bookshelf

LIT UP

Name: LIT UP
Author: David Denby
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9585-2

ONE REPORTER. THREE SCHOOLS. TWENTY-FOUR BOOKS THAT CAN CHANGE LIVES.

by David Denby ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 2, 2016

An upbeat portrait of fine teachers and the students they inspire.

bookshelf

Teenagers encounter great books and dedicated teachers.

New Yorker staffer Denby (Do the Movies Have a Future?, 2012, etc.) believes ardently that reading affords pleasure, “an opening to a wider life,” and enhanced “understanding of other people and oneself.” He wondered, though, whether reading will survive for children inundated with increasing technology. Will they stop texting and read a book? How, he asks, “does the appetite for serious reading get created?” The author decided to investigate by sitting in on a 10th-grade English class at Beacon, a magnet school in Manhattan. After a year of attending classes and reading all the assigned material, he expanded his project by visiting two other public high schools: the inner-city James Hillhouse High School in New Haven and the suburban Mamaroneck High School in Westchester. Beacon, though, and in particular the class taught by energetic, 30-year-old Sean Leon, is Denby’s central focus. Admission to Beacon is competitive, based on grades, a portfolio of schoolwork, and an interview. With students motivated to excel and teachers free to shape their own curriculum, it’s hardly surprising that Denby came away impressed—and he ably conveys his enthusiasm to readers. In the two other schools as well, though, the author found that by teaching “aggressively and flexibly, with humor and dramatic power,” teachers can generate students’ passion for reading. He sees students taught to read actively: responding to readings through journals, annotations, marked-up copies of texts—all of which the teacher reads, comments on, and sometimes grades. At Mamaroneck, a “get-them-reading strategy” requires students to keep a yearlong journal of independent reading, including romance fiction and graphic novels. At Hillhouse, where many students struggle, Denby witnessed a fiery conversation about To Kill a Mockingbird deftly handled by an encouraging, but tough, teacher.

An upbeat portrait of fine teachers and the students they inspire.

Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-8050-9585-2

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
DO THE MOVIES HAVE A FUTURE?
by David Denby

- BOOK REVIEW
AMERICAN SUCKER
by David Denby

- BOOK REVIEW
GREAT BOOKS
by David Denby

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

bookshelf

TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

bookshelf

An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.