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20 BOOK REVIEWS ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ DECEMBER 2006Logos Bookstore’s RecommendationsIn The Days of The Angels: Stories & CarolsFor Christmasby Walter Wangerin, Jr.Waterbrook Press, $13.95As the Holiday season arrives, commercialholiday music dominates the sound systems ofstores, restaurants and public buildings proclaiming‘tis the season to be jolly and every one startsto feel sentimental and wants to feel good, theremay be people who are dealing with tough issuesin their life and find the commercial Holiday seasonsuperficial, but want to find joy in the season.In The Days of The Angels: Stories & Carols ForChristmas by Walter Wangerin, Jr., author of TheBook of the Dun Cow, is the book for finding joyin the holidays amidst pain, suffering and loss.The first story of the collection, ‘The MangerIs Empty’ tells of young children who befriend acancer patient in the hospital, who in her last daysis full of joy at hearing the singing of her youngfriends. One in particular, the minister’s daughter,Mary, becomes very upset when the woman dieson the 22nd of December. This is Mary’s firstexperience of the death of someone she knows.Yet while participating in the Christmas pageantshe discovers a new perspective on life and faithand that brings understanding and comfort to herand joy to her father.‘Moravia’ is a most powerful story of a familycoming to terms with celebrating Christmasafter a long protracted death in the hospital froma broken neck and pneumonia of the eldest son,Paul, a star football player. The first person narrator,Willie, appears to be a stand-in for the author.In fact the two stories mentioned here and onecalled ‘A Quiet Chamber Kept for Thee’ comeacross as autobiographical accounts of a few pastChristmases of the author. In addition to thesestories there are several original carols and a fewother prose pieces.Wangerin’s storytelling ability is in full forcein his masterpiece, The Book of the Dun Cow.The vividness of his characters spring to mind:Chauntecleer, the proud, noble rooster with hisBy H. Harris Healy, III, President, Logos Bookstore1575 York Avenue (Between 83rd and 84th Sts.),NY, NY 10028(212) 517-7292, Fax (212) 517-7197WWW.NYCLOGOS.CITYSEARCH.COMThe Book of the Dun Cowby Walter Wangerin, Jr.HarperSanFrancisco, $13.95distinctive crowing, Mundo Cani, the mournfuldog with the big wet nose, John Wesley Weasel,quite the aggressive, edgy fighter, Cockatrice,the hideous, odious rooster/serpent killer and theDun Cow a mysterious being of comfort, healingand strength. The battle between good and evilthat rages on in the novel is all encompassingof all beings in that world. Chauntecleer leadsthe forces of good including Mundo Cani, JohnWesley Weasel, deer, rabbits, field mice, blackand red ants, wild turkeys, hens, foxes, otters, andother weasels, with the Dun Cow intervening atkey times to help them. Cockatrice on land leadsthe evil forces of serpents, Basilisks, black licoricein color and hatched out of hen’s eggs tendedto by a toad, while under the earth, absolute evil,the Wyrm tries to free itself. Walter Wangerin isa writer who engages the reader’s attention andleads the reader to a fuller understanding of love,life and good and evil.For wonderful selections of Christmas,Hanukkah and Holiday cards boxed or singleas well as books, music and gift offerings cometo Logos. While you are there, pick up a 2007calendar and a copy of any or both of the booksreviewed above. Happy Holidays!Upcoming Events At LogosWednesday, December 6, 2006 at 7 P.M.,KYTV Reading Group will discuss FebruaryHouse by Sherill Tippins.Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 7 P.M., KYTVReading Group will discuss The Heart Is ALonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.Monday, January 8, 2007 at 7 P.M., The SacredTexts Group led by Richard Curtis will discussthe early life of Jesus and the Sermon On TheMount.Transit: 4,5,6 Subways to Lexington Ave. &86th St., M86 Bus (86th St.), M79 Bus (79thSt.), M31 Bus (York Ave.), M15 Bus (1st & 2ndAves)Books Are TreasuresWaiting To Be Discoveredby Selene VasquezPICTURE BOOK: AGES 5 THRU 8The Search for the Perfect Childby Jan FearnleyCandlewick, 32 pps., $15.99Fido, the world’s most clever canine detectivehas the challenging mission of finding a polite,cooperative and squeaky-clean child. Fortunately,Fido is equally roused by silly words and monkeyingaround. Exuberant and lighthearted textand illustrations.PICTURE BOOK: AGES 8 THRU 10The Extinct Files: My Science Projectby Wallace EdwardsCIP, 32 pps., $17.95Wally instantly ditches his ho-hum scienceproject about his pet iguana when he catches ascaly dinosaur beast passing nonchalantly byhis window! Tongue-in-cheek humor abounds inequally lively watercolor and gouache illustrations.NONFICTION: AGES 10 THRU 12Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabetby David McmilansWalker, 32 pps., $16.96Black and white iconic representations of 26endangered animals with invaluable informationabout their class, habitats, and threats to their survival.Great starting point for art design projectsas well as raising conservation awareness.BIOGRAPHY: AGES 8 THRU 10Barnum Brown: Dinosaur Hunterby David SheldonCIP, 32 pps., $16.95Working for the American Museum ofNatural History, this leading paleontologist duringthe 1800’s discovered a nearly completeTyrannosaurus Rex specimen. Ink, gouache andacrylic illustrations effectively render the excitementof scientific explorations and this noteworthyexplorer.#Selene Vasquez is a media specialist atOrange Brook Elementary School in Hollywood,Florida.Unsolved Problemsby AlfredPosamentier, ph.d.This may come as ashock to some of your students,but who says that allmathematical problems getsolved? Unsolved problemshave a very important role inmathematics. Attempts to solve them oftentimeslead to very important findings of other sorts.Yet an unsolved problem—one not yet solved bythe world’s most brilliant minds—tends to piqueour interest by quietly asking us if we can solveit, especially when the problem itself is exceedinglyeasy to understand. We shall look at someunsolved problems to get a better understandingof the history of mathematics. Twice in recentyears, mathematics has made newspaper headlines,each time with the solution to a long-timeunsolved problem.The Four Color Problem dates back to 1852,when Francis Guthrie, while trying to color themap of counties of England, noticed that fourcolors sufficed. He asked his brother Frederick ifit was true that any map can be colored using fourcolors in such a way that adjacent regions (i.e.those sharing a common boundary segment, notjust a point) receive different colors. FrederickGuthrie then communicated the conjecture to thefamous mathematician, Augustus DeMorgan. In1977, the “four color map” problem was solvedby two mathematicians, K. Appel and W. Haken,who, using a computer, considered all possiblemaps and established that it was never necessaryto use more than four colors to color a map sothat no two territories sharing a common borderwould be represented by the same color.More recently, on June 23, 1993, AndrewWiles, a Princeton University mathematics professor,announced that he solved the 350-year old“Fermat’s Last Theorem.” It took him anotheryear to fix some errors in the proof, but it putsto rest a nagging problem that occupied scoresof mathematicians for centuries. The problem,which Pierre de Fermat wrote (ca. 1630) in themargin of a mathematics book (Diophantus’Arithmetica) he was reading, was not discoveredby his son until after his death. In addition tothe statement of the theorem, Fermat stated thathis proof was too long to fit the margin, so heeffectively left to others the job of proving hisstatement.Fermat’s Theorem:x n + y n = z n has no non-zero integer solutionsfor n>2.During this time, speculation began aboutother unsolved problems, of which there are stillmany. Two of them are very easy to understandbut apparently exceedingly difficult to prove.Neither has yet been proved.Christian Goldbach (1690-1764), a Prussianmathematician, in a 1742 letter to the famousSwiss mathematician, Leonhard Euler, posed thefollowing problem, which to this day has yet tobe solved.Goldbach’s Conjecture:Every even number greater than 2 can beexpressed as the sum of two prime numbers.The Dean’s ColumnEven numbersgreater than 2Sum oftwo primenumbers4 2+26 3+38 3+510 3+712 5+714 7+716 5+1118 7+1120 7+1348 19+29100 3+97Can you find some more examples of this?Goldbach’s Second Conjecture:Every odd number greater than 5 is the sumof three primes.Let us consider the first few odd numbers:Odd numbersgreater than 5Sum of threeprime numbers7 2+2+39 3+3+311 3+3+513 3+5+515 5+5+517 5+5+719 5+7+721 7+7+751 3+17+3177 5+5+67101 5+7+89Your students may wish to see if there is a patternhere and generate other examples.Dr. Alfred S. Posamentier is Dean of the Schoolof Education at City College of NY, author of over40 books on math including Math Wonders: toInspire Teachers and Students (ASCD, 2003) andMath Charmers: Tantilizing Tidbits for the Mind(Prometheus, 2003), and member of the NYSStandards Committee on Math.Education UpdateOutstanding Educators of the YearJune 2007 event at the Harvard Club.Principals nominate teachers;superintendents nominate principals, asst.principals & administrators on our website:www.educationupdate.com/awards
MetroBEATDECEMBER 2006 Education continued page update 29 • 21Progress Report Cards Will HoldSchools AccountableBy MayorBloombergFrom Day One, improvingaccountability hasbeen the foundation ofour Administration’s historic‘Children First’ schoolreforms. By tearing down the system’s oldpatronage-ridden bureaucracy, and setting highexpectations for teachers and students, we’returning our schools around, we’re helping ourchildren perform at higher levels, and we’reclosing the achievement gap between poor andminority students and their peers.Now we are putting the finishing touches ona powerful new tool that will help every one ofthe city’s public schools better fulfill its missionof giving our children the education they needand deserve. It’s a brand new report card—butit won’t be grading students; it will be gradingschools.Starting this year, more than 330 schoolsthroughout the city are being evaluated in afirst, pilot round of progress reports. Then, nextyear, every school in the city will be graded onreports that will be mailed to every public schoolparent, as well as posted on the Department ofEducation’s website.These progress reports will evaluate each schoolon three key factors. The first, school environment—comprisingattendance levels and newsatisfaction surveys from parents, teachers andstudents. Second, student performance—includinghow many students are meeting and exceedingstandards in English and math, and how theycompare to other schools—especially those withMOVIE REVIEWsocially and economically comparable studentbodies. The third, final, and perhaps most importantfactor, is student progress. Are individualstudents in each school progressing from year toyear? If so, by how much? And are strugglingstudents really getting the help they need to gainground and reach their full potential?The scores from all three of these areas willbe rolled together into an overall grade, rangingfrom ‘A’ to ‘F.’ That’s going to give all of ourparents the hard, cold facts about which schoolsin our city are succeeding and which are lagging.Only then, can we truly work together to improveresults for all our kids.I’ve always believed in the power of dataanalysis as an incredible management tool. Thisis the driving force behind Compstat, the NYPD’sweekly analysis of crime around the city, whichhas guided our historic crime fighting successover the past decade. It’s also the reasoningbehind 311, which is helping us more efficientlyaddress New Yorkers’ biggest quality-of-life concerns.Now, we are going to use data to identifyand support the progress being made in ourschool system, and to hold schools accountablefor achievement. No more excuses. No moresweeping problems under the rug. Those schoolsand principals that actually succeed in improvingstudent performance will be rewarded and thosethat don’t will face consequences. Because whenwe say we are putting ‘children first’ we meanit—and measures like this report card will ensurethat children—and no one else—always comefirst in our public schools.#Ice Caper: Happy Feetby jan aaronBlending cute antics with music, dance and atinge of darkness George Miller’s photo-realisticcomputer animated Happy Feet is a treat for allfor all ages. Although it was in the works for severalyears, the first scenes with tens of thousandsof Emperor penguins in icy Antarctica surprisinglyrecall the recent March of the Penguins.Focusing in on the mating of Norma Jean(Nicole Kidman) and Memphis (Hugh Jackman),we see her handing off their egg to him as shegoes off to distant fishing waters, leaving him toface the bitter cold period of incubation.Memphis is careless during the hatching periodand blames himself when their offspring Mumble(Elijah Wood) turns out to be the only penguin inthe flock that can’t carry a tune—a prime requirementfor acceptance in this community. But thelittle guy can dance—he’s a born tapper, withspeed, moves and grace to rival tap master SavionGlover, who provided the motion-capturing dancingfor the fuzzy bird.His terpsichorean skills are not cool to theelders here—led by cranky high priest HugoWeaving who blames him for the fish famine.Mumble, now an outcast, starts wandering, hispath riddled with unknown dangers, introducingsome big-action scenes featuring (can be childfrightening) hungry birds and a sharp-toothedseal, only to be befriended by five small hip,Latino penguins (led by Robin Williams) whotake him to an extravagantly feathered penguin(Williams again) who serves as some sort of aguru. Here, Mumble is embraced as “Big Guy”and he enjoys a world less rigid than EmperorLand.Mumble’s salvation lies in finding out what’shappening to all the fish and he persists althoughhe is warned by an elephant seal (the late SteveIrwin) that it will be a perilous mission.Eventually, his close encounter with Earth’sdominators and the debris of their civilization,uniquely envisioned from the bird’s point ofview, is sobering. After providing mankind witha thoughtful lesson in global ecology, the movieconcludes with an upbeat ending that leaves youthinking.And if you’re looking for family fare onBroadway, be enchanted by the charming MaryPoppins, with its dazzling special effects.#Thanksgiving DialogueBy Jill LevyMy house has finallyquieted down. The turkeyand various leftovers havebeen distributed among ourfamily who joined us forThanksgiving. The stains have been removedfrom the carpets and the fingerprints from thewalls have been washed away.A few of our guests, family friends for morethan 60 years from the old Bronx neighborhoodleft us with another type of leftover: We reminiscedabout our childhoods and young adulthoods.And in between the memories, we talked agreat deal about the issues before us today—draftor no draft, the war in Iraq, the Middle East, theeconomy, fossil fuels and the environment, healthcare and yes, education.While our experiences varied, we agreed uponone thing: We had all been taught, and learned,the basics. We were literate and could add, subtract,multiply and divide. Spelling was often achore for those among us who did not love toread, but spell we can. Written compositions werearduous, but our skills proved to be more thangood enough to get us through our college years.We all agreed that lab work in science gave usan opportunity to understand the concepts andbecome “creative” with chemistry, biology andphysics. Some found basic art and music appreciationcourses time to “horse around.” Others,like myself, heard music that opened up a newworld for us. Some discovered performing artsand found themselves wholly engaged.Our thoughts turned to classmates who tookcommercial or general courses in high schoolas alternatives to a Regents or college track.We wondered how many of them would havedropped out of school altogether had they nothad alternatives. And we spoke about today’sstudents, their challenges and their opportunities,and the pressure to take and pass all the standardizedtests required of them.Bemoaning a new lifestyle of scheduled andprescriptive activities with little time for creativefree play, the grandparents among us saw a differentkind of intelligence arising, one that leftless time for personal social development, butthoroughly immersed in technology. How wouldthis phenomenon affect personal and politicalrelationships? No, we couldn’t come to consensusabout whether this was a good sign or abad one nor could we agree upon the merits ofstandardized testing. What we did agree on wasthat there was too much stress and competitionin the lives of young children and their parents,and that too much stress and competition furtherisolate people in a society already suffering fromalienation and too little community.No sooner did the last guest leave, however,than my thoughts returned to the serious matter athand, our contract, its implications for the futureof education and most importantly for maintainingexcellence in school leadership, retainingexperience and encouraging the developmentof new leaders. I give thanks for family, friendsand health. Soon, I hope we will all give thanksfor a successor contract that is respectful andequitable.#Jill Levy is the president of the Council ofSupervisors and Administrators.GIVE YOUR GROUPS THE THEATRICALEXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME!THEATER REVIEWTarzan Swings On BroadwayArrivesonBroadwayMarch24BY Jan AaronTarzan, the new Walt Disney Co.’s attractionhas swung into the Richard Rogers Theatre fora long run. The musical version of the Disneyanimated film has been beautifully and imaginativelystaged by Bob Crowley. While not aslavish as “The Lion King,” it manages to enchantand entertain its target family audience.The opening dazzles, with images that elicitoohs and aahs: a series of effects simulating astorm and shipwreck, followed by an underwatersequence in which onstage actors are seenswimming furiously. Then the action shifts to abeach, which the audience seems to be looking atthrough an overhead camera.Surely, this is the most cinematic Broadwaystage show—images permeate the productionand surround-sound Lunt-Fontanne Theatre envelopes • 46th the St. & audience. BroadwayOfcourse, the flying apes and Tarzan are what theaudience yearns for and they aren’t disappointed.Thanks to the considerable expertise of aerialdesigner Pichón Baldinu of “De La Guarda,” theyfly through the trees and above the audience’sheads in heart-stopping daredevil fashion, choreographedby Meryl Tankard and accompaniedby Phil Collins’ score.The book by David Henry Hwang sticks faithfullyto the classic story of a boy raised by apeswho undergoes an identity crisis after meetinga beautiful human girl, Jane, here played bythe charming Jenn Gambatese. As Tarzan, JoshStrickland, a former “American Idol” finalist,does fine by his part, and is a real hunk to delightthe teenage girls who were there in numbersthe night I saw the show. The excellent ChesterGregory II sings, dances (sometimes hangingupside down) as Tarzan’s buddy, Terk. The boomingShuler Hensley as Kerchak, the apes leader,and Meryl Dandridge, as Tarzan’s loving Simianmother are excellent.Notable in the first act are Tarzan’s battles withRichard Rodgers Theatre • 46th St. & BroadwayNew Amsterdam Theatrea ferocious 42nd leopard St. & Broadway and a giant spider. The secondact is devoted to Tarzan and Jane’s story has somecharming moments such as his language lesson.Tim Jerome, provokes laughter and giggles as800-439-9000Jane’s ditzy professor dad. If you’re looking toentertain the youngsters—treat them to Tarzan.($38.75-$76.25)#or 212-703-1040www.disneyonbroadway.comSpecial Group Rates for 15 or more• No deposit & flexible payment policies• FREE Group Leader ticket availableCertain restrictions apply. Offer not available for all performances. Discount tickets subject to availability. Not all seats are discounted. Blackout dates may apply.Minimum purchase required for group leader ticket. Ask your group sales representative for complete details.
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