Feed by M.T. Anderson

     I read the book Feed by M.T. Anderson and I just want to start by saying this is by far one of the weirder of all the dystopian young adult novels that I have read over the years. One of the most confusing things can be the language that the kids use in the novel. Though this is to be expected in a novel based in the future because even since the 1980’s our slang has drastically changed. I mean it’s not everyday that you will hear someone say “gag me with a spoon.” A main theme in this novel is technology because technology has a large impact on the world then and even current day. Feed is a form of technology that is put into a human when they are born. It is the newest technology and like things such as an iPhone if you don’t have one then you are seen as a social pariah. Though not everyone can afford to have the feed put into their children when they are born. This is what happened with Violet and because of her parents not having a lot of money when she did get a feed it wasn’t the best one you could get and had problems. 

     The character who developed the most was Titus, this is because he started as a stuck up guy who dated a lot of girls and was very rich. His family was wealthy and you could see this through is top line feed, trips whenever and wherever he wanted, and his multiple up-cars. Though he meets violet the rebel of the story who is all against things pertaining to the feed and government in general. She opens his eyes to what is truly going on in the world. The fact that she is different mesmerizes him and he falls for her. They later get into a fight and he doesn’t talk to her again until she is almost dead and this is where you can see that he truly a changed person from the beginning of the book. I feel that besides Violet the females in this book are not portrayed how they should be. In the beginning Titus seems to talk about all the women he has been with and in a way he makes them sound more as objects than as girlfriends. Making it sound as if there is always a new one around the corner if needed. Then the girls that travel with him don’t make the situation any better because they are the stereotypical girls. 

     The text positions adolescents as being buried deep in the current technology. There are many adolescents like that today, but there are also those who come from very traditionalist families. Though I feel that we don’t judge as much by what technology you don’t have as much as they judge in the book if you didn’t have a feed. I feel that this text would mainly appeal to adolescents who prefer science fiction novels. This is because it focuses on the technology named feed and the background that goes with the feed.

Rating:D

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Part 2

     The second half of this book was kind of odd in my opinion. I feel this way because it seemed to focus a lot on death and basketball. So a large theme in this section was death. Some of the people that died were grandmother Spirit, Eugene (Junior’s fathers best friend), and Junior’s sister. The odd thing was that none of the deaths, even the grandmothers, was because of natural causes. They instead were a drunk driver, shot in the face in a 7-eleven parking lot, and a fire (didn’t wake up because she was so drunk). It seems that in most young adult novels the authors will try not to have such morbid causes of death due to the targeted audience, which is usually 13-18. The character that developed the most throughout the whole book was definitely Junior (or Arnold) because he tried very hard to make his life better and not just fall into the societal normalizations of everyone else that lives on the reservation. He ends up accomplishing this, even though he goes through obstacles such as not being able to find a ride to school and back. Through all of this he becomes a basketball star, has a girlfriend, and maintains A’s and B’ in all his classes. He achieved all of these things even though he was being discouraged by everyone on the reservation and even by someone who he has thought to be his best friend, but leaves him when he decides to switch schools to try and obtain a better life.

     I feel that in the second half that the author should have focused a little more on the idea of school and the struggles eh was facing. He could of added this and focused less on all of the basketball he was constantly playing. I also think there should have been a little more information about what was going on at the reservation when he was there and not just how they treated him the two basketball games that he played there. This novel definitely reveals all the cultural stereotypes that everyone expresses towards native americans. I never realized how horribly that these native americans can be treated by some people. 

     I feel that this text will particularly appeal to adolescents that feel discriminated in school. It may not even be discrimination of race but also because of poverty and even cliques. This book can help show that you can restart and build your own life. Junior was both native american and poor, but managed to make many friends and become well known by many people in his new school. 

     I would have to give this text a B because it is not my favorite format of all the books we have read so far. It kind of irritates me that it is in between a graphic novel and a regular novel> I would prefer it to be one or another and not a mixture of the two.

Rating: B

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Part 1

     My initial thought when reading the description before actually starting the book was the amazement that the book was centered on a Spokane Indian reservation. I found this fascinating because this is actually the town that I grew up in and have never read a book that has been in it or even near it. One thing that I love so far about this book is that there are occasionally illustrations because the speaker likes to draw cartoons, but it is not quite a graphic novel. A reoccurring theme in the first half of this novel seems to be the idea of poverty. Since the main character comes from a family who does not make much money and does not even eat some nights because they can’t afford it, he is constantly comparing how his life is more difficult than other. He is typically comparing himself to those that live in Reardon, which is the location of his new school. An example of this can be when he was talking to Penelope about collecting money for the homeless and is thinking about the fact that he would not raise nearly as much on the reservation as she would collecting in Reardon. Character development can be seen in Junior. The main development that he made was making the life changing decision to leave the reservation school and go to Reardon High School after talking to Mr. P. This is a hard decision that he felt needed to be made if he wanted to get a real education because on the reservation they didn’t learn nearly as much and were even using the same textbooks that their parents had used. 

     I feel that while reading this novel it specifically talks about Caucasians and Native Americans, but does not touch on any other races. It seems that at the high school he transfers to there would surely be another ethnicity besides Caucasians, but the main character makes it seem as though that is all that is present at the school. Though Reading this has really opened my eyes to how Native American can actually be treated and how the reservations can be. I grew up in Spokane, but never actually went to the reservation.

     This novel shows adolescents at their most vulnerable state, which is when they are in high school. This is when the most insecurities present themselves and when students will bully their fellow students whether this be physical or verbally. In the case of Junior he was verbally abused by the Caucasian boys that he attended his new school with. I think that this text would appeal to adolescents since it is focused on issues that present themselves everyday in most high schools in America. 

Rating: B

America Born Chinese

     I recently finished reading American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. It was very different from what I typically read because I have never read a graphic novel before, in fact I have never read a novel with any pictures in it. It was a nice having a different form of a novel to read to switch things up. I found that having pictures already there really helps a reader understand the setting because you don’t have to attempt to picture everything in your head since it’s already right in front of you. A theme that can be seen in this graphic novel is betrayal in a couple forms. The first betrayal is that of Jin’s best friend Wei-Chen when Jin decides to try and attempt to kiss Wei-Chen’s girlfriend. It seemed that he thought he would fix the situation of her explaining her problems by kissing her (maybe for comfort). Though this is the opposite of what he should have done, especially if the boyfriend in question was his supposed best friend. Another betrayal is when Jin betrays himself by transforming into something that he has always dreamed to be, he obtains what he believed his true calling was as a young child. He became the stereotypical white male with blue eyes and blonde hair. Though this is not who he was born to be so he was betraying himself and his family because he goes from being a Chinese-American to pure American. 

     The character that developed the most was definitely Jin in my opinion. Though he went bad before he could eventually return to the person that he was truly destined to be. A hint of this can be seen when he at first declines Wei-Chen’s friendship, but almost immediately after agrees and they become friends. Though he later transforms into something that he always wished to be so that he would not be teased by other students. Then in the end of the novel he sees the wrongs that he has done in life and should return to the original him.When doing this he ends up finding Wein-Chen (transformed) and asks to talk with him and he apologizes over a nice cup of bubble tea and their friendship picks up where they once left off. 

     Instead of gender stereotypes in this graphic novel there are culture stereotypes. An example of this is seen when Wei-Chen, Jin, and Suzy are sitting together and a boy said he was getting “Gook Bumps.” If you did not know this term previously it is a racial slur used on people from asian countries. They also make references to Chinese eating dog and say that there is dog in Jin’s dumpling to stay away from this. This bullying thus caused Jin from making any friends until Wei-Chen asked to be his friend. 

     It positions adolescents as wanting to appeal to societal standards and do anything to fit in. Many adolescents struggle with the idea of being liked by everyone at school and specificalyy making friends when going to a new school. Even I experienced this in the fourth grade when I switched schools. I feel that it would appeal to adolescents since they can relate to the situation Jin is out in (minus transforming bodies). This would especially appeal to adolescent boys since they typically prefer comics. 

Rating: B