From: Nancy J. Keane <nancy>
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:15:14 -0500

I too remember those days. I remember the Catholic kids being released but I don't remember anyone else. That did leave just a couple of us in the class. Of course, there were only about 12 of us in the class! I think that there were 9-10 Catholics. Those of us left behind did "enrichment" activities.

As for the Monkees, yes I did like them. I would never admit it to anyone because it wasn't exactly cool for teens to like them. I watched the show and bought the albums. I still have them. I've been humming I'm a Believer since this discussion started!! But would only admit to loving the Doors, Strawberry Alarm Clock and the Rolling Stones.

As to asbestos, maybe it was just us but I do remember the term and the "stuff". We were taught how wonderful asbestos was. It was a wonderful fireproofing material and I remember firemen talking about how their suits were made of it. We were told how lucky we were that we had asbestos in the ceilings. This was well before it was determined that it wasn't so good for you. At least I hope it was :-)

I didn't mind the baseball scene. My fantasy during that time was meeting Tony Conigliaro. It's ok to have a fantasy come true. I did get to meet Tony C. and was totally star struck!

Ah, the memories.

Nancy

At 04:48 PM 12/27/2007, you wrote:

>----Original Message-----
>From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
>[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Kathleen
>T. Horning
>Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 1:28 PM
>To: CCBC-NET
>Subject: [CCBC-Net] Wednesday Wars
>
>Several people have mentioned "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary Schmidt as
>one of their favorite books of the year. I found it to be kind of a slow
>
>starter (how many times did the main character need to tell us he felt
>like his teacher hated him, for example), but once I got into it, I
>enjoyed it much more than I thought I was going to.
>
>I found a couple of problems that, for me, kept it from being
>distinguished. For one, the whole premise stretched credulity -- that of
>
>Holling being the only Protestant kid in his 7th grade class who was
>therefore forced to stay behind and read Shakespeare while his Jewish
>and Catholic classmates were excused for the afternoon to attend
>religion classes. It seemed to me to be an obvious, and rather clunky,
>device for working in Shakespeare. Also, it didn't seem very believable
>
>that the teacher would be able to arrange a visit with the Yankees for a
>
>couple of her students. I loved the Mickey Mantle scene that preceded it
>(and was glad the author found an artful way to counter the internalized
>
>homophobia of the whole yellow tights thing), and think it would have
>been stronger if the author had left it at that.
>
>Since I was about the same age as Holling in 1967, I enjoyed the
>historical time period and think he got most of the details right, but
>there were a couple of details I found jarring. For example, the author
>frequently made reference to the asbestos ceilings and $24,000 Major
>League salaries, and each time he did that, I was jettisoned right back
>to 2007 so I could wink back at the author over the child reader's
>shoulder. I can't recall ever even hearing or using the term "asbestos"
>
>as a child until they were their carcinogenic nature became front page
>news in the late 1970s. Also, it didn't seem right to me that Hollings'
>16-year-old sister was a Monkees fan. I didn't know any self-respecting
>16-year-olds in 1967 who were Monkees fans, especially not aspiring
>flower children. I would have expected her to be a Beatles fan. (There
>is a reference to the sister missing a Beatles TV special, but I'm not
>sure there was such a thing aired in the U.S. in early 1968.) In an odd
>
>way, I think the book would have more successfully given a sense of time
>
>period if those sorts of details had been left out. They felt tacked on
>or forced to me, and detracted from the story.
>
>I thought "Feathers" by Jacqueline Woodson, set in 1971, did a much
>better job at capturing the era. Other than the mention of a few song
>titles, I can't think of any specific time period details that she
>used. She managed to recreate the feeling of the era through the
>concerns and social interactions of the characters.
>
>KT
>
>
>--
>Kathleen T. Horning
>Director
>Cooperative Children's Book Center
>4290 Helen C. White Hall
>600 N. Park St
>Madison, WI 53706
>
>Phone: 608-263-3721
>FAX: 608-262-4933
>
>horning at education.wisc.edu
>http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
>
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******************************************************************************* Nancy J. Keane nancy at nancykeane.com
"Big Book of Teen Reading Lists" (2006),"Big Book of Children's Reading Lists" (2006);
"Middle School Pathfinders" (2005);"Using Literature in the Middle School Classroom" (2005) ; Rundlett Middle School 144 South Street Concord, New Hampshire 03301 Recipient 2004 ALSC/Sagebrush Education Resources Literature Program Award Recipient 2002 N.H.Excellence in Education Award (EDies) Nancy's podcasts: http://nancykeane.com/rss.html Booktalks Page http://www.nancykeane.com/booktalks Reading Lists wiki http://atn-reading-lists.wikispaces.com
++++++Do the best you can and maintain a sense of humor++++++
Received on Thu 27 Dec 2007 05:15:14 PM CST