From the Book Jacket
"Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds - smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try." WeaknessesMost of the novel is focused on the relationship formed between Eleanor and Park during the 1986-1987 school year. Because I was born a few years after and was a teenager fifteen to twenty years later, I found it hard to relate to some of the pop culture references (Joy Division, XTC, Esprit) and the lack of technology that Eleanor and Park experienced (cell phones, tapes, Walkmans). The novel opens with Eleanor as the new girl riding the bus to school. Seats on the bus were not assigned, but everyone had their predetermined seat based on the pecking order. After Eleanor gets on the bus and realizes this, she was told by the bus driver to find a seat and sit down. As Eleanor searched for an open seat, one of the main antagonists, Tina, badgered Eleanor at every open seat she found because someone else sat there. Park finally intervened in a not-so nice way: "'Sit down,' he said. It came out angrily. The girl turned to him, like she couldn't tell whether he was another jerk or what. 'Jesus-fuck,' Park said softly, nodding to the space next to him, 'just sit down.' The girl sat down. She didn't say anything - thank God, she didn't thank him - and she left six inches of space on the seat between them" (9). Park's outburst and swearing was extremely rude, but it turned out to be very uncharacteristic. His actions opened a door of communication and kindness by "saving" Eleanor from embarrassment and awkwardness, something that many teenagers face daily and loathe. This introduction between the two characters led to a very strained and slow "getting to know each other" phase. I felt that this dragged on and on causing me to become bored and wonder if and when they would finally fall for each other. After they fell in love, I thought that the book ended abruptly and unexpectedly. I'm not one to provide spoilers, but I was disappointed in the ending. StrengthsI've noticed that I have become very attuned to the layout of a book. Eleanor & Park had chapters that began with either "Eleanor" or "Park", but then, within each chapter, had mini chapters where the third person perspective would change within that month, event, or experience that the characters were going through. Most of the events that are highlighted in each chapter are easy to pick out. This is because they focused on the "firsts" that teenagers and relationships experience as they are getting to know each other, such as holding hands for the first time, their first kiss together, or being alone. Some of the perspectives of either Eleanor or Park could be pages long, and some were simple and short, like the following two columns:
Another strength to the text that I hope is obvious from the two examples above is the amount of pop culture and colloquial language that Rowell provides to build deep characters that are relatable and funny. The first page has a character utilizing "fuck" twice to get his point across. Let's be real: Teenagers swear. If all of the dialogue and internal thoughts of Rowell's characters left these types of words out, it would not be an accurate or relatable story for readers to read. RecommendationThis book is a love story no matter how you slice it. I would recommend it to people, more specifically teenagers, who enjoy those types of books. High school girls who enjoy falling in love stories would thoroughly enjoy this book. I also felt that the characterization and internal perspective had more emphasis on Eleanor over Park. It was difficult for me to relate to Eleanor as a male and her home life was nothing like I ever experienced. Why Did I Read This Book?I was first introduced to Eleanor & Park last spring during #BookBracket2015. Enough students nominated it to the bracket, and I remember reading the synopsis to my students when Eleanor & Park opened against Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Regardless, it piqued my interested and I picked it up in November.
I am also able to count it for the following challenges:
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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.
I gave the book a "monumental" rating because it is just that - monumental. The first half of the book provides the reader with a detailed look into how and why people procrastinate, and it is very fascinating. I'm not much of a science guy, but because I have a history of procrastinating, I was able to relate to the instances that were given. The authors also provided a lot of their own experiences with procrastination. This allowed the reader to relate with them and made the authors not seem so high and mighty. The second half of the book provided suggestions to avoid procrastination. I was able to take out a few of the suggestions and apply them to my life. These tips include: dividing projects into small, manageable chunks; making daily to do lists; starting small by taking just twenty minutes to sit down and do something; and placing time worked on projects in my calendar after I have completed it. Overall, I have seen a lot more projects getting completed on time and I hope to continue this trend as I step into my first classroom in the fall!
I feel that this book would be great for other runners to read. It doesn't matter if you are an Olympian runner or a recreational runner, like I have turned into. This book is great. It is easy to read and follow. Lear chronicles practically each day of the 1998 season. The team and individual dynamics are captured well with quotes, reflections from different runners' journals, and candid moments of both pain, suffering, and victory. The book was "exceptional" in my opinion because of the nostalgic feelings it gave me. It also serves as a great mentor text for journals/diaries. I had some issues with the formatting of quotes between people, some occasional typos, and random musings that carried on for longer than I desired.
I'm not sure if it was because of the mundane daily entries or learning more information about the highly anticipated secret that the narrator holds very close to her. I could not connect with this book. I provided it with a "reasonable" rating because I believe that it would make an impression on another reader. It didn't move me in ways that it may move others. Would I have this in my classroom library? Absolutely. I did find Melinda's daily high school perspective to be entertaining at times, including her take on the school's struggle to find a suitable mascot, the descriptions of her teachers, and her generally dry sense of humor. Laurie Halse Anderson allowed the characters to come alive, but did not develop a meaningful or engaging plot for the characters to navigate and live through. Goodreads Reading Challenge Update This Reading Round Up was jam packed with potential for the Reading Challenge I participate in a Goodread's group. Each book counted for 15 points and allowed me to move up in the leader board. As of this post, I have completed four tasks, four books, and have earned 55 points. As far as reading challenges go, I have always enjoyed them. I have been participating in this group's reading challenges for several years now, and they motivate me to read and allow me to be competitive at the same time. I think reading challenges with categories and points would be a fun way to develop an Independent Reading unit. I thought about developing one during my teaching internship, but came up with #BookBracket2015 instead.
With my students as the selection and voting committees, I had all of the components to run the tournament. At the end of February I asked my students to select their three to five favorite books of all time. I told them that their votes were going to help make the "teams" for our book bracket. #BookBracket2015 had begun! After counting up all the votes, I was met with quite the list of books. Definitely an avalanche of 258 different titles! Fortunately there were 32 top books, so a bracket of 32 was created. Books were seeded based on the number of votes and four regions were established. The stylish bulletin board in the back of my classroom was going to receive a new look, slowly but surely. I say slowly but surely because I only revealed two games (four books involved) per day with my students. I would also post the match ups on my Instagram and Twitter accounts. Each book had a # before it (i.e. #AmericanSniper) and #BookBracket2015 was used in every post. For the month of March, every day that I was in the classroom began with #BookBracket2015. I would recap the previous day's games with a clever pun and reveal the day's match ups. Students would vote via secret ballot for the book that they wanted to win per match up. I collected and counted each vote. By the Elite Eight, I was beginning to get tired of counting the copious scraps of paper, so I opted for hand raising and having students stand on the side of the room for the book they wanted to vote for. I received several complaints from the diehard #BookBracket2015 fanatics. They complained that the integrity of voting was being lost as people were voting based on how their friends were voting. In the Final Four and Championship, we went back to secret ballot voting and a champion was declared: Green Eggs and Ham! Upon reflection, #BookBracket2015 was a success! It allowed me the opportunity to talk about books in my classroom, gave me an avalanche of books to navigate through over the summer, and let me share my passion of reading and sports with my students. My students enjoyed participating in #BookBracket2015 and many have provided me with great feedback for next year. I am looking forward to #BookBracket2016 and who the eventual champion will be! |
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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