#11 A Question of Honor

Written by English teacher and blogger Dana Huff, this novel takes the reader on a journey to May Days, romance, long walks, transformations, and, yes, reformations.

Gwen, the main character, is someone with whom the reader can easily connect, despite possible differences in ages and great expanses of time and distance. As a mother, I want to mother her. As a teacher, I want to help educate her. As a friend, I want to say, "Now, Girlfriend, this is what you should do....really!"

Full of action, this novel's plot continues to develop, keeping one wondering, questioning, grasping for clues as to how the many conflicts will resolve. Will Gwen marry her one true love? Will she find family and develop healthy, lasting relationships? Will she ever develop an identity that is uniquely hers? Will the bonds of friendship survive the varied challenges each character faces?

As I read to the final pages, I found myself anxious to read the next novel in this series...except that this is not a series! Thus, my hope is that one day when Mrs. Dana has any extra time in her very busy schedule she will continue with the adventures of Dafydd, Madoc, and Richard, for each has story of his own waiting to printed on paper.

An awesome edition to my growing library...and a great read to share with friends.

#10: Night

Oh, my...what a powerful novel! Night, written by Eli Weisel, takes you to the concentration camps, the train rides, the complete brutality of the Holocaust.

As soon as I completed this novel, I began researching more about the author and discovered that Night is the first of a trilogy. Just added two more reads to my growing I-can't-wait-until-summer-gets here list! Maybe within these two novels, I will find the answers to my other questions.

1. Was his faith in God really completely destroyed?
2. What happened to him after that American airplane arrived? (I was so proud that it was an American plane!)

This novel is one that I will lead a discussion with my students following Spring Break...it is a journey that all should take, for this book should be a reminder to us all of two of the many comments made by Weisel that was so poignant...

Still, I told him that I could not believe that human beings were being burned in our times; the world would never tolerate such crimes...

What I do know is that there is "response" in responsibility. When we speak of this era of evil and darkness, so close and yet so distant, "responsibility" is the key word.

May I do just even a small part, by encouraging the reading of this novel, by encouraging still a "response" in my students in the 21st Century that such horrific crimes against humans never occur again...then I think of the women in Africa...so, yes, we still have a great responsibility.

#9: Anthem

Author Ayn Rand claims to have been an athiest.

Then why all the christian symbolism within her 1937 novel Anthem?

Please consider...

• Main character Equality 7-2521 was whipped. "..and He Himself bore our sins (not diseases) in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His stripes we are healed" (1 Pet. 2:24).
• When this same character leaves the oppressed world, he takes on a new name Prometheus, who according to mythology stole fire and gave it to mankind, just as Equality 7-2521 discovered light in the tunnel and presented it to his fellow men. “give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79).
• This is a novel about hope, faith, renewal.

Just some thoughts to ponder...the Christian in me must.

As you read, please see what insights you might gather.

#8: Call of the Wild

Jack London is a natural, a naturalist, a vivid writer. Author of Call of the Wild, White Fang, and others, his talent ensures his ability to make his readers both love and hate his main characters throughout the same novel.

Buck...poor, poor Buck.

Buck...mean, vicious Buck.

While I could see, and even relate (uh, oh!), to both sides of this dog's nature, I was surprised at my students who only wanted to see the first descriptor. Why?

No pun intended...but is it because they always go for the underdog? Because they innately want/need a hero? Maybe...just maybe...it's because London hooked them so vividly from the first sentence that, despite Buck's faults, they felt bound to cheer this dog on in all his many circumstances?

I, along with the majority of my students, read this novel for the first time. If you have not read this novelette, please do so! Take the journey of Buck, the journey all the way back to his ancestors. Connect with the kinship he feels towards those who become his family.

Along the way, enjoy the setting of the Klondike, a gold rush that made Jack London more money from writing about this rush for gold in Alaska than actually experiencing it first-hand, which he did, and therein lies the reason for such vivid writing!

Grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate...you have a lot of ice and snow ahead of you...and prepare to get to know man's best friend...or his worst enemy.

#7: Antigone

A drama that I have taught for numerous years but one that I read again for the first time in several years, this play by Sophocles speaks again to me about commitment and brain development. Yes, I know... what a combo!

One just cannot help but be appreciative of Antigone's loyalty to her family, especially her brother. Who among you would lay down his life for his/her brother?

On a different note, though, I have to question Antigone's level of brain development, for I look at this situation and wondered why could she have not handled this in a different fashion? Why make such a rash decision? Ah, yes, the answer: she lacked brain development, for she is probably just a mere fourteen or fifteen year old youngster, a mere babe, one that could not rationalize any further, for she simply does not have the brain capablities...yet. For with ages comes brain development.

According to a study by the National Institutes of Health...

Regardless of income or sex, children appeared to improve rapidly on many tasks between ages 6 and 10, with much less dramatic cognitive growth in adolescence. This result fits with previous research suggesting that in adolescence, there is a shift toward integrating what one knows rather than learning new basic skills.

Uhmmm...yes. Maybe Antigone just could not help herself, and she had too few live adults left in her life to guide her.

Thus, maybe one should read this drama as a warning of the result of thoughts too rash?