Jean Medina

Dr. Warner

ENGL 112B

Annotated Bibliography

Dec. 3rd. 2008

 

Break the Cycle:

Reveal Reality to Young Adults

            Young adults, or teens, are often deprived from the truth and the realities that surround our world. In fact, most adults feel that young adults should not be exposed to the truth because they possibly cannot handle the truth. Instead we guard teens from the truth and sometimes get them to believe that growing up is easy. On the contrary, it should be considered that teens should be exposed gradually in order to prepare them for the future to better make educated choices. The realities and topics that adults repeatedly try hiding from teens are topics such as death, slavery, drugs, poverty, sex, racism, classism, disabilities and struggles. If these topics are constantly avoided and are later exposed to teens, how can we expect to have strong and well-prepared adults out of them?

This annotated bibliography is based on novels, plays and poetry books that carry historical, non-fictional and fictional stories, short stories, plays and poems that show and reveal what is really out there. From these novels, plays and poems, young adults can relate to some stories and poems while they discover new and atrocious realities in others. They are meant to gradually reveal past and present experiences that people endure around the world. It's a challenge to take in teaching teens books such as these but educators either try it or we later suffer seeing ignorant teens, or worse, ignorant adults.

Albom, M. Tuesdays with Morrie. Michigan: Doubleplay: 1997.

            This book talks about life, death, love and hate. A young man named Mitch works as a sports reporter; he is a workaholic that never seems to take time to think about his life and consider other things that really matter. When his all time favorite mentor and past professor, Morrie, gets profoundly sick with the Lou Gehrig's disease (a disease that slowly deteriorates the body's muscles, beginning with the limbs), Mitch goes back to spend the limited days Morrie has left to live. In doing so Mitch discovers some of life's most important lessons.

 

Cisneros, S. The House on Mango Street. Houston, TX: Arte Publico Press: 1985.

            The House on Mango Street is the coming of age story of Esperanza Cordero, a preadolescent Mexican American girl (Chicana) living in the contemporary United States. A marked departure from the traditional novel form, The House on Mango Street is a slim book consisting of forty-four vignettes, or literary sketches, narrated by Esperanza and ranging in length from two paragraphs to four pages. In deceptively simple language, the novel recounts the complex experience of being young, poor, female, and Chicana in America. The novel opens with a description of the Cordero family's house on Mango Street, the most recent in a long line of houses they have occupied. Esperanza is dissatisfied with the house, which is small and cramped, and doesn't want to stay there. But Mango Street is her home now, and she sets out..... (information for this book is taken form www.bookrags.com)

 

Gibson, W. The Miracle Worker. New York: Bantam Brooks: 1975.

            Set in Tuscumbia, Alabama in the 1880's, this play/story is about a little girl by the name of Helen Keller that was born blind, deaf, and mute. When the parents almost lose all hope of ever being able to communicate with Helen, a young woman by the name of Anne Sullivan arrives teaching her how to communicate with sign language. This story teaches hope, love, patience and struggle of the disabled.

 

Golding, W. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin Books: 1954.

            After a plane crash in the ocean, a group of military students reach an island. Ralph organizes the boys, assigning responsibilities for each one. When the rebel Jack Merridew neglects the fire camp and they lose the chance to be seen by a helicopter, the group split under the leadership of Jack. While Ralph rationalizes the procedures, Jack returns to the primitivism, using the fear for the unknown (in a metaphor to the religion) to control the other boys, and hunting and chasing pigs, stealing the possession of Ralph's group and even killing people. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (information for this book taken from www.imdb.com)

 

Greenleaf Whittier, J. Anti-Slavery Poems: songs of labor and reform. New Hampshire: Ayer Company Publishers, Inc.: 2000.

            A book containing a collection of poems that all deal with the times of slavery. Greenleaf himself was a Quaker, and opposed slavery thus shows it in his poetry. The poems include topics on religion, freedom, justice and gives the readers a perspective of how slavery was, and what slaves possibly thought and/or felt.

 

Hansberry, L. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage Books: 1958.

            A story of an African-American family trying to reach the all American dream: having a home, making the money, and being accepted in a very racist and discriminatory surrounding. This story teaches about the hardships of being a person of color, and about growing up and making the right decisions for a family's future. It will show teens that life isn't easy and some have it harder than others.

 

Harrison, M. Peace & War: A Collection of Poems. New York: Oxford University Press: 1989.

"The war poems of slaughter and loss in this anthology say as much about peace as do the few idyllic pastoral poems. Of the nearly 200 poems, a few are difficult, but most are dramatic and immediate. There's intense booktalk material here, terrifying action told with burning truth." -- Booklist (starred review)
This comprehensive anthology, now in paperback, spans lands and cultures throughout the world from the time of Ancient Greece and Rome to the uneasiness of the present and the uncertainly of the future. Such poets as Aeschuylus, Milton, Blake, Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Rupert Brooke, Carl Sandburg and others reflect the central place that feelings of peace and war occupy in our hearts and minds. (information for this book taken from www.books.google.com)

 

Hopkins, E. Crank. New York: Simon & Schuster: 2004.

            This book is a realistic portrayal of a girl who loses herself to drugs. As readers follow the story of Kistina "Bree" Snow, they are transported into a reality of modern day teens. However, her loneliness, confusion, and need to be loved are all amplified and influenced by the "monster" which haunts many lives today: meth. On an innocent visit to reunite with her long lost father in Albuquerque, Kristina/Bree's life changes forever. She changes from an innocent teen to a drug abusing, lying, delinquent. She ignores friends, starts hanging out with the wrong crowd and her grades fall way below what is expected of her. Her friends and family ask questions but what can they do to help if she does not want to get any? Crank offers a first person account of how and hwy it is that this drug gets such a stronghold on anyone, young or old. (Information for this book taken from Engl. 112 B student Lindsey Ward's book talk pamphlet/handout)

 

Schiff, H. Holocaust Poetry. New York: St. Martin's Press: 1995.

Collecting 119 poems on subjects that are indelibly linked with the Holocaust, Holocaust Poetry commemorates the sanctity of those who have died - both Jews and non-Jews - during World War II. A solemn affirmation of our survival as men and women, this volume not only pays homage to the past but attests to the struggles that we, as human beings, still face - often quite brutally - from day to day. The 59 contributors range from world-renowned writers to the voices of poets who are relatively unknown. Also preserved here are the poems of those who have perished, the unknown soldiers, the unheralded heroes, whose lives can only be recorded today by the moving words they left behind. (Information for this book taken from www.books.google.com)

Serros, M. Chicana Falsa, and other stories of death, identity, and Oxnard. New York: Riverhead Books: 1998.

           This book contains a collection of short stories and poems written by a Chicana on her experiences growing up in Oxnard. Some stories contain comic, laugh out loud moments, while others are serious and deep. The stories explore death, growing up, curiosity, sex, racism and discrimination, dreams and goals, and love. Though the book deals with the experiences of a Chicana, at least one story is bound to relate to or make an impact on the reader.