reviews @ tengrrl.com

The Worry Web Site by Jacqueline Wilson (Dell Yearling, 2003)

2005-03-26T20:26:00.000-06:00

The Worry Web Site is comprised of linked short stories about students in a British classroom and the various worries that affect them—problems with parents and step-parents, self-esteem issues, and first loves. The book is well-suited for fourth and fifth grade students who face similar worries. Its portrayal of Natasha, a student with an unidentified disability who uses a wheelchair and a “special speaking machine,” alongside the worries of all the other students nicely addresses the many similarities between Natasha’s worries and those of the others in the class.

The Worry Web Site, set up by teacher Mr. Speed, links the stories in the book, as each featured student writes about a particular worry on the Web site. At most, the technology sounds like an anonymous Web form that students can fill out. After a student posts, other students in the class can respond. The site seems to be something like an anonymous blog. Anyone can post, and anyone can reply. There are classroom netiquette rules, but we don’t really learn anything about the technology that the teacher has set up to make it all work . Technology plays the role of connecting the stories, but readers have to guess about what that technology actually is. There’s no indication, for instance, that students can access the site outside of the classroom. Readers might guess then that the Worry Web Site is a local site, available only on this one classroom computer. There is not enough detail about the technology, however, for readers to be sure.

Perhaps the undefined nature of the Worry Web Site is an attempt to keep the book, originally published in Great Britain in 2002, from appearing dated. If written today, the technology might be described as an anonymous blog, but there’s nothing else in the few details that would cause a problem.

In fact, there’s nothing really special about the Worry Web Site. The same sharing of worries and classroom feedback could easily be achieved with a shared classroom journal. The only benefit of the Worry Web Site over such a handwritten journal is the posture of anonymity—there is no handwriting on the Web site to betray the author. Of course, Mr. Speed knows who writes every message in spite of the anonymous postings. There is no way to know if Mr. Speed is simply very clever or there is a backdoor that lets him check the author’s name. It’s likely the former, however, as even the students are able to guess who posts which worries:

One of the boys wrote that he liked one of the girls a lot. That made everyone giggle—and Greg went very pink. Hmm! I wonder who he fancies?
Someone else went on and on. Oh boo hoo, it’s so sad, I miss my dad, etc, etc. We all know who that was. (p. 4)

Technology plays a role in the stories, then, but a subtle one. The messages that the students write are always the focus, rather than the technology that the students use to write those messages. Perhaps, then, the book shows that technology has become more of a commonplace element of students’ lives. It just is. There is a classroom computer, and students use it matter-of-factly during their school day.

Jacqueline Wilson, the book’s author, is a two-time runner-up for the Carnegie Medal, so I was expecting a bit more from the book. Terry Pratchett won the Carnegie for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, and Wilson’s book doesn't really compare to Pratchett’s—yes, I know that Pratchett doesn't really compare to anyone :) In many ways, The Worry Web Site is predictable and the stories rather simplistic. It is a good book, but not a great one.

I would recommend it to students facing worries similar to those in the book, but those readers with more complex anxieties would certainly need more support than this book provides. There are suggestions of domestic violence and alcoholism, for instance, but the student’s worries are treated rather superficially and the bigger issues are not dealt with. It is not a book to give to readers looking for stories about technology. The computer and Web site do not play a significant role, and students looking for something akin to video game action will be disappointed.

Details

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Book Format: short chapter book
Paperback: 112 pages
ISBN: 0440419298
Rating: ********** (5 of 10 stars)
Stores: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Powells
Technologies Included: web | discussion forum

From Danny to Raisin -> Student Explorations -> Close Readings

2005-06-05T15:18:00.000-05:00

Everything starts with close reading. Whether we are exploring the vision of technology included in these texts ourselves or we are asking students to analyze the technology, the process begins with asking specific questions about how technology is presented in the book.

To start, readers might consider such questions as the following:

What are the features of the technology mentioned in the text? What does the technology do?
How does the technology compare to the real-world equivalents?
Who would use the technology? What assumptions are made about the characters who would use the technology?

These questions can lead to relevant observations even in texts that do not foreground the technology. The young adult novel Geography Club (HarperTempest, 2003) by Brent Hartinger, for instance, tells the story of a group of students who form a geography club—"a club that's so boring, nobody would ever in a million years join it" (63). Discouraging people from joining the club is actually a goal for the characters in the novel. "Geography Club" is code for a budding Gay-Straight-Bisexual Alliance, a society so secret that not even its advisor doesn't knows what it's about.

As the naming of the club demonstrates, the novel deals with the much more serious issue of when the characters can name themselves. As the book begins, Russel, the protagonist hides who he is from his family, his friends, and other students. It is only online that Russel can identify himself, but even then he must hide his name:

There was only one other person in the room, which made sense to me, since I figured there was only about one other gay person in my whole hometown. His handle was GayTeen, which wasn't the most original name I'd ever seen. Mine was Smuggler, for no reason I can explain. (13)

The technology mentioned in this text is never described explicitly. It's a simple, generic chatroom, much like any other chatroom. What is significant is not the technology, but how it creates a social space for the characters. It is in this online space that they are first able to identify themselves to others. Even though the technology itself in Geography Club is fairly generic, then, its ability to create a social network is important to recognize.

In texts that include details on more prominent technologies, closer reading is often an important way to discover underlying meanings in the text. The ReadWriteThink lesson plan Paying Attention to Technology: Exploring a Fictional Technology demonstrates one possible method for structuring such deeper readings. In this lesson plan, students complete a short survey to establish their beliefs about technology then compare their opinions to the ideas in a novel that depicts technology (such as 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, REM World, or Feed). Class discussion focuses on the overarching question “What is the author of this story saying about technology?” By exploring the fictional technology, students are urged to pay attention to the ways that technology is described and used.

Picture books and other texts with visual representations can also lead to interesting close readings. Questions such as the following can be the basis for deeper conversations:

How is the technology pictured?
What relevant details are present, and what details are missing?
What is the relationship between the pictures of the technology and what the way it is described in the text?
How do the characters in the images interact with the technology?
What text appears? What relevant information is missing?
What assumptions are made about the characters who would use the technology based on the image?

Even without knowing the plot of the story, readers can learn much by simply looking at the cover of Arthur's Computer Disaster (click on the thumbnail to see a larger image). The computer featured on the cover is a generic PC with a color monitor. Readers with more technology experience may recognize that the machine is dated—more modern representations would probably show a flat-panel monitor, a CPU with a smaller footprint, and at the very least a two-button mouse (if not a three-button or scroll-wheel mouse). Young readers approaching this book, however, probably see only the computer.

The relationship between Arthur, the pictured character, and the technology also reveals details about the book and the character's understanding of technology. Arthur's face and the book's title reveal that there is a problem, and the visual details of the technology contribute to this message. The colors on the screen and the highlight in its middle mimic the look of an explosion, but more importantly, Arthur doesn't seem to know how to use a mouse—the mouse is backwards, and the character is holding it up in the air (like a remote control) rather than sliding it along on the desktop. Readers can conclude from this image then that Arthur may not understand much about technology, and they can therefore predict that Arthur's misunderstandings lead to the disaster that the title warns them about.

So many books, so little time. Even when I'm in th...

2006-05-19T22:10:00.000-05:00

So many books, so little time. Even when I'm in the middle of a book that seems to have nothing to do with technology, it creeps in.

I've created a slightly updated version of the tec...

2005-11-19T21:33:00.000-06:00

I've created a slightly updated version of the technology booklist. Still many books that I need to add, but I'm hoping an HTML version will be more accessible, since I can link to reviews.

From Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine to The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez

2005-06-05T20:12:00.000-05:00

Introduction

Over the last 3 years or so, I've been gathering children's and young adult texts that include some level of technology interaction, typically involving computers and other digital technologies. My goals are two-fold: to examine how these texts present and situate technology as well as to explore ways to use these texts with pre-K to 12th grade readers.

This presentation has been an opportunity to begin sharing the information that I have been gathering on my bookshelves. My ultimate goal is to develop an ongoing source of information for K12 teachers who may use these texts in their classrooms as well as for college teachers who are exploring how students' literacy skills are shaped by children's literature before they reach the college classroom.

