Duct tape and a coffee bag

This craft comes from a variety of coincidences. Some time ago I got a bag of coffee. This particular coffee happened to come in a shiny blue bag with an applied label. It begged to be used in a craft, so when the coffee was gone I cleaned out the bag and tucked it away  to use eventually. After several months I finally decided that I wanted to make it into a pouch (probably for pencils since I never carry a clutch purse). I envisioned making the sides out of duct tape. I just didn't have any tape with the right color combination. Then just last week I was given the perfect colored tape. It took a little fiddling but here's the completed pouch.

Book review - Everything, Everything

Warning: This review contains mild spoilers!

 

Title: Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas
                     Hold Me like a Breath by Tiffany Schmidt
Rating: 

a charming page-turner

Summary: Maddy never leaves the house and she's okay with that. Suffering from SCID, she's essentially allergic to the entire world. She's accepted her life as it stands until a new family moves in next door and she sees Olly for the first time. Olly is an enigma and Maddy is fascinated. For the first time, she finds herself thinking of leaving, accepting almost certain death for a day or two of life in the larger world.

Mild spoilers ahead.

My opinion: This book starts out as a fairly standard doomed love story. In some ways, you can't help but wonder of his inaccessibility is part of what attracts Maddy to Olly. So long as they are separated by her illness, he remains perfect and can't let her down. He can be her ideal. Personally, I found Maddy's actions mystifying. She doesn't seem to take the threats to her life very seriously. It was one thing to ask for Olly to be able to visit as her tutor does. Even their brief touches seemed like a halfway reasonable risk. It was her sudden decision to go outside and then to fly to Hawaii, a near certain death sentence, that bothered me. And then, when nothing seemed to hurt her, even the recycled air and close quarters on the plane, my suspension of disbelief began to fail me. Of course, the twist ending resolves many of those concerns with halfway logical explanations. The characters are mostly likeable and believable (though somewhat idealized at times). What really sells this book for me is the format. While the bulk of the book is standard 3rd person omniscient, there are instant message logs, book spoilers, images, and more that really take us into Maddy's world and make this a memorable read. 

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Graphic Novel Spotlight: Little Robot

Little Robot by Ben Hatke

This most recent effort from Hatke is probably closer to his Julia's House for Lost Creatures than his Zita the Spacegirl trilogy. This book has sparse dialogue and rather detailed, expansive illustrations. This lends it a deceptively simple air but leaves a great deal of room for interpretation. It is an imaginative tale that leaves us with just as many questions as answers. The illustrations have Hatke's signature appealing style. 

Non-fiction book review - Smart and Spineless

Title: Smart and Spineless
Author: Ann Downer

Personally, I'd never really considered the intellectual capacity of most animals, not to mention invertebrates (apart from jellyfish - I'd wondered on more than one occasion how they can even live without brains and with so little body structure). This book was, therefore, pretty eyeopening. It really challenges our perceptions of what makes something intelligent. If worms, with only two brain cells, are capable of learning, we have no choice but to look at all life differently going forward. While the ideas in this book are surprisingly thought-provoking, the vocabulary and the sentence structure is rather easy to understand. Really, it's a good choice for upper elementary school and middle grade kids just looking to learn a few facts about some animals.

Book review - Whippoorwill

Title: Whippoorwill
Author: Joseph Monninger
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Stay With Me by Paul Griffin
                     Made of Stars by Kelly York
Rating: 

Nice enough

Summary: Clair has always tried to ignore her neighbors: their comings and goings, their loud arguments, and all of the junk in their yard. Then they chain up a dog in their yard, only paying him attention to occasionally mistreat him. Clair can't stand to see the dog so desperate for attention that he even loves this abuse. Her efforts to help Wally capture the attention Danny, the boy next door, and forges a connection between them that neither expected.

My opinion: This book makes a comparison between dogs and people, this idea that what we put into our pets and our children is largely what we get out of them. So, there are some interesting parallels between Danny and Wally. Meanwhile Monninger also paints a clear contrast between Danny's and Clair's fathers, who's situations are similar but their responses are far different. While the ideas explored in the novel are fascinating, the plot is relatively simple and the characters don't have a great deal of depth. Interesting but predictable.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

The Puppet who lived

School is nearly back in session around here and that means it's time to prepare for our after-school programs. For me, that largely means planning our puppet program. I've been working on examples, making sure our planned puppets will work for our standard group. One I wanted to try this year is the Coaster Creature from the book Puppet Mania!, a simple puppet using basic craft foam shapes but with a lot of room for personalization. This is the puppet I came up with.

I'm pretty happy with my Harry Potter puppet and it lead me to two conclusions.
1. We will definitely be making Coaster Creatures. They're easy enough for little kids to make and operate but can be complicated if a kid is willing to put in the time.
2. I will definitely discourage the kids from making recognizable characters. It's very difficult to make a familiar face fit the necessary shape and the curve of the puppet makes a strange distortion in the face. I spent probably half an hour drawing and redrawing my pattern just to get it this recognizable and the features are still out of proportion.

Book review - A 52-Hertz Whale

Title: A 52-Hertz Whale
Author: Bill Sommer and Natalie Tilghman
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
                     Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas
Rating:

Delightful

Summary: James is a 14 year old with just two interests: whales (especially Salt, the juvenile humpback he sponsors) and trying to understand his peers without actually having to interact with them (Urban Dictionary helps). Darren is a 23 year old trying to get over/win back his ex-girlfriend and survive working on a sitcom in hopes that it will help him in his goal to become a film maker. When Salt seems to be separated from his pod and emails to whale groups aren't helping, James sends a message to Darren. The emails that follow set both on a course that they never expected.

My Opinion: Combine a quirky plot with a tone that is both playful and serious and you have this book. Written as a series of emails, mostly between James and Darren but sometimes including side characters, its a relatively quick read. The email style also means that while we get the complete story of James and Darren, we also get these quick glimpses into the lives of a number of other characters. We see the complications in their lives that affects their actions and how those actions then come into play in the main plot. Most fascinating for me is how this book ends not with solutions and answers but with realizations and a better understanding of the connections we share. That lack of definite answers will frustrate some, but I found it compelling.

More information: A 52-Hertz Whale releases September 1.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.