Multicultural Review

The House On Mango Street
By: Sandra Cisnero


Annotation:
Short stories as told by main character Esperanza Cordero, about friends, family, neighbors and growing up in a Latino neighborhood in Chicago in the early 1980s.

Justification For Nomination:

The House on Mango Street is told through first person by main character Esperanza Cordero.  Esperanza is a young chicana girl who shares her experiences and observations while living in her new house on Mango Street in a Latino neighborhood in Chicago.  Broken up into short stories, Esperanza tells about her observations in the neighborhood.  She tells of different people, including neighbors, friends and family members.  Through describing these different characters, she shows the very different roles of men and women in her neighborhood and the Latino culture.  Esperanza's stories show the ups and downs of the low income neighborhood she lives in.  Her stories about the women in her neighborhood represent possible outcomes for her future, and she ultimately realizes that she is her only way out of the neighborhood and she should not rely on a husband to get her out.  She hopes that one day her great ability to write will help take her out of the neighborhood and to a better life.  Esperanza shows growth and maturity through the stories, at first her stories were about other female friends and relatives, then she moves to identifying with her father, and finally identifying with the four trees in her front yard that are stuck in the neighborhood, feeling like she is stuck too.  The observations that she makes through the stories, also show growth and maturity.  In the beginning of the book, her observations are naive and childlike, while later on towards the end of the book, her observations become mature and more realistic.  The biggest change in her observations is how she views sex and boys.  In the beginning of the book, she is naive about sex and boys.  Throughout the book there is a gradual shift as Esperanza matures, she becomes more aware of sexuality and boys. This book deserves nomination because of the depth of not only the main character Esperanza, but also the depth of the short stories.  

Genre Category:
Multicultural/coming of age

Non-Fiction

Abeel, Samantha. My Thirteen Winter: A Memoir. New York: Scholastic, 2003. Print.

Annotation:
Samantha Abeel looks back on her struggles in attending school with an undiagnosed learning disability.  As she reflects back, she offers adult insight into her frustrating and confusing school years.

Statement for Nomination:
Samantha Abeel opens up in this memoir about the hardships and frustrations with her learning disability she dealt with for the majority of her school life. This book focuses on her difficulties in school.  It was difficult for her parents and teachers to recognize and understand what she was going through because she did well in most subjects but struggled very much with math.  She writes about techniques she used to 'just get by' in her math classes early on in her schooling years.  Later on in her education, particularly by the time she began algebra, it became almost impossible to hide her disability.  While this book is a memoir, it is also an information book on learning disabilities and the effects they can have on an individual, both mentally and emotionally.  Abeel writes about having anxiety attacks and feeling embarrassed in class.
I feel that this book is important for teens to read.  I think that it is important for both teens that have been diagnosed with learning disabilities and teens that have not been diagnosed.  It offers insight into the feelings of frustration and confusion that most teens experience.  Through opening up in this book and being honest and real about her feelings, Abeel shows teens, and all readers for that matter, that it is possible to overcome hardships.  As an individual who experienced a similar situation, I found myself connecting with the author.  I was not diagnosed with my learning disability until my freshman year in college, and as an individual and student who felt similar feelings as Abeel did, I found it comforting to know that other people went through similar struggles.  This book shows people that a person can be both smart and have a learning disability.  I think that it is also a good book for parents of teens with a learning disability.  I think it is also a good book for parents of teens with a learning disability to read.  It can offer parents some insight into how their teen is feeling, how to help them understand what they are feeling and information on learning disabilities.
I nominate My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir because it offers teen readers an open and honest view of one's struggles with a learning disability, it also shows the readers that it is possible to overcome hardships and achieve goals.

Genre Category
Memoir/Nonfiction/Informational 

Coming Of Age

Walk Two Moons
By: Sharon Creech

Creech, Sharon. Walk Two Moons. New York: Harper Collins, 1994. Print.

Annotation:
In this coming of age novel, author Sharon Creech weaves two stories about two different girls, who both experience the loss of their mothers, and their journeys toward discovery and acceptance.

