C.Turner+Review2



Citation: Small, D. (2009). //Stitches: A memoir//. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. ISBN- 978-0-393-06857-3

Award: Alex Award- 2010

Summary//:// //Stitches //is about David Small’s struggles with his family and health issues growing up. When David was younger he suffered with respiratory problems that his father, a physician, thought he could cure with doses of radiation. When David went in for surgery to remove a growth, he awoke to find that the growth was gone along with part of his vocal cords. In this story we follow David through his childhood to see what a teenager can do with a dysfunctional family. David shows us how his family lived with anger, silence, and where emotions were not allowed.

What I liked about it: This was the first memoir/graphic novel that I have ever read. The story was probably one of the saddest and scariest things I have read and then I think to myself that this really did happen to David as a child and I feel helpless. The illustrations are my favorite because you can really feel what is going on with the story even without words. I felt sadness and anger right along with David throughout the entire story. Reading this book is an experience unlike any other.

Kentucky Common Core Curriculum:

Grade Level -9-12 CC.9-10.R.I.3 Key Ideas and Details: Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.

CC.9-10.R.L.3 Key Ideas and Details: Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

CC.11-12.R.I.10 Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity: By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 11–CCR text complexity band independently

Genre: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">Memoir-Graphic Novel

<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">Activity – <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;"> To promote reading with //Stitches//, I would create a Book Trailer using www.stupeflix.com. The Book Trailer would include the characters from the book (David, David’s mother, David’s father, David’s brother Ted, and his grandmother). The Book Trailer would include the setting and the problem and solution. The idea of the Book Trailer for //Stitches// is for students to see that Memoirs can be exciting, graphic, and emotional.