Everyone Has the Right to Leap

I thought that today, Leap Day, would be the perfect day to feature a book recently released in English -- Right to Play by Jesse Goossens. Highlighting the international organization Right to Play, this book gives information about a few of the countries that this group works in and what their programs look like. It has some profiles of children and coaches and even gives instruction for some of the games played by kids around the world. Because of some intense content (there is mention of physical and sexual abuse, war, disease and death), this book would be better suited for older children but, I think more effectively, for parents and teachers who can then guide children through a learning experience.


From their website, here is their methodology --

Right To Play’s ultimate programming goal is this: Encouraging behaviour change. This complex process involves more than simple knowledge and awareness building. It involves adopting and maintaining behaviours and attitudes such as self-esteem, resisting peer pressure, problem-solving and building a capacity for communication.
Right To Play improves health, teaches basic life skills and helps children and youth to develop skills to resolve conflict peacefully in some of the most disadvantaged areas in the world. Role models, family, Coaches, teachers, peers and our Athlete Ambassadors all play an important role in helping people adopt new behaviors. Through sport and play, they learn about team work, co-operation and respect – the best values of sport.

Working for over a decade now, Right to Play believes exactly what its name says -- that every child has the right to play. They use play to help teach dignity, compassion and health in countries such as Mali, Palestine and Rwanda. They not only teach sports, board games and more, but also team with other organizations to vaccinate children and educate them about the diseases prevalent in their areas. To see this book full of smiling children, knowing that they are in countries full of child soldiers, eternal warfare and HIV/AIDS, is a testament to the success of this program. Working with boys and girls, both healthy and disabled, the symbol of the organization is a red football (soccer ball) with a strong message printed on it -- Look After Yourself, Look After One Another.

I did a Google search for recent news about the organization and found an article only 5 hours old about athletes at a university in Vermont who are earning money for Right to Play by staging the world's longest dodge ball game (40 to 45 hours long!). The National Lacrosse League is pairing with Right to Play to teach lacrosse and life skills to First Nation children in Canada. And here is a heart-warming story about a disabled girl in Pakistan whose life has been changed by Right to Play. I hadn't heard about Right to Play before now but I will definitely be more aware of them and their programs going forward. They are a force for positive change in the world!

If you're interested in learning more about this organization, want to get involved or to fundraise or donate, head to one of their national sites for more information -- USA, UK, Canada, Switzerland and The Netherlands. And by all means, look for a copy of this book!

Leaping with hope for a better world,
K

New-ish Release: A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. I'm sure you've heard about this book by now. You probably don't know too much about it because most people who read it seem reluctant to share too much. They don't want to spoil the experience for the next reader -- and I wholeheartedly agree. I knew the barest facts about it--a child, a dying parent, a monster--and I'm glad that it was this way as I never knew what was ahead. I did know that I would cry while reading it but I honestly didn't expect to sob as hard as I did. This book explores something that you hope no child ever has to go through but, in reality, many do every year, every day. As a parent, this is heartbreaking to consider but the story that Ness tells is still somehow beautiful because of its humanity.

If I can just suggest one thing, you may want to familiarize yourself with the legend of The Green Man before reading this as it will give you a bit of insight into a portion of it.

Exploring the nooks and crannies, the dark corners,
K

Catching Up: Two Sea Voyages

With another big author project starting on March 1 (hint: the hashtag will be #dwjmarch), I want to tell you about some of the books that are sitting here on my review stack and get all caught up. Coincidentally, two are about sea voyages though they couldn't be more different.

The first is Bright and Distant Shores by Dominic Smith. This is one that I requested from Atria's galley grab and then promptly forgot about. Then when it arrived and I read the blurb I thought "Who sent this? This book sounds EXACTLY like something I would want to read!" Well, duh, right? I picked it for myself -- which I figured out later that day. Anyway, this is the story of a man who wants to marry a woman high above his station and so he sets off on a voyage to collect artifacts from the South Pacific for a wealthy businessman. From the descriptions of the Chicago World's Fair (which I am now more familiar with after The Devil in the White City) to the missionaries and already-corrupted natives afar, I enjoyed this slow-paced but fulfilling story. Many times when I expected the author to take the plot in a dramatic and predictable direction, he instead chose to keep it in the realm of the believable, if no less compelling, adventures of a ship of exploration. I found this book so readable that I will definitely be looking for copies of Smith's other novels -- The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre and The Beautiful Miscellaneous.