Several basic questions frame my exploration:

What technology resources are students likely to encounter in the texts that they read?
What do these books teach students about technology? What messages do they communicate?
What experiences with technology do students bring to these books?
How does their prior knowledge affect their reading of these books?
How can we tap this knowledge of technology in the composition and language arts classroom?

Working from these questions, I've gathered ideas that urge students to think more deeply about their own beliefs and to pay attention to the ways that technology is described and used.

This presentation is broken into the following sections:

Books

Student Explorations

Close Readings
Role of Games (working notes)
Social Networks (working notes)
Future Visions (working sentence)

Conclusions

Working Book List (PDF)

Some Preliminary Notes/Warnings

Rather than a polished presentation, these pages share my current, working vision of these children's and young adult texts. The information is a simple and preliminary impression, one which will expand as I explore more of these texts more deeply. This presentation is just the beginning.
Parts of this text were conceptualized in Michigan at CIWIC. Examples are limited in places to the texts that I have on hand in Houghton. Most notably, I have no picture books on hand to refer to for specific details. I'll expand the information when I have all my books available.

From Danny to Raisin -> Student Explorations -> Future Visions

2005-06-05T15:05:00.000-05:00

Future Visions

This section will one day talk about sci-fi sorts of discussions of technology in children's and young adult literature.

Books to consider in this section will include Feed and Be More Chill.

From Danny to Raisin -> Student Explorations -> Social Networks

2005-06-05T15:16:00.000-05:00

Social Networks

Just some working notes. This section has the most interesting potential, given the number of books that now include faux messages ranging from e-mail messages to instant messages and blogging. To be developed eventually...

In many young adult books, text messages and e-mail messages replace the note passing of the past. Students without computer access may first experience the format of instant messages and e-mail in these novels, and students' experiences with the netiquette and social issues surrounding technology issues may stem just as often from picture books and novels as it does from what they see on television or at the movies.

So much of the young adult audience's world focuses on cliques and social networks that it's little surprise that books such as TTYL (Amulet, 2004) and p:¬) ChaseR (Candlewick, 2002) have evolved. In these books, we see the characters' social networks at work as we are invited to read their instant messages and e-mail messages.

From Danny to Raisin -> Student Explorations -> Role of Games

2005-06-05T15:17:00.000-05:00

Role of Games

For the purposes of this section, games refers to video and computer games. To limit the exploration to a reasonable area, I won't consider fan-fiction sorts of role-playing games (RPGs). The books I'm exploring have characters who may play games of some sort; however, the plot of the books is not following a character in a role-playing game.

This section is limited to a few notes on books that include game references. I didn't conceptualize this section of the presentation until I was far away from my bookshelf.

Games come into play frequently in books for younger readers. In books such as Arthur's Computer Disaster (in Spanish as Arturo y el Desastre de la Computadora) and Franklin and the Computer, computer games are the seductive element that ultimately leads to conflict for the protagonist.

For Arthur, the temptation to play the game Deep, Dark Sea leads to trouble when he and friend Buster play the game even though they were instructed not to touch the computer. In the process, they break the computer in the process. In Franklin and the Computer, protagonist Franklin becomes so obsessed with his friend Beaver's computer game Dam Builders that he forgets promises made to his real-world friends.

In Susan Cooper's The Boggart, main character Jessup and friends are developing their own computer game over the course of the story. The group dresses as characters from the game for Halloween:

Four of the five members of the Gang of Five were waiting for Emily at the Volniks' house, dressed as characters from their new computer game. This game, which was called Black Hole, was in a constant state of development; the Gang never seemed to finish it, because one or other of them was always having a new idea. It was all about spaceships which discovered numbers of different worlds while trying to avoid being dragged through black holes in space. Emily's vampire came from one of these worlds, adn so did the spider-like creature represented by Chris's costume, which had a round black body fitted over his head and most of his own body, and six extra legs the same size and shape as his own. (86)

Other characters from the novel dress as the spaceship that game players travel in and as the hazards that game players encounter, Fire Burst and Ice Death. For these characters, the real world blends with the game design—and it is this blend between real and game worlds that solves the problem that the characters encounter.

