Library Mama

I fell in love with and wrote about this book a long time ago. But it now occurs to me that not only is this a new edition, but that the only person who read my previous writing was my Media for Children and Young Adults professor. Maybe ya’ll might like to hear about it, too.

I should also mention that I won this book from http://www.dearreader.com . I’m lucky in that I get to subscribe to this for work. But really, any of you want to read but find yourself pressed for time, or at the computer more than the library, can use this. You just pick a genre (fiction, sci-fi, business or what have you) and they mail you a five-minute selection from a book five days a week. There’s a new book every Monday, so by the end of the week you’ve read enough to know if you’d be interested in the book or not. Picky reader that I am, I find this a great way to learn about new books without committing a lot of anything.

Reading Magic by Mem Fox Mem Fox is a well-known picture book author as well as one of Australia’s leading literacy experts. In this book, she talks about how reading skills and a love of reading can come about simply and naturally by reading aloud to your children. Just ten minutes a day, she says, and you’ve re-established your family bond after a day apart, or smoothed the tensions of a day together. Her advice is mostly uncontroversial – don’t try to teach your children to read before school. Just read good books to them and have fun with it (she’s got suggestions for games). Having done some more reading about literacy since I last read this, I can see where she has some differences from other literacy theories. She says that phonics is an advanced skill in English, best taught only after children have started reading you back the book you read to them a hundred times. Fox doesn’t agree with children chanting words out of context either (or learning spelling from lists). Language only makes sense in context, and that’s how it should be learned. These are hot-button items in the literacy world, but she’s convincing and hey, if you’re just reading aloud, what does it matter? She also divides literacy up into only three basic skills, where the ALA’s Every Child Ready to Read program uses 6 and recommends 15 minutes of reading a day. Even if your theories are different or your children already reading, this is a great book. Fox is just so infectiously enthusiastic about reading that you’ll finish the book all fired up to find a kid to read to. The new edition even includes a short list of good read-aloud books, though you should refer to the classic and frequently updated Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease for much more extensive recommendations.

I realized with less than a week to go that I had not even picked out the adult nonfiction book I’d said I’d review for the June Librarian’s Choice page. Oops. The adult summer reading theme (which we’re not really doing) is animals, so I thought I’d look for one of the nice narrative animal books which seem only to circulate as long as they’re on the new book shelf. I started with a book on the platypus, a favorite of mine, but soon put it down because I just couldn’t get into it – no good with a tight deadline. But on take two, we had a winner.

The Astonishing Elephant by Shana Alexander Who hasn’t been fascinated by the elephant, the largest of land mammals? Journalist Shana Alexander shares with us her life-long quest to understand the elephant, beginning with her attendance at the rare birth of a zoo elephant in the 1960s. She takes us on a journey through the history of elephants, their importance in Hindu and Buddhist religion, their often sad involvement in circuses in the United States and the excitement of recent breakthroughs in elephant communication. Elephants naturally live in a society which on some days seems ideal - matriarchal family groups, with visiting males. OK, maybe I wouldn't like the without males part. But the close communication, the affection - they seem to have figured out how to live together peacefully better than we have. They are difficult in captivity because they resent their lost freedom, and will only breed with a mate they like. Today, though zoo conditions have improved, the elephant is still in grave danger from loss of habitat in Asia and from poaching in Africa. The news may not be completely cheerful, but the wise and social elephant has never been so compelling as Alexander shows it to be.

Which Brings Me to You by Steve Almond and Julianna Baggott Two single thirty-somethings meet at a wedding. They are on the verge of an illicit coupling in the coat closet, when John pulls back. What if they let things develop at a slower pace rather than the certain death of a one-night stand? He talks the reluctant Jane into beginning a correspondence in which they will confess their failings, mostly in love. Though the set-up is a wee bit on the improbable side, the resulting letters beautifully chronicle the characters’ development from first high school relationship to the present, as well as their growing relationship. John and Jane are smart and sarcastic characters, no longer trusting that first flush of romance but not willing to settle for anything less than a life fully lived.

And here is the book which took me the better part of a couple of months to read, owing to my rather rusty German.
Tintenherz von Cornelia Funke Ich hatte dieses Buch auf dem Amerikanischen so gern, dass ich es auf dem originallen Deutschen lesen musste. Ja. Die Geschichte ist immer noch sehr schoen und spannend, aber es ist sehr gut das ich es schon gelesen hatte. Es war wirklich gut es auf Deutsch zu lesen, aber gluecklicherweise fuer meine Freunde, die kein Deutsch lesen, ist die Uebersetzung auch gut. Und wenn irgendjemand hier es auf Deutsch lesen moechte, kann ich meine Kopie ausleihen.