I picked this up last week in the library's new book section--it seemed to fall nicely into the non-fiction that will appeal to both boys (6 and 3) category, and I liked the cover. It was a good choice.
4/9/07
An Island Grows, by Lola M. Schafer
I picked this up last week in the library's new book section--it seemed to fall nicely into the non-fiction that will appeal to both boys (6 and 3) category, and I liked the cover. It was a good choice.
4/6/07
ee cummings for Poetry Friday
Yesterday I posted a brief review of the video Sea Nasties. After a half hour or so of Leslie Nielsen's dark humor, the video ends on a completely different note, with Nielsen speaking, very movingly, this ee cummings poem:
maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)
and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,
and milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;
and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:
and may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea
Apart from my anxiety about poor molly, I think this is a lovely poem.
I had another Cummings quote in my head --"an instrument to measure Spring with," and looking for that on line I found this genuine article:
A 1613 pocket sundial from the Harvard Collection of Scientific Instruments, featured in the Harvard Magazine March April 2002 issue as part of an enthralling collection of Spring Miscellanies.
The Poetry Friday round-up is at Big A little a today.
4/5/07
Non-Fiction Videos we like: Sea Nasties
So I thought that to add Structure here at my blog, each Thursday I might review one or two non-fiction videos that are perhaps off the beaten child track (the beaten track of children? the child's beaten track?). But to get things started, I picked a video aimed specifically at children--Sea Nasties, a National Geographic video narrated by Leslie Nielsen.
Do you think the seaside is a nice place to take the kids? Wrong! It is full of deadly creatures, such as box jellies, sea snakes, and lion fish, all out to get Nielsen! A friendly mermaid takes Nielsen on tour of these "sea nasties," clarifying the facts (lots of them are darn toxic) and providing a corrective to his wacky hysteria (lots of them aren't all that bad, if you just leave them alone). There is considerable great footage of the nasties, and my kids enjoy the dark humor. At the end of Nielsen's sojurn with the mermaid, he has come to accept that not all dangerous sea creatures are monsters. The video ends with a visit to Sting Ray City, where tourists swim with rays. (Although thinking about it, after what happened to the Crocodile Hunter, I wonder if this still works as a peaceful human/deadly animals happy together scenario). Added bonus: this video is a great source of future cocktail party conversation: "Did you know that the venom of a sea snake is so deadly that one drop can kill 60 elephants?" etc. etc. (or something like that. I haven't watched it enough to keep my venom doses straight). Highly recommended for kids who do not already have Ocean Anxieties!
The Doubtful Guest on Screen
A link worth linking on
4/4/07
The book fairy came!
4/3/07
More on ya books for boys
Now, I am not a boy, and never was, so it may be a tad pointless to say that none of these books appeal to me(with the exception of Time Bomb, by Nigel Hinton, because Danger: UXB was such a great PBS program). Why do so many books about boys have to be about team sports??? Why aren't there more books for boys along the lines of An Abundance of Katherines, featuring the eccentric intelligensia, with only a faint whiff of sport? Are there in fact any teen aged boys who like An Abundance of Katherines, or do they feel cheated?
I am very interested in what teen aged boys want to read, because I buy books for my library. A lot of them are books that the libarians ask me to buy, but I like to shop a bit on my own. It is easy to buy books I want to read myself, but I don't know what special books to get that might interest the one teenaged boy I've seen in our y.a. section. Our librarian has put a bulletin board soliciting suggestions, but none have come. I went to google, and found this article on the subject--a few years old, but interesting none the less, and I've decided that more graphic novels are the way to go.
When my boys are older, unless, god forbid, they have fallen into the pit of reluctant young male readers, I will give them Rosemary Sutcliffe to read--great historical fiction, from Bronze Age England to 18th-century Scotland, featuring a fine array of boys growing into men. There is also violence (wolves, Picts, Romans, Vikings, Saxons, etc, although not all in the same book), young men dealing with physical handicaps, and the development of emotional maturity.
Nobody does heroic, lovable,and believable historic boys growing up better than this author. I will also give them Taran Wanderer, by Lloyd Alexander, another great coming of age story that also introduces very nicely the techniques of blacksmithing, weaving, and pottery. And there is my favorite book of 2006, The King of Attolia, which is the third of a series about a teen aged boy growing up, although I am not quite sure what lessons might be drawn from it...
