Kindred

Wow! I was honestly expecting this book to be awful to read just because Professor Arnold said that we should not wait until the last second to read this book because it was more mature reading. I was terrified to read the book, expecting it to be extremely boring and have a terrible plot line, but man was it interesting. I really have to give credit to the author for figuring out time traavel and making it sound realistic. I have been in writing classes before where students try to use time travel in their works of writing and they usually have so many flaws in the logic that they have to start from scratch and scrap the time travel idea. Butler on the other hand, to me, did an excellent job of keeping the concept of time travel legitimate. I'm not really sure why, because I normally have zero trouble with this, but keeping up with all of the names within the book was a bit of a challenge for me. I for some reason had a hard time remembering who Mister Weylin was and then they would call him Tom and I would be all confused. I normally have no issue with this, but this book really got me tripped up sometimes. If some day the school I teach at has the English classes broken into different reading levels, I would absolutely teach this to my advanced reading class. As we had spoke about in class, I feel it was excellent to read a book that was steeped in slavery before reading this book. I feel that really helped me understand some "customs" or "proper" ways for slaves to act. Also, I feel as though I should have known more about the geography of the land and the time period's history before reading this book so that I feel as though teaching some things such as that would be excellent framing activities for the book.
The one flaw I found with this book (which may not be a flaw at all) was that at times, the language did not seem to feel right. The slaves would comment on Dana's speech and how she didn't sound like anyone they had heard before, but at the same time the slaves didn't have horrible speech either. I feel as though reading the other book first maybe gave a skewed version of the language or maybe just a version that was specific to that particular plantation.
Overall, I was well pleased with this book and would definitely use it in my classroom.

Copper Sun

Wow! What a thoroughly enjoyable book. I really liked the quick pace of the book. The predictability at some points was annoying like Amari being pregnant and hushpuppy being at the cave and not a bear. However, I think that is just an aspect of reading adolescent literature as an adult. I would absolutely teach this book in my classroom. I feel it has many good qualities such as it being an adventurous book that would really interest kids and teach them something about the past as well. I also feel that the author did some excellent research before writing this book and including discussion questions at the end was a wise idea. I really like the fact that the author wrote about the beginning of Amari's journey and showed the reader the journey across the ocean as well. That's something that I feel is forgotten in books about slavery. We often just see slaves and feel pity for them because of the slavery and tend to overlook the real misery they are feeling from missing their homeland and their family. I also liked how she included Polly, the indentured servant. Call me ignorant, but I'm not exactly sure that I really knew such a thing existed before reading this book. Overall, this was an excellent read and I would absolutely use it in my classroom.

Feed/Maze Runner

First of all I will start off talking about the book Feed. This book was very interesting to think about how our world is rapidly evolving and how close we are to this technological phenomenon. Although I didn't feel there was really an important theme within this book, I could see myself using this book in my classroom for its content that makes my students think about technology within their own lives and how life would be without it. It would also be a great book to talk about the government and how propaganda works. It would also be interesting to tie in the view of what a utopia is and whether or not Utopias are true or if they are really just an extremely well covered up dystopia.

I really enjoyed the contemporary feel of Feed. The pace of the book was very satisfying. I didn't feel as though we rushed through it and I didn't feel as if it dragged along. I wish though that some things would be further explained. For example if we could have more information about the world and how everything seems to be in bubbles and why the government decided to take out all of the trees. It would also be interesting to see how the rest of the world is because I gathered that this was mainly just the United States that was involved in this whole "feed" and what not.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Overall, this book was okay. I feel that it was mostly relatable to the way kids are feeling when they first start high school. They are unsure of themselves and they are just trying to figure life out and see where they fit in with the rest of society. I feel that this book may be a touch outdated though. I just kept getting this vibe that the society was out of touch with today's society. I'm not saying that kid's cannot relate because it is an older story, but it definitely makes it more difficult considering how much technology plays a big role in adolescent's lives nowadays.

When I first started reading this book I had a lot of enthusiasm for it because one of my good friends in high school loved this book and he always wanted me to read it, but I never got around to it until now. As I read however, I became very disinterested in the book. It wasn't really my style and actually made me feel very depressed. When I read a book I really get into the character's mind and can relate with them, and this book just took me down a few notches too many on the happiness scale.

I am almost positive that I would not teach this as a classroom book. I would maybe suggest it to a student, although I don't know what kind of student. I feel as though if I give it to a kid who seems to be struggling that this book won't help them have a better outlook on life and on the flipside if I give it to a student who is positive then they will be dragged down in happiness. I could see how it would be an interesting book plot to do lesson plans such as writing letters to someone about your life (similar to journaling) and seeing how that makes the students feel better. It also could show how writing things down and getting things off of your chest can help you sort out your feelings and help you understand your life better.