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Oh, the Places He鈥檒l Go

While there have been many compilations of humorous mistakes by schoolchildren published, only one, Boners, can claim the distinction of having launched the book-publishing career of then-26-year-old Theodor Geisel, better known today as the children鈥檚-book author and illustrator Dr. Seuss.

Prior to the book鈥檚 release in February of 1931, Geisel had earned a reputation as a magazine contributor and advertising artist鈥攈is tag line for an insecticide campaign, 鈥淨uick, Henry, the Flit!,鈥� would become a national catchphrase鈥攑rompting the Viking Press to seek him out as an illustrator. Boners went through four printings in two months and quickly established itself as a fixture on The New York Times鈥� best-sellers list. Demand for the book was such that Viking printed two sequels, More Boners and Still More Boners, only a few months later, and Boners ultimately became the fourth-best-selling nonfiction book of 1931.

Geisel continued his previous work after Boners鈥� publication, but, according to his authorized biographers (and friends for 30 years), Judith and Neil Morgan, the book marked the point at which he began to actively pursue the idea of writing children鈥檚 books.

While the text of Boners received mixed reviews, Geisel鈥檚 illustrations were highly praised. The American News, as reported by the Morgans, wrote that it would have predicted the book to fail, except that 鈥渢he inimitable illustrations of the renowned Dr. Seuss, of Judge, Life, and Flit fame, are not unlikely to put this over. They are simply swell.鈥� The New York Times was more complimentary, calling the quotations from students 鈥済ems of wisdom and mirth,鈥� and concluding its review, 鈥淭he drawings by Dr. Seuss are hilarious.鈥�

This reprint edition of Boners from Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers makes Geisel鈥檚 illustrations available for the first time in a decade (a previous Viking edition, now out of print, was published as Herrings Go About the Sea in Shawls in 1997).

Boners: Seriously Misguided Facts鈥擜ccording to Schoolkids by Alexander Abingdon (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, ; 144 pp., $12.95 hardback).

Childhood

Mercogliano, a teacher for 34 years at an inner-city alternative school, sees a world of difference between describing a child as 鈥渉ighly active鈥� or 鈥渉yperactive鈥濃€攁nd criticizes overbearing parents and test-driven educators for contributing to what he views as American society鈥檚 treatment-focused approach to children鈥檚 innately unruly behavior. Far from being allowed to expend their energy in adventures of their own making, children today have become entrapped by the 鈥渄omestication of childhood,鈥� he writes, which systematically deprives them of unstructured play, access to nature, and solitude, quelling their curiosity and natural exuberance. Even as this taming of children forces them to behave as mini-adults, he continues, it infantilizes teenagers, who are prevented from learning self-sufficiency or engaging in meaningful work. Mercogliano offers common-sense recommendations for reversing this trend, stressing that adults must first confront the fears underlying their desire to control children. Childhood is too important to be regulated away, he says, for 鈥渙nly those fortunate young people who are allowed to lead unscripted, authentic childhoods will find themselves ready to become the authors of their own experience and lead lives filled with satisfaction, excitement, and distinction.鈥�

The Generation Gap

Technology has defined young people born since home computers and the World Wide Web became commonplace like no generation before them, writes Montgomery, a professor of public communication at American University and the director of its Project on Youth, Media, and Democracy. This shift is so pronounced that it has spurred a rethinking of what childhood and adolescence are, she asserts. But, depending on which interest group you ask, she finds, 鈥渄igital natives鈥� are drivers of online culture or consumers easily entranced by advertising, innocents in need of protection or delinquents who flout copyright laws. Montgomery examines how children and teenagers became technology鈥檚 target audience, and what federal legislative efforts have been made to safeguard them. She also looks closely at how new media have been used to positively influence young people鈥攂y youths themselves to fuel early political activism, and by adults through public-service campaigns such as those discouraging smoking and teenage pregnancy. Only time will show whether this generation and its technology will leave their mutual adolescence eager to effect social change鈥攐r more self-obsessed than ever.

Combating ennui and high dropout rates in high schools.

School Reform

Formerly the chancellor of New York City鈥檚 public schools and currently the superintendent of Miami-Dade County鈥檚, Crew argues that for the United States to reclaim its intellectual and economic prominence in the globalized 21st century, the nation鈥檚 education system must be radically overhauled to place schools at the center of communities. Under the strategy he sets forth, these 鈥渃onnected schools,鈥� as he calls them, would bring together not only families and K-12 educators, but also lawmakers, institutions of higher learning, businesses, artists, service groups, philanthropies, and faith-based organizations. Through such combined efforts, schools will graduate well-rounded, civic-minded young people grounded in ethics and possessing life and social skills, he writes, qualities whose development in him he credits to his hardworking single father, whose tough-love lessons he sprinkles throughout the book. Parents and the federal government, as two of the primary bearers of responsibility, receive a significant share of his advice鈥攖he former to demand more of themselves, their children, and schools, and the latter to equalize educational opportunity. Says Crew of the task ahead: 鈥淭he world may be flat, but that doesn鈥檛 mean that we鈥檝e been rolled over.鈥�

An education scholar鈥檚 indictment of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Presidents鈥� School Days

If an in-person viewing of the National Archives鈥� special exhibit 鈥淪chool House to White House: The Education of the Presidents鈥� isn鈥檛 a possibility, a companion volume of the same name, released earlier this month, can satisfy a curiosity to see Harry S. Truman鈥檚 middle school essay on courage, Dwight D. Eisenhower鈥檚 5th grade class picture, or Gerald R. Ford鈥檚 University of Michigan letter sweater. These and other artifacts, report cards, and photographs from Presidents Herbert Hoover through Bill Clinton are reproduced in the book鈥檚 130 color illustrations, complemented by text adapted from the exhibit.