Battle Royale

Title - Battle Royale
Author - Koushun Takami
ISBN - 9784872334523
Publication Date - November 17, 2009

Plot - Developed as an alternative time line for Japan, where they have joined a block of nations under a totalitarian ruler, society has been forced to bend to the will of its government.  A group of innocent junior high kids is gassed on a bus and driven to a remote island setting to join a school and sign up for something known as "the program."  As a secret project one discovers it is meant to keep the population subjugated.  Every year, 50 third year high school students are separated and forced to fight for the death.  Only one person is to survive the whole ordeal.  They are given tracking collars around their necks.  Anyone who attempts to escape, dies.  Anyone who enters a forbidden zone, dies.  And if everyone decides that they are not going to kill anyone, at the end of 24 hours, all of their collars detonate, and they all die. 

Each person responds differently to their predicament.  Some become cold and sadistic killers, others try to find a way out.  Eventually there are four people left. Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa are first time fighters who really do not want to have to kill anyone but live to fight.  Shogo Kawada has been in the program before and lived to tell the tale.  Kazua Kiriyama is brutal and sadistic and wishes to rid himself of the three and survive.  In a major battle they take out Kazuo and make their way to a big hill where they hope not to be spotted.  Since most of the tracking is through microphone attached to their collars, Shogo fakes the shooting of the other two and takes off their collars, drawing the people in charge of the program to pick up Shogo as the winner.  They all board the ship and overcome security.  Shogo ends up dying from his wounds, and the two others escape, trying to find solace in the freedom of America. 

Critical Review-  Fascinating take on the being placed in a no one situation.  It is a kind of combination of the Most Dangerous Game, with a lot of 1984 thrown in.  While succumbing to some problems that are bound to occur with the translation of any work, as the original story was told in Japanese, there is a power to the story involved.  There are some very important questions implied in the story.  What should a society do when its government seems to want to control every aspect of their lives?  Should a government have the power of life or death over its citizens?  What does it mean to be human and how can one live humanely when put under circumstances that are bound to test the most honorable of people?  There is such a beauty and simplicity to the tale, despite its complexities and nearly 600 pages in length.  It is no wonder that other artists have told such similar tales throughout time, including the Hunger Games.

Reader's Annotation- How does one live when you are forced to kill the people you love?  Can one truly be a friend in such a circumstance?  What does it mean to be human?  Takami explores all of those themes beautifully in Battle Royale.

About the Author- Koushun Takami was born and raised in Japan, near Osaka.  He grew up with a love of reading and literature and would eventually get a degree in literature.  Initially going to further his education through correspondence he dropped out.

Through this he found himself working for a news company.  They were involved in politics and world affairs. Through which he attained a good idea of government and politics and how the political system works.  While completed after he left the news company, Battle Royale has been Takami's signature work of literature thus far.  It allowed him to explore his ideas about politics and power structure through a powerful story about life and humanity.

Genre-Science fiction / Horror

Curriculum Ties - Compare and contrast Battle Royale with other like minded science fiction fare, from the movie Logan's Run, to the more recent futuristic novel the Hunger Games. - Literature

Booktalking Ideas - Have each person in the group discuss what it means for them to be human.  Keep a list and see how much they are willing to ignore if they consider their lives were on the line.

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 10 +

Challenge Issues - Death and destruction are leveled against teenage children.  There might be some objection to the level of violence, especially considering the age groups involved.

Overcoming challenges - Develop a work sheet that asks some of the thought provoking questions of the novel.  Be sure to have a worksheet available to parents so that they can work through some of the issues involved in the novel with their children.

Why Included - My wife ended up telling me about the movie while I was reading Hunger Games.  She surprised me with a similar story.  As I went to look it up I found that it was originally a novel, and I found it a must read as I liked the story of Hunger Games so much.

A Crack in the Line

Title - A Crack in the Line
Author - Michael Lawrence
ISBN - 0060724781
Publication Date - 2004

Plot - Alaric is a teenage boy trying to recover from the death of his mother two years earlier.  As he has lived with his father since that time in mostly a joyless world, Alaric's world seems to be crumbling around him.  This is until he comes back to the home that was his family home and touches an item that seems to transport him to another world: a world rich and bright and colorful; a world that seems very familiar to him.
In this world we are introduced to the character of Naia.  When Alaric meets Naia, they discover that they look very familiar to one another.  They are practically identical. 

