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Re: ccbc-net digest: October 08, 2012
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From: Sugoodman_at_aol.com
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2012 09:28:50 -0400 (EDT)
Hi Everybody--
I've happily read this listserve for years without contributing much, but this is a subject close to my heart. I am the author of See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election, Schemes, and the Race to the White House. While researching and planning the thrust of my book, one thing I already knew, but maybe never realized so strongly, struck me over and over again. Any really important change--from ending slavery, to women's right to vote to desegregating schools to Title 9 to legalizing gay marriage--only happens because enough people get together to push the politicians into making it so. And that's the thread I tried to weave through and concentrate upon along with explaining the whys and hows of elections.
But before I was a kids book author, I used to be a magazine writer. Two books I happened across helped me decide to change my career. The first was Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Buildings that Wiggle like a Fish by Phillip Isaacson--I was totally amazed that this architect/writer managed to communicate such complex and abstract ideas as proportion and beauty to kids in such a simple and lyric style. The other was Come Back, Salmon by Molly Cone, a wonderful story about a fifth grade class that adopts a trashy, polluted stream and eventually brings it to the point that they can release the young salmon they raised from eggs into the stream and have them come back to spawn.
Come Back, Salmon is a nail-biter as you wait and hope for those salmon to return. I love it because the story tells itself, and the author just needs to stay out of its way (which she does). Sadly, preaching and calls to action so often go hand and hand.
I know the book by Isaacson isn't really on topic, but it showed me, as an author, you can mix in the hard stuff (which can mean complex, but sometimes also the ugly truth) along with a map to building something important. This certainly seems like a recipe for explaining activism to me.
Sorry to butt into the decision every three years or so!
Susan Goodman www.susangoodmanbooks.com
In a message dated 10/9/2012 1:16:10 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu writes:
CCBC-NET Digest for Monday, October 08, 2012.
1. Civic Engagement titles 2. Civic Engagement titles 3. Re: Civic Engagement titles 4. Civic Engagement Titles
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Civic Engagement titles From: "Klein, Cheryl" Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2012 10:44:36 -0400 X-Message-Number: 1
May I humbly submit a title (with an editorial bookmongering alert attached)? EIGHTH-GRADE SUPERZERO, by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, tells the story of a young man who decides to run for president of his Brooklyn school's student council, in part to continue the change he's seen happening in his work at a local homeless shelter. It models both the hard work and effort required of any kind of civic engagement (and political campaigns especially), and the uncertainty and figuring-it-out that can be involved when the "right thing to do" isn't crystal clear. And it's *funny*, and filled with delightful, diverse characters to boot.
Great topic for this month!
All best,
Cheryl Klein
Executive Editor
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic
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Subject: Civic Engagement titles From: Rosanne Parry Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2012 09:52:40 -0700 X-Message-Number: 2
Although there are many good contemporary books on the topic the book that comes to mind for me is The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill. It's an exploration of how conflict develops and how community solidarity and targeted protest can create change. I haven't used it in a classroom in a very long time so I don't know how the story holds up today but I found it effective with 4th to 6th graders.
Rosanne Parry WRITTEN IN STONE, 2013 SECOND FIDDLE, 2011 HEART OF A SHEPHERD, 2009 www.rosanneparry.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Civic Engagement titles From: Susan Rubin Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:30:18 -0700 (PDT) X-Message-Number: 3
A forthcoming title concerning civic engagement is "They Call Me A Hero: A Memoir of My Youth," that I co-authored with Daniel Hernandez. Daniel came to national attention because of his role in saving Congresswoman Gabby Giffords' life, and the event reinforced his dedication to public service. The memoir focuses on his life of activism including GLBT rights and education, and is meant to inspire other teens to take a role in activism in areas that concern them, and to encourage thoughtful discussion. The book includes a foreword by Debbie Wasserman Schultz, member of Congress, public and private photos, and will be published by Simon & Schuster in February 2013 in both English and a Spanish-language edition. Susan Goldman Rubin
--- On Mon, 10/8/12, Rosanne Parry wrote:
From: Rosanne Parry Subject:
Civic Engagement titles To: "CCBC-Net digest" Date: Monday, October 8, 2012, 9:52 AM
Although there are many good contemporary books on the topic the book that comes to mind for me is The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill. It's an exploration of how conflict develops and how community solidarity and targeted protest can create change. I haven't used it in a classroom in a very long time so I don't know how the story holds up today but I found it effective with 4th to 6th graders.
Rosanne ParryWRITTEN IN STONE, 2013SECOND FIDDLE, 2011HEART OF A SHEPHERD, 2009www.rosanneparry.com
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2012 09:28:50 -0400 (EDT)
Hi Everybody--
I've happily read this listserve for years without contributing much, but this is a subject close to my heart. I am the author of See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election, Schemes, and the Race to the White House. While researching and planning the thrust of my book, one thing I already knew, but maybe never realized so strongly, struck me over and over again. Any really important change--from ending slavery, to women's right to vote to desegregating schools to Title 9 to legalizing gay marriage--only happens because enough people get together to push the politicians into making it so. And that's the thread I tried to weave through and concentrate upon along with explaining the whys and hows of elections.
But before I was a kids book author, I used to be a magazine writer. Two books I happened across helped me decide to change my career. The first was Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Buildings that Wiggle like a Fish by Phillip Isaacson--I was totally amazed that this architect/writer managed to communicate such complex and abstract ideas as proportion and beauty to kids in such a simple and lyric style. The other was Come Back, Salmon by Molly Cone, a wonderful story about a fifth grade class that adopts a trashy, polluted stream and eventually brings it to the point that they can release the young salmon they raised from eggs into the stream and have them come back to spawn.
Come Back, Salmon is a nail-biter as you wait and hope for those salmon to return. I love it because the story tells itself, and the author just needs to stay out of its way (which she does). Sadly, preaching and calls to action so often go hand and hand.
I know the book by Isaacson isn't really on topic, but it showed me, as an author, you can mix in the hard stuff (which can mean complex, but sometimes also the ugly truth) along with a map to building something important. This certainly seems like a recipe for explaining activism to me.
Sorry to butt into the decision every three years or so!
Susan Goodman www.susangoodmanbooks.com
In a message dated 10/9/2012 1:16:10 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu writes:
CCBC-NET Digest for Monday, October 08, 2012.
1. Civic Engagement titles 2. Civic Engagement titles 3. Re: Civic Engagement titles 4. Civic Engagement Titles
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Civic Engagement titles From: "Klein, Cheryl" Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2012 10:44:36 -0400 X-Message-Number: 1
May I humbly submit a title (with an editorial bookmongering alert attached)? EIGHTH-GRADE SUPERZERO, by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, tells the story of a young man who decides to run for president of his Brooklyn school's student council, in part to continue the change he's seen happening in his work at a local homeless shelter. It models both the hard work and effort required of any kind of civic engagement (and political campaigns especially), and the uncertainty and figuring-it-out that can be involved when the "right thing to do" isn't crystal clear. And it's *funny*, and filled with delightful, diverse characters to boot.
Great topic for this month!
All best,
Cheryl Klein
Executive Editor
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Civic Engagement titles From: Rosanne Parry Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2012 09:52:40 -0700 X-Message-Number: 2
Although there are many good contemporary books on the topic the book that comes to mind for me is The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill. It's an exploration of how conflict develops and how community solidarity and targeted protest can create change. I haven't used it in a classroom in a very long time so I don't know how the story holds up today but I found it effective with 4th to 6th graders.
Rosanne Parry WRITTEN IN STONE, 2013 SECOND FIDDLE, 2011 HEART OF A SHEPHERD, 2009 www.rosanneparry.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Civic Engagement titles From: Susan Rubin Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:30:18 -0700 (PDT) X-Message-Number: 3
A forthcoming title concerning civic engagement is "They Call Me A Hero: A Memoir of My Youth," that I co-authored with Daniel Hernandez. Daniel came to national attention because of his role in saving Congresswoman Gabby Giffords' life, and the event reinforced his dedication to public service. The memoir focuses on his life of activism including GLBT rights and education, and is meant to inspire other teens to take a role in activism in areas that concern them, and to encourage thoughtful discussion. The book includes a foreword by Debbie Wasserman Schultz, member of Congress, public and private photos, and will be published by Simon & Schuster in February 2013 in both English and a Spanish-language edition. Susan Goldman Rubin
--- On Mon, 10/8/12, Rosanne Parry wrote:
From: Rosanne Parry Subject:
Civic Engagement titles To: "CCBC-Net digest" Date: Monday, October 8, 2012, 9:52 AM
Although there are many good contemporary books on the topic the book that comes to mind for me is The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill. It's an exploration of how conflict develops and how community solidarity and targeted protest can create change. I haven't used it in a classroom in a very long time so I don't know how the story holds up today but I found it effective with 4th to 6th graders.
Rosanne ParryWRITTEN IN STONE, 2013SECOND FIDDLE, 2011HEART OF A SHEPHERD, 2009www.rosanneparry.com
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