Statement for Nomination:
Walk Two Moons delves into the life of 13-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, to whom all young adults can relate to in one way or another.  The central character of Sal is a brave and centered young woman, who takes a road trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents in search of her mother, who left home nearly a year ago with no explanation.  Sal is making the trip in search of both answers and her mother, hoping both will be found at the end of her journey.  Although this book is centered on tragedy, young adults reading Walk Two Moons do not have to have experienced tragedy to understand and relate to Sal.    Walk Two Moons is ultimately about growing up.  It is about leaving the innocence of childhood and beginning to understand things about the world that are difficult to accept. Sal is being forced out of the safety and blind contentment of childhood.  Walk Two Moons is a very real story and doesn't paint the world as always being perfect and easy.  Creech has created interesting and wonderfully flawed characters who have made mistakes and experienced hard times, but are still good people.  I think that Sal is a good role model for young adults; she is an inspiring, intelligent and amazing young woman.  I nomianate Walk Two Moons because of the realness of the story and characters, and the journey that Sal makes from innocence of childhood to the real world of young adulthood.

Genre Category:
Coming of age/ Newbery Medal

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Rosoff, Meg. How I Live Now. 

New York: Random House, 2004. Print 

Annotation-

Manhattanite Daisy, 15, moves to London to stay with an aunt and cousins she has never met. While her aunt is away, a fictional world war of the 21st century breaks out, leaving Daisy and her three cousins alone and fending for themselves.  Remarkable characters and relationships emerge in this surprisingly relatable part survival story, part war story and part love story. 

Justification Statement for Nomination-

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff is told through the witty teenage voice of 15 year old Daisy. Teens can find relatable qualities in the main character of Daisy.  Her anger towards her father and pregnant stepmother, and the fact that she has faults and is not perfect. 

15-year-old Daisy is sent to London to live with her Aunt Penn, and cousins Osbert, Edmond, Isaac and Piper, all of whom she has never met before.  She is sent to live with them by her father and pregnant stepmother, who she despises.  Soon after arriving in London, while Aunt Penn is abroad on business, a world war breaks out stranding Aunt Penn and leaving the cousins alone and fending for themselves.  Since the story is told through the eyes of a 15 year old, the war seems distant and only snippets of the war are mentioned in the story.  The children do a fine job of fending for themselves and it is during this time that Daisy falls in love with Edmond, her cousin.  The children all handle the lack of adult supervision differently, but all seem to deal with it just fine.  For a while the children’s lives seem to be a contrast to the war, anarchy and famine that is occurring in the outside world.  But soon enough the children’s sheltered lives and the war collide and they are discovered by an adult, sent to live with other families and separated.  Daisy and Piper are sent together to live with a family while the boys stay on the farm with some soldiers.  Daisy now has the task of protecting Piper, with an ultimate goal of returning to Edmond.  This is a compelling story of war, survival and love. 

I found Meg Rosoff’s writing style in How I Live Now to be a bit confusing.  The story is written as though the reader is inside main character Daisy’s head and reading her thoughts.  This might have been why author Meg Rosoff chose to leave out quotation marks to signal to the reader who is speaking.  I found this aspect to be slightly confusing, but after reading for a bit I no longer noticed the lack of quotation marks. 

Some of the themes and topics covered in this story I found to be a bit ‘adult’ for a YA book.  Fourteen-year-old Edmond is seen by Daisy as ‘cool’ for smoking at such a young age.  I think that it is a bit irresponsible for an author to write a book geared towards young teens, at an impressionable age, and portray a character as ‘cool’ for smoking.  Another topic that raises a red flag is the topic of incest and a relationship between first cousins.  While it is not clear in the book if there is a sexual relationship, Daisy and Edmond do make their romantic feelings for each other clear.  There are also some fairly violent and graphic scenes portraying the death and killing involved in the war. 

I would nominate How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff because the story is ultimately about strength, survival and love.  While I did find some of the topics and themes to be slightly inappropriate for young adults, I think that the book could be a starting point for parents and young adults to discuss the effects of war on relationships and individuals. 

Genre Category-

Coming of age/edgy