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Tomorrow Oxford will celebrate Alice’s Day, with mass lobster quadrilles, artwork and performances, croquet, talks, and teapot cocktails, and exhibitions of photographic and scientific equipment. The diverse ways in which Alice and her wonderland are remembered and recast reveal how both heroine and story continue to speak to many different kinds of audience, 150 years since Lewis Carroll’s book was first published.

The post Alice down the microscope appeared first on OUPblog.

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By Chloe

 

 

 

 

Alice Pattullo is an illustrator based in East London. Her work is inspired by British folklore, traditions and superstition. This has created a distinctive vintage style within her work with a handmade quality. It is full of character and texture. Her work depicts a variety of subject matter from food to whimsical scenes of people and animals.

To view more of Pattullo’s charming illustrations, please visit her portfolio.

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Post by Alice Palace

Alice Palace has been going now for nearly 11 years and the most common question I get asked is where do I find my inspiration – so I have been thinking of the answer, and have 11 yeeha’s to help…

 

 

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Post by Alice Palace

These are some super cute animal illustrations from cally jane studio…

  

See more of her work here

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Post by Alice Palace

Louise Wright’s work starts with a pencil and sketchbook, here ideas get doodled down and placement is played around with. Then she uses lovely pens to create a line drawing before scanning and adding colour digitally (sometimes her work is created completely by hand using inks, pencils and acrylic paints). Below are my three favourite cards – the rather plump birthday badger is most wonderful!

See more of her portfolio

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Post by Alice Palace

Rosie Harbottle is an illustrator based in Devon in the uk, and she has a BIG love of pattern, colour and type. She hand draws or paints everything before scanning and playing around with colour and composition to create beautiful artworks like the badger, bunny and owl below…

See more on her website

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Post by Alice Palace

Elise lives in Montreal and draws lots and  LOTS of wonderful monster characters – but the illustrations I love best are her children and animals…

 

Take a look at her website

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Post by Alice Palace

Aless has just set up her own studio label called ‘This is gold’. Based in London, she is available for freelance surface pattern, illustration and childrenswear graphics. I love her characters…

See her New Website

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By Alice Northover

While I already gave my opinion of the best OUPblog posts of the year, it’s only fair to see what you the reader decided. Here’s our top ten posts according to the number of pageviews they received.

(10) “Olympic confusion in North and South Korea flag mix-up” by Jasper Becker

(9) “Five GIFers for the serious-minded” by Alice Northover

(8) “Seduction by contract: do we understand the documents we sign?” by Oren Bar-Gill

(7) ““Remember, remember the fifth of November”” by Daniel Swift

(6) “Puzzling heritage: The verb ‘fart’” by Anatoly Liberman

(5) “The seven myths of mass murder” by J. Reid Meloy, Ph.D.

(4) “Oh Dude, you are so welcome” by Anatoly Liberman

(3) “How New York Beat Crime” by Franklin E. Zimring

(2) “Oxford Dictionaries USA Word of the Year 2012: ‘to GIF’” by Katherine Martin

And the number one blog post of the year is…

(1) “SciWhys: Why do we eat food?” by Jonathan Crowe

And I thought it would be interesting to note that our eleventh most popular blog post of 2012 is actually from 2009. People still enjoy arguing about unfriending.

Alice Northover joined Oxford University Press as Social Media Manager in January 2012. She is editor of the OUPblog, constant tweeter @OUPAcademic, daily Facebooker at Oxford Academic, and Google Plus updater of Oxford Academic, amongst other things. You can learn more about her bizarre habits on the blog.

Subscribe to the OUPblog via email or RSS.

The post Top ten OUPblog posts of 2012 by the numbers appeared first on OUPblog.

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If Hermione had been American, she might have enrolled in Hex Hall. In Rachel Hawkins' wonderfully absorbing supernatural trilogy, we learn that Hex Hall is not your typical boarding school. Three years after learning she was a witch, Sophie Mercer performs a spell that lands her in Hex Hall, a reform school for Prodigium: witches, fairies, and shape-shifters. She makes both friends and enemies almost immediately as she encounters vampires, ghosts, warlocks, and strict teachers. As the series progresses, Sophie discovers secrets her family has been keeping from her and truths about her newfound friends, frenemies, and love interests.

There are many reasons why I enjoy and recommend this wonderful trilogy by Rachel Hawkins. First of all, the writing rocks. If you liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will like these books. I seriously want to put these books in the hands of every single BtVS fan. Hawkins has infused her stories with a wonderful mix of humor and drama, fantasy and (fictional) reality, friendship and romance. The dialogue is witty, the individual character histories and storylines are intriguing, and the mythology and magic are well-explained.

The characters rock. There are characters you love, characters you love to hate, and characters you can't decide whether or not to trust. My favorite characters include Sophie, as detailed in the next paragraph; her roommate Jenna, who has a wonderful storyline, personality, cool hair - and, oh yeah, a set of fangs; and Cal, who drew me with his introspective demeanor and his gentle disposition, which tied in so well with his healing abilities.

The main character especially rocks. Sophie is strong, even when she doesn't know it. The books are written in first person from her point of view. Allow me to reference Buffy again, so you understand how awesome Sophie is: both of them can fire back when attacked, verbally or physically; they both fight, defy, accept, and re-form their own destiny; they are surrounded by supportive and talented friends and family; and they hold their ground, no matter what, even when the going gets tough. I admire Sophie's strength and bravery. Her journey is just great - and I love that she takes a literal journey as well as an emotional one.

The pacing rocks. I raced through these books, the second and third particularly. In fact, I waited to read the second book until the third came out so I could read them back-to-back. All three books are page-turners, and each book raises the stakes.

I am cautious of revealing too much in this review because I really enjoyed all of the surprises that appeared throughout the series. If you pick up all three books at one time - which you should - do NOT allow yourself to read the cover flaps of the second book until you've read the first book, and do NOT read the cover flap of the third book until you've finished the second book. Trust me, you're going to want to meet Sophie's friends, foes, and family at the same time Sophie does, rather than knowing about now and anticipating their arrival. There's magic in the journey and in the reveal, in experiencing the twists and turns in step with the main character.

The character names rock. Nick, Daisy, Jenna, and Sophie are some of my favorite character names ever. (If you want to know why I like these names, just ask. Each name has a story or two for me.)

Bonus points to Hawkins for including quotes from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland between portions of the books.

Really, the only thing about this series that disappointed me was the fact that each volume had each a black cat on the cover - and no such cat appeared in the story. Perhaps if I just shapeshift in a cat, I could attend Hex Hall too... Please? (Meow?)

Read all three books in the Hex Hall trilogy:
Hex Hall
Demonglass
Spell Bound

Read my interview with Rachel Hawkins.

Visit Rachel's <

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Not one, but two new blog editors! Alice Northover joined the OUPblog in January 2012 as our New York-based Editor-in-Chief. Social Media Manager here at Oxford University Press, you can also find her tweeting @OUPAcademic and Facebooking as Oxford Academic. Prior to joining Oxford, she worked in book publicity, annoyed colleagues about social media, argued semantics, and fantasized about running away to Paris and living as a late 1950s “intello.” Now she can be found wandering aimlessly around New York, obsessing about her cat, and still arguing semantics. And now on to a quick self-interview for you blog readers… –Herself

What book are you reading right now?
I’m reading Is That a Fish in Your Ear? : Translation and the Meaning of Everything by David Bellos, which I picked up entirely because I saw the book trailer a few months ago. I’m a bit of a word nerd, which only got worse when I studied French and made a brief attempt at becoming a translator. When you come across a word that stumps you, just stealing that word into English feels incredibly satisfying.

