Paradise Valley, John Mayer (Columbia)

However you feel about John Mayer’s personal life, you’ll find Paradise Valley is a back-to-basics blues sounding album. His gift as a guitarist is clearly demonstrated as he skillfully interprets his music in this peaceful, mood altering collection. Most of the tracks on his sixth studio album convey a laid-back, relaxed stroll through Midwest America. Though not a huge country fan, I think the recent popularity of country with Taylor Swift, Mumford and Sons, and Hunter Hayes is pretty cool. Mayer’s duets with Frank Ocean on “Wildfire” and Katy Perry on “Who You Love” make these tracks extra special. This album is much more accomplished and approachable, and while it gives the listener wonderful ballads, it lacks some of the edginess of past albums. Mayer has definitely chosen to play it safe here, and I guess I can’t blame him. Check out “Wildfire” “Badge and Gun,” “On the Way Home,” and “Who You Love.”—Geena G., grade 11, Floral Park (NY) Memorial High School

Madden 25 (Electronic Arts)

Any true football fan knows, the new season is incomplete without a new release from the gameplay icon, John Madden. That is one of the reasons the Madden football franchise has been a success since its inception. Another is developer Tiburon’s continued tweaking of the game with every new installment. Madden 25 is no exception to this, and offers players several interesting features and improvements. Many of the upgrades benefit the running backs. The new Precision Modifier allows jukes, spins, stiff-arms, and more in order to get around defenders. While executing these moves and manipulating the console, players can combine moves ensuring success on the field. There have been upgrades to the playbook, and use of the Read-option plays. The Infinity Engine has been enhanced for more realistic animations, but still needs work. Owner Mode gives players the opportunity to draft players, sign free agents, restructure contracts, and manage all aspects of the stadium. This part really adds to the experience. A definitely satisfying game that any football fan will dive into. Rated E for Everyone. Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360.—James M.,grade 10, Floral Park (NY) Memorial High School

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (Activision & Red Fly Studio)

It is hard to believe that the Ninja Turtles have been around for about 30 years, and of course, have amassed a huge following. The popular cartoon series on Nickelodeon has been a big part of their resurgence, so it makes sense to jump on the bandwagon with a videogame.  The game’s premise is that April O’Neil has been kidnapped, and the Turtles must fight to save her and New York City from the evil Shredder and his gang. The game campaign lasts roughly five hours, and is totally combat-based. The four turtles always fight together, and the martial arts-style fighting is action-packed, with a ridiculous amount of combination attacks and button mashing sequences. Difficulty levels continue to increase throughout the campaign, which makes things challenging. Each turtle has his own weapons, fighting style, and personality, and players can switch between each of these at will.  The Turtles’ familiar nuances are numerous, especially with all the references to pizza. There is a classic mode feature that allows you the play the game in vintage black and white. There is also a multiplayer mode for up to four friends, and a local co-op mode for up to two players. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is very reasonably priced and will provide you with hours of great “cowabunga” fun. Rated E for Everyone. Platform: PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Nick M., grade 10, Floral Park (NY) Memorial High School

Crash My Party, Luke Bryan (Capital/Nashville)

Crash My Party is the fourth studio album from Bryan, ACM Entertainer of the Year. This album continues Bryan’s easygoing county style with likable, risk-free songs that fans have come to expect from him. His addictive vocals and natural charm mixed with memorable country lyrics are the perfect recipe for success. His sound is effortless, with acoustics and harmonies that tend to stay with you long after the song is over. Some critics feel he needs to branch out of his comfort zone, but when he does on the two tracks “I See You,” and That’s My Kind of Night,” he seems to be missing something. I say stick with what works and continue to do it well. Check out “Crash My Party,” “Roller Coaster,” “Blood Brothers,” and “Out Like That.”—Uma N., grade 11, Floral Park (NY) Memorial High School

The Civil Wars, The Civil Wars (Sensibility Music/Columbia)

When The Civil Wars made their debut in 2011, the alt-country duo of rocker John Paul White and Christian music artist Joy Williams received lots of praise and support.  Their recently released self-titled second album, while consolidating their strengths, comes at a difficult time for the duo. After splitting during their European tour last winter, no one knows if they will work together again. This seems even more of a tragedy as many of the tracks on this album speak of heartache, loss, and the sense for the need to move on. White and Williams pump power into their acoustic base and varied tempos. The album exudes confidence and focus with strong vocals, but is darker and lacks the passion and intimacy we have seen before. Hopefully, The Civil Wars can reunite and overcome their adversity and continue to make great music. Check out “D’Arline,” “Disarm,” “The One That Got Away,” and “Same Old, Same Old.”—Nick M., grade 10, Floral Park (NY) Memorial High School

Blockbuster books = blockbuster movies

Saoirse Ronan in How I Live Now. Photo by Magnolia Pictures.

Meg Rosoff’s acclaimed How I Live Now (Random, 2004) is about a NYC girl who spends an idyllic summer with her cousins in England right before an unnamed aggressor invades the UK and threatens the world’s existence. Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald is at the helm and Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay star. The film debuts this fall.

The movie adaptation of 2006 bestseller The Book Thief (Random) by Markus Zusak is already building Oscar buzz and will be in theaters on November 15. This World War II drama is directed by Brian Percival, and stars Sophie Nelisse as the titular heroine Liesel, and Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson as her adoptive parents.

Seventh Son is based on the first installment in Joseph Delaney’s “The Last Apprentice” series (HarperCollins). In this dark fantasy, 14-year-old Tom Ward, a seventh son of a seventh son, goes on adventures as the Spook’s apprentice. Sergei Bodrov directs and Ben Barnes, Jeff Bridges, and Julianne Moore star. It features music composed by Tuomas Kantelinen. Originally scheduled to release on October 18, 2013, it will be out in theaters in 3-D and IMAX 3D on January 17, 2014.

Richelle Mead’s NYT-bestselling Vampire Academy (Penguin, 2007) is getting the film treatment in time for Valentine’s Day, 2014. Written by Daniel Waters of Heathers fame, and directed by his brother Mark Waters of Mean Girls fame, the story of best friends Rose, half-human/half-vampire, and Lissa, a mortal vampire princess who wreak havoc and fall in love at St. Vladimir’s Academy, is in capable hands. Starring Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, and Danila Kozlovsky, the movie is due out on February 14, 2014.

Positioned to be the next “Hunger Games” franchise, the movie adaptation of Veronica Roth’s Divergent (HarperCollins, 2011), featuring Hollywood’s latest sweetheart, Shailene Woodley, will be in theaters on March 21, 2014.

