Tripping over Tropes and Pinning down Patterns

Roger Sutton kicked off an interesting discussion this past Friday about tropes in children's books, in particular, the common theme of girls disguising themselves as boys. The comments there are pretty interesting and I encourage you to check them out.

Meanwhile, this set off my own thinking on two topics I've wanted to post on for a while. Before I launch into them, let me preface briefly by saying that my undergrad thesis and graduate work were both centered around late-19th and early-20th century North American girls books. In other words, I only looked at books written between 1865 and 1935, all by female authors, all with female protagonists. So any generalizations I make are only meant to apply to those books.

Forgive me if the language is a little academic -- I had to quote myself a lot from papers and such. Just for fun, I threw a few questions at the bottom of each section, in case you want to respond.

1. Violence in children's books
In April, 1995, I presented at a conference on Violence with my thoughts on violence in girls' books. My paper, "Crazy Ladies and Dirty Old Men in Turn-of-the-Century Adolescent Fiction," considered the contradiction between the conservative world of children's literature and depictions of violence and serious threat scattered through the literature. I went on to offer my thoughts on the possible value of writing violence into stories for children.

Throughout these books, young girls are violently injured, narrowly escape gruesome deaths, and are threatened with sexual assault. The dangers plainly manifest in these books overturn the "protected" status of the child's territory. Furthermore, threats of violence, injury and rape are positioned as rite-of-passage events through which the young heroines achieve maturity....

In the twenty girls' stories which make up the core of my studies, there are 3 beatings, 2 near drownings, 2 terrible illnesses, several deaths, a few encounters with ferocious animals, 2 blindings, several cripplings, and several threats of sexual assault. All told, it's a violent and dangerous world for these young girls.

The violence, I proposed, served a few purposes in the story:

• Taming the tomboy or wild child and making her softer
• Showing the girl as a possible victim, and distinguishing her in that way from boys
• Marking a loss of innocence right at the start of adolescence

Here are the scenes I used to illustrate my points:

Magic for Marigold - Marigold's imprisonment in Mrs. Delagarde's house
Five Little Peppers and How they Grew - Phronsie and the hurdy-gurdy man
Emily Climbs - Emily trapped in the church with Mad Mr. Morrison
A Girl of the Limberlost - Elnora spied on at night by man outside her window

My concluding question was about how child readers absorb and understand the violence that's depicted in all these books. My answer -- that children take such things in stride. They "have been nurtured ... into a world of danger and distress" and in fact these books "allow child readers to explore violence without experiencing it."

So...

Is violence (or danger and distress, if you prefer) still prevalent in today's books for girls?

Is it a rite of passage mechanism, or just a good plot device?

Are girls treated differently than boys in terms of violence and danger in children's books?


2. All those other patterns!
One of the commenters on Roger's post asks (paraphrased), "What about the dead mother trope?" Good question.

In my undergraduate thesis (1990), I suggested there was a clear pattern to heroine formation in girls' books. I reviewed dozens and dozens of books, and focused in on the development of 20 different girl protagonists.

Here were many of the patterns I evaluated:

No mother
No father
Motherly neighbor
Taken in by relatives
Stifling foster parent
Writing heroine
Musical heroine
Gypsy heroine
Ineffective mother
Bad mother
Good mother
Punishment of heroine (deus ex machina)
Punishment of heroine (mother)
Heroine in nature
Heroine in fantasy life
Heroine with money
Heroine in poverty
Identification with literature
Stain on birth
Matriarchy
Community of women
Heroine rewarded
Heroine as motherly
Nature as mother
Text as mother
Heroine not pretty
Love with older man
Male control
Death scene
Inheritance
Silence

In the end, I concluded:

The eight dominant patterns of the heroine's development are: 1) so-so appearance; 2) obstacles; 3) domestic life; 4) artistic life; 5) no good mother; 6) absent father; 7) substitute mother; and 8) community of females.

In order to be a heroine in the girls' book of this time, a girl needed all 8 of those patterns to exist in her story. The combination of these elements developed a girl with enough freedom (no interference from parents) to explore her ambitions and enough supervision (support from a substitute mother and a community of females) to ensure her proper training in the more traditional roles of women. Thus ensuring she would end up with the independent success and even financial independence that she wants, and that she would still get the guy.

Courageous and respectful, imaginative and yet practical, independent and romantic -- she moves easily in the worlds of Nature, Society, and Home, knowledgeable and powerful in each, and forms her life as a combination....

So...

How did the patterns change in girls' books after this time period?

What patterns are still prevalent?

What are the boys' patterns?

Interview Me (me)!

Motherreader has invited her visitors to take part in the Interview Meme, which came to her via A Wrung Sponge, and which she has now passed along to several volunteers. In our case, Motherreader provided a set of common questions (1-4) and one unique question (5) for us to answer.

If you'd like to be part of this Meme, please let me know and I will come up with 5 interview questions for you.

Here are mine from Motherreader:

1. What's your favorite quote?

It's hard to pick just one -- so many funny and wonderful things have been said or written! But I think I'll go with this one for now, from William Faulkner's Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1950):

I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

2. How would you spend $1,500 that you won in a radio contest?

I would be sure to use some of it to buy myself something to commemorate the occasion. I am a big believer in that -- have something to show for it, to remember it years later. The rest would easily get spent here and there on anything and everything.

3. Where do you like to go to get away from it all?

Penobscot Bay up in Maine. I go at least twice a year, and when I'm there I am more at ease and tuned in to myself than anywhere else in the world. What does Penobscot Bay have going for it? Beautiful scenery, quiet, wildlife, old-fashioned New Englanders (accent and all), ocean, stars.... What is it missing? Jobs. Or at least a job I could do while living there. So... I live in New Jersey, and escape to Maine.

4. If you had the complete attention of everyone in the United States, but only for thirty seconds, what would you say?

This is a tough one. Having everyone's attention doesn't mean I can make them do what I say, so I guess "play nice!" won't do it. Which means I have to assume that I wouldn't be able to cause much change with my air time -- at least not directly. I think then, I'd use the 30 seconds to tell a short story about someone from my family, or some event from my childhood, that I wanted to share and have remembered. Hopefully I'd have a lot of time to prepare ahead, to come up with just the right story and to condense it to half a minute. If I had no prep time at all, maybe I'd read or recite a poem, maybe even one of my own, again just to share it and have it remembered.

