Have you heard, reading gives you superpowers?, How awesome is that!! I knew it, I knew that sometimes I can make myself invisible.
For years I've been a fan of Dav Pilkey, author of Captain Underpants - his creativity, energetic style and he's funny. So is it any wonder that he let's us in on a secret (that reading gives you superpowers.)
Showing posts with label authors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label authors. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Sunday, October 9, 2011
The Stone Child
This was a book that was recommended by one of our students, I can definately see why he thought it would be a good addition to our library. Scary. - You guys know I don't like scary books, so why did I take it home on a gloomy, rainy, dark afternoon? Thanks for setting me up to jump at every little noise around me!
Here's the summary.
How cool! Eddie loves scary stories, and he is moving to the small town where his favourite author, Nathaniel Olmstead, used to live. The author vanished without a trace thirteen year ago, like something out of one of his own creepy novels.
But Eddie soon learns that life in Gatesweed isn't as idyllic as he hoped. He keeps seeing strange things, unreal things, horrible things that shoule only exist in Olmstead's books. How have they escaped the pages to terrorize the town?
Soon Eddie realizes that he and his new friends Harris and Maggie must solve the mystery of Olmstead's disappearance before Eddie's mom finishes writing her own scary tale, unleashing the most horrific creature of all.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Wowed by Kaleidoscope
For those of you who think I'm talking about the tube that you look into and see colorful shapes change with each little turn you'd be right, I do get wowed by those, but this time I'm talking about the Kaleidoscope 9 Children's Literature Conference. This conference is held every four years and brings together some of the best authors and illustrators from around the globe. It also brings together the best and brightest teachers and librarians from across the country.
Of course you can't make it to see all your favourites but here's a few that I did manage to see.
Shaun Tan - wow, when I saw that he was going to be at this conference I immediately signed up - he happens to be one of my favs. Here's some
stuff that I jotted down, wonderfully odd, visual rhyming, each page a complete miniature story, troubled sense of belonging, returning to a child like state, confounding, all experience has layers, melts into real life, lost stories form the past, reconstructing memories, and people to a strange place or a stranger to a known place.
If you haven't looked through The Arrival or The Rabbits you're missing out on a wondrous experience that will stick with you for a long while.
Lois Lowry - another favourite for many many reasons, and as she revealed more about herself I saw infinite caring, humor and a deeply thoughtful person. Here's some stuff I wrote - human integrity, the importance of memories, we need the sad parts to balance and give importance to the rest.
George Little Child - How I'd love for him to come to our school and do an art workshop, his ability to tell stories, explain history depicted on a colorful canvas is almost beyond words. Here's some stuff I wrote - art has been his best friend and always been there for him, oral traditionalist, pictograph influence, blood memory (intuition), stars of hope.
I did see other workshops but these three are still firmly at the forefront of my thinking. How stories are all around us. That boxes full of pictures at a grandparents house represent amazing stories to be discovered or reinvented. To think of the ordinary from an outsiders view. To enjoy another persons perspective even when it differs greatly from your own.
I'll blog on individual titles by some of these folks soon.
Of course you can't make it to see all your favourites but here's a few that I did manage to see.
Shaun Tan - wow, when I saw that he was going to be at this conference I immediately signed up - he happens to be one of my favs. Here's some
stuff that I jotted down, wonderfully odd, visual rhyming, each page a complete miniature story, troubled sense of belonging, returning to a child like state, confounding, all experience has layers, melts into real life, lost stories form the past, reconstructing memories, and people to a strange place or a stranger to a known place. If you haven't looked through The Arrival or The Rabbits you're missing out on a wondrous experience that will stick with you for a long while.
Lois Lowry - another favourite for many many reasons, and as she revealed more about herself I saw infinite caring, humor and a deeply thoughtful person. Here's some stuff I wrote - human integrity, the importance of memories, we need the sad parts to balance and give importance to the rest.