John Green’s chair on the set of In the Fault of Our Stars

One of the most celebrated YA novels of 2012, John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton), also starring Shailene Woodley (Hazel), began filming last week in Pittsburgh, and the acclaimed author has been excitedly tweeting and Tumbling from the set with updates. He will be making a cameo appearance in the book-to-film about two teen cancer patients who fall in love. Ansel Elgort plays the male lead, Auggie, Nat Wolff is cast as Isaac, his best friend, and it was recently revealed that Laura Dern will play Hazel’s mother. No film release date yet.

Fans of Gayle Forman’s If I Stay (Dutton, 2009) can breathe a sigh of relief. The film, starring Chloë Moretz, was dropped by Summit earlier this year, but it has since been picked up by MGM. The tearjerker—about a girl who has an out-of-body experience following a car accident that puts her in a coma and kills the rest of her family—will be produced by Denise DiNovi and Alison Greenspan of DiNovi Pictures. No release date yet.

And while Samantha Shannon’s The Bone Season, just published this month, the first in a projected seven-book fantasy series by 21-year-old recent college graduate, is already building buzz for adult and teen audiences. It was recently chosen as the first Today Show book club selection, and the film rights have been acquired by Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish, founders of The Imaginarium production company.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Sequels and more sequels
There’s been lots of casting news for Lionsgate’s final “Hunger Games” installments, based on Suzanne Collins’s books (Scholastic). The studio is currently eyeing Julianne Moore to play President Coin in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. Natalie Dormer has been cast in the role of Cressida, while Evan Ross is set to play Messalla, Cressida’s cameraman, and Stef Dawson will step in as Finnick Odair’s love interest, Annie Cresta. In the meantime, fans still have Catching Fire to look forward to, in theaters on November 22, 2013.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes is slated to begin production in the fall with Harald Zwart returning to direct, along with stars Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell. A taste of the sequel was to premiere in Cannes, but general consensus on The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones is still pending.

Already banking on Divergent’s future success as a film, Brian Duffield been commissioned to begin working on the sequel, Insurgent (HarperCollins, 2012).

A dystopian horizon

Directed by Wes Ball, the movie version of James Dashner’s NYT-bestselling The Maze Runner (Delacorte, 2009), about a group of teens trying to survive in an enclosed environment called “The Glade,” is set to premiere in theaters on February 14, 2014. Patricia Clarkson has joined Dylan O’Brien (Thomas) and Kaya Scodelario (Teresa) in the cast as Chancellor Ava Paige.

A film based on Andy Mulligan’s Trash (Random, 2010), seems to be on its way to theaters soon. Rooney Mara (NGO worker named Olivia), Martin Sheen (Father Julliard), and Wagner Moura are now on board. Three street kids—Raphael (Rickson Tevez), Gardo (Eduardo Luis), and Rat (Gabriel Weinstein) live in an unnamed third-world country picking trash, and discover a mysterious bag that triggers a life-changing chain of events. Stephen Daldry is attached as director and Richard Curtis will write the script. Production starts in Rio de Janeiro and it’s already slated for a May 2014 release from Universal.

Many kidlit fans can attest that Lois Lowry’s Newbery-winning The Giver (Houghton, 1993) is the precursor to many of today’s dystopian YAs. Finally, the wheels for a film adaption have been set in motion. Brenton Thwaites will play an aged-up Jonas (the Receiver of memories) and Jeff Bridges is cast as the title character. Meryl Streep is in talks to play the society’s Chief Elder, tasked with assigning roles to the young denizens of a seemingly perfect world. Philip Noyce is attached as director and no release date has been yet announced.

Another pre-Hunger Games may be coming to a theater near you. Scott Westerfeld’s “Uglies” series (S & S) is possibly in the pipeline again. The Australian author revealed via Twitter in July that Davis Entertainment and Lola VFX are in talks to team up and produce his NYT-best-selling trilogy, which chronicles the adventures of Tally Youngblood, a teen who unravels her “pretty” world’s ugly secrets.

SLJ Best Adult Book for Teens The Age of Miracles (Random, 2012) by Karen Thompson Walker, finally has a director lined up for its highly anticipated movie adaptation: Catherine Hardwicke, of Twilight-fame. River Road Entertainment’s Bill Pohlad will produce and Seth Lochhead is writing the screenplay based on the novel about a teen’s coming of age while the Earth’s rotation has begun to slow down.

Rick Yancey’s The 5^th Wave (Putnam, 2013) is inching closer to the big screen. Tobey Maguire’s production company has acquired the rights, and Oscar-nominated Susannah Grant is adapting the dark novel about Cassie’s struggle to survive on an Earth that is slowly being destroyed by aliens.

Paramount Pictures has acquired rights to Joelle Charbonneau’s The Testing (Houghton Harcourt 2013), a YA novel in which a teen is selected for a United Commonwealth program that selects the best and brightest to become possible leaders of the slowly revitalizing post-war civilization. Very few survive The Testing.

Classic kidlit on screen

Photo by Disney.

Maleficent, the Robert Stromberg-directed Disney film that stars Angelina Jolie as the title character, Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora, and Brenton Thwaites as the prince, will tell the story of Sleeping Beauty from the Queen’s point of view. It is set to release on July 2, 2014.

Jennifer Garner, Steve Carell, Ed Oxenbould, and Bella Thorne have been filming Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, based on the award-winning picture book by Judith Viorst that follows young Alexander through the trials of one very bad day. Coming to theaters on October 10, 2014, the live-action movie is directed Miguel Arteta, and was adapted by Rob Lieber.

The Cinderella fairy tale is also getting another treatment in a film directed by Kenneth Branagh. The star-studded cast includes Lily James as the title character, Richard Madden as Prince Charming, Cate Blanchett as the evil stepmother Lady Tremaine, Helena Bonham Carter as Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, Hayley Atwell as Cinderella’s biological mother, and Stellan Skarsgard as the Grand Duke. It’s due in theaters on March 13, 2015.

The classic French novella The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery will get a star-studded cast for its future film animated adaptation.  Marion Cotillard, James Franco, Rachel McAdams, Jeff Bridges, Benicio Del Toro, Mackenzie Foy and Paul Giamatti are already on board to voice characters in sweet story about a pilot who crash-lands in the desert and meets a boy who claims to have fallen to Earth from his home on an asteroid. Bridges will voice the pilot and Cotillard is in talks to take on the part of a rose. Mark Osborne is attached to direct.

Warner Bros. is making a movie based on the Archie comics series. The long-running comic about a teen and his friends set in the fictional Riverdale will be adapted by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and directed by Jason Moore. It will feature the comics’ first openly gay character, Kevin Keller, and rivals for Archie’s heart, Betty and Veronica, among other Riverdale residents.

