Fishermen
heading out with kayak paddles
and crates on surfboards
Fishermen
paddle out of the twighlight
to the beach in the eveningsdawn
land gently on the beach
among the gentle surf
let the waves movetheir boards as far as possible
and then drag them to the woods
morotbike on the road
man on the back holds a bag of shrimp
and a kayak paddle
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Bhudda on the hill
Bhudda on the hill
big and white
carved from marble
watching the thunder heads roll in off the south china sea
white stone Bhudda on the hill, on the mountain
looking over the roads and city's of Phuket
and Island who's bustleing streets never seem to end
a round about an intersection a 4 lane funnel of calm
and speed and motor bikes with baskets, lumbering cement grinders,
toyotas filled with workers, and cars all running the gamet;
all trying to fel like Bhudda as the drive
and moving togeth like flies in a unified line
beutifullly arcing around cars pulling out.
Bhudda looks down on us all,
and our particular car climbs
up a forested mountain,
palm fronds and green,
and we pass elephants,
their skin, the hairs on their bodies,
the pinkish yellow on the inside of their
slightly flappy mouths/ cheeks
compared to all of the spirit houses
and chinese temples
and buddist temples
and mosques
the animals slow walk
speaks most strongly of the present
and of the past
and Bhudda sits on the mountain
watching the thuder clouds rolling in
off the south china sea
big and white
carved from marble
watching the thunder heads roll in off the south china sea
white stone Bhudda on the hill, on the mountain
looking over the roads and city's of Phuket
and Island who's bustleing streets never seem to end
a round about an intersection a 4 lane funnel of calm
and speed and motor bikes with baskets, lumbering cement grinders,
toyotas filled with workers, and cars all running the gamet;
all trying to fel like Bhudda as the drive
and moving togeth like flies in a unified line
beutifullly arcing around cars pulling out.
Bhudda looks down on us all,
and our particular car climbs
up a forested mountain,
palm fronds and green,
and we pass elephants,
their skin, the hairs on their bodies,
the pinkish yellow on the inside of their
slightly flappy mouths/ cheeks
compared to all of the spirit houses
and chinese temples
and buddist temples
and mosques
the animals slow walk
speaks most strongly of the present
and of the past
and Bhudda sits on the mountain
watching the thuder clouds rolling in
off the south china sea
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Green Cocunut
Green cocunut
must be plucked from the tree
chop chop
chop off comes the top
silver blade chops
smooth liquid silk
green grass by the trunks
of the trees we relax and breath
saba dee mai kup?
we drink from the trees
must be plucked from the tree
chop chop
chop off comes the top
silver blade chops
smooth liquid silk
green grass by the trunks
of the trees we relax and breath
saba dee mai kup?
we drink from the trees
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Expereince Labrador: Application 2 of 2
Experience Labrador : Significant Misconceptions
I have been to Bloodvien and Flin Flon Manitoba , Pine Lake Saskatchewan, several places in northern Ontario Labrador . Neither have many islanders. I am originally from Calgary , and have been asking fellow MUN students, (some Labradoreans, some not), what they think are misconceptions about Labrador .
People who had never been to Labrador thought it was desolate; that the few people who live there rush to the store every time a plane drops off supplies. One of my friends couldn’t even imagine meeting a Labradorean; he just never thought it would never happen in St. John’s
I think the most significant misconception is that Labrador is a land without people. I asked a few Labradoreans, and they felt misunderstood. They felt islanders viewed Labrador as a place where people live in igloos and that anyone who did live there had solely first nation heritage. When Labradoreans went into their own descriptions of the place they loved, I realized how much I didn’t know.
I originally imagined Labrador as beautiful to explore, but difficult to access. I thought not only would the towns be hard to reach, but that the remoteness of the whole region would even make outdoor travel dangerous. I wondered if people felt sad, trapped and bored, and was there tension between mining towns and first nation communities? Talking to a Labradorean changed the way I thought about those answers, but many questions still remain. Are the first nation’s communities like others I’ve seen? Do mega projects dominate the economy? What is unique about schools and governance? What does it feel like to grow up there as a child?, to be a teenager, a high school or university grad?
There is much I wonder, much I anticipate, and much I stand to learn about Labrador . I think that Labrador will be diverse in its regions; its landscape, people, and opportunities. The most enjoyable way to alleviate my misconceptions is to go to Labrador , and to meet its people and experience it fully.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
I will make Miracles
Illustrated by Jiang Hong Chen
Written by Susie Morgenstern.
The pictures and the words both work together to present the message of the book. It is not so much a story, but more so the deceleration of a little boy. In all of the illustrations through out the book, the little boy is present. He looks very influenced by the style of Maurice Sendak; simply depicted yet with facial expression and body language. He is constant and realistic in every scene, but the backgrounds are wild and turbulent, always changing, exaggerated and abstract.
In a further comparison, I thought that the lyrical style of the text is similar to that penned by Dr. Seuss, and in fact the book could be likened to Oh the Places we will go. Morgenstern applies rhyming couplets throughout the book, and the average line length is of 8 syllables. There is a rhythmic flow to how the words run together
I'll meet everyone on earth,
and ask about their dreams.
Because life is more,
so much more than it seems
My giant loaf of bread will cure the world of hunger,
and the people who eat it will feel ten years younger!
And then for the child who has nothing to wear,
I'll sew her a dress. That will answer her prayer.
Through the above verse may not show it, there is a very exaggerated mood in the book. It encourages a child to change the world and even to physically raise the sun and to stir up the waves in the ocean. However, as the books conclusion is intended to be moralistic, it comes across as slightly contrived and in a unbalanced contrast to the rest of the book. I do not disagree with the message- that learning to read and write will unlock unfathomable worlds for a person- but this simple recommendation either itself needed to be more exaggerated, or the rest of the book needed to be even crazy to make the contrast so absurd that it was normal.
The style of art work, however, is a huge success. It lends itself to the amplified mood of the book. For example, the two page spread of I will stamp out earthquakes, floods, and fire- / The world will stop shaking, be cooler and drier, is illustrated fantastically with strikes of blood red water color, and overlain with slashes of black, bleeding due to excess water. Of course, amongst this is the realistic portrayal of the watercolor boy running through the melee with arms outstretched and a defiant look on his face.
Written by Susie Morgenstern.
The pictures and the words both work together to present the message of the book. It is not so much a story, but more so the deceleration of a little boy. In all of the illustrations through out the book, the little boy is present. He looks very influenced by the style of Maurice Sendak; simply depicted yet with facial expression and body language. He is constant and realistic in every scene, but the backgrounds are wild and turbulent, always changing, exaggerated and abstract.
In a further comparison, I thought that the lyrical style of the text is similar to that penned by Dr. Seuss, and in fact the book could be likened to Oh the Places we will go. Morgenstern applies rhyming couplets throughout the book, and the average line length is of 8 syllables. There is a rhythmic flow to how the words run together
I'll meet everyone on earth,
and ask about their dreams.
Because life is more,
so much more than it seems
My giant loaf of bread will cure the world of hunger,
and the people who eat it will feel ten years younger!
And then for the child who has nothing to wear,
I'll sew her a dress. That will answer her prayer.
Through the above verse may not show it, there is a very exaggerated mood in the book. It encourages a child to change the world and even to physically raise the sun and to stir up the waves in the ocean. However, as the books conclusion is intended to be moralistic, it comes across as slightly contrived and in a unbalanced contrast to the rest of the book. I do not disagree with the message- that learning to read and write will unlock unfathomable worlds for a person- but this simple recommendation either itself needed to be more exaggerated, or the rest of the book needed to be even crazy to make the contrast so absurd that it was normal.
The style of art work, however, is a huge success. It lends itself to the amplified mood of the book. For example, the two page spread of I will stamp out earthquakes, floods, and fire- / The world will stop shaking, be cooler and drier, is illustrated fantastically with strikes of blood red water color, and overlain with slashes of black, bleeding due to excess water. Of course, amongst this is the realistic portrayal of the watercolor boy running through the melee with arms outstretched and a defiant look on his face.
A Comparison: Feminism in Childrens Litterature
An old Folktale and a Modern Graphic Novel
Ideas and beliefs, and preconceptions are certainly perpetuated through a culture by the stories that the culture listens to. Well I think that the style of stories that effect cultures has certainly changed. I think today in our north American culture the stories are coming in diverse forms of text, such as television programs or celebrity personalities. IN the past however, this was not the case. In the past I think the written word had a stronger potential to influence the mindset of a culture. It is then in the past that we can really see how childrens literature in specific had an impact upon expectations and treatment of women.
Despite childrens literature fall from the status of a strong cultural influence, some authors are trying to present an alternative version to how females were often depicted in childrens literature of the past. The two texts that I read were No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as men for Love, Freedom, and Adventure, by Susan Hughes, and a collection entitled The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from Around the World, compiled by Ethel Johnston Phelps. These books are similar in that they present several different stories, and that all of these stories are in some way connected to 'feminism.' They are both illuminating forgoten stories from the past that show girls in a different role that what one might imagine classical childrens literature to depict females in. They are different in how these texts are presented.
No Girls Allowed is a graphic novel which retells seven stories of women, who forced by circumstance had to sacrifice their female identity in order to achieve what they wanted to achieve, usually as a means to help their family survive. The author, Susan Hughes, writes a variety of texts in which she become a temporary expert on the subject. In her uncovering of these stories that had never been told before, she was also able to insert a contemporary voice to the tales. The illustrator of the text specificaly said that she wanted the book to give girls power, to show them other girls in positions of authority.
In Maid of the North, Phelps did not retell the stories persay, but more so endevored to compile a selection of historic folk tales that showed females as the protagonist as opposed to the typical story where the male was the protaginist and females were the subject of victimization. This collection is interesting because it is the fact of collecting and preserving these stories that is pro feminist, and the author did not need to use her own voice to change these tales, as they had already been told as printed in the collection.
Both texts use historic stories, one retells factual accounts from history, adding emphasis to their feminist message, and the other does not retell the tales, but lets the act of collecting 'historical artifacts (folk tales)' and letting the volume of all of these collected add emphasis to a feminist message. Both of these texts had an important impact on me because they showed how children s literature, because of the conventions of what is normal within them, can have an almost subconscious influence on the people who are reading them. In the most popular texts of today, which likely include video and song, I am not certain hat these unconscious conventions are, I am not sure what preconceptions are being trained into the ears of children. However, the two texts I have presented hear are at least giving a convention that is not subconscious, but instead is loud and clear. They are saying that a) we need to be aware of the pressures that are being put on children because of their gender, and that b) both boys and girls have the right to be presented with role models that show them they have the ability to reach their potentials, and that they have the right not to be held down.
Ideas and beliefs, and preconceptions are certainly perpetuated through a culture by the stories that the culture listens to. Well I think that the style of stories that effect cultures has certainly changed. I think today in our north American culture the stories are coming in diverse forms of text, such as television programs or celebrity personalities. IN the past however, this was not the case. In the past I think the written word had a stronger potential to influence the mindset of a culture. It is then in the past that we can really see how childrens literature in specific had an impact upon expectations and treatment of women.
Despite childrens literature fall from the status of a strong cultural influence, some authors are trying to present an alternative version to how females were often depicted in childrens literature of the past. The two texts that I read were No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as men for Love, Freedom, and Adventure, by Susan Hughes, and a collection entitled The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from Around the World, compiled by Ethel Johnston Phelps. These books are similar in that they present several different stories, and that all of these stories are in some way connected to 'feminism.' They are both illuminating forgoten stories from the past that show girls in a different role that what one might imagine classical childrens literature to depict females in. They are different in how these texts are presented.
No Girls Allowed is a graphic novel which retells seven stories of women, who forced by circumstance had to sacrifice their female identity in order to achieve what they wanted to achieve, usually as a means to help their family survive. The author, Susan Hughes, writes a variety of texts in which she become a temporary expert on the subject. In her uncovering of these stories that had never been told before, she was also able to insert a contemporary voice to the tales. The illustrator of the text specificaly said that she wanted the book to give girls power, to show them other girls in positions of authority.
In Maid of the North, Phelps did not retell the stories persay, but more so endevored to compile a selection of historic folk tales that showed females as the protagonist as opposed to the typical story where the male was the protaginist and females were the subject of victimization. This collection is interesting because it is the fact of collecting and preserving these stories that is pro feminist, and the author did not need to use her own voice to change these tales, as they had already been told as printed in the collection.
Both texts use historic stories, one retells factual accounts from history, adding emphasis to their feminist message, and the other does not retell the tales, but lets the act of collecting 'historical artifacts (folk tales)' and letting the volume of all of these collected add emphasis to a feminist message. Both of these texts had an important impact on me because they showed how children s literature, because of the conventions of what is normal within them, can have an almost subconscious influence on the people who are reading them. In the most popular texts of today, which likely include video and song, I am not certain hat these unconscious conventions are, I am not sure what preconceptions are being trained into the ears of children. However, the two texts I have presented hear are at least giving a convention that is not subconscious, but instead is loud and clear. They are saying that a) we need to be aware of the pressures that are being put on children because of their gender, and that b) both boys and girls have the right to be presented with role models that show them they have the ability to reach their potentials, and that they have the right not to be held down.
The Three Questions
The genre of this picture book is what I am going to call an adaptation. For the story, you see, was borrowed from a man who already wrote it. The original author was Leo Tolstoy. According to the back flap cover, Leo Tolstoy is one of Russia’s most famous novelists and story tellers. The three questions was a short story that Leo wrote. I do not know much about Leo right now, and in fact wished I researched more about him. I feel like the more I knew about the original tale, and the original author, the more that I could take from the adaptation for children.
The new author also brought in some other influence to his adaptation. In the explanation of the book the author mentioned that he brought in the influence of zen to his book. Again, I would like to learn more about zen so that I could elucidate more of the meaning from the book. I do notice in the pictures a kind of high forest Chinese feel, perhaps this is where the zen comes in, in the art work.
The art work is one of the first things that struck me about the book, and in fact, the art work is definitely my most exuberantly favorite great excellent favorite part of the book. It is water color paintings, but with a quality of color, shape and detail unlike in any other water color paintings I have ever seen. The bridges that fade into the mist, the Himalayan mountains in the sunny winter, the posture of the boy as he flies his red kite. Even the wy that the light plays off of the characters, the water color paintings in this book are special!!
It would be nice to incorporate an art lesson as well as a religion or social studies lesson alongside with this book. The paintings and the sub narrative, or the backround of the book, make it a very rich and interesting read, if not for the story line, then at least for the making and origins of the book.
Luckily the story line is pretty good to. It is a book that leads to a moral. It starts with three questions, and in the end, through the story, we learn the answer to those three questions. The most important time is now, the most important one is the one we are with, and the most important thing is to do good for the one standing at our side.
(p.s. the paintings are so good I wanted to mention that again)
Thanks World
Happy Reading!
Adrian
The new author also brought in some other influence to his adaptation. In the explanation of the book the author mentioned that he brought in the influence of zen to his book. Again, I would like to learn more about zen so that I could elucidate more of the meaning from the book. I do notice in the pictures a kind of high forest Chinese feel, perhaps this is where the zen comes in, in the art work.
The art work is one of the first things that struck me about the book, and in fact, the art work is definitely my most exuberantly favorite great excellent favorite part of the book. It is water color paintings, but with a quality of color, shape and detail unlike in any other water color paintings I have ever seen. The bridges that fade into the mist, the Himalayan mountains in the sunny winter, the posture of the boy as he flies his red kite. Even the wy that the light plays off of the characters, the water color paintings in this book are special!!
It would be nice to incorporate an art lesson as well as a religion or social studies lesson alongside with this book. The paintings and the sub narrative, or the backround of the book, make it a very rich and interesting read, if not for the story line, then at least for the making and origins of the book.
Luckily the story line is pretty good to. It is a book that leads to a moral. It starts with three questions, and in the end, through the story, we learn the answer to those three questions. The most important time is now, the most important one is the one we are with, and the most important thing is to do good for the one standing at our side.
(p.s. the paintings are so good I wanted to mention that again)
Thanks World
Happy Reading!
Adrian
Harriet the Spy
This novel was excellent! The character development was exquisitely crafted. I remember in school we used to learn about character development, we studied it as a formal thing to analyze and answer questions about. However, I approached this novel in a different way. Because I am beginning more and more to appreciate writing as an art form, I approached this novel on my own terms. Ok Ok, it supposed to be a novel for children, well, I think that good writing is good writing, it doesn’t matter who it was intended for.
The character development was good because the author did not rely on abstract descriptions. She did not say what Harriet was like, she showed what Harriet was like. The words thoughts and actions of Harriet, in context of other people and places, showed me who Harriet was. This style of character development is what made this novel stand out as special to me. It is easy to write things like -so and so is a wonderful person, she is thoughtful and always concerned about others. I mentioned that as an example, I am trying to show a standard way of describing people where we use adjectives. The thing is, a description based only on adjectives lacks substance, plus, the adjectives mean different things for different people. The author of Harriet the Spy did no rely on adjectives to describe Harriet. She showed Harriet’s thoughts, and Harriet’s mannerisms, and Harriet’s reactions to situations. Through these concrete descriptions of what Harriet does I got to know her. I was able to connect and understand Harriet and formulate my own understanding of how she could be described.
