The Round House

Rationale:

The issues faced in this book show a teenager dealing with real life decisions. This book would be for high school students only because of its graphic topics like rape and death. There are great themes of family and coming of age. These are important issues that students may need reminded of. Family is something that not all of us have in the typical sense and it will help students to see that who we have are our family and how we stick together.

Teaching Ideas:

Some ways to help students to learn how to use imagery is to have them be news reporters and write up a report on the construction site where they find Mayla’s body. Another way to work with imagery is to have the kids write a diary from one of the character’s points of view on the events happening. The items that are throughout the book can also be turned into symbols that the students must write what they think there meaning is. By writing what they think there meaning is the students can learn about how symbols show emotions.

Challenges:

Because this book has some graphic content the students will need to be told what they should expect when reading. As for parents there will need to be a letter home explaining why we are reading this book and how we plan to deal with the graphic content. Some parents may disagree with the use of this book and so we can arrange a meeting with the parents to discuss why they think it is a poor choice and how we intend to deal with the content to protect their children. Administration may also have issues with the content and would request details on how we will deal with the student’s reactions. As a teacher we need to be prepared to give a valid argument for why we pick books and why we want to teach a book.

That all being said I personally would not use this book in a classroom because of the content. There are many other books that do not touch on these topics that could teach the same.