MOVIE: Last Chance Harvey

Rating: Depressing first half, Sweet second half
Viewed: Thurs. Jan 22, 2009
El Con with Sheila
Rotten Tomato Rating: 71%
Mine: 60%
EW: B- cag: B
Romantic Drama
Released 12/25/08
PG-13 (1 hr. 32 min.)
Directed by: Joel Hopkins
Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson (what a great actress!)

Dustin Hoffman plays Harvey Shine, a has-been jingle writer on the brink of losing his job. He flies to London to attend the wedding of his only daughter, who tells him she wants her stepfather to give her away. Harvey is feeling alone, alienated, and bewildered. It's at this point that he meets the Emma Thompson character, also lonely and trying to deal with her clingy mother. The movie takes off from there. I suppose you needed the first half to set up the story, the premise, the meeting, and the relationship - but it was very sad and depressing.

What shines through is Emma Thompson's excellent acting, Dustin Hoffman's smile, and Harvie Shine's sense of humor. The second was fun. The movie included some funny parts, some poignant places, and a happy ending. I wonder if there's a Harvey Shine out there for me?

5. People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks

For: Adults
Published: January, 2008
372 pgs.
Rating: definitely a 5
Finished this afternoon, MLK Day, Jan. 19, 2009

This one took me a week to read, but I took every opportunity I could, because I became fully engrossed in it very quickly. Hanna Heath, a book conservator from Sydney, Australia, is called to Sarajevo to restore an ancient illuminated Haggadah. It is 1996, and the bombings and the war in Bosnia are just over. Sarajevo is still a mess, and it is found that the Haggadah had been saved by the head librarian of Sarajevo's library, a Moslem named Ozren Karaman. Five hundred years of history come with this beautfiully preserved book, and part of Hanna's mission is always to find out as much of the history of her restorations as possible.

The story goes back and forth between Hanna in 1996, then backwards to 1480, when the illuminations were first drawn - 12 years before the Hebrew and bindings were added. From wine stains tainted with blood to salt markings on the parchment, from a piece of a butterfly wing to a thin white hair, Hanna uses friendships and acquaintances around the world along with modern technology to come up with some ideas about the history. Ah, and what history. So much tension between Jews and Christians. The Spanish Inquisition. Nazi Germany and the resistance. Venice. Vienna. Gambling. Love. Hate. We, the reader, get the full story. And it's fascinating.

The story ends in 2002 - with a very interesting, intriguing twist. Geraldine Brooks knows how to do it. She has written two previous novels (Year of Wonders and March, both on my TBR list), received a Pulitzer Prize. and now lives on Martha's Vineyard. I can't wait to read more of her writing. A real winner.

Addendum: There's a great interview on the web with Geraldine Brooks at: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=81413

The Toughest Cowboy - John Frank

(or How the Wild West Was Tamed)
Illustrator: Zachary Pullen
For: Kids and adults - just plain fun
Published: 2004
Rating: 4.5/5
Endpapers: Burlap

Four very tough cowboys work together herding cattle in the wild west. Grizz Brickbottom drank a quart of Tabasco every day. Chuck Wagon cooked and was great with his guitar. Lariat was the fastest rope in the west. Bald Mountain was the biggest bronco-buster this side of the Rockies. They were "nose-pickin' card playin', bath-fearin' tough guys." But Grizz decided they needed another kind of companionship - someone with silky hair and a pleasant smell. The needed ------a dog. And oh, what a dog they find!

Wordplay, creative similes,humor, and great storytelling make this book a BLAST. The full-page oil paintinga go perfectly with the story - just plain fun with every turn of the page.

"Twas the Day Before Zoo Day - Catherine Ipcizade

Illustrator: Ben Hodson
Published: Feb, 2008
Rating: 3

Twas the day before Zoo Day, when all 'round the park,
The creatures felt restless and wished it were dark.
Zookeepers all scurried to get things prepared.
Flamingos stood antsy on one leg and stared.

The zookeepers are getting ready for a special day-at-the-zoo for a large group of kids. The rhyme and rhythm are fun, but the story drags a bit...

Edge - page illustrations - cute.
Four pages of questions and activities at the end. Wonderfully imaginative faces.

Read Anything Good Lately? - Susan Allen & Jane Lindaman

Illustrator: Vicky Enright
Published: 2003
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Christmas Green

Simple sentence fragments in comic sans font with cute, detailed illustrations show many of the places and types of literature (well, at least 26) that you can read. For example:

Information on the internet
Joke books in the jacuzzi
The back of the Kellogg's box in kitchen,
Literature at the library

There's a thought bubble/oval for each page that show bits of the text that people in that illustrations are reading.

