Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	Blind Sighted
	Author:	Moore, Peter
	Date Published:	2002
	Genre:	Real Life
	Grade Level:	8 - 12
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Booktalk:
I felt like a drone. I always had. School was boring, and I got through, though barely, by doing the minimum possible, and doing my own thing. For instance, when Mahoney assigned us an essay on Wharton's literary devices, I pointed out that Slaughterhouse-Five was a much better use of metaphor and then wrote the paper about Slaughterhouse-Five. Mahoney wasn't impressed. So, he kicked me (Kirk) out of honors English (11th grade) and into the dummies class. And, that's when everything began to change for me. I had a part time job shelving books at the library where my boss, Janet, appreciated me. But Janet was pregnant and almost ready for the baby. She had a job reading to a blind lady and wondered if I'd be interested in replacing her once she had the baby since my tastes seemed to fit with the lady's. But, I couldn't see me spending my evenings reading some old blind person, and the library liked me. On the other hand, Janet said it would pay much better. I'll think about it, I said. The next day at school, I got introduced to Mr. Brody's dummies English class. There was Parole Girl who I'd seen at the guidance office; a homely kid wearing a bandanna; and a burnout scowler with long hair and a bandana, Glenn. When Glenn flipped Mr. Brody off, Mr. Brody simply smiled and welcomed me to the nuthouse. After I mouthed off to the Glenn guy and got the 'you know what' beat out of me, he read some of my ramblings. Somehow, we got to be friends. He played the guitar and sang, and was great at both; and he wanted to use my writings as words to his music. He introduced me to Parole Girl, Lauren, who was the best friend of Glenn's girlfriend Donna. Suddenly, the loser, Kirk, had friends, and a girlfriend. Janet had her baby early, and I agreed to meet with her blind friend. I didn't expect it to go anywhere, but it turned out Callie was only about thirty, legally blind, but could see blurs, and liked to talk about the books as well as be read to. I took the job, and gave up the library. We did have similar tastes, and similar views on life. Another friend. Mom, on the other hand, was going bonkers. Hal, her boss at work, the on again off again man in her life, was suddenly showing more interest. He was even talking about moving with her all the way across the states to California to run a new restaurant. Even to the point of marrying her. Like that'd last, the way he chased skirts. She wanted me to move to California with them and "make a family." Just when I'd started to get a life. Yeah, that was gonna happen. NOT!