From Danny to Raisin -> Books -> Young Adult Books

2005-06-05T15:19:00.000-05:00

Recently published young adult books (generally, books for teenagers) not only include computer technologies as part of the setting, but they also include faux computer-mediated messages and texts as part of the story. Many young adult books blend technology tools throughout the narrative. M.T. Anderson's Feed (Candlewick, 2004), for instance, shows readers a sci-fi vision where computers feed directly into the characters' heads, feeding these characters just-in-time facts and information. The story includes traditional narrative, which is interrupted with various informational and persuasive messages from the Feed and personal messages from the protagonist's friends.

Another example, The Dating Game (Little, Brown, 2004) by Natalie Standiford, tells of three sophomores who design the Dating Game Web site for their Interpersonal Human Dynamics class—complete with quizzes, dating tips, and details on various social problems (think Cosmo Girl online). The story includes traditional narrative, e-mail messages, online quizzes, and Web pages.

What's particularly interesting about the evolving connections between technology and young adult novels, however, is their adoption of epistolary forms based on new technologies. The most recent of these books, The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez (Razor Bill, 2005) tells its story entirely through blog entries. The book opens with an explanation of the purpose of Raisin's blog:

      Welcome to TwoScoopsofRaisin.com. Aka my blog. I know there are many blogs out there to choose from. Your choice to read mine is much appreciated.
      Why keep a blog? you ask.
      Excellent question, I answer. (1)

Raisin goes on to provide expository details—she's moved to Philadelphia, far away from her best friends; and her new stepsister keeps the phone tied up so she can't call her friends. Technology in The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez isn't discussed explicitly. We never learn whether Raisin is using blogging software, but it seems likely since her friends are able to post comments. The secrecy of her blog is always foregrounded however. Her first entry ends with a warning to her two best friends, her readers:

      I hope you enjoy my blog. Feel free to check for new updates as often as you like. Please do not feel free, under any circumstances, on pain of death, to give the address of this blog to anyone. This blog is very personal and confidential and deals with mature subject matter.
      Additionally, unauthorized reading could potentially result in harmful side effects such as eye twitching, sudden memory loss, dry mouth, and butt acne.
      Thank you for flying Raisin. (2)

The book reads like a girl talking to her friends. The protagonist records in more detail than most teens are likely to in real blogs, but the story is believable and the technology is generally absent from the plot. It's not the technology that ultimately causes her problems but her own forgetfulness.

Click Here: To Find Out How I Survived Seventh Grade (Little, Brown, 2005) explores a similar plot—a secret Web site is meant to be a private diary, but things go awry. While Raisin artfully weaves its tale without drawing attention to the underlying technology, the computer tools that seventh grader Erin Swift uses for her private blog are frequently (and sometimes unnecessarily) incorporated in the plot. Because of the influence of her Web designer mother, Erin knows a bit about creating Web pages, and her knowledge leads her to join an Intranet club that will create the school's newsletter.

The Web pages that Erin creates are neatly interspersed with first person narration of the events in her life. Like the plot in Raisin, the technology is not to blame for things that go wrong; personal mistakes are. Unfortunately, the book's use of technology metaphors is frequently laughable. Further, the book often refers to unfamiliar technical terms that are never explained. One chapter, for instance, is titled, "TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident)"; yet teen readers, having used Windows or Mac all their lives, would almost universally be unfamiliar with the terminology. It's a meaningless reference for readers.

Young adult novels cover a range of technology tools in addition to blogging, and in each, the technology is simply a fact of the setting. Although many of the books include details on netiquette and social warnings about online safety, the following books all communicate their stories through a technology tool:

TTYL (Amulet, 2004) by Lauren Myracle is told through instant messages.
p:¬) ChaseR (Candlewick, 2002) by Michael J. Rosen is told through e-mail messages.
Heart on My Sleeve (Simon & Schuster, 2004) by Ellen Wittlinger is told through e-mail messages, letters, and instant messages.
Snail Mail No More (Scholastic, 2000) by Paula Danziger and Ann M. Martin is told through e-mail messages.
An Order of Amelie, Hold the Fries (Annick, 2003) by Nina Schindler is a blend of letters, e-mail messages, post-it notes, and text messages.

