CCBC-Net Archives
Late response to award winners
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Sharon Grover <sgrover>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 97 18:08:16 EST
I tried to send this several weeks ago, but trouble with my provider prevented it going through:
Thanks again to Rob Reid for spurring us on to discussion. I was very interested in the application of Jewish learning to Wisniewski's GOLEM; I've known the story for what seems like forever, and find his art a powerful tool for the retelling of this ancient tale. His use of light and perspective are particularly effective. At a workshop today, another librarian reminded me of the appropriateness of Wisniewski's illustrations for this particular story, since the art of paper cutting is of long-standing tradition in Jewish culture.
I am fascinated by Megan's comments regarding the lack of contractions in THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY. I found myself so engaged by the opening of the book, that I did not notice the formality of speech until I was well into the third chapter, and then it hit quite forcefully, making me go back to check the beginning. Konigsburg's use of language is so skillful that she can almost be likened to a weaver of word webs around us as readers. However, here in Arlington, we have partnerships with the middle schools called TAB (Teen Advisory Boards or Talking About Books) and my TAB school partner gave the book to several of our more sophisticated readers (gr 6-8) and none of them found the story involving. Two of them liked it well enough, two of them only read it because it was recommended by their librarian and it was the Newbery winner. Has anyone else used it with children? Although I was personally drawn into the book and became involved with the characters, I did wonder how the rather convoluted structure would work with young readers.
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 97 18:08:16 EST
I tried to send this several weeks ago, but trouble with my provider prevented it going through:
Thanks again to Rob Reid for spurring us on to discussion. I was very interested in the application of Jewish learning to Wisniewski's GOLEM; I've known the story for what seems like forever, and find his art a powerful tool for the retelling of this ancient tale. His use of light and perspective are particularly effective. At a workshop today, another librarian reminded me of the appropriateness of Wisniewski's illustrations for this particular story, since the art of paper cutting is of long-standing tradition in Jewish culture.
I am fascinated by Megan's comments regarding the lack of contractions in THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY. I found myself so engaged by the opening of the book, that I did not notice the formality of speech until I was well into the third chapter, and then it hit quite forcefully, making me go back to check the beginning. Konigsburg's use of language is so skillful that she can almost be likened to a weaver of word webs around us as readers. However, here in Arlington, we have partnerships with the middle schools called TAB (Teen Advisory Boards or Talking About Books) and my TAB school partner gave the book to several of our more sophisticated readers (gr 6-8) and none of them found the story involving. Two of them liked it well enough, two of them only read it because it was recommended by their librarian and it was the Newbery winner. Has anyone else used it with children? Although I was personally drawn into the book and became involved with the characters, I did wonder how the rather convoluted structure would work with young readers.
-- Sharon Grover Arlington County (VA) Dept. of Libraries sgrover at leo.vsla.eduReceived on Mon 31 Mar 1997 05:08:16 PM CST
