Author April Henry

I KILL PEOPLE, BUT ONLY ON PAPER

Welcome to my little corner of the Internet. I'm a New York Times bestselling author who loves kung fu, Brazilian jujitsu, and all things salty. 

Anyone slightly worried about me? (Hopefully not because I am unfortunately NOT a New York Times bestselling author...and nothing else in that list describes me, either.)

So who does the list describe and why should we care?

YA author April Henry welcomes guests to her website with those words, and we care because she is coming to hang out with us (I mean, our students) next fall!

Something about hearing that an author is coming to visit our schools always stirs my little bookworm heart...

Anyway, next fall, Henry will be spending almost a full week with us in South Dakota, and sandwiched between her speaking engagements with the 2016 SD Festival of Books and the SD Library Association's annual conference, she will be visiting some of our Sioux Falls schools. (Ask your librarian if she is visiting your school because I don't have all of the details.)

I spent a little time snooping around her "little corner of the Internet" because I haven't read any of her books...yet. (I plan to this summer.) I am intrigued! She has some interesting quick reads under her Bio tab:

If your students are headed to hear her speak, they might have fun searching through her pages. (And a few of them might work well as informational text practices, too.)

Have fun exploring!

What Author Should I Read Next?

"What else do readers of _______ read? The closer two writers are, the more likely someone will like both of them. Click on any name to travel along."

Looking for a new author to explore? Have a student who could use a suggestion or two?

The Literature-Map website is designed to provide readers with quick access to other authors they might potentially enjoy. The reader types in the name of an author he/she enjoys, and the Literature-Map produces a web of names. Each name on the map is an author similar (in some way) to the submitted author. As the tagline says, the proximity of the names visually tells the reader how likely they are to enjoy both of them.

(I tried it out with a few authors I enjoy, and it provided me with some other names I know I enjoy, as well as new ones to explore.)

Like that? The Global Network of Discovery also has a music map and a movie map. Check them out here.

A Winter's Tale at Augustana University

Looking to add a little bit of literature to your life? (Beyond the classroom, that is...)

Augustana's Mikkelson Library is hosting an evening of readings and music, hosted by one of my favorite professors, Dr. Sandra Looney. See the details below.

"Dr. Sandra Looney '62, professor of English at Augustana, is the mistress of ceremonies for this program of literature and music. The event's readers are Carrie Aaron, Jill McManus, Ron Parsons, Charles Holmes, Margaret Novak and Kyle Rogers.

Music for the afternoon will be provided by Craig Spencer and Gary Pederson.

A reception will follow the event.

Tickets are $15 and are available at the door.

Contact the Library for more information: 605.274.4921."

Exploring Poe Online

PoeStories.com is an informative and easy-to-navigate website dedicated to the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe created by Robert Giordano, a graphic artist, photographer, and fellow writer. Giordano included a number of features that make his website a fantastic tool and resource for both student and teacher. Like most Poe websites, it begins with a biography of the Master of Macabre, and there are a number of photos accessible within the included photo gallery, including some of Poe's gravesite taken by Giordano himself. Along with the biography, Giordano also includes a timeline that cross-references Poe's life events with major historical events that occurred in his lifetime. 

One piece that was especially important to Giordano in creating his website was accessibility to Poe's writings. Through his website, teachers and students have immediate access to the full digital texts. In order to help readers, Giordano hyperlinked words and phrases, connecting them to a glossary he has created. The glossary assists readers in understanding both definitions and allusions. Readers have access to the glossary as a whole, but the information is also visible while reading a text. Instead of being redirected to the glossary page, clicking on a hyperlinked word in a story opens a little pop-up box with the definition/explanation.

Whether you're looking for a new Poe story to engage your students or seeking a more accessible way to read his works, Giordano's website might be worth checking out.

John T. Price at Augustana!

Are you a fan of David Sedaris or Annie Dillard? Maybe both? If so, you should make plans to hang out at Augustana's Kresge Recital Hall on Tuesday, September 29. Why? Because John T. Price will be there and, well, I can't say it any better than The Iowan:

“If David Sedaris and Annie Dillard had a literary love child and raised him in Iowa, he would write like this.” — The Iowan

Here's what you need to know:

John T. Price

Tuesday, Sept. 29

7:30 p.m.

Kresge Recital Hall

Tickets are available at the door. General admission is $5; children and Augustana students are free. (I wonder if I can still use my Augustana College ID?)

For more information, visit the ALA website or call the Mikkelsen Library at 605.274.4921.

One Book South Dakota 2015

If you happen to be looking for a novel idea for yourself (or possibly for your classroom?), here's a modern title you might consider.

