new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts from All 1518 Blogs, dated 9/27/2012 [Help]
Results 1 - 25 of 162How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts from the 1518 blogs currently in the JacketFlap Blog Reader. These posts are sorted by date, with the most recent posts at the top of the page. There are hundreds of new posts here every day on a variety of topics related to children's publishing. We have provided a variety of ways for you to navigate through the blog posts. Click the dates in the calendar on the left to view blog posts from a particular date. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. Click a tag in the right column to view posts about that topic. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a "More Posts from this Blog" link in any individual post.
i was in high street store marks & spencer last week and spotted a new range of kitchen storage tins. the first collection is called 'kitchen text' and will also be used on tea towels, mugs and trays. the second is a lovely folk design from their 'caravan' collection. also shown are various mugs and a lovely herb print tea towel.
vicky yorke is a freelance surface pattern designer from the west midlands who works creating designs for clients for homeware / kitchenware and stationery. vicky has a form of leukaemia, but am extremely lucky because medication means that she is able to continue working in the job she loves. through spending time at her local hospital care unit vicky knows the impact cancer can have and so
By: Sue Bursztynski,
on 9/27/2012
Blog:
The Great Raven
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Add a tag
This is the fifth in Alyxandra Harvey's Drake Chronicles,about the likeable Drake family, vampire couple Liam and Helena and their eight children. The Drake children are human till their sixteenth birthdays, then turn - if they're lucky and don't die in the process. Frankly, I don't know how someone who is technically dead could have sex let alone produce children, but this series has been so entertaining I was happy to suspend disbelief. With luck, cheerful scientist Uncle Geoffrey Drake will be able to work it out and explain it before the end of the series. The Drakes don't kill anyone with the possible exception of Hel-Blar, unlucky vampires who have been infected with something that turns them blue, gives them extra sets of fangs and makes them insane, causing them to attack anything that moves, including each other. Actually, the vampires in the district of Violet Hill, which has as many scary beings as Sunnydale, tend to carry stakes and crossbows as a routine matter.
If you haven't been following this series but would like to, stop here and read the first four novels, without which this one will make no sense. If you have, you'll know that at the cliffhanger end of Bleeding Hearts Drake daughter Solange attacked her human boyfriend, Kieran. Now she is starting to act even stranger, allowing herself to be persuaded to drink blood from the veins of "bloodslaves", humans who have an addiction to being bitten, who offer their blood freely to vampires, and listening to an inner voice that may not be herself. Much can happen during Blood Moon, an international vampire conference happening in sleepy Violet Hill. These vamps have political disagreements, from whether or not vampires should co-operate with the vampire-hunting organisation Helios-Ra, which stays away from vampires who don't kill anyone, to who should be in charge. The only thing keeping them from going for each other's jugulars is the fact that the penalty is staking.
This series, till now, has had plenty of humour, which is what attracted me to it; as a teacher-librarian who reads a lot of YA fiction, including stacks of paranormal romance, I am relieved to find a series whose author is clearly a Buffy fan and whose characters have wit and charm. This novel still has some humour, mostly in the chapters seen from the viewpoint of Lucy, Solange's human best friend, who is now at the Helios Ra high school which, believe it or not, has an annual senior prom( Lucy wonders if they wear glittery cargo pants on the night). But on the whole it's becoming darker - much darker. One of the characters is tortured. Solange is not her usual self though she is horrified at what she did to Kieran. Lucy is hit on the head a number of times(and seems to recover rather quickly). And the novel ends on another cliffhanger, with some unexplained matters that had me saying, "Hang on, how did he...?"
I have no doubt that my students who have been following the series will pounce on this with cries of glee and enjoy it very much. I preferred the humour, but at least there are no soppy heroines clinging to their male vampire boyfriends, unless the bloodslaves are a sendup of regular paranormal heroines, which, from what I have seen in this author's other books, wouldn't surprise me.
And the good news is that after that cliffhanger is a Drake Chronicles novelette, "Lost Girls," which shows the sixteen year old Helena, who has just met Liam. Helena is a street kid, something I wouldn't have expected, but it does show her as a gutsy young fighter who is a member of a girl gang that hunts vampires who have been killing girls in her town. We also meet the young Scottish bikie Bruno, one day to be the Drakes' security chief; he is just twenty. The book is worth getting for this story alone.
Early sketch and final spread from Klaas Verplancke’s Applesauce
(Click to enlarge second image)
This morning over at
Kirkus, I write about
Esmé Raji Codell’s Seed by Seed: The Legend and Legacy of John “Appleseed” Chapman, illustrated by
Lynne Rae Perkins. That link will be
here.
* * *
Last week, I wrote about Klaas Verplancke’s Applesauce, a 2010 Belgian import published here in the States by Groundwood Books this past July. That link is here.
This morning, I’ve got some spreads from the book, and Klaas also generously shares some early ballpoint-pen sketches. The first three images are character studies based on a self-portrait drawn by Klaas’s son Pieterjan, pictured here, whose questions were the inspiration for the book.
