Strollerderby : reading

Taking Banned Books Into Her Own Hands ... Er, Locker

Jen Chaney — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:05:00 GMT

One Catholic school student apparently has decided to stick it to the man. Or at least stick it to the people at her Catholic school, which has released a list of books that the students are not allowed to read.

According to a posting on Boing Boing, which points to a question posed by the student on Yahoo! Answers, the young lady has started a banned books lending library in the locker next to hers, a place where her peers can get access to such "offensive" tomes as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Paradise Lost, and Lord of the Flies. Her Yahoo! Question is whether she can legitimately get in trouble for doing what she's doing. The response, for the most part, has been positive, with several people calling her both brave and a hero. But at least one reader questions the truth of what she's saying.

And I can sort of see that person's point. I mean, it's a great story and that makes me want to believe it. But some of the books on the school's "banned" list seem a little ridiculous (Bridge to Terabithia? Really?) I also wonder why the girl would post this question on the World Wide Web if she is genuinely concerned about getting caught.

But, for the sake of argument, let's assume it is true. It's definitely awesome that she's taking matters into her own hands and exposing her fellow students to some really spectacular literature. (Even more awesome? The kid has standards: "Twilight is banned also, but I don't want that polluting my library," she writes.)

As far as the issue about getting into trouble, she might be better off running the lending library off of school grounds. Of course, that's not as delicious as clandestinely keeping the novels in a locker. But it might achieve the same goal and avoid the possibility of her getting suspended.

But that's just my advice, and I was never this rebellious. Again, if the story is true, the school finds out and action is taken against the girl, the ACLU would be on this case faster than you can say, The Canterbury Tales. Which, by the way, is another book on the school's banned list.

Image: Guardian

You Can't Scare Your Kids Out of an Eating Disorder

JeanneSager — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

They seem like the perfect mix of over-the-top drama and real-life cautionary tales to scare your kids straight. But all those books out there warning about the dangerous world of eating disorders?

Could be helping your kids advance their disordered eating.

A look at some books written for teens that fall in the "children's lit" category over on the New York Times' Well Blog hit home for me especially because I WAS one of those teen girls who, pardon the pun, but ate up the stories of teenage bulimics. I wanted to read about someone I could identify with.

But even as I read the horrors of girls whose bodies had begun to grow excess hair to make up for the lack of fat to keep them warm, of girls who landed in hospitals weighing what they did as elementary schoolers, I wasn't consciously thinking "ooh, can't wait until I land in a clinic for the eating disordered, wonder if my parents' insurance will cover the costs." What I was thinking was "interesting, she eats a brightly colored food first so when she throws up, she'll know by the color in the toilet that she's gotten to the bottom of her stomach contents."

It's why today I'm loathe to tell my daughter horror stories to scare her straight on anything. Because before you reach the awful ending, there are always the details that fascinate, that often overwhelm kids with their one-track minds, that are entirely more enticing than the sobering after-thought of a consequence.

Although I'm wary of blaming a book for a child's struggle with an eating disorder (ninety nine times out of one hundred, the seeds for that have already been sewn), just as I scoff at the idea that a video game is solely to blame for a child's violent tendencies, any book, movie, game, what have you, that shares intimate details of how someone navigates a dangerous path is a potential how-to manual in the hands of our kids.

It's why I read this warning about eating disorder books as just another reason parents can't pass the buck off onto a book, a movie, a CD. If you're going to keep your kid from disordered eating, get wise to what it means to have an eating disorder, find out the warning signs and then TALK to your kids. Let them read books, sure, but read them yourselves so you know what's in them. Then talk about them.

Because if all you're doing is trying to scare your kids into being good, it isn't going to work.

Image: UniversityofWisconsin

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Chat with Judy Blume!

JeanneSager — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:02:00 GMT

If you were once a teenage girl (and I'd dare say at least half of Babble readers once were), chances are Judy Blume got you through a tough spot.

Heck, if you were an elementary school boy, you might have spent an afternoon or two with her books that have nothing to do with PMS and plenty to do with the playground.

And if you ever sat, like Margaret, wondering, is someone there, we have good news. Judy Blume herself is answering questions from readers.

The author of who made great a Fourth Grade Nothing, taught us all to mix up lemon juice concoctions to fight the freckles and managed to make Fudge better than chocolate, appeared on Random Buzzers.com last week, and she's expected to spend the next few days checking back in to answer questions from readers. She's even blogging about it over at her own site (just in case you thought this was a hoax).

So maybe now's the perfect time to pull out your old Judy Blumes and pore over them for questions, er, get your kids reading your favorites.

Go on over to Random Buzzers to join the comment string and post your question, but let us know - what was your favorite Judy Blume book, and have you shared it with your kids yet?

Image: Amazon

Is Kindle Coming to a School Near You?

JeanneSager — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:30:00 GMT

The Amazon Kindle has made the jump to academia, signing deals with several textbook publishers to make their materials available via the electronic device.

It's limited to college at the moment, but when you look at how quickly Kindle has spread (from its introduction in 2007 to its move into institutions of learning in 2009), I can't imagine it will be long before the paper bag covered textbooks are a thing of the past.

Pretty soon, our kids could be book-free.

At least books-as-we-once-knew-them free.

Don't believe me? I remember the kids in my classes in elementary and high school whose only exposure to books were the texts they hauled in their backpacks (or, just as likely, left in their lockers).

Frankly, I'm a self-described Internet addict, and yet, I always return to books at the end of the day, to physical paper volumes. I can get my news on the 'net, do my work on the 'net, even listen to my music and watch my tv on a computer. But I need a real live book to slip off and escape into the written word. Maybe I'm just an old fuddy duddy.

I can see the advantages - portability for one (no more aching backs from those overpacked bookbags), the ease of updating a school's resources as information changes (instead of making do, as we did, with textbooks marked with our parents' names at the front, read out to us by our parents' old football coaches) for another. Whether a cost savings could be realized, I don't know (do you weigh the damage to one book by a student against the damage to a machine carrying many books?).

And not having to craft one more paper bag bookcover? Priceless.

Still, I may cry the day my daughter comes home with all her homework shoved away in her pocket. And the Kindle 2 - or some other player that "reads" the books aloud to them? Uh uh, no way, no how. She may be living in "the future" we dreamed about when we were kids, but she's still got to do the work herself.

Image: Amazon

Hooray for Book Banners - No Really

JeanneSager — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:33:00 GMT

There's been plenty of talk about the books that short-sighted Americans have been running around trying to keep out of the hands of their precious innocent little angels this month.

And, as usual, I got that clenchy feeling atop my chest when I saw the list of top ten books Americans wanted banned last year - that "hooray, I showed them, I actually READ some of those books!" kind of feeling.

I've got plenty of words for the book banners out there (who are increasing in numbers by the way, challenges were up last year by close to one hundred), but I have to thank them.

Shocked? Don't be - I've found some fantastic books on the banned book lists over the years. As they say, even bad publicity is publicity. And everytime homophobes try to keep And Tango Makes Three from filling their babies' minds with the hogwash that two boys might make good penguin parents, I'd be you they sell a few copies for Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.

A lot of the books that make these lists aren't landing in school libraries to make a point to censor-happy parents. They're being purchased by librarians because they're plain old good books, fun books, books that get people - and kids especially - reading. A newcomer to the list, Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner was dubbed "sexually explicit" because of a brief mention of sodomy - in the context of abuse, not gay sex. There are difficult parts to get through even for a parent in the tale of two Afghani boys, but it's packed with good lessons for teens, especially in light of the ongoing conflict with Afghanistan.

With Hosseini's name now plastered all over lists of "banned" books, want to bet it's going to pique some more interest and bring some more readers?

How about Uncle Bobby's Wedding or the The Perks of Being a Wallflower? My daughter and I apparently have some reading to do.

Image: Amazon

Get Ready, Get Set, Read With Celebrities!

JeanneSager — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:29:00 GMT

It might be April and frigid in upstate New York (come on sun), but the summer reading campaigns are already going full bore.

This year the big names in books are booking celebrities to convince our kids that all the cool kids are doing it . . . reading I mean.

Scholastic is giving kids a sneak peek at its Summer Challenge, which will kick off on April 30 in classrooms nationwide. Kids can get started by downloading summer reading lists (there are sections for the three to five set on up to young adult) and posting their own question to be answered on a reading game show live webcast on the 30th. Sign your kids up now, and they can be part of the Read for the World Record challenge, which kicks off May 1. Videos with celebrity readers, games and prizes will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

Reading is Fundamental (RIF) has revealed a portion of its line-up, including "honorary book team" members Jerry Seinfeld, Al Roker and Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony and two of our faves: Eric Carle and Sandra Boynton.

RIF has teamed up with U.S. Airways for its summer reading promotion, Fly With US, Read With Kids, which will give readers chances to win Disney vacations, U.S. Airways gift packages and more as they book their way to five million minutes of reading time for parents and kids in the nation by June 30. Get your kids signed up, create your team and add to the minutes on their site.

For the off-times, when you don't have time to sit down with them and a book, check out Speakaboos for celebs reading nursery rhymes, fables and folk tales to your kids. You can get a look-see at Lisa DiSimone, Chazz Palminteri, Christopher Meloni (you know, the guy who does all those "you have to read to your kids" ads on Noggin? oh yeah, and the yummy dad from SVU?) and more on their site, and buy them to download onto your iPod for on the go.

Image: People (we promise, he does a much better job on Speakaboos)

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Amy Winehouse Writing a Children's Book

JeanneSager — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:30:00 GMT

The best word to describe my daughter's library? Eclectic. We have the bunnies saying goodnight to their room on through to stories about funky jazz cats.

But here's where I may have to draw the line: Amy Winehouse says she'll be writing a children's book about her life.

