Bridging The Pull of Gravity and Of Mice and Men

An Essay by Gae Polisner, Author of The Pull of Gravity

People often ask why I incorporated John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men into my contemporary young adult novel, The Pull of Gravity (FSG, May 10, 2011). The short answer is that it was part intention, and part serendipity.

The Pull of Gravity follows teens Nick Gardner and Jaycee Amato who, armed only with the wisdom of Yoda, a rare first-edition copy of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, and the vaguest of plans, embark on a secret road trip to try to keep a promise to the Scoot, their dying friend.

With the words “vaguest of plans,” those familiar with Of Mice & Men will already recognize a glaring connection between the works: In both stories, plans go awry, and, in the course of the unraveling, Nick and Jaycee (like Lennie and George) learn some valuable, if at times painful, life lessons.

Intention vs. serendipity.

When I started writing The Pull of Gravity, I knew first and foremost that I wanted to write a character-driven piece, the ilk of which I read as a kid from the likes of Zindel, Blume, Konigsburg. To me, character-driven means that the characters are *the* reason you want to know the story, and not the other way around, with the plot driving the story. As Nick and Jaycee formed on the page, I thought, ‘how better to see if Jaycee is as persuasive and intriguing as I want her to be (and the chemistry between the two teens as real as I hope), than by seeing if she can *sell* the merits of an often-taught work of classic literature to Nick, a 15-yr old boy.’ Hence, the sort of muse-driven idea of incorporating a classic novel was born.

But which piece of classic literature to choose? That is where intention factored in, and the connections between The Pull of Gravity and Of Mice and Men began to take shape.

Why Of Mice and Men?

One of the main reasons I chose Of Mice and Men was that it seems to hold more appeal for teen boys than some of the other mandatory classics still assigned, perhaps for obvious reasons. George and Lennie, the two main characters, are male. Most of the supporting characters are men. Given that I consciously wrote a novel that might appeal to both girl and boy readers, it was key not to alienate my male audience.

A bigger reason, though, was the theme of friendship that reverberates through Of Mice and Men. Indeed, the ending of Of Mice and Men may contain the ultimate act of friendship to be found in modern literature. Likewise, friendship is the main theme in The Pull of Gravity. Nick and Jaycee need each other, and their friendship buoys them through a time of change, heartache and pain.

I’ve also attempted to keep some structural similarities between the pieces. Of Mice & Men is a short work of fiction – a novella at 107 pages. George and Lennie’s story takes place over a mere four days. They set out on a Thursday and the story concludes on a Sunday.

While The Pull of Gravity is a longer work at 208 pages, the time frame of the story is brief, and the main part of Nick and Jaycee’s journey, to wit, their time in the Rochester hotel, also unfolds Thursday through Sunday.

Certainly, when I go into classrooms, I love to talk to students about how amazing it is that Steinbeck was able to create so much empathy for, and connection to, his characters in the space of so little time and so few words – the reader gets to know George and Lennie and, more importantly, to care about them, in not much more than a mere breath.

Similarly, Nick and Jaycee’s relationship unfolds quickly; they become important to one another – and, I hope to the reader— over a brief period.

Other Common Themes

- The American Dream (“Everybody Wants a Place of their Own”). Both The Pull of Gravity and Of Mice and Men deal with the desire to attain the American Dream: work that is bearable (if not more) and a small patch of land that feels like home. In The Pull of Gravity, Nick’s father is unable to attain this goal, to balance metropolitan career aspirations with his family’s move to the suburbs, which is one of the failures that spurs the main action of the book. Similarly, Jaycee is relegated to her mother’s new husband’s gaudy house, and, moreso, to the fluffy pink bedroom of the new husband’s daughter that will never feel like home.

- Disability. Of Mice and Men illuminates the prejudices suffered by Lennie because of his retardation, but also the burden on George, his friend, in trying to care for him. In The Pull of Gravity, the Scoot has a physical, rather than mental, disability, and while he doesn’t suffer the direct prejudices Lennie does, Nick – just like George with Lennie – struggles with his role as a loyal friend versus obligated caretaker to the Scoot.

- Loss & Loneliness. The Pull of Gravity opens with this quote from Of Mice and Men:

“Lennie broke in. ‘But not us! An’ why? Because…because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.’ He laughed delightedly.”

This quote epitomizes the friendship theme that resonates through both stories. Without each other, George and Lennie have no one. Similarly, Jaycee and Nick experience a lack of fitting in, connecting, until they find one another.

Of course, the counters to friendship are loneliness and loss, and these themes also run through both stories. George and Lennie have suffered loss when we first meet them, and, once at the farm, there is the loss of Candy’s dog, of Lennie’s puppy, of Curly’s wife, and ultimately each other. In The Pull of Gravity Nick, Jaycee and the Scoot have all suffered parental loss (whether temporary or permanent). It is a bond they have in common. They also each suffer the loss of their family structure, and ultimately, Nick and Jaycee suffer the loss of their dear friend, the Scoot.

Connector Texts for The Pull of Gravity:

Freak the Mighty, Rodman Philbrick

Godless, by Pete Hautman

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Additional Information

You may find additional information about The Pull of Gravity including advance praise at the author’s website, http://gaepolisner.com, as well as an early review here at http://professornana.livejournal.com/520777.html.

Gae Polisner is the author of The Pull of Gravity, Frances Foster Books/FSG, May 10, 2011. She is also a practicing attorney-mediator and avid open water swimmer. The Pull of Gravity is her debut novel. You may learn more about her here: http://gaepolisner.com

*this essay was written with the generous assistance of Paul W. Hankins.

Review: THE EDUCATION OF BET | Lauren Baratz-Logsted

TITLE: The Education of Bet

AUTHOR: Lauren Baratz-Logsted 

PUBLISHER: Houghton Mifflin

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2010

PAGES: 186

GRADE LEVEL(S): 6-7

RELEVANT CURRICULA: English Language Arts, Social Studies

CLASSROOM USES: Class reading, Literature Circles, Independent Reading

BRIDGE TEXTS: Any 19^th-century English literature

Life can hardly ever accurately be described as fair, but young Elizabeth Smith—better known as Bet—has most certainly gotten short shrift. Growing up in the 1800s, Bet had the unfortunate lot in life of being a female from a poor family. At the age of four, her parents were killed by typhoid. She was “rescued,” as it were by the great-uncle of another child, Will, whose parents had also died of the illness. This certainly was preferential to an orphanage, but such was Bet’s family’s social stature, that she could not exactly be treated as Will’s equal. Instead she became a sort of servant and attendant to the old man, while her contemporary was sent off to school.

As luck would have it, though, Will neither excelled at nor was very interested in school, and he was routinely being expelled from one of them or another. Will wanted to join the military. Bet wanted to go to school. They were the same age and, despite the obvious gender-related differences, looked strikingly similar. 

Thus Bet hatched her plan to dress herself as a boy, assume Will’s identity, and go to school for him. This way, they would both get what they wanted. Bet would have an education; Will would have freedom; and his great-uncle (not privy to the plan) would be satisfied that his young ward had finally succeeded in school. Nothing could go wrong. 

As people are wont to do, Bet had idealized what getting an education would truly be like, and she finds that school is not the academic haven she had expected.

Some of Bet’s challenges are predictable. She has to look, dress, and act like a boy. More troubling, she realizes, she has to live among boys. Even the best of disguises, however, cannot hide one’s true identity, and Bet has many more obstacles to face in passing herself off as a boy than she first anticipated. Ultimately, she is a young woman, with all the hormones and other trappings incumbent to them. 

The Education of Bet would make a fantastic read for many young girls, and quite possibly for quite a few young boys as well. Her story is intriguing, her character endearing, and the writing flows easily. Students will root for Bet in making her dream of an education come true, and they will root for her in other aspects of life, as well. 

And in the end, no one will be disappointed.



FTC Disclosure: This review is based on a copy of the book we received from the author.

Review: THE HUNGER GAMES (Book 1 of the trilogy) | Suzanne Collins

TITLE: The Hunger Games

AUTHOR: Suzanne Collins

PUBLISHER: Scholastic, Inc.

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2008

PAGES: 374

GRADE LEVEL(S): 7-8

RELEVANT CURRICULA: English Language Arts

CLASSROOM USES: Class reading, Literature Circles

BRIDGE TEXTS: The Giver, What Is The What?, Fahrenheit 451

NB: This review is based on the text of Book 1 of The Hunger Games Trilogy. Later reviews will cover the remainder of the series.

Adolescence is marked by struggling to find the line between right and wrong, between making choices and following directions. Every day of his life, every middle school students feels that his free will has been undermined, that he has suffered some injustice. It is the condition of being an adolescent.

What student hasn’t felt trapped—either at home, at school, or both? What student hasn’t felt that she has been wrongly vilified due to some arbitrary decision made by an authority figure? What student hasn’t attempted to elude the watchful eye of a parent, teacher, or administrator, hasn’t broken some rule in order to achieve something that she knows just has to be done. And what student hasn’t felt, at one time or another, that she has been pitted against her peers for no good reason? 

The Hunger Games attacks all of these adolescent struggles in a fast-paced story that teaches strong lessons, but never feels didactic.

The story is set in an almost post-Apocalyptic version of North America called Panem, in which the main role of government is to suppress any sort of uprising of the micro-communities under its control. Each “District” is self-contained, except for once a year, when one boy and one girl from each locality are sent to the capital for a televised fight to the death. The “tributes,” as they are called, are to serve as reminders of the complete control that the central government has over its citizens.

Katniss Everdeen—the book’s heroine and narrator—has fought to survive for most of her life, but never on the level that she will when she is sent as a tribute in the Hunger Games. She faces the very same issues that every student faces in their own lives—feeling trapped, victimized, forced to break the rules—but on a scale they can only imagine.

Parents have protested the inclusion of the Hunger Games Trilogy as required reading in their children’s school’s curricula, and there are legitimate questions to be raised about the content. The Hunger Games does not portray adults—particularly those in positions of authority—in a favorable light. Events of the book are sometimes violent, and almost always hard to fathom.

Ultimately, however, The Hunger Games provides teachers and parents to broach difficult issues. Moral issues abound in this novel, but even for those who want schools to avoid as much as possible the teaching of moral issues, this book cannot be ignored. Students will relate to Katniss and her plight, and The Hunger Games is a wonderful tool to get students to think about big questions. Keep it out of schools, and—don’t look now, but—you’ll be putting the same kind of restraints against students and teachers as the rule-makers in Panem’s capital city put on their districts.

Review: WHEN YOU REACH ME | Rebecca Stead

TITLE: When You Reach Me
AUTHOR: Rebecca Stead
PUBLISHER: Wally Lamb Books
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2009
PAGES: 208
GRADE LEVEL(S): 5-7
RELEVANT CURRICULA: English
CLASSROOM USES: Required reading, Summer/Independent reading, Literature Circles
BRIDGE TEXTS: A Wrinkle In Time


The first time I wrote anything--in fact, the only time I wrote anything--about When You Reach Me, I could hardly think of words to do the book justice. I quoted from commentary from Nancy Pearl on NPR (which was how I first learned about the book), and then wrote:

When You Reach Me is a wonderful descendant of Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time; it never once even comes close to imitation, or cheap knock-offery.  No, it's the classiest of descendants--it's an evolution.

One of the most beautiful aspects of fantasy is how completely it takes the reader from her/his own world into that of the novel. What better way for students to learn first-hand of the magic of literature than by being transported to the planet Uriel? Or to Narnia? Or Middle-earth? Or Oz?


But Stead's novel takes place in New York City. (No doubt, NYC can be magical and unreal, but it's no outer space...) Miranda, Stead's protagonist, is a relatively normal girl, living in a relatively normal world, with the everyday drama that inhabits the world of every 11 year-old. 


The fantastical elements of When You Reach Me are subtler than magic or space travel. Stead's fantasy world is more mysterious than magical, as Miranda receives unexplained notes about events yet-to-happen in her life. Miranda is understandably skeptical; this could as easily be a prank as it is magic, and neither Miranda nor the reader has to take a huge leap of faith to feel that life is carrying on more or less as usual.


This fantasy-based-in-realism approach is sheer brilliance. By staying firmly rooted in real-world places and problems, Stead's novel will appeal to students who may already possess a bit of world-weary reluctance to get fully sucked into a novel. Any reader unwilling to blast into outer space will slowly but surely get sucked in by the bully on the block or the struggles of growing up with a single parent. But magic will just seep in, slowly but surely--and before long, When You Reach Me will make readers out of kids today in the same way that A Wrinkle In Time made readers of them in 1962.