This way of thinking, preferring concrete images over abstract descriptions is a practice I learned in Susan Ingersoll creative writing poetry course in my third year of university. Ezra Pound said 'go in fear of abstractions.' Meaning do not write a poem that says ' they were best friends, instead, show the friendship, for example have one boy sighing, and then giving half of his firecrackers to the other boy. This example lets the reader understand the friendship on their own terms, lets the reader bring their own way of analyzing the event. When we say the concept only, that they were good friends, then the reader must bring with them their previous knowledge of what friendship means. The friendship the reader understands may be different than the friendship that these two boys experience. In poetry I believe this strategy is called imagism, and it was a movement away from romanticism. ( I might be un accurate here), But I think that poetry in the romantic period for example was heavy on abstract descriptions, using a lot of adjectives to describe something, like- a terrifying meadow in the sultriest of nights where sulking spirits roamed and called with might. Imagism on the other hand would describe what was in that field, a wind, dark ripples on a shallow pond, rattling apple tree branches free from fruit with only dying leaves, and a sound not sure if its is wolves or .... . Both strategies for writing are valuable, but I found in very refreshing, and entertaining to read a novel that relied on the concrete to describe its characters.
Something else that I loved about this novel was the precision of language. It is labeled as a children’s novel, but I think it can be respected as more then a simple text for children. The honesty and efficiency of the descriptions moved the novel closer to an experience of poetry than prose. I find that boring novels are heavy on description and elaboration. Harriet the spy bounced along from one specific and sharply described scene to the next. This precision of language made the novel very satisfying to read. As Susan Ingersoll said, a poet must be extremely efficient with language, not a word should be wasted, every word and even every line break should be intentional and a concentrated effort of the author, every word should have purpose and meaning. I felt the same way with this novel. The author wasted no space in telling me how I should react to a scene, the author described the scene precisely by what exactly was happening, and the emotional reaction was mine to have. These terse and accurate depictions of what was happening, that focused on the concrete and real, gave me stronger emotional reactions to the novel. I laughed out loud at the hilarity of the world within which Harriet lived, and I also cringed at the changes she went through.
For example. the scene which describe the shrink with red hair was brilliant. Never did the author mention that he was a psychologist, not give any commentary on what a psychologist is like or how this one should be viewed. Instead the Author described what the man said and how he acted, through these descriptions I knew what he was like and I reacted to him in my own way based on my own previous knowledge and feelings about how he acted. People who know about child psychologists and counselors (of which I know very little) know there is a certain humor in the idea of active listening when it is taken to an extreme. An active listener rephrases what the speaker has said, and poses their own words as questions back to them (as one strategy) it is somewhat of an unnatural conversation because the listener is not adding any opinions or advice, they are putting all of their effort into drawing out the thoughts of the speaker. In Chapter 14 when Harriet goes to the 'doctor' the author does not mention anything about this style of counseling, but through the ensuing conversation she shows the comedy and confusion of what occurs;
Dr. Wagner got up and went to a cabinet next to the door. When he opened it Harriet could see all sorts of games, dolls, doll houses, and trucks. She tried to be nice about it, but she was curios. "Do you sit here all day and play with all of those things?"
Wait til lher mother got a load of this.
He looked at her archly, "What do you think?
Do you think I sit here all day playing with these toys?"
"How do I know? You got a whole closet full of em"
"Don't you have toys at home?"
This was to much. "Yes,,: she shouted " but Im eleven."
"Oh." He looked somewhat taken aback, standing there with the monopoly board in his hand.
Harriet began to feel sorry for him. "Well," she said, "shall we play one game?"
It’s the exchange between the characters that reveals the silliness of the counselor and the intelligence of Harriet, the author does not have to explicitly state these ideas, instead she implies them though the seen, and lets me the reader formulate my own understanding and reaction to Harriet and the other characters.
Throughout the novel, the author lead Harriet over great changes, but never once spoiled my imagination by telling me how to feel. I watched Harriot change, and had to justify her actions and analyze her changes by my own terms. Perhaps the way I feel about Harriet is different then they was another reader would feel, and in this lies the brilliance of the work of Art that is Harriet the spy. No person can be described in two dimensions. We all have characteristics and life stories, but it is not easy for a third person to define us perfectly and tell the world what we are like. In the same way, the author did not tell me exactly what Harriet was like, who she was, and how I should define her. The key word here is that she did not tell me, instead she showed me. The author showed me what Harriet said and how she acted, and because of my observing Harriet it was up to me to react to her, i had to 'tell' myself what Harriet was like. I feel that this makes this novel multi dimensional, and most of all, it makes it honest. Because of this sharpness of description, efficiency of words, and honesty of presentation that I rank Harriet the spy not only as a good novel for children, but rank it as a good novel (period).
(P.S. Another thing that this novel reminded my from my school days was the point of view. In this novel I knew the world through Harriet’s perspective. I knew her thoughts and how she saw other people to be. This was cool to appreciate this facet of the book by my own accord and acknowledgment, and not as an exercise in school. My other creative writing poetry teacher, Don Mckay, told us that we could do whatever we wanted in a poem as long as it followed its own internal laws. I feel like the novel is the same way, it followed internal laws about whose thoughts I could know and what point of view people and places were seen from. Seeing the world through Hariet’s eyes helped my to love and sympathize for her, even at times when the rest of the world was against her. This crafting of perspective is another factor that elevates this novel to an appreciative work of art for me. )
The character development was good because the author did not rely on abstract descriptions. She did not say what Harriet was like, she showed what Harriet was like. The words thoughts and actions of Harriet, in context of other people and places, showed me who Harriet was. This style of character development is what made this novel stand out as special to me. It is easy to write things like -so and so is a wonderful person, she is thoughtful and always concerned about others. I mentioned that as an example, I am trying to show a standard way of describing people where we use adjectives. The thing is, a description based only on adjectives lacks substance, plus, the adjectives mean different things for different people. The author of Harriet the Spy did no rely on adjectives to describe Harriet. She showed Harriet’s thoughts, and Harriet’s mannerisms, and Harriet’s reactions to situations. Through these concrete descriptions of what Harriet does I got to know her. I was able to connect and understand Harriet and formulate my own understanding of how she could be described.
This way of thinking, preferring concrete images over abstract descriptions is a practice I learned in Susan Ingersoll creative writing poetry course in my third year of university. Ezra Pound said 'go in fear of abstractions.' Meaning do not write a poem that says ' they were best friends, instead, show the friendship, for example have one boy sighing, and then giving half of his firecrackers to the other boy. This example lets the reader understand the friendship on their own terms, lets the reader bring their own way of analyzing the event. When we say the concept only, that they were good friends, then the reader must bring with them their previous knowledge of what friendship means. The friendship the reader understands may be different than the friendship that these two boys experience. In poetry I believe this strategy is called imagism, and it was a movement away from romanticism. ( I might be un accurate here), But I think that poetry in the romantic period for example was heavy on abstract descriptions, using a lot of adjectives to describe something, like- a terrifying meadow in the sultriest of nights where sulking spirits roamed and called with might. Imagism on the other hand would describe what was in that field, a wind, dark ripples on a shallow pond, rattling apple tree branches free from fruit with only dying leaves, and a sound not sure if its is wolves or .... . Both strategies for writing are valuable, but I found in very refreshing, and entertaining to read a novel that relied on the concrete to describe its characters.
Something else that I loved about this novel was the precision of language. It is labeled as a children’s novel, but I think it can be respected as more then a simple text for children. The honesty and efficiency of the descriptions moved the novel closer to an experience of poetry than prose. I find that boring novels are heavy on description and elaboration. Harriet the spy bounced along from one specific and sharply described scene to the next. This precision of language made the novel very satisfying to read. As Susan Ingersoll said, a poet must be extremely efficient with language, not a word should be wasted, every word and even every line break should be intentional and a concentrated effort of the author, every word should have purpose and meaning. I felt the same way with this novel. The author wasted no space in telling me how I should react to a scene, the author described the scene precisely by what exactly was happening, and the emotional reaction was mine to have. These terse and accurate depictions of what was happening, that focused on the concrete and real, gave me stronger emotional reactions to the novel. I laughed out loud at the hilarity of the world within which Harriet lived, and I also cringed at the changes she went through.
