Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Uglies. by Scott Westerfeld. Simon Pulse, 2005. 425 pages.

Plot: The story is set in a postapocolyptic future.  Two friends, Tally and Shay, are in the twelve to fifteen year old age group classified as “uglies.”  Children from birth to age eleven are known as “littles”.  At age 16, literally on your birthday, you get an operation that makes you into a “pretty.”  Everyone waits with joyful anticipation to become one of the “pretties” not only to be physically transformed, but to gain all the privileges that accompany the change. Or does everyone want the operation?  Shay has decided that she wants to remain her natural self and avoid the change, but this society does not allow for the option of refusal.  Shay is forced to run away to a settlement called the Smoke, whose location is unknown to the greater society and is occupied by rebel refugees.  Individuals travel by hoverboards and many technological advances are available.  In order to find Shay, the government refuses to grant Tally her much desired operation unless she secretly helps them locate Shay.  Reluctantly Tally sets out to find Shay, who has left her a note describing where she is and an invitation to join her in the Smoke, and is being electronically tracked by the government. She reaches the settlement, betrays Shay and the government is alerted and sends full battle response to destroy the settlement and capture the renegades.  What will happen when all are returned to Prettytown? What mind altering transformation takes place with the operation that only the government knows about?  Will Shay and Tally become “pretties’? 

Review/Personal thoughts:  I don’t usually venture into science fiction.  I was not disappointed by Uglies.  It will certainly appeal to tweens with the main characters being young girls.  The author does a great job of keeping the reader’s interest with exciting scenes like using hoverboards to sneak into Prettytown and the government’s crackdown on the rebels.  The characters are adequately developed, but I was not particularly drawn to them, although I was pulling for Shay in her quest to resist the conformity. Conformity is one of the themes explored in the book for tweens to consider as well as, body image, the rights of the individual, betrayal, friendship, peer pressure and uncontrolled technology.  I am not in a hurry to read the next book in the series, but my guess is that tweens who like this one will be. 

Genre: Science Fiction

Reading Level: 5.2  Interest level: Ages 11 and up.

Awards:  ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2006

Understanding Kids in the Middle

     What a great “hook”!  I was totally taken in by the author's first paragraph. An assessment of young people today included such things as; they have bad manners, disrespect old people, contradict their parents, tyrannize their teachers, and I am  reading along going yeah, that’s right, they do... And then the assessment is attributed to Socrates in 400 B.C. The point being that the developmental needs of young adolescents is the same now as it was over 2000 years ago.

  This article is written specifically for educators dealing with middle school students.  The foundation of the article is identified as the importance of teachers understanding the Physical, Intellectual Emotional and Social (PIES) development of this age group.  Clearly identified are some specifics within each of these areas of development. A sampling of these are:  Physical  - “musculoskeletal alterations” leading to “a difficult time sitting still for any length of time”, Intellectual - moving “from concrete to abstract thinking”, Emotional - “intense and unpredictable mood swings” and Social - needing to belong to a group.  

Excellent strategies are offered for structuring a middle school classroom and designing and delivering lessons to middle school students.  Some of these suggestions include having students get up and move around, providing students with choices for completing an assignment, providing praise and support and using cooperative learning groups.  I would like to have seen more details for the strategies offered or at least a link or list of resources for them.  One of the suggestions is “tiering assignments” and in my 17 years of teaching I have not encountered this term and would like to know more about it.

  My first full time teaching contract was to teach 5 periods of 7th grade World History.  I was ill prepared to work with this age group. This article would have given me a great first step in understanding this age group. I highly recommend this article to all middle school teachers.  You need to be prepared to deal with students who tend to be “self-conscious, lacking in self-esteem, concerned about peer pressure and highly sensitive to personal criticism.”

Weiner, C. (2007). Understanding Kids in the Middle. Principal (Reston, Va.), 86(4), 74-5. Retrieved from Education Full Text database

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. Dell Yearling, 2003. 152 pages.

Plot: This story takes place in 12th-century Korea and centers around a twelve year old orphan name Tree-ear.  He lives homeless under a bridge with Crane-man who has graciously taken him in to help provide food and shelter which they must constantly scavenge on a daily basis.  Tree-ear becomes fascinated by the work of Min, a village potter, and after inadvertently breaking one of the potter’s creations, begins to work off his debt by collecting wood, carrying clay and cleaning.  After a year of “apprenticeship” Tree-ear, who has been dreaming of the day he can create his own pot, is devastated to learn the potter’s trade is only handed down from father to son as Min unkindly and with resentment states “You are not my son!”  Tree-ear is conflicted, but agrees to undertake a difficult and dangerous journey (which Min could never undertake because of his age) to carry some of Min’s work to the royal court in hopes of landing a commission.  Tree-ear is challenged by the journey, arrives with only “a single shard”, is successful and returns to tragedy, transformation and hope.

Review/Personal thoughts:  I was curious about the setting and theme of this book.  After reading about half of it, I was not impressed, but from the moment of the devastating realization about the requirement of father to son for the potter’s trade I was drawn in and held there for the remainder of the book.  The range of emotions and experiences of the main character are well-crafted and easy for the reader to recreate. The reader explores themes of family, homelessness, trust, perseverance, creativity, fear, honor and gratitude.  Although set in a place long ago and far away from modern America, tweens will connect with Tree-ear and share his journey with empathy and interest. I would have no problem recommending this book to a tween.

Genre: Fiction

Reading Level: 6.7  Interest level: Ages 9 to 13 years old

Awards:  2002 Newbery Medal

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Yearling Newbery, 2009. 197 pages.

Plot: Miranda is a feisty 6th grader living in New York City in the late 1970’s.  Life is going along at its predictable pace but not for long.  Strange events begin occurring when Miranda receives a mysterious note and a portion of it reads “I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.” As more notes arrive, showing up in the oddest of places, the note-writer shares clues that seem to indicate he/she has information that is of a predicting nature…as if, somehow, the future is involved in the present.  Added to the mix is the fact that Miranda’s best friend Sal is no longer speaking to her and she must find her way through the sometimes confusing roads of friendship.  Along with Sal, Miranda’s world is filled with other interesting characters:  the laughing man, Marcus, Julia, Annemarie, Colin, Richard, Jimmy, and Miranda’s headstrong mom.  Miranda is a young girl in the middle of a great mystery and time is of the essence. Will Miranda and Sal become friends again?  Will Miranda’s mom be a winning contestant on the $20,000 Pyramid? Will the mystery be figured out?  

Review/Personal thoughts:  In the page preceding the first chapter of the book, there is a quote by Albert Einstein that reads “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.”  The reader is immediately thrown into Miranda’s mysterious journey as she tries to figure out the events that are happening around her and piece together the notes that are meant for her…and her alone. Alongside the mystery, Stead also has our protagonist navigating the emotional roads of friendship – the loss (yet regaining) of a friendship, the attempt to build new ones, the misperceptions we may have of others and the assumptions some may make of us.  It is also a novel that explores the power of connection, the relationships we make in our lives.  It’s about the willingness to have an open mind, the desire to see life in as many ways as possible…and to see that anything is possible if we take away the constraints of the mind and time.  This novel is a fast-paced read that will draw the “tween” reader in from the first page. The beauty of this novel is most certainly found in its examination of the mystery of life. 

Genre: Mystery

Reading Level: 4.6  Interest level: Ages 9 to 13

Awards:  Newbery Award, 2010

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 2010 Winner

IRA Children's and Young Adult's Book Award, 2010 Winner

National Parenting Publications Award, 2009 Gold Books for Ages 9 & Up

Kirkus Best Children's Books, 2009

Notable Children's Books, 2010; ALSC American Library Association

School Library Journal Best Books, 2009

YALSA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, 2010

Morning Girl by Michael Dorris

Morning Girl. by Michael Dorris. Hyperion Paperbacks for Children, 1999. 74 pages.

Plot: The main characters are Morning Girl, who loves to get up early and set out into the day and her brother, Star Boy, who prefers to sleep late and loves the night.  They live with their mother and father on an island in pre-Columbian America.  The story alternates back and forth between the brother and sister who at times struggle with the misunderstandings that arise from sibling rivalry. Morning Girl loves to take walks on the beach and collect treasures. She loves to contemplate life and and herself.  She wonders what she looks like and her father helps her by telling her to “Look into my eyes, what do you see?”  Morning Girl answers, “Who are these pretty girls who live inside your head?” Father replies, “They are the answer to your question.” The family lives simply in a somewhat idyllic setting that is temporarily shattered by a violent hurricane. Star boy is stranded and must face the storm alone. The family deals with the grief of Mother’s miscarriage.  Morning Girl grows to understand and love her brother.  She goes for a swim one morning, but who are these strange looking people who arrive and does she understand how her life will never be the same?

