Kimberly Hirsh

Today’s Interviews
Eddie Campbell at Chasing Ray
Sara Zarr at Writing and Ruminating
Brent Hartinger at Interactive Reader
Justine Larbalestier at Big A, little a
Cecil Castellucci at Shaken & Stirred
Ysabeau Wilce at Bildungsroman
Jordan Sonnenblick at Jen Robinson’s Book Page
Chris Crutcher at Finding Wonderland
Kazu Kibuishi at lectitans
Mitali Perkins at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Laura Ruby at The YA YA YAs

Tomorrow’s Interviews
Tim Tharp at Chasing Ray
Justina Chen Headley at Big A, little a
Ysabeau Wilce at Shaken & Stirred
Dana Reinhardt at Bildungsroman
Julie Ann Peters at Finding Wonderland
Cecil Castellucci at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Bennett Madison at Bookshelves of Doom
Holly Black at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Justine Larbalestier at Hip Writer Mama
Kirsten Miller at A Fuse #8 Production

The Summer Blog Blast Tour continues here at

 with Kazu Kibuishi.  

Kazu is the creator of the online comics "Copper" and "Clive & Cabbage," the graphic novel Daisy Kutter: the Last Train, and the editor of the Flight anthology series.

I'll have a review of Daisy Kutter later this week.

And now, the interview!

Both in the back of the Daisy Kutter trade paperback and on your website you include glimpses into your comic-creation process.  What goals do you have in providing this look behind the scenes?  What kind of response to this unique perspective have you received from fans?

I didn't have any specific goals in mind but I did get a lot of people asking about the process, so I decided I should include some of that stuff in the book.  If it does help others get better or faster at drawing comics or inspire them to get started, then great!   It can only help the rest of us in the comics industry. 

In Daisy Kutter, you seamlessly integrate an Old West setting with futuristic technology.  Why did you choose to put these two elements together?

I just love drawing robots and creatures.  When I decided to work on Daisy Kutter, I knew it would be a western, but the idea of not being able to draw robots and creatures saddened me, so I just incorporated them into her world.

The Daisy Kutter TPB has the number 1 on its spine.  Do you have plans for more stories featuring Daisy?

Yes.  I even have at least two stories in mind.  I'm just not sure when I'll be able to tackle them.  She's a wonderful character, though.  I love writing and drawing her adventures.

On your blog you mention that Flight was born at the Alternative Press Expo.  Would you give us more insight into how that happened?

The first year I attended the show, my friends and I didn't have very much to sell at our table.  We decided that we should put something together for the next year.  It was supposed to be a small, black and white book, but as soon as the wheels started turning, the project just got bigger and bigger.  The next year we showed up, but without an actual book. We set up a booth at the show with the intention of pitching the project to various publishers.  Luckily,  Erik Larsen from Image Comics saw us there and said he would publish it immediately.

Daisy Kutter was picked as one of 2005's ALA Best Books for Young Adults and Flight Vol. 3 was a finalist for the Cybils awards.  What were your intended audiences for these books?

It's hard to say who the intended audience was for Daisy Kutter.  I think I was trying to do something different than what I was known for, which was mostly very kid-friendly material.  However, no matter how cool or edgy I try to be, my comics usually tend to be considered kids' material anyway.  As for Flight 3, I leave the book in the hands of the artists, so the intended audience covers a broad range of people.  I only have control of choosing the artists and putting the material together when it's done.  I do, however, encourage the artists to make the material appropriate for all ages.

Your new graphic novel, Amulet, is set in a fantasy setting.  How is the world-building for this story different than what you have had to do for your other work?

Since Daisy Kutter was all about someone reconciling their differences with their past, I didn't give much thought to the world in which Daisy lived.  All of the focus was on the emotional journey of the character and the world only worked to service the themes and mood of the story.  While this is true to a certain extent for Amulet, once the fantasy stuff started kicking in, I realized I needed to take the world-building much more seriously.  In fact, I began to realize most fantasy literature was comprised almost entirely of world-building, especially when writing about children.  Young characters tend to have very little in the way of emotional conflict, since they're so new to the world, so I needed the fantasy world to provide most of the conflict for me to work with.  Alledia, the world in which the kids travel to, became a living, breathing character in the book.

There has been much discussion among librarians, educators, and children's literature experts about how graphic novels can be an integral part of reaching reluctant readers.  How do you think webcomics can play a part in this process?  What are some webcomics you would recommend for younger readers?

Hmm, I actually think webcomics wouldn't be all that effective in getting reluctant readers to begin reading.  Chances are, if the kid is online looking for a webcomic, they're already reading plenty of information.  However, if one were to print the webcomics in book form, then I can see how they could help.  The web is a wonderful place to get comics started, and offers the artists a chance to gain confidence and a readership to keep them going.  That said, I do recommend Ben Hatke's "Zita the Spacegirl" and Kean Soo's Jellaby, both of which are among the best comics for younger readers being produced today.

-------

Thanks for joining me, Kazu!

Eager for more?  You can read Kazu's other Summer Blog Blast Tour at Finding Wonderland.

Today's Interviews
Mitali Perkins at Hip Writer Mama
Svetlana Chmakova at Finding Wonderland
Dana Reinhardt at Interactive Reader
Laura Ruby at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Holly Black at Shaken & Stirred
Hilary McKay at Bookshelves of Doom
Kirsten Miller at Miss Erin
Julie Ann Peters at A Fuse #8 Production (Part Two)
Carolyn Mackler at The YA YA YAs
Jordan Sonnenblick at Writing and Ruminating

Tomorrow's Interviews
Eddie Campbell at Chasing Ray
Sara Zarr at Writing and Ruminating
Brent Hartinger at Interactive Reader
Justine Larbalestier at Big A, little a
Cecil Castellucci at Shaken & Stirred
Ysabeau Wilce at Bildungsroman
Jordan Sonnenblick at Jen Robinson's Book Page
Chris Crutcher at Finding Wonderland
Kazu Kibuishi at lectitans
Mitali Perkins at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Laura Ruby at The YA YA YAs

[NOTE: This entry is backdated because I was away from the computer on June 19.]

Today’s Interviews
Laura Ruby at Miss Erin
Bennett Madison at Shaken & Stirred
Shaun Tan at A Fuse #8 Production (Part Two) (Part Three)
Chris Crutcher at Bookshelves of Doom
Holly Black at The YA YA YAs
Kazu Kibuishi at Finding Wonderland
Christopher Golden at Bildungsroman
David Brin at Chasing Ray
Kirsten Miller at Jen Robinson’s Book Page
Sara Zarr at Big A, little a
Sonya Hartnett at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Tomorrow’s Interviews
Mitali Perkins at Hip Writer Mama
Svetlana Chmakova at Finding Wonderland
Dana Reinhardt at Interactive Reader
Laura Ruby at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Holly Black at Shaken & Stirred
Hilary McKay at Bookshelves of Doom
Kirsten Miller at Miss Erin
Julie Ann Peters at A Fuse #8 Production
Carolyn Mackler at The YA YA YAs
Jordan Sonnenblick at Writing and Ruminating

Today’s Interviews:
Tom & Dorothy Hoobler at Chasing Ray
Mitali Perkins at Big A, Little a
Sara Zarr at Interactive Reader
Justina Chen Headley at Hip Writer Mama
Justine Larbalestier at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Dana Reinhardt at lectitans
Brent Hartinger at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Laura Ruby at Writing and Ruminating
Jordan Sonnenblick by Bildungsroman
Ysabeau Wilce at Finding Wonderland

Tomorrow’s Interviews:
Laura Ruby at Miss Erin
Bennett Madison at Shaken & Stirred
Shaun Tan at A Fuse #8 Production
Chris Crutcher at Bookshelves of Doom
Holly Black at The YA YA YAs
Kazu Kibuishi at Finding Wonderland
Christopher Golden at Bildungsroman
David Brin at Chasing Ray
Kirsten Miller at Jen Robinson’s Book Page
Sara Zarr at Big A, little a
Sonya Hartnett at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

The Summer Blog Blast Tour begins here at

 with Dana Reinhardt.

Dana is the author of two novels for young adults: A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life and Harmless.  

In Brief Chapter, Simone, the adopted child of an ACLU attorney and a political cartoonist, meets her birth mother, Rivka, for the first time.  The things she learns in her encounters with Rivka challenge her concepts of belief and family.

In Harmless, three girls are caught at a party when they shouldn’t be.  Their lie to explain their whereabouts balloons, resulting in the arrest of an innocent man and their town and school rallying around them.  Emma, Anna, and Mariah learn that a lie that may seem harmless can do a lot of damage.

I’ll have reviews of these two books later this week.  

And now, the interview!

The Summer Blog Blast Tour is underway! The tour lasts from today through next Saturday. Each day I’ll be posting a round-up of the interviews.

Today’s Interviews:
Gene Yang at Finding Wonderland

Tomorrow’s Interviews:

Here at

 , I’ll be talking to Dana Reinhardt, author of A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life and Harmless.

Tom & Dorothy Hoobler at Chasing Ray
Mitali Perkins at Big A, Little a
Sara Zarr at Interactive Reader
Justina Chen Headley at Hip Writer Mama
Justine Larbalestier at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Dana Reinhardt at lectitans
Brent Hartinger at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Laura Ruby at Writing and Ruminating
Jordan Sonnenblick by Bildungsroman
Ysabeau Wilce at Finding Wonderland
For the full schedule of interviews, click here!

In honor of the end of school and in light of the fact that I have an in-service workshop today, I'm posting poems about school.

I found a whole collection of school-related poems at poetryteachers.com.  My favorite is "My Teacher Loves Her iPod."  I also like "My Teacher Sees Right Through Me."  "Confession" is another fun one.  I'm not posting quotes because they're all too short.

There's another collection at Funny Poems and Children's Poetry.  I like "My Teacher's Voicemail Message":

This is Mrs. Crane and I'm pretending I'm not home.
I wish you pesky little kids would just leave me alone.

Read the rest here.

"The Last Day of School" is fun, too.

Summer vacation is starting today.
The teachers are shouting out, "Hip, hip, hooray!"

Read  the rest here.

Enjoy!  Today's roundup is at The Simple and the Ordinary.

Back in May, Kelly at Big A, little a tagged me with the Thinking Blogger Award.  Thanks, Kelly!

 


The award originated at the thinking blog.  Here are the rules: 
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to the original post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn’t fit your blog).

Here are five blogs that make me think.  If you’ve received the award before, feel free to pass it on to someone else.  

1. educating alice - Monica always makes me think about my own teaching and how I can improve it.

2. A Year of Reading - Franki and Mary Lee also post a lot about teaching and school visits by authors, spurring me on to further reflection.

3. Wild Rose Reader - Elaine Magliaro provides Classroom Connections for children’s poetry with several of her posts.

4. HipWriterMama - Vivian recently made me think in her post, Girl Power: At What Price?

5. Chasing Ray - Colleen makes me think so much, my brain hurts.

Far too often I’ve heard a student say, “I don’t read."  To the end of hearing those words replaced with “I love to read,” I’m joining Colleen Mondor’s Summer Blog Blast Tour.  Here’s the scoop on the tour from Colleen herself:

Starting next Sunday, with an interview posted at Finding Wonderland with 2006 NBA finalist and Printz Award winner Gene Yang, there will be multiple blogs in the kidlitosphere conducting multiple interviews for the following week. We will average ten interviews a day with authors like Justine Larbalestier, Brent Hartinger, David Brin, Hilary McKay, Christopher Golden, Kazu Kibuishi, Chris Crutcher, Holly Black, Kirsten Miller and Shaun Tan. Between Yang’s interview on Sunday and the last one with Justina Chen Headley on Saturday there will be over 50 author interviews posted. These authors include multiple genres (SF, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Drama), multiple formats (prose, graphic novel, manga) and for mutliple audiences (boys and girls, straight and gay). Many of the authors agreed to more than one interview although fans should not be worried - the bloggers were careful to make sure that different questions were asked each time. In the end we hope to provide a wealth of information about how these authors create, the kind of books they write and what they have to offer to new readers and long time fans.

