55. 12.21 - Dustin Thomason

2012, Dial Press
328 pgs.
HC $27.00 TPPL
Goodreads rating: 3.52
my rating: 4 or maybe even 4.5, it was very good
1st line/s:  "He stands silently in the moonlight against the wall of the temple, the small bundle held tightly under his arm."

During the last two weeks before the Mayan Long Count (and the end of the world, some say) a deadly, uncontrollable disease with no antidote is unleashed on Los Angeles.  Dr. Gabriel Stanton, a brilliant researcher and Center for Disease Control authority on prion diseases and Chel Manu, a Mayan historian and linguist from the Getty, team up to try to find the origination of the disease in order to try to stop it AND cure it.

This was an interesting and suspenseful story, different than those I usually choose.  I enjoyed the entire book.

POETRY PICTURE BOOK - Book Speak! - Laura Purdis Salas

Poems About Books
illustrated by Josee Bisaillon
2011, Clarion Books (Houghton Mifflin)
32 pages
Goodreads rating:  4.31
cag:  5
21 poems - all about books and words!
Endpapers:   Plummy, purple gorgeous
Illustrations:  mixed media, collage, washes and paper cuts - a REAL mix of media!

One of the poems is a poem for 3 voices - about the beginning, middle, and end, from each point-of-view.  A class could present - but I need to get my hands on two more copies of the book!

The author's from Minneapolis, the illustrator's from Quebec.

CALLING ALL READERS

I'll tell you a story.
I'll spin you a rhyme.
I'll spill some ideas ----
and we'll travel through time.

Put down the controller.
Switch off the TV.
Abandon the mouse and
just hand out with me.

I promise adventure.
Come on, take a look!
On a day like today,
there's no friend like a book.

TOP SECRET

Describe your desires and they become mine.
I'm a treasure box where feelings can shine.
All thinkers need pages where dreams can take flight.
Reveal all
Your secrets, one entry per night.

BOOK PLATE

I don't need your napkin.

I'm not your soup bowl's mate.

I don't want your peas or bread.

I'm not that kind of plate!

Write your name upon me.

I'm a paper love tattoo.

Paste me in your book to show

That I belong to you.

POETRY - Hallowilloween - Calef Brown

(Nefarious Silliness by Calef Brown)
2010, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
HC $16.99
TPPL 811.54
32 pages
Goodreads rating:  3.82
My rating:  3.5
Endpapers:  Red thick-lined drawings for spooky faces on yellow and orange.
Title page:  A great green spectacled Frankenstein with the title and author across a space that the head has become detached from the body. Completely in color, with the facing page a deep velvety purplish-black.  Cool.
Illustrations:  Colorful acrylics, no white, really fun.

14 poems relating to Halloween (Jack, Lone Star Witches, Hallowilloween, The Oopmachupa Loompacabra, the Vumpire, Cat Battle, Grim Supper, Duncan, Old Napoleon, The Poltergeyser, Not Frankenstein, Scarecrows Epitaph, Mummy Unhappy, The Portrait of Gory Rene - great titles!)

LONE STAR WITCHES

The Witches of Texas
are practicing hexes
in comical conical ten-gallon hats.
They live under bridges
with thousands of bats.
Slobbering bloodhounds
are chasing their cats.

The Witches of Texas,
with cackles and hoots,
are doing a two-step
in lizard-skin boots
while filling a cauldron
with truffles and newts.
A sinister potion
is brewing in Austin
to fire up the feud
with the Witches of Boston.

OLD NAPOLEON

An ancient tree
with one dead branch
standing alone
on a tarantula ranch.
This is the home
and humble haven
of Old Napoleon
the hungry raven
who gorges on spiders
each day at lunchtime.
Munch munch munch.
He calls it "crunch time."

SCARECROW'S EPITAPH

A word of advice
to my replacement,
now standing guard
in the pumpkin patch:

Never scratch an itch
with a kitchen match.

POETRY - Autumnblings - Douglas Florian

Illustrated by the author
2003, Greenwillow Books (Harper Collins)
HC $15.99
TPPL 811.54
48 pgs.
Goodreads rating: 3.95
my rating: These are really super poems, I like them hugely! (4.5)

Endpapers:  Bright orange
Title page:  2 x 3 tangerine-colored rectangle of a boy somersaulting
in the leaves.

29 poems about Autumn and the time leading up to winter and colder weather.  This includes lots of poems that can be used as examples of poems that kids can write:

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT AUTUMN

Apple picking
Frisbee flicking
Falling leaves
Bracing Breeze
Flying kites
Cool crisp nights
Trick or treat
(Sweets to eat)
Pumpkin pies
Clear blue skies
Fireplaces
Relay races
Football games ---
I love that autumn has two names.

WHAT I HATE ABOUT AUTUMN

Summer's done
Not much sun
Back to school
Air's too cool
Winds that gust
Rains that rust
Chilly nose
Woolen clothes
Birds don't sing --
I hate that autumn's far from spring.

AWE-TUMN

When summer's seams
Have come undone,
Then greens to reds
And purples run.
A palette falls
To forest floor,
And autumn leaves
Leave me in awe.

BIRDS OF AUTUMN

Woodpecker,
Chickadee,
Crow,
And Owl.
Screech owls screech
Horned owls scowl.
Starling,
Sparrow,
Cardinal,
Jay.
Guess the others
Flew away.

WHAT TO DO WITH AUTUMN LEAVES

Kick them.
Catch them.
Pick them.
Snatch them.
Romp them.
Stomp them.
Hurl them.
Heave them.
If you want to,
Even leave them.

54. Following Grandfather - Rosemary Wells

illustrated by Christopher Denise
2012, Candlewick Press
HC $14.99
58 pages
not really an Early Reader, more of a read aloud, I think....
Goodreads rating:  3.46
cag:  3.5 (the writing is gorgeous, much of the storyline is exquisite, but the premise of her "seeing" her grandfather a couple of times after his death almost seemed thrown in....some changes here would have made it a 5 for me.....

Setting: mid-20th century Boston
First Line/s:  "Down at the very end of Revere Beach, where the people never go, the mice of Boston spread their towels and plant their beach umbrellas in the sun.  Grandfather and I were among them every summer Sunday."

Ah, the snobbish Henry Cabot Lodge and Saltonstall mice, the Swan boats and other Boston locales, the truly lovely writing....just wonderful.  Yummy vocabulary, some even unknown to me (which isn't saying much, believe me)....ummmm, crenallated?  What a cool word.  However, this is a simple book written in large font, looking like the perfect book for an early reader.  Wrong.  This is one to be read aloud.  I'm going to do just that to my fourth graders and will add comments afterwards.

53. The Day Before - Lisa Schroeder

2011, Simon Pulse
Goodreads rating: 4.00
cag: 4
for: YA
309 pages
paper $9,99

Setting:  Contemporary Oregon coast
First line/s:  Some mornings,/it's hard to get/out of bed.

Written in verse, the story pulls you right in and along. Easy-to-read in one two-hour sitting, leaves a lot to think about. Two young people head to the beach for one last day before some pretty major events will change their lives forever. Very likable teens, Cade and Amber.  They meet when their eyes meet at the jellyfish tank at the aquarium.

Beautiful writing:

I like

the memories
because they remind me
I haven't always been
this girl,
constantly
mad or scared
or confused.

I don't like

the memories
because the tears
come easily,
and once again I break
my promise 
to myself for this day.

It's a constant battle.

52. Bad Business - Robert B. Parker

# 31 in the Spenser series
audio read by Joe Mantegna
2004, Random House Audio
5 unabridged cds (6 hrs.) $29.95
Goodreads rating:  3.74
My rating:  4 (out of 5)
paper 336 pgs.

There's something about Spenser.  I never tire of him, having read most of his adventures.  I've gotten used to Joe Mantegna becoming his voice, though that's not the voice of Spenser I hear in my head.  In this investigation, Spenser is hired to do some checking-up on spouses that may or may not be cheating. What he uncovers is a group of people that may or may not be ummmm...spouse swapping....or who knows what, because there are several couples of a high-profile business that are beginning to be murdered.  Actually, they start dropping like flies.  Who knows who's a good guy and who's a bad guy?  Most of the characters that Parker's introduced are mentioned or appear, with lots of Susan Silverman and Hawk.  Spenser's humor, his cooking, his philosophising, are all present as well.  A good, quick read.

