The Things They Carried...

I have read Tim O'Brien's novel before and liked it then. Reading it again helped me relive those memories I had of The Things They Carried. The novel shows the life of a soldier in a war that everyone thought would end quickly. O'Brien has such great imagery of what things were like through his own eyes and the eyes of his other characters. What is important to realize is that O'Brien was in Vietnam but most of the Novel is historical fiction.
Some of the stories of soldiers deaths are so vivid, its scary. The Vietnam war books have very different feels to them because one is strictly fictional while O'Brien's has more reality to it. I felt more scared and ill while reading Fallen Angels, but O'Brien seems to have hit a more real soldier life. I don't know what else to say, my mind hurts from all the reading and work I've done the last few days.
This book is a great piece of literature though, I would recommend it to anybody who can comprehend the work.

Fallen Angels....

This book was an educational read and a fun one for me. War novels are a great way to understand parts of history which may have flown under the radar the first time we learned them. Fallen Angels seemed to be real. I felt the imagery of the novel. When I say I felt it, I mean I was there with this one. I envisioned myself being a part of their unit in each area. It helps to have seen numerous Vietnam War movies to see how things were. Each time Perry talked about boarding the choppers, I felt his uneasiness. If you have ever seen the movie "Apocalypse Now," you would be able to see his fear of boarding and leaving helicopters. A VC would have no problem losing his life to the greater good of their cause, running up to a helicopter with an explosive was not uncommon. The amount of death made me realize how hard it must have been to stay focused and stay alive. Perry was hit 2 times while in 'Nam and that was in a very short time span as far as the timeline of the war.

I also had a great connection for Peewee and Perry's relationship. I know what it is like to not want to lose a close bond. It isn't unheard of to see this type of relationship because war seems to bring people together. I can only imagine having a friend of mine so close to death all the time. It would be hard to care about others in a war you can't seem to win.

The night stories are what made this Novel really stand out. If you go back and read any of the passages, read the ones where Perry has inner thoughts about what is going on while he is sitting on guard. He can't see anything and all he can see is shadow and darkness, it's very eerie. Fallen Angels gave me a greater respect for those who have risked their lives protecting others.

This would be a great book to co-teach a unit with a History teacher. To have a book like this coincide with a war unit would be great. It would help students grasp the reality of what soldiers may have went through. There seem to be so many great ways to teach Fallen Angels. I recommend this book to all young adults and even adult readers looking for a quick read.

The Holocaust...

I grew up going to school with a large Jewish population. Lots of my friends to this day are Jewish. So, in History class, whenever we discussed the holocaust, it was a very tense subject. I was too naive back when we studied that in High School to completely understand how horrible it was. All the things Jewish people had to endure through during World War II was awful; I can only imagine what it must have been like. Like the Factories in Europe, there were camps in the islands surrounding Japan during WWII. My grandfather passed away about 2 years ago and was a POW in Japanese camps for over 3 years. He described how torturous the conditions were while he was a prisoner and how other marines and troopers were dying all around him. While I was reading these two books, I thought of how similar these depictions are of my grandfather's experience. He never described the eerie smoke stacks and the haze they created because he never said if there were stacks where they incinerated humans. The vivid description throughout the book is sickening at times. What happened in that time was repulsive, Yolen and Wiesel bring it back to life with beautiful writing for such a horrid time. The Devil's Arithmetic and Night are great books which I would recommend to any high schooler willing to read about The Holocaust.

Code Talkers and Tonto...

I loved Code Talkers for the soul purpose of being able to teach a unit with a social studies class. The novel has so many great things you could teach, but nothing seems to have touched me as much as the history surrounded by the book. Bruchac wrote a powerful book with the history of the Navajo and how they were put through years of hateful discrimination. They overcame this negativity and were the missing puzzle piece to winning World war II. The book touched ground on things people may not have normally thought of while thinking of American Indians. Navajo's were put through so much, even though they were here before white people. I think this book not only could be used in a World War II aspect, but even a racial discrimination lesson.
In 463, we have discussions with small group and can have the option to be a travel tracer or even look up information about the author. I have never felt so strongly about applying those concepts in a classroom until I read this book because of the issues surrounding the novel. To be able to make a map of all the places Ned has been and the experiences he has had. The book would do wonders in either a English or History class.

I didn't like the Alexie book because of the tense changes and narrative style. It bothered me throughout the novel enough to where I could hardly finish the book. It was bothersome because the stories seemed to jump around. There was no rhythm. A couple of the stories within the novel were good, but others dragged on FOREVER. For the longest while I thought Victor was the main character, I guess he was for awhile. Didn't like the book. Nothing more about it to say.

Always Running...

I chose Question 2 because I feel the gang aspect was very intriguing to Luis. He started his first gang because he wanted acceptance and to have a certain belonging. While young, kids realize the easy way out of being introduced to gangs. You will have your members backing you up no matter what dumb thing you do. I also feel there is a certain manhood that children adopt when joining a gang. The gang aspect especially appeals to those who have little or no money because it is easy to steal with a gang. If everyone in the gang is stealing things, wouldn't that compel a kid to join because of all the "freebie" they can receive. Society, at the time, was very apprehensive to accept other races as one of their own. It was hard for people to conform to America's standards because of monetary reasons. White people were reluctant to trust other races, which seemed to drive away Latinos and Blacks. Luis stole what he couldn't buy. Gangs also were an easy access to drugs and alcohol. Luis talked about the many times he would just get stoned and drunk. A lot of these things, such as substance abuse, led to the gang fighting.
If you noticed, as Luis got older, he realized what his mistakes were in life. He didn't want to go with all his 'homies' to shoot up a rival gangs house or the biker gangs house. He wanted no part because his qualms weren't with those groups of people. He broke away because he knew in the end, all the trouble he caused was for nothing.

