The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies

So I'm not sure if the David Lubar of Pepper Weenie fame is the same as the David Lubar from Sleeping Freshmen, but the Pepper Weenie collection of short stories is quite amusing. Geared toward middle school students, Pepper Weenies is a book full of stories with twists. If nothing else, it'll keep the kids reading because they wonder what will happen next, as nothing happens as the reader would expect.

My favorite story from the collection is called "Smart Little Suckers." Here's the jist: The first person narrator has a tire swing in his backyard, a breeding ground for annoying insect life. His dad made mention previously of taking the swing down, but is a little short on the follow-through. Thus, the biting bugs that the narrator encounters every time he goes outside. These bugs, well, they make people smarter. The narrator, he's greedy with the smarts. I'm not going to say anymore if only because I don't want to give away the ending.

Two thumbs up for reluctant readers, though. I bet I could get my students to read these.

Words by Heart

Lena wants nothing more than her father's love. She tries to get it by winning a scripture recitation contest. She tries to get it by giving up her daily schooling to help provide for her family. She doesn't, until the end, realize that she's had it all along. With his love, Lena's father tries to shield her from the injustices the come with being a sharecropper in a predominantly white town. It is through one of Lena's "friends," another boy at school, that she learns this lesson.

The most important sentiment from the novel is this:

I want something for you, Lena. For all my children. And I hope I'm not wrong because it's going to cost you pain, but I want it for you just the same. I want you not to know your place. You have a right to an education and hope and the chance to use your gifts. I pray to God you won't ever have to live your life by someone else's rules. (89)

Challenge all you see fit to challenge. Do not stand idlly by and let other people run over you.

This isn't one I would have chosen for myself, I don't think. It was recommended, for that particular passage, by my school librarian.

Sebestyen, Ouida. Words by Heart. New York: Bantam Doubleday Doll Books for Young Readers, 1979.

Tom Swifties

As you can see from my Shelfari (which has been moved to the left-hand side of the screen), one of the many books I'm currently reading is Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie, by David Lubar. Being the nerdy word people that we are in my family, I immediately keyed in on the "Tom Swifties" from Chapter 5. Here's a little background:

One of the most popular series from long ago was Tom Swift. The key
thing about Tom, for our purposes, was that he never just said
anything. the writer was always ramping thing up. Tom would 'exclaim
surprisedly' or 'shout vigorously.'

Tom's speech habits became so well known that people started making fun of
them. it turned into a word game. (34)

Here are a few Tom Swifties from Sleeping Freshmen:

"I'd like a hot dog," Tom said frankly.
"Stop this horse," Tom said haltingly.
"They're building new apartments down the road," Tom said constructively. (34)

If nothing else, they're an exercise in adverb use. Although, I did hear once, in one of my creative writing classes, that if writers are using many adverbs, then they're not using the right verbs. Nevertheless, I found Tom Swifties to be interesting.

Some fun ones that my family came up with:

• "That's my underwear," Tom said briefly.
• "I suppose you want some ice cream," she spat coldly.
• "Nemo's my movie," she said selfishly.

Isn't that fun? Try your own.

All quotes from Lubar, D. 2005. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie. New York: Speak.

What's New

Check out my neat new widgit-->

I was introduced to Shelfari at the New Mexico Library Association (NMLA) conference in Albuquerque.

Dread Locks

The first YA lit book I've read in a while is Dread Locks, part of Neal Shusterman's Dark Fusion series. In this particular novel, Shusterman fuses Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Baers) with the story of the gorgon Medusa.



So far, a bored teenager has befriended the kooky girl who just moved in next door, who has golden ringlets that often seem alive, and a thing for dark reflective sunglasses. No doubt, Tara, the girl, is supposed to be a gorgon, most likely the gorgeous one who offends Athena, though I'm not sure yet how much of the mythology is infused in the novel. She does have two sisters, however, but they're away shopping in Europe.



The meet-cute for the two main characters, Parker Baer (sound like 'bear' anyone?) and Tara whose last name is French and more than I can remember off the top of my head, is one that Tara describes as "memorable," and I am inclined to agree with her. Chapter two, when Parker comes hom from riding around on his motorcross bike, his father is roaring something akin to "Who's been sitting in my chair?" A chair that is designed and adjusted to support Mr. Baer's back problems and has since been moved. Then, at breakfast, Parker's younger sister Katrina cries about someone having eaten her cereal. Of course, since Parker is our main character, the climax of the scene comes when he runs out of his room, in search of his father because "someone's been sleeping in my bed." And clearly is still there.

It is Tara's sunglasses that interest me the most. In the myth, it is the gaze of Medusa that turns anyone who comes up against her into stone. There are many statues in Tara's house, but she wears these reflective sunglasses all the time. I gather that she is relatively old; she said she came from Crete, and the sunglasses are an effective way for her to be part of society, claiming (and rightfully so) to have sensitive eyes.

Stay tuned for more adventures of Tara and Baby Baer...

The Bible Supports Gay Marriage (NewsWeek)

Miller, L. (December 15, 2008). "Our Mutual Joy." Found in Newsweek.

What I love about the gay marriage and religion conflict when it comes to government legislation is that people conveniently forget that by virtue of the first amendment, people are afforded freedom of religion. By making said issue a religious issue, a Christian agenda is being forcibly imposed on a nation that is supposed to be able to believe whatever they want.

The counter argument can be made that the religious folks who speak out against gay marriage are simply exercising their first amendment right to free speech, which I cannot disagree with. However, what I can disagree with is the fact that they want these religious beliefs, a specific set of beliefs that not everyone in the nation is compelled to share, to dictate public policy. They can also argue that the country was founded on Christian values, with the Founding Fathers deliberately invoking God in their writings. Of course, some early American history professors would disagree with this argument, reminding those debaters that not only were the first immigrants fleeing persecution (much like what the LGBT community is fighting now), but the Founding Fathers were not Christians, but in fact deists who believed in a supreme being deemed God, but rejected ideas such as prophecy and miracles in favor of reason.

I think I may have gone off on a tangent there and ceased to effectively convey my train of thought even though it makes sense to me on second read. I also think the argument might be incomplete, but for the moment I have nothing else to add.

Call of the Wild

This is going to be a poor excuse for a post, but I couldn't go without mentioning that I recently finished Call of the Wild. It reminded me of an animalistic version of Lord of the Flies. This connection makes me wonder (since I read during silent reading time in the classes I teach, I didn't look for analyises on the internet) if the novel is a commentary on the regression of human nature.