Han, Jenny. (2009). The
Summer I Turned Pretty. New York: Simon and Schuster.
The Summer I Turned
Pretty is the first book in a trilogy that follows Belly as she deals with growing
up. First of all, her parents are divorced, which a lot of middle school girls
can relate to. Belly is also caught in the middle of a love triangle and must
decide between two brothers by the end of the trilogy, which every girl wants
to experience since Twilight came
out. Belly struggles with the fact that as she gets older- and prettier- she
must deal with tougher situations like an old family friend passing away.
Many middle school aged girls live with situations and
circumstances very similar to Belly’s and could be very relatable to a large
portion of the target audience. Jenny Han has written many different series
involving middle and high school girls that are realistic fiction and appeal to
all types of girls. Because Belly seems like a very real person, a lot of girls
can relate to her. The cover of the book is an older girl with two older boys
in the background that would appeal to a high school girl’s mindset, but the content
and easy reading appeals more to the middle school audience.
In a classroom, I would use the first book of this trilogy
as a literature circle book for the girls in the class while having the boys
read a book like My Side of the Mountain or
Wild Man Island to bond and share
interests. I think a lot of students lose their connection with classmates over
the summer and need a couple of weeks to get it back together.
I was not going to write about this blog. I don't know you and I try not to judge but I found it very difficult to understand how this could be read in the classroom. Of course, all I have to go off of is your blog but the idea that this book has a girl in a love triangle between to boys or brothers is very disturbing. It brings me to the module we had about censorship and book banning. I may be a little more conservative than most but I don't see me being wrong in this situation. Vanity is not in short supply among many middle schoolers, but how will this book connect to the social conservative girl? Will she be comfortable reading a book about getting prettier. I hope I'm not being too negative, but I just think this is a book for personal reading but not in any way shape or form should be a classroom project.
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