Foiled
Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mike Cavallaro
Middle-Grade Graphic Novel
ISBN: 9781596432796
Re-read March 26, 2014
Curses, Foiled Again
Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mike Cavallaro
Middle-Grade Graphic Novel, sequel
ISBN: 9781596436190
Read March 26, 2014
Pretty sure I reviewed Foiled before, but I got hold of the sequel, so wanted to hit it up again to be sure where I stood. It holds up well to a re-read, although I was much more aware of the forbodingly looming birds showing up everywhere this time around. Still think Aliera is a fantastic name.
Curses, Foiled Again picks up right after we left off, with Aliera not yet used to the idea of faery at all, let alone her place as a Defender of a realm she can't even see normally. Avery is bound and determined to be her knight, and Aliera is bound and determined to not trust him.
The storyline is again really terribly short - these are really almost graphic novellas. The "dark lord" is a little eye-rolly, especially given the age-group this is aimed at, and the reveal on who is the big bad was woefully expected (although handled fairly well). I liked that Aliera wasn't given super instincts to go with her new position, and she's flailing around wildly trying to figure everything out and be the hero. That's a nice and unexpected direction to go, and I hope it continues. What I didn't like, and which wasn't a problem as much in the first, was that with the very stylized speech and thought bubbles, I really had a hard time during the climax figuring out who is saying (or thinking) what to whom. I think this is my own fault for not reading enough comics as an impressionable child, but I really did have to read a few pages over again to match lines with characters. Despite my own shortcomings, that shouldn't ever be a problem.
As the first did, we're set up here at a nice breather, ready for the next encounter.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Montessori, A Modern Approach. Paula Polk Lillard
Montessori, A Modern Approach
Paula Polk Lillard
ISBN: 080520394X
(1971)
Read March 25, 2014
I finally actually read it! Bought a lovely 70's style orange and yellow paperback copy from the library book sale, and read it cover to cover in an afternoon. I'd seen it before, and have had it recommended several times, but never gotten around to it.
I have to say, despite being nearly 45 years old, it holds up pretty well. That either says a lot for how little we've changed as a culture in 45 years, or speaks to her ability to avoid "modernisms" that become outdated quickly.
Basically this is a polemic, supporting Maria Montessori and her methods of instructing young people. I find it interesting that in America, the "land of the individual," Montessori has had such a tough time catching on, despite being pretty much designed around respecting and supporting individual interests and development. I think that is because while adults in America are supposed to be rugged and self-supporting and independent, kids are supposed to be passive and obedient and tractable - I'm never quite sure how or when people are supposed to mature from the one category to the other.
If you're not familiar with Montessori, you will be after reading this book. What I find interesting personally is that a lot of Montessori's ideas have been corroborated by modern scientific testing and developmental studies of children. We now KNOW that kids develop in certain stages, that it's good for kids to try and amster new abilities, and that it's normal for them to focus on one ability to the exclusion of others (the early walker who won't talk, or the chatterbox who is still crawling at 16 months). In fact, other than her didactic "Sensitive Periods" which are debunked by a better understanding that ideas and experiences are picked up and processed sequentially through infancy and childhood, most of what Montessori learned through observation more than one hundred years ago is holding up pretty darn well to modern scientific discoveries.
Now, what I'd like to see, and haven't been able to find, is an actual "modern" update to this classic, talking about developments in science that back up their ideas. No luck so far tho.
Paula Polk Lillard
ISBN: 080520394X
(1971)
Read March 25, 2014
I finally actually read it! Bought a lovely 70's style orange and yellow paperback copy from the library book sale, and read it cover to cover in an afternoon. I'd seen it before, and have had it recommended several times, but never gotten around to it.
I have to say, despite being nearly 45 years old, it holds up pretty well. That either says a lot for how little we've changed as a culture in 45 years, or speaks to her ability to avoid "modernisms" that become outdated quickly.
Basically this is a polemic, supporting Maria Montessori and her methods of instructing young people. I find it interesting that in America, the "land of the individual," Montessori has had such a tough time catching on, despite being pretty much designed around respecting and supporting individual interests and development. I think that is because while adults in America are supposed to be rugged and self-supporting and independent, kids are supposed to be passive and obedient and tractable - I'm never quite sure how or when people are supposed to mature from the one category to the other.
If you're not familiar with Montessori, you will be after reading this book. What I find interesting personally is that a lot of Montessori's ideas have been corroborated by modern scientific testing and developmental studies of children. We now KNOW that kids develop in certain stages, that it's good for kids to try and amster new abilities, and that it's normal for them to focus on one ability to the exclusion of others (the early walker who won't talk, or the chatterbox who is still crawling at 16 months). In fact, other than her didactic "Sensitive Periods" which are debunked by a better understanding that ideas and experiences are picked up and processed sequentially through infancy and childhood, most of what Montessori learned through observation more than one hundred years ago is holding up pretty darn well to modern scientific discoveries.
Now, what I'd like to see, and haven't been able to find, is an actual "modern" update to this classic, talking about developments in science that back up their ideas. No luck so far tho.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Tuesday Storytime: Travel
This week's theme is entirely due to finding Miss Mouse Takes Off in the delivery one day by chance and loving it.
Miss Mouse Takes Off
Jan Ormerod
ISBN: 0688178715
Miss Mouse is a long-armed, long-legged stuffed mouse, and she engagingly narrates her airplane trip to visit Grandma, from check-in through the in-flight movie and back to the ground again. I love this so much because it's entirely factual, and doesn't over-glamorize or add fantastic or fantasy touches to the trip - it just stands on it's own as a mundane real life adventure.
Rattle and Rap
Susan Stegall
ISBN: 9781845077037
This one is super super short. Excellent choice for today, because I had a bunch of wiggle-worms. This might be better as a one-on-one book, because the illustrations are hugely detailed and interesting, but the word-count is so low that I'm not able to linger on them as much as I'd like because I have to keep the story (such as it is) flowing along. Essentially this is just an onomatopoeic journey on a train ride, from start "Tickets please, tickets please" to stop "End of the line, end of the line" with lots of train noises in between "rattle and rap" and "whistle and whine" and some basic descriptions "hurrying, hurrying, hurtling by" "skimming the sky, skimming the sky." Notable also for casual inclusion of multi-ethnic, multi-able characters.
Bear on a Bike
Stella Blackstone
Debbie Harter
ISBN: (Board Book) 9781841483757
There is supposed to be a hardcover edition of this, but I wasn't able to find one through our consortium, sadly. (Hardcover ISBN: 978190122491) A rhyming book, with paired page-spreads - one with the bear on a form of transport (bike, raft, boat, rocket), the second spread shows where the bear went. Ends with Bear on a rocket-ship heading out into space. Very sweet, very short. The rhymes are easy, but some of them don't scan particularly well for me: "I'm going to the seaside, / Where children love to play, / Where young friends dig and race / And swim, while fishes dart away."
Overall a nice set of short easy reads for our little ones today.
Miss Mouse Takes Off
Jan Ormerod
ISBN: 0688178715
Miss Mouse is a long-armed, long-legged stuffed mouse, and she engagingly narrates her airplane trip to visit Grandma, from check-in through the in-flight movie and back to the ground again. I love this so much because it's entirely factual, and doesn't over-glamorize or add fantastic or fantasy touches to the trip - it just stands on it's own as a mundane real life adventure.
Rattle and Rap
Susan Stegall
ISBN: 9781845077037
This one is super super short. Excellent choice for today, because I had a bunch of wiggle-worms. This might be better as a one-on-one book, because the illustrations are hugely detailed and interesting, but the word-count is so low that I'm not able to linger on them as much as I'd like because I have to keep the story (such as it is) flowing along. Essentially this is just an onomatopoeic journey on a train ride, from start "Tickets please, tickets please" to stop "End of the line, end of the line" with lots of train noises in between "rattle and rap" and "whistle and whine" and some basic descriptions "hurrying, hurrying, hurtling by" "skimming the sky, skimming the sky." Notable also for casual inclusion of multi-ethnic, multi-able characters.
Bear on a Bike
Stella Blackstone
Debbie Harter
ISBN: (Board Book) 9781841483757
There is supposed to be a hardcover edition of this, but I wasn't able to find one through our consortium, sadly. (Hardcover ISBN: 978190122491) A rhyming book, with paired page-spreads - one with the bear on a form of transport (bike, raft, boat, rocket), the second spread shows where the bear went. Ends with Bear on a rocket-ship heading out into space. Very sweet, very short. The rhymes are easy, but some of them don't scan particularly well for me: "I'm going to the seaside, / Where children love to play, / Where young friends dig and race / And swim, while fishes dart away."
Overall a nice set of short easy reads for our little ones today.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Tuesday Storytime: Hats
It's been a rough week so far - but storytime was great fun, with an attentive and lively small group. Always perks me up to be around the kids.
Our theme this week was hats!
Don't Touch My Hat!
James Rumford
ISBN: 9780375837821
I dearly love this book. I've used it for storytime more times than I can count. Sheriff John keeps the peace in the town of Sunshine through the "magic" power of his ten-gallon-hat (think lucky jersey or requisite bedtime lovey) - at least, so he thinks. One moonless night, trouble erupts, and he grabs a hat from the bedside table on his way out. The text never lets on until the end, but the illustrations are super-funny - all of the grizzled outlaws and wild mountain men are just staring with their jaws dropped. Fun western twang to read in, rollicking short story, great fun moral. Love love love this book.
Zoe's Hats
Sharon Lane Holm
ISBN: 9781590780428
Really short and snappy. Zoe is a French-cartoon-ish girl who obviously loves hats. She has all kinds, and the illustrations are always Zoe's face showing different expressions, under a different sort of hat, with just the identifier below: "Red Hat" "Blue Hat" or in the case of the colander "Gray, spotted, dotted hat." Super short, super simple.
Hat
Paul Hoppe
ISBN: 9781599902470
This one is actually a bit sad on a meta level, but it's fun and the illustrations are nifty. Very similar to Mercer Meyer's "Alligator" or "Monster" titles, or to Maurice Sendak. Henry finds a lovely bright red hat on a bench, and promptly covets it, imagining all the amazing things he can do with this hat. Until his mother reminds him that someone else might need that hat, and he begins to imagine other people in the situations he imagined, but sans hat, to astoundingly poignant cumulative impact, despite the humor of each scenario (a magician using a bucket instead of a hat pulls out a rotten fish skeleton, an explorer has been eaten by a crocodile - as evidenced by the person-shaped lump in the midsection of the croc.) Really strangely sweet.
Next week, we're traveling!
Our theme this week was hats!
Don't Touch My Hat!
James Rumford
ISBN: 9780375837821
I dearly love this book. I've used it for storytime more times than I can count. Sheriff John keeps the peace in the town of Sunshine through the "magic" power of his ten-gallon-hat (think lucky jersey or requisite bedtime lovey) - at least, so he thinks. One moonless night, trouble erupts, and he grabs a hat from the bedside table on his way out. The text never lets on until the end, but the illustrations are super-funny - all of the grizzled outlaws and wild mountain men are just staring with their jaws dropped. Fun western twang to read in, rollicking short story, great fun moral. Love love love this book.
Zoe's Hats
Sharon Lane Holm
ISBN: 9781590780428
Really short and snappy. Zoe is a French-cartoon-ish girl who obviously loves hats. She has all kinds, and the illustrations are always Zoe's face showing different expressions, under a different sort of hat, with just the identifier below: "Red Hat" "Blue Hat" or in the case of the colander "Gray, spotted, dotted hat." Super short, super simple.
Hat
Paul Hoppe
ISBN: 9781599902470
This one is actually a bit sad on a meta level, but it's fun and the illustrations are nifty. Very similar to Mercer Meyer's "Alligator" or "Monster" titles, or to Maurice Sendak. Henry finds a lovely bright red hat on a bench, and promptly covets it, imagining all the amazing things he can do with this hat. Until his mother reminds him that someone else might need that hat, and he begins to imagine other people in the situations he imagined, but sans hat, to astoundingly poignant cumulative impact, despite the humor of each scenario (a magician using a bucket instead of a hat pulls out a rotten fish skeleton, an explorer has been eaten by a crocodile - as evidenced by the person-shaped lump in the midsection of the croc.) Really strangely sweet.
Next week, we're traveling!
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Codex Born (Magic Ex Libris)
Codex Born
Jim C. Hines
ISBN: 9780756408169
Read March 15, 2014
This is the second installment in Hines' Magic Ex Libris series, and while I didn't like it quite as much as the first, it's a really teeny 'quite' - this is a solid sequel, and an excellent read in its own right, although I don't think it would be as enjoyable if you were picking it up without being familiar with the first one.
Isaac is trying to figure out how to live in a not-quite-threesome with a magical psychotherapist and a dryad who is defined by the needs and desires of her lovers. (Really interesting plotting involved there, and a lot of good thought put into implications and consequences.)
The villain situation is complicated this time around, with the conclusion of this book leaving the good guys having won the battle, but pretty sure they've fucked over the overall war. The Epilogue was expected, but still heartwrenching. I want to think happy thoughts for the character involved, but I've been burned too much in the past to truly hope. Damnit.
Now the interminable wait for the next installment!
Jim C. Hines
ISBN: 9780756408169
Read March 15, 2014
This is the second installment in Hines' Magic Ex Libris series, and while I didn't like it quite as much as the first, it's a really teeny 'quite' - this is a solid sequel, and an excellent read in its own right, although I don't think it would be as enjoyable if you were picking it up without being familiar with the first one.
Isaac is trying to figure out how to live in a not-quite-threesome with a magical psychotherapist and a dryad who is defined by the needs and desires of her lovers. (Really interesting plotting involved there, and a lot of good thought put into implications and consequences.)
The villain situation is complicated this time around, with the conclusion of this book leaving the good guys having won the battle, but pretty sure they've fucked over the overall war. The Epilogue was expected, but still heartwrenching. I want to think happy thoughts for the character involved, but I've been burned too much in the past to truly hope. Damnit.
Now the interminable wait for the next installment!
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Re-read: Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris) Jim C. Hines
Libriomancer
Jim C. Hines
ISBN: 9780756407391
Re-read March 13, 2014
So the sequel Codex Born is sitting on my to-read pile, and I dislike heading into sequels without being fresh on the previous installments (although Sanderson is likely to break me of that particular habit with the Stormlight Archive) so I got to read Libriomancer again. Yay!
This book just gets me in the feels. I'm not a magician, but I am a librarian, and this book totally gets it. The joy of finding obscure knowledge, of cataloging and organizing physical artifacts into a coherent and searchable whole, the drive to learn (to read) everything possible, the instinct to share that knowledge (usually by grandstanding). It also relishes (and tortures) the physicality of books and pages and bookshelves, of sagging shelves and dusty rooms and bent covers and broken spines and old paperbacks with decades-old childish repair attempts in bad scotch tape.
In fact, it gets so much of my own passion and life right, I don't even mind the tarantula - er, scuse me - 'fire spider' even though normally that would be a death knell.
I think I did a shorty review on this when I read it first, but I wanted to pop back in and say that it held up quite nicely for a re-read. Even when the motives and identity of the baddie are no longer a surprise, they're still creepy and imposing as a challenge to our heroes.
