Author Visit

Last week I made a return author visit to Marie Russell's 6th grade classes at P.S. 174 in Rego Park, NY. Last semester Marie, who is a highly skilled & creative teacher, used my book Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War II, as a class read aloud. In December, I went to the school to talk to her terrific students. They were just as terrific the second time I visited! Good luck to all of them as they graduate and go to middle school next fall!

Nonfiction Rocks!

Last night I wrapped up my teaching career as a Distinguished Lecturer at Queens College, the City University of New York. I was delightedly surprised when Christine Schachter arrived at my Nonfiction Literature class with this very cool & delicious cake. David J. Jansen took the photo. Thank you to my former and current students who have made my years at Queens so stimulating, rewarding, and fun!

Books, Wildflower Seeds, Happy Holidays

So, the gifts are wrapped--books galore, including one I'm really excited about--The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder; in fact, I bought two copies--one for Sophie & one for Sue, my friend & science educator at NYU. I also tracked down a copy of the December 1934 (yup, 1934) "The National Geographic Magazine" that featured the article, "Half-Mile Down," by William Beebe, about his first descent in the Bathysphere, which he co-invented with Otis Barton. Recently Sophie & I had read a picture book biography about William Beebe that listed his article in the bibliography--yes, we check out all the front and back matter when we read together! Sophie expressed interest in it so I set off on a quest to buy it--hurrah for the Internet. I'll be interested to see if it engages her?!?!
My other cool gift, at least I think so, was to parcel out pieces from a puzzle (I'm a avid jigsaw puzzle maker) that are embedded with wildflower seeds!! Each person on my list is getting a baggie with puzzle pieces & a baggie of soil & instructions to soak the seeds overnight in water and plant in the soil in a pot (no, I didn't include a pot, hum) or wait until Spring then soak and plant outside.
Ooops, Linda just called down, "Should I be watching the pot that's on the stove?" Better get back to my cooking for tonight & tomorrow. . . . Happy Holidays to all!!!!!!

Sophie's New News

Sophie had "new news" on Thursday--"I read my first chapter book!"
"Fabulous! That's sooooo exciting!!! What was it about?"
With that question, I was introduced to Bella The Bunny Fairy, one of a long list of titles
in the Rainbow Magic Book Series, written, (according to Wikipedia, I should note since I knew absolutely nothing about this phenomenon until I check it).

In celebration, we went to two independent bookstores & bought several more titles, including Penny the Pony Fairy (my, oh, my!).
As we chatted, I learned that Friday was Character Dress-up Day, which, Sophie, explained meant she was suppose to go to school dressed like a character from her favorite book.
As a nonfiction writer & lover, I was delighted when she said she was going as Knut, the real polar bear in Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World. Today she told me she wore white clothes and pink socks. She was thrilled to report that she got to read part of book to her classmates.

My son Steve. . . .

Check out "When Life Names You Lemon . . .," a terrific article in Sunday's The New York Times about "County of Kings," a one-man show by Lemon Andersen that opens at the Public Theater in New York, tomorrow, September 29th. Lemon and my son Steve Colman were two of the stars who shared a Tony Award for "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway." Now, Steve is one of the producers of Lemon's memoir, "County of Kings." (The title refers to Brooklyn where he grew up.) Here's a picture of the cast of "Def Poetry Jam on Broadway that Sara Krulwich of the Times took in 2002. Steve is first on the left, Lemon is third. Here's a link to Sunday's article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/theater/27sont.html?scp=1&sq=Lemon&st=cse

Previews are this week; the opening is 10/12. We've got our tickets!

Chusok, or Korean Thanksgiving Festival

I love being a writer for many reasons, including having learning adventures! For example, in writing Thanksgiving: The True Story I attended Chusok, the Korean Harvest, also called Korean Thanksgiving Festival, in a park near my house in northern New Jersey. Here videos from this year's event: The first are students at Rutgers University who belong to the Rutgers Korean Culture Group. The second group performed on the main stage:

The "R' Word

We are not bumper-sticker people; that is we weren't until Friday, the day Linda led a "Train-the-Trainer Workshop" on the research-based curriculum that she and her colleague Ishita Khemka developed and evaluated--ESCAPE-DD: An Effective Strategy-Based Curriculum for Abuse Prevention and Empowerment for Men and Women with Developmental Disabilities. The workshop was sponsored by the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities (NJCDD) in cooperation with the New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women and New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault. That's where Linda got a NJCDD bumper stickers protesting the use of the "R" word. Since Linda had objected to the use of that word for years, I wasn't surprised to see it on her car bumper. "Retard" is also a trigger word for bullying. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

School starts and "booktalks"

We're abuzz with school starting preparation. So when does school start for us? Tomorrow for Linda at Teachers College, Wednesday for me at Queens, next week for David at Ramapo and Sue at New York University and Sophie, in first grade at a NYC public school, The Anderson School. Dot, my long-time friend and a captivating presence on my blog and in my book Rosie the Riveter, started last week. She's a middle school librarian and here's her report:
Hi Penny,
We started last week. It was one BUSY week! Everything seemed to go well. The 6th graders seemed confused, but no one was crying.
On the second day of classes, the reading teachers brought their students to the library for 20 minutes to select books. They never want to give up much time for this, so I can’t really do indepth booktalks. I had two carts selected; one for 7/8 grades and one for 6th grade. I gave 30 second book talks for about ten books to each group and really whipped through them fast. Almost every book I “talked” went out! I’m hoping teachers get the value of doing that, rather than letting the kids just float around the library.
I enthusiastically second Dot's comments re the power of "booktalks," a terrific technique for anyone--parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, teachers, librarians and strangers--who want to share their passion for reading. Yes, strangers; several years ago a stranger--a woman whose appearance initially made me think she might be homeless--who was standing next to me in the mystery section of an independent bookstore turned to me and said,
"Do you want to read a wonderful book?"
"Sure."
With that she headed off to another section with me in tow, plucked a nonfiction book, Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time, off the shelf, and handed it to me. Intrigued I bought it, read it, and loved it.
p.s. you can also do "articletalks."

The Indian Hoop Dancer

More from the powwow--this is the Hoop Dancer. My previous post has more details about the powwow and another video.

Powwow

Last night we went to a powwow at the Queens County Farm in Floral Park, NY. It was fabulous. Here's a clip of Keith (whose last name I didn't catch, but I'll try to track down), a Plain Cree from Alberta, Canada, doing the Chicken Dance-Indian. The announcer explained that it's a male "showing off" dance. It is also done during a "long and strenuous healing ceremony that lasts four days and nights." The singers and drummer are the Silver Clouds. I labeled this post "Teaching with Nonfiction" because typically the life and times of American Indians are taught as long ago history. This experience and video (I'll post more) are resources for me to use with students.

Bear Cub

My son David just sent me these photos of a bear cub's "visit" to their apartment building located in a town in New York just across the NJ border. He reported that she was a 100 pound cub who first tried to run into their lobby and then onto a neighbor's balcony. Foiled, she climbed a tree and ate berries for three hours (first picture).
Finally she was tranquilized (pictures 2 & 3). Turned out she was a tagged cub & a "repeat offender" (picture 4) from NJ, which is where (last picture) she was relocated and set free.

My Great Story! from NDSS

Check out My Great Story, a new public awareness campaign launched by the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS). Fascinating & truly inspiring great stories of the 400,000 Americans living with Down syndrome are showcased in a beautiful online storybook at www.ndss.org/stories. I'm thrilled to share news of this exciting & worthwhile venture on my blog (and not just because my son, Jonathan, is president of NDSS)--these are electrifying stories!

Two great stories will soon appear as national public service announcements (PSAs): Sujeet Desai, The Traveler and Sara Wolff, The Public Speaker (see pics). Anyone who loves stories--and we all do!!--will loved these!! Check them out at www.ndss.org/stories & watch for them in national media outlets.

Also teachers --the My Great Story website is a terrific online resource for teaching community, diversity, character education, writing, social issues, etc. etc. Check it out: www.ndss.org/stories

If you have Down syndrome, NDSS wants to hear your great story; or, if you have a great story about someone you know who has Down syndrome, NDSS wants to hear from you. You can contact them through: www.ndss.org/stories.

Quite the road trip!

One hundred years ago today--June 9, 1909, twenty-two- year- old Alice Ramsey, with her two sisters-in-law and a friend, set off from New York CIty to drive across America in a Maxwell DA. Fifty-nine days later (41 actual driving days), after many hair-raising adventures, they arrived in San Francisco, where cheering crowds welcomed them. Thus, as the only driver, Alice earned the title of the first woman to complete the transcontinental trip. Today Emily Anderson with Christi Catania to help navigate, and a rotating list of two additional passengers set off to re-create Alice's historic trip in a Maxwell DA that Emily and her father have rebuilt from scratch. Linda and I cheered them on from the side of the road in Wappinger Falls, NY, then followed them to Poughkeepsie for a reception at Vassar College, Alice's alma mater. Fabulous experience!! You can learn more and follow their adventure (via map, blog, Twitter) at www.aliceramsey.org. The top picture is Emily holding her four-month old daughter, who along with her grandmother, is on the trip, too. (They ride in a car that follows the Maxwell DA.) The smiling woman at the right is Catharine Bond Hill, the president of Vassar. The bottom picture is me talking with Charlie MacDonald, an antique car buff, who waited for hours to see Emily drive by. We're standing by his 1936 Buick; the antique car community, I discovered, is quite interested in this trip and the Anderson's rebuilt Maxwell DA. The video is of their departure from Vassar.
For more information, to follow their progress, blog, Twitter go to: www.aliceramsey.org

Summer Reading Lists

Because we subscribe to The New York Times we get part of the Sunday paper on Saturday, including The Book Review. That's why this morning, while drinking coffee and eating Silver Palate's thick and rough oatmeal with pump juicy raisins, I know that the issue dated 5/31/09 is devoted to "Summer Readings." I counted the titles and found 15 fiction books, including 2 for children and 62--yup, sixty-two--nonfiction books, including 10 about cooking, 12 about gardening, 6 about travel and 4 about music, plus there was a nonfiction essay.
That ratio of fiction to nonfiction books, however, will be flipped, on the 2009 summer reading lists that teachers and librarians compile for children & young adults; in fact, in my experience, many--if not most--of those summer reading lists will have no, or only a few nonfiction books, or list books as nonfiction that aren't like the Magic School Bus.
Let's challenge the hegemony of fiction on summer reading lists for children and young adults & compile a list of nonfiction books; please send me your recommendations! Thank you!
p.s. (For more about the importance of nonfiction, check my podcast, "The Potential of Nonfiction," on my website.)

Author visit

I am about to do a Q & A with eight middle school girls at Saint Andrew's School in Boca Raton, FL via Skype. My long time friend Dot Emer (Dot Chastney in Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II) is the middle school librarian at Saint Andrew's. This is a first for the girls & the school. But we're all prepared--the technology is OK, the girls read some of my books, reviewed my web site, including examples of Q & A & I "talked" with two of the girls yesterday in a trail run. Ooops, better sign off & turn on my Skype or I won't be "show up" on time!
Update:

This picture was posted on the Saint Andrew's web site shortly after our fun Skype conversation. Here is an excerpt from the accompanying article: "On May 19, 6th and 7th grade students gathered in the Schmitt Library in the Middle School to skype online with acclaimed author Penny Colman, who was in Englewood, New Jersey. Each student was able to get behind the Web cam to ask Penny for advice on the writing process and about her professional career as an author. . . . Using Skype as an Internet connectivity in the classroom provides opportunities for interactive exchange and collaboration between students and the outside world. These synchronous, real-time discussions using VOIP software like Skype can tangibly expand the walls of the traditional classroom and engage students to write, share, and communicate with an authentic audience inaccessible just a few years ago." (Picture/article posted at: www.saintandrews.net & click on "Middle School Skypes with Author Penny Colman"/click on this pic for larger image.)

Reading with Sophie

I thought Sophie would be intrigued by Sylvia A. Earle's first-hand account, Dive!: My Adventures in the Deep Frontier (National Geographic Society, 1999). Earle, a legendary marine biologist and ocean explorer, starts off with a note that immediately engaged Sophie. "If you want to . . ., " Earle begins and continues with a series of possibilities. She concludes: “I know such things are possible because I have had the fun of doing them and have glimpsed how much more there is to discover.” Opposite the note is a full page color photo of Earle wearing scuba equipment & eyeballing a jellyfish, with the caption: “Jellies, such as this lacy beauty, collapse into great gobs of goo on the beach. The best way to get to know them and other sea creatures is to go where they live—underwater.” Sophie & I laughed at the descriptive phrase “great gobs of goo” (and delighted in the alliteration!) because we’ve seen them during our many walks along the beach at the Jersey Shore. There’s lots of text, but Earle’s personal style held Sophie’s attention until I read about the summer she went to “the whales’ dining room—the plankton-rich waters of Glacier Bay, Alaska." Then she interrupted me to ask:
“Grammy, why did she say ‘dining room?’”
“That’s an interesting question. I wondered about that too,” I replied. “Perhaps she thought it would be easier for readers to understand that that’s where humpback whales go to eat. Sometimes writers do things like that. What do you think? Did she need to write ‘dining room’? Was it a good idea?”
“No,” she said. “But keep reading, Grammy.”

Earlier in the book Earle reported that humpback whales make “short grunts and squeals.” At which point, I interrupted my reading to say, “That's the sound I made when I sat down on the floor to read this book with you!” She laughed; me too!

Spring, etc.

A lovely coating of snow greeted me this morning--the first day of Spring; happily my snowdrops and crocuses held their blossoms high!

This post is a potpourri: in addition to Happy Spring to all, I want to tell you about a blog I recently discovered, "Ms. Yingling Reads: One librarian's attempt to read all the Young Adult Literature in the world and shoot her mouth off about it." On March 3, she reviewed Thanksgiving: The True Story, which is why I happened to find her blog. I read more of her reviews & liked her insights and voice. Here's the link: http://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/2009/03/wednesday.html (Scroll down to the pic of Thanksgiving.

Re my last post about my daughter-in-law Sarah Jones, if you google "Michelle Obama + Sarah Jones," you'll find a cool pic and articles about MO's women's history day in Washington, DC.

Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin

Sunday morning, I was half-listening to NPR while reading the newspaper when the lead to a segment titled "Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin" snagged my full attention. Having written about Claudette Colvin in my book Girls: A History of Growing Up Female, I abandoned the paper and turned up the volume on the radio. Do check it out--it's a terrific segment with excerpts from an interview with Colvin, a 69-year-old retiree who lives in the Bronx. Phillip Hoose talks about his new biography Claudette Colvin for teenagers. (I'm going to discuss the book with my classes next week.) David Garrow, a historian of the Civil Rights movement, welcomes the visibility of Colvin's role because "the real reality of the movement was often young people and often more than 50 percent women." Here's the link to the NPR piece: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101719889

Link from Charlotte

My dear friend Charlotte Bennett Schoen, an indispensable member of the city council in Englewood, NJ, just sent me this link to the Jewish Women's Archives, which "is launching a series of podcasts of Jewish women recalling "ah-ha" moments that catalyzed their social activism, political activism, or work as religious innovators." I checked it out http://jwa.org/discover/throughtheyear/march/activism and heard Bernice Stern recall taking a stand to condemn racial prejudice against African-American soldiers serving in World War II; Anita Weinstein talk about her advocacy for women on campus; Lynn Amowitz remember overt discrimination during her graduation from medical school; and Idit Klein recall the moment when as a four-year-old she asked her great aunt about the blue numbers on her arm. The podcasts are a few minutes, a transcript and photo of each woman are included.

To the Library

What Darwin Saw: The Journey That Changed the World by Rosalyn Schanzer (National Geographic, 2009) In her Author's Note, Schanzer tells readers that she "loved everything about making this book." She traveled & took over 3,000 pictures and did "reading, reading, and more reading." Her decision to use "a graphic novel layout with lots of diagonals" resulted in a book replete with her illustrations--as many as 10 separate images (some realistic, many cartoonish) on a two-page spread--many quotes (some in quote bubbles) and her own minimalist text. Abridged quotes from Darwin's various writings appear in brown type, quotes from everyone else are orange, and the author's text is black (that hard-to-find information is provided on the title page in a bird's dialogue bubbles). To make sense of everything, I had to skim, read, and reread the book. Soliciting other opinions, I showed it to Linda Hickson, special education professor, Teachers College, Columbia University; Sue Kirch, science educator, New York University; and the graduate students in two of my classes (“Issues in Children’s Literature” and “Nonfiction Literature for Children” ) at Queens College; to a person they agreed that the format was overwhelming; so much so that it limited the appeal and/or usefulness of the book. If you do decide to teach with the book, here are some sequential suggestions: brief students about Darwin and his importance; underscore the fact that the book features his journey on a ship, the H.M.S. Beagle; explain why that journey is important; examine the map in the end matter; read the black text (author's narrative) all the way through (before scrutinizing the illustrations and quotes); read the information in the bird bubble on the title page. Also my graduate students noted some advanced vocabulary words; so have a dictionary handed. If you have comments, please feel free to add them.