Which word do you have to look up in the dictionary repeatedly?
I can’t remember. Why do you think I have to look it up so much? I’m fairly certain it begins with “p.”

What weird things do you have in your desk drawer?
I haven’t built up a drawer full of weird objects yet, but I do have band aids (“plasters” to our UK readers), lavender hand cream, nail clippers, and some heel inserts. I have two pairs of shoes in my filing cabinet and no files.

What do you look at on the Internet when you think no one’s watching?
I have an irresistible urge to look at slideshows of celebrity dresses after awards ceremonies. I’m very ashamed of this habit.

What’s your favorite bookstore?
A tough decision in New York — we have so many great bookstores. I’ve loved St. Mark’s Bookshop in the Village since my days at NYU. It’s small, friendly, and “curated” as people like to say when justifying the existence of independent bookstores. I’m also very fond of Book Culture on the Upper West Side, my go-to place for esoteric academic titles on Persian military garb or Byzantine political history.

If your friend were visiting NYC, what is the one thing they should do while they are here?
Go for a walk along the High Line, an old elevated freight rail line that has been converted into a public park. Walking among wildflowers while three stories up between (and sometimes under) buildings gives you an entirely different perspective on the city. And it seems crazy, but New Yorkers walk differently on the High Line. They stroll.

Which book-to-movie adaptation did you actually like?
I enjoyed the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Swedish films (haven’t seen the American one yet). One quibble: The second book has a killer closing line; why didn’

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I was recently interviewed at The Book Base. Thanks for reading!

How long have you been a blogger?

I’ve been blogging at Bildungsroman for close to 8 years now.

Approximately, how many books do you read every year?

I average about a book a day, so I read around 300 books a year, more if you count scripts and screenplays.

What were your favourite books as a child?

My favorite books as a child included The NeverEnding Story by Michael Ende, Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, The Fairy Rebel by Lynne Reid Banks, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I was also a huge fan of The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin.

What are you reading at the moment?

I recently finished My Not-So-Still Life by Liz Gallagher, her inspired follow-up to her wonderful debut novel The Opposite of Invisible. I am about to begin Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots by Abby McDonald, which I picked up because, like the protagonist, I am a vegetarian and environmentalist (though she is even more “green” than I am!) I am also reading, re-reading and memorizing three scripts as I prepare for projects which are about to go into production: a webseries, a short film, and a world premiere play. (I’m an actress.)

If you had to pick one, what’s the best book you’ve read in the last twelve months?

To name only one book I’ve read this year as an overall best would be like a parent trying to pick a favorite child and feeling as those she neglected the others. The only way to make it easier is to categorize:

Juvenile fiction, realistic: The Summer I Learned to Fly by Dana Reinhardt

Juvenile fiction, fantasy: Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Detective mystery meets mythology: A Hundred Words for Hate by Thomas E. Sniegoski

The paranormal meets mythology: Spirits of the Noh by Thomas Randall (The Waking, Book Two)

Historical fiction meets the paranormal: The Secret Journeys of Jack London, Book One: The Wild by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon

Realistic teen fiction: Doggirl by Robin Brande

The end to a series, realistic teen fiction: Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart (the fourth and final Ruby Oliver book)

Non-fiction: Self-Management for Actors by Bonnie Gillespie

Who are your three favourite authors?

Christopher Golden, Thomas E. Sniegoski and Lewis Carroll.

Which book has had the greatest impact on your life?

You pose another difficult question! It would probably be any and all of my favorite childhood books: The Westing Game, The NeverEnding Story, Anne of Green Gables, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Also, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Each reflects a different part of me, as a person and as a writer. Each holds a piece of my heart because I connected to them so strongly, and those connections remain strong to this day.

Which books are you most eagerly anticipating?

