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Monday, December 17, 2012

Hey Presto! by Nadi Shireen

Hey Presto! by Nadia Shireen
Presto, a wide-eyed cat, and Monty, a dog, decide to put on a magic show. The problem is that Monty won't share the spotlight with his friend. Presto eventually gets fed up and leaves Monty to his own devices.

Monty learns he can't do everything by himself. He also learns that team work is better than going solo. A forgiving Presto is glad to have his friend back. Although it is somewhat predictable, Hey Presto! teaches a valuable lesson: "Together...they put on the perfect show."

Shireen's art work easily captures the emotions and the comedy of the situations. For more of Nadia Shireen's art, www.nadiashireen.com.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson

The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
When she and her boyfriend, Dom, move into a crumbling Provencal house, Eve never expects to be drawn into the hamlet's mystery. Charmed by Dom in Switzerland, Eve quickly moves in with him.
Eve never questions her boyfriend's past or why he left his ex-wife Rachel. A mystery woman, Sabine, seems to have some of the answers but Dom wants to force Eve and Sabine apart.
Strange events, flickering lights, strange scents, stones thrown against a window pane and a falling light fixture cause Eve alarm; plus, there is a growing distance between her and Dom.
Under a floorboard, she finds a child's book of Provencal tales and the history of the house's former owners, the Lincels, begisn to unfold. Eve is fascinated by the Lincel's story--Pierre's cruelty and Marthe's determination to become a perfume maker despite her blindness. After creating a famous scent, Lavande du Nuit, Marthe disappears under mysterious circumstances.
The author who spends much of her time in Provence drew inspiration for this book from the fact that the company, L'Occitane en Provence, formed a foundation in 1997 to introduce visually impaired children to perfume creation.
If you like mysteries and books set in Provence, you will love The Lantern. For a similar work, try the equally fascinating, Ghosts of Kerfol by Deborah Noyes.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The River Wife by Joni Agee

The River Wife by Joni Agee.



The River Wife is a panoramic story--from the 1812 New Madrid quake to the 1930s. Central to the story is the enigmatic, Jacques DuCharme, a one-armed river pirate whose wealth and wild ways become legendary.

Lonely and pregnant, Hedie Ducharmes Rails finds a journal that belongs to Annie Lark, who is married to Jacques Ducharme, a descendant of Jacques DuCharme. Though Hedie does not to hear a sad story, Annie's story quickly becomes a part of her own. According to Hedie, "Annie's voice kept speaking in my head as if it had become my own."

Hedie reads how Jacques rescued Annie, by removing the beam that crushed her legs in the New Madrid quake. They become man and wife but Jacques never allows Annie to become a true wife. He calls her a "queen" but wants her to stay outside of his economic pursuits. He conceals how he makes money--how he operates Jacques Landing, the inn he built along the Mississippi.

What is sad is that Annie Lark never finds the respect and equality she craves from her husband, Jacques. She turns to Audubon because he respects Annie's art work and scientific pursuits. Turning to Audubon, however, leads to tragedy. Annie and Jacques become estranged which indirectly leads to Annie's death.

Omah's story dominates the second part of the book. A free
African-American woman, Omah becomes Jacques' partner in his illicit business. Since she is on a more equal footing with him, she is, in a way, Jacques' true wife.

Omah participates in Jacques' river piracy and accumulates a share of his wealth. The wealth gives her status that she would not have otherwise. When Jacques marries Laura, Omah insists that she is not be called Laura's girl or servant.

Though she participates in his piracy, Omah's bravery and loyalty is admirable. She accompanies Laura to Hot Springs, AK where trouble brews anew. Laura's disloyalty contrasts sharply with Omah's steadfastness. Still, its hard to believe that Jacques lets Laura--the mother of his only child--succumb to the cruel fate that befalls her.

The last part of the novel focuses upon Little Maddie Ducharme who was just a baby when her mother died. Her story is also tinged with sadness. Like her contemporary counterpart, Hedie Ducharme Railes, Maddie is consumed with saving Jacques' Landing. Though her husband wants to return to Montana, she insists on staying and raising her child on her father's land.

The novel can be seen an ancestor tale with the ghosts of the past visiting succeeding generations. Annie Lark's ghost visits Maddie DuCharme in one crucial scene.  Her journal gets into the hands of Hedie DuCharme Rails who, like Maddie, also sets her sights on finding Jacques' ill-gotten wealth.

