Header PromotionTwisted--YA--Laurie Halse Anderson
I'm supposed to be working on my next book but I'm not able to just at the moment. (This is a polite way to say I'm procrastinating like whoa!) Anyway, thank goodness there are some writers out there producing books for us to read. Thanks, in particular, for Laurie Halse Anderson.
I loved her book, Speak. If you've read that, you know it was an intensely personal and gripping young adult novel told from the perspective of a girl who's drawn a line between herself and the world. Twisted is also a young adult book, from a guy's perspective this time. And for Tyler, it's the world that's drawn the lines around him. He's sweet and wounded and in the end magnificent as he tries to figure out exactly how someone can cross those lines and be part of life.
I loved this book. Loved this book. Loved this book. I read the Reader's Questions and the Author's Note just to spend a few more minutes inside the covers. When I realized Ms. Halse Anderson lives close to me and actually wrote the beginning of this book in a bookstore I've been to...well, stalking might be my next form of procrastination. I won't even get arrested either, because all I'd need to do is hand this book to the police officers and they'd read it and start stalking her too.
Okay. I'm exaggerating. But just a little.
The sucky thing is that now I know I don't have a book in the house to equal this so I can't read anymore to procrastinate. I might have to actually work on my own book. Shoot. It was worth it, though. Totally worth it.
Ellen
Ellen's Blog --- Ellen's Website
The Boyfriend's Back Superromance May '09
His Secret Past Superromance May '08
Hi, Ellen, A lot of my
Hi, Ellen,
A lot of my students like her book Fever 1793. In fact, it is one of the books that disappeared from my classroom library last year (along with Speak). While you are stalking at the bookstore, you might want to check it out!
I think that I am going to look into this one to replace the ones that wandered away last year.... Thanks for the recommend!
J
Product of my stalking
Hi J,
Thanks for that info. I will look for Fever. I have a friend (adult) who's read about 9 books in her lifetime. She loved Speak. I always say she's the true litmus test for a book--if she finishes it, well, it must be perfect.
(Odd that a bookworm like me has a non-reading best friend.)
Anyway, I saw that Ms. Halse Anderson is running a contest for students to create book trailers for Speak or Twisted. They're on Youtube. I'm not sure how many there are or anything because I haven't gotten there in my stalking. But I was thinking a book trailer would be an interesting way to discuss a book with a student, especially a younger one who's just starting to think about literature as literature.
Since good book trailers don't summarize the book, they hit the theme or the conflict and ask questions to tantalize a reader, I thought It would be neat to see students work on those ideas.
The contest is running through October, I think. Next time I'm procrastinating I think I'll check it out.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Ellen
Ellen's Blog --- Ellen's Website
The Boyfriend's Back Superromance May '09
His Secret Past Superromance May '08
Hmmmm, I'm not a big fan of
Hmmmm, I'm not a big fan of YouTube, but something like that might be good for TEACHING theme/conflict/etc. to middle school students since they are generally not into day to day activities in a Language Arts class. I might need to check out the site and the contest.
Thanks for the info!