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Watermark Teacher Feature – February 6, 2008
In this issue:
BOOK NEWS
* Publication date announced for "Eragon" sequel
Fresh Titles:
* “The Cow That Laid an Egg” by Andy Cutbill & Russell Ayto
* “When Harriet Met Sojourner” by Catherine Clinton & Shane W. Evans
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“Stand Tall, Abe Lincoln” by Judith St. George, illus. by Matt Faulkner
* “The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil” by Wiley Miller
* “Attack of the Volcano Monkeys” by Wiley Miller
* “Bone 7: Ghost Circles” by Jeff Smith
UPCOMING EVENTS
* March & April KMUW Literary Feasts
* David Almond Event: Thursday, March 13. 1:00 p.m.
* Lisa See Reading & Signing: Tuesday, March 18. 7:00 p.m.
* Catherine Ryan Hyde reading & signing: Tuesday, April 8. 7:00 p.m.
FEATURED REVIEW
* "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: The Pox
Party" by M.T. Anderson (new in paperback!)
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This and previous issues of Teacher Feature are available on the Watermark Web
site. You can read on-line, complete with pictures and clickable links, here:
www.watermarkbooks.com/teach.html
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Greetings and salutations,
Is it spring, or is it winter still? I feel like
the groundhogs split their votes on this all-important question! Did you hear?
The two northern beasties saw shadows, but the Georgia 'hog gave two paws up for
robins and daffodils. I've considering hedging my bets by just wearing short
sleeves and gritting my teeth.
Before you dive into reviews of great new books,
I'd particularly like to highlight one event from the calendar listing below:
Watermark is bringing young-adult author David Almond to Wichita next month for
a speaking and book-signing event to mark the paperback release of his eerie and
wonderful novel "Clay." Plan now to attend and bring your class, literature
group, or youth book club. Contact Beth Golay to make arrangements: (316)
682-1181 or
beth.golay@watermarkbooks.com
Now I'm off to read "Elijah of Buxton" by
Christopher Paul Curtis. One of my favorite local librarians told me to quit
dawdling and move this recent winner of the Coretta Scott King
Award to the top of my stack. If the Yankee groundhogs are right, I should
plenty of indoor-time to read!
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NEWSFLASH
Publication date announced for "Eragon" sequel
Knopf Books for Young Readers has set the date and title for Christopher
Paolini's second sequel to his bestselling YA fantasy novel "Eragon." Following
after "Eldest," the third book in the
"Inheritance" series will be titled "Brisingr," and it will be released at 12:01
on September 20, 2008. Details on the announced fourth book in the series are
still over the horizon somewhere. Put the date on your new-year's calendar
and plan for a little Harry Potter-style excitement. Watermark is happy to take
pre-orders.
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FRESH TITLES
Picture books
“The Cow That Laid an Egg” by Andy Cutbill, illus. by Russell Ayto (Harpercollins,
9780061372957, 32 page, ages 2 to 6) This new book has already become a
repeatedly requested favorite with the two-to-six-year-olds at Watermark’s
weekly Tuesday-morning Story Time. It’s an energy-filled picture book that
combines a whacky plot with wonderfully over-the-top illustrations to tell the
story of Marjorie, the cow who laid an egg:
Read review
“When Harriet Met Sojourner” by Catherine Clinton, illus. by Shane W. Evans
(Amistad, 9780060504250, $16.99, 32 pages, age 4 and up). This picture book from
historian Catherine Clinton takes us on an inspiring tour of the lives of two
heroic African-American women—Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth—with the help
of strikingly beautiful illustrations by Kansas City artist Shane W. Evans:
Read review
“Stand Tall, Abe Lincoln” by Judith St. George, illus.
by Matt Faulkner (Philomel, 9780399241741,
$16.99, 48 pages, ages 6 to 10)
Just in time
for Presidents’ Day comes this excellent picture book telling the story of
Abraham Lincoln’s difficult and inspiring childhood. Rich in historical detail
and delightful watercolor images, it’s a testament to the power of education and
to the important roles that teachers, parents, and mentors can play in shaping a
young person's life.
Read review
Beginning Chapter Readers
“The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil” and “Attack of the Volcano
Monkeys” by Wiley Miller (Scholastic/Blue Sky Press, 9780439856652 and
9780439861328, $14.99 each, 128 pages, ages 7 to 10) The creator of the
newspaper comic strip “Non Sequitur” fills these action-packed chapter-books
with many full-color illustrations and a wonderful sense of adventure. Expansive
pictures and rollicking plots make them a perfect fit for reluctant readers and
for fans of dinosaurs, floating cities, and all kinds of flying ships and
submarines. They’re great for serial reading, either out loud or individually:
Read reviews
Middle-Grades Fiction
“Bone 7: Ghost Circles” by Jeff Smith (Scholastic, 9780439706346, $9.99,
graphic novel, ages 9 to 12) This newest volume continues the award-winning
adventures of the comical Bone cousins: in a once beautiful valley now darkened
by war and a reawakened ancient magic, the Bones are on a journey to protect a
secret princess with the power to save the world—or to destroy it forever.
Highly recommended graphic novel series!
Read review
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UPCOMING WATERMARK EVENTS
March KMUW Literary Feast. Friday, March 7. 7:00 p.m.
