Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saénz

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
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1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Saénz, Benjamin Alire. 2012. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-1442408920

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

 A powerful story of two young Mexican American teenage boys and a year of self-discovery.  Aristotle is a self-described loner who has never really had a close friend.  Dante is an outgoing boy whose unique and powerful perspective captivates Aristotle’s usually introverted nature. As Dante begins to embrace his identification as a homosexual teenage male, Aristotle maintains his steadfast alliance to his best friend in spite of his own ambivalent, and sometimes discordant, thoughts. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS

 Benjamin Alire Saénz has written a young adult novel deserving of its many awards. This compelling story of Aristotle and Dante is an authentic story of adolescent awakening and self-acceptance.  This may be due to Saénz' similar cultural background or if he may have experienced his own conflict in coming to terms with his sexual identity . While most of the story occurs in the late 1980’s in El Paso, TX, the story will resonate with current readers.

While many readers and reviewers will determine that sexual awakening and LGBTQ discovery and acceptance is the primary storyline, more astute readers will comprehend that this story revolves around love, hate, friendship, and family. Aristotle’s willingness to protect Dante from any suffering at all costs is the epitome of the battle between good and bad. More importantly, his continued allegiance to Dante is one of the most compelling elements of the storyline.

One of the intriguing side narratives in the book is Dante’s unwillingness to accept his Mexican American heritage.  While he seems almost at ease with his sexuality, he continually struggles with his racial and cultural ancestry.  This dichotomy of Dante’s self-acceptance is fascinating, especially in light of his parents’ high level of education. Aristotle does not seem to suffer from the same feelings of insecurity, but still struggles with his brother’s imprisonment and his perception of being in a lower socio-economic class than Dante.

This is one of the most powerful books available for teens at this time, but its mature subject matter may limit it to readers over the age of 13.  However, it is important to note that this is not solely a story of sexual awakening. This is a story of self-discovery and growth.  The acceptance of one’s sexual orientation is not the primary focus of the book.  This is a story about love and friendship, and how teenagers learn to accept the essence of themselves. 

4.  REVIEW EXCERPTS
  • School Library Journal Best Books of the Year Award - Won 2012
  • Michael L. Printz Award - Nominated 2013
  • American Library Association Notable Books for Children - Won 2013
  • Pura Belpre Award - Won 2013
  • Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature - Commended
  • Stonewall Book Award - Won 2013
  • YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults - 2013
  • Rainbow List - 2013

 Starred Review from Publishers Weekly: "It’s a tender, honest exploration of identity and sexuality, and a passionate reminder that love—whether romantic or familial—should be open, free, and without shame."

 Starred Review from Kirkus: "Meticulous pacing and finely nuanced characters underpin the author's gift for affecting prose that illuminates the struggles within relationships."

 Review from Booklist:  "This moves at a slower pace than many YA novels, but patient readers, and those struggling with their own sexuality, may find it to be a thought-provoking read."

 Review from The Horn Book: "...poetic, philosophical, honest..."

 Review from Library Media Connection: “Sáenz is a master at capturing the conversation of teens with each other and with the adults in their lives."

5. CONNECTIONS

 *Other books written by Benjamin Alire Saénz:
Everything Begins and Ends at Kentucky Club. ISBN 978-1935955320
Last Night I Sang to the Monster. ISBN 978-1935955092
*Other chapter books with characters who are on a journey of discovery about their LGBTQ identity:
Green, John. Will Grayson, Will Grayson. ISBN 978-0142418475
Levithan, David. Two Boys Kissing.  ISBN 978-0307931900
Levithan, David.  Boy Meets Boy.  ISBN  978-0375832994
Konigsberg. Bill. Openly Straight. ISBN 978-0545509893

 *Benjamin Alire Saénz's faculty website at University of Texas El Paso
http://faculty.utep.edu/Default.aspx?alias=faculty.utep.edu/bsaenz 
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The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyon

The Pirate of Kindergarten

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lyon, George Ella. 2010. Illustrated by Lynne Avril. The Pirate of Kindergarten. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-1416950240

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

 When Ginny went to kindergarten, she loved Reading Circle the best. Even though she had to nearly put her nose in the book to see the words clearly, Ginny loved books. However, she often bumped into people and into objects.  And she had to pay special attention when she was cutting art projects.  One day, the school nurse gave eye exams to all of the students, and Ginny discovered that not everyone had these challenges.  Based on the author’s real life experiences.

