Spanning from the late 1800s to the 1930s and beyond, Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition tells chronologically what happened in America to lead to prohibition, and what happened before, during and after the years of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
From children drinking alcohol to them smuggling homebrewed bathtub gin to Mother's Against Drunk Driving, Bootleg tells the story of the wet and dry times in an informative, yet slightly humorous, way, which is easy for kids, teens and adults to understand and enjoy. A glossary contains terms used during prohibition, such as "hooch Slang for alcohol. Other slang words in the 1920s included 'apple-jack,' 'giggle water,' white lightening,' and 'whoopee'" and "ombibulous A term coined by the newspaper writer H.L. Mencken to describe his support of all kids of alcohol, despite prohibition. 'I'm ombibulous. I drink every known alcoholic drink and enjoy them all,' he said." Bootleg also contains many period photographs, an extensive bibliography and an index of terms.
Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2011 (Vol. 79, No. 8)) says, "Blumenthal acknowledges that Prohibition was successful in some notable ways: Arrests for public intoxication declined as did alcohol-related diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver. Whatever positive outcomes there were, however, were eclipsed by the widespread corruption and violence of bootlegging. An informative, insightful account of a fascinating period of American history."
Pairing this with an historical fiction book set around the time of prohibition, like Vixen and Ingenue by Jillian Larkin, would give the teen reader an insight into exactly what was going on during that period of history.
Blumenthal, Karen. 2011. Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition. New York: Roaring Brook Press. ISBN 9781596434493
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow gives an excellently written, eye-opening view into Hitler's use and abuse of children in his rise to power and the Third Reich. While it is aimed at a juvenile or young adult audience, even adults can flip through the pages, looking at the photographs and reading about the lives of several of the children of the Hitler Youth and take something from it... the other side.
The 10 chapters of the book follow Hitler's rise to power, the organization and education of the Hitler Youth, what they were made to do before and during the war, and what happened to them after the resistance. Also included are a foreward and epilogue, timeline, author's notes, information about the photographs, a bibliography and an index. All of these make for an interesting and educational read, and a look into the other side of the Holocaust.
Stunning photographs mark nearly every page of the book, showing happy faces of families, child soldiers marching through the mud, Hitler's speeches, Jewish families in torment and the devastation of war. The book shares the back story of what happened during those gruesome years and how not everyone realized that what they were being asked to do was wrong. "'I can remember the feeling I had when he spoke,' said Sasha Schwarz, who was eleven when Hitler came to power. 'At last,' I said, 'here's somebody who can get us out of this mess'" (19). Was she ever wrong.
The CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2006) says of Hitler Youth, "Bartoletti’s carefully researched, fascinating narrative is a compelling work of non-fiction. She provides extensive documentation in a volume that not only informs but also inspires readers to ask difficult questions about choices they may face in their own lives."
That simple review leads to a good dicussion for teens. How does your life compare to the teens of the Hitler Youth? Does it at all? What would they think if they lived now?
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. 2005. Hitler Youth. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 9780439353793
The 10 chapters of the book follow Hitler's rise to power, the organization and education of the Hitler Youth, what they were made to do before and during the war, and what happened to them after the resistance. Also included are a foreward and epilogue, timeline, author's notes, information about the photographs, a bibliography and an index. All of these make for an interesting and educational read, and a look into the other side of the Holocaust.
Stunning photographs mark nearly every page of the book, showing happy faces of families, child soldiers marching through the mud, Hitler's speeches, Jewish families in torment and the devastation of war. The book shares the back story of what happened during those gruesome years and how not everyone realized that what they were being asked to do was wrong. "'I can remember the feeling I had when he spoke,' said Sasha Schwarz, who was eleven when Hitler came to power. 'At last,' I said, 'here's somebody who can get us out of this mess'" (19). Was she ever wrong.
The CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2006) says of Hitler Youth, "Bartoletti’s carefully researched, fascinating narrative is a compelling work of non-fiction. She provides extensive documentation in a volume that not only informs but also inspires readers to ask difficult questions about choices they may face in their own lives."
That simple review leads to a good dicussion for teens. How does your life compare to the teens of the Hitler Youth? Does it at all? What would they think if they lived now?
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. 2005. Hitler Youth. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 9780439353793
Fire from the Rock
Sylvia Patterson is about to finish middle school. She's, of course, concerned about what she'll wear on her first day of high school, if she'll have a boyfriend, what color her toenails should be, what her favorite song is, everything typical of a 15-year-old girl. There's something else she's worried about though. If she's strong enough to be one of the first black students to attend the all-white Central High School. She doesn't want to be a hero, she just wants to be normal!
Fire from the Rock is an historical fiction novel based on the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. The reader discovers along with Sylvia the trials and hardships of black students and families living in segregated times. She doesn't think they'll ever be black singers on TV or black leaders on the covers of magazines. She doesn't think black people will ever be allowed to do anything that white people can do, but when she's chosen to be one of the first students allowed to integrate in the all white school, she doesn't know if she can do it.
The integration of Central is not the only difficult task Sylvia has to face. Her best friend is a Jewish girl and her father's store is constantly vandalized with swastikas and even gets destroyed by homemade bombs while Sylvia is in the store. She and her younger sister, Donna Jean, are attacked after leaving their local library by a group of angry white teenagers. Simply walking down the street is something she fears to do, so will she be up to the task of integration? Will she make the right decision? Only she knows the answer to that.
Fire from the Rock is an historical fiction novel based on the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. The reader discovers along with Sylvia the trials and hardships of black students and families living in segregated times. She doesn't think they'll ever be black singers on TV or black leaders on the covers of magazines. She doesn't think black people will ever be allowed to do anything that white people can do, but when she's chosen to be one of the first students allowed to integrate in the all white school, she doesn't know if she can do it.
The integration of Central is not the only difficult task Sylvia has to face. Her best friend is a Jewish girl and her father's store is constantly vandalized with swastikas and even gets destroyed by homemade bombs while Sylvia is in the store. She and her younger sister, Donna Jean, are attacked after leaving their local library by a group of angry white teenagers. Simply walking down the street is something she fears to do, so will she be up to the task of integration? Will she make the right decision? Only she knows the answer to that.
Sylvia is not the only one chosen for this life-changing event. Several other students have been selected to enroll at Central as well, and with the help of their mentor, Daisy Bates, nine of these specially-chosen students successfully (and I use the term loosely) intergrate the high school. The governor, Orval Faubus, tries unsuccessfully to have the students removed from the school, but they attend anyway, becoming the most famous high school students in Arkansas' history. As Sylvia's brother says on page 205, "Yeah. Like something out of a history book," which is exactly what happens.
"Using the events that surrounded the black teens, now known as the Little Rock Nine, who were chosen to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, Draper offers an emotional tale about integrity, justice, and determination," says KaaVonia Hinton, Ph.D. of KLIATT Review (July 2007 (Vol. 41, No. 4)).
Ernie J. Cox (Library Media Connection, November/December 2007) says, "Sylvia faces one of the biggest questions of her life and generation-to accept the status quo or push for new rights. Through alternating third person narrative and Sylvia's diary entries, Draper populates this important historical event with convincing characters, flowing dialogue, and keen observations."
A fantastic historical fiction to read and share with teens, then ask them the question, "What would you do if you were in Sylvia's shoes?"Draper, Sharon. 2007. Fire from the Rock. New York: Dutton Children's Books. ISBN 9780525477204
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Among the Hidden
Luke is a 12 year old boy who likes helping his dad and older brothers, Matthew and Mark, out on their family farm. He likes reading with his mom. He also likes playing outside in the vast backyard... until the Government begins tearing down the woods behind the house and building a new neighborhood for the wealthy families - The Barons.
Barons have everything. Money, fancy cars, nice houses. Apparently, the also have the ability to break the law without penalty. The Government and the Population Police have outlawed having more than two children. Remember Luke's brothers? Yes, brothers. Matthew and Mark... and Luke. Luke is a hidden child, a shadow child, a third, confined to the house after the new neighborhood development, he now lives as a recluse in the attic of his family's farmhouse, never to step outside or darken a window again. Until he sees movement from one of the neighbor's houses. A Baron neighbor house who has two football jock sons that go to school and a mother and father that work in the city and leave the house every day. So why is there movement in the house?
Luke discovers Jen, another third, living in the Baron house. She has a computer, something Luke's only ever really heard about, since he's not allowed near the one in his house for fear that the Goverment is watching through the monitor. She also has chips, brown, fizzy drinks and cookies! There's something else Jen has that Luke doesn't, aside from luxurious foods and technology. She has doubts. Doubts that there isn't enough food for people to have third children. Doubts that the Government won't do anything to rid itself of thirds. Luke has something Jen doesn't have, though. Fear. Fear that the Government knows everything and will swoop in to kill them if they use the computer or watch TV. If only Jen had that fear...
After making friends online with other thirds, Jen decides to rally at the president's house. She wants to be free! She wants to live an actual life not cooped up indoors. Luke, of course, wants these things, too, but as he tells Jen before she leaves for the rally, "I still can't go. I'm sorry. It's something about having parents who are farmers, not lawyers. And not being a Baron. It's people like you who change history. People like me -- we just let things happen to us" (117).
If only Jen didn't have her doubts that the Government wouldn't do anything to a large group of rallying thirds.
They would.
And they did.
Jen and all her rallying buddies were shot on the steps of the president's house without a second thought. Luke goes to Jen's house a few days after the rally to see if she's made it home yet when he's greeted by someone else, Jen's father, who has a gun. Instead of killing the boy (as he should because he's a member of the Population Police) Jen's father gives Luke a fake ID and sends him to a boarding school. He gives Luke a chance to live. A chance to live outside of his attic room, to go to school, to change the world.
Will he? We'll see....
Betty Carter (The ALAN Review, Winter 1999 (Vol. 26, No. 2)) says of Among the Hidden, "Luke, mirroring his disenfranchised family, fears the totalitarian government; Jen using all the resources of her privileged background, challenges it. Although the denouement is swift and tidy, the fully realized setting, honest characters, and fast paced plot combine for a suspenseful tale of two youngsters fighting for their very existence."
Debbie Earl (VOYA, October 1998 (Vol. 21, No. 4)) says, "This is an easily understood, younger reader's 1984 or Brave New World, presenting a chilling vision of a possibly not-too-distant future."
Much like the VOYA review says, sharing this story along with 1984 or Brave New World or even The Hunger Games would be a great way to discuss the future and dystopian novels with tweens and teens.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Hidden. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780689817007
Barons have everything. Money, fancy cars, nice houses. Apparently, the also have the ability to break the law without penalty. The Government and the Population Police have outlawed having more than two children. Remember Luke's brothers? Yes, brothers. Matthew and Mark... and Luke. Luke is a hidden child, a shadow child, a third, confined to the house after the new neighborhood development, he now lives as a recluse in the attic of his family's farmhouse, never to step outside or darken a window again. Until he sees movement from one of the neighbor's houses. A Baron neighbor house who has two football jock sons that go to school and a mother and father that work in the city and leave the house every day. So why is there movement in the house?
Luke discovers Jen, another third, living in the Baron house. She has a computer, something Luke's only ever really heard about, since he's not allowed near the one in his house for fear that the Goverment is watching through the monitor. She also has chips, brown, fizzy drinks and cookies! There's something else Jen has that Luke doesn't, aside from luxurious foods and technology. She has doubts. Doubts that there isn't enough food for people to have third children. Doubts that the Government won't do anything to rid itself of thirds. Luke has something Jen doesn't have, though. Fear. Fear that the Government knows everything and will swoop in to kill them if they use the computer or watch TV. If only Jen had that fear...
After making friends online with other thirds, Jen decides to rally at the president's house. She wants to be free! She wants to live an actual life not cooped up indoors. Luke, of course, wants these things, too, but as he tells Jen before she leaves for the rally, "I still can't go. I'm sorry. It's something about having parents who are farmers, not lawyers. And not being a Baron. It's people like you who change history. People like me -- we just let things happen to us" (117).
If only Jen didn't have her doubts that the Government wouldn't do anything to a large group of rallying thirds.
They would.
And they did.
Jen and all her rallying buddies were shot on the steps of the president's house without a second thought. Luke goes to Jen's house a few days after the rally to see if she's made it home yet when he's greeted by someone else, Jen's father, who has a gun. Instead of killing the boy (as he should because he's a member of the Population Police) Jen's father gives Luke a fake ID and sends him to a boarding school. He gives Luke a chance to live. A chance to live outside of his attic room, to go to school, to change the world.
Will he? We'll see....
Betty Carter (The ALAN Review, Winter 1999 (Vol. 26, No. 2)) says of Among the Hidden, "Luke, mirroring his disenfranchised family, fears the totalitarian government; Jen using all the resources of her privileged background, challenges it. Although the denouement is swift and tidy, the fully realized setting, honest characters, and fast paced plot combine for a suspenseful tale of two youngsters fighting for their very existence."
Debbie Earl (VOYA, October 1998 (Vol. 21, No. 4)) says, "This is an easily understood, younger reader's 1984 or Brave New World, presenting a chilling vision of a possibly not-too-distant future."
Much like the VOYA review says, sharing this story along with 1984 or Brave New World or even The Hunger Games would be a great way to discuss the future and dystopian novels with tweens and teens.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Hidden. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780689817007
Elsewhere
Where do you go when you die?
Heaven or
The Undiscovered Country or
The Shadowlands or
The Big Sleep or
The Great Unknown or
The Great Beyond or
Elysian Fields or
Valhalla or
Fortunate Isles or
Isle of the Blessed or
The Kingdom of Joy and Light or
Paradise or
Eden or
The Firmament or
The Sky or
Wherever you are, whatever it's called
(242-243)
Like Owen then says, "Very thorough, but they never write Elsewhere" (243).
Elsewhere is where Lizzie Hall goes after she's hit by a taxi outside the mall shortly before her 16th birthday. In Elsewhere, you grow younger instead of older. You have avocations instead of jobs, because they're supposed to be something you actually want to do. You can get hurt, but you can never die, well, because you're already dead. Lizzie is upset when she finally realizes that she's dead because she thinks she'll never get her drivers' license, she'll never fall in love, and she'll never grow old. Well, she's right on one account, but just because you don't grow old doesn't mean you don't still grow.
While in Elsewhere, Lizzie lives with her grandmother, Betty, who died of breast cancer before Lizzie was born. Now Betty is a 30-something lady with a red convertible and an overflowing flower garden. Lizzie gets an avocation working with dogs and speaking their language, which is something that she's very good at. She also meets her favorite musician, Curtis Jett, who recently died of a drug overdose. She learns three-point turns and how to parallel park from a cute guy named Owen with someone else's name tattooed on his arm.
Ah, Owen... Lizzie soon discovers that she loves Owen, who died in his 30s but is a hunky 17-year-old in Elsewhere by the time Lizzie meets him. But that tattoo... Emily. Emily was Owen's wife back on Earth and he just can't seem to forget her, that is, until she comes to Elsewhere, too. Still in her 30s, Emily doesn't quite love Owen the way she used to, and finally, on the (reverse) day of when Owen got his tattoo on Earth (when he was 16) it disappears, and he realizes that he loves Lizzie now, not Emily.