Finally, you gotta love any book that ends by setting up a threesome with a nonhuman keystone as a workable relationship fix. Mercedes Lackey blew my mind with that way back in Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, and I'm happy to see it pop up again.
Jim C. Hines
ISBN: 9780756407391
Re-read March 13, 2014
So the sequel Codex Born is sitting on my to-read pile, and I dislike heading into sequels without being fresh on the previous installments (although Sanderson is likely to break me of that particular habit with the Stormlight Archive) so I got to read Libriomancer again. Yay!
This book just gets me in the feels. I'm not a magician, but I am a librarian, and this book totally gets it. The joy of finding obscure knowledge, of cataloging and organizing physical artifacts into a coherent and searchable whole, the drive to learn (to read) everything possible, the instinct to share that knowledge (usually by grandstanding). It also relishes (and tortures) the physicality of books and pages and bookshelves, of sagging shelves and dusty rooms and bent covers and broken spines and old paperbacks with decades-old childish repair attempts in bad scotch tape.
In fact, it gets so much of my own passion and life right, I don't even mind the tarantula - er, scuse me - 'fire spider' even though normally that would be a death knell.
I think I did a shorty review on this when I read it first, but I wanted to pop back in and say that it held up quite nicely for a re-read. Even when the motives and identity of the baddie are no longer a surprise, they're still creepy and imposing as a challenge to our heroes.
Finally, you gotta love any book that ends by setting up a threesome with a nonhuman keystone as a workable relationship fix. Mercedes Lackey blew my mind with that way back in Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, and I'm happy to see it pop up again.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
The Ghost Bride, Yangsze Choo
The Ghost Bride
Yangsze Choo
ISBN: 9780062227324
Read March 10, 2014
Historical Malaysian Fantasy, Chinese afterlife.
I've had this book on my pile for at least three months now, probably closer to four months, and while the cover and title drew me in initially, I just never felt like reaching out and grabbing it. The blurb on the flaps was interesting enough to keep it ON the pile as I purged it and changed it each month, but not enough to get me started on it. My mind is weird that way sometimes.
I also read a blogposting recently by a fantasy author who was bemoaning the fact that she's burned out on stereotypical fantasy - the vague European setting, the men in billowing cloaks, the assassins and mage apprentices and wealthy disaffected daughters of the nobility. I was nodding along through the whole rant, because I've been feeling it too. In fact, I haven't read much fantasy recently, exactly because of that.
So, here's this lovely, sweet, easily-paced, dreamlike gem of a book with a Chinese-afterlife-inspired fantasy world set in Malaysia. Sitting on my desk for months. I need to read something. Perfect timing.
So I finally read it yesterday.
It's really good.
I love the slightly bemused tone set by the narrator (the protagonist, looking back in time and recalling the story) even though usually those sorts of narrators kill the urgency, because you know, of course they aren't dead - they're narrating the book! However, with this set-up, where hungry ghosts haunt the living and revered ancestors hang out for centuries in the plains of the dead (avoiding their just punishments through donations and bribes to the corrupt gatekeepers) there's no real way to know if our pensive narrator is in fact among the dead.
Even the love triangle (quadrangle?) wasn't bad - it isn't my favorite plot device to have people mooning over each other and being indecisive, but it was actually central to the plot and to how life and marriage arrangements worked in that time and place.
Loved Er Lang, loved Chendana the wooden horse, and loved the final complication set before the protagonist.
I also enjoyed that the protagonist started off sheltered and innocent, but was always willful and ready to take matters into her own hands to decide her fate. Despite being confused by love and desire and duty (always a tangled mess anyway) she wasn't passive or indifferent, which is a nice precedent to set.
I find myself thinking that this book is what I had hoped 8 Million Gods would be.
I very much hope Choo writes another one, perhaps even a sequel!
Yangsze Choo
ISBN: 9780062227324
Read March 10, 2014
Historical Malaysian Fantasy, Chinese afterlife.
I've had this book on my pile for at least three months now, probably closer to four months, and while the cover and title drew me in initially, I just never felt like reaching out and grabbing it. The blurb on the flaps was interesting enough to keep it ON the pile as I purged it and changed it each month, but not enough to get me started on it. My mind is weird that way sometimes.
I also read a blogposting recently by a fantasy author who was bemoaning the fact that she's burned out on stereotypical fantasy - the vague European setting, the men in billowing cloaks, the assassins and mage apprentices and wealthy disaffected daughters of the nobility. I was nodding along through the whole rant, because I've been feeling it too. In fact, I haven't read much fantasy recently, exactly because of that.
So, here's this lovely, sweet, easily-paced, dreamlike gem of a book with a Chinese-afterlife-inspired fantasy world set in Malaysia. Sitting on my desk for months. I need to read something. Perfect timing.
So I finally read it yesterday.
It's really good.
I love the slightly bemused tone set by the narrator (the protagonist, looking back in time and recalling the story) even though usually those sorts of narrators kill the urgency, because you know, of course they aren't dead - they're narrating the book! However, with this set-up, where hungry ghosts haunt the living and revered ancestors hang out for centuries in the plains of the dead (avoiding their just punishments through donations and bribes to the corrupt gatekeepers) there's no real way to know if our pensive narrator is in fact among the dead.
Even the love triangle (quadrangle?) wasn't bad - it isn't my favorite plot device to have people mooning over each other and being indecisive, but it was actually central to the plot and to how life and marriage arrangements worked in that time and place.
Loved Er Lang, loved Chendana the wooden horse, and loved the final complication set before the protagonist.
I also enjoyed that the protagonist started off sheltered and innocent, but was always willful and ready to take matters into her own hands to decide her fate. Despite being confused by love and desire and duty (always a tangled mess anyway) she wasn't passive or indifferent, which is a nice precedent to set.
I find myself thinking that this book is what I had hoped 8 Million Gods would be.
I very much hope Choo writes another one, perhaps even a sequel!
How Toddlers Thrive, Tovah P. Klein, PhD
How Toddlers Thrive
Tovah P. Kein, PhD
ISBN: 9781476735139
Read March 6, 2014
Nonfiction: parenting, education.
Interesting focus here, approaching toddlerhood through the lens of understanding WHY toddlers are demanding contrary little beasts; what's actually going on mentally and emotionally that causes their behaviors.
Some really insightful bits, but overall the tone is a little too upbeat - having seen lots of toddlers myself, I think that it can never hurt to really emphasize that no matter how good your understanding, or how talented and in-touch your parenting, there are going to be battles of wills, there are going to be tantrums, and there are going to be moments when you (the parent) want to tear your hair out by the roots, and that this is all normal and ok. I didn't feel like the book really addressed that quite seriously enough.
That said, I did like the focus on how toddlers live in the now, that they don't have an ability to understand the day in sequence or handle transitions well, and that as a parent your job isn't to make them happy, but to help them learn to navigate their big and complex and scary emotions - especially the ones that society considers "bad" - without making the kid feel bad or shamed or unworthy or unloved. Easy peasy, right?
Finally, I was interested in the approach to sharing. She emphasized that the kid has to be both developmentally and emotionally ready to share, and that forcing the issue often backfires. In other words, young kids are working out the concepts of "me" and "mine" and they conflate the two. If you force a child to share what they still think of as part of themselves, that doesn't help them set up healthy emotional boundaries, and also causes them to feel that their identity is unrecognized or worse, unimportant. After they get the idea that they are not their things, they still emotionally need to have their own things be theirs - to have the concept that their needs are important, recognized, and met. Once they are secure in their feelings of self, and their feelings of ownership, then (at least according to the author) they should not only share, but share willingly and of their own impulse. I'm not so sure I buy that they'll miraculously jump into sharing on their own accord, but I do understand the ideas of letting them figure out themselves and their stuff before making them share (ie - give away) what is important to them, when they don't have a mental framework to understand why it is important to share (no sense of empathy yet, or theory of mind to understand that other people even have wants/needs), or even that they will get the shared item back (no developed time-sense, living in the now).
Now, on how to balance that revelation with a society that looks on sharing as the prime directive of toddlerhood and socialization? No advice for parents there, thanks so much, author lady!
Tovah P. Kein, PhD
ISBN: 9781476735139
Read March 6, 2014
Nonfiction: parenting, education.
Interesting focus here, approaching toddlerhood through the lens of understanding WHY toddlers are demanding contrary little beasts; what's actually going on mentally and emotionally that causes their behaviors.
Some really insightful bits, but overall the tone is a little too upbeat - having seen lots of toddlers myself, I think that it can never hurt to really emphasize that no matter how good your understanding, or how talented and in-touch your parenting, there are going to be battles of wills, there are going to be tantrums, and there are going to be moments when you (the parent) want to tear your hair out by the roots, and that this is all normal and ok. I didn't feel like the book really addressed that quite seriously enough.
That said, I did like the focus on how toddlers live in the now, that they don't have an ability to understand the day in sequence or handle transitions well, and that as a parent your job isn't to make them happy, but to help them learn to navigate their big and complex and scary emotions - especially the ones that society considers "bad" - without making the kid feel bad or shamed or unworthy or unloved. Easy peasy, right?
Finally, I was interested in the approach to sharing. She emphasized that the kid has to be both developmentally and emotionally ready to share, and that forcing the issue often backfires. In other words, young kids are working out the concepts of "me" and "mine" and they conflate the two. If you force a child to share what they still think of as part of themselves, that doesn't help them set up healthy emotional boundaries, and also causes them to feel that their identity is unrecognized or worse, unimportant. After they get the idea that they are not their things, they still emotionally need to have their own things be theirs - to have the concept that their needs are important, recognized, and met. Once they are secure in their feelings of self, and their feelings of ownership, then (at least according to the author) they should not only share, but share willingly and of their own impulse. I'm not so sure I buy that they'll miraculously jump into sharing on their own accord, but I do understand the ideas of letting them figure out themselves and their stuff before making them share (ie - give away) what is important to them, when they don't have a mental framework to understand why it is important to share (no sense of empathy yet, or theory of mind to understand that other people even have wants/needs), or even that they will get the shared item back (no developed time-sense, living in the now).
Now, on how to balance that revelation with a society that looks on sharing as the prime directive of toddlerhood and socialization? No advice for parents there, thanks so much, author lady!
