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Page 10 August 15, 2019 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Entertainment
Film Review Check It Out
How to Make Friends with the
Dark by Kathleen Glasgow
By Desiree De La Cruz-Miller, Library
Assistant, Teen/Adult Services
Young Adult books are some of my
favorites to read. I love the selection we have
at the El Segundo Public Library! I found
my latest read in the Teen Zone, a book
collection curated for high school teens.
This week I will be reviewing How to Make
Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow.
In this book, Kathleen takes us along the
process of a teen coping with the unexpected
death of her mother. The protagonist,
Grace Tolliver, aka Tiger, experiences the
sudden loss of her mother to a brain aneurysm.
For Tiger, life becomes a black
hole of unknowns. The unexpected loss of
her mother means being put into the foster
system at the age of 16 the day after her
mother passes away. In the midst of moving
from foster home to foster home, she
must deal with taking care of the details of
her mother’s funeral. Along the way, Tiger
discovers the strength she bears and gains
lasting connections with people that help
her cope with her loss.
Also in the Teen Zone you will find another
great read by Kathleen Glasgow, Girl
in Pieces. For help finding one of these
great reads or another book that interests
you, please come see me or any other staff
member at the Teen/Adult Reference Desk.
We will be happy to help you. •
How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow.
Desiree De La Cruz-Miller
The Peanut Butter Falcon is a
BFF Drama That Defies Convention
By Morgan Rojas for Cinemacy
Summertime calls for adventures, as seen
in Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz’s
film The Peanut Butter Falcon. Described
as a modern-day Mark Twain story, The
Peanut Butter Falcon – from the producers
of Little Miss Sunshine – is a charming
tale of two bandits on the run and the
lessons they learn about self-discovery
and acceptance along the way. This
unconventional buddy comedy stars
the always excellent Shia LaBeouf and
breakout Zack Gottsagen, a 34-year-old
actor with Down syndrome. The film may
be predictable, but it’s Gottsagen’s inspiring
performance as a determined and self-sufficient
young man that makes it worth a watch.
Zak (Gottsagen) is the youthful spirit who
livens up the retirement community he calls
home. Not much detail is given as to why
his birth parents couldn’t provide adequate
care for him, but the staff and residents
adore him nonetheless. The soft-spoken
nursing home employee Eleanor (Dakota
Johnson) pays special attention to Zak, giving
him tough love when he needs it while also
encouraging his passion for wrestling. One
night, with help from his roommate Carl
(Bruce Dern), Zak escapes the nursing home
in an attempt to attend the professional
wrestling school of his idol, The Salt Water
Redneck (Thomas Haden Church). Traveling
alone with just the clothes on his back, Zak
is determined to live out his dreams and
meet his hero.
Zak’s disappearance from the nursing
home sends Eleanor on a wild goose
chase as she attempts to find him despite
his lack of phone, money or any sense
of direction. Meanwhile, early on in his
journey, Zak meets and eventually befriends
Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), the sharp-tongued
fisherman who is also on the run from his
past. Together, the young men navigate the
elements, growing and learning from each
other as the days pass.
I write this next statement in full sincerity:
The Peanut Butter Falcon plays very much like
an after-school special on the importance of
friendship. It’s essentially the quote “friends
are the family you choose” brought to life.
The screenplay is very plug and play, as the
characters literally explain the plot through
their dialogue. This may come off as pretty
cheesy and unoriginal for hardcore cinephiles,
but there’s no denying that the message is
sweet. The Peanut Butter Falcon offers the
perfect sentiment for children and young
adults, especially as many are entering a new
school year in the upcoming weeks.
While the film itself is sweet, it is
Gottsagen’s boundary-pushing performance
and inclusivity that make it truly special. •
The Peanut Butter Falcon, Courtesy of Roadside Attractions.
Morgan Rojas
“Only a generation of readers will
spawn a generation of writers.”
– Steven Spielberg
Digital Learning from page 3
children attending elementary, middle
and high schools. The cost per-child is
rising to $1,017 for elementary school
supplies, extracurricular fees and technology.
