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You are 10 days in the challenge! Write your story, share your link, and give at least three comment to other Slicers.

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Welcome to Day 10 of the Classroom SOLSC for Students! It's Throwback Thursday!

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This month, interspersed with the Slice of Life Story Challenge, my colleagues and I are writing about professional development possibilities. Many of our readers are literacy coaches, team leaders, administrators, professors, and classroom teachers… Continue reading →

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You know what the kids today are into?  Ethics.  Specifically, ethics in nonfiction.  Could anything be more fun?  Actually, no.  At least, not the way I play it.

As you may know I’ve started my Children’s Literary Salon series here in Evanston, IL and as luck would have it there are a slew of talented locals about who are actually willing to sacrifice a lovely Saturday afternoon with me.  This month I’m pleased as punch to host Candace Fleming (THE FAMILY ROMANOV), Judith Fradin (THE PRICE OF FREEDOM), Barb Rosenstock (THE NOISY PAINTBOX), and Sally M. Walker (WINNIE) for a talk about all the ethical issues surrounding nonfiction for kids these days.  But don’t take my word for it.  Check out this killer poster Evanston Public Library created for the event:

Bet you wish you could attend.  Bet you wish there was some kind of live video feed you could watch of the talk.  Well, guess what?  There is!  Check out the live Google Hangout here on 3/26 at 2:00 CST.  Yes, come on over (virtually) to see some seriously fantastic women talk on a subject with far reaching ramifications.

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Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear Written by Lindsay Mattick Illustrated by Sophie Blackall Little, Brown and Company   10/20/2015 978-0-316-32490-8 32 pages Ages 4—8 . . “Before Winnie-the-Pooh, there was a real bear named Winnie. In 1914, Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian on his way to tend horses in World …

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I hopped on Periscope this afternoon for a quick Q&A about Journey North Mystery Class. If you’d like a peek at our graph (behind as usual) and a walk-through of the project, here you are.

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Another flapper. #digitalart #roaring20s #makeartthatsells #lisafirke

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So here's my new format. The reviews won't be quite as in depth as they once were, but I think I'd gotten to the point where I felt such a pressure to say deep things that I wasn't saying anything at all. I have several months' worth of reading with half-written reviews, so hopefully I'll have enough to post twice a week for quite some time. Because they will be so brief, I'll also be linking other bloggers' reviews at the end if you want to get more info.

Let me know what you think!

Bookshelves of Doom

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The creator of "Korgoth of Barbaria" and "Periwinkle" is producing a children's series for Disney.

The post Aaron Springer Gets His Own Disney TV Series ‘Billy Dilley’ appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

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I have been looking forward to telling you all about The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers since I finished it a few days ago. It is one of those quiet books that you want to tell everyone to read because you loved it so very much and just did not want it to end and you want everyone else to love it as much you do. And then I find out it has made it onto the Baileys Women’s Prize Longlist and did you hear me go Squeee!? Because now for sure more people will know about this book.

The Long Way is Chambers’ debut novel. It was originally published because of a Kickstarter. Chambers found herself almost through a draft when her freelance writing work dried up. She had two options, shelve the book and return to it later or see if she could get funding to get it published. Thank goodness she got funding!

The book is one of those stories that is about everything and nothing. There is not much of a plot and hardly any action but I loved the characters so much every time I picked up the book I wanted to hang out with them and never leave.

The story takes place in the distant future. Humans have destroyed Earth, colonized Mars and headed out to the stars. But we have also gone back to Earth to try and fix the damage. As a result we have a number of different human societies with vastly different values. We’ve also met other species out there in the galaxy and become part of the Galactic Commons. The Wayfarer is a tunneling ship. They take jobs where they create tunnels through space and time to shorten the distance between areas of the galaxy to make space travel easier and faster. Basically they create stable wormholes from point A to point B.

The ship is owned and captained by the genial Ashby, a human of the Exodans, which means he is a pacifist among other things. His crew is composed of Rosemary, a clerk and new hire he brings on to do all the paperwork at which he is really bad and because of that is in jeopardy of not being able to pick up good work. Rosemary is a Martian human and running away from something. Then there are the ship’s techs, Kizzy (human) who loves fire shrimp, crazy outfits and keeps the engines running and the systems in operating order, and Jenks (human) who is the computer wizard and keeps the ship’s AI, Lovey, in tip top shape. Jenks is a small man because his Gaian mother did not believe in vaccinations and other sorts of medical interventions. Lovey, the AI, is sentient and she and Jenks are in love.

Also on the crew is Sissix. She is the pilot and an Aandrisk, a species that to humans look like person-sized lizards with feathers on their heads. Dr Chef is both the ship’s cook and doctor. He is a species called Grum, a six legged kind of insect-y looking individual. He is one of about 300 left of his kind because they had a great war and pretty much destroyed themselves. The survivors decided that as a species they no longer deserved to reproduce and so they are on the verge of going extinct.

We also have Ohan, the navigator. They are a Sianat pair, a species that is tall and furry. Long ago some of them were infected with a virus that allows them to see space and time like no other creature in the known galaxy. The culture developed so that each Sianat is deliberately infected with the virus at a certain age and at that time the infected individual goes from being singular to being a pair. Those who refuse to be infected or who partake of the cure, are heretics exiled.

Finally there is Corbin. He is the ship’s algaeist. The ship’s fuel is mostly algae and it is Corbin’s job to grow the algae and do all things algae. He is really good at his job and really bad at being a decent human being. Perpetually grumpy and uncomfortable around others, he is perfectly happy spending all his time with the algae and minimal time with the rest of crew.

The Wayfarer has been awarded a big and well-paying job by the General Commons. They are to create a new tunnel into Toremi Ka space. The Toremi Ka are a species that is perpetually at war among their various clans. There has recently been a schism and some of the Toremi Ka have made a treaty with the GC, protect us from the other clans and we will give you unlimited access to ambi, a hard to harvest and expensive fuel. It will take the Wayfarer a year to reach the spot in Tormei Ka space where they are to create the tunnel. And so we follow the crew over the course of the year as they go from place to place, making stops to visit friends and family along the way, pick up supplies, and have a few unexpected things happen. They arrive to do the tunnel, a few more things happen.

And that’s it. The whole story.

The point is not the plot, not the tunneling job. The point of the story is the journey there, the characters, their thoughts and dreams and hopes and fears, their relationships with each other. It is a story about getting along with people who have vastly different backgrounds and beliefs. There is much here about tolerance and acceptance. There is a crisis moment when someone is dying but can be saved by a medical intervention that goes against every single one of their beliefs.

It is hard to say why I loved this book so much. Maybe it is because the characters are so well developed? Maybe because I liked them all so much, even the grumpy Corbin. There was no slow part, not once did I wish the book would move along faster but many times I wished it would slow down so I could linger longer.

I know a lot of people don’t like science fiction but I think this is a science fiction book even non-SF reading people might like. And if you are an SF fan and I tell you the book has a Firefly feel to it, you might understand a little more why I loved it so much. That’s the best I can do. Read the book. It deserves more attention. It certainly had my vote for the Bailey’s prize.

Filed under: Books, Reviews, SciFi/Fantasy Tagged: Baileys Women's Prize Longlist, Becky Chambers

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That we refuse to have a pet cat is an ongoing source of frustration for my kids (if you’re curious as to why, several of the reasons are covered in this article) and so when M and J discovered Poppy’s Place: The Home-made Cat Café they hungrily swallowed it whole, making notes as they read, plotting quietly with each other when ever they though I wouldn’t notice.

Isla is cat crazy, but her mum refuses to let her have one as a pet. Isla’s mum works as a veterinary nurse and the last thing she wants after a busy day at work is to come home to more animals who need looking after. But then Poppy appears in their lives…

This especially lovely cat, in need of a home, turns up at around the same time as Isla’s granny comes to stay for the first time since becoming a widow. Gentle strands exploring family relationships, the grieving process, and the adjustments that have to be navigated as family shapes change all come together in this sweet story where Isla comes up with an entrepreneurial way to persuade her mum to finally let her dream come true and have a cat at home.

