1. The Astounding Broccoli Boy by Frank Cottrell Boyce was sooo good. But the author's note at the end was almost as good as the book!
Rory Rooney has been thrown off the bus by Tommy-Lee ever day. Still, when Tommy-Lee has an extreme allergic reaction from eating Rory's lunch - without Rory's permission, I might add - and Tommy-Lee is taken away in an ambulance, everyone blames Rory!!! Tommy-Lee's friends throw Rory into a stream and when he stands up, Rory is completely green. Now, it's his turn to be carried off to the hospital.
But Rory is prepared. His favorite bedtime story is his mother's book, Don't Be Scared. Be Prepared. Rory's mom is all about being prepared.
Rory is in the isolation ward at the hospital. But he's not alone. Oh, no.... he and his roommate are in for astounding adventures of the superhero-ish sort. As London squirms in the grasp of the Killer Kitten virus, two - or is it more? - green children prepare to Save The World.
Need a break from whatever ails you? This book will help.
2. For another look at lunacy, we have Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky.
Four Fans of the Ruperts - a boy band - somehow end up with one of the Ruperts, tied up in their hotel room. Fangirl fantasy come true!! Squeeee, or whatever. His phone alone is a treasure trove of awesomely...oh no, what's this?? And when the narrator comes clean about the whole event, who will pay the price of the long night's misadventures?
The lunacy in Moldavsky's book is creepy. I ended up skimming the book because:
1. The teens are unbelievably shallow, narcissistic and cruel.
2. It's a little too mean to be funny, I think.
That said, I am NOT a teenage girl. It is way too long since I screamed over a boy band. Back then, social media was a phone with a long cord and my Mom's kitchen timer. So, what do I know? Right? Definitely for teens. And the fans on Goodreads like it a lot. Dark humor, they say.
3. The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks. In a medieval city in the Orient, Kaidu is learning to fight. The city has changed hands so often, that its natives call it the Nameless City. Kaidu is part of the conqueror's army. When he ventures into the city, he meets a girl who calls herself Rat. They don't trust each other but Rat shows Kaidu things about the City that he can't learn behind the fort's walls. When a threat comes from inside the fort walls, Kaidu and Rat must work together as a team.
This graphic novel moves so seamlessly that I didn't notice the lack of words. Actually, as I type this, I realize that since reading this book, action scenes in text books take so long. No wonder graphic novels are so hot. Thanks, Faith Erin Hicks, for furthering my understanding of this genre.
4. An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet. This book had to be read, word for word. The struggle between Halfrida and her sister, Marthe, and their fight to keep their farm needs to be explained. An artist might be able to show the pain, anger, stubbornness and pride on each young woman's face but Bobet's words made this stew of emotions all too real to me. Insert these women into a war ravaged countryside, with a missing husband, and strange unearthly beings and you get a fantasy that speaks volumes about how people do and do not get along.
There is the mystery soldier who asks for somewhere to stay; the unearthly creatures; the aftermath of a war against the Wicked God; the search for a missing hero; Marthe's pining for her husband; Hallie's secret-keeping and her fear. Also a fledgling romance and three cheers for scientific method and investigation. (Sentence fragment, I know. Deal.) There's some heavy stuff going on in this book. I liked it!
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By: bookkm,
on 3/28/2016
Blog: Books 'n' stories (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book reviews, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Faith Erin Hicks, Leah Bobet, An Inheritance of Ashes, Goldy Moldavsky, Kill the Boy Band, The Astounding Broccoli Boy, The Nameless City, Add a tag
By: Jerry Beck,
on 4/20/2015
Blog: Cartoon Brew (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Feature Film, Michael Morpurgo, Kirk Hendry, Kensuke's Kingdom, Neil Boyle, Framestore, Barnaby Spurrier, Kevin Jenkins, Sarah Radclyffe, Add a tag
Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry are attached to direct the feature based on the bestselling novel by Michael Morpurgo.
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By: Betsy Bird,
on 2/9/2015
Blog: A Fuse #8 Production (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uncategorized, Frank Cottrell Boyce, cover reveal, Add a tag
I am lucky in my profession. Lucky not simply because I have a blog where I am offered the chance to reveal the American cover of Frank Cottrell Boyce’s latest book The Astounding Broccoli Boy. No, I’m lucky because I work in a profession where I even know who Boyce is and how fantastic his books can be. And if you’ve read Millions or Cosmic or The Unforgotten Coat then you know what I’m talking about. His latest is an exercise is absurdity that maybe owes more to Cervantes or maybe Ionesco than your average everyday middle grade novel.
Here then, is his latest cover.
Rory, the main character, is half-Guyanese by the way. And penguins make everything good.
Beautiful.
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By: John Dougherty,
on 9/25/2012
Blog: An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Danny Boyle, Peter Hitchens, London Olympic Opening Ceremony, history, Frank Cottrell Boyce, writing for children, John Dougherty, Add a tag
 | ||||
| I don't have permission to use any photos of the Opening Ceremony. So here instead is a picture of some cake, courtesy of Michael at www.foodimaging.co.uk |
Of course, not everyone felt this way. Daily Mail columnist Peter Hitchens on several occasions derided it as ‘a social worker’s history of Britain’, a phrase which I found revealing in its oddness. Does Mr Hitchens believe that social workers don’t have a right to history, or that their history is somehow inferior to other people’s? Does he think that a person who spends his or her working life looking after the needs of others is somehow less worthy than someone who spends his working life writing opinions for a newspaper with a less than glorious history of bending the truth, not to mention supporting parties with less than pleasant ideologies?
It’s the sort of question that is all too pertinent in these days of Gategate, the scandal of the Government’s Chief Whip apparently calling a police officer a “pleb”. The whole row has that sense of “some people are better than others, not because of who they really are but simply because of their station in life”, which unpleasantly echoes Hitchens’s ‘social worker’ jibe. I’m reminded, as the row unfolds, of how the Opening Ceremony made me feel.
You see, I’m not the only one to have reported unaccustomed feelings of patriotism after watching the Opening Ceremony; and I think I know why. On previous occasions on which I’ve been asked to feel patriotic, the feelings were supposed to be stirred by things that, well, don’t stir me. I quite like the Queen, I suppose, but I don’t feel the country would necessarily be a worse place to live if someone else were our Head of State instead. I never think, “I love being British because we have an army and some big ships!” or “gosh, isn’t it great that we once sent emotionally damaged ex-public schoolboys out all over the world to impose their values on whatever cultures they found there!"
But what Danny Boyle and Frank Cottrell Boyce did, bless them, was to provide an alternative narrative of which I could feel proud. Free universal healthcare! Black people and white people having babies together and nobody even thinking it comment-worthy until that twerp Aidan Burley and, yes, the Daily Mail point it out! Creativity in writing and music and art! Children’s literature, for goodness‘ sake!
I suppose, really, that what it did for me - and this is hugely significant, considering that I grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles - was to tell me: it’s okay to be British my way, whatever that means to me. If I want to prefer a social worker’s history over a right-wing pundit’s history, I can. It doesn’t make me a “pleb” who needs to ‘learn my place’.
So why am I mentioning this here, so long after it’s all over? Well, I just felt moved to point this out:Literature, and perhaps particularly writings for children and teens, do this as well. Can you remember, during your childhood, reading something in a book and thinking, “But I do that, too!” or “That’s just how it feels!” or “So it’s not just me!”
I can. And the lesson of the Opening Ceremony is that that’s important. Enormously important. Children’s writers do many things, but one of the best things we do is to say to children: “You know - it’s okay to be you.”
John's website is at www.visitingauthor.com.
He's on twitter as @JohnDougherty8
He will be appearing at the Cheltenham Comedy Festival on November 17th 2012.
His most recent books include:
Finn MacCool and the Giant's Causeway - a retelling for the Oxford Reading Tree
Bansi O'Hara and the Edges of Hallowe'en
Zeus Sorts It Out - "A sizzling comedy... a blast for 7+" , and one of The Times' Children's Books of 2011, as chosen by Amanda Craig
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: J.K. Rowling, Ages 4-8, Ages 9-12, Book Lists, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Roald Dahl, featured, Richard Peck, Cindy Hudson, E. B. White, Teens: Young Adults, Family Favorites, Add a tag
Five Family Favorites: Leading Bloggers Share their Family Favorite Books, #2
By Nicki Richesin, The Children’s Book Review
Published: May 8, 2012
From left to right: Catherine, Cindy, and Madeleine Hudson.
For our second installment of Five Family Favorites, we asked Cindy Hudson to share her family’s all-time favorite books. Cindy is the author of Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs (Seal Press, 2009) and the creator of the wonderful Mother Daughter Book Club.com. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two daughters.
From the time our girls were born, my husband and I had fun reading to them. We started with titles like Pat the Bunny and Dr. Seuss books before working our way up to novels to read out loud as a family when they got older.
Reading time was always my favorite time of day, as the four of us piled together on the bed, snuggling under blankets in the winter or enjoying the feel of a breeze from the window in summer. Often, our favorite books were ones that made us laugh or painted a vivid picture of another time or a different world. Here are five of our all-time favorites, books we’ve read more than once and wouldn’t hesitate to read again, even though the girls are all grown up now.
Charlotte’s Web
By E. B. White
Until I read the book by E. B. White I thought Charlotte’s Web was just a cute movie for kids. But the rich story in the book about the unlikely friendship that develops between a spider, Charlotte, and a pig, Wilbur, stole my heart. What seems to be a simple story on the surface has so much more beneath it, from the meaning of true friendship, to being resourceful while bringing about change to your world, to suffering grief from loss and learning how to carry on afterward. And as you would expect from a classic that has stood the test of time, adults can appreciate the deeper meanings while both generations enjoy the surface story. (Ages 6-11. Publisher: HarperCollins)
Boy: Tales of Childhood
By Roald Dahl
Ever wonder where Dahl got the ideas for some of the wacky and evil characters that punctuate his fiction? You’ll find out when you read Boy: Tales of Ch
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By: Betsy Bird,
on 8/22/2011
Blog: A Fuse #8 Production (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uncategorized, middle grade fiction, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Candlewick, middle grade realistic fiction, 2011 reviews, Best Books of 2011, 2011 middle grade fiction, 2011 middle grade realistic fiction, Carl Hunter, Clare Heney, Add a tag
Contemporary Mongolia doesn’t have all that many English language children’s novels to its name. And if you asked me to name everything I knew about Mongolia today, I’d probably find myself referring to key scenes in that recent documentary Babies more than anything else. I don’t think I would have selected author Frank Cottrell Boyce to shed any light on the country or its inhabitants. Heck, I’ll take it one step further. With books like Millions and Cosmic under his belt I wouldn’t have even thought he’d want to write a book about immigration, cultural identity, fitting in, and having your assumptions wrecked. Shows what I know because write such a book he has and the result is a svelte little novel that may be his best. The Unforgotten Coat is the kind of book you get when an author gets an original idea and works it into something memorable. This is one story kids will read and then find difficult to forget.
Julie first sees the boys on the playground during break. When the class returns inside the boys follow and suddenly there they are. Chingis and Nergui, two brothers from Mongolia. Almost immediately Chingis identifies Julie as their “Good Guide” who will show them around and tell them everything they need to know. Julie embraces her role with gusto, but as she helps the boys out she wants to know more and more about them. Where do they live? Why do they insist that Nergui is being tracked by a demon that will make him “vanish”. What’s their real story? The trouble is, the moment Julie realizes what’s going on it is far too late.
