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March 17, 2010
Check out these Movie Tie-ins for HBO’s The Pacific!
Posted by rhacademic under This Just In | Tags: E.B. Sledge, HBO, military history, Pearl Harbor, Robert Leckie, The Pacific, The Pacific War, U.S. History, war, World War II |Leave a Comment
Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie
Did you and your students tune in this past weekend to the premiere of HBO’s new miniseries, The Pacific? We did, and we’re hooked! Reissued to coincide with the start of this series are two bestselling World II classics, Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific by Robert Leckie, and With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge. Leckie and Sledge (portrayed in the series by actors James Badge Dale and Joseph Mazello) were two young marines who participated some of the greatest battles in the Pacific War. Their vivid, first-person narratives of combat and survival served as the primary sources for the miniseries, along with unpublished accounts from John “Manila” Basilone (portrayed by actor John Seda). Pick up copies of their books today, and enjoy the rest of the first season of The Pacific! Also of interest: The Pacific War: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima edited by Daniel Marston and War in the Pacific 1941-1945 by Richard Overy; foreword by Dale Dye.
February 9, 2010
Random House Celebrates V-Day 2010
Posted by rhacademic under Special Topics, This Just In | Tags: drama, empowerment, Eve Ensler, girls, I Am an Emotional Creature, The Vagina Monologues, theater, V-Day, V-Day 2010 |1 Comment
I Am an Emotional Creature by Eve Ensler
Eve Ensler, playwright, performer, and activist, is the bestselling author of The Vagina Monologues, translated into over 45 languages and performed in over 130 countries including high schools and colleges in the United States. Her experience performing The Vagina Monologues inspired her to create V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. To celebrate V-Day 2010, Random House is proud to announce the publication of Ensler’s newest book, I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World, a collection of fictional monologues and stories inspired by girls around the globe. The V-Day organization also created language arts, social studies, and health curricula for use with the book.
Check out the following piece by Ensler, “The Future Is Girl”. (more…)
January 25, 2010
Paideia Students Create Book Trailers for The Good Thief
Posted by rhacademic under Videos | Tags: adventure, coming of age, family, gothic, historical, historical fiction, literary fiction, mystery, new england, orphans, thieves |[4] Comments
The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
Hannah Tinti, author of The Good Thief, recently spoke with a group of students at the Paideia School in Atlanta, Georgia. The students later emailed her book trailers that they’d made for her novel as part of a class project.
We were pretty impressed by them (and wished we were given a fun assignment like this back when we were in school!) Check the trailers out on her blog.
Haven’t read the book yet? Email us and we’ll send a complimentary copy to the first TEN people who respond.
January 8, 2010
The History You Thought You Knew: What the Buffalo Says About Us
Posted by rhacademic under RHI Magazine Articles | Tags: American Buffalo, American History, American West, buffalo, environmental history, environmental studies, exploration, hunting, Native Americans, Steven Rinella |1 Comment
American Buffalo by Steven Rinella
by Steven Rinella, author of American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon
I’d be lying if I said that I wrote American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon for a high-school audience. In fact, I didn’t write the book for any particular “audience” at all, besides the five or six buddies of mine that I hang out with most often. Whenever I had to make a decision about what to put in the book and what to leave out, I’d just asked myself whether or not these buddies would be interested in it. Those were the parts that made it into my manuscript.
I would never suggest this writing strategy to anyone. But it does open you up to some surprises when it’s time to start traveling around and talking to different audiences about your book. Namely, it’s interesting to find out what sorts of people are interested in your subject, what sorts of people are troubled by it, and what sorts couldn’t care less. For me, the biggest of these surprises happened on the handful of occasions when I was fortunate enough to speak to high school classes in environmental studies or American history. Through all the interviews and book store events and literary festivals, these were the only people who regarded me as a historical contrarian and rabble-rouser. (more…)
December 7, 2009
The Last Dickens and the Future of Literary Learning
Posted by rhacademic under Special Topics | Tags: 19th century, Charles Dickens, historical fiction, murder mystery |[10] Comments
The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl
by Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow, and The Last Dickens (First 10 people to post a comment will receive one FREE copy of any of the books mentioned in this article. Simply post a comment and then email us with your full school mailing address).
Reading Dante for the first time was a memorable moment in my life as a student. I remember what first caught me. In the beginning of The Divine Comedy, Dante finds himself in danger in a wild forest until a spirit from the afterlife is sent to guide him. This spirit is Virgil, the Roman poet. Virgil was Dante’s literary idol, and now here was Dante resurrecting him as a character in a poem. I was just starting to read Dante, and already I had formed my next mission. I’d have to read Virgil, too.
