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[CCBC-Net] summer reading
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From: Benita Strnad <bstrnad>
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:08:52 -0500
One of my favorite summer reads was "To Say Nothing of the Dog: or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last" by Connie Willis. This book is an adult book that was on the very first Alex Awards list back in 1998. I read it a few years later, and I still think of it with amusement, puzzlement, and a sense of wonder. At the time I thought that it was a very sophisticated book to put on the Alex Award list, but since then have come to realize that the purpose of the Alex Awards it to give librarians a short list of adult books that will challenge the traditional young adult reader. Over the years I have turned to this list as a resource for teachers and students. I also read books on the list just for pleasure. This book was I choose because it sounded fun. It was a decision I did not regret. Strangely enough, several years ago a friend of mine mentioned an obscure time-travel book that she really enjoyed. We both laughed that we had read the same book and had the same feelings about it. It is definitely a summertime book. It is so evocative of warm summer days with buzzing insects, slow placid rivers, seersucker suits, and Victorian picnics. It all comes with a little action thrown in for fun. Perfect for summer reading. The Alex Award blurb from 1998 follows.
> Willis, Connie. To Say Nothing of the Dog; or, How We Found the
> Bishop's Bird Stump at Last. Bantam, $23.95 (0-553-09995-7).
> Part time travel, part mystery, part comedy of errors, this clever
> fantasy has lots to offer YAs, not the least of which is a chance to
> sink deeply into a piece of history they won't know much about. The
> year is 2057, and rich Lady Schrapnell has promised to finance Oxford
> University's time-travel project if she's assisted in her endeavors to
> rebuild Coventry Cathedral, which was destroyed by the Nazis in 1940.
> The grueling search for church artifacts has given time-traveler Ned
> Henry an advanced case of time lag. But it isn't rest he gets when
> he's sent back to the year 1888; it's another time-traveler's mistake,
> which he must help correct before it alters the entire course of history.
>
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:08:52 -0500
One of my favorite summer reads was "To Say Nothing of the Dog: or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last" by Connie Willis. This book is an adult book that was on the very first Alex Awards list back in 1998. I read it a few years later, and I still think of it with amusement, puzzlement, and a sense of wonder. At the time I thought that it was a very sophisticated book to put on the Alex Award list, but since then have come to realize that the purpose of the Alex Awards it to give librarians a short list of adult books that will challenge the traditional young adult reader. Over the years I have turned to this list as a resource for teachers and students. I also read books on the list just for pleasure. This book was I choose because it sounded fun. It was a decision I did not regret. Strangely enough, several years ago a friend of mine mentioned an obscure time-travel book that she really enjoyed. We both laughed that we had read the same book and had the same feelings about it. It is definitely a summertime book. It is so evocative of warm summer days with buzzing insects, slow placid rivers, seersucker suits, and Victorian picnics. It all comes with a little action thrown in for fun. Perfect for summer reading. The Alex Award blurb from 1998 follows.
> Willis, Connie. To Say Nothing of the Dog; or, How We Found the
> Bishop's Bird Stump at Last. Bantam, $23.95 (0-553-09995-7).
> Part time travel, part mystery, part comedy of errors, this clever
> fantasy has lots to offer YAs, not the least of which is a chance to
> sink deeply into a piece of history they won't know much about. The
> year is 2057, and rich Lady Schrapnell has promised to finance Oxford
> University's time-travel project if she's assisted in her endeavors to
> rebuild Coventry Cathedral, which was destroyed by the Nazis in 1940.
> The grueling search for church artifacts has given time-traveler Ned
> Henry an advanced case of time lag. But it isn't rest he gets when
> he's sent back to the year 1888; it's another time-traveler's mistake,
> which he must help correct before it alters the entire course of history.
>
-- Benita Strnad Curriculum Materials Librarian McLure Education Library The University of Alabama None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody - a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns - bent down and helped us pick up our boots. Thurgood Marshall - U.S. Supreme Court Justice 1908-1993Received on Mon 10 Jul 2006 02:08:52 PM CDT
