N is for Neville

N is for Neville

I love Neville Longbottom in Harry Potter. 

I love that J.K. Rowling sets up her entire series with the possibility that the prophecy foretelling the "one with the power to vanquish" Voldemort could be Harry or Neville. By doing this, she creates yet another unexpected hero among her characters.

He's shy, clumsy, and introverted. It takes him a while to become a dynamic character. But in the final scenes of this series, he displays such impulsive bravery that I couldn't help but cheer out loud at his heroics while reading the book.

Know what else I love that begins with "N"? Nighttime. Know what nighttime is good for? Sleep. A logical argument that my 8month old refused to buy into last night. 

Must challenge my inner-Neville Longbottom to brave the day today.....

M is for Mitty

I've run out of pre-written posts, and I'm scared out of my mind. That means this week, all of my posts will be written on the fly before I go to work. I apologize ahead of time for typos, spelling errors, and whatever else comes out of my head before the coffee has had time to work its magic.

M is for Mitty

Okay so I'm kind of cheating again. James Thurber, I'm sure, never intended for Walter Mitty from his short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" to be a YA character. However, it's another one I teach to my middle schoolers. If you've never read it - go read it. Now. It's fabulous - brilliant. I'll warn you though - it isn't a story you can read once quickly through. In order to appreciate Thurber's genius in writing this story and creating this character, it has to be read closely (and maybe more than once).

Mitty is forgetful, passive, and lazy. His wife constantly nags him and treats him like a child. To escape his mundane life full of runnings errands and making silly mistakes throughout the day, Mitty daydreams. In each of his daydreams, he plays the hero: a doctor about to save the life of a millionaire banker (and close personal friend of the president), a captain of a war plane flying through a hurricane, an defendant on trial for murder, a pilot who risks his life to bomb a German ammunition dump. The best part of his daydreams though (and what makes Thurber genius) is that Mitty is completely ignorant of the situations he puts himself in. As a doctor, he takes one look at the millionaire banker and decides "Coreopsis has set in." Coreopsis is a type of flower. "Tertiary of the ductal tract,"he continues. He ends up preventing a machine "with complicated dials" that is keeping the banker alive from breaking down by sticking a fountain pen in one of its faulty pistons. If you read this story closely, it's very funny. (It's about to be a movie starring Ben Stiller....if they ever start filming it). 

This story is brilliant mostly because of Walter Mitty's character. He's an idiot (a lovable one) in real life, and although he portrays himself as the hero in his daydreams, he's still kind of an idiot in them too. Another brilliant part of this story is that while most characters are dynamic, Mitty is not. He has a moment when his wife is nagging him that he kind of tries to stick up for himself, but it doesn't work. He doesn't persist, and the reader understands he'll never change. He'll continue to escape from his life through his daydreams.

Love Mitty.

L is for Leo

L is for Last Minute Post  Leo

It is 6:45p.m. and I'm finally getting around to typing this post. Nothing like saving it until the last minute....

Leo Borlock from Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl is a character I know very well. Ironically, I know Leo too well to give him an adequate character analysis. Stargirl is about a high school sophomore who attends a local high school after being home schooled her entire life. She is so unique that Mica High School students don't know what to do with her. At different points of the book, students make fun of her, imitate her, shun her, and make fun of her some more.

Leo Borlock is the only student at MAHS who tries to get to know her. He eventually falls in love with her. While she's eccentric and unique, she's also a beautiful person. The problem is Leo is too insecure to follow his heart. While Stargirl doesn't care whether or not people shun her, Leo can't stand it. He ultimately makes the wrong choice and regrets it years later as an adult telling this story.

Leo is a fabulous and very realistic character because he knows what the right choice is, but he's too immature to make it. We fall in love with Stargirl through Leo's eyes and simultaneously feel the peer-pressure he feels to conform. The thing I love the most is that the entire book is set up as a flashback, and Leo is reflecting upon these events. Because of it, the reader can appreciate his mistakes and his regret for making them.

I've taught Stargirl to 7th grade students for 13 years now. Leo and I go way back. But every year I spend a good month hanging out with him (aka discussing his character with a new group of seventh graders), I appreciate him a little bit more.

Happy Saturday. I hope all A-Z Challengers enjoy the day off tomorrow.

K is for Katniss

K is for Katniss.

I love Katniss. And I loved Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of Katniss. Suzanne Collins was a screen writer before she wrote The Hunger Games series. She helped write the screen play for her movie. I'm sure that helped her characters stay true to themselves during their screen adaptations. 

I love Katniss for her strength. Simple as that. Collins illustrates her strength with the inciting incident - when Prim's name gets pulled for the Hunger Games and Katniss volunteers herself. She's still scared out of her mind, as she should be, and she does it anyway. I also love that she is self-professed "unlikable." I love that she doubts Haymitch's and Peeta's intentions all throughout the first book.

Katniss is well-rounded, dynamic (gets even stronger throughout the book), and she falls for the boy we might not expect her to fall for. She's humble, brave, intelligent, self-reliant.... If Four is my favorite love interest, Katniss is probably my favorite heroine. 

She makes me want to wear my hair in a side braid - which I won't do, because I would look ridiculous....really, really ridiculous. Sadly, I lack the cool factor that Katniss and Jennifer Lawrence clearly have. *Shakes fist* Damn it all!

J is for Janelle

J is for Janelle.

Janelle from Liz Norris's Unraveling stood out among the heroines I've read over the past few years. With a bipolar mom and a workaholic father, she acts older than most kids her age because she has to. She's tough, but not like Katniss tough (hmm...I wonder who K will be about tomorrow). Janelle is a bit more anti-girly girl.

A defining moment that stuck with me was her participation during an English class discussion. While discussing whether or not a proposal was romantic in a Dickens' novel that I really should remember, Janelle declares to her entire class (after being provoked) that she would not want an overly romantic proposal. She would want something honest. She would want a guy to simply say "'Janelle Tenner f-ing marry me.'" (Only she doesn't use f-ing) Certainly not a proposal that I would want (luckily my hubby went a different route when he proposed), but it creates a moment in Norris's book as one that defines her character (it's also a fun scene between her and the boy who clearly likes her).

Like I said - tough girl, rough around the edges, brave, intelligent, vulnerable, likable, relatable..... She also saves the world - that's defining too, I guess.

I'm looking forward to more of Janelle's story in Liz Norris's next book which comes out April 23.

Sorry "J" wasn't for Jacob! ;)

I is for Iko

I is for  Ishmael  Ichabod  Iko. 

I really wanted I to be for Ishmael. But I don't remember Ishmael enough to adequately analyze him - even in a few sentences. Truth be told, I hated Moby Dick - and the character that kept me reading was Captain Ahab...what a great character. 

My classes read excerpts from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. But Irving's mood and setting are more fun (for me) to analyze than Ichabod's characterization - not that he isn't a great character.

How about Iko from Cinder because I just finished the book and LOVED it. My middle school students will also be Skyping with Marissa Meyer next week. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm dying to ask her My students are dying to ask her questions about her book.

Iko is Cinder's spikey android BFF. Iko has a malfunction in her chip that gives her this opinionated personality. Who doesn't love the sharp-tongued sidekick that tells it like it is? We all need one of those, don't we? If nothing else, she adds humor to tense situations. A character like her is a perfect minor character to add to any story.

H is for Harry Potter

Running a bit late today....I look forward to blog hopping and reading everyone's posts later this evening. ;)

H is for Hagrid, Hermione, Harry....must stick with Harry.

I've already addressed Rowling's brilliance with characterization. Out of all of her characters, none is more perfect than Harry Potter. Harry is a classic rags-to-riches boy. He's the awkward average nobody that proves to be braver and smarter than even he thinks he is capable of. His strong sense of right vs wrong makes him a character everyone wants to root for. He makes us think we all have greatness (and magic) inside of us. 

Love Harry Potter.