For example. the scene which describe the shrink with red hair was brilliant. Never did the author mention that he was a psychologist, not give any commentary on what a psychologist is like or how this one should be viewed. Instead the Author described what the man said and how he acted, through these descriptions I knew what he was like and I reacted to him in my own way based on my own previous knowledge and feelings about how he acted. People who know about child psychologists and counselors (of which I know very little) know there is a certain humor in the idea of active listening when it is taken to an extreme. An active listener rephrases what the speaker has said, and poses their own words as questions back to them (as one strategy) it is somewhat of an unnatural conversation because the listener is not adding any opinions or advice, they are putting all of their effort into drawing out the thoughts of the speaker. In Chapter 14 when Harriet goes to the 'doctor' the author does not mention anything about this style of counseling, but through the ensuing conversation she shows the comedy and confusion of what occurs;
Dr. Wagner got up and went to a cabinet next to the door. When he opened it Harriet could see all sorts of games, dolls, doll houses, and trucks. She tried to be nice about it, but she was curios. "Do you sit here all day and play with all of those things?"
Wait til lher mother got a load of this.
He looked at her archly, "What do you think?
Do you think I sit here all day playing with these toys?"
"How do I know? You got a whole closet full of em"
"Don't you have toys at home?"
This was to much. "Yes,,: she shouted " but Im eleven."
"Oh." He looked somewhat taken aback, standing there with the monopoly board in his hand.
Harriet began to feel sorry for him. "Well," she said, "shall we play one game?"
It’s the exchange between the characters that reveals the silliness of the counselor and the intelligence of Harriet, the author does not have to explicitly state these ideas, instead she implies them though the seen, and lets me the reader formulate my own understanding and reaction to Harriet and the other characters.
Throughout the novel, the author lead Harriet over great changes, but never once spoiled my imagination by telling me how to feel. I watched Harriot change, and had to justify her actions and analyze her changes by my own terms. Perhaps the way I feel about Harriet is different then they was another reader would feel, and in this lies the brilliance of the work of Art that is Harriet the spy. No person can be described in two dimensions. We all have characteristics and life stories, but it is not easy for a third person to define us perfectly and tell the world what we are like. In the same way, the author did not tell me exactly what Harriet was like, who she was, and how I should define her. The key word here is that she did not tell me, instead she showed me. The author showed me what Harriet said and how she acted, and because of my observing Harriet it was up to me to react to her, i had to 'tell' myself what Harriet was like. I feel that this makes this novel multi dimensional, and most of all, it makes it honest. Because of this sharpness of description, efficiency of words, and honesty of presentation that I rank Harriet the spy not only as a good novel for children, but rank it as a good novel (period).
(P.S. Another thing that this novel reminded my from my school days was the point of view. In this novel I knew the world through Harriet’s perspective. I knew her thoughts and how she saw other people to be. This was cool to appreciate this facet of the book by my own accord and acknowledgment, and not as an exercise in school. My other creative writing poetry teacher, Don Mckay, told us that we could do whatever we wanted in a poem as long as it followed its own internal laws. I feel like the novel is the same way, it followed internal laws about whose thoughts I could know and what point of view people and places were seen from. Seeing the world through Hariet’s eyes helped my to love and sympathize for her, even at times when the rest of the world was against her. This crafting of perspective is another factor that elevates this novel to an appreciative work of art for me. )
A Grain of Rice
Hello World! I am here to write a delicious blog for you all. It is a reflection upon my personal feelings. You see, I have read a book, and thanks to my decoding skills and my ability to understand language, the book I read had an impact upon me. I basically broke the code of the alphabet and the English lexicon, and using the meaning it symbolized combined with my previous knowledge of the world, I interpreted meaning from the book.
What kind of meaning you may ask? Well, the story was one of character, it showed the integrity, perseverance, humility and intelligence of a young man. Lo, how I wish I could emblazen those attributes across my own soul's being.
The boy was in love, and the apex of his goals was to gain, fairly, a princesses hand in marriage. Now, while I do want to get married someday, I feel like I connected to the story by more then just that one goal. You see, as the boy pursued his goal, there was something special about his characteristics, his personality.
I hope that as I pursue my goals in life I to can have a strong and noble personality. That is why I like this book. It shows a good person.
At first I was worried that the story line was to classical, that it was an archetypal tale of a boy trying to win the hand of a princess. This was true, however, the story redeemed itself. The boys admirable quality, plus the light humor of the book, and the suspense of the plot more than made up for the old fashioned story line. The book did not depend on the old story line, it used it as a framework, and off of that framework a beautiful tale was developed.
I am not exactly sure what type of genre this is, but i think I will call it a classical narrative.
The drawings were pencil sketches done by the author herself. They simply expanded the story, they did not add much depth, but they did a great job of illustrating some of the details. For many of the details were ancient Chinese objects, like special plates, ceramics, math tools, and even rosewood trunks carried by the backs of elephants. I think the drawings were very helpful to new readers because if there was some object they did not already know about, then they could imagine it easily by looking at the pictures.
Thats then end of the blog for today, overall, great book because it takes an old story line and pumps some good role model characteristics into it. Furthermore, I think I will use this book in a math lesson that I am making about algebra.
Thanks World!
Happy Reading
Adrian
What kind of meaning you may ask? Well, the story was one of character, it showed the integrity, perseverance, humility and intelligence of a young man. Lo, how I wish I could emblazen those attributes across my own soul's being.
The boy was in love, and the apex of his goals was to gain, fairly, a princesses hand in marriage. Now, while I do want to get married someday, I feel like I connected to the story by more then just that one goal. You see, as the boy pursued his goal, there was something special about his characteristics, his personality.
I hope that as I pursue my goals in life I to can have a strong and noble personality. That is why I like this book. It shows a good person.
At first I was worried that the story line was to classical, that it was an archetypal tale of a boy trying to win the hand of a princess. This was true, however, the story redeemed itself. The boys admirable quality, plus the light humor of the book, and the suspense of the plot more than made up for the old fashioned story line. The book did not depend on the old story line, it used it as a framework, and off of that framework a beautiful tale was developed.
I am not exactly sure what type of genre this is, but i think I will call it a classical narrative.
The drawings were pencil sketches done by the author herself. They simply expanded the story, they did not add much depth, but they did a great job of illustrating some of the details. For many of the details were ancient Chinese objects, like special plates, ceramics, math tools, and even rosewood trunks carried by the backs of elephants. I think the drawings were very helpful to new readers because if there was some object they did not already know about, then they could imagine it easily by looking at the pictures.
Thats then end of the blog for today, overall, great book because it takes an old story line and pumps some good role model characteristics into it. Furthermore, I think I will use this book in a math lesson that I am making about algebra.
Thanks World!
Happy Reading
Adrian
A Wrinkle in Time (REDO)
A Wrinkle in Time
There are three root ideas that really struck me while reading a wrinkle in time. 1) A battle being fought between good an evil. I feel like the story is describing something that I am a part of, not that I am drawn into the story, but that the story is about myself (the best books are like this).
2) The people fighting in this battle are children; symbols of honesty, fairness, kindness and compassion. The enemy that these children are opposing is unseeable and unexplainable.
3.) Allusion. A literary technique that draws other widely known notions into the story in order to elucidate something within the text.
In an enjoyable way, I like this book. A wrinkle in time depicts a battle between good and evil, of which planet earth plays a small but important role. Since the majority of the story takes place off of earth, but is presented in a possible and tangible way (suspending disbelief), it is easy for the reader (lil’ sweet ol’ me) to believe that the story may actually be something ongoing that I am a part of.
A unique thing about a wrinkle in time is that is also uses a lot of allusion to make the reader connect to the theme in a personal way. The author incorporated descriptions of several famous people, such as Jesus, Eienstein, and Michelangelo, and said that these people were also part of the war being waged against evil, (or in the book as it is called, the dark thing) Incorporating world history into the theme further strengthens my place in the story, as I to am a member of world history.
There are also a lot of quotes incorporated into the text, such as "and a light shinieth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehends in not," How small the earth is too him who looks from heaven," "faith is the sister of justice", "nothing deters a good man from doing what is honorable". The quotes were usually attributed to an author, and knowing that other people in the world are thinking about such ideas helps me feel I am part of a bigger team, and that both a wrinkle in time and my own life are small snapshots of something larger.
I imagine that a lot of children’s literature sets up the reader to feel like they are a part of something bigger then themselves. How this is accomplished, is the appreciable art. The book must be written in such a way that it is believable, yet emblematic. It must be interesting, yet something the reader can relate to. A wrinkle in time is a good example of children’s literature because it accomplished both of these goals for me.