The rest of the art is below. Enjoy. (more…)
 |
| Rich Villar adjust the mic for Librotraficante and banned book author, Martín Espada |
The Decisive Act: On Orwell, Arizona, and 50 For Freedom
by Rich Villar, special to La Bola
They didn't show up, and I shouldn't be surprised. A press release was generated, an email address and phone number was distributed, the messages went to the right people, and my phone didn't ring, and no messages hit my inbox. None of them showed up, and I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, because there are always more important things to be discussed, like Mitt Romney's ignorance about the physics of airplane cabin pressure, or striking football referees, or the technical specs behind the iPhone 5.
There will be no articles written, no reporting, no witness from the press (except for what we do
on our own, clearly). They've got to report on the Presidential election, and the issues surrounding our economy, and health care, and illegal immigration. No time for a bunch of rabble rousers talking about banned books, books you can still buy on Amazon. Because if you can still buy things on Amazon, then all is well.
Did you know that Amazon once
bannedGeorge Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm? Of all the books to ban. Supposedly it was a dispute over rights, but it led to a massive outcry—similar, it could be said, to the outcry over Tucson's book ban. But it's okay, Amazon said at the time, because it offered refunds to the buyers. Point being, the technology to control what you read exists. Point being, if Arizona had known this sooner, perhaps they wouldn't have to physically remove any books from the classroom.
Let's be clear. The issues in Arizona are only peripherally about books. Though it should be said, the first thing you do—if your aim to disappear a nation—is to throw their literature in the trash. Burn it, ban it, box it, just don't read it. And so they did just that, Arizona: they banned the books, and they boxed the books, and they made the Mexican-American Studies program in Tucson disappear, along with their teachers, along with any mention of it in the schools. Ah, but they told us, they reassured us, that the books are not banned. They just can't be used to teach Mexican-Americans about being Mexican-American. And they told the rest of their teachers, that any attempt to teach any of the banned literature, all 80 titles on the list (it should scare you, to death, that there's a banned books list, and that it used to be a curriculum), could result in their termination, should any complaint about their rabble-rousing content be raised by a concerned parent. Or, anyone, really.
This is where the story ended, even after Tony Diaz and the group Librotraficante had the audacity to quote the law in public, show its unconstitutional application toward one group of people, report to us the students' discontent, and organize a series of panels and lectures around the years-long battle between Arizona and the teachers, which is still ongoing in the courts. They told us about the school district suing the former teachers for damages. They told us about the threats to other people's jobs, to keep them in line, to silence them. And they (meaning Luis Urrea) told us about the Orwellian implications of banning books, unbanning Shakespeare, and rewriting history, and covering themselves in doublethink and Newspeak.
 |
| Aurora Anaya-Cerda, owner of La Casa Azul Bookstore welcomes the SRO crowd, along with Rich Villar |
We gathered, though the press did not, last Friday at the 50 For Freedom of Speech reading, because this is not simply about banning books. Banned author Martín Espada knows that; which is why, when I asked him to do the reading, he brought himself from Amherst, Masschusetts, on his own dime, to be with us, the very night before another reading in Boston. And banned author Luis Urrea knows that; that's why he drove straight to La Casa Azul from the airport when Tony Diaz made the call. (And Tony flew up from Houston himself.) It's about freedom, the fundamental right to know that down is down, and up is up, and that 2 + 2 = 4.
 |
| Sergio Troncoso, Tony Díaz, Martín Espada, Melinda Palacio, Luis Alberto Urrea |
What do you think it means when a government entity does not want you to read a book called 500 Years of Chicano History? Do you honestly believe it has anything to do with the ideology of the authors? Has anyone in the state of Arizona actually met these authors on the banned list? They are not concerned with how well the students do in school. They've admitted that much: despite the success of the program in sending children to college, the program was cancelled anyway. The state of Arizona is concerned with what, and how, children learn in school. But it is not the facts they're concerned about, specifically. It's the narrative they're worried about. The story. They are concerned, as Big Brother was concerned, with controlling the past; as Orwell points out to us, whoever controls the past controls the future.
The United States has a past that it would like to forget. The United States has, in its past, summarily executed brown people, Hispanics and Latinos from every walk of life. The trouble for Arizona, and everywhere else, is that there are history scholars, activists, students, thinking people, some with U.S. college educations, who had the audacity to write textbooks, and to think to themselves the following: Hispanics and Latinos did not drop from the clear blue sky, or from some mystical war-drawn border. In Arizona, we're actually learning the same story again, about whitewashed history, and changed facts, and misleading narrative. We're learning about context, the same kind of context that created activists like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, Pedro Albizu Campos, Lolita Lebron, and James Baldwin, who was also banned in Arizona. Today, it's Mexican-Americans. Take you pick as to who's next. Who's due, as it were. Where the fire will be next time.
If Chicanos have a context, and a history, before the advent of white supremacy, before the advent of European conquest or Pax Americana, there might be a reason for them to walk a little straighter, to understand their histories in context, to see themselves in a continuum from Aztlan, to zoot suits, to The House on Mango Street. 500 years ago, Chicanos existed. Africa existed. Latinos existed. They had just different names. When will we learn these names?
And when will the media learn to write long pieces about the systemic dismantling of civil rights? When will they show up to poetry readings by authors on the banned list, in community spaces like La Casa Azul bookstore, in other states besides Arizona and Texas? When will they tell you about Latinos uniting against their own genocide? When will they tell you about the counterspells being cast by poets and writers, the ones who still believe in language, and history, and meaning, and roots?
