The book I chose is Dragonology because many YA readers (grades 5-8) have an interest in fantasy and dragon books. It is one of those books that pretends to be a rare or lost account of a scientist who studies "real" creatures. There are similar books about gnomes, monsters, and fairies. This one has little inserts that are supposed to be real documents such as, "A Dragonologist's Personal Record Book." There are many detailed illustrations of dragons from all over the world. This type of picture book is often found in the library right next to the fairytale and folktales from around the world (non-fiction section). Folktales are often illustrated in picture book format and are used in the middle school to enhance country studies or for storytelling.
Some other picture books I remember the teachers using were Shakespeare plays, Sir Cumference: A Math Adventure, and the Ruth Heller World of Language books.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
The Outsiders Survey
By now you know that I was let go from my middle school library position, but I still have strong ties to my old school and think about my YA readers often. The students that hang out in the library mostly do not fit in with the social scene whirling around them. They can be awkward or the type that gets over-stimulated easily, but most of them are original thinkers. My survey of their favorites did not surprise me in its results, but was hard to type up because there were so many responses. The ages of the students were 11-14. I surveyed 35 students total.
Any book, movie, TV show or game that got three or more votes was in the top five. Some of them were predictable like Avatar and the Harry Potter books/movies. Most often I had a completely new favorite in each category. For books the top were:
Erin Hunter's Warriors series
J.T. Rowling's Harry Potter series
Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series
Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Some of the more unique were:
1.) The Strange Case of Origami Yoda- This is the description from Amazon.com, "In this funny, uncannily wise portrait of the dynamics of a sixth-grade class and of the greatness that sometimes comes in unlikely packages, Dwight, a loser, talks to his classmates via an origami finger puppet of Yoda. If that weren’t strange enough, the puppet is uncannily wise and prescient."
2.) The Once and Future King- Description, "The world's greatest fantasy classic is the magical epic of King Arthur and his shining Camelot, of Merlyn and Guinevere, of beasts who talk and men who fly, of wizardry and war. It is the book of all things lost and wonderful and sad. It is the fantasy masterpiece by which all others are judged."
3.)The Soloist- Description, "Scurrying back to his office one day, Lopez, a columnist for the L.A. Times, is stopped short by the ethereal strains of a violin. Searching for the sound, he spots a homeless man coaxing those beautiful sounds from a battered two-string violin. When the man finishes, Lopez compliments him briefly and rushes off to write about his newfound subject, Nathaniel Ayers, the homeless violinist."
As for top five favorite movies, I ask for their "all-time" favorite and got: Avatar, The Blindside, District 9, Twilight Series, Harry potter series. Some original ones were: The Last Mimsy, Totoro, Monte Python, Good Hair, and Finding Nemo.
I was surprised that the Ace of Cakes had three loyal watchers. Family Guy, Veronica Mars, Whose Line is it Anyway, and 30 Rock all received more than one vote. I had to ask about MTV's Nitro Circus and Invader Zim because I had never heard of them.
Lastly, I allowed all types of games and found that board games were the most popular. The more violent computer and X Box games did make it on the survey, but not as much as I thought.
Any book, movie, TV show or game that got three or more votes was in the top five. Some of them were predictable like Avatar and the Harry Potter books/movies. Most often I had a completely new favorite in each category. For books the top were:
Erin Hunter's Warriors series
J.T. Rowling's Harry Potter series
Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series
Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Some of the more unique were:
1.) The Strange Case of Origami Yoda- This is the description from Amazon.com, "In this funny, uncannily wise portrait of the dynamics of a sixth-grade class and of the greatness that sometimes comes in unlikely packages, Dwight, a loser, talks to his classmates via an origami finger puppet of Yoda. If that weren’t strange enough, the puppet is uncannily wise and prescient."
2.) The Once and Future King- Description, "The world's greatest fantasy classic is the magical epic of King Arthur and his shining Camelot, of Merlyn and Guinevere, of beasts who talk and men who fly, of wizardry and war. It is the book of all things lost and wonderful and sad. It is the fantasy masterpiece by which all others are judged."
3.)The Soloist- Description, "Scurrying back to his office one day, Lopez, a columnist for the L.A. Times, is stopped short by the ethereal strains of a violin. Searching for the sound, he spots a homeless man coaxing those beautiful sounds from a battered two-string violin. When the man finishes, Lopez compliments him briefly and rushes off to write about his newfound subject, Nathaniel Ayers, the homeless violinist."
As for top five favorite movies, I ask for their "all-time" favorite and got: Avatar, The Blindside, District 9, Twilight Series, Harry potter series. Some original ones were: The Last Mimsy, Totoro, Monte Python, Good Hair, and Finding Nemo.
I was surprised that the Ace of Cakes had three loyal watchers. Family Guy, Veronica Mars, Whose Line is it Anyway, and 30 Rock all received more than one vote. I had to ask about MTV's Nitro Circus and Invader Zim because I had never heard of them.
Lastly, I allowed all types of games and found that board games were the most popular. The more violent computer and X Box games did make it on the survey, but not as much as I thought.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Banned Books and Kaffir Boy
Banned Books Week was celebrated in our middle school library when I was a librarian. I have to admit that I had just as much fun as the students did wondering why certain books were banned. We would look up the reason together if the student had the time. It was a popular week and very valuable because I could get kids to checkout books that they usually wouldn’t read. The school I was in was quite liberal, and I did not hear of any book challenges. I do remember having a parent question me about a Hitler book when I was working in the elementary library. That book was non-fiction and only told about the beginning of Hitler’s “career”. We had to look at the other books in the collection to see that there was balance. The parent was satisfied and checked out some Holocaust books.
I chose Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane because my mother-in-law told me about the book being banned from the Burlingame Middle School a few years ago. The superintendent of the school district had heard from a couple of eighth grade parents that the words in one passage were too graphic. Burlingame is an upscale school with high parent involvement. The book had been used the year before, but this time the superintendent asked the teachers to stop teaching Kaffir Boy until a board could look into the challenge. In a subsequent interview with a local reporter, the superintendent says that he ordered the abridged version of Kaffir Boy and invited Mark Mathabane to speak to the school. Mark lives in Oregon with his family and decided to accept the invitation to speak with the students. He is quoted as saying, “I felt it was appropriate, since the book became popular with middle school students and teachers, to come up with an age-appropriate version,” in an email to the Times.
The book was in the middle school I worked in last year, but it was not taught by the teachers and had not been checked out in a long time. It is the original version with the passage about several small boys prostituting themselves to men in order to get food and money which I checked out and read. I really wouldn’t want a less mature sixth grader to stumble on this book and read it without an adult to give them some help with it. The book is an autobiography about Mark growing up in the worst ghetto in South Africa during the apartheid era. I can see why some of the students who read A Child Called It (violent autobiography) might want to read the nightmare details of Mark’s terrifying life. It was hard for me to stomach. I was concerned that I didn’t like the young Mark and how he treated his siblings. Here is an example:
"Shut up, you fool!" I screamed at her again. "The white man is outside, and he's going to get you and eat you!" I should not have said that. My sister became hysterical. She flung herself at the bed and tried to claw her way up. Enraged, I slapped her hard across the mouth.
In that same passage he does help his younger brother, George, who fell off the bed during a raid and cracked his head on the floor and was bleeding. Mark also joined the “gang” of boys (who were only about seven or eight years old) when his parents were taken by the Peri-urban or police. That is how he ended up witnessing the prostitution, although he was very upset and did not participate in it. Even as Mark starts school and his life begins to change, I had a hard time finding him a person that stirred the compassion I think is necessary for this book to be successful. I think that another book about oppression, such as The Color Purple by Alice Walker, might be easier for a middle school teacher to use. What I did like about Mark’s book was the women, his mother and grandmother, who help him get his education at great cost to them. In the end he is a very good student gets a scholarship to a college in the Unites States of America.
Although I think it is very important to teach with books like Kaffir Boy, and I wouldn’t take it out of a middle school library, I would give a synopsis of the book and probably a warning about its graphic nature before I checked it out.
I chose Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane because my mother-in-law told me about the book being banned from the Burlingame Middle School a few years ago. The superintendent of the school district had heard from a couple of eighth grade parents that the words in one passage were too graphic. Burlingame is an upscale school with high parent involvement. The book had been used the year before, but this time the superintendent asked the teachers to stop teaching Kaffir Boy until a board could look into the challenge. In a subsequent interview with a local reporter, the superintendent says that he ordered the abridged version of Kaffir Boy and invited Mark Mathabane to speak to the school. Mark lives in Oregon with his family and decided to accept the invitation to speak with the students. He is quoted as saying, “I felt it was appropriate, since the book became popular with middle school students and teachers, to come up with an age-appropriate version,” in an email to the Times.
The book was in the middle school I worked in last year, but it was not taught by the teachers and had not been checked out in a long time. It is the original version with the passage about several small boys prostituting themselves to men in order to get food and money which I checked out and read. I really wouldn’t want a less mature sixth grader to stumble on this book and read it without an adult to give them some help with it. The book is an autobiography about Mark growing up in the worst ghetto in South Africa during the apartheid era. I can see why some of the students who read A Child Called It (violent autobiography) might want to read the nightmare details of Mark’s terrifying life. It was hard for me to stomach. I was concerned that I didn’t like the young Mark and how he treated his siblings. Here is an example:
"Shut up, you fool!" I screamed at her again. "The white man is outside, and he's going to get you and eat you!" I should not have said that. My sister became hysterical. She flung herself at the bed and tried to claw her way up. Enraged, I slapped her hard across the mouth.
In that same passage he does help his younger brother, George, who fell off the bed during a raid and cracked his head on the floor and was bleeding. Mark also joined the “gang” of boys (who were only about seven or eight years old) when his parents were taken by the Peri-urban or police. That is how he ended up witnessing the prostitution, although he was very upset and did not participate in it. Even as Mark starts school and his life begins to change, I had a hard time finding him a person that stirred the compassion I think is necessary for this book to be successful. I think that another book about oppression, such as The Color Purple by Alice Walker, might be easier for a middle school teacher to use. What I did like about Mark’s book was the women, his mother and grandmother, who help him get his education at great cost to them. In the end he is a very good student gets a scholarship to a college in the Unites States of America.
Although I think it is very important to teach with books like Kaffir Boy, and I wouldn’t take it out of a middle school library, I would give a synopsis of the book and probably a warning about its graphic nature before I checked it out.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Assignment 3
(Note to reader=I am unable to underline book titles on this blog)
Although I have a picture of myself at four months old, sitting on the couch, with a newspaper spread out in my lap and me staring at it, I could not read. At five years old, I could tell you what the Dr. Seuss’s book Green Eggs and Ham said, but I could not read. During first grade I was sick for a month and a half with Mononucleosis and never caught up to the rest of the class. I could not read in first grade and did not want to. My mother was a teacher, who suddenly noticed that I wasn’t reading in second grade. She knew that I was bright, so she switched me to another school district with better teachers, and I began to read, but it was hard work. By the end of my fourth grade year, she was embarrassed that I was not a motivated reader. She devised a plan to take me on a family outing each weekend if I would read for an hour every day. I read all the way through the Little House on the Prairie series and visited the local theme park four times that summer. By my fifth grade year, I was a reader.
In Junior High I read Of Mice and Men, The Diary of Anne Frank, Catcher in the Rye, and Gulliver’s Travels. I cried over Where the Red Fern Grows. I spent hours of my time reading in a tree as my family-life grew complicated. I needed a book to escape. That is when I read The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip and found fantasy novels. Harry Potter had not been written yet, but it was like finding that type of magic suddenly entering my life. By this time I was writing weekly in a personal journal. My teachers were praising me for the detail and “thought” in the papers I turned in, but not for my spelling.
The private school I was sent to had an excellent list of college preparatory summer reading:
Heart of Darkness
The Ox-bow Incident
Crime and Punishment
The mill on the Floss
Native Son
Books like these made me depressed. Being a teenager depressed me, but English classes were my favorite classes, and I tried to develop a “thick skin”. My mother read romance and self help books every weekend and graded papers during the week. I had to find balance, so I read a long string of adventure/survival books and more fantasy. My passion for fantasy books like Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony slipped into science fiction when I read his Macroscope. I was off on a new genre reading books by Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, and H. G. Wells.
It was a good thing I still wanted to read science fiction when I went to college, because in a science fiction class I met my husband. That was the only class we ever had in common. I’m glad he enjoys reading and reading to our child. We have a lot in common now.
Although I have a picture of myself at four months old, sitting on the couch, with a newspaper spread out in my lap and me staring at it, I could not read. At five years old, I could tell you what the Dr. Seuss’s book Green Eggs and Ham said, but I could not read. During first grade I was sick for a month and a half with Mononucleosis and never caught up to the rest of the class. I could not read in first grade and did not want to. My mother was a teacher, who suddenly noticed that I wasn’t reading in second grade. She knew that I was bright, so she switched me to another school district with better teachers, and I began to read, but it was hard work. By the end of my fourth grade year, she was embarrassed that I was not a motivated reader. She devised a plan to take me on a family outing each weekend if I would read for an hour every day. I read all the way through the Little House on the Prairie series and visited the local theme park four times that summer. By my fifth grade year, I was a reader.
