Gosh 100 posts!

100th post! Where does the time go!
And to celebrate - people from 1 to 100 playing drums... thanks Seanfish

You tubing

Oldie, but a goodie - something to cheer you up...

Closest I've ever been to wanting to go near gym equipment

Book review time

You know that feeling when you buy/get something new and it's so fab that EVERYthing is better?

My mum got some new shoes - bouncy shoes - ones that made her feel like she could run and jump and do a lot of stuff she really shouldn't/couldn't. But that feeling of joy and invincibility can come at any age (even 70).
It's like getting the perfect bag/shoes/jewellery for the perfect outfit for the perfect day. And you know it's going to be perfect - because everything has to be when you have your new [insert object].

So, what does this have to do with a book review? Bring on New socks by Bob Shea.
A hip little chick with Buddy Holly glasses gets some new socks. And he can do anything! What's the first thing to do with new socks? Introduce them to wooden floor - whoa! What else do you do? Invincibility and confidence...
'Watch me not be scared on the big kids slide. In my new socks.'
Joy and exuberance abound in this retro/hip picture book - with fab retro illustrations and minimal colour palette.

Give it a go and remember how cool that feeling is.

Youtubing

Thanks NZbookgirl for the heads up... Neil Gaiman speaking about Fragile things and other things...



I think Gaiman is the reason I like Good omens - as I can't get into Pratchett's solo books.

Book review time

Whale talk by Chris Crutcher
I love Chris Crutcher's work. His characters are flawed, human, funny, have issues - and hope.
In Whale talk the hero is TJ Jones (the J is redundant - his full name is The Dow Jones). TJ is attitude on legs. He's one of 3 'people of colour' in his town - and the other two aren't his parents. His English teacher makes him captain of the non-existent school swim team - and TJ has his own agenda. His team is made up of rejects - and he wants every single one of them to letter in swimming. Driving together to meets, they bond and share life stories.
In so many ways it's like Stotan! - which is also fabulous - but each book has its own strengths.
You don't have to like swimming - or even sport - to appreciate the characters and their lives.

Valentine's day...

Loved this blog post last year - so thought I'd do the same thing...
Which literary character/s have you been/are in love with?
Totally in love with Robin from The little white horse (but really, I think I just wanted Maria's life!)
I agree with the suggestions for Eugenides (The Thief, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia). He is just wonderful.
Although an Anne of Green Gables fan, Gilbert was too much of a wimp for me.
George Cooper (Tamora Pierce's Alana books) - bad boy made good.
Don't understand the whole Austen thing - sorry, can't take part in the whole Mr Darcy discussion.

Happy 75th birthday Dad - miss you....

Dad used to find ways to entertain me - my older brother and sisters had each other to keep amused. So out came the wire to make bubble wands and the concoction to blow bubbles with. Or he'd bring out the wheelbarrow full of water and odds and ends of paint from his workshop - all laid out to make marbled paper.
Climbing into his bed in the morning - a big foam squab indented with his weight, so if you sat on the edge and let yourself go you'd fall down the crevasse into him.
Dad brushing my hair in the morning. It didn't hurt getting the knots out - but it did when he brushed my ears.
Me begging and pleading and guilt-tripping him into getting a cat - 'but Dad, the kitten will starve and die if we don't take it home.' And Dad named him Raz (short for Razputin, after the Boney M song he liked). I think Dad like the cat after Raz ripped open the housekeeper's dog's nose - Dad didn't like the dog much.
Dad telling me to tidy my room or he'd put all the stuff on the floor out with the rubbish. I'm pretty sure he did - but my room's still messy.
Dad taking me to stay with Mum in Kerikeri. I woke up one night while Dad was carrying me out of Mum's room - but I pretended to still be asleep. In the morning I was in Dad's bed and all was right with my world - my Mum and Dad were together again.
All the holidays together. Like the one to Rotorua with Nana and Grandad where I stayed in a motel for the first time - and it had private spas. Or setting up tent in the dark, only for it to blow down during the night.
Dad watching rugby - contorting his body in an extended cross-fingers pose to will the ball over. Often it was Grant Fox kicking - so it usually did work. Or celebrating a try and the chair falling over - so Dad was stuck there with his legs in the air and we're all laughing too hard to save him.
Somebody teasing me about having a large head and I said 'of course, I've jut got a degree,' and Dad saying 'that's right, rub it in, be proud.' He always corrected me when I said 'it's just a BA,' 'it's not JUST anything - you worked hard for it.'
Dad not always accepting my choices - like when I go my ears pierced, the 1st time, he studiously ignored it. Or my 1st tattoo - 'I don't agree with them, but yours means something, it doesn't mean I like tattoos.'
Dad always there - a gruff, shy and retiring - but loving, supportive and protective presence - to the end. The last words I remember him saying were 'good as gold.' I don't know whether he meant him, or us in the future.
He was the sort of dad anyone would be lucky to have and he was mine. I will be forever grateful for having the privilege to say that. I love you Dad - thank you for everything.

