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The twins are fast approaching ten!
"Tween twins!" Winnie reminds me.
"Double digits, doubled!"

And just like that, a decade ebbs with moon and tide.

Mermaids, this way. Your party awaits.

 Books!

Shh! We Have a Plan - Chris Haughton
The Storm Whale - Benji DaviesPlastic Ahoy! Investigating the great Pacific Garbage Patch - Patricia Newman
Shackleton's Journey - William Grill

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Emma Watson celebrated her birthday today, April 15. She turned 25. For as young as she is, Emma has accomplished so much beyond her role as Hermione in the largest movie franchise in history. She is truly a role model to other girls, and an inspiration to both men and women alike. Please join us in wishing this incredible young woman a very Happy Birthday!

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Please join us in wishing two of the greatest twins ever a very happy birthday! They charmed and tricked themselves into our hearts as the loveable Fred and George Weasley, and today James and Oliver Phelps turn a very grown-up 29 years old!

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What’s a life without love, even if that love is a bit wonky and not quite what you expected?

Madame Chapeau, the latest creation from the finely paired team of Andrea Beaty and David Roberts, does her best to send little flights of joy and love out into the world, by making hats that perfectly match each of her clients. She’s imaginative, attentive and playful with what she creates, and her customers are delighted. However, poor Madame Chapeau lives alone. There clearly once was someone important in her life, but now, on her birthday she is left dining without close company.

What makes it even harder to bear is that her most treasured hat has been lost en route to her solo birthday meal. Passers-by try to help by offering their own hats to Madame Chapeau, and although their kindness is appreciated. nothing is quite right.

But then up steps a secret admirer, who has been watching Madame Chapeau for some time. A young girl, clearly fascinated by the hats Madame Chapeau creates, offers the milliner a little something she has been working on. It’s rather odd, but this gift has been made with much love and turns out to be the best sort of birthday present Mme Chapeau could have wished for. A new friendship is formed and – one suspects – a new hat maker begins her training.

This is a whimsical and charming book which celebrates creativity, generosity and thoughtfulness from start to finish. Beaty’s rhyming text tells a heart-warming tale, but Roberts’ detailed and exuberant illustrations steal the show. With lots of famous hats to spot (look out for Princess Beatrice’s hat, for example, or Charlie Chaplin’s Derby) and fabulous fashion, food and architectural details to pour over, this book rewards repeated readings. Happy Birthday Madame Chapeau is a joyous, life-affirming read and if that isn’t enough of a reason to seek it out, do read Maria Popova’s commentary on the subtle message this book has about diversity and cultural stereotypes.

We brought Happy Birthday, Madame Chapeau to life by customizing our own hats with pom-poms (these play an important role in the book).

Beanie type hats, plus some colourful craft pompoms make for some enjoyably silly headgear – perfect as winter approaches

I wonder what David Roberts would make of our hats? I ask this because it turns out he was himself a milliner before he became an illustrator. From a young age he had an interest in fashion, making clothes for his sister and her dolls, before going on to study fashion design at college. From this, a special love and skill with hats grew – a love and eye that can clearly be seen in his Madame Chapeau illustrations. I asked David if he would share a little about his love of hats, how it developed and what he finds so enjoyable about making hats. Here’s what he had to say:-

“As a kid I was fascinated by Mrs Shilling, and the hats her son David made that she wore to Ascot. They were so theatrical that it would make the news! I loved how she wore these amazing and often bizarre creations with such style and elegance – even if the hat was ridiculous she never looked ridiculous in it.”

David Shilling with his mother Gertrude Shilling. Photo: Sidney Harris

“So when I had the option to do a course in millinery while studying for a degree in fashion design at Manchester Polytechnic, I jumped at the chance, and from then on I was hooked.”

“I love the sculptural aspect of millinery; a hat can be so individual, so singular, a one off. It’s so exciting to have all your elements to create a hat, cloth, wire, glue, buckram, feathers, beads, tulle, net and just let something evolve in your hands. It can turn in to anything really – an abstract shape or something natural like a plant or a flower.”

Stephen Jones, surrounded by some of his hat creations, London, circa 1985. Photo: Christopher Pillitz

“I worked for Stephen Jones for 5 years make his couture hats , where I learned so many skills. And although I loved making his imaginative creations, I stared to realise that I wanted to try my hand at illustrating children’s books – the other great passion in my life.”

“I am glad I made the step in to illustration, but I do still love to get the wire and beads and feathers out to make a hat once in a while. Madame Chapeau came about when the author Andrea Beaty heard that I had once been a milliner: She wrote the text for me and sent it from Chicago in a hat box! I was utterly captivated by it and enjoyed illustrating it and indulging myself once more in the wonderful world of millinery.”

My enormous thanks to David for sharing some of his millinery background with us today. His passion for hats shines through in his gorgeous illustrations for Happy Birthday, Madame Chapeau. Don’t take my word for it – go and find a copy to enjoy yourselves!

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Today our favorite author, J.K. Rowling, celebrates her 49th birthday! Her literary hero, Harry Potter, also turns 34 today. As these two extraordinary people are the reason the Potter universe, this fansite, and wonderful fan base exist, please join us in wishing Jo and Harry a very happy birthday.

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Please join us in wishing one of the Battle of Hogwarts' most humble heroes, Professor Neville Longbottom, a very happy birthday! Professor Longbottom, the Herbology teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has had an exciting summer attending the Quidditch World Cup with all of his old school mates. He turns 34 today.

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Today Emma Watson is celebrating her 24th birthday! Ms. Watson is currently shooting her first takes of Regression, today, as it is the first day on set. According to Emma's tweet, the first day of shooting is "a very cool birthday present". Please join us in wishing Emma Watson a very happy birthday!

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Big Muddy M-2 factory 2nd mandolin

I turned 42 yesterday, which as Douglas Adams fans know, is the answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. The day was mellow and rainy, in which I met a friend for lunch and then took Lucia out to dinner. With my blessing, Bede went to Emerald City ComicCon to sell his art. There was a year in which I had two storytelling gigs on our wedding anniversary, as we decided that we had to go with the opportunities when they presented themselves.

The night before, Bede took me to Dusty Strings to buy a solid-wood mandolin for my birthday. I had thought that a mandolin of my own was many months away, as it is much more challenging to find a decently-good mando than a decently-good guitar an affordable price. This "entry-level" Collings MT A style mandolin, for example, retails at $2700 USD. I had on my wishlist a factory-2nd Big Muddy mandolin that had a few surface blemishes on the back of the neck (which lowered the price significantly), but was structurally sound, beautiful to hear, and accessible to play. Edited to add: I got the Big Muddy mandolin on my wishlist.

One of the highlights of that evening was when the man who helped me choose the new love of my life* demonstrated one of his new favorite mandolins. The other mandolins on the wall reverberated in response. I was reminded of what one of my teachers at guitar camp last summer said: the audience is important because every human is a resonator. "You might get a recording that's almost as good as a live performance if you have particularly good acoustics, but there is no comparison to the sound you get with a live audience."

I will wait to post a recording until I become decent enough to listen to. (Ukulele is relatively easy with the "decent enough to listen to"learning curve. Mando is harder!) I'm working on a simple version of an Irish reel called The Musical Priest, and plan to learn Eel in the Sink, too, just so I can say, "Hey, let's play Eel in the Sink" as casually as someone might suggest You Ain't Goin' Nowhere. I dream on....


 *I love all my instruments. Gentle suggestions to let some of them go are met with puzzled frowns until someone politely changes the subject.

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Title: Happy Birthday Hamster Story by Cynthia Lord Art by Derek Anderson Published by Scholastic Press, 2011 Ages: 3-7 Themes: hamsters, birthdays, friendship Opening Lines:  Best day, bake day, candles on a cake day!                         … Continue reading →

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Today, March 10, please join us in celebrating the birthday of a beloved Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's birthday: Remus Lupin! To many Lupin was more than just a Hogwarts professor. He was a great member of the Order of the Pheonix, mentor, and family friend. Along side a fellow staff member, we also celebrate the rather unique Professor Trelawney's birthday, as her birthday was yesterday. Please celebrate for these wonderful Hogwarts staff members!

