Want to get someone’s attention subconciously, want to get on someone’s nerves? You need to annoy them, and here is how you can do it.
1) Crack your knuckles/toes. Cracking your knuckles is easier and more common, but if you can crack your toes, that really gets their spine tingling. Not only is it not common, it sounds louder and more painful.
2) Bite your nails. Just the sound of that can drive some people insane.
3) Keep staring at a certain part of someone’s body. For instance, pretend you see a giant zit on someone’s cheek and keep staring at it to the point where they need to move away.
4) Be sloppy. Untuck your shirt halfway, have a milk mustache, and have long fingernails (if you’re a guy) all at the same time.
5) Last but not least, Talk! Talk about anything and everything. See an ant, talk about it. It must be touch for ants, huh? Is that a tree? What a nice tree. You’re nice; why are you so nice, it’s amazing! You know what’s amazing? Magicians. It’s not real magic though. It looks like it though, but it’s just tricks. Like in the song, you know, sing with me. “It’s tricky! It’s tricky!”. What you don’t like singing? It’s good for the heart….and so on.
Want to get someone’s attention subconciously, want to get on someone’s nerves? You need to annoy them, and here is how you can do it.
1) Crack your knuckles/toes. Cracking your knuckles is easier and more common, but if you can crack your toes, that really gets their spine tingling. Not only is it not common, it sounds louder and more painful.
2) Bite your nails. Just the sound of that can drive some people insane.
3) Keep staring at a certain part of someone’s body. For instance, pretend you see a giant zit on someone’s cheek and keep staring at it to the point where they need to move away.
4) Be sloppy. Untuck your shirt halfway, have a milk mustache, and have long fingernails (if you’re a guy) all at the same time.
5) Last but not least, Talk! Talk about anything and everything. See an ant, talk about it. It must be touch for ants, huh? Is that a tree? What a nice tree. You’re nice; why are you so nice, it’s amazing! You know what’s amazing? Magicians. It’s not real magic though. It looks like it though, but it’s just tricks. Like in the song, you know, sing with me. “It’s tricky! It’s tricky!”. What you don’t like singing? It’s good for the heart….and so on.
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By: Megan,
on 6/3/2009
In addition to all my blogging and publicity intern duties here at OUP over the past six months, I’ve also been interning for the 19th Annual Virginia Woolf Conference. The Conference is held at a different university every year and this year it just happens to be taking place in New York. The majority of those attracted to the Woolf Conference are Woolf scholars, but this year there is something for the rest of us: there’s going to be a band.
The band is called Princeton and they almost never make their way to the East Coast, so their one-night-only performance at the Woolf Conference is even more special. The band is made up of 3 guys based in Los Angeles who sound like a cross between The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, and a library. Princeton write and perform music based on the lives and work of the members of the Bloomsbury Group that included Virginia Woolf, Leonard Woolf, Lytton Strachey and John Maynard Keynes. One of my favorite songs from Princeton’s Bloomsbury EP, “The Waves”, shows off what they do best. The song pairs heartbreaking lyrics, detailing Woolf’s last thoughts before her suicide, with music so upbeat that it’s practically bursting with sunshine. Princeton’s music makes you happy, and then it makes you think.
For the Woolf Conference, Princeton will be playing all of their songs from the Bloomsbury EP and have collaborated with the Stephen Pelton Dance Theater to produce “Lytton/Carrington”, influenced by Bloomsbury member Lytton Strachey’s unique relationship with the painter Dora Carrington. Also premiering at the Woolf Conference is the dance theatre piece “it was this: it was this:”, choreographed by Stephen Pelton, which uses movement to illustrate Woolf’s use of punctuation in one paragraph of To the Lighthouse.
Princeton and the Stephen Pelton Dance Theatre will be performing in Fordham University’s Pope Auditorium, 113 W. 60th St, on June 5th at 8 PM. Tickets will be available at the door for $20.
You can learn more about the 19th Annual Virginia Woolf Conference here.
See for yourself how awesome Princeton and the Stephen Pelton Dance Theater are.
And here’s the music video for my favorite Princeton song, “The Waves.”
