Tandem Insights

Book of the Week: Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky is powerful take on Lewis Carroll’s well-loved nonsensical poem and a sure fire hit for today’s young readers.  Illustrations come alive in electric color, framing and taking charge of Carroll’s bold verse.

An urban basketball court is the setting for a face-off between an epic challenger and hopeful contender.  Lime green, yellow, fuchsia, red, orange and sky blue text color the mood as the bold young hero takes on the Jabberwock in a game of one-on-one.  Control and thought arm the hero in what should be an impossible match-up versus the fourteen-fingered slam-dunking beast.  Students and teachers in grades four and up will find many lessons in this picture book for all ages: analysis of the setting for Myers’ illustrated interpretation, study of the use of portmanteaux in Carroll’s poem from his novel Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871), or defining words of poems even if they are beyond definition.

Christopher Myers delivers a poem with punch.

Click here to view other books written and/or illustrated by Myers, one of today’s most talented children’s book illustrators.  Included on the list are: Harlem which earned a Caldecott Honor for illustrations, as well as Black Cat and Jazz which both earned Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honors.

First-Time Authors

First-time authors are getting a lot of press lately with The Class of 2k7 and now The Class of 2k8 ready to roll, as well as the new William C. Morris YA Debut Award. The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) will announce the first recipient in January 2009. With hundreds of debuts by young adult novelists each year and new ways to celebrate and spread the word about these debuts, we’d like to chime in with our favorites from 2007 that are not to be missed:

Linda Urban’s A Crooked Kind of Perfect is a middle grade novel about what happens when reality doesn’t quite match up with your expectations.  Both funny and heartwarming, A Crooked Kind of Perfect is a potential pick to win the Newbery.

More intermediate level author debuts from 2007

Skulduggery Pleasant is an ace detective, a snappy dresser, a crackerjack sorcerer with razor-tongued wit, and a skeleton. He also happens to be the Tandem Collection Development Team’s Favorite Hero of 2007.  How could he not win an award just for being him? Watch for all of our team’s 2007 Award picks in our upcoming Spring Must-Have Titles catalog, coming January 2008.

More middle school level author debuts from 2007

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr is a great read-alike for Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books.  This incredibly popular 21st century faery tale is void of vampires, and unlike Bella in Meyers’ books, Aislinn desperately wants to stay human.

More high school level author debuts from 2007

Book of the Week: Elijah of Buxton

Middle schoolers studying slavery and the Underground Railroad or just looking for a solid coming-of-age fiction adventure will be glad they picked up Christopher Paul Curtis’ newest gem Elijah of Buxton. 

Set in 1860, Elijah of Buxton is the story of eleven-year-old Elijah who goes from “fra-gile” to “growed-up” in the settlement of Buxton, Canada.  Teachers will appreciate Curtis’ tremendous historical research of Buxton and its original settlers’ lives and may be pleased as I was that the Author’s Note provides more background on Buxton’s history. 

Young and old will take away the very formidable message of how ultimately every person in Buxton has some relationship to a past of slavery and how it is “something inside so strong that it flies forever.”  High-spirited and humorous, engaging and important, Curtis once again makes the grade.

Here's a list of companion MS novels which complement Elijah of Buxton.

Fiction Based on Fact

Sometimes the best stories don’t come entirely from a writer’s imagination.  They come from history.  Fact-based fiction remains a popular choice with many teens for its element of truth while still telling a good story.  Here are a couple of ideas why and examples of titles that fit the bill for your teens who can’t get enough fact-based fiction:

Fact-based fiction is a welcome departure from textbook study as YA readers are looking for other ways to learn about major historical events and other curricular areas of study.  Letters From a Slave Girl: The Story of Harriet Jacobs by Mary Lyons, which relates a fictionalized version of the life of Harriet Jacobs, is told in the form of letters that she might have written during her slavery in North Carolina as she prepares for escape to the North in 1842.

