Bookology Magazine

April 2015

If You Plant a Seed

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by Melanie Heuser Hill My deal­er (in books, my drug of choice) and I have a spe­cial rela­tion­ship. I send her emails of books I’d like to have as I have a need, and she gets them for me. I know that doesn’t sounds all that spe­cial, but because she keeps a run­ning tab for me and because I’m usu­al­ly not in a hur­ry, I some­times for­get what I’ve ordered by the time we meet on the street cor­ner for the hand-off.… more

Birdy’s Lentil Soup

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Soup
Karen Cush­man passed along this recipe from the Cookin’ Canuck with the note that it was just the sort of cold weath­er meal that would grace tables in the Cather­ine, Called Birdy world.
Print Recipe
Hearty Lentil Soup
Just what Birdy would have eaten!
Prep Time20 min­utes
Cook Time45 min­utes
Total Time1 hour 5 min­utes
Author: The Cookin’ Canuck
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil1⁄2 large onion chopped2 large stalks cel­ery diced2 cloves gar­lic minced2 tsp smoked papri­ka2 bay leaves1 14 oz.
… more

Author Emeritus: Rosemary Sutcliffe

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grave stones
Rose­mary Sut­cliff, author of children’s his­tor­i­cal nov­els, was born on Decem­ber 14, 1920, in Sur­rey, Eng­land. She wrote children’s books, nov­els, short sto­ries, and scripts for radio, TV, and film. In child­hood, Stil­l’s dis­ease kept her in a wheel­chair and close to home. Her moth­er home­schooled her and first intro­duced her to Sax­on and Celtic leg­ends. She didn’t learn to read until the age of ten.… more

The World in Birdy’s Time, 1290 AD

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The year of Birdy’s sto­ry in Cather­ine, Called Birdy is more than 700 years ago. It might be hard for us to imag­ine what it was like to live then, before tech­nol­o­gy and planes and even the print­ing press! Read­ing the book gives us an oppor­tu­ni­ty to put our­selves into that world and time. Here’s what was going on through­out Birdy’s world to help us place the book with­in its ref­er­ence points.… more

Middle Kingdom: Seattle, Washington

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Jane Addams Middle School library
The books that most delight mid­dle school and junior high read­ers often strad­dle a “Mid­dle King­dom” rang­ing from upper mid­dle grade to YA. Each month, Bookol­o­gy colum­nist Lisa Bullard will vis­it the Mid­dle King­dom by view­ing it through the eyes of a teacher or librar­i­an. Bookol­o­gy is delight­ed to cel­e­brate the work of these edu­ca­tors who have built vital book encamp­ments in the tran­si­tion­al ter­ri­to­ry of ear­ly adolescence.… more

Skinny Dip with Sharon Chmielarz

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What keeps you up at night? Nothing keeps me up at night (knock on wood). I have a couple of glasses of red wine, then shower (usually), hit the mattress, do some leg exercises, and I’m a goner until the next morning. If I slip from that routine and drink something with caffeine too close to 6:30 pm or so, then it’s a different story.… more

The Curious Child: writing and books

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Calligraphy sample
by Vic­ki Palmquist After read­ing Cather­ine, Called Birdy, read­ers will won­der about Edward, Birdy’s broth­er, and the books he was scrib­ing at the monastery. In what type of book did Birdy keep her jour­nal? Who taught her to write? Did she write in the same fan­cy script that her broth­er did at the monastery? Birdy gives the read­er clues about her jour­nal: “The skins are my father’s, left over from the house­hold accounts, and the ink also.… more

Jen Bryant: It’s Not Pretty!

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by Jen Bryant I’ve always had an ambiva­lent rela­tion­ship with the word “inspi­ra­tion.” On the one hand, I acknowl­edge the illu­sive, inex­plic­a­ble aspect of the writ­ing process that I can’t con­trol, when the lines, para­graphs, pages seem to flow from some­where out­side of myself, knit­ting togeth­er almost seam­less­ly. On the oth­er hand (and this is the much, much heav­ier hand) I believe that good writ­ing — like all good art — comes from con­scious effort, com­mit­ment, and lots of tri­al and error.… more

The Curious Child: writing and books

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Calligraphy sample
by Vic­ki Palmquist After read­ing Cather­ine, Called Birdy, read­ers will won­der about Edward, Birdy’s broth­er, and the books he was scrib­ing at the monastery. In what type of book did Birdy keep her jour­nal? Who taught her to write? Did she write in the same fan­cy script that her broth­er did at the monastery? Birdy gives the read­er clues about her jour­nal: “The skins are my father’s, left over from the house­hold accounts, and the ink also.… more

