Non-fiction Monday - Artful, indeed

I just love Bob Raczka’s books and his take on art.

There is just so much fun, playfulness and creativity imbued in each one that I’m hooked every time.

Unlikely Pairs (750.11 RaU 2006) was the first one to catch my eye and what an eyeful it was, too.  Two paintings are displayed on each two-page spread. Typically, the pairs come from different time periods or different mediums and always from different artists, and the connection between the shown subjects always has an element of surprise or irony.

For instance, I really enjoyed the bug-eyed cow (The Cow with the Subtile Nose by Jean Dubeffet, 1954) that is staring (pensively?) at a giant, floor-model hamburger (Floor Burger by Claes Oldenburg, 1962) on the opposite page.

Or a painter (Self-Portrait by Jean-Frederic Bazille, 1986) holding a paint smeared pallet and brushes peering over his shoulder looking at us to see if we are admiring his paint-by-numbers landscape (Do-It-Yourself Landscape by Andy Warhol, 1962).  Very funny.

The great interaction between each of the two works really picks up on Raczka’s sense of play.  What kid wouldn’t want to find their own unlikely pair?  By discussing what makes each pairing work, children have a chance at better understanding the individual works, too.

A more recent book, The Vermeer Interviews: Conversations With Seven Works of Art (759.9492 RaV 2009), had me gripped from the start as he “interviews” characters from seven of Vermeer’s paintings.  Effortlessly, we are able to appreciate Vermeer’s artistry and technical ability, as well as learn more about the historical context behind each piece.

For instance, did you know that the woman depicted in Young Woman With a Water Pitcher is wearing a night rail (a white hood with a wide, shoulder length collar) that helps protects her dress as she washes her face during her morning toilette? I didn’t.

Or that by picking up on many subtle details within the painting a narrative starts to build.  Looking at The Music Lesson, we begin to see there is a whole lot more going on with furtive glances between student and piano master.

Or that the young (pregnant?) woman intently reading a letter, in the aptly titled painting Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, is possibly yearning for someone traveling (empty chair, map) maybe even her husband.  Raczka is clever in helping us decode the piece and yet allows for different interpretations, as well.

The last book I’ll mention is Artful Reading (758.9028 RaA 2008 PIC BK). This is a good one for teaching about the importance of reading (and art, of course). An instructor in the MT program recently read this book aloud to her group of student-teachers to illustrate just this point: that seeing reading depicted as an activity worthy of attention also connotes learning, education, knowledge, wealth, and social status.

Words to live by: “Read all your life and you’ll never be bored”. – Artful Reading by Bob Raczka.

Join Nonfiction Monday Roundup by clicking on the box below to go to Picture Book of the Day blog and see a list of recent blogs dedicated to highlighting nonfiction reading.

The not-so-distant past

Once upon a time, I ran various parent-child book clubs out of a local children’s bookstore (Plug:Monkeyshines Children’s Books ).

One year, a group of ten, eleven and twelve year-old girls, their moms and me read the book Hana’s Suitcase  (940.5318 LEH 2002).  As we were getting ready to start the meeting one of the girls came over and speaking so, so softly told me that this was her favorite book ever! As she was quite the avid reader this was no faint praise.

A docu-drama, Inside Hana’s Suitcase, has just been released based on the book and I was reminded yet again, just what power Hana’s story holds.  We get to know Hana as a young girl living in Czechoslovakia in the 1930’s and 40’s, as smart, funny, athletic, and part of a very loving family.  Flash to current-day Japan and to Fumiko Ishioka, holding Hana’s battered suitcase, teaching children in Tokyo about the horrors Europe endured during World War II.

What are the circumstances that connect Hana and Fumiko? 

What happened to Hana and her family?

Told in alternating chapters, we learn about Fumiko’s quest at the same time we are introduced to Hana and learn of her experiences. The book strongly demonstrates the interconnectedness between past and present with this style of storytelling.  Tension builds slowly as we feel both the direness of Hana’s situation and the urgency and longing to know more about Hana by Fumiko.

