11 Experiments That Failed

Thanks to the PBS Kids show Dinosaur Train, my four-year-old knows that a hypothesis is “an idea you can test.”  Or at least she can parrot that sentence when asked.  I wanted to get beyond a catchphrase definition, and I wanted to do it without going over her head.

Enter: 11 Experiments That Failed by Jenny Offill. Make no mistake–this picture book is not going to be taken as a textbook about the scientific method.  It’s fun and silly, but it’s actually a great introduction to the hypothesis as the girl from 17 Things I’m Not Allowed to Do Anymore has all sorts of ideas–most of which kids are going to recognize as bad ideas–and tests them out with comical results.

Here’s hoping it’s just the beginning of our science adventures!

 

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For more about science for kids, see my Secular Thursday page.

 

Disclosure: Amazon links are affiliate links.

What we think we see

What do you think you see?

Recently, I’ve run across a couple of different articles about people with disabilities and our assumptions about them. These issues feel personal to me because I was born with a limb deficiency–technically a disability.  I am no stranger to assumptions based on what people think they see.

The first link was being tweeted around some by some parenting folks I follow.  A mom of a child with cerebral palsy writes “This is what a child with a disability looks like, right? Wrong.”  You see, her son doesn’t Look Disabled.   That seems like a good thing until you find yourself having to convince people that your child has a disability.  Over and over again.  I should be glad that I have the opposite problem.  When people see me, they think they see a disabled person, and they make the usual assumptions about what I can and can’t do.  I have the task of pleasantly surprising people.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard some version of this: “Oh! You can tie your own shoes! That’s wonderful!”  Their eyebrows mark the exclamation points after every sentence.  It gets old sometimes.  I mean, I’m a grown-ass woman.  You should not be surprised that I can tie my own shoes.  Did you know that I can tie my shoes even without my prosthetic arm?  Now I’ve surprised you!  :)  I understand the surprise.  I really do.  If I weren’t me, I’d probably be surprised too.

The second article was written from a perspective I lived myself: Pregnancy With a Disability.  The woman, a psychologist, writes of situations that were familiar to me (people asking if the disability is genetic) and some that I hadn’t encountered (being labelled as a high risk pregnancy without a good reason).  Particularly interesting to me was her brief mention of learning to breastfeed with one arm. In all the reading and preparing I’d done while pregnant, it had never occurred to me that being down one limb might affect nursing.  And really, my biggest challenge in learning to breastfeed with a limb deficiency was in getting the nurses in the hospital to believe that I could and to help me try.  Once I got past that obstacle, it was about as smooth sailing as learning to breastfeed ever is.

A zine about what people have said to me about my prosthetic arm.

These two articles get at why I talk, blog, and publish about being different.  I understand the assumptions.  I’m not asking that they not occur to people initially. I just don’t want people to be so hard to convince when I tell you I can do something.  I don’t want people to be quite so surprised.  I want to change what you think you see, so that next time you run in to someone who looks like me, you’ll be just a bit more open to what’s really there.

No sticks. No stones.

If you work with young people at all, bullying is probably never terribly far from your mind.  It is always a Big Deal (especially here in Minnesota).  This week it is an even bigger deal.  It’s No Name-Calling Week, which began in 2004 inspired by James Howe’s teen novel The Misfits.  Since then No Name-Calling Week has grown to a national observance designed to get people (kids & teens in particular) talking about bullying and how to stop it.

I recently read Janet Tashjian’s newest middle grade novel, My Life as a Stuntboy.  It’s a bit of a departure for me because I rarely read tween novels and when I do, I usually go for “girl books” over “boy books.”  It was a fast, fun read that I expect will have strong appeal to reluctant readers in elementary or middle school.  But that’s not what I want to talk about.  I want to talk about cyber-bullying.

