Teaching Disasters: a Review of DROWNED CITY: HURRICANE KATRINA AND NEW ORLEANS by Don Brown

This graphic novel is fantastic.  I enjoy graphic novels because the experience of "reading" pictures is sometimes much more powerful than reading words alone.  Such is the case with Brown's book.  He takes a story that students may not be interested in, but portrays it in a way that humanizes the after-math of Katrina, focusing on the plight of the people instead of the muddled politics.  It's very digestible for Grades 5 and up and is a great suggestion for students and teachers who are researching "natural disasters". A big bonus is that the font chosen (CC Tim Sale Brush) is consistent with the style of the art panels, giving unity to the graphic appeal of the story. Also included is a very thorough bibliography of sources and materials for further study.

Reviews and Awards:
Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, 2015
Kirkus’ Best of 2015 list
School Library Journal Best of 2015
Publishers Weekly’s Best of 2015 list
Horn Book Fanfare Book
Booklist Editor's Choice 

"An excellent chronicle of the tragedy for a broad audience; children, teens, and adults will all be moved."
—Kirkus, starred review
"Lively, dynamic sketching gives the artwork a sense of urgency and immediacy. It is as important to tell the story of a nation's failures as it is to record its triumphs, and this is a crucial contribution."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Emotionally resonant, this outstanding title will appeal to graphic novel and nonfiction readers alike."
—Booklist, starred review


"This astonishingly powerful look at one of America's worst disasters is a masterful blend of story and art."
—School Library Journal, starred review

"If a book's power were measured like a storm's, this would be category five."
—Horn Book Magazine, starred review

"This book could almost make its point on the powerful illustrations alone, but Brown’s precise language secures the historical details in an unforgettable way...‘Drowned City’ delivers a brave treatment of important and uncomfortable details.”
—The New York Times Book Review

Ideas for Teaching:
The NEA has a website with lesson plans available about Hurricane Katrina, complete with images maps and graphs and unit plans.  Hurricane Katrina

Teaching the Levees is a site concerned with supporting democratic dialogue and civic engagement. The site includes a free, downloadable PDF Curriculum Book. 

The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) houses a "Katrina" archive that is still maintained and updated on a regular basis.  These are primary documents, including the newspapers, Pulitzer-prize winning coverage.  Brown's book is reviewed here.

Vital Stats:
Brown, Don. Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. Ills. Don Brown. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015. ISBN: 9780544157774

THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER

Hoose, Phillip. The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Petersen and the Churchill Club. New York: Ferrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2015.

I read Lois Lowry's NUMBER THE STARS a long time ago, so I had forgotten her story takes place in Denmark. So does THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER: KNUD PEDERSEN and the CHURCHILL CLUB. The only difference is that this is a true story about a group of teenage boys who began the Danish Resistance Movement when German troops stage a peaceful overthrow of the Danish Crown in 1940 as part of their offensive in Europe. While some Danes, didn't mind, the boys thought their country was cowardly, especially when they considered how the Norwegians were fighting. They heard of massacres and deportations in Norway and wondered how this could be right. The boys began meeting on a regular basis to plan ways they could simply sabotage the German troops stationed in Denmark. Using bicycles and operating in broad daylight, the group pestered the troops to the point that the Danish police were looking for the perpetrators. This is the story of some crazy and courageous effect the Churchill Club had on their countrymen. The story was quite readable, and quite appropriate for a YA audience. The boys in the book transform from innocent children to teenagers older than their age because of the events that take place. Still, there is humor and intrigue running through the story. The research is quite solid, and the book is based mainly on interviews with Knud Petersen, who founded the club with his brother, Jens. It is a perfect non-fiction piece to accompany NUMBER THE STARS or HITLER YOUTH by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. I could definitely see this book as a supplementary text in Global Studies, World History, Journalism. The author includes a selected bibliography for readers who want to learn more. It's an unbelievable story. Reading it has made me more aware of the world.

