![]() ![]() Politically correct would be African-American, Japanese-American, and what? Northern-European American?" (Though you can't exactly tell from the book cover.) He's one of the few people of color in town and one of the best athletes in school, even though he refuses to join any of its sports teams. (full legal name: The Tao Jones), adopted as a child by white parents, is "black. Then I read Whale Talk and said, "Oh, so that's why people are such big Chris Crutcher fans."Ĭutter High School is obsessed with sports. I'd read a couple of Chris Crutcher books before and liked them well enough, but (and this may be heresy for a YA librarian) I didn't think they were all that amazing. Then one or two or three books later, you stumble across the book that makes the proverbial lightbulb click on and you finally understand what the big deal is. You know, when you read your first novel in a certain genre or subgenre, or by a particular author, and you enjoyed it, but haven't been converted into a fan. ![]() Sometimes it takes more than one book to figure out what the fuss is about. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() Unable to stay wet, Sammy sneaks out of the shed and by sheer luck, jumps into the Sylvester pool, avoiding most detection by the partygoers, until one of the attendees jumps into the pool and notices the seal. ![]() Unfortunately, Chester Loomis, the boys' father, turns off the faucet before leaving for a party at the Sylvester home. Later that evening, the boys move Sammy to their backyard shed with a makeshift shower to keep him wet. The four friends, along with the Sylvester family dog Angus, share a day of playtime together. Hiding him in their bathtub, the brothers seek out a proper place to keep the seal.ĭisguising him as a newborn baby in a large carriage, Arthur and Petey reveal Sammy to their neighbor Portia "Rocky" Sylvester, who agrees to let them borrow her swimming pool for Sammy. ![]() On the last day before leaving for home, Petey desires to take Sammy with them, much to Arthur's reluctance. Keeping their discovery a secret from their parents, the brothers nurse the seal back to health, naming him Sammy and share the rest of their time with him. While spending their summer vacation at the beach, brothers Arthur and Petey Loomis find a seal with an injured flipper. ![]() ![]() ![]() It gets you through good times and it gets you through the other ones.” And for me, and for so many of the people I have known, that’s been a lifesaver. “Whatever discipline you are in,” he says, “whether you are a musician or a photographer, a fine artist or a cartoonist, a writer, a dancer, a designer, whatever you do, you have one thing that’s unique. ![]() ![]() For Gaiman, art is redemptive, not because it makes us somehow better, but because it allows us to speak from the very center of our selves. But what makes the speech remarkable is its focus because it was delivered at an art school, it is all about how (and why) we make art. ![]() Gaiman’s address has just been released as a small hardcover, under the title “Neil Gaiman’s ‘Make Good Art’ speech” (Morrow: unpaged, $12.99), and if the page design (by Chip Kidd) can be a bit intrusive, the ideas, the enthusiasm, continue to resonate.Įssentially, Gaiman is arguing in favor of engagement, of staying in the moment and appreciating what we’ve got. “And because nobody’s done it before, they haven’t made up rules to stop anyone doing that again.” What he’s getting at is a fundamental faith of the creative life - that rules can be the death of imagination, and that in order to live the lives we want, we must be able, first, to envision them. “If you don’t know it’s impossible, it’s easier to do,” he says. ![]() ![]() ![]() Marie decides she wants to marry him and becomes excited about the idea. To the former he’s indifferent and to the latter, he says he doesn’t think so. She asks him if he’d like to get married and if he loves her. They spend time tougher at the beach, attending a movie, and having sex. Meursault’s co-worker, casual girlfriend, and then-fiancé. This is seen most clearly when Meursault kills the mistress’ brother on the beach. Although The Stranger is a first-person narrative novel, the reader gets little insight into why Meursault acts the way he does. ![]() He is seen often speaking his mind, despite the consequences, and showing an unwillingness to assert his own opinion over major life decisions, such as marrying Marie. Meursault begins the novel learning of his mother’s death. He is a French Algerian who is emotionally detached from his surroundings. His morals, or lack thereof, drive the novel and lead to its fateful ending. The world is transformed and remade through the eyes of the main character Meursault. ![]() ![]() ![]() The earliest surviving example of Homeric papyri is from the third century BCE, about the time that scholars in Alexandria produced a relatively stable text that was subsequently used by scribes to produce copies. The two poems are generally presumed to have been composed sometime from the eighth century BCE (or earlier) to the mid-seventh century BCE and written down by the mid-sixth century BCE, likely in conjunction with performances at the Panathenaia Festival in Athens. The Iliad and the Odyssey-epic poems composed for oral performance-present these and other challenges to scholars who are interested in the history of the texts that are available to us. ![]() ![]() The long journey from manuscript to printed book resulted in numerous losses and the introduction of many variations in the texts along the way, some accidental and others deliberate. The texts-written on papyrus or parchment, and later on paper-were copied by scribes multiple times over the course of two millennia. Works from antiquity had to undergo several risky transformations in order to be read and studied today. ![]() ![]() ![]() Some gardeners may opt for seedlings, transplanting their vegetables once the outdoor temperatures are suitable. Not everyone begins the growing season in the same way. ![]() That said, the seeds you ultimately choose to plant should reflect your personal preference and taste. Whether you’re looking to produce juicy tomatoes or crisp leafy greens for your salad, we’ll cover some of the most common home garden vegetables. ![]() Still, as a general rule of thumb, the varieties on our list are easy to grow in most moderate environments. Though some vegetable varieties can be troublesome, requiring more advanced care and diligent attention, several options are easy to care for, making them perfect for beginners.ĭepending on your geographic location, some veggies will work better than others. If you recently started a garden or are considering starting one, you’re probably wondering which vegetables would work best. ![]() ![]() ![]() Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database. ![]() Huckleberry Finn.It's the best book we've had'-Ernest Hemingway 'All modern American literature comes from. ![]() This edition uses the text from the first edition of 1884 and includes a new chronology and suggestions for further reading. Beneath the exploits, however, are more serious undercurrents-of slavery, adult control and, above all, of Huck's struggle between his instinctive goodness and the corrupt values of society, which threaten his deep and enduring frienship with Jim. When Huck escapes from his drunken father and the 'sivilizing' Widow Douglas with the runaway slave Jim, he embarks on a series of adventures that draw him to feuding families and the trickery of the unscrupulous 'Duke' and 'Daupin'. Mark Twain's tale of a boy's picaresque journey down the Mississippi on a raft conveyed the voice and experience of the American frontier as no other work has done before. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft" 'Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. ![]() ![]() ![]() This is a pressing question, with implications for how one interprets Native Son. In class, I felt the need to ‘choose a side’ –– to choose whether or not I believe in a “real” Bigger. ![]() According to Wright, there have been many true “Biggers” in his life, and Wright drew on these acquaintances to create the main character. ![]() Baldwin claims that all protest novels “are fantasies, connecting nowhere with reality.” Wright’s retort, in “How Bigger Was Born,” claims just the opposite. In “Everybody’s Protest Novel,” James Baldwin decries Wright’s depiction of Bigger as disconnected from the true human condition. Chelsey Boyle on A Baldwin Catholic: A Final Personal Reflection on Baldwin and Religionįor class on Wednesday, we read two duelling essays about Native Son.krusso on Baldwin Enters the 313 Common Room: Final Reflections. ![]() ![]() by Carey Sookocheff (Groundwood) Now by Antoinette Portis (Roaring Brook) Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, illus. by Jon Klassen (Candlewick) Buddy and Earl Go to School by Maureen Fergus, illus. ![]() by Selina Alko and Sean Qualls (Scholastic) The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse by Mac Barnett, illus. by Shawn Harris (Chronicle) Why Am I Me? by Paige Britt, illus. by Thi Bui (Capstone) Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers, illus. ![]() by Eric Velasquez (Candlewick Press) A Different Pond by Bao Phi, illus. by Gabrielle Grimard (Second Story Press) Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford, illus. ![]() Picture Books Stolen Words by Melanie Florence, illus. This has been a fantastic year for children's books! Here are our favorites for 2017 scroll down to see Shelf 's reviews of all the wonderful books that brought joy to child and teen readers. ![]() ![]() Imagine one of those miraculous life-forms that live in hydrothermal vents at the deepest part of the ocean, an organism of the category extremophile, gifted with snail’s feet or red plumes or a host of delicate tubes, an organism thriving on poison gas at pressures greater than we surface-breathers could ever conceive. To that end, I give you the Brazilian wonderworker Hilda Hilst, and her first English title, The Obscene Madame D. ![]() Therefore if we attentively comb through the literatures of other cultures, occultly presented to us by indie presses and at the hands of provocative translators, we just might find ourselves exposed to an alternate and inverted set of art-heroes, an ‘alt-lit’ landscape that upends and distends our own. In academia and mainstream media, we are constantly being presented with literary rubrics from which we are locked out but the world, like Death, is different from what we supposed, and luckier. In collaboration with Rachel Gontijo Araujo)Īlt-Lit Divas: be not afraid. By Hilda Hilst (Translated from the Portuguese by Nathanaël ![]() |