By: John Mark Boling,
on 5/15/2009
Overlook author and graphic design legend Milton Glaser has launched a brand new website, MiltonGlaserWorks.com. An e-commerce-enabled companion to the designer's online home base, MiltonGlaser.com, the new site offers signed editions of Glaser's books and other works, including posters and a new range of giclée prints of assorted musicians and William Shakespeare. . . . Glaser fans should also be on the lookout for the release of the documentary Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight. Directed by Wendy Keys and featuring Overlook Publisher Peter Mayer in a supporting role, the film has been making the festival rounds and premieres on May 22 at New York's Cinema Village.
By: jamie felton,
on 6/28/2008
*****On a trip to Wales to study photography and earn her graduate degree, KayLynn Deveney stumbled across Albert Hastings, and old man who lived alone in an apartment near where she was staying. In getting to know him, she realized that Albert was a
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NOTE TO SELF: SOME TEACHERS GO ON AND ABOVE THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
It wasn't that long ago that students who walked to and from school playfully jostled each other, while still others took public transportation.
Passing courses aren't the only things students attending schools in London, England, have to worry about these days. Seems that stabbings are becoming more and more frequent and it's not part of their teaching manual or job description, but some teachers are worried enough to personally intervene.
In the wake of concern about the level of knife crime among young people, one London teacher tells of the extraordinary lengths he and his staff go to, to keep their pupils safe.
Headteacher Tom Mannion surveyed the street from his seat on a London bus and pointed to where one of his pupils was stabbed last month.
Read the entire story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7448817.stm
Seems like centuries ago now that teachers main concern was ensuring that their pupils learn the 3 R's. Sad and a sign of the times that they have to turn into bodyguards and it's to their credit that some do.
By: Rebecca,
on 3/21/2008
One of the best things about working at Oxford University Press is finding older books you didn’t know about. A couple of days ago I came across The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales: The Western Fairy Tale Tradition from Medieval to Modern, edited by Jack Zipes. I decided to put the volume to the test. Would it have the modern musical interpretation of fairy tales? It did! Below is the entry about one of my favorite shows, Into the Woods.
By: Becky Laney,
on 6/11/2007
Card, Orson Scott. The Worthing Saga.
Imagine living in a world where there is no pain, no suffering, no grief, no fear, no anger, no violence, no injury. Wrong actions, in a sense, have ceased to have consequences. If a person were to hurt himself/herself chopping wood or tending the fires, then there would be instant--almost magical--healing. Even morally wrong actions are prevented, on this world there are no children out of wedlock; and the child is always the husband's never the lover's if you're an adulteress. Yes, there is an occasional death, but never for the very young, never for the able-bodied. It is hard to imagine for us this life of easy contentment. A life with no struggles? A life truly worry-free? A world where fire doesn't burn you and ice doesn't freeze you? Surely there must be a catch, right? Some reason why this world isn't a perfect paradise...
The change came in the middle of the night. Imagine going to bed with everything being quite all right, and waking up to find that life is not what you thought it was. Pain. Grief. Suffering. Worry. Fear. Anger. And it wasn't just emotional, as the village learned. It was physical, too. As one accident after another occurred, the villagers soon realized that they could not only be hurt, but they could also DIE. With the whole village (and indeed the whole world) in confusion, no one knows quite what to think. Is God dead? If God is still watching over them, why then is there suffering? Why suffering after all these centuries of watchful care? Folks are going along muttering that God doesn't look out for them anymore.
The old clerk trembled and nodded and his voice quivered as he spoke. 'I have read the books of ancient times,' he began, and all eyes turned to him. 'I have read the books of ancient times, and in them the old ones spoke of wounds that bleed like slaughtered cattle, and great griefs when the living suddenly are dead, and anger that turns to blows among people. But that was long, long ago, when men were still animals, and God was young and inexperienced. (5-6)
Yes, no one understands this Day of Pain. Least of all, Lared, our young hero. But it is Lared who will become the chosen speaker that will write the story and tell the tales that will explain this Day and give it meaning. Two strangers come to the inn, the inn that Lared's parents own, and it is Lared and his sister, Sala, who befriend them. Jason. Justice. A man and woman. The two are mysterious, no doubt about it, and more than one person suspects that they're coming is linked with the Day of Pain.