Done sputtering?

There's no doubt the English singer is a talented writer - at least somewhere beyond the booze, the drugs and the face scratching. Her jazzy fifties influence to pop has been refreshing, her awards well-deserved. But how will her life translate into a children's book?

A glance: Newspapers have published pictures of her smoking crack, she's been hospitalized for ODing on a mixture of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol (all in one night), she's admitted to self-cutting, and she's landed in jail for assault. How many times has this chick been to the rehab she sings about? And should we mention her song titles? Hello, F--k Me Pumps.

If she's writing a cautionary tale of how to end up looking like you're forty when you're four, she's got plenty of fodder.

I've always said the danger of trying to make celebrities into role models for kids is the fact that they are human too - just because they're famous doesn't make them any more fit for the job than the rest of us. And if you want your kid to grow up to be Amy Winehouse, you might want to check yourself into rehab.

With all the creativity of Babble readers, I figure we can help Amy come up with titles for her foray into the world of kiddie lit. Here's a few from me and my colleagues here on the 'derby:

Baby Goes to Rehab
Baby Got Crack (Pipe)
How To Hide Pot In The Potty
Arsenic, Baby Powder and Cocaine: Substance Abuse ABCs
F--k Me Stride Rite
Beehives for Babies
Back to Crack
Smoke Away Your Baby Fat
Nursery F--kery
They're trying to make me go to preschool, but I said no, no, no

Come on readers, help us out!

Image: Wikipedia

Yertle the Turtle Was Based on Hitler--10 Strange Stories behind Dr. Seuss Stories

Cole Gamble — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:00:00 GMT

And it’s alleged Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! is based on Richard Nixon and Watergate.

7. Yertle the Turtle = Hitler? Yep. If you haven’t read the story, here’s a little overview: Yertle is the king of the pond, but he wants more. He demands that other turtles stack themselves up so he can sit on top of them to survey the land. Mack, the turtle at the bottom, is exhausted. He asks Yertle for a rest; Yertle ignores him and demands more turtles for a better view. Eventually, Yertle notices the moon and is furious that anything dare be higher than himself, and is about ready to call for more turtles when Mack burps. This sudden movement topples the whole stack, sends Yertle flying into the mud, and frees the rest of the turtles from their stacking duty. Dr. Seuss actually said Yertle was a representation of Hitler. Despite the political nature of the book, none of that was disputed at Random House – what was disputed was Mack’s burp. No one had ever let a burp loose in a children’s book before, so it was a little dicey. In the end, obviously, Mack burped.

5. Green Eggs and Ham. Bennett Cerf, Dr. Seuss’ editor, bet him that he couldn’t write a book using 50 words or less. The Cat in the Hat was pretty simple, after all, and it used 225 words. Not one to back down from a challenge, Mr. Geisel started writing and came up with Green Eggs and Ham – which uses exactly 50 words. The 50 words, by the way, are: a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.

9. Oh The Places You’ll Go is Dr. Seuss’ final book, published in 1990. It sells about 300,000 copies every year because so many people give it to college and high school grads.

Thanks to Mental Floss for revealing the funky stuff that surrounded Dr. Seuss’s stories. Read the full list here.

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Everyone Poops: The Movie?

JeanneSager — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:29:00 GMT

I know I'm not the only parent out there who salivated over the pictures and trailers for Where the Wild Things Are. But is Spike Jonze already at work on a new children's book to movie adaptation?

A potty training classic no less: Taro Gomi's Everyone Poops. Is America ready for elephants making big poops and mice making tiny poops on-screen?

Blessedly, no. Not even our "the grosser the better" culture will be doling out $10 a ticket for a two-hour look at Everyone Poops. But the picture book that has convinced a generation of toddlers that they need to get the poop out gets a hilarious send-up in a new spoof of the Where the Wild Things trailer.

Not since Trainspotting have I taken a look at a toilet in such detail.

Don't tell me that whining mom at the beginning doesn't ring some bells. Aren't you glad this is a fake?

Image: Amazon

Back to the Third Grade for This 71-Year-Old

JeanneSager — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:26:00 GMT

He stands more than a head taller than his classmates, but what really makes Alferd Williams stand out as a member of the third grade at Edison Elementary School is his age. He's seventy-one.

The son of a sharecropper, Williams headed to elementary school two years ago when he was sixty-eight. He started back in first grade, the last grade he attended before dropping out as a child in Missouri to help his family make a living.

He promised his mother then that one day he would learn to read. At sixty-eight, he found a teacher in Alesia Hamilton, a first grade teacher at Edison Elementary. Hamilton was uneasy, but she started teaching Alferd during summer school and when the school year began invited him into the classroom in the mornings to help out as a volunteer and read with the kids. She made the rounds with Alferd of talk shows (including Ellen, which helped launch a Website to help Williams build a house) noting he was a model student.

Two years later, he still is. Williams made a presentation to the kids in his school recently, explaining to them, “I don’t have a mother living, and I don’t have a father living, so it’s up to me how long I go to school and how well I learn.”

I confess I got a little weepy with this one and grateful that I can indulge in a good book to destress at the end of the day. Feel lucky you're reading this right now. Recent statistics released by the U.S. Education Department showed one in seven adults in American lack basic prose literacy skills. There are thirty-two million people like Alferd out there, all shining examples to our kids of how bad it can be - not able to read a newspaper, a blog or the back of a box of cereal.

Maybe we need an Alferd at every school in America. Can he take this show on the road; speak with kids who are pondering dropping out? He's got just the message every kid needs to hear - stay in school or spend your "retirement" back in the third grade.

Image: KC Star

Harry Potter Book Sells for $19K - Too Much?

JeanneSager — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:34:00 GMT

I love me some Hogwarts. But I don't know that I could ever love a children's book this much.

A rare copy of the first book in the Harry Potter series - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone here in the states, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in author J.K. Rowling's native England, has sold for $19,120.

Autographed by Rowling, the first edition soft cover book was expected to fetch $12,000 at the auction in Texas, and the sale obviously exceeded the auction house's expectations. It's not actually the biggest blowout for Potter paraphernalia - an eight-hundred word prequel hand-written by Rowling sold for almost $50,000 last June to help an English writer's group and a charity for dyslexics.

But I confess I just don't get it - and not just in light of the current state of the economy. It's a children's book, and what crazy loon is going to let their kid flip through the pages of a $19,000 book? I'm one of those adults who went hogwild for Harry, but I still think books are to be read . . . not stared at on a shelf somewhere. When it comes to children's books in particular, I'm all the more inclined to say get them out there, get those kids reading!

What do you think? If you had the money, would you blow it on something like this?

Image: Amazon

What Do You Really Read to Your Kids?

KeriF — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:00:00 GMT

A recent British survey found that 65 percent of respondents admitted to claiming they had read classic books when, in fact, they had not. The biggest fib-provokers? George Orwell's 1984 (42 percent) and Tolstoy's War and Peace (31 percent). Other books we like to say we've read include James Joyce's Ulysses (25 percent) and the Bible (24 percent).

I read 1984 in junior high school and attempted Ulysses for all of five minutes, which I'll freely admit to anyone who asks (no one ever does, though). I'm never tempted to lie about books I've read because I love to read and am proud of the books I have read.

Well, I'm proud of the adult books I've read.

No one ever asks me what books I read to my kids, but sometimes I do feel a bit embarassed about the stuff I read to them. I've tried the Curious George books and every Dr. Seuss book ever written, but I find them a bit tiresome. Don't even get me started on Maurice Sendak. I love Where the Wild Things Are, but have you read Outside Over There? Talk about creepy. I also can't get excited about the Margaret Wise Brown books, specifically The Runaway Bunny, which seems a bit stalkerish to me.

The books I prefer might not have been written 50 years ago, but they do actually teach something to my kids (and me), which is more than I can say for a lot of books. My sons' favorite books right now are a series their aunt in Ireland sent them and have titles like Terrific Tractors and Amazing Aeroplanes. Here's a line from the latter: "When the plane moves fast enough, the air around's so swift, it pushes up beneath the wings, and makes the whole plane lift." Is it great literature? No. Do my kids ask to read it every night? Yes.

And maybe that's more important than how many decades a kids' book has been around or how well-known its author is. Maybe what's most important is just that we are reading to our kids, or frankly, reading ourselves, whether it's great literature or pop fiction. According to the British survey, it's the latter: the most popular authors named were J.K. Rowling and John Grisham.

Have you ever lied about books you've read, to yourself or your kids?

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The Most Awesomely Epic High School English Paper of All Time

Cole Gamble — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:30:00 GMT

This is the most awesome thing I've seen all week. Imagine you are a student who really hates your English teacher. And let's say you had to write an essay about a famous poet but didn't give a damn. Your essay might go like this:

"I chose Walt Whitman for my biography report because Mr. Farlow said if I wasn't going to take this class seriously and pick a real poet I might as well not show up anymore.Walt Whitman was born in ancient China, is over 90 stories tall and travels the land with his blue ox, Emily Dickenson...

Here it is in it's original state:

I can't wait for this kid's next paper.

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Meet Your Kids' New Superhero: Ladybug Girl

JeanneSager — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:26:00 GMT

She's back!

Ladybug Girl, the pint-sized superhero who leaps sidewalk cracks in a single bound and isn't afraid to splash her speckled red boots in the possibly shark-infested waters of the local pond has returned to bookshelves to introduce a new member of the playground power pack: Bumblebee Boy.

Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy is the second in the new series from husband and wife team Jacky Davis (a former producer of the Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss) and David Soman. Inspired by their own kids and a focus on getting them outside to enjoy the natural world, the couple introduced the world to a girl hero that parents could get behind last spring.

Ladybug Girl Lulu wears sparkly red tutus and spotted wings, but she's not afraid of getting either one a little dirty - or hunkering down in said tutu in the middle of a stone fort in the woods. Spirited and smart, she makes her own fun out of anything - even if the only spectator to her feats is the family dog.

In the book that hits shelves today, she's got the whole playground watching, and joining in. Yet another example of why girls rule, this Penguin offering doesn't neglect the boys. Clad in yellow and black, Lulu's friend Sam finds his own superpower in the flight of the bumblebee, flapping his wings to fly as high as Ladybug Girl on the swings, and joining forces to tackle the playground monster (aka the tire swing). Drawn in intricate detail and bold colors by Soman, Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy offers a gentle reminder that kids let loose outside can create their own fun - no pile of expensive toys required.

Add in the element of children negotiating their own terms of friendship, and it's a story that empowers kids and reinforces parents' faith that kids who enjoy just being kids are going to be OK.

Image: Amazon

Four Children's Books That Almost Weren't

JeanneSager — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:33:00 GMT

Ever wonder what the world would be like without some of your childhood favorites - or your children's favorites?

Like a world without Dr. Seuss? No literary agent or publisher is perfect, but here's a list of some of the books only a bonehead would have said no to - and did:

And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street - It was Dr. Seuss' first attempt. If he'd let some twenty-seven rejection letters keep him down, we'd have to breakfast on regular old yellow and white eggs and pink ham. Really, would we have them any other way?
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - It took around nine tries for J.K. (Jo) Rowling to find a mortgage broker for Hogwarts. Anyone want to argue that they had a point? Anyone? Bueller?
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeline L'Engle reportedly collected twenty-six rejections before Farrar, Straus and Giroux picked up the book that would later earn the 1963 Newberry Award and kick off a three-book series. Most of the objections, the late L'Engle once said were "that it would not be able to find an audience, that it was too difficult for children."
The Princess Diaries - Today Meg Cabot has two movies under her belt as well as plenty of adult fiction to her name, but first came her seventeen attempts to find someone who would give her princess prose a place. She says she keeps the bag of rejection letters under her bed; and they're too hard to lift! "Some of them were really, really mean -- unnecessarily. One said "The Princess Diaries" was just not suitable for children. It's funny how they are really nice to me now."

Image: Amazon

Scholastic: Honoring the Mommy Bloggers

JeanneSager — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:29:00 GMT

We - and I do mean we - have become one of those easily mocked groups on the 'net. The mommy bloggers. Hehe.

But blogging about our daily trials and tribulations and our favorite products, throwing out tips and writing out rants, is what makes mom blogs so eminently readable to so many others who are riding the same storms.

Now Scholastic Parent & Child magazine has stood up to take notice. The printed parenting mag has launched its first tribute to its online counterparts with the first Best Mommy Bloggers award.

"There's been an explosion in the number of mommy blogs recently, and we want to increase awareness among our readers about the trend," says Scholastic's editor-in-chief Nick Friedman. "We believe that what mommy bloggers have to say is so relevant to our readers that it's only natural to make a stronger connection."

So what makes them relevant? We talk about what you're thinking about - and we give you a place to have your say on the matter. We wax poetic - at times - about nonsense. But we make up for it with good giveaways (warning, warning, self-promotion alert: check out Mike's rockin' owl or a the kick-butt kool-kid-legs up on my blog), even better recipes (Bakerella, you're the reason my hind end is the size it is), and thoughtful commentary on whatever is bothering us today - and one day might be bothering you.

We are you.

We are parents, living the same situations and the same frustrations, and through the beauty of today's technology, we don't have to do it alone. Sure, there are things that might better be left untyped and photos best left unposted, but real life doesn't have a delete button - and maybe it's appropriate that these things get through to the Internet too.

The mommy blogs and - as Mike and countless others have proven - the daddy blogs have as much of a right to be here and are as deserving as recognition as a HuffPo or an I Can Has Cheezburger.

"Anytime we can help our readers engage with other moms - in this case, moms who experience the universal joys and tribulations of child rearing and live to write about them - we've done a great community service," says Friedman. "We want to draw attention to some mommy blogs that our readers may not be aware of by asking them to nominate their favorites and to vote on the ones like they like best. That's empowering."

So get over to Scholastic Parent & Child. Nominate - by February 13 - your top three, and head back later in the month to vote on the finalists for inclusion in a future issue of the magazine. Need some ideas? Browse around the Web (or check out your favorite SD bloggers home sites - they're listed in our bios at the bottom right) and get nominating.

Because, as Friedman so kindly points out, "Mommy blogs are just plain fun to read."

Teacher Wants to Drop Huck Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird "for Obama"

JeanneSager — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:37:00 GMT

Now that we have a black president, ~~an Oregon~~ a Washington teacher says he's ready to stop teaching about the days when the "n-word" was acceptable - and he's willing to say bye-bye to some of the most acclaimed books of school curricula to do it.

