Book groups, Children's book reviews, Storytime, Teaching

Three quick things

Thing number 1:  I really enjoyed Silverfin by Charlie Higson.  I had expected it to be purely an action story, but Higson takes the time to establish the character of James Bond at age 13.  He also gives us a good sense of what it would have been like to be a student at Eton in the 1930’s.  And then, of course, the story moves away from Eton and into some good fun Bondish action.  Definitely a good book for any of you James Bond fans.

Thing number two:  yesterday’s Book Gobblers program was interesting for me.  Usually we have fourth and fifth graders who attend this read aloud program for older kids, and they have really enjoyed hearing selections from Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.  Given that past history, yesterday I decided that I would read “The Cat That Walked By Himself” to them.  But there was a little change in demographics yesterday, with mostly second graders attending.  They mostly liked the story, but they didn’t love Kipling’s language like the older kids have; the older kids have literally sat in rapt attention, almost devouring Kipling’s words as I read them.  But the younger ones looked slightly puzzled at times.  The second story I read them, though, was a huge hit:  Ghost Hands by T.A. Barron.  As you may remember, T.A. Barron spent the early years of his life in the town in which I work, so I always love sharing his books with kids at my programs.  And Ghost Hands, which provides an imagined reason for paintings of hands in a real cave in Patagonia, really grabbed their attention – total focus from the group as I read, and lots of great questions and discussion after the story was done.  I’ll definitely be reading this book to kids at the school when I do summer reading visits in June.

Thing number 3:  Last but very definitely not least, the third grade book group had an exciting and wonderful meeting on Monday as we had a Skype visit with author Sara Pennypacker.  I will be writing a full post on this visit over the weekend to do it full justice, but wanted to mention it here in brief to whet your appetite.  Ms. Pennypacker is an incredibly generous, kind, open, and engaging speaker, and I believe that this Skype visit was a really transformative moment for several of the kids in the group.  More on this visit in a day or two…and now it’s time to get ready for work!

Jewelry Making, Spare time - Culture

Before I talk about Silverfin…

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I’m in the midst of reading Silverfin by Charlie Higson (“A James Bond Adventure”), in preparation for the 6th grade book group meeting on Tuesday, and I’ll be writing about the book here once I’ve finished it.  But until then, here are photos of my two latest jewelry creations.  The necklace with the red crystal beads is a prototype of my own design, rather flawed – but it was a great learning experience, and great fun to create my own woven design.  The copper diamond pendant necklace is currently wending its way to my sister’s house via first class mail (click on images to enlarge):

Jewelry Making, Spare time - Culture

More woven jewelry

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It’s official: I love making woven jewelry.  I’m still using designs and instructions from Jodi Bombardier’s book Weave Wrap Coil, but I’m just about ready to strike out on my own with my own designs (I even woke up this morning with a great idea for a star pendant, which I promptly sketched out for future reference).

Yesterday Jim and his band were at an all-day recording session – the CD they cut sounds great – which meant that I had an entire day, minus two hours to watch the season two finale of Downton Abbey, in which to make jewelry.  Fran’s birthday was a couple of days ago, so I thought I’d make her a ring, which of course means making a prototype/test model first (never give someone the first version of a piece of jewelry, unless you’re really really good, which I’m not).  The two rings that I made are vastly disappointing; one, a coiled ring with a bead between bead caps, looks cute on the table but a bit odd on the hand.  The second, a knotted woven ring, frustrated me beyond measure.  I made a long straight stretch of perfectly woven wire (best weaving I’d ever done), which I then wrapped around a ring mandrel, then took the two ends and tied them in a knot as instructed.  The ring looked great…but the flaw of the design (or perhaps, to be fair, my execution of the design) became clear once I snipped the ends of the knots on the underside of the ring.  No amount of filing could smooth those ends sufficiently to keep my finger from being cut by them, and the more I worked on making the ring smooth, the more screwed up my formerly beautiful weaving became.  It’s a mess, and way too sharp to be worn.

So then I decided to finish with a pair of earrings to match the necklace and pendant I made two weeks ago.  And I LOVE those earrings!  In my stash of beads I found small white freshwater pearls that dangle perfectly and add the right spark of brightness to the deep purple of the wire.  And my weaving looks terrific on these earrings – even and flawless.  I’m thinking that perhaps a pair of these earrings, in silver with black freshwater pearls, would be the better solution for a birthday gift for Fran…and I’m guessing my sister will probably want a pair, too…and Judy’s birthday is today…and then I’m hoping to have a booth at the farmer’s market this summer, and I would wager that these earrings would be a big seller, if I can make enough of them.

