Posts filed under 'Children's Books'
Do you ever look at a picture and find yourself swept up into a memory so strong you can then smell and feel that moment in time the memory was created? That happened to me when I saw the cover of Pictures from Our Vacation by Lynne Rae Perkins. And what was it that triggered the memory? The boardwalk. The memory? Girl Scout Camp Ouachita I first attended the summer after the second grade; my small hometown had no swimming pool and the lake was the pool for camp; it is where I learned to swim and to canoe. Different levels of water were divided by boardwalks, it was from these boardwalks we dived into the water as one was considered “soft” to go into the water by ladder.
Labor Day weekend is traditionally that last “hurrah” of summer, a time to catalog our summer memories for safe keeping to be brought forward through the years in many and varied ways…perhaps even by a book cover!
Happy Reading!
Carol
Twitter: @RascoFromRIF
Cover Story is a feature every Monday on Rasco From RIF where I share with you the “face” of a book that has caught my eye or that readers have submitted. Cover Story does not discuss the content of the book. I hope you will share your favorite “cover story” with me now and then!
September 6th, 2010
NINTH WARD by Jewell Parker Rhodes. 2010. Little, Brown and Company. Grades 5-8.
Lanesha is a 12-year old child of the Ninth Ward in New Orleans; she and Mama Ya-Ya have only one another, but Mama Ya-Ya is wise and loving and gives to Lanesha a strength and belief in herself far beyond what the “uptown” family who has discarded and forgotten Lanesha could ever provide her. Lanesha in turn provides these same gifts given her by Mama Ya-Ya to TaShon, a younger boy of the Ninth Ward who is himself an outcast as well.
Ninth Ward was published in August 2010 and has already received the Parents’ Choice Gold Award and is the latest selection for the Al Roker Book Club.
PEOPLE /CHARACTERS
In addition to the three characters named above, Lanesha, Mama Ya-Ya and TaShon, there is a teacher who is Lanesha’s “favorite teacher by far” with the name Miss Johnson. She is a teacher who believes in Lanesha, helps instill realistic dreams and gives her a book as the storm approaches to help fill Lanesha’s time.
WORDS
As Lanesha visits with Miss Johnson just prior to the storm when Miss Johnson is packing up to leave New Orleans for the weekend, the discussion turns to Lanesha’s skill with numbers and science. Lanesha is talking about the studying she has been doing in the “B” world book on bridges since Miss Johnson first mentioned engineering as a field Lanesha should consider. As Miss Johnson finishes her packing Lanesha thinks to herself “This is why I like this new school. Teachers fill my head with pictures and thoughts about what I can do.” What a powerful gift we can give children…pictures and thoughts about what they CAN do.
The final three chapters Still Monday, Monday Isn’t Over, and Tuesday are written with such clarity, energy and emotion I could feel the tensions and horrors I felt as I watched on television and read of Katrina’s aftermath daily five years ago. The inner strength Lanesha has gathered throughout the story and the growth in TaShon are portrayed realistically and aligned with the characters as formed throughout the story. These three chapters will be invaluable through the years in portraying, informing, sharing the story of Katrina.
SEQUENCES
It was gratifying to watch Lanesha’s confidence slowly build through the work of Miss Johnson, the friendship of Ginia and the strong love of Mama Ya-Ya. The careful preparation Lanesha makes in her youthful but mature way for the storm and ultimately her reactions to the storm and the inner strength she draws from to act are the images Rhodes has planted firmly with me.
ART
Shino Arihara, the jacket artist, has done a magnificent job of capturing the “feel” of NINTH WARD: the mystery created of whether the boat is floating or sitting on the water, the stillness of the starry night, the colors of the impoverished homes, the hand held southern magnolia blossom which is noted in the story “…Magnolias mean dignity. Beauty.” As Lanesha herself says “If Mama Ya-Ya were a flower, I’m pretty sure she’d be a magnolia.” And shown on the cover at story’s end, Lanesha is indeed a magnolia blossom; still a child, yet sitting straight, eyes looking ahead, a being full of dignity and beauty.
AND I TAKE WITH ME…
A story of hope, belief in oneself, the power of friendship and inspiration along with the following words by the author in her acknowledgments:
Books were my lifeline during a difficult childhood. For my entire writing life, I’ve been waiting to grow up enough to write what I hoped would be a good book for young audiences.
Jewell Parker Rhodes, you succeeded. It is more than good.
