Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

Tan, Shaun. Tales from Outer Suburbia. 2008, 94 pg, New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books, 9780545055871.

Annotation

A collection of short stories, poetry, and accompanied by Shaun Tan’s stunning, pleasantly strange thought provoking artwork.

My thoughts

These modern stories completely captivated me with their stunning illustrations, strangely quirky characters and mysticism that left my imagination wanting more. Suburban life is typical portrayed as a white picket fenced middle class lifestyle of normalcy. These stories, however, are ideal for anyone wanting to escape the normalcy of daily life in or out of the suburbs. Strange situations like the enigmatic nut-sized foreign exchange student, a sea creature on someone’s front lawn, a new room discovered in a family home, a sinister machine installed in a park, a wise buffalo that lives in a vacant lot, and 10 other extraordinary stories.

Artwork

The art is rich and surreal. In his website, Shaun Tan discusses his art for this book. Tan states that to “treat each story individually, as a separate little universe (which is how they were more or less conceived)” he used different media to suit the “atmosphere of each tale.” The range of media is impressive as is the skill evidenced in the illustrations. This is a collection for artists and dreamers, and for anyone in need of a jolt of inspiration.

Literary devices

Use of Sophisticated Language: incomprehensible, frayed, perilous, melancholy, etc.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grades 7-12

Reviews and Awards

Awards: CBCA Book of the Year, 2009, Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2009, New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books, 2009, BCCB Blue Ribbon Book 2009, Washington Post Best Kids' Books of the Year, Booklist Editors’ Choices for 2009, A YALSA Best Book for Young Adults-2010, An ALA Notable Book for Children-2010, USBBY Outstanding International Book-2010, LA Times Book Prize-Finalist

Author website: http://www.shauntan.net/

Media: Pencil/ oil on canvas/ acrylic and oils on paper/graphite and coloured pencil on paper/ gesso, acrylic and oils on paper/ paper collage and other people’s handwriting/ oil on wood/ ink watercolor and ball-point pen/ digital/ scraperboard/ gouache/ photocopied text/ pastel crayon

Genre: Graphic novel

Dante's Divine Comedy by Seymour Chwast

Chwast, Seymour. (2010). Dante's Divine Comedy. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN: 978-1608190843.

Annotation

Dante’s Divine Comedy is Seymour Chwast’s graphic adaptation of the classic, allegorical epic poem written in three parts: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise.

My thoughts

This is a much lighter version of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. The original 14^th century allegorical masterpiece has over 100 cantos chronicling a journey through hell, purgatory and paradise. The original poem is intended to be horrifying and is supposed to give a basic education of Christian theology. Chwast’s graphic adaption is much easier to stomach and the summarization takes the text slightly away from the Christian theology making it more entertaining than dogmatic. Overall, this is a good introduction that is amusing and not overwhelming.

In addition, Chwast’s summarization takes away the original poetry that can be up to over 900 pages and condenses the text to 128 pages. The poetry is not as lyrical and has been so summarized that it has been lost so this book might not be good if the intent is for poetry. Then again, many readers shy away from the text because of the poetry. This is a good version to recommend to those who do not enjoy poetry or might not want to read the religious version. The historical names (Euclid, Aristotole, Socrates, Plato, Aeneas, Soloman, etc.), religious figures (St. James, St. John, St. Peter, Adam, Moses, St. Anne, St. Lucy, etc.), canto numbers, key terms (gate of Dis, the river Acheron, etc.) and religious concepts remain the same.

Focus on Artwork
The illustrations are appealing whereas other versions (like William Blake and Dore’s) can be horrifying for readers. I remember my own dismay reading this at a very young age. The illustrations scared me. They still do. These illustrations are humorous and modern. Dante is illustrated like a 1930s Dick Tracy sunglass wearing sleuth-like individual and Vigil wears a bowlers hat and bow tie. The way that these two figures are illustrated make this historically fear-mongering piece of literature less intimidating. This graphic novel version balances out the original Divine Comedy and can be used to modernize the teachings and reading of this western literature classic. 

Curricular connections

High school: Religious Studies, Catholic Dogma, or English.

Literary devices

Use of Sophisticated Language: gluttony, usurers, abstain self-indulgences, wanton, sower of discord, and other terms related to the religious poem.

Use of Allegory: Dante's journey through the levels of inferno, purgatory, paradise is an allegory for the soul’s journey to God.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 7- High school and up: due to mature themes. Hell, inferno, purgatory and the various punishments for sinners aren’t really good for young minds. This is a classic, however, and these illustrations are less intense than William Blake, Dore, or other illustrated texts.

Reviews and Awards

Starred review, Publisher’s Weekly           

Author website: www.pushpininc.com/

Media: ink

Genre: graphic novel

Ubiquitous by Joyce Sidman and Beckie Prange

Sidman, J., & Prange, B. (2010). Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors. Boston [Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN: 0618717196.

Annotation

Joyce Sidman combines poetry and science to examine some of the oldest living evolutionary survivors on Earth. Ubiquitous celebrates these survivors’ unique traits.

My thoughts

Ubiquitous means “somewhere that is (or seems to be) everywhere at the same time. Given that these species are prevalent and exist all over the world many of them are overlooked or assumed to be simple. This book reveals that these prevalent species are anything but simple. They are survivors for certain reasons and while this may seem mysterious, Joyce Sidman writes about some of the unique traits of these species that have made it easier for these species to survive.

This book highlights these special adaptive species and celebrates their unique traits for informational blocks, poetry, and detailed illustrations. Key pieces of information make this book interesting for children for example“…it is said that industrious squirrels plant more trees than humans do.” Crows have been “observed dropping large nuts at highway intersections so that passing cars will crack them open!” “Geckos can literally break their tail in two to escape from predators.”

The timeline in the beginning of the book is probably one of the better Earth timelines that I’ve seen for awhile. It really puts time into perspective. A mass of lines wind around each other like a giant fingerprint and spread across the inside cover and title page. For the scale, each centimeter represents one million years. It begins with Earth’s birth at 4.6 billion years. Humans, only come into the picture at the end of the timeline.

The prints are also creative and appropriate. Everything blends seamlessly.

 These are an impressive set of poems that tribute our planet’s survivors.

Curricular connections

Elementary school science- Biology

Students can reenact this timeline and bring their own timeline into the class using a 46 meters long string and cards to label the key events. Different colored string can be tied together to represent the different geologic periods.

Lesson Plan
See 'Lesson Plan' page

Literary devices

Use of Rhythm

First Life

(a diamante)

Bacteria

Ancient, tiny

Teeming, mixing, melding

Strands curled like ghostly hands

Winking, waving, waking

First, miraculous life

Use of Allusion

“… I am Sheath-wing, beloved of ancients. You have never seen armor like mine. As the sun-god rolls his blazing disk overheard, so I roll my perfect sphere of dung across the sands.” – Alluding to the Egyptians and the Sun-God Ra.

“Who swirled your whorls and ridges? Was it the shy gray wizard shuttered inside you? I hear he walks on one foot and wears a magic mantle, trailing stars. O shell, if only I could shrink! I’d climb your bristled back, slide down the spiral of your heart. I’d knock on your tiny door and ask to meet the mollusk that made you.”

Use of Sophisticated language

Adaptability, diamante, diverse, mutate, photosynthesis, prolific, organism, ubiquitous.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Age 6 and up.

Reviews and Awards

Awards and Honors: Starred reviews in Booklist, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Kirkus, Horn Book; Junior Library Guild Selection; Publisher's Weekly, Best Books of the Year; Washington Post, Best Books of the Year; Kirkus, Best Books of the Year; School Library Journal, Best Books of the Year; National Science Teachers Association/Children's Book Council, Outstanding Science Trade Books, K-12, 2011; Boston Globe, Top Ten Children's Books of 2010; New York Public Library's "100 Best Books"; Booklist, Top 10 Sci-Tech for Youth; Book Links, Lasting Connections for 2010; Finalist for the 2011 CYBILS Poetry Award; Association for Library Service to Children Notable Children's Book; The John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers

Author website: www.joycesidman.com/

Illustrator website: http://www.beckieprange.com/

Media: linocuts, hand-colored with watercolor

Genre: nonfiction, poetry

The Stephen Hawking Story: The Boy Who Turned Disability into the Ability to Embrace the Stars by T.S. Lee

T. S. Lee- author. Chad Walker- translator. The Stephen Hawking Story: The Boy Who Turned Disability into the Ability to Embrace the Stars. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Joyful Stories Press, 2009. First printing 2010. ISBN: 978-0-981954295.

Author website: No author website found.

Media: Pen and ink

Genre: Graphic Novel, Biography, Comic, Science

Annotation

Fictionalized manga biography about the genius physicist Stephen Hawking. The comic biography shows on how Hawking survived Lou Gehrig's and worked to become one of the world’s top physicists.

My thoughts

Stephen Hawking is a brilliant man and has striven through a lot of adversity and personal challenges to accomplish all of the things that he has accomplished. Overall, I think that this is a good biography. It kept information simple and did not oversimplify Hawking’s life or ideas. This level, the simple manga comic, makes it so that younger readers can know what Hawking is responsible for and learn about his work on black holes and the secrets of the universe and other highlights of science (like Galileo, Newton, and Einstein). Physicists, however, might cringe at the jump in physics to manga. So far, this book has not had too many reviews so it is difficult to know how actual scientists perceive the science in this graphic novel. It can be noted that the actual details of physics might have otherwise shied younger readers away from Hawking’s achievements and science.

Most the book focuses on how Stephen Hawking coped with being diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). He learned in his early twenties that he had this disease and was given a couple of years to live. After the diagnosis and physical paralysis, he went on to get his advanced degrees, publish multiple books and articles (including the pivotal A Brief History of Time), propose many new theories, was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from Oxford University, and became one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society. In 1985 due to pneumonia had had a tracheotomy, which rendered him unable to speak without the aid of a voice synthesizer. Through all of this he continued with his interests about the universe and personal goals. The manga graphic novel starts with his children love for books (and memory for details) and covers these events.

Stephen Hawking has lived more than 40 years since he learned he had the disease. He beat the life-expectancy odd for people with ALS and serves as a role model for ALS patients, others who face adversities, and now also children. In addition, this book takes away mystery around the man who speaks with a voice synthesizer. This graphic novel format makes it so that his differences are not as intimidating or different.

Use of sophisticated language

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease), epitome, Einstein’s theory of relativity, universal gravitation, celestial bodies, modern theoretical physics, inertia acceleration, reciprocal actions, singularity theorems, theories, degradation, tracheotomy, voice synthesizer.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 3-8

Reviews

The School Library Journal notes that fictionalized manga biographies are “appealing, but their usefulness is limited by their uneven translations” and made the criticism that statements are “incorrect, unclear, unsupported, and occasionally downright weird.” There are – other biographies in this series. I have not read the other biographies but the Stephen Hawking Story one did not contain too many overt errors. 

Mimi's Dada Catifesto by Shelley Jackson

Jackson, Shelley. Mimi's Dada Catifesto. New York: Clarion Books, 2009. Print. ISBN: 978-0547126814.

Annotation

This is a picture book about Mimi, an artistic poor alley cat, who has had enough of the street and decides to seek out an artistic human. While doing so, Mimi deconstructs Dadaism and the Dadaists.

The art is one of the things that attracted me to this book. One the cover is a cute orange cat with a moustache bearing a smile close to Mona Lisa’s. The title read Mimi’s Dada Manifest, only with the ‘man’ crossed out of manifesto and replaced with ‘cat’ifesto. The background looks like torn newspaper pieces collaged together and all of the titles letters look like they have been cut from different publications. On the bottom of the cover, two cockroaches dressed to the nines present the author’s name. This is an eye-catching cover.

Introducing the Dadaists to grade school children can be inspiring and fun. In the author’s note, Shelley Jackson writes, “The Dadaists thought it was time to make art just as silly as the real world. They performed nonsense poems. They wore funny costumes. They put ordinary things like neckties and toilets in museums as if they were pieces of art.” These were the artists that colored outside of the lines and really can stimulate young minds to find ways for creative self-expression. I think that many children can resonate with Dadaist art and there are so many art projects that can be done with this book as inspiration (like collage). Along with the author’s note is a list of recommended books and websites and audio CDs that is also useful.

My thoughts

Dadaism was an art movement that is difficult to explain; yet this picture book does a pretty good job of explaining the Dada art movement.

Quotes

“The world was full of silly things in 1915, just like now (umbrellas! bow ties! false teeth!), but most art ignored the silliness. To the Dadaists, that was the silliest thing of all.”

Inside cover “I am not writing this book to get famous/ but to give you some tips on living./ Listen, kiddo: sometimes you stare at a black dot for an hour/ and nothing happens./ But sometimes it gets up and walks across the floor./ I like bugs./ What I’m trying to say is-> Pay attention/ and expect the best.”

Curricular connections

Grades 1-4: Art

Lesson Plan

See 'Lesson Plan' page

Literary devices

Use of Sophisticated language: nuisance, industrial-strength, primitive, Dadaist.

Repetition: “That cat… is a stupendous nuisance. A primitive force of destruction! A steam-powered, industrial-strength…” (Repeated twice).

Simile: “Make like a pet.”

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 1-4/ Age 6 and up

Author website: ineradicablestain.com/

Media: Mixed media

Genre: Juvenile picture book