The End of Artemis Fowl?

Eoin Colfer says Artemis Fowl 6 may be the last book in the series. He has posted a video at Artemis Fowl Confidential where he discuss all things Colfer. His laconic delivery is always a hoot.

Oh how I wish I could go to the Bath Festival of Children's Literature.


I think I am a book behind in my Artemis reading. I better get to it.

Movie: The Dark is Rising

I noticed that with the DiR title change to The Seeker etc. etc., came a new trailer at SeektheSigns.com.

Chocolate and Vodka points out that the new trailer has also replaced the old one at YouTube.

Lo and behold, all those mean negative comments have disappeared too! The astroturf was taking hold when I last checked.




Given all the changes to the story, I think the new title should be Will's Excellent Adventure.

Weekend review

We just saw The Bourne Ultimatum. Very enjoyable. If you are a fan of the series, I recommend it heartily.

They gave away one of the best moments of the movie in the trailer, which was irksome, but as Treebeard says, in a choice between marketing and art, art loses every time.



Watching Jason Bourne on his quest reminded me again of the Jimmy Coates novels by Joe Craig. Both Bourne and Jimmy are creations of a secret government agency that is willing to use them to nefarious ends. They are both in search of their history and trying to come to terms with their past.

Unrelated:
I have a sibling who is a high school principal, God bless him. Another happy note this weekend was the discovery that "Principal Blandsworth" has read both Maude March books this summer, is listening to The Thief Lord while he works on his high school's "master schedule", and uses Jack Gantos's Hole in My Life as a cautionary tale in his work. He asked for some more good audiobook suggestions!

He is so awesome.

Author: J.K. Rowling

I'm guessing JKR is going to eventually explain e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, down to the last cobweb in the attic of Hogwarts.

Treebeard commented that she is in danger of going "Frank Herbert" with comments like this one that she made during her live web chat on Bloomsbury's website:

J.K. Rowling: I like this question, so I'll take it for my last.
Tess: What muggle song do you imagine would be played at dumbledores funeral
J.K. Rowling: Surely 'I did it my way' by Frank Sinatra.

Oh, surely not.

Fans

I came across some videos made by book fans today. It is fun to see their enthusiasm for their favorite books!

Harry Potter vs Percy Jackson is a hoot. Think of the time these kids put into planning this.


An ode to Inkheart


A fan's vision of the Airborn movie

Art form: Reading-Aloud

Local Houston Chronicle columnist and celebrity gourmand, Ken Hoffman, has been invited to read at a Reading is Fundamental event. In yesterday's column he recounted a past experience

The book they gave me to read was And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, by Dr. Seuss.I knew about the book, but I had never read it.

He also included the books he will be reading this weekend. They are all based on major television franchises, Scholastic is sponsoring which is nice but otherwise...yikes.

Hoffman is looking forward to it and he is a funny guy so he will have fun with Scooby Doo but I thought, these books would not be my pick for read alouds. (I was handed Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute to read while subbing one time and I actually asked, "Do I have to?" The organizers looked askance but let me substitute A Tree Called Steve.)

My advice and rules for newbie read-alouders

1. You HAVE to like the book you are going to read.
2. Read the book before hand
3. Try to have the kids "below" you. If you are sitting in a chair, get them on the floor. If they are in chairs, stand. Maybe this is just me but I like to be at a "commanding" elevation if possible.
4. Know what kind of time frame you are expected to fill.
5. Make eye contact with your listeners while you are reading.
6. Have fun! If you are not enjoying yourself, no one else will.


This may not be the best time to do an all-call because folks are still on vacation but school is starting soon. So, what are your "all-time-favorite-go-to-I've-really-read-it-to-a GROUP-of-kids-and-it-is-a-solid-hit-every-time" read-alouds?

Do you have any other hints for readers?

Books are personal, not all books appeal or work for all read-alouders but what book(s) would you hand a read-aloud newbie with confidence?

A smattering of some of my favorites:

Picture books:

Snip Snap!: What's That? by Mara Bergman, illustrated by Nick Maland (fantastic and scary, kids love it)
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems (anything by Mo Willems)
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (classic, kids never ever tire of it no matter what age they are)
Duck for President by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin (brilliant for election season)
Down Girl and Sit: Smarter than Squirrels by Lucy Nolan and Mike Reed (a must for any dog person)
No, David! by David Shannon (the picture of David running down the street gets them every time -- also a good choice to give a student who has to read to a class--he/she will be successful even if they are not a strong reader)
My Dog, My Hero by Betsy Cromer Byars, Betsy Duffey, Laurie Myers, illustrated by Loren Long (they will be begging you to read one more chapter--they are short chapters)
Saving Sweetness by Diane Stanley and G. Brian Karas (cowboy story, brush off your Texas twang and have fun)

Novels:

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread, chapter 1
and of course...The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, chapter 1

More please?

Movie: The Dark is Rising

A commenter at IMDB's Dark is Rising entry has called for a new title to this movie. I liked the suggestion: The Fans are Bawling.

Care2 has a petition up to ask Walden to change the name of the film since it has nothing to do with the book by the same title.

Maybe in that spirit, Walden has apparently changed the title of the Dark movie. They appear to now be calling it The Seeker: The Dark is Rising.

I have been feeling so badly for Susan Cooper. It must be terrible to watch something like this happen to one of your books, even though you know that the movies are separate entities on their own. It also occurred to me though, that it might be wonderfully heartening to know there are so many people who feel so passionately and have such a loving connection with the books.

I spent some time looking at blog posts and comments about TDiR (or is is now TSTDiR?) movie and came up with a list of keywords that have been employed to describe readers' reactions. I've left of the ones that would earn this blog an "R" rating or worse.

I think the most often employed word was "cry."

One commenter used the expression "a quick toss off" which is probably accurate. I don't think Walden knew what they were stepping in when they messed with series.

Fools, fools, fools.


mangled
cry
sad
travesty
craptastic
something one of my cats puked up
shredded
completely without imagination
horrified almost to the point of muteness
brutally slaughtered
semi-literate imagination-deprived monkeys
the vomit is rising
unbelievably painful
painful, pathetic mess
Oh, twist the knife a little more, why don't you?
RIDICULOUS
dreck
a quick "toss off"
depressing departure from a well-loved story
desecration
disappointed
erase our minds
disservice they are doing to a beloved classic
heartbroken
fix it before it's too late
butchering them
mindless vandalism
I just threw up in my mouth.
wanton dismantling
I shouldn't care about this so much.
Stupid Stupid Stupid!!!!
total hash
appalling
ugh
severe disappointment
shocked and confused
disfigured and trivialized
mockery
My Gorge is Rising
The Dreck is Rising!
"Will's twin" insanity
I feel ill.
The Dark is Winning?


A fan at IMDB did have this take:

The only comfort I get out of any of this is from knowing that there are so many wonderful, intelligent, eloquent people out there who are as passionate about these books as I am. Granted, nothing that any of us do or say is likely to stop Walden Media from releasing this colossal piece of crap, but I have to hold on to the hope that someday, a true fan will make a movie that does justice to the story.

Thanks to Chocolate and Vodka for some new links on this topic.

Happy Summer Reading

Did you hear that?
Surely you heard that, America.
My ears are still ringing.
The UPS man just arrived with Vendetta by Chris Humphreys (the sequel to The Fetch and second book in the Runestone Saga) and the entling's happy shriek is still echoing.
Happy summer reading, indeed.

Movie: The Dark is Rising

Like Sheila at Wands and Worlds , I also cannot seem to look away from this train wreck a.k.a. The Dark is Rising movie. Sheila found a side by side comparison of the differences we already know about between the book and movie. J.L Bell at Oz and Ends has more dispiriting news here and here on this travesty and reminds us of the the "originality" of fruit cart scenes.
Oh my.