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By Mark Philp

Do people at the end of the eighteenth century celebrate their birthdays? More precisely, what did William Godwin (1756-1836) — philosopher, novelist, husband of feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97) and father of Mary Shelly (1797-1851) — do on his birthday, which falls on 3 March?

Godwin was a man of some exactitude. As a major contributor to the development of utilitarianism, the weighing of competing concerns and interests and the rigorous exercise of private judgment on the basis of rational reflection is a central theme in his philosophy. But his concern with detail is also reflected in the diary that he kept for the last 48 years of his long life. He used the diary to note things very precisely, if often cryptically — such as the entry in 1825: ‘void a large worm’; or in his twice daily recording of the interior temperature of the house for the last ten years of his life.

But he did not note birthdays. He mentions the birthday of Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) in 1788 because there is a party for Gibbon hosted by the bookseller Thomas Cadell. In 1825 he mentions that of Mary Lamb, sister of the essayist Charles Lamb, when she was 61, possibly also because there was some event. The only other appearance of the phrase in the Diary is in relation to a play which he identifies as Birth Day (probably by the German dramatist Kotzebue), which he sees (in whole or part) on five occasions. Moreover, he makes nothing of his own birthday — 3 March — whether it be his 40th, 50th, 60th, or 80th. The diary entries for his birthdays are wholly undifferentiated from other days. Moreover, there is no evidence that he celebrated Mary Wollstonecraft’s birthday, nor those of any of his children.

In contrast, he noted over three hundred deaths in the diary — including ‘Execution of Louis’ on 21 January 1793, Edmund Burke on 8 July 1797, the assassination of the Prime Minister Spencer Percival on 11 May 1812, the death (also by assassination) of the German dramatist Kotzebue on 23 March 1819, but also a host of more quotidian occasions involving friends and acquaintances. Interestingly, these dates are all exact – other than Burke, who we now believe to have died the following day! But the exactitude of the others is striking because it means that Godwin was going back to his diary to fill in details as he became aware of them – the news of Louis’ execution took some 36 hours to reach Britain, and Kotzebue’s death would have travelled more slowly. This suggests that he took at least one of life’s major events very seriously, and noted the occasion with retrospective precision.

Is Godwin unusual? That he notes very occasional birthdays of others suggests both that he was, and, because he notes so few, that he was not. Or he was not unusual in the circles in which he moved — the literary and cultural circles of London in the last decades of the eighteenth and first thirty years of the nineteenth century. Moreover, he came from a family of dissenting ministers and was himself a minister in the years following his education, before turning in the 1780s to history and philosophy and an increasing agnosticism, punctuated by periods of atheism. In that tradition — nurtured on such texts as James Janeway’s, A Token for Children being an exact account of the conversion, holy and exemplary lives and joyful deaths of several young children (1671) — the manner of one’s life and death has infinitely more significance than the mere fact of birth.

This contrast is also evident in Godwin main philosophical work – Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793) — is clear that there is little sacred in mere life. It is what a person does with his or her life — above all what they do for others and for the general good of the community that counts in our evaluation of them. While Godwin speculated that the lot of humanity would involve increasing subordination of the physical to the intellectual, with a concomitant shift to increasing longevity and eventual immortality, it is also clear that he took the measure of his fellow men and women in terms of how they lived their lives — hence his almost obsessive recording of the deaths of his contemporaries, both famous and obscure. The ending of life marks the point for its final reckoning. In Godwin’s philosophy that evaluation is to be made in terms of the person’s contribution to the good of one’s fellow human beings — above all, one’s contribution to their intellectual development and the expansion of the powers of mind and human knowledge. And, on that account, maybe we should commemorate Godwin’s death day instead — 7 April 1836.

