The Astonishing
Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
A.
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl details the
struggles of Donnie and Kyra, a girl who identifies with Goth culture and
befriends the main character. Fanboy, as
he is usually called, is dedicated to a wide variety of nerdy pastimes from
computers, to comic books and dreams of someday being famous for creating a
comic book of his own, Schemata. Much of the conflict stems from interpersonal
relationships and the “clique” culture that pervades so many modern high
schools. The book touches on everything
from dating to divorce to suicide and explores what it means to feel and what
it takes to be a part of the real world.
B.
Lyga,
B. (2006). The astonishing adventures of
fanboy and goth girl. New York, New
York: Houghton
Mifflin Company.
C.
I
felt the book did a fairly good job of capturing the insecurities and doubts
that are felt by so many teenagers. While
not a direct parallel, the book does treat most of its characters in ways that
are realistic compared to the people I knew and befriended in high school. It was refreshing to see that while the
protagonist was written sympathetically, he was not infallible. Many of these types of protagonists can
border on wish-fulfillment for their authors but such was not the case
here. It seems that for each of Donnie’s successes,
more problems arise because of it, and he still has much to learn about dealing
with people. Moreover, while the book
ends on something of a depressing note, it seems that there is still hope,
which is most probably covered in the sequel.
D.
“…Fanboy’s
whip-smart, often hilariously sarcastic voice skillfully captures a teenager’s
growing self-awareness, and adds a fresh, urgent perspective to age-old
questions about how young people cope with bullying and their own feelings of
helplessness, rage, and being misunderstood as they try to discover themselves.”
–Gillian Engberg
Engberg, G. (2006). The Astonishing
Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. Booklist,
103(1), 113.
E.
For
this activity, I would have the kids think about themselves as a comic book
character. Perhaps several of them could
collaborate on a comic book that could star themselves though it could take any
form they wanted. It doesn’t necessarily
have to focus on superheroes as not all graphic novels do, but it does need to
focus on what they find important and center on a conflict they feel their
characters could solve.
No More Dead
Dogs
A.
No More Dead Dogs is the story of Wallace
Wallace and his refusal to agree with his teacher, no matter how difficult the
alternative might be. This football
player runs into trouble when he refuses to change his mind about disliking the
book Old Shep, My Pal. Wallace is given an incomplete for his less
than enthusiastic review and then is forced to attend rehearsals for a play
production of the same book. Wallace
decides to begin making changes to the play which near the end in no way
resembles the original version. Along
the way, he learns about truth and the lies we tell others to protect them,
including Wallace’s decision to spare the kid who continues to sabotage the
play the entire book.
B.
Korman,
G. (2000). No more dead dogs. New
York, New York: Hyperion Books for
Children.
C.
The
book was overall fairly entertaining. Often, it uses stereotypes to convey many of
the characters but does so in a fairly charming way. Indeed, the use of many of the tropes that
cover conventional children’s stories and the ultimate subversion of those
ideas is what makes the story truly entertaining. It reads as a mild criticism of children’s
stories in general and while many of the characters conform to those norms, it
does not feel the same for the main protagonists. It is refreshing to see a football player
being used in a positive light as they are so often used as antagonists or just
two-dimensional side characters that say something “goofy” and then are
relegated to the background again.
D.
“Middle
school kids will enjoy this book because it is so typical of their language,
actions, and ideas. It would make a good book to read aloud to a class.” –Jo
Clarke
Clarke, J. (2001). No More Dead Dogs
(Book Review). Book Report, 19(5), 60.
E.
Overall,
the book does a good job identifying the problems with certain aspects of
children’s literature and I would have the kids identify other common ideas or
themes in the books they read. This can
be everything from the bespectacled nerd to the friend who is somehow much
cooler than the main character. We would
then discuss these ideas and what they can be used to express as well as in
what contexts they ought not to be used.
It would be good to have the kids think about the construction of what
they are reading in addition to the content itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment