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

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

Okay, so during Lynne Rae Perkins uses a lot of creative structure, etc. throughout the book and incorporates art forms such as music and illustrations. One way of bringing in other art is through haikus, and at one point Debbie mentions looking through the yearbook captions and wishing they were all in haiku... so, write a haiku that could be used as the yearbook caption for either Debbie, Dan, Lenny, Hector... or someone else from the book!

but seriously...

life isn't meant to be done alone, you can't do it on your own.

don't drink or eat hot things too quickly... burnt tongue!

I actually wasn't all that into the daemons. They were interesting... how they would change for youth and then rest permanent for adults once their character and personality were developed. It's funny to consider that this little sidekick of mine would constantly be showing something that I may not want everyone to see! But, I guess I'm just not into all of the fantasy/scifi stuff that you need to be okay with to enjoy the daemons or the dust etc.

I was more interested in hearing what people thought caused Pullman to write this book. On some websites I noticed that he mentioned doing certain things (such as using the wardrobe at the beginning) in order to create parallels to C.S. Lewis' children novels that are based around Christianity.

I also am interested to hear people's reactions to the movie. I haven't seen it but I wonder if I would like it more than I did the book.

I definitely think some middle schoolers would enjoy this book, but I think that if I had been handed it I never would have made it past the first few pages... I just wouldn't have been the right child at the right time!

So I got hare...

Your HARE DAEMON represents your passive, kindhearted, and honorable nature. Though you are occasionally shy with new people, friends admire your unshakable tranquility, even in the face of chaos.

I definitely don't think this is inaccurate but not totally right either...

Coming into reading American Born Chinese, I was not excited. I had not enjoyed graphic novels AT ALL in the past and did not think I would like this either. At first, it went with what I had expected: weird comics. The craziness of the monkey etc. was not that enjoyable to me. But, as I read on I realized it wasn't that different from other books in terms of content. The story was interesting, entertaining, and funny. However, when I read I like to move quickly and take in the story as fast as possible. With all of the pictures slowing me down, I felt frustrated and pressured while reading. I enjoyed the pictures but personally I would prefer one picture per page rather than a graphic novel set up exactly.

For The Witness:
1. I do think this book is considered historical fiction. One of the focuses of the book is the history and time period. This history plays a large affect on the plot and characters of the book.
2. I'm going to agree with pretty much everyone and say that this would be considered soft historical fiction due to the fact that the characters were never truly alive nor do they exactly mimic a historical occurrence.
3. I think that this book would bring up great discussion on segregation and differences between people groups in general.
4. I think that this book could be a definite whole class read. It could easily and directly be incorporated into a unit around immigration.

The Arrival:
1. Since this book doesn't seem to be dominated or "run" by its historical period, I would say that it is not historical fiction.
2. Not historical fiction.
3. Again racism and the struggle for acceptance are themes within the book.
4. I think that this book could be used as supplemental reading added to a unit about racism, racist based historical events, immigration, etc.