Here are the photos of yesterday’s projects – click on images to enlarge, and please leave feedback for me (good and bad, I’ll take it all).  Also note that some of the photos are a bit dark because I used the macro setting on my camera to show more detail.  Update at 3:15 PM:  Just finished – hot off the pliers, so to speak – the earrings in silver with black pearls:

Book groups, Young adult literature

Leviathan

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At last Tuesday’s Teen Book Group meeting, we discussed Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld.  I have to admit that I was unable to finish the book myself, much as I usually like Westerfeld’s writing, because I think I have read the maximum amount of steampunk fiction that my brain can handle and absorb.  Maybe I’m just a little too old to “get” steampunk, or maybe my taste has never gone down those lines, but by half-way through Leviathan I was done – fed up – annoyed.

Luckily, all seven of the book group members who came to Tuesday’s meeting were enthusiastic about the book (whether they had been able to finish reading it or not), and the conversation was terrific.  We discussed the book for an entire hour, and probably could have gone on for much longer if we’d had the time available.

All of the teens enjoyed the steampunk genre, and several of them had already read a few other steampunk books.  And the ninth graders in the group had an additional attraction to the book, since it is an alternate, steampunk style version of the events leading up to and the beginning of World War I: the ninth graders had been studying WWI in school, and their test on WWI was earlier in the day on Tuesday.  I was blown away by their intelligent comparison and contrast of the real history of WWI and the version presented in the book.  Smart, smart kids.

And I loved hearing the enthusiasm they all felt for the steampunk style.  Things that I found rather revolting and hard to visualize (like the giant genetically modified jellyfish that exhale hydrogen and thus are used as hot air balloons) greatly intrigued the members of the book group, and I was able to better appreciate certain aspects of the book after hearing their perspective.

This is such a great book group, and I really look forward to their meetings each month.  And it will be sad when we bid good-bye to the ninth graders at the end of this school year – they’ll be moving on up to Lisa’s 10 – 12th grade book group – all of the ninth graders have been in my book groups for many years, and I’ll miss their insights and enthusiasm.

Jewelry Making, Spare time - Culture

Woven wire jewelry

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Since last November, I’ve been carefully studying the book Weave Wrap Coil: Creating Artisan Wire Jewelry by Jodi Bombardier.  Bombardier’s projects are so cool, so unique, and so beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to try out a few.  But then, as these things go, the more time I spent studying the instructions and the photos, the more impossible the projects seemed.  I hit a wall – a wall of intimidation – and it looked like I wasn’t going to ever try to make any of these rings or bracelets or necklaces, especially not with expensive silver wire.

But then I realized that I could purchase “Artistic Wire” in the two required gauges, 16 and 26, for a mere $10.00…and probably have enough wire for two entire projects.  And so today I finally got up the guts to try the first project in Bombardier’s book, the Diamond Pendant and matching handmade chain, using purple wire.

Progress was a little rough at first, as I tried to figure out how to weave with wire, but I was amazed by how quickly I caught on to wire weaving.  It’s a bit like sewing with wire, and as long as you’re careful not to kink the wire, it’s actually pretty easy.  The weaving style required for this Diamond Pendant reminds me of the technique used to create my favorite Greek leather wrap bracelets; wrap once around one side of the frame, then over and under and back to the other side of the frame.  Very fun.

And so, after about two hours, I had finished my first wire weaving project and its matching handmade chain and clasp.  And it doesn’t look too amateurish, either.  I’ll wear it to work with pride tomorrow!  (Click on images to enlarge.)

Storytime

New storytimes

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I’ve been working on adding some new lesson plans to my collection for the Storytime for 2’s & 3’s, and have been very happy with the three I’ve just added.  A couple of weeks ago I added a singing theme lesson plan, and it went over very well; I was pleased by how many books I was able to find that are either songs turned into picture books, or picture books that feature classic nursery rhymes, or picture books that can easily be either read or sung.  The three books that I used with the group were The Wheels on the Bus by Paul O. Zelinsky, Boom Bah! by Phil Cummings, and Today is Monday by Eric Carle.  In addition, of course, there were twenty-plus other books that I pulled and placed around the room for the quiet time (when each adult shares a book with their child).

