An editor in the United Kingdom had contacted him to talk about paper. Specifically, she wanted to know how to fold paper into chess pieces. The editor, Black learned, intended to publish a book, titled “Paper Chess,” which would allow readers to punch out perforated shapes and fold and glue them into chess pieces.

The APSU professor’s name came up as a possible designer for the project because Black is one of the pre-eminent paper engineers in the country. Creating realistic sculptures out of paper is something he’s been doing since he was in kindergarten.

Kell Black, APSU professor of art, looks over a copy of his new book, “Paper Chess.” In front of him are a few chess pieces he designed for the book. (Photo By Rollow Welch/APSU Public Relations and Marketing)

“When I was 5 years old, my dad had worked at the New York World’s Fair, and he had gone to the Dutch Pavilion and he bought this kit – make your own medieval village,” Black said. “One night after supper, we cleared the dining room table and cut everything out and glued everything together. It was like magic. I thought, ‘wow, I want to do that.’”

The 5-year-old was hooked. Everything he saw, even the Volkswagen bus in the driveway, he deconstructed with his mind, figuring out how to unfold it to make a blueprint of its shape on a piece of construction paper.

Black went on to excel in school in subjects such as drafting and geometry, and in his career as an artist, he’s produced hyper-realistic paper sculptures of everything from a rotary telephone to an elaborate German coo coo clock.

A paper chess set was just up his alley. Black agreed to design the pieces, and earlier this month, the book went on sale. It features instructions and enough “punch-out” pieces to make two complete paper chess sets. But for someone accustomed to making complex and ornate works of art, engineering something the average person can do proved to be a little more difficult.

“Any designer, any artist, any musician will tell you it’s always easy to add stuff,” he said. “What’s really hard is to take away, to make it as simple as possible. That’s the challenge and that’s what made it so fun.”

The fun, however, was tempered by the fact that Black had short deadlines looming before him. The publisher wanted the sets only a few weeks after he signed the contract. So Black went to work, designing, building, rethinking and building again numerous paper chess pieces.

“We had dozens of these around the house,” he said, holding up a paper knight piece. “You have to take a deep breath and dive in. I just worked 10, 12, 14 hours a day to get it done.”

Black is in contact with other paper engineers across the globe, and he sent them his designs to get feedback on how difficult the pieces were to assemble. Finally, a few weeks early, he sent off the finished designs.

The book is now out and for sale at Amazon.com for $19.95. It opens with a history of the game of chess, but the majority of the book consists of instructions and the unassembled pieces. The book’s back cover provides a chess board that all the pieces were designed to fit.

Black has a copy of “Paper Chess” on his office desk, but his thoughts are already on future titles. He’s currently working on a “Paper New York” book. The boy who built that medieval village is now tackling an entire city, designing 20 of the metropolis’ iconic buildings and a hot dog cart.

“My dad picked up that first kit at the New York World’s Fair,” he said. “There is some poetry to it.”

The program kicks off today at 2pm with the T’ween Scene Program, where your “T’ween”  can come and express themselves in age appropriate art activities. The first week continues with special guest Scott Shupe from the Kentucky Reptile Zoo, jewelry making, pajama time, song and dance for your little one under five, and crazy science experiments with Mad Scientist Keith Trehy!

When you sign up your child will receive a reading log and attendance passport to be stamped. You will receive credits and rewards for reading books throughout the summer. If your child attends for four out of the six weeks and received four stamps in their passport then they will receive a book of their choice free of charge! What a great reward!!!

You also will not want to miss the Scholastic Book Fair running week two of the program June 15-19.

Summer will be over before we know it, don’t miss this opportunity this summer, the program ends July 17th!

“I believe you will marvel, as I constantly do now, at just how much a doctor can learn in four years.” — Robert T. Cochran Jr., M.D.

In Understanding Chronic Pain, Cochran’s first book, he spoke with patients about their experience with unrelenting pain, developing a “thesis that chronic pain was a form of mental illness, and that by understanding and treating the mental illness one could often cure chronic pain.” Cochran saw links between chronic pain and issues such as childhood trauma, depression, substance abuse and bipolar disorder.Cochran was available to sign books for his readers.

“I believe you will marvel, as I constantly do now, at just how much a doctor can learn in four years.” — Robert T. Cochran Jr., M.D.

In Understanding Chronic Pain, Cochran’s first book, he spoke with patients about their experience with unrelenting pain, developing a “thesis that chronic pain was a form of mental illness, and that by understanding and treating the mental illness one could often cure chronic pain.” Cochran saw links between chronic pain and issues such as childhood trauma, depression, substance abuse and bipolar disorder. In Curing Chronic Pain, that thesis has been developed with much more depth and refinement, and offers examples of dramatic cures obtained by the treatment of underlying mental illnesses, often with drugs not conventionally used for that purpose.

Curing Chronic Pain uses anecdotes to illustrate specific experiences of pain.

In explaining chronic pain, Cochran defines it as:

• Pain that persists beyond expected recovery time
• Pain that extends beyond the original scope of the injury
• Disordered sleep with worsening pain at night
• Disordered appetite with weight gains, cravings for sweets or, conversely, weight loss with disgust for food
• Disorders of mood (despondency, depression or its opposite, restless hyperactivity/angry irritability)
• Diminished energy and pervasive fatigue

Q: You have been practicing medicine for over 40 years. How did you come to focus on chronic pain?

Dr. Cochran: From early on, I developed great empathy for victims of chronic pain. I felt that their disease was misunderstood, and that they were often mis-served by the medical community because of the suspicion that their pain was an excuse for the use of addictive drugs. I found that by removing myself from this preconception and listening – in detail – to what my patients told me, I could better appreciate and understand their illness. That practice has served me well, for I have learned that only by skillful interview can one correctly diagnose and treat the victim of chronic pain.

Q: How is Curing Chronic Pain different from your first book, Understanding Chronic Pain?

Dr. Cochran: Understanding Chronic Pain was, in its way, a breakthrough book because it developed the thesis that chronic pain was a form of mental illness, and that by understanding and treating the mental illness one could often cure chronic pain. In Curing Chronic Pain, that thesis has been developed with much more depth and refinement, and I offer examples of dramatic cures obtained by the treatment of underlying mental illnesses, often with drugs not conventionally used for that purpose.

Q: For many, you are their last hope when it comes to treating their chronic pain. How is your approach different from a more traditionally minded doctor?

Dr. Cochran: General physicians are obligated to search for the cause of pain as some form of injury to the body. However in many, indeed most, cases, a precise cause cannot be identified. When such patients are referred to me, I search for the cause of chronic pain not as injury to the body but as injury to the mind. Therefore, I spend my time researching my patients’ personal, social, and emotional history in an effort to understand their pain, often with dramatically successful outcomes.

Q: What is your opinion regarding the use of addictive drugs such as opiates and stimulants?

Dr. Cochran: I am an enthusiast for their use in the appropriate circumstances (and there are many). I have learned that the risk of addiction is less than I originally thought and, most remarkably, I have learned that the judicious and careful use of addictive drugs can not only diminish pain, it can cure mental illness.

Q: What message would you like to convey in Curing Chronic Pain?

Dr. Cochran:There is hope. It is a logical hope, and it is a scientific hope, and it is a realistic hope. It is the hope that derives from realization that the victim suffers a biochemical disease of the mind that can be cured with pharmacy. That is my message.

Dr. Cochran is a graduate of Vanderbilt Medical School and completed residency in internal medicine and neurology at the University of Texas and Duke University. He founded a private medical practice in 1963 and had over the years treated thousands of patients with chronic pain.

He is co-director of the Pain Center at Centennial Hospital in Nashville. He lives in Nashville with his wife, Donna.

“The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11″ (2006), by Lawrence Wright

This book is tireless in its details; but do not let that discourage you from giving it a read.  The book  is rather short at 373 pages; however, it is heavily noted and very user friendly. It contains a 10 page glossary of principal characters with brief descriptions of their importance; which is a invaluable resource in helping the reader keep track of the multitude of players with similar names.

Like most other histories of Muslim fundamentalism (such as the BBC video series “Power of Nightmares”), Wright starts with the story of Sayyid Qutb.  Qutb was an Egyptian writer and Muslim that traveled through America in the late 1940’s.  His experiences and perceptions, started the generational snowball that  led to 9/11.

A fascinating book for those looking for a way to “deal more wisely and effectively with continuing terrorist threat.”

This was hard read for me, but well worth the effort.  It did win a Pulitzer Prize, something I did not know when I was reading it.  It is available in hardback on the second floor of the Montgomery County Library ( 973.931 WRI), and they also have it on CD on the first floor (973.93 WRI).

“The Political Mind: Why You Can’t Understand 21st Century American Politics with an 18th Century Brain”, *(2008), George Lakoff

Lakoff, a cognitive scientist,  looks at 30 years of scientific research on the human brain, and asks some political questions.  What he finds is the political divide is “not just in geography, religion or even power”, it in our heads (no pun intended).

Our country was born from the age of Enlightenment when reason was king, and emotion  was irrelevant.  Emotions were seen as just cluttering the issue at hand.   The idea an educated, well informed, rational society will make rational, logical, fact based decisions and  be able to adequately self govern.  Rational being making rational decisions is an underlying foundation of our society, from the judicial system to the nightly news.  Lakoff shows us that we do not act rationally, and asks why.

Science tells us that 98% of our thought is unconscious.  We are only aware of 2% of our thoughts.  Lakoff demonstrates that this heavily impacts our society through word choice, metaphors, and the framing of issues..  A good example is when the Republicans discussed the Democrats plan of a timeline to exit Iraq.  Republicans used the term “cut and run.”  A person can’t hear “cut and run” without the feeling of cowardness or surrendering .  Another good example is using the term “surge” in the Iraq war, as opposed to using the word “escalation.”

Lakoff offers some constructive criticism for the “liberal” thought process.  Liberals argue by listing of facts like an encyclopedia and expecting people to digest them like a machine and arrive at logical, rational conclusions.  Sound familiar?  It did to me.  “Conservative” thought prefer to use emotions over lists of facts.  Now you’ll have to read the book, because the liberal thought process is not just used by liberals, and vice versa, with the conservative thought process.  Lakoff argues against the metaphor of politics being described as right and left.

Lakoff tempers the science of the brain with  bits with pop culture, which keeps the reader interested and makes them aware of the ingrained nature of what Lakoff is discussing.  He brings in the Anna Nicole saga, Reagan’s fictional “Welfare Queen”, the latest in neural science, and a analysis of framing and metaphors, to provide insight as to why reason alone is ineffective, that we need emotion, and new enlightenment.

Hands down this was the best book I read all year.   It taught me to listen to what people are saying during a politcal conversation, instead of thinking of what I will say next to refute what I think they are saying.  We all have more in common than we are lead to believe; that commonality should be the starting point for change, not the places where we differ.  This book will help you be a better communicator, listener, and thinker.

This is available on the second story of the Clarksville-Montgomery Library (320.01 LAK).

Resources:

http://cmc-websvr.clarksville.org/default.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Looming_Tower

http://www.amazon.com/Looming-Tower-Qaeda-Road-Vintage/dp/1400030846/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230320238&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670019275/ref=s9subs_c1_14_img1-rfc_p_si2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=09NNQEXA7TMRRR2HZ6JY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=463383351&pf_rd_i=507846

NASHVILLE – The Southern Festival of Books is just two weeks away and organizers are gearing up to welcome more than 20,000 patrons and an all-star lineup of authors, cooks and musicians this October 10-12, on Nashville’s War Memorial Plaza.

From beloved authors and first-timers, to former U.S. Congressmen and Pulitzer Prize winners, the 20-year old festival features more than 200 authors from around the nation and in every genre for interactive presentations, readings, panel discussions and book signings.

You can even hear from David Wroblewski, the author of the Oprah’s Book Club pick, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, from Noon-1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12 at War Memorial Auditorium (no advance reservations required, first come – first served seating). A free book signing follows the reading.

A handful of this year’s writers and works include:

• Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
• Rick Bragg, The Prince of Frogtown
• Stephen L. Carter, Palace Council
• Tony Earley, The Blue Star
• Clyde Edgerton, The Bible Salesman
• Bill Ivey, Arts, Inc
• Ben Jones, Redneck Boy in the Promised Land
• Billie Letts, Made in the U.S.A.
• David Maraniss, Rome 1960: The Olympics that Changed the World
• Honor Moore, The Bishop’s Daughter: A Memoir
• Susan Orlean, Lazy Little Loafers ­
• Ann Patchett, Run
• Richard Price, Lush Life
• Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge
• Mark Winegardner, The Godfather Returns

This Festival also boasts an impressive lineup of children’s and young adult authors including Alexie, Orlean, Helen Hemphill, Susan McBride, William Sleator, Susan Vaught and Charles Ghigna. View the full children’s and YA schedule here: www.humanitiestennessee.org/festival/children.php.

More than a dozen local and regional songwriters including Les Kerr, Satan and Adam, Suzanne McDermott, Tommy Womack and Davis Raines will perform live as featured acts on Southern Festival of Books Café Music Stage, sponsored by the Tennessee Arts Commission.

Get your fill at the live cooking stage hosted by Nashville’s own Saucy Sisters, Barbara Nowak and Beverly Wichman, and featuring regional and local cookbook authors and chefs including Julia Reed, Rick Rodgers and Kay West. There will also be plenty of local food vendors on hand including Provence Breads and Café, Mas Tacos, Por Favor, Fleur De Lis, Dee’s Q and Bolton’s Spicy Chicken and Fish.

The Southern Festival of Books is presented by Humanities Tennessee, a non-profit organization that promotes humanities education across Tennessee. The Festival is proudly sponsored by the National Endowment for Humanities, the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, Ingram, Tennessee Arts Commission, the Frist Foundation, Davis Kidd Booksellers and Vanderbilt University. View the full Southern Festival of Books event schedule at http://humanitiestennessee.org/festival/sessions.php

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sofestofbooks.

Apart from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter phenomenon, the most challenged books of the 21st century (2000-2005) include a number of books taught as classic and “relevant” books in terms of content and history.

In celebrating Banned Books Week (September 23-30, 2006), the American Library Association (ALA) compiled the top 10 most challenged books from 2000-2005, with the Harry Potter series of books leading the pack. The 10 most challenged books of the 21st Century (2000-2005) are:

1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
2. “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier
3. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
4. “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
5. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou
6. “Fallen Angels” by Walter Dean Myers
7. “It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie Harris
8. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz
9. Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey
10. “Forever” by Judy Blume

All but three of these books also were in the top 10 of the most challenged books of the 1990s. The ALA reports there were more than 3,000 attempts to remove books from schools and public libraries between 2000 and 2005. Challenges are defined as formal, written complaints filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.

I scan this perpetually developing list, and am continually confounded by the titles that emerge. Start with John Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize-winning Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers in Great Depression-era California.

Based on Steinbeck’s own experiences as a bindle stiff in the 1920s (before the arrival of the Okies he would vividly describe in The Grapes of Wrath), the title is taken from Robert Burns’s poem, To a Mouse, which is often quoted as: “The best-laid plans of mice and men/often go awry,” though the phrase in the original Scots of the poem is “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men/Gang aft agley.”

Required reading in many high schools, Of Mice and Men has been a frequent target of censors for what some consider offensive and vulgar language. Yes in high school, reading this text, along with The Pearl and Cannery Row, charted a new course in reading and in the understanding of the human condition.

Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is a story about the pressures of living in a thoroughly racist society and how profoundly such a society shapes the character of an individual and the dynamics of a family.  It is a story of how one girl strived to surmount such pressures in rural Arkansas. Her story is representative of many African-Americans in the South at that time.

One out of 5,718 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, as compiled by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom does not claim comprehensiveness in recording challenges. Research suggests that for each challenge reported there are as many as four or five which go unreported.

Becca and Rochelle await the midnight hour and the last Harry Potter book

Some time ago, three generations of my family, myself included, some of us costumed to honor favored characters, stormed the bookstores for the midnight release of the final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. My granddaughter, in her Harry Potter Sorting Hat, and a friend stood guard at the shop’s storeroom door hoping for glimpse of,  … Oh my! Can it be? A book! Not a rock star. Not a movie idol. A BOOK.

Granted it was a big book. A special book. It was a book with all the answers to all the questions derived from the first six books in the series. Thus, somewhere around 2 a.m., five copies of the pre-ordered book in our house — everyone wanted “my own” copy, and we could not all read the same book at the same time.

J.K. Rowling, with her first scrawled story, got an entire generation of children to read books. Not read…devour, with an insatiable hunger for more.

I couldn’t help but remember years ago, when my daughter was little, how we always had books, and how a friend of mine was concerned about her young son’s disinterest in and difficulty with reading. The solution came in the form of comic book and a few heavily illustrated magazines on a subject he was engrossed in. Okay, he looked more at the photos in the beginning, but then he developed a craving to know what the printed words said.

Peak his interest first, I counseled. We can develop a bit more quality as we go along.

When my grandson was less than enthusiastic about books during the time I home schooled him, I used a similar strategy; he loved Jack London’s Call of the Wild, and that was my cue. I also developed an extensive list of “boy books” for a young teenager. The deal was, he had to read one of mine, and write a book report about it. Then he could pick a book, any book, any subject, from the library, read it and do a small book report on that. The freedom to choose was the impetus he needed.

I had him read Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War, and I found a few adventure/creature stories by several authors he now craves. Buy one of those author’s book, new or used, and the entire 400-500 pages is done in a week. The concept of exploring new authors and genre’s has been planted, successfully.

What amuses me is the fact that many of the books on my “teen lest” are those “dangerous” banned books.

I tell my grandson to read them just to find out what the censors don’t want him to know. After all, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing (for them). For the rest of us, well, we just can’t get to the bookstore fast enough.

I like to think they get their love of reading from me. Growing up, my family lived in a four room house, very big rooms, but only two bedrooms. At a certain age, my dad partioned one bedroom; my brother and I would each get half. As the eldest, I got first dibs. I left the room with the heat (a radiator for those New England winters) for him and chose the room with a cubby and a large closet, not for clothes hanging space, but for the ceiling to floor bookshelves I had my dad install along each wall. The simple act of taking stacked books from the floor, the windowsill and under my bed, filled two walls on that very first day. The lack of heat in that room was remedied with the purchase of an electric blanket.

My daughter always had books, and continues to forage for them at bookstores, thrift stores and yard sales. My “new baby” gifts for friends was always a collection of fairy tales or nursery rhymes; giving a child that first book became a trademark with me.

A dear friend of mine never really understood my addiction to the printed word. It wasn’t until tragedy wrapped itself around him, and he found that a book would make the time pass, could make the day brighter, could change his view of the world, that he began reading. “What took me so long,” he asked me, bemoaning the fact that there were so many books and so little time.

Trieu D. Tran (top) and Wesley John in EQUUS. Photo by Michael Lamont.

I tell Rochelle and her brother, Bobby, that this love of books is a “genetic thing,” that it is “all my fault,” passed on to them through their mother, from me. My other granddaughter, doesn’t care books, but has my “theater” and “arts” gene, and that’s fine too. I tell her about the time I took her mother, as the tender age of nine, to see “Equus” at the Williston Academy in Massachusetts. Viewing that play led to tremendous discussion on myriad subjects and helped instill a love of theater in her. It parallels the relationship we have with books; I can’t imagine our lives without books, without the arts and theater in all its forms.

Each year, when the American Library Association celebrates Banned Books Week, I make it a point to read a banned book (but it’s hard to find one since I’ve read most  on the list). I not only read Maya Angelou, for example, I stood at the back of a packed hall to hear her speak; on that night the program was delayed long enough to pipe the sound outside to a throng of 5,000 people who stood in the cold, waiting, wanting to hear her words and her readings. Of Mice and Men and all the Steinbeck works impressed me so much that when in California, I had my picture taken on the real “Cannery Row.”

At one point my daughter and had some 3,000 books, a number that was rudely edited by our house fire a few years ago. We have an ongoing search to replace old favorites, though the first editions and the autographed copies are, sadly, gone. We are slowly biulding back that personal library.

When I look at the passion and the relationship my family has with books, I smile. Books are not just paper and cloth covers or leather bindings, or the inexpesive newsprint paperbacks. Books, at least in my family, are friends. Best friends.

Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell’s award-winning “And Tango Makes Three,” a children’s book about two male penguins caring for an orphaned egg, topped the list of American Library Association’s (ALA) 10 Most Challenged Books of 2007. A year ago. This year’s tally of challenges has three more months to go.

Three books are new to the list “Olive’s Ocean,” by Kevin Henkes; “The Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman; and “TTYL,” by Lauren Myracle.“Free access to information is a core American value that should be protected,” said Judith F. Krug, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom. “Not every book is right for each reader, but an individual’s interpretation of a book should not take away my right to select reading materials for my family or myself.”For more than 15 years, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has received reports on book challenges. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. In 2007 the OIF received 420 reports on efforts to abolish materials from school curriculum and library bookshelves.

The “10 Most Challenged Books of 2007″ reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:

1. “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell. Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

2. “The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier. Reasons:  Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence

3. “Olive’s Ocean,” by Kevin Henkes. Reasons:  Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language

4. “The Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman. Reasons:  Religious Viewpoint

5. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain. Reasons:  Racism

6. “The Color Purple,” by Alice Walker. Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,

7. “TTYL,” by Lauren Myracle. Reasons:  Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

8. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou. Reasons:  Sexually Explicit

9. “It’s Perfectly Normal,” by Robie Harris. Reasons:  Sex Education, Sexually Explicit

10. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky. Reasons:  Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

Off the list this year, are two books by author Toni Morrison. “The Bluest Eye” and  “Beloved,” both challenged for sexual content and offensive language.

For more information on book challenges and censorship, please visit the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom’s Banned Books Web site at www.ala.org/bbooks.

The Office for Intellectual Freedom is charged with implementing ALA policies concerning the concept of intellectual freedom as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the Association’s basic policy on free access to libraries and library
materials. The goal of the office is to educate librarians and the general public about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries.

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
50 E. Huron Chicago, IL 60611 Call Us Toll Free 1-800-545-2433

Public libraries, schools and school libraries report challenges to OIF, but a majority of challenges go unreported.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association (ALA), has announced its 2008 list of Best Books for Young Adults. The list of 85 books, drawn from 216 official nominations, is presented annually at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. The books, recommended for those ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens.

The list comprises a wide range of genres and styles, including contemporary realistic fiction that reflects the diversity of the teen experience, nonfiction that brings to teens an awareness of the world they live in and its history, and fantastical stories told in both narrative and graphic formats.

In addition, the Best Books for Young Adults Committee created a Top Ten list of titles from the final list that exemplify the quality and range of literature being published for teens. (Starred items denote Top Ten selections.)

“This year’s list demonstrates the variety of outstanding choices to entice and enrich teen readers. There is something here to appeal to every reader, and also to attract teens who don’t regularly read to the pleasures of a good book.” ~~ Holly Koelling, committee chair.

Fiction

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Illus. by Ellen Forney. Little, Brown, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-316-01368-0; $16.99.

Alexie, Sherman. Flight. Grove/Atlantic Black Cat, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-8021-7037-8; $13.00.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Twisted. Penguin Group USA/Viking, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-670-06101-3; $16.99.

Asher, Jay. Thirteen Reasons Why. Penguin Group USA/Razorbill, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59514-171-2; $16.99.

Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. 2007. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Sarah Crichton, $22.00 (978-0-374-10523-5).

Brande, Robin. Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-94349-2; $15.99.

Brooks, Martha. Mistik Lake. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Melanie Kroupa, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-34985-1; $16.00.

Burgess, Melvin. Bloodsong. Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4169-3616-9; $7.99.

Cameron, Peter. Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Frances Foster, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-30989-3; $16.00.

Carey, Janet Lee. Dragon’s Keep. Harcourt, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-15-205926-2; $17.00.

Carey, Mike. The Re-Gifters. Illus. by Sonny Liew and Mark Hempel.DC Comics/Vertigo, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4012-0303-0; $19.99.

Cassidy, Anne. Looking for JJ. Harcourt, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-15-206190-6; $17.00.

Castellucci, Cecil. Beige. Candlewick, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7636-3066-9; $16.99.

Clarke, Judith. One Whole and Perfect Day. Front Street, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-932425-95-6; $16.95.

Compestine, Ying Chang. Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party. Henry Holt, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-8050-8207-4; $16.95.

Cross, Shauna. Derby Girl. Henry Holt, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-8050-8023-0; $16.95.

Cullen, Lynn. I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter. Bloomsbury, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59990-046-9; $16.95.

Dowd, Siobhan. A Swift Pure Cry. Random House/David Fickling, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-75108-7; $16.99.

Downham, Jenny. Before I Die. Random House/David Fickling, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-75155-1; $15.99.

Doyle, Larry. I Love You, Beth Cooper. Illus. by Evan Dorkin. HarperCollins/Ecco, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-123617-4; $19.95.

Ellis, Ann Dee. This Is What I Did. Little, Brown, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-316-01363-5; $16.99.

Felin, M. Sindy. Touching Snow. Atheneum, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4169-1795-3; $16.99.

Friesen, Gayle. For Now. Kids Can Press, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-55453-133-2; $7.95.

Gipi. Notes for a War Story. Spectrum. Translated by Spectrum. Illus. by Gipi. Roaring Brook/First Second, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59643-261-1; $16.95.

Grey, Christopher. Leonardo’s Shadow: Or, My Astonishing Life as Leonardo da Vinci’s Servant. Simon and Schuster/Atheneum, 2006; ISBN13: 978-1-4169-0543-1; $16.95.

Hale, Shannon. Book of a Thousand Days. Illus. by James Noel Smith.Bloomsbury, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59990-051-3; $17.95.

Hemphill, Stephanie. Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-83799-9; $15.99.

Hinds, Gareth. Beowulf. Candlewick, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7636-3022-5; $21.95.

Hornby, Nick. Slam. Penguin Group USA/Putnam, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-399-25048-4; $19.99.

Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Penguin Group USA/Riverhead Books, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59448-950-1; $25.95.

Jenkins, A.M. Repossessed. HarperCollins/HarperTeen, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-083568-2; $15.99.

Jocelyn, Marthe. How It Happened in Peach Hill. Random House/Wendy Lamb, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-83701-2; $15.99.

Johnston, Tony. Bone by Bone by Bone. Roaring Brook/Deborah Brodie, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59643-113-3; $17.95.

Jones, Lloyd. Mister Pip. Dell Publishing/Dial Press, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-34106-6; $20.00.

Key, Watt. Alabama Moon. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-30184-2; $16.00.

Klass, David. Firestorm. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Frances Foster, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-374-32307-3; $17.00.

Knox, Elizabeth. Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Frances Foster, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-31854-3; $19.00.

Koertge, Ron. Strays. Candlewick, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7636-2705-8; $16.99.

Lanagan, Margo. Red Spikes. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-84320-4; $16.99.

Landy, Derek. Skulduggery Pleasant. HarperCollins, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-123115-5; $17.99.

Lat.  Town Boy. Roaring Brook/First Second, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59643-331-1; $16.95.

Lockhart, E. Dramarama. Hyperion, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7868-3815-8; $15.99.

Lyga, Barry. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. Houghton Mifflin, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-618-72392-8; $16.95.

Lyga, Barry. Boy Toy. Houghton Mifflin, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-618-72393-5; $16.95.

MacCready, Robin Merrow. Buried. September 2006. Penguin Group USA/Dutton, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-525-47724-2; $16.99.

Marillier, Juliet. Wildwood Dancing. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-83364-9; $16.99.

McCaughrean, Geraldine. The White Darkness. HarperCollins/HarperTeen, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-089035-3; $16.99.

Mieville, China. Un Lun Dun. Random House/Del Rey, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-345-49516-7; $17.95.

Miller, Sarah. Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4169-2542-2; $16.99.

Moore, Perry. Hero. Hyperion, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4231-0195-6; $16.99.

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. The Off Season. Houghton Mifflin, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-618-68695-7; $16.00.

Myers, Walter Dean. What They Found: Love on 145th Street. Random House/Wendy Lamb, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-32138-9; $15.99.

Olmstead, Robert. Coal Black Horse. Algonquin, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-56512-521-6; $23.95.

Peet, Mal. Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal. Candlewick, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7636-3488-9; $17.99.

Resau, Laura. Red Glass. Random House/Delacorte, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-73466-0; $15.99.

Resau, Laura. What the Moon Saw. Random House/Delacorte, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-73343-4; $15.95.

The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural. Edited by Deborah Noyes. Candlewick, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7636-2906-9; $16.99.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Illus. by Mary Grandpre. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-545-01022-1; $34.99.

Schmidt, Gary D. The Wednesday Wars. Clarion, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-618-72483-3; $16.00.

Sedgwick, Marcus. My Swordhand is Singing. Random House/Wendy Lamb, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-84689-2; $15.99.

Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel. Illus. by Brain Selznick. Scholastic, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-439-81378-5; $22.99.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Adapted by Richard Appignanesi. Illus. by Sonia Leong. Abrams/Amulet, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-8109-9325-9; $9.95.

Sharenow, Robert. My Mother the Cheerleader. HarperCollins/Laura Geringer, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-114896-5; $16.99

Shusterman, Neal. Unwind. Simon & Schuster, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4169-1204-0; $16.99.

Smith, Roland. Peak. Harcourt, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-15-202417-8; $17.00.

Sonnenblick, Jordan. Notes from the Midnight Driver. Scholastic, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-439-75779-9; $16.99.

St. James, James. Freak Show. Penguin Group USA/Dutton, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-525-47799-0; $18.99.

Tan, Shaun. The Arrival. Illus. by Shaun Tan. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-439-89529-3; $19.99.

Thompson, Kate. The New Policeman. HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-117427-8; $16.99.

Wallace, Rich. One Good Punch. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-81352-8; $15.99.

Weinheimer, Beckie. Converting Kate. Penguin Group USA/Viking, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-670-06152-5; $16.99.

Wiess, Laura. Such a Pretty Girl. Simon & Schuster/MTV, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4165-2183-9; $12.00.

Wizner, Jake. Spanking Shakespeare. Random House, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-84086-9; $15.99.

Zarr, Sara. Story of a Girl. Little, Brown, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-316-01453-3; $16.99.

Zevin, Gabrielle. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-34946-2; $17.00.
Nonfiction

Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Sarah Crichton, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-10523-5; $22.00.

Crisler, Curtis L. Tough Boy Sonatas. Illus. by Floyd Cooper. Boyds Mills Press/Wordsong, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-932425-77-2; $19.95.

The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss. Edited by Claire Nouvian. University of Chicago Press, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-226-59566-5; $45.00.

Fradin, Judith Bloom and Dennis Brindell Fradin. Jane Addams: Champion of Democracy. Clarion, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-618-50436-7; $21.00.

Helfer, Andrew. Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography. Illus. by Randy Duburke. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Hill & Wang, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-8090-9504-9; $15.95.

Marrin, Albert. The Great Adventure: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America. Penguin Group USA/Dutton, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-525-47659-7; $30.00.

Polly, Matthew. American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China. Penguin Group USA/Gotham Books, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59240-262-5; $26.00.

Raddatz, Martha. The Long Road Home A Story of War and Family. Penguin Group USA/Putnam Adult, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-399-15382-2; $24.95.

Reef, Catherine. e.e. cummings: a poet’s life. Clarion, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-618-56849-9; $21.00.

Sis, Peter. The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain. Illus. by Peter Sis. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Frances Foster, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-34701-7; $18.00.

Tammet, Daniel. Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant. Simon & Schuster/Free Press, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4165-3507-2; $24.00.

The members of the Best Books for Young Adults Committee are: Holly Koelling, chair, King County Library System, Issaquah, Wash.; Angelina Benedetti, King County Library System, Issaquah, Wash.; Teresa Brantley, Salem Middle School, Apex, N.C.; Amy Chow, New York Public Library; Ashley Flaherty, Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library; Jacqueline Gropman, Fairfax County Public Library System, Fairfax County, Va.; Summer Hayes, King County Library System, Foster Library, Tukwila, Wash.; Andy Howe, Albuquerque (N.M.) Academy Library; Caroline Kienzle, Apalachicola, Fla.; Connie Mitchell, Carmel (Ind.) High School; Diane Roberts, St. Thomas High School Library, Houston, Texas; Elsworth Rockefeller, Ocean County Library, Point Pleasant Boro, N.J.; Karyn N. Silverman, Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School, New York; Ed Spicer, Allegan, Mich.; Rollie Welch, Cleveland (Ohio) Public Library; Jennifer Mattson, consultant, Booklist, Chicago, Ill.; and Rick Orsillo, administrative assistant, King County Library System, Shoreline, Wash.

Renowned author Louise Erdrich will read from her works at the APSU Mass Communications Center on Wednesday, September 10, at 8 p.m.  The event is free with book signing and reception to follow.

Louise Erdrich is one of the most gifted, prolific, and challenging of contemporary Native American novelists.  Erdrich is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.  Born in 1954 in Little Falls, Minnesota, she grew up mostly in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where her parents taught at Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. Her fiction reflects aspects of her mixed heritage: German through her father, and French and Ojibwa through her mother. She worked at various jobs, such as hoeing sugar beets, farm work, waitressing, short order cooking, lifeguarding, and construction work, before becoming a writer. She attended the Johns Hopkins creative writing program and received fellowships at the McDowell Colony and the Yaddo Colony.In her book, Tracks, the author puts us into the mind of several of the characters, living each of their parts in the adventure story from their viewpoint. Excerpts from Tracks:

Nanapush

Before the boundaries were set, before the sickness scattered the clans like gambling sticks, an old man never had to live alone and cook for himself, never had to braid his own hair, or listen to his silence.  An old man had some relatives, got a chance to pass his name on, especially if the name was an important one like Nanapush.

