Just Listening: Audiobooks

By Kathryn Shepler

Aurora School , Oakland

Kadohata, Cynthia. Weedflower. Listening Library, 2006, unabridged, 6 hrs, 19 min, gr. 5-9, $30.00, CD ISBN 0-307-28413-1. Performed by Kimberly Farr.

Sumiko was coming of age on a flower farm in California when Pearl Harbor occurs. After she is moved with her family to Poston internment camp in the arid Arizona desert, her life must be reinvented. It is a welcome addition to have a book on this subject placed in a southwest internment camp and to introduce the thought-provoking issues of commandeering Indian reservation land for holding Japanese Americans. It is especially important for our California libraries to have this significant book, given its references to issues of importance to our state history.

Actress Kimberly Farr chooses a quiet voice for this introspective character. But the voice is far from shy or weak. Farr is up to the challenge of this first person narrative. The atmosphere of the audio might have been enhanced, however, by using a culturally authentic voice. The audio book includes an author interview.

Portman, Frank. King Dork. Listening Library, 2006, unabridged, 12 hrs, 10 min, gr. 9-12, $48.00, CD ISBN 0-7393-3113-2. Performed by Lincoln Hoppe.

King Dork (aka Tom Henderson) is a geeky high school boy trying to coast through the school day to get to the heart of his life: music time with his band-mate and only friend, Tom Hellerman. The clearest and cleverest moments of his day are spent inventing new band names and album cover designs. There are moments of riotous humor, thoughtful images of growing up and even a little mystery as Tom seeks to know his deceased father. Narrator Lincoln Hoppe is excellent at conveying all these elements with the deadpan voice of the world weary 14 year old. By turns sardonic, sly, introspective, uncertain and self-mocking, the narrator gives a spot-on version of the teenage boy. The audio also includes an interview with the first-time author and (a real treat) five original songs he wrote.

Word of advice: don’t listen to this book in public places. Listeners will be prone to outbursts of belly laughs – especially parents, teachers and librarians of high school boys!

 

Upcoming Events at the Arne Nixon Center

Alma Flor Ada and Isabel Campoy come to Fresno on October 7

ANCA, the Arne Nixon Center Advocates, the support group for the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature, invites everyone to their annual meeting on Saturday, October 7, at 11 a.m. at the Student Recreation Center at California State University, Fresno. The featured speakers will be Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, writing partners and the prolific authors of hundreds of prize-winning children's books. This program is co-sponsored by Jumpstart for Young Children and Associated Students.

Alma Flor Ada is a renowned author, translator, scholar, educator, and advocate for bilingual and multicultural education. This Cuban-born author, whose Web site is www.almaflorada.com, has won many literary awards for her 200+ children's titles. Her books include Dear Peter Rabbit, Gathering the Sun, The Lizard and the Sun, and Where the Flame Trees Bloom. F. Isabel Campoy is the Spanish-born author of more than 100 children's books on poetry, biography, art, culture, and language acquisition. Her poetry and plays appear in dozens of anthologies in both English and Spanish. Campoy's Web site is www.isabelcampoy.com.

There is no admission charge and no reservations are required. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Children aged eight or older are welcome if accompanied by adults. The authors' books will be available for sale and autographing starting at 10 a.m. The talk will be from 11 a.m. to noon. The authors will continue signing after the talk.

The event will be held in the Peters Educational Center Auditorium in the new Student Recreation Center, directly west of and adjacent to the Save Mart Center. The street address is 5010 North Woodrow Avenue (northeast corner of Woodrow and Shaw). Enter from the west side of the building. Free parking is available in Lot V, just west of Woodrow Avenue.

For information call (559) 278-8116 or send E-mail to jcrow@csufresno.edu.

 

Margarita Engle to speak October 21 in Fresno

ANCA, the Arne Nixon Center Advocates, the support group for the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at California State University, Fresno, invites everyone to an event featuring Cuban-American author Margarita Engle on Saturday, October 21, at Arte Américas, in the cultural arts district of downtown Fresno.