When our first son was born, we were still building the book cases for his room. This were mainly to give me a place to put my own children's books, many of which feature girls. I hope that reading books with a female point of view will help him grow up to be the non-gender-stereotypical male type person (it's too hard to think of my baby as a man) I want him to be. I did draw the line, however, with A Little Princess, which is still in my room. There are limits.
4/2/07
Books for their baskets
After the book sale is over
However. A considerable part of the money we make gets spent on books, so I have the pleasure of making a new list of books to buy, based primarily on what I'm reading about on other blogs, to run past our children's librarian. Today I added Reaching for Sun, recently reviewed by Mother Reader.
3/30/07
What libraries look like
3/29/07
Nonsense Snakes for Poetry Friday
R was a rattlesnake,
Rolled up so tight,
Those who saw him ran quickly,
For fear he should bite.
r!
Rattlesnake bite!
Here is another Edward Lear snake:
"The Scroobious Snake,who always wore a Hat on his Head, for fear he should bite anybody."
There is a lovely Edward Lear website here with a very handy index. I highly recommend his botanical nonsense.
For those who want more adult snake poems, here is a collection of snake poems with commentary...
The poetry Friday roundup is at Chicken Spaghetti this week
3/28/07
Mabel Esther Allan--some are worth reading!
Mabel Esther Allan was an incredibly prolific writer. Some of her books (most of the danger and mystery ones, are sort of silly--Mary Stewart light). But some of her books are well worth giving library shelf too. A Strange Enchantment is a lovely book about a girl in the English Land Army during WW II--fascinating historical information, character development, and a dash of romance. A Time to Go Back is a classic time slip story about the bombing of Liverpool in WWII; it is very well known and liked over in England by fans of time travel stories (has the term "time slip" made it into American English?). She also wrote some good ballet stories--The Ballet Family and The Ballet Family Again, for instance.
Some of ME Allan's more hard to find books are being republished by Fidra Books, a small press in Scotland; they have a full bibliography up on their website (well worth exploring in detail).
So if your library still has some Mabel Esther Allan's, do try them, before they are gone, especially A Strange Enchantment (which, being about farming and gardening, is (almost) seasonally appropriate).
Link to Megan Whalen Turner interview
3/26/07
Two YA books about WW I: boy book vs. girl book
This book was recently described in the Guardian as a book "that could help boys read" -- these books, apparently, should be "action packed" and "attention grabbing," which The Foreshadowing certainly is. I enjoyed it, although I might not have checked it out of the library if I had known it was a boy's book. I was tricked by the female-ness of the narrator into thinking I was getting a girl's book. So much for superficial snap judgements, because I quickly came to the conclusion that The Foreshadowing was indeed more a "boy" book.
[nb: although the Guardian started the "boy book" labeling, I am now going to become equally culpable. My definitions of girl's book vs boy's book are my own idiosyncratic ones, and I feel guilty about using these categories, believing strongly that gender stereotypes are bad bad bad. So I am using the terms with tongue firmly in cheek, as a conceptual device to talk about the books I like (girl) vs books I don't so much (boy). And in the process I continue to worry about my own boys, and whether they will be permitted/inclined to enjoy many of my favorite books that aren't boy books. My six year old is ashamed that he likes Angelina Ballerina. I hope to heck he didn't pick up on that bit of gender stereotyping from me. But of course even when you say, "It's just fine for boys to like ballet," the act of saying it makes it clear that it's not the normative viewpoint].
But anyway. What The Foreshadowing doesn't have, that a good girl's book should have, is introspective inaction. Alexandra is certainly thinking a lot, but the Cassandra theme of her narrative is so great that she doesn't have space to be anything else. The other thing a good girl's book has are powerful relationships. Alexandra is pretty much alone throughout the book, and the author's tight focus on her mental distress keep her isolated. Her reactions to non-dying people (such as the wounded soldiers all around her) are not particularly deep and thoughtful. And a girl's book would have put in more romantic frisson between Alexandra and a man she meets in France, who also can see when people are marked for death.