From Danny to Raisin -> Books -> Chapter Books

2005-06-05T15:20:00.000-05:00

Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine (Scholastic, 1958) is the first chapter book including computers that I've found. The book targets readers aged 9–12, children just beginning to read chapter books. The chapters are short, and the book includes numerous illustrations by Caldecott winner Ezra Jack Keats.

The book's plot is similar to that of picture books such as Arthur's Computer Disaster (Marc Brown, 1999). My copy of the book is a more recent reprint that situates the technology for readers on the back cover:

In the 1950s, when Danny Dunn was a young boy, it was extraordinarily unusual to have a computer at home or at school. In fact, personal computers hadn't even been invented yet! But when Professor Bullfinch leaves for Washington and entrusts Danny with the care of his computer, Danny gets the bright idea of using the computer to do his homework. He reasons that working things out with paper and pencil is old-fashioned.

Naturally, Danny and his friends are found out, though they learn a great deal in the process as they determine what data to feed into the computer. Even though the computer in the book is an old, ENIAC-style mainframe, the book's final message could still be a great discussion starter in the classroom. In the book's last pages, after Danny's use of the computer has been discovered, Professor Bullfinch explains:

No matter how intelligent the computer is, it is only a machine. It can solve problems in minutes that would take a man months to work out. But behind it there must be a human brain. It can never be a creator of music or of stories, or paintings, or ideas. It cannot even do our homework for us—we must do the homework. The machine can only help, as a textbook helps. It can only be a tool, as a typewriter is a tool. (120)

Though the professor's message is another standard PSA-type lessons like those from the picture books, it takes the lesson to a higher level, moving beyond basic values to asking readers to think about technology's abilities and limitations and the accompanying ethics. (Of course, the more interesting question the book raises may be why a college professor leaves children to watch his very expensive computer in the first place.)

Books for older children move beyond tapping technology to teach lessons to including the machines as a normal part of the setting. The Boggart (Aladdin, 1993) by Newbery Medal-winning author Susan Cooper draws on technology and an e-mail pen pal to solve the problem of a Scottish boggart that has been accidentally shipped to the Canada in a rolltop desk.

In Nancy Drew #144, The E-mail Mystery (Aladdin, 1998), the young detective investigates legal sabotage by tracing e-mail messages and log files. As was the case with The Boggart, technology is simply part of the setting, just like the other office equipment. In the course of her detective work, Nancy visits cybercafes and learns about chatrooms. The technology in the book is at times dated (e.g., there's a reference to BITNET), and can be inaccurate from an advanced perspective. It's unlikely, however, that the book's readers will realize where the author's knowledge of technology is lacking. The book is clearly aimed at readers with very little computer knowledge. Details are always defined and explained (though not always with full accuracy):

"FAQs is short for 'frequently asked questions,'" Bess explained. "Most computer users ask the same things over and over, so it's easier to refer them to an answer sheet than reply personally to each one. The rest of the line tells people where to find the list." (51)

It's likely that the realistic details and the natural place of technology in these books has to do with the assumed experience and knowledge of the readers. Older readers are more likely to know enough about computers and other technologies so they can more readily adopt them as part of the natural landscape of the novel.

From Danny to Raisin -> Books -> Picture Books

2005-06-05T15:21:00.000-05:00

The earliest picture book that I've found, The Little Red Computer (McGraw Hill, 1969) entertains listeners with the tale of a computer that doesn't understand numbers but ultimately succeeds because it is "a computer with a mind of its own" (27). The images and story demonstrate the tension between an objective, modern society and a humanistic desire for nature and emotions. Like many children's books, The Little Red Computer weaves a didactic message, but it is one what really has little to do with technologies. Instead, the personified computer simply represents the value of the human over value of the machine.

