Monica Edinger's Blog, page 83
March 29, 2012
A Confounding Cover from Lemony Snicket
Who Could That Be at This Hour? comes out October 23rd. Yesterday, Mr. Snicket kindly revealed the cover with the following statement:
Judging a book by its cover is like judging a person for their crimes. You can examine the evidence, but you can never known the truth.
March 26, 2012
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson's No Crystal Stair
I'm a fan of boundary crossings, those books that don't sit neatly in one genre. Say Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck with their mix of textual and visual storytelling or Deborah Wiles' Countdown with the atmospheric setting heightened through the use of documentary material. Now along comes another hybrid, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson's superb No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller.
To say this is the story of a b...
March 25, 2012
Wanna Buy Me Charlie Chaplin's Cane?
Some readers know that I'm rather besotted with Charlie Chaplin. After years of casually showing his movies to my 4th graders, last year I made it all a proper study culminating in a movie a la Charlie. We are doing it again this year. Additionally, I'm working on a book about his Little Tramp character. So, yeah, I'm a bit obsessed.
No surprise then that my ears pricked up just now hearing an NPR piece about next week's "Hollywood Legends" auction. There are, I learned a whole bunch of...
March 22, 2012
Fairy Tale News
There's been a few newsy bits about fairy tales of late that I want to weigh in on.
First there was the Guardian's announcement of "Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany" that was immediately picked up around town and the world. In fact, reading further into the article and hearing from others, I learned that these fairy tales collected by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth had been published more than once and so weren't quite the Indiana-Jone-ish-hidden-away-and-never-seen-before fairy t...
March 21, 2012
More on the 2012 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts
School librarian Jonathan Schumacher has put together a fantastic collection of resources for this year's Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts. For each title on the list he is providing book trailers, teaching guides, and other materials all nicely organized. You can find them here: Part I, Part II, Part III. Thank you, Mr. Schu!
March 20, 2012
Congratulations to María Teresa Andruetto and Peter Sís for their 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Awards
Press release from IBBY:
The Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announces that María Teresa Andruetto from Argentina is the winner of the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Author Award and Peter Sís from the Czech Republic is the winner of the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Illustrator Award.
The Andersen medals and diplomas will be presented to the winners at the international IBBY congress in London, United Kingdom on Saturday, 25 August...
March 17, 2012
Coming Soon: Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity
I am a coward.
I wanted to be heroic and I pretended I was. I have always been good at pretending.
So begins Elizabeth Wein's extraordinary , due out in the US this May. The story of a passionate friendship set in the landscape of World War II Britain, women pilots, espionage, Nazis, the Resistance, and occupied France, it is one of the most remarkable books I've read.
The book begins as an account by one Verity — a young female British spy who has evidently been captured by t...
March 13, 2012
And We Are Off!
Today begins the 2012 SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books. Age four now, my baby is growing up. We've got amazing contenders, judges, commentators (a couple of kids this year in addition to Mr. Hunt), sponsors, and followers. Be sure to check in daily over the next few weeks. It is going to be grand!
March 11, 2012
Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction– An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories
A year after the devastating earthquake in Japan there are many memorials and recognitions, among them Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction — An Anthology of Japanese Teen Stories. From their website:
Tomo (meaning "friend" in Japanese) is an anthology of young adult short fiction in prose, verse and graphic art set in or related to Japan. This collection for readers age 12 and up features thirty-six stories—including ten in translation and two graphic narratives—contributed by authors and...
March 9, 2012
2012 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts
NCTE's Children's Literature Assembly's Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts Committee works with great focus all year (I should know having served on it as a member and chair) to read widely and then ends up with a list of children's books for grades K-8 that focus on language (e.g. word play and origins), uniqueness in language and style, and invite child response and participation. This year's list can be viewed here and I hope you agree with me that it is a very fine list...