We plan, quite simply, to rock the literary world.

Here’s my schedule:
Monday, June 18
Dana Reinhardt

Thursday, June 21
Kazu Kibuishi

I’ll post links to the other interviews as they appear.  The full schedule will be available at Chasing Ray tomorrow.  

Thank you so much to Colleen for organizing the tour and inviting me to participate, to the other bloggers for sharing their interviews, and to the authors for answering our questions!

Colleen at Chasing Ray pointed me to an interesting article entitled “Still not an equal partnership” at The Times Online.  The gist of the article is that despite the fact that women seem to read more than men, men seem to be read more than women.

Gender as a subject fascinates me, mostly because I don’t understand it.  The article speaks for itself.  I don’t have much to add to it.  It addresses primarily literary fiction, and I do find that aspect interesting.  What about genre fiction?  I’d be interested in seeing the numbers on that.  One of the “problems” with fiction written by women is that its subjects - motherhood, domestic life, relationships - don’t interest men.  But again - what about genre fiction?  Sprawling adventure stories with women as writers or protagonists?  How is that the same or different?  Stories about motherhood, domestic life, and relationships don’t really interest me, and when I write, I don’t write about motherhood or domestic life.  I do write about relationships, because loner characters can’t take a story very far.  Women are more willing to identify with a male protagonist in any form of media - books, television, video games - than men are to identify with a female protagonist.  What’s that about?  I think it goes back to the unfortunate devaluing of the feminine.  I feel like most of the major feminist problems - suffrage, the glass ceiling, harassment - have made great strides, and that the battlefront of current feminism is one of the mind and the arts.

I find this article’s comments especially fascinating.  They are, as far as I can tell, all from men who are defending either their disinterest in literature written by women or saying the article is outright wrong.

This quote does upset me:

“Middlebrow writing by women is full of feminist garbage. A man need only read a couple to get the flavour. Writing by men is much more varied."

Firstly, I’m not sure what “middlebrow writing” means.  Secondly, declaring writing by men to be more varied is not saying anything particularly new or startling.  Unfortunately, men have a much longer literary tradition than women do, with rare exceptions; no one need remind me that Sappho was a woman.  When you’ve had more time to do the work, of course the work will be more varied.

In addition to being curious about this with respect to genre vs. literary works, I’m also interested in children’s and young adult literature and how gender comes into play there.  See my Weekend Wondering a couple weeks back.  How much do boys read?  When they read, who are the authors?  Who are the protagonists?  I don’t ask about girls because I feel like I know more about them, having been one.  Perhaps next year I will take some informal polls of my students to find out if they read and what they read.

Do you know boys?  Do you know what they’re reading?  Would you be willing to share that information?

Oh my goodness, it’s 1:30 pm.  When did this happen?

Yes, folks, Summer Vacation has begun.  (This is why we suffer the difficulties of working in education.  Granted, it’s an unpaid vacation, but it is a large block of time in which to pursue other interests.  Litblogging, for example.)

I’d like to remind you of my Pirate Reading Challenge.

The original post is here, and the post where I introduce myself as Captain Anne Scarlett is here.

The rules are simple:
1. The challenge begins June 12, 2007 and lasts until September 19, 2007. There be significance to these dates: durin’ the week o’ June 10 in 1718 Blackbeard ran aground his ship Queen Anne’s Revenge.  September 19 be International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

2. The goal be to read books about pirates. Set your own goal for how many pirate books you’d like to read. (I recommend 3 as a minimum; I meself will probably try for 14 or so.)

