Monica Edinger's Blog, page 11

Bank Street College’s Book Fest 2017

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I had a great time Saturday at Bank Street’s Book Fest, a day-long conference. My small part was to lead a discussion on the following inventive informational books:

Giant Squid by Candace Fleming and illustrated by Eric Rohmann
The Hello Atlas by Ben Handicott and illustrated by Kenard Pak
How to Build a Museum: Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture by Tonya Bolden
Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Eric Vel...

Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust Vol. 1: La Belle Sauvage

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There will be many paths into this book. Some will come to it cold having not read His Dark Materials, curious about what the fuss is all about. Others will come to it having read His Dark Materials long ago and so with a vague sense of the world they are re-entering. Some may read it because of an encounter with The Golden Compass movie. Others may have had the early books read to them when young.  And some will come to it with a deep love and appreciation of the previous books, having read...

Philip Pullman Answers Some Smart Questions Smartly

If you could lead a revolution in someone else’s world, which world would it be?
Frances Hardinge, children’s and YA author
Ha! What an interesting question. I think I’d lead a revolution in the Narnia story, and I’d put Susan at the head, because she was the one who was turned away at the end because she was growing up and she was interested in boys. Yes, let Susan lead the revolution of the rejected in Narnia.

If you could give to one public figure the gift of being able to see their daemon...

In Philip Pullman’s World Again

In my previous post I wondered how best to read The Book of Dust: Vol I.  Should I savor it or rush through it? Well, I’d say I went with the former when I decided to listen and read it by using both the fabulous audio book read by Michael Sheen and the Kindle edition with whispersyncing (so I can go back and forth). Have to say I’m loving listening to it and remembering that my comfort listen is the full-cast audio book of  His Dark Materials.  But having the Kindle edition is fabulous too a...

How to Read Philip Pullman’s La Belle Sauvage

Yes, I too have been waiting seventeen years for this one. But now that I have it, how to read it? Gulp it down? Savor it? Decisions, decisions!

 

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In the Classroom: Good White Teaching

Many of us good white teachers have been in the profession for a long, long time. We’ve stayed in it because we love teaching and feel we are good at it. Our identities are wrapped tightly up in this. And now we are having to rethink who we are professionally as we navigate difficult and necessary conversations and situations in our classrooms involving race. While we veteran white teachers may have successfully resolved conflicts, dealt with festering situations of non-race-based social aggr...

The Book of Dust “…will be devoured.”

In it, Lyra is 6 months old and being hunted by henchmen of the Magisterium. The action unfolds in Oxford, but an Oxford unrecognizable from its spire-crowded postcard form — the city is a damp and threatening place of inns and drunks and amiable nuns. For half the book they are all submerged in a catastrophic flood. Malcolm navigates the waters in his canoe and becomes Lyra’s chief protector. After a gentle start, the novel accelerates into an action thriller, with cameos from fairies and ri...

Rick Riordan’s The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #3)

Just finished this last night and the more I think about it the more impressed I am.  A few months back I wrote a post celebrating Rick Riordan and all the things I noted there are in his latest, The Ship of the Dead. Here’s what I just wrote on Goodreads:

Highly enjoyable. Interesting how Riordan reuses a plot trope (deadly deadline) so freshly and imaginatively in different titles including this one. I think this is because he develops each character so distinctively, brings in the mytholog...

Museums and Their Presentation of Uncomfortable Truths

I have been really struck by the contrast between the Dr. Seuss Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture when it comes to the difficulty realities of the people they are highlighting.

When visiting the latter in July I was so impressed with their handling of Bill Crosby. They included him in several places, but didn’t shy away from anything about him.

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Contrast this with the lack of commentary by the Seuss Museum on their creator’s racism which has been critici...

In the Classroom: Close Reading of Charlotte’s Web

Yesterday I modeled a close reading/annotating of the first chapter of Charlotte’s Web, something I’ve been doing with my 4th graders yearly for decades. It was, as always, an amazing experience because the book is such a remarkable piece of writing. Every year my students discover new aspects to note. You’d think there wouldn’t be anything new after so many years, but the book is so gorgeous and elegant and my students so captivated by the process that — yes — there is always something new....