Maybe when they find themselves being downsized, or commanded what to say, by their bosses, by their governments, by financial concerns. Maybe that day is already here.
What's left for us, poets, Latinos, is to wake up and understand what is happening, to understand it in the context of lightning-fast information being passed and passed over. We have to speak, and we have to speak often, in new ways and old ways, to keep these fights fresh. And we must always be ready to tell the world our history, never tiring of the truth, never weary when people tell you they don't get it. Never scared when the media doesn't show up.
 |
| Rich Villar at La Casa Azul (Luis Urrea posing for another photo in background) |
And we have to remember love: that's what was present in massive amounts last Friday at the Casa Azul, and in many places around the country, reading banned literature out loud, casting counterspells into the universe to reverse the trends, defy conventional wisdom, and survive the way we always have. We have to remember love because our children thrive on it, because we thrive on it, because we will not become automatons unless we allow ourselves to be. We have to remember love, because love banishes indifference, and because love will keep us rooted, our histories intact, our people whole.
Remember love, now and until the day you die, by reading every book that the state of Arizona tells you not to. Read them, and quote from them, and steep your children in them. Love every day, and do not give in to indifference.
While you're at it, write some of these things down.
"To mark the paper was the decisive act."
–George Orwell, 1984
***
Some of Melinda's photos from last weekend's Brooklyn Book Festival
 |
| Melinda Palacio works the crowd at the Brooklyn Book Festival |
 |
| Lucrecia Guerrero, Luis Alberto Urrea, Melinda Palacio, Toni Margarita Plummer, and Reyna Grande at the Brooklyn Book Festival |
 |
| A trip to Brooklyn would not be complete without a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. |
 |
| Melinda Palacio and Reyna Grande sightsee. |
 |
| Toni Margarita Plummer and Melinda Palacio |
La Bloga's Melinda Palacio will make a return trip to New York for the
Las Comadres y Compadres Writers Conference, Saturday, October 6 in Brooklyn, NY. Don't miss the poetry panel moderated by Rich Villar.
Bloguero Garcia en Albuquerque mañana
LaBloga-ero Rudy Ch. Garcia will do a reading & signing of his Chicano fantasy novel tomorrow Sat. Sept. 29th at 2:00pm in the National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th St. SW, in Albuquerque. Please inform anyone you think might be interested. The Closet of Discarded Dreams on sale for $16. (NHCC contact Greta Pullen 505-724-4752)
Jake Short A.N.T. Farm Interview Part II
We know you love your A.N.T. Farm, and love your boy Jake Short, so here we are back with another interview! (Here is Part I in case you missed it.) Jake plays Fletcher on A.N.T. Farm. He’s the artistic genius, master sculptor, painter, all-around artist who is not-so-secretly in love with Chyna. We caught up with him to chat about some funny stuff and some serious stuff.
Q: Do you have a personal motto or favorite quote? Jake: I would say my favorite quote is, “Persevere.” I mean, I’ve never given up in the acting business and that’s one of the hardest things because there’s a lot of rejection and negative comments. You just gotta live through that.
Ratha: Well we’re glad you stuck with it!
Q: Do you have an unusual talent that people don’t know about?
Jake: Um, I can touch my tongue to my nose. When I first started trying it I couldn’t do it, but I kept trying and trying until I could do it.
Ratha: He DOES persevere!
Jake: Then when I really could do it, I could pick my nose.
Ratha: Oh my!
Q: Who is the person you look up to the most?
Jake: My brother. He’s just sort of always been there for me, and I love him to death. He’s 19 and in college studying business.
Q: If you could make your own flavor of ice cream, what would be in it?
Jake: Bacon-flavored ice cream. And there would be syrup on it.
Q: What would you call it?
Jake: Um, Bacon ice cream.
Ratha: How cool! Jake loves bacon too!
Q: Tell us about your experiences with bullying.
Jake: I’ve been bullied in the past. I think it’s been around so long but I think it’s gotten progressively worse, and more deaths have come from it. I was actually bullied when I was in 4th grade and had a lot of kids who just didn’t like me.
I was a short kid and my last name is Short. And people, when they find something that bothers you, they just want to keep repeating it to make you more upset so they can get a rise out of you. That’s what bullies want. Either they just don’t realize they’re doing it, or something’s wrong like with their family. Or they have to be mean because they have some sort of anger they can’t express.
People teased me a lot, and I would go home and I’d be like, “Mom, they teased me,” and I would cry and I’d be like, “It’s so upsetting. People are not nice to me.” My mom helped me and my grandma helped me through it. Then I just sort of tried to ignore it.
Q: Do you have any suggestions on what a kid should do?
Jake: Sometimes if you talk to the bully. . . I mean, usually if you confront them, they become at a loss for words. And have a friend back you up if you need it.
I think it’s so great Jake can speak on something so real. Have you ever been bullied, or even played the part of a bully? Let us know your perspective, and what you think of our guy Jake Short. Drop a line in the Comments below. Until next time.