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS


 George Ella Lyon is the author of many picture books, but it is her recreation of her personal struggles with double vision as a child that has won her the Schneider Family Book Award. The setting of this charming story could just have easily taken place in mid-twentieth century as a modern classroom.  There are few elements that pinpoint the decade, which made the story appropriate for many years to come.

The story is filled with engaging illustrations depicting Ginny’s double vision.  Even the youngest readers will notice the duplication of all of the objects in Ginny’s line of vision. With little prompting, young children will display empathy for Ginny’s challenges.

Young female listeners and readers will be thrilled to observe that girls can dress as pirates and wear eye patches; this imaginative type of play is not limited to boys! More traditional adult readers may notice the inclusion of a male nurse, which helps further the story’s departure from traditional gender roles.

Ginny’s struggles will resonate with anyone who has struggled with a minor disability as a child. When Ginny proudly wears her corrective eye patch without bumping into a chair, there won’t be a dry eye in the room.  The Pirate in Kindergarten is an excellent story that teaches young children about visual disabilities and normalizes the corrective eye patches worn by other young children

4.  REVIEW EXCERPTS
  • Schneider Family Book Award - Won 2011
  • Reading is Fundamental Multicultural Book list - 2011-2012
  • Volunteer State Book Award - Nominated 2013

 Starred Review from School Library Journal: "Lyon's short, descriptive sentences set up the situation deftly, and Avril's astute chalk, pencil, and acrylic drawings of "two of everything" provide a vivid window into Ginny's pre-treatment world."


Starred Review from Publishers Weekly:  "Without lecturing or making Ginny the object of pity, Lyons and Avril, who works in cheery but remarkably expressive pastels, show how disorientating and alienating it feels when something as fundamental as visual perception goes awry."

Starred Review from Kirkus: "Lyon's simple, declarative text effortlessly puts readers into Ginny's head, and Avril's whimsical mixed-media illustrations give them her eyes, overlaying one image slightly off its original in a satisfyingly disorienting fashion."


Review from Booklist: "Created with pastels, acrylics, and colored pencils, Avril’s bold and wonderfully vivid mixed-media illustrations sometimes portray the classroom through Ginny’s eyes, with overlapping images of chairs, books, and people, though they usually present an outside perspective."

5. CONNECTIONS

 *Other books by George Ella Lyon:
Planes Fly. ISBN 978-1442450257
Which Side Are You On? The Story of a Song. ISBN 978-1-933693-96-5
All the Water in the World.  ISBN 978-1416971306

 *Other picture books with young children who have eye disabilities:
Headley, Justina Chen. The Patch. ISBN 978-1580891707
Shaw, Beth Kobliner and Jacob Shaw. Jacob's Eye Patch.  ISBN 978-1476737324
Kostecki, Jenny Sue.  My Travelin' Eye.  ISBN  978-0805081695
*George Ella Lyon's Website
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Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Does My Head Look Big in This?

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Abdel-Fattah, Randa. 2008. Does My Head Look Big in This? New York, NY: Scholastic Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0439922333

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

 When a sixteen year old Muslim girl in Australia decides to wear her hijab full time, even her family questions if it is the right decision. To Amal, the decision to be a ‘full-timer” is her way of embracing her faith and proclaiming her pride in her religion.  However, at time she experiences doubt and struggles with some of the confines of her culture.  As she adjusts to being a full-time wearer of the hijab, Amal discovers confidence in herself and learns to embrace the daily conventions of Islam.

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS

 Similar to the main character, Randa Abdel-Fattah is also an Australian-born Muslim who attended a Catholic elementary school. Due to these similar backgrounds, Abdel-Fattah is able to expertly pen a story filled with vividly exquisite cultural details. Amal’s story is replete with authentic examples of Islam.  The descriptions of the hijabs chosen by Amal, and the care in which she chooses her outfits after becoming a full-time wearer of the hijab, are comprehensive and enable the reader to envision the outfit in its entirety.  These detailed descriptions allow the reader to comprehend the enormity of her decision to wear a hijab full-time.

Amal’s entertaining and often amusing narrative draw the reader in and create a story that is thoroughly appealing. It is often Amal’s descriptions of family dynamics that demonstrate the complications of being a Muslim in a post-9/11 world.  Amal’s uncle and his attempts to disregard his Islamic background and his obsession with Western vernacular are an embarrassment to Amal.  Conversely, her best friend’s family is vehemently opposed to any leanings toward Western, non-Islamic ideals. 

