The Land of the Dragon King
and other Korean stories by Gillian McClure.
This book has some very fun and funny stories. My class loved the stories and begged me to read one more. The illustrations are very nice- beautiful line art and watercolor. My favorite story is The Fierce Old Dried Persimmon. No, I think it’s The Clever Rabbit… No, A Bit of Shade – that’s my favorite… Too hard to choose!
Silent Music, A Story of Baghdad
By James Rumford. This is a beautiful book. The illustrations, and the calligraphy in the illustrations are lovely. The story is nice as well. When I showed this to my class they were impressed by the patterns in the book.
Books by Mary Ann Hoberman
This week at my art class I read A House is a House for Me and The Two Sillies, both by Mary Ann Hoberman, but each illustrated by a different illustrator. Mary Ann Hoberman writes very fun rhyming stories. I also like The Seven Silly Eaters which has delightful illustrations by Marla Frazee.
A House is a House for Me would be a good book to use for a unit study about habitats. It explores all kinds of houses in a very fun way. It was illustrated by Betty Fraser. The illustrations are very detailed and can be enjoyed through several readings with new things to discover each time. I like them more each time I read it. I pointed out to the children in my class that many of the pictures in the book included stippling, which is a way of shading pictures with dots when you are drawing with ink.
The Two Sillies, illustrated by Lynne Cravath, is a very silly story as you might expect. The pictures are fabulous, full of color and drawn beautifully. I pointed out that there was some crosshatching in the pictures.
We did an art project involving lines in pen and ink.
Wabi Sabi
Wabi Sabi, by Mark Reibstein (author), illustrations by Ed Young
Last week at the library, my 4 year old son found a gem of a book. It was a quick trip so I just put it in our bag and didn’t get a good look at it until we got home. Wow. It is beautiful. I am completely charmed by the illustrations and the story. I highly recommend this to all parents who read to their children and to art teachers. I took it to an art lesson I teach to children and read it to them. We talked about the pictures and the message of the book, then we did some collage pictures. The children were very interested in the book and seemed inspired when they sat down to do their own art.
How language influences thought
Lera Boroditsky, an assistant professor of psychology, neuroscience and symbolic systems at Stanford University, wrote a fascinating paper about her research into how language shapes the way we think.
Food for thought
I read a few interesting articles tonight:
I enjoyed this article about the placebo effect. It’s good to be reminded how much our attitude can affect our health.
Steve Pavlina has a blog about personal development that I look at regularly. He wrote about climate change and I was surprised to learn what an impact the meat industry has on the environment.
And then, I really liked this book review from the New York Times. My favorite quote: “If history naturally pushes people toward moral improvement, toward moral truth, and their God, as they conceive their God, grows accordingly, becoming morally richer, then maybe this growth is evidence of some higher purpose, and maybe — conceivably — the source of that purpose is worthy of the name divinity.”
Paper making
My dd6 asked me how paper is made. We watched a few clips on youtube and this is our favorite. Now she wants to make some paper right away.
Write now
If you want to change your status from an armchair writer (ahem) to a productive, real writer, here are some great tips.
Quail Botanical Gardens
We had an errand to run in Encinitas so I checked to see what there was to do while we were up there and found a treasure. I paid for admission, and by the time we were done looking around I decided we had to have a membership. My kids love this place and they ask me often when we are going to go there again. It isn’t a huge place, but it is big enough for many lovely twists and turns. And the children’s garden is wonderful. They have some great programs for kids. I am very impressed and am hoping it will make a greenthumb out of me somehow.
