Paideia Video Trailers

Here are a few cool video trailers that students created in Anna's short term course last year. To see more book trailers created by Paideia students, click here.







Better yet, here is a trailer for The Good Theif that Grace and Ellery made in Greg's lit class.

Ideas for video blogging

Here are some short videos about favorite books.

Ever wonder what the president likes to read?


Here's a cute video about someone's 12 best list.



Here are a couple of Public Service Announcements about reading. You could make your own.





You could also interview a "character" from a book you like and post that.

Confessions of a Literature Teacher

I start a lot of books I don't finish. In fact, it's rare that I actually read a book all the way through. Either I'm very hard to please or I have a very short attention span...or both. I need a page turner. Is that bad? I won't list the titles of all the books I have started and not finished because that would be rude and besides, there isn't enough room here.

The last book I read all the way through was The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Stockett is an Atlanta author and I like to keep up with local writers. The Help is set in Mississippi during the 1960s and the story is told from several Characters' points of view. Some of her characters are wise and wry and others are just plain ignorant. Among other things, the book is a social commentary on racism in the South during that time.

I read all the time. I read news article, professional articles and do plenty of research to prepare for classes I teach. I sometimes feel a bit recalcitrant because I don't read more fiction. But then when I stop and think about it, my life is more interesting than most books. Still, it's great to find a good book that you can't put down. Feel free to send me your recommendations.

Learning to Read

One of the first books I ever owned was One Fish, Two Fish by Dr. Seuss. I was six years old at the time, and I loved that book. In fact, I still love it. I think Dr. Seuss was one of the greatest writers that ever lived, and he is probably my favorite poet. I'm fascinated by his capacity for language and word play. He manages to combine silly poetry with deep themes and writes on a level both children and adults can understand. One of my favorite books is Horton Hears a Who. I loved that book so much that I couldn't go see the movie. I was afraid it would ruin it for me.

Theodor Seuss Geisel's political ideas are often reflected in his childrens books. The Lorax is about environmentalism and anti-consumerism; The Sneetches was about racial equality; The Butter Battle Book, about the arms race; Yertle the Turtle, about anti-fascism and anti-authoritarianism; How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was about anti-materialism; and Horton Hears a Who! (1954), about anti-isolationism and internationalism. Geisel expressed strong opposition to racism and anti-semitism both in and out of his books.

Dr. Seuss also left a little known body of fine art. Here are a few examples of his drawings and paintings.