Do you remember where you were when you read the first book in the Harry Potter series? I do. I didn't read the first book until it was out in paperback and I picked it up in the airport on the way home from a conference. It was love at first read! I still think the first book is my favorite. It was the first glimpse at the magical world of Diagon Alley, Hogwarts, and Hogsmeade.

I also remember watching the news the first time the midnight book release parties took place across the country. There was footage of kids and adults alike dressed up as their favorite characters standing in lines that went all the way around the building. I cried. I really did. I'm a reading teacher, you see, and there is nothing so beautiful and moving as watching hundreds of children across the country stand in line to get a book that is over 600 pages long. Bliss!

Somewhere around book 4, I started reading the books aloud to my son who was in third grade. It was so wonderful to see Harry Potter through Derek's eyes. I remember when the first movie came out and I asked him if he wanted to see it. He said no because he didn't want to lose the pictures in his mind. How fabulous is that?

But, of course, we did end up going to see the first movie, along with five or six of his best friends, all dressed up in their favorite characters. Experiencing the movie with a group of kids all gasping and complaining about certain parts being left out was so much fun.

Over the years, Derek and I continued to read the books out loud to each other. Neither of us could read a word without the other lest one know something that happened before the other. Harry Potter has brought us a unique experience that I will always treasure. And though I know the books will live on, as we prepare to attend the last movie tomorrow night at 12:01 am., it is hard to not feel a little sad for the next generation of Potter fans. It was really something to be a part of such a wonderful reading phenomenon. There won't be anymore book release parties or midnight movie madness. There won't be another time when everyone is reading the books at the same time.

I know other professors have written blog posts about how their college students are now at the age where they went through the Harry Potter phenomenon, too. This is true for me, too. Last year, almost all of my students had read all of the books, sometimes numerous times, and had seen all of the movies. Since I teach preservice teachers, it is wonderful that they have had such a great experience around reading and can share that experience with their future students.

Will there ever be another big reading phenomenon like Harry Potter in our lifetime? I don't know, but I certainly hope so. I can't wait to participate!

For those of you looking for more books like Harry Potter, NPR has an article titled, "3 Grown-up Books for the Hogwarts Grad,"and readers have made additional recommendations in the comments. What are some of your recommendations for the Harry Potter fan?

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From Unshelved

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From NPR:

How E. B. White Spun Charlotte's Web by Maureen Corrigan

In a poll of librarians, teachers, publishers and authors, the trade magazine Publisher's Weekly asked for a list of the best children's books ever published in the United States. Hands down, the No. 1 book was E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. Now, a new book called The Story of Charlotte's Web explores how White's masterpiece came to be.

One early fall morning in 1949, E.B. White walked into the barn of his farm in Maine and saw a spider web. That in itself was nothing new, but this web, with its elaborate loops and whorls that glistened with early morning dew, caught his attention. Weeks passed until one cold October evening when he noticed that the spider was spinning what turned out to be an egg sac. White never saw the spider again and, so, when he had to return later that fall to New York City to his job as a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine, White took out a razor blade and cut the silken egg sac out of the web. He put the sac in an empty candy box, punched some holes in it, and absent-mindedly put the box atop his bedroom bureau in New York.

Weeks later, a movement on that bureau alerted him to the fact that tiny spiderlings were making a Great Escape through the air holes. White was delighted at this affirmation of life and left the hundreds of barn spiderlings alone for the next week or so — to spin webs from his hair brush to his nail scissors to his mirror — until, finally, the cleaning lady complained.

Thus was hatched the idea for Charlotte's Web, White's magical meditation on the passage of time, mortality and the great gift of finding a "true friend" in this world. However, as Michael Sims tells us in his wonderful new book called The Story of Charlotte's Web, there was also a much longer incubation period for White's classic — a period that began with his isolated childhood as the youngest of seven children; the snappy creative bustle of the New York newspaper world in the 1920s, which gave White his career and his writing role models; and White's own lifelong struggle with anxiety. That anxiety was soothed, in part, by writing and by the company of animals (except, that is, for rats — take that, Templeton!). If you love Charlotte's Web — and, please, if you don't, just get help now! — Sims' lively and detailed excursion into the mystery of how White's classic came to be is a perfect read for this season: full of grass and insects, pigs and summer rain.