It’s $1,277 at the middle schools and
$1,668 for high schoolers, including fees to
participate in athletics and band.
What goes in the backpacks? The
creators of the annual index last year listed
each item considered among the basics in
public and private schools. The Huntington
people priced a full backpack for each
grade group -- K-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Everybody
starts the year with a new backpack, plus
No. 2 pencils and pink erasers. A pencil
bag or a box is a no-brainer for all grade
levels. Surprisingly, even second graders use
highlighters and dry-erase markers, which
are two of the 37 school items required in
the lower grades.
A three-ring binder, red and black writing
pens, a ruler and scissors are must-haves for
the tots and the teens. A spiral notebook
and a writing journal are packed into the
index. Surprisingly, even elementary grades
are using calculators, USB storage drivers
and headphones for listening to various
subjects via computer and doing it quietly.
The technology at school needs to translate
to the home, which is the point of the 2019
Backback Index. Low-tech hasn’t been pushed
out of schools altogether, though.
Families should pack 3-by-5 cards, brightly
colored sticky notes and pencil-cap erasers,
along with a hand sanitizer and one roll of
paper towels. Middle schoolers should carry
a combination lock, the larger 4-by-6 index
cards, and a pocket thesaurus for vocabularybuilding
and writing assignments. A pair of
safety goggles will come in handy too, so
they can experiment with middle school science
projects up close and personal.
There’s also the price of a gym uniform,
plus music instrument rentals, field trips
and other school fees. The contents and
incidentals add up to $1,017 per elementary
school kid. What a difference a year makes:
last year’s expenditures would have totaled
$636.96, based on Huntington’s calculations.
That’s a $400 swing coming at millions of
American families.
At the middle schools, the increase is half
of what the lower grades can expect. The
grades 6 through 8 set will need another $175
of gear and gadgets in their packs. Back-toschool
will mean another $310 this year for
the family of a high schooler.
Communities in Schools asked affiliates
across 26 states and the District of Columbia
about learning requirements ahead of the
2019-20 school year. Surveyers learned that
elementary school students are “sometimes”
asked to submit assignments from home using
a computer or electronic tablet. The rates
soared for the middle schools (88 percent) and
high schools (94 percent), which now offer
24-hour access to assignments and instructions
from the teacher. Parents regularly use
email to discuss any concerns with teachers
and ask questions about student performance
in the classroom.
Textbooks’ days are probably numbered,
if a recent prediction about the nation’s
educational system is correct. A survey of
educators done by the Deloitte accounting
firm found in 2016 that teachers regularly
use a digital device in the classroom. Threequarters
of teachers in the survey believe
that digital content will replace textbooks
in the next decade. They pegged 2026 for
the year that reading, writing and arithmetic
go paperless.
Half of U.S. classrooms use a digital device
every day of the school year, Deloitte
reported. Laptops, desktops and tablets are
the most common technologies in the schools.
Tablets are most popular at the elementary
schools. High school students prefer laptops.
Deloitte surveyors asked principals, teachers
and educational leaders which technologies
get the most use during a typical week. The
K-5 grades are big consumers of games and
apps that teach. Videos and websites round
out the top learning technology list.
A majority of today’s children have handson
experience with interactive technology by
age 5, the data showed. Early introduction to
computers, smartphones or interactive pads can
have an educational advantage for a child in
kindergarten, first or second grade. Research
has shown that early-school success plays a
big role in future achievement in school and
dropout rates. It could even change the way
children spend their summers.
More access to digital educational content
would encourage them to continue their
learning over the summer, said the majority
of students in Deloitte’s 2016 survey. It also
reported 75 percent of the youngsters as
being “somewhat” interested in researching
things they learn in school, but do it away
from school and on their own time.
What do parents and teachers in the survey
think about the potential for digital content and
technology now in the schools? They overwhelmingly
were interested in going beyond
what’s taught in the classroom. Eighty-eight
percent of parents who talked to Deloitte
surveyers were keenly interested in digital
content that supplements daily instruction. •