Monica Edinger's Blog, page 49

Margi Preus’s West of the Moon

Mixing fairy and folktale with harsh historical reality, Preus has created a gorgeous story of migration set in 19th century Norway. So many stories of immigrants to America focus on their lives when they arrive. Here is one about theold country inspiredby something Preus read in a diary her great-great-grandmother wrote as she traveled to America. Thirteen year-old narrator Asti is a complicated girl: brave, smart, difficult, angry, foolhardy, imaginative, and in the end, endearing. I dare y...

Thoughts on Newbery: Patrick Ness’s CBAITS

Someof you may bristle (or already have) about this topic, but I think it is one to take very, very seriously.It isPatrick Ness‘s provocative point in his SLJ Battle of the Kids’ Book decision this week about what he has termedCBAITs:

Crappy Books About Important Things; you know exactly what I’m talking about: books with either important subject matter or important formats that are so terrible-but-worthy they turn reading into medicine for young people.People tend to be far too afraid to give...

The New Book Group Facilitator

Ms. Trivas represents a new phenomenon: the professional book group facilitator. A writer with a master’s degree in English literature from Middlebury, she presides over three adult groups, for which she charges up to $300 per session. She also runs a group for children, who nestle under a tree with their parents and read books like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

“They felt empowered sharing their opinion of the book,” she told me. “I asked them who they would rather have a play date wit...

Kalte Krieg and Kaisers, My Trip to Berlin

I’m German Jewish — my parents left Germany as teens due to the Holocaust, but my father then became a specialist in post-war German politics. As a result wevisited and lived there a lot when I was a child. I’ve close family friends and third cousins galore there. (We also have the results of the Holocaust. Mygrandfather was deported and killed; my nationalistic great-aunts who couldn’t imagine what was happening commit suicide rather than being deported; others went to England and Brazil;and...

The Story of Dido Elizabeth Belle

I’ve long been interested in the story ofDido Elizabeth Belle who lived in the late 18th and early 19th century. The child of the British admiral John Lindsay and an enslaved African woman (possibly named Maria Belle), she was sent to Kenwood House, the home of her great-uncle,William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfieldas a young child. The earl was already raising his great-niece, Lady Elizabeth Murray who was the same age as Dido and so the two girls grew up together with Dido evidently becoming...

This Week in Children’s Books: Keith Richards and Rush Limbaugh

Keith Richards is penning a children’s bookand the Onion got some people-on-the-street reactions.

And then there is the successfulchildren’s book author Rush Limbaugh turning up on the Author of the Year shortlist for the Children’s & Teens Choice Book Awards.

Since Author of the Year finalists ”…are selected by the CBC from a review of bestseller lists with an emphasis on Bookscan” I wondered what Keef’s chances are once his book comes out.

2014 SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books is Underway!

It is the 6th year of the BoB and we’ve already had smashing decisions from three terrific judges along with clever graphics again from SLJ’s art director Mark Tuchman, smart commentary from kid commentator RGN, and wonderful responses from our loyal followers. Be sure to check it out!

Africa is My Home: A 2014 Children’s Africana Book Award Winner

Yesterday I was over the moon after learning that Africa is My Home had been honored with a 2014 Children’s Africana Book Award(also know as CABA). I have long been familiar with this award and have often discovered new books through it. So to be honored with one myself is amazing.

Here’s more about them:

In 1991, Africa Access in collaboration with the Outreach Council* of the AfricanStudies Association created the Children’s Africana Book Awards with three majorobjectives (1) to encourage the...

William Grill’s Shackleton’s Journey

I have always been fascinated by polar expeditions. I’ve viewed many documentaries, visited museums such as Oslo’sFram Museumand Tromso’s Polar Museum,and read a lot. One story that has long enthralled me is that of Earnest Shackleton’s extraordinary 1914 expedition and successful attempt to get his whole crew to safety after their ship was consumed by the ice. This story has been told many times and many ways, say byJennifer Armstrong in Shipwreck at the Bottom of the Worldand by the America...

Africa is My Home: In Sierra Leone

Two friends who also served in Sierra Leone in the Peace Corps recently returned for a visit bringing along several copies of Africa is My Home as gifts. But what a gift they gave me by sending this photo of Peggy reading it to the people of Kenema Blango. I get weepy every time I look at it.