5. I put you in the writer category of my blogroll because it seemed the best fit. How do you see yourself?

I was actually pretty shocked to find my blog listed under "writers" in your bloglist MR! It's true, I do write, but purely as hobby so far.

How do I see myself? As a fan mostly. A fan of children's books, of words and language, of poetry, of puzzles, and of things that make me crack up or cry.

Quote of the Day: Hayes

From the first lady of American Theater, Helen Hayes:

From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other. But when books are opened you discover that you have wings.

Bye Bye Miss American Pi

I can't believe I missed Pi Day on 3/14!









Which, by the way, was also Albert Einstein's birthday.









Next thing you know, I'll be missing Milk-and-cookies Day!

A Little Poetry for You: Irish Poets

Happy Poetry Friday, and in advance, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Liz has the round-up this week. Much Yeats and other good things to be found there.

As I've recently discovered (or admitted to) my Irish ancestry (a full one-eighth... at best), I thought I would put on a little green and and a little Irish spirit and delve into a little Irish poetry.

I'll start you off with this List of Irish poets (born in Ireland or Irish citizens) from Wikipedia.

I'm offering bits from four of these Irish poets today. For the first two, you can click on the last word of the excerpt to see the entire poem. For the others, I've shown the links separately, as there is also audio (of course!) to enjoy along with the text.

Bagpipe Music
Louis MacNeice

It’s no go my honey love, it’s no go my poppet;
Work your hands from day to day, the winds will blow the profit.
The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever,
But if you break the bloody glass you won’t hold up the weather.

I Hear an Army
James Joyce

I hear an army charging upon the land,
And the thunder of horses plunging; foam about their knees:
Arrogant, in black armour, behind them stand,
Disdaining the rains, with fluttering whips, the Charioteers.

Mossbawn Sunlight
Seamus Heaney

There was a sunlit absence.
The helmeted pump in the yard
heated its iron,
water honeyed

in the slung bucket
and the sun stood
like a griddle cooling
against the wall

Go here for the rest of Mossbawn Sunlight, and the audio. It's quite lovely.

And of course, no quick look at Irish poets is complete without a nod to this man...

The Second Coming
William Butler Yeats

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

You can find the full text of The Second Coming here. I've always loved this poem, especially the "things fall apart" line.

Also, I know I linked to this a few weeks ago, but I still love listening to Yeats talk about how his verse should be read, and what a "devil of a lot of trouble" it took to get the verses just right.

Words on Wednesday: Blarney

With St. Patrick's Day approaching, and mindful of my new-found Irish heritage, I went out to find you a few Irishisms. Enjoy!

Beyond the Pale
Blarney
Boycott
Paddy Wagon
Potluck
Take the cake
Tying the Knot

Tanga Puzzles: March 12 - 18

Here are the daily clues for the Tanga puzzles this week. To see the hint, highlight the space to the right of the date.

I don't give away answers here, just a small hint each day to help get you started or past a rough patch. If you want stronger hints, you can check the blog on the Tanga site itself, which is chock full of spoilers.

While I avoid giving away the answers on this page, be warned that there may be spoilers in the comments to this post, so open those with care.

Good luck!

March 12: There is no good way to clue this without spelling it out. First, you need to know the puzzle-maker's name, which is Monica Lewinski. Then, the title of this puzzle is at the top, but for that step, you need to consider the word "last" differently than you did in the earlier steps.

March 13: They had server issues tonight, so it took a while for me to be able to enter my answer. Anyhow, the top piece is a bit misleading. Probably easier if you ignore the numbers.

March 14: Nice one! The top is easier if you put the numbers up front. 99 B of B on the W, for instance. For the bottom, try replacing those equal signs with asterisks, or some other less distracting symbol. Also take a look at all those letters!

March 15: The pictures are good, there's a clear theme and it's easy to figure out which letters to select for the final answer. The one sticky point is how to fit the words into the spaces. You'll have to do some transforming/condensing, and allow things to overlap a little counterintuitively. It looks like a crossword, but....

March 16: I won't tease you with bad clues for this one.

March 17: Romeo: My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt in my behalf.

March 18: In the words of Bonnie Tyler ordering takeout from Mykonos: "I need a gyro! I'm holding out for a gyro till the end of the night!"

Creative Writing: Labyrinth of Mind

Here is a first-draft poem I wrote this weekend. Note the phrase "first draft."

Labyrinth of Mind

Within the labyrinth of mind
There are dead ends
Places where your
thoughts refuse to take you
Or where you refuse to take your thoughts.
And then there are familiar paths
The easy
The well trodden.
But those don’t take you anywhere either
Just over and over through the same circles
Or circuits
Or circus.
The trick is breaking through
Before you break down.
These borders must not contain you.
They’re after all just the lines you drew
To map the world in earlier days.
And they were drawn in pencil after all.
And maps can be recharted after all
Must be recharted.
Do stop telling yourself the same stories.
You are boring and well trodden.

If You're Happy and You Know it...

Over at 7-Imp, Jules and Eisha have launched a "reasons to love life" post and are looking for your happy notes to add to the list.

Think about any good things that have happened this week. Or pretty things you've seen. Or read. Or heard. And add them to 7-Imp's great list.

Of course I'd love it if you'd comment here too, because I love hearing about what makes people happy. Here, by the way are my comments left on 7-Imp.

Quote of the Day: Wrapped in Quotations

I ran across this quote today at Quote Puzzler, and it seemed worth sharing.

Rudyard Kipling
He wrapped himself in quotations -- as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.

A Little Poetry for You: Whitman

It's Poetry Friday!

I was all set up to share some Robert Creeley this week until I stumbled upon this poem and remembered how much I love it. So this week, Whitman, and Mr. Creeley can just wait till next.

When I Heard the Learned Astronomer
by Walt Whitman

When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them...

Go here for the rest of this poem. And if you don't already own a book of Whitman's poetry, it is worth exploring.

Here's an audio recording of Whitman reading some of "America." In case you want to hear his voice. It's pretty scratchy, but there are pictures with it to distract you.

Words on Wednesday: The Good Word

Ever have someone ask you, "What's the good word?"

Someone asked me that at work yesterday. I paused a moment, then said...

