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A modest assortment of reviews and comments, usually about Children's Books
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Here's a fun article I ran across, from Seventeen magazine blog post in August 2015. Please read it, then come back here for my comments.
My two cents come from a rather tedious, technical point of view, because that's how I operate. Love me, love my technicalities!
The Berenstain Bears, to my recollection, were definitely spelled with the
a in the final syllable. (Granted, I began reading in 1978, so I can't actually vouch for prior to then). To me, the name stood out as recognizably Anglicized, from
-stein to
-stain. Many years later, I know it's more complex than that--in German it may have been spelled with other letters and/or vowels which don't exist in English.
If it had been spelled
Berenstein all along, then all along we would very likely have been pronouncing it "Bear-en-stine". Yet we have not been saying it that way.
Admittedly, there are people who say "Bear-en-steen". To me that indicates they are visualizing it in their mind spelled
Berenstein. That's a perfectly natural inclination, to make it German in appearance, to match the overall German-ness that it evokes.
If it had been spelled
Berenstein, American readers who ran across it could pronounce it either "Bear-en-stine" or "Bear-en-steen". One could even argue that some people might say "Bear-en-stain" because they are leaning towards the idea of German names with -
oe pronounced as -
ay, such as Boehner (pronounced "Bayner"), or Koenig (pronounced "Kaynig"). Since
Berenstein contains
-ei, not
-oe, that is a weak argument, but it's not baseless.
In practice, people either say "stain" because they've seen it spelled with
-a, or they say "steen" because they've seen
-stain but re-visualized it to something more familiar or authentic to their minds. But the fact that pretty much no one goes around saying "stine" supports my claim that it was "always" spelled with an
a.
____________________
A tangent for another day: How did the name look and sound in German? What's the likely path for it to have been Anglicized to
-stain? Perhaps its German bearers pronounced it as something close to "stain", and then it was transcribed in a way that approximated it for an American palate. Probably need a German teacher for insight on that!
I watched a
video today about messy desks--and I watched it three times!
I was intrigued and validated when it said "The best in their field don't really worry about what their desks look like and instead get on with work."
According to this statement, I am "best in my field" because I definitely get on with work rather than spend time cleaning my desk. But also according to this statement, I am NOT best in my field because I do continue to
worry about what my desk looks like.
For now, I choose not to weigh in on whether my desk is allowed to be messy. I won't even worry about whether I am allowed to worry about what my desk looks like. My takeaway from the video is this goal: Remember the phrase "best in my field" and use it to describe myself!
P.S. Revisit this later? "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think about an empty desk?" --Albert Einstein
A Letter for Leo by Sergio Ruzzier
Charmingly understated. Friends can understand each other even without speaking the same language.
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Wonder by R.J. Palacio
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
With the Julian Chapter added, I moved my rating from three stars to four; it made a story I liked into something that inspired me.
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This book has gotten lots of well-deserved attention on its own, so I don't need to describe the plot or even say how wonderful it is. A chorus of voices have already said that. I'll just say what might add something new to the discussion, which is: why I so, so, so loved the Julian Chapter.
First, Julian's grandmother was a well-rounded character, complex, human. She had survived the Holocaust, and learned the importance of kindness, but "she still liked good clothes." She had been through a refiner's fire but had a frivolous pursuit or two.
Moreover, her son and grandson were not copies of her; they hadn't been through what she had been through. Although she herself probably would have behaved kindly to Auggie had she met him, her grandson had yet to learn compassion. And eventually, with her, his heart did change.
Second, Julian's change of heart took place away from Auggie. That's realistic because in real life, people pass in and out our lives without neatly tied-up endings. Someone who was a complete jerk to us may someday change, but it's unusual that we would get to see it. We just carry the memory of how awful they were. But God sees what they can and do become. That's why he tells us not to judge. He commands us to forgive because He intends that every person can rise above the bad they were before, and when they change for the better, he doesn't want others tying them down to how they were before. We don't usually get it right on the first try, so "sometimes it's good to start over."
I am generally not in favor of kids versions of regular books. I think having kids versions has the tendency to keep kids from making the big step to regular books.
This New York Times article focuses on a recent trend: non-fiction adaptations for kids. Doing non-fiction kids versions makes more sense to me than doing that with fiction, but I'm still not a big fan of it.
I think kids can and should make the leap from kids books to regular books in late junior high and high school, rather than sticking to the comfortable world of YA. In today's world more children than ever before, and earlier than ever before, are experiencing very "adult" problems and exposures, (smoking, drinking, drug use, profanity and explicit behavior on television, pornography, sexual activity, abuse, and war, just to name a few). Yet we think they can't handle reading books written for the general audience?
