Nonfiction Annotation

The Good Neighbor

The Life and Work of Fred Rogers

by Maxwell King

Genre: Nonfiction

Publication Date: 2018

Number of Pages: 406 (the last 35 pages are references and an index)

Geographical Setting: The cities Fred Rogers lived in the US and Canada but mainly focused in Pittsburgh and Latrobe PA

Time Period: The life of Fred Rogers: 1928 to 2003

Narrative Context: A mix combining narrative moments with periods of fact-based prose

Subject: The life and work or Fred Rogers

Type: Biography

Appeal Terms: Comprehensive, Richly Detailed, Heartwarming

Summary: This book gives the chronological story of Fred Rogers, starting with him as a child, through the development of his iconic show, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, and concludes with his death and legacy. 

Pacing: The pacing is very slow and drawn out as the author takes time to fully explain as much as he can about each stage in Fred Rogers' life and career. 

Characterization: There is really only one main character in the story: Fred Rogers. Although King does introduce many of the most influential and important people in his life and gives at least a little background of each of them before explaining how they are directly related to Mr. Rogers. 

Storyline: The storyline is synonymous with the life of Fred Rogers as he progresses through his life. It is mostly linear, progressing through the stages of his life in each chapter in order that they occured. 

Detail: Incredibly detail oriented, the author gives a comprehensive look at the life of Fred Rogers with as many bits of information as he could glean from interviews and research as he could find. 

Learning/Experience: The reader of this book will learn about the man behind the TV show, and finish with a more complete picture of Mr. Rogers, that is both inspirational and heartwarming.

Language: This book is very factually based, and the language that is used is often very concise and scholarly. However, the language softens considerably in the sections where people are recalling their happy or funny memories of Fred Rogers, as well as when the author is discussing the powerful impact that he had on american society. 

Setting: While not the focal point of the book, the cities and era that Fred Rogers grew up in and lived are well described, and the reader gets a good picture of what US culture was like in the 40s through 80s. King often takes the time to explain the context, both about the environment or the people, that each chapter takes place in.

Tone: The tone of this book is uplifting and positive, with the overall theme of how much of a positive impact Fred Rogers had on his friends and family, those he worked with, and most of all, his TV audience of young children. 

Read-Alikes: (Summaries from Novelist)

I'm Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers by Tim Madigan - A journalist discusses his friendship with the late children's TV programming host, describing how Rogers welcomed the author into his personal life and church, helping him to mend a long-standing dysfunctional relationship with his own father.

Jim Henson by Brian Jay Jones - Biographer Brian Jay Jones offers the first complete biography of Henson, detailing his personal life, the nature of his creative genius, his collaborations with Frank Oz and other industry stars.

Robin by Dave Itzkoff - The New York Times culture reporter and author of Mad as Hell presents a compelling portrait of Robin Williams that illuminates his comic brilliance, conflicting emotions and often misunderstood character, sharing insights into the gift for improvisation that shaped his wide range of characters, his struggles with addiction and depression and his relationships with friends and family members.

Week Twelve Prompt Response

The Readers' Advisory Matrix: 

The Penguin History of the World 

by J.M. Roberts & Odd Arne Westad

1. Where is the book on the narrative continuum? 

Highly Fact Based

2. What is the subject of the book?

The history of the world, particularly, the history of humanity from its beginning to present day.

3. What type of book is it?

Reporting

4. Articulate Appeal

What is the pacing of the book?

Slow and meticulous

Describe the characters of the book.

None. The book is focused on the general history of all humanity, not any individual people.

How does the story feel?

Factual, dry, intellectual. 

What is the intent of the author?

To give an accurate and updated recounting of the major events in all of recorded history. 

What is the focus of the story?

How humanity grew and evolved into the various civilizations and cultures that led up to how the world exists today. 

Does the language matter?

Yes. The author goes to great measures to use accurate and concise language to convey the most amount of detail in the least amount of words. 

Is the setting important and well described?

Yes, large parts of each chapter are devoted to describing the context and environment of each particular area of focus.

Are there details and, if so, of what?

