A Fondness For Reading

Moving Day!

2009-04-06T17:49:00.000-07:00

It's moving day for this blog! I've been thinking about doing this, working on it for a while now, and trying to build up the courage to take this step. It's time for spring cleaning and making some changes, so this blog will now be located at:

http://afondnessforreading.wordpress.com/

Please, please, please change your blogroll and your links so I don't lose contact with any one of you! And please stop by to check out my new book place. You are so very welcome there!

Weekly Geeks: Reading with your Children

2009-04-04T19:21:00.000-07:00

The Weekly Geeks meme this week gives a choice between two of my favorite topics in celebration of International Children's Book Day (April 2nd) and National Poetry Month: "Reading to children" and "Poetry." Option A is called "Be a Kid" and Option B is called "Be a Poet." I must combine the two to share a favorite memory of our 2-year-old daughter (now age 30) reciting poetry to her beloved Gramps.

Weekly Geeks Option A: Be a kid! Write up a post about reading together with your child(ren)

Looking back at those years of raising our children (those years that went by with lightning speed!), B and I have recognized that if we did nothing else right in raising those two wonderful human beings, we got it absolutely right with the books and the poetry, which became part of their souls!

The impact of reading, and especially of poetry, on the language development of very young children is enormous. And that's in addition to the joy of sharing the discoveries a small child makes of the world of books and poems. Our daughter recited poetry as part of her first words and sentences. The syntax was there, if not the ability to enunciate. Her favorite book at that age was a sweet little board book of nursery rhymes, Ladybug, Ladybug and Other Nursery Rhymes, by Eloise Wilkin.

So turn up your sound and listen to a short, scratchy recording of our daughter reciting the nursery rhyme, "One Misty Moisty Morning", to her gramps on his 61st birthday. In this recording, she is exactly the same age as our Grandboy is now, (2 years old). Right now I am almost the same age as my Dad at the time of this recording. A poignant reminder of the passing of seasons. and as I said before, of lightning speed!

And because only the parents (and grandparents) could really understand the words spoken by that beautiful little girl, here's the text of the poem:

One misty, moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to meet an old man
Clothes all in leather.
He began to compliment,
And I began to grin.
How do you do?
And how do you do?
And how do you do again?

Rapunzel, Rapunzel

2009-04-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

Illustration by Gustaf Tenggren

The fairy tale of Rapunzel always seemed weird to me as I was growing up, so it wasn't one of my favorites. But I have just read two books that retell the story of Rapunzel: Zel, by Donna Jo Napoli, and Rapunzel's Revenge, by Shannon and Dean Hale, and I have a new understanding of and appreciation for this old tale. I also read an excellent article by Terri Windling on the historical and cultural background of the Rapunzel story. It is well worth reading, also.

Napoli's Zel is a dark and psychological retelling for young adults. It is told in first-person narrative for each of the three main characters: Zel, Mother, and Konrad, the one who brings her love and freedom. With this type of narration, you completely understand the story behind each character, and the reasons for each character's actions. It is a story of obsessive love, abuse, and of the redemptive power of love. I listened to the audiobook version, narrated by Alexandra O'Karma, and it was a powerful rendition of a powerful story! This is not a story for young listeners/readers.

On a much lighter note, Rapunzel's Revenge, a graphic novel by Shannon Hale and her husband, Dean, was a lot of fun. Definitely in the category of a "fractured fairy tale," this graphic novel is set in the wild, wild west, and Rapunzel's long, long braided hair is used as a lasso and very effective weapon throughout the book. The humor is silly, in the best possible sense of the word, and I chuckled all the way through it. Lots of fairy tale fun from an author I always enjoy!

Two more books read for Carl V's "Once Upon a Time III challenge!

Robot Dreams

2009-04-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

Robot Dreams, by Sara Varon, is a wordless graphic novel for children. Library Journal called it a "small, "simple" story of friendship and letting go..."

