Watermark Teacher Feature – August 5, 2009

In this issue:
 
UPCOMING EVENTS:

Zoo Animal Story Time: Sat. August 15. 10:00 a.m.

Book Club Sunday! Sunday, August 30.

Teacher Appreciation Day! Sat., Sept. 19.

Melissa de la Cruz. Event and signing. Wed., Oct. 7.

Trenton Lee Stewart reading & signing. Wed., Oct. 21.

FEATURE: Summer’s Best Graphic Novels
 

* “Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Death & Dementia” by Gris Grimly

* “Dork Diaries” by Rachel Renee Russell

* “Rose” (a Bone prequel) by Jeff Smith

* “Ender’s Game: Battle School” from Orson Scott Card

* “The Eternal Smile” by Gene Luen Yang & Derek Kirk Kim

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Previous issues of Teacher Feature are available on the Watermark Web site, here: http://www.watermarkbooks.com/teacharchives.html

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Greetings & salutations,

Two big things this issue: Events and Graphic Novels.

First, please mark your calendars for Book Club Sunday later this month and for Watermark's annual Teacher Appreciation Day in September. Oh, and invite your friends!

Next, take note that we have two wildly popular, bestselling young-adult writers coming on two dates in October. Melissa de la Cruz is the queen of big city vampire cool with her "Blue Bloods" series, and Trenton Lee Stewart is a genius globe-trotting hero with his "Mysterious Benedict Society" books. I've been a big fan of both these authors for a while now, and I can barely believe we get them both at Watermark in the same month. It's gonna be great.

And finally, check out this issue's featured books: they're the best of this summer's abundant crop of graphic novels. I have literary adaptations, an illustrated diary, a fantasy adventure, and a collection of brainy stories. I've weeded out the weeds and brought you just the blossoms. Enjoy!

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UPCOMING WATERMARK EVENTS
 

Saturday, August 15. Saturday Zoo Animal Story Time. 10:00 a.m. at Watermark.

Watermark and the Sedgwick County Zoo have teamed up for Saturday Animal Story Time on the third Saturday of each month here at Watermark. We have children’s stories, activities, themed books for sale, and live animals. This week features a species of lizard called “the bearded dragon.”

Sunday, August 30. Book Club Sunday! 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

This is a special day for book clubs and anyone interested in joining a book club. We'll have presentations, prizes, and opportunities to sample the club choices available.

Saturday, September 19. Teacher Appreciation Day! 10:00 to 3:00.

Mark your calendars and plan to join us for Watermark's annual Teacher Appreciation Day. There will be special discounts for educators; free giveaways of books, posters, and materials; a lunch-time discussion session; and more!

Wednesday, October 7. Melissa de la Cruz. Event and signing. 7:00 p.m.

Melissa de la Cruz is the wildly popular author of the young-adult, teen, and adult cross-over "Blue Bloods" series, which follows a clique of wealthy New York City prep-school teens who are the secret descendants of the vampire aristocrats who came over on the Mayflower. Think "Twilight" meets "Gossip Girls." It's that much fun!

Melissa will visit Watermark for an event and book signing to celebrate the October 6 release of the fourth book in the series, the much-anticipated The Van Alen Legacy. To pre-order the book or to have a copy held and signed for you, please call Watermark at (316) 682-1181.

To find out more about the "Blue Bloods" series, read Mark's reviews of books one and two, Bluebloods and Masquerade" and book three (new in paperback!), Revelations.

Wednesday, October 21. Trenton Lee Stewart reading & signing. 7 p.m.

Trenton Lee Stewart is the author of the beloved and bestselling "Mysterious Benedict Society" series for readers ages nine to fourteen. These books feature the adventures of an elite group of youngsters who travel the world stopping grand and curious menaces.

Trenton will visit Watermark to celebrate the release of the third book in the series: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma, which will be released in hardcover on October 6. To pre-order the book or to have a copy held and signed for you, please call Watermark at (316) 682-1181.

To get ready for the new release, you can start reading with The Mysterious Benedict and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey.

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 BOOKS

“Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Death and Dementia” by Edgar Allen Poe, illustrated and adapted by Gris Grimly (Atheneum, 9781416950257, $18.99, for ages 10 and older)

Edgar Allen Poe’s stories have never looked more comical and sweetly diabolical. This illustrated collection is the perfect tool for hooking young readers on the pleasures and laments of Poe’s particular form of early American chiller. The book showcases four stories, and each is woven through with Gris Grimly’s ink-and-wash pictures, which draw the reader’s attention to the subtle details and subtexts of the narrative.

