Boyfriend: Are you reading a picture book?
Me: Yes
My inner monologue: Don't you read my
blog? what kind of a boyfriend are you? the non-stalker kind?
Me: For teaching. I want to find good
books to read to the kids. And I use them for acting class scripts sometimes.
Boyfriend: Oh!
His Inner Monologue: I thought the recent Game of Thrones had so
psychologically damaged you you gave up reading books for grown ups.
See, he cares.
This Month's Picture Books
Super cute book for little ones that gets them involved in
the action, with something for them to do before you turn each page.
"Make loud noises to distract them!" -- my favorite thing to do in class, probably not my neighbors favorite thing for me to do in class...
Definitely saving this one for the little kid classes I'm teaching
this summer!
I have a confession: I was never super into Maurice Sendak, as a
child. I think Where the Wild Things Are scared me. (So did The Muppets and most of the
rides at Disneyland, to be fair.) This book is like an acid trip eulogy, so
also probably would have scared me as a child.
I mean, it is a eulogy. To his brother, his partner, his youth. So it's sad. But pretty.
Good thing I have like six months till I'm actually teaching
because I'm pretty bad at finding kid's books I would actually read to
children.
This Month's
Middle Reader
(good enough for
adults)
I LOVED this book. I would argue that this is good enough for
adults to read - like the Disney movie equivalent of a middle reader book.
Thirteen-year-old Nate, with the help of his best friend
Libby, decides to run away to New York City to audition for E.T. The Musical.
This is every (theatre) kid's fantasy, obviously: to run away from his hick town where no one likes him or understands him, and find a place
where he feels home.
Yet, author Tim Federle makes the tale feel fresh, peppering Nate's inner
monologue with his own brand of swearing -- using sensationally terrible
Broadway musical flops instead of your average swear words, such as: "Holy Sideshow! - A Broadway musical about circus freaks." This made it extra
fun for me, since I have actually heard of most of these shows. I really
believed Nate's experience in the audition room, and I think it's the kind of
story every theatre kid should read, because it's filled with some Don'ts, but
also some Do's, aand I think it really shows that the most important thing in
the audition room is to Be Yourself and to remember that Broadway is
Everything....you are here because you love it more than anything. And
sometimes, that's a fun reminder for adults as well.
It's everything NPH is singing about at
6:00
(PS I am 100% sure he deserved his Tony
Award nom this year, even if he is super famous.)
Tim Federle used to dance on Broadway and now writes children's
books and cocktail recipes, which I realized when I glanced at the cover of
this book that I bought last week sitting on my desk:
SO BASICALLY Tim Federle is my new spirit animal and I'm going to
go stalk him on twitter now.
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