Kristin’s Comments (group member since Jan 14, 2010)

Kristin’s comments from the UNC Middle School Lit group.

My favorite quotes are what have already been said..especially the one about the veil, but this one goes along with that. (p. 187-188) "I am jumping up and down because at the very moment Dick Clark said the word 'Go,' it was like an invisible hand reached out and snatched away my veil. And for almost a minute, I understood everything. When that veil isn't hanging down right in front of a person's face, a minute is long enough to realize a lot of things." I think this is great and a beautiful metaphor for how things can suddenly become clear after seeming so jumbled and impossible. It's just written beautifully and I can relate to the experience.

Another favorite is on p. 139. "I walked up the hill, where the sunlight seemed to touch everything like it was a hyper kid running all over a toy store-it bounced off the dirty metal lampposts, the shiny brass awning posts, even the sunglasses of a woman walking her dogs with a cup of coffee in one hand. Everything shined." I just love this because of the wonderful way Stead describes things. She puts everything in a different perspective and makes the reader see things through the eyes of Miranda in a new way. It's very poetic, and I love reading this type of writing. It's the way I would want to write if I were a writer :)

I would be most passionate about saving sea turtles - I watched babies hatch and walk to the ocean last summer at the beach - it was so amazing! and they're sooo cute :)
I think that family is also a very important theme for middles schoolers. I really likes how Roy made the comment about being the only child and feeling indebted to his parents to be safer than the other kids were while playing. He cared a lot about what his parents thought. I think that's really relevant to a middle schooler who is struggling during that time in life when you are trying to be more independent but still dependent on your parents.

My savvy is my ability to get along well with anyone - even those who have wronged me or done something I don't like. I always try to find the best in people and don't like dwelling on the negatives. My savvy is basically being easy to get along with. :)

Even if something doesn't look hot, it still may be hot!

I could not believe some of the test these women (or men for that matter) had to take! I knew about the one where you're put in a centrifuge and spun around to feel the G-forces, but I had no idea about some of the others. How intense! I feel like such a wimp! I would not have been willing to do the test where they inject freezing water into your ear to induce vertigo (I'm in Audiology right now and have learned all about the ear - I can't wait to ask my professor about what happens exactly - it sounds so awful!) I wouldn't enjoy the altitude test either - I couldn't believe that Cobb didn't even have a high pressure suit that fit her - she had to use the mens'. That seems almost more dangerous and difficult to pass. Along with Beth, I wouldn't have minded taking the isolation test..that sounds right up my ally as far as awful astronaut testing goes. I like floating and enjoy some quality quiet time. I'm sure that it would get boring after awhile though, and I'd get hungry. I probably wouldn't mind the psychological tests either.

My daemon's a hare too according to the quiz.
But I think that my daemon would be a short, cute giraffe :) no idea why, just trying to be different. And I do think they're kind of cute. They seem pretty peaceful and easygoing chewing on leaves and walking around. That could be me :)

I kept getting annoyed with Lyra, I guess because I can't really relate to her. I was trying to put myself in her shoes and was having a lot of trouble - she is forthright, stubborn, very curious and cunning. She didn't seem to have emotions like that of a normal child - the only time that I felt a real, personal raw emotion was when Pan was pulling away from her to talk to the bear and she felt the pain of their separation. And I also didn't understand how she just knew how to work the alethiometer.
I also had a hard time picturing the scene and location of certain events. I agree that it was very disorienting to feel like the story could be set in our world in the past but with such futuristic elements and ideas.

I found it difficult to begin reading American Born Chinese, mostly because I had very little experience in reading this type of graphic novel. I didn't know whether to read the text first or look at the pictures first when they were both thrown out at you at once, as well as the other scenes nearby on the page. I also didn't really know in what order to read certain pages, such as page 70, because the sizes of the pictures are different and so their order is a little unclear. However, these pages do you make you slow down a bit and really look at what is going on to make sure that everything makes sense. I wasn't sure how I would like the book, but I ended up enjoying the three different sets of characters and their stories, each having some Chinese reference - the Chinese-American, the Chinese fable of the monkey king, and the negatively stereotypical Chinese man. I didn't think that they needed to be brought together in the end - they stood alone fine on their own - but it did kind of bring together a neat ending that I'm sure kids would like since they usually like endings without any questions hanging and with everything tied up together at the end. The pictures and text definitely play an integrated role - neither one could stand on their own. Each one clears up any confusion produced by the other. The pictures are almost necessary because they show you everything that's going on, like watching a tv show. However, it does limit your imagination from working like it would when reading a book with only text. The pictures are necessary though because they show exactly what the author is wanting to show - something that you may not understand or get a great mental image of when you read just text can be shown in a graphic novel. Also, a lot of humor comes from the way the text and pictures work together. Something that someone said may not be funny until you look closer at what's happening in the scene.

