Vampire High by Douglas Rees

Rating: 8.5 of 10 stars

Due to his father's new job, Cody Elliot's family has moved to New Sodom, Massachusetts, from California. By way of protest to the move, Cody can't be bothered doing much of any work in his new high school. He achieves an F in science, math, social studies, physical education, and English. His father demands to know how he even managed to get an F in homeroom, and is not happy to discover that it was because he didn't bother to show up.

In answer to this poor attitude, Cody's parents decide that he will have to attend a new school, a private school. It will be either Our Lady of Perpetual Homework, or the Vlad Dracul Magnet School. Since the concept of homework doesn't appeal to him, he opts for his first interview at Vlad Dracul.

After a very, very short meeting with the headmaster, Cody is admitted, despite his terrible grades, and realizes that something is quite different about the place. Was it was the pale complexion of all those tall slim students? That they all wore sunglasses out of doors? Or that the headmaster had a yellow-eyed wolf, Charon, for a companion? Hmm.

Later he discovers the reason for his speedy acceptance: he has promised to try out for water polo. It seems that, for Vlad Dracul to receive its state funding, it must provide for this competitive sport. Unfortunately, almost all of the other students are unwilling to swim. Is there a reason for all of these oddities?

Vampire High turns on its head the usual story of the odd stranger who doesn't fit in: the new student is one of the very few who *isn't* a vampire. The story is fast-paced, funny, and with enough real high school struggles and surprises for this reader's taste. All in all, a toothsome tale!


Usual borrowers: Fifth through eighth grades
Genres: Fantasy, Humor, Mystery, People and relationships
Also: 8 1/2 or Better List

Tender by Valerie Hobbs

Rating: 10 of 10 stars

Liv's mother died at her birth. At that event, Liv's father, Mark, handed her over to her mother's mother "like a bundle of laundry" and has had no contact with her since. Now a teenager, Olivia--Liv--has to move from New York City to live with her father in rural California. When she meets him for the first time, their lack of history together promises to be an immense obstacle to creating a relationship.

Liv cannot forgive her father for abandoning her and he is not a willing conversationalist. His girlfriend Samantha, however, is more approachable and proves to be Liv's first new friend, helping her feel more welcome in her new circumstances.

Mark dives for abalone off the coast of Santa Barbara so when the young man who manages Mark's lifeline breaks his arm, Liv must fill in. It is turnabout: his life is in her hands this time.

I hardly know how to describe the author's style though that is precisely why the story is such a success. I mean, it is the how of the story's writing rather than the what of it. Here are three shots aimed toward that target explanation.

Hobbs has an unerring eye for the detail that absolutely transfers to the reader the image or sound of the event she recounts. The silky fall of a scarf from a coathook, the consolidation of Chinese take-out into one of its boxes after the meal, the sound of disbelief behind a polite reply--all ring so true that I find myself remembering similar events in my life with the retrospective clarity she grants me.

She can show a how a person develops or changes believably. To do so requires the ability to create a character with enough depth to embrace change, and the ability to convey the psychological truth of that character as he or she does so.

Hobbs writes in an unhurried manner; there are no missing bits as a story knits itself together. Whether it is the reaction of women in Samantha's beauty shop to Liv's dyed black hair with orange tips like flames, or the description of Mark's boat floating above him while she tends his air hose, Hobbs effortlessly creates small moments to advance nuances of the story. Yet she is also economical, with no gratuitous description or filler. She can successfully begin a new chapter after an elapse of several weeks or several hours.

Altogether this is a thought-provoking story, sensitively written, about people who are themselves tender and well worth your time in getting to know them.

Usual Borrowers: Middle school
Genres: Adventure, People and relationships
Also: 8 1/2 or Better List

The Witch of Fourth Street and other stories by Myron Levoy

Rating: 8.5 of 10 stars

Here are eight fine short stories suitable for reading aloud by parents or teachers. All take place in the Lower East Side of New York City many years ago. This neighborhood beneath the Second Avenue El (elevated train) has become a new home for immigrants from many countries: Russia, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Italy, the Ukraine, and more. There families are involved in watch repair, selling fish, peddling smallwares and in their children who run around and through these streets.

Likewise, the characters run around and through each other's stories. Aaron Kandel, a lesser character in the title story, is the protagonist of "Aaron's Gift." He, Cathy Dunn and Joey Basuto of "Witch," figure in "Andreas and the Magic Bells." This sense of being in each other's stories both conveys and reflects the reality of neighborliness.

But this permeability of relationship and acquaintance is not the recommending feature of this collection. Rather it is the psychological truth in the behavior of the neighborhood children, both for good and not. For example, the willingness and technique used by an older boy to trick Aaron into surrendering his most treasured possession rings true...as does Cathy Dunn's bias against what she doesn't understand about an old woman, and the gift of kindness for Keplik, the burnt match buyer, by his friends.

To me, today's writing for children seem strongly colored by a number of cultural influences and cliches. Among these are dialogue patterns from situation comedies, events of continuing destruction similar to car chase movies, and a sense of playing to the audience as a substitute for believable character development.

Contrarily, Levoy offers us the truth of these human attributes: idealism, superstition, selflessness, jealousy, love, greed, embarrassment, and hope. We get to see them at work and become the wiser for his honest and clear vision of what it means to be vulnerably human.

