Creature by Andrew Zuckerman

I dare you to look at each and every photograph in this coffee-table sized book by Zuckerman and not want to start an inquiry project. I dare you to look at the first few simian portraits and put it down. I dare you not to be full of wonder and not to marvel at the animals contained beneath the white linen covers. The blue tongued skink, the African lion, the tokay gecko, the cat. Certainly the cat. The beauty, the complexity, and the varieties of existence on the planet we call home cannot help but persuade the peruser to keep turning the pages. The pages are wordless, and the collection of portraits is supplemented by a photo index with classification data at the back (science teachers take note!). While the heft and format of this book makes it unsuitable for circulation in our environments, it is the perfect open book display, the essential call to inquiry for a co-taught unit on animals, and a stress-free read for anyone who walks into the library.

Zuckerman, Andrew. Creature. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2007.

Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

After watching her entire family murdered, fifteen-year-old Amari’s idyllic life becomes a living nightmare as she is forced to march to the coast in irons and travels the Middle Passage to face a lifetime of slavery in the Carolinas. Will she ever see her love again? Will her plan to escape to the South really work? Draper’s work of historical fiction alternates perspective from Amari to Polly, a fifteen-year-old white indentured servant whose responsibility it is to train Amari in the duties and conduct of a slave. The girls’ relationship blossoms into a friendship as each discovers surprising similarities in their plights and histories, despite their preconceived notions of each other. This compelling read would naturally supplement any unit on the Middle Passage, slavery in America, and colonialism in America as Draper includes historical information on Fort Mose, a Spanish colony that guaranteed freedom to any escaped slave. Partner Copper Sun with The Middle Passage by Tom Feelings, which can also be found in your library.

Draper, Sharon. Copper Sun. New York: Simon Pulse, 2006.

Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection edited by Matt Dembicki

Sneaky, mischievous animals characterize the twenty-one Native American trickster tales in this compact collection. While this book will probably not appeal to students who are looking for graphic novels in general, it is certainly valuable as a teaching tool. Editor and artist Dembicki put together teams of storytellers and artists, a process he explains in a note to readers, and Native American storytellers make the tales authentic. This is a good thing, but it also means the writing may seem stilted, abrupt, and strange to students unfamiliar with the vernacular. Which brings me back to mentioning the value of this resource for teaching units on fables, folktales and mythology. Some of my favorites are the stories that explain the history of things, like how the rabbit’s tail came to look the way it does now in “Rabbit’s Choctaw Tail Tale,” and the story behind the alligator’s scales in “How the Alligator Got His Brown, Scaly Skin.” In these stories, tricksters get their comeuppance, but in others, tricksters are the victors. My favorite of the latter type is “Giddy Up, Wolfie,” an outrageous story about a rabbit who is in love with a wolf and he tricks her into leaving her wolf boyfriend for him. The illustrations throughout the collection are fantastic -- beautiful, quirky and varied, making this a useful resource for teaching art as well as ELA.

Dembicki, Matt, ed. Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Books, 2010.

Sneak Preview: Carmen by Walter Dean Myers

This urban retelling of the tale of a beautiful and sensuous woman who has a strong loyalty to her people and a deep need to be free will resonate, thematically, with readers who have felt the pull of loyalty vs. the law. Myers dusts off the classic Carmen, often found these days in opera houses and ballet performances, and brings it to life in East Harlem, with a cast of over 20 characters-- perfect for a classroom reading. The play, which is broken up into two acts with two scenes per act, promises to lend itself to a week long unit in an ELA class at just over 100 pages.

I was lucky enough to pick up a free advanced uncorrected proof of this title at the ALA mid-winter meeting in San Diego earlier this month. Because that means that none of our students have read the book yet, I can’t tell you with any accuracy how they’ll respond. I can just say, without giving away too much, that readers who found themselves hooked on the form of Monster and Riot have something to look forward to on April 26th, 2011 (publication date) or whenever it makes its way into their libraries. In the meantime: has anyone seen the Spanish film by the same name starring Paz Vega? I’d love to hear if there are any clips that would pair well for a class. This would be a nice read to contrast with Street Love by the same author.