—Ratha, Stacks Writer
By: Michael Thorn,
on 9/27/2012
Blog:
ACHOCKABLOG
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Reviews,
Add a tag
Outstanding Teenage Novel of The Autumn: Lorna Bradbury
The outstanding teenage novel of the autumn, arresting and original and written in a singular voice, is Sally Gardner's Maggot Moon, the first book from the new publisher on the block, Hot Key Books. Narrated by a boy with dyslexia, Standish Treadwell, it takes you inside the workings of his mind (something Gardner is well-placed to do as a dyslexic herself, and which the enhanced iBook for iPad brings vividly to life), as well as offering up something much darker: a parable about the perils of totalitarianism. Despite its simple language, it's a disturbing read, but it also has a hopeful message - that a teenager, especially one with dyslexia, can have agency in the world. LORNA BRADBURY, Telegraph
Unstructured time is INCREDIBLY valuable...
Have you see the
September issue of ALA's Book Links magazine?
J. Patrick Lewis, the current Children's Poet Laureate, agreed to an interview and shares his thoughts about history, research, and mixing humor and poetry. As a bonus, here are few of his responses (and questions) that we didn't have room for in the magazine.
SV: Two of your social studies-themed poetry works are collaborations (Castles: Old Stone Poems
with Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Self Portrait with Seven Fingers: A Life of Marc Chagall in Verse
with Jane Yolen). Is collaborating with a fellow poet any different when the topic is historical in focus? JPL: What I did with Rebecca and and am doing with Jane (as well as other poets, forthcoming) is not true back-and-forth rewriting of a single poem. An exception was
Birds on a Wire: A Renga ‘Round the Town, in which Paul B. Janeczko and I follow each other’s short Japanese verses, one after another, to tell a story. But a better description would be to say that most of these two-author books were simply co-authored. Each poet wrote approximately half of the poems in the collection. Occasionally, one of us might raise a question or make a suggestion to the other poet, but in general it was not anything so grand as a T.S. Eliot-Ezra Pound kind of give-and-take.
Deciding on the topic or tone is mostly a matter of knowing each other’s body of work, and therefore knowing what will or will not work. When Douglas Florian and I decided to do a collection together (forthcoming in 2013), it was obvious from the start that we would not choose a “serious” theme. Until our latest endeavor (our seventh, just finished), Jane Yolen and I had written six manuscripts, only half of them accepted for publication. Jane and I are both attracted to themes that range from the serious (Marc Chagall) to the humorous (twins, animal epitaphs), so one of us comes up with a book idea, and we jaw about it until our excitement grows to fever pitch, and then we’re off and running.
[Look for two additional collaborations between Lewis and Yolen out this year: 1. Lewis, J. Patrick and Yolen, Jane. 2012.
Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs. Ill. by Jeffrey Timmins. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
2. Lewis, J. Patrick and Yolen, Jane. 2012.
Take Two! A Celebration of Twins. Ill. by Sophie Blackall. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.]
SV: When it comes to tackling American history in poetry, how do U.S. militarism, patriotism, and politics influence your choices?JPL: I make no attempt to deny my unreconstructed liberalism. At the same time, the didactic poem that wears its heart on it sleeve is destined for deserved oblivion. Poems ought not to proselytize. As a Ph.D. in economics, teachers have asked me to write nonfiction books that combine economics and poetry. That’s been done but not by me. Oil and water would make better companions. And the same thing is true of poetry and politics. Though I confess I am working on a book with another poet about the march on Washington and Dr. King’s “dream speech,” a seminal event in our history.
Lewis has nearly 100 more works of poetry for young people since then featuring everything from narrative poems to limericks, riddles, haiku, acrostics, and sonnets. He is very productive with new works published every year. Besides his collaborations with Jane Yolen (mentioned above), look for these.
Earlier this year, he published:Brainteaser math poems:Lewis, J. Patrick. 2012.
Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie: Math Puzzlers in Classic Poems. Ill. by Michael Slack. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Clever nature riddle poems:Lewis, J. Patrick. 2012.
What’s Looking at You Kid? Ill. by Renee Graef. Sleeping Bear Press.
And new this fall, look for:An amazing edited anthology of animal poems:Lewis, J. Patrick. Ed. 2012.
Book of Animal Poetry. Washington DC: National Geographic.
See the clever video trailer for the book
here.
A hilarious Silverstein-ish collection:Lewis, J. Patrick. 2012.
If You Were a Chocolate Mustache. Ill. by Matt Cordell. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
A moving picture book poetry showcase:Lewis, J. Patrick. 2012.
When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders. San Francisco: Chronicle.
STRATEGIES In the
Book Links article, I also included a variety of activities to engage students in reading, sharing, exploring, and expanding upon Lewis's poetry. (In
Book Links, they're even linked to Common Core standards.) Here you go!
Poetry TableauxMake historical poetry come to life by creating frozen scenes of dramatic interpretation with poetry tableaux. Students can browse Lewis’s many collections of historically-themed poetry to select a favorite poem moment in history and then work with a small group to create a tableau, posing in a scene that reflects the “story” in the poem. For example, the photographs illustrating T
he Brothers' War: Civil War Voices in Verse provide clues on how to pose the scene suggested by the poem, “Down on the Plantation.” A small group of students can cluster “stooping” and poised in a pent, chopping motion. Simple props such as cotton balls, pillow case “sacks,” and straw hats can add to the impact. Or for “The Blockade of Charleston” in Lewis’s
Blackbeard, the Pirate King, a small group might crouch as a band of pirates with one standing in the lead and a few “hostages” trembling fearfully. Film or photograph each tableau along with recording an oral reading of the accompanying poem.
