He Had a Dream

Today's Book of the Day.
(Thanks to Random House for the review copy.)

Besides the stunningly beautiful paintings of Kadir Nelson which illustrate this oversized picture book, there's a CD of the speech included. A perfect book to share with your family or your classroom.


Click HERE to read a complete review.

If you are a writer or a reader considering the ways you can honor Dr. King's legacy, you might want to participate in the discussion of Race in Children's Books on Roger Sutton's blog. 

To see the Horn Book blog and the over 100 comments, so far, 
go HERE: http://www.hbook.com/2013/07/blogs/read-roger/a-very-good-question/

Links to other posts on the topic are HERE: http://www.hbook.com/talking-about-race/

What We Read Then/ What They're Reading Now

I ran across this post on the Horn Book blog recently. The mere mention of To Kill a Mockingbird caught my attention. Check this wikipedia source- it was published in 1960. Perhaps I read it as a Young Adult. But I know when I reread it recently, it sounded to me a lot like a book written for adults even if it's now mostly read by teenagers, and younger.

When I was in high school, there was a corner of our library--the corner nearest the street windows and the library check-out desk, that was labeled the Mississippi Collection. Mrs. Walker, my wonderful librarian there, frequently sent me in that direction to read Margaret Alexander and Eudora Welty and Wirt Williams. And many more, now forgotten. I gravitated toward historical fiction- maybe because my American history teacher gave us AN ENTIRE EXTRA POINT on our grade for each book completed and reported on. Man, was I ever a brownnoser in that department.

I digress...

But I also read a lot of trash, including my mother's hidden copy of Peyton Place (when I was in about 7th grade) and my senior high school English teacher's recommendation of a banned book: Forever Amber.

So what are high school kids reading now? Lots of "crossover" books. Edgy YA. The winners of the Printz Award? I just hope the words reading and high school kids continue to be used in the same sentence.

Here's what Horn Book editor Roger Sutton says about his own experience reading Mockingbird:
While having much to say about racism, societal strictures, and justice, what Mockingbird is mostly about is the difference between the way children and adults look at the world. At nine, I felt too allied with Scout to have any distance from her, and what flew over her head flew over mine as well. Does that mean I read the book at the “wrong” age? Nah — it only means that great books speak across time, both our own and the world’s.

Amen to that, wouldn't you say?

Redeemed!

Sometimes I think perhaps I watch way too much trashy TV. Then I happen upon Hornbook editor Roger Sutton's blog entry about flashbacks. This one cracked me up, including the comments. So. Maybe all that time I spend watching Lost isn't completely a waste? We won't talk about American Idol however...

From the Horn Book editor

You can't get any more knowledgeable in the field of children's literature than Roger Sutton. This is from an article about choosing books for kids in the November/ December issue of Horn Book. Here's Mr. Sutton on helping good readers become passionate about books. And a word or two about parenting while he's at it:

Parents of an early expert reader — heck, parents of any kind of a reader, from reluctant to ambitious — are confronted with two sometimes-conflicting sets of expectations: what they want for their child and what their child wants for him- or herself. I would suggest that, ultimately, satisfaction will be found for the former by assiduous attention to the latter. Just because your child can read at a fifth-grade level doesn’t mean he needs to at all times. (Think about your own reading: just because you can read Henry James doesn’t mean you must, does it?) At the same time, of course, just because your child is seven doesn’t mean she can’t take a crack — if she wants to — at Harry Potter, either. Given access to a wide variety of reading — both print and pixeled texts — and given the proper tools and encouragement to wade through it and choose, children turn themselves into the readers their parents want them to be.