Tuesday Storytime: Owls
I like owls. I also like that there are umpty-bajillion picture books about owls, which makes searching for new and interesting ones very easy.
Owls are also a bit "on trend" at the moment, as far as decorating goes. Weird how that works.
Here's what we read today!
cock-a-doodle-hooooooo!
Mick Manning, illustrated by Brita Granstrom
ISBN: 9781561485680
A poor lost owl blunders into a hen-house, where the chickens try to recruit him to be their rooster, but he's woefully unsuited to chicken-like behaviors, especially crowing. However, the hens re-prioritize when rats invade their hen-house, and owl behaviors come in handy.
Wow! Said the Owl
Tim Hopgood
ISBN: 9780374385187
This one is sweet and short (longer review in one of my Storytime Potentials posts) and was a perfect middle selection for my rowdy crowd today.
I'm Not Sleepy!
Jane Chapman
ISBN: 9781561487653
Again, longer review in my Storytime Potentials post, but this one was a good closer, with the focus on bedtime and winding down. I had a few wiggleworms, and a couple of crying bouts (daylight savings time is rough on everyone) but we got through it pretty well.
Overall, pretty happy with how these flowed together.
Next week: hats!
Owls are also a bit "on trend" at the moment, as far as decorating goes. Weird how that works.
Here's what we read today!
cock-a-doodle-hooooooo!
Mick Manning, illustrated by Brita Granstrom
ISBN: 9781561485680
A poor lost owl blunders into a hen-house, where the chickens try to recruit him to be their rooster, but he's woefully unsuited to chicken-like behaviors, especially crowing. However, the hens re-prioritize when rats invade their hen-house, and owl behaviors come in handy.
Wow! Said the Owl
Tim Hopgood
ISBN: 9780374385187
This one is sweet and short (longer review in one of my Storytime Potentials posts) and was a perfect middle selection for my rowdy crowd today.
I'm Not Sleepy!
Jane Chapman
ISBN: 9781561487653
Again, longer review in my Storytime Potentials post, but this one was a good closer, with the focus on bedtime and winding down. I had a few wiggleworms, and a couple of crying bouts (daylight savings time is rough on everyone) but we got through it pretty well.
Overall, pretty happy with how these flowed together.
Next week: hats!
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
So I just realized I never did review Bombshells...
Bombshells
short Dresdenverse story by Jim Butcher
found in Dangerous Women anthology
curated and edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
ISBN: 9780765332066
This is the comment from my review of Ghoul Goblin:
"(I did get to read Molly's story Bombshells in the Dangerous Women anthology (GRR Martin, ISBN: 9780765332066) this past weekend (January 5th, 2014), and I can say it's a measure of how much I miss the Dresdenverse that I chose to read that instead of Sanderson's Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, which I STILL have not gotten to read.)"
So I need to remedy that:
Poor Molly. This shows how frazzled and thinly-spread the magical coverage is for Chicago now that Harry is AWOL. It also showed how much she's grown, and how she's really coming into her magical heritage.
I loved seeing the three different women (mage, vampire thrall, and werewolf if you're keeping track at home) work through their problem in a very nice use of "soft power" and then feel equally free to discard that approach and move straight into physicality with no qualms.
Loved the elvenkind (especially when compared to the Marvel universe depiction of them) and their approach to beauty and money. The fae are getting on my nerves a bit, but Godmother is still doing her thing in rare form, bless her. I live in hope that Molly will set her on fire at some point.
Sadly, now that Harry's all godlike and snared in fae politics, it's a relief to see more earthbound issues with the old crew in Chicago, just like it was to see him back in the past when he wasn't as hugely powerful. A bit sad that I feel that way, but it is how it is.
short Dresdenverse story by Jim Butcher
found in Dangerous Women anthology
curated and edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
ISBN: 9780765332066
This is the comment from my review of Ghoul Goblin:
"(I did get to read Molly's story Bombshells in the Dangerous Women anthology (GRR Martin, ISBN: 9780765332066) this past weekend (January 5th, 2014), and I can say it's a measure of how much I miss the Dresdenverse that I chose to read that instead of Sanderson's Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, which I STILL have not gotten to read.)"
So I need to remedy that:
Poor Molly. This shows how frazzled and thinly-spread the magical coverage is for Chicago now that Harry is AWOL. It also showed how much she's grown, and how she's really coming into her magical heritage.
I loved seeing the three different women (mage, vampire thrall, and werewolf if you're keeping track at home) work through their problem in a very nice use of "soft power" and then feel equally free to discard that approach and move straight into physicality with no qualms.
Loved the elvenkind (especially when compared to the Marvel universe depiction of them) and their approach to beauty and money. The fae are getting on my nerves a bit, but Godmother is still doing her thing in rare form, bless her. I live in hope that Molly will set her on fire at some point.
Sadly, now that Harry's all godlike and snared in fae politics, it's a relief to see more earthbound issues with the old crew in Chicago, just like it was to see him back in the past when he wasn't as hugely powerful. A bit sad that I feel that way, but it is how it is.
Short Story: Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
short Cosmere story by Brandon Sanderson
Found in: Dangerous Women
Collection curated and edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
ISBN: 9780765332066
Lord in heaven it took me forever to get round to this. I read Jim Butcher's Dresdenverse story from this anthology way back in November? December? and I've been trying to get to this one, but between illness and busywork, it just wasn't happening, and I never want to force myself to read something - I'm afraid I'll jinx it.
