Monica Edinger's Blog, page 60

Travers and Disney

I knew the storyof P. L. Travers’ unhappy experience in L.A. during the making of theMary Poppinsmovie, but hadn’t heard until now that Disney has turned that story into a movie as well, “Saving Mr. Banks,” out this December.With Emma Thompson as Travers and Tom Hanks as Disney, thispostabout the new movie’s script and the following trailer has me hopeful.

Andy Mulligan’s Trash to be a Movie

I’m a big fan of Andy Mulligan’s Trash and so am warily interested in its being turned into a movie. This article, though focusing on the adults involved, gives a pretty accurate description of the story which is promising:

… The story concerns three street kids — Raphael, Gardo, and Rat (who will beby newcomers/unknownsRickson Tevez, Eduardo Luisand Gabriel Weinstein) — who have no homes, no parents, no money, and no education. They live in an unnamed third world country and survive by pickin...

In the Classroom: More About Introverted Teaching

This past February, after reading an article by an extroverted teacher who felt it was important to grade her introverted students in class participation, I wrote a post providing my own perspective as an introverted teacher. It was seen by a reporter at the UK educational journal TES who contacted me for an interview and now you can read her article, “How introverts can thrive as teachers.”

Toclarify and extend some of what I said in the article I wrote the following comment:

Lovely to see thi...

My ALA Recap

I’m not a librarian, but the Midwinter and Annual American Library Association meetings are two of the more exhilarating times of my year as they are just rich beyond measure when it comes to children and their books. This year’s Annual in Chicago was no exception and here are some highlights of my time there.

Attending the Peter Sieruta Memorial Event. Peter Seiruta was the shy blogger of the plainly named, but remarkableCollecting Children’s Books. If you didn’t follow it, I urge you to take...

Sarah Harrison Smith, the New NYTBR Children’s Book Editor

The new children’s book editor at the New York Times Book ReviewSarah Harrison Smith’s first reviewswere of two board books from the Canadian publisher, Simply Read Books. The message was quiet, but clear:recognizing the importance of the youngest readers of all, Sarah is continuing the weekly online picture book reviews begun by her predecessor Pamela Paul, and paying close attention to titles from publishers small and large, near and far. Recently I chatted with Sarah about her background,...

In Honor of Helen Keller’s Birthday

I’ve always been blown away by both Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan. As a child I read many of Keller’s memoirs (she was a prolific writer) and one of my favorite units when I taught 6th grade was on “The Miracle Worker.” Of the many recently published books about these two, I especially like the graphic novel Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller by Joseph Lambert. The title trials are both metaphoric and real, one of them being a probably not-so-well-known plagiarizing situation. La...

NPR’s Backseat Book Club’s Call for Best Books for Kids 9-14

NPR’s Backseat Book Club has a call out for nominations fortheir “Ultimate Kids’ Bookshelf — a collection of 100 books that every 9- to 14-year-old should read.” Here’s what I contributed:

In looking through the nominations they don’t seem very diverse, most likely because of your audience. That is (as was the case with the YA poll) those who listen and follow NPR (and this feature of it) are a particular demographic. Couple that with the many suggestions that are nostalgic and you seem to be...

After Seeing The ABC of It

Having now seen”The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter,” here is a quick follow-up to yesterday’s post. First thing to know isthat it is wonderful — witty in design and delightful in the actual objects on display. It is reflective of curator Leonard S. Marcus’s intelligent and deep understanding of children’s books — this is reflective in the works on display, their organization, the whimsical exhibit design (Leonard worked closely with the designers on this), and the informative wall car...

The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter — New Exhibit at the New York Public Library

Later today I’m going with some others in the local children’s lit world to see the new New York Public Library exhibit,The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matteralong with its curator, Leonard S. Marcus*, someone I’ve known for many, many, many years.I’d been hearing bits and pieces about this for a long time, but today’s review in the New York Times (with a tantalizing slideshow) has me completely beside myself with excitement to see it. As it is on through next March, you all have plenty o...

Lee & Low Examines The Diversity Gap in Children’s Books

Since LEE & LOW BOOKS was founded in 1991 we have monitored the number of multicultural children’s books published each year through the Cooperative Children’s Book Center’sstatistics. Our hope has always been that with all of our efforts and dedication to publishing multicultural books for more than twenty years, we must have made a difference. Surprisingly, the needle has not moved. Despitecensus datathat shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, children’s book publishing...