As they explore their situations further, they come to realize that there is something a bit more amazingly similar than their looks.  The houses they are living in look the same, except one being colorful and the other being colorless.  Both of them had mothers with near death experiences: although Alaric's mother died and Naia's lived.  They start to question the whole idea of the possible alternate universe.  And they both find they have an item that can transport them back and forth between the worlds that seems to be identical.  They begin to puzzle the mystery out together of the two worlds, and how their two worlds work.  Everything seems to be going well for them until the item that is transporting the two breaks.  And now each of them are trapped in the other one's world.

Critical Review-  This is a fascinating story of two different kids, whose lives seem to be mirroring one another in so many different ways, and they are thrust together by a kind of fate.  What the reader ends up finding is a twist on the nature of reality.  Is one bound together by all of the different ways that reality could change.  And if one little thing changed in a reality, how much of an impact would that have on any given reality?  Michael Lawrence creates this fascinating world where anything is possible, and everything has an infinity impact on everything else.  As a reader we get to explore the interesting intricate possibilities of both of these juxtaposed worlds.  And just at the moment the reader is getting content with those worlds, a brilliant twist is thrown in.  What happens when these two people whose lives are so different, and yet so similar, are thrust into the other world for good.  It will be interesting to see where Lawrence takes the reader from there.

Reader's Annotation-  What would you do if you ran into a person whose life so mysteriously mirrored your own? And what if you found out that person was from a different reality?  What would you do if you found your mother, who was dead, was alive in this other reality?  Would you fight to stay in this new reality, opposing this other person?  Lawrence explores every possibility in A Crack in the Line.

About the Author- Michael Lawrence is an English writer, born and raised in different sections of the country. He eventually would go to school for art and graphic design.  Despite this he had a love for writing and wanted to be a writer since he was a teenager.  The difficulty he found was in trying to make money in doing it.  As a result, he has had his hand in many different artistic endeavors that include photography, painting and sculpting. It took him about 40 years, according to Lawrence himself, to finally be able to earn a living doing the one thing that he does enjoy, writing.

Genre- Fantasy, Science Fiction

Curriculum Ties - Discussion of probabilities based upon different realities. - Mathematics
Discuss the nature of reality - philosophy

Booktalking Ideas - Have the kids discuss what they would have done if they were Alaric.  What reality would they choose to belong to, the one where there mother was still living, or the one in which their mother had passed?

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 9+

Challenge Issues -None

Why Included - I grew up a science fiction and fantasy fan.  Anything that deals with alternate realities and all of the possibilities has always grabbed my attention.

Small Eternities

Title - Small Eternitites
Author - Michael Lawrence
ISBN - 0060724811
Publication Date - 2005

Plot - Small Eternities is the sequel to a Crack in the Line, the previous story by Michael Lawrence.  It begins where the last story left off, with Alaric and Naia sitting in the worlds to which they do not belong.  What they begin to discover is that they are accepted in these new worlds without question, as if they had always belonged to them.  Alaric is happy that in this eternity his mother lives.  Naia is despondent that in this eternity her mother is no longer. 

To further complicate matters for the pair. the people around them are not always they same as they were in their own reality, and they have different memories than the ones that they were familiar with in their own world.  Then Lawrence adds a third complicating element to the plot.  Naia and Alaric are thrust into another world, to which they are related, but in a different time period.   In it, Alaric accidentally kills his grandfather.  Time begins to fracture; and they wonder if they are going to be able to piece it all back together again.  What they are left with are these "Small Eternities" where things could have been a certain way, but they are not. 

It would seem that Alaric and Naia are breaking apart the fabric of time through their own existence and the complications that they create in the other worlds.  Eventually to save Aldous life Alaric risks his own and dies, being thrust into another eternity.  And yet the eternity he had left to save Aldous has a shocking conclusion, a conclusion in which Alaric has gone away and died.  Somehow, Alaric experiences this grief in another reality and he swears to himself that he is going to find a way back there.

Critical Review- Any time story or dimension story always has to deal with its own plot inconsistencies and issues throughout the piece.  This story is no different.  Lawrence spends his time trying to resolve things back and forth between the two realities, all the while preparing them for a third one, and even more, for the pair to be thrust into.  As opposed to the first story, the complexities of this novel seems to tear the fabric of reality apart at its seems.  So the story becomes hard to follow. 

