My Text Selection

Hello,
My texts are Room and Fahrenheit 451 (YA novel), Red Sky in the Morning (MOE-approved) and An Abundance of Katherines (not my typical read). Sorry sorry, I was really torn between Room and F451 and I couldn't decide and in the end, thought I would review both! Hope that is okay. I have chosen these texts because I wanted a range of themes that connects with students on an individual, community and societal level.

Room (2010) by Emma Donoghue

Room tells the story from the perspective of 5-year-old Jack who explains to readers about his world i.e. Room and what goes on in Room e.g. his daily activities, his interaction with Ma, his mother. Within his innocent narration lies a shocking plot involving rape and kidnap which Jack, being an innocent child, is unaware of. Readers will accompany Jack in his world and later witness how Jack views the world when he and Ma manage to escape from Room. 

I am not sure if Room falls under the YA category but I would like to recommend the book to students because:

1) The narrator is a 5-year-old child, Jack, which makes may make it more accessible to students as they may be able to understand the perspective of a child better than an adult's perspective, having been one themselves.
2) Like Speak, Room deals with the same difficult issue of rape and it deals with the issue indirectly, by having Jack described what he sees without comprehending the scene before him. It is only because we have more maturity than Jack that we recognise what is happening around him. At the same time, because we are the ones who understood the significance of his narration, the horror we feel is amplified as the violence of the issue itself is contrasted with Jack's nonchalant narration.

Room is an engaging and fast-paced book as I keep wanting to figure out the situation that they are in. Furthermore, I find Jack's 5-year-old voice as the narrator to be realistic. It is refreshing to see the world from a five-year-old perspective, especially from a child who has been cooped up in a room since he was conceived and has thus never see the world before. Things like seeing a fishtank is fascinating to him and he has trouble climbing up and down the stairs, having not experienced them when growing up. I later learnt that the author finds inspiration from the way her son speaks. I would recommend this book specifically to lower secondary students as the book opens up discussion for issues like rape while also bringing in new perspectives of how people may view the world differently than us.

Fahrenheit 451(1953) by Ray Bradbury

Imagine a world in which books are burnt to prevent people from thinking in order to maintain peace in society and, firemen are deployed to burn books and set houses on fire for containing books. This is because the ideas within books are thought to sow discord among people and so the government encourages people to not think and to instead, drown themselves in mindless television (that can be projected on all four walls in your house) and music through Seashells (that is something similar to the Walkman).  That is the society that is depicted in Fahrenheit 451. The protagonist, Montag, is a fireman who transforms from being a conforming fireman to being an outcast book-man. 

Though Fahrenheit 451 may be considered as a YA novel, I am unsure if the themes may be too challenging but I feel that the book can open up our students' thinking on such themes. As such, I would recommend Fahrenheit 451 to students for the following reasons:

1) For exposing students to themes such as conformity vs individuality, censorship, man and nature etc. These are some of the themes which students can explore and think about in our classrooms, opening up room for discussion in light of recent events such as the banning of certain books and films in Singapore.
2) Despite  using simple language to convey the story, the book is incredibly rich in imagery and symbolism, from which students can enjoy mining for meaning.  The book sparks your thinking about crucial ideas through its simple language, making it accessible to readers while the complexity provides exercise for students to contemplate over.

Red Sky in the Morning (1988) by Elizabeth Laird

In Red Sky in the Morning, the protagonist, Anna, grapples with having a mentally-handicapped baby brother who eventually passes away when he was unable to survive a bout of flu. In a way, the story captures Anna's transformation as she gains maturity through taking care of her brother, Ben and younger sister, Katy and also through having her own jobs - as a shop's assistant and a babysitter for another mentally-handicapped child. 
I am glad to have picked this book for my MOE-approved read because I really enjoyed it. When I came across the book during a book sale, I bought it, thinking that this would be a great chance for me to finally read it. I would recommend this book to lower secondary students because:

1) Students can enjoy its timeless themes of family, love, friendship, self-growth through the protagonist, Anna especially when they can relate to the experience of having a crush, feeling rejected by treasured friends, feeling ashamed of your family, feeling neglected by your family etc.
                                                                   
An Abundance of Katherines (2006) by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines is a story about Colin who wishes to put his extra-extra-extra intelligence to good use and he eventually achieves it, with the "something" being a mathematical formula to predict a relationship. Additionally, Colin has a particular liking for girls called Katherine (and it has to be spelled in that way, Catherines are unacceptable, so are shortforms like Cathy/Kathy). To date, he has dated  19 Katherines and all of them have dumped him. Colin goes on a somewhat-soul-searching-escapade trip with his best friend and he later falls for Lindsey which hints that perhaps, this relationship might have a better outcome. 

This book is not my typical read as I am not a fan of John Green though I kinda like his Looking for Alaska (^.^). I would recommend this book because:

1) Like Red Sky in the Morning, An Abundance of Katherines shares similar themes of love, friendship and also deals with notions of individuality, about memory and the past. The book, I think, is a good mix of containing relatable and accessible themes and also themes that may be of a challenge to students e.g. thinking about the importance or relevance of one's uniqueness, how the past affects the present.
2) John Green's books are quite a popular read among the YA crowd (are we also YA? I have no idea) so it helps if students already have an interest in the book, leading to them wanting to study the book more critically and understand any other underlying literary significance to the story.

Although I did not enjoy the book as much, perhaps lower secondary students may also enjoy the book's sense of humour.

That's all from me, thanks for reading (: