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Book Reviews |
Life Connections Title: How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else Review: Just as Starbucks coffee is used as the “wake-up” beverage of choice for countless thousands, this book chronicles the wake-up call Michael Gates Gill received as he faced a reversal of fortune from a high-level advertising executive to a barista at Starbucks. Michael, who grew up in New York, was born the first son in a prominent family. His father, Brendan Gill was a well-known writer for the New Yorker and friend to many of the city’s most affluent and famous people. While still a boy, Michael moved with his family to the prosperous New York suburb known as Bronxville. The family house had twenty-five rooms, a gymnasium, and a two-story library. A Yale graduate, Michael joined the world’s leading advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson. By his fifties, he had a big house in the suburbs, a loving family, and a six-figure salary. At age fifty-three, after giving the company most of his life, talents, energy, and countless hours away from family and life’s important events, he received the devastating news that he was no longer needed at the advertising agency. Michael’s work gave him a place, title, income, and status. He suffered devastating loss, and for the next seven years he floundered in a consulting wasteland attempting to find work that aligned with his professional and personal identity. His life went from bad to worse. His marriage ended due to a serious indiscretion. The final blow came when, uninsured, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. At sixty-three he found himself with no money, no health insurance, no family, and no prospects. At his very lowest point, Michael, in a desperate attempt to find comfort and to make some sense of his hopeless life, ordered his last affordable luxury, a Starbucks latte. As he sat wearing a Brooks Brothers suit, brooding about his misfortune and his dwindling list of options, a 28-year-old Starbucks manager approached him and half-joking, offered him a job. This chance encounter would literally change his life. In his desperation, he did not have the energy to be polite or even lie about his financial state. He surprised himself by saying, “Yes, I need a job.” With nothing to lose, he went from drinking coffee in a Brooks Brothers suit to serving it in a green apron. His job at Starbucks proved to be his road to redemption in many ways. Suggested Questions/Discussion Points: 1. What was the significance of Michael’s early life as it related to his later misfortune? 2. What factors led up to Michael’s early financial success? 3. What factors led up to Michael’s later financial loss? 4. What factors led up to Michael’s personal loss of his wife and family? 5. Why was Michael’s identity and purpose tied to his corporate work? 6. How do you think Michael felt when he was offered the job at Starbucks? 7. Why did Michael initially feel that putting on the Starbucks uniform was humiliating and scary? 8. How did Michael’s attitude contribute to his eventual success at Starbucks? 9. What does the phrase “He downsized his career while he upsized his life.” mean to you? In what ways did Michael’s outlook on life change from age fifty to sixty-five? 10. What is the ultimate lesson to be learned from this book regarding personal and professional values? Special Note : The movie, How Starbucks Saved My Life starring Tom Hanks as Michael Gates Gill, is a 2008 production Universal production.If your school permits, the film could be shown after the book has been read. The students should compare/contrast the book and the movie. Title: Holes Review: The lives of two young men coincide at a juvenile detention center, Camp Green Lake. Stanley Yelnats and Hester Zeroni ,also known as Zero, whose ancestors’ paths had crossed in the old country, became friends while serving time. The young juveniles tire of digging holes for a riches seeking overseer and run away. Days later they reappear to solve the mystery of Green Lake, a dried up lake bed in the desert. While riches are found, the greater discovery lies in the friendship and family resolution of Stanley and Zero. Suggested Questions/Discussion Points: 2. How realistic is it to think people can be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and then must pay the consequences? 3. Research the types and food value of onions? 4. If a friend asked you to teach them to read, how would you begin? 5. Is it possible that when a story is repeated enough one begins to believe it so? To live as if it was true such as the curse upon the Yelnats’ family? Follow Up: In 2003, Disney released the movie Holes(rated PG). If your school permits, the film could be shown after the book has been read. Allow the students to compare and contrast the book and movie. Why were certain aspects completely changed in the movie from the author’s depiction? Did the film cast mirror your mental image of the characters in the book? Title: I Am David Review: David at twelve years of age escaped from a Bulgarian labor camp. From his earliest memories he has been a prisoner of the camp; therefore, functioning alone in the world outside of confinement was a daily, almost moment-by-moment, trial. Issues of trust loom large and complicate every aspect of living—food, shelter, and clothing. Upon his escape, David was provided a compass, a piece of bread, and vague directions to seek refuge in Denmark by a guard who aided his leaving. David’s strong will and wisdom, which had been nurtured by an adult prisoner, were discovered by him throughout the journey, and provided him with the tenacity to move forward. Suggested Questions/Discussion Points:
Follow Up: In 2004, Lions Gate Films produced I Am David (rated PG). If your school permits, the film could be shown after the book has been read. Allow the students to compare and contrast the book and movie. Why were certain aspects completely changed in the movie from the author’s depiction? Which ending do the students prefer, the book or the film? Did the film cast mirror your mental image of the characters in the book? Title: The Giver Review: The world is near perfect, and if and when a mishap occurs, adjustments are swiftly and quickly made to right the imbalance. This is the world into which Jonas is birthed and reared. By age 12, children begin intensive training for careers that have been pre-selected for them by a committee who take all care to place each into the best suited life work for them. Jonas was selected to receive training to become The Giver. The Giver’s role is most revered because he alone holds all memories of what life was like prior to the existence of the “perfect” world. His memories include all things bad and all things good. Jonas and the elderly The Giver, who is training him by passing on the memories, take action that was even unforeseen by the elderly statesperson. Suggested Questions/Discussion Points:
Follow Up: Title: The Outsiders Review: Ponyboy Curtis, the main character, his brothers, and friends are from the wrong side of the track and face perpetual gang battles with the Soc’s, the elite, rich kids. The characters not only encounter stereotyping of friendships, gangs, and rivalries but also survival and death. The bittersweet ending showcases social class distinctions of adolescents in the 1960’s. (Note: The author started the first draft of The Outsiders when 15 years old and had completed the book by 17!) Suggested Questions/Discussion Points:
3. Have the student’s journal thoughts on events in the novel. Follow Up: Watch the DVD The Outsiders (1983) compare and contrast events and characters to the novel. The film is rated PG 13. |
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