The Fallen 3: End of Days by Thomas E. Sniegoski, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark: Emerson Blackwood’s Field Guide to Dangerous Fairies by Christopher Golden and Guillermo del Toro, The Secret Journeys of Jack London: The Sea Wolves by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, The Waking: Winter of Ghosts by Thomas Randall. Also, The Lost Crown: A Novel of Romanov Russia by Sarah Miller, which was released last month and is patiently waiting for me to read it on a day with no interrupt

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This past weekend saw Oxford’s annual Alice’s Day take place, featuring lots of Alice in Wonderland themed events and exhibitions. With that in mind, today we bring you two videos of Simon Winchester talking about Charles Dodgson (AKA Lewis Carroll) and both his love of photography and his relationship with Alice Liddell and her family. You can read an excerpt from his book, The Alice Behind Wonderland, here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Simon Winchester is the author of the bestselling books The Surgeon of Crowthorne, The Meaning of Everything, The Map that Changed the World, Krakatoa, Atlantic, and The Man Who Loved China. In recognition of his accomplished body of work, he was awarded the OBE in 2006. He lives in Massachusettes and in the Western Isles of Scotland.

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Alice in Charge Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

It's Alice's senior year and she seems to think that now she's almost an adult, and off to college next year, she can no longer ask for help with anything, because "doing it yourself" is part of being grownup. So, there were a lot fewer conversations where her dad and Lester only talk as a way to impart VALUABLE INFORMATION ABOUT LIFE STUFF to the reader. So that was nice, but Alice's attitude bothered me and just led to a lot of "I'm so stressed out and can't handle this" self-invented drama.

Along with this, Alice befriends a Sudanese refugee and teaches him our American ways, battles a hate group at school, battles a sketchy teacher, and is (rather condescendingly/patronizingly) nice to a student who seems to be on the autism spectrum, but it isn't specified.

The ending, as usual is a little pat, and Naylor's explanation as to why people join hate groups is over-simple to the point of being insipid* but Alice is so gosh-darn EARNEST and reminds me a lot of me at that age that I really like her, even though Naylor has no eye for little details.

For instance:

Pam wants to go to school in New York, it has to be New York, the implication being New York CITY. She lists all these schools she's thinking about, and they're all in the city, except then she mentions Cornell. Which is in New York STATE, not City. (And according to Google maps, is the same distance, time-wise, from the city as Silver Spring is.)

It seems really, really weird that Kay's parents would have had an arranged marriage. Arranged marriages aren't that common in modern China and are most likely to take place in rural areas among classes that would be unable or very unlikely to have the money and skills necessary to immigrate to the US. So, unless Kay's parents are 100 years old, this is just... no.

Molly has a boyfriend who's "Indian. Pakistani, anyway." Because they're TOTALLY THE SAME THING. And I bet he's totally ok with his girlfriend thinking they are.

Why are 2,714 people graduating with Les? And why are they all WALKING? Speaking as someone who has gotten a Master's degree from Maryland in the past few years, grad students are invited to the big ceremony, but no one walks and most don't go. Each school has its own graduation ceremony where they walk. And I highly doubt that 2,714 people are earning a Masters in Philosophy at a December graduation. Naylor does get points for pointing out the totally true ridiculousness that graduation is 2 days before Christmas. (I walked on the 22nd. FOR REALZ.)

What is with Alice enjoying cheesy school presentations by outside groups on various dangers facing teens? Does Naylor really think most kids think these are actually funny and cool?

So, yeah, I've often blogged about my love/hate relationship with this series. Why can I love a character, but hate the books so much? Alice deserves better than poorly-researched after-school specials she gets thrown into.


*SPOILER ALERT! It's because his father is emotionally abusive! And says he's too wus

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I got some Spoonflower samples today!  Always exciting.  When I discovered they now offered cotton lawn I had to come up with some designs to test it out. (Lawn was the first thing I requested back when I first signed up with them.)  The samples you see above are all printed on lawn.  The colors came out mostly as expected which is nice.  Can you see the old-timey circus/Alice influence?

