Category: Books

Did We Wrinkle Fifty Years?

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When I first read A Wrinkle in Time in fifth or sixth grade, I assumed that it had been published fairly recently. I found out that I was wrong, but it stills stuns me that the novel is as old as it is. A reminder: this is A Wrinkle in Time’s fiftieth anniversary. Yeah. Not fifth. 5-0.

To celebrate, Macmillan is releasing a new hardcover edition with the original cover. Also, Symphony Space is hosting an anniversary party/reading on February 11th. The details:

“Writers and actors, including award-winning novelist Rebecca Stead (When You Reach Me), R.L. Stine (Goosebumps, Fear Street), Katherine Patterson (Bridge to Terabithia) and Lois Lowry (The Giver) celebrate the Newbery Medal-winning classic. The discussion will be moderated by NYPL Children’s Librarian and Fuse #8 blogger Betsy Bird. The event will also include a special introduction by children’s book historian Leonard Marcus.  Excerpts from the book with be performed by Jane Curtin (3rd Rock from the Sun) and others.”

Really, really, really wishing I could be in New York that weekend. Instead, I’ll just have to host my own reading in my apartment, in which I read aloud to my husband, myself, and possibly our neighbors (depending on how loud I can get).

(image: Macmillan)

Printz Stats

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While we’re gearing up for this year’s Printz Award, the Hub takes a look back on previous winners. Emily Calkins has put together some great stats like: authors by gender (pretty even split), debut winners (25%–more than I’d expected), and genre (mostly contemporary–heck yeah!).

One thing I was surprised to see: so far, no Printz winning novel has featured a LGBTQ protagonist. There’s been other diversity in protagonists, which is great, but I feel like this is one aspect of YA lit that could get a little more recognition. Or maybe it’s indicative of the percentage of LGBTQ narrators in the general in general–maybe we just need more of these narrators for teens. (Of course, I’d also like to see an LGBTQ narrator whose story isn’t necessarily defined by his/her sexual identity. We need those stories, too.)

Click through to check out all the Printz stats. What are you most/least surprised about?

Plan Your Movie Schedule Now

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Publishers Weekly has a great list of this year’s most anticipated book-to-film adaptations. Some of them I didn’t even know about, like Great Expectations. (Of course Masterpiece is also having a Dickensian spring, so maybe I was distracted.)

Obviously, the movie I’m most excited for is The Hunger Games. Really hope they do it well! I’m also really curious about The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Honestly, it’s not my favorite YA novel, but I’m intrigued about the adaptation. After all, Emma Watson was part of a really exciting adaptation already; maybe she’ll be good luck for this one, too.

What are you looking forward to seeing this year?

En Pointe

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When I was little, I took karate instead of ballet. As a result, a little part of me always wondered if I would have been supremely talented (even though all evidence points to no). This year, I started taking an adult ballet class for people who have absolutely no dance experience. I’m one class in, and I don’t have any delusions about going pro, but it’s really fun. So of course I need to check out everything on the Hub’s list of ballet books for teens. Between that and the classically adorable Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, I’ll be set for the whole session.

(image: The Dance Foyer at the Opera on the rue Le Peletier, 1872 by Edgar Degas)

Links Galore

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Thank goodness it’s a short week. To get things started right, here are some more fun links:

Religion in Wrinkles

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Austin Allen looks at how Madeleine L’Engle combines fantasy and religion in her potentially most famous work, A Wrinkle in Time:

“I think she’s being careful, ducking accusations of parochialism, and leaving everything up to the reader’s interpretation. But I also think the variety of her idols suggests a restless imagination, one that was more confined than inspired by doctrinaire Christianity. Her impulse toward sermonizing wrestles with her impulse toward a vision that is—like her extraterrestrials and shimmering presences—unclassifiable.”

This is one reason that I like L’Engle’s work in general. She acknowledges a greater purpose in the general and, even as she tends toward the Christian, suggests that whatever the universe is, it’s beyond our current power of comprehension. But that doesn’t mean we should strive to reach out toward it.

Ethnic Studies Vanishing in Tuscon Schools

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The Tucson Unified School District is losing books on ethnic studies, which even includes Shakespeare’s The Tempest. More importantly:

“In a school district founded by a Mexican-American in which more than 60 percent of the students come from Mexican-American backgrounds, the administration also removed every textbook dealing with Mexican-American history, including “Chicano!: The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement” by Arturo Rosales, which features a biography of longtime Tucson educator Salomon Baldenegro.  Other books removed from the school include “500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures,” by Elizabeth Martinez and the textbook “Critical Race Theory” by scholars Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic.”

Banning books is never a good idea. Please stop.

More Visits to the Library

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Another reason libraries are more important than ever:

“These are some of the findings of the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ report on the FY2009 Public Library Survey (PLS), a census of American public libraries.

The Institute’s analysis of the data showed that per capita visits to libraries rose by 24 percent in the century’s first decade, while circulation increased by 26 percent. In 2009, libraries were visited a record-breaking 1.59 billion times. Libraries have defied the conventional wisdom that Google, Wikipedia, and the like would make them obsolete. That’s because they’ve recognized and responded to the evolving ways in which people use libraries.

Those who prematurely announced the demise of libraries at the hands of the Internet failed to anticipate the symbiotic relationship that would develop between the two institutions. As revealed byInterconnections: The IMLS National Study on the Use of Libraries, Museums, and the Internet, Internet users are much more likely to visit public libraries than non-Internet users.”

The article goes on to talk about the important services libraries provide to people who are unemployed. Very much hoping that more studies like this one come out and throw support to public libraries.