The first two-thirds or so of The Story of Charlotte's Web recounts White's life up to his 50s, when he began writing his masterpiece. Good as it is, the final section of Sims' book is the real revelation — not only about the influences on Charlotte's Web, but about just how hard it was for White to write despite the fact that his style always seemed effortless. White was encouraged to attempt children's fiction by his wife, Katherine White, who was the fiction editor of The New Yorker and a regular reviewer of children's literature. She had urged him to write his first children's book, Stuart Little, which was published in 1945 and had taken him over six years to write.

White also took inspiration from the 1920s newspaper columnist Don Marquis, who wrote acclaimed stories about a poetic typing cockroach named Archy. White was adamant that, like

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This is one of those stories that makes me think "really?" (think Seth Meyers from Saturday Night Live)

From Publishers Weekly

The first two titles in the new Baby Lit board book series from Gibbs Smith will introduce classic writers to the youngest readers – newborns to three-year-olds – with the publication of Little Miss Austen: Pride & Prejudice and Little Master Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet.

“Baby Lit was created in one of those ‘lightning strikes’ moments,” says Gibbs Smith creative director and series editor Suzanne Taylor. “We knew there was nothing like it available for the age group, and that the books would be a great introduction to perennial classics both for very small children and parents who might never have read the classics before.” The series has already surpassed sales expectations before their August release date, with advance orders in the gift and book market reaching nearly 12,000 copies. A second print run is in the works for both titles, which will retail for $9.99 and have 22 pages of color illustrations each.

Read the rest of the story here.

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Recently, I listened to White Cat by Holly Black on audio. As I began listening, I immediately recognized the performer -- Jesse Eisenberg from the recent Academy Award winning movie The Social Network. The book was very good and I thought Jesse Eisenberg's interpretation of the main character Cassel was dead on. However, I did think of Cassel as Jesse Eisenberg throughout the book.

Now, you download White Cat from Random House Audio free of charge. Just visit the Random House Audio website and sign up for the monthly newsletter here. Happy listening!

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From Huffpost Entertainment:

Jeff Bridges In 'The Giver': Oscar Winner To Adapt Classic Lois Lowry Novel

Experiencing a renaissance in a career that never really faded, Jeff Bridges is flexing his producing muscles to bring to the big screen a classic young adult novel.

Bridges, who won an Oscar in 2010 for his turn in "Crazy Heart" and was nominated for another lead gold statue for last year's "True Grit," has optioned for film the 1993 Lois Lowry novel, "The Giver," a moralist sci-fi story that won the Newberry Medal, the top honor in young adult fiction.

Set in a seemingly perfect society, without crime, poverty, hatred, divorce or war, the novel is described thusly on Lowry's official site:

"December is the time of the annual Ceremony at which each twelve year old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders. Jonas watches his friend Fiona named Caretaker of the Old and his cheerful pal Asher labeled the Assistant Director of Recreation. But Jonas has been chosen for something special. When his selection leads him to an unnamed man -the man called only the Giver -he begins to sense the dark secrets that underlie the fragile perfection of his world."

The Giver, it turns out, is the elderly man charged with keeping the institutional memory for the society, which actually stifles desire and subdues familial differences for the ordered good of society.

Bridges will take on the role of that wise elder, though he is his own second choice.

"I originally thought of the role of the Giver as a vehicle for my father, the late Lloyd Bridges," he told Variety, "however, at 61 years old I feel the time is right for me to do it."

The actor will star in another sci-fi film, though this one is decidedly more mature, as he takes on the role of an old, undead cop alongside Ryan Reynolds in "RIPD." In totally unrelated news, he'll also be releasing his first album, a country folk jaunt produced by T. Bone Burnett, on August 16th.

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From Women in Academia Report, June 16, 2011

New research led by Janice M. McCabe, a sociologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee, finds a large male bias in children’s books. The study, published in the journal Gender & Society, examined characters in 5,600 children’s books published between 1900 and 2000. The results showed that males are the central characters in 57 percent of the books while females are the lead characters in 31 percent of all books. Two out of every three animal characters in children’s books are male. A male character is included in the title of 36 percent of all children’s books whereas a female character is found in the title of 17 percent of all children’s titles.

Dr. McCabe concedes that the male/female ratio of main human characters has improved in books published for the first time in recent years. But children’s books published over the past century, including the Little Golden Books series, remain popular. Also, she notes that there is still a far larger number of male characters among animals in children’s books.

Professor McCabe stated that “The widespread pattern of under-representation of females that we find supports the belief that female characters are less important and interesting than male characters.”

Dr. McCabe is a graduate of Tulane University. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology at Indiana University.

Readers interested in reading the entire study can download the paper here.

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From NPR (thanks to Christine for the link!) 

Walter Dean Myers grew up in Harlem, the son of a janitor. He became an author, writing young adult fiction that's especially popular with teenage readers. But as he tells his son, Christopher, there was one person Myers always wanted his writing to impress: his dad.

Christopher and Walter Dean Myers

"He bought you a typewriter at one point," Christopher says. "Why do you think he knew that that was important to you?"

"Well, I was working at 14," Walter says. "I saved my money up, and I went to buy a typewriter. And at that point, Mom was having a drinking problem. And she spent it up. And so he went out and bought me a typewriter, a Royal."

Soon after, Walter Dean Myers started typing. And he stuck with it — today, his bibliography includes nearly 100 books. He collaborates on some of them with Christopher, working together as writer and illustrator. Their connection is one he never had with his own father.

"He never said anything good about my writing," Walter says. "And that really, that really hurt, that really bothered me a lot."

Read the rest of the story here.

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From NPR (thanks to Christine for the link!) 

Walter Dean Myers grew up in Harlem, the son of a janitor. He became an author, writing young adult fiction that's especially popular with teenage readers. But as he tells his son, Christopher, there was one person Myers always wanted his writing to impress: his dad.

Christopher and Walter Dean Myers

"He bought you a typewriter at one point," Christopher says. "Why do you think he knew that that was important to you?"

"Well, I was working at 14," Walter says. "I saved my money up, and I went to buy a typewriter. And at that point, Mom was having a drinking problem. And she spent it up. And so he went out and bought me a typewriter, a Royal."

Soon after, Walter Dean Myers started typing. And he stuck with it — today, his bibliography includes nearly 100 books. He collaborates on some of them with Christopher, working together as writer and illustrator. Their connection is one he never had with his own father.

"He never said anything good about my writing," Walter says. "And that really, that really hurt, that really bothered me a lot."

Read the rest of the story here.

Add a Comment

From NPR (thanks to Christine for the link!) 

Walter Dean Myers grew up in Harlem, the son of a janitor. He became an author, writing young adult fiction that's especially popular with teenage readers. But as he tells his son, Christopher, there was one person Myers always wanted his writing to impress: his dad.

Christopher and Walter Dean Myers

"He bought you a typewriter at one point," Christopher says. "Why do you think he knew that that was important to you?"

"Well, I was working at 14," Walter says. "I saved my money up, and I went to buy a typewriter. And at that point, Mom was having a drinking problem. And she spent it up. And so he went out and bought me a typewriter, a Royal."

Soon after, Walter Dean Myers started typing. And he stuck with it — today, his bibliography includes nearly 100 books. He collaborates on some of them with Christopher, working together as writer and illustrator. Their connection is one he never had with his own father.

"He never said anything good about my writing," Walter says. "And that really, that really hurt, that really bothered me a lot."

Read the rest of the story here. Add a Comment