The Last Song

I need to be clear: for most of my life now, I've been a Nicholas Sparks snob. I love the movie The Notebook, but I have quietly made fun of the other movies, seeing them as cheesy and predictable. I loved the book A Walk to Remember when I read it in high school, but I told no one and never mentioned it again. I can't really say where this snobbery came from, but it's been there and I need to confess it. When I dropped a copy of The Last Song into my shopping cart after it first appeared, I was confused by my own actions. Aside from this being a Nicholas Sparks book, it's also starring Miley Cyrus: the book was written FOR the movie and therefore the protagonist's role was written FOR Miley. As much as I haven't been a Sparks fan, I'm much less of a Miley fan. So I still really don't understand how I own it. Even though I bought it, I didn't read it for...what? A year? A year and a half? I started it once and couldn't get past the annoying Miley voice in my head so I put it down. But for whatever reason, I picked it up a couple days ago, and....I loved it. And I have some apologizing to do.

To be fair to myself, I need to comment on the fact that Sparks reuses themes and plot devices quite often, and that some of his dialogue is cheesy and weak, and that the Epilogue was a little bit too Band-Aidey. But with those criticisms said, I really did enjoy this book a lot. I got hooked almost immediately this second time around, and I only got more hooked the more I read. The romance was sweet and snagged me instantly (if you've read any of my other posts you know that I'm such an easy sell for an attractive male character, despite my best efforts), and I appreciated the lack of sexual content SO much. There were two almost-scenes that didn't amount to anything, which was refreshing. Foul language was also basically nonexistent. (If I sound a little bit like a prude, it's just because I don't ever want to be accused of supporting/recommending/promoting books that a parent would be offended by for their middle school student, and any book that I can peacefully choose to leave on my classroom shelf rather than take off of it is a book I appreciate.) The story of Ronnie's (aka Miley's) relationship with her estranged father and annoying little brother is wonderful, full of heartwarming and heartbreaking goodness. Contrary to what I expected, I also found lots of surprising plot twists scattered throughout that kept me guessing and wondering how it would all play out. The fact that chapters rotate narrator also provides a great opportunity to discuss voice and perspective between characters.

So...I'm sorry. I'm sorry Nicholas Sparks, and I'm sorry unnamed friend of mine whose favorite author is Nicholas Sparks. I never should have laughed/scoffed/turned up my prideful nose at either of you. Or the rest of the Sparks-loving world. I was wrong.

Matched

Alright. I finished this book not 30 seconds ago, and I have to be completely honest. I struggled with the first...eh...180 to 200 pages. I know that sounds like a lot of text to read while struggling with it, and it is. I wasn't struggling because I wasn't interested, though, or because the writing was bad. I was and it definitely wasn't. From the first review/synopsis I read of this book I've been genuinely intrigued and antsy to read it, and I wasn't disappointed in the plot - even during the first 180 to 200 pages. I was disappointed, though, and I did struggle with the way that the setting seemed to be a subtle rip-off of The Hunger Games. The Society of Matched is eerily similar to the Capitol of The Hunger Games; the love triangle irked me as a Katniss/Gale/Peeta copycat. Now that I've finished the book, however, I've moved on and realized that A) I don't have a lot of experience reading books that take place in the future, and maybe all these authors are just seeing the writing on the wall and doing a good job of predicting the same horrible future for us, and B) Katniss doesn't own the love triangle concept, they're just common. Period. Now that I've gotten that - and the first 200ish pages - out of the way, here's what I really think about it:

Wow. I have learned some things about myself while reading this book. For starters, I'm apparently a sucker for fictional boys. Kind of obnoxiously so. I did a much better job of resisting the wiles of Ky than I did Peeta's, but what does it really matter in the end? I fell for that charm and I fell hard. I like Ky. Of course the problem is that I like Xander. (In case you didn't catch it, this is the love triangle element.) The weird thing is that it took me most of those 200ish pages to like Cassia, the main character/antagonist/narrator. I saw her as weak and flighty...a big part of me wanted to keep comparing her to Katniss and Katniss kept winning. But, also in the end, I moved on. They're two completely different characters and Cassia wisens up considerably, changing from that weak and flighty girl into a headstrong rebel that the Girl on Fire would be proud to march alongside of. (Wow...if you haven't read The Hunger Games, you are so lost. But honestly, you've had a couple years to get on board. Read those books immediately.) As I closed the book for the last time just minutes ago, I decided that I definitely love this book. My feelings went from a mild "eh" to concrete enthusiasm, and I would recommend it without a hesitation. I also appreciate that it seems to be set up for a sequel...I just love sequels. It's so hard for me to say goodbye to characters I have come to love. And I did come to love these characters.

