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.