Hansel and Gretel by Ian Wallace

Hansel and Gretel by Ian Wallace, 1994.

Variations:

• Setting is by the sea on the edge of a forest
• Does not mention God
• Children drop pebbles but say they're turning back to wave goodbye to the cat on the roof
• Hansel drops breadcrumbs but says he is turning back to wave goodbye to a pigeon on the roof
• Children follow a white bird to the witch's house
• House was "made of sweets with a roof made of cake and pure sugar for windows."
• Witch promises no harm will come to them
• Hansel is kept in a pen rather than a cage

Verse:

"Nibbling, nibbling like a mouse.
Who's that nibbling at my house?"

Ian Wallace made his illustrations in pastel pencil on black paper. The witch's head appears on the horizon on the book's cover, but Wallace does not show her "human" face inside at all, although she does appear in a surrealistic, ominous form as the forest and in a creepy visual postscript as a witch-shaped cloud of smoke rising from the oven chimney. Like Anthony Browne's book, (Picture books: Hansel and Gretel), this Hansel and Gretel has a more modern setting than most. The family's shabby  home appears to have a drop tile ceiling and a 70s vibe lamp, the father wears a baseball cap, the kids wear casual pants and the stepmother reads a scandal sheet of the "Batboy found!" variety. The art has dark overtones, from the literally dim and engulfing woods to the children's reunion with their father near the cemetery by their home. Wallace's version of the story is not your typical one, and is worth a look.

The Lost Boy by Greg Ruth

The Lost Boy written and illus. by Greg Ruth, 2013.

In Greg Ruth's deliciously creepy graphic novel The Lost Boy, we first meet young Nate, reluctantly moving into his family's new house. He has no sooner than picked out his bedroom when he finds the tape recordings of a boy named Walt, telling of unusual activity in the woods in the 1960s. Walt describes insects dressed in evening wear, talking squirrels and eerie life sized doll people. Before long, Nate's usual world intersects with the Kingdom, home to the crazy things that Walt has described and Nate learns that not long after he made his tapes,Walt permanently disappeared. When Nate and a neighbor girl named Tabitha are attacked by a monstrous Tree Man, the Vespertine, the kids are dragged into an adventure in the Kingdom. Aiding them are Tom Button, a doll boy, Pettibone, a brave and sassy squirrel, and Haloran, Walt's former mentor. Pleasingly spooky in art and storyline, hinting at the possibility of more to come, this title will leave readers hoping for an entire series about Nate, Tabitha and the Kingdom.

Camp Read-a-Lot 2014 Reading List

I will once again be a "counselor" at Camp Read-a-Lot, this summer held in West St. Paul on August 7. I will be among the librarians leading the book discussions for the 4th-5th grade books. This year's author is Jack Gantos!

 More information here

4th and 5th Grade Reads:

 

Fiction

1. Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

• Serafina’s Promise by Ann E. Burg
• Counting by Sevens by Holly Goldberg Sloan

 
2. Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

 

• The Adventures of a South Pole Pig: A Novel of Snow and Courage by Chris Kurtz
• Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein  
• The Platypus Police Squad: The Frog Who Croaked by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

3. Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

 

•  Doll Bones by Holly Black
• Jinx by Sage Blackwood

4. Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

 

•  The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel by Deborah Hopkinson  
• The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata

 

5. Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

 

•  Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd
• Boy on the Porch by Sharon Creech

6. Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

 

•  ChickenHare by Chrise Grine
• Monster on the Hill by Rob Harrell
• The Lost Boy by Greg Ruth

7. Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

 

•  Dead End In Norvelt (Norvelt Series #1) by Jack Gantos
• From Norvelt to Nowhere (Norvelt Series #2) by Jack Gantos

Camper’s Choice

 

8. Camper’s Choice – Any title of your choice (fiction or nonfiction) that meets the following criteria:

 

a. You have not read it before this summer

 

b. Original copyright is no older than 2012

 

c. Ideal for classroom use or free reading

 

d. Avoid highly popular titles, books recently made into movies, major award winners

 

 

Nonfiction

 

 

9. Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

 

•  Eruption!: Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives by Elizabeth Rusch
• Scaly Spotted Feathered Frilled: How Do We Know What Dinosaurs Really Looked Like? by Catherine Thimmesh
• The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees: A Scientific Mystery by Sandra Markle

10. Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

 

• Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson
• Wild Boy: The Real Life of the Savage of Aveyron by Mary Losure
• Becoming Ben Franklin: How a Candle-Maker’s Son Helped Light the Flame of Liberty by Russel Freedman

11. Camper’s Choice – Choose one title below to read and review:

 

•   Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant
• My Weird Writing Tips by Dan Gutman
• When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laben Carrick Hill
• Pug and Other Animal Poems by Valerie Worth

Hansel and Gretel by Beni Montresor

 

Hansel and Gretel by Beni Montresor, 2001.

