Janice Curtis Greene - griot extraordinaire!

Do you want to hear a story? (We say) "Yes I do!"
          Do you want to hear a story? (We say) "Yes I do!"
Do you want to hear a story? (We say) "Yes I do!"
           You're in luck, I have a story just for you!


So begins the awesome, awe inspiring adventure of an evening with Griot Janice Curtis Greene!  This one tiny woman makes you feel like there's an entire stage full of assorted characters.  She narrates, sings, raps, and brought us to tears, laughter and response to her calls.


Her stories range from the heart breaking "Disobedient Daughters", who were captured by slave catchers because they didn't obey their parents warnings; to the hilarious story of how the turtle got his shell for refusing to go to King Lion's wedding.


The stories were interspersed with personal glimpses and musings, neatly tying it all together. 


As a media specialist, I was inspired to add more pizazz and characterization to my storytelling. 


If you ever get a chance to hear Janice don't miss it.  It's an experience you won't forget.


Visit Janice's website to see her schedule and learn more.  You might also want to purchase her recently published children's book.

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty

Neri, G. (2010). Yummy: The last days of a southside shorty. (DuBurke, R., illustrator). New York, NY: Lee and Low Books

            Yummy was a kid, as sweet as the cookies and candy bars he loved to eat -- that earned him his nickname -- and as lovable as the teddy bear he carried around and slept with.  Robert "Yummy" Sandifer was a real kid who in 1994, at age 11, shot into a crowd and accidentally killed a 14 year old girl. Overnight he became the object of a citywide manhunt and a nationwide media frenzy. Yummy was featured on the cover of Time magazine and brought a face to the topic of urban gangland violence and murder.  Yummy was a bully, a thug, a car thief, an arsonist, a gangbanger and a killer.  In this graphic novel, author Greg Neri tells us Yummy's story -- his life and ultimate death -- through the eyes of one of Yummy's classmates.  Roger, the fictional narrator, is searching for answers to questions that stumped the nation:  Should Yummy be held responsible for his actions -- ordered by his gang leaders? Can his violent, anti-social behavior be excused in light of his abused and neglected childhood? Which is the real Yummy, the candy eating kid who just wanted somewhere to belong or the gun-toting bully who terrorized the neighborhood?

                Illustrator, Randy DuBurke shows us Yummy's story in chilling black and white. The emotional response to the neighborhood tragedies are convincingly detailed -- from grief, to shock to anger. And the two sides of Yummy are movingly presented.  We see Yummy in the relative safety of his grandmother's house, relaxed, smiling as he holds his teddy bear and watches TV.  In sharp contrast we see Yummy, with almost maniacal glee, torching the car of a neighborhood man who angered him.


            This book is compelling and still relevant to the lives of too many of our children, close to twenty years after Yummy's tragic life ended.  I recommend this book to everyone who teaches, counsels, parents or is a young person growing up in urban America.  Though written for ages 12 - 18, my 5th grade elementary students were also riveted by the story.  My reluctant readers formed a wait list to be next to take this book home. A lively debate was sparked by asking, "Is Yummy a victim or a monster?" There are no easy answers or happy endings in this book.  Readers are presented with the facts in black and white and must decide for themselves.  And the true value of the book is that at least one child may make different choices in their life after reading Yummy's story.

*The official Yummy Book Trailer is set to a rap song that gives a whole new dimension to the story.

*Preview the book; find discussion questions; and more at the publisher's website, Lee and Low.com

*Read the true life story of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer on Wikipedia. 

Time Magazine requires you to have a subscription to read the full true articles written about Yummy, but you can read a few of them on author G. Neri's website.  Click on the magazine cover to go to a list of Time articles.  "There are no children here" and "Murder in Miniature" are particularly chilling.

Yummy's Awards and Lists:

2011 Coretta Scott King Author Honor  2011 ALA Notable Book 2010 Cybil Award - Best YA Graphic Novel 2011 Once Upon a World Children's Book AwardPublishers Weekly Best Books of 2010  Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2010  Booklist Editor's Choice Best Books of 2010 2011 YALSA Top 10 Quick Picks  2011 ALA Great Graphic Novels for Teens  Booklist's Top 10 Graphic Novels for Youth School Library Journal Best Comics for 2010 CCBC Choices 2011  2011 IRA Notable Book for a Global Society 2011 Glyph Award finalist - Story of the Year 2011 Eisner Award finalist - Best Teen Book SLJ's Fuse #8: 100 Magnificent Children’s Books of 2010 List PW Comic Weekly Fifth Annual Critics Poll List

  Chicago Public Library - Best of the Best Book   2011 Virginia and Louisiana Readers' Choice List for high school,  2012 Maverick Graphic Novel List from the Texas Library Association  2010 Best Books for Youths (Philadelphia Inquirer, Times Union)  Top 5 Graphic Novels of 2010 (Guys Lit Wire, Nexus Graphica)   Cynsational Books of 2010

Graphics retrieved from www.gregneri.com; www.leeandlow.com; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sandifer

Thirteen Reasons Why - Review

Asher, J. (2011). Thirteen reasons why. New York, NY: Penguin Group

        I read Thirteen Reasons Why over the course of one busy Tuesday.  In starts and stops -- whenever I could steal a moment from my busy life, I read about the end of Hannah's.  I felt like Clay, through whose experience the story unfolds -- pressing stop and continue on my e-reader as he was stopping and continuing with his (borrowed) cassette player; reading / listening to Hannah tell the reasons why her life unravelled.   The experience was surreal and unpleasant like watching the slow motion replay of an automobile wreck.  You already know how it's going to turn out but maybe knowing the reasons why will help you feel better.  Clay didn't and I didn't.  At the end I understood that a series of unfortunate, thoughtless, even rude events brought Hannah to the decision to end her life. (Yes, high school is rough.  Kids are cruel.) I understood that Hannah felt alienated and alone.  I even understood that Hannah believed she had no other options.  But, where were her parents through all this? Why did she rebuff the one person who cared for/could have saved her. Why did she choose to become what the rumors suggested she was. Why did she choose to confront her thirteen reasons in death on pre-recorded cassettes instead of in life with the same in your face attitude?  What happened to her before that made her give up so easily?

