Sabrina Carnesi
Crittenden Middle School
Newport News, VA
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Genre: Juvenile NF
636
Setting: Zambia
Meaning of Bulu
◦ (Bantu)= wild dog
◦ (Northwest Africa) =
Serious-minded,
responsible, and stable
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Main Characters:
◦ Steve & Anna Tolan
◦ Bulu
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Problem:
◦ Steve was in an accident
◦ He and Anna sold everything and moved from
England to Zambia to live and work in wildlife
conservation.
◦ Warned not to get a dog if they were living in the
bush / adopted Bulu / Runt of the litter
 break their hearts
 dogs were eaten by predators
 died from diseases
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Themes:
◦ Jack Russell
 Known as Big Dog in Tiny Body
 Bulu cared for the orphaned animals
 Monkeys, warthogs, baboons, and elephants
 Protected them from lions, cheetahs, floods, etc..
◦ Dog / Pet Care / Regional & Ethnic Views on
household pets
◦ STARK CONTRAST – ELEVATED REALITY – LIFE OF
DOG / LIFE OF HUMANS
 Human deaths by AIDS in Zambia and orphaned
children
 Anna insisting Bulu be seen immediately by vet
Study Guide available for download:
http://www.randomhouse.com/book/8
3299/bulu-african-wonder-dog-bydick-houston#reader'sguide
Animal Rights Blog
http://www.ifaw.org/af/solr-search/pets%20in%20africa
Animal Rights Website
http://www.ifaw.org/af/solr-search/pets%20in%20africa
"There is darkness on the water.
There is darkness on the land.
There is darkness all around us,
but I will hold your hand.
You are safe, my precious child.
You are safe now, you are home.
We have found you and we love
you.
You will never be alone."
—All the Broken Pieces, PP. 1112
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Genre: Fiction – Quick
Read- has been
compared to Hesse’s
Out of the Dust
Setting: 2 years post
Vietnam War…late 70s
Main Character:
◦ Matt Pin 12 years old / air
lifted out of Nam
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Problem:
◦ Vietnamese birth / abandoned by Am.
Soldier dad
◦ Brought to USA for a better chance at
age 10 (story starts 2 years later)
◦ Although he learns piano and plays
baseball…the past haunts him and
◦ Nightmares
◦ School kids bully him
 Rob blames Matt for his brother’s death
 Matt fears that if his adoptive parents
really knew what he did, they will not
want him anymore
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Theme
◦ PTS Post Traumatic Stress
◦ Conflict / Peer mediation
◦ Points of View (POV) of Vietnam War
from Vietnamese perspective
◦ Immigration
◦ Suicide Bombing
http://www.adoptvietnam.org/adoptio
n/babylift-index.htm
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Genre: Fantasy Fiction –
Quick Read
Setting:
◦ Modern day Noble Green,
PA
◦ “The Safest Town on Earth”
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Main Character:
◦ Daniel Corrigan
 12 years old
 tween sleuth (Sherlock
Holmes is his idol
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Problem:
◦ Daniel moves to PA to care
for his ailing grandmother.
◦ the superheroes in Daniels
town are plagued with loosing
their powers once they turn
13.
 No memory of super life or
super friends
◦ Daniel is asked to solve the
puzzle
◦ Super power REPRESENTED
 IN THE BOOK: STENCH – FLY –
INVISIBILITY – MANIPULATE
ELECTRICITY – STRENGTH –
HEIGHTENED SENSES
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Author’s Website
http://matthewcody.com/
The ultimate list of superheroes and villains
in the comic book universe
www.comicvine.com/characters/
Superhero Database: superheroes, villains,
teams, and powers www.superherodb.com/
The Superheroes Quiz…Which Superhero
are you
http://www.thesuperheroquiz.com/
Chapter 1 is online
http://www.matthewcody.com/Powerless_Chapte
rSampler_PDF_WEB.pdf
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Genre: SyFy
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Quick Read
1st Person
Humor that appeals to children and adults
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Setting: mostly on the 1st civilian ship to space
as it journeys around the moon
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Main Character:
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Liam
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12 years old
Extra Tall
Facial Hair
Looks thirty / Often mistaken for a grown-up
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Liam’s friend (daughter)
Florida Kirby
Problem
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He enters a contest as a "dad" and wins a trip with
his "daughter" (friend, Florida) to a new theme
park/thrill ride. When he and Florida arrive, they
find out they're in China with three other dads and
their sons; the object is to test drive a new top
secret rocket
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Theme
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Walking in someone else’s shoes
The game “War craft”
Manned Space flights / NASA /
Father / son relationships / Parenting
Gravity
Technology today and in the future
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Technology mentioned in book could possibly date
it
Comparative language is used to allow his readers
to immerse themselves in Liam’s adventure since
they will never have the same opportunity to
experience such an exotic journey. “She shouted so
loud that you could hear her words moving away
from us over the dunes. Then we heard something
that sounded like God hovering the world. It was the
wind. A wind that threw sand at our legs and arms
so hard it felt like we were being stabbed with a
billion nano-knives” (p. 132).
Critique
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Private Craft Soars into Space July
14, 2004
http://articles.cnn.com/2004-0621/tech/suborbital.test_1_testpilot-mike-melvill-spaceshiponeburt-rutan?_s=PM:TECH
Virgin Galactic: Civilian Spaceship
December 7, 2009
http://articles.cnn.com/2004-0621/tech/suborbital.test_1_testpilot-mike-melvill-spaceshiponeburt-rutan?_s=PM:TECH
YouTube Video of SpaceShipOne
(1st Civilian Spaceship)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=29uQ6fjEozI
Update on Civilian Space Travel
http://moonandback.com/2011/0
9/03/the-virgin-galactic-storythe-future-of-civilian-spacetravel/
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Genre: Fiction – Quick Read –
emotional realism
Setting:
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Main Character:
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◦ Modern day suburbs of Las Vegas
◦ Ella Cartwright – Bullied because
she’s of mixed race and
discoloration of skin
◦ Zachery – suffers from a mental
illness that causes escapism into a
fantasy world
◦ Bailey James – likes to be the center
of attention – spins situations to
make it look like he’s on top – only
other black in Ella’s school
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Problem:
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Theme:
◦ a main character with
self-esteem issues due
to her mottled
coloration of her face
◦ another character who
at first comes across as
funny/quirky & later is
discovered to have a
mental illness and need
of professional help
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Mental Illness
Bullying
Camouflaged reality
vitiligo
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Mental Health Issues in Youth Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLMhBrcxwWU
Identifying mental health issues in teens
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/711264_3
The National Vitiligo Foundation, Inc.
http://nvfi.org/index.php
Vitiligo Support International
http://www.vitiligosupport.org/
Here’s what vitiligo looks like:
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Genre: Historical
Fiction
Setting:
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Main Character:
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Problem:
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◦ 1941
◦ WWII, Women’s Airforce
Service Pilots (WASP)
Ida Mae Jones (Jonesey)
◦ Jonesey is a light
skinned white that
passes for black in order
to be a pilot in the Air
Force. This forces her to
live a lie concerning her
family and friends.
Theme: At what risk do you
take to fulfill your dreams?
◦ Stay true to yourself
◦ Preferential treatment outside
and within a race
 her best friend observes that she
is “Little Miss Pretty Hair [with:]
Creamy White Skin” (p. 9)
◦ Female pilots
◦ WWII
◦ How the home front helped
 Ration cards / saving bacon fat
for ammo and medicine
◦ Jim Crow Laws / segregation
◦ Career choices for women in the
40s
◦ 2010 Congressional Medal of
Honor to WASP program
members
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Women’s Airforce Service Project
http://wingsacrossamerica.us/wasp/
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Anita Florence Hemmings passed for white
to get acceptance into Vassar in 1893.
http://panachereport.com/channels/hip%
20hop%20gallery/PassingForWhite.htm
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Will Latinos become the next group to
pass for white?
http://www.newstaco.com/2012/03/0
7/are-latinos-going-to-start-passingas-white/
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Genre: Fiction
Setting:
◦ Young Oaks AFB, North
Carolina
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Main Character:
◦ Bo – son of base commander
◦ Gari – Bo’s cousin from
Seattle
◦ Ms. Loupe DOD teacher who
uses improv techniques with
6th graders to work through
skills development and
remediation
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Problem:
◦ Sibling rivalry among cousins
◦ Miss Loupe becomes distant and
loses enthusiasm after her brother
is MIA in Afghanistan
◦ In an effort to bring Ms. Loupe back
to normal, the students stage a
production for their base community
to help them to cope with the
unexpectedness of war tragedies
Theme
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Department of Defense Schools(DOD)
Modern Day Military Base Living and
employment
Sibling rivalry
Behavior expectations at school
The war in Iraq and Afghanistan
Working with others
Stepping out of your comfort zone
Personal Critique
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Slightly construed characteristics of
teaching methods and situations
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Department of Defense Schools in
Europe http://www.eu.dodea.edu/
The Use of improv theatrical
technique for urban classrooms
http://www.eastsideinstitute.org/Edu
cation_assets/The%20Developing%20
Teachers%20Fellowship%20Program%20Use%20of%20Improv%20Theatre.
pdf
There actual is a technique for using
improv to teach skills in K8
classrooms!
