Prom Post Con'tD!

Cute little movie so that people under what I am talking about when I talk about "Social Cliques" in High School! If you've seen Mean Girls, then you'll completely understand!

Caste Systems vs. High School

   

      Last April, Disney released a movie entitled Prom that looked like a very sweet, slightly corny version of a movie dedicated to Prom. I thought it would just be a repeat of Pretty in Pink or Ten Things I Hate About You (which is a GREAT movie), however, it was not at all like that. However, after going to High SChool, I cannot decide if the outlook that the main heroine, Nova has, about how Prom unites everyone who you started with High School, that for one night, it does not matter who he or she was in High School: at Prom, you can just be. I think that this is a very interesting view of High School. It is nice that a movie tries to influence kids to not be so stuck in their ways of having the atypical cliques and crowds, as so cleverly depicted in Mean Girls, (see above)


    However, Prom tries to overcome that and reinvent the "typical teenager" movie and tell these kids and aspiring teenagers to be who they are and do not be ashamed of it. It has a sweet and innocent message, and while not always truthful, it is nice that a Disney film introduces an alternative to how people are so set in tehir ways and are accostomed to their cliques.
Bibliographic Information: Prom. Disney Studios. 2011. Director: Joe Nussbaum. Writer: Katie Wech. Starring: Aimee Teagarden, Thomas McDonnell.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1604171/
Summary: This antohology focuses on Nova, a Georgetown Scholarship student, that is all around the "perfect" High School Girl. Good grades, Class President, is nice to eveyone, and encourages everyone to go to Prom. However, once the movie establishes its main character and introduces different types of characters. The School nerd, the atypical jock, the Homecoming Queen and the most popular girl in school, the young Sophmore wanting to be with the older jock, the young sophmore who wants to date the sophomore who does not exactly know that he exists, and (insert here any other atypical High School Student, drama students, singers, et cetera).. However, Nova tries to overcome the diversity that all these students have and for one night, enjoy a life where they are united in having one final, spectacular night together. Nova's journey takes a course of meeting a boy "from the wrong side of the tracks" and gives him a chance to show her other worlds exist and that it is okay to not always be perfect all the time.
Genre: Drama
If you like this, then you'd like: The Princess Diaries, Ten Things I Hate About You (with adult supervision), Pretty in Pink, Model Behavior, 
Subject/Themes: Social Class Division, Cheating, Relationships, High School, Loneliness, Big Decisions, College dilemmas, Achieving, Parent abandonment
Personal Thoughts: Like typical Disney movies, Disney does an extremely great job of adopting "adult" themes into seemingly "young" movies. I think that this movie while somewhat silly at times is a great way of exposing children to things outside their comfort zone, not to scary individuals, but to learn essentially "how the other half lives" so to speak. I thought Prom was a very cute movie and had the sweet romance that was nice and clean. Unlike many other "High School"-centric movies, then movie did a good job to appeal to "tweens" and not overexpose them to gratuitous materials.

Secrets of a Shocked Television Viewer

      Take a little test with me. Pretend you have been living under a rock these last let's say twelve years and do not know anything about television pop culture. So while perusing Netflix, a potential viewer would look at the above poster and go, oh...okay. Teenager Girl, pregnant, great image we are sending, folks. Now look at the picture below: 

  Okay, two girls look the same, maybe a show about sisters. Nope, same subject. A teenage girl gets pregnant and has a daughter, and as Gilmore Girls' Amy Sherman-Palladino discusses, "it's a mother-daughter show but they are more like best friends." Gilmore Girls which was shown on the former The WB network which is now known as The CW is much more of a cleaner viewing then Secret Life of an American Teeanger. Gilmore Girls focuses on Loralei Gilmore, a woman who embraces her mistakes and while her relationship with her own parents are terrible, she will not let her pride get in the way of making sure her daughter's future and her dreams of going to Harvard come true. Rory, the other protagonist of Gilmore Girls is really a great role model for "tweens." She reads, she's ambitious, she strives to do well in school for not just her family but for herself, and dreams of getting into Harvard. I absolutely adore Gilmore Girls, so feeling that this great formula that made Gilmore Girls so excellent I decided that I would try watching the first season of The Secret Life of an American Teenager, and all I can say is Oh boy! 

