Teens Only | It's Probably On Your School Reading List

It being Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's 1973 memoir describing her family's experiences before, during and after their imprisonment at the Manzanar Concentration Camp. You are all aware, smart students that you are, of how the United States government imprisoned Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II because of their potential threat to national security. I'm reading it right now, which is rather fitting because the first week of May is Asian Pacific American Heritage week. This date was chosen because two important anniversaries occurred during this time: the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in America in 1843 and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad (by many Chinese laborers) on May 10, 1869.

 

But back to the book. I'll finish it today because it's only 203 pages. If it's important to you to know our history, and to develop empathy through understanding the plight of others, then I highly recommend you pick up this book. Seriously. At some point it will show up on a school reading list.

 

Jeanne's father was actually sent to an internment camp in North Dakota before being reunited with his family at Manzanar. Here is what she writes about her father's time there:

 

Papa never said more than three or four sentences about his nine months at Fort Lincoln. Few men who spent time there will talk about it more than that. Not because of the physical hardships: he had been through worse times on fishing trips down the coast of Mexico. It was the charge of disloyalty. For a man raised in Japan, there was no greater disgrace. And it was the humiliation. It brought him face to face with his own vulnerability, his own powerlessness. He had no rights, no home, no control over his own life.

 

I'll just let you think about those words for a while. And I hope that you'll join me in reading this important book.

 

Empathy through understanding.

 

And by the way, the Chavez Library is looking for teen volunteers (age 14 and older) to be part of Summer Book Buddies -- a program that helps children entering the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades with reading. Join us! You will feel really, really great about giving back to your community. Training is Saturday, June 7 from 10 am until 12 pm. Questions? Call (209) 937-7012.

 

Happy reading!

Books On Film | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Here's one last adaptation for the classic science fiction lovers.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick was published in 1968. The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic earth, most of which has been destroyed by nuclear war. Animals are prized because of their rarity and androids are used as slave workers on the planetary outposts where most humans live. 

Indistinguishable from humans on the outside, many androids try to escape to earth and pass as human. The novel follows a day in the life of Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter, on the hunt for escaped androids who are distinguished from humans using a polygraph-like empathy test called the Voigt-Kampf.

Ridley Scott adapted the novel into a feature film called Blade Runner in 1982. The film follows the premise of the books and keeps a lot of characters and elements in place, but diverges from the source material quite a bit. So, don't watch the film expecting. However, it's considered a scifi cult classic and was responsible for bringing Philip K. Dick's work to the attention of film studios.

Covers courtesy of LibraryThing.

4 Kids | Let's Play Ball

It's baseball time again -- loud applause here, please -- and so for you dear readers who share my love of this sport, let's take a moment to explore what might be an unknown part of our beloved sport's history.

But first, a little explanation: many of you may be hearing things like "critical thinking," "common core," and "informational text" in school these days. There are lots of changes going on in terms of what your teachers are teaching. But the great news is that non-fiction is getting some long overdue appreciation. So every week I'll be sharing non-fiction books with you. That's right: Non-Fiction! And I promise to share really great stuff. Informational stuff that's told in such a great way you'll think you're reading fiction! But you'll actually be learning something too. Trust me: this is going to be fun!

Back to baseball.

I just read Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa Moss and Yuko Shimizu. It's a short book that tells the story of Kenichi "Zeni" Zenimura. Zeni loved baseball. And he was really good at it. He played in the Fresno Nisei League and the Fresno Twilight League, and in fact, when the New York Yankees came to Fresno to play an exhibition game, Zeni was one of a few players asked to play with them! There's even a picture of Zeni standing with baseball greats Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

But here's where the story takes a sad turn: When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, 120,000 Japanese Americans living in the United States were sent to internment camps (think prison, not fun camp) because they were considered "possible spies." Zeni and his family were sent to just such a camp in Gila River, Arizona. It was a dry desert.

Even in these dire circumstances, Zeni did not lose his love of baseball. He decided to build a baseball field right there in the desert! Grass, bleachers, and chalk lines made out of flour -- he did it! And the first game played there was watched by 6,000 people!

It's no wonder that Zeni is considered the father of Japanese American baseball. Amazing what one person can accomplish, don't you think?

This is a non-fiction book, by the way. It reminds me of another great book on the same subject: Bat 6 by Virginia Euwer Wolfe. Although Wolfe's book is fiction, its story of girls' softball teams in Oregon in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and Japanese-Americans being sent to internment camps is very compelling.

I always look for a lesson whenever I read a book -- something I can take and apply in my everyday life.

I have a copy of Bat 6 autographed by the author. Her words: Fair play for (and from) all of us!

Play ball! And happy reading!

Just Life | Home Remedies!

I always wonder if home remedies have any merits. In my family, it seems like we can cure almost any ailment with two things: salt water and sweet tea.

For example, as soon as my dad catches a cold or gets a sore throat, he starts gargling warm salt water.

For any types of tummy problems, we drink hot sweet tea.

To verify the medical benefits of gargling salt water, I checked the Alternative Health Watch Database. I was pleasantly surprised to find articles about its effectiveness. So, at least one of our home remedies has a scientific stamp of approval. 

I still haven't researched the merit of sweet tea yet, but you never know.

So, the next time you catch a cold or sore throat, give salt water a chance.

While you are at it, check out a home remedy book from your local library.

The country almanac of home remedies

Mayo Clinic book of home remedies  

Alternative cures 

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha






 

Teens Only | Dickinson, Yeats, Zaman and Aday

To my list of favorite poets -- including William Butler Yeats, Emily Dickinson, e.e. cummings, and Shel Silverstein -- I now add two more: Labibah Zaman and Sofia Aday. Perhaps you've not heard these names before, but trust me when I say: you won't soon forget them.

