SLIS 5420 Maniac Magee

Week Three: Newbery Award - Maniac Magee 

Book Summary: 

            At three years old, Jeffery Magee was orphaned when his parents died in a famous trolley crash.  He lived, unhappily, with his closest living relatives, an unhappy aunt and uncle, until in the middle of a school program eight years later when he yelled and screamed at them to talk to each other before running out the door and away for good.  Jeffery Magee ran for ages, until he finally found a family and home in the unlikely place of East End, the side where only blacks lived, of Two Mills. 

             Jeffery takes a journey from the point when he escapes his unhappy life with his aunt and uncle, thus becoming homeless.  Throughout Jeffery Magee’s journey, myths swirled around him because he could hit baseballs thrown by John McNab (who could strike out anyone), he could untie an unruly knot know to any child’s shoe, and he was allergic to pizza.  People noticed Jeffery Magee was not a normal kid.  Jeffery could see the good in people regardless of age, race, socioeconomics, or any other factors that so many others considered important.  Plus, he could run, and did, for miles.  All of these reasons, and more, cause others to start calling Jeffery Maniac, and so it stuck.

         

APA Reference: 

Spinelli, J. (1990). Maniac Magee. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.   

My Impressions: 

            There were so many Newberry award winning books I wanted to read for this week, but I choose Maniac Magee because this past year I had several 7^th grade students talking about how much they loved reading it in 6^th grade.  I thought it would be good to know what they loved about it.

            As I started, I wasn’t immediately drawn in, but I could see how my students may have liked it.  By the middle of the book, when the race relations had really heated up, I totally understood why my kids loved this book.  I teach in a fairly low socioeconomic school with kids of every racial background imaginable; this book talked to them, and about them.  Although this book is set in a time period when towns were divided by imaginary lines, and people of one race did not cross to the side where another race lived, a lot of truth still exists around the racism Jeffery Magee faced both when he lived on the East End and the West.  I was especially intrigued that one of the strongest comments of racism directed at Magee came from an older black man from the East End.  Although the West End had it's share of people who thought the blacks from the East End were going to attack one day, so they might as well protect themselves, this man simply felt that if the white people didn’t want him on their side, Magee shouldn’t be on his.  So he told him to go back, and eventually it causes Magee to leave the only place he has ever felt at home. 

            Of course, Magee finds other places to stay and other people to live with, but it is never quite as wonderful as the Beale’s house.  He does come close when he finds a grandfatherly figure in Grayson, but it is short lived and the heartbreak Grayson’s death causes Magee is almost too much to bear, for him and the reader. 

            Overall, my impressions of Maniac Magee are favorable.  I feel like it is a palatable story for kids, but still brings up important issues that affect their lives.  Since it is told in a format that is part tall tale and part fictionalized biography, it is easier to read parts that could be difficult.  This is a good book for older elementary and middle school students, especially those in lower socioeconomic areas.             

A Favorite Quote: 

“Maniac kept trying, but he still couldn’t see it, this color business.  He didn’t figure he was white anymore than the East Enders were black.  He looked himself over pretty hard and came up with at least seven different shades and colors right on his own skin, not one of them being what he would call white.” (Spinelli, p. 58)

Professional Review: 

          Gr 6-10-- Warning: this interesting book is a mythical story about racism. It should not be read as reality. Legend springs up about Jeffrey ``Maniac'' Magee, a white boy who runs faster and hits balls farther than anyone, who lives on his own with amazing grace, and is innocent as to racial affairs. After running away from a loveless home, he encounters several families, in and around Two Mills, a town sharply divided into the black East End and the white West End. Black, feisty Amanda Beale and her family lovingly open their home to Maniac, and tough, smart-talking ``Mars Bar'' Thompson and other characters are all, to varying degrees, full of prejudices and unaware of their own racism. Racial epithets are sprinkled throught the book; Mars Bar calls Maniac ``fishbelly,'' and blacks are described by a white character as being ``today's Indians.'' In the final, disjointed section of the book, Maniac confronts the hatred that perpetuates ignorance by bringing Mars Bar to meet the Pickwells--``the best the West End had to offer.'' In the feel-good ending, Mars and Maniac resolve their differences; Maniac gets a home and there is hope for at least improved racial relations. Unreal? Yes. It's a cop-out for Spinelli to have framed this story as a legend--it frees him from having to make it real, or even possible. Nevertheless, the book will stimulate thinking about racism, and it might help educate those readers who, like so many students, have no first-hand knowledge of people of other races. Pathos and compassion inform a short, relatively easy-to-read story with broad appeal, which suggests that to solve problems of racism, people must first know each other as individuals. --Joel Shoemaker, Tilford Middle School, Vinton, IA

Shoemaker, J. (June 1990). Maniac Magee [Review of the book Maniac Magee by J. Spinelli]. School Library Journal, 36,  
          138. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/

Library Uses: 

In a school setting, after reading the book in class, the library could hold a “book club” discussion continuing with activities inspired by the book.  There could be a massive knot-untying contest (between classes or teams) where the winner gets a pizza party, of course, because pizza was Maniac’s prize.   There could also be short sprinting races or reading while walking “races” to mimic other things Manic does throughout the book. 

SLIS 5420 FLOTSAM

Week Two: Caldecott Winners – 2007 – Flotsam by David Wiesner

Book Summary:

            Without words, Wiesner shows the story of a boy hanging out on the beach and analyzing crabs and sea life.  Then, after a wave crashes over him, he finds an antique underwater camera, a piece of flotsom.  The boy asks a lifeguard if it belongs to anyone, finds a roll of film, takes the film to be developed, buys another roll, and finally sees the magical photographs of mechanical fish, octopus living rooms, colonies of sea creatures living on turtles, and other fantastic seascapes.  When he gets to the beginning of the photos, he sees a girl on a beach holding a photo of a boy on a beach holding a photo and so on.  There are at least ten children who have photographed themselves before returning the camera to the sea as the boy eventually does as well.  After he throws the camera back into the sea, squid, seahorses, and fish help it along to a world of merpeople.  Eventually we see the camera as it is floating ashore to another child on a beach.  


APA Reference: 

Wiesner, D. (2006). Flotsam. New York, NY: Clarion Books.


My Impressions:  

            Photography is a passion of mine and I love most anything ocean related, so this book was instant love for me.  Wiesner’s illustrations are amazingly detailed, and the colors used reflect all the beautiful colors of the ocean.  I love how close up Wiesner gets to his subjects; the illustrations are framed similar to the way photographers shoot, thus mimicking the story. 
            As far as reading a wordless story to others, it may be difficult because everyone will have a slightly different take on how it should be told.  The story is set up meticulously from the time the boy finds the camera to him looking at the developed photographs, but the stories behind each photograph could vary for every person who reads the book.  I also think it would be interesting to see how many children understand how film works, especially 120 film.  Even many older children haven’t seen much film in their lifetime, so even though the book is quite recent, some kids may not understand.   


Professional Reviews:

“From arguably the most inventive and cerebral visual storyteller in children's literature, comes a wordless invitation to drift with the tide, with the story, with your eyes, with your imagination. A boy at the beach picks up a barnacle-encrusted underwater camera. He develops the film, which produces, first, pictures of a surreal undersea world filled with extraordinary details (i.e., giant starfish bestride the sea carrying mountainous islands on their backs), and then a portrait of a girl holding a picture of a boy holding a picture of another boy … and so on … and on. Finally, the boy needs a microscope to reveal portraits of children going back in time to a sepia portrait of a turn-of-the-century lad in knickers. The boy adds his own self-portrait to the others, casts the camera back into the waves, and it is carried by a sea creature back to its fantastic depths to be returned as flotsam for another child to find. In Wiesner's much-honored style, the paintings are cinematic, coolly restrained and deliberate, beguiling in their sibylline images and limned with symbolic allusions. An invitation not to be resisted. (Picture book. 6-11)”

Flotsam [Review of the book Flotsam by D. Wiesner]. (2006). Kirkus Reviews, 74(15), 798-799.Retrieved from 
         http://www.kirkusreviews.com/ 


