By: Kenneth Kit Lamug,
on 11/4/2015
I took some time to guest podcast with a good buddy and award-winning animators Paul Pate & Jim Luhan. Check out part 1 of the podcast as we talk about our current projects, our inspirations and aspirations. I had a blast and I should really do this more often…
Let us know your thoughts if there’s anything specific you want to ask!
https://paulpate.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/17-ken-lamug/
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By: Kakie Fitzsimmons,
on 7/12/2011
Limitations only go so far. ~ Robert M. Hensel Isn’t that an absolutely great quote?! It’s so very true … limitations do only go so far but the possibilities locked within each and every child are truly limitless! Like within Ralph – one of our dear friends within the Bur Bur and Friends [...]
By: Kakie Fitzsimmons,
on 3/3/2011
(First off, please note: Our blog domain will be moving to www.burburandfriends.com/blog) It’s always the little things that we love most and remember best about the people in our lives. Kind, supportive words spoken. The friend you know who gives the biggest, warmest, best hugs. The simplest kind gesture that brightens your day. Even though [...]
By: Kristen McLean,
on 5/23/2007
Alabama Moon by Watt Key
Farrar, Straus & Giroux; September 2006; 304 pp; $16.00 HC
978-0374301842
Core Audience: Boys 9+; readers who loved Hatchet or Holes; paranoid survivalists
Strengths: Incredibly vivid writing; a charming and original hero in the spirit of Huck Finn
First, let me say that this review is way overdue, because like Susan Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It, this book is at the absolute top of my favorites from 2006, and I’ve been recommending it to everyone except the faithful readers of this blog, unfortunately. This was an egregious oversight, because I can’t say enough good things about this book. This book was recently awarded the E.B. White Read Aloud Award by ABC’s independent booksellers, and it sure deserves it. It grabs you by the throat from the first paragraph, and doesn’t let go.
Written by first-time author Watt Key, Alabama Moon is the story of ten year old Moon who has spent his entire life deep in the Alabama woods with his survivalist father. He knows everything about taking care of himself in the wild from hunting food to building a shelter, but he has never spent much time in the company of strangers. When Moon’s father dies after breaking a leg, his last piece of advice is for Moon to go to Alaska to find others like them. Of course, as soon as Moon sets foot outside of the woods, he finds himself caught up in a world of trouble, and he must figure out a way to make his skills work for him when he has no experience of society.
This novel is amazing both for the originality of its voice, and the fine line it treads between poignant drama and the particular comedy that comes from the clash of two cultures. It is a testament to Watt Key’s writing that he is able to give Moon the complexity of character where his rebelliousness, his vulnerability, and his self-reliance show through in equal measure. The book is full of authentic detail and woodcraft, and boy readers in particular will get plenty of vicarious enjoyment out of Moon’s skills. (My favorite—making a hat worthy of Davy Crockett from the butt-end of a white tailed deer.) Moon is so irrepressible, readers are quickly in his corner as he confronts and rejects the expectations society has for him. In the tradition of Huck Finn and other fine iconoclasts, Moon just will not be kept down.
Of course, in the end we want for Moon what he wants for himself—a place in the world where he belongs. As a first time author, Watt Key has written a remarkable book, and although its most obvious appeal is for middle grade boys, this book deserves a much wider readership. Afterall, the themes of family, friendship, and belonging resonate far beyond the Alabama woods.
Get thee to a bookstore.
Rating:9.75
By: Kristen McLean,
on 1/30/2007
Sold, by Patricia McCormick
Hyperion; September 2006; 288; $15.99 HC
0-7868-5171-6
Core Audience: Girls ages 12+
Strengths: Compelling story; spare poetic writing; honest treatment of a difficult topic
Inevitably during awards season, the discussion is as much about books that didn’t get an award as about those who did. Everyone has a short list of favorites that they love and feel should have gotten additional recognition. Here’s one of those books. Sold was a National Book Award finalist, and if I were handing out awards, it would be at the top of my list for more kudos.