John Foley says he's sick of having to explain the usage of the "n-word" in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird to his students.

Sure, in the end the authors stood as beacons of light in their time for writing books that decried racism, but Foley doesn't think kids (or "an angry African American mom") have the wherewithal to stick with it to the end of the books.

OK, let's back up here. He's decrying racism and a lack of education with . . . racism and a refusal to educate?

Foley wrote a guest editorial in a recent issue of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, noting he's sick of having to explain to those African American mothers why he has students read books that portray blacks as inarticulate and uneducated. He's weary of having black students sit in class uncomfortable when the "n-word" is read out in class. What's more - he says the kids find the books "dull and plodding," and they never get past the usage of the racist word.

And lest you think he's being satirical, Foley told the Los Angeles Times he was "bemused" by the people who came to his quasi-defense in the name of satire.

To be fair, Foley does not want to ban these books. He wants to update the curriculum, replacing what he sees as poor black role models with more empowering examples for his students. I certainly support him on that. So add a few in there, beef up the reading list. But does that have to be at the loss of literative examples of the racial struggles that led up to Obama's victory? However corny, the George Santayana quote comes to mind: "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Dropping the Huck Finns of literature from our kids' reading lists is akin to whitewashing those struggles out of our history books. Where else do these children learn what the times in which the n-word" was acceptable were like? Where else will they learn that, yes, the black men depicted in these books were indeed uneducated and inarticulate - not because of stupidity but because of oppression?

As a white teacher, I can also appreciate that Foley faces a daunting task. A close friend is white and teaches at a racially diverse school in the south, where she has been called out time and again by over-sensitive parents of other ethnicities for perceived slights. I am not saying all white teachers are innocent; but unwarranted accusations can be tough on a teacher - my friend is currently seeking a move out of the classroom. Perhaps I am reading too much into his words, but it sounds like Foley has experienced having to rationalize a misperceived support of the n-word to an African American mother who has only been told by her child that the teacher used the n-word (without providing the context of the book).

He's tired. And maybe he's tired of teaching too. Because the saddest comment of all is what Foley has taken out of a classroom after all of these years teaching literature. "You have to remember, it's hard to sell kids these days on books," he told the Times. "I write young adult novels, and sometimes I wonder, why bother? You're writing for three girls who like to read."

Kids can wear teachers down, especially the kids who just don't care. But when a teacher begins to blame the kids for just not getting it or just not being able to get past a stumbling block, perhaps he needs to examine not the book and the history lesson but his method of "inspiring" young minds.

These kids need someone to tell them "that was then, and this is now." Can John Foley still do that?

Image: Amazon

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Review: Olivia the Pig Comes to Nickelodeon

JeanneSager — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:32:00 GMT

She's here, she's finally here! The porcine answer to Eloise has made it to Nickelodeon - or she will on the 26th - and we offer a look-see at Olivia the pig's first day on TV.

For those of you who haven't met my favorite piglet, she's the book version of author Ian Falconer's niece. Prone to driving her mother bananas with the things a six and three-quarters kid does best (opting out on naps, recreating her favorite paintings from the museum on her bedroom walls), Olivia has earned Caldecott Honors on the page.

Now the star of Olivia Saves the Circus, Olivia Forms a Band, and, of course, Olivia, has her own half-hour show on Nickelodeon. Abandoning Falconer's favored clean black and white - with splashes of red for a passionate pig - the animated version is full-color. But what it loses in terms of artistry, the TV version gains with the time allowed to bring Olivia's winsome "sixness" to life.

Broken into two storylines, the premiere episode explores the big sister/little brother rivalry made famous on Falconer's pages - putting Olivia in a tizzy when her father reveals baby brother Ian will one day grow up to be bigger than her. After all, what's the point of being the big sister if you aren't the biggest? Olivia tries convincing Ian to stop drinking milk, and warns he'll miss out on the fun of hide and seek and game time if he grows up. But when Dad reveals there's fun to be had in grown-up-land, and big sisters will always be big sisters, the sibling rivalry drops back down to normal levels.

Part two takes a snow day for a spin, and imagination takes over the house. With the flakes flying, Olivia's mom brings home her brood and two of Olivia's friends for a playdate - while the piglet turns her family house into the luxe accomodations of the Olivia hotel. Ian plays the hotel's ghost - and scares the guests - until an electric outage taxes even Olivia's imagination of how to make the hotel to the stars keep running.

Olivia makes great strides toward improving brother-sister relations in kid shows. Olivia is annoyed by Ian, but the two cobble together a friendship of sorts - with a bit of gentle pushing from their parents. The show makes a point not to celebrate Olivia's irritation with Ian, but not to downplay it either. It highlights the imperfect relationship between brothers and sisters in the best way - allowing for improvement. The result is somewhere in the middle of the perfection that is the Pinky Dinky Doo and Tyler symbiosis and the domineering Ruby to misunderstood bunny Max.

