Sunday, December 12, 2010

LAR'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF ANN BAUSUM'S "UNRAVELING FREEDOM"

UNRAVELING FREEDOM: THE BATTLE FOR DEMOCRACY ON THE HOME FRONT DURING WORLD WAR I. By Ann Bausum. National Geographic Society, 2010. 96 pages.

All the ways the internet promotes superficial reading? Social studies textbooks have picked up on that. Sidebars, inserts, and yes, even links. All from multiple sources. I’m looking at a seventh grade textbook right now which credits seven contributing authors, who have been advised by eleven academic consultants, five reading consultants, and five teacher reviewers. It’s not surprising that its prose is dull.

Making a strong case for eliminating textbooks from the classroom on Edutopia’s site, Shelly Blake-Plock, a Maryland high school teacher, writes, "If textbooks were inspiring and everyone wanted to read them, they'd be at the top of the New York Times' bestseller list."

What kind of history books do draw readers? History buffs like me will tell you they are books by one author with one point of view who knows how to write a good story, people like David McCullough and Daniel Walker Howe. We aren’t interested in textbooks. Why should kids be, even if they are interested in history?

Three books aimed at middle schoolers about World War I have come out in the past year or so. I’ve read and reviewed Russell Freedman’s superb The War to End All Wars. It would be an excellent textbook-less way to begin a study of the Great War for kids hungry for the same kind of history writing their elders seek out.

I’ve yet to read Jim Murphy’s Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting, but I am anxious to, given the quality of his many other books.

Unraveling Freedom would be a wonderful follow-up to The War to End All Wars. In measured words, Ann Bausum skillfully traces the story of a nation that wanted to stay away from European conflict that quickly transformed itself into a patriotic fighting machine. Thoughtfully, she asks her readers to consider the price we are sometimes asked to pay to prove we are loyal and that we support our armed forces.

On the eve of America’s entry into the First World War, Bausum notes that "perhaps as many as a quarter of all Americans had either been born in Germany or had descended from Germans." As readers of Kirby Larson’s Hattie Big Sky (another good one I’d include in my middle school seminar) will remember, life for German-Americans suddenly became quite difficult. Teaching—or speaking—the German language was no longer acceptable. Sauerkraut was re-labeled as liberty cabbage, and hamburgers as liberty steaks. Vigilantes took the law into their own hands, sometimes executing German-Americans.

But beyond the persecution of this significant segment of the population, anti-German hysteria opened the door for government incursion on personal rights our Constitution guarantees. Thousands of Americans, Bausum writes, "found themselves silenced, harassed, or imprisoned because of the Espionage and Sedition Acts." In the war’s aftermath, a small-time bureaucrat in the Justice Department named J. Edgar Hoover used the Red Scare to spy on suspected subversives and to gain his own powerful foothold in the government.

These sorts of actions are not totally unfamiliar to modern Americans, and in a postscript "Guide to Wartime Presidents," Bausum surveys the threat that war can present to democratic institutions, from John Adams to Barack Obama.

Recommended for sixth graders on up

WORLD OF LEARNING: WHAT WORKS? WORK

"What Works in the Classroom? Ask the Students" New York Times 12/10/10

While this article is about the value of students’ assessment of their teachers, it does have another purpose: coverage of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's report on the findings of its Measures of Effective Teaching Project.

No one can deny that America does not have the good educational system it once did. It seems obvious that the key element of good education is good teachers. But raising a ruckus about that avoids the bigger issue: Are we, as a society (that’s fallen on hard times) willing to pay? If schools are going to attract high quality teachers, throwing the bad ones out, as recently happened in Compton, isn’t enough.

It would be nice if every school district had great schools, whether they were charter or not. How do we get there, though? It’s going to take hard work, and what could be painful allocation of resources.

So often it appears that no one is working, and everyone is shouting--Bill Gates versus Diane Ravitch, and Waiting for Superman versus Race to Nowhere. I know that's not completely true, and that the debate is often pumped up by our media, but when the issue is framed as good guys against bad guys, it's distressing.

Now Michelle Rhee, ousted as the capital’s chief educator as a result of this sort of squabbling, is starting StudentsFirst, what she calls “a national movement to transform public education in our country.”

I hope she and other reformers would begin to make that happen, rather than making noise. As Rhee puts it, enough of us “understand and believe that kids deserve better.”

WORLD OF LEARNING: DIGITAL GAMES AND WORKING MEMORY

"Computer-Based Program May Help Relieve Some ADHD Symptoms in Children" ScienceDaily 12/11/10

Ohio State researchers believe that a software program from Sweden called Cogmed improves working memory.

WORLD OF LEARNING: DIETING AND THE POWER OF IMAGINATION

"Just Thinking Harder May Help You Lose Weight" NPR 12/10/10

Carnegie Mellon researchers show the power of imagination and self-visualization.

WORLD OF LEARNING: BABIES AND TELEVISION

"TV Watching Is Bad for Babies' Brains" U.S. News and World Report 12/7/10

Turn it off.

WORLD OF LEARNING: MAGICAL MOLECULE FOUND IN BRAIN

"Fewer Synapses, More Efficient Learning: Molecular Glue Wires the Brain" ScienceDaily 12/9/10

Despite advaces in technology, "the mechanisms that organize synapses in the living brain remain a puzzle. Yale scientists identified one critical piece of this puzzle, a molecule called SynCAM 1 that spans across synaptic junctions."

WORLD OF LEARNING: POLITICS AND PERCEPTION

"Politics and Eye Movement: Liberals Focus Their Attention on 'Gaze Cues' Much Differently Than Conservatives Do" ScienceDaily 12/9/10

No comment, except that it makes me feel better about my politics.

WORLD OF LEARNING: COCKTAIL PARTY EFFECT

"Our Brains Are Wired So We Can Better Hear Ourselves Speak" ScienceDaily 12/9/10

More evidence that what we perceive us very much subjective. And that we can't multi-task. The same phenomenon was covered on All Things Considered a few weeks ago in an interesting piece called "Tuning In To The Brain's 'Cocktail Party Effect.'"

WORLD OF LEARNING: "INCREDIBLE PLASTICITY"

"Common Genetic Influences for ADHD and Reading Disability" ScienceDaily 12/8/10

The correlation of cormorbidity examined by the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center is presumed to be "slow processing speed," but this study, at least on the basis of this summary, doesn't address possible diagnostic confusion. Couldn't ADHD behaviors be the product of frustration with the process of decoding/encoding?

WORLD OF LEARNING: THE COMPLEX DIAGNOSIS OF DYSLEXIA

"Widening Our Perceptions of Reading and Writing Difficulties" ScienceDaily 12/8/10

An Italian study of spelling's connection to reading difficulty suggests that "knowledge of vocabulary may be more important in spelling than previously thought," even in "orthographically transparent" languages, while Israeli researchers find evidence for problems that "are not caused by inability to identify letters or convert them to sounds; they result from migrations of letters between words."

LAR'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF JO NESBO'S "DOCTOR PROCTOR'S FART POWDER"

DOCTOR PROCTOR'S FART POWDER. By Jo Nesbo. Illustrated by Mike Lowery. Translated by Tara Chace. Aladdin, 2011 (paperback), 2010, 2008.

The chief selling point of Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder is blatantly obvious. You would be hard pressed to find a child who didn’t think flatulence funny. And this isn’t normal gas. We’re talking about explosive power that makes the earwax press into your head while your eyes press out of it. Even more appealing, it’s odorless.

The good doctor, the eccentric of his sedate neighborhood, lives on the Oslo fjord, tinkering on new inventions that, like a powder intended to prevent hay fever, generally disappoint him. When a new kid of Lilliputian size named Nilly moves onto quiet Cannon Street, things are going to change, and not just because of his irreverent attitude or loud trumpet playing.

He boosts the confidence of the girl next door, Lisa, and becomes her best friend. They help Doctor Proctor to see that his powder does not have to serve any more useful purpose than making children laugh in order to be profitable. Nilly delivers a proper comeuppance to the bullies who rule Cannon Street, Truls and Trym Trane.

There’s much more to the story, though, including an anaconda sliding through the sluices of the Oslo Municipal Sewer and Drainage Company, huge servings of Jell-O, and the Big and Almost World-Famous Royal Salute at Akershus Fortress, the city’s ancient protector, in honor of Norway’s Independence Day every May 17.

As you can tell, Jo Nesbo, better known for his adult crime novels, has no higher goal here than unadulterated silliness. What’s wrong with that? Widely spaced print lines and lots of charmingly primitive drawings by Mike Lowery make this slapstick saga easy to read. There are absolutely no stumbling blocks in Tara Chase’s adept translation.

