Browsing Archive: June, 2012
Posted by Lydia Schultz on Wednesday, June 27, 2012,
“Waiting for the Magic” is a sweet take on the ubiquitous
talking animal story. Mac Lachlan’s tale
with believable characters, both human and animal, is enhanced by the charming
illustrations by Amy June Bates. The
novel’s central message is that, for true communication to take place within a
family, people need to listen. And here,
in the family of human characters of William and Elinor, listening enables a
person to hear the animals as well.
As the book opens, William and El...
Posted by Lydia Schultz on Tuesday, June 26, 2012,
Okay, I am starting with my quibbles first. “Around the World” is categorized both by our
list and by my local public library as a “graphic novel.” Yet most of the book is based on fact and
research. This left me wondering – is
the category labeling a result of the form, or is there some
fictionalizing going on that isn’t immediately apparent?
The unifying theme, such as it is, in “Around the World” is
the idea of traveling around the world as individuals. Phelan taps...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Lydia Schultz on Thursday, June 21, 2012,
“Soldier Bear” is an
entertaining but curious amalgam of fiction and history. Set mostly during World War 2, “Soldier Bear”
follows a group of Polish soldiers, displaced by the Nazi invasion of their
homeland, and their animal mascot, Voytek the bear.
This book is billed as
fiction, but draws on an actual historical event. The author includes photos of Voytek and some
of human and animal friends. As an
adult, the choice to call this fiction made me wonder—how much is true? ...
Posted by Lydia Schultz on Wednesday, June 20, 2012,
like historical fiction.
Sometimes children like it too.
But often, I find, children’s historical fiction reads as if it were
written according to some curricular checklist, to fit a particular set of
standards in the most careful and efficient fashion possible.
“Bread and Roses, Too” by Katherine Paterson seems just such
a novel. Here’s the checklist I
envisioned.
- Will
it appeal to both boys and girls?
Yes, it will, because it ...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Lydia Schultz on Tuesday, June 19, 2012,
Like Marilyn Singer’s “Mirror, Mirror” before it, Bob
Raczka’s “Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word” uses a special,
somewhat gimmicky hook to interest reader in poetry. Singer uses the form of the reverso (see my
review here),
while Raczka creates poems out of single words.
In each case, the poet’s self-imposed restrictions provide a special
challenge to making meaning and art.
Raczka’s technique inherently limits the poem’s topic,
length, and depth. ...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Lydia Schultz on Friday, June 15, 2012,
Don Brown's "America Is Under Attack" provides an important
resource for students in this age group. I taught 5th grade Language Arts
this past year (I am usually primarily a Library / Media teacher), and I didn't
realize just how little students know about the actual events of September 11,
2011. Of course, this should not be a surprise, since many of them were
either infants or not even born yet.
As adults we often have a personal link to historic even...
I am a school librarian and part-time college English teacher. I hope to review many of the books I read, both in the context of my research about children's books as well as in my pursuit of recreational reading. I want to share what I read--so what else is new?
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