"Platypus."

It seemed like a good word in the moment.

What's your good word today?

Lives in Letters: Postcard from the Auto Roads

A quick old postcard for your amusement.


Postcard

Delaware Park,
Buffalo, N. Y.

July 17, 1918

Addressed to
Mr. & Mrs. H. H-
Patterson, N. J.

Noted below address: Furniture Mfg.

Arrived here this P. M.
after a wonderful trip
by Auto roads. Weather
& country beautiful. Hope
this finds you and Mrs. H-
in good health. Kindest
regards from the T-‘s

Notes:

Check out the clothing in the picture. It's very 1918.

I don't understand why there was an extra note scribbled at the bottom (under the address) that said "Furniture Mfg." Perhaps it was a business address.

There's not much to say about the message, but I loved the reference to the "Auto roads." I can almost imagine a time long ago, when an automobile trip would be a quiet and wonderful experience that allowed you to see the beautiful country. These days, you pretty much only see the SUV in front of you and the big rigs on either side.

Update: In the comments, a link with some very cool info on Delaware Park. I didn't realize it was an Olmsted creation. Thanks dshep!

Tanga Puzzles: March 5 - March 11

Here are the daily clues for the Tanga puzzles this week. To see the hint, highlight the space to the right of the date.

I don't give away answers here, just a small hint each day to help get you started or past a rough patch. If you want stronger hints, you can check the blog on the Tanga site itself, which is chock full of spoilers.

While I avoid giving away the answers on this page, be warned that there may be spoilers in the comments to this post, so open those with care.

Good luck!

March 5: At first it might be hard to understand the ribbon, but think about it.

March 6: Keep it casual. Oh, and I'll put the superhero names in the comments.

March 7: Scissors would make this easier, but if you don't have them handy, you can probably let it take shape just with a careful review of the pieces.

March 8: There are two different people who could be the answer for #5, but one of them is the answer for #1 instead.

March 9: I was so addicted to Tetris in grad school that I used to play it in my sleep. It was so satisfying to see those rows disappear! Really tough to resist.

March 10: I got off track with this one and tried to make it more complicated than it needed to be. This hint was brought to you by the letter H.

March 11: Yech! That's not a belly-button. And when you get the clue phrase and look up the answer, you can only use the first word of what you find.

Book Shelves Meme

Courtesy of Little Willow, here's a meme I thought was interesting. Feel free to post your answers here, or on your blog.

1. How do you organize your books? By genre, by last name, by title, by publication date?
2. Do you have a shelf reserved for your favorite books and/or authors?
3. What is the first title and author on your bookshelf?
4. What is the last title and author on your bookshelf?
5. What genre dominates your collection?
6. Which author is the most represented? (You own the most number of books by...)
7. You own all of the books written by...
8. You own the entire series of...

1. How do you organize your books? By genre, by last name, by title, by publication date?

I mostly split the books by genre. One bookcase is all children's lit, organized by size and author. One bookcase is adult fiction on the top and various reference books on the bottom (with some miscellaneous in between). On a third bookcase in another room I have a hodge-podge of unread books that have been mocking me for years. On a fourth in yet another room I have a hodge-podge of unread books that have only been mocking me for months -- those are again divided out into children and adult.

2. Do you have a shelf reserved for your favorite books and/or authors?

I keep my favorite books and authors together, but this covers many shelves.

3. What is the first title and author on your bookshelf?

It is either Complete works of Shakespeare, or Complete works of Twain. Or it might be The Hobbit.

4. What is the last title and author on your bookshelf?

Which shelf? This one is pretty impossible to answer, because I end up sideways stacking and so I don't know where "last" is.

5. What genre dominates your collection?

North-American books for girls, written between 1865 and 1935. I did my college thesis on this collection back in 1990, and I bring the books with me everywhere I move.

6. Which author is the most represented? (You own the most number of books by...)

Julie Campbell (Trixie Belden) and Lucy Maud Montgomery

7. You own all of the books written by...

I suppose Shakespeare and Twain, because I have the "complete works." I'd like to own all the books written by Stephen King.

8. You own the entire series of...

Trixie Belden mysteries. It took me a while to find them all too!

Creative Writing: From the Orchard

I decided to play with Magnetic Poetry again today. I couldn't stick to the 20-word limit, but was able to keep it pretty brief anyhow.

Arm-in-arm we walked --
orange burlap bags on our backs.
Our shadows sought the wall, and silhouetted
bodies bent like oxen with our burdens.
You leaned against the emptied crates --
your laugh saturated with orchard juice.

Indexed Got a Book Deal

A few weeks ago I mentioned this great blog called Indexed. The blog is a little bit of magic, combining the raw power of the index card with the quirkiness of one human brain.

I have trouble articulating exactly what Jessica Hagy does on this blog, so I'll use her own words:

This site is a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math.

And her own pictures:

Do check it out. Jessica's just gotten a book deal out of the wonderful work she's done with this blog, and if you take a moment to look at just a few of her entries, you will quickly see why.

Very

Good

Stuff

A Little Poetry for You: Poe

It's Poetry Friday! This week, rather than find an audio of the poet reading his or her own work, I found a different way to have fun with the full experience of a good poem read aloud.




For a good dose of gloom and darkness, why not listen to Basil Rathbone reading Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven?" I assure you, you'll be glad you did.


Possibly even better, try Christopher Walken's rendition. You're bound to find it excellent, or at least laughably horrifying.

Here are the first lines, to get you in the mood.

The Raven
by Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore-
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
Nameless here for evermore.

I hope you had fun with that!

Gutsy Girls Got a Place to Go!

Okay, this just arrived in my email, and it's very exciting stuff.

Please be sure to share this info about readergirls with the gutsy girls in your life.

And why not go check it out yourself, using one of the big bold links below? (I especially recommend you read the "manifesta.")

And for even more info, you can seek out Little Willow's discussions and praise of readergirlz.


Press Release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INSPIRING TODAY'S GIRLS TO BE TOMORROW'S HISTORY

YOUNG ADULT AUTHORS CREATE AN ONLINE BOOK SALON FOR GUTSY GIRLS

SEATTLE, March 1 – In honor of Women's History Month, four young adult authors are launching readergirlz, a new online book salon celebrating gutsy girls in life and literature.

Starting on March 1, readergirlz founders Dia Calhoun, Janet Lee Carey, Lorie Ann Grover, and Justina Chen Headley will unveil a monthly book selection, featuring young adult novels with gutsy female characters.

More than just a book club, readergirlz aims to encourage teen girls to read and reach out with community service projects related to each featured novel. As well, readergirlz will host MySpace discussions with each book's author, include author interviews, and provide book party ideas, including playlists, menus, and decorations. All content will be available through the readergirlz website(www.readergirlz.com), MySpace(www.myspace.com/readergirlz and groups.myspace.com/readergirlz), and LiveJournal (readergirlz.livejournal.com).

"We want girls to be the best women they can be,' explains Headley. The inspiration for readergirlz came from Headley's book tour last spring where she made a special effort to visit urban communities that couldn't otherwise bring in authors. She recruited three critically-acclaimed novelists—Calhoun, Carey, and Grover—to start readergirlz as a way to talk to teens about reading and writing.

"Readergirlz is a way I can connect wonderful books to girls I'd never be able to meet otherwise,' agrees Calhoun.

The founders hope readergirlz will change the way girls experience literature and see themselves. "I want to challenge girls to go for their dreams,' says Carey. "I learned how brave girls can be through books, and I want to share the power of literature with girls, wherever they are.'

Using MySpace and a website, the readergirlz founders, dubbed the divas, plan to provide a rich literary experience for teen girls online. "We already have over 750 friends on MySpace. From surveys to playlists to author interviews, we'll provide young adult readers with fun, meaningful content," explains Grover. "Why not harness the power of MySpace to get girls to think critically about what they want to be in the future?'

Each book selection will dovetail to a topic, identified by the readergirlz divas and prominent children's lit bloggers as topics teen girls should know about in this millennium.

The first topic is Tolerance, a theme explored in the kick-off book selection for readergirlz, Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies). As prominent blogger, Jennifer Robinson of http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/, noted, teens "need to know that when they are mean or intolerant to other people, they're doing damage.'

In conjunction with the first novel, teen girls will be encouraged to visit http://www.tolerance.org/ to learn how to safely stop bullying and to apply for one of the organization's Mix It Up grants to break social and racial barriers within their schools.

ABOUT THE READERGIRLZ FOUNDERS

Dia Calhoun is the winner of the Mythopoeic FantasyAward for Children's Literature, and author of five young adult fantasies, including Avielle of Rhia and The Phoenix Dance.

Janet Lee Carey won the 2005 Mark Twain Award for Wenny Has Wings, and her forthcoming young adult fantasy, Dragon's Keep, has already received a starred review in Booklist.

Lorie Ann Grover is a former ballerina-turned-verse-novelist whose acclaimed work includes On Pointe and Loose Threads, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.

Justina Chen Headley sold her first two novels at auction, including her debut, Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies), named Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best.

For more information about readergirlz, please visit their website (www.readergirlz.com), MySpace(www.myspace.com/readergirlz and groups.myspace.com/readergirlz), and LiveJournal (readergirlz.livejournal.com).

Contact: Justina Chen Headley at justina@justinachenheadley.com

Notes on Water Street

On a browsing expedition through the children's section of a local bookstore, I was stopped in my tracks by the cover of Water Street, by Patricia Reilly Giff. A quick read of the jacket synopsis and I had a feeling I'd find comfort in reading Giff's story. And comfort, it turns out, is exactly the right word for my experience with Water Street.

I've missed Giff's previous work, so I came to Water Street with no back-story on any of the characters, and no frame of reference for Giff's writing style or plot lines. I'm not sure if that made the reading better for being fresh, or if knowing more about the books before might have made the book feel even more comforting. Either way, I didn't feel that I missed anything, but now I'm eager to go back and read the books before just to know more about the family.

What I liked about Water Street:

- Bird, for her name (I have a weakness for great nicknames), for her courage, and for her ability to draw so much love out of all those who know her

- Thomas, for daring to write the world he wants

- The Bridge, for being the perfect backdrop and for anchoring the story in its moment

- The street, for its character and its characters

- The story, for fulfilling its own promise (see comfort comments above)

- The cover, for drawing me to the book in the first place

I recommend this book for middle-graders, possibly slightly more for girls than boys.

Tanga Puzzles: February 26 - March 4

Here are the daily clues for the Tanga puzzles this week. To see the hint, highlight the space to the right of the date.

I don't give away answers here, just a small hint each day to help get you started or past a rough patch. If you want stronger hints, you can check the blog on the Tanga site itself, which is chock full of spoilers.

While I avoid giving away the answers on this page, be warned that there may be spoilers in the comments to this post, so open those with care.

Good luck!

February 26: Say it out loud.

February 27: Look for a picture-hint on this one.

February 28: UGH. The key thing to know is that when you combine two parts/elements to get the first step done, you end up with a misspelled word. The misspelling is an accident. Fix the spelling and move on to the next step.

March 1: Ladies first. Oh, and I had to use a conversion calculator.

March 2: If you need to look things up, keep that reference source handy for all of it.

March 3: The background reminds me of the opening to Star Trek.

March 4: Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself if you're up to the task.

A Little Poetry for You: Updike

I'm heading out to Disneyworld this weekend, so will put up my Poetry Friday post early.

Somehow, when I hear a poem read out loud by the poet, or even by a very very good reader, I find the poem takes on a new aspect. It makes more sense, and in some ways, makes different sense, than it did when I had only seen it. I find the same is true when I read poems out loud myself.

When we think about children learning poetry, do we take this into account? Do we encourage children to hear the sounds of the poem, to think about how the simpleness of a comma's pause can have such great effect on what a line of poetry means?

Here's a bit of poetry I ran across tonight, that seems worth reading and listening to.

Seagulls
by John Updike

A gull, up close,
looks surprisingly stuffed.
His fluffy chest seems filled
with an inexpensive taxidermist's material
rather lumpily inserted. The legs,
unbent, are childish crayon strokes—
too simple to be workable.
And even the feather markings,
whose intricate symmetry is the usual glory of birds,
are in the gull slovenly,
as if God makes too many
to make them very well.

Click here to read the rest of the poem, or here to access the audio recording of Updike reading it himself.

By the way, if you missed my post last week (because I forgot to tell anyone I posted!), go here to listen to Gwendolyn Brooks read and comment on "We Real Cool." Her discussion of the poem is wonderful and interesting, and her reading made it a completely different poem for me.

Words on Wednesday: Word of the Day Puzzle

Just when I was wondering what my Words on Wednesday post would be, Douglas (of The Problem Site and Quote Puzzler fame) comes through with this toy.

Rearrange the letters to create a word. When you put the correct letters together, they will connect and then move as a chain.

Enjoy!



Oh, and if you're looking for good logic and word puzzles to challenge your kids or yourself, please go check out Douglas' work. Again.

Word Of The Day Puzzle provided by Quote Puzzler

Carnivalia at MotherReader's House

The 11th Carnival of Children's Literature is up-up-and-away at MotherReader's blog.

Do go check it out.

And bring me back some funnel-cake, will ya?

Tanga Puzzles: February 19 - February 25

NOTE: I'll be travelling Thursday through Sunday, so I won't be able to offer hints those days. Please feel free to put hints in the comments to help each other out.

Here are the daily clues for the Tanga puzzles this week. To see the hint, highlight the space to the right of the date.

I don't give away answers here, just a small hint each day to help get you started or past a rough patch. If you want stronger hints, you can check the blog on the Tanga site itself, which is chock full of spoilers.

While I avoid giving away the answers on this page, be warned that there may be spoilers in the comments to this post, so open those with care.

Good luck!

February 19: Opposites attract indeed.

February 20: Easiest to do with a map.

February 21: Almost too easy to deserve a hint. This is the type of puzzle I like.

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Lives in Letters: Postcard - Toot

"In every city, on every street, there are forgotten buildings...."


Postcard

Cities Service Building
New York’s Third Highest Skyscraper

New York, NY
August 11, 1932

Addressed to Mr. J. E. L-
Lebanon, Pa.

Everything going O. K.
up here. The floors
will all be painted by
the time they get back.
Orders from War Dept.
to close Post Exchanges.
Ft. Hamilton and West Point
are already closed. Uncertain
how it will effect this place.
Received your mail.
Toot.

Notes:

Is it from someone nicknamed Toot, or is Toot a way of signing off, like "Tootles?"

The Cities Services building is located in the Wall Street area, and was so-named for the petroleum company that made its home there in 1932. It is now the AIG building. Here's a bit more info (see # 15). And then there's this interesting article about the skyscrapers of the age ("In every city, on every street, there are forgotten buildings...") including this building. The most interesting part of the article? Near the end, when the author says:

Though now dwarfed by young upstarts, such as the World Trade center, these office buildings have lost little of their original beauty and interest.

The article was written in July, 2001.

Post Exchange (PX) or Base Exchange was the name for the discount store located on a military base. Here's a bit of history on that.

My big questions:

What base was the postcard-sender writing from? My best guess is either Governor's Island off the tip of Manhattan, or maybe Fort Schuyler in the Bronx.

Why were they closing the post exchanges? Most likely because it was peace-time and the US had a very small army. Not to mention the fact that we were in the middle of the Depression, so the government could not afford to subsidize the PX's.

Who were "they" and why were they having the floors painted? I have no idea.

Book-Delinquents Anonymous

Hello, my name is Nancy, and I'm hopelessly behind on my children's book reading.

It all started when I got hooked on late-19th and early-20th century American girls books. I read every one I could find, and when I realized that I'd pretty much run out, I started rereading. And rereading. I couldn't break away. I found it nearly impossible to try something new.

For a long time, I kept it a secret. I would politely sit silent while my friends talked about Narnia, His Dark Materials, Lord of the Rings, and (I am ashamed to admit) Bridge to Terabithia.

Then one day it happened. I read the Narnia series (late last year). I read Bridge to Terabithia (today!). I started putting the pieces of my broken reading world back together. I still have many missed books to catch up on, but I know I can do it.... One book at a time.

Are there any books you hear people talk about all the time that you haven't gotten around to reading yet?

Old-Fashioned Books

Do Books Fall Out of Fashion? Franki explores this topic over at A Year of Reading.

I have to admit I'm sensitive to this subject. My favorite books are late 19th and early 20th-century girls books. But I hesitate to recommend them to my nieces because deep down I worry that they are out of date.

Click here if you'd rather read An Old-Fashioned Girl than worry about whether you are one.

Higher Power of Lucky - Wonderful and Controversial

Yesterday I had the luck to spend a few hours driving for business meetings and a family visit, which gave me just enough car time to listen to all of the Newbery winning 2006 book from Susan Patron, The Higher Power of Lucky.




First of all, the book is very good. I laughed. I cried.


I loved the setting of this book -- the dusty desert town (population 43) with no restaurants, no schools, and only 3 jobs. The place is Hard Pan, California, where the daily entertainment is when the Judge hands out the mail (one of the 3 jobs). The folks in Hard Pan are wonderful and odd: an assortment of misfits and imports, where probably a good third of them are in some sort of twelve-step anonymous support group.


Lucky lives in an unusual town and in unusual circumstances. Her mother has died, her father has left, and her guardian (her father's first wife) is melancholy being so far from her home in France. Her best friend is destined to be President of the United States, or perhaps a champion knot-tyer. And Lucky spends three afternoons a week listening in secret to the confessions of alcoholics, former smokers, and overeaters.


But in many ways, Lucky's life is pretty typical. She is a ten-year-old girl, and she struggles with things that most girls her age do -- trying to understand the world around her, and within her, as she matures.


Okay, now about the controversy....


The book has the word "scrotum" in it. Surprising, for a children's book, I will admit. And yet, when you think about the things children hear and learn at the age of 10, this word is a pretty good example. Somehow, it fits as both something a young girl might overhear in an adult conversation she's not supposed to be listening to, and something the same young girl might be curious to understand. There are plenty of other words that might fit just as well, but none of them would strike me as any less startling to see included in a book like this.


There are people who want to ban the book from school libraries because of this word.


But I hope you don't let those people stop you from reading it -- it's simply a wonderful story, wonderfully told.

A Little Poetry for You: Brooks

It's Poetry Friday!

Here's a poem I mentioned several weeks ago. It's short, and there's not much to it at first glance. But when you hear the poet talk about it, and hear her read it, it takes on a bigger life.

The Pool Players
Seven at the Golden Shovel
by Gwendolyn Brooks

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We...

Go here for the audio and the rest of the poem. It's a wonderful audio.

Did you know this poem was banned for the use of the word "jazz?" Click the link above to hear all about it.

As an extra note, "The Bean Eaters" is worth a read too, while you're browsing through the Brooks poems.

Words on Wednesday: Grammarphobia

Oh my my my my my!

Last week I posted about Visual Thesaurus. As a note, the VT folks send out a word-of-the-day email that I love. In the past week I've gotten emails on colleen, pernicious and insouciant, just to name a few.

But this is even better. From a link on the VT site, I found The Grammarphobia Blog.

I especially love this page of debunked grammar myths.

Awards and Praises!

The 2006 Cybils Awards have been announced! Go here to see descriptions of the winners in all categories.

Fiction - Picture Books:
Scaredy Squirrel
by Melanie Watt
Kid's Can Press

Fiction - Middle Grade:
A Drowned Maiden's Hair
by Laura Amy Schlitz
Candlewick Press

Fiction - Young Adult:
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Knopf Books for Young Readers

Non-Fiction - Picture Books:
An Egg is Quiet
written by Dianna Aston; illustrated by Sylvia Long
Chronicle Books

Non-Fiction - Middle Grade and Young Adult:
Freedom Walkers
by Russell Freedman
Holiday House

Poetry:
Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow
written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes
Houghton Mifflin

Fantasy and Science Fiction:
Ptolemy's Gate
by Jonathan Stroud
Hyperion: Miramax

Graphic Novels - Ages 12 and Under:
Amelia Rules, vol. 3: Superheroes
by Jim Gownley
Renaissance Press

Graphic Novels - Ages 13 and Up:
American Born Chinese
by Gene Yang
First Second

I'd like to elaborate on the winner in the YA fiction category (which I was a judge for). All of our short-list YA fiction books were wonderful, and here's what we had to say about this one....

Young Adult Fiction:
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist gives us a glimpse into one iconic night of new love. This fast, fun story is filled with heartache and romance, fear and discovery, and a healthy mix of sadness and exhilaration. The narrative gives the alternating perspectives of Nick (supplied by Levithan) and Norah (supplied by Cohn); these narrative voices ring true from the moment Nick and Norah first meet, through the starts and stops of discovering one another and figuring out how to trust in the feelings and each other and themselves. We loved the pace of the story, the development of the lead and supporting characters, and the music and city which served as the perfect backdrop to Nick and Norah's fabulous night.

Quote of the Day: Valentines

I've gotten out of the habit of daily Quote-of-the-Day posts, but it seems worth doing on occasion. I missed Lincoln's birthday, but may catch up for Presidents' Day. Meanwhile, it seems shameful to miss the easy opportunity of some good love quotes today.

Happy Valentines Day!

Amy Bloom
Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.

Albert Einstein
How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?

Blaise Pascal
The heart has its reasons which reason knows not of.

C. S. Lewis
Why love if losing hurts so much? We love to know we are not alone.

Henry David Thoreau
There is no remedy for love but to love more.

Song of Solomon
This is my beloved and this is my friend.

Clever and Funny

Looking for some laugh out loud fun? Or maybe just a new way of looking at the world?

Do yourself a favor and check out Indexed, the brainchild blog of Jessica Hagy. My favorite so far is Elementary.

I won't even bother trying to describe what she does -- you have to go see.

Oh, and she sells t-shirts too!

Lives in Letters: Valentines Postcard

Oh, this is too wonderful. A postcard from 1907, with a secret message hidden inside the red suede mitten.

I was barely able to open the note without destroying it, but I got it.

Postcard

Message Cupid Never Sent

Lynxville, Wisconsin

December 28, 1907

Addressed to

Mr. Clyde H

Platteville, Wis.

Written on secret note:

Hello Cupid. How's this for a card?
You see we even have Cupids in L-.
We girls are having fine times; were
out to the Xmas trees last eve and Mon
night a crowd of us are going to Seneca
to a dance, tho of course I shall not
dance. How's Fritz making it. I bet he
don't care half as much about the
restaurant now. Ha! Ha! Well my
time is limited so Ta Ta Ellie Olsen the end.
Edna

You Mean the Eyeglasses on Top of Your Head?

From a recent telephone chat with my mom:

Nancy: (blah blah blah blah blah)
Mom: I lost the phone
Nancy: What?
Mom: I lost the phone
Nancy: Oh, okay, I said (blah blah blah blah blah)
Mom: I can't find the phone
Nancy: What? I don't understand
Mom: I can't find the phone
Nancy: Which phone?
Mom: The one that goes back in the kitchen
Nancy: Well... which phone are you talking on?
Mom: ... Oh.

Tanga Puzzles: February 12 - February 18

Here are the daily clues for the Tanga puzzles this week. To see the hint, highlight the space to the right of the date.

I don't give away answers here, just a small hint each day to help get you started or past a rough patch. If you want stronger hints, you can check the blog on the Tanga site itself, which is chock full of spoilers.

While I avoid giving away the answers on this page, be warned that there may be spoilers in the comments to this post, so open those with care.

Good luck!

February 12: You may need 411 for this one. It's a toughie. On the last step, use the picture.

February 13: The image is a little blurry, so you need to look closely to really get this one.

February 14: You gotta have heart, but watch out where those arrows are pointed!

February 15: Tough puzzle. If you use Wikipedia, you might fly through this pretty quick, but I had trouble getting off the ground.

February 16: What a great deal on this item!

February 17: It should be pretty easy to make the connections on this one.

February 18: So much for making it easy on us on a Sunday night. Yanni really messed this one up for me. I could not figure out how to get a number that would apply to Y-A-N-N-I. That's because I was trying to apply numbers to the wrong letters. Back to tanga fundamentals for this one. By the way, I'll put a bigger clue in the comments.

Lives in Letters: Postcard about Papa

I'm running late today, but wanted to share this postcard quickly.

Postcard

Hooker’s Trout Pond,

Mt. Pocono, Pa.
Tobyhanna, PA
August 6, 1908

Addressed to

Mrs. Mary S
Haledon, N.J.

