Personal Connection to "Perfect Match"

If you were a fly on the wall at my house, you may have heard my husband and I discussing the news.  It's pretty much a daily occurrence, usually in the evening after eating dinner while my older two children are taking a shower.  And usually it is the catastrophic events that fill our conversation.  "A girl I went to high school with that lives in Florida - her husband was killed in a car crash today and they have a 1-year old. Isn't that sad?"  I might say.  He might piggyback with the latest update on the missing Malaysian flight, also commenting on how much he hates flying these days and wishes he didn't have to do it for work.  We often comment on how odd it is that that particular day might be the worst day of someone's life, and here we are.  Just going through the mundane.  The rote events of our day.

And this reminded me so much of the beginning of the book Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult.  She is one of my favorite authors, yet I had never read this earlier novel of hers.  She starts by introducing us to the three main characters.  Nina is a powerful Maine state prosecutor who tries all the cases of sexual abuse and molestation.  She deals with criminals every day.  We meet her son, Nathaniel, a curious five-year old boy.  And finally her husband, Caleb, a bricklayer and devoted father and husband. 

We learn about 10% of the way into the book that Nathaniel has been a victim of sexual abuse and it crushes Nina.  She has been doing this for a living for years, and didn't recognize the signs of abuse in her son.  She feels like a failure.  A line that really captured this feeling (and that reminded me of my nightly conversations with my husband) reads, "How do you find the words to explain that the life you woke up in yesterday is not the one you woke up in today?  How do you describe atrocities that aren't supposed to exist?" (Picoult 49).  This was the worst day of her life.  Finding out that someone was hurting her son.  As a mother, it is the worst thing I can imagine.  The news numbed her, consumed her.  As it should.  But she later reflects, "Life, it turns out, goes on.  There is no cosmic rule that grants you immunity from the details because you have come face-to-face with a catastrophe.  The garbage cans still overflow, the bills arrive in the mail, telemarketers still interrupt dinner" (Picoult 75). 

Reading this book makes me appreciate the healthiness of my children and the fact that my family is not in the middle of a catastrophe.  But there is still that lingering idea that somewhere, someone is experiencing the worst day of their life.  And we should all be aware of this.  Help people when we can. Do what is right.  Put ourselves in their shoes.

As I continue reading, I wonder about many things.  I wonder who has abused Nathaniel.  I wonder if he will tell his mom.  I wonder if justice will be served.  Updates to come!

Book Trailer

Check out the book trailer I made for "My Year of Living with Joy"

My Year of Living with Joy

Computer Lab Checklist for 4/22

1.  Check Edline.  Grades were updated this morning.  Anything that is missing can be found and printed from Edline. Please see me with any questions.  Remember, you have one week to turn in any missing work for 80% credit.

2.  Update Goodreads with the book title you are currently reading and your current page number.

3.  Write a new blog post, focusing on an engaging introduction that makes your reader want to read on and evokes some sort of emotion.  Try to craft an effective ending as well that sums everything up for the reader of your blog and makes a lasting memory, like an eternal flame.

4.  Make two comments on other student blogs. Check the quad blogging schedule located on my blog to determine whose English 9 class you should comment on this week.

5.  Update your blogger chart with your post and comments.

I will be coming around for blogger conferences while you accomplish these tasks!  This should keep you PLENTY busy today!

Writing Craft in Wintergirls

Since we are just finishing up Fahrenheit 451 in my CP classes and are moving into creative nonfiction, it was nice to read a book that was full of both voice and writing craft.  I raced through Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson.  I started it in class during the day on Thursday and finished it Saturday night as I was falling asleep.

First, a brief summary if you have any interest in reading this novel: Two teenage girls, Cassie and Lia, were best friends growing up and both found themselves facing eating disorders in high school.  We never meet Cassie, as she has succumbed to her inner demons at the beginning of the book, so the novel traces Lia.  Lia is not a character I could relate to, but I do believe Laurie Halse Anderson did a good job creating this character and all the idiosyncrasies that come along with an eating disorder.  Though this is a topic I have no personal experience, she made me believe that it really is a mental illness.

I thought the writing itself was unique and crafty.  Laurie told the story from Lia's perspective and frequently she would have writing crossed out (showing Lia's inner thoughts or what she wanted to say) followed by the true dialogue or narration.  To me, this is a really interesting way to show inner thoughts.

She also used many rhetorical questions and fragments - two syntactical techniques we've studied recently.  The book is filled with figurative language, for example this metaphor: “We are crayons and lunchboxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds," or this personification, “This girl shivers and crawls under the covers with all her clothes on and falls into an overdue library book, a faerie story with rats and marrow and burning curses. The sentences build a fence around her, a Times Roman 10-point barricade, to keep the thorny voices in her head from getting too close.” 


I would most definitely recommend Wintergirls to teen girls.  It was a powerful read.

Until I Say Goodbye: My Year of Living with Joy

What would you do with your life if you knew your time was limited?  Susan Spencer-Wendel, a journalist from West Palm Beach, Florida actually was faced with this difficult scenario.  It all started when her left hand started to wither and she was unable to use it normally.  She was in her forties.  After numerous doctor visits and testing, it was decided.  ALS.  A degenerative neurological disease.  There is no cure.

