Library Book Notes

May 23, 2008

Toys Go Out: Being the Adventures of a Knowledgeable Sting Ray, a Toughy Little Buffalo, and Someone Called Plastic, by Emily Jenkins, is a charming story for grades K-3. Here we see how toys live their private lives. They endure rivalries, they help one another when there’s a crisis, and they must overcome fears as they learn to live in the world of their young owner.

May 23, 2008

Middle school readers will see a different side of the civil rights struggle in My Mother the Cheerleader: A Novel by Robert Sharenow. The main character is Louise Collins, who lives in the ninth ward of New Orleans during the 1950s. The story takes place just after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, and white residents have no intention of sending their children to integrated schools. They keep the children at home and every morning a group of white women known as the Cheerleaders goes to the school that Ruby Bridges attends and throws rocks, food and uses vicious language to induce Ruby to go away. Louise accepts her mother’s prejudices and behavior. But then a man named Morgan Miller, a white man from New York City, comes to town and gets a room at Louise’s mother’s boarding house; soon he provokes Louise into thinking about injustices she has never considered before.

May 23, 2008

Much of this year we have written about inspiring books (Three Cups of Tea) or serious historical fiction, but this book, Eat! Pray! Love! by Elizabeth Gilbert, is more frivolous and fun. The author writes about the disintegration of her marriage and herself (not the fun part) and then how she manages to put her life back together. Gilbert is lucky enough to be able to take a year off and visit places that will help rebuild her body and soul. She starts in Italy, where she learns Italian and eats the most scrumptious foods. Once she’s gained the language (and the weight) she’s off to an ashram in India, where she is able to build her spiritual self by finding the divine both in the outer world and within. Her last stop is Indonesia, for balance.

End-of-the-Year Roundup

The year is coming to a close, and there are still so many books to read to our students, so many skills to teach. But we have accomplished quite a bit. We had an unbelievable Book Fair, a so-so book swap and a terrific fourth-fifth grade book club. We are looking ahead towards a major “return-your-books to the library” drive at the end of May and early June and linked to that, a big inventory in early June. We are hoping to begin a major weeding project during the summer that will carry on in into the fall of 2008. Thanks are due to all of you and your children for participating in these activities and making the library a place where everyone wants to be.

Bring Back Your Books!
Speaking of returning library books, here are some ways to help your students check for missing books. Ask them to remember the last place they had the book. What did the book look like? What was on the cover? And the next question: where could it be? Have students looked in the car--in the trunk of the car -- in the other car, behind the washing machine? Have they searched behind the piano? Or behind the sofa cushions? Try behind the refrigerator. How about looking on the bookshelf in the bedroom, on the desk, under the bed, and in the closet? This is just the beginning of a list of suggestions that could go on forever. Hopefully one of these ideas will work for you. All library books are due May 30. The students in classes that return all their books will receive popsicles during the last week of school. Best of luck in your search!

Book Club Holds Its Last Meetings
The fourth and fifth grade book club that met every Tuesday during lunch in the library has finished reading The View from the Cherry Tree, by Willo Davis Roberts. Students were really caught up in the mystery of who pushed old Mrs. Calloway out of her living room window. Even once the answer became clear, there was the tension of the pursuit as young Rob, who saw the murder, had to find a way to avoid the clutches of the villain. After we finished the book we held a brief debate on which is better, reading a book before seeing the movie or seeing the movie first. Some of us felt strongly on this issue and, when we took a vote, we may have unduly influenced other voters. But perhaps the majority really did feel that books come first.

Book Club Holds Its Last Meetings

The fourth and fifth grade book club that met every Tuesday during lunch in the library has finished reading The View from the Cherry Tree, by Willo Davis Roberts. Students were really caught up in the mystery of who pushed old Mrs. Calloway out of her living room window. Even once the answer became clear, there was the tension of the pursuit as young Rob, who saw the murder, had to find a way to avoid the clutches of the villain. After we finished the book we held a brief debate on which is better, reading a book before seeing the movie or seeing the movie first. Some of us felt strongly on this issue and, when we took a vote, we may have unduly influenced other voters. But perhaps the majority really did feel that books come first.

