Featured New Materials - May, 2007

Archives: Featured Materials of Past Months

Picture Books

     THE TWIN PRINCES (Dial, 2007), written and illustrated by Tedd Arnold, reads like a fairy tale, starring royal chickens. As the story opens, an old nursemaid is telling two young royal chicks a story about Old King Chanticleer. The King’s wife is dead and he fears he will die soon himself, but he has no idea which of his twin sons—Henry and Fowler—should inherit the throne. He’s been a busy king and really doesn’t know which of his sons would be better suited for the job, nor does he know which son was born first. The reader quickly realizes that Henry is the kinder son, while Fowler cheats and plays mean tricks on others. The King plans a horse race to determine who will become his heir. The night before, Fowler feeds Henry’s horse a poisonous plant that will not kill the horse, but will slow him down. But the morning of the race, the King announces that the winner will be “the brother whose horse is last to enter the gates shall be the next king.” The reader is then presented with the riddle—how can the race finish with neither brother willing to enter the castle’s gates first? The story stops to provide several opportunities to solve the riddle before the resolution is given. The story ends with the two little chicks—the children of the victor—and the storytelling nursemaid, who are living happily ever after.

     Arnold’s cartoon illustrations are done in watercolors, but he has used colored pencils to scribble tiny lines over the pictures. By dressing Henry in purple and Fowler in orange, the reader can always tell which chicken is which. Observant viewers will also notice that the story’s midwife and peddler are one and the same, based on her robes.  There are humorous but character revealing touches in the illustrations, such as Fowler as a little chick bopping Henry on the head with a wooden sword, and the castle being a big red barn surrounded by a stone wall with corner guard towers.

Fiction

     Carolyn Marsden’s WHEN HEAVEN FELL (Candlewick, 2007), is set in rural Vietnam and is told in first-person by nine-year-old Binh. Binh’s family is poor, so poor that neither she nor any of the children in her extended family can attend school because they can’t afford school uniforms or books. Instead, Binh works selling fruit and soda from a hand-cart along the road. However, one day Binh’s grandmother tells the family that during the Vietnam War, she fell in love with an American GI and gave birth to a daughter. When the war was ending, fearing the Communists would kill her mixed race child, she gave her 5 year-old daughter to Operation Babylift, knowing she’d have a better life in America. This daughter, now a 35 year old teacher, is coming to Vietnam to meet the family. After getting over the shock of this information, everyone is excited. After all, American are rich, Di Hai (“Eldest Aunt”) will bring them lots of extravagant presents. Binh also thinks Di Hai will probably take all of them back with her to live in America! When Di Hai arrives, she is not at all what they expect, she does not wear fancy clothes or bring gifts, and even though the photos of her house show it’s big enough for the entire family, she clearly does not intend to bring her family to America. Di Hai even moves her sleeping mat outside rather than sleep in a room with everyone else. Culture differences, false expectations, the meaning of family—there are many issues to think about that are made particularly intriguing because readers experience life through Binh’s eyes. For ages 8-12.   

Nonfiction

We have two great selections this month:

  1.     Larger-than-life deeds, terrifying monsters and epic battles lend themselves perfectly to the graphic novel format as Gareth Hinds adapts the tale of the great hero BEOWULF (Candlewick Press, 2007) for a new generation. Hinds bases his colloquial retelling on a 1904 translation by A.J Church, but also includes passages from a verse translation by Francis Gummere, to help strike a balance between readability and the poetic nature of the composition. The novel is divided into three books or chapters. In the first, brave Beowulf arrives to fight the hideous monster Grendel and free the Danes from the terror of his attacks. In the second book, Beowulf must defeat Grendel’s mother, who seeks revenge for the death of her son. In the final book, a battle to the death with an enormous dragon brings the life of our aging, hero to an end. Each book begins with text to set the scene and move the plot along, but once the battles begin, wordless panels often carry the tale. Lines between frames frequently run on diagonals and the colors are dark and muted with much use of purple, lavender, grey and sepia tones. When renderings of stark, black monsters or golden light creep in, the effect is striking and dramatic.

     This version of Beowulf will engage reluctant readers as well as allow students who struggle with verse translations an opportunity to understand the tale in a new way. The artwork is glorious and powerful, yet not overly graphic in ways that would make it inappropriate for  readers as young as 5th or 6th grade.  Hinds' BEOWULF would be a terrific companion to the classic translations often studied in high school British Literature courses. 

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   2.    Deborah Hopkinson is known for her award winning historical fiction picture books. With SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY (Peachtree, 2006), illustrated by Leonard Jenkins, she’s written a non-fiction picture book primarily about the man who worked hard on Marian Anderson’s groundbreaking concert at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939.

