I don't like to make a big deal out of Black History Month for my storytimes, but I do feel like I ought to at least reference major national observances just like I do holidays. My usual approach is to simply select my usual storytime themes, but to limit my titles to those with obviously Black illustrated characters. This means that I don't often do biographies of famous people, or "issues" stories very often, and I wonder sometimes if most people even recognize that I'm doing it, since I don't mention the Month during storytime at all. On the one hand, that feels a little stealthy, but on the other, I like that I can actually DO a storytime about bedtime or families or city life without it having to be explicitly a "Black" story.
Little Monster
Barrie Wade, illustrated by Katinka Kew
ISBN: 0688095976
Mandy overhears her mom praising her for being good, but when everyone laughs about "little monster" Jimmy, she reconsiders.
I really like this story because it perfectly illustrates how kids overhear and interpret adult interactions, molding their behavior to gain a specific reaction or to empirically prove their ideas true or not. Mandy is up late one night and overhears her mom praising her for being good, but when her brother Jimmy gets multiple laughs for being a "little monster," Mandy isn't so sure that being good is all it's cracked up to be. The next day she's a holy terror in the most innocent of ways - sticking out tongues, minor direct disobedience, general acting-out, and by the end of the night, mom snaps and calls Mandy a "little monster," but mom being the bright sort, figures out immediately what's up, and reassures Mandy that love and affection and laughter are unconditional, whether a kid is a "little monster" or "good as gold." Very sweet, but some families might be a bit uncomfortable that Mandy isn't punished for any of her "bad" behavior.
Ten, Nine, Eight
Molly Bang
ISBN: 0688009069
One of my favorite bedtime books. A sweet father and daughter go through a countdown rhyme as she prepares for bed.
Previously reviewed here. Always delightful, and even though I did it quite recently, it's a perfect middle book because of the very short narrative.
Please, Baby, Please
Spike Lee & Tonya Lewis Lee, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
ISBN: 0689832338
Adorable toddler is front and center in oversize, child's-eye-view illustrations.
This one isn't my favorite to read, and I hate that. I LOVE the illustrations, and the "baby" is delightfully expressive and perfectly a toddler, getting into things and being entranced by things - just absolutely beautiful work by Nelson, and I really adore the loving attention he paid to details. But, the narrative is 60% comprised of the words "please" and "baby" arranged in different orders as thus: "please, baby baby, please" or "baby baby baby please" "baby please, baby baby" etc. Which is not only repetitive, but difficult for the reader. It's not enough to keep me from doing it every once in a while, but it's absolutely enough to keep this book off my favorites list, which is a crying shame.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Monday, February 22, 2016
Continuing Education: Reading Picture Books with Children, Megan Dowd Lambert
Reading Picture Books with Children
Megan Dowd Lambert
ISBN: 9781580896627
Nonfiction: a book explaining and extolling the "Whole Book Approach" to presenting picture books.
Lambert assumes the reader is already an experienced teacher, parent, or storytime-giver, and doesn't waste any time rehashing the traditional method of storytime: kids sit quietly, reader reads to emphasize story and narrative (and characters if they're talented/brave enough to do voices), pictures are shown around perfunctorily, the books are finished, the kids stay mostly quiet.
In the Whole Book Approach (a method Lambert developed while working with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art) the narrative is relegated to simply another facet of the whole picture book as a purposefully created entity using multiple disciplines and arts to present a concept and narrative. Here, equal or more focus is given to describing and questioning the art, the book design decisions, and even to choices in typography and page borders. Even more scandalous, this is a discussion-based approach, so not only are the kids supposed to talk, the "storyteller" is actually supposed to interrupt the story on each page and ASK them for their thoughts on what's going on with the art, design, typesetting, and whatever (directed questions, of course). What heresy!
She's really gung-ho about it, and her enthusiasm is infectious, but I do have a few qualms.
Point one: I work with toddlers. No amount of directed questions will forstall the flood of "I have a dog and a mommy and a bedroom and it was my birthday and my gramma is a princess..." stream of consciousness that 4 year olds do so well when presented with any sort of official adult attention. So this is already limited to older kids who can actually process and respond to prompts, and to take at least a little bit of time thinking about what they're seeing before chattering away. She talks about kindergarten groups, but even then I wonder if I could lead them well enough for the process to be coherent.
Point two: If you really dedicate to this, the narrative is going to get shafted, and I do not like that. I LOVE that she wants to focus on the art and design, and to bring attention to what are very much informed and purposeful choices, and to bring kids consciously into an awareness of motifs and memes and conventions that we follow in our culture to signal specific ideas or concepts or moods. All of that is really really great, and SHOULD be taught to kids - BUUUUT... it bothers me that the method to achieve this will totally wreck the flow of a good story. Grrr. I am coming at this from a performative and theatrical background, and really truly this bugs me quite a lot. My personal opinion is that this sort of work should be done with books that the reader and audience already knows extremely well. That way the first encounter with a story is always smooth and presents the story, and does justice to the narrative and pictures being a natural and cohesive unified experience (which is what I THINK most picture book authors and artists want anyway - for the work to just meld seamlessly into this delightful experience that kids love, even if they can't specify why they love it). So, book first as narrative, THEN you go can back in with the post-season analysis and really dig into the why and how and wherefore, with as much discussion and digression and not-ever-finishing-the-actual-book as you like.
