[LISTENED TO: January 2017] A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans
We listened to this book on our recent trip to Vermont.
It was utterly unnerving to have the delightful Susan Denaker read this book because she was the author of the Penderwicks series which we love. And her voice of Batty in that series is identical to the voice of the main girl, Winnie in this series. But once we got past that (and it did take a while, we found this story to be fun and enjoyable.
But this story went in a direction I absolutely was not expecting–especially based on the title.
Each chapter has a heading like in an instruction manual for the care and feeding of Humans: If you value your happiness and sanity, take your time and choose your pet wisely. To train your pet you will need three things patience, patience and above all patience.
And it seems to start out with that premise in mind.
For this book is narrated by a dragon, known as Miss Drake. As the story opens, Miss Drake is in mourning because her pet, Fluffy, has died. Fluffy is the name she gave to Amelia, and older lady whom the dragon appeared to. When Fluffy died Miss Drake planned on going to sleep for 20 or 30 years to get over it. But just two days later, a little girl waltzed into her den–the girl had the key and everything! (more…)
[LISTENED TO: December 2016] The League of Beastly Dreadfuls
I was looking for an audio book to listen to with the kids and I found this one. I didn’t know anything about it, but the title was interesting.
I never suspected just what a peculiar story this turned out to be.
It is the tale of Anastasia McCrumpet, an otherwise normal 11-year-old girl who suffers from flatulence and a mum who does little more than yell from her bed all day. Her father is a loving man, but as of a few years ago he has been quite obsessed with vacuum cleaners. She also has a guinea pig who is quite ill-tempered; when it feels crossed by someone, it takes revenge by pooping in their slippers.
On this particular morning, they were having a funeral. A funeral for her father’s plant (they wound up tossing it out the window). And then her father made them his famous waffles (which her mother screamed for upstairs).
But Anastasia was running late for school that morning because of the funeral and she ran out of the house wearing a most unusual outfit (part of a Halloween costume, which was top on the laundry pile). (more…)
[LISTENED TO: December 2016] Nightmares! The Lost Lullaby
I was really excited to get this third volume of the Nightmares! series.
The previous book ended with the startling revelation that on the first day of the new school year, India Kessog (INK) is sitting in Charlie’s classroom.
INK and her sister ICK were responsible for creating the tonic that nearly destroyed Orville Falls–not to mention the Dream Realm, the Netherworld and the Waking World.
Charlie and his friends knew that INK was on this side of the portal and that her sister ICK was still in the nightmare realm, but they never expected that INK would come to them rather than then having to track her down.
INK is still dressed like she has always been–in old-fashioned clothes with a red bow–exactly the way that she (or ICK, they are twins) terrorized everyone’s dreams in Charlie’s town. As INK walks through the school–observing everything very carefully–all of the kids keep their distance and stare and whisper.
When she sits down to eat, she is repulsed by the chicken nuggets–who wouldn’t be? But she loves the tater tots. That must make her okay right? (c’mon, EVERYONE loves the tater tots). Charlie is just about to go approach her when his little brother Jack beats him to it. And he starts talking to India (he calls her Indy) like she was his friend instead of a monster. They seem to be having a good conversation until a new characters approaches. (more…)
[LISTENED TO: December 2016] Nightmares! The Sleepwalker Tonic
I though the first Nightmares! book was great. I had listened to both of these books before, but what was fun about listening this time is that the end of book one gives a little hint at what book two would be about.
Towards the end of Book One, the story tells us that Charlotte’s business was doing well, although a new store had opened up in the next town and was also doing very well–possibly taking away her customers.
And that’s essentially what book two is about. (No, not about small town commerce).
But let’s back up. In book one, Charlie Laird and his three friends Paige, Alfie and Rocco prevented the evil president of the Netherworld from taking over the waking world.
Back up some more. Nightmares aren’t bad. They are there to frighten us, yes, but their goal is for us to face our fears and come out stronger. They don’t want to hurt any of us. But the nightmares have an enemy–the goblins. The goblins have been forced out of the nightmare realm never to return. And they are constantly trying to get back into the Netherworld. (more…)
[LISTENED TO: Summer 2016 & November 2016] Nightmares!
I loved Jason Segel on How I Met Your Mother. I loved that Jason Segel was instrumental in bringing The Muppets back to the big screen. And now I love that Jason Segel has written a series of really enjoyable–funny and frightening–children’s books.
This book is about–wait for it–nightmares. But not in the way that you might expect. Segel (and Miller–I have no idea how much she contributed to the book) have created a realm where Nightmares live. It is a wonderfully realized and very well thought out world. And I am really impressed with how well the whole story works.
It is the story of Charlie Laird. Charlie is a pretty normal kid. He does okay in school, he has friends, his family loves him. But three years ago his mom died unexpectedly. It was a harsh blow to him and his family. Charlie has never really gotten over it. And what has made it especially tough is that Charlie’s dad recently got remarried. Apparently he got over it just fine.
If that weren’t bad enough, Charlie’s family moved from his old house–the house he grew up in and loved–into the mansion on the hill. Not a far move–still in the city of Cypress Creek–but worlds apart from what he was used to. Or what he wanted.
The mansion has always been there in town. It is huge and…it is purple. It towers over the whole town–you can’t avoid looking at it–and it has always been rather creepy. It was built a long time ago by Silas DeChant, and it has been in the DeChant family ever since. So it makes sense that Charlie’s new stepmother, Charlotte, who is a DeChant, would want to live there.
But Charlie hates it And he hates Charlotte, and he hates anything that tries to get him to see reason about his horrible stepmonster (I didn’t like the lazy use of this term, but it is rather appropriate). (more…)
[LISTENED TO: June 29, 2016] No Girls Allowed (Dogs Okay)
Scab McNally is a clever fourth-grade kid who is always inventing things. But he’s also kind of selfish and pretty mean to his sister. Isabelle is his twin but because she really uses her brain (She is smart times ten) she has been bumped up from 4th grade to 5th grade.
Isabelle doesn’t understand Scab’s brand of cleverness (and mischievousness) and so she writes a daily news report about all of the things that Scab has done to her (and done at school) through the day. She reads this to her parents every night. It’s pretty hard for Scab to catch a break at this point.
But obviously, the more Isabelle tells on him the more things he does to her. He puts cheese in her underwear drawer and dead bugs in her room.
This is all some background to the fact that more than anything else Scab wants a dog. (There seem to be a lot of books about kids who desperately want a dog). Scab’s best friend has a dog, Oscar–a wiener dog. And Scab is super jealous but always happy to help out with Oscar. Of course, since Isabelle is always attaining on him, his parents don’t think he is responsible to own a dog. (more…)
[LISTENED TO: April 15, 2016] Stink: the World’s Worst Super-Stinky Sneakers & the Great Guinea Pig Express
T. was listening to this book in her room and I said, hey, that’s Bart Simpson. And indeed, the book was being read by Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart (as well as Nelson, Ralph, and dozens of other minor characters). The next day we went on a car ride and she asked to listen to the stories. So we did. I heard the end of the Guinea Pig story and then all of the sneaker story. Well, I couldn’t have a half finished story in my head so I had to listen to the beginning of the guinea pig story too, and call it all finished.
I knew of Stink from the Judy Moody books. Stink is Judy’s younger brother (and she’s pretty awful in these books. I don’t recall if she was awful in her own books). But that could just be because this is about Stink and not her. We learn how Stink got his name: Judy started singing a song about him in which stink was the chorus. And it just stuck.
Stink goes by Stink in school and elsewhere. And apparently he has a super duper sniffer (this may just be a coincidence and not a side effect of being called Stink). (more…)
If you were to ask me to pick all of the things I dislike about country music and put them into one artist it would be Holly Macve.
Her songs are slow, really slow (her three songs last sixteen minutes and she’s not chatty between them). She sings with a thick country accent (which is especially strange since she is from England (!). She’s got a yodeling quality to her singing which I also don’t care for.
I don’t like to bring appearance into a music criticism, but in this video, I can also say that it bugs me that he hair never moves and her mouth barely opens, which I find very disconcerting.
So she sings three songs. On “No One Has The Answers,” and “The Corner Of My Mind” she plays guitar and sings. “Corner” also features a slide guitar. For “Golden Eagle” she plays on piano which gives it a slightly different tone–more gospel than country, but good lord it was endless. I thought it was over and saw there were three more minutes left in the song.
She sang a South X Lullaby for NPR a few years back and I was on the fence but favorable. But I said she might be too country for me. And I was right.
The band: Holly Macve (vocals, guitar, piano); Tommy Ashby (guitar); Michael Blackwell (bass); David Dyson (drums)
[READ: June 26, 2017] “The Size of Things”
I really enjoyed this story although I found it surprisingly sad.
This is translated from the Spanish by one of my favorite translators Megan McDowell, but I’m not exactly sure where it is set.
The story is from the point of view of a toy shop owner. He says that he knew Enrique Duvel had inherited a lot of money but also that he still lived with his mother. He would often drive around in his convertible looking self-absorbed. But then one night the narrator caught Duvel peeking into the toy store.
Eventually Duvel did come in the store and he bought a model plane kit. Then he proceeded to come back every few days to buy another kit. After some more time, Duvel appeared at the door as the narrator was closing up and, looking at he narrator, he said, “It’s best if I stay here.” Duvel said his mother doesn’t want to see him again and repeated “I’d best stay here.” (more…)
I was in a sub shop the other day and saw a poster for Tigers Jaw playing (somewhat) locally. That was pretty neat as I had just seen that they played a Tiny Desk Concert. I hadn’t heard of them, but I was pretty excited to think that bands are willing to put up fliers around here.
The blurb says that the band “at one point, made yelping and earnest pop-punk before finding its way to intricate, and melancholy, pop.”
After the lineup shake-up three years ago, Ben Walsh and Brianna Collins both step into larger roles as the primary songwriters and singers, here playing songs from spin [their debut] stripped down to an acoustic guitar and keyboard.
They play three songs.
On “Guardian” the melodies are fantastic. I love the simple but powerful keys that occasionally play over Ben’s strummed guitars. And his chord choices are really interesting and unconventional. He has a really good voice and when she sings her harmonies during the chorus it’s really very lovely.
On “June,” Brianna takes over lead vocals and there’s some more prominent piano in the verse as swell. Her lead vocal voice sounds like a whole bunch of 1990’s female singers that I love and this song feels like it could easily have come from that era–Ben’s deeper harmonies are a nice addition.
“Window” has as simple but pretty piano. They sing a duet and sound great together.
There’s nothing new or outrageous about this band. They just play pretty music and sound great doing it.
[READ: December 15, 2010] “The Yellow”
I really enjoy a character who is judgmental and insecure. And that’s what we get here.
The story begins with coyotes and babies, but it’s really about a woman, a recent mother, who is concerned about her marriage. And a whole lot more.
She states:
Every real thing started life as an idea. I’ve imagined objects and moments into existence. I’ve made humans. I tip taxi-drivers ten, twenty dollars every time they don’t rape me.
But what has been keeping her up at night is that it has been 8 months since she and her husband had sex. She quips, “I had great hopes that the threat of Lyme disease would revitalize our sex life: will you check me for ticks.” But sadly for her, Lyme disease never really took off in California as it did on the West Coast. (more…)
I recently found out about Penguin Cafe from a piece on All Songs Considered. I learned that Penguin Cafe Orchestra was responsible for some cool/unusual classical/pop recordings back in he 1970s and 1980s. And it’s likely that if you listened to NPR back then, you heard some of their music.:
The music of Penguin Cafe is like no other. Its origins date back to the early ’70s, within fever dreams Simon Jeffes had that were brought on by food poisoning. In those dreams he imagined a dispassionate world “where everyone lived in big concrete blocks and spent their lives looking into screens. In one room, there was a couple making love lovelessly. In another there was a musician sat at a vast array of equipment, but with headphones on, so there was no actual music in the room.” Eerily accurate.
But he also imagined a place, the Penguin Cafe, where folks could gather, for pleasure, cheer and music. He wanted to hear what that music would sound like, and so created the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. I was always a huge fan of that original music; listeners of NPR may have heard it often in-between news stories during the many years I directed All Things Considered.
But Penguin Cafe Orchestra is no more.
While Simon Jeffes died in 1997, his son Arthur has been creating new music infused with his father’s original inspiration. He calls his group, simply, Penguin Cafe. You can hear Brazilian sounds in the rhythms, classical and minimalism in the strings, Asia in its harmonium, African sounds in the kalimbas. But honestly, it’s none of these; it’s a universal dream state.
If you’re looking to explore further be sure the listen to Penguin Cafe’s recent album The Imperfect Sea, which nods to Kraftwerk, Simian Mobile Disco and Franz Schubert. It’s none of these.
The band has a lot of strings: Oli Langford (violin) Clementine Brown (violin) Vincent Greene (viola) Andy Waterworth (double bass). There’s also a ukulele (Des Murphy) which you can’t hear too often, but it is notable on the final song.
“Wheels Within Wheels” is cover of a song by Simian Mobile Disco. It is nearly five minutes long with slow, building strings and a simple melody that seems to be never ending as it remains the same while the backing chords change. In addition to the strings, there’s a guy (Neil Codling) playing a dulcitone on top of the real piano (he’s holding his hand up by the end). And the percussionist (Darren Berry) seems to have a wooden plank to play on. He uses mallets on the wood to get quite a deep sound. It’s a really fun piece.
“Protection” has a catchy piano motif (played by Arthur with outstretched arm on the dulcitone) in 7/8 time. But everyone else plays in 4/4, so the motif changes every time. After a few bars, it switches to the real piano and the strings are really lovely while that’s going on. The ducitone player has switched to a large ukulele and the percussion consists of drums sticks on the piece of wood–fast clicking sounds.
“Ricercar” is an old renaissance Italian term. At the beginning of a fugue you embed a theme that is expounded on later. This song opens the album and few themes come back later in the album. Jeffes plays a quiet melody on the dulcitone. About half way through the song he opens the piano and seems to be dampening the strings with his hand while playing the notes. The percussion includes a shaker and the mallets on the wood once again. It’s upbeat and catchy and a lot of fun.
This is a really enjoyable show–classical music for people who like to have fun as well. As far as the original band goes, if you’ve heard anything by Penguin Cafe Orchestra, it’s probably this piece: “Music for a Found Harmonium.”
[READ: June 24, 2016] Amulet: The Stonekeeper
I have really enjoyed Kibuishi’s Explorer collections, so it seemed sensible to try out his Amulet as well. And what a great, interesting and unusual story it is.
Although I must admit I was pretty shocked by the fact that the main characters Emily and Navin are in a car accident in the prologue and their father is killed. What a way to start!
After the death of their father, the family (Emily, Navin and their mom) move out to an old country estate to get some perspective on things. As they begin to clean up the old house, they go into a room of inventions by their ancestor Silas Charnon. The story is that Charnon went missing one day and was never heard from again. While Emily is looking over some books, a creepy ghost creatures hovers behind her.
Navin and Emily look around (they don’t see the ghost) and soon, Emily puts her hand on a hand-shaped plate and a necklace–an amulet–is revealed. Emily puts it on and when Navin complains, she says he can wear it tomorrow. But that night the amulet speaks to her. It tells her to stay with her family and keep the safe–they are in danger. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 