Tell me a story

Nam Le's "The Boat," one of the best-reviewed books of fiction of 2008, has sold 16,000 copies in hardcover and trade paperback, according to Nielsen Bookscan (which admittedly doesn't include all book retailers). In the first quarter of 2009 alone, the author of the "Twilight" series, Stephenie Meyer, sold eight million books. What are those readers looking for? You'll find critics who say they have bad taste, or that they're lazy and can't hack it in the big leagues. But that's not the case. They need something they're not getting elsewhere. Let's be honest: Why do so many adults read Suzanne Collins's young-adult novel "The Hunger Games" instead of contemporary literary fiction? Because "The Hunger Games" doesn't bore them.

from "Good Books Don't Have to Be Hard," by Lev Grossman, in the Life & Style section of the WSJ earlier this week. Read the rest of the article here.

Must get back to reading Eclipse.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. . .

Well, almost. I've almost finished ordering all our homeschooling materials for the first half of the year, packages are arriving, apple-picking season starts in about two weeks, and the promise of crisp fall weather isn't too far away.

I'm organizing like crazy--we're trying a new system that's supposed to help with time management and encourage more independent learning. I joined the Workboxes yahoo group, which has tons of free information and lots of files available to peruse and print, and made a quick trip to IKEA for a couple of Trofast systems to help us get started. Will post photos when everything is in its place.

And I found a great resource for ideas and free Montessori printables today: MontessoriMom.

How are everyone's back-to-school or -homschool preparations going? Are we having fun yet? ☺

Impostor

This friendly visitor was too small to be a Monarch, so E. and I are pretty sure was a Viceroy (Limentis archippus). Plus it has the black line across the hindwing that distinguishes it from the Queen of Butterflies.

Book Sharing Monday 17 August

Quentin Blake's Tell Me a Picture is a new favorite in this house. The book was published to accompany an exhibit of the same name at London's National Gallery from February through June of 2001. This delightful book was published in the same year by National Gallery Company Limited, and published in the U.S. in 2003 by The Millbrook Press, Inc., now a part of Lerner Publishing Group, which also publishes Brian Cleary's Words are CATegorical grammatical picture books.

The artwork featured in the alphabetically-arranged book are pre-21st century paintings by artists such as Avercamp and Hopper, as well children's book illustrations by several artists. There is much to see in each work of art, but one of our favorites is Paolo Uccello's circa 1460 painting, Saint George and the Dragon:

Quentin Blake is well-known for illustrating many of Roald Dahl's zany chapter books and many other books, as well as authoring his own books for children. He was appointed the very first Children's Laureate of England in 1999.

Book Sharing Monday is hosted at Serendipity--head on over and see what other people are reading!

Playing around with iMovie

(Video fixed--uploaded the wrong file the first time.)

Hemaris thysbe, or the Clearwing Hummingbird moth, likes hanging out at the butterfly bush in our yard. I tried out iMovie for the first time with footage from outside today.

Playing in the background is "Strange Days," sung by Beoga on their cd, The Incident, as otherwise, the not-so-sonorous sounds of the neighbor's weedwacker would have been apparent.

Walden Pond

One of our favorite places.

The 11-year-old doesn't like crowds of any sort, so after sulking sitting on the jam-packed beach for a few agonizing minutes, he headed into the woods for a short hike and some nature photography, accompanied by his mother (as he gets his abhorrence of hordes from me).

We knew this wildflower was Indian Pipe, thanks to the 100 Species Challenge, begun last summer.

This waxy-leaved little wildflower was very pretty--but I forgot my Audubon book and don't remember what the leaves looked like. Possibly Spotted Wintergreen?

I can't resist any rock photo ops.!

8-year-old and 4-year-old in the pond--they would have stayed all day.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

~Henry David Thoreau

Book Sharing Monday 20 July

The Planet Gods--Myths and Facts about the Solar System (2008), written by Jacqueline Mitton and illustrated by Christina Balit, is one of several books by this duo that have to do with astronomy, which is not surprising considering that the author is a Cambridge-educated astronomer. The pair's other books on the topic are Zoo in the Sky, Once upon a Starry Night, and Zodiac--Celestial Circle of the Sun.

The illustrator has also written and illustrated a few books on her own, including the highly enjoyable Atlantis (2000) and Escape from Pompeii (2003).

Book Sharing Monday is hosted at Serendipity.

Book Sharing Monday 29 June

We are dog fans in this house, so when I saw this new picture book featuring that noble animal and then noticed it was by one of DS (11)'s favorite authors, I had to check it out.

All three kids enjoyed hearing this tale of a new king who was the pickiest eater in the world (hmm, now who does that sound like? Oh, yes, two of my three children), and the dog who got to eat foods that the chef traveled 'round the world to find to tempt his royal highness.

Much of the book's appeal is in the unique, lovely illustrations by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher--definitely children's book artists I will be on the lookout for from now on. The two of them have collaborated on more than thirty children's books to date.

In addition to The King's Taster, Canadian author Kenneth Oppel has also written Airborn, Skybreaker, and Starclimber, which trilogy DS (11) recently devoured (our library has them in the YA section). Oppel has another series for younger readers (9-12 years, according to Amazon) that features bats as the main characters (Silverwing, Sunwing, Firewing, and Darkwing), as well as several other stand-alone chapter books and picture books.

