Books 'n Bytes

The Silence of Our Friends

2012-02-09T21:26:00.001-08:00

New graphic non-fiction novel tells a story of two families in the 1960s Texas crucible of racism and civil rights struggle finding friendship and allies. Drawn by Nate Powell in powerful black and white and told with first-person authenticity. By including painful memories of personal short comings Long delivers plenty of provocative material for discussion. Released by FirstSecond in time for Black History Month 2012, folks ready to grapple with social justice issues can use this with confidence with middle and above, given racist language and police violence that occurred at TSU on May 17, 1967. Highly recommended addition to comics and social justice collections.

Perfectly Patriotic ePuplished Poetry

2012-01-28T17:57:00.000-08:00

Janet Wong's Declaration of Interdependence: Poems for an Election Year is smart bit of work. ePublished in Amazon's Kindle store and delivered for a whisper (and a song), these are fresh-picked poems picked for this season but well-crafted enough to have a long shelf-life in the 811(Poetry) section.

I love Janet's title poem,

the way she turns a thoughtful phrase and inserts unexpected pause to let us consider:

We hold these truths

to be not-so-self-evident-

but think about them a while

and you might agree

all men are created equal-

ly a puzzle, made up

of so many parts;

and each of us makes up part

of the greater puzzle

that is our nation.

Lose one piece

and the picture is incomplete.

What happens when

too many pieces,

one by one,

become lost?

Life, Liberty

and the pursuit

of Happiness: let's do our best

to find the pieces that fit together,

to make our picture whole.

Today Janet took time to explain the ePublishing process at the I-Youth conference at UW, sharing the ease of publication-and fund-raising poetential of student/school publishing efforts- gives legs to the mission that "all students are effective users and producers of ideas and information."

The world of books and bytes is an exciting, evolving one I'm tickled to hear that I can also get a print version to hang from our library Poet-Tree right next to the circulation desk. Janet also tells me that during the month of February, in celebration of Presidents' Day, Richard C. Owen Books is going to give a free paperback copy of DECLARATION to everyone who buys a copy of my Meet the Author book BEFORE IT WRIGGLES AWAY. Anyone interested would buy WRIGGLES here: http://www.rcowen.com/MTA-JanetWong.htm.

eBook or print? Choose your format, then get a hold of these delightful poems.

Along the River: A Chinese Cinderella Novel

2012-01-20T13:33:00.000-08:00

The second novel of fantasy and friendship built around a “Chinese Cinderella” character, here’s a remarkable YA fantasy based on China’s most famous painting, Along the River at the Qing Ming Festival. “CC,” a young and privileged Chinese girl falls and slips in and out of vivid dreams that link her to a girl living 800 years ago during the Song dynasty. CC befriends a boy her age, an orphan and household servant who has a remarkable talent for painting, and surviving what traps his talent throws his way.

Written by the author of the autobiographical “Chinese Cinderella: the Secret Story of an Unwanted Daughter” Adeline Yen Mah has crafted a fine story that teaches as it entertains and can be enjoyed on many levels. It would work well in support of middle and high school studies of Chinese history and culture. Author’s website http://adelineyenmah.com/ has many additional resources for the curious.

Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto

2012-01-20T08:37:00.000-08:00

The power of Paul B. Janeczko's poetry brings unforgettable glimpses from the ghetto of Terezin, a Czech village that the Nazi command turned into a “model” concentration camp en-route to the gas chambers of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. The book is Illustrated with drawings by some of the 140,000 inmates who passed through Terezin, found after the war. As the “good face” to be paraded to the outside world, at Terezin there were moments of ironically artistic beauty amidst the horror of the Holocaust as it unfolded. It is into this crucible of human experience that Janeczko has researched and engaged his poetic imagination and emerged with a collection of poems that deserve wide reading and praise.

WLMA Library Snapshot Day Group

2012-01-13T14:46:00.001-08:00

WLMA Library Snapshot Day Group, a group on Flickr.

We're getting ready for 2012 WA Library Snapshot Day with an updated Flickr group name and URL. Make plans now for April 8-12th participation in this statewide advocacy event by visiting the wiki at http://walibrarysnapshot.wikispaces.com/

Read, Write, Review, Post

2012-01-08T17:28:00.000-08:00

I've been talking with students a lot about the read-write-review-posting cycle that goes on more and more these days. I've embedded a student "tweet this book" googleform in our school "glog" and have invited students to join me in reviewing books.

Barb Langridge's ABookandahug.com is a book review and reader's advisory site to which I have been sending reviews of graphic novels. Barb's 4 reader types characterizations are delightful and the "what kind of reading superhero are you?" quiz is worth doing. Barb's presentations at WLMA this October were well attended and received.

I also read and review for the Puget Sound Council for Children's Literature in their monthly review meetings and print journal. Almost 100 librarians participate in some way or another in this group. Look for the group's wiki to be updated as new leadership is bring renewed energy to this book-loving bunch. I'd love to see the reviews shared beyond the current print mailing....and will work to help see that happen.

One book I just finished for PSC that gets high marks is Frank Cottrell Boyce's The Unforgotten Coat. A new student and his inseparable younger brother arrive in a Liverpool classroom as if magically plucked from the Mongolian steppe and set down in a strange new world. Telling stories of their nomadic life, with details so unlike their current situation, Chingis blends fact and fiction masterfully, as when he declares "My brother believes he is being chased by a certain demon...It's a demon that makes things vanish." Humorous and insightful into the lives of refugee children, this is a terrific bit of fiction based on the author's experience with a refugee student from Mongolia in one school visit some years back. As the recent review in School Library Journal concurs, this is great stuff! Bless those Brits for writing well.

Happy Merry

2011-12-25T22:09:00.000-08:00

Just in case there was any question, laughter is still the best medicine and Funny Times gives me a monthly dose of just the right medicine for the other news. During a holiday season full of thoughtful and heartfelt resolutions, I thought to make mention as a way to remind myself to keep laughing.

Dave Barry, Swami Beyondananda, Garrison Keillor, and all the rest; thanks for sharing your wit wit' us.

“Generation of Consolidation: Youth-Made Media Justice Videos”

2011-12-06T17:43:00.001-08:00

Seattle’s Reel Grrls 2011 Summer Apprenticeship Program found worldwide grassroots support when longtime-funder, Comcast pulled their support over a Tweet that questioned issues of media consolidation. This collaborative DVD compilation includes 6 media justice related shorts by Reel Grrls student film makers along with “OMG: the Reel Grrls Comcast Story” a 6 minute video showing how the group learned about Media Justice while writing their own chapter in the story.

The collection is a great introduction to "Media Justice 101" is a fine example of student film making that can be used by library media, film making and social studies teachers to inspire topical storytelling in many media. In addition to links to www.reelgrrls.org ; those interested in learning more can also find support from project allies at centerformediajustice.org , freepress.net and savetheinternet.com .

As effective users and producers of ideas and information, our students can help shape the world in which we live.

Get and share this video in your school or public library. Reelgrrls rrrocks!

Library 2.011

2011-11-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

After three consecutive association conferences (WLMA, BCTLA, AASL) the Library 2.011 Worldwide Virtual Conference this week arrived like a breath of fresh air: all online, all free all archived. With over 150 presentations from around the library world the conference was a delight to "attend." WLMA took the opportunity to re-present the LIT framework, with Mike Eisenberg, Sarah Applegate, Mark Ray and Colet Bartow responding to my moderator's exhortation to present.The LIT message is a great rallying point, a program description that can help ensure that school library programs survive and thrive as they address three key elements of the educational landscape: information literacy instruction, reading advocacy, and information system management. http://wlma.org/Resources/Documents/LIT%20Program%20Framework.pdf

At-A-Glance Comic Tutorials

2011-10-03T17:18:00.001-07:00

At-A-Glance Comic Tutorials, a set by The Daring Librarian on Flickr.

There are some busy librarians out there! Take a look at these comic-tutorials for students and teachers. Thanks to the Daring Librarian and T-L Ning webinar for pointing me to these. !Wow!

Oil and Water

2011-10-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

Last year 10 Portlanders headed to the Gulf to bear witness to onshore effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Less than 12 months later, with fast work by Author Steve Duin, artist Shannon Wheeler, editor Mike Rosen and letterer Tom Orzechowski this fine new graphic non-fiction novel comes floating to the surface thanks to fast work by Fantagraphics. Beautifully bound, this is graphic journalism on a human and environmental disaster with long-term consequences far beyond here-and-gone traditional news coverage. Honestly told, well written, beautifully illustrated and accessible to a wide audience: Oil and Water should reach readers of all ages and satisfy the most discerning critics. BRAVO!

I'm thrilled to be bearing freshly minted copies to today's NWTSJ conference and opening at Fantagraphics.

How to Make a Book

2011-10-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

EB Films c1947 with all the succinct narration of a by-gone era.
http://www.archive.org/details/MakingBo1947

The Internet Archives also points to the vast resources available on other topics and begs the imagination to consider the vast library that now exists online.

image from exilebibliophile.blogspot.com

Ray Bradbury, Illustrated Man

2011-09-22T06:43:00.000-07:00

Wow, graphic adaptations of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, and the Martian Chronicles came my way to review for abookandahug.com. I want to share both here, too as they are top flight graphics.

As I've mentioned before when reading the graphic versions of Fareinheit 451, the interview Ray did is absolutely lovely...with his greetings reaching out across cyberspace in a way that will echo far longer than puny satellites we put into orbit (one's crashing back to Earth today).

Blast off with this 13 minute video interview with Ray Bradbury to celebrate this life-long pioneer of the next frontier. Then read:

Something Wicked This Way Comes,

When Cooger and Dark’s PandemoniumShadow Show carnival tents roll in to town a week before Halloween, two boysare caught up in a dark magical maelstrom. There is a carousel that promiseseternal life in exchange for your soul, a Hall of Mirrors that steals wishes, anda sideshow freak, the Illustrated Man whose body is covered with tattoos and livesoff the misery of others. Only two boysin the town know of the evil magic at work and they’ve got to stop it before itkills them. Ray Bradbury’s masterfullydark story is beautifully reinvigorated in dark black and white graphic artworkof Ron Wimberly in this terrific, authorized adaptation of a horror classic.Not for the young or faint of heart, this is a real-deal horror story,beautifully adapted to graphic format.

and

The Martian Chronicles

Astronautsfrom Earth encounter telepathic, shape- shifting aliens on the Red Planet inthis series of short stories written from 1946-58. Adapted as a graphic novel by Dennis Caleroand drawn with an eerily limited palatte of red and black tones, Bradbury’sMartian Chronicles transport readers between the not-so-distant world of spacetravel and the “what if?” limitlessnessof our imaginations. It’s a greatintroduction to science fiction for middle and high school readers.

Wonderstruck:

2011-09-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

Lightening does strike twice, and Wonderstruck puts Brian Selznick in the electrifying company of a special few who live to tell the tale.

Eagerly anticipated and quickly devoured this evening of its release, I found this latest visual novel is every bit as rich and satisfying as The Inventions of Hugo Cabret.

Read Wonderstruck to be reminded of the magic to be found between the covers of a book, in the imaginative weaving of setting and story, character and chance.

Then maybe you can tell me why my childhood dreams of flying always were set along the sidewalk leading to Natural History Museum: with steps, then bounds, then the weightless wonder of soaring over and between leafy trees on the hills of Cincinnati. Just imagine it, then tell me how this story landed in my lap this evening, this tale of a librarian's son and his box of curiosities that contains found objects rich with meaning.