The book is great. No question. But it’s the Afterword that deserves just as much attention. In it the reader learns where Boyce got the inspiration for this story. Turns out, during the very first school visit Mr. Boyce ever did, he sat with a group of kids that included a Mongolian girl by the name of Misheel. Then one day the Immigration Authorities took her away in the night and Boyce was left with the image of Misheel’s abandoned coat. He wanted to make a documentary with the kids of going to Mongolia to return the coat but that fell through. So it was he wrote this story instead with new characters and, at its core, an abandoned coat. Again.
The best works of protest are those that don’t harangue you but softly win you over to their point of view. Boyce is not a fan of some of the actions taken by the U.K.’s immigration authorities, that’s for sure. In his Afterword he even goes so far as to say, “I do know that a country that authorizes its functionaries to snatch children from their beds in the middle of the night can’t really be called civilized.” And he could have made the characters of Chingis and Nergui adorable moppets who win your heart with a smile and a wink. He doesn’t. Chingis is demanding and Nergui isn’t far off. You do grow attached to them, but not because they’re cute or anything. If you like them it’s because you got to know them a little better, just
By: Betsy Bird,
on 7/11/2011
Blog: A Fuse #8 Production (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: potential tattoos, book dresses, death of cursive, panpsychism, The Reading Reptile, toy museums, William Stieg, Harry Potter, SCBWI, Mo Willems, Uncategorized, Kidlit Drink Night, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Mal Peet, M.T. Anderson, SBBT, E.B. White, Peter de Seve, Bill Watterson, David Lucas, Barbara McClintock, Australian children's books, Jon Agee, Miffy, App Reviews, Fusenews, Add a tag
Maybe half a year ago I mentioned that Ms. Lucy Knisley had created a cartoon poster for the first four Harry Potter books. Now with the final Potter movie coming out, the posters are at long last complete. They follow the plots of the books, not the films, but the look of the characters can be amusingly cinematic at times. And for the record, if I were a tattoo-minded dame, I would adore getting this image of Luna Lovegood and her pop.
But that’s not really my top news story of the day. How could it be? No the top news story is that it is once again time for the Summer Blog Blast Tour. Twice a year a cadre of bloggers for child and teen books gather together to interview some of the luminaries in the field. Chasing Ray has the round-up, so seek ‘em out and read ‘em up. I know I will.
When I lived in London for a time (it was like a little Intro to New York) I would periodically buy the newest issue of Time Out London and find interesting places to visit. One day the mag highlighted a toy museum. It was called The Museum of Childhood and it was fascinating. I was too intimidated to take any pictures, though, so I sort of forgot that I even went. Years have passed and I see that author/illustrator David Lucas has also been to that same museum and he has written about it in the post What do TOYS Think of Us? Stick around for the moment when he starts talking about panpsychism. Looking at all those ragamuffin bits of much loved cloth and felt reminds me of my library’s own original Winnie-the-Pooh. He is, after all, of the British persuasion.
- Birthday party themes for kids abound. My heart, however, belongs to any kid who opts for the theme of “librarian”. There’s even a section discussing what such a party consisted of. Just in case you need some pointers. Big thanks to Jan Godown Annino for the link!
- Yay, Sunday Brunch! Over at Collecting Children’s Books my partner in writing crime (we’re doing a Candlewick book with Jules from 7-Imp) has a delightful post that is well worth your time. My favorite parts include the childhood of a future Brat Packer, a reason why Erin E. Moulton’s Flutter is unique, and a vote for “The Year’s Creepiest YA Novel.” Hooked yet?
- Marci, this is for you. Remember how we were trying to figure out how one would go about creating Quidditch croquet? Well . . .
- And since thi
8 Comments on Fusenews: Croquet and Pentanque (together at last), last added: 7/13/2011Display Comments Add a Comment
By: Dianne Hofmeyr,
on 4/3/2011
Blog: An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Tove Jansson, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Dianne Hofmeyr, Danny Boyle, the Moomins, Pookie stories, Add a tag
Reviewed by: Chris Singer About the author: Frank Cottrell Boyce is the author of two other books for children: Framed and Millions, which was made into a movie by Oscar winning director Danny Boyle. Frank lives in England with his family. About the book: Liam has always felt a bit like he’s stuck between two worlds. This is primarily due to the fact that he’s a twelve-year-old kid who looks like he’s about thirty. Sometimes it’s not so bad, like when his new principal mistakes him for a teacher on the first day of school, or when he convinces a car dealer to let him take a Porsche out on a test drive. But mostly it’s just frustrating, being a kid trapped in an adult world. And so he decides to flip things around. Liam cons his way onto the first spaceship to take civilians into space, a special flight for a group of kids and an adult chaperone, and he is going as the adult chaperone. It’s not long before Liam, along with his friends, is stuck between two worlds again – only this time he’s 239,000 miles from home. Book Trailer:
Frank Cottrell Boyce came rushing up the steps to the altar of St James the Last church like a choir boy late for a service… his boyish charm and enthusiasm infectious. He reminded us at the CWIG Conference this past Saturday that the business we writers are in, is the business of enchantment. And that real creativity should feel like a game, not a career.
By: Betsy Bird,
on 2/23/2011
Blog: A Fuse #8 Production
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Harry Potter, Uncategorized, movie news, Tove Jansson, Hardy Boys, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Brian Selznick, Hugo Cabret, Moomin, Jacqueline Woodson, Tedd Arnold, Edward Gorey, The Story of Ferdinand, Bruce Coville, Robin McKinley, Tina Fey, Gris Grimly, Sergio Ruzzier, Fusenews, movie release dates, book jacket nattering, Peter Glassman, Laurel & Hardy, Frank Dixon, school librarians rock my world, Add a tag
So I’m reading through my weekly edition of AL Direct and I notice that no matter what worldwide occurrence takes place, librarians are always there. Whether it’s damage to two libraries in Egypt, stories from the librarians in Christchurch, New Zealand, or how the Wisconsin Library Association delayed Library Legislative Day due to the protests, the profession is there. That last story was of particular interest to me, since I had wondered whether any school librarians were amongst the protesters in Wisconsin lately. According to the article, they most certainly are. You go, guys!! Seriously, I want to hear more about it. If any of you know any school librarians marching in WI, send them my way. I’d love to do a full post on them.
By: Chris Singer,
on 1/14/2011
Blog: Book Dads
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Book Review, frank cottrell boyce, cosmic, book dads, dads reading, Contributor: Chris Singer, Children's Book (Age 8-12), walden pond press, Add a tag
Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
By: Betsy Bird,
on 11/8/2010
Blog: A Fuse #8 Production (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Harry Potter, Uncategorized, t-shirts, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Eva Ibbotson, Laura Amy Schlitz, Debbie Reese, T.H. White, Lisa Brown, Fusenews, Best Books of 2010, Add a tag
All right, all right, all righty, all right then. Where to begin . . . I know. With a tribute that deserves notice first and foremost. I had heard that Laura Amy Schlitz was writing an obituary for her friend, fellow writer Eva Ibbotson. I expected it to be brilliant. It has, in fact, exceeded my expectations. So much so that it gives me the rather morbid hope that I die before Laura just so that she can write an obit for me as well. Nobody does it better.
- Hooray! It’s time of the year again! The Best Book lists of 2010 are beginning to arrive. Just the other day New York Public Library decided on their 2010 list of 100 Books for Reading and Sharing (I’m not offering any hints, but it’s good). They’ll be printing that soon. And now Publishers’ Weekly has release their own Best Children’s Books 2010. I don’t agree with all their choices, but it’s certainly got some great books on there. Be sure to check it out.
- Speaking of Bests, my co-author Peter Sieruta at Collecting Children’s Books just printed the list of the 2010 ABC New Voices list of “outstanding debut books by authors for middle-grade and young-adult readers.” I must say, I’m more than a little disappointed in the results. No Adam Gidwitz. No Kate Milford. No Margi Preus. No N.H. Senzai. We must have been reading very different authors this year, those independent booksellers and I. I would like to read The Clockwork Three, though. I’ve been hearing good things.
- Wow! So somehow I was unaware that Lisa Brown (she of the recent picture book Vampire Boy’s Good Night) had created a large archive of three panel cartoon reviews of various works of classic literature. Or, if not classic literature, at least well known literature. Some of you, I know, will be fond of the Little House one. Thanks to Educating Alice for the link.
- Got word the other day from illustrator Annie Beth Ericsson that due to the fact that NYC’s Mayor is declaring a brand new Illustration Week soon, she is going to interview a whole slew of new up-and-coming illustrators “many of them children’s book-related” on her blog Walking in Public. Sounds good to me. Please note, oh ye librarians that work with small children, that a couple of the illustrators have images that aren’t necessarily workplace friendly. Good stuff that should be checked out, though!
- The screening of the children’s literary documentary Library of the Early Mind went swimmingly here at NYPL last week. But don’t take my word for it.
You know that
7 Comments on Fusenews: “swinish Milneish parts”, last added: 11/11/2010Display Comments Add a Comment
By: Kelly Herold,
on 6/23/2008
Blog: Crossover (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book review, middle grade fiction, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Cosmic, Add a tag
Frank Cottrell Boyce has done the impossible: He's made me read a book that involves space travel.* Yeah, I'll admit it. I'm one of those readers who will not read books that involve spacesuits, space vehicles of any kind, and weightlessness--fiction or non fiction. All those details about Mach this and Light Year that make me, well, space out.
The hero of Cosmic--Boyce's third novel for young adult readers--is much taller than his eleven-year-old peers. In fact, Liam is mistaken for an adult because of his height and facial hair. When he hangs out with his friend from theater group, a celebrity-obsessed girl named Florida, they pass as a father and child. They can enter shops off-limit to kids without accompanying parents! When Liam is mistaken for his father because of some cellphone shenanigans and wins a once-in-a-lifetime trip on a top-secret space rocket housed in China, he convinces Florida to accompany him as his child.+
When Florida and Liam arrive to China, they find they are one of four father-child teams. Liam takes to his role as "Dad" with great success, especially when matched against the other competitive father-son teams. One Dad and his kid are all about making money, another pair is all about success (Dad writes self-help books about overcoming fear and being successful), and the third pair is comprised of father-son math geniuses. Compared to his competition, Liam is an ordinary Dad--nothing special, really--but his eleven-year-old sense of fun and his true compassion for all the kids, not just Florida, sets him above his middle-aged pack.
While Cosmic does involve a trip around and to the moon, in the end it's about being a kid who has to grow up too fast. Liam is forced into adulthood because of his size, but his space-traveling peers have grown up too quickly because of their success-oriented parents. A good Dad, like Liam's own--who is home in Liverpool thinking his son is on a trip to the Lake District--and what Liam himself becomes on the space trip, allows his kids to grow up at their own pace and to have a little fun along the way.
I listened to Cosmic via an audible download because I could not wait for its July 30th release in the States. While the audiobook is fantastic, I wish I had the paper copy to quote from: There are so many funny and bittersweet lines on growing up and on being a dad in Cosmic. Still, narrator Daniel Ryan does a bang-up job bringing Liam and Cosmic to life. If you have a long roadtrip ahead of you, this audiobook is highly recommended for all children (and their parents) ages eight and up. As Liam would say--this book is cosmic!
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* Other than Frank Cottrell Boyce, only Ian McEwan, Kate Atkinson, and Philip Pullman could get me to read a book about space.
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+ I'm sure there is a better description than "cellphone shenanigans," but, again, as much as I love technology, I sure hate to read about it.
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Monica Edinger posted her review of Cosmic today too! You can find it here at educating alice.
By: Kelly Herold,
on 6/10/2008
Blog: Crossover (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: weekend reviews, Frank Cottrell Boyce, it's my blog, majorly OT, Cosmic, Add a tag
Breaking news: The sun is out. It's been 40 days and 40 nights since I've seen it, so I'm going to post a few items of interest and then head out to boost my serotonin levels.
First things first: Frank Cottrell Boyce's Cosmic won't be out in the U.S. until July 30, but for some inexplicable reason it is available now on audible.com. If you listen to audio at all, I highly recommend this one. The narrator is amazing and Boyce does not disappoint. I'm not going to give away any secrets before my review, but let's just say there's a reason Amanda Craig calls it Boyce's "best yet."
Weekend Reviews? You'd think it was the weekend or something: Review columns and profiles are popping up early this week. Is Father's Day to blame? Here are a few links of interest:
- Karen MacPherson recommends books "to share with Dad" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- Anthropomorphic Literature at the Guardian Book Blog. I've always felt there's a fine line with anthropomorphic literature. As a child, I felt clothes constituted that line. Watership Down was okay, because the rabbits did not wear clothes. Stuart Little was not okay because they did. Simplistic, I know. But I was quite firm on the matter at the time.
Off-Topic: Mondrian has been on my mind this week ever since I read a post on his newfound popularity (again) in fashion at fashionista.Mondrian's paintings have always appealed to me. I love symmetry and order, perhaps because I find instituting order in my life elusive. When I was a teen I bought a great Mondrian tote in London and carried it with me everywhere. I also had Mondrian posters and, I think, shoes. (Or was it a T-shirt?)
Well, Mondrian prints are back, Natalie Hormilla writes at Fashionista. She begins her post with the following statement: "For reasons unknown, the Mondrian-inspired clothes just keep rolling in." I'd argue that the reasons are quite knowable. Namely, Mondrian inspires when times are uncertain. When times are stormy, and violent, and potentially life-threatening, Mondrian's clean lines and primary colors suggest order can be achieved.
ETA: Anyone's sitemeter stop, um, metering in the past 24 hours?
By: Michele,
on 2/11/2007
Blog: Scholar's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: CYBILS, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Add a tag
Frank Cottrell Boyce's Framed
The narrator, Dylan, is the only boy living in a tiny Welsh town named Manod. His parents run the Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel garage, and when he's not trying to find someone with whom to play football, Dylan is in charge of the petrol log. This means he keeps track of everyone coming in and out of Manod: what car they drive, their names, even their favourite snacks. But when a mysterious convoy of lorries makes the trek up the misty mountain road towards an old, disused mine, even Dylan is baffled. Who are these people? And what are they hiding?
This is a story inspired by the true story of how, during World War II, the contents of the National Gallery in London were stored in Welsh slate mines. Once a month, a morale-boosting masterpiece would be unveiled in the village, then returned to London for viewing. Boyce sets his story in the not-too-distant future where London has been flooded, so the nation's favourite paintings have been evacuated to the mines of Manod. When the man in charge of the project to keep the paintings safe, learns that Dylan has named their two chickens after two of the most famous painters in the world, he assumes that Dylan is also an art fan (having failed to ever encounter the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo). Blinded by his belief that Dylan is an art-appreciating prodigy, Quentin Lester fails to realise the effect that seeing some of the paintings has on various of the townsfolk: including intricate still life window displays, a psychedelic parade of umbrellas (it practically always rains in Manod, which may explain why the crime rate is so low), and the re-opening of the town's boating lake.
This is a funny and touching exploration of how Art - its beauty and its value - touches the life of one little boy and his big family in a very small town.
Framed
I like it very much!
I am intrigued! Loved Cosmic and Millions, so I’m looking forward to this one.
He had me at Broccoli Boy. And this cover is genius.