My brother Jim Martella and I presented 4 sessions at the Reading for the Love of it Conference last week. Jim showed me how to create a prezi and this is what he put together for our session. No one wants to read a book if it isn't fun! These are the books we presented. To get to full screen, just click on the "MORE" button.

'Great Graphic Wednesday' is a weekly blog posting. Check here every Wednesday for reviews of recommended graphic novels, by members of the Tinlids Graphic Novel Book Club.

The Odyssey

Written and Illustrated by Gareth Hinds

DETAILS:  Colour comic reads left to right.  Paperback ISBN 9780763642686

GRADE: 5 to 9

SUMMARY (from book flap):  Fresh from his triumphs in the Trojan War, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, wants nothing more than to return home to his family.  Instead, he offends the sea god Poseidon, who dooms him to long years of shipwreck and wandering.  In his efforts to get home, Odysseus must battle man-eating monsters, violent storms, and the supernatural seductions of sirens and sorceresses.  He will need all  his strength and cunning- and a little help from Mount Olympus- to return to Ithaca and seize back his kingdom from the scheming suitors who seek to wed his queen and usurp his throne.

REVIEW:  Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey is always referenced to as a must-read in the literary world.  It has always been something on my “want to read” list; however, the text always seemed quite daunting.  Gareth Hinds’ interpretation in graphic novel is the best way to alleviate the density of the text and to appreciate the story.  Hinds refers to many translations to the text, sometimes copying the text from the translations, however; since this is a graphic novel, he lets the illustrations do part of the storytelling.  His illustrations remind the reader of the Greek sculptures and paintings they would see in the museums. There are also times that the reader will stay on a page, going back and forth between the pictures and the text to integrate the experience, even more so.  There are a few moments, at the end of the story, where it’s sometimes hard to differentiate between the men, as they have some of the same physical traits and it takes a moment to remember who is who. 

Hinds stays true to the historical value of the story, and writes it in a way that makes it easy to understand and exciting to see Odysseus’ journey back home.  This is storytelling at its best.

Recommended for… This is a hard one to recommend. I would recommend it to more mature grade 5 students (since they study Ancient Civilizations); however, there are scenes in the book that depict sex (man and woman lying together) and violence (blood and spears in heads, etc…).  Other than that, I would recommend it to readers 12 and up.  

Fatma Faraj is a teacher-librarian at Royal Orchard Middle School in Brampton. 

Order The Odyssey from www.tinlids.ca today!

This week in our booth at the OLA Super Conference, we decided, once again, to give out buttons.  We wanted to have buttons that would be interactive, and spread the Tinlids name to as many librarians, teachers and lovers of children’s books as possible.  So we came up with 8 buttons that could answer the question “What kind of Book are you?”

The button choices:

I am a Mystery

I am a Horror Story

I am Poetry

I am a Complicated Plot

I am Loosely Based on a True Story

I am a Tear Jerker

I am Edgy

I am Supernatural

On Thursday and Friday we gave out over 500 buttons and it was fascinating to watch people try to decide which button described them best.  Here are some of my observations:

-          The most popular button was “I am loosely based on a true story”, followed by “I am a Complicated Plot” . Whenever someone couldn’t decide, it was usually between one of these two buttons.

-          The first button I wore was “I am a Horror Story”.  I got lots of comments like “Oh Maria, you’re not a horror story”  (some people would disagree)  or “you shouldn’t wear that button – people might be afraid to come into your booth” (really? )

-          Only 4 men chose “I am Poetry” – what’s that all about? Was it the colour? (pink).  But the men who did choose “I am Poetry” seemed really happy and grounded…..Most of the men chose “I am Edgy” – yep, you’re all tough guys…

-          The people who chose the mystery buttons seemed to be the quiet types… most of them didn’t hesitate, and walked away quickly… It made me feel like I should follow them… what were they up to??

-          “I am a tear jerker” - the ones who chose this were mostly women. They didn’t have any problem expressing themselves and letting me know how they felt. They seemed sweet and funny.   It wasn’t a popular one with the men. Scott said maybe it would be interpreted as“I’m a heartbreaker”, so it would seem arrogant.  Hmmmm. That was interesting.  The women just thought it meant “I’m expressive, or emotional, or I cry easily".

I really loved hearing friends choose for each other… “You are DEFINITELY a horror story!”  “Really?  No I can’t wear that” or “You’re SO not edgy”   And the sweetest children’s author (can you guess who?) said “Well I WANT to be edgy…”

99% of the people who chose the “I am Supernatural” button, were red-heads.  Seriously. Or goth girls.

I really loved all of the ideas teachers and librarians had for programming and writing activities.  The buttons suddenly morphed into the best tools for their language arts program.  So we decided we will be selling all 8 buttons as a package.  Check our website this week for ordering info. 

The first day of the show, I started out as a horror story, until I had enough coffee, and then I changed to “I am a Complicated Plot”, “I am Poetry” and by the end of the day I was wearing “I am Edgy”.  When I put on the Poetry button I did get some sweet remarks… “Yes, you ARE poetry!” But when I put on the “I am Supernatural” button, I seemed to be a magnet and suddenly I was getting hugs from people who never hugged me before!  Okay…. I’m just sayin’…. Who knows? I kept that one on for the rest of the day.

If you were at our booth and chose a button, thanks for getting involved.  It was lots of fun for us.

What button did you choose? Did it work any magic for you?

(For information on ordering a set of buttons, please click here.)

At the 2011 OLA Super Conference closing luncheon, we were all wowed by this beautiful flash mob choir.

Great Graphic Wednesday is a weekly blog posting. Check here every Wednesday for reviews of recommended graphic novels, by members of the Tinlids Graphic Novel Book Club.

Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000

Written and Illustrated by Eric Wight

Details: Black and white comic reads left to right. Hardcover ISBN 9781416964858

Grade 1-3

Summary (from back cover): Meet Frankie Pickle…the kid with the world’s most amazing imagination! It takes him on adventures. It helps him save the day. And sometimes… it gets him into trouble. If he wants to move up in rank with the other Possum Scouts, Frankie must win the model car derby known as Pine Run 3000. He dreams up the slickest speedster ever, but when he tries to build it on his own, his creation crashes and burns! Will Frankie get left in the dust before he even gets to the starting line?

Review: I think Eric Wight really understands this age group. I like how he alternates between what’s happening in Frankie’s real life, and what’s happening in his imagination. This is a hybrid novel; when Frankie is in his imaginary world, the author provides us with a comic illustrations and speech bubbles. This is perfect for young readers.

Maria Martella is the owner of Tinlids Inc.

Order Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000 from www.tinlids.ca today!