Two things really interested me about the way cyber-bullying was handled in this book:

1. It was between two friends who were fighting.  It wasn’t that big mean kid who everyone hates being a jerk to other kids.  It was a regular kid who felt hurt by something his friend had done.  He retaliated by posting an embarrassing video of his friend on YouTube for everyone to see.  According to Stomp Out Bullying, “53% of kids admit having said something mean or hurtful to another person online. More than 1 in 3 have  done it more than   once.”  When we’re talking about bullying, we need to move beyond the idea that it’s everyone else.  It’s all of us.
2. The victim doesn’t tell his parents about the video because he doesn’t want them to feel bad.   Another statistic from Stomp Out Bullying: “58% have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online.”  That’s part of why this week exists.  We need to get this stuff out in the open.

In all honesty, this is an example of one of the ways that it can be hard for me to read children’s literature now that I’m a parent.  After reading this book, I looked at my little girl, and I saw someone who might keep secrets to spare my feelings.  Kidlit does not help my desire to NOT be the mom who obsesses over every little possibility. (Nor does my other main reading material: parenting books.) But it does help me see where she might be coming from in a few years.   Of course, I’ve blogged about that before.

My Life as a Stuntboy had a happy ending.  The video was removed, the boys made up, and life went back to normal.  The characters in the book lived through the experience, and our kids probably will too.  I’m not going to start obsessing on a problem before it’s a problem.  I’m going to continue to recommend books like My Life as a Stuntboy to kids and their parents in the hopes that they will talk about the story together. I am a firm believer in the idea that books can change the world if we let them change us.

Monday Morning Music with Lucy Michelle

It has already been a very exciting morning in the children’s book world!  I was up early today, on my day off, sitting at my computer refreshing the #alayma hashtag on Twitter to get the award announcements as they happened.  I cheered some of my favorites from the year, including Breaking Stalin’s Nose (mentioned in The Year of Protest Reading List) and Ball for Daisy (mentioned in Exploring Character Ed with Picture Books) and Where Things Come Back (mentioned in If You Like… Sufjan Stevens), won awards or honors.  It’s a good day to be a kidlit geek.

Outside my window, snow is falling.  Perhaps we will have a real Minnesota winter this year yet.  Watching snow out the window when I have nowhere to go is one of my favorite winter activities.  My soundtrack to the snow is Minneapolis band Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lappelles.   I’m looking forward to their upcoming record, HEAT, which “is comprised of all original material written predominantly by Lucy Michelle during the bone-chilling Minnesota winter of 2010. Many of the songs center around the feeling of being trapped and isolated while yearning to be somewhere else; physically or psychologically.”  More about the new record in this video:

Happy Awards Day, Happy Snow Falling Day, Happy Monday.  Enjoy.

Thoughts on Awards Eve

I recently listened to a discussion on MPR with Kurt Anderson about this Vanity Fair article on American culture.  He observed that things haven’t changed much in the last 25 years or so, and one of the reasons he cites is a cultural nostalgia.  He writes,

“Ironically, new technology has reinforced the nostalgic cultural gaze: now that we have instant universal access to every old image and recorded sound, the future has arrived and it’s all about dreaming of the past.”

Perhaps he’s right.  He certainly makes an interesting case.  Looking at the area of pop culture I know best–children’s books, obviously–he certainly seems on the mark.  Look at last year’s Caldecott Award winner: A Sick Day for Amos McGee has a vintage look to it that make it seem like it could have been a book from my childhood rather than the newly published picture book that it is.  Not to mention, last year was clearly a historical fiction year for the Newbery.

If nostalgia is still at play in this year’s awards (announced tomorrow morning, for anyone not eagerly anticipating them like myself!), my predictions are Grandpa Green by Lane Smith for the Caldecott and Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt for the Newbery.

I wouldn’t complain if those were the books that took the awards this year, but I have to admit, there is a part of me that really wants this to be the year for humor.  Mostly, I just want I Want My Hat Back to win.  It’s kind of dark and cynical in a way that children’s just aren’t usually, and I love it.  I’d be surprised if it won, but I’m pulling for it.

In any case, I’m excited!  I’ll be up early tomorrow morning to hear the announcements live from the conference in Dallas.  Happy awards Monday, everyone!

