Tandem Insights

Last Minute Costume Ideas

If you’re anything like me, you have a tendency to leave things till the last possible minute. Well folks, Halloween is tomorrow… if you don’t have your costume together yet, here are some ideas you might try, and the book associations they might conjure up:

Fancy Rabbit: Edward Tulane

Red dress, black-and-white striped tights, Pig snout: Olivia

Cowboy hat & plaid shirt: The Misadventures of Maude March

Orange jumpsuit, shovel: Camp Green Lake captive (Holes)

Dog: HMS Beagle (Higher Power of Lucky)

Princess Dress: Miri (Priness Academy)

Ballet outfit: Siena (To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel)

Leather jacket & Mohawk: King Maggot (Born to Rock)

 

Book of the Week: Knuffle Bunny Too

Knuffle Bunny Too: A Tale of Mistaken Identity 

Mo Willems knows kids, and kids know Knuffle Bunny.

The time is right for a sequel to the smash hit 2005 Caldecott Honor Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale. Allow me to set the scene: It’s been two years since the Laundromat Incident. Trixie is now an articulate preschooler; able to communicate in complete sentences and, like most kids her age, talking a LOT. Knuffle Bunny is headed to school with Trixie for show-and-tell. When they arrive, the case of mistaken identity begins to take shape, involving an identical Knuffle Bunny brought to class by another girl. Will it be a showdown, or an instant bonding for the classmates (and the bunnies)? You’ll have to see for yourself.

The funny illustrations match the style of the first book, featuring black-and-white photos of Park Slope, Brooklyn with Willems’s colorful drawings of the human (and bunny) characters added in. As with all of Willems’ books, sly details are thrown in that adults will find hilarious. My favorite part is when the girls argue over the correct pronunciation of “Knuffle,” a nod to actual debate among readers when the first book came out. Willems’ ability to bridge the gap between adult humor and childhood events makes reading his picture books a delightful experience for all.

Click here to view in the Tandem Library Books online bookstore.

New and Exciting in October

October is winding to a close, and because all you’ll be thinking about next week is Halloween, here’s our round-up of some of our favorite new books from this month.

Emi and the Rhino Scientist by Mary Kay Carson with photographs by Tom Uhlman is the latest installment in the Scientists in the Field series, which features photo-filled books on topics ranging from tarantulas to the woods.  These fascinating (and, yes, educational) books can be used from upper elementary school on up. The Rhino Scientist is Terri Roth, and Emi is a rare Sumatra rhino. Sumatra rhinos are smaller with stubbier horns than the image I had in my head of “rhino.” This book chronicles Terri’s years-long struggle to help Emi become a mother. I’m giving away the ending by telling you that Terri and Emi are successful, with Emi becoming the first Sumatran rhino to give birth in captivity in over a century. However, you’ll have to read the book yourself to see the amazingly cute pictures of the new rhino calf!

Melanie Watts became a Tandem favorite with her book Scaredy Squirrel. Her new character--a big, wily, opinionated cat named Chester--is giving Scaredy Squirrel a run for his money. OK, we admit it, we’re suckers for books about books. Chester begins as the story of a mouse, but then Chester, the cat, takes over with a fat red marker, sending the mouse on vacation and turning the dog vegetarian. This hilarious picture book even features a red-marker dotted circle on the cover, with text noting “Place My Award Here.” Chester is nothing if not confident!

I was fortunate enough to see the “Newberyettes”--Sharon Creech, Kate DiCamillo, and Katherine Paterson--perform a short selection from Sharon Creech’s newest title, The Castle Corona, at the Newbery Reader's Theater in St. Paul two weeks ago. Kate DiCamillo made an excellent King Guido! King Guido rules over a very small feudal kingdom from the Castle Corona. The kingdom, and therefore Guido’s life, usually run very smoothly, but now there is a thief in the kingdom. He has stolen a pouch which two peasant children find. These peasant children, Pia and Enzio, discover that the contents of the pouch have the power to change their lives completely. David Diaz has provided gorgeous illustrations throughout this original fairy tale for older elementary school students and fairy tale lovers of all ages.

