Babymouse: Puppy Love

1.  Bibliography

Holm, Jennifer L. and Matthew. 2007. Babymouse: Puppy Love. New York, NY: Random House Books for Young Readers.  ISBN 9780375939907.

2.  Plot Summary

Babymouse: Puppy Love is all about the struggles Babymouse has getting a dog and keeping a dog!  Babymouse and the narrator interact about her experiences with her pets.  First, she had 4? 5? fish, next she went through a hamster, ferret, turtle and more all disappearing under her bed.  Her mother refused to spend any more money on pets.  She wanted a dog so bad that one finally got lost on her doorstep.  Babymouse told her mother she would take care of it, feed it, walk it and be responsible for the dog until the owner was found.  Babymouse got true experience of what it is like to have a dog.  Eventually she trains her dog “Buddy”, with the biscuit training method, to be a dog of many tricks!  As soon as she has impressed everyone with Buddy’s skills, the real owner shows up.  It turns out that “Buddy” is actually “Lady” a female dog—whoops.  Babymouse responds to her owner leaving in the sunset with “Lady” by saying “Typical” (Holm, 2007).  

3.  Critical Analysis

Expressive and adorable black, white and pink graphics make this graphic novel.  Babymouse: Puppy Love is full of humor and lessons about life with animals.  The illustrations in this book are detailed, hilarious and consistent.  This combined with the simplicity of using three colors creates the perfect page turner in the Babymouse graphic novels.  The placement of the callouts is spot on, specifically those that are the narrator’s comments.  These are always placed at the top of the box and are straight squares or rectangles.   

When Babymouse interacts with the narrator, you cannot help but laugh.  This type of dialogue adds a depth to the story that allows children to feel that they are truly with Babymouse too.  For example, the narrator asks Babymouse what she will name her hamster to which Babymouse replys “HAMMY!”.  The narrator says, “How creative.” And then Babymouse says, “All right, Smarty-Pants.  What would YOU name him?” and the narrator says, “How about ‘the handsome narrator’?” (Holm, 2007).    

4.  Award & Review Excerpts

“A stray dog gives our unlucky-with-pets heroine the chance to redeem herself, and she trains Buddy with the "biscuit method" -- à la Pavlov -- to sit, fetch, scrub, bake, and even calculate.”. -- Horn Book Magazine Review

5.  Connections

• Invite children to create drawings of animals they would like to have.  Ask that they limit their colors to only three: black, white and one color of thier choice. 
• Other Babymouse graphic novels:

• Holm, Matthew and Jennifer L. 2011. Babymouse: mad scientist. Random House. ISBN 978037596574
• Holm, Matthew and Jennifer L. 2009. Babymouse: Dragonslayer. Random House. ISBN 9780375957123
• Holm, Matthew and Jennifer L. 2007. Babymouse: Skater girl. Random House. ISBN 9780375939891

When You Reach Me

1.  Bibliography

Stead, Rebecca. 2009. When You Reach Me. New York, NY: Random House Children’s Books.  ISBN 978385737425.

2.  Plot Summary

Life in New York City in 1978 has never looked quite the same as the narrator, sixth grade Miranda, makes it out to be.  Miranda spends her days helping her mom train for being on The $20,000 Pyramid, going to school and ‘working’ on her lunch, and trying to figure out why she lost her best friend, Sal.  Miranda has an obsession with learning about time travel and how it works.  The fact that Miranda is an enthusiast of the book A Wrinkle in Time By Madeleine L’Engle adds to the interest the reader has in Miranda’s struggle to understand this.  She has frequent conversations and debates with her acquaintance, Marcus, regarding the subject.  

After receiving a series of strange and elusive notes about saving her friends life, Miranda starts to believe this person knows the future.  She struggles with understanding why the author of the notes is asking for her to write him a letter but continues to describe the details of her life, as requested.  In the end, Marcus has time traveled, he is a crazy man in New York City but saves Sal’s life.  Everything falls together for Miranda and Marcus really does save lives when he reaches her.  

3.  Critical Analysis

The great thing about reading this novel is simplicity.  The idea of time travel and getting messages from a friend who is in one place at two different times is proven simple.  The reader will never second guess the fact that Marcus has been giving Miranda notes and he did in fact save Sal’s life.  The story line is strong and believable.  When listening to the story from Miranda’s point-of-view, it feels realistic.  She is easily likable and her feelings are portrayed clearly.  This creates a bond between the reader and Miranda that makes you believe how she is feeling is the way to feel.  

The setting in When You Reach Me is extremely important and detailed.  Stead refers to specific streets, restaurants and stores.  She is constantly referring back to where things happened.  For example, Stead describes New Year’s Day by saying “The laughing man wasn’t on the corner—maybe he didn’t work holidays.  Belle’s was closed. Everything felt kind of peaceful and sad and deserted” (2009).  This is just one example of many in which the author shows how Miranda feels by describing the world around her.  

Details in this story including Miranda’s favorite book, favorite knot, her hobbies and her friends and acquaintances all tie the mystery of the notes together.  Stead (2009) has tie used much incorporation of detail to make this novel a mysterious fantasy.  Fantasy elements combined with a theme throughout that refers to friendships as a young adult create an interesting and important story line.  The friendships can be dramatic, stressful and sometimes confusing but they always influence the direction that your life heads.  

