- Who was the character and what was the basic storyline involving this character?
- Was the storyline engaging?
- Did you feel empathy toward the character and the situation(s)?
- Were the issues handled with sensitivity and respect?
- Did you find it difficult to read any of the parts of the story? If so, why?
- What is the appropriateness of this novel for school? For what age of student do you feel it would be most suitable?
- Would you recommend this book? How strongly?
Please begin your comment with the title of your novel. Thanks!
Bad Boy by Diana Wieler
ReplyDeleteA.J. is the main character and he has trouble with his friend who turns out to be gay with one of his hockey teammates. The issues in the novel "Bad Boy" were not handled well. When A.J. discovers that his best friend is gay he reacts with unsesitivity and hate toward his friend which later results in their friendship being compremised. We would recomend this book if you are interested in hockey and LGBTQ issues otherwise, this book may not meet your interests.
Geography Club by Brent Hartinger
ReplyDeleteRussel Middlebrook is a gay teen in High school who finds out that his crush Kevin Land is also gay on an internet chat room. He then starts a club with other homosexual teens in his school. I don't really feel empathy towards this character because I didn't feel as if he had problems gay teens face and no real problems. I think the issues of being gay were handled fairly well in this book. I thought I cringed a bit because of certain awkward 'gay' moments for the main character leading to 'awkwardness.'I think I wouldn't recommend this book because it doesn't make gay just a thing it makes it too important and also I don't find it relatable, a small part because of it being about gay teens, but mostly because the characters don't even face problems you hear about regular teens facing let alone gay teens. The book is okay and in my opinion it doesn't really challenge the issue as well as I think it should have, but it's not too bad of a book.
By Farzam
The Black Sunshine of Goody Pryne by Sarah Withrow
ReplyDeleteThe story line was not at all engaging and poorly writen. It's one thing if a book is boaring, another when you have to work to understand what is going on as it is mostly just uninformative dialog. Also sometime charecteres would telaport without indication. They would just apear somewhere!
We couldn't really empathise with the characters as they would take a reasonable topic and then exploited it to a point where nobody could retate to the situation. Also, the characters personalities were too over the top, making it hard to relate to them or sympathise.
In this novel nobody was gay or had any issues with sexuality or sexual orientation. LGBTQ was not a topic at all in this book.
We would not recomend this book to anybody! If the book MUST be read by a student, they should have an advanced reading level and be in grade 8 or 9.
Geography Club; by Brent Hartinger
ReplyDeleteThis book is about Russel Middlebrook and his struggle to find a place where he can express himself as a gay person and not be discriminated. The storyline was engaging and interesting, with lots of humor to lighten the subject. It was easy to support the characers because right away they were introduced as very likable people. Through different times in the story I felt empathy and compassion, but also pride and happiness for various characters. The issues surrounding LGBTQ were handled with sensitivty and respect, but also written in a creative and humourous way so the book wasn't hard to read. I would reccomend this read to a mature grade 6, 7, or 8 student, with a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed reading this story that touched on the important topic of LGBTQ people in a positive way.
The novel that I read was Grl2grl, by Julie Anne Peters.
ReplyDeleteI think that that this book would be best for mature grade eights and higher, because of sexual content.
I might recommend this book to someone who was interested in LGBTQ topics, but I wouldn't recommend it to somebody who was just browsing because the content of the book is very intense. For example a female to male transgender is raped in one of the stories.
We felt that the story-line was not particularly engaging, as the short stories felt like incomplete ideas.
Holly's Secret
ReplyDeleteBy Nancy Garden
This book is about the main character, Holly Lawrence-Jones and her two mothers. Moving to a new school, away from her old friends, she has to start over. Afraid of being bullied and made fun of because of her LGBTQ parents, she decided on her own that she's going to have a "normal" family, a father and a mother. Passing off as Yvette Lawrence-Jones, she gets tangled up with all of the lies she tells her new friends.
