The Usual Suspects

The Usual Suspects
by Maurice Broaddus

From the publisher:
"Thelonius Mitchell is tired of being labeled. He’s in special ed, separated from the “normal” kids at school who don’t have any “issues.” That’s enough to make all the teachers and students look at him and his friends with a constant side-eye. (Although his disruptive antics and pranks have given him a rep too.)

When a gun is found at a neighborhood hangout, Thelonius and his pals become instant suspects. Thelonius may be guilty of pulling crazy stunts at school, but a criminal? T isn’t about to let that label stick. "

I didn't enjoy this book and had to force myself to finish it, even though the writing is fantastic. But this book wasn't written for me, and it deals with issues I have never had to deal with or experience. The middle schoolers this book was written for will feel very differently than I did because they are dealing with these issues every day of their young lives. It is not for every middle schooler, but the ones who come from poverty or difficult homes and who struggle with behavioral problems or bullying will definitely bond with the characters in this book. One of the main issues I had with the book is that so many problems went unresolved and I'm not really sure what message kids will take from that. I don't want to give away any spoilers so I can't really explain, but several things bothered me. I did appreciate a handful of caring and hard-working adults who were trying to help the main characters, they counteracted the handful of other pretty horrible adults. While I don't recommend this book to everyone, there is a population who can really benefit from it.

Areas of concern:
* I only remember one cuss word (*b*word), but there could have been a couple more mild cuss words.
* Bullying, bullying, bullying. Some pretty heavy stuff that mostly goes unpunished.

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 8-12

School Library Journal - Grades 6-8

New Kid

New Kid
by Jerry Craft

From the publisher:
"A graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real.

Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade.

As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?"

Let me just preface this by saying how much I dislike graphic novels. I think it has to do with some sort of sensory overload or something, but I really don't like them! However, my students LOVE them and can't get enough of them. I received this one recently and knew that it had received the Newbery Medal, so I glanced through it. Then I read the first chapter. Then I read the entire book. And I really loved it! I loved the main character, his parents and grandfather. The setting of a wealthy private school and the financial aid kids was new to me (except for my vast knowledge of Gilmore Girls). Jordan's thoughts through his drawings were insightful and eye opening. This graphic novel has a lot of depth and I appreciated the lessons it taught. I hope I am a better person because of it. Thank you, Jerry Craft, for writing and illustrating such an amazing book.

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 8-12

School Library Journal - Grades 4-7
(Mrs. Duke thinks it is an important book for everyone to read.)

Long Way Down

Long Way Down
by Jason Reynolds

From the publisher:
"A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he?

As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually used his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator?

Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator. 

This is a very unique read for me for a couple of reasons. A. I don't like novels in verse. I find them very disjointed and choppy and I miss all the little details. B. I don't tend to read urban/inner-city/gang type books as they are (thankfully) so far out of my scope of experience. However, I read this one because I wanted to make sure of the content before talking it up to any of my students. Once started it is very hard to put down. Luckily reading about 67 seconds on an elevator only takes about an hour of your time. The choppiness of the verse fits the story, and the layout adds to the plot as well. This book will go through my 8th grade boys like wildfire. But what will it teach them? That is the problem I have with this book. The dead people Will sees on the elevator seem too happy to see each other and there is a lot of camaraderie between them all. What would a grieving 15 year old take from that? He's feeling lost, alone and scared. Too me it seems like it would convince him that he wants to be with those dead people. That is just my opinion, and I know most other reviewers (and I'm sure the Newbery Committee) disagree with me. It was gripping, it was real, but did it really get the point across and did it glorify violence just a little bit too much for me? Will teenagers get the subtext that "The Rules" are stupid, or will they just see all of the characters' complete adherence to them? I'm not sure. 

Areas of concern:
*There is quite a bit of cussing, but not as much as I was expecting. The "f" word appears once with a handful of all of the other cuss words. I don't remember any profanity.
*The book begins with a young person getting shot and killed and many other murders are discussed.
*There is talk of dealing drugs and stealing.
*The main character is planning on a revenge shooting.
*A complete lack of role models of any kind. 

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 12+

School Library Journal - Grades 8+

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

The Autobiography of
Miss Jane Pittman
by Ernest J. Gaines

From the publisher:
""This is a novel in the guise of the tape-recorded recollections of a black woman who has lived 110 years, who has been both a slave and a witness to the black militancy of the 1960's. In this woman Ernest Gaines has created a legendary figure, a woman equipped to stand beside William Faulkner's Dilsey in The Sound and the Fury." Miss Jane Pittman, like Dilsey, has 'endured,' has seen almost everything and foretold the rest. Gaines' novel brings to mind other great works The Odyssey for the way his heroine's travels manage to summarize the American history of her race, and Huckleberry Finn for the clarity of her voice, for her rare capacity to sort through the mess of years and things to find the one true story in it all."  -- Geoffrey Wolff, Newsweek.

"Stunning. I know of no black novel about the South that exudes quite the same refreshing mix of wit and wrath, imagination and indignation, misery and poetry. And I can recall no more memorable female character in Southern fiction since Lena of Faulkner's Light in August than Miss Jane Pittman." -- Josh Greenfeld,  Life ."

It is hard to rate or review a book like this. Did I like it? That is difficult to say. Did it have an impact on my life? Yes. I know it is a work of fiction and not an autobiography at all, but it has the feel of real life, and much of it is real life from a fictional viewpoint. So I'll ask myself the same questions I ask my students when they read autobiographies. 
"Did you learn something from reading it?" Yes, definitely - so many things. One small thing is that I never realized the importance placed in changing from a slave name after the abolition of slavery, but that would have been the first thing I did, too. 
"Did it make you think about your life and how it differs from the person/people you were reading about?" Totally and completely. When you are raised in oppression and have watched many people, including your mother, be killed and never knew your father (possibly a breeder from another plantation?), and witnessed all kinds of vice, your sensitivities are dulled and it is hard to know right from wrong. Several other reviewers have mentioned that they couldn't relate to Jane and that she was emotionless, but I think that is part of the story. Others have complained about the religious aspects towards the end, but that is also very plain to me. 
"What kind of character traits and attributes did you notice in the person/people that made it so they could overcome their difficulties?" She was obstinate, she was tough, she persevered. 

I'm glad I read this, it was a very gripping read. I didn't like the ending at all, but I guess this isn't the type of book to have a neat, wrapped up ending. 

Areas of concern:
*The "n" word proliferates in this book for obvious reasons. 
*This is a part of our 8th graders banned and challenged book unit. Here is what Marshall University said on their website, 
"Challenged as an eighth-grade district-wide reading assignment in the Puyallup (WA) schools because "racial slurs and stereotyping are used through the book, as well as scenes of sex, rape, and implied incest. The Puyallup School Board voted to uphold an earlier decision by a district committee requiring eighth-graders read the novel."

Suggested Ages:

Because this is an older book, the only suggested age I could find was "Upper Grades".