George Little Child - How I'd love for him to come to our school and do an art workshop, his ability to tell stories, explain history depicted on a colorful canvas is almost beyond words. Here's some stuff I wrote - art has been his best friend and always been there for him, oral traditionalist, pictograph influence, blood memory (intuition), stars of hope.
I did see other workshops but these three are still firmly at the forefront of my thinking. How stories are all around us. That boxes full of pictures at a grandparents house represent amazing stories to be discovered or reinvented. To think of the ordinary from an outsiders view. To enjoy another persons perspective even when it differs greatly from your own.
I'll blog on individual titles by some of these folks soon.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Click, one book - ten authors
Click - one book -ten authors. Such an interesting concept, it reminds me of a writing assignment given at a workshop where we were given the starting sentence "It was a dark and stormy night..." and then each person created the next sentence, building this crazy mismash (or terrific) story.
The ten authors of Click each contribute a chapter building the story centred around the character of George "Gee" Keane - renowned photojournalist.
As I read the book, I thought up a bunch of book report ideas, some clever, some straight-forward, some artsy and some just plain out-there, which I guess relates back to how I viewed the book. Some chapters I loved, I thought the writing and tone to be smooth and deliberate, others I thought- where is this going? and a few I had a harder time seeing how it would fit with the overall story. Which I susppose is what you get when you give a novel over to ten authors - endless possibilities.
Read on
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Shelley Tanaka / Author talk
Last night I went to hear author Shelley Tanaka speak. Tanaka is a non-fiction author and editor. Some of her books include: Amelia Earhart: the legend of the lost aviator, Climate Change, Mummies: the newest, coolest & creepiest, Earthquake, Gettysburg, D-Day, The Alamo, new Dinos, Attack on Pearl Harbor, Footnotes: dancing the world's best loved ballets, In the time of knights, Secrets of the Mummies.
What I found most interesting, was hearing Tanaka speak of her thirty year career in book industry and the changes she has seen and dealt with first hand in the publishing of non-fiction materials. Some of Shelley's earlier works were creative non-fiction (meaning creative narrative was added to enrich the facts). I think young readers enjoy a story that accompanies the factual material but I do understand the argument that they also need to be told which parts of the book might be fictionalized and which parts are factual. The publishing industry has moved away from this creative non-fiction style and seem to be embracing non-fiction books that every fact is thoroughly researched and cited.
I also enjoyed the fact that Tanaka has worn many hats within the book publishing realm. As an author she has argued with editors and publishers to keep certain pieces in a book. Likewise she has probably argued with authors to whittle down words when wearing her editors hat. I think we often forget how many changes a book sees before it ever reaches our hands and that readers sensibilities vary across the country, across our continent and across the world.
Thank you to the Lethbridge Children's Roundtable for bringing authors like Shelley Tanaka in to speak. I am reminded once again how incredible an authors role is to young people and how my role as a librarian can help bring them closer to understanding and appreciating great books.
Read on.
What I found most interesting, was hearing Tanaka speak of her thirty year career in book industry and the changes she has seen and dealt with first hand in the publishing of non-fiction materials. Some of Shelley's earlier works were creative non-fiction (meaning creative narrative was added to enrich the facts). I think young readers enjoy a story that accompanies the factual material but I do understand the argument that they also need to be told which parts of the book might be fictionalized and which parts are factual. The publishing industry has moved away from this creative non-fiction style and seem to be embracing non-fiction books that every fact is thoroughly researched and cited.
I also enjoyed the fact that Tanaka has worn many hats within the book publishing realm. As an author she has argued with editors and publishers to keep certain pieces in a book. Likewise she has probably argued with authors to whittle down words when wearing her editors hat. I think we often forget how many changes a book sees before it ever reaches our hands and that readers sensibilities vary across the country, across our continent and across the world.
Thank you to the Lethbridge Children's Roundtable for bringing authors like Shelley Tanaka in to speak. I am reminded once again how incredible an authors role is to young people and how my role as a librarian can help bring them closer to understanding and appreciating great books.
Read on.
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