2014-592-E Arts - The Expedition School for 2014 Arts Grant Agreement $500

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DocuSign Envelope ID:076BOC8E-DE31-4F65-8936-FC9B33A56289 Graphic Novels Often children reluctant to take on traditional prose believe that pictures are worth 1000 words. This is especially true when humor presides as it does in Stephan Pastis' Beginning Pearls (Andrews McMeel, 2013, ages 13 and up). The book is divided among four hilarious characters, familiar to "Pearls Before Swine" comic strip followers. Self-centered Rat begins by complaining about his few pages of introduction,then recommends reading only the first section (his) and writing the editors who are "pinheads, nitwits, blockheads, imbeciles,ninnies and nincompoops"to make sure the next book stars him alone. Sarcasm and irreverence rule as the wacky cast and colorful art provoke laughter. Nonfiction While fiction requires a strong sense of flow, a nonfiction (true) story is constructed in a way that allows for pauses and stop-and-go reading. (While one can certainly stop reading a work of fiction, often it takes more wherewithal and backtracking to put oneself back in the story's momentum.) Sy Montgomery is a science writer who has a strong sense of story. Her newest book, part of the Scientists in the Field series, is Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa's Fastest Cats (Houghton, 2014, ages 9 and up). It takes her to the Cheetah Conservation Fund's African headquarters in Namibia where Laurie Marker and her team work to save cheetahs from extinction. The readability of this book is increased by Nic Bishop's colorful, evocative photographs. Strong Emotions Amp up feelings and you ramp up reading desire. Laurie Halse Anderson's The Impossible Knife of Memory (Viking, 2014, ages 13 and up) certainly does this! Hayley Kincaid has traveled with her father Andy for five years in an 18- wheeler as they deal with the PTSD he's had since returning from the war in Afghanistan. When her father decides it's time to settle down and they return to the family home, Haley's reluctant to submit to high school life "where the zombification process becomes deadly," cuts herself off from the stepmother who's deserted her, shies away from possible friends, avoids growing feelings for classmate Finn, and has a growing sense of fear for her father. Anderson's dialogue ranges from Hayley's clever, carefree flirting to her heart-breaking worried guardedness. Humor Nothing keeps and holds readers more than humor. A book that lets readers laugh all the way through keeps them anticipating the next comic scene, the next funny comeback. And no one has a knack for humor quite like Jack Gantos, a fact he proves in From Norvelt to Nowhere (FSG, 2013, ages 10-13), the sequel to his Newbery Award-winning Dead End in Norvelt(FSG, 2011). In his latest book, Gantos pairs the two funniest characters from his first book, 12-year-old Jack and his feisty, eccentric, elderly neighbor, Miss Volker. The book begins as Jack's parents decide he should accompany Miss Volker to pay tribute to the recently deceased Eleanor Roosevelt. The trip sounds innocent enough, but soon circumstances get out of hand and before he knows it, Jack is driving a battered Volkswagen and avoiding mayhem as Miss Volker drags him into a mystery. This road trip has a host of humor—slapstick, farce, mix-ups, wit, repartee, and one-liners.