Happy Reading,
Carol
The format for my book discussions is outlined in an earlier posting. Please scroll down into the post for the explanation.
Twitter: @RascoFromRIF
September 5th, 2010
UPDATE: HOGS WON 44-3!
WOO°¨¨°º¤ø¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø¸PIGº¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º ¤øSOOIE ø¤º°¨¨¨°º¤ø ¸„ø¤GOº°¨¨°º¤ø¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø,„HOGSº¤ø ¸ „ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø ø¤º°¤GO!!¤Woo °¨¨°º¤ø¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø¸PIGº¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø ø¤º °¨¨¨°º¤ø¸„ø¤SOOIEº°¨¨°º¤ø¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤øGO¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø ø¤º°HOGS¨¨°º¤ø¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤GO!!
A number of people have written me asking what in the world is this wavy thing about “pig and hogs” on Facebook? This is a “wave” across the Arkansas Razorbacks football stadium, and “hog” (nickname for Razorbacks) football kicks off Saturday, September 4. Arkansas is a rabid Razorback state, the red and white throughout the state Saturday will be phenomenal. As one young Arkansas friend said who had also posted this “wave” - ”I’m not even a sports fan, but the Razorbacks are another story, it’s a religion here.”
Never heard Arkansas fans ”Call the Hogs“?
Oh, you ask if there is a children’s book connection here? Of course!
Happy Reading and Go Hogs Go!
Razorback Rasco from RIF
September 3rd, 2010
Laurel Snyder paid a visit to RIF last October – and did we ever have a good time careening from one topic to another with her, bombarding her with questions! Last week on the release date of Laurel’s BAXTER, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher I shared here on the blog how much I learned from that pig. Today we are in for another treat from Laurel, a very thoughtful piece about books and their role. Laurel always makes me think as well as laugh, and I am grateful for her friendship and for her dedication to the world of children’s literature!
Here we are in September, at the beginning of fall. How did the summer fly by so quickly?
When I was a kid, believe it or not, fall was the best time of year! Fall meant fresh pencils and a notebook with nothing in it, just pages of clean white paper. Fall meant Halloween was coming and leaves were changing, and of course, it meant school, but more than all of that, fall meant books.
Don’t get me wrong, summer meant books too. Beach reading. Lazy days. But when I was a kid, I spent my after-school time in the public library because my parents worked late. Every day at 2:30 I’d walk across the street to the Roland Park branch of the Enoch Pratt Free library in Baltimore.
At the library I’d read and read. But also I’d talk about what I was reading with the other latchkey kids who spent their afternoons this way too. There was a funny little crew of us, and we read every new title that came into the library. We learned to help the librarians shelve the books. We used tracing paper to copy the pictures from our favorite books. We shared our snacks with each other on the library steps and talked about how we might someday like to write and draw books too.
And now, thinking back on that, I wonder how many other kids had this experience. I didn’t just have access to books. I lived among them three hours a day, with an odd assortment of other characters who also lived in the library. Left to our own devices in the stacks of books, we visited faraway places, memorized magical spells, cried and laughed, and the world seemed enormous. We did these things together.
This fall, I have a new book coming out, Penny Dreadful. It’s the story of a girl who—like me—loves and lives in books. Penny Dreadful is full of references to other books Penny and I both love—from Ballet Shoes to Lemony Snicket’s Unfortunate Events. But there’s something I want to explain about Penny to anyone who might decide to meet her.
Penny Dreadful isn’t just about the importance of books. Because what Penny discovers is that books, wonderful as they are, aren’t enough all by themselves. Penny has all the books she could want, but she’s lonely. Books are only distractions for her, in a sense, from her life. Because she has nobody to share her books with. Until she moves to a town called Thrush Junction, and her life changes forever.
I think, sometimes, we see books as an escape. We see them as little vacations from life. We need them to be this sometimes. But at their best, books are the very opposite. They connect us to other people and to the world. If we have the right little crew of teachers, librarians, parents, friends who will share books with us—people who will turn books into vehicles not just destinations.
I’d like to thank RIF for being just that kind of right little crew!