 

Variations:

The details of  Montresor's concise story deviate quite a bit from the Grimms' version. The children are sent into the woods by their mother to pick strawberries, but they get lost on their own. Their parents worry when their offspring don't return, because the woods are infested with an evil monster, terrifying devils and witches. As the children spend the night in the forest, they dream that heavenly angels watch over them, and when they awaken, a castle has taken the place of the woods. This is the witch's home, and she wastes no time in throwing Hansel into a cage and forcing Gretel to prepare the cooking fire. Gretel uses the witch's magic wand to free Hansel, and together they push her into the fire. Other children imprisoned by the crone are now freed and the children are heroes. The tale ends there, with no reunion of the children and their parents.

Verse: none


Montresor uses dramatic silhouette art to tell his adaptation of the story. Bold backgrounds of colorful green, royal blue, red, etc. contrast with the white profiles of the children. The evil creatures are readily identifiable: red devils carrying pitchforks, green witches riding brooms, and a yellow eyed monster with a face like a Puffer fish. Likewise, the host of angels,  colored mauve and yellow, have crowns, wings and outspread arms. Though I personally don't care for what I feel are unnecessary changes to the story, the art makes this book stand out.

Hansel & Gretel by Lisbeth Zwerger

Hansel & Gretel by the Brothers Grimm & Lisbeth Zwerger, Trans. by Elizabeth D. Crawford, 1979.

Variations:

• Mentions God
• Hansel drops pebbles but says he is turning back to look at a white kitten on the roof
• Children think that their father is nearby in the woods, but he has fixed a tree branch to strike a tree to sound like an axe cutting wood
• Hansel drops breadcrumbs but says he is turning back to look at a dove on the roof
• Children follow a white bird to the witch's house
• House was "made of bread and roofed with cakes, and the windows were of pure sugar."
• Witch promises no harm will come to them
• Gives detail on the witch, including her keen sense of smell
• Hansel is kept in a kennel rather than a cage
• Children ride a white duck across the water to get home

Verse:

"Nibble, nibble, munch, munch.
Who is gnawing on my house?"

"The wind, the wind,
The heavenly wind."

"Duckling, duckling,
Help Hansel and Gretel.
There's no footbridge and no track.
Take us on your little white back."

Zwerger's watercolor illustrations  are done in neutral colors and put the focus on the children and their reactions. The woods are really a brown blur and the stepmother, a plain but normal looking woman, is only shown once. Even the witch is fairly subtle. Her robe has an absence of color and her skin a very faint green tint. Her most striking features are her amber eyes, that put one in mind of a snake or a toad. The overall effect is dreamy and melancholy, until the happy ending.

Thing 23: Evaluate 23 Mobile Things

 

I had a great time doing 23 Mobile Things and I do feel that I learned a lot. It has definitely made me more willing to explore apps and not fear adding and subtracting them from my phone at will. I would absolutely participate in another 23 Things!


Apps added during 23 Mobile Things still on my phone:

• Apps Gone Free
• Bee Kind
• Blogger
• Candy Crush (added under the influence of 23 Mobile Things)
• Farm Heroes (added under the influence of 23 Mobile Things)
• Free Fall (added under the influence of 23 Mobile Things)
• Going Out
• Instagram
• Mediation Timer Free (added under the influence of 23 Mobile Things)
• MyGarden
• Pill Monitor Free (added under the influence of 23 Mobile Things)
• Project Noah
• Springpad
• Zite

Top 3 Favorite for Personal Use:

• Springpad
• Bee Kind
• Farm Heroes

Sadly, Springpad, which I find I use a lot, is shutting down on June 25. However, they provide for migration to Evernote, which I just did and it went smoothly. Now, we will see.