The River Wife is a fast-paced read filled with adventure, heartache, tragedy, and beauty. If you like family dramas and historical novels, you will enjoy this book.

Agee's most recent novel is The Bones of Paradise

Agee is a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
http://www.unl.edu/english/jonis-agee

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Swamplandia by Karen Russell

Swamplandia by Karen Russell

The Bigtrees have grown up in the Southwest tip of Florida--in the Ten Thousand Islands--where they have run a unique theme park, Swamplandia. With the exception of Ossie, all of the family members are alligator wrestlers. The star attraction is Ava's mother who dives in a pool of seths, their pet name for alligators.

Their successful business collapses when their star dies of cancer, leaving the business in debt.

Poor Ava Bigtree has been abandoned by her mother; her father; her brother; and her sister, who eloped with a ghost.

No wonder she befriends the Bird Man and jumps at the chance to find Ossie in the Underworld, which coincidently is in the Florida swamplands.

Ava mostly rescues herself by running away from a dangerous situation and the alligator infested swamp. The second rescue in which Kiwi Bigtree, navigating a plane for the first time, rescues Osceola strains credulity. The reunion of the Bigtrees, however, at the Bowl-a-Bed hotel is too good to miss.

The premise is one of the strangest in all of literature but its written with great charm, humor, and insight.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

Like a literary archaeological expedition, this sparkling crime novel opens up numerous layers of reality. Nick is the ultimate all-American boy and Amy is the coolest girl around. Reading their accounts gives you that view but then each of them offers their own contrasting view. As it turns out, Amy's diaries were not truthful and Nick's persona is an act. Amy has a few dark secrets and the all-American boy is not as perfect as he seems. Nick looks and act suspicious but did he kill Amy and was she pregnant?

Nick and Amy, who both believe they are New York sophisticates, play complicated mind games and there's nothing more fascinating than a novel that pull off that well. Amy gives her spouse a scavenger hunt each year on their anniversary which always leads to quarrels and hurt feelings. Nick believes that on his 5th anniversary Amy has outdone herself, created an elaborate scavenger hunt, gone into hiding and framed him for her murder. The more he finds out about Amy's past lovers, the made-up testimonies, and broken friendships, the more he believes she is a sociopath who has framed him.

Other novels that use mind games:
The Bellwether Revivials by Benjamin Wood

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Jonah Lehrer's Downfall and the Boy Who Cried Wolf


How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer
 In folklore, a boy cries "Wolf" and loses all credibility. No one believes him the next time he cries "Wolf"  which leads inexorably to him be eaten up.

The boy who cried wolf is a fitting analogy for Jonah Lehrer, author of Proust was a Neuroscientist, How We Decide, and Imagine.

Best-selling author and wunderkind journalist has been called out for self-plagiarizing: that is duplicating material and submitting it to two competing news agencies. Five of Lehrer's New Yorker posts now come with editorial notes regretting "duplication" of material published earlier. Unfortunately for Lehrer, the postings are not a re-spin or an update but an almost verbatim duplication of earlier material.

Lehrer's book Imagine is even more problematic as it contains undocumented quotations and, as it turns out, completely fabricated quotations ascribed to the singer Bob Dylan.

Publisher, Harcourt-Mifflin, has pulled Imagine largely because of the fabricated Dylan quotations.

In How We Decide, an earlier work, Lehrer quotes quarterback, Tom Brady; Plato; Thomas Jefferson; Sigmund Freud; Francisco Goya; MIT professor, Marvin Minsky; neurologist, Antonio Damasio; David Hume; Days of Our Lives director, Herb Stein; NYU neuroscientist, Joseph LeDoux; American philosopher, William James, and many others.

Naturally, any reader would now want to know if any of these quotations were fabricated. Lehrer's publisher Harcourt-Mifflin is reportedly reviewing all of  his books.
As it turns out, Lehrer has fabricated more than just the Dylan quotations. Kevin Breen in The Skeptical Libertarian exposes yet another falsehood.

In Imagine Lehrer describes Teller of the magic duo, Penn and Teller, as ready to quit magic in the early eighties. He quotes Teller as saying, "I was ready to go back home and become a high-school Latin teacher."

Breen of The Skeptical Libertarian tracks Teller down in Las Vegas who purports he never gave Lehrer the quote abou being ready to give up.

The false Teller quote is actually worst than the fabricated Dylan quotations. The Dylan quotations, while false, are not completely out of character with the man.

If you create something that is utterly false (a Wolf), inevitably you will lose credibility. It remains to be seen whether Lehrer's reputation or personal brand will survive but the odds are against him--as they should be.







Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Review of Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

All Chip Linton wants when he moves to Bethel, New Hampshire is a little peace and quiet for his family. He has already survived the unthinkable, a plane crash. Since he was the pilot, he blames himself for not being able to pull off a "Miracle on the Hudson" type maneuver.

Tragically, Linton is not able to pull off the same type of miracle and 39 of the flight's passengers die. In therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, Chip vows never to fly again.

Emily, Chip's wife, decides the family needs to move away from Philadelphia but she has a difficult time adjusting to the Victorian house. She's grateful for the anonymity; she was tired of fielding questions about the crash.

On the other hand, she finds the house's history creepy. The former inhabitant's twelve-year-old son is rumored to have killed himself in the house. The house's internal structure is strange: each of the three floors is a little narrower than the preceding one, the wallpaper is hideous, and the basement has a bolted door that seemingly leads nowhere.

In addition, why are there so many greenhouses in Bethel? Every house, including the one Chip and Emily have just bought, seem to have one. Why does everyone in the town seem overly interested in the Linton twins.
Bohjalian's narrative most freely back and forth among all the characters but it is actually the twins' impressions which stand out. Despite their father's fragility and nightmares, the twins are face even greater dangers.

This is marvelous, well-researched novel by one of America's best writers. Chris Bohjalian writes that he spoke to countless pilots to get the details right.

The epilogue, however, made me sad. While I didn't expect Chip to become an all-American hero  that Sully Sullenberger was, I thought he could at least save his family from the herbalists. The ending is disturbing, albeit thought-provoking.

If you're reading this for a book club, you may want to discuss what you would do differently if you were Chip or Emily Linton.

Other books by Chris Bohjalian:
Before You Know Kindness
Buffalo Soldier
Double Bind
Idyll Banter
Law of Similars
Midwives
Secrets of Eden
Skeletons at the Feast
Sandcastle Girls
Trans-Sister Radio
Water Witches

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Karen Thompson Walker imagines a new kind of ecological disaster in Age of Miracles. Instead of earthquakes, a group of Californians--and the rest of the world--are noticing that days are getting longer. The earth is slowing resulting in famine, gravity sickness, disruption of the magnetic fields, and radiation poisoning.

Amidst the disaster, Walker portrays the ordinary travails and triumphs of a twelve-year-old girl, Julia. Julia has noticed that the calamity has also affected relationships with her friends and family. Once popular, she is now the odd girl out who desperately wants to be noticed by the cool boy on the bus, Seth Moreno.

As the days and nights grow longer, everything is thrown into chaos. The children have later and later school start times. Some go off the clock and live in "real time" communities.

This novel definitely made me appreciate the smaller things in life. At one point, Julia and Seth collect the last few blades of grass in the neighborhood. Sunlight, birds, fresh fruit are small "miracles" that are only noticed when they disappear.

This startling debut that raises many questions will interest both adults and teenagers.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Something Magic This Way Comes ed. Martin Greenberg

Something Magic This Way Comes ed. Martin H. Greenberg.


All of the short stories in this collection have the central theme of magic. Some are haunting, "Still Life, with Cats" (Kristine Kathryn Rusch) and "Houdini's Mirror"(Russell Davis) while others verge on the comical with feminist overtones, "Angel in the Cabbages," (Fran LaPlace).

While the magic isn't new (fairies or parallel universes), the circumstances are contemporary. In the best stories the main characters use magic as a transformative force. A jaded war correspondent gains a new perspective when he has a brush with magic in "Still Life, With Cats." An older man with dementia finds a way to convene with his dead wife in "Houdini's Mirror."

In "Winds of Change," (Linda A.B. Davis) a young girl, whose body has been ravaged by disease, saves the town by exhibiting a rare talent--the power to call the wind. In the short story, "In a DarkWood, Dreaming" (Esther Friesner), a boy saves his brother from gangs by calling upon a hunter god, Oxossi. Unfortunately, the hunter god requires "one life for another life."

In "Something Virtual This Way Comes" (Laura Resnick) a woman, who is frustrated by the gremlins in her computer is suprised to learn they can speak to her.

Less successful offerings are "Tears of Gold"(Paul Crilley), "Star Cats"(Charles Edgar Quinn), and "The Thing in the Woods" (Harry Turtledove).