Mark Philp is Professor of History and Politics at the University of Warwick. He has published widely on eighteenth century political thought and social movements and on contemporary political theory, including Reforming Ideas in Britain (2013), Thomas Paine (2007), and Political Conduct (2007). He directed the Leverhulme funded digitization and editing project on the diary of William Godwin. He co-directs the research project ‘Re-Imagining Democracy 1750-1850’ which has published Re-imagining democracy in the Age of Revolutions: America, France, Britain and Ireland (2013).

For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford’s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. You can follow Oxford World’s Classics on Twitter, Facebook, or here on the OUPblog. Subscribe to only Oxford World’s Classics articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.

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Image credit: Page from William Godwin’s journal. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

The post William Godwin’s birthday appeared first on OUPblog.

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Do you remember that advert where an old man rings round bookshops until he smiles – puts on his hat – and nips out the door? He is looking for a book by J. R. Hartley and the twist is … Continue reading →

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Well, last week my Dad reached the grand old age of 90.  (Cheers deafen the blogger as she grins.)  And as oldest daughter and avid amateur party-planner, I took the helm and planned an awesome party for my Dad for last Saturday.  (I also had a ferocious head cold that evolved into an upper respiratory infection.  But, who cares about that?)

So, here are some things I learned in the process:
1.  Don't count on a 90-year-old to show up for his own party.  He did not show.  As a matter of fact, he ended up in the hospital for emergency surgery the very next day.  Some people will do anything to avoid a party!!!!
2.  You can add diacritical marks to a Pages document just by holding down a couple of keys.  I've already forgotten what those keys are but now that I know it can be done I will find the instructions.
3.  Those "Help" windows are actually helpful in many, many programs.
3a.  Use those "Help" windows.  Staring at a computer screen will not get the job done.
4.  The best ideas are hatched right before the party when there is no time to implement them.  For instance, Face Sudoku - thanks to my sister CG.  There are 9 siblings and 9 numbers in Sudoku.  Just substitute a different face for each number and there you go.
    OR, slide photo Bingo.  Make Bingo cards with photos from the event's slide show and everyone will be sure to watch the slide show very carefully.   (My family LOVES slide shows.  Our spouses - not so much!)

But, now, my Dad has another hurdle to overcome.  Just how he will get back to charging the net for a backhand return, I don't know.  He won't be playing tennis anytime soon.

5. The last thing I learned is this.  Time is finite.  Don't waste any of it.  90 years seems like a loooong time but it is never long enough if you love someone.

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We like to ring in Groundhog Day
with high style over here.

He sees his shadow, he doesn't see his shadow,
either way we get balloons

because Sugar Snack is four!
Bring on the sweets and sprinkles.
  
Sugar high!
 
I'm thinking of changing his name to "Cheeks."
 
Everyone likes a party.

Even small sewn friends.
 
 




Happy day, Cheeks.

And speaking of happy days,
Happy book birthday to Margaret Bloom of We Bloom Here.
"Making Peg Dolls" is a gorgeous book.
I can't wait to rave all about it.
And I will!
I get to be part of Margaret's blog tour, which starts today.

Margaret will be giving away a copy of "Making Peg Dolls"
to one of my lucky readers this month.
Stay tuned for giveaway details.

You can also visit Margaret as she tours the blog-globe.
Giveaways and surprises, oh my!


February 4th:  The Crafty Crow
February 5th:  The Magic Onions
February 6th:  The Toymaker
February 7th:  Clean
February 8th:  Anna Branford
February 11th:  Red Bird Crafts
February 12th:  Art is a Way
February 13th:  Softearth's World
February 14th:  Chocolate Eyes
February 15th:  Rhythm and Rhyme
February 18th:  Wild Faerie Caps
February 19th:  Sacred Dirt

I'm the caboose! 
It's going to be brilliant.

Hooray, Margaret!

and in other news, goodbye Pip's tonsils...
That's our next adventure.
I'll let you know how we do.