Myers, Walter Dean. Carmen. New York: Egmont, 2011.

Truce by Jim Murphy

Can you imagine exchanging gifts and singing Christmas carols with men who had killed your friends and been trying to kill you for months? This was the case for many British and German soldiers fighting each other along the Western Front during WWI. Beginning with a succinct first chapter that chronicles the events, tensions, and miscommunication that led to WWI, Jim Murphy’s Truce then moves on to describe life in the trenches, focusing on how the shared experience and short distance between trenches nurtured friendly exchanges between enemies. This shared camaraderie led to the Christmas day truce in which British and German soldiers climbed out of their trenches into “No Man’s Land” to celebrate the holiday, often against the orders of their commanding officers. Written for a middle school audience, containing clear maps and fascinating photographs, this book would be an excellent resource for a social studies unit on the causes of WWI, trench warfare, the Western Front, and peace studies. Try pairing this book with The Enemy by Davide Cali and Serge Bloch.

Murphy, Jim. Truce. New York: Scholastic Press, 2009.

Rainforest by Thomas Marent

Few things are freakier to our New York City students than purple beetles, bright blue crayfish, and iridescent spiders. These and so many more wonderfully interesting-looking creatures are portrayed page after page in this collection of colorful and vivid photographs taken by Thomas Marent in rainforests all around the world. Thankfully, every picture gets a caption, which is often necessary for figuring out what the subject is exactly. In addition to the close-ups of animals and insects, there are pictures of waterfalls, trees and other plant-life, within the dense forest and sweeping landscape shots taken from above. The rainforest really looks like it might be paradise until the reader stumbles upon the pictures of the many varieties of tarantulas and jumping spiders that call these forests home. This book is a fantastic choice for many students, including struggling and reluctant readers -- the pictures are so captivating; it is hard to avoid getting sucked in.

Marent, Thomas. Rainforest. New York: DK Publishing, 2006.

Kids Draw Anime by Christopher Hart

Sometimes the library gets readers excited about reading. Sometimes the library gets non-readers excited about reading. And sometimes the library helps non-readers tolerate being in a reading space -- while they maintain that they do not want to read -- by providing them with drawing books. Those drawing books can help with reading. In the case of Kids Draw Anime, we have a drawing book that sneakily offers its readers some help decoding manga through its instructional “adding expressions” section on page 15. I recommend this book to readers looking for a how-to drawing book, and teachers who may be pioneering instruction with manga and need a visual reference for how to read anime expressions.

Hart, Christopher. Kids Draw Anime. New York: Watson-Guphill Publications, 2002.

An American Plague by Jim Murphy

If a deadly and contagious sickness struck your city, and the wealthier classes began to evacuate, would you stay, and help your fellow citizens? Or would you leave with your family and head for safety? Appropriately subtitled The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, the story begins one hot summer in Philadelphia when all were faced with this question. This non-fiction title does not have a cover that draws the viewer in, nor does it have an opening line that grabs you by your neck and forces you to keep reading. But if you can start on Chapter 2, with its grisly death scene, or pitch students a story about a plague that attacked the United States before it extended beyond its current eastern coast, the reader will be richly rewarded with a harrowing story of death and perseverance, racism and heroism, politics and a glimpse at life in the U.S. just after its revolution. George Washington and the Free African Society are major players in this 139 page title which is followed by sources and an index. Pair it with Anderson’s Fever 1793 (click here for scholastic's lesson plans to teach it), or assign it as supplemental reading to students studying 16th century American History. An interesting point of contrast with contemporary literary responses to the AIDS crisis, this just might interest future public health advocates and policy makers in their course of study.

Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. New York: Clarion Books, 2003.

Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess

Imagine the man found guilty of raping you when you were twelve was being released from prison after serving three years of a nine year sentence. Now imagine that man is your father, and your mother couldn’t be more thrilled that he’s coming home. That’s the situation for fifteen-year-old Meredith in Such a Pretty Girl. The reader follows Meredith during her frightening first encounters with her father, and glimpses the abuse she suffered through flashbacks. Andy, another victim of her father’s, has always been Meredith’s rock, but begins to break when her father is back on the scene. Meredith is fraught with conflict over preserving her own safety or putting herself in harm’s way to make sure her father can never abuse another child. This book is gripping and suspenseful from beginning to end. Students appreciate the injustice of Meredith’s situation, her resilience, and the satisfying ending.

