LSSL 5385 YA Literature

Crutcher, C.  (2007).  Deadline .  New York, NY: Greenwilllow Books. Ben Wolf has been anxiously waiting his senior year of high school – and he knows it’s going to be a memorable year.  Unfortunately, it will also be his last one.  Prior to the start of the school year, Ben was told that he has an aggressive form of a rare blood disease and that, even with treatment, the doctors have given him about a year live.  Not wanting to waste his chances away during his last year, he really starts to think about what he wants to accomplish within the time that he has left.  In doing so, he joins the football team and makes memorable memories with his brother, Cody; he asks out Dallas Suzuki, who agrees to be his Homecoming date; he takes a stand in Mr. Lambeer’s class when it comes to his senior project (to replace a current street’s name with Malcolm X Ave.); and, ends up befriending (in a way) the tow...

Alexie, S.  (2007).   The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian .  New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. Arnold Spirit, Jr. lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellipinit, Washington and believes that he is the bane of everyone’s existence, especially since he was born with a variety of medical problems.  And though his medical problems have lessened over the years, he (as well as others in his tribe) still sees himself as being “the biggest retard in the world.”  However, after having a conversation with Mr. P, he realizes that if he wants to be seen as a somebody, he has to get out of the reservation – which is why he enrolls in Reardan High School.  And though he’s always been an outcast within his tribe (even more so now that he’s been deemed as a traitor to his people), his outcast status at Reardan begins to dwindle.  It is during this time that Arnold realizes that his people and the people o...