Author: Doreen Cronin

Serendipity!

Great article about Doreen Cronin today. Cronin was a law student when she wrote Click Clack Moo.

It happened like this: 10 years ago, Cronin was unable to sleep one night after the death of her beloved father, a New York City police officer whom she describes as a "cross between John Wayne and Jackie Gleason."

Trying to distract herself from her grief, Cronin, an aspiring children's-book writer, sat down at her computer. "I sat down at my computer and 'Click, Clack, Moo' just came out of me. It was just 20 minutes at the computer. It was like I was channeling it," she recalled in a recent telephone interview from her New York City home.

"When I finished it and read it, I laughed for the first time since my father had died. I felt like my father was telling the story."

She talks about her collaborations with Betsy Lewin and Harry Bliss and the books to come.

Diary of a Spider

Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Harry Bliss, 2005

Doreen Cronin has penned another wonderful "diary." Like her Diary of a Worm Cronin has interwoven facts with whimsy. We learn that spiders are NOT insects and they molt. Spider is friends with Worm from the previous book and also with Fly although his Grampa says in HIS day spiders and flies did not get along.

In school young spiders are warned about the dangers of vacuums and have vacuum drills.

"If we hear a vacuum we should "Stop Drop and Run!"

When they say the Pledge of Allegiance, their flag is a panel from a Spiderman comic book showing the American flag. The clever illustrations by Henry Bliss add additional humor. As in Diary of a Worm, the endpapers are full of great vignettes, "Favorite book: Charlotte's Web." The illustration depicting Spider's attempt to see-saw in the park is inventive and fun as we see it from Spider's perspective.

This book is a natural pick for elementary school libraries and teacher gifts. The two diaries would also be a "must-have" for junior high libraries to complement life science units. My former students tell me they are never read to anymore once they get to junior high. Class periods are only about 50 minutes long so Cronin's books would fit perfectly and work well with any curriculum. Her Duck for President is essential for social studies teachers during presidential election years.

After reading this book I will NEVER forget that spiders are NOT insects and that they have *correction* eight legs. There is so much to see in the pictures and the text is so entertaining you will want to read it again and again.

Doreen Cronin website

The Brand New Kid

As a general rule, I do not review books here that I would not happily add to a school library. This blog started with my students asking, "but if you leave who will tell us about the GOOD books?" when I went on hiatus a year ago.

It is the perennial question. Kids will look around a library, query the catalog and then with all sincerity ask, "where are the good books?" as if the thousands of volumes lining the walls are the "bad" ones. In fun I would think, "oh yes, the good ones. I keep THOSE hidden back in the office." What the kids are saying is, "this is too much, too overwhelming, just show me, tell me, talk to me about some books I would like." Reading is personal. Some kids are independent explorers, some want a guide.

This seemed like a fun way for my students and teachers to continue our book moots.

Overall, BookMoot tries to celebrate the good books, the diverse, the serious, the hilarious, the newsworthy, the sad, the controversial (No-Nothings beware, I love those) the mysterious, the just-for-fun, the factual and the fantastic books. Library books are expensive and budgets are tight. That being said, I offer the following as a caution.

We stopped by our bookstore today as kind of a school-starts-tomorrow-last-fling-of-summer deal. As the entlings tore off to the manga section I pulled some books from the "back to school" display. This title was being offered as a "great read for the start of the school year." I must protest.



The Brand New Kid by Katherine Couric, 2000

I am trying to remember why Couric went into the kids' book business. Wasn't the day job working out Katie?

As I picked up the book from the display it was not displeasing to look at. Although the illustrations are working hard, they cannot rescue this book. The storyline was predictable, heavy handed and pedantic. The new kid in school looks and sounds different and he is treated badly. The rhyming verse just saws away. It lumbers along in a forced and sing-song fashion.

"His name is a different one, Lazlo S. Gasky. He's new to our school and the town of Delasky."

Wow, how about that. The kid's last name happens to rhyme with the name of the town. Golly.

To go on any further would be cruel. Couric and other lesser lights are under the impression that a tale must be moralistic in order to appeal or impress children. I suppose it does impress unsuspecting parents and grandparents who will misguidedly but with the best of intentions, purchase this book.



If you are looking for a REALLY good book with this theme, go get Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell with divine illustrations by David Catrow.

Trying again HDM: The movie

British director Anand Tucker to helm The Golden Compass. (in negotiations)

I warmly welcome Anand Tucker as director of the first His Dark Materials film,” says Pullman. “He respects the integrity of the narrative and will maintain that integrity in the film-making process. His ideas are exciting and well thought out, and I greatly look forward to seeing the project go forward in his hands."

The point movie makers need to understand in their search for the next LOTR franchise--Peter Jackson has LOVED The Lord of the Rings his whole life. His feelings and passion for the story were evident in EVERY frame and every shot.

Author: Susanna Clarke

Susanna Clarke won a Hugo award for her Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I must get back to reading this book. I had just finished The Amulet of Samarkand when I took it up to read and Jonathan Stroud's world of magician/politician run London was so fully realized that I could not separate it from Clarke's book. I will give it another try. I have a wonderful reading pillow now that helps me support these hefty tomes. I love my Peeramid!