I think this title, "The Dark is Sinking" and this snip from BlogCritics.org, says it all.

During filming in Bucharest, Romania there was a joke on The Dark is Rising set that only three things have been changed from the original 1973 novel: the nationality of lead character Will Stanton, changed from English to American; his age changed from 11 to 13; and everything else that happens in the story.

They have bungled the opportunity to have a franchise à la Harry and Narnia and one can only wonder, what were they thinking?
Fools, fools, fools.

Harry Potter 3-D

School days are looming so we are engaged in a general room toss and scouring of Entling no. 3's room this week. As we began to wade through the morass, I noticed her stack of Harry Potter books. As I looked at the battered and beloved condition of the books, I was overwhelmed by a rush of affection for Jo Rowling. I think these books and their condition speak for themselves, they are a testament to love and a tribute to an amazing reader, Entling no. 3

They made me ponder the recent NYTimes article, "Is Junie B. Jones Talking Trash?" which discussed the familiar story of some parents dislike of Junie B. and Junie-speak.

I have fielded my share of sniffy "well-I-don't-care-for-her-language" comments from parents in my role as school librarian.

As a parent and an educator, I am always flummoxed when folks think their child cannot discern between fiction and reality and will absorb an attitude and a dialect from an early reader. Please folks! Do parents who read murder mysteries or watch CSI: insert-city-name-here on television become inspired to go on crime sprees?

If books had THAT much power then there would never be another diet book published in this country. We would all be skinny pictures of health.

Do parents themselves ALWAYS use perfect grammar? When they do not, do they instigate a discussion with their child to make sure that they understand the scope of the grammatical tragedy and that they are not scarred for life?

Parent: Darling, I'm afraid I just committed a grammatical faux-pas and left a modifier dangling in the run-on sentence I just uttered. I think I may have also employed a double negative while trying to correct to my misuse of a possessive before a gerund.

Now we need to talk about this so you don't think this is proper and begin to split your infinitives too.

When confronted by a parent about Miss Junie, I always voice my support for this wonderful series (if children love them and flock to them, I think they are wonderful) but usually end up with a prosaic comment about other choices and if this one does not fit, try another.

Just looking at my daughter's books though (and there are many many other books in similar re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-read condition on her shelves) made me rethink my answer.

Dear Parents,
As this school year begins anew, you and your children are about to embark on an adventure of a life time. There are math problems to be computed, scientific principles to be acquired and history to be absorbed. A school year passes quickly. There is no time to waste.

The ability to read is essential to your child's success in acquiring all this knowledge. Learning to read means your child can successfully decode printed symbols on a page and comprehend the story or read for information with fluency. Your child needs background knowledge of syntax, semantics, phoneme awareness and other abilities to proceed.

Like any skill, reading is improved with practice. Michael Jordan did not get to be a basketball all-star by practicing just once a week. The more words that pass below your child's eyes, the stronger and more comfortable he or she will become as a reader. We want your child to read books the way you eat popcorn at the movies, continuously and by the handful. Surely, you do not just eat one kernel every fifteen minutes or so?

I know you want your son or daughter to succeed. I have never heard a parent despair, "I wish my child was not such a excellent reader. I wish they did not read above grade level. I wish they did not enjoy reading books."

With so many non-print media sources vying for your child's attention, you should drop to your knees and make offerings of thanksgiving if he or she finds a series of books they are passionate about.

Remember, popcorn!

If they love a certain book, you will not have to "schedule" reading time. They will seek it out on their own. If they love a book, they will beg to read the next one in the series or another one like it. If they love a book, you are not going to have to bribe them to finish it.

Please be tolerant of your child's reading choices. Certainly as a parent it is fun to guide, suggest, offer--but in the end, it is THEIR reading life. Do you really want to get in the way and ruin the experience for them?

When children love what they read, they love reading.

May the school year ahead go smoothly for school librarians who are working so earnestly and fervently to answer that perennial question, "Where are the good books?"