Lakshmi is a 13 year-old Nepali girl living in a small mountain village. Her life mostly revolves around the agrarian cycles of her home, like helping her mother and taking care of her pet goat. Although the family is poor, her life is rich with simple pleasures. When the monsoons come and wipe out her family’s rice plantings, her never-do-well stepfather declares that she must go to work to support the family. He negotiates with a glamorous stranger who says that she will take Lakshmi to work for a rich family in the city. What Lakshmi does not know is that her stepfather has just sold her into prostitution. After a long and confusing journey into India, her life descends into a nightmare from which there seems no escape. However, deep down inside her there is a spirit which refuses to be crushed, and she finds a way to endure and ultimately triumph over the situation she finds herself in.
This book is remarkable on many levels. First, there is the story which is meticulously researched, and which has the authenticity of voice to pull a reader right into the heart of Lakshmi’s experience. Then there is the writing, which accomplishes that rare thing: the kind of spareness and poetry that speaks as much in the silences as in the words. Subtle and nuanced, it finds grace in subject matter that could so easily descend into voyeuristic or maudlin melodrama. Thirdly, there is the character of Lakshmi herself, so vulnerable yet so strong. Patricia McCormick has invested her with such humanity that well-cared for readers can really understand her strength, resilience, and her drive to be a good person in the face of unbelievable cruelty. McCormick’s sensitive treatment of Lakshmi’s abuse focuses on her internal narrative, rather than a blow-by-blow recital, making palatable a truly horrific situation.
According to the end notes, nearly 12,000 Nepali girls are sold into sexual slavery in India, and nearly 500,000 children are trafficked in the sex trade globally every year. This is a world-wide problem that needs our attention, and Patricia McCormick has created a moving and lyrical call to arms for readers who may otherwise never hear about it.
Rated: 8.75
By: Kristen McLean,
on 1/22/2007
For those of us in the children’s book world, today is a little bit like the Academy Awards. The American Library Association has announced their 2007 awards, including the two biggies: The Newbury and the Caldecott. There is always much discussion about whether or not the choices reflect the reality of what young readers are actually excited about. I’m sure there will be lots of fodder for discussion, but I have to say, there are some awesome books on this list. Some of my favorites of the year, in fact…..
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John Newbery Medal Winner
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
978-1416901945, Simon & Schuster
Newbery Honor Books
Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
978-0375836879, Random House
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
978-0385733137, Random House
Rules by Cynthia Lord
978-0439443821, Scholastic
Randolph Caldecott Medal Winner
Flotsam by David Wiesner
978-0618194575, Clarion Books
Caldecott Honor Books
Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet, written and illustrated by David McLimans
978-0802795632, Walker
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Carole Boston Weatherford
978-0786851751, Hyperion
Robert F. Siebert Informational Book Award
Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh
978-0618507573, Houghton Mifflin
Siebert Honor Books
Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement written by Ann Bausum
978-0792241744, National Geographic
Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea written by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop
978-0618496419, Houghton Mifflin
To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel written by Siena Cherson Siegel, artwork by Mark Siegel
978-1416926870, Simon & Schuster
The Coretta Scott King Award
Copper Sun by Sharon Draper
978-0689821813, Simon & Schuster
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom illustrated by Kadir Nelson
978-0786851751, Hyperion
Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award
Standing Against the Wind by Traci L. Jones
978-0374371746, Farrar, Straus & Giroux
The Printz Award [for Literary Excellence]:
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
978-1596431522, First Second/Roaring Brook
Printz Honor Books:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; v. 1: The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson
978-0763624026, Candlewick Press
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
978-0525476887, Dutton/Penguin
Surrender (Candlewick) by Sonya Hartnett
978-0763627683, Candlewick Press
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
978-0375831003, Knopf/Random House
ALEX awards (Cross-over adult titles for teens):
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has selected 10 adult books that will appeal to teen readers to receive the 2007 Alex Awards.
The 2007 Alex Awards are:
Mararet A Edwards Award (Lifetime Achievement):
Lois Lowry, author of “The Giver,” is the recipient of the 2007 Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring her outstanding lifetime contribution to writing for teens.
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There are a number of other awards also given away, and I encourage you to check them all out.
