Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Once Upon a Time there was a magical island with a strange mysterious portal to the past ...

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children got a lot of press back when it was first published in 2011. A new spine-tingling young adult read, it relies on an old equation - misunderstood young man with unusual ability is drawn to an isolated haven for children with equally unusual abilities that is looked over by a matronly and well-meaning mother figure. Yes, the Harry Potter syndrome strikes again. Once again, age-old themes work with a new author's imagination to give us a whiz-bang adventure fantasy that promises to be ripe for subsequent novels.

Saturday Snapshot ... Light Lunch in Chelsea

The new Freedom Tower with its topper on the left!

Last weekend, I spent time in Brooklyn and Manhatten ... did all the tourist things ... walked blisters onto my feet, ate like a champ, rode the Staten Island Ferry, took the subway to Coney Island, oogled the art at the Neue Galerie, dawdled my way through Prospect Park, drank wine and cooked with my daughter, and walked on The High Line ... action packed, I tell you! I need a vacation from my vacation!

Colors of the Mountain - Da Chen

Reading memoirs can be a light-hearted experience or one that wrenches the heart. In Colors of the Mountain, Da Chen manages to give his readers a bit of both experiences. Who can read of his family's oppression and public harassment during Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution and not feel a sense of outrage and empathy for their humiliations and fear of imprisonment ? Who cannot cheer for young Da Chen when he decides to beat the system and get a top-notch slot at one of the Chinese universities that opened when the Cultural Revolution had run its political course? Da Chen's voyage through his school years makes for a wonderful look at Chinese culture and the political egg shells that every Chinese citizen tiptoed around during that era of oppression called the Cultural Revolution. He gives a vivid picture of small town politics and back-biting that occurs everywhere, but was amplified by the extreme climate in China of the 60's and 70's. And as he recalls his childhood experience, we see other children mirroring what their parents and leaders do within the smaller social clicque of the classroom and on the streets of his village.

The beauty of the book is its relentless voice of youth - a voice that in one moment rants aggressively against adults and their corrupt political bickering and in the next moment speaks with innocent optimism of working toward unthinkable dreams of grandeur and retribution for slights, humiliations, and pain caused by bureaucratic teachers and town politicos. Through the entire memoir, the love and support of his parents and siblings remains a constant and the support and brotherly love of his pack of hoodlum friends serve to give him an outlet that every kid should have (regardless of their naughty and sometimes disrespectful behavior!). One can't help but cheer him on as he excels at the 'do or die' testing that allows him to become eligible for a spot in university and moves him closer to realizing his dream of stepping out of the poverty and social strictures forced on his family.

This is a great introduction to a wonderful writer. Da Chen has gone on from this memoir to write other books that expose Chinese culture to Western readers.  He has emigrated to the United States and lives in upstate New York, where he continues to write.

Once Upon A Time VII - Carl's Reading Challenge Is Back!

The first days of summer-like weather have finally arrived and with them comes a feeling of excitement for sunny afternoons spent lounging on my porch with my pile of summertime reads. I always have a really fun time deciding just what I will concentrate on in my summer reading hoard ... and this summer, I'll start out with a few books and a play!

I almost missed out on this year's Once Upon a Time reading share that Carl Anderson organizes at his website called Stainless Steel Droppings ... it's been too long since I dropped in to see what he has been up to! If you are one that likes getting into conversations about fantasy, sci-fi, mythology, fairy tales, and such this just might be the challenge for you! Carl does an excellent job of tiering the levels of participation in this annual blogging event, building a full genre tour, use of television and wide-screen media, a read-along of one major work(this year it's Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream ), and a short story option. There is something for everyone here, folks!

I am opting for reading the Shakespeare and at least one other book, as I have discovered the event  pretty close to its winding down date (rats!) ... hence, I will be reading - drum roll, please ...

Ransom Rigg's Young Adult novel about young Jacob's fantastical journey in search of the details about his grandfather's mysterious past and unusual upbringing at Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Katharine Beutner's novel about the mythological daughter of King Pelias of Iolcus who, sacrifices her life out of love for her husband King Admetus in Euripides' tragic play Alcestis. Beutner writes the back story of the young princess and how she ends up embroiled in the play between Greek gods and her husband.

There! That should get me started! Perhaps, you too, will decide to jump aboard the Once Upon a Time train ... if you have a comfy chair and a pile of books set aside that fit the parameters of the challenge !

Poetry Jam - Vacation Postcards!

Salutando da Abruzzi! Buon Appetito!

We boarded the plane and held tight

The ocean went onward – all night

We landed and … ATE -

The food has been great!

Our asses now pack cellulite!

Molto amore e baci, Mamma e Daddio!

lim·er·ick

  [lim-er-ik] 

noun

a kind of humorous verse of five lines, in which the first, second, and fifth lines rhyme with each other, and the third and fourth lines, which are shorter, form a rhymed couplet.

Definition from Dictionary.com

Untitled Rictameter - The Mag 171

Time flies.

Yesterday’s gone.

‘Take flight’ - my new mantra,

it’s that I care to softly sing.

I could beat the dead horse and beg for more

I could, you know, but why prolong

What drags and brings us pain ?

I must be gone.

Time flies.

This poem is shared with the writers of Tess Kinkaid's Magpie Tales weekly writing share. See the link for more pieces on this week's Mag 171.

Back Yard Visitor - Saturday Snapshot

The other afternoon, my husband was out in the back yard doing some weeding and gardening tasks when he came upon a visitor. A huge Cecropia moth with a wingspan of about five inches was fanning its wings on the base of the lilac bush. He called me out to take pictures and was pretty amazed that I knew exactly the type of moth we were welcoming to the yard.

Further, when I came into the house and consulted my book on moths and butterflies (I'm such a science geek!), I found that we were dealing with a female Cecropia. The massive body was a dead give away. So, my question to you is what a proper 'name' for her might be ! Got any ideas? I kind of like Zsa Zsa ... so elegant and flashy.

This Saturday Snapshot is being shared with others at West Metro Mommy. Melinda has hosted Saturday Snapshot, a photoshare that encourages bloggers to share original snapshots and short posts concerning them ... head on over and check it out! Get your camera out and join in on the fun! heck! You never know what you'll find in your own back yard !