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In case you didn’t catch it in January, check out here what the PaperTigers reading Challenge 2008 entails: there’s still plenty of time to join in!

We are running three in parallel in our household as my boys decided they wanted to complete it on their own, as well as do one as a bed-time readaloud… so here are our comments about Book Number One!

Back in October, I wrote a post about I Am Jack by Susanne Gervay - the time to read it came at the end of January when Big Brother had a few issues with bullying (now, I’m glad to say, resolved). As usual, I turned to stories as a springboard for discussion and we read it all together as our first Reading Challenge readaloud. Big Brother’s situation had been squashed very early on and certainly never got anywhere near what poor Jack has to endure but reading the book opened up comparisons and empathy. It brought home the importance of talking - and being available to listen. A couple of bedtimes were prolonged to read an extra chapter; and we had a very late night as we arrived at the end – we couldn’t possibly have left it hanging. Once again, I really recommend this book…

Meanwhile, Big Brother* (aged 9) chose Mga Kuwentong Bayan: Folk Stories from The Philippines edited by Alice Lucas and illustrated by Carl Angel. It is published by Many Cultures Publishing, a division of the nonprofit San Francisco Study Center. The book contains three stories: A Creation Story, The Monkey and the Turtle and Aponitolou and the Star Maiden. Here’s what Big Brother has to say about it:

I thought it was brilliant – especially the story where all the stars came onto the ground. It was about a star woman and a human man who fell in love with each other and the husband already had a wife on earth so he had to spend half a year in the sky and half a year down on the ground. I thought it was quite fun to have a different kind of book to read, with almost black and white pictures. I tried reading the Tagalog version but I didn’t get very far!

Little Brother (aged 6) had chosen The Birdman by Veronika Martenova Charles and illustrated by Annouchka Gravel Galouchko and Stéphan Daigle. It is the poignant true story of a Calcutta tailor who buys and sets free the sickly birds that are left at the end of a day’s trading at the market. You can read PaperTigers’ review of the book here, and here are Little Brother’s comments:

I really liked the pictures because they looked very artistic with lots of bright colours and dots on them. I really liked Noor Nobi’s idea of making a flock of poor birds. He set them free and they didn’t go far away because they loved him. I liked that it was a true story because something like that is very good and kind.

We will keep you posted on Number 2 of our Reading Challenge selections. In the meantime, do let us know how you’re getting on, if you’re already on board; or let us know your book choices, if you’re just starting.

* I have Here and There Japan to thank for helping me finally to come up with what to call my children in my blog postings: other possibilities had been commented upon and others were too much of a mouthful… I think this now works?!? So thank you, Annie!

Hey, guys, I'm in the mood for a game. I've been thinking about this for a while and decided to put it on the blog today. (Maybe because the Oscars were on last night) I'm sure everyone knows that Hollywood is going to make a movie of Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief. Chris Clolumbus, who directed the first Harry Potter movie, is going to make this one. So here's a game--if you were the director, who would you pick for the different parts? Now it has to be someone famous and someone who is now living, so we would know who you're talking about. OK?

Here are my picks. Keep in mind that I've been around a while and seen a lot of older movies, so these people may be more famous to me. Some of them haven't made many movies lately, but I still think they'd be great.


Dionysus--Danny DeVito. My first choice and, I think, a perfect choice. He's got that "don't bother me, you punk kids, I'm stuck here for 100 years" attitude that the D-man has in the books. Besides, he looks like a big satyr.




Poseidon--Jimmy Buffet. Yeah, the singer. Some of you may not know him because his music is more for grownups, but I bet your moms and dads have have his music. This may seem like a weird choice, but think about it--he's got that laid back, good-time beach look that Poseidon has. But I bet he could be serious when he needs to, just as in the books.






Zeus--hard choice. You'd need someone who's mature, commands respect, and still seems able to incinerate you in a minute if you cross him. I'd pick Paul Newman or Anthony Hopkins.










Ares--Hulk Hogan. Yes, the wrestler. I kept thinking of him while I read the books. He'd be great--big, loud, strong, aggressive, ready to squash you like a bug.










Hades--Alan Rickman, who was Snape in the Harry Potter movies. Capable of being scary yet funny (remember how funny it was when Hades complained of the traffic jams on the way to the underworld?) or Clint Eastwood. Now imagine him as a giant immortal, sitting on the throne of the underworld. Brrr--makes me shiver!















Athena--Maggie Smith, who was Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies. She looks like the lady you couldn't fool because she knows everything.













Voice of Kronos--James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader. Need I say more?


There are no prizes for this game--I just thought it would be fun. What do you think? Who would you choose?

Carl

Here we go! Will has sent us three posts today.


I like the Lightning Thief because Percy has a cool pen that can turn into a sword that he calls Riptide.I also like the way he battles with it and that it can't hurt mortals.


I think the book The Name of This Book is Secret is a good book because Cass and Max-Ernest try to help find a magician's brother with a box called the Symphony of smells.


The Fire Within is a great book because David moves in with the Pennykettles but while he's staying there he notices that his clay dragon[It was from Mrs.Pennykettle]starts to come alive and so do the other ones so later on David finds out that they are really helping him from being hurt by the evil sources from the world


Three posts in one day--very impressive, Will. This is so great. Keep it up, everyone!
The competition is really heating up now.

Very, very funny. Here are the standings:

Will--4 entries

cyber kid 303--5 entries

Sir Samuel--2 entries

Melanie, Anonymous, and Tyler--1 entry each

I'll post the standings again tomorrow along with some info about the Heroes and Villains festival. By the way, would you guys do us a favor--would you please include the names of the authors when you post a comment? I try to update our list of books every month and it makes it easier when I know who the authors are. Thanks!

Carl

Wow! Gotta say it again--WOW!! You guys are doing great. We've had 4 comments in one week! Way to go. Here's what our new friends, Anonymous and Tyler have to say: