Monica Edinger's Blog, page 138
October 9, 2009
Interview with Patrick Ness
I was also trying to be certain that there were shades of gray, that nothing was as clear as simple good and evil.
Fans of Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series are sure to enjoy this Q & A with him in Publishers Weekly,
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Speeches
These were presented last week and now we who weren't fortunate enough to be there can see all the speeches here or on youtube. As you will see below the honorees are a mighty distinguished lot; their speeches are well worth viewing. (Gaiman uses a very interesting prop for his, for one.)
Fiction and Poetry
Winner: Terry Pratchett's Nation
Honors: M. T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II:The Kingdom on the Waves and Neil Gaiman's The...
October 7, 2009
Harriet the Blogger
Harriet will be updated in many ways for today's youth, particularly portraying her character as "blogger" and establishing a high school age setting rather than the 11-year old in Fitzhugh's book.
That's from this article about a new Harriet the Spy movie in the works. Now I have to say I wasn't wild about the last film version, well-intentioned though it was. And I sort of like the idea of a blogging Harriet, but setting it in a high school has me fearing a Disneyized-Gossip Girl...
October 6, 2009
You Can Never Have Too Many Friends, Right?
Evidently someone has decided to give Ratty a love interest — oops wrong classic — give Pooh a new friend and redecorate his abode at the New York Public Library. Don't know if the bear needed more pals, but that gloomy glass cage, er, room definitely needed something to brighten it up.
October 4, 2009
Books and Movies, Movies and Books
Last week one of my students brought in a cartoon version of The Trumpet of the Swan and I tried, really tried, to watch it yesterday, but was so put off by the opening number (yes, you read that right, opening musical number) that I didn't make it to the end. And so as much as admirers of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things are fretting (I'm among them) as to what the new movie will be like, I have to say it has gotta to be better than this. All of which makes me really appreciate Ty...
October 3, 2009
'NurtureShock' by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
Several studies, for example, demonstrate that the more children are threatened with punishment, the more they lie and the better they get at it. In one, kids who attend a traditional colonial school in western Africa, where teachers frequently slap children for misdeeds, were especially likely to lie progressively more in order to avoid the consequences.
The above, from today's New York Times review of a new book by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman about current child rearing practices and...
October 2, 2009
Thinking Hard About Newbery, Audience, and Insensitivity
A difficult yet though-provoking discussion is currently going on at the superb SLJ Heavy Medal blog. In, "A Season of Gifts…Don't Throw the Popcorn" (a side reference to a comment made by Roger Sutton on his blog), Nina Lindsay raises some important questions regarding Richard Peck's latest book. In subsequent posts (as of this writing they are The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," "Lifting the Veil," and "Racially Insensitive"), she and her fellow blogger Jonathan Hunt as well as commenters...
September 30, 2009
September 28, 2009
A Delightful New Site for Bookloving Kids
Fuse#8 just drew my attention to kidsmomo, a charming new site for young book lovers, ages 8-12. They've got a lot going on what with witty Mystery Book Theater videos, weekly podcasts, their recommended reads, and kid reviews too. This teacher gives it two thumbs up.
Quote Magnetism or Churchillian Drift
You mean Mark Twain isn't the author of every witty quote around? Or Winston Churchill? Oscar Wilde? Mark Peters sets us straight in "If 'Mark Twain Said It' He Probably Didn't." (via Maude Newton)
