Dogs, Cats, and assorted poultry

This week's Wednesday performer was Martin Molecule from Mad Science of Maine. Martin put on an awesome show with explosions, reactions, observations, and potato slaughter.

Our other major program this week was the annual pet show. Our judges are kids and most of the participants are kids. While we do name a best in show, everyone wins some kind of prize. It keeps the whole thing relaxed and ensures that everyone has fun. 

Book review - The Girl from the Well

Title: The Girl from the Well
Author: Rin Chupeco
Genre: Horror
Similar books: The Poisoned House by Michael Ford
                     White Space by Ilsa Bick
Rating: 

Surprisingly beautiful, somewhat eerie

Summary: Okiku has been a ghost, a vengeful spirit, for so long that she barely remembers what she once was. She exists only to get vengeance for other victims and prevent them from becoming like her. It is simple. Simple until she meets Tark, the tattooed boy with an evil presence clinging to him. For some reason, Okiku can't seem to leave Tark behind. For some reason, she finds that she wants to save him.
My Opinion: There is so much to talk about with this book. Firstly, it's a bold move to make the vengeful ghost your narrator, especially since Okiku is largely detached emotionally at the beginning. this, of course, makes it a little slow to start but that resolves as Okiku gets caught up in Tark's situation. Plot-wise this has a lot of standard horror movie elements but with very good reason. As the book tells us, many of those elements originated with the Okiku ghost story. What really makes this book stand out is the atmosphere. There is an elegant beauty to Chupeco's storytelling. Even when Okiku becomes overwhelmed by her rage and starts repeating words like hate and consume it has a sort of poetry in the repetition. Personally, I wasn't frightened through most of the book but I was engrossed and could easily picture the various scenes. They are well described without becoming weighted down with physical description, leaving just enough for the reader to imagine himself. 
More information: The Girl from the Well releases August 5th.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Books on Screen

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

This is a book not a lot of people are familiar with (though admittedly the audience is perhaps somewhat limited) and the movie is even less  well known. Starring Asa Butterfield (star of Hugo and Ender's Game, two slightly more well-known movies based on books) this is a truly haunting movie. It's the sort of story you can't say much about without unintentional spoilers (and I maintain that the movie cover is a major spoiler in and of itself) so I won't say much about the plot. I will say that the movie really captures the atmosphere of the book, perhaps even better than the book actually. The movie lacks some of the subtle almost-humor and Bruno's innocent yet self-centered attitudes of the early chapters of the book but does a better job of indicating it's target audience (Bruno may be 9 but I wouldn't be inclined to give the book or movie to a child that young).

WWW Wednesdays

What are you currently reading?
The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco
Okiku has been a ghost, a vengeful spirit, for so long that she barely remembers what she once was. She exists only to get vengeance for other victims and prevent them from becoming like her. It is simple. Simple until she meets Tark, the tattooed boy with an evil presence clinging to him.
Only a few chapters in and what strikes me already is that the language is simply beautiful. Even when the description is of a half rotten ghost/corpse it is so vivid, so visceral, that I was more enthralled than creeped out. If the rest of the book is anything like the first few chapters it might well be my favorite of the week.
 
What did you recently finish reading?
Jim Henson's Enchanted Sisters: Autumn's Secret Gift by Elise Allen
Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer are each responsible for a section of Mother Nature's realm. They come together for a special ceremony each quarter to change the seasons. In between they explore their magical gifts and avoid the troublesome Weed boys. When Mother Nature asks Autumn to take care of a secret gift she is honored. Until she and the others lose the gift. They must track it down before the Weed boys.
This is very different from what I normally read but I recently resolved to read more outside of my genre comfort zones so I gave this one a try. This is not to say I enjoyed it. I'm not big on fairies. I will say that this one had some decent messages about honesty and valuing each person's strengths.
 
What do you think you will read next?
Kate the Great, Except When She's Not by Suzy Becker
An illustrated novel about a girl navigating fifth grade, friends, and family.
 

What is Zippety wearing?

We frequently dress Zippety, our mascot, in costumes as a way of advertising upcoming program. In preparation for this weekend's annual pet show, Zippety is sporting his favorite cat costume.

What a crazy random happenstance

So, the craft project I'm sharing with you this week requires a little bit of explanation.  If you're anything like me you have a favorite movie to watch when you're sick or really tired or whatever. That movie that you've seen a hundred times so you know pretty much all of the dialogue but can still make you laugh or cry or -insert appropriate emotional response here-. For me that movie is "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog". If you've yet to experience the awesomeness that is Dr. Horrible, you can watch it here. As I was watching it last week again I couldn't help but think of an action figure that was waiting in a box to go to Goodwill.

This guy

Iceman was pretty beat up when I bought him in a bag of action figures (a bag I purchased for the Batman figure it held) and I had already scavenged his water pack for another project but it seemed a shame to just throw him away. As Penny sang about hope it struck me: Iceman really wanted to be a Dr. Horrible character. When I examined him more closely, I realized that his smirk and body type made him the perfect Captain Hammer. A few coats of acrylic paint later and here he is.

I'm fairly pleased with the end result

Of course, Captain Hammer is nothing without Dr. Horrible, so I found another old action figure and got to work.

Slightly less awesome

Welcome to the Story Laboratory

I'm trying out a new feature. From now on, join me on Saturdays for a look at the programs I ran or assisted with throughout the week.

We're in the middle of summer reading, so that means extra programs. Our mid-week presenter was Scot Cannon, mime and musician.

Yesterday we introduced the Story Laboratory. This was a chance for kids to come in and create their own books using pictures out of magazines and a handful of craft supplies. Here are a few pages from the books that were created.

Yes, this chicken is wearing boots.