Usual Borrowers: Fourth grade and up
Genres: Historical fiction, People and relationships, Short stories
Also: 8 1/2 or Better List

The Widow's Broom by Chris Van Allsburg

Rating: 10 of 10 stars

This is the ultimate October book for second grade students. Since at our school they have already heard Jumanji and The Garden of Abdul Gasazi in first grade, they greet this book with excitement. Because of that prior exposure, they cast a knowledgeable eye on Van Allsburg's work: they begin looking for visual quotes from his other books--the black-eyed dog, the goose, the sailboat and others. But then that focus falls away and they are, pardon me, swept up by the story.

Van Allsburg introduces the tale by pointing out that witches' brooms eventually wear out. Widow Minna Shaw finds such a discarded broom in her vegetable garden and, practical at heart, brings it into her house as a back-up for the one she already has.

And then one day, she discovers it sweeping her floor. After all, it still is a broom at heart. Seizing the opportunity for assistance, she trains it to help with her chores.

Unfortunately her helper is noticed by a neighbor and is denounced as a thing of evil. They demand it be burned as something from the devil.

At the denouement, the class cheered and applauded. One child even fell over sideways in the throes of excitement. Yes! Could a librarian ask for more: a completely overcome audience? Libraries everywhere benefit from the reputation such marvelous stories confer upon them.


Usual borrowers: Kindergarten through third grade
Genres: Picture books, Fantasy

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

At the outset I must say that I mightily dislike books or movies that have anything to do with suggesting that girls--who are already beautiful and comfortably discovering who they were meant to be--would be better, happier, prettier with help, a purchase, or instruction. That said, I really enjoyed Shannon Hale's take on the idea. Her version of that too-frequently-told tale turned my expectations upside down.

The story takes place in the stone-quarrying town of Mount Eskel in the kingdom of Danland, home of Miri, a girl of fourteen. Although her family is part of the local stone-cutting tradition, her father has forbidden her to visit the mines. Although not told why, Miri understands that it must be because she is so small for her age.

Soon, a royal messenger arrives with a surprising announcement. The king's diviners have decided Mount Eskel is the location of a girl who will be chosen to marry the prince of the realm. As a consequence, all teenage girls must attend a make-shift academy to be trained for the possibility of life as royalty.

At the academy, their tutor, Olana, is cruel and inflexible, handing out punishments for the smallest missteps. Miri struggles with her teacher, with bitter competition among the girls, and with the expectation that to marry a prince is the answer to all dreams. She discovers a talent and a new understanding of who she wishes to be.

At last, when danger to the academy students is added to this mix, surprising events push Miri into surprising action. Hale's fine book, with its fresh view of the themes and unusual turns of plot, has well earned being named one of the Newbery Honor books for 2006.


Usual borrowers: Third grade and up
Genres: Adventure, Award winners, Fantasy People and relationships
Also: 8 1/2 or Better List

Suggested by McKenna Williams in October 2008

Something Permanent by Cynthia Rylant

Rating: 10 of 10 stars

Cynthia Rylant uses photographs taken by Walker Evans in the 1930s as a basis for writing poetry. Published in 1994, this work provides me with a mainstay for helping older elementary students understand the power of the imagined story behind an image, and gives them the courage to try it for themselves.

Originally sent out to record the effects of The Great Depression, Walker Evans has often been called the foremost documentary photographer of the twentieth century. His work is most widely recognized in images of the terrible social conditions which contrasted sharply with the beauty and dignity of his subjects.

Within those images, Rylant discovers words of mystery, grace, tenacity, humor and tenderness which speak of the human condition across the years. Her work is a miracle of simplicity as well as depth and reflects the humility of what it takes to live through unusually demanding times. This book deserves a place in any student library.

Usual borrowers: Middle school
Genres: Poetry, photography
Also: 8 and 1/2 or Better List

Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin

Rating: 7 of 10 stars

Artemis Fowl is the main character in a series of six novels which bear his name. They have been a durable favorite of fourth through seventh grade students who love adventure, mystery and a bit of James Bondian espionage. After this success, Colfer now offers a graphic version of his first book, Artemis Fowl.

In the original novel as in this graphic version, Artemis is firmly established as an anti-hero--he steals gold from the fairy folk in hope of restoring the former stature of his family. Unfortunately, Captain Holly Short, one of the folk, arrives expecting to foil Fowl's plan. She is a member of LEPRecon, Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance, and is packing plenty of fairy technology to make good on her intentions.

Speaking generally of the entire text series, there is plenty of action, humor and plot twists to keep kids reading. Each story provides plenty of interesting tools and technology as well as quick thinking when it counts, but also has the pratfalls and word play of J.K. Rowling's work. And as the series progresses, our anti-hero becomes a bit more likable, though he still sees himself as a criminal mastermind.

Though a graphic novel can't hold each twist and turn of the original, I was pleased to see that this one is faithful to the scope of the novel. I'm betting that, if manga fans happen on this one, they'll give the original text series a try.

Usual borrowers: Fourth grade and up
Genres: Adventure, fantasy, humor, science fiction

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

Rating: 8.5 of 10 stars

Like Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, in The Name of This Book is Secret, the author addresses the reader while telling the adventures of Cass and Max-Ernest as they try to solve the likely death of a magician and find a box with mysterious contents.

