a stream

Standalone post link: igh!

The other day at work I was going through some new MARC records for a school and came across this book they had purchased, and it covers the precise topics that I’ve been meaning to learn more about since a dog came into my life.

So now I’m learning about the co-evolution of humans and dogs. I love the serendipity of good library cataloging.

Standalone post link: Dogs--Evolution. Human-Animal Relationship--History.

Thanks.

You better count your blessings for real. AMEN.

Standalone post link: Thanks

I forgot to observe Life Day several days ago, but I’ll observe it today on the Internet and on my website. I did share Life Day with my kids (just about 7 minutes worth) soon after when I had come to myself and realigned my priorities. They kind of loved it, and kind of thought it was terrible, which is just as it should be.

A day or two later I overheard my kids telling their cousins about it. My daughter gleefully informed them that Princess Leia did not have a very good singing voice. A few seconds later she literally fell onto her own face out of a swing, which I pointed out to her was likely recompense through the force for her speaking poorly and untruthfully of the princess, or perhaps even the force ghost of Carrie Fisher herself reaching out to bring balance.

I feel like the holiday special is actually one of the most important entries in the entire Star Wars canon because, other than the scenes by the lake on Naboo, it is the only time you really get a feel for the home front in these taxing times, and just how much is at stake to be lost by the regular middle-class inhabitants of the galaxy if the rebellion fails and the empire continues its crushing, authoritarian reign, not only on a galactic level but in its abuses of the personal freedoms and comforts of individuals right in their midcentury modern treehouses.

Standalone post link: Happy Life Day

I forced the kids to listen to my Sung Tongs vinyl today while they made snowflakes and swung around.

Standalone post link: Holiday Fun

I published a review of A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Perry on Granite Media and also posted it on Goodreads.

Enjoyed reading this one to my kids at bedtime.

Swift is not the largest or strongest pup in his pack, but he loves his home in the mountains and he wants to grow to lead, provide for, and protect the pack just like his mother and father do. When stranger wolves invade their territory, Swift finds himself alone and blocked from his mountain home forever. He wanders far, encountering dangers from men and challenges on the prairie and desert. Will he ever find a mountain home among other wolves again?

This is a dramatic, realistic, and action-packed animal adventure story inspired by the true experience of OR-7, a radio-collared wolf that mysteriously traveled over 1,000 miles across Oregon and Northern California to establish a new wolf pack. The back matter features engaging photos, maps, and other information about OR-7 as well as about wild wolves generally and their habitats in the Pacific Northwest. The frequent illustrations add to mood and experience of reading the book.

I highly recommend this book for young readers who like animals, adventure and survival stories, and even lyrical/poetic writing about nature and the wilderness. Swift’s keen observation and love of the mountains made me want to get out and explore nature myself, and after reading the book I’ve found myself even paying more attention to the animals and plants around my home and in the city.

Reviewed by Joshua Whiting, Library Media Program, Educational Technology Department Rating: ★★★★✩ (4 stars) Interest Level: Grades 3-8

A Wolf Called Wander Written by Rosanne Perry, Illustrated by Mónica Armiño Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 243 pages Release Date: May 7, 2019 ISBN: 9780062895936

Tags: 2019 Children’s Fiction, Adventure Fiction, Animal Adventure Fiction, Animals Fiction, Joshua Whiting, Journeys Fiction, Mónica Armiño, Mountains Fiction, Nature Fiction, Rosanne Perry, Shelley Francom, Survival Fiction, Wolves Fiction

Standalone post link: Book Review - A Wolf Called Wander

I published a review of Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga on Granite Media and also posted it on Goodreads.

I really wanted to put screenshots of this entire poem in the review, but couldn’t justify it on Granite Media. But here, I get to do whatever I want, so…

I still smile at everyone in the street. Not everyone smiles back, though. When they don’t, I want to say, ‘You don’t have to worry about me. I am just a girl who likes movies.’ -–Jude, in Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home

This is the engaging story of Jude, a girl who lives in a ocean-side town in Syria, where her father runs a convenience store for the tourists who visit the nearby beach resorts. She loves to watch old (1990s) American movies and sing along to Whitney Houston songs, and wants to be an actress. As tensions rise between the Syrian government and young demonstrators pushing for democracy, including Jude’s teenage brother Issa, Jude and her mother travel to visit Jude’s uncle in America. As the situation in Syria continues to deteriorate they are effectively refugees in America, and Jude must navigate American middle school while not knowing what is happening to her brother back home.

Jude is a character that all readers will be able to identify with, and Warga does a great service in showing Jude’s personality and the details of her family and life in Syria before the political unrest and violence breaks out. Crafted in easy-flowing free verse, this is a story that will help refugees, immigrants, English language learners, and really any young person who feels like they don’t quite fit in to feel seen, and it will build understanding and empathy in readers as it puts an individual face and experience on a terrible individual situation that can be hard to imagine or understand. This would make an excellent classroom read, and I highly recommend it for all young readers and for inclusion in every elementary and middle school library.

Reviewed by Joshua Whiting, Library Media Program, Educational Technology Department Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars) Interest Level: Grades 4-8

Other Words for Home Written by Jasmine Warga Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 342 pages Release Date: May 28, 2019 ISBN: 9780062747808

Tags: 2019 Children’s Fiction, Cincinnati Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Emigration Fiction, Family Fiction, Government Resistance Fiction, Immigrants Fiction, Jasmine Warga, Joshua Whiting, Movies Fiction, Moving Fiction, Muslim Americans Fiction, Muslims Fiction, Novels in Verse, Ohio Fiction, Political Unrest Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Refugees Fiction, Syria Fiction, Syrian Americans Fiction

Standalone post link: Book Review - Other Words for Home

Gather ye rosehips while ye may?

Standalone post link: Luna Waiting for Will to Finish Gathering Rosehips

I made this super-inspiring video and just had to put it somewhere in the archives, and this is that somewhere.

The funny thing was that one day a whole bunch of balloons actually did float up outside my cubicle window in exactly this way. I didn’t get a video of them when it was real, so this was an animated re-creation of that moment.

The real balloons had what appeared to be postcards tied to them, so I believe that some students from the elementary school adjoining my building must have been doing that thing where you tie a pre-stamped postcard to a balloon and let it off to see if you ever get the postcard back from someone but instead you just cause a duck to choke to death or something.

(This was just for a work blog post to illustrate how simple it is to edit video in Windows 10 and add silly effects and animations.)

Did you know that there is an easy-to-use video editor already installed and available on all PCs with the Windows 10 operating system? Learn more about it in our latest #gsdedtech blog post: https://t.co/qmQl2inD9n

(It even has magical 3D animation effects.) pic.twitter.com/tC89lI6uhT

— Granite Educational Technology (@GraniteEdTech) November 25, 2019

Standalone post link: Balloons Outside My Cubicle Window

Standalone post link: Luna and the Moon