Lizzie has just given up on Owen, though, right before that tattoo disappears. Since she died young, she can be a Sneaker, someone who died young on Earth and has the chance to go back before they reach babyhood for the second time. She decides she doesn't want to be on Elsewhere anymore, so she goes to the river where babies return to Earth, is wrapped in swaddling clothes as a teenager (awkward) and then she's on her way back to be reborn. Floating down the river of life, Lizzie decides she doesn't want to go back, but she's wrapped so tightly in her mummy swaddling clothes that she can't escape. Meanwhile, Owen realizes he loves her and goes out to rescue her. Now, Lizzie has everything she ever wanted in her life on Earth (minus the high school diploma and college and all that). She's happily in love with a cute guy, she has a job she enjoys, she has friends and loved ones.
Then the time comes, nearly 16 years after she died and went to Elsewhere, Lizzie is a baby again. She's wrapped in swaddling clothes (for the second time, they fit much better now) and is sent down the river to be reborn to a new life and a new family.
Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 16)) says of Elsewhere, "Zevin's smooth, omniscient third-person narration and matter-of-fact presentation of her imagined world carries readers along, while her deft, understated character development allows them to get to know her characters slowly and naturally. Hopeful and engaging."
Deborah Stevenson, Associate Editor (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September 2005 (Vol. 59, No. 1)) says, "Creative touches abound in the depiction of the Elsewhere lifestyle and in the human possibilities therein, and readers from a broad range of beliefs will find this a quirky and touching exploration of the Great Beyond."
This would be an excellent book to share with teens if they've recently lost someone they love, but are far enough past the death to have come to terms with it and are able to read something lighthearted.
Zavin, Gabrielle. 2005. Elsewhere. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN 9780374320911
Heaven or
The Undiscovered Country or
The Shadowlands or
The Big Sleep or
The Great Unknown or
The Great Beyond or
Elysian Fields or
Valhalla or
Fortunate Isles or
Isle of the Blessed or
The Kingdom of Joy and Light or
Paradise or
Eden or
The Firmament or
The Sky or
Wherever you are, whatever it's called
(242-243)
Like Owen then says, "Very thorough, but they never write Elsewhere" (243).
Elsewhere is where Lizzie Hall goes after she's hit by a taxi outside the mall shortly before her 16th birthday. In Elsewhere, you grow younger instead of older. You have avocations instead of jobs, because they're supposed to be something you actually want to do. You can get hurt, but you can never die, well, because you're already dead. Lizzie is upset when she finally realizes that she's dead because she thinks she'll never get her drivers' license, she'll never fall in love, and she'll never grow old. Well, she's right on one account, but just because you don't grow old doesn't mean you don't still grow.
While in Elsewhere, Lizzie lives with her grandmother, Betty, who died of breast cancer before Lizzie was born. Now Betty is a 30-something lady with a red convertible and an overflowing flower garden. Lizzie gets an avocation working with dogs and speaking their language, which is something that she's very good at. She also meets her favorite musician, Curtis Jett, who recently died of a drug overdose. She learns three-point turns and how to parallel park from a cute guy named Owen with someone else's name tattooed on his arm.
Ah, Owen... Lizzie soon discovers that she loves Owen, who died in his 30s but is a hunky 17-year-old in Elsewhere by the time Lizzie meets him. But that tattoo... Emily. Emily was Owen's wife back on Earth and he just can't seem to forget her, that is, until she comes to Elsewhere, too. Still in her 30s, Emily doesn't quite love Owen the way she used to, and finally, on the (reverse) day of when Owen got his tattoo on Earth (when he was 16) it disappears, and he realizes that he loves Lizzie now, not Emily.
