Author: Stephanie Meyer
Publishing Info: Little, Brown and Company, 2006
Suggested Reading Level: grades 9 and up
Synopsis:
New Moon is the sequel to Twilight. At the begining of New Moon, Bella, the heroine, and her vampire boyfriend, Edward, are extremely happy and in love, but things take a downward turn after a mishap at a birthday party thrown for her by the Cullens (Edward’s vampire family). Always prone to clumsiness, Bella gives herself a paper cut while opening one of her birthday cards and Jasper tries to attack her out of reflex. (Although the vampire family has sworn off human blood, not everyone has mastered their ability to resist it when it’s fresh.) Edward saves Bella from his “brother” by throwing himself on her, but in the process manages to wound her even worse, as she falls on a glass bowl that shatters. Edward, being the gentleman that he is, sees this incident as proof that he is dangerous to Bella by virtue of being a vampire. He decides she will never be safe if she is in love with him because she will want to be around him. So he tries to get her to stop loving him by pushing her away and then leaving. He even convinces the rest of his family to go along with this plan and they relocate as well.
Bella, however, takes this turn of events as badly as possible. After he leaves, she is basically a walking zombie, not allowing herself to feel the pain or anything else. Finally after about three months, she faces her feelings and decides that she needs to get back at Edward for hurting her. Since one of Edwards biggest fears is that she will get hurt, she believes the only way she can get back at him is to endanger her own life. On a whim, she picks up two dilapidated motorcycles and asks her Quileute friend, Jacob Black, to help her fix them up. Jacob, who has always had a thing for Bella, happily agrees. As they spend time together fixing the bikes and hanging out with other friends from his tribe, the two of them become really good friends. Bella still feels really hurt by Edward’s betrayal, but when she is around Jacob, she can be happy, and the pain is lessened.
Without notice, Jacob, one day, months down the road, starts acting strangely and won’t tell her why. When he starts ignoring her completely, her depression almost overwhelms her again, but she finds the willpower to find out what is going on.
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments: Book 1)
10.28.2009
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publishing Info: Simon Pulse, 2007
Suggested Reading Level: 13+ years
Synopsis:
Clary is a normal teenage girl until she sees Jace and his two friends, Isabelle and Alec, stake a demon at dance club she is at with her best friend Simon. The problem being that she was the only one who could see them. The very next day something attacks Clary's mom, Jocelyn, while they are on the phone. Jace shows up just as she gets off the phone and follows her to her house where she is attacked by (and manages to kill without Jace's help) a Ravener Demon. Jace takes her back to the "Institute" to be treated for her wounds, where she finds out that Jace and his friends are demon killers called Shadowhunters, and that she has to be the child of a Shadowhunter because she has "the sight" (the ability to see those of other worlds and Shadowhunters wearing runes that hide them from normal humans for a time). Shadowhunters kill demons because they are evil and completely non-human, but they also are the mediators for all of the part-human groups living on earth (including, vampires, werewolves, fairies, elves, and other fae). They were given special powers and the ability to use tatoo-like runes to enhance themselves and their weaponry by an angel who mixed his blood with theirs and gave it to the first Shadowhunters to drink in the Mortal Cup. The Mortal Cup is now lost and the Shadowhunter race dying out. It was lost during a Shadowhunter civil war caused an idealistic maniac named Valentine who wanted to rid the world of anyone not completely human.
While trying to find out what happened to Clary's mother, and why Clary doesn't remember having any connection with the Shadowhunter world, Clary, Jace, Simon, Isabelle, and Alec go on a series of adventures which nearly kill all of them at one point or another.
Publishing Info: Simon Pulse, 2007
Suggested Reading Level: 13+ years
Synopsis:
Clary is a normal teenage girl until she sees Jace and his two friends, Isabelle and Alec, stake a demon at dance club she is at with her best friend Simon. The problem being that she was the only one who could see them. The very next day something attacks Clary's mom, Jocelyn, while they are on the phone. Jace shows up just as she gets off the phone and follows her to her house where she is attacked by (and manages to kill without Jace's help) a Ravener Demon. Jace takes her back to the "Institute" to be treated for her wounds, where she finds out that Jace and his friends are demon killers called Shadowhunters, and that she has to be the child of a Shadowhunter because she has "the sight" (the ability to see those of other worlds and Shadowhunters wearing runes that hide them from normal humans for a time). Shadowhunters kill demons because they are evil and completely non-human, but they also are the mediators for all of the part-human groups living on earth (including, vampires, werewolves, fairies, elves, and other fae). They were given special powers and the ability to use tatoo-like runes to enhance themselves and their weaponry by an angel who mixed his blood with theirs and gave it to the first Shadowhunters to drink in the Mortal Cup. The Mortal Cup is now lost and the Shadowhunter race dying out. It was lost during a Shadowhunter civil war caused an idealistic maniac named Valentine who wanted to rid the world of anyone not completely human.
