Search Results for: mouse with the question

Wit and Wisdom from (Mostly) Cybils Nominees 2014

Nov18

I am a collector of aphorisms, a gatherer of proverbs, and a dispenser of words of wisdom.

If we could all remember and act upon these kidlit maxims, the world would be a better place, or at least a more innocent and childlike place.

1. “Just because doing the right thing can be prickly, that doesn’t make it any less right.” ~Circa Now by Amber McRee Turner.

2. “Our goal was never to live; our goal is to love. It is the goal of all truly noble men and women. Give all that can be given. Give even your life itself.” ~Empire of Bones by N.D. Wilson.

3. “Cowards live for the sake of living, but for heroes, life is a weapon, a thing to be spent, a gift to be given to the weak and the lost and the weary, even to the foolish and the cowardly.” ~Empire of Bones by N.D. Wilson.

4. “[O]nly a coward would rather defenestrate a helpless old man than face me in a fair fight.” ~The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw by Christopher Healy.

5. “Maybe normal’s not so bad.” ~Minion by John David Anderson.

6. “Never sit down at the negotiating table with cannibals, lest you find yourself on the menu.” ~Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly.

7. “[L]ife is neither fair nor kind.” ~Always Emily by Michaela MacColl.

8. “In this game of life
your family is the court
and the ball is your heart.
No matter how good you are,
no matter how down you get,
always leave
your heart
on the court.” ~The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

9. “If I tell you, you’ll just forget at some critical point. If you figure it out for yourself, you’ll always remember.” ~The Castle Behind Thorns by Merrie Haskell.

10. “The only cage that a grudge creates is around the holder of that grudge.” ~The Castle Behind Thorns by Merrie Haskell.

11. “Bravery isn’t measured by size. It’s measured by heart.” ~Mouseheart by Lisa Fielder.

12. “A story helps folks face the world, even when it frightens ’em. And a lie does the opposite. It helps you hide.” ~The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier.

13. “Don’t confuse what you do with who you are. . . [T]here’s no shame in humble work.” ~The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier.

14. “Stay right with your brothers. Stay right with the Lord. Hit like thunder, and run like the devil’s nightmare.” ~Boys of Blur by N.D. Wilson.

15. “It’s never too late to make a better decision.” ~The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage.

16. “Everything takes as long as you’ve got.” ~The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage.

17. “[M]ost situations don’t require my input.” ~The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage.

18. “You can’t buy a friend, that’s for sure. You have to be one.” ~Alvin Ho: Allergic to the Great Wall, The Forbidden Palace, and Other Tourist Attractions by Lenore Look.

19. “No lamb for the lazy wolf.” ~Frostborn by Lou Anders.

20. “If there’s one thing more stressful than being attacked by ravenous ghost-rats, it’s finding that you’re going to a fancy party and you haven’t got a thing to wear.” ~Lockwood & Co.: The Whispering Skull.

21. “Angry and grumpy.
Jealous and grumpy.
Selfish and grumpy.
Worried and grumpy.
Sad and grumpy.
Grumpy is like ketchup—it goes with a lot of things.”
~Wisher Dreamer Liar by Charise Mericle Harper.

22. “Just because something is true, it doesn’t mean you want to know about it.” ~Wisher Dreamer Liar by Charise Mericle Harper.

23. “[T]ragedy is not glamorous. . . . Tragedy is ugly and tangled, stupid and confusing.” ~We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

24. “Be a little kinder than you have to.” ~We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

25. “In searching for the truth, be ready for the unexpected. Change alone is unchanging.” ~Heraklietos of Ephesos in The Ninja Librarians: Accidental Keyhand by Jen Swann Downey.

26. “Do not, however tempting it might be, poke sticks at sleeping grifters.” Cabinet of Curiosities, Emma Trevayne.

27. “Bring your brain to the party.” ~The Twistrose Key by Tone Almhjell.

28. “Do it like you mean it!” ~Little Green Men at the the Mercury Inn by Greg Leitich Smith.

29. “Failure is just as valuable as success, if you figure out what caused the failure.” ~Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor by Jon Scieszka.

30. “Together, we’re strong. Strong enough to fight, and strong enough to win.” ~Horizon by Jenn Reese.

31. “Iron resolve. Ferocious courage. And a healthy dose of insanity. That’s what makes a superhero. Not some amazing power.” ~Almost Super by Marion Jensen.

32. “It’s not your power that makes you super. It’s what you do with that power.” ~Almost Super by Marion Jensen.

33. “An empty food dish means chaos.” ~Fat & Bones and Other Stories by Larissa Theule.

34. Q: “Is there really a cure?”
A: “For every very blessed ill there is being a cure.”
~Thursdays with the Crown by Jessica Day George.

35. “You must be putting on your shoes like a very man, and going forth!” ~Thursdays with the Crown by Jessica Day George.

36. “If you’re going to do it, don’t do it stupid.” ~Loot by Jude Watson.

37. “If you think nothing can go wrong, you’d better think again.” ~Loot by Jude Watson.

38. “Never cheat, but be able to spot a cheater.” ~Loot by Jude Watson.

39. “Life isn’t fair. It never has been and it never will be. You can sit back and moan about its unfairness while the witches roll across the countryside, or you can pick yourself up and get on with it.” ~Pennyroyal Academy by M.A. Larson.

40. “You get to decide who you want to be. No one else.” ~Pennyroyal Academy by M.A. Larson.

41. “Let love heal you.” ~The Time of the Fireflies by Kimberley Griffiths Little.

42. “One’s nature is largely a product of habit.” ~The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler.

43. “It is always better to ask a question than to answer one.” ~Shouldn’t You Be In School? by Lemony Snicket.

44. “You should only snap your fingers if you do it well. It’s the same for surgery, or driving a forklift.” ~Shouldn’t You Be In School? by Lemony Snicket.

45. “If you’ve never had buttermilk and you’re curious what it tastes like, good for you and don’t be.” ~Shouldn’t You Be In School? by Lemony Snicket.

46. “The treachery of the world will continue no matter how much you worry about it.” ~Shouldn’t You Be In School? by Lemony Snicket.

47. “Everyone needs a moment on the diving board, before jumping into the depths below.” ~Shouldn’t You Be In School? by Lemony Snicket.

48. “Don’t be dazzled. Pay attention. Use your knowledge of the enemy.” ~Nuts to You by Lynne Rae Perkins.

49. “Sometimes the thing to do is invite your adversary for cake and lemonade, and see if they can become your friend.” ~Nuts to You by Lynne Rae Perkins.

50. “But when you are Team Squirrel, and the other team is Team Hawk, this is not a good idea. Because as far as the hawk is concerned, you are the cake. And also the lemonade.” ~Nuts to You by Lynne Rae Perkins. (See also #6.)

Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book cover here to go to Amazon and buy something, I receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
Some of these books are also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own and do not reflect or determine the judging panel’s opinions.

Wisdom and Innocence by Joseph Pearce

May29

Happy Birthday, to Mr. Gilbert Keith Chesterton!

Thanks to the lovely Carol B. of A Living Pencil, who loaned me her personal copy of the book, I have been reading Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G.K. Chesterton by Joseph Pearce over the last couple of weeks. I’ve been reading about Mr. Chesterton, mostly at bedtime and in small doses, and I haven’t finished the book yet. However, I have collected enough sticky note markers to post something about what caught my eye as I read, and today seems as if it would the appropriate day since Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born on this date, May 29th, in 1876, a hundred and thirty-seven years ago.

(p.79) Chesterton wrote in an article in the Daily News, December, 1903:

“You cannot evade the issue of God: whether you talk about pigs or the binomial theory, you are still talking about Him . . . If Christianity should happen to be true–that is to say, if its God is the real God of the universe–then defending it may mean talking about anything and everything. . . . Zulus, gardening, butchers’ shops, lunatic asylums, housemaids, and the French Revolution–all these things not only may have something to do with the Christian God, but must have something to do with Him if He lives and reigns.”

So true. I try to avoid religious jargon and buzzwords, but I find it difficult to discuss anything without the topic eventually leading back to God and His works in some form or another. As Paul wrote, “For from him and through him and to him are all things.” So, how (or why) would one discuss or think about anything without reference to the One who made and sustains all things?

(p. 213) “One of his secretaries was amazed, when she first started working for him (Chesterton), by his ability to write two articles at once on totally different subjects by dictating one to her while he scribbled away at another himself.”

President James Garfield taught himself to write with both hands. He also knew Latin and Greek. He sometimes would show off and write with both hands at the same time, each in a different language. However, to write on two separate subjects, formulate coherent thoughts and dictate or write them at the same time, seems almost impossible. I wonder if the ever-playful Chesterton was deceiving his secretary into thinking that he was “writing” two articles at once. Maybe he even was deceiving himself. I tell my children all the time that it is impossible to truly “multi-task.” It would be interesting to hear what Chesterton would have to say about the subject.

