Emu with a Clue

A plug for the Indigenous Literacy Project

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:56:58 -0700

This is mainly for the Australians.

If you have any book shopping to do, consider saving it up until 3 September and doing it at one of these bookshops as a proportion of the sales will go to the Indigenous Literacy Project which is working to address the literacy problems in remote Indigenous communities.

Other ideas for getting involved on Indigenous Literacy Day can be found here.

Big Rain Coming

Katrina Germein

There are also some good booklists in the Reader's Quest area of the site including an Indigenous booklist (which includes the above title).

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What I am now reading ...

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:22:52 -0700

The Camomile Lawn

Mary Wesley

Only a few chapters in but really enjoying it so far. Kind of reminds me of The Go Between or Atonement or even I Capture the Castle.

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Self portrait Thursday: reading on the train

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:47:27 -0700

Reading on train

And this is what I am reading:

Blackbird House

Alice Hoffman

It is short stories which I often find unsatisfying, ie, you just feel you are starting to get to know the characters and care about them and then all of a sudden they are gone. I am not feeling this with these stories though. The stories are all linked by a common setting and have a kind of magical quality to them which I am loving. I love these words from one of the characters in one of the stories on the subject of reading:

I read books as though I were eating apples, core and all, starved for those pages, hungry for every word that told me about things I didn't yet have, but still wanted terribly, wanted until it hurt.

Made me wonder if the purpose of reading is to fulfil a kind of yearning? I know I get very agitated if I can't read. It is like books are a kind of drug for me. Maybe I need to spend more time just looking out the window sometimes.

ETA: I have read more of this book now and I am pleased to report that the character I quoted above actually continues on into three of the short stories (albeit in a minor role). Actually getting a bit of a headache trying to make all the relationships between the characters in the story. Reminds me of the island where my husband's family live!

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Saturday morning comprehension fun!

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:26:02 -0700

Wouldn't you just hate to have a frustrated English teacher for a parent at age 9?

My daughter has been having a bit of trouble with comprehension tests at school lately (probably because she is not terribly keen on reading) so this morning I got out my old Norton's Anthology to try and give her some practice at comprehension. I read her this poem, one of my favourites by William Blake.

A Poison Tree

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears,
And I sunned it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright,
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine -

And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning, glad, I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

On the first read through, we wrote down all the words she didn't know, ie, wrath, foe, deceitful, wiles, beheld and veild. We then looked them up in the dictionary and talked about their meanings during a second read through of the poem. We talked about her and her friends and how sometimes you feel better if you tell someone they have hurt your feelings rather than bottling it up and growing a 'poison tree' inside you.

We then moved on to talking about metaphors and particularly the apple and tree metaphors. She had been a bit disengaged up until this point but then got really excited thinking about apples in other stories like the story of Adam and Eve, Snow White etc.

Gold Apple - huge resolution!

We then had a look at Anthony Browne's book The Shape Game (the kids love this book anyway) which includes a reproduction of a painting about a woman being cast out of her family because she had given into temptation. There is half an apple lying on the floor of the room in the painting and my daughter was quite excited to see this and interested in the other symbolism in the painting (which Anthony Browne explains in the book).

The Shape Game

Anthony Browne

We also read Pamela Allen's Black Dog (the kids also love have Pamela Allen's books read to them) which continues on with the friendship theme and has a lot of symbolism in it, eg, a bluebird, trees, bread and of course, Black Dog himself.

V+m.jpg

She has now gone off to Kung Fu clutching a copy of Grimms Fairy Tales all excited about reading the gory versions of popular fairytales. Plenty of symbolism there!

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library)

Jacob Grimm

On reflection, I think the Blake poem was probably a bit ambitious, especially as a starting point. I will look for something a bit more accessible next time. Any suggestions most welcome.

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What my children are reading

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:03:23 -0700

or, in my 5yo son's case, having read to him (as he can't yet read himself):

James and the Giant Peach

Roald Dahl

I felt a bit sorry for him on the weekend as he was trailing around with his book in hand desparate to find out what happened next but needed to wait for people (either me, his dad or his big sister) to have the time to read him some more chapters. Between the three of us we managed to get up to bit where the peach is growing before their eyes on the tree. It is actually quite entertaining reading for us too. I love the fact that Roald Dahl is so un-PC by today's standards, eg, the terrible deaths met by James's parents (killed by a rhino escaped from the London Zoo), the horrible things his aunts say to him etc etc. Someone will read another chapter or 2 for tonight's bedtime story.