YA readers are increasingly interested in books with intense and emotional past and present events.  Fact-based fiction can provide a more intimate connection to the people involved.  Run, Boy, Run by Uri Orlev is a good example of this as it is based on the true story of a nine-year-old boy who escapes the Warsaw Ghetto and must survive throughout the war in the Nazi-occupied Polish countryside.

When fact-based research provides a solid foundation for a book, couple it with a story in the language, as well as political and cultural climate of the time, and the past comes alive.  This up-close and engaging view challenges YA readers to think “outside the box” and see the world beyond their daily dealings.  Iqbal by Francesco D'Adamo is a great example of a fictionalized account that can help teens cultivate a global perspective.  This story of a Pakistani child who escaped from bondage in a carpet factory and went on to help liberate other children like him before being gunned down at the age of thirteen may make the world a bigger place for many teens who aren’t familiar with life in that part of the world.

All types of fiction, including fact-based fiction, can be a form of escapism.  Loving Will Shakespeare by Carolyn Meyer tells of the passion and romance between the world’s most famous playwright and the woman who risked everything to be with him.  A great choice for your teens who love historical romance or who are fans of the bard.

Check out this list of Fiction Based on Fact with the titles mentioned above and more for your MS and HS students.

Book of the Week: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian imparts a universally valuable lesson for high school students on how to deal with pressure and what it means to be brave.  This semi-autobiographical tale written by Sherman Alexie for YA readers focuses on one year in the life of Arnold Spirit, a 14 year-old living on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State.  The beginning of the school year gets off to a rough start for Arnold, a.k.a. Junior.  Readers and Junior are forced to take stock of all the hardships he has to maneuver daily because he is a stereotypical target for bullying and feels true hopelessness at this point in his life.  The clear conclusion, that Junior is at a breaking point, is one most teenagers can relate to in one way or another.

After the desperate and heartfelt suggestion of one of his teachers, Junior sets his sights on the promise of hope outside of the reservation.  Breaking through boundaries set by his friends, family, school and community, Junior transfers to Reardan, an all-white school twenty miles away from home.  Through a balanced storyline that is both frank and humorous with tremendous black-and-white pencil sketches by artist Ellen Forney, readers are pulled deep into Junior’s daily courage and determination.  Junior proves able to lay claim to the hope that first lead him on a path away from the reservation to where he now finds himself.  By the end of the book, now more than a “part-time” Indian, Junior allows readers to share in how he may reconcile the harsh reality of contemporary life on the reservation and his future ahead.

View this book in the Tandem Library Books Online Bookstore

Teen Read WeekTM Round Up

Everyone likes to laugh, right?  Well, rubber chickens, whoopee cushions, and handshake buzzers may not be what the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has in mind for this year’s Teen Read Week^TM (TRW), but you can bet that with a theme of LOL @ your library, people are going to be having a good time.  Good thing too, because TRW’s initiative aims to encourage 12-18 year-olds to “Read For The Fun Of It” and with its 10-year anniversary to celebrate this October 14-20, 2007 you can bet plenty of teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers and other concerned adults will be ROTFL (Rolling on the floor laughing) or at the very least LOL / GOL (Laughing / Giggling out loud).

Who knows you may already have these books on display for this year’s TRW-  GMTA (Great minds do think alike), but if you’re game here’s a round up of some funny YA fiction for MS and HS students:

Sue Limb’s fun and funny British-flavored series that will not disappoint students in Grades 7-10-   Jess Jordan takes us through her teenage life with razor-sharp observations and deadpan humor as a Girl, 15: Charming But Insane, Girl (Nearly) 16: Absolute Torture and Girl, Going on 17: Pants on Fire. The fourth Girl 15 series book, Girl, 15: Flirting for England, is due out in January 2008 and is a prequel to book one.

Fans of the Girl 15 series will also what to check out Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicolson’s diary series.  Georgia Nicolson, like Jess Jordan, is from Billy Shakespeare land, but her diaries include the kind of heartbreaking, embarrassing, and familiar confessions that so many Hamburger-a-gogo land dwellers already find marvey.