The other book was the fifth in the Charles Lenox Mysteries series, A Burial at Sea by Charles Finch. I last wrote about the series almost a year ago so you can go see my thoughts on it there. Needless to say, I am really enjoying each book and this one was special for its own reasons. It took Charles Lenox out of England and on a Royal Navy boat to Egypt, which I really enjoyed. Because Lenox was a novice on the sea, he asked for explanations for many things that the reader wouldn't know about either. There were some great characters in the book, a couple of murders and plenty of intrigue. And much different than the other novel, this one took off in some crazy directions that led to a fun and tense mystery. I don't know how much longer Finch plans to write these books (he's still rather young) but I hope we still have many Lenox adventures ahead!

Earning my sea legs,
K

The Questions Meme (Times Two)

So, I was tagged by two lovely ladies on the Questions Meme that is going around and, since I'm having trouble focusing this week (a combination of vacation time, a sister in town and family tragedy), I'll just answer some of these brilliant questions.

Rules

You must post the rules.
Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
Tag eleven people and link to them on your post.
Let them know you’ve tagged them.
First, the questions from Jenners ...

1. What’s the most played song on your iPod? (or CD collection if you’re old school)
At the moment, it's probably Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence because Z likes it.  The two songs I start up the most (the iPod lives in the car) are Björk's Hunter and Sigur Rós' Starálfur (which you might recognize from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou).

2. What do you miss most about your childhood?
Wow, um, I think I probably miss family gatherings with my great-grandparents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. Really, I just miss my great-grandparents.

3. What is your favorite poem?
I'm sure this comes as no surprise but it's Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven.

... And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!

4. Without thinking too much, what are 5 of your favorite books of all time? (Just list them as they come to you … don’t think!!!!!)
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, The Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones (yeah, it's six books), The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

5. What was the last book you read? Tell me about it in 5 words or less.
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare ... Magic, Mayhem, Love, Hot Boys.

6. Can you define irony and give an example? (This is self-serving as I’m struggling to do this with my son. I will so steal your answers if appropriate.)
My most-employed type of irony is saying something that is the opposite of what I mean in order to make a point or a joke. But when I think of the definition of irony, I think of this example from The Oatmeal's Three Most Common Uses of Irony --

7. If you were forced to change your name, what would you change it to?
Isobel Irene. It's what I would have named a daughter if I had one -- Isobel because I love it (and the Björk song) and Irene after my grandmother whom I love dearly.

8. What author/TV show/movie/book/celebrity, do you absolutely despise and avoid at all costs?
Oh, there are so many -- mostly ones that have celebrity for doing little or nothing, like the Kardashians or Snooki. But I also have developed a deep dislike for Tom Cruise over the past few years. I think it's the Scientology thing -- and his teeth.

9. What movie was actually better than the book is was based on?
Easy ... Breakfast at Tiffany. Love the movie and didn't really like the story.

10. Beatles or the Stones?
The Beatles forever, baby! Always been a Beatles fan. Luckily, Z is also becoming quite the little Beatles fan too.

11. What is your favorite quote?
Wow. I have a terrible memory so there's nothing that is my "go to" quote. But I could never get tired of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech.

... But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. ...

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." ...

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

And now the ones from Trish ...

1. What app do you love above all others? Not an app person? What about website?

For usefulness, it's probably Wikipanion but right now my life is spent playing Triple Town (and yes, it's free).

2. Describe your dream profession (sky is the limit).

Librarian at the Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey, CA. (I know ... I could probably actually do that some day if I tried.) This is the Miller Library.

3. Appetizers or dessert?

Definitely dessert. I don't like a lot of appetizers (mostly due to seafood and mayonnaise) but there's almost no dessert I would say no to! In fact, I wouldn't mind a bit of dessert right now -- maybe some ice cream.

4. If you could be BFF with any fictional character, who would you choose?

Pippi Longstocking, of course. Never a dull day with Pippi! Treasure hunting, horseback riding and hanging out with a monkey? Sounds like fun!

5. I say BLUE. What immediately comes to mind?

Blue Monday ... an awesome New Order song.

6. Favorite song to blast and sing in your car with the windows down?

There isn't just one because I'm a car singer so the blasting/windows down thing happens quite frequently. I'll go with Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.

7. What fashion fad makes you hang your head in shame?

Pegged pants. What an awful idea.

8. What are your thoughts on 80s Hair Bands--specifically Monster Ballads?

Well, if we are talking about the ballads specifically, then I will have to admit that I know 95% of them by heart and have belted them out at the top of my lungs since they first were played on the radio. There might have even been some tears shed at some point. (How embarrassing!)

9. What is a book you wanted to throw across the room? What is one you wanted to hug?

I wanted to throw Drood by Dan Simmons across the room (and I did chuck the ARC into the recycle bin when I was done) and I wanted to hug The Technologists by Matthew Pearl.

10. Imagine you are an aerobics instructor--what song must be on your playlist?

Is this even a question if it can only ever have one answer? Physical by ON-J of course! (Olivia Newton-John for you non-abbreviators)

11. What's for dinner tonight?

Leftover lasagna ... mmm. Why is lasagna always better on the second day?

Bonus: What's your favorite go-to lipstick (including color)
I am a non-lipsticker. It doesn't ever stick to my lips and the smell of almost every kind makes me nauseated. I almost exclusively use The Body Shop's Cocoa Butter Lip Balm.

And now I'm going to be bad and not tag anyone or make up any questions because of the aforementioned lack of focus. But I'll ask that if you comment, that you answer at least one of these great questions so I can get to know you all better!

Enjoying this mental break (and listening to the Beatles),

K

A Courtesy Reminder: The Technologists

I mentioned The Technologists in my January Literary Love Letter to Matthew Pearl and today it is finally available for purchase!

From that letter --

Like The Dante Club, I wasn't previously familiar with the characters or setting--the first graduating class of M.I.T., The Massachusetts Institute of Technology--but, by the end of the story, I became more invested in the lives of these young men (and women) than I would have thought possible. In fact, I was disappointed when the book ended because I wanted to follow your characters through the rest of their lives and even back into their pasts. With fascinating studies of science versus religion, Tech versus Harvard, women in education, the Civil War and more, this was a deep and thoughtful book that also read as a love letter to Boston, a city with a long history. And the mystery, oh, the mystery! I almost wrote you half-way through reading the book because I thought I was so clever and had it all figured out. But I was wrong and couldn't have been happier to be so. I didn't feel cheated or misdirected at all. I simply followed the clues, as did Marcus and the other Tech students. Even the best scientist can only form conclusions with the facts he or she has at hand.

Check out the website for a book trailer, a prequel short story, companion short stories and more. And head to your favorite indie bookstore and grab a copy today. You won't regret it.

Already contemplating a re-read,
K

Scholastic's 100 Greatest Books for Kids

Scholastic's Parent and Child magazine has released its 100 Greatest Books for Kids (in a beautiful bookshelf format).

The number one book? Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. Do you agree?

From the Scholastic blog --

In addition to literary merit and popularity, our top 100 includes a variety of genres for different ages, from infants to middle-schoolers. It spans from a Dr. Seuss classic to more recent works such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, from Anne Frank’s compelling account of the Holocaust to J.K. Rowling’s fantastical tale of Hogwarts. A team of literacy experts and mom bloggers suggested almost 500 titles, which we then narrowed down to 100 and went to work on ranking.

I have to say that there are a couple of books on the list that must be really popular because they have little to absolutely zero literary merit (see The Adventures of Captain Underpants).

Which are our favorites?

#6 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
#7 Green Eggs and Ham
#11 Anne of Green Gables
#12 The Very Hungry Caterpillar
#14 The Wind in the Willows
#20 Where the Sidewalk Ends (Z is on a HUGE Shel Silverstein kick right now)
#23 The Phantom Tollbooth
#36 The Secret Garden
#44 Good Night, Gorilla
#47 Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
#53 The House at Pooh Corner
#63 The Invention of Hugo Cabret
#80 What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

What is missing from this list? Alice in Wonderland, for one! The Monster at the End of This Book is another. Tom's Midnight Garden and The Children of Green Knowe are two more that should be on the list but there don't seem to be many older British authors on it. What do you think is missing from the list?