4.  Award & Review Excerpts

Book Sense Book of the Year Award Winner

IRA Children’s Book Award Winner

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner

Indies’ Choice Book Award Winner

School Library Journal Best Books of the Year Award Winner

Massachusetts Children’s Book Award Winner

    Nominated for Black-Eyed Susan Book Award 

    Nominated for Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award

“The '70s New York setting is an honest reverberation of the era; the mental gymnastics required of readers are invigorating; and the characters, children and adults, are honest bits of humanity no matter in what place or time their souls rest. Just as Miranda rereads L'Engle, children will return to this”. -- Booklist Starred Review

“When she receives a series of enigmatic notes that claim to want to save her life, she comes to believe that they are from someone who knows the future. Miranda spends considerable time observing a raving vagrant who her mother calls "the laughing man" and trying to find the connection between the notes and her everyday life. Discerning readers will realize the ties between Miranda's mystery and L'Engle's plot, but will enjoy hints of fantasy and descriptions of middle school dynamics”. -- School Library Journal

“Twelve-year-old Miranda, a latchkey kid whose single mother is a law school dropout, narrates this complex novel, a work of science fiction grounded in the nitty-gritty of Manhattan life in the late 1970s”. -- Publishers Weekly

5.  Connections

• Invite readers to write about where they would travel to if they could travel through time.
• Ask children to read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.  Have them create a brown bag book review over the book to connect the importance of this book to MIranda’s experiences.  
• Other books about time travel:

• Haddix, Margaret Peterson. 2008. Found. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9781416954170.
• Levitin, Sonia. 1999. The Cure. Harcourt. ISBN 0152018271
• Silverthorne, Judith. 2005. The Secret of the Stone House. Coteau Books for Kids. ISBN 1550503251
• Williams, Maiya. 2004. The Golder Hour. Amulet Books. ISBN 0810948230

Speak

1.  Bibliography

Anderson, Laurie Halse. 1999. Speak. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.  ISBN 9780374371524.

2.  Plot Summary

Melinda Sordino is starting high school without any friends because of a terrible secret.  At a party over the summer, Melinda was raped by a popular senior boy.  She called the cops which busted the party but when they showed up she was too afraid to say anything, so she didn’t and still has not.  Everyone knows that she called the cops and are holding it against her.  She watches her ex-friends and classmates closely seemingly desiring to be happy and find her clique.  The story follows Melinda as she tries to find a place in the world, often times ostracizing herself.  She meets an incredible art teacher that helps her build skills artistically and in life.  Finally, Melinda is able to reach out and tell her best friend about the rape and from there, her healing begins.  

3.  Critical Analysis

This is a roller coaster story that immediately engages the reader.  Initially, we do not know what Melinda’s secret is and slowly details about the night of her rape are revealed.  Eventually, when Melinda finally tells someone, you can feel her relief, her transformation beginning and how much pain she is in.  We follow Melinda throughout the entire book and teen readers specifically will feel emotionally connected.  The first-person narration is vital in identifying with Melinda.  When Melinda first interacts with her ex-best friend she describes how she feels saying, “I want to grab her by the neck and shake her and scream at her to stop treating me like dirt.  She didn’t even bother to find out the truth -- what kind of friend is that?” (Anderson 1999).  Even her best friend did not care to find out what really happened and Melinda feels lost this way most of the novel.  Her down-to-earth and realistic responses to her situations draw the reader in.  

The things that Melinda goes through are realistic, although rape is usually an sensitive topic, it is truly plausible.  The rejection from classmates and loner feeling she has could happen to any teenage girl, especially after they find themselves drunk at a party.  Melinda’s only therapy is her art teacher and the art class she uses to find her voice.  The fact that she is able to find herself and speak out about her experience can bring about confidence in the readers that may be experiencing hardship.  

4.  Award & Review Excerpts

School Library Journal Best Books of the Year Award Winner

Golden Kite Award Winner

ABC Children’s Booksellers Choices Award Winner

Nominated for National Book Award

Nominated for Edgar Award

Nominated for Michael L. Printz Award

“No one will sit with Melinda on the bus. At school, students call her names and harass her; her best friends from junior high scatter to different cliques and abandon her. Yet Anderson infuses the narrative with a wit that sustains the heroine through her pain and holds readers' empathy”. -- Publishers Weekly Review

“Readers will easily identify with Melinda, a realistic, likable character. Anderson portrays a large suburban high school with a fresh and authentic eyeball the cliques are there, from the jocks, to the Goths, to the "Marthas" (Martha Stewart wanna-bes)”. -- Voice of Youth Advocates Review

“Melinda's voice is distinct, unusual, and very real as she recounts her past and present experiences in bitterly ironic, occasionally even amusing vignettes”. -- Booklist Review

5.  Connections

• Invite students to write in their own personal diaries.  Do not ask that they share them with anyone or do anything except write how they feel daily.  Melinda was only able to speak out when she could do it through writing.
• Incorporate art the same was Melinda’s art teacher did.  Give students one image to draw all year and ask them to perfect it through different mediums.  
• Other books by Laurie Halse Anderson:

• 2005. Prom. Viking. ISBN 0670059749
• 2007. Twisted. Viking. ISBN 97806700661013
• 2009. Wintergirls. Viking. ISBN 9780670011100

• Other fiction books about rape victims and how this trauma affects victims and the people around them:

• Holubitsky, Katherine. 2004. The Hippie House. Orca Book Publishers. ISBN 1551433168. 
• Neufeld, John. 1999. Boy Lie. DK Ink. ISBN 0789426242
• Whitney, Daisy.  2010. The Mockingbirds. Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316090537
• Williams-Garcia, Rita. 2001. Every Time a Rainbow Dies. Harper Collins Publisher. ISBN 0688162452