Babymouse: The Musical

1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Holm, Jennifer and Matthew Holm. 2009. Babymouse: The Musical. New York, NY: Random House Children’s Books. ISBN 978-0-375-93791-0 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Buoyed by the attentions of the newcomer British hedgehog Henry Higgins, Babymouse auditions for the school musical and is designated to be understudy to Felicia Furrypaws. Babymouse is quite dramatic in her attempts to act, egged on by the comments of the narrator, who at turns cheers her on or playfully teases her. A variety of actual musicals are woven into the plot, such as A Chorus Line, The Phantom of the Opera, My Fair Lady, High School Musical, Lion King, Pirates of Penzance, American Idol, Grease, Annie, and others. Babymouse has her big break when Felicia develops a hair ball, leaving Babymouse to take center stage where she tries her best and literally brings the house down.

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In this delightful graphic novel, sister and brother team authors Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm have created another adventure featuring Babymouse, the endearing, bumbling mouse who perseveres through various trials and accomplishes her goal. She has many misadventures in her attempts to do her best, but that is where the best humor and life lessons lie in this book. Babymouse is a typical student with her struggles with fitting in, playing dodgeball, auditioning for the school musical, having great dreams for herself, yet beset by humorous misfortune. She is a role model for readers aged seven to twelve who encounter similar situations in their day-to-day lives. Irrepressible Babymouse shows that diligence and patience can result in good consequences in one’s life, thereby encouraging readers to do the same, to stick with it even if they experience difficulty. Voiceovers from the narrator keep the story on track, encouraging Babymouse and occasionally teasing her, providing more humor. 

The graphics are playfully pink, black and white, lending a great deal of energy to the story. The illustrations add to the humor and enjoyment of the book as they express the emotions of the various characters, such as joy, frustration, resignation, hope, love, and trepidation. All of the incorporated musicals are drawn in their representative styles adding a variety of imaginative settings to the story. The inclusion of the wide assortment of musicals will have readers singing along to their favorite show tunes, making for a rollicking, fun reading experience. 

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Starred review from Horn Book: “Nobody puts Babymouse in the corner.”

Review from Booklist: “Cute, smart, sassy Babymouse is fun and funny.”

5. CONNECTIONS

*Have students perform Reader’s Theater over various parts of the book, especially their favorite musical parts.

*Have students read some of the other Babymouse books. There are thirteen in the series. Have students create their own Babymouse styled comic books or graphic novels. 

*Other graphic novels appealing to the elementary age group (and beyond):

Bruel, Nick. Bad Kitty. ISBN 1596430699 (is part of a series)

Holm, Jennifer and Matthew Holm. Squish. ISBN 0375843892 (is part of a series)

Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid. ISBN 0810993139 (is part of a series)

speak

1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Laurie Halse. 1999. speak. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN 0-374-37152-0 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Melinda Sordino is a new freshman in high school, a time she would have looked forward to, before this past summer, when one party, where she and her best friend Rachel got drunk and Melinda was raped, changed her life forever. She never told anyone. Now she is alone, an outcast, her friends having shunned her and even strangers calling her names and jostling her in the hall. She cannot talk with her distant, busy, working parents. Tormented by the memory of the past summer, she attempts various ways to try to escape the memories, hiding out in a hall closet she has staked out for herself, silence, dark thoughts, chewing her lips, and art class. But it is not until she is inspired by a fellow classmate to stand up and speak that she finds the courage to take steps to protect Rachel and let others know what happened and find healing in her own life.   

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In her first novel, Laurie Halse Anderson’s writing accurately depicts the pressures, boredom, and distress today’s teenagers face in making the transition from middle school to high school and beyond.  With frankness and honesty she discusses issues such as cliquishness, exclusion, loneliness, suicide, cutting, underage drinking, individuality, athleticism, truancy, parental relationships, and rape all from the perspective of a freshman girl. Her words and feelings ring true, creating a believable and likable character in Melinda, a strong, resilient girl who perseveres through fear, anxiety and depression. Most readers will find some difficult aspect of their high school experience expressed in this story, some tongue-in-cheek, others with humor, such as the popularity contests, the signing of yearbooks, the desire for a snow day or a “mental health” day, finding someone to sit with in lunch, and the wide variety of teachers and the burdens they place on the students. She fleshes out the characters of teachers, principal, students, parents, and Melinda in terms teenagers can relate to, as the story progresses through Melinda’s freshman year in high school. She accurately depicts the maelstrom of teenage moods and feelings and very eloquently provides guidance to teenagers to speak up for themselves. She also accurately describes life in Central New York, especially the grey, seemingly unending winter and the longing for spring. She uses symbolism to demonstrate the rebirth and growth of Melinda’s spirit in the spring of her freshman year, when she finally finds her voice and is able to reach out and trust an old friend and a teacher enough to finally share her story. The chapters are short and correspond to a specific issue in Melinda’s life, spanning her freshman year, showing the evolution of her thoughts and ability to trust people again. 

Speak is a powerful, moving work of contemporary realistic fiction that will connect with teenage readers facing the trials of high school and hopefully encouraging those who have traumatically lost their voice to find a trusted someone with whom they can speak. 

4. AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

National Book Award Finalist

Michael L. Printz Honor book

American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults

SCBWI Golden Kite Award

YALSA Popular Paperback for Young Adults

Starred review from Booklist: “Melinda's sarcastic wit, honesty, and courage make her a memorable character whose ultimate triumph will inspire and empower readers.”

Starred review from The Horn Book: “An uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from first word to last.”

