Genre 6--Book Review 3

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gantos, Jack. 2000. JOEY PIGZA LOSES CONTROL. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
ISBN: 0-374-39989-1

PLOT SUMMARY
Joey’s on his “good-meds,” and with his faithful Chihuahua Pablo at his side, he’s on his way to visit his dad—for the first time in a long time. Joey has just one hope, “I just want him to love me a much as I already love him.” He arrives at his father’s house, also occupied by his chain-smoking grandmother, and immediately Joey recognizes that his dad is “wired.” Joey knows the symptoms and he realizes what his mother meant “when she said he was like me only bigger.”

As soon as his mother’s car turns the corner, Joey’s crazy grandmother chastises him. His father, Carter, drags him to visit Storybook Land Fun Park, where his “whole life turned around.” Carter uses the park as a temple of sorts—cracked concrete statues of Humpty Dumpty and Little Miss Muffet as gods.

Things go downhill quickly. Carter coaches a little league team and he pins all his hopes on Joey, a talented but erratic pitcher, for the championship. He tells Joey, “This is our goal, Joey—to be champions together.” Carter’s behavior becomes more and more unpredictable and his warped reasoning leads him to flush Joey’s ADHD medicine down the toilet. Joey knows that the meds help him be “normal” but Carter argues, “…the greatest thing I could do for you is to show you that you are a normal kid and don’t need this stuff.”

Other than his mother, the only sane, reasonable adult in the book is Carter’s girlfriend Leezy. She attempts to keep Carter from going over the deep end but she’s more an enabler than anything else.

In the final game for the championship, Joey “loses it” and is taken out of the game. He runs away and calls his mom who rescues him. In JOEY PIGZA LOSES CONTROL, Jack Gantos reveals a world where adults can’t always be relied on and children sometimes have to understand that.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In the sequel to JOEY PIGZ A SWALLOWED THE KEY, Jack Gantos continues the story of Joey, a great kid that needs a little help to keep things together. Even when his “patch” is fully engaged, Joey has energy to spare and a quick wit and imagination that endears him to the reader. Always eager to please, Joey’s antics are easily forgiven.

The first-person narration, from Joey’s point of view, gives the reader a sense of the chaotic whirl of thoughts and emotions that confront a child with ADHD. JOEY PIGZA LOSES CONTROL also helps the reader understand that without guidance and intervention, the child with ADHD may grow into an adult that never overcomes the challenges of the disorder. Joey’s father Carter and grandmother struggle with nicotine and alcohol addictions and lead messy lives that are at once funny and terribly sad.

The book has been called a tragicomedy and that label fits accurately. At one moment the reader may laugh at Joey’s outrageous behavior (pretending to be a mannequin in a department store or locking his dog in the glove box of a car) and the next moment the reader might feel a wave of sadness when Joey tries so hard and fails. Like Joey’s young life, the book is a roller-coaster.

REVIEW EXCERPTS AND HONORS

NEWBERY HONOR BOOK

Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, September 1, 2000
Readers will be drawn in immediately to the boy's gripping first-person narrative and be pulled pell-mell through episodes that are at once hilarious, harrowing, and ultimately heartening as Joey grows to understand himself and the people around him.-Starr LaTronica

Starred Review from BOOKLIST, October 1, 2000
Gantos has given Joey a remarkably vivid personality, and, blending irrepressible humor with a powerful depiction of a child's longing for normalcy, he has written a dead-on portrayal of a young person assessing the often self-serving behavior of the adults who control his life.-Susan Dove Lempke

Review from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, August 11, 2000
Joey is torn between wanting to call his mom immediately and sticking with his father. "Even though I knew he was wrong," Joey says, "he was my dad, and I wanted him to be right." Like its predecessor, this high-voltage, honest novel mixes humor, pain, fear and courage with deceptive ease. Struggling to please everyone even as he sees himself hurtling toward disaster, Joey emerges as a sympathetic hero, and his heart of gold never loses its shine.

