Required Reading

The Pogo Party
by Walt Kelly

If you've already heard of Pogo, you get a gold star for the day. If not, you should go read the Wikipedia article immediately. The short version: Pogo is a wily and satirical comic strip by Walt Kelly that ran from the 40's-70's in papers and books. It's about Pogo the possum and the many animal inhabitants of a swamp and their crazy lives. My favorite characters are Bun Rab and Grundoon, a baby groundhog who only says things like "xlg!" and "bzfgt?" His sister's name is Li'l Honey Bunny Ducky Downy Sweetie Chicken Pie Li'l Everlovin' Jelly Bean (yes, I had to look that one up.).

Pogo is famous for having said, "We have seen the enemy and he is us."

Pogo is appealing as a series for a number of reasons but the main three are as follows.

• Kelly was a genius with words. The voice and dialect he created for the swamp characters was brilliant. It's rhetorically complex, but it's also funny and satirical and sometimes just wicked. You can tell he knew all of the rules because he breaks them so well.
• Kelly was an astute observer of human nature. When the characters talk about politics, love, and other human foibles you can't help but see yourself and the people around you. 
• The characters unbelievably insanely cute. I want to put them in my mouth.

In this particular volume, the critters in the swamp aim to get Pogo elected president (this happens a lot in the swamp). All sorts of hysteria ensues.  This is a great book to see some of Kelly's political commentary at it's finest. Though you could always go straight to Pogo's Poop Book (which has a KKK robed figure looming on the front) and "find out the latest poop on" the Jack Acid Society, Kluck Klams, and whose God IS dead? Kelly definitely wasn't one to sit on his laurels when people needed stirred up, but he snuck it in there with adorable, bumbling little swamp creatures which is a genius tactic if you ask me.

I would recommend this book to: People who like graphic novels, cute animals and politics. Who is that?

Carrie
By Stephen King

This book should be mandatory reading for all high school-age people.

Cons:  it's got sex and drugs and religious fanaticism in it. But so does high school.

Pros: Practical reasons: it's short and it's gory so kids will actually read it. It's not The Old Man and the Sea, which is short and boring as hell or The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, which was neither short nor gory and ended up lodged between my wall and my bed only to be found six months after I graduated.

Also, it's about what happens when you bully someone and treat them like a subhuman. It's science fiction/horror so one could make the argument that it's not really about that, that someone who is bullied could never actually do the things that happen in this book, but psychologically speaking, feelings of rage and alienation are the same. And so are their awful consequences. What is fiction but lies that help us understand the truth? (BAM!)

Any book that is both un-put-down-able and makes you feel empathy for a character you know is batshit crazy is totally worth the time and money. Plus it's Stephen King's first book.

I would recommend this book to: Amber D. because she works with high-schoolers, and my cousins because they are high-schoolers, but I think a lot of my friends would enjoy it just for the sake of its awesomeness.