In our house we play a lot of word games. A typical dinner-hour will find us enumerating one food/drink/family member/friend/song/dinosaur/you-name-it for every letter of the alphabet.
A is for Argintinasaurus
B is for Brachiosaurus
C is for Compsognathus ...
A is for cousin Amy
B is for uncle Brian
C is for cousin Carrie...
You get the point.
(Note: if your name begins with "O" or "Q" "W" or "Z" could you please marry one of my relatives? Dating or common-law marriage would suffice. Thank you very much.)
My daughter likes to make up a lot of games of this sort. Last night's was called, "What's your food of heaven?"--except that she said it more like "WHAT'S - YOUR - FOOD - OF - HEAVEN-en-en-en-en!" We then had to, in turn, list ingredients in our favourite dishes while the rest of us guessed what the dish was.
Often this type of game then turns into an exercise in creative rhyming or extempore song composition. "Presto pesto! Eat the rest-o. Lest-o we're left-o with lunches."
This morning my friend Maggie posted a link to a super-duper word game invented by none other than that master wordsmith himself, Lewis Carroll. The game is called doublets and it involves taking a word, changing a single letter to make it another word and continuing on down the line to create quite another concept altogether. From what I can glean, doublets is like a clever, intentional version of telephone.
DRY - CRY - COY - COT - NOT - NET - WET
The link Maggie directed me too is Bookmaking for Kids, a fantastic site rife with all sorts of creative ideas. In today's post they've paid tribute to doublets by posting a handy-dandy pdf that lets you print out a version of the game in small book format. I've now got mine sitting by my desk to play later. Getting from point A to point B in this particular version of the game may be too much of a challenge for my newly minted 7-year-old, but that doesn't mean we can't start at any old point A and see where it takes us.
HEAD-HERD-HARD-LARD-LARK... What a lark, I say!
What about you? Do you play word games at home? If so, tell me what your games are like. Do you play math/numbers games? Please share because we sure could use some pointers in our wordy house on that front.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Monday, July 4, 2011
Summer reading with a purpose
Last week, I trotted my daughter down to the public library to take part in the kick-off party for our local summer reading club. She danced, ate cake and ... vowed to read 100 books over the course of the summer. She's 6. I quickly checked the fine print and discovered that books that I read to her count as well as those she reads herself. Phew. "A man's reach must exceed his grasp" and all that claptrap, but realistic goals are good too. Together, she and I will rock this challenge.
There's another local kid who has also vowed to read 100 books. He's 8 and he's flying solo on the summer reading challenge for the first time. Such a lofty goal is alone enough to make any parent proud, but Kael's commitment extends far beyond literacy and the love of books. Earlier this spring, Kael's beloved uncle died at the Chalmers Regional Hospital here in Fredericton. Kael and his family spent a lot of time at the hospital during his illness. Now, in the aftermath of his uncle's death, Kael would like to raise money to enhance the hospital's family room so that other members of our community will be surrounded by comfort during their own dark emotional times.
Kael is tracking his progress on a charming and engaging blog. Have a look and consider making a donation. There's a direct link to the Chalmers Regional Hospital Foundation right from his main page. This summer, please take up a challenge to enrich your mind through reading and your heart through community service, as Kael has done.
There's another local kid who has also vowed to read 100 books. He's 8 and he's flying solo on the summer reading challenge for the first time. Such a lofty goal is alone enough to make any parent proud, but Kael's commitment extends far beyond literacy and the love of books. Earlier this spring, Kael's beloved uncle died at the Chalmers Regional Hospital here in Fredericton. Kael and his family spent a lot of time at the hospital during his illness. Now, in the aftermath of his uncle's death, Kael would like to raise money to enhance the hospital's family room so that other members of our community will be surrounded by comfort during their own dark emotional times.