The fabric itself is a looser weave than I was expecting; maybe it will shrink up a bit in the wash.  My idea was to construct a wee 1930s dress for myself from Spoonflower lawn.  And, I suppose, some dolly dresses too.  What do you think?

I printed the strongman design on canvas.  I really like the canvas. (I wasn’t expecting to as I haven’t had much use for it; perhaps that will change!)  There were other strongman versions on quilt-weight fabric but I don’t like them as such.  Somehow the details didn’t show up as well. (Plus the scale was smaller so the little guys just seem sort of lost.)  I think this design would need something a little more if it were ever to be printed, some kind of design element in the background.

The diamond/star design is printed on their standard quilt-weight fabric in a slightly different colorway from the same design above it.  I like the softer, more greenish version in the lawn. (Although the bright red, blue and white is appropriate for our holiday weekend!)

Have you printed up anything at Spoonflower lately?

Anyhow, I wish all my fellow U.S. residents, citizens and ex-pats a Happy July 4th weekend!   Actually, a lovely weekend to everyone!

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Birdly Bunting Silhouette 8×10 Print (Pretty Colors)

I’m very excited to be adding new prints to le shop!  I’ve just been itching to get these posted…

House Guest Silhouette 8×10 Print

Housebound 8×10 Print

Housebound (Detail)

Birdly Bunting Silhouette 8×10 Print

You may also find these prints in my Etsy shop.  Thank you for looking and Happy Tuesday!

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"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail.
"There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle -- will you come and join the dance?

Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?

"You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!"
But the snail replied "Too far, too far!" and gave a look askance --
Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.

Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance.

"What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied.
"There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England the nearer is to France --
Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.

Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the
dance?"
- from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

See and hear this scene and song performed by Spike Milligan as The Gryphon, Sir Michael Hordern as The Mock Turtle, and Fiona Fullerton as Alice in my favorite film adaptation of the story, the 1972 live-action British musical Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.



If you can't see the video above, click here.

To learn why I love the original books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), and to discover which books, films, and other adaptations of Alice I enjoyed, click here.

I have posted poetry from or related to Alice many times before:
The Mouse's Tale
Jabberwocky
The Walrus and the Carpenter
Alice Pleasance Liddell
The Lion and the Unicorn (nursery rhyme)

View all posts tagged as Alice at Bildungsroman.

View all posts tagged as Poetry Friday at Bildungsroman.

Consult the Poetry Friday roundup schedule at Big A, little a.

Learn more about Poetry Friday.

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This afternoon, just as I received a parcel, one of my frequent teen customers arrived in the store for her second visit of the day. She wandered over to me as I took Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, a Classic Illustrated Edition compiled by Cooper Edens, from its packaging. She leaned over my shoulder as I looked through the book, cover to cover. I examined every single page, exclaiming over the illustrations and pointing out my favorite lines in the text. This thorough examination and play-by-play apparently amused my customer, who was already aware of both my adoration for this story and is accustomed to my enthusiastic nature in general.

This volume offers illustrations from the late 19th and early 20th centuries from multiple artists. The cover opens up to reveal a four-and-a-half-page collage of these illustrations. The art was compiled by Cooper Edens who, according to the publisher's website (link below) "owns one of the largest collections of vintage picture books in the world."

As a lifelong fan of the original story, I thought it was neat to see different interpretations of the same characters almost side-by-side. For example, the first four pages of Chapter IV: Pig and Pepper offer three different depictions of Alice with the frog footman, one of which is a full-page color illustration by Harry Rountree. This volume included some of my favorite Alice illustrations, such as the trial scene in Chapter XII: Alice's Evidence as drawn by both Tenniel and Arthur Rackham. (Note that this edition colorized Tenniel's courtroom scene and flipped Rackham's card-tumbling image.) It also introduced me to other lovely pieces, including A.A. Nash's tall Alice and Maria Kirk's sweet-looking brown Cheshire Cat, blending in with a tree.