Be the PoemPoem biographies are a recent trend with poets like Margarita Engle, Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, Charles R. Smith and Carole Boston Weatherford telling life stories of real people in history through poetry. Add J. Patrick Lewis to that list with his many individual and collective biographies-in-poems:
- Self Portrait with Seven Fingers: A Life of Marc Chagall in Verse (with Jane Yolen),
- Freedom Like Sunlight: Praisesongs for Black Americans,
- Galileo’s Universe,
- Heroes and She-Roes: Poems of Amazing and Everyday Heroes,
- Vherses: A Celebration of Outstanding Women,
- Black Cat Bone: The Life of Blues Legend Robert Johnson,
- Blackbeard, the Pirate King,
- Michelangelo’s World, and
- When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders.
Students can choose a poem about a favorite individual and create or assemble a simple costume to bring their person to life through a dramatic reading. Photograph them in costume and post their images alongside the poems.
The Art of HistoryMany works of poetry are illustrated with art from the time period to provide a historical connection as Lewis does with pirate paintings by N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle in his Blackbeard poem collection. Still other books feature artists and their art to explore the times in which they live, as Lewis does with
Michelangelo’s World. Students can try “ekphrastic” writing-- poems inspired by art—beginning with pictures from history (via Smithsonian, Shorpy, or Getty Images) or current events (at Tumblr,
National Geographic, or
Time Magazine’s LightBox). For example, look at Lewis’s
Self Portrait with Seven Fingers: A Life of Marc Chagall in Verse, co-authored with Jane Yolen. His poem, “I and the Village” shares its title with the Marc Chagall painting that inspired it and lists the items the viewer sees in the surreal artwork: a milkmaid, cow’s head, peasant, blossom sprig, green face, beginning each line with, “I”— “I hailed,” “I saw,” “I watched,” etc. Students can choose their art or photographic images and then describe them in list poems or create narrative poems suggested by the stories they imagine in the art.
Place PoemsStudents can "travel by poem," as Lewis says, learning about interesting places around the globe through geography-themed poems in his books,
A World of Wonders, and
Good Mornin’, Ms. America: The U.S.A. in Verse as well as such anthologies as
Got Geography by Lee Bennett Hopkins and
Tour America by Diane Siebert. Invite students to locate these "spaces and places to be" on a (poetry) map and research them in real time via Google Earth. Mount a large paper world map on a bulletin board or wall and put pushpins in each location for which the students can find a “place” poem. Poke the pin through a small strip of paper displaying the poem title/location, such as Lewis’s “Golden Gate Bridge” and “Empire State Building” from
Monumental Verses and “Tower of London” and “Catherine’s Palace” from
Castles: Old Stone Poems, for example.
Oddities and TriviaPoems can be about anything, as Lewis reminds us, even bizarre facts, strange trivia, and world records, as you’ll see in Lewis’s
A Burst of Firsts and The World’s Greatest. These poems are also interactive as they invite guessing, fact checking, and “believe it or not” sharing. Students can partner with a buddy to research and write their own trivia-based poems, experimenting with creating a “found” poem using key facts and phrases. Lewis tackles oddities such as the longest traffic jam, the biggest potato, and the most live scorpions eaten by a human. Students can browse the latest
Guinness Book of World Records to find their own fascinating topic. The tallest man, for example, might yield a poem based on these facts and phrases: “8 feet tall,” “only 10 cases” “widest hand span ever,” “largest feet on a living person,” “a huge surprise,” and more.
If you weren't already a fan of J. Patrick Lewis's poetry, this year's output alone should convince you on his talents!
Now, be sure to see what else is going on this Poetry Friday at
Paper Tigers!
Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2012. All rights reserved.
I have no teaching qualifications. I'm not an educational expert. But simply through being a children’s writer (and in addition, a parent) I’ve been drawn into taking an interest in the latest raft of proposals about our children’s education.
It started with a phone call from my local radio station, BBC Radio Leeds. What did I think about children learning poetry by heart, they asked. Huh? Was my highly articulate reply. The truth was I didn’t have a worked out opinion, but learning poetry by heart is one of the proposals in the new Gove paper on primary education, and so (the radio station reckoned, not unreasonably) as a children’s writer, and one who regularly goes into schools, I really ought to have a view.
So, I read the proposals. I went on air. And I’ve been stunned by the conviction – almost vitriol – that seems to characterise the debate. Learning poetry was an essential art, inducting children into the rhythm of the language, giving them discipline and the lasting gift of verse that their grandparents enjoyed, one side thundered. Drilling kids in poetry was a regressive step, designed to humiliate them, and destroy their love of learning, thundered the other. The trouble is, as with most educational debates, it never seems to me as cut and dried as the opposing camps suggest. It could be a good idea. But a lot depends on the way it’s done.
Around the same time, the Children’s Laureate, Michael Rosen, was circulating a petition for children’s writers to sign, condemning the provisions on phonics in the same government document. (Read the petition here.) Once more, I felt uncomfortable. Rosen is one of the most articulate critics of Gove’s approach to education in general.
But...my own impression is that phonics can be helpful. I doubt that - as Rosen sometimes seems to imply – exposure to storytelling and being surrounded by books is enough to get kids reading. Not at first. I’ve watched my own child learn to read. I’ve talked to other parents. And I’ve talked to dyslexia tutors, who often advocate a structured approach.