More recent picture books shift the focus to lessons about computers and technology. Kermit Learns How Computers Work (Prima Publications, 1993) and Kermit Learns Windows (Prima Publications, 1993) set out to teach readers something about keyboards, mice, and software—all from the perspective of everyone's favorite Muppet. Getting your documentation from Sesame Street may seem strange to readers today, but remember thatplenty of children, teenagers, and adults have gotten advice on how to use their computers from an animated paper clip.

Picture books such as Franklin and the Computer (Kids Can Press, 2003) and Arthur's Computer Disaster (Marc Brown, 1999) focus on the kind of lessons you expect to hear on PSAs:

Don't monkey about with computers.
You may be playing a game, but a computer is not a toy.
If you break something, tell an adult .
Too much time online make you a dull kid.

The School Library Journal describes Arthur's Computer Disaster:

[T]his episode pits Arthur against his mother for computer time. He wants to play Deep, Dark Sea, but she has forbidden him to touch her PC while she is at work. However, the silent machine proves to be more temptation than Arthur can withstand. Pal Buster encourages him; D.W. predicts doom. A tug of war, a crashing keyboard, and an inoperable computer follow. Desperate attempts to fix it fail; in the end, Mom returns home, Arthur confesses, suffers the consequences, and learns a valuable lesson when Mom offers, "Always call me with your problems."

While these books focus on the troubles children can get into with computers, the plots could just as easily be about anything that the child overuses or uses without permission. These books follow the same structures as such titles as The Berenstain Bears and Too Much TV (Random House, 1984) and Arthur's TV Trouble (Marc Brown, 1997).

There are picture books that break out of this didactic focus, but they seem to be the exceptions. Patrick's Dinosaurs on the Internet (Clarion, 1999) presents a group of dinosaurs as "big brother." They have traveled off into outer space, but Patrick finds in an Internet chat one night that the dinosaurs are still watching over him, appearing late at night on his computer screen. A House with No Mouse (Mousetime Media, 2003) addresses the problems of the digital divide directly by exploring the many houses that do not have computers and showing the alternatives that these people use to get online.

Feed by M. T. Anderson (Candlewick, 2004)

2005-05-15T23:57:00.000-05:00

This young adult novel explores the consequences of a technology out of control, one that ultimately reduces the mental abilities of the humans in this future world. The feed is a technology that is implanted in every baby's head, putting a world of information at every person's mental fingertips. The novel's protagonist, Titus, describes the background and use of the feed:

I don't know when they first had feeds. Like maybe, fifty or a hundred years ago. Before that, they had to use their hands and their eyes. Computers were all outside the body. They carried them around outside of them, in their hands, like if you carried your lungs in a briefcase and opened it to breathe.
People were really excited when they first came out with feeds. It as all da da da, this big educational thing, da da da, your child will have the advantage, encyclopedias at their fingertips, closer than their fingertips, etc. That's one of the great things about the feed—that you can be supersmart without ever working. Everyone is supersmart now. You can look things up automatic, like science and history, like if you want to know which battles of the Civil War George Washington fought in and shit. (47)

Anderson's irony is clear here: everyone is "supersmart" now that they can instantaneously look up the "battles of the Civil War George Washington fought in." In truth, these characters have become so dependent upon the feed that their own ability to think and understand the world around them has been lost. Everything is negotiated by the feed. Titus explains further, "the braggest thing about the feed, the thing that made it really big, is that it knows everything you want and hope for, sometimes before you even know what those things are. It can tell you how to get them, and help you make buying decisions that are hard. Everything we think and feel is taken in . . . and they make a special profile, one that's keyed just to you . . . so all you have to do is want something and there's a chance it will be yours" (48).

The feed that is presented as a technology that combines the characteristics of computers, television, and radio and that provides just-in-time information keyed to the every experience of the person whose brain it resides in. The examples of the feed in the novel are extreme satire of the media onslaught that shapes life everyday on present-day earth:

. . . attracted to its powerful T44 fermion lift with vertical rise of fifty feed per second—and if you like comfort, quality, and class, the supple upholstery and ergonomically designed dash will leave you something like hysterical. But the best thing about it is the financing—at 18.9% A.P.R . . . .