...A dog purchases a robot kit so that he might have a friend to hang out with. The robot, a mellow type, enjoys hanging out with the dog, eating popcorn, watching movies, and going to the library. A trip to the beach, however, turns out to be a less than stellar idea when the robot goes swimming only to rust up and find that it can no longer move. The dog goes home for the night, intending to take the robot along later. Unfortunately, the beach is closed the next day and the poor robot is stuck on the sand, dreaming of things both good and bad. As the months go by, both robot and dog have their own small adventures, real and unreal. By the end, however, they each find new and separate companions. The last image in the book is of the robot seeing the dog with another robot, and understanding that this is a case when you’ve just got to let the person you love go.

This is another very nicely done graphic novel published by FirstSecond Books, a company with vision and a great place to start if you are just discovering the world of graphic novels. They are pulling in the best authors and artists, and their collaborative projects are terrific! I highly recommend spending some time on their web site!

Awards for Robot Dreams, by Sara Varon:

• A New York Public Library Book for Reading and Sharing
• A Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year
• A Kirkus Review Best Children's Book of the Year
• BCCB Blue Ribbon Title
• ALSC Notable Children's Book
• YALSA Great Graphic Novel
• NYPL Book for the Teen Age
• An NCTE Notable Book in the Language Arts

"...unmistakably joyful." —Kirkus

Mini-Challenge Fun: Interview with Becky

2009-04-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

Poe was a performer who only knew how to play
the low notes of the piano...
--??

The instructions for Nymeth's Try Something New mini-challenge, which is part of Dewey's Books Challenge, were to pair up with another blogger and then choose to read "something new, something you wouldn't normally choose." I paired up with Becky from Becky's Book Reviews, and we decided to read short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, since this year marks his 200th birthday. Neither of us had spent much time reading Poe before, so it was interesting reading, and it was very nice for me to get to know Becky a little bit more through our exchanges. Here are Becky thoughts on the stories she read. To read my thoughts on the stories I chose, visit Becky's blog.
A special THANK YOU to Nymeth for organizing and hosting this mini-challenge in memory of Dewey!

Which ones did you read?
I read "The Tell Tale Heart", "X-ing A Paragrab", "The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade" and "Silence--A Fable."

What did you think of what you read?
This was my second time reading "The Tell Tale Heart." But all the others were new to me. (My past experience with Edgar Allen Poe was "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Raven.") I did appreciate "The Tell-Tale Heart" more the second time around.
I enjoyed most of the stories. Not in the traditional sense of the word "enjoy." But I definitely appreciated the approach. Poe's often warped sense or reality or warped sense of humor.

Were the stories you read similar to one another?
Not at all! "The Tell-Tale Heart" was full-out crazy. A brilliant but disturbing portrait of an insane man who was crazy long before the "beating" of the heart told on him.

"Silence--a Fable" was similarly atmospheric. But not in the crazy-man-on-the-loose way. It was haunting. Strange and beautiful and disconcerting all in one. I still feel I don't "get" this one really. Yet I feel the desire to want to get it.

The other two stories were meant to be comical. I don't know if either of them are laugh out loud funny. More warped sense of humor. For example, in "X-ing the Paragrab" dueling editors have a war of words so to speak. But when one man steals both the upper and lower case letter "O" then the printer replaces each 'o' with an 'x' ...needless to say who had the last laugh there! In the other story, "The Thousand and Second Story of Scheherazade" Poe reveals the "real" ending to the 1001 Nights: Arabian Nights. This "little-known" conclusion reveals what happens when he becomes tired and weary of his wife's storytelling prattling.

Were they what you expected them to be?
Yes and no. I thought they'd be weird. And recognizably Poe-ish. And two of them fell into that category. I didn't expect Poe to have more than one angle, or more than one way of telling a story. I didn't know to expect humor and satire and seemingly normal life observations. I liked that Poe didn't have to be all-dark, all-the-time.

The Fairy Rebel

2009-03-31T06:10:00.000-07:00

Publisher's Comments:
The Fairy Queen strictly forbids fairies from using their magic power on humans. But after Tiki accidentally meets Jan, a woman who is desperate for a baby daughter, she finds it impossible to resist fulfilling her wish. Now up against the dark and vicious power of evil, this fairy rebel must face the Queen’s fury with frightening and possibly fatal results.

