Gail Giles

1. Gail Giles Kelly Chester Author Study July 15, 2013

2. About the Author • Born September 24, “a very long time ago” • Born and raised in Texas • Lived a few years in Chicago and Alaska • Now calls Texas home • Graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University • Taught high school for 20 years in Texas • Taught remedial and speed reading & creative writing • Loves watercolor, reading, sleeping, playing guitar, and computer solitaire • Married with a son, daughter-in-law, and 2 grandsons • Considers herself cynical, a searcher, and one who can find humor in almost anything

3. Gail Giles: Psychological/Drama Author • Major themes in her books: masks, refusing to be a victim, and darkness in everyone either makes them good or evil • Believes authors and readers should be collaborators • Likes writing unresolved stories and dark humor • Writing influenced by her observations of teens while teaching high school – found that teenage years are a time when teens begin to form who they want to be based on the masks others wear

4. Author Websites • http://www.gailgiles.com - This is Gail Giles’s official website where you can find out more about her life – family life, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and pets • http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/authors/interviews/gailgiles.html - This is an interview with Gail Giles. Here you can find out more about her as a reader, author, and teacher. This website will also give you insight into why she wrote Shattering Glass and a sneak peek into Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters • http://www.shelfari.com/authors/a306112/Gail-Giles/ - This website gives a short list of books written by Giles. You can click on each book for a summary and review. It also lists some of the awards her books have won. • http://en.wordpress.com/tag/gail-giles/ - Here you will find blogs on books written by Giles. You may also find reading and interest levels, controversial issues, awards and booklists, professional reviews, and readalikes.

5. YA Books by Gail Giles • Dark Song • Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters • Playing in Traffic • Right Behind You • Shattering Glass • What Happened to Cass McBride

6. Shattering Glass My Summary: Young Steward is the ideal teenager – kind, makes good grades, comes from a good family, but like most teenagers, Young doesn’t see himself for who he really is. He gets caught up in the social clique of “cool kids” and finds himself blindly following the “leader” of the group. The leader, Rob, is new to the school and immediately steals the popularity crown from Lance Ansley. When Lance makes fun of the school geek and weirdo, Simon Glass, Rob decides to put Lance in his place. Rob devises a plan to turn Simon Glass into a “cool kid”. He recruits Young, Bob, and Coop to help him make his plan a reality. However, Young and the rest of the gang don’t realize that Rob’s motivation to make Simon cool and put Lance in his place is more about his dark secret of the past than about them. While Simon climbs the popularity ladder, Young finds himself doing everything Rob asks of him even though he quietly questions Rob’s intentions and is suspicious of Simon. As the popularity plan plays out, Young, Bob, Coop, and Rob find that their lives have become part of the web Rob weaved and will be forever changed.   My Thoughts, Reactions, & Views Relative to Author: Wow! This book kept me guessing the entire way through, and I am still left wondering what exactly happened at the end and why Young ended up where he did (don’t want to spoil the ending for new readers). Gail Giles did a good job depicting how teenagers act and do things to be part of a social group. She also reminds the reader that there are those few teens who stand their ground and don’t let others define who they are. I like the Giles opened each chapter with an interview of a character. This gives the reader a glimpse of the outcome of the story without fully divulging what actually happened. The reader must read the chapter to fill in the details which then lead to the next chapter’s interview. Pairing the chapter interviews with the details of the story keeps the reader guessing. It is almost like Giles is pulling the reader along and just when you think you can keep going on your own and figure the story out, she pulls you back.

7. What Happened to Cass McBride My Summary: All David Kirby ever wanted was to be loved and accepted for who he was – to others that person was a weird, social misfit – his own mother couldn’t even love and accept him for him. The one person that “saved” David from his mother’s nonstop talking, nagging, and criticism was his older brother, Kyle, but even Kyle eventually let David down. Led by Kyle’s encouragement and advice, David asks out Cass McBride, the most popular girl in the school, hoping this will gain his mother’s approval and love. However, Cass ends up being the final blow to David’s self-esteem and feeling of self worth. David makes a decision that sets in motion a series of events that lead Kyle and Cass to a better understanding of who they really are and a realization that one’s actions or inactions can have a huge impact on the lives of others as well as their own lives. My Thoughts, Reactions, and Views Relative to Author: Another great book by Gail Giles that left me knowing enough just to keep me guessing. I liked the way she wrote each chapter from a character’s perspective. She also wrote one chapter in the present while writing the previous or next chapter in the past. It was like I already knew most of the outcome and then she would write a chapter to fill in the details of how the outcome had gotten to that point. I will say this – if you are claustrophobic, this is a difficult book to read. When reading chapters from Cass’s perspective, I would get very anxious and short of breath. I found myself wanting to hurry and finish her chapters. Giles did a good job of demonstrating how a person’s perspective is not really the reality of a situation, and it is only until one views the situation from others’ perspectives that a complete picture is understood.

8. Dead Girls Don’t Write letters My Summary: After the death of her sister Jazz, Sunny continues to live the life of the outcast family member; although she seems to be the only one holding what is left of their family together. Before Jazz was killed in an apartment fire, Sunny knew that her mother and father loved and adored Jazz, but after the fire, she realized that Jazz was the only thing that actually kept her mother from going off the deep end and her father from turning into a complete and total drunk. With Sunny left to care for the depressed, helpless, and medicated mother and in and out of jail drunk father, Sunny does her best to care for her mother – even leaving school during lunch to come home to check on her. Just as Sunny realizes that she could never replace Jazz or be good enough for her parents, she gets a letter in the mail from her dead sister, Jazz, saying she isn’t really dead and is coming home. Once she arrives, Sunny figures out that this is not really her sister, Jazz, and begins to do some detective work to find out who she really is. What she finds out is not what she could even imagine on her own. My Thoughts, Reactions, and Views Relative to Author: I never expected the ending to be what it was! Gail Giles did a great job taking me in one direction and leaving me wanting to know how this so called Jazz pulled off being the real Jazz. As soon as I thought I had it figured out, Giles took me by surprise. It wasn’t like Giles built up to this big surprise; she just stuck it out there. She didn’t give me time to even think this ending was a possibility (don’t want to spoil the book). However, this was the last of the 3 books that I read, and I was beginning to see a common pattern/theme to her 3 books.

9. What to Expect From her Books Gail Giles has done a good job writing on teen subjects such as cliques, suicide, bullying, self-esteem, feelings of fitting in or not, cruelty, and just the struggle of teenage years. The three books I read all dealt with the issues above, and Giles wrote all three books with unresolved endings. After reading all three books, I know what happened, yet I am left wondering more about the future of one character from each book. One common theme among all three books was family dynamics. Each family had some sort of “dysfunction” whether it was an alcoholic parent, an perfectionist father with unreasonable expectations, or a materialistic mother concerned more with what everyone else thought than the love of her own child. Another common theme was that of skewed perspectives of teens. Whether the teens were cool, jocks, popular, from a wealthy family or the “wrong side of the tracks”, nerds, or total misfits, each could only see their own “problem” and not realizing that they all had their own issues to deal with. Both young adults and adults can relate to Giles’s books. Teachers or other adults in positions that deal that young adults will gain a good understanding of what really goes on the everyday lives and thoughts of teens.

10. Teaching Strategies and Activities • Empathy Meter: Look up the term “empathy.”  What does it mean?  Draw an “empathy meter” that measures empathy on a scale of one to ten.  Pick three to five of the characters from the story and place them on the meter.  Beside each character’s name, note two reasons for your character’s empathy rating (you must use evidence/examples from the book to support your reasons) – can be used with all three books - adapted from: http://www.gailgiles.com/Teachers_Guide_Cass_McBride.html • Webquest for Shattering Glass - http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=52426 At the beginning of each chapter in Shattering Glass there is a short monologue given by different characters reflecting on what happened with Simon's murder and the events leading up to it.  These reflections not only lend foreshadowing to what is discussed in the chapter but allow the reader to experience somebody else's view of a character and perspective on the outcome.   Through this WebQuest students will be asked to write a log upon completion of Shattering Glass, creating their own opening thoughts on the issue as if they were really a part of it.  The students can take any view on what happened that they choose and can write about whatever characters that they want to.  This can be anywhere from why Simon was so easily hated to what Simon did for the group's dynamics to Rob's extremely hidden past.  The students should complete no less than five of these entries but are certainly welcome to complete more. 

11. Teaching Strategies and Activities 3) Create a piece of art representing the inner turmoil of Sunny’slife in Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters, David’s life in What Happened to Cass McBride, or Simon’s life in Shattering Glass. Try to capture their thoughts in art- give contemplation to your palette, line, and your movement. In a brief journal discuss why you made the choices you did. You may create a picture, create a model using various objects, create a symbol - it is up to you to be as creative as you want – can be used with all three books – adapted from: http://wildgeeseguides.blogspot.com/2010/01/dead-girls-dont-write-letters.html

12. Resources http://www.gailgiles.com http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/authors/interviews/gailgiles.html http://www.shelfari.com/authors/a306112/Gail-Giles/ http://en.wordpress.com/tag/gail-giles/ http://www.gailgiles.com/Teachers_Guide_Cass_McBride.html http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=52426 http://wildgeeseguides.blogspot.com/2010/01/dead-girls-dont-write-letters.html