Realistic Fiction

There are many wonderful connections to be made between those works of fiction that fall into the categories of either being "realistic", "historical", or somehow both. Two books I read over the summer provided a chance to write this compare / contrast post, and also to plug a couple authors I hope I will get to read more from!

Before I go any further, I will try to give credit to the sources of the images above. The books Heart Of A Shepherd (by Roseanne Parry) and Our Only May Amelia (by Jennifer L. Holm) are both worthy of following up on by reading better and more in-depth reviews than you'll find here. I got the images I am using from the blog by a YA author; her name is Cynthia Leitich Smith. Her official author site is listed below...

http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/

... and I made a link to her "blogspot" page (which is a tremendous resource) in the "Useful Ideas" sidebar of this blog. This link will also bring you to the source for the two images above.

That being said, the two books I mentioned are ones I would highly recommend, not just individually, but also as an interesting pairing. Both books feature very engaging characters of similar ages who are dealing with challenging demands made on them as they begin to come of age. The books are both set in different time periods, though they are both set in the far northwest of the United States, and the natural landscapes and landforms play major roles in each story's development. Each author makes clear references in "author's notes" or "about the author" blurbs which help the reader understand the connections and resources the authors had to bring their characters to life. Finally, it is each authors' ability to breathe life – through the language and authentic understanding of what a young person would perhaps struggle with in the stories each has created – into their respective characters that so thoroughly impressed me and caused me to write about these two books.

The characters of May Amelia (in Holm's book) and "Brother" (really named Ignatius, from Parry's book) are truly challenged to take on roles that seem contrary or just plain intimidating to each as the books open. May Amelia is as rough-and-tumble a child as you're likely to meet (her voice seems evident in some of the episodes of "Babymouse", which is another Holm creation), and the demands of growing up in a barely-tamed frontier setting, right around 1900 in the state of Washington, do not seem to be allowing her to begin in any way to live up to her father's wishes that she begin behaving "like a proper lady". She is the only girl ever born in her settlement, and she desperately hopes for a chance to have a new sister. Brother, on the other hand, is coming to the realization that he will be in charge of running the family ranch in eastern Oregon, once his father is sent of for a tour of duty in Iraq. With all of his brothers away at school or in the service themselves, Brother is not feeling up to the demands of the ranching responsibilities which, though he will have his grandfathers help with, he perceives as overwhelming when he considers some of his fears around the ways of handling life and death of animals in this setting. Both children struggle with parental figures that are either gone (Brother's mother) or distant and quite gruff (May Amelia's father), though each has close, yet complex, bonds with siblings among the large families they in fact grow up within. Both characters must deal with devastating family losses that arise in the course of the stories, though each does manage to find a means to grow from the difficult experiences. This is, to me, the main thing to seek out – character change and growth – while reflecting on the outcome of a realistic fiction story.

Well, so much for the opening paragraph's other items! Essays are truly challenging to compose at internet lounges like the one I am writing at now! The other points I might continue writing about must be done later. Any questions or comments? Please feel free to post... editing suggestions also welcome, as usual!

Finally, one last thing: The graphic novel titles are still "all the rage" in my book browsing. Kids in 4St are sticking with the "Bone" series, and these books need no extra publicity. I do hope to be able, some day, to get the books in the MouseGuard series out to interested readers in the classroom. Who knew it would be an NYT bestseller??!

In the meantime, please check out the author/illustrator's page – for some reason this image CAN be linked to the website "from whence it came" – Click On the Black Axe thumbnail below.

Worlds of Wonder

Ever been this close to a shark? The separation between the worlds we live in are incredible to observe and learn from. Sometimes the actual barriers are – in and of themselves – what incite wonder and amazement. Without the glass, this little kid and the animals would have other concerns...

Speaking of other worlds, the two entries so far from the Stephen Hawking collaboration aimed at younger science / adventure (?) readers provide a couple more titles for a new genre of books I like to call "chapter/graphic" novels. Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are among those that engage even reluctant readers. The "George" books take it a step further and I hope will be as enthusiastically embraced during reading times. Here are the images of the covers. Click on the "Secret Key" link here:

http://www.georgessecretkey.com/

You'll be taken to the series' accompanying website. It's fun!

I got one image from a science blog that I commented on – you can visit the discusion by clicking HERE.

Another title that caught my eye - great name:

Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom is another title / character I could see being widely enjoyed by the 8-11 year old set. Click here (on the name of the author): Eric Wight has a link thru the publisher.

Other titles / characters / series I'd love to include mention of (and will, if any comments ask for further types of these books) would be Oliver Ho and Lunch Lady. Actually, go ahead and click on the "Lunch Lady" boldface. A quick search found a link that hooks you into the latest news and ordering info. Clickers be warned, though. I was only barely approved to explore that website; running low on time, I do not know what lies beyond the L.L.'s intro. screen. Proceed at own risk (I'll beg off any cafeteria food jokes). Again, pardons for any errors; the links take time and editing is a luxury I'll only have time for if there seem to be others reading this! Constructive edits and suggestions will be welcome. Next time: Realistic Fiction, and maybe a comic book series or two!

New for Graphic Novel / Comic Interests

DRAGONBREATH!
NURK?!

Dragonbreath and Nurk are two publications by Ms. Vernon that I thought would be fitting leads for this post. I saw "Dragon" in a bookstore, and it seemed nicely designed with a good amount of text to read. The character, "Danny Dragonbreath" looks promising. A little like Tyler from the PS238 comic series (the kid at super-hero academy without any evident superpowers), Danny can't breathe fire, so he's got to find other ways to make his mark. Didn't spend too much time looking at it, so I am

limited in the info. that can be shared here. "Nurk" wasn't on the shelves, but was mentioned in some promotional material. I was intrigued with the full title - Nurk: The Strange, Surprising Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew.

The author's website is linked:
Ursula Vernon
Sorry no link in with those cover images, like last time!

BABYMOUSE!
Jennifer Holm and brother Matthew are creators of the "babymouse" series. These books are quite a hit already with kids in the class. Ms. Holm's other books, chapter books for middle-grade readers, include some really memorable girl characters. Our Only May Amelia is one of the titles I read recently that I really found myself enjoying because of the main character. I found the historical fiction component very appealing, also.
Nice website they have for Babymouse. Click the book cover image to the right.

Jennifer Holm
Click the link above to visit Jennifer Holm's author website. As of this post date, she's got a link to Comic Con – San Diego there (doesn't seem active); I guess she was featured on a panel relating to "graphic novels for kids" there this past summer Don't even get me started on how much I'd like to check out Comic Con – just wouldn't want to wear the crazy outfits. Ugh... I forgot Halloween is this month.

Finally, the link to this season's Indie Next List for Kids is linked to the image below.



Autumn '09's list includes a new book by Kate DiCamillo and a collaboration project for Neil Gaiman among other things! Lots of ideas for next time came up while writing this post. I hope there will be a next one soon.

Thanks for tolerating any errors; gotta run and may not have read this as closely as I should. Please comment with any suggestions / edits.

Book Recommendations

In honor of a couple of my

younger, eager-to-read (I hope!)

cousins from VA -Shannon and Jack-

here are two book suggestions.

If there are any 4th (or 5th) graders

reading this, don't worry. Either book

would be fine for you guys.
Shannon,
just so you don't feel like we're going easy on you (gonna be a 9th grader!?), there's a note on the end about a title for definitely older readers. I apologize for the messed up font size. Part of an experiment with HTML that's going to end in the next paragraph.

OK, here goes!


Sea Queens:
Women Pirates Around the World
is written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Christine Joy Pratt. I love this style of illustration, first and foremost. When I saw Sea Queens, with its artfully done front image and lovely lettering, I *did* judge it by its cover and picked it up. This book's fearsome female subjects come from a wide time range (more than 2500 years, if my math is correct). The author - known for, among other things, assembling excellent collections of stories and tales with wonderful illustrator collaborations – uses short chapters to investigate a range of pirates who happened to be of the female persuasion.

I hope my technical skills are up to this: click on the picture of the book and you should be able to go to the website of the book's publisher. There you will find a wealth of reviews and other images. You'll also be able to set up an order, if you so choose.

For me, however, this book has the sort of pen/ink drawings that look almost like woodcuttings (I am a big Michael McCurdy fan, not to mention being a Barry Moser worshipper – both pretty great using woodcuttings). The artist's work adds to the kind of "nautical feel" I got from reading this book. Aside from my own enjoyment, this book will give me something to offer the kids who, when learning about the fascinating role pirates played in history (and, to some extent, how they are affecting our own global commerces today), ask: "Were there any girls or ladies who were pirates?" These Sea Queens can hold their own with any story of Captain Kidd or Blackbeard. This post is coming to an end, but move down to see the other suggestion(s).

Book Recommendation (another part)

OK. That's enough messing with the font size and editing HTML. This post will stick to the agenda. Next book suggestion is one that we ordered for the classroom this year, but since it came in right before vacation, it didn't get a lot of time to be featured. A few kids were intrigued by the illustrations, though there is a haunting and surreal quality to them. While the Bone series – that's the one that most kids would grab when I took out the graphic novels bin – captivated "the masses" with its comic-book format and clear, colorful (in the re-released format, anyway) pictures, this book's layout and mysterious, thought-provoking images may have required more time to connect with. However, the reward for sticking with this book is well worth the puzzling (a reward in and of itself)! The book, already??? It's Shaun Tan's Tales From Outer Suburbia. It's a collection of short stories (more than a dozen) along with some pieces that aren't as clearly structured with the familiar beginning-middle-end format. You could just create your own stories as you scan the pictures and wonder how they all connect. Reading the text, younger readers may need some help – this is the kind of book an adult and child could share and enjoy together. I could picture a parent reading the text while the child pores over the artwork, maybe. It might take some time and even fortitude to delve into the tales, but Outer Suburbia is a "place" worth the effort. Click on the book cover image to visit the publisher's page (I hope this isn't illegal to use it here? I got it from the site I am linking it to.)

By the way, if you think you recognize the name of the author, it might be because of his previous book, The Arrival. That was some kind of awesome addition to the library – "a wordless graphic novel", as some call it – and I talked about it so much last year, I needed to chill out on it. BUT, do visit Shaun Tan's website for a look at all of his other titles and some other interesting stuff!

Well, this is really a problem with my writing style. It seems these blog entries are too long! Anyone who made it this far must be a good reader, and probably can endure a lot of rambling. So, rather than make a new post for my final suggestion FOR OLDER READERS only (grade 8 and above) I'll bury it in this post.

I bought the book The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness, after a month or so of the title knocking about my skull, like a strange tune on the radio (ever hear "Day N Night" by Kid Cudi?) that I would try to remember and listen for again. The book is the first in a series called "Chaos Walking" and after I finally picked it up, it sat around for another month collecting dust. I was struck by some of the clever tricks the printing features – no pictures in this one – and some of the ways the narrator "worded" things. After struggling through the first forty pages or so, I found the book's momentum and there was no putting it down after that. It deals with the protagonist's forced flight from his home, alone, as some menacing developments in his community suggest a fearsome battle or event is about to happen. I don't want to give away any more of the plot by explaining any further – this blog entry is soooo long already! I just gotta say, though: one event in the story threw me for such a loop, sticking with me the next day in school to the extent that I found I had to explain to my class why I seemed a little distant for an hour in the morning. The book has some powerful scenes that are quite strong in imagery and intense at an emotional level (call me a sucker). I remember reading Stephen King's stuff in middle school, so I might not have minded some of the stuff in this book as an adolescent kid. While it is scary at times, however, there isn't much that's inappropriate for a seasoned teen reader – one or two bits of colorful language along with the aforementioned imagery which captured remarkably the "chaos" and fear which you'd imagine occurring as you flee a menacing force. I cannot wait for the next installment of this series! Hope you enjoyed these suggestions! For more, try the Indie Next List for Kids.

Do you think
all these links work?
Thanks for reading...

Timing Is Everything...

...or nothing. It is a little awkward to be still posting on what is going on in the post-4th grade lives of our 4St Blogging Alumni. However, there are some new additions to our "Link List", as well as a more prominent placement (higher up on the right sidebar). So, check out Patrick's and Alex's work. See new of the trip Sam is on, and if you have any new blog addresses to share, please post them via the "comment" feature. It's gonna be a great summer!
-Mr. S.

P.S. Found this image of John D. Runkle and thought it gave a nice inspiration for any summer scholarship endeavors!

Bloggers of 4St - Keep It Up!

We have finished our year in 4St for the 2008-9 school year. It is a little sad to have to say goodbye to students I have enjoyed working with all year, but it's a little easier when I know I can hear from them over the summer. Perhaps the newly-minted bloggers will provide us withy links to their pages. As I hear about kids exporting their blogs successfully to their own new oogle accounts, I will try to post their web addresses on this page. Look to the right sidebar – near the bottom – to see the links we have collected for now. Please, if you visit one of the kids' blogs, leave a friendly, positive comment. Everyone, have a great summer!


P.S. The image to the left was drawn by a former Runkle student (I want to check spelling before I give false/errant info.) who gave me a hand-drawn copy to put on a yet-to-be-realized Runkle Ultimate disc. What I hope to order, some day, is a set of discs that are known under the name "Ultrastar". These are made by a Minnesota-based company called Discraft – not the product referred to as a Frisbee® which is very similar, but not the same. Discraft will print discs with custom logos, so we could perhaps get a disc with this image (provided the artist will still give permission!)
Incidentally, we use the Discraft Ultrastar for most of our after-school ultimate games.

Let's Get Updated!

It has been a long time since our last post. We'll be working on finishing up any incomplete posts today. If you have time, you will enjoy leaving a picture of your faithful rock for all of us to remember it by!

Click HERE to check out a website you might enjoy working with! You can always use KidPix, as well!