Life As We Knew It

QUOTES:

"Do people ever realize how precious life is? I know I never did before. There was always time. There was always a future."

"Maybe because I don’t know anymore if there is a future, I’m grateful for the good things that have happened to me this year. I never knew I could love as deeply as I do. I never knew I could be so willing to sacrifice things for other people."

"I never knew how wonderful a taste of pineapple juice could be, or the warmth of a woodstove, or the sound of Horton purring, or the feel of clean clothes against freshly scrubbed skin. It wouldn't be New Year’s without a resolution. I've resolved to take a moment every day for the rest of my life to appreciate what I have."

Summary:

In this science fiction novel, the main character, Miranda,finds her world thrown into chaos when an asteroid hits the moon and shifts it out of orbit, closer to Earth. This shift causes massive tidal waves and tsunamis that destroy parts of the Earth. In the beginning, Miranda is skeptical of her mothers efforts when she goes into "survival mode." But then, volcanoes erupt around the world, things go from bad to worse. Electricity is nonexistent, crops die and insect-born diseases spread. A flu epidemic hits and Miranda is the only one unaffected in the family. Miranda writes in her journal that she’s figured out why she’s been documenting everything that has happened. She says it is so she can always remember life as it used to be, and life as it is now, hoping that there will be a time when life will be better.

Controversial Topics:

• The book discusses other belief systems. For example; Miranda wonders about all the people in the past who used the stars to tell the future, as she waits for the meteor to hit the moon. Miranda and her family talk about how the dinosaurs evolved into birds and that even if humans die, other animals and insects will probably survive. In addition to this, the books discusses God and Christianity alot. 
• The book also uses profanity and graphic violence. Objectionable words used throughout the book are "damn," hell," "sucks," and "pissed." Although Miranda and her family hear about violent things occurring as people become desperate for food, it is not graphically portrayed in the book. At one point in the book, Miranda is warned not to be in town alone because she witnesses several young men with guns shooting at windows and looting.  Another objectionable event is when Megan’s mother hangs herself after her daughter dies. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people die in the initial tidal waves and tsunamis after the moon’s orbit shifts. Many people die from starvation including Mrs. Nesbitt. The radio provides daily lists of people who have died throughout the country. All of things may be hard for a middle school reader to handle. 
• The book discusses the idea of having sex. Also, her parents try to convince Miranda to leave town with a 40 year-old man when supplies start to dwindle. In addition, a crude joke is made about Miranda's friend and how boys are "in her."

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

 

 

Why must we hide our feelings?

Why must we please the people around us?

Why must we fake and smile and pretend to be someone we are not?

Why can we not stand up for ourselves?

Why do we bottle our feelings up inside?

Why do we fear the things we cannot understand?

Why do we let society push roles upon us?

Why can we not be ourselves?

Why is life so hard?

Why.

 

These are the secrets of the universe.

 

 

Growing up will never be easy, but growing up with secrets is even harder.

Secrets that are kept from you and secrets that you keep from others.

I have fallen in love with this book. I love it's message. I was sincerely lost in this book. I could not put it down. I was attached to all of the characters. I felt all of their emotions. I cried. I laughed. I was angry and heartbroken. Ari and Dante were very relatable characters. I enjoyed that with every flip of the page a new twist to the story occurred. I didn't expect Dante to get hit with a car, Aunt Ophelia to be an outcast from the family because she lived with a woman, Bernardo to be in jail because he killed someone with his fists or Ari to admit he was in love with Dante.

 

 

 Quotes:

 

 "I didn't understand how you could live in a mean world and not have any of that meanness rub off on you. How could a guy live without some meanness?" (p.19).

 

"Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer morning could end in a downpour. Could end in lightening and thunder." (p.261).

 

"Storms always made me feel small. Even though summers were mostly made of sun and heat, summers for me were about the storms that came and went. And left me feeling alone...Boys like me belonged in the rain." (p.294).

 

"And somehow it seemed that the dog helped us be a better family. Maybe dogs were one of the secrets of the universe." (p. 305).

 

"I knew a part of him would never be the same. They cracked more than his ribs." (p.325).

 

"Maybe that's the way it worked. High school was just a prologue to the real novel. Everybody got to write you - but when you graduated, you got to write yourself. At graduation you got to collect your teacher's pens and your parents' pens and you got your own pen. And you could do all the writing." (p. 335).

 

"This is what was wrong with me. All this time I had been trying t figure out the secrets of the universe, the secrets of my own body, of my own heart. All of the answers had always been so close and yet I had always fought them without even knowing it. From the minute I'd met Dante, I had fallen in love with him. I just didn't let myself know it, think it, feel it. My father was right. And it was true what my mother said. We all fight our private wars." (p. 358).

 



 

 

Teaching:  

 

As teachers we have the responsibility to teach the truth/facts. Therefore, we owe it to our students not to sugar coat topics. Our classrooms should be their safe haven allowing them to express their feelings freely without judgment. A judgment free zone. Students are entitled to their own opinions, feeling, and thoughts. Sexism and homophobia in schools should be addressed in a prompt manner. I think it is within the classroom where you can control a constructive conversation about such topics. Ari asks his mom if she likes teaching even when her students don't care. Her response was: "I'll tell you a secret. I'm not responsible for whether my students care or don't care. That care has to come from them - not me." She goes on to say that it is her job to care even when they don't. I agree. As teachers it is our job to care about our students and respect their opinions.