Gonna Bake a Pie...

After watching Waitress the other day I got it into my head that I wanted to bake a pie. So I made a cherry pie last night and I have to say, it turned out very pretty. I'm so proud I thought I'd post a picture.

Mock Caldecott Award

Since the library is doing a mock Caldecott program in the elementary schools, the youth services team decided to have our own election. The winner was:

Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine, illustrations by Kadir Nelson

and Honors going to:

At Night by Jonathan Bean

The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington, illustrations by Shelley Jackson

First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

My own first place vote was for Bean's At Night, which is my favorite picture books of the year. And if it were solely my decision I would have also given honors to Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett and Scribble by Deborah Freedman.

Crappy Reading Choices part 2

There's been some great discussion over on the child_lit about the anti-feminist tones in Stephanie Meyer's Vampire series which has gotten me thinking more about the influence books have on teen readers. I read Meyer's first book, Twilight, one day at work and I have to admit, I enjoyed the the story, angst, drama, and all. The later books in the series started to irritate me though. The main character, Bella, becomes the constant the damsel in distress and Edward is too perfect. I mean, he's too content to make an interesting vampire. And yes, he's creepily controlling. And yes. she too submissive. So is this going to corrupt the throngs of teen girls reading the series? It is okay to say, well at least they are reading, or is that akin to giving kids free run to eat as much candy as they like.

My opinion comes out of my own teen reading experience. As I've already admitted, I read all sorts of trash. V.C. Andrews, Christopher Pike, R.L. Stine... but I also read the good stuff too. And by time I was a "teen" I could tell the difference. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the junk food. I think we need to give teens credit. I'm sure they are capable of reading critically, when they want to. But sometimes it's pleasurable to get swept up in a melodramatic story without the critic in your head chiming in to spoil all the fun!

A defense of crappy reading choices

I kinda really liked this article in Slate this week on preteens reading the ever so trashy Flowers in the Attic series. I have to fess up to reading the entire series at the age of 12. Then I moved on to the other V.C. Andrews series. And guess what? No harm done. Now what really had me disturbed was my first viewing of Hamlet. But that's another story!

The article starts off with the author talking about not encouraging her kid to read The Golden Compass. I thought that was an odd jumping off point for talking about the allure of dreck. But I do like her points about allowing kids to read what they want to read.

Viewing The Golden Compass

I saw the movie of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass last night. It's been getting some pretty terrible reviews with most critics complaining that it waters down the complexity of Pullman's books. And yes, the movie falls short of the brilliance of the book but that is almost always the case. Which is why I feel the need to speak up in this movie's defense.

I remember reading the His Dark Materials trilogy, of which The Golden Compass is the first book, in college and marveling at how complicated the plot was. So, when I heard that they were making the Golden Compass into a movie I didn't really expect that they would be able to pack in everything from the book. Even ending the film about three chapters early (which was annoying to me as a reader but understandable as a movie viewer), there's just too much.

But really what I'm getting at is that if I wanted to have the perfect experience of The Golden Compass I would read the book again. Nothing is going to match that. But I think that the filmmakers tried hard to stay faithful to the story. And though it wasn't perfection, I enjoyed sitting through their effort.

Poetry Friday

Oh! An Alice poem! It makes me think of my last year at New College, writing my thesis chapter on Alice in Wonderland and wondering if I was ruining it for myself forever.

And as in Alice
by Mary Jo Bang

Alice cannot be in the poem, she says, because
She's only a metaphor for childhood
And a poem is a metaphor already
So we'd only have a metaphor

Read the rest here.

I think I had too much stuffing...

Well our Thanksgiving holiday got off to a rocky start. We left for Philly Tuesday night so that we could spend Thanksgiving with Jason and Valeska. About halfway there the car started over heating and we had to turn around praising and coaxing my little Toyota all the way back to DC. But we prevailed in the end! We ended up renting a car and getting to Philly Wednesday afternoon. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving complete with stuffing, pumpkin pie cheesecake, and the best twice baked sweet potatoes ever. Josh played lots of video games and I was seduced by HGTV's House Hunters. Sadly, we had to leave too soon since I had to work on Saturday.

My car is fixed now. (After several hundred dollars and no clear diagnosis!) But I think those Thanksgiving pounds are still with me. Today at story-time a nanny asked me if I was pregnant! This is like the third time this has happened to me! People, it's rude to ask a woman that question unless you are totally sure that she really is pregnant! Who does that? UGH.

I'm off to nures my shattered ego now...um...I mean prepare for the next story-time of the day.

Picture Book(s) of the Week

I have three for this week. First one is Ginger Bear by Mini Grey. It's a book about a cookie, how could I not love it? I mean I've never met a cookie I didn't like. And this cookie literally makes new friends, then joins a cookie circus, before finally finding out that "the life of a cookie is usually short and sweet." But not to worry Ginger Bear finds out that even for a sweet little cookie there is a safe haven!

Next there's Taking a Bath with the Dog and Other Things that Make Me Happy by Scott Menchin. This is really a simple book that takes on the big issue of happiness. Little Sweet Pea surveys her community as to what makes them happy and then comes up with a list of her own. I think what made me like the book so much is how well the illustration seemed to match the simplicity of the text. Plus, it's a good way to get kids (and grown-ups too) to think about own lists.

Finally there's Behind the Museum Door, a collection of poetry celebrating museums. I normally wouldn't have spent that much time looking at this book but I have a friend in museum education and the book made me think of her. So I picked it up and I'm glad I did. Each poem in the collection is accompanied by a bright, kinetic, exhibit illustration. Its a great book to share with a child before (or after) a museum trip.

My favorite poem in the series is Museum Farewell by Rebecca Kai Dotlich. It reminds me of a Girl Scout camp-out we had where we got to spend the night in a museum. It starts...

Lights out.

Doors close

on the cool quiet

of museum spaces;

echoing hallways,

locked cases--

New Favorite Quote

From Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf

"Children who never have a story read to them, who never hear words that rhyme, who never imagine fighting with dragons or marrying a prince, have the odds overwhelmingly against them."

Why didn't I know about this?

Where the Wild Things Are as a ballet! I would totally have gone. Sigh.

Poetry Friday

Yesterday I was explaining to someone at work why I love the 3-5 year old so much. The infants are cute and cuddly sure but I have the most fun with the kids who have a little sadistic streak in them. Okay, maybe sadistic is too strong, is impish better?

Anyway, Hansel and Gretel Duet by Nan Fry is a delicious spin on the tale, with a twist perfect for Halloween. And I think some of impish little story-time kids would like this ending better!

Read the poem HERE.

Books for the Beast

Yesterday I attended Books for the Beast in Baltimore with the Youth Services team. The first speaker was author Gail Giles who gave a fabulous talk. Knowing that she would be there, I read What happened to Cass McBride? last week. I haven't read that sort of suspense/horror in a while (though once upon a time I was a devout follower of Christopher Pike) but I actually really liked it. I liked that the ending was realistic, that there were psychological consequences for both the victim and the bad guy. So I was happy when Gail talked about the open endedness of her books. She compared an open ending to an untied shoe; it's going to bother you all day and change your behavior. A tied shoe, however, doesn't get a second thought. I thought it was a good analogy, one that both the adults and the teens in the audience could understand.

After the first speaker we had breakout groups to discuss the books we read with the teens. My first group was Fantasy/Science Fiction. It was a pretty good discussion but there weren't any actual teens in the group. In my afternoon group we discussed "Real Life" fiction and there was only one teen in that group. I wish there had been more kids so that the conversation wasn't so dominated by adult opinion. I'm pretty sure I came off as the class curmudgeon in both of my groups since I was the only one who seemed to strongly dislike some of the selections. Most people seemed enamoured with the writing in Black Juice by Margo Lanagan. While there I am going grumble grumble grumble. Then everyone is nodding along about liking Jason & Kyra and I am the obnoxious kid in the back going "If one of those characters called something 'tight' one more time I was going to scream."

After the groups we had Mark Siegel, the Editorial Director of Roaring Brook Press’s graphic novel imprint, First Second. He came off as incredibly intelligent, the kind of person you'd love to have a one on one conversation with. But his speech was rather dry for a crowd that had already been sitting around all day. After that it was time to grab dessert and head back to Arlington.

