The Host; Billie Standish Was Here; Unwind; Reading Don't Fix No Chevys; Uprising; Sight; The Book Thief;

The Host by Stephenie Meyer, 2008

Our world has been invaded by a parasitic life form and most humans are extinct, though you wouldn’t know it by just looking. The souls, as the alien life-forms are called, take over the human body and adapt the human lifestyle. At first, such deception was necessary so the humans would be unaware of their invasion, but by the time of this story, most humans are already hosts and such behavior is unnecessary and yet still practiced. On a mission to Chicago to find her cousin she believes is still human, Melanie is captured by the souls and becomes host to Wanderer, a soul that has lived on seven other planets in seven other forms of beings. But Mel refuses to be silent. From a small corner of consciousness, she thwarts Wanderer’s attempts to read her memory to find the rest of her human companions. Wanderer also inherits another unexpected obstacle from her host – the extremely strong emotion of love for her brother Jamie and boyfriend Jared that eventually leads her to be willing to sacrifice her own life to find them and then to save them.

Some additional memory-jogging tags: Survival. Resistance. Raids. Trust. Ian, loving the enemy. Uncle Jeb. Ian’s brother Kyle. Arizona desert. Underground caves and springs. Physical response to emotions.

At 619 pages, this book seemed short for how fast the story moved and how gripping the ideas were. I was haunted by its themes for a long while afterwards. What makes us who we are? Can love conquer all? What makes friends into enemies and enemies friends?

Billie Standish Was Here by Nancy Crocker, 2007

In the 1960s, in rural Missouri, Billie Standish is the 11-year-old daughter in one of only two families that don’t abandon the town when the river threatens to overflow the levees. In the absence of anyone else, she forms a friendship with her 80-something-year-old neighbor, Lydia Jenkins. When Miss Lydia’s son Curtis rapes Billie (in a scene that is emotionally powerful but graphically minimal), Miss Lydia promises her that she will not be hurt again. The next night she shots and kills Curtis as he is returning from the bar, claiming she thought he was an intruder rummaging through the town’s deserted homes.

Since the rape and murder take place in the first third of the book, they are the catalyst for what follows instead of the climax, contrary to what is often the case with such violent scenes. The rest of the book is about Billie and Lydia drawing ever closer together as they help each other through the pain and grief to the other side to a place where healthy relationships of love and trust are possible. The action takes place in first-person from Billie’s perspective from her 6^th-grade year to graduation. She learns about menstruation and how a woman gets pregnant, worries about being pregnant, forms a friendship with the boy Harlan from her class which eventually grows into a romance, learns a lot from Lydia about how to interact with her parents without being made to feel invisible, and loves Lydia through companionship and service until the end of her days.

Some of the growth and lessons feel tender, but the main catalyst feels contrived. Rape, incest, and murder seem too heavy for upper-elementary students, and yet the main character may be too young to attract the interest of older readers. And I could never really understand why it was set in the 60’s except to make it seem OK that Billie and Lydia keep such a violent act a secret.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman, 2007

In a future world where those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives “unwound” and their body parts harvested for use by others, three teens go to extreme lengths to uphold their beliefs – and, perhaps, save their own lives. Connor finds out his parents have signed his unwind orders and, after making them feel as guilty as possible for a few weeks, runs away. Risa has grown up in an Ohio State Home for orphans and though she plays piano well, she doesn’t play well enough and the authorities sign her unwind papers to make room for new arrivals. Lev is the tenth child and has been raised as a tithe, knowing that after his thirteenth birthday, he will be unwound as a holy offering. Connor’s escape flight takes him to freeway where he causes Risa’s bus to crash, allowing Risa to escape as well, and Lev’s family car to stop long enough to pull Lev away, too.

Other memory-jogging tags: Fugitives from justice. Survival. Revolutionaries. Science fiction. Arizona. Civil war and compromise about abortion. Airplane graveyard. Terrorists. Pastor Dan, crisis of faith. Trust. Secrets. Roland, shark tattoe, bullies. Sonia, underground escape network. Abandoned babies, “storked”. Cyrus Finch, CyFi, pickpocket, harvested brain. Humphrey Dunfee. Admiral. Reputation. Rumors and exaggerated stories. Mobs and riots.

The premise of this book wonderfully captivating and thought-provoking. The plot pulled me right along, though the language is a bit stilted and even preachy at times. It really makes you think about what makes each of us who we are.

Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men (371.8235) by Michael Smith and Jeffrey Wilhelm, 2002

I read this in preparation for the Literacy class I’m attending in Park City this month. The authors extensively evaluated literacy habits and attitudes of 50 boys who span secondary education grades, national regions, and socioeconomic levels. Their conclusions about implications for teachers resonate with my values of inquiry-based projects and learning through fun.

Uprising by Margaret Haddix, 2007

Three immigrant young women become friends in turn-of-the-century New York (1911), becoming united in their pursuit of justice and rights for women. Betta comes from rural Italy and stays with his cousin (second cousin?) Pietro and the cheating Lucianos. Yetta’s family are Russian Jews and lives with her sister Rahel. Both girls work in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory on the lower East side. Jane enjoys a privileged upbringing, but her mom is dead and she feels as forced into a way of life as her soon-to-be-friends. The Triangle workers’ strike got the attention of many wealthy women at the time, but not much change and it took a fire that killed 127 workers to finally see some real improvements in safety laws and work conditions.

Some additional memory-jogging tags: Historical fiction. Friendship. Labor disputes. Economic disparity.

The chapters alternate between the three main characters, all framed within an opening and closing chapter where a grown-up Harriett asks Mrs. Livingston about what happened during the factory fire when she was only five. The narrative moves quickly and each chapter end left me wanting some more.

Sight by Adrienne Maria Vrettos, 2007

16-year-old Dylan wants to be normal, but when a vision comes, she must tell the cops where to find the body. So she hides her gift from even her closest friends. Then a new girl arrives, the first new student their same age to move to this isolated mountain town in several years and Dylan finds herself confiding what she hasn’t told anyone but her mom and the cops.

Some additional memory-jogging tags: Ghosts. Psychic visions. Inherited abilities. High school. Best friends. Missing children. Murder. Locals vs. weekenders. Quaintly rural vs. tourist trap. Secrets. Criminal investigation. New development. Suspense. Aunt Ruby and Peg. Pilar, best friend. Ben, closest neighbor. Thea and MayBe, next best friends. Teen pregnancy and child birth. Vandalism.

This was a pretty fast read (3-4 reading sessions), but the creepy factor is fairly high. The violence and swearing are about PG-13.

The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak, 2005

Printz Honor Book. This book has many characters, all of whom have a connection to Liesel Meminger. Death narrates the story as he looks over humanity in Germany during World War II. Death’s main fascination is with Liesel, the book thief. Death first sees her as he takes her brother as they are traveling with their mom to a foster family on Himmel Street, a poor district in Molching, Germany. In the church yard where they bury her brother, Liesel finds a book half hidden in the snow, The Gravedigger’s Handbook. Her foster mother is a harsh woman who swears all the time, but she grows to really love her foster father who plays the accordion, winks and smiles at her, and teaches her to read with her found book. Her best friend is Rudy Steiner, a boy next door as poor and passionate as she is. Death is busy, but whenever his path crosses Liesel’s, he is fascinated with her passion for words and life, despite her poverty, the war, her home life. One other significant relationship is with Max Vanderburg, a son of papa’s comrade from World War I who is Jewish and hides in their basement for a while. He paints over Mein Kampf and writes his own stories over the words of Hitler’s that bleed through in spots.

Some additional memory-jogging tags: World War II. Holocaust. Prejudice. War fervor. Stealing. Friendship. Mayor’s wife and library. Grief. Books and reading. Storytelling. Bomb shelters. Basement. Bombs. Jesse Owens. Painter. Washer woman. Hitler’s youth. Running races. Most of the swearing is in German, though there are scattered swear words, and several “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph”-s throughout.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was detailed, complex, rich in character and personalities. It is a readers’ book, one of the most complicated and rich YA stories I’ve read. Death declares at the end: I am haunted by humans. I know I’ll need to reread it (and probably more than once more) to get all the allusions and connections and meaning, and I know I’ll enjoy it each time I do.