Kael is tracking his progress on a charming and engaging blog. Have a look and consider making a donation. There's a direct link to the Chalmers Regional Hospital Foundation right from his main page. This summer, please take up a challenge to enrich your mind through reading and your heart through community service, as Kael has done.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
An Exhibition and a Celebration
Sea Stacks At Low Tide: An Exhibition of Atlantic Canadian Books For Children
Presented by the Eileen Wallace Children’s Literature Collection and School District 18’s Enriching Visual Literacies Project
May 28th-June 3rd Saturday & Sunday, 1-4pm; Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm
Room 415 (The Nan Gregg Room), Harriet Irving Library, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton
Exhibition Launch and Celebration: Monday, May 30th, 2011, 5:30-7:00 pm
Please contact Sue Fisher if you would like to attend the launch and celebration.
A contact email is provided in my profile on the left of the screen.
__________________________________________
The Eileen Wallace Collection at the University of New Brunswick (Fredericton) is the largest research collection of children’s literature in Atlantic Canada. Its holdings are historically and regionally diverse, with an extensive representation of literature published in, by and about Atlantic Canada. Visit us at www.lib.unb.ca/collections/clc/
District 18’s Enriching Visual Literacies Project saw children from two Fredericton-area elementary schools spend time learning about artistic techniques and the principles of visual literacy before producing their own picture books. A number of these books will be on display alongside a broader sampling of Atlantic Canadian books for children and young adults from the Wallace Collection.
Sea Stacks At Low Tide grows out of a larger collaborative research project among Dalhousie and Acadia Universities and the University of New Brunswick, entitled Sea Stacks: Atlantic Canadian Books for Children and Young Adults, 1978-2011. seastacks.ca/info
We welcome members of the public as well as those attending the Congress of the Social Sciences & Humanities to attend.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Stretching the boundaries of genre
I was reading The Guardian's Children's Book site this morning when I can across this article about a young-adult novel by Jennifer Egen written entirely in Power Point slides. A one-chapter excerpt comprising 76 slides is included in the article. While I found the chapter compelling, I'm not sure it was because of the use of Power Point or whether it was simply that Egan's characters and circumstances are well-conceived and well-laid out. It's clear that Egan is a talented writer of YA fiction and I look forward to reading the entire book.
But let's get back to those Power Point slides. To my mind, they provided an overly busy sensory distraction from the theme of silence and dysfuntion that runs throughout this chapter (and, for that matter, through most YA fiction). Not only that, they felt gimmicky; and because they felt gimmicky, they became a flashing neon light pointing to all the other clichéd moments
in the book. Teen novels that deal with family dysfunction always rely on cliché to a certain extent. The trick in writing them is to get readers to the originality and art of a work before they can trip over the trappings that took them there. Bullet points and idea pyramids run counter to such aims. And what of the use of Power Point itself? In the age of social media, a book that uses Power Point as a tool for experimenting with genre, seems dated, almost quaint, especially one that's set in the future as Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad is.
So, what does all this mean when it comes to writing fiction with or in the new media? Everywhere I look, writers are anxious about social media--how to build on it, how to channel it for their own artistic or profit motives. Once upon a time, I adapted Pride and Prejudice as a twitter-stream. At the time, the use of Austen's words and characters seemed a fitting way to lovingly mock the puffed-up social media platform and the quirky collection of personality types that inhabit it. In retrospect, my effort was just one of many Austenizations of our contempory world, a trope that now has been done to death. Done to undeath, in fact. But the promise of art, of meaning, of originality is still there, sitting in a pause, waiting for the right artists to redefine us.
What I want to know is, "Is there an app for that?"
But let's get back to those Power Point slides. To my mind, they provided an overly busy sensory distraction from the theme of silence and dysfuntion that runs throughout this chapter (and, for that matter, through most YA fiction). Not only that, they felt gimmicky; and because they felt gimmicky, they became a flashing neon light pointing to all the other clichéd moments
in the book. Teen novels that deal with family dysfunction always rely on cliché to a certain extent. The trick in writing them is to get readers to the originality and art of a work before they can trip over the trappings that took them there. Bullet points and idea pyramids run counter to such aims. And what of the use of Power Point itself? In the age of social media, a book that uses Power Point as a tool for experimenting with genre, seems dated, almost quaint, especially one that's set in the future as Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad is.
So, what does all this mean when it comes to writing fiction with or in the new media? Everywhere I look, writers are anxious about social media--how to build on it, how to channel it for their own artistic or profit motives. Once upon a time, I adapted Pride and Prejudice as a twitter-stream. At the time, the use of Austen's words and characters seemed a fitting way to lovingly mock the puffed-up social media platform and the quirky collection of personality types that inhabit it. In retrospect, my effort was just one of many Austenizations of our contempory world, a trope that now has been done to death. Done to undeath, in fact. But the promise of art, of meaning, of originality is still there, sitting in a pause, waiting for the right artists to redefine us.
What I want to know is, "Is there an app for that?"
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Gimme five
Five is a significant number in Canadian women's history, for it was the Famous Five in Alberta back in the late 1920s who fought tooth and nail all the way to the British Privy Council so that Canadian women could be considered persons. And so, on this International Women's Day, I want to celebrate using the number 5. As you know, I spend a lot of my time working with Atlantic Canadian books for children. Here are 5 + 5 + 5 contemporary creators of such books.
Fiction Writers
Kate Inglis: A promising new writer of enchanted realism for the 8-12 set, Inglis has one book The Dread Crew, with a second companion novel in the works.
Janet McNaughton: One of Canada's foremost writers of children's/YA fiction, McNaughton has written in multiple genres for mulitple ages.
Valerie Sherrard: Sherrard also writes for a broad age range. She has penned picture books, detective fiction and contemporary realism.
Darlene Ryan: Ryan has one book for babies under her belt and four titles of contemporary realism for young adults.
Budge Wilson: Prolific, canonical, literary, Wilson is the grand-dame of children's literature in Atlantic Canada.
Illustrators
Darka Erdelji: Erdelji is a Czech artist, set designer, puppet creator and illustrator who is now based in Saint John's, Newfoundland. Her illustrations for Andy Jones' adaptation of The Queen of Paradise's Garden are magnificent. To see a sample, watch the book trailer: here.
Hilda Rose: Hilda Rose is a Nova Scotia-based illustrator. The gallery on her website has many fine examples of her work.
Heidi Jardine Stoddart: Stoddart's regionally-themed picture books create nostalgia for the Maritime shoreline.
Susan Tooke: Nova Scotia-based Tooke is one of the most sought-after illustrators in the region. Her illustrations for numerous picture books demonstrate her wide artistic range.
Frances Wolfe: Wolfe's Where I Live won the Amelia-Frances Howard Gibbon award for illustration in 2002. She has written and illustrated two books since.
Poets
Karen Davidson: Davidson was the winner of the New Brunswick Born to Read manuscript contest in 2008. The resulting book, published by the Early Childhood Centre at The University of New Brunswick, is a collection of verses called Baby's Garden. A copy, along with several other books, is given by the provincial government to each child born in New Brunswick.
Shirley Downey: The pioneer of New Brunswick's Born to Read Program, Shirley Downey, is a poet in her own right with four fun and fabulous titles to her name.
Sheree Fitch: Poet and fiction writer, Fitch plays non-stop hopscotch with words. From 1987's Toes in My Nose through to 2010's Pluto's Ghost, her titles have been as varied as they are excellent. She is one of Canada best-known and best-loved writers for children.
Shauntay Grant: Grant is a spoken word performer, musician and poet from Halifax. Her two books for children are Up Home and The City Speaks in Drums.
Rita Joe: Rita Joe is known as the poet laureate of the Mi’kmaq nation. A collection of her poems suited to a younger audience, entitled For the Children, was published posthumously in 2008.
May you all find good words and pictures to keep you company on this International Women's Day.
Fiction Writers
Kate Inglis: A promising new writer of enchanted realism for the 8-12 set, Inglis has one book The Dread Crew, with a second companion novel in the works.
Janet McNaughton: One of Canada's foremost writers of children's/YA fiction, McNaughton has written in multiple genres for mulitple ages.
Valerie Sherrard: Sherrard also writes for a broad age range. She has penned picture books, detective fiction and contemporary realism.
Darlene Ryan: Ryan has one book for babies under her belt and four titles of contemporary realism for young adults.
Budge Wilson: Prolific, canonical, literary, Wilson is the grand-dame of children's literature in Atlantic Canada.
Illustrators
Darka Erdelji: Erdelji is a Czech artist, set designer, puppet creator and illustrator who is now based in Saint John's, Newfoundland. Her illustrations for Andy Jones' adaptation of The Queen of Paradise's Garden are magnificent. To see a sample, watch the book trailer: here.
Hilda Rose: Hilda Rose is a Nova Scotia-based illustrator. The gallery on her website has many fine examples of her work.
Heidi Jardine Stoddart: Stoddart's regionally-themed picture books create nostalgia for the Maritime shoreline.
Susan Tooke: Nova Scotia-based Tooke is one of the most sought-after illustrators in the region. Her illustrations for numerous picture books demonstrate her wide artistic range.
Frances Wolfe: Wolfe's Where I Live won the Amelia-Frances Howard Gibbon award for illustration in 2002. She has written and illustrated two books since.
Poets
Karen Davidson: Davidson was the winner of the New Brunswick Born to Read manuscript contest in 2008. The resulting book, published by the Early Childhood Centre at The University of New Brunswick, is a collection of verses called Baby's Garden. A copy, along with several other books, is given by the provincial government to each child born in New Brunswick.
Shirley Downey: The pioneer of New Brunswick's Born to Read Program, Shirley Downey, is a poet in her own right with four fun and fabulous titles to her name.
Sheree Fitch: Poet and fiction writer, Fitch plays non-stop hopscotch with words. From 1987's Toes in My Nose through to 2010's Pluto's Ghost, her titles have been as varied as they are excellent. She is one of Canada best-known and best-loved writers for children.
Shauntay Grant: Grant is a spoken word performer, musician and poet from Halifax. Her two books for children are Up Home and The City Speaks in Drums.
Rita Joe: Rita Joe is known as the poet laureate of the Mi’kmaq nation. A collection of her poems suited to a younger audience, entitled For the Children, was published posthumously in 2008.
May you all find good words and pictures to keep you company on this International Women's Day.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Follow me on Twitter
For any of you who are interested, I now have a twitter account devoted solely to children's literature. You can find me at @bookmuggins. Thanks to Sheree Fitch for giving me my new handle.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
No memory can replace it
While others were complaining about the lack-lustre hosting of the Oscars on Sunday night, or perhaps being either delighted or mortified by the use of the "F-bomb" in an Oscar acceptance speech*, I was doing a little dance of delight in my living room for Australian author-illustrator, Shaun Tan. Tan won the Oscar for best animated short for the film adaptation of his cross-over picture book, The Lost Thing. If you haven't encountered Tan's work before, please make a point of doing so. His wordless novel The Arrival is a masterpiece. Don't believe me? Go have a look at some of the stills from it and then make a point of tracking down a copy. (note: you might have to click on the thumbnail for the book in order to see the full entry for it.)
And if, like me, you're always a bit disappointed that you never get the chance to see Oscar calibre short films, fear not. You can view The Lost Thing in its entirety here. Now if only there was a way to see fellow nominee and children's book adaptation, The Gruffalo, online as well. I guess you'll just have to settle for the trailer--that is if you didn't catch it on TV last week or in the run up to Christmas.
__________________
* I sometimes marvel at television controversy. While the f-bomb may have no place in an acceptance speech, these are the Oscars for pete's sake. Almost all the films being honoured flaunt that word with reckless abandon. Heck, even the King of England got in on the action. So, maybe there is no need for a tempest in a teapot.
_________________
Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss. I hope there is much glee, nonsense and rhyming wherever you may be.
And if, like me, you're always a bit disappointed that you never get the chance to see Oscar calibre short films, fear not. You can view The Lost Thing in its entirety here. Now if only there was a way to see fellow nominee and children's book adaptation, The Gruffalo, online as well. I guess you'll just have to settle for the trailer--that is if you didn't catch it on TV last week or in the run up to Christmas.
__________________
* I sometimes marvel at television controversy. While the f-bomb may have no place in an acceptance speech, these are the Oscars for pete's sake. Almost all the films being honoured flaunt that word with reckless abandon. Heck, even the King of England got in on the action. So, maybe there is no need for a tempest in a teapot.
_________________
Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss. I hope there is much glee, nonsense and rhyming wherever you may be.
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