The original text has been kept in tact. My favorite piece of emblematic verse, The Mouse's Tale, which can be found in Chapter III: A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale, retains its intended, poetic tail shape rather than being flattened into sentences.

The book closes with an alphabetical list of acknowledgments, noting all of the persons whose collections are included. (Speaking of which, if someone could tell me who drew the piece with a girl reading a book while the characters of Alice stand behind her, I'd be much obliged. I've seen that image before, and I'd really like to know who created it!)

All in all, this is a nice addition to the bookshelf of an Alice collector. Thank you, Chronicle Books, for including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in your library of Classic Illustrated Editions.

Because there are so many different editions of Alice floating around, I offer you a link to this item in its new paperback form at the publisher's website.

To learn more about my fondness for the original book, read this post.

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Disney targets tween boys (take two. CEO Bob Iger lays out a big budget strategy involving franchises in development from the Marvel acquisition, alongside projects that feature the likes of brain-eating zombies. Also European multiplex chain Odeon... Read the rest of this post

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Alice. Syfy. Aired 2009; DVD release 2010. Miniseries review. Watched on Syfy.

The Plot: Alice falls through the Looking Glass into Wonderland. Except, it's today's world; Alice is a twentysomething martial arts instructor; and this isn't a children's Wonderland.

The Good: I loved this miniseries! It was fun, despite being serious. I liked Alice and her dedication to finding and saving first her boyfriend and then her father. I especially loved the chemistry between Alice and Hatter.

Traditionalists won't like this, I'm sure, because it isn't an adaptation of the Lewis Carroll Alice books. Instead, it's a reimagining. The Carroll books were talking about something real. 150 years later, a different Alice travels to Wonderland, a Wonderland 150 years later and much more modern and darker and adult than Carroll's Wonderland. If the earlier Alice was about exploring a strange world, this is about surviving and understanding that world.

I cannot imagine watching this without having some knowledge of the Alice books (or previous, more literal movie versions). There are many references to the people and things the first Alice encountered, and part of the fun is identifying and figuring that out. So, no, this doesn't work as an introduction to someone with no knowledge of Carroll's original creation. Neither is it for children; Alice is a grown up, those she encounters are grown ups, and it's dark and violent.

I watched this on the Syfy channel. At this point, it doesn't look like its available to view online. The DVD is coming out in 2010. I'm curious to see whether there are any extras that aren't available at Syfy.com.

Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

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Intensely Alice Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

I've talked before about my love/hate relationship with Alice McKinley. On the one hand, Alice is one of the most real characters in YA lit. On the other, her voice is no where near real and each book is an after school special. It's a really weird mix.

And the latest installment is no exception. I won't say what the After School Special is, because, like in most of the books, it happens at the end. They all tend to follow this formula: life-life-minor conflict-life-minor conflict-life-life-minor conflict-life-life-BAM! MAJOR WTF EVENT!

It's the summer before senior year. Patrick's off to University of Chicago. Carol's getting married. Alice is trying to figure out what to do after school...

Minor things-- Naylor seems to think that campus fliers are day specific-- "Everytimg we made a turn, it seemed, there was a poster of a bulletin board promoting an organization or a lecture, a concert, a play. Being Sunday, there were notices about religious services and discussions..." Um, no. They'd be there all week long.

Major things-- after Carol's wedding, Alice refers to them as Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Swenson. REALLY?! Only Aunt Sally would think that's appropriate. Why would Alice, who has spent previous books so obsessed with the "Sisterhood" say something so outdated?! Especially in relationship to CAROL of all people?!!!!!! ALSO, Alice lets Patrick order for her, because "I wanted to try whatever he liked best." I mean, just ask him and then order dude. When did she get so... subservient?

While the book was fine, I do not like who Alice was when she was in Chicago. And I don't think it's that Alice changed, but that Naylor just really lost touch with things when writing this and thought it was 1950 or something. While the voice issues usually just annoy me, this just made me angry.

