Learning about Africa: Fifth in a Series

After having read about and listened to their music I finally got to see the documentary film, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars when it was aired on PBS recently.

It was personally hard for me at times (especially the footage of Freetown when it was invaded), but it was also wonderful. The film tells the story of a group of Sierra Leonean musicians who connect at a refugee camp in Guinea and become a band — Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars. Their individual histories are heartrending. While some of them are willing to return to Sierra Leone, one (with the most horrific story) is unable to. They will be touring in the US in August and September. And here is a small not-very-good video I made with some clips from the film.

Guardian Unlimited Arts blog – books

With school out I’ve suddenly got around 70% of my mind freed up for other things. Now those other things have been sitting around waiting to get into my mind (things like organizing the NCTE Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts convention session, reading more for Newbery, teaching my Rutgers online grad course in fairy tales, and some writing commitments) and I’m shifting over.  That takes a few days — days I use to potter about, leisurely look at other blogs, write more posts here, and just take things slower for a change.  Sweet.

So let me now point out a very fabulous blog: Guardian Unlimited: Arts blog – books.  To give you a taste,  here are three fascinating posts from the last couple of weeks; some of them have provoked a lot of comments and posts elsewhere.  Great stuff!

Shelf satisfied: recommending children’s books by Meg Rosoff

Why re-reading is a crime by Jack Thurston

Is the internet killing proper research? by Ben Myers