I'm Caught Up On My "Horn Book" Reading!

I'm afraid the next issue of The Horn Book will come before I have a chance to post about this one. Hurry, hurry, hurry.

Material At The Front Of The Book

This was one of those issues filled with speeches by book award winners. I'm not that fond of reading those. I wonder if speeches are like sermons--meant to be heard. Nonetheless, Candace Fleming's talk about The Family Romanov caught my eye. First what struck me was that Fleming said she read Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie when she was young. Well, guess what! So did I! She also talks about the difference between listing facts in a piece of writing and telling the truth. The business about facts not being enough is something I've tried to explain to others, without much success I have to admit. With me it's more a matter of facts and what they actually mean.

I also liked On Writing the American Familia by Meg Medina, which was an article, not a speech. One of the interesting bits was her contention that language is a "dilemma" for multicultural families and books about them because in many ethnic families, the language is no longer spoken. We saw that first with the "old" ethnic families in this country. Polish, Italian, German, French were all lost. Yup. I saw it happen. I mentioned this article in relation to Listen, Slowly.

Reviews I Liked

Dylan the Villain by K. G. Campbell. Picture book. First line of review: "'Congratulations,' said the doctor. 'It's a healthy little super-villain!'" I'm in!

Emma and Julia Love Ballet by Barbara McClintock. Picture book. I got over my child interest in ballet really young. But this parallel story of two ballerinas, one child, one adult, sounds good.

I Don't Know How the Story Ends by J. B. Cheaney. Fiction. Kids in Hollywood during the WWI era, one of my favorite historical periods.

The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett. Fiction. This is Pratchett's last Tiffany Aching book. I'll probably read it hoping for a Wee Free Men sighting. I'm also hoping this isn't Pratchett's honest-to-goodness last book. I'd like a final Sam Vines and the nightwatch story.

The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud. Fiction. I just read the first two books in this series. I have The Hollow Boy on order from Interlibrary Loan.

I'll try to post this tomorrow before the mail comes. I've got to beat that next issue.