   First off, to address a typical misconstruction: Just because it airs on ABC Family, does not mean that it is clean. ABC Family tends to show extremely adult if not "dirtier" shows than The CW. 

Summary:The Secret Life is certainly not a conception. The first scene of the pilot episode is of an adult Molly Ringwald, star of great teen movies such as Pretty in Pink and 16 Candles, talking to a fifteen year old girl who we assume is her daughter coming home late from band campus. Their dialog is cutesy and then,  Amy, the protagonist goes into the bathroom, locks the doors and takes out from underneath her band outfit a pregnancy kit. The test turns out positive and Amy is devastated. The first volume of The Secret Life portrays Amy's journey of keeping the baby a secret, her moral issue of debating whether or not to keep the baby or not, her romance with her sweet boyfriend to take care of her even though it is not her baby, and a tumultuous relationship with the baby's father. The characters in this show are also really shocking. This is probably why this is on cable. 

   (Just a viewer opinion: In Gilmore Girls, the subject of abortion was only brought up once and it was not even mentioned by name, it was just a standardized statement and it was struck down immediately.) 

Viewer Thoughts: Um...wow. Where to even begin? I was REALLY surprised how mature this show was and how many people love it. I can honestly not figure out why. The writing did not flow, the characters were not at all relate-able and I did not even feel that I could really want to root for the characters. The two characters I actually enjoyed were secondary characters and their plot, well it's extremely complicated for any tween viewer to comprehend, let alone an adult viewer. The subject matter that shocked me the most besides the debate over abortion, early teenage pregnancy, and dissolving family is that it included other issues of child abuse, the discussion of virginity, and religion and how VIVID these subject matter is. I enjoy watching Gilmore Girls, Vampire Diaries, and Gossip Girl and while sex is definitely portrayed like it means nothing, I cannot decide if that is almost better for tween or teen viewers because of the fact that it is not constantly on their mind. All that was talked about on The Secret Life was sex. It was absolutely crazy! I was so shocked that a show on ABC family could portray that. 

Genre Level: DRAMA! 

Interest Level: Mature Audiences 

If you like this, than you'll like: Gilmore Girls, Someone Like You, Annie's Baby

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/??category_id=720323%2C914099%2C833699 

Themes: Teenage Pregnancy, Teen Love, Teen Marriage, Religion, Virginity and abortion moral questions, Adoption Issues, Child abuse discussions, Promiscuity 

Awards: Taken from Wikipedia...(I tried using IMDB, but there is a list a mile long, so, I borrowed this from Wikipedia: 

"Accolades Throughout its four seasons, Secret Life has been nominated for several Teen Choice Awards, and won a Gracie Allen Award.^[43] It won a Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer TV Show during its premiere season.^[44] In 2009, it was nominated for three Teen Choice Awards, including Choice TV Show Drama, Choice TV Breakout Show, and Choice Summer TV. Kenny Baumann was nominated for Choice TV Actor Drama and Choice Summer TV Star: Male, Shailene Woodley was nominated for Choice TV Actress Drama and Choice Summer TV Star: Female, Daren Kagasoff was nominated for Choice TV Breakout Star Male and won Choice Summer TV Star Male,^[45] and Molly Ringwald and Mark Derwin were nominated for Choice TV Parental Unit.^[46] A Gracie Allen Award was awarded to the show for Outstanding Drama in 2009.^[43] In 2010, the show was nominated as a Favorite TV Obsession at the 2010 People's Choice Awards; Shailene Woodley won a 2010 Gracie Award for Outstanding Female Rising Star in a Drama Series;^[47][48] the show was nominated as the Choice Summer TV show at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards; Ken Baumann and Daren Kagasoff were nominated as the Choice Male Summer TV Star; and Shailene Woodley was also nominated as the Choice Female Summer TV Star.^[49]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_the_American_Teenager 

Series Information: There are five seasons in this show. No spinoffs are planned. I am not sure the fate of the characters. 