Mapping the Journey

        Thirteen Reasons Why left me with more questions than answers.  But just like the morbid curiosity we all show as we pass a car crash, I couldn't stop reading this book.  I had to know who and what was involved.  I think the characters could have been more fully developed. I didn't get to know Hannah enough to understand why these thirteen events so devastated her.  I sympathized with her but just like a quick glimpse at a car crash, I still don't understand why.  The alternating viewpoints between Hannah's telling of her reasons and Clay's reactions to and memories of some of the same incidents, however, was riveting. Older teens, young adults and older adults, too, may read Hanna's story as a cautionary tale, a way to open awareness and a dialog about teen suicide and the "never reason enough" reasons they make that choice.  

To join just such a discussion go to TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY where teens and adults are posting  notes, videos and photos on the topic. Start your own Thirteen Reasons Why community read and discussion group using information and resources from the Penguin Group (publishers)

Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment have acquired the movie rights for the book.  Read the article.  

Others books similar to Thirteen Reasons Why:

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn
By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters

photos retrieved from http://www.thirteenreasonswhy.com/

   

     

The Long Walk to Water - NonFiction Review

Park, L.S. (2010). The long walk to water.  Boston, MA:  Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt

The Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park covers 20 years in the life of one of the Sudan’s “Lost boys.”  Children, mainly boys 7 – 17 years old, were displaced and orphaned by the Sudanese civil war.  In 1985, 11 year old Salva Dut was a well-loved member of a wealthy and respected family in the small village of Loun-Ariik. His sense of family security and joy were shattered in a flash of gunfire and bombs when the war that ultimately killed over 2 million people in the Sudan, separated Salva from his family and everything he’d ever known. The book tells the story of Salva’s journey for survival across deserts and crocodile infested waters; through lion country and encounters with murderous robbers.  We learn of the walk from the Sudan to Ethiopia and from Ethiopia to Kenya by thousands of displaced people in search of food, water, shelter and safety. We ultimately learn of the courage and resilience of one Lost Boy, who found a way to live and give back so that others could live as well.

The book is written in short episodic chapters that hold the reader’s attention and keep one turning pages to find out what happens next. Many of the harrowing events in Salva’s life are reported succinctly without a lot of detail. For Young Adult readers this is just the right balance, so that they can get a sense of the horrors that Salva experienced without being overwhelmed by them.   The story of Nya, (walking for 8 hours every day to bring water to her family) told as brief narratives at the beginning of each chapter in Salva’s story, gives a momentary respite from Salva’s pain.  These two stories come together at the end in a triumph of hope. I enjoyed the book and I believe that it will bring the struggles of other people closer to our young adult readers and inspire them to want to learn more and do something.

Salva Dut

I learned more about the two (2) civil wars in Sudan at the following websites:

DoSomething.org –a timeline of Sudanese conflicts from its independence from Great Britain/Egypt to the present

Sudan: The War child – A National Geographic video which focuses on the life of Emmanuel Jal, who was an experienced Sudanese combat soldier by the age of 13.

Here are some organizations that offer information as well as suggestions of ways to help the children of Sudan, where war still rages:


 Lost Boys Alliance 
 Lost Boys of Sudan

Sudan, largest country on the continent

                      

Water for Sudan  - Salva Dut’s organization to drill wells and bring clean water, schools and clinics to Sudan.










Graphics retrieved from Google images

This Young Adult Literature class assignment is great! My eyes were opened to a whole new world of reading treats!  The books I hope to read over the next few weeks are listed below.  I bet I'm going to read more than these, though. ( I read both of my non-fiction choices.)  Click here to read reviews.

My Young Adult Literature Reading List

#	GENRE	TITLE	AUTHOR	YEAR 2007 -present
1	Nonfiction	A. The Other Side: Teen’s guide to ghost hunting and the paranormal B. A Long Walk to Water	Gibson, Burns, Shrader Linda Sue Park	2010 2010
2	Realistic Fiction	13 Reasons Why	Jay Asher	2007
3	Graphic novel	Yummy, The Last Days Of a Southside Shorty B. A Study in Scarlett: Sherlock Holmes	G. Neri, Randy Duburke Arthur Conan Doyle,  Ian Edington	2010 2010
4	Non-Western setting	Time and Again Orchards	JiUn Yun Holly thompson	2009 2011
5	e- book (Playaway, audio, Kindle, …)	The Lightening Thief The Last Olympian	Rick Riordan Rick Riordan
6	Fantasy	A.  Ship Breaker B.  The Hunger Games	Paolo Bacigalupi Suzanne Collins	2010 2008
7	Short Story Collection	Firebirds Rising This Family is Driving me Crazy	Allison Goodman Dian Curtis Regen	2007 2009
8	2011 or 2012 Award-Winner: Printz, Sibert, Morris, Alex, Edwards, Schneider, Batchelder, or Belpre	Five Flavors of Dumb Nothing	Anthony John James Teller	2010 2010
9	Film adapted from a work of young adult literature	The Hunger Games Twilight	Suzanne Collins Stephanie Meyer