MOVIE - Robot and Frank

PG-13 (1:30)
Limited opening 8/17/12 (NY 8/24/12 (LA)
I saw it at El Con on Thursday, 9-20-12
RT Crit:  89 Audience:  86
cag: It was okay, had a stellar cast (2.5)
Director:  Jake Shreier
Samuel Goldwyn Films

Frank Langela, Susan Sarandon, James Marsden, Liv Tyler

This is set in the "near future." Worried about his father's encroaching dementia/Alzheimers, a son gives him a robot to help him with chores, keeping a schedule, and life in general.  The father, Frank Langela, doesn't think he needs help, but quickly becomes "friends" with the robot.  The kicker, the thing that isn't shown in any of the previews of the movie is (SPOILER ALERT) that Frank's past included a stint in prison for robbery, and he's still really good at that particular craft.  So together, they plan
 a heist.

Super cast.  Nice setting, small town America.  Depressing probabilities for our future. Libraries no longer needed .Aging.  Two things that I don't want to think about at all.

The ending was flat, dull, boring, lacking creativity.  Made a somewhat decent move go downhill fast.

MOVIE - Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

I forgot to blog about this, I saw it at the end of the summer and am just now trying to remember what I wanted to write.

Rating & Length:

Opening:

Viewed:

RT Critic:     Audience:

cag:

Director:

Film Co:

Major Players:

Thoughts:

POETRY - Earthshake: Poems from the Ground Up - Lisa Westberg Peters

Illustrated by Cathie Felstead
2003, Greenwillow Books
HC $16.99
32 pages
Goodreads:  3.94
cag:  okay (art check +, poetry OK)

22 poems
Endpapers:  navy blue
Title page:  Light blue watercolor, 3/4 inch border, collage map globe, lots of colors
Auxiliary:  end notes give information about concepts covered in each of the poems
Author:  loves geology, lives with family in St. Paul, MN
Illustrator:  A resident of Hertfordshire,England, where she lives with her husband, 2 kids, and 6 cats.

I particularly liked these poems and will use them within my geology/rocks & minerals unit:

Recipe for Granite

Melt a chunk of continent.

Heat at a million degrees,
long enough for the world
to spin a trillion times,
long enough for the Milky Way
to make it partway to infinity.

Cool
slowly enough for crystals
to form like pink and white stars,
slowly enough for the dinosaurs
to go extinct.

Makes one mountain range.
Serves a whole entry.
Enjoy!

QuartzQuartzQuartz

We are surrounded

by quartz.  It’s in the

crystals of our watches, It’s

in the flint of our arrowheads, it’s

in purple amethysts, it’s in the sand of

our beaches and our sandpaper, it’s in the

granite of George Washington’s chin and

Crazy Horses’s nose in South Dakota, it’s

in the concrete of our sidewalks

and in the white pebbles we

throw on them when we

play hopscotch.

MOVIE - Ruby Sparks

R (1:44)
Limited Opening 7/25/12
Viewed at Crossroads Theater Monday 9/17/12 (by myself)
RT Critics 80 Audience 82
Director:  Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Fox Searchlight

Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan

This movie sparkled.  It was clever and totally believable, even though its premise was that of a magical fantasy.  Calvin Weir-Fields is Mr. Average American young man, nothing spectacular to look at (sorry Paul), shy, a writer living in LA whose first (and only, so far) novel was a huge, HUGE hit.  Now he's finally got a new idea, one that came from dreams he has of a girls that he considers perfect for him, and he begins to write on an old typewriter.  And magically, this dream girl becomes real and enters his life.

He has a brother who, although married and with a baby, is always around to help and lend advice. Hmmm.  I love the scenes that include his funky mother and step-father (played by Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas) who live in extremely cool digs in Big Sur. Zoe Kazan, who also wrote the screenplay, is Dano's real-life girlfriend and their chemistry is huge and really impacts the film.

It was a blast.  I'd go see it again. There's a great NYT article here.

MOVIE - Hope Springs

PG-13 (1:40)
Wide release 8-8-12
Thursday 9-13-12 at El Con with Sheila
RT Critics 74 Audience 67
I liked it a lot.  I laughed a lot.  Much needed.
Director:  David Frandel
Sony Pictures

Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carrell

This movie was a riot...also sweet and poignant and fun.  How Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep could do some of those scenes without guffawing out loud is totally beyond me.

They play a married couple who have slept in separate bedrooms for a number of years.  There relationship is caring but anonymous.  They are devoted to each other, but there's no "relations" in relationship.  Kay coerces a very negative Arnold into accompanying her to Maine to a psychologist who specializes in helping put "oomph" back into marriages.  And what follows is just wonderful.