And oh, savor the author's notes to follow Selznick's trail through the stories upon which this story was built. Follow up on his inclusion of Deaf culture and ASL. Stare into the night sky (or a planetarium show)and contemplate the twinkling of stars and the streak of inspiration. You'll find yourself heading back to library...ready to explore any of a number of the treasures glimpsed in the flash of this cabinet of wonders.

UK Young People's Reading Survey

2011-09-12T05:16:00.000-07:00

A BBC article on youth reading, noted by "Library link of the Day" as http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14621621 Novels read monthly by 'less than one in two children' [BBC News] The study linked in the article 'via Blog this' has a fine exec. summary of young people's reading preferences. Text messages, email, and onine reading have surged but recreational reading has dropped. Poverty, gauged in the study as those receiving free school meals, has a distinct negative correlation to reading habits, with implications similar to those expounded by Stephen Krashen. Reading improves lives. Books in the home matter. Give books to kids.

A LIT TL Lesson from a Librarian

2011-09-09T17:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edNIXaEByNU

Part of the fun at our WLMA Annual Conference this year may turn out to be a series of 2 minute mini-lessons from talented Teacher-Librarians. Everybody's got favorite library tools and tricks, and sharing the variety may help stitch a mosaic portrait of just what an exciting world our libraries occupy as Library and Information Technology Programs.

I tossed this little clip together in about 30 minutes from grabbing my camera and tripod through 5 short takes and minimal editing, uploading to youtube and writing this blog.

During the conference October 13-15th in Spokane, there will be a camera and laptop available for supported self-service.

Maybe this can inspire you to sit down and share one of your favorite LIT TL lessons.

Let me know if you'd like take advantage of the opportunity "to be effective users and producers of ideas and information"
I'm here to help.

Sweet

2011-08-31T11:21:00.000-07:00

Sara Varon's new graphic confection, "Bake Sale" is a must-buy-more-than-one for elementary school graphic novel collections. What's not to love about a cupcake baker and his eggplant buddy? Learning of Eggplant's plans to visit his famous pastry chef aunt "Turkish Delight", Cupcake whips into a bake-sale frenzy to earn the airfare to accompany his aubergine associate and apprentice with his auntie. And while the rendezvous doesn't come to pass, recipes of each delectable dessert are included to sweeten the story's satisfying resolution.

"Bake Sale" has earned a place on the shelf next to Varon's equally tender "Robot Dreams."

Tupac at 17 4 Interviews Worth Sharing

2011-08-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

My son deserves credit for finding this series of interviews with a young and articulate Tupac Shakur at age 17. It would be great to share the 4 "Thug Angel" interviews with teens and any students-or staff- working with his poetry and his legacy in rap and hiphop today. The link below goes to #1 and you can follow the links to the following three.

No question about it, Tupac's posthumous anthology The Rose That Grew From Concrete was the star of last year's poet-tree at school, pub 2009. Likewise the two clips of 'Pac that Nikki Giovanni's included -both his reciting and the musical adaptation-[of The Rose....that she included in "HipHop Speaks to Children" poetry anthology.
All worth having, reading, sharing and praising year-round.

Walking in Another Person's Shoes

2011-08-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

Good writing allows for empathetic experience, and A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park does just that. Based on the true story of Salva Dut, one of the (once) "Lost Boys of Sudan", Park weaves two narratives together in telling the story of lives disrupted and mended. For me it was a one-sitting affirmation of the power of story, and for readers ready to consider the plight of southern Sudanese refugees it is a satisfying addition to stories like Ellis' The Breadwinner trilogy(Afghanistan), and Ho's The Clay Marble (Cambodia). Putting down the book, I know that the long walk goes on, and a look at Dut's Water for Sudan project and recent news of independence for Southern Sudan might whet your thirst for supporting efforts there.

Two teen brothers with different struggles occupied another short, moving YA novel: Angry Young Man by Chris Lynch. Here it is a the war within as the novel explores the relation of brothers on two sides of ruthless bullying. The fast paced story build to an explosive finish in a story that allows empathy that too-often doesn't surface when the destructive impulse splashes across the headlines. A fine, unflinching YA novel, suitable for HS and MS discussions of bullying and alienation.

Reading encourages empathy...and compassionate action. Be an ally.

WLMA Conference Updates

2011-07-31T17:33:00.000-07:00

This summer I've been reading my way through this great line up of authors coming to WLMA's Annual Conference in Spokane October 13-15th.
Washington Library Media Association - Author Events is the authors page link, freshly edited and ready to share.

I'm equally pleased at the lineup of conference workshops and webinars that we've put together to share this great professional development opportunity with teacher-librarians.

Library and Information Technology Make it LIT@library!

‪Biblioburro: Library on a Donkey‬‏ - YouTube

2011-07-26T06:38:00.000-07:00

‪Library on a Donkey‬‏ - YouTube is a great example of book trailer to share with students while reading Jeanette Winter's Biblioburro: A True Story from Columbia.

My hat's off to http://www.rocketboom.com/ for a great piece, and to WLMA librarian Kate Burton for pointing it out.

Left vs. Right (US)

2011-07-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

Left vs. Right (US) is another brilliant example of the density of content that visual information can provide. David McCandless and Stefanie Posavec created it at InformationIsBeautiful.net.

McCandless' book The Visual Miscellaneum is chock-full of such juicy bits and makes great browsing

Read Around the World | Delightful Children's Books

2011-07-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

Got the itch to travel? Go light and remember that many of our greatest travel adventures await the intrepid reader...of any age!

Read Around the World | Delightful Children's Books has a fine book list and advisories for summer reading through age 8+ noticed and suggested by keen eyed Australian Anne Weaver writing in her READINGPOWER blog.

Having just come off a bit summer travel myself I will put a plug in for the ease of using my Kindle on vacation. Far from anything like an English language bookstore I was nonetheless able to download and devour the Hunger Games trilogy in a three day feast that did not fatten my luggage one iota.

Looking forward to hearing from both authors at October's WLMA conference in Spokane, I also grabbed two other titles I grabbed on the fly. Neal Shusterman's Bruiser and Jess Walter's The Zero (P.S.) were easily added and read during the long flight home from Thailand to Seattle.

Back home now, I'll ease my eyes and catch up with print-magazines and books that have waited patiently for my return to habits of summer reading. On the bedside table: What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis a suitable bit of nonfiction, following on the article on Google's War on Six Fronts that I read a couple weeks back in Tech Crunch...again in an article pointed out by READING POWER.

And while on singing praise for Anne Weaver's blogging from Down Under, let me put a retrospective hurrah in for re-reading Bruce Chatwin's Songlines one of the greatest travel books of all time. The basic theme, that stories and songs do more than pass the time, they actually create the map of the landscape (and the landscape itself) according to traditional Australian Aboriginal sense of place and story. If you haven't read it yet...grab it and go on a journey you'll never forget!

So, how's that for a quick round trip bit of vacation reading ?

Fischers revisit Nepal

2011-07-12T04:31:00.000-07:00

I consider myself fortunate to have been able to share Andy and Katie's introduction to Nepal, 15 years after Scott's death on Everest, 25 years after Polly and I first came with the Annapurna II expedition in 1986.
At 55 and 60, Polly and I have been shaped by our time here and the families and friendships that continue to weave throughout lives.

Andy cruisin' under the backdoor to Pashupatinath is all smiles, but that's just because he missed the overhead monkeys. Katie on the other hand was fascinated by the little fellows, snapping photo after photo of the little society while we wandered through the temple grounds. Remembering Polly's little encounter with big territorial male with baby Krishni 19 years ago in the same locale, Polly and I couldn't help but be a little more focused on their numbers than their cute social behaviors. No one was scratched of bitten, then or now, and all's well that ends well.

The real highlight for me, though was not the Big Three religious shrines that we visited together-Pashupatinath, Boudnath and Syambunath - but a much smaller and more personal shrine that we encountered at the Garuda Hotel in Thamel. It happened just as it should, roaming into Thamel on the second day of their visit, just checking the tourist district. Both Katie and Andy commented (beginning at Boudhanath and now in Thamel) about seeing the same little knick nacks for sale that Scott have brought back to their home in Seattle. They were starting to understand the impulse to bring home and share something of the place, the people and the culture of Nepal that had called-and claimed-their dad. Prayer wheels, small thankas, carpet squares, puppets...they were already familiar with the objects and here they were seeing them for sale to a new generation of visitors.

We wandered in as far as Pilgrims' bookstore before I tucked in to buy a couple more copies of the Ascent of Rum Doodle for my Supine Alpine Club buddies. Anatoli 's book The Climb, was featured at the check out several of us noticed and commented quickly. in Nepali I mentioned to the clerk that Andy and Katie were noticing their dad's story...and the clerk quickly recalled Scott's friendliness. All positive.

Backtracking further, we rounded the corner to the Garuda Hotel and I asked
them if they wanted to see the hotel where Scott often stayed, and where posters of various expeditions were signed and posted by hotel guests. Sure, they eagerly agreed and so in we went. Up two flights of stairs we went, and their just opposite the registration desk was Mountain Madness front and center. No Way ...yes indeed several of Scott's expeditions were still prominently displayed.
I turned to the receptionist and asked if the manager was availible and quickly we were greeted by Tseten Norkyel...who quickly remembered me and began a "what do you know" sort of reunion conversation. Though I mentioned it at the start, it wasn't until several minutes that I again repeated that yes...15 years later here were Scott's kids, Katie and Andy. His smile broadened as he exclaimed, now I have to go get MY camera. Friendship is a two way street, and the smiles of these two reflected my delight in having completed on piece of the puzzle.

After posing for these two shots, Norkyel took us up another two flights of stairs to an even more personal display of correpondence, photos and memorabilia from Fischer and Hall's shared friendship, ill fated trip and subsequent events. It was a shrine to their lives, to the friendships (and businesses) woven together in the Garuda hotel, on K2 and Everest, and to the lives touched by their deaths in 1996. I have little doubt, and hope one day to see, Katie and Andy's photo with Norkyel there behind the glass display case in the Garuda Hotel in Thamel.

My own memories of Scott date to my first job with NOLS in 1974, when Scott met Jeannie on the summit of Wind River Peak. Blushing and smiling I hold that image of the two of them emerging from behind a suitably large boulder as the informal start to their marriage. A memorable day going with Scott from the Amphu Labsta back to Baruntse basecamp in 1991, crusin' straight across a frozen lake and high stepping through neve penitente, all the while listening to him talk about wife and kids me with an inextinguishably bright contrast to sitting with Jeannie in her home after phone calls from base camp started coming in indicating that Scott life was slipping away on Everest in 1996.

"Wasn't that great?" Scott asked me in a dream the night after returning from his memorial service. No, he told me in that dream, not just the tribute shared by friends mourning his death. In my dream, Scott was already out there cruisin' the Bardo, celebrating his whole life, past and present and future, lived, remembered and yet to come. "Not just that, the whole thing. Wasn't it great!"

Thanks Bruce, for sharing the joy, and thanks kids for sharing this one more adventure with me. What a blessing.

Return to Rarahil School

2011-07-09T04:44:00.000-07:00

Rarahil Memorial School has a special place in our hearts, as we lived on campus for a chilly January in 2005. Both kids attended classes, I taught a little bit in English classes and helped nudge the library along.

It stands outside of Kirtipur, a still thriving and coherent Newari community proud of its independence and social cohesion. The town perches on a hill surrounded (still) by rice paddy and the sprawling campus of Tribuvan University Campus. The name derives from the first letters of four student martyrs from the Democracy movement on the 1990's peoples movement that lauched the current era of democratic control...challenge, and change in Nepali politics. During the last decade's Maoist civil war, popular, progressive community organizations such as Rarahil and the Biculpa medical clinic of Kirtipur remained strong examples of the sort of grassroots/democratic institutions that will bring the best development to the people of Nepal.

Between Polly and Chandra stand two teachers from the school. Siddhartha is the most recent hire, having attended Rarahil while we visited in 2004 and befriended Chandra. Siddhartha's nickname then was "scientist" and his current job as science teacher, and ongoing university studies remain in that field.

In the field just south of the school are the rapidly rising walls of a health clinic and dispensary connected to the school and community. When completed, it will serve the community as well as students with affordable and appropriate health care. The school and clinic partnership is just one of the impressive socially progressive elements that continue to impress us with the Rarahil Memorial School cohort.

Narayan Maharjan is still the headmaster, with a sense of progressive education and community service that we still admire. Founded with the ongoing support of an Italian climber Fausto de Stefani, the school continues to graduate a remarkable batch of students. This years batch included all 51 students from class 10, with high marks in English and Science earning two Rarahil teachers distinction as top teachers in the entire Kathmandu Valley.

Chandra's former teacher caught hold of her former student and showed the same delight as when he was a second grader in her class. There is great pride and continuity amid the staff at Rarahil, confirming, for me, the sense that this is a school of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Just the day before we visited, a mother had brought her child to the school seeking support for tuition. Her husband had absconded to another city-and life with another woman-leaving this mother and child destitute in a land that has very little recourse for support. Narayan pointed out that it takes only $350/year to provide full tuition for day students at the school, approximately the same cost as a new Nepal-built desktop computer. (Care to figure the equivalent in US terms: it is remarkable how far direct support can go in Nepal). While there are already many scholarship students already at the school, and we left hoping to find ways to help find support for a few more. If it sounds like something you'd like to support, do let us know.

Another part of our day's visit to Kirtipur was to visit with Rupa and Gynandra Nepali two hard working "dristi bihin" or blind parents of a Rarahil student Ashish. Since meeting Ashish as a toddler, our family has been able to provide some support to Rupa and Gynandra as they finish and pass their SLC (10th grade) certificate. Rupa is now in +2 college studying well and likely to pass this next landmark in her education in Nepali studies and education....all with the use of Braille. We are hoping that further education and practice can help Rupa and Gynandra into jobs that provide for their family. In the meantime, Gynandra earns approx Rs100/$1.40/ day selling small items near the bus park in Kathmandu-a half hour bus ride away from home. We are honored to help in whatever small way we can.

Monsoon in Kathmandu

2011-06-30T05:06:00.000-07:00

Visited family and friends near Boudhanath today in a solid steady monsoon rain. We had more than three cups of tea with Dawa Gyaltzen while hearing about his "Classroom in the Clouds" school building project. We left after a great momo meal, and time to hear our brother-in-law Sherku's parents talking about their visit to US 2 years ago. Even after three hours of rain, there was still plenty more rain coming down to provide water to flood the remaining rice paddy nearby. The ladies below caught my photographing the scene and invited Krishni down to help out planting the seedlings.

Folks familiar with Seattle winters will recognize the green patina on the stupa as relating to the evergreen life force present in both our homelands. The brilliant white lime coating gives way to this vibrant green this month, where the typical view is rather brighter white!

The final photos of smiling mit saathis -best friends for life- was taken Monday at Patan Durbar, with Lhanzi taking time off from her getting-ready-for-college to do list and joining us to the great Patan Museum. She even acknowledge knowing that her dad had something to do with the exhibits in the repousse displays upstairs, with a "Oh yeah, I know that guy in the picture. We see him all the time." In her teenage-like whatever-tone of voice that belies her recognition that dad James Giambrone is really quite a fellow here in the KTM art world.

What in Blazes Are You Reading This Summer?

2011-06-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

A provocative WSJ piece "Darkness Too Visible" on June 4th has food for thought and fodder for the blogosphere. I appreciated that the leading recommendation was Ship Breaker, an unforgettable bit of fiction I blogged a month or so ago.
Take time to watch Julian Smith's "I'm Reading a Book" for a musical take on the conversation. It's delightfully edgy, tongue in cheek, and pro-book!

And if you in the mood for something less edgy, here's the winner of the ALA's 16-18 year old video contest on "Why I Need My Library."

Poetry: Alive and Well at Sanislo

2011-06-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

I'm delighted to have helped pull together a poetry anthology for the students of Sanislo Elementary School. Sat June 4th, two students will be reading at Elliott Bay Books from 11-1 from this hot-off-the-press chapbook,

Others will join us at Barnes and Noble Westwind store from 5-8 pm on June 11th.

Our library's mission is to ensure that students are effective users and producers of ideas of ideas and information...and I'm pleased to make this book available as a way to help students see their words in print.

Scumble by Ingrid Law

2011-05-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

There's a certain magic in first novels like Savvy that should caution readers who grab Law's second brainchild, Scumble. ( Being the younger brother of a remarkable sister, I should know!) But picking up nine years after his cousin Mibs's Savvy journey, Ledger Kale's magical powers arrive like clockwork on his thirteenth birthday with disastrous results. Everything he focuses on comes apart...and the family has to hit the road for Wyoming before it hits the fan(belt). In a rollicking adventure, young Ledger learns to control his unusual savvy just in time to save the day. A good, fun read without complications....if you don't count the dastardly deeds of a greedy banker worthy of Snidely Whiplash!

Pleasure Reading Leads to Professional Careers, Study Says

2011-05-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

Pleasure Reading Leads to Professional Careers, Study Says

And that's just one more fantastic reason to support libraries!

Adam Gopnick's YA novel, The Steps Across the Water, illustrated by Bruce McCall is just the sort of book that tickles this reader's fancy. There is a New Yorker in almost every reader. This book uses its NYC setting for magical Alice-in-Wonderland tricks like giant pigeon-cabbies, cigar smoking dwarves and the three sisters in the Medusa bookstore. Armed with a good imagination, Rose...rose to the challenge and saves the looking-glass world of U Nork.

Follow this with China Melville's UnLunDun and you've got two of the world's great cities squared!

The Big Burn by Tim Egan

2011-05-06T22:15:00.000-07:00

A stylishly(if suspiciously) tanned barrista asked the customer next to me if he'd been somewhere sunny recently. "No," he said, "I was at fire school this weekend and things got a little out of hand. This is a first degree burn." So much for any possible vacation-at-the-spa chit-chat!

Tim Egan's new book is a gripping account of the fires of 1910 that swept through Idaho's forests and proved to be a defining moment for the fledgling Forest Service, Roosevelt and Pinchot's conservation ethic. Whizzing along I-90 from Spokane to Missoula, especially navigating the tight turns around Wallace will never look the same with the story seared into my memory of landscape and human drama.

I'll be sure to make note of the many mine shaft openings that dot the hills, storing them in my mental map, just in case a fire like that facing the crew led by Ed Pulaski catches me on a hot summer afternoon. What happened 100 years ago should never happen again, but given the increasing vagaries of climate I'll not assume it never will.

Egan certainly knows how to make history come alive. His earlier National Book Award-winning The Worst Hard Times was equally affecting western history, in that case telling the story of the Dust Bowl through the everyday heroics of the afflicted. This new book does a great job locating Gifford Pinchot, John Muir, and the Olmstead Brothers as contemporaries and major players in TR's ballyhooed conservation crusade that brought Yellowstone and the Tetons, Rainier, Yosemite and so many of the iconic National Parks and Forests into existence.

Reading great historical narrative like Egan's The Big Burn is a joy, for it informs everyday experience is unexpected ways. History helps us connect the dots. In a coincidence that is enlivened by Egan's book, it seems Gifford Pinchot III just bought a friend's house here in Seattle, descendent of TR was over for dinner last weekend to our home that abuts a boulevard laid out by the Olmstead Brothers almost 100 years ago.

10 Ways Libraries Matter in a Digital Age | American Libraries Magazine

2011-05-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

10 Ways Libraries Matter in a Digital Age | American Libraries Magazine

Books and Bytes in one article! This article makes several good points in preaching to the choir.

This photo of Indianapolis library rivals the architectural glory of our Seattle Central Library. I'd love to see more images of great looking libraries....

Castle Waiting II

2011-04-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

I love comics, kids love comics and when Fantagraphics came out with Book II of Linda Meledy's Castle Waiting series, I hustled over and got a copy for our school. The luck first reader, a fifth grader wrote this, "Castle Waiting is good because the action and fairytale castles, churches and characters are funny. Some characters have very different and surprising heads with their bodies. There is a "Wow, Look!" quality. some body made the artwork to make the whole thing look old."

Amazon Media Room: News Release

2011-04-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

Amazon Media Room: News Release

Kindle library books? Sounds like progress for Overdrive and libraries. The devil is in the details, I look forward to learning more.

Poetry: Spread the Word by Greg Pincus » Half way done and three-quarters of the way there! — Kickstarter

2011-04-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

Poetry: Spread the Word by Greg Pincus » Half way done and three-quarters of the way there! — Kickstarter

I like the way Kickstarter works with small projects and helps bring them to a wider audience. Greg Pincus is putting his poetry out there and deserves a boost. Do something for a poet today...READ, WRITE, DISCUSS.

The Genius in All of Us: the conversation

2011-04-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Today I attended another great webinar moderated by Steve Hargadon

I find the visible chat among 45 participants a worthwhile sideshow to a fascinating discussion. While I'd wish for a bit more visual information, the entire session ran on one slide image of author David Shenk and his book; the audio and chat content was well worth the time. No question I'll get a hold of Shenk's book the Genius in Us All and give it a spin.

One key point Shenk made towards the end of the presentation, that "genius" is being used somewhat disingenuously as a placeholder for "personal best, pushing ourselves into being the best we can be" and not that much more rare case of pure lightening-strikes-once-every hundred-years genius.

YouTube - PMAD Stephen Krashen

2011-04-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

Humor, research and library and reading advocacy matter.

Bilingualism, reading and coffee ...What's not to love?

YouTube - PMAD Stephen Krashen: ""

The Houdini Box by Brian Selznick

2011-04-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

After The Invention of Hugo Cabret I'm inclined to pick up and read everything Brian Selznick writes, or has written. This story, The Houdini Box originally written in 1991 has been reissued in all of its magical, visual appeal and literary slight-of-hand. I enjoyed teasing kids by reading part of the book and leaving them dangling for more. Rosalyn, a 3rd grader took up the challenge, read it in a flash and tells it like this: "I like the book the Houdini box because in the beginning the main character Victor locked himself up and tried to get out but couldn't. i wonder how Houdini did all those tricks? And it was also interesting because at the end I wondered what was in that box. and when victor opened the box and locked himself up and was .(no spoilers, please)....." Voila, another magical reading adventure. Check it out!

And just this week, Dorothy Young, Houdini's last surviving stage assistant passed away at the age of 103...and she didn't tell a soul how he did it! http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/afterword/2011/03/houdini-assistant-dorothy-young-dies-at-103.html

Scary Godmother

2011-04-02T23:06:00.000-07:00

Jill Tompson's comic novels are a great bridge between picture books, Halloween stories and the wonderful world of comics. A second grade reader Layla agrees saying, "I like this book because Hannah's Godmother and her fiiends helped her. Oh, and by the way, Hannah's brother is a devil, a real devil. It was great!!!!!" And four exclamation marks just about sums it up: enthusiasm for reading takes flight with all of the Jill Thompson books...and DVD. I guess the spooks hit the airwaves in 2008!

With A Little Help from Dr. Angelou by The Editors : The Poetry Foundation [article]

2011-04-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

With A Little Help from Dr. Angelou by The Editors : The Poetry Foundation [article]

Terrific poems and K-12 teaching resources for Poetry Month.

Plenty more here at the Scholastic site Don't be afraid to dive in.

Zombies Invade Library: Librarians Win!

2011-04-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

http://blogs.mcpherson.edu/library/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Library-of-the-Living-Dead-Online-Edition.pdf

A very clever guide to libraries drawn with graphic gusto. Some language is not intended for elementary school students, but the overall project is so delightful that I wanted to point it out!

Thanks to School Library Journal for the pointers.
I'll be ready when they come.

Te Recuerdo, Roberto Clemente

2011-04-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

"Te recuerdo, Roberto." sings John McCutcheon on his "Sermon on the Mound" CD "en tu vida y tu paso. Te recuerdo, Roberto." And yes, today is Opening Day...Felix Hernandez is on the mound ...

"Te recuerdo" runs through my thoughts on this opening day of baseball season, as I put down a new graphic novel The Story of Roberto Clemente. It's well drawn, researched and effective, like a Clemente double up the middle driving home the winning run. Everything about the subject deserves wide reading, and the graphic novel may be the very best way to bring Roberto back from his ill-fated flight taking earthquake relief to Managua, Nicaragua. "por tu vida y tu paso, te recuerdo, Roberto"

I've long set aside my hometown loyalty to the Big Red Machine and switched to cheering for the heroes on any team...and Clemente is one of the Greats, in his live and in his heart, and in this smashing new graphic novel by Wilfred Santiago and Fantagraphics Books. There's just something about baseball and comics, witnessed also by Striking Out Satchel Paige and The Golem's Mighty Swing by James Sturm. Maybe it comes from memorizing all the information packed onto those baseball cards...graphics deliver information in memorable ways.

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

2011-03-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Wow.

Dystopian YA novel starts in the bowels of abandoned oil tankers off the LA coast with gutsy scavenger Nailer and a similarly tatooed, edgy and resourceful girl Pima. As crew, their hard-scrabble lives are spent in search of salvagable metals, to be sold to a network of ruthless, recyclers' middle-men who in turn strip a meager profit in selling scrap to the uber-rich and remote "swanks" who occupy the thin film of wealth in a post-petroleum dog-eat-dog world. Roaming through this dark landscape of cutthroat desperation are half-dog, half-men enforcers.

Luck changes, first when Nailer falls into a oily recess somewhere in the bowels of a beached supertanker, and later when a sleek yacht hits the rocks and Nailer and Pima find rich swank girl hanging onto the carbon-fiber threads of her life. With the girl's gold jewelery as scavenge they could easily buy their way out of near-slavery and into a position of power in the unsure underclass. They only have to do what anyone else would do, and with a flick of a knife their "Lucky Strike" would be secured. Then the shipwrecked swank's eyes flicker, and everything changes....

Taut plot and post-petroleum dystopian setting make this a unforgettable read. Grade 5 and up.

The Trojan War ("Tainted Love" by Soft Cell)

2011-03-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

Sing to me O Muse. Congrats for effort.

This raises the bar in the old contest of format vs. content.

Now about that choreography???

New Reviews from Students

2011-03-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

3rd grader Ethan N. grabbed a great Fantagraphics re-release of the 1930's comic hero by Hal Foster and writes: "In Prince Valiant, by Hal Foster, the King and Queen bear a warrior son named Prince Valiant. He starts to train how to fight and he kills the Great Sea Crocodile."

"Meanwhile" by Jason Shiga caught the eye of 5th grader Jarrod, who wrote "I really like this book because it is really funny and it has mazes in it. I didn't like it at first because it is confusing." Fair enough. I'll add that I enjoyed meeting Jason at the Fantagraphics Bookstore recently in Seattle. He's a talented illustrator and imaginative puzzler, as witnessed by this photo of him and in this longer blog post from which it is drawn.

"Niki and Deja" by Karen English caught 4th grader Alexandra's eye, "I think this book teachers people to not have clubs at school that not everyone can be in. Also that best friends should not get mad at each other for something that they knew isn't true." I first read up Nikki and Deja for the Puget Sound Council reviews. I enjoy the bright, sunny characters and upbeat themes.

And since this is a "books and bytes blog" I'll embed the glogster page I created this morning with Tsunami/Earthquake resources. There is so much we want to do to help, and sharing this much was something I could do this morning. It only partially copies here, but is linked here

CNN Student News Is All About Japan

2011-03-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

CNN Student News Is All About Japan from Richard Byrne has a host of resources for students.

I'm working on a Tsunami Glogster page to share more.

Frances McCue Reading Poems from the Bled The World Colla

2011-03-04T22:56:00.000-08:00

Here is Frances McCue reading from her new collection of poems at Open Books this evening. I was honored to be asked to read one to the assembled audience. Her strong wordcrafting capture so much of her love for that gentle man, her late husband and and friend-to-many Gary Greaves. Thank you Frances.

Wordle - LIT plus

2011-03-02T15:10:00.000-08:00

Wordle - LIT plus: " Cogito ergo LIT.

NCCE2011 Portland Teacher Librarian Summit

2011-03-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

The summit is underway. I'm there, but you can watch it live streaming right here

there's plenty of other ways to catch the highlights: Facebook my photo album, and #ncce2011

Free Videos by Ustream.TV

Shaun Tan's magical worlds

2011-02-28T22:20:00.000-08:00

Tan's previous books (Tales of Outer Suburbia, The Arrival) make me sure that "the Lost Thing" will be a winner. The short film got nominated for an Oscar...so I took a look at the trailer

The Lost Thing trailer -

Hooked, I went out the next weekend and got the book and took it in to school; but a 5th grader Miles snapped it up before I could read and review it. He came in several times expressing his delight, then wrote this when he was done:
This book has three short stories. There stories are about a girl in a depression, a boy who helps a lost thing find its way home, and peaceful creatures trying to to protect their homes from the invading rabbits. In the story the Red Tree, if you look closely, there is a red leaf hiding in every picture. In the story Rabbits, the story reminds me of the White people invading the Native Americans' homes."

Looks like a winner, with detail and depth enough for older readers. Great for grades 3-12.

The House You Pass on the Way

2011-02-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

Mixed-race Staggerlee is shunned in her all-black Southern neighborhood, until after the summer visit with her cousin Trout helps her understand and accept herself for all of who she is. This coming-of-age novel deals sensitively and directly with an array of issues including racial bias, sexual orientation, fame and the role of family dynamics in a young teen’s sense of self. Newbery Honor author Jacqueline Woodson has created a compelling multi-layered story that allows readers to consider issues significant to young and old, gay and straight, fair-skinned and dark, happy and sad. Soft-spoken and poetic, Staggerlee and her more forthright cousin Trout pass through this summer on the way to happier lives. Readers of all ages will be glad they lingered long enough to visit “The House You Pass on the Way” and to read themselves into acquaintance with these two memorable young women.

Maximum Ride: Manga

2011-02-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

James Patterson's popular YA series about genetically altered bird-children has been adapted to graphic novel format, giving wings to high-flying adventure as "The Flock" search for their parents and try to evade other malevolent mutants known as the "Erasers." With three volumes out and a fourth scheduled for April 2011, the action is led by peregrine-sharp teens Maximum "Max" Ride, cool Fang, blind Izzy, chatty Nudge and precocious little Gazzy. The Flock's search takes them to the secret research facility in California, and cross country to New York and Washington where the larger plot takes in an FBI attempt to protect them from those who created and would direct and control their talents as part of a large, sinister plot. NaRae Lee's graphic style is a well drawn adaptation of manga's wide-eyed, hip-fashion style with its North American setting. Described as a teen read in SLJ, the series' hip strong female characters and not-too-graphic bad guy violence recommend it for strong action-seeking graphic novel fans in upper primary and middle school as well.

Library Lovers Day

2011-02-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

It's never too late for love! Because I didn't learn about this sweetheart of an initiative until this morning, I'm still just infatuated with the idea.
Thanks to ReadingPower blogger Ann Weaver for introducing me.

And while Feb 14th will quickly pass in a blaze of sugared sentiments, my love for ideas and information won't. That's why I will always love my libraries, even if particulars may change.

Smile

2011-02-07T06:03:00.000-08:00

Raina Telgemeier's autobiographical graphic novel Smile is a light, bright and enjoyable read on the social and dental trials and tribulations of her middle-to-high school years. It is easy to imagine its empathetic value to those facing braces, in much the same way that Lane Smith's Glasses Who Needs 'Em book does for those of us who wear 'em. It is one of the YALSA's Top 10 Graphic Novels for teens , and a safe addition to any school graphic collection.

As soon as I took it into school, Sophie, a 3rd grader with braces came up and just had to read the book! She writes, " It was a good book. I'd love to read it again. It is the best comic book ever. My firneds would love it. have you read it? It is sooooo good. I think it will still be my favorite book by the time I grow up." Thanks Sophie.

That's enough to make any librarian SMILE!

YouTube - Art Project - Visitor Guide

2011-02-06T09:48:00.000-08:00

google's done it again, using their street-view technology to take us into some of the great museums of the world. Moving from gallery to gallery, zooming into individual paintings enough to see the brush strokes on some of the world's great paintings, this is a game changer.YouTube - Art Project - Visitor Guide: gives you the "how to" introduction"

Big Words, Big Books, Big Deal!

2011-01-28T23:38:00.000-08:00

No doubt about it; It's a book! But the story about the book is worth reading. And if you want to know what those crazy Corn Huskers have been up to, the book itself is available online.
Anyone who goes by Dr. Alphabet can't be all bad, both as a poet and as a promoter of the power of print bound between covers.

Comics Leap to Life in Lynnwood

2011-01-28T18:10:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate enough to be invited as a guest into a couple classroom recently to talk about comics and graphic novels. Ken Rubin had heard Larry Reid and my presentation at NWTSJ in October and had embarked on a major deployment of graphic novels in his 5-6th grade. Bravo Ken, bravo kids!

My preliminary puttering in PictureStory hardly does their artwork justice, but I promised to share and thank them for reading and writing comics! Thanks to all for the opportunity to share my enthusasims!

Kent Stevenson is the Ellington of Educational Entertainment

2011-01-26T23:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was word-smithing for my friend Kent Stevenson and I hit upon that phrase to describe my appreciation for his musical breadth and quality. Today I found a chance to suggest Kent as a presenter and "artist in residence" in my new school.

Make no mistake about it, Kent knows that music matters.
Kids know that Kent connects.

Take his stepping in and coaching students in a musical program and joining Chic Streetman for a MLK march and rally at the Northwest African American Museum.

Take a look and listen to his "United States of the Blues" CD produced last year. Email Kent and get yourself a copy of this toe-tapping tune that makes memorizing the 50 states in alphabetical order as easy as swinging on a playground swing and as cool as a glass of lemonade.

Watch Kent working with students recording "When There Is Love"
for the "Stevensongs" CDcompleted in 2001,
thanks to Eric Browne's short video he added as a bonus track

I've got nothing but appreciation for this man
and the music he brings to everyone he meets.

Books and Bytes: Monday's Report

2011-01-24T23:04:00.000-08:00

What fun I had introducing 2-5th grade students to a Glogster today. My easily assembled s anislo "Glog" provides librarian-approved links to resources of interest and value to students and families in a highly visual, click-n-go format. I hope families and other info-hounds will bookmark it or use it for their default "home" page for browsers. it's a great tool that gives kids great trusted activities that are fun and educational, a way to "push" ideas and information from the best of the bytes! This image includes only a slice of the big picture. Go to the site and tell me what you think!

Tonight I went to the Bush Diversity Lecture Series at Mt. Zion Baptist Church to hear Dr. Michelle Alexander speak powerfully on her latest book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. An interview on Democracy Now is worth reviewing. But better still....
GO HEAR THIS PASSIONATE ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE on Tuesday Jan 25th at the SPS sponsored presentation at the John Stanford Center 6:30-8:00 pm As she pointed out in her address tonight, this is THE ISSUE that holds true to Dr. King's vision for America. The War on Drugs and "Three Strikes" have been used to roll back the social progress of the civil rights movement and it is time to stand up and speak out for justice. For All.

Notable in recent WA state initiatives are proposals by Seattle's Sen Adam Klein, who's proposed revision of some of the "3 strikes" classifications is an important step on a long road towards a better, more just society.

Wylio Images that include CC attribution

2011-01-21T21:57:00.000-08:00

Joyce Valenza's Never Ending Search blog today pointed me to this tool, and it's worth trying here. Wylio is an CC image search tool that allows sizing and alignment, as well as inserting attribution into the image. That gives credit where credit is due. Great for inserting to websites and blogs.
It seems to do the trick here. I look forward to using it a bit more to see how it works. So far, so good.
photo © 2005 Rex Sorgatz | more info (via: Wylio)

http://walibrarysnapshot2011.wikispaces.com/

2011-01-21T09:56:00.000-08:00

Our Library Snapshot Day group met yesterday and are enthusiastically promoting April 12, 2011 as a great "day in the life" opportunity to advocate for school, public, academic, and the array of special libraries across the informational landscape of Washington State. Check out our efforts and encourage others to get onboard! http://walibrarysnapshot2011.wikispaces.com/

Haiti: One Year After

2011-01-12T09:06:00.000-08:00

Today marks the one year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. Today's story on Democracy Now caught my attention. Locally, teacher-activist Jesse Hagopian's Op-Ed in the Seattle Times lent support to a community fundraiser at Waid's for a Maha-Lilo a small grassroots effort, like many, that have sprung up in response to the devastation. "A Nation of NGO's" says professor Alex Dupuy: and yet act we must.

There's more to do than finding comfort in books, but this blog helps me point a way in a world I know...and so be it. Here's three worth grabbing, and an exhortation to launch a discussion with children and adults.

Last week I saw Hope for Haiti (2010) by Jesse Joshua Watson when it was reviewed at PSC and know it to be a worthy effort to give children a biblio-handle on the earthquake and it's aftermath. My earlier favorite, Selavie, That's Life: A Hatian Story of Hope (2005) by Youme predates the quake, but not the issues of the island's chronic poverty. Don't forget to pull Toussaint L'ouverature: The Fight for Haiti's Freedom (1996) by Walter Dean Meyers with Jacob Lawrence's powerful artwork. Giving kids good books and allowing for complex historical and political discussion, while maintaining a compassionate compulsion to act: what more can we do?

Haitian Children http://cache.virtualtourist.com/1656667-Beautiful_Haitian_children_Jeremie-Haiti.jpg

At this anniversary of the earthquake, and in face of only 10% of promised international aid having been released for its intended relief...I only know that I must find a way to do more. Blogging, like this from which I found this photo, was something I could do, today. What next?

ALA Award Winners Announced

2011-01-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults – including the Caldecott,
Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards – at its Midwinter Meeting in San Diego.

A list of all the 2011 award winners follows:

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature

"Moon over Manifest," written by Clare Vanderpool, is the 2011 Newbery Medal winner. The book is published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Four Newbery Honor Books also were named: "Turtle in Paradise," by Jennifer L. Holm and published by Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.; "Heart of a Samurai," written by Margi Preus and published by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS; "Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night," written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen and published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; and "One Crazy Summer," by Rita Williams-Garcia and published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins
Publishers.

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children

"A Sick Day for Amos McGee," illustrated by Erin E. Stead, is the 2011Caldecott Medal winner. The book was written by Philip C. Stead, and is a Neal Porter Book, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing.

Two Caldecott Honor Books also were named: "Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave," illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.; and "Interrupting Chicken," written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein and published by Candlewick Press.

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults

"Ship Breaker," written by Paolo Bacigalupi, is the 2011 Printz Award winner. The book is published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Four Printz Honor Books also were named: "Stolen," by Lucy Christopher and published by Chicken House, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.; "Please Ignore Vera Dietz," by A.S. King and published by Alfred A. Knopf, an
imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.; "Revolver," by Marcus Sedgwick and published by Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of the Macmillan Children's Publishing Group; and
"Nothing," by Janne Teller and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division.

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author of outstanding books for children and young adults: "One Crazy Summer," written by Rita Williams-Garcia is the 2011 King Author Book winner. The book is published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Three King Author Honor Books were selected:"Lockdown," by Walter Dean Myers and published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; "Ninth Ward," by Jewell Parker Rhodes and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.; and "Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty," written
by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke and published by Lee & Low Books Inc.

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award recognizing an African American illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults
"Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave," illustrated by Bryan Collier, is the 2011 King Illustrator Book winner. The book was written by Laban Carrick Hill and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. One King Illustrator Honor Book was selected: "Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi
Hendrix," illustrated by Javaka Steptoe, written by Gary Golio and published by Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent (Author) Award

"Zora and Me," written by Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon, is the 2011 Steptoe author winner. The book is published by Candlewick Press.

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent (Illustrator) Award
"Seeds of Change," illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler, is the 2011 Steptoe illustrator winner. The book is written by Jen Cullerton Johnson and published by Lee & Low Books Inc.

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Practitioner Award for Lifetime Achievement

Dr. Henrietta Mays Smith is the winner of the 2011 Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Practitioner Award for Lifetime achievement. The award pays tribute to the quality and magnitude of beloved children's author Virginia Hamilton's contributions through her literature and advocacy for children and youth.

Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience

"The Pirate of Kindergarten," written by George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Lynne Avril and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, wins the
award for children ages 0 to 10.

"After Ever After," written by Jordan Sonnenblick and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., is the winner of the middle-school (ages 11-13).

The teen (ages 13-18) award winner is "Five Flavors of Dumb," written by Antony John and published by Dial Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences

"The Reapers Are the Angels: A Novel," by Alden Bell, published by Holt Paperbacks, a division of Henry Holt and Company, LLC

"The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake: A Novel," by Aimee Bender, published by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.

"The House of Tomorrow," by Peter Bognanni, published by Amy Einhorn Books, an imprint of G.P. Putnam's Sons, a division of the Penguin Group

"Room: A Novel," by Emma Donoghue, published by Little, Brown and Company a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

"The Vanishing of Katharina Linden: A Novel," by Helen Grant, published by Delacorte, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

"The Radleys," by Matt Haig, published by Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

"The Lock Artist," by Steve Hamilton, published by Thomas Dunne Books for Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin's Press

"Girl in Translation," by Jean Kwok, published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of the Penguin Group

"Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard," by Liz Murray, published by Hyperion

"The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To," by DC Pierson, published by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's video

Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard of Weston Woods, producers of "The Curious Garden," are the Carnegie Medal winners. The video is based on the book of the same name, written and illustrated by Peter Brown, and is narrated by Katherine Kellgren, with music by David Mansfield.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator whose books,published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. The 2011 winner is Tomie dePaola, author and illustrator of over 200 books, including: "26 Fairmont Avenue" (Putnam, 1999), "The Legend of the Poinsettia" (Putnam, 1994), "Oliver Button Is a Sissy"(Harcourt, 1979) and "Strega Nona" (Prentice-Hall, 1975).

Margaret A. Edwards Award honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.

Sir Terry Pratchett is the 2011 Edwards Award winner. His books include: "The amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents," "The Wee Free Men," and "A Hat Full of Sky" published by HarperCollins Children's
Books; and "The Color of Magic," "Guards! Guards!," "Equal Rites," "Going Postal," "Small Gods," and "Mort" all published by HarperCollins Publishers.

May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award recognizing an author, critic, librarian, historian or teacher of children's literature, who then presents a lecture at a winning host site

Peter Sis will deliver the 2012 lecture. Born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, in 1949, Sis attended the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague and the Royal College of Art in London. He has lived in the United States since 1982. Sis was awarded the 2008 Robert F. Sibert Medal and has illustrated three Caldecott Honor books. Sis' work is admired throughout the world, and in 2003 he was named MacArthur Fellow, an honor bestowed by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children's book translated from a language other than English and subsequently published in the United States

"A Time of Miracles" is the 2011 Batchelder Award winner. Originally published in French in 2009 as "Le Temps des Miracles," the book was written by Anne-Laure Bondoux, translated by Y. Maudet, and published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Two Batchelder Honor Books also were selected:

"Departure Time,"published by Namelos, written by Truus Matti and translated by NancyForest-Flier; and "Nothing," published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, written by Janne Teller and translated by Martin Aitken.

Odyssey Award for best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States

"The True Meaning of Smekday," produced by Listening Library, an imprint of Random House Audio Publishing Group, is the 2011 Odyssey Award winner. The book is written by Adam Rex and narrated by Bahni Turpin.

Four Odyssey Honor Recordings also were selected: "Alchemy and Meggy Swann," produced by Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group, written by Karen Cushman and narrated by
Katherine Kellgren; "The Knife of Never Letting Go," produced by Candlewick on Brilliance Audio, an imprint of Brilliance Audio, written by Patrick Ness and narrated by Nick Podehl; "Revolution," produced by Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group, written by Jennifer Donnelly and narrated by Emily
Janice Card and Emma Bering; and "will grayson, will grayson," produced by Brilliance Audio, written by John Green and David Levithan, and narrated by MacLeod Andrews and Nick Podehl.

Pura Belpre (Author) Award honoring a Latino writer whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience
"The Dreamer," written by Pam Munoz Ryan, is the 2011 Belpre Author Award winner. The book is illustrated by Peter Sís and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

Three Belpre Author Honor Books were named: "Ole! Flamenco," written and illustrated by George Ancona and published by Lee & Low Books Inc.; "The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba," written by Margarita Engle and published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC; and "90 Miles to Havana," written by Enrique Flores-Galbis and published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing.

Pura Belpre (Illustrator) Award honoring a Latino illustrator whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience

"Grandma's Gift," illustrated and written by Eric Velasquez, is the 2011 Belpre Illustrator Award winner. The book is published by Walker Publishing Company, Inc., a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.

Three Belpre Illustrator Honor Books for illustration were selected:
"Fiesta Babies," illustrated by Amy Cordova, written by Carmen Tafolla and published by Tricycle Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.; "Me, Frida," illustrated by David Diaz, written by Amy Novesky and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS; "Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin," illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS.

Robert F. Sibert Medal for most distinguished informational book for children

"Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot," written by Sy Montgomery, is the 2011 Sibert Award winner. The book features photographs by Nic Bishop and is published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Two Sibert Honor Book were named: "Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring," written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca, a Neal Porter Book, published by Flash Point, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing; "Lafayette and the American Revolution," written by Russell Freedman and published by Holiday House.

Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award

"Almost Perfect," written by Brian Katcher, published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc. is the winner of the 2011 Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award. The award is given annually to English-language children's and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered experience.

Four honor books were selected: "will grayson, will grayson," written by John Green and David Levithan and published by Dutton Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.; "Love Drugged," written by James
Klise and published by Flux, an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.; "Freaks and Revelations," written by Davida Willis Hurwin and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.; and "The Boy in the Dress," written by David Walliams, illustrated by Quentin Blake and published by Penguin Young Readers
Group.
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book

"Bink and Gollie," written by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee and illustrated by Tony Fucile is the 2011 Seuss Award winner. The book is published by Candlewick Press.

Two Geisel Honor Books were named: "Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same!" written and illustrated by Grace Lin and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.; and "We Are in a Book!" written and illustrated by Mo Willems and published by Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group.