While trying to find out what happened to Clary's mother, and why Clary doesn't remember having any connection with the Shadowhunter world, Clary, Jace, Simon, Isabelle, and Alec go on a series of adventures which nearly kill all of them at one point or another.
The Golden Compass
Author: Philip Pullman
Publishing Info: Yearling, 2001
Suggested Reading Level: 13+ years
Synopsis:
Lyra Belacqua, a precocious 11-year old orphan, and her daemon (an outward manifestation of her soul in animal form), spy on her uncle, Lord Asriel, and other scholars at Jordan College. They hear about happenings in the North which include a city from another world being seen through the Northern Lights and pictures revealing Dust, a golden substance falling from the sky and collecting on adults through their daemons. Though Lyra doesn't fully understand all that the scholars discuss she gathers that the topics of discussion are sensitive, secret, and thought dangerous by the Magisterium, the ruling theocracy of Lyra's world. From this meeting Lord Asriel receives funding to conduct research in the North on Dust and the world seen in the lights.
Then children in Oxford begin disappearing and it is rumored that the Gobblers are kidnapping and taking them North. When Lyra's best friend, Roger, disappears Lyra vows she will find him. But another visitor to Jordan College, the clever and beautiful Mrs. Coulter, distracts Lyra from taking immediate action. Mrs. Coulter entrances Lyra and convinces her to be her assistant for some research in the North. The Master of Jordan College is worried about Lyra's going and has a secret meeting with her before their departure. He gives her a round, golden object called an alethiometer. He tells her it is a truth reader, he doesn't know how to use it, and she should keep it secret from Mrs. Coulter at all costs. After many months in London Lyra begins to distrust Mrs. Coulter and worries they will never go North. She soon learns that Mrs. Coulter is part of the Gobblers who are working under the direction of the Magisterium. She also learns that the Magisterium has paid the armored bears of the North to keep Lord Asriel prisoner so he can't conduct his research.
Lyra runs away and meets up with Gyptians who are heading North to rescue the children taken from them. They take Lyra under their wing and give her insight into how to use the alethiometer. With practice she finds that she can ask questions to the instrument and understand its answers without the help of the many books that men in the past have needed in order to read it. Lyra also finds out from the Gyptians that Lord Asriel is actually her father and Mrs. Coulter is her mother. The Gyptians enlist the help of Lee Scoresby, an American with a hot air balloon. They also enlist Iorek Byrnison, a powerful armored bear who is the rightful king of the armored bears but was cast out by a usurper of his throne. They also recruit witches who when they see Lyra reading the alethiometer believe she is the child of a prophecy which says she will make a fateful betrayal and is “destined to bring about the end of destiny.”
Publishing Info: Yearling, 2001
Suggested Reading Level: 13+ years
Synopsis:
Lyra Belacqua, a precocious 11-year old orphan, and her daemon (an outward manifestation of her soul in animal form), spy on her uncle, Lord Asriel, and other scholars at Jordan College. They hear about happenings in the North which include a city from another world being seen through the Northern Lights and pictures revealing Dust, a golden substance falling from the sky and collecting on adults through their daemons. Though Lyra doesn't fully understand all that the scholars discuss she gathers that the topics of discussion are sensitive, secret, and thought dangerous by the Magisterium, the ruling theocracy of Lyra's world. From this meeting Lord Asriel receives funding to conduct research in the North on Dust and the world seen in the lights.
Then children in Oxford begin disappearing and it is rumored that the Gobblers are kidnapping and taking them North. When Lyra's best friend, Roger, disappears Lyra vows she will find him. But another visitor to Jordan College, the clever and beautiful Mrs. Coulter, distracts Lyra from taking immediate action. Mrs. Coulter entrances Lyra and convinces her to be her assistant for some research in the North. The Master of Jordan College is worried about Lyra's going and has a secret meeting with her before their departure. He gives her a round, golden object called an alethiometer. He tells her it is a truth reader, he doesn't know how to use it, and she should keep it secret from Mrs. Coulter at all costs. After many months in London Lyra begins to distrust Mrs. Coulter and worries they will never go North. She soon learns that Mrs. Coulter is part of the Gobblers who are working under the direction of the Magisterium. She also learns that the Magisterium has paid the armored bears of the North to keep Lord Asriel prisoner so he can't conduct his research.
