Cut by Patricia McCormick was one of the very first books that I bought for my classroom library the year that I was student teaching. There are loads of book in my collection that I wanted to read, and this summer I have been able to read a lot more of them than ever before. I am glad that I finally read Cut.
The text on the front cover of Cut had always caught my attention, "Then I placed the blade next to the skin on my palm. A tingle arced across my scalp. The blood tipped up at me and my body spiralled away. Then I was on the ceiling looking down, waiting to see what would happen next..." Every time Callie talked about cutting herself I got a little woosy. In high school I briefly considered a job in the medical field, but when I almost passed out when nurses came to our school for hepatitis vaccinations, I realized I probably was not cut out for the field!
I loved the voice in this book. Callie is telling the story through her thoughts and what she thinks about in response to her meetings with a therapist as part of her treatment at Sea Pines (what she and the fellow "guests" call Sick Minds). She talks in second person addressing her therapist in thoughts, although she never says a word, to anybody. She tries to sort out in her mind different family issues and her own feelings throughout the book and gain the strength to come to grips with her life.
you raise an interesting issue--i'm struggling with whether it is ok to not have read every book in my classroom library. i've been reading ya book after ya book this summer in an attempt to digest all of the new books i've gotten my hands on, and have read all of the old ones from college courses on ya lit, etc., but there are still plenty books that i simply won't get to.
ReplyDeletein some ways, i'm glad to have my students be the experts ,to have them teach me about different authors and titles. but in another, non-tenured teacher way, i worry that ignorance of a plot or situations in a certain book could mean me running into trouble if an explanation of a book's merits is necessary, say, for a parent.
thoughts?
I have considered the same. Somewhere along the line someone recommended to me to include books even if I have not read them all. The benefits of this is that my classroom library would be considerably downsized if I waited until I read every, single book before adding them in. I could miss the opportunity for a student to get the perfect book.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am also careful about what I add because of your same concern about whether or not books are appropriate, will be challenged. I buy a lot of my books from Scholastic and usually they mark "contains mature content" on books that would potentially be questionable. I also get a lot of suggestions from colleagues.
If there are books that I am not sure of, I read them before adding them. Right now I have a stack in my room at home that I will read before deciding on whether or not to include them.
I have also adjusted based on grade-level. I have a box in my garage with books that I had in my high school classroom library that I am not including in my 6th grade library right now (most of them I will be comfortable adding back in once our school moves up to include 7th/8th grade).
So...to add or not to add? It all depends on the book and grade levels.
I don't know that I'll read this book, but it sounds interesting. I think I'd have a similar reaction to it as I had to Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I didn't particularly like Speak, but I balled my eyes out at the end. It was just so gritty and pent up, and then at the end I felt a huge emotional release.
ReplyDeleteI read this book a few years back and I agree that it was a great novel. Definitely an intense read, and full of thought for such a short novel.
ReplyDelete-Lauren