A girl's book about wounded WW I veterans that I love to pieces is After the Dancing Days, by Margaret Rostkowski (first published 1986, still available in paperback, but with a much more "modern" cover than this old one). This book is also narrated by a teenage girl--Annie visits the veterans' hospital where her father works and makes friends with Andrew, a horribly scarred young solder. It is not actioned packed--not much happens on the outside. But inside, Annie is growing up, Andrew is healing, and Annie's family is regrouping.
After the Dancing Days is a book I re-read every other year or so, whereas, although I certainly liked it, and would recommend it to those who lean toward action, I will probably not be re-reading The Foreshadowing. (Do girls re-read more than boys, establishing close relationships with their favorite books and brooding over them? Do boys leap actively from book to book?)
And then there's my favorite WW I girl's book of all, Rilla of Ingleside, by LM Montgomery...
Library book sale-ing
My first meme
I only recently discovered the kid lit blogs. I lurk at Sounis, the discussion group for Megan Whalen Turner's books, because I loved the King of Attolia so much I had to have company, and that led me to Fuse # 8, and then on and on to other blogs, until finally I wanted to join the party too. And although I still feel like a new kid at school, the older kids have been very friendly. There is much less wondering if l will have to eat lunch alone feel to the whole thing than I had thought there might be. I also happily have met an old friend from college again through my blog--she commented not knowing it was me-- which is an added bonus!
But anyway, I'm sorry I can't fulfill my meme obligation! Nor do I know enough bloggers well enough to pass it on...What happens to me now????
3/23/07
The reading out loud challenge
I like goals, because I enjoy daydreaming about meeting them. It is a very hopeful feeling, but sadly, reality happens. I might have met these goals if we had a third grownup around the house, to do the dishes and laundry, cook supper, etc. But one parent had to do those things, while the other had the two boys to read to, so the one-on-one time for reading complicated non-fiction didn't happen (except a little bit at bedtime). Instead, I fell back on non-fiction books they could both enjoy. My three year old does not want to read chapter books yet, and isn't interested in Greek mythology, and the moral of that story is that even though I was, and his brother was, he isn't and that's fine. However, we did read more wordy books than we have been (Winnie the Pooh, some of the longer Beatrix Potter's, etc.).
So the upshot of it was--I thought a lot more about reading aloud, I felt somewhat guiltier about not reading aloud more, and I think I did read more to them...and I really must find more time to "study" with my six year old, which he wants to do so badly.
Actually, the last few days what he has really wanted were craft books. So I have been reading aloud to him gems such as "Toy boats and cars you can make at home." Scintillating.
Finally, thanks Jennifer for organizing the challenge!
(This really is the best book of Greek mythology ever)
3/22/07
A new book by Michelle Magorian is on its way!
The American edition is a most excellent book about a girl coming of age in WWII England, featuring a used book store. In this edition, three sisters must fend for themselves when their mother goes overseas to entertain the troops. In the English edition, the plot is the same, but there are only two sisters, and the book is much weaker in consequence. It's the most major change from English book to American I've ever come across.
But anyway. Here is Michelle Magorian's website.
3/21/07
libary book sale time
At one support group meeting from Friends organizations, one FOL president said that they didn't buy books, because that was the responsibility of the library. I thought this was strange. Our library has so much ground to catch up in j. and ya fiction that it needs all the help it can get (they seem to have stopped buying more than an utter minimum around 1970). The Librarians are busily purging (Over the Alps with Hannibal bit the dust yesterday), and we are all busily buying, and soon, I hope, more and more children will be leaving the library with fiction, and not just school report books. Our librarian is being careful not to throw books of value out, and anyway, they all come to me in the end for the book sale. The books that I like best, however, I checked out before I became a Friend of the Library, thus ensuring that they'll stay on the library's shelves and not make it to mine just yet.
3/16/07
Naming of Parts
NAMING OF PARTS
To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,
To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighboring gardens,
And to-day we have naming of parts.
This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
Which in our case we have not got.
This is the safety-catch, which is always released
With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see
Any of them using their finger.
And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
They call it easing the Spring.
They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,
And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond-blossom
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,
For to-day we have naming of parts.