Above all, as a writer, I’ve visited plenty of primary schools, and met the children who are struggling to read at a level appropriate to their age. That’s desperately sad.
It’s left me feeling that, as a children’s writer, I’m not confident to weigh in on reading methodologies. The important thing is not ideology, but what works. I’d like others to make that decision, based on the very best evidence out there. (Not an easy task I know.)
Where I DO have a strong conviction, and where I strongly agree with Michael Rosen’s petition, is on the importance of reading for pleasure. Once children have mastered the basics of reading – by whatever methodology – they need to enjoy it. Otherwise they won’t read. And they must, if they are to become truly literate, educated people, capable of understanding the world around them – the world that lies beyond their own narrow experience.
As many people, including Michael Rosen and the Society of Authors, have pointed out, it is scandalous that the government, which is so ready to impose targets and objectives generally, is prepared to give no more than lip-service to the idea of “reading for pleasure”. The government acknowledges the vast body of research supporting its importance. Every school should be encouraging it, they say. Yet none of the concrete measures needed to encourage it are in place.
What is needed? It’s simple really.
- Every school should have a library. Schools make space for computers – but books are far cheaper, and what children need if they are going to read is books.
- Every school should have a librarian.Somebody on the staff of every school should have the job of understanding which children’s books are out there, choosing the stock, and guiding the children to the books that might interest them. That also means they need the budget and the training. It shouldn’t depend on luck – that there is somebody on the teaching team that has that special interest – as it does at the moment.
It would make such a huge difference. It really would. So, I say forget about the ideology. The arguments about whether six year olds should be reciting Longfellow, or following whichever brand of phonics.
GET THE BOOKS TO THE CHILDREN
It’s not rocket science. It’s something surely on which we can all agree.
Emma's web-siteEmma's latest book is Wolfie.
[link] - "Spanish Flashcards with Pictures" is an iPhone app that will help you learn Spanish faster by using flashcards with pictures (learn over 300 most commonly used words in the English / Spanish language from A to Z), thanks.
I just finished an animal illustration marathon for the zoo. I've been running non stop for the past 2 weeks (except for a little break over the weekend). There were sixty five illustrations to do, I think. I can't remember exactly, I'm kind of brain dead. Anyway, here's some snippets. The final art are full bodied animals which will be part of some signage at the Philadelphia Zoo's new Children Zoo opening this coming Spring.
I have another great cover reveal for you all today. Here's Whisper Falls by Elizabeth Langston:
Whisper Falls
While training for a mountain bike race, high-school senior Mark Lewis spots a mysterious girl dressed in odd clothing, standing behind a waterfall in the woods near his North Carolina home. When she comments on the strange machine that he rides, he suspects something isn't right. When Susanna claims to be an indentured servant from 1796, he wonders if she's crazy. Yet he feels compelled to find out more.
Mark enters a 'long-distance' relationship with Susanna through the shimmering--and temperamental--barrier of Whisper Falls. Curious about her world, Mark combs through history to learn about the brutal life she's trapped in. But knowledge can be dangerous. Soon he must choose between the risk of changing history or dooming the girl he can't stop thinking about to a lifetime of misery.
Title: Whisper Falls (Whisper Falls #1)
Author: Elizabeth Langston
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press (www.spencerhillpress.com) Please feel free to use any images, text, links, etc. from our website.
ISBN: 978-1-937053-42-0
Release Date: November 19, 2013
Formats: Paper, e-book
By: Stephane Kardos,
on 9/27/2012
Blog:
Stef's sketches
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Add a tag
This evening, running with Papa, then another gouache painting session; a lot of time spent cleaning his brushes, while watching the wonderful 'Gruffalo Child' movie.
LATEST NEWS
Artie’s new story The Race for Space was published in the September issue of the Teachers.net Gazette. To read the story please click on the image below. (This story is dedicated to the memory of Neil Armstrong, whose courage and heroism will live on forever)
Artie’s children’s book Living Green: A Turtle’s Quest for a Cleaner Planet is now available as a free video for kids through StoryCub. A shortlist finalist for the national 2012 Green Earth Book Award, Thurman the turtle is tired of seeing the land he loves cluttered with trash and decides to take action.
To watch the Living Green video on Youtube, please click on the cover below. StoryCub videos are one of the most watched programs on Apple’s iTunes Kids & Family section.
COPYRIGHT © 2012 ARTIE KNAPP
Use of any of the content on this website without permission is prohibited by federal law
Thanks to Amanda Marie @BookLove101 for creating a Blog Tour & Book Blast Graphic for me. Graphics are not my specialty but they are Amanda's!
My Blog Tour & Book Blast Site is finally starting to look like it belongs to me!
http://bookblastpromotions.blogspot.com/
By: Editpus Rex,
on 9/27/2012
Blog:
Editpus Rex
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
cold cereal,
Add a tag
I ask myself this question quite a bit, especially lately.
Let me say this...for me who gets stressed out so easily with all of the things to do in one day (I'm certain there are those who can relate), I have to make a mental priority list.
My blog, as you can tell, is pretty low on that list. It's been nearly two months since I've touched it. A lot of stuff happens in two months, including some mental -- delayed -- spring cleaning.