Dear Grandma,
We like it
here very much.
Papa is going home
to-night. Says he’s
gained 6 lbs. in
6 days and is
coming up again.
He’s very sorry he
has to go home.
Hope you are well.
Lots of love from all,
Mabel

Notes:

I love the name Mabel. It's such a wonderfully old-fashioned name that I think deserves a comeback.

I also love that she calls her dad "Papa."

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This postcard was from the early days of summers in the Poconos. From a time when the mother would take the kids away from the hot city for the summer, and the father would come visit for a week, or even just weekends. Like "Seven Year Itch" but 50 years earlier.

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I did some very quick research on Mt. Pocono, and found out that I picked the perfect Valentine-themed postcard. After all, it was in the area of Mt. Pocono that a very important invention came about:

In 1963, the fabled heart-shaped bathtub was invented by Morris Wilkins at Cove Haven.

I love that!

Harvard First: A Female President

I've got mixed feelings about this news.

I'd feel better about it if I didn't worry it was mostly a response to this.

She's got her work cut out for her:

Faust pivots from managing Radcliffe, a think-tank with 87 employees and a $17 million budget, to presiding over Harvard’s 11 schools and colleges, 24,000 employees and a budget of $3 billion. The Harvard presidency is perhaps the most prestigious job in higher education, offering a pulpit where remarks resonate throughout academic circles and unparalleled resources, including a university endowment valued at nearly $30 billion.

Creative Writing: Grandpa's Stanzas

Here's a bit of a poem I've been working on for a few months. It may turn into prose, or it may turn into nothing. For now these are just the middle stanzas of a poem in progress.

I remember how you stayed in the front room
While Grandma held court in her kitchen.
Queen Jeanne – your queen, regal in her bearing –
And you a loyal subject in the way you bore her.

I remember percolated coffee, and bourbon,
And those times you’d come to drink one or the other
And sit at the table, and listen to Grandma’s stories.
She was full of talk. You were full of listen.

I can picture you sitting to my left, in a smoke-filled kitchen.
I am tucked in between adults and like you, I am full of listen,
Willing myself to grow into the conversation.
You are gray and red and grave. We are silent.

A Little Poetry for You: Dugan

It's Poetry Friday and, oh, Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Let the love-fest begin.

(Elaine's got the round-up over at Blue Rose Girls.)

Here's an interesting love poem. I've always liked it, but I've never been able to figure out why. It's a bit profane, but strikes me as quite honest, and the voice in this poem is very true.

Love Song: I and Thou

By Alan Dugan

Nothing is plumb, level or square:
the studs are bowed, the joists
are shaky by nature, no piece fits
any other piece without a gap
or pinch, and bent nails
dance all over the surfacing
like maggots. By Christ
I am no carpenter.

A little later, my favorite lines:

God damned it. This is hell,
but I planned it I sawed it
I nailed it and I
will live in it until it kills me.

Go here to read the rest, which is quite fun and has a nice denouement.

Strong Girls in Children's Books

Little Willow ponders the question of who the great "strong female protagonists" of children's books are. Alice in Wonderland and the His Dark Materials series provide a few examples, but here's my favorite from Little Willow's list:

The Anne Shirley series by L.M. Montgomery - She's an orphan. She's spunky and sassy. She's a dreamer and a daredevil. She's Anne of Green Gables. Read the eight books in order and see Anne grow up. From her days as a student in a one-room schoolhouse to going to college to becoming a teacher, her school smarts are just as important as her people smarts.

I'd add these....

Trixie Belden - So much cooler than Nancy Drew. She's a career-woman detective first and above all else. She has a temper, a strong will, an independent spirit, and a nose for mystery and trouble.

Meg Wallace - Especially in book 2 (A Wind in the Door), I think Meg comes into her own powers and finds her strength.

Turtle Wexler (The Westing Game) - Anyone who can inflict that many shin bruises in one book -- while solving a mystery and striking out on her own path in life -- is okay by me.

And of course, don't forget about this great Cool Girls list from Jen Robinson.

Who would you add?

Words on Wednesday: Visual Thesaurus

Thanks to a tip from BigWindow, I found a site where I can create funky word maps like this one.

The site is Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus, and it offers many fun word-things to subscribers. Including a cool word of the day. Today's word is teutonic.

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The Visual Thesaurus page I have to check out next is "Department of Word Lists." Just glancing, I see lists of Food Words, Wine Words, Spelling-bee Words, Jazz Words.... I could fall in love with this site.

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There's a fee, but I think the site offers enough to make it worthwile.

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Explore your inner word geek, and Enjoy!

How's the Weather?

Heard on the radio Monday, this Swedish saying:

There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

I wish I had heard that before I left the house. Then I might have thought ahead and dressed like this.

Lives in Letters: Postcard of Alarm

Sometimes I come across a postcard like this one.

Postcard

Clinton Square
Syracuse, NY
February 20, 1913
.

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Addressed to

Miss Laura J-
Clifton Springs, NJ

Scribbled at top:

Mother
is ill.

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Message:

Dear Laura
Where have you
gone to – Are you
ill or what has
happened to you –
Ada N

Notes:

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Isn't it interesting to see this kind of message in writing? Today, if we were worried about not hearing from someone for a while, and concerned they might be hurt or sick, we'd pick up the phone. But in 1913, they sent postcards.

.

And then they waited.

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Whose mother was ill? Ada included her last initial, so I doubt Ada and Laura were sisters.

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That picture was Clinton Square in Syracuse in 1913. Today you can see Clinton Square in real time via the clintoncam. Or you can take the virtual tour and see some better shots of how the square has stayed the same and how it has been updated.

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From penny-postcards to virtual tours? One thing's for sure, the times they have a-changed.

Tanga Puzzles: February 5 - February 11

Here are the daily clues for the Tanga puzzles this week. To see the hint, highlight the space to the right of the date.

I don't give away answers here, just a small hint each day to help get you started or past a rough patch. If you want stronger hints, you can check the blog on the Tanga site itself, which is chock full of spoilers.

While I avoid giving away the answers on this page, be warned that there may be spoilers in the comments to this post, so open those with care.

Good luck!

February 5: Once you start filling this in, the second step becomes very clear. If you start with the 4-letter spot and work around that, you can probably guess the answer with just a handful of the spaces filled. Don't let this one make you cranky... or irritated ... or annoyed ... or ....