3. The books can be any level, fiction or nonfiction. The only requirement be that they be about pirates.

4. As you finish the books, review them.

5. Your final summary should be posted in Pirate Speak (thar’s an English to Pirate translator here) on September 19, and include links to your reviews o’ pirate books.

6. Sign your name to the ship’s articles in the comments to the original post.

I haven’t started reading my pirate books yet.  I’m currently working on the first of my books to review for The Edge of the Forest; I have some training for work Friday.  I will probably finish my current audiobook (Celia Rees’s Pirates!) on the drive to the training, and then hit the library on the way home to pick up Treasure Island.  After that, my next pirate selections will probably be Capt. Hook and Pirate Island, because I own both of them.  Then, I’ll probably start in on Bloody Jack, as it’s been recommended to me multiple times.  

My goal is 14 Pirate Books.  What about yours?

Welcome, me hearties!  I be Captain Anne Scarlett, also known as Mermaid Jane, and this be my ship, Melusine.  I’d like ya to be joinin’ me in the Pirate Reading Challenge.  Here be the rules:

1. The challenge begins June 12, 2007 and lasts until September 19, 2007. There be significance to these dates: durin’ the week o’ June 10 in 1718 Blackbeard ran aground his ship Queen Anne’s Revenge.  September 19 be International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

2. The goal be to read books about pirates. Set your own goal for how many pirate books you’d like to read. (I recommend 3 as a minimum; I meself will probably try for 14 or so.)

3. The books can be any level, fiction or nonfiction. The only requirement be that they be about pirates.

4. As you finish the books, review them.

5. Your final summary should be posted in Pirate Speak (thar’s an English to Pirate translator here) on September 19, and include links to your reviews o’ pirate books.

6. Sign your name to the ship’s articles in the comments to the original post.

THE BASIC RULES:
1. The challenge begins June 12, 2007 and lasts until September 19, 2007. There be significance to these dates: durin' the week o' June 10 in 1718 Blackbeard ran aground his ship Queen Anne's Revenge.  September 19 be International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

2. The goal be to read books about pirates. Set your own goal for how many pirate books you'd like to read. (I recommend 3 as a minimum; I meself will probably try for 14 or so.)

3. The books can be any level, fiction or nonfiction. The only requirement be that they be about pirates.

4. As you finish the books, review them.

5. Your final summary should be posted in Pirate Speak (thar's an English to Pirate translator here) on September 19, and include links to your reviews o' pirate books.

6. Sign your name to the ship's articles in the comments to this post.

MORE ADVANCED OPTIONS:

1. Give yourself a pirate name. If you can't come up with your own, here's a link to some name generators.

2. Name your pirate ship.

3. Hoist your colours! Create your own pirate flag.

4. Go around tellin' people you're a "Bookaneer." (Many thanks to Pirates & Privateers for this word.)

5. Write all your reviews in Pirate Speak.

RESOURCES:
International Talk Like a Pirate Day
The Bookaneer
Pirate Flags
Pirate Books

9:30 AM Friday to 9:30 AM Sunday

Books Read: 4
Pages Read: 1243
Time Spent Reading/Reviewing: 18 hrs

Dancing on the Edge, Han Nolan
244 Pages
3.25 Hrs

Jack Sparrow: The Coming Storm, Rob Kidd
144 Pages
1.25 Hrs

Wildwood Dancing, Juliet Marillier
407 Pages
6.5 Hrs

The Various, Steve Augarde
448 Pages
7 Hrs



Lessons learned: 
1. I have a short attention span.  I took a lot of breaks.
2. As much as I love to read, sleep takes precedence over reading.  I was super-sleepy, and spent almost as much time sleeping as I spent reading.
3. I’m not quite sure how the 14ish hrs I didn’t spend reading OR sleeping was spent.



