Stitches by David Small

Jules Feiffer has this to say about the book and it relays my feelings exactly. I couldn't have said it any better, so why not leave it up to the experts:

"Like the boy in this autobiographical novel my first reading of Stitches left me speechless. And in awe. David Small presents us with a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem. Spare in words, painful in pictures, Small, in a style of dry menace, draws us a boy's life that you wouldn't want to live but you can't put down. From its first line four pages in, "Mama had her little cough", we know that we are in the hands of a master."

Here is a trailer for the book - haunting and appropos. Takes me right back into this "movie" that David Small has created as a memoir of his life.

The graphic novels I have read and experienced have all been dark and gloomy and focus on trauma and social ills. Is this typical for graphic novels? Even the ones published for younger readers/viewers seem to have this feel to them.

The last one I read, Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies, takes the serious and ominous subject of cancer and relays the process of his mother dying of the horrible disease.

This book was cathartic for me and I cried throughout. The mother in the book looked just like my bald-headed, feeble 60 year old mother who experienced so many of the exact same things. I was awed that Fies could portray my own mother's experience and my family's through the visuals he used.

My next reading project will be to read more graphic novels for young people so as to determine if there are any/many that are more uplifting and "fun." I see such potential for developing visual skills from these texts but wouldn't necessarily want to expose young children to only the dark messages that many of them portray.

Reading...Two Year Old Style

Found this old picture of my son when he was two, reading in the rocker in his room. Couldn't resist posting it here. He still loves books - mostly nonfiction.

Oldie but Goodie

What the Dormouse Said: Lessons for Grown-ups from Children's Books - Collected by Amy Gash, Illustrations by Pierre Le-Tan and Forward by Judith Viorst. 1999, Algonquin Books.

A really fun book that I have come back to for many years and that I have flagged with numerous sticky notes highlighting quotes from children's books that are wonderful messages about life.

Some of my favorites include:

There's nothing as cozy as a piece of candy and a book. - from Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic by Betty MacDonald (1949).

"What is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?" - from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Trees are very nice. They fill up the sky. - from A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry (1956).

Front yards are boring. Backyards tell stories. - from the poem, Backyards from the book Popcorn by James Stevenson (1998).

Some of these vignettes would be good to use with student writers as prompts. I could take each of these I've listed and write an essay. They really spur my creative juices.

Best Books for Children?

Just read this post by Jennifer, blog owner of Mixed Race America and reposted as an entry for the online blog I am an ardent reader of, Anti-Racist Parent: For Parents Committed to Raising Children with an Anti-Racist Outlook. In this post she questions the list of "Best Kids' Books Ever" as espoused by Nicholas Kristof as written in the New York Times.

She questions the things I have pondered for a long time about "well-meaning" adults recommending THE books that all children should read, yet they often are mostly (if not all) non diverse in nature. These same well meaning adults give high praise to "classics" that are written from a White perspective, and most often, a male perspective.

When I was in graduate school and finding the topic for my PhD, my first passion was to investigate the notion of diverse children not being able to find books written and illustrated that included representations of themselves nor included life situations and experiences that reflected their own. This was fascinating to me, as well as appalling. As a child, I always had books that matched my White middle class self and read about characters who lived similar lives to my own. It's sad that it took me until grad school to learn that other children didn't have this same luxury. Although I didn't end up choosing this to be my life-long main children's literature research interest it still is a issue that is near and dear to my heart, especially as I look for books for my own children that reflect their Asian heritage - a heritage that is not my own, but theirs.

Jennifer's has written an interesting post in response to Kristof's op ed column - well stated, in my opinion. Wish I could have said it as well.

Great Website for a Great Purpose

I just found a great website that allows anyone to trade paperback books of all kinds (and even hardcovers, textbooks, children's board books, audiobooks, etc). It's called paperback swap. Click on the picture to learn more.


I just posted the requisite 10 books to earn 2 credits to begin swapping. I'll keep you posted on how well this works. What a great idea for sharing books and getting books for just the cost of shipping!

Be Boy Buzz by bell hooks

Written by bell hooks and illustrated by Chris Raschka. Love the energy in this book. It is a good reflection on boys and all their moods and activity. Of course, Chris Raschka's typical lively illustrations add to the energy and portray the main character boy in lines done in chalk or crayon (hard to tell which) and solid brown watercolor forms of circles depicting heads and enlongated ovals that form arms and legs.
Few words, but words chosen carefully and in large text, mimicking the "largeness" of being a boy with many personalities and moods. "All Be Boy Buzz."