September 1st, 2010
Somewhere, sometime prior to publication I read a fascinating story about this guy who had written a book about the men who invented day-glo paints. I was intrigued by the review and watched carefully for the book to become available. And I was even more hooked on this Cybils award winning book when I was able to read for myself The Day-Glo Brothers. I knew exactly what child would first receive it as a gift from me along with a set of what else but day-glo paints?! And I have given many of the book/paint sets since that time. Then I saw this guy Barton mentioned on Facebook which led to us befriending one another and then we were both on twitter… and what fun it has been getting to know Chris through social media with a treat of saying hello in person at ALA in DC this summer and getting books autographed for my grandson. Thank you, Chris, for joining us today at Rasco from RIF; and even more, thank you for your terrific contributions to children’s literacy!
Charles Darwin & James Bond: The Intersection Between Fiction and Nonfiction
by Guest Blogger Chris Barton
Don’t ask me how this happened, because I still haven’t figured it out myself, but until recently my six-year-old son had managed to confuse Charles Darwin with James Bond.
Besides being good for a laugh, his mental mix-up got me reflecting on the intersection between fiction and nonfiction, and on just how entwined the two genres can be, especially for me as a writer.
Last year, as I awaited the publication of my picture book biography The Day-Glo Brothers, I was putting the final touches on another worlds-apart book, the completely silly Shark vs. Train. As that book was making its debut this spring, I was chasing down final facts for my upcoming young adult nonfiction project, “Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities.” And this summer, when galleys arrived for that book, I was working on fiction (a middle grade novel involving anthropomorphism and explosives) while also thinking ahead to other nonfiction projects.
I slide back and forth between fiction and nonfiction without really thinking much about it, my experiences with one building on the other. I suspect the youngest readers approach the two genres pretty much the same way—when you’ve explored only a smidge of the world, all books are about exploring more of it. It’s as we get older, as both readers and writers, that our tastes divide.
Or rather, it’s when our tastes divide that we see ourselves as preferring, say, fiction over nonfiction. Among other creators of books for children and young adults, I’ve seen this manifested in what I call “Nonfiction Face.” Remember Mr. Yuk, the nauseated-green frowny-face poison-control logo of yore? I’ve seen that look on many of my peers when I’ve brought up writing nonfiction.
I suspect that’s partly because they still think of the less-then-compelling nonfiction of their youth rather than of the creative and powerful contemporary work of the likes of Tanya Lee Stone, Phillip Hoose, and Brian Floca. But I also believe that too many makers of Nonfiction Face have simply never taken the time to consider what sort of nonfiction book they would most like to create.
For each of them, there’s bound to be one such book. I’m convinced that for every last maker of Nonfiction Face, there’s some real-world subject that they already know more about, care more about, or simply find more interesting than most people do. I teach an entire workshop on this, but a self-help approach can yield the same results: If they simply give it some thought, they’ll realize that they would bring passion and enthusiasm to some angle on that subject that most people simply could not.
And based on my own experiences slipping back and forth between genres, I believe they might even find inspiration for their next fiction project. I’d ask, however, that they not get any bright ideas about 007’s famed expedition to the Galapagos. That one’s spoken for.
August 30th, 2010
FRACTIONS, DECIMALS, AND PERCENTS by David A. Adler and illustrated by Edward Miller. 2010. Holiday House, Inc.
Last week when I first picked up the book Fractions, Decimals, and Percents I saw the back cover before the title cover; there on the back was a sign stating “County Fair Today” which intrigued me given fall is “fair” time and I miss going to the fair! Imagine my surprise to turn the book over and find it is a math book.
Written by David A. Adler, a former math teacher and illustrated by Edward Miller, this book uses a visit to the county fair to illustrate these math concepts which certainly will awaken interest in many children quicker than a math book alone! Bright, clear illustrations with some photography inserted a couple of places when coins are discussed go even further to make the book far more appealing that it would be initially for the targeted age group of 6-10.
While I am not certain many children will choose to pick up this book initially on their own to read, it is another way for a teacher to carry out both an introduction as well as review of these “parts” concepts. At the end there is a game the students can construct with a visit to the illustrator’s website making that construction even easier.
Adler’s website is a storehouse of information for teachers and for students. Students will perhaps also enjoy this interview by some students about the biographies David A. Adler has written.
Enjoy your nonfiction today and happy reading every day!
Carol
Twitter: @RascoFromRIF
Thank you, Booknosher, for hosting us today and a big round of applause for Anastasia Suen for sponsoring Nonfiction Monday!
August 30th, 2010
BAXTER, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher by Laurel Snyder and illustrated by David Goldin. 2010. Tricycle Press.
The RIF staff has awaited this book with great anticipation as Laurel gave us a few sneak peak thoughts about Baxter when she visited RIF in October 2009. Baxter did not disappoint us yesterday once the delivery man arrived with the book!
For someone like me who grew up in a small southern town with no synagogue nor Jewish community presence, Baxter was a great educator as I read and re-read his story last evening as well as the note from Laurel at the end of the book followed by the glossary. And other definitions and “feelings” came across clearly in Baxter’s story. Baxter is waiting at the bus stop one day and learns from an older individual waiting for the bus as well that the man is excited about dinner that evening, a dinner to celebrate what the man called the “beginning of Shabbat.” Baxter thought all week about his favorite part of the man’s description of dinner “The candles gleam and glow and dance while our sweetest voices lift in song!” Baxter had never seen dancing candles and the whole event sounded so neat. The following week the man did not show up at the bus stop but another man whom Baxter approached scoffed that Baxter wanted to be part of a Shabbat dinner as he told Baxter he could not do such, that “You’re not kosher.” And with that the gentleman boarded his bus and was gone. The adventures begin for Baxter and are laugh out loud funny. And the education of Ms. Rasco here began as well.
PEOPLE /CHARACTERS
Baxter is my favorite character followed by Rabbi Rosen who rescued Baxter in his confusion.
WORDS
Like Baxter, I like that phrase about the dancing candles as it gave me the family feel I experience with my own extended family during special meals.
SEQUENCES
Baxter’s attempts to become “kosher” are a stitch…eating pickles until he smelled pickled, eating raisin challah until he decided after five loaves he surely must be kosher if not “too kosher” and finally his attempt to become bovine after being told “cows are kosher.” OH, me, children are going to squeal with laughter!
ART
Goldin’s just right mix of photos and drawings make the whimsy of Baxter come alive without detracting from the message.
AND I TAKE WITH ME…
New understandings about Jewish customs, a delighted discovery there can be laughter surrounding terms like “kosher” and a way to share some of the Jewish traditions and beliefs with young children I know who like me aren’t growing up in a community where they will naturally hear of them, learn about them. Thank you, Laurel!
Happy Reading!
Carol
Twitter: @RascoFromRIF
The format for my book discussions is outlined in an earlier posting. Please scroll down into the post for the explanation.
Wednesday Window features books and/or information which illustrate the “Windows” portion of the paper “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.”
August 25th, 2010
Smile by Raina Telgemeier. 2010. Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc. Ages 9-12. Graphic novel.
One of the absolute worst events for me in that often horrible time in a person’s life known as adolescence was the era of my BRACES. I hated everything about that experience. The orthodontist determined he had to pull two permanent teeth and later admitted when a gap would not close he should not have pulled the second tooth, noting he could do nothing about it, so sorry…and to my lovely southern mannered mother’s horror, I bit, yes chomped down, on the orthodontist’s fingers in my mouth as he made that apology. I refused to issue any apology. To this day I shudder when in a car driving by the spot on which that office building sits in Little Rock, Arkansas. I am 62, isn’t that silly? (that I still shudder is silly, not the age!)
Needless to say, when I saw the cover of Smile, with its smiley face wearing braces, I knew I had to read this one…I did not know it was a comic book until I first opened the cover. Gracious, did I have a good time reading this story the author has related about her own experiences with the dreaded braces…talk about a great cathartic experience! Raina is a sixth grader facing the braces routine for an overbite condition when she has a run-in with the pavement and two front teeth are the victims which turns the braces experience into one long, long nightmare from sixth grade through high school. But along the way as things so often happen, Raina learns a great deal about herself, her talents, the meaning of friends and more.
PEOPLE
Raina was the star and my favorite, hands down. She lived through this horrible set of experiences and did not become a hermit; go Raina!
WORDS
“Ten more seconds and I would have puked!” A perfect summary of how I personally felt about much of the braces experience.
Following a not so pleasant experience at the periodontist where Raina fainted, perhaps because the professionals there did not follow protocol, Raina’s mom let the office professionals have it closing with “Let’s go Raina…and we won’t be coming back.” To which Raina said “…that was pretty awesome, Mom.” Not a phrase many moms hear from daughters about the mom’s behavior!
Thoughts of Raina’s near the end: But the more I focused on my interests, the more it brought out things I liked about myself. And that affected the way other people saw me!
SEQUENCES
Faves here were the ones described above in the “WORDS” section. I was also pleased to see Girl Scouting portrayed as part of Raina’s life in this book, great organization!