Sunday, June 10, 2012

Secret of Lost Things: a Novel by Sheridan Hay

Review of  The Secret of Lost Things: A Novel by Sheridan Hay.


The Secret of Lost Things is a captivating literary who-done-it. After her mother dies, an eighteen-year-old from Tasmania makes a transformative journey to New York. Rosemary takes a job at the Arcade, a bookstore that sells everything from paperbacks to valuable rare books. At the Arcade she begins her unique education.

The Arcade's employees are each eccentric in their own way. Mr. Pike is extremely parsimonious, Mr. Weiss is an albino, Mr. Mitchell looks like a large Australian bird, Pearl is a opera-singing transvestite, and Oscar is an emotionally-distant man who keeps Rosemary under a Svengali-like thrall. Rosemary, however, feels they each have something to teach her.

Like Ahab in Moby-Dick, each of the characters is obsessed with something. Instead of a whale, all seem to be obsessed with finding a lost Herman Melville manuscript, The Isle of the Cross.
 Each of the characters in the Arcade are objects in a Wunderkammen; in fact, Hays has Rosemary visit Peabody's Wunderkammen. Mr. Weiss views Rosemary as a "curiousity" because she comes from Tasmania and because of her wild, red hair.

In Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Pike, Rosemary tries to imagine a benevolent and stern father. She is herself, like Ishmael of Moby Dick, an orphan searching for her identity.

In a subplot, Hays introduces Lilian and her son Sergio, one of the "lost" from Argentina's dirty war.

At his request, Rosemary begins a strange collusion with Oscar Jarno. She also becomes, against her will, an assistant to Mr. Weiss. In a sense, she is their object to do with what they will; that is, until she breaks free from their spell.

Repressed desire, madness, revenge, embezzlement, betrayal, and the lost manuscript by Herman Melville all play a part in this auspicious literary debut.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf

These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf.



These Things Hidden is a powerful, complicated story about the ties that bind us to our families. Completely unpredictable, this novel will have readers guessing about what will unfold next.

Newly released from prison, Alison tries to contact her family without much success. She was their “golden girl” upon whom everyone placed their hopes. No one planned on Alison making a mistake--dating an older student and becoming pregnant. No one planned on "perfect" Alison tossing her newborn baby girl in the Druid River.

The second thread is Claire's story. Faced with infertility, Claire happily adopts a baby boy whom someone has left at the Linden Falls fire station. She and her husband own a bookstore where she meets many members of the community, including Alison. Few people know that Alison is “that girl”—the girl that killed her newborn. 

When Claire hires Alison to work at her bookstore, the truth begins to unravel. Two other women, Charm, a nursing student, and Alison’s sister, Brynn, play an important role in this taut, interconnected drama.

Like Jodi Piccoult, Gudenkauf is great at presenting domestic novels that explore deeper psychological issues. Other novelist who write about troubled families include Anne Rivers Siddons, Michelle Richmond, Elisabeth Hyde, Lauren Groff, Penny Vincenzi, Laura Moriarty, Mary deMuth and Joyce Carol Oates.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
A barren couple moves to Alaska to have a fresh start.  The wilderness, they believe, will suit them. When they get there, they find conditions harsher than they expected. Instead of growing closer, the wilderness draws them apart, until they fashion a snowman. Instead of a traditional snowman, they make one that looks like a little girl. Mysteriously, a child appears in the woods wearing the mittens and scarf they had placed on their "snow child."
Will this child be exactly what the lonely couple has always wished for or is this girl a product of their exhaustion and cabin fever?


Their only neighbor, Esther, explains how this can happen in remote places like Alaska:

"...this isn't an easy place to get along. The winters are long, and sometimes it starts to get to you. Around here, they call it cabin fever. You get down in the dumps, everything's off kilter and sometimes your mind starts playing tricks on you...You start seeing things that you're afraid of...or things you've always wished for...Maybe it was an animal, or the wind. All sorts of explanations."


Mabel is certain, however, that she saw a child who can run quickly on the snow. The couple finds small boot prints that further convinces them of the child's existence.

Not wanting to get his wife's hopes up, Jack secretly leaves trinkets on a stump. He had baited deer in this way and perhaps he can get the child to reappear.  

Ivey adds just the right touch of mystery when describing this elusive child.

This lyrical novel is beautifully written. Though the child's terms are hard to accept, Mabel and Jack learn to let Faina live her life as she pleases.