The day after I read this book to my 6 year old boy, he called me "Be Woman" out of the blue... I didn't know what he meant. Then he said, "Remember the book momma? Be Boy Buzz. You are Be Woman!" I love it! You never know how a book will influence a reader.

Secondhand World - Katherine Min

Why woudn't I think this would be a hard book to get through? All I had to do was read the back cover and see words like "just spent 95 days in a pediatric burn unit" and "fire that killed her parents" and "Isa is bullied by American classmates." The cover was deceiving - I thought it would be a lighter read. Boy, was I wrong.

This is the latest book the Korean book club is reading and discussing tonight. I almost didn't finish because I really had a hard time getting into it and was finding it painful to read even. Case in point, on page forty, Isa's four year old brother dies getting run over by the delivery van delivering the dishwasher her mother coveted. I was devastated and couldn't read on for days. I did pick it up again on Saturday night, determined to get as far as I could before book club.

This book is about a lot of sadness and tragedy, hurt and pain that the main character, a teenaged girl, Isa (Myung Hee) endured in the short 17 years of her life. Tough to read - but once I got back into it, I was drawn in. Katherine Min has an engaging style of writing. The many very short chapters were encouraging - I'd get to the end of one and say to myself read just one more to see what happens, but then I kept going, repeating this pattern.

Min's writing was beautiful in places and I often stopped to reread the words to let them sink in. I was really struck by the words near the end of the book, "It's a secondhand world we are born into. What is novel to us is only because we are newborn and what we cannot see, that has come before--what our parents have seen and been and done--are the hand me downs we begin to wear as swaddling clothes, even as we ourselves are naked." (pp. 272). I want to think about this sentiment and place myself into it's depths.

This was a haunting book for me and one that will stay with me for a while. Not many of the books we have read for the Korean book club have had this effect on me. It was interesting to learn that School Library Journal put this book on it's 2006 Best Adult Books for High School Readers List.

Katherine Min's website is interesting and sheds some light into the book here.

The Savage - by David Almond

The Savage by David Almond, illustrated by Dave McKean.

As I began this book, I was completely drawn in. I love the short length of it, but the depth that is within the short length. The graphic novel intermingled with novella format...very different.

I was intrigued as I read, not really catching on completely to the main character Blue's wild imagination and grief that was being portrayed.

The ending was heart wrenching as Blue heard his father's voice speaking to him..."Blue. Stay happy son. I 'm with you always." This still affects me as I write it as I respond as if it were my own father sending this message to me.

Reviews of this book talk about the stages of grief being portrayed so well by David Almond. Would young people find this book as moving as I have? Would love to write about the illustrations by Dave McKean, but I feel I don't have enough experience with graphic novels. They definitely fit the text and the title -- the eerie, unknown nature of grief is portrayed well.

Next up for me to read is another book illustrated by Dave McKean called, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Another "dark" and mysterious book but highly recommended for the illustrations.

Minji's Salon - Eun-hee Choung

Recently read Minji's Salon with a group of graduate level students who are teachers. As part of the experience they read many books that have multicultural topics and issues and I included this one in the mix. The goal was to have them NOT think about how to use the books with their own students (a natural thing for teachers to do when they read children's books) but to read the book and make personal connections if possible. I'll be posting about some of the other books we read in future posts.

They loved this book and it spurred discussions about girls and hair and trying to emulate older girls and women, something that most of the women in the group were able to relate to and shared many fond (and not so fond) memories about.

In this highly visual picture book with little text and short sentences, Minji spends the day in her own personal beauty salon at home doing up her dog in a similar manner as her mother is receiving at the salon in the city at the same time. The teachers loved the illustrations and were especially tickled by the similarities that occurred in the the spreads opposite of one another where the left side of the spread showed Minji's mother at the salon and the right side Minji's salon at home.

Similar elements are reflected in this manner such as the page with Minji's mother in rollers and getting color painted on her hair on the left and Minji applying children's multicolored paint and pencil and crayon "rollers" to her dog's fur.

My adult students had a good laugh at the spread depicting Minji's mother ensconced in a large hair dryer like contraption and the right spread mimicking this same scene with the dog wearing a pair of Minji's underpants as the "hair dryer" on its head containing a similar color and pattern as that of the hair dryer at the real salon.

There were other books about hair, including Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron that were read and it really sparked discussion among the teachers about their own hair and both White and African American people's fascination with each other's hair and the frustrations with their own hair. It was a great discussion and these books really helped them make personal connections to their own hair. Of course, the discussion then included the children in their own urban classrooms, where African American students (especially girls) are strongly affected by the state of their hair.