February 6: Mind-boggling. I flipped over this one.

February 7: I thought at first I was missing something, then I realized I was right.

February 8: Two clues tonight -- first, think about a Hungarian toy-maker; second, pay attention to the food picture, but ignore the background (I found it misleading).

February 9: Keep it simple. You may see that the answers have something in common, but don't let that take you down the wrong path on step 1.

February 10: Everyone seemed to get this quickly except me. My big problems were that I thought the melon was a kiwi, and I didn't recognize the toe sucker. Or rather, I recognized it, but I was in denial because those things freak me out.

February 11: Don't sort alphabetically. It helps to look at the second step from an angle.

Like the Bermuda Triangle, but Not

I was strangely sad to see this bit of news today, even though I've never been to Wisconsin and have no idea how cool this particular Wonder Spot might be.

I have been to the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot several times -- did the crooked walk up the hill, stood in the wickedly-built cabin, got the whole vertigo thing going. And there was a place up in New Brunswick I visited once, where I put the car in neutral and let "gravity" pull my car up a hill.

Have you been to any "wonder spots?" If so, you're in the minority according to AOL's poll.

Here's the money quote from the AOL article (in the category of maybe this would have been better left a mystery):

One woman, after stumbling through the cabin, sprinkled her mother's ashes on the ground.... She just said, "This was mom's favorite place and she wanted to be here."

Creative Writing: Stumble

I spent the day in New York today -- brrrrr! A friend was in from California, and we went to see Spamalot together. Much fun and a little frostbite.

Anyhow, I've been away all day and haven't thought about posting till just now. Not much to offer I'm afraid, but I'll post it anyways. This is a bit of poetry I wrote that I can't read without adding music -- I think it's meant to be a refrain to a feel-good top-40 hit. You saw it here first.

We are not gods.
We are not perfect – not at all.
We stumble through this world.
Sometimes we fall.

Quote of the Day, 2/03/07: Using Language Well

Wandering from link to link... to link to link to link... I come across so many things worth mentioning that I'm often too overwhelmed to mention them. Especially when faced with the daunting task of crediting all the right people with pointing me the way to whatever gem I found.

So for this, never mind how I got there, but consider this fabulous quote I found over at Poynter Online. The quote is from David Foster Wallace's Consider the Lobster, which I now have to go check out on my next book run.

The reality I care about most is that some people still want to use the language well. They want to write effectively; they want to speak effectively. They want their language to be graceful at times and powerful at times. They want to understand how to use words well, how to manipulate sentences, and how to move about in the language without seeming to flail. They want good grammar, but they want more: they want rhetoric in the traditional sense. That is, they want to use the language deftly so that it's fit for their purposes.

I think that's (a) wonderful if it's true and (b) beautifully written.

A Little Poetry for You: Groundhog Day

It's Poetry Friday, again!

It's Poetry Friday, again!

And it's Groundhog Day.

Question: Did you have groundhogs, or woodchucks? I never knew they were the same animal until about a year ago.

Want to understand the history behind the holiday?

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Want to find poetry about the holiday, perhaps some poems for kids?
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It's a good day to look forward to Spring, but also a great day to celebrate Groundhog Day, the movie. This Bill Murray classic is one of the top 50 funniest movies according to the American Film Institute. But even while it makes you laugh till you cry or till you shoot soda through your nose, it has some pretty great currents of philosophy, ethics, and culture running through it. And it has a little bit of poetry.

The poem Rita (Andie McDowell) quoted to Phil (Bill Murray) was The Lay of the Last Minstrel (Canto 6) by Sir Walter Scott. It's a great excerpt from the longer poem, and it's pretty brilliant in saying a lot about both Phil and Rita in that moment.

Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung.

The poem Phil quoted to Rita was actually not 16th-century French poetry, but rather a song by Jacques Brel called La bourrée du célibataire (Bachelor's Dance). I had trouble finding translated lyrics, other than this from wikipedia: "The girl I will love is like a fine wine that gets a little better every morning." I did use a web translator on the French lyrics, but they came out pretty shaky. If you try it, you'll be able to get the gist of the lyrics. Pretty good stuff. Of course, if you can read French, it will probably sound even better.

Know how many times Phil had to repeat his day in the movie Groundhog Day? We only saw about 30, but according to many sources, he repeated the day thousands of times. I think I have to rewatch the movie now with that in mind. I always knew it was more than what the movie showed, but I was thinking hundreds, not thousands.

Want to learn more about the connection between the movie Groundhog Day and Buddhism?

How about this write-up about Groundhog Day as "a movie for all time" from Jonah Goldberg at the National Review?

In the years since its release the film has been taken up by Jews, Catholics, Evangelicals, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, and followers of the oppressed Chinese Falun Gong movement. Meanwhile, the Internet brims with weighty philosophical treatises on the deep Platonist, Aristotelian, and existentialist themes providing the skin and bones beneath the film's clown makeup. ... Countless professors use it to teach ethics and a host of philosophical approaches. Several pastors sent me excerpts from sermons in which Groundhog Day was the central metaphor. And dozens of committed Christians of all denominations related that it was one of their most cherished movies.

When the Museum of Modern Art in New York debuted a film series on "The Hidden God: Film and Faith" two years ago, it opened with Groundhog Day.... In a wonderful essay for the Christian magazine Touchstone, theology professor Michael P. Foley wrote that Groundhog Day is "a stunning allegory of moral, intellectual, and even religious excellence in the face of postmodern decay, a sort of Christian-Aristotelian Pilgrim's Progress for those lost in the contemporary cosmos." Charles Murray, author of Human Accomplishment, has cited Groundhog Day more than once as one of the few cultural achievements of recent times that will be remembered centuries from now. He was quoted in The New Yorker declaring, "It is a brilliant moral fable offering an Aristotelian view of the world."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

By now you've probably already heard this 20 times, but I'll tell you anyways.

Harry Potter book 7, the final book in the series, is going to be released on July 21.

Barnes and Noble and Amazon both invite me to pre-order. I will not pre-order. I will not pre-order. I will not pre-order. (I repeat that to remind myself.)

Every time I pre-order a book like this, I end up too excited to wait for the book to get to me, and I go buy a second copy on the release date anyways.