So, here we have another Cosmere story (which was pretty damn obvious from the get-go, although I did check his blog to be absolutely sure) set in an unnamed new world because of course it is (jealousy is a terrible awful feeling).
I like this world. I want to go back. Hell, I want to stay there. I want to know more about the Shades, and the Rules, and the Homesteaders, and the Fortfolk, and where the Homeland was, and why they left, and all about the God Below, and why the HELL they ended up in this godawful forest (how big is it?) and how long it took before their ancestors figured everything out (or how much they figured out and what they got wrong)....
He always does this to me. His worlds are so interesting and his stories are always just giving you enough to understand what's going on at the moment while hinting at ages and eons and lives full of history behind and around them, and I just want to know all the things!!! I swear, if this man taught actual real human history, people would give a shit. It's just unreal.
In a way, it's good to have read this just now, because that primes me up for Words of Radiance, which I should be getting soonish (the post office hates me) and at least I can distract myself with another world that I care deeply about and want to know all the things.
But still. I really need to know more about this Forest. Really really really badly. Poor William. Poor Sebruki. Aaaargh.
short Cosmere story by Brandon Sanderson
Found in: Dangerous Women
Collection curated and edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
ISBN: 9780765332066
Lord in heaven it took me forever to get round to this. I read Jim Butcher's Dresdenverse story from this anthology way back in November? December? and I've been trying to get to this one, but between illness and busywork, it just wasn't happening, and I never want to force myself to read something - I'm afraid I'll jinx it.
So, here we have another Cosmere story (which was pretty damn obvious from the get-go, although I did check his blog to be absolutely sure) set in an unnamed new world because of course it is (jealousy is a terrible awful feeling).
I like this world. I want to go back. Hell, I want to stay there. I want to know more about the Shades, and the Rules, and the Homesteaders, and the Fortfolk, and where the Homeland was, and why they left, and all about the God Below, and why the HELL they ended up in this godawful forest (how big is it?) and how long it took before their ancestors figured everything out (or how much they figured out and what they got wrong)....
He always does this to me. His worlds are so interesting and his stories are always just giving you enough to understand what's going on at the moment while hinting at ages and eons and lives full of history behind and around them, and I just want to know all the things!!! I swear, if this man taught actual real human history, people would give a shit. It's just unreal.
In a way, it's good to have read this just now, because that primes me up for Words of Radiance, which I should be getting soonish (the post office hates me) and at least I can distract myself with another world that I care deeply about and want to know all the things.
But still. I really need to know more about this Forest. Really really really badly. Poor William. Poor Sebruki. Aaaargh.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Storytime Potentials: Toot & Puddle, Holly Hobbie
Toot & Puddle
Holly Hobbie
ISBN: 9780316167024
Read March 4, 2014
I pulled this one for my upcoming "travel" theme, but it doesn't quite fit the tone of the other two books that I'm using there, so I'm putting it aside to use for something else. I'm moving it over to friendship, as I really like that topic, and there are so many good and different books that encompass the ideas of being a good friend.
I hadn't looked at this book in years, and I was happy to see that it was pretty simple and straightforward, without too much text. It will work great for storytime, just not for what I originally hoped.
Toot and Puddle are best friends, but Toot wants to see the world - Puddle is a homebody. Toot sends lovely postcards, and Puddle has a lovely year at home, and they come together at the end with lots to talk about.
I think I'm going to use this with The Story of Fish and Snail, and now I just need a third!
Holly Hobbie
ISBN: 9780316167024
Read March 4, 2014
I pulled this one for my upcoming "travel" theme, but it doesn't quite fit the tone of the other two books that I'm using there, so I'm putting it aside to use for something else. I'm moving it over to friendship, as I really like that topic, and there are so many good and different books that encompass the ideas of being a good friend.
I hadn't looked at this book in years, and I was happy to see that it was pretty simple and straightforward, without too much text. It will work great for storytime, just not for what I originally hoped.
Toot and Puddle are best friends, but Toot wants to see the world - Puddle is a homebody. Toot sends lovely postcards, and Puddle has a lovely year at home, and they come together at the end with lots to talk about.
I think I'm going to use this with The Story of Fish and Snail, and now I just need a third!
Tuesday Storytime: Larger than Life Women
A super-cold day today, so only a few came. Still, we had a great time!
This is the partner to my "Larger than Life Men" that I did in January.
Dona Flor: A Tall Tale About a Giant Woman with a Great Big Heart
Pat Mora, illustrated by Raul Colon
ISBN: 0375823379
This is a bit on the long side for my group, but it's very repetitive, so it's possible to skip over pages without missing anything if you really need to. We did the whole book today, but if the group was any larger, I was planning to take advantage of that if I had need. Dona Flor's mother sang to her plants and her child as she raised them, and each ended up being giant sized. Now Flor lives in a village and tries to be motherly and helpful to her neighbors, especially now that they're menaced by the sounds of an enormous angry puma. Lovely lovely lovely illustrations, sweet story, and a cute ending - no violence (except an accidental black eye).
Stand Straight, Ella Kate: The True Story of a Real Giant
Kate Klise, illustrated by M. Sarah Klise
ISBN: 9780803734043
Ella Kate was from a small midwestern town, and she grew to be a giant - 8'4" at her tallest! Thanks to a kind and supportive family, she never felt too down about being oversized, and even went on tour with a traveling circus to earn money and support herself (which was rare for any woman back then). I love the way the book ended with her coming back home to share stories of her adventures with her friends.
My Mom
Anthony Browne
ISBN: 0374350981
An older book, but a consistently good one for storytimes. Usually I'd do the short book (which this is) in the middle, but I liked the idea of bringing the theme from fantastical to historical to actual by ending on a family-oriented note. The repeated use of the floral motif makes for a lovely through-line. The repeated "very nice" is also sweet.
First Runner Up (not used today, but have in the past and will in future)
Brave Margaret
Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Sally Wen Comport
ISBN: 0689810725
This was also on the long side, so I wouldn't have been able to do both it and Dona Flor. I went with Flor because I wanted to be at least a little diverse when I can be, and also because of the Spanish vocabulary used. However, Brave Margaret is a lovely story, and when I do princesses or heroines, she's at the top of my list. I super-love the illustrations, and I like that Margaret is straightforward about what she wants, and her abilities to do it.
Next week? Owls!
This is the partner to my "Larger than Life Men" that I did in January.
Dona Flor: A Tall Tale About a Giant Woman with a Great Big Heart
Pat Mora, illustrated by Raul Colon
ISBN: 0375823379
This is a bit on the long side for my group, but it's very repetitive, so it's possible to skip over pages without missing anything if you really need to. We did the whole book today, but if the group was any larger, I was planning to take advantage of that if I had need. Dona Flor's mother sang to her plants and her child as she raised them, and each ended up being giant sized. Now Flor lives in a village and tries to be motherly and helpful to her neighbors, especially now that they're menaced by the sounds of an enormous angry puma. Lovely lovely lovely illustrations, sweet story, and a cute ending - no violence (except an accidental black eye).
Stand Straight, Ella Kate: The True Story of a Real Giant
Kate Klise, illustrated by M. Sarah Klise
ISBN: 9780803734043
Ella Kate was from a small midwestern town, and she grew to be a giant - 8'4" at her tallest! Thanks to a kind and supportive family, she never felt too down about being oversized, and even went on tour with a traveling circus to earn money and support herself (which was rare for any woman back then). I love the way the book ended with her coming back home to share stories of her adventures with her friends.
My Mom
Anthony Browne
ISBN: 0374350981
An older book, but a consistently good one for storytimes. Usually I'd do the short book (which this is) in the middle, but I liked the idea of bringing the theme from fantastical to historical to actual by ending on a family-oriented note. The repeated use of the floral motif makes for a lovely through-line. The repeated "very nice" is also sweet.
First Runner Up (not used today, but have in the past and will in future)
Brave Margaret
Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Sally Wen Comport
ISBN: 0689810725
This was also on the long side, so I wouldn't have been able to do both it and Dona Flor. I went with Flor because I wanted to be at least a little diverse when I can be, and also because of the Spanish vocabulary used. However, Brave Margaret is a lovely story, and when I do princesses or heroines, she's at the top of my list. I super-love the illustrations, and I like that Margaret is straightforward about what she wants, and her abilities to do it.
Next week? Owls!
The Science of Happily Ever After, Ty Tashiro, PhD
The Science of Happily Ever After
Ty Tashiro, PhD
ISBN: 9780373892907 (by HARLEQUIN!!!)
Read March 3, 2014
Nonfiction: relationship advice.
In case you wondered, yes I am in a relationship, and yes, it is pretty good as relationships go. I read these for the science of relationships and for understanding how people tick.
This one was not as science-y as I had hoped (yes, I'm that person who actually likes to hear about chemicals and responses and causation vs correlation), but still a good fact-and-research based bit of info about what people DO go for (yay society and evolution) vs what they SHOULD go for (because we've got basic survival in the bag, and what makes you LIVE is very different from what makes you HAPPY).
Also, Dr Tashiro has a really engaging and sweet writing style, and he really gives off the impression that he is just rooting for everyone to find someone to be happy with, and to make their relationship work.
I hope he writes another book - I'd read it in a heartbeat. :)
Ty Tashiro, PhD
ISBN: 9780373892907 (by HARLEQUIN!!!)
Read March 3, 2014
Nonfiction: relationship advice.
In case you wondered, yes I am in a relationship, and yes, it is pretty good as relationships go. I read these for the science of relationships and for understanding how people tick.
This one was not as science-y as I had hoped (yes, I'm that person who actually likes to hear about chemicals and responses and causation vs correlation), but still a good fact-and-research based bit of info about what people DO go for (yay society and evolution) vs what they SHOULD go for (because we've got basic survival in the bag, and what makes you LIVE is very different from what makes you HAPPY).
Also, Dr Tashiro has a really engaging and sweet writing style, and he really gives off the impression that he is just rooting for everyone to find someone to be happy with, and to make their relationship work.
I hope he writes another book - I'd read it in a heartbeat. :)
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