Street Books

This powerful book takes the reader on an exciting journey from Schenectady, New York to the Apollo Theater in New York City as the Hamilton Hill Street Drum Band tries to become the top act in the Amateur Night competitions. Along the way, we learn about the interesting and diverse backgrounds of the seven band members: Ahmel, Aaron, Spencer, Dayshawn, Andre, Steven, and Dha'Sean. Their family backgrounds, commitment to hard work, and their creativity in music and dance are conveyed through a clever blend of narrative and quotes. Photographs from the boys' childhoods, performances, and jam sessions add to the reader's emerging sense of the valuable roles that family, school, and community have played in their personal development. The accompanying CD (with the band's competition song plus other original tracks by each band member) further helps the reader to experience their talents and energy.

The main source of the book's excitement and "can't put down" feel comes from the Apollo Amateur Night competitions and the boys' progression to the final face-off. Woven throughout is a sophisticated set of lessons about working hard, nurturing talents, mentoring, studying, and responding to positive incentives. The book is as meaningful in social studies content as it is rich in artistic expression.

As an English teacher, I'm always looking for ways to bring nonfiction to my reluctant readers. These are kids who haven't discovered reading for pleasure, and many of them are boys. If I'm lucky, I can sell them on a novel by Walter Dean Myers, Joseph Bruchac, David Lubar, or Jack Gantos...but nonfiction? Good luck.

That's why I was so excited to see a review copy of Steel Drumming at the Apollo from Lee & Low Books. It's nonfiction, in the form of a photo essay that follows a group of high school musicians from Schenectady, NY as they compete in a series of Amateur Nights at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. As soon as I read the premise of this book, I was hooked -- a group of city high school kids who get to play at a place so rich in history and so symbolic of the Harlem Renaissance. Text by Trish Marx and photographs by Ellen B. Sinisi tell the story in vivid color, featuring details of the competition and the kids' preparation for it, profiles of the young artists, and backstage snapshots at the Apollo. The photographs and text bring the young musicians' steel drumming to life.

The book even includes a cd of the band's music, tucked in a pocket inside the back cover. And these kids can play! Their story will be an inspiration to other city kids who dream of making it big. Steel Drumming at the Apollo is a terrific choice for kids who need a fun, accessible introduction to nonfiction. They'll be singing its praises and dancing along as they read.

it would have been nice if they had wrapped this book in plastic so that when it finally reached my hands it would not be wrinkly and moist. thanks retards!

This is a great art book! It's a worldwide who's who of stencil graffiti artists Beautiful full color photos cover every page showing murals by the likes of Banksy, Jef Aerosol, Logan Hicks, Swoon, and hundreds more. There's work by over 350 artists. Some of my favorite stuff is by people like Scott Williams who is well known around San Francisco but whose lush work really needs to be seen on a larger scale. The book is not only filled with big name artists but great local finds. The pages are dense with images and a variety of styles. Highly recommended.

His prose is excellent, but his poetry (the black riders / war is kind) is what stays with me. The striking images, dark humor and subversive fight against authority bring me back to the book decade after decade. These aren't Shakespearean sonnets; if he was born a hundred years later he would be channeling his raw feelings into writing lyrics for Rage Against the Machine. His poetry seems so modern it is hard to reconcile it with the completely different feel of The Red Badge of Courage and his splendid Spanish American War reporting.

This volume contains all of Crane's major writings. I believe it is fair to say that it is 'The Red Badge of Courage' that gives Crane his place in the American pantheon. This is arguably the finest war novel ever written by an American. Its imaginative construction of the inner conflict of a young dreamer when confronted with the reality of battle-and the redemptive aftermath is a tautly and beautifully written realistic , moral drama. Its perception of the part imagination plays in our apprehension of reality connects it with a long tradition of the novel from 'Quixote' to ' Lord Jim'.
Crane like Keats was a literary fire that burned briefly but deeply and intensely.

What a delightful, touching story...it celebrates Park City in all its funky glory - dogs, dogs and STETSON.
I thought I'd seen him wandering around town.

This simple children's story is presented on a beautiful back drop of excellent, clever, and detailed, illustrations: authentic true-to-life Park City Utah spots. Children's illustrator Kristina Skarstedt captures the magic of this old-mining-turned-skiing town, its turn of the century charm, its rough but elegant architecture and distinctive tradition. The coldness of winter is felt in the snowy landscapes and icy rooftops of Park City, and more than just your child will understand the loneliness of needing a friend. Stetson the street dog is characterized so sweetly one can't help falling in love with him and one cheers for his kind and heroic rescuer. An incredible Utah Mountain sunset in spectacular full color accents this must-own children's book for the Mountain West collector; and the warmth of a friend and a cozy fire in a mountain cabin closes this pleasant experience in art and US Mountain West history. I would recommend it to anyone interested in US Mountain West History, puppies, skiing, Utah, and/or Park City. It's great for adults and children alike.

Thursday, June 26, 2008
"Stories from Berkeley" chronicles 1960's and 1970's counter culture

According to my Social Studies-teacher-daughter, very little about the counter-culture of the 1960's and 1970's is taught in secondary schools in Texas. Nathan Spooner's new release, Stories from Berkeley: Adventures in the Slow Lane, preserves a part of our history which, unfortunately, is becoming lost.

Spooner chronicles his life as a philosophy student at Berkeley and a street performer in the Bay area including his relationships with Joadie Guthrie, son of Woody Guthrie; renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz; various house-mates in the communal house in which he lived; and fellow musicians. Although Spooner does not emphasize the turbulent political tenor of the times, he does put the anti-Viet Nam war effort in perspective.

After Berkeley, Spooner moved to Alaska for ten years where he and his wife raised their children. Upon returning to Berkeley the Spooners no longer felt at home there and moved to the Central Coast of California. Nathan Spooner is now a special education teacher with grown children and grandchildren.

Spooner successfully captures an era of American life that should be preserved. Stories from Berkeley has a nice rhythm to it and is an interesting read. This book is appropriate for high school students and would make a wonderful adjunct to Social Studies programs in both secondary schools and in college curriculums.

Stories from Berkeley (ISBN 978-0-9701698-1-5, US $16.95) can be ordered from Barnes and Noble online and is also available from the author at http://www.nbspublish.com/pages/ordering.html.
Posted by Nita at 10:45 AM
Labels: 1960's, 1970's, Alaska, American history, Annie Leibovitz, Berkeley, California Bay area, counter culture, hippies, music, Nathan Spooner, Stories from Berkeley

The era of the 60s and 70s and a different perspective - "Stories from Berkeley" is the story of Nathan Spooner and his life in those decades, doing little odd jobs and encountering all sorts of people as he wandered up and down the west coast from Southern California to Alaska. Part memoir, part social history of the western coast of the nation, "Stories from Berkeley" is recommended to all who want insight into what the 60s were really like and for community library memoir collections.

Through the process of reading The Straight Path, one cannot help but notice the degree to which Katz becomes increasingly assimilated into Fijian culture. Obviously, such full immersion as that represented by this book is beneficial if one is to ever "truly" understand another culture, especially in terms of dialogical hermeneutics. In fact Katz's experience, in many ways, reflects the ultimate embodiment of dialogical hermeneutics, a type of "research" where the ethnographer attempts to understand another culture from that other culture's perspective, utilizing a methodology based on discourse. Of course, the ideal way to achieve this understanding is to actually "experience" that culture, seeing it through unfiltered eyes. The problem is that one cannot ever completely succeed in this objective because one cannot ever fully separate his or her cultural views from his or her cultural background. In short, one's ideas will always be shaped according to one's own experiences. However, Katz comes close -- very close.
Accordingly, reading The Straight Path almost ineluctably leads the readers to one central question: How much can a foreigner actually "become" another culture? Unfortunately, an empirical answer to this question is more or less impossible to produce, but we can, with certainty, assert that immersion can lead to profound and enduring personal recodings of thoughts and culture. In other words, a person absolutely can, as Katz demonstrates, incorporate certain essences of a foreign culture into his or her horizon of understanding.
Take the goal of Katz's The Straigh Path as an example: No longer was his goal to explain the Fijian culture to others in a way that fit his previous cultural understanding; instead, he holds desperately to an ideal of relating his tale in terms of a Fijian concept of "Straight Path," a concept he had previously been unexposed to. However, through time, discourse, repeated discourse, and almost absolute immersion, he begins to understand how the Fijian's view the "Straight Path" because, ultimately, their view becomes his view. In short, no longer was he seeing the book in strict accordance to his prior cultural codes; instead he saw it through Fijian eyes.
His success should give all anthropologists hope.

