Whale in the sky

Saw a beautiful sight today as I was walking home in Sengkang. Can you see the majestic cetacean in the sunsetting sky?

A friend recently talked about getting her son to enjoy reading, and that got me thinking about the kind of books a 10-12 year old boy today, in the 21st Century 2008, might be interested in. In fact, what kind of books might get a boy to not only finish that book or that series, but actually develop a sustained interest in finding and reading more books by the same author or in the same genre? Well, I'll just list a few books that may fall into this category, off the top of my head, and of course, I'm sure not everyone would agree with some of the choices, so feel free to add in your own selections. Here goes...

1. How To Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

Worms? Interesting. Fried worms? Irresistible! Harassed by the other boys in his school, the protagonist makes a bet that he can wolf down a set number of worms in a given amount of time. And this he does, in gloriously icky and surprisingly appetizing ways...pure storytelling genius.

2. Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series

These are the same authors who created the Lone Wolf series of gamebooks I enjoyed as a boy. The stories are of the 'choose-your-own-adventure' variety, where you may make choices along the way that lead your character to different outcomes. It's fun to see where different choices bring you, and often a simple combat system (involving dice or some other random number generator) is used to resolve encounters with hostile creatures. Adventure, monsters, a combat system, and the chance to determine the character's fate...what's there not to love? Of course, the same experience is now recreated in computer role-playing games, but nothing quite replicates the smell and feel of paper, and the appeal of black and white pen illustrations that are scattered throughout the books.

3. Snakehead (Alex Rider) by Anthony Horowitz

This is a book about a reluctant teenage spy who has to deal with Southeast Asian gangs, and is one of a series of books starring protagonist Alex Rider . I haven't read any of these books yet, but it's certainly got good reviews on Amazon.com. I've seen a lot of the books in Popular Bookshop but never felt compelled to buy one. After reading the reviews, I just might pick one up.

4. Another recent favourite with young boys is the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. The star of the book is a 14-year old criminal mastermind, Artemis Fowl, who aims to rebuild his family fortune after the mysterious disappearance of his father. It isn't often the hero of a book turns out to be a criminal mastermind!

5. A favourite with boys and girls alike is A Series of Unfortunate Events, by the mysterious author who goes by the name Lemony Snickett. The Baudelaire children have recently been orphaned, and as their lives unravel, they face one challenge, or unfortunate event, after another. The book has its dark moments, but there is a tinge of humour throughout. The visual presentation of the books and the mystery surrounding the author certainly add to its appeal.

What other books would you add to the list? Remember, the target group is 10-12 year old boys.

Update 10 Nov 08:

Was browsing at Popular Bookstore and came across the Warriors series of books, which imagines household pets as part of warrior clans, facing conflicts worthy of epic fantasy tales. Looks like a very compelling series which should appeal to young readers.

This series made me think about an old favourite, Watership Down, about a group of wild rabbits in search of the promised land, Watership Down. A moving adventure story, perhaps a bit heavy with possible allegory, but an interesting premise nevertheless.

"Shakespeare On Toast"

I was at Borders (Wheelock Place) recently and I was blissfully browsing when I came across a delightful book, "Shakespeare On Toast - Getting A Taste For The Bard" written by Ben Crystal. The size of the book, the paper stock and texture, and the irreverent cover design somehow reminded me of Stephen Fry's book, "The Ode Less Travelled", which had the noble intention of making poetry more accessible (such a short description doesn't really do the book justice! I'll try to review the book one day soon). "Shakespeare On Toast has a similar purpose, that of making the study of Shakespeare's works more accessible and appealing to audiences who might otherwise be intimidated by the Literary God-like status of the bard. After 3 days of perusing its pages while walking out of school to the bus-stop and while traveling on the MRT, I think the book has certainly fulfilled its objectives.

Author Ben Crystal is an actor and writer, and it says on the inside of the book jacket that he has co-written other books on Shakespeare (namely "Shakespeare's Words" and The Shakespeare Miscellany") with David Crystal. I'm guessing this is the same David Crystal who wrote "Rediscover Grammar" which I think was required reading for a grammar module in NUS. David Crystal has a very informal style of writing that aims to put readers at ease, and it seems Ben Crystal has that same gift (are they related?). Forget scholarly dissertations or technical analysis - the author makes his point in clear, concise English, with a generous helping of pop-culture references too.

