I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE AMOEBA PEOPLE-“Cosmology, Your Futon and You” (2010).

I found out about The Amoeba People from the Kids Corner Top Ten Songs of 2010 list (this was number one).

The Amoeba People are a fun, weird kids band who write clever, often science-based songs.  This song has a wonderful bass line that opens the song.  There’s suitably weird space sounds (theremin) and a nice choral chorus).

Lyrically it’s a distorted spoken story full of clever word play.  It features a whole lot of facts about outer space (and jokes about futons).   And while you won’t get all the lyrics on the first try, it rewards repeated listens.

You can hear the track here.

[READ: April 16, 2011] Babymouse: Our Hero

This is the second Babymouse book (nope, I’m not reading these in order, which goes against a lot of my neuroses, but I think I can handle it).

As this story opens, Babymouse oversleeps and misses her bus.  And right from the start the fantasy/dream sequence kicks in.  The voices that try to wake her are not her bratty sister, but her adoring fans!  And when she misses the bus, the walk to school is really a trudge through the desert…will she survive???

It’s all quite funny, especially the “voiceover” which she can obviously hear, and with which she argues from time to time.

But the main thrust of the story, the reason Babymouse is a “hero” has to do with gym class.  And of course, what is the scariest thing in gym class–Dodgeball!  Babymouse’s nemesis at school (I actually have no idea what grade she’s supposed to be in since she’s a cartoon mouse) Felicia Furrypaws is a master ninja at Dodgeball.

There’s a delightful flashback to Babymouse’s first ever introduction to the beloved game.  But then comes the fateful day itself, when Babymouse can no longer get out of gym class (no matter what excuse she uses).

There’s a great callback to the beginning of the book, and the ending is suitably satisfying.

I just found out that there are FIFTEEN books in the Babymouse series!  Of course, since you can read each book in about 7 minutes, that’s not really that big of a commitment.