Copy from: the library


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In the new novel Legacy by Tom Sniegoski, a teenaged boy named Lucas finds out that his father - who has never been part of his life - is a superhero. How would you react if you discovered your parent was a superhero?

If you were a superhero, who would you be, and what superpowers would you possess? Would you like to slip into the costume of an existing superhero, like Batman, Wonder Woman, or Rogue, or would you rather be a character of your own creation? Tell us your heroic name.

Think outside the box: Instead of only picturing spandex-clad people flourishing their capes, consider everyday heroes. What can we learn from these unsung heroes?

Feel free to repost this prompt at your own blog, and leave your thoughts or the links to your own posts in the comments below!

I firmly believe that there's a hero inside each of us. As I recently posted in response to the wonderful What a Girl Wants: Holding Out for a Super Heroine post at the Chasing Ray blog: There are so many wonderful characters who save themselves rather than waiting around for someone else to rescue them. There are so many real people who do the same. The world would be a better place and populated with stronger people if we all had such personal conviction, strength, and determination, and the courage to be a hero. I challenge people every day to believe in themselves, to achieve their potential, and to strive for excellence.

That being said, I always smile when a close friend of mine calls me Supergirl. Please note that my superhero costume would be more modest than hers. It would be purple with matching fairy wings. Back in July, author and readergirlz diva Holly Cupala posted about the superhero image generator at The Hero Factory and, based on the options available, I created this.

Storywise - be the story bound in books, comics, or graphic novels, or expressed on stage or screen - I like characters who save themselves and others, rather than waiting around for someone else to save them. My favorite fictional characters tend to be are strong, bold, curious, and intelligent, such as Anne Shirley from the Anne of Green Gables books by L.M. Montgomery, Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Tinker Bell from Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, various residents of Fantastica from The NeverEnding Story by Michael Ende, and Jenna Blake from the Body of Evidence books by Christopher Golden and Rick Hautala. True, they all needed help at times - think of Anne and the sinking dory - but they also were able to make their way through the world and the story due to their own resilience. They had strength (emotional strength, strength of character and conviction being more important to me than physical strength) and smarts. Some had more "traditional" heroic experiences: Anne saved lives, as did Jenna.

Back to the first question I posed in this piece: What would I do if I found out my parent was a superhero? I already know my mom is a hero - a single mother who raised two children, kept a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, food in our stomachs, love in our hearts, and smiles on our faces. She helped us and encouraged us. Even though I'm an adult, she is my most trusted confidante and biggest supporter. Simply put, she rocks.

She also appreciates Tom's sense of humor, but that's another story and will be told another time. :)

This just in: Legacy made the ALA BBYA & the ALA Quick Pick nomination lists! Woo hoo!

Learn more about Legacy by Tom Sniegoski:
http://www.sniegoski.com/legacy.html

Learn more about the author:
http://www.sniegoski.com/

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Megan Branch, Intern

Patrick Wright a Professor at the Institute for Cultural Analysis at Nottingham Trent University and a fellow of the London Consortium.  Wright wrote On Living in An Old Country and its companion, A Journey Through Ruins: The Last Days of London (read an excerpt here). On Living in an Old Country looks at history’s role in shaping identity and everyday life in England. Below is an excerpt about the house of Miss May Alice Savidge. Upon finding out that her pre-Tudor house was scheduled for demolition to make way for road work, Savidge dismantled it, shipped it 100 miles away, and began reassembling the house piece-by-piece.

On Camping out in the Modern World

“History appears as the derailment, the disruption of the everyday…” - Karel Kosik

So far I have not identified the political complexion of the local authority in Ware, not for that matter of the national government when the decision to redevelop Miss Savidge’s home was made. This has not been the result of any reluctance to deal with the political implications of Miss Savidge’s story. On the contrary, my point is that these implications will not be appreciable unless one also grasps the extent to which politics, at least in the traditional frame of the major electoral parties, have become irrelevant to the issues finding expression in this affair.

