January 22, 2007...3:17 am
Seattle, Day 3, Part 2
Our second visit to the exhibit hall was interrupted by an Unfortunate Event: my daughter lost her conference badge. I’m ashamed to admit that I was not very gracious and instead of reassuring her that “everything will be okay,” I got angry and made her cry. (For the record, I did apologize.) The good news is that the ALA conference folks were very gracious and printed her out a new badge. But the whole thing did put a dent in our exhibit hall time.
I wanted to take the opportunity to demonstrate how I choose books. The process is (surprisingly) similar to the “How to Choose a Good Book for Yourself” activity that we just did with Windsor 7.
I judge books by their covers. Here are a couple of books that I chose simply based on the cover art:
Here are some that I chose just because the titles sounded interesting:
Thou Shalt Not Kill Unless Otherwise Instructed: Poems and Stories by Mike Sharpe
Speed Show: How Nascar Won the Heart of America by Dave Caldwell
James Houston’s Treasury of Inuit Legends: Stories and Drawings by James Houston
These are books that I chose because I recognized (and liked) the authors:
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko (Notes from a Liar and Her Dog and Al Capone Does My Shirts)
The Breakup Bible: A Novel by Melissa Kantor (Confessions of a Not It Girl)
Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins (Monsoon Summer and The Not-so-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen)
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy)
These are books that I chose because I saw something on the cover that let me know that they were graphic novels, which I LOVE:
The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
Houdini: The Handcuff King by Jason Lutes & Nick Bertozzi
Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age edited by Ariel Schrag
These are books that looked a little interesting, so I picked each one up, read the blurb on the back, flipped through it, and then asked the person selling it to “tell me more.” After learning a bit more about each book, I was definitely interested:
Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks “Cadel Piggott has a genius IQ and a fascination with systems of all kinds. At seven he was illegally hacking into computers, and now at fourteen, he’s studying for his World Domination degree at the Axis Institute founded by criminal mastermind Dr. Phineas Darkkon.” - from back cover
Piratepedia “This time travel manual will transport you to the world’s most dangerous seas, where you’ll fight in the bloodiest battles with history’s cruelest cutthroats, from Egyptian Sea People to Blackbeard to pirates of today.” - from the back cover
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick “With 284 pages of original drawings and combining elements of picture book, graphic novel, and film, Brian Selznick breaks open the novel form to create an entirely new reading experience.” - from the back cover
All the books that I have talked about so far, are still only just a small sample of what I have picked up here at the conference! I can’t wait to get back and share them all with you!
This evening, I had the wonderful opportunity to hear a talk from Chris Crutcher, one of the most challenged and banned authors in the United States. He is both an author and an adolescent and family therapist. Many of the characters in his books were inspired by young people he has met through his practice as an adolescent therapist. His books are very gritty and contain a lot of rough language - one the reasons they are frequently challenged and banned. He said to us, in defense of the “language” he uses in his books, “I have to tell the stories in their native tongues. … If you censor that voice, you censor that kid. … If you ban that book, you ban that kid. … If we don’t want to hear about it because we don’t like the way it’s said. Well, that’s just crazy.”
He was an awesome speaker! He’s another one that we have just got to bring to Maine!
After his talk, he stayed for more than an hour and autographed books. I bought - and got autographed for YOU - Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories, King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography, The Sledding Hill, and Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes.
The awards will be announced tomorrow. Stay tuned…
Ms McDaniel
15 Comments
January 22, 2007 at 6:41 am
Now that Windsor 6 reading has just finished Butterfly and is preparing to read the play of Diary of Anne Frank we would be very intrigued by Someone Named Eva too. Like you just the cover would be enough to peak my curiosity. Is Eva a young Nazi sympathizer? Her facial expression is curious too. (While you’re there will you also make a mental note of some new got to know about African American authored or content rich titles for the preschool set as well as the middle school set?) Can’t wait to hear more news! Thanks for the blog!
January 22, 2007 at 8:57 am
Two Windsor-6 classes will be viewing your blog today. Thanks for working on this!
January 22, 2007 at 9:01 am
By the way, I am VERY excited about the autographed book your purchased for Windsor-6-Stuck in Neutral.
On another note, I highly recommend the fish market in Seattle for a little entertainment and a good lesson on the importance of having fun in your job!
January 22, 2007 at 9:49 am
We were wondering how much a Playaway costs?
January 22, 2007 at 9:55 am
Why did they even think of throwing the baseball out of the space needle? Going that fast it could probably hurt somebody really badly.
January 22, 2007 at 9:56 am
The book The Golden Rat is a very good book. I’m glad you picked to bring it back to the library.
Sincerely, Grant
January 22, 2007 at 9:59 am
Do you think a playaway is a good thing or an overpriced copy?
January 22, 2007 at 3:18 pm
My York 7 language Arts classes will be viewing your BLOG tomorow. We can’t wait to hear the results!
January 22, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Thank you for the blog. My classes will be viewing your blog tomorrow. We can’t wait to hear the reults.
January 24, 2007 at 12:34 am
Ms Anderson,
I have come across so many great new (and upcoming) books!
I also picked up and We Beat the Street publisher’s reading group guide for you.
The book, Someone Named Eva, seems to be inspired by a real story about Aryan-looking children who were kidnapped by the German government, had their names changed and were forced to serve as Aryan models for the Nazi government. Sounds interesting, huh?
Did I mention the chocolate CDs that one exhibitor was giving out … ?
January 24, 2007 at 12:37 am
Mrs. MacDonald,
You are very welcome for the autographed book.
We did not get to the Market, but I loved Seattle and plan to come back for another visit.
A playaway costs as much as an audiobook on CD, between $20 and $50, depending on the length of the recording.
January 24, 2007 at 12:39 am
Sam A.
One of the Space Needle tour guides told us that over this past summer, some idiot threw a soda bottle from the Observation Deck and it destroyed a car. Good thing it didn’t hit a person. The culprit was caught and, according to the tour guide, suffered for his crime.
January 24, 2007 at 12:41 am
Grant,
I thought that book, The Golden Rat, looked really exciting. I haven’t read it yet. If you’re interested, I’ll let you read it first, okay?
January 24, 2007 at 12:45 am
Zakaria,
I really liked the playaway. It is not more expensive than an audiobook on CD and it is its own playing device, so you don’t need to download the audio book CDs onto an iPod. You can also plug speakers into it and have a whole group listen. Each playaway comes in a case (with earphones) that is the size of a paperback book. Even a book as long as Eragon - 24 hours of playing time - fits on one playaway. Personally, I think it’s a great new technology.
January 24, 2007 at 12:47 am
Mrs. Hatch,
I hope you and you classes enjoyed the blog. I certainly enjoyed keeping in touch.
As a former primary school teacher, you may be the only one who appreciates the final (Day 5) blog and our visit around Beverly Cleary’s neighborhood.
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