Thursday, April 16, 2009

#37: Genius Squad

Genius Squad is the follow-up to Evil Genius, the last book that I reviewed. It begins with Cadel in foster care. The Australian government doesn't know what to do with him because there is no record of his birth or existence. Cadel has little to occupy his time because since he doesn't officially exist, no legitimate university will allow him to enroll. He spends much of his time visiting with his friend Sonja. He also has two adults looking out for him: social worker Fiona and police officer Saul Greeniaus.

Cadel, along with Sonja are offered an escape from their foster homes. They are offered spots on Genius Squad, an elite group for intelligent and troubled kids. As members of Genius Squad, they will be provided with housing and cared for. They will also be working to bring down GenoME, the company created by Dr. Darkkon. Cadel decides to join Genius Squad along with Sonja because he thinks that situation will lead to her receiving a higher level of care.

Cadel is happy with his new mission because he gets to show off his skills with computers working toward what he feels is a good cause. However, he has to stay on his feet after his nemesis, Prosper English, escapes from prison. As he gets more deeply involved in the plot to bring down GenoME, he realizes that Genius Squad might not be everything he hoped for.

Genius Squad was enjoyable, but not quite as much as Evil Genius. One of the things I enjoyed about the first one was the villains, and the ones in this book were fewer. There were also some aspects of the story that were a little too predictable. Still, I will be waiting for the third book in the series to come out.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

#36: Evil Genius

Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks is a book that at first reminded me of Artemis Fowl. Both are about young geniuses who use their talents for evil purposes. However, Evil Genius is more of a science fiction novel than fantasy, although the science fiction is mostly limited to the gadgets.

Evil Genius tells the story of Cadel Piggott. Cadel lives in Sydney, Australia, and he is introduced as a 6-year-old who has the ability to hack into sensitive government files. His parents don't really know what to do with him because they are absorbed in their own lives and seem to want a child only for show. Cadel ends up making frequent trips to a psychologist, Thaddeus Roth. Mr. and Mrs. Piggott think that Thaddeus is helping out Cadel to resolve his problems, but Thaddeus is actually encouraging Cadel to further develop his evil schemes. This leads to the revelation that the Piggotts are not Cadel's real parents, but that he is in fact the son of Dr. Phineas Darkkon, a criminal mastermind.

Cadel progresses through a series of schools, eventually graduating from high school at the age of thirteen. Along the way, he fails to make friends, but develops enemies, and becomes increasingly resentful of the Piggotts, who he realizes are not his real parents and do not treat him well. Cadel enrolls in the Axis Institute, a school for world domination bankrolled by Dr. Darkkon, where he takes classes like forgery and disguise from an interesting cast of characters.

It is at the Axis Institute where the book takes an interesting turn. Through a series of events, Cadel finally begins to develop empathy toward other people. He begins to question the value of the Axis Institute and the direction that his life is going. He eventually makes the decision to bring down the Axis Institute, which leads to a lot more trouble for him.

Evil Genius is a thick book, but the story was engaging and I progressed through fairly quickly. Cadel's redemption was somewhat rewarding, and the cast of evil villains was intriguing. Still, the author tried to do a little too much with the story with the large number of subplots, but she did set up well for the sequel, as I wanted to find out more about what happened to Cadel.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

#35: Tangerine

Tangerine by Edward Bloor is one of my favorite young adult novels, so this year I decided to try it as a read-aloud. Most of my students followed with interest, although I'm not sure how well all of them were able to truly grasp the multiple layers of the novel.

Tangerine tells the story of Paul Fisher, a 12-year-old moving with his family to Tangerine, Florida. Paul lives with his parents and his older brother, Erik, who is a senior in high school. Erik is a star kicker on the football team with his eye set on a football scholarship to a major university. Paul and Erik's parents, especially their father, are obsessed with Erik's football career, leading Paul to derisively label it as "The Erik Fisher Football Dream" in his thoughts.

Paul enjoys sports as well, although his favorite sport is soccer. He plays goalie, a position at which he feels comfortable, despite his disability. Paul is legally blind as a result of a mysterious accident when he was younger. His parents told him that he stared at an eclipse as a child, but the story doesn't add up.

Paul quickly realizes that nothing is as it seems in Tangerine. He lives in a seemingly pristine development of McMansions surrounding a man-made lake, but it is plagued by many strange occurrences. A muck fire burns just outside the perimeter wall, the expensive koi are disappearing from the lake, and one house is repeatedly struck by lighting. Strange things also begin happening outside the development. The captain of the football team is killed by a lightning strike during practice. Also, part of Paul's middle school is swallowed up by a sinkhole.

The idea that nothing is as it appears in not a new one to Paul. He feels that even though his vision is impaired, he sees things more clearly than other people. This is especially true in regards to his brother Erik. Where everyone else sees a fine young man and a star football player, Paul sees other things that are far less unpleasant. Whenever something bad happens around Tangerine, Erik seems to be nearby. Paul notices Erik's strange emotional reactions to events. Paul also starts to have flashbacks, thinking that Erik was somehow involved in the mysterious accident that affected his vision.

The main part of the story occurs after the sinkhole incident. Paul decides to transfer from the wealthy, mostly white Lake Windsor Middle School to the poorer, mostly minority Tangerine Middle School. While this doesn't bother him at all, he sees ugly ideas about race and social class from some of his friends and family. Paul ultimately finds a comfort zone at Tangerine Middle, even as things around him become increasingly chaotic. Houses in Paul's neighborhood are burglarized, people are attacked, and Erik seems to Paul to be increasingly unstable.

Tangerine has such a complex (but still easy to follow) story that it is hard to do it justice in a short summary. It touches on so many things. It satirizes the supposedly idyllic life of new developments, as well as the culture of youth sports, in which talent can trump character. It looks at the juxtaposition of social classes that is common in so many areas, where the lives of the rich and the poor who live close together usually intersect only infrequently. It looks at the struggle of Paul to find an identity as an adolescent who is often overshadowed by others. But most of all, it goes into the importance of looking beneath the surface.

#34: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is one of the best books I have read so far in the Cannonball Read. I had heard of it before due to its winning the National Book Award and finally decided to give it a try. Once I started reading, I did not want to stop due to its thoroughly engaging story and great protagonist.

The story follows Arnold Spirit, AKA Junior, who is a freshman in high school on an Indian reservation in eastern Washington. Junior makes a stupid mistake involving his math teacher, who convinces him that he needs to go to school of the reservation in order to make something of himself. So Junior begins attending a wealthier, whiter school 22 miles away, where he struggles to fit in. This also leads to a rift with his best friend, Rowdy.

Much of the story centers around Junior's struggle to fit in. He feels out of place at his new school, but as he gradually begins to settle in, he starts to feel more out of place at home. Junior begins to make friends and joins the basketball team, and the reader can see many things starting to go well for him. Unfortunately, the situation on the reservation is another story. The main problems there are poverty and alcohol abuse, as many families struggle to make ends meet, and too many cope by drowning their sorrows. This leads to multiple tragedies involving people close to Junior.

My initial hesitation to read this book was based on the fact that I didn't think I would identify with the character, an Indian boy having an identity crisis. However, the writing was absolutely outstanding. Junior had great voice throughout the story, and I was anxious to follow him through the ups and downs of his life. The story also seemed authentic - a picture of what life is actually like on reservations today. This is a story I would highly recommend.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

#33: Hatchet

Hatchet is a classic children's novel by Gary Paulsen. Since I read this book with my class every year, this was my fourth time through it. I have found that it maintains the interest of the majority of kids pretty well.

In Hatchet, 13-year-old Brian Robeson who lives in New York is going to visit his father in Canada. He boards a small plane with a pilot who is hauling a piece of equipment to his dad. When the pilot has a fatal heart attack, Brian has to make some quick decisions and is able to land the plane in a lake in the Canadian wilderness.

From there, it becomes a story of survival. Brian has little knowledge about how to function in the woods, so he has to combine prior knowledge from books and TV with new things he figures out along the way. He has to deal first with satisfying basic needs such as thirst, hunger and shelter, and later has to figure out how to establish a more fulfilling existence in the woods.

Hatchet provides an identifiable main character for kids. Many have dealt with the effects of divorce, and many also would feel lost if they were stuck in the woods. The novel is divided into manageable chunks in terms of important events, and the pacing keeps the reader interested. It also leads to a lot of discussion about Brian and his decisions. Finally, the book has a good message of the importance of believing in yourself in achieving what you need to do.

