Sticks and Stones is the English translation of
Pierrette Dubé's original Nom de Nom!, which won an
award for excellence in Livrélus magazine. It is very similar in content to Kevin Henke's outstanding picture book Chrysanthemum. Sticks and Stones would be an
acceptable purchase, but Henke's work has a more rewarding ending.
Recommended with reservations.
A. Edwardsson is in charge of the Children's Department at a branch of
the Winnipeg Public Library. She has a Bachelor of Education degree and a
Child Care Worker III certification, and is a member of the Manitoba
branch of the Canadian Authors' Association.
Book Review
Frankie Zapper and the Disappearing Teacher.
Linda Rogers. Illustrated by Rick Van Krugel.
Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 1994. 119pp, paper, $7.95.
ISBN 0-921870-27-2.
Grades 3 - 6 / Ages 8 - 12.
Review by Harriet Zaidman.
excerpt:
It made Mr. Smith furious when Frankie took on his daydreams. He
even tried shutting the curtains, but Zapper could see through cloth. He
could dream his way through metal. When they talked about the Iron Curtain
in Social Studies, Odie looked at Frankie, glassy-eyed and lost in his
thought, and he knew he could cut through anything, like a diamond drill or
a singer with a high squeaky voice.
Frankie Zapper (so named because of his ability to zap spit-balls) has a
talent that only his best friends, Jen and Odie, know about: he can make
wishes come true. Magic happens when Frankie starts to dream. But Frankie
is plagued by mean-spirited, cruel Mr. Smith, a home-room teacher with no
heart or sense of humour. Mr. Smith is every child's worst nightmare, and
he especially doesn't like dreamers or philosophers like Frankie. The plot
thickens when Frankie reveals his magic talent before his whole class by
wishing Mr. Smith would disappear -- and he does. Mr. Smith is turned into a
parrot (and a nasty one at that).
Because they all hated Mr. Smith, the whole class is implicated, so
they all have to participate in the cover-up. The principal is confused,
the substitutes are driven crazy, and then . . . Mr. Smith flies out the
window! Does the class get him back? Can Frankie's magic solve the case?
This is a fun fiction book for students who read everything, and
for students who only like to read humour. What sets Frankie Zapper
apart from other
books is its First Nations protagonist. While Frankie
fits a few stereotypes (he comes from a poor family, he has a mystical air
about him . . . ), he also is an ordinary boy with caucasian friends. But
the humorous plot is the issue, and Frankie is a character who is able to
find the solution, and his mystical talents are the catalyst for solving
(and creating) the problem. Rogers' story involves children from different
backgrounds, and while she explains their situations (Jen and Odie each
have their own special troubles), she doesn't let them overtake the plot.
The pen and ink drawings are appealing. This book would be a good
read-aloud for a class, as well as a supplemental book in a reading
collection.
Recommended.
Harriet Zaidman is a teacher-librarian at Niakwa Place School
in Winnipeg.
Book Review
Make Your Own Performing Puppets.
Teddy Cameron Long.
Toronto: Sterling/Tamos, 1995. 96pp, cloth, $27.95.
ISBN 1-895569-32-X.
Grades 4 & Up / Ages 8 & Up.
Review by Lorraine Douglas.
excerpt:
Homemade and handcrafted puppets can turn a theatrical production into
something special. Add your creative touch to paper, glue, paint, cloth,
dough, wooden spoons, and other household items and you'll produce
spectacular results.
This beautiful, full-colour craft book is a welcome addition to puppetry
collections. The emphasis is on creating the materials for a performance
rather than on making individual puppets.
In the first segment, a doorway rainforest with openings for painted
hand puppets -- like the ones in Hanimals by Mario Mariotti
(Green Tiger, 1982) -- is carefully explained. Clear drawings show how a
bird's nest and thick vines and leaves are added. In other sections
children will enjoy creating the ``Slay the Dragon" castle and the dragon
papier-mâché helmet. Other themes include a marionette
circus, a felt character story board with a grid pattern for recreating the
figures, a farmyard, Santa's house, outer space, and a
shadow play.
