Your source for literary information
Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator, by Sarah C. Campbell, photographs by Sarah C. Campbell and Richard P. Campbell. 2009 Geisel Honor Book. This is another reminder why we should never discount children’s books when looking up information. I had never even heard of wolf snails, which eat other snails. Kudos on the photography, too. I wonder [...]
The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom, by Margarita Engle. Newbery Honor book and 2009 Belpre Author Award Winner. A double award-winner, and deservedly so. This was a very powerful book, told through several points of view in a series of free-verse poems, about Cuba’s fight to become independent from Spain between the [...]
Record Publishing Co. recently added two more staffers to the blogging world. One is photographer Michael Dakota’s “Dakota Territory” (http://dakota.territory.dixcdn.com/), who shares his thoughts and observations on photojournalism. The second is “Newspaper 2.0″ by web developer Charles Luzar (http://www.blogs.dixcdn.com/newspaper20/) This covers the newsprint industries slow but sure transition from paper to digital.
From information provided by the Akron Art Museum: Sam Abell, renowned National Geographic magazine photographer, features images from his new book, The Life of a Photograph, at the Akron Art Museum Lehner Family Foundation Auditorium, on May 3, from 3 to 5 p.m. This presentation is hosted by the Cuyahoga Valley Photographic Society and sponsored [...]
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. 2009 Newbery Medal winner. I had started this book Saturday morning, with the intent on reading a couple chapters before going on errands and to an afternoon committment. Big mistake. Next thing I know, I’m done with the book, and I am racing out the door to that appointment [...]
This one is a bit of a road trip, but for those of you who like day excursions, the third annual Ohioana Book Festival will be May 9 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The festival will be at the Ohioana and State Library of Ohio’s facility in the Jeffrey Mining Center at 274 E. First Ave., in the historic [...]
On April 19, Pastor Diane Winters Johnson will talk about writing, inspiration and journey at the Hudson United Methodist Church (2600 Hudson-Aurora Road in Hudson). Johnson is the author of The View from Under the Pew, the story of her path from seminary student to pastor with Walter, her Seeing Eye® dog. Pastor Johnson will [...]
After Tupac and D Foster, by Jacqueline Woodson (Newbery Honor Book). A very dense, moving story that will appeal to young teens, particularly young teen girls. Two best friends, Neeka and the narrator of the story (who is unnamed) meet a third girl, who calls herself D, when she is wandering around the neighborhood. The [...]
The Akron Art Museum just announced that it will be starting a new book club. Black and White, a novel by Dani Shapiro, will be the focus of the museum’s first book club meeting this spring. The new club, led by associate educator Alison Caplan and librarian Ellie Ward and inspired by the museum’s [...]
• The 27th annual Akron Antiquarian Book Fair is TODAY from 3 to 8:30 p.m., and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the John S. Knight Center, in downtown Akron. • Author Thrity Umrigar will speak and sign books at April 23 at 7 p.m. at the Hudson Library & Historical Society. Umrigar’s [...]