Neal Shusteman’s Schwa Was Here is aimed at middle school readers and while being funny teaches readers that even accidental relationships can be better than expected.  This book’s characters are so real and interesting that all readers will want to keep up with this unlikely crew and its adventures.

Tried and true favorite to make you LOL are Richard Peck’s A Long Way from Chicago and companion novel A Year Down Yonder where Joey and his sister, Mary Alice spend nine unforgettable summers with the worst influence imaginable—their grandmother!

     

Please visit Teen Read Week^TM website for more information and ideas.

Science Achievement

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has been making waves in news headlines at the school, state, national and international level since its introduction in 2001.  The four pillars of NCLB that remain constant are based on stronger accountability for results, more freedom for states and communities, proven education methods, and more choices for parents.

Forthcoming state science assessments required by the 2007-2008 school year under NCLB bring states another wave of headlines, the most recent being the so-called America COMPETES Act, the purpose of which is to strengthen the quality of the U.S. workforce and guard the economy against foreign competition.  Mandating states to have high quality science assessments in place to be administered at least once during the grade spans of grades 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12 is only one among several ways President Bush and Congress have set out to boost science achievement.  Check out The Facts About... Science Achievement for all the facts concerning the challenges and solutions for science NCLB achievement in your state.

Just what do students need to know science-wise as they move through the K-12 educational pipeline?  Check out Dare To Compare from The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).   Do you have what it takes to make the grade as a science student in today's science classrooms? 

NCES is located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences, is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.

Favorite Science Picture Book Authors

Today I’d like to feature seven of our favorite authors or author-illustrators whose science titles are beyond comparison: Nic Bishop, Vicki Cobb, Gail Gibbons, Steve Jenkins, Sandra Markle, Sy Montgomery, and Seymour Simon. 

Each of these authors or author-illustrators has earned a broad-level of recognition from teachers, librarians, students and others.  Glancing through the titles on today’s featured list I came up with a few reason’s why each are awarded a place on so many school, library and home bookshelves. Please see if you agree:

• Movitating--Eye-catching, exciting and appealing illustrations enhance a commitment to learning, knowing and using science
• Accessible--Great potential for classroom teaching as well as a simple and effective approach to science themed topic to individual study
• Outstanding--Inspires and informs while being accurate, concise and clear
• Useful--Encourages further scientific exploration and allows for curriculum connections

A few well-reputed awards to recognize outstanding science books written for a K-12 audience include the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12, Giverny Book Award, American Institute of Physics (AIP) Science Writing Award for Children, and Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award.

View some of the award winning titles from these favorite science authors.

Book of the Week: Living Color

Living Color is not only our book of the week, but it is the book of the day as today is its publication date!  Written and illustrated by Jenkins, this picture book delivers what we’ve come to expect from this Caldecott Honor winner: a fun and exciting look at science.  Both eye-catching and inviting Living Color starts the reader out with an introduction about animals and color before entering into the heart of the book- its signature cut-paper collage illustrations, short paragraphs with tag lines, and descriptions of each animal by color- and closes with further information and an animal glossary listing each animal by color with its name, picture, body length, habitat and diet.  A Fall 2007 Book Sense Children’s Pick, Living Color brings to life 66 animals from a red salamander to a pink squat lobster and captures the wonder and art of science beautifully for its target audience of K-3 readers. 

Such an assortment of wildlife, scientific observations and hues in nature will partner well with K-8 science lessons exploring animal color, camouflage, survival, environment and / or behavior.  On his website Jenkins shares his appreciation of science, which Jenkins says “can be defined as a way of thinking about and understanding things”, and calls out the excitement (and sometimes challenges) it brings to a K-12 classroom.  “Ultimately”, he says, “(science) is a very powerful tool”. 

Science is a powerful and important tool for students of any age so please keep eyes open for Jenkins’ next picture book due out this fall:  Vulture Views written by April Pulley Sayre (Henry Holt & Co., October).

View this book on the Tandem Library Books Online Bookstore.