Monica Edinger's Blog, page 109

The Exquisite Corpse Adventure

Tomorrow, at the National Book Festival, the final episode of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure will be revealed.  A marvelous shaggy dog of a tale, this version of this old game had a bevy of famous children's authors and illustrators writing twenty-six episodes of a story involving time travel, robots, a scary clown, intrepid young heroes (of course), language play, and a whole lot more. I'm envious of those at tomorrow's final reveal as they don't just get to find out what happen, but get to ...

Irony and Kids; Kids and Irony

At Tuesday evening's Open House for parents (when I tell them what I plan to do with their kids this year) I began by reading aloud to them Tao Nyeu's Bunny Days.  Why? Because my 4th grade students think it is hilarious and I thought it would give the parents a sense of where their kids are developmentally. As I mentioned a few days ago, these nine year-olds find it funny because of the way it plays on their memories of sweet little bunny stories of their toddler days.  It is their place of ...

What to Do About Classic Children's Books that are Racist

One of my favorite childhood books was Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle. I've the original book and as a young teacher realized that it was…um…horribly…racist and so kept it home and did not recommend it. At one point a parent expressed shock to me that it was on the reading list for the grade above mine. When I told the teacher she showed me a version of the book in which the racist storyline had been completely removed.   I wasn't sure what to think about that. Yes, the original version is...

What to Do About Classical Children's Books that are Racist?

One of my favorite childhood books was Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle. I've the original book and as a young teacher realized that it was…um…horribly…racist and so kept it home and did not recommend it. At one point a parent expressed shock to me that it was on the reading list for the grade above mine. When I told the teacher she showed me a version of the book in which the racist storyline had been completely removed.   I wasn't sure what to think about this. Yes, the original version was u...

Bunny and Funny Books

Yesterday @sammyperlmutter asked for funny books and I responded:

Funny is hard to agree on. For example, my 4th grade thinks Tao Nyeu's Bunny Days is hilarious. Others might be horrified.

Bunny Days came to mind because I'd just read it to my students the day before and they were bugging me to read it again.  To say it was a hit is an understatement. While the problems those sweet little bunnies experienced may be standard pre-school fare, how they were resolved is definitely not.  And it was ...

NCTE and Wizarding World — Here I Come!

This is the first year for a long time that I have no official responsibilities at the annual NCTE convention.  Since it is pricey, involves missing a day of school, and comes right before Thanksgiving I considered not going. But then I always have a great time learning and networking, figure I can do some Huffington Post blogging about it, and most of all — I simply cannot pass up a chance to go to Hogwarths, I mean Wizarding World.  So I'll be there and hope to see some of you there too.

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School's Back. So's Homework

Ah, fall.  No more camp, sleeping in, and lazy days at the pool.  Now it is school, up before dawn, and — HOMEWORK.

Teachers love it, kids hate it. Right?

Wrong.

At least this fourth teacher doesn't love it. We do a lot during the school day in my classroom and when we are done I want my students to go home and do other things — play, build with Legos, dream, shoot hoops, relax, spend time with family, draw, dance, sing, listen, and create. Oh yes, and read. It is the one sort of homework I...

Newbery Season

As we head into autumn, speculation about this year's award winners is mounting (at least among those of us who are obsessed with such things).  The Cybils are getting underway, there's a wonderful event attached to the Boston Globe-Horn Book awards this year at Simmons College, and the various ALA mock award groups are building steam.  One of my favorites is the Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog run by my pals Nina Lindsay and Jonathan Hunt.  Nina was chair of my 2008 Newbery Committee and...

Refreshingly Nasty Fairies

Much as I like fairy stories I have to say that the children's book market has been a tad saturated with those fey creatures of late. And so I was a bit dubious when I first saw Lesley M. M. Blume's Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins, and Other Nasties: A Practical Guide by Miss Edythe McFate.  Not only was it fairies, modern ones mind you, but it had one of those narrators-who-isn't-the-actual-author — another overly popular trope of late.

But let me tell you, this book feels fresh and...

School's Back. So's Homework

Ah, fall.  Away with camp, sleeping in, and lazy days at the lake.  Now it is school, up before dawn, and — HOMEWORK.

Teachers love it, kids hate it. Right?

Wrong.

At least this fourth teacher doesn't love it. We do a lot during the school day in my classroom and when we are done I want my students to go home and do other things — play, build with Legos, dream, shoot hoops, relax, spend time with family, draw, dance, sing, listen, and create. Oh yes, and read. It is the one sort of homework I...