Text Selection

Sirens by Janet Fox (A YA Novel)

Sirens is set in the Roaring Twenties in America. It is about teenager Jo Winter, whose parents pull her out of school, sending her to live with her rich cousin to find a husband and forget about her brother Teddy's death. It has many twists and turns as Jo attempts to fit in while unravelling the truth about Teddy's death, and the ending was somewhat of a pleasant surprise for me.

I think students would be able to appreciate the themes of love (both romantic and familial) and friendship in the book, which came along with an interesting detective portion as Jo uncovered the details about her brother's death. I think students might be better able to relate to the relationships between the sets of siblings in the book, which was more prominent to me than the romantic relationships. However, students might find the book a little confusing as the narrating point of view alternates between two characters. This would prove to be interesting though, as it allows for teaching of differing perspectives about the same event.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne (Exam Syllabus)

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is about nine year old Bruno, who grows up in Germany during the Second World War. His father is a high-ranking SS officer who is sent to be a commandant of Auschwitz Concentration Camp, and the family moves there for his job. One day, Bruno discovers the fence to the camp, and a boy his age on the opposite side of the fence. He strikes up a friendship with the boy, and this changes his life drastically.

This book is definitely a fable rather than an actual historical novel in my opinion. I cannot come to terms with some of ideas present in the book — for example, Auschwitz was turned into Out-With for Bruno, the protagonist, which does not make sense given how they are speaking in German, and Auschwitz does not correspond to Out-With in a language other than English. Furthermore, having majored in History, I had other gripes about the book such as how the book seemed to trivialised the conditions of Auschwitz that the relationship between Bruno and Shmuel could happen so easily. However, I realise that these can be turned into teachable moments, that students should not accept what they are given blindly (eg. this book as an accurate depiction of the Holocaust) and that they should learn to question texts by reading a variety of different sources. Students will also be able to understand themes of friendship, innocence and family within the book, and will begin to understand the concept of a divide or a boundary, both physical and on a higher level that does not exactly have a physical manifestation.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano (A book I will not usually read)

Wither is a YA dystopian novel, the first book of The Chemical Garden Trilogy. It is about a future generation of people who have been cured of all disease and defects, but their children are plagued with a virus that kills all females by age 20 and all males by age 25. This book is about a girl named Rhine who is captured at age 16, and sold to be a bride to a rich family, along with three other girls. All this is for a reason — her new father-in-law seeks a cure for this virus, and all this is meant to aid in his experiments to find it. Rhine is separated from her twin brother, and throughout the novel, she plots to escape to look for her brother.

I found this book highly interesting mostly because of the concepts involved and how the different characters approached their situation in a variety of manners — three girls were married to the same man, and the three reacted in different ways. It provides interesting ideas for discussion about topics such as science, morals and ethics, and the themes of love and friendship and family, like Sirens, would definitely be relatable for students. While it is less thrilling that thought-provoking, the strong protagonist would probably be a draw for students when reading this book.