Books On Film | Dead Stars

Author and screenwriter Bruce Wagner's novel Dead Stars is based on the screenplay he wrote for the film Map to the Stars after plans to make the film fell through. Well, now the film is back on and will be released this weekend. Dead Stars chronicles a slew of characters chasing the ever elusive fifteen minutes of fame.

Traces the experiences of very young breast cancer survivor Telma, who crosses paths with actor Michael Douglas during the latter's efforts to achieve his professional dream against a backdrop of riotous Hollywood culture.

Learning | The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus

How many of you have enjoyed flipping through Roget's Thesaurus, looking for random groups of synonyms?  I think most of us used it for schoolwork, when looking for the right word to describe something, or trying not to use the same word over and over again in an essay. But I loved picking up the book and learning more about words and their relationships to other words. 

A 2015 Caldecott Honor book presents a similar pleasure, in the form of a children's picture book about the life of Peter Mark Roget.  

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet is a visual treasure trove of lists, synonyms, and facts.  It tells the tale of a shy young boy who loved to make lists.  Some of those lists turned into a book that most of us remember from our school days, Roget's Thesaurus. 

The The Right Word's pages are illustrated with watercolor, collage, and mixed media. They effectively draw the reader in, to explore, discover, and become inspired. This is clearly a book that holds interest, even after repeated readings. I saw one review that compared reading The Right Word to looking through an old curio cabinet!

The publisher of this book, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, has a delightful video trailer for The Right Word on its YouTube Channel.  

She's Crafty | Finding Time to Craft

Creating things makes me happy but I'm finding it harder and harder to find the time to craft. Or, perhaps, I'm not making time to craft? Either way, it might be best if I locate some projects that will fit in with my hectic weekdays. Some options include:

• Zentangle, which I talked about in this post, would be a great option during breaks at work.

• A crochet project, like opera-length fingerless gloves, can be worked on while vegging out with the family at night.

• Instead of checking Facebook for the zillionth time, I could go outside and snap some photos to use as layers in a digital collage.

Really, the possibilities are endless. I just need to make that commitment. And for me, it's worth my time and effort.

It's true.

Quick, simple projects might make it easier to inject some craftiness into my daily life. The more I think about it, doing some repetitive needlework while decompressing after work sounds like an excellent idea. Maybe these books have just the project I'm looking for...

• Quick Knits by Judy Ann Sadler.

• Simple Knits for Sophisticated Living by Barbara Albright

I even found a few blog posts by other craft bloggers who ave graciously offered their ideas on finding time to craft.

• Stacey wrote the post Tips For Making Time To {Craft} on her blog, Glued to My Crafts and Everything In Between.

• Hilary Chybinski wrote the post, Squeezing Time to Craft Into Your Busy Life for the blog, A Life In Balance.

Have you found ways to be crafty even when you're busy?

Malia

Just Life| An Armadillo in Paris

I just came across this cute new picture book called "An Armadillo in Paris" by Julie Kraulis. That is a great picture book to introduce children to Paris.

Arlo is an adventurous Armadillo from Brazil. He loves travelling like his grandpa Augustin. Grandpa Augustine has left Arlo his travel journal and in the journal, he encourages Arlo to go to Paris to meet the Iron Lady.

Who is this Iron Lady?

" Follow the path I've laid out ... and you will get to meet her. " His grandpa wrote.

Arlo is intrigued and heads to Paris.

First stop was the Arc de Triomphe. There he ate a flaky croissant in Café Gustave and later, made a stop at Champs-Elysees, the most famous street in Paris.

Arlo visits Arc de Triomphe

 

He visits Louvre to admire beautiful art work. In the museum, he also visits the World Fair Exhibit. He walks along the Seine River and admires its many bridges.

He heads to Jardin du Luxembourg and plays with wooden boats in the pond.

Ari visits Jardin du Luxembourg

 

Arlo visits Jardin du Luxembourg

He keeps walking and walking until he comes face to face with the Iron Lady.

Bonjour Tour Eiffel.

Signing off until next Monday-Panteha