Fine Arts

• We Are Quiet, We Are Loud (Best Young Writers And Artists In America) edited by David Levithan (PUSH (Scholastic), 2008, 356 p., $ 8.99, ISBN: 0545033993)

  Don’t just read this book. Buy ten  copis and get English teachers and teens to read it as a prelude to getting involved. Each year, Scholastic  sponsor art and writing awards and this volume is a compilation of the best. How many teens can you get in your school to submit their work? And, involve teens in the selection of what will go to national. Here’s an idea: Get your tech department to download the open source software package titled Kete from LibLime. It is a place something like YouTube to upload and archive student work produced in your school. Then send the best to national. It is all a part of 21st century skills and the top of the new Bloom’s taxonomy: Creativity. It’s a challenge worth pushing.

• Lao folktales by Wajuppa Tossa with Kongdeuane Nettavong, and edited by Margaret Read MacDonald. (Libraries Unlimited, 2008, 209 pp. $_____, ISBN: 9781591583455)

  We continue to review this important series of books because they bring collections of tales and stories from a wide variety of cultures throughout the world that are not usually on the radar screen of many library collections.   The prominent storyteller, Margaret Reid MacDonald, has assembled this collection from two authentic Lao scholars and turned them into tales that can be used with children, teens, and adults who want to hear authentic stories and look into the culture. Worth using for comparative folktale lessons and where a Laotian population is in your school or community.

• Folktales from the Japanese countryside by Hiroko Fujita and others. (Libraries Unlimited, 2008. 196 p., $_____, ISBN: 9781591584889)

  The World Folklore series from Libraries Unlimited are a collection of volumes created by expert folklorists and storytellers and over the years have included many cultures from around the world. This volume, really a collaboration of four experts contains an excellent collection of authentic tales, color photos, interesting drawings, and background information. Along with its companions, this volume is an excellent source for tellable tales when authentic cultural perspectives are needed. Highly recommended for both elementary and secondary library collections.