Point three: Some people like being all meta about their pleasure activities, and (here's the point where I think Lambert is being a bit more universal than she ought) some people really really don't. And I think those preferences that we have as adults are present as kids. Everyone knows the trope of the annoying TV-watching friend who constantly wants to talk talk talk and overanalyze and overthink every little part of Walking Dead or Game of Thrones - and it's not a positive representation. I hate to think that an overenthusiastic Whole Book Approach during a storytime would turn a kid off of reading because they now associate pleasure reading with that piecemeal and reductive meta-critical approach, and it's not a requirement - simply another way to appreciate and enjoy this particular type of book. And I say this as someone who actually already likes to analyze and critique books and artworks - I just realize that not everyone shares that particular impulse. Not everyone is a book reviewer, and not everyone should be. Not everyone wants to think about critical art theory while they relax, and they shouldn't feel like they have to. And there is the other massive downside here - there's the presenter's opinions on this analytical approach to consider as well. This book is likely to cause a small, quiet revolution in at least some places, and I really feel sorry for any librarians and educators who are forced into this method by decree rather than inclination, or any parents doing this out of a sense of obligation towards their child's development. I feel even MORE sorry for the kids they're presenting to. As much harm could come from an individual kid being not interested in the process, infinitely more harm can come to entire classrooms or groups from a slack or grudging approach by an adult forced into presenting this Approach by a boss or by guilt. I strongly believe that you should only read books that you at least LIKE, because kids are perceptive, and for every book I personally don't like enough to tell (SkippyJon Jones, I'm looking at you) there's other people who LOVE it and can do it justice and be enthusiastic. Please please don't make presenters use a storytime format that they don't intrinsically believe to be valuable or worthwhile - it's just going to backfire.
That was an awful lot of criticism, but those three basic points are really my main hesitations. Lambert presents her points clearly and with beautifully-selected picture-book examples, and explains her reasoning and her methodology rationally. I do support her goals, and I think that her method is fundamentally sound. I don't have any desire to see this format replace or supersede "traditional" storytimes, and despite her enthusiastic proposal of this method, I don't think she really does either. There's a time and a place for reading for uninhibited pleasure and for enjoyable critical analysis, and a perfect program would incorporate both, given by adults passionate about books and reading and children's developing minds.
Megan Dowd Lambert
ISBN: 9781580896627
Nonfiction: a book explaining and extolling the "Whole Book Approach" to presenting picture books.
Lambert assumes the reader is already an experienced teacher, parent, or storytime-giver, and doesn't waste any time rehashing the traditional method of storytime: kids sit quietly, reader reads to emphasize story and narrative (and characters if they're talented/brave enough to do voices), pictures are shown around perfunctorily, the books are finished, the kids stay mostly quiet.
In the Whole Book Approach (a method Lambert developed while working with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art) the narrative is relegated to simply another facet of the whole picture book as a purposefully created entity using multiple disciplines and arts to present a concept and narrative. Here, equal or more focus is given to describing and questioning the art, the book design decisions, and even to choices in typography and page borders. Even more scandalous, this is a discussion-based approach, so not only are the kids supposed to talk, the "storyteller" is actually supposed to interrupt the story on each page and ASK them for their thoughts on what's going on with the art, design, typesetting, and whatever (directed questions, of course). What heresy!
She's really gung-ho about it, and her enthusiasm is infectious, but I do have a few qualms.
Point one: I work with toddlers. No amount of directed questions will forstall the flood of "I have a dog and a mommy and a bedroom and it was my birthday and my gramma is a princess..." stream of consciousness that 4 year olds do so well when presented with any sort of official adult attention. So this is already limited to older kids who can actually process and respond to prompts, and to take at least a little bit of time thinking about what they're seeing before chattering away. She talks about kindergarten groups, but even then I wonder if I could lead them well enough for the process to be coherent.
Point two: If you really dedicate to this, the narrative is going to get shafted, and I do not like that. I LOVE that she wants to focus on the art and design, and to bring attention to what are very much informed and purposeful choices, and to bring kids consciously into an awareness of motifs and memes and conventions that we follow in our culture to signal specific ideas or concepts or moods. All of that is really really great, and SHOULD be taught to kids - BUUUUT... it bothers me that the method to achieve this will totally wreck the flow of a good story. Grrr. I am coming at this from a performative and theatrical background, and really truly this bugs me quite a lot. My personal opinion is that this sort of work should be done with books that the reader and audience already knows extremely well. That way the first encounter with a story is always smooth and presents the story, and does justice to the narrative and pictures being a natural and cohesive unified experience (which is what I THINK most picture book authors and artists want anyway - for the work to just meld seamlessly into this delightful experience that kids love, even if they can't specify why they love it). So, book first as narrative, THEN you go can back in with the post-season analysis and really dig into the why and how and wherefore, with as much discussion and digression and not-ever-finishing-the-actual-book as you like.
