage of life. She transports them back to the days when it seemed like what people thought of you made you who you were. In the end, all high schoolers are trying to find their voice and their life - who they are - whether it’s due to painful experiences or not. Anderson writes a novel about a difficult topic, and at the same time composes a universal story.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

2000 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature Honor Book

From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL - “Anderson expresses the emotions and the struggles of teenagers perfectly. Melinda's pain is palpable, and readers will totally empathize with her. This is a compelling book, with sharp, crisp writing that draws readers in, engulfing them in the story.”

From BOOKLIST - “Melinda's sarcastic wit, honesty, and courage make her a memorable character whose ultimate triumph will inspire and empower readers.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather other books written by Laurie Halse Anderson to read such as:

• Fever 1793. ISBN 0689848919

• Wintergirls. ISBN 067001110X
• The Impossible Knife of Memory. ISBN 0670012092

Visit Laurie Halse Anderson’s official website here http://teachers.madwomanintheforest.com/youngadult-speak/ for a teacher’s guide (including a guide for student discussion on rape, social action projects, a poem written by Anderson for analysis and comparison, and more).

Have students keep a journal while they read the book. Journal topics include: first day of school, high school cliques, lies they tell you in school, embarrassing or humiliating moments, what your report cards say about you, etc.

Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

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1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Woodson, Jacqueline. Feathers. New York, The Penguin Group: 2007. ISBN: 9780399239892

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Frannie’s teacher reads “Hope is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson. Frannie interprets the poem as “hope getting inside you and never stopping.” She is growing up in the 1970s on the black side of a highway that separates the white families from the black families. She goes to an all black school, until one day when a white boy shows up and earns the nickname Jesus Boy. In the end, hope gets inside Frannie. She sees it all around her - in the Jesus Boy, in the class bully, in her brother’s deafness, in her mother’s pregnancy, and in her best friend.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Jacqueline Woodson transports the reader to the black side of a segregated town in the winter of 1971. The students there are dealing both with a war abroad - in Vietnam - and with  prejudice. These topics draw today’s students in because they can relate to a war abroad and to turmoil at home. Today’s students aren’t struggling with prejudice, but they’re trying to find their own place and voice in the world just the same. Woodson brings the 1970s much closer to home by dealing with these topics.

Hope is the theme of this book from the very beginning. Frannie’s teacher reads Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Hope is the thing with feathers,” and Frannie begins trying to figure out hope. Her older brother, Sean, is deaf, and her mother has lost babies to death and miscarriage. She hasn’t known much about hope up to this point in her life. After reading Dickinson’s poem, she thinks of hope as something “getting inside you and never stopping,” and “moving forward and not looking behind you.” When Jesus Boy walks into Frannie’s class, he becomes a representation of hope. He’s a white boy in an all black school, and when he is nicknamed Jesus Boy, it’s as if he is the one who has come to save them - to bring them hope. In the end, Jesus Boy is unkind to Trevor, the class bully, and it becomes obvious he’s not the Savior of the world. He’s just the hope of something better.

When Frannie realizes her mother is pregnant again, she becomes afraid that her mother will lose this baby just like she lost the others. Her brother, Sean, tells her, “Don’t start your stupid worrying.” She struggles to find hope in her mother’s pregnancy, but she does in the end. She watches her mother’s belly grow and grow, and she takes her teacher’s advice to “always look for the moments and some of them might be perfect, filled with light and hope and laughter. Moments that stay with us forever and ever.” She climbs onto Mama’s lap, holding onto the hope inside her growing belly.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

2008 Newbery Honor Book

From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL - “The story ends with hope and thoughtfulness while speaking to those adolescents who struggle with race, faith, and prejudice. They will appreciate its wisdom and positive connections.”

From KIRKUS REVIEWS - “Woodson captures perfectly the questions and yearnings of a girl perched on the edge of adolescence, a girl who readers will take into their hearts and be glad to call their friend.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather other books written by Jacqueline Woodson to read such as:

• Brown Girl Dreaming. ISBN 0399252517

• This is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration. ISBN 0399239863
• Locomotion. ISBN 0399231153

Have students choose one character from the novel and write an essay about how they represent the theme of hope throughout the book.

Class discussion about how today’s students can relate to Frannie. Discuss their reaction to the subject of racism in the novel. How do they react to students of different races when they arrive at school?

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

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1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Schmidt, Gary D. The Wednesday Wars. New York, Houghton Mifflin Company: 2007. ISBN: 9780618724833

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Holling Hoodhood is the one kid “that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun” and he is doomed to spend every Wednesday afternoon with her. Holling is a seventh grader at Camillo Junior High during a time when the Vietnam War and the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy hangs heavy on America. Since everyone else in his class is either Jewish or Catholic and leaves for religion classes on Wednesday afternoons, Holling is forced to spend every Wednesday afternoon alone with Mrs. Baker. What he sees as her strategy to bore him to death by making him read Shakespeare doesn’t work at all because he finds Shakespeare to be surprisingly good. Holling is on a journey to become who he’s supposed to be. Even though he doesn’t yet know who he’s supposed to be, he knows it doesn’t match what his father wants him to be - an architect who will take over the family business one day. During the 1967-68 school year, Holling, an endearing and relatable character, turns from an anxious young boy into a wiser, more confident young man.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Holling Hoodhood tells his own story of adventure and defeat. His voice is that of a typical seventh grader living in 1967, but is also relatable to any seventh grader now or in recent history. In the beginning of the book, Hoodhood is a timid character who is convinced that his teacher, Mrs. Baker, Hates him and is out to get him. His sister urges him to “become who you’re supposed to be: Holling Hoodhood” instead of “the Son Who Is Going to Inherit Hoodhood and Associates.” However, through a series of events, the reader watches him become who he’s supposed to be. He becomes an actor, an athlete, an expert on Shakespeare, and a hero - allowing his defeat in each experience to help him grow (just like he learned from the character Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest).

Besides Holling Hoodhood, each character in the book reminds the reader of someone they known - the taunting older sibling, the passive mother, the overbearing father, the bully, the strict teacher who you think has it out for you, the dictatorial principal, and the list goes on. Schmidt makes each character unique, yet gives them characteristics that causes the reader to think of who that person might be in his or her own life.

History is presented accurately and appropriately from the voice of a seventh grader. While all the adults have bigger things to worry about - the Vietnam War and deaths of two prominent American figures - Holling Hoodhood is just trying to survive Mrs. Baker’s English class. He is aware of what is happening around him, (and the reader gets a good idea of what is happening from Heather, Holling’s older sister) but as a seventh grader it is hard to think beyond yourself and your own circumstances. Schmidt expertly intertwines historical events - presenting them accurately and in the terms of a seventh grader - into a heart-wrenching and lovable story.

The Wednesday Wars takes place in suburban Long Island, New York during the 1967-68 school year. Mrs. Baker’s English classroom on Wednesday afternoons is the main setting for the story, along with “The Perfect House.” The book takes place during the Vietnam War, and Mrs. Baker’s husband is fighting in the war. Mrs. Baker gives the audience a picture of what someone with a loved one fighting abroad looks like to a seventh grader. Holling can tell she is worried from her body language and the way she acts. Mai Thai, Holling’s friend and classmate who was brought here from Vietnam, also gives the reader a picture of racism during this time.

Themes in The Wednesday Wars include friendship, love, and transformation, but the main theme is be who you’re supposed to be. This theme is introduced early in the book through a conversation Holling has with his sister in which she tells him to be Holling Hoodhood instead of who his father wants him to be. We see it again when Holling discusses the character of Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. He says Shylock is “Someone who wants to become who he’s supposed to be,” but he couldn’t because they wouldn’t let him. “He was trapped.” Holling is no different than Shylock. He’s trapped by who his father wants him to be. We see this theme again when Heather runs away to “find herself,” and again at the end of the book when Holling finally stands up to his father and his father asks who he is. He replies, “I don’t know yet … I’ll let you know.” He’s sure to become who he’s supposed to be.

The Wednesday Wars follows Holling Hoodhood through an entire school year. Schmidt divided the book into chapters according to the months of the school year, beginning with September. This style draws the audience into the rhythm of the school year. It takes the reader from all the newness and unknown of September, through the winter months and challenges of going to school in the cold, into the final days of Spring and Summer when the sun seems to finally come out again - literally and figuratively. By the time June comes around, everything seems so much more clear to Holling and he has come of age.

Schmidt catches the flavor of the times by including duck drills - regular drills in which students duck under their desks to protect them from atomic bomb attacks. Holling’s father listens to Walter Cronkite report the news - a journalist who has been called “the most trusted man in America” during that time. Schmidt seems to know his history so well that he effortlessly transports his readers to the 1960s. Every detail of this novel brings those days and time to life. This is a fun read for anyone, but for students in Holling’s same stage of life, its an encouragement to be who you’re supposed to be - and read some Shakespeare along the way.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

2008 Newbery Medal Honor Book

From BOOKLIST - “Holling’s unwavering, distinctive voice offers a gentle, hopeful, moving story of a boy who, with the right help, learns to stretch beyond the limitations of his family, his violent times, and his fear, as he leaps into his future with his eyes and his heart wide open.”

From KIRKUS REVIEWS - “Schmidt has a way of getting to the emotional heart of every scene without overstatement, allowing the reader and Holling to understand the great truths swirling around them on their own terms. It's another virtuoso turn by the author of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (2005).”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather other books written by Gary d. Schmidt to read such as:

• Okay For Now. (A companion to The Wednesday Wars). ISBN 0544022807

• Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. ISBN 0544022793
• Trouble. ISBN 0547331339

Watch a Duck and Cover video such as this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu-5jw60 and discuss the threat of a bomb attack.

Watch and read Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and watch Bobby Kennedy’s campaign speech. Discuss the importance of these two figures in history and to Holling Hoodhood’s character.

Read about William Shakespeare’s works and discuss the characteristics of a comedy and a tragedy.  

Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

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1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cushman, Karen. Catherine, Called Birdy. New York, Houghton Mifflin Company: 1994. ISBN: 039568I863

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Catherine, who is called Birdy, is anything but the typical 14-year old girl living in thirteenth century England. She has a free spirit and a sharp tongue. She is the daughter of an ill-tempered landowner who is trying to marry her off, which she sees as “being sold like a cheese to the highest bidder.” In this diary-style book, Birdy keeps an account of her days. She writes about picking off fleas, partaking in mischief, trying to not be the lady her mother wants her so desperately to become, and refusing every suitor her father brings to their home. When her father brings home a shaggy-bearded old man as her suitor, her refusal to marry him does no good. He is the ugliest of all, but he is the richest of all, and her fate is to be his wife. The book ends with a twist. When Birdy finally submits to her doom, she comes to find that her suitor has died and she will marry his son instead.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Karen Cushman has created a character who 14-year olds will find likeable, and maybe even relatable. Birdy is an energetic, independent young girl with a sharp tongue and a mind of her own. However, since she is living in thirteenth century England and is under her parents’ care, her independent nature and sharp tongue don’t get her much more than slapped in the face or thumped on the rear by her father. A lively character such as Birdy will draw young readers to this book, but it is hard to believe that a young girl living in England in 1290 would behave the way Birdy does - raging against her father and arguing with him about her suitors with such forthrightness. It seems that behavior such as this would have resulted in immediate and harsh discipline. Instead, Birdy’s bad behavior continues until she herself comes to the conclusion that she needs to be who she was made to be - “I cannot run away. I am who I am wherever I am.”

Other characters in the book are more believable. Birdy’s father is a hot-tempered man who drinks too much. Her mother, on the other hand, is gentle and compassionate. She loves her children and seems to hope Birdy loves her husband as much as she loves hers. Birdy’s brothers are each very different from each other, creating a family dynamic that is relatable to anyone’s. Birdy is most fond of her Uncle George who has just returned from the Crusades. “He is tall and fair and funny” and in him she seems to find some solace from the others.

The setting for this book is a medieval English manor. In the Author’s note at the end of the book, Cushman gives a description of what an English village may have looked like in 1290, with “small cottages lining the road from manor to church.” Reading this description would help young readers understand Birdy’s home and whereabouts much better, and would possibly be better to read first rather than last. Birdy does manage to escape the manor a few times, including the time she goes to Wooton village to see the hanging of two thieves - something she has longed to see. What Birdy thought “sounded even better than a feast or a fair” turns out to be a wretched event that makes her vomit.

The main theme throughout this book is independence. Birdy wants to be free. Even her nickname, Birdy, symbolizes freedom, so it is quite ironic that she is anything but free to do as she pleases. Birdy conjures up many plans to do what she wants - to go to a monastery, to travel, to marry whomever she wants. However, in spite of her plans, she is doomed to remaining within the confines of her family’s manor and within the confines of society’s rules for girls. When her mother won’t let her glide on the frozen river with the boys, she even makes a list of all the things girls are not allowed to do: “go on crusade, be horse trainers, be monks, laugh very loud, wear breeches, drink in ale houses, cut their hair, piss in the fire to make it hiss, wear nothing, be alone, get sunburned, run, marry whom they will, glide on the ice.” In the end, Birdy’s realization that she is who she is wherever she is, and that no matter whose wife she is she will still be herself, seems to set her free and give her a new kind of independence. She is free to be who she is in spite of her circumstances. She has decided, “I cannot escape my life but can only use my determination and courage to make it the best I can” - quite a lesson for young readers searching for their own independence.

Cushman’s diary style of writing allows the reader to hear Birdy’s own voice, making her more honest and relatable. This style invites readers to experience all of this 14-year old girl’s emotions right along with her - from her cursing (“Corpus bones!” and “God’s thumbs!”) to her strange food choices (“I had two portions of eel pie for supper.”). Early in the book, Birdy’s mother receives a small book of saints, their feast days, and their great works. Birdy “seduces” it from her, and at the beginning of each diary entry includes information about the saint for that day. This adds humor and character to each diary entry - pointing out the funny and interesting facts about each saint - but also showing the distinctive ideas and beliefs of those days. The saints and their oddities were unique to Medieval times.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

1995 Newbery Honor Award Winner

From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL - “A feminist far ahead of her time, [Birdy] is both believable and lovable.”

From KIRKUS REVIEWS - “Her tenacity and ebullient naivete‚ are extraordinary; at once comic and thought-provoking, this first novel is a delight.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather other books written by Karen Cushman to read such as:

• The Midwife’s Apprentice. ISBN 0395692296

• The Ballad of Lucy Whipple. ISBN 054772215X
• Will Sparrow’s Road. ISBN 0547739621
• Alchemy and Meggy Swann. ISBN 0547577125

Visit http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/catherine-called-birdy-lesson-plan for a lesson plan and activities for this book.

Have students research other events that are mentioned in this book and that were happening at the same time, such as the Jews being expelled from England and the Crusades.