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CCBC-NET: Spring & Summer
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From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 1997 17:18:50 -0500
Megan, KT and I just returned from the American Library Association Conference in San Francisco where one of the high points for us was the chance to meet some of you. Thanks so much for introducing yourselves when we - quite literally - crossed paths. It was good to hear from you in "real time" how much you've enjoyed the recent discussions. We have, too. Thanks for your feedback & ideas. Many of you spoke appreciatively about the time Paul Fleischman took to be with us during May. Hearing and meeting Paul Fleischman in person proved was one of the high points for those attending the ALA/ALSC preconference about Newbery Award books and authors. For a post luncheon speech, Paul and his father Sid Fleischman provided a spoof of a talk show as a dialogue; they constantly switched roles as host and guest.
Do you recall Paul's comments near the end of May about the new string figures book? Well, I saw him with his editor Marc Aronson the next morning in a hotel lobby; they were completely absorbed in moving the string figures on their hands! Could the new book possibly be about string figures for multiple voices?
I happened to sit near artist Wendall Minor at one point during the ALA conference. I'm sure Mr. Minor was unaware of the June CCBC-NET conversation about Charlotte Zolotow books when he remarked modestly about the staying power and popularity of The Seashore Book
(HarperCollins, 1992) - both of which he attributed to Charlotte Zolotow's words rather than to his paintings accompanying her text. In The Seashore Book Ms. Zolotow employed a narrative device she excells in using: a child asks a question, and an adult - usually a parent - uses multiple ways to respond.
"What is the seashore like?" a little boy asked his mother.
He lived in the mountains and had never seen the sea.
His mother smiled. "Let's pretend," she said.
...
The little boy leaned against his mother and smiled.
"I like the seashore a lot," he said,
"and now I can always close my eyes
and be there
the way I was just now
with you." Books by Charlotte Zolotow so frequently involve a child asking his/her adult a question. The comfort, the affection, the "always" of Charlotte Zolotow's texts also mark so many of her books. Is The Seashore Book a classic? Hmmm, probably not - not yet, anyway, even though Mr. Minor and some of you might disagree. Maybe I think a book needs to be enjoyed by more than one generation of children to become a classic. What do you think? Is William's Doll a classic? How about A Father Like That?
What is a classic, anyway? This is what we will examine together during July. Classic books. Books that have stood the test of time. Familiar books. Books with staying power. Participants in the ALA/ALSC Newbery Award preconference were asked to read five award winners up to 1970 prior to the conference. My group examined books awarded the Newbery Medal during the years ending in zero. We were hard pressed to find even one of our five books that seemed to have withstood the test of time, one of the five we could recommend with enthusiasm to children, families and teachers - regardless of the many ways we found to appreciate and/or try to understand a particular book's excellence in its publication year.
How about it? Take a look at some of the Newbery books, really take a look, as in Read Them Today. Maybe that's a good place to start (or continue) our discussion of Classics. If you have read one (or more) of the Newbery books recently, which one is it? Does it hold up? If it does, why?
In August we'll switch gears entirely. Little comfort. Less affection. Two very new novels for young teenagers: Tenderness by Robert Cormier (Delacorte) and The Buffalo Tree by Adam Rapp (Front Street) and during August there will be time to share some of the recent Y.A. reading we've each done, too.
In September we'll discuss books created by Molly Bang. Ms. Bang will be in Madison on October 8 as a guest of the Friends of the CCBC. Details will be provided on CCBC-NET and on the CCBC home page
(www.soemadison.wisc.edu/ccbc/) Meanwhile, save the date! Molly Bang's Gray Lady and the Strawberry Schnatcher came out in paperback not long ago. Does this make GLSS a classic? What do you think? ... Ginny
P.S. It's OK to draw on what you heard or said at the ALA conference, but remember - most of us weren't there - period - so focus on the book rather than the day or the event.