Lizzie has just given up on Owen, though, right before that tattoo disappears. Since she died young, she can be a Sneaker, someone who died young on Earth and has the chance to go back before they reach babyhood for the second time. She decides she doesn't want to be on Elsewhere anymore, so she goes to the river where babies return to Earth, is wrapped in swaddling clothes as a teenager (awkward) and then she's on her way back to be reborn. Floating down the river of life, Lizzie decides she doesn't want to go back, but she's wrapped so tightly in her mummy swaddling clothes that she can't escape. Meanwhile, Owen realizes he loves her and goes out to rescue her. Now, Lizzie has everything she ever wanted in her life on Earth (minus the high school diploma and college and all that). She's happily in love with a cute guy, she has a job she enjoys, she has friends and loved ones.
Then the time comes, nearly 16 years after she died and went to Elsewhere, Lizzie is a baby again. She's wrapped in swaddling clothes (for the second time, they fit much better now) and is sent down the river to be reborn to a new life and a new family.
Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 16)) says of Elsewhere, "Zevin's smooth, omniscient third-person narration and matter-of-fact presentation of her imagined world carries readers along, while her deft, understated character development allows them to get to know her characters slowly and naturally. Hopeful and engaging."
Deborah Stevenson, Associate Editor (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September 2005 (Vol. 59, No. 1)) says, "Creative touches abound in the depiction of the Elsewhere lifestyle and in the human possibilities therein, and readers from a broad range of beliefs will find this a quirky and touching exploration of the Great Beyond."
This would be an excellent book to share with teens if they've recently lost someone they love, but are far enough past the death to have come to terms with it and are able to read something lighthearted.
Zavin, Gabrielle. 2005. Elsewhere. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN 9780374320911
Weetzie Bat
Weetzie Bat and her best friend Dirk are two hip teens living in a fantastical, glittery, LSD-trippy LA. Dirk comes out to Weetzie when they're on the town, scoping for hunks, or Ducks as they're called, and then Dirk's hippy grandma gives Weetzie a magic lamp. Weetzie gets three wishes, a Duck for Dirk, A Secret Agent Lover Man for herself, and a cute little house that they can all live in, happily ever after.
Magically, all these wishes come true! Unfortunately, Weetzie decides she wants something else, a baby, but My Secret Agent Lover Man does not want one. He's too busy making his crazy movies and the world is too full of hate and sickness to have a baby. Weetzie has one anyway, a love-child with her two gay best friends. My Secret Agent Lover Man leaves the love nest, only to impregnate a witch, then he returns after Weetzie's baby, Cherokee Bat, is born. The witch curses My Secret Agent Lover Man and leaves her baby on the doorstep. Witch Baby is taken into the love nest to join the happy family.
After several more weird drug references, an AIDS scare, and other hipster trials, Weetzie goes to visit her dad in New York, begging him to come back to her mother in LA. He decides that LA is a crazy place and he never wants to go back, so much so that he kills himself. Everyone is sad and then the book is over.
This book was too much for me. I didn't understand half of it and it really bothered me. I'm a teenager, let's have a baby with no repercussions! We don't have jobs, but we do have a car and a house and babies and love! All you need is love! It's just too much! The fantasy elements were few and far between (a genie at the beginning and a witch at the end) and the entire book just seemed like an acid trip with all the colors and feathers and glitter and nonsense. There are so many other books I would recommend to my teens before I even thought about sharing this one with them.
The only part I did enjoy, however, was the arrival of the genie on page 26.
Weetzie could see him -- it was a man, a little man in a turban, with a jewel in his nose, harem pants, and curly-toed slippers.
"Lanky lizards!" Weetzie exclaimed.
"Greetings," said the man in an odd voice, a rich, dark purr.
"Oh, shit!" Weetzie said.
"I beg your pardon? Is that your wish?"
The Los Angeles Times Book Review says of Weetzie Bat, "One of the most original books of the last ten years."
Yes, it is original. The review didn't say good.
Block, Francesca Lia. 1989. Weetzie Bat. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060205342
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