Marcel Marceau

Master of Mime

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by SimplyScience and joins
It's Monday! What are you reading?
at Teacher Mentor Texts

Kar-Ben Publishing

(pub. 9.1.2011) 32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Gloria Spielman

     and Illustrator:  Manon Gauthier

C haracter: Marcel Marceau

O verview from the jacket flap: 

      "From the age of five, little Marcel Marceau knew he wanted to be a silent actor, just like Charlie Chaplin.  World War II came, changing Marcel's life. But it didn't stop his dream of becoming a mime artist and entertaining the world."

        

T antalizing taste: 

   "But in many places, ordinary men and women were secretly working to fight the Nazis. Limoges was a center of the French Resistance. Alain [Marcel's older brother] joined, and 16-year-old Marcel, using his drawing skills, began to help.

     In secret, with crayon and ink, Marcel carefully altered photos and changed birthdates on identity cards so the children would seem to be too young to be sent to labor camps...

     Marcel was scared, but he hid his fear as he guided the children across the border into Switzerland and safety ...

     Though the war continued, Marcel was able to study at Dullin's drama school in Paris. He worked under the famous mime Etienne Decroux who taught him how to use movement and facial expressions to tell stories without speaking."    

      

and something more: Gloria Spielman, the author of Marcel Marceau - Master of Mime, features interviews of people related to the art of mime on her blog, including Lorin Eric Salm, an American actor and mime instructor and student of Marcel Marceau. With the beginning of  a new school year, I particularly liked this tribute by Lorin Eric Salm to his teacher:  
         "I found Mr. Marceau to be a wonderful teacher. Of all the teachers one may have in one's life, it is an unusual thing to study with one who is world-famous for his work, and considered the master of his art ... "

       "He was very patient in his dealings with students, taking all the time necessary to help students understand and learn.  He was kind and diplomatic even with the most challenged students.  One of the things that made him a particularly great teacher was his ability to incorporate all his worldly knowledge into his lessons.  He would make references to all the other arts -- dance, painting, sculpture, music, etc. -- and to religion, politics, sociology, psychology, and anything else that was useful in helping us understand that mime calls on all of these aspects of human experience as its material."

       Isn't it wonderful to learn about those at the pinnacle of their art who share their expertise and passion as a teacher, especially as a "patient" and "kind" one?

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Words Set Me Free

The Story of Young Frederick Douglass

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Jean Little Library

and joins It's Monday! What are you reading? at Teacher Mentor Texts

Simon & Schuster - Paula Wiseman Books

(pub. 1.3.2012) 32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Lesa Cline-Ransome

     and Illustrator:  James Ransome

C haracter: Frederick Douglass

O verview from the jacket flap: 

      "Born to a slave mother and a father he never knew, Frederick Bailey had few prospects as a six-year-old boy in Maryland in the 1820s. The turn of his fate was the kindness of Missus Auld, the wife of his master. She took the time and care to teach young Frederick first his letters and then how to read them. Opening doors he could not have even imagined, words set young Frederick free.

       What life held for Frederick was to change the world - Frederick changed his name to Frederick Douglass and became one of the first leaders of the antislavery movement. Based on Frederick Douglass' own Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, this is the inspiring story of the power of the individual."

        

T antalizing taste: 

   "I may not have known how to read, but I knew that if learning made me no longer want to be a slave, then I would secure my freedom one letter at a time...

    With a brick and a lump of chalk was first how I practiced my letters. Scratched them all along the bricked streets and wooden fences of Baltimore. P looked like a sail on one of the ships, L was a leg with a big foot. Two sticks crossed in the middle, that was X."

          

and something more: Lesa Cline-Ransome includes a wonderful tribute to libraries in the dedication of this book: "Thanks to all of the libraries - Malden Public Library, New York Public Library, Adriance Memorial Library, and Starr Library - that have opened my world to words and books and freedom."

     And, on Lesa Cline-Ransome's website, she writes about her mother and early influential trips to the library: "I consider myself very lucky to have grown up with a mother who loved to read. Each week my mom would take me with her to our local library so that she could stock up on books. As I grew older I would venture off into the children’s section and gather up on my own collection to check out. Through my mother I realized that reading could become a wonderful escape and writing even more so."

     I too was very fortunate to have a mother who often took me to the library and shared her love of reading with me. Here's to libraries and librarians and people in our lives who share with us their love of books and reading!

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For the Birds

The Life of Roger Tory Peterson

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday hosted today by Shelf-employed and joins It's Monday! What are you reading? at Teacher Mentor Texts

Calkins Creek (Boyds Mills Press)

(pub. 10.1.2011) 40 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Peggy Thomas

         and Illustrator: Laura Jacques

C haracter:  Roger Tory Peterson 

O verview from the jacket flap: 

      "To some, he was 'Professor Nuts Peterson,' but to the world he was Roger Tory Peterson. For the Birds - The Life of Roger Tory Peterson tracks this American artist, activist, and passionate bird lover from his days as a child, to art student, to creator of the Peterson Field Guides, to global environmentalist.  Peterson's guides were revolutionary -- simply written and drawn for everyone to enjoy the birds, animals, and plants of the outdoors."

       

T antalizing taste: 

       

     "No osprey eggs hatched that year. Throughout the Northeast, peregrine falcons were also disappearing, and down South, bald eagle nests were empty. Roger and other scientists believed that the cause might be the widespread spraying of DDT, the pesticide he had studied years ago. Someone had to stand up for the birds before they vanished completely."

and something more: For several generations, our family has been visiting a wonderful lake in Northern Idaho, and we did notice a decline in ospreys nesting at the tops of the trees lining the lake.  But gradually over the years, we've seen a return of these amazing birds and also a few bald eagles.  Thank goodness for people such as Roger Tory Peterson who said: "The other creatures with which we share this world have their rights too, but not speaking our language, they have no voice, no vote; it is our moral duty to take care of them." 

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