First Foray into Digidrawing

I'm teaching myself how to use the digital drawing tablet Santa left under my tree this year. Two days and a fair amount of hair-pulling-out later, along with a maddening program crash that cost me three-fourths of a near-finished design and forced a do-over, here's what I have to show for it (besides a new-found, life-saving, and near-constant habit of hitting command+s):

Book Review: Fish, by Gregory Mone

     Uncle Gerry glared, one hand still holding the top of the purse. "This is important."
     "Yes, of course."
     "No," Uncle Gerry said, pausing. "This is very important."
     "I understand," Fish said.
     "You will deliver this to the Mary, a passenger ship docked in the harbor, bound for America. You will deliver it, specifically, to a certain Reginald Swift, who will be sailing on that ship."
     "Yes."
     "He is an uncommonly small man with uncommonly large eyeglasses. Aged about thirty years, a good few less than your father and myself. He is expecting you."  

Overview: Maurice "Fish" Reidy is eleven years old when Shamrock dies. Without their horse, the family can't afford to feed itself, let alone farm their land. Someone has to go into the city to work and send money home. Since Fish is the worst at farming, it's agreed he should be the one to go.

His father arranges for Fish to work for his uncle as a courier. When Fish is entrusted with a mysterious package of coins, he's robbed before he can make the delivery. He tracks down the thief amongst a bunch of pirates, aboard their ship, the Scurvy Mistress. Determined to get that package back and to its rightful recipient, Fish sneaks aboard and joins the pirate crew. He soon learns the coins are more than what they seem, and some of the crew are not as loyal as they'd have their captain believe.

As the Scurvy Mistress sets sail, Fish finds himself on an adventure he never saw coming, with friends he never imagined making. It's a journey that promises to change his life - and that of his family - forever.

For Teachers and Librarians:
Fish has all the action and excitement your reluctant readers are drawn to. It has all the complex twists and turns your stronger readers crave. And? It has pirates. And treasure. And mystery. And did I mention pirates?

So beyond being a great story your students will not be able to put down, how can you use this book in your classrooms? Under the umbrella of a full Pirate Unit, there is a treasure chest full of activities and mini-units you can choose from. Create an activity to compare and contrast the life of a farmer with the life of a pirate, or a sailor, or both. That will nicely set up a research activity on the life of a pirate: superstitions of pirates, swimming abilities (or not), ship's politics, the running of a pirate ship (jobs aboard ship, procedures followed), pirate's code, pirate-speak, etc. Present a mini-unit on types of ships used by pirates, and their pursuers: sloop, galleon, caravel, frigate, man-o-war, merchant, schooner, brigantine.

Sneak in some more history by having your students research real pirates from history. Let them work in groups and creatively present their findings. Your kids will have great fun with a mapping mini-unit: land maps, treasure maps, sea maps. (You can probably sneak in a literary map, or a character map here, too.) How about a code activity: creating them, then seeing if their classmates can crack them? And just for fun, try a pirate name activity. Have your kids create a chart of the pirate characters from the book, and why they have those names. Then let them create their own pirate names, with explanations, to use for an entire Pirate Day in the classroom.

This is by no means the bottom of that treasure chest. What gems can you come up with?

For Parents, Grandparents and Caregivers:
Fish is a book your kiddos will love to read. And so will you. It has pirates! It has treasure! It has action! It has intrigue! Scurvy pirates with odd names and even odder reasons for those names! It is an adventure from start to finish, and along the way, your kids will learn a little bit about ships, and pirate life, and family, and friendship, and loyalty, and being true to yourself. Read it aloud together, or each of you read it on your own, or a little of both. You'll be glad you did.

For the Kids:
Fish is a book about a boy from a farming family. Though Fish is no good with dirt, it turns out he's pretty good with water. When the family horse dies, Fish is sent to the city to earn money to send home. He becomes a courier, delivering important packages for his Uncle Gerry. One day, he's given a package of mysterious coins to deliver, but they're stolen from him. Fish tracks the thief to a pirate ship. That package must get to the right recipient, so Fish does the only thing he can think of to get it back - he sneaks aboard and joins the pirate crew. But how can a boy who, as author Gregory Mone says, "loves to swim and hates to fight," survive on a pirate ship?  

For Everyone Else:
Fish is fast-paced and action-packed. It has humor, and fact, and a great story. Plus? It has pirates. What more could you ask for?

