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This issue's special- 30%
off!
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November 30, 2004
In this issue:
Teacher Featured Book: "Christmas in the Barn"
December Events
The Holiday Concert
The Littlest Angel
The Stone Lamp
Thought for the Day
Greetings from Gaylene,
I hope you have digested your Thanksgiving feasts and are ready for the
continued feasting in the coming weeks. I have discovered that my
resolve to
get on my treadmill every day (almost) did not begin soon enough to get
me
through Thanksgiving unscathed by that "too full" feeling and
look! With the
weather as it is, I'd rather be reading a good book! Speaking of
which...
The Teacher Featured Book in this issue (30 percent off) is by beloved
author
Margaret Wise Brown. Though she died 45 years ago, her books remain
ageless. Our display of staff favorites in the children's book section
includes
more Margaret Wise Brown than probably any other author. "Goodnight
Moon,"
"Runaway Bunny," "The Golden Egg Book," and "Home
for a Bunny" are just a few of
her special books for young children. Perhaps one of the secrets to her
success
is that she wrote the way children wanted to hear a story. It is said that
she
also taught her illustrators to draw the way a child saw things. She
often
dreamed stories and had to write them down when she woke up in the morning.
"Christmas in the Barn" (HarperCollins, ISBN 0060526343, $15.99,
with 30 percent
discount, $11.19.) was written the year that she died at age 42. A new
edition
is available with illustrations by Caldecott Honor artist Diane Goode, and
is
our Teacher Featured book. This would be a great addition to your
holiday
library or a lovely gift for a child. In "Christmas in the Barn,"
Ms. Brown
wrote a child-like interpretation of the Christmas story, and the
illustrations
in this edition make a larger, color presentation with new visitors to the
barn
for a new batch of young readers.
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December is full of events everywhere, but you will want to note the ones
at
Watermark this month so you don't miss something! I will mention a
few...
December 5: Kathryn Sommer Book Signing: 1:00-3:00. I have
a particular
interest in this one, since one of my girlhood friends is among the
women
featured in the book, "A Passion of Her Own: Life Path Journeys
with Women of
Kansas." Some of the women who are featured in the book will be
in attendance
that day! It promises to be an interesting afternoon... a good opportunity
to
meet some accomplished women and the author who has written about them.
Every Tuesday: Story Time at 10:30 a.m. Babies, toddlers and
children alike
enjoy this fun half hour of stories and songs. Parents receive 20
percent off on all children's books and toys when they bring their child
for
story time on Tuesday.
December 9: Dr. Nabil Seyam, author of "An American Hostage in
Iraq" will have
a reading and signing at 7:00 p.m.
December 11: Presentation and reception from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. honoring
The
Wichita Eagle's Roy Wenzl, winner of the 2004 Mountain Plains Library
Association Literary Contribution award.
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Andrew Clements' "The Last Holiday Concert" (Simon & Schuster,
ISBN 0689845162,
$15.95, ages 8-12) appeals to me as a music teacher, since it deals with a
situation born of music and art funding being cut just before the holiday
concert. (That aspect did not appeal to me, of course, but I had great
empathy
for the music teacher.) The second year, sixth grade chorus teacher,
Mr.
Meinert, has the double challenge of an upcoming holiday concert and facing
the
fact that his job will be eliminated at the end of the first semester.
Add to
the mix a rowdy class of less-than-musically-motivated 6th graders, with
"Mr.
Popularity," Hart Evans, shooting rubber bands at the teacher and
creating other
challenges. Even though it starts from sheer frustration, Mr.
Meinert's
stepping aside and putting the students in charge of the concert turns into
an
interesting and educational process for all involved, which the students
called
"Winterhope." This is a nice seasonal selection for middle
readers.
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A favorite Christmas story for many is "The Littlest Angel," first
written by
Charles Tazewell in 1946 (Ideals Children's Books, ISBN 0824954734,
$16.95.) It
has been released with new illustrations by Guy Porfirio, but is still the
same
sweet story of a little boy who has entered heaven. When he and the
other
angels hear of Jesus' birth, he wonders what gift he might give that is
worthy.
A box of childhood treasures he had possessed on earth was delivered to him
in
heaven by an older angel, holding the simple and beautiful gifts of life
on
earth: a butterfly with golden wings, a sky blue egg from a bird's
nest, and a
leather strap once worn as a collar by his loving dog. The Littlest
Angel
presented this for the Christ child on the throne of God. With his
humble
cardboard box next to the shiny gold containers, he feared his gift was
inadequate. But God saw the beauty of his simple, precious
gift. From the
gift, a glowing light emanated, which rose in the sky as the star of
Bethlehem.
It's still a special story.
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"The Stone Lamp: Eight Stories of Hanukkah Through History" by
Karen Hesse,
illustrated by Brian Pinkney (Hyperion Books, ISBN 0786806192, $18.99) is
a
wonderful, comprehensive book about Hanukkah in many different times in
different parts of the world. Each historical vignette is followed by
prose or
poetry to personalize each historical setting. The first setting
recalls The
Crusades and Jews in York, England in 1189-1190, followed by a story.
This
format is followed through the burning of the books in Paris in 1242,
The
Inquisition, and on through the Assassination of Rabin.
"Sometimes a flame can be utterly extinguished.
Sometimes a flame can shrink and waver, but
sometimes a flame refuses to go out. It flares up from the faintest ember
to
illuminate the darkness,
to burn in spite of overwhelming odds.
So burns the Light of the Jewish people.
So burn the Lights of Hanukkah."
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Enjoy the holiday season, and here's a thought to leave with you...
"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative
expression and
knowledge." - Albert Einstein
Until next time,
Gaylene
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