More Than This Book Talk

Overview:
This story focuses around a seventeen year old boy named Seth. The story opens up with Seth drowning. He then wakes up in what appears to be his own personal hell. Throughout the story, Seth struggles to find out what this place is and what it means. Several things seem to be really off. One, Seth actually wakes up in his childhood home in England. Two, Seth is all alone. There is no one around him. Dust covers everything. Looking at it at first glance, this world seems like it’s a weird post-apocalyptic world. Three, whenever Seth thinks of something, it randomly appears. In one part of the book, he thinks it’s weird that there are no animals in this world. As soon as he thinks that, three foxes appear. Dreams also play a vital part in this story. Every time Seth goes to sleep, he dreams extremely realistic dreams that actually happened in his past life. However, Seth suddenly has trouble differentiating his dreams from the reality. He becomes unsure which world he’s actually living in. Seth shows his audience what being alone and struggling with reality can do to a human.

Teaching Ideas:

This text could easily be used when teaching students how to write in an argumentative way or defend their choices. Since this book is extremely open to interpretation, students could argue what they think is actually happening in this book. This text could also be used to teach dystopian literature and themes within dystopian societies. I could envision class discussions on different themes within the book. This text could also be used to show the importance of setting. I think it would be cool for students to draw out a map of this place or what they think one scene of this book would look like.

Rationale:

My eighteen year old sister recommended this text to me. She has a great taste in young adult books and when she started talking about this, she broke out in goosebumps. This was my first time reading it. I think this book is great for juniors and seniors. This would be a great book to recommend to someone who’s in a rut with reading. This book is definitely a page turner and a student could get through it easily. There are elements of this book that deal with suicide, death, kidnapping, and child abuse. While this book does not go into extensive detail, this can definitely be upsetting to read especially with a younger audience.

Obstacles:

Death is prevalent throughout this entire book. The book opens up with Seth’s suicide. Later in this book, it goes into detail about Seth’s drowning. This book can be intense and is filled with Seth cussing at the world he ended up in. I think parents and administrators could see potential issues with it simply looking at the death elements. Much later in the book, there is also a section about child abuse. I think administrators could look at this book and potentially toss it aside because it deals with heavy and dark themes. I do think students could relate to sections in this book. Students could easily relate to Seth’s dreams usually reflect on his struggles through his teenage years and how he felt like an outcast within his family.