Thought-provoking, this novel also is incredibly poignant. The childless couple discover that they have had a child afterall -- the wild sprite, Faina, is their child. In the same moment, though, they realize that they have lost her.
The novel which mirrors and amplifies the Russian fairytale, the Snow Child, ends sorrowfully, yet there is room for joy.

Book Discussion:
The Snow Child raises many questions and lends itself well to book discussions. What is a parent and to what extent must we let a child find his/her own way in the world? Are we controlled by fate or can we turn sorrow into joy as Mabel's sister indicates in her letter?



Saturday, March 31, 2012

Why The Hunger Games Hits Its Mark

Some science fiction fizzles at the box office or fails to capture the public's imagination. In some cases, they simply miss their mark with audiences. Tron didn't find an audience until decades later. Despite spectuacular effects, John Carter failed because viewers did not buy the life-on-Mars premise.

The Hunger Games' novel and movie, a futuristic gladiator fight-to-the-death, hits it mark because readers/viewers want to think about the premise--that injustice surrounds us and pervades our way of life.

While people struggle to survive in District 12, a fence prohibits inhabitants from hunting in gathering the fertile meadow beyond the enclosure. Hunting with a bow and arrow or simply owning a weapon is strictly forbidden. Other districts are wealthy but they offer no help to the coal-mining district.


Even more disturbing are the gladiator-like games that happen randomly. The lottery system in which tributes are chosen for the games may remind readers of two things, the short story "The Lottery," and the system for choosing soldiers for the Vietnam conflict.

The novel is a critique of war and the effects of war. Perhaps even more than this it is a critique of the war machine, the military-industrial complex that profits from the wars.

The soldiers sent to war and the tributes chosen for games have ceded control. They are pawns. Everything that the tributes do is controlled. Balls of fire or other diversions will force them together to fight or force them apart.

Where is the resistance movement you might wonder? The Capitol and the government of Pandem are evil forces and sadly the winners become collaborators with the blood-thirsty Capitol by training the next batch of tributes.

Katniss does engage in small acts of rebellion. She places  flowers around Rue that shows she mourned for her. She refuses to participate in an unexpected rule change that would pit her against Peeta.

The novel/movie hints that the Capitol will make her pay for these rebellious acts and thus sets readers/viewers up for the next installment.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates

These stories will not disappoint fans of  Ms. Oates' work. All of them are gothic and live up to the subtitle. The most nuanced story is the first one, "The Corn Maiden" is the most powerful and life-affirming one. 

Ms. Oates is an expert at depicting cruelty. In "The Corn Maiden" a beautiful, learning-disabled, girl finds herself caught in a cruel trap devised by a gang of day school girls. In "Helping Hands" a vulnerable widow befriends an injured Gulf War veteran with disastrous results. An idealistic brother is pitted against a cruel twin in "Fossil-Figures" and "Death-Cup." In the final story, A delusional woman, who thinks trepanning will cure her, finds something else when she visits a plastic surgeon's office.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

The Doll: The Lost Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier

The Doll: The Lost Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier

Recently, I came across this series of short stories published by HarperCollins. These stories have appeared only once in publication in mostly British literary magazines.
"The Doll" is a strange story about a woman who keeps a life-sized doll in a hidden room in her apartment in London. She's a mysterious woman and in some ways a precursor to DuMaurier's more famous Rebecca. The story falls flat, though, by contemporary standards. The woman in the story seems to be doing something illicit with the doll, named Julio, and this causes the narrator, who loves her, to go mad.

Though this is the title story the first story in the collection, "East Wind" is much more interesting. The contamination of a protected culture, the inhabitants of St. Hilda, and the resulting madness are the themes of this wonderful story. In isolation the inhabitants are purportedly happy. The East wind, however, brings a ship full of sailors of unknown origin who introduce the islanders to the world beyond the island. They bring music and drink and, most importantly, desire. DuMaurier describes the destruction that desire can bring to a repressed or isolated group.

"Piccadilly" is a dramatic monologue, a narrative technique rarely used among short story writers, but one that Du Maurier uses well. Du Maurier's affiliation with drama and theater is clearly evident in this story.

The antagonist of "Tame Cat" is possibly a thinly disguised reference to J.M. Barrie whom DuMaurier knew well. For more information on the J.M. Barrie connection, see my post on Piers Dudgeon's Neverland.

"Week-End" is a chronicle of the demise of one couple's love. Like a one-act play, we hear the intimate dialogue, the small bickerings, and witness the final dissolution.