Wiess, Laura. Such a Pretty Girl. New York: Pocket Books, 2007.

I and I: Bob Marley by Tony Medina, illustrated by Jesse Joshua Watson

Tony Medina explains, “[I and I] discourages thinking of oneself solely as an individual but instead as part of a community.” Written in verse that imagines Marley’s life recounted in his voice, this biography of Bob Marley explores these communities, the childhood, religious, and political roots that came to shape Marley’s signature reggae style. Watson illustrates each poem with a boldly colored painting that captures the moment and mood. The book ends with a Notes section where the biographical details and information that motivated each poem are explained in accessible language. Many of our students are drawn to Bob Marley’s story, but others may come to this book out of an interest in poetry, art, or biography in general. Teachers may use this book to teach biography, first-person perspective, and poetry.

Medina, Tony and Jesse Joshua Watson, illus. I and I: Bob Marley. New York: Lee & Low Books Inc., 2009.

The Brothers Torres by Coert Voorhees

Have you ever watched someone you love walk a dangerous path? A frustrated Frankie Torres Towers is watching his older brother, Steve, becoming more aggressive and irresponsible as he chooses to run with the cholos, a local group of thugs, putting his soccer scholarship at risk and causing tension at home between Frankie, Steve, and their parents. Briefly, Frankie benefits socially from his brother’s new affiliation as he pursues his childhood love interest, Rebecca Sanchez, and butts heads with romantic competitor and local bully, John Dalton. But the plot climaxes as Frankie is forced to choose between gaining the respect of Steve and the cholos and maintaining his own integrity and budding romance with Rebecca. Although the plot is heavily tied to the New Mexican setting, the novel’s themes of friendship, family, first love, violence, loyalty, brotherhood, and peer pressure are universal. This coming-of-age tale has also been selected by the American Library Association as a Great Stories Club book.

Voorhees, Coert. The Brothers Torres. New York: Hyperion Books, 2008.

Superman: the Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel by Scott Beatty

Many people love Superman, but I think most people, even big fans, will find a lot of new information in this oversized guide to one of the original superheroes. Its format is almost like a visual encyclopedia; each double-page spread is dedicated to one Superman theme, and there are captions and little informative blurbs scattered around vivid, full-color drawings against a full-color background. While these themes are not arranged alphabetically, there is a sense of order -- the book is grouped into five main areas of focus: Birth of Superman, City of Tomorrow, Secrets of the Man of Steel, Supervillainy, and Superman’s Career. The back of the book features a detailed timeline of Superman through the years, both his story and the commercial development of the product. There is also a table of contents and an index. This book is very popular with students and adults; everyone likes to point out their favorite characters and story lines.

Beatty, Scott. Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel. New York: DK Publishing, 2002.

Advance Reading Copy: Kick by Walter Dean Myers and Ross Workman

Late one night a witness sees a car careening about before it slams into a lightpole. The two young occupants of the car are no more than thirteen years old. The soccer-playing boy goes to juvie and the girl goes home. Will the girl’s father press charges? Set in suburban New Jersey and told in alternating chapters by the savvy Sergeant Brown and 14-year old Colombian-Irish-American Kevin, advance reading copies of this novel were snapped up by Passages’ students this week. Readers who appreciate the way Walter Dean Myers consistently and deftly weaves sports, a plot involving the threat of juvenile detention, young people coming of age, and themes of family, responsibility, and caring about others will find the satisfaction they’ve come to expect from this author and his co-author.

