review of picture book Octavia and Her Purple Ink Cloud

Octavia And Her Purple Ink Cloud

by Donna Rathmell and Doreen Rathmell, illustrated by Connie McLennan

Sylvan Dell (May 2006)

ISBN-10: 0976494353, ISBN-13: 978-0976494355

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Octavia Octopus lived alone in a small, secret cave in a colorful coral reef. She had many friends, so she was never lonely. She and her friends played a game called “how to hide from a hungry creature.”

Octavia clapped all eight arms when Paul Porcupine Fish puffed up to show how he could confuse a hungry creature. He was so big and prickly that Octavia knew Paul would be safe.

– Octavia and Her Purple Ink Cloud by Donna Rathmell and Doreen Rathmell, illustrated by Connie McLennan, p. 1-3.

Octavia the Octopus and her friends like to play a game–”how to hide from a hungry creature.” But the game is not just for fun; it’s a survival skill. Each of Octavia’s friends know how to hide from predators well, but Octavia finds herself unable to do it right; she squirts the wrong-colored ink. She tries over and over again, until finally, when threatened with real danger, she gets it right and is able to stay safe. Octavia and Her Purple Cloud combines story with information to help kids learn in a fun way.

The Rathmells often bring in good word choices, helping to create a strong sense of setting, such as “he swayed in the water like he was part of the plant.” I also liked Octavia’s delight in and enthusiasm for the other sea creatures’ skills; it helped make her likable. It’s emphasized many times that the various sea creatures will be kept safe, which may reassure young readers. The sea creatures each have familiar human names as well as their specific breed, which helps make them seem more personable. There is very little character building.

Information about octopi is seamlessly integrated into the story, allowing readers to learn without realizing they are. We learn that an octopus has eight arms, squirt purple ink clouds to hide from predators, and live in coral reefs–and we learn ways that many other sea creatures, including sea horses, porcupine fish, flounders, sea turtles, and more keep themselves safe from predators. I found the various creatures’ ways of hiding very interesting. It also helped that Octavia seemed so interested in watching the other creatures hide.

One thing that became tiresome and predictable, at least for me, was Octavