The Dark Game: true Spy Stories by Paul B. Janeczko

Bibliographic Information: Janeczko, Paul B. The Dark Game: True Spy Stories. Candlewick Press, 2010. ISBN 9780763629151
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Non- fiction
Reading Level: Grades 6-10
Curriculum ties: History
Awards: None
Note: Award Winning Poet

Reader’s Annotation: A collection of real United States spy stories revealing top secret accounts from the last two centuries.

Plot Summary: The author takes us back in time to reveal the true stories about famous American spies and spies who changed important American historical events in both positive and negative ways. In six chapters with accompanying photos that add to the account, the author begins with “How George Washington Outspied the Brittish.” He then goes on to clear up misconceptions such as Benedict Arnold being a spy and not a traitor. Other chapters include the mysterious woman who was identified only by a coded number and never a name during the Revolutionary War; Mata Hari, who faced the firing squad charged with being a double agent and Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, the two American double agents who were caught red handed in the last two decades. My favorite story was that of the Ch

Critical Evaluation:What I thought was great about this book was how the author included a well rounded view of those who have helped shape America to be what it is today. For instance, the story he included about the Choctaw code talkers. A group of about ten soldiers who in 1917 used their native Choctaw language to help relay messages to and from headquarters to the fields. Their language was so rare that the Germans, who had been tapping American lines, were not able to decipher anything allowing the Americans to be successful in the war. A second story highlighted was about how African Americans were delivering intelligence to federal troops during the Civil War. General Lee believed that they were the army’s primary source of information because they knew about the terrain as well as where extra ammunition, guns and other supplies could be found. The author also gave a nod to Harriet Tubman, a spy who’s intelligence about waterways was invaluable in 1862.

Booktalking Ideas:
What other secretes do you think the government could be hiding?
Discuss qualities of a good spy, do you have what it takes?
What, if any, lifestyle changes would you have to make being a spy?

Challenge Issues/ Defense:
Challenge Issues: Representing the U.S. in a negative light.
Challenge defense ideas:
• Citizens’ ability to criticize the government helps prevent the government from misusing its power.
This book is a non-fiction account of events

Why was this book included?: A non-fiction offering with historical value to which teen boys would gravitate.

Author Information: Paul B. Janeczko aspired to be the teacher he never had, when he decided to pursue a career as a high school language arts teacher. From his own days as a student, Paul was obsessed with poetry of all kinds, and as a teacher he wanted to spread his own love of poetry to young people. Today, Paul Janeczko is better known as a writer, poet and anthologist.
Born in New Jersey in 1945, he was educated at St. Francis College, Maine and John Carroll University, Ohio, after which he became a teacher, and began publishing his works and collections in the mid-1970s. After twenty-one years as a teacher, he retired to focus on writing.
Some of Paul’s award winning teen books include “A Poke in the I, A Kick in the Head, A Foot in the Mouth” (2005), “Seeing the Blue Between: Advice and Inspiration for Young Poets” (2006), “Worlds Afire” (2007) and “Top Secret: A Handbook of Codes, Ciphers, and Secret Writing (2004).”Paul Janezcko lives in Maine with his wife and daughter.

(Author information obtained from Scholastic website. Retrieved from: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/contributor.jsp?id=1640)

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Bibliographic Information: Shepard, Pretty Little Liars. HarperTempest, 2006. ISBN 0060887303
Genre: Chick-Lit, Mystery
Reading Level: Grades 9-12
Curriculum ties: Sociology
Awards: None
Note: Book 1 in the Pretty Little Liars Series. Television adaptation (June 2010)

Reader’s Annotation: Anonymous text messages of past events haunt a group of high school junior, afraid that all of their secretes will be revealed.

Plot Summary: A group of high school juniors in Rosewood,Pensylvania; Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna, have been friends since junior high school. They begin to drift apart when their friend Alli disappears from a slumber party at the end of seventh grade. Each one seems to have drifted off into their own lives and is dealing with their own problems (and secrets) but is pulled together when they all begin to receive anonymous texts by someone who claims to know all their secrets and goes by “A”. After living in Iceland because of her father’s job (just after Alli went missing) Aria has returned with a fresh worldly perspective. Hannah has become the most popular girl in school. Spencer is the perfect overachiever that gets straight “A’s” and has only one person she competes with, her sister Melissa. Emily is the athlete who is going to college on a swimming scholarship who moved into Ali’s old house next door to Emily. All the girls are paranoid but don’t really trust each other since they have grown apart.

Critical Evaluation: The author has the main characters hide fairly controversial secretes in this book aside from the disappearance of Ali. The book is told in four parts, following each girl along her junior year and each one has a secret of their own. Hannah is battling with an eating disorder and the stress of these texts sends her into another downfall. Aria is having relations with a boy she met in a bar, Ezra,who turned out to be her English teacher. Spencer has a severe crush on her sister’s boyfriend and he has mutual feelings for her. Emily begins to explore unfamiliar feelings she has for a new friend who happens to be a girl. Shepard pushes the boundaries of age appropriate material for young adults but it is not anything new that teens have not seen of television or in school. The constant high school drama will keep readers engaged because they can easily relate.

Booktalking Ideas:
Have you ever kept a big secret from your good friends? How did it make you feel? Was it ever revealed?
Discuss how the girls can protect themselves from having their secrets revealed?
Who do you think “A” is?

Challenge Issues/ Defense:
Challenge Issues: Drugs, Alcohol, Language, Homosexuality, Sexual promiscuity.
Challenge defense ideas:
• 41%of parents say it gives kids positive messages 34%of parents say there are good role models 32%of parents say there’s too much drinking, drugs, or smoking 32%of parents say it has language their kids can’t use 27%of parents say the sexual behavior isn’t age appropriate. (Statistics from Common Sense Media. Retrieved from: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/pretty-little-liars-1)

Why was this book included?: It is a popular television show with teenage girls. I wanted to see how the book varies.

Author Information: Sara Shepard’s first story ever, which she both wrote and illustrated, was about friendly yellow creatures that lived in a backyard garden. It won second prize at the State College, Pennsylvania, library, and was bound and placed on the shelf. (The binding was yellow. The book was called Quizzles. Maybe it’s still there!) Sara Shepard’s second story was about a five-legged camel named Lloyd and his band of friends journeying through the human circulatory system.
When Shepard was young, the things she wanted to be when she grew up were a soap opera star, a designer for LEGO, a Claymation artist, a geneticist, a fashion magazine editor, and, most of all, a writer. She grew up in Pennyslvania, on Philadelphia’s Main Line, and went to college at New York University in 1995, the height of the club kid era. While in college, she bought many pairs of purple vinyl pants, loud leather jackets, brightly colored club kid sneakers, and even a Day-Glo pacifier. After recovering from that unfortunate but short-lived phase, she had a series of jobs— interning at Elle magazine, filing important documents at J.P. Morgan, and writing and editing at Time Inc. At each of these jobs, she kept a separate folder on her computer of stories she wrote when she had free time. Eventually, she got an MFA at Brooklyn College, started receiving evil text messages from someone only known as A, nearly got run over by her best friend’s SUV, and kept thinking she saw dead people everywhere.
Actually, that last part didn’t happen. But Shepard did have all these ideas when preparing for her young adult series, Pretty Little Liars. It’s now five books strong—the sixth in the series, Killer, is out in June 2009. She’s also the author of an adult novel, The Visibles, which is out in May 2009, as well as the reluctant parent of three slobbery dogs. She and her sister, Alison, have also been creating many joint creative projects for years (Claymation movies, art installations, video game designs) based on a world they made up when they were 6 and 9 years old. They’re pretty sure they’re the only ones who find the world funny, though.
(Author biography obtained from Harper Collins website. Retrieved from: http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/About.aspx?authorid=30521)