      Oscar Chapman grew up poor and white in Virginia. When he and his sister were given money to buy a picture to hang on the bare walls of their schoolroom, they chose one of Abraham Lincoln, an act which led to his expulsion. He also saw the injustice that was met by his African American friends.

     Years later, when he became the Assistant Secretary of the Interior under President Franklin Roosevelt, he and a friend were struggling with how they could find a place for Marian Anderson to perform. She had been denied the use of Constitution Hall by its owners, the DAR, who would only allow whites to perform there. Chapman’s friend, Walter White, suggested the Lincoln Memorial. Chapman proposed the venue to Roosevelt, won his support, and then worked to organize and promote the free concert, the first public gathering at the Lincoln Memorial. It attracted 75,000 people.

     Jenkins’ extraordinary abstract mixed media paintings are fascinating, with a background of patches of pink, scribbled over with crayon or chalk, then layered with more realistic images of people, structures, and objects. For ages 6 up.

Curriculum

     Sometimes it is difficult to talk to children about issues and events related to war, violence, death and injustice. Virginia  A. Walter suggests that “books can provide the language and the frame of reference to get us started on these difficult conversations.”   In her new book, WAR AND PEACE: A GUIDE TO LITERATURE AND NEW MEDIA, GRADES 4-8 (Libraries Unlimited, 2007) she provides teachers and librarians with an annotated bibliography of more than 400 books, web sites, CD-ROMs and videos which deal with the various aspects of war and peace. The resources included have been published primarily between 1991-2004, with a few classics from earlier years  where appropriate.  

     Part one provides background relating to children and war, children’s informational needs, reading levels and techniques for sharing books and discussing sensitive topics. Part two is arranged thematically with resources listed for the following strands: War as History, Hope and Glory, The Consequences of War, The Horrors of War, The American Home Front, and Peace and Alternatives to War. Each list begins with an introduction which helps to frame the selections, and provide a context for consideration. Each selection includes suggested age ranges, and recommendations based on literary or cinematic quality, accuracy of information, and overall presentation, with suggestions about how a resource might be used with children.  Entries are all linked to one of the ten thematic strands defined by the National Council for Social Studies. There are also two case studies which blend many of the strands, demonstrating how the many different themes cross over when considering one event: The Trojan War and September 11, 2001 are the two case studies. A third section lists adult and professional resources and materials: Children and War, Children and Peace; and Children’s Literature about War and Peace. Appendices include indexes by thematic strand, author, title, subject, and resources for adults.

Non-Print

     THE AGE OF AIDS (WGBH Educational Foundation, 2006) is a PBS Frontline presentation which follows the history of AIDS from the diagnoses of a few gay men in California in 1981, to the present where about 70 million people worldwide are currently  infected. Over the next decade, 40 million new cases are expected and predictions hold that a cure for the virus will not be found in our lifetime, probably not even during the lifetime of our children.  THE AGE OF AIDS, a 240 minute, two-part series, traces the history of our awareness of AIDS, the relentless spread of the disease and discusses the question of why we have failed to stop this worldwide epidemic.  Medical as well as political issues are examined and explored in terms of their origins, our understandings, and their impact on the fight against HIV.

     Part one investigates the medical aspects of the mysterious disease which at first seemed only to afflict gay men, and the frantic search to identify, decide who was vulnerable to it and discover how AIDS was being spread. Fear, stigma, and controversy surround efforts to educate the public and provide treatment for victims. According to Dr. Merv Silverman, former president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, "Without question, politics has been one of the driving forces in the spread of this disease. AIDS is the most political disease I've ever seen."  Part two explores the divisions that arose between rich and poor, between those who could afford to fight the disease and the disenfranchised. Political struggles ensued to make drugs affordable and available, particularly to those in poverty and to third world nations.  It discusses the political denial which continued in countries such as Russia, China and India, and traces efforts to bring attention to the need for global effort and support of initiatives to help get medication to those in need, educate people and curtail the continuing spread.

     This documentary was filmed in 19 different countries and features interviews with many of the key players in the fight against AIDS including, scientists, political figures, and activists such as Bono, Franklin Graham (evangelist), Cleve Jones (creator of the AIDS quilt), and Noerine Kaleeba (founder of Africa’s first AIDS Support Organization) and Mechai Viravaida (Thailand’s “condom King”). It provides a powerful and comprehensive look at HIV/AIDS and our society, and a call to all for awareness, compassion and action.

     The discussion continues on the Frontline web page at http://www.pbs/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids  with streaming video, chat groups, timelines, maps, statistics, and teaching resources aimed at grades 9-12 but adaptable for many levels. Individual scenes and segments from the video can be viewed separately online, making it easy to consider individual aspects of the entire dialogue within a class period.