Opera: A New Musical Journey

Recently, Ben was looking at one of those "Seek and Find" books and saw the stereotypical image of an opera singer in one scene.  He was curious about who she was and I explained that she was an opera singer - along with probably a poor explanation of what opera music is and how people act out operas.  He just nodded.

Several weeks later while we were at the library, he turned to me and said, "We should probably learn more about opera.  Maybe there are books here about it."  And of course there were, so I borrowed a few that retell opera stories for a child audience, including:

• Sing Me a Story: The Metropolitan Opera's Book of Opera Stories for Children by Jane Rosenberg
• The Random House Book of Opera Stories by Adele Geras
• The Magic Flute by Anne Gatti
• The Barefoot Book of Stories from the Opera by Shahrukh Husain

I then turned to my friend Paul, who is a trained opera singer, and asked him what operas he might recommend for obvious novices/children.  He provided a list, and I went on to iTunes and downloaded a CD that contained all the ones on his list.

My plan had to been to listen to the music as we read the stories about them in the books.  But, as with many of my plans with the kids, it didn't quite work out that way.  They didn't want to just sit and listen while I droned on about what the people were singing about.  So, in the end, I have just played the music at home in the background now and again, and we read some of the stories just so I would have a better idea of what this opera stuff is all about.

I'm not becoming an expert in anything musical any time soon, but this was a really nice way to introduce myself and my kids to a different form of music that the general pop and rock stuff we head on the radio.  It's inspired me to make more of an effort to do this with other forms of music - a least just to get a taste of something different once in awhile.

We Need Diverse Books

While I'd like to think that I make an effort to read diverse authors, choosing diverse books for myself and my children - the truth is I often read books that are recommended to me; the ones that win awards or that everyone else seems to be reading.  And, often times, as a result of not being mindful about what I'm choosing, I am in fact choosing the more mainstream straight white male authors. This is not to say that many of these books aren't worth reading (like anything, some are good and some are not), but I think I could do more to promote women, people of color, and LGBTQ authors in publishing.  So, to that end, I have been reading more about the We Need Diverse Books movement.

Part of the Mission Statement of We Need Diverse Books reads:

• We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities*, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities. Our mission is to promote or amplify diversification efforts and increase visibility for diverse books and authors, with a goal of empowering a wide range of readers in the process.

The movement focuses mostly on Children's Books - and doesn't only encourage the reading of diverse authors, but just books featuring diverse characters.  On the adult level, many people have proposed only reading diverse authors for an entire year.  One person's experience doing that was written about here, and another one here.  This proposal has created some controversy - of course, there are diverse authors out here who write terrible books, and there are white male authors out there who write about female characters or people of color - there are simply many who see the whole idea as a type of reverse-racism.  Some of the purpose in seeking out diverse authors (I think) is to also support their lack of inclusion in the general publishing world.  Some of those ideas (and more) are represented in the referenced article, with this:

• The “We Need Diverse Books” campaign has kicked off 2015 asking followers to pledge to read books that highlight diversity in a myriad of aspects (so not just people of colour, but looking at various inclusivity issues such as disability and gender and sexuality) with the hashtag #WNDBResolution.

Since kicking around this idea in my head for the past couple weeks, I have made exceptions for "books by white authors already on my night stand" or "books by white authors that I've been in the queue for at the library."  But, maybe I need to stop doing that.  I'm also not sure where "gender diversity" falls in this endeavor.  I read a lot of women authors, but probably the majority are white (I don't know, I haven't been paying attention which is kind of the point).  All this to say that I'm thinking about this and reading a lot about it, and I'm ready to dive in - and at least start keeping track better of what I'm reading on this front instead of just reading whatever gets recommended or I see people reading on the bus.  Just looking at the We Need Diverse Books website and their list of resources for places to find diverse books is really inspiring - often when looking for books for my kids I just flip through the shelves at the library and see what catches my eye.  I can and will still do that, but this is a fantastic (in my mind) resource for just being more mindful about the breadth of what is out there.

I know that even raising this as a possible way to make reading choices will offend people - and I've noticed that every time I post something on the What the Wild Things Read Facebook page about emphasizing diversity in reading or my family's exploration of non-mainstream ideas or holidays, I tend to lose a "like" or two on my page.  Of course, that's fine.  The purpose of the blog is to share what my family is doing - for better or worse.  I don't seek to offend, and I welcome thoughts about all these issues (as long as the comments and discussions are respectful), but I doubt any of them will stop me from consistently trying to seek out more, new, and different books and authors with the goal of expanding my world view, as well as that of my children.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Magical leprechauns, gold coins, brilliants greens - what's not to love about St. Patrick's Day?  Well, maybe not the excessive revelry for some, but as a holiday for kids, there's so much to do with St. Patrick's.  When it comes to reading up on a subject, I've come to find that Gail Gibbons can usually be counted on to have some sort of straight-forward factual background material suitable for children.  She did not let me down here, and I recently borrowed St. Patrick's Day to give my kids a sense of who St. Patrick was, why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, and of course, all the fun we can have with it.

Even though St. Patrick's Day has come and gone, I have no problem celebrating holidays throughout the month, so if you haven't had your fill of green, here are a few we've enjoyed:

• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover
• Happy St. Patrick's Day, Curious George
• A Berry Lucky St. Patrick's Day
• Green Shamrocks
• Emeraldalicious

And for adults looking for books set in Ireland, there are a million, but here are a few of my favorites:

• The Dublin Detective Squad Series by Tana French (In the Woods, The Likeness, Faithful Place, Broken Harbor, and The Secret Place) - note that these do not need to be read in order.
• Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
• Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
• Anything by James Joyce

Clara's Pick of the Week: Construction Kitties

At our local library branch, we have have a fantastic children's section - tons of books and comfortable chairs to lounge in and read all afternoon.  But, one of the things about this branch that my son, Ben, has always loved is that they have a specific section for books about transportation.  So, he learned early on that he could just go straight to that section and find countless books about cars, planes, trucks, trains, boats - and anything else transportation related (every once in awhile there's a good bike book thrown in there).  Over the past couple years we've borrowed and re-borrowed so many books from that shelf.  It's a nice safe place for Ben to gravitate toward, and even though his tastes are starting to change, it's always one of the first shelves he visits when we arrive at the library.

My girls are also into books about transportation, but I've found they often have to have a little bit more - and usually that little bit more involves animals.  There have to be animals driving the vehicles or somehow or other involved in the stories.  And so this book is purr-fect.  Construction Kitties by Judy Sue Goodwin Sturges is a brightly illustrated book with simple text that shows a group of cats work through the process of building a playground.  The cats are super cute as they put on their construction hats, dig and move the dirt, take a break for lunch, and eventually go home for the day.  This is a book that has appealed to my kids for years, and one that I don't mind reading over and over and over again.

Alice's Pick of the Week: Early Bird

Early Bird by Toni Yuly is a very simply written and brightly illustrated book about the early bird who travels far and wide for her breakfast.  The book emphasizes directional words such as up, down, and around.  This is also a fun book to act out - your child can pretend to be the bird, waking up and going on a journey to find her snack - climbing up, crawling around, jumping down - whatever makes sense around your own house or yard.  This has also been a good book for our older son who is slowly learning to recognize a few words - and is going back to very basic books with only one sentence or so per page for easier sounding out and sight recognition.  I love the vibrant drawings.  We haven't read it yet, but there is a companion book to Early Bird called Night Owl that also looks super cute.  We'll be reading it soon!

Happy Purim!

Ben dressed as a Blue Monster celebrating Purim with his classmates.

As I've written about before, I love holidays - I love celebrating them and I love learning about new holidays from different countries, cultures, and religions.  This week, my son  has been introducing us to a new (for our family) holiday:  Purim.

For those who don't know,the story of Purim appears in the Book of Esther.  The evil Haman plotted to destroy the Jewish people.  The King, who was unknowingly married to a Jew (Esther), placed the fate of the Jewish people in Haman's hands.  Mordecai, Esther's cousin, discovered the plot, and persuaded Esther to speak to the King on behalf of the Jewish people. Esther revealed the plot to the King, and Haman and his followers were murdered in place of Mordecai and the Jews.  Purim celebrates the deliverance from massacre.  The celebration consists of eating, drinking, and being merry.  I have heard it described by some as the "Jewish Mardi Gras."

While my family is not Jewish, I can get behind any holiday that celebrates a woman speaking truth to power, and certainly one that advocates eating, drinking, and being merry.  As a long-time fan of hamentaschen, it's good for me to finally know what these little triangles I love to devour actually represent (Haman's three-cornered hat).

Delicious plate of Hamentaschen

Because my son has never celebrated Purim before, this whole week at his school has been an exciting adventure.  He and his classmates made noise-makers, put on a puppet show telling the story of Purim, designed masks, dressed up in costumes for a parade, and baked hamentaschen for themselves.  And because not everyone in his class comes to school every day of the week - they are actually celebrating on two days, just to be sure everyone has a chance to participate.  To prepare my son, and to educate our whole family about the holiday, I (of course) sought out a few books from the library.  Here are a couple that we read:

Purim by Miriam Nerlove - This book tells the straight-forward Purim story as heard by a little boy from his Rabbi.  For someone with  no background in the holiday, this was a good easy primer - the language was a bit jarring at times - and I had to modify it a bit for my two-year-olds.  But, given that the story itself is about killing and massacre, and the whole point is deliverance from this brutal truth, others may think that censoring the language detracts from part of the point.

It's Party Time! A Purim Story by Jonny Zucker - I love the colorful illustrations in this book which focuses more on how Purim is celebrated - with costumes, noise makers, and presents -  rather than the historical significance of the holiday.

When It's Purim by Edie Stoltz Zolkower - this cute little board book tells the rhyming story of animals baking hamentaschen to give as gifts.









HAPPY PURIM!!

A Love of Cars + A Love of Space = Lowriders in Space!

Winter Bingo Card

When I was a kid, I loved all the library reading programs (big shout out to the Palo Alto College Terrace Branch, my home away from home!) - one of the great reading joys I've had as a parent is introducing Ben to similar programs at our local library.  Over the winter break, the library sponsored a Winter Bingo game.  Each kid received a bingo card where the spaces listed activities related to reading, like "Read a comic" and other non-reading ones like, "Play outside."  Ben almost achieved a "black-out."  I actually think he missed "Tell a joke," which he has been making up for in spades over the last week (that post to come soon!).

When it came time to pick out a book, Ben lingered over the choices for a long time.  He said he wanted a chapter book or something long so it would take awhile to read.  But, all the chapter books were for much older kids (meaning there were no pictures!), so Ben settled on a comic book called Loweriders in Space (which has made me realize that I need to educate myself a bit more about comics vs. graphic novels).

He then put the book on the shelf and it sat there unread...until he rediscovered it this week.  And he LOVES it.  Lowriders in Space  tells the story of three friends who work in a car repair garage.  Lupe is a master mechanic, El Chavo clean like nobody's business, and Elirio is an artistic genius.  They dream of owning their own garage, and the opportunity presents itself an the Annual Car Competition.  They set out to fix up and old lowrider...which takes them on an intergalactic adventure to build the best car in the universe!  Ben loves anything to do with cars - but the idea of "art" cars is a new one for him, and he has suggested several times since reading this that we should paint our car!  The space section of the book was also fun since there were concepts we've been learning about such as moons and planets, but introduced him to new things like black holes and constellations.  This book has inspired us to seek out a lowrider competition, as well as a planetarium.  Just a tremendously creative book that combines two things so many kids love - cars and space, and has the potential for opening up so many new paths of exploration.