In Junior High I read Of Mice and Men, The Diary of Anne Frank, Catcher in the Rye, and Gulliver’s Travels. I cried over Where the Red Fern Grows. I spent hours of my time reading in a tree as my family-life grew complicated. I needed a book to escape. That is when I read The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip and found fantasy novels. Harry Potter had not been written yet, but it was like finding that type of magic suddenly entering my life. By this time I was writing weekly in a personal journal. My teachers were praising me for the detail and “thought” in the papers I turned in, but not for my spelling.
The private school I was sent to had an excellent list of college preparatory summer reading:
Heart of Darkness
The Ox-bow Incident
Crime and Punishment
The mill on the Floss
Native Son
Books like these made me depressed. Being a teenager depressed me, but English classes were my favorite classes, and I tried to develop a “thick skin”. My mother read romance and self help books every weekend and graded papers during the week. I had to find balance, so I read a long string of adventure/survival books and more fantasy. My passion for fantasy books like Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony slipped into science fiction when I read his Macroscope. I was off on a new genre reading books by Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, and H. G. Wells.
It was a good thing I still wanted to read science fiction when I went to college, because in a science fiction class I met my husband. That was the only class we ever had in common. I’m glad he enjoys reading and reading to our child. We have a lot in common now.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Week 2 Reading
I do not use the word adolescent very often, and if I do, it means teenager. I guess that defining adolescence as a "period where young people are separating from their parents, and trying out new identities" is not new. The part that is new is the studies that find the adolescent mind isn't fully developed yet. Children at this stage in their lives need to be supported and understood. Why can't they act like adults....because they do not think or feel in the same way that adults do yet. I'm glad that many writers recognize adolescence as a unique time of life and write books that appeal to these readers. The defining moments were delicious to read even though some were heartbreaking. I felt that I was connected to authors I admire by reading their personal experiences.
"What is an adolescent anyway?" An adolescent is a young person who is trying to become an individual who has a place in his/her society, rapidly developing in both mind and body, testing limits, and is still dependant on others for support.
"What is an adolescent anyway?" An adolescent is a young person who is trying to become an individual who has a place in his/her society, rapidly developing in both mind and body, testing limits, and is still dependant on others for support.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Alice is a Teen
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland was not a comfortable book for me when I read it as a child. I loved The Secret Garden and other books that took you to a magical place but were only a tiny bit scary. Alice seemed quite confused by her trip to Wonderland in the book and was as scared of the Cheshire cat as I was. Yet, I am still fascinated by the story of Alice and wanted to go see the movie.
Adolescents would be attracted to this movie at first because of the amazing visual artistry. 3-D has become very hot right now. Tim Burton is popular with adolescents because he takes a dark, slightly creepy look at childhood fantasy when he makes a film. The book Coraline was very popular in the middle school library and the creepy movie version became popular (even though Coraline was a younger, more bored and stubborn, Alice-like character.) Many teens would have seen Edward Scissorhands or the Nightmare Before Christmas and be expecting more of the same with Alice In Wonderland.
They would like that Alice is now in her late teens and has a pale, Victorian beauty. They would relate when Alice finds herself in an embarrassing and confusing situation(a public marriage proposal) and wants to run away. The ending, In my opinion, was created by Burton with the teen audience in mind. He probably thought that a slay-the-dragon action sequence was necessary. I preferred the very end, when Alice shows her brains and resourcefulness by going into her father's business.
Review by Orchid
Adolescents would be attracted to this movie at first because of the amazing visual artistry. 3-D has become very hot right now. Tim Burton is popular with adolescents because he takes a dark, slightly creepy look at childhood fantasy when he makes a film. The book Coraline was very popular in the middle school library and the creepy movie version became popular (even though Coraline was a younger, more bored and stubborn, Alice-like character.) Many teens would have seen Edward Scissorhands or the Nightmare Before Christmas and be expecting more of the same with Alice In Wonderland.
They would like that Alice is now in her late teens and has a pale, Victorian beauty. They would relate when Alice finds herself in an embarrassing and confusing situation(a public marriage proposal) and wants to run away. The ending, In my opinion, was created by Burton with the teen audience in mind. He probably thought that a slay-the-dragon action sequence was necessary. I preferred the very end, when Alice shows her brains and resourcefulness by going into her father's business.
Review by Orchid
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