The Fairy Rebel, by Lynne Reid Banks, was sitting on the shelf at the library when I stopped by to pick up some books for my classroom last week. I was familiar with LRB because I had read her book, The Indian in the Cupboard, many years ago, so I brought this home to read hoping that it would be something I could read aloud to my second graders. It's actually written more for intermediate readers, and after reading it I thought it would be perfect for fourth or fifth graders.

I was immediately captured by this pink-haired, blue jeans-wearing, kindhearted rebel fairy, Tiki, and her elf friend, Wijic. It was fun to think of the world of faerie being right in your own backyard, and the chance encounter that brought all the characters together happening as Jan was sitting in her own garden.

A sweet little book for the classroom, and another fun read for Carl V's Once Upon a Time III challenge...

Classics of British Literature

2009-03-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

B and I just finished a college course called "Classics of British Literature." No, we didn't have to register and go to classes during the week. We bought this class from The Teaching Company, and have enjoyed watching these lectures (48 of them) in the comfort of our own home, usually while we ate a bowl of sherbet after dinner one or two evenings a week. Each lecture was 30 minutes long, the lecturer was John Sutherland, and the course was a grand introduction to British literature from the earliest roots to the present.

More than just a survey course, Classics of British Literature shows you how Britain's cultural landscape acted upon its literature—and how, in turn, literature affected the cultural landscape. Professor Sutherland takes a historical approach to the wealth of works explored in these lectures, grounding them in specific contexts and, oftentimes, connecting them with one another.

While it is vital that we appreciate the universal and transcendent quality of literature, according to Professor Sutherland, we also need to appreciate "as fully as one can, the conditions that gave birth to these works of literature; to reinsert them, that is, back into history."

The end result is not a laundry list of famous works but instead a mosaic of Britain's history as revealed through the individual threads of its most revered literary masterpieces. Throughout the course, you discover how each work is linked to others that have come before it—whether building on its predecessors' work or casting it aside to challenge readers and audiences with new ways of understanding a changing world.

We enjoyed the course very much, and were proud of ourselves for completing it. We didn't have homework and weren't required to read specific things before and after each lecture, although we could have! The list of works of literature discussed is extensive and would keep us reading for years and years! We simply enjoyed his lectures, many of them on some of our favorite authors and books. And we learned a lot!

Legacy Libraries

2009-03-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

Library Thing has a fun feature -- it's called their "Legacy Libraries," which are lists of the personal libraries of famous readers. It's interesting to look at those lists and compare them to the books you have on your own Library Thing list. It's really interesting to see which books you have read in common with those famous readers!

For example, I've read these 6 books out of the 68 books listed in Tupac Shakur's library:

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
• The Diary of Anais Nin, 1931-1934
• 1984, by George Orwell
• The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
• The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X

And I've read 25 books out of 1,759 (an incomplete listing) in Karen Blixen's (Isak Dinesen) library:

• Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
• Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
• Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
• The Cocktail Party: A Comedy, by T.S. Eliot
• Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
• The Snow Goose, by Paul Gallico
• Death Be Not Proud, by John Gunther
• The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
• The Odyssey, by Homer
• Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
• The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers
• Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak
• Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton
• Le Petit Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
• The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare
• Frankenstein, by Mary W. Shelley
• The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
• Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
• Venture to the Interior, by Laurens Van der Post
• Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder
• Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf

And I've read 17 books in common with Sylvia Path's library, 100 books in common with Carl Sandburg's library, and just 3 books in common with John Muir's library.

photo by Andre Kertesz

The Raven Steals the Light

2009-03-26T04:40:00.000-07:00

Raven and the First Men
Sculpture by Bill Read

The Raven Steals the Light, by Bill Read and Robert Bringhurst, is a wonderful retelling of some of the classic myths of the Haida peoples from the Queen Charlotte Islands of the Pacific Northwest.