At the Henry Reed website there are links that clarify and illustrate the text. Up above is one type of Japonica, at left is another.
Visit A Chair, a Fireplace & a Tea Cozy for more Poetry Friday offerings!
3/15/07
"Boys' Books" --good thing, bad thing, or whatever
I'm not sure I like this idea. I suppose (tongue in check) that once the boys start reading they will naturally learn to love it and not care anymore if they are carrying around books with strong female characters, or books with pink covers and sparkles, and I suppose that boys who like old fashioned fantasy or gentle character driven books are a. doomed anyway b. strong readers who don't need a boys' bookshelf. And I realize that girls aren't the point of this, but I for one am utterly put off by books labeled as "boys' books" and have probably refused to read many good books in consequence.
This article struck a chord in me. I just read my 6 year old's report card, and one area where progress is needed is in "choosing appropriate books." Apparently he has been choosing inappropriate ones left and right. What this means beats me. Has he begged to cross the lines of gender stereotypes? Has he begged for books that name body parts? Or has he simply asked for books he can't read yet (which includes most of the books in the world)?
The idea of Official "Books for Boys" Pickers telling my children what books to read is not a comfortable one.
Here's The Foreshadowing. A book for boys.
3/14/07
Fiction books about women's suffrage
Even when I tried to widen my mental book search to "good fiction directly about women's rights" (not including the "women have careers" or "go to college" genres) I came up with very little. There's The Mills Down Below, by Mabel Esther Allan, which is also dated, out-of-print, and English. Sure, there are lots of books with references -- one I like is Jean Thesman's The Ornament Tree (in print and American)--but I couldn't even find much on line. Maybe my heart just wasn't in the googling, or maybe America has been satisfied with those dry sort-of-dull-cereal type biographies that children across the country seem forced to check out of the library when they are in third grade or thereabouts -- "I Am Susan B. Anthony" etc. Or maybe there are really good fiction books out there that I don't know about or have forgotten.
3/13/07
Blow out the Moon and other boarding school stories
It is based on the true experiences of the author, and it is filled with little sidebar snippets of old photographs, notes, letters etc. from the life of the narrator (but not necessarily the author--I am a bit confused on this point. Anyway, they look real). All this extra stuff distracted me, but I bet a lot of the 10 year old girls who are, after all, the intended audience, liked this aspect of the book. Things started off strong, with the exciting move to England, and Libby's first dismal experience of English school life, but once Libby was sent to boarding school (at the shocking age of 8), everything was so idyllic I was not quite as interested. But again, girls younger than me may well find that half of the book incredibly appealing for its fantastical otherness.
Libby Koponen has a great web site: http://www.ifyoulovetoread.com/ with lots of pictures!
I'm a hard core fan of English boarding school stories, and this was an interesting comparison. My fondness for English school stories began with my extensive reading of Enid Blyton's school stories as a child. I found myself at the age of five at a British school in Portugal, being told in rather unfriendly tones--"You stand there with her--she's another American." So, like the Libby who narrates this book, I found myself becoming more fiercely American than I had been before (like Libby, I wouldn't sing the British national anthem). Enid Blyton was about the only author available in English in northern Portugal at the time, so I devoured her St. Claires and Mallory Towers books. About 10 years ago I discovered, through the yahoo group Girlsown that there are many other wonderful school stories out there -- by authors such as Antonia Forest, Evelyn Smith, Josephine Elder, and Margaret Biggs. My husband has built more bookcases.
3/12/07
Reading non-fiction aloud
Non fiction for 6 year olds these days seems to be divided into two groups --the banal learning to read books, about which I will say no more, and the lavishly illustrated, lots of information in clumps all over the page, style (ala the D.K. "Look Closer" series).
Now, I am a good reader out loud. I can even handle Magic School bus books with grace and aplomb (including reading all the dialogue bits and random thingies). But I am getting really tired of these non-fiction books that break up the text into info. bits. They are hard to read, and because they aren't written for reading out loud, the prose is often stilted. Even when the prose is just fine, it can be tough going (The Way Things Work. Heavy going, pun intended). So I find myself editing, altering, explaining and expanding, to keep their interest up as we bounce through the books. Not very relaxing, even with a beautiful and informative book (like Tide Pools).
