A Lesson Before Dying review

A Lesson Before Dying
by Ernest J. Gaines
Random House
December 1993

I can see why English teachers love this book, and why generations of students will be doomed to hate it. It's an unsubtle look at race relations and the death penalty, with a bit of religion thrown in for good measure. This was an Oprah's Book Club pick, and is sure to remain a popular alternative to To Kill a Mockingbird for years to come.

Grant Wiggins is an unhappy school teacher at a segregated black school in the 40's. He's pressured by his family into tutoring Jefferson, an innocent black man found at the scene of a bar robbery turned homicide. Jefferson has been sentenced to death and his "nannan" - godmother, wants to prove that he is more than a "hog" as his defense attorney had claimed.

How to make this book more relatable for teens? Hmm... you could draw parallels to the Troy Davis case, although it seems that the fervor surrounding that case has already died down. NPR did a piece on Willie McGee and the Traveling Electric Chair.

What's really striking is that for all the visits, and all the food that's brought for Jefferson - he and Wiggins really don't speak much at all, and Jefferson never does get the equivalent of a high school education. Everything that Wiggins encourages Jefferson to do is much more for the comfort of the people who will survive him. The story is rather slow paced and full of atmospheric details of racist Louisiana in the 40's. The last chapter is a doozy as the emotional impact of the actual execution affects everyone in their small town.

I borrowed this book from the library.

Litograph T-shirts

I've posted before about amazing posters made up of the entire text of a book.
Now there are t-shirts using the same concept. Hurrah!

Lizzie Bennett Diaries

Have you seen this? It's a video series put together by John Green's brother Hank. It's a very funny modern re-telling of Pride and Prejudice.

Classic Board Books

So. This exists.

Wow! I need them! Like, right now. It's all your favorite classic literature - in simple board book form.

Mad Hatter Day

Happy 10/6, a.k.a., Mad Hatter Day! What are you doing to celebrate? I won't be doing anything as ridiculously awesome as the Mad Hatter Event I did last spring for Young Audiences, but I may rent Tim Burton's recent movie adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (I still haven't seen it yet) and help myself to a spot of tea.

Book art posters

Wow! This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Postertext has released a series of posters, based on classic books, each with an iconic image, formed with the complete text of the original book in the background. Not too expensive either, they are all under $35.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader trailer

Hurrah!  I'd heard that plans to make the third Narnia movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader had been scrapped, but it looks like it's finally come together.  Found the trailer for it earlier today.


Chronicles Of Narnia 3

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Margaret Wise Brown

Found this video courtesy of www.earlyword.com.

Print Motivation

The first book I ever read was The Wizard of Oz. 

I was what you call a "reluctant reader." I saw the grown-ups around me reading and they always looked miserable, mostly because they were reading either the newspaper (full of bad news) or their stacks of mail (full of bills, more bad news.)  So, I decided that I wouldn't learn the alphabet. If I could avoid learning that, I could hold on to the carefree, joyous times of childhood forever. 

As I entered second grade, still a staunch non-reader (with a bare understanding of the alphabet, which unfortunately, was a little difficult to avert, considering that we sang the alphabet each morning as an opening to our school day) my teachers were starting to talk about holding me back a grade, or maybe even putting me in special-ed. 

That Christmas break, my parents bought me a goodly number of books and then, they did something they'd never done before. They read me the first chapter and a half or so of The Wizard of Oz, and just as we were getting to a really exciting part, my dad put the book down and said, "Well, that's it. I guess I'm getting tired of reading. If you want to know what happens, you'll have to finish it yourself." And then he just walked away. 

I had to know what happened next! I taught myself to read, forced myself to figure out the maze of words in about a week and a half, and promptly devoured the stack of books my parents had bought me. I went back to school and my teachers were stunned to see I'd skipped about 5 grade levels, pretty much overnight. And I've been a voracious reader ever since.

Good ol' Corduroy

At the laundromat today, I snapped this picture.

Makes me think of A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman. I was always fascinated by laundromats as a kid. My favorite page is the one where the artist gets inspired by the shapes he sees in the tumbling clothesdryer. "This would make a fabulous painting!" and he begins sketching.  I like the soap-flake sledding adventure that Corduroy goes on too.

Kids Book to Film generator

Travis Jonker, of 100 Scope Notes fame, has created a new children's book to film headline generator.


I got some pretty funny headlines when I tried it, including: 


Frances McDormand and Clark Gable to Star in Bawdy Film Adaptation of 'Kitten's First Full Moon'


Robert Downey Jr. and Steve McQueen to Star in Hindu Film Adaptation of 'Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!'


Billy Bob Thornton and Robert Redford to Star in Melodic Film Adaptation of 'Bridge to Terabithia'

Moomintroll Cake

To the untrained eye, these look like hippos, but I noticed this cake featured on a recent Cake Wrecks Sunday Sweets post is based on Tove Jansson's Moomintroll series.  Be sure and check out the rest of the cartoon inspired cakes!  There's a lovely Beatrix Potter cake, as well as Strawberry Shortcake and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Harriet the Spy Remake

I just heard about the new Harriet the Spy remake that Disney is releasing, Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars.  In this version, Harriet is a high-school student, competing with a popular girl for the spot of official school blogger.  I have to admit, I'm feeling pretty skeptical.  Part of Harriet's charm, at least for me, is she's part of that generation of urban independent girls with hands-off parents.  A bit geeky, and socially awkward, sure, but intrepid and loveable, just the same.


The upcoming film adaptation of Cleary's Beezus and Ramona also ages the characters by about five or six years, which, for some reason, doesn't bother me as much.  Even though Ramona is going from being a five year old, to a ten year old, she's still a kid.


Here's the Blog Wars trailer.