Fiction Friday #7 - Student Picks

Mary Poppins Comes Back by P.L. Travers is one of my recent reads. Now most of you have probably heard of the movie Saving Mr. Banks, which came out in December. This movie tells the story of how hard Walt Disney worked to get P.L. Travers, author of the Mary Poppins books, to sign over rights to make the Mary Poppins movie. I saw Saving Mr. Banks when it came out and LOVED IT! Watching it convinced me to read the second book in the series and actually watch Mary Poppins. Upon finishing both this book and the movie, I realized that while I enjoyed the movie about P.L. Travers, I not a huge fan of her books. Mary Poppins just has a an attitude that I don't really enjoy in either the books or the movie. After discussing it with a co-worker, I came to the realization that she is much more likable to kids who are amazed by her magical qualities and don't get distracted by the fact that she lacks any sort of consistency as a character. So if you watched/read Mary Poppins as a kid and still love her, that's totally cool. I'm just saying that I don't think she is a very appealing character when you first meet her as and adult.Up next on my list of 'recent reads' is a book called Semiprecious by D. Anne Love. I read this book with one of my students at school so I could know what she's reading and be able to ask questions about it that make sense. It tells the story of almost-seventh-grader Garnet Hubbard and her older sister Opal. The two of them are suddenly uprooted from the life they love in small town Texas and dropped off in Oklahoma with an aunt they barely know because their mom decides to run off to Nashville and try to make it big. Garnet and Opal want nothing more than to go back to Texas and live with their dad, but he was injured in an accident at work and spends most of the year in the hospital/rehab. Garnet and Opal face different challenges during their year with their aunt, but they grow despite, maybe even because of, the challenges they face. It's a decent book; however, I wasn't overly impressed with the end and neither was the student I read it with, so that was a bit of a bummer.I just read Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls for the first time (I also haven't seen the movie). One of my kids was reading this, so I found myself a copy too. Now, from the beginning you know it's going to have a sad ending  it just seems like one of those heart wrenching books. However, I do understand how this book became a classic. In case you don't know, Where the Red Fern Grows tells the story of Billy Coleman, a 10-year old boy who wants nothing more than a pair of coon dogs, which his parents cannot afford. After working hard for two years, Billy gets and trains his dogs to be some of the best coon-hunting dogs in the country. Now, my dad never really wanted us to have pets, especially the dog I so desperately wanted as a kid. After reading Where the Red Fern Grows, I'm even more determined than ever to have a dog someday when I get my own house! It is not only a fun read, but it's also extremely educational  I now know more about coon dogs and coons than I ever wanted to know.Approximately four years ago, the Nicolas Sparks book Dear John was made into a movie featuring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. Obviously, the movie was a big hit, but I walked away from it being so disappointed in the ending. I had many friends who were just as annoyed by the ending of the movie because it's completely different than the book and the book has a better ending. So when one of my students decided to read the book last week, I figured it was a good opportunity to see if the book really is better than the movie. The book tells the story of John Tyree, a guy who was so lost and bored with the meaningless life he was living that he joined the military to find some purpose. The army helps him grow up and a couple years into his enlistment, he meets Savannah while he's home on leave. The two fall in love and decide to keep their relationship going via letters and phone calls once John heads back to his base in Germany. All is going well until three months before his enlistment is up, the unthinkable happens. September 11, 2001. John and his unit immediately re-enlist. Over the next year, the two struggle to hold onto their relationship, and he eventually receives a Dear John letter. All of that is pretty much the same in both the movie and the book, but where they differ is what happens after they separate and how their individuals lives end up. While Dear John doesn't make it onto my list of favorite books, the book is unquestionably better than the movie!My last book of the week is once again one I got to read along with one of my students. However, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins is the first that I had actually read before. I read all three books in the Hunger games trilogy two years ago right after the first movie came out, but it was fun to read it again since the second movie came out not too long ago. Catching Fire continues the story started in Hunger Games, which is all about the futuristic, dystopian nation of Panam. After surviving the Hunger Games in the first book, the main character Katniss Everdeen has unknowingly become the symbol of rebellion against the oppressive Capitol. As Katniss is once again forced to fight for her life and the lives of those she loves, she struggles to figure out who to trust and what to believe. It's an intriguing look at the lengths people with power will go to oppress and dominate other. But it's even more impressive to see the oppressed push back when they realize they too have power. It's not a cheery read, but a thought-provoking novel that keeps you gripped. It is necessary to read the first book of the series though, so don't go reading part 2 without reading part 1 first...it will just confuse you.As I sit here writing about all these books, I can't help but think what an odd assortment of books these are! It's no wonder I struggle to tell people what kind of books I enjoy because I enjoyed almost all of these books, yet they come from completely different genres. I think the most important thing about a book is that is can effectively tell a story that holds some sort of meaning. Not the kind of meaning that is so in-your-face that you feel like the author is beating you in the head with it, but the kind of meaning that is basic and true and so well entwined in the story that you don't realize it's there until you're done. Those are the books I enjoy.