However, as this is the middle book of a trilogy, it is hard to criticize this fact.  As so often is the case with trilogies, the middle book has so much stuff going on in it that you cannot understand.  And yet, you hope, that the author has a way to tie all of the loose endings, even if not perfectly satisfactory.  My one major critique of this novel is that it seems like any given moment you barely have time to set yourself in one place, when you are violently thrust into the next.  So much jumping around from Alaric, to Naia to Aldous occurs that there is no way for the reader to be completely balanced.  Maybe, this was Lawrence point.  When thrust between realities, there is no longer any anchor to which your life is tied.  You are forever a drift.

Reader's Annotation- Thrust into a new reality seems to be an everyday occurrence for Alaric and Naia.  But how many different realities will they have to cross until they find the one they call home.

About the Author-  Michael Lawrence is an English writer, born and raised in different sections of the country. He eventually would go to school for art and graphic design.  Despite this he had a love for writing and wanted to be a writer since he was a teenager.  The difficulty he found was in trying to make money in doing it.  As a result, he has had his hand in many different artistic endeavors that include photography, painting and sculpting. It took him about 40 years, according to Lawrence himself, to finally be able to earn a living doing the one thing that he does enjoy, writing.

Genre- Science fiction / Fantasy

Curriculum Ties - Compare what life was like back in the 1940's versus today.  - History

Booktalking Ideas - Have the kids draw up their own family trees.  Ask them questions about what life would have been like if one major thing in it had been different.

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 9+

Challenge Issues - None

Why Included - After reading A Crack in the Line, I was fascinated by the story and wanted to continue on with it.

Rogue Angel : Solomon's Jar

Title - Solomon's Jar
Author - Alex Archer / Victor Milan
ISBN - 0373621205
Publication Date - 2006

Plot - Annja Creed is an Indiana Jones type archaeologist, running into and out of scrapes trying to track down some historical artifact that is rumored as part of mythology and she must confirm or deny their very existence.  Part of a larger series of Rogue Angel Novels, Solomon's Jar is the second installment in the series of novels developed under the Pen Name of Alex Archer.  The story starts off in the best Indiana Jones cliffhanger fashion where she is researching some artifact out in the wild areas of Peru.  She ends up running into some deadly men thinking that she is some spy sent to watch over their movements.  They demand that the villagers release her.  Deciding not to let the villagers get into too much trouble she leads them away on a long chase culminating in a walk over a bridge where, like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, she decides to cut the bridge out from under them, holding onto the planks and able to survive as it crashes into the rock wall, despite breaking her nose.

The readers are then taken to more modern surroundings and Annja is introduced to the idea the Solomon's Jar has been found.  It was rumored to hold mystical powers and told that Solomon was able to bind the worlds demons in it after building the temple in Jerusalem.  The story takes the familiar twists and turns allowing the evil people to briefly have access to the precious artifact only to finally fall into the hands of the good guys.  They are then confronted with a struggle within themselves.  Should they attempt to use the artifact to their own advantage, or will it destroy them inside in the process.  Eventually they decide for the best to give the item up.  As opposed to Indiana Jones, who is strictly American and would only release such an artifact to an American Museum or government agency, Annja decides to sell of the artifact to a former Russian Agent, who has taken care of its safekeeping into the future.

Book Review - While certainly an interesting story, Solomon's Jar makes far too many easy references to Indiana Jones.  While changing the character to female certainly changes some of the dynamics involved in her various brushes with death the Rogue Angel series is not enough of a unique chapter in the cliffhanger genre to engender much excitement.  Created by the Harlequin executive Randall Toy, the Rogue Angel series was envisioned as a series involving a modern day Joan of Arc.  And while I know that Joan of Arc plays prevalently in the first novelization in the series, this series might has well have been called Miss Indiana Jones, and no one would have know much of a difference in style or tone.  A further problem with this genre is that many of the brushes with death, while fascinating and harrowing as they are portrayed on the silver screen, seem to be lacking in depth as they are described in words on a page.  There is no Alexander Dumas swashbuckling magic to be had here.  This is only Indiana Jones lite.

Reader's Annotation - Are deadly marauders barreling down a village? Is the only way to escape these people that you must fly a bi-plane to escape a fate worse than death? Are you trapped on both sides of a bridge with people out to kill you? No problem.  This is all in a days work for Annja Creed.

About the Author - While Alex Archer is listed as the official author for the Rogue Angel series, this is an entirely fictitious name for the various authors they have used to write in this series.  This was designed by the Harlequin romance people, created to make stories in the same series in rapid succession, costing them relatively little money and not having to be high quality works of art.  As Solomon's Jar was published in 2006, there have already been 24 other novels published in the Rogue Angel series to date.  Most of the first works were written by Victor Milan, or Mel Odom.  This particular book was written by Victor Milan as he has a small credit on the back of the front page.