“With its careful array of beachcombed items, the title page spread of Wiesner's latest picture book makes it look like one of those Eyewitness books, but the following wordless story is far stranger than fact. In clue-and fancy-strewn full-page paintings and panels, a boy at the beach closely examines items and animals washed in from the sea; when a wave deposits an old camera on the shore, his viewing takes a radical shift. He gets the camera's film developed at a nearby shop, allowing Wiesner's bountiful imagination great play in the series of photos the boy then examines: a robot fish, an octopus reading aloud to its offspring, giant starfish with islands on their backs. And: a seaside photo of a girl holding a seaside photo of a boy, holding a seaside photo of another child, ad infinitum. The inquisitive boy's ready magnifying glass and microscope allow him to see further and further into the photo, and further back in time, as revealed by the increasingly old-fashioned clothes worn by the children pictured. What to do but add himself to the sequence? The meticulous and rich detail of Wiesner's watercolors makes the fantasy involving and convincing; children who enjoyed scoping out Banyai's Zoom books and Lehman's The Red Book will keep a keen eye on this book about a picture of a picture of a picture of a....”

Sutton, R. (2006). [Review of the book Flotsam by D. Wiesner]. Horn Book Magazine, 82(5), 571-572.Retrieved from 
          http://www.hbook.com


Library Uses:

            Flotsam could be used in many ways in a library setting.  The book could be used as part of a display on ocean life, Caldecott winners, or of wordless books.  It could also be used to show children how pictures can drive a story by using it in an interactive read aloud where kids give ideas to what is happening on some of the pages.  Having children draw their own underwater scene after reading the book to them would be a great activity as well. 

SLIS 5420 The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Week Two: Caldecott Winners – 2008 - The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick



Summary:

Hugo Cabret is a twelve-year-old boy who comes from a family of horologists, or clock makers, and is brilliantly capable of creating, fixing, and simply keeping clocks and anything mechanical in order.  After being orphaned and his uncle disappears, Hugo becomes the clock keeper of a busy train station, so he must keep his life hidden and go on as if nothing has happened in order to not be sent to an orphanage.  When Hugo’s life suddenly intertwines with a young girl and her Godfather, a toymaker and shop owner, he feels his deepest secrets are in danger of being revealed.  Once he befriends the girl, his life changes as he tells her of the automaton he is restoring, his father’s death, and the unfortunate circumstances causing him to live in the train station.  The girl’s life is impacted as well when she finds out the reason why she lives with her Godparents, and her Godfather rediscovers his lost passion of films.

APA Reference: 

Selznick, B. (2007). The invention of Hugo Cabret. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.


My Impressions:

            This is an amazingly illustrated book using pictures not only to explain what has happened in the text, but as a replacement for text.  If you only were to read the words, half the story would be missed, and if you were only to discover the illustrations, you would have the same problem.  Selznick created an innovative experience when he chose to write a story with words, achromatic pencil sketches, film stills and photography.  The inclusion of sketches and film stills from Georges Melies, the real life model for the toymaker, work creates a believable world for Hugo and his acquaintances.
            The sheer length of this book has always scared me off in the past because even though there are almost three hundred pages of illustrations, it is difficult to go on to the next page before analyzing each tiny detail of the toys in the shop or the workings of the mechanical automaton.  The illustrations, which of course is why this book won the Caldecott in 2008, are breathtaking and more mature than many other picture books or graphic novels. 

This is a wonderful read, and I feel it would be a great recommendation to an older reluctant reader in order to boost their confidence levels.  It could be recommended based on the fact that there are more pages of illustrations than text, but once the reader had finished, they will have read an over 500-page book! 

Professional Reviews:

          Suspenseful text and wordless double-page spreads tell the story of young Hugo, an orphan secretly living in the walls of a train station where he labors to complete a mysterious invention left by his father. The 2008 Caldecott Medal Book and a 2008 Best Book for Young Adults.

