When the idea of this feature first started churning in my brain, I began to think about who I would ask to be part of this journey. One of the first names I thought of was my tweep Jillian because I knew that Jillian was a lover of dystopian but also I knew that she did a dystopian unit with her students which fits with the feature as well as the theme of our blog.
EXPLORING MY LOVE OF
DYSTOPIAN
When Kellee asked me if
I would be interested in doing a guest post for this series, I was pretty
excited because I’ve read, and loved, a lot of dystopian novels. In fact, I’m
pretty sure my response was something along the lines of “I’d love to - dystopian
is my favorite!” I figured this was a great opportunity to explore and share
why dystopian, where my love came from, how I use it, and where I see it going.
My caveat: I know this
will drive Kellee crazy, but I honestly don’t distinguish much between dystopian
& post-apoc - while I understand the literary and definitional differences,
I tend to clump them all under dystopian - mostly because I seem to stray away
from the true post-apocalyptic because I don’t usually like them quite as much.
My reasons:
For some reason, ever
since I first started reading dystopian books, I’ve been drawn to them. For me
it’s all about the world and the characters.
The world - it’s a chance for an author to use their most
extensive imagination, while tied to things that are going on in the world
around us today in which to ground the story. It’s a way of grappling with the
changes and struggles in our current world, and creating an idea on how they
might evolve into a society in which we think things are better.
The characters - I’m a sucker for a strong character who fights
against “the man” (playing to my sense of rebellion). I get involved and want
to root for them. So, when we get to meet likeable characters, and follow
their journey toward not only self-discovery (playing to my sense of the
intrapersonal), but also learning what their world is really like (playing to
my sense of the intellectual), and then they stand up for what is right and
fight against it (playing to my sense of integrity and stubbornness), I’m pulled
further into the story and fully engaged in what is happening, making me enjoy
the book even more.
My history:
The first dystopian
young adult novel I read was The Giver by Lois Lowry. I loved it. It was during
my undergrad teaching language arts for middle school course. I was totally
drawn into the story, and before I even really understood the genre, I knew it
was one I wanted to read more of. I started seeking out similar themes/ideas in
the books I was picking up, like City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, as I started
building up my classroom library and choosing books to read.
My present:
Last year I had a class
that I was able to create a mini-unit for, and I chose to do a dystopian book
club. I knew the genre was popular, and I had a lot of books in my own library
to choose from, and I had a group of twelve students who were really excited to
read them. The unit was a hit, the kids had a great time reading and discussing
the books, and I got a chance to really hear their thoughts about these types of
books. The one thing we realized, however, was that one can easily suffer from
dystopian burn out if too many are read in a row without a “happy, cheerful”
book interlude. My students, and I, gave ourselves permission to take a break
after having read so many dystopian books, which can tend to be a little bit
depressing, and go back to them after a break for some light-heartedness.
This year, my group of
grade level reading teachers has decided to do a dystopian unit at the end of
the year, with The Hunger Games as our mentor text/read aloud. The timing works
well with the movie coming out, but we’re taking an interesting twist on the
dystopian unit in how we’re leading into it. In the past, they have done a
Holocaust unit, but the students also get that in language arts and social
studies at the same time. So, instead of overwhelming them with too many
classes all about that heavy subject at the same time, we’re tying in the
dystopian as a way to look at other situations where they were trying to create
“utopian” societies, but ended up devolving into dystopian worlds. I’m hopeful
that this will make a strong connection to lead them into the unit, and pique
their interest in the genre while they spend some time exploring it.
My future:
The dystopian genre seems
to be continuing to build popularity in the teen and middle grades book market,
which is great for me and my students who enjoy these types of books so much. I
will still grab these books and promote them to my students because they do
provide a way of grappling with the world around them, learning to stand up for
what one believes in, and having a sense of what’s right in the world. I know I
will continue to seek out, reach for, and buy/borrow more books in my favorite
genre.
Whether you’re new to the
genre, or it’s an old favorite like it is for me, I hope that you will enjoy
some of my favorite titles below if you haven’t read them yet! You might find
that my dystopian favorites are actually quite diverse.
My favorite dystopian
recommendations (for the sake of space, I’ve only listed the first title in a
series):
The Hunger Games by
Suzanne Collins (obviously!)
Divergent by Veronica
Roth
Uglies by Scott
Westerfeld
Legend by Marie Lu
Shipbreaker by Paolo
Bacigalupi
Delirium by Lauren
Oliver
Matched by Ally Condie
Under the Never Sky by
Veronica Rossi
Shatter Me by Tahereh
Mafi
Unwind by Neal
Shusterman
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Naughts and Crosses by
Malorie Blackman
Little Brother by Cory
Doctorow
Epic by Conor Kostick
The Unwanteds by Lisa
McMann
Eye of the Storm by Kate
Messner (releases later this month)
Insignia by SJ Kincaid
(releases in July)
Mrs. Heise moved this
year from six years of teaching 8th grade to a new district and a 7th grade
classroom in her role as a language arts and reading teacher in the suburbs of
Milwaukee. She is an avid reader, a book pusher, a blogger, and a member of the
Nerdy Book Club who strongly believes it is crucial to her work with middle
schoolers to be well-versed in the selection of books she can recommend to
them. Jillian welcomes you to join her conversations about books and teaching
on twitter @heisereads. She also shares her thoughts and recommendations for a
variety of middle grades and young adult books on her blog, Heise Reads &
Recommends, at http://heisereads.blogspot.com
and 
Past Dystopian vs. Post-Apocalyptic posts:
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