April 08

Our 3rd and 4th graders will enjoy Sallie Gal And The Wall-A Kee Man, by Sheila P. Moses. This story about Sallie Gal describes a nine-year-old and her best friend, Wild Cat. The girls go to school during the winter but in the summer they help pick weeds from the cotton fields where every adult works five days a week and on Saturday until noon. Money is not plentiful for Sallie Gal but she desperately wants ribbons for her braids. Her wealthier cousin has them, and just seeing them makes Sallie jealous. But how can she get them—especially when her mother will never let her take charity from anyone?

Lucky Jake, by Sharon Hart Addy, is a charmer for our younger students. Jake and his father are panning for gold, but what Jake wants most is a dog. There’s no dog, but Jake gets a pig and he names him Dog. And this is only the beginning of good fortune happening to Pa and Jake.

April 08

For our older students, The Book Of Dead Days, by Marcus Sedgwick, offers a young adult book that is dark, mysterious and fascinating. The time is the past, specifically one year during the days between Christmas and New Years, known as the “dead days.” This is a time when magical things happen, when spirits roam and put their mark on everything and everyone. The main character, referred to only as Boy, works for a magician, Valerian. Boy, who does not know his own name and cannot remember a time that he was free, is accustomed to the bad treatment inflicted on him, but things seem worse now on Dec. 27. The fact is that Valerian who, like Faust, years and years earlier traded his life for knowledge, is now about to make payment. He cannot stand the thought of giving up his life and so he sets out with Boy and a girl named Willow to find a secret “book” that will give him a chance to get his life back.

April 08

Once again, Ian McEwen, the author of Amsterdam and Atonement, has written a terrific book, Saturday. The main character, Henry Perowne, is a neurosurgeon. He has a wife he loves dearly and two children, both of whom make him very proud. Henry is concerned about the state of the world. It’s 2003 and the war with Iraq is about to begin and in general he is a bit anxious. The book is built around one day, Saturday, when he wakes up early, talks to his son and then sets out for a weekly racquetball game with a hospital colleague. It seems like any other day, but this one will throw Dr. Perowne into a crisis more disturbing than he could ever imagine.

April Thoughts

Copyright issues
Copyright is the exclusive right to copy, license or otherwise exploit a literary, artistic or musical work. In other words, the creator of a work, when filing for copyright, gains the exclusive right to his product. Now the question is: where does the school librarian fit into this process? Does she have the right to make copies of a poem for classroom use or should we be purchasing books for each student? If there is a newspaper article a student needs, do we send the student out to purchase another paper, or xerox a copy? As we know, in the music world, the entire issue of copying is completely out of control. Do I have an answer—no! Do I even have an opinion? I’m really just puzzled. I know the artists and writers need protection. But so do we.

Motivating Readers
One of the librarians who participates in the LM_NET library listserv advises that when we try to motivate young readers, we need to provide students with ready access to books and specific time slots to read them. Adults who read for pleasure serve as wonderful role models. She also reminds us that young people should have the chance to decide what to read. “Research is very clear about that last item: the more choice kids have, the more likely that they’ll enjoy reading and get better at it.”

Fourth Grade Book Reviews
As you all know, Mary Ann Scheuer has been teaching fourth grade in the library this year. Mary Ann came up with the terrific idea that the students should think about and select their two or three favorite books, describe them, and create bookmarks available to the entire student body. This project has been completed, and if you come by the library, you will find a bulletin board dedicated to the bookmarks, with great suggestions for our nine - 12-year-old students. For an extra treat, go to our RDS web site and access some of these bookmarks online!