Victor Milan has been involved primarily in the science fiction genre for most of his writing.  They have classified this as libertarian science fiction, focusing on the politics and social order of futuristic societies from a libertarian perspective.  He has also written in the Star Trek Universe.  In more recent years he has seemed to pair together with the Harlequin people and write under pen names for several of their different series, including the Alex Rider Series.

Genre- Science Fiction / Fantasy

Curriculum Ties - Discuss the actual Temple built by Solomon at Jerusalem - History / Mythology / Theology

Booktalking Ideas - Discuss the temple and all of the different aspects of the temple written in the account in the Kings in the Bible.  Discuss how mythology is created and larger myths are developed.

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 8+

Challenge Issues - Possible challenges by overly religious people who would argue of the inaccuracies of Solomon having a jar with demons held inside, suggesting that their religious freedom's are being abridged.

Overcoming Challenges - Discuss Indiana Jones and many other areas where people have used ancient mythical artifacts.  If necessary include Veggie Tales and the search for Solomon's Hair brush and ask if the religious zealots would really want to remove Veggie Tales from the collection.

Why Included -I was curious as to what Harlequin would do with an Indiana Jones type story and how the idea of a female in that role would change the dynamics of the situations.

The Hunger Games

Title - The Hunger Games
Author - Suzanne Collins
ISBN - 0439023483
Publication  Date - 2008

Plot - Katniss Everdeen is a tough as nails young woman who has protected her family for most of her young adult life.  But now she is faced with a quandary.  The Capitol takes tribute each year, taking kids who are growing into their prime to have some game, to the death.  And this year they have selected Katniss younger sister Prim to fight to the death.  Katniss cannot allow this and takes her place, going off to fight in games that are supposed to remind the people that they have disobeyed and they cannot fight the system anymore.  The fighting is set in the future where the Capitol of this new land is where the Rocky Mountains were.

Katniss and a fellow person from district 12 go to the Capitol to train, fight and probably die.  As the training and all of the shows begin publicizing the big battle, Katniss sizes everyone up, guessing as to the strengths and weaknesses of all the fellow fighters.  By the time all the tributes arrive in the arena, she is ready.  But when it actually comes to killing a person, especially if she gets attached, that is another matter entirely.  The Battle rages, and through manipulations by the Capitol, primarily to increase the betting on the games involved, Katniss and Peeta end up the last two fighters.  And in an act of defiance, Katniss finds a way for them both to get out.  But this act of defiance will have a price.  What it is, neither Katniss or Peeta know.

Critical Review - There have been many science fiction stories where people are selected, seemingly at random, for death.  The Lottery, movies like Logan Run and many others tell the tales of people who end up slated to die because of some way of choosing.  Hunger Games follows that vein, although in this instance there is a sick sense of brutality in that the people they are choosing to die in this "tribute" are teens, starting at age 12 and go up to age 18.  This tribute is imposed upon the 12 districts because of their sedition against the Capitol.  It is an ever present reminder of what they did wrong.  Suzanne Collins, tells the story vividly from the perspective of Katniss, whose mind is ever alert to what is going on around.  Her character is so well drawn that one has a full understanding of how and why she makes decisions about things, even if she does not always agree that she makes the right ones.  The imagery is picturesque and bleak at the same time, a perfect fitting for the world that is crumbling around them, but externally and internally.  And the story leaves you wanting more as it ends.  Thankfully Suzanne Collins has obliged and there are more novels to come.

Readers Annotation - What does one do in a world where everything around them seems to conspire against them?  How does one handle when they are forced to go somewhere knowing that they are most likely going to die?  What does one do when they see slaughter all around them?  Hopefully, like Katniss Everdeen, they fight!

About the Author- Professionally, Suzanne Collins began her career writing for kids television shows for Nickelodeon.  She was writing both for an older set, with shows such as Clarissa Explains It All and for Children's shows like Little Bear.   She was happy to do this until she ran into the person of James Poimos.

James convinced her that her writing talents could be well suited for those of novels.  As a result she decided to try penning children's novels.  Immediately she began thinking of large story arcs, that could not simply be accomplished in one story.  Hence, she has written a five-part fantasy series in the Underland Chronicles.  But as she decided to write The Hunger Games, she drew from more personal fare.  She took much of what she saw in her dad, as he was in the air force, and drew on that to write about the effects of way, poverty, and hunger on a people.  The series has become a runaway best seller in the process.