The Second City Guide to Improv in
the Classroom: Using Improvisation
to Teach Skills and Boost Learning.
ISBN 9780787996505. Wiley, 2008.
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Genre: Historical
Fiction
◦ Based on the story
of the 1st Japanese
to come to the USA
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Setting: 1843
Japan and New
England
Main Character:
Nakahama Manjiro
◦ Age 14
◦ poor
Problem:
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Nakahama wants to be a samurai, but due to rank
this will never happen…
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Works as a fisherman
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Is shipwrecked w/4 others and saved by an
American whaling ship in 1841
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Japan tainted all citizens that mixed w/outsiders
(barbarians)
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Nakahama was the only fisherman that mingled with the
Americans…because he was sooo fascinated by the art of
whaling and the English language & comes to America
w/the captain
Lives in usa for about 10 years and attends school
Earns money in the Gold Rush / returns to Japan / and is
then arrested as a spy until policies shift & Japan makes
efforts to communicate with the outside world
Earns rank of samurai for credit of helping Japan to
overcome 250 years of isolation to enter into a
relationship with the USA
Theme
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Elements of natural history,
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whaling, sailing,
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prejudice, politics,
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courage and determination
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America and Japan pre Civil War years
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The 4-Tiered Class System of Feudal Japan: farmers / peasants,
artisans, merchants, Samurai class
http://asianhistory.about.com/od/japan/p/ShogJapanClass.htm
Heart of a Samurai Cliff Notes available for a fee on line http://www.enotes.com/heart-of-a-samurai
Background Information on storyline is available on author’s
website
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Genre: Fiction – Raw Adventure
“…I had four fingernails split all
the way down the middle. It felt
like some had set them on fire.“
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Setting: New York City & Tibet
Main Character:
◦ Peak Marcello
 Age 14
 Addicted to extreme climbing
◦ Joshua Woods
 Peaks famous mountain climbing dad
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Problem:
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Critique:
I learned three main things from this book...
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1) "...what makes a story unique is not necessarily
the information in the story but what the writer
chooses to put in or leave out. (pg. 146-147)"
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2)"You don't have to be alone to feel alone. (pg.
154)"
3) Sacrifice. Think of others before yourself.
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Peak is arrested for climbing a sky scraper in New
York, where he lives.
Given the option to go to juvie hall or live with
biological dad in Thailand.
Dad encourages Peak to be the youngest person to
climb Mt. Everest…but it has to be done before his
15th birthday
Theme
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Mountaineering Climbing Safety Techniques
Dangers & thrills from extreme sports…”frozen
dead bodies litter the paths to the summit”
Father / son relationships
Geography of Tibet and Mt. Everest
Selfishness (a trait of those that are intensely
single-minded
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This is a site that has info on mountain climbing schools that
teaches you how to tie ropes, etc.
http://santiamalpineclub.org/mountain/climbing/schools/instru
ction/
Real life 13 year old American, Jordan Romero, reaches the
summit of Mt. Everest in May of 2010 (CBS News World)
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-202_162-6508878.html
Climb Mt. Everest (National Geographic)
http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/ne
pal-everest-basecamptrek/detail?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campai
gn=NGExpeditions&utm_content=General
Price needed to climb Mt. Everest in the tens of thousands –
Equipment alone is between $8,000 to $15, 000 – Airfare
between $2,500 to $8,000.
http://outdoors.whatitcosts.com/mt-everest.htm
Mount Everest Fact Sheet
http://www.mnteverest.net/history.htm l
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Genre: Space and Time
(Science?) Fiction
Elements of “A Wrinkle
in Time”
Setting: 1970s New
York City
Main Character:
Miranda
◦ 6th grader – age 12 –
introvert and single child
syndrome
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Sal
◦ Miranda’s best friend
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Problem:
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Theme:
◦ Miranda starts getting notes that tells her
about things that are going to happen in
the future
◦ As she tries to solve the clues, she is
drawn out of herself and becomes more
aware of the needs of others around her
◦ The puzzle gradually comes together on
the last day
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Rehabilitation in prisons
$20,000 Pyramid
Homelessness
Racism
Single mothers
Dead-end jobs
Self esteem \ self awareness
Friendship
NYC neighborhoods