The characters are off-beat: Max-Ernest is a non-stop talker and joke-teller, small for his age, and a fan of riddles and word games; Cass is a survivalist, wearing her backpack filled with equipment to mitigate any dire eventualities; Cass's grandfathers, Wayne and Larry live in an old firehouse that has been converted to an antique-shop-and-warehouse for almost anything they take in; Gloria Fortune is a real estate broker who specializes in selling buildings whose owners have died; and Dr. L. and Ms. Mauvais are two strange and clearly evil people who always wear gloves.

The mystery seems straight-forward, but is it?: Gloria Fortune brings a box of supposed junk from the house of deceased magician, Pietro Bergamo, for Larry and Wayne to sell. Cass and Max-Ernest discover a strange treasure from Bergamo's house, and in exploring its properties, find a connection to a number of kidnappings over the last century, including that of one of their classmates.

The author is very present in the story: When she speaks to the reader as part of the retelling, I find her voice much more engaging than that of Snicket. In Snicket's series, there is one basic tone the author uses, either in explaining the meaning of a word, or in cautioning the reader to look elsewhere for a happy outcome. In Secret, Bosch uses word play, gives the reader choices, reminds readers about earlier hints, adds details not written about, reneges on promises, or mercifully draws a curtain down over events too painful to write about. There is almost a sense of relationship with the reader, a friendly and fallible person visible behind the narrator's words. When explaining why the title, setting, and names of the characters are not the real ones, she writes to the readers, "It's very simple. I can't keep a secret. Never could. I hope you have better luck...."

In addition to the peculiar twists of plot and character as Cass and Max-Ernest visit strange places and get in and out of trouble, readers will discover and become familiar with the meaning of synesthesia!

Bosch promises a sequel entitled If You're Reading This, It's Too Late. I hope the author doesn't go back on her word!


Usual Borrowers: Fifth grade and up
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Humor, Mysteries
Also: 8 1/2 or Better List

Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia Maclachlan

Rating: 10 of 10 stars

Patricia Maclachlan's Sarah Plain and Tall recounts the story of a family in rural Kansas around 1910. Caleb doesn't remember his mother who died at his birth, so he often asks his sister Larkin to tell him the story of it. In so doing, he hopes to remember her and regain something of his mother.

We discover that their father has advertised in the newspapers for a wife, at last receiving an answer from Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton. She offers information about herself and invites further correspondence if they should wish it.

After several exchanges of letters between her and the family members, Sarah travels across the country from her home on the shore of Maine for a month-long trial visit. "I will come by train," she writes. "I will wear a yellow bonnet. I am plain and tall."

So begins the quiet adventure she and the family embark upon, discovering each other's interests and ways. The children notice that Sarah misses the water and the shape of her life in the land back East. They hope she and her cat, Seal, will stay.

I reread this favorite last night. With her economical language and the ear of a poet, Maclachlan gets people just right. She has the gift of making you see the images of everyday behavior fresh from her mind's eye. I don't find a single misstep in it. I cherish as well that she doesn't give us a story of children resentful of a parent's remarriage. How refreshing to discover that people have many more ways to respond to such events than those to which we are usually treated.


Usual borrowers: Third grade and up
Genres: Award winners, historical fiction, people and relationships
Also: 8 1/2 or Better List

There is also an audio version of the story narrated by Glenn Close.

The Doll People by Ann M. Martin

Rating: 8 of 10 stars

Stories of dolls that have secret lives are legion. While such books range from the tender to the spooky, Ann M. Martin's The Doll People is the first in which two different doll cultures are thrown into contrast.

Annabelle Doll and her family have lived in a traditional Victorian dollhouse which has belonged to the same human family for the last hundred years. Annabelle herself is eight, and has been for all that time. An adventurer, she has begun to search for clues to the disappearance of her Aunt Sarah. While exploring, Annabelle chafes at the constraints imposed by her family in order to maintain their safety while living in close proximity to humans. If a Doll is spotted moving about by a human, he or she immediately goes into The Doll State which renders her motionless for twenty-four hours. From the Doll family's point of view, Annabelle's exploration and daring is highly dangerous, risking The Permanent Doll State, from which there is no recovery.

Then the plastic Funcraft family arrives next door with their snap-on plastic clothes and their pink plastic house and modern conveniences (TV, microwave oven) unknown to the Dolls. They also have a world perspective quite different from that of the Doll family. Tiffany Funcraft, like the rest of her family, is loud, irrepressible and dedicated to mystery-solving as an avid fan of Nancy Drew mysteries. She and Annabelle become soul-mates right away.

Despite the culture clash, the two families are forced to team up to solve the mystery of where Annabelle's Aunt Sarah has gone when she disappeared suddenly, all of forty-five years ago.

What luck that this charming story has been enlivened by Brian Selznick's wonderful pencil drawings. If you have a hardcover version, you'll be treated to his work in many unusual areas--endpapers, page borders, and under the jacket, to name a few. Not to be missed.


There are two sequels, The Meanest Doll in the World, and The Runaway Dolls.

