More summer reading homework. I am working with a student who is starting her freshman year in high school and all incoming freshmen are to read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I made a small groaning sound when I discovered that the story takes place in Nazi Germany.
Oh dear. One of my reading rules: No Books About Nazi Germany. I hate bullies. And mass murderers. But rules are meant to be broken and I agreed to help. We set up the novel noting plan just as I had with the student for Out of My Mind (I wrote about that here).
If you don't already know, the book concerns 11-year-old Liesel who goes to live with a foster family outside of Munich at the beginning of the Nazi regime. The tale of her friendships, her hardships, her learning to read and discovering the power of words and books is written quite lyrically. The story is narrated by Death. There is the brooding tension and foreboding as the dark cloud of the Nazi horrors builds and begins to affect the lives of Liesel, her family, and neighbors.
My student and I have persevered. We have 100 pages to go. We have had some heartfelt discussions about resilience, forgiveness, the use of propaganda, and loss.
Please. Lighten up, teachers! Next summer, I hope the students I work with are reading Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys.
This is not a book I would normally read but I am tutoring a young boy who will enter fifth grade in September and his entire class was given one book to read over the summer: Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper.
This student and I have been meeting weekly for about six months and are working on his reading and writing skills. Now we are both reading Out of My Mind independently, writing chapter summaries, creating character profiles, and making a list of unfamiliar vocabulary words. Then we compare our notes to make sure he has captured the important details. He will no doubt be writing about some aspect of the book when school starts and I want to be sure he is thinking about more than just what happens in the story.
We settled on giving ourselves five weeks to read the book which is an average of eight chapters a week or about 60 pages. For him, it's a long book for a short summer.
The narrator is Melody, an 11-year-old girl with cerebral palsy. She has a photographic memory, is funny, smart, and rarely feels sorry for herself. She can't walk or talk or write. She has to be fed, dressed, and taken to the toilet. She uses a wheelchair fitted out with a communication board — a tray with letters, numbers, and phrases that she can point to. This is the only way she can express herself. That and what she calls her tornado explosions when she is totally frustrated.
Each chapter lets the reader in on one aspect of Melody's life: how she and her parents get along and how they never give up on her; how her teachers treat her; how the other kids in her class behave; how one doctor suggests she might be better off in an institutional home; how she adapts to pets, a younger sister, and a new friend.
Melody has a wonderful voice. Her wry comments on the world around her - known only to her because, remember, she can't speak or write - are quite astute. At times, Melody's story is heartbreaking but it never comes across as self-pitying.
Eventually, according to the book jacket, Melody is given the ability to speak through what I suspect is some sort of computer or tablet. But, we haven't gotten that far in the story yet.
My student and I have already had interesting discussions about what life must be like for Melody and how we might react to having her in our circle of family and friends.
So that is what I will be reading for the next couple of weeks. And here I thought, at my age, I was finished having homework for the summer.
