Monica Edinger's Blog, page 21

Melissa Sweet’s Some Writer!

I’ve got a review of Melissa Sweet’s glorious biography of E. B. White, Some Writer!, up today at the Nerdy Book Club. In addition to my discussion of the book I touch upon my own teaching of White’s children’s books and, at the end, of lovely dessert — a bunch of spreads from the book itself.

Lewis Carroll Society of North America’s Fall Meeting

The LCSNA will be holding its fall meeting at NYU’s Bobst Library on Saturday, October 15th. With some former students (two 5th graders and a 7th grader) I will doing a presentation on “Alice and her Intended Audience of Children Today.” My former students will give their perspectives of their experiences with the book while in my 4th grade class. Additionally, the 5th graders will do a live performance of their section of last year’s class’s radio playwhile the 7th grader will read an additi...

Trailer for New Anne of Green Gables

New adaptation premiers on PBS November 24th.

I Review Two Books about the Historic “Wild West” in the New York Times Book Review

Here’s the intro to my reviews ofCandace Fleming’s Presenting Buffalo Bill and William Grill’s The Wolves of Currumpaw in yesterday’s New York Times Book Review.

Learning about a country’s real past is a fraught activity; once mythological versions become embedded in the public consciousness they are tough to dislodge. Take the American West. Those of us who came of age in the last century did so with movies, books, television shows, toys, games and school curriculums that told us of wide-ope...

I Review Two Books about the Historic “Wild West” in Today’s New York Times

Here’s the intro to my reviews ofCandace Fleming’s Presenting Buffalo Bill and William Grill’s The Wolves of Currumpaw in yesterday’s New York Times Book Review.

Learning about a country’s real past is a fraught activity; once mythological versions become embedded in the public consciousness they are tough to dislodge. Take the American West. Those of us who came of age in the last century did so with movies, books, television shows, toys, games and school curriculums that told us of wide-ope...

A Tough Anniversary: 15 Years Since The Towers Fell

Ten days earlier had been our first day of school. At 8am I had opened my classroom door to a bunch of energetic nine-year-olds who quickly discovered the chocolate ladybugs I’d placed on each of their desks for good luck. By mid-morning, I’d led a discussion on classroom rules, helped them stow away school supplies, and taken them on a tour to see where the all-important bathrooms and water fountains were.

That is fromNormal Service Will be Resumed, an article I wrote for the UK’s Times Educ...

An Extraordinary 1966 Filmed Interview of Maurice Sendak in His Studio

The following is a brief, but amazing interview of the young Maurice Sendak just after he won the Caldecott for Where the Wild Things Are. Highly, highly, HIGHLY recommended.

Myself as a Young Reader: Where Was I in the Books I Read?

On facebook Sharyn November posed the following three-part question:

When you were a child, did you see yourself in the books you looked at and read? How about when you were a teenager? What, in your opinion, does “seeing yourself in books” mean? If you didn’t see yourself in books, did you want to?

I think about this all the time in terms of the diversity conversation. First of all, as a child, I hadone major way I could see myself in pretty much all the books I read — by being white. So...

In the Classroom: Ice-Breaker Read Alouds (for the First Week of School)

We start school this coming Wednesday and, as always, I’m spending a great deal of time thinking about what I will do to make my students feel at ease and ready to go those first few days. Some of myfellow 4th grade teachersdoice-breaker activities and last week I thought that perhaps this year I’dfinally give one a try. But after looking them over, I think not; since Ipersonally hate participating in ice-breaker activities myself,the idea of leading one isn’t feeling great for me.My inclinat...

About those KinderGuides…

I had to read and reread PW’s piece aboutKinderGuides, because I thought it had to be a joke. But evidentlyit isn’t. So then I figured I’d put my fingers in my ears and say “lalala” so as to pretend they didn’t exist. Until today whenAllison Flood’s sharp piece, “Children Don’t Really Need a Picture-Book Version of On the Road,” in theGuardianforced my irritated fingers out of my ears and on to my keyboard.

According to their website, this is a series that will

introduce some of the most ico...