The invention of Hugo Cabret [Review of the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by B. Selznick]. (2008). Booklist,  
          104(13), 18. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com

          Here’s a dilemma for the Newbery committee . . . and the Caldecott: what do you do with an illustrated novel in which neither text nor pictures can tell the story alone? Not to mention the drama to be found in the page turns themselves. A brief introduction sets the time (1931) and place (Paris) and invites readers to imagine they’re at the movies. And with a turn of the page, they are, as, over a sequence of twenty-one double-page wordless spreads, a story begins. A picture of the moon gives way to anaerial shot of Paris; day breaks as the “camera” moves into a shot of a train station, where a boy makes his way to a secret passage from which, through a peephole, he watches an old man sitting at a stall selling toys. Finally, the text begins: “From his perch behind the clock, Hugo could see everything.” The story that follows in breathtaking counterpoint is a lively one, involving the dogged Hugo, his tough little ally Isabelle, an automaton that can draw pictures, and a stage magician turned filmmaker, the real-life Georges Méliès, most famously the director of A Trip to the Moon (1902). There is a bounty of mystery and incident here, along with several excellent chase scenes expertly rendered in the atmospheric, dramatically crosshatched black-and-white (naturally) pencil drawings that make up at least a third of the book. (According to the final chapter, and putting a metafictional spin on things, there are 158 pictures and 26,159 words in the book.) The interplay between the illustrations (including several stills from Méliès’s frequently surreal films and others from the era) and text is complete genius, especially in the way Selznick moves from one to the other, depending on whether words or images are the better choice for the moment. And as in silent films, it’s always just one or the other, wordless double-spread pictures or unillustrated text, both framed in the enticing black of the silent screen. While the bookmaking is spectacular, and the binding secure but generous enough to allow the pictures to flow easily across the gutter, The Invention of Hugo Cabret is foremost good storytelling, with a sincerity and verbal ease reminiscent of Andrew Clements (a frequent Selznick collaborator) and themes of secrets, dreams, and invention that play lightly but resonantly throughout. At one point, Hugo watches in awe as Isabelle blithely picks the lock on a door. “How did you learn to do that?” he asks. “Books,” she answers. Exactly so

R., S. S. (March/April 2007). The invention of Hugo Cabret [Review of the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by B. 
          Selznick]. Horn Book Magazine, 83(2), 173-175. Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com

Library and Classroom Uses:

          The librarian could collaborate with classroom teachers on several different types of lessons using The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  English teachers could discuss vocabulary, point of view, or storytelling.    Science teachers could look at the mechanics of automation and clocks.  Art teachers, of course, could use the illustrations to teach pencil sketches and closing in on details within an illustration.  I think the most interesting part of the illustrations is how Selznick takes a wide angle shot of an area, goes in a little closer with the next illustration, a little closer with the next, then may have an extreme close up of a foot or an eye before moving on to text or another drawing.  This would be a great lesson in art, especially for older grades. The science and art lessons would be the simplest to use collaboration between the librarian and classroom teachers.  The librarian could help the science teacher by showing students books and websites on mechanics for them to research.  The librarian could pull books on other sketch artists for the art teacher as well.


There are also many online resources for the book including the Scholastic website and Selznick’s website. 

http://www.scholastic.com/hugocabret/

http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/about_hugo_intro.htm

SLIS 5420 Mr. Popper's Penguins

 

Week One: Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater 


 Book Summary:

    Mr. Popper paints houses for a living but has little to do during the winter when there is no work until a letter he had written to Admiral Drake in the South Pole causes a chain reaction that changes his life. First Admiral Drake sends a message to Mr. Popper telling him to “Watch for a surprise” (Atwater & Atwater, 1939. p. 14). Of course, the surprise is a live penguin, which Mr. Popper eventually sets up in a refrigerator apartment to keep him cold. Eventually a second penguin is added into the mix, and they produce many more baby penguins than ever could be hatched in the wild. Mr. Popper and his family teach the penguins tricks in their frozen basement then go on the road as a traveling act before Mr. Popper finally gets to meet his hero, Admiral Drake.  


APA Reference:  

Atwater, R. & Atwater, F. (1938). Mr. Popper’s Penguins. New York, NY: Little Brown and Company.


My Impressions: 

     As I read Mr. Popper’s Penguins, I could see why this is one of the stories that has stuck around for so many decades. It is a quick read and overall a good silly story. I also can see why this was recently turned into a movie, and now I actually want to see it to see how some of the scenes play out. I am especially interested to see if the scene where the traveling Popper’s Performing Penguins, meet up with Swenson’s Seals turns into penguins wearing fireman’s hats and seals wearing police caps. This was the most humorous scene to me in the book, although it caused Mr. Popper and his penguins to be jailed for disruption and trespassing.