I originally purchased the book for my daughter as it depicts a spunky Asian girl, just like my daughter. At just four, however, she wasn't as excited about it as my adult students were. Maybe as we continue to read it she'll be able to connect more. Just recently she wanted to try to put her own hair in a ponytail because she has a classmate who does her own and she wanted to experience it too. Sadly she gave up in frustration... I guess it's not time yet!

Mei Ling Hopgood - Author Reading

Last week our Korean Connection book club went to see visiting author Mei Ling Hopgood - Lucky Girl is her book. I had found a review of her book in the paper and the book club decided to read it and go hear her speak. Here is a picture from the event: She is the Asian woman in the middle.

She was adopted as a young girl from China and the book chronicles her getting to know her Chinese birth family. The book club was interested in reading the book and meeting the author because we have read many books written by Korean adoptees who are upset by the lack of culture exposure or interest their American parents showed as they grew up. Mei Ling didn't feel this way and said many positive things about her adoptive parents.

I finished the book when we went to see her and she read some excerpts from it. She read the scene where she describes hearing that her birthfamily is interested in seeing her. When I read it for the first time, the velvet dress she was wearing and food she was preparing when she got the phone call was very vivid. I loved hearing her read it as well.

It was nice having a few minutes to talk to her and tell her about our group. She has two Korean brothers who were adopted as well and this connection was nice for our book club group.

Book Trailers

Today while reading the new The Writer Magazine, I noticed a short article on book trailers. This was serendipitous because yesterday was the first time I have ever seen a video trailer for a book, much less a children's book. Yesterday's blog post includes the book trailer for The Book Thief.

I guess it is the latest trend and marketing tool in the publishing world for promoting new books. Many of them can be found on YouTube, MySpace and publisher's websites. Now I will be spending more time reviewing books in this manner!

I thought I'd add another book trailer I found on YouTube - a book I have not seen yet, but the trailer has me intrigued. A book about adoption and the young girl looks to be Asian with a Caucasian mom. Sounds like my story! I'll need to find this book to see if it is a quality book to share with my kids.

The Book Thief

Stayed up way too late last night to finish the last 80 or so pages of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Been reading this book for the last month or so and although it took a good amount of time to truly get into it, the last 300 or so pages were riveting for me.

Reading others' reviews of the book were affirming to me. One blogger wrote that she sobbed during the last 30 pages of the book. This comment could have been written by me! That is exactly what I did - I sobbed. I don't remember ever sobbing while reading a book - but this book had me with tears streaming down my cheeks like mad and strange sad sounds emanating from my throat. I was afraid I'd wake the sleeping children.

You'd think that sobbing would mean that overall a reader would not have liked the book as much as I did. I mean, who wants to sob and feel the extreme pain and anguish that I did as I read this book? However, it was an important book to read, one that moved me deeply. The characters are easy to become attached to - not perfect people, but real people with all their foibles and bad personality traits. Hard not to love a real person. They all had to endure so much during the war in Germany - even the Germans. I kept taking moments away from reading and looking around my room at all that I had, appreciating the roof over my head, the safety I feel daily in my life, having a family intact and close by.

I think I will always be able to visualize the small village in which Liesel, the main character lived. Her home, the basement in which her family hid a Jewish man, the Mayor's wife's library...

There were also some wonderfully written words that made me stop and reread and appreciate the language. I love books like this, especially books that are written for young people. They deserve good writing like this.

Here is a video that alludes to the book and its themes and events. I do think it would make a good movie.

Bee Bim Bop

In honor of my children who are digging this book today, I wanted to pay tribute to it. Bee Bim Bop by Linda Sue Park. This book is an ideal book for young children due to the rhythm and repetition as the young protagonist begs her mom to hurry as she helps her making bee bim bop, a well-loved Korean dish. My kids often begin chanting at will, "hurry momma hurry, time for bee bim bap." I appreciate the depiction of the intergenerational Korean family and as they gather at the table to say grace before eating. Included is a recipe for bee bim bop, but our family would rather go to the local Korean restaurant to experience it...

Here is a picture of Linda Sue Park and I at the International Reading Association Conference in San Antonio in 2005. I was very excited to meet her and have a chance to tell her how much I admired her books. I also told her about the Korean reading book club I started for parents who have adopted Korean children and how we have read and enjoyed all of her books. The group especially liked Project Mulberry. I would love to have her come talk to our book club and also to the children for a special event sometime.