Book Sharing Monday is hosted at Serendipity.

Sing out!

From CBS Sunday Morning:

New science & music special on PBS

The Music Instinct is being broadcast this weekend here in New England. Check your local PBS listings for more information. I'm especially looking forward to hearing what David Rothenberg has to say about birdsong.

Rothenberg has written several books, including Why Birds Sing: a Journey into the Mystery of Birdsong, and the recent Thousand Mile Song: Whale Music in a Sea of Sound. The author-musician also has seven cds released under his own name.

The Music Instinct also features slightly more mainstream musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin.

Book Sharing Monday, um, Tuesday?

I can't believe three weeks and a day have gone by since I first joined my fellow bloggers on a Book Sharing Monday. I don't know where the time goes, except that I am finally, after eleven years, catching up on some much needed sleep!

Tonight we read an old favorite--all three kiddos have enjoyed this one, and the four-year-old still requests it. He used to have it memorized, we read it that often. Wish I had thought to record his toddler-ly interpretation of it.

"In the tall, tall grass. . ."

"Crunch, munch, caterpillars lunch!"

And so it goes throughout In the Tall, Tall Grass, by Denise Fleming. Fleming has written other gems as well, such as In the Small, Small Pond, The First Day of Winter, and Beetle Bop. See below for more!

Book Sharing Monday is hosted (note to self: on MONDAYS) at Serendipity.

The Summer TBR Stack

No photo this time, but I hope to make it through a few more of these than I did of my spring stack.

Current reads:

The Quiet Girl, by Peter Høeg

This book club read is not my usual fare, yet so far I'm enjoying the strange flavor.  Høeg also wrote Smila's Sense of Snow, which I didn't read, but vaguely remember seeing on screen and not loathing.

Evoking Sound--The Choral Warm-Up, by James Jordan

Among all the suggestions given me by wonderfully helpful colleagues via forums on Choralnet, Evoking Sound is the most easily digested and most immediately helpful of the several books I got from interlibrary loan to evaluate.  Now if I can just get through its 300+ pages of jam-packed information!  Jordan has several DVDs that are going on my wish list.

Choral Charisma, by Tom Carter

Tom has been personally helpful via email with a couple of musical issues I've had in the past, and his book gives excellent advice about creating a safe learning environment for singers, amongst a host of other helpful suggestions.

She Shoots to Conquer--an Ellie Haskell Mystery, by Dorothy Cannell

Since I first read The Thin Woman, I've never failed to be entertained by Cannell's British amateur sleuth, and this latest in the series has been fun so far, though this is my "read to sleep" book so I have to confess I haven't gotten very far yet.  Have been very, very tired, as is evidenced by my lack of blogging (late nights are blogging time for me).

The Well-Trained Mind, Third Edition, by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise

Haven't read the book cover-to-cover since first discovering it years ago, so am giving the new edition a go now.  Am reading the section about preschoolers and feeling guilty that DS (4.5) hasn't gotten the attention he deserves.  Ever hear of trickle-down homeschooling?  I'm hoping that listening to the other two (DD - almost 8! and DS - 11) recite lists of verbs, etc. will mean that he will magically acquire all he needs up until the time I can actively homeschool a third child without losing my sanity.

On deck:

The Charlotte Mason Study Guide, Secular Edition, by Penny Gardner.

To counterbalance The Well-Trained Mind. ☺ Or complement it, I suppose I could say.

No Enemies Within and I Will Not Die an Unlived Life, by Dawna Markova.

Feeling the need to carpe diem again.  

No Mind Left Behind by Adam J. Cox or Smart but Scattered, by Peg Dawson

Executive function as it relates to kids.  Getting organized, staying focused, and controlling emotions.  Hmm, there might be something in here for me, too!

Touchstone, by Laurie R. King

A stand-alone novel by the author of The Beekeeper's Apprentice and all the subsequent adventures of its spirited protagonist.  The latest in that series is The Language of Bees, which I highly recommend, though, why, Dear Author, oh, why did you leave us hanging so?

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

At some point this summer, I'm finally going to give in and read this paramount piece of escapist fiction.  If you need me, I'll be in 18th-century Scotland.

Book Sharing Monday

The McElderry Book of Greek Myths, retold by Eric A. Kimmel and illustrated by Pep Montserrat is a new favorite of ours.  The illustrations are extraordinary.  At the beginning of each of the twelve myths, there is a full page illustration like this one, at the beginning of "Pandora's Box":

And interspersed throughout the stories on every page

 are other illustrations, like this one, from "Prometheus":

It's a beautiful book that we are heartily enjoying during read-alouds this week.  My eleven-year-old keeps snatching it when we're not reading it out loud and reading ahead, which is a pretty good recommendation in and of itself.  ☺

Book Sharing Monday is hosted at Serendipity. Come join in on the fun!

I've got Stringfever.