Book Trailer
https://youtu.be/DjkJfhUOfAg

Reviews and Awards
A Booklist Editors’ Choice • A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year and Best Teen Book of the Year • A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year • A New York Public Library Notable

“An outstanding addition to the WWII canon . . . Hoose brilliantly weaves Pedersen's own words into the larger narrative of Denmark's stormy social and political wartime climate.” —The Horn Book, starred review

“Often reading like a thriller, this title puts a human face on the often-overlooked Danish Resistance . . . Captivating.” —School Library Journal, starred review

“Their story is one of bravery in the face of constant danger and of increasingly meaningful acts of sabotage . . . An important and unforgettable book that adds a significant chapter to the history of WWII.” —Booklist, starred review

Teacher's Guide 

http://images.macmillan.com/folio-assets/teachers-guides/9780374300227TG.pdf

Author's Website

http://philliphoose.com/

METRO: A STORY OF CAIRO

This is a graphic novel that was banned in Egypt in 2008, so only an English translation is available for purchase.  It's loosely about some poor people who decide to take their rights through violence and corruption in a violent and corrupt city.  They get a bit hurt in some demonstrations, and there is a love interest for the main character.  The copy of the book I received from Metropolitan Books (New York: Henry Holt and Co.) is very difficult to read.  It seems to have been photocopied or printed in gray scale.  It would be much better if the panels were in a stronger black and light.  The story in fairly interesting.  The title METRO reflects how the story is told from one part of the city to another.  I am giving this 3 stars because it was dangerous for El Shafee to create this novel and put his name to it.  As far as the actual story, it was written in 2007 before the Arab Spring, so it is very prophetic and gives a voice to the Egyptian people before Arab Spring, perhaps giving credence to the events that took place in 2011. It would be a great resource for classroom teachers to use if discussing events that led up to Cairo 2011.

El Shafee, Magdy. Metro: a Story of Cairo. Trans. by Chip Rossetti. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2012. 

Comic Relief: a review of Joe Sacco's PALESTINE

Sacco, Joe. Palestine. London: Jonathan Cape. 2003. Print.

I am not a fan of Sacco's style of illustrating. The pictures and people look ugly. That being said, he knows what he is doing. His graphic collection is a hard and honest glimpse into the lives of Palestinians living in camps and elsewhere in the occupied land. It's tough. The stories are tough, and he truly portrays the realities of life there. It's nothing to be shot, go to prison, be beaten, have two sons killed, to have your olive trees cut down because a soldier thinks someone threw a rock from your field. Speaking of rocks, there were plenty in this book and in the stories. Sacco manages to portray through his settings, the realism of harsh landscape, pitted roads, no sewage, and above all, the intensely dense flurry and fury of overcrowding and overpopulation. And still, there is a balance between horror and hospitality, homelessness and home. Sacco never lets the reader forget he is an outsider, as he clearly identifies himself as a reporter looking for the story. As a good journalist, he actually delivers a balanced POV and reliable feature narration. Even though I don't like his style, I'll read more of his work. It's interesting and necessary. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be better informed about crises, current and past, in the Middle East.

"The Boys." PALESTINE, pp. 190-191

For more about the author, check out his author page.

Early Signs of Genius: a review of MARGARET ATWOOD, SELECTED POEMS 1965-1975

As the title clearly states, this is a selection of Atwood's poetry from her early years. It includes selections from previously published works, THE CIRCLE GAME (1966), THE ANIMALS IN THAT COUNTRY (1968), THE JOURNALS OF SUSANNA MOODIE (1970), PROCEDURES FOR UNDERGROUND (1970), POWER POLITICS (1971) and YOU ARE HAPPY (1974). 

The first few books were a bit too intimate for me. Many of the poems seemed like they are direct comments on her relationships with men, and it was just a bit too revealing. It made me uncomfortable, but that's what good poets should do. She does quite clearly establish herself as a feminist writer, themes which are soon to emerge in many of her novels.

The pace started to pick up a bit in THE JOURNALS OF SUSANNA MOODIE. I was pleasantly surprised that she had essentially written a verse novel. And this might be one of the earliest examples of this narrative structure. The voice of the poems progresses over time, as Susanna encounters life in new and unexpected ways. 

My favorites were the last two series of selections, ARE YOU HAPPY, being one of the best. Perhaps I was influenced because I've recently read THE PENELOPIAD and loved it. The last cycle in the book is a series of "Circe/Mud Poems". I was fascinated to read all the themes and foreshadowings in these poems that quite clearly informed her interpretation of THE ODYSSEY. 

Having familiarized myself with her novels, it was a joy to read her early work. The best thing about reading it was getting to know her in another context. It's quite clear that she has matured as a writer and developed her ideas into her body of work over time, while remaining true to herself and the beliefs she holds dearly.

