New Format: I have made changes to my book reviews to provide a more critical and comprehensive review. I hope you enjoy! If you have any questions, have feedback, or want me to review a book, feel free to contact me. At a GlanceFrom the Back of the Book"19 Katherines and counting ... When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun - but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship and avenge Dumpees everywhere, and may finally win him the girl." About John Green
StrengthsA strength in An Abundance of Katherines was the use of footnotes. Usually we associate footnotes with boring citations and longwinded explanations to an unknown word or event the author is alluding to. John Green did provide actual definitions of unknown words and/or historical events, but in a humorous way. He also gave the reader explanations to inside jokes between characters and funny anecdotes. An excellent example of Green's footnote use happened on page 46 of the book in a conversation between one of the many Katherines and Colin. Please excuse my makeshift footnotes. Colin was explaining to one of the Katherines, "Because its important to know things. For an example, I just recently learned that Roman Emperor Vitellius once ate one thousand oysters in one day, which is a very impressive act of abligurition, (^21) ..." Later, Colin contemplated, "Why had Ovid lived in Ancient Rome in 20 BCE (^22) and not Chicago in 2006 CE? …" _____ (^21) An actual, if very obscure, English word, which means “the spending of too much money on food.” (^22) One no longer says AD or BC. It’s just not hip anymore. These days, one says either CE (for Common Era) or BCE (for Before Common Era). Another strength the book had was John Green capturing colloquial language between characters. This "everyday language" showed Green's strong development of characters that made them relatable to the reader because of the language they used. For example, Colin and Hassan often say the word "fug" instead of "fuck". On page 119, Colin says, "I'm fugging exhausted from staying up half the night reading a fugging book about the invention of the television ..." Lindsay questions the use of "fug" with, "Hey, why the fuck do you and Hassan say fug all the time?" Colin goes on to explain the origin of the word "fug" was from American novelist, Norman Mailer. When Mailer wrote The Naked and The Dead, he littered the original manuscript with the f-word, and the publisher turned down the work because of it. Mailer, in turn, replaced all the f-bombs with "fug" and the work was published in 1948. Colin was reading Mailer's "fug" filled book when he met Hassan. He shared the replacement word with Hassan, they came to the conclusion that they could "say it in class without getting in trouble" (120), and the word "fug" became a part of their vernacular. WeaknessesI found Colin to be an annoyingly stubborn character. I know, the book is about self discovery and that takes a while to develop, but this plot line was too drawn out for me. Colin was constantly stuck on solving his theorem, the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, and was missing out on new adventures with Hassan and his new friend, Lindsey in Gutshot, TN. I also found myself skipping over portions of the book that had charts, graphs, bell curves, and math equations. I'm not much of a math person, so this part was confusing. I still got the gist without reading all of the math jargon, and you can too, if math confuses you, too. Why Did I Read This Book?During an interview for an English teaching position, I was asked, "What young adult book have you recently read AND enjoyed?" I had just finished Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak and did not like it, and had been only reading my required texts for #RCWP2015. I did not have an answer. I told the hiring panel about Speak and then told them about my long list of YA books from #BookBracket2015, but knew that I needed to read more YA. When I got home from the interview, I started An Abundance of Katherines because I realized I needed to be reading more YA as a teacher of English to both enjoy and recommend to my students. I also read An Abundance of Katherines because it counted towards a category in the Spring/Summer Goodreads Reading Challenge that I am participating in. I earned 15 points for reading a book that did not have an "L" in the title and the author's name. The category originates from "No 'L' Day" which is celebrated on December 25th every year. If you read that fast enough, you would have noticed its a pun on the word "Noel." RecommendationYou should read An Abundance of Katherines if you are looking for a fun and engaging YA book that just so happens to be about self discovery. I think anyone could find a "way in" and connect with this book.
Also, if you consider yourself a John Green fan and have only read The Fault in Our Stars, you need to expand your knowledge of the John Green canon and read An Abundance of Katherines.
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Through reflection, I have decided to make some changes to The Avalanche ... of Books blog format, which includes the rating system of books.
The old rating system was based off The North American Public Avalanche Danger Scale and was too positive. I want to give credit where credit is due, but also be critical and provide the best rating I can to my blog readers. I have abandoned my old rating system and the Danger Scale in order to create a new rating system. Locked LibraryRecently, I learned that the library in my building is not accessible to students a majority of the time. There are multiple factors that contribute to this scenario, but as a first year teacher, no less an English teacher, I was devastated to not have this resource and a librarian at my disposal for additional resources, books, and materials for myself and my students. If a student is struggling or unable to find a book at home, I am not able to say to them, "Check out [book title] from the library." I am also unable to take classes down to the library to explore titles and authors and then have my students check out the books that caught their eye. Looking for some John Green? You can probably forget it as new titles are not being added to the collection. Classroom LibraryBecause of this situation, I am now on the lookout for clearance specials, garage and yard sales, and library book sales in order to build my classroom library. I wish to have a wide variety of books for my students to be able to read from my classroom library and for independent reading, in addition to the other places they may select their books from (home, CADL libraries, bookstores, etc.). Yesterday, I went to 2nd and Charles, an awesome bookstore made up of mostly secondhand books. There are other forms of media occupying the shelves, too, such as music, video games, movies, etc. This past week's sale focused on the clearance section and it was a "Buy One, Get One" deal. I was able to walk away with several books for my classroom library (see picture below). I was able to find a lot of great nonfiction titles, in addition to the one fiction title.
The books that are in my classroom library, so far, are books that I enjoyed reading when I was in middle and high school. When I see them in a clearance bin or at a garage sale, I say to myself, "Oh, that's a good book!" and grab it. My hope is that students will enjoy it as much as I did. The only problem with this is some of my students will not think or read like me, but they may read like you. How You Can HelpDo you have any books that are now collecting dust, weighing down your moves, or taking up space? Do you think a middle or high schooler would enjoy them? Do you want to share your favorite book(s) with others?
If so, let me know, and I would be happy to add them to my classroom library! Feel free to contact me via Weebly, Twitter, or email and I will provide you with more details on how you can help! Thank you for your consideration! |
The Avalanche of Books
As an educator and avid reader, I am constantly hearing about books. I feel like I am being chased by a giant, rolling avalanche of titles and authors. Rating System
5 books - New fave! Read it now!
4 books - Shelf worthy 3 books - Quality read, but ... 2 books - Borrow it 1 book - Skip it Archives
December 2017
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