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From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd>
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 14:25:45 -0600
I'll add to my original list:
I really liked Rimshots by Charles R. Smith, Jr. It's an attractively designed book, and the poetry and prose pieces work well with students. Lots of the pieces, such as the "I Remember" poem, are good models for kids' writing. I have read parts of this fine book with third and fourth graders and they liked it a lot.
I'm a big fan of Nikki Grimes and of Ashley Bryan, and for them to collaborate is a special occasion. Their new book, Anessa Lee and the Weaver's Gift, is a fine collaboration of poetry and art.
And I guess I am the lone dissenter on Cormier's Frenchtown Summer. As much as I have liked some of his previous novels - After the First Death, Heroes, I Am the Cheese - I did not like this one. I thought it got tedious and predictable. I found the trick to reading it was to look for the dark cloud behind every silver lining in just about every scene. I very much like the poetic narrative style and count Out of the Dust and Make Lemonade as among my favorite books, but I don't feel that Frenchtown Summer compares favorably with them. This connects with the most recent comments on CCBC about how much to use an author's body of work in judging the most recent novel. As Nina said, it's awfully hard to avoid being influenced. In this case, I couldn't wait to read Frenchtown Summer because I always read the new Cormier, but this one didn't live up to my own expectations; it simply didn't work for me the way it has for other readers.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School 211 Ensworth Avenue Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Wed 15 Dec 1999 02:25:45 PM CST
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 14:25:45 -0600
I'll add to my original list:
I really liked Rimshots by Charles R. Smith, Jr. It's an attractively designed book, and the poetry and prose pieces work well with students. Lots of the pieces, such as the "I Remember" poem, are good models for kids' writing. I have read parts of this fine book with third and fourth graders and they liked it a lot.
I'm a big fan of Nikki Grimes and of Ashley Bryan, and for them to collaborate is a special occasion. Their new book, Anessa Lee and the Weaver's Gift, is a fine collaboration of poetry and art.
And I guess I am the lone dissenter on Cormier's Frenchtown Summer. As much as I have liked some of his previous novels - After the First Death, Heroes, I Am the Cheese - I did not like this one. I thought it got tedious and predictable. I found the trick to reading it was to look for the dark cloud behind every silver lining in just about every scene. I very much like the poetic narrative style and count Out of the Dust and Make Lemonade as among my favorite books, but I don't feel that Frenchtown Summer compares favorably with them. This connects with the most recent comments on CCBC about how much to use an author's body of work in judging the most recent novel. As Nina said, it's awfully hard to avoid being influenced. In this case, I couldn't wait to read Frenchtown Summer because I always read the new Cormier, but this one didn't live up to my own expectations; it simply didn't work for me the way it has for other readers.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School 211 Ensworth Avenue Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Wed 15 Dec 1999 02:25:45 PM CST
