Tag: Annie

After “Annie”

Eleven o’clock at night and my 9-year-old is just now starting to do her homework.

We just got back from seeing our home schooled neighbor in the NYCHEA (New York City Home Educators Alliance) production of the musical Annie. Daddy Warbucks was played by an adult, the father of the girl playing “Annie” as it happens.  He was the oldest person on stage.  The next oldest cast member was 16, with the majority of actors in the 9-13 age range.  “Miss Hannigan” was 13 and “President Roosevelt” was 12.  I spent part of the evening watching the musical director as he conducted the orchestra of one trumpet and one drummer while banging out the tempo on the grand piano and occasionally mouthing the words.  Boy he really must love musical theatre!   Productions like this one drive home which elements are essential for a good book musical.

I can’t believe I’ve never seen a stage production of Annie before.  I wanted so badly to play “Annie” when I was a kid.

When Andrea McArdle was on the Tonight Show I stayed up past my bedtime to watch her come out and sing “Tomorrow” and then give a gift of some kind of special Philadelphia sausage to guest host David Brenner.

“Tomorrow” was my very first audition song.  I belted my heart out at my very first audition for the very first community musical produced by the Missoula Children’s Theatre.  (J.K. Simmons was in it.)  Unfortunately for me, they were looking for a boy soprano, the musical was Oliver!


Wasilla, Alaska Library Banned Book List (Librarian Refused)

This information is taken from the official minutes of the Wasilla Library Board.
When the librarian refused to ban the books, Palin tried to get her fired.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle favorite author
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner I had to read this in high school, Falkner was praised for doing something we weren’t allowed to do, I think it was run-on sentences or maybe incomplete sentences.  That must be what gets this book on these lists.
Blubber by Judy Blume standard tween fare I’m suprised “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret” isn’t here.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley frequently required reading
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson  Didn’t Disney make this into a movie?
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer again had to read it at at school
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller  Had to read it at school until it got repetitive and professor let us watch the movie “Dr Strangelove” to get the gist so we could move on to the rest our syllabus
Christine by Stephen King
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cujo by Stephen King
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck required reading in many English classes
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller AMERICAN CLASSIC
Decameron by Boccaccio
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Forever by Judy Blume  you didn’t need to read the whole book, the page number where they had sex was marked on the copy of the book that was passed around my 8th grade
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam This is a picture book!
 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling  can you imagine telling kids you don’t have these books in your library?!
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
 Have to Go by Robert Munsch  THIS IS A POTTY TRAINING BOOK!!!!
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell a chapter book for 7 to 10 year olds
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain always a classic always on the list, required reading
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Impressions edited by Jack Booth
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak IT’S A PICTURE BOOK!
It’s Okay if You Don’t Love Me by Norma Klein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl I LOVE THIS BOOK!
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman Whaaaa???
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Whaaaa?
Lord of the Flies by William Golding frequently required reading
Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
Lysistrata by Aristophanes again required reading…
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
My House by Nikki Giovanni
My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara it’s a kid and a horse!
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez  “a literary conceit, to wit: that it is vitally important for people to remember their history, otherwise they will suffer for it.” 
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health Collective maybe if Bristol had read this…
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy Isn’t this just a beach read?
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl !
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Separate Peace by John Knowles required reading
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain required reading
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain Classic
The Bastard by John Jakes
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger  Classic, frequently required coming of age reading
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple by Alice Walker  Hello!?
The Devil’s Alternative by Frederick Forsyth
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck required reading
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson one of the best children’s novelists working today
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Living Bible by William C. Bower Whaaaa?
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare Huh???
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman Bristol Palin maybe coulda’ used
The Pigman by Paul Zindel required reading when I was in 8th grade
The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders
The Shining by Stephen King
The Witches by Roald Dahl again a favorite children’s author
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
Then Again, Maybe I Won’t by Judy Blume favorite upper grade and middle school author
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee classic required reading
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare don’t get it
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff If I remember correctly this is the only dictionary in which you can look up the word “F#*K” Remember when you didn’t really know exactly what this word meant and how hard it was to find out?
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth one of a series of books for early grades about holidays

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