My daughter, who is 9yo, is reading her first Judy Blume book:

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Judy Blume

I had been trying to get her interested in Judy Blume for a while but it was only when they started reading this book in class that she really got a taste for it. I have actually caught her reading secretly under the covers after she has gone to bed which is a great sign as she has never been a hugely enthusiastic reader. Hopefully she will be interested in reading more Judy Blume books after this one as we have quite a lot of them at home.

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I can't believe I have gone my whole life ....

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:32:07 -0700

without reading this book.

In Cold Blood (Essential Penguin)

Truman Capote

I am only partway into it but can't get over how good (and compelling) it is. My brother was saying that Capote pretty much "invented a genre" with this book. It is hard to believe it was written as long ago as 1965.

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Gado gado

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:19:35 -0800

Feels like my life is so scatty and scattered at the moment that I have trouble thinking of any solid and coherent to post about in here. So this will just be a little newsy update kind of like the ones people send around with their Christmas cards.

Work going well although have missed a bit of time due to the kids being sick (SEPARATE illnesses on SEPARATE days - how thoughtless!) over the past week.

Have been nominated to attend an International Women's Day breakfast in a few week's time (one of the other women in my office a bit snippy that she wasn't asked to go).

Still reading my way through the YA shelves of the local library. Currently part way through a good book that is set in my local area of Sydney. It is called "Lost Property" by James Moloney.

Going out for coffee with one of my mum friends on the weekend. She lives just as harried a life as I do so we decided we both need to do this and hopefully more regularly. Also determined to get to yoga this Saturday. have really been feelign the effects of missing it this week (although it was nice to have a sleep in).

Also hoping to go on a movie "date" with my husband on Saturday night. I am really feeling movie withdrawal as haven't been to the cinema for ages. Was going to go and see "Juno" a month or so back but it never happened. Will have to check what is on and see if I can arrange a babysitter.

Thinking of going away for a few days over Easter. Planning a trip away always cheers me up provided it is not to somewhere where I need to clean (eg, husband's aunty's holiday house) or camp.

Still changing my mind frequently about what to do for the kids birthdays. Pretty fixed on Hannah Montana in 3d for V (eek!) and maybe an after school or Easter party for J. Thinking of inviting the whole class now as there are only 16 of them and it is a bit clear out of the 16 who are J's particular friends. even his teacher said the groups still pretty amorphous at this stage.

School hols coming up in April and have decided to take kids to visit Mum in Melb for a few days around Anzac Day. J also looking forward to catching up with his two pals (my friend's two sons) down there.

(Following is something else I read the other day (while home with sick V). Quite good but the plot suspiciously like the movie Mean Girls and others of its type. Nice girl triumphed in the end (of course)!)

Art Geeks and Prom Queens: A Novel

Alyson Noel

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Book log

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:11:05 -0800

Decided to use this blog mainly to keep a record of my reading as I often forget what I have and haven't read. Started reading a lot of 'young adult' fiction a few years ago when I was doing my English teaching course and was overwhelmed at what a rich, untapped (by me) source of great books this part of the library was. Have continued to read my way through this section of the library since then. Find this genre particularly good when I am in the mood for something not too taxing but not insulting and simplistic either.

Latest YA reads include:

The Truth About Emma

Gary Crew

which I didn't enjoy as much as other (more 'boyish') Gary Crew books such as:

Strange Objects

Gary Crew

and

The Watertower

Gary Crew

Another Australian novel which I really did enjoy was 'Joel and Cat set the Record Straight' by Nick Hornby and Rebecca Sparrow. The focus of this novel is a tandem story writing exercise which the two title characters are forced (very much against their will) to cooperate on. Would be interested to find out more about how the two novel writers worked together on this project and how much the process resembles the tandem story exercise within the larger story.

Have also read a few UK YA novels recently including:

The Passionflower Massacre (Signature)

Nicola Morgan

and

Paralysed

Sherry Ashworth

Paralysed was great. It explored the relationships between a group of friends when one becomes severely injured in a sporting accident.

The Passion Flower Massacre was also interesting - about a troubled girl who takes a job fruitpicking in the English country side only to find herself mixed up in a cult. Also uses a 'story within a story' device but this done a bit clunkily. Read on the cover that this writer mostly does more science fiction/fantasy type books (this one partly futuristic as the bracketing story set 25 years into the future) so maybe this is something new for her.

The fruitpicking theme has lead nicely onto a very different (and non-YA) book, Two Caravans, by the author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (which I have not read). Finding Two Caravans a nice change of pace. Only a short way in but enjoying the interactions between the characters who are mostly fruit pickers from Eastern Europe earning some quick money on a 'sweat shop' type farm in rural England.

Two Caravans

Marina Lewycka

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