Ryder rocks!

And McCullum... McCullum's strike rate of 170! Ryder's of 127. Record opening partnership for NZ v England...
Ten wickets! With 16+ overs to go!
It was a thing of beauty.
Especially interesting was the pitch mike not being turned off in time when Sidebottom spat the dummy, leaving Rigor in hysterics in the background...

Heroic librarians

We all know librarians are perceived as geeks - not that heroic. Giles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's watcher - is pretty typical for a librarian - bespectacled and tweed - but there's always the possibility he could break out and do something physical. In real life, however...
There's Alia Muhammad Baker - who risked everything to save the collections of Basra library when the second Gulf War began in 2003. Iraqi government officials moved into the library, and installed an anti-aircraft gun on the roof. Alia began smuggling books out of the library to the restaurant next door then, eventually, to her and friends' homes. She saved 30,000 books. It's a fabulous story - and it shows the love that librarians have for the physical collections - and the freedom and knowledge they encompass and embody.
Then there's Miss Clara Breed, who epitomises the other - sometimes even more important - aspect of librarianship the people. Miss Breed was the first children's librarian in San Diego and her customer base was predominantly Japanese American. After Pearl Harbor, their lives were uncertain - many fathers were taken by the FBI. When the worst happened and her 'children' were due to be interred in camps, Miss Breed gave out stamped, self-addressed postcards to as many as she could. When they wrote to her, she responded - sending out books, gifts, and the knowledge that not everyone on the outside - not every American - hated them for their heritage. Yes, the books were important - the access to knowledge - and those 'children' carried that message for the rest of their lives, passing it on to their families. But what Miss Breed did for them was far more - hope, and humanity, small actions taken by someone who knew that what her government was doing showed that it had lost its humanity and purpose.

I wish I was more like Miss Breed - I despair that I'm not. A wonderful person - who lived the highest professional, and personal, ideals.

If you haven't read either of these - bad you! Read them forthwith!

Youtubing

Remember the ad with the bouncing balls? Now they have bunnies, which are cute, but this one rocks... and the music is fabulous



And check out this behind the scenes (which may never, ever load...)

Book review time!

The little white horse by Elizabeth Goudge
Oh how I wanted Maria's bedroom! Thanks to JK (who said it was her favourite childhood book) it was reprinted, and big talk of movies...
Mid-Victorian setting, with touches of fantasy. The poem, at the very beginning of the book, sets the tone wonderfully:
It was under the white moon that I saw, / The little white horse, with neck arched high in pride.
After the death of her father Maria is sent, along with her governess, Miss Heliotrope, and her dog, Mr Wiggins, to the West Country to live with her nearest relative, her father's cousin, Sir Benjamin. There Maria learns of a long-standing family curse and the locals wonder if she is the one to finally break it - the Moon Maiden.
The characters are all strong - Robin, Maria's childhood 'imaginary' friend; the Pason; Miss Heliotrope - and Wrolf the family 'dog'. Even the animals rock! Marmaduke Scarlet - who wouldn't want him in your kitchen! And the Black Men of the Forest! The perfect children's book villians.
There are fabulous feasts and great one-liners... As Maria returns from an attempt to reform the Black Men, Sir Benjamin says "I've never seen a clearer case of the morning after the night before".
There is romance - and not just Maria's - action - ghosts - redemption - forgiveness... and all wrapped up in Christian undertones, which allow for some otherwordly happenings (like astral projection).
Many of Goudge's work has that combination - something attributable to her upbringing as the daughter of an Anglican minister, who was brought up in various Catherdral cities/towns and holidayed with her French grandparents on the Channel Islands, where things were occassionally otherworldy.

A trip down memory lane...

So, this new book appeared on our shelves which led to much discussion... what was your favourite Little Golden Book?

Mine were:

The monster at the end of this book - when you're a child, you never know when a book's ending might change...

Sleeping Beauty - no, NOT the Disney version! But a fabulous version with people dressed in high-middle ages garb (women in hennin and stuff) [which I cannot find anywhere!]

Tootle was pretty cool - rebellious wee train engine that he was. Color kittens and Busy Timmy (which had the wonder of Eloise Wilkin's illustrations)

And you?

The joys of a single TV household...

You know, there are some TV programmes I can't watch... they're just not me. And, there's probably things I watch that my flatmate doesn't like. But, you know what, he can go to his girlfriend's place and watch them there... instead of me suffering through something on state TV, instead of what I want to watch on Sky... So, tonight - Ugly Betty... thus my blog entry.
The worst thing is when he's home on Monday - my day alone, which is pretty much arranged around what's on TV. Must watch Time team at 1.30 on Living Channel - it all goes wrong when there's someone home disrupting my schedule. Sets me off on a bad foot for the working week...
Soon, I promise, I'll have something more interesting to blog about - but need to dig my brain out of hiding first...

Check this out...

A great youtube video - with comments - for those involved with children's learning in the 21st century.