Katz offers much compassion and insight into both the Fijian healing arts as well as the Fijian soul. Great reading for anyone interested in learning more about Fiji. The connection between the land and the culture is especially valuable, since it shows the need for tribal land ownership and sustainability. This very concept is vital for the survival of the Fijians.

If you ever wanted to know what Cleveland was like...you can get it Straight with absolutely no Chaser needed, finally. Urban life in the city Streets of Cleveland is an experience like no other. From the $5 dollar PSP holla to who has the best underground Hip Hop flows...you can get a glimpse of it all with this book. Everything you heard up until NOW....has nothing on the REAL you will get from these Chronicles....

It was a compelling and realistic view of urban living. The author's description of the colorful characters he encountered in his travels keeps you turning the pages wanting more. Can't wait to read the next one.

With a gorgeously delicate constructed opening, Martha Marinara's first novel, Street Angel, transcends trite fiction and is among the poetic reads of Jeanette Winterson and Virginia Woolf. Marinara begins, "My bedroom, bathed in whispers and gray shadows, held an elegant tension like when you overfill a paper cup and know if you move it even a little, the tight surface of water will spill over its sides." I admit it. I am somewhat of a first page literary elitist, but this book delivers, and its voice, while fluid, remains a constant reminder of how poetry and fiction can inform each other and be woven together with a skilled writer's talents, like that of Martha Marinara's. As a lesbian writer Martha seems to get it just right. Her focus on women's lives, their sexualities, their triumphs and strengths, their careers, and their losses, suggests that the ideas of "family" and "home" are mutable, that all of these exist on a continuum like life, death, and art itself. With diverse representations of women Street Angel is a needed departure from the trashy and meaningless chick lit of today, and this book with all its insight(s) and carefully crafted characters will become one that those of us (like me) who value and crave women's literature will return to time and time again to remind ourselves that as women, feminists, and writers are lives are multivalent and need to be heard and (re)read...
For more information on Martha Marinara and her work check out her website: [...]

This book was a real pleasure for me - I found myself reading when I was supposed to be doing other things - housework, Christmas shopping, walking the dog :). The stories were so immediate, so strong in their presence, that I lived in an alternate universe as I read. Often we say that we feel like we know the characters in a book; we recognize them, feel a kinship with them, identify with them. But these women are not characters; they seem so much like real women that I can still see them in my peripheral vision. They are carrying on their lives somewhere in bookland without me, but I'm comforted that they're still there, and I am continuing their stories in my head.

My review may be a little biased having known the author/chef for a few years but just knowing someone doesn't make them a great chef. Being a great chef makes them a great chef. I have personally tasted most of the recipes in this book prepared by Peter Snaith himself. I have also tasted a few prepared by others just by following the recipes and they all tasted exactly the same. That in my opinion is the mark of a good cook book. Making it easy for someone else to use your recipes and make them taste just like they would if the chef made them himself. This book is full of recipes of real food that real people eat. Buy this book now!!

I have only tried a few recipes in this book but I can tell you that the results so far have been no less than astounding. In particular the Pork Chops with Caramelized Onions is palatal ecstasy! What sold me was how each list of ingredients is followed by a really straight forward description of the dish preparation. Definitely a down to earth recipe book with stellar results!

This book is interesting and insightful. Street Crime Investigations is great for rookie cops or interested citicens who would like to learn something new about the police beat. The author writes true stories of his past experinces and follows them up with his investigating technique and tips on how to conduct the most successful investigation possible. I strongly recomend this book to any one who is, or who interested in Police Officers!!!

This book is interesting and insightful. Street Crime Investigations is great for rookie cops or interested citicens who would like to learn something new about the police beat. The author writes true stories of his past experinces and follows them up with his investigating technique and tips on how to conduct the most successful investigation possible. I strongly recomend this book to any one who is, or who interested in Police Officers!!!