How the world lives?

Simply Sarah series has a bunch of likeable characters. Sarah, cute with her curious mind, her family and friends. This book is the fourth in that.
`Eating Enchiladas' is the story of Sarah who learns all about a culture different from her upbringing. And for this, she does not hop on a plane to another country. A sleepover at her friend's house and her `idea mind' looking for ways to do things differently.
The author makes it fun learning how people live, eat, wear in other countries.
The ink and wash illustrations add life to the pictures. The thin book has lots going on in it. In such a small book, the author introduces the reader to many other characters - Grandma, Mr Grundy who form the extended family of life lived in apartments.
I just noticed that Grandma has a cat sitting in her chair. I recognize it as Patches from `Patches and scratches' from the number 3 book of the series.

Who is joining the band?

Simply Sarah series has a bunch of likeable characters. Sarah, cute with her curious mind, her family and friends.
This book is the third in that.
The family is about to get big with an addition of a new member. Only one of the friends is adamant about who it can be and few others against an addition of anything on four legs. Leave it to Sarah to find a problem and then solve it. Sarah's strategy is 'friend is king'. She enlists the whole community to make her friend happy with a pet.
The author has done it again in portraying activity buzz in such a small book. The ink and wash illustrations add life to the pictures.

What crayons are made of?

A dennys orange crayon in patio stones overflows pushed by an imperfect cone of emptiness Phx sun squeezes other crayons blue and green

Crayon that follows ASTM


If you ahave lot of rayons lying around HomeSpun Magic author Jerry Baker suggests melting them down to make envelope sealers or candles by mixing it with paraffin.

How skloot writes
Why brushing your teeth makes oj taste bad
Recreating dreams
Finding your element
How to get published
lessons for authors

Charmless prose

With a name like Ian Fleming, one wonders if its possible to review it fairly. Its like an authors second book that needs to live up to the previous work.
The style is dense prose.
The book would have been better with more dialogue.
A car that can do so many things is fun and might actually stay in a kids mind for years to come.
I do remember fondly a car that could talk from a TV show and a story of a chair that could fly (cant tell if its from the Enid Blyton The Wishing Chair). For that, it must have been a fun story then. This story has that appeal of magic but the prose is charmless.
The part where Mr Pott gives his kids the crack pot whistling sweets makes for a great short story.
Other bloggers after reading the book have made the skeleton in the cave with paper plates and made the fooj(fudge)recipe. A paper plate skeleton and a recipe. It might be fun for kids to take part in such activities. Also while reading the book, putting themselves in these unfamiliar situations, might improve and inspire their imagination.

Movie
Jam puff

fairies in acorn cups

Another Midsummer nights dream reader

Bottoms dream

The politics in school elections

True politicians shape public thought, they don't go looking for it. This is one of the many things smart Kevin knows.
Kevin Spencer not only knows the book of true politicians, but writes it as he goes along his pre election life. In the journey, he questions his motives for standing for the election that he prepares for with all his virtues.
At the beginning, Kevin seemed obnoxious with oh-I-have-done-so-many-things-for-others but eventually comes out a winner by observing the world around and truly thinking of the community.
The book balances the crazy teen who can use a school situation to glean purpose. A message delivered non-pedantic in an election setting where everyone has been a participant as a contestant, supporter or the powerful voter. You begin to appreciate the mock elections and what a contest can bring out of youth.
Candygram I once stood for a class leader. 

The message wins over

I have never been a Paperboy/girl. But I read that one writer (Pete Jordan in the city of Bikes) used his savings as a Paperboy to buy his coveted bike.
The writing style of this book - small paras which I encountered only once before in a tragic book by an author who had lost both her parents. That style was scary in that book but it works well here to show the punctuated,logical thinking of the 11 year old boy based on the author Vince Vawter.

Grand Daddy. Grand Daddy. which way did my father go? Holding a spider to answer this question. When we were kids we had a similar game, but the grand pa didn't have  a say. We used to hold these tender stalks of flowers and say Grand Pa. Grand Pa whats your name and then just pluck its head.
Author reading from Paperboy

Ms Fix-it

Anna can sing Gumdrops song endlessly to calm her younger sister Kaylee adopted by her parents from the other end of the world. The focus of the family is on getting toddler Kaylee to thrive. The book is titled ‘ The Year of the Baby’ in the Chinese fashion of naming a year after Chinese Zodiac signs. While at this, she also has to face being the eldest kid in the house. Not to mention coming up with a hypothesis and testing it for the science fair project. She and her friends get creative in drawing from their life experiences in solving their problems.

I got worried for Anna when she would toss away what seemed like a potential project. Few pages left, how is she going to find the project?

No mean girls.

The illustrator has Chinese letters on a baby’s bib. The simple sketches are likeable.

I havent read the prequel ‘The Year of the Book’.

Books mentiond

Because of Winn Dixie
Dinosaur Alphabet
Little blue and little yellow

Roundoff

Men of letters

Mutatis mutandis

Homo Ludens

Have you ever tried to read letters by writers where most of them seem so hard to relate to. But here is a book of letters, Here and Now, from contemporary writers Paul Aster and Jim Coetzee.
They are in awe of Federer like DFW.
They agree that its hard for new games to emerge.
Deed poll

Paul's wife Lydia's short fiction won Booker
Hotels with typewriters?
Weltanschauung

Essays the magical word

The Task of the Translator by Walter Benjamin
The task of the translator on the nature of art as in Kenyon Review.
Van Gogh bridge in the rain in Hiroshige style.
Rumpus article

View of Delft
on Author
Excerpt
The Memory Palace of Isabella with writeups on museum content.

animals like and unlike humans in drawing

Dogs head as a circle and cone

Once a friend asked me to draw a dog and the final result was close to a wolf which is not too far away from dog.

Getting your animal drawings right

In this book, I liked the section on livestock where the author uses geometric building blocks to draw animals better. I bought it for a friend.
The book goes through many kinds of drawing. For example, painting the street lights and so on. It works at the general level than the details.

Drawing your problem and solution

My husband showed me the speed painter's painting on Anderson show, when he said the painting was done in a minute and half, I couldnt see what it was until he rearranged it upside down.
And drawing upside down is what the author Betty Edwards calls drawing from the right side of the brain in her previous book.
Drawing analogs
Beaux Gestes
Erasing out what you see in light on a graphite paper
how to draw geometric shapes
Exercise
workshop video

Barbara Walters on the late show with Letterman said that while interviewig, she found courage.