Book talk: The Underneath by Kathi Appelt (Newbery Honor, 2009)

Our theme so far has been ‘hang in there.’ As you know, it’s another way of saying ‘survive’ or ‘endure.’ This novel, The Underneath, shows us the embodiment of survival and endurance. When you look at the cover of The Underneath [display cover], you see three animals cowering, probably in fear: Ranger, a hound dog chained to the house, and two cats. An unlikely trio. They’re living beneath a beat-up shack in the middle of an obscure forest in far east Texas, with bayous, creeks, wilderness, snakes, turtles, frogs, and alligators. The owner of the shack is a terribly cruel man who lives alone, and his only name is Gar-Face. Gar-Face hates other people and animals, too. He’s abused Ranger, who lives alone under the house in fear and hunger and solitude. But Ranger’s life starts to show a little hope and love when a pregnant cat shows up. She’s literally been thrown away by her owners. When she gives birth to two kittens, she and her kittens live with Ranger in the underneath and love him completely. They’re their own little family, as odd as it may seem. The cat and her kittens make Ranger’s life worth living. Yet there is such danger in the forest. There is a snake who is over 1,000 years old, plotting revenge. There’s an enormous alligator whom Gar-Face wants to catch and kill. And there’s a mysterious, beautiful hummingbird whose appearance to a creature or person announces that person’s impending death. Who will die? Who will survive? The Underneath by Kathi Appelt is a truly amazing novel, beautifully written and brilliantly imagined.

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt. 313 p. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008. Booktalk to advanced intermediate readers, middle school, high school, adult. Newbery Honor, 2009.

The Underneath

Hang in There: Booktalk 2

Have you ever driven your parents crazy with your whining, especially over summer vacation? That is exactly what eleven-year-old Megan is doing to her parents during their summer break in Vermont. Megan’s parents are both artists, and between nine a.m. and noon, Megan is supposed to be engaged in “creative pursuits,” which means art or writing, and no cell phone, no Internet, no television: you get the picture. Poor Megan: she starts to doodle, and then she rips it up. She’s bored. So her mother, one of those “back to nature” types, suggests that Megan go on a hike. Only problem is: Megan gets lost, and she’s got her innocent little dog Arp [not Arf, it’s Arp] with her. Megan actually managed to get lost on the Appalachian trail, too, which stretches on for miles and miles and miles. During my favorite part, she keeps fantasizing about Oreo cookies which are supposedly in a bag hanging from a nail in one of the trail shelters. Only, there’s an animal much larger than Megan that wants those Oreos, too. Can Nature Girl make it on her own? Nature Girl by Jane Kelley.

Nature Girl by Jane Kelley. 236 p. Random House, 2010. Booktalk to elementary [3^rd-5th] and middle school.

Hang in There: Booktalk 1

Most of you have tripped and fallen at some point, right? When our author, Raina Telgemeier, was in sixth grade, she fell and tripped, knocking out her two front teeth. Only, it wasn’t that simple. She hurt the bone above her teeth, and did some pretty serious damage which required multiple surgeries. This caused her to miss a fair amount of school, and she spent a lot of time in pain and unable to eat. But notice the title and the cover: it’s Smile.

In spite of its painful subject matter, Smile is a funny and thoughtful book. Raina has the normal problems of a pre-teenager: at one point, she’s writing a note to her friend about a boy she likes, and her teacher intercepts it, and the whole class finds out who she has a crush on. But there are also times when she’s so worried about her surgeries that she can’t focus on school, and her grades suffer. She gets teased more than most kids do because of her teeth. Yet Raina is a cool, kind-hearted, brave girl, and Smile tells a great story. Smile by Raina Telgemeier.

Smile by Raina Telgemeier. Graphic novel: 213 p. Scholastic, 2010. Booktalk to elementary [3^rd-5^th] and middle school.

Cool, Smart Poetry: Booktalk 3

Poets can get away with stuff that non-poets can’t. For example, only a poet would think about what trees dream about at night. One of my favorite poems in this collection is called “The Oak Trees Are Dreaming” by Patricia Hubbell, and I got to hear her read it on the CD that comes with the book. Hearing her read it made the poem come alive for me. Back to poets getting away with stuff. Only a poet could write an ode to a termite who caused your Cousin May to fall through the floor today. And only a poet could write an obituary for a clam that lived and died 300 million years ago. And only a poet could compare a bear in a zoo to a lost child in the woods. And only a poet could explain to you why everything that lives wants to fly. The great thing about a treasury of poetry like this one is that it has something for everyone. You are guaranteed to find at least a few poems that you really love. The Tree that Time Built: [Poems] Selected by Mary Anne Hoberman and Linda Winston.

