The 12 Books I Read This Summer, Part III: Controversy and disappointment

Sometimes, when you pick up a book to read, what you expect and what you get are completely different. Most of the time when this happens to me, it's because I'm surprised by a book; I picked it up out of mild interest and I become enraptured by it. I remember that this was the case when I read the Hunger Games trilogy for the first time.

However, sometimes the opposite is true.

This next installment was really a doldrum in my summer reading. I expected much and got very little. But nevertheless, we're just over the halfway mark in the 12 books I cracked open during summer 2015!


7) The Hypernaturals, Vol. I by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
     I may or may not have felt like I overdosed on incredible novels for a couple weeks, coming off of The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman and The Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold. So I felt like doing something like a juice fast to get ready for the next round of novels and unfortunately, I got more than I bargained for with The Hypernaturals.
     I had been hoping for a solid superhero story, but this wasn't even that. I mean, it exists in a world with superheroes, but I didn't identify with the heroes. I didn't understand what motivated them or what they cared about. There was plenty that the authors wanted me to care about; a mission gone horribly wrong, a secret love affair, strife within the team of superheroes. It's all the grist that makes the Marvel mill turn. But I just didn't connect with it this time.
     Only recently did I find out that this series is supposed to take place in the same universe as Guardians of the Galaxy, and I now wish that I had known that before I started reading it. The story took off at a breakneck speed and I felt like there was something I should have already known that would have made it more poignant. I really should temper this critique by saying that, if you're already a Guardians fan, you should have no problem picking up this series. But for the rest of us (those of us who discovered Guardians thanks to the movie) there's just too much pre-course required reading to make this one worthwhile.

8) Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
     Harper Lee's second novel was one of the most largely anticipated new releases of the summer; I might even say the year, but I'm an English teacher and I've been using To Kill a Mockingbird in class for years. I waffled on whether or not I was going to read this one as soon as it came out, but I finally decided that I couldn't go back to school without reading it. That, and the fact that Half Price Books had hardcover copies for absurdly good prices.
     For those of you who missed it, this book was so eagerly anticipated because Harper Lee has only ever published one other book: the one masterpiece that I use in my 9th grade English class and that was published 55 years ago. When Watchman was announced, the publishers said that this was a sequel to Mockingbird, but that it was the story that Lee began to write first. She only ever made drafts and hadn't planned to publish it. So when this was announced, there were murmurings and rumors that it wasn't actually Lee who decided to publish this other book. You see, Lee herself had promised never to publish another book and she's stuck to that promise. Ever since she had a stroke and went to live in a rest home, her sister has been the protector of her and her estate. But Lee's sister died just a couple years ago and, as a New York Times article pointed out, it was the new attorney of Lee's estate that "discovered" the manuscript and brought it to the attention of the publishers.
     Despite all the controversy, I bought the book and I read it. I discussed it with one of my colleagues on a nice summer evening. She was broken up because another one of the rumors about the book seemed to be confirmed: Atticus Finch, the incorruptible, upstanding paragon of honor and civic virtue, was now the chairman of the Maycomb Citizens Council and had in fact attend a meeting of the Klu Klux Klan! I heard what she said and I was upset by the same things, but I disagreed on one thing: outrage was appropriate if Watchman had been a real sequel to Mockingbird. But was I was reading the book, there were whole sections that were clearly repeated in Mockingbird. And so my conclusion was simply this: Harper Lee may have started writing this one first, but she clearly arrived at a point at which she decided this was not the book she wanted to publish. So she rewrote the whole thing, setting this next story earlier in the protagonist's life and shifting some elements, but largely maintaining the heart of the story. When she was done doing that, she had the book we now know as To Kill a Mockingbird. It was, in my opinion, the superior book. So in the end, I was disappointed by this book, too, but only disappointed because some publisher or attorney had decided to take advantage of a great writer in a vulnerable, late stage of her life.

9) Wonder by R.J. Palacio
     When I began this book, I was back on the book trail looking for another novel that I could use in my class. This one was actually recommended to me by another English teacher at my school, specifically because it dealt with themes similar to the ones dealt with in Speak (the novel I was looking to replace in class). So just as background: Speak is a story told from a girl's point of view and takes place as she is starting 9th grade. New to the high school, she finds that she is alienated from her friends due to the fallout from a party at the end of the summer. Over the course of the school year, she narrates her story of grappling to find her place and sort through her emotions and reactions to the party.
     Wonder, on the other hand, starts its narration from Auggie's point of view. He has been in and out of the hospital his whole life to correct facial abnormalities that he was born with. While at home recuperating, his mother has homeschooled him and he has become friends with some of the neighborhood boys. But this year, he finally has the opportunity to enroll in the 6th grade a school near his home. The book centers around his efforts to be accepted, but the points of view are his, his sister's, and various other students at his school.
     Ultimately, the story is moving and more than fitting for use in a classroom setting. However, I opted not to use it because I'm still looking for a story that would be challenging for students in the 9th grade. I have no problem granting that the topics addressed in the story are worthy for discussion amongst 9th graders, but I continue to look for a book that introduces them in a relevant way for the grade level.

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What's your opinion of introducing controversy in a classroom or introducing sensitive topics in relevant ways? Please add your reflections to the comments below! 

This post is the third in a series of four that describe what I read this past summer in hopes of finding a new book to use in my class (in addition to the ones I just read to relax). If you're interested in reading more, here is part i and part ii, as well as part iv. Otherwise, you can use the tags in the right sidebar to search through topics that you're interested in. Thanks!