Q=quotations in the quiet (girl reading a book hight in the green branches of a tree with the quote she's reading in the thought bubble: "The pen is mightier than the sword.")

X=xrays in the eXamination room (doctor and girls and dog with bandage on his tail are looking at the tail xray)

Z=Zodiac at the zoo (animls are bending over people sitting on a bench as they all peruse a newspaper. (Thought bubble: PISCES, Feb 19-Mar 20 YOU WILL ALWAYS LOVE READING)

Bedtime at the Swamp - Kristyn Crow

Illustrator: Macky Paminutan
Published: July, 2008
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Swampy cranberry

I was sittin' by a swamp just hummin' a tune
with the fireflies dancin' 'neath the fat golden moon
when off in the distance was a splashin' sound
so I stood on my tippy-toes and looked around.

This is a fun bedtime story, illustrated for the most part in deep purple/greens- with rhyme, rhythm, and cadence. The expressive of the kids are very cute.

Mom sends a sibling, then cousins, to summon the nameless boy to bed. But when a real monster appears at the next Splish Splash Rumba-Rumba Bim Bam BOOM! he is not as scary as the mom that's now crashing throught the swamp behind him!

A bedtime book in the same genre of Where the Wild Things Are. Fun

One Green Apple - Eve Bunting

Illustrator: Ted Lewin
For: Kids
Published: June, 2006
Rating: 5
Endpapers: Christmas green

The combination of Bunting and Lewin have created a wonderful book to make kids think about diversity and tolerance, and sets it right here in our own backyard. Although Farrah doesn't speak or understand a word of English and feels very different than the other children in her class, this book is the story of HER thoughts, HER point-of-view in this strange new world where no one else wears a dupatta and boys and girls are in class together. On this, her second day in an American school, the class goes to an apple orchard. Although all the other kids choose a red apple, she chooses a small green apple. As they are being tossed into the cider grinder, a few of the students try, too late, to protest her green apple - but they find that the cider is still delicious. So the book becomes an incredible METAPHOR! An especially cool way to teach metaphor to older students - just read this aloud and the imbedded message will be right there with the lesson. Love it, love it.

Ted Lewin has to be one of my very favorite realistic illustrators. His edge-of-page paintings capture expression and sunlight and sound so well - so when Farrah says her very first English word, APPLE, his full-page-head-shot captures the way she feels - tentataive, but proud and happy.

Smothers Brothers with the Tucson Symphony

Rating: Wow!
Performed: Saturday evening, Jan. 10, 2009
Where: Tucson Music Hall
WHAT A TREAT!

I've loved the Smothers Brothers since I was in the 10th grade and moved to southern California, I'd settle down in front of the TV on Sunday night and laugh and laugh. There wasn't a lot of laughter going on in my life at that time, which probably made this even more memorable. I even think some of my current social consciousness evolved from watching their comedy hour. And then last year when I taught part of my Greek Mythology unit to my fifth graders, we listened to their Aesop's Fable cd. Oh, are my students going to be jealous, 'cause they loved listening to them.

And wow, are they still "on." They celebrate 50 years in show biz this year. At 70 and 72 they look like only slightly older versions of their younger selves - they are still adorable, active, harmonious, smart, and very very very FUNNY. I laughed myself silly last night.

The first half of the evening was a performance by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. It was delightful! Guest conductor Albert-George Schram, who looked like Einstein, enthusiastically led the orchestra in what was titled "A Fowl First Half." Each of the compositions had to do with some sort of bird - Rossini, Mussorgsky, Stravinski....and Chickenreel and Turkey in the Straw. It was really beautiful, and this conductor was super. His informative introduction to each piece even helped me identify the four bars that were repeated over and over, just in different sytle and tempo, in one of the pieces. Truly not a symphony fan, I enjoyed this immensely. Oh my.....

The second half was all the Smothers Brothers. The symphony joined in with them in a couple of places, which made it pretty special, but for the most part the audience was completely entertained for a good, long performance of their trademark comedy, harmony, teasing - with a performance by YoYoMan. Tommy still has it. Near the end they rolled down a big screen and showed photos of them as they grew up as well a photos and clips from The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

What a wonderful show. What a great evening (it was even more fun because I got to see it with my friend, Terri, who loves the guys as much as I do.)