Warner Bros. is also in final negotiations to pick up the movie rights to the iconic “Encyclopedia Brown” (Penguin) children’s book series for an adaptation to be produced by Roy Lee and Howard David Deutsch. Donald J. Sobol wrote 28 books, from 1963 until his death in 2012, about the intrepid young detective and his friends.

For middle grade moviegoers

Laika Entertainment has scheduled a release date for The Boxtrolls on September 26, 2014, a stop-motion animated film based on Alan Snow’s graphic novel series “The Ratbridge Chronicles” (S & S). Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi have teamed up to direct this project about a boy who allies himself with boxtrolls, cabbageheads, pirates, rats, a retired lawyer, and other silly characters to save the town of Ratbridge from villainous kidnappers. The cast of voice actors includes Elle Fanning, Simon Pegg, Ben Kingsley, Toni Collette, Nick Frost, and Jared Harris.

Disney has teamed up with the Weinstein Co. to develop a book-to-film adaptation of Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl (Disney, 2001). The movie will be based on the first two books in the “Artemis Fowl” series, which chronicles the adventures of a 12-year-old criminal millionaire mastermind. Screenwriter Michael Goldenberg will handle the script for the live-action film, while Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal will producer alongside Weinstein.

In development

Addison Timlin and Jeremy Irvine are set to star in Fallen, an adaptation of Lauren Kate’s best-selling YA series about fallen angels. Produced by Lotus Entertainment and Mayhem Pictures, the film will be directed by Scott Hicks and has been adapted by Kathryn Price, Nicole Millard, and Michael Ross.

Film rights to Emmy Laybourne’s Monument 14 (Feiwel & Friends, 2012) have been acquired by Strange Weather Films. The YA novel focuses on a group of 14 kids who survive an apocalyptic event, and must continue to battle the elements from the shelter of a superstore. Director/Screenwriter Brad Peyton is attached.

Universal Pictures has landed the film rights to Lauren Oliver’s next young adult novel, Panic (2014). Marc Platt will produce the project. The realistic novel is described as Oliver’s return to the grittiness of her first book, Before I Fall (2010, both HarperCollins), which was optioned by Fox 2000.

Ally Carter has two series optioned for film. The rights for “Gallagher Girls” have been acquired by Tonik Productions. These best-selling books share the stories of a group of sexy high-school-aged spies. The “Heist Society” series (both published by Disney/Hyperion) is now with Lionsgate with Max Handelman and Elizabeth Banks attached as producers. This series follows a reformed teen thief as she tries to make good and get out of the family con business.

Bryce Clyde Jenkins (from left), Skai Jackson, Anika Noni Rose, Wood Harris and Harrison Knight star as the Watson family in the Hallmark Channel movie The Watsons Go to Birmingham. (Photo courtesy of Crown Media)

On the small screen
Christopher Paul Curtis’s 1995 historical fiction novel, The Watsons Go To Birmingham, has been adapted for the Hallmark Channel by Tonya Lewis Lee. Directed by Kenny Leo, the film centers on an African American family living in the town of Flint, Michigan, who visit their grandmother’s home in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, a turbulent time during the civil rights movement. The cast includes: Anika Noni Rose, David Alan Grier, Skai Jackson, LaTanya Richardson, Wood Harris, Bryce Jenkins, Pauletta Washington and Harrison Knight. It will have its world premiere on Friday, September 20 (8pm ET).

Kass Morgan’s The 100 (Little, Brown, 2013), a postapocalyptic YA novel, will premiere as a television series on The CW in its 2013–14 midseason.

Roald Dahl’s 1990 illustrated children’s book, Esio Trot, about elderly lovebirds and tortoises, will be adapted into a movie for the BBC, starring Dustin Hoffman and Dame Judi Dench as the couple. Dearbhla Walsh will direct the project, which starts filming in England next month.

 See also:

Page to Screen: Summer Reading Blockbusters, Dystopian Teen Lit, and Childhood Classics

Page to Screen: Upcoming Kids’ Books Set for Film Adaptations

If your school year ends in May or early June, you may have missed Nosy Crow’s latest foray into the world of fairy tales, Little Red Riding Hood. “Seamless interactivity, nonlinear storytelling, immersive game play,” and more than a touch of humor, characterize this production featuring vibrant illustrations and a lively narrative. Children will find themselves lost (in a good way) in this delightful version as they get their protagonist through the woods to grandma’s house, and the woman out of a pickle (or cupboard, in this case). Screen time options for new readers are built into the production.

Two apps both elementary children and their teachers and parents will appreciate are Julie Hedlund’s A Troop of Monkeys and A Shiver of Sharks (Little Bahalia Publishing). In addition to introducing collective nouns, these interactive titles offer gentle environmental messages and stunning collage artwork. In each app, reading strategies and discussion questions for the animal groups can be found behind the “Parents & Teachers” tabs, and lists of the Common Core standards and Bloom’s Taxonomy objectives addressed are provided. From a surfeit of skunks with their “stinky, foul fumes” to a “cast of crabs” scuttling sideways, these are titles that are sure to find favor with kids.

Recommend our column titled “A Starter Collection of Apps for the Preschool Set” to teachers who have just purchased their first classroom iPad. It’s a list of our favorite apps reviewed over the past two years and it features both classic (Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit/Loud Crow Interactive) and contemporary stories (Tad Hill’s How Rocket Learned to Read/Random House Digital). The age range for most of these quality productions extends to first grade.

Mo Willems hardly needs to be introduced to children; once one kindergarten or first grade student discovers his “Elephant and Piggy” books, it’s impossible to keep them on the shelf. The author’s signature silliness extends to his apps, which offer storytelling, drawing, and game options. His latest production is Pigeon Presents: Mo…on the Go! (Disney Publishing Worldwide Applications). In the “Pigeon’s Dream Drive” activity children must steer a bus through a maze of streets;  “Dance-o-Rama,” featuring Gerald and Piggie, asks users to choose three dances for each character to perform on a stage to the tune of disco music. Willems is the host of “Mo’s Squillems,” a drawing game, and appears in other activities as well—activities that our reviewer noted, encourage both “imaginative play and problem solving.”