The more blogposts/reviews I write, the more I realize how I am so hit or miss. Sometimes I'm straight to the point and just explain myself. And other times I'm bouncing all over the place. Since this is Friday afternoon and I've been alone at work against my will for two and a half hours now, this is one of the bouncier ones. I'm really sorry about that. Here, succinct and to the point, is my review: Slow start, but comes together in the end. Loved it. Go check it out.

Happy weekend.

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Could there be a more adorable cartoon boy than Harold? I think not. Believe it or not, I just read this classic for the first time about a month ago and thought it was the cutest thing I'd read since I myself was a toddler. When I had to do a children's book assignment for one of my classes this week, I knew the Harold was my boy. This book is, in my opinion, excellent for instilling inspiration and personal motivation in students: Harold wants to go for a walk with his crayon, so he draws his walk. He makes his own street. He makes his own moon and his own picnic and his own sailboat to rescue himself and his own apple tree. When Harold travels all over with his crayon, creating his own adventures, and wants to go back home, he draws his house and he's home. Basically, Harold decides that something should exist, so he creates it himself. When unforseen scary times approach - Harold accidentally draws waves that swallow him up and try to drown him - he doesn't loose all hope and give up...he draws himself a sailboat so he can pull himself out of the scary water and sail back to land. When he accidentally falls off a cliff that he never drew the other side of, Harold calmly draws a hot air balloon and floats away. What a perfect conversation starter for students who have grown up thinking that they have been provided with a concrete set of intelligence or skill or talent and that they lack any control over their success. I think it might be even more perfect for a conversation regarding how to react when bad things surprise you. Harold didn't give up. Harold simply created his own escape plan and turned it into something good. If you aren't so interested in this particular route for instruction, I think this book also works beautifully for introducing unconventional figures (historical, scientific, fictional) who broke the rules and thought a bit nontraditionally but who made a huge difference in their given field. If none of these interest you, you could perhaps discuss Harold's impact on the environment as he travels through his drawn world...but that might be a little bit of a stretch...

John, Paul, George, and Ben

I had heard about this book for a while - seen it in stores, heard it referenced in the one day I spent in my accidental enrollment in an elementary ed. course, etc. - and pretended to know all about it but didn't really. When my professor brought it out the other day to show us, I secretly got really excited because I could finally have an actual wealth of knowledge about this popular little picture book. And honestly, it's really cool. Since I am going to be licensed to teach both middle school English and middle school History, I'm pretty interested in finding books that can span both of those subjects. [I'm really interested in finding books that can span all subjects, for the record.] This particular book follows the childhoods of four of our Founding Fathers, John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin. These childhoods range from being semi-fictional to [as far as I know] very fictional, but they're extremely humorous and they all relate to things we know as fact about those Founding Fathers. For example, John Hancock has a hard time not writing his name extremely large on all his elementary papers, and Paul Revere shouts constantly as a young boy. It's cute and it's very comical, and it would be a great way to introduce some funny post-unit material to students after they've learned the necessary information to "get it." All the little stories in this book are funny because we already know about what the grown men were like and what they are famous for; the book wouldn't be nearly as interesting to students if they hadn't learned those facts yet. There's something very powerful to a middle school student, though, to be able to watch a movie or read a book that has references to what they've learned in school and to get the reference. This book provides a great tool for that.

Rhyming Dust Bunnies

This book is completely adorable and completely hilarious. As you could imagine by the title and the image on the cover, it's a short picture book about four dust bunnies who like to speak in rhymes...except Bob, the difficult one. As the other three dust bunnies - Ed, Ned, and Ted - speak in perfect rhymes to get their points across, Bob continues to be a problem by speaking out of rhyme. Exasperated, Ed, Ned, and Ted correct him each time...until Bob turns out to be relaying a very important message.

Honestly, this book takes about three minutes to read out loud, start to finish. But the possible intents and messages to relay to kids or students seem endless. Bob is an outcast and nonconformist who is the only one willing to speak out of turn in order to accomplish something. Because of this, Bob goes unheard and mildly shunned by his peers. They roll their eyes and correct him and think that's he's maybe not all-together with it. But Bob, in the end, is the only one who's got it right. I know this may seem like a lot to extrapolate from a picture book that I've already confessed takes a brief three minutes to read, but seriously: it's a good one. So funny and so entertaining while also containing incredible potential for a conversation starter in a class of students. [Plus, isn't Bob one of the best names in the whole world? Don't agree? You clearly need to see this movie.]