Usual Borrowers: Third grade and up
Genres: Adventure, fantasy, humor, mystery

The gift of reading aloud

I remember my dad reading aloud to me when I was very little. I'd sit in his lap in the big green Lawson chair in the living room and he'd read the classics to me. Years passed; we visited Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson and many others. These books were of the old-fashioned style--very few full-page color illustrations other than the one on the frontispiece. The stories would unroll in my mind's eye like a dropped spool of thread escaping under a dresser. He'd read to me in chapter-long chunks, marking our place with a woven blue bookmark, like a tiny fringed oriental rug.

Over time I got too big for him to read over my head and graduated to a seat on the floor leaning against his knee. The final story he read to me was The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. I was in ninth grade and was by far a better outloud reader than he was. But of course I would never have told him. I'd have missed the snuggle and the wonderful sound of someone with whom love was mutual, reading a story he clearly loved as well. I counted myself lucky that he'd believed me young enough to continue our tradition for so long. Grinning inwardly, I felt as if I'd gotten away with something.

Back then, there was a commonly-heard word now scarcely ever used: pastime. Time was available in lavish quantities. I could run in the huge fields behind my house after school, come in for dinner when called, have plenty of time to do my homework and engage in family pastimes until bedtime: Chinese Checkers with my mother's mother, playing Scrabble, practicing the piano (only until 9:00 so as not to keep neighbors up) and reading myself. Or listen to my dad read to me.

Now time is a precious commodity. From toddlers to adults, discretionary time is often filled up with going to and from events and lessons, technology's gifts (video games, the internet, instant messaging or managing our Facebook page) and household responsibilities. Now children who hear a story develop and unfold too seldom hear it from their parents at home.

One of the ways to grow a family of readers. . . is to read to your children. Here are some of the recognized benefits:

Improved vocabulary
Longer attention span
Development of listening skills
A shared vocabulary of stories
Knowledge of the world
Exposure to other times or cultures
Development of the imagination
Empathy
Structure of stories
Fluency in written, as opposed to conversational, language
Critical thinking
Cultural literacy
Family connection
Love of stories and reading

In 1985, the report of the American Commission on Reading, Building a Nation of Readers, stated: “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” If you'd like further evidence, enter "reading aloud benefits" in your favorite search engine. You're likely to find more than a half million links. Though my dad died long before I'd ever touched a computer, he touched my life through the written page--a pretty good legacy.

Come in, visit your local school or public library. Beg, borrow or steal the time to read to--or with--your loved ones!


Quote from Building a Nation of Readers:
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=6652

What do competent choices look like?

Since I'd been thinking about Nathan from an earlier posting, I thought it would be useful to reflect on the choices younger children make. During two weeks last month, I tape-recorded kindergarten through second grade students as they left the library, books in hand. I invited them to tell me what made them choose the ones they'd ended up borrowing. I wanted to pay closer attention to how and why they were making the choices they did.

In addition to family, school and social life, school-age children are also answering for themselves a host of questions about being a person. Erik Erikson, a developmental psychologist, delineated eight stages of children's psycho-social growth. He wrote that children experience each stage as a conflict which can be resolved in one of two ways. In the group I tape-recorded, two of Erikson's stages can be seen. Kindergarten children address the idea of purpose. Erikson describes this stage of finding purpose as Initiative vs. Guilt. In this, they work to establish themselves as being able to make satisfying choices.

Children in first grade through puberty work on the stage of competence, comparing themselves to others. In Erikson's terms, it is Industry vs. Inferiority. Questions they may be asking: Am I fitting in? Are my choices good for me? Do others respect my choices?

These two stages can be seen in a summary of the reasons why the children chose a particular book last month:

• To follow or explore a personal interest
• To reflect on one's identity
• To claim time with a parent
• To revisit something heard before
• To find out about things, people, the world
• To hear the story suggested by the cover
  
• To laugh
• To practice reading
  

In contrast to Erikson's view of children's behavior as purposeful, in the past, educators saw children as empty vessels. This meant that unless language, facts and values were "put in" by adults, children on their own wouldn't independently discover or adopt them. This has been called the banking method of education. When adults made deposits, those contributions would flourish, creating appropriate ideas, knowledge and behavior.

Although this idea has been discredited, its heritage persists in our culture. It is easy to fall into the sense that children's choices often don't advance worthy purposes. Indeed, their choices may seem to be random or arbitrary, often only deriving from what peers are choosing or from the latest cultural icons. And yet, one can often feel an underlying integrity in those choices, that something more is going on.

Hence the tape-recording. In their responses transcribed anonymously below, it is possible to identify at least one of the above reasons in each response, sometimes several. The responses also show a growth in reasoning as the children mature and refine their selection practices through the grades.

To follow or explore a personal interest

K Castle Diary (Fiction, 3-5^th grade reading level) – It was sticking out of the shelf.

K Nicolo’s Unicorn (Picture book, fantasy) – Because I like unicorns.

K Alligators All Around (Picture book) – It’s the weensiest book.

K Star Wars (Fiction, chapter book, fourth grade reading level) I like Star Wars. I saw a Star Wars movie.

1 Snakes (Nonfiction, fourth grade reading level) – I wanted a real book about snakes because I don’t like fiction.

1 The Oakland Raiders (Nonfiction, fifth grade reading level) – It’s my favorite book because it’s about football. Football is in the Fall.

