Monica Edinger's Blog, page 91
September 20, 2011
Wonderstruck in the Panorama: Drawings by Brian Selznick at the Queeens Museum
The Panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum of Art is one of the glorious settings used by Brian Selznick in his new novel Wonderstruck (reviewed by me here). So what could be better than an exhibit of the development of the novel on the walls of the Panorama at the Queens Museum itself? Just opened this past weekend, the wonderful-sounding exhibit will be running through January 2012.
With Wonderstruck in the Panorama, the museum allows visitors to follow the development of...
September 18, 2011
Thoughts on Newbery: Heavy Medal is BACK!
My pals Nina Lindsay and Jonathan Hunt are back stirring things up at their Heavy Medal blog. They've already brought up the issue of what is meant in the criteria by text, book obesity, Capital Magic, and weighed in on a number of highly lauded contenders. Their posts and the conversations in the comments by many thoughtful readers have been wonderful so far. That said, I recommend it only for those comfortable seeing favorites, friends' books, and more being put out and examined in the...
September 16, 2011
Nosy Crow's Cinderella
Wilson talks about the idea of "the known text" – children learning a story and reciting it from memory, even if they can't read the actual letters and words on the page. "It's the building blocks of reading, and at least as important as phonic knowledge," she says. "They are understanding how stories work and internalising that."
The above quote (in this Guardian article) is from Kate Wilson, managing director of Nosy Crow a UK company focusing on books and apps. I got a great kick out of...
September 14, 2011
Alice Gets a Make-Over
As it is educating alice's fifth birthday at the end of this month, I thought it was about time for some refurbishing. Hope you like it!
As it is educating alice's fifth birthday at the end of t...
As it is educating alice's fifth birthday at the end of this month, I thought it was about time for some refurbishing. Hope you like it!
September 13, 2011
Brian Selznick's Wonderstruck
Today marks the publication of Brian Selznick's Wonderstruck, a book that lives up to its title. As he did with the Caldecott winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret (coming out as a movie this fall), Selznick uses a unique mix of text and images to create a singular reading experience for children. There are two separate stories here, one told entirely in illustrations and the other in words. Set in different time periods, these tales of a mysterious girl and an unhappy boy twist and twirl...
September 12, 2011
Interview with Michael Chabon
I first learned of Michael Chabon's love of comics by way of his Pulitzer Prize winning adult novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. So I got a total kick out of his new picture book, The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man and was delighted to be given the opportunity to interview the man himself for HarperCollins' Page Turner blog. Among other tantalizing tidbits is a teaser about another project. Check out the interview here.
September 9, 2011
Sunday…
is the tenth anniversary of 9/11. And I have to say I'm very glad it is on a Sunday, before my first day with my new class. Ten years ago it was the day I began teaching those NYC fourth graders of 2001-2002 and that day and the many after are burned into my memory.
As time goes on more books come out and more discussions occur on how to talk about and teach about this day with and to children who are, more and more, too young or were not even born when it happened. My feeling is that I...
September 3, 2011
Traveling with Music
A major line in the sand generation-wise has got to be the Sony Walkman. That is, I was already a grown-up when this first portable media player showed up. We oldesters relied on tape recorders, cassette recorders, and various large and bulky objects not designed for travel. I mean, we still had turntables and…gasp…record players! When we drove all we had was…the radio! At least, so I thought based on those folks around me. And so when I read Christopher Paul Curtis's The Watsons Go to...