In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the eponymous organ is a persistent image, repeated page after page, crowding into lines of text. The man who hears its insistent tattoo is a nervous wreck: all cheekbones, grins, and shifting eyes. “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” follows a hapless traveler on his visit to a French sanitarium. The staff members there are genial but odd, and the pictures highlight their increasingly strange manners. (And when they speak of their happy inmates, the illustrations contradict their lies with truer images; the effect is wonderfully unsettling--almost subliminal.) “The Oblong Box” finds a mystery aboard a sailing ship that carries a very unusual piece of luggage. As waves roll across the page, the wooden casket becomes the focus--narratively and visually--of much fevered speculation. In “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,” a tale of mesmerism and hypnosis, the illustrations show us inside the nerves and paths of the human brain while the story’s words tell us of the fate of a man hypnotized while at death’s doorway. With each repeated image of moving clock hands, we’re reminded that time’s passage is inevitable.

This volume treats its source material perfectly, making it odd and discombobulating without ever crossly the line into graphic coarseness. It’s a fantastic way to introduce younger readers to Poe’s odd genius and flair for effect.

This is a perfect reading tie-in to this fall’s Big Read Wichita events focusing on Poe’s collected works (including our series of talks and discussion here at Watermark). Find out more on the Big Read Wichita Web site: http://www.bigreadwichita.org/

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“Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life” by Rachel Renee Russell (Aladdin, 9781416980063, $12.99, for ages 9 to 12)

“Dork Diaries” uses a similar format to Jeff Kinney’s super-popular “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series: hand-lettered text and hand-drawn cartoons tell the story of Nikki Maxwell’s first weeks in her new middle school, where things get off to a hilariously rocky start. Nikki loves drawing, misses her old friends, and both admires and tries to avoid a clique of uber-fashionable girls who rule the school. One week into the new year, she feels terribly lonely, as if, deep in the pit of her stressed-out stomach, there lives a “big, fat, poisonous toad of loneliness.”

To help her cope, Nikki’s parents have given her, unasked, a new sketch journal, and Nikki proceeds to make it her Dork Diaries, a record of the many odd and funny things that befall her. She becomes a library assistant (social suicide); she talks--without invitation!--to the school’s Queen Bee (just asking for trouble); and she enters the big annual art show (can’t end well). Through it all, she keeps her sense of humor, loses all sense of proportion, and always asks herself one simple question: “What would Tyra Banks do?”

“Dork Diaries” starts a little slowly, but it builds up a good head of steam as Nikki grows into her art and finds a place for herself. Her new-school jitters and inferior raking in the fashion-diva hierarchy are just the fertilizer she needs to grow new friendships and talents. This is a good book to help ease a young reader’s jump back into school, and with its similarity to the “Wimpy Kid” books, it has automatic appeal. (I once visited a fifth-grade library class in which all thirty students had read that series: it’s huge.) The characters in this book are in middle school, but the book’s voice and humor are perfect for kids as young as nine.

(“Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” by Jeff Kinney comes out October 12 and will be $13.95. I’m taking pre-order now, and I have teacher guides and some cool giveaways available. Just e-mail me at mark.bradshaw@watermarkbooks.com)

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“Rose” (a prequel to the Bone series) by Jeff Smith & Charles Vess (Scholastic GRAPHIX, 9780545135436, $10.99)

“Rose” is to Jeff Smith's popular “Bone” graphic-novel series what “The Hobbit” is to “The Lord of the Rings”: a plot prequel and an introduction to the larger story's underlying themes of courage and sacrifice. “Rose” gives the childhood story of Gran’ma Ben, a central “Bone” character, whose history is very important but also very elusive. Throughout the “Bone” stories, Gran’ma Ben never divulges everything about her early days to her granddaughter Thorn, but here the tale is told in full.

In her youth, in a time when dreams were more real and dragons still talked to human folk, Rose--as Thorn’s grandmother was called then--was a princess whose duty it was to safeguard the kingdom from all who threatened it. She was braver and wiser than her sister Briar, and this difference made the two rivals and eventually enemies. When an ancient power rises up to conquer their kingdom, Rose chooses to stand and face it while selfish, faithless Briar chooses to open the gates and welcome it in.

With its quizzical dragons and dueling sisters, “Rose” takes on the feel of a fable or a fairy tale that’s been worn smooth through many retellings. This quality is heightened by the soft colors and whiplash linework of artist Charles Vess, whose illustrations frequently recall the fairy-filled work of Victorian book illustrator Arthur Rackham. There’s less comedy here than in Jeff Smith’s other stories, but “Rose” delivers a resounding fantasy tale that’s a perfectly fitting backdrop for the much-loved antics and adventure of “Bone.” Fans of the series will definitely be eager to read it.

“Bone 9: Crown of Horns,” the final book in the series, was released in April: http://www.watermarkbooks.com/review0409-010.html

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“Ender’s Game: Battle School” by Christopher Yost & Pasqual Ferry (Marvel Comics, 9780785135807, $24.99, for ages 12 and older)

This graphic novel adapts the first part of Orson Scott Card’s classic science-fiction novel “Ender’s Game,” which, over the past twenty-five years, has become a favorite of young-adult readers. It’s an unusual story about the potential for extraordinary young people to change the world. Its ideas and situations are exciting enough to engage reluctant readers but also thought-provoking enough to make it well-suited for class discussion or as an independent study for gifted students.

Set in a future where space travel and high technology are commonplace, the story follows the early years of Ender Wiggin, an incredibly gifted child who may be the key to humankind’s survival. You see, Earth is at war with an insect-like alien race, and our planet’s best hope is to attack before the aliens can invade us. To prepare for this years-long mission, the human armed forces have created Battle School, a training academy for the most promising, most astonishingly talented strategists this planet can offer. Ender Wiggin is one of these; he is six years old.

Battle School is rough and cold and incredibly competitive. Ender is watched day and night, and his performance is strictly monitored. Will he be the one--the next Caesar or Napoleon, capable of winning our species’ greatest conflict? And what will it take to make a child into a general, to make his equally young classmates into an army? “Ender’s Game” plays with ideas of tactics, psychology, and ethics. It asks readers to look at the difficult nature of war and to think about the compromises and sacrifices it can require.

This graphic novel adaptation stays very true to the original, and its dim, glowing illustrations pull the reader into the story and into Ender’s world. This is smart science fiction that’s immediately gripping to young-adult readers: War is in the news every day. Possible military careers are very near at hand. This story speaks directly to the thoughts of patriotism, cruelty, conscience, idealism, and heroism that walk with them every day. This book is good entertainment and a great discussion starter and writing prompt.

There are more “Ender’s Game” graphic novels still to come.

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“The Eternal Smile: Three Stories” by Gene Luen Yang & Derek Kirk Kim (First Second, 9781596431560, $16.95, for ages 12 and older)

Two years ago, California teacher Gene Luen Yang made big news with his excellent teen graphic novel “American Born Chinese,” which won the Printz Award and the Eisner Award (the Oscar of comics) and became a finalist for the National Book Award. Yang is now back, teamed with celebrated author-illustrator Derek Kirk Kim, to bring us three thematically linked stories in the new graphic novel “The Eternal Smile.”

The stories follow three characters lost in fantasy worlds: Duncan is a knight set on questing for the head of the treacherous Frog King; Filbert is an honest-hearted assistant to the money-grubbing Gran’pa Greenbax; Janet is a hard worker trapped in a cubicle and dreaming of faraway adventure. As their stories move along, each one starts to question his or her place on the page. Why does Duncan always get to play the hero? Why do Gran’pa Greenbax’s get-rich schemes always ultimately fail? And is Janet really being duped by an e-mail huckster’s empty promises--or is she actually the one playing the trick? The answers will surprise you.

“The Eternal Smile” demonstrates the innovative storytelling possibilities of graphic novels. It’s a completely unique take on familiar comic-book situations, and each of its stories breaks the “fourth wall” that separates the reader from the fiction. It’s a book that’s ripe for discussion with teens old enough to explore the concepts of meta-fiction, unreliable narrators, or postmodern literature, and it’s a great book for leading high-school age students into deeper engagement with their reading. Young adults will enjoy reading this unusual graphic novel, and invariably, it will make them think.

Read a review of Gene Luen Yang’s “American Born Chinese”: http://www.watermarkbooks.com/review0107-012.html

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Later educators,