Library & Literary Miscellany

Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye (2005)

As fate would have it, I picked up and read Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo, the first in the Leven Thumps series. Foo is “the fantastic realm that allows mankind to hope, imagine and dream,” and it is in peril due to the plans of the evil Sabine. Sabine seeks the Gateway to Foo. When he finds it, he intends to use it to merge Foo and reality and, in so doing, to destroy them both.

Fortunately, for the inhabitants of Foo and reality, Leven Thumps is alive and well in Oklahoma. All his life fourteen-year-old Leven has always considered himself to be pretty ordinary, aside from the white streak in his hair. One day, however, he discovers his power to manipulate fate in quite an electrifying manner. Since Leven’s Grandfather was the one who created the Gateway, Leven is the only one with the power to destroy the Gateway and to save Foo.

Unfortunately, Leven has not had a great deal (okay, any) affirmation thus far in his life and a great deal of Sabine’s power lies in his Shadows. Sabine’s Shadows have the ability to fill people’s minds with discouragement and self-doubt, and they are hell-bent on getting Leven to believe that he is powerless to help save Foo.

As with many fine fantasy quests, the reluctant hero needs some urging, encouraging, and assistance from faithful companions. Joining Leven are Winter, another child with a special gift and past connections to Foo; Clover, a sycophant with a bottomless pocket of mutant candy and a penchant for inserting English idioms where they don’t quite fit; and Geth, a powerful Foo royal turned minuscule earth toothpick who trusts Fate to bring the four of them together and to help them succeed in their quest (and to change him back out of toothpick form).

Skye’s protagonists complete their quest with little violence and lots of friendship, wit, and adventure. Plus, there’s the promise of more of the same to come. As such, Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo is likely to attract many fantasy fans, particularly those who like the underdog turned boy-hero type stories.

Indeed, Leven’s story breathes life into the boy-hero saves an otherworld quest. Foo is a reality whose existence is essential for human dreams and imagination, and its literary existence sparks consideration of and augments appreciation of dreaming and imagination. In reality, our dreams do sometimes get beaten down so often that they begin to die, but Obert Skye and Leven Thumps suggest that we need to keep believing and not give up on our dreams so as to keep them alive and well and with a chance for coming true.

And if you want to explore more about Foo before or after reading the book, visit the Leven Thumps Website. And if you still can’t get enough of Leven Thumps, then as fate (and the publishing industry) would have it, more of Leven’s adventures have been published Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret (2006) and Leven Thumps and the Eyes of the Want (2007) with the promise of others on the way soon (Leven Thumps and the Wrath of Ezra (September 2008).

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Adam Canfield of the Slash by Michael Winerip

Adam Canfield likes to stay involved–he’s involved in sports, music (the baritone), sundry clubs and quiz bowls, the voluntary/mandatory class to prepare state exams (in which he learns critical skills such as sharpening number 2 pencils). Even though Adam is already quite possibly the most programmed kid ever to walk the halls of Harris Elementary/Middle School, he has agreed to yet another commitment. He has agreed to be co-editor of the Harris paper, the Slash (it doesn’t take much coaxing considering that he has a bit of a crush on the other editor, his friend Jennifer).

The Slash has a reputation as a quality school newspaper to uphold, and Adam and Jennifer work hard to print interesting, relevant, and candid articles for and about their community. To accomplish this, they include articles covering everything from an exposé on a seedy law banning “accessory structures” (which includes basketball hoops), to a missing wooden cow reward offer, to a dental smiling contest, to a feature on the school janitor, to a mysterious gift to the school left by a benefactor for “general improvements”.

While all of these articles contribute to the plot, it is the latter story that ends up driving much of the novel’s action and discourse regarding truth, journalistic ethics, local corruption, and the prevarications of the mass media. Adam explains some hard truths of journalism to a young protegé who admires his work: “It’s not your job to write what Phyllis wants…Our job as reporters is to tell the truth as we see it. It has to be backed by facts, but that’s what good newspapers do. That’s why people read newspapers. They trust reporters to be honest about what they see…you are the public’s eyes and ears…” Phyllis and a few of the other adults in the book would have the Slash full of lies. Even as Adam and Jennifer face adult wrath and potential expulsion, they make difficult decisions about truth and compromise.

