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From: angelica carpenter <angelica>
Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 14:31:35 -0700
Dear all,
I've been lurking to see if anyone will mention the Alice or Oz books. Are they being read for fun? The Alice books are on approved reading lists for high schools now, I believe.
As a board member for the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, I've been pleasantly surprised by a program sponsored by the Society. It meets twice a year in varying locations. In each town, the Society hosts a reading at a local school. One or two of our members, who are professional actors, read scenes like the mad tea party or Alice's interchange with Humpty-Dumpty. Usually this is for one or two fourth-grade classes. Then each child is given a hardback Alice book to keep. I've attended several of these programs and am always pleasantly surprised at how these 21st-century, mostly Hispanic (in the classes I saw) kids, many of whom have learned English as a second language, take to these Victorian British books. Usually they have had the story read to them before we come, and are familiar with it. They have dozens of questions and comments. They like to discuss how the Disney movie differs from the books. They vote for their favorite characters. They are engaged!
The International Wizard of Oz Club hosts regional meetings that attract both children and grownups. There are a lot of events planned for this summer as we celebrate L. Frank Baum's 150th birthday. I meet and hear often from children who are Oz nuts, just like me, but I wonder if the books are widely available, or very popular, in public or school libraries. Of course they are always popular in any library where I work, so I'm not an objective judge. They seem like good fantasy choices for readers who may be interested in fantasy and especially Harry Potter, but who aren't yet reading at that level.
Thank goodness all the Baum Oz books and the Alice books are in Accelerated Reader. I didn't think that anything could be worse than that, but in Fresno now we are experiencing "scripted" reading lessons and trade books are being banned from classrooms. So I wonder if the Alice books and Oz books are popular in libraries and if they can survive these terrible reading programs by being made available there. Do libraries have the Baum Oz books, Books of Wonder editions? How about Ruth Plumly Thompson? I'm guessing that every library has the two Alice books.
If this is getting off topic, please respond offline to angelica at csufresno.edu.
Ozzy best wishes,
Angelica Carpenter, Curator Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature California State University, Fresno President, International Wizard of Oz Club
Received on Mon 08 May 2006 04:31:35 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 14:31:35 -0700
Dear all,
I've been lurking to see if anyone will mention the Alice or Oz books. Are they being read for fun? The Alice books are on approved reading lists for high schools now, I believe.
As a board member for the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, I've been pleasantly surprised by a program sponsored by the Society. It meets twice a year in varying locations. In each town, the Society hosts a reading at a local school. One or two of our members, who are professional actors, read scenes like the mad tea party or Alice's interchange with Humpty-Dumpty. Usually this is for one or two fourth-grade classes. Then each child is given a hardback Alice book to keep. I've attended several of these programs and am always pleasantly surprised at how these 21st-century, mostly Hispanic (in the classes I saw) kids, many of whom have learned English as a second language, take to these Victorian British books. Usually they have had the story read to them before we come, and are familiar with it. They have dozens of questions and comments. They like to discuss how the Disney movie differs from the books. They vote for their favorite characters. They are engaged!
The International Wizard of Oz Club hosts regional meetings that attract both children and grownups. There are a lot of events planned for this summer as we celebrate L. Frank Baum's 150th birthday. I meet and hear often from children who are Oz nuts, just like me, but I wonder if the books are widely available, or very popular, in public or school libraries. Of course they are always popular in any library where I work, so I'm not an objective judge. They seem like good fantasy choices for readers who may be interested in fantasy and especially Harry Potter, but who aren't yet reading at that level.
Thank goodness all the Baum Oz books and the Alice books are in Accelerated Reader. I didn't think that anything could be worse than that, but in Fresno now we are experiencing "scripted" reading lessons and trade books are being banned from classrooms. So I wonder if the Alice books and Oz books are popular in libraries and if they can survive these terrible reading programs by being made available there. Do libraries have the Baum Oz books, Books of Wonder editions? How about Ruth Plumly Thompson? I'm guessing that every library has the two Alice books.
If this is getting off topic, please respond offline to angelica at csufresno.edu.
Ozzy best wishes,
Angelica Carpenter, Curator Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature California State University, Fresno President, International Wizard of Oz Club
Received on Mon 08 May 2006 04:31:35 PM CDT