In any given day I have about 4 hours to spend on my business, that includes website, blog, facebook, etc. I can do some through my phone, but blogging with my thumbs is not very appealing. Must be my age. To prevent myself from overheating, it must stay in the schedule as it is, and I find peace in that....today.
What is most important? My husband or a painting? My physical health or a chit chat on facebook? My spiritual awareness or a blog post (tho I do like to bring the two together). I fear that it is far too easy for us to get wrapped up in what we feel is an "obligation" when really we place that upon ourselves. We can say "No" ya know, seriously. We're not trained to do that, but the freedom is there.
I have begun to say "No" to areas of my life and say "Yes" to other areas that I never really said "Yes" to before. Like spending an entire Sunday prepping food and planning the week's menu instead of painting. But wow! It not only helps me in the week ahead, but I really do love cooking! I spend most of my time -- in life -- in the studio, at the art center teaching, or in my kitchen. Hands down. My waist thanks me too! ;)
See, my point is as an artist I always thought that I had to live in some kind of dark corner, hiding from the world, being the opposite of the rest of the world (in my own way I am still), and work work work work work till my hands bleed just to make it some where in this world as an artist.
What a shame I believed that. This is why...
I am now living my life! I am awake to the colors around me that are the pigments of every day moments. There is more to it than just studio work and weighing yourself so far down to the ground with rules, obligations, and stress that you aren't enjoying the work. This was me, it might not be like this for you, but I have done this for almost 30 years!
This isn't saying work is bad and day dreaming is good. I'm saying that a balance has been found in the business I have developed, not allowing it to rule me but I rule it.
Brian and I are working hard because we have a goal to buy a house soon. I'm very excited, and stressed out over it all. But in the day to day I am trying SO hard to remind myself to stop and relax. God has a great plan, a beautiful and loving one, and I must trust in that and Him with all of the facets of my life, including my art.
My blog has suffered, and it will continue to lack in posts every single week until it fits into my schedule. I must share this, because if I don't I will feel like I had an obligation and then in turn let you down. :)
I am on a journey, a peek into it here today. Let's see where it goes...
PS: Yes the blog look changed again, I like changing it, it's fun.
Look who I spent the evening listening to… Yes, that is Maggie Stiefvater, YA novelist and one of my personal mentors when it comes to crafting a story. Later I’ll share some of… Read More →
Rilla knows we don’t water the plants when the sun is shining full on them. Shortly after I began work this afternoon, a note came sliding under my door:
IT IS THE SADE PORT AF THE DAY
As I was deciphering it (yellow crayon on white paper: tricky), a second note whooshed in:
SO SH I WODR MY PLANS
There was a new watering can awaiting her, you see. (Hot pink, of course, as everything must be, including draneyoms.) I opened the door, found her bouncing (because that is how one waits). Yes, you should water your plants now, and mine too, if you wouldn’t mind.
She didn’t mind. 
About a dozen Google Maps illustrations by Christoph Neimann, all of them pretty damn brilliant. (via Abduzeedo)
For a limited time, you can get my first novel, The Whispering Ferns for FREE on amazon.com! Go HERE to buy it and visit our other blog, Rainy Day Writers to read more about it!
The ROUS FAMILY -
Look who I spent the evening listening to… Yes, that is Maggie Stiefvater, YA novelist and one of my personal mentors when it comes to crafting a story. Later I’ll share some of… Read More →
This morning I drove up the mountain to Estes Park, Colorado. It was a sad journey as I began. The night before we found out our brother in-law was told he had two months to live due to cancer. We love him so much. A good deal of the drive up was spent thinking about him and my sister in-law and praying for some answers. I knew I needed to pull myself together. I was meeting with a friend and then a shop keeper who is selling my books. My day was going to move from sad to putting on a happy face…. life is that way you know. .. and sometimes those emotions are within minutes of each other.
This picture seems to say it best. As I approached the scenic overlook leading down to the valley in Estes Park a thick cloud covered the road. I was hoping it would not get so thick that I would not be able to see. Thankfully, the skies opened, letting in the sun before I got into town.
The rest of the day was filled with warm conversations and beautiful views. I cannot describe it any better than peace being poured out into my heart.
My meeting in Estes Park was with a wonderful woman named Cynthia. She is the owner of Life’s Bear Necessities. It is a beautiful little gift shop in town that specializes in gifts made in America. A portion of the items made are by people in Colorado. She must be my biggest supporter of Peepsqueak books. Her last order was for 50 books which I gladly signed today. We had such a nice visit and found we had much in common. The people coming into the store were just as kind. A woman came into the shop and told a story of whispering to a freaked out elk just yesterday. Evidently, the giant buck was trapped in an area of town where he could not escape. She was only a few feet from him and began whispering to calm him down! It worked! She was so excited to tell me her story. Another woman that came in was a retired singer. One more couple had ties to a small town In Iowa where my grandparents lived. The whole day was peaceful, sprinkled with friendly faces.
