Shelfish
That’s my new word: shelfish. I made it up last night. Or, at least, I think I made it up. I haven’t checked the Oxford English Dictionary to see if someone thought of it before me.
Shelf.ish
-adjective
1. Describing someone who hogs all the bookshelf space.
I am totally shelfish.
Now, I have more important news than that I’ve invented a new word and am a prime example of it. The big news is, of course, that The Cabinet of Wonders is out in the world today. Go thou, little book! See the sights! Meet new people!
Just as I wrote this, the doorbell rang, and it was a delivery of flowers from my dear friend Becky. Thank you! What a lovely surprise. Now, if only I could find my darn USB cable to download a picture of those flowers and post it here…
Instead, I will share with you an image from a medieval manuscript. As you may know, in The Cabinet of Wonders there is a set of removable, wearable eyes. Yes, yes, yes, that is kind of weird. Also possibly gross.
In honor of that, I present you with a weird, gross, but also beautiful illustration. I warn you, it is not for the faint of heart. You might find it disturbing. It’s PG-13, I think. So DON’T SCROLL DOWN IF YOU ARE AFRAID. I have warned you!
Hey. I mean it. Do you really want to see this?
Turn back now!
This is your last chance!
All right, if you must look, here is the beheading of St. Alban, from a 13th-century manuscript in Dublin’s Trinity College Library. And, yes, the executioner’s eyes have popped out and fallen in his hand. I told you it was gross and weird. Thanks, Nicola, for showing me this!
(source: Richard Marks and Nigel Morgan, The Golden Age of English Manuscript Painting, 1200-1500 and Wikipedia)
Good morning Ms. Rutkowski,
I am a college friend of Becky Rosenthal. I saw on Facebook this morning her recommendation to pick up your new book. I just read the first chapter and it sounds like just the sort of thing I might have my students read. I am a 6th grade teacher in Chicago. This age group seems to really enjoy fantasy and science fiction novels that feature heroes and heroines in their age group. These are usually my favorites, too! The response I got last year to Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series was phenomenal. I am hoping to get the same this year with Jeanne DuPrau’s City of Ember. That being said, I have a question for you. Do you have any plans to publish a teacher’s guide to accompany the Kronos series? Just in the first chapter, it is clear that a great deal of research and care went into creating the setting and characters. It has been my experience that teaching guides that come from directly from the author are more effective (and more interesting) paths to understanding these elements of the story.
I look forward to finishing the book. Congratulations on your success!
Mary Zickus
Sorry about that extraneous ‘w’ in your name. I need to proofread better.
One of the medievalist blogs I don’t read but stumble upon every so often really likes posting the monkeys that pop up in a lot of marginalia.
Mordicai: what would life be like without monkeys?
Mary: No need to worry about the w! The truth is that there probably WAS a w in my name ages ago. I’m sure there’s some Ellis Island/immigration explanation for the missing w.
Thank you so much for your kind comments about the novel! As for a teacher’s guide, Macmillan, which is the parent company of Farrar, Straus & Giroux (my publisher) has one. Here’s the HTML link and the PDF:
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:WvT94tuwEj0J:media.us.macmillan.com/teachersguides/9780374310264TG.pdf+way+down+deep+cabinet+of+wonders&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
http://media.us.macmillan.com/teachersguides/9780374310264TG.pdf
There is also an author’s note at the end of the novel that discusses a bit the real history that influenced my writing. That might be helpful.
You’re right: I should probably work on a discussion/teacher’s guide of my own. I hadn’t thought of that, so thank you! I’m a teacher, too, so I understand how helpful guides are for lesson planning. I think I’ll probably be able to put something together in early September, so look for it on my website then. Meanwhile, if you have any further questions, please let me know.