The two share their stories mostly through dreams and waking visions. Jason will occasionally share one the old-fashioned way, but most are transmitted directly into Lared's mind. Lared doesn't know what to think. He doesn't like the dreams. He doesn't like the uneasy feelings they leave him with...but he also knows that he has been called, chosen, if you will, to write this down. To record them. It is not his place to understand everything, just to write it down as it's been given to him.
Lared and his village provide the framework for the stories that Jason and Justice share. It is a story of two men, one empire, and one powerful drug.
Abner Doon. A name that still strikes fear in people thousands of years after his death. Some even say that he was the devil himself. But was he really? His name is associated with death and destruction, and in some ways, it is easy to understand why. He caused the death and destruction of the EMPIRE. The very arrogant, often corrupt, very stagnant empire. But was the fall of the empire really that bad? Wasn't it better for humanity in general? Jason Worthing certainly thinks so.
Jason Worthing. Another name that people fear to speak aloud. Why? It is a name of reverence. Many people feel that Jason Worthing is God. The creator of life. The sustainer of the universe, even. But was he really? Yes, he had a hand in establishing life and building civilization, at least on one planet, but the creator of all life? No. Just an ordinary man with unusual psychic powers who came from a technologically advanced society.
The empire. It's not that the empire was completely evil. Sure the empire had its fair share of corrupt and power-hungry politicians. More than its fair share. Every branch of the empire had its corrupt officials. And there was nothing that couldn't be bought--as long as you had money. But that wasn't the real crime of the empire. The real crime was that humanity was being robbed of its very soul, its very essence. They had lost the point of living. They were corrupting the very nature of our existence.
Somec. Perhaps the most powerful drug the empire had ever known. What did it do? It put the user into a deep sleep, a coma, if you will. First, the user would have his/her memories downloaded or recorded, if you will, onto a tape or into a bubble. I forget quite how they did it. I just know that there was a way of downloading and uploading memory. Then the assistant would inject somec. It wasn't a pretty picture. It burned. It hurt. It caused severe physical problems--sweating, discomfort, pain--but the user would forever be unaware of it because the memories would never include this part of the experience. Who was it for? At first, it was just for starship pilots. Their skills would be needed throughout a long voyage. And if a trip took hundreds or perhaps thousands of years, then they'd need Somec to function. The computer would always be able to wake them up in case of an emergency. But they'd arrive at their destination intact. So for colonization vessels, it really couldn't be any better. A ship would carry three hundred or so passengers and all the supplies needed to create and establish a civilization on another planet. So there were a few valid uses of the drug, I suppose. But the real corruption began when somec became a common necessity for the people.
Imagine the possibility of immortality. Somec offered immortality. The wealthy. The elite. The powerful. The brilliant minds of society were all given the chance for immortality. The more valuable society deemed you, the longer you would sleep between waking cycles. The common people lived and died naturally enough. But a good portion of society, became obsessed with immortality. But is living a thousand years natural if you spend 70% of it or so asleep? What does it accomplish really? You're not able to have friendships with others unless you're on the same sleep cycle. You're not able to maintain family relationships either. People could theoretically outlive their great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren. Love becomes to a certain extent irrelevant. Most things become irrelevant. No time for the finer things in life. Love. Romance. Music. Art. For not only do most people spend most of their times asleep, what little time they're awake they're obsessed with power, money, fame, greed, control. They always want more, more, more. Never content. There is no longer any joy in living life. But really too few people notice what they're missing. Except for one. The aforementioned Abner Doon.
Abner "rescues" Jason, if you will, and offers him a chance to become a part of something great. Jason becomes a starship pilot, a very famous starship pilot, and he eventually leads a colonization ship. Abner's big plan--besides the fall of the Empire--is to recreate life as it used to be. His plan? To spread humanity throughout the galaxy. To have human civilizations sprout up on thousands of planets. He knows that with the fall of the Empire, with the fall of technology, it will be thousands upon thousands of years before ANY civilization becomes advanced enough for star flight. He sees this as a way for humanity to wipe the slate clean and begin anew.
The Worthing Saga is the story of Jason's planet. How Jason "fathered" or "created" that world. And what happened to its inhabitants. What happened to his descendants. All these stories--and there are many--span thousands of years. Everything is leading the reader back to Lared. Back to the Day of Pain.
The Worthing Saga is about the meaning of life. It is about what it means to be human. It asks important questions. It goes where few novels do. It asks what the meaning of pain and suffering is. It asks what the meaning of struggles are. It is ethical in nature. It asks the hard questions. But it is philosophical as well.
The Worthing Saga contains the previously published The Worthing Chronicle and nine short stories.
By: Becky Laney,
on 6/9/2007
On Day Two, I was able to complete three books: Louisiana's Song, Beauty Shop for Rent, and The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card. (Note: My brain is WAY too tired to write a review about this book tonight. And I won't be able to fit in time to blog about it before the 48 hours are up. But my review will be coming shortly!)
Day 2= 3 books read, 1042 pages, 12 hours reading and blogging.
Combined with day one that gives me:
8 books
2447 pages
23 and a half hours spent reading and blogging
What I learned:
1) Like Elmo, I learned that everyday can't be Christmas...in other words...reading that many hours a day is just tiresome. Everything should be done in moderation.
2) That I read faster when I'm not tired.
3) I should have planned on more variety. While I love YA books. Love them. Reading 7 in a row proved a little tiresome. Thus, I had to add some of my all-time favorite, Orson Scott Card, to help me out of my reading slump.
By: Becky Laney,
on 6/9/2007
Bowers, Laura. 2007. Beauty Shop for Rent. 328 pages.
Abbey Garner. A fourteen-year-old (almost fifteen) girl who spends most of her time hanging out with the over-sixty crowd. I suppose you could say that Abbey is not your typical teen girl. She's not being raised by her mother or father. She's not even being raised by her grandparents. She's being raised by Granny Po, her great-grandmother. Not that Abbey would have it any other way, not really. It's just that sometimes Abbey wonders what it would have been like to have her parents want her. I guess this feeling of not being wanted can be traced back through several generations. You see, Abbey's mom had her when she was a teen. Abbey's grandmother had Abbey's mother when she was a teen. And Abbey's great-grandmother had had Abbey's grandmother when she was a teen. All unexpected. All unplanned. Quite a legacy. Quite a lesson: men ruin plans. Men cannot be trusted. There is no 'happily ever after.' Which leads us to Abbey's rule on NO dating boys in high school. No dating boys at all. Not until she's already lived her life's dreams. You see, unlike most teen girls, unlike her friends Kym and Sarah, Abbey has no room for boys in her life. Not romantically at least. Boys are too unpredictable. Boys get in the way of your plans. Your goals. Your dreams. What does Abbey want most in life? Two things really: to become a millionaire by the time she is thirty-five, and to break the family cycle.
Beauty Shop for Rent is a book all about transformations and transitions. Her Granny Po has owned and operated Polly's Parlor for years--since her husband's death thirty years ago. But lately, Granny Po has been thinking of renting out the place. For the past two years. The sign, now rusty, hangs outside the shop. But it isn't until one autumn day when Granny Po is out with the Gray Widows playing Bingo that the unexpected happens. Gena Hopkins. A thirty-something with a dream of her own. She wants to rent the place. And she wants to turn this old-fashioned salon into a day-spa. At first, Granny Po and Abbey don't know quite what to think. After all, this salon is their hang out. It's where they live on gossip. It's where they gather to watch Wheel of Fortune every single night. But one by one, they all come to accept and welcome this change.
But Polly's Parlor's transformation into Serenity Spas isn't the only transformation going on. Abbey herself is beginning to change. Beginning to open up her heart. Beginning to think about herself, her mother, her father, and her family tree. Was it men who really "ruined" their lives? Or was it something else. Something closer to home. As Abbey comes closer to solving this family mystery, she may just learn who she really is and what she really wants from life. And...most shocking of all...it may include a boy!