CONNECTIONS

Teach students about ADHD by using the exercise included in the activity described in this article:
http://escholarship.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=education/tecplus

Author’s website with teachers’ guides:
http://www.jackgantos.com/index.html

Use the book as an example of a personal narrative. Have students write a personal narrative about a summer in their lives.

Use the book to teach literary conflict. Identify the various conflicts: Joey vs. Carter, Joey vs. himself, etc.

Genre 6--Book Review 2

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Yang, Gene Luen. 2006. AMERICAN BORN CHINESE. Ill. by Gene Luen Yang. New York: First Second.
ISBN-13: 978-159643-152-2

PLOT SUMMARY

In Gene Leun Yang’s graphic novel, AMERICAN BORN CHINESE, three stories twine together under the mysterious old herbalist clicking away at her abacus.

The first story is a fable about a Monkey King who wants to be a God. He struggles against his true identify and attempts to reinvent himself. The God of all, Tze-Yo-Tzuh, urges the “little monkey” to accept himself as he was created. The God declares, “I do not make mistakes, little monkey. A monkey I intended you to be. A monkey you are. Please accept this and stop your foolishness.” But the little monkey refuses and is buried beneath a mountain of rocks.

The second story is about a young boy, Jin Wang, who is American born Chinese—his parents are from Taiwan and his life bridges American culture and the culture of his parents. Like many young people who straddle this divide, Jin is often isolated. He finally makes a friend in Wei Chin who is “F.O.B.” (fresh off the boat). Jin soon finds that he has fallen in love with an American girl, Amelia Harris. He curls his hair to appear more like one of the popular boys. Although Amelia clearly likes him, he stops seeing her when a boy asks him to stop asking her out because, “She has to start paying attention who she hangs out with.” Jin agrees but he takes out his anger and frustration on his true friend, Wei Chin.

The third story is about Danny, a popular teenage boy who life is interrupted by his cousin, Chin-Kee. Chin-Kee , an fusion of every Asian stereotype, brings a dead cat for lunch, sings “She Bangs,” and answers all the questions in every classroom. Mortified by his cousin’s behavior, Danny changes schools after every visit.

Then, the stories merge. Chin-Kee is revealed as the Monkey King and Danny is revealed as Jin. The resolution shows Jin reuniting with Wei Chin and learning an important lesson—accepting your true self is the only way to happiness.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Gene Leun Yang’s graphic novel, AMERICAN BORN CHINESE has its origins as a web comic. The story is developed through narration and illustrations. Characterizations are seen most clearly, not in the dialogue, but in facial expressions and exaggerated images.

The vibrant colors and bold ink drawings give life to a coming-of-age story that addresses complex issues such as self-acceptance and racial stereotypes. Yang has given voice to the feelings that many Chinese born Americans must experience—a desire to be accepted into a dominant culture while maintaining a cultural identity.

The clever, twisting plot embeds an ancient past in a modern context. The book is a triumph and deserves a place in all young adult collections.

REVIEW EXCERPTS AND HONORS

MICHAEL L. PRINTZ 2007

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST

Review from VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, October 1, 2006This graphic novel could be especially cathartic for teens and adults of Asian descent, but people of any ethnicity would find themselves reflected in the universal themes of self-acceptance, peer pressure, and racial tensions. This book is recommended for libraries serving teens and adults, particularly those enjoying graphic novels.-Sherrie Williams.

Review from LIBRARY JOURNAL, March 15, 2007
The art is simple, colorful, and both attractive and effective. Some potty humor; recommended for teen and adult collections.-M.C.

Review from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, June 12, 2006
This much-anticipated, affecting story about growing up different is more than just the story of a Chinese-American childhood; it's a fable for every kid born into a body and a life they wished they could escape.

Review from BOOKLIST, September 1, 2006
Yang helps the humor shine by using his art to exaggerate or contradict the words, creating a synthesis that marks an accomplished graphic storyteller. The stories have a simple, engaging sweep to them, but their weighty subjects--shame, racism, and friendship--receive thoughtful, powerful examination.-Jesse Karp

CONNECTIONS
The novel began as a web comic. Visit the website and view other web comics in serial form.
http://www.moderntales.com/

Interview with author:
http://tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=666&Itemid=48

Great lesson plan addressing racial stereotypes:
http://www.firstsecondbooks.com/teachers/abcLesson.html

Genre 6--Book Review 1

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Colfer, Eoin. 2001. ARTEMIS FOWL. New York: Hyperion Books.
ISBN: 0-7868-0801-2

PLOT SUMMARY
Possibly the greatest criminal mastermind of all time, bold beyond comprehension, and accompanied by a faithful companion (who also happens to be quite lethal), Artemis Fowl intends to restore the coffers of his family’s dwindling fortunes—and he happens to be twelve years old. ARTEMIS FOWL, Eoin Colfer’s introduction to the popular character, set the stage for the series that followed. Colfer introduces the reader to Artemis, his faithful retainer Butler, Butler’s sister Juliet, and a underworld of faeries and supernatural creatures. Along with excitement, Artemis’s life holds sadness as well. His father is missing and his mother is greatly altered by his absence.

Artemis is no ordinary thief; no boring bank jobs or museum heists could challenge his brilliance. He wants “the pot at the end of the rainbow”—the fairy gold. But first, he must unlock the mysteries of the magical world by possessing the Book that reveals all. Through cunning, guile, and his computer, Artemis unlocks the enigma. He and Butler use the knowledge to trap a fairy who has come to Ireland to renew her powers.

The extraordinary young rouge Artemis has not captured an ordinary fairy, however, he has captured Captain Holly Short, the first female member of the elite police force, LEPrecon. Artemis and his crew are almost undone by the technology savvy group of faeries that will do anything to rescue one of their own.

In the end, Artemis’s brilliance crafts the ultimate outcome. The family is rich again and his beloved mother’s health and mind are restored.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In many ways, Eoin Colfer’s ARTEMIS FOWL reads like a Mickey Spillane paperback. The characters are a bit one-dimensional, the dialogue is abrupt, and in the end, you aren’t quite sure if the good guy won or not. Artemis Fowl is no Harry Potter—his battles are not based on good versus evil. He simply wants to relieve an unsuspecting leprechaun of her fortune. He’s a kidnapper, albeit a twelve-year-old who has been thrust into the position of caretaker for his family’s home and his addled mother.

The plot moves quickly and the story is at its best when Artemis matches wits with the clever Captain Holly Short. He didn’t expect the leprechaun to be “so human” and a female. Although Holly is the victim, she shows compassion for her captors—creating a complexity in the relationship between her and Artemis.

The fairy world, set deep in the bowls of the earth, is dark and a bit gothic. In a funny subplot, the faeries contend with an inadequate infrastructure and social bureaucracy. The faeries are largely portrayed as heroic and intelligent (although the dwarf Mulch is an exception) while the “Mud People” (humans) are responsible for polluting the planet.

Overall, ARTEMIS FOWL is entertaining and, for many young readers, it is great fuel for the imagination.

REVIEW EXCERPTS AND HONORS

Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, May 2001
The fairy characters are mouthy and eccentric, but Artemis is too stiff and enigmatic to be interesting; the story bogs down when the focus is on him. The combination of choppy sentences and ornate language will appeal to some readers, although not necessarily to Harry Potter fans; the emphasis here is more on action (some of it gory), technology, and deadpan humor than on magic, and only one character (Artemis) is a child.-Eva Mitnick

Review from THE HORN BOOK, July/August 2001
It is a relief to see fleeting chinks in Artemis's James Bond--style cool, as when he thinks about his mother, who has become severely depressed and delusional since the disappearance of Artemis's father. Still, the long stretches devoted to the fairy world's maneuverings, which only readers fond of technical detail will find appealing, overwhelm these moments.-C.M.H.

Review from THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, June 17, 2001
I'm troubled by the fact that though the prose lacks luster, it doesn't lack lust: a spicy, nonerotic, slobbering bloodlust. . . . Colfer adopts the rhythms of macho banter from television police dramas . . . and B-grade buddy war films. . . . Nevertheless, young readers may thrill in seeing that the clandestine mysteries of faerie are, like all aspects of our culture, subject to decay in the light of day. . . . What Colfer has done, and very ably, is to pitch a great movie idea.-Gregory Maguire

CONNECTIONS

Since Artemis “cracked the code” of the Book, have students study code-breaking. Here’s a lesson plan from Education World for ideas:
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/00-2/lp2207.shtml

A study of Irish faeries would be a great connection. Here’s a lesson plan with ideas:
http://www.learningtogive.org/lessons/unit226/lesson20.html

Character and quotes matching activity:
http://www.teachit.co.uk/attachments/9305.pdf

Great website by the author includes videos (the author’s one-man show), links to other books, games, and many other features.
http://www.artemisfowl.com/

Genre 5--Book Review 3

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Klages, Ellen. 2006. THE GREEN GLASS SEA. New York: Viking.
ISBN: 0-670-06134-4

PLOT SUMMARY

Dewey Kerrigan, a science-minded girl, travels alone to meet her father at a secret location “somewhere in New Mexico.” The year is 1943 and the most talented scientists in the United States have gathered together to work on “the gadget,” the invention that will surely end World War II and change the world forever. Dewey enters a town—known as “the hill”-- nameless to anyone except those who live there. After her father is called away, Dewey moves in with the Gordons. Although Terry Gordon, a “lady scientist,” tries to make Dewey welcome, her daughter Suze bristles at sharing her room with “Screwey Dewey.” In the following weeks, however, Suze and Dewey discover a friendship that will comfort them for “the duration.”

One afternoon, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Terry bring devastating news to Dewey. Her father has been killed—just crossing the street. His death is a reminder of the tenuous nature of all life. Several weeks later, July 16, 1945, the “gadget” is tested while Dewey, Suze, and other residents of “the hill” watch the “bright light, as bright as the sun.”

In the final chapter of Ellen Klages novel, THE GREEN GLASS SEA, the Gordons take Suze and Dewey to visit the blast site where they stand at the edge of a sea of green glass—the desert sand melted into “the first new mineral created on this planet in millions of year.”

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Ellen Klages's remarkable novel THE GREEN GLASS SEA chronicles the fascinating story about the building of the atomic bomb. Told in third person narration from the perspective of eleven-year-old Dewey, the author tells a compelling and often disturbing story. Klages places fictional characters beside actual participants in what is known as “the Manhattan Project.” The details in the book portray a convincing sense of realness.

The historical novel is a coming-of-age story that follows Dewey’s young life. As the story opens her grandmother, with whom she had been living, has had a stroke. Dewey doesn’t know her alcoholic mother. Her mother hasn’t seen her in since she was a baby; in an alcoholic stupor she dropped Dewey and the accident left young Dewey crippled. After a blissful year and a half living with her father, he is killed. In spite of everything, the little girl proves to be a survivor. The tragedy of Dewey’s life parallels the complexity of a world with a weapon that threatens to destroy it. She overcomes loss, but the cost is tremendous.

Klages deftly navigates the frightening reality the scientists feel at their success. The atomic bomb promises a quick end to the war but stirs conflicting emotions. Those emotions linger more than sixty years later.

REVIEW EXCERPTS AND HONORS

2007 SCOTT O’DELL AWARD

Review from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, October 23, 2006
Details about the era-popular music, pastimes and products-add authenticity to the story as do brief appearances of some historic figures including Robert Oppenheimer, who breaks the news to Dewey that her father has been killed in a car accident.

Starred Review from BOOKLIST, November 15, 2006
The novel occasionally gets mired down in detail, but the characters are exceptionally well drawn, and the compelling, unusual setting makes a great tie-in for history classes. -John Green

Review from VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, February 1, 2007
The book is well written, with intelligent characters and understandable descriptions of the place and the work being accomplished. Its well-researched information, including the debate that occurred when the scientists realized what they had created, will appeal to readers of historical fiction.-Cindy Faughnan

CONNECTIONS

Read Paul Zindel’s THE GADGET about the teenage son of another Los Alamos scientist.