And as the title alludes to… not just one cat, but a full on fantasy for many a feline fan: the creation of their very own cat café, a place where you can not only get great cake, but can enjoy a coffee with a cat purring in your lap. The experience of reading books is often about escaping into dreams you wish could become reality, and for my girls this was definitely the case with Poppy’s Place: The Home-made Cat Café!

This is a feel-good, gentle comfort-read of a story, ideal for fans of Holly Webb’s animal stories, or perhaps those who like Jacqueline Wilson’s younger fiction. Isla’s persistence and her tech savvy big sister’s kindness are great, and the way the community comes together to support a project is another charming side to this story. Both my kids are very pleased there is to be second book later in the year following the characters they’ve met in Poppy’s Place… even if they’re still getting nowhere when it comes to persuading me that we should have a cat. At least now they can live vicariously through Isla!

I wouldn’t want you to think that I have a heart of stone, even though I refuse to have pets. I really do have a soft side, and I even let it show one day after school when the kids came home to this:

The girls ordered from the menu…

Can you spot all the different feline-themed food?

We may not have had any real cats in our café, but we certainly had a few who stepped out from stories. Who can you spot?

If you’d like to make your own cat café at home, please feel free to use our menu template. It has endorsements from all sorts of fictional cats (Garfield says of the café: “Paw-sitively the yummiest place to eat even if there isn’t any lasagna…“), and also some cat-themed book recommendations on the back. You can download the menu cover here (pdf), and the inside (ready for you to fill with your own choice of food) here (pdf).

Except for the book covers and the silhouette cats, all the images used in the menu come from the British Library Flickr Stream, an amazing set of over a million images from British Library held material, free for anyone to use, remix and re-purpose.

Whilst dining in our home made cat café we listened to:

C Is for Cat by The Pop Ups

Walking My Cat Named Dog by They Might Be Giants

Kitty Fight Song by Joe McDermott

Other activities which might work well alongside reading Poppy’s Place include:

Visiting a real cat café, like this one in Cardiff, that you could help fund!) or this one in London.

Virtually browsing a variety of cat cafés in Japan

Finding out about volunteering with a cat charity, for example with The Cats Protection League. Some volunteering opportunities are sometimes available to older children.

If you liked this post you might like these other posts by me:

That Cat who came in off the Roof by Annie M. G. Schmidt

The Tip-Tap Dancing Cat by Joanna Boyle, plus making your own disco ball

I am Cat by Jackie Morris, plus how to make a giant cat mobile

If you’d like to receive all my posts from this blog please sign up by popping your email address in the box below:

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Disclosure: I was sent a free review copy of this book by the publisher.

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So, February happened...
 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it gave me whiplash as it hurricaned by. It was a *blink* "Whaaaaaa....?" kind of month. Literally, like, *blink*, Valentine's Day, DISNEYLAND, and WHAM. March.


But yeah, directly after Valentine's Day, we got ourselves packed off in a three-car caravan to Disneyland. *Insert whooping and hollering and eight dedicated hours of listening to Il Volo.*





















I want to go back to Disneyland again. Maybe not any time in the near future, but say, like in five years or so. I'd want to for sure re-ride California Screaming, Tower of Terror, Hyperspace Mountain, Star Tours and the Indiana Jones ride, and I wouldn't mind getting back on the Matterhorn and Splash Mountain. I DO want to do Soaring Over California - we weren't able to make that one this year - but other than that, I'd want to explore more, visit more of the park and actually SEE everything instead of hurrying so much. I'd want to check out some of the shops a bit more than I did this time, especially Disneyania where they had two artists arting (that sounds like the 12 days of Christmas, doesn't it? "Two Artists Arting and a Shop full of Disneyland ART!) and The Mad Hatter, and visit Critter Corner and that kind of stuff. So next time, a little more walking and less riding, I think. It was crazy fun, though, and there were so many of us, it was a little terrifying - we were a mob of 17 and we were COOOOOL. IT was coooooool! :-) See? Look at us! Look at how COOL we are! (What a mob.)

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If you have not comprised your mind about redesigning your home, it is about time that you must consider it, regardless of how rejuvenated your home may look. There is constantly that part that might searching for improvement. Refurbishing your house includes many advantages that can be wrapped up in a single advantage that it can really enhance your life for several years to come. Here are 5 factors you ought to consider a house transformation:

1. Broadening the area
A house that is too confined does not offer you adequate area to do your things easily. It likewise rejects you the comfort that you might delight in with a spacious house. For instance, you desire a house with additional area to captivate your visitors or simply hang out. For example creating garage storage can free up more room and create a functional working space.

2. Comfort

Home renovation can completely transform your environment making it feel more safe and comfortable. For example, remodeling the siding and changing the windows makes your home feel less drafty, besides securing your home from weather-related damage and burglars.

3. Energy Efficiency

If you want to lower energy bills you might wish to include replacement windows. With these windows, you will need to utilize your ceiling fan and a/c systems less frequently. New siding and replacement windows insulate your home and enable the redistribution of thermal energy. These elements will preserve the optimal temperature in your home such that you will not have to keep your cooling unit or heating system on, implying you will not need to pay big energy expenses.

4. Maintenance

Appropriate upkeep is key to keeping your house glossy and flawless. You do not anticipate every part of your house to last permanently; each part of your house wear and tear with time, however at different rates. For instance, windows, roofing, seals wear with time,doors, and some can even break down totally.

Replace ineffective doors, windows or siding with brand-new ones so regarding enjoy them for a longer time. Replacement windows, Modern doors and siding are made from extremely durable products such as fiberglass, fiber cement, composites or vinyl. Such products have the ability to withstand severe climate condition, and they require less maintenance.

5. Curb appeal

When thinking to redesign their houses, the most immediate concerns that homeowners have are energy efficiency, comfort, area, and upkeep. However, it is vital to look your home as a long term financial investment, and refurbishing it will help strengthen its esthetic appeal, which indicates enhancing the market value of your home.

The look of your home speaks volumes about your lifestyle. So, whether you prepare to market your house one day or not, you want to renovate it and preserve its trendy look at tiptop condition. Like it or not, your home represents you. Remodeling will guarantee that your house give that a desirable impression of you by keeping a positive appearance on that front and and home renovation costs can be recouped in the sale of your home based off it’s increased appraisal evaluation.

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Jessica Riskin’s The Restless Clock situates a new dialectic at the center of the life sciences, the role played by agency—simultaneously underscored, dismissed, banned, and advocated—in our relationships to nature and its mechanisms.

From a review at the Times Higher Ed:

The Restless Clock is a sweeping survey of the search for answers to the mystery of life. It begins with medieval automata – muttering mechanical Christs, devils rolling their eyes, cherubs “deliberately” aiming water jets at unsuspecting visitors who, in a still-mystical and religious era, half-believe that these contraptions are alive. Then come the Enlightenment android-builders and philosophers, Romantic poet-scientists, evolutionists, roboticists, geneticists, molecular biologists and more: a brilliant cast of thousands fills this encyclopedic account of the competing ideas that shaped the sciences of life and artificial intelligence.

Riskin writes with clarity and wit, and the breadth of her scholarship is breathtaking. In particular, she explores scientific theories that aimed for some built‑in “agency”, some active principle that allowed matter to move in a way that did not require a predesigned mechanism (which seemed to imply a divine designer). Her goal is to “re-open scientific possibilities” – to show that, while passive mechanism is the “winning” principle in science, the “losing” agency theories have also shaped the life sciences.

To read the review in full, click here.

To read more about The Restless Clock, click here.

