High School-Fiction

Review by Portland, Oregon Public Schools Literacy Leaders: Open Mic Friday is everyone's favorite day in Mr. Ward's English class. On Fridays, his 18 high school students dare to relax long enough to let slip the poets, painters, readers, and dreamers that exist within each of them. Raul Ramirez, the self-described "next Diego Rivera," longs "to show the beauty of our people, that we are not all banditos like they show on TV, munching cuchfritos and sipping beer through chipped teeth." And while angry Tyrone Bittings finds dubious comfort in denying hope: "Life is cold. Future?...wish there was some future to talk about. I could use me some future." Overweight Janelle Battle hopes to be seen for what she really is: "for I am coconut / and the heart of me / is sweeter / than you know." They are all here: the tall girl, the tough-talking rapper, the jock, the beauty queen, the teenage mom, the artist, and many more. While it may sound like another Breakfast Club rehash, Grimes uses both poetry and revealing first-person prose to give each character a distinct voice. By book's end, all the voices have blended seamlessly into a multicultural chorus laden with a message that is probably summed up best by pretty girl Tanisha Scott's comment, "I am not a skin color or a hank of wavy hair. I am a person, and if they don't get that, it's their problem, not mine." But no teen reader will have a problem with this lyrical mix of many-hued views. A gateway book to literature for 9th/10th grade students. Good to pair with the movie Slam. Works well with a poetry unit.

Review by Portland, Oregon Public Schools Literacy Leaders: Told in poetic, street-savvy language, Imani All Mine is the story of an African American teen named Tasha. Pregnant as the result of rape, Tasha is an independent, thoughtful young woman who finds that the teen who raped her is attending her high school. Porter depicts Tasha’s world in clear, often stark, terms. As Tasha details family and community ills, the novel becomes a window into a youth’s interpretation of inner-city life. Imani explores issues relevant to our students from the perspective of one of their own. Besides rape and teen pregnancy, issues of race, class, and gender are developed. Graphic language and images. Grade 10.

Review by Portland, Oregon Public Schools Literacy Leaders: Amy Wilentz's first novel is distressingly timely in its release. Arab-Israeli strife is back with a vengeance. Israel is bombing Lebanon; Hamas and Hezbollah are bombing Israel; the Israeli army is strafing Gaza; the Palestinian police are strafing Israeli checkpoints. Israelis suffer, Palestinians suffer, and Westerners shake their heads in disbelief. The conflict is told through the story of an Israeli soldier and the family of a Palestinian boy who sat a checkpoint, unable to cross to receive medical attention. This novel helps readers move from the geo-political to the very real lives of Israelis and Palestinians. Grade 11 and 12.

Review by Portland, Oregon Public Schools Literacy Leaders: In this memoir, Baca describes prison as "the most frightening nightmare I have ever experienced." Learning to read and write provided Baca the means to stave off insanity through long months in isolation and years in the system. He recalls his own family dynamics throughout the book, looking at the root causes of family violence. Readers are also introduced to many fellow prisoners and their stories. The book is also hopeful, for Baca's use of reading and writing -- his ability to construct a counter narrative to the one created for him by society and prison officials -- allowed him to be a witness rather than a victim. "I was a witness for those who for one reason or another would never have a place of their own, would never have the opportunity to make their lives stable enough because resources weren't available or because they just could not get it together. My job was to witness and record the "it" of their lives, to celebrate those who don't have a place in this world to stand and call home." (244). This has been a hit book at Roosevelt. Danica Fierman, at Jefferson, says she can’t keep a copy on the shelf.

Review by Portland, Oregon Public Schools Literacy Leaders: In her debut novel, the author presents the history of a Japanese American family living in Hawaii in the 1970s. The narrator, Lovey Nariyoshi, tells her story of growing up in a white ("haole") culture that keeps her family segregated. "No japs on TV," observes Lovey, "except Mrs. Livingston and Kay-to." This engrossing novel is strongly woven together, with chapters that swing from the heartfelt, childhood memories of Lovey's father, Hubert, to the fiendish behavior of her neighbors.