DewaltYALitLens6

Kyle Dewalt YA Lit Lens #6 April 12th, 2011 Reader- Response The very suspenseful and exciting novel, // The Orange Houses //by Paul Griffin was one of the most unique novels that I have read so far in this class. Granted, when I first started to read this young adult novel, I did not like it at all. I felt that it was poorly written, the characters lives did not mesh together and the plot was slightly confusing. So I put the book down for a day or two just so that I could get away from it and pick it up with a new start. Thankfully, this hiatus in reading was a good thing because for some reason when I continued to read // The Orange Houses //, I noticed that I was captivated by the storyline and couldn’t put the book down. The writing started to become clear to me and I could picture the characters and the action that was occurring throughout the chapters. I also just started to enjoy how unique the poetic language was and it felt like I wasn’t truly reading, but listening. Listening to the words and the meaning that they had behind them, which is what Griffin would have wanted his readers to take from the novel. The conflicting element of this story is that it does not really remind me of any of my own experiences other than taking up new challenges in my life or being stubborn in a sense like how Mik was towards the new hearing aids. Many of us are very stubborn, but it is what makes someone who they are and often times stronger. Also, the characters blended together and learned to open up and get through life with what had made them happy. Mik had made friends amongst Fatima and Jimmi, and they all overall looked out for each other. If it were not Jimmi, Mik would have been killed in the end by crazy Shanelle, Fatima stopped the final blows to Jimmi, and almost each character collectively tried their hardest to keep Fatima safe and be able to live in America without being deported. The characters create an aura about themselves in which readers find themselves becoming emotionally tied to them. I think that you almost choose a character in the end that you feel the most compassionate towards; mine being Jimmi. I enjoyed his chapters the most, not only because of how I shed the most sympathy with him because of his past and how shunned he was, but his chapters passages became my favorite to read. His poem on page 120 is something that I believe readers enjoy the most and the final line is the most captivating. “Only you, child, can save me.” (120). Overall, I believe that // The Orange Houses //is a story that young adults can truly identify with and is one that they would connect with. It has believable and connecting characters that would make students want to read more of their stories. It also has a unique storyline that brings in a character dealing with immigration and deportation, which is a topic that some students only hear about the negative aspects of it and feel how their parents do about illegal immigrants. By reading this story, they will be able to gain a possible new understanding of others lives that may be living in their town and could also learn how they too could volunteer in a VA hospital or something similar and bring happiness to people who are going through a truly difficult time in their lives. I am glad that this was the ending book because it is one that I enjoyed the most and really wish that it could have had a sequel, not to have more misfortunes or characters lives to be displayed on pages, but to just know that Fatima is ok back at home and that Jimmi and Mik find some sort of happiness and means to enjoy life and family. Paul Griffin has in fact written an amazing young adult novel and I believe that it is one that I will try to teach or at least definitely recommend for my students. Back to Personal Page