I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: WYE OAK: “The Alter” (2009).

NPR has introduced me to Wye Oak (with two concert downloads).  This is the official single from the recent album Civilian.

It is a cool swirly track which avoids being ethereal because of the rocking drums.  It feels a bit like the Cocteau Twins without being otherworldly.  And then there’s Jenn Wasner’s voice which is deep in a kind of Alison Moyet way.  This song features an awesome guitar swirl in the center which is sort of a guitar solo but isn’t.

The song builds over the course of the three minutes with more instruments and more voices layered over and over–there’s no real chorus.  Not bad for a duo.  Soon they’ll be some full concerts reviews of the band.

[READ: June 29, 2011] Babymouse: Queen of the World!

So this is the first Babymouse book: Queen of the World.  This one sets up the series and satisfies so many unanswered questions.  No, not really.

This first book has all of the trappings of the other two books that I read: fantasy sequences drawn in pink (good diversity here–a horror story, a space story, Cinderella), the same cast (including the arch-enemy Felicia Furrypaws), and more humorous interactions between Babymouse and the narrator (and a lot of Babymouse’s slogan: “typical.”)

This book focuses a bit more on the physical appearance of the characters (something I didn’t notice in the other books).  It is specifically pointed out how straight Felicia’s whiskers are.  FYI–there are all kinds of animals in the book.  Felicia is a cat (and Babymouse is, duh, a mouse) and there are giraffes and pigs and a poodle.  It’s nice that there’s no conflict between cats and mice or other animals–there’s no speciesism, all of the conflict is just good old elementary school bickering.

The big conflict in the story comes when Felicia has a sleepover party.  Everyone who is anyone gets invited–which means that Babymouse doesn’t. But what will she do to get invited to the party?  Will she cheat?  Will she betray her friends?  She simply must get to the (most boringest ever) party of the season!

There is a lesson to be learned in the story, but it’s not obnoxiously oversold.  And, the humor outweighs the preachiness.  And of course it’s a good message and one that kids need to hear, even from a pink-loving, somewhat narcissistic mouse.

Hooray for Babymouse!