William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens

"The Freak Observer," written by Blythe Woolston is the 2011 Morris Award winner. The book is published by Carolrhoda Lab, an imprint of Carolrhoda Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group.

Four other books were finalists for the award: "Hush," by Eishes Chayil and published by Walker Publishing Company, a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.; "Guardian of the Dead," by Karen Healey and published by Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group; "Hold Me Closer, Necromancer," by Lish McBride and published by Henry Holt;and "Crossing the Tracks," by Barbara Stuber and published by Margaret McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division.

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults during a November 1 – October 31 publishing year.

"Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing," written by Ann Angel, is the 2011 Excellence winner. The book is published by Amulet/Abrams.

Four other books were finalists for the award: "They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group," by Susan Campbell Bartoletti and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; "Spies
of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement," by Rick Bowers and published by National Geographic Society; "The Dark Game: True Spy Stories," by Paul Janeczko and published by Candlewick Press; and "Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates," by Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw and published by Charlesbridge.

Recognized worldwide for the high quality they represent, ALA awards guide parents, educators, librarians and others in selecting the best materials for youth. Selected by judging committees of librarians and other children's and young adult experts, the awards encourage original and creative work. For more information on the ALA youth media awards and notables, please visit the ALA website at www.ala.org.

Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-library-association-announces-youth-media-award-winners-113210649.html--originally posted byGary D. Price, MLIS Librarian Information Industry Analyst

Editor, ResourceShelf and DocuTicker http://www.resourceshelf.com http://www.docuticker.com

Four for the Books

2010-12-29T21:07:00.000-08:00

THE TAKING TREE: A SELFISH PARODY, Travesty, Shrill Illustrator: Cummins, Lucy Ruth
Rating:+ AD Grade: 2 and up
Shel Silverstein’s “Giving Tree” is a sacred cow caught in the cross-hairs of this selfish parody. Unlike the selfless tree which gives and gives and gives throughout a lovable young boy’s growing up; here this boy is very, very bad and the Tree is very very glad when the boy goes away to prison for a very, very long time. Cummins’ charcoal illustrations pay homage to Silverstein’s spare line, while the story has more in common with Lemony Snicket, Roald Dahl or MAD Magazine. After years of reading the giving tree and wondering if we’re sending children into the world with unrealistic expectations of parental generosity and certain disappointment, it’s fun to be able to offer this bitter little antidote to students old enough to understand the sarcastic twist on a classic tale. As a school library read aloud, I’d save it for second or third grade and and use it for its compare and contrast, comedic effect.

ODETTA: THE QUEEN OF FOLK, Alcorn, Stephen

Rating: AD+ Grade: 3-8
Poetic text by Samantha Thornhill and illustrations by Stephen Alcorn blend to describe Odetta’s 60 year musical career that played an essential role in the revival of folk music in America. Odetta’s rich, wide vocal range and acoustic guitar was powerfully applied to the warmth, dignity and tenderness of African-American spirituals and gave moral authority to her social activism and influence on others. Thornhill’s poem’s loose meter and rhyme does not flow easily from the tongue, but reveal their meaning in a expressive style not unlike the Queen of Folk’s unique and powerful combinations of soaring spirituals and hard driving folk songs. Odetta been carrying/ these songs all / along,those tunes / from waaaay back,/ filling the endless cotton / sack of her musical memory. / The walls of sold out / concert halls leak tunes / that grow out of Odetta’s / soul like a new bruise: / the blacks / and the blues. / Songs of rivers/ and sparrows/ songs of joys and sorrows. With illustrations that reflect Odetta’s lifetime achievement, illustrator Stephen Alcorn has created a fine tribute to his friend and mentor that lacks only the audio accompaniment to introduce (or remind) readers of Odetta’s rich musical gift. “This Little Light of Mine” shines through Alcorn’s illustrations; but librarians and teachers, please don’t fail to give readers an essential audio accompaniment to this remarkable musical biography. Alcorn has included reference to 8 recordings that showcase the remarkable breadth and scope of her repertoire.

DOCTOR PROCTOR’S FART POWDER, Nesbø, Jo Illustrator: Lowery, Mike

Rating: R Grade: 4-8
Ready for a joyful burst of fun? This one is a romp of pure nonsense, from the unlikely invention of the Lisa’s bi-focalled-scientist-next-door to little Nilly’s escape from Akerschus Fortress’ Dungeon of the Dead by way of anaconda-infested sewer system beneath Oslo’s placid streets. Why with just one spoonful of this miraculous powder you could blast yourself into orbit above even the dullest, most ordinary hours spent reading less likable stuff. Outwitting a neighborhood bullies Truls and Trym and their greedy Humvee-driving daddy’s preposterous plot to steal the stuff and sell it to NASA as a substitute to rocket fuel, two plucky kids and the likable Doctor Proctor are characters cut from the imaginative cloth of Roald Dahl and Tove Janesson. The illustrations add delight to prolific Jo Nesbø,’s first foray into children’s books. And like Doctor Proctor’s amazing power, one little taste is all it took for me to want to try more...and luckily I see a second installment, “Bubble in the Bathtub” scheduled for January 2011. Oh joy.

THE CRUISERS, Myers, Walter Dean

Rating: R Grade: 6-12

Four friends at the DaVinci Academy for the Gifted and Talented in Harlem find their grades and attitudes slipping perilously close to expulsion. When their class study unit moves to the Civil War, their classmates take sides as Union and Confederate sympathizers, these four are assigned to play the role of “peacemakers” as their “last chance” to avert war and stay in school. Already outside the white-majority Gifted and Talented cliques, the four peacemakers catch some not-so-simulated racist slander and intimidation and launch an alternative newspaper to fight back, taking the pen name “Cruisers” to spite the uptight-and-always-excellent expectations that high IQ scores give some of their peers. For most of the story the Cruiser’s peacemaking seems aggressive and confrontational, but it is their anti-racist activism that provokes classmates and leads to the short novel’s tension and effectiveness. High school bullying and unquestioned bias are significant issues worth exploring, and you’ll thank Zander Scott for stepping up and speaking out when tensions ran high and administrators wanted to cancel the project to avoid conflict, saying: “I would like to apologize to anybody that me and the Cruisers got uptight, because we have to own what we did, too. But I don’t think you can just throw spit, wipe off your chin, and say you were just kidding. If you say something to somebody’s face or behind their back or on the Net or on the phone, you have to own it. And that means you have to think about it before it comes out. As for the Sons of the Confederancy, I have to say that you don’t have to think wrong to be wrong. Not thinking can be as hard as thinking wrong if it hurts people.” I’m down with than. Walter Dean Myers has crafted four fine complex, contemporary characters and will extend their collaboration in a new series of realistic fiction deserving attention in middle and high school libraries.

Glogster

2010-12-28T09:06:00.000-08:00

OK, so this old dog is trying to learn a new trick.
Here's my first stab at Glogster: a hyper-linked poster tool.
Glogster gives the eye a chance to search, the mind a chance to wander, and the host a chance to link.

I can see it being totally exciting as a touch screen application. Imagine just touching a glog/poster to begin research!

To Teach: the journey, in comics

2010-12-24T09:09:00.000-08:00

It's nice to see a big fellow squeeze into a graphic format.
After my own tumultuous (temporary) separation from teaching, a comic like this is a refreshing and reinvigorating reminder of the idealism and progressive motivation that fuels many a teacher's career. Reviewing the book (and the profession) I am drawn to Ayers' persistence as an educator and to his drawn character's parallel efforts to keep moving forward despite demands from mandates that chip away at the real work at hand (and heart, and mind). Teaching and learning take time, strong social and emotional support, and a commitment to reflective engagement. Bravo to Ryan Alexander-Tanner and Teachers College Press for presenting Ayers' work in comic format and to Bill Ayers for his ongoing and ever evolving efforts to build a better world. To Teach: the journey of a teacher, 3rd edition, was also released in 2010 by Teachers College Press and is the elder companion to the comic.

12 Ways Libraries Are Good for the Country

2010-12-23T08:07:00.000-08:00

12 Ways Libraries Are Good for the Country | American Libraries Magazine gives a succinct description of the value of libraries.

A quick search also shows me this list of articles and studies on the values of libraries. Reading comments to that blog, I see mention of a study of the value of public library internet access from UW I-School, which provides this fine graphic representation of public library users:

These days as a "freely circulating librarian" have given me time to visit school and public libraries in the region and has allowed me time to work promoting "Washington Library Snapshot Day 2011."

A Word A Day

2010-12-20T08:11:00.000-08:00

Today's AWAD compendium reminds me how much I appreciate Anu Garg's online wordsmithing workshop http://wordsmith.org/awad/awadmail442.html

His compendium of last week's words sent me over to a new Google labs tool the Books Ngram viewer which allows comparisons of frequency over time in books scanned into Google Books, for example:

Further along in Garg's AWAD posting I followed a comic link to http://xkcd.com/688/ on sarcasm which in turn linked to a slew of online comics I was unaware of but delighted to browse and share including Dinosaur Comics, A Softer World, Perry Bible Fellowship, Copper, Questionable Content, Achewood, Wondermark, Indexed,Buttercup Festival

Most often I post such rambling sharing to Facebook...but there is some serious fun here, deserving mention in "Bookman's Bytes." Reading online continues to grow in import, and with it an up-tick in the role of visual information. Three cheers for Anu Garg's contribution to improving my daily uptake of ideas and information while avoiding katzenjammers on the information highway:

Clara and Merritt by Peter Donahue

2010-12-17T12:46:00.000-08:00

Seattle in 1930's and 40's is the setting for this sweet love story amid the artistic and labor struggles of the day. Rival union loyalties between Clara Hamilton's family of Longshoreman collide with her boyfriend Merritt Discoll's loyalties to his employment in the Teamsters main office. Added to Seattle's rough and tumble labor history is Clara's involvement with the Northwest School artistic movement of Mark Tobey, Guy Anderson, Morris Greaves, Kenneth Callahan , et al. A fine bit of historical fiction, well rendered and well worth the read.

I finished the book as Seattle noted the passing of another artist of the Northwest School, William Cumming. I smile recalling Bill's irascible banter with a group of 3-4th graders a few years back in a school visit resulting from Reba Utevsky's invitation and her student's study of Bill's painting style. So much good comes from face-to-face encounters with arts.

Warmth of Other Suns, Viewed on a Rainy Day in Seattle

2010-12-12T11:41:00.000-08:00

Just finishing this book during a rainy "Banana Express" deluge here in Seattle, I turned to see that it made the NYTimes "10 Best Books of 2010" award. The Warmth radiates, what more is there to add?

Maybe that I picked it up during a standing-room-only event with the author at the Northwest African American Museum back in September. The biggest crowd ever for a lecture overfilled the auditorium and author Isabel Wilkerson delivered well. The book's topic and museum's mission were a perfect match.

I'm passing my copy of The Warmth of Other Suns along to Kent Stevenson who after presenting his magnificent Gospel Magnificat these past two weekends, is looking forward to time enough to enjoy the monumental work of another child of the Great Migration. I enjoyed introducing Kent to KBCS dj Carlotta Speares on the Gospel Highway yesterday. Kent spoke about how his journey in music in general and to creating the Magnificat. Tune in to the archive of the show (search 12/11/10, Gospel Highway) and enjoy the audio journey on tracks running parallel to Wilkerson's book.

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

2010-12-10T18:08:00.000-08:00

It takes time, but good comes from even the worst of circumstances. Take Hurricane Katrina.

"Good?" you say. No...I'm not talking about charter school advocates who claim the destruction of the 9th ward was a godsend for education. Lord NO! (Hackles down, back to the book review)

I am talking about this jewel of a story about 12 year old Lanesha and her grand Mama Ya-Ya's passage through the storm and flooding in the Ninth Ward. After establishing their tight knit partnership and the nature of Lanesha's ghost of a mother, author Jewell Parker Rhodes lets the heavens open up and the storm break over New Orleans. There's room under (and on top of) their roof for a stranded boy TaShon and his scraggly dog Spot...but when the storm finally passes over and a rescue boat picks them up, only two people and the dog are aboard. No worry, spirits from this story rest in peace as floodwaters recede and life goes on in the Big Easy.

"Good!" I say, "the book's very good." It gives an anchoring story for young adults to hold onto amidst the chaos and complexity of what befell the people and City of New Orleans.

Readers looking for a second view are advised to grab ahold of the graphic novel AD: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld.

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

2010-12-09T22:16:00.000-08:00

Once again, a book find me ...

I was browsing (looking for a purchase that would justify parking validation) when The Summer Book hove into view. It transported me to memories from an island in Lake Superior, near Parry Sound as well as to a visit to friends on Hönö Island near Göteborg,

Sweden. Like any visitor to a solitary island, the urgency of discovering this book quickly gave way to the quiet, slow pace of reading Jansson's unhurried account of a six year old girl and her unsentimental, observant, wise and somewhat cranky grandmother on their summer island off the Finnish coast. It is a perfectly lovely book, with time enough for noticing the details of of life and change as well as flights of fancy we'd expect from the author of the Moomintroll stories. It's a cozy little book that satisfies like a warm cup of tea on a rainy winter night. this one will have several readers before it is wrapped and sent off for the holidays...the recipient being a island- tending grandma with a heart full of memories of summers spent with water, wind and time enough to enjoy visiting rabbits and relations.

3rd Colorado School Library Study Released

2010-12-06T22:45:00.000-08:00

School library programs support learning, and CO's got the data to prove it! Read it. Link it. Share it!

Briana Hovendick Francis, Keith Curry Lance and Zeth Lietza have released "School Librarians Continue to Help Students Achieve Standards: The Third Colorado Study ( November 2010)" http://www.lrs.org/documents/closer_look/CO3_2010_Closer_Look_Report.pdf

The executive summary should be delivered to every school administrator and superintendent with Season's Greetings from the Library.

L'echarpe rouge (The Red Scarf) by Anne Villeneuve

2010-11-28T21:44:00.000-08:00

It’s just “another gray day” for Turpin the taxi driver, until a red scarf is left behind by a mysterious looking man in black. Bright and inviting, the scarf leads the white mole/cabbie Turpin through a series of wordless adventures in a circus filled with delightful characters. Reminiscent of Raymond Brigg’s The Snowman, Villeneuve’s illustrations are dreamily playful, each capable of sparking imaginative storytelling. The book is a lovely lap book, but it’s wordless charm makes it a challenge for traditional read-aloud. With preparation Voilá it could become a very lovely adapted for display via document camera or digital storytelling. Ça ne fait rein, this lovely French-Canadian picture book deserves a place in your picture book collection for the young and young at heart.

Go Fly a Kite!

2010-11-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

Windblowne by Stephen Messer.

Hold onto your hats for this Windblowne fantasy. Young Oliver lives in a hilltop town of Windblowne, aptly named for the gale force winds that sweep across the treeless hill above town. And with the annual kite flying contest just days away, Oliver is determined to show his friends he’s not the abject failure the bullies make him out to be. He gets no help from his absent-minded, book-scribbling father or eccentric idealist sculptor of a mother...except tan off-handed suggestion that he seek help from Great-uncle Gilbert, something of a reclusive oddball himself. Thus Oliver descends from his oaken tree house, (Did I mention Windblownians live arboreally? They do. In oaks.) and embarks on a high-flying adventure that includes being attacked by fighting kites, kidnapped and whisked between worlds by manevolent robo-kites, and set upon on a mission to save multiple parallel world(s) from ecological disaster.

Read this book. You’ll never grab hold of the tail of kite without a quick backwards glance to make sure you really know just who is holding all the strings. With a hint of the Wizard of Oz and a satisfying similarity to Michael Chabon’s Summerland, this book provides hours of escape and adventure, and an inspiration to go flyi a kite...or perhaps a paraglider?

Double Magnificat Press Release - City Cantabile Choir

2010-11-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

Music to warm your spirits this holiday season. Bach's Baroque masterpiece with orchestra combined with Kent Stevenson

s Gospel setting...for a Dec 2011 Double Magnificat Press Release - City Cantabile Choir. Drop me a note if you live choral music feeds your soul the way it does mine!

Superhero for Our Times

2010-11-18T17:03:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the right books find us.
Perusing the graphic novel shelves a thin purple spine caught my eye and delivered The Adventures of Unemployed Man into my hands. The spandex and action packed spoof is not only a laugh-out-loud parody of classic superhero comics, it is also a dazzling dissection of our current economic meltdown. It's jam packed with full-color fun, employing every classic comic detail from cover to cover. It's a great example of comic art and content delivering a knockout punch. Kudos to Erich Origen and Gan Golan and their team of well employed sidekicks!

Teachers and others wanting more comics suitable for kids and schools may be interested in a new comics-only book-order service www.pictureliteracy.com which chooses broadly and carefully for school markets. Likewise a great set of resources are available from librarian Janet Weber, youth services librarian in Tigard Oregon, who presented "The Big Island of Children's Graphic Novels" to PNLA.

Wordle: Clarity in the Clouds

2010-11-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

A good why-and-how-to and Wordle, and links to other critical thinking efforts.

"48 Interesting Ways" to use Wordle in the Classroom. Lovely documentation of practical application.
"Northern Arizona" . The critical thinking video is good, just a bit earnest for my media palate.
and "2.0 Teaching Tools" version

Here's the WLMA LIT program framework, a useful 1 page document , and also recast in Wordle:

Library Advocacy Matters

2010-11-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

NPR posted a short profile on funding and advocacy problems for Chicago school libraries.

It's time to turn that "little light shining in our libraries" into a spotlight!
I'm eager to help school libraries advocate, from the grassroots on up.

And here's Paula Poundstone before presenting at ALA's(ALTAFF) meeting where she's presenting
"Laugh's On Us"

Seriously, we gotta get the word out, rally supporters, keep our sense of humor.

Librarians Deserve Fun in the Stacks

2010-11-06T23:02:00.000-07:00

A weekend of invigorating discussion at the AASL Fall Forum 2010 helped my put my enthusiasm for library promotion back in focus. The aaslff.pbworks.com wiki carried a lot of the traffic and resources, and I look forward to continuing contact with participants and presenters on essential questions, enduring understandings and evidence-based practice.
Likewise a group of lively librarians recognized the need for national advocacy, social media and inspired me to go ahead and post the little mash-up I did for WLMA last month. Here it is, in all its rough cut glory(and shame;-)

Given the many, many images wildly grabbed for this minor effort, I know that a widely useful advocacy video will take combined images, music and film making talents of many far more capable than I've been here. But every journey begins with a step...But here's to having fun along the way.

Graphic Advice: Heart Transplant

2010-11-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a week since I've read Heart Transplant and I still am shaking my head. It's a timely and important addition to anti-bullying discussions...It's a groundbreaking graphic novel that packs a wallop.

Author Andrew Vachss, illustrator Frank Caruso, and commentary by Zak Mucha gang up with provocative text and suitably dark illustrations that convey the psychological complexity of the bully-victim-advocate triangle. There's nothing easy about being bullying, and Vachss' experience in maximum security prison for aggressive-violent youth offenders is evident in the book's tough dialog and storyline. The book's over-sized dimensions were needed to carry it off...and Vachss website lets you know that's only the tip of the iceberg. Caruso's illustrations are an intelligent mix of visualization and graphic technique, with hints of color punctuating bold black and white frames, insets and full page spreads. Eight pages of insightful commentary and resources by Zak Mucha, LCSW (licensed, clinical social worker) round out this hefty tome.

The book is something special, but where does it belong? Is it for adults or teens? High School? Middle School? What about the graphic violence and hard-nosed advice? Read it for yourself. Share it with others. Discuss. Decide for yourself. Nobody can do it for you (or should). That's what it's all about.

Wait! You Can’t Retire Without Sharing That with Us | American Libraries Magazine

2010-11-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

Library Link of the Day's feed today pointed me to this article which has me nodding like a bobblehead in the back window of a car on a cobblestone road.

Being in the midst of a professional transition myself, I appreciate the view suggested in the graphic and ideas included in the article. Wait! You Can’t Retire Without Sharing That with Us | American Libraries Magazine

The author's insights apply to more than just managing retiring librarians, and the ideas in the article apply to ongoing best practices in professional development. "We need to be proactive in finding (new) ways to hold on to valuable skills and knowledge...it is a redefinition and reinforcement of our core services and values."

Arctic Thunder

2010-11-01T15:25:00.000-07:00

One recent reading surprise came listening to Robert Feagan talking about his new book, Arctic Thunder.I'd picked it up Friday afternoon at the BC Teacher Librarian's Conference in Kewlona finished reading it by the time I'd even left the valley. It is captivating YA a fast packed bit of sports action (lacrosse) and high school teen culture, set in the Canadian Northwest Territories. The plot centers on a boy who must leave his championship lacrosse team to move north, way North with his dad's job with the RCMP. Clearly drawing on his own Arctic childhood, Feagan and his appreciation for the people and place shine through in his writing. There's a fine video trailer available.
Seek this one out. It's a winner!

The Book Whisperer

2010-11-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer sounds a sotto voce trumpet call for independent reading. Books are still our best tool for improving vocabulary comprehension, and critical thinking skills. So read more!

Subtitled Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child Miller reaffirms the essential role of teachers, librarians and other reading advocates in fostering student success. In days and districts where concern for evaluation and other distractions overshadow the essential role of reading in delivering ideas and information, the message bears repeating: Read more and you'll get smarter. Read "tons" and you're set for life. Not convinced, read more in Donalyn's Teacher magazine blog.

"Whispering" is Donalyn's description of delivering the buzz about books, her enthusiastic matching of readers' interests to the possibilities the plenitude of print. She tells her 6th graders that they'll read 40 books in one school year, and they do! The tools are powerfully simple: Surround students with books of all sorts. Give students the freedom and responsibility to choose what they want to read. Generate written and oral discussion of the content and craft of what they're reading. Make and hold sacred that reading time in an always-ready, anywhere, anytime sort of way. You get it. Like right now. Go read.

Then share this book with somebody else who you think might enjoy it! I did.

Sir Ken, (Again) on educational reform

2010-10-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

Sir Ken Robinson seems to have the knack for hitting the nail on the head. Educational reform is on everyone's lips, but few are as articulate. I enjoy the RSA animation format, so include it here for your consideration.

and at TED this year

Nonsense!

2010-10-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

Two books on my desk for review make me wonder,
"What is it about nonsense that draws me like a moth to flame?"

The first is a timely reissuing of Stoo Hample’s 1961 Silly Book along with an audio CD of the author reciting rhymes, singing simple nothings and generally sounding, well...silly. At first reading and listening, this reviewer was at a loss find any sense in it whatsoever. There is a six-toed, mustachioed “Boodleheimer” who walk through the pages chatting with a big-nosed worm variously claiming to be the Easter Bunny or Mother Goose. There are comically drawn kids and polkadot cats, parents with popsicles and pigs that say tweet. So what gives?