Bibliographic Information: 

The Secret Life of an American Teenager. (2008). ABC Family. Shailene Woodley, Molly Ringwald, Ken Bauman. Created by Brenda Hampton (7th Heaven) 

Gilmore Girls. (2000). The WB/The CW. Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Kelly Bishop, Richard Herman. Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino. 

Newbery Confusion

 


     On Wednesday, I recently went to the juvenille section of my local library just to find books that be a mixture of both "Young Adult" and "Independent Reader" literature. Glancing through the Newbery Award Winners I decided to pick one. I chose The Westing Game written by Ellen Raskin. Overall, I was not at all impressed by this book. I do not know why this would be have chosen for "young readers." While there are some children as main protagonists in this book, this was mostly an adult book. This book had murder, theivery, child ignorance, and bombs. I feel in a way that this book was nominated for a Newbery Award with the same mindset that "oh it has children involved, it must be okay for Children then." I do not at all think that this is true. There are many movies written with child protagonists such as The Sixth Sense, The Client, and Mercury  Rising where there are children involved with it however it has a pure adult context. Needless to say, I was not exactly impressed with this book. I did like the main child protagonist, Turtle, however, I did not enjoy Ellen Raskin's writing style of assuming that the reader exactly knows what the protagonists is feeling. It is also like reading first person point of view intermingled with third point of view. I think that this is extremely frustrating for the reader. However this is all in my mild opinion.


Summary: The Westing Game is a novel that begins with six families being invited to stay at the new and illustrious Sunset Towers apartments. This is an apartment that can only be rented by invitation only, and there is a mix of people that stay there. A self proclaimed heiress, a Chinese Restaurant owner, a cafe owner,  a track runner, a mental handicapped individual, a child stock market prodigy, a bookie, and several other characters. These people all live ina polite harmony with one another until one day, the abandoned mansion which is located near the apartments, chimney begins to smoke. There is an invite for these families to be six heirs to the Westing Fortune if they can solve the puzzle. Each pair is given clues and together, they must find how to inherit the Westing House fortune. This novel is a bizzare set-up which while interesting,l is complicated and often confusing.
Genre Level: Mystery, Suspense
Awards: The Westing Game won the 1979 John Newbery Medal for distinguished writing for children from the American Library Association, the 1978 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Best Fiction for Children, and the 1979 Banta Award for writing excellence in a general literary competition of the Wisconsin Library Association.
(Taken from: http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/authors/raskin/intro.htm)
If you like this, then you would like...: The Nancy Drew series (Nancy Drew is WAY better), Veronica Mars, The Hardy Boys, 
Reading Level: Fifth Grade Level and Above, has mature content including bombings, death, murder, false accusations, Lawyer details
Themes: Self Actualization, Death, "Playing with fire," Child Neglect, Selfishness, Love
Annotation: Raskin, Ellen. (1978). The Westing Game. E.P. Dutton
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/ellen-raskin'

The Lost Hero, Great!

Thanks for Half-Blood Camp Wiki for the link to the picture! 
 http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&um=1&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=665&tbm=isch&tbnid=TLyUMQGCumdiaM:&imgrefurl=http://camphalfblood.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lost_Hero&docid=ZsWxXG4eNXSN8M&imgurl=http://images.wikia.com/olympians/images/4/42/Festus-the-heroes-of-olympus-15523115-1024-768.jpg&w=1024&h=768&ei=6eUoT72IEKSWiQLW29HQCg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=450&sig=100313698581211649911&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=136&tbnw=180&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=131&ty=63

    Today, I just completed The Lost Hero, Book 1 of the Heroes of Olympus series. This book is an excellent book. It is described by many as the Roman equivalent of the Percy Jackson series written by Rick Riordan. Riordan does a great job of blending his excellent books in the Percy Jackson series and adapts to this new series.

Summary:

     At the end of the Percy Jackson series, The Last Olympian, a prophecy was made about seven demigods who would affect the fate of the entire world. However, when The Lost Hero begins, the characters do not know any of this. The Lost Hero protagonist is named Jason who has no memory. He is holding hands with a girl he does not remember and another boy proclaims he is his best friend.  The three are attacked by mysterious wind spirits. However, a satyr quickly explains to them that they are in fact demigods. Piper, Leo, and Jason find themselves at Camp Half-Blood. The whole mythos is reborn again. Jason almost immediately realizes that he does not belong at Camp Half-Blood and goes on a quest to find himself. Through a series of bloody battles, Jason's quest for identity is partially revealed. Jason is not the son of Zeus, but the son of Jupiter, Zeus’ equivalent. Jason is told that it his destiny to unite the Greeks and the Romans to defeat the Giants of Gaea. Only together, can the world become peaceful once more.

Review: This is an excellent book, especially if someone loves the Percy Jackson series. I absolutely adore the Percy Jackson series and actually found this one to be almost better. It has a slight more maturity to it which could be from Rick Riordan's practice with all his books being released. This book is great for tweens who love to read about adventure and excitement, with a little romance and a quest for self-identity thrown in. In a way, The Lost Hero almost reads like an earthly Star Wars. Jason is embarking on Joseph Campbell's journey. The familiar characters in both the Percy Jackson series and the new characters in the Heroes of Olympus series blend together greatly. Rick Riordan is a great author who makes mythology fun and exciting.  

Genre Label: Fantasy/Historical Fiction (only because there is a retelling of traditional Greek and Roman History) 

Reading Level: 5th Grade Plus. (It has violence and a sweet romance, but definitely slightly mature) 

Interest Level: Love Mythology, Adventure, Romance, Self-Quest, and Double Identity

Awards: Unoffical Awards taken from: 

#1 New York Times bestseller

#1 USA Today bestseller
#1 Wall Street Journal bestseller
#1 Indiebound bestseller
#1 UK bestseller

http://www.rickriordan.com/my-books/percy-jackson/heroes-of-olympus/the-lost-hero.aspx 

Series Information: This is a spinoff of the Percy Jackson Series (aka The Lightening Thief, The Last
Olympian.) Recurring characters consistently occur and it is actually really fun to identity who is the son of who and guess who the villain is. Riordan is really great at dropping enough clues of who the villain is and believes that the reader is smart enough to figure out the villain at the end.

Personal Thoughts: Rick Riordan is a brilliant guy. He not only revamps mythology that people are so familiar and changes things up so that the Entrance of Mount Olympus lays at the top of the Empire State Building in America, but he so intricately blends Greek and Roman mythos so well. Throughout the The Lost Hero Riordan drops Latin terms and we journey through Jason's journey together. What is really interesting is that I feel that for Jason, unlike Percy who already had a sense of identity, is that Jason starts from scratch and we feel him embarking on that metaphorical Journey that Joseph Campbell so eloquently laid out for readers and writers alike. However, at the end of The Lost Hero, the seemingly "together" Percy is just like Jason, lost without a memory. Riordan introduces paradox or an alternate universe that is extremely brilliant and extremely fun to read. I feel that this book is a really great intorduction to help convince kids how fun reading can be.

If you like this book, then try: Percy Jackson, The Kane Chronicles, The Trojan War, Troy,

Bibliographic Information: Riordan, Rick. (2010). The Lost Hero, Heroes of Olympus (Book 1). Hyperion Press.