Pauline at the death bed of Mary

She did not stir.  She did not arch from the bed or twist to evade death or push it away from her face as it descended, entered, I don’t know how.  She let it fill her like dark water and then, a narrow-bottomed boat tied to shore, she began to pull away.  But she was moored by her jaw, caught, for as the current drew her off her mouth opened, wider, wide as can be, as if she wanted to swallow herself.  The waves came and then, soundless, she closed her eyes, strained and tossed. Perhaps, hand over hand, I could have drawn her back to shore, but I saw very clearly that she wanted to be gone.  I understood this.  That is why I put my fingers in the air between us, and I cut where the rope was frayed down to a string.

Edrich is the author of many critically acclaimed and New York Times best-selling novels for adults, including Love Medicine, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award; The Beet Queen; Tracks; and The Bingo Palace. Her latest novel is The Plague of Doves.  She also has written two collections of poetry, Jacklight, and Baptism of Desire. Her fiction has been honored by the National Book Critics Circle (1984) and The Los Angeles Times (1985), and has been translated into fourteen languages.The Porcupine Year continues the story that began with The Birchbark House, a National Book Award finalist, and The Game of Silence, winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and was inspired when Ms. Erdrich and her mother, Rita Gourneau Erdrich, were researching their own family history.

Several of her short stories have been selected for O. Henry awards and for inclusion in the annual Best American Short Story anthologies. The Blue Jay’s Dance, a memoir of motherhood, was her first nonfiction work, and her children’s book, Grandmother’s Pigeon, has been published by Hyperion Press. Louise Erdrich lives with her family and their dogs in Minnesota.

Erdrich novels:

Love Medicine (1984), The Beet Queen (1986), Tracks (1988), The Crown of Columbus [with Michael Dorris] (1991), The Bingo Palace (1994), Tales of Burning Love (1997), The Antelope Wife (1998), The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (2001), The Master Butchers Singing Club (2003), Four Souls (2004), The Painted Drum (2005) and The

Plague of Doves (2008)

Children’s Books:

Grandmother’s Pigeon (1996), The Birchbark House (1999), The Range Eternal (2002), The Game of Silence (2005)

Poetry:

Jacklight (1984), Baptism of Desire (1989), Original Fire: Selected and New Poems (2003)

Louise Erdrich is on campus as the Roy Acuff Chair of Excellence for 2008.  This event is sponsored by the Austin Peay State University Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts.

]]> http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/09/09/louise-erdrich-to-speak-at-austin-peay/feed/ 0 http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/09/07/barry-kittermans-reading-spotlights-debut-novel-the-bakers-boy/ http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/09/07/barry-kittermans-reading-spotlights-debut-novel-the-bakers-boy/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:43:47 +0000 Turner McCullough Jr. http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/?p=8669 APSU creative writing professor shares insights and reflections on his debut novel. Personal input and experience part of the writing experience for local author.

As the City of Clarksville raced to complete preparations for its annual music showcase, Riverfest, Austin Peay State University Creative Writing Professor Barry Kitterman gave a reading and discussion of his debut novel, The Baker’s Boy, with an enthusiastic gathering in the APSU Mass Communication/Music Center.

An admiring and warm introduction by fellow APSU English Department colleague David Till, professor emeritus, preceded Kitterman’s address. A tall man, bearded, with a confident voice and demeanor,  Kitterman guided his audience through his presentation with a comfortable and engaging style.

His own experiences with the Peace Corps in Belize became part of the story’s main character and the novel’s background. The character’s personal doubts and struggles all ring true as they are drawn from the author’s own life story. The novel is not an autobiography, but rather a fictional story drawn from aspects of a real life. Skillfully told, the reading is compelling and engrossing.

The reading was followed by a reception in the Mass Communication Center lobby. Professor Kitterman continued discussion of his novel and the writing experience with his audience.

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Librarians at play

Summer is officially over and school is in session!

Now that your child is back in school you’re left wondering what to do with this busy toddler who all of a sudden has lost its biggest distraction, your oldest child. No more solitary catching up with Jon and Kate Plus 8 on your TiVo, you are faced with chasing a toddler from room to room, playing hide-and-seek games with the keys and couch cushions and did that splash just come from the toilet?

You  have more free time on your hands. Check out all the programs our local Children’s Library has to offer. There are programs for all ages, even those hard to please Teens. Maybe you don’t have older children at school. Maybe you’re a  mom  with a small baby, and you’re running out of ideas for “tummy time”? Well get that baby upright and check out the Library’s lap-sit program.

That’s where I’ll be. The Lap sit program, ages infant-18months, is every Thursday beginning September 18th at 9:30.  If this program is anything similar to their Summer Reading Program that we attended for the first time back in July, then I know we’ll be in for a treat.

The librarians involved in this program are super nice ladies. Not like the librarians from our youth that would raise and eyebrow at a boisterous child. These ladies are right there with them singing and dancing their way through the old classic ‘Skiddamarinky, dinky, dink, Skddamrinky doo’. Though they do encourage you to be respectful of the library atmosphere and others who are reading, they understand if your child is a mover and shaker like mine tends to be. On that note, if anytime during their program your young child becomes more preoccupied with the large over sized Elmo, the colorful mobiles hanging from the ceiling or the vast assortment of puzzles waiting outside of their auditorium, don’t force your child to sit on your lap! They have years and years ahead of them to have to be still; let them join the other free spirits in the open play area, where there are fun educational toys, and comfy chairs for Moms and children as well.

Hurry! Classes start Monday morning! Check out the library website to see where you fit in!

Patricia Winn describes Bernis as a born storyteller with stories that are hilarious, sensitive, imaginative, packed with unexpected situations, vivid description, and colororful eccentric characters. She says Bernis uses accurate diction of the day and experiences tell the story of a time that is fading quickly.