Taking the Wheel

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by Lisa Bullard Some days I real­ly wish I was bet­ter at being a bad writer. Here’s why. Draft­ing, that ear­ly stage of writ­ing when you are just try­ing to cap­ture your ideas, usu­al­ly works best if you can get words down as quick­ly as pos­si­ble. But my inner edi­tor is hor­ri­bly crit­i­cal. If I let that inner edi­tor take the wheel while I’m draft­ing, it’s as if my car has hit a patch of ice: my wheels start spin­ning, I skid, and even­tu­al­ly I crash into a snow bank.… more

Skinny Dip with Elizabeth Verdick

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Skinny Dipping
What keeps you up at night? Reading much, much too late! What is your proudest career moment? In 2005 I won the Henry Bergh Award, which honors books that recognize the need to treat animals with kindness and caring (for my book Tails Are Not for Pulling). I got to stand on a stage in New Orleans with Norman Bridwell, author/illustrator of the Clifford books.… more

We Didn’t Always Know the Way

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How to Read a Story
by Vic­ki Palmquist A step-by-step, slight­ly tongue-in-cheek but most­ly sin­cere, guide to read­ing a book, How to Read a Sto­ry by Kate Mess­ner, illus­trat­ed by Mark Siegel (Chron­i­cle Books), will have you and your young read­ers feel­ing all warm and cozy and smart. With advice in Step 2 to Find a Read­ing Bud­dy, we are cau­tioned “And make sure you both like the book.”… more

In God’s Hands

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by Melanie Heuis­er Hill This week, I am read­ing (for the umpteenth time) what I think of as The Very Most Favorite Book of the chil­dren in my church. They call it That Book About Bread. The book is In God’s Hands by Lawrence Kush­n­er and Gary Schmidt and it res­onates deeply with these kids. I know how it will go.… more

Skinny Dip with Margo Sorenson

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Skinny Dipping
What is your proudest career moment? My proudest career moment was doing my first author visit at Hale Kula Elementary School, Wahiawa, HI, the Schofield Barracks elementary, where I spoke to 200 kindergarteners and their parents, many of whom were in cammies, about Aloha for Carol Ann. Tears came to my eyes as I watched the parents and kids interact in the activity the librarian (SLJ Librarian of the Year Michelle Colte) had designed for them, based on my book.… more

Partners in the Dance: From Fiction to Nonfiction and Back Again

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door knocker
by Liza Ketchum This week, while I pre­pared for a talk at AWP (Asso­ci­a­tion of Writ­ing Pro­grams) on writ­ing non-fic­tion biogra­phies for kids, I thought about how I enjoy research­ing both non­fic­tion and fic­tion titles. Yet a gulf often sep­a­rates the two gen­res. In my local library, you turn right at the top of the stairs for the non­fic­tion stacks and left to peruse the nov­els.… more

The Beauty of Roadblocks

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GPS_clip
by Lisa Bullard Can you guess which of these real­ly happened? a) After acci­den­tal­ly invad­ing the Stur­gis Motor­cy­cle Ral­ly, my trav­el­ing com­pan­ion and I were in a three-way stand-off: our car, a Harley, and a 1,000-pound buffalo. b) I peered over a hotel bal­cony high above the Mis­sis­sip­pi, watch­ing the bomb squad and 50 oth­er emer­gency vehi­cles squeal into the park­ing lot direct­ly below.… more

Skinny Dip with Joanne Anderson Reisberg

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Skinny Dipping
What is your proudest career moment? I entered a Writer's Digest Contest and received an Achievement Certificate for having placed 37th out of 100 in 'picture books." I felt thrilled to be included, and then I read the contest had received 11,000 entries in 5 different categories. Woo Hoo.  Describe your favorite pair of pajamas ever When I was ten, I received an outrageous pair of silk pajamas from a childless aunt in Chicago.… more

Karen Cushman: Researching and Writing

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Karen Cushman
inter­view by Claire Rudolf Murphy Congratulations, Karen. Your first novel and Newbery Honor book Catherine Called Birdy is 20 years old and still going strong. The story still resonates with teen readers, especially girls, and is remembered fondly and reread by many readers who are grown up now. One such fan is actress Lena Dunham, who announced last fall that she is adapting the novel into a movie with plans to direct it.… more

Books Starring Dachshunds

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Wiener Wolf
Dozens of Dachsunds Stephanie Cal­men­son
illus­trat­ed by Zoe Per­si­co
Blooms­bury, 2021 A parade of dachsunds! There are sev­en­ty-eight dachsunds in all, dressed in cos­tumes as oth­er ani­mals, insects, birds, and dinosaurs! They wag­gle by in groups of two, three, four … all to aid young read­ers in count­ing. Maybe best of all is the song includ­ed so you can sing along!
… more

Two Birds from the Same Egg with Poetry PLUS!