Winerip does attempt to balance the number of treacherous, nasty adults with the number of truthful, helpful adults. For every Mrs. Marris of his story he includes a Mr. Brooks. Mrs. Marris, the principal, charges them to always be sure to print stories that help “propel the Good Ship Harris forward” and not the kind that “poke holes in our bow, so to speak–bad stories, unhelpful stories, negative stories.”As Adam begins to despair in the face of so much treachery and obfuscation of the truth, his Latin-spouting, World Domination game creating, history teacher Mr. Brooks tells him, “…history certainly teaches us that treachery lurks around every corner. And yet, against all odds, despite every form of human stupidity, we Homo Sapiens are still here.”

While many (nor most, I hope) middle school editors will not be faced with the daunting task of exposing their principals avarice, all editors face decisions about what facts belong in the story and what can be omitted without sacrificing its truth. Adam Canfield of the Slash champions truth. Along the way, Winerip also satirizes the overprogrammed lives of many young people today and the prescribed nature of standardized testing.

For those who are involved in their own school papers or for those who like stories about principled young kids who stand up to and overcome adult deceit, then Adam Canfield of the Slash is a solid choice. Also, for those who like Winerip’s first book, more of Adam’s adventures with the Slash are now available in Adam Canfield, Watch Your Back! (Adam Canfield of the Slash)(2007).

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In case you hadn’t heard, the Olympics have begun! Below are a few web resources and books to check out, in case you find yourself needing something to do in-between events.

A Few Olympic Web Resources

• BBC’s animation on the ancient Greek Olympics
• CBBC Newsround Special Report on The Olympics
• CNN’s Report on the Olympics
• The History Channel has a collection of video clips from different historic Olympic events
• Infoplease’s Olympics 2008
• Internet Public Library’s Olympics Pathfinder
• A Voice of America Special English piece on Tibet and the Olympics
• From the International Olympic Committee: Animated tutorials covering sports at the summer games and videos of moments in past Olympics
• PBS’ Online News Hour China Prepares for 2008 Olympics
• New York Times map of Olympic Medals with an interactive visual for charting medal winning over time
• Scholastic’s Olympics Research Starters
• What Sporting Type are You?: interactive quiz from CNN
• Lists:
  • 18 Smaller Olympic Countries to Root For
  • 25 Sites to Experience the Beijing Summer Olympics

A Few Olympic Books

Fiction

For Kids

• Asterix at the Olympic Games (Asterix) by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
• Elympics: Poems (Olympics) by X. J. Kennedy
• Koala Lou by Mem Fox
• The Mud Flat Olympics by James Stevenson
• Tacky and the Winter Games by Helen Lester
• Hour of the Olympics (Magic Treehouse #16) by Mary Pope Osborne

For Young Adults/Adults

• Before I Go by Riley Weston
• Bone Cage by Angie Abdou
• Lori: The Circle of Friends (Book 1) by L. Diane Wolfe

Nonfiction

For Kids

• Olympics (DK Eyewitness Books) by DK Publishing
• The Olympics: Legendary Sports Events by Matt Christopher
• Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull
• The United States Olympics Committee has also made available publications for teachers to help them bring the Olympics into the classroom: Journey to Beijing, Grades 1-3 by United States Olympic Committee and Journey to Beijing, Grades 4-6 by United States Olympic Committee

For Young Adults/Adults

• Beijing’s Games: What the Olympics Mean to China by Susan Brownell
• The Encyclopedia of the Summer Olympics (Watts Reference) by David Fischer
• The Night Olympic Team: Fighting to Keep Drugs Out of the Games by Caroline Hatton
• Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World by David Maraniss
• Swifter, Higher, Stronger: A Photographic History of the Summer Olympics by Sue Macy

Reference

• The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition by David Wallechinsky

There’s no shortage of things to watch (for example, the first Team USA game, USA vs China, is at 10:15am ET the morning of August 10) and to think and pray about (for example, the Bachman family and all those who are present for the games and other controversies that have continued to surround the Beijing games) as the Olympics proceed.

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The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander (2004)

“My name is Mikhail Semyonov. I live in Lake Forest village, Illinois state, the United States of America. I am ninety-four years old. I was born in Russia before the revolution. I was born in Tula province and my name then was not Mikhail or even Misha, as I am known here in America. No, my real name–the one given to me at birth–was Leonid Sednyov, and I was known as Leonka. Please forgive my years of lies, but now I tell you the truth.”

So begins Misha’s recounting of the real story of his emigration from Russia to the United States. Robert Alexander’s The Kitchen Boy unfolds Misha’s story by degrees–at times moving painstakingly slowly and at times rushing towards its inevitable, tragic conclusion of the assassination of the Romanov royals by the Bolsheviks.

After decades of silence, Misha tape records his story of the events surrounding the Romanov’s execution for his granddaughter to listen to upon his death; in his recording, he continues to weave together lies and truth. The guilt he feels over surviving that night when his beloved Romanovs met their deaths is palpable and becomes increasingly understandable as his narration unfolds.

Misha declares himself to have been the kitchen boy for the Romanov family for their last years through their final days in the House of Special Purpose in Yekaterinburg. In this role, he was charged with the task of carrying smuggling notes between the Romanovs and their purported rescuers. Their subsequent deaths mark his failure in this charge.

The recording reveals that for the remainder of his life he lives in the shadow of their deaths, repeatedly replaying the events of that night and questioning his actions prior to that night trying to deduce how he could have acted differently to save them. He says, “I am the last living witness and I alone know what really happened that awful night…just as I alone know where the bodies of the two missing children are…”

Misha’s story–The Kitchen Boy–is a story full of history, tragedy, guilt, love, and forgiveness. I would particularly recommend it for those interested in learning more about Russian history in general and the Russian Revolution of 1917 in particular or for those who enjoy stories full of mystery and conspiracy. Plus, Alexander throws in a twist at the end regarding the fate of the missing Romanovs. Robert Alexander is also the author of Rasputin’s Daughter and The Romanov Bride.

To find other books that center around theorizing and/or extrapolating on the Romanov’s execution and the missing children, try selecting one of the works from the annotated list of books over at Royalty.nu.

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Technically, these are links of last week and this week (does the fact that I’ve been out of town exculpate me ). I’m actually thinking that this will be the last official Library & Literary Miscellany Links of the Week. I was hoping that these posts would be of use, but I haven’t really heard any feedback verifying this. But I will continue posting interesting finds on my Tumbleblog from here on out, so they’ll still be available just in a different way. Enjoy!

Library

Current Cites this month: Google Still Not Indexing Hidden Web URLs; Copyright Renewal, Copyright Restoration, and the Difficulty of Determining Copyright Status; Federated Search 101

Fair Use Resources by Mathew at Creating Lifelong Learners offers a few places to visit to learning more about fair use

Knowing The Mind Of The User contemplates elements involved in positioning our libraries to showcase what we do and what we offer users by Steven B. at Designing Better Libraries

Online Book Clubs at Libraries by LibrarianinBlack Sarah Houghton-Jan links to a couple of examples for taking book clubs online

Resurrecting Reference: the conversation continues! post over at Infoblog summarizing an Infopeople webinar and providing a link to the archived webinar

Literary

Books for Phonics Instruction - Accomplishing More Than Just Sounding Out Words article in Choice Literacy Magazine (thanks to A Year of Reading for the link)

Edward vs. Jacob: The Great Twilight Debate (featuring Eisha and Dana in the first ever 7-Imp Smackdown): yes, this is a pre-Breaking Dawn release article about the series characters in general, but it’s still well worth a read. You may also want to check out some of the many post-release reviews on the blogosphere such as the Booklist Online review and Bookroomreview’s review. Lastly, here’s a link to a follow-up post about fan response to the book and Meyer’s response to the fans entitled Stephanie Meyer Responds To Criticism: It Hurts by bookroomreviews.

IndieNext August Titles: list of books to watch for in August from IndieBound

My Say: When YA Might Not be Okay by Sarah Stevenson in which she tackles ways to approach situations in which young kids are “reading up” and encountering books that have mature themes

Oprah Kids Reading List: which began giving recommendations August 01 (thanks to Big A Little A for the link)

Literacy Debate: spurred by an article in the New York Times–Literacy Debate - Online, R U Really Reading? - Series - NYTimes.com–the first in a series of articles about how social and technological factors are impacting/changing the way we read. The debate spread across the blogosphere last week; a couple of interesting response are found at Librarilly Blonde with Carlie’s post Fanfiction: The future of literacy and Maybe We Should Spell it “R3@ding” by Keir over at Booklist Online

Man Booker Longlist announcement (the Longlist includes works such as Tom Rob Smith’s Child 44 and Steve Toltz’ A Fraction of the Whole…plus 10 more)

Online Swap Meets for Books by Mary Pilon at the Wall Street Journal

Spinal Exam by Lisa over at Under the Covers points to and discusses other articles that delve into the hows and whys underlying the book jackets/cover art in young adult literature

Top Ten Food Scenes in Children’s Literature: another top-notch top 10 list from The Guardian

Miscellany

25 Sites to Experience the Beijing Summer Olympics by Sean P. Aune at Mashable

30+ Solutions to Start Your Own Wiki by Sean P. Aune at Mashable with a roundup of choices for your next wiki

Barkley the Cat by David K. Israel at the Mental_Floss Blog: he asks us “Why are Cats so Darn Popular on the Internet” and then produces a video starring Barkley the Cat (thanks to Big A Little A for the Link)

Creating Student Accounts Using One Gmail Account by Sue Waters at the EduBlogger

Cuil: Have you tried a Cuil search yet? You may or may not want to after reading such posts as A “Cuil” New Way to Search by Daniel A. Freeman over at ALATechSource Blog, Cuil - The Dark, Mysterious Version of Google by Stan Schroeder at Mashable, Cuil: Good, But Not Great by Frederic Lardinois atReadWriteWeb, and How To Lose Your Cuil 20 Seconds After Launch by Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch

File Extensions Reference: reference source for information on many file types along with the “how to” for opening the files

PlayCrafter Lets You Play and Create Casual Games (The Startup Review) by Paul Glazowski at Mashable reviews PlayCrafter, a startup with drag-and-drop features that make it worth looking at for those looking for easy ways to create games

Quote This: 11 Resources for Word Lovers by Doriano “Paisano” Carta at Mashable

Tools to Help You Celebrate Birthdays Online list of celebratory tools compiled at the Go2Web2.0 blog

The Lifehacker Editors’ Favorite Software and Hardware view this post to find out what the Lifehacker editors like to use

Simple Tools For Creating Screen Captures by Sue Waters at the EduBlogger outlining the use of tools such as Kwout, Picnik, Skitch, Jing, and Snagit to meet your screen capture needs

Wikipedia: who, what, how, and so on by amercer over at Instructify discusses some of Wikipedia’s strengths and weaknesses along with an embedded video of the development of the Wikipedia article for the 2005 London Train Bombing

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Since today is Wednesday…

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (2007)

“Toads, beetles, bats.”

Let me tell you, The Wednesday Wars Schmidt depicts the life of a Shakespeare-reading, cross-country running seventh grade boy in the Vietnam Era about as well as it’s possible to depict any historical situation through fiction. Schmidt masterfully mixes Holling Hoodhood’s personal trials and rites of passage through seventh grade with the nation and the world’s trials. Holling’s life is full of tensions of all kinds–familial, school, cultural, and religious. It is due to Holling’s religious orientation–as a Presbyterian among a class of Catholic and Jewish students–that he finds himself alone in Mrs. Baker’s classroom every Wednesday afternoon when the other kids head off to attend to their religious studies.

Wednesdays with Mrs. Baker at first seem like cruel and unusual punishment. She sets him to tasks such as reading Shakespeare, carrying cream puffs, pounding dust out of chalky erasers, and cleaning the pet rats’ cages (the rats being named Sycorax and Caliban). Yet, while Holling does suggest more than once that Mrs. Baker most definitely hates his guts, he comes to realize that there’s more to her than her teacher exterior suggests. Mrs. Baker ends up teaching him not only about Shakespeare, diagramming sentences, and proper running form but also about cultural understanding and appreciation and about caring for others outside one’s own family.

Holling’s own family come across as rather cold and distant. His father cares mainly for his architectural contracts and his status as Chamber of Commerce Businessman of 1967. His mother does a lot of cooking lima beans and submitting to his father’s mandates. His sister spends her time listening to the Beatle’s, joining campaigns, rebelling against her father’s expectations, and finding herself.

Holling’s friends, on the other hand, make sacrifices for him more than once and come through for him when he’s feeling down and out. Holling Hoodhood has an authentic seventh-grade narrative voice. At times, he appears extremely ignorant and at other times he seems wise beyond his years. The Wednesday Wars stands as a strong story about friendship, baseball, wartime, cultural differences, and the impact that caring teachers can have on the next generation. It’s a well-written book that many kids will enjoy reading…really.

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