I believe when books are truly quality, they are genuinely suitable for general audiences. As a great example, the scriptures. Kids will be challenged by the King James Version of the Bible, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't experience the challenge. Someone else's summary of God's word is naturally inferior to the real thing. We may make it easier for kids to digest, but in doing so we remove the beauty of language that is the hallmark of the original. And reading something "difficult" can improve your reading skills. I know Bible reading did that for me during elementary school.
The Sound of Music is an example (albeit in movie form) of something made for general audiences but has merit for all ages watching.
Many examples in classic fiction, written for general audiences, and suitable for kids to cut their teeth on: Treasure Island, Hiawatha, -------
Some non-fiction that I think would be great for kids and teens: The Hiding Place, -------
Okay, I'm out of time, so I'll leave the lists of titles to be continued. But I'm sending the post out anyway!
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I've talked a couple of times recently with my mother about reading choices, both for oneself and on behalf of children. It's tough to draw the line between avoiding inappropriate material and overdoing it. When talking to my mom, I had arrived at an uncomfortable conclusion. I felt uncomfortable with blanketly ruling against an entire book solely because of the use of a four-letter word or two, but because I couldn't figure out where to draw the line, I was erring, with her, on the side of over-censorship.
This article by Robert Gray, published on Shelf Awareness's Book trade newsletter September 26, 2014 is about banned books. I really connected with what Jeannette Walls had to say.
"My book has ugly elements to it, but it's about hope and resilience, and I don't know why that wouldn't be an important message," Walls said. "Sometimes you have to walk through the muck to get to the message.... What I worry is that in order to protect them, we may be taking away the tools they need to protect themselves later on."
Jeannette Walls' idea rang true. We should not remove all unpleasantness from reading, but we should use it as an opportunity to discuss our values. For example, Grandma might choose to read Looking for Alaska at the same time as Granddaughter in order to have an opportunity to discuss the drug use, the sexual activity, and other objectionable behaviors. If Grandma instead forbids Granddaughter to read it, that discussion will not happen. We know Grandma wants to share her values with Granddaughter (that's one of the things parenting is all about!)--and the "objectionable" book may be a way to get the door open for that important communication.
In order to be well prepared for the choices life will present, a young person needs guidance. Among other things, they need a basic but thorough knowledge of what things to avoid. We don't want to wallow in the muck, but we certainly need to point it out, name it, and help the child know how to avoid getting mired in it.
This post is not as polished as I would like, but it's getting the gist, which is my own better-clarified thoughts about choosing "appropriate" books. My thanks to Jeannette, and to Robert Gray, too.
This is an article by Marla Frazee from the May 2011 Horn Book. What stands out to me today is the part about how when the pictures in a book don't move, it actually encourages more active participation from the child. The child would be interested either way, but with the app moving for them, they would merely watch.
That reminds me of the differences between watching a TV show and listening to a radio show.
I'm having fun today reading others' blog discussions about racism in children's books. Here are the various links.
First, Elizabeth Bird's post today, 9/25/14.
Second, Philip Nel's response, and I hadn't encountered him on the web before, so I'm looking forward to following him. Here's his blog.
Third, another responder whose blog is named The Moving Castle, had a post on the topic.
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| Underappreciated in the 21st century? |
Earlier this year, my store received a table easel advertising forthcoming "first time in board book" editions of the four Nutshell Library books by Maurice Sendak:
Alligators All Around, Chicken Soup with Rice, One Was Johnny, and
Pierre: a Cautionary Tale. Ingram's ipage shows the publication date as 7/01/2014 but no copies in stock, none on order. HarperCollins website and Amazon don't mention the board book edition at all. I am wondering whether the publication was delayed or cancelled.
I hope it does happen, because I would love to see
Chicken Soup reach a wider audience. I admit that board book editions of these titles aren't necessary--the child who can sit through readings of these books is generally above board-book age. However, with a board book edition available, I picture more shoppers running into it while browsing for baby shower gifts, and I picture more toddlers carrying it in the stroller. To paraphrase the jacket copy, "Each month is gay, each season nice, when strollers have
Chicken Soup with Rice"!
Time to refresh the blog layout! Here are 4 items I used to have on the sidebar. I've moved them to this post so that they can be accessed via the "search this blog" feature.
1) Favorite Authors (for personal entertainment reading):
"This list is neither all-inclusive nor permanent. No one should be expected to choose a favorite author to the exclusion of others. Having made that clear, my current favorite authors are those I like to call Spinster Lit. Elizabeth Goudge, Rosamunde Pilcher, Barbara Pym, Miss Read, Margery Sharp, and Anita Brookner. I would like to try Mary Wesley, for I understand she writes in the same vein."
