Module 8

July 25-31, 2011

Book 1: The dollhouse murders by Betty Ren Wright

Bibliography: 

Wright, B. R. (1983). The dollhouse murders. New York: Holiday House.

Summary:

Amy goes to stay with her aunt so she can have some time away from her sister, LouAnn who has brain damage. This time is suppose to be just for her and her aunt, but when a friend of her mother's needs help, her mother brings LouAnn to stay over until she can return. This just happens to be when Amy is having her birthday party. Amy's aunt is staying in the house that her grandparents lived in and where she and Amy's dad grew up. It is a big old house on the outskirts of town. Amy finds out that her grandparents were murdered in that house and she also discovers a dollhouse that is a replica of her great grandparent house. There are dolls in the house and they are designed to look like her the great grandparents, Aunt Clare and Amy's dad when he was a boy. Amy keeps finding the dollhouse open and the dolls placed in the areas of the house where they were the night of the murders. Aunt Clare finds the dollhouse open and the dolls in the place of the night of the murder and she is angry with Amy who she thinks is reenacting that night. Amy tries to tell her that it is not her moving the dolls, but her aunt turns a deaf ear. The night of Amy's party, LouAnn has to stay the night, since there mother had to leave town. Amy wakens to find LouAnn gone and she finds her in the attic with the dollhouse. LouAnn tells Amy that that the dolls are sad. Amy takes her out and the next night Amy and LouAnn return to the attic, determined that the dollhouse is trying to tell them something. The dollhouse light turns on and there is a recreation of the events of the night played out for them. The great grandmother puts her hand on a book  from the bookshelf in the parlor before she is knocked down. As this is happening, the girls are hearing noises that coincide with the events that are taking place. Frightened,  they bolt for Aunt Clare's room and they tell her what happened. Aunt Clare is angry that the girls won't leave the dolls alone, until Amy gets an idea to look for a book in the parlor. There they find a book that has a note inside. The letter was written the night of the murders and says that Rueben, the handyman, was the one who murdered them when he came looking for money. Aunt Clare gives LouAnn the dollhouse and finds that her life has changed now that she knows what happened and who was to blame for that night.

My Impression:

This was a fun book to read. The story evolved quickly, getting to know that characters and right into the events of the dollhouse. The characters were developed well for a short book and the story moved quickly.  I enjoyed witnessing the developing relationship between Aunt Clare and Amy and relished the change in the relationship between Amy and LouAnn.  The story was a little predictable but the writer provided a great angle with the dolls providing the answer to the mystery of the murder that was so long ago.  I would recommend this book not only to individuals but to use as a classroom bock with discussion along the way.

Reviews:

1. Building Rainbows

The book started with Louann making a big scene in the mall. Amy hates Louann because of the fact she's retarded. Louann is eleven but she acts like a little baby. In the story Amy gets to stay with aunt Clare because ant Clare thought that Amy and Louann apart from each other. Soon Amy finds a beautiful dollhouse that belonged to her aunt many years ago. Amy did not know that this peaceful looking doll will break her good relationship with aunt Clare! The dolls started moving and Amy became curious of her great-grandparents. She quickly went to the library for old newspaper articles about the year of their horrible deaths! Then after a few minutes when Amy came home the dolls started moving by themselves. Aunt Clare thought it was Amy who did it but it wasn't. The dolls were moving by themselves! Aunt Clare apologized to Amy saying it was okay because kids this days are different. They want to have fun! Once more after Amy's birthday party Amy, Ellen, and Louann went to Rainbow Mountains but when they came back Amy gets in to big trouble! Aunt Clare found the dollhouse in the front porch showing the death of great-grandma and grandpa Trealor! Now this time aunt Clare believes Amy's statement! Now aunt Clare shares her opinions about the murders. Aunt Clare says that she thinks her fiancé killed her grandparents because they didn't like him. And aunt Clare tells them that he also died that night in a freeway. Her friends said that he hit a tree! After drinking their cocoa, Amy and Louann led their aunt in the attic. They watched the grandma doll get books from the little bookshelf. They had a clue! They sort through all the bookcases when Louann falls and finds a letter that says that Reuben killed them not aunt Clare's fiancé. And that's it!

- Jewel Mische

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2. School Library Journal November 83

Amy arranges to spend a few days alone with her Aunt Clare in the home once owned by her great grandparents. She is particularly relieved to have some time to herself, free of having to care for her retarded sister, Louann. When she discovers an exquisite dollhouse in the attic, an exact replica of the family home, her aunt is unenthusiastic about her find and furious when she sees the placement of the dolls; years ago her grandparents had been murdered and the figures are now where the police found them the night of the crime. She assumes her niece of insensitivity in reproducing the scene, but the girl denies responsibility for moving the dolls. An emergency at home means Louann must also stay at Clare's and at first Amy is angry about having  her plans to be alone shattered, but then the two girls discover the solution to the terrible crime. The combination of a beautiful, fascinating dollhouse, dark family secrets,  ghostly events, danger and suspense are sufficient to make this a likely choice for escape reading. - Karen Harris, Department of Library Science, University of New Orleans

Suggestion for Use:

This book would provide discussion on several different areas. The relationship between Amy and her parents, Amy and LouAnn and the building relationship between Amy and Aunt Clare. Also , there are other aspects that could be touched on regarding guilt, like Aunt Clare carried with her all those years and changes in relationships like the one with Amy beginning to see LouAnn in a different light.