Bernis now lives in San Jose, CA, and worked many years as an educator helping children with special needs. She is a founding member of a playwright’s theatre in San Francisco.

With permission to reprint from the author here is an exerpt from The Way Home by Bernis Calvin Terhune:

The Representative from Heavenly Rest Cemetery Comes A-Calling

“It’s like pickin’ fruit.” The old woman squints toward the visitor from Heavenly Rest Cemetery as her calloused feet start the rocking chair; then she gently rubs swollen knuckles trying to whiten age spots and smooth wrinkles. “Now that tree out back. Should have died. Didn’t.” A little smile. “Was already 12 years and ugly when we bought the place. Ever’body said, ‘Cut that one down. It got sumpun’. Might give it to others.’ ‘Naw,” I tole um. ‘Ain’t cutting nothing just cause it’s old and ugly.’” The old woman chuckles and squints again, this time down at her hands. Fingers push one at a time until each has four turns.

“Forty plus 12. Fifty-two years. That’s old for a apple tree. I ain’t gittin’ any younger neither. Seems like it gits harder ever’ year to stay ahead that old tree. That’s why I need to be careful when pickin’ so’s others don’t meddle and take what’s not theirs. ‘Sides, it’s bad luck to plan too far for the angel of death. He’s coming when he’s ready. Mustn’t stir him up.

“Stubborn hang-on-tight apples am the sweetest.” ….”Today’s the last pickins (of apples). It’s for neighbors. Eben for that ol’ woman across the street. Yells at my dog, and Chigger don’t eben bark back. So if you want me to sign up, maybe some other day. First there’s others like you to have a chance. Now you take this dog here. Should be in dog heaven, but she got a job to do. Scare the coons or nobody gits apples. Jist a pound dog. Chose her out of a mess of eber kind of dog. Big, little, pretty. Some show dogs eben. But it were like she already knew me. Knew old Buster had done broke my heart and I needed her. Spite her mother not knowing who her father was. And she were right. I needed exactly her.

“Just like I told you before. You come too early. It’s like pickin’ fruit, and I ain’t ripe.”

Bernis is part of a writing group where one of the members told her to write a book and she’d publish it. I haven’t seen this book in our town yet but maybe we can git it here. The small press publisher is Frog on the Moon Small Press, 7925 Rainbow Drive, Cupertino, CA 95014, 408-873-8848,

Thanks go out to the Clarksville Arts & Heritage Development Council and its Executive Director Diane Batson-Smith for putting on the Clarksville Writer’s Conference. The Conference was developed by Chairman Patricia Winn, Registrar Katie Kennedy, Banquet Chairman Jean Gilbert and Tour Chairman Minoa Ufflelman.

Karen Spears Zacharias: Author of Revelation from a Potty Mouth Believer and Where is Your Jesus Now

Where is Your Jesus Now is taken from the crime story about a grandma being taken hostage by her son. Tied up to a chair with a gun pointed at grandma’s head he said to her, Where is your Jesus now? She looked him in the eyes and said calmly, He’s right here. Karen said that in the midst of all that danger, threatened with death, she answered with love and faith, not fear.

Karen said that is true belief. Since 9/11 our community of faith has reacted opposite to grandma. Everyone has been under the gun. They don’t know the answer to where Jesus is. The answer has become hyper fear and chaos.

Awhile back Karen interviewed a few war widows living in Clarksville. One woman liked living in a cul-de-sac so that she could see who is coming. She worried that her son would be attacked at school by terrorists. Karen said one widow supported attacking Iraq and she thought they should stick bombs in the bodies of dead Iraqi children to blow up all who retrieved them. Iraq is the 7th ring of hell, the woman said.

Karen is very religious but is very outspoken about the fear that Christians are spreading around. Fear that justifies dehumanizing Iraqis and Muslims. She sees Christians believing that the white guys are good guys and the bad guys are Islamic. Preachers here keep their congregations in terror while offering some safety at the same time. It’s like a child dependent on an abusive parent she said. Christians behave as though they are the best worshipers of god. She said God serves us, all of us. God isn’t about favoritism.

The media has done its part praying on fear and guilt. People believe that you have to support the war or you’re not supporting the soldiers. But you can’t impose democracy on someone she said.

Karen’s father was killed in Vietnam. She does not want to be told that her father died in vain. He did not. He died to guarantee their freedom. She lived the lack of support that was offered to her family for their sacrifice. She said that a soldier gives all and Congress should not exploit that sacrifice. They should have a good reason for going to war. She said that during no war has there ever been a designated fund for Vets.

Karen says what we have now is “certainosity”. Certainosity is a religion about people having to be right instead of being redeemed. There are a lot of people stuck in certainosity, not just with religion reasons. Underlying Certainosity is fear. When she was a young Southern Baptist she experienced a profound fear when Elvis died. It took her over and she looked at life and death through fear glasses. She knows that when people think in fear, they are not right in the head. They will be as bright as a burnt out bulb. They will experience a case of the simples.

She asks if Christians are of faith or fear. Can they look fear in the face and say, Jesus is right here with me?  God did not give us the spirit of fear, she said. Since 9/11 she sees only despair. People send out messages of entitlement. They say God is devoted to us, not we are devoted to God. God loves wealthy children. That’s fear-controlled and a bad case of the simples, she says. When we make decisions based in fear we are already defeated. There’s no question that these are troubling times but we’ve plum forgotten that we’re supposed to be encouraging one another. The Bible says so.

Karen grew up in the South and now lives in Oregon. She said that in Oregon she’s considered an extreme conservative. Here she’s an extreme liberal. Why is she a writer? At lunch she told us a touching story about the time she wrote a eulogy about a man who had died. About two years later, the son of the man told her how very much that writing had meant to him. That’s why I write; on the chance that it may say what needs to be said.