Each year, the South Dakota Humanities Council seeks to promote unity through literacy by encouraging communities around the state to read and discuss a selected title, and to build upon the experience by hosting connected events. Ordinary Grace by Minnesota author William Kent Krueger was recently announced as the 2015 selection for One Book South Dakota. Amazon describes Ordinary Grace as "a brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God." (Click here to read the rest.)

Ordinary Grace has received many awards, including the Mystery Writers of America's 2014 Edgar Award, which is bestowed upon the best mystery novel published during that year. The New York Times bestseller also boasts receiving the Barry Award, Anthony Award, DILYS Award, and Macavity Award for Best Novel.


And, if this particular title doesn't sound like a great fit for you (or your students), you may wish to check out the past One Book South Dakota titles.

*Please note: I have not personally read Ordinary Grace; please use at your discretion if considering this book for your classroom.

The Big Read Book Resources

Each year, the National Endowment for the Arts selects one book to promote literacy across our nation. In their own words,

"The Big Read aims to address this crisis squarely and effectively. It provides citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their communities."

Through The Big Read, communities may apply for grants to host events connected to the year's book. But the biggest draw perhaps is this: even if there are no events in your area, The Big Read provides (free!) online access to some fantastic resources for both current and past books. These books include both classics and modern literature, so if you are looking for some new resources, you may want to check out their website. The books currently include:

• Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The by Mark Twain
• Age of Innocence, The by Edith Wharton
• Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, The by Dinaw Mengestu
• Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
• Bridge of San Luis Rey and Our Town, The by Thornton Wilder
• Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat New for 2015
• Call of the Wild, The by Jack London
• Death of Ivan Ilyich, The by Leo Tolstoy
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Farewell to Arms, A by Ernest Hemingway
• Grapes of Wrath, The by John Steinbeck
• Great Gatsby, The by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The by Carson McCullers
• Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
• In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
• Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
• Joy Luck Club, The by Amy Tan
• Lesson Before Dying, A by Ernest J. Gaines
• Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
• Maltese Falcon, The by Dashiell Hammett
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• Namesake, The by Jhumpa Lahiri
• Old School by Tobias Wolff
• Poetry of Emily Dickinson, The
• Poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The
• Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, The
• Shawl, The by Cynthia Ozick
• Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, The
• Sun, Stone, and Shadows edited by Jorge F. Hernandez
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• Thief and the Dogs, The by Naguib Mahfouz
• Things They Carried, The by Tim O'Brien
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• True Grit by Charles Portis
• Washington Square by Henry James
• When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
• Wizard of Earthsea, A by Ursula K. Le. Guin

The Big Read offers a variety of resources for each book, including a Reader's Guide, a Teacher's Guide, and a Media/Audio Guide. Within those guides, you gain access to resources related to the book's author, content, and historical and literary contexts. There are also lesson plans, discussion questions, and project ideas. If you happen to teach one of the above authors but not that particular book, the resources may still be worth checking out.

Sorcerer's Apprentice Creative Writing Camp

The Dakota Writing Project's Sorcerer's Apprentice Creative Writing Camp is set for this spring! It typically takes place in the fall, but this year, it will be in March and expanded as the Dakota Writing Project pairs up with the Vermilion Literacy Project.

The camp itself is a one-day workshop for high school students with a genuine interest in writing and will take place on Saturday, March 28. This workshop is intended to bring "together high school writers with dedicated teacher-writer professionals...for a day of writing and collaboration that promises to be a magical apprenticeship." Throughout the day, students will have the opportunity to explore a variety of creative genres and partake in revision exercises. The day culminates with a chance to perform the day's work.

New this year is an expansion to include a few Friday events on March 27th. A 3-hour writing marathon will kick-off the day at 12:30, followed by a reading by USD faculty member and published author Natanya Pulley at 4 pm. The day will culminate with a poetry slam that evening.

If you have a student who may be interested, please encourage them to explore this writing opportunity. The camp website has not yet been updated, but eventually, more information will be available here, along with the registration form. In the past, student registration fees have included the workshop, a camp t-shirt, a copy of the Vermilion Literary Project magazine, lunch, and workshop refreshments. There are scholarships available for students with financial needs; please email dwp@usd.edu for more information.

Shakespeare: Uncovered (Season 2)

PBS is in the midst of a second season of Shakespeare: Uncovered. A series of six episodes, PBS has paired well-known faces who have experienced Shakespearean theatre first hand with their respective plays. Tonight's episodes feature Morgan Freeman with Taming of the Shrew (9 pm CST) and David Harewood with Othello (10 pm CST). If you are unable to tune-in tonight, PBS does offer the videos free online after they have aired. PBS also has various resources available for each episode. Both videos and resources can be found here.