Robert Bringhurst explains the location of the Haida in his introduction to the book:

Haida Gwaii, the islands of the People, lie equidistant from Luxor, Machu Picchu, Ninevah and Timbuktu. On the white man's maps, where every islet and scrap of land, uninhabited or otherwise, lies now in the shadow of somebody's national flag, and is named for preference after a monarch or a politician, Haida Gwaii are shown as the westernmost extremity of Canada, and they are named not for the Haida, who have always lived there, nor for the Raven, who somewhat inadvertently put them there, but for a woman who never saw them. Her name was Sophie Charlotte von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, but the British called her simply Queen Charlotte, for she was the wife of the Mad King of England, George III.
So the Raven, who often likes to call a rose a skunk cabbage, just to see what trouble he can cause, has tricked us again, Haidas and outsiders alike, with this one. He has us trained now to point to Haida Gwaii and say "Queen Charlotte Islands."These stories were told there well before Queen Charlotte's time.

Haida culture is fascinating and these stories are short and fun to read. Raven, the trickster, is the central character in this mythology, and in the first story he's the one responsible for releasing the sun from a small box and for making the stars and the moon.

Before there was anything, before the great flood had covered the earth and receded, before the animals walked the earth or the trees covered the land or the birds flew between the trees, even before the fish and the whales and seals swam in the sea, an old man lived in a house on the bank of a river with his only child, a daughter. Whether she was as beautiful as hemlock fronds against the spring sky at sunrise or as ugly as a sea slug doesn't really matter very much to this story, which takes place mainly in the dark...

Bill Reid was the author of a number of other books, but he was also a wonderful artist. The sculpture of Raven and the First Men is one of his finest works. It's on display at the beautiful Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, BC, and I'll never get over the awe I felt when my husband and I first saw it. Bill Reid's beautiful sketches are at the beginning of each story in this book. According to the back cover of this book, Robert Bringhurst is "a poet, cultural historian and scholar of Native American literature." He, too, has published other books of stories and poetry. The collaboration of these two artists made this book a lovely thing indeed, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in mythology, folktales, or art!

Indian Hut, Queen Charlotte Islands
by Emily Carr

Click here to listen to Bill Reid narrating one of the stories from this book!
Click here to listen to Robert Bringhurst reading from Nine Visits to the Mythworld, a book of Haida poetry he translated.

This was my second book read for Carl V's Once Upon a Time III challenge.

A Splash of Color

2009-03-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

A splash of color a la Georgia O'Keeffe from my second grade classroom...for those of you where wintery spring is still gray and stormy.

Weekly Geeks: Historical Fiction

2009-03-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

One of the things I loved about teaching 6th grade for sixteen years was teaching our Middle Ages unit each spring. Reading anything regarding Medieval times has been a fascination for me for all those years, so I was happy to see that the Weekly Geeks topic for this week is:

Is there a particular era that you love reading about? Tell us about it--give us a book list, if you'd like. Include pictures or some fun facts from that time period, maybe link to a website that focuses on that time. Educate us.

Do you have a favorite book that really pulled you back in time, or perhaps gave you a special interest in that period? Include a link to a review of it on another book blog if you can find one (doesn't have to be a Weekly Geek participant).

Among my favorite books that take place during Medieval times, are the Brother Cadfael series of mysteries by Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter). They completely transport me to the 1100s, Shrewsbury, England. The mysteries are compelling, and the authenticity of setting is incredible. It's like you are there!

I've written about these my love of these books before, so you can read that post here. And here's another interesting link to follow: In the Footsteps of Brother Cadfael

The Book of Lost Things

2009-03-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I read a book the way I did when I was a kid. You know, when you found a book that really grabbed you and you couldn't stop reading, and that's all you wanted to do... That's what happened to me with The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly. I love that feeling, and I really liked this book. It was powerful and dark, definitely not a children's book...full of fairy tales retold with a twist...and with a story about grief and loss, courage, and growing up.

Twelve-year-old David loses his beloved mother to cancer, and then his father remarries and has another son. It's too much for the still grieving David, and he is filled with anger and jealously. Strange things start to happen to him when they move into the very old home of his new stepmother. He can hear the books in his bedroom talking, for one thing...and there's a strange, crooked man that watches him. And then one day, while walking near the sunken garden behind the house, he hears his dead mother calling him, and he enters a dark and violent world under the garden, and it is the beginning of a journey of self-discovery, of growth, and of coming to terms with loss.

