Texas Book Festival '09

This weekend (Saturday and Sunday) is the Texas Book Festival. As always, the event is free and will be held on and inside the Capitol and around the Capitol grounds. Check here for the complete schedule.

Some panels of note to the youth literature community:

SATURDAY:

2- 3 PM, Saturday, October 31, Capitol Extension Room E2.2012: Deals with the Devil: Writing about Faustian Bargains, featuring Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of Tantalize and Eternal; and Daniel and Dina Nayeri, authors of Another Faust. Moderated by April Lurie.

10:30 - 11:45 AM, Saturday, October 31, Capitol Extension, Room E1.012, Badgerdog: Youth Voices in Ink, featuring Rene Saldana Jr. Moderated by Melanie Moore.

12:00 - 1:00 PM, Saturday, October 31, Capitol Extension, Room E1.012, Small Town Girls with Jill S. Alexander, author of The Sweetheart of Prosper County; Heather Hepler, author of The Cupcake Queen; Jacqueline Kelly, author of The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate; and Diana Lopez, author of Confetti Girl. Moderated by Sarah Bird.

1:30-2:30 PM, Saturday, October 31, Capitol Extension, Room E1.012, Everybody Needs a Hero, with K.A. Holt, author of Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel; Aaron Starmer, author of Dweeb; and Rene Saldana Jr., author of The Case of the Pen Gone Missing. Moderated by Joanna Nigrelli.

3:00 - 4:00 PM, Saturday, October 31, Capitol Extension, Room E1.012, The Texas Book Festival UIL Fiction Writing Contest. First Place winners will receive their awards and read their compositions. Moderated by Lila Guzman.

Picture book readings will be in the Read Me a Story tent on 11th Street all day. Additional panels of youth literature note will be all day in the Family Life Center at 1300 Lavaca.

SUNDAY:

3:30 - 4:15, Sunday, November 1, Capitol Extension, E2.102, Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book, with Anita Silvey. Introduction by Gillian Redfearn.

1:00 - 1:45, Sunday, November 1, Capitol Extension, E1.004, The House of Night Series,
with authors Kristin and PC Cast. Moderated by Nettie Hartsock.

2:00 - 2:45, Sunday, November 1, Capitol Extension, E1.004, Michael Scott, with Michael Scott, author of the Nicholas Flamel series. Introduced by Topher Bradfield.

3:30 - 4:30, Sunday, November 1, Capitol Extension, E1.004, Ouch! That Hurts featuring Libba Bray, author of Going Bovine; Jessica Lee Anderson, author of Border Crossing; and Sara Zarr, author of Once was Lost. Moderated by Varian Johnson.

In addition, picture book readings will be in the Read Me a Story tent on 11th Street all day.

Texas Memorial Museum

Texas Memorial Museum (Austin, TX)

This small museum on the campus of the University of Texas, built in the 1930s, is now exclusively a natural history museum, featuring displays on evolution, Texas wildlife, and vertebrate paleontology.

The basement houses the Shoal Creek plesiosaur, the Onion Creek mosasaur, several dinosaur skeletal fragments, and various Paleozoic and Cenozoic animals (including the giant "armadillo," glyptodont, below). Majestically soaring over the main hall is the Texas pterosaur, quetzalcoatlus northropi (above).


Outside, you will find a small building housing a section of the Glen Rose dinosaur trackway, and a larger-than-life bronze sculpture of a smilodon (sabre-toothed cat).

Nearby are the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the Lyndon Johnson Library and Museum, the Blanton Museum of Art, the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, and the Capitol Visitors Center.

Museums

Austin doesn't have quite the level of museums of Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Fort Worth, but Cyn and I recently discovered the Austin Museum Partnership, a consortium of most of Austin's museums, and decided to check out and/or revisit some of them.

Last weekend, we hit the Austin Museum of Art's Laguna Gloria Art Museum and, just down the street, the Texas Military Forces Museum.

The Laguna Gloria is located on the former estate of Clara Driscoll. The Italianate mansion and grounds are absolutely gorgeous and almost overwhelm the artwork inside. The new Art and Nature exhibition is well worth seeing, though. The AMOA also runs classes out of new classrooms and studio space on the grounds; and the facility is available for rental and weddings.

The Texas Military Forces Museum, located at Camp Mabry, is not nearly so prepossessing. The museum is, however, in the process of implementing a new master plan. Its collection is extensive and impressive. Particularly noteworthy, I thought, are the tank display outside, and the exhibits on Texas cavalry, Texas Medal of Honor recipients, the USS Houston, and the 36th Texas Infantry Division (including the 442nd Regimental Combat team).

Next up: The Texas Memorial Museum and the Harry Ransom Center.

TREASURE ISLAND

TREASURE ISLAND, by Robert Louis Stevenson, ill. by John Lawrence (Candlewick 2009). This handsome, over-sized (it's 8 1/8 in. x 11 13/16 in. and tips the scales at 2.5 lbs.), unabridged edition, illustrated with Lawrence's trademark woodcuts, brings the classic tale of adventure and piracy to life.

Jim Hawkins works with his parents at the Admiral Benbow Inn, where a strange drunken sailor named Billy Bones, but who usually goes by "the captain," has taken up residence. A mysterious series of odd personages/cutthroats comes to visit, followed shortly by the captain's death. When Jim and his mother find a map in the captain's belongings, the local squire and doctor immediately conclude that it leads the way to the hidden treasure of the notorious pirate, Captain Flint.

So they outfit a ship (the Hispaniola), take Jim aboard as cabin boy, and hire a crew, including the charming and villainous Long John Silver.

And along the way, they find treachery and mutiny and mayhem...

This is an absolutely gorgeous volume. The woodcuts are bold and striking, the pages are thick, and the font is old-fashioned-seeming, yet easy to read. Sure, you can get the text of TREASURE ISLAND in paperback or download it onto your Kindle, but this edition is a work of art from and for people who appreciate the difference.

MIKE STELLAR: NERVES OF STEEL

MIKE STELLAR: NERVES OF STEEL, by K.A. Holt (Random House 2009)(ages 8+). Some time in the future, Mike Stellar gets the unwelcome news that his family is moving to Mars. Tomorrow. On only the second Mars mission, after the first failed (and which his parents might've been responsible for). About the only good part is that he'll be leaving his hated teacher, Mrs. Halebopp, behind.

Once on board the Sojourner, Mike meets an odd girl, Larc, his parents' weird assistant, aka, Mr. Honey Bear, and discovers that Mrs. Halebopp is there, too! Throw in a conspiracy to sabotage the mission, and Mike will truly need nerves of steel to get to the bottom of it all.

MIKE STELLAR is a clever and fun middle grade adventure, both funny and action-packed. Altogether, an excellent debut novel.

BABYLONNE

BABYLONNE, by Catherine Jinks (Candlewick 2008)(12+) is either book 5 of the Pagan Chronicles or book 1 of the Babylonne Chronicles.

At the time of the Albigensian Crusade, Babylonne, the daughter of Templar knight Pagan Kidrouk, runs away from her abusive grandmother and aunt, on a Crusade of her own: to fight the Catholic Church and the French king, who are trying to destroy Toulouse and put down the Cathar heresy.

On the way, she disguises herself as a boy, finds herself in the company of a Catholic priest who apparently knew her parents, and ends up in the middle of a siege...

With terrific voice and great period texture, BABYLONNE is an intense and exciting adventure and provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of the early thirteenth century. Readers will be eager for more.

ALL THE WORLD

ALL THE WORLD, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Marla Frazee (Beach Lane Books 2009). This gem of a picture book follows a family through a summer day, highlighting in rhyming groups of four the interrelatedness of small and large things.

The text is exquisite and the illustrations are detailed and gorgeous, with plenty for the reader to pore over. Excellent for a young read-aloud and for those who love language.

THE BOY WHO INVENTED TV

THE BOY WHO INVENTED TV: THE STORY OF PHILO FARNSWORTH, by Kathleen Krull, ill. by Greg Couch (Knopf, 2009). This picture book biography tells the story of Philo T. Farnsworth, credited with inventing, among other things, the first electronic television (U.S. Patent No. 1,773,980).

THE BOY WHO INVENTED TV describes Farnsworth's modest upbringing in Utah and his flash of inspiration while plowing a potato field when he was 14 (which he subsequently described to his science teacher) that led to his development of the first working "image dissector" at age 21.

With illustrations that provide a period "feel," THE BOY WHO INVENTED TV is an excellent introduction to a little-known piece of television history.

SACRED SCARS

SACRED SCARS, by Kathleen Duey, (Atheneum, 2009)(ages 12+), book 2 of the Resurrection of Magic trilogy (read my recommendation of book 1: SKIN HUNGER), is a vivid and darkly compelling fantasy that takes up where the first, SKIN HUNGER, left off.

In the past, Sadima tries to convince Franklin to leave and/or kill the obsessed and sadistic Somiss, and take the captive youths with them. Ar first, it seems she succeeds, but then Somiss uncovers her "treachery" and takes vengeance, leaving her alone and without memory...

In the present, Hahp continues his studies at the magicians' academy and, with his roommate Garrard, uncovers some uncomfortable facts...Along the way, they resolve that they must destroy the magicians...if they can get out alive.

SACRED SCARS is an intense and fascinating story of obsession and evil. Highly recommended.

STONEWALL HINKLEMAN AND THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN

STONEWALL HINKLEMAN AND THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN, by Michael Hemphill and Sam Riddleburger (Dial 2009). Twelve-year-old Stonewall Traveler Hinkleman was named after a general who got shot by his own troops, and a horse. His parents are Civil War re-enactors and he's sick of having to spend weekends in leaky tents and wearing itchy, hot, wool clothing, and could there be anything more dorky than being the bugle boy?

But then he encounters a pretty girl, a corrupt politician, and a mysterious vendor, and suddenly finds himself transported back into the real First Battle of Bull Run Manassas, where he will need to use all the knowledge he's unwillingly picked up over the years to prevent the South from rising again and changing the course of American history.

STONEWALL HINKLEMAN is an entertaining and sophisticated romp that nevertheless provides a serious look at the first battle of the Civil War. The sarcastic, first-person voice is just right and gradually grows less snarky, more thoughtful (but still full of wit), as Stonewall experiences the real, not re-enacted battle, and grows to appreciate the real people involved therein. In STONEWALL HINKLEMAN, Hemphill and Riddleburger have succeeded in the difficult task of pulling off a novel based around a grim historical event that is both fun and thought-provoking.