One-Punch Man
Bibliography
ONE., Murata, Y., Werry, J., & Gaubatz, J. (2015). One-punch man. Shonen Jump Manga edition. San Francisco, California, VIZ Media.
Plot Summary
Saitama is not much to look at as far as a superhero goes. He is bald and certainly not built like a superhero. His amazing power to best any opponent has no meaning to him. What can give his life meaning if he does not get any satisfaction out of pulverizing each one of his opponents with only one punch?
Critical Analysis
This was my first manga book ever. I called my 23-year-old daughter and asked her for a recommendation. One Punch Man was number one on her list. Manga is read from back to front and right to left. This took some getting used to and I was reminded of this periodically throughout the book when the illustrator would put little signs “read this way” with arrows pointing me in the right direction.
I found myself wanting to read parts of this story aloud to get the full effect of “whap,” “urrgh,” “clomp,” and “bwoosh” just to name a few. Parts of this story are quite humorous, for example at the beginning of the book you see a large crustacean-like monster standing in the street in a pair of underwear with boobies drawn on with a marker. Saitama fights this monster and many more in this fun and quite different kind of book. One Punch Man truly is a quick read and you find yourself wanting more.
Review Excerpts
Listless and unchallenged, the protagonist spends a lot of time fighting a wide variety of outlandish opponents who ridicule him for his bad attitude and because he is bald. The book is filled with over-the-top cartoony violence, and Murata’s illustrations exude destructive energy. The story is fast-paced, humorous, and entertaining in a way that looks and feels like an action movie. School Library Journal
Connections
One Punch Man 24 book series can be found here. https://www.amazon.com/One-Punch-Man-24-book-series/dp/B07JK95JJH
Discuss with students what it means to be a hero. What are the characteristics of a hero? Does One Punch Man have these characteristics? Compare him to another superhero.
Create an enemy that One Punch Man will fight and illustrate this.
Learn more about manga from the New York Public Library.
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones
Bibliography
Sones, S. (1999). Stop pretending: What happened when my big sister went crazy. Harper Teen. ISBN 978-0064462181
Plot Summary
Continuously in print for nearly two decades, this groundbreaking and profoundly moving story told in verse, from award-winning author Sonya Sones, has been repackaged with a striking new cover and bonus content.
When her beloved older sister is hospitalized after a sudden mental breakdown, Cookie is left behind to cope with a family torn apart by grief, friends who shun her, and her fear that she, too, might one day lose her mind.
Critical Analysis
This story of a family going through mental illness is beautifully told in verse. Told from the point of view of a 13-year-old girl, Cookie sees her sister have a mental breakdown on Christmas Eve and is taken to a mental hospital for treatment. Cookie is hurt by this, feels despair, and wishes for things to be “normal.”
Most of the poems in this story are free form and quickly tell us how Cookie and her family are coping with her sister’s breakdown. We learn that Cookie is angry at times because she seems to have disappeared and does not matter to anyone. She is afraid to let her friends know why her sister is in the hospital for fear that she will be ridiculed. We see how courageous and hopeful Cookie is by never giving up on her sister. Cookie tells her new friend John about her sister, and this is the beginning of the healing process for her. Cookie eventually accepts her sister’s illness and finds ways to cope.
This is a wonderful story of a young girl who has so many of the usual feelings of a 13-year-old, but she also manages to stay grounded when it seems that her family is falling apart. Stop Pretending is a quick read and a book that you will not want to put down until you are at the end.
Review Excerpts
“The poems have a cumulative emotional power.” — ALA Booklist (starred review)
“The poems take on life and movement, the individual frames of a movie that in the unspooling become animated, telling a compelling tale.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Unpretentious. Accessible. Deeply felt.” — School Library Journal
“Sensitively written.” — The Horn Book
Connections
Other Sonya Sones novels in verse include:
- What My Mother Doesn’t Know ISBN 9781442493858
- What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know ISBN 9781442493841
- One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies ISBN 9781442493834
The school counselor could do a presentation on mental illness and answer any questions that students may have.
Afoma at “Reading Middle Grade Books for Kids and Grown Ups” has an extensive annotated bibliography of books that deal with mental health issues. Find her blog and list of books here:
Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America edited by Margarita Longoria
Bibliography
Longoria, M. (2021). Living beyond borders: Growing up mexican in america. Philomel Books. ISBN 9780593204979
Plot Summary
Living Beyond Borders is a collection of short stories, essays, and poetry that celebrate Mexican Americans. Young adults give us a look into their lives and what it means to come from one culture and try to fit into another.
Critical Analysis
Magarita Longoria’s book Living Beyond Borders: Growing up Mexican in America is best experienced as an audio book. I have tried to listen to audiobooks in the past and have not found them conducive to my comprehension of the story but listening to Living Beyond Borders was a very different experience. To be able to hear someone with a Spanish accent read about the experiences that many of the contributors had made the stories so real.
Longoria has brought together in one place many perspectives on what it is/was like to be a Mexican American. We learn of many misconceptions about Latino people from hearing their stories told. The storytellers who have written their stories for us allow the reader to see their side of the story. The contributors were able to express themselves by the way in which they wrote their stories: poems, short stories, essays.
Review Excerpts
*”This superb anthology of short stories, comics, and poems is fresh, funny, and full of authentic YA voices revealing what it means to be Mexican American . . . Not to be missed.”—SLC, starred review
*”Superlative . . . A memorable collection.”—Booklist, starred review
*”Voices reach out from the pages of this anthology . . . It will make a lasting impression on all readers.”—SLJ, starred review
Connections
Book Talk from DeWitt District Library
Find out more about Margarita Longoria and see her other titles here.
See the contributors to Margarita Longoria’s book here.
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