the dirigible plum

Category: Uncategorized

  • No Crystal Stair

    I expected to like No Crystal Stair quite a bit more than I actually did. It’s a “documentary novel” about Lewis Michaux, a Harlem bookseller whose store was the center of Black intellectual life during the Civil Rights movement. Malcolm X hangs out in his bookstore; Nikki Giovanni gives readings. The store was obviously a…

  • It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 3/11/13

    Visit Teach Mentor Texts for the round-up of kids/YA weekly reading. This will be very quick, as I am swamped with work–which is what happens when you actually take a break over spring break. But it seems silly to start participating in this meme at long last and then skip my second time of participating. I…

  • 1975: M.C. Higgins the Great (Part 1)

    I don’t usually blog about books while I’m in the middle of reading them, but M.C. Higgins the Great, the 1975 Newbery Medal winner written by Virginia Hamilton, is challenging me a lot as a reader, and I thought I’d try to work through a few of my issues before getting back to it. First,…

  • My Favorite Picture Books of 2012

  • 1957: Miracles on Maple Hill

    Based on the cover, I wasn’t expecting much.  And really, very little happens in this book. The big drama is will-they-or-won’t-they get all the hundreds of buckets of sap from the maple trees into the sugar house before it freezes. But that’s okay. It’s very well-written and holds up surprisingly well. Sorensen creates a satisfying…

  • 1964 Newbery: It’s Like This, Cat

      I was a little worried when I chose another Newbery with “cat” in the title that cats dying would be the main theme. After all, there are a lot of dead pets in Newberyland. But thankfully, the worst thing that happens to Cat is that he gets “altered” in a scene full of unintentional…