Predators and Prey

Knockout Games by G. Neri
Minneapolis, MN : Carolrhoda Lab, [2014]
293 p. ; 20 cm.

In spite of the generally positive reviews for this book, I've got to give this novel a mixed review. I appreciate what G. Neri is trying to do - get inside the minds and hearts of kids involved in "knockout games" - the brutal crime of attacking a random stranger with the idea of knocking them out with one vicious blow. He tries this through the main character, Erica, who has landed in a rough area St. Louis after her parents split up.  She has a talent for video editing and ends up involved with  the group of high school/middle school kids who are victimizing strangers in her neighborhood with their random assaults.  She especially gets in deep emotionally with Kalvin, the charismatic leader and "Knockout King" of the group.

The novel is set in St. Louis and closely parallels the real knockout game story that transpired there. Neri does a pretty good job of showing how peer pressure, boredom, and machismo create a lure for the "game" but I just never found myself drawn in to the main character's motivations.  Frankly, she's kind of a repulsive character, getting off on editing videos of the attacks and even assaulting one of the victims herself.

Neri seems to want to just tell the story, and not preach a lot, which is fine.  But I think what he really fails to convey is the absolute terror and life altering experience that being a victim of the knockout game would be.  He tries to in the one case that goes horrifically wrong, resulting in a murder - but that is it.

I will say that the pace of the novel picks up as it goes on, especially as all of Erica's really bad decisions and actions begin to have consequences for her and those around her.

I won't be recommending it to students, but I will be curious to see and hear what students think of it if they do read it.

Music for the Apocalypse

Symphony for the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson
Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2015.
456 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.    

I really loved this book.  If I were writing history for high school students, it's the kind of book I would be really proud of.  Symphony for the City of the Dead sheds light on a major event in history - the 900 day Siege of Leningrad - and does it through a unique lens - that of a world famous composer - Dmitri Shostakovich - who was intimately involved in the event.  M. T. Anderson also is able to handily place the event in the broader historical context of the Russian Revolution, Stalin's Great Terror and the horrors of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union during WWII.

There is so much to like about this book.  The reader experiences the heady artistic days of the early Soviet Union, the chilling and murderous days of the Stalinist purges, the horrors of a modern city under siege, and the triumph of art and inspiration amid such loss and violence.

This is a book I will definitely offer to any student looking for good WWII history or nonfiction about classical music, or history of Russia.  I hope it finds an audience. With nice black and white photos, and a clear and passionate style of writing - it should not be too much of a challenge for students, but I fear it might scare some kids off with it's 400 plus pages and their unfamiliarity with the Siege of Leningrad.

I should also mention that for any interested reader, it pairs nicely with David Benioff's wonderful novel, City of Thieves, which is set in Leningrad during the siege.

The book deserves praise and recommendation, and I see that it is on the long list for the National Book Award.

The Silenced Speak Again

The Silenced by James DeVita
New York : Eos, c2007.
504 p. ; 22 cm.

Someone checking out this book these days might be forgiven for thinking, "Oh, it's one of those books that has jumped on the Hunger Games bandwagon," - you know, brave young teen female hero rebelling against the post-war authoritarian dictatorship, etc., etc.  But DeVita published his novel a year before Hunger Games was published and in his afterword he describes writing the book over the course of six years...    

One of the beautiful things about The Silenced, is that it was inspired by DeVita's discovery and subsequent research into the Hans and Sophie Scholl "White Rose" resistance movement against the Nazis. It gives the novel a poignancy and depth - and hopefully will intrigue some young readers into learning about totalitarianism, WWII, and resistance.

The novel is interesting, exciting and well written.  It is set in a fictional post-war dystopian future where power is wielded by the dictatorial Zero Tolerance (ZT) party.  It is a world of Youth Training Facilities (YTFs), drones, disappeared persons, informants, surveillance and censorship.

The back story to my reading this novel was my discovering that it had been reissued by Milkweed Press.  I was reading the Milkweed Press blog - with an eye toward their poetry - when the post about The Silenced caught my eye.  It's a great story - involving a class of 8th grade fans, a teacher, and even Louise Erdrich! After reading the post, I ordered a copy of the paperback with its much improved cover (see the graphic above), and I'll definitely recommend it.