* * *
. . . ONLY ON SPORTS-VOX—TAKE A MAN, TAKE A GAS SLED, TAKE A CHLORINE STORM ON JUPITER—AND BOYS IT'S TIME TO SPIT INTO THE WIND WITH ALEX NEETHAM, THE HARDEST, HIPPEST, HYPEST . . .

* * *
. . . month's summer styles, and the word on the street is "squeaky." . . . (15)

Feeds like these provide suggestions throughout the story. At times, characters actively ask the feed for information; at other times, the feed simply suggests based on the character's profile and situation. More frightening than this complete control over the characters' thinking, however, is the close similarities between the feed and the broadcasts any reader might watch or hear on television or radio. Admittedly, my experience with the feed was influenced by the excellent production of the book on tape, which couples the Anderson's words with music, appropriate voice actors, and a smooth transition from the character's thoughts to the feed's suggestions.

Anderson's book is an excellent exploration of a science-fiction world that is far too close to our present-day experiences. Couple the book with the taped production for an amazing experience.

Details

Reading level: Young adult
Book Format: Novel
Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN: 0763622591
Rating: ********** (8 of 10 stars)
Stores: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Powells
Technologies Included: instant messaging | the feed
Tags: book reviews | computers in fiction | science fiction | technology |young adult literature

Metaphors from Click Here

2005-05-14T23:20:00.000-05:00

Click Here: (To Find Our How I Survived Seventh Grade) by Denise Vega (Little, Brown, 2005)

Thrill in some worst technology metaphors ever:

"The gossip superhighway at Molly Brown [Middle School] is wireless." (21).
"The news spread like a computer virus...." (36).
"I turned and glared at him. 'You can p align your butt to a different group,' I said. 'It doesn't matter to me.'
'Huh?'
'P align is an HTML code for aligning somethin on a page.' I looked up to see Mark Sacks standing in the cluster to our right, looking at the boy beside me. 'Positioning it. You know, like left, center, right.' He moved his hands to demonstrate each position. 'She knows her stuff,' he said, nodding at me." (50)
"Her meanness couldn't penetrate my webmaster shield." (86)
"Well, maybe because I'd rather have a virus attack my hard drive than have people staring at various parts of my body the way they were staring at Jilly." (94)
"His face lit up like the DSL light on a modem." (107)
"I took a breath, then let it out long and slow. I should have been completely embarrassed saying all of that to a complete stranger, but for some reason I felt . . . relieved. Lighter. Like I'd just defragmented my hard drive." (112)

Another Day Full of Books

2005-05-11T00:15:00.000-05:00

Today began with two new books: an autographed copy of Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci and a copy of Lauren Myracle's Rhymes with Witches—both from LiteratiCat, my winnings from the contest on teenliterature.

Not exactly children's lit, but I also got a copy of Literacy Moves On: Popular Culture, New Technologies, and Critical Literacy in the Elementary Classroom. Looks like a very promising book. Includes an excellent definition of multimodal literacy—very reader-friendly:

Previously a text was seen as being "a passage of print or a slice of speech, or an image" (Lankshear et al. 2002: 45); that is, texts were seen as things written down—books,magazines, and newspapers. They are now perceived as being much more than this. A text is now seen as a unit of communication that may take the form of something written down but also a chunk of discourse, for example speech, a conversation, a radio program a TV advert, text messaging, a photo in a newspaper, and so on. Many of these texts are drawn from children's popular culture and have changed the ways in which young readers expect to read, the ways they think, and the ways they construct meaning. (p. 8)

And thanks to Mike on Kairosnews, I found out about what looks like an short chapter book from 1958 that focuses on computers, Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine. Illustrations are listed as by Ezra Jack Keats. I found a used copy online, and it's on its way!

Tags: children's literature | computers in fiction | technological literacy | technology | young adult fiction

Currently Reading and New Books

2005-05-10T01:36:00.000-05:00

I'm currently reading Click Here: To Find Out How I Survived Seventh Grade by Denise Vega. I need to do a little research on Ms. Vega before I review the book because it has some questionably odd imagery. It's a fairly normal tale of young adult social woes of friendship and love, but some of the computerish references are flat-out odd.

