"A library book, I imagine, is a happy book." Cornelia Funke

"Everything puts me in mind of a story." Ben Franklin

Friday, June 28, 2013

Book Speak! : Poems About Books



Bookspeak! : Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas. Illus. by Josee Bisaillon, 2011.

In this celebration of books and reading, Minneapolis, Minnesota author Salas has delivered twenty- one fun and thoughtful poems. Inside, various books give their points of view, like a journal in "Top Secret," and a physically worn but well-loved title in "On the Shelf and Under the Bed." Components such as a cover ("I've Got This Covered,")" Index," "Book Plate," and a story's middle ("The Middle's Lament: a Poem for Three Voices") share their feelings and purposes. Reader's also hear from essential story devices in "A Character Pleads for His Life," "Cliffhanger," "Conflicted" (about the problem needed to drive the plot) and "The End."

The joyful mixed media pictures are provided by Josee Bisaillon and are the perfect accompaniment to the poems. In "Calling All Readers," we are treated to a merry scene including a child painting a rainbow in the sky, clouds sprouting flowers, a swimming polar bear and boy, and a barefoot princess floating away on a bunch of balloons. "Lights Out in the Bookstore" features a polka dotted seal balancing a book and a stack of cupcakes, an upside down boy with his horn, a goggle-eyed girl using an over sized volume as a parachute and some striped and dotted kitties. Readers will also love the final picture of a bespectacled octopus holding seven books and a zebra striped umbrella, with three little fish sneaking a peek inside one of the books.

Here is the beginning of my favorite of the poems:

"Vacation Time!"

"Whenever I'm checked out, it's like a vacation.
I'm scanned and I'm packed for a new destination!

I've floated in airplanes. I've lain on the beach.
I've hidden in bunk beds--just out of your reach..."

Laurie Purdie Salas

Please pick up the book to enjoy the rest!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Unspoken: a Story From the Underground Railroad


Unspoken: a Story From the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole, 2012.

Although Henry Cole has illustrated more than fifty books, I knew about his artwork from some of his previous titles such as the Katy Duck books, the Chicken Butt books, the Big Chickens books, and The Sissy Duckling by Harvey Fierstein. They are fun and silly, so I was surprised to see that he has conceived and illustrated Unspoken, a book unlike any of his others that I have seen.


Unspoken is a wordless picture book about a young farm girl who finds and helps a runaway slave. It has a simple plot that delivers great  emotional impact. While doing her chores the girl discovers the stranger hiding in the corn crib, and later sneaks food into the barn. After some time, men come looking for the traveler, but, with no information, are forced to leave empty handed. When the child returns to the barn, she finds that the visitor has gone, leaving her a corn dolly. In an author's note following the story, Cole describes his childhood home in Virginia and the stories that his aged relatives would tell of the Civil War and how it impacted the people and the land. He tells about the way escaped slaves used the North Star near the Big Dipper as a way to navigate to freedom and the brave people of the south who provided "safe houses" for the travelers and fed and sheltered them. Cole says that he chose to make this a wordless book so that readers can make the story their own and fill in the conversations themselves.

Cole's graphite illustrations on sepia backgrounds well convey the girl's emotions, from trepidation as she protectively cuddles her cat when she first sees the soldiers, to uneasiness and fear when she finds the stranger, to contentment as she holds her new doll as she lies in bed watching the Big Dipper. The gender of the runaway is never determined; we see only an eye peeking out of the stack of corn, enabling readers to imagine what they choose. This outstanding story of kindness and friendship will certainly find an audience with readers of all ages.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Giants Beware! by Rafael Rosado & Jorge Aguirre



Giants Beware! by Rafael Rosado & Jorge Aguirre. Art by Rafael Rosado. 2012.

Fiery Claudette wants nothing more than to be a giant killer like her monster-slaying father. Unfortunately, he is now a wheelchair-bound blacksmith who met his match in an angry female dragon who was defending her litter. Regardless, Claudette wants to test her mettle and stop the horrible Baby-Feet-Eating Giant. With some slight manipulation of the truth, she persuades her younger brother Gaston and  friend, Marie, a Marquis' daughter, to join her. Gaston is somewhat meek and has a strong interest in creating cuisine for his family and friends, but also really wants to learn the skill of sword making. Marie is smart and has one career goal: to be a princess. These are unseasoned warriors, and to get to Giant's Peak, the kids must pass through the Forest of Death, fight some ferocious trees, escape the dangerous Apple Hag and more. With only the help of a wooden sword, Gaston's culinary skills and their faithful pug Valiant, can they succeed in their quest? Heck yes, because Gaston is brave, Marie is charming, Claudette is bold, and the loving blacksmith and his friend have got their backs!



Kids who like graphic novels will love the humorous adventures of Claudette and company. Adults will find something to like in strong heroine Claudette, as well as her friends, who are true to themselves and get things done their own way, with a little support from each other.

Monday, June 24, 2013

A Boy Called Dickens by Deborah Hopkinson


A Boy Called Dickens by Deborah Hopkinson. Illus. by John Hendrix, 2012.

In this brief fictionalized biography of Dickens' childhood, Hopkinson takes us to Old London to follow Charles through his typical day. Readers learn that at age twelve, Dickens had a love for books and a fertile mind that was not nurtured by his family or society. His father was in debtor's prison and most of the family lived there with him. Charles was not able to go to school and instead worked ten hour days in a blacking factory. When his father is released, Dickens continues to work six days a week until his father visits the factory and as a result of hurt pride, returns Charles to school.

Hopkinson uses descriptive, poetic language to tell the boy's bleak story, and follows it up with an author's note that gives greater detail about her subject. In her tale, she shows Dickens as a natural storyteller who entertains his fellow factory workers with exciting stories and is already cooking up what will become David Copperfield. This quiet book will be great to introduce kids to Dickens and give them insight into the origin of many of his characters.

Hendrix's graphite, pen-and-ink and acrylic illustrations show us the grimy poverty, but also bring Dickens' dreams to life, letting readers see the happiness on the boy's face as he tells his stories, makes up his plots and finally returns to school.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

On the Road to Mr. Mineo's by Barbara O'Connor



On the Road to Mr. Mineo's by Barbara O'Connor, 2012.

In a small town in South Carolina, Sherman, a one legged homecoming pigeon, doesn't return home with his flock and causes ripples in the community. He belongs with Mr. Mineo and his fat dog Ernie, and they are none too happy about his disappearance. Neither is his allegedly bad-tempered pigeon friend Amy. Sherman makes the acquaintance of many people in town, but he won't settle down with any of them and he won't go home. Soon, everybody is out looking for him. There is young Stella, who really wants a dog, but will settle for a pet bird, and her friend Gerald, who is rather timid and reluctantly goes along with her schemes. Stella's contrary brother Levi and his trouble making friends C.J. and Jiggs want to catch Sherman first. Town liar Mutt wants to find him to prove to his family that this time he is telling the truth. The arguing married couple Amos and Ethel end up looking for him and the little brown dog whose been visiting their barn at night and keeping them up with his barking. And Luther and Edsel just want to go fishing, but Edsel's hunk of junk delivery van is giving them problems.

In sixty three brief chapters, O'Connor tells the stories of each of these characters as they meet and pursue Sherman, that "dern fool bird." Naturally, they all come together at the end and things end up just as they should.  Readers will feel satisfied by this sweet and amusing book.



Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Camp Read-A-Lot 2013!


Yay! After a reluctant year off, I will again be returning as a "camp counselor" for Camp-Read-A-Lot, a summer reading program for teachers and media specialists put on by MELSA. I will be going to the day camp and lead a discussion about books for fourth and fifth graders.It is on Tuesday, August 6 and will feature author William Alexander!

Here is the schedule as posted as of today on the website http://www.campreadalot.org/:

2013 Camp Read-A-Lot Day Camp Schedule (DRAFT)
8:30 - 9:00 Registration
9:00 Welcome
9:00 - 11:00 Morning speaker/booktalks
11:00 - 12:00 Discussion groups: Core List
12:00 Announcements
12:00 - 12:45 Lunch
12:00 - 2:30 Red Balloon Book Sale Open
12:45 Prizes!
12:45 - 2:00 Speaker: Will Alexander
2:00 - 2:30 Book Signing
2:30 - 3:30 Discussion groups: Camper's Choice Titles
3:30 Wrap-up and more prizes

And here is the fourth and fifth grade reading list:

Fiction


Who Could That Be at This Hour by Lemony Snicket
 
A Boy Called Dickens by Deborah Hopkinson

Goblin Secrets by William Alexander

Unspoken by Henry Cole

 Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

On the Road to Mr. Mineo’s by Barbara O’Connor or

Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani

Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage or

Case of the Deadly Desperados by Caroline Lawrence .

 Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

Giants Beware! By Jorge Aguirre or

Little White Duck by Andrés Vera Martínez

 Camper’s Choice – Any title of your choice (fiction or nonfiction) that meets the following criteria:

a. You have not read it before this summer

b. Original copyright is no older than 2011

c. Ideal for classroom use or free reading

d. Avoid highly popular titles, books recently made into movies, major award winners


Nonfiction

Electric Ben by Robert Byrd

Bookspeak!: Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas

 Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

Chuck Close: Face Book by Chuck Close
 
Just Behave, Pablo Picasso! by Jonah Winter

Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

Island: A Story of the Galápagos by Jason Chin

A Rock is Lively by Dianna Hutts Aston

Monday, June 10, 2013

A Brave Girl: The Samurai's Daughter


The Samurai's Daughter by Robert San Souci. Illus. by Stephen T. Johnson, 1992.

According to San Souci, this story is set in medieval Japan during the Kamakura period (1185-1333). Tokoyo has been schooled in the samurai virtues as well as learning abilities befitting a lady.She has also mastered boating  and underwater skills from women divers in her village. When she is eighteen, her father is banished by his mentally unstable lord. Tokoyo first cries, but then decides to dress as a peasant, and with a lucky cricket that her loyal nurse has given her, sets off to be with her father. Her journey to him will test her courage, compassion and training and will include ghosts and a terrible sea monster.

I have previously mentioned Robert San Souci's books The Silver Charm and Peter and the Blue Witch Baby. He has written more than 200 titles, 12 of them with his brother, Daniel. Many of them are from folktales and legends, including his scary tales in Short and Shivery series. See his website at Robert D. San Souci .

Johnson has illustrated the story with vivid paintings done with pastels. Even from the book's cover, we get an idea of Tokoyo's personality as a forthright and confident young woman. She is gazing frankly at the reader, arms akimbo, untroubled by the large and threatening sea monster that lurks behind her. Children will enjoy the action pictures when Toyoko jumps into the sea with a dagger between her teeth, ready to face down the serpent.She is a fine strong heroine to share with your sons and daughters.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Another little raccoon-dog: Tanuki's Gift



Tanuki's Gift: a Japanese Tale by Tim Myers, Illus. by R.G. Roth, 2003.

 Here is another tale retold by Tim Myer (See Basho and the Fox ) about another tanuki ( See my other Tanuki post). It is set in old time Japan and according to Myer, is a variation of a "ongaeshi" or "debt of gratitude" story. A humble and devout priest takes in a tanuki (raccoon -dog) on a snowy night. The two becomes best friends, and every night during the winter season, for ten years, the tanuki visits the holy man. Eventually, the priest's small friend asks if there is a way to repay him for all of his kindness. The priest shares a wish with the tanuki ,and upon its fulfillment, he learns something very important. This is a sweet and touching tale, moving without being sappy.

R.G. Roth's art is intentionally naive and joyful. The tanuki especially looks like it was drawn by a child. I really love the picture of the broadly smiling and exuberant priest enjoying his tanuki friend's juggling and another of the holy man, looking thrilled, floating off to paradise while wearing a halo, and holding on to a parasol. The illustrations are done in gouche, watercolor, oil pastel and ink.

 Readers will enjoy this lovely, gentle book. Share it with your own friends!

 

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Fifty.fiftyme Challenge May Stats

 
 
 
Working on the fifty.fifty me blog challenge. Reviews for this post forthcoming!
 
Majoring in: Japanese Fairy and Folktales

Minoring in: Steinbeck

May Books Read:

  •  Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell: I love this genuinely touching, non-sappy teen romance. In the back of the school bus, Park grudgingly allows the prickly and weird Eleanor to sit next to him. Eleanor is not particularly grateful to the "stupid Asian kid." It is definitely not love at first sight. But slowly, the two develop a deep connection, threatened by Eleanor's miserable home life with her cruel and violent stepfather. Set in the mid 1980s, with mix tapes and no cell phones or Internet, this story will please both adults and teens!
  • In Search of Goliathus Hercules by Jennifer Angus: I recommended this one to sixth graders on my school visits this spring. In 1890, ten year old Henri's father, who is traveling, disappears.His mother goes to search for him, so Henri is sent from England to America, to live with his great aunt. There, he discovers that he can talk with insects and meets his aunt's unpleasant neighbor Mrs. Black. Henri is propelled into a series of adventures, working for a flea circus, traveling to Malaya to look for his father, hunting for the fierce beetle Goliathus Hercules and foiling the vicious Mrs. Black, all while turning pretty bug-like himself.
  • Struck by Lightning: the Carson Phillips Journal by Chris Colfer: I love Glee and I'm crazy about the character Kurt Hummel. Chris Colfer seems cool when you see him as himself. I listened to him read this on CD. The sarcastic humor is fun. If I didn't know who the author was, though, I have to honestly say that I wouldn't recommend this, due to flat, stereotypical characters and an abrupt ending.
  • Bink & Gollie: Best Friends Forever by Kate DiCamillo & Alison McGhee: If you haven't yet met the stars of these early reader/ short chapter books, you have pleasure coming! These two friends are complete opposites, but they totally enjoy each other. In these three adventures, Gollie has found that she is descended from royalty and is now ruling her kindom, much to Bink's annoyance, Bink is tired of being shorter than Gollie & sets out to do something about it, and the girls decide that they will collect something that will get them into a record book.  All of the Bink and Gollie books are charmingly illustrated by Tony Fucille.
  • Boy Toy by Barry Lyga: This was a disturbing but gripping read. When Josh was twelve years old he had a favorite teacher and developed a close relationship with her. Too close. Eve, who is married and beautiful, praised him for his maturity and intelligence and invited him to help her by being part of her grad school research. Josh is thrilled, because he has a big crush on her. The research project led to him going home with her after school every day, which over months led to him losing his virginity to Eve. Five years later, everyone knows about what happened to Josh and he can't wait to get out of town. A girl he used to be close to is back in his life, and she wants to be his girlfriend. It's time for Josh to deal with all that happened to him in the past. Although much of this book really bothered me, as it was meant to, I suppose, I think that Lyga skillfully handled this topic.
  • Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
  • In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters: This creepy historical fiction kept me reading it every chance I got. It’s 1918, during World War I and things are going really badly for 16 year old Mary Shelley Black. Her father has been arrested for being Un-American, her old friend and new love Stephen has gone off to war, and a deadly flu is sweeping the country. Stephen’s brother is making money doing spirit photography and has used the unknowing Mary Shelley as his model. Then word comes that Stephen is dead, she is literally struck by lightning and everything changes. Is she really receiving messages from beyond the grave? What can she do to help Stephen? Who can she trust?
  • Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck: This is a "happy" book by Steinbeck. It won't break your heart like Of Mice and Men or The Pearl. It follows his book Cannery Row, catching up with the row's  inhabitants after the World War II in Monterey. Doc, collector of marine animals is back, trying to work on a scholarly paper on octopi. There's a new girl in town, Susie, who, although tough and argumentative, has a sweet spot for Doc. Madame Dora is now dead, but her sister "Fauna" has taken her place and is ably running the Bear Flag brothel with an aim to get her most promising girls married off properly. Mac and his slightly different group of flophouse boys earnestly and bumblingly try to help Doc, much to his chagrin. I loved this book! You might also check out the  1980s movie of Cannery Row, which combines the stories from Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday and stars Debra Winger and Nick Nolte. Granted, I haven't seen it in years, but back in the day I thought that it was really funny.
  • Travels With Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck: If you are someone who never read this in school, like me, let me tell you that this is a memoir from Steinbeck's time traveling the U.S. for  3 months with his fine French poodle. He equipped a truck with a camper top, christened it Rocinante, and they set out on their trip, with plans to meet Steinbeck's wife halfway through their route. Sadly, for me, he never made it into Minneapolis, although he apparently tried. More on this shortly.
Rocinante, which I absolutely could not picture when I read the book!


 Folktales: Basho and the Fox, Screen of Frogs, The Fool and the Phoenix, On Cat Mountain, Boy of the Three Year Nap, Under the Cherry Blossom Tree (See my blog posts for extended summaries of these).

May Films watched:
  •  Hitchcock: This takes place when Hitchcock is inspired to make Psycho, based on the book by Robert Bloch and the infamous murderer Ed Gein. Apparently, no one thinks that this is a good idea. They think that it will finish him as a director. He also seems to be going through a rocky patch with his wife Alma, who is a partner to him in his filmmaking as well as an assistant director and screenwriter in her own right. I enjoyed the acting by Anthony Hopkins and  Helen Mirren and was very creeped out by the scenes involving Gein.
  • Silver Linings Playbook


Totals:

Books total: 56/50
Books minus folktale minor: 22/50
Movies: 17/50

Major: 34/7
Minor: 2/3

Fifty.fiftyme Challenge April Stats



Working on the fifty.fifty me blog challenge. These are somewhat spotty reviews, but I'm behind on my recording my stuff!
 
Majoring in: Japanese Fairy and Folktales
Minoring in: Steinbeck
 
April  Books Read:

  •  The Glass Demon by Helen Grant: I really liked Grant's book The Vanishing of Katharina Linden and I also enjoyed this. Teenage Lin and her family are dragged to Germany by her medieval scholar father. He is searching for the Allerheiligen stained glass windows, which are believed to be haunted by the demon Bonschariant. Things begin badly, with Lin finding the body of an old man in an orchard at a stop on their way to their new home, and go creepily along from there. Accidents seem follow Lin & her people. With help from her teen neighbor Michael, Lin hopes to unravel the truth about the horrible events and protect her family.
  •  In Darkness by Nick Lake:  This won the most recent Printz Award. I honestly probably would not been drawn to this story by myself, although it is extremely well done. I began to read the book, but switched to the audio version, which added a whole dimension because of the reader's acting. In Darkness' setting is split between modern and historic Haiti. In current time, 15 year old Shorty is trapped alone in a hospital room after an earthquake. He is hurt and suffering and discovers a mental link between himself and Toussaint L'Ouverture, an 18th century slave and a liberator of Haiti.Slowly, readers learn Toussaint's story as well as Shorty's sad tale of life as a gang member searching for his twin sister, who was taken from them on the day that their father was also murdered by gangsters.
  •  The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells: This book actually bothered  me quite a bit. I don't know what I was thinking, considering it involves vivisection and cruelty to animals and...others. Truly, I expected it to be mostly cheesy and I was reading it because I wanted to read the new YA spin on it, The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd. Now I don't know if I can bear to read the new book.
         In case you don't remember, The Island of Dr. Moreau is about a shipwrecked man who ends up on (surprise, surprise) an island with a mad scientist and his henchmen. The place is populated with some pretty odd looking people. The deranged doctor has just received a new shipment of animals that will serve as his experiments. You may now draw your own conclusions and/or read this classic.

  •  The Garden Princess by Kristin Kladstup: This is just a light, fun book, kind of a relief after The Island of Dr. Moreau. Princess Adela is not interested in things like tea parties, gowns and marriage. What she loves is gardening, and she dreams of traveling the world and collecting rare plants. When her gardener friend Garth is invited to see the Lady Hortensia’s super secret garden, rumored to be the most beautiful one in the land, she comes along to see what she can learn. Every kind of flower, from every season, is blooming there, but when other guests start to disappear, and Garth begins to act all moony over Hortensia, Adela knows she must do something. With the help of a treasure seeking magpie, she just may be up to save the day.

 Folktales: Three Samurai Cats, Maneki Neko: the Tale of the Beckoning Cat, Lady Kaguya's Secret (See my blog posts for extended summaries of these).
 

April Films watched:

  • Too Cold Out There Without You : I saw this outstanding documentary at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. This is  the film as they describe it: "When the Rev. Christopher Fike was ordained in the Episcopal Church he was a straight, married mother of two. Five years later he had completed his transition and now identifies as a man. A post-transition story that looks beyond the act of transitioning, this film instead focuses on the transformations that take place in Chris’s relationships and the church as a result of his transition."
  •  Cadfael: A Morbid Taste for Bones: I lazily give you the movie summary from Barnes and Noble : "In acquiescence to the wish of the Prior of Shrewsbury Abbey to have the bones of St. Winifred on display, a group of monks trek to Wales to dig up her remains. The monks are met with great hostility that escalates when a man opposed to their excavation is found dead. The monks are held under suspicion, and things are further complicated by a young monk's insistence that he is seeing visions of St. Winifred. Although Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) exposes the monk's vision as fraudulent, he withholds the truth behind the monk's lies."
  • Coco Before Chanel : This did not leave me with a particularly positive impression of Chanel, she seemed sort of heartlessly ambitious to me. I didn't realize that she began from humble means, which was interesting.
  •  The Darjeeling Limited : I liked this. It was strange and enjoyable for me. Three loser brothers ( Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman) reunite on a train traveling in India. Make sure to watch the short "Hotel Chevalier" before you see the feature.
  • Annie Hall: This reinforced for me that I am not a Woody Allen fan. I'm just not. I did enjoy seeing Carol Kane though.
Totals:

Books total: 41/50
Books - folktale minor: 13/50

Movies: 15/50
Major: 28/7
Minor: 0/3, Don't worry, I'll have two to add in May, I'm about halfway through both.