Lyra runs away and meets up with Gyptians who are heading North to rescue the children taken from them. They take Lyra under their wing and give her insight into how to use the alethiometer. With practice she finds that she can ask questions to the instrument and understand its answers without the help of the many books that men in the past have needed in order to read it. Lyra also finds out from the Gyptians that Lord Asriel is actually her father and Mrs. Coulter is her mother. The Gyptians enlist the help of Lee Scoresby, an American with a hot air balloon. They also enlist Iorek Byrnison, a powerful armored bear who is the rightful king of the armored bears but was cast out by a usurper of his throne. They also recruit witches who when they see Lyra reading the alethiometer believe she is the child of a prophecy which says she will make a fateful betrayal and is “destined to bring about the end of destiny.”
Vampire Diaries: Awakening (Book 1)
10.14.2009
Author: L.J. Smith
Publishing Info: Published by Harper
Suggested Reading Level: grades 9-12
Synopsis:
Elena is a teenage girl who is beginning her senior year of high school. Until this year, she has been the undisputed queen of the school, but over the summer, her parents were killed in a car crash and she and her toddler-age sister are learning to live with this huge change, which includes living with their eccentric aunt. One of her childhood friends, Caroline, decides to take this time to try to climb the social ladder and overtake Elena as queen of the school. On the first day of school, everyone, including Elena is taken by a handsome, brooding new student. This new student, Stefan, ignores Elena and she takes it as a personal challenge to make him like her.
We as readers already know that Stefan is a vampire, but no one in the story knows this until nearly the end of the book. Because Stefan is ashamed of what he is, he only feeds on animal blood, so he is not a vicious killer as vampires are supposed to be. His shame has caused him to hide out in the dark places of Europe until now, but he has decided to come to (Elena's home town,) Falls Church, to see if he can live in the human world and find some happiness.
Stefan ignores Elena because she is the spitting image of the woman he loved named Katherine, who turned him into a vampire and then died. Stefan's brother, Damon, also loved Katherine and blames Stefan for Katherine's death, even though it was not his fault. Damon comes to Falls Church to see if he can win Elena over and ruin Stefan's life in the process.
Damon, however, did not take the same course as his brother, and glories in feeding on humans because it makes him stronger than a vampire feeding only on animal blood (because of the strong life essence it carries). It also allows him to develop the "Dark Powers" that strong vampires can master (including things like mind control and shape shifting).
Publishing Info: Published by Harper
Suggested Reading Level: grades 9-12
Synopsis:
Elena is a teenage girl who is beginning her senior year of high school. Until this year, she has been the undisputed queen of the school, but over the summer, her parents were killed in a car crash and she and her toddler-age sister are learning to live with this huge change, which includes living with their eccentric aunt. One of her childhood friends, Caroline, decides to take this time to try to climb the social ladder and overtake Elena as queen of the school. On the first day of school, everyone, including Elena is taken by a handsome, brooding new student. This new student, Stefan, ignores Elena and she takes it as a personal challenge to make him like her.
We as readers already know that Stefan is a vampire, but no one in the story knows this until nearly the end of the book. Because Stefan is ashamed of what he is, he only feeds on animal blood, so he is not a vicious killer as vampires are supposed to be. His shame has caused him to hide out in the dark places of Europe until now, but he has decided to come to (Elena's home town,) Falls Church, to see if he can live in the human world and find some happiness.
Stefan ignores Elena because she is the spitting image of the woman he loved named Katherine, who turned him into a vampire and then died. Stefan's brother, Damon, also loved Katherine and blames Stefan for Katherine's death, even though it was not his fault. Damon comes to Falls Church to see if he can win Elena over and ruin Stefan's life in the process.
Damon, however, did not take the same course as his brother, and glories in feeding on humans because it makes him stronger than a vampire feeding only on animal blood (because of the strong life essence it carries). It also allows him to develop the "Dark Powers" that strong vampires can master (including things like mind control and shape shifting).