Just another small grievance with the banal You Can Read Non-Fiction book genre -- what's all this 1st person business? "I am a shark" "I am a snowflake" "I am a wolf" (it could be just my library's fault). I've never been a fan of first person narratives. Are publishers somehow trying to connect readers to words by making it as personal as possible? Is it part of some hideous self-actualization process that they think young readers have to go through to Master the Text? Or is it simply that "I" is easier to read than "you"?
In very poor taste--"book titles you'll never see"
The Game, by Diana Wynne Jones
DWJ can be a twisty writer, and she made me a tad nervous a few pages into the book with a throw-away reference to something us readers had no clue about, but it was soon explained. All is not as it seems in Hayley's family, and "the game" her cousins play turns out to be rollicking, sometimes alarming, excursions through the (primarily Greek) mythosphere.
There's a lot of action, Haley's a likable character, and it's a good read. But there isn't a whole lot of numinosity (the sort of thing that makes you hold your breath with the wonder and enchantment of it all and the hairs on the back of your neck rise). It's only 192 pages; I wish DWJ had made it longer and deeper. Oh well.
3/8/07
Poems that would make great books #1- Cargoes
Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.
Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amethysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.
Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rail, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.
Wouldn't this be a great picture book? I see each verse on its own page,with a lavish double page illustration, followed by a page, or several pages, of non-fiction gloss, explaining it all, with maps of trade routes and cut away pictures of the ships and explanations of the cargoes etc. etc.
John Masefield was also the author of two great children's books published in the 1930s-The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights. They are both stories of the magical adventures of orphaned Kay Harker as he tries to foil the evil intentions of a local coven of witches (one of whom is his governess, Sylvia Daisy Pouncer), find the great treasure his ancestor lost in The Midnight Folk and keep the Box of Delights from falling into their hands in the second book. There is a very charming cat featured, lots of action,talking pictures, mysterious journeys. How could one not warm to a book that opens with a mysterious stranger approaching on a snowy night, to tell you that "the Wolves are Running!" (first chapter of B. of D.). Sadly, they aren't in print anymore, but if your library has them, or you see a cheap copy, go for it!
Here's one cover for a paperback edition of The Midnight Folk.
Cygnet
Patricia McKillip is a writer of beautifully crafted words. She is a story teller who does not write for her readers, but for the sake of the story, if that makes any sense. And because the story has such a life of its own, sometimes the reader gets a tad confused (ie, a lot of her books have confused the heck out of me, although not as much as Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock). But the rich, dense, imaginings she offers are worth the confusion. I especially love The Cygnet and the Firebird, which I think is much the stronger of the two books, possibly because I was less confused. This one should perhaps be read first if the reader is Doubtful about the whole thing. It has some of the most beautiful descriptions of dragons I know of, and my favorite two pages of romance in a fantasy book (so much nicer to read than all the torid romance in the recently read fourth book of the travelling pants (see below)).
children's non-fiction -- not just for kids
3/7/07
Life As We Knew It
3/6/07
New books coming!
3/5/07
Rules, by Cynthia Lord
3/2/07
Earthshake -- Poems from the Ground Up
We've been reading a lot of poetry in my house recently. There aren't enough parents around to read to each child individually in the evenings after we get home from work and school, what with having to feed them (and us) and provide them with a reasonably clean habitat. Poetry seems to be working well--more challenging for both (3 and 6 year old) than picture books, and holding the attention of 3 year old more firmly than chapter books. And when the poetry also lends itself to Teaching Moments, so much the better. Yesterday's find was Earthshake -- Poems from the Ground Up by Lisa Westberg Peters, illustrated by Cathie Fetstead (Greenwillow 2003). It was greatly enjoyed.
Being older and more cynical than my boys, which is the way it should be (?), I found the poems somewhat uneven, although all are interesting and lend themselves to Educational Discussions about geology, which is always a good thing. Here is my favorite poem:
The Yellowstone Whale
Deep beneath
the bubbling pools
lives a big whale.
When it breaths,
we snap pictures
of its spout.
When it flicks its tail,
the ground shakes
beneath our feet.
Stay down deep
whale.
Stay down.