Wrapping Up:
Fish is not your average pirate tale. Find. Read. Enjoy.

Title: Fish
Author: Gregory Mone
Cover Artist: Jake Parker
Pages: 246
Reading Level: 8 and up
Publisher and Date: Scholastic, Inc., January 2011
Edition: First Scholastic paperback printing
Language: English
Published In: United States
Price: $4.99
ISBN: 978-0-545-33335-1

Author Spotlight: Gregory Mone

Before he started writing for kids, Gregory Mone wrote for adults. And before that, he worked as a paralegal in Ireland. And before that, he did a bit of banking work. And before all of that, he was history major at Harvard University, graduating in 1998.

Now, Gregory Mone is a novelist for both kids and adults, a magazine writer, a science journalist, and a speaker. He has written two novels for adults, as well as many magazine articles on a wide variety of topics, including: artificial intelligence, robots, physics, biology, Irish mythology, and cartoons.

His first novel for kids, Fish, was published by Scholastic Press in 2010. His second, Dangerous Waters: An Adventure on the Titanic, is scheduled for release in March, 2012, from Roaring Brook.

Born on Long Island, New York, into "an Irish-American family of swimmers and storytellers," Gregory Mone now lives in Massachusetts with his wife, two daughters, and one son.

Sources:
Gregory Mone blog: About page
Fish: About the Author - Official site for the book, Fish, by Gregory Mone
In Print: Fish by Greg Mone is a great catch, by CK Wolfson

National Grouch Day is October 15th

• Ebenezer Scrooge (from A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens).

• Carl Fredrickson (from the Disney-Pixar movie UP).

• Grumpy (from the fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarves).

• Miss Gulch (from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum). 

• Yosemite Sam (from Warner Brothers cartoons).

• Statler and Waldorf (from the Muppets).

• The Grinch (from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss).

What do all of these family-friendly, fictional folks have in common?

Why, they're grouches, of course. You know: churls, cranks, crosspatches, grumps, soreheads, sourpusses, crabs. And let's not forget my personal favorite: 

Curmudgeons.

If you have more than a little bit in common with these literary and cinematic grouches, then today is your day. Celebrate your grouchiness...or not. (After all, jollification in any form is in direct conflict with the typical Grouchy Nature). And if you're more of a Ray o' Sunshine kind of peep, today is the perfect day to try on some cranky pants for size. 

Either way, you've got to start National Grouch Day off somehow. And who better to start you off, than that grouch of all grouches: Oscar the Grouch?

Book Review: Love, Ruby Lavender, by Deborah Wiles

                                          June 8

Dear Miss Eula,
     Well, you are gone. I hope you are happy. I am not.
     For your information, Melba Jane is still here. I am working on a disappearing potion to make her vanish.

Overview:
Ruby Lavender is not your average chicken thief. For starters, she's only nine years old. Plus, she wasn't stealing those chickens as much as liberating them from a future lying cooked and crispy on someone's dinner plate. Ruby is looking forward to a summer of caring for her chickens, and spending lots of time with her partner in chicken thievery: getaway driver Miss Eula.

But Ruby's plans quickly unravel when Miss Eula decides to up and leave Halleluia, Mississippi for a while. She's going to Hawaii to visit her new baby granddaughter. She won't be gone forever, but she doesn't know when she'll be back, either. Up until now, Ruby has been Miss Eula's only grandchild, and Ruby is jealous. Plus, how will Ruby care for the chickens and their newly laid eggs, without Miss Eula's help? How will she deal with the torment that is Melba Jane, without Miss Eula to talk her through it? How will she get through helping out at her grumpy Aunt Mattie's general store, without Miss Eula to smooth things over? And who will leave Ruby letters in their secret mailbox, with Miss Eula gone?

As it turns out, that secret mailbox isn't the only way to exchange letters with Miss Eula. And Ruby finds herself spending a summer she never saw coming, and likely will never forget.

For Teachers and Librarians:
Besides being a story that will find a place in your students' hearts, Love, Ruby Lavender has a whole mess of ways for you to use it in your classroom. Use it as part of a letter-writing unit, as a connection with the letters Ruby and Miss Eula write back and forth. Have a fun side-unit on chickens: their behavior, care and feeding, and learning how a chicken gets from egg to chick. 

