Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

On one of our last trips to Idaho–perhaps the most recent one?–the kids and I listened to Andrew Clements’ The Landry News; the day I got back from my RI trip, I started listening to Gordon Korman’s The Unteachables.  Two different trips, two different authors, two different books, aimed at two different age groups.  And yet…

The Plot(s?):  Originally fantastic teacher is burned out and more or less ignoring his students until a spunky girl from a broken home–new to the school–ends up in his class and, while uniting the students, breaks through his barriers of burnout and provides a catalyst for his rebirth as a teacher.  Unfortunately, the principal wants the teacher gone (because hey, said teacher has been painfully apathetic for years) and, just as the rebirth process reaches its triumphant culmination, it also makes it possible for the principal to go after the teacher’s job.  Students and community rally–but can Mr. Teacher be saved?

Yes, that’s the plot of both books.  Clements’ offering was published almost 20 years ago for elementary schoolers, while Korman’s title was new this year for middle school students.  The spunky girl in Landry News has been angry in the past and channels that anger productively, while the Unteachables‘ girl is more of a ‘along for the ride and then can’t resist getting involved’ type.  In the earlier novel, the teacher’s burnout comes gradually; in the later, he’s hit by scandal and changes dramatically in the course of a single school year.  One story involves more than one personal grudge as well as a personal relationship rooted in nostalgia, while the other features a clash between concrete and creative thinking.  Ultimately however–same plot.

Here’s the thing.  The Landry News is the more realistic story; its characters are wholly believable, and the plot’s more gradual slope gave it a more organic feel.  The Unteachables is far more dramatic and far less likely; it actually felt a bit rushed to me, as if Korman was feeling the pressure to follow Restart with something equally as acclaimed and went for the easy emotional manipulation that a misfit-students-and-their-teacher story provides.  (Of course, I am easily emotionally manipulated by teacher stories, and so he still more or less succeeded.)  At the end of the day, however, both approaches worked, even if Korman’s was more of a stretch, and I enjoyed both books.  If one approach sounds more your style, go with that one; otherwise, both books are worth your time.

Just don’t read them both in the same two week period.