Friday Finds: Youth Media Awards, local music, and museums

Books:

• The biggest thing in the kidlit/library world right now are the Youth Media Awards.  The big announcement is on Monday morning, and the kidlitosphere is abuzz with predictions.  My colleagues and I posted our picks on Books in Bloom this week, and A Fuse #8 Production has her Newbery and Caldecott picks here.  I will be among many other librarians who will wake up early Monday morning to see what books from 2011 will be honored this year.  It’s my Oscars.

Music:

• The Local Current blog is  the latest project from Minnesota Public Radio. Among the first features is this post about Communist Daughter front man Johnny Solomon’s road to recovery.  I mentioned Communist Daughter in this post after seeing them at the Loring Theatre last June.  I’m a huge fan of the music, and Solomon’s story is remarkable.

• Fans of local music may also be interested in the Best New Bands of 2011 at First Avenue next week.  Here is an article about the show that focuses on Night Moves and their recent record deal.  Dream Crusher, which has been on this blog before, will also be playing, along with several others.

Family:

• The Artful Parent has a series of guest posts through the month of January aimed at parents that have covered all sorts of interesting topics, including children’s books, painting with light, and photography with kids.  Stay tuned for more about children’s books on The Artful Parent in a guest post written by yours truly later in the month.

• The Minnesota Children’s Museum has a new exhibit opening this weekend based on the book Grossology by Sylvia Branzei, which is all about the icky parts of being human. I imagine kids will love it.  We are hoping to go in the near future!

Minneapolis:

• As I mentioned in this post about graphic design, the Now in Production exhibit at the Walker Art Center ends this weekend.  If you haven’t yet had a chance to see the exhibit, I recommend taking it in before it is off to New York.

 

For more interesting stuff, find me on Facebook,  Twitter, and Google+.  Have a great weekend!

The Fictional Religions of Teen Fiction

Move over Chutengodianism.  It’s time to make room in the world of made-up religions of teen fiction for Bluedaism.

Pete Hautman started the trend (are two books a trend? We’ll say yes.) with Godless in 2004, which won the National Book Award for Young People.  His satirical story was filled with critiques on religion with some over-the-top moments that kept the pages turning.  It’s a pretty fun read for those who find this sort of thing amsuing.  Not as fun for those who don’t.

In Sparks by S.J. Adams, Bluedaism doesn’t seem to be about critiquing religion so much as understanding what religion does for people.  For Debbie, religion has always been a way of staying close to her best friend.  She has been pretending to be a believer for years just top stay close to Lisa.  In an even more complicated twist, Debbie is secretly in love with Lisa.  Lisa, of course, believes homosexuality is a sin.  What sounds melodramatic (well, okay… it probably is a little melodramatic, but stick with me) is actually pretty funny no matter what you believe.

Where does Bluedaism come in? Debbie finds herself on a Holy Quest with a couple of new friends she met in detention who charge her $5 for membership to the Church of Blue (They are not a cult. They swear.) Bluedaism might be a wacky made-up religion. but Emma and Tom say it’s helped them give up bad habits and live better lives.  Eventually, we learn that things aren’t quite what they seem with Emma and Tom–not in a teen-fiction-is-dark-and-depressing sort of way. More like why-isn’t-this-a-teen-rom-com-flick-yet?  Well, I suppose it hasn’t been out for long.  There’s time yet. Incidentally, that is exactly what Debbie learns about religion in the book.  No need to have everything figured out right now.  Time will tell.

If Chutengodianism is the Flying Spaghetti Monster of teen fiction, where does Bluedaism fit in?  I’m not sure, but it’s good to have options.

 

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More about science and religion on my Secular Thursday page.

Disclosure: Amazon.com links are affiliate links.  Purchases made from the links support this blog!

A Celebration of Design

Design is everywhere, and everyone thinks they can do it.  We’ve all sat through ugly PowerPoint presentations or scrolled reluctantly through web sites with garish GIF’s blinking. There are a few more days left for Twin Citians to immerse themselves in good design.  The Graphic Design: Now in Production exhibit at the Walker Art Center ends January 22nd, and it is well worth the visit, even for a non-designer like myself.