Citations:

Harris, K., & Gerhardt, L. N. (1983). [Review of the book The dollhouse murders by B. R. Wright].  School Library Journal, 30(3), 84. Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2104/ehost/detail?vid=184&hid=13&sid=7a87cd8b-4f2b-41fe-a3a0-0bc09d25192e%40sessionmgr

110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=lih&AN=5715237

Mische, J. (2007). [Review of the book The dollhouse murders by B. R. Wright]. Building Rainbows. Retrieved from http://www.buildingrainbows.com/bookreview/reviewid/19020

Book 2:  The body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

 

Bibliography: 

Plum-Ucci, C. (2008). The body of Christopher Creed. Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Summary:

After a letter is sent to the principal, student Chris Creed goes missing. Chris was a strange boy who was bullied because the kids thought he was weird. After he was gone, the town was full of strangeness which began to tear the town apart. Torey's life changed due to the disappearance. He questioned his friends, their gossiping and judgment of others. He saw other people in different ways from what he had one time believed and he was attracted to the realness of others. Torey becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Chris and finds that a lot of people have little bits of information here and there. He finds out that the adults around him have done things that have surprised him, like the police chief cheating on his wife, Chris's mom raising her kids like they are in a military camp, and Ali's mom has a different boyfriend every other week. Torey just wants everyone to be real, to be honest but discovers that will never happen. Following the clues that he has been putting together, Torey ends up in the forest clearing and finds a body in a tomb with a rock over it. He knows it's Chris's body and as he tries to reach it, he breaks his leg and gets stuck in the tomb. After being found and in the process of his leg healing, Torey must begin to process the information that he has learned over his journey to find out what happened to Chris Creed.

My Impression:

I thought the title to this book provided some potential and the author did not disappoint. This story was well written and the reader found varying levels of development in the characters, and there were a lot of them. The journey that Torey began and what he learned about himself makes this story power packed. The reader is taken on a journey of discovery - of one's self and of those around you. Torrey finds out many things that he didn't know about people in his town that he knows. Things that he doesn't like and he thinks are wrong. He finds out some history that involved his mother and many of the adults around him from his hometown that shaped who they became as adults. This is a great coming of age book that depicts Torey's journey in finding the truth around him - a truth that is not very pretty.

Reviews:

1. Publishers Weekly

First-novelist Plum-Ucci wraps a well-crafted mystery around a topical issue: the effect teenage intolerance can have on misfits. When class freak Chris Creed suddenly disappears, his fellow students are not so much worried but abuzz with speculation: Is he a runaway, a suicide, a crime victim? Through a complicated but believable turn of events, narrator Torey Adams, a popular 16-year-old, starts to feel some concern and resolves to find the truth. His unlikely allies are two kids of dubious social status: Ali, who is Chris's neighbor, and Ali's boyfriend, Bo, a "boon" (shorthand for boondocks) with a juvenile record. Convinced Chris's mother is to blame for Chris's disappearance, they plan to break into his house to steal his hidden diary in hopes of finding evidence. The plan backfires: Bo is caught, Torey is implicated and all three are the subject of malicious gossip that proves to have dangerous consequences. Told as a flashback, the novel drags slightly at the beginning. Plum-Ucci, however, picks up the pace and builds to a fever pitch near the conclusion, vividly describing Torey's late-night hunt for Chris's body in a nearby Indian burial ground. Readers will likely be enthralled by the mystery, and, even more, they will be moved by Torey's hard-won realization that everyone deserves compassion. Ages 12-up. (May 22, 2000)

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2. School Library Journal

Torey Adams, 16, is on the football team, is friends with all of the brightest and best in his class, and has a beautiful girlfriend. Suddenly, a class geek disappears, leaving a cryptic e-mail message for the principal that mentions Torey and some of his friends. As the novel progresses, the teen must face his fear that Chris is dead and is in the Indian burial ground behind his house. As he searches for his classmate, the town begins to suspect that he had something to do with Chris's possible murder. Although the boy is never found, dead or alive, Torey is changed forever. He begins to bond with some of the kids in town who have been labeled misfits and finds out that people are not always what they appear to be. A high school bully has a caring streak, the seemingly perfect Chief of Police has been cheating on his wife, and a childhood friend with a reputation for sleeping around turns out to be a trustworthy companion. Torey's narration takes place a year after Chris's disappearance, during which time he posted his version of the events on the Internet in hopes of finding the missing teen. The story offers mystery, a psychic, an Indian ghost, and an interesting perspective on how cruel people can be to one another. Plum-Ucci knows her audience and provides her readers with enough twists, turns, and suspense to keep them absorbed. - By Kim Harris, Newman Riga Library, Churchville, NY

Suggestion for Use:

This is a great book to use in a coming of ages theme as Torey discovers many things about himself and those around him. Many good things and many that upset him. This book would also be good to use as an example of how each of us touch the people around us and when all of those things are put together it can create a powerful affect to the one that is on the receiving end.  Using the example of do unto others would be easy to intertwine with this book.  

Citations:

Children's Books. (2000). [Review of the book The body of Christopher Creed by C. Plum-Ucci]. Publishers Weekly, 247(21), 94. Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2104/ehost/detail?vid=157&hid=107&sid=4bd0d626-d5bc-4e5e821d-8aa96a0b2217%40

sessionmgr110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=lih&AN

=3151597

Harris, K. (2000). [Review of the book The body of Christopher Creed by C. Plum-Ucci]. School Library Journal, 46(7), 109. Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2104/ehost/

detail?sid=4bd0d626-d5bc-4e5e-821d-8aa96a0b2217%40sessionmgr110&vid=184&hid=

14&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=lih&AN=3297204