Then last week I debuted my Monster storytime, which was a huge hit.  I was very careful in planning this one, and especially in picking the books that would be featured, because I didn’t want to create a fear in these kids that didn’t already exist, since these kids are so young and impressionable.  Best of all for the Monster storytime were the two Folkmanis puppets that inspired it:  Blueper and Twickety.   The kids absolutely LOVED the puppets, and came up and gave them hugs and gentle pats on the head – and asked to have the monsters taste their fingers instead of our usual Zebra puppet fingertaster.  The two books that I read aloud were Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems (one of my all-time favorites), and Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty.  Both are just the right combination of silly and didactic – yes, there’s a lesson in each, but it doesn’t hit you over the head, and the humor in each keeps the lesson from being cloying.

Tomorrow I’ll be debuting my new Mouse theme storytime, using two mouse puppets from Folkmanis.  This afternoon I’ll be making some feltboard pieces for the story All For Pie, Pie For All by Valeri Gorbachev; there will also be another book – no feltboard pieces – that will precede it: Inside Mouse, Outside Mouse by Lindsay Barrett George (I like that George’s book features mice that live in the wild and mice that live in our walls).  And each child will taste like a different kind of cheese when Zebra tastes their fingers at the end.

It’s a lot of work to add these new storytimes to my repetoire, most of which work is done at home, but it is so fun to have some fresh new material and new themes.  Storytimes are only as good as the level of excitement brought by the presenter, and I’m always more jazzed about something new and fresh than something I’ve done too many times before.  At some point, though, I’ll run out themes and ideas…but that’s ok, the older storytimes will then seem fresh again.  And now I’d best get going on those feltboard pieces:  a cat family, a mouse family, an ant family, and a rapidly disappearing divided pie.

Book groups, Children's book reviews, Children's literature, Young adult book review, Young adult literature

Reading, reading, reading

On my weekends lately, I’ve been doing a LOT of reading, mostly for book groups, but also for fun (not that book group reading isn’t fun, because it is), and I’ve also been creating a lot of new storytime lesson plans.  I’ll talk about the storytime lesson plans in an upcoming post, but meanwhile, here is an update on the books that I’ve read this fall for the various book groups at the library:

  • For the 3rd grade book group:  Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise, The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, and The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin.  All great books for this age group, and all were quite successful with the 3rd graders in the group.  I love each of these books, and for quite different reasons.  The Klise book is approachable and funny; the Pennypacker book has a wonderful, true-to-life main character, and the Lin book is poignant and lovely.
  • For the 4th grade group:  Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin van Draanen, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, and Dominic by William Steig.  DiCamillo’s book remains one of my all-time favorites, but I very much enjoyed the Sammy Keyes book and was glad to have finally read Dominic, though I’m not sure that I’d want to use Dominic again for a book group (the kids were a bit baffled by it, and it didn’t make for the best discussion we’ve ever had, despite this being a group of Readers who love to Discuss).
  • For the 5th grade group:  White Sands, Red Menace by Ellen Klages, The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John, and Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison.  I enjoyed The Green Glass Sea much more than its sequel, which disappointed me, and I was a bit taken aback by the Gilda Joyce book, having expected it to be more juvenile than it was.  And I enjoyed my re-reading of The White Giraffe, of course, a book that is unique today in its brevity, considering its intended audience of upper grade readers.
  • For the 6th grade group:  Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson, The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, and The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen by M.T. Anderson.  After having connected with M.T. Anderson at the Simmons College Children’s Literature Summer Institute this year (see my posts on the Institute here, here, here, and here), I was delighted to be able to bring two of his books to the 6th grade book group this fall.  I’ve also been reading The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing (Volume I – The Pox Party) in my free time – it’s a terrific book, one of the best I’ve read in a long time.
  • For the Teen Book Group: Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, Uglies by Michael Scott, and The Alchemyst by Michael Scott.  This group is still quite large, which means that we can’t read the hottest new young adult books, since we wouldn’t be able to get enough copies of the books for everyone in the group.  But I presented the group with one of my favorite books, Elsewhere, and they all loved it (and none of them had yet read it, even better), and with a book that had been a success with this group in past years, Uglies.   Surprisingly, none of the group members had read Uglies yet, and it too was a huge hit.  As for The Alchemyst – I had very high hopes for this book, and it didn’t quite live up to those hopes.  But, once again, none of the teens had read the book, and many of them have gone on to read the rest of the series (or, at least, what’s been published so far in the series).

