The word “intern” evokes many reactions—most of which are somewhat unsavory. Before becoming an intern, I held my own prejudices: I thought an internship meant low pay, long hours, and repetitive work—a test of one’s motivation to become, in my case, an editor. As it turns out, being an intern at Stone Arch Books has been something entirely different.
I had scoured the SAB website for information about the company prior to applying. What struck me about SAB was the constant focus on getting kids interested in reading—something so important in the education of today’s youth. I knew that this was a special opportunity. Instead of near-crippling nervousness before the interview, I felt giddy, and any anxiety felt more like anticipation than worry.
Sitting down to interview with Stone Arch’s editorial director, Michael Dahl, was a unique experience. Rather than pose the regular questions that I’ve fielded elsewhere, Michael asked me about my opinions on the education of children, my favorite fields of literature, and how my inclinations in these areas would suit me for the SAB internship. We discussed James Joyce, graphic novels, and civic responsibility. A short while later, I was given the position.
My first day of work was actually Michael Dahl’s birthday. At our celebratory lunch that day, I had the opportunity to get to know the small, friendly staff. My supervisor joked that I shouldn’t expect every day at SAB to be as fun and exciting as my first, but she was wrong; my time here has never felt like a chore, even while I’m doing the occasional mundane, but necessary, task.
What, then, you might ask, have I worked on during my time here? A (very brief) list: I edited a fantastic series of 12 graphic novels (out next season—I’m certain it will be a big hit with fans of our other Graphic Sparks books), worked on spreadsheets, filled out applications for the Library of Congress, proofread hundreds of pages, created the additional information at the end of our books, attended graphic novel storyboard meetings . . . the list goes on and on.
Through it all, I’ve felt a sense of pride and purpose in my work. Stone Arch Books is the kind of company that is formed when you take dedicated, thoughtful, creative people and give them a task they can believe in.
--Sean Tulien
Intern, Stone Arch Books
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JacketFlap tags: The Tiger's Bookshelf, Book Chat, The Tiger's Choice, A Girl Named Disaster, Nancy Farmer, Nhamo, parent-child book group, The Philippines, read aloud, Nancy Farmer, The Philippines, Nhamo, parent-child book group, read aloud, Young Adult Books, Africa, Book Groups, The Tiger's Bookshelf, The Tiger's Choice, A Girl Named Disaster, Book Chat, Add a tag
I’d never before read anything by Nancy Farmer (although as a former children’s bookseller, of course I knew about her) until I picked up A Girl Named Disaster to read as the first Tiger’s Choice. I was lucky to have found it–this book is an outstanding piece of fiction that can be read and enjoyed by a doddering fifty-nine-year-old like me or by people who are substantially younger.
In an earlier posting by Corinne on PaperTigers, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in the Philippines pointed out that children’s literature from different cultures is shaped by differing values. This is made intriguingly clear by the story of Nhamo, the girl who leaves her tribe in search of her one living parent and a family that will be truly hers. Her quest is an adventure, and a solitary one, that takes her into a world populated only by animals. Unlike similar stories written with a differing cultural perspective (Julie of the Wolves, My Side of the Mountain, Island of the Blue Dolphins), this book does not show an anthropomorphic relationship between Nhamo and the baboons who are her neighbors. A lonely and frightened child, Nhamo forges a relationship with a world of the spirits rather than with the animal kingdom. She sustains herself through stories that she knows and loves about beings of an unseen realm, and in her dreams and in her waking imagination, these are the figures that guide her, and who allow her to bring out menacing, and hitherto unexplored, parts of herself by cloaking them under different names and the persona of spirits.
Her three-part story begins with elements of Cinderella, sweeps into a Robinson Crusoe-like world, and ends with a modern-day transformation and the fulfillment of a quest. At almost 300 pages, it is longer than many pieces of fiction for children, and it contains an impressive body of information within its compelling story. Anyone who reads it will be given a sense of place that only someone who has lived in that part of Africa could provide.
It could be a problematic choice to read aloud to a classroom of boys and girls. Although Nhamo’s adventures, and her adventuresome spirit, will appeal to both genders, the author’s frankness when writing about menstruation and other physical functions could be difficult in a mixed-gender classroom if read aloud. It is, however, a dazzling choice for a parent-child book group, or to give to a reluctant reader, or to enjoy as a solitary pleasure when in need of something absorbing and magical to read.
Janet -
I just started reading this book on the weekend. Fabulous so far! Give me a few more days to finish it and then (hopefully) I can respond to some of the questions you raised on your Feb 12th post. FYI - the book was a 1997 Newbery Honor Book.
Yes, I know and wavered about whether to include that–I wanted people to approach it as a reading adventure without any weight from literary prizes.
Yes - sometimes expectations are high when you know a book has received an award!! There have been several times I have read an award winning book and thought to myself that I either missed something completely or the judges have completely different ideas than I do.
I received an electronic newsletter today from the editors of The Horn Book Magazine (www.hbook.com) in which the latest Newbery and Caldecott Award Winners are discussed. An interesting and timely quote: “just because a book has won an award does not mean it is the right book for any one particular child. Maurice Sendak tells a funny story about encountering a mother who proudly told him that she read his Where the Wild Things Are every night to her child despite the fact that the girl screamed in fear every time. When Sendak asked her why she didn’t choose a different book, she replied, “But this one won the Caldecott Medal.” Members of award committees read widely and well but, in the case of the Newbery and Caldecott awards, are charged with rewarding aesthetic achievement rather than predicting popular appeal. They also lack ESP and thus don’t know about your child’s interests, abilities, or idiosyncrasies…Prizes are designed to call attention to good books, but as the wise Nora Ephron once wrote, “Even if it is good you do not have to like it.” That’s a maxim to remember both for your own and your child’s reading.”
Now enough of getting myself off on a tangent, it’s time to sit down and relax in the sun and read your book selection until the kids arrive home from school.
Funny isn’t it, that parents can blithely ignore the current Booker winner, if it doesn’t appeal personally, but feed their children the Caldecott/Newbery winners as though those books are essential vitamin supplements.