The book is separated into Acts and Scenes like a typical Shakespearean play. Each act or scene deals with different aspects of approaching a Shakespearean play, such as understanding the context of the plays and Elizabethan society, or appreciating Shakespeare's mastery of the language and why so much would be lost if the plays were to be abridged or translated. He does however take pains to convince the reader that Shakespeare can be enjoyed in a variety of settings and mediums. He mentions a "Brazilian production of Romeo and Juliet that made me sob, a Slovakian production of The Merry Wives of Windsor that had me rolling in the aisles, and a Japanese Pericles that was one of the most heartbreaking pieces of theatre I've ever seen...".

The author's own experience as an actor lends an authenticity to his voice, as he calls for us to appreciate the plays as they were meant to be viewed - in front of an audience, and certainly not through heavily annotated textbooks.

I found Act 1 Scene 6 where he discusses why students find it hard to appreciate or relate to Shakespeare's plays very useful, and I now realize I may have to approach teaching Shakespeare differently to maximise the students' appreciation, understanding and enjoyment of the plays. Students may come to his plays with many preconceived ideas about Shakespeare, and this can be a barrier to enjoying or understanding the plays. One approach that may work, especially with 15-16 year olds, is to break down the plays to their simplest denominators first - a tale of greed, and jealousy, passionate love, betrayal, the fall of a great man .... and then work our way up. Although the lines are couched in elaborate poetry, it is the ideas which will resonate with the students first, because these are universal ideas. Crystal quotes Orson Welles: Shakespeare speaks to everyone. It is these fundamental ideas which make us able to relate to his plays, even though they were written for audiences 400 years ago. The last thing we should do I guess is to scare students by diving into the deep end immediately, floundering in the currents of Iambic Pentameter and soliloquies.

I found the same bit of advice in an old book the Literature Mentor Teacher in my school lent me, "Teaching Shakespeare" by Veronica O'Brien. She suggested starting students off on more accessible plays like Merchant Of Venice or Julius Caesar. I'm actually thinking of doing that next year for my next batch of Secondary 3s who have never encountered Shakespeare before, since the play we're studying for the 'O' Levels examination is A Midsummer Night's Dream, which may not be the best choice for an introduction to Shakespeare. The main issue though is time, and whether we can afford to 'deviate'. Obvisouly, we couldn't devote a whole term to another play as it would really set us back in terms of lesson hours. On the other hand, it may prove to be a worthwhile investment. Anybody out there have any thoughts on this?

Oops, guess I kind of digressed there...back to "Shakespeare On Toast"! It's a great book, light reading, "finishable" in a day or two, and (I know this is shallow) it just looks nice and cheery with its cover design. The size of the book makes it ideal for reading on the go. Ben Crystal has made it easier for readers new to Shakespeare to approach his plays, and he has also given possibly jaded Shakespeare teachers and students a light and breezy refresher course.

Update Mon, 10 Nov 08: The section on metre is pretty extensive, and culminates in a very enlightening analysis of a crucial scene in The Scottish Play (don't call it by it's actual name, it's (whisper!) cursed!) where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth skulk in the dark shadows of their castle after murdering the King while he slept. His main point here is that Shakespeare left many clues to his actors in the metre of his verse, and that to truly appreciate his genius, we must learn to appreciate Shakespeare's masterful, bold and even experimental use of metre, to help convey the atmosphere of a scene, or the nuances of a character. 

In Act 3, Scene 1, he references a scene from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, where Klingon Chancellor Gorkon says, "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon." His point was that Shakespeare's plays cannot be divorced from the beauty of the bard's poetry. Educational value aside, who wouldn't be charmed by a book on Shakespeare that had Klingons quoting Hamlet? He had me at "Tak Pah, Tak Beh...".

Hello world! This is officially my first post on this new blog. I'm setting myself a goal to review and recommend 33 (for a start) comics that can be used as tools or resources in the classroom. I'd also like to review or just rave about upcoming movies, television shows, comics and games, and even how Liverpool is on it's way to a new golden era in the club's history :) Oh yes, not forgetting cool software for the Mac and PC too, and how fun and useful they can be. To friends visiting this blog, pull up a chair and share your thoughts!