Blackwell+Rotters

Kraus, D. (2011). //Rotters.// [Audiobook]. New York, NY: Random House, Inc. ISBN: 978-0-449-01495-0
 * APA Citation w/ ISBN: **

ALA’s The Odyssey Award
 * Award: **

Joey Crouch is a normal sixteen year old boy who lives with his single mom in Chicago, plays trumpet in his school’s band, and has a best friend named Bruno. Until his mother is killed tragically, he had never really thought about his father and didn’t even know his name until he was forced to move in with him in his tiny cabin in a tiny town. Ken, Joey’s father, is not exactly the ideal father; he keeps no food in the house, he is always gone, and he doesn’t even speak to Joey. Joey begins to notice his father’s odd book collection, which is filled with books about how bodies decay and other horrors, and eventually discovers that his dad is a grave robber, not a garbage man like the kids at school call him. Their lives together begin to mold as student and teacher as Joey begins to join Ken’s world of Diggers, as they call themselves, and meets a group of them that includes Boggs, a menace to the others. Boggs shows the Diggers his scrapbook of death, a book filled with pictures of Rotters (the people who inhabit the graves they dig) and tells them his plan to show the world his book and how each picture in the book has a twin that he has left behind with the bodies. Joey and Ken chase Boggs through the pictures and the graves and discover something that leaves their already macabre world turned even more upside down and leads them on a journey that will change their lives forever.
 * Brief Summary: **

I loved this book and I would definitely recommend it to my students. Its horror is made palpable through the beautiful words and unbelievable events that occur in the story. It isn’t the traditional coming of age teenage story because Joey doesn’t come of age through facing the obstacles of losing a parent, or being bullied at school, but through robbing graves with his father. I listened to the audiobook version of this book and the narration in this book was wonderful. The voices of the characters were varied and the tone of the narrator fit the mood the story perfectly and it truly had me terrified in places. The only think I would be concerned about it the fact that many students may not choose this book simply because it’s well over 400 pages.
 * Critique: **


 * Curriculum Connection including grade level and KY Common Core Curriculum: **
 * Reading Literature Level 11-12 Standard 3 **: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text

Young Adult Horror
 * Genre: **

Strategy 25: Book Trailers: Insights and Discoveries About Texts For this novel, I would have my students create movie to be shown on the school’s website to promote the book. I think its imagery, settings, and overall horror would allow students to be very creative with the images, sounds, and video they could include in their trailers. Also, because this book has so many unforgettable scenes it would be interesting to see which ones each group chooses to highlight and include in their trailer. I think the intensity of the book and the creative way students get to showcase what they have read would cause many others to want to read it.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Classroom Activity Using Developing Content Area Literacy/Promotional Activity: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Antonacci, P.A. & O’Callaghan C. M. (2011). //Developing content area literacy//. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">References: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. Retrieved from [] 20Standards.pdf