I have to admit a religious bias here (words that I can barely imagine ever writing) but I heard a very liberal minister give a series of sermons a few years ago about just this Buddhist strategy for learning how…
Author: petermarino
Peter is an English professor at SUNY Adirondack in Queensbury, New York where he teaches writing, speech, and the occasional literature class. He won the SUNY Chancellor's Award in 2006 for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity. His first young adult novel, Dough Boy, about a fat and self-conscious but very funny high school sophomore, was published by Holiday House in October 2005 and is now available in paperback. It was nominated for the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults in 2006. His latest young adult novel, also with Holiday House, is Magic and Misery, about a teenage girl trying to balance her life with her best gay friend and her new boyfriend. It has been nominated for the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults in 2009 and is on Booklist’s Top 10 Romance Fiction for Youth and was placed on the ALA Round Table Rainbow Books Bibliography.. He is finishing up three (yes three) new novels for young readers. Peter’s full-length play, The Grandma Show, co-authored with Tom Ecobelli, has had productions all over the country. His ten-minute play “Ralph Smith of Schenectady, New York...” has been produced in the 9th Annual New York City 15 Minute Play Festival, the Samuel French 2003 Short Play Festival, and SlamBoston! 2005. Another one-act, “The Good Samaritan,” won first place in SlamBoston! 2006.
The Red Bicycle: The Extraordinary Story of One Ordinary Bicycle by Jude Isabella
I remember the agonizing wait for my Schwinn LeTour back in 1973, and this book made me remember how important bike transportation was to me back then—a joyful necessity for a boy, as I remember. But it also made me…
One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia
I always thought plastic grocery bags were a terrible idea, but who was listening to me during their advent in the early 1980s? They are cheap to manufacture, cheaper than paper sacks, and that has always trumped environmental concerns.…
Ellis Island by Molly Aloian
My grandparents were not quite of the humble origins they claimed to have been, something I found out years after they were gone. I’d assumed, based on their complaints about of the rough crossing of the seas from Sicily to…
J is for Jazz
The geometric shapes and the vigorous colors on the cover (representative of every page inside) of J is for Jazz may very well have this book bebopping off the shelves into little hands. (It’s going to my nearly-two-year-old nephew next.)…
Chernobyl’s Wild Kingdom: Life in the Dead Zone
As young adult literature should be, this book by Rebecca L. Johnson is about hope, despite the infamous noun in its title, and the spooky photographs at the beginning. Its 88 pages are packed with well-researched information which Johnson is…
Families Around the World
Marketed as non-fiction, Families Around the World is based on real families interviewed by author Margriet Ruurs, and told in the first person by a child in that family. Each geographical family gets a two-page spread in which colorful illustrations…
Mahavira: The Hero of Nonviolence
Secular parents interested in enlightening their young readers (the book is aimed at children age 4 to 8, though it’s somewhat text-heavy, and high concept) about world religions may like this informative and colorful book about the ancient-era spiritual leader…
The Poet Upstairs by Judith Ortiz Cofer
The theme that poetry is magic is readily captured in the glorious illustrations by painter Oscar Ortiz, who manages to synthesize the natural environment of a tropical island and the stern reality of urban brick and mortar. (The book won…
Chitchat–Celebrating the World’s Languages
Chitchat–Celebrating the World’s Languages by Jude Isabella (Kathy Boake illustrated ) is an extremely entertaining and educational book about language. Being married to a linguist, I’m familiar with many of the concepts here, and I’m impressed with the breadth and scope…