     Even though this book is quite dated, most of the story is still respectable. The only part I really questioned is the ending. Mr. Popper is asked by Admiral Drake to accompany his penguins to the North Pole, and as he tells his wife while the ship is leaving. She tells him she will miss him, but it will be easier to keep the house clean and the children just wave good-bye. Even if Mr. Popper is an eccentric individual, I would think his family would care a little more about him leaving so suddenly for such a long time.


Professional Reviews:

          “If you're looking for a classic, read Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. Poor Mr. Popper has always dreamed of traveling to the Antarctic. He writes a letter to the famous Admiral Drake, who in return sends him a male penguin. Soon after, the admiral sends a female penguin, and the two penguins have 10 babies! How will the Poppers support their penguin family?”

Mr. Popper's Penguins [Review of the book Mr. Popper's Penguins by R. Atwater & F. Atwater]. Scholastic News -- Edition 4 
          [serial online]. January 25, 2010;72(13):7. Retrieved from http://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/

          “The work of children's book illustrator and writer Robert Lawson, the creator of Ben Franklin's “good mouse” Amos and Mr. Popper's Penguins, remains timeless in many respects. Lawson, who was born in New York in 1892, illustrated 20 of his own books and 40 books written by other authors. His illustrations have been criticized for their social attitudes and their stereotyping of minorities, but Lawson was a master at capturing the feelings of other authors and translating the spirit of their words into pictures that not only illustrated but informed and amplified the texts. He delighted in using the perspective of animals to gently satirize human pretensions while praising their noble qualities.”

Cart, M. (1988). Ben, Mr. Popper and the rabbits: remembering Robert Lawson [Abstract]. New York Times Book Review, 
          9359. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/review/index.html  


Library Uses:

      Mr. Popper’s Penguins could be read as a class or as a school book club for middle and upper elementary school students. After reading the book, students could be rewarded with a family movie night where the entire school is invited to watch the new movie.

SLIS 5420 Are you there God? It's me, Margaret.

Week One: Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret. by Judy Blume

Summary:

     Margaret’s parents move her from New York City, where her Grandma lives and spoils her, to a house in Farbrook, New Jersey, where she is almost instantly befriended by Nancy. Nancy has a strong personality that quickly pulls Margaret in, and their friends create a secret club to talk about bras, boys, and their periods. As Margaret progresses through sixth grade, she attempts to find her own religion (a source of family dispute from her when her parents married), kisses the cutest boy in her grade, and longs for her period as a sign that she is growing up. Throughout her story, Margaret talks to her God, asking him to help her with big issues like finding a religion as well as pleading with him for her breasts to grow, etc. As Margaret grows over the course of a year, the reader is dropped into the mind of an 11 to 12 year old girl in extreme realism that isn’t found in many books for this age group.


APA Reference:

Blume, J. (1970). Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.


My Impressions:

     I feel this book is a realistic look into the mind of an 11 to 12 year old girl. Because Margaret shows no signs of shyness as her story is told, this is the perfect type of book for a young girl who is unsure of herself and feels alone. Margaret shows girls their thoughts and feelings are normal. I feel it is a relevant read for girls of this age. Even if her particular worries aren’t religion, there is sure to be another worry of Margaret’s that she can relate to. I have purposely used only female pronouns in discussing my thoughts on the book since I feel there are very few males, of any age but especially young teens, that would truly enjoy this story. It is hard to believe this book is over 40 years old; the way kids act when it comes to certain parts of growing up hasn’t changed as much as most people would believe.


Professional Review:

     “God and menstruation were two topics mainstream children's books neatly sidestepped until Blume boldly mixed them in this now-classic book. A forerunner of many first-person stories centered on kids, personal concerns.”

Groundbreakers: 25 books that span the decades [Review of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by J. Blume]. (1995). 
          Booklist, 91(19/20), 1760. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com




Library Use:

     This would be a great book for a preteen book club to read in order to get conversations starting between girls who might not otherwise feel comfortable talking about personal thoughts. Sometimes talking about the same topics, but from a character’s perspective, makes it easier.