Margarita Engle's first children's book, The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, has won starred reviews in School Library Journal, Booklist, The Horn Book Magazine, and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and was praised in the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and many other publications.

The event, co-sponsored by ANCA, will be held on Saturday, October 21, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Arte Américas, 1630 Van Ness, Fresno, California, 93721. Admission is $3 for adults; $2 for seniors and students; free to children under 12. The Web site is www.arteamericas.org. Margarita Engle's books will be available for sale and autographing at the event.

For information call (559) 266-2623.

 

SIGHTS AND SOUND: MEDIA WATCH

Here Comes theClown. DVD starring Boswick the Clown. Headliner Productions, 2005. www.HereComesTheClown.com

Bay Area clown Boswick Turnstyle stars in this half-hour live action children’s show. Sort of a “day in the life,” Boswick wakes up and gets dressed. There is a great comedy bit where he eats cereal, then listens to the radio and dances. He finally remembers he has a show that day, and the movie ends with clips from an actual live performance with kids from the audience.

The production values are first rate, especially the set design. Boswick’s multicolored house is bright and distinctive, but not a rip off of Pee Wee Herman which too often happens with kids’ shows. The whole vibe of the show is less frantic than most kids’ shows, too. The camera work, sound, and music accompaniment are equally professional and serve the production well.

A highlight of the show is when Boswick recalls a recent family barbeque. The event is shown like an old b&w silent film, and the family is all clowns, even the kids. It ends with a pie fight that Mack Sennett would be proud of!

When Boswick remembers he has a show to do, he runs off to make it in time. We see many distinctive San Francisco landmarks in the background as Boswick runs by, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Lombard Street, the Marina district, and the Castro and Balboa theatres.

Overall, this is a well made film, that has a wide age appeal. Even preschoolers will follow the plot of Boswick and his duck Phoebe, and there are plenty of inside jokes for the older kids. The production values are excellent, and it is great to see a kids film that isn’t too hyper, or too sweet for adults who will want to watch with their kids.

Because Boswick is seen by our library patrons at shows in the Bay Area, this will be a great addition to any library.

Buffet, Jimmy and Buffett, Savannah Jane. The Jolly Mon. Illus. by Lambert Davis. Harcourt, 1988/2006. Includes CD. $17.95. ISBN 978-0152-05786-2.

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffet and his daughter created this Caribbean tale. A fisherman finds a magic guitar, travels to various islands, battles pirates, and finally returns home to govern Bananaland. Although the story is longer than the average picture book, the setting and action are engaging, and the brightly colored illustrations evoke the Caribbean setting.

Buffett’s narration is workman-like but well suited to the story. The background music sounds like steel drums and other tropical instruments and is a perfect complement to the story. When Princess Marigold and One Eyed Rosy speak in the story, Buffett’s daughter voices those characters. The CD addition to this picture book will open it up to new audiences.

Wood, Audrey and Don. Piggies. Ilus. by Don Wood. Harcourt, 1991/2006. Includes CD. $17.95. ISBN 978-0-15-205667-4.

Piggies is very popular at my storytime; I even have a set of fingerpuppets with the Piggie characters. This CD isn’t a readalong however, it is more like a soundtrack to accompany the book.

Each pair of piggies (two long little piggies, two silly little piggies, etc.) sing a song about themselves that is not part of the text of the book. This may confuse children who are accustomed to book and CD readaloud combinations. Here, the CD elaborates on the book’s very brief text.

The various songs are done in different styles; the song celebrating “hot little piggies” is a Calypso number, the one on “cold little piggies” is a waltz. The song on “clean little piggies” is a jitterbug number, and the CD concludes with a lullaby. Both the voices and electronic musical accompaniment are fine but not memorable.

The book’s glowing, colorful illustrations of human fingers are very engaging and work well with a crowd, and the accompanying CD just adds a new layer of fun to a popular readaloud.