It's a great book to use in conjunction with a map unit, as the book includes a map of Ruby's little town. Have your students create maps of their own neighborhoods, or your school's neighborhood. Connect with social studies and examine maps of Mississippi, and Hawaii. Is Halleluia a real town in Mississippi? Mark it! If not, research what town the author based Halleluia on, and mark that instead. Mark the town where the new grandbaby lives in Hawaii. Conduct mini units on each state.

How about connections with transportation? Car, walk, plane, bus and bike are all mentioned in the book. A unit on travel would be fun: trying new foods, visiting new places, learning new cultures or ways of life. Or perhaps a unit on jobs: small business owner, anthropologist, newspaper columnist, egg ranch, or farming. Even retirement: what is it? How does it work? 

Guidance counselors can use this book too: lots of material here to help students work through conflict resolution issues, dealing with grief, working through bumps in the road of friendship, examining the many relationships we have with others (friends, neighbors, coworkers, family). 

So much material here. How will you use it?

For Parents, Grandparents and Caregivers: 
Love, Ruby Lavender is a book that will touch your heart, as well as the hearts of your kids. You could each read it alone, or read it together. You'll be glad you did. And did you know? This particular edition has nice little extra: a Reading Group Guide in the back, geared especially to grandmothers and granddaughters.

This book touches on a host of real-life issues that your kids (and you) may be dealing with, in a gentle, loving way: death of a loved one and figuring out how to understand and live with that grief, conflicts with friends and kids at school, jealousy over new babies in the family, conflicts with family members and learning how to live peacefully among them, and even living in a one-parent household and the positives and negatives they may feel about that. But perhaps most importantly, Love, Ruby Lavender is about love, and forgiveness, and friendship, and family. Don't let this one pass you or your kids by.

For the Kids:
Ruby Lavender is a nine-year-old chicken thief. And who is her getaway driver? Her own grandmother, Miss Eula! They saved three chickens from ending up on someone's dinner table, and now one of them has laid three eggs. Ruby can't wait to spend her summer with Miss Eula, caring for those eggs, and the chicks that will hatch from them. But one day, Miss Eula tells Ruby she's going away for a while. All the way to Hawaii. Worse, she'll be visiting her brand-new baby granddaughter. (Up until now, Ruby was Miss Eula's only grandchild.) 

Here in Halleluia, there's that torment of a girl, Melba Jane to deal with. And Ruby's cranky aunt, Miss Mattie. How will she manage the chickens, and Melba Jane, and Miss Mattie, all by herself this summer? Who will answer the notes Ruby leaves in their secret mailbox? With Miss Eula gone, Ruby is expecting the summer to be awful. But then her new teacher, Mr. Ishee, moves into town. And he's brought his nine-year-old niece, who dresses like she's ready to head into the jungle. And soon, things start to get a lot more interesting... 

For Everyone Else:
Love, Ruby Lavender is a book that will find a place in your heart, curl up, and never leave. Adults will find themselves remembering what it was like to be nine and learning about the world as they moved through it. Kids will find themselves relieved to see that a lot of the things they have to deal with, others do, too, and that somehow it all works out, eventually. 

Wrapping Up:
Love, Ruby Lavender is destined to be a classic. Buy it. Borrow it. But - good garden of peas! - make sure you read it. You'll be glad you did.


Title: Love, Ruby Lavender
Author: Deborah Wiles
Cover Illustration: Marla Frazee
Pages: 212
Reading Level: Ages 8-12
Publisher and Date: Gulliver Books (Harcourt, Inc.) 2002
Edition: First Gulliver Books paperback edition, 2002
Language: English
Published In: United States
Price: $5.95
ISBN-10: 0-15-202314-3
ISBN-13: 0-15-205478-2pb

Author Spotlight: Deborah Wiles

Sometimes, a writer's path to publication takes many twists and turns. Deborah Wiles has held a variety of jobs. Some of those jobs sound very writerly, like freelance writer, and journalist. Some sound a little writerly, but in a different way, like her days as an oral history gatherer, and a teacher. Some don't sound very writerly at all, but could give an observant person a ton of ideas for stories or characters, like she may have collected during her school bus driver days, or her time as a burger queen. She was even an underwear salesperson once. And, now, in the most recent part of her winding path, Deborah Wiles has become an award winning children's author.

Her first title came out in 2001: the picture book Freedom Summer. She followed that with the middle grade novel, Love, Ruby Lavender, which came out the same year. Ms. Wiles has gone on to publish a total of 6 books so far: two picture books, and four novels.

Mrs. Wiles also took time for education. She learned more about writing as she worked toward her MFA in Writing from Vermont College, which she earned in 2003. She also took what she learned and shared it with others: She taught the course Writing Techniques for Teachers at Towson University, and she has taught MFA programs at Vermont College, and at Lesley University.

She says of writing:

"Writing a story is like sending a slender thread out into the world, looking for connection. Are you out there? Who are you? Where are you? I don't know who will catch on to that thread, but I have learned to trust that someone will, even if I never know who (and mostly I don't)."

Deborah (Edwards) Wiles was born on May 7, 1953, in Mobile, Alabama. She is the eldest of three children born to her parents, Marie and T.P. Her dad was in the Air Force, so the family moved a lot, but spent their summers where her dad grew up, in Loudin, Mississippi.

Ms Wiles has four grown children. She now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, "in a small brick house painted purple, chartreuse and red," with her husband, jazz musician Jim Pearce. When not writing, she spends her time avoiding Atlanta traffic, climbing Stone Mountain, and visiting friends.

Sources:
Deborah Wiles official site
Deborah Wiles (Wikipedia)
Team Countdown - An Interview with Deborah Wiles and David Levithan
Deborah Wiles Author Study (Scholastic)
Interview with Deborah Wiles, author of The Aurora County All-Stars

Wonderful Weirdos of Literature Series 2011 - Installment #7

At last, we come to the last Friday in September. Which is also (sadly) the last day of the Second Annual Wonderful Weirdos of Literature Series. Click the link in the previous sentence if you need to get up to speed. Then come back here and join in the final (for this year) frivolity.

The added twist for this year, instead of the inaugural year's general hodge-podge of wonderfully weird books, is Variations on the Overall Weirdo Theme. So far, we've frolicked through:

• Installment #4: Stinky in Name, Title, or Deed
• Installment #5: The Anthropomorphic
• Installment #6: Magic

Today's Variation reminds us that there's a little bit of weird just about anywhere you look. Even in places you'd think would be nothing but "normal" (whatever that means). So, without further ado, I present to you Installment #7:

Characters Who Just Might Remind You of Someone You Know

Arthur, For the Very First Time, by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrations by Lloyd Bloom

Ten-year-old Arthur's summer isn't starting out so well. His parents are arguing. And a new baby is coming. And nobody seems to be listening to him. But then one day, his parents take him to stay with Great-Uncle Wrisby and Great-Aunt Elda for the summer. When hard-of-hearing Uncle Wrisby grabs Arthur's hand and yells, "What would you like to talk about?" summer starts looking much more interesting. 

Arthur meets Pauline - a chicken who loves French, and Bernadette - a pig who loves to be sung to. Aunt Elda introduces him to a mockingbird with no name, and Uncle Wrisby takes him to bargain with a trader named Yoyo Pratt. He finds new friends in Moira - a scrappy little girl who calls him "Mouse," and her grandfather - a veterinarian whom everyone calls "Moreover." As he spends his summer days and nights with this motley group, Arthur begins to see life in new and unexpected ways.

Another Whole Nother Story, As told by (The Incomparable) Dr. Cuthbert Soup

Mr. Ethan Cheeseman and his three smart, polite, and relatively odor-free children are back in another adventure - with all-new names, of course. Now that they've got the LVR working (the supposedly secret, yet relentlessly sought-after time machine introduced in A Whole Nother Story), the family is all set to travel back in time to just before their beloved wife and mother Olivia Cheeseman meets her unfortunate end at the hands of those seeking to "acquire" the LVR.

But all does not go according to plan. First, they wind up not in the relatively recent past, as they'd planned, but way back in 1668. Worse, their crash landing has damaged the LVR, and unless they can find the proper parts to repair it, the family has no way to return to their own time in the 21st century. As if that weren't trouble enough, the family finds themselves facing suspicion of witchcraft, battling pirates, and navigating a haunted castle. Add to that their tangle with a dangerous nemesis from their present whom they believed they'd seen the last of, and things don't look good. 

Despite these odds, the likeable Cheesemans are not without friends, meeting several helpful souls along the way. But is it enough to help them get out of the distant past, and into the nearer past, so they can save their beloved Olivia Cheeseman, and get back to their own time?

Fish, by Gregory Mone

Maurice "Fish" Reidy is eleven years old when the family horse dies. Without Shamrock, the family can't afford to feed itself, let alone farm their land. Someone has to go into the city to work and send money home. Since Fish is the worst at farming, it's agreed he should be the one to go.

His father arranges for Fish to work for his uncle as a courier. One day, Fish is entrusted with a mysterious package of coins to deliver. But before he can make that delivery, he is robbed. Fish tracks down the thief, who has delivered the package to pirates aboard their ship, the Scurvy Mistress. Determined to get that package back and to its rightful recipient, Fish decides to sneak aboard and join the pirate crew. He soon learns the coins are more than what they seem - possibly the keys to a wondrous treasure, if only the suspected code can be cracked.

As the Scurvy Mistress sets sail, Fish finds himself on an adventure he never saw coming, with friends he never imagined making. It's a journey that promises to change his life - and that of his family - forever.

Franny B. Kranny, There's a Bird in Your Hair! by Harriet Lerner and Susan Goldhor, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Franny B. Kranny's long, frizzy hair gives her a lot of grief. It's always getting tangled, or caught on things. It even makes the girl who sits with her on the bus, sneeze. But Franny loves her hair. She loves the way it boings back out after she flattens it. And she loves the way it makes a little cave for her to pretend to hide in when she brushes it forward.

One day, Franny's mother says she and her sister must go to get their hair done for their big family reunion. Bertha is pleased. Franny is not. She says she doesn't want anyone touching her hair. But the next day she finds herself grumpily sitting in the hairdresser's chair, where he piles her hair up on top of her head. The hairdresser loves it. And her mother loves it. But Franny begins thinking of ways to undo it.

Then something very unusual happens to her hair on the walk home from the beauty parlor. Her family thinks she should undo it. But Franny decides to keep it that way all through the reunion. Everyone at the reunion loves her hair, and when they get home, her family thinks she should keep it that way. But - and you saw this coming, didn't you? Franny has other ideas.

The Napping House, by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood

It's a rainy day, perfect for an afternoon snooze. And in this house, everyone is doing just that. A snoring Granny is napping in the coziest spot in the house. But she isn't alone for long. One by one, the other nappers in the house drowsily find their way to Granny's bed: a dreaming child, a dozing dog, a snoozing cat, and a slumbering mouse. Finally, everyone in the house is happily napping in a big pile with Granny in her cozy bed. Everyone, that is, except for one wakeful flea. And pretty soon, no one is napping at all.

 

Love, Ruby Lavender, by Deborah Wiles

Ruby Lavender is not your average chicken thief. For starters, she's only nine years old. Plus, she wasn't stealing those chickens as much as liberating them from a future lying cooked and crispy on someone's dinner plate. Ruby is looking forward to a summer of caring for her chickens, and spending lots of time with her partner in chicken thievery: getaway driver Miss Eula.

But Ruby's plans quickly unravel when Miss Eula decides to up and leave Halleluia, Mississippi for a while. She's going to Hawaii to visit her new baby granddaughter. She won't be gone forever, but she doesn't know when she'll be back, either. Up until now, Ruby has been Miss Eula's only grandchild, and Ruby is jealous. Plus, how will Ruby care for the chickens and their newly laid eggs, without Miss Eula's help? How will she deal with the torment that is Melba Jane, without Miss Eula to talk her through it? How will she get through helping out at her grumpy Aunt Mattie's general store, without Miss Eula to smooth things over? And who will leave Ruby letters in their secret mailbox, with Miss Eula gone?

As it turns out, that secret mailbox isn't the only way to exchange letters with Miss Eula. And Ruby finds herself spending a summer she never saw coming, and likely will never forget.

* * *

So, here we are at the end of the Second Annual Wonderful Weirdos of Literature Series. If you haven't read any of the books that were featured this month, I hope you do. And if you have read them, even just a few of them, I hope you had as much fun reading these books as I did.

Drop me a comment or shoot me an email if you have any suggestions for inclusion in next year's Bugs and Bunnies Wonderful Weirdos of Literature Series. 

And now, I will leave you with this snippet from the very first BNBWWoLS post:

Remember Merriam-Webster's definition of weirdo? "A person who is extraordinarily strange or eccentric." There is a wide range of Weird in this world. Some of us are more so than others. We Weirdos may be different, but always remember: we are extraordinarily so.