ART
It hit me as I read this book on a plane laughing, no guffawing at times (and with other passengers probably laughing to themselves about this older woman laughing out as she read a comic book for what appeared to be much younger people), there really must be a symphony already written or waiting to be written about adolescence and the various traditional phases and episodes. This book would certainly be a great start for a movement.
AND I TAKE WITH ME…
I’ll be giving this book for sure to young friends preparing to ”get braces” or even passing through adolescence minus the braces; I know they will laugh and see a bit of themselves. I also think it is a great way for discussions to be generated about “finding oneself” that is a bit different from fabricated stories and/or books that seem to lecture…this one flows smoothly and shows through Raina’s real life experiences how she did some self-examination quite naturally, didn’t have to call it by some psychological term.
Thank you, Raina Telgmeier, for opening your own life for all of us, especially the young people who will enjoy it, many of whom will learn from it, even if they never admit it!
I encourage readers to visit the great Smile website as well as Raina’s own site. Worlds of fun information/activities/events.
Happy Reading!
Carol
Twitter: @RascoFromRIF
The format for my book discussions is outlined in an earlier posting. Please scroll down into the post for the explanation.
August 24th, 2010
What an excited group of three young ladies I heard talking about this book in the bookstore over the weekend. They have a book “just like this” in their school and they have a “real, live cat” at their school, too. Kindergarten Cat is by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Ailie Busby, published by Schwartz and Wade Books, 2010.
This morning as another school week begins for them, I’ll be thinking about those three little girls with twinkles in their eyes as they talked about “school.” I told them to keep the story a secret from me, I wanted to read it myself; but they could not contain themselves in telling me “this book has rhyme in it.” I asked if they knew what “rhyme” means and they quickly started a list: cat, hat, mat, rat and more…isn’t it invigorating to see children excited about learning?
Happy Reading!
Carol
Twitter: @RascoFromRIF
Cover Story is a feature every Monday on Rasco From RIF where I share with you the “face” of a book that has caught my eye or that readers have submitted. Cover Story does not discuss the content of the book. I hope you will share your favorite “cover story” with me now and then!
August 23rd, 2010
Some Kind of Love: A Family Reunion In Poems by Traci Dant and illustrated by Eric Velasquez. 2010. Marshall Cavendish Children. Ages 5-9. Poetry.
Do you ever find yourself counting how many “family reunion” t-shirts are represented in a given period in a given airport during the summer reunion period? I do…and with great jealousy! One of my top memories of summertime during childhood is going to South Carolina to visit the cousins and other relatives. And whether there was a designated, official reunion or simply days of informal visiting, it sure was fun.
In Some Kind of Love, Dant and Velasquez have collaborated to share with us through poetry and rich, visual images the memories of a nine-year old boy as he relates the fun and love and good times of an annual family reunion. All the pieces are present - the food, the games, the storytelling, the sleeping – no experience is omitted.
PEOPLE
In addition to the young boy whose voice relates the experiences heard in the poems, I liked thinking about the grandmother soaking it all in and enjoying seeing her family together. What a poignant portrait of her on the last two-page spread as she leans against the tree watching the good-byes.
WORDS
In the dedication by Dant she talks about her father and says ”He is the one who told me that every reunion was a carnival of cousins (italics Rasco’s), a never-ending banquet, and a giant sleepover. He is the one who made sure that my brother and I attended Mother’s Day reunions so we would have stories to tell our own children.”
The three-line poem that reads:
Old Stories
Must be some kind of love that fills their old stories.
Those stories make my work-hard Daddy laugh like
he’ll never have to janitor all night and farm all day again.
SEQUENCES
Fishing (the boasting uncles recalled), Big Enough (spilling into the yard for dinner table space), Church (Cousin Izetta’s voice in the choir) and Family Photograph (explains itself, who doesn’t remember this?!) were particular favorite memories of mine in this book.
ART
Velasquez’s paintings were such clear embodiments of the words expressed – I wish I had one of them hanging on my office wall!
AND I TAKE WITH ME…
Another reminder of the importance of family ties, building memories with family. And I will now look upon those t-shirts in the airports with an even fuller heart.
Happy Reading!
Carol
Twitter: @RascoFromRIF
The format for my book discussions is outlined in an earlier posting. Please scroll down into the post for the explanation.
August 20th, 2010
Previous Posts