I need to return to Feed, which I read months ago, and write up a review for it. And I need to decide whether to review non-computerish books here as well. But not tonight.

Today's kind delivery included The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez by Judy Goldschmidt and The Dating Game #1 by Natalie Standiford (according to Booklist, it's about the "Dating Game Web site, which [the characters] created for their Interpersonal Human Dynamics class." My pile of things to read grows and grows!

Tags: children's literature | computers in fiction | technological literacy | technology | young adult fiction

Geography Club by Brent Hartinger (HarperTempest, 2003)

2005-04-24T21:51:00.000-05:00

In this young adult novel, a group of students gathers to form a geography club, "a club that's so boring, nobody would ever in a million years join it" (63). You see, "Geography Club" is code for a budding Gay-Straight-Bisexual Alliance, a society so secret that not even its advisor knows what it's about. Not only are its members closeted, the club itself is in hiding. Chosen for its lack of appeal to the student body, the name Geography Club highlights the importance of naming in the book—what things are named and when we can name them. This book focues on the geography of high school life.

Author Brent Hartinger maps the terrain of Goodkind High School (which is, of course, anything but good and kind) as he describes all the cliquish misfortunes of its student life. Russel Middlebrook, the narrator of Geography Club, tries desperately to live up to his name, straddling the middle of the stream, safe in (or more accurately, from) all the cliques, but as the story progresses, his position becomes harder and harder to maintain. Clearly, Hartinger is having fun with his names:

Geography Club allows Russel to learn more about Land (Kevin Land).
What better way to describe a lesbian than to give her the last name Buckman?
And Trish Baskin certainly "basks in" self-enjoyment.
Homophobia and sexual repression at the school have taken their toll (Ms. Toles).

But beyond the play with naming, the book deals with the much more serious issue of when these characters can name who they are. As the book begins, Russel hides who he is from his family, his friends, and other students. It is only online that Russel can identify himself, but even then he must hide his name:

There was only one other person in the room, which made sense to me, since I figured there was only about one other gay person in my whole hometown. His handle was GayTeen, which wasn't the most original name I'd ever seen. Mine was Smuggler, for no reason I can explain. (13)

Hmm. A smuggler, of course, moves goods from one country to another illegally, and our narrator is definitely on course to explore the border region of high school respectability, the Land of the Popular, the Landscape of Love, Outcast Island, and all the country in between. The challenge for Russel is to realize when his travels are false, when they are smuggling from one region to another, and more importantly, how to navigate the geography honestly and openly.

Geography Club is a realistic exploration of the challenges of high school life. At times, I was bothered that Russel wasn't smarter or quicker. How could he fail to realize what Kevin was really like for so long? Why hadn't he noticed that there were other gay students? Where is this boy's gaydar? But then again, if he knew all that, he wouldn't be a high school student, would he? Russel and his friends face a much bigger challenge than coming out or fitting in; they face the very real challenge of learning to be true to yourself. I'd recommend the book for students of any sexuality who navigate the same terrain.

Details

Reading level: Young Adult
Book Format: novel
Paperback: 240 pages
ISBN: 0060012234
Rating: ********** (8 of 10 stars)
Stores: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Powells
Technologies Included: instant messaging | chatrooms
Tags: book reviews | computers in fiction | LGBT literature | teen fiction | young adult literature

reviews @ tengrrl.com

The Worry Web Site by Jacqueline Wilson (Dell Yearling, 2003)

From Danny to Raisin -> Student Explorations -> Close Readings

So many books, so little time. Even when I'm in th...

I've created a slightly updated version of the tec...

From Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine to The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez

From Danny to Raisin -> Student Explorations -> Future Visions

From Danny to Raisin -> Student Explorations -> Social Networks

From Danny to Raisin -> Student Explorations -> Role of Games

From Danny to Raisin -> Books -> Young Adult Books

From Danny to Raisin -> Books -> Chapter Books

From Danny to Raisin -> Books -> Picture Books

Feed by M. T. Anderson (Candlewick, 2004)

Metaphors from Click Here

More to read

Another Day Full of Books

Currently Reading and New Books

Geography Club by Brent Hartinger (HarperTempest, 2003)