Harry Potter in the House

Lily has been very into HP lately. She's reading the 5th book now and we've caught up with the films to the 4th. I am reminded again how lengthy and tryingly so of the beginning of Goblet of Fire: the repeated problems at the Dursleys, the "journey" to get to the World Cup, and the Quidditch game there.... almost 200 pages before seeing the gang back to Hogwarts. I remember the read a disappointing one for me, since there was high expectation after my favorite 3rd volume. This almost prevented me from reading book V. If not for my sense of "professional" duty, I might have taken one look at the 800+page of Order of Phoenix and gave up. Thinking back, there were quite a few cool moments in HP5 and I can't wait for Lily to discover them. (And I think she won't be annoyed as much by the poorly portrayed teen angst as I was.)

We talked about the length of books and how I am not against long stories. I just have no patience of rambling for rambling sake. One of my favorite books is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and the series of Song of Ice and Fire are both famed for being quite long. The length worked to enhance their charm -- I didn't want the stories to end -- didn't want to get out those worlds to be back to my ordinary universe.

Resolution

I know I have not been very good at being a blogger. I don't keep a tight schedule. I am not compulsively entering every little thought on these pages. I don't do small talk. I don't post a couple of links or news about books. But, maybe I should. Maybe I should take my blogger responsibilities a bit more seriously. Maybe I should tell you that I am re-reading and re-looking at Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee (1978) -- a long time treasure of mine. The book that taught me a lot -- not just in Faerie lores but in being able to read narratives in English (I was a freshman in college in Taiwan, studying to become an English teacher) and also to decipher hand-written texts. And how much I want to share this book with my 9-year-old big reader daughter who has just recently finished Spiderwick Chronicles.

Or perhaps, I should write about all the little conversations I have with my daughter and my students regarding all sorts of stories. Such as tonight, after watching the truly excellent 3rd Harry Potter movie, her indignation over the changes the director and the filmwright (sp?) had made. Or how some of my students are excited about Airman and For Boys Only.

I guess I just convinced myself that, for my own sake, I should start writing as often as I can manage and just FORCE myself to be diligent about recording my thoughts and experiences regarding stories here. Preferably on a daily basis.

Behind the Rules

Author: Stephanie Burgis
Rating:
Listening Level: Adult / YA

Publisher: ESCAPEPOD.ORG
Edition: Podcast


I have been following stories on EscapePod for a while now and have decided to at least mark the days that I've listened to an episode. This one is interesting, light, exploring the idea of cloning, with a couple of instances of strong language (I would NOT have given it an R rating as the podcaster Steve Eley had rated it.)

Direct Link to the Story

Tactics (Anime)

Finally finished the series. I was surprised that it was only 25 episodes. It seemed that the story arc was developing very slowly and then rushed to resolve Haruka's conflicts. It's still a fun anime to watch and I just ordered the first three manga volumes from Tokyopop for the library. I wonder how the middle school kids will respond to this series. They did like Petshop of Horrors.

Airman

Author: Eoin Colfer
Rating:
Reading Level: 5th to 7th Grade

Pages: 416
Publisher: Hyperion
Edition: Hardcover

Click on the title link and read many people's reviews, including mine, on Goodreads! The book is worth promoting in libraries, classrooms, and homes!

2007 Favorite Books

These are the books I personally liked most, remember the best, and hope to continue recommending to young readers from the 2007 publishing year: (Arranged by Title)

For Middle and Older Readers:

Arrival by Shuan Tan
Atherton by Patrick Carmen
Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems by John Grandits
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by Marcia Williams
Click by Linda Sue Park and others
A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
Edward Hopper by Susan Goldman Rubin
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell
The Game by Diana Wynne Jones
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz, illus. by Robert Byrd
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Hitler's Canary by Sandi Toksvis
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Just Grace by Charise Mericle Harper
Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb by Kristen Miller
Laika by Nick Abadzis
The Land of the Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer
Leepike Ridge by H.D. Wilson
Marie Curie by Kathleen Krull
Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller
The New Policeman by Kate Thompson
Peak by Roland Smith
Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems) by Linda Sue Park
The Traitor's Gate by Avi
The Wall by Peter Sis

For Younger and Non-readers

The Bearskinner by Laura Amy Schlitz, illus. by Max Grafe
The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington, illus. by Shelley Jackson
Dimity Dumpty by Bob Graham
Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard
How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird by Jacques Prevert, illus. by Mordecai Gerstein
Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems
Let It Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals by Ashley Bryan
Pictures from Our Vacation by Lynne Rae Perkins
Rainstorm by Barbara Lehman
600 Black Spots by David A. Carter
There Is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems
Tracks of A Panda by Nick Dowson, illus. by Yu Rong
Very Hairy Bear by Alice Schertle, illus. by Matt Phelan

Without Apology!

I have been keenly aware of a "phenomenon" recently, even though it must have been going on for a long time -- many people preface their discussing of a recent favorite children's book by saying, "Um... I know it is not that literary..." and then going into some details as to why the speaker enjoyed the book: it has such an exciting plot; the idea is so intriguing; the characters are so funny; there are so many cool magical elements, etc. And yet, during this enthusiastic reporting -- the speaker has to qualify more than once that, "I think that children would LOVE this book, even though it is not that literary" or "I don't know why I liked it so much, even if I could see that it doesn't have much literary merit..."

I am weary of this apologetic tone. What IS literary anyway? It seems to me that when someone says that a book is "not literary" she means that the "language is not metaphoric or descriptive" or the "sentence structures are not that complex" - basically, there is a straightforwardness to the writing style that is too low or too simple to elevate the work onto the "literary altar."

More thoughts to come -- when I'm no longer completely wiped out!