Yes, the entire book is an interplay between finding the right amount of details to give proper context without getting too bogged down on any one specific topic.

Are there sufficient charts and other graphic materials? Are they useful and clear?

There is usually at least one map or diagram in each chapter to show the region or concept being described. They are very clear and useful, especially if the reader is not an expert on world geography. 

Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding, or experience?

The entirety of the book is designed to help the reader learn and have a better understanding of the events that led to the world being that way it is today. 

5. Why would a reader enjoy this book (rank appeal)?

Scholarly

Comprehensive

Concise

Week Eleven Prompt Response - Ebooks and Audio Books

Ebooks
I am relatively new to the world of ebooks. I had never used one up until a few years ago when my now wife opened my eyes to the convenience of having multiple books at your fingertips for long trips. Last Cyber Monday, Amazon had a pretty good sale for the basic kindle, so I got one for myself, and while I don't use it often and prefer the physical books, it is still nice to have for the convenience factor alone. From my experience (not working as a librarian), I think a change in appeal factor for an ebook would be the fact that you cannot physically feel how big or small a book is. I know that my own brain will weigh in on my choice of book to read if it is a hefty, massive book, for instance, and that subtle bias disappears since that MASSIVE Stephen King book now weighs hardly anything at all. While not a MAJOR shift, I think that is one to point out.

I'm not so sure that the changing of the font, spacing, or text color would be a major appeal factor change. It seems to be just another way in which ebooks are more convenient and a personal preference taste. It does open up ebooks to meet the needs of more audiences, as enlarging the print could be a huge benefit for someone who has vision problems, for instance. I know my wife will read on her kindle while she is working out on the elliptical at the gym because she can set it on the display in front of her without having to hold it open, and she makes the font a larger size to be able to read easier as her head moves in sync with the machine. 

Audio Books
Audio books are a completely new world to me. I have listened to one whole story (Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury to be precise) in my life on audiobook, and that was only because I had a 12 hour car ride back from my best friends bachelor party in Nebraska and was running out of options to stay awake. I will say, I was pleasantly surprised at the experience, and would definitely consider it again for solo road trips, but that is about the extent of the ways I personally find used for them. My wife has recently started utilizing them through the library because she now has a 45 minute commute to downtown from our new house, so I can definitely understand the appeal they have as a passive form of entertainment, especially if the eyes are otherwise focused. I do know from others and my wife that the narrator can make or break an audiobook, which is such a unique problem to this format.

Historical Fiction Annotation

The Reader

by Bernhard Schlink
Translated by Carol Brown Janeway

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publication Dates: Original German Copyright 1995

                                English Translation Copyright 1997

Number of Pages: 218

Geographical Setting: Post-WWII Germany (West Germany)

Time Period: 1958 and 1964 (the ending in 1983)

Appeal Terms: Reflective, Sobering, Thought-provoking

Synopsis: *This synopsis contains spoilers. Michael, a 15-year-old young man growing up in post-WWII West Germany, becomes ill on his way home one day and is helped by Hanna Schmitz, a 36-year old tram conductor. After missing school for three months due to his illness, he decides to visit Hanna and thank her for her help. What starts as an innocent gesture of gratitude, quickly develops into an impassioned, illicit sexual affair that lasts for the rest of the summer. That summer he finds himself enthralled with Hanna, who is both overwhelmingly intimate and puzzlingly secretive. The summer ends as quickly as it began with her sudden and inexplicable disappearance from his life. The next time he sees her, six years later, he is a law student and she is involved with the trial he happens to be studying: a trial involving war crimes of Nazis during WWII. As Michael wrestles with his own personal turmoil and tries to comprehend how someone he knows so personally could commit such atrocities, we, the readers, are lead through an emotional parable of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, the German word meaning "the struggle to come to terms with the past." 

Setting: As with all stories in the historical fiction genre, the setting is the most important aspect of the story: without the historical framework, the story wouldn't exist. This book is no exception--it takes place in post-WWII Germany as the country is struggling with its own identity and how to move forward from the Nazi regime. Especially challenging is coming to grips with the horrific actions that people just like them, often family members, neighbors, and friends, were willing to commit. More specifically, this story is tied to the Nazi trials that happened in real life, and the emotions and complexity involved with these trials. 