The memorization of poetry has witnessed a resurgence with several recently published collections of poems to “learn by heart.“ Two apps, Orel Protopopescu’s The Word’s a Bird (Syntonie) and “Poetry by Heart,” (Inkle/Penguin Group USA) may inspire your students to do a little memorizing of their own. The first app, which includes four poems, lovely watercolor artwork, and amusing animation, is a tribute to spring for young listeners and readers. Poetry by Heart presents a fill-in-the blank format for secondary students. Readers add missing words to the poems, line by line. Attempts are scored (and mistakes are corrected) and endless opportunities to try again are provided as users learn the verses. Selections, which range from Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat”  to “Walt Whitman’s “O Captain!,” are labeled for level of difficulty. The free app comes with two poems and additional thematic four-poem “bundles” are available for purchase. Don’t miss the trailer for this one; it’s loads of fun and can be used to introduce the app to students.

Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse (Touch Press) is the story of a young man reunited with his beloved horse on the battlefields of World War I. The book was first published in 1982 and since then has seen many incarnations—novel, play, film, and now app. The app includes the full text, illustrated with watercolor art. As School Library Journal’s reviewer noted, “Touch Press developers are in tune with the  Common Core State Standards; the timeline connects readers to short, intriguing interviews, reproductions and maps, well-captioned archival photographs, and short informational text, much of which can be read aloud at the touch of an icon. ”Insight” videos showcase the author discussing different aspects of his book and the war, and experts offering details about soldiers’ uniforms, tanks, battlefields, German trenches, war songs, and more—all accompanied by visuals. From the home screen viewers can tap” Performance” to see the author stage an 80-minute, abridged version of the book with live music before an audience.”

Also from Touch Press is Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, an in-depth look at what many consider to be the  composer’s greatest work. The title includes four versions of the symphony (by four conductors) and each one can be listened to while reading the score, or watching an electric pin-light version that lights up the corresponding parts of the orchestral chart as various instruments come in and out. During all the performances, an informal, phrase-by-phrase analysis explains the music. In addition there are notes on  Beethoven’s life, the genesis of the Ninth Symphony, and “Insights” into the work “by some of the world’s finest musicians and scholars.” A trailer of the app is available.

Screen from ‘National Geographic Birds’

The perfect companion to a unit on birds or a field trip to the nature preserve? National Geographic Birds: Field Guide to North America (National Geographic/IXONOS). The app allows nature lovers to identify winged creatures, learn about their habits, and record sightings, all before they can say Ladder-backed Woodpecker. Like the print version of the guide (2006; Jon L. Dunn and Jonathan Alderfer, eds.), this production offers an overview of species on our continent, their appearance and behavior, as well as labeled color images and habitat and range maps. Users have the option to add notes and/or a photo and share the event. Viewers will be able to hear the caterwauling of a pair of Barred Owls, and the laugh of a Marbled Godwit, among hundreds of other sounds and songs. This last feature is one students are sure to sing about.

For the college bound, “Fiske Guides” have always been go-to resources. Two years ago they launched an interactive app with information on more than 300 colleges with options to add notes, email admissions offices, and more. The latest addition to their list is the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 Best Buys in higher education. While the sampler is limited—only 14 of the 41 “Best Buy” school are included— they represent a range of school locations, sizes, and majors. Included are photos, and data on enrollment, average test scores, and more.  Direct links to school websites are sure to become a favorite feature. The publisher plans to release additional college samplers this fall.

Illustration by E. B. Lewis from Jacqueline Woodson’s The Other Side.
Courtesy of Weston Woods.

Another school year is on the horizon and our focus this month highlights the relationships that children and teens make—with other kids and with adults—to help them navigate the stormy waters of growing up. Teachers and librarians have always been savvy about connecting kids to stories that engage with what is going on in their lives. Current research from the Search Institute of Minneapolis, Minnesota, an organization that addresses critical issues in education and youth development to discover what kids need to succeed, zeroes in on developmental relationships “to understand how the connections that kids form with peers and adults influence their mastery of the skills and habits that are essential for success in school and in life.” (http://ow.ly/m6yNM)

The 10 titles we’ve chosen will be excellent for group listening and for generating discussions about what’s happening to the young people in the stories, from the poignant depiction of friendship in The Other Side to the real drama wrought by abuse in Eleanor and Park.

These audiobooks not only provide important group literary opportunities, they also help students understand how to develop the empathy necessary to build healthy relationships. If time for group listening is limited, have students select titles, listen to them on their own, and write about them; they will still develop that needed empathy, and they’ll also practice the critical writing skills found in so many state and national learning standards, including the following examples:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 5, 110.16 The student is expected to: (F) make connections (e.g., thematic links, author analysis) between and across multiple texts of various genres and provide textual evidence). (http://ow.ly/mkgJN)

English Standards of Learning (SOL) for Virginia, Writing, Grade 8, 8.7 The student will write in a variety of forms, including narration, exposition, persuasion, and informational. (d) Organize details to elaborate the central idea and provide unity. (http://ow.ly/mkggo)

Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, the story of a young man reunited with his beloved horse on the battlefields of World War I, was first published as a children’s book in 1982, later became  a play, and in 2011, was released as a film. It’s now an enhanced book. In the introduction to this version, the author states that while many of his stories seemed “alright for fiction” they’re “pretty impossible.” (16 million horses were called into service during the conflict.) But three or four years after War Horse was published, Morpurgo was handed a book titled Many a Summer, written by a journalist named Hardiman Scott. The book is a portrait of a Sussex farmer, who as a soldier in France, found his adored horse. Notes Morpurgo, “If you are writing on the cusp of reality, in the end what happens sometimes is that some of the reality comes true.”

Transforming a book into an app begins with a solid story and Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse (Egmont, 1982; Touch Press/Illuminations, $6.99; Gr 5-9) has all the necessary elements. Young Albert lies about his age, enlists, and searches all over the Great War battlefields of France until he finds his beloved horse, Joey, which had been sold to the military. Albert and Joey fight part of the the war together with the horse as the poignant narrator, puzzling over and accepting the brutality and senselessness of World War I.

Screen from ‘War Horse’ (Egmont) illus. by Francois Place

An attractive, clearly organized home screen provides multiple entry points into Joey’s story. Swiping on the numbered 3-D water color illustrations across the top of the page lets readers select a chapter to open. In both portrait and landscape the pages of text dotted with those lovely illustrations fade in at the top of the screen and fade out at the bottom as readers scroll down. It’s easy to adjust text size, screen brightness, move between chapters, and to switch Morpurgo’s home-spun voice reading of the text on or off. Clicking on the timeline link at the top right side of the screen opens a column of images and key words that can be tapped to provide information about the war concurrent with the section of the story.

Touch Press developers are in tune with the  Common Core State Standards; the timeline connects readers to short, intriguing interviews, reproductions and maps, well-captioned archival photographs, and short informational text, much of which can be read aloud at the touch of an icon. Readers can also access the timeline content through the home page, choosing to browse through it all or to organize it by themes.”Insight” videos showcase the author discussing different aspects of his book and the war, and experts offering details about soldiers’ uniforms, tanks, battlefields, German trenches, war songs, and more—all accompanied by visuals.