I’m content with my showing.  Sure, it’s only 4 books, but two of them were rather long.  And the most important thing is, I finished all my library books, so I can take them back now and get NEW library books (though not too many more as I owe Kelly lots of reviews for Edge of the Forest).

I do believe this is supposed to be my last post today; so I’ll just say stay tuned.  Tomorrow I will be bringing you the Pirate Reading Challenge.

This week's question is rather light, and ties into my recent reading of Wildwood Dancing and The Various, and my less recent reading of Tithe and Love in Shadow.

(Have I mentioned that I provided Latin names for some of the sprites in Arthur Spiderwick's Care and Feeding of Sprites?  Occasionally, knowing a dead language leads to awesome things.  If Little Willow is your friend, anyway.)

What's the deal with fairies?
Why do these creatures captivate our imaginations so?  I don't know that I've had a day I felt more pleased with myself than at the most recent Ren Faire when little girls kept whispering to their parents "It's a fairy!" when I walked by.  Why did that make me feel so special?  Why are fairy stories written and rewritten in so many different ways?  What makes them so much more present in the collective consciousness than other fantastical creatures?

Last Week's Question:
In what ways do children's and young adult novels shape readers' notions of gender roles?  How can and do they present more options, especially to girl readers, for how to spend a life?

See the original post and Becky's Book Reviews for answers.  It's especially exciting that we received answers from YA authors Lorie Ann Grover and Janet Lee Carey.

Over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Eisha and Jules invite folks to post seven good things that happened to them in the past week.  I’m doing this for the first time today.  (You can expect a lot of posts this morning, because tomorrow my 48HBC post is supposed to be my last post for the day so I’ve got to say everything NOW!)

Without further ado:

1. Exams went relatively smoothly; even when I didn’t have quite enough copies of a test I was able to pull out the ones I’d given to seniors (who get to take their exams early) and thus salvage the situation.

2. One of my students said to me, “I really like you as a teacher and appreciate everything you’ve done for me."  That was nice.

3. I got lots of stuff in the mail, including a mini-trampoline!

4. I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End a second time.

5. While listening to Celia Rees’s Pirates! (you can expect a review sometime), I realized that I actually know a lot about pirates and should not set aside my plan to write the Great YA Pirate Novel in which two sisters are pirates together and Romantic Love Does Not Save The Day.  (I’m all in favor of romantic love, but sometimes I get weary of its effect in pirate stories.  cf. Tanith Lee’s Piratica.)

6. I decided to prep myself for writing my Great YA Pirate Novel, I should read lots of children’s and YA pirate novels, and also lots of pirate-related non-fiction, and was thus inspired to create Summer 2007: The Summer of Piracy, A Pirate Challenge.

7. I happened upon 

and , who I liked BEFORE I knew they had pirate-related LJ usernames; and in reading ’s posts about ALA and ’s profile revealing his interest in a possible library science career, made the joyful revelation that former students can be future colleagues.  (The distinction one must make between “student” and “friend” is pretty key in teaching, which is hard when you have AWESOME students as I often do.  Once they graduate, though, they’re totally fair game as friends/colleagues.  I had a couple students this year who claim they shall test my statement of this fact by coming back once they’ve been away for a year or so and asking to be my friend.)

What good things happened to you this week?

When Midge's mother goes on a tour with the London Philharmonic, she sends Midge to Mill Farm to stay with her Uncle Brian.  There, Midge finds an injured flying horse named Pegs.  As she helps Pegs, she is drawn into a world of small and magical people called "The Various."  The Various live in the woods near her Uncle's farm, and their livelihood is threatened both by the barrenness of the land and the possibility of the forest's destruction.

To say much more about the plot of The Various would be, I think, to give away too much.  This is a fun book, aimed at middle grade students and those a little younger (grades 5 - 7 according to School Library Journal and ages 9 - 12 according to Amazon).  It holds up well for anyone who likes fairy stories, though, I think.  It was interesting to read this right after Wildwood Dancing, as it handles a similar topic (the entry of a young girl into the world of fairies) but gives it a very different treatment (more modern, mostly).  