Recommended for third graders on up.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

MY REVIEW OF LIBBA BRAY'S "GOING BOVINE"

GOING BOVINE. By Libba Bray. Delacorte, 2009. 480 pages.

Fun and funny enough to have kept me going to the end, but geez, Bray, in line with her name, paints with a broad brush. She gets by on brashness, and tosses out anything that is even close to subtle. Forget about nuance with Going Bovine.

The premise—sixteen-year-old slacker from severely dysfunctional family gets mad cow disease and goes on hallucinatory quest to find Dr. X and save the universe with hypochondriac midget, talking gnome lawn ornament, and riot-grrrl angel as sidekicks—should have warned me about what to expect.

The tilting-at-windmills quality of someone on his deathbed accepting an impossible mission should clue the reader into Bray’s nod to Cervantes, but in case the reader doesn't get it, the author lets you know that she does, more than a few times. She also leaves you in no doubt about how she feels about the crass, shallow, humorless, merciless, materialistic culture of consumerism in which she is marketing Going Bovine. '

Bray is so consumed with setting ‘em up and knocking ‘em down that her protagonist, Cameron, who might be kind of sweet if he just poked his head out of the cloud of pot smoke that continually surrounds him, hardly seems to matter. He’s just a vehicle who can enter places like CESSNAB (Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack-’N’-Bowl), so that Bray can rip into the sleazy superficiality of it all. Balder, the Nordic yard decoration, has more personality, and integrity.

It’s Vonnegut on steroids, and Bray leaps into the fray with such gusto that she pulled me along for the ride, even as I tried to dig in my heels and slow things down enough to jump off. Sheer outrageousness is worth something. Libba Bray milks every last drop. She’s determined to be the most unwimpy YA writer on the block. I’d have to say she’s pretty successful.

Recommended for seventh graders on up, if you feel comfortable with substance abuse, iterations of the F-word, a graphic description of crummy copulation, and a coy recounting of celestial sex.
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LAR'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF ELISE BROACH'S "MASTERPIECE"

MASTERPIECE. By Elise Broach. Illustrated by Kelly Murphy. Feiwel and Friends, 2010 (paperback), 2008. 304 pages.

E.B. White, George Selden. Sophisticated little animals. Manhattanites of yesteryear, with their glib savoir faire and urban obtuseness. Witty, well-chosen language. It’s counterintuitive that it still sells.

Stuart Little and The Cricket in Times Square still do, thankfully. People just won’t give up on literate, if retrograde, children’s literature, because reading it, particularly reading it aloud, remains such a delight.

Masterpiece could have been published 50 years ago with hardly a raised eyebrow at anachronism. It’s the story of a family of beetles (they wouldn’t be cockroaches, would they, even if that is far more likely) who live under the kitchen sink in the Pompadays’ (love that) apartment.

James Pompaday, an insecure eleven-year-old, forms a secret friendship with the artistic member of the beetle family, Marvin. Because of Marvin’s skill, James’s superficial mother and stepfather, as well as his earnest, estranged father—there’s something that might not have flown in 1960—come to believe that James can use pen and ink as adroitly as, say, Albrecht Durer.

It’s a clever premise that allows Elise Broach to introduce young readers to the world of medieval art curatorship, and more thrillingly, to the history of art theft. It’s up to James, and especially Marvin, to solve a most daring heist—from the New York Museum of Modern Art, no less.

Marvin, James, and the lovely MOMA caretaker Christina Balcony are an engaging trio of lead characters. The Pompadays and Marvin’s family add some nice comic relief. Kelly Murphy’s pen-and-ink illustrations are a perfect thematic match with the text, a mystery that holds onto the necessary suspense and excitement.

Broach’s homage to White and Selden earns her a place on bookshelves next to them.

Recommended for fourth graders on up.

LARS'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON'S "FORGE"

FORGE. By Laurie Halse Anderson. Atheneum, 2010. 304 pages.

Unlike Chains, its War of Independence predecessor, Forge wastes no time getting in gear. Curzon, a young slave whom we had last seen as his friend Isabel rescued him from a British prison ship, is almost immediately thrown into the Battles of Saratoga.

As fighting overtakes him, Curzon hides in the woods, only to witness a showdown between a redcoat and a Patriot soldier. The Continental, fumbling to reload his flintlock, looks to be an easy target. Then Curzon unleashes a rock at the British soldier. His shot goes awry. The American fires and a musket ball tears the Englishman’s guts open.

With a riveting beginning like that, Forge can’t go wrong. I felt that the first half of Chains was dragged down by the relationship between Isabel and her developmentally delayed sister, Ruth. Anderson’s explanation of that relationship held up the action. No such problem here. Ruth is not in this one at all.

Saratoga was a turning point in the Revolutionary War, demonstrating to the French that the rebels had a viable army that was capable of defeating the mighty British Empire. But with Philadelphia occupied, the Americans’ cause was hardly assured. They really proved their mettle by surviving the winter at Valley Forge.

Curzon, who befriends the American soldier and enlists in the Continental Army, also survives Valley Forge. His friend Eben, a wonderful character delightfully drawn by Anderson, is forced to look at slavery in a new light, due to the bond he forms with the black teenager who saves his life.

Curzon believes his service under General Washington means that he is now free, but soon finds out that white men don’t have to keep their word—if it’s given to a slave. His old master appears at the encampment and reclaims his property. There is one benefit for Curzon: Bellingham also owns Isabel.

How she and Curzon, both so strong-willed, face the injustice of their condition, as well as their feelings for each other, makes for an engrossing tale, told with drama and humor.

I listened to Forge, and was not particularly taken by the narrator, Tim Cain. However, the first person voice of Curzon and the fast-paced story line erased any difficulties with Cain’s mediocre delivery. Anderson’s second installment in her Seeds of America trilogy gives young readers a galvanizing look at this important period in American history.

Recommended for fifth graders on up.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

LAR'S LIBRARY: JANE YOLEN

On NPR's site, you can listen to a nice profile of Jane Yolen, author of 300 children's books. Good books.

WORLD OF LEARNING: THE INTERSECTION OF EDUCATION AND NEUROSCIENCE

"Neuro Myths: Separating Fact and Fiction in Brain-Based Learning" Edutopia 12/8/10
"Neuroplasticity: Learning Physically Changes the Brain" Edutopia 12/8/10
"To Enable Learning, Put (Emotional) Safety First" Edutopia 12/8/10

Edutopia pieces that are not a bad little intro to the intersection of education and neuroscience, leaning heavily on interviews with Judy Willis, neurologist/teacher and author of some easy-to-read books on brain science and education, as well as Harvard's Kurt Fischer.

WORLD OF LEARNING: ANCIENT PUZZLES, HOW TO SOLVE PUZZLES

"Math Puzzles’ Oldest Ancestors Took Form on Egyptian Papyrus" New York Times 12/6/10
"Tracing the Spark of Creative Problem-Solving" New York Times 12/6/10

The first Times article looks at ancient Egyptian puzzles to show that "people of all eras and cultures gravitate toward puzzles because puzzles have solutions." The second is by the inestimable Benedict Carey and delves into the best way to find solutions: relaxing with a bit of humor and being open to the unexpected, balanced with good old discipline.

WORLD OF LEARNING: A NEW FORM OF BULLYING WHERE THERE ARE NO RULES

"As Bullies Go Digital, Parents Play Catch-Up" New York Times 12/4/10

WORLD OF LEARNING: VISION VS. SEEING

"Brain's Architecture Makes Our View of the World Unique" ScienceDaily 12/6/10

I'm not sure what to make of this, but it's fascinating. The way we see is not only a product of the quality of our eyesight, but also the way the visual areas of our brains process what the eyes "see."

Sunday, December 5, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: MY REVIEW OF "THE LOST ART OF READING"

THE LOST ART OF READING: WHY BOOKS MATTER IN A DISTRACTED TIME. By David L. Ulin. Sasquatch Books, 2010. 151 pages.

In The Shallows, a book quoted from liberally in The Lost Art of Reading, Nicholas Carr notes the way that older technologies are changing because of digital computers. Newspapers and magazines feature shorter articles, more color, more graphics, pull quotes, navigational aids, summaries. "Crawls" and "flippers" clutter TV screens. DVD viewers jump into online conversations about scenes as they watch them. Tweets explain musical reference points to concertgoers who are encouraged to text message back.