Wanting to make my own list again,
K

Bedtime Stories: Movies, Milo and Magic

All of my best laid plans for spectacular posts about the books Z and I have been reading at bedtime have been put off too long and I have a large stack of review books here that just need to be gotten through. So, in lieu of something truly fun, you get this -- ::wink::

Three years ago, when Z was in preschool, I happened to read The Invention of Hugo Cabret and I loved it. Brian Selznick found a way to take something that many kids might find boring, the story of Georges Méliès, an automaton and the beginning of motion pictures, and make it truly fascinating and wonderful through words and drawings. Now, with the release of the film Hugo, I decided that it was time for Z and I to read the book together. He doesn't want to see any more movies in 3D so we'll be waiting for the dvd before we see the film -- but, we will definitely be waiting with anticipation because Z loved the book! Right after we finished reading it together, it happened to be Georges Méliès' 150th birthday (December 8) and Z was really excited to celebrate it. Recently, we enjoyed watching a small part of the newly colorized and scored A Trip to the Moon (Le voyage dans la lune), with a soundtrack by French electronic band Air. Not only is he interested in these original films but he is also enjoying learning a bit of French!

The next book we read was one that I loved when I first read it in the sixth grade -- The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. With this being the 50th anniversary of this amazing book, I was excited to experience it again through a fresh perspective. This was a fantastic choice and Z and I both loved reading it together! Between the word play and the adventures, I think we've found a book we can enjoy over and over through the years.

Finally, we chose a book that was new to both of us -- Half Magic by Edward Eager. Written in 1954, this is the first in a series of the adventures of children who come into contact with various magical items. Again, we had a fun time with this book and will look for more of Edward Eager's books. He has a certain way of writing that treats kids honestly and with faith in their abilities to take care of themselves. They aren't perfect and they make mistakes but they are also able to learn and have a bit of fun along the way.

So now we're keeping our perfect record intact by reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, another guaranteed good read.

Spending every night in the best places possible,
K and Z

New Release: Can You Survive?: Sherlock Holmes

You probably remember in November when I reviewed another book in the Can You Survive? series -- Jack London's The Call of the Wild. Well, now Ryan Jacobson and co-author Deb Mercier have tackled the world's greatest detective in Can You Survive?: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I liked this one just as much but for different reasons. I think it's a great vehicle for kids to learn about Victorian times and a fun intro to the methods and madness of Sherlock Holmes. Based off of a couple of classic Holmes tales, the young protagonist takes on the role of Holmes himself as he decides whether to take cases and what course of action to follow. It is through these choices that kids will unwittingly be learning about things like transportation and employment in Victorian times. So sneaky! Parents will want to choose the right time for their child to read this book, though, as one of the regular choices is which weapon one will take on a case. If you aren't ready for your little one to contemplate the pros and cons of knives versus guns versus clubs, you may want to hold this back for a couple of years. There's no real violence in the book though -- just the weaponry. Overall, this is shaping up to be a really fun and unique series!

Keeping one finger in the pages in case I make a bad choice,
K

A Weighty Pair: Blackout and All Clear

To save you the trouble of picking up one of these books without the other, I've gone ahead and merged Connie Willis' hefty Blackout and All Clear into a single 1132 page tome (which is also the way I read it). Look at how seamlessly the books fit together! Wikipedia actually calls it "two volumes that comprise a [single] novel" and that's the truth. It was meant to be a single book but then, as Willis says in the Acknowledgements at the beginning of each book, "it morphed from one book into two". What she ended up creating, regardless of length or format, was an amazing story that was entirely engaging from beginning to end. It got me through a snowstorm that kept us trapped on our property for an entire week and I definitely have to thank Connie for that!

Continuing with the world that Willis explored previously in the short story Fire Watch and the novels The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, this is the tale of time-traveling historians Merope, Michael and Polly from Oxford in the year 2060, who independently head to WWII England and become a much larger part of the war effort than they ever imagined they would and certainly more than they thought possible under the rules of time travel. Skipping between narratives, including a couple told by initially unknown persons, this is a complex web that keeps the reader thinking, guessing and, ultimately, hoping and praying.

In 2011, this dyptych won the Nebula award for Best Novel, the Locus award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the Hugo for Best Novel. And it's not a mere matter of luck that she also was nominated for (and usually won) these same awards for the previous two novels set in this future of time travel and historical interest. The level of depth that she plumbs to make the world tangible and believable is nothing short of amazing. I frequently felt that I too had been transported to another time while reading. I found myself sitting in a packed tube station, waiting out a night of bombing during the Blitz. I looked into the burning mess of ships that was Dunkirk in May of 1940. And I held my breath as incendiary devices fell on St. Paul's Cathedral and threatened to set the wooden roof timbers ablaze. I'm still not entirely sure that Connie Willis isn't a time traveler who experienced these events firsthand!