#32: A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything was my first experience with Bill Bryson after having his work recommended by a colleague. While it took me about a month to get through due to its density, I found the book to be fascinating.

In A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bryson investigates a variety of scientific questions, such as how old the Earth is, how we know what is inside of the Earth and where many of the currently held scientific theories came from. Even more than that, he investigates the scientists who came up with these theories.

While Bryson looks at a variety of of difficult scientific ideas, he presents them in language that is easy to understand. For example, he takes numbers and puts them into practical terms, such as looking at the history of the Earth as a 24 hour period and seeing that humans have only been here for a few seconds relative to that. He also incorporates humor into his descriptions, making the book much more readable.

Probably my favorite parts of the book were where Bryson looked into the various quirks of many of the scientific theories. Many of these people were very eccentric. Bryson described how Edmund Halley (of comet fame) went to ask Newton about some scientific calculations and Newton's response was that he had done those calculations twenty years previously, but had not felt the need to share them. Another anecdote was that Charles Darwin, a former divinity student, originally set out on his expedition to prove creationism. Finally, a story that stuck out was how Linnaeus, who developed the system of classification of organisms, had an obsession with female body parts. This led him to name plants and organisms after specific parts, which later scientists were quick to rename after his death.

As a sixth grade teacher, I also found this book to be useful. While I have a strong background in physics and have also taken biology and chemistry, I never actually took earth science, which is what I teach. The information in this book was a good supplement to my background knowledge, leading me to be better able to answer questions.

If you have an interest in science, but not a very specific background, this is a great book to read. I enjoyed sharing bits of information with my friends and my students, and I am looking forward to reading more Bryson.

#31: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

A few months ago, I read Deadline by Chris Crutcher, which I liked, but didn't love. I had similar feelings toward Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, although I made it through this book a little more quickly.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is told through the eyes of Eric Calhoun, better known as Moby. Moby got his nickname as a child due to being overweight. Since he was an outcast, he became friends with the title character, Sarah Byrnes (known always by first and last name), also an outcast due to being disfigured in a childhood accident. Moby appreciates Sarah's quick wit and seeming acceptance of her condition.

When Moby and Sarah enter high school, Moby is recruited by his English teacher to join the school swim team. This leads him not only to lose a significant amount of weight, but also to make new friends and grow apart from Sarah. (The title comes from when Moby tries to gorge himself to maintain the weight he had while burning off calories in swimming, an action that Sarah Byrnes quashes.)

This leads to the events at the end of senior year. Sarah Byrnes suddenly stops speaking, and is committed to a psychiatric facility. As her closest friend, Moby tries to connect to her and unlock her secret, leading him to the dark truth. While Moby tries to help Sarah Byrnes, he also has to deal with her evil father, leading to some suspenseful confrontations at the end.

One of the things I enjoyed about the novel was the multiple story arc. Aside from the Sarah Byrnes story, there was the issue of Moby trying to find a girlfriend, and going up against a rival from his swim team, a self-righteous boy named Mark who constantly tries to demonstrate moral superiority. The story moves quickly, but there is a lot of emotion. It's not a happy story, but that's part of what makes it satisfying.

#30: Street Gang

Street Gang by Michael Davis traces the development of "Sesame Street" from its origins at a dinner party discussion to the institution it has become. It focuses on the creator, Joan Ganz Cooney, but also delves into the lives of others who made the show possible.

"Sesame Street" originated from an experience of a man named Lloyd Morrisett, who noticed how his 3-year-old daughter was enthralled by television. He wondered whether it would be possible to use the medium for a good purpose - to teach children, as well as to entertain them. This set the wheels spinning, and a group formed, led by Cooney, to explore this possibility.

The goal was to provide a show directed at low-income urban pre-schoolers, who were seen as entering school at a disadvantage to their more affluent counterparts. Still, they wanted a show that all kids could enjoy. Cooney began assembling a team of experts in television, education, government, community outreach and other necessary fields. Davis looks at the stories of many of the important players, especially focusing on how many of them got their starts at "Captain Kangaroo." He also goes into the background of Jim Henson and the development of various Muppets.

Davis tells an interesting story about the formation of "Sesame Street." While there are many interesting tales to be told, the broad focus hurts the book in a way, as it sometimes tries to say too much. The result is a long book that is slow at times. At some points, I would have liked a little more depth, such as the development of specific characters. However, the book is filled with information for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of "Sesame Street."