By: Becky Laney,
on 6/9/2007
Madden, Kerry. 2007. Louisiana's Song. 256 pages.
Louisiana's Song is the sequel to Gentle's Holler. At the end of Gentle's Holler, Livvy Two's father was in a horrible car accident. He has spent months in a coma. Louisiana's Song opens the day that their father is returning home. He's out of his coma, but his recovery is far from over. He has trouble remembering. He doesn't remember their home. But more terrifying still, he doesn't remember his children. While at first it is the younger children who have a hard time excepting their "daddy" back home in this new condition, it soon becomes the older children who become disturbed. The ones that are under the age of four have no expectations really of what their daddy should be like. But the older ones, it's different. He doesn't know them. He doesn't seem comfortable with them. It's like their strangers to one another. Livvy takes this especially hard. Although that could be simply because she's the narrator. It's her burden, her story to tell. But this story isn't hers alone. In Lousiana's Song we catch glimpses of Louise and Becksie as well--particularly Louise. As these older children all find ways to help their family through this financial strain, they learn that teamwork is the only way to make it work. Their daddy may be home again, but their struggles are just beginning.
Louisiana's Song is a wonderful drama all growing up, finding yourself, and loving and accepting your family.
http://www.kerrymadden.com/
By: Becky Laney,
on 6/9/2007
The second day of the 48 Hour Reading Challenge is just getting started. But I thought I would recap a little of yesterday's results. I was able to read FIVE books: The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Lacemaker and the Princess, Into the Wild, Kimchi & Calamari, and Tall Tales. The total number of pages I read was 1405. The hours I spent blogging: 1 hr. The hours I spent reading: 10 hours and 30 minutes. So I spent around 11 hours and 30 minutes yesterday doing challenge-related activities.
By: Becky Laney,
on 6/9/2007
Stewart, Trenton Lee. 2007. The Mysterious Benedict Society. 485 pages.
Loneliness. Anger. Frustration. Fear. Anxiety. Doubt. Feelings common to both children and adults. What if there was a way to eliminate fear and anxiety? What if there was a way to make everyone happy and content all the time? No worries. No problems. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Meet Reynie Muldoon. Kate Wetherall. George "Sticky" Washington. Constance Contraire. These four kids make up the Mysterious Secret Benedict Society. They've been recruited by Mr. Benedict to infiltrate the elite school The Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened. L.I.V.E. for short. (Yes, spelled backwards it reads EVIL.) As a team, they must work as secret agents and uncover the evil plots of one Mr. Curtain. Mr. Curtain has an evil scheme to the rule the world, and it involves using children as pawns. It will take bravery, teamwork, and determination to succeed. Do these children have what it takes to save the world?
The Mysterious Benedict Society is not the first book of the year to feature an elite, secretive school for geniuses. But it is the first that I actually liked reading. What I liked best about the book was the writing. The style of it. The phrasing. It had a certain uniqueness about it that was just enjoyable through and through. Here are two of my favorite parts:
The first scene I'm sharing is of a classroom of students taking a test. The second test to see if they qualify for this "unique" education.
The first child to receive one was a tough-looking boy in a baseball cap who eagerly grabbed it, looked at the first question, and burst into tears. The girl behind him looked at her test, rubbed her eyes as if they weren't working properly, then looked again. Her head wobbled on her neck. "If you begin to feel faint," said the pencil woman, moving on to the next child, "place your head between your knees and take deep breaths. If you think you may vomit, please come to the front of the room, where a trash can will be provided." Down the row she went, distributing the tests. The crying boy had begun flipping through the tesst now--there appeared to be several pages--and with each new page his sobs grew louder and more desperate. When he reached the end, he began to wail. "I'm afraid loud weeping isn't permitted," said the pencil woman. "Please leave the room." The boy, greatly relieved, leaped from his desk and raced to the door, followed at once by two other children who hadn't received the test yet but were terrified now to see it. The pencil woman closed the door. "If any others flee the room in panic or dismay," she said sternly, "please remember to close the door behind you. Your sobs may disturb the other test-takers." She continued handing out the test. Child after child received it with trembling fingers, and child after child, upon looking at the questions, turned pale, or red, or a subtle shade of green. (21)
Who hasn't in their life felt some panic and anxiety about taking a test? Anyway, I just thought these were very unique instructions to give for a test.