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PFA For Celebrations
(edi­tor’s note:  In hon­or of Nation­al Poet­ry Month, we asked Sylvia Vardell and Janet  Wong, authors of  the The Poet­ry Fri­day series for a quick exam­ple of inte­grat­ing poet­ry into the classroom. ) by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong We are pressed for time, so we mul­ti­task. You might be eat­ing break­fast while you’re read­ing Bookol­o­gy, or doing laun­dry, or both.… more

Notable Birds in Children’s Literature

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Birdy, named Cather­ine, is in good com­pa­ny in the crowd­ed Aviary that is chil­dren’s literature. … more

That’s Some Egg

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Under the Egg
by Vic­ki Palmquist In Under the Egg, Theodo­ra Ten­pen­ny begins her sto­ry when her beloved grand­fa­ther, Jack, is hit by a taxi … and dies. Out­side their 200-year-old Man­hat­tan town­home, Jack whis­pers to Theo to “look under the egg.” Deal­ing with her grief, but des­per­ate because she and her head-in-the-clouds moth­er have no income, Theo tries to fig­ure out what her grand­fa­ther meant.… more

Bookstorm: Catherine, Called Birdy 

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Catherine, Called Birdy
In this Bookstorm™: Catherine, Called Birdy writ­ten by Karen Cush­man
pub­lished by Clar­i­on Books, 1994
New­bery Hon­or book “Cor­pus Bones! I utter­ly loathe my life.” Cather­ine feels trapped. Her father is deter­mined to mar­ry her off to a rich man – any rich man, no mat­ter how awful. But by wit, trick­ery, and luck, Cather­ine man­ages to send sev­er­al would-be hus­bands pack­ing.… more

Literary Madeleine: A History of Reading

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by Mar­sha Qualey One of the great good for­tunes of my life is that I’ve man­aged to cre­ate a pro­fes­sion­al life that requires I read a lot. Read­ing is a pas­sion; the old bumper stick­er says it all: I’d rather be reading. But I also think read­ing is an inter­est­ing top­ic. How and why do we read? Who were the first read­ers?… more

Catherine, Called Birdy Companion Booktalks

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Aviary Wonders Inc. Spring Catalog and Instruction Manual
A baker’s dozen to get you start­ed on the April Book­storm™  books … Aviary Won­ders Inc. Spring Cat­a­log and Instruc­tion Man­u­al, Kate Sam­worth. Clar­i­on Books, 2014 Win­ner of the 2014 Kirkus Prize for Young Read­ers’ Literature Fan­tas­tic illus­tra­tions of fan­tas­ti­cal creatures Build your own birds!   Back­yard Birds by Karen Stray Nolt­ing, Jonathan Latimer, and Roger Tory Peter­son.… more

Two Birds from the Same Egg with Poetry PLUS!

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PFA For Celebrations
(edi­tor’s note:  In hon­or of Nation­al Poet­ry Month, we asked Sylvia Vardell and Janet  Wong, authors of  the The Poet­ry Fri­day series for a quick exam­ple of inte­grat­ing poet­ry into the classroom. ) by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong We are pressed for time, so we mul­ti­task. You might be eat­ing break­fast while you’re read­ing Bookol­o­gy, or doing laun­dry, or both.… more

Skinny Dip with Lisa Bullard

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Skinny Dipping
What keeps you up at night? I don’t need anything to keep me up at night—I am almost always up at night no matter what! When I have morning obligations, I force myself to go to bed at a reasonable time. But when I have a few days in a row where I don’t have to get up “early,” my bedtime slips to a later and later time—until I am regularly staying up until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning.… more

Library Lion

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by Melanie Heuis­er Hill I recent­ly read about a series of get-to-know-you games to play with kids. One sug­gest­ed mak­ing a list of hard and fast rules that every­one could agree to — a series of sen­si­ble pro­hi­bi­tions, per­haps — and then tak­ing turns think­ing of the excep­tions to those rules. RULE:  No run­ning in the hall­ways. EXCEPTION: Run if the build­ing is on fire.… more

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