There are three root ideas that really struck me while reading a wrinkle in time. 1) A battle being fought between good an evil. I feel like the story is describing something that I am a part of, not that I am drawn into the story, but that the story is about myself (the best books are like this).
2) The people fighting in this battle are children; symbols of honesty, fairness, kindness and compassion. The enemy that these children are opposing is unseeable and unexplainable.
3.) Allusion. A literary technique that draws other widely known notions into the story in order to elucidate something within the text.
In an enjoyable way, I like this book. A wrinkle in time depicts a battle between good and evil, of which planet earth plays a small but important role. Since the majority of the story takes place off of earth, but is presented in a possible and tangible way (suspending disbelief), it is easy for the reader (lil’ sweet ol’ me) to believe that the story may actually be something ongoing that I am a part of.
A unique thing about a wrinkle in time is that is also uses a lot of allusion to make the reader connect to the theme in a personal way. The author incorporated descriptions of several famous people, such as Jesus, Eienstein, and Michelangelo, and said that these people were also part of the war being waged against evil, (or in the book as it is called, the dark thing) Incorporating world history into the theme further strengthens my place in the story, as I to am a member of world history.
There are also a lot of quotes incorporated into the text, such as "and a light shinieth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehends in not," How small the earth is too him who looks from heaven," "faith is the sister of justice", "nothing deters a good man from doing what is honorable". The quotes were usually attributed to an author, and knowing that other people in the world are thinking about such ideas helps me feel I am part of a bigger team, and that both a wrinkle in time and my own life are small snapshots of something larger.
I imagine that a lot of children’s literature sets up the reader to feel like they are a part of something bigger then themselves. How this is accomplished, is the appreciable art. The book must be written in such a way that it is believable, yet emblematic. It must be interesting, yet something the reader can relate to. A wrinkle in time is a good example of children’s literature because it accomplished both of these goals for me.
Monday, February 7, 2011
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time is a book. It was listed as one of the novels on the canon of childrens litterature. The canon of childrens litterature is significant because "all of the works on the list have had a large influence on works later written; the majority of works that came afterwards, even if they are famous or influentioal in their own right, were in some way influnced by works from within the canon." (Paraphrased from Colliers respons to a question I posed, why are older books in the canon but not some popular contemporary books) I read a wrinkle in time because it was in the canon. I want to do all of my readings from books that are within the canon. I want to see what the foundation which childrens litterature is built upon. However, I also chose a wrinkle in time for another reason. The description of the book made me feel like that I might be able to associatte with it; it seemed like it was going to shed some light on some religius/spiritual changes I was going through at the time.
There are certain aspects we are supposed to focus on while writting out journal entries. These include our personal connections to the book; how the book relates to our view of the world, are their characters in the book we associate with or at least understand, how does the book make us feel, does it make us think of our own lives in anyway, and we are also expected to comment on the craft of the book; its characters setting and plot, its belivability, and the emotional reaction is gives us. I think that by thinknig about these prompts while reading from the canon, I will be able to identify some key roots and aspects of what I would personaly consider good writting, and I might be also able to find attributes from within the canon that may appear to me later while reading more recent books.
There are three root ideas that really struck me while reading a wrinkle in time. Because a wrinkle in time is part of the canon, maybe these root ideas have had an influence on later writting. However, it is for certain that the root ideas certainly had a personal impact on me. The thee root ideas were 1) A battle being fought between good an evil. the battle is described and shown in the book, but it is a battle that I as a reader feel like I am acutaly a part of in my own personal life. I feel like the story is describing something that I am a part of, not that I am drawn into the story, but that the story is about myself. 2) The second common theme is that the people fighting in this battle are children; symbolic of honesty, fairness, kindess and compasion. And the enemy that these children are opposing is a somewhat unseeable and unexplainable negative evil. 3.) The third idea that I noticed is, in my expereince, not so common accross childrens litterature, but it was prominent in a wrinkle in time. The idea was allusion. A litterary technique that draws other widely known notions into the story in order to ellucidate something within the text.
The notion that a wrinkle in time is presented in such a way that the reader feels like the story is about the readers own life has been modeled in other childrens litterature. For example, in Harry Potter there is a battle between good an evil, but another better example is the Never Ending Story. the way that both Harry Potter and the Never ending story are set up, is in such a way that the reader thinks it plausible that the books are actualy discribing the readers own reality. In the never ending story, at the end of the text, the reader of the book is directly addresed, and tasked with the responsibility of making sure that the nothing does not take over the universe, the reader must keep their imagination, for this is what overcomes the nothing. In Harry Potter the wizards leave the world of humans and engage in an alternate world for wizards. This alternate world is on the same planet, which leads the reader to wonder if that realm is actualy real and a part of our planet. A wrinkle in time depcts a battle between good and evil, of which planet earth plays a small but important role. Since the majority of the story takes place off of earh, but is presented in a possible and tangible way, it is easy for the reader to belive thaat the story may really be about my own life.
That the context is set up in such a way that it seems to be describing my reality, allows the novel to become about my life, and the fact that personal expereinces I have in my life relate directly to the theme of the story strenthens that notion. There are times in my life that I feel like I am on the side of good and that I am trying to wage a battle against unseen forces of evil. For example, in my pursuit of religion I am constantly engaged in the challenge of pursuing knowledge and beutty and peacefull empowering expereinces, and to have a very positive influence on the people and world around me, but simultainiusly I have to battle against the possibility of closemindedness, prejeduce, and hurt feelings. Also the battle becomes internal from time to time, and I have to monitor my own thinking to make sure that I am staying open minded and looking for the positive in life, instead of being cynical and judgemental. As my own notions and understandings of religion are challenged nd evolved, a story like a wrinkle in tyime makes me feel like I am part of a story bigger than myself.
A unique thing about a wrinkle in time is that is also uses a lot of allusion to make the reader connect to the theme in a personal way. The author incorporated descriptions of several famous people, such as Jesus, Einstien, and Michealangelo, and said that these people were also part of the war being waged against evil, (or in the book as it is called, the dark thing) Incorporating world history into the theme further strenthens my place in the story, as I to am a member of world history. There are also a lot of quotes incoproprated into the text, such as "and a light shinieth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehends in not," How small the earth is too him who looks from heaven," "faith is the sister of justice", "nothing deters a good man from doing what is honorable". The quotes were usualy attributed to an author, and knowing that other people in the world are thinknig about such ideas helps me feel I am part of a bigger team, and that both a wrinkle in time and my own life are small snapshots of something larger.
As a title on the Canon of childrens litterature, a wrinkle in time shows an excellent template for books that the make the reader feel a part of the story, and place the reader as a participant in the battle of good against evil. I think that a lot of childrens litterature sets up the reader to feel like they are a part of something bigger then themselves. How this is accomplished is the appreciable art. The book must be written in such a way that it is beliviable, yet emblamatic. It must be interesting, yet something the reader can relate to. A wrinkle in time is a good example of childrens litterature because it accompolishd both of these goals for me.
There are certain aspects we are supposed to focus on while writting out journal entries. These include our personal connections to the book; how the book relates to our view of the world, are their characters in the book we associate with or at least understand, how does the book make us feel, does it make us think of our own lives in anyway, and we are also expected to comment on the craft of the book; its characters setting and plot, its belivability, and the emotional reaction is gives us. I think that by thinknig about these prompts while reading from the canon, I will be able to identify some key roots and aspects of what I would personaly consider good writting, and I might be also able to find attributes from within the canon that may appear to me later while reading more recent books.
There are three root ideas that really struck me while reading a wrinkle in time. Because a wrinkle in time is part of the canon, maybe these root ideas have had an influence on later writting. However, it is for certain that the root ideas certainly had a personal impact on me. The thee root ideas were 1) A battle being fought between good an evil. the battle is described and shown in the book, but it is a battle that I as a reader feel like I am acutaly a part of in my own personal life. I feel like the story is describing something that I am a part of, not that I am drawn into the story, but that the story is about myself. 2) The second common theme is that the people fighting in this battle are children; symbolic of honesty, fairness, kindess and compasion. And the enemy that these children are opposing is a somewhat unseeable and unexplainable negative evil. 3.) The third idea that I noticed is, in my expereince, not so common accross childrens litterature, but it was prominent in a wrinkle in time. The idea was allusion. A litterary technique that draws other widely known notions into the story in order to ellucidate something within the text.
The notion that a wrinkle in time is presented in such a way that the reader feels like the story is about the readers own life has been modeled in other childrens litterature. For example, in Harry Potter there is a battle between good an evil, but another better example is the Never Ending Story. the way that both Harry Potter and the Never ending story are set up, is in such a way that the reader thinks it plausible that the books are actualy discribing the readers own reality. In the never ending story, at the end of the text, the reader of the book is directly addresed, and tasked with the responsibility of making sure that the nothing does not take over the universe, the reader must keep their imagination, for this is what overcomes the nothing. In Harry Potter the wizards leave the world of humans and engage in an alternate world for wizards. This alternate world is on the same planet, which leads the reader to wonder if that realm is actualy real and a part of our planet. A wrinkle in time depcts a battle between good and evil, of which planet earth plays a small but important role. Since the majority of the story takes place off of earh, but is presented in a possible and tangible way, it is easy for the reader to belive thaat the story may really be about my own life.
That the context is set up in such a way that it seems to be describing my reality, allows the novel to become about my life, and the fact that personal expereinces I have in my life relate directly to the theme of the story strenthens that notion. There are times in my life that I feel like I am on the side of good and that I am trying to wage a battle against unseen forces of evil. For example, in my pursuit of religion I am constantly engaged in the challenge of pursuing knowledge and beutty and peacefull empowering expereinces, and to have a very positive influence on the people and world around me, but simultainiusly I have to battle against the possibility of closemindedness, prejeduce, and hurt feelings. Also the battle becomes internal from time to time, and I have to monitor my own thinking to make sure that I am staying open minded and looking for the positive in life, instead of being cynical and judgemental. As my own notions and understandings of religion are challenged nd evolved, a story like a wrinkle in tyime makes me feel like I am part of a story bigger than myself.
A unique thing about a wrinkle in time is that is also uses a lot of allusion to make the reader connect to the theme in a personal way. The author incorporated descriptions of several famous people, such as Jesus, Einstien, and Michealangelo, and said that these people were also part of the war being waged against evil, (or in the book as it is called, the dark thing) Incorporating world history into the theme further strenthens my place in the story, as I to am a member of world history. There are also a lot of quotes incoproprated into the text, such as "and a light shinieth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehends in not," How small the earth is too him who looks from heaven," "faith is the sister of justice", "nothing deters a good man from doing what is honorable". The quotes were usualy attributed to an author, and knowing that other people in the world are thinknig about such ideas helps me feel I am part of a bigger team, and that both a wrinkle in time and my own life are small snapshots of something larger.
As a title on the Canon of childrens litterature, a wrinkle in time shows an excellent template for books that the make the reader feel a part of the story, and place the reader as a participant in the battle of good against evil. I think that a lot of childrens litterature sets up the reader to feel like they are a part of something bigger then themselves. How this is accomplished is the appreciable art. The book must be written in such a way that it is beliviable, yet emblamatic. It must be interesting, yet something the reader can relate to. A wrinkle in time is a good example of childrens litterature because it accompolishd both of these goals for me.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Favorite aspects of Hariete the Spy
This novel was excellent! The character development was exquisity crafted. I remember in school we used to learn about character development, we studied it as a formal thing to analyse and answer questions about. However, I approached this novel in a different way. Because I am begining more and more to appreciate writting as as art form, I approached this novel on my own terms. Ok Ok, it supposed to be a novel for children, well, I think that good writting is good writting, it doesnt matter who it was intended for.
The character development was good because the author did not rely on abstract descriptions. She did not say what Harriet was like, she showed what Harriete was like. The words thoughts and actions of Harriet, in context of other people and places, showed me who Harriete was. This style of character development is what made this novel stand out as special to me. It is easy to write things like -so and so is a wonderfull person, she is thoughtfull and always concerned about others. I mentioned that as an example, I am trying to show a standard way of describing people where we use adjectives. The thing is, a description based only on adjectives lacks substance, plus, the adjectives mean different things for different people. The author of Harriet the Spy did no rely on adjectives to describe Harriete. She showed Harriets thoughts, and Hariets mannersims, and Harriets reactions to situations. Through these concrete descriptions of what Hariete does I got to know her. I was able to connect and understand Harriet and formulate my own understanding of how she could be described.
This way of thinking, prefering concrete images over abstract descriptions is a practice I learned in Susan Ingersols creative writting poetry course in my third year of university. Ezra Pound said 'go in fear of abstractions.' Meaning do not write a poem that says ' they were best friends, instead, show the friendship, for example have one boy sighing, and then giving half of his firecrackers to the other boy. This example lets the reader understand the friendship on their own terms, lets the reader bring their own way of analyzing the event. When we say the concept only, that they were good friends, then the reader must bring with them their previus knowledge of what friendship means. The friendship the reader understands may be different than the friendship that these two boys expereince. In poetry I belive this strategy is called imagism, and it was a movement away from romanticism. ( I might be un accurate here), But I think that poetry in the romantic period for example was heavy on abstract descriptions, using a lot of adjectives to describe something, like- a terryfying meadow in the sultriest of nights where sulking spirits roamed and called with might. Imagism on the other hand would describe what was in that field, a wind, dark ripples on a shallow pond, ratteling apple tree branches free from fruit with only dying leaves, and a sound not sure if its is wolves or .... . Both strategies for writting are valuable, but I found in very refreshing, and entertaining to read a novel that relied on the concrete to describe its characters.
Something else that I loved about this novel was the presicion of language. It is labeled as a childrens novel, but I think it can be respected as more then a simple text for children. The hoonesty and bereviety of the descriptions moved the novel closer to an expereince of poetry than prose. I find that boribg novels are heavy on description and elaboration. Harriete the spy bounced along from one specific and sharply described scene to the next. This precision of language made the novel very satisfying to read. As Susan Ingersol said, a poet must be extremly efficient with language, not a word should be wasted, every word and even every line break should be intentional and a concentrated effort of the author, every word should have purpose and meaning. I felt the same way with this novel. The author wasted no space in telling me how I should react to a scene, the author described the scene presisly by what exactly was happening, and the emotional reaction was mine to have. These terse and accurate depictions of what was happening, that focused on the concrete and real, gave me stronger emotional reactions to the novel. I laughed out loud at the hillarity of the world within which Hariet lived, and I also cringed at the changes she went through.
For example. the scene which describe the shrik with red hair was brilliant. Never did the author mention that he was a physchologist, not give any commentary on what a physchologist is like or how this one should be viewed. Instead the Author described what the man said and how he acted, through these descriptions I knew what he was like and I reacted to him in my own way based on my own previus knowledge and feelings about how he acted. People who know about child pyschologists and counselors (of which I know very litte) know there is a cetain humor in the idea of active listening when it is taken to an extreme. An active listener rephrases what the speaker has said, and poses their own words as questions back to them (as one strategy) it is somehat of an unatural conversation because the listener is not adding any opinions or advice, they are putting all of their effort into drawing out the thoughts of the speaker. In Chapter 14 when Hariet goes to the 'doctor' the auther does not mention anything about this style of counseling, but through the ensuing converstation she shows the comedy and confusion of what occurs;
Dr. Wagner got up and went to a cabinet next to the door. When he opened it Harriet could see all sorts of games, dolls, doll houses, and trucks. She tried to be nice about it, but she was curios. "Do you sit here all day and play with all of those things?"
Wait til lher mother got a load of this.
He looked at her archly, "What do you think?
Do you think I sit here all day playing with these toys?"
"How do I know? You got a whole closet full of em"
"Don't you have toys at home?"
This was to much. "Yes,,: she shouted " but Im eleven."
"Oh." He looked somewhat taken aback, standing there with the monopoly board in his hand.
Harriet began to feel sorry for him. "Well," she said, "shall we play one game?"
Its the exchange between the characters that reveals the sillyness of the counselor and the intelligence of Harriet, the author does not have to explicity state these ideas, instead she implies them though the seen, and lets me the reader formulate my own understanding and reaction to Harriet and the other characters.
Throughout the novel, the author lead Harriete over great changes, but never once spoiled my imagination by telling me how to feel. I watched Harriete change, and had to justify her actions and analyse her changes by my own terms. Perhaps the way I feel about Harriet is different then they was another reader would feel, and in this lies the brilliance of the work of Art that is Harriete the spy. No person can be described in two dimensions. We all have characterstics and life stories, but it is not easy for a third person to define us perfectly and tell the world what we are like. In the same way, the author did not tell me exactly what Harriet was like, who she was, and how I should define her. The key word here is that she did not tell me, instead she showed me. THe author showed me what Harriet said and how she acted, and because of my observing Harriete it was up to me to react to her, i had to 'tell' myself what Harriete was like. I feel that this makes this novel multi dimensional, and most of all, it makes it honest. Because of this sharpness of description, efficiancy of words, and honesty of presentation that I rank Harriete the spy not only as a good novel for children, but rank it as a good novel (period).