1 Deionychus (Nonfiction, fourth grade reading level) – I like dinosaurs. It’s my second favorite dinosaur. T. Rex is my first favorite.

1 Chicken and Egg (Nonfiction, second grade reading level) – I have chickens and they already laid seven eggs. And one of the hatched!

1 The Big Book of Cars (Nonfiction, fifth grade reading level) – I was looking for a book with Beetles and I found it in this one.

1 How I Became a Pirate (Picture book) – Pirates. Because I like it when they find gold.

2 The Ultimate Book of Cat Breeds – I chose this book because I really like cats. I have two but I used to have three. It’s a really big book.

2 Alaskan Malamutes (Nonfiction, sixth reading level) – I really like dogs—they’re so cute and soft and nice to look at. They’re my favorite animal.

2 The Enchanted Forest and The Wishing Chair Again – I like the Wishing Chair books and I wanted to try a new one. I got the Enchanted Forest because it was one of the longest and I read really fast.

To reflect on one’s own identity

K Max (Picture book) – That’s my name!

K Magic Dreidels (Picture book) – Because I’m Jewish.

K Angelina Ballerina (Picture book) – I'm going to have ballet lessons.

1 The Candy Witch (Picture book) – Witches are close to Halloween and my birthday is almost at Halloween and witches are about Halloween and so I chose The Candy Witch.

2 Album of Reptiles (Nonfiction, fifth grade reading level) – I’m a reptile guy.

2 Dinosaurs (Nonfiction, third grade reading level) – I’m doing a study on dinosaurs. Everyone else in the class is too so I thought it would, you know, make me fit in. And it’s working.

To claim time with a parent or a family member

K Kidnapped at the Capitol (Easy Reader, second grade reading level) – My family is reading these [a series].

K Zia (Fiction, fifth grade reading level) –You know, the cover. Maybe someone will read it to me.

1 Tigers at Twilight (Easy Reader, chapter book) – I like Magic Tree House books. We read them at home.

2 Gershon’s Monster and Snowy Rollie – – I make mistakes too [like Gershon] and wanted to check this one out. I took this other one because I love the pictures and I think my little sister would like them too.

To revisit something heard before

K Trashy Town (Picture book) – I remember this from Red Barn. You know, last year.

K Miss Nelson is Missing (Picture book) – I liked when you read it to us.

1 Mean Soup (Picture book) – I liked it when you read it to us because it’s true.

2 Gotta Go! Gotta Go! (Picture book) – I took this home last year.

To find out about things, people, the world

K Beetle (Nonfiction, fourth grade reading level) – I didn’t ever choose a book like that before.

1 Motorcycles (Nonfiction, fourth grade reading level) – I like motorcycles and I like racing and I like how fast they go and they’re going down a hill and my favorite page is where the motorcycle is jumping through a fire loop and over 14 buses but I don’t know if they are Army buses or not.

1 Mountain Lions (Nonfiction, fifth grade reading level) – Because my mom goes on the mountains running. She does.

2 Singapore and A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols – Because I’m going to China in a few weeks. No, no, wait. Yeah, yeah, in a few weeks and I need to learn a little more about China before I go.

To see what story the cover shows

K Knuffle Bunny (Picture book) – I like the cover

1 The Great Hiss (Picture book) – Because it’s The Great Hissssssss and because of the snake on the cover.

1 The Road to Mumbai – (Picture book) Well, I looked through it and I really like it and was wondering what was in the story and I sort of like wanted to bring it home so my mom could read it to me.

To laugh

K Diary of a Worm (Picture book) – This is a silly book. I read the other one.

1 Traction Man is Here (Picture book) – Because it is so funny.

1 One Hundredth Day Worries (Picture book) – I chose this book because it’s funny and the girl worries about everything. She worries about losing her first tooth, missing the school bus, getting her math right and remembering her lunch money.

To practice reading

K Biscuit (Easy Reader, Readiness level) – My mom says I have to read to her.

1 Reptile (Nonfiction, easy reader level) – Because its short.

While I know the story behind a number of these choices, there are many more which interest and sometimes mystify me: a reminder that the life of the mind and finding one's way in the world begins very young. Also a reminder that wisdom--and competence--can be found in surprising places.

Here are the links to further information on topics mentioned above.

The Banking Method:

http://www.trentu.ca/academic/nativestudies/courses/nast305/banking.htm

Erik Erikson:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Erikson#Erikson.27s_theory_of_personality

Gotta Go! Gotta Go! by Sam Swope

Rating: 10 of 10 stars

Gotta Go! Gotta Go! recounts the adventures of a creepy-crawly bug who eats, grows and takes the metamorphic sleep to butterflyhood, but always with the clear knowledge that she's "Gotta go! Gotta go! Gotta go to Mexico!" The infectious rhythm of that refrain catches the ear of kindergarteners and before long, they are leaning from side to side, chanting it along with the text.

GG!GG! follows the grown-up bug over rivers and streams, over cities and towns, across deserts and through dangers until at last she arrives. There she sleeps until spring when she dances with a boy butterfly and then heads back home where she lays her eggs. And when that egg hatches, "it is the reason for everything."

