Kill Shakespeare vol. 1 + The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Kill Shakespeare vol. 1 by Conor McCreery, Anthony Del Col & Andy Belanger.

Shakespeare's characters all inhabit the same world together at the same time. Not surprisingly, they've formed alliances and friendships across story lines. Some of them have heard of a mysterious person --the one who penned them all. His quill is supposed to be very powerful and is much sought after. That's why some want to . . .

Kill Shakespeare!

(dun dun dun)

• It's got a pretty classic comic-art style, definitely not cartoony.
• Plenty of violence (also cleavage), but not too much gore. 
• I'd give it a PG-13, and recommend it to adults. I can think of plenty of friends I'd pass it onto, but not friends' kids. 
• Problem: Sometimes the ye's and thou's contained errors. It really bugged me, but not enough for me to stop reading. 
• Story line was fun and twisty.
• Characters were great. I recognized those from plays I'd read and the author and illustrator give enough clues that I wasn't lost when it came to characters unfamiliar to me. 
• This one is definitely a cliffhanger, volume two finishes the story, and I'll be picking it up.

Bonus review!:
I preferred Kill Shakespeare to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, by Alan Moore, which was our other graphic novel for the book club. Gentlemen has a rollicking, action packed plot as well, but the violence and gore was too much for me. Still, if you read and enjoy the one, you might easily enjoy the one.

Ox-cart Man

Ox-cart Man by Donald Hall, pictures by Barbara Cooney

Remember when I said I was going to check this one out? Well I did.

It really is lovely.

Donald Hall is a poet. I learned this from the back flap -- the text doesn't rhyme, it is just lovely and lyrical, full of imagery and perfectly complimented by the illustrations. The story is from the oral tradition, an everyday folk tale, if you will.

The book chronicles a year in the life of the Ox-Cart Man, who lives in New England at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It starts with his preparations for going to market and comes full circle as we see the family making the goods and living daily life through the rest of the book.

There was something enchanting about it. I began to see where the book was going, but was still charmed to read on. I just loved the way this book portrays with elegance the ideas that life continues day after day, much the same one day to the next, but with small changes and little improvements that make all the difference and mark the years. The overarching theme, never stated, is that we're all working together. Taking care of the earth and taking care of each other.

I definitely recommend this book to parents and teachers who want to give children a sense of what it was like to be a child in those days -- might you spend your time gathering goose feathers or whittling birch brooms? I can see it being a wonderful follow-up to a unit on pilgrims, the revolutionary war, or the origin of our country unit. Not everyday was Thanksgiving for early Americans.  What would it be like to walk for ten days to get to the market? Would you be excited to go, or sad to leave home for so long? There is just such a richness of material here. I'm fairly dying to write it into a reader's theater.

Two thumbs up. Plus a wink and a smile.

Bits of news, and bonus pictures!

Shannon Hale signs books at the
Indianapolis Youth Literature Festival 2012

So the thing I've seen people talking about a lot this week is all those new fairy tales discovered in an archive in Germany. I read the Turnip Princess one, then a couple nights later told it to Benjamin for a bedtime story. He was riveted. There were some modifications, since I couldn't remember the whole thing and since I'm creative like that. I must say I'm excited for these. You know Shannon Hale's first book is a retelling of The Goose Girl, because that fairy tale always bugged her. So maybe she'll write 500 more books, from these. No pressure.

Alysa and Shannon Hale.  These photos sure are crummy quality.

Also Ashley emailed me, oohing and aahing over a gorgeous book called The Cloud Spinner with art by Alison Jay. I pinned it to my new "Books I want to read" board on Pinterest. We both love Alison Jay -- she did the covers for Shannon Hale's Bayern books.

This one I adjusted the saturation. Better?
I had such fun catching up with Shannon!

And in something completely unrelated to Shannon Hale (as far as I know), The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore won the Oscar for Best Animated Short. Benjamin and I just watched it together. What was his favorite part? "The books that were flying." :)



So that's the last of the Indy pictures. I already reviewed the book I had Shannon sign, Midnight in Austenland. Loved it.

I wish I could have seen Shannon's keynote at the conference. She showed me some pictures from it, (yeah, we're tight like that) and it looked awesome.  Le sigh. Next time, next time.

Books for 14-year-old Boys?

This email exchange might be helpful to some of you. Maybe you have a teenage son. Maybe you teach teen boys. Maybe you too loved the Hunger Games and want to know what to put on your reading list. Here are a few recommendations from me.

Amy says:
[My son] always has to have a book for "independent reading" in his English class. He's run out of ideas for what to read next. He's finished the entire Percy Jackson series, the Egyptian Rick Riordan series, the Hunger Games series, the Fablehaven series, and the Gregor series. Would you happen to have any ideas of what to read next for a 14 year old boy who read and liked the above books? Any suggestions you have would be great!!

"My pleasure!" I said, and responded with this list of books:

• The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex (This one has never failed in my experience. It's set in the future, after the aliens took over our planet.)
• I, Q: Independence Hall by Roland Smith (and it's sequel. Very quick paced action/mystery books, similar to Percy Jackson in that way and that it's a male narrator)
• The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (Tiny little warrior men with Scottish accents help to defeat the evil fairy queen. I particularly love this one on audiobook, if you have a car trip coming up.) 
• The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (Dystopian sci fi, a la hunger games)
• Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (Fantasy with cool science based magic systems)
• The Year We Disappeared by Busby and Busby (nonfiction about a cop who gets shot and what the aftermath was like for his teenage kids.) 

I will stop there for now, so as not to overwhelm anyone. But I definitely have more up my sleeve.

How about you? Have you read any of the above? What books would you recommend to a 14 year old boy?

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

This is an excellent book. It won the National Book Award, is a Newbery Honor book and its list of accolades continues.

I picked it up from my local library (it was on display) because I knew I'd be meeting Phillip Hoose at the Indianapolis Children's Literature Festival.

I don't particularly love reading about the Civil Rights movement. I have great respect for the leaders of the movement, and great loathing for its opponents. It's a sensitive subject to me because it happened so recently, there are so many horrible and violent stories about/from it, and civil rights should never have been a question. I will freely admit that I have abandoned some historical fiction books set in this era  -- for some reason reading fiction about it seems so . . .  I don't know. You don't make up crap about Civil Rights. Bad stuff really happened, really. So. (That said, I have read and approve of Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, The Help, and To Kill a Mockingbird.)

I opened it up wondering if I was going to be able to finish it. Would it be saccharine? Would it be stomach-turning? Or could it hit the mark?

Alysa and Phillip Hoose, author of
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.

I ATE IT UP. I brought the book to the dinner table. Someone alluded to the "no books at the table" rule and I said, "Hang on a minute, she's testifying."

Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on the bus. She was within the bounds of the law, but outside the bounds of local culture. Did people call her "Rosa" for it? No. It was before Rosa Parks's stand and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It very probably inspired Rosa Parks, since they became acquainted shortly after Claudette's wrongful arrest and conviction.  That's once toward justice.

Twice toward justice: She testified as a key plaintiff in Browder vs. Gayle -- the trial after the boycott that finally did the trick. She was a teen, a junior in high school when all this stuff began. Claudette's emotional journey throughout the book is the keystone in the book's arch from Jim Crow to justice.

I would read this book with kids.

I would give it to teachers, friends, and people who sometimes hate to read about Civil Rights.

Phillip Hoose;
I asked and he said it is pronounced "hose." :)

Phillip Hoose flips back and forth from his own narration to interviews with Claudette (who is still living). When I met him I told him I admired the way that he had told the facts and left out the gory details, somehow making the text true and powerful without making it overwhelming. How did he walk such a fine line so well? He said he knew Claudette would read it, and his editor. "Other eyes would be on it," he said, and he trusted them to let him know if he was balancing it right.  

Really, I can't recommend it enough. It's an excellent example of why I love Juvenile Non-fiction. I bought it.

Nursery Rhyme Comics

Last weekend I went to the Indianapolis Youth Literature Festival. I had a great time, even though I just went for the public book signing.

Nick Bruel was going to be signing, so I brought along Nursery Rhyme Comics.  When I got to the front of the line, he was surprised and delighted to see the collection (he had been signing lots of Bad Kitty books). I could tell he was proud to be able to sign it for me: he told me about the three contributions he had made to the book. 1. Illustrating Three Little Kittens; 2. Bringing his friend Jules Feiffer on to the project; and 3. Suggesting that "If anyone should do London Bridge is Falling Down, it's David Macaulay."

Let me tell you how I found this gem. I love it.

It was a Cybils nominee, and one of the other panelists got a hold of it and said it was excellent, but the rest of us couldn't seem to find it. I peeked at a link on the publishers website that showed a few pages -- it had potential. Then, in the eleventh hour, the day before we were going to make our final shortlist, review copies arrived for all the panelists in the mail. I was away on Christmas vacation, my copy in IL, my body in AZ.

Others on the panel read it quickly or glanced it over and the consensus was that it was a standout. I took the panel's word for it, and when I got home and got my package, it was my first priority. I had to know what I had put my stamp of approval on.

Nick Bruel signing books at the Indianapolis Youth Literature Festival 2012

Oh my goodness! It is fantastic!  We've been reading it non-stop since then. It's the perfect bedtime book because Benjamin (age 3) can beg for just one more rhyme, and they're all so varied and well done that I don't mind giving in.  The collection boasts "50 rhymes from 50 celebrated cartoonists." Nursery rhymes are short, and these illustrated ones range in length from one to three pages. Some of the rhymes are illustrated to keep the classic meaning, some have a new creative twist. My personal fave is One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Dave Roman, but there are so many that I love. Benjamin always asks for Sara Varon's Mary Had a Little Lamb. Trust me, no matter your taste, you'll find a favorite in this book. The rhymes range from sweet to serious, the art from bold to intricate.  

To avoid repetitive stress injuries while signing books,
Nick Bruel draws pictures in the books too. 

This book is perfect for teachers -- in fact while I was in line a third grade boy told me excitedly that his teacher had read some of the rhymes to his class and he loved it.  Perhaps this will be my new go-to baby shower gift. Jim Jacobs taught my Children's Literature class and he told us all to find a good mother goose collection and buy loads of copies to give to new parents. I've looked before without success. In Nursery Rhyme Comics I've found one I love.

It's really the sort of thing that is fun for all ages. My one-year-old will sit still for a poem or two, my three-year-old wants more. Older kids love the humor in it, and I can vouch that you don't need to be a kid to enjoy it. It's really stellar.

Alysa with Author & Illustrator Nick Bruel

Discuss: Creativity

In an interview on Gretchen Rubin's blog, Gabrielle Blair says:

The happiest, most content people I know in my own life are actively creative in some way, shape, or form. Creativity looks different on each of us, right? 

I completely agree. I've been having loads of fun creating reviews and posts here on Everead lately. :)

Incidentally, Gabrielle Blair (who I've read a lot about lately, first on the indescribable blog nat the fat rat, then in my alumni magazine) also mentions her favorite picture book of all time, Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall. She makes is sound so lovely that I've put it on hold at my library already.

But back to creativity:
What do you do to stay actively creative? I'd love to hear about it.
Have you got a blog? Leave a link in the comments.
Do you craft?
Do you clean? My sister-in-law says she's not creative, but she can create a clean space out of a dirty one in seconds. It's amazing.