Module 6: Informational Books

 Module 6: Informational Books

Alexa Rodriguez

LSSL 5395 01

Dr. Brock 

Spring 2022

Partridge, E. (2018). Boots on The Ground: America’s War in Vietnam. Viking Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9780670785063

Summary: 58,000 American soldiers' lives were claimed in the terribly long war in Vietnam. It still remains a very devastating and controversial topic to today. Eight stories told by different people involved tell their side of what happened in the Vietnam War. This book will explain the impact of one of the biggest periods in American history. 

Analysis: “When they turned eighteen, men had to register with the Selective Service System, the agency responsible for implementing a draft…It didn’t matter whether they volunteered or were drafted, if they were ordered to Vietnam, they would be there for twelve months.” The prologue begins with two characters who came across a Green Beret who mentions Vietnam. This particular line alludes to the war that had happened where the United States sent soldiers to become a part of the fight. The quote also implies the drafting lottery that had happened in that time period where all American men were required to fulfill a compulsory military service for two years after high school. 

“57,939 is an abstract number, but name after name under the fingertips was not. How had this happened, that we’d been drawn deeper and deeper into the war, at such great cost?” The protagonist is both in awe and even horrified to see the vast amount of names etched into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial near the Lincoln Center. It reflects the absurd amount of deaths that occured in Vietnam that seem like an unrealistic, surreal number of lives that had been lost in the warzone. Yet, it also brings in the sad truth of the war and the massive number of deaths that happened in the fight. The main character even notes that 57,939 lives appear to be a rather odd number that doesn’t feel real, but it’s the reality of the terrible impact of the war. 

“The last thing on earth Gilbert de la O wanted to do was join the army.” Later on, another character shares his story of how he got into the Army. He talks about how he would get punished for speaking Spanish in school which connects to the early history of America in that time period and helps bring in the cultural aspect from someone from a Mexican culture. De la O figured that joining the army would help him gain the respect that he desperately wanted which was the sad reality for many people. Many army volunteers join because throughout their whole lives they get belittled and insulted, so they believed that fighting for America would help them gain respect and be seen as a citizen of the country. 

“When Henry Allen joined the military, it never occurred to him that he would end up serving as a machine gunner in Vietnam.” Another voice speaks out from a young African-American boy talking about how he got involved in the war. Previously, he was a believer in nonviolence and following the words of Martin Luther King, believing that he wouldn’t shoot anybody. The Civil Rights movement was also occurring during this particular time period, but Allen wasn’t exactly ready to fight, so he got his student deferment after entering college. He talks about his experiences about going to another country to fight for someone else’s freedom especially with segregation still going on in the U.S. which he deemed unfair. Allen remembers the horrors he saw in the war while watching his comrades die and constantly in danger. He even stayed in uniform until he was able to return home. 

This book was incredibly informational with the facts that occurred in the Vietnam War period and even included events such as Civil Rights and mentions of the protests against the drafts. Each character narrates what was going on before, during and a little bit after the war which gave the story life and diversity in the different voices. The facts gave the story evidence, but the pictures included with captions that detail the situation gave it a powerful impact on a tragic part of U.S. history. What gave the book more meaning was an explanation of the people involved in the story and what happened to them afterwards with the sources included as well which shows the time and effort put into creating this internal look into a part of American history. 

Reviews and Awards:

Booklist: “A necessary, conscientious look at a factious time in American and world history.”

School Library Journal: “What makes the book powerful beyond the historical facts, though, is how the war irrefutably changed the people who were there.”

Kirkus: “A personal, moving foray into the Vietnam War and its impact...Partridge’s narrative storytelling is incisive and masterfully woven together.”

#125 in Teen & Young Adult 20th Century United States History

#153 in Teen & Young Adult Military History

#226 in Teen & Young Adult Historical Biographies

Connections:

*The story takes place around the Vietnam War, Civil Rights movement

*It contains multiple perspectives of diverse people

*It contains war, mentions of torture and killing, and war violence

Related Books:

von Clausewitz, C. (2020). On War. Independently published. ISBN: 9798580326719

Dyson, M.E. (2022). Unequal: A Story of America. Little, Brown Bears for Young Readers. ISBN: 9780759557017

Martin, E. (2022). And We Rise. Viking Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9780593352526

Davis, K.C. (2009). Don’t Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned. Paw Prints. ISBN: 9780060083816

Summary: Think you know everything there is know about history? Think again. In this rollercoaster novel, spanning over 500 years of historical events and figures, you'll learn you don't know a thing at all. Learn the REAL story of America's history if you want to know the truth! But can you handle it? 