I finished Stroud's sequel, The Golem's Eye, this summer. It is absolutely terrific. I want to do it justice when I review it.

Henry David Thoreau

There is a new book coming out about Thoreau, The Trouble With Henry: A Tale of Walden Pond by Deborah O'Neal and Angela Westengard. This is their first book. I have not seen it but it is illustrated by S.D. Schindler whose work I always enjoy.

The book speaks to the importance of the environment and conservation. It encourages individuality and standing up for what you believe in, even in the face of great opposition. The characters in the book are colorful and fun and are used in clever ways to symbolize the Victorian stuffiness and materialistic nature of the people of Concord at the time.

Some of the book's characters are based on real people in Thoreau's life. Some of his descriptions are found in simplistic form for children to understand and Thoreau's own created words are used to describe the sounds of nature found at Walden Pond.

This book and D.B. Johnson's books, Henry Hikes to Fitchburg, Henry Builds a Cabin, Henry Climbs a Mountain, Henry Works, would be a nice change from The Lorax or (shudder) The Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute (Anymore) for Earth Day or environmental units.

There is much to see in the Texas Hill country

We had a short but very lovely ramble through Fredricksburg, Texas. It is peach season and the fruit stands offer baskets of lovely fragrant peaches.

Living on the Texas coastal plain, any hill is a pleasure so I thoroughly enjoyed driving through the rolling countryside. The Hill Country is dotted with live oaks and cattle. There is more development since the last time I was there (some eons ago) but it still seems very quiet and even lonely. Windmills and small clusters of cacti are sprinkled across a landscape that is uniquely Texan.

Fredricksburg is such a pleasant city. Main street has lots of "shoppes" and restaurants. It was hideously hot (it is August after all) but I still refrained from entering stores with potpourri fumes wafting from the doorways no matter how enticing their AC was. Did find a quilting store and got some fabric and a f-e-w other things.

Found some bratwurst and red cabbage for lunch along with a Rio Blanco Pale Ale from the Real Ale Brewing Company. Very tasty.

We visited the The National Museum of the Pacific War which is now part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. It is also known as the Admiral Nimitz Museum. I was immensely touched by the number of fathers and sons working their way through the exhibits together.

Many years ago during a visit to my eye doctor, I ended up in a conversation with a WWII veteran who was also waiting for his appointment. He was wearing a hat with the profile of a ship on it. (I wish I could remember which one it was.) When I asked him about it he told me it was in Iron Bottom Bay, sunk in the battle for Guadalcanal.

He went on to tell me about of the ship's sinking and how he had survived. It was an amazing story. I asked him if he had written down the account for his family. He shook his head and said he didn't talk about it. He did allow that he had put his story on the record at the Nimitz museum and he was looking forward to a reunion there in the near future. We were both called for our eye exams and I remember feeling very amazed, moved and honored that he had shared his story with me.

I thought of that gentleman as I entered the museum. The indoor exhibits take you from Commodore Perry's Japan Expedition to VJ Day and demobilization. I was reminded just how desperate things were following the attack on Pearl Harbor. One disaster after another is chronicled. Then the horrific fighting on island after island is presented through photographs, artwork and artifacts. I did not realize that 64% of all American casualties occured in the last 14 months of the war. American and Japanese personal effects and letters have been donated to the museum and tell a story of immense bravery and duty.

The next day we picked up our daughter from Texas Lions Camp. The Lions Camp was the first camp in the USA to offer sessions for kids with diabetes. I sat next to a mom whose son was only diagnosed two months ago. Her emotions were so near the surface. I tried to assure her that she was completely normal. It still grabs me unawares sometimes. I told her she had already done one of the best things in the world for her boy, she sent him to this wonderful camp.

For a week kids from all over Texas swim, ride horses, camp out, sing songs and have a wonderful time. At meal time EVERYONE checks their blood sugar, counts their carbs, takes their shots or pumps their insulin. A dedicated volunteer medstaff watches over them, helps them if they get low or high, helps them adjust their insulin and does a blood sugar check on every camper, every night at midnight. The best thing about the camp though is being with other kids who are living with diabetes. My daughter treasures her friends from camp. As she goes back to school this year she knows she is not alone.

Another reason to travel to England

Time Europe reports on Seven Stories, the Centre for the Children's Book, which will open Aug. 19 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

"There's never been anything like it before," says Philip Pullman, author of the award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy. "For the first time, this country will have a properly organized and dedicated collection relating to children's literature." Even better, it's a groovy place for authors and their young fans to interact.

Link to Seven Stories website

Audiobooks

While reading a review by Sandy Bauers of the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince this line caught my eye:

While the eye can speed, the ear cannot, which stretches the experience.

That is an aspect of audiobooks that I have enjoyed.

The joy of reading?

Library Link of the Day points to this thoughtful op-ed from USA Today.

How schools are destroying the joy of reading

By Patrick Welsh

Much to comment on but must go buy sneakers for start of school next week. Where did the summer go?