Review: After the Snow

Review: 'After the Snow by S. D. Crockett

Published by: Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-64169-6
Reading Levels: Grade 8+

When I give book talks to students, I don't only discuss books that I enjoyed. I bring out books that I didn't like as well, letting them know they weren't to my taste and why, including a plot review. One book like that is 'Blood Red Road' - I disliked the bleak dystopia and the plot that kept going and going and going. Unfortunately, while reading 'After the Snow' I was constantly reminded of 'Blood Red Road'. The bleakness, the journey, the family revelations, the violence and the times of inaction. It was 'Blood Red Road' all over again and I had to push to finish it.
'After the Snow' tells of a world that has suffered a brand new ice age. The oceans have stopped, America has become inconsequential and survival is of the utmost importance. Willo has only known the world in this state - ice and snow is his normal. He learns from the animals and spends time trapping them for food and for their fur, imitating them whenever he can and recognizing their power and their beauty. One day his family is taken away while Willo is out trapping. Unused to being the pack leader, Willo does what he can to survive, bringing as many supplies as he can to the top of the mountain so he can build a shelter and try to figure out how to find his family. On his way, he discovers a young girl and her brother who are starving and alone. Choices he makes from that point on will jeopardize his chances of survival and alter his destiny forever.
For me, when I read, I need to care about the characters. They could be doing something I've never done (to this point), such as fight cancer, participate in a battle to the death again other people their age, come to terms with the fact their father is a prolific serial killer, or go on a quest to kill the dark lord who-shall-not-be-named. The character of Willo was as bleak as the landscape and even his revelations about his family could not endear him to me. This character, when combined with the abysmal setting of snow and ice, could not make me care about him or his journey. Having not met his family, I had no connection of hope to his finding them, other than not wanting a young boy to be alone. I couldn't connect with the main character, thus, my connection to the book was one of suffering as I pushed to finish it.
I give this book a 2/5. It has merits, it's just not for me and I would not reread it.
Goodreads page.

Book Nerdiness

Random bookish thoughts for the end of 2012 and the beginning of the holidays for school:

- I ordered a school jacket. On one arm it has my last name. On the other side I had to put my 'team position' - eg, left wing, first flute, etc. I put booknerd. No one could argue it and everyone agreed (one child did want me to put best librarian person but I thought that might be a bit much.

- Read 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl' last night. I had seen so many blogs lately comparing it to 'The Fault in our Stars' and had to try it out. Formulating a response to it - I think I need to get someone else to read it. I wish it didn't have so many swear words in it - it would have been a good companion for our level twos in basic when the level twos in academic do 'Fault in our Stars'.

- Also finally picked up 'Going Bovine'. Trying to get a copy of 'Code Name: Verity' to read over the break.

- Students are often mesmerized by my office. I've had people drag their friends to the library, sometimes for the first time ever, to see my office. Full of toys and sparkle, it does make me happy and makes me feel at home. I've since gotten comparisons to a person on a show I don't watch - Garcia on 'Criminal Minds'. Sometimes I think providing a bit of magic and personal sparkle gets kids to buy what you're selling - in my case, web 2.0 applications and YA lit.

Reading top ten (or five or seven) lists of books for the year has been fantastic - and expensive!

Trying to get my mind around a book outline. I have some ideas but need to get it written out.

Must figure out goals for the new year. Personal resolutions, bah! Professional resolutions are the way to go!

My 2012 Favourites

Recently I saw a Wordle on The Hub (why yes, I'm doing some professional reading) which deals with the top YA fiction of this year - 2012. I've been inspired to create my own top ten list of what I've read this year, from this year. I kept it to either the introductions of series or stand alone books, unless the book in the series stood out by itself as opposed to being a continuation of a story.

This is hard!

1. ’The fault in our stars’ by John Green. Beautiful, smart and funny.
   
2. ’Cinder’ by Marissa Meyer. Cinderella with a twist.
   
3. ’I hunt killers’ by Barry Lyga. I didn't expect to enjoy a serial killer book so much but the nature vs nurture debate was fantastic.
   
4. ’Skinny’ by Donna Cooner. A different Cinderella story as well as a different look at body image.
   
5. ’Enchanted’ by Alethea Kontis. Another twisted fairytale (sensing a pattern here).
   
6. ’Chopsticks’ by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral. A relationship told in pictures.
   
7. ’The List ‘by Siobhan Vivian. Painful look at high school
   
8. ’The Diviners’ by Libba Bray. Historical, supernatural, dark and light. I’m still thinking about it.
   
9. ‘Friends with Boys’ by Faith Erin Hicks. Graphic novel about fitting into high school – with a spooky element to it.
   
10. ’Tempest‘ by Julie Cross. Time travel and love story rolled into one.

Honorable mentions go to ‘The Selection’ by Kiera Cass, ‘Ripper’ by Stefan Petrucha, ’Born Wicked’ by Jessica Spotswood, ‘Masque of the Red Death’ by Bethany Griffin, ‘The way we fall’ by Megan Crewe and ‘Illuminate’ by Aimee Agresti.

Plus, series continuations that I anticipated and enjoyed: ‘Insurgent‘ by Veronica Roth, ‘City of Lost Souls’ by Cassandra Clare, ‘The Golden Lily’ by Richelle Mead, ‘Fever’ by Lauren DeStefano, ‘A Million Suns’ by Beth Revis, ‘Pandemonium’ by Lauren Oliver, ‘Reached’ by Ally Condie, ‘Girl of Nightmares’ by Kendare Blake, ‘Beautiful Redemption’ by Kami Garcia, ‘Such Wicked Intent ‘by Kenneth Oppel, ‘Goddess Interrupted’ by Aimee Carter, ‘Fear’ by Michael Grant, ‘Underworld’ by Meg Cabot, ‘Rise of Nine’ by Pittacus Lore,

This list was made that much more difficult by having to determine what came out in 2012 and what I read in 2012. That list – what I read in 2012 – would be much longer and involve books from the last few years! (‘The Name of the Star’ by Maureen Johnson, ‘A Monster Calls’ by Patrick Ness and so on…)

Reading Challenge

YALSA has issued a reading challenge (well, I'm sure they've issued many - this is the first one I've seen as a member). Read the books on the Morris Award and/or the books on the non-fiction award list. No prizes, but they count towards reading the Best of the Best reading challenge for 2013. No sweat. Right? Sure I really did not like one of the books (Half dragon Seraphina I'm looking at you!) but rereading it shouldn't be too bad - at least I know it ends, right? Books are on their way to me, interest peaked... let's see how this goes!

Choice

All year, every year I read and read and read books. I pick up books to read and donate to my little library. I read books that I like, books I don't like and books that are just plain weird (werewolves on the titanic anyone?). I read so I can talk to kids about books and know what I'm saying. Simple librarian math: books + reading = knowing what you're saying.

Due to the fact that my English department is full of rock stars who agree with me that choice is everything, approximately 2/3 of my 700+ student school get to choose one of the books they get credit for in the English curriculum. That's a lot of kids and a lot of book talks - but a lot of kids reading books they want to read, not just books we've told them are good for them. Reading the recent YALSA Blog A Defense of Weak YA Fiction reminded me of the importance of this program. There are people who question this - if they're not reading the classics, is it worth it? YES. YES. YES.

For some kids, having the right to choose gives them a connection to their curriculum. They feel as if they are part of what's happening around them and in their school. They have a sense of participation in their academic destiny and feel that they are willingly participating simply because they can read a book they want to read instead of a book that they have been told to read. And you know what they do? They read it. They participate in the curriculum successfully.

For other kids, having the right to choose means that they get to read something in which they are interested. It means that for once, quite often, they get to read something in their sphere of interest and often, at their reading level. One student could be reading 'The Night Circus', which another is reading 'Cirque du Freak'. One could read 'Twilight' while another could read 'Interview with the Vampire'. It's at their level and it's their choice. Students are, in my opinion, more likely to participate by reading the works if they had a part in choosing the works they're reading.

Doing this program at a high school level presents some difficulties - our Grade Twelve students can't participate because they need to read the same books as the rest of the province. Past that, having enough good books sometimes was hard - I did have to run out and pick up more part way through. The biggest worry was evaluation - how do you run an evaluation when everyone is reading something different? However, the rock stars found a way and the kids did the assignments - some for the first time that year. The assignments received were strong - as we weren't doing the standard curriculum, the kids had to rely on themselves and not spark notes. But they did it! And they prospered. This program was true, student centered 21st century learning and it showed.

This program and giving kids choice had two other benefits - kids fostered a relationship with the library and general circulation went up. They also fostered a relationship with the teachers involved; if they can trust that the teachers are looking out for them and are interested in their interests, they will form a relationship with them when it comes to other curricular issues.

So, choice in literature? Letting "weak" YA lit flourish? It works. The right of choice is one that has so many other benefits that it outweighs any of the detriments someone might suggest. So, next time someone says 'it's only YA lit - when are you going to read something good?', stare them down. Or realize that they obviously don't know what they're talking about and give them your favourite book to read. Reading+books=knowing what you're saying. Those who have read know this.

Presentations

I've been working at presentations and neglecting my blogging - so often the out of site is out of mind when you're rushing around to do 15 different things at once! I will admit, in the beginning of the year I swore I would do a blog post at least once a week. However, that has not happened. Must reformat my ideas of what to blog....

However, what have I been doing? Presenting to students on how to focus with research:

Researching Tips on Prezi

I've been talking about restorative justice to teachers - a part of 21st century learning, I believe.

Copy of Restorative Justice on Prezi

I'm on the BYOD committee at my school and using popplet to show issues and solutions for adopting a policy such as that:

Plus, there was the presentation using the popplet I made on YA lit I linked in my last entry. Kids love that and it makes me feel organized!

Plus reading piles and piles of YA lit - I'm currently in the middle of the Chronicles of Nick series. Soon - book reviews!

Testing out popplet and the web

Through twitter I was given a link to Popplet, a webbing software where you can create presentations. As I'm getting ready to present about YA lit, I thought I'd give it a whirl and see if it worked out for me. Unfortunately, you can't see it in presentation mode but here's what I created:

Thanks Ian for the link!