The March book will be “Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man
Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam” by Pope Brock. This non-fiction title
explores the history of the infamous Kansas “goat gland doctor” who conned
scores of people into receiving life-threatening operations and surgical
transplants and then went on to campaign for governor.
Literary 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 and author on the KMUW Web site:
http://www.kmuw.org/LiteraryFeasts.html
David Almond Event: Thursday, March 13. 1:00 p.m.
Watermark welcomes acclaimed young-adult author David Almond to Wichita for a
reading and book signing to mark the paperback release of his novel “Clay,”
available March 11. The event will be held at the Allison Middle School
Auditorium at 221 S. Seneca and is co-sponsored by Library Media Services. For
details, including arranging class visits, call Beth Golay at Watermark at (316)
682-1181.
Lisa See Reading & Signing: Tuesday, March 18. 7:00 p.m.
The bestselling author of “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” will visit Watermark
on her tour for the paperback release of her newest novel “Peony in Love.” Set
in 17th century China and based on a true story, this haunting novel uses the
richness and magic of the Chinese afterlife to explore the many manifestations
of love, the bonds of female friendship, and the desire all women have to be
heard.
April KMUW Literary Feast: Friday, April 4. 7:00 p.m.
The April book will be “People of the Book,” a sweeping historical tale of
religion, sacrifice, and mercy by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine
Brooks. Read a review here:
http://www.watermarkbooks.com/review0108-001.html
Literary 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 and author on the KMUW Web site:
http://www.kmuw.org/LiteraryFeasts.html
Catherine Ryan Hyde reading & signing: Tuesday, April 8. 7:00 p.m.
Join us as we host Catherine Ryan Hyde for a reading & signing of her latest
book, “Chasing Windmills.” Hyde is the author of several books, including “Pay
it Forward” and “Love in the Present Tense.” For more information about the
author, visit her websites at
www.cryanhyde.com and
www.payitforwardfoundation.org
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
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FEATURED REVIEW
"The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: The Pox
Party" by M. T. Anderson (Candlewick, 9780763636791, $10.99, teens and
adults)
M. T. Anderson’s “Octavian Nothing” is a powerful and unforgettable story. Like
“The Book Thief” and Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian,” it’s a novel written with younger readers in mind, yet it has a
universal appeal and a relevance to adult readers as well, particularly those
with a fascination for American history. Finalist for the Michael Printz Award,
winner of the National Book Award, and now newly available in paperback, it’s a
novel that deserves to be read, discussed, and enjoyed by readers of many ages.
Set in Boston just before the American Revolution, the book tells of the life of
a young boy raised in seclusion with his mother by a college of eccentric
philosophers and academics. Octavian’s studies are of the highest caliber, an
education suited to a prince, and a prince is what he believes himself to be.
It’s only as he grows into a young man that he becomes aware of his true
condition: his mother may have once been royalty, but she was taken from her
African people by force and sold as a slave to the Americas. The men who teach
and train Octavian are her owners and her captors, and he is their greatest
experiment. Raised like a European prince, he will answer an immortal question
of nature and nurture, demonstrating to them whether a black child of Africa,
given what they deem a civilized upbringing, can hope to rival the knowledge and
achievement of one of Europe’s white sons.
Narrated in Octavian’s voice with childlike absorption and attentiveness, the
book’s early chapters reveal the slow erosion and final loss of his status as a
pampered prince-in-training. When smallpox encroaches and the college’s finances
are disrupted by the approaching war for American independence, Octavian is
first put to work by his tutors and then hired out as chattel. He must alter
abruptly from thinking of himself, always, as a full person and an individual to
instead regarding himself just as the law and the majority do, as property. His
one friend, a fellow slave who calls himself Pro Bono describes their situation:
“They want us to be nothing but a bill of sale and a letter explaining where we
is and instructions for where we go and what we do. They want us empty. They
want us flat as paper. They want to be able to carry our souls in their hands,
and read them out loud in court.”
Octavian tries to escape these circumstances by running away to join the rebel
army massing outside of Boston, where he hopes to find some measure of equality
in the company of other men thirsty for freedom. His great talent with the
violin makes him a popular entertainer among the troops, yet he soon realizes
that even if the colonists should prevail, he has no guarantee that an
independent America will offer him any greater liberty. It’s only in playing
music that he truly glimpses his freedom: “Music hath its land of origin; and
yet it is also its own country, its own sovereign power, and all may take refuge
there, and all, once settled, may claim it as their own, and all may meet there
in amity; and these instruments, as surely as instruments of torture, belong to
all of us.”
Pursued by his former tutors, Octavian is made frozen and nearly mute by the
deep realization that the men who taught him almost all he knows of the
world—its history, properties, and poetry—can still view him as insufficiently
human, a malformed Caliban intended for service and labor. “They gave me a
tongue;” he says, “and then stopped it up, so they would not have to hear it
crying.”
“Octavian Nothing” is fiercely and beautifully told; a rich, thrilling story
illuminated by a young man’s brilliant sensitivity when confronted with the
unreasoning face of slavery, captivity, and injustice. It is a book that will
likely break your heart in the best and finest ways possible.
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Past reviews and archived issues of Teacher Feature can be read on-line on the
Watermark Web site at:
http://www.watermarkbooks.com/teacharchives.html
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Later educators,
Mark David Bradshaw
Click here for the Teacher Feature Archives
Peruse
back issues of teacher feature since its inception in April
2003.
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