I enjoyed The Various and would recommend it to anyone fond of fantasy, especially the child-enters-secret-world genre.  (If that wasn't officially a genre before, I've just declared it one now.)  I could see giving this to a child who was in fifth grade, giving the same child Wildwood Dancing when she was in seventh or eight grade, and then handing her Tithe once she got to high school.

(Stats Below Are For the Whole Challenge, Not Just This Book)
Books Read: 4
Pages Read: 1243
Time Spent Reading/Reviewing: 18 hrs

****

This will probably be my last book of the challenge, as I don't think I can finish another book of the appropriate level/length in the next slightly-less-than-an-hour.

I interrupt my challenge posts to bring you this tidbit.

Several months ago, I filled out a form at UNC's School of Information and Library Science site to get the director of their school librarian program to contact me.  She finally got back to me recently, and I was pleased by her response, though it didn't exactly tell me anything new. (Emphasis Added)

Dear Ms. H,

You sent information to our school library interest database some months
ago but the database was in the process of being revised and I am only now
getting to the point of responding.  I apologize for the long delay.

You inquired about what you need to NC certification as a school media
coordinator (the official name for the school librarian) through our
program.

The state requires for this 076 certification a a valid NC teaching
certificate (which you have), a master's degree in library science with
specialized school library courses (which you don't have although you have
some children's literature courses), fieldwork (which might be waived for
experience) and a passing score of the PRAXIS specialty area exam.

The details of what is required are spelled out in more detail on the
following website:
<http://sils.unc.edu/programs/continuing_ed/slmc/licensure.html>

You meet the teaching certificate requirement.  Latin and mythology is a
good background especially for a high school teacher.  You would need to
enroll in a master's program in library science and take courses in the
school library specialty area to qualify for licensure as a school
librarian.

Let me know if you have further questions and again, apologies for the long
delay in responding.

Co-Director, School Library Media Program

Wildwood Dancing is a fairytale lover’s dream: familiar tales, retold and mixed with folklore, creating a new and entrancing story.  In this combination of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, The Frog Prince, and various eastern European folktales, 15 year old Jenica finds herself trying to manage her father’s estate as he goes to the shore to recover from grave illness.  Her cousin Cezar quickly appoints himself master of the estate, and sets about restricting the activities of Jena and her four sisters, as well as seeking his revenge on the folk of the wildwood, whom he blames for his brother’s death ten years ago.

The use of familiar stories in Wildwood Dancing is refreshing: Marillier takes care to make the stories recognizable but not predictable.  At several points I thought I saw where the story was going and every time I was a little right and a little wrong.  This is how a book should be: we get the thrill of having figured it out, without the boredom that comes with a more predictable story.  Wildwood Dancing is not only strong in its use of traditional tales, but also in its creation of characters.  The five sisters of Piscul Dracului are five different girls, each with her own whole personality.  At the same time, while Jena is “the sensible one” and Tati is “the pretty one” and Paula is “the smart one,” these girls are not pigeonholed by these roles.

Wildwood Dancing reminded me of Holly Black’s Tithe, which is odd because the moods of the two books have nothing in common.  I think it was just the notion of teenaged girls interacting with faeries that made the connection in my mind.  Still, there is a spiritual connection between them, somehow, and I feel that fans of one would certainly enjoy the other.

(Stats Below Are For the Whole Challenge, Not Just This Book)
Books Read: 3
Pages Read: 795
Time Spent Reading/Reviewing: 11 hrs

I found myself stuck at Barnes and Noble tonight while waiting to meet my family for dinner, so I sat down and read for a spell.  While The Coming Storm doesn’t meet MotherReader’s 200 page guideline, Amazon says it’s for ages 9 - 12, which is close enough to the 5th grade range that I’m going to go on and count it.

