Booktalk

One of the major assignments for my Info. Needs of Young Adults class is to perform a booktalk for a group (no less than 6) of young adults. On Monday morning, I performed my booktalk assignment for two 7th grade Honors English classes at Rachel Carson Middle School. I think it went OK, but the kids looked kind of bored. I'm hoping that had more to do with the fact that it was 8 am on a Monday morning than with how boring I actually was.

A booktalk is essentially an advertisement for a book. It's supposed to get people interested in reading it, and there are many different ways you can do this. You can focus on a character, a scene, the plot, or the setting. You can do it in first-person as if you are a character from the book if you want. Whatever it takes to get potential readers interested.

Because the English classes will have an assignment coming up for which they will have to select a novel in verse to read, I chose a novel in verse to do for my booktalk. I wasn't totally happy with how my booktalk came out, but I ran out of time to revise it, so here's what I came up with:

Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham

Missing an arm is like wearing a coat,
a really big, hot, ugly coat
that I can’t take off.
Ever.
It’s all that people see (Bingham, 2007, p. 116).

Jane Arrowood named her right arm Chuck. Chuck isn’t her real arm though. She lost her real arm in a shark attack. Chuck is her prosthetic arm, and she doesn’t like Chuck very much. Chuck is itchy, makes her look like Captain Hook, and can’t help her do the things she used to love.

Before the shark attack, Jane was an artist. She was the best artist at her high school, and now, she can’t even draw a circle. She used to love to cook too, but now she can’t even take out the trash without making a huge mess. Under the circumstances, it's understandable that she might feel depressed, and sometimes she does, but most of the time she’s just angry. Angry at her brother for not going into the ocean with her. Angry at the people on the beach who just watched, and angry at the guy who videotaped it and sent that tape in to the news. She's even angry at well-meaning strangers who send letters and flowers and teddy bears.

Dear Jane:

My Uncle/Aunt/Brother-in-Law’s Friend Had Their Leg/Foot/Toe/Finger or Hand Amputated Because of Diabetes/Frostbite/Circulation Problems/War/Job Injury, But You’d Never Know It, Because They Are So Funny/Athletic/Good-Natured/Spiritual/Successful/At Ease with Themselves/Happy.

If I have to listen to one more story,
I will scream (Bingham, 2007, p. 142).

They’re just trying to help, but she doesn’t want to be inspired. She wants to know why this happened to her. Is this what her life will always be like -- searching the internet for tips on how to button her pants one-handed, having panic attacks at the thought of going out and being stared at or talked about? Will she find a way to make art again? Get dressed by herself again? What does she need to do to stop being Shark Girl and start being plain old Jane again?

Bingham, K. (2007). Shark girl. Cambridge: Candlewick Press.