The Rules of Survival - A Review

Summer Independent Reading - Sample Review

Title - The Rules of Survival

Author - Nancy Werlin

# of Pages - 272

Genre - Realistic Fiction

Most every child has some complaint about their parents. Maybe they wish they were given a little more freedom, or a later curfew, or a better cell phone plan. However, Matthew Walsh, the main character in Nancy Werlin's young adult book The Rules of Survival, has far, far more to complain about. Matt's mom, Nikki, is certifiably crazy. She is domineering, angry, violent, and unpredictable, and often takes out her rage on Matt and his two younger sisters, Callie and Emmy. Matt thinks he can handle whatever Nikki dishes out until she begins doing things that make him worry for not only his own safety, but that of his sisters, too. When Nikki plays chicken with a semi on the highway, Matt finally realizes he needs to do something.

Having already tried talking to his MIA father and the police, Matt searches for help anywhere he can find it, and eventually finds a friend in one of Nikki's ex-boyfriends, Murdoch. However, even someone as tough as Murdoch may not be able to deal with Nikki's psychotic behavior.

Having read a few books about kids trying to find their way out of a bad home situation, I had some expectations about the plot going into this book - kids are in trouble, no one believes them, things get worse, eventually they find a potential way out. And, for the most part, this book followed this sort of generic plot line. With that said, there were enough interesting parts throughout the book to hold my interest, and the unpredictably of Matt's mom, Nikki, left me wondering what she'd do next. I liked the fact that Werlin made Nikki not entirely evil, as most other abusive mothers in literature often are. At times, she is a loving and caring mother, one who takes her kids on trips to the amusement park and splurges on an everything-you-can-eat breakfast at IHOP. But the scariest, and in my mind most realistic, part of Nikki's character is how suddenly she can switch moods and completely turn on her children.

It is because of Werlin's development of Nikki, and because of the realistic portrayal of the children's plight as seen through Matt's eyes, that I would give this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Some parts of the plot are quite predictable, and the letter format it's written in is sometimes a bit cliche, but I would still recommend this book to most anyone of high school age and above. Some mature themes and moments make it not a good fit for middle school age or below, but otherwise, a well-written book, one that shows how terrifying life with an abusive parent can be.

Reviewed by Mr. M

Lord of the Flies - Part 2

Hopefully you've all checked out the prompts below for the first part of our LotF responses. I meant to roll out this second set of prompts earlier, but have been VERY busy of late - sorry! Same rules apply as for the first set - pick 2 of these 5 prompts to respond to, and more length and depth = a better response (obviously!). These will be lumped in with the first set and graded wholly using the rubric I attached below. Please let me know if you have any questions!!!

Throughout the book, much contrast can be found between the gory events that happen and the young boys doing them. Why might Golding have chosen these two to contrast each other?

In the last paragraph, Golding writes “...Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of men’s hearts...” Discuss how this relates to the events that happened in the book.

Think a bit deeper about the themes present in the book - what do you think Golding might have been trying to say about society and politics?

Symbols are everywhere in LotF - pick 2 that really stood out to you and discuss their importance to the story.

Do you agree with the idea that evil is inherent in people, regardless of age? Discuss in relation to your own experiences as well as those in the book.

IRP Summer Reading Goals

Lord of the Flies

I gave a brief description of the Lord of the Flies (LotF) reading timeline, but here it is again in case you missed it - you need to finish the book and answer 4 questions about this reading by August 15th. Again, I'm thinking this won't be terribly strenuous for you (for example, I read the book at a leisurely pace in about 2 days), but it is in addition to reading free choice books, too. More on that in a bit.

For LotF, I want you to answer the following questions by creating a quick blog using Blogger where you create a post to answer the questions. Then, just leave a comment under this post with the url/link so others can see and comment on your post. If you're unable to create a blog - whether from tech issues, or you're one of those out and about on your cell phone (at camp, vacation, Siberia...), send me a note and we'll figure it out.

I want you to choose 2 of these questions to answer - I'll be adding a few more in the next week or so for you to answer, too, as I'm trying to roll them out as you're reading them. A quick rubric will be used to grade these, which will be part of your "Summer Work" grade. The rubric is attached below. Questions? Email me!

One brief aside - I know it's very easy to use Net resources (SparkNotes, Bookrags, etc.) to "help" create your responses. I obviously can't monitor your usage of these sites, and wouldn't even if I could. In fact, I sometimes use sites like these to help me better understand all facets of a text, and find it useful in refreshing my memory at times, too. With that said, feel free to use those resources you normally might to help craft your responses; just make sure that they're just helping, not actually creating your responses. :) I'll talk more about this as we start the year.

Questions (choose 2 to answer!):

1) On page 70, Golding writes that Ralph "...wanted to explain that people were never quite what you thought they were." Write about this, both in the context of the book and its characters as well as your own experiences in life.

2) One of the main points of this book is to look at the effects of authority, or the lack of authority, on people. The "society" that the boys created eventually begins to fall apart; do you think this is because of the leaders they chose (Ralph and Jack), or because of the situation they were in (meaning who their leaders were didn't matter)?

3) Suspend your rationale thinking for a moment, and imagine that the place you all know best involving established authority - school - is suddenly without teachers, Ms. Nadeau, etc. for an extended period of time (think weeks). What would happen?

4) On page 81, Golding writes that as a boy was about to throw a rock to hit another, that "Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins," causing him to stop before hitting the boy with the rock. How does this statement apply to some of the other characters in the book - that is, how do the effects of civilized society still apply (or don't apply) to them?

Again, these aren't due until August 15th (although I'll have another couple questions in a week or so for you), so just keep that due date in mind.

Rubric