 

Labibah and Sofia are winners of the Cesar Chavez Central Library's Poetry Contest held in celebration of April being National Poetry Month. We asked youth (ages 5-18) to write a poem of 100 words or less about why they love the Library. The younger winners were announced Tuesday on the 4 Kids blog.

 

Today it gives me great pleasure to share with you, dear readers, the winners of the 11-13 age group and the 14-18 age group.

 

Why Do I Like the Library?

 

Kids like me, love the library,

It is cool and fun,

And it is open for everyone,

Babies, Kids, Teens, Adults,

And even old grandmas and grandpas,

You know what I mean?

 

Loving the library is okay,

For me.

 

Having fun...

Reading books,

Playing games,

Doing homework.

 

Did I mention checking out books for free,

Not only books, but video games, videos, magazines, and etc. for free,

I got to agree.

 

by Labibah Zaman, age 13

 

I love that Labibah captures the open access of our wonderful Library in her free verse. Way to go, Labibah!

 

Read on:

 

The Bibliophile

 

The bibliophile is a wanderer

Who traverses the shifting sands of the world,

Ever-seeking something more to feed on;

A victim of his own desire.

The library is his haven.

Where he is free to gloss through the stories

Of the unbecoming at his own leisure.

The sensation gives him peace.

Something he was never quite able to attain in the real world.

 

by Sofia Aday, age 18

 

All I can say is: Wow. This poem says it all. Thank you, Sofia. Thank you for getting it!

 

We are so fortunate all of our young poets took the time to enter this little poetry contest. Thank you ALL for sharing your creative genius with us.

 

The teen blog will return every Saturday afternoon to celebrate great books you'll want to check out from your local Library.

 

In the meantime, happy reading!

Books On Film | WonderCon 2014 Edition

WonderCon is a primarily a comic book and collectibles convention, but also includes games, books, and media. Attendees are able to attend moderated panels with industry professionals who come to discuss their upcoming projects as well as show sneak peaks. Several upcoming films promoted at WonderCon were adapted from books/comics and several were adapted into books/comics.

 

Movies

The cast and director of The Maze Runner, schedule to be released September 2014, were present as part of the 20th Century Fox panel. The film is an adaption of James Dashner's teen novel of the same name. To see more about this book, check out one of my previous posts on upcoming 2014 YA adaptations.

The writer/producer of X-Men: Days of Future Past, schedule to be released next month, was also part of the Fox panel and there to discuss the film adaption of the 1980's Days of Future Past storyline. In the comic, Kitty Pryde transfers her mind into that on her younger self in order try to prevent occurrences in the past that lead to mutants being interned in the future. The movie adaption is obviously making one huge departure by sending Wolverine in to the past and it's yet to be seen what other changes have been made.

 

The writer of science fiction thriller Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and scheduled to be released X,  was present discuss the his adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka's 'light novel' All You Need Is Kill. The novel is set in a future earth at war with mysterious aliens called Mimics. A new military recruit with no experience ends up stuck in a time loop after being killed on his first day.

Animated Movies

There's a children's film festival and anime festival that goes on as part of WonderCon, however I did not attend either because there are too many activities and not enough time.

 

However, I did watch the Warner's Brother animated film, Son of Batman, which is schedule to be released on DVD/Blu-ray next month, which was screened in it's entirety. The film is an adaptation of the comic book Batman and Son. The comic is about Damian Wayne, son of Bruce Wayne and Tahlia al Ghul, who meets for the first time.

 

The voice actors and writer of How to Train Your Dragon 2 were also present for the XX panel to talk about the second film adaptation of the How To Train Your Dragon series. To learn more about these books please visit my previous post on the series.

Television Shows

Warner Brothers screened several episodes of their The CW shows, including this weeks episode of The 100. The 100 is an adaptation of a book of the same name by author Kass Morgan. The novel is about one hundred juvenile delinquents who are sent out by their space dwelling society to recolonize earth.

 

Falling Skies, TNT's science fiction television show produced by Steven Spielberg has been adapted into a comic of the same name by Dark Horse Comics. The series is about the survivors of an alien invaded earth and the comics take place between the seasons of the show.

Books & Comics

Since WonderCon is a comic convention there were, of course, many, many comic panels, including a special Batman 75th Anniversary panel in a new Batman Beyond short was shown. Batman Beyond is a bit unique in the Batman-verse. It started as an animated series and was later adapted into a comic unlike the original Batman comics and it's spin-offs. 

 

There were also panels for aspiring novel, comic book, and television writers on the writing process, publishing, and more. Sadly, I missed the 'What's Hot in Young Adult Fiction' panel which featured several young adult authors discussing trends in YA fiction. However, I was able to catch a panel with paranormal romance novelist and Marvel comic author Marjorie Liu who discussed her career change from lawyer to writer, explained the difference between comic and novel writing, and gave tips for aspiring writers.

 

Liu is known largely for her Dirk & Steele and Hunter Kiss series as well as her run on Astonishing X-Men, X-23, and Black Widow comics.

Covers courtesy of LibraryThing.

Books On Film | Minority Report

Here's another one for the science fiction and/or Philip K. Dick lovers.

Minority Report is a short story written in 1956. It tells of a future society where crime is prevented through the visions of three precognitive mutants. A 'Precrime' police division is set up to arrest criminals before crimes are committed. A captain in the division ends up accused of committing a future crime and goes on the run in search of his minority report (predicted alternative path).

In 2002, the book was adapted into a scifi thriller of the same name by Steven Spielberg. The film starred Tom Cruise as the main character and takes quite a few liberties with the source material, including a changed ending. However, the movie is very good.

Covers courtesy of LibraryThing.