If I sound like I'm gushing, I'm sorry. I was biased walking into a screening of the first episode; after all, I named my dog Olivia after Falconer's books. But with repeated requests from my pre-schooler to watch Olivia again. . . and again . . . and again . . . I'm not the only one who sees a hit. Airing at 11:30 a.m. eastern and pacific on the 26th, all-new episodes will air all week long. Can't wait? The family can get ready with a pile of Olivia crafts, iron-ons and games over at the Nick Jr. site.

Image: Nickelodeon

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Kids to Obama: Read Books, Eat More Ice Cream

JeanneSager — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:36:00 GMT

Ah, if only life were this simple. A collection of letters written by children to President-Elect Barack Obama were highlighted in the New York Times last week.

Their number one pick? A series of junk food suggestions from a little girl who thinks the president elect needs to put on some weight.

The letter is, of course, pure kid - "You look too skinny. You should eat more food. this is what you should eat:" followed by a list of foods I'd love to eat but only let my daughter have on special occasions. You can get all upset that this child doesn't value "healthy" foods, or you can look at it purely from the eyes of a child. She thinks the president looks hungry. She likes him enough to suggest he eat better. And, hey, who wouldn't want a buddy to fatten up on ice cream, buttered popcorn and cotton candy?

Others in the list were written by older children, and with that comes a bit more worldliness. Most moving to me is the letter from a twelve-year-old who says her parents are split down political lines, with one highly conservative and the other ultra-liberal. "Thank you for bringing my parents somewhat closer together. :) You are my idol Mr. Barack," she says.

I admit it; it doesn't take much to get me all weepy about the future of our country. But that letter in particular brought on the little pricks in the corner of my eyes. Because after reading about the parents who refuse to let their kids attend school on Tuesday lest they see the wrong (in their eyes) president inaugurated, it's nice to know there are parents out there who don't agree with the president-elect and are still raising kids to be thoughtful, accepting, and productive members of society.

To read the whole list - from suggestions that he get more kids reading to requests to help their families get jobs, check out the Times piece. Bring the tissues.

Image: New York Times

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Eggs Are Really Liquid Chickens... and Other Books for Kids

KeriF — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:29:00 GMT

I may not throw out any of my kids' books, but that doesn't mean I don't find many of them incredibly annoying. My husband and I try not to make any snarky comments about the books in front of our kids, but sometimes we can't help ourselves. (Like in the Apple Tree Farm series of books by Usborne Books, in which Mrs. Boot is the farmer (no mention of Mr. Boot) and Ted "works on the farm." Um, yeah, we all know where Ted's doing most of his work. Thankfully, my kids don't know what "shtooping" means.)

Perhaps these books would be a little more fun to read...

These mock book covers from the site Bob From Accounting may not ever make it to the bookshelves, but they'll certainly give you a good laugh. A couple of my favorites are posted below. You can see the whole hilarious lot here.

Photos: www.bobfromaccounting.com

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Smackdown: I Won't Read That Thing Again

Miriam Axel-Lute — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:31:00 GMT

"Sheep live on farms. Sheep like to eat grass. Sheep apparently have shiny, reflective, slightly pink fleece in order to captivate small children when the text of a book is too damn inane to do so."

Do you have any books whose actual rendition when read out loud starts to sound kind of like that? I sure do. Or did. They take themselves too seriously and yet are dull, completely unoriginal, have no feel for language. Their messages, if they have them, are pointless or annoying. Some of them get basic things about the world wrong.

When faced with a demand to read one of these specimens (plenty of which have entered our house as gifts or hand-me-downs) more than once a day, I find I have two options: Sarcasm or refusal. The former is probably an unwise long-term parenting technique, but the latter meets with more protest, so obnoxious commentary usually rules the day.

After bedtime though, I have another option: That book just might quietly disappear.

I realize that what I'm looking for in a book and what an under-three-year-old is looking for are pretty gosh darn different. I realize that repetition is part of their cognitive development and I'm just going to get sick of reading even the best of books. I realize that the point of reading to my child is not to entertain me or meet my exacting literary standards.

But here's the thing: If it's totally possible to have the best of both worlds, why shouldn't I? Why should I settle for the dregs that have washed up on my bookshelves? I doubt anyone would argue that parents can't dispose of books that don't match the values they want to pass along. One my values is literary merit. And it's available in plenty.

There are thousands and thousands of really awesome kids' books out there, right down to the most simple reading level. They may not be works I would curl up with on the couch on my own (though I might with Seuss or A. A. Milne), but they have some combination of rhyming and rhythm, playful cleverness, kindness, imagination, style, and beautiful illustrations that not only don't turn my stomach, but even make me smile and enjoy myself (at least for the first three readings per day or so). Oh, and my daughter also loves them. Perhaps not always more than some of the ones I can't stand, but also no less.

Besides, kids notice subtle things, and I'm quite sure mine must notice when she asks me to read something to her and I give a shudder of horror. That doesn't keep me up at night, but it worries me more than facing down a potential fit because Spot's Thanksgiving has gone missing. "Things get lost sometimes" is a lesson that's worth learning. Kids get over it. (Though it helps if you identify the bad apples early, before any deep attachments are formed.)