Analysis: “In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” We all know that. But did he really discover America? The best answer is, “Not really. But sort of.”...Love him or hate him—as many do in light of recent revisionist views of Columbus—it is impossible to downplay the importance of Columbus’s voyage, or the incredible heroism and tenacity of character his quest demanded." In the beginning of the story, it shares the rhyme many of us had learned at a young age in order to learn the creation of America. Many of use were introduced the concept of how Columbus sailed the ocean blue to eventually discover the Americas and began colonizing it. The author does admit that there are many that are not exactly fans of Columbus or may argue over if they liked him, but does point out that Columbus' journey was important and begs the question of if he truly discovered America or not.  

    "Although his bravery, persistence, and seamanship have rightfully earned Columbus a place in history, what the schoolbooks gloss over is that Columbus’s arrival also marked the beginning of one of the cruelest episodes in human history." This particular part in the story does point out something that many of us may or may not admit. There are lots of history textbooks that cover Columbus' voyage, including maps and charts on some as well. The story gets told the same way with the admittance that his journey took courage and persistence, yet it does not go over what really happened when he finds land. The cruelty of how Columbus enslaved the natives and quickly colonized their land due to his quest for gold. The era also induced European diseases that the Indians had no natural immunization for, punishments, forced labor and massive genocide that is glossed over in textbooks. 

    This part is quite eye-opening for those of us that believed a certain part of Columbus' journey being to discover America. Yet there is a heartbreaking, realistic truth that there was colonization happening in center stage but left out of the textbooks because no one really wants to hear about the enslavement and genocide of natives, so those parts get removed from books. 

    Some other things the books include famous figures such as Thomas Paine: "One of the Revolution’s pure idealists...At Franklin’s urging, he wrote Common Sense and helped push the colonies toward independence...The eternal gadfly, Paine alienated the new American powers-that-be with his Letter to Washington, and died a poor outcast." This is quite shocking to read at how someone who wrote Common Sense, The Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason ending up with that sort of fate as an outcast. The reader can also indulge on what really happened to some of the patriots that were involved during the Revolution period such as John Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, and others. 

    All in all, this book was incredibly informational. The topic seems to be well-researched and detailed. Some of the detailing included timelines and names with short summaries about certain famous figures involved in specific eras. It does reveal a lot about the hidden history that lots of us don't know about, but should learn since it can enrich one's knowledge of history and the people. Sources included towards the end of the book and included primary texts (journals) from historical figures. 

Reviews and Awards:

Publishers Weekly: “Davis, author of the trademarked series of Don't Know Much About primers, seeks to dispel public boredom and ignorance about history and correct mistakes about various historical events in this update of his bestselling survey of American history. He arranges the book around a series of short essays on questions ranging from the basic (e.g., "Why did the southern states secede from the United States?") to the esoteric ("What was Teddy Roosevelt's grandson doing in Iran?"), intended to crystallize larger themes in our country's past. Davis's engaging treatment is spicy but judicious.”

Booklist: “In his zeal to correct these misconceptions, Davis frequently employs a condescending and irritating tone. In truth, many of his "corrections" are unnecessary because most reasonably well-informed Americans are already aware of them. Still, if one can get past the smugness, there is considerable merit in this book, especially for laypeople. It is replete with interesting tidbits of information that can enrich one's general historical knowledge and stoke interest in further reading.”

Booklist: “Davis writes with humor, he can turn a fine phrase. . . . If history were usually taught this way, we wouldn’t have to worry about the dosing of the American mind.”

#417 in Mythology & Folklore Encyclopedias

#453 in Historical Study Reference (Books)

#554 in History Encyclopedias

Connections:

*This book contains primary sources such as journals from historical figures

*This book contains timelines for eras throughout American history

*It can be used to teach students about how versions of history can be revised in certain ways

Related Books: 

Patrick, S. (2013). The Know Your Bill of Rights Book: Don’t Lose Your Constitutional Rights–Learn Them! Oculus Publisher. ISBN: 9781938895227

Stephan Lang, J. (2012). The Big Book of American Trivia. Tyndale House Publishers, Anniversary, Commenmorative edition. ISBN: 9781414364544

Sonn, W. (2021). Something Like Treason: Disloyal American Soliders & the Plot to Bring World War II Home. Sunbury Press, Inc. ISBN: 9781620065099

 

Judge, L. (2018). Mary’s Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein. Roaring Brook Press. ISBN: 9781626725003

Summary:  Are you familiar with the story of Frankenstein? Maybe, right? Do you know how the book became of the most famous novels still known today? Probably not. Check out the wonderfully written biography with beautiful watercolor illustration that tells the story of how Mary Shelley created her legendary monster.