This second passage is after the main characters arrive at the school. These are the non-rules rules they're given.
You can wear whatever you want, just so long as you have on trousers, shoes, and a shirt. You can bathe as often as you like or not at all, provided you're clean every day in class. You can eat whatever and whenever you want, so long as it's during meal hours in the cafeteria. You're allowed to keep the lights on in your rooms as late as you wish until ten o'clock each night. And you can go wherever you want around the Institute, so long as you keep to the paths and the yellow-tiled corridors. (171)
By: Becky Laney,
on 6/8/2007
Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. 2007. The Lacemaker and the Princess. 199 pages.
What happens when a lacemaker meets and befriends a princess? A whole lot if its set in France on the verge of the Revolution. Meet Isabelle. She is an eleven-year-old girl. Her grandmother and mother are lacemakers. Just like she is a lacemaker. This work--is part of her heritage. Life isn't easy. Her grandmother (grand-mere) is bossy and critical. But it is her grand-mere's nature that sends Isabelle on her fateful trip to the palace of Versailles.
"When the Princess of Lamballe's lace was ready, Grand-mere decided that I should deliver it. Not because I was responsible--I was not, as she often reminded me. Not because she trusted me--she did not, as I well knew. It was because I was worthless, because Grand-mere had been more than usually unhappy about the lace I'd made the previous day, and because one of the very minor nobles had ordered ten yards of lace--a vast amount--that was to be picked up today, and it wasn't finished." (1)
Although Isabelle dreamed of meeting the Queen--Marie Antoinette--no one in her family thought she actually would meet her. It happened quite by chance. At a time when Isabelle needed a helping hand--needed a savior--the Queen just happened to be there. (The poor girl was almost trampled to death in a crowd. The Queen was amused with Isabelle and took her to meet her daughter. And thus begins an unusual friendship.
Can two people from such vastly different backgrounds ever truly be friends? Can the royal family ever understand what it means to be on the verge of starvation and homelessness? Can they ever be sympathetic to the peasants? Isabelle learns when to speak up and when to keep her mouth shut. After all, asking too many questions can get you into trouble.
Can this "lacemaker" of the princess save herself and her family from all the danger that is brewing in France?
By: Becky Laney,
on 6/8/2007
Durst, Sarah Beth. 2007. Into the Wild. 272 pages.
Growing up, I always thought what was living under my bed was pretty scary. But that was nothing compared to what Julie Marchen had to deal with under hers. On the surface, Julie might appear to be your average middle schooler. Teased by some of her more popular peers, she feels she doesn't belong anywhere. Not at school. And not at home. Let's just say that her homelife...isn't quite the norm. Her mom? You might have heard of her. Rapunzel. Though she goes by Zel now. She owns a salon. And her brother? Well, she can't really call him her brother in public. He's a cat. Puss in Boots to be exact. And her father? Well. She's never met her father, so she doesn't know anything about him other than what's written in the story books. A nameless prince. Her grandmother? Practically the worst witch in the world. Only, I suppose, she's reformed now that she's in the "real world." Yes, there are some days Julie wishes she was someone else. That her life story was not so weird. So completely out there. There are days she hates her life. Like when "Cindy" embarrasses her by picking her up from school. Try explaining that away. Yet there are worse things to fear than embarrassment, as Julie learns...
Practically every day of her life, Julie is used to hearing her mom ask her the same old questions. Did you lock your bedroom door? Is the Wild still under your bed? But Julie never thought, and perhaps her mother didn't, that there were other ways for The Wild to escape its captivity.
It all comes down to a wishing well and some wishes. That, and an evil librarian named Linda.
By: Becky Laney,
on 6/8/2007
Kent, Rose. 2007. Kimchi & Calamari. 220 pages.
You wake up and you're fourteen. The world is your supersized soda waiting to be guzzled, right? Wrong. My birthday tasted more like Coke that went flat. Make that flat Coke with cookie crumbs from my little sister's backwash. Not that I planned on a lousy birthdya. After all, I'm Joseph Calderaro, eighth grade optimist. The bag of barbecue chips is always half full in my mind. As I searched for my Yankees T-shirt that morning, I tapped out my favorite band tune with my drumsticks. I was ready to hit the halls of Johansen Middle School bursting with I'm-all-that attitude. I couldn't wait to hear "Happy Birthday to Joseph" chants from cute girls in the hallway between classes. And of course, I expected to uphold my family's tradition of gorging on my favorite dinner. Fried calamari. Eggplant Parmesan. Chocolate cake with gobs of cannoli frosting. Even the whines from Gina and Sophie couldn't ruin that meal. Little did I know that my burned Pop-Tart breakfast would be a sign of trouble ahead. Or that the day's events would spiral downward, just like that pastry--from strawberry frosted and gooey good to black-on-the-bottome and smoking bad. (1-2)
Homework assignments are never fun...at least not through the eyes of an eighth-grader. But Joseph finds one assignment in particular to be extra-impossible. His social studies class is supposed to write a 1500 word essay on their ancestry. The problem? This "Italian" kid is Korean. He's adopted. Joseph would find it awkward to write about his Italian heritage--even though that is how he's been raised. He knows and loves his Italian-sized family. He loves the food. He loves the get togethers. He loves the traditions. But he also knows that it is sort've obvious to the rest of the world that he isn't Italian. But he finds it equally impossible to write about his Korean ancestors. He's adopted. He knows nothing except that he was found in front of a police station in Pusan. No names. No reasons. So he decides to bend the truth just a little. He researches Korea in the library and on the internet, chooses a famous Korean, and inserts him into the family tree. Soon, Joseph had a tangled web of lies that even Spiderman couldn't get out of. But some truths have to be told. Some words need to be said.
Through the course of Kimchi and Calamari Joseph begins to discover who he really is. And he makes peace with both his Korean and Italian ethnicity.
By: Becky Laney,
on 6/8/2007
Day, Karen. 2007. Tall Tales. 229 pages.
Meg Summers is a sixth grader whose biggest hope is to find a friend, a true best friend. But since she's the "new girl" at school, she's not quite sure how to go about it. Sure, it's easy to think about going up to strangers and saying "Hi, my name is Meg." But to actually do it...requires more courage than Meg has at the moment. So the first few weeks of school, Meg eats lunch in a bathroom stall. But then things start to change. It all happens so suddenly too. A lie here. A lie there. Soon there are lies everywhere. Then Meg meets Grace Bennett. A girl who would be a perfect best friend. The two are fast friends, but how long will their friendship last if Meg keeps telling lies to everyone. The truth--the truth she will hardly even admit to herself--is that her Dad is an alcoholic. That he has a problem with his anger regardless of how sober he is. Can Grace love Meg despite a few tall tales and in spite of her dysfunctional family? Can Meg learn to tell the truth and change her destiny?
"Today in the library I read this book about a girl who is 'different.' I don't know anyone like her, anyone who reads a lot and wants to be a writer. But I think, I'm like that girl. I almost laugh out loud. I just wish the girl were real and lived here in Lake Haven." (20)
http://www.klday.com/
By: Becky Laney,
on 6/8/2007
My challenge begins Friday, 9:00 AM through Sunday 9:00 AM. I've spent the past thirty minutes trying to prepare: checking email, reading a few essential blogs, and checking my email. But now I'm off to begin reading. I'll be updating frequently. But my updates will in all likelihood be brief. After all, the point is to do as much reading as possible!!!
Becky, I just wanted you to know that I linked your reviews at my Saturday Review of Books (www.semicolonblog.com). Come over any Saturday and leave a link to future reviews. It looks as if you read some good books this weekend. I'm looking forward to checking out a couple of them myself.
Wow! You had really high totals!