The Grasshopper's Song - Nikki Giovanni

An Aesop's Fable Revisited
Illustrator: Chris Raschka
For: Publisher says ages 4-8. NO WAY! They'd never get it. I'm going to read it to my 5th graders and will have a lot of explaining to do, I think.
Published: May, 2008
Ratiing: Hmmmm.....4, maybe?
Endpapers: Huge, colorful flowers

Well, I love Nikki Giovanni. In general, I really dislike Chris Raschka's illustrations. I'm always on the lookout for retellings of Aesop's Fables. This one is clever, clever, clever, but I'm not sure about how old you'll have to be to keep everything in order in your head AND understand the many steps and idiosyncrasies of courtroom proceedings. Because that is precisely what this story is about.

The grasshopper takes the ants to court. He has entertained them all summer, his music even giving cadence to their work. He would like some sort of compensation. However, the ants warned him that he should be working to prepare for the long winter ahead. He chose to continue with his music instead. There are plaintiffs and defendants and counsels for and against. There's a myriad of characters. There are contracts and bailiffs and verdicts.....and a lot to keep straight. Who wins? The ARTHIS! The GRASSHOPPER!

This is an extension of the fable as well as a "political" conversation about art. I imagine it could become quite an interesting argument, quite a....heated....argument, in some venues. It would also be a great literature tool for teaching kids about the judicial system. I'm going to incorporate it all into one lesson and see what happens!

Thank You, World - Alice B. McGinty

Illustratror: Wendy Anderson Halperin
For: Young kids to old people (like me!)
Publshed: Oct. 2007
Rating: A Big 5
Endpapers: Eight squares with 8 globes, each showing one of the 8 different countries discussed in the book.

A NEW FAVORITE - at least for awhile, until another one comes along....

From the illustrator, written above an illustration of 9 crayons: "The art was created with a box of 120 Crayola crayons, 22 Crayola Twistables, and a box of 30 Swiss Neocolor I crayons by Caran d'ache on top of copies of pencil drawings." Now that, in itself, is pretty cool. The illustrations are really nice. Each two-page spread is divided into eight squares. Each square, from the endpaper onward, depicts the world from one child's point-of-view. Across the top row: square one is a child from the United States, square 2 is about a child in Mexico, 3 is Bolivia, 4 is France, Across the bottom row: The 1st square is Mali (in Africa), the 2nd is Saudi Arabia, the third is India, and tha last is China. So on every page you follow the "story" from their point-of-view in the same square.

The book itself is a lovely thank you, used as a framework to show the lives of these eight children from morning 'til night:

Thank you, sun, for waking up the morning......and coloring the sky. (Illustrations are from the countryside)
Thank you, sky, for shining bluethat calls me....to touch you, swinging high.
Thank you, swing. You shoot me like a rocket....past birds and grass and trees. (Illustrations are native birds)

And this is how it continues. In different native trees, out the windows of their very different homes, with their moms, and in their very different beds and bedrooms until: "And thank you, nighttime. Your soft gray shadows....will touch my dreams tonight.

I'm going to have to get this one for my babes in ME and PA. It's really special. When the kids are really young they'll enjoy the rhyme and rhythm. As they get older they'll enjoy watching each of the eight children progress through their day. Eight countries of our world to learn about!

4. Tularosa - Michael McGarrity

For: Adults
Published: 1996
1st in a series
304 pgs.
Rating: 4/5
Finished: Jan. 8, 2009

I don't know why I didn't say this book was a 5 - I really enjoyed the plot and setting, I couldn't wait to read more, it didn't leave any questions or holes, and I totally look forward to the next installment. It was that good. But I can't quite do it...
I think part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was that I traveled through New Mexico during Thanksgiving break, and could visualize the setting very well. I can also take a weekend trip to check out some of the places - I've always wanted to go to White Sands National Monument, which is where half the story takes place.

Kevin Kerney used to be a cop - a good one, a smart one, but was almost killed, and his injuries were major and long lasting. He retired as chief of detectives of the Santa Fe police department and became somewhat of a hermit, taking care of a ranch out in the boonies surrounding Santa Fe. When his ex-partner and ex-friend comes to him and asks him to find his missing son, he does - the young man is his godson. Sammy Yazzi is in the army, stationed and working at the White Sands area, and has been missing for six weeks. The story unfolds, clue by clue. Kerney has made many law enforcemenet contacts through the years, which comes in handy. He ends up spending time on the army post, working with Captain Sara Brannon, smart, clever - and still in the picture at the end of the book. The story includes army artifacts from the 19th century, stolen and hidden by Apaches, and trips in and out of Juarez, Mexico through El Paso (I was in El Paso this summer, so I can picture this, too!)

