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.