The 5 Best Toys of All Time

I have discovered an excellent article; a refreshing reminder of happy summer days. 'Tis written by Jonathan Liu and entitled "The 5 Best Toys of All Time." I tried to put the article directly in this post, but the formatting didn't work, so you'll just have to read it here. For best effect, read it while sitting by an open window, where you can inhale the spring.

Outdoors for President!
-whisper

"Treasure Box" photo by Flickr user Evelyn Giggles. Used under Creative Commons License.

Sadness

I have sad tidings, which you may have already heard.

Brian Jacques, author of the Redwall Series, died two days ago.

How very sad. I'm sure many of you have read those honorable books - for me, they were my first real, sad, epic, long stories. They were the first books I read where good guys might actually die, where bad guys might actually win (for a time), but where good would ultimately triumph in the end.

I remember in an interview several years ago Jacques said he planned to keep writing the Redwall series till the day he died... he lived up to that ambition. Two days ago a heart attack took him at 71 years of age; this May his 22nd Redwall book, "The Rogue Crew", will be released.

I only found out the news that he'd died just this morning. When I saw the headline of the article, I literally leaped out of my chair and ran, yelling through the house, up and down stairs, shouting to siblings, "The author of the Redwall series DIED!" The news was greeted with much shock and sadness.

I was working tonight at the library - just got back a half hour ago, in fact. While I was tidying books in the children section, I came to the lonely little section storing the half-dozen Redwall books that hadn't been checked out. Loamhedge, Martin the Warrior, Redwall, High Rhulain... I stroked their spines, each one individually, and thought of something I remembered and cherished about each story. Then I stood there, hands folded behind my back, and spent a few moments staring at the books, giving mental tribute to the man who wrote them. Before moving on, I whispered a few quick words to the books. "Thank you for a good tale well-told," I said. Not particularly profound words, but they were what came to me.

Farewell, Brian Jacques.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society
Trenton Lee Stewart

This was a clever and entertaining tale. A bit ominous in size but written for a younger audience, it concerns four particularly gifted children who pass a series of tests, thereby becoming a part of a mission to sabotage the work of an evil scientist and save the world. The characters were well-done, and though at times the plot was improbable or unrealistic, it was charming as what it was meant to be: a child's tale. The beginning takes on a bit of a Lemony-Snicket-style mysteriousness, but doesn't retain it very long. Happily, the novel is perfectly clean, and while I rather enjoyed it, it probably was intended for ages 8-12 or so. In my opinion, "The Mysterious Benedict Society" was an exciting, entertaining, and enjoyable tale.

Happy birthday!

Today is a special day.

It is the 179th birthday of Lewis Carroll.

Ah, what an artist died with him! He was born on January 27, 1832 as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Under the pen name Lewis Carroll he wrote the infamous "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking-glass" as well as several famous poems such as "The Hunting of the Snark" and, of course, the illustrious "Jabberwocky." He was a mathematician, logician, deacon, photographer, and - in my opinion - brilliant author. If you haven't read his two Alice books, I recommend them highly. They are "curiouser and curiouser"; cleverly written, very entertaining, and make excellent read-alouds to younger siblings (my family and I enjoyed them both immensely).

Happy birthday, Mr. Carroll! Thank you for your marvelous contributions to the world of literature.

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"'You know,' he added very gravely, 'it's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle - to get one's head cut off.'" - Tweedledee

"The executioner's argument was, that you couldn't cut off a head unless there was a body to cut if off from: that he had never had to do such a thing before, and he wasn't going to begin at his time of life.
The King's argument was that anything that had a head could be beheaded, and that you weren't to talk nonsense.
The Queen's argument was that, if something wasn't done in about less than no time, she'd have everybody executed, all round. (It was this last remark that had made the whole party look so grave and anxious.)" - Alice in Wonderland

"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise." - the Duchess

"Curiouser and curiouser!" - Alice

"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe." - Jabberwocky

Jelly Beans!

This post is much overdue. I had intended to give it much sooner, like, oh, say, twenty five days ago, but circumstances conspired wickedly against me. So! Without further ado, I will proceed to show you several thrilling pictures of the Christmas present that my sister, The Golux, so kindly gave to me.

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There are recipes on the side of the box! This one is Fruit Salad.
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Beautiful, isn't it?
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There. Wasn't that comforting? I find jelly beans to be a solace of warmth and happiness in the midst of trials. Life has been a bit chaotic of late - at least for me; to say that these past few weeks have been an emotional trainwreck and probably the busiest and most stressful of my life is an understatement. >_> Within an extremely small amount of time I was hit by two debilitating illnesses, commenced my first college class (English, unsurprisingly), and was - *rejoices* - hired for a job as a Page at my library. *proud smile* In terms of update, I am now feeling much better, I'll be going to work for the first time tomorrow, and college homework is killing me. I'm in over my head. Please send a rescue team in after me.

Drowning,
-whisper