The basis for this charmingly-told story are amazing facts. Since butterflies cannot survive the cold weather in northern U.S. and Canada, they migrate to a warmer climate in order to hibernate through the winter. They are the only insect able to make a journey of 2,500 miles. In spring, they mate and return north to lay their eggs. Mexico is one of their two destinations. Monarchs from east of the Rocky Mountains travel to the fir trees of Mexico. Those west of the Rockies travel to Pacific Grove in southern California.

While the story only briefly outlines this adventure, it does catch the imagination of children through the magic of knowing that they, themselves, are bound for somewhere as well.

The short version of the facts, for kids:
http://www.monarchbutterflyusa...

This longer version explains the bigger story and the almost impossible-to-believe idea that those who find their way south to Mexico or California have never been there before. They are the great-great-grandchildren of the insects that flew north to lay the eggs. How is that possible? Find out at:
http://www.monarchwatch.org/ta...

Usual borrowers: Kindergarten, First grade

Thank you, Franklin W. Dixon!

While still thinking about the integrity of authentic choices from yesterday, I remembered Nathan. Always an avid reader, he discovered the Hardy Boys books in fourth grade. They were exactly the right thing for him. They guaranteed a particular kind of story, he liked the constancy in the cast of characters--they felt like people he would enjoy knowing, he loved the blend of mystery and adventure, and he sure was glad there were lots of those books!

When he had read a couple of them, he confided to me that he had set himself a goal: he planned to read the entire series, in order. His face was bright with knowledge of an accomplishment; based on his liking of what he'd read, and the number of books in the series, he had an insight. He had discovered the concept of scope, one of what Eleanor Duckworth would call 'wonderful ideas.' He had been inspired by the thought of learning all there was to know about a subject. He, Nathan, would know everything about the Hardy Boys mysteries.

That day he borrowed the next books in the series with some awareness of ceremony. And he was constant. During each library period he would return a pair of books and take out the next two. From time to time there were some difficulties when the next in sequence had been borrowed by someone else. To deal with this, he amended his goal. He allowed that if one in the sequence was out, he could advance to the following title, catching up when the missing book became available. Occasionally he added another novel or two to his borrowing pattern. Sometimes it was for book reports, at other times 'just because.' But to me he seemed a little hesitant, as if he believed he was undermining his goal in some way, or might be seen to be slackening his commitment.

And so it went. Fourth grade. Fifth grade. At some point toward the middle of that year, he came over to talk. "I'm stopping here," he said of his progress. "I figured out that the Hardy Boys books are all the same story, even though the names and mysteries are different." When I asked him to explain further, he drew me a chart.

Using a timeline approach, he sketched out the basic formula for the basic Hardy Boys' plot. The book would open with an everyday event in the life of Frank and Joe Hardy. They would happen upon something that caught their interest. An event would occur casting a more questionable light on whatever it was that they found. Investigation would follow, revealing a hidden problem. A number of suspicious events would occur. They would discover a bad guy who would accidentally reveal some additional information. There would be an attempt at solving the problem which would fail. Joe and Frank would have to improvise a new plan or enlist someone new. A mighty struggle would then occur between Joe and Frank and the bad guy(s). Somehow the Hardy Boys would gain the upper hand and would prevail, bringing justice to the situation.

When he had finished his explanation, I could see Nathan's disappointment. The Hardy Boys had let him down. They had not remained the bringers of exciting adventure and daring that he had expected. When he wryly said that he could write a Hardy Boys book, I answered that he certainly could. He had absolutely figured out how the books were designed and written. Moreover he had every reason to be proud of himself: he understood the entire series, even without reading to the end.

And now thinking back on it, I imagine all the things that might have kept him from this vast understanding. What if an adult had discouraged him from his goal? What if he hadn't had the determination? What if a well-meaning person had told him not to waste his time, or had forbidden him from continuing? Had they preempted his use of his free time in pursuit of his goal, would he have come to such a conclusion? It goes back to one of those questions I mentioned yesterday, "How could the book have been better?" That fundamental question, if answered by the student, is the one that assists him or her in becoming a better chooser. Learning to choose has to include such helpful missteps, if we are to grow. It is the pinch of a too-small decision that prompts us to break out of it, to quit it, or to try a better way.

I thank the fictive Franklin W. Dixon for what he gave Nathan at the age of ten. While Nathan's disappointment didn't stop his habit of voracious reading, it did give him several gifts. Though Dixon's work was not a field worthy of Nathan's dedication, I do know it sharpened his ability to choose--he made the choice to abandon his earlier goal for the right reasons. Dixon's work also gave Nathan the impetus to generate a big plan. Ultimately that plan allowed him to recognize a colossal pattern and become a big-picture thinker. That's no small potatoes for a formula book.

Children and the integrity of choices

Parents frequently ask how to ensure that their children learn to love reading. Though there are no simple answers, I have been thinking about what “makes” a reader and what doesn’t for several years.

Growing a reader certainly feels as if it were a cousin to gardening. Parent or gardener, the process is about providing the ingredients for nurture and tending them as they find their own nature. There is an integrity in the choices children make as well. A central idea in Elizabeth Duckworth's book, The Having of Wonderful Ideas, is that children must construct all knowledge for themselves. It is that construction which is the work of the child.