Top 3 Favorite for Possible Work Use:

• Vine
• Audioboo
• Pinterest

Favorite Mobile Things: (Pinterest definitely would have been on this list, but I was already using it)

1. Thing 22: Discovering Apps (Very happy to have found Quixey, but I did use it on my computer, rather than iPhone)
2. Things 10 & 9: Sharing Photos & Taking and Editing Photos (just fun!)
3. Thing 19: Hobbies

Least Favorite Mobile Things:

1. Thing 15: Infographics
2. Thing 6: Creating and Editing Documents (not practical on tiny iPhone)
3. Thing 13: Presentations (ditto and love my PowerPoint)

Thing 22: Discovering Apps

Apps Gone Free:

"Apps Gone Free is a great way to discover apps from the App Store that have gone free for the day. To get the word out, apps will occasionally go on sale for a day or a week and this app lets you know about them. You’ll find five to ten apps of all different kinds highlighted per day."

I added this app today (actually 5/28), and it advertised the following free (temporarily) apps:

• Tube for YouTube- "Get the full YouTube experience"
• Gridplay-"Turn your everyday videos into framed masterpieces"
• Fairway Solitaire by Big Fish Games, Inc. -"The highest and rated and most popular solitaire game in the app store"
• Game of War- Fire Age- "An addictive strategy game with a fun social aspect"
• Atomus- "Take control of thousands of particles with this relaxing entertainment app"
• Pocket Scanner -"Turn your iPhone into a powerful mobile scanner"
• Tadaa SLR -"Take fantastic SLR quality photos"
• Uface- Unique Face Maker -"Create hand-drawn versions of yourself"
• Pocket Scanner HD - turn your iPad into a portable scanner
• SalaryBook HD -"Freelancers, consultants, and professionals can keep track of their working hours and earnings'

I am going to pass on these. But, for kicks I went back a week to see what else had been offered, and this one seemed interesting.

IncrediBooth- "...Create awesome photo strips using your iDevice's front-facing camera"

In truth, I don't know how much I will actually check this app. I don't feel I'm really lacking apps, and I probably wouldn't pay for one unless it's really outstanding, but I guess it's a nice option.

Quixey:

"Quixey is the app search engine and it’s a great way to discover apps. It allows you to search for the type of app you’re looking for and it gives you great suggestions. It’s a much better way to do some keyword searching to find apps than you’ll get in the Apple or Android stores."

Puttering around on Quixey and searching for brain games, I turned up this app:

Fit Brains Trainer:  "Fit Brains Trainer is a brain training & fitness app with more than 360 games & unique training sessions that are designed to enhance your Memory, Processing Speed, Concentration, Problem Solving and Visual skills."

I had to enter my identifying information, including age, and the app began to "train" me with appropriate games. In session 1, I counted blocks for speed, then completed number patterns for problem solving. Ick, numbers. Things resembling math make me nervous. In session 2, I identified shadow shapes for visual improvement, counted more blocks, and spotted hidden shapes for speed. You get the idea. I think that I will use this app. Well, maybe not. Apparently you only get five sessions for free and after that it's ten dollars a month.

I also tried the keyword "kindness" and found:

Random Act of Kindness: Which suggests compassionate things you can do and lets you share them on social media. Some examples: "Help someone get their GED," "Document your family tree," and "Donate clothes to a woman's shelter."

Acts of Kindness: Which does pretty much the same thing, with additional suggestions of good causes to donate to. For example, "You could donate to Africare" and all you need to do is push "Learn More" to be connected to Africare's website. Other good deeds: "You could lend advice to someone with a problem," "You could donate to National Children's Leukemia Foundation," "You could donate to the American Brain Tumor Association," and "You could donate to the Animal Legal Defense Fund."

 

Bee Kind: Is more visually fun than the other two apps, more child friendly and probably more likely to be used by me. To get your kindness To Do List, you spend the bee's wheel and it gives you a suggestion, which you either accept or reject, such as "Be kind to the planet, shut the car off if stopped longer than a minute," "Be very kind to yourself, forget the past and let go of your guilt," "Be kind to animals, donate pet food to a local animal shelter," and "Be very kind to others, buy groceries for an elderly friend." All the ideas that you accept are compiled into a list and you can check things off when you have finished them. Then you can share on social media if you want. For extra cuteness and fun, there are also levels to the game. You start as a lazy bee and progress to a super bee!

 

 

Kindness Free Guided Meditation for Inner Peace:

As promised, this app talks you through a brief (approx 6 minutes) lovingkindness meditation. You can choose whether you want a male or female voice, English or Spanish and if you want background music, no music, or forest or beach sounds. It also offers written quotes about kindness that you can flip through.

And finally,

Kind MindQ:

This is a collective consciousness app that appears to be a work in progress. The idea is for beings the planet over to focus on love, kindness and world peace. I'll stay tuned for the next generation of this app.

The bottom line is that Quixey is a winner.