Review: LITTLE BROTHER | Cory Doctorow

TITLE: Little Brother
AUTHOR: Cory Doctorow
PUBLISHER: Tor (Tom Doherty Associates, LLC)
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2008
PAGES: 365
GRADE LEVEL(S): 9-10
RELEVANT CURRICULA: English, American History, Contemporary Affairs, Ethics
CLASSROOM USES: Required reading, Summer/Independent reading, Literature Circles
BRIDGE TEXTS: 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The 9/11 Commission Report

Why do we ban books in our schools and libraries? To protect our students, right? They are young and impressionable, and we must protect their fragile minds. So we block off books that contain profanity, references to sex, or drugs and alcohol, or subversive ideas.

So, let’s give Little Brother the test. Profanity? Check. Sex, drugs, alcohol? Check, check, check. Subversive ideas? Double check.

Doctorow’s main character and narrator is a 17 year-old high school student with a penchant for using technology to scare up excitement. He starts innocently enough, hacking his school-owned laptop so that he can IM friends during classes or putting rocks in his shoes to fool the gait-recognition technology in the school’s security cameras. When Marcus’s hacking exploits make him a terrorism suspect in the eyes of the Department of Homeland Security, his world changes in nearly every possible way. His friendships are pushed to the limit, he wonders why his parents can’t see his point of view, and he loses faith in his government as an advocate for the innocent and guarantor of freedom.

Most high school students will never be terror suspects, or even much more adept with computers than to load basic software and create powerpoint presentations for class projects. But they can all relate to friendships on the skids, feeling estranged from parents, or worrying that the system has somehow abandoned them. Students will relate to Marcus Yallow’s story.

While students will find an ally in Marcus, teachers will find an excellent vehicle for a variety of lessons and units. Coming of age. Loss of innocence. Personal privacy versus national security. To what extent does the government’s responsibility lie more in protecting its citizens’ constitutional rights, and to what extent are those rights expendable in the interest of public safety?

There is no end to fodder for discussion and debate in this novel; creative teachers will see opportunities for all manner of classroom activities and cross-curricular assignments. But before throwing this book into the syllabus, teachers are going to have to answer questions about the profanity, the sex, drugs, and alcohol, and (perhaps most of all) the subversive ideas. Doctorow’s position in this novel is not, shall we say, “fair and balanced.” Detractors will point to the book’s overt liberalism and anti-government sentiments. Any of these fears can be allayed easily enough with a well-written rationale and some ancillary reading material that presents a more conservative viewpoint.

The alternative is to leave this book out of classrooms and libraries altogether, to add it to another list of banned books. Over the years, we’ve banned William Chaucer, James Joyce, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, and the Bible. Among such company, it could be a real honor for Doctorow were his book to be banned—but to keep this book from kids would be a real miscarriage of justice.

Welcome to TeachYALit.com - The YA Lit Review!

Greetings and welcome!

At the moment, this website is just a kernel of an idea. It's an offshoot of my current reading/writing/book review blog, which can be found here.

While I include YA Lit on my other blog, I wanted to create a different vehicle that would focus exclusively on young adult literature. I'd like this site to serve several different purposes:

• Be a resource for teachers/educators who want to find and share great ideas for books to include in classroom libraries, bridge texts to canonical literature, or any other lesson/unit plans that would benefit from the inclusion of great YA lit.
• Be a resource for students who devour books faster than the publishers can print them, can't find a book worth reading that feels real and relevant, or need suggestions for books to read for school projects, book reports, or just plain pleasure
• Be a resource for parents who want to read with their kids, steer their children towards some great books, or relive their own middle and high school glory days by reading books for teens.
• And, of course, I hope the format and content of this site proves to be useful and welcoming to anyone who has an interest in young adult literature.

The primary content for a while will focus on reviews and commentary on individual books, authors, or series. For now, this site is hosted by blogger, and it will likely stay that way for the early part of its life, while we let it evolve and adjust to the type/amount of traffic it generates. In the not-too-distant future, however, I anticipate migrating this to a larger and more flexible hosting service in order to add features and functionality. Possible additions include a wiki for lesson/unit planning, file storage for media and other ancillary materials, and user forums to promote more flexibility in organizing and contributing to discussions.

As a former teacher and administrator in both middle and high school settings, I have a huge collection of YA lit in my own personal library, so I have a pretty large backlog of books to review here. I'll start posting those immediately, but in the meantime, please comment with suggestions for books to include, lesson/unit topics, or anything else that seems relevant! Guest posts are most heartily welcome; if interested, you can email me here.