In the final section, the author suggests some finishing touches for
productions -- posters, tickets, and even decorated popcorn bags. This book
is a good companion to other books which stress creativity in puppetry like
Lois Walker's Instant Puppets for Kids (Pembroke, 1989) or
I Can Make Puppets by Mary Wallace (Owl, 1994).
One quibble with the book is the all-white cast of children and
adults portrayed using the puppets. A little diversity would have been
nice. Otherwise, this is an excellent resource for art teachers and
librarians looking for imaginative and fun ideas to use with elementary
level children.
Recommended.
Lorraine Douglas is Youth Services Coordinator for the Winnipeg Public
Library.
Book Review
Puzzling on the Rim.
Naomi Watkan.
Victoria, B.C.: Pacific-Rim Publishers, 1994. 64pp, paper, $15.95
ISBN 0-921358-20-2.
Grades 4 - 9 / Ages 8 - 14.
Review by Elinor M. Kelly.
Puzzling on the Rim contains thirty-seven crossword puzzles (rated
easy, medium, anddifficult) about Pacific Rim countries.
Topics include Japanese food, Chinese inventions, Australian slang, and
so on.
The idea is to put the students to work with reference books and an
atlas, and the clues encourage browsing.
Some references may be hard to find in some libraries -- back issues of The Economist, Fodor's guides, or Japanese encyclopedias, for example. Some clues are only parts of words or
sentences and would shock those compilers of adult cryptic puzzles with
names like
Puzzling on the Rim includes permission to make
photocopies for classroom use, and of course the answers are at the back.
This is an intriguing way to enlarge students' knowledge of the Pacific Rim.
Recommended.
Elinor M. Kelly is a retired librarian who lives in Port Hope, Ontario.
Video Review
Apeman
Episode Three: ``It's All in the Mind.
Arts & Entertainment Network. 52 minutes.
Distributed as part of the Cable in the Classroom project: 7 - 8 a.m.
Eastern time, Friday September 15. (Episode Four will be broadcast at the
same time the following week.)
Grades 7 - 13 / Ages 11 - Adult.
Review by Duncan Thornton.
excerpt:
And to think that someone in what we now call Europe
fashioned (this figurine) from ivory tens of thousands of years ago. It's
just hard to grasp that when someone did this, no one had ever done it
before. I'm looking at something made by a person, made by someone
perhaps I could talk to. Someone basically like me.
Cable in the Classroom is currently presenting A&E's series on the
development of the human species, Apeman. Hosted by Walter
Cronkite, Apeman is quality work, covering the basics of
the story without introducing unnecessary complexities or debates.
Episode Three, ``It's All in the Mind," looks at hominid evolution,
concentrating on the development of the brain, and especially our
capacity for speech as the key to the emergence of modern human beings.
The style is a familiar one: Cronkite provides linking narration, themes,
and questions; experts from around the world provide information and
opinion; extras recreate scenes from pre-historic life; and paintings
illustrating parts of our past that would require too much in the way of
expensive special effects. The mix is handled well -- we are spared
watching people in fur suits stumping around and grunting; but we do see
unapologetically modern-looking actors recreating say, Neanderthal burial
practices.
Someone once said that pre-history was the playground of the
intellectual; it's easy to cast conjectures back in time that justify our
view of ourselves or of how we ought to be, but ``It's All in the Mind"
avoids using the subject to beat any particular drum, taking a mainstream
approach to evolutionary history, and largely ignoring both the
complexities and controversies in the hominid record.
Too often the video uses Cronkite observing African tribal rituals
as stand-ins for pre-historic society, but the Neanderthal section (the
longest and most interesting part of the video) cleverly uses footage of
North American rodeo cowboys to illustrate some basic points:
Neanderthals had to be big and strong because they hunted large animals
by hand (they didn't have arrows or spears), and when they were injured
(in pretty much the same ways as rodeo cowboys are) they required care by
other members of the community. That compassion for others was a
necessary part of their society is reflected in the care that extending
after death: Neanderthals were the first humans to develop burial practices.
And what happened to these creatures so much like us, who lived
side-by-side with modern humans for tens of thousands of years? Here we
get the first real scientific debate, appropriately since this is a
matter of crucial concern: a human species that disappeared in the
recent past (only 35,000 years ago, a blink in the evolutionary scale!),
and the last of our hominid relatives to share the Earth with us. Did we
kill them off? Out-talk, out-breed, or out-think them? Or did we simply
absorb them into into our gene pool?
In any case, with the disappearance of the Neanderthals, the way is
clear for a quick look at the global explosion of modern humanity,
something made possible, of course, by our brains, our capacity for
complex communication and symbolic representation. Issues about the
nature of language and thought that Wittgenstein used to knot up many of
the finest minds of our century are, thankfully, glossed over, but some
of it is still a little pat. (For example, does learning how to make a
good arrow-head really require linguistic skill? It seems to me we learn
much by observation and imation that Apeman suggests comes from
instruction and communication.)
But in all, the video covers a vast topic skillfully and
intelligently; it's consistently absorbing and never confusing. An
excellent introduction for younger viewers, and a useful resource or
discussion-starter for senior students. As a sample of the sort of
viewing Cable in the Classroom will be providing, Apeman is
very promising, and it bodes well for the next series in their regular
Friday Archaeology slot, The Face of Tutankhamon.
(And the problems that expansion in numbers, societal complexity,
and technology has brought? That's Episode Four, reviewed next week.)
Highly Recommended.
Duncan Thornton is the Editor of Canadian Materials.
News: Manitoba
The Canadian Children's Book Centre and
the Manitoba Reading Association
Fund-Raising Luncheon.
To celebrate the beginning of Children's Book Week 1995 (November 18th -
25th) in Manitoba, the Canadian Children's Book Centre (Manitoba Branch),
and the Manitoba Reading Association are hosting a luncheon at the
Roundtable Restaurant in Winnipeg on Saturday, November 18th.
Picture This!, The theme for Children's Book Week 1995,
celebrates the work of Canadian children's book illustrators.
The luncheon will be ``peppered" with presentations and readings by
the four illustrators and authors touring Manitoba for Children's Book
Week. Janet Wilson, from Toronto, is the illustrator of many children's
books such as Jess Was the Brave One (Penguin, 1981),
Tiger Flowers (Lester, 1994), and In Flanders
Fields (Lester, 1995). Martin Springett, also from Toronto, is
the illustrator of Mei Ming and the Dragon's Daughter
(Scholastic, 1990), Who (Orca Publishers, 1993), and
The Wise Old Woman (Margaret McElderry Books, 1994).
Also attending is new local author Linda Holeman (author of
Saying Goodbye (Lester, 1995) and Frankie on the
Run (Boardwalk Books, fall 1995), as well as Ishbel Moore, author
of The Summer of the Hand (Roussan, 1994), The
Medal (Roussan, 1994), and Branch of the Talking Teeth
(Roussan, 1995).
Featuring wonderful entertainment and a lovely meal in a warm,
friendly setting, this luncheon will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30
p.m. On Saturday, November 18th at the Roundtable restaurant (800 Pembina
Highway. . . only minutes away from downtown Winnipeg!). Cost of the
luncheon is $25 per person. Advance, pre-paid registration is
necessary. Please call Chantal Olinkin at 334-8824 by Friday,
November 3. Any funds raised at the luncheon will assist both the
Canadian Children's Book Centre and the Manitoba Reading Association in
their missions to bring books and reading to Canadian young people.
For more information about Canadian Children's Book Week or the Canadian
Children's Book Centre, please contact Cheryl Archer, Manitoba Regional
Liaison officer at 667-7032, or (fax) 668-1611.
For further information regarding the Manitoba Reading Association,
please call Tanya Anderson, past MRA president, at 284-0885.
CM will be providing more information about Children's Book Week
activities across Canada in the weeks ahead.
Copyright © 1995 the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364
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