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Dr. Gurga, a Lincoln dentist, is past
president of the Haiku Society of America and editor of the journal
entitled Modern Haiku. In 1998 the Illinois Arts Council awarded him
a poetry fellowship for his work in haiku. Two of his books have won
first prize in the Haiku Society of America’s annual book awards.
Workshop participants will be given a
brief introduction to the art of Japanese haiku. Participants will
also have a chance to write their own haiku and share insights with
others. Haiku is a social art as well as a literary art, and sharing
is an important part of the haiku tradition. This sharing allows
both the writer and the listener to grow.
The
registration deadline is Oct. 4. For more information call Japan
House at (217) 244-9934.
[News release] |
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Jack Hawkins, age 14, is staying with
his Uncle Hamp while his mom and dad are on a trip to Europe. Uncle
Hamp’s farm is on the St. Mary’s River in Georgia and within
canoeing distance of the Okefenokee Swamp.
The canoe Jack is paddling on a hot
August day is not just any canoe. He made it himself and named it
L’tle Possum. "She floated, she sped, and she was unreal!" He was on
his way to Paradise Island.
George’s descriptions of nature in the Okefenokee Swamp and surrounding areas are so real that the reader
can hear and see as if in the canoe with Jack.
"Bugs swarmed like paparazzi — pesky,
noisy, and in my face… The water was clear and still as glass… A
fish jumped out of the water, twisted, and landed in the bow of the
canoe."
Jack is so amazed by the atmosphere and
mystery of the swamp that he’d like to camp there forever.
He and L’tle Possum make it through a
Georgia storm, but an angry mama alligator bites a hole in the
canoe. The wish for an extended camping trip is coming true!
Jack had learned some survival skills
from Uncle Hamp that help him build a safe shelter and find food
until he can fix L’tle Possum. As days go by, repairing the canoe
takes longer than he planned. As he searches for edible plants,
suitable wood for building his shelter and terpene to fix the canoe,
he encounters some unusual mysteries.
First, he keeps hearing an eerie sound,
"LEERI OOOBUM WYRRRRRRRRRR LEERI."
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Then he finds an abandoned raft, a
basket and a porcelain plate. At first he thinks the eerie sound is
some kind of swamp monster, but the found items had been left
recently. Could there be someone else on his island?
The appearance of a dog that looks
exactly like his dog, Dizzy, and answers to the same name have him
even more confused. When Jack gets back to the campsite and sees
someone who looks exactly like him, his focus changes from survival
to finding out why there is someone who is a mirror image of him.
The other boy is named Jake, and the
dog, whose name really is Dizzy, is his. The boys soon discover that
they not only look alike, but they also think alike. Jake knows he
was adopted, but Jack is positive he was not.
Jake and Jack both have personal issues
to work out, and Jean Craighead George does not disappoint the
reader. This adventure story has wonderful details of the boys’
self-sufficiency while living off the land and finding solutions to
their personal problems.
The fast-paced action combined with
just enough mystery will keep the attention of both boys and girls
ages 10 to 14.
George is
also the author of the Newbery Medal-winning "Julie of the Wolves"
— AND she really went canoeing in the enchanted
Okefenokee Swamp.
[Pat Schlough, Lincoln Public
Library District]
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