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10-11-03 or 1239 |
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From: "PUBYAC: PUBlic librarians serving Young Adults and Children" <pubyac@prairienet.org> Topics covered in this issue include: 1) library tours by <dblume@suffolk.lib.ny.us> 2) Stumper-boy's head caught in a fence by "Victoria Jaksic" <vjaksic@kenosha.lib.wi.us> 3) NYTimes.com Article: What My Husband Saw by ebuono73@hotmail.com 4) Music CD's for primary grades by david koltas <dkoltas@yahoo.com> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: <dblume@suffolk.lib.ny.us> To: <pubyac@prairienet.org> Subject: library tours Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:08:30 CDT I am currently doing an internship in YA services. One of my projects is to create a library tour for a 7th grade class in a newly renovated library. I have researched current literature on YA services in periodicals and text. I was wondering if anyone had any experiences they would like to share. Any advice for a successful tour would also be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Danielle Blume ------------------------------ From: "Victoria Jaksic" <vjaksic@kenosha.lib.wi.us> To: <pubyac@prairienet.org> Subject: Stumper-boy's head caught in a fence Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:08:48 CDT Can anyone remember the name of the picture book about a boy and his father and one of them gets their head stuck in a fence at the zoo or someplace else? I read this in 1996, but am not sure of the actual copyright date or if it is even still in print. I would appreciate any help directly to vjaksic@kenosha.lib.wi.us. Thanks! Victoria Jaksic Children's Librarian Kenosha Public Library (262) 564-6152 ------------------------------ From: ebuono73@hotmail.com To: pubyac@prairienet.org Subject: NYTimes.com Article: What My Husband Saw Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:09:14 CDT This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by ebuono73@hotmail.com. A nice tribute to William Steig by his wife in the NY Times. ebuono73@hotmail.com What My Husband Saw October 11, 2003 By JEANNE STEIG Bill frequently drew men thinking. They were often leaning on rocks, and their thoughts were somber thoughts. This drawing is a happy combination of rock and man, with a few leftover heads for good measure. Or are all three of them just rising up from the ground, over the horizon, already grim about what they might be letting themselves in for? My husband, who died just over a week ago at the age of 95, was a bit like that, a champion worrier. He called himself a depressive, but he was the most cheerful man alive. I said from the start that I'd love him as long as he kept me laughing, and he never failed. Even his worries amused me: When we get there we won't be able to park. There will be no table. The food will be awful. You could not stop Bill from worrying; he took too much pleasure from it. If Bill were asked what he meant to be saying here, he would disavow any knowledge beyond the drawing itself, the physical thing. He drew from an impulse that went straight from the heart to his moving hand - and he always watched that hand with delight, wanting to see what it was up to. The interpretations others might bring surprised him. Really? he'd say, and make haste to forget whatever metaphysical visions had been assigned to him. He didn't need them; they got in the way. I'll hazard a guess that these rock men represent a lack of feeling, and the sorrow that comes from that unhappy state. In his books, a donkey became a rock, a rabbit became a rusty nail, and people got trapped in bottles. Because he was writing for children, they were always saved. His adult work was, well, harder, and full of grief. The wonderful, tricky thing, for me, was his wit, which embraced the cruelest of truths. Perhaps his most famous drawing is one of a man in a box. The drawing is captioned, "People are no damn good." But there is that doll beside the rocks, smiling hopefully up at the sky. Where does she come in? I'll hazard another guess: she represents love, left, I suppose, by a passing child. Love trapped in a doll, love lost, or forgotten. Perhaps she emerged from the earth with the rocks - the possibility of love. Bill would tell you it just belonged there. You can see that he drew the doll and the rocks, then decided they needed a little something to soften them, to bring them together; so he put in the grass, and the flowers. There didn't have to be flowers, but he felt the need of them. The rocks are male figures, the doll is a rather attractive girl. Bill loved women and found them more full of feeling than men, and women loved him. He was open and guileless, always admiring. His innocence was another odd and ambiguous thing. Once, in a taxi in New York, he asked the driver if that was the Empire State Building we were passing. The driver was delighted to tell him a great deal about New York. Bill was born in the Bronx. He just figured the driver would be pleased to have something to say. Once, in Boston, he started a conversation with a driver from Kenya that went on so enthusiastically that the driver pulled over and turned off the meter, so he could complete his remarks. And that, said Bill, was the best part of the evening. I'd say that Bill was a tragicomic artist, surely a difficult thing to be. You have to feel both the truth and the grief of the truth, and find a way to present them with redeeming delight. Bill's books, including the ones for children, never shied away from the truth. He talked about death and cruelty and God. He never condescended. He always gave you the whole thing, and always left you something to wonder about when it was over. He wondered himself. Often, after what looked like long consideration, he would ask whoever happened to be around, "What's it all about?" He really wanted to know. But if you thought you had the answer, he'd say, "Really?" - and then go on considering. Jeanne Steig is author, most recently, of "A Gift From Zeus: Sixteen Favorite Myths." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/11/opinion/11STEI.html?ex=1066885984&ei=1&en=35dcf52dd8f41e4a Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company ------------------------------ From: david koltas <dkoltas@yahoo.com> To: PUBYAC@prairienet.org Subject: Music CD's for primary grades Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:09:34 CDT Hi. We're trying to get more music CD's for our collection, targetting kids in 2nd - 5th grade who aren't into all the Young Adult titles quite yet. Does anyone have any suggestions? I plan on getting some of the recent soundtracks, esp. Disney ones, but beyond that, almost everything I look up is in our system as a YA or teen title, or even the adult collection, ie Anastacia, Freaky Friday, Holes, Smashmouth, Aaron Carter, etc. Ones I plan to get: Kim Possible, Lizzie McGuire, Radio Disney Kid Jams, Hillary Duff, maybe some volumes of "Now That's What I call Music", Rugrats. Others? It's a tough age group! Thanks! Kathy Koltas Children's Librarian Sewickley Public Library 500 Thorn Street Sewickley, PA 15143 koltask@einetwork.net ------------------------------ End of PUBYAC Digest 1239 ************************* |
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