For older students, research the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and have them debate the choice that the United States government made.
http://lessons.ctaponline.org/~thampton/

Research Trinitite.
http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/hiroshimatrinity/trinitite.htm

Create collages like the budding young artist Suze.

Genre 5--Book Review 2

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Speare, Elizabeth George. 1958. THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
ISBN: 0-670-06134-4

Audiobook published by Listening Library and read by Mary Beth Hurt.


PLOT SUMMARY

After her grandfather’s death, sixteen-year-old Katherine Tyler leaves her beloved home in Barbados and buys passage on a ship destined for Connecticut. On the voyage, Katherine-known to her family as Kit-quickly discovers that her independence and loyalist upbringing invites suspicion among the Puritans in the colonies. During an episode on the journey, Kit jumps overboard to rescue a little girl’s doll and competently swims back to the ship. The little girl, Prudence, is delighted, but her mother is outraged. She suggests that Kit’s swimming prowess reveals that she may be a witch since “No respectable woman could stay afloat like that.” During the voyage Kit also captures the attention of the captain’s son Nat and a young minister, John Holbrook.

After Kit reaches her aunt and uncle’s home, she begins to discover the severe lifestyle of the Puritans. Although she chafes against the religious fanaticism of the culture, she finds a tenuous friendship with her cousin Judith and a deep fondness for her cousin Mercy.

Suitors soon come to call and the handsome, successful William Ashby sets his sights for Kit while Judith becomes determined to marry John Holbrook. Kit begins to teach school with Mercy and befriends a Quaker woman named Hannah who, although permitted to live at the edge of the community, is ostracized and condemned as a witch. Kit also befriends Prudence and introduces her to Hannah. She teaches the little girl to read and write. After an outbreak of fever ravages the town, several people blame Hannah for the disease and determine to bring her to trial. Kit intervenes and, with Nat’s assistance, helps her escape.

In the middle of the night, the townsfolk come to her aunt and uncle's home and accuse Kit of witchcraft. Her hornbook was found in Hannah’s house and serves as the “proof” of her association with the old witch. At the questioning, Nat saves her by bringing Prudence to testify to her innocence.

Judith ends up marrying William and Mercy marries John Holbrook. Kit determines to go back to her beloved Barbados and become a governess. Before she leaves, however, Nat comes up the river on his new ship “The Witch” which he named in her honor. He proposes marriage and Kit happily accepts.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Elizabeth George Speare’s young adult novel THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND, published in 1958,is a historical novel that paints an accurate picture of life in the new American colonies. The characters are complex and well-developed. Written in the third person, the book is told from Kit’s point of view and the people and events are filtered by her perspective.

Speare, through straightforward description and narration, clearly show the hardships of living in the rawness of the new world. The narrow minds and prejudices of the Puritans are reflected while also showing their humanity and commitment to their ideals.

Speare also captures the political conflicts of the period and the impending Revolution. Kit is torn between her loyalties to the King—after all her grandfather was a loyal subject—and her new relationships with her uncle and Nat.

Although perhaps a bit predictable, the “witch hunt” at the end of the novel provides a dramatic climax. The ending was also a bit predictable, but would probably satisfy young readers.

The audiobook is read by Mary Beth Hurt. Her characterizations are most effective when she portrays the adult characters. Her tone reflects the formality of the period. Her portrayal of Kit, however, seemed too mature.

REVIEW EXCERPTS AND HONORS

Newbery Medal 1959

Review from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, October 23, 2006
Details about the era-popular music, pastimes and products-add authenticity to the story as do brief appearances of some historic figures including Robert Oppenheimer, who breaks the news to Dewey that her father has been killed in a car accident.

Starred Review from BOOKLIST, November 15, 2006
The novel occasionally gets mired down in detail, but the characters are exceptionally well drawn, and the compelling, unusual setting makes a great tie-in for history classes. -John Green

Review from VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, February 1, 2007
The book is well written, with intelligent characters and understandable descriptions of the place and the work being accomplished. Its well-researched information, including the debate that occurred when the scientists realized what they had created, will appeal to readers of historical fiction.-Cindy Faughnan

Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, 2003
Hurt's use of vocal inflection and expression make this an excellent choice for listening whether as an enrichment to the social studies curriculum or purely for pleasure.-Maureen Cash Moffet

CONNECTIONS

Use as part of a study on the Salem Witch Trials.

