Fairrosa's Journal of Stories

Come Lady Death

2008-05-13T23:31:00.002-04:00

Author: Peter S. Beagle
Rating:
Reading Level: Young Adult/Adult

Edition: Podcast/Podcastle, 2008

This is the first podcastle episode, released on April 1st, 2008. Read by Paul S. Jenkins. It's a delightfully dark piece that has a very Victorian undertone but it was first published in 1963. Just a fun "listening." It makes me really want to produce my own podcast stories -- not read by me, but produced and directed by me. That will be much fun. Wouldn't it?

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit

2008-05-13T20:29:00.004-04:00

Author: Nahoko Uehashi
Rating:
Reading Level: 4th to 8th grade

Pages: 272
Publisher: Arthur Levine/Scholastic
Edition: Hardcover, 2008 (ARC)

I posted this on Goodreads but want to highlight this one specifically here... for anyone searching for a good fantasy that is not the typical English original -- this is a GREAT new offering:

It's a book that I can feel entirely enthusiastic about recommending to children who look for fast-paced and action packed stories with magic.

It's a book that features unusual characters: the protagonist is a 30-year-old warrior woman who wields a spear with great skills and who has a rich back story and an intriguing future story to look forward to.

It does not alter its sensibilities for an American audience.

It has incredibly visual action scenes (yes, they do read like Animes, but this was turned into an anime series and I believe the lines between novels/mangas/animes are fairly blurred and cross-able and re-cross-able in the contemporary Japanese culture.)

The exploration of the "storytelling" theme strikes a chord with me, especially the idea that children's rhymes and folklores are "real" messages, to deal with real life crisis and issues.

The idea of overlaying worlds of the Real and the Fantastic are not uncommon in fantasy traditions and especially in the Manga tradition -- but here the author so tangibly captured the moments and the imagery of the two worlds when someone straddles the two realms. It made me feel as if I were the character who peeks into the fantastic realm and that that world could very well be next to me, waiting at my next breath.

Of course, there is quite a bit of nostalgia here, too -- this story echoes those martial art novels (wu xia) that I grew up with in Taiwan. The characters, their relationships, the fighting skills and scenes, the themes, etc. are all exactly what I liked as a young reader and still like as an adult.

I am just so pleased that this series is brought to the States and may allow more titles like this or even open the door to translations of wu xia xiao shuo... That will be truly a dream comes true!

Webkinz as Stories

2008-04-29T18:55:00.003-04:00

This is what was told me by my 9-year-old daughter who is an avid Webkinz player. Rumor #1: If you complete the Legendary Crown of Wonder and you put it on your Webkinz pet. The pet will die. Rumor #2: Ms. Birdie (who runs the Adoption Center) will steal your Webkin or she will stab your webkin. Rumor #3: Dr. Quack (the Vet) has a gun and shoots your pet behind the curtain when you take it for a check-up.

Webkinz is an online game site which is designed to be gentle and all the games (even the shoot-them ones) are revised so no one is ever killed and the violence level is probably 5 on a scale of 0 to 100.

And yet, young children obviously create and relish their own darker and more frightening stories. I found this deeply interesting and illuminating.

Balancing Act

2008-04-21T23:07:00.003-04:00

I have been thinking ... not only authors have to balance the plot, the tone, the characters, the excitement and the poetic moments, a reader, especially a critical one that has some responsibilities to other readers (such as a teacher or a librarian,) has to perform such acts constantly when recommending and sharing books. I really love Wilson's 100 Cupboards and yet I can totally see some flaws. Do I have to preface my recommendation by "although there are parts of the book that might not seem convincing..." before getting into all the exciting stuff that I believe most children would love? Or, do I just enthusiastically "push" the book like I did today to a bunch of 6th graders without mentioning my own reservations because they might not find those parts as annoying as I did? Shouldn't I somehow be honing their literary critical thinking abilities? If there is a major flaw, shouldn't I point out and "enlighten" these young readers? This dilemma applies to the opposite situations as well -- when I "know" that a book is very well written and painstakingly crafted, but I am not personally responding to it or moved by it, do I then not advocate for it? Or, shouldn't I muster some pretend enthusiasm in hope that maybe some young readers will appreciate the story, the character, the subject matter, etc., even if I have not? I don't do this very well... not well at all.

100 Cupboard

2008-04-20T08:59:00.003-04:00

Author: N.D. Wilson
Rating:
Reading Level: 4th to 6th grade

Pages: 304
Publisher: Random House
Edition: Hardcover, 2008

I completely immersed and lost myself in this original and dark story of magical cupboards, space and time travels, told in a highly folksy manner -- more like folktales passed down through generations, by the hearths, enjoyed along with home-made pies and chicken soup. Absolutely enjoyable. I hope it finds a large audience who will appreciate it not just for the nerve-wrecking adventures but for the author's care in telling the story.

Roasted Chickens

2008-04-14T11:35:00.006-04:00

It's funny how I often associate my reading experiences with my food experiences. This is yet another one. I am reading a new fantasy novel and it is so taste-less that I have to keep skipping pages and getting more and more annoyed by the book (and by the author, I guess.) It is like eating a badly roasted chicken. Although the cook rubbed the chicken with all sorts of herbs and roasted until the outside is golden brown, for some reason the meat is neither juicy nor flavorful. The temperature might have been wrong. The herbs might have been too old. The chicken itself might just been bland to start with. Anyway, the meat simply is woody and tastes like paper. The author of this book dressed up the story with all sorts of "ingredients": magical creatures popping up every two pages, dangers lurking at each corner, young people taking charge of matters, and lots of references to historical facts. But, at the core of the tale, there is nothing for me to savor. The sentences are plain, the pacing is laborious, the details are tedious, and the characters are neither vivid nor admirable. In short, I can't swallow this impressive looking bird!

ALSC Blog

2008-04-13T23:19:00.002-04:00

There is no entry specifically for this journal today -- but I did post on the ALSC Blog. So, I wasn't slacking off completely! In fact, if you click here, you can read all my archived ALSC Posts. See what you think!

The Metamor City Podcast

2008-04-11T22:37:00.003-04:00

Creator: Chris Lester
Listening Level: Older YA and Adults

Edition: 2007/2008 Audio Podcast

I have been listening to this Sci-Fan podcast for the past few weeks... catching up their early episodes from late 2007 and approaching this year's newer productions. Every story happens in Metamor City -- a futuristic sci-fi setting with magical creatures and fantasy elements. Fairies, demi-gods, mages ride on super-motorbike like vehicles and fight each other with not only magic but modern weaponry. The main ingredients of the stories I've listened to so far are violence, magic, sex, and humor: both light and dark. It's definitely entertaining.

Labyrinth

2008-04-10T15:48:00.002-04:00

Director: Jim Henson
Writers: Jim Henson, Dennis Lee, and Terry Jones
Rating:

Edition: 1986 Film

I watched this movie on VHS and DVD many times since its earliest release. Haven't watched it for a while and thought, maybe, the special effects and story and jokes won't work now... 22 years later! But they all STILL work terrificly. No "cringing factors," except, maybe Bowie's dance moves! And we all tolerated that because he's BOWIE! (Watched this with a group of HS students in the Sci-Fan club so, we are pre-conditioned to enjoy movies like this after all.)

Waiting

2008-04-09T21:55:00.002-04:00

So. Here are some books I'm waiting to read: Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book (Fall); Diana Wynne Jones' House of Many Ways -- sequel to Howl's Moving Castle (June); Kate Thompson's The Last of the High Kings -- sequel to The New Policeman (May); Rick Riordan's The Battle of the Labyrinth -- the 4th book of Percy Jackson (May); Tamora Pierce's Bloodhound -- the 2nd book in the Legend of Beka Cooper series; and for the longest time, George .R.R. Martin's Dances with Dragons -- the 5th book in his Song of Ice and Fire series. Hmm... these are ALL fantasies. I guess my taste remains the same.

In the meantime, I'm reading for the Notables, looking for good middle and lower grade titles and great picture books. Another fun thing that I'm doing is to advise a senior project: a young writer is working on her fantasy novel and I'm slowly entering (one chapter at a time, commenting and editing) a world rich with history and magical happenings. It's a lot more fun than I had anticipated!

The Willoughbys

2008-04-08T22:14:00.004-04:00

Author: Lois Lowry
Rating:
Reading Level: 3th-5th

Pages: 112
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine
Edition: Hardcover, 2008

This is a surprising and pleasant find. Lowry has done something very different from her usual style, although it certainly is not the only book of this kind: sarcastic (sardonic, even?) and warm and gentle at the same time. I enjoyed this one tremendously. Will definitely test it out on young readers -- as a read-aloud to start with and then gather their readers' responses.

Enough with the Prophecies!

2008-04-07T23:06:00.003-04:00

Today at school, during a heated book discussion, a 6th grade boy exclaimed (over others' fondness of the Warriors series), "Enough with the prophecies!" He couldn't stand the formulaic tradition that seems to be mindlessly overused by fantasy writers these days: someone exists, always, to fulfill a prophecy! I thought he definitely had a point!

And, I add my own exclamation: Enough with the Headless Children on Book Covers; and Enough with the Reflective, Metallic Dust Jacket with Some Sort of Scientific Graphic Designs! (So weird -- so many sci-fi titles and series with almost identical cover designs, but they are not by the same authors or published by the same companies.)

I wonder what other exclamations people have now regarding children's books.

Harry Potter in the House

2008-04-06T21:20:00.004-04:00

Lily has been very into HP lately. She's reading the 5th book now and we've caught up with the films to the 4th. I am reminded again how lengthy and tryingly so of the beginning of Goblet of Fire: the repeated problems at the Dursleys, the "journey" to get to the World Cup, and the Quidditch game there.... almost 200 pages before seeing the gang back to Hogwarts. I remember the read a disappointing one for me, since there was high expectation after my favorite 3rd volume. This almost prevented me from reading book V. If not for my sense of "professional" duty, I might have taken one look at the 800+page of Order of Phoenix and gave up. Thinking back, there were quite a few cool moments in HP5 and I can't wait for Lily to discover them. (And I think she won't be annoyed as much by the poorly portrayed teen angst as I was.)

We talked about the length of books and how I am not against long stories. I just have no patience of rambling for rambling sake. One of my favorite books is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and the series of Song of Ice and Fire are both famed for being quite long. The length worked to enhance their charm -- I didn't want the stories to end -- didn't want to get out those worlds to be back to my ordinary universe.

Resolution

2008-04-06T00:43:00.002-04:00

I know I have not been very good at being a blogger. I don't keep a tight schedule. I am not compulsively entering every little thought on these pages. I don't do small talk. I don't post a couple of links or news about books. But, maybe I should. Maybe I should take my blogger responsibilities a bit more seriously. Maybe I should tell you that I am re-reading and re-looking at Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee (1978) -- a long time treasure of mine. The book that taught me a lot -- not just in Faerie lores but in being able to read narratives in English (I was a freshman in college in Taiwan, studying to become an English teacher) and also to decipher hand-written texts. And how much I want to share this book with my 9-year-old big reader daughter who has just recently finished Spiderwick Chronicles.

Or perhaps, I should write about all the little conversations I have with my daughter and my students regarding all sorts of stories. Such as tonight, after watching the truly excellent 3rd Harry Potter movie, her indignation over the changes the director and the filmwright (sp?) had made. Or how some of my students are excited about Airman and For Boys Only.

I guess I just convinced myself that, for my own sake, I should start writing as often as I can manage and just FORCE myself to be diligent about recording my thoughts and experiences regarding stories here. Preferably on a daily basis.

Behind the Rules

2008-03-31T22:27:00.005-04:00

Author: Stephanie Burgis
Rating:
Listening Level: Adult / YA

Publisher: ESCAPEPOD.ORG
Edition: Podcast

I have been following stories on EscapePod for a while now and have decided to at least mark the days that I've listened to an episode. This one is interesting, light, exploring the idea of cloning, with a couple of instances of strong language (I would NOT have given it an R rating as the podcaster Steve Eley had rated it.)

Direct Link to the Story

Tactics (Anime)

2008-03-26T21:12:00.003-04:00

Finally finished the series. I was surprised that it was only 25 episodes. It seemed that the story arc was developing very slowly and then rushed to resolve Haruka's conflicts. It's still a fun anime to watch and I just ordered the first three manga volumes from Tokyopop for the library. I wonder how the middle school kids will respond to this series. They did like Petshop of Horrors.

Airman

2008-03-10T16:34:00.005-04:00

Author: Eoin Colfer
Rating:
Reading Level: 5th to 7th Grade

Pages: 416
Publisher: Hyperion
Edition: Hardcover

Click on the title link and read many people's reviews, including mine, on Goodreads! The book is worth promoting in libraries, classrooms, and homes!

2007 Favorite Books

2008-01-20T08:23:00.000-05:00

These are the books I personally liked most, remember the best, and hope to continue recommending to young readers from the 2007 publishing year: (Arranged by Title)

For Middle and Older Readers:

Arrival by Shuan Tan
Atherton by Patrick Carmen
Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems by John Grandits
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by Marcia Williams
Click by Linda Sue Park and others
A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
Edward Hopper by Susan Goldman Rubin
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell
The Game by Diana Wynne Jones
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz, illus. by Robert Byrd
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Hitler's Canary by Sandi Toksvis
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Just Grace by Charise Mericle Harper
Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb by Kristen Miller
Laika by Nick Abadzis
The Land of the Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer
Leepike Ridge by H.D. Wilson
Marie Curie by Kathleen Krull
Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller
The New Policeman by Kate Thompson
Peak by Roland Smith
Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems) by Linda Sue Park
The Traitor's Gate by Avi
The Wall by Peter Sis

For Younger and Non-readers

The Bearskinner by Laura Amy Schlitz, illus. by Max Grafe
The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington, illus. by Shelley Jackson
Dimity Dumpty by Bob Graham
Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard
How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird by Jacques Prevert, illus. by Mordecai Gerstein
Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems
Let It Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals by Ashley Bryan
Pictures from Our Vacation by Lynne Rae Perkins
Rainstorm by Barbara Lehman
600 Black Spots by David A. Carter
There Is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems
Tracks of A Panda by Nick Dowson, illus. by Yu Rong
Very Hairy Bear by Alice Schertle, illus. by Matt Phelan

Without Apology!

2008-01-17T20:45:00.000-05:00

I have been keenly aware of a "phenomenon" recently, even though it must have been going on for a long time -- many people preface their discussing of a recent favorite children's book by saying, "Um... I know it is not that literary..." and then going into some details as to why the speaker enjoyed the book: it has such an exciting plot; the idea is so intriguing; the characters are so funny; there are so many cool magical elements, etc. And yet, during this enthusiastic reporting -- the speaker has to qualify more than once that, "I think that children would LOVE this book, even though it is not that literary" or "I don't know why I liked it so much, even if I could see that it doesn't have much literary merit..."

I am weary of this apologetic tone. What IS literary anyway? It seems to me that when someone says that a book is "not literary" she means that the "language is not metaphoric or descriptive" or the "sentence structures are not that complex" - basically, there is a straightforwardness to the writing style that is too low or too simple to elevate the work onto the "literary altar."

More thoughts to come -- when I'm no longer completely wiped out!

Re-thinking Lyra (the movie)

2007-12-13T22:56:00.000-05:00

I posted this on Child_lit and thought that it should be here as well. I don't want to prevent people from going to see the movie. So much of it is done right and beautifully. It will be a shame if it doesn't reach a large audience!

After almost a week -- I finally have to come to terms with my own
inability to judge this movie. I plan on seeing it again, putting
aside my pre-conceived notions on what the movie should have been and
just see it as it IS -- a movie based on a book... a book that I have
come to love and treasure more and more, the longer it lives in my
heart.

I have posted on my online journal the initial reactions from me and
the group of teens who went to the movie with me. And on Monday, I
had a chance to talk to a group of 6th graders who saw the movie over
the weekend. Here's the link of the school blog recording what they
had to say: http://blogs.dalton.org/thereadingnook/?p=320

What warms my heart is the level of intensity in the discussion over
this adaptation -- they have a LOT a LOT to say and they say with
conviction and passion -- they know ALL the details in the book and
they want the movie to convey every single important element in the
book -- and the elements they care about are not just action and plot.
They care about the rendition of the characters; the relationships
between the characters; the "hidden" messages; the importance of
minute moments; the pacing and story form; the struggle between the
light and the dark; and the ambiguity of the characters and their
actions. It is truly satisfying to hear these young readers take the
book so seriously and so much to heart. I think it is cause for
celebration!

Now, if I don't have to read so many new books for my Notables duty,
I'll be re-reading the book! I'll do what Monica's been doing --
listening to it soon.

Seen Lyra

2007-12-08T18:47:00.000-05:00

Friday night, thirteen of us, two librarians, a college student, and 10 middle and high school fans of the book, went to see the 10:20 p.m. showing of The Golden Compass. It's an event that had been much anticipated and the excitement level couldn't be higher! We watched as the familiar story unfold on a huge screen with beautifully crafted backdrops and set designs telling a rearranged and much abbreviated story. We agreed wholeheartedly that Lyra and Mrs. Coulter couldn't have been cast better. Dakota Blue Richards is a perfect Lyra with a most fierce and sincere performance. Nicole Kidman is just right for this beautiful and brutal seductress role. The other characters are all adequate with the exception of Eva Green who just doesn't seem to embody her role as described in the book, and of course we absolutely adored the CG creatures: the Daemons and Iorek are superbly rendered. But, then, we got annoyed as well... since we loved the book to pieces, it's simply impossible to please us no matter who writes and produces the film. Here are some of our complaints:

We were really annoyed by the visual representation of Lyra's reading of the Alethiometer. Every time that same design of her going into a "visual" trance through the swirly golden dust to read the truth, you could almost hear us groan and moan. Not only that the special effects are not that impressive, they do not capture what Lyra does with the instrument at all. Lyra reads the Alethiometer with a lot of logical reasoning that has everything to do with interpreting symbols -- almost like using a different language. And yet, on the film, it looks as if she is looking into a crystal ball and seeing imagery with some kind of psychic power. If she can see how things "happen" with images, she wouldn't have taken Roger to the north to see her father at all. (And, of course, the studio decided to end the movie on a happy note where Roger is found, rescued, and going on the adventure with Lyra, rather than the actual ending featuring the ultimate betrayal from Lord Asriel.)

Having Iorek voiced by Ian McKellan is also a little difficult for us to bear since most of us are fans of the Lord of the Rings movies as well and we kept hearing Gandalf's voice. The moment when Lyra is crossing the narrow ice bridge and Iorek screamed, "Run"... looked and sounded so much like where Gandalf yelling at Frodo and the Fellowship when they came out of Moria, chased by the Balrog that we almost all burst out laughing.

We were also puzzled as to why the filmmakers chose to show "Dust like" images when the Daemons die in the movie -- since it is spelled out in the book that the people cannot see Dust and that Lord Asriel's ability to capture Dust on the hologram is incredibly rare. Why couldn't they come up with something different but equally eye-pleasing, conveying the deaths of the Daemons on the battlefield? (Imagine lines of blue smokes or something... There simply is way too much Golden Dust going on, including the swirling of psychic power when Lyra reads the Alethiometer, in this movie!)

We were dismayed by how unsophisticated the CG effects seems when it comes to the witches' flying and fight sequences (they look like from some old fashion Superman movie scenes.) We missed the emphasis of Cloud Pine as their flying transport, we don't think that Eva Green is right for Sarafina Pekkala, or at least the way her character is represented in the script,

Why do the characters have to repeat this information, "It's an Alethiometer. A Golden Compass." so many times in the movie? After the first or second time, the audience must have known that the thing is called an Alethiometer....

As mentioned above, the way the movie ended created the biggest outcry of protest from the group. Since the filmmaker decided that how the book ends is not ideal (not happy and a huge cliffhanger,) the movie ends when Roger is saved and going North with Lyra. Here, Lyra reads the Alethiometer and says that she's bringing something useful for her father. Readers of the book KNOW what that "useful thing" is and we felt terribly terribly saddened by this scene. Other audience, who have not read the book, would have been incredibly shocked if the filmmakers DO put the scene where Asriel betrays Lyra in the second movie. They would not have been prepared because Lord Asriel has not been successfully portrayed as an ambitious and morally ambiguous man (as he is presented in the book) and they would have not believed that Lyra was misinterpreting the Alethiometer because in this movie, Lyra could SEE what's going to happen (whereas in the book, it is always clear that she is just INTERPRETING the symbols and guessing).

Someone said that there should be THREE movies for this one book alone! Yes... we want nine movies out of this trilogy!!! And we want the scenes that show characters' human sides: we want to see how Lyra charms the Gyptians by being one of the crew (a montage of her working side-by-side with Ma Costa or Lord Faa, maybe? instead of long panned shots of the ship going down the big river?)

Here's the list of people from school who went to the movie together: Joe Quain, Roxanne Feldman, Josh Revesz, Daniel Liss, Celena Kopinski, Genevieve Oxman, Russell Meredith, Allison Flamberg, Parker Zhao, Max Weinreich, and Gabe Levine, Zack Pintchik.

Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems)

2007-11-23T16:25:00.000-05:00

Author: Park, Linda Sue
Rating:
Reading Level: 3rd to 6th grade

Pages: 48
Publisher: Clarion
Edition: Hardcover

I am absolutely delighted and pleased by the collection of Sijo poetry (a traditional Korean form of short poems) paired with playful and often surprising illustrations. It will be fun to see children and grownups trying their hands on creating this kind of poems!

Passion and Poison: Tales of Shape-shifters, Ghosts, and Spirited Women

2007-11-23T16:13:00.000-05:00

Author: De Negro, Janice
Rating:
Reading Level: 4th - 6th grade

Pages: 64
Publisher: Marshal Cavendish
Edition: Hardcover

I really enjoyed the tone of these narratives but found the seven mostly familiar (or with familiar motifs) tales in this slim volume not scary or eerie enough. There exists always a promising build-up but the readers are left short of truly gruesome, horrific, or surprising endings. The cover design is quite effective, with raised blood-red title print, but the interior illustrations are uneven and less than accomplished in many cases. The very good cover art is done by Vincent Natale, but the illustration copyright is attributed to Marshall Cavendish, the publisher -- and the quality of the illustrations definitely feel like work-for-hire jobs.

Drink, Talk, Be Merry, and Eat Cookies!

2007-11-01T21:23:00.000-04:00

Last night, a dozen or so child_lit contributors gathered at long-time list member Monica Edinger's apartment -- one floor above the festivities of a New York City "neighborhood" Halloween Party (read: in the lobby for the kids in the huge apartment building on West 111th Street.)

Philip Pullman and wife Jude were the honored guests for the night. We chatted about the "lineage" of our child_lit involvement.. from the creation of the list by Michael Joseph, who was there with Constance Vidor, his lovely partner, and Head Librarian at Friends' Seminary. We thanked Michael for creating a space in the cyber world for us to exchange ideas and forge otherwise unlikely friendship. GraceAnne DiCandido, Kirkus reviewer and my Library School teacher, was responsible for the two reviews of His Dark Materials' 2nd and 3rd installments. Other child_lit pals who came to help celebrate the occasion were Waller Hastings, English/Children's Lit. professor from South Dakota, now visiting professor at Rutgers this year, Pooja Makhijani, writer at Children's Television Workshop/Sesame Street International, Cheryl Klein, editor at Arthur Levine Books/Scholastic, John Peters, Supervising Librarian of NYPL's Donnell children's library, past Newbery Chair, and prolific reviewer, Uli Knoepflmacher, English Professor at Princeton University and expert on Victorian and children's literature who just recently joined child_lit, and Kerry Mockler, 4th-year PhD student and teacher of children's literature and baker of a host of His Dark Materials inspired butter cookies. They were incredibly yummy. My students in the sci-fi/fantasy club thanked her for this gift (the next day, while sharing the story Mimsy Were the Borogoves)!

Our dinner was 3 pizzas from, some salad, wine and champagne -- but the main ingredient was the non-stop conversation around the room: all about children's books and once in a while some weird child_lit history surfaced.

Here are just three pictures to mark the evening for me:

This is me talking to Philip. (I didn't quite wash off all my zombie make-up from the day and had to do a little photoshop-doctoring before posting it on the Journal. Haha.)

This is the tray of cookies waiting to be revealed...

This is a picture of Kerry and Philip. We were all so pleased with this perfect ending for a perfect evening. Yeah for Kerry!

Full Circle and Then Some

2007-10-31T23:22:00.000-04:00

I found an entry on my pre-blog reading notes, on the day of finishing reading The Golden Compass for the first time, eleven years ago. The date was 9/11/96...

I wrote,

"I was Devastated.

How could the book end such way? I was all hoping for a completion, a happy reunion, a resolutioin.. and was thrown the cliff-hanger for BOOK II -- which is NOT available yet. Oh.. what agony.

/complaint mode off!

What a treat. What a complicated and yet simple, deep and yet playful, violent and yet gentle, and moving and yet chilling book!

One thing that is so charming and yet so unsettling about Lyra is that, even though she has a truth-reader, and she is a truth-teller -- she also masters the art of lying. She knows the truth about the people (or creatures) that she confronts, and then uses that knowledge to manipulate them and gain upperhand. Even though, since she is pure at heart and means only well, she does not apply that skill to harm people (just to kill the bad ones!) She is indeed the same as her mother, who is also a master in the art of deceit.

Pullman's portrayal of a parrallel world to 19th century earth (Oxford, London, The Arctic, etc.) is almost hypnotic. The fascinating description of Daemons (substantial representations of humans' souls that live and die with their humans and share all pain and joy with them) and the strong BOND between them and the humans is what draws me to the book in the first place and still is what works for me all the way til the end.

This is the 1996 Andersen award winner and rightly so."

I couldn't find an even earlier note about how by that time, I was losing heart at the state of Fantasy fiction for children and how I seemed to have lost my appreciation of this genre but The Golden Compass saved me and rekindled my love and faith in this genre.

Then... 11 years and 1 month and 20 days later -- I sat in a friend's apartment, at a small gathering of children's lit. lovers, eating pizza and sharing stories and toasting the upcoming movies, the online community of child_lit listserv, and the friendship we forged through discussing children's books -- with Philip Pullman! I told him in person how I felt when the first book ended. He asked my opinions over which Harry Potter to read (The Third, of course) and also whether I liked Jonathan Stroud's work and Megan Whalen Turner's books and genuinely valued what I had to say about them. We talked about the bench and he related the tender story of discovering a wooden heart left on THE BENCH, with the carving dedicating it to Lyra and Will.

I still couldn't quite believe that this night had happened, but I do have this to prove to myself: