Okay my post deals with two books: Illuminae, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
Illuminae is categorized as speculative fiction which is a fancy way of saying the story is not in the form of traditional narrative fiction. It is 599 pages of "hacked documents" including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, shaped poetry, computer images . . . ^^ERROR^^. I found the text language and the emoticons especially confusing :(? so this is not the book I would send on to round two. On the positive side it has explosions, surprise attacks, a deadly plague (LOVE THAT!), a mad artificial intelligence, conspiracies, and a desperate fight for survival so it may appeal to highly motivated readers who are more than competent in computer literacy (hence my problem)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is in a more traditional narrative format including doodles/cartoons. This 230 page book has as its first person narrator a self-deprecating male teenage Spokane Indian. One of my favorite quotes from the book uses a simile for reading and momentum/rhythm. "Reading is like riding a raft down a river" (you must pay attention to the currents!) This book details some of the stereotypical images while pointing out individual differences. I found this book to be more engaging to me as a reader and since I feel this will appeal to a greater number of students this is my choice to advance to round two.
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