(P.S. Another thing that this novel reminded my from my school days was the point of view. In this novel I knew the world through Harriets perspective. I knew her thoughts and how she saw other people to be. This was cool to appreciate this facet of the book by my own accord and acknowledgement, and not as an excersice in school. My other creative writting peotry teacher, Don Mckay, told us that we could do whatever we wanted in a poem as long as it followed its own internal laws. I feel like the novel is the same way, it followed internal laws about whoes thoughts I could know and what point of view people and places were seen from. Seeing the world through Hariets eyes helped my to love and sympathize for her, even at times when the rest of the world was against her. This crafting of perspective is another factor that elevates this novel to an appreacitative work of art for me. )
The character development was good because the author did not rely on abstract descriptions. She did not say what Harriet was like, she showed what Harriete was like. The words thoughts and actions of Harriet, in context of other people and places, showed me who Harriete was. This style of character development is what made this novel stand out as special to me. It is easy to write things like -so and so is a wonderfull person, she is thoughtfull and always concerned about others. I mentioned that as an example, I am trying to show a standard way of describing people where we use adjectives. The thing is, a description based only on adjectives lacks substance, plus, the adjectives mean different things for different people. The author of Harriet the Spy did no rely on adjectives to describe Harriete. She showed Harriets thoughts, and Hariets mannersims, and Harriets reactions to situations. Through these concrete descriptions of what Hariete does I got to know her. I was able to connect and understand Harriet and formulate my own understanding of how she could be described.
This way of thinking, prefering concrete images over abstract descriptions is a practice I learned in Susan Ingersols creative writting poetry course in my third year of university. Ezra Pound said 'go in fear of abstractions.' Meaning do not write a poem that says ' they were best friends, instead, show the friendship, for example have one boy sighing, and then giving half of his firecrackers to the other boy. This example lets the reader understand the friendship on their own terms, lets the reader bring their own way of analyzing the event. When we say the concept only, that they were good friends, then the reader must bring with them their previus knowledge of what friendship means. The friendship the reader understands may be different than the friendship that these two boys expereince. In poetry I belive this strategy is called imagism, and it was a movement away from romanticism. ( I might be un accurate here), But I think that poetry in the romantic period for example was heavy on abstract descriptions, using a lot of adjectives to describe something, like- a terryfying meadow in the sultriest of nights where sulking spirits roamed and called with might. Imagism on the other hand would describe what was in that field, a wind, dark ripples on a shallow pond, ratteling apple tree branches free from fruit with only dying leaves, and a sound not sure if its is wolves or .... . Both strategies for writting are valuable, but I found in very refreshing, and entertaining to read a novel that relied on the concrete to describe its characters.
Something else that I loved about this novel was the presicion of language. It is labeled as a childrens novel, but I think it can be respected as more then a simple text for children. The hoonesty and bereviety of the descriptions moved the novel closer to an expereince of poetry than prose. I find that boribg novels are heavy on description and elaboration. Harriete the spy bounced along from one specific and sharply described scene to the next. This precision of language made the novel very satisfying to read. As Susan Ingersol said, a poet must be extremly efficient with language, not a word should be wasted, every word and even every line break should be intentional and a concentrated effort of the author, every word should have purpose and meaning. I felt the same way with this novel. The author wasted no space in telling me how I should react to a scene, the author described the scene presisly by what exactly was happening, and the emotional reaction was mine to have. These terse and accurate depictions of what was happening, that focused on the concrete and real, gave me stronger emotional reactions to the novel. I laughed out loud at the hillarity of the world within which Hariet lived, and I also cringed at the changes she went through.
For example. the scene which describe the shrik with red hair was brilliant. Never did the author mention that he was a physchologist, not give any commentary on what a physchologist is like or how this one should be viewed. Instead the Author described what the man said and how he acted, through these descriptions I knew what he was like and I reacted to him in my own way based on my own previus knowledge and feelings about how he acted. People who know about child pyschologists and counselors (of which I know very litte) know there is a cetain humor in the idea of active listening when it is taken to an extreme. An active listener rephrases what the speaker has said, and poses their own words as questions back to them (as one strategy) it is somehat of an unatural conversation because the listener is not adding any opinions or advice, they are putting all of their effort into drawing out the thoughts of the speaker. In Chapter 14 when Hariet goes to the 'doctor' the auther does not mention anything about this style of counseling, but through the ensuing converstation she shows the comedy and confusion of what occurs;
Dr. Wagner got up and went to a cabinet next to the door. When he opened it Harriet could see all sorts of games, dolls, doll houses, and trucks. She tried to be nice about it, but she was curios. "Do you sit here all day and play with all of those things?"
Wait til lher mother got a load of this.
He looked at her archly, "What do you think?
Do you think I sit here all day playing with these toys?"
"How do I know? You got a whole closet full of em"
"Don't you have toys at home?"
This was to much. "Yes,,: she shouted " but Im eleven."
"Oh." He looked somewhat taken aback, standing there with the monopoly board in his hand.
Harriet began to feel sorry for him. "Well," she said, "shall we play one game?"
Its the exchange between the characters that reveals the sillyness of the counselor and the intelligence of Harriet, the author does not have to explicity state these ideas, instead she implies them though the seen, and lets me the reader formulate my own understanding and reaction to Harriet and the other characters.
Throughout the novel, the author lead Harriete over great changes, but never once spoiled my imagination by telling me how to feel. I watched Harriete change, and had to justify her actions and analyse her changes by my own terms. Perhaps the way I feel about Harriet is different then they was another reader would feel, and in this lies the brilliance of the work of Art that is Harriete the spy. No person can be described in two dimensions. We all have characterstics and life stories, but it is not easy for a third person to define us perfectly and tell the world what we are like. In the same way, the author did not tell me exactly what Harriet was like, who she was, and how I should define her. The key word here is that she did not tell me, instead she showed me. THe author showed me what Harriet said and how she acted, and because of my observing Harriete it was up to me to react to her, i had to 'tell' myself what Harriete was like. I feel that this makes this novel multi dimensional, and most of all, it makes it honest. Because of this sharpness of description, efficiancy of words, and honesty of presentation that I rank Harriete the spy not only as a good novel for children, but rank it as a good novel (period).
(P.S. Another thing that this novel reminded my from my school days was the point of view. In this novel I knew the world through Harriets perspective. I knew her thoughts and how she saw other people to be. This was cool to appreciate this facet of the book by my own accord and acknowledgement, and not as an excersice in school. My other creative writting peotry teacher, Don Mckay, told us that we could do whatever we wanted in a poem as long as it followed its own internal laws. I feel like the novel is the same way, it followed internal laws about whoes thoughts I could know and what point of view people and places were seen from. Seeing the world through Hariets eyes helped my to love and sympathize for her, even at times when the rest of the world was against her. This crafting of perspective is another factor that elevates this novel to an appreacitative work of art for me. )
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Harriete the Spy Chapters 1,2,3
I have never read a book like this in my life! I have read other books that were supposed to be funny, like the adventures of Captain underpants, but while that one appeared obviusly tryng to be shocking, there was something sincere and surprising about Hariete the spy that made me laugh out loud, but also appreciate the craft of the writer.
I have read other funny books as well, almost exclusively Roald Dahl; Charlie and the Choclate Factory, the Twits, Witches, Esio Trot, the WOnderfull Story of Henry sugar, butt even these are not like Harieete the Spy. If Hariete the Spy was written today though, I don't imagine it would even get past the publishers let alone the sensors. IT is not, as we might say, a polite book. Which I think is part of its appeal, when Hariete is being shockingly honest about the people in her community, their stupidity at lying in bed all day, the meaness of their attitues, the foumbliness of their children, when Hariete is making these comments it is a shock. We are allways told to have such high standers of politeness. The fact that Hariete trancends these boundries, let alone has them printed in a novel, is an outstanding achievment for me to expereine as a reader, it is almost libereating to see a character like Hariete in a book.
Despite the apparent meaness of her comments though, there is something alluring and trustworthy, sympathy raising, about Hariete. She is the one character whos thoughts we are granted access to, and she builds up a feeling of trust in me as a reader. She has such a high regard for Tom, who is poor, she reflects at the causes of richness and poverty, and she wants to become a writer. It seems as if here mean comments are well warrented, she is protesting against the blandness and boring lives that people tend to live. In this case, Hariete is on a noble cause because she wants peopple to become fully alive, to shake out of their slumber and be exciting dynamic people. I feel like I can associate with her because of these reasons, plus, it is common to see the negative in people, instead of holding it in, Harriete gives it a voice. Perhaps there will be something I can learn from Harriet in all of her honesty.
