Megiddo's Shadow

Megiddo's Shadow by Arthur Slade, Wendy Lamb Books, 2006

Arthur Slade dedicates this novel to the memory of the five Slade men who served in World War I, his great grandfather, grandfather and great uncles. The dates of the youngest one jump out at the reader, "Private Percy James Slade, 1897-1918 (KIA.)

If my memory serves, I do not think there is a village or town in France and England that does not have a memorial to the fallen of The Great War. World War I does not loom as large in the memory of Americans. In Megiddo's Shadow, Slade takes the reader to a lesser known front of that war, to Palestine in the Middle East.

Sixteen-year-old Edward Bathe leaves his farm in Saskatchewan, Canada and joins the army after receiving the news that his beloved older brother Hector has been killed in France. All he wants to do is get to the front and kill the Hun who took his brother's life but upon arrival in England he is transfered to the Fifth Imperial Remount unit to break horses. He chafes at the assignment but does meet a horse who will be part of his future when he is reassigned to the Lincolnshire Yeomanry. Slade describes the role of these units on his website :

Yeomanry were different than cavalry--they were trained to be foot soldiers and mounted soldiers. The idea was that they could ride quickly to their destination and dismount and fight. Or they could charge. They were even taught to get their horses to lay down, so they could use them as cover. The regiment was also trained to use the sword or lance in a charge.

Edward and his horse, Buke become part of the British Expeditionary Force in Palestine. The description of desert warfare is unforgettable.

A month later, in July, I was sent to hell...

...We fed and watered our horses, working through the night because the day would be too hot for us to lift a finger. As the sun rose, it revealed a desolation only the Devil could've dreamed up: a low, flat valley of white marl and salt, spotted with swamp, stony plain, patches of dense scrub, and a thin layer of dry grass. The land had never know rain. Lumps of dried flesh--dead camels--lay here and there as though dropped from the sky, a sky that had never seen a cloud. A hot breath of wind drove the salty dust into my eyes. Occasionally, a thirteen-pounder gun would roar just to let the Turks know that His Majesty's troops were still here.

Very much a classic boy-goes-to-war novel in the tradition of The Red Badge of Courage, All Quiet on the Western Front or Fallen Angels, Edward experiences the comradeship of soldiers, a first love and the grim reality of warfare. He faces the loss of those he loves and his faith in God as he struggles to find meaning and survive.

Slade relates his grandfather and great uncles' true stories on his website. They are as gripping and heartfelt as the novel and are very much the inspiration for this book. The letter Edward and his father receive about Hector is taken almost verbatim from the real letter the Slade family received about Percy Slade.

Moving, emotional and wrenching at times, this is historical fiction at its finest. I will be reading more of Arthur Slade's writing in the future.

Arthur Slade blogs at Arthur Slade: Writing for Young Adults.

Megiddo's Shadow Trailer

ArthurSlade.com

Thomas the Tank Engine

Having enjoyed books with autistic children at school over the years, I thought this article, "Autism group probes why children love Thomas the Tank Engine," was extremely interesting:

Among autistic children, who often have a narrow range of behaviours, Thomas-related play was often their favourite activity, with children repeatedly watching the videos and reenacting whole scenes, including dialogue, with the toys.

"Thomas & Friends is 100 per cent responsible for getting him talking. Thomas was his life," said one parent of a nine-year-old, according to the NAS survey.

Author: Rick Riordan

Rockstar Rick Riordan is publishing his one and only Percy Jackson short story, "Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot" on his blog. Just the perfect bite for folks coming out of a post Potter fug.

Narrator: Jim Dale

I spent the better part of this summer listening to Jim Dale read Harry Potter. It was a wonderful way to re-experience the books and refresh my memory for Book 7.

Radio and audiobooks are such an intimate experience because the speaker's voice is literally between your ears and wired directly into your imagination. This intimate connection may account for my reaction to Jim Dale's appearance yesterday. As he took the stage and said hello, tears sprang to my eyes.

He invited the audience to enjoy a "right-o giggle" with him. His energy and personality commanded the stage.

Throughout the program, Dale shared stories about the inspirations for his voices, switching into character instantly. Trelawney is based on actress Penelope Fielding and actor John Houseman was the springboard for Dumbledore. His uncle from Cornwall inspired Hagrid. He shared that he actually lost his voice after a day of reading with Hagrid's voice.

He read five selections from the books beginning with "The Sorting Hat." Hearing him sing the Sorting Hat's song will stay with me forever. As he read the scene where Harry "blows up" Aunt Marge he appeared to expand and float as Marge and then to be pulled off the ground as Uncle Vernon with Ripper clinging to his ankle.

He said he tries to evoke the radio comics of his youth who had such original and unusual voices.
He is proud of his Guinness World Record for the 134 voices he used in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and shared that he was just informed that he had broken his own record with 147 voices for Deathly Hallows.

As a finale, he invited nine children up on the stage, warning the hoard of volunteers that thundered down the center aisle, that they were going to have to read aloud AND act.

In groups of three, he had the kids take turns reading the same brief cut, evoking Dale's earlier performance. They really had fun with "the howler." I admired the children so much. They really gave it their all and were terrific. There was a prize for the one that got the most applause. It was a near thing for all of them.

It occurred to me that this would be a great library/reading lesson. My students loved a chance to perform and the repetition of cuts would support readers, at all levels. Audiobooks by Dale would be a terrific choice to model a wide range of characters (as would Allan Corduner who reads Septimus Heap and Keys to the Kingdom.) The activity would give kids the opportunity to voice and perform the story themselves which is something struggling readers have trouble with sometimes.

