Coming of Age Novels

Last Days of Summer: Joey Margolis is a 12-year old Jewish boy who has just moved with his mother and aunt to pre-World War II Brooklyn. His parents have recently divorced and his father avoids him, leaving Joey lonely and defenseless against the neighborhood bullies. Desperate for a friend, Joey starts writing to Charlie Banks, a rising star for the New York Giants. Author Steve Kluger uses a creative mix of newspaper clippings, school report cards, letters and postcards, therapist's notes and other documents to reveal the developing relationship between Joey and Charlie, two iconoclastic, irrepressible and unpredictable personalities. Two years of correspondence speeds by in a flash--this is a one day read and worth every minute!!

Reading with a cultural perspective

This list started in 2007, but books with a different viewpoint have been popping up ever since ...

Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie: Broken Verses takes place in Karachi, Pakistan. The story revolves around Aasmaani Akram’s search for her mother’s lover, who supposedly died from torture in a prison where he was sent for his radical views. The mystery of the Poet’s true whereabouts is woven into Aasmaani’s efforts to come to terms with being abandoned by her mother.

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines: Gaines’ award-winning novel, set in a Louisiana parish, is told through the eyes of an educated black man, Grant Wiggins, whose aunt asks him to visit a convicted murderer. Pay no attention to the fact that the conviction is unjust; Grant’s job is to make sure that young Jefferson approaches the electric chair as a man, and not as a “hog,” as the court has labeled him. This is a compelling story of racism and the struggle for equality and self-respect.

More will follow...

Book Society Introduction

Greetings!

Students are welcome to become AUTHORS, to comment or contribute a book review. Send me an e-mail (try jriches@tarriers.org) to join.

Sincerely,

Ms Riches