"Instead, while others aided you along the way, it was your own strength and courage that brought you at last to an understanding of your place in this world and your own. You were a child when first I found you, but now you are becoming a man."

This is a remarkable and powerful book. The last few pages were so beautifully written they took my breath away. The story lingers and haunts you for awhile.

Many people have read and reviewed this book. After reading Chris's (Stuff As Dreams Are Made On), Nymeth's (things mean a lot), and Dewey's (The Hidden Side of a Leaf) reviews of this book, I knew I had to read it. It was a perfect beginning for the Once Upon a Time Challenge III.

Dysenchanted

2009-03-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

In celebration of Carl V's Once Upon a Time Challenge III, take 6 minutes and watch this humorous independent short film, called "Dysenchanted." If you haven't seen it already, it's about the heroines of our favorite fairy tales in a therapy session with Jim Belushi as the therapist. The film was written and directed by Terri Edda Miller.

"I believe that all women are heroes in their own stories..."

Once Upon a Time III: My Quest

2009-03-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited that Carl V's Once Upon a Time III challenge is underway! I've finally decided what I'd like to read for my Quest, and I know it's going to be another wonderful journey!

Last year, among the books I chose to read for Carl V's OUaT Challenge II, were four books that turned out the be the highlight of the challenge for me. It was a unique collaboration between four authors, who each wrote a book centered around one of Brian Froud's paintings. The four authors were Charles de Lint, Patricia McKillip, Terri Windling, and Midori Snyder, and it was a wonderful creative collaborative project. This year I was hoping to do something similar since I enjoyed that type of reading project so much. I've found just the thing! My goal this year is to read Terri Windling's Fairy Tale Series! (Or at least as many of them as I can get hold of.) I'm also going to participate in the Short Story Weekends reading!

The Sun, the Moon and the Stars, by Steven Brust
The Nightingale, by Kara Dalkey
Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean
Jack the Giant-Killer, by Charles de Lint
Snow White and Rose Red, by Patricia Wrede
White as Snow, by Tanith Lee
Fitcher's Brides, by Gregory Frost
Briar Rose, by Jane Yolen, is also part of that series, but I read it last year during the OUaT 2008 challenge.

Just in case I find more time to read, I've also put together a list of books already on my TBR shelf, waiting for this challenge, so we'll see how many I can get through in the next three months.

My TBR Shelf possibilities:

• The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly (underway!)
• Rapunzel's Revenge, by Shannon Hale and
• A Fine & Private Place, by Peter S. Beagle
• The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
• Tales of Beedle the Bard, by J.K. Rowling
• The Book of Atrix Wolfe, by Patricia McKillip
• Daughters of Copper Woman, by Anne Cameron
• Arabian Nights & Days, by Naguib Mahfouz
• Moonheart, by Charles de Lint
• A Hidden Magic, by Vivian Vande Velde
• Heroes & Heroines in Tlingit-Haida Legend, by Mary L. Beck
• The Raven Steals the Light, stories by Bill Reid and Robert Bringhurst

My TBR list has gotten longer each year I participate in this challenge, but that's what I love about it -- being introduced to new authors and wonderful books by reading all the reviews that fellow travelers post on their blogs.

The Time Has Come...

2009-03-19T20:52:00.001-07:00

The time has come! In my mind now it's officially Springtime! ... according to the calendar it starts tomorrow, but I count the onset of Spring by Carl V! His Once Upon a Time challenge has been the highlight of my spring for the last two years, and tonight he has just announced the 3rd year's version. I'm going to do this:

Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time III criteria. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.

I'm putting together a pool of books and authors to choose from for this challenge, but I also want the freedom to choose as I go along and discover new possibilities and new paths. Like it was for the last two years, I know this will be a very enjoyable journey!
Click here to read my list of books chosen for this challenge!

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.
--Theodor Geisel

Tomie dePaola

2009-03-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

I'm in love! (Sorry B...I know we've been married for almost 40 years, but I can't help it, I've fallen in love with Tomie dePaola). Never met him, but just look at the photo above and you can see that Mr. dePaola is a happy person, and he certainly brings a lot of happiness to the world of young people of all ages! I'm completely captured with his work again and in a whole new way.

