|
|
Watermark Teacher Feature – March
19, 2008
In this issue:
BOOK NEWS:
* A Favorite New to Paperback:
- “Story of a Girl” by Sara Zarr
FRESH TITLES:
* “Maybe a Bear Ate It!” by Robie H. Harris & Michael Emberley
* “Dear Deer: A Book of Homophones” by Gene Barretta
* “Stink and the Great Guinea Pig Express” by Megan McDonald & Peter H. Reynolds
* “Surprises According to Humphrey” by Betty G. Birney
UPCOMING EVENTS:
* Dianna Flynn Book Signing: Sunday, March 30. 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
* Shakespeare Aloud: Wednesday, April 2. 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
* Catherine Ryan Hyde reading & signing: Tuesday, April 8. 7:00 p.m.
* May KMUW Literary Feast
* Elizabeth Berg reading & signing: Wednesday, May 21. 7:00 p.m.
FEATURED REVIEWS:
* “Sweethearts” by Sara Zarr
* “The Penderwicks on Gardam Street” by Jeanne Birdsall
* (Pre-order Penderwicks and win an advance copy!)
-
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
-
Greetings and salutations!
I hope you’re all enjoying (or have already enjoyed) a restful and stimulating
spring break. You know you’re always invited to kick back in the Watermark Café
and enjoy a coffee and a homemade cinnamon roll, right?
This issue of Teacher Feature has a number of hamsters, cats, guinea pigs, and
deer running around in it: check ’em out. It also looks forward to the imminent
return of some favorite fictional people: the Penderwicks are back! Read
below for a preview of the fantastic second Penderwicks novel, due for release
in April. Fire off to us a pre-order for the book, and you could win one of the
advance readers’ copies that I have stored in an undisclosed, secure location.
(Seriously, if there were a little more justice in the world, Penderwick Day
would be just as big a deal as Harry Potter Day; they’re *that* awesome.)
This issue also features new hardcover and paperback releases by YA author
Sara Zarr, one of the brightest and best talents to emerge in the past year.
I love recommending her books to teens and adults alike: they’re timely,
thoughtful, powerful, and incredibly readable. Don’t miss out!
And always remember: Cinnamon rolls.
-
NEWSFLASH
A Favorite New to Paperback:
“Story of a Girl” by Sara Zarr (Little, Brown Young Readers,
9780316014540, $7.99, for ages 13 and up) A finalist for the National Book
Award, Sara Zarr’s debut is a teen novel of uncommon honesty: It tells the story
of 16-year-old Deanna Lambert, who has been living under a shadow for the past
three years--ever since the night her father found her in a car in a
compromising position with an older boy. Deanna is now struggling to reassert
her self-worth in the face of everyone’s low expectations of her. This is a
searching and powerful story that goes behind rumors and easy assumptions to
urge teenagers to believe in their own value. Highly recommended for both teens
and adults: Read
review
-
FRESH TITLES
Picture books:
“Maybe a Bear Ate It!” by Robie H. Harris, illus. by Michael Emberley
(Orchard Books, 9780439929615, $15.99, 40 pages, ages 2 to 6) This simply worded
new picture book shows the calamity that can result when a young child can’t
locate a favorite book. Robie Harris spins a sweetly funny read-aloud story for
preschool and kindergarten-age kids, and Michael Emberley provides energetic
illustrations of all the imaginary bears, dinosaurs, elephants, rhinos, and
sharks blamed for hiding the missing book. It’s is perfect for story time,
bedtime, or library time, and it’s a great book to introduce young readers to
the importance of books!