From the home screen viewers can tap” Performance” to see the author stage an 80-minute, abridged version of the book with live music before an audience. Navigation is intuitive and elegant, with all the aspects of the app working smoothly together. So much to like!−Chris Gustafson, Whitman Middle School Library Teacher, Seattle School District
 

For additional app reviews, visit SLJ’s Touch and Go webpage.

The books presented here have been chosen to support and enhance expeditions to favorite preschool and elementary-aged destinations: farms and other food-producing enterprises; museums (both natural history and art); nature reserves and outdoor-observation areas; community institutions; and zoos and aquariums. A mix of fact-filled offerings and fictional adventures, all of these titles pair handsome illustrations with well-written texts to entice young readers and listeners. They can be used in the classroom to support Common Core Standards by introducing and/or reviewing site-related subject matter and vocabulary as a starting point for post-trip research projects and to inspire creative art and writing projects and initiate personal written and oral narratives. Featuring class expeditions of all kinds, the titles can also be shared to generate discussion of behavioral dos and don’ts, model positive information-seeking methods, and dispel any fears or anxieties about going to unfamiliar places.

Best of all, these appealing volumes encapsulate the magic of a field-trip experience and expand the learning–and enjoyment–well beyond the designated outing.

PreS-Gr 3–This ocean-themed album, set in a submarine, travels the seven seas discovering musical treasures. Drew Holloway and Jack Forman welcome drummer Korum Bishoff, a new band member, on their ninth album, a rip-roaring, high energy mix of rock, hip-hop, funk, Latin, sea shanty, folk, and pop musical styles. With outstanding vocal and instrumental performances on guitar, bass, mandolin, violin, viola, cello, trombone, trumpet, flugelhorn, Wurly, and drums, the band begins with the rousing, rhythm powered “Tambourine Submarine.” Then a drum-playing fish demonstrates every kind of music on his drum set in “Fish Sticks.” They discover a coral reef that is actually a “Choral Reef” that makes beautiful music. “Shrimp” has size issues, but realizes there are perks to being short. A “Seahorse” is the deep sea cowboy’s mount as he ropes shrimp and patrols the mangroves. The other songs include “The Deep End” (of the swimming pool), “Beach Ball,” “Compass Rose,” “Tattoo Me,” “The Seven Cs” (all the crew’s names begin with that letter), “Seagull,” “Up Periscope,” “Walkie Talkies,” “Making Waves,” and “Stranded” (when a best friend moves away). With zippy, quirky lyrics and superb musicianship, Recess Monkey continues to be a cut above other kindie bands.–Beverly Wrigglesworth,San Antonio Public Library, TX

Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) engages in a fiery battle. Photo by Murray Close/20th Century Fox Film Corp.

It’s been more than three years since Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the first film installment of Rick Riordan’s ultra-popular “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series (Hyperion) jumped onto the screen. The half-blood (or demigod) Percy, son of the omnipresent but unseen Poseidon, takes off on another adventure in this visual equivalent of a loud and boisterous amusement ride. In Sea of Monsters, the 17-year-old (Logan Lerman) wants to prove that he’s not a “one-quest wonder,” but this movie franchise-wannabe doesn’t escape that dig. The first film, directed by Chris Columbus, had a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, especially in the teen’s interactions in the real world and his reaction to his very ancient lineage. Ironically, by taking place in a world of monsters and angry gods, Percy comes off as more ordinary this time around.

To recall the back story, viewers might want to have read the source material (or be up on your Greek mythology). Regardless, moviegoers won’t get confused. The characters are basic stock figures: the kid next door; the hapless comic relief of Grover (Brandon T. Jackson), a satyr from the waist down; and the know-it-all Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), daughter of Athena. No, you’re not experiencing déjà vu. There are plenty of obvious comparisons to the “Harry Potter” series.

Percy Jackson and Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario). Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox Film Corp.

The movie’s story has been “a millennium in the making,” as one character intones. Someone, or something, wants to invade and annihilate Camp Half-Blood where Percy and his peers are heroes-in-training. The camp’s protective giant tree has been poisoned, and a bronze bull has been on the attack, so the three sneak out, along with Tyson (Douglas Smith), a Cyclops and Percy’s half-brother, in search of the Golden Fleece, which heals anyone or anything. The fabric has been held hostage by the Cyclops Polyphemus on an island in the middle of the Sea of Monsters, better known as the Bermuda Triangle. Along the way, Hermes (Nathan Fillion) hams it up, and Cronus makes a catastrophic cameo. (Incidentally, Percy is not the only one with distant deity daddy issues.)

The trio’s journey makes the Maze of the Minotaur seem fairly straightforward, and a list of the plot differences between the book and movie would be as long as any web Arachne could weave. (A chariot race, a Pegasus, and Tantalus are among those missing in action.) Everyone is fluent in movie-speak, as in Hermes’ advice to Percy, “One thing I’ve learned in three thousand years, don’t give up on family;” or when the main villain threatens, “The Olympians who scorned us will know death.” Percy also gets into the act: “I make my own destiny.” But like the book, the saga moves at a clipped, out-of-breath pace, and the work of the 3D special effects team adds a jolt of energy when the creepy and cranky creatures are on the rampage.

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox Film Corp.

In the books, Percy has to figure out what to do or how to solve the meaning of his many premonitions. On screen, he and his cohorts are more reactive, pawns of the gods, really. They are quick on their feet, but none of them have special powers or abilities except for what has been given to them by the Olympians, like a mystical tape gun or a ball-point pen that turns into a retractable sword. Percy is even told the coordinates to find the island. How can Percy really be a hero if he is given the devices or is told what to do? He’s not saving the gods, the gods are saving him.

Directed by Thor Freudenthal

Rated PG

106 min.

Opens nationwide August 7.

Gr 12 Up–If only Petr Ginz had survived World War II, his contribution to literature, art, and humanity would have enriched the world. Such is the sentiment viewers are likely to feel after watching this unique biography of a Czech boy living during the Nazi occupation. Petr lived in Prague, attended a school for exceptional children, read Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, and created illustrated literary fantasies all before he was transported to Auschwitz in 1944 and murdered at age 17. Despite deepening Nazi intrusions into Jewish life, Petr managed to create optimistic diaries and novels festooned with artwork. Cleverly disguised as “written by Jules Verne, illustrated by Petr Ginz,” he self-published the allegorical tale Ka-Du, a story about a mechanical monster designed to help its evil creators conquer the world. Clearly meant to parallel Nazi activity, Petr finished his masterpiece just before being deported to the Terezin Ghetto. There, he continued writing and drawing, even creating a cryptic code to record events. His life is retold by his surviving younger sister and through creative animation based on his original art. Black-and-white footage, stills, and family photos add to this affecting story. John Califra’s musical score sets the tone for this documentary about an intellectual youth undaunted by the Holocaust. Winning awards inJerusalem,Atlanta, andToronto, this film is an entertaining and powerful testament to a persistently positive and talented young man. An excellent choice for history, art, music, and social ethics classes.–Robin Levin,U.S.HolocaustMemorialMuseum Teacher/Fellow,Ft. Washakie,WY

What child can resist a book or app about animals? Incorporating vocabulary-rich texts and gentle environmental lessons, these apps will also find favor with teachers and parents. In a reverse publishing trend, A Troop Is a Group of Monkeys is scheduled for print publication in the fall of 2013.

Pastel watercolor art invites viewers into Julie Hedlund’s A Shiver of Sharks and its companion, A Troop is a Group of Monkeys (Little Bahalia Publishing; PreS-Gr 3). From descriptions of a flamboyance of flamingos to a caravan of camels, the apps are designed to teach collective nouns. In both productions illustrations by Pamela Baron, jaunty music by Tim McCanna, and a variety of background sounds enliven the rhyming texts.

“Read to me” and “Read by myself” options are available with the music on or off. McCanna’s clear narration and enuciation of what may be unfamiliar terms for children will have them conversing with ease about about an ostentation (of peacocks) and an escargatoire (of snails). Each animal is animated and responds with text-based actions when touched. For example, in Shiver,  “A screech of gulls snatches” picnic foods and “A bale of sea turtles lays eggs on the shore.” In Troop, the surfeit of skunks is sure to please the app’s audience with their “stinky, foul fumes” and accompanying sounds. Story progression and some sound effects require a swipe of the screen. Navigation and page selection is available from a tab accessible on each page.

Children are encouraged to “help keep the ocean clean” in Shiver by dragging detritus into a garbage pail on the final page. In both apps, reading strategies and discussion questions can be found behind the “Parents & Teachers” tabs on the title screens. Strategies and questions are included for each animal group, and a lists of the Common Core standards and Bloom’s Taxonomy  objectives addressed are provided.

Both apps feature delightful, interactive pages and Baron’s frame-worthy illustrations are a delight. Children will enjoy finding a fish in a pelican’s mouth and helping a sleuth of bears scatter bees near a hive. Vocabulary-rich texts (“scuttles,” “pandemonium,” “plucks,” “vibrant,” “ambushes,” “scours,” “retracts”); quality illustrations; lively tunes; and an environmental message, should make these popular choices inside and outside the classroom. A trailer for Troop is available.—Morgan Doane, Kent District Library, East Grand Rapids, MI

Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Touch Press/Deutsche Grammophon. 2013. iOS, requires 6.0 for the Free (Lite) or iPad $13.99 versions 1.0.1. Compatible with the iPhone 4 or above, optimized for iPhone 5. $7.99.
Gr 7 Up−When considering Beethoven’s 9th Symphony you’ll be tempted to go for the free app, but don’t do it; it’s the best kind of worst tease. Instead, purchase the full version, but you’ll need to decide: iPhone or iPad app? Don’t skimp. The phone app has all the music of the iPad app, but lacks the commentaries of the experts. Your last consideration will be the listening options; the app states, “BEST WITH HEADPHONES.” Trust me, it is.

The production’s home page streams the “Ode to Joy,” and although you sense you will be humming it all night, don’t resist. Once you begin to explore the symphony, you won’t be able to stop. There are four performances each with a different conductor: Ferenc Fricsay, Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Each concert piece can be listened to while reading either the full synchronized score or a replica of Beethoven’s handwritten score (amazing), or watching an electric pin-light version that lights up the corresponding parts of the orchestral seating chart as various instruments come in and out. Bernstein’s performance also includes a video of the maestro conducting the symphony with the Wiener Philharmoniker in 1979.

During all the pieces, a phrase-by-phrase analysis by David Owen Norris explains the music in an endearing, informal manner. For example, midway through the first movement he writes, “Those opening sparks of rhythm have caught fire, and in their light we can see we’re back at the beginning….” Norris also contributed the historical analysis that offers background on Beethoven’s life, including his descent into deafness and the genesis of the Ninth Symphony.

Finally (and really, this shouldn’t come last), there are the “Insights” by some of the world’s finest musicians and scholars. Don’t skip this section. Start with Suzy Klein, who makes the Ninth Symphony accessible and drops in some humor along the way. Conductor Gustavo Dudamel helps explain Beethoven’s status as a universal symbol of music, and pianist Alice Sara Ott shares why the “Ode to Joy” is the basis of hope, optimism, and human rights, and discusses why music is a unique language that can unite people with idealism. Without hesitation, an app for all collections.−Pamela Schembri, Newburgh Enlarged City Schools, NY

Over in the Jungle. Marianne Berkes. Dawn Publications. 2013/2012. illus. by Jeanette Canyon. iOS, requires 4.2 or later; $4.99. iBooks, 1.3 or later. $6.99.
PreS-K−Sung to the tune of the classic children’s counting song, this app, based on Berkes’s picture book of the same title (2007), is sure to become a favorite of the preschool crowd. In addition to the rainforest setting, this version features outstanding design, vibrant art, realistic sound effects, a supplemental nonfiction text, and a challenging game.

Each page of the rhyming text introduces a jungle animal and a number of offspring from one to ten. Ocelots, honey bears, howler monkeys, leaf cutter ants, and other rainforest animals make an appearance, offering children an opportunity to learn about creatures they may not have encountered before. Taps, swipes, and jiggles to the screen trigger movements and/or additional sound effects.Users can choose to read the story themselves, have it read to them, or listen to it sung. As the words are voiced, the text is highlighted. Those choosing to listen to the song will be treated to the catchy tune that retains the narration’s expressiveness. A touch to the arrow that appears on every page will allow children to hear the text (or song) repeated.

At the end of the story, viewers are invited to find the 55 offspring depicted populating one final, colorful jungle scene. An icon in the shape of a leaf brings users to a menu page from which they can access animal facts and photos; author, illustrator, and publisher information; and other apps by the developer.Over in the Jungle is a feast for the senses. From the authentic background sounds to the deftly crafted polymer clay animals of the images, each page is a delight. This app is perfect for sharing one-on-one or in a storyhour.−Cindy Wall, Southington Library, CT

Gr 5-8–Black’s tale (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2013) of friendship and the trials of growing up is set against the backdrop of a spooky ghost story. Zach Barlow loves to make things up. He and his friends Poppy and Alice spend every afternoon concocting new adventures for their dolls and action figures. However, Zach’s recently returned father is less than thrilled about his son spending his time playing with dolls instead of taking part in more age-appropriate activities, such as basketball. When he commits a drastic act to force Zach to give up his play-acting, it precipitates a series of events that send Zach, Poppy, andAliceon a midnight quest to lay to rest the soul of a murdered girl, a soul that now inhabits a bone china doll.  Along the way, the trio uncovers secrets about the past and one another, and discovers that they are capable of more than they ever realized. Nick Podehl expertly voices the three friends as well as the unforgettable characters Tin-Shoe Joe and the pink-haired librarian, Miss Katherine. Black has written an adventurous ghost tale that fans of Mary Downing Hahn and Peg Kehret and devotees of the author’s previous novels will love.–Michaela Schied, formerly,Indian River Middle School,Philadelphia,NY

LMNO Peas. DVD. 6 min. with tchr’s. guide. Weston Woods. 2013. ISBN 978-0-545-57155-5. $59.95; CD, ISBN 978-0-575-57156-2: $12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-575-57154-8: $29.95.

PreS-Gr 1–Keith Baker’s incredibly inventive occupation-based alphabet book (Beach Lane, 2010) has been beautifully designed and hilariously interpreted by premier animators, Soup2Nuts. You will never look at little green peas the same way again! Tiny round pea people cavort about with delightful vocals by Crystal Taliefero and backup singers, including the Oakview Elementary Choir. The peas literally animate the alphabet, illuminating different activities and jobs for each of the 26 letters, beginning with acrobats, astronauts, and artists. They humorously demonstrate actions and occupations like climbers and campers; painters, poets, and plumbers; quitters and quarterbacks. The DVD is punctuated by infectious rhythms and rhymes that young children will want to emulate again and again. Baker’s colorful letters are constantly swarming with unique pea people. Turn on the read-along subtitles so students can follow the highlighted letters and words easily. A teacher’s guide is included, as is an outstanding interview with the author/illustrator. “We are peas! The alphabet peas! Now tell us, please, who are you?” This perfect lead-in invites teachers and kids to follow the pattern with other veggies. Never has the alphabet been more entertaining.–Lonna Pierce,MacArthur & Thomas Jefferson Schools,Binghamton, NY

Aimee (Shailene Woodley) and Sutter (Miles Teller). Photos courtesy of A24 Films

Director James Ponsoldt’s sharp take on Tim Tharp’s 2008 novel (Knopf) gives The Spectacular Now a higher level of maturity and complexity than most young adult book-to-movie adaptations. Party boy and high school senior Sutter Keely (the very affable Miles Teller) lives for the moment. He can smooth talk his way past a bar doorman or charm a teacher when he doesn’t turn in homework. Whether it’s 10 a.m. or in the middle of the day, it’s never too early for a buzz—he keeps his flask filled and in his back pocket. After being dumped by his girlfriend, Cassidy, the teen parties hard and wakes up passed out on a stranger’s front yard. Sutter comes to when he’s wakened up by a girl his age.

Aimee Finecky (Shailene Woodley, in full plain-Jane mode) knows Sutter’s name, but she’s only vaguely familiar to him; they don’t travel in the same social circles. He has no idea where his car is, so he accompanies his Good Samaritan, on her early morning paper route (no, it’s not a period piece) to search for it. Major manga-fan Aimee is a clean slate: she doesn’t cuss, has never had a boyfriend, and has only one friend. (And, she’s not exactly trendy: she has unicorn figurines in her bedroom.)

As their relationship starts to change, the class clown continuously deflects the truth, telling his best friend, who sees Aimee as a “strange choice for a rebound,” that he just wants her to tutor him in geometry. Yet, Sutter asks her out to a party in the woods, where she takes a sip from his offered flask—her first taste of alcohol. He rationalizes that he just wants to help Aimee increase her confidence, treating her like a pet project, with little thought of the repercussions.

The director’s attention to well-rounded, non-stereotypical characterization is spread evenly throughout the ensemble. A noteworthy example is how the film treats Cassidy, the pretty, popular, and blonde ex-girlfriend. It would have been easy to cast her as a shallow harpy, but the script gives actress Brie Larson an opportunity to flesh out the character. In a wistful scene, Cassidy gropes for words to explain what she wants from a boyfriend, finally getting out that ultimately, Sutter comes up short.

Habitually slouching with her arms crossed in front of her, Aimee’s the self-effacing and shy girl-next-door type. However, she’s not exactly a positive influence on Sutter, but an acquiescing enabler. She persistently ingratiates herself to him, joining in drink after drink.

Screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, known for (500) Days of Summer, boil down Tharp’s novel, in which Sutter’s gift of gab and his justifications for always having 7UP and whisky at the ready take center stage. Neustadter and Weber whittle down the story line to focus it on his mentorship-turned-romance with Aimee. The book’s extraneous characters and digressions won’t be missed.

Though his narrative voice is less wise and grown-up than on the page (where he’s a big Dean Martin fan), on screen Sutter speaks more like an average 17-year-old ‘Joe’. Tharp set his story around Oklahoma City, but the movie could take place in any leafy suburb with a Kmart and a KFC lining the main drag. The biggest departure between the two is that the movie suddenly wraps things up as Sutter takes an initiative towards sobriety. It’s an abrupt move considering how everything else has unfolded in stages. It is only at this point  that the movie spells out its themes.

The film will likely draw viewers to the book, and conversely, this adaptation will bring attention to director Ponsoldt’s earlier film, Smashed, which was equally alcohol soaked, about an elementary school teacher taking the wobbly road towards a booze-free life. Both movies could be considered versions of Days of Wine and Roses for millennials. The Spectacular Now would also make an ideal double feature with the equally smart and hip The Perks of Being a Wallflower. These two adaptations (along with the sadly little-seen Fat Kid Rules the World), have proven that there’s more to YA movies than magic potions or dystopia. It opens in New York and Los Angeles on August 2, and nationwide on August 23.

