Monica Edinger's Blog, page 81

Tove Jannson, Illustrator of Classics not her Own

Tove Jannson is probably best know to many of us (certainly to me) as the creator of the charming Moominstories. But she also illustrated other folks’ books too. Say Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (you can view all her illustrations for ithere). I am picky about my Alice illustrators as so many make the book dark and scary, but Jannson does a splendid job maintaining the whimsical nature of the book as Carroll intended it, a children’s book mind you! (She also did Carroll’sHunting of the Sn...

Book Trailer Project: The Finished Trailers

This year we readAlice’s Adventures in Wonderlandthen we decided… that we were going to make a lovely, funny, amusing, interesting, and awesomeAlice in Wonderlandbook trailer.

The point of the trailer was to tell people thatAlice in Wonderlandisn’t a scary book written for older kids. It’s a clever and funny story written for a nine year old girl. A great book for all ages.

From reading the book to writing this post, I have been thinking to myself, “This is the best project yet this year.”

The f...

Revisiting: Engaging Informational Picture Books

I’ve been very interested of late in the attention being paid to the Common Core State Standards recommendation for more nonfiction in classrooms. There are many ways to do this, one of them being a greater emphasis on nonfiction picture books. Here are a few older books I’ve much admired for theirspare and elegant texts, compelling voices, original design, fresh ways of presenting information, superb research, and engaging illustrations. They are ideal for classroom teachers looking for grea...

Jacqueline Woodson Speaking on Saturday here in NYC

The 92nd Street Y, in addition to providing the usual Y-sorts of things (athletic, pre-school, etc) also has a remarkable Poetry Center with a number of exciting speaker series including one for children. And on the afternoon of Saturday, April 21 the wonderful Jacqueline Woodson will be the honored speaker. And the Y is making it free for readers of this blog! All you need to do is say“Our friends at 92Y are offering free tix to Jacqueline Woodson’s reading this Saturday afternoon.” in perso...

Coming Soon: Geoff Rodkey’s Deadweather and Sunset

So let’s see. It is easy to see a certain kind of formula that came about over the last decade or so involving male Cinderellas. You’ve got Harry Potter with those nasty Dursleys making him live under the stairs. There’s Percy Jackson with his dyslexia. Both, of course, have sidekicks with whom they banter and battle highly dangerousfoe.The result of Harry and Percy’s success among young readers has generated a whole lot of heroes of their ilk. Now there are plenty of young guys treated badly...

In the Classroom: The Problem with Bullies

Bullying. It is an age-old issue that has become high on our radar these days what with legislation requiring schools to institute bullying curricula, dreadful stories of young people killing themselves because of being bullied, the movie Bully, and so forth. One that is much in the media, often in ways that I find problematic.

And so I was mighty pleased to see Marjorie Ingall‘s article, “How to Stop a Bully” in which she considers the new movie, the current cultural notions regarding bullyin...

The One and Only Diana Wynne Jones

Invited to be part of the blog tour celebrating the grand Diana Wynne Jones (here’s what I wrote last year upon hearing of her passing), I’ve had her works on my brain for the last few weeks. And so how serendipidous to have a very odd and intriguing link present itself. I have no idea if Diana Wynne Jones had any interest in Dickens, for all I know she hated him, but I’ve been listening with unexpected pleasure toThe Pickwick Papers(expected tedium and found hilarity) and was delighted and s...

“Peter and the Starcatcher” on Broadway

I saw this delightful production Off-Broadway last year; playing off the particular style of the British musical hall and pantomime of earlier times I found it great fun indeed. Since much of its charm was due to its smallness and intimacy I did wonder how it would manage in a larger Broadway venue, but evidently it did so just fine. While some reviewers are not fans of the campy nature of the enterprise others feel as I do, appreciating its frothy fun.

From New York Magazine:

Peter and the Sta...

Book Trailer Project: Production

I purposely have waited to mention the book being featured in this trailer project as I didn’t want to put any of you off. However, at this point I will reveal that it is (unsurprising to those who know me) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. As I have done for decades I read the annotated version aloud while my students followed along in my large collection of illustrated editions. They loved the different approaches to the art, the puns, the characters, dancing a quadrille, playing indoor cro...

Book Trailer Project: Introducing the Project

To prepare for this first session I had found several book trailers that I felt would be good models for my students.  Like the the ones they would do these relied on images rather than live action, had only text to read and no voice overs, and were all books familiar to them.

I began with this one for Jack Gantos' Dead End in Norvelt, a book I was reading aloud to them.

Student observations:

Not very long, but tells the story without giving it away.Quotes from people about the books.Make...