Point three: Some people like being all meta about their pleasure activities, and (here's the point where I think Lambert is being a bit more universal than she ought) some people really really don't. And I think those preferences that we have as adults are present as kids. Everyone knows the trope of the annoying TV-watching friend who constantly wants to talk talk talk and overanalyze and overthink every little part of Walking Dead or Game of Thrones - and it's not a positive representation. I hate to think that an overenthusiastic Whole Book Approach during a storytime would turn a kid off of reading because they now associate pleasure reading with that piecemeal and reductive meta-critical approach, and it's not a requirement - simply another way to appreciate and enjoy this particular type of book. And I say this as someone who actually already likes to analyze and critique books and artworks - I just realize that not everyone shares that particular impulse. Not everyone is a book reviewer, and not everyone should be. Not everyone wants to think about critical art theory while they relax, and they shouldn't feel like they have to. And there is the other massive downside here - there's the presenter's opinions on this analytical approach to consider as well. This book is likely to cause a small, quiet revolution in at least some places, and I really feel sorry for any librarians and educators who are forced into this method by decree rather than inclination, or any parents doing this out of a sense of obligation towards their child's development. I feel even MORE sorry for the kids they're presenting to. As much harm could come from an individual kid being not interested in the process, infinitely more harm can come to entire classrooms or groups from a slack or grudging approach by an adult forced into presenting this Approach by a boss or by guilt. I strongly believe that you should only read books that you at least LIKE, because kids are perceptive, and for every book I personally don't like enough to tell (SkippyJon Jones, I'm looking at you) there's other people who LOVE it and can do it justice and be enthusiastic. Please please don't make presenters use a storytime format that they don't intrinsically believe to be valuable or worthwhile - it's just going to backfire.
That was an awful lot of criticism, but those three basic points are really my main hesitations. Lambert presents her points clearly and with beautifully-selected picture-book examples, and explains her reasoning and her methodology rationally. I do support her goals, and I think that her method is fundamentally sound. I don't have any desire to see this format replace or supersede "traditional" storytimes, and despite her enthusiastic proposal of this method, I don't think she really does either. There's a time and a place for reading for uninhibited pleasure and for enjoyable critical analysis, and a perfect program would incorporate both, given by adults passionate about books and reading and children's developing minds.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Tuesday Storytime: Valentines Day
I think this was my favorite trio of Valentine's Day books yet. Very happy with how they flowed together, and two of the three got checked out afterwards by attendees - that ALWAYS makes me feel warm and happy inside.
A Short History of Valentine's Day
Sally Lee (consulting editor: Gail Saunders-Smith, PhD)
ISBN: 9781491460986
Excellent nonfiction resource for the very youngest. Part of a series (Thanksgiving reviewed here, and Christmas reviewed here.)
Nicely presented, with a focus on the history rather than the religious background. Explains who Valentine (probably) was, the origin of thinking of Valentine's Day for romantic love (birds pairing off in the early spring), the dates when cards, then flowers, then candy were given, and when commercial cards became popular. Exceedingly short, direct, and factual.
The Best Thing About Valentines
Eleanor Hudson, illustrated by Mary C. Melcher
ISBN: 0439521092
Gentle pastel-colored animal children celebrate creating, sending, and receiving valentines in rhyme.
This is exceedingly similar to The Day it Rained Hearts, but this one is both more straightforward and a little bit more cutesy with short (occasionally awkwardly paced) rhyming couplets. Our furry childish friends are busy creating, sending, and getting valentines in school, and the story goes into decent detail for the length, both in illustrations and in wording.
Bear in Love
Daniel Pinkwater, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
ISBN: 9780763645694
The MOST adorable book. Bear gets a series of anonymous gifts, and leaves presents in return.
Hillenbrand has a special gift of making the most adorable illustrations. In this story, a bear and bunny share a cautious and largely anonymous courtship of gift-giving, but we focus mostly on the bear and his feelings about being given presents and of having an admirer. It's sweet and innocent and full of the delicious anticipatory and excited happiness that comes from feeling loved.
A Short History of Valentine's Day
Sally Lee (consulting editor: Gail Saunders-Smith, PhD)
ISBN: 9781491460986
Excellent nonfiction resource for the very youngest. Part of a series (Thanksgiving reviewed here, and Christmas reviewed here.)
Nicely presented, with a focus on the history rather than the religious background. Explains who Valentine (probably) was, the origin of thinking of Valentine's Day for romantic love (birds pairing off in the early spring), the dates when cards, then flowers, then candy were given, and when commercial cards became popular. Exceedingly short, direct, and factual.
The Best Thing About Valentines
Eleanor Hudson, illustrated by Mary C. Melcher
ISBN: 0439521092
Gentle pastel-colored animal children celebrate creating, sending, and receiving valentines in rhyme.
This is exceedingly similar to The Day it Rained Hearts, but this one is both more straightforward and a little bit more cutesy with short (occasionally awkwardly paced) rhyming couplets. Our furry childish friends are busy creating, sending, and getting valentines in school, and the story goes into decent detail for the length, both in illustrations and in wording.
Bear in Love
Daniel Pinkwater, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
ISBN: 9780763645694
The MOST adorable book. Bear gets a series of anonymous gifts, and leaves presents in return.
Hillenbrand has a special gift of making the most adorable illustrations. In this story, a bear and bunny share a cautious and largely anonymous courtship of gift-giving, but we focus mostly on the bear and his feelings about being given presents and of having an admirer. It's sweet and innocent and full of the delicious anticipatory and excited happiness that comes from feeling loved.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
New Arrival: Juv Nonfiction: Electrical Wizard, How Nikola Tesla Lit Up the World, Elizabeth Rusch & Oliver Dominguez
Electrical Wizard: How Nikola Tesla Lit Up the World
Elizabeth Rusch, illustrated by Oliver Dominguez
ISBN: 9780763679781
Read February 4, 2016
Candlewick Biography: excellent short bio, with notes and explanations of electrical systems.
Excellent work from the author and the illustrator to present a clear, straightforward, and kid-level biography of Tesla that doesn't shrink from some of the more grotesque elements of his career (yes, Edison's electrocution of an elephant to smear his rival makes it into both the text and the illustrations) nor from the more fantastical achievements (Tesla and Westinghouse's utterly ludicrous achievements at the Chicago World's Fair, despite (again) Edison's blockades).
The biography itself is already quite good, but the addition of sections afterwards make it even better. We have a spread "Ahead of his Time" talking about some of Tesla's more interesting (and some currently unrealized) ideas, and some of his concepts that were failures or were blocked by fears or by greed. Next up is a spread "Tesla vs. Edison: The Rivalry" that goes into a little more depth about the working relationships and conflicts between the two men, making their relationship a bit more nuanced than is immediately obvious in a kid-level text. Next comes an enormous "Scientific Notes" section that explains electricity, direct and alternating currents, and how magnets are related to electricity, illustrates and walks through the concepts behind a few basic mechanical electrical engines, talks about Tesla Coils and induction, and how the generator under Niagara Falls works. Finally a trio of research aides: an "Important Dates" page, a "Source Notes" page for direct quotes, and a "Select Biography and Further Reading" list, with books and films (!) listed as primary and secondary sources and for further information.
Elizabeth Rusch, illustrated by Oliver Dominguez
ISBN: 9780763679781
Read February 4, 2016
Candlewick Biography: excellent short bio, with notes and explanations of electrical systems.
Excellent work from the author and the illustrator to present a clear, straightforward, and kid-level biography of Tesla that doesn't shrink from some of the more grotesque elements of his career (yes, Edison's electrocution of an elephant to smear his rival makes it into both the text and the illustrations) nor from the more fantastical achievements (Tesla and Westinghouse's utterly ludicrous achievements at the Chicago World's Fair, despite (again) Edison's blockades).
The biography itself is already quite good, but the addition of sections afterwards make it even better. We have a spread "Ahead of his Time" talking about some of Tesla's more interesting (and some currently unrealized) ideas, and some of his concepts that were failures or were blocked by fears or by greed. Next up is a spread "Tesla vs. Edison: The Rivalry" that goes into a little more depth about the working relationships and conflicts between the two men, making their relationship a bit more nuanced than is immediately obvious in a kid-level text. Next comes an enormous "Scientific Notes" section that explains electricity, direct and alternating currents, and how magnets are related to electricity, illustrates and walks through the concepts behind a few basic mechanical electrical engines, talks about Tesla Coils and induction, and how the generator under Niagara Falls works. Finally a trio of research aides: an "Important Dates" page, a "Source Notes" page for direct quotes, and a "Select Biography and Further Reading" list, with books and films (!) listed as primary and secondary sources and for further information.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Romance: The Spring Bride, Anne Gracie
The Spring Bride
Anne Gracie
ISBN: 9780425259276
Read February 3, 2016
Part of the Chance Sisters quad: The Autumn Bride, The Winter Bride, and (forthcoming) The Summer Bride. This one focuses on Jane and her desperate need for security and practicality.
I felt like this one was perhaps a bit more rushed, or maybe a bit more forced, than the others. Jane's history makes her feel bound and determined to marry for stability and money: she can't trust that her sister's lucky matches will happen for her, and she's not inclined to tempt fate. She's going to have her season, marry a rich and stable gentleman, and learn to love him over time. That is, until, gentleman spy (masquerading as a tramp) Zachary Black saves her skin in an alleyway, and she, like her sisters before her, falls desperately in love.
One last sister to go, so this means that The Summer Bride will be Cockney girl Daisy, who is working hard on her dressmaker's dreams. Despite her best efforts to remain single, the rakish Flynn (the last remaining unwed friend of the first two gentleman husbands) is distracting as ever.
Anne Gracie
ISBN: 9780425259276
Read February 3, 2016
Part of the Chance Sisters quad: The Autumn Bride, The Winter Bride, and (forthcoming) The Summer Bride. This one focuses on Jane and her desperate need for security and practicality.
I felt like this one was perhaps a bit more rushed, or maybe a bit more forced, than the others. Jane's history makes her feel bound and determined to marry for stability and money: she can't trust that her sister's lucky matches will happen for her, and she's not inclined to tempt fate. She's going to have her season, marry a rich and stable gentleman, and learn to love him over time. That is, until, gentleman spy (masquerading as a tramp) Zachary Black saves her skin in an alleyway, and she, like her sisters before her, falls desperately in love.
One last sister to go, so this means that The Summer Bride will be Cockney girl Daisy, who is working hard on her dressmaker's dreams. Despite her best efforts to remain single, the rakish Flynn (the last remaining unwed friend of the first two gentleman husbands) is distracting as ever.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Tuesday Storytime: Valentines Friends
So many good books about friendships and valentines! Too hard to narrow down to just three, so I like doing multiple storytimes - there will be more love going around next week!
Friendshape
Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld (Exclamation Mark)
ISBN: 9780545436823
The duo behind the visually punny Exclamation Mark returns with a set of four shapes who are excellent friends. Previously reviewed here.