It’s true, it’s true. But I’m not so sure about Carr’s take on libraries. Perhaps in the initial days of digital mania, their "most popular service" quickly became internet access. At my local library, there has been a steady increase in the number of internet stations, and they are heavily used. But unlike the old days, it’s not that hard to find one that’s open.

As more and more people carry along their own laptops, their own digital phones and pads everywhere they go, they could care less about using someone else’s. It might be true, as Carr says, that "the predominant sound in the modern library is the tapping of keys, not the turning of pages." But the primary reason people are going to my library is its stock in trade: books.

There’s no doubt that the way we read and even, perhaps, the amount of books we read, is changing. But fading out altogether? Maybe I’m myopic, but I don’t think so. There’s something you get from a book that you can’t get from any other medium.

Books by nature eliminate distractions, rather than multiplying them. They have what Ulin calls a "nearly magical power to transport us to other landscapes, other lives." Books demand total engagement, and that is why they have such paradoxical force. It’s rather odd that the quiet act of reading a book may be more interactive than looking at the most noisy and colorful web site. Instead of pulling us toward the next and then the next exciting image, they demand that we make our own images.

What is becoming harder, as Ulin notes, is finding the time and place for that total engagement. "Language is internal," he says. "And yet, what do we do in a culture where we are constantly invited to step out of the frame, to externalize imagination and to rethink how the process works?"

That is what The Lost Art of Reading is all about. It’s not an obituary at all, and Ulin is quite realistic about what is happening. He is not saying we have to adjust for new technology; as Nicholas Carr points out, the new technology has already adjusted us. Ulin is searching for a way we can incorporate the old, because we need it.

Beyond the attractions of books as "ripcords, escape hatches, portals out of…life," the deep reading they require engenders the deep thought that we have to do to face a forbidding future. The polarized debate that keeps us glued to screens just perpetuates confirmation bias. Resolving problems means focusing on them longer than a soundbite.

"If we frame every situation in terms of right and wrong," Ulin writes, "we never have to wrestle with complexity; if we define the world in narrow bands of black and white, we don’t have to parse out endless shades of gray." He effectively quotes Fitzgerald: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." Books push us beyond our preconceptions.

Reading books, of course, is hardly a silver bullet, but Ulin makes an impassioned case for finding the space in our distractible culture for what has become, thanks to the book, an elemental part of our humanity.

Ulin doesn’t believe "that anything is lasting; all of it will be taken from us at the end. Chaos, entropy…the best that we can hope for are a few transcendent moments, in which we bridge the gap of our loneliness and come together with another human being. That is what reading has always meant to me and what, even more, it means to me now."

Highly recommended.

LARS'S LIBRARY: YEAR-END LISTS

So far I've got the New York Times' Notable Children's Books of 2010 and Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2010, Publisher's Weekly's Best Children's Books 2010, Kirkus Review's 2010 Best Children's Books, School Library Journal's Best Books 2010: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Picture Book, and peerless NYC librarian and SLJ's own Elizabeth Bird's 100 Magnificent Children's Books of 2010.

WORLD OF LEARNING: VISION THERAPY

"Ophthalmologists express skepticism about vision therapy" St. Louis Beacon 11/30/10

A measured, if somewhat negative, look at vision therapy.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: SELF-AWARENESS AND LEARNING DISABILITIES

"Self-Awareness and LD: Enhancing Skills for Success in Life" LD.org 11/20/10

Some good, practical advice.

WORLD OF LEARNING: SOCIABILITY

"Dogs Have Bigger Brains Than Cats Because They Are More Sociable, Research Finds" ScienceDaily 11/28/10
"Human Creativity May Have Evolved as a Way for Parents to Bond With Their Children" ScienceDaily 11/15/10

Sociability: the key to intelligence and creativity.

WORLD OF LEARNING: NEUROSCIENCE AND CONSCIOUSNESS

"A Conversation With Antonio Damasio and Siri Hustvedt" Big Think Breakthroughs Video 9/22/10

You can read about Damasio and Hustvedt's conversation in the December issue of Discover, but far better to watch the video of it...and you won't have to subscribe to the magazine (of course, it is a great magazine). Damasio, a star of neuroscience, just published Self Comes to Mind, a book I want to read. Hustvedt is a novelist (I really liked her The Sorrows of an American), who is very knowledgeable about Damasio's field. They touch on Phineas Gage, too!

WORLD OF LEARNING: SOCIAL SKILLS CURRICULUM

"New Approach Finds Success in Teaching Youth With Autism" ScienceDaily 11/20/10

This program being developed at the University of Missouri might have value for all children, with its curriculum that focuses on "recognizing facial expressions, sharing ideas, taking turns, exploring feelings and emotions, and problem-solving."

WORLD OF LEARNING: RECESS DOES NOT INTERFERE WITH LEARNING; RECESS HELPS LEARNING

"Eliminating Recess Hurts Kids" Education Week 11/12/10

This article reminded me of the Ken Robinson video posted earlier here, where he makes the point that education uses an obsolete Industrial Age model. The assembly line that produces standardized test takers can't stop for recess, even though play and exercise improve cognition.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: GROWING UP DIGITAL

"Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction" New York Times 11/21/10

After a long wait (since August) Matt Richtel is back with his "Your Brain on Computers" series, and as he promised on "Fresh Air," he and his helpers are delving into the effects of the digital revolution for those for whom it is no longer a revolution, but a way of life.

I hope this is just the beginning of that study, because here Richtel mostly documents how important digital devices are to high school kids--at least right here in the Bay Area, at Redwood City's Woodside High. Richtel finds one student who sends 900 text messages a day, another who spends six to seven hours a day playing video games.

A logical conclusion would be that this is having a profound effect on brain structure. While the article does quote researchers, notably Michael Rich of Harvard Medical School, I'm looking for more of what the scientists say--work like that done by Patricia Greenfield and Maryanne Wolf.

I was struck by a couple of things. One is how accepted it is by parents, teachers, Woodside's principal, as well as the kids themselves, that they don't do their homework, that they don't read. All concerned were quite frank about this.

The other is how articulate these kids were, even as they acknowledged the deleterious consequences social networking and video games were having on their lives. More than one wished parents would limit digital time.

WORLD OF LEARNING: MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY'S BRAIN SHOW

"Brain: The Inside Story" American Museum of Natural History

Even if you can't get to New York to see the exhibition, this site offers plenty of fun and information.

WORLD OF LEARNING: GENDER AND AUTISM

"Study Finds Evidence of Gender Bias Toward Diagnosing Boys With Autism" ScienceDaily 11/19/10

Saturday, November 20, 2010

LARS'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF JOHN FLEISCHMAN'S "PHINEAS GAGE: A GRUESOME BUT TRUE STORY ABOUT BRAIN SCIENCE"

PHINEAS GAGE: A GRUESOME BUT TRUE STORY ABOUT BRAIN SCIENCE. By John Fleischman. Houghton Mifflin, 2002. 96 pages.

John Fleischman opens Phineas Gage at full tilt, September 13, 1848, "a minute or two away" from an accident that can only be described as freakish. Gage was working with gunpowder, blasting through solid rock as the foreman of a railroad construction gang in Vermont.

The tool of his trade was a tamping iron, three and a half feet long, a little less than two inches round, one end pointed like a spear to set a fuse, the blunt end used to tamp down earth over the gunpowder.

Something went wrong. The sharp end of the iron spear shot into Gage’s left cheek. Its entire length rocketed through the front of his brain and burst out of the top of his skull, clanking down thirty feet away.

Gage lived. During the half hour it took for a doctor to arrive, he sat down on the front porch of the hotel where he was boarding and talked about what had just happened.

Was he okay? Not exactly. Phineas Gage was not the same man. He could walk and talk, but the even-tempered supervisor had now lost the ability to match his behavior to the situation at hand. He had no social skills.

Gage’s misfortune occurred as the medical establishment was on the verge of looking at the brain in an utterly new way. A decade and a half later, a surgeon in Paris showed, by conducting autopsies on stroke victims, that there was a specific region of the brain devoted to speech production. That place, located just above the left ear, is still known as Broca’s area, after the French doctor.

It has taken another century plus for neuroscientists, equipped with modern technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography, to really begin to map out the brain. Today, when lay people are knowledgeable about "executive function," it’s far easier for us to understand how losing a chunk of your frontal lobe would affect your judgment, your planning, and the way you get along with others.

In the mid-nineteenth century, phrenologists were feeling the bumps and dents on people’s heads to determine cognitive strengths and weaknesses.