The Red Badge of Courage
10.08.2009
Author: Stephen Crane
Publishing Info: Originally published in 1894 by D. Appleton and Company
Suggested Reading Level: Grades 9 and up
Synopsis:
Henry is a young man who is taken in by the romanticism of war. He wants to go to war and be a hero and have parades thrown in his honor when he comes back. What he gets is quite different. The book starts out showing us his impressions of his troop and the restlessness they feel at not being deployed yet. They’ve been camped for weeks in the same place and keep getting told they will move, but it turns out to be a fluke. Soon, the company moves and is heading toward war. Henry’s biggest fear comes to the forefront as he marches: will he run and be a coward when he is faced with being killed? The troops finally get to the battlefront and Henry sticks around for the first attack, but after a short lull the enemy troops come again and Henry runs. He thinks that the entire troop is abandoning and once he realizes they are not, he feels foolish in going back and even begins to resent them for not seeing the wisdom in running when your life is forfeit if you don’t. Henry wanders around in the forest for a while, running into a squirrel, a dead man, and other things that force his thoughts in multiple directions. Eventually he comes upon a group of wounded men making their way away from the fighting and he lets them think he is wounded, too, and just keeps going. Just before he is about to bolt so no one finds out his a woundless coward, he comes upon one of the men from his troop who is like a walking zombie. He tries to help his friend but ends up just being a witness to his gruesome death. Haunted by this, he heads in the direction of the fighting, but looses his nerve before he gets there. While he is debating what to do, a retreating troop overtakes him and when he grabs one of the soldiers to ask what is happening, that soldier hits Henry on the head with his gun, giving Henry the wound he needs to feel justified in leaving his troop earlier in the day. With the help of a nice soldier who also got separated from his company, he finds his troop again, and they hail him as a wounded hero. The next day, they are to fight again, and this time Henry doesn’t run. He gets caught up in the fight and ends up being a real hero of the day, even though he doesn’t feel like one. At the end of the novel, Henry concludes that his soul has changed and he understands the world a little better now. He finds romance in the sun and rain and wet hills rather than in war.
Analysis:
This is a classic that I only read excerpts from in high school. I like Crane’s impressionistic writing style, even though it makes for a long book about a very short period of time. Although it is an important novel in American Literature, I’m not sure the topic or the experience that Henry has is something that high school or junior high students can relate to. I’m not sure I would pick this novel to teach over something else for that reason. It does pose the question of courage and shows impressionistic and naturalistic writing extremely well, but I think it could be taught as I was taught – in excerpts. There are some slightly gory elements to the book, but nothing worse than kids would see on television or movies these days, so I don’t think that would be a problem. Other than that, I don’t see any objectionable material in the book.
Publishing Info: Originally published in 1894 by D. Appleton and Company
Suggested Reading Level: Grades 9 and up
Synopsis:
Henry is a young man who is taken in by the romanticism of war. He wants to go to war and be a hero and have parades thrown in his honor when he comes back. What he gets is quite different. The book starts out showing us his impressions of his troop and the restlessness they feel at not being deployed yet. They’ve been camped for weeks in the same place and keep getting told they will move, but it turns out to be a fluke. Soon, the company moves and is heading toward war. Henry’s biggest fear comes to the forefront as he marches: will he run and be a coward when he is faced with being killed? The troops finally get to the battlefront and Henry sticks around for the first attack, but after a short lull the enemy troops come again and Henry runs. He thinks that the entire troop is abandoning and once he realizes they are not, he feels foolish in going back and even begins to resent them for not seeing the wisdom in running when your life is forfeit if you don’t. Henry wanders around in the forest for a while, running into a squirrel, a dead man, and other things that force his thoughts in multiple directions. Eventually he comes upon a group of wounded men making their way away from the fighting and he lets them think he is wounded, too, and just keeps going. Just before he is about to bolt so no one finds out his a woundless coward, he comes upon one of the men from his troop who is like a walking zombie. He tries to help his friend but ends up just being a witness to his gruesome death. Haunted by this, he heads in the direction of the fighting, but looses his nerve before he gets there. While he is debating what to do, a retreating troop overtakes him and when he grabs one of the soldiers to ask what is happening, that soldier hits Henry on the head with his gun, giving Henry the wound he needs to feel justified in leaving his troop earlier in the day. With the help of a nice soldier who also got separated from his company, he finds his troop again, and they hail him as a wounded hero. The next day, they are to fight again, and this time Henry doesn’t run. He gets caught up in the fight and ends up being a real hero of the day, even though he doesn’t feel like one. At the end of the novel, Henry concludes that his soul has changed and he understands the world a little better now. He finds romance in the sun and rain and wet hills rather than in war.
Analysis:
This is a classic that I only read excerpts from in high school. I like Crane’s impressionistic writing style, even though it makes for a long book about a very short period of time. Although it is an important novel in American Literature, I’m not sure the topic or the experience that Henry has is something that high school or junior high students can relate to. I’m not sure I would pick this novel to teach over something else for that reason. It does pose the question of courage and shows impressionistic and naturalistic writing extremely well, but I think it could be taught as I was taught – in excerpts. There are some slightly gory elements to the book, but nothing worse than kids would see on television or movies these days, so I don’t think that would be a problem. Other than that, I don’t see any objectionable material in the book.
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