In a phrase of Habermas’s, the political system is increasingly ‘decoupled’ from the traditional measures of everyday life, and Miss Savidge cannot be adequately defined as the victim of one party as opposed to another. She fell instead (and, of course, rose again) on the common ground of the post-war settlement, a ground which is made up of rationalised procedures and methods of administration as much as of any shared policies about, say, the efficacy of the mixed economy or the legitimacy of the welfare state. Miss Savidge’s house stood in the way of an ethos of development and a practice of social planning and calculation which have formed the procedural basis of the welfare state under both Conservative and Labour administrations. Governments have come and gone (at the behest of an electorate oscillating at a rate which itself reflects the situation), but a professionalised conduct of social administration has persisted throughout.

The professionals of this world are almost bound to see the more traditional forms of self-understanding persisting among the citizenry as merely quaint and eccentric, if not more dismissively as obstructive and inadequate to modern reality. While there is always room for an arrogant contempt to develop here, the most frequent manifestation consists of a resigned and pragmatic realism (the bureaucratic sigh which responds to people’s demands by saying that things are always more complicated than that) with which officials draw out and exhaust the discussion and patience of residents’ associations around the country. That this system of planning is less than perfect goes without saying, and Miss Savidge is well stocked with complaints on this score. For anyone who stops to ask she will talk about the callousness of the officials who turned up the Saturday before Christmas (1953) to look at the buildings which they had already decided to pull down—even though this was the first the residents had heard of it. She will mention inconsiderate rules applying to council tenants (no cat or dog unless you have a family, and so on). She will also talk about a general bureaucratic incompetence which, in her experience, made it possible to get a council grant towards the cost of installing a bathroom in a house which was already up for demolition, and which was also evident in the many changes of plan regarding the road development itself. Is it to be a new road with a roundabout, or can the old road be widened, and which local authority (town or country) is to be responsible?

Bureaucratic procedure may indeed be conducted as if its rationality were contained entirely within its own calculations, and in this respect it may well seem to stand impervious: free from any responsibility to the world in which its works eventually materialise. But whatever the appearance, this is obviously not a matter of rationality alone. The system of planning into which Miss Savidge was well caught up by 1969 is characteristic of a welfare state that was both corporatist in character (public discussion and political negotiation simulated in thoroughly institutionalised forms), and caught in the contradictions of its commodifying pact with private capital. More than this, the welfare state has developed through a period of extensive cultural upheaval, and Miss Savidge’s is therefore a story of the times in its discovery of tradition not just in the lifeworld but also in an apparently hopeless contest with modernity. While the dislocation of traditional self-understanding could indeed prepare the way for better possibilities, Miss Savidge stands there as a testimony to another scenario in which the prevailing atmosphere is one of insecurity which develops when extensive cultural dislocation has occurred without any better, or even reasonably meaningful, future coming into view.

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I stumbled upon this Edy's Ice cream promotion--the Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute. It's about helping neighbors meet each other and neighborhoods come together. I LOVE the way they have done this--with the emphasis on the people. The ice cream is simply the backdrop of what brings them together. Plus I am all into video these days and especially like the idea you can enter a video submission.

I wonder if there might be a few branch libraries that would want to host a Neighborhood salute similar to this with a local ice cream shop?

Here in New Hampshire, it might be with Annabelle's.
In Columbus, it might be with Jeni's.

What's your local ice cream shop? Would they want to partner with you for a library promotion? Recent reports show that more and more people are showing up at the library every day. It would make their business look as socially responsible and neighborhood-friendly as I'm sure they already are. And it gives people a nice reminder that the library is a great place to meet your neighbors--and potentially cool off in the A/C inside.

All hail to neighbors coming together over ice cream at the library!

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