******************************************************** Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at facstaff.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A Library of the School of Education University of Wisconsin - Madison
Received on Wed 02 Jul 1997 05:18:50 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 1997 17:18:50 -0500
Megan, KT and I just returned from the American Library Association Conference in San Francisco where one of the high points for us was the chance to meet some of you. Thanks so much for introducing yourselves when we - quite literally - crossed paths. It was good to hear from you in "real time" how much you've enjoyed the recent discussions. We have, too. Thanks for your feedback & ideas. Many of you spoke appreciatively about the time Paul Fleischman took to be with us during May. Hearing and meeting Paul Fleischman in person proved was one of the high points for those attending the ALA/ALSC preconference about Newbery Award books and authors. For a post luncheon speech, Paul and his father Sid Fleischman provided a spoof of a talk show as a dialogue; they constantly switched roles as host and guest.
Do you recall Paul's comments near the end of May about the new string figures book? Well, I saw him with his editor Marc Aronson the next morning in a hotel lobby; they were completely absorbed in moving the string figures on their hands! Could the new book possibly be about string figures for multiple voices?
I happened to sit near artist Wendall Minor at one point during the ALA conference. I'm sure Mr. Minor was unaware of the June CCBC-NET conversation about Charlotte Zolotow books when he remarked modestly about the staying power and popularity of The Seashore Book
(HarperCollins, 1992) - both of which he attributed to Charlotte Zolotow's words rather than to his paintings accompanying her text. In The Seashore Book Ms. Zolotow employed a narrative device she excells in using: a child asks a question, and an adult - usually a parent - uses multiple ways to respond.
"What is the seashore like?" a little boy asked his mother.
He lived in the mountains and had never seen the sea.
His mother smiled. "Let's pretend," she said.
...
The little boy leaned against his mother and smiled.
"I like the seashore a lot," he said,
"and now I can always close my eyes
and be there
the way I was just now
with you." Books by Charlotte Zolotow so frequently involve a child asking his/her adult a question. The comfort, the affection, the "always" of Charlotte Zolotow's texts also mark so many of her books. Is The Seashore Book a classic? Hmmm, probably not - not yet, anyway, even though Mr. Minor and some of you might disagree. Maybe I think a book needs to be enjoyed by more than one generation of children to become a classic. What do you think? Is William's Doll a classic? How about A Father Like That?
What is a classic, anyway? This is what we will examine together during July. Classic books. Books that have stood the test of time. Familiar books. Books with staying power. Participants in the ALA/ALSC Newbery Award preconference were asked to read five award winners up to 1970 prior to the conference. My group examined books awarded the Newbery Medal during the years ending in zero. We were hard pressed to find even one of our five books that seemed to have withstood the test of time, one of the five we could recommend with enthusiasm to children, families and teachers - regardless of the many ways we found to appreciate and/or try to understand a particular book's excellence in its publication year.
How about it? Take a look at some of the Newbery books, really take a look, as in Read Them Today. Maybe that's a good place to start (or continue) our discussion of Classics. If you have read one (or more) of the Newbery books recently, which one is it? Does it hold up? If it does, why?
In August we'll switch gears entirely. Little comfort. Less affection. Two very new novels for young teenagers: Tenderness by Robert Cormier (Delacorte) and The Buffalo Tree by Adam Rapp (Front Street) and during August there will be time to share some of the recent Y.A. reading we've each done, too.
In September we'll discuss books created by Molly Bang. Ms. Bang will be in Madison on October 8 as a guest of the Friends of the CCBC. Details will be provided on CCBC-NET and on the CCBC home page
(www.soemadison.wisc.edu/ccbc/) Meanwhile, save the date! Molly Bang's Gray Lady and the Strawberry Schnatcher came out in paperback not long ago. Does this make GLSS a classic? What do you think? ... Ginny
P.S. It's OK to draw on what you heard or said at the ALA conference, but remember - most of us weren't there - period - so focus on the book rather than the day or the event.
******************************************************** Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at facstaff.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A Library of the School of Education University of Wisconsin - Madison
Received on Wed 02 Jul 1997 05:18:50 PM CDT