And, lest this sounds like too gushy of a review, I had one small complaint -- that this story was split into two books. I am a reader who frequently goes back to look things up that I read previously and it was difficult when I couldn't remember if the passage I was thinking of was earlier in All Clear or all the way back in Blackout. Yeah, that's my complaint. Not really a deal-breaker, is it?

You still have time (until the end of February) to pick something up for the 2012 Science Fiction Experience. If you aren't sure where to start with the Oxford series, Connie's blog has an Oxford Time Travel Guide. It even has links to read or listen to the short story Fire Watch, which I will be doing soon. I just don't want to get through everything too quickly because I love this world and don't know if she will write another story in it. That said, I fully anticipate reading Fire Watch and The Doomsday Book before the end of the year.


Finally, congratulations are in order as Connie Willis was also just named a Grand Master of Science Fiction in January. And, as these books are just a drop in the bucket of her collected works, can anyone suggest what I should read of hers next after I finish these books?

Wishing I could travel back and read these again for the first time,
K

In Celebration of His 200th Birthday: A Year of Dickens

Charles Dickens, from Wikipedia

For Edgar Allan Poe's 200th birthday in 2009, I launched my Poe Fridays event, in which I read Poe almost every week for an entire year (read the wrap-up post). For Charles Dickens' 200th birthday, which is today, I can't imagine doing anything less. I probably won't read Dickens every week, because as much as I love him it would hurt my brain, but I will definitely use the coming year to celebrate him as much as possible.

Here is a tentative plan based on the books I own (links are to my previous reviews/mentions) --

Re-Reads

Great Expectations

David Copperfield

A Tale of Two Cities

A Christmas Carol

Complete Ghost Stories (as collected by Wordsworth Classics)

First Time Reads

Oliver Twist

The Pickwick Papers

Nicholas Nickleby

Little Dorrit

The Old Curiosity Shop

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Those are eleven of the books I have in the house. I also have Bleak House but I'm not sure if I want to do a re-read of that Chancery chunkster (even though I really liked it) or if I should choose another book to read for the first time -- maybe The Pickwick Papers or Our Mutual Friend.

I also plan to read Claire Tomalin's Charles Dickens: A Life during the year and I might even re-read some of my favorite modern Dickens fiction like The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl or Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard. And, as an extra special gift for today, I bought myself The Dickens Bicentennary by Lucinda Dickens Hawksley and I chose the picture book A Boy Called Dickens by Deborah Hopkinson and John Hendrix for Z. We're going to start our Year of Dickens today!

And, as can only be expected, I will likely watch some film and miniseries versions of my favorites -- like the 1999 David Copperfield with the cutest little Daniel Radcliffe you ever saw as David, the brilliant Maggie Smith as Betsey Trotwood, and Bob Hoskins as the perfect Micawber.

As is the case with most of my personal challenges, I would love to have you join me, even through just one Dickens novel this year, but I am not setting up anything official. I'm definitely open to group reads though if there's any interest. As I said, I will be slowly reading Tomalin's biography over the next few months. And, I've been thinking about which novel to start with for February and have decided on A Tale of Two Cities, mostly because it's sitting partially read on my nightstand right now. As this is one of his shorter and most popular books, it would be a good starting place for many of you Dickens novices. After all, "[i]t was the best of times, it was the worst of times ..."

Happy birthday, Mr. Dickens,

K

New Release: The Moment

The life-changing moment is something that is hard to define on a cultural level. What might change one person's life could just be another moment in a normal day to someone else. So, as expected, when Larry Smith collected 125 stories from various "writers and artists", it was bound to become something that had different ups and downs for each reader. Though The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists, Famous and Obscure seems to tend toward the sad--illness, death, loss--there are also moments of joy and wonder dispersed throughout. If you are feeling lost in life or maybe just need to feel some sort of connection with your fellow human beings, pick up this book for a bit and you will find yourself with some new perspectives and you just might experience a good amount of reflection.

Pondering things both big and small,
K