Most/much of the film was set in Hope Springs, Maine (which, I think, was actually Connecticut).  When they were out and about on the streets of this quaint little town, I wanted to be there, too.

I've always known that Meryl Streep is an awesome actress, and I've always enjoyed Tommy Lee Jones.  I MORE than enjoyed him in this film.  A Steve Carrell played the straight-man-psychiatrist really well.  Very cute and sweet movie.

POETRY - Please Bury Me In the Library - J. Patrick Lewis

illustrated by Kyle M. Stone

2005, Gulliver Books

Goodreads rating:  4.03

My rating:  3.5

32 pages, 16 poems

Endpapers:  Pale yellow

Illustrations:  Cover the page from edge to edge with color (though many facing pages, with the poem, are on white. Acrylic paint and mixed media.

16 poems about the library, and books.  Many are based on poems of others (similar rhyme, rhythm).  Of them all, the two following most speak to me...I really love "Acknowledgements"

Necessary Gardens

Libraries

Are

Necessary

Gardens,

Unsurpassed

At

Growing

Excitement.

Acknowledgments

Whose book this is I hardly know,

Considering the debt I owe

To Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear.

To X. J. K. - a toast (root beer)!

To Shel and Jack, and Myra Cohn,

Who always give this pup a bone.

To those word wizards I've left out,

The only thing to do is shout:

Who book is this?  The bottom line . . .

It's partly theirs.  It's partly mine.

POETRY - A Chill in the Air - John Frank

Nature Poems for Fall and Winter
illustrated by Mike Reed
2003, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
32 pgs.
Endpapers:  Mustardy-gold

Simple late-fall and winter poems for kids, some with rhyme, many with humor, and all describing a coldness or northern falls and winters.

Words

In the dawn
that chills my bones
and numbs my face
from ear to ear,
I see each word I speak
take flight,
a whiff of fog,
then disappear.

A Cold October Night

If any witches plan to ride
their broomsticks through this cold night air,
they'd best make sure beneath their gowns
they're wearing thermal underwear.

A Sprinkling of Snow

It hardly snowed at all last night
although I hoped it would.
I wished for lots and lots of snow,
but wishing did no good.
With so much snow my snowman
would have grown and grown and grown.
But now he's scarcely bigger than
a three-scoop ice-cream cone.

Footprints

As I am walking
in the snow
my footprints follow
where I go,
and make a long
and winding track
that leads me home
when I turn back.

POETRY - The Ancestors Are Singing - Tony Johnston

Illustrated by Karen Barbour
2003, Farrar Straus Giroux
Goodreads rating 3.25
My rating: 4
64 pages
Illustrations:  pen & ink

Poems of Mexico, past and present, with references to Mayans and Aztecs, so fits in perfectly to my 4th grade studies. Some great examples follow:


Storms in Oaxaca ( pronounciation: Wuh-Hah-Kuh)

The great saguaro shivers
in the cold.
It holds out its thick and prickly arms
to feel slivers of shining
rain.
Tall and alone it stands
and gathers light from strikes of raving
lightning.
When the land is dry, the saguaro remembers
storms.

Rabbit in the Moon

Old and clever one,
how I wish I had been there
on the night that you leaped
into the sky.
How I wish I had seen you spark
your silver trail
like a comet with long ears
across the dark.
Oh, how I wish I had been there ---
and looked up.

Old Palaces

Beneath the jungle canopy of trees,
old palaces fill the silence with old dreams,
alone except when splendid golden gleams
of jaguars come to rest upon their bones ---
or when bats, velvet gods of long ago,
cluster in their crumbling roof combs.
The ancient trees stand, green as quetzal plumes.
The fearsome kings are gone.  Stones speak to stones.

Museum of Anthropology
(for Pedro Ramirez Vazquez)

In the silence of the splendid galleries
Ethecatl, god of wind,
stands forever entwined
with a slender snake.
Alongside a mute clay
flute,
a wooden Aztec drum
rests, stilled
as if it had never
beat.
Mezcala figurines 
carved in green stone
sit gazing at old starts beyond 
the ceiling.

In the courtyard 
beneath a stone pillar
streaming
with musical water,
the Ancestors are
singing.