Zorgamazoo

Zorgamazoo

by Robert Paul Weston

illustrated by Victor Rivas Villa

book design by Christian Fuenfhausen

Penguin Group, 2008

review copy provided by the publisher

Zorgamazoo is a novel in verse, but not at all like the ones you're used to. Zorgamazoo is one poem. One 283 page-long poem. In rhyme. Rhyming couplets that can't help but remind you of Dr. Seuss at times.

Dr. Seuss rhymes with a little Roald Dahl thrown in -- the main character, Katrina Katrell, is a spunky little girl who has been abandoned by her rich and disinterested parents to the care of an evil guardian who wants to have Katrina lobotomized. The book design has hints of Geronimo Stilton, with fonts of varying size and style used to enhance and illustrate the telling of the story and keep things moving along briskly. 

Katrina's fate intertwines with that of Mortimer Yorgle, a zorgle who is rather a stick in the mud compared to his adventuresome but failing-in-health father. Katrina bravely runs away from her evil guardian and Morty wins a lottery whose prize is a quest to discover what's happened to the zorgles of Zorgamazoo. Luckily, Morty gets lost and winds up in the same dark, deserted subway station as Katrina, just in time to save her from a gang of thugs. After hearing Morty's story of the lost zorgles of Zorgamazoo, Katrina begs to join him in his quest (having nothing better to do and no home to return to, after all).

The story gets more and more convoluted, as our characters find themselves (and the zorgles of Zorgamazoo) trapped on the moon, and the struggle of good vs. evil takes the form of enchantment and imagination vs. boredom and tedium.

Yes, I have read over what I have written, and yes, I am aware that it sounds like I am babbling. This book defies any kind of description that makes complete sense. You'll just have to get a copy and read it. It might make a fabulous read aloud, but only if the listener is snuggled up beside you and can see the pictures and the way the words play around on the pages.

Visit the Zorgamazoo website to meet the characters, read an excerpt, and get ideas for using the book in your classroom.

Robert Paul Weston blogs at Way of the West.

Examples of illustrator Victor Rivas' illustrations are here.

Reviewed by Ali at Worducopia and Fate at The Fickle Hand of Fate.

Another Great Novel in Verse

I have a group of kids in my class this year who LOVE novels in verse. They love Heartbeat by Sharon Creech, Where I Live by Eileen Spinelli and Becoming Joe DiMaggio by Maria Testa. As a teacher, I am finding that these are great books for readers of this age (and beyond). These novels tend to have a lot of depth. Some of my students who have difficulty sticking with books until the end, have the stamina to finish a novel in verse. I am not sure if they like the fact that they feel like they are turning pages quickly or that each page is shorter than a typical novel. But, they are reading some great books in this genre and they are really changing the ways they think about what they read because of it.

So, I am currently on the lookout for books like this to add to my collection. Sometimes the books are a bit too sophisticated for 3rd and 4t graders.

This week, I read 42 MILES by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. (She is an Ohio author which adds to the fun of finding a new book that I love!). The book is about JoEllen. JoEllen splits her time between her mother's home in the city and her father's home in the country. The book is told in first person so we get into the thinking of JoEllen and how she feels about having these two quite separate lives. The book (and JoEllen) deal with issues common to so many kids--divorce, friendship, bullies, rules, teachers and more). Many of the poems in the book can stand alone as powerful poetry. Many can be used as mentors for student writing. But the way the poems work together gives us a story about a girl and family that is a good one. Illustrations, photos, maps, etc. add to each page so there are visuals throughout. This book packs a lot in with just 73 pages.

I am excited to add this book to my collection. I am sure it will make its rounds in my classroom this week.

My favorite line in the book (in case you were wondering):
"My favorite poems
squeeze your hand
on a crowded street and say:
Look."

Pleasant Surprises, Part One

Naked Bunyip Dancing
by Steven Herrick
illustrated by Beth Norling
Front Street Press
April 1, 2008 release
review copy compliments of the publisher



I never would have picked this book up on my own, but it was required reading, so I gave it a go. And I was pleasantly surprised!

Now, I should give a small disclaimer here -- I hardly ever read YA, and I haven't ever read any of Steven Herrick's other books. The sole soul on Goodreads who has read and reviewed this book didn't think it was as good as his others. So keep that in mind. And a note on the title -- a bunyip is a mythological Australian animal. I Googled bunyip after I read the book, but knowing what a bunyip is hasn't helped me understand the title. Maybe it has given me permission to be okay with the fact that I don't understand the title.

This is a novel in verse about an Australian 6th grade class with a new, liberal, pony-tailed, Dylan-singing teacher named Mr. Carey. The poems, in the voices of the students, understandably give us a very childlike view of what happens in their classroom. These poems are what you'd get if you overheard kids talking about their day at school -- they talk about the parts of the day that were out of the ordinary; they talk about each other; they talk about their weird and wonderful teacher; they talk a little bit about what's going on at home. If you read between the lines, you know that Mr. Carey has a method to his "madness," he knows his students very well and works hard to play to their strengths, and there's a lot more teaching going on than the students report.

On Friday afternoons, the class does co-curricular activities. "Mr. Carey says its stuff you do/on Friday afternoons/and you don't have to do tests/or be marked on it." The class is working on a concert, and the way Mr. Carey stays out of their way and lets them make if it as much as they can reminds me of The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements.

The class takes a field trip to the Sewerage Works. (Australian spelling.) When else has that happened in children's literature? The Qwikpick Adventure Society by Sam Riddleburger, of course!

The way you can infer the influence of the teacher through the students' voices and actions is reminiscent of Mr. Fab in Ralph Fletcher's Flying Solo.

The depth of the characters revealed in the fewest number of words is all Love That Dog by Sharon Creech.

All these book "cousins" on my bookshelf are what made me pleasantly surprised by this book. I haven't tried it on a real, live child reader. I don't know if the Australianisms will throw them off. Stay tuned for that. I am going to add Mr. Carey to our list of 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature! (He's number 111.)