A Book Called Heartbreaking

The next selection in our series this year is Dave Pelzer's A Child Called "It." In this book, Pelzer describes the severe physical and emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his mother. Happiness morphs unexpectedly into terror when his mother singles him out and begins to starve him and subject him to torture.

With this selection, we attempt to understand the experiences of those among us who have suffered from abuse. What is most difficult to comprehend is his mother's reason for such cruelty.

Join us for the discussion of this famous and disturbing account on Wednesday, October 13.

Some stats:

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, in 2006 there were 3.6 million reported cases of child abuse; approximately 905,000 of those cases were substantiated. In that same year, 1530 children died as a result of abuse. Over 70% of those who died were between the ages of 0 and 3 years.

Thought question:

Why is it important to be aware that some people in America are being abused or have survived abuse?

The First Book of the Year!

Our first selection this year is Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

From Alexie's site:

In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist who leaves his school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white high school. This heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written tale, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character’s art, is based on the author’s own experiences and chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he seems destined to live.

The book is funny and sad and truly speaks to those of us who at one time or another felt we had to turn our backs on our heritages or families to live our own dreams.

If you like this book, you may also like an earlier Book Club selection My Name is Asher Lev by Chiam Potok.

Discussion meeting for Absolutely True. . .: Wednesday, September 8, after school, in the library.

Ignorance is not bliss.

The Book Club theme for the 2010-2011 school year grew out of the book that will be our first selection this year (which I will keep secret until the first Book Club meeting for suspense-building purposes and because it's just more fun that way). The book deals with the struggles of a 17-year-old boy who is trying to exist in two different cultures at once. He worries that he is betraying his family and friends when he seeks a better education, and he feels very much a fish out of water at his new school. The book is funny, honest, and sometimes sad.

When I read this book, something was really brought home for me: While we Americans share a common country, we have very different American experiences. Therefore, this year, we will read books written by or about people for whom the American experience is not a "typical" one (immigrants or children of immigrants, persons living in very urban or very rural areas, people who have disabilities, for instance). The goal will be to learn about people whose experiences are different from ours and seeing that, despite our differences, we are all pretty alike at the core. I will need a great team on the selection committee as we decide what experiences to explore and which books to read, so consider helping out in that capacity.

Our first meeting of the year will be Wednesday, August 25, after school, in the library.

I hope to see you there!

One Blink at a Time

This month the Book Club invites the French Club to join us for the reading of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the poetically written memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the former editor of French Elle Magazine. After suffering a stroke, Bauby finds himself "locked in:" he is of sound mind but is unable to communicate because of paralysis caused by the stroke. Without the ability to speak or write, Bauby uses a system of blinks to dictate his story letter by letter. The story he tells is both beautiful and terrifying.

Book discussion: Wednesday, February 10, in the library, after school
Film viewing: Thursday, February 11, in Mrs. Everett's room (250)

Hello, Dave.

Arthur C. Clarke's groundbreaking 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey set the standard for the sci-fi literature that was to come. In begins in prehistory. Moon Watcher, and ape-man discovers a mysterious, dark monolith near his cave home. Millions of years later, a similar monolith is uncovered on the Moon. Next, a ship is sent to Saturn under the guise of collecting information about the planet; however, the HAL 9000, the ship's computer, knows what it's real mission is, and it cannot allow the ship's captain, to get in the way of that mission.

Join us for the discussion of this novel on Wednesday, January 13, and for the film version on Friday, January 15.

If you enjoy this novel, check out (pun intended) its sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two. Very fitting given the new year.