Lots of descriptions of the high desert. A really good read.

Magic in the Margins - W. Nikola-Lish

A Medieval Tale of Bookmaking
Illustrator: Bonnie Christensen
For: Grades 3-6
Published: May, 2007
Rating: 3.5

I think the story's too wordy in places but I'll have to read it to my 6th graders to get their opinions. The premise is excellent- telling how books were painstakingly handmade by monks during medieval times, before the printing press. This story tells about the drawings that accompanied the text, how they were clever and creative and even humorous. Simon, a young orphan, is taken in by the monks at a monastery, and it falls upon Brother William to educate him. It so happens that Brother William is a master scribe who works in the scriptorium, creating the parchment, quills, and inks before meticulously putting ink to paper.

The overly long story is how Father Anselem, the head of the monastery, won't let Simon actually work on manuscripts until he's able to "capture" mice. This turns out to be a riddle, he does not want Simon to catch the mice, but observe them and capture them in drawings.

There's lots of information about creating books, the people who created them. and the middle ages. Paired with Marguerite Makes a Book (Bruce Robertson) and Illuminations (Hunt, unfortunately out of print), these are three great picture books to emphasize calligraphy and illumination. I plan to use them, along with some calligraphy and illumination lessons, as I teach about the middle ages using the book Good Masters, Sweet Ladies by Laura Schlitz. Fun, fun fun!

The illustrations are coloful, set off by thick red "frames", with - guess - ILLUMINATIONS in the margins.

WELCOME 7th and 8th GRADERS

It's going to be really interesting to see how many of you check out this blog tonight. And even more interesting to see who actually reads what I've written! So here's a challenge. When you come into class tomorrow, write your name on the yellow paper that will be on the bulletin board to the left of the whiteboard. Don't tell anyone else to do this, or why you're doing it, because your chances of WINNING will be much greater! Winning WHAT? Aha, now that's the question. You'll find out.

And don't forget: Tomorrow come prepared with the title and bibliographic information for the book that you're planning to blog about. And don't forget to return any books that you have finished so that someone else can read them or so that I quit bugging you about it (including class reads we're finished with)...

3. Sister Mine - Tawni O'Dell

Audio read by Renee Raudman
For: Adults
Book Published: 2007
Audio Published: 2007 Books on Tape
10 discs (11 hrs. 45 min.)
416 pgs.
Rating: 4
Finished Jan. 4, 2009

This is the third novel written by Tawny O'Dell. Her book, Back Roads, was an Oprah Pick. This was a good story with loads of great characters and a protagonist that was smart and sassy. A very enjoyable read/listen.

Shae-Lynn Penrose took care of her sister from the time their mother died, right after Shannon's birth. Their coal-miner father was abusive to Shae-Lynn. Pregnant at 17, she raised her son, Clay, to become a decent young man. At the time the story takes place he is 23 and a deputy sheriff, she is 40, retired from being a cop, and driving her own cab in a hick coal-mining town, Jollymount, in central PA. Shannan had disappeared 18 years before, and Shae-Lynn has always thought that their now-dead father killed her. Shae-Lynn's best friend, EJ, is a miner who, with four others, was trapped for four days in a much-televised mine explosion a few years earlier. This is where the story starts.

Shannon turns up in town, not dead, and very, very pregnant. She is cynical and a professional baby-maker, selling her babies as a living. She's on her tenth. Shae-Lynn is dealing with this unexpected arrival, trying to keep up with the three diffferent people who are looking for Shannon (a lawyer, a rich wanna-be mom, and a Russian mobster-type), helping Clay's best friend, Dusty, from hitting the bottom of the barrell, meeting and mothering ex-con, one-eared Choker's kids, Fanci and Kenny, trying to figure out her relationship with EJ AND dealing with having Clay find out the truth about his father - who is really a jerk. Never a dull moment.

I listened to this driving to Maine in the middle of a frigid night in December, driving back to Boston in a downpour, and driving in and around and across Tucson. It was a good one.

Bats at the Library - Brian Lies

For: Kids
Published: Sept., 2008
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Cranberry/Rust

Written in quatrains, AABB:




Another inky evning's here ---
the air is cool and calm and clar.
We've feasted, fluttered, swooped, and soared,
and yet . . . we're still a little bored.

Apparently, once in awhile, the library window is left ajar and all the bat fly in to enjoy a night in the library - reading, playing games, swimming in the fountain, telling stories, getting lost within a tale. The illustrations are dark (it IS night in the library, after all), and the bats are clearly drawn and very unscary (what a great word). This is a great book for library lovers.