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Long before there was even the above logo or the loose, overseeing Kidlitosphere Central, a group of us who blogged about children's literature gathered in Chicago for what was the first every Kidlitosphere Conference (aka Kidlitcon!). That was back in 2007 (and blogged about here).

It was a blast. I mean, a total blast.

For most of us, it was the first time we got to meet all these other people who we'd gotten to know online only. It wasn't really a gathering of 60 strangers - so many of us "knew" each other already, so it felt like a gathering of friends.

It was, as Clay Shirky discusses in Here Comes Everyone, the shared desire to go from a virtual space to a real world meetup... and thanks to Robin Brande and a few others, a tradition began that's still going strong (2016 Kidlitcon in Wichita, KS!)

I've been to multiple Kidlitcons, and I wish I could be there every year. They're informative, fun, and you meet remarkable people who can become offline friends in the same way they are your online friends. It's pretty fantastic.

The meeting of fellow bloggers is definitely one of my 10 years of blogging highlights. And so "hi!!!!!" all my Kidlitcon friends past, present, and future - it's great knowing you.

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School Lunch Hero Day is coming up—May 6th!

Last year, several local news affiliates profiled school nutrition professionals working in their communities. Here are a few of them. The love that these women have for their jobs and their kids is incredibly inspiring.

Photo © WIVB4

Click here to watch the moving video from La Crosse, WI.


The team at Depew Union School District were also given the spotlight on School Lunch Hero Day last year. Check out the video below to see what the kids did and how the "lunch ladies" reacted. If you would like to help put the spotlight on the hard work being done in your school cafeteria, you can find a modifiable press release here: http://www.schoollunchheroday.com/downloads.html.

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The Pulitzer Prize, that is.

What does the list of shows below have in common?

2010: Next to Normal
1996: Rent
1985: Sunday in the Park with George
1976: A Chorus Line
1962: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
1960: Fiorello!
1950: South Pacific
1932: Of Thee I Sing

They represent the eight times the Pulitzer Prize in Drama has been awarded to a musical instead of to a play. It doesn't happen often, but it happens.... roughly about once a decade.

As the awards for Hamilton start to pile up, and with the 100th class of Pulitzer Prize winners being announced on April 18, I think it's time to start talking about the possibility of not just Tonys for Hamilton, but a Pulitzer.

The writing of Hamilton stands out from the writing so many plays and musicals. But unless you're in the room where it happens, and have done all the work the judges have, it's really hard to make predictions. So no hard feelings, Pulitzer folks, if it doesn't happen- but I won't be surprised if the list above becomes a list of nine.

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John Eliot Gardiner, from Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven (Preface):

A nagging suspicion grows that many writers, overawed and dazzled by Bach, still tacitly assume a direct correlation between his immense genius and his stature as a person. At best this can make them unusually tolerant of his faults, which are there for all to see: a certain tetchiness, contrariness and self importance, timidity in meeting intellectual challenges, and a fawning attitude toward royal personages and to authority in general that mixes suspicion with gain-seeking. But why should it be assumed that great music emanates from a great human being? Music may inspire and uplift us, but it does not have to be the manifestation of an inspiring (as opposed to an inspired) individual. In some cases there may be such correspondence, but we are not obliged to presume that it is so. It is very possible that "the teller may be so much slighter or less attractive than the tale." [source] The very fact that Bach's music was conceived and organized with the brilliance of a great mind does not directly give us any clues as to his personality. Indeed, knowledge of the one can lead to a misplaced knowingness about the other. At least with him there is not the slightest risk, as with so many of the great Romantics (Byron, Berlioz, Heine spring to mind), that we might discover almost too much about him or, as in the case of Richard Wagner, be led to an uncomfortable correlation between the creative and the pathological.

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The new MB Artists catalog is here!  Check out all of the new "Animals" themed artwork from our artists!

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Get the most out of a writing conference by following these tips.

http://www.nikkiwoodsmedia.com/writing-conferences-reap-benefits-9-tips/

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