Just Another Hero

Just Another Hero

Sharon Draper

This book is the final trilogy to the two-time Coretta Scott King trilogy by Sharon Draper. The story mainly takes place in high school and it follows the life of two teenagers and their friends in Cincinnati, Ohio. Arielle, who was living a life of luxury but at the expense of a deranged step-father and Kofi, who was fighting an addiction to pain pills related to a hazing accident years before. Other characters include November, who is a teen mom of a special needs baby girl. The child's Joshua was killed in that same hazing accident in a previous book. It is their senior year and their experiences make this book a definite page turner. It is full of unexpected moments from a teacher that steals to a mother whose chooses parties over her sons education.

I would recommend this book to junior high and above. It's not vulgar or full of sex scenes but it still capture's one's attention. This book is also very up to date so it will be relate able. I think the 7th grade and higher age group will enjoy this book because they will feel like they can relate to characters dealing with high school and personal issues.

As a book hook I would use these lines from the book jacket to capture students eye on Yellow Poster board...

Suppose someone showed up in YOUR classroom carrying an AK-47.

You have a split second:

To think.

To act.

To be a hero.

But what is a hero? 


I know it caught my attention so I'm sure it will capture students attention. From there I would like to start a small discussion on what they THINK they may do? Then  get them to find out what happens in the book by reading it.

Edgy/Controversial- MONSTER

EDGY

MONSTER

WALTER DEAN MYERS

 It was nominated for the 1999 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2000, and was named a Coretta Scott King Award Honor the same year.

Steve Harmon was said to have been a look out in a corner store robbery where the owner was killed. This story is his trial told as a screenplay that he is writing. I thought this was a great read, definitely a page turner. The age group I would recommend this book too is 7th grade and up. There are some sexual situations that happen in prison and language that anyone younger may not be mature enough for.

Book Hook-
I would start with this excerpt from the story to get students attention-
"Steve (Voice-Over)
Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I'll call it what the lady prosecutor called me ... Monster."

Then I would have a discussion -

- I would see how the students felt after reading this book, knowing that the main character was their age?

- What would they do if they were in his situation?

- What are their dreams and goals?

- What would they do if it were all snatched away in an instant/

Graphic Novel- Jane Eyre

The Graphic Novel

Jane Eyre

Author- Charlotte Bronte

Graphic Novels "Making the classics accessible for ALL learners."

 Charlottes Bronte's classic story comes to life in this full color graphic novel. In Jane Eyre the illustrations helped move the story along. Jane's life is filled with hardship once she looses both parents to Typhus and is sent to live with her old uncle and his cruel and selfish wife. After her uncle dies, his wife does not want to care for Jane and sends her away to a charity school. At the school, Jane suffers from the lack of basic human needs and must endure the cold, hunger, lack of proper clothing and suffer at the hands of the school's cruel administrators. Once she is old enough, she leaves the school and becomes a governess at Rochester Manor. She soon falls in love with Mr. Rochester, who hides a destructive secret he wants no one to know. However, when Mr. Rochester's secret is revealed, Jane must decided whether to follow her heart and stay with Mr. Rochester or flee and find her own independent life.Jane Eyre is the story of an orphan girl, raised by her wealthy but cruel aunt in nineteenth century England.

Full of romance, suspense, and colorful characters it will definitely keep and hold students of all ages attention. As a book hook I would use some pictures of important periods in Jane's life to get students interested.

 Just enough to make them want to know more. I read this story in a little over an hour. I haven't read a comic style book in a long time so I got confused on how conversations went a couple times in the beginning but after I  got the hang of it I just got lost in story. I had never read the story of Jane Eyre before and I thought this version was perfect. I would definitely recommend it to all ages.

Diversity- Every Time a Rainbow Dies

Every Time a Rainbow Dies

Rita Williams-Garcia

 It's an ALA Best Books for Young Adults Top Ten (2002)

Since the death of his mother, sixteen-year-old Thulani has isolated himself on his rooftop, caring only for his pigeons, but one day, from this high vantage point, he witnesses a girl being raped. Thulani yells at the assailants to stop and runs down to intervene. He's met with hostility and fear from the girl, Ysa, who is lying in the alley naked and bleeding. Thulani gives her his shirt and helps her to her nearby apartment. When he returns home, he finds the girl's skirt behind the dumpster. It's a marvelous, colorful creation and he puts it up on his wall, using it to feed his growing obsession with Ysa. He finally finds her, but she is still inaccessible behind a screen of meanness. Thulani is determined and gradually breaks down her defenses. The two bond over their sense of displacement. Through their relationship, both Thulani and Ysa grow and redefine their goals.


In this story award-winning author Rita Williams-Garcia celebrates the healing power of love. The characters are very real and overall the reader is very invested in the outcome because the characters are so honestly portrayed. There is no happy-ever-after in this book, which makes it more realistic and valuable for a teenage audience.


I would recommend this book to a mature teenage audience, particularly high school males. The author uses a slightly more distant third-person narrative to tell about Thulani's love for Ysa I think they could relate to him. Sexual encounters, the violence of the rape, and the gentleness with which Thulani makes love to Ysa nearly a year afterwards, are described in some detail. I think that students at least 16 years of age and up are at a good age to read this book.


When I read the jacket of this book I knew it was one that I wanted to read. So I would use it in my book hook-

"He watched her.
 Her skirt billowed.
 Her hair was gathered on top of her head held high. Just as he remembered from those Wednesday on the roof. If she saw him and smiled, if she saw him and smiled.
Ever since the night he found her battered and raped in the alley near his home, Thulani has not been able to think about anything but Ysa.
This is the first time since his mother died that Thulani has given a thought to anything but the rock doves he keeps on the roof of his house in Brooklyn.With his father in Jamaica and his older brother and sister-in-law always wanting to "man him up," the only place he finds solace is near the sky with his birds.
Now that he has seen Ysa, Thulani finally has a reason to come down from the roof. But it's not as easy for him--especially when it seems that Ysa doesn't want him in her world at all."

If this catches their attention I know that they are interested. I would put it on bright mutli-colored paper like the skirts Ysa wears in the story which are vividly described throughout the book.

Poetry/ Plays- Ego- Tripping and other poems for young people

Ego-Tripping is a collection of poems for young people that touches on everything from self-awareness to drug use. Nikki Giovanni finds moments in time, particularly black youth moments, that report on cultural issues. I chose this book because Nikki Giovanni is a world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. She prides herself on being "a Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English." Giovanni remains as determined and committed as ever to the fight for civil rights and equality. Her focus is on the individual, specifically, on the power one has to make a difference in oneself, and thus, in the lives of others.




This is a great book.The poetry had a heavy Afro-centric vibe to reflect the times they were created. At some point, the reader can relate to, or be inspired by one of the poems. I really enjoyed the artwork, it was very detailed. It makes the reader feel like you are seeing the poem come to life.  Overall I thought this book was a good and fast read. I would definitely use this book when introducing poetry to a class.  It could even be used in a history lesson.

I would not recommend this book for elementary readers and/or for an age under 13 due to the mature language several poems contain. I would recommend this book to a high school age group.
I would use some of the illustrations in the book and this excerpt from the poem " Ego-tripping" as a book hook to catch the attention of students, I think this would get their interest to read the book.

"I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
   the earth as I went
   The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
   across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean...I...can fly
   like a bird in the sky"...