"In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves." p 238

I really like this quote from Ender because it really sums up Ender's perspective and his compassionate nature. He is ruthless enough to get on the enemy's level, to really think like the enemy and understand the enemy. But then Ender recognizes that once he gets close enough, the enemy becomes more human and more real to him and less like an enemy. This quote foreshadows Ender's relationship with the Buggers and is also just a powerful display of how getting to know someone and seeing life through his or her eyes makes you understand and love that person much more than you ever would have from a distance.

1. My name would be girl-with-dancing-fingers because I love playing the piano :) Haha this is great Andi
2. Initially I thought that Karana was already very mature just because she always talked about her sister's silly vanity and about taking care of her brother. She seemed to understand a lot about how the village worked and about her place in it. I never doubted her maturity - she always seemed so brave when faced with the wild dogs and hunting on the island. My fondness of her grew when she spared Rontu's life even after she had planned and worked so hard to kill him and his pack for killing her brother. The only time that my opinion wavered was when she decided to keep the birds and clipped their wings. I knew that she was very lonely and wanted company, but I thought that was uncharacteristic of her for not letting the birds live naturally...even though she had already tamed Rontu...I'm not sure why that stood out to me, maybe it wasn't uncharacteristic but just unexpected.

The Arrival:
1. I do not feel that this could be considered historical fiction. Yes, there is a storyline surrounding immigration; however, the characters are fictional and some aspects of the story are fantastical. It could be argued that immigration is the historical element that drives the story because many scenes show aspects and processes of immigration that did really happen. However, I feel that the fantastical elements outweigh the historical foundation and really bring the story up out of any real historical context.
2. If the book were considered historical fiction, it would be historical fantasy fiction because of the other-worldly and magical settings and creatures. It could also be soft fiction because it does not centered around a specific historic event and does not contain historical figures.
3. The themes of immigration, diversity, and perseverance are addressed in this book. The father leaves his family and his home to go to a new place that is unfamiliar and very different from his home. He perseveres in his searches and adventures to be reunited with his family and create a new home for them.
4. The idea of immigration could be introduced and supported with this book, while keeping in mind that it is a fictional story. The process of leaving family, getting on a boat, being inspected by doctors, and struggling in a new world is something that could be shown to students in a memorable way. It would allow for discussion of how immigration really was and about the history of the United States and its diversity.
Witness:
1. This is definitely historical fiction. It encompasses real, historical issues and each character is driven in some way by them. These historical events are crucial to really understanding the lives of the characters and where they are coming from.
2. This would probably be soft historical fiction because the characters are fictional and the focus is really just on the culture and social lives of the characters during a real historical time period.
3. Issues such as racial discrimination, segregation, and racial violence are the main driving forces behind the situations in this book. This book is especially powerful because of the many perspectives in the town. The reader is able to see snippets of people’s lives on either side of the issue and to see what motivates them to speak out against the challenges they face or to follow the norm.
4. This would be a great book to use to supplement learning about the civil rights time period and racial discrimination because it gives real insight into people’s lives and how it affected them (even though they are fictional, their stories reveal true-to-life experiences). It would also be a great way to encourage a free-form, personal writing style because of its lack of restraint and use of dialect.

I don't feel that the gender of a young reader makes too much of a difference in this book 1.) because I remember really enjoying reading it and 2.) because a lot of the situations and characters are easy to relate to. Zero is my favorite character in Holes. He is the character that is the outsider. He struggles with begin misunderstood and has a low level of self-esteem, often thinking that he is good at nothing other than digging holes. The reader begins to understand Zero better throughout the book when his story of not being able to read and write and about his mother often leaving him behind to find work. However, it is also revealed that Zero is much smarter than he seems because of his quick math skills and picking up on reading and writing very quickly. It is nice to see things from Zero's perspective, especially when learning that he never knew that he was stealing, but only taking what he needed. Stanley also struggles with self-esteem and is an outsider, who is made fun of because of his weight at school and has few friends. His mindset is also negative simply because of his family's struggle with being cursed because of Stanley's no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great grandfather. Every bad thing that happens is blamed on the great-great-grandfather and Stanley often finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. I thought it was great how Stanley found a better sense of belonging when he was at Camp Greenlake with that rough group of boys and they gave him a nickname. He was one of them, even though there were still a sense of social hierarchy among them. Katherine is the intellectual that comes to educate the town on Greenlake and is admired and loved by all of her students. She believes in what she thinks is right when she falls in love with Sam, even though the town disagrees. She is resentful for the town's attitude towards her and especially Sam. These three characters are all looking for a place to fit in and belong, whether it is a family, friends, or a significant other to love. Although the book is not exactly realistic, readers can still take away something from the struggles faced by the different characters.

I didn't read Speak but I really want to now after reading these comments! haha

I do not remember my impression of The Giver as a middle-schooler because most of my middle school experiences were suppressed, sometimes purposefully and sometimes not. However, as I was reading, some things from the book did come back to me, like how the children were grouped and called by their ages, "sixes" and "elevens." I'm still a little unsure of the ending and was left wanting to know if they really made it to another community out in Elsewhere. I was so excited that Jonas took Gabriel with him!