Easter links

These are all short:

Princesssiara’s greeting.

Stiffie is ecstatic.

A little girl at church.

Dyeing eggs at Jeepers

Best of all, Polite Dissent’s X-PEEPS!!!!

snow adventure

You might have noticed that it snowed a bit yesterday.

A companion and I decided to drive a three hour trip through the middle of the winter weather last evening. It took us twice as long and we passed vehicle after vehicle in the ditches and smashed against guardrails. The swirling snow made visibility almost nil at times and the roads were covered with ice. We took turns driving because it was draining to be so alert and move so slowly at the same time. The car was my companion’s not mine.

Two brief conversations sum up the evening.

#1 me: This salt on the road is making the screen dirty. Do you mind cleaning it?

*pause*

companion: You mean the windshield?

me: Uh, yeah, the windshield.

companion: You know this is not a computer game, right? We only have one life to get through this.

#2 We were driving at about 25 miles an hour in a 70 zone. The semis around us were driving at about 30 miles per hour. After the third pickup truck zipped around us at 50 miles an hour, I commented on how stupid they were being.

companion: Some people might say we are being stupid too.

me: Well, maybe we’re being unwise.

companion: Unwise?!

me: But, you see, they are being stupid and reckless and we are being stupid and cautious.

companion: Un-wise, yeah. That would be us.

I insisted that if we made it there without anyone getting hurt or any property being damaged then the evening could be considered an adventure. My companion agreed to the term if we made it.

I won. We had an adventure.

Mrs. Crump’s Cat

Mrs. Crump’s Cat by Linda Smith and David Roberts (2006).

Mrs. Crump finds a wet cat on her doorstep but the cat manages to make itself at home despite Mrs. Crump’s efforts to rid herself of it. I must note that her efforts to get rid of the cat include buying it cream and a “shiny red pet dish.”

It’s an entertaining short story for grownups but I don’t know that children would relate that much to an lonely, middle-aged woman.

Emma Frost: Higher Learning vol. 1

I really liked the first book in this series.  The combination of adolescence and burgeoning psychic powers is hard to beat.  Emma has grown up in a wealthy but utterly corrupt household.  Her father is the most powerful and the least human of the family.

 

Her teacher Ian Holmes at her boarding school is the only person that she likes or trusts but her father becomes aware of him. 

 

I liked this a lot and was eager to read the next volume.

The Squire, His Knight and His Lady

The Squire, His Knight and His Lady by Gerald Morris is a charming retelling of Gawain and the Green Knight.

I finally read the sequel to Squire’s Tale in which Terence became the squire to Sir Gawain.

It begins with the love triangle between Queen Guinevere, Sir Lancelot and King Arthur, and then Gawain meets the challenge of the magical Green Knight who has come from fairyland.  Gawain and Terence go on a quest to find the Green Knight and fulfill the challenge.  Along the way, they meet with an impressive number of adventures and acquire friends and enemies.

This book is less lighthearted than the first one but it is also more involving. I stayed up way too late to finish it.  Although there is another book in the series, I thought this one wrapped up quite nicely.

movies coming out

The Tooth Fairy (2009) is about an ordinary man who has to save the tooth fairy kingdom. NOT Grahame Joyce’s book.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is due for release in 2010. The book is excellent and funny but I don’t know that would make a great movie.

The Stolen Child is about a hobgobling’s changeling and a human child who struggle to survive in their new homes. It’s a pity they couldn’t have called it ‘The Changeling.’

Amelia (2009) about Amelia Earhart. It’s about time they did another one.

Arthur and the Vengeance of Maltazard (2009) – Well, it can’t be good with a title like that but Luc Besson is directing. It could be fun.

Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese

I enjoyed American Born Chinese, a graphic novel written and illustrated by Gene Yang.

This was extraordinarily well done with three intertwining stories. Jin Wang has moved to America into a neighborhood full of racial prejudice. Danny has been trying to disguise his heritage. The famous mythological tale of the Monkey King declaring war on all the other gods in the pantheon.

I really liked the straightforward, bright art work and the “Zing!” signaling a moment of courage really amused me.

Jin Wang thinks he’ll be accepted by his European American classmates, especially when he starts dating the lovely Amelia. Danny is tormented by his cousin Chin-Kee, a racist caricature, who has come to visit and mortify Danny. And it’s impossible not to root for the recalcitrant Monkey King in his quest to best all who mock him.

All the questions raised as the stories develop are neatly answered by the end of the book. Despite their serious themes, the stories are lively, especially Yang’s retelling of the Monkey King myth.

It won a Printz award (for young adult literature) in 2007.

The Comics Journal’s interview with Gene Yang.

Gene Yang’s blog.

Gene Yang answers questions about American Born Chinese.