Here's a list of more exciting October releases.

Book of the Week: Long May She Reign

Meg Powers is back!  The smart, snarky, courageous daughter of the first female president of the United States, last seen back in 1989 in the ALA Best Book for Young Adults Long Live the Queen (currently, and very sadly, out of print) finally gets her chance to go to college. Long May She Reign is actually the fourth book in what used to be a trilogy, but it can easily stand alone.

Meg is trying, not very successfully, to recover from being kidnapping by terrorists. She was starved, beaten, had her knee viciously kicked to ruins, and was then left chained to the ground in an abandoned mine to die.  She escaped by smashing her hand with a rock, so it would fit through the handcuff, and crawling through the woods until she found help. Enough to traumatize anyone, but to top it all off, in Long May She Reign we learn that the terrorists are still out there. Somewhere. Anywhere.

So Meg, in addition to the normal pressures of starting college, has to deal with the nightmares and after-effects of the kidnapping, which include physical therapy and food issues. Then there's the press always following her, because she is a celebrity now. And to top it all off, there's the fact that her mother is the president, and her mother, as president, refused to negotiate with the terrorists. Meg is attempting to come to terms with the fact that her mother basically wrote her own daughter off.  Talk about having a lot on your plate freshman year...

But the book is not all dark. Humor seeps into it at every turn--and compassion and grace.  Meg tries to navigate college classes, new friendships, and a potential boyfriend, whose reputation is not stellar. This is a book about a college-age girl, so there is swearing, drinking, and a spot or two of making out, but it all is seamlessly part of the enthralling glimpse into a very complicated, very real life readers will get from Long May She Reign.

Picture Books for Older Readers Round Up

All last week I posted about how fairy tales aren’t just for little kids.  And, it seems, neither are picture books these days.  Teachers and librarians have long been using picture books with upper elementary and middle school students to great effect.  Some use wordless picture books like those by David Wiesner and Barbara Lehman to inspire creative writing assignments (or even foreign language writing assignments).  Others use historical fiction like Eve Bunting’s Terrible Things to start off social studies units or a book like Jacqueline Woodson’s Show Way to bring up a discussion of truth.  One might also bring a little humor into that discussion with John, Paul, George & Ben, which is a hilarious look at the founding fathers.

Add to your Holocaust curriculum with Memories of Survival.  This beautiful picture book tells the story of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz’s experience during World War II, illustrated by remarkably intricate embroidered panels. The story is in Esther’s words, supplemented by her daughter Bernice’s contextual explanations about the time and place. In the introduction Bernice said that while many Holocaust survivors refused to speak of the past, her mother “couldn’t keep from telling” about the things she experienced. She tried writing her stories in notebooks, but eventually she wanted to show her children visually what her life had been like. That was the beginning of The Esther Project. She used her talent as a seamstress to create these embroidered panels to tell her story visually.  This critically acclaimed book is not to be missed in any collection of picture books for older readers.

Picture books are great opportunities to talk about art and photography with your students.  P Is for Peanut is a photography book disguised as an alphabet book.  It features twenty-six black and white photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum collection.  Each photo is accompanied by a simple statement that is sometimes obvious and sometimes might make you think about what the photograph is saying.  At once playful, witty, and dramatic, this alphabet book is definitely for more than just those learning their ABCs. 

But photography books aren’t just for art teachers.  English teachers will want to take note of Charles R. Smith’s new picture book version of a Rudyard Kipling’s poem, If: A Father’s Advice to His Son.  Smith takes the classic poem and pairs the lines with his signature photographs of athletes in action.  He writes in the afterword that he wanted to use sports to illustrate the poem because to him “sports share the virtues explored in “If”: confidence, determination, leadership, effort, and the ability to dream.”  Use this book to connect poetry with sports or to start a group discussion about the poem.