Dale is a great advocate for audiobooks and emphasized the difference between the richness of Rowling's text and the Harry Potter movies. With a gleam in his eye he reminded the children that they can keep "reading" after their parents tell them "lights out" by listening to an audiobook in the dark.

Personal giggles:
Entling #3, aka, "Yo" gave him a tiny origami crane as he signed our audiobook, note above photo

Jim Dale performed for the huge crowd in the parish hall of a CHURCH!!!

NYTimes article
Houston Chronicle
Jim Dale Website

Author: J.K. Rowling

Just in case you have not heard:

TODAY will air more of the exclusive interview with J.K. Rowling on Thursday and Friday. Portions are scheduled to air Sunday on "Dateline NBC."

MSNBC article

Love this professor

Professor Ron Hammond, I love you.

From The Daily Herald via Library Link of the Day:
Dismayed at the rising cost of textbooks, Hammond has quit using textbooks in his courses. He has redesigned the courses he teaches to provide his students with a more varied selection of source material for a lower cost.

"I want them to understand where information comes from," Hammond said. "It's a skill they're going to need."

As a librarian who teaches research skills I say "Hoorah!"

As a parent who is paying for expensive textbooks for the entling's classes, I say "Double Hoorah!"

July 2007 Carnival of Children's Literature

If you are coming out of your post Potter fog and looking for something amazing and fun then skip over to Saints and Spinners: The Play's The Thing! July 2007 Carnival of Children's Literature
Alkelda the Gleeful has out done herself!

Sounds of Silence

Reading advocates have touted group reads or "One Book" projects for the past few years. This past weekend we have all been caught up in the biggest "One Book" read ever.

One World, One Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The only sound in the house for the past 24 hours has been some classical music playing very very softly. There have not even been the customary noises out on the street, no lawn mowers or blowers or even cars.

We picked up our books at midnight. Entling no. 3 had a plan and provisions pre-positioned for an all nighter. We got home, she kissed up goodnight and disappeared. Apparently she finished around 8 a.m. Saturday morning because she left us a note in the kitchen, letting us know she had eaten breakfast and now needed time to "rest and process."

After waiting so long, I found I had mixed feelings about opening the book, knowing that this was the end. I read for about an hour after we got home and then went to sleep.

I arose early to continue but was wondering about the remote members of our entwood. Happily, I received a call from Entling no. 1 around 10 a.m. letting me know she had just picked up her copy and had no other plans for the day but reading.

I knew Entling no. 2 had ordered hers so I checked in and was happy to hear Amazon had delivered hers by 8 a.m. because that was when she poked her head out the front door to check. She told me she had her preparations in place for the day ahead.
She since checked in confirming her completion of the book with her comment, "Wasn't it something?"

I was now easy in my mind and fell into the story. I finished about 6 p.m.
Treebeard is more than halfway through.
When he is done, we are planning an entmoot via IM.

Can't wait.

More discussions I am looking forward to:
Mugglenet podcast show 100/101
Scholar's Blog Spoiler Zone in August

Thanks for the ride!

My first year as a school librarian was the year of Titanic. Those of you who were in the library business the year the movie came out, know that there were not enough books on planet Earth on that subject to fill the demand. I had multiple copies of the Ballard book and a biography of Molly Brown but that was not enough. Over the course of that year, I added every Titanic book I could find. At TLA, I watched librarians almost come to blows over a lovely new cross section book about the Titanic at the Little Brown booth. It was wonderful time. Kids were combing the catalog for books. They were pouring over the encyclopedias and reading everything I had on the topic.

My second year as a school librarian started wonderfully when a colleague asked what I had done over the summer and I answered that I had read this fantastic book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. That was the year of Potter.

Two fantastic years to start a career as a school librarian.

Now we are at the end.

I have steadfastly held my fingers in my ears and chanted "la-la-la-la, not listening" for the past few months whenever HP comes up. These past days though, trying to avoid Harry Potter spoilers and tip offs, is like trying to evade rain drops in a hurricane. I see the cover on television and lunge for the remote because I am afraid I'm going to see or hear something to ruin the ending for me.

There is not much that really surprises me anymore (well, maybe the ending of The Office this season) so perhaps I am looking at Book 7 as an opportunity to experience "Christmas morning" excitement one more time.

After I post this, I think I will be signing off the computer until sometime this weekend when I finish reading.

In advance though, I just want to thank JKR for the fun.

It has been a grand ride.



An alert entling did send me this news article and assured me I could look at it safely.

Courtney Lanahan and Shawn Gordon of Clackamas are heading straight from their wedding reception Friday to a bookstore to get the final Harry Potter book.

My kind of people.

Tell an Author You Care Day

I am a day late on this one but what a fantastic idea Emily at whimsy had.

In honor of Tell an Author You Care Day, Book Moot bows to:

Rockstar Rick Riordan -- He really is a rock star. Young men, who I worried would NEVER read for pleasure, have discovered what it is all about thanks to him. Reading the first chapter of The Lightning Thief has also provided me with some of my most meaningful and happy experiences as a librarian.

I also have to thank Gail Gauthier for Happy Kid and the most hilarious reading-aloud my daughter has ever entertained me with while I was driving a car. Also her heroine, Thérèse, from The Hero of Ticonderoga is a character I would like to hug.

Jack Gantos will always have my heart for getting this family through a very emotional time. I wish he still wrote an update to his website. Even once a year, he always made me laugh.

Jennifer Holm and Matt Holm are so gracious to kidlitosperians and have created the most imaginative young mouse in the world. I may have mentioned that I named my IPod, Babymouse?

Audrey Couloumbis has completely won me over with her books about two sisters on the run in the wild west. I find myself asking friends and relations and strangers in dentist office waiting rooms, have you read The Misadventures of Maude March yet?

Thank you, all!