CYBILS ARTICLE

I wrote an article for CHOICE LITERACY, sharing some of my thoughts on the CYBILS picture book short list and the CYBILS experience. It is here if you 'd like to read it.

Runaway (Thrownaway?) Mock Newbery Winner

MotherReader is famous for her loathing of "that bunny book." Now she's put that abhorrence to good work in Tulane Readers Theater. She has taken the idea of Mock Newbery Awards to a new level. In fact, we may have to name the new award the "Raspberry Awards: Pbbbbbbbbtt!"

I used to kinda like the story of Ed's heart warming up over the course of +/- 20 years of hardship. It's sort of the slow-motion version of the Grinch's heart growing two sizes. But now...well, when you look at it that way...

Newbery Hope #1--A TRUE AND FAITHFUL NARRATIVE

Well, the more I see what everyone else is picking for the Newbery, the more my top pick seems a bit selfish, and definitely very "yesterday." I admit, I haven't kept up with my Newbery reading in the last month or so, first because of my immersion in graphic novels for the Cybils nominations, and now because I am trapped in Kars, Turkey in a nonstop snowstorm and social, political, and religious upheaval (SNOW by Orhan Pamuk, for book club).

Why do I love A TRUE AND FAITHFUL NARRATIVE?

••strong female character who is a reader and writer, and who does not compromise her talents and her hopes for her future even when it means giving up her dream of owning a bookstore
•detailed sense of time and place in history that doesn't overwhelm the storyline
••reader gets to watch over Meg's shoulder as she struggles with her writing
••timeless message about overcoming cultural prejudices by learning about other cultures

POETRY FRIDAY!

Poetry Friday! Poetry Books That Are Fun to Read Aloud Early in my career, I taught at a school that had doughnuts and coffee for teachers each Friday in the teachers' lounge. It was a great way to start our Fridays--chatting with colleagues in a relaxed setting. I learned how important these traditions are when setting the stage for positive interactions. I thought that something like this would be great to do with children. Didn't they deserve a relaxing, talk-filled Friday morning too? When I realized that my students were reading very little poetry, I thought the combination of poetry reading and doughnuts might help them to see the fun in poetry. For the past few years, Poetry Friday has been a tradition in our classroom. Parents sign up to bring in a morning snack (usually donuts and juice boxes) once or twice during the school year. They are able to send them in with their child, drop them off on their way to work, or come in to enjoy poetry and donuts with us. (This is the beginning of an article that was just posted on Choice Literacy’s website. You can get to the rest of the article and the list of poetry books that are fun to read aloud here.)

More Newbery Thoughts

Fuse #8 is collecting first choice predictions for the Newbery. I read through them and feel good about almost every one mentioned. There are so many books that I feel are worthy this year. I definitely have my favorites but I am trying to read some of the books that I seem to have missed--books that are popping up on a few lists. I just finished Rules by Cynthia Lord. Loved it!!! I also started A Drowned Maiden's Hair and am really loving it too. I am hoping to fit in a few more hours of reading before the big announcement on Monday. As I read the mock lists and blogger predictions, I wish I could get through all of them sooner!

After School Snack

Bacon of the Month Club.

Need I say more?

A Graphic Blog

No, not sexually explicit or violent. No, not comics. GRAPHS. On index cards. (Hence the name, Indexed.) A blog where every post is a graph, and every graph is a smart and funny comment on modern life.

Thank you, Borderland, for this link.

Book Review: THE ARRIVAL

THE ARRIVAL
by Shaun Tan
Lothian Books,
an imprint of Hachette Livre Australia
South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2006

Review copy provided by publisher

Every detail of this book is worth lingering over. The cover is designed to look like an antique leather-bound book, and the story's art has a photographic feel as well. All of these details lend this story of the immigrant experience an authority that allows the reader to accept the strangeness of the world depicted in the illustrations not as a literal strange new world, but as an artistic representation of the strangeness that an immigrant encounters no matter where he moves: there are barriers of language, food, and finding work; there is loneliness, isolation, and longing for loved ones. But at every turn, there are those who will help. Those who have their own stories of leaving, abandonment, and exile.

The most amazing thing about this intricate and subtly nuanced graphic novel is that it is silent. No words whatsoever.

In his essay about the book (Click on the cover image and scroll down. Take your time, because the pictures are amazing!), Shaun Tan describes his move from creating picture books to creating this graphic novel. He had never read many comics or graphic novels, so he turned to Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics to Japanese manga and to Raymond Briggs' The Snowman for information and inspiration. When you look at the layout of some of Tan's pages, you can definitely see Brigg's influence. The moments when the reader must "read" the emotions on a face or in a gesture are very reminiscent of manga.

I can't wait to share this book with my 5th graders. I think it will deepen their thinking about immigration. I'll have to share the book with small groups so that they can see the pages and talk...even though the book is silent, I'm sure they won't be! It'll be fascinating to see what 11 year-olds make of it!

RELATED LINKS:
Here's my favorite website for helping kids to understand the waves of immigrants who have come to America, beginning with the Native Americans crossing the land bridge from Asia.

A review from a New Zealand blogger.

Anna Quindlen on Writing

If you haven't seen Anna Quindlen's latest column in Newsweek, it is definitely worth the read. It is called WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE. It reminds us of the power of writing to make sense of our lives and our worlds. (I think it says lots about why blogs are becoming so popular too.) She is one of my very, very favorite writers and I love all of her work, but this one says so much to all of us about writing.

Newbery Hope #1--JEREMY FINK

A grand suggestion was made by Betsy at Fuse #8 that we write about why our Newbery Hopes-Predictions made the list. So, I'll start with this one.

I LOVED JEREMY FINK AND THE MEANING OF LIFE by Wendy Mass. I would LOVE to see it win the Newbery. It is a great present-day story that made me feel the same way that I did when I read FROM THE MIXED UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER as a child. Jeremy Fink is a character that is very real, one that sticks with you. I felt like this book had lots to offer kids in the upper elementary/early middle school grades. It was a great story with a great male and female character. There was lots of anticipation as you cheered for Jeremy to find the keys to the box left by his father.

I guess when I think about my favorite Newbery winners, BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE, TALE OF DESPEREAUX, and WALK TWO MOONS come to mind. JEREMY FINK seems to be more in line with WINN-DIXIE and WALK TWO MOONS. They all three seem like great stories for kids. Stories about real, believable kids that stay with you long after you are finished reading them. When I read, I read for the characters. I look for characters like Claudia in FROM THE MIXED UP FILES because she has stayed with me through my adult life. I also think that these stories all have compelling plots--you want to see how things turn out for the characters. I am a true believer that you can make sense of the world best through great fiction. JEREMY FINK is a book that I think can do this for this generation of kids.

I have worried lately that many of the Newbery winners seem to be more Young Adultish to me. Several are books I would have difficulty sharing with my 10 and 11 year olds. The topics are sometimes too sophisticated and the themes would not mean much to them yet. I think BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE and WALK TWO MOONS were great examples of realistic fiction for kids--brilliantly written from an adult perspective AND very real for kids today. Each was a story with characters and a message that kids could relate to and could stay with them for a lifetime.


I am recommending it to everyone I know and I am having big trouble lending out my own copy:-) I think it is definitely a huge contribution the field of children's fiction.