“This is a very good start, really. Now, you might want to move that line just a tad to the left, and think a bit about your colors.”

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We’ve got a great piece coming up in the May issue by Steve Jenkins about the politicization of science and its effect on education. Read it and weep.

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“over and over [kids are]telling me that the books I wrote for them to read are being read to them by their teachers. And hearing a story read doesn’t seem to expand their vocabularies. If a teacher is going to take limited classroom time in reading aloud (and even giving away the ending), the least she could do is hand out a list of vocabulary from the reading to be looked up and learned.”

While I think Peck was complaining about classrooms where kids’ only exposure to trade books was hearing them read aloud, some teachers have articulated thoughtful responses, among them Monica Edinger and Sarah, who blogs at The Reading Zone.

I’m just grateful that Peck is still doing so well in his dual roles, as a novelist both respected by critics and enjoyed by kids, and a provocative voice in the shaping of young people’s literature and its importance for readers. Thirty-five years ago, in American Libraries, he wrote one of the most cogent responses I’ve seen to Cormier’s newly published The Chocolate War. And, with the Grandma Dowdel books, I’m loving his renaissance of books for younger readers–remember Blossom Culp?

Also, I predict that this Twitter tempest will seem but teacup-sized once the p.c. police get wind of Mrs. Dowdel’s charade, in A Season of Gifts, with the bones of the alleged Indian princess. Pass the popcorn.

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But if you’re lonely in the outback, here’s the reading list to keep you warm. Asterisks by the title indicate that the author will be appearing at the Institute.

Anderson, Laurie Halse, Chains, Simon and Schuster, 2008
*Anderson, M.T. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party
*Avi, Nothing but the Truth, pub? 1991
*Babbitt, Natalie, The Devil’s Storybook, Farrar, 1974`
*Balliett, Blue, Chasing Vermeer, Scholastic, 2004
Bannerman, Helen, The Story of Little Black Sambo, HarperCollins
*Brooks, Martha, Mistik Lake, Kroupa/FSG, 2007
*Cashore, Kristin, Graceling, Houghton, 2008
Cormier, Robert, The Chocolate War, Pantheon, 1974
Forbes, Esther, Johnny Tremain, Houghton, 1943
*Gantos, Jack, Hole in My Life, Farrar, 2002
*Gantos, Jack, Rotten Ralph books, Houghton and Farrar, various (read a few)
Harris, Robie, It’s Perfectly Normal, Candlewick, 19994, 2004
*Henkes, Kevin, Lilly’s Big Day, Greenwillow, 2006
*Henkes, Kevin, Olive’s Ocean, Greenwillow, 2003
*Hinds, Gareth, The Merchant of Venice, Candlewick, 2008
Lamb, Charles and Mary, “The Merchant of Venice” in Tales from Shakespeare
*Lawson, JonArno, Black Stars in a White Night Sky, Boyds Mills, 2008
*Levine, Ellen, Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories, Putnam, 2000
*Look, Lenore, Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything, Atheneum/Schwartz, 2006
Myers, Walter Dean, Monster, HarperCollins, 1999
*Nelson, Marilyn, The Freedom Business, Boyds Mills, 2008
Parnall, Peter, And Tango Makes Three, Simon and Schuster, 2005
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Levine/Scholastic, 1998
*Silvey, Anita. “Has the Newbery Lost Its Way?” School Library Journal, October, 2008
Von Ziegesar, Cecily, Gossip Girl, Little, Brown, 2002

Can I borrow your notes?

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As a kid, I prided myself on being a good student. However, it wasn’t until my sophomore year in high school that I realized I wasn’t really being challenged in my classes, which were generally pretty basic. That year, I found myself in an advanced English course with a teacher who was a real stickler for quality. Until then, I’d skated easily through my English courses, and, not surprisingly, I never learned how to write with much skill. I didn’t know how I ended up in this advanced course: perhaps my counselor felt I had potential based on my older sister’s performance the previous year, or maybe I impressed my basic English teacher. Whatever the reason, I found myself confronted with an English teacher who would change my life.

The first assignment Ms. Visconti gave the class was to write an essay about something we’d read. No problem, I thought. I wrote my essay, and felt quite confident upon turning it in. The next day our essays were returned to us, and, sneaking peeks at grades written on the papers of my peers, I eagerly anticipated mine. To my chagrin, my paper was casually placed on my desk with only the words Not an essay written at the top. What?!? I was profoundly offended and embarrassed. I could have blown it off, or continued writing non-essays for the rest of the semester. But I enjoyed making good grades, and I certainly wanted one for this class. So I asked Ms. Visconti if she’d teach me how to write an essay, which she very kindly did. She thus prepared me for my college courses and, much later, my authorial debut, We Are the Ship.

Thank God for good teachers.

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Ramona the Pest
written by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Lois Darling
192 pp. Morrow Review 8/68
Eight- or nine-year-olds who can look back upon their kindergarten days will smile knowingly at Ramona’s first encounters with school life. Ramona does not submit to the process of education without a struggle, and the skirmishes, vividly described, will remind the young reader of the child he once was (or wished he had dared to be!). The author has a sure instinct for the thought and expression of five-year-olds. Grade level: K–3.

First Day Jitters
by Julie Danneberg, illustrated by Judy Love
32 pp. Charlesbridge Review 10/00
In spite of Mr. Hartwell’s entreaties, Sarah Jane Hartwell does not want to start her first day in a new school. Like all newcomers, she worries about having to begin again and wonders if there will be nice children in her class. But the ending reveals that Sarah is not a new student — she’s the teacher! Lively line and watercolor illustrations bring Sarah’s plight to life. Grade level: K–3.

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse
written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes
32 pp. Greenwillow Review 9/96
Enchanted with school, Lilly wants to be a teacher until one fateful Monday when she gets in trouble. She plots her revenge until her teacher’s final gesture, a thoughtful note and a packet of tasty snacks, makes her feel miserably small. With help, Lilly puts her world to rights in a sensitively crafted, dazzlingly logical conclusion. A skilled caricaturist, Henkes conveys variations in mood with economy and charm. Grade level: K–3.

Chrysanthemum
written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes
32 pp. Greenwillow Review 9/91
Young mouse Chrysanthemum loves her name — until she starts school and finds the teasing of her peers unbearable. Then the beloved music teacher, Mrs. Delphinium Twinkle, announces that she plans to name her baby Chrysanthemum, and suddenly everyone wants to be named after a flower. Another very engaging female protagonist from Henkes. Grade level: K–3.

Starting School
written by Johanna Hurwitz, illustrated by Karen Dugan
102 pp. Morrow Review 9/98
The twin brothers of Lucas Cott (of the Class Clown series) are put in separate kindergartens in the same school. Marcus and Marius decide to switch places to settle an argument about who has the better teacher, but on the same day, their teachers decide to switch places to settle their own argument. This is irony at its humorous best for young readers, who will delight in anticipating the inevitable chaos. Grade level: K–3.

Running the Road to ABC
by Denize Lauture, illustrated by Reynold Ruffins
32 pp. Simon Review 5/96
Six children run “on the Road to ABC” to beat the rising sun to their school. Though there is little story, the rich lyrical language used by Lauture, a Haitian poet, creates a strong sense of place, while imagery and patterns of text build tension. Warmly detailed gouache paintings propel the reader to the next page in this optimistic glimpse of Haitian children working for a brighter future. Grade level: K–3.

Once upon an Ordinary School Day
by Colin McNaughton, illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura
32 pp. Farrar Review 3/05
In this parable of the awakening imagination, an “ordinary boy woke from his ordinary dreams . . . had an ordinary pee . . . and ate his ordinary breakfast.” At school a colorful new teacher demands that the class listen to music and record what they imagine. While the art bursts into joyful color, the boy begins to write; “and he was lost, lost in . . . the storytelling game. And it was extraordinary.” Grade level: K–3.

Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity
written and illustrated by Mo Willems
48 pp. Hyperion Review 11/07
When Trixie (older and more verbal than in Knuffle Bunny) spots preschool classmate Sonja with a Knuffle Bunny look-alike, the girls fight, and the bunnies are confiscated. Their teacher reunites each girl with her toy . . . or so it seems. Cartoon-style characters are set against black-and-white photographs of an urban neighborhood. Willems’s page design and animation-inspired panel illustrations are visually dynamic. Grade level: Preschool.

Robin Smith on school stories.

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