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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Definitely way more Hollywood than any other of Gratz's novels and this was action-packed (even if over the top in parts). I was really impressed with the twists and turns and how the author managed to keep the very believable tension between brothers running throughout the entire novel.
Grades 6 and up. I'm moving this one to our YA section due to the fact that the main character is a senior in high school. There is a LOT of killing and violence.
Grades 6 and up. I'm moving this one to our YA section due to the fact that the main character is a senior in high school. There is a LOT of killing and violence.
My students are going to eat this book up! Packed with action, it's a book that will make them think, too. I'm ordering more copies today.
I picked this book up because an 8th grade boy recommended it to me, and I'm so glad because it was a good read. It's the kind of book that makes you want to keep turning pages as the plot rushes forward, helped along by short chapters and cliffhanger endings, building the suspense as it moves toward a thrilling ending (even if some events seemed to come together a little too easily at the end, but the excitement of the story lends toward forgiveness for that - as any good action movie would). Kamran's story portrays some of the difficulties of growing up Persian American in this country and address prejudice, stereotyping, friendship, family, and loyalty. This is one to recommend to teens who like reading war or suspenseful action stories. I would pair with [b:Altered|10859509|Altered (Altered, #1)|Jennifer Rush|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344445982s/10859509.jpg|15774461] & [b:I Am the Weapon|18453088|I Am the Weapon (The Unknown Assassin, #1)|Allen Zadoff|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1393222166s/18453088.jpg|20387130]/[b:Boy Nobody|18068100|Boy Nobody (The Unknown Assassin, #1)|Allen Zadoff|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371269975s/18068100.jpg|20387130].
Great book! It's really fast paced with lots of action, but also has a nice underlying message. Will be an awesome recommendation for middle school boys!
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
When I taught Social Studies in 7th/8th grades, there was a content standard that addressed national events post 9-11, i.e. our War on Terror, and how 9-11 changed our nation.
In English Language Arts, I struggled to find historical fiction that captured the milieu of the 2000s and War on Terror, the Iraq War and later the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. While my students watched a non-fiction documentary 9/11: The Day That Changed the World, it couldn't convey the events' impact on America afterward.
This book does exactly that, while capturing the milieu perfectly, from the viewpoint of 17-year-old Kamran Smith. Part Iranian growing up in Arizona, he's a senior in high school with his hopes set on attending the US Military Academy at West Point. He's a football player, homecoming King, and has a girlfriend he loves.
It all comes crashing down on him when his older brother, Darius, a Ranger and West Point grad, appears in video of an attack on a US Embassy, and later in a staged video of him spouting anti-American messages.
The family is besieged by media and ugly Americans who spray paint "Terrorists" on their home. The US Military detains the entire family, interrogating them and holding them in windowless cells, unaware the others are there. They were unaware Darius had converted to Islam and, at least it appears, has joined a deadly, anti-American terrorist group.
Except Kamran believes in the Code of Honor he and his brother came up with when they were little. It's a silly code his US military interrogators try to turn against him, as it mentions "slaying monsters." But it's also Kamran's lifeline, in that it's one of the reasons he refuses to believe his brother joined a terrorist group.
And soon Kamran finds evidence he's right, but no one's listening. There's a line in his brother's first recorded message, a reference to two of his mother's Iranian folklore heroes and the pretend play the two boys concocted when they were little around the heroes and Jedi warriors.
It's nonsense -- to anyone but Kamran. An unbreakable code, if Kamran can just convince someone it has meaning. Finally, one of Kamran's interrogators, an agent whose IRA brother walked into a business and blew it up with a bomb strapped to his chest, believes him and gives him a chance.
They figure out it, and subsequent lines slipped into the anti-American rants are more coded messages detailing a huge terrorist plot to blow up the Women's World Cup in Canada.
But is that all? This group's leader is known for orchestrating plots within plots, and Kamran sees pictures of what he thinks is Arizona scrub in the background of his brother's messages. He also recognizes a mountain he knows too well. While all the military's experts are convinced his brother's being held in the mountains in Afghanistan, Kamran knows better -- his brother is being held outside Phoenix.
All Kamran has to do is escape from his prison and get to his brother. He makes an unlikely ally along the way and it's a good thing -- he wouldn't be able to make it from Washington, DC to Arizona without them.
I won't spoil the ending. This was a great book, a sit-on-the-edge of your seat read that you'll love!
Teacher's Note: There are no free resources, either educator's guide or discussion guide, for teaching this book, which is unfortunate and is why I'm not recommending it for Teachers on my blog.
However, there are plenty of pay-for-teaching materials available on Teachers Pay Teachers, and you can find pretty much what you need to use this book in your classroom for under $25.
And, while it's clearly a young adult book, there's no reason why it couldn't be used in a 7th/8th grade middle school classroom, as well.
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
In English Language Arts, I struggled to find historical fiction that captured the milieu of the 2000s and War on Terror, the Iraq War and later the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. While my students watched a non-fiction documentary 9/11: The Day That Changed the World, it couldn't convey the events' impact on America afterward.
This book does exactly that, while capturing the milieu perfectly, from the viewpoint of 17-year-old Kamran Smith. Part Iranian growing up in Arizona, he's a senior in high school with his hopes set on attending the US Military Academy at West Point. He's a football player, homecoming King, and has a girlfriend he loves.
It all comes crashing down on him when his older brother, Darius, a Ranger and West Point grad, appears in video of an attack on a US Embassy, and later in a staged video of him spouting anti-American messages.
The family is besieged by media and ugly Americans who spray paint "Terrorists" on their home. The US Military detains the entire family, interrogating them and holding them in windowless cells, unaware the others are there. They were unaware Darius had converted to Islam and, at least it appears, has joined a deadly, anti-American terrorist group.
Except Kamran believes in the Code of Honor he and his brother came up with when they were little. It's a silly code his US military interrogators try to turn against him, as it mentions "slaying monsters." But it's also Kamran's lifeline, in that it's one of the reasons he refuses to believe his brother joined a terrorist group.
And soon Kamran finds evidence he's right, but no one's listening. There's a line in his brother's first recorded message, a reference to two of his mother's Iranian folklore heroes and the pretend play the two boys concocted when they were little around the heroes and Jedi warriors.
It's nonsense -- to anyone but Kamran. An unbreakable code, if Kamran can just convince someone it has meaning. Finally, one of Kamran's interrogators, an agent whose IRA brother walked into a business and blew it up with a bomb strapped to his chest, believes him and gives him a chance.
They figure out it, and subsequent lines slipped into the anti-American rants are more coded messages detailing a huge terrorist plot to blow up the Women's World Cup in Canada.
But is that all? This group's leader is known for orchestrating plots within plots, and Kamran sees pictures of what he thinks is Arizona scrub in the background of his brother's messages. He also recognizes a mountain he knows too well. While all the military's experts are convinced his brother's being held in the mountains in Afghanistan, Kamran knows better -- his brother is being held outside Phoenix.
All Kamran has to do is escape from his prison and get to his brother. He makes an unlikely ally along the way and it's a good thing -- he wouldn't be able to make it from Washington, DC to Arizona without them.
I won't spoil the ending. This was a great book, a sit-on-the-edge of your seat read that you'll love!
Teacher's Note: There are no free resources, either educator's guide or discussion guide, for teaching this book, which is unfortunate and is why I'm not recommending it for Teachers on my blog.
However, there are plenty of pay-for-teaching materials available on Teachers Pay Teachers, and you can find pretty much what you need to use this book in your classroom for under $25.
And, while it's clearly a young adult book, there's no reason why it couldn't be used in a 7th/8th grade middle school classroom, as well.
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes