Tales of Peter Rabbit and His Friends

Beatrix Potter

I enrolled for a Creative Writing class this semester as a Creative Production Elective. It's CW 150 - Writing for Children. I thought it was easy at first, but I was dead wrong, and now I'm dead scared. I'm really dead. Haha. Apparently, writing for children is more theoretical and philosophical than I thought. o_0

For our first meeting, our professor (she's still very young) asked us to bring our favorite book as a kid and discuss it in class. I brought my Peter Rabbit book. My grandmother used to read it to me before bedtime so this is definitely my fave. 

Our professor also told us to enumerate three weird things about ourselves, since we'll be criticizing each others works, might as well know something interesting about each other, eh?

Here are 3 weird things about me:

• My name came from the combination of my parents' names which is Virgilio, and Nadya, thus the name Virna. But the name Virna in general really originated in Italy. There was a really pretty Italian actress back then named Virna Lisi.
• I am scared of water. My father took me to slide with him to a swimming a pool (I was about five-years old back then). It looked really fun so I agreed. I didn't know what happened but he lost grip of me and we both landed on 6ft-deep water. I didn't know how to swim and I almost got drowned. It was really traumatic. o_0 Up until now, I still don't know how to swim, and I'm scared to jump into pools. *Sigh*
• I am allergic to cow's milk and I get dandruff whenever I eat or drink something with it. If that's not weird enough, I don't know what is! The sad part is that I love leche flan and halo-halo, and cheesecakes, and milkshakes, and ice cream! Haha. I already tried a variety of shampoos, tonics, and a couple hair remedies offered in hair salons but nothing worked! I ended up using an anti-dandruff shampoo (just to control it), and still eating the foods I love. Teehee.

Earlier, I've mentioned about books. My classmates brought really rare children's books and I'm now on a quest of getting myself copies of their favorite books:

We will also have to discuss a couple of readings, and I was assigned to do "Mythic Journey", which requires me to read three books:

I already have a copy of Edith Hamilton's Mythology and I have already read it in highchool, but I still have to reread it i guess since I already forgot most of it. New books are quite expensive so I'm thinking of looking for second-hand copies of the remaining two, but Darrel said I should buy new ones, and he gave me the money I needed! o_0. I love you angel! Thanks a lot!

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I already had the money, so I decided to go book shopping today, yay! I was already having a lot of fun, until I went to the photocopying center to get my copy of the required reading materials for my Creative Writing class this sem.

Tenenen!

See how thick it is?! AND it's only for one subject! I can't believe it. I just can't imagine how can we possibly discuss and take up all of these in just 16 meetings. (I'm sorry for the photo, I know, it's not nicely taken) Anyway, I'll enumerate it for you from top to bottom:

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll.

I saw the Disney flick a hundred of times but I never actually read the book. I'm really excited to start reading this. It's for my report on the essay, "Mythic Journeys" -- which I haven't read yet. I'm supposed to relate it to "The Odyssey".

• The Odyssey, by Homer.

Hmm..a classic. It's part of my 'personal reading list'. I hope I find it interesting, or else I can already see how my nose will bleed, my eyes bursting out tears of acid, and my brain turning into ice. BRAIN FREEZE! Teehee.

• Papa's House, Mama's House, by Jean Lee Patindol.

Just in case, it's the thin red book. It's a storybook, written in English and Filipino. (Darn. I keep saying Tagalog, my professor is already getting sick of reminding me again and again, haha!). It's about three children with seperated parents? So they have two houses. It's a really touching story. I suggest that you read it, especially because it's just P65 from Adarna Publishing. ^^

• Philippine Literature: History and Anthology, by Bienvenido Lumbera.

It's the recommended textbook for our Filipino 50 (Introduction to Philippine Literature) class. The professor said it's "not really required", BUT "it's advised that you get a copy"...*sigh*..so I bought one anyway.

• Booklist: Recommended Reading for Children and Young Adults.

I saw this thin blue book while browsing for Shel Silverstein's books ( unfortunately, it's out-of-stock). It's a list of really neat books with its authors, publishers, numbers of pages, and short summaries of each. Being the aspiring book collector that I am, I bought it. It's only P50, haha!

• And last, but certainly NOT the least, my really thick (it's about 3 inches or more) CW 150 readings.

*Nose starts to bleed*

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Easy Sudoku Puzzles #1 (Dora the Explorer)

Sonia Sander

I got one of these Dora sudoku sticker books for $1 the other day and my 5yo son is obsessed with it.  I went through a brief period of being obsessed with sudoku but lost interest after I worked out how to solve them.  They also caused me to get on the wrong train one night as I was so busy doing sudoku that I didn't look at the board properly.   Despite all this, I think these sticker books are good for kids.  The stickers are also removable in case you make a mistake.

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Props to anyone who gets the reference of the title the first time they read it! =] To those who didn't. You guys have to watch this, specially if you're a Twilighter. Hah! Note: Twilight Movie Spoilers.

Twilight Filming - Greenhouse Field Trip Scene

So yesssss, a post dedicated to the one of the most awesome fictional characters ever made, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen. Yep! If you had doubts before if I am a dorkette or nerdette (lol, make up words, make up words!) now you don't need to doubt anymore because I just verfied it by making an obligatory HAPPY BIRTHDAY post for a fictional character. To be fair, he's a very awesome fictional character though!

So here's a picture spam of my favorite stupid, shiny (silver) volvo owner. Also known as the stupid, unreliable vampire who thinks 'the waste of finite resources is everyone's business'. Including the love of his (immortal) life, Isabella Swan.

Edward Cullen

Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Isabella Swan (Kristen Stewart)

Edward and Bella

Edward and Bella

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While I was living in Canada, during my first year of graduate school, I discovered, in a Chapters bookstore, the magic of O.R. Melling, young adult fantasy author.  I picked up her book "The Chronicles of Faerie," and was utterly captivated.  "The Chronicles of Faerie" contains three of her books: "The Hunters Moon," "The Summer King," and The Light-Bearer's Daughter."   The stories are all about Canadian girls of Irish descent who return to Ireland and become caught up in Faerie; all of the girls must save Faerie in order to preserve the magic of living as human beings.  And in the telling of these stories, the adventures these girls have helps them come to terms with growing up.  The themes of young adult literature are all here: friendship, getting along with parents who do not always understand these teens, going on after the death of a sibling, and discovering that what cannot be seen can be believed.  O.R. Melling's site is equally evocative: http://www.ormelling.com/. 

Fairy

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It was a very wet and cold weekend in Sydney so we spent quite a bit more time than usual indoors.  On Saturday afternoon, the kids and I watched Danny Kaye in Hans Christian Anderson.  My mum had found the dvd cheap somewhere and sent it up.  We hadn't yet watched it as my daughter had thought it looked "BOR-ing".  Both kids were hooked by the end of the first story/song ("the King is in the Altogether" about the Emperor's New Clothes) though.  I still remembered all the words from watching this movie numerous times on tv in the 1970's so enjoyed singing along to everything. 

Danny Kaye : I'm Hans Christian Andersen

On Sunday a friend and I took them to a free art exhibition to get them out of the house for a while.  There was also plenty of time at home to watch movies so we got out Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  It is quite long so we spread it over a couple of sittings and sped through a few of the gory bits though (eg, Jade Dragon getting punctured by the needles).  We watched the dubbed version for the kids sake.  It probably wouldn't have mattered though as it was the fight scenes that held their attention the most.  They are so well done - like magical dances.  There is also some fantastic flying action in it, such as this scene where the two main characters are fighting in the tree tops. 

Film Scoring Project - "Battle in the Trees"

(My daughter still has a long way to go with her Kung Fu before she is at this standard!)

Next weekend we will be time travelling back to the 1980s (assuming my copy of Pretty in Pink has arrived by then). 

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Wouldn't you just hate to have a frustrated English teacher for a parent at age 9?

My daughter has been having a bit of trouble with comprehension tests at school lately (probably because she is not terribly keen on reading) so this morning I got out my old Norton's Anthology to try and give her some practice at comprehension.  I read her this poem, one of my favourites by William Blake. 

A Poison Tree

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears,
And I sunned it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright,
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine -

And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning, glad, I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

On the first read through, we wrote down all the words she didn't know, ie, wrath, foe, deceitful, wiles, beheld and veild.  We then looked them up in the dictionary and talked about their meanings during a second read through of the poem.  We talked about her and her friends and how sometimes you feel better if you tell someone they have hurt your feelings rather than bottling it up and growing a 'poison tree' inside you. 

We then moved on to talking about metaphors and particularly the apple and tree metaphors.  She had been a bit disengaged up until this point but then got really excited thinking about apples in other stories like the story of Adam and Eve, Snow White etc. 

Gold Apple - huge resolution!

We then had a look at Anthony Browne's book The Shape Game (the kids love this book anyway) which includes a reproduction of a painting about a woman being cast out of her family because she had given into temptation.  There is half an apple lying on the floor of the room in the painting and my daughter was quite excited to see this and interested in the other symbolism in the painting (which Anthony Browne explains in the book).

The Shape Game

Anthony Browne

We also read Pamela Allen's Black Dog (the kids also love have Pamela Allen's books read to them) which continues on with the friendship theme and has a lot of symbolism in it, eg, a bluebird, trees, bread and of course, Black Dog himself.

V+m.jpg

She has now gone off to Kung Fu clutching a copy of Grimms Fairy Tales all excited about reading the gory versions of popular fairytales.  Plenty of symbolism there!

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library)

Jacob Grimm

On reflection, I think the Blake poem was probably a bit ambitious, especially as a starting point.  I will look for something a bit more accessible next time.  Any suggestions most welcome.   

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Homework poem

 

Back in time

Homework sits on top of Sunday

squashing Sunday flat

Homework has the smell of Monday

Homeworks very fat

 

 

100_1717

Elephant on the telephone

There once was a elephant who tried to use a telephant

No! No! I mean an elephone

Yes he tried to use the telephone

He pulled and pushed trying to get it out

But the eletelephone just wouldn't come out

All this silly rhyming is making me jump

So next time you call an elephant use a elemump or is it a telehump?

 

 

Who is that girl?

 

100_1679

Who is that girl staring at me?

She has big blue eyes

Looking like flies, which is rather weird

So I show her my singing she sings too we both sounds like a

chime so I wave she waves back at the same time

She looks quite odd so I nod and she nods back you can see

Oh I know it must be me!

 

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Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories (Young Puffin Books)

Joyce Lankester Brisley

The Magic Faraway Tree

Enid Blyton

Mr. Galliano's Circus (Rewards)

Enid Blyton

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie

The Ramona Collection, Vol. 1: Ramona the Brave / Ramona and Her Father/Ramona the Pest/Beezus and Ramona

Beverly Cleary

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Judy Blume

The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking

Astrid Lindgren

The Lorax (Classic Seuss)

Dr. Seuss

The Early Bird -- Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street? -- Are You My Mother?, 3 Vols. Set (I Can Read It All By Myself Beginner Books, Assorted Volumes)

Richard Scarry

Anne of Green Gables

L. M. Montgomery

Seven Little Australians

Ethel Turner

A Little Bush Maid & Mates at Billabong : Omnibus Edition

Mary Grant Bruce

Little Town on the Prairie (Little House)

Laura Ingalls Wilder

It is interesting to see how many of these books were old fashioned even then.  A lot of the books that I had were actually my parents' books when they were children.  I still have a lot of them now and Mum still has my battered old copies of The Early bird and The Lorax at her place.  Are You There God, It's Me Margaret was a revelation to me when I first got my hands on it (probably a year or two after it was first released).  Very ground breaking for its time. 

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Show us something crooked.

The Little Crooked House

Margaret Wild

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