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what I am reading
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From: Steven Engelfried <sengelfried>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 15:19:09 -0700 (PDT)
I just have to second Cathy's recommendation of "The Star of Kazan." I usually avoid books in the orphan/foundling area, but the characters and writing style in this one were excellent. She used the familiar elements of that genre (inherited fortune, lo ng lost parent (or is she?) returning...) and made them fresh, and captures the time and place very well, as much through the characters as through description. So now I'm looking forward to trying her "Journey to the River Sea" too.
- Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library (OR)
Cathy Sullivan Seblonka wrote: I just started The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson and am finding it delightful. I have wanted to read Ibbotson since The Secret of Platform 13 was published but never took the time. Perhaps the current title struck me more forcibly because my husband's grandfather was born and orphaned in Vienna. By page 5, I was already laughing with Ibbotson's descriptive images: "It was a lovely church--one of those places that look as though God might be about to give a marvelous party." Or the parcel, really the orphan, found near the pulpit, "It was about the size of a rutabaga--quite a large one...." A rutabaga?? How funny. Who else would have described a newborn this way? A sugar beet, maybe, but not a rutabaga! (Rutabagas are significant here in Michigan's Upper Peninsula since we order our pasties with or without them.)
I'm also reading A Maze Me, a new collection of poems by Naomi Shihab Nye. The subtitle is: Poems For Girls. The colors in the illustrations will atttract girls, but the poems will appeal to everyone, even my mailman for whom I photocopied "Ringing." Once again, Naomi brings wonder and awe to everyday life, noticing and describing things that don't register with me until I read them in a poem.
I recently finished Naomi's new novel for teens, Going Going. Set in San Antonio within a family who owns a Mexican restaurant, the young, energetic female protagonist who loves neighborhoods and old buildings, wants to increase the awareness of the city's residents about the dangers of chain stores that move into a city and destroy its character and old buildings, and more importantly, destroy the livelihoods of its small business owners. A quick read that can inspire young people who care about something to become activists to protect it.
Seem to be another good year for children's literature.
Cathy
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 15:19:09 -0700 (PDT)
I just have to second Cathy's recommendation of "The Star of Kazan." I usually avoid books in the orphan/foundling area, but the characters and writing style in this one were excellent. She used the familiar elements of that genre (inherited fortune, lo ng lost parent (or is she?) returning...) and made them fresh, and captures the time and place very well, as much through the characters as through description. So now I'm looking forward to trying her "Journey to the River Sea" too.
- Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library (OR)
Cathy Sullivan Seblonka wrote: I just started The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson and am finding it delightful. I have wanted to read Ibbotson since The Secret of Platform 13 was published but never took the time. Perhaps the current title struck me more forcibly because my husband's grandfather was born and orphaned in Vienna. By page 5, I was already laughing with Ibbotson's descriptive images: "It was a lovely church--one of those places that look as though God might be about to give a marvelous party." Or the parcel, really the orphan, found near the pulpit, "It was about the size of a rutabaga--quite a large one...." A rutabaga?? How funny. Who else would have described a newborn this way? A sugar beet, maybe, but not a rutabaga! (Rutabagas are significant here in Michigan's Upper Peninsula since we order our pasties with or without them.)
I'm also reading A Maze Me, a new collection of poems by Naomi Shihab Nye. The subtitle is: Poems For Girls. The colors in the illustrations will atttract girls, but the poems will appeal to everyone, even my mailman for whom I photocopied "Ringing." Once again, Naomi brings wonder and awe to everyday life, noticing and describing things that don't register with me until I read them in a poem.
I recently finished Naomi's new novel for teens, Going Going. Set in San Antonio within a family who owns a Mexican restaurant, the young, energetic female protagonist who loves neighborhoods and old buildings, wants to increase the awareness of the city's residents about the dangers of chain stores that move into a city and destroy its character and old buildings, and more importantly, destroy the livelihoods of its small business owners. A quick read that can inspire young people who care about something to become activists to protect it.
Seem to be another good year for children's literature.
Cathy
-- Cathy Sullivan Seblonka Youth Services Librarian Peter White Public Library 217 N. Front St. Marquette, MI 49855 (906) 228?10 fax (906) 22683 e-mail: cathys at uproc.lib.mi.us ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ To post to the list, send the message to... ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu To leave the list, send the TEXT-ONLY message... To: listserv at lists.education.wisc.edu Body: signoff ccbc-net --------------------------------Discover Yahoo! Use Yahoo! to plan a weekend, have fun online & more. Check it out!Received on Thu 12 May 2005 05:19:09 PM CDT
