Glitter pumpkin

 Do you have a Dollar Tree nearby? Have you seen these foam pumpkins?

They're a great shape but the color is a bit too bright. I bought one intending to paint it a slightly more realistic shade of orange and maybe redo the stem. Instead, this happened:

Realistic? No. Cooler looking than that bright orange? Absolutely.

Picture books for everyone

I Cannot Draw a Horse by Charise Mericle Harper

This book is a part of a growing trend of stories where the author/narrator talks directly to the reader or a character in a way that suggests interaction. We are not simply hearing a story, we're engaging in a conversation. In this case, the narrator interacts with a simply drawn cat, the cat demanding a horse and the narrator suggesting other additions to the story. Horses, we are told, are hard to draw so here is a different thing. The scene becomes increasingly silly, the cat's demands for a horse increasingly strong. It's bound to elicit giggles from a young audience. And because the illustrations are quite simple, based on easily replicated shapes, it encourages slightly older kids to draw their own versions of the illustrations, to take more chances with their drawing.

More information: I Cannot Draw a Horse releases October 11.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley. 

Non-fiction book review - Ingredients

 

Ingredients by George Zaidan

Who among us has not heard, or even told someone, "all that processed food is poison". We say it confidently but do we have any clue why that might be? I know I've repeated it without question. And that's what lead me to this book. Zaidan breaks down the chemistry of our "natural" foods and of the ultra-processed types, of sun screen and spray tans, and all the other products we use regularly. He's attempting to understand how they work and what other affects they might have on the body (not to mention pointing out the flaws in the studies that have lead to the conclusions we repeat). And this is no off the cuff exploration. There's enough chemistry in the writing that I found myself floundering at times. Even so, it's worth the effort for the truly curious among us.

Book review - Lily and the Night Creatures

 

Title: Lily and the Night Creatures

Author: Nick Lake

Genre: fantasy/mild horror

Similar books:  This Appearing House by Ally Malinenko

                      Coraline by Neal Gaiman

Rating: 

 

more thought provoking than scary

 

Summary (provided by publisher): Lily is used to hospitals—she’s spent more time in them than out of them thanks to her recent health issues. But when her mother goes into labor, her parents drop her off at her grandmother’s house and rush to the hospital without her. Lily doesn’t want the new baby to replace her and she certainly doesn’t want to be sick anymore.
Most frustrating of all, she forgot to pack Willo, her favorite toy. Under her grandma’s not-so-watchful supervision, Lily sneaks back home to get Willo. Expecting to find an empty house, she is surprised to find her parents there. But something isn’t right... They look just like her mom and dad until she gets closer and sees their coal black eyes. And they refuse to let her in—it’s their house now.
With the help of some surprising new friends that she meets in her garden, Lily is determined to beat these shadowy replacements and be reunited with her real parents. But is she strong enough to triumph?

My opinion: I can certainly understand what Lake is going for here. Many middle grade readers love a scary story. It's why books like the Goosebumps series persist. Lake is trying to give us the scare with something more. To go beyond a simple monster tale or a series of jump scares overcome by pluck and stubbornness. This book is trying to elevate. Lily has real problems between chronic illness and an underlying fear that she is no longer enough for her parents. It doesn't take much interpretation to understand that the creatures in her house, while 'real' monsters, are also a stand-in for her problems. They are the physical representation of her personal problems. That makes this book more emotionally complex, perhaps, but rather less scary. This is a book I'd recommend to a kid who wants to explore literary devices more than one looking for a scare.

Note cards

 I've been trying to catch up on some correspondence, so I made this pair of cards this weekend to send to some friends. Since it's October, I decided to make them fall themed.

Pick 6: Ghosts

Culturally, we have something of an obsession with ghosts. Sometimes it's a malicious haunting. Others, it's a spirit imparting wisdom to the living. These stories run the gamut from scary to funny and appeal to a wide ranging audience. Here are six books featuring ghosts published in the past six months.

Six new books featuring ghosts:

1. Monsters in the Mist by Juliane Brandt
2. The Clackity by Lora Senf
3. Raising the Horseman by Serena Valentino
4. Ghostlight by Kenneth Oppell
5. Boo! Hiss! by Cyndi Marko
6. Spooky Sleuths: The Ghost Tree by Natasha Deen
   

Book review - The Stars Did Wander Darkling

 Title: The Stars Did Wander Darkling

Author: Colin Meloy

Genre: horror

Similar books: Monsters in the Mist by Juliana Brandt

                      Dead Flip by Sara Farizan

Rating:

 

a good level of tension

 

Summary (provided by publisher): Maybe Archie Coomes has been watching too many horror movies.
All of a sudden, the most ordinary things have taken on a sinister edge: a penny on a doormat. An odd man in a brown suit under a streetlamp. The persistent sound of an ax chopping in the middle of the night.
He keeps telling himself that this is Seaham, a sleepy seaside town where nothing ever happens. Or at least nothing did, until his dad’s construction company opened up the cliff beneath the old—some say cursed—Langdon place.
Soon, though, he and his friends can’t deny it: more and more of the adults in town are acting strangely. An ancient, long-buried evil has been unleashed upon the community, and it’s up to the kids to stop it before it’s too late. . . .

My opinion: This book is being compared to "Stranger Things" and with good reason. Not only does it share a time period and a cast of middle school kids banding together, it shares the same sort of atmosphere. We have a deep, ancient evil, reminiscent of Lovecraft. The town is an increasingly unsettling place, the kids the only ones who seem to be aware that something is wrong. It's pretty standard middle grade horror stuff. There are a number of rather strange details and the characters are not as well developed as I might have preferred. But the set up is a decent one and makes for good reading, especially for a kid interested in details off the beaten path.