What doctors of the time were able to do was dig up poor old Phineas and preserve his skull, as well as the tamping iron that remained a constant companion until his death in 1860, at the age of thirty-six. This ensured that Gage would remain a subject of fascination, and become the protagonist of Fleischman’s unusual and compelling children’s book.

The only thing that bugged me about Fleischman’s otherwise riveting narration was his insistence on using present tense throughout the book. It worked for me in the initial passage, so forceful in its immediacy, but got hokier as he went through several time changes. But that never bothered me enough to lose interest. What a story, and thanks to Elizabeth Bird for bringing it to my attention.

Many of us are attracted, perhaps somewhat reluctantly, to the macabre and grotesque, including middle schoolers. Here’s a nifty book that plays into that draw, and then introduces readers to the exciting work being done in brain science.

Recommended for fifth graders on up.

Friday, November 19, 2010

LAR'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF ROBERT KRASKE'S "MAROONED"

MAROONED: THE STRANGE BUT TRUE TALE OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK, THE REAL ROBINSON CRUSOE. By Robert Kraske, Robert Andrew Parker. Clarion, 2005. 128 pages.

What a neat little book. It makes me wish for more little books like this—seven and a half by five inches and a skosh more than a hundred pages.

Robert Kraske makes no sacrifices here. He offers an elegantly told tale with lots of digression to explain world politics, naval technology, the flora and fauna of Juan Fernández Island, even the sounds and smells of London streets of the early eighteenth century.

It’s unnecessary to have read, or know anything about, Defoe’s classic ‘Robinson Crusoe’ to enjoy this jewel of historical sweep and swashbuckling adventure, although that certainly made my experience all the richer.

As with any biography where source material is scarce, Kraske is forced to resort to many ‘might haves,’ but his research and love for detail bring the past to life. He’s got quite a story in the bare bones of what we do know.

Alexander Selkirk, like Crusoe, was stricken with wanderlust and a desire to escape a caring but overbearing Scottish father, and proved to be a worthy sailor. Unlike Crusoe, he was a feisty one as well and ended up on his island (off Chile rather than Brazil) not through shipwreck, but because a captain called his bluff and left him there. Selkirk got the last laugh on that one.

Selkirk seems to have reveled in the same ‘undoubted right of dominion’ that so thrilled Crusoe in isolation, but he could never equal that joy, as relieved as he was when rescued from Juan Fernández.

The excitement was far from over, as he joined a squadron of British privateers that circled the globe, taking Spanish treasure. But after returning to England, he was uncomfortable with the renown gained through his exploits. ‘O my beloved island! I wish I had never left thee,’ he cried to his nonplussed family. And then ran off to sea again.

Selkirk never really found the feeling of home he had, so far from human contact and his origins, again.

Daniel Defoe’s own story ran parallel to his inspiration. Finally achieving huge success at sixty with ‘Robinson Crusoe,’ he couldn’t parlay fame and fortune into happiness, either.

Kraske’s masterful recounting of the true tale that led to the classic novel is perfectly complemented by Robert Andrew Parker’s simple and effective ink-and-wash illustrations.

A great bite-sized saga for lovers of history and adventure. Highly recommended for sixth graders on up.

LAR'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF ALL-ACTION CLASSICS' "THE ODYSSEY"

ALL-ACTION CLASSICS NO. 3: THE ODYSSEY. By Homer, Tim Mucci, Ben Caldwell, Rick Lacy, Emmanuel Tenderini. Sterling, 2009. 128 pages.

At first, the illustrative style and the lettering of this comic book adaptation put me off. Too weird and busy. Like listening to a stranger's voice where tone and accent take some effort to get past, though, once I got into it, the 'All-Action Classic' started working for me. Eventually, I completely forgot I had thought the presentation hard to decipher, and the story began to carry me along.

Tim Mucci does a skilled turn here at collapsing many events into minimal space, touching on almost all the major episodes of Odysseus's long journey back to Ithaca.

An ideal way to introduce young readers to Homer, if they can accept the idiosyncratic graphics of Ben Caldwell and company. Recommended for fifth graders up, who might be seeking some context for Percy Jackson and his cohorts.

WORLD OF LEARNING: SCHOLASTIC READING REPORT, GENDER AND THE BRAIN

"Scholastic 2010 Kids and Family Reading Report"
"Differences in Brain Development Between Males and Females May Hold Clues to Mental Health Disorders" ScienceDaily 11/17/10

Thursday, November 18, 2010

LARS'S LIBRARY: 2010 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS

The 2010 National Book Awards were announced November 17, and the winner in the Young People's Literature category was Katherine Erskine for her "Mockingbird."

WORLD OF LEARNING: HAPPINESS AND PARADIGMS

"When the Mind Wanders, Happiness Also Strays" New York Times 11/15/10
"RSA Animate: Changing Education Paradigms" Ken Robinson/YouTube 10/14/2010

These two certainly fit well together. One of our ablest science writers, John Tierney, makes a case for distraction as a cause of unhappiness, and the words of Ken Robinson, one of our strongest proponents for the arts in education, are cleverly illustrated in a marvelous little video that gets at why our children might be distracted.

Monday, November 15, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: WHAT SHOULD BE THE STANDARD?

"Why I Will Not Teach to the Test" Kelly Gallagher/Education Week 11/12/10

Gallagher authored a superb manifesto for better reading instruction in middle and high school, the fabulous Readacide. In this opinion piece, he questions the value of overlong lists of standards, and I'm down with it. We need to ask what the purpose of teaching content is. If your answer is that it is to help students absorb and then deal with the content by developing critical thinking skills, it only makes sense that we don't overload them with content. Depth is better than breadth. The trouble is that it is much harder to measure depth with a multiple choice test.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Saturday, November 13, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: MY REVIEW OF PO BRONSON AND ASHLEY MERRYMAN'S "NURTURESHOCK"

NURTURESHOCK. By Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. Twelve, 2009. 352 pages.

NurtureShock is a wonderful collection of essays on child development that carries more weight than you might think. On an initial glance, it appears to be another example of what Adam Hanft, in a review of Steven Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From, called ‘pattern porn’.

Hanft defines the genre as "non-fiction characterized by a seductive thesis that is supported by an ingenious arrangement of scientific support—manipulatively cherry-picked, in the eyes of some critics—and lush anecdotal juxtapositions that are voyeuristically irresistible."

You’ve seen them on the display racks—those books attractively encased in stripped-down graphics and catchy titles: Blink, Drive, How We Decide, and…NurtureShock.

But NurtureShock, despite its package, shuns the seductive thesis. Instead, Bronson and Merryman’s main goal is that readers avoid thinking in black and white. If we start with the assumption that there is one right way to bring up children, they warn, we are falling for the "Fallacy of the Good/Bad Dichotomy"—the ‘tendency to categorize things as either good for children or bad for children.’

Thinking that antibiotics can only be good because they kill bad bacteria might lead to overuse and problems with resistant bacteria. In the same way, looking at lying solely as a negative trait in children is not entirely helpful.

We learn how to lie. It’s part of development—a necessary part. Lying requires intelligence and social sense. There’s probably a connection between lying and "theory of mind"—the ability to think about what others are thinking about.

But NurtureShock is not a screed for allowing kids to lie, cheat, steal and engage in self-destructive behavior. The authors assure us they are "still telling kids to 'play nice' and say thank you." What they want is objectivity—to steer us toward a balanced approach in developing cognition and citizenship, based on research.

They believe that "good stuff and bad stuff are not opposite ends of the spectrum," but "are what’s termed orthogonal—mutually independent." When we look at children, the "many factors in their lives—such as sibling interaction, peer pressure, marital conflict, or even gratitude—can be both a good influence and a bad influence."

The other assumption Bronson and Merryman urge us to avoid is the "Fallacy of Similar Effect"—the idea "that things work in children in the same way that they work in adults."

If we’re really going to base the rearing of children on evidence, we have to really be careful about confirmation bias—thinking that we already know what studies will show. To examine the way kids learn we have to free ourselves of preconceptions based on our adult experience.

In many cases, the best and simplest solution is not quite as simple as it looks. For example, Bronson and Merryman point out that the experts mostly agree that trying to force-feed language skills to babies through videos such as the infamous Baby Einstein DVDs just doesn’t work.

Why? Babies need to look at adults talking to learn to segment, to tell where one word stops and another begins. Lip reading is part of speech learning.