This is great website with extensive ideas for teaching early American studies and the novel. It includes great webquests.
http://eduscapes.com/newbery/59a.html

Read one of Elizabeth Speare's other books: THE BRONZE BOW or THE SIGN OF THE BEAVER.

Hold a mock trial as part of a reader’s theater project.

Genre 5--Book Review 1

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Schlitz, Laura Amy. 2007. GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! VOICES FROM A MEDIEVAL VILLAGE. Ill. by Robert Byrd. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.
ISBN: 978-0-7636-1578-9

PLOT SUMMARY

Well, it’s an interesting place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there! If you’re not dealing with lice and fleas, it’s wild boars and drunken fathers. The 2008 Newbery Medal recipient, GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! by school librarian Laura Amy Schlitz creates a lively, historically accurate version of an English village in 1255.

As her students immersed themselves in the study of the Middle Ages, “going at it hammer and tongs,” Schlitz wanted to offer them something to perform; her solution was to write twenty-two monologues—so each child could be a “star” for three minutes. The characters come from all ranks of society and include Nelly who catches eels for her family’s livelihood and Giles a beggar who declares “…sometimes I manage real tears. (It’s an art.)”

Interspersed between the monologues, Schlitz presents short history lessons that provide background for the characters. Pen and ink illustrations by Robert Byrd are inspired by the Munich Nuremberg manuscript, an illuminated 13th century German manuscript.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Reminiscent of Chaucer’s CANTERBURY TALES, GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! by Laura Amy Schlitz offers the reader (and aspiring actors) twenty-two authentic portraits of Medieval characters. Subtitled VOICES FROM A MEDIEVAL VILLAGE, the book is written as a series of monologues that each present a well-developed individual. The language and syntax reads like a simplified version of Middle English and she uses both poetic and prose forms. Vocabulary unique to Medieval England lends a sense of authenticity. Schlitz teaches as she entertains; she includes notes throughout the book explaining religious beliefs, remedies for diseases, and other trivia about life during the period that young readers will find at times revolting and fascinating. “Friants are boar droppings.”

Illustrations by Robert Byrd provide a perfect complement to the tales. The volume opens with the artist’s rendering of a map--“A Medieval Manor, England, 1255.” The map places each character in their proper place. The monologues are illustrated like a medieval manuscript.

Schlitz and Byrd have created a beautiful book that deserves a place on school library shelves.

REVIEW EXCERPTS AND HONORS

NEWBERY MEDAL 2008

Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, August 1, 2007
Designed for performance and excellent for use in interdisciplinary history classrooms, the book offers students an incredibly approachable format for learning about the Middle Ages that makes the period both realistic and relevant.-Alana Abbott

Starred Review from BOOKLIST, August 1, 2007
Reminiscent of medieval art, Byrd's lively ink drawings, tinted with watercolors, are a handsome addition to this well-designed book. This unusually fine collection of related monologues and dialogues promises to be a rewarding choice for performance or for reading aloud in the classroom.-Carolyn Phelan

Review from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, August 27, 2007
Schlitz wrote these 22 brief monologues to be performed by students at the school where she is a librarian; here, bolstered by lively asides and unobtrusive notes, and illuminated by stunningly atmospheric watercolors, they bring to life a prototypical English village in 1255.

CONNECTIONS

Of course the monologues (and duets) beg to be performed as reader’s theater.

The book and monologues grew out of a school’s Renaissance faire and would be a valuable contribution to any study of Medieval England.

A website from the publisher offers a teacher’s guide featuring character analysis, casting advice, discussion questions, and costuming ideas. More ideas include a project for creating a travel guide for a Medieval building researched by students.
http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763615781.btg.1.pdf

Have students create illuminated manuscripts.
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/high/ken-illumination.htm