Genre- Science Fiction / Fantasy

Curriculum Ties - Compare and contrast between other post-apocalyptic worlds in literature.  Relate the control of its population to 1984 by George Orwell.  How does their method of control differ?  How does this effect the population of each? - Literature

Booktalking Ideas - Discuss stories of survival with the teens.  Ask them what things do they think they would need to survive in the wilderness.  If they had a backpack like Katniss, what would it include and why?

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 10+

Challenge Issues - Graphic Violence towards children may cause some parents to desire to pull the book.

Overcoming challenges - Be prepared to discuss the history of the science fiction genre.  Relate to those challenging the book that science fiction only tells of a possible future.  Give parents materials on how to interact with their child when reading this novel with a series of questions that will engage the child about how and why this kind of future might take place, and what might they do to prevent it.

Why Included - It was my favorite novel of the semester and I was able to include it in our list of items for this project.

Little Brother

Title - Little Brother

Author - Cory Doctorow

ISBN - 9780765319852

Publisher - Tor Books

Copyright Date - April 29, 2008

Plot - Marcus Yallow, code name w1n5t0n(definitely not Winston), and three of his friends find themselves near the San Francisco Bridge during a bombing.  They try to find their way after the city after its bombing but are picked up by Homeland Security and attempted to be forced to talk.  After a few days of being detained and putting Marcus under severe scrutiny, they release three of them to the public, threatening them to behave.  Marcus, typical of any teenager decides to fight the authority, especially as they still have his friend and have not released him. 

While Marcus starts making connections with other people to support his cause, he loses his other two friends who were released in the process, as they cannot follow in his footsteps.  He eventually finds that his friend Darryl is not dead but being held captive.  He makes a rescue attempt by attempting to draw media attention to the problem but finds himself imprisoned again, even water boarded.  The novel culminates with the release of Marcus and his friends, while the people responsible go unpunished.

Critical Evaluation - A very well paced story about Marcus and his friends and how they relate to one another.  The story does an excellent job of trying to portray all of the motivations of all of its characters, including Marcus parents, who, while against the over intrusive government, are more willing to be accepting of it if they feel the safety of their son is at stake.  The novel tackles many themes that are not only appropriate to the teen age group but to the whole of society as it deals with laws such as the Patriot Act.  What is the appropriate level of freedom one should have?  Should freedom be abridged because of safety concerns.  The novel does one thing poorly I believe.  It acts like its audience has limited knowledge of the technologies that are being used by the people.  And while certainly some of the technological aspects may be over my head, or even possibly non-existent, its teenage audience may find that they do not need all of the exposition concerning this technology.

Reader's Annotation - MarcusYallow can do anything: program the most complex computer software; trick pass cards to work as if you were another person; develop signals and codes that government agencies cannot crack.  But what should actually happen if the government tries to find out and cannot?  How much trouble could Marcus be in, or is the government in over way its head?  Only Marcus knows.

Information about the author - Born in Canada and raised by followers of Trotsky (A Russian author believing in the purity of communism and the communist revolution), Doctorow was raised as a Jewish Activist.  He became involved in nuclear disarmament and Greenpeace as a child.  He would certainly have all the makings of a social activist.

However it would seem that Doctorow took a detour and found himself interested in freedoms for everyone.  He became involved with groups who were promoting the free information to run across society eliminating copyright restrictions and other things.  He took things one step further than Fair Use and wanted free use of all materials for everyone.

Genre - Science Fiction

Curriculum Ties - Connect the novel to politics and the advent of the Department of Homeland Security.  What is it supposed to be doing versus what Homeland of Security seems to be responsible for? - Politics

Booktalking Ideas - There could be a discussion on the burgeoning of technology and its implications, not only in the areas of free speech but specifically as it relates to library content in the area of fair use.

Reading Level - Grade 10+

Challenge Issues - There is some sexuality between teens but minor in content.

Someone may contest that its anti-government and against homeland security and other departments.

Overcoming Challenge Issue -Arguments with articles affirming that freedom of speech is meant to protect those who are in positions of power. Discuss the nature of the sexual content as often awkward as teens do not understand its full impact.

Why included - It was part of the reading list for the semester, and I enjoyed all of the novel and its implications for politics today.