Analysis: "Most people don't believe Mary Shelley, a teenage girl, unleashed me, a creature powerful and murderous enough to haunt their dreams." The prologue interestingly opens up with the first person point of view. The reader gets a slight view of a deformed hand and a girl running away. This perspective is most likely the view of the monster from her most famous work: Frankenstein. The creature alludes to how people might find it unbelievable that a young girl would create such a monster at all. This first part in the prologue will invite readers to continue on with curiosity of how she made the creature in the first place. 

“I am like a letter stamped DO NOT RETURN, being delivered to a future I cannot know…I am left to feel completely alone.” The story switches to what appears to be a young Mary’s point of view where she had been exiled from her home. Readers will feel the sense of loneliness and confusion from her as she wonder where she will go and what the future entails for her after being banished from home. Readers who have gone through similar experiences can connect to this thought and the simile where Mary compared herself to a ‘Do Not Return’ letter was brilliantly done. “Father didn’t expect us to sew or play with dolls like other girls…He taught us that independence is admirable and imagination indispensable.” This line was intriguing since it was quite unusual for girls from Shelley’s time period to be like this. It was interesting that Shelley’s father encouraged his daughters to read and be independent. 

Shelley ends up in Scotland to live with a man named Mr. Baxter and his daughters; living with them for about two years. In her time there, she spends time with one of his daughters and going through his library looking for books her mother had written. The book continues on to where she returns home and remarks: “And I wonder if I will ever find a family that will feel completely my own.” This continues on with the recurring theme of Shelley not feeling like she belonged and wishes to be able to find her place in the world, to find a family that will accept her. She eventually gets outcast for getting into a relationship with a married man and says how there’s a curse for unmarried girls that run away from home. This connects to how it is seen as scandalous for a girl to fall in love with a married man then having a baby out of wedlock back in that time period. 

Eventually, it gets to the part where a man named Lord Byron has a gathering and they begin reading ghost stories. “But he grows disgusted by the weak plots and throws the book down. I challenge you all to write one of your own!” Because of this one particular moment where Lord Byron did not like the ghost stories he found, it eventually sparks Mary to write one of her own. She begins writing about the dead coming to life, animated corpses and the death surrounding her. Mary begins talking about how the Creature haunts her in her dreams. Soon, she publishes the book under an anonymous name and it becomes popular later on. The epilogue says, “Mary is dead nearly two hundred years. Her corpse rests within her grave, but her spirit whispers eternally through me, her creature. It is I who keep her faith alive.” 

Overall, the work had incredible poetry. The lines were wonderfully detailed and expressive of Mary’s life before and after creating Frankenstein. The verses were dark, sophisticated and full of deep meaning that tells the story of an incredible writer. The black and white watercolor spread was haunting and gorgeous as well that added the tone and mood  to the story. An excellent book! 

Reviews and Awards: 

Horn Book: “Impressive.”

Kirkus Reviews: “Darkly evocative . . . Students of literature will appreciate the powerful poetry that brings life to Mary Shelley's story the way that Shelley herself breathed life into her novel of a scientist who animates a corpse.”

Booklist: “[T]his is a stirring, impeccably researched portrait of a remarkable woman and her literary 'progeny.' Much like Mary, Judge forges a Creature all her own.”

School Library Journal: “Readers will be enthralled by the dark and exacting verse, beautifully accompanied by haunting black-and-white watercolor spreads. . . A must-purchase.”

#36 in Teen & Young Adult Literary Biographies

#93 in Teen & Young Adult Women Biography eBooks

#116 in Teen & Young Adult Women Biographies

Connections:

*It contains black-and-white watercolor pictures that can be viewed as text features

*The book is a biography of a female author

*This book contains a lot of death, affairs, abuse and suicide

    Related Books: 

   Pater, J.C. (2020). The Gates of Beyul. Independently published. ISBN: 9798696578231

   King, S. (2021). Turns On A Dime. Independently published. ISBN: 9781983282454

   Vann, R. (2017). Ghetto Bastard. Russell Dynasty LLC. ISBN: ‎9780999154007