The four friends (a red rectangle, green equilateral triangle, yellow square, and light blue circle) extol the virtues of friendship in a series of visual puns and clever wordplay. For example, "Friends welcome others to join in" has the blue circle exclaiming "so glad you could stop by!" to a red octagon (get it?) while "Friends play fair and ..." has the yellow square friend at the end of those ellipses, so kids can learn the phrase "fair and square" on their own. So cute. I don't know how much the littles got out of it, but the parents had a blast.
The Day it Rained Hearts
Felicia Bond (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie)
ISBN: 0066238765
It rained hearts, so our heroine collects them to decorate and send as valentines to her friends.
This is a great story, because other than the fanciful premise of it raining hearts, the whole premise is about using resources and creating things especially for friends - to make something that would appeal to a friend specifically, not to make generic or mass-market offerings. The prosaic matter-of-fact storytelling puts the emphasis on creation and consideration of individual quirks and interests, and the illustrations hit them again, even when the text moves on. Very sweet, very straightforward, and good for a bit before Valentines Day, because of the focus on creating and sending the hearts.
No Two Alike
Keith Baker (LMNO Peas, Big Fat Hen)
ISBN: 9781442417427
More lyrical and mellow than his previous books, but lush and beautiful; both visually and to read.
Keith Baker is a fantastic artist, and I've enjoyed his concepts. His illustrations for Big Fat Hen are utterly scrumptious (I've used both it and LMNO Peas in storytimes before) so it's nice to have another by him, and I'm enjoying this meditation on friendship and individual differences very much. It's a bit of a conceptual leap for littles, but it's still beautiful, and the story flows nicely at the end of the storytime (it is VERY mellow, and very downbeat). We follow two red birds through a winterscape as they explore the idea that nothing: no two nests, no two snowflakes, no two roads or bridges or fawns or even the little red birds themselves, are exactly alike, and that's precisely how it should be. Sweet with just a tinge of melancholy.
Monday, February 8, 2016
Nonfiction: The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean
The Disappearing Spoon
Sam Kean (The Violinist's Thumb)
ISBN: 9780316051644
Read February 2, 2016
Microhistory of the elements of the periodic table, focused on interesting stories about the scientists and science surrounding each element.
I really enjoyed Kean's voice in this book. I didn't realize (despite the nearly identical covers) that he was also the author of The Violinist's Thumb, but as I read, there was a niggling familiarity with how the stories were arranged and how they called-back and referenced each other as the narrative built up. It's a neat trick, and one that I imagine is difficult to manage, and he's done it cheekily and with a lighthearted flair.
Microhistories are one of my favorite types of nonfiction, and this one is no exception. I enjoyed learning about all the weird coincidences and correlations that lead to the development of the modern periodic table and of all the elements in their current arrangements, and of the potential paths for future development. If this book had been part of my chemistry education, I might have had half a chance of figuring any of it out and being interested in it all.
Sam Kean (The Violinist's Thumb)
ISBN: 9780316051644
Read February 2, 2016
Microhistory of the elements of the periodic table, focused on interesting stories about the scientists and science surrounding each element.
I really enjoyed Kean's voice in this book. I didn't realize (despite the nearly identical covers) that he was also the author of The Violinist's Thumb, but as I read, there was a niggling familiarity with how the stories were arranged and how they called-back and referenced each other as the narrative built up. It's a neat trick, and one that I imagine is difficult to manage, and he's done it cheekily and with a lighthearted flair.
Microhistories are one of my favorite types of nonfiction, and this one is no exception. I enjoyed learning about all the weird coincidences and correlations that lead to the development of the modern periodic table and of all the elements in their current arrangements, and of the potential paths for future development. If this book had been part of my chemistry education, I might have had half a chance of figuring any of it out and being interested in it all.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Graphic Novel (Book Club Read): Notes for a War Story, Gipi
Like my recent Storytime, our Graphic Novel book club also branched into Italian territory with this interesting sort-of-biographical graphic story by the Italian artist Gipi. Sadly, neither the content nor the execution were a hit with our particular group, but the topic did spark interesting discussions about wayward teen boys and gangs.
Notes for a War Story (Originally Appunti per una storia di guerra)
Gipi
ISBN: 9781596433038
Read February 1, 2016
Follows three village boys of undetermined nationality who are impacted by a raging unspecific war that leaves their towns and villages randomly bombed into oblivion. The narrator is the "outsider" Giuliano, accompanied by the naive foster boy Christian, and led by Stephano, "little killer," the de-facto ringleader of the group. The trio (mainly due to Stephano's bravado and bluster) are quickly taken under the wing of a criminal mob and used as low-level thugs, enforcers, and collection agents in the city, basking in their "luck" at finding a job that pays good money and makes them respected. All this ends when the gang leader decides that becoming "patriots" and "freedom fighters" means essentially living the same violent criminal life, but being celebrated for it. On the day they are assigned assault rifles and sent off to actually fight in the war, Giuliano flees, and the story ends with a somewhat shaky coda of a documentary filmmaker interviewing the now grown man about his past experiences and his current sadness at not seeing his friends since that day.