Pictures from Our Vacation

A wonderful book for young readers is Pictures from Our Vacation, by Lynn Perkins. This is a warm feel-good story about a family of four taking a summer vacation at the family farm. As the trip starts, the mother gives the children cameras so that they can record their adventures. And do they ever! They take pictures of the scenery they pass: cows, bridges, and their feet. When they get to the farm they’re greeted by their grandparents—but the house is not much to see. Where they see cobwebs and dust their father sees happy memories. They go to play badminton but it rains—for three days. They try to watch TV but there are only three channels. When they go looking for the lake their father used to swim in, they get lost. Things look bad—but they soon improve.

The Alchemist

For our middle school students, Michael Scott has written. The Alchemist: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. Twins Sophie and Josh (age 15) are spending the summer in San Francisco while their parents are off on an anthropological dig. The twins are living with their grandmother but have taken jobs, Josh in a bookstore and Sophie in a nearby candy shop. Suddenly they find themselves in quite a situation. The bookstore owner, Nicholas Flamel, is not what he appears to be. In fact he is a very old man (over 1500 years old) who is an alchemyst, a student of magic, and he possesses a book containing the secret of immortal life. A rival alchemyst has been pursuing Flamel and attacks the store, but it’s Josh in the store and not Nicholas. This is the beginning of an intense chase as the forces of evil, who wish to destroy the world, pursue Nicholas and the twins.

On Beauty

For adult readers, On Beauty: A Novel is another fine book by Zadie Smith (author of White Teeth). This time Smith has written about a biracial family headed by a white professor of art history, Howard Belsey, and his African-American wife Kiki. Howard is about to meet adversity head on. He has been unfaithful to his wife, so there is a crisis at home. At the same time a rival art scholar who has nothing but contempt and scorn for Howard, is coming to the university as a visiting professor. The visitor intends to go public about his opinions because he would like Howard’s job.

News

If you saw the 3/16 issue of the New York Times’ “Week in Review” you probably noticed an article that announced the imminent demise of the print encyclopedia. The essay described how easy it has become to get information on any subject you’re interested in—on the Internet. Over a decade ago, well-known encyclopedia publishers realized that the future was on-line and they began to scale down their staff of writers and salesmen and began to seek their audiences on home computers. Perhaps it’s time for all of us to begin to recognize and use the wealth of encyclopedia knowledge on-line, whether it’s the Britannica or Wikipedia (remember to check the facts on this one).

That Time of Year

RDS Students: have you read all the books you purchased at our 2007 Book Fair? Are you tired of the titles you received during the winter holidays? Do you need more books? That is why we are scheduling our annual RDS book swap for the week of April 14th. Begin to browse your book shelves right now, select the titles you are willing to give away, and bring them to the Library. We will collect books for the next couple of weeks and then invite the individuals who have contributed books to the library to come choose a couple of new titles (“new” meaning new to the chooser) for their very own. Please bring us books that are appropriate for your grade, that are in good condition, and that you are willing to give away. If you need more information, come by the library.

Fourth and Fifth Grade Book Club

Thirteen of our students have chosen to spend their Tuesday lunch and recess time in the RDS library reading and discussing a book. This year these 4th and 5th graders are reading The View from the Cherry Tree, by Willo Davis Roberts. In this book an average middle-class family is preparing for the oldest daughter’s wedding, and as a result, the house is in an uproar. The younger brother, Rob, cannot stand the craziness and disorder so he spends a lot of time in the cherry tree outside his window, surveying the neighborhood. And in the process, he sees something he should not see

02.29.08

For our younger readers, Chris Van Allsburg has created another delightful book, Probuditi!. Ten-year-old Calvin gets to celebrate his birthday by taking his friend Rodney to see a magic show at a neighborhood theater. He and Calvin are fascinated by the way the magician uses hypnotism. They decide to hypnotize Calvin’s little sister Trudy, and soon she believes she’s a dog. She barks a lot, crawls out of the room with her tongue hanging out, and soon she’s outside chasing squirrels. The boys have a terrific time, but then it’s time to turn Trudy back into a girl…and they can’t.