More In Memoriam: J. D. Salinger Dies at 91

News sources are now reporting that author J. D. Salinger has died at his home.

Salinger, seen above on one of our mini-posters, was notoriously out-of-the-spotlight. The fame, and infamy, of his only novel reportedly haunted him.

We hope that Salinger and Mark Twain arguing over who would win in a fight: Holden or Huck?

Buy an old typewriter for a big pile of money

Regular readers of our blog remember us mentioning Cormac McCarthy here (saw "The Road." Was underwhelmed, though it's a perfectly ok film.).

Well, we just saw, via one of our fave blogs Pop Candy, that the typewriter used to write the book is going on the auction block.

If you've got a cool fifteen or twenty grand laying about, you can own the typewriter McCarthy bought in a pawn shop.

Take a look here, and save your pennies up!

New "Shakespeare at the Movies" Poster

The Bard returns to your classroom walls in this Teacher's Discovery exclusive poster, "Shakespeare at the Movies."






You'll see that the poster features a lot of well-known Shakespearean adaptations, along with some films with surprising bard roots.







We're particularly pleased that the poster gives props to "Forbidden Planet." Your kids will love it, too!






(Blogger's note: the last image isn't on the poster, but it made you smile.)

Our students and "dirty books"

While a lot of the blogging and posting at Entertainment Weekly's website focuses on the latest exploits of John and Kate or summarizing the goings-on in Melrose 90210, sometimes it does stumble on something worthwhile.

Tina Jordan's post, you can find it here, discusses teenagers and pre-teenagers reading books that may approach or even throw themselves over the comfort line, as far as some adults might see it.

Where do you stand on that? Another one of EW's obsessions, the Twilight books, seems to fit in the discussion, too. But so do loads of other books that have fallen into the canon.

Author Series PowerPoint Presentations

Right about this time in your school year, you're probably trying to keep students' minds on your lessons instead of Homecoming, having happily fallen into the daily grind of school and wondering if a rookie pitcher can help avoid the worst baseball team implosion ever. (Well, maybe not that last part.)

Allow us to make your job a little easier, Mr. or Ms. Literature Teacher.

The presentations we made for some of the most-read authors are ready-to-go out of the box and show students that writers are people, too--sometimes tragically flawed, sometimes surprising normal.

Each disk includes two reproducible activities, so you'll know your students know what's what in the world of letters.

Have a look here for an easy way to troll through the presentations available, and to download some samples.

People who LOVE literature

While trolling the depths of the interwebs for something of interest, we found this site, dedicated to literary tattoos, that might appeal to all you Bohemian teachers out there.




This one was a favorite, because that Atticus Finch knew what was what.

The Illustrated Bard

Did they find the only portrait of William Shakespeare made in his lifetime?

Maybe!

Literature Mini-Posters

We're really proud of these!

With the help of our friends in the Teacher's Discovery-English Division, we found this great artist to make a series of 8 mini-posters. Each poster is filled to the brim with surprising facts about famous--and not so famous--authors, and the images to go along with those facts are just awesome.

We mention Poe, Twain, Salinger, Alcott, Dickinson, King, Whitman, Morrison, Plath, Hemingway. . .the list goes on forever!

People around here have called the pictures "old style," "modern," "cutting edge," "retro," and "wow." We didn't know "wow" was an adjective, but we think it means the pictures look pretty good.

We hope you'll agree!

Great Literature--Now Going Quarterly!

This story about venerable magazine "Mad" switching to quarterly publication brought a tear to few eyes here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in flash-frozen Auburn Hills, Michigan.

It also got us thinking about the nature of literature. Who decides what gets in the canon? Is there space in the average English classroom for "Maus," "Blankets," "Batman," or "Mad?"

Should there be?

We at TB say, "Hang in there, Alfred." Our usual gang of idiots is rooting for a speedy return to monthly status!