Notes for a War Story (Originally Appunti per una storia di guerra)
Gipi
ISBN: 9781596433038
Read February 1, 2016
Follows three village boys of undetermined nationality who are impacted by a raging unspecific war that leaves their towns and villages randomly bombed into oblivion. The narrator is the "outsider" Giuliano, accompanied by the naive foster boy Christian, and led by Stephano, "little killer," the de-facto ringleader of the group. The trio (mainly due to Stephano's bravado and bluster) are quickly taken under the wing of a criminal mob and used as low-level thugs, enforcers, and collection agents in the city, basking in their "luck" at finding a job that pays good money and makes them respected. All this ends when the gang leader decides that becoming "patriots" and "freedom fighters" means essentially living the same violent criminal life, but being celebrated for it. On the day they are assigned assault rifles and sent off to actually fight in the war, Giuliano flees, and the story ends with a somewhat shaky coda of a documentary filmmaker interviewing the now grown man about his past experiences and his current sadness at not seeing his friends since that day.
Friday, February 5, 2016
Science Fiction: Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie
Ancillary Mercy (Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword)
Ann Leckie
ISBN: 9780316246682
Read February 1, 2016
Conclusion to the Imperial Radch trilogy.
These books are impossible to talk about without spoiling, and I find myself amazingly reticent to spoil them. All I can say is that the wide open universe of Ancillary Justice narrowed down considerably in Sword, and narrows down again in Mercy. If you like your sprawling space opera to stay at that galactic sprawling level, then perhaps these aren't for you, but if you enjoy a more character-driven study of politics and identity and power and free will and the question of Significance, then I think the narrowing of the focus in Ancillary Mercy makes for a satisfying and realistic stopping point for this particular trilogy-long story.
Ann Leckie
ISBN: 9780316246682
Read February 1, 2016
Conclusion to the Imperial Radch trilogy.
These books are impossible to talk about without spoiling, and I find myself amazingly reticent to spoil them. All I can say is that the wide open universe of Ancillary Justice narrowed down considerably in Sword, and narrows down again in Mercy. If you like your sprawling space opera to stay at that galactic sprawling level, then perhaps these aren't for you, but if you enjoy a more character-driven study of politics and identity and power and free will and the question of Significance, then I think the narrowing of the focus in Ancillary Mercy makes for a satisfying and realistic stopping point for this particular trilogy-long story.
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Nonfiction: Democratic by Design, Gabriel Metcalf
Democratic by Design
Gabriel Metcalf
ISBN: 9781137279675
Read January 31, 2016
Well-researched and passionately argued, but a bit too large-scale for my interests.
Metcalf presents a set of case-studies of communal, union, or partnership-owned organizations and initiatives in the hope of inspiring future people to use this avenue of social progressiveness to enact large-scale social change on a variety of issues. I was hoping there would be more information on smaller "commune-style" financial and economic arrangements, but this was more focused on larger businesses and in large-scale social institutions. Still interesting, but not the type of research and analysis that I was looking for.
Gabriel Metcalf
ISBN: 9781137279675
Read January 31, 2016
Well-researched and passionately argued, but a bit too large-scale for my interests.
Metcalf presents a set of case-studies of communal, union, or partnership-owned organizations and initiatives in the hope of inspiring future people to use this avenue of social progressiveness to enact large-scale social change on a variety of issues. I was hoping there would be more information on smaller "commune-style" financial and economic arrangements, but this was more focused on larger businesses and in large-scale social institutions. Still interesting, but not the type of research and analysis that I was looking for.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Magical Western: Wake of Vultures, Lila Bowen (Delilah Dawson)
Wake of Vultures
Lila Bowen
ISBN: 9780316264310
Read January 31, 2016
Nettie is half-black and half "injun" and she's been treated like a slave all her life, but that all changes when she stakes a lecherous vampire one night.
First off, Lila Bowen is actually Delilah Dawson, who I've had the pleasure of meeting a few times, and also have read her YA books HIT and Servants of the Storm. With this pseudonym, she heads out into slightly (only slightly) grimmer territory with the magical western story of Nettie Lonesome, who discovers that the black and white "facts" she learned from her disreputable and abusive "adoptive parents" don't match reality all that well.
The night Nettie dispatches a fearsome predator in the back yard, her eyes are opened to the wild and demanding magical world. She'll have to stretch and grow and learn a whole lot to make it through to the classic western showdown.
I sadly can't say a whole lot about this book without giving bits of it away, but I have to say that having Nettie so backwards and isolated and fundamentalist in her thinking gives Bowen a great way to "tell" about the weird west that she's created without it being an "as you know, Bob" situation. Nettie truly doesn't know a damn thing, but she's been tasked with a terrifying mission, and if she doesn't figure out what's going down pretty quick, she's sunk.
The supporting characters are believable and most are carefully drawn to be at least somewhat three-dimensional, given limitations of space. No one (with the positive exception of a mentor, and perhaps unsurprisingly the negative portrayal of the "adoptive parents" and big bad at the end) is presented in an unremittingly good or bad light - people have their positive and negative traits without those traits becoming shorthands for identifying white or black hats. Nettie herself finds her prejudices and stereotypes challenged and countermanded constantly through the book, and other characters have their own assumptions shattered as well. Sometimes they react positively, occasionally not. Despite the grim nature of the quest narrative, the overall sense of the character base is supportive and caring, which I figure is probably the most magical aspect of the whole story, but I'm not going to complain too hard, because it really becomes necessary to balance out the grim and gruesome evil that Nettie is forced to confront.
Also, can I say how forever grateful and happy I am that this is the first book in a series, but the storyline is totally and completely resolved. There IS a cliffhanger, but it's one that I don't actually mind. You'll have to read it to get the joke. :)
Lila Bowen
ISBN: 9780316264310
Read January 31, 2016
Nettie is half-black and half "injun" and she's been treated like a slave all her life, but that all changes when she stakes a lecherous vampire one night.
First off, Lila Bowen is actually Delilah Dawson, who I've had the pleasure of meeting a few times, and also have read her YA books HIT and Servants of the Storm. With this pseudonym, she heads out into slightly (only slightly) grimmer territory with the magical western story of Nettie Lonesome, who discovers that the black and white "facts" she learned from her disreputable and abusive "adoptive parents" don't match reality all that well.
The night Nettie dispatches a fearsome predator in the back yard, her eyes are opened to the wild and demanding magical world. She'll have to stretch and grow and learn a whole lot to make it through to the classic western showdown.
I sadly can't say a whole lot about this book without giving bits of it away, but I have to say that having Nettie so backwards and isolated and fundamentalist in her thinking gives Bowen a great way to "tell" about the weird west that she's created without it being an "as you know, Bob" situation. Nettie truly doesn't know a damn thing, but she's been tasked with a terrifying mission, and if she doesn't figure out what's going down pretty quick, she's sunk.
The supporting characters are believable and most are carefully drawn to be at least somewhat three-dimensional, given limitations of space. No one (with the positive exception of a mentor, and perhaps unsurprisingly the negative portrayal of the "adoptive parents" and big bad at the end) is presented in an unremittingly good or bad light - people have their positive and negative traits without those traits becoming shorthands for identifying white or black hats. Nettie herself finds her prejudices and stereotypes challenged and countermanded constantly through the book, and other characters have their own assumptions shattered as well. Sometimes they react positively, occasionally not. Despite the grim nature of the quest narrative, the overall sense of the character base is supportive and caring, which I figure is probably the most magical aspect of the whole story, but I'm not going to complain too hard, because it really becomes necessary to balance out the grim and gruesome evil that Nettie is forced to confront.
Also, can I say how forever grateful and happy I am that this is the first book in a series, but the storyline is totally and completely resolved. There IS a cliffhanger, but it's one that I don't actually mind. You'll have to read it to get the joke. :)
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Tuesday Storytime: Outside in the Snow
This is our last week of snowy storytimes - it would have been the whole month of January, but we had a short side-track into Italian celebrations last week.
These ended up being a leeeeeetle bit on the long side; there was much squirming and chattering of very young ones through the last story, and I was tempted to rush or elide, but I held strong and did the whole thing. I think it's good for the littlest kids to be challenged a little bit past their comfort zones sometimes, and what better time for an easy non-stressful challenge than a storytime?
The Longest Night
Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ted Lewin
ISBN: 9780823420544
Forest animals pledge to bring back the sun during a long winter night, but only the chickadee's song works.
This was very beautiful, but I think a little bit too lyrical and mystical for the little kids to grasp. Almost like a fairy tale or a creation myth, with the animals taking on archetypes and the wind acting as a guide and mentor. The winter night has been going on for far too long, and so first the crow, then the moose, then the fox all try to use their various abilities to bring back the sun. Nothing works until the small chickadee offers the only thing she can do: to sing her song "dee dee dee." The animals mock her efforts until the sun rouses, curious about the singing, and brings the morning and the spring. Strangely solemn and almost religious, this tale feels old and hoary and mythological.
Outside
Deirdre Gill
ISBN: 9780547910659
A boy has fantastical adventures in the snowy landscape outside his house.
The only thing I don't like about this book is that there are occasional wordless pages or spreads, and while that is fine in an entirely wordless book, or even in some books where the page-turning impulse carries the storyteller and the audience past the wordless sections on the strength of what came before, this tale is so slight and wispy that the wordless pages just sort of hang listless in the narrative. I was tempted to narrate them, and I did at least comment on the illustrations, which I usually don't do mid-story, but I needed something to keep the tempo at least moving forward. Other than that, this is a sweet middling-short story about a boy using his imagination and hard work to create fantastical playgrounds in the snow.
Over and Under the Snow
Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal
ISBN: 9780811867849
A boy skiis and has a cookout in a wintry landscape, while learning about all the creatures living or sleeping below the blanket of snow.
This is the one the littles got restless through, and it was a bit of a slog. It's longer than it seems, and it is hard to pick up the tempo - it WANTS to be slow and gentle and cool like snow in the woods, and trying to hurry it along didn't really work very well. Our boy skiis and wanders in the woods and talks about various woodland creatures living in or under the snow, as he goes through a VERY LONG day before settling into bed himself. Factual enough to qualify as nonfiction, there's an author's note at the end about the various animals and how they manage to live and thrive under the snow.
These ended up being a leeeeeetle bit on the long side; there was much squirming and chattering of very young ones through the last story, and I was tempted to rush or elide, but I held strong and did the whole thing. I think it's good for the littlest kids to be challenged a little bit past their comfort zones sometimes, and what better time for an easy non-stressful challenge than a storytime?
The Longest Night
Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ted Lewin
ISBN: 9780823420544
Forest animals pledge to bring back the sun during a long winter night, but only the chickadee's song works.
This was very beautiful, but I think a little bit too lyrical and mystical for the little kids to grasp. Almost like a fairy tale or a creation myth, with the animals taking on archetypes and the wind acting as a guide and mentor. The winter night has been going on for far too long, and so first the crow, then the moose, then the fox all try to use their various abilities to bring back the sun. Nothing works until the small chickadee offers the only thing she can do: to sing her song "dee dee dee." The animals mock her efforts until the sun rouses, curious about the singing, and brings the morning and the spring. Strangely solemn and almost religious, this tale feels old and hoary and mythological.
