My Hobbit face

As I mentioned last night, I'll be participating in the 48 Hour Book Challenge this weekend. So, you get the many faces post a little early this month.

This costume was from the Hobbit program we did for teen summer reading last year. Again, most of this was stuff I already had around the house. The Hobbit feet were really simple to make with craft foam, a little paint, and some brown yarn. You can't tell from this photo but the leaf on my cape has my name written in Elvish (one of the program activities).

Heads up

I wanted to let you know about some schedule changes here on The One and Only Marfalfa this week. I've signed up for the 48 Hour Book Challenge which begins this Friday at 7 am. So, my regular weekly book review will go up Thursday afternoon. All of Friday and Saturday you can expect to see mini book reviews, check-in, etc, here. Plus I'll be posting a recap of my weekend next Monday. 

Barbie's never looked better

In my continuing quest to prepare for my upcoming Doctor Who program, this weekend I decided to make a weeping angel using this awesome tutorial from Craftster.

Start with a Barbie.

The tutorial uses one of those Barbies with the jointed elbows but this is what I had on hand. So, I hacked at her arms with a razor knife for a good hour. And her elbows are pretty much just hot glue now but she seems to be holding together pretty well.

I followed the tutorial pretty much to the letter. I just used some scrap fabric I had around instead of gauze. Also, I found that coating the dress in white glue before I painted it added a nice level of stiffness.

So, here's my finished angel.

Book Review: Revolution

Title: Revolution
Author: Deborah Wiles
Genre: Historical Fiction
Similar books: If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth
                     One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
                     Are You Experienced by Jordan Sonnenblick
Rating:

Enjoyable and thought-provoking. I wish they taught this stuff better in schools

Summary: Sunny's whole world is changing. Her dad remarried a year ago and his new wife and her two kids are still finding their place in Sunny's family. Its the summer of 1964 in Mississippi and the world seems to be exploding around her. 
My opinion: Two things really impressed me about this book. 1) The prevailing emotion in Greenwood Mississippi was fear. Generally books about integration and race relations are about hate. Wiles puts much more emphasis on fear, which can be just as destructive. 2) Very little changes by the end of the summer. Again, these books tend to end with sweeping changes and new attitudes. The reality is, social changes happen in small steps. Add in Sunny's story of family and social awareness and the great historical documents and ephemera and this one is a definite winner.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Books on Screen

Shrek

Here's another movie that most people don't realize was originally a book. So, what do these two stories have in common?
1. The ogre's name is Shrek
2. He is green and has those weird suction cup looking things for ears
3. He meets a talking donkey (though in the book this is the result of a spell that Shrek recites)
4. Shrek falls in love
The book has no cursed princess, corrupt Lord, or recognizable fairy tale characters. And this is a rare case where I think I prefer the movie over the book. Mostly because the movie has a much more cohesive plot line.

WWW Wednesdays

What are you currently reading?
Hungry by H. A. Swain
In Thalia's world, liquid nutrition and inoculations have replaced food. No one is hungry. At least, that's what One World says. Lately, though, Thalia has been experiencing unusual symptoms. She's light headed. And her stomach makes odd noises. Could it be possible? Is Thalia....hungry? And what will One World do when they find out?
It's a little slow going so far but I'm about halfway through it and things seem to be picking up.

What did you recently finish reading?
How to Outrun a Crocodile When Your Shoes are Untied by Jess Keating
Ana's best friend has moved away. To New Zealand! There's a group of girls at school determined to make her life miserable. To make matters worse, her family is moving into a house in the zoo and her tv star grandfather is in town to make a documentary. Right when Ana would like nothing better than to disappear, the world seems to be conspiring to force her into the spotlight.
This is a pretty decent story about not letting other people's opinions color your view of yourself.

What do you think you will read next?
The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu
This one has been getting a lot of buzz and I'm really looking forward to reading it.

Music and Mayhem

9 months of hard work have finally paid off. We had our puppet variety show on Saturday. Nine kids participated in the show (illness prevented it from being ten). They were very proud of their hard work. I hope to have a link to the YouTube video of the show for you in a week or two. In the mean time, here are some photos from the event.