As if from nowhere, the puppet master produces two puppets with strings attached and gets them standing on the stage. One is much taller than the other. The show has begun!
I’ve got Kissing Doorknobs open in front of me but hear Polly gasp. She is staring intently at the stage, but she must see something I can’t from this distance.
The smiles on the little faces in the crowd tell me the show is funny. I move closer. The big puppet is smacking the little one with the branch of an apple tree. One can see the apples bouncing, still on the branch, which does give the scene some humour, but not if you consider the perspective of the one being smacked.
I look at the smaller puppet again and this time thinks he looks familiar. I know I haven’t seen this puppet show… Boffo!
I shriek silently. The little puppet looks exactly like Boffo and is even wearing the same cheerful clothes.
The poor kid with OCD is not living happily. ‘Step on a crack:’ I can see how that rhyme could drive you mad, but I feel I must return the book to the shelf and go quickly to the back of the cardboard theatre. I must see if Boffo is watching all the fun, just as he’d asked to.
It occurs to me to wonder what on earth I would do if Boffo, this boy who is no relation, is turned into a puppet on my watch and is not now smiling behind the cardboard. Marian the Librarian – hurray! – takes control. ‘Polly,’ she hollers, ‘grab the small puppet!’ and Polly jumps up instantly, grabbing the puppet before the puppet master has a chance to react.
The final chapter next week!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
How Marian the Librarian Came to the Rescue, Part 1
A story dedicated to:
Maylin, Lahring and the award-winning Dewey Divas; and to neighbourhood libraries where the only bad reader is a dead one (but of course librarians don’t say that, at least not as far as I know).
When I lived in that neighbourhood, I would sometimes take Playground Polly and her little brother Boffo to the local children’s library. They weren’t my kids but they showed up together on irregular Saturday mornings in a going-to-the-library mood.
When we would get to the library, we had to go up a flight of stairs and through two sets of doors to get to the children’s section. Both Polly and Boffo would have a cheerful hello for Marian the Librarian. She always waved to acknowledge their greeting.
On this particular morning, we find Marian the Librarian struggling with the set for a puppet show that is soon to begin. The set consists of two cardboard walls designed to sit in the slots of wooden blocks positioned on the floor.
Polly and Boffo race to offer her assistance and admiration. She is pleased and says, ‘Hold the fort; I’ve got a couple of things I must do before we begin!’
From the curtains that disguise the deep, right-corner recesses of this ‘special events room,’ a tall man appears. He strides towards them. ‘I’m the puppet-master,’ he says, sharply.
Boffo, who never sees the crossness on a person's face, enthusiastically expresses his wish to learn the art and asks if he can he stay and watch the puppet master behind the stage. I see that Polly shares my surprise when he says yes.
Polly says she’ll watch from the front, goes and sits on the floor where lots of other children have begun to congregate. I am content, sitting on a small chair in the library proper (reading a fascinating book ‘for teens’ called Kissing Doorknobs about OCD). I read as the puppet master begins.
Maylin, Lahring and the award-winning Dewey Divas; and to neighbourhood libraries where the only bad reader is a dead one (but of course librarians don’t say that, at least not as far as I know).
When I lived in that neighbourhood, I would sometimes take Playground Polly and her little brother Boffo to the local children’s library. They weren’t my kids but they showed up together on irregular Saturday mornings in a going-to-the-library mood.
When we would get to the library, we had to go up a flight of stairs and through two sets of doors to get to the children’s section. Both Polly and Boffo would have a cheerful hello for Marian the Librarian. She always waved to acknowledge their greeting.
On this particular morning, we find Marian the Librarian struggling with the set for a puppet show that is soon to begin. The set consists of two cardboard walls designed to sit in the slots of wooden blocks positioned on the floor.
Polly and Boffo race to offer her assistance and admiration. She is pleased and says, ‘Hold the fort; I’ve got a couple of things I must do before we begin!’
From the curtains that disguise the deep, right-corner recesses of this ‘special events room,’ a tall man appears. He strides towards them. ‘I’m the puppet-master,’ he says, sharply.
Boffo, who never sees the crossness on a person's face, enthusiastically expresses his wish to learn the art and asks if he can he stay and watch the puppet master behind the stage. I see that Polly shares my surprise when he says yes.
Polly says she’ll watch from the front, goes and sits on the floor where lots of other children have begun to congregate. I am content, sitting on a small chair in the library proper (reading a fascinating book ‘for teens’ called Kissing Doorknobs about OCD). I read as the puppet master begins.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Why YA, Eh?
A couple of years ago, I’d given a White Stripes CD to a 14-year-old and her cousin, also 14, because the music didn’t really work for me. In return, they offered one of two books they’d selected for reading, my choice. There was Nobody Knows My Name by, of course, James Baldwin, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I picked that one because I’d read the Baldwin, years before, but had never heard of Markus Zusak.
The Book Thief is a fabulous novel, as a tribute to reading, and as a piece of wondrous imagination and hope. I wondered why it was labeled YA and when I saw that Zusak had written other books in that category, assumed that once you’re YA you stay YA.
I noticed that The Book Thief was published by a Random House company, the estimable Knopf in New York, without which Knopf Canada, the company I try to keep in the black, would not exist. But they are bigger, with a bigger list in a bigger country. Why did they publish The Book Thief as young adult fiction? My kids are too old now for books published as YA and I don’t publish them, so I may have missed The Book Thief entirely if not for the teenagers I know.
There are books with the YA label that I feel have enriched my life immeasurably as an adult. There is Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt and Holes by Louis Sachar – just two of many books I would not have discovered had I not become a parent.
I do feel the ‘Y’ should be struck from its place in the ‘YA’ acronym. Maybe the categories could be ‘children’s literature,’ 'teen literature' (Gossip Girl, etc.), and 'literature'.
We adults may be missing out just because the protagonist in a novel is a teenager. I’m grateful that in Canada at least, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, was not labeled YA – it was pitched as a great read for everyone. My son, then 15 years old and Harry Pottered up the wazoo, loved it.
The Book Thief is a fabulous novel, as a tribute to reading, and as a piece of wondrous imagination and hope. I wondered why it was labeled YA and when I saw that Zusak had written other books in that category, assumed that once you’re YA you stay YA.
I noticed that The Book Thief was published by a Random House company, the estimable Knopf in New York, without which Knopf Canada, the company I try to keep in the black, would not exist. But they are bigger, with a bigger list in a bigger country. Why did they publish The Book Thief as young adult fiction? My kids are too old now for books published as YA and I don’t publish them, so I may have missed The Book Thief entirely if not for the teenagers I know.
There are books with the YA label that I feel have enriched my life immeasurably as an adult. There is Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt and Holes by Louis Sachar – just two of many books I would not have discovered had I not become a parent.
I do feel the ‘Y’ should be struck from its place in the ‘YA’ acronym. Maybe the categories could be ‘children’s literature,’ 'teen literature' (Gossip Girl, etc.), and 'literature'.
We adults may be missing out just because the protagonist in a novel is a teenager. I’m grateful that in Canada at least, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, was not labeled YA – it was pitched as a great read for everyone. My son, then 15 years old and Harry Pottered up the wazoo, loved it.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
A List to “rehabilitate” Bishop Richard Williamson
Rehabilitate:
1. To restore to good health or useful life, as through therapy and education.
2. To restore to good condition, operation, or capacity.
3. To reinstate the good name of.
4. To restore the former rank, privileges, or rights of.
The above is from thefreedictionary.com. I’ve no idea what rehabilitation the bishop has experienced, if any, but if I were the pope, I would lock him in a spartan room high in a tower, with no means of escape, and make him read the books listed below. "Resistance is futile," I would ordinarily assume, but I don’t know the bishop.
1. Every Man Dies Alone
by Hans Fallada
Watch for it in March. I’m reading a galley (being in the biz) – it’s incredible.
“The greatest book ever written about German Resistance to the Nazis.” – Primo Levi
2. If This Is a Man/The Truce
3. The Drowned and the Saved
both by Primo Levi
It was hard to pick just two.
The Drowned was his last book. Levi died when he jumped head first over the railing at his apartment building -- to deny Hitler's ghost his push.
4. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
by John Boyne
I confess I've seen the movie but haven’t read the book. The book is always better, though, so I look forward to it.
5. The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Why YA? Why?
6. The Journey
Ida Fink
How can something be 'beautiful' and 'crippling' at the same time?
7. Maus I
Art Speilgelman
The Jews are mice; the Nazis are cats.
8. The Righteous: The Unsung Heros of the Holocaust
Martin Gilbert
Thank God!
9. The Zoo-Keeper’s Wife
Diane Ackerman
An amazing writer.
10. Daniel’s Story
Carol Matas
This was my daughter's big eye-opener in Grade 6.
1. To restore to good health or useful life, as through therapy and education.
2. To restore to good condition, operation, or capacity.
3. To reinstate the good name of.
4. To restore the former rank, privileges, or rights of.
The above is from thefreedictionary.com. I’ve no idea what rehabilitation the bishop has experienced, if any, but if I were the pope, I would lock him in a spartan room high in a tower, with no means of escape, and make him read the books listed below. "Resistance is futile," I would ordinarily assume, but I don’t know the bishop.
1. Every Man Dies Alone
by Hans Fallada
Watch for it in March. I’m reading a galley (being in the biz) – it’s incredible.
“The greatest book ever written about German Resistance to the Nazis.” – Primo Levi
2. If This Is a Man/The Truce
3. The Drowned and the Saved
both by Primo Levi
It was hard to pick just two.
The Drowned was his last book. Levi died when he jumped head first over the railing at his apartment building -- to deny Hitler's ghost his push.
4. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
by John Boyne
I confess I've seen the movie but haven’t read the book. The book is always better, though, so I look forward to it.
5. The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Why YA? Why?
6. The Journey
Ida Fink
How can something be 'beautiful' and 'crippling' at the same time?
7. Maus I
Art Speilgelman
The Jews are mice; the Nazis are cats.
8. The Righteous: The Unsung Heros of the Holocaust
Martin Gilbert
Thank God!
9. The Zoo-Keeper’s Wife
Diane Ackerman
An amazing writer.
10. Daniel’s Story
Carol Matas
This was my daughter's big eye-opener in Grade 6.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)