(p.252) Chesterton on the “underlying pessimism of much modern poetry”: “I will not write any more about these poets, because I do not pretend to be impartial, or even to be good-tempered on the subject. To my thinking, the oppression of the people is a terrible sin; but the depression of the people is a far worse one.”

I agree with Chesterton about modern poetry, indeed most modern (twentieth century and beyond) literature. It’s a question of which came first, depression and degeneration in Western culture which is reflected in the literature, or depression and degeneration in literature which in turn produced at least two, maybe three, generations of depressed, decadent, and sometimes illiterate people. After all, who wants to read about how miserable and corrupt we all are when there is no hope or faith that anything or anyone can fix the mess? (And now I started out discussing modern literature with GKC, and we’re back to God again.)

(p.256) “Through it all he remained totally unaffected by events and as self-effacing as ever. For example, when an enthusiastic reporter asked him which of his works he considered the greatest, he replied instantly, ‘I don’t consider any of my works in the least great.'”

To be able to come up with such an answer”instantly” requires either great humility or great preparation.

(p.295) “Neither was Chesterton embarrassed to be seen laughing at his own jokes. ‘If a man may not laugh at his own jokes,’ he once asked, ‘at whose jokes may he laugh? May not an architect pray in his own cathedral?'”

Again, either humility or a quip waiting to happen.

(p.299) “The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them.”

One could say “joy” (C.S. Lewis) or “enjoying God” (John Piper) instead of appreciation, and mean essentially the same thing. Chesterton seemed to have a gift for gratitude and enjoyment of God’s good gifts.

(p.302) The ignorant pronounce it Frood
To cavil or applaud.
The well-informed pronounce it Froyd,
But I pronounce it Fraud.

No comment necessary.

(p.306) “Most modern histories of mankind begin with the word evolution, and with a rather wordy exposition of evolution . . . There is something slow and soothing and gradual about the word and even about the idea. As a matter of fact, it is not, touching these primary things, a very practical word or a very profitable idea. Nobody can imagine how nothing could turn into something. . . It is really far more logical to start by saying ‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth’ even if you only mean ‘In the beginning some unthinkable power began some unthinkable process.'”

As soon as you admit there is something or someone who is eternal, a Grand Cause or at least Power for the Universe and everything in it, the argument moves to the nature of this Cause or this God. Carl Sagan famously said, “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” What is this “Cosmos” of Mr. Sagan’s but an impersonal Force that initiates and sustains the universe? We can now discuss whether this impersonal Force or Cosmos makes sense as creator and sustainer and order-er of all that we experience and know to be true and real.

“Nothing comes from nothing–nothing ever could.” ~The Sound Of Music.

And again the God of the Bible makes His appearance, whether we’re discussing evolution or mousetraps or movie musicals. At least, in my thought world, He seems to intrude quite frequently and persistently.

Thank you, GKC, for enriching my thought life today. Thank you, God, for Mr. Chesterton.

The Secret of the Ginger Mice by Frances Watts

Nov19

The first book in the projected Song of the Winns series, The Secret of the Ginger Mice features mouse triplets Alex, Alice, and Alistair in an adventure that spans three mouse kingdoms but places the three mice right back where they started by the end of the story. That circularity was my only complaint about this book. The triplets and a new friend, Tibby Rose, travel all over the place, getting in and out of one predicament after another, but they really don’t seem to make much progress in distance or in increased knowledge for all their work. They don’t accomplish much of anything, and almost everything they learn could have just as easily been learned by staying home and asking a few pointed questions.

Still, if you want to go along for the ride, it’s not a bad ride. At the beginning of the book, Alistair, the ginger-colored one of the triplets, disappears in the middle of the night. Alex and Alice, of course, go off to find their beloved brother, even though they’ve been told to stay home and let the adults, their aunt and uncle, handle the missing mouse hunt. Alice and Alex are chased by a pair of evil kidnappers (or are they?), and Alistair finds himself in the kingdom of Souris where everyone hates and fears ginger-colored mice for some reason. All of the mystery and adventure and danger has something to do with the nearby kingdom of Gerander, where the triplets’ parents disappeared, believed to be dead, many years ago.

The characters, Alex, Alice, Alistair, and Tibby Rose, not to mention Uncle Ebenezer and Aunt Beezer, are rather endearing, and I can see some children falling in love with these mouse-adventurers, even naming their pets after them. I didn’t fall in love, and I felt the book went on a little too long, but as I said before it’s a decent journey. I’d recommend it to fans of Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, although this first book in this series is a little younger in focus than the Jacques series.

Saturday Review of Books: July 26, 2009

Jul24

“Read widely, read enthusiastically, be guided by instinct and not design. For if you read, you need not become a writer, but if you hope to become a writer, you must read.”~Joyce Carol Oates

Welcome to this week’s Saturday Review of Books.

Here’s how it usually works. Find a review on your blog posted sometime this week of a book you’re reading or a book you’ve read. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can just write your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Now post a link here to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.

Thanks to everyone for participating.

1. Reading to Know (American Lion)
2. Reading to Know (Spiritual Mothering)
3. 5M4B (The Wish Maker)
4. 5M4B (The Disappearance of God)
5. 5M4B (Evermore & Blue Moon)
6. 5M4B (Visions in Poetry)
7. 5M4B (Words Unspoken)
8. 5M4B (Under the Distant Sky)
9. Framed (Whiteout)
10. Framed (A Patchwork Planet)
11. Carrie K. (The Way Home)
12. Carrie K. (Scottsboro)
13. Carrie K. (Lost in Austen)
14. Carrie K. (Death Comes for the Archbishop)
15. Framed (Silence is Golden)
16. teachergirl (Austenland)
17. Carrie (Do Hard Things)
18. Lazygal (Anne Frank: the book, the life, the afterlife)
19. Lazygal (Manhood for Amatuers)
20. Lazygal (Genesis; Bernard Beckett)
21. Lazygal (Wake)
22. Lazygal (The Hate List)
23. Lazygal (Pastworld)
24. Lazygal (Fade)
25. Lazygal (The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.)
26. SuziQoregon (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)
27. SuziQoregon (Eleven on Top)
28. SuziQoregon (Await Your Reply)
29. jama’s alphabet soup (The Secret Garden)
30. gautami tripathy (The Jewel Trader of Pegu)
31. gautami tripathy (The Wolves Keeper Legend)
32. Jolanthe {Assaulted by Joy}
33. Savvy Verse & Wit (MAX)
34. Savvy Verse & Wit (Green Bodies)
35. Deanna (Poison Study)
36. Deanna (The Siege of Macindaw)
37. Deanna (Dragon Slippers)
38. Deanna (Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side)		 39. Shonda (Paradise Lost)
40. Shonda (Dune Road)
41. Shonda (50 Harbor Street)
42. Shonda (Privilege)
43. Nymeth (Speak)
44. Nymeth (Slow Storm)
45. Nymeth (The Illusionist)
46. Nymeth (Cheek by Jowl)
47. Nymeth (84 Charing Cross Road)
48. Belinda (Safely Home)
49. Janet @ Across the Page (Mudhouse Sabbath)
50. Janet @ Across the Page (Palace Council)
51. Janet @ Across the Page (Notes on the Little House books)
52. Nicola (The Dragons of Ordinary Farm)
53. Nicola (Uncovering Jack the Ripper’s London)
54. Nicola (Relentless)
55. Nicola (The Lindbergh Child)
56. Nicola (Sworn to Silence)
57. Barbara H (Mimosa by Amy Carmichael)
58. Ti (Book Chatter)
59. Just One More Book! Children’s Book Podcast (Lunch Lady)
60. Just One More Book! Podcast (New Year at the Pier: RoshHashanah Story)
61. MFS at Mental multivitamin (Stuff you forgot from school)
62. MFS at Mental multivitamin (Crow Planet)
63. MFS at Mental multivitamin (On the nightstand)
64. Girl Detective (Where’s Billie?)
65. MFS at Mental multivitamin (An earlier “On the nightstand”)
66. Girl Detective (Shadow Country)
67. Joy (Fear the Worst)
68. Word Lily (Nothing but Ghosts)
69. Word Lily (House of Wolves)
70. Sandra(Little Bee by Chris Cleave)
71. Sandra(No Such Creature)
72. Amber (The Wolves Keeper Legend)
73. blacklin (Fool Moon)
74. SFP (American Lion)
75. Terri B. (Glassblower of Murano)
76. Terri B. (Murder on the Eiffel Tower)		 77. Terri B. (The Uncommon Reader)
78. Terri B. (Gilead)
79. Seth H. (Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue)
80. Becky (Cart and Cwidder)
81. Becky (Scaredly Kat)
82. Becky (Unhappy Medium)
83. Becky (The Enclave)
84. Becky (The Corinthian)
85. Becky (The Last Colony)
86. Becky (A Mirror To Nature)
87. Becky (The Emerald Tablet)
88. Becky (Family Reminders)
89. Becky (The Mare’s Tale)
90. Becky (The Buried Biscuits)
91. Becky (The Kitnapped Creature)
92. Becky (The Blue Stealer)
93. My Two Blessings (Duma Key)
94. Memory (Kushiel’s Mercy)
95. ChristineMM (Crows and Cards)
96. Dorothy (Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby)
97. Books & Other Thoughts (Among that Mad)
98. Books & Other Thoughts (Mystery of the Green Cat)
99. Books & Other Thoughts (Dramacon, Vol. 3)
100. Books & Other Thoughts (Santa Olivia)
101. Books & Other Thoughts (Equal Rites)
102. Pussreboots (Harriet’s Hare)
103. Pussreboots (Fishing, For Christians)
104. Pussreboots (A Rebel in Time)
105. Pussreboots (Explorers on the Moon)
106. Pussreboots (Mouse, the Cat and Grandmother’s Hat)
107. Pussreboots (Destination Moon)
108. Gavin (Lavinia)
109. Gavin (Nation)
110. e-Mom (Real Moms Real Jesus) Giveaway
111. Kevin S (Summer Reading Mini Book Reviews
112. Diary of an Eccentric (The Wave)