Sugar Snack's birthday books:



 

I, Crocodile, by Fred Marcellino
Little Tug, by Stephen Savage
Alphabet City, by Stephen T. Johnson
Shortcut, by David Macaulay
In the Town All Year Round by Rotraut Susanne Berner

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My Dad turns 90 in a couple of weeks.  That's 9 - 0.  10 x 9.  Lots of months, even more weeks, slews and slews of days and we won't even THINK about how many minutes he has lived.

We are throwing him a party on February 16th at 2 pm at his home parish's hall.  I can't wait.  It will be so much fun. 

Here's my Dad when he was a young man.

I wonder if he ever imagined what his life would hold.    He served as a medic, here in the States, married, had nine children, took in a couple of wonderful Cuban teens, built his own business, served as a deacon in the Church, saved someone's life when he was 84 or 85!  He helped everyone he met.  He is awesome, irascible, stubborn and incredibly kind.

Love you, Dad!

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It's cupcakes from now on.




Yummy Cake Books:

The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious
High Pie Angel Food Cake - Nancy Willard, Richard Jesse Watson
The Woman Who Flummoxed the Fairies - Heather Forest, Susan Gaber
Round is a Mooncake - Roseanne Thong, Grace Lin 
Clever Jack Takes the Cake - Candace Fleming, G. Brian Karas
Mud is Cake - Pam Munoz Ryan
Thunder Cake - Patricia Polacco
Moon Cake - Frank Asch
Babycakes - Karma Wilson, Sam Williams
The Fairy Tale Cake - Mark Sperring, Jonathan Langley

What are your favorite yummy books?

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Ever had a day where if things can go wrong, then they do go wrong? If so, The Birthday Cake Mystery by Thé Tjong-Khing is for you

It’s rabbit’s birthday and dog is making her a cake. The party is about to get underway but… life is complicated and all sorts of things get in the way before dog can deliver rabbit’s cake. It’s definitely one of those days, where if things can go wrong, they will go wrong. A flying football crashes into the cake mixture, a naughty raccoon steals a mum’s purse, a ladder is knocked and sends pig flying, toys are pinched, monkeys get up to mischief and the poor birthday bunny is left in tears. Will things ever get put to right? Will rabbit’s day finally come together and be a cause of celebration, rather than stress?

This wordless picture book is packed with cameo dramas. Its narrative is not straight-forward and linear; so much is going on and changing from page to page that you can sit and read it together many times, picking up new stories and observing unexpected adventures with each reading. There is much to ask about, look for and piece together, making this is a book for conversation rather than a bedtime story. The accidents, chaos, humour, naughtiness and silliness will speak to all young readers/listeners, and also to their grown ups who will ruefully recognise such days and hope that they won’t be having one like this any time soon.

As a Dutch bilingual family, we were delighted to see one of our favourite illustrators from the Netherlands published for an English-speaking audience. Thé Tjong-Khing was born in Indonesia (at the time, a Dutch colony) in 1933 but has lived most of his life in the Netherlands. He’s a multi-award winning illustrator (with more than 300 books to his name) and there is currently an exhibition of his work in the Children’s Book Museum in The Hague. Some of our favourite books illustrated by him are the Fox and Hare stories (Vos en Haas), written by Sylvia vanden Heede, which, unfortunately, have not been translated into English. The prequel to The Birthday Cake Mystery, Where is the Cake? has been published in the US, and it too is worth looking out for.

In The Birthday Cake Mystery the raccoon thief is tracked down because he inadvertently walks through some spilt paint and leaves a trail of footprints. Taking this as our cue, we enjoyed an afternoon of painting the patio with our feet. Baking trays were filled with paint…

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It's that day again, July 31, the day that changed so much for Harry and, as a result, for us. It's also J.K. Rowling's birthday! Our favorite authoress is celebrating her *cough*ieth fabulous year on this planet!

Happy birthday to two of our very favorite people, fictional or not!

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Welcome Back to Kid Lit Reviews After last thirty days of wildly romping through April from A to Z, I needed to take a little rest.  No kidding, my pinky finger on my writing hand went numb.  The finger was totally and completely numb from the tip to the edge of the hand.  Now that [...]

