September 2007 - Posts
Blackbird is an "online journal of literature and the arts." It's published through a joint venture between Virginia Commonwealth University and New Virginia Review, Inc. Submissions are accepted, but you need to allow at least 6 months before expecting to hear a response.
http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v6n1/index.htm
You can find poetry, fiction, nonfiction, a gallery (pictures and other misc.) and book reviews on this site.
Al Capone Does My Shirts
By: Gennifer Choldenko
Moose doesn't want to live on Alcatraz. He wants to stay in Santa Monica and be able to play baseball with his friends. Too bad he doesn't have a choice. His dad is now a guard on Alcatraz. This means long hours and the entire family has to move and live on the island (living on the island is historically accurate). A major reason for their move is so his sister Natalie can get into the Esther P. Marinoff school. This is a school that does wonders for "problem children". At the time the novel is set, a lot of people who were "different" from others were institutionalized. Moose's mother wants her daughter to have a chance. She's done aluminum treatments (I have no idea), voodoo dolls, she's taken Natalie to UCLA to try and get her into a study, sent her to psychiatrists, Bible readings and enlisted the help of a Mrs. Kelly to try and get her ready. In short, she's done everything she can. In the end, it's Moose that gets his sister into school - with a little help from Al Capone.
The relationships between the characters in this novel are rich. I found them to be very compelling:
- Moose and his father - I think they are close, but occassionally misunderstandings can cause pain for the two of them
- Moose and his mother - Moose is a little angry at her for making him "babysit" his older sister while she gives piano lessons in San Francisco. He has to give up baseball for his sister. He's quite angry at first, but eventually cools down. They also have a few other knock-em-down-drag-em-out kind of words with each other. Both sides have a good point, but it's about compromising and doing what's right.
- Moose and Natalie - he takes wonderful care of his sister, she loves him and he loves her back, but sometimes she does frustrate him - and once she scares him - she scares him so badly it's all he can think about for a few days, and what he should do about it because her actions could have potentially been very dangerous
- Moose and Piper - Piper is the wardens daughter and is a piece of work. If you don't do what she wants she can make trouble for you, but if you do you're bound to be breaking one of the warden's rules and you definitely don't want that - especially since it's your dad's job on the line. It's also interesting that they like/loathe each other. I find that attraction/repulsion quite fascinating (part of that is their age).
What does Al Capone have to do with all of this? Well, he's part of one of Piper's many schemes, he did work in the laundry (another of Piper's schemes) and he helps Moose out in an unexpectedly helpful way. Besides, Al Capone is a huge topic of conversation at school.
Something that I really love about this book: the Author's Note at the back of the book. She explains which parts are entirely accurate, which are made up and gives us Natalie's diagnosis.
This was a quick read and I thoroughly enjoyed it (so much so that I finished it during a break at a workshop I attended last night - it was all about fantasy fiction, look for a post about it next week!)
Recommended For:
- boys - I generally don't do the whole boy/girl book thing, but boys will definitely like this (as will girls, but sometimes boys can be a harder sell and this book has Al Capone and baseball. What boy can resist?)
- people with an interest in Alcatraz
- those who like family stories - how they interact, work out their problems, etc.
- everyone!
Although I'm about 2 days late (I didn't know this was in my "Possible Blog Ideas" folder until today), I thought you could use a bit o' fun.
Let's be honest, talking like a pirate is kind of fun - although too much can get annoying.....and since this last Wednesday was National Talk Like a Pirate Day (I know, I missed it too!) I thought this might be a fun way to distract you for a minute or two (no more!) from your studying. So you can have a "It's Friday and We're Going to Talk Like a Pirate Mateys!" night.
http://www.pubcat.org.uk/encyclo/categories.asp?categories=Ship%20Term
I've linked you to a list of pirate terms (some are just plain nautical) that you can use to your heart's delight - until you hit that annoying point, of course!
Oh, and this is a website for a popular pirate re-enactment group from the U.K. (This means there are some pictures of people dressed up as pirates. Kind of fun!)
Because of Fall Festival, the library will be open from 9am - 5pm on Saturday, the 22nd of September.
Seeing Redd
By: Frank Beddor
Alyss is being given a tour of Wonderland's new palace, her new home. She seems to be a bit overwhelmed with the attention to detail that has been given to it and still says it's more than she needs. Of course, Bibwit lets her know it's more for the rest of Wonderland than it is for her. It's their way of knowing that things are going to stay better, especially now that Redd has disappeared. Or has she?