Leslie Ann Clark – Signing 50 copies of Peepsqueak for “Life’s Bear Necessities”
Cynthia at Life’s Bear Necessities – Estes Park, CO
Another delight in my day was the last-minute coffee date with my artist friend Teresa Maria! We met before the shop opened at the “Be Kind Coffee Shop”. It is always good for the soul to meet someone for coffee. I don’t exactly know why, but I have had some “laugh till you cry” moments in coffee shops, serious” heart-felt” meetings in coffee shops and amazing and inspiring meetings in coffee shops. I guess it is the laid back atmosphere. The Be Kind Coffee Shop has the most beautiful view. What a treat. I am sad I did not get a picture of Teresa Maria!
The Be Kind Coffee Shop
I hope all of you had a peace filled day. Thank you for sharing mine. And if you think about it, say a prayer for our loved ones.
Filed under:
Reflections,
Traveling Time 
.jpeg?picon=2320)
By: Mary Ann Scheuer,
on 9/27/2012
Blog:
Great Kid Books
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Add a tag
As Walter Dean Myers writes in his introduction to this wonderful picture book, writing poetry can help you see the world through fresh eyes. Young poets notice small details, listen to the world around them more intently and let their imaginations soar. Written by children across New York City, A Poem as BIG as New York City is a collaborative book in the truest sense of the word. The voices within it shine through to make a symphony of their words, images and details.
I'm especially happy to share this book today as I'm here in New York City gathering together with book loving friends at the 6th annual Kidlitosphere Conference - a wonderful event for children's book bloggers. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones!
A Poem as BIG as New York City:
Little kids write about the big apple
edited by Teachers & Writers Collaborative
illustrated by Masha D'yans
foreward by Walter Dean Myers
NY: Universe / Rizzoli, 2012
ages 6 - 12
available on Amazon
Throughout 2008 and 2009, artists and teachers working with the Teachers Writers Collaborative led poetry workshops encouraging school children to capture a sense of the life in New York City, to notice the details, sounds and images around them. Their poems were collected and edited into a single poem.
I was truly amazed by this book. You can hear the multitude of individual voices coming together as one. As teaching artist Melanie Maria Goodreaux writes in her introduction, "one child's line from Brooklyn now rhymes with another's from the Bronx. The child from Queens creates the poetic beat that bounces off the rhythm of children in Staten Island and Manhattan."
The children describe their city in both poetic and truly child-centered terms. Their poem is "bigger than the millions of cheese slices of New Yourk City pizzas / going into hot, 500 degree ovens." The sounds fill the poem, resonating with readers. "The subway sounds / like a stampede of rhinos / and elephants underground." And the children's humor shines through as well:
"Hey, Statute of Liberty,
was it just me
or was it you on the A train
as big as a tree?
Now I can see
your tablet is really a MetroCard!"
The poem truly does become a character of its own through Masha D'yans playful illustrations. Above, can you see the poem peeking out from behind the Statue of Liberty or riding through the sky on a seagull's wings? D'yans uses a soft palette to emphasize the children's visions. This is not a harsh New York, but one full of sound and energy and children's voices. Throughout, the artwork complements the images of the poetry, adding humor and color without ever dominating the children's poetry.
I cannot wait to share this with teachers at my school in Berkeley, California. The poem is both inspiring and accessible, calling for children to think about the place they call home. I can just see a class working together to create a collaborative poem describing the Bay Area. I think students everywhere will be moved by the creativity of these children.
To learn more about this, head over to the
Teachers and Writers Collaborative website, where they share more poems, lesson plans and events celebrating this book.
Also see the review by Jeff at
NC Teacher Stuff. It's fascinating - Jeff's tagged this as to use with young students in kindergarten through 2nd grade, while I can see using it with 3rd and 4th graders. It just points to the wide appeal.
Do you love sharing poetry with kids? Head over to
Paper Tigers for more Poetry Friday posts.
All images shared above are copyright ©Masha D'yans, 2012 shared with permission by the publisher. The review copy was kindly sent by the publisher, Universe Publishing, an imprint of
Rizolli International Publications. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books (at no cost to you!). Thank you for your support.
Review ©2012 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books
View Next 25 Posts
.jpg?picon=3687){kind=tracking}
By: Bowie Style,
on 9/27/2012
By: jules,
on 9/27/2012
By: Melinda Palacio,
on 9/27/2012
By: Ratha M.,
on 9/27/2012
By: Erik Brooks,
on 9/27/2012
By: Sylvia Vardell,
on 9/27/2012
.jpg?picon=1806)
By: Emma Barnes,
on 9/27/2012
Posted on 9/27/2012
.jpeg?picon=2593)
By: Chuck Dillon,
on 9/27/2012
By: PK,
on 9/27/2012
By: Inspired Kathy,
on 9/27/2012
.png.jpg?picon=3640)
By: Sara Burrier,
on 9/27/2012
By: Ruth Ayres,
on 9/27/2012
By: Melissa Wiley,
on 9/27/2012
By: John,
on 9/27/2012
.jpeg?picon=2786)
By: Kris,
on 9/27/2012
.jpeg?picon=3304)
By: Leslie Ann Clark,
on 9/27/2012
I like the tins. Great patterns.
Lovely designs, unfortunately elements of the Kitchen Text designs have been copied from the gorgeous prints of Natalie Singh - please check out this link to her blog, http://thehomelyplace.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/ive-been-ripped-off-by-marks-and-spencer.html - it's such a shame - first Rachael Taylor now Nat - when will big businesses learn to treat small designers with respect - surely they