You Can't Spell "Tandem" Without T-E-A-M: Recap of a Speech by Author Catherine Thimmesh

It’s always fun to connect with authors in real life. There are several children’s and YA authors living in our hometown, the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and we keep our eyes peeled in case we run ever into one at the grocery store or walking the dog. Even better, this week we had the chance to hear local author Catherine Thimmesh’s keynote speech at the University of Minnesota Book Week event.

Catherine is the winner of the 2007 Sibert Medal for Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. Her speech discussed the research process behind this fascinating story, as well as the question she is most often asked by readers: “How do you get your ideas?” In the case of Team Moon, the answer was, quite literally, “By staring out the window!” After conducting taped interviews, visiting the NASA archives in Washington, D.C., and poring over lots of source material, Catherine began writing. Her goal for the book was to create a succinct narrative that emphasized the importance of the team as a whole.

Here at Tandem Insights, the team mindset prevails. So we appreciated her opinion when asked what she hopes readers will take from Team Moon: Catherine wants readers to realize the potential in teamwork. She feels that society has moved away from cooperative efforts and toward a “me-centered” culture where success equates to individual triumph. Most people think only of the astronauts when they think of the moon landing. But there really were 400,000 people involved in getting it right. One of them was actually in attendance at this lecture! Toward the end of the Q&A, a woman raised her hand and identified herself as someone who helped arrange housing for the engineers.

There are tons of interesting facts and stories in Catherine Thimmesh’s lively books. Click here for a list of all her titles in the Tandem Library Books online bookstore. And keep up the good teamwork!

Fairy Tales for Teens

Once upon a time fairy tales were only read to children, but once upon an even older time fairy tales were meant for adults just as much as kids.  These days there are versions of various fairy tales for all ages, including plenty of options for teens.  There are the creative re-imaginings that combine several stories like Sarah Beth Durst’s Into the Wild, this week’s Book of the Week.  And there are others that bring one story alive like the classic Beauty by Robin McKinley. 

Whatever the story’s origin, fairy tales often involve some kind of magic and a transformation.  A peasant girl becomes a beautiful princess.  A simpleton becomes a hero.  And so on.  All of these stories reflect the culture from which they came.  As do modern fairy tales like Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block.  This post-modern fairy tale may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it certainly captures the magical world of Los Angeles in which Weetzie lives, and the genie from the lamp transforms her life as he grants her wishes.

Writers are getting inventive when it comes to the genre of fairy tales.  For example, Enchantment by Orson Scott Card takes Sleeping Beauty’s story and gives it a time travel twist. Or perhaps you like more realistic stories?  Try Letters From Rapunzel by Sara Lewis Holmes.  Candace Brogan is a modern day girl looking at life through the stories her father used to tell her.  She takes on the name Rapunzel and writes from what feels like an isolated tower in this endearing middle school novel.

There’s something for everyone in this list of fairy tale retellings, spoofs, and adaptations for middle and high school collections.

Book of the Week: Into the Wild

It's tough being Rapunzel's daughter.  Sometimes all Julie wants is to live a normal life instead of having magical items she can't use locked in the linen closet and having a cat for a brother.  But that all comes with the territory when your mother is a legend among her own kind.  Rapunzel, owner of Rapunzel's Hair Salon, is the hero who helped all the fairy tale characters, including Goldilocks, Cinderella, and others, escape the Wild Wood, where they were trapped in their stories--living them over and over again.

Now, they all live relatively normal lives in the real world.  And Julie is stuck in the middle.  She knows too much about the Wild Wood to be a normal junior high school student.  But she's not quite as special as her mother's fairy tale friends.

But that in-the-middle status will come in handy when the Wild Wood starts taking over and finding new stories in which to trap people.  Julie is the only one who can stop the Wild from growing.

Fairy tale fans will love Into the Wild''s unusual look at fairy tales from an outsider's perspective.  This light-hearted fantasy-adventure will be familiar and new at the same time to most middle school readers. 

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