"Journey," by Aaron Becker

 Starboy just received the most wonderful book from our neighbors. It's "Journey," by Aaron Becker. Our neighbor went to school with him and has been eagerly awaiting the release of his book. The cover is inviting, and the hardcover under the dust jacket is beautifully embossed with a symbol of journey from the book.

 Part "Where the Wild Things Are," part "Calvin and Hobbes," and part "Harold and the Purple Crayon," this wonderful story is told through stunning illustrations and one's own imagination. I think even the youngest children can relate to the disappointment that starts the story, and the wonder the girl creates to escape it.

 Becker offers lush worlds for his character to explore that are both intimate and infinite.

He draws details that are fantastic and meticulous—while also vague enough to stimulate your own dreaming.

The story is filled with courage and drama, but ultimately is about connection.

I don't want to give away too much here, but this book is worth an impulse buy right now, and will be a great holiday gift if you're someone who thinks ahead. Starboy made me read it to him twice, immediately, which is the same as saying "Two thumbs up!" for a nearly-four-year-old.

There's a wonderful trailer on Becker's (amazing) website. The NYT Book Review is calling it a "masterpiece," and it's receiving starred reviews from pretty much anyone who sees it.  I completely agree.

What a wonderful surprise!

Reading Roundup 2013.02.01

I didn't find much of interest this week. The news these days seems to be blah blah education blah blah testing blah blah editorial standing up against blah blah GUNS GUNS GUNS blah and so forth. I didn't see all that much that was new.

Ordinarily I'll save the post for next week unless there are at least three items, but this way at least you know I'm thinking about you. A little.

A Reprieve for the Gnomes of Oakland, We Bloom Here (Jan. 29, 2013)
Painted gnomes keep turning up at the bottom of Oakland's telephone poles. PGE finally gives up asking them to be taken down for "safety" and they are allowed to stay.

Great Parenting Advice, Babble (Jan. 30, 2013)


....Wait, here's a third one:

Emails link Jeb Bush foundation, corporations, laws and ed officials, WashPost (Jan. 30, 2013)
Shocker.

...Oh, right. And actually this one is a can't-miss. Even though I missed it five months ago. That dang Pony Express...

Trampire: Why the public slut shaming of Kristen Stewart matters for Young Women, HuffPost (Sept. 4, 2012)

Beauty and the brayer

Techman invited Starboy to do a project on Sunday. Starboy said, "I want to paint. I want to use a roller to roll the paint all around." He demonstrated with his hands.

He'd been with us at the art supply store to get some brayers for a printmaking experiment I'd like to try, but all he knew was that we'd bought rollers. I hadn't told him what they were for, and he hadn't seen them since we'd come back from the store a week ago.

So I gave him one of the new brayers and two squirts of paint—different hues, but all we have left is green—and he was delighted.

"Look, Mommy, It spreads the paint around! Look, it picks up the paint that's already there! And I can move it over here!"

The resulting art is beautiful and also could make good wrapping paper! I feel grateful for knowing about Jean Van't Hul of The Artful Parent and the moms from Play at Home Mom—they provide the kind of daily inspiration that spurred me to get the brayers, for their suggested projects!

 We tried some linoleum blocks for printing, but that didn't go as smoothly. Or I should say: It didn't go according to my pre-conceived ideas. That's more accurate. Techman was overseeing that bit, and I forgot to ask him for the full report.

This was my favorite one.

The brayers were about $12 each. I wasn't sure which ones to buy, so I got an acrylic one and a hard rubber one. I like to have two of things so that two children can work at the same time. I realized during this project that you'd likely be better off with two per child—one to roll ink on your positive, and a second, dry one to roll across the back of your paper while making the print. We'll see how it plays out over time.

Reading Roundup 2012-10-19

Declutter, add rhythm, create blank spaces and give kids kid time, sez Kim John Payne, Ottawa Citizen (Sept. 24, 2012)

Can 'Edu-Toys' do more harm than good?, CBC (Jan. 2005)

We Only Think When Confronted With a Problem, Tinkerlab (Oct. 2012)

Waldorf and Brain Science, The Magic Onions (Oct. 7, 2010)

Students' Traumatic Lives affect teacher's eval, Wash Post (Oct. 14, 2012)

"Something is wrong when...", Wash Post (Oct. 12, 2012)
"Something is very wrong when nine-year-olds sit for tests that are longer than the SAT and the GRE combined."

How to get your kid to listen, Mothering (Aug. 28, 2012)

Every hour of TV you watch after age 25 reduces life expectancy by 22 minutes, NYT (Oct. 17, 2012)

Storytelling — Free Sparkle Story and giveaway

Head over to Frontier Dreams for a great interview with David and Lisabeth Sewell McCanns of Sparkle Stories, a giveaway, and a free story to download!

These stories are great for building children's imagination, literacy and more. And they are a great way to spend quiet time together as a family.

I've entered the giveaway and you'll notice this post gives me another entry, however I am happy to promote the Sparkle Stories even without compensation. Starboy loves them; we've been listening on our 20-minute drive to school.



Here are some more sources for free storytelling of all varieties. Do you have others? Please comment and share!

Barefoot Books podcast

BBC Children's stories

Heather Forest on Gentle Wind

Maestro Classics 

Story Nory

The Pea Green Boat (Montana Pub Radio)

Now here's a problem they don't have back east...

 Hey, if you can't fix it with twine, wire, duct tape or a staple gun....can it be fixed?

Reading Roundup

Here are some things I've been reading lately.

• Silicon Valley says Step Away from the Device (July 23, 2012 / NYT). "The concern, voiced in conferences and in recent interviews with many top executives of technology companies, is that the lure of constant stimulation — the pervasive demand of pings, rings and updates — is creating a profound physical craving that can hurt productivity and personal interactions."

• "Overparenting lite" is a healthier way to go than "toxic overparenting," Madeline Levine says in the NYT opinion story Raising Successful Children (Aug. 4, 2012).

• Preschool Children Who can Pay Attention More Likely to Finish College (Science Daily, Aug. 6, 2012)

• Tinkerlab posted some great reads to spark your family's creativity.

• Audiobooks.com is a "Netflix" for audio books, written up in MacWorld a long while back.

And, file under "more alarmist food news" (AKA: Oh God, what can't we eat NOW?!):

• "Organic" is profit-making so of course large companies are grabbing pieces of it as fast as their hands can stuff their pockets. They're calling it "Big Organic," and there's a race to approve non-organic ingredients as okay for foods labeled as "organic." Read the (gross, but not surprising) story "Has Organic been Oversized?" (July 7, 2012) from the NYT here.

• Some olive oil is not olive oil (NYT). I'm late to this story, but thoroughly fed up with the deception in food labeling that we permit in our country. Related stories from non-news sources here and here—I haven't checked the research background of those related sites.

• Agave is not good for you, according to the Real Food Forager. Old news, new writeup.

• Starbucks has a lot of complicated, non-organic, processed, ingredients in its food, according to 100daysofrealfood.com. A LOT. The Reduced Fat Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake reportedly has 75 ingredients. Michael Pollan wouldn't recommend it, I'd guess.