Foot Reading!!!!!

Okay... so... Little Brother... I know I am probably going to get slammed for this but I hated it. It just wasn't the type of relevant problem I am concerned with right now and would prefer not to concern myself with. This novel was well written and very inviting to read, I know because my fiance read it and he never reads anything that isn't Orson Scott Card or Shakespeare. But it simply wasn't me. I found a lot of the novel to be hard to wrap my mind around, such as parts regarding the school's surveillance. I also found it to be a very heavy topic and possibly a frightening topic to some readers. I think I may use this in the classroom but only as a choice read. I wouldn't force someone to read this.

On another note it really did a good job of illuminating some key issues in multi-modal literature. We are always trying to come up with new innovative ways to keep students entertained and learning but often it simply turns into them teaching us. When we want to use different formats to teach we need to make sure we know about the technology we use. In Little Brother the adults in the school seemed clueless when it came to the technology the students were using. This can't happen if we want to be multi-modal in our classrooms. On a good note this novel showed a good way to involve technology without using it, read a story about it!!! It's a great idea but I don't know that this was the best book for it. I have not had a good chance to look at Doctorow's blog and hope it offers some clarity on his writting. I would love to try another piece by him to see if I like it better.