Don’t stop there, though, because learning to talk is not a passive activity. Caregivers need to encourage language production by the child, not just "push massive amounts of language into the baby’s ear." They need to be more than live versions of Baby Einstein. "If…you think a baby isn’t contributing to the conversation," Bronson and Merryman note, "you’ve missed something really important."

One sign of good non-fiction is that it makes you want to find out more. I wish Bronson and Merryman had gone beyond babies in their discussion of language development. I work with elementary school and high school kids who have weak expressive language.

Like the babies in NurtureShock whose language development is lagging, I believe this is because they do not have enough conversation where they are expected to make sounds—in this case sounds consisting of specific and clear vocabulary. Too much of adult communication with children is one-sided, and in other venues—school, books, and digital devices—there is lots of input but little output.

Bronson and Merryman’s look at language development—"Why Hannah Talks and Alyssa Doesn’t"—is just one of ten essays in NurtureShock. The essays, while tied together by their focus on research into child development, are each valid as stand-alone pieces. Indeed, three of the chapters in the book were published that way, in New York magazine. It’s really an anthology, rather than a thesis with one central theme.

The first chapter—"The Inverse Power of Praise"—garnered quite a bit of attention when it appeared in 2007. It gets to the other connection between all of these essays: avoiding the "fallacies" previously mentioned. Besides the fact that viewing praise as not necessarily a good thing is counterintuitive, praise is effective with adults. So common sense tells us to praise our kids. Research by Carol Dweck and others have shown a danger in doing so.

Bronson and Merryman are searching for what we don’t readily see, what common sense doesn’t tell us, but scientists do.

Children are getting an hour less sleep than they did thirty years ago, and that lack of sleep is reflected in performance.

Avoiding the issue of race because we want kids to understand we’re all equal results in the opposite outcome.

By demanding that kids look us in the eye and speak the truth, we train proficient liars.

Channeling kids into gifted programs based on testing when they're five shuts out gifted students who don’t test well at that young age. I.Q. changes.

Siblings fight not in competition for attention, but for booty. Our Freudian legacy—that brothers and sisters are "locked into an eternal struggle for their parents’ affection" is misguided. "It turns out that Shakespeare was right, and Freud was wrong," say Bronson and Merryman. "Sibling rivalry may be less an Oedipal tale…and more King Lear."

Social skills are not just about being nice. Aggression and manipulation are cards that play well for the popular kids.

We’re right in observing that teenagers think differently than their parents—way differently. But pictures of moody and negative youths need to be tweaked. The authors quote Temple University psychologist Laurence Steinberg: "The popular image of the individual sulking in the wake of a family argument may be a more accurate portrayal of the emotional state of the parent, than the teenager." It seems that teens get something positive from such a battle, and then are often better at letting it go.

The chapter titled "Can Self-Control Be Taught?" especially resonated with me. Bronson and Merryman’s answer is yes, and they illustrate their case with the work done by Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong in their Tools of the Mind program, based on the ideas of Lev Vygotsky. Bodrova and Leong’s book is at the top of my list of the best books about child psychology.

NurtureShock now enters that list. Bronson and Merryman have assembled ten provocative essays that present up-to-date research and will prompt experts and non-experts alike to think more deeply about children and learning. Highly recommended.

Friday, November 12, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: DEHAENE AND THE BRAIN

"How Reading Rewires the Brain" ScienceNow 11/11/10

What Stanislas Dehaene is doing with his colleagues to back up his hypotheses in Reading in the Brain. Not everyone in the neuroscience community agrees that literacy might be dispacing face recognition.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

LARS'S LIBRARY: LISTS! LISTS!

The end of the year means lists! I love lists! Like the New York Times' "Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2010." And Publisher's Weekly's "Best Children's Books 2010."
While not a year-end list, I also love "Today" show contributor Laura Coffey's "9 most subversive children's books ever written," some of which I'll undoubtedly be adding to my list of Wacky, Weird and Irreverent Picture Books.

WORLD OF LEARNING: WHAT MAKES A GREAT TUTOR?

"Like a Monitor More Than a Tutor" New York Times 11/7/10

Especially liked what educational consultant Emily Glickman says at the article's conclusion: “A good homework helper is one who teaches a child so that they no longer need a homework helper.” That goes along with my own mission statement: "My goal is to work myself out of a job."

WORLD OF LEARNING: LEARNING ARITHMETIC

"Parents Should Talk About Math Early and Often With Their Children--Even Before Preschool, Report Finds" ScienceDaily 11/9/10
"Children Find Their Own Way to Solve Arithmetic Problems" ScienceDaily 11/9/10

WORLD OF LEARNING: HYPER-NETWORKING AND HEALTH

"Hyper-texting and Hyper-networking Pose New Health Risks for Teens" ScienceDaily 11/9/10

I'm somewhat dubious the direct correlation this Case Western study draws between "unchecked texting and other widely popular methods of staying connected" and "dangerous health effects on teenagers." Did the study rule out all other contributing factors? However, I'm tempted to believe that overdosing on screen time is negative for all ages, as I've expressed earlier.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: NEW RESEARCH

"Research Suggests Link Between 'Handedness' and Dyslexia" HealthNews 11/5/10

LAR'S LIBRARY: SCREEN READING

While there are reasons to be concerned about the relationship between digital media and reading, there are also reasons to be encouraged. Kids are enjoying reading on screens, says a study by Scholastic covered in this New York Times article. Sam Grobart reviews some new books that play into kids' affection for the internet in a more recent Times piece. One of them is indefatigable author Jon Scieszka's "SPHDZ," which I briefly reviewed on Goodreads.

Friday, November 5, 2010

LARS'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF RICK RIORDAN'S "THE LOST HERO"

THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS BOOK ONE: THE LOST HERO. By Rick Riordan. Disney/Hyperion, 2010. 553 pages.

Rick Riordan claims that by moving on to The Heroes of Olympus, he has escaped "the easy sort of default thing," like writing "Percy Jackson 6, Percy Jackson 7, Percy Jackson 28." During the same Lost Hero release webcast, he griped that there are "too many series" that go on "way too long," where "the book quality suffers."

That seems a bit disingenuous. Okay, Percy Jackson doesn’t make an appearance in The Lost Hero. But his presence is pervasive—he’s off on a quest—and there are strong hints of a re-appearance in the next book. Other characters from The Olympians show up. Annabeth, especially, is quite important here. Yes, there is a "new generation" of demigods, but they’re still going to Camp Half Blood. Calling The Lost Hero Percy Jackson 6 would not really be too far off the mark.

Not that I’m complaining—much. And there are gonna be a gazillion breathlessly-waiting kids eating this one up. So more power to Mr. Riordan. It will be interesting to see whether this series, or Riordan’s other new franchise, The Kane Chronicles, gains more traction in the middle school market. I’m rooting for the Kane siblings, and thought The Red Pyramid was a far more original concept.

To be fair, there are definitely some new elements in The Lost Hero. Despite the singularity evoked in its titles, the novel features a trio of protagonists, and although the narration is always third-person, Riordan divides his focus equally between them, switching off every couple of chapters.

Percy Jackson, solo; Sadie and Carter Kane, duo; now a triad—Jason, Piper and Leo. They’re most emphatically new creations, and likeable ones. Jason and Piper are immediately portrayed as beautiful people, without Percy Jackson’s initial awkwardness. That’s even with Jason having lost his memory. Continuing to move toward more of a multicultural cast (the Kanes are African-American), Riordan enlists a Latino in Leo. Likewise, Piper is not only half god; she’s half Cherokee.

New god-fathers and god-mothers, too, of course.

The real novelty in The Heroes of Olympus is going to be Rome, and the Roman versions of the Greek gods. In The Lost Hero, Jason, Piper and Leo’s quest is to free Hera/Juno and defeat Porphyion and his brother giants, who might awaken their mum.

There’s another plot line, though. Percy Jackson is operating on some kind of parallel mission that will involve the denizens of Camp Half Blood coming to term with the Roman manifestations of their Olympian progenitors. It’s a mission that connects to Jason’s lack of recall.

Goodbye, Odysseus. Hello, Aeneas and the wolf brothers.

I’ll leave it a mystery as to how that begins to come about, and since I can't as yet know how it will play out, I'll be on the lookout for the next Heroes.

Recommended for fourth graders on up.

WORLD OF LEARNING: HOW TO MOTIVATE READERS

"Meeting Readers Where They Are: Mapping the intersection of research and practice" School Library Journal 11/1/10

This article in School Library Journal really delivers. Too bad that too many ignore these seven simple and practical ways to get kids reading—ways backed by evidence that shows they are effective.

First, Carol Gordon writes, children need structured opportunities to read what they want to read. In schools, this is the silent reading period. Yet the trend in schools is less and less silent reading.

Second, being able to discuss what you're reading with peers, in real or virtual time, motivates reading (just ask this Goodreads guy). But true sharing of literary experience is rare in schools. More often, kids begrudgingly read required books, answer study guide questions, and participate in teacher-led discussions because they have to.

Third, being able to choose what you read is another motivator. I've been big on the idea of choice for some time. Once school starts, though, kids forgo reading for themselves as they are burdened with reading for the curriculum. They start equating reading solely with duty, not interest.

Fourth, being able to choose what you read actually makes for better reading. In fact, it may be more effective that direct instruction. Most reading instruction uses mandated materials, however.

Fifth—this seems so obvious—having a wide range of reading material readily available leads to reading. Last summer, a study done at the University of Tennesssee indicated that just giving kids some books they chose for vacation led to "a significantly higher level of reading achievement." How often do schools and parents give kids books they want?

Sixth, kids need to read during summer to avoid the well-documented summer slump. Assigning a couple of obligatory novels often results in resentful kids who fake it.

Finally, Gordon comes down hard on the use of point systems. Although it's clear that prodigious readers read because they enjoy books, many schools turn to competitive programs to motivate young readers instead of helping them to find what they want to read.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

LARS'S LIBRARY: LITERARY LINKS: HIGGLETY PIGGLETY POP

If the name Maurice Sendak only means wild things to you, check out the really offbeat Higglety Pigglety Pop.

LARS'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF KATHRYN ERSKINE'S "MOCKINGBIRD"

MOCKINGBIRD. By Kathryn Erskine. Philomel Books, 2010. 235 pages.

Mockingbird is a valuable book if only because it has stirred things up a little in the kidlit world. Some of the point/counterpoint I’ve seen:

It should have just been about death. It should have just been about differences—a kid on the autism spectrum.

The first-person depiction of Asperger’s syndrome is inaccurate. The first-person depiction of Asperger’s is perfectly rendered.

The combination of school shooting, a death in the family, and developmental disorder is too depressing for a children’s book. A school shooting, a death in the family, and a developmental disorder are presented in a clear way for kids who are curious about these subjects.

It’s too cutesy. It’s quite touching.

Such divergent opinions about this nominee for the 2010 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature avoid the central issue: Was it a good story? Did you buy into the premise?

I’m going with a qualified yes. A little sappy, like any sweet story, with a resolution that’s maybe a little too pat, but still managed to bring tears to my eyes.

Caitlin, the first-person narrator, is diagnosed with Asperger’s. A fifth-grader mainstreamed into regular education in her suburban Virginia school, she lives with her lonely and distraught father.

Caitlin’s mother died when she was a baby, and her older brother Devon has since been her emotional mainstay. As ‘Mockingbird’ opens, Devon has been killed in the most random of ways—a school shooting by another student. In an author’s note, Erskine says the 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy prompted her to write the novel.

Mockingbird’s plot—Caitlin’s quest to find closure—bears up under the pressure of weaving together these multiple and solemn strands, often with gentle humor.

Children on the autism spectrum can feel sadness and loss, as well as joy and belonging, just as deeply as ‘normal’ people do. Their expression of feeling can be fresh and unique, if only we can learn to draw it out and they can learn how to frame it.

Writing a novel is difficult for anyone, and getting inside someone else’s mind is impossible, so books like this and Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time require a suspension of disbelief that can only be caused by story and language that ring true. Like Haddon, Erskine uses the character of Caitland to illuminate literal thinking, obsessive attention, and repetitive behavior in a believable way that is consistent with the criteria for pervasive developmental disorders.

Erskine’s own attention to realistic detail help the verisimilitude. Caitlin’s father is far from perfect, and somewhat overwhelmed with the responsibility of managing a kid with special needs at the same time as personal tragedy. He occasionally has to leave his daughter in the lurch by leaving the room, or in a touch I liked, turning on Fox news for its superficial analysis of the school shooting.

Other important characters, like Caitlin’s wise counselor, Mrs. Brook, and her younger playground friend, Michael, are equally complex.

And Erskine adds in a nice little literary fillip. As you might guess from the title, her book contains some allusions to Harper Lee’s classic.

Is it all too much for a middle school reader? I say let the middle school reader decide for himself. Some kids, quite naturally, have questions about arbitrary violence, mortality, and their more unusual peers, and might be looking for a novel that addresses these issues that they can easily read.

With the caveat of slightly-too-cutesy presentation and possibly-too-weighty subject matter for all readers, recommended for fourth graders on up.

Monday, October 25, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: PLAY

"Recess: Fish, reptiles and some invertebrates appear to play. But when is it play, and not something else? And why do animals do it?" TheScientist 10-1-10

Stuart Brown's Play got into the science and evolution of play, if somewhat breezily (and playfully). This article does so in a more substantial manner, and it's easy to read, and has a cute animal video, besides.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

LARS'S LIBRARY: DAVID ALMOND'S INSPIRING SPEECH

Here's a little talk by David Almond (Skellig) that gave me hope for children's books and children's reading and writing. Very inspiring, so keep going past the thank yous (for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award). Thanks to Elizabeth Bird's blog for the link.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: EASILY REWIRED YOUNG BRAINS

"Younger Brains Are Easier to Rewire--Brain Regions Can Switch Functions" ScienceDaily 10/22/10

RECENT NEWS: MODEL READING FOR CHILDREN, AND FOR YOURSELF

Common sense tells you that it’s going to be easier to sell reading to children if they have parents who are avid readers. Research does, too.

Rick Riordan, whose novels have motivated large numbers of kids to pick up books, recently wrote a short essay on the Wall Street Journal blog Speakeasy, where he opined that “all children can become lifelong readers.” He listed four essential ways to make that happen. Number one? “Model reading at home.”

That means not only reading books to your children, but reading books to yourself. “If the parents are too busy to read,” wrote Riordan, “it’s a safe bet the children will feel the same way.”

Sounds so true, but what Riordan is asking parents to do is something that can be difficult for adults today. And it’s not only because we are busy.

Think of the places where people used to read a magazine, or pull a paperback out of a purse or a backpack. In doctor’s offices and on public transportation, in laundromats and coffee shops, more and more of the people who are reading are doing so on handheld devices and laptops.

Looking at a screen is an activity we don’t need to model. Onscreen entertainment is intrinsically exciting. We don’t have to persuade children to like candy, either.

Of course, kids could be reading online, just as adults do. But that’s hard to monitor, and there is a good argument being made, in books like Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, that the kind of reading we do on computers is a radically new kind of reading, and it is changing our very malleable gray matter. Think of the effect on younger brains, so much more plastic.

Maryanne Wolf, an expert on dyslexia and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, co-wrote an article in Educational Leadership a year ago, in which she and Mirit Barzallai express their concern over the possibility that digital learning is having a negative effect on children’s literacy.

They are afraid that students are not acquiring the tools necessary for "slower, more time-consuming cognitive processes" so critical to "deep reading.” Those tools “propel comprehension” and “include inferential and deductive reasoning, analogical skills, critical analysis, reflection, and insight.”

“The expert reader needs milliseconds to execute these processes," note Wolf and Barzallai. “The young brain needs years to develop them.”

Wolf and Barzallai argue that the very skills that we need online, such as evaluating the credibility of sources, are ones that are hard to learn online. It’s a medium that is inherently distractible.

Books, however, require the kind of focus that nurtures deep reading. The page is simply the page, demanding complete attention. With nothing for readers “outside the text,” they are forced to “grapple with the text and apply their earlier knowledge as they question, analyze, and probe.”

If there is a great value in insisting that kids devote time to reading old-fashioned text, there are also benefits for their elders. David Ulin, former book editor of The Los Angeles Times, has just written The Lost Art of Reading, about his own battles to counteract the distractions of screen time. In an identically titled earlier piece in The Times, Ulin admitted his own susceptibility “to the tumult of the culture, the sound and fury signifying nothing.”

“These days,” Ulin wrote, “after spending hours reading e-mails and fielding phone calls in the office, tracking stories across countless websites, I find it difficult to quiet down. I pick up a book and read a paragraph; then my mind wanders and I check my e-mail, drift onto the Internet, pace the house before returning to the page.”

I think he’s touched on something to which most of us can relate. And I think most of us also identify with the accompanying sense of uncomfortable jitteriness Ulin feels: “the encroachment of the buzz, the sense that there is something out there that merits my attention, when in fact it's mostly just a series of disconnected riffs and fragments that add up to the anxiety of the age.”

By making the effort to read books, Ulin believes, we can find respite from that anxiety. Such reading, “by drawing us back from the present…restores time to us in a fundamental way.” It’s “an act of resistance in a landscape of distraction, a matter of engagement in a society that seems to want nothing more than for us to disengage.”

So, returning to Rick Riordan’s number one way to insure that our children become lifelong readers, let’s look at deep reading, the sort of reading we do with books, as something that is not only good for kids, but good for us, for our community, and for the larger society.

To help children read, help yourself. Think about what you want to read, go to the library or a bookstore, get books, and put them where they are as accessible as your digital devices. And then, although it won’t always be easy, follow Ulin’s advice and “try to make a place for silence.”

Show your kids the rewards you can find in the quiet act of contemplative reading found with a good book.

LARS'S LIBRARY: THREE RECOMMENDATIONS

For sixth graders and up:

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt

I avidly read the Tillerman cycle (seven books) several years ago, and since then, have constantly recommended them to others. Revisiting Homecoming, the first book, in audio was a real treat. Barbara Caruso, the narrator, does a stellar job. Homecoming was even more powerful and engrossing the second time around.

It's a Boxcar Children with profound depth and character development, a novel with a YA label that is far too limiting. It is a book about and for children, but just as much a book for and about adults. Cynthia Voigt's writing is lyrical and evocative, and her characters are unique and true.

Thirteen-year-old Dicey Tillerman, abandoned by her mother, along with her sister and two brothers, turns her family's bleak circumstances around in a journey as compelling as the Odyssey. At the end of Homecoming, the Tillermans end up on the eastern shore of Maryland, but they will keep traveling through your mind, and will likely persuade you to read more of the Tillerman cycle.

For fifth graders and up:

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane

Forget about the baseball on the cover. Knowing about baseball is not a requirement for enjoying The Girl Who Threw Butterflies.

A supporting character, Celia, could care less about baseball, and Celia is just as cool as cool can be. Mick Cochrane could have written a book about Celia, who is Molly’s best friend.

Molly wants to pitch on her elementary school’s baseball team, the real baseball team (as opposed to the girls’ softball team). Categorizing The Girl Who Threw Butterflies as a girl-power novel, though, would be doing it just as much a disservice as calling it a sports novel.

Sports and gender equality are important to The Girl Who Threw Butterflies, but not as important as the story—a story about families, about eighth grade boys and girls, about adults and children, about death and loss, about friendships, about never really knowing your friends or your enemies, and about finding out who you are. If the book is making a point, it’s to pay attention, to look closely, to work hard on the details.

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies has it all—Cochrane’s skillful writing, unforgettable characters, parts that make you laugh out loud, and parts that bring tears to your eyes.

For fourth graders and up:

Doodlebug by Karen Romano Young

Doodlebug is an extraordinary graphic novel. Doreen Bussey, aka DoDo, aka Doodlebug, chronicles her family's move from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and her adjustment to a new school, in handwritten text and hand-drawn pictures. Her wonderful and not-at-all weird family is not at all like any family I've ever met in children's fiction. Their reasons for moving to San Francisco are not like any plot device I've ever encountered, even though they are totally realistic, and all too likely.

Doodlebug herself is irrepressible and irresistible. Don't you worry, she, and her sister Momo, are going to win the day. And that's not giving anything away.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

LARS'S LIBRARY: NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS

The 2010 National Book Awards nominees have been selected. Young People's Literature finalists are Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker, Kathryn Erskine's Mockingbird, Laura McNeal's Dark Water, Walter Dean Myers' Lockdown, and Rita Williams-Garcia's One Crazy Summer. And I haven't read any of them. Time to get on it.

LARS'S LIBRARY: DON"T TELL ME THIS ABOUT PICTURE BOOKS!

How sad. Not as many people are buying picture books, apparently because they are considered a lower or lesser kind of reading matter, according this NY Times article.

The picture book is not dead. A great rejoinder to the NY Times's all too final statement, that picture books are "no longer a staple for children," at Philip Nel's blog.

The good thing about the Times article is that it's got picture book lovers making their case, as in "The Importance of Picture Books" by Lisa Von Drasek.

Monday, October 18, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: CAN COMPUTER PROGRAMS HELP BRAIN FITNESS?

"For Young Brains, Teaching Technologies Are Hit-or-Miss" LiveScience 10/12/10
"When Brains Hit the Gym" KQED/Quest 10/15/10

Can computer programs make people smarter? Who knows?

Can computer programs help to improve memory and focusing skills? Maybe.

Are claims made by "brain fitness" marketers exaggerated? Very likely.

WORLD OF LEARNING: THE POWER OF SPEECH

"Young Children Are Especially Trusting of Things They're Told" ScienceDaily 10/15/10

Although I thought this study was fascinating, I didn't post it at first, as my province is kids older than three. But on further reflection, I think this applies to teaching and learning through the elementary years. Teachers and parents need to be aware of the power their words have. It makes sense that kids, who would otherwise be overwhelmed by figuring out what is going in the world, have to trust adults. It's our job to earn that trust.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: DEEP READING

"The Importance of Deep Reading" Maryanne Wolf and Mirit Barzillai/Educational Leadership 3/2009

I just got turned onto this 2009 essay by my sister, but it dovetails with other reading I've been doing, as it focuses on the benefits and drawbacks of the internet, particularly as it relates to reading. I've just started Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. He prepared for the book and opened up discussion of the issue in the much-ballyhooed Atlantic article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

I've also noticed a tangential discussion on social networking and its convenient "shallowness" in Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker piece, "Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted," and a piece by Damon Darlin in The New York Times, "Keeping Our Distance, the Facebook Way."

I hope these links "encourage deep thought," to quote Wolf and Barzillai, rather than "a more passive and, as Socrates put it, an even more easily 'deluded' reader." The paradox of the internet is that as we try to enrich connections by clicking on links, we may be uncoupling ourselves from real understanding based on critical evaluation of competing sources.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: MY REVIEW OF "UNSTRANGE MINDS"

UNSTRANGE MINDS: REMAPPING THE WORLD OF AUTISM: A FATHER, A DAUGHTER, AND A SEARCH FOR NEW ANSWERS. By Roy Richard Grinker. Basic Books, 2007. 301 pages.

The subtitle on the cover of Richard Grinker’s Unstrange Minds: A Father, a Daughter, and a Search for New Answers might give you the idea that his book is a memoir. And in part, it is. The struggles and rewards Grinker and his family go through as they raise, and grow with, their autistic member, the unforgettable Isabel, are touchingly told.

Unstrange Minds is much more than that, though. Grinker is an anthropologist, and he knowledgeably writes about how the definition and treatment of autism differs in relation to culture. He recounts his journeys to South Korea, South Africa and India, where he interviews the parents and educators of autistic children. He investigates the way different societies and governments deal with developmental and mental disorders.

It was interesting to learn that people with such disorders are more likely to be become participating members of their community in rural areas than they are in cities. It was also encouraging to find out that even though we still stigmatize and have a long way to go, America is probably one of the better places to be if you are autistic.

The first half of Unstrange Minds, however, is neither memoir nor anthropological treatise. It is an excellent, and invaluable, primer on the history of the diagnosis of autism, the study of its causes, and the treatment of its symptoms. Looking at that history, Grinker questions whether the increasing recognition of autism is the sign of an epidemic, or the result of more sophisticated diagnostic tools. He comes down on the side of the latter.

The history of autism as a diagnosis is quite a recent one, starting with the work of Leo Kanner and Hans Aspberger in the 1940s, and moving into the infamous work of Bruno Bettelheim in the 50s and 60s. Bettelheim, who was neither an MD or a psychiatrist, whose clinical studies were without scientific merit, was a superb self-promoter. On the basis of a popular book, The Empty Fortress, he became an "expert" pursued by media—an expert who blamed autism on bad mothers.

Diagnosing diseases of the mind through subjectivity and moral judgment is, of course, nothing new. Grinker points out that the DSM (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)—what people in psychiatry, psychology, medicine and health insurance use for diagnoses—didn’t exist until the 1950s, when it included homosexuality as a mental disorder. Autism and ADHD—not even mentioned.

Homosexuality was not downgraded to normal human behavior by the psychiatric establishment until the 70s. It took until the 1980s and 1990s for autism and ADHD diagnostic criteria to be listed. These changes are the reason you see DSM-II, DSM-III and DSM-IV, and taking it further, editions with an R added, for further revision. DSM-V is on the way, with more, and major, changes.

Clinicians who make use of these diagnostic criteria have a lot of latitude in their interpretation. It's never going to be completely objective because evaluating behavior like "lack of social or emotional reciprocity" is by nature subjective, and because clinicians often diagnose to the category that gets resources from insurance companies, school districts, etc., etc. The DSM hedges its bets even further with the "NOS" qualifier, as in PDD-NOS (pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified), used for diagnoses close to autism that don't present the complete range of symptoms. All of this, Grinker points out, is heavily influenced by changing social views toward mental and learning disorders. An obvious example is our attitude toward the word "retarded."

The benefit in realizing the labeling is confused at best is that it means doctors and clinicians are working toward more objective analysis and categorization. That’s progress. Grinker is hopeful because the medical establishment is paying more and more attention to an identifiable set of symptoms, rather than beginning with causes. How can we know what causes something until we really know what it is? More importantly, how can we treat it?

The problem with the confusion for American parents with autistic kids, and for that matter any kids with learning differences, is the great difficulty they face in having our society and its educational system recognize, and do something about, the differences. All children should have the opportunity to measure up to their potential.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Grinker notes, "wasn’t set up with the expectation that parents would be involved in extensive litigation, or that pit-bull attorneys would try to reduce witnesses to tears over the correct placement of a child with special needs." It often seems we are spending more to keep kids from moving forward than we are on helping them to do so.

Grinker takes the reader through his own frustrating trials to give Isabel the best possible chance of success, and the disillusionment it causes him. In the end, he still believes that "things have improved since autism became a more popular diagnosis."

And he finds solace in looking for light instead of darkness in the love he has for his wonderful daughter. Isabel has helped Grinker realize "there is no pure, natural, or singularly correct way of seeing," and "to think more creatively about the kinds of meaningful relationships that are possible, and beneficial." Besides that, she is a pretty good cellist (with perfect pitch!) and an accomplished amateur zoologist.

Grinker has combined the personal and the professional parts of his life to produce an extremely well-written introduction to autism.

Friday, October 8, 2010

LARS'S LIBRARY: WILD, WACKY AND IRREVERENT PICTURE BOOKS

Jon Agee, The Return of Freddy LeGrand
Jon Agee, Mr. Putney's Quacking Dog
Ted Arnold, No Jumping on the Bed!
Mac Barnett, Guess Again
Mac Barnett, Oh No! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World)
Judi Barrett, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Chris Barton, Tom Lichtenheld, Shark vs. Train
Michael Ian Black, Chicken Cheeks
Pam Conrad, Doll Face Has a Party
Jules Feiffer, Bark, George
Jules Feiffer, Meanwhile…
Neil Gaiman, The Day I Swapped My Dad for the Goldfish
Neil Gaiman, The Wolves in the Walls
Stephen Gammell, Ride
Mordecai Gernstein, A Book
Mini Grey, Traction Man Is Here!
Mini Grey, Traction Man Meets Turbodog
Mini Grey, Egg Drop
Thatcher Hurd, Bad Frogs
William Joyce, George Shrinks
Joe Kulka, Wolf’s Coming!
Joe Kulka, Vacation's Over! Return of the Dinosaurs
Mercer Mayer, There’s a Nightmare in My Closet
Peter McCarty, Jeremy Draws a Monster
Chris Monroe, Monkey With a Tool Belt
Chris Monroe, Sneaky Sheep
Donough O'Malley, Monkey See, Monkey Do
Dav Pilkey, Dogzilla
Dav Pilkey, The Dumb Bunnies
Dav Pilkey, The Hallo-Wiener
Dav Pilkey, Kat Kong
Adam Rex, Pssst!
Michael Rex, Furious George Goes Bananas
Michael Rosen, Mission Ziffoid
Adam Rubin, Daniel Salmieri, Those Darn Squirrels!
Jon Scieszka, Baloney (Henry P.)
J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh, Monkey Business
J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh, Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride
J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh, Mr. Lunch Borrows a Canoe
J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh, Penguin Dreams
David Shannon, A Bad Case of Stripes
David Shannon, Duck on a Bike
David Shannon, The Rain Came Down
Art Spiegelman, Open Me…I’m a Dog!
Jeremy Tankard, Me Hungry!
Eugene Trivisas, The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig
Chris Van Allsburg, Bad Day at Riverbend
Sara Varon, Chicken and Cat
Sara Varon, Chicken and Cat Clean Up
David Wiesner, Art & Max
David Wiesner, The Three Pigs

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: HANDWRITING REINFORCES LITERACY

"How Handwriting Trains the Brain" Wall Street Journal 10/5/10

The connection between reading and writing appears self-evident to me, and is something I think is really important. Of course my evidence is anecdotal, but the kids I see with reading issues invariably have difficulty with handwriting as well. A year ago, I saw Virginia Berninger, who is cited in this WSJ article, and her colleague Beverly Wolf, and read their Teaching Students With Dyslexia and Dysgraphia, which mentions recent studies showing some correspondence, and this article does, too.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: SELF-CONTROL

"Could Learning Self-Control Be Enjoyable?" ScienceDaily 9/21/10

Yes!

LARS'S LIBRARY: KIDS AND DIGITAL READING

There are some kids who are doing something else with digital media besides social networking and text messaging. They're reading books! And they like it! So says a study by Scholastic covered in this New York Times article.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: EMPTY-HEADEDNESS

"Why Thinking of Nothing Can Be So Tiring: Brain Wolfs Energy to Stop Thinking" ScienceDaily 9/21/10

I'm not sure if it's related, but from what I understand, superior cognition involves using less of your brain more wisely. For example, children who are succeeding in learning to read activate narrow and specific areas of the brain; children who have difficulty activate wide and generalized areas. It's as if they are thinking too hard.

Erkki Somersalo, one of the authors of this particular study, notes, "It's a surprising expense to keep inhibition on." Perhaps we cannot just "relax and float downstream," as John Lennon put it, but have to be vigilant and conscientious about switching into a reflective and meditative mode.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

WORLD OF LEARNING: EXERCISE AND THE BRAIN PART 3

"Phys Ed: Can Exercise Make Kids Smarter?" Well Blog/New York Times 9/15/10

If you don't want to read this short piece, I'll answer the question: YES. If you want to read more, see earlier posts citing the Well Blog and John Ratey's work.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

LARS'S LIBRARY: EDGY BOOKS FOR EMERGING READERS

As much as I'd like to use phonics primers for every kid learning to read--I do think it really helps to focus in on a pattern and to keep it simple--there are some younger readers who won't go for the repetition and simple stories to which these books must be restricted. The act of reading in and of itself is not enough of a motivator. They've got to have story, and story that is a little brash, a little crazy, and very clever. That's hard to do with simple vocabulary, but there are some books that pretty much fit the bill. Here's the first edition of a field-tested list of 'em.

Jeff Smith, Little Mouse Gets Ready (Toon Book)
Geoffrey Hayes, Benny and Penny in Just Pretend (Toon Book)
Geoffrey Hayes, Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! (Toon Book)
Geoffrey Hayes, Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker (Toon Book)
Eleanor Davis, Stinky (Toon Book)
Phonics Comics: Cave Dave
Cathy and Mark Dubowski, Cave Boy
Antoinette Portis, Not a Box
Antoinette Portis, Not a Stick
William Joyce, George Shrinks
Harry Allard, The Stupids
Adam Rex, Pssst!
David Milgrim, Otto series
David Milgrim, My Dog, Buddy
Jules Feiffer, Bark, George
David Catrow, Max Spaniel series
Joan Nodset, Go Away, Dog
Mo Willems, Elephant and Piggie series
Edward Marshall, Three By the Sea
Peter McCarty, Hondo & Fabian
Fabian Escapes
Moon Plane
Martha Moffett, A Flower Pot Is Not a Hat
Crosby Bonsall, Mine’s the Best
The Day I Had to Play with My Sister
And I Mean It, Stanley
Cynthia Lord, Hot Rod Hamster
John Szieszka, Trucktown series
Tedd Arnold, Fly Guy series
Peter Eastman, Fred and Ted Like to Fly
Thatcher Hurd, Bad Frogs
Jeremy Tankard, Me Hungry
Maurice Sendak, One Was Johnny: A Counting Book
Jan Thomas, What Will the Fat Cat Sit On?
A Birthday for Cow!
The Doghouse
Rhyming Dust Bunnies
Can You Make a Scary Face?
Here Comes the Big, Mean Dust Bunny!