Things I've Enjoyed This Week

* The Lunar New Year Celebration on Solano Ave; in particular, the performance "Journey to the West" by Ah-Lan dance.
* Slade House by David Mitchell. "Grief is an amputation, but hope is incurable hemophilia: you bleed and bleed and bleed."
* Listening to Bee Wilson on the 2/4/16 episode of Fresh Air. Quick takeaway: start feeding a baby pureed foods at 4-7 months during her flavor window.
* The Food Lab by J. Kenji-Lopez Alt. He has great explanations for everything. I've always liked roasted potatoes, but this recipe takes it to a whole new level..
* Is This a Phase? Child Development and Parent Strategies, Birth to 6 Years by Helen F. Neville. This is a quick and easy read with great tables and charts. I started and finished it during Adi's nap. I wish I read this book before Adi was two.
* Watching the Golden State Warriors. Has there been a team this good, ever?
* Ellyn Satter's division of responsibility in feeding.

Terry Gross Receives 2007 Literarian Award

Sometimes when I love a novel, there is a question I'm tempted to ask, but don't. And the question is something like, 'How did you manage to look into my own heart? How did you find the words to express feelings I didn't even know I had before reading your book?' I guess that's a question a lot of readers might like to ask, but it's also a question no writer can ever really answer.

View Ira Glass' intro and Terry Gross' acceptance speech.

Central Park Summerstage

Check out the 2008 calendar for Summerstage, the free summer concert series at Central Park.

A few highlights:

1) Friday, July 11, 2008 | 8-10 p.m.
Rennie Harris / Pure Movement
Francesca Harper Project
Rennie Harris Pure Movement is a hip hop dance company out of Illadelph (Philly). They do a lot of exciting and athletic dancing -- if you like ABDC (America's Best Dance Crew), then you'll probably enjoy this free show.

2) Thursday, July 17, 2008 | 7-10 p.m.
Junot Diaz
Junot Diaz is a Dominican-American writer who wrote this year's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. He also wrote the popular short story collection Drown. If you haven't read his stuff yet, then do yourself a favor and go to the library, find these books, and read them. Thank me later.

An Annotated Bibliography of Good Summer Reading Books

Today, I attended a lecture highlighting the best fiction and non-fiction books out there for middle school readers. I'm not going to type up the full bibliography (email me if you want the complete list), but I will write a brief annotated bibliography of a few books that got my attention. The bibliography is grouped by my interests -- first up is origami, then pop up books, and finally other fine children's books. Young or old, I encourage you to go out to the library and check out any that grab your attention!

Origami
- Kasahara, Kunihiko. Extreme Origami. (2003). New York: Sterling.
The origami art found in this book is certainly not for the novice folder! Kasahara is an origami master; along with engineers like Robert Lang, Kasahara's been expanding the reach and production of origami through new and innovative designs. This book has instructions for a number of novel and stunningly beautiful origami pieces.


Pop Up Book Manuals

-Carter, David A. and James Diaz. The Elements of Pop Up. (1999). New York: Little Simon.
My bookmaking teacher calls this the 'bible' of pop up books. It gives you a set of step-by-step instructions for making 50 different pop ups, starting with the most basic and ending with some rather complex designs. I will definitely invest the $25 needed to own this manual.

- Diehn, Gwen. Making Books that Fly, Fold, Wrap, Hide, Pop Up, Twist, & Turn. (1998). Asheville, NC: Lark Books.
One of my friends made me a photo album as a birthday gift, and I've been showing it off to all my friends since. Using this book as a guide, you can impress your own friends by making your own photo albums and much, much more.

- Pop-Up Books.
This binder is for teachers -- it provides lesson plans and materials for teaching a course in making pop up books.


Other Children's Books

- Sabuda, Robert & Matthew Reinhart. Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs. (2005). Boston: Candlewick Press.
There are three books in series: Dinosaurs (2005), Sharks (2006), and Mega Beasts (2007). They are all pop up books constructed by the master Robert Sabuda. Each page is jam packed with cool pop ups and interesting info about prehistoric animals.

- Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Carbret. (2007). New York: Scholastic Press.
This is one of the thickest children's books I have ever seen, but almost half of it is composed of beautiful illustrations. The story begins with 40 pages of illustrations; just when you start to wonder what's going on, the text begins. Throughout the rest of the book, Selznick weaves his drawings with his words to tell the story of Hugo Carbret.


- Wiesner, David. Flotsam. (2006). New York: Clarion Books.
A beautiful children's book. Wiesner has won 3 Caldecott Awards for his books, and this one may be his finest. The story is about a young boy who discovers a camera on the beach, develops the film, and discovers a hidden secret. Check out the book to find out what he discovers!


- Young, Dwight. Dear Mr. President: Letters to the Oval Office from the Files of National Archives. (2005). Washington: National Geographic Society.
Read actual letters sent to the president throughout history. The letter sent by Elvis Presley requesting to be a Secret Federal Agent is a hoot!

The Bronx Library Center

I went to the Bronx Library Center (310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off of Fordham Rd.) with a group of 6th graders today -- what a fantastic library! Lots of great books, in a beautiful space, with a friendly and helpful staff. If I were a middle school student in the Bx, I'd probably spend every day of my summer there (well, I'd probably split my time at a library and an outdoor destination, like Pelham Bay Park).

The kind staff erased my overdue fines, so I can check out books from the NYPL again. Two of the books I took out are poetry compilations: Paint Me Like I Am and You Hear Me? Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys. I've really started getting into poetry a few months ago; really, ever since I visited Ms. Rymer's poetry class. I find that it really helps me understand myself and others, and it doesn't take a lot of time to get into, like a novel. I like my poetry candid and raw -- I'll post a few of my favorite poems later.

The third book I checked out is called Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini. I was drawn to the book by its title and cool cover -- I'll post a review of it after I finish reading it.

Chapter 21 of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery

It was then that the fox appeared.
"Good morning," said the fox.
"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.
"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."
"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at."
"I am a fox," the fox said.
"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."
"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."
"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince.
But, after some thought, he added:
"What does that mean--'tame'?"
"You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?"
"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean--'tame'?"
"Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?"
"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean--'tame'?"
"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish ties."
"'To establish ties'?"
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . ."
"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower . . . I think that she has tamed me . . ."
"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things."
"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince.
The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.
"On another planet?"
"Yes."
"Are there hunters on that planet?"
"No."
"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"
"No."
"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.
But he came back to his idea.
"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat . . ."
The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.
"Please--tame me!" he said.
"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."
"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me . . ."
"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.
"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me--like that--in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day . . ."
The next day the little prince came back.
"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you . . . One must observe the proper rites . . ."
"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.
"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."
So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--
"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."
"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you . . ."
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"Then it has done you no good at all!"
"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added:
"Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."
The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.
"You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world."
And the roses were very much embarassed.
"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you--the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or ever sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.
And he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."
"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose . . ."
"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.