Monica Edinger's Blog, page 73

On the Fence Between Fact and Fiction

I was delighted to see the CCBC list, “Between Fact and Fiction: Selected K-5 Books about History to Encourage Critical Reading/Thinking” for several reasons. First of all, they are addressing straight on for educators the point that there are books that straddle the two genres, books that are mostly, but not totally nonfiction for various reasons. Secondly, they are letting teachers concerned about using more informational books as required by the Common Core Standards know that these books...

Some Informal Thoughts on Karen Cushman’s WILL SPARROW’S ROAD and Grace Lin’S STARRY RIVER OF THE SKY

This was a rather longer-than-planned-when-I-started-writing-it comment on Nina Lindsay’s Heavy Medal post on Karen Cushman’sWILL SPARROW’S ROADand Grace Lin’sSTARRY RIVER OF THE SKY. Figured that it might be of interest for those who read this blog, but not theirs, so here it is. That said, I serve notice that the following aren’t reviews as much as some scattered thoughts about the two books (hence the title of this post).

I was glad to see these two books thrown into the mix. In WILL SPARRO...

KidLitCon12 in the Big Apple

After months of planning and prepping by Betsy Bird, Liz Burns, and myself, KidLitCon 2012 happened this past Friday and Saturday here in New York City. Prone to fret, I am thrilled beyond all measure that it went off, as far as I can tell, with nary a hitch. Many, many, many helped to make that so and I thank them all profusely, but most of all I have to simply sit back in awe of superwoman hostess Betsy Bird. I truly don’t know how she does it all. Maybe, for those who know the television s...

Favorite Nonfiction Titles from Childhood

The Guardian is asking its readers “What are your favourite non-fiction books from childhood?” The answers, I notice, seem slanted more toward books of facts and information rather than the more narrative sort. It got me thinking about what sort of nonfiction I enjoyed as a child (in the 1960s).

First of all, I too was a fan of fact books, especially the field guides listing all sorts of rocks, birds, or butterflies. They covered so much, were colorful, and spoke to my collecting instincts. Th...

Thoughts on Newbery: Focus on the Book…

…not the creator. Having been on one of the Newberry committees I can say with complete certainty that this is what happens. Committee members are looking intently at the books through the lens of the official criteria. They absolutely DO NOT consider the authors, illustrators, editors, or anything else of that nature. They are looking full-on at the work and nothing else.

However, those of us outside the committee room are aware of those creators and it can be hard to not think about the love...

Frank Tashlin’s The Bear That Wasn’t

“You are not a bear–you’re just a silly man, who needs a shave, and wears a fur coat.”

I was just reminded of one of the quirkier books that I love (I do love quirky!), Frank Tashlin’s The Bear That Wasn’t. I first came across it a few years ago thanks to the New York Children’s Collection’s reprintand now just found the animated version done by Chuck Jones and Frank Tashlin. Love it too.

Philip Pullman on Retelling Grimm

The fairy tale is in a perpetual state of becoming and alteration. To keep to one version or one translation alone is to put a robin redbreast in a cage. A fairy tale is not a text.

From Philip Pullman’s brilliant essay “The Challenge of Retelling Grimms’ Fairy Tales.” Highly recommended.

Update on Doing It for Free

Amanda Palmer’s idea of using volunteers in her stage shows inspired my post on writing for free along with some very thoughtful comments on the issue. Now I’m so glad to see that Palmer has listened, thought hard, and come to a decision to pay everyone who plays at her shows. So no more doing it for free on her stage. I had hoped she would come to this decision because some of the responses I read as the situation escalated were making a lot of sense to me as well as uncomfortable at the ide...

Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon

Yesterday I had a chunk of free time and so sat down with Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–the World’s Dangerous Weapon. And wow…wow…wow. I was blown away by it. This is nonfiction thriller writing of the very, very best. Sheinkin weaves together the stories of the race to build the atom bomb, the developments in the war that made things more and more urgent, the efforts to steal it, and the efforts to stop others from creating their own.

First of all is the research. Sheinki...

Chaplin the Musical

Chaplin the Musical is a labor of love by those who clearly appreciate, know, and get Charlie Chaplin in his complexity. As someone who has been a fan for most of her life and for some years now has been working on a children’s book about his character the Little Tramp, it was delightful to see how they managed to include so many little elements in this musical biography of his life.

The black and white setting, lighting, costumes, and make-up for the bulk of the show was very apt and made the...