The Coming Storm is a quick read, and fun.  As a self-appointed Captain Jack Sparrow expert and enthusiast, I’m rather picky about folks getting him right.  Rob Kidd does an admirable job here, capturing Captain Jack’s voice and mannerisms so well that I actually pictured a 21 Jump Street-era Johnny Depp acting them out.  The book is very clearly part of a series, and while it could stand alone, there’s no reason you’d want it to.  It has its own arc and ties in with a larger storyline as well.  The book “sets up” familiar characters from the movies, including both Tia Dalma and Davy Jones.  Jack’s desire early on seems to be to rid the world of pirates, or so he tells his crew, and I’m interested to see if the other books explain his apparent distaste for his future profession.

(Stats Below Are For the Whole Challenge, Not Just This Book)
Books Read: 2
Pages Read: 388
Time Spent Reading/Reviewing: 4.5 hrs

Miracle got her name because, as her grandmother Gigi tells her, she was born from a dead woman.  Miracle’s father, Dane, was a prodigy and published his first novel at the age of 13.  Miracle likes to spend her days helping Gigi with her work as a medium, practicing dancing, and sitting in her father’s company.  One day, as Gigi is conducting a seance to contact Miracle’s dead mother, the Ouija board tells them that Dane is gone.  They rush to his room in the basement to find that he’s melted; all that’s left of him is a pile of clothes.

Dancing on the Edge explores how our family shapes who we are and what we believe.  Miracle strongly believes in the symbolism of colors and numbers, in auras, portents, and omens.  She starts to question her beliefs when she first meets her Granddaddy Opal and he tells her, “If your mama was dead when you were born, then you was never born."  I picked up this book because it was a readergirlz recommendation in May for Mental Health Month; throughout the course of the book Miracle loses and finds herself again.  By the end of it, I was sniffling and tearing up.  That is the mark of a good book.

Books Read: 1
Pages Read: 244
Time Spent Reading/Reviewing: 3.25 hrs

(You can expect longer reviews of most of my 48 Hr Book Challenge Books in the coming weeks.)

…

Interesting Tidbit: Two of the Challenge Participants were students in the split level 3/4 classes where I did my student teaching; they weren’t MY students as I taught level 4 and my mentor teacher taught level 3, but they are still in that “my former student” brainspace.  They happen to be on the list of top 10 coolest former students.  (I’ve only had about 200 students so far, being somewhat new to this whole teaching thing, but still.  Top 10 out of 200, not bad at all.)  I hope I can convince them to participate in the Pirate Challenge when it comes around.

My official start time for the 48 Hour Book Challenge is going to be 9:30 am.  I will go from 9:30 am today to 9:30 am Sunday.  There will be a few interruptions, mostly sleep I think.  And eating.  And probably a little house cleaning.  But not too many.

Have fun, all!

More pirate poetry for you today.  Today I have Sea Fever, by John Masefield.  I first encountered this poem on a gorgeous Captain Jack Sparrow wallpaper, and was not aware of its source.  I was delighted to find it today.

I MUST down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking
And a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking.

You can read the whole poem at Bartleby.com.

The round-up is at HipWriterMama.

Pirates have been on my mind a lot lately, more even than usual, and I will be issuing a Pirate Challenge once the 48 Hour Reading Challenge is over.

 

I'll be participating in Mother Reader's 48 Hour Book Challenge starting tomorrow.  I'll begin at whatever time I happen to wake up or after I finish reading The Phoenix Dance, whichever comes first.  I'll probably take breaks for eating, making sure my boyfriend hasn't died of boredom while I've been reading, and this sort of thing, but I am hoping to spend most of tomorrow and Saturday reading.

Sound like fun?  To sign yourself up, go to the original post.

I don't have a booklist/pile set up, but here's what I expect I'll be reading tomorrow:

Dancing on the Edge, Han Nolan
Wildwood Dancing, Juliet Marillier
The Various, Steve Augarde

After that, it becomes a competition between Capt. Hook, my stack of borrowed books, and the books I bought at the library sale.

So come join us!