The storyline was simplistic, the general idea being a girl with a secret that they need to hide, going through great lengths to keep it safe. Since the storyline was nice and simple and easy to understand, readers as young as 9 years old could understand what's happening in the book, and the general idea of LGBTQ. The book was engaging with the question, "Is her plan going to blow up in her face? And if it does, will her friends still accept her?"
I felt some empathy for Holly as everyone was felt the need to fit in sometime in their life, especially when moving to a new school. The fact that she can't take back her lies, makes the reader feel empathetic to Holly.
Yes, the issues were handled with sensitivity and respect. Although the storyline is hiding the fact that Holly's parents are LGBTQ, throughout the book, the reader learns that LGBTQ people are just like everyone else, that their sexual orientation doesn't automatically make them a seperate species. With majority of the characters in the book who accept LGBTQ and find it perfectly normal, the theme of LGBTQ within the book is brought up as something that is perfectly fine, instead of something bad.
Actually, as I said before, the storyline is simple, and a 9 year old could read it with few problems. There was only one part of the book that was hard to read because having a character who is clearly uneducated say discriminating words to LGBTQ is difficult to read.
I feel that this book is appropriate for school, it's fine for primary,middle, and high school. I think this book is most suitable for kids aged 9+ or 10+.
Yes, I would reccomend this book strongly, as it would be a good first LGBTQ book for anyone to read, nothing too intense that it'll overwhelm the reader, especially if it's their first time looking into LGBTQ, the characters are likable, and the story is easy to understand.
The novel I read was My Heartbeat written by Garret Freymann-Weyr. The main character was a straight female with an older brother who was figuring out his sexuality preference, and his relationship with with his guy friend. The storyline was interesting because the female character had a crush on her older brother's friend. When I was reading this novel I could understand how the character would feel because I know someone who has gone through a situation like this. The issue revolving the older brother's homosexuality was handled with sensitivity when it came to his mother, and his younger sister, the female character, but their father, a homophobic, who refuses to accept if his son is gay or not. I found it a little difficult to understand the characters' emotions because they weren't really shown or said throughout the novel. Not being able to feel what the character feels is a big thing because without well-written characters, the novel is pretty much boring, but you could feel a tiny bit of what the character was feeling through how they acted in certain parts. There are parts of the book where it implies that a/the character(s) have done/did a sexual activity. I would recommend this novel to girls, because of the main voice is a girl, that are aged thirteen and up and that like differently written novels.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Notebooks of Melanin Sun By Jacqueline Woodson
ReplyDeleteThe main character is a thirteen year old guy named Melanin who has social issues. With his father dead, his mom and him are left alone in New York with the label of being black and therefore lowly. Sensitive Melanin finds out that his mother is lesbian and his world turns upside down. The story line was fairly engaging but at times it was very frustrating because he was very reluctant to accept his mother the way she was. Yes, i do feel empathetic towards him because I understand how tough the situation must have been for him. The book was in the format of a journal, so it was from Melanin's point of view. He was very negative about his mother's sexuality. The whole book is about him struggling with his thoughts and feelings about LGBTQ people and his gradual acceptance of them. No, I didn't really find it hard to read any parts of this novel but there was some inappropriate language and strong feelings. This novel is appropriate for children in grades 7 and above. Yes, I would recommend this book because even though it deals with tough issues like racism and sexual identity, it's interesting and deals with the topics well. I would rate this book 3 stars.
Holly's Secret by Nancy Garden
ReplyDeleteHolly decides to change her name to Yvette after being made fun of for having two moms. But hiding her family life isn't easy, and Holly eventually gets wrapped up in her lies. I personaly didn't find the story engaging, it was too dramatic, but I think people who enjoy dramas will like the story. I felt no sympathy for Holly as she put her social life above being who she was and respecting her family. I thought she was over-dramatic and boneless. BUT readers who are having trouble being themselves might appreciate the book more. The book was an easy read and there were no akward sections.I would recommend this book to a lower age group, maybe grades 4-6. I thought the issues could have been handled a lot better, but overall I'm sure readers who aren't comfortable in their own shell will appreciate the book more than I did.