One work of literature had the power to get me to run out and read another one. That wasn’t the first time it had happened to me. I had been a fan of T. S. Eliot, and his striking references to Dante had led me to the Italian poet to begin with. Later I’d discover the Dante Club, a group of American poets in the nineteenth century committed to bringing readers to their favorite medieval poem. In them, I found the same type of energy that had affected me when I put down Eliot to read Dante, and took a break from Dante to grab Virgil. This was reading as a continuum, a chain reaction. This would animate my writing through all three novels, each of which entered another corner of literary history: The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow and The Last Dickens. (more…)
November 17, 2009
Why do YOU read Jane Austen?
Posted by rhacademic under Contests & Giveaways | Tags: british literature, English novel, Jane Austen, women's literature |Leave a Comment
A Truth Universally Acknowledged Edited by Susannah Carson
For so many of us a Jane Austen novel is much more than the epitome of a great read. It is a delight and a solace, a challenge and a reward, and perhaps even an obsession. For two centuries Austen has enthralled readers. Few other authors can claim as many fans or as much devotion. So why are we so fascinated with her novels? What is it about her prose that has made Jane Austen so universally beloved?
Send an e-mail to rhpg@randomhouse.com and explain (in 500-1000 words) the significance Jane Austen has had on the literary world and in your own life, and you will be entered for the chance to win a signed copy of A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen, along with The Complete Novels of Jane Austen, volume 1 and The Complete Novels of Jane Austen, volume 2.
Read the official rules here.
November 9, 2009
Discovering a Global Movement, One Place at a Time
Posted by rhacademic under RHI Magazine Articles | Tags: agriculture, cooking, eating, environment, food, health, local eating, locavore, organic, sustainability |[5] Comments
Plenty by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon
by Alisa Smith, co-author with J.B. MacKinnon of Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet (First 10 people to post a comment will receive a FREE copy of the book. Simply post a comment and then email us with your full school mailing address).
Who would have thought that a totally local concept could travel around the world? James and I wouldn’t have believed it when we began our local-eating experiment in Vancouver, Canada, back in 2005. It was a private, personal thing. We deprived ourselves of rice, olive oil, sugar, and all packaged foods for a whole year because of what people are now calling our “carbon footprint.” We had just learned that even a simple turnip or apple travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate. An entire supermarket-sourced meal could have enough air miles to span the globe. Already, we were worried about the amount of fossil fuels consumed by our modern lifestyles, so we figured our daily bread was the perfect place to start cutting back. After all, couldn’t you grow lettuce in your own backyard? (more…)
November 6, 2009
RHI Kickoff Article by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Posted by rhacademic under RHI Magazine ArticlesLeave a Comment
The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D.
The following article is excerpted from His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s new book The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World and serves as the opening piece for this new volume of RHI focusing on environmental education. We think it sets the perfect tone not just for this newest RHI initiative but also for you, the teacher, as you think about how to motivate and inspire not just your students, but their parents, fellow faculty and, well, yourself!
It is clear that, given the reality of the interdependent world in which we now live, no individual or group, community or nation can live in isolation. This is not a merely abstract idea, but a political, economic and environmental reality. Our actions have an impact on others and the emerging global community. This is why an interdependent society has to be a compassionate society, compassionate in its choice of goals and responsible in its cooperation in pursuit of those goals. (more…)
November 5, 2009
Welcome to the online blog of RHI Magazine! For the past three years, we have provided the print version of the magazine for free to middle- and high-school educators and librarians. Featuring nationally-renowned educators, bestselling and award-winning authors, and contributions from leading educational and professional organizations, past issues have covered topics such as: reaching reluctant readers, critical literary and civic responsibility, and censorship and banned books. All past issues are available for free download, either as a complete file or ala carte, article-by-article. Simply click on the topics in the preceding sentence or visit this blog’s archives for the links.
With so many teachers, students, and publishers embracing new technology today, and the theme of our fourth issue focusing on environmental education, we decided this year to make RHI a completely digital initiative. In the coming months, we will post brand-new articles and we invite you, the educator, to visit our site on a weekly basis to weigh in and share your thoughts. At some point in the future we may even print a fourth issue (on recycled paper!) and could include your feedback. In essence, we’re inviting you to help build the next issue!
The blog will also be home to all things high-school related, a one-stop place for news, teacher resources, promotional give-aways and more. We encourage you to book-mark www.rhimagazine.com, and to help spread the word!