2) Favorite Illustrator [Of course I still do love Marla Frazee's illustrations; it's just time to feature someone else.]:
"My latest favorite illustrator is Marla Frazee. I admired her style for a few years, and then she bowled me over with The Boss Baby. After reading Boot and Shoe this fall [2011 or 2012] and liking it quite a bit, she became my next "official" favorite. I guess this title can be like a laureatehood--one artist holds it for a while, and then the torch is passed. "
3) Cut Paper Collage Illustrators:
Katie Endle
Huy Voun Lee
Judith Moffatt
Denise Ortakales
4) "More" Fairy Tale Novels [I no longer remember why I used the word more]:
Beast by Donna Jo Napoli
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey
Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Mira, Mirror by Mette Ivie Harrison ***** It was amazing!
Princess Tales (series) by Gail Carson Levine
Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
Spindle's End by Robin McKinley
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean: loved, loved, loved this one
The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli
Zel by Donna Jo Napoli
Spinners by Napoli and Tchen
Earlier this year, Louise Borden stopped by my store to shop and have lunch in the cafe. I knew her name quite well but didn't know her by sight yet. In the course of conversation at the register, she mentioned she writes picture books. (My favorites of hers are The Journey That Saved Curious George and Paperboy). She told me about her spring 2014 release Baseball Is..., and we were able to have her sign copies at the store on Reds Opening Day.
Loren Long signed my copy of The Little Engine That Could at the Blue Marble bookstore, and I heard his keynote speech at the OKI Children's Literature Conference in 2012. Prior to then, I hadn't felt it necessary to own Of Thee I Sing, which he illustrated for President Barack Obama, but after hearing Loren's account of his visit to the White House I really wanted a copy. I have a post-it note on my store's regular and board book copies of Otis alerting customers that he's local. Otis and the Scarecrow releases fall 2014.
I met Will Hillenbrand at the Blue Marble, too, where I heard and saw his multimedia presentations about Louie!, One Fine Day, and Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep!
Two others I can think of right now:
Christina Wald, an excellent nature illustrator, with several books including Henry the Impatient Heron.
C.F. Payne, illustrator of The Remarkable Farkle McBride and more. I was thrilled when he did a series of back covers for Reader's Digest. Every time I saw one I felt a surge of pride (in addition to just plain enjoying his work).
In the coming months, I hope to find ways to better highlight/promote these talented creators in the store.
Here's a list from Ohioana.org. Loren Long is not on this list, so there may be others missing, too.
I enjoyed this blog post by Elizabeth Bird and its precursor post by the originator of an Amelia Bedelia Wikipedia hoax. Take a look here.
One of the wonderful things about working in a small bookstore is noticing what sells and when. In large bookstores, I wasn't able to keep tabs on books I cared about. Now, I can see holes in displays every couple of days and celebrate.
At my store, we love to write post-it notes. It's a way of handselling even without talking to the customer. Just today, a lady purchased Here's Looking At You by Mhairi McFarlane from our display "Books in My Beach Bag" based on the note I put with it.
Today I asked a customer, "Are you finding what you needed?" He said he wasn't--he was there to find books to read aloud on a road trip, and the suggestions his kids had given him were not in stock. I showed him A Long Way from Chicago
and
A Year Down Yonder,
both by Richard Peck. My triumph is not that the books sold, but that I know a family is going to have a great time listening and laughing together over those two treasures.
Moon, Have You Met My Mother? is a book of poems by Karla Kuskin, illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier, published in 2003.
I love it. I ran into it while working at the Eastgate Borders store Cincinnati, Ohio. I snapped it up immediately. Ruzzier has done many colorful picture books, but I always think of him in black and white, since the Kuskin book is.
Here is a link to his website--enjoy!
In honor of Joy R.'s birthday this week, I'd like to highlight Yucka Drucka Droni
by Eugenia and Vladimir Radunsky, published 1998. As a kids clerk at Borders, I hadn't run into it; she found it at the library for her toddler son. She thought it was blast, but without her introduction I would have written it off as merely odd. It's a rollicking trip that says, "You think you know zany? I'll show you from zany!" How many fun things the world might miss out on, except that they are pre-approved by a friend. The bandwagon can be a tool for good.
Last night I read a great new book from Lois Ehlert, published in March 2014, The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life. I love the bright colors and crisp-edged shapes in Ehlert's artwork. When the collages are reproduced as a book, their 3-dimensionality is made less obvious, so seeing the artwork in early stages reveals texture and volume present in the originals.
Finding the new book at the Kenton County Public Library, I discovered it is not Ehlert's first memoir. Right next to it on the shelf was
Under My Nose, published in 1996.