Review from Kirkus Reviews: “A frightening and sobering look at the cruelty and viciousness that pervade much of contemporary high school life, as real as today's headlines. At the end of the summer before she enters high school, Melinda attends a party at which two bad things happen to her. She gets drunk, and she is raped. Shocked and scared, she calls the police, who break up the party and send everyone home. She tells no one ...” 

Review from Publishers Weekly: “a stunning first novel," in which Ms. Anderson "uses keen observations and vivid imagery to pull readers into the head of an isolated teenager…Anderson infuses the narrative with a wit that sustains the heroine through her pain and holds readers' empathy…The book's overall gritty realism and Melinda's hard-won metamorphosis will leave readers touched and inspired.”

5. CONNECTIONS

*Listen to Laurie Halse Anderson read her poem, Listen, that was written in reaction to the tens of thousands letters and emails she has received in the ten years since the book was originally published. Find it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic1c_MaAMOI

The words of the poem can be found along with a discussion guide for the book at: http://www.pointofviewbooks.com/pdf/speakguide.pdf

*Watch the DVD of the movie made from the book, Speak (2005).  

*Other books by Laurie Halse Anderson:

Catalyst. ISBN 0142400017

Prom. ISBN 0142405701

Twisted. ISBN 0142411841

Wintergirls. ISBN 014241557X

*Other books about young adults dealing with transitions:

Brashares, Ann. Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series. ISBN 0385734247

Dessen, Sarah. Just Listen. ISBN 0142410977

Dessen, Sarah. The Truth about Forever. ISBN 0142406252

Dessen, Sarah. That Summer.  ISBN 0142401722

Johnson, Angela. The First Part Last. ISBN  1442403438

When You Reach Me

1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stead, Rebecca. 2009. When You Reach Me. [Unabridged Audiobook]. Narrated by Cynthia Holloway. Cambridge, MA: Listening Library. ISBN 9780739380734  

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Twelve-year-old latch-key kid Miranda tells the story of her life, with her single mother, who is preparing for the game show, the $20,000 Pyramid, and the mystery that has unfolded around her for the last several months, paralleling her favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time. After her best friend Sal is punched and their friendship suddenly dissolves, Miranda befriends Annamarie and Colin, and they all work together at Jimmy’s sandwich shop during lunchtime. When someone takes her apartment key and starts leaving her notes about saving the life of a friend, Miranda wonders who is able to know the future. The surprising ending, with the future Marcus’ sacrifice to save Sal’s life, preventing him from being run over by a truck, makes Miranda realize that time travel is indeed possible.

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Rebecca Stead transports readers back to the Upper West Side of 1979 New York City, accurately recalling details of life in the City, slang, and products from the times. Miranda is a believable, likable character, an independent sixth-grader, who is saddened by the loss of her best friend, Sal. She is interested in reading and curious about time travel, a topic of conversation throughout the book. Written in first person narrative, Miranda effectively shares her inner thoughts and her insights into her friends and acquaintances in an approachable and endearing fashion. Her mother promotes compassion and fair treatment, in her working for a non-profit law firm and her admonitions to Miranda to not call the “Laughing Man” “Quackers.” The book is fantasy, science fiction, and a mystery, which slowly unfolds with the arrival of each note, which accurately predicts the future. Readers aged nine through fourteen will be drawn into the story attempting to solve the mystery and be left thinking about the potential of time travel. The book consists of short chapters, titled in the style of the categories from the $20,000 Pyramid, like “Things You Realize” and “Things that are Mysterious,” making it very readable. The chapters fit together consistently, like pieces in a puzzle until the story reaches its climax. Stead weaves the various characters together into a coherent, original and creative story that explores the power of friendship and love and the mysteries of science and growing up. 

 Cynthia Holloway brings the text to life, managing all of the various characters, plot developments, and emotion with aplomb.

When You Reach Me seems much like a young person’s version of The Time Traveller’s Wife with its mode of time travel and its sensibilities in its expression of love, friendship, and the circle of life.

4. AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Winner of the 2010 John Newbery Medal

American Library Association Notable Children's Books

Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults 

Starred review from School Library Journal: “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. Stead's novel is as much about character as story. Miranda's voice rings true with its faltering attempts at maturity and observation. The story builds slowly, emerging naturally from a sturdy premise. As Miranda reminisces, the time sequencing is somewhat challenging, but in an intriguing way. The setting is consistently strong. The stores and even the streets–in Miranda's neighborhood act as physical entities and impact the plot in tangible ways. This unusual, thought-provoking mystery will appeal to several types of readers.”  

Starred review from Kirkus Reviews: "…when all the sidewalk characters from Miranda's Manhattan world converge amid mind-blowing revelations and cunning details, teen readers will circle back to the beginning and say, 'Wow ... cool.'”  

Starred review from Booklist: “…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.”

Starred review from The Horn Book: “Closing revelations are startling and satisfying but quietly made, their reverberations giving plenty of impetus for the reader to go back to the beginning and catch what was missed.” 

Starred review from Publisher’s Weekly: “It's easy to imagine readers studying Miranda's story as many times as she's read L'Engle's, and spending hours pondering the provocative questions it raises.” 

5. CONNECTIONS

*Have students develop their own word lists to play a classroom version of $20,000 Pyramid.

*Have students develop a Reader’s Theater version of the book and act it out. 

*Other books about mysteries and growing up:

Fitzhugh, Louise. Harriet the Spy. ISBN 0440416795

Juster, Norton. A Phantom Tollbooth. ISBN 0394820371

Konigsburg, E.L. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. ISBN 1416949755

L’Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time. ISBN 0312367546

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. ISBN 0385732554