Summer Reading 2017

Watched,

by Marina Budhos (2016)

Caught for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, 18-year-old Naeem is recruited by the NYPD to "watch" (or go looking for suspicious activity in the Muslim community).  Set in modern day New York City, this book is both current, and realistic.

What to Know About the Book Before You Read It.

Main Character, Naeem, is an 18-year-old Bangladeshi Muslim immigrant.

This is the most "realistic" of our fiction choices.

It was a runner up for the "Walter" Award for Diversity in YA literature in 2017.

SEE BELOW for more background, relevance, etc.

• How does Naeem get caught in the first place?
• What title does Naeem get?  What, specifically, is he asked to do by the police?
  • What happens when Naeem doesn't provide what he is asked for?
• This book focuses more on personal surveillance, and less on technological surveillance, how is it different when a person is doing the watching instead of technology?
  • How is technology also involved? What are Pole Cameras?
  • What are some techniques and methods that Naeem uses?
• How does Naeem distort the truth? How do other characters reshape the "truth"?
• What do you think happens to Naeem after the events of the book? Ibrahim? Tareq?

Theme-based Guided Questions for all Books

Consider these questions as you are reading your book. Having answers to them, with quotations from the book (cite page number) as supporting evidence will be very helpful when it is time to discuss and assess your reading.

1. When was your book written? When does it take place? How does that compare to 2017?

2. Who holds power or authority in your book?  

• What role does technology play in creating or maintaining that authority?  
• What role does communication or language play in creating or maintaining that authority?

3. How does technology affect the daily lives of the characters in your book?

• What role does technology play in communication between characters?
• Who has access to technology?
• How does the technology compare to today's technology?

4. What kinds of information or media is communicated in your book? -- News? Advertising? Entertainment? Education? Propaganda? etc?

• Who creates it, and for what purpose?
• Who controls it, and for what purpose?
• Who consumes it, and for what purpose?