Review/Personal thoughts:  This is an excellent novel for younger tweens. The characters are well-developed and the story flows easily. Universal themes of family, survival, grief, healing and coming of age transcend the dramatic cultural differences between Morning Girl’s culture and today’s modern world. The epilogue dated October 11,1492 is especially compelling and will surprise readers.  This is an award winning book and and should prove enjoyable for young tweens. 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Reading Level: 6.3  Interest level: Ages 8 to 13.

Awards: Scott O'Dell award for historical fiction

In Search of the Roots of Adolescent Aggression

  It may seem odd to include an article on adolescent aggression in a blog space dedicated to library materials for tweens, however I received great insight into the developmental stages of life and especially those that affect tweens.  

  The focus of the article is an attempt to understand and perhaps find the root of those especially violent aggressive acts perpetrated by a relatively small number of adolescent males.  Primary to the understanding is the role that the brain plays as a response system in humans.  The primarily cortical system which is slow and analytical and the primarily subcortical system which is fast, conceptual and reflexive.  

Astounding to me is the fact that “We go through seven profound biological changes during our life, and three of these generally occur from ages 10 to 14 - the middle school years!”  Birth, death, loss of reproductive capabilities and loss cognitive abilities are four of the biological changes.  The three which occur in a portion of the tween years are; shifting from childhood to puberty (the beginning of reproductive capability), shifting from concrete to formal operations (the maturation of intelligence) and shifting from an authoritarian to consensus morality (the maturation of personal and social identities). (p.67)  It is important for adults in the lives of this age group to be aware of these profound biological changes and to relate appropriately.  

  I appreciate that the author declares that there is not just one cause that can be linked to aggression.  Parents and environment, technology, violence, malfunctioning brain activity, chemical imbalance, drugs, and testosterone can all contribute to events leading up to deadly violent acts.

  Offered as strategies to reduce adolescent aggression are “intervention programs that will help develop social skills and coping strategies” and reducing stereotyping and ridicule. 

The author has taken a contemporary issue and through a well- researched investigation attempted to articulate possible causes and even more importantly offered strategies to reduce the adolescent aggression which has produced some horrifically tragic results. 

Sylwester, R. (1999). In Search of the Roots of Adolescent Aggression. Educational Leadership, 57(1), 65. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

The effect of text messaging on 9- and 10-year-old children's reading, spelling and phonological processing skills

     This article explores a research study that was designed to measure the effect of text messaging on children’s literacy skills.  The specific study group were children ages 9 and 10.  There were 114 children selected to participate in the study.  All of the students had never owned a mobile phone before.  The participants were randomly placed into two groups.  One group was given mobile phones to use on weekends and during a one week vacation from school. The mobile phones were only capable of sending and receiving text messages. The other group was the control group who did no text messaging.  The study was conducted over a ten week period.

The motivation for the study came about from two conflicting points of view on the topic.  There was a widespread concern in the media that texting (using shortened or abbreviated or phonetic substitutes for words) was having a negative impact on childrens’ performance and scores on standardized tests and spelling skills.  A previous study suggested that the children’s literacy skills were improved through the text messaging process.  The researchers in this study found that the previous studies had some limitations in that the used contrived text messaging scenarios and not real world use and they were unable to show causality.

Both groups were given pre and post tests in reading and spelling.  The researchers took into account individual differences in IQ and the children’s performance on the pre test. After all of the components of the study were complete the findings were “that the children who were given access to mobile phones for the purpose of text messaging did not perform differently from the children who were not given mobile phones in terms of their literacy development.”  Also, “textism use during texting was linked to spelling development and the number of messages sent and received was linked to lexical retrieval skills.”  So the conclusion is that even though literacy skills were not improved by the text messaging, there was also no adverse effect on literacy skills from the activity.

This study appears to have been founded in highly scientific procedures and measurements of the data collected.  The one question I would have concerns the group selected. In the researchers own words “The majority of children aged between 8 and 15 years in the United Kingdom and United States own mobile phones, and text messaging (SMS) is a popular function of the phones among this age group.”  So the requirement of selecting students who had never owned a cell phone makes me question if there is a significant factor in this minority that would affect the outcome of the research. 

Wood, C. , Jackson, E. , Hart, L. , Plester, B. , & Wilde, L. (2011). The effect of text messaging on 9- and 10-year-old children's reading, spelling and phonological processing skills. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27(1), 28-36.