These guys are hilarious.  Thanks to LB for posting about the UK-based electronic string quartet today and to a fellow chorus member (and mother of a very talented young cellist) for mentioning it to us in the first place.  Head on over to 3 Ring Binder to see the extremely entertaining History of Music in 5 Minutes.  (Though I take issue with the lack of Bach and Mendelssohn in the medley, I give props for the inclusion of Grieg and Rossini.)  Below is another fun video of theirs featuring movie music:

You can also see many other YouTube videos by the quartet here, 

including an enjoyable snippet of The Devil Went Down to Georgia.  

Now if these guys would just release a DVD!

Learn to garden--read a book!

my almost-Square-Foot Garden, newly planted as of May 24, 2009

As someone who unfailingly turns to books to learn just about anything, I had to take a peek at Dominique Browning's review of gardening books in the N.Y. Times Books section (May 28, 2009).  I'm so glad I did.  Not only did I find a title or two to look out for at the library and bookstore, but my husband heard some pretty serious snickering coming from the general area of the computer while I read.  Some of my favorite lines are below, but please take time to read the entire article here.

What the wine cellar was to the ’90s, the root cellar will be to this decade. Same concept, come to think of it: Climate control. Rotation. Status. Expense. By the time you read this, of course, serious gardeners will have sown their oats and tomatoes, but determined neophytes can still catch up.

and

If you insist on growing flowers, or as they are frequently referred to with disdain by vegetable gardeners, ornamentals, then you should own UNDERSTANDING PER­ENNIALS (Frances Tenenbaum/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $40), by William Cullina.

about the same title:

His description of crassulacean acid metabolism, wherein cacti, yuccas, agaves and sedums open their stomata at night when it’s cooler in order to “bind carbon dioxide on special molecules much like we bind oxygen on hemoglobin in our blood” had me on edge for hours

Sounds like my kind of book.  

Concerning compost:

After reading pages and pages about the virtues of wood compost bins versus plastic and wire mesh, I was relieved to learn that I could simply dig a hole in the ground, dump in the kitchen scraps, rake on some leaves and call it a day.

Even about kids and the newly-popularized term "nature deficit disorder":

Not that we can summon much attention for yet another three-word problem, but I sympathize with her point that children spend more time cooped up than chickens.

And for my friends with chickens and guinea fowl:

They roam all over the road, getting to the middle and freezing in place, trying to recall why they wanted to cross. You have to sit patiently in your car until their brains shift into gear.

To end on a note that sings true to me:

You’ll even get a recipe for mint julep — and I can’t imagine a better place for a stiff drink than a vegetable garden.

Okay, one more--

Dominique Browning’s most recent book is “Paths of Desire: The Passions of a Suburban Gardener.”

May - the month in pictures

Trees around here finally came into leaf:

Astronomy field trip:

Rainy weather did not keep the kids from enjoying the "Constellation Court":

One concert down:

A day at home:

Braving the ticks for a spring nature walk:

A wedding:

Another concert:

Revels at the co-op:

We just this past Friday braved the morass of germs that is the Museum of Science to catch the Frogs exhibit before it left.  The Dart Poison Frogs were beautiful,

as were the Chinese Gliding Frogs,

but my favorites were the Waxy Monkey Frogs from S. America, who looked like they were smiling:

Bet this little guy was hoping the fossil skeleton would come to life if he pushed the button enough times: 

A family portrait:

Home again, home again, jiggity jog:

Good finds of the week

1. Stellarium: an incredible, free software program for a variety of operating systems, that turns your computer screen into a planetarium.  We've had lots of fun playing with it this week, especially since cloudy skies have kept us from stargazing.  

2. Clay Center Observatory: in Brookline, MA on the campus of Dexter/Southfield schools (where JFK went to school).  This Saturday from three until ten p.m. the center is celebrating Astronomy Day, and every Tuesday night in the spring and fall (weather-permitting) the observatory has free public telescope viewings.  The center has an LED-lit constellation court, plus a moon court and a sun court to check out.  Pictures from the center's website here.  Short video from our field trip below.

3. Inside Birding: a series of web videos to help hone your birdwatching skills, from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All about Birds website.  So far, four episodes are online.

Happy Birthday, Pete Seeger!

Folk legend Pete Seeger turns ninety today!  I was just singing a song of his (written with Lee Hays, fellow member of The Weavers) to M. yesterday afternoon while hammering nails into my raised bed square-foot garden:

Peter Seeger is possessed of that rarest of human qualities - the inquiring mind. This gentle and at the same time fiery and unbeatable spirit pervades his music, his friendships, his beanpole body and his thought. His performances are true to our folk musicians faithfully and sensitively.

          - Alan Lomax (From the LP "Darling Corey," 1950) 

Visit the Pete Seeger Appreciation Page here.

Alex Ross reviews the YouTube Symphony Orchestra

From Critic's Corner in what appears to be next week's New Yorker (May 4, 2009):

The YouTube Symphony, a global orchestra assembled from online audition videos, may sound like yet another groan-inducing attempt to make classical music hip. But there’s some method in the marketing madness: YouTube has become a serious resource for professional musicians, who use it to investigate up-and-coming talent.

Read the rest of the article here.  There's a great illustration of MTT, as well.

A brief history of Western Music