Two differences set this title apart from Myers’ multiple novels featuring 14-year-old male protagonists who wrestle with becoming adults while they play to win. The first difference is the sport; in Kick, soccer replaces Myers’ favorite athletic team endeavor, basketball. The second difference of note is fact that Mr. Myers co-wrote this book, unusually, with a teenage author, Ross Workman. Mr. Myers visited Passages Academy’s students here at Bridges this Wednesday, which provided a perfect opportunity to re-evaluate the appeal of a variety of his texts. Survey says: most of our students are interested in reading anything Walter Dean Myers has written.

Jude by Kate Morgenroth

Life isn't always fair. In Jude's case, life has been extraordinarily unfair. When his physically abusive, drug-dealing father is murdered in front of him, Jude is caught in a web of lies after he tells the police that he didn’t see the killer -- but he is only lying to protect himself. Life takes another turn when he is reunited with his high-powered District Attorney mother, who he had previously believed abandoned him and his father. Turns out he's been lied to this whole time; his father kidnapped him as a baby and had been hiding out for 15 years. Jude isn't even the name his mama gave him. When he leaves the rough neighborhood he's called home all these years to live with his wealthy mother and attend a fancy private school, it seems as though things are finally looking up. But when Jude is sort-of involved in a classmate's drug overdose, he takes the fall because his mother’s boyfriend convinces him that it will help his mother get elected as mayor. Even though it sounds like a bad idea, Jude goes along with the plan in the hopes of making his mother proud of him, and truly believes all will be forgiven when she learns of his innocence. Readers will surely root for Jude as he suffers injustice after injustice, both in and out of prison in this gripping page-turner.

Morgenroth, Kate. Jude. New York: Simon & Schuster Pulse, 2006.

Guest Blog Post: The Maze Runner by James Dasher

Thomas doesn’t know anything about himself except for his first name. He stands in a large, slow moving elevator trying to dig up something from his past but all he can see is blurry faces in no-name towns. The elevator comes to a sudden stop and the doors swing open. The light blinds him for a moment and then he sees dozens of teenage boys, just like him, waiting for his arrival.

Thomas is now part of the Glade, a society of boys without their memory who have built their own society under the control of the Creators. The only way out is through a Maze outside of the Glade’s walls that is constantly changing and filled with danger. The day after Thomas arrives; the Glade gets its newest member and its first girl. She’s lying in the elevator when the doors open, close to death and there is a note in her hand that says “everything changes.”

Even though he doesn’t remember her, Thomas feels a strong connection with the new girl and believes that with her help, he can find a way out of the Glade. All he needs is the support of his fellow Gladers which is easier said than done.

The Maze Runner is action packed and moves very quickly. There is a lot of heartbreak and suspense in the book and you’ll finish it waiting for more. Luckily there is sequel coming out soon! --Lindsy Serrano

Click here for the eerie book trailer.

Lindsy Serrano is a librarian at the New York Public Library and has visited Passages’ students to discuss books, reading, and libraries since 2006. She blogs regularly at http://lindsyinthecity.blogspot.com/ and on NYPL blog channel Stuff for the Teen Age.

Zine Review: Magical Guide to Rainbows by Kacper

Most folks are surprised to hear the word "zine" and "school library" in the same sentence, PA participants from the Zine PD at Boys Town way back in '07 and Mr. B notwithstanding. While yes, it is true that this collection is not readily available inside any of our libraries while I type this, that is a matter soon to be remedied, and all the more reason to tell you about some of the gems in our collection. I'll kick the reviews off with one of my favorites: Kacper's Magical Guide to Rainbows. What's magical about this 8 .5 x 11 stapled zine is Kacper's imaginative cataloging of rainbow types. Of course they don't exist in visible reality, but this zine's rough aesthetics (check out the aforementioned staples and the white-out style font on the photocopied cover) and straightforward listing get the zine format's accessibility across better than any paragraph I could construct. It’s an "If Kacper can do it, you can too." And if Kacper wants to be known at Kacper, the Ambassador of Candyland, well, then we can start a brainstorm session on pseudonyms. After we review mnemonic devices for remembering how to spell "pseudonym."

Until it's moved to a permanent site, email me if you'd like to check out Magical Guide to Rainbows or one of the other dozens of zines in our library collection. If you want to purchase a copy for your own collection, here's the link to Candyland.