One of the more interesting elements in the story is Amal’s crush on a non-Muslim boy in her prep school.  As her Muslim friends and she become close friends with some of the non-Muslim classmates, the magnitude of the differences are evident, as is their inherent similarities.

Does My Head Look Big in This? is a must read for late middle school students. Readers will discover that Amal’s struggles with self-acceptance and confidence are very similar to the struggles that occur in their everyday life, regardless of their religious and cultural background.


4.  REVIEW EXCERPTS
  • Black-Eyed Susan Book Award - Nominated 2009
  • Young Reader's Choice Award - Nominated 2010
  • Australian Book of the Year for Older Children - Won 2006 
  • Children's Book Council Notable Book of the Year - 2006
  • UK Galaxy Book Awards - Long listed 2006
  • Grampian Children's Book Awards - Short listed 2006
Review from Booklist: "The first-person present-tense narrative is hilarious about the diversity, and sometimes heartbreaking...Without heavy preaching, the issues of faith and culture are part of the story, from fasting at Ramadan to refusing sex before marriage. More than the usual story of the immigrant teen's conflict with her traditional parents, the funny, touching contemporary narrative will grab teens everywhere."

 Review from Asian Express:  "Amal’s funny and passionate story about her journey through adolescence is a universal subject that readers of all ages and religions can relate to."

Review from Telegraph (UK): "Eye-opening…funny and positive. A book about defiance, determination, intelligence and self-respect."

Review from Books For Keeps: “It’s funny, it’s foolish, it’s serious, it takes up real issues, it tells a story and it strikes a chord. What more can you want of any book?"

5. CONNECTIONS

 *Other books by Randa Abdel-Fattah:
Where the Streets Had a Name. ISBN 978-0545172929
The Friendship Matchmaker. ISBN 978-0802734761
Ten Things I Hate About Me. ISBN 978-0545050562

 *Other chapter books with young, Arab characters:
Budhos, Marina. Ask Me No Questions. ISBN 978-1416949206
Barakat, Ibtisam. Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood.  ISBN  978-0374357337
Nye, Naomi Shihab.  Habibi.  ISBN  978-0689825231
*Randa Abdel-Fattah's Website
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Dumpling Days by Grace Lin

Dumpling Days

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lin, Grace. 2012. Dumpling Days. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0316125895

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

 This is the third Book in the series about a young, Taiwanese-American girl named Pacy Lin.  Pacy, her two younger sisters, and her parents head off to Taiwan for an entire month to celebrate her grandmother's 60th birthday.  Pacy is not looking forward to the trip and has no interest in wasting her summer in Taiwan.  Upon her arrival struggles with her obvious differences and lack of language skills.  Not only does she not fit in at home in the United States, but she doesn't fit in Taiwan either.  Pacy spends the summer discovering who she is and opening her mind to her cultural identity.

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS

 Like the two previous books in this series, author Grace Lin focuses on the age appropriate experiences faced by Pacy that are unique to her American-Asian background. Newberry Honor novelist Lin uses her personal family dynamics and cultural background to authentically depict Pacy’s struggles with her Taiwanese-American identity.

The setting is expertly portrayed, and the reader can fully envision the various locations in the book. When Pacy notes that the city of Taichung feels "different from Grandma’s," her father replies, "Yes, it’ll be more….real Taiwan." This brief exchange encourages the reader to reflect upon the differences that can occur even within the boundaries of one country.  Pacy’s discomfort with her new surroundings is evident, and the reader will empathize with the changes she is experiencing. 

The title, Dumpling Days, manifests a very clear pattern that occurs throughout the book.  Pacy’s infatuation for the traditional Taiwanese dumpling establishes a continuing pattern of comfort that results from her immersion in the Taiwan culture. The dumpling represents the culture of Taiwan and invites the more savvy reader to reflect upon Pacy’s place in the Eastern country and her increasing comfort level in the various customs and traditions.

While the book does focus heavily on Pacy’s cultural experiences in Taiwan, the storyline is not limited to cultivating cultural diversity.  The average late elementary school to early middle school reader will enjoy this Pacy Lin book, not because the book is considered multicultural, but because it is a good story with an appealing storyline and engaging characters.

4.  REVIEW EXCERPTS
  • Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) - Choices 2013

 Starred Review from Library Media Connection: "Read this aloud when studying China and Taiwan, when studying the many cultural heritages of America, or just for fun."

