MY ARCHIVES

Take a look at my new photo album. It's fun cartoons for teachers.

"All good books have one thing in common - they are truer than if they had really happened."- Hemingway
This book reminds me of the power of fiction. Like Hemingway suggested, Charlie's life seems more real than if it he was telling true life story. As you read about Charlie and his life, he seems impossibly insightful and wise beyond his years, but still as real as a story your best friend could tell you. That is the unusual power of this book. I agree with Hemingway (which is uncommon) that fiction's power lies in its made-up truth, and it's ability to say more about that truth than real stories that have happened. I'm not suggesting that autobiographies are junk, but I think that fiction can offer the reader just as much, and sometimes more. Charlie may not really live in a house with his family and write us letters, but his influence is just as profound as if he did. This is the signature of "good books."
Another Hemingway on this topic:
“What a writer must try to do is to write as truly as he can. For a writer of fiction has to invent out of what he knows in order to make something not photographic, or naturalistic, or realistic, which will be something entirely new and invented out of his own knowledge."
- Ernest Hemingway

These are the Lyrics to one of Charlie’s favorite songs. It's one of mine too. I don't want to comment much on this because the lyrics really stand on their own.

Added 4/10: (today I do feel like commenting on this song)
I overheard my younger brother Andy playing this song on guitar yesterday, after we found out our Grandfather had just died. I think Charlie and my little brother picked this song because it strongly echoes the feelings of times changing (and I don't mean daylight savings time). It made sense to me that Charlie picked this because he was a teenager, and teenage lives are full of turbulent change. Yesterday as I saw my family gathered I was reminded that life is full of turbulent change, it's just that teenagers aren't as used to processing it as adults are. But even as adults, wives lose husbands, daughters lose fathers, grandchildren lose grandparents, and people have to face the eminent loss of their own life. I like this song because it captures this spirit, and kinda soothes the wounds brought by change. Thank you Andy & Charlie!

Lyrics for: Landslide

I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
'Till the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life
I don't know

Well, I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I'm getting older too

Oh, take my love, take it down
Climb a mountain and turn around
If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring it down

If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring it down.

This LINK is full of quotes from High School and College students who have read Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is a valuable resource for educators who want to defend reading this book in schools and for motivating students to read this book. Some of these quotes prove that this is literature that can connect to teens at their level. A lot of times as I read this book I found myself thinking about the reasons that it's controversial. I personally think my parents would have freaked out if I read this in High School. (They were always a little freaked out about sending me to public school.) I think I would have really loved it though. I read a lot, but not stuff like this. Adolescence is a time for growing up, and not being a sheltered child anymore. I think this book gets to the issues that adolescents do face, whether parents like to acknowledge it or not. Ignoring that can do more harm than good. That's why I'm all for teaching and reading this book particularly. Probably the biggest reason that I would promote teaching this book is because I think it could really connect to those students who we often classify as "non-readers". It takes a special book to reach out to some adolescents and get them to enjoy reading. For many students this book really could do it. I think it could turn a non-reader around. That's mainly why I'm all for it. This book also has valuable content for meaningful class discussion. I want to see my student meaningfully engaging with text before they leave my room. This text is almost guaranteed to generate a personal response even if it's one of moral offense. When I think of this book being banned, it really irritates me. I have a hard time understanding why people are afraid of taking a literary journey through someone else’s shoes. That’s what Charlie offers his reader. I think this book is full of possibilities, if there's just a place that will let it be taught.
"I enjoyed Perks of Being a Wallflower simply because I could relate. Drawing connections from the book to my own life was easy, and the main character seemed so human that it was like I was actually learning about him through his personal letters. The book pushed for honesty and humanism, not to make you feel good. That's what made the book for me." Quote from reader - See LINK

Check out this LINK
This is a quick online quiz to see what character in the book Perks of Being a Wallflower you are most like. I'm a Sam. I knew I would be but I still didn't like hearing it. The results said that 22% of the test takers turn out to be her. So I’m not the only Sam out there.
I think that if I get to teach this book I’ll offer this quiz as a fun resource for my students take, partly just to liven things up a bit. It reminds me of being a teenager and taking those quizzes that come in all those teen magazines like Seventeen. I can’t remember why, but it seemed to me that those silly quizzes were full of superb insight. You know what I mean, "What's Your Fastion History IQ?" “is your friend bad for your body?” (no joke, you can actually take these), and my personal favorite “Which Desperate Housewife are You?” Teenagers tend to love all that stuff, so maybe this would be a good way to get them to read this book. You know—the ditsy girl who always chews gum in class and never seems interested in anything but football players—her, assign her this quiz. See if it helps. Some teachers might think that appealing to a students “shallower side” might not be appropriate, but I say, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. You have to meet students where they’re at. Some students might be more likely to read because they want to know what their character is like. See if as they read they can find connections between themselves and the character they test as. Even better, assign them to take the quiz and write up a short essay on why they think they are or are not like the character they tested as. It's only a few questions, why not ask students to give it a click. Think of it as another way to incorporate technology into the classroom.