Read review
“Dear Deer: A Book of Homophones” by Gene Barretta (Henry Holt and Co.,
9780805081046, $16.95, 40 pages, for ages 4 to 8) This simple picture book,
written in the form of a letter from AUNT ANT to her DEAR nephew DEER, uses
silly situations with animals at the zoo to illustrate the concept of
homophones, words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have
different meanings. Young readers will love the goofy pictures, and from the
many fun examples, they’ll learn about a neat trick of language:
Read review
Beginning Chapter Book:
“Stink and the Great Guinea Pig Express” by Megan McDonald, illus. by Peter
H. Reynolds (Candlewick, 9780763628352, $12.99, ages 6 to 10) The “Stink”
chapter-book series tells fun, goofy adventure stories with special appeal for
young boys. In this new fourth book, new in hardcover, excitement comes to Stink
Moody in the form of three guinea pigs escaped from the local pet store. The
store has just rescued more than a hundred of the furry little critters, and
Stink and his best pals Webster and Sophie volunteer to help find each one a
good home: Read
review
Middle-readers Fiction:
“Surprises According to Humphrey” by Betty G. Birney (Putnam Juvenile,
9780399247309, $14.99, 192 pages, ages 8 to 12) Humphrey the hamster is class
pet in Mrs. Brisbane’s room at Longfellow Elementary, and from the vantage point
of his cage, he follows all lessons and activities while keeping close watch on
his many friends. This book is perfect to read aloud, a chapter at a time, to a
room of curious, antsy, spring-fevered students—or to put into the hands of a
young reader who wants a character to cheer on. Humphrey is a winner!
Read review
-
UPCOMING WATERMARK EVENTS
Dianna Flynn Book Signing: Sunday, March 30. 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Join author Dianna Flynn for a signing of her book “Freddie the Firefly.” It
tells the story of a young firefly who wants to be extraordinary and who
struggles with self confidence and rejection.
Shakespeare Aloud. Wednesday, April 2. 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
This reading group meets every other Wednesday to read Shakespeare's works aloud
together an hour at a time, no experience required. The group is led by Mark
David Bradshaw. On this date, the group will begin reading Thomas Kyd's “The
Spanish Tragedy,” an Elizabethan blockbuster play and important pre-cursor to
Shakespeare's “Hamlet.”
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
May KMUW Literary Feast. Friday, May 2. 7:00 p.m.
The May book will be “The Commoner” by John Burnham Schwartz, a novel of a young
woman who marries into the Japanese Imperial family and learns the lessons and
sacrifices that come with a life lived apart. Read Beth’s review:
http://www.watermarkbooks.com/review0108-013.html
Tickets for the feast 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
Elizabeth Berg reading & signing: Wednesday, May 21. 7:00 p.m.
Join us as we host bestselling novelist Elizabeth Berg for a reading & signing
of her latest book, “The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: and Other Small Acts of
Liberation.” This is a thoughtful, whimsical, entertaining collection of short
stories about food and family, love and loneliness, denial and the triumph of
desires. Berg’s most recent novel “Dream When You’re Feeling Blue” is also new
in paperback. Visit her Web site at:
http://www.elizabeth-berg.net/
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
-
FEATURED REVIEWS
“Sweethearts” by Sara Zarr (Little, Brown Young Readers, 9780316014557,
$16.99)
Sara Zarr’s debut novel, “Story of a Girl,” became a finalist for the National
Book Award and one of my favorite reading experiences of 2007; so her follow-up
book, the recently released “Sweethearts,” had pretty high expectations to meet.
And meet them—really, nearly exceed them—it did. This novel tackles important
and tricky subjects, and Zarr’s handling of them is never less than deft,
insightful, and powerfully affecting.
From the outside, Jenna Vaughn is a popular high school senior with a solid
home, a circle of friends, and an enviable catch of a boyfriend. But inside,
Jenna knows that a part of her remains the miserable and isolated nine-year-old
who lived behind a latchkey and who had just one friend in all the world, an
equally alienated little boy whose sudden disappearance years ago had helped
pave the way for Jenna’s skin-deep transformation into her current self. That
boy was Cameron Quick, and just as Jenna’s senior year gets underway, Cameron
Quick returns.
Cameron’s surprise reappearance throws Jenna’s neatly cultivated life into
disarray. She can’t explain him to her friends, she can’t reconcile her
boyfriend to his presence near her, and she can’t admit to anyone but herself
how important he’s always been to her. It’s not that she loves Cameron, that
they were childhood sweethearts; it’s deeper and larger than all that: she and
Cameron shared something together, survived it together, and that experience
marked them both in ways only they two can fully understand.
It’s in this aspect of her storytelling that Zarr’s remarkably fine writing
truly shines. Dealing with memories of childhood trauma and emotional abuse can
easily devolve into greasy voyeurism that victimizes the sufferers all over
again. But here, Zarr takes the high and difficult road by focusing on the
survivors’ strengths rather than the perpetrator’s actions. She shows Jenna
gradually choose to confront the well-kept secrets of her past even as she
struggles to understand what has happened to Cameron since his disappearance so
long ago—and why he can’t seem to effect the same sort of transformation she
has.