I liked this image very much.
3/1/07
Books I wish would be translated -- Dikkie Dik
2/26/07
Hooray for Independent Bookstores and other people's money
Traction Man is Here!
It is very well done. My favorite adventure was the descent into the deep waters of the Bath to search for the Mysterious Toes. But the brilliant part kicks in when Traction Man gets his own present from Granny. And what a present it is!
Recommended for those who like Toy Story II, Scaredy Squirrel, and Ten Minutes till Bedtime.
Learning to read
Last night I read him Discover Magazine's top 100 science stories of the year; he read to me One Fish Two Fish.
2/22/07
Oyate -- books by and about Native Peoples for children
Reading and reading and reading
All was going as planned--both boys were interested in the asteroids, until one blew up the earth in chapter 2 and my 3 year old decided he wanted no part of it.
We next turned to Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, by Jack Prelutskey.The premise is quite amusing--I especially liked the Ballpoint Penguins and the Clocktopus, but I found the poetry a tad clunky. Sometimes the author seemed to be stretching too far for his rhymes. My 3 year old was vexed that the clocks in the picture of the Clocktopus didn't all tell the same time, directly contradicting the text. But all in all, we enjoyed it. Not as much as we did Omnibeasts, by Douglas Florian. Who could forget the crashing conclusion to his poem about the monarch butterfly (even though it, too, stretches a bit for the rhyme):
He is a Monarch, he is a Duke.
Swallows that swallow him
frequently puke.
Much hilarity ensues, and with the addition of a few well chosen words from the reader, they actually learn something...
Moominland Midwinter progresses, albeit slowly.
2/20/07
Reading out loud
Jennifer at http://jennifersnapshot.blogspot.com/ (I am still new at this and cannot get links to work neatly yet--sorry) has set up the Read to Me 2007 Challenge, urging us reading out loud (ROL) to our children types to set goals for our ROL in the coming few weeks. My general goals are at least three books a day for my little one/one or two chapters a day for my older one. But for the ROL challenge, we're asked to be more specific. So I'm going to up the ante for my three year old, and in the next two weeks I'll read him D'Aulaire's book of Greek Mythology. I loved it at that age, his brother loved it, so now it's his turn (most excellent illustrations). I will also read him his first chapter book--Moominland MidWinter, by Tove Janson (who could resist Moomintroll?). It is time for him to have more to chew on.
My goals for my older boy are trickier, because I want him to read out loud to me...He is resisting because the books he can read are not books he wants to read. He wants to study ancient history, geology, paleontology, etc. So, here are my goals for him: 50 books read by him to me, 20 non-fiction books read by me to him... we shall see.
In case anyone out there has never met the moomins--they are a family of very charming trolls who live in Finland. In Moominland Midwinter, the boy of the family, Moomintroll, wakes up in the middle of winter, while all his family are still hibernating. He finds himself in a world of dark and cold and strange lonely creatures...I like to start with this moomin book, even though it is not technically the first (which is Comet in Moominland), because it has fewer characters competing for the reader's attention, and you really get to know and love Moomintroll.
2/17/07
I Am Not Esther
Kirby is left by her mother with relatives who belong to a fundamentalist Christian cult, where living by the Rules is everything. To them she is Esther; her old life no longer exists. Kirby's horror at being thrust into this community, and her revulsion at the rules that govern life within it, are balanced by her love for individuals within her new family. There are many things that could be discussed: the author presents the Community of Faith from Kirby's point of view-she finds it repellent. Is this fair? Would you rebel more or less than Kirby? Should Kirby have tried more actively to enlighten others about the world outside The Rules? In a society that values tolerance, how much should we tolerate such a community? Is it believable that she feels in danger of becoming Esther?
In many ways, this book reminded me of a time slip story--stranger in a strange time, adapting to/fighting differences. And this genre is one of the best to inspire daydreams in the reader, of the "what would I do in these circumstances" variety. So all in all, a thought-provoking and enjoyable (albeit in a disturbing way) read.
2/15/07
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs
Our "new books" shelf in the children's room is quite often a tad behind the times viz. the latest releases. The books are new to us, but not the world. I just checked out "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs," by Betty G. Birney, illustrated by Matt Phelan (Simon & Schuster, 2008, 224 pages Ages 8 and up).
It took a big effort to check it out, because I was so unimpressed by the mustard brown cover with its minimalist picture. Why did they do this to this book? It is about Wonders of the World, both ancient and Sassafrasian, so there was lots of artistic inspiration waiting to happen!
It is the early 20th century. Eben MacAllister, a 10 year-ish old boy, wants desperately to see the world beyond Sassafras Springs, Missouri. His father remembers how Eben's mother had wanted badly to visit her family in Silver Peak, Colorado, but had never had the chance before her death a few years ago. So he makes a bargain with Eben: "You find yourself Seven Wonders right here in Sassafras Springs and I'll buy you a ticket to go see Molly and Eli and that mountain!" Eben has seven days for seven wonders. He finds them, and he, and the reader, are left with an appreciation for a place and people (and book--again, why mustard brown??? is it supposed to evoke the pyramids?) that looked mundane.
Each Wonder that Eben finds comes with its own story, told by its owner. Often I find it jarring to have intrusive narrators telling stories, but it works in this book. This book is an epic quest, and the patterning of the stories is reminiscent of mythological and epic tales (labors of Hercules etc). The structure of the book, its unpretentious, flowing prose, and its gently detailed black and white drawings, make it very well suited, I think, for reading out loud. I shall be doing so.
The Seven Wonders of Sassafrass Springs has just been released in paperback. The cover is marginally better, but still does not do this lovely book justice. Eben is supposed to be on a Quest--he has energy, purpose, enthusiasm. The boy in the painting looks kind of bored.
2/7/07
More from Meg Cabot--girl - world domination???
So I was pleased-ish to see the following press release from Scholastic:
"Meg Cabot, who took the publishing world by storm with her phenomenally successful Princess Diaries books, heads off in a dazzling new direction with the launch of three brand-new series. As part of its "Meg Cabot Girl-World Domination" campaign, Scholastic will publish Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls, a smart, funny series for readers ages 8-12 launching in spring 2008. In addition to the Allie Finkle books, two new trilogies for teens, Airhead and Abandon, will be published in 2008 and 2009. Airhead is daring, highly entertaining and a new direction for Meg Cabot, and Abandon is a dramatic modern retelling of the myth of Persephone."
I feel a tad nervous about the last one...daring indeed. And female though I am, I do not actually want to live in a girl-world. Some of my best friends, as it were, in books are boys....
2/2/07
Douglas Florian and Ted Hughes
The pounding spatter
Of salty sea
Makes the Walrus
Walrusty.
And one says Ha ha and moves on (which isn't to say I don't like his work--see below).
A similar package of poems accompanied by drawings is The Mermaid's Purse, by Ted Hughes, illustrated by Flora McDonnelll (Knopf Young Readers, 2000). Hughes' poems, however, are much richer in metaphor, and are much more likely to sink deep into the mind and stew poetically there. I myself am a big fan of metaphors, and get a kick out of throwing them, as it were, at my own children. I'd quote one of the poems, but don't have the book with me...
I haven't seen the anthology of Hughes poems "Collected Poems for Children," which came out in 2005. I am curious to see which the editors found most Child Appropriate, and if this matches the choices my children would make.
Scaredy Squirrel is getting a friend!
2/1/07
Omnibeasts are beautiful
We will be looking for more Florian books!
Harry Potter #7 release day!
Nostalgia and Children's Literature
South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Conference
"In order to examine children's literature through the lens of nostalgia, possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following options:
*Updating comics, cartoons, or toys for a new generation of children
*Children's literature and/or cultural objects as souvenirs
*Nostalgic longing for aspects of childhood
*Recapturing or re-imagining childhood
*Historical toys/books translated into new mediums
*Selective cultural memory and amnesia
*Ascribing value to collected objects, children's museums, the role of the collector
Please submit questions, one-page abstracts, or eight-page papers by March13, 2007 to Julie A. Sinn at julie.sinn@gmail.com.
I wonder how many people each year make a pilgrimage to the New York central library to visit the Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals? The aspect of childhood I personally am most nostalgic for is the endless hours in which I could read peacefully while eating cookies...