It’s been a good fall and early winter for reading, and I’m now looking forward to the next batch of book group books that are sitting next to me, waiting to be read:  Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins (3rd grade), The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley (4th grade), Spy Mice: The Black Paw by Heather Vogel Frederick (5th grade), Molly Moon’s Incredible Book of Hypnotism by Georgia Byng (6th grade), and The Prophecy of the Stones by Flavia Bujor (teen book group).  The last three of these books were all chosen by kids in the book groups, which makes the whole process – reading and discussion – that much more fun.  Happy reading to me!!

Children's literature, Etc., Young adult literature

Merry Christmas!

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I had plans to take another look through my book collection this year to find more books that have been given to me as Christmas gifts – but last winter’s ice dam which caused a roof leak which made us take out the sagging damp ceiling in the porch which means that most of our bookshelves are currently under tarps…all of that means that I can’t access a large portion of my book collection at the moment.  (Ah, home repairs!)

But here is the link to last year’s Christmas post on books that I’ve received as gifts over the years.  And please, in the comments section do share any books that you received yourself this year (or in years past)!!

Jewelry Making, Spare time - Culture

I think I had fun…

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Most of my creative energy lately has been spent on home improvement projects and not on jewelry making, so I promised myself that today I was Going To Have Fun and Make Some Jewelry.

In my mind I envisioned a beautiful simple silver necklace and some funky silver earrings with multiple circles.  So I got out a piece of paper and my jewelry supplies and “designed” the earrings, with the intention of designing the necklace after the earrings were finished.  Simple design, quick project completion – or so I thought.

My first attempt at the earrings used some 18 gauge scrap silver wire from a previous project, which I wrapped around the empty pill bottle from Ophy’s recent prescription to make a one inch diameter circle.  Next I cut an inch and a half piece of oval silver chain (a splurge purchase from a few months ago), which I attached by one end to the earwire.  Then I hammered the silver circle to give it texture, and slid the circle on to the first and last links of the chain.

Thinking to myself that I was pretty smart, I then starting wrapping 22 gauge wire around the two ends of the circle to join those ends together.  The first attempt at wrapping failed miserably, as the ends kept popping apart and the 22 gauge wire ended up completely misshapen and unusable.  So I discarded that wire (against my frugal Yankee nature) and tried again.  And failed again.

By this time I was completely frustrated, and decided to try using a 3 mm silver plated bead to join the ends of the circle.  I don’t own crimping pliers, and this wasn’t a crimp bead, so it was taking a chance to try to squish it together with my chain nose pliers.  It didn’t work.  In anger I took out my hammer and smashed the bead (something it’s not made to withstand, so it split a bit) – and surprisingly, the circle stayed together.  Ugly, but secure, and now unusable for the earrings, since it wasn’t attached to the chain.

I failed similarly with my second attempt, and this time took to stretching and hammering the second circle until it was sort of a curlicue, albeit a distressing looking curlicue.  What the heck, I thought to myself, and I joined these two failed attempts together to make a rather odd, misshapen pendant, which I’ll probably never wear (see below).

But now I’d figured out what I needed to do, and since I was out of scrap wire I switched to silver-filled wire, once again wrapping the wire around the old pill bottle, but this time overlapping the ends by approximately a centimeter.  This allowed me to successfully wrap the smaller wire around the two ends of the circle.

Next I wrapped wire around a Sharpie to make a smaller circle, once again with overlapping ends, which I installed on the second and fifth links of the chain.  I wrapped those ends to secure them, and one of the earrings was finished; I repeated the steps – not always easy to pull off for an amateur like me – and then had a complete pair of matching earrings.

They’re not beautiful, and I’m not sure how much I’ll actually wear them, but I did learn a lot through the process of making them.  Obviously I need to do a lot more of this type of practice in order to get good enough to make jewelry that a) stays together and b) other people might want to wear.  Click on the images below to enlarge, if you want to see the details of my less-than-perfect jewelry from today:

Reflections on children, literature, libraries, and life…and cats.