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Do you have a friend who is always beautifully dressed, naturally glamourous without effort or showiness? She always remembers your children's birthdays and gives them stylish but practical presents, tastefully wrapped with an interesting card? My lovely friend V is exactly this type - despite the fact that not only does she live abroad but she also has four small children of her own. She has impeccable taste and her presents are always a highlight. D's much-loved Curious George monkey, S's Liberty fabric smock top, my favourite over-sized family-day-out bag and Johnny loves Rosie corsage have all been presents from V.

E was lucky enough to have her birthday last week, which meant a trip to the post office resulted in an exciting parcel from overseas. Inside was this beautiful book by Rob Ryan and Carol Ann Duffy - I love Ryan's spidery papercut illustrations, spiky and intricate, and they go particularly well with this story of ageing, family and time that would make the perfect gift for children or adults...

[Excuse my rubbish iPhone photos, I'm still lacking a camera charger...]


As if that wasn't enough, there was also this gorgeous Rob Ryan notebook...


Is there anything more inviting than a new notebook with thick cream pages? Posh notebooks terrify me as I daren't spoil that lovely creamy expanse with actual writing. Luckily E has no such reservations... the story of 'The Mischief Butterfly' has begun...

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All March I’ve been creating art every week, in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and since I’ve been celebrating his birthday all month, I thought I’d make the final illustration birthday themed. I’ve also been incorporating the prompt for Illustration Friday into my art, and this week is no different. The prompt is, Return. I thought it would be fun to have the green eggs and ham returned to Sam, and exchanged for a birthday cake. This is a quick sketch so that I could get the image up while it’s still March (won’t have time to work on it tomorrow):

Needless to say, Sam is stunned at the turn of events. Here’s a close-up so you can see Sam:

I also did this image for my friend Jen, who has a  birthday today, and would probably rather have cake than green eggs and ham! It was fun to start the month with Dr. Seuss’s birthday and end the month with my friend’s birthday. Happy Birthday Jen!

p.s. If you want to see the other Dr. Seuss art from this month, here are some links:

The Cat in the Hat, and His Brother

Oh, The Places You’ll Fish!

Horton Hears A Who, and a What, Where, Why, When, and How!

Sue Sews Six Thousand Socks

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For last year's Big Climb Seattle, I ascended the 1,311 stairs of the Columbia Center as an untimed climber. This year, I went as a racer. Last year, I passed a number of people on the stairs. This year, I stepped aside in the landings for the faster people. I didn't share my goal with anyone, but now that it's over, I can say that I wanted to make it up the stairs in less than 20 minutes. My time: 17 minutes, 19.04 seconds.

Bede and Lucia did the Big Climb this year as untimed climbers. Bede said that Lucia went all the way up without complaining. At the top, she said, "I am so proud of myself." This utterance is not the result of the Too Much Self-Esteem generation, but of being teased for being the slowest runner in her class.  She is welcome to invite all of those faster runners to join her for next year's Big Climb.

Tomorrow, I turn 40. When I was a child, I thought that by the time I became "middle-aged," I would have to wear yellow polyester shirts, beige polyester pants, and Dr. Scholl's wooden sandals with socks. My hair would have gone completely grey, and I'd wear it up in a bun with a lot of hair escaping to create a frizzy effect. I suppose that in the 1970s, some people did look that way. I can't say now if those people were middle-aged or not, as 12 seemed practically grown-up to me.

I'm in better shape than I was as a teen, or for most of my twenties. I plan to continue my fitness plan, and introduce strength-training so that I don't lose muscle as I age. And age I will. I'm not resigned. Despite all evidence to the contrary, a part of me still thinks I'm going to beat this concept of mortality.

At the very least, I want to be around when humans land on Mars!

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Today we celebrate the birthday of our senior editor Edward! We hope you'll all join us in wishing him a great day, which we're very happy came just one day short of the leap-year curse. No fun celebrating once every four years! :P Happy day Edward, we love you!

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