Guest Blog Post: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

This is the true story of the life of a boy who suffered the unimaginable and inconceivable horrors of war as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. The story of Ishmael Beah’s transformation from a 12 year old boy who loves to dance to American music with his friends into a thoughtless killer is penetrating and real. Every page is powerful because the terrors of war were forced upon the innocence of children and their families. Ishmael’s ability to succeed is not based on heroic or honorable deeds but rather his sheer determination to simply adapt and survive. This book forces the reader to confront his or her own thoughts and feelings of how he or she would have responded. What if it were you who was there? What would you have done…really? Ishmael has more than the war to battle as the loss of family, friends and his emotional control sends him on a path of drug abuse, killing, revenge, rehabilitation, reconnection, and finally safety within the United States. Ishmael’s story offers the reader hope in the power of rehabilitation and the power of opportunity on our behaviors. Ishmael has incredible talents and gifts that were almost stripped away from him because of his circumstances. This book is guaranteed to capture the reader’s attention and hope as he or she joins Ishmael on his quest for survival and safety. Ishmael’s story helps to make the seemingly impossible possible. -- Stephen Wilder

--Stephen Wilder is the principal of Passages Academy and a literacy leader.

Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.

Sports Illustrated: The Football Book

Football season brings many things: incredible plays by the fastest quarterbacks, rough and tumble tackles by the biggest and baddest defensive players, and of course, devoted fans. This book examines the sport from many angles with color and black and white photographs galore and articles compiled from Sports Illustrated magazine. Some standouts are the pictures of old equipment and uniforms, championship rings, ticket stubs and other ephemera from the early days of football. It also touches on the role of famous athletes in advertising, and highlights some of the most memorable ad campaigns. Missing, unfortunately, are any pictures of the cheerleaders who work so hard from the sidelines. This large format book is a perfect fit for football fans, but it is also an appealing resource for those who have a more general interest in sports or for those who enjoy looking at pictures from earlier times. With all of the information included on the history of the game, it will also appeal to fans of pop culture. This book has been especially popular at Summit lately, where students are participating in a football team program through the Division for Youth and Family Justice.

The Football Book. New York: Sports Illustrated Books, 2005.

Microcosmos by Brandon Broll

Did you know that a butterfly’s wings magnified 585X their size reveal that they are made of feather-like scales? Or that shark skin magnified 135X its size reveals it is made of steely tooth-like scales actually called dermal teeth?! Microcosmos is divided into six chapters: Microorganisms, Botanics, Human Body, Zoology, Minerals, and Technology. Each two-page spread contains a full-page color photo of the chapter’s subjects magnified 20X to over 22,000,000X times its size, the subject’s title, a brief description, and how largely it was magnified. I love asking students to guess what the photos are really of before revealing the answer. They dive into this book, pulled in by the strange and bizarre worlds we are unable to see with the naked eye. This book would be perfect for any science classroom, and is a great discussion starter.

Broll, Brandon. Microcosmos: Discovering the World Through Microscopic Images From 20X to Over 20 Million X Magnification. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, 2007.

Vincent van Gogh by Valerie Bodden

He experienced life as an outcast, he shot himself, he died in relative obscurity, and one of his paintings recently sold for almost $82 million dollars. Hard not to be interested in this guy. Perhaps this is why Lauren Adelman, outreach educator at the Museum of Modern Art, chose to start her session in Bridges’ library last week with Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, a highlight of MoMA’s permanent collection. Whatever the reason, students were quickly captivated by the art-looking she facilitated and were subsequently eager to pore over this volume on van Gogh from the Xtraordinary Artists series. A short 48 pages with 25 full-color reproductions and studies of van Gogh’s art, this book is approachable and full of information to start students on an inquiry project. The author has thoughtfully included several excerpts from van Gogh’s numerous letters so that the reader can encounter the painter in his own (albeit translated) words. Endnotes contain a one-page timeline, a one-page glossary, an index and a bibliography.

Click here to read Tupac’s Starry Night. Connection made by Passages’ student Avian M.


Bodden, Valerie. Vincent van Gogh. Mankato: Creative Education, 2009.