For an example of that work, we are familiar with the idea that playing peekaboo helps babies understand the permanence of objects, in this case mom or dad, even when their faces are hidden behind a handkerchief. And we do recognize the important implications when his or her hand first pulls aside the cloth instead of waiting for us to pop out.

We also feel proud when our offspring express their understanding of the logic of grammar, even as they misuse it: "Sara do it, self!" or "I broke mine horse." We are less aware, however, of how that integrity of choice and construction of knowledge is going on when they become borrowers of books. I'd like to use some favorite examples to explore the idea of integrity of choices, in this case, those of children from our prekindergarten.

Sometimes, in their endless curiosity, children make choices that are surprising or puzzling. One child would hold an unopened book at arm's length and study the cover as if all answers to its contents would be revealed there. A girl would spend library period deep in the process of turning the pages of her choices with great seriousness, but then at the last moment, slide out a book from the shelf--unpreviewed--and borrow that one. One boy was interested only in true books about blood or penises. Another would browse through the picture book section only to check out--yet another time--the unabridged dictionary.

Over time, both entranced and mystified by these choices, I'd ask them a few questions when they brought their books back, hoping to gain insight. Time distilled them into just a few, which I believe, are important ones:

• What was it about the book that made you borrow it?

• What did you like about it?

• How could the book have been better?

As a result of asking those questions, I discovered some amazing things about their choices. I learned that the child who studied the book cover noticed that the best part of the story was often shown on the cover; that the girl who checked out a book without previewing it wanted to surprise both herself and her dad who would be reading it to her; and that the blood-and-penises boy's father was a urologist and he wanted to be one too. But it was the story of the boy who borrowed the unabridged dictionary that brought me to trust in what Duckworth wrote.

I discovered a browser with broad interests in a lively four-year-old boy. Early in the school year he began borrowing The Random House Unabridged Dictionary. This book had over 2,000 pages of extra-thin paper and weighed about seven pounds--the weight of a gallon of milk. He would leaf through several books after the class had heard a story aloud, but inevitably he'd drift by the 400 section, pull out the dictionary again and, holding it in a hug in order to lift it, bring it to the counter for check out.

The following week, I'd ask him those three questions. His answers: "There's a picture of my dog in it," and "I like the little cut-out places. They make it open right to a letter." I still have his image in mind, standing in the car pick-up line waiting to go home. There he was with the book in his backpack, the tan corners sticking out because it couldn't zip fully. He had to walk leaning forward a bit in order to keep it from pulling him over backward.

Weeks went by in the same pattern. Browsing, enjoying other books, but always the dictionary for taking home. One day when I inquired about his choice again, he answered, "It has all the words." What a stunning reply! It quite took me aback. Was he wondering about learning all the words? About language? Learning to read all of them? His ability to know what they all meant? If any of these reasons were close to the truth, how clever of him to keep them handy, right in his backpack, just in case.

And then an interesting thing happened: he stopped borrowing it. I wondered why. I like to imagine that he had finally answered the question for himself: that if ever he needed a word, he knew just where to find the book that held all of them.

As a coda, I must note that he borrowed it two or three times more that year, spaced at intervals of a month of more. When I asked those three questions, he no longer thought back and tried to answer me. Instead, he'd smile and shrug. "I just like it," he'd say.

The credit for that young boy's exploration and growth goes to his parents. Each week when he brought it home, they greeted it with untiring good faith. His mother confided that he probably had some reason in mind, and since they borrowed many books each week together from other libraries, the dictionary could have its place in their reading life too.

That boy must be at least in his late twenties by now, possibly even a parent himself. I often wonder at the idea of him as a dad, and how he might developed as a result of his parents' acceptance of that long ago boy, as he went about the work of growing into himself--as a library-user and as a person. And I smile.

Holes by Louis Sachar

Rating: 9 of 10 stars

Because of an instance of mistaken identity, Stanley Yelnats is sent to Camp Green Lake to "make a better boy of him." Never mind that Camp Green Lake actually is a juvenile detention center, never mind that there is no lake, or that the holes the children are forced to dig every day are not for building character but rather for something entirely less noble. Holes is the story of a boy, not so much at odds with his fate, but, ultimately, at evens with it. Stanley finds a way to transform the bad luck inherited from his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather" into the power to find what matters in a place where gratuitous unkindness, the bizarre, and the absurd are an everyday reality.

A doff of the hat to Louis Sachar for a close-to-perfect book. One year I read the whole thing to both fifth grade classes; everybody ate sunflower seeds beginning with the chapter in which the spilled seeds are discovered. Of course they broke into cheers at the downfall of the evil warden. Not to be missed!

The movie version of Holes is, like The Princess Bride, one of the very few books that make a successful transition between forms.

Usual borrowers: Fifth grade and up
Genres: Adventure, fantasy, humor, people and relationships
Also: 8 1/2 or Better List

The BossQueen, Little BigBark and the Sentinel Pup by Sarah Clark Jordan

Rating: 9 of 10 stars

What's not to love? Three dogs divide TheJob of taking care of their human family. Told from the dogs' perspective on the life of humans, each animal has her own tasks. Sentinel Pup must LookOut. When someone approaches, Sentinel Pup, always on the watch, gives the word to BossQueen who tells Little BigBark to sound the alarm. Overall it is the tale (no pun) of the struggle brought by change and growth within the family group.

One of my favorite parts is the conversation of challenges and warnings that takes place between the dogs who are behind their own fences and our three protagonists as they go by for a walk. It reminds me that whatever the species, one's communication is based on the subtleties of one's place in the hierarchies of predator and prey, and their territories. And in this case, that communication is translated believably into our language. A story worth reading for both languages!

Usual borrowers: Fourth grade to adults, committed dog-lovers
Genres: Animal stories, family life, humor
Also: 8 1/2 or Better List

Suggested by Kathy Clark, a parent, in 2004

Alex and the Ironic Gentleman by Adrienne Kress

Rating: 6.5 of 10 stars

This is a hard book to characterize for a couple of reasons. But, well, let me try.

The story has all the characteristics of a straight-forward adventure, set in the times of piracy and swordplay, about a girl (Alex) who attends a less-than inspiring private school, the Wigpowder-Steele Academy. The WSA is also the likely site of clues which will lead to a long-buried treasure. All the right ingredients.

Yet the author occasionally abandons her established context rather jarringly: the times of piracy also include cameras, refrigerators and radios; there is a section of pure fantasy on a train which begins and ends rather abruptly; and there is an Extremely Ginormous Octopus who fares very well as an ambulatory landlubber.

Kress ably gives the reader humor of all sorts: sometimes in wonderfully evil old ladies, sometimes in the names of characters and towns (Captain Magnanimous is a pirate, and Port Cullis is a town), and sometimes in how she indicates dialogue (see page 18 for an example).

I'm not sure quite what prevents me from loving this exuberantly written story. In a way it reminds me of the way some children make friends. They offer every aspect of themselves fully and without stint, almost without regard for the audience they are hoping to woo. I don't know. I'll bet the author will turn out to be a fine wine after a bit.

Usual borrowers: Fifth grade and up
Genres: Adventure, fantasy, humor

Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett

Rating: 8 of 10 stars

How often when you read a book do you know that you are likely to reread it at a later time? For me, that's rarely. I love the surprise of discovery, be it language, plot or turn of character. And these pleasures usually fade, no matter how wonderful, upon a second reading. There are some, however, that I do set aside for the future. Portrait of an Unknown Woman is one of these.

I am generally interested in things that can be found out by piecing history together, bit by bit...in other words, the perspective of a mystery lover. And yet for me, mysteries, as such, are not a first-sought-for genre. It is the tale of the mystery and its clues, overtly named or subtly placed, that draws me: an engagement brought about by the structure of an artful unfolding.

The portrait in "Portrait" is that of Sir Thomas More and his family; it is one that is both literal--a painting by Hans Holbein--and the image of how More's family responded to, and was affected by, the changes in England during Henry VIII's struggle with the Catholic Church. While that sounds like a ho-hum, it is the personal that brings history alive and makes it memorable.

For a modern example of that how that works, a reference to the gasoline shortage of the mid-seventies is far less interesting than a story of waiting for gas in a city-block long queue, engine off, with a car full of sweaty kids in a Florida summer.

And so, told through the eyes of More's adopted daughter, Meg Giggs, the book speaks to how larger forces play themselves out in the daily lives and events of the household, and in Sir Thomas's and Holbein's lives. For me, it's the closest I'll ever come to understanding what it might have been like to have lived in a period as complex as the one in which I find myself today.


Usual borrowers: Adults interested in More, Holbein or history
Genres: Artists, historical fiction

Additional hints to the story can be found in the differences between the sketch for the painting (1527) and a 1593 copy of the painting itself, both of which are supplied.

Image of the 1527 sketch:
http://nibiryukov.narod.ru/nb_...
Image of a 1593 copy of holbein's painting
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~...

The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan

Rating: 10 of 10 stars

Ever revisit an old book-friend and find the luster is gone? That is definitely not the case with McEwan's The Daydreamer. Yesterday, after a day which included the euthanasia of an elderly pet, I took The Daydreamer home for the second time, in hopes of putting the world right again.

This collection of short stories is centered on Peter, a ten-year-old who has an imagination which, at times, can rule him. In school, at home, with his younger sister, petting his cat, thinking about his sister's dolls--all are occasions in which that imagination overcomes him and takes him on amazing adventures. The everyday world falls away and Peter is off sojourning in strange and wonderful places.

Each story has a different flavor. The Dolls is a story that raises the hair on a reader's nape; The Bully explores the mysteries of enmity and friendship; The Grown Up, the closing story, offers a prescient moment in growing up.

Yet, within all this variety, each has McEwan's uncanny ability to recreate the truth of the moment in a young boy. His language, his sense of both lavishness and economy are masterful.

So when I read The Cat, my day was quieted by the beauty of his imagination, through the eyes of Peter.

Usual borrowers: Fifth grade and up
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Short Stories
Also: 8 1/2 or Better List

Getting started

While librarians like to help their community of children and parents find their way to treasures waiting on the shelves, it seemed to me that there was much to be gained in the broader sharing of titles and thought, through some form of journal. I've hoped in the last few years to be able to reach beyond the one-on-one in the library, while not forsaking it. Perhaps those two ideas can find comfortable association here.

This will be a shot at trying on the librarian's hat in a new way by posting thoughts about books, reviews and ideas about libraries and library users. Wish me luck!