Alyss's reign is soon faced with challenges any new ruler would dread: an attack. Dodge immediately believes Redd is behind it, as it is Glass Eyes that are attacking the various outposts of soldiers, but Alyss wonders if it's someone other than that. And she's right, but so is Dodge.
King Arch of Boarderland has come up with a new little scheme that would make him ruler of Wonderland and Boarderland. His scheme is already underway when a most disturbing sight meets his eyes: Redd and The Cat are entering his tent. In order to keep his life, he follows Redd and tries to make himself as indispensible as possible. He succeeds until the end of the book - even though he does suffer from a close call or two - and at the end we know that only one will survive the last segment in The Looking Glass Wars. I really can't decide which one I want to see live - I guess it would depend on who learns the most in the last book. Arch is a very self-centered egoist who believes women should be subjugated to men, that they are weak and can't do anything while Redd is literally evil incarnate. She doesn't blink an eye at sending people into battle for her cause, just so long as she wins.
When Alyss uses Arch's great weapon, it has effects that even Arch himself wasn't expecting (as Hatter Madigan didn't do exactly what he was supposed to with the Caterpillar thread - and why Hatter was talking to Arch is a completely critical part of the story involving Homburg Molly, a woman named Weaver and, of course, Hatter). At the end of the novel all of Wonderland has lost something very unique and important to them - but the point is that Redd lost it too, and that is what Alyss was planning on, but can they get it back? What is the future of Wonderland without this extremely important element to their society?
Again, great storytelling, although you are going to get more battle scenes in this book. There is a war going on! The relationships in this book are more defined, set out, interesting and complicated (at least I thought so). The descriptions are fantastic too. I can't get the ones of Redd's "living rose" dress out of my head. If I ever saw a woman with crazy-red hair (and I am not insulting red-heads, if you saw the cover of this book you would know what I mean by crazy-red hair) coming right for me with a red rose dress that lives - the roses have teeth that snap out at you I would run screaming in the opposite direction - even though that wouldn't matter much, because with a flick of her wrist I could be dead. Seriously, the imagination these books must have taken! I'm so impressed!
Unfortunately, I think we're going to have to wait awhile for book 3. But it does look like they're going to be made into a movie. That could be really fun, but they better get a good director because they're going to need it to really portray some of the places in the novels accurately! Oh, and his book, Alyss of Wonderland will be out the first of November, and if you're into graphic novels/comics the Hatter M. graphic novels/comic books will be out towards the end of this month!
http://www.lookingglasswars.com/home.html
This is a gorgeous website! Don't get too lost!
Recommended To:
- fans of the first book
- fans of fantasy fiction
- Alice in Wonderland fans (just for a different perspective)
- Everyone!
You're new to the area and you're sick. Achy, fever-y, chilly then really hot and you have no idea where to go. Well, the Mankato clinic is literally 2 blocks away from campus - you can see it from some spots - but if you're not sure if you're sick enough to go, that's where Medline Plus's MyHealth MN comes in.
http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/local/minnesota/homepage.cfm?areaid=30
You can browse for:
- Services by Location
- Services by Providers, Facilities and Service
- Services for Disease and Health Issues
- All Services
- Health Informaiton
In the last category you can find information on health services, different conditions, current health news, a medical dictionary and an encyclopedia.
Check it out! It's a great resource!
The Looking Glass Wars
By: Frank Beddor
I am going to assume (dangerous, I know) that you have read Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and maybe even Through the Looking Glass. What, you didn't know there was more than one? You didn't know it was a book? Well shame on you and now you know! Maybe you've seen a movie version? Did you know there are other versions than the Disney one? Just checking.....I could go on with the 'Did you know' part, but I'll save that for another time (I wrote a paper dedicated to the publishing history of Alice, so that's why I could go on and on (and on and on) about this topic.)
The Looking Glass Wars is a twist on Alice's story as told by Lewis Carroll. Frank Beddor takes Wonderland to a completely different place than Carroll did. When this book came out I had heard that some people really hated it. I'm going to guess that the people who disliked this book were members of the Lewis Carroll society - that in no way means that all of them disliked it, nor does it mean that I am correct in my guess. Some were probably fans of the original book, librarians, teachers, who knows? But I liked it - I love a new twist/take on an old favorite and Beddor definitely succeeds on that aspect.
It is Princess Alyss Heart's 7th birthday. She is watching the inventors parade with her mother, Queen Genevieve. When the queen likes an invention she sends it into the heart crystal and it comes out in the 'real' world (ours). This is how we ended up with guns and hula hoops (the only ones I can remember off the top of my head.) Alyss is distracted because her father, King Nolan had promised to be back from his trip to Boarderland by her birthday. He was trying to persuade King Arch to join forces with Wonderland to prevent Redd from taking the throne.
Redd is Queen Genevieve's sister. She is the eldest and technically she should be the queen. The problem is that Redd is a master of Dark Imagination while Genevieve practiced the Wonderland principles of White Imagination. Their mother made Genevieve Queen and she ended up having to fight her sister to gain her place on the throne (this is after Redd killed their mother and father). Redd is a piece of work, she is!
King Nolan thinks he may have persuaded King Arch to join forces against Redd. On his way home his party is attacked by Redd's card soldiers and Redd murders the King. Redd then sends an emissary to the palace disguised as a gift to Alyss. Chaos ensues and Alyss has to escape with Hatter Madigan (her mother's bodyguard) into the Crystal Continuum - which is how Wonderlanders travel. They exit the continuum and they have to take the Pool of Tears to get away from their attacker (he's really something). No one who enters the Pool of Tears has ever come back to Wonderland. Hatter and Alyss are separated. He ends up in France and Alyss in England. They are both a sight to behold in their new world. Hatter knows his job is to protect the princess. He spends 13 years tracking her down. Alyss is at first a homeless orphan, then she is arrested and sent to an orphanage. She keeps her knowledge of Wonderland until she is adopted by the Liddell's from Oxford. Even then she still fights it because no one will believe her. No one until Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll). When she tells him her story he promises to write it down. He gives her a copy and he has changed her story into nonsense and she is extremely angry. Beddor uses this instance to explain why Alice Liddell (the name of the girl Carroll dedicated the book to and is about) and Dodgson parted ways and didn't speak after that. (I think it was a little later than that, but this is a work of fiction we're talking about.)
This is when Alyss gives up thoughts of Wonderland. She even gets engaged to a Prince. But then she sees a mysterious man from her past (he was a boy then). On her wedding day chaos ensues and Dodge 9the mystery man) rescues Alyss and takes her back to Wonderland. Horrible changes have occurred in her absence. Redd and her Black Imagination ideas have taken over. The Alyssians - those fighting against Redd and her armies of strange soldiers - welcome Alyss and look forward to defeating Redd. Alyss has doubts about the power of her imagination as she hasn't really used it in years.
If you think I've given too much away I think you'd be surprised at what's left to explore in this book.
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What are Redd's soldiers?
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What happens to Queen Genevieve?
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How does Dodge know where Alyss is?
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What happened to Hatter Madigan?
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How did Dodge and Alyss return to Wonderland?
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Do Alyss and Redd meet again?
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Do they duel? If so, who wins?
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What happens to Redd, Alyss and the whole rest of the cast of characters?
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Does Alyss reach her full potential to be Queen?
There's a lot going on in this book. Right now I'm reading the sequel entitled Seeing Redd. It's really good so far - all sorts of trickery and such going on. But that will probably come to you next week.....
So, on to the recommendations:
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fans of Carroll's wonderland - just because
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fantasy lovers
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this is a book on war and strategy, so any of you fans out there.....
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everyone!
New to the whole research process? Do you need to write a paper and have no idea as to where you should start your research? Never fear, for Research QuickStart is here!
This is a new feature that the library has added for your use and benefit. Simply click on Search By Subject: Research QuickStart on the library's webpage. You will be taken to a new screen where you can select your subject area (i.e. art, chemistry, business, history, etc.) and you will be taken to a page with a plethora of resources for you to use. You will find links to online journals that the library subscribes to for your research. These journals are an excellent way to start your research. You can also find: dictionaries, encyclopedias, official agency websites, print journals, indexes, history & criticism, biographical sources, primary source materials and every single page has writing style manuals! Yes, they are very important!
As always, if you have any questions or need help getting started, stop on by!