Tone: The tone of this story is incredibly serious, reflective, and contemplative. The rollercoaster of emotions that Michael experiences are palpably felt by the reader; the lens in which he views the world is continuously shattered and rebuilt as he wrestles with the atrocities committed by people who are not much different than himself.  

Storyline: The storyline of this book is intricately intertwined with the development of Michael's character as the readers follow his experiences, and more importantly, how he reacts to those experiences. Because of this, anyone who reads this book comes away with not only a new intellectual perspective of this historical time period, but an emotional connection to the complexity and struggles that every day humans were going through in post-WWII Germany.

Characterization: The reader follows the perspective of Michael as he grows and develops into an adult, and is able to clearly see the effect that his teenage entanglement with Hanna had on him. The character of Michael and the story that is told feels so real to the reader and so fitting in the timeline of history,  that many people often inquire whether this is an autobiographical memoir instead of fiction. Bernhard Schlink did grow up during this time period, was about the same age as Michael was in the story, and also studied law, but the story is most certainly a work of fiction, although his personal insights clearly add extra layers to the story. 

*Personal side note: I was initially concerned that this book would not technically be considered historical fiction due to the fact that the author was alive during the time period about which he wrote, since Sarricks defines the genre as such. However, I have come to the conclusion that it still fits because 1) Schlink didn't write this book until 1995, almost 30 years after that time in history and 2) the integral role that the real world history has on the story: it could not be told in any other historical context. 

Pacing: Unlike most historical fiction, this book is relatively short at only 218 pages. The pacing does not feel hurried or rushed because of this, however, and the reader is able to become fully-immersed in the story quite easily due to the depth and vividness of the text. 

Language: The language that Schlink uses is incredibly descriptive and rich, yet succinct and not overbearing. It is pertinent at this point to commend the translating abilities of Carol Brown Janeway, who originally translated this story from German in 1997. It seems hard to imagine much got lost in translation. 

Read-Alikes: (Summaries from Novelist)

American Romantic by Ward Just - While on duty as a young foreign service officer in Indochina in the 1960s, Harry Sanders briefly meets a young German woman who changes the course of his life.

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien - Disgraced when her village's mysterious healer, who she loved and begged to help her have a child, is arrested as a war criminal, Fidelma flees to England to take migrant work, only to confront her nemesis at a tribunal in The Hague.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones - When her new husband is arrested and imprisoned for a crime she knows he did not commit, a rising artist takes comfort in a longtime friendship, only to encounter unexpected challenges in resuming her life when her husband's sentence is suddenly overturned.

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel - In a tale exploring the limitations of language in understanding and describing the Holocaust, a novelist and a taxidermist collaborate on a play about a donkey and a howler monkey who have survived a genocide.

Book Club Experience

I had a unique experience with this assignment: the book club I observed was not in direct observation, but rather, as I listened in from the other room as the group of women was meeting in the living and dining rooms in my house. I also was able to obtain an exclusive interview with the leader and founder of the club.........pause for dramatic effect..........who also happens to be my wife, Rachel.

My wife's book club, which they all refer to as simply "Book Club", has celebrated their 5th anniversary this very week, in fact. They currently have 10 members, two of which are new in the last two months. Initially starting as a group of 6, they have had 15 dedicated members over the last five years with several that are no longer active due to moving away to a different part of the country. They currently cap their active member number at 12 because "no one has a house big enough to really host more than that" and since they meet once a month, it allows each of them to pick one book a year. Their meetings usually start at 7pm and go until 8:30-9pm depending on how in depth they get in their discussions. 

The types of books they read greatly varies: WWII non-fiction, teen fantasy, romance, Pulitzer prize winners, memoirs, Dan Brown, and the recent trend being books about other cultures and countries. They rotate who hosts each meeting, and the person who hosts is also the one who picked the book for that month. They used to use other methods for choosing hosts and books, such as pulling out of a hat, or discussing and voting, but they found that not everyone got to pick a book regularly and that pairing the book choice with whoever was hosting was a more fair and simple way to decide. 

Snacks are a must at every meeting, usually at least one dessert and "copious amounts of wine". As a fun bit of trivia in celebrating their 5 year anniversary, they estimated they have consumed over 200 bottles since the start of the club. 

They have one other important rule, which explains my unique position in observation for this assignment: No Boys Allowed. Granted, if the hosting member is married, they don't mind if the spouse is in another room keeping to himself, hence why I was "In my bedroom, making no noise, and pretending I don't exist" (my wife thought that was hilarious when I quoted her favorite book as I went to the other room when her club started to arrive). Rachel had even made a formal appeal to this one rule at the previous meeting when I asked if I could be in active observation for this assignment, and it was quickly overruled and my banishment was sealed. I was, however, allowed access to the snacks that were brought, so when I came out to gather a plate full, I dragged my feet to gather as much intel as I could about one of their live meetings. 

There were a few bits of information I was able to gather, which hopefully shouldn't get me in any trouble for obtaining! There didn't seem to be one person who was leading the discussion. Later confirmed by Rachel, the person who chose the book generally starts the discussion. However, being a chatty group of friends, the conversations do get off track easily and my wife said she is usually the one who has to direct the conversation back to the book. Over the course of the night I did hear one or two voices that seemed like they had more to say than others, but Rachel did say that everyone does participate, just some more than others. 

Having been with my wife for almost 4 years now, I know how important this book club is to her and how much meaning and joy it has brought to her life. It was a very fascinating experience to finally be a part of one this year, even if it was indirectly, because she has always talked about it, but never hosted a meeting where I was around. Since seeing this successful and thriving book club first hand, it has inspired me to start my own guy's book club with a best friend of mine and Rachel's cousin, who has also become a friend over the last few years. Our first meeting is actually scheduled for next Sunday and we have been reading "Ready Player One" the last couple weeks. Aside from the discussion, I plan on getting some nice beer and watching the movie that was made a few years ago, and add a comparison between movie and book to the discussion to be had afterword. I am excited for it and hopefully this will turn into something as fulfilling and meaningful as the book club my wife started 5 years ago!

Special Topics Paper Summary - High Fantasy

I decided to do a subgenre study on high fantasy for this assignment. I have always enjoyed fantasy stories since my love of reading began under the influence of books such as Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Redwall, Harry Potter, and Eragon. Over the last couple years I have become fascinated by the in depth worlds that some of the best fantasy writers have been able to create. The fascination really started back in the beginning of 2017 when I not only reread the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time in more than a decade, but I consumed the entire Silmarilion book (which is essentially the in depth history book slash bible of the world that The Lord of the Rings takes place in). It was an incredibly dry read, but when I finally finished it, I could not believe how much I felt a part of that world. (I also felt INCREDIBLY nerdy and still sometimes have a hard time admitting to people that I went that in depth into that world!)

The other inspiration for this paper was that one of my best friends has recently started writing his own high fantasy novel and asked me to be his editor/ideas man/reviewer for this project. It has been incredibly interesting so far as we have been working to first create the world that his stories will take place in, complete with its own mythology and unique races and characters. He has a hand drawn map and is currently working on giving a name and backstory to each region, city, and town! To help in my role with this project, I felt a personal study of the genre could only be beneficial as we continue building this new world.

The paper itself begins with a brief summary of high fantasy: the defining feature of the story taking place in a world different from our own. The history of high fantasy is relatively new and it's entrance to the spotlight began directly after World War Two. Two of the most influential authors: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien had their works published in the 50s and 60s. The rise of Dungeons and Dragons in the 70s and 80s, which was directly influenced from the work of Tolkien, began to evolve the genre into its grittier and darker form we know from today. Several of the most influential writers of modern high fantasy all were Dungeons and Dragons gamers: Terry Pratchett, Steven Erikson, and George R.R. Martin.

Also included in the paper is a list of annotated resources and titles and authors that someone in a readers' advisory position would find useful in order to learn more about the sub-genre itself, as well as having a list of books to turn to if an interested patron came asking for recommendations.