He has long been a family favorite author/illustrator -- we loved his Strega Nona, and his Pancakes For Breakfast. And I use many of his books in my classroom. So I was thrilled recently to discover his autobiographical series, 26 Fairmount Avenue.

A Note From the Author in the first book:

Over the years, letters from my young readers have increasingly asked, "When are you going to write a chapter book?" But the idea seemed daunting.
Then one day, my long-time assistant, Bob Hechtel, said, "I have an idea for a chapter book for you -- in fact, for a series of chapter books. Why don't you write about all the things that you talk about from your childhood, but can't put into a single picture book." DING -- the bell went off - the light bulb lit. "That's it!

The series begins in 1938, when Mr. dePaola was four years old, and continues on into the War years. So far there are 7 books, full of life and wonderful stories about his family (to whom you become very attached) and his experiences as he grows and changes. And it's fascinating to see the emerging artist, for he certainly was an artist at that very young age.

I can't wait until the next one comes out. I also can't wait to introduce my students to these books and see what they think. I hope they enjoy them as much as I did. And even if you don't normally read many children's books, this series is worth reading. It's delightful to experience that period of time through the eyes of a gifted young person.

Mr. dePaola won the Newbery Honor Award for the first book, and he won my heart with this series.

• Tomie's blog

• Some very nice video clips of Tomie telling stories about his life and art

Enchantress From the Stars

2009-03-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

Enchantress From the Stars, by Sylvia Louise Engdahl, is a YA book worth reading -- it's a fascinating view of the future with ideas that are important to keep in mind.

Elana belongs to a peaceful, technologically advanced, space-faring civilization called the "Federation", which monitors worlds which are still "maturing", allowing them to grow without any sort of contact or intervention. Elana stows away on a ship in order to accompany her father on a mission to a planet where intervention has been deemed necessary because a technologically advanced empire has invaded the planet in order to take advantage of its resources. In order to lead a young woodcutter (a native of that planet) against them (without exposing him to the truth about either alien civilization) Elana takes on the role of an enchantress. She gives him various tools, leading him to believe that they are magical.

Engdahl wrote parts of this book in the 1950s, before so many of the technological changes we live with today, and before Star Trek (there similar ideas in the series), but that just shows that good ideas and a forward-thinking author can create a classic story with meaning for many generations. I feel Engdahl did exactly that in creating the character of Elana, and with the story of Elana's growing experiences on the planet she was striving to save. I loved the story, the writing, the characters, and the ideas in this book. She received the Newbery Honor Award in 1971 for it, and it was well-deserved. I'd like to read more by Sylvia Engdahl!

It is by now a well known fact that the human people of the universe have similar histories -- not that the specific details are similar, but the same patterns emerge on every home world. Each must pass through three stages: first childhood, when all is full of wonder, when man admits that much is unknown to him, calling it "supernatural", yet believing. Then adolescence, when man discards superstition and reveres science, feeling that he has charted its realms and has only to conquer them -- never dreaming that certain "supernatural" wonders should not be set aside, but understood. And at last maturity, when the discovery is made that what was termed "supernatural" has been perfectly natural all along, and is in reality a part of the very science that sought to reject it.

Weekly Geeks: A Quote a Day #7

2009-03-13T06:13:00.001-07:00

You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.
-- Galileo Galilei

The Lost Painting

2009-03-13T06:05:00.000-07:00

Since we recently watched Simon Schama's DVDs called Power of Art, my husband and I have become very interested in the Italian painter, Caravaggio. So when I ran into a book at the library last week called The Lost Painting: A Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece, by Jonathan Harr, I knew we would be interested in reading it. It did not disappoint.

It's actually a non-fiction book about the discovery of a missing masterpiece (The Taking of Christ) by Caravaggio in the early 1990s. It was a fascinating story of research and detection, and read like a good mystery novel. It also told the story of the brilliant and troubled artist.