Did I mention I had to get up at 6 in the morning and slog through the pouring rain to my car so I could be at Central by 7:30. And that my socks were wet all day! I had a great time but, oh man, was I exhausted!

Picture Book of the Week

If Harold and the Purple Crayon and David Weisner's The Three Pigs had a baby the product would be Scribble by Deborah Freedman. The book begins with two sisters getting into a tiff over their drawings. But the drawings quickly take on a life of their own. It's a fun story with wonderful illustrations. Plus, there's a great bit about how kitties can't marry princesses (but they do anyway). So there! Hehe.

Once again, others say it better than me...

Salon's Rebecca Traister on Rowling's big revelation.

Outing Dumbledore

So apparently Rowling told an a group of fans at Carnegie Hall that Dumbledore is gay. First I thought, cool. Then I wondered, is it a cop out that Dumbledore is not out in the books, that only now after making her millions is Rowling saying Dumbledore is gay? Finally I decided the whole thing annoys me. I know there's tons of kids out there with all these questions about the tiniest details of the wizarding world, but I kind of hate hearing about what Harry's doing twenty years later and such. I'm the type of reader who likes to draw connections on my own. (I always did love English class a bit too much.) I want to be able to figure things out from my own reading. But I realize that the completeness of the world Rowling has created is part of the appeal of Harry Potter. So maybe I have no right to be annoyed.

Oooohhh!

After all the bad movie versions of children's books this gives me hope. I cannot wait!

What I'm reading now

I just finished reading Magic's Child by Justine Larbalestier. It's the last book in her Magic or Madness trilogy. In the first book 15 year old Reason is sent to live with the Grandmother she has been taught all her life to detests after her mother goes insane and attempts suicide. Once at her ancestral home Reason learns that she posses a magic that is real and powerful. So powerful, that to refuse to use it drives a magical person insane. In this last book Reason finds herself pregnant and irreversibly altered by the magic of a powerful ancestor. Larbalestier tries to explain magic in a way that makes it plausible. It's an interesting concept, one that has kept me reading the trilogy (well, that plus the adorable Aussie speak). However, I think my problem with the series is that so much writing is spend rooting magic in the real world and too little is spent on developing the plot. By this last book the plot felt remarkably thin. I would have to say the series gets a solid three stars from me. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either.

Next up I'm trying to finish Jason & Kyra by Dana Davidson. I'm having trouble getting into it but that may just be the changing gears between fantasy and high school drama.

Poetry Friday: Morning Song

It seems all of a sudden I know a bunch of people who are having babies. I admit that every once in while I think, oh a baby, I want one. And then I remember that that's the same kind of thoughts I had about Emerson and then we adopted him and now I'm stuck with a needy dog that sheds everywhere. Plus, all I need is a particularly crazy story-time with a bunch of cranky two year olds to remind me that I'd rather wait a bit for kids. So, this Poetry Friday I want to dedicate Sylvia Plath's Morning Song to the new mommies and new mommies-to-be I know.

Love set you going like a fat gold watch.

The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry

Took its place among the elements.

For the rest go here.

Picture Book of the Week: Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle by Pija Lindenbaum

Mini Mia (So called because of her love of soccer. Her real name is Ella) loves hanging out with her darling uncle Tommy. But when her uncle's new friend Fergus shows up Mia is not happy. Not wanting to share her uncle, Mia does her best to send Fergus packing back to Scotland. Without teaching a "very important lesson" the book explores Mia's feelings of anger and jealousy. I loved that Mini Mia's emotions rather than Tommy and Fergus' relationship is point of the story. This one is by far my favorite picture book of the week!

I'm almost glad they won't share the same title!

Interesting interview with Susan Cooper on NPR. I am pretty sure that I am not going to see The Seeker (the new title of The Dark is Rising movie). When I saw the movie commercial I didn't even recognize it as The Dark is Rising. I understand movies and books are two different mediums and things that work in books might not work on film. But still, sometimes I think movie studios set out to destroy beloved books!