So what did Susan decide to do?  She decided to make the most of her time on Earth.  Happily married with three children, she chose to focus on the bright spots in her life and making memories with her children.  Gone were the days of nitpicking over the tidiness of her kitchen or the cleanliness of her children's rooms.  Instead, she planned special trips with all of the most important people in her life: her husband, John, her three children, Marina, Wesley, and Aubrey, her best friend, her sister.  She took her 14-year old daughter wedding dress shopping in NYC.  She took her son Aubrey to the beach where he went parasailing for the first time.  She went to see the Northern lights with her friend Nancy.  And she lived. 

Though this book was incredibly heart wrenching, the message of living (and living with joy) was rewarding to see.  I connected so much to Susan, not as someone with a terminal illness, but as a mother and a wife and someone who very much wants to see her children grow.  I would recommend this book to most mothers, although I would make sure they knew it was a tearjerker. 

Very near the end of the book, which is really a gift to her children, Susan says, "Look for me in your heart, my children.  Sense me there, and smile...All their lives, I have marveled in front of my children at sunsets. 'Isn't it gorgeous?' I've gushed.  Now they do the same."  Clearly her message isn't about dying, but about living.  And appreciating the moments we do have.

Here is a video of her friend Nancy discussing the story:

Ethos, Pathos, Logos and Rhetorical Techniques

As you watch the instructional video, take notes in your notebook about the following three topics: ethos, pathos, and logos.   Please also take notes on the six different rhetorical techniques discussed in the video.  Be prepared to use these notes in class tomorrow.

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Tropper

I found this book through Goodreads recommendations and I also saw it on a best of the year list somewhere so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  And to be honest, I have a somewhat mixed review.  This book is funny at times and I love the sarcastic tone the main character has (and for good reason).  The narrator of the story, Judd, has just arrived to his family home to sit shiva in respect of his dead father, along with his mother and three other siblings, along with their spouses/significant others and children.  Judd arrives alone because his wife has just left him.  It's like a soap opera in book form.  An example of his sarcasm is, "A good speech is like a woman's skirt: short enough to hold your attention, long enough to cover the subject."  This is the type of line that I saw frequently. Little jabs and comparisons to things that just made the reader in me smile a bit.  The bad was just that it was a bit too unrealistic.  The family did not seem realistic--too much craziness in one family.  Although maybe that is how some families are...

Despite the sarcasm and unbelievable events that take place over the seven day span of the book, Tropper also offers a lot of lines that are memorable.  One of my personal favorites was, "You never know when it will be the last time you'll see your father, or kiss your wife, or play with your little brother, but there's always a last time.  If you could remember every last time, you'd never stop grieving."  This idea is something I've been thinking about more and more as I get older.   I've had friends who have experienced major tragedies, such as a friend from high school who became a widow with a one year old son when her husband died in a car accident on Valentine's Day of this year.   She had no idea that morning that it would be the last time she saw him.  Or what about the people who sent loved ones off on the Malaysian flight that's been missing for over a month?  Who could have known that they would probably never see their loved ones again?  I try to always tell and show my family how much I love them for this reason.  I particularly like the second part of the quote above.  It's wise to say that, "If you could remember every last time, you'd never stop grieving."  I see this in little parenting things with my own children.  The older two are six and four and I honestly don't remember the last time I rocked each of them to sleep, but I'm trying to cherish those moments with my youngest (who turns 1 on…sniff, sniff) because I know these moments won't last forever.

The Fault in our Stars

So I finally read The Fault in our Stars.  So many of my students have read this book.  And it's not like I didn't want to read it.  I just didn't want to buy it at first and when I went to initially request it from the library I was like #225 on the waiting list for the e-book.  Whatever the journey, I am glad that I finally did read it.  I've been on a John Green kick over the past month and was starting to get annoyed (see previous posts) with the overuse of curse words.  Fortunately, this book did not have that same style.

As many know, The Fault in our Stars is about two teens, Hazel Grace and Augustus, who are both suffering from cancer.  They meet in a support group and fall in love.  And that's all the summary I am going to give you, as I don't want to ruin any of the joys that come from plot twists in a book while reading.

Today, I am going to choose to focus on a golden line from The Fault in our Stars that I feel really develops the theme.  If I had to choose one theme for this book, I would say his message about human life is that life is meant to be lived and people need to take advantage of the time and experiences they have.  Both of the main characters have cancer, yet they are both well-developed characters who live in the moment as best they can.  They still meet new people, have new experiences and don't wallow in their diagnosis.  The line that was so impactful to me as a reader was, "You are going to live a good and long life filled with great and terrible moments that you cannot even imagine yet."  I think this fits the theme; we need to fill our lives with moments.  Whether they are great or whether they are terrible, we are still taking risks and enjoying the moment instead of staying at home and wallowing in self pity.

I really liked this book.  But it was definitely sad.  It is being made into a movie and I know, without a doubt, it will be a tearjerker.  Here is the official trailer: