How My Parents Learned to Eat, Ina R. Friedman, illustrated by Allen Say
John, an American sailor, meets Aiko, a Japanese schoolgirl, in Yokohama, where John is stationed. They become fast friends and take many walks together, talking all the while. But while each is very fond of the other, they never share a meal: John cannot use chopsticks and is afraid of asking Aiko to dinner. When he discovers that his ship is to leave in three weeks, he decides he must learn. Once the dinner invitation is made, Aiko determines to learn to use a fork and knife. This is a funny, charming read, showing how two people who care about learning about another culture do so. It is used in the New Books, New Readers “Differences” series. Following a recent discussion of this book, ESOL students at Portland Adult Education had Japanese food-and the project director taught Somali and Sudanese students how to use chopsticks. This book, complete with culinary props, would also prompt good conversations with kindergarteners. (Diane Magras)
The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections, Amanda Blake Soule
Amanda Soule lives in Portland, but she is known worldwide as SouleMama after the blog she has written for more than three years. Soule is one of a growing number of bloggers who get book deals based on their online work, but The Creative Family is more than a cheap blog knock-off. It’s a rich compendium of thoughtful ideas for projects that fly in the face of consumerism and digital distraction. None of the projects require expensive materials or vast amounts of time. And like Born to Read, the Soule family loves children’s books, so some of their best ideas revolve around language and reading. (Brita Zitin)
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, Richard Louv
"Unlike television, nature does not steal time, it amplifies it.” This idea expressed on the first page of Last Child in the Woods is why this book is such a compelling read for any parent, grandparent or teacher of young children as well as for anyone who loves the outdoors. Rich in its reflections on the value of our earliest childhood experiences of nature, it gave name and support, for me, to the feelings I’ve increasingly had as a parent about the importance of being outdoors. Louv, a newspaper columnist and author of eight books, spent several years traversing the countryside to explore the reason why so many children today are suffering from a disconnect with nature. He interviews nearly three thousand children and parents as well as architects, psychologists, environmental leaders, naturalists and more. Bringing us their words directly, Louv helps the reader feel the immediacy of the crisis; we hear from the 4th grader who says “I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are” and from the parent who says, “Where I grew up, a person was just naturally outdoors all the time. [This] is a metropolitan area now. Kids haven’t lost anything, because they never had it in the first place.” The report he brings to us is a persuasive and fascinating call to alarm. Coining the term, “nature-deficit disorder” as a way to describe the “human costs of alienation from nature,” Louv argues that the outdoor experience is more than just a pleasant enrichment and an essential investment in a child’s health: it affects our health as a society and shapes many of our present social maladies. He examines the many reasons for our culture’s disconnect from nature, from television and computers to the fear factor which he describes as “the most potent force that prevents parents from allowing their children the freedoms they themselves enjoyed” outdoors as children. In closing, I’m glad to report that, since reading the book, I’ve learned of the national movement it has ignited to “leave no child inside.” This text has planted the seeds for the next Born to Read curriculum, which will connect children to nature through children’s books. (Denise Pendleton)
Eminent Victorians, Lytton Strachey
First published in 1918, this look back on four prominent English personages of the Victorian era was a new way of sharing history through biography (something that MHC teacher programs now help Maine educators do). Strachey describes the lives of Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Malcolm Arnold, and General Charles George Gordon with a focus on the events that made each of these historical figures famous. He also shows them as people, stripping away the heroism to share insights on their motivations (for example, Cardinal Manning never forgave and General Gordon picked fights indiscriminately and foolishly). These were considered great figures of the Victorian era, and while Strachey represents their achievements, he shows the indelible way in which they have affected Western culture to this day. Like many histories, Eminent Victorians has significant ties to today. It is a fascinating series of stories. (Diane Magras)
Roderick Hudson, Henry James
Imagine a talented young artist holed up in a quiet New England town, working a dull job, bored to death with his life. If the wealthy, aimlessly wandering Rowland Mallet gave this artist an all-expenses-paid sojourn in Italy as a testament to the artist’s aesthetic brilliance, how could anyone tell the artist that taking his new friend up on the offer would be a bad idea? And it might not be a bad idea, as the fiercely imaginative Roderick Hudson discovers when he accompanies Mallet to Rome and finds in himself an artistic capacity he never knew he possessed. Mallet wants Roderick to learn from not just the Italian masters but from the atmosphere of Rome. He isn’t disappointed-at least, at first. The friendship between the two is a unique one, built on trust and forgiveness, though each keeps his own secrets that eventually (being Henry James, expect this) lead to disaster. While Roderick Hudson, James’s first novel, details an artist’s growth in a way common to 19th century fiction, readers will find in this James’s traditional themes of Americans versus Europeans and corruption of innocence explored with surprising freshness, adding a new dimension to the basic theme of art. (Diane Magras)
Mendel’s Dwarf, Simon Mawer
Dr. Benedict Lambert, a quirky geneticist plagued with achondroplasia, a common cause of dwarfism, gives no excuses for his vulgar personality while desperately searching for love. Interwoven within the life story of Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics and Dr. Lambert’s great-great-great-uncle, is the story of how Benedict finds and loses love with Jean, a hopeless, married librarian. This clever and witty novel, used in the MHC’s Falmouth Community Seminar, brilliantly constructs the narrative behind the science of our very existence; it made me wish I paid more attention in biology. (Annie Medeiros)
Notes from an Open Book welcomes feedback from its readers. Please contact Diane Magras by email at diane@mainehumanities.org or by phone at (207)773-5051 ext. 208 (toll-free 1-866-637-3233, ext. 208) to respond.