This is not your typical World War II/Holocaust story.  Though historical, there is an immediacy and immense relevance for today which is brought about through Hana’s brother, George Brady, the only one in his family to have survived the Holocaust.  Fumiko, after tracing George to Toronto sends him a heart-felt letter telling him of her quest to learn more about Hana.  George, who has lived with a lifetime of grief and guilt over Hana’s death, begins to find closure as he travels to Japan and speaks with children at Holocaust Education Centre.

Hana’s life and death continue to have an impact on people who become witness to her story.  She had hoped to become a teacher one day and its with certainty that we can say that we do indeed have much to learn from her.

HBO Canada will be airing Inside Hana’s Suitcase during the week May 10-15, 2010.  Both George Brady and Fumiko Ishioka star in the movie.

Conflicted

100 Suns by Michael Light (355.825119 LIO 2003) has just recently arrived in the Doucette Library and is leaving me feeling a little mystified, fascinated, and horrified, all at the same time.

This is an oversized, coffee-table type book showing mostly black and white photographs of nuclear test explosions between 1945 and 1962.  Detonations were either in the New Mexico or Nevada deserts or over the south Pacific.  I doubt that very many people will have this book lying about on their coffee tables.

Most of us know what a typical mushroom cloud looks like and you will find these included here, too but we are shown so much more.  There are a wide range of photographs of various cloud shapes and colours but also of people, typically soldiers, in close proximity to the blasts.  This is one of those books in which meaningful layers are created by the reader’s own prior knowledge about the atom bomb. There is a terrible beauty here that I think could be a starting point in classrooms.

But a starting point for what exactly?  Science, social studies and even art could be integrated using a book like this. 

In a previous blog (see Lost and found opportunities) I wrote about a novel, The Green Glass Sea that takes place during the 1940’s, in an American desert compound where the atomic bomb was being developed by scientists. The main storyline is the relationship between two girls living on the base as their parents work on a secret project.  I really enjoyed the book and think it has a place in the classroom but wondered what kid would want to read this.  And what would they make of the whole secret project aspect of the story.  (It isn’t really explicit until the end about what has been going on.)  The story of the two girls’ is strong so maybe it doesn’t matter.  But, as I was reading the novel I found the tension slowly building because I knew what the secret project was all about. Would kids?

There is a great connection between 100 Suns and The Green Glass Sea.

Will students be engaged by these photos?  I would love to know.

Take a look for yourselves and let me know what you think.

For the pure pleasure of it.

So many of the books that I recommend here are included because I can see or I’ve been told that they connect to the curriculum in some way.
But for those of us who really love reading there is something more that we like to give besides the title or two of great books. Spreading the love, as it were. And sometimes that will be accomplished with a resource that has nothing to do with a topic taught in school. In fact, promoting those books totally unrelated to curriculum topics might be another strategy to encourage reading. No strings attached just pure pleasure.
And here’s one of my recommendations.

Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine (823 V234F FIC) was one of those finds that was a real delight.

This is not your typical coming of age unless you think communing with the ashes of a once famous pianist, named Violet Park is the norm for adolescents these days. Lucas comes across Violet’s funerary urn in a taxi cab office where it’s been sitting for over eighteen months. He feels an unexpected and unexplainable fascination with imagining who this woman had been. The hunt for Violet’s story intersects with some of the issues he’s dealing with in his own family – his father disappeared several years ago and the family (Lucas, his mom, older sister and younger brother) has been left to wonder what happened. To say the least, the family is stresses and Lucas is feeling it. Lucas is an interminably likable character with a weird and wonderful way of looking at the world. Secondary characters also add layers of interest to the story. Even though dead, Violet too becomes very real to Lucas and us.

I would suggest those in grades 8 into high school would enjoy this book the most.

This book is a British import and has been published under the title Me, the Missing and the Dead in the United States.