Actually, I’m in awe of Zarr’s adroit handling of the difficult emotions that
Jenna and Cameron stumble through: they’re nearly adults now, but their
personalities are shadowed by the woundedness of their childhood selves. As
high-school life spins frivolously around them, they hold secrets that they know
will bring a halt to that carousel, and despite the wrench and jerk of doing so,
they still grab for the brake.
Also, Zarr doesn’t deny the danger that Cameron embodies for Jenna. She’s
attracted to him after his return, and her parents are by turns protective of
him and wary of his mysterious movements and partly cloudy past. By accepting
him back, there’s a risk that Jenna will be pulled back down into darkness.
“Sweethearts” is a beautifully nuanced novel—not graphic, not exploitative, but
rather clear-eyed in its honesty and in its refusal to promise a tidy
conclusion. Zarr’s message is poignant and courageous throughout: keeping
something secret won’t make it go away; it will only prevent the keeper from
moving forward.
(Highly recommended for teens and adults)
-
“The Penderwicks on Gardam Street” by Jeanne Birdsall (Knopf Books for
Young Readers, 9780375840906, $15.99, 320 pages, ages 9 to 12)
This couldn’t have come soon enough: the Penderwick girls are back! In this
upcoming sequel to the National Book Award-winning novel “The Penderwicks,” the
four brave, clever, imaginative, and true-hearted Penderwick sisters, fresh from
their summer of adventure, dive back into school, homework, soccer practice, and
life at home on Gardam Street. And as always, they continue to defend the famous
Penderwick Family Honor!
The four sisters, their widower father, and their loyal dog Hound have new
neighbors and a whole new batch of exciting worries. Batty, the youngest,
becomes fast friends with the new baby next door, but the two are haunted by a
mysterious lurking figure they call the Bug Man.
Middle sisters Skye and Jane hatch a seemingly innocent plot that soon goes
rotten. After they trade homework assignments that so romantic Jane can pen an
Aztec play for her practical sister, the worst and best of all possibilities
quickly collide into one: the play gets picked for Sixth Grade Performance Night
(yay Jane!), but it’s logical, un-theatrical Skye who will have to carry on the
charade and perform it in front of Daddy, the school, and everyone (boo, hiss!).
All the while, oldest sister Rosalind finds herself caught in the cords of love.
While she steadfastly ignores Tommy the Devoted Boy Next Door (who can date
whoever he likes, she doesn’t care!), her gentlemen father is being pushed to
date again by her usually perfect Aunt Clare. The situation is intolerable!
Dating could lead to marriage, and marriage is a disastrous leap so big it
belies the “step” in “stepmother,” which really would be the End of the
Penderwicks as We Know Them. ’Tis a consummation devoutly to be avoided,
Rosalind thinks, whether by hook or by crook.
The themes knotting all these plots together are true and noble ones: honesty
and deceit. Sky and Jane eventually realize (after Jane steals back the show)
that they have to come clean about their playful ruse. Rosy finally admits to
being smitten with Tommy and admits to her covert efforts to save Daddy from
himself—and from the dangers of dating! Mr. Pen even has a confession of his
own: his girlfriend Marianne, she who he describes quite beautifully as
“sensible and clever, but eager in everything,” well, she’s more than a little
fictional. And Batty? Well, honest little Batty may not have been making her Bug
Man up.
Rest assured that by book’s end, Birdsall has tied up all these unraveled
threads, and once again, the Penderwick girls are in complete possession of
their senses and of their remarkable family honor.
(For ages 9 to 12… and for everyone else, too!)
GET A PREVIEW COPY! This book is scheduled for release in April, and
we’re taking pre-orders now. I have multiple advance galleys, and if you
pre-order a regular copy by this Friday, March 21, you’ll be in the drawing to
receive one of the galleys now, so you can enjoy an early peek at the Penderwick
girls’ new adventures. (If you’ve already placed an advance order, then your
name is automatically entered in the drawing.) To pre-order: call (316) 682-1181
or send an e-mail to me at:
mark.bradshaw@watermarkbooks.com
-
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
-
Later educators,
Mark David Bradshaw
Click here for the Teacher Feature Archives
Peruse
back issues of teacher feature since its inception in April
2003.
|
