BAD BOY

Bad Boy, by Walter Dean Myers is a very difficult book for me to read.  I think part of my troubles originated in the very first chapter.  It was confusing, there were too many characters and it all seemed jumbled and unorganized to me.  Because I struggled so much with the first chapter I never had much desire for the remainder of the story.  Some of it of course was interesting, but there was nothing in this novel that kept me from putting it down, in fact it was the opposite for me; anything made me put it down.  Another possible reason for my uninterested reading of this novel could have been the time difference.  While I knew that it was a personal recollection of his life the entire time I had a hard time reading it that way.  Instead I read it as a more historical novel and at this point in the semester that is not what I want to be reading.  I did however think that it was interesting to get an insight to what social life was like in the 1940s and 50s.  I noticed the parental punishment was often beatings and I could sort of relate to that.  I AM NOT INCLUDING THIS IN MY BLOG BECAUSE I WANT PEOPLE TO THINK THAT MY PARENTS ABUSED ME OR ANYTHING.  When I was a child, if we did something wrong it was not out of the ordinary to get a hard swat on the ass.  While some people might try to argue that this is abuse or unnecessary I don’t think so.  I think that it was an effective way of getting me and my little brother to mind because we were smart enough to know that if we didn’t want to feel that pain again we had better not do whatever got use that beating again.  Some of the instances in the book though were a little graphic and brutal I do think though.  I thought it was really interesting to read about a young African American boy who grew up in Harlem fighting and reading.  Fighting and reading?  They seem like two completely unrelated things.  I just found it very interesting that Myers was such a profound student but was also violent and aggressive.  I think part of the reason that I enjoyed this aspect of the book was because it was one of the most relatable aspects for me.  When I was young I went through some pretty life altering events that happened in quick succession and it led to a violent streak from me.  I was constantly in fights in elementary school but I was also a great student, I always did my work and I was mostly ahead of my class.  I’m not saying that fighters can’t be readers or vice versa but I am saying that I don’t think it is all that common.  I have a hard time analyzing this book because I know that it is a personal memoir but I cant help but think that there were different perspectives and views that were left out of this story.  Overall I give it a C on the grade scale.  I struggled so much with it and it never really caught my attention.  It definitely didn’t take the place of any of my favorite books.  I do think that it would be a fun story to read as a historic text in a classroom setting but I don’t know that I would suggest it for pure enjoyment.

Wintergirls

This was such an interesting book! I will admit that I have not completely finished it yet, but I have read a large amount of it and have loved it so far.  I think that Anderson is a great Young Adult author.  I just read Speak for another class not long ago and I think that she does a great job of providing adolescents with real life, serious issues.  In Wintergirls the issue is that of eating disorders, anorexia and bulimia to be specific.  I think it is interesting that the book begins with one of the girls already being dead.  It kind of reminds me of Jay Asher’s 13 Reasons Why because the plot line begins sort of the same way.  In Asher’s book Hannah, a girl from school, has already committed suicide and is going to explain why through her tapes which is similar to Wintergirls starting with Cassie being dead and Lia retelling their story.  Upon my first reading there were a few very interesting aspects that I noticed.  First of all, I thought it was genius that Anderson wrote words then crossed them out in the novel.  For example, on page 148 of my version the texts reads “My mother Dr. Marrigan…” but there is a distinct line through the middle of “My mother.”  I think this is an interesting method because it distances that narrator from the people that she has relationships with, but it also allows readers to understand the relationship that the narrator has with those people.  Another interesting aspect is the subtle inclusion of caloric value of foods.  At first I didn’t notice.  I thought that the numbers might have related to a later page, or to the discussion leading section of the book so I took a look ahead to see what the reference was to only to realize there was no reference.  I quickly realized that Lia was counting calories so as to not intake too many within a given time.  This book, like many others that we have read for this class, presents a very real situation for young adult readers.  I believe that as we grow we become fixated on different things, and I believe that body image is one of those things.  As we grow and develop our bodies change drastically and becoming obsessed with body image is a very real possibility.  I would make the assumption that if anyone went into a high school they would find students who had some sort of eating disorder, although it may not be diagnosed and the student may not even realize that they suffer from such a disorder.  Anderson does a great job of presenting such a racy topic that I think this book would be great to use in class.  I do think it would be useful to give a warning before reading the book maybe by telling students what it is about and allowing them to discuss their discomforts in private if they have any so as not to accidentally bring out emotions in students that they may not want to let out.  As I said I think this is a great book and I think it would be interesting to use in a class.  With that being restated I give this book a B+ on the grade scale.  While I really enjoyed it, it just didn’t match up to some of my favorite books that I would give an A to.