Desert Stories for Today

Al-Koni, Ibrahim. The Puppet: a Novel. Trans. William M. Hutchins. Austin, TX: Center for Middle Eastern Studies, 2010.

At 113 pages, The Puppet should be listed as “a book you can read in a day,” but it’s not. The book is the second book in The Saharan Oasis trilogy by Libyan writer Ibrahim Al-Koni. The New Waw, the first of the series, has garnered the American Literary Translation Association’s 2015 National Translation Award for translator William H. Hutchins, and Al-Koni has been longlisted as one of only 9 for the 2015 Man Book Prize. The Puppet is the second, and The Scarecrow ends the series; however, the books do not need to be read in order to make sense.

Al-Koni writes in a stream of consciousness style that is influenced by his Tuareg heritage, his university years studying comparative literature in Russia, journalist years in Poland, and finally his settling down in Switzerland. The Puppet is a unique blend of ancient story that draws on motifs that are quite applicable to modern times. Al-Koni explores the values of nomadic life against the dangers of complacency once a people decides to settle for life in an oasis. A world of duality and irony ensues, where both sages and vassels are willing to sacrifice personal freedom and wisdom for gold and commerce that ultimately enslaves them. Intertwined with their political maneuverings, a love story between a vassal and a beautiful maiden tells a story older than time, between men and women, between the desert and its people, revealing the chthonic duality of passion and annihilation, life and death.

When the people demanded a leader, I was reminded of the warning Samuel, the last judge of Israel, the last mouthpiece direct from God, gives to the Israelites when they demand a king. Life will change. You don’t know what price you will truly pay in asking for a human ruler. The divine will have its day.

I was reminded of The Sibyl by Swedish writer Par Lagerkvist who had a lifelong interest in gods and the relationship of the human to the divine. I was also reminded of Hesse who explored the duality of human nature, how as man moves further away from nature, he moves further away from himself.

Al-Koni eloquently captures the ease of surrender to nature, “You must relax and give your body totally to the water if you want to stay afloat. In the desert, too, arrogant people who act obstinately succumb. In the dessert those who think they have been granted enormous knowledge and who therefore debate and resist will perish. The desert takes vengeance on this group with its labyrinth. The other group, those who surrender control to the wasteland and seek the desert’s protection against the desert, survives.”

Al-Koni’s storytelling is particular to his time and tradition, but applies to any traveler, any people. Should we fight? Should we succumb? Should we live ethically? These questions are not answered. Only what must be considered. No, the book is not a short read at all. It demands another.

Behind Closed Doors in Amman

Four women and one man in modern-day Amman find their narratives intersect because, although Amman is a big city, it’s still a small world.

Zaghmout, Fadi. The Bride of Amman. Trans. Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp. Hong Kong: Signal 8 Media, 2015. ISBN: 9789881219893

WARNING:  For mature audiences only—graphic content.

Salma, unmarried at 30, fights against the stereotype of the Jordanian spinster, while her sister Leila is about to have it all—a degree, a career and a handsome and wealthy husband.  Her husband, Ali, has a dark secret he keeps well hidden.  Hayat, who knows Leila, has dark family secrets of her own, meets Samir who knows Ali’s secret.  Should she tell Leila or should they all be worried about their Christian friend Rana who has run off to Sweden with her Circassian boyfriend? 

This book was publicized as social commentary, and I began reading it as such.  As such, it bored me.  I didn’t care much for the voices I was hearing as their problems sounded shallow and self-obsessed.  I was drawn into the novel, however, bit by bit as the stories began to intertwine and the connections between the characters became more complicated.  Then, I was able to understand the complexities of the Jordanian families and friends I have met in Amman at a much more intimate level than I have previously understood.  Life isn’t easy in Amman, infamously known for the “Amman scowl,” but this book helps the reader understand how difficult it is for some modern Jordanians to put on a brave face and smile. 

Is the book a masterpiece of literary achievement? I don’t think so.  Is it enjoyable reading? Definitely, yes.  Does it pass the test of helping the reader step into someone else’s shoes and walk around in them? Definitely.  On that basis, it’s worth the 4 hours it takes to go through it.  

Next step, meet the author.  Fadi Zaghmout, where are you?  I want to have coffee.

Fadi's Blog: https://thearabobserver.wordpress.com/