A quick search finds that Hample’s fans include Woody Allen, Jules Feiffer, Dick Cavett, Norton Juster, and Charolette Zolotow; and in Hample's 9/24/2010 obituary in the New York Times it also turns out Stuart E. Hample was “The Artist” on the Captain Kangaroo show in the 50’s and 60’s. My favorite show and inspiration for a generation of storytellers. Nonsense has its place: in the library and in the minds of children and adults, for its ability to stand common sense on its head and let us laugh at ourselves.

Gary Taxali's This is Silly! is brand new, pop-art, eye-candy; a confection of a book for the viewer, the preschool-to 1st grade set who may delight in the nonsense non-characters and silly stunts. Or they may take delight in watching earnest adults read and grapple with saving face when faced with fanciful tumbling tomfoolery. There’s a strong sense of vintage cartoons and of Warhol/Lichtenstein pop art, with illustrations ruling a fanciful kingdom of nonsense characters. The short rhyming text is almost superfluous, a dollop of whipped cream atop a candy-apple of a book. It may not be essential reading, but be honest; really, who doesn’t like candy?

Can a review of Jim Copp and Ed Brown be far behind?

Things That Keep Us Up at Night

2010-10-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

Joyce Valenza hits the nail on the head last hyear with this column in SLJ. Librarians have to lead from the leading edge. Things That Keep Us Up at Night is a great summary. If you don't know her library website, take a look at http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/ and her loaded homepage http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/jvweb.html. I want to travel to the TLNing community and see how the discussion continues.

How to Read a Book (and Why)

2010-10-18T21:57:00.000-07:00

In a time when the future of reading is much discussed and debated, I've been delighted to revisit a formative reading experience...in electronic format.

Following an earlier posting, I was given the chance to review the full DVD of Mortimer J Adler and Charles Van Doren's conversations regarding the main points of How to Read a Book. Originally filmed in 1975 by Encyclopedia Britannica (which he chaired) the episodes have been re-released by the Center for the Study of the Great Ideas, co-founded by Mortimer J. Adler and Max Weismann. An excerpt of the video is available online http://www.thegreatideas.org/HowToReadABook.htm along with instructions for purchase.

Check it out!

The conversations between Adler and Van Doren are like a time capsule from a golden age, reminding us of the earnest belief that books are meant to inform, challenge and elevate the mind. The slick white loafers and casual smoking of Van Doren may seem as quaint and dated as Adler's unabashed Eurocentric enthusiasms, but there is undeniable brilliance and wisdom in the way they bandy ideas back and forth.

Read on!

In the months after releasing their 3rd edition of How to Read a Book Adler and Van Doren recorded 13 14-minute segments covering the essential points of the book: "To read or not to read./How to keep awake while reading./Coming to terms with the author./What's the proposition and why?/The questions to ask a book./Talking back to the author./Sorting out the books./How to read stories./What makes a story good./How to read a poem./Activating poetry and plays./How to read two books at a time.The pyramid of books." Sound good?

Let me share this from my son, who voluntarily left off watching YouTube to join me watching these two men discussing books! Two episodes later he summed it up with, "those guys are really smart."

How to Read a Book, in print and DVD has the ability to change the way students look at reading and at themselves as being active participants in the future of reading. Make sure a copy of the book and DVD are available to readers and teachers promoting the "reader-ly life."

Putting the Movement back into Civil Rights Teaching

2010-10-12T13:26:00.000-07:00

Student singers at 2009 Immigrant Rights March

here's a valuable website with links that move quickly to significant resources and insight. I'll add "Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching" to every school and professional library I can. You should too.

Welcome | Putting the Movement back into Civil Rights Teaching. No, the movement isn't over.
It lives in the lives of our students, families, neighbors and world.

October PSC Highlights

2010-10-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

The Puget Sound Council for the Review of Children's Books gives me a monthly opportunity to review new books for a group of teacher-librarians. Pasted below are the better books I read and reviewed for October.

THE JUNKYARD WONDERS
Polacco, PatriciaPhilomel Books; 2010 ISBN# 978-0-399-25078-1
What's so special about Special Education? As in "Thank You, Mr Falker" Patricia Polacco has drawn another story from her personal and family history to share this remarkable memory filled with tender wisdom. In hr attempt at a fresh start away from the stigmas of early reading difficulties at her California elementary school, young Trish moves to live with her father and Grandma in Michigan school, only to find herself assigned to a special class even the teacher refers to as the "Junkyard." By embracing the moniker, Trish's teacher is turning a stigma on its head, asserting that the special qualities of students in her class are all reason for wonder and celebration. The children of the class are different, and by working together on a project (a motorized airplane model salvaged from a neighborhood junkyard) the class soars beyond their individual challenges...all the way to the moon. Literally. As Polacco shares in her concluding notes, some of the "Junkyard Wonders" fared suprisingly well in later life, including one boy who went on to become a NASA engineer on lunar module of Apollo 11 and quietly stashed on board a photograph of the Junkyard Wonders taken that day when their junkyard airplane sailed over the heads and expectations of the entire school during a science fair.

THEY CALL THEMSELVES THE K.K.K: THE BIRTH OF AN AMERICAN TERRORIST GROUP Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Houghton Mifflin: 2010. ISBN# 978-0-618-44033-7

Good history, bad idea. Unforgettable book. It is exciting reading when a Newbery-Honor winning author turns her unflinching attention to unmask the origins and impact of Ku Klux Klan in America. Drawing on the personal narratives, diaries, congressional testimony, contemporaneous newspapers and memoirs, Bartoletti shows the historical origins of this hate-group and the courage of those who stood against racist intimidation during the years following the American Civil War. Well crafted text is supplemented with historical photos and lithographs to give readers ample evidence of the roots and strange fruit that continues to plague our society. As she states in her extensive bibliography and source notes, "The use of terror--the use of violence and fear as a physical and psychological weapon--is as old as humanity. So is silence. It is my hope that this book will show that the lives of the Klan's victims...are far greater than the humiliation and violence they suffered at the hands of the Klan. It is my hope that this book will stand in memorial to the victims' great courage and to the pivotal role each one played in American history." The book is a strong addition to middle and high school libraries and should be useful to all students of American history and society.

WE SHALL OVERCOME: A SONG THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

Stotts, Stuart and Cummings, Terrance Clarion. Books;2010. ISBN# 978-0-547-18210-0

"That song really sticks with you, doesn't it?" said the young minister, humming a tune he had just learned at a Labor Day weekend workshop in 1957. This is story of a song which grew to give strength to social change the world around. This book chronicles how "We Shall Overcome" grew from gospel and folk music roots and spread as an anthem of solidarity and hope in the American Civil Rights Movement. The book includes Pete Seegar's well known version of the song, the one heard by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks and Rev. Ralph Abernathy at a labor and civil rights workshop at the Highlander Folk School in 1957 that had left Dr. King impressed. The book does a fine job of documenting the many voices that joined in as the song grew in meaning and spread around the world to bring strength and hope to those who continue to work (and sing) for social change. Nicely woven into the book are lyrics from other important songs of the movement, as well as photographs, source notes and bibliography to round out this solid addition to social studies and music collections. It would be good to consider using with a viewing of Bill Guttentag and Bill Sturman's recent film "Soundtrack for a Revolution" (2009) which uses contemporary performances to keep the music alive.

SKIT-SCAT RAGGEDY CAT ELLA FITZGERALD

Candlewick Press;2010 ISBN# 978-0-7636-1733-2

This picture book could be staged as a swinging/singing reader's theater production. Charming illustrations and scat-dabbled text highlight the materially poor, musically rich life of Ella up until "a tisket-a-tasket" carried her to stardom at age 21. Harlem was a tough place for a 14 year old with no surviving parents and no fixed abode. But amateur nights at the Savoy and Harlem Opera House in the 30s gave Ella all the break her sparkling dancing and voice needed. By emphasizing her determination to rise above misfortune, the story replays the familiar "and you can do it too" kinda-tune that offers hope and a song for countless of others. Author and illustrator have created a fine duet for the 40 pages of this book, lacking only an accompanying sample recording of Ella's cheery voice and infectious inflections that was captured on over 200 recordings made in her lifetime. A brief bibliography and discography help fill in some of the missing material, but librarians with an eye (and ear) for sharing musical biography will keep those audio files handy.

Comics and Social Justice II

2010-10-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who organized today's Teaching for Social Justice Conference in Portland. 700+ participants and dozens of well crafted workshops. Well done all!

Participants of the "Comics and Social Justice" Workshop overwhelmed my supply of bibliography, available at https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AY0dtKsbrUgwZGNocWgyZGZfOTNocGh3ODJkNg&hl=en
and may want reminders of the slide presentation https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AY0dtKsbrUgwZGNocWgyZGZfOTVmNjZxMzdteA&hl=en .

Banned Books v2010

2010-09-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

Banned Books Week (Sept 25th-Oct 2nd) is an annual springboard for discussion and action to promote intellectual freedom and ensure access to materials in libraries, free from censorship. The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom carries a high torch and it is up to librarians, teachers, parents....and readers to read, discuss and carry the conversation forward. "Think for Yourself and Let Others Do the Same" is this year's publication from ALA. Bannedbooksweek.org web offering is a little thin this year, as are offerings from Seattle Public Library. Do I sense the chilling effect of a tight economy, perhaps?

Think for yourself. Take a look another ALA list of frequently banned books. Explore book recommendation sites like LibraryThing, Flashlight Worthy , Bookandahug or Shelfari. Wander a while and wonder. Then read. Re-read. Discuss.

for the love of learning: Reclaiming the language

2010-09-25T09:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks go to Scott McLeod, blogging at Dangerously Irrelevant for pointing to these words from Joe Bower, teacher/blogger echoing back from the north:

for the love of learning: Reclaiming the language:
"Have you ever taken part in a conversation about progressive education or school reform and left the dialogue wondering if you were even t..." Joe certainly gets it right when he's talking about "21st century skills" and these two giants of 20th century thought:

Ready to Reform? Reflect. Recall. Reclaim.

Joyce Valenza's "Manifesto for 21st Century Librarians"

2010-09-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

After years of painstaking library work in February 21, 1848, an indigent German immigrant in London published his small pamphlet.

While librarian Joyce Valenza may not aspire for the same revolutionary impact, she is savvy enough to know that in choosing her title she borrow's from Marx's game-changer to lend urgency to her own. Published in VOYA (the library magazine serving as) the voice of youth advocates, Joyce lays out a clear "You know you are a 21st century librarian, if..." review of our profession http://www.voya.com/2010/09/15/tag-team-tech-october-2010/

Joyce is right on the money with this one. And to paraphrase that guy who sat in the same chair in that reading room in London;
Librarians have nothing to loose but their jobs. We have the world to win. Librarians of the world, unite!

My Country, Copyright or Wrong

2010-09-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have been enjoying the lively discussion about copyright on the WLMA listserve this week. When suddenly, just as at any other library desk, along comes a question that reminds me to keep listening, learning and sharing.

Today's posting from Library Link of the Day asks us to consider another point of view in the copyright constellation, this articulated by a clever YouTube posting by Nina Paley, creator of "Sita Sings the Blues" and an advocate for QuestionCopyright.org .

I enourage you to follow both links, and consider how what we teach is influenced by the ways our society is organized as much as by the ideas which we hold as truths, as in when we declare :

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

However you use the Pro/Con conversation, I encourage you to watch "Sita Sings the Blues." It is a witty and wonderful work of art that brings one of the worlds Great Stories to life in a way that only the mickeymousemagickingdom of graphic animation can.

Here they all are, free for the viewing!

Copying is Not Theft YouTube posting by Nina Paley:

Nina Paley speaking in July:

and thanks to Nina's open streaming her film "Sita Sings the Blues" on Internet Archive.org: