Watermark Teacher Feature – January 19, 2007

In this issue:

BOOK NEWS
Low Watermark Sale lasts until Sunday
Fresh new titles: Dian Curtis Regan!

UPCOMING WATERMARK EVENTS
The Crowsons will play this Saturday evening from 5 to 7 p.m.
Jill Conner Browne - Sweet Potato Queens Event: Tue., Jan. 23 at 7 p.m.
Kansas Center for the Book sponsors KANSAS READS

February KMUW Literary Feast:
Friday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m.

BOOK REVIEWS
Library-themed picture books:
* “The Library Lion” by Michelle Knudsen, illus. by Kevin Hawkes
* “Alia’s Misson: Saving the Books of Iraq” by Mark Alan Stamaty

“Breaking Up: A Fashion High Graphic Novel” by Aimee Friedman & Christine Norrie

-

Hello, everyone.

Amid all this week’s cold and slick, there is a bright spot: Watermark is currently in the middle of its semi-annual Low Watermark Sale. It lasts through this Sunday, Jan. 21, and thousands of selected titles and items are marked down 45%, 60%, 75%, and more. And remember, as an educator, you’ll receive a healthy discount even on the non-sale items you buy for your classrooms; and that one’s in effect every day of the year.

FRESH NEW TITLES

Despite our crazy Kansas weather, the book truck has been busy bringing us new
and exciting titles the past two weeks:

* “Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood” by Ann Brashares, is
new in hardcover; it completes the much-loved “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series with one final, unforgettable look into the lives of its maturing quartet of young friends. (Meridith in the Watermark café is reading it now and loving it: the girls are off to college, and apparently, they’re getting into some trouble.) For older teens. (Fans of the Sisterhood books should definitely check out the Fashion High review further down the page.)

* Wichita-based author Dian Curtis Regan has two lovely new hardcover books
still warm from the presses: one is a new edition of her beloved adventure-fantasy “Princess Nevermore,” and the second is that book’s long-awaited sequel, “Cam’s Quest.” Each tells how a brave young person journeys from a courtly underground kingdom to explore life in the “Outer Earth” of the American heartland. For readers 9 to 12.

* Cynthia Kadohata’s “Kira-Kira,” winner of the 2005 Newberry Medal, is newly
available in paperback. Through the eyes of its youthful narrator Katie, it tells a lyrical and poignant story about a Japanese-American family in Georgia in the 1950s. For ages 9 to 12.

* Also new in paperback is John Green’s excellent “Looking for Alaska,” winner
of the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award for teen fiction. Set in an Alabama boarding
school, it follows a group of brilliant, funny, rebellious friends who lose one of their own in an auto accident. Their story is all about testing limits, growing up, and asking the big questions about life and death. For older teens. Read Mark's review

-

UPCOMING WATERMARK EVENTS


The Crowsons will play their signature brand of acoustic bluegrass in the
Watermark Café this Saturday evening from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m..


Jill Conner Browne - Sweet Potato Queens Event: Tuesday, Jan. 23 at 7:00 p.m.

Watermark is so happy to host the return of the Boss Queen of the Sweet Potato
Queens as she releases her first novel, titled “The Sweet Potato Queens' First
Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn't Actually Do, but Could Have, and May Yet.” It
will be an evening fit for queens as we convene at the Orpheum for a reading and
book signing. Call up your girlfriends, break out your tiaras, and plan to make
it a night-out to remember.


Kansas Center for the Book sponsors KANSAS READS

Beginning this Kansas Day, Jan. 29, the Kansas Center for the Book will sponsor
a state-wide reading program focused on the novel “The Learning Tree” by Kansas
native Gordon Parks. You can learn more about participating at the center’s Web
site: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/orgs/kcfb/

Watermark has supply of the book laid away, and we’re happy to offer you a 20%
discount on bulk orders. You can fax an order to (316) 682-1506 or shoot an
e-mail to: lisa.johnson@watermarkbooks.com


KMUW Literary Feast: Friday, February 2 at 7:00 p.m.

The February book will be the new novel “Against the Day” by Thomas Pynchon,
author of “Gravity's Rainbow.” Feast participants will enjoy dinner together,
with a menu specially created by our Watermark chef, then take part in a book
discussion over dessert. Tickets are available at the Watermark book counter or
by calling (316) 682-1181. Places are limited, and we recommend purchasing your
ticket well in advance. Read more about the book, author, and menu on the KMUW
Web site at: http://www.kmuw.org/LiteraryFeasts.html


For a full listing of Watermark events, including book clubs and art openings,
visit the Events page of our Web site at: http://www.watermarkbooks.com/events.html

-

BOOK REVIEWS


Two library-themed picture books have recently caught my eye: one is a timeless
story of friendship, and the other tells a timely true story of books in a very
interesting part of the world.