Will my daughter be mad at us when she finds a couple of titles we couldn't even bring ourselves to pass along to those with different tastes hammered into the bed frame to level the lopsided mattress? She might. But I figure by that time she'll be able to read to herself and have moved on. And hopefully she will have developed better taste too.

Photo by Indie Wench.

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The 10 Most Popular Bedtime Stories of 2008

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:30:00 GMT

A recent British survey found that traditional fairy tales are no longer popular bedtime stories for children. So what are parents choosing to read instead? According to The Baby Web Site, which conducted the survey, the top 10 children's books of last year were mostly funny or sweet tales, with a smattering of classics that have stood the test of time.

In order of popularity, here are the books that put kids to bed in 2008:

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

2. Mr. Men by Roger Hargreaves

3. The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

4. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

5. Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman & Ben Cort

6. Thomas and Friends from The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry

7. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

8. What a Noisy Pinky Ponk! by Andrew Davenport

9. Charlie and Lola by Lauren Child

10. Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Robert Southey

I have no objections to anything on the list (though I have always liked the premise of the Thomas books much more than the actual stories), but I must admit I was disappointed that the Skippyjon Jones books didn't make the list. Apparently, Spanish-speaking Siamese kitties are just so 2006.

What do you read your kids before bed?

Photo: jellybabies.co.uk

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Meet Chrissa, the Newest, Lamest American Girl Doll

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:30:00 GMT

I remember with perfect clarity the Christmas that I got a Samantha doll as a present. I was well acquainted with all of the American Girls by then, having studied their varied histories and enviously played with my friends’ Kirstens and Mollys. So when I opened the package and found Samantha inside, I already knew that she felt suffocated by her Grandmary’s ideals of what it meant to be “a lady.” I promised to rescue her from her staid Victorian background.

Samantha led a charmed life to be sure, but it was an interesting, charmed life. And it was told in books, which helped me get hooked on reading, taught me a wee bit of history, and helped me identify with people who lived in very different times and places from my own.

Chrissa, who will hit toy store shelves this January, will educate girls about how to navigate social challenges in 2009—through an HBO movie (An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong). Instead of combating a historical hardship, such as the oppression of women or World War II, Chrissa is battling “relational aggression.” There's no question that relational aggression is an important issue, but do we have to give even our dolls psychological diagnoses? What about engaging stories, to, you know, distract and cheer up all the kids who are suffering relational aggression?

Am I just being crotchety, or is Chrissa a lame replacement for Samantha?

Photo: USA Today

Parenting Books as Presents? Um, No.

Amy Kuras — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:28:00 GMT

It’s almost Christmas, and, my fellow mothers, what are you hoping for under the tree?

I can guarantee you, the answer is almost definitely NOT “a big bunch of parenting books, thanks!” I mean really – first of all, books in general are a bad gift for your average parent because who has time to read? It takes me two days to get through a decent magazine and I never, but never, manage to get though my library hauls without renewing at least one book at least once.

Secondly, buying someone a parenting book is dangerous, dangerous ground. If you’re the recipient’s co-parent, it’s unsexy, to say the least, and says “I used to think you were interesting enough to pair off with – now, I see you as Mama or Daddy.” If you’re a friend, family member and especially an in-law of any stripe, just don’t do it. It will not be taken well. Even if the book in question changed your life and you want to share it with the world, do not go there.

What touched this off? Well, this NPR story which was headlined “Moms Want Parenting Books for Christmas.”

No we DON’T.

It’s actually a roundup of the contributor’s favorite parenting books, and while a couple seem like they’d be a good read – Leonard Pitts’ book on African-American fathers and Meredith Small’s book on cultural difference in parenting, just for starters – at gift time, I want something that acknowledges I am a person for whom “mom” is but one part of my identity.

Nine-Year-Old Lothario Gets Movie Deal

Brett Singer — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Alec Greven is either a genius or the luckiest little kid ever. At least if you only consider his success in the entertainment business.

Alec is the author of "How To Talk To Girls", a book about fishing. Psych! It's really about how to talk to girls. (A little nine-year-old humor for you. Thank you. Tip your waitress.) That book has now been optioned for a film.

Yes, a film. How they plan to dramatize a 46-page book that features such gems as "Comb your hair and don't wear sweats," I have no idea. But that didn't stop Fox (which is owned by News Corp., same as the book's publisher Harper Collins) from handing over a decent chunk of cash – "low-to-mid six figures", according to the Hollywood Reporter. That'll buy a lot of candy and comic books.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go speak to my children. I thought I would have to wait until they were older for them to start earning their keep. But screw that. The older one can pen "How To Talk About Pokémon," the younger kid can do "How To Talk Constantly". I see TV series, coffee mugs… the possibilities are endless.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Image: New York Post