The exhibit explores design over the past decade including the art of typeface, branding, movies & television, etc.  It emphasizes that design has evolved dramatically and that it continues to evolve with the popularity of e-readers and tablet computers.  You can read more about it in this MSP Magazine article.

Most of what I know about graphic design comes from–you guessed it–a children’s book.  Mark Gonyea’s A Book about Design: Complicated Doesn’t Make it Good is the perfect primer for those of us who are not necessarily artists but still want to be able to create their own graphics now and then.  Gonyea isn’t the only designer to attempt a children’s book.

Some of my favorite picture books are from graphic designers.  I mentioned Along a Long Road in this post, and you can see more of Frank Viva’s work at his design firm’s site Viva & Co.  Patricia Intriago, of Intriago Design, published a seemingly simple concept book for preschoolers in Dot, but it also works as an early introduction to design with young children.  Paul Thurlby’s Alphabet is an alphabet book that both kids and adults will love.  The alphabet prints available on Thurlby’s online shop would make great kids’ room decor if you’re going for a retro look.

Michael Hall, of Hall Kelley Inc., is the designer behind A Perfect Square, which is a wonderful book to inspire kids to create art out of shapes as talked about in this post on the Artful Parent blog, and My Heart is Like a Zoo, which takes one shape and creates a kid-friendly menagerie from it.  Both of these books have appeal that goes beyond the preschoolers learning about the concepts.  These are the picture books I push on my art-oriented friends who don’t have kids.  It doesn’t matter how old you are or what you know.  They are delightful in a way that surpasses the usual categories.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the trailer for My Heart is Like a Zoo:

Monday Morning Music with North Shore Sessions

This video of Holly Newsom of Zoo Animal (who I have mentioned on this blog before) singing on skates was going around my social media, and I had to share it too.  It is lovely.

I was curious about the video, so I looked into North Shore Sessions.  Turns out, it is a group of people from Duluth who have been producing videos since 2010 “featuring local and regional artists performing in unexpected locations — barns, shopping centers, train cars, railroad tunnels, former orphanages, and eventually the moon.”  They have some of my favorite local musicians in their archives.  Check out Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles in an attic or Cloud Cult in a foyer.

Connect with North Shore Sessions on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.

Friday Finds: John Green, The Snowy Day, and Book Landscapes

Book stuff:

• First and foremost, John Green’s new book was released this week.  It is amazing.  I highly recommend The Fault in Our Stars.

• This article about e-readers from School Library Journal got printed out and passed around my office.  I think we all related to the librarian’s view of new tech (quasi-enthusiastic and quasi-skeptical).

• Not Just Cute wishes The Snowy Day a Happy Birthday!  She also talks about diversity in children’s books. (As a side note to this, Twin Citians can explore a real life version of The Snowy Day in the Storyland exhibit at the MN Children’s Museum, which I blogged about here.)

My kiddo at the MN Children's Museum

Music Stuff:

• I recently blogged about Minneapolis band Zoo Animal’s upcoming record, and now I’m mentioning the record release show at 7th Street Entry with Gospel Gossip, Gramma’s Boyfriend, and Is/Is.  February 18th.

Other Cool Stuff:

• Books aren’t just for stories.  They are also for art.  These carved book landscapes are really amazing.

• So far this winter has been very different from the Snowpocalypse that we survived last year.  This year we have to experience the magic of winter vicariously through Science Friday’s Winter Photo Contest.  I’d forgotten just how lovely a snowy winter can be.   (On a related note to teen librarians: teen fiction with snowy scenes on the cover might make a fun display.  I have just such a list on my wiki!)

• Lastly, Kris from the blog Intelligent Life was kind enough to award me the 7×7 Link award for my blog.  How nice!  Perhaps I’ll have some time this weekend to properly follow the rules for the award.  For now, check out this post from Kris about revisiting old favorite books.