I wonder how her relations with her parents, with Tom, and with Old Golly will eveolve. I know here book is soon to be discovered, and I have absolutely no idea how that is goin gto twist the story!
I feel like
I have read other funny books as well, almost exclusively Roald Dahl; Charlie and the Choclate Factory, the Twits, Witches, Esio Trot, the WOnderfull Story of Henry sugar, butt even these are not like Harieete the Spy. If Hariete the Spy was written today though, I don't imagine it would even get past the publishers let alone the sensors. IT is not, as we might say, a polite book. Which I think is part of its appeal, when Hariete is being shockingly honest about the people in her community, their stupidity at lying in bed all day, the meaness of their attitues, the foumbliness of their children, when Hariete is making these comments it is a shock. We are allways told to have such high standers of politeness. The fact that Hariete trancends these boundries, let alone has them printed in a novel, is an outstanding achievment for me to expereine as a reader, it is almost libereating to see a character like Hariete in a book.
Despite the apparent meaness of her comments though, there is something alluring and trustworthy, sympathy raising, about Hariete. She is the one character whos thoughts we are granted access to, and she builds up a feeling of trust in me as a reader. She has such a high regard for Tom, who is poor, she reflects at the causes of richness and poverty, and she wants to become a writer. It seems as if here mean comments are well warrented, she is protesting against the blandness and boring lives that people tend to live. In this case, Hariete is on a noble cause because she wants peopple to become fully alive, to shake out of their slumber and be exciting dynamic people. I feel like I can associate with her because of these reasons, plus, it is common to see the negative in people, instead of holding it in, Harriete gives it a voice. Perhaps there will be something I can learn from Harriet in all of her honesty.
I wonder how her relations with her parents, with Tom, and with Old Golly will eveolve. I know here book is soon to be discovered, and I have absolutely no idea how that is goin gto twist the story!
I feel like
Monday, January 17, 2011
Childrens Litterature The Three Questions
The genre of this picture book is what I am gonig to call an adaptation. For the story, you see, was borrowed from a man who already wrote it. The original author was Leo Tolstoy. According to the back flap cover, Leo Tolstoy is one of Russias most famus noveleists and story tellers. The three questions was a short story that Leo wrote. I do not know much about Leo right now, and in fact wished I reasearched more about him. I feel like the more I knew about the original tale, and the original author, the more that I could take from the adaptation for children.
The new author also brought in some other influence to his adaptation. In the explanation of the book the author mentioned that he brought in the influence of zen to his book. Again, I would like to learn more about zen so that I could elucidate more of the meaning from the book. I do notice in the pictures a kind of high forest chinese feel, perhaps this is where the zen comes in, in the art work.
The art work is one of the first things that struck me about the book, and in fact, the art work is deffinately my most exubereantly favorite great excellent favorite part of the book. It is water color paintings, but with a quality of color, shape and detail unlike in any other water color paintings I have ever seen. The bridges that fade into the mist, the himalayin mountains in the sunny winter, the posture of the boy as he flies his red kite. Even the wy that the light plays off of the characters, the water color paintings in this book are special!!
It would be nice to incorporate an art lesson as well as a religion or social studies lesson alongside with this book. The paintings and the sub narrative, or the backround of the book, make it a very rich and interesting read, if not for the story line, then at least for the making and origins of the book.
Luckily the story line is pretty good to. It is a book that leads to a moral. It starts with three questions, and in the end, through the story, we learn the answer to those three questions. The most important time is now, the most important one is the one we are with, and the most important thing is to do good for the one standing at our side.
(p.s. the paintings are so good I wanted to mention that again)
Thanks World
Happy Reading!
Adrian
The new author also brought in some other influence to his adaptation. In the explanation of the book the author mentioned that he brought in the influence of zen to his book. Again, I would like to learn more about zen so that I could elucidate more of the meaning from the book. I do notice in the pictures a kind of high forest chinese feel, perhaps this is where the zen comes in, in the art work.
The art work is one of the first things that struck me about the book, and in fact, the art work is deffinately my most exubereantly favorite great excellent favorite part of the book. It is water color paintings, but with a quality of color, shape and detail unlike in any other water color paintings I have ever seen. The bridges that fade into the mist, the himalayin mountains in the sunny winter, the posture of the boy as he flies his red kite. Even the wy that the light plays off of the characters, the water color paintings in this book are special!!
It would be nice to incorporate an art lesson as well as a religion or social studies lesson alongside with this book. The paintings and the sub narrative, or the backround of the book, make it a very rich and interesting read, if not for the story line, then at least for the making and origins of the book.
Luckily the story line is pretty good to. It is a book that leads to a moral. It starts with three questions, and in the end, through the story, we learn the answer to those three questions. The most important time is now, the most important one is the one we are with, and the most important thing is to do good for the one standing at our side.
(p.s. the paintings are so good I wanted to mention that again)
Thanks World
Happy Reading!
Adrian
Childrens Literature A grain of Rice
Hello World! I am here to write a delicious blog for you all. It is a reflection upon my personal feelings. You see, I have read a book, and thanks to my decoding skills and my ability to understand language, the book I read had an impact upon me. I basicly broke the code of the alphabet and the english lexicon, and using the meaning it symbolised combined with my previus knoweledge of the world, I interpreted meaning from the book.
What kind of meaning you may ask? Well, the story was one of character, it showed the integrity, perservearence, humility and intelligence of a young man. Lo, how I wish I could emblazen those attributes across my own soul's being.
The boy was in love, and the apex of his goals was to failry gain a princesses hand in marriage. Now, while I do want to get married someday, I feel like I connected to the story by more then just that one goal. You see, as the boy pursued his goal, there was something speackial about his characterestics, his personality.
I hope that as I pursue my goals in life I to can have a strong and noble personality. That is why I like this book. It shows a good person.
At first I was worried that the story line was to classical, that it was an archetyple tale of a boy trying to win the hand of a princess. This was true, however, the story redeemed itself. The boys admirable quality, plus the light humor of the book, and the suspence of the plot more than made up for the old fashioned story line. The book did not depend on the old story line, it used it as a framework, and off of that framework a beutifull tale was developed.
I am not exactly sure what type of genre this is, but i think I will call it a classical narrative.
The drawings were pencil sketches done by the author herself. They simply expanded the story, they did not add much depth, but they did a great job of illustrating some of the details. For many of the details were ancient chinese objects, like special plates, ceramics, math tools, and even rosewood trunks carried by the backs of elephants. I think the drawings were very helpfull to new readers because if there was some object they did not already know aboutm, then they could imagine it easily by lookin gat the pictures.
Thats then end of the blog for today, overall, great book because it takes an old story line and pumps some good role model charactereistics into it. Furthermore, I think I will use this book in a math lesson that I am making about algebra.
Thanks World!
Happy Reading
Adrian
What kind of meaning you may ask? Well, the story was one of character, it showed the integrity, perservearence, humility and intelligence of a young man. Lo, how I wish I could emblazen those attributes across my own soul's being.
The boy was in love, and the apex of his goals was to failry gain a princesses hand in marriage. Now, while I do want to get married someday, I feel like I connected to the story by more then just that one goal. You see, as the boy pursued his goal, there was something speackial about his characterestics, his personality.
I hope that as I pursue my goals in life I to can have a strong and noble personality. That is why I like this book. It shows a good person.
At first I was worried that the story line was to classical, that it was an archetyple tale of a boy trying to win the hand of a princess. This was true, however, the story redeemed itself. The boys admirable quality, plus the light humor of the book, and the suspence of the plot more than made up for the old fashioned story line. The book did not depend on the old story line, it used it as a framework, and off of that framework a beutifull tale was developed.
I am not exactly sure what type of genre this is, but i think I will call it a classical narrative.
The drawings were pencil sketches done by the author herself. They simply expanded the story, they did not add much depth, but they did a great job of illustrating some of the details. For many of the details were ancient chinese objects, like special plates, ceramics, math tools, and even rosewood trunks carried by the backs of elephants. I think the drawings were very helpfull to new readers because if there was some object they did not already know aboutm, then they could imagine it easily by lookin gat the pictures.
Thats then end of the blog for today, overall, great book because it takes an old story line and pumps some good role model charactereistics into it. Furthermore, I think I will use this book in a math lesson that I am making about algebra.
Thanks World!
Happy Reading
Adrian
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