Still to come in season two are Antony and Cleopatra and Romeo and Juliet, which will both air next week on February 13 starting at 9 pm CST.  Last week's episodes, A Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear, can be viewed at the PBS website.

Other Shakespeare-based resources can be found on the PBS Shakespeare: Uncovered - Education page. These cover topics such as character analysis, women in disguise in Shakespearean comedies, the use of soliloquy, and moral/ethical dilemmas within Shakespearean characters, just to name a few.

Season one is also available online and includes Macbeth, the comedies, Richard II, Henry IV & V, Hamlet, and The Tempest.

Stop Motion Illustrated Poetry (and One Short Story)

BetsiePieBaker's YouTube channel, "Some Poetry For You," features stop motion illustrated readings of the poetry (and one short story - "The Gift of the Magi"...English I teachers!) listed below. I had the opportunity to see Shakespeare's "Sonnet 73" in action last week, and the students responded really well to the interpretation. They had already read and discussed the sonnet, and they seemed to appreciate the visual representation created by the stop motion illustrations. BetsiePieBaker's current offerings include:

• "I am Nobody" by Emily Dickinson
• "This Is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams
• "To a Friend who Sent Me some Roses" by John Keats
• "who knows if the moon's" by e.e.cummings
• "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
• "Sonnet 73"  by Shakespeare
• "Discovery" by Elizabeth Keller
• "In Defense of Seasonal Poetry" by Elizabeth Keller
• "Shooting Stars" by Sara Henreckson
• "Holy Sonnet 10: Death, Be Not Proud" by John Donne
• "Fern Hill" by Dylan Thomas.
• "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry

Shake It Up...TED-Ed Style

Did I get you singing Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off," which seems to be everywhere right now?

This post actually has nothing to do with that song. (Sorry if it is now in your head...)

TED-Ed recently posted two Shakespeare-based lessons. Each lesson includes lesson ideas to go along with the posted video clips. The lesson segments are: Watch, Think, Dig Deeper, and Discuss. Educators can also take the TED-Ed lesson, customize it, and share it on the lesson site. (The first one currently has 27 versions shared; the second has 47.)

Poetry, Pentameter, & Pirates: Why Shakespeare Loved Iambic Pentameter (~ 6 min) This lesson focuses on the meters and references both Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.

The Great Conspiracy Against Julius Caesar (~ 6 min) For those opting to do Julius Caesar instead of Macbeth, this clip offers some insight into why the whole event happened.

"I Am Biased, Obviously and Enormously"

It's not every day that the author of a piece flat out proclaims his/her bias regarding the topic at hand. While students are unlikely to come across bias laid out this clearly during research, perhaps author Neil Gaiman's honesty and explanation of what contributes to his own bias on the topics of libraries and literacy may help students understand what to look for when bias is less obvious.

"It's important for people to tell you what side they are on and why, and whether they might be biased. A declaration of members' interests, of a sort. So, I am going to be talking to you about reading. I'm going to tell you that libraries are important. I'm going to suggest that reading fiction, that reading for pleasure, is one of the most important things one can do. I'm going to make an impassioned plea for people to understand what libraries and librarians are, and to preserve both of these things.

"And I am biased, obviously and enormously: I'm an author, often an author of fiction. I write for children and for adults. For about 30 years I have been earning my living though my words, mostly by making things up and writing them down. It is obviously in my interest for people to read, for them to read fiction, for libraries and librarians to exist and help foster a love of reading and places in which reading can occur.

"So I'm biased as a writer. But I am much, much more biased as a reader. And I am even more biased as a British citizen.

"And I'm here giving this talk tonight, under the auspices of the Reading Agency: a charity whose mission is to give everyone an equal chance in life by helping people become confident and enthusiastic readers. Which supports literacy programs, and libraries and individuals and nakedly and wantonly encourages the act of reading. Because, they tell us, everything changes when we read.

"And it's that change, and that act of reading that I'm here to talk about tonight. I want to talk about what reading does. What it's good for."

Click here for the full article.

Source: Gaiman, N. (2013, October 15). Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming. Retrieved January 23, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming

Native American Authors at SD Festival of Books (American Lit Teachers!!)

The SD Festival of Books is approaching. There is quite of bit of information on their website. I also highly encourage you to peruse the presenter list as there may be an author or two applicable to your classroom. At first I was going to pick out a few names to highlight, but my list kept growing! A handful of Native American authors (most of whom are local SD authors) will be presenting at events this year. Click on their names to learn more about each author.

Joseph Bruchac

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (Crow Creek Sioux Tribe)

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve (Rosebud Sioux Tribe)

Kevin Locke (Hunkpapa - Lakota)

Gwen Westerman (Sisseton Wahpeton - Dakota)