The Tree that Time Built: [Poems] Selected by Mary Anne Hoberman and Linda Winston. 209 p., includes index, glossary, and accompanying audio CD. Sourcebooks, Inc, 2009. Booktalk to elementary school [grades 3-5] and to middle school.

Cool, Smart Poetry: Booktalk 2

[Before you booktalk, put bookmarks in your favorite poems in case you want to read a few instead of doing a traditional “booktalk.” These poems are charming.]

Can you imagine a poem about your great-aunt who was a paleontologist famous for finding fossil poo? Or a poem about hugging and kissing a giant dinosaur skeleton in a museum? Or a poem about a prehistoric kid who has a teddy bone instead of a teddy bear? [Show the picture: it’s the poem titled “Teddy Bone.”] Doesn’t he look miserable in his leaky, lumpy bed? He wakes up miserable every morning: so next time you’re whining about going to bed, think about what life was like for prehistoric kids! Can You Dig It And Other Poems by Robert Weinstock features cool, quirky poems with hilarious little details: triceratops on a trapeze; Cro-Magnon men wearing animal tutus; and a T. Rex who accidentally ate his friends!

Can You Dig It and Other Poems: Unearthed by Robert Weinstock. Unpaged [21 poems]. Disney Hyperion Books, 2010. Booktalk to grades 3-6.

Cool, Smart Poetry: Booktalk 1

[Before you booktalk, put bookmarks in your favorite poems in case you want to read a few instead of doing a traditional “booktalk.” More charming poems here.]

Did you know that 99% of all species that ever existed are now extinct? 99% -- that’s pretty much all species! So the species that are still sticking around today, like us, are pretty lucky and amazing. [Showcase cover of book]. This book is called Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors by Joyce Sidman and illustrator Beckie Prange. That’s a tricky word – ubiquitous. What does that mean? [Take answers or guesses.] The glossary at the back tells us this: “Something that is (or seems to be) everywhere at the same time.” So basically, ubiquitous means something that’s everywhere – and something we are used to: bacteria, beetles, ants, grass, squirrels, and humans. All of these things have ancient ancestors. Take squirrels, for example.

[If you want, skip the next part, and just read the poem “Tail Tale” and then give your readers a few pre-rehearsed facts from the squirrel info section.]

“Tail Tale” is a cool shaped poem [show the picture]: squirrels have more determination and perserverance than we’ll ever have, and their genetic family is 36 million years old. That’s older than us, good old homo sapiens. In the world of species, we are the new kids on the block. Our everyday world is full of ancient mysteries, and history lives through those ubiquitous plants and animals. Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors by Joyce Sidman.

Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors by Joyce Sidman, ill. by Becky Prange. Unpaged. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010. Booktalk to intermediate grades [3-5] and middle school.

Your Medical Diagnosis Is ... : Booktalk 3

[Unless you have a t-shirt that says, "Buddha Burger," you don't need any props for this one.]

Excuse me [run hands through your hair, look disheveled and wild-eyed, confused.] Have you seen a talking garden gnome and / or a Mexican-American dwarf clutching an inhaler? The dwarf might have asked you if he could use your cell phone to call his mom. Which way did they go? [Wait for response.] That is _not_ helping me. Why the funny looks? Okay, sorry, I'll slow down, but if you see anything resembling fire giants or a Wizard of Reckoning -- you'll know him when you see him -- tell me immediately. So, I'm Cameron, and I've been diagnosed with mad cow disease. Those last two wusses who booktalked to you got nothing on me. See, their diseases were just physical: blindness and leukemia. Mine is BOTH physically and mentally degenerative: yeah, both my body and my mind are going to hell in handbasket. I won the sickness lottery. But I'm on a quest, too. I'm trying to find Dr. X, who learned to travel through both space and time. I'm trying to fight this dark energy that is attacking both my brain and this world of ours [hence those nasty fire giants]. Yes, I'm crazy but I'm also not. You have to be a little crazy to live in this world, and you have to be even crazier _not_ to search for meaning. So even if I don't find Dr. X, I hope to find out what all this _means_ before I die. Don't look so glum. I'm funny as heck, trust me. So are the gnome and the dwarf, when they're not being pains in the you-know-what. Read Going Bovine by Libby Bray, and don't forget to suspend your disbelief.

Going Bovine by Libby Bray. 480 p. Delacorte Press, 2009. Booktalk this only after reading every single page, seriously. Upper high school, college, adult.