Director: James Ponsoldt

Rated R

95 minutes (bluer than The Perks of Being a Wallflower but tame compared to cable TV)

Talk a Good Game, Kelly Rowland (Clean)

Talk a Good Game is Kelly Rowland’s fourth studio album since her split with Destiny’s Child in 2002. Much of the success of her past albums has been the variety of musical styles and wide appeal to multiple audiences. Rowland seems to be streamlining her efforts with a more defined R & B sound, showcasing a modern style. She is out to prove who she is and what she can do outside of Beyonce’s shadow. Talk a Good Game is Rowland’s most personal album yet—she gets very real about sex, relationships and her love/envy feelings for Beyonce. In collaboration with Pusha T, Wiz Khalifa, and The Dream, and production by Rico Love, Mike WiLL Made It, and Pharrell, this album is a slick production that is super sexy and super soulful. Definitely should satisfy old and new fans alike. Tracks to check out are “Dirty Laundry,” “Gone,” “Freak,” “Street Life,” and “You Changed.”—Uma N., grade 11, Floral Park (NY) Memorial HS

Encore, Hunter Hayes (Atlantic)

Hunter Hayes took the country music industry by storm with his 2011 debut album It’s a Wonderful Life, and fans will not be disappointed with this special release, Encore. On Encore, he reworked three of the original 12 tracks while adding five more songs. Hayes felt that Encore was complementary to his debut album, and a good segue into what he is working on next. Encore captures what made him popular with his debut, and bumps it up a notch. Duets with Jason Mraz and Ashley Monroe on “Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me” and “What You Gonna Do” make these tracks more meaningful and fulfilling. The beautiful harmonies and melancholy sound stay with you long after the song ends. The three rerecorded tracks shake things up a bit, giving the listener more of what they already love. Encore is really just that—an encore. It gives fans more of what already works, and it will be interesting to see what Hayes comes up with next. Check out these tracks—“Storm Warning,” “Wanted,” “Somebody’s Heartbreak,” “I Want Crazy,” and of course, “Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me,” and “What You Gonna Do.”—Claire H., grade 11, Floral Park (NY) Memorial High School

The Last of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony)

The Last of Us is not only a game but a true interactive experience where you become emotionally attached to the outcome. In this postapocalyptic society, survival is the name of the game. The game begins introducing the characters and a world thrown into chaos by a biological virus that leaves humans as survivors, or as infected. Our hero Joel lives in a militarized zone under martial law, and is doing what he can to survive. He is charged with smuggling a teen named Ellie out of the military zone and to a safe haven. This supposed simple quest turns into a gut-wrenching journey full of action, horror, combat, and stealth.

This is not a running and gunning game. With supplies and weapons pretty sparse, the player must make difficult choices. It is all about planning and thinking strategically. The game’s visuals are superb, bringing realism to all aspects of the game, as well as an investment by the player into the anguish and psychological turmoil surrounding this world. Another plus is the real time inventory system that allows the character to access items and create useful items to survive. This encourages exploration and keeps the player engaged, hooked and committed throughout.

The Last of Us is a whirlwind of gaming experience that is unlike most others out there. Worth checking out. Rating: M for Mature. Platform: PlayStation3.—Will P., grade 12, Floral Park (NY) Memorial High School

Lately there has been renewed interest in the memorization of poetry with the publication of books such as Caroline Kennedy’s Poems to Learn by Heart (Disney Press, 2013) and Mary Ann Hoberman’s Forget-Me-Nots: Poems to Learn by Heart (Little, Brown, 2012). And, while memorization is not required, some sites such as the Poetry Foundation’s, welcome people to record and share a poem.

For those with an iOS device, there are two new productions featuring verse that can’t be missed. The first challenges listeners to learn the selections (with recording options), while the second will have them returning again and again to the featured poems, learning them in the process. Whether introducing poetry to children and teens inside or outside the classroom, we hope you and your students will discover as our reviewer Chris Gustafson did, that, “The game of poetry is unexpectedly satisfying.”

The stickiness of Poems by Heart (Inkle/Penguin Group USA; Free, $.99 per additional add-on bundle; Gr 7 Up) isn’t in the modest selection of well-known poems, or the serviceable male and female narrators who will read them aloud to you.  It’s not the pleasant design or the intuitive navigation.  It’s the surprising realization that you want to memorize poetry!  Tap the tempting blinking triangle labeled “Learn this” and you find yourself choosing words from a box to fill in the missing words of the poem, line by line. Your mistakes will be instantly corrected and you’ll get a score for your progress stanza by stanza.  Want to try again?  You can, you’ll do better, and you’ll get a higher score. Soon, you’ll know the poem by heart, and you can record yourself reciting the poem you memorized.

The free app comes with two poems, and additional thematic four-poem “bundles” (adventures, romantic, Elizabethan, odes, love. Gothic tales, early innovations) are available for purchase. Each poem is labeled for level of difficulty. Selections range from Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” and Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” to Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!” and Emily Dickinson’s “This is my Letter to the World.” The game of poetry is unexpectedly satisfying. —Chris Gustafson, Whitman Middle School Library Teacher, Seattle School District, WA.

Eds. note: Be sure to watch this video about Poems by Heart.

Interior image from ‘A Word’s a Bird’ (Protopopescu) Illus. by Jeanne B. de Sainte Marie

Have you ever lamented the fact that insightful yet accessible poems for children are hard to come by? If yes, then A Word’s a Bird: Spring Flies by in Rhymes (Syntonie, $2.99; PreS-Gr 4), may just be the app for you. Written by award-winning author/poet, Orel Protopopescu, this four-poem collection introduces children to the power of language by encouraging them to explore metaphors through sight, sound, and touch.

The first selection illuminates the collection’s title. The three poems that follow offer unusual, and playful, glimpses into the natural world during the spring months. “May,” for example, opens with a text scroll descending toward a cardinal pecking in a meadow. The words, “A bloom’s a room/you seek/when you want/to sneak a peek/at nectar sippers,” are highlighted, one by one, as they are read aloud. Both English and French narrations are available. A tap to a scroll and the verse replays, while a touch to an underlined word brings forth a definition. For “May,” readers and listeners learn that “nectar sippers” refers to insects and “a bloom” is “another way to say a flower.” Clearing the scroll from the screen brings the scene to life through animation and interactivity. In this case, the cardinal flies to a garden of closed peonies, an inchworm creeps out from under a leaf and retreats when spotted by the bird, and the “blooms” open to “rooms” and reveal “nectar sipper” bees hiding inside. So clever!

The hand-painted watercolor illustrations lovingly created by Jeanne B. de Sainte Marie portray a bright and idyllic world of duck ponds, lily pads, and weeping willows. Realistic sounds of insects, frogs, and even snoring bees abound. Hidden surprises include “shoot flutes” that can be tapped to play notes and sails that can be touched to summon up the wind. Navigation, primarily pulls, pushes, taps and swipes, is highly intuitive. A delightful (and informative) short video on the creation of the app and the illustrations plays against a jazzy tune.—Kathleen S. Wilson, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, New York, NY

For additional app reviews, visit SLJ’s Touch and Go webpage.