PICTURE BOOK - Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen by Deborah Hopkinson

Illustrated by Qin Leng

2018. Balzer & Bray (Harper Collins)

HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.38 - 210 ratings

My rating: 4.5

Endpapers: Pink, solid, pale

for elementary grades, 8-12
with timeline of Austen's Life, and brief quotes and summaries of her six books

1^st line/s: 
"It is a truth universally acknowledged
that Jane Austen is one of our greatest writers.
But it might surprise you to know that
Jane lived a simple life.
She wasn't rich
or even very famous in her time."

My comments:   Another great biography to add the the children's literature genre.  Leng's illustrations show a gentle, quiet-ish Jane, and portray the picture that Hopkinson is drawing with her words. Lovely book.

Goodreads:  It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is one of our greatest writers.
          But before that, she was just an ordinary girl.
          In fact, young Jane was a bit quiet and shy; if you had met her back then, you might not have noticed her at all. But she would have noticed you. Jane watched and listened to all the things people around her did and said and locked those observations away for safekeeping.
          Jane also loved to read. She devoured everything in her father’s massive library, and before long she began creating her own stories. In her time, the most popular books were grand adventures and romances, but Jane wanted to go her own way . . . and went on to invent an entirely new kind of novel.
          Deborah Hopkinson and Qin Leng have collaborated on a gorgeous tribute to an independent thinker who turned ordinary life into extraordinary stories and created a body of work that has delighted and inspired readers for generations.

MOVIE - Their Finest

R (1:50)

Limited release 4/7/17

Viewed 6/7/17 at Carlisle Theater, Downtown Carlisle
IMBd:  6.9/10

RT Critic:  87  Audience:  77
Critic's Consensus:  Carried along by a winning performance from Gemma Arterton, Their Finest smoothly combines comedy and wartime drama to crowd-pleasing effect.

Cag:  3.5  Would have liked it a lot - maybe even loved it - if it hadn't gotten so depressing

Directed by Lone Scherlig

Europa Corps/ STX Films

British actors (including Bill Nighy)

My comments:  I was liking this movie a lot until something very sad happened and then I changed my mind.  1940 London, and women are definitely inferior human beings.  The movie highlights a woman who is actually able to get somewhere in the very inhibiting and controlling male world of the time.  I love the premise of the movie,but throwing in something sad when it's not serving any purpose that I can see or think of really pissed me off.  I left feeling extremely deflated and quite a bit depressed.  I guess it was a good movie overall, but who wants to leave down in the dumps?

RT/ IMDb Summary:  The year is 1940, London. With the nation bowed down by war, the British ministry turns to propaganda films to boost morale at home. Realizing their films could use "a woman's touch," the ministry hires Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) as a scriptwriter in charge of writing the female dialogue. Although her artist husband looks down on her job, Catrin's natural flair quickly gets her noticed by cynical, witty lead scriptwriter Buckley (Sam Claflin). Catrin and Buckley set out to make an epic feature film based on the Dunkirk rescue starring the gloriously vain, former matinee idol Ambrose Hilliard (Bill Nighy). As bombs are dropping all around them, Catrin, Buckley and their colorful cast and crew work furiously to make a film that will warm the hearts of the nation.