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Hello all my loyal followers out there in Blog Land, it is I Darth Bill once again!!!!! Wait a minute was that a bunny I just saw????? No, thank badness, it was just a rabid squirrel. Just get yourself together and repeat three times: "There is no such thing as a Lagomorph." Yes I feel much better now.

Geezzz, now I got an angry squirrel after me!!!! What the heck did I do?????????

Now, really, on to buisness as unusual. Check out these photographs from the Beowulf Program we had just the other day, it was really alot of fun (and if you get the chance maybe pick up one of the books I recommended from my 1/18/08 posting)!!!

Some of the gang making paper bag Grendel puppets. Scarry stuff I tell ya!!!!!!!!

Darth Bill demonstrating to the gang that running with Sciccors is cool!!!!!! (um, don't tell your parents I said that, okay)

Beowulf and a Coke. It just doesn't get better than that!!!!(and if your thinking the Coke Company paid me to say that, well I just wish!!!!!)

And now ladies and gentlemen, Grendel versus Beowulf!!!!! (Gee, I always thought Beowulf would be alot taller?????)

And now for something completly different, Book Reviews:

Wild Ride: A Graphic Guide Adventure by Liam O’Donnell and Mike Deas – This is a very cool graphic novel about several strangers who are on their way into the deep wilderness of British Columbia to join an environmental assessment team. The group consists of Devlin (10 years old) and his older sister Nadia who are on their way to join their mother who is in charge of the team; teenager Marcus whose father is a famous environmentalist working with the siblings’ mom; and government official Gerald Wiley who is going to determine if the area being assessed is of such a nature to exclude it from being cleared by lumbering and paper company K&N. Things go bad real fast for the group when the plane they are flying in goes off course and crashes in a part of the enormous British Columbia wilderness. The really cool part about this graphic novel is that not only is it a survival story, it actually demonstrates real ways you could survive if you found yourself in such a situation. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys the great outdoors.

The World of Quest: Volume 1 by Jason Kruse – Welcome to the whacked out, dangerous, and just plain strange land of Odyssia. This fun graphic novel starts out with 11 year old Prince Nestor seeking out the aid of the fabled great warrior Quest!!!!! Quest, a former member of the famed Rousters, has been living alone after being banished by Nestor’s parents some 20 years beforehand for unknown reasons. The only problem is that Quest has no interest whatsoever in leaving his home and aiding anyone! In quick succession Nestor finds Quest, Quest ignores Nestor; they are attacked by the Katastrophe Brothers (Khaos, who looks like a bull, Konfusion, who resembles a lizard, and Kalamity, who resembles a vulture) who work for the evil Lord Spite and lots more happens. Got it? No matter, give this graphic novel a whirl, which comes with Bill’s Seal of Approval, for guaranteed laughter and adventure. Nuff Said!!!!!!!

Oh, parting is such sweet sorrow! Until we blog again peace all,

Bill

Throughout the novel Huckleberry Finn tells a series of lies about his family. For example, he tells the woman who feeds him in Chapter 11 that his name is “Sarah Williams” and that his/her “mother’s down sick, and out of money and everything…” (52).

Later, in Chapter 16 Huck leads two men in a skiff on the river to believe that he is traveling with his family and that they are sick with small-pox. “…because it’s pap that’s there, and maybe you’d help me tow the raft ashore where the light is. He’s sick–and so is mam and Mary Ann” (83).

What do these series of lies reveal? (more…)

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In chapter 24 of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim complains to the duke that “it got mighty heavy and tiresome to him when he had to lay all day in the wigwam tied with the rope” (143) pretending to be a runaway slave. So the duke comes up with a clever solution, “He dressed Jim up in King Lear’s outfit…and then he took his theatre-paint and painted Jim’s face and hands and ears and neck all over a dead dull solid blue, like a man that’s been drownded[sic] nine days…Then the duke took and wrote a sign on a shingle…Sick Arab-but harmless when not out of his head.”

Wait, it gets worse. (more…)

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I feel pretty sheepish admitting this but it took me a while this month to open The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I assumed that since I had read it before, the book would not hold the same magic for me. I was wrong. I spent a nice portion of last weekend relaxing in a hammock reading, dreaming of traveling down the Mississippi with Huck and Jim. I’d forgotten much of the soul searching, gut-wrenching questions about “right” and “wrong” that Huck wrestles with. The book certainly reveals more upon each read.

I’ll save my full reactions for our discussion on the 30th but if you haven’t started reading yet start today. Huck is the perfect summertime companion.

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Congratulations to our contest winners! The summer pick is indeed Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. You have two months to read this American classic which we will discuss on August 30th. So crack open a book and travel to Mississippi!

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