The Outsiders is out dated...

I never really felt as though The Outsiders shouldn't be taught, not until today. Don't get me wrong, it is a great story and has powerful social class issues throughout, but today's society isn't the same. The divide between class is not as drastic as it was when S.E. Hinton wrote the novel. The Greasers and the Socs had conflict because back in the 1950's and 1960's. You see a lot more integration between social classes and that seems to have been helped by the civil rights movement. I'm sure there are certain situations which still relate to this story in today's society somewhere, but not all over. The other characteristic of the novel that is well outdated is the huge fight which drives Pony Boy away from town. Murder is so prevalent in society today that this type of evasion would be easily detectable. I know there are some people who are going to say this relates to how our lives are affected today, but I disagree. A fight of that magnitude would surely have been broken up very quickly as well. I love The Outsiders, and probably always will, but I don't think I would teach it.

The main theme throughout Ironman would be relationships. This novel has the title of a Matt Christopher book but actually digs way deeper. The struggles the characters go through are plotted throughout the book. There is the relationship between Bo and his football coach/English teacher, Mr. Redmond. That deals with the struggles between people who don't have any liking for each other. It is a relationship built off power. Redmond doesn't want to see Beauregard succeed throughout the book. He even comes to the Yukon Jack hoping to see Bo lose to the CFU students. There is the relationship between Bo and Mr. S. They have a great bond because of Mr. S's past experience, but that is strained when Bo finds out that Mr. S is gay. Bo overcomes Mr. S's sexuality because he realizes through the works of Mr. Nakatani that it shouldn't matter about what Mr. S prefers, just as long as he helps Bo. Mr. Nak, as Bo calls him, helps Bo with his Anger issues and pretty much any issue Bo has. There are many to go through, but let us cut to the chase, Bo and his father, Lucas, have the main relationship in the Novel. Bo and Luke don't get along, they are too much alike, both being very headstrong males. Luke seems to want the best for Bo, but wants him to earn it. Bo has so many issues with his dad that date back to his preteen years. Beauregard missed a Christmas because Luke tried teaching him a lesson about respect and responsibility. Luke, even to the dismay of Mr. Nak, was helping the local Triathalon relay team from the University swim team beat Bo at the Yukon Jack. Bo finds out when Elvis tells him that he was giving the relay team the best road bike for free. These are just a few of the issues Bo had with his dad. This novel, as you can see, deals heavily with positive and negative relationships.

Its hard as a child, especially...

Young and Frankie suffer through a lot of adversity throughout their adolescent lives. They both have to deal with their inability to speak English. Frankie fails the first grade because he can't speak English well enough while Young has problems initially in class. The way she describes the students and teachers speaking makes sense because you interpret things differently as a child. What really sets Frankie apart from Young are the experiences working when he was young. His entire family had to help put food on the table. He made so many sacrifices to ensure his family had their basic needs. He was put through a lot of troubles because of Papa's injuries. Their family even got sent out of the country for a time because of being illegal. Frankie worked and had school. He had to work early in the morning before school and on the weekends. This KID never had a break in his life. I think it made Frankie tough though, it helped him mature as a person. He had instilled lots of values which people today lack. He was incredibly hard working and never gave up. He rarely talked out of line and showed utmost respect for his elders.
I think Young had an identity crisis because of her Father. Poon always seemed to be favored. I don't really relate to Na's book which is why I spoke about Jimenez's in detail.

Rainy Lake..

Rainy Lake really has the feeling of a family novel rather then a piece of adolescent literature. The novel has great lessons for families. Teaching Rainy Lake would be very beneficial to students in the high school area because it allows children to draw comparisons. I am not a girl which would really help males in the classroom see that it isn't just a novel for women. I think if I could tell them how it relates not only to females but to males as well. It is a family piece which most people who take vacations can probably see. I noticed for a while when we used to go on family vacations that they were in fact vacations. Year after year went on and the strength of our family diminished because of growing pains. Eventually, my family stopped going on vacations together because we couldn't be in the same area without a huge fight breaking out.

I also relate to this story because of how characters tended to just settle for things instead of striving for what they wanted. I think a lot of people do that, and I can't say I don't in some respects, but I did just end a relationship because I was unhappy. I had been unhappy for awhile but settled because it was the easy way out. Many of the characters, like Terese, were sticking to something they weren't in it for. They settled. The jewish boy's mom would be upset if they got married because she wasn't jewish, so the passion there was never going to stick. even Danny didn't go for what she wanted, she ended up settling for Larry rather then be with Billy. Given, she had to deal with the racial aspect because of her parents and society. She could have broken that trend but decided to settle for something less than what she wanted. Every time she kissed Larry she thought of Billy. If you think about Billy and how you want to be with him, why not just take a shot?

What can I say?

I used to have one of these suckers a few years ago, but some of my friends took some of the things I said to personally. Unbelievable.

I would definitely teach The House on Mango Street to High Schoolers.