 Review from Booklist:  "Thoughtful and sometimes amusing, this episodic journey narrative captures Pacy’s emotions and reflections...both traditional tales and memorable accounts of family members dealing with superstition, political oppression, and loss. While this engaging book broadens the series in a meaningful way, it also works well as a stand-alone title."

 Review from Kirkus: "This third outing is as warmhearted as the first two. Deftly weaving together historical anecdotes and simple line illustrations, Lin once again touches the heart of growing up in a multicultural family."

 Review from School Library Journal: "Humorous and thoughtful, with serious issues approached with a light touch...Readers new to the series will enjoy meeting Pacy, and fans will be satisfied as well."

 Review from Sweet on Books, ABC7 News Learning Section: “Although Pacy's background and experiences are somewhat unique, readers will relate to her concerns over her identity and her feelings about family and school. Readers may also come away with a better understanding of what it is like for someone who feels or looks different from everyone else."

5. CONNECTIONS

 *Other books in the Pacy Lin Series, by Grace Lin:
The Year of the Dog. ISBN 978-0316060028
The Year of the Rat. ISBN 978-0316033619
*Other chapter books with young, Asian American characters:
Lin, Grace. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. ISBN 978-0316038638
Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese.  ISBN 978-0312384487
Kadohata, Julia.  The Thing About Luck.  ISBN  978-1416918820
*Grace Lin's Website
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The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

The Name Jar
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Choi, Yangsook. 2001. The Name Jar. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0375906138

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Unhei moves to America from Korea and is uncertain that the other children will be able to pronounce her name.  When she arrives to class, she explains that she will be able to choose her own, new name when the time is right.  Her young classmates create a name jar and fill it with potential names.  As Unhei becomes more acclimated to her new home, she begins to consider the special meaning of her Korean name.

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS

 Internationally acclaimed author Yangsook Choi applies her personal experiences from growing up in Korea to the story in this charming picture book.  The vibrant oil paintings engage young preschoolers and Choi’s exceptional ability to paint children of many different cultures is evident throughout the book.

Even the youngest reader can empathize with Unhei’s uneasiness in her new surroundings. While it is clear that the story takes place in the United States, significant additions such as the Korean neighborhood market indicate a setting unique to Unhei and her personal experiences.

References to Unhei’s name stamp augment the more traditional elements of the story. When Unhei fills a piece of paper with her name stamp signature, she is reminded of her home country and the family she left behind.  Her new friend, Joey, is delighted with her beautiful Korean signature and this prompts Unhei to gradually acknowledge the importance of her heritage.

When Unhei ultimately chooses a name, the response from her fellow students depicts a overwhelming acceptance of cultural diversity. Even the youngest readers will grasp the significance of Unhei’s decision and many will rejoice that she made a befitting choice. Overall, The Name Jar is a delightful story for preschoolers and young elementary students.

4.  REVIEW EXCERPTS
  • California Young Reader Medal - Nominated 2004
  • Flicker Tale Children's Book Award - Nominated 2004
  • Grand Canyon Reader Award - Nominated 2005
  • Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award - Nominated 2004
  • Emphasis on Reading Award - Nominated 2003
  • Beehive Children's Book Award - Nominated 2003

Review from Booklist:  “The paintings are mostly in gold and earth tones, and the figures have both stature and simplicity--as does the story.”

Review from Kirkus: “Choi...draws from her own experience, interweaving several issues into this touching account and delicately addressing the challenges of assimilation. The paintings are done in creamy, earth-tone oils and augment the story nicely”

Review from School Library Journal: “The bright, bold paintings that illustrate the story are realistic, warm, and appealing.  Unfortunately, the text sags under the weight of its mission to describe how it might feel to immigrate.  A well-meaning and visually attractive effort, but uninspired."

Review from the New York Times: “...Unhei's reflection and inner strength are noteworthy; cultural details freshen the story, and Choi's gleaming, expressive paintings are always a treasure.”
CONNECTIONS
*Other books by Yangsook Choi:
Peach Heaven. ISBN 978-0374357610
Behind the Mask. ISBN 978-0374305222
New Cat. ISBN 978-0374355128
*Other picture books that include Asian American children:
Joung Un Kim, Soyung.  Sumi's First Day of School Ever. ISBN 978-0670035229
Bae, Hyun-joo. New Clothes for New Years Day.  ISBN 978-1933605296
Recorvits, Helen.  My Name is Yoon.  ISBN  978-0374351144

*Yangsook Choi's Website
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