59. Toppling

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Movie - The Master

R (2:18)

Limited release 9-14-12

Viewed: 1

/9/12 at El ConRT Critic:  85   Audience: 61

cag: 1/Did not like it (though the acting was fantastic)

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Weinstein Company

Joaquain Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern

MOVIE INFO

A striking portrait of drifters and seekers in post World War II America, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master unfolds the journey of a Naval veteran (Joaquin Phoenix) who arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future - until he is tantalized by The Cause and its charismatic leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Thoughts:  I tried - I really, really did try - to figure out what was gong on and why.  Unfortunately, it was to no avail.  The acting was incredible, but the story was.......nuts.

MOVIE -Beasts of the Southern Wild

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Viewed 10/12/12 at Crossroas

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58. The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh

2011, Ballantine Books
324 pages
for adults
HC $25.00 TPPL
Goodreads: 4.04
my rating: 5 (I loved it, didn't want it to end)
Setting:  Contemporary San Francisco and a vineyard and flower farm somewhere an hour and a half north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
1st sentence/s:  "For eight years I dreamed of fire.  Trees ignited as I passed the; oceans burned.  The sugary smoke settled in my hair as I slept, the scent like a cloud left on my pillow as I rose.  Even so, the moment my mattress started to burn, I bolted awake."

I read this book for a book group and became immediately enthralled. It was a delicious read. It was about a flawed foster child trying to figure out who and what and why she was, learning to trust...and love....and be part of a family. It takes place in contemporary San Francisco when Victoria turns 18, but occasionally goes back 8-10 years to the time she lived with Elizabeth, a single, vineyard owner, who planned to adopt Victoria. You know right from the start that something went terribly wrong during that time, but we don't discover exactly what it was until nearer the end of the book. There was a lot of information about flowers and the Victorian meanings of flowers, but it was all presented in a fascinating, interesting way so that even without a particular enjoyment of flowers it held my total attention.  Victoria's plight includes self-chosen homelessness, growing plants in public parks in San Francisco, stealing (food and flowers and anything she needed), discovering her business savvy, and learning to trust herself and not always running away.

One word for Victoria:  Bravo!  Thanks goodness I have never had to feel any of the abandonement or anguish that she did.

South - Patrick McDonnell

(creator of the comic strip "Mutts")
2008, Little Brown & Co.
$14.99 HC
www.muttscomics.com
Goodreads: 4.43
my rating:  Liked it a lot (4.5)
40 pgs. & endpapers
Endpapers (& all pages) recycled beige

This simple, wordless picture book is super -- sweet and quite a lovely story.  It is autumn.  A flock of songbirds takes off for the south and forgets one of their own, who is asleep on the ground under a tree.  Along comes a cat who helps him through all sorts of strange,foreign terrain...pages and pages of a journey....until they come upon the bird's flock, resting on a telephone wire.  By now the bird and cat are close friends and their parting is a meaningful one.

Yes, my fourth graders could write a lovely story to go with this.  The simple beige/brown/pale yellow pages could easily be photocopied for students to use -- and even water color in the pale blues and greens that appear here and there.

(Note to self:  Check out other books by this author.  Are they wordless?  (The Gift of Nothing, Art, Just Like Heaven, Hug Time.)  "Sometimes it takes a friend to help you find your way."

57. Akimbo and the Crocodile Man - Alexander McCall Smith

Illustrated by LeUyen Pham
1993, Bloomsbury Children's Books
HC $9.95
65 pages
7 chapters
Goodreads: 3.86
My rating:  2.5
I'm guessing, and for some reason never took the time to post this review....perhaps because I wanted to be more pleased with it than I was....

Akimbo's father is a park ranger somewhere in the African bush.  Since Smith placed his Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency books in Botswana (I think), and he's resided there and in Zimbabwe, it might be set in either.

John, a crocodile expert, has come to the ranger station to tag crocodile families - newborns and their mothers.  Akimbo gets permission to accompany him.  He sees the mother netted and tagged, watches the babies hatch and tagged.  The huge scary reptiles are everywhere - and Akimbo knows how dangerous they are.  But then the unthinkable happens.  John, a trained naturalist who should have known better, gets attacked by one as he's getting into their rubber boat.  Things get more and more difficult as Akimbo hits the crocodile on the head with the oar, traverses the dangerous water, and hot wires the truck to get it started.

The beginning of the book was quite interesting.  Its simple storytelling is peppered with some great words and descriptions.  But then, perhaps to spice up a story that needed a little suspense/thrill, it turned in a crazy direction.  I would have much preferred the ecological, environmental story with more caution thrown in.  I have students who would love the animal part of this.  I was even planning to read it aloud, but I think I'll try another in the series (Akimbo and the Elephants, Akimbo and the Lions, Akimbo and the Snakes....)

A Walk in London - Salvatore Rubbino

illustrated by the author
2011, Candlewick Press
32 pages (2 are foldouts - making a large map of the Thames)
Goodreads:  4.20
my rating:  I love England, I love this book (4.5)

Endpapers:  Map of London.  On back endpaper, there's a index.
Illustrations:  Mixed media - simple - full page - no white
1st sentence/s:  "Hello!  There's me, and that's my mom!  We just got off the bus in Westminster - in the heart of central London!"

Very informative book about some of the highlights of London, as seen through the eyes of a mother and daughter.  Included on each page are short pieces of historic information that would greatly interest kids who are (or are to become) history buffs.  Included are:  St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Plazza Westmister/The Strand, St. Paul's Cathedral, "The Monument," Tower of London, the Thames, and Big Ben

Author/Illustrator's first picture book was A Walk in New York.  Lives (and walks) in London.

56. A Long Walk to Water - Linda Sue Park

Based on the true story of Salva Dut
2010, Clarion Books
122 pgs.
Goodreads: 4.18
My rating:  4.5

1st sentence/s:  "Going was easy.  Going, the big plastic container held only air.  Tall for her eleven years, Nya could switch the handle from one hand to the other, swing the container by her side, or cradle it in bot arms."

Setting:  southern Sudan, between 1985 and now.

OSS:  Two different voices, one of a Dinka "lost boy" of Sudan on a many-yeared journey to find a home, and a life; and one of a contemporary Nuer girl whose entire day is spent gathering water instead of going to school.

Wow.  Salva spends from 1985 to 1996 wandering, orphaned and homeless, from Sudan to Ethiopia to Kenya and finally to the United States before he can put down any kind of roots, get an education, and even find a few - new and old - family connections.  This is an amazing and wonderful true story of one of the thousands of "lost boys of Sudan," written by an award-winning author who actually knows him.

Salva has done amazing things with his life.  After you read this book (and you must) go to Salva's website:  Water for Southern Sudan.

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.