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Saturday Review of Books: February 21, 2008

Feb20

“‘What shall I do with my books?’ was the question; and the answer ‘Read them’ sobered the questioner.
But if you cannot read them, at any rate handle them and, as it were, fondle them. Peer into them. Let them fall open where they will. Read on from the very first sentence that arrests the eye. Then turn to another. Make a voyage of discovery, taking soundings of uncharted seas. . . . Arrange them on your own plan, so that if you do not know what is in them, you at least know where they are. If they cannot be your friends, let them at any rate be your acquaintances. If they cannot enter the circle of your life, do not deny them at least a nod of recognition.”
~Winston Churchill

Welcome to this week’s Saturday Review of Books.

Here’s how it usually works. Find a review on your blog posted sometime this week of a book you’re reading or a book you’ve read. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can just write your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Now post a link here to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.

Thanks to everyone for participating.

1. Book Psmith (Bookends)
2. Biblauragraphy (Jellicoe Road)
3. Book Psmith (Ice in the Bedroom
4. Janet (The Irrational Season)
5. BOOKIE WOOGIE (How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird)
6. Kerrie (AREA 7, Matthew Reilly)
7. caribookscoops (Mufaro\’s Beautiful Daughters)
8. hollybookscoops (The Whirlwind)
9. caribookscoops (Nic Bishop Frogs)
10. Amy @ My Friend Amy (Tender Grace)
11. Amy @ My Friend Amy (Winter in Madrid)
12. Leah @ The Friendly Book Nook (Club Sandwich)
13. Carrie, RtK (Janet Halfmann picture books)
14. Carrie, RtK (Here\’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady)
15. Carrie, RtK (Don\’t Make Me Count to Three)
16. 5M4B (Jane Austen Ruined My Life)
17. 5M4B (Born Country)
18. 5M4B (Indignation)
19. 5M4B (The Velveteen Principles)
20. 5M4B (All I Need is Jesus and a Good Pair of Jeans)
21. 5M4B (The Mighty Queens of Freeville)
22. Kristi (The Spring of Candy Apples)
23. Maw Books (The Story of Ruby Bridges)
24. Maw Books (Everyone is Beautiful)
25. Maw Books (Matrimony)
26. Maw Books (Nic Bishop Frogs)
27. Tasses (The Help)
28. Framed (“Stand Back,” said the Elephant)
29. Framed (The Cruelest Month)
30. Word Lily (Snitch)
31. Petunia (The Mighty Queens of Freeville)
32. Margot (Mysterious Affair at Styles
33. pussreboots (Too Tall Alice)
34. pussreboots (The Savage)
35. pussreboots (Rapunzel\’s Revenge)
36. pussreboots (Q is for Quarry)
37. pussreboots (Pigeon Wants a Puppy)
38. Krakovianka (Crow Lake)
39. FleurFisher (The Elegance of the Hedgehog)
40. FleurFisher (The Castle of Wolfenbach)
41. FleurFisher (The Girl from the Chartreuse)
42. Farm Lane Books (The Lost Estate)
43. Farm Lane Books (The Hunger Games)
44. Farm Lane Books (The Ghost)
45. Farm Lane Books (The Bolter)
46. gautami tripathy (I Know This Much is True)
47. Violetcrush (Crossed Wires)
48. Kerrie- an interview with Hercule Poirot
49. Hope (Return from the River Kwai)
50. Amy @ Hope Is the Word (The Love Letters by Madeleine L\’Engle)
51. Deanna (Deerskin)
52. Nicola (The Valentine Cat)
53. Nicola (Fool)
54. CoversGirl (A Plague on Both Your Houses)
55. Nicola (Serenity: Those Left Behind)		 56. Nicola (Wolves in the Wall)
57. Nicola (Saint Valentine)
58. Nicola (Devil Bones)
59. Nicola (The Life & Death of Spiders)
60. CoversGirl (The Sculptress)
61. Nicola (Toon Books)
62. Nicola (Pieces of My Heart: A Life)
63. Nicola (Rapunzel\’s Revenge)
64. melydia (Fermat\’s Last Theorem)
65. melydia (Invisible Man)
66. Kittling: Books (Drood)
67. Lynne (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society)
68. Lynne (Very Valentine)
69. Lynne (Conviction)
70. Stephanie (North of Beautiful)
71. Lynne (Plum Spooky)
72. Margaret (The Septembers of Shiraz)
73. SFP (Buddenbrooks)
74. MFS at Mental multivitamin (Your Child\’s Strengths)
75. PisecoMom (Body Surfing)
76. SmallWorld Reads (The Road)
77. SmallWorld Reads (The Bonesetter\’s Daughter)
78. Joy (The Hunger Games)
79. Amy@The Sleepy Reader( The Shape of Mercy)
80. (blacklin) The Ivy Tree
81. Presenting Lenore (The Poison Apples)
82. Presenting Lenore (North of Beautiful)
83. Books & Other Thoughts (Courtney Crumrin and the Coven of Mystics)
84. Books & Other Thoughts (Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire)
85. Books & Other Thoughts (The Riddle)
86. Books & Other Thoughts (Magic Bites)
87. Books & Other Thoughts (The Colour of Magic)
88. Books & Other Thoughts (Here Lies the Librarian)
89. Sarah M., LH (The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax)
90. Beth F (Old Man\’s Cave)
91. Beth F (Mouse Guard)
92. Beth F (More Home Cooking)
93. Shonda (Shoots to Kill)
94. My Two Blessings (The Book Thief)
95. My Two Blessings (A Ghost in the Machine)
96. My Two Blessings (Hercule Poirot\’s Christmas)
97. ChristineMM (Purge)
98. The Book Lady\’s Blog (Callisto)
99. My Cozy Book Nook (The Hour I First Believed)
100. Molly (The Monsters of Templeton)
101. Book Chatter (Things I Want My Daughters To Know)
102. Jew Wishes (Tightrope)
103. Girl Detective (Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe, v. 5)
104. Michele (The Book Thief)
105. Michele (Knit Two)
106. Lazygal (The Weight of Heaven; Thrity Umrigar)
107. Lazygal (You or Someone Like You; Chandler Burr)
108. Lazygal (Need; Carrie Jones)
109. Lazygal (The Moonflower Vine; Jetta Carleton)
110. Lazygal (TMI)		 111. Amber (Uncommitment: Dealing with a Predator)
112. Memory (Nebula Awards Showcase 2004)
113. Memory (Watchmen)
114. Memory (Making the Perfect Pitch)
115. Memory (The Year\’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Seventeenth Annual Collection)
116. Mindy Withrow (The Red Leather Diary)
117. Mindy Withrow (Never Let Me Go)
118. Melissa Wiley (books read in Jan, several reviews)
119. Carol (Band of Brothers, Beyond B of B)
120. Captive Thoughts (Under a Wing)
121. S. Krishna (The Fire Gospel)
122. S. Krishna (School of Essential Ingredients)
123. S. Krishna (One True Theory of Love)
124. S. Krishna (Posed for Murder)
125. S. Krishna (The Last Mughal)
126. S. Krishna (Outliers)
127. Benjie (Coffeehouse Theology)
128. krin (In Fond Remembrance of Me)
129. krin (Invisible Monsters)
130. krin (Hush)
131. Becky (Punk Farm On Tour)
132. Becky (Banishment)
133. Becky (Young Person\’s Guide to Orchestra)
134. Becky (Mothstorm)
135. Becky (Skeleton Creek)
136. Becky (Two Shall Become One)
137. Becky (Dizzy)
138. Becky (Piano Starts Here)
139. Becky (Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumg)
140. Becky (Christianity in Crisis 21rst Century)
141. Becky (I Got Two Dogs)
142. Becky (Dance Recital)
143. Becky (Shake It Up Baby)
144. Becky (Love That Puppy)
145. Becky (Stuck in the Mud)
146. Marta\’s Meanderings (Fatal Friday)
147. Marta\’s Meanderings(When Evil Came…)
148. Marta\’s Meanderings(While My Sister Sleeps)
149. Marta\’s Meanderings(Undercover Alien)
150. Belinda (What the Dead Know-Audio)
151. Carey @ The Tome Traveller\’s Weblog (People of the Book)
152. Belinda (A Cup of Tea)
153. a lovely shore breeze (Lethal Legacy)
154. At Home With Books (The Angel Maker)
155. At Home With Books (The Art of Racing in the Rain)
156. At Home With Books (Silent in the Sanctuary)
157. Fate (The Kingdom of the Occult)
158. Fate (The Brief History of the Dead)
159. Serena (Secret Love Poems & Giveaway)
160. Diary of an Eccentric (The Suburban Dragon)
161. Diary of an Eccentric (Gold Dust on His Shirt)
162. Diary of an Eccentric (ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes, Year 1)
163. Diary of an Eccentric (Tomato Girl)
164. MTheads (Whittaker Chamber\’s: Witness
165. Amy Letinsky (Foreskin\’s Lament)

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What Christmas Is All About

Dec24

BAT_2008It’s almost Christmas, another Christmas, my fifty-second, and time for a bit of meditation on the “true meaning of Christmas.”

Charlie Brown had the right idea when he asked, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

I’ve enjoyed all the recipes and musical suggestions, the stories and the decorations, the sermons and the traditions as I’ve read through the blog posts for the Blog Advent Tour. I love the tinsel and lights on the Christmas tree, the fudge and the stuffing, the stockings that hang by the chimney with care, shopping especially if I can do it online, movies like White Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street, presents and ribbons and Santa Claus and Christmas cheer. It’s a full and overflowing time of year, and I fall under the spell of Christmas just as easily as any other sentimental sucker. We do it all: decorate the tree, hang the Christmas cards, buy and wrap gifts for a family of ten, bake cookies and attend parties and go caroling and read books . . . the list is exhaustive and exhausting and mostly fun.

But it’s not enough. A young friend of mine, in her twenties, has, as they say, “lost her faith.” I admit to a certain lack of sympathy for young people who have been taught the message of the gospel and seen it modeled, albeit imperfectly, and yet choose to let go of the truth, most times without even a whimper of protest or intense study to fight against the loss of the most precious thing that this life has to offer: the love and concern of the God of the universe as demonstrated in the life, death and resurrection of His Son. If it even might be true, isn’t it worth reading a few books and asking some questions to ascertain that truth? How can anyone “lose” such a precious thing as faith in a God who loves and cares for us so carelessly, like dropping a penny or a dime on the sidewalk and not even making the effort to pick it up?

Anyway, my friend, call her Sara, has lost her faith. So, I asked her what she is celebrating this Christmas. If you don’t believe in God and don’t trust in the miracle of Jesus, who is and was that very God incarnate, then what is Christmas all about? She said she wants to celebrate family and friends, that she has a good family and she just wants to have a good Christmas with them. Only one problem, my friend and her family are somewhat estranged because of Sara’s lifestyle choices. Oh, they’ll have Christmas together, probably enjoy a good meal and presents, but it won’t be a Hallmark Christmas because Sara and her family aren’t on TV with a script. They’re real messy people with real messy issues, and ultimately Family isn’t a substitute for a Saviour.

Neither is Stuff or Glitter or Conservatism or Liberalism or the New Millennium or Church or Food or Nature or any of the other dozens of things that we sometimes try to substitute for the true meaning of Christmas. Without Jesus, Christmas is an empty shell, not much to celebrate. Some of us can keep the shell game going for a long time; some even choose the empty shells instead of working to hang onto the real thing. But Christmas is about Christ, even if he wasn’t really born in December, even if you have questions and doubts, even if you’re messy or suffering or full of fear and even depression.

You can celebrate an empty Christmas and try to fill it yourself with material things and friends and family and whatever else happens to come along, but eventually, one Christmas, I predict that you’ll come up with a hollow place right at the center of your Christmas, right at the center of your life. And the only one who can fill that hole is Jesus Himself, the Word made Flesh who came to live among us full of grace and truth. If you don’t believe in that Truth, if you’re not sure Jesus really came to save sinners, then it’s worth your time and energy and material wealth to go on a search to find out if it might, possibly, maybe, under any circumstances be true after all.

On this Christmas Eve, I wish you a full Christmas, full of grace and truth, full of Jesus. Because He’s what Christmas is all about.

Karate Kid’s Sixth Grade Summer Reading List: 2008

May5

I am asking my children to read at least ten of the books on their individualized list before August 18, 2008. I also want each of them to memorize two poems this summer and present them for the family. I will take each child who does so out to eat to the restaurant of his choice, and I will also buy a book for each child who finishes the challenge. This list is for Karate Kid, age 11, who just finished fifth grade.

Andrew, Brother. God’s Smuggler. The true story of a Dutch man who smuggled Bibles and other Christian literature into countries behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War years. (Christian Biographies category for the Summer Book Blast)


Batson, Thomas Wayne. Isle of Swords. Treasure, a mysterious island, shark-infested waters, a treasure map, flogging, cutlasses, swords, guns, the British navy in pursuit, and explosions and swash-buckling battles galore: what more could a boy ask for? (Adventures category for the Summer Book Blast) Complete Semicolon review here.

The Bible. Romans. (Faith Builders category for the Summer Book Blast)

The Bible. I Samuel. (Faith Builders category for the Summer Book Blast)

Clements, Andrew. Frindle. Nick, a fifth-grade boy, invents a new word for pen: “frindle.” Soon, the whole country is using it. But Nick’s language arts teacher, Mrs. Granger, isn’t so happy with his creative endeavor. (Fiction category for the Summer Book Blast)


Dingle, Adrian. The Periodic Table: Elements with Style. For sixty-four of the elements, each has its own “home-page” in this introduction to the periodic table.

Feldman, Jodi. The Gollywhopper Games. Reviewed by Becky here.

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Spectacular Science: A Book of Poems. A collection of poems about science.

Jacques, Brian. Redwall. The Abbey of Redwall is home to a variety of animals who have adventures in this fantasy world. (Adventures category for the Summer Book Blast)

Katz, Linda. Gee Wiz. Subtitle: How to Mix Art and Science or the Art of Thinking Scientifically.

Kendall, Carolyn. The Gammage Cup. The story of five non-conformist Minnipins who become unlikely heroes probably hit a nerve in the non-conformist sixties, but it’s still a great story.(Adventures category for the Summer Book Blast)

McCaffrey, Anne. Black Horses for the King. A Roman Celtic youth, Galwyn, helps the future king of Britain, Lord Artos, acquire the legendary Black Horses of his legions. (Adventures category for the Summer Book Blast)

McCloskey, Robert. Homer Price. Homer lives in Centerburg where he tries to win a doughnut-eating contest and keeps a pet skunk, among other adventures. (Classics category for the Summer Book Blast)

O’Brien, Robert. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. A widowed field mouse, Mrs. Frisby, who seeks the aid of a group of former laboratory rats in rescuing her home from destruction by a farmer’s plow. (Classics category for the Summer Book Blast)


Robertson, Keith. Henry Reed, Inc. A great old-fashioned book about a boy who spends the summer in a small town with his uncle and aunt. Exciting things happen whenever Henry is around! (Fiction category for the Summer Book Blast)

Strobel, Lee. The Case for Faith for Kids. “Using kid-friendly language, Lee Strobel shares true examples of how people throughout the world demonstrate their faith in God while answering questions about the nature of God.” (Faith Builders category for the Summer Book Blast)


Wilson, N.D. 100 Cupboards. “Twelve-year-old Henry York wakes up one night to find bits of plaster in his hair. Two knobs have broken through the wall above his bed and one of them is slowly turning . . .” (Mysteries category for the Summer Book Blast)

Poems to memorize:

The Destruction of Sennacherib by George Gordon Byron.

The Tiger by William Blake.

107 Best Movies

1. African Queen (1951)
I think Bogart and Hepburn are great—real chemistry.
Best quote:Charlie Allnut (Bogart):I don’t know why the Germans would want this God-forsaken place.
Rose Sayer (Hepburn): God has not forsaken this place, Mr. Allnut, as my brother’s presence here bears witness.

2. Amadeus (1984)
We watched this once a long time ago when Engineer Husband and I were not too long married. He was somewhat embarrassed by how crude Mozart was in the movie because, as I remember it, Husband’s dad, a Baptist preacher, was watching the movie with us. Anyway, the movie isn’t biographical; I doubt Mozart was exactly as crude, rude and socially unacceptable as the movie portrays him to be (or he may have been worse). It’s about jealousy and second-rate talent recognizing genius and being content with the gifts God has given each of us (or not as the case may be).

3. Apollo 13 (1995)
This one is on here for Husband’s sake–and because I know people who were actually there when the events in the movie happened.

4. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
I love Cary Grant, and this movie is black comedy at its best.
Quote:Insanity runs in my family… It practically gallops.
Another: Mortimer Brewster: Aunt Abby, how can I believe you? There are twelve bodies in the cellar and you admit you poisoned them!
Aunt Abby Brewster: Yes, I did. But you don’t think I’d stoop to telling a fib!
One more: Reverend Harper: Have you ever tried to persuade him that he wasn’t Teddy Roosevelt?
Abby Brewster: Oh, no.
Martha Brewster: Oh, he’s so happy being Teddy Roosevelt.
Abby Brewster: Oh… Do you remember, Martha, once, a long time ago, we thought if he’d be George Washington, it would be a change for him, and we suggested it.
Martha Brewster: And do you know what happened? He just stayed under his bed for days and wouldn’t be anybody.

5. Back to the Future (1985)
Funny movie. It still works for me although I’m sure some of the jokes are already rather dated. Anybody want to make a movie where some guy goes back to the seventies?

6. Beauty and the Beast (1991, Disney)
I just like this fairy tale, and Beauty as a bookworm, and Mrs. Potts the teaspot with the voice of Angela Lansbury.

7. Becket (1964)
“King Henry II of England has trouble with the Church. When the Archbishop of Canterbury dies, he has a brilliant idea. Rather than appoint another pious cleric loyal to Rome and the Church, he will appoint his old drinking and wenching buddy, Thomas Becket, technically a deacon of the church, to the post. Unfortunately, Becket takes the job seriously and provides abler opposition to Henry than his predecessors were able to do. This leads to the famous question, “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?” With Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole.

8. Ben Hur (1959)
Guys watch it for the chariot race–which I’ll admit always keeps me on the edge of my seat. However, I think the story is great, and Charlton Heston is a great actor.

9. Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
It’s about war and heroism and absurdity, and I can stilll hum the theme song. (Unfortunately, I can’t whistle.)

10.Brigadoon (1954)
I think I like this one partly because of Gene Kelly, partly because it takes place in Scotland, and partly because Eldest Daughter was in a local production of Brigadoon a couple of years ago.

11. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
“In this screwball comedy, heiress Susan is determined to catch a stuffy zoologist and uses her pet leopard, Baby, to help get his attention. The elements of this farce include a yappy terrier who steals and buries an irreplaceable fossilized bone, a pompous big game hunter, a rich old aunt, a jealous fiancee, and a case of mistaken identity involving a second, and vicious, leopard.” Fun with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.

12. Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972)
You’re probably wondering how this veryseventies movie made the list. Chalk it up to nostalgia. I saw this movie when I was in high school and loved it so much I had to learn how to play the theme song on my flute. It’s sort of a hippie. flower child movie, but the cinematography (Franco Zefferelli) is beautiful. And it’s a good story.

13. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Paul Newman and Robert Redford star as the famous outlaws. This one is probably dated, too, but who cares? “Raindrops are falling on my head . . .”

14. Camelot (1967)
“In short, there’s simply not / a more congenial spot / for happily ever aftering than here in Camelot.”
I simply refuse to think that this movie has anything to with JFK; King Arthur is much more interesting than the Kennedys.

15. Casablanca (1942)
So it’s on everybody’s list. I like it, too.“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

16. Charade (1963)
You have to imagine Audrey Hepbrn and Cary Grant doing this dialog. I’m not sure anyone else could pull it off–even if my kids do say that Grant is old in this movie.
Regina Lampert: I already know an awful lot of people and until one of them dies I couldn’t possibly meet anyone else.
Peter Joshua: Well, if anyone goes on the critical list, let me know
Peter Joshua: So you think *I’m* the murderer? What do I have to do to convince you that I’m not, be the next victim?
Regina Lampert: Well that would be a start.

17. Chariots of Fire (1981)
Chariots is absolutely the most inspiring movie about standing firm for what one believes that I’ve ever seen.
Eric Liddell: I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure

18. A Christmas Carol (1984)
With George C. Scott. I like this version best. George C. makes a very concvincing Scrooge, and my children call the Ghost of Christmas To Come “Mr. Nice Guy” in an attempt to make him seem less scary.

19. Cinderella (1950, Disney)
Beter than Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. Cinderella is the classic girls’ fairy story, and every girl should believe that “someday my prince will come.”

20.Dead Poets’Society (1989)
Carpe diem! This film has ‘issues’ as Dancer Daughter would say. The professor in the movie does have a bad influence on the boys, leading at least one of them to make a disastrous decision when he can’t handle the consequences of that decision. But the offspring like it, and I like Robin Williams–and Nwanda.

21. Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
This movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1989, and Jessica Tandy won Best Actress. It’s about the friendship between an elderly Southern Jewish lady and her black chauffer. Organizer Daughter says it’s extremely boring, but I like old people and relationship movies.

22. Emma (1996)
Jane Austen is the best novelist ever, and even though I don’t care much for Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam is good as Mr. Knightly. We watched this one at a homeschool moms retreat last year, and all the moms enjoyed it.

23. Fantasia (1940)
Classic Disney. Surely, just about anyone in North America who hears the music to “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” thinks of Mickey Mouse and his broom.

24. Father Goose (1964)
Another Cary Grant movie, this time with Leslie Caron on a deserted Pacific island during WW 2.

25. Father of the Bride (1950)
Spencer Tracy makes a better father than Steve Martin, more twinkle-in-the-eye. And Elizabeth Taylor is beautiful as usual.

26. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Anyone who isn’t a LOTR fan by now just doesn’t get it, and I probably can’t explain it. Suffice it to say that Peter Jackson and all the cast and crew of all three movies deserved all the Oscars they won and then some. If you think the movies are good (and they are), the books are even better. Frodo lives!

27. Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
Tevye the Jewish milkman talks to God and tries to understand his wife Golde and looks for husbands for his six daughters. Unfortunately, the world is changing, and the dependable things in Tevye’s life are becoming few and far between.
Perchik: Money is the world’s curse.
Tevye: May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover.
Tevye: As the good book says ‘Each shall seek his own kind’. In other words a bird may love a fish but where would they build a home together?

28. Finding Nemo (2002)
I’m Dory. “Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming . . .”

29. Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Jessica Tandy again, in a nursing home sharing her memories with Kathy Lee Bates. It’s kind of a mystery, reminiscence, Southern, chick flick with zero romance, sort of feminist.

30. Funny Girl (1968)
I can’t stand Barbra Streisand, and I love her singing and acting. In fact, there are at least three Barbra Streisand movies on this list, and in one of them she doesn’t even sing much. In this one she does sing, and she plays an insecure Jewish actress who becomes rich and famous but never can quite believe the the Ugly Duckling has turned into a Swan.

31. Gettysburg (1993)
Is there anything sadder in all of history than Pickett’s charge at Gettyburg? It’s Aristotelian tragedy in the middle of an essentially tragic war.

32. Gone with the Wind (1939)
Classic. “I’ll think about that tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day.” “I don’t know nothing about birthin’ no babies, Miz Scarlett.” “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” You just have to get the accent right.

33. The Great Escape (1963)
Steve McQueen is great as the American Cooler King. The rest of the cast is wonderful, too. This one is supposed to be based on a true story.

34. Harvey (1950)
Jimmy Stewart plays a lovable eccentric with a friend named Harvey, a very tall rabbit that no one else can see.

35. Hello Dolly (1969)
As I said before, I like Barbra Streisand in movies. This musical is one of the great Broadway musicals of all time, and Streisand is bold and brassy and funny as the matchmaker who wants a match for herself.

36. Henry V ( 1989)
Kenneth Branaugh’s masterpiece. Henry V is inspiring, has great music, and even makes me laugh.

37. The Hiding Place (1975)
Jeanette Clift George is the director of AD Players here in Houston, and she stars in this movie as Corrie Ten Boom, a middle-aged Dutch Christian who is caught hiding Jews in her home during the Nazi occupation of Holland. It’s an inspirational movie from a Christian worldview.

38. Homeward Bound (1993)
Everybody has to like at least one dog movie–even me, even though real dogs are not my best friends. I’ll take the ones on the screen and enjoy this story of faithful pets making their way back to their masters.

39. The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
Oscar WIlde was a mess, but he was funny. This story is so much fun and so ridiculous.
Lady Bracknell: To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness.

40.It Happened One Night (1934)
Clark Gable is a reporter in this romantic comedy about a run-away rich girl.

41. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
The best comedy ever made. My children used to have passages from this movie memorized. This dialog was their favorite:
Benjy Benjamin: Now look! We’ve figured it seventeen different ways, and each time we figured it, it was no good, because no matter how we figured it, somebody don’t like the way we figured it! So now, there’s only one way to figure it. And that is, every man, including the old bag, for himself!
Ding Bell: So good luck and may the best man win!
Benjy Benjamin: Except you lady, may you just drop dead!

42. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
This one is my children’s least favorite movie and my husband’s favorite. I think he identifies with Jimmy Stewart, the man who never got to live his dreams but found out that he did have a wonderful life.

43. The King and I (1956)
I really enjoy all the Siamese children and the wives and, of course, Yul Brynner as the king of Thailand. “Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera. . .”

44. Life Is Beautiful (1997 La vita e bella)
This movie is strange. It’s in Italian with subtitles; it’s about a Jewish man and his son and his wife being placed into a concentration camp during World War II. However, it’s sort of a comedy or maybe a tragicomedy. Anyway, it’s very moving and bittersweet.

45. Lillies of the Field (1963)
I love the nuns and Sidney Poitier as their hired man. This is a wonderful movie about faith and determination and the meeting of three cultures—Black American, German Catholic, and Mexican American. They all manage to somehow, by the grace of God, build something wonderful in the middle of the desert.

46. The Lion in Winter (1968)
This one is a solid historical drama, and I like Katherine Hepburn. Try it as a double feature with Becket since both movies are about Henry II. Peter O’Toole plays Henry II in both movies.

47. Little Women (1994)
A good modern version of Louisa May Alcott’s classic story. There’s an older version with Hepburn as Jo, but I like this one even if it is ever so slightly feminist.

48. The Longest Day (1962)
Hollywood’s version of D-Day. Although it’s a little bit dated, this movie presents a pretty good picture of what happened to at least some soldiers on D-Day. Unlike Saving Private Ryan, which I thought was pointless, The Longest Day doesn’t try to be profound. It’s just your garden variety Hollywood epic with lots of big name stars and memorable little vignetttes of things that actually happened on D-Day.

49. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
We just watched this one several months ago, and I thought it was great. The offspring were not impressed. I thought Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner were both excellent even though I learned in watching the special features on the DVD that McQueen kept trying to steal scenes because he thought he should have been THE STAR. The funny thing was, after being told, I could see McQueen trying to take over scene after scene. This is the story of a Mexican village that hires seven gunslingers to teach them to defend their village from the local desperado. It’s one of the few westerns on this list, and I told the children that it was an “existential western.” It’s based on a Japanese movie,The Seven Samurai.

50. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Detective Sam Spade, another existential hero, gets involved in the search for a valuable statue. Spade has his own code of conduct and his own way of dealing with whatever life dishes out. Humphrey Bogart is the quintessential tough guy detective.

51. Mary Poppins (1964)
Supercalifrigilisticexpialidocious. Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews are a great comedic team in this Disney-made story of magic, chimneysweeps, kites, bankers, and a very special nanny.
Mr. Banks: Just a moment, Mary Poppins. What is the meaning of this outrage?
Mary Poppins: I beg your pardon?
Mr. Banks: Will you be good enough to explain all this?
Mary Poppins: First of all I would like to make one thing perfectly clear.
Mr. Banks: Yes?
Mary Poppins: I never explain anything.

52. A Man For All Seasons (1966)
Sir Thomas More vs. Henry VIII. This historical movie portrays an epic battle of the wills, and I’m generally fascinated by the life and times of Henry VIII. I also like English history in general. (Eldest Daughter, however, absolutely abhors Sir Thomas More and wouldn’t watch any movie that portrays him!)
The Duke of Norfolk: Oh confound all this. I’m not a scholar, I don’t know whether the marriage was lawful or not but dammit, Thomas, look at these names! Why can’t you do as I did and come with us, for fellowship!
Sir Thomas More: And when we die, and you are sent to heaven for doing your conscience, and I am sent to hell for not doing mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?

53. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne and director John Ford. This mystery/western is one of the best of the genre.

54. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Jimmy Stewart again, this time with Doris Day in an Alfred Hitchcock mystery set in Morrocco. And Doris sings her classic Que Sera, Sera at the climax of the movie.

55. The Miracle Worker (1962)
Anne Bancroft plays Teacher Annie Sullivan, and a young Patty Duke plays Helen Keller. The scene in which Helen recognizes her first words at the water pump is classic-worth the whole movie.

56. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Jimmy Stewart teams with director Frank Capra this time to make this film about political corruption and political courage.

58. Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
Kenneth Branagh directs and stars in this Shakespeare adaptation with Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, and Michael Keaton. And they’re all great. The skinny-dippng scene at the beginning is not indicative of the rest of the movie. One later scene later does get a little “hot and heavy,” but the movie is definitely worth the blips. The reparte between Benedick and Beatrice is so memorable that you may find yourself quoting Shakespeare in spite of yourself. Enjoy.

59. Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
This version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is one of our family favorites for Christmas with Kermit and Miss Piggy and all the Muppets and Michael Caine as Scrooge

60. The Music Man (1962)
76 trombones lead the big parade; Professor Harold Hill can charm the money out of an Ioway skeptic; and who can resist lyrics like these:
Marian Paroo: Do you think that I’d allow a common masher – ? Now, really, mama. I have my standards where men are concerned and I have no intention…
Mrs. Paroo: I know all about your standards and if you don’t mind my sayin’ so there’s not a man alive who could hope to measure up to that blend of Paul Bunyan, Saint Pat, and Noah Webster you’ve concocted for yourself out of your Irish imagination, your Iowa stubbornness, and your li’berry full of books!

61. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
I really liked this movie. I think I identify our big sometimes embarrassing, sometimes endearing, family with the Greek family in the movie. I would like to have a “clean films” version of the movie because, of course, the “gods of Hollywood” had to stick in the obligatory “sex before marriage” scene. Nevertheless, I really loved the fact that Ian knew that he was not just marrying a girl but also her family.

62. My Fair Lady (1964)
Of course, the ending is unsatisfactory. Why does Eliza go back to that conceited Henry Higgins? And Rex Harrison can’t even sing–just speaks his lyrics. Nevertheless, the songs and the acting and the story of a flowergirl who becomes a lady are all delightful enough to make up for any flaws.

63. North by Northwest (1959)
Hitchcock and Cary Grant again, a great combination. IMDB says that Jimmy Stewart wanted the role, but Hitchcock thought he was too old. See, children, Cary Grant isn’t old at all!

64. Notorious (1946)
O.K., I like Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. I think Grant makes a dashing hero as he runs upstairs to rescue Bergman, the damsel in distress. I’m just a sucker for suspense and romance put together.

65. Oklahoma (1955)
The first great movie musical. Yes, it’s pretty corny, but the songs are great anyway. And I can’t resist the humor of “Poor Jud Is Dead.” “It’s summer and we’re running out of ice.”

66. Oliver! (1968)
Another great movie musical, and Dickens is one of my favorite authors. Jack WIld plays an engaging Artful Dodger, and Mark Lester is so cute as Oliver. I also think Oliver Reed is a great actor. (I once saw Oliver Reed in a film about Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and to this day I picture Rossetti looking a lot like OR)

67. Ordinary People (1980)
This one is more serious. Pair it with Dead Poet’s Society; both of them are about boys from affluent families trying to grow up and coping with dysfunctional families. Mary Tyler Moore gives a great performance, and so does Timothy Hutton as the boy who feels responsible for his older brother’s death.

68. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn again. I’ve learned one thing from making this list. I had no idea I was so obsessed with Cary Grant. I must have just about every one of his movies on this list. I wonder why? I do know Philadelphia Story is funny and even poignant at times. KH plays a rich spoiled heiress who doesn’t realize that she’s still in love with her ex-husband even as she’s about to marry someone else.

69. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2002)
Wow! I didn’t expect this movie to be any good when the kids told me about it, and the plot does get a little thin at times. However, Johnny Depp is one funny actor.
Jack Sparrow: “I think we’ve all arrived at a very special place. Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically.”
OR Jack Sparrow, again:”Me? I’m dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It’s the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they’re going to do something incredibly… stupid.”
One more:
Jack Sparrow: No. Not good. Stop. Not good. What are you doing? You’ve burned all the food, the shade, the RUM.
Elizabeth: Yes, the rum is gone.
Jack Sparrow: Why is the rum gone?
Elizabeth: One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels. Two, that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire royal navy is out looking for me; do you really think that there is EVEN the slightest chance that they won’t see it?
Jack Sparrow: But why is the rum gone?

70. Pride and Prejudice (BBC, 1996)
This isn’t really a movie, but rather a BBC mini-series, However, it’s one of our family favorites. Colin Firth makes a great Darcy. Jane Austen wrote a great book.

71. Prince of Egypt (1998)
In spite of the vague “spirituallty” and a few distortions of fact, I thought this movie was very well done. I was quite impressed with the chariot race at the beginning, and for the most part, the film was both reverent and dramatically compelling. Not just for kids.

72. The Princess Bride (1987)
Again not just for kids. A grandfather reads his grandson a story, and the viewer gets to enjoy a movie full of great dialog, memorable characters, and “true love.”
The Grandson: A book?
Grandpa: That’s right. When I was your age, television was called books. And this is a special book. It was the book my father used to read to me when I was sick, and I used to read it to your father. And today I’m gonna read it to you.
The Grandson: Has it got any sports in it?
Grandpa: Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…
The Grandson: Doesn’t sound too bad. I’ll try to stay awake.
Grandpa: Oh, well, thank you very much, very nice of you. Your vote of confidence is overwhelming.

73. Rear Window (1954)
We just watched this Alfred Hitchcock classic again about a month ago, and I remembered how much I like Jimmy Stewart and how beautiful Grace Kelly was.

74. Rebecca (1940)
Another Alfred Hitchcock title. I’ve already blogged about Rebecca and about Daphne du Maurier here.

75. Return of the King (2003)
I think I may have put this movie on the list before I even saw it. Either you love Tolkien, the books and the movies, or you don’t see what all the fuss is about. So what else is there to say–except how could any one resist falling in love with all four of the hobbits and Aragorn, too. However, Sam is definitely the hero of the story.

76. The Right Stuff (1983)
I don’t know how historically accurate this movie is (based on the book by Tom Wolfe). Nevertheless, with a husband who works for NASA and loves all things space, I had to put this one on the list. And I think the John Glenn portayed by Ed Harris in this movie is both endearing and heroic.

77. Roman Holiday (1953)
Audrey Hepburn is a princess who escapes her duties for a day and meets up with an American reporter for an adventurous exploration of Rome. It’s fun, romantic, and sad.

78. Romeo and Juliet (1968)
The director of this version of Shakespeare’s play is Franco Zeffirelli, and therefore the sets and costumes are lush and beautiful I saw this movie when I was a teenager, and I still think of the actors in Zeffirelli’s movie whenever I read Romeo and Juliet.

79. Sabrina (1954)
This one is better than than the 1995 remake because the 1954 version has Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. We “chicks” like chick flicks.

80. Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet make a nice pair of sisters with contrasting personalities–the elder very sensible, the younger emotional in the extreme. Again, you can’t go wrong with Jane Austen as long as you just stick to the story pretty much as written.

81. The Shawshank Redemption (R) (1994)
Andy Dufresne is in prison for the murder of his wife, but his 20 year sentence doesn’t mean his life is over. Andy has a plan. There’s lots of bad language in this film, but it’s set in a prison for Pete’s sake. The screenplay is based on a short story by Stephen King. Not for kids.

82. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor sing and dance their way into film history. Everybody should watch Gene Kelly sing and dance in the rain at least once.

83. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Snow White was the first feature length animated film Disney made (83 minutes, to be exact). Can you name all seven dwarves? And why did Disney misspell dwarves?

84. Sleepless in Seattle
Nora Ephron writes a funny screenplay, and Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are endearing. It’s another chick flick, but the guys might just sneak a look and find themselves enjoying it, too.

85. Sommersby
This movie got generally poor reviews, but I thought it was wonderful Richard Gere (Jack Sommersby) comes home to his wife Laurel (Jodie Foster) after the Civil War, and he is a changed man. He changes the community, too, and brings hope, but eventually the community must decide whether they will believe in the hope and in the man.

86. Sound of Music (1965)
Classic, pure classic.

87. Spiderman (2002)
“Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can.” The boy is cute, the girl is too pouty-lipped, and the villain looks just like one of Eldest Daughter’s professors at Baylor.

88. Stand and Deliver. Warning: Inspirational teacher movie. If you don’t like inspirational teacher movies, stay away. I happen to like the ones that are as well done as this one.

89.Star Wars (1977)
Ignore the New Age mumbo-jumbo, and just enjoy the adventure. Brown Bear Daughter used to quote Star Wars when she was three years old.
Semicolon Family: What does Princess Leia say?
BB Daughter: I’d wather kiss a wookie.
Semicolon Family: What does Luke Skywalker say?
BB Daughter: Oh, no, dat’s impossible!
Semicolon Family: What does Darth Vader say?
BB Daughter: Yuke, come to the dawk side!
Semicolon Family What does Han Solo say?
BB Daughter: I have a bad feeling about this.

90. The Sting (1973)
Paul Newman and Robert Redford team up to pull the big con on a well-deserving target.

91. The Ten Commandments (1956)
Biblical epic directed by Cecil B. DeMille. I prefer Prince of Egypt, but no one should miss Charlton Moses.

92. The Terminal(2004) Tom Hanks stars as a foreigner who gets stuck in an airport when there’s a coup in his home nation, and he becomes a man without a country.

93. That Thing You Do! (1996)
Tom Hanks directs and and has a small role in this film about a one-hit rock band called the Oneders (WON-ders) and their meteoric rise to fame. This one is so good because it’s a rare occurrence these days, a film for teenagers and adults that’s clean and fun.

94. The Three Musketeers (1973)
Get the old one. It does have a seventies flavor, but it also has Oliver Reed, Michael York, Richard Chamberlain. Raquel Welch threatens to spill out of her clothing throughout the movie but never does. If you’ve ever read the book, you know this movie boasts a plot full of adventure.

95. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Harper Lee wrote the Pulitzer prize winning novel; Horton Foote wrote the screenplay. Gregory Peck plays Atticus Finch, a small town Southern lawyer who must defend a client on a rape charge. The story is really about Atticus’s children, Scout and Jem, and how they learn about racism, poverty, and the strength of their own father.

96. Toy Story (1995)
Toys come to life, and the cowboy toy (Tom Hanks) is jealous of the new astronaut toy, Buzz Lightyear. Loads of animated fun for all ages.

97. The Truman Show (1998)
This movie is one of the few that is entertaining and profound at the same time. Jim Carrey plays an insurance adjustor who discovers that his entire life is just a reality TV show. However, this movie came before reality TV took over the airwaves.

98. The Two Towers (2002)
Arguably the best of the trilogy, this movie continues the saga begun in The Fellowship of the Ring. If you haven’t sen all three movies in this set, do so immediately.

99. Vertigo (1958)
Not my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie, mostly because Kim Novak annoys me. However, it has an intriguing plot, and it has Jimmy Stewart. I only wish Stewart had the sense to hook up with Barbara Bel Geddes instead of Kim Novak, but then we wouldn’t have a movie.

100. The Way We Were (1973)
Maybe it’s just nostalgia now, but I loved this movie when I first saw it, and I still do. Robert Redford plays Hubbell Gardner, a “Golden Boy” for whom everything comes too easilly. Barbra Streisand is a poor Jewish communist who cares too much about everything: politics, truth, and Hubbell. They get together because opposites do attract, but the attraction can’t last. Tragic love story.

101. West Side Story (1961)
A musical version of Romeo and Juliet transferred to New York City in the 1950’s. Leonard Bernstein wrote the music, and Natlaie Wood makes a beautiful Maria (Juliet). Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1962 as well as numerous other awards, this movie deserved them all.

102. What’s Up, Doc (1972)
Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal are hilariously funny in this Peter Bogdanovich screwball comedy. It has mixed up luggage, spies, stolen jewelry, a chase scene through Chinatown in San Francisco, and lots of funny characters. Madeleine Kahn is especially good as O’Neal’s annoyingly funny fiance.

103. White Christmas (1954)
Semicolon Family’s favorite Christmas movie ever. We watch this one every December, and we laugh at all the same ol jokes.
Phil Davis: When what’s left of you gets around to what’s left to be gotten, what’s left to be gotten won’t be worth getting, whatever it is you’ve got left.
Phil Davis: I want you to get married. I want you to have nine children. And if you only spend five minutes a day with each kid, that’s forty-five minutes, and I’d at least have time to go out and get a massage or something.
Phil Davis: How can a guy that ugly have the nerve to have sisters?
Bob Wallace: Very brave parenting.
Bob Wallace: Miss Haynes, if you’re ever under a falling building and someone offers to pick you up and carry you to safety, don’t think, don’t pause, don’t hesitate for a moment, just spit in his eye.
Betty Haynes: What did that mean?
Bob Wallace: It means we’re going to Vermont.

104. The Winslow Boy (1999)
This story is about honor, and justice, and loyalty, and the pursuit of justice. It’s also about the attraction between an unlikely pair, a conservative barrister and a suffragette. The screenplay and direction are by David Mamet, famous playwright.

105. Wuthering Heights (1939)
Finally, this black and white adaptation of Emily Bronte’s novel stars Merle Oberon as Cathy and Sir Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff. Doomed lovers are bound to one another even in death on the moors of Yorkshire.
Ellen : Well, if Master Edgar and his charms and money and parties mean Heaven to you, what’s to keep you from taking your place among the Linton angels.
Cathy: I don’t think I belong in Heaven, Ellen. I dreamt once that I was there. I dreamt I went to Heaven, and that Heaven didn’t seem to be my home. And I broke my heart with weeping to come back to Earth. And the angels were so angry they flung me out into the middle of the heap, on top of Wuthering Heights. And I woke up sobbing with joy. That’s it, Ellen. I have no more business marrying Edgar Linton than I have of being in Heaven. But Ellen, Ellen, what can I do?
Ellen: You’re thinking of Heathcliff.
Cathy: Who else? He’s sunk so low. He seems to take pleasure in being mean and brutal. And yet, he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. And Linton’s is as different as frost from fire…Ellen, I am Heathcliff.

Added after the initial list was alphabetized:

106. Napoleon Dynamite. (2004) You’ll either love it or hate it. I love it; my kids hate it and can’t believe I would recommend it. My suggestion is that you think of it as an episodic cartoon strip instead of movie with a totally coherent, linear plot. It actually was conceived as a comic strip first, and it works better if you think of it that way.

107. On the Waterfront. (1954) THis movie made me decide that Brando does have a certain appeal. He plays a tough guy, but he’s a bum with a heart. I can see why this movie won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Christians who talk about “taking back Hollywood” and making Christian-themed movies need to take a look at this 1954 sermon on film about courage and repentance and redemption and standing against evil.

Goodbye Summer; Hello Autumn: A Potpourri

Sep23

Lots of my fellow bloggers have been saying good-bye to Summer and greeting Autumn with lists and plans and fond farewells. Here in Houston, we may wish for autumn to come, may long for the sweet relief of cooler weather and lower electricity bills, but pretending that the end of August or the beginning of school or the day after Labor Day is really the beginning of autumn is farcical. We can only start pretending on the first official day of fall: September 23rd, the autumnal equinox. Mind you, the weather hasn’t arrived yet, but we can start pretending. Let the longing for autumn begin! After all, Autumn is only a state of mind.

****NOTE: SCROLL DOWN TO THE NEXT POST TO ADD YOUR REVIEW TO TODAY’S SATURDAY REVIEW OF BOOKS*****

Here’s my favorite autumn poem:

Vagabond Song by Bliss Carmon
THERE is something in the autumn that is native to my blood–
Touch of manner, hint of mood;
And my heart is like a rhyme,
With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.
The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry
Of bugles going by.
And my lonely spirit thrills
To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.
There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir
We must rise and follow her,
When from every hill of flame
She calls and calls each vagabond by name.

Bloggers Celebrate Autumn

Dawn lists her autumn delights, in many of which I share her joy.

Queen Shenaynay says goodbye to summer and lists her accomplishments for the season past. She says she didn’t do as much as she would have wished, but I’m totally impressed by what she did do. How would you like to come over and clean out my closets, O Queen of the Beehive?

Fa-So-La-La. also of the Beehive, has an equally impressive list and farewell to summer.

MotherReader lists the accomplishments of the summer and wishes everyone a Happy School Year.

Lars Walker says that September 8th was the first day of fall in Minnesota “in terms of the nuance in the air.”

Cindy of Dominion Family is looking forward to fall.

Kim’s Hiraeth: Autumn Harvest Soup

Steve at Flos Carmeli asks all poet-bloggers to join in his linked haiku with an autumn theme in the post, An Invitation to Versify.

Journey Woman associates fall with Robert Frost’s Mending Wall. I agree that Frost is a fall/winter poet. Snow, New England, fall work on the farm, trees–these are the images that I think of when I think of Frost. I like Robert Frost. Is he out of fashion now?

And the Seventh Carnival of Children’s Literature at Wands and Worlds has a fall harvest theme. Sheila Ruth has lots of good, fall, bookish links for lovers of children’s literature to enjoy.

As Ichabod jogged slowly on his way, his eye, ever open to every symptom of culinary abundance, ranged with delight over the treasures of jolly autumn. On all sides he beheld vast store of apples; some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees; some gathered into baskets and barrels for the market; others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press. Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, with its golden ears peeping from their leafy coverts, and holding out the promise of cakes and hasty pudding; and the yellow pumpkins lying beneath them, turning up their fair round bellies to the sun, and giving ample prospects of the most luxurious of pies . . . The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving



Question: Why are used copies of Mousekin’s Golden House selling for over $50.00 on Amazon, but the rest of the Mousekin books are available at reasonable prices?

Fall Curriculum Helps
Preschool Activities for Fall

Pumpkin Poems and Songs

Why do leaves change color in the fall? An explanation and two related science experiments.

In Living Color: Fall Leaves, a homeschool fall unit study.

It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day; the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

Fall Book Lists:

Seasonal Soundings’ Autumn Reading Challenge, a delightful collection of lists of what various participating bloggers plan to read this autumn.

New York Daily News

Washington Post

Autumn Unit Study from Seven Pillars Booknook
Autumn Booklist from the same source

Top 10 Books About Fall Literature

Librarian Pam Miech writes in the Providence (RI) Journal about fall food books, specifically books about pumpkins and apples. Someday, I’d like to do a whole year of homeschool in which we just do unit studies on different foods: apples, pumpkins, pecans, bread, rice, peanuts, beans, etc. In fact, a series of blog posts outlining unit studies on those foods and presenting resources for such a study would be fun, too. But Ms. Miech has already done apples and pumpkins for me.

field_day_button_2_5
Don’t forget to contribute to Dawn’s (By Sun and Candlelight) Early Autumn Field Day. Any posts or pictures about nature of any kind are welcome, and the deadline is Monday, September 25th.

SEPTEMBER MORN
Written by Neil Diamond and Gilbert Becaud

Stay for just a while
Stay, and let me look at you
It’s been so long, I hardly knew you
Standing in the door
Stay with me a while
I only wanna talk to you
We’ve traveled halfway ’round the world
To find ourselves again

September morn
We danced until the night became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play
September morning still can make me feel that way

Look at what you’ve done
Why, you’ve become a grown-up girl
I still can hear you crying
In a corner of your room
And look how far we’ve come
So far from where we used to be
But not so far that we’ve forgotten
How it was before

September morn
Do you remember how we danced that night away
Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play
September morning still can make me feel that way

1979 Stonebridge Music (ASCAP)

In addition to Robert Frost, I also like Neil Diamond. I have eclectic tastes.

Picture Book Preschool Book of the Week: Week 20

May15


“A hill is a house for an ant, an ant.
A hive is a house for a bee.
A hole is a house for a mole or a mouse
And a house is a house for me!”

A House Is a House For Me by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Betty Fraser, goes on rollicking and rhyming from there to tell about all the possible houses for all the creatures you can imagine. Then, it moves on to expand your creativity and that of your child by telling us that “a stocking’s a house for a knee” and “cartons are houses for crackers.” The illustrations give even more examples of people, animals, and things, each inside its own cozy house or tent or container or home. And the rhyme and the rhythm keep the story going.

Mary Ann Hoberman: “I knew I was going to be a writer even before I knew how to write! I think I was about four years old when I first understood that many of the stories I loved so much had been made up by real people, with real names, rather than having always been here like the moon or the sky. I decided then that when I grew up I would write stories, too, that would be printed in books for other people to read. But meanwhile I didn�t wait to grow up or even to learn how to write. I started right away to make up stories and poems and songs in my head, which I told to myself or to my little brother�”

Question: Do you have a child (or children) who tells stories to herself? I did. Eldest Daughter walked around and around in circles and told stories to herself. Z-baby just makes up her own songs.

We read this book aloud this morning, and now Z-baby and Bethy Bee are busy making houses for their dolls out of shoe boxes.

Mary Ann Hoberman’s website.
Go here for a short interview with poet Mary Ann Hoberman.
Try this webpage for a first grade level lesson plan about homes and neighborhoods.
Here’s another lesson plan in which the teacher guides children to write a story of their own about quilts in the style of A House Is a House for Me.

“And once you get started in thinking this way,
It seems that whatever you see
Is either a house or it lives in a house,
And a house is a house for me!”

Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. Click on the link in the sidebar if you are interested in purchasing a copy of the preschool curriculum, Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early.