The glimpse into the art history and art restoration worlds was both educational and fascinating. Reading about Caravaggio's violent life was also fascinating and made for quite story.

From a New York Times article on the book by Bruce Handy:

...early in the book, Harr offers a sketch of Sir Denis Mahon, the greatest living expert on Caravaggio:

"Sir Denis believed that a painting was like a window back into time, that with meticulous study he could peer into a work by Caravaggio and observe that moment, 400 years ago, when the artist was in his studio, studying the model before him, mixing colors on his palette, putting brush to canvas. Sir Denis believed that by studying the work of an artist he could penetrate the depths of that man's mind. In the case of Caravaggio, it was the mind of a genius. A murderer and a madman, perhaps, but certainly a genius."

Although this book wasn't on my original list for Sarah's Art History Reading Challenge, I'm glad I found it.

Weekly Geeks: A Quote a Day #6

2009-03-12T05:37:00.000-07:00

It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life. To be able to be caught up into the world of thought -- that is to be educated.
-- Edith Hamilton

Weekly Geeks: A Quote a Day #5

2009-03-11T06:03:00.000-07:00

Being bored is an insult to oneself.
--Jules Renard

Thanks to D and R for the photo!

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

2009-03-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

Our latest Read Aloud in my second grade classroom was Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, by Betty MacDonald. The second graders loved this book! In case you are not familiar with this classic children's book, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is a rather magical neighbor who loves children. She also has a "cure" for anything that ails the children -- and what we mean by things that "ail the children" are the many different kinds of negative behaviors they can try out! She has a cure for anything and everything, and her cures are delightful lessons for children.

With wonderful humor, Betty MacDonald tells story after story of how parents call Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle asking her to please cure their child of some annoying behavior. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle devises a very clever cure, and within a very short time, the child's behavior changes. Some examples of the cures are: the Slow-Eater-Tiny-Bite-Taker cure; the Answer-Backer Cure; the Selfishness Cure; and the Never-Want-to-go-to-Bedder cure. The book was written in 1947, so some of the details in the stories are a bit "old fashioned" now -- a father comes home and listens to the radio ... there are no TVs or computers.

After we finished the book, the students and I talked about these cures, and they decided they wanted to write some of their own. Just to show that Betty MacDonald's ideas about children are timeless, here are some of the "cures" my second graders invented and wrote about.

The Throw-Away-Everything Cure
The Too-Much-Candy Cure
The Big-Mouth Cure
The Sucking-Your-Thumb Cure
The Biter-Fingernail Cure
The Don't-Yell-Out Cure
The Watching-Too-Much-TV Cure

And here's the beginning of one of my student's stories...

Weekly Geeks: A Quote a Day #4

2009-03-10T06:04:00.000-07:00

What I hear, I forget.  
What I see, I remember.  
What I do, I understand.

- - Kung Fu Tzu (Confucius)

The Uncommon Reader

2009-03-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

This book has been reviewed by many of the book bloggers, so I don't know that there's much more I can say about it that hasn't already been said, except to add that I thoroughly enjoyed Alan Bennett's delightful novella, The Uncommon Reader. It was a celebration of the joy of reading, and a fun view of the change and growth that reading sparks in all of us. I listened to the audiobook version of the book, narrated by the author himself, which added much to my enjoyment of the story. It's short, sweet, and a delightful way to spend an afternoon.

So what is this little book about? From the New York Times:

In “The Uncommon Reader” Mr. Bennett poses a delicious and very funny what-if: What if Queen Elizabeth at the age of 70-something were suddenly to become a voracious reader? What if she were to become an avid fan of Proust and Balzac, Turgenev and Trollope and Hardy? And what if reading were to lead her, in turn, to becoming a writer? Mr. Bennett’s musings on these matters have produced a delightful little book that unfolds into a witty meditation on the subversive pleasures of reading.

Click on these links to enjoy a few of the many reviews of this book written by other bloggers:

JenClair (A Garden Carried in the Pocket)

Nymeth (things mean a lot)

Joanne (The Book Zombie)

JC Montgomery (The Biblio Brat)

Dewey (The Hidden Side of a Leaf)