Outside
Deirdre Gill
ISBN: 9780547910659
A boy has fantastical adventures in the snowy landscape outside his house.
The only thing I don't like about this book is that there are occasional wordless pages or spreads, and while that is fine in an entirely wordless book, or even in some books where the page-turning impulse carries the storyteller and the audience past the wordless sections on the strength of what came before, this tale is so slight and wispy that the wordless pages just sort of hang listless in the narrative. I was tempted to narrate them, and I did at least comment on the illustrations, which I usually don't do mid-story, but I needed something to keep the tempo at least moving forward. Other than that, this is a sweet middling-short story about a boy using his imagination and hard work to create fantastical playgrounds in the snow.
Over and Under the Snow
Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal
ISBN: 9780811867849
A boy skiis and has a cookout in a wintry landscape, while learning about all the creatures living or sleeping below the blanket of snow.
This is the one the littles got restless through, and it was a bit of a slog. It's longer than it seems, and it is hard to pick up the tempo - it WANTS to be slow and gentle and cool like snow in the woods, and trying to hurry it along didn't really work very well. Our boy skiis and wanders in the woods and talks about various woodland creatures living in or under the snow, as he goes through a VERY LONG day before settling into bed himself. Factual enough to qualify as nonfiction, there's an author's note at the end about the various animals and how they manage to live and thrive under the snow.
Monday, February 1, 2016
Nonfiction: Works Well With Others, Ross McCammon
Works Well With Others
Ross McCammon
ISBN: 9780525955023
Read January 30, 2016
A professional etiquette guide disguised as a funny memoir, or perhaps the other way around?
McCammon sticks with the short form here, in snappy little short chapters that are practically magazine articles themselves. In fact, many of his features or interviews in Esquire are longer than these little chaplets, most of them value-added with self-mocking questionnaires and snarky personality evaluation brackets.
His beautifully self-aware and self-deprecating tone is perfect for giving advice, and he gives it good. Not one to get bogged down in lists (at least not serious ones; tongue-in-cheek ones abound) or prescriptive categories of DOs or DON'Ts (although, again, you'll find them scattered mockingly throughout) he simply offers tales of his own experiences during his first year at Esquire, and draws important fundamental self-representational guidelines from the stories.
Be honest (but not on Twitter, unless you are a lifestyle brand).
Be curious.
Be genuine.
Be passionate (but not too passionate because that weirds people out).
First days on the job and first meetings with recruiters are always awkward, for everyone involved. Don't waste mental/emotional energy stewing in the miserable memories.
Put your best foot (dressed as best as you feel capable of, for your own benefit) forward.
Dn't be afraid of making mistakes.
I especially liked his brutal takedown of "Failure Culture" where he eviscerates the idea that "failure is positive" and that you should "embrace/seek/crave failure." What they really mean, he argues persuasively, is that "mistakes" are to be embraced and learned from. Actual failures are miserable, abject, humiliating, and basically serve as giant red psychic flags to NEVER DO THAT AGAIN.
A fun short read, and a nice change from the usual order of self-help books out there, which are either relentlessly psychoanalytical or brutally prescriptive. He basically spends the book saying: here's where I screwed this up, and this is why, but it goes much better if you do this instead, or occasionally (not as often, because bragging doesn't fit the tone as well) here's where I did this thing really right, and you can too!
Ross McCammon
ISBN: 9780525955023
Read January 30, 2016
A professional etiquette guide disguised as a funny memoir, or perhaps the other way around?
McCammon sticks with the short form here, in snappy little short chapters that are practically magazine articles themselves. In fact, many of his features or interviews in Esquire are longer than these little chaplets, most of them value-added with self-mocking questionnaires and snarky personality evaluation brackets.
His beautifully self-aware and self-deprecating tone is perfect for giving advice, and he gives it good. Not one to get bogged down in lists (at least not serious ones; tongue-in-cheek ones abound) or prescriptive categories of DOs or DON'Ts (although, again, you'll find them scattered mockingly throughout) he simply offers tales of his own experiences during his first year at Esquire, and draws important fundamental self-representational guidelines from the stories.
Be honest (but not on Twitter, unless you are a lifestyle brand).
Be curious.
Be genuine.
Be passionate (but not too passionate because that weirds people out).
First days on the job and first meetings with recruiters are always awkward, for everyone involved. Don't waste mental/emotional energy stewing in the miserable memories.
Put your best foot (dressed as best as you feel capable of, for your own benefit) forward.
Dn't be afraid of making mistakes.
I especially liked his brutal takedown of "Failure Culture" where he eviscerates the idea that "failure is positive" and that you should "embrace/seek/crave failure." What they really mean, he argues persuasively, is that "mistakes" are to be embraced and learned from. Actual failures are miserable, abject, humiliating, and basically serve as giant red psychic flags to NEVER DO THAT AGAIN.
A fun short read, and a nice change from the usual order of self-help books out there, which are either relentlessly psychoanalytical or brutally prescriptive. He basically spends the book saying: here's where I screwed this up, and this is why, but it goes much better if you do this instead, or occasionally (not as often, because bragging doesn't fit the tone as well) here's where I did this thing really right, and you can too!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)