Spring rituals

I find that I’m trolling the library shelves fairly frequently these days.  Up and down.  Back and forth.  Furtively glancing at book titles.  Surreptitiously running fingers down spines of books.  Until the urge can no longer be resisted and I pull a book or eight (or more) off the shelf.  And   so begins a springtime ritual that goes way back, the collecting of stacks of books in great anticipation of the when I’ll be able to do more reading – LOTS MORE READING!  Its called summer.

So, back to my trolling habit.  It’s sort of like birds in spring; finding the perfect match, building and feathering a nest, and lots of time just sitting around waiting and then enjoying the hatching of my ‘nestlings’.  (I don’t really ‘know’ whether birds are joyful about hatching nestlings or not – but for the sake of my analogy, just go with it, please.)

So, trolling… It does feel like I’m well underway feathering my nest with all the books that I’ve  not read during the school year but thought looked interesting or could have potential tie-ins with school curriculum.  So many books, so little time…

Here are a few that I’ve collected so far:

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

 I love Nancy Farmer’s writing and must admit I’ve put off reading this as I’m usually not into Norse mythology.  But, I trust Nancy as a storyteller and have yet to be disappointed.

The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli

Again, a strong storyteller who I usually enjoy.  This one may have some cross-curricular potential with social studies, the Renaissance and art.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming

I’ve always meant to read this book as it takes me back to when I was a kid and how much I really, really loved the movie.  Dick Van Dyke was the man back in the day.  So, I’m curious as to what the book will be like and will be looking for connections with the science curriculum.

Thief of Hearts by Christopher Golden & A Murder For Her Majesty by Beth Hilgartner

These ones are even a bit more indulgent as I love mysteries.  The first one is a contemporary story about a college freshman who works as a pathology assistant and becomes involved in a murder investigation.  The second book is a historical mystery for kids grades 5-8.  The setting is during the reign of Elizabeth I and has a young girl on the run from the men who murdered her father.  Supposed to have fantastic detailing of the time period and great suspense.

The Liberation of Garbriel King by K.L. Going & Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine.

Two contemporary reads about growing up.  Both authors are award winners that I’ve come across previously and I have great hopes for both of these.

That’s the list so far but it certainly won’t end there.  I haven’t even started pulling nonfiction books, yet.  This ‘feathering’ business may be continuous but truly it is the best time of year.

The Power of Community

A book recently arrived at the Doucette Library that got me all misty eyed while working at the reference desk.  Not a good look, needless to say.

The book was 14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy (327.676 DEF 2009 PIC BK).

It is based on the real life experience of a young Maasai man, Kimeli Naiyomah when he returned home to Kenya telling the village elders of one story that “burned a hole in his heart”.  He tells of the events he witnessed on September 11, 2001 in New York City and that he feels compelled to respond to the tragedy in the way taught by his people, “To heal a sorrowing heart, give something that is dear to your own.”  For Kimeli this can only be done by offering a cow, a symbol of life to the Maasai.  But instead of just one, the village offers a herd of 14 cows which are ceremonially presented to and symbolically accepted by a resident, American diplomat.  The final words, “Because there is no nation so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort” encapsulate the power of compassion and the continuity of generosity between communities.

The illustrations are gorgeous, with luscious tones depicting the African landscape and people.  Recommended for grades 2-5 but could be higher depending on how you are using it.

I had an opportunity to introduce this book to MT students just after reading it for the first time and paired it with another recent acquisition The Grand Mosque of Paris : a story of how Muslims rescued Jews during the Holocaust by  Karen Gray Ruelle, (940.5318 RUG 2009) to address the concept of community.  The instructor had asked me for a range of materials that would engage her students focused around defining what are community and the importance of networking.

Maybe it was because I had read the two books so closely together that I felt the power of both so strongly.  Two very different communities at different points in time but both responding to crisis, showing strength and compassion for those in need embodying what is good in humans and finally, offering hope for us all.