Though "East Wind" is the most accomplished story, "Happy Valley" comes in at a close second. A woman has a strange ability to see her future even if she is unable to fully remember or change it.

Review: Chantal

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Sew Iconic by Liz Gregory

Sew Iconic by Liz Gregory
Great for movie fans and for sewing enthusiasts alike, Sew Iconic is a great addition to your personal bookshelf. Gregory explains in great detail how to make a look-alike dresses from ten famous movies. For each dress Gregory lists the materials that are needed, cutting instructions, a description of the sewing techniques, and layout diagrams.

Learn how to make Julia Robert's (Pretty Woman) brown-and-white polka dot dress, Audrey Hepburn's little black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's, Jennifer Grey's pink mambo dress (Dirty Dancing), Marilyn Monroe's ivory dress (The Seven Year Itch), Kiera Knightley's green evening gown (Atonement), Catherine Zeta Jones' black showgirl dress (Chicago), Grace Kelly's blue chiffon gown (To Catch a Thief), Rita Hayworth's black sheath (Gilda), Faye Dunaway's Fawn Coat (The Thomas Crowne Affair), and Kate Winslet's lace evening gown (Titanic).

The author gives a brief history of each dress' history like how costumer designer, Marilyn Vance, found the fabric for Julia Robert brown and white polka dot dress from Pretty Woman.

A table gives you a quick look at which sewing techniques you will need to use for each iconic dress. Some techniques (e.g. pleating) are specific to a certain dress (e.g. the Marilyn Monroe dress) while other techniques are used for all of the dresses.

Overall, the book is nicely organized, with the simplest project (Julia's dress) appearing first. While beginners will have trouble with some of these outfits, the explanation of each technique will benefit them.

Finally, Gregory describes how to get the movie star "look" in your new dress and how to modernize the dress for a new audience.

The one quibble is with the green evening dress which does not look nearly as fabulous on the model as it does on Keira Knightly. Fabric choice is important and, in this case, the green fabric does not look nearly as lustrous on the model as it did on the big screen.

As a book blogger, I had the chance to preview the galley for this title at no charge at netgalley.com. I was not required to write a positive review.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Your Child's Writing Life by Pam Allyn

Pam Allyn, a literacy educator and founder of LitLife and LitWorld, aims to teach parents how to develop their children's writing skills in Your Child's Writing Life.

The focus, she argues, has been on teaching kids to read when, in actuality, reading and writing go together. Writing fosters emotional growth and critical thinking in even very young children but parents often do not actively encourage the very young to write.

She offer practical, inexpensive tips for getting children of all ages to write. She gives, tips, for instance for setting up a "writing corner." While this is not essential, creating a space as well as providing writing tools (a variety of markers, pens, pencils) will encourage writers.

She offers a variety of writing prompts for each age group and lists what's developmentally appropriate for each age level.

Allyn encourage parents not to discourage their children from using "new media" tools such as internet, e-mail and ipads.

Lastly, in chapter 5 she lists 20 great books that can serve as "mentors." Children will often emulate their "mentors" until they find their own writing voice.

Allyn's book will remind parents that all children are "writers." Using her five writing "pillars," parents can help their children develop their writing skills.

VTech Hatches Switch & Go Dinos in New Toy Aisle

VTech Hatches Switch & Go Dinos in New Toy Aisle

Here's more "pink" brain and "blue" brain thinking. Why is this advertised "for boys aged 3-8" and not "for kids aged 3-8?"

Why wouldn't girls like this just as much as boys?

Friday, February 3, 2012

Hemingway

"All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know."
--Ernest Hemingway.

Recently, a former classmate from highschool passed away. She ended her own life. I wonder why so few people talk about suicide. In highschool, our literature teacher didn't want to talk about Hemingway's death because he killed himself.

I remember this former classmate of mine asking back then, "how come Hemingway was so interested in "courage" but he killed himself?"

The literature teacher refused to discuss it. It may not have made any difference one way or the other but who knows?

I think Mariel Hemingway is right. There needs to be more suicide awareness.

Time Travel Contest from Books on Tape

If you could write to yourself in the Past or Future, across Time and Space—what would that message be? Submit a postcard with a message to your future or past self to enter to win a digital camera!
Answer the question for a chance at a digital camera.

13 years and up.

Contest winners chosen by Rebecca Stead.

http://65.70.178.219:8383/PreviewMsg.aspx?SeqNum=608255864

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