“Library Lion” by Michelle Knudsen, illus. by Kevin Hawkes (Candlewick,
0763622621, $16.95)

One day, a lion comes into the library, sending all the librarians into a
panic—all of them except Miss Merriweather, that is. She’s quite content to have
the lion there… at least until he starts roaring. (Miss Merriweather, you see,
is very firm about the rules, and she simply doesn’t allow roaring inside the
library.) Once the lion agrees not to disturb the peace, he’s permitted to stay
for story time, and he soon becomes a regular fixture there: dusting the
encyclopedias, licking stamps for Miss Merriweather, and serving as a stepstool
for children to reach the highest shelves. One day, though, the lion breaks the
rules again: he gives the loudest roar of his life to bring help when Miss
Merriweather falls and breaks her arm. The lion fears he can never come back to
the library (rules are rules, after all), but he soon learns that even the
firmest rules should sometimes be broken--like when a friend is in need. The
book’s old-fashioned illustrations are quiet and pleasing, and the relatively
dense text is great for reading aloud to kids ages five and older.


“Alia’s Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq” by Mark Alan Stamaty (Knopf Books for
Young Readers, 0375832173, $12.95)

When the invasion looms over Iraq and Saddam Hussein makes the city of Basra’s
central library a target by putting anti-aircraft guns on its roof, Alia the
head librarian decides to take matters--and books--into her own hands. Based on
true events, this hardcover picture book for children ages four to nine tells
how Alia, spurred by a desire to preserve her country’s history, goes about
saving most of her library’s collection: she smuggles precious volumes past
soldiers by hiding them under her scarf and shawl, she hides whole collections
in her house, and she enlists brave friends to help her carry stacks and stacks
of books to safer locations before the fighting begins. With pages laid out with
panels and word bubbles like in a comic book, “Alia’s Mission” tells a real-life
story about the power that books and reading can have, even during wartime, to
inspire bravery and improve people’s lives.

-

“Breaking Up: A Fashion High Graphic Novel” by Aimee Friedman & Christine Norrie
(Scholastic Graphix, 0439748674, $9.99)

This teen romantic comedy is the newest release from Scholastic’s GRAPHIX line
of youth graphic novels, which also includes The Baby-Sitters Club series, the
wildly adventurous Bone series by Jeff Smith, and the new Goosebumps graphic
novels by R. L. Stine.

“Breaking Up” follows the ups and downs of four friends in their junior year of
high school. They attend the Georgia O’Keefe School for the Arts in New York
City, but they’ve nicknamed it “Fashion High” because all the artsy kids who go
there try *so hard* to be cool, fashionable, different. The star of the book is
Chloe Sacks, who loves school and her painting classes but just isn’t into
Fashion High’s rat race of popularity and parties. She’s surrounded, however, by
three best friends who really *do* care, and sometimes their conflicting agendas
cause arguments, misunderstandings, and DRAMA the likes of which even artsy
Fashion High has never before seen.

The real culprit in the conflict is Chloe’s friend Mackenzie, who wants
desperately to be a top-of-the-hive Queen Bee and who thinks that pursuing the
school’s popularity royalty, no matter how cruel and untrustworthy they are, is
the surest way to the top. As Mackenzie strays from the fold, Chloe focuses her
attention on painting--and on Adam, the smart, talented, but dangerously un-cool
guy with whom she shares more interests than with anyone else, even her best
friends.

Chloe and Mackenzie polarize towards the suave and geeky crowds and end up
pulling their other friends (sheltered, rebellious Isabel and shy, true-blue
Erika) between them. Junior year becomes a tug-of-war that makes them all
unhappy, with each one struggling to grown up and define what’s most important
to her. The central issue here is honesty: Isabel tries to get more freedom by
fibbing to her parents, Erika dumps a boyfriend who tries to pressure her into
getting physical, Mackenzie loses her mind and steps out with a good friend’s
beau, and Chloe, disastrously, tries to keep her relationship with the unpopular
Adam a secret from everyone.

“Breaking Up” treats all these tangled bonds with honesty, sweetness, and a good
dose of teenage melodrama. Though its plot is a bit predictable, Aimee
Friedman’s script brings a lot of humor and some really wonderful character
touches, like when Chloe begins to pick up Adam’s habit of throwing out obscure,
fascinating facts to her friends, followed by the phrase “It’s just something I
know.” With such likable quirks, the author conveys a whole world of shifting
teenage affections and insecurities.

This graphic novel’s great strength, though, is Christine Norrie’s awesome
black-and-white cartooning. Norrie is best known for drawing the charming
punk-family drama comic “Hopeless Savages,” and she continues creating great
illustrations in the pages of Fashion High. She uses clean, pleasing lines; each
of her characters has a distinct look; and the kids’ spot-on body language
conveys all the froth of their teenage hearts. I hope there are more Fashion
High comics to come, and I hope Christine Norrie draws them.

“Breaking Up” is recommended for teens because it deals in part with
high-schoolers’ questions about going steady and making out. The language in it
is quite clean, and the situations stay clear of anything graphic. It’s a good,
solid teen novel that’s like a less “mature” alternative to the “A-List” and
“Clique” series—fun, engaging stuff for young readers, especially those
interested in art and reading about teens involved in dance and the visual arts.

Recommended for readers 12 and older.

Reviews by Mark David Bradshaw

-

Past reviews and archived issues of Teacher Feature can be read on-line on the
Watermark Web site at: http://www.watermarkbooks.com/teach.html

-

May the thaw come soon!

Mark

 

Click here for the Teacher Feature Archives

Peruse back issues of teacher feature since its inception in April 2003.