Monica Edinger's Blog, page 22

The Underground Railroad: Facts and Fictions

I’m currently reading Colson Whitehead‘s historical novel, The Underground Railroad. It is a remarkable work, worthy of all the accolades. I had been eagerly awaiting it having been a fan of Whitehead’s earlier work (especially The Intuitionist and John Henry Days) and it is everything the critics say it is, monumental, original, and brilliant. Working offhistorical facts, Whitehead has created a profound work of fiction.Like othersit makes me think of the magical realism ofGarcía Márquez as...

Coming Soon: The Great Gilly Hopkins Movie

I was fortunate to attend a screening of an early cut of this warm adaptation of Katherine Patterson’s beloved book The Great Gilly Hopkins and found it to be honest and true to the book. With a remarkable cast, it is full of charm, heart, and out this October.

Here’s the official description:

A feisty foster kid’s outrageous scheme to be reunited with her birth mother has unintended consequences in The Great Gilly Hopkins, an entertaining film for the entire family. Gilly Hopkins (Sophie Né...

So I Read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

My brief and informalgoodreads review:

I wasn’t sure at first if I even wanted to read this not being a fan fiction reader, but was encouraged to do so and am glad I did. That said, this is clearly in that realm as it requires a relatively strong background in Harry Potter lore to make sense of it all. So much revisits pieces of the earlier books, amplifies themes, characters, and possibilities. I found that great fun (especially after having recently spent a pleasurable day at Orlando’s Harr...

R.I.P. Father of Kids’ Coding, Seymour Papert

In a previous professional life I specialized in technology education. In the early 1980s I became very intrigued in the educational potential of personal computers and started a second masters (the first was in international education coming off my Peace Corps time) in computers and education at Columbia University Teachers College. I was in one of the earliest cohorts for the program and it was a heady time. Having always struggled with math as a child I was terrified about programming, but...

My Gullah Week

Thanks to my dear friend and former colleague, Lesley Younge, I have been including the Gullah of the Sea Islands in my teaching of the Transatlantic Slave Trade due to their historic connection to Sierra Leone. While I’d long been aware of this connection it took Lesley to research and create compelling curriculum featuring these remarkable people. And the more I taught this and investigated them on my own the more I wanted to go visit the Gullah myself. This summer it finally happened.

Las...

The Art of Translation

I grew up knowingGerman and so can find certain English translations of familiar books disconcerting. Take Hoffman’sDer Struwwelpeter. I knew it first in German and delighted in certain rhymes, say the cats warning Paulinchen if she played with matches:

Und M i n z und M a u n z , die Katzen,
Erheben ihre Tatzen.
Sie drohen mit den Pfoten :
“Der Vater hat’s verboten !”
Miau ! Mio ! Miau ! Mio !
Laß stehn ! Sonst brennst Du lichterloh !”

Much later I came across two very different English tran...

A Monster Calls, New Movie Trailer

So this is very much the antithesis of the BFG movie, I’d say.

Coming Soon: Jason Reynold’s Ghost

I’m in love with Jason Reynold’s forthcoming Ghost. Both the book and the title character. Reynolds’ presentation of thisfeisty, complicated, and endearing young man is deftlydemonstrated through his first person narration of this winning middle grade book. It is the story of a young black boy in middle school who has experienced something dreadful, but who doesn’t wantattention paid to him because of that. This is a boy who aspires to being a basketball player (though he hasn’t exactly tried...

Celebrating White Rabbits

It was 152 years ago yesterday that the Reverend Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, first told his tale of Alice. Since thenits elements have been reinterpreted in innumerable ways, one being Jefferson Airplane’s druggy anthem “White Rabbit.” I was a teen the year it came out —1967— and not a fan. That misunderstanding of my favorite book from childhood as something that was the result of its creator’s use of drugs annoyed me then and still today. But I have to admit that I’ve mellowed about...

Coming Soon: Shaun Tan’s The Singing Bones

I’m sopleased that those in the U. S. will soon have an opportunity to see Shaun Tan’s brilliant Grimm fairy tale sculptures in the forthcoming The Singing Bones from Scholastic. I first heard of them several years ago when I met the German publisherKlaus Humann of Aladin Verlag who told me about a wonderful new project — having Shaun Tan illustrate (with small sculptures) Philip Pullman’s retellings of the Grimm fairy tales. Since I do read German (poorly) and was eager to see the book I or...