From the cover,
Under My Nose looks like your typical meet-the-author children's biography so numerous in school and public libraries. In it Ehlert shares just a few sentences about her life and then describes how she develops ideas into books.
Scraps is really an extended, more artwork-filled version of
Under My Nose. Since it's being published as a trade book rather than for the institutional market, it will likely catch more attention this time around, so I'm glad to see the revamp.
I drove to Hamilton, Ohio on the 4th of July to attend Hamilton's parade with my mother, sister, et alia. The main attraction for us was 95-year-old Uncle Gordon, who was riding among the WW2 Veterans. To my delight, the theme of the parade was "Celebrating Hamilton's History/Robert McCloskey Centennial". Floats depicted the native son's picture books, with ducklings being especially prevalent. I was especially gratified when a mock doughnut machine went by! After the parade, we attended the program on Courthouse Square, which included a talk by Nancy Folmer about McCloskey's life. There was also a harmonica solo in his honor. Here's a link to
news coverage of the parade by the Journal-News. Now I just need to get my hands on a Lentil T-shirt!
Thinking about the old books in my last 2 posts has made me remember Lizzie Skurnick's great book about remembering the books you read in childhood/teenhood.
After reading it, I made a list of all the books I remember reading from age 0 to 14. That was fun! Make a mental note to put that list on the blog.
I'd like to track down Finders Weepers by Miriam Chaikin, which I read at age 9 or 10. The only cover image I can find on the world wide web isn't quite satisfactory. The illustration by Richard Egielski is fine, but only part of it was used on this reprint cover.
Finders Weepers is a sequel to
I Should Worry, I Should Care, but I never read the first. Maybe my copy came from a box of books ordered through a Troll flyer at school. It was a surprise assortment, where you knew only how many items there would be, but not the titles. It must have been a way for them to get rid of overstock. The element of surprise was genius. I was very happy with my assortment.
I had a great experience using goodreads.com to help me find a book. There is a discussion group called "What's The Name of That Book???". I posted my query on August 7, 2013 and was reunited with the title on April 25, 2014.
I remembered so, so much of the plot, but was so, so clueless of title and author. When the author turned out to be Florence Parry Heide, it clicked. I met and fell in love with
The Shrinking of Treehorn a few years ago, and her name sounded very familiar. Turns out that
Time's Up is the reason!
Similarly, I came to admire illustrator Marilyn Hafner through other books, not realizing I'd seen her in
Time's Up. In the edition I read, she did not draw the cover, but her interior drawings were there. I have yet to get a copy and re-read as a grown-up, but I will, eventually.
In belated honor of Father's Day, here's a shout out for a wonderful book.
The first time I read this book, while babysitting Ethan Unklesbay, I laughed out loud when I reached the movie theater page. The cover image here bears the Reading Rainbow logo. I am very glad to hear of Lavar Burton's recent success raising funds via Kickstarter in order to revive the beloved TV show. It's neat that the show meant so much to him.
My goal: to celebrate each day in books. I started a mini-display--one book in an easel, plus a sign--at the just-opened-two-days-ago Booksellers on Fountain Square. Monday 9/16 was Happy Birthday to H.A. Rey next to a copy of his book Curious George. Yesterday 9/17 was Constitution Signing Day, with a copy of Shh! We're Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz. I haven't figured out today yet, but stay tuned.
The fabulous title is not my creation; it was the sign on a table display at Joseph-Beth Booksellers earlier this year. But I love it enough to run with it. Here's my personal list of just who the revered vermin are. And to prove that they are truly revered, I'm not listing the book titles. True worshipers will know them from just their names. 1. Templeton 2. Bernard 3. Miss Bianca 4. Town Mouse and Country Mouse 5. Mouse, the Lion and. 6. Squirrel Nutkin 7. Anna Maria 8. Samuel Whiskers 9. Unnamed Mice from The Tailor of Gloucester 10. Stuart Little 11. Chester cricket 12. The Pigeon I reserve the right to add to this list upon further reflection.
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I recently re-read and re-enjoyed this. My mind's pictures will always be based on the Nancy Eckholm Burkert illustrations. Her realistic style is a great balance for the fantastical events. Lane Smith's wacky style for the movie tie-in editions seems redundant. The story is unconventional on its own, you don't need to be "told" that by the pictures.
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For a year or two my sidebar has said this: "My latest favorite illustrator is Barbara McClintock. Of her books, my favorite is Dahlia. She also deserves credit for drawing the cutest Gingerbread Man in town. I think he's even cuter than Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby, and that's saying a lot!" Time to update, I have a new favorite! See new sidebar for details.
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