Getting the Girl

Getting the Girl: A guide to private investigation, surveillance and cookery by Susan Juby

Sunglasses. Check

Binoculars. Check.

Notepad. Check.

Mom's pink bike. Check.

Check?
Meet Sherman Mack. Short. Nerdy. Amateur P.I. and prepared to do anything for Dini Trioli.
Nobody knows who began it or when it became a tradition, but every girl at Harewood Tech fears being D-listed, a ritual that wipes her off the social map forever. When Sherman believes Dini is in danger of being D-listed, he snatches up his surveillance gear and launches a full-scale investigation to uncover who is responsible.
Could it be the captain of the lacrosse team?
The hottest girls in school, the Trophy Wives?
Or maybe their boyfriends?
One thing is for sure: Sherman Mack is on the case. And he's not giving up.
Part comedy, part mystery, and with all of Juby's trademark tongue-in-cheek humor, Getting the Girl takes on one of the cruelest aspects of high school: how easy it is for an entire school to turn on someone, and how hard it can be to be the only one willing to fight back.

Discussion:

Here we are again this year with another book by Susan Juby, author of many books for young teens. Susan is the author of titles that you may be familiar with, like the Alice series, Miss Smithers and a White Pine nominated book from 2008, Another Kind of Cowboy.

1. Did you find the characters in this book to be a true reflection of what goes on in high school? Is being "defiled" a term that you have ever heard of before?

2. The character of Sherman is depicted as someone who is brave enough and resourceful enough to defy the odds and stand up for something and someone he believed in. Do you identify with him on any level?

3. A mark of a good book is said to have something in it that makes the reader care about the characters and the outcome of what misadventures befall them in the book. How did you feel about the characters in "Getting the Girl"?

The book of Michael

THE BOOK OF MICHAEL BY LESLEY CHOYCE

From the Publisher
Michael Grove was sixteen years old when he was convicted for the murder of Lisa Conroy, the girlfriend he loved very much. The circumstances surrounding her final hours attract considerable media attention, especially because Michael and Lisa had sex just prior to her death. A public outcry against light penalties for young offenders ensures Michael is tried as an adult; he receives a harsh and severe penalty. Six months into his imprisonment, the true murderer confesses. Michael is released but quickly finds that the stigma of imprisonment and the (wrongful) rap for murder is not an easy thing to escape out on the streets.

Discussion questions:

1. Here we go with the eternal story of "the good-girl-falls-for-bad-boy-and-the-bad-boy-falls-so-in-love-with-the-good-girl, he-completely-alters-his-entire-way-of-life. What attracts teen girls to these kinds of young men like Michael, a self admitted angry young man? Was he worthy of her and her devotion to him that ultimately cost her her life?

2. There are many references to the practice of I, Ching and the hexagrams as a way of self enlightenment, and Michael relied on this as he struggled to find the meaning of life through these teachings. Are you one to rely on ideas such as this and beliefs such as astrology and horoscopes, or do you determine your own fate as "master of your own ship"?

3. The question of wrongful conviction raises its head in this book. In the Canadian court system, many people such as David Milgaard , Donald Marshall and Guy Paul Morin have been released after spending years in prison after it had been determined that they were unjustly accused of crimes that they did not commit. After only six months of imprisonment, do you feel that Michael is entitled to compensation? Do you feel that his life is ruined or can he pick up the pieces?

4. Were you surprised at the ending of the book? It is a satisfactory and logical conclusion to the story? Discuss.

Welcome to 2010 The White Pine blog

Hi everyone!

I am so glad that you could join us for this year's White Pine Reads. Some of you are returning readers, and some are new to the group, but regardless of which group you fit in, I hope that you enjoy the selection this year and can be ready to vote for your favourite on April 23. We will be continuing with the same blog format as before. I will be posting discussion questions on each of the nine books that we will be reading over the course of the next few months, starting alphabetically with "The Book of Micheal" by Lesley Choyce and concluding with "The Uninvited" by Tim Wynn-Jones.

We welcome the return of many authors that you are familiar with such as Lesley Choyce, Susan Juby, Shelley Hrdlitschka and Tim Wynn-Jones and we also have authors to the list of nominees that perhaps we have never read before. Wondrous Strange is the first book by Lesley Livingston but I see from her website that the sequel entitled Darklight has been released.

Enjoy reading this year's selections and I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts and comments as you work your way through these titles for 2010.

Yours in reading,

Mrs. Saunders