LEMONY SNICKET PROGRAMMING IDEAS

In celebration of the final entry into Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” many libraries are planning a program around the series. Snicket’s The End, which is due out Friday, October 13 th, is the 13 th and final book about the Baudelaire orphans. The programming ideas for this humorous gothic mystery series also work well for Halloween programming. Here is a great collection of ideas recently listed on the PUBYAC Listserv, edited by BayNews for space.

“An Unfortunate Library Event Lamenting the series of books by Lemony Snicket”

At the beginning, have various tables with different activities, each with two teen volunteers running that table. Kids can self-divide, or you can divide them up and send them to a starting point as they enter. Then, every 5-10 minutes, have them rotate to a new activity.

-V.F.D. Recruitment: receive a tattoo (and sign up for door prizes, if desired); pick up a trading card. You can make a stamp and use child-friendly stamp ink to apply the tattoo of an eye. Trading cards are available to print from the www.lemonysnicket.com website.

-Vaguely Functional Disguises: put on a disguise. Fill a table or two with items participants can use to disguise themselves: hats, scarves, sunglasses, face paint, clown noses, etc. Let everyone put on a disguise.

-Find Count Olaf: photocopy pictures of Count Olaf and other characters from the books. Cut them out and mount on black paper. Hang a gallery of the pictures on one wall, and ask participants to count the number of Count Olafs they can find.

-Violet’s Inventing contest: ask the participants to think of a situation in which they might need to escape from Count Olaf. Tell them to invent something they can use to escape his clutches. Have a variety of items available for them to use, like string or cord, cardboard tubes, aluminum pie plates, masking tape, craft sticks, spools, etc. You may award prizes for best inventions.

-Have a “Reptile Room,” with crafts for making paper or origami snakes, lizards, etc. Get craft ideas from books or www.enchantedlearning.com.

-Fill a jar with Peppermint Candy and have kids guess how many – the person who guesses closest wins the jar and candy.

-Get plastic eyeballs at a store that sells Halloween decorations or from www.orientaltrading.com. Write a number from 1 to 10 on each. Kids stick their hands in a cauldron of water where the eyeballs are floating, and pick one out. The prize they get corresponds with the number on the eyeball. If you have older kids who can see the numbers, have them where blindfolds.

Activities for the whole audience:

-Old-fashioned Melodrama: tell a little about melodrama, and how this theatrical form is similar to the Series of Unfortunate Events books
(exaggerated plot & characters, evil villain, innocent children, etc.) Perform "Who'll Pay the Rent?" One version of this skit can be found in The Skit Book : 101 Skits from Kids compiled by Margaret Read MacDonald (Linnet Books, 1990).

-Very Fine Digestibles: serve "lemony" snacks like lemonade, lemon cookies or bars, and lemon drops.

-Use the same plastic eyeballs (listed above) to play a relay race, similar to the old “egg on a spoon game.” Kids relay the eyeball back and forth, holding the eye on a spoon.

-Sunny’s Chomping Contest: give each contestant two gumballs. The first who can chomp the gum and blow a bubble as big as his or her fist wins!

-The Scream and Run Away Game
Introduction: Count Olaf is a terrible man, and should you happen to encounter him on the street, the advise of Lemony Snicket is to "Scream and Run Away." We shall play a game to practice this important safety tip. One person shall be secretly selected to be Count Olaf. Then, we will all walk calmly about the room and shake hands with one another. However, if the
person you shake hands with scratches you on the wrist, that person is Count Olaf. Once you release Count Olaf's appalling appendage, you should continue to walk calmly around the room while you count to 10. Then you should follow
the advise of Mr. Snicket, scream, and run over to this corner. You are out of the game. Watch the other players carefully, and see if you can recognize Count Olaf in his current alias. If you do, throw your hands over your head and shout, "I know the answer!" Everyone should then stop walking about and look at the person who shouted. If that person is right, the game is over.
If he or she is wrong, he or she shall be removed from the game for their own safety.

Penny Peck, San Leandro Public Library