A Sunday post of this and that while reading the newspaper

I’m reading the book Wonder.  Published in 2012, its author is R.J. Palacio.  Even though I’m only halfway through it, I’m enjoying the heck out of it.  The book uses multiple character viewpoints and is carefully constructed.  The writing is as good

as any of the other books I’ve read this semester, and the plot points and connection in the text are just smart.  When I finish it up, I’ll write more about it.

And I thought I’d link to this — A NY Times review of the book.

And here’s another article from the Times connected to the book — it’s a short interview with the author and mentions how the newspaper split its former children’s chapter bestseller list into a YA list and a middle school list.

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I think I’ve mentioned Sunday’s and my NY Times habit quite a bit this past semester.  I’m a believer in reading a publication that is part of the national conversation and culture.  It makes me feel informed and connected to the rest of the country.  The range of coverage (including books, education, youth, culture) is something I value.

Also from today’s Book Review section of the Times:

• a review/article about several children’s books that focus on New York
• A review of a children’s book about The Beatles
• And a YA book review of the novel Changers, a book in which the main male character “having just moved from New York to Tennessee, wakes up the first morning of freshman year to discover he’s been transformed into a blond girl named Drew.”

Over in the editorial section was a major feature on literature for kids. Walter Dean Myers wrote “Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books?”  In addition to focusing on how few books for kids are focused on minorities, Myers writes about speaking with James Baldwin.  The piece is a good read.  And who is Myers?  Well, this is how he was tagged at the end of the article –Walter Dean Myers is an author of books for children and young adults including “Monster,” and the previous Library of Congress National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

And with James Baldwin in mind, this is sort of an interview highlight reel —

Full page ad in the NY Times Sunday Book Review

It’s a full page ad for The Fault In Our Stars.

It’s always an ah-ha moment when you see something in the media that you’ve just seen/read.

Link

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/books/review/laurie-halse-andersons-impossible-knife-of-memory.html?ref=review

When you read the NY Times you learn things . . .

. . . things like Laurie Halse Anderson has a new book out — Impossible Knife of Memory.  It’s a book for young adults that is focused on post-traumatic stress syndrome.  The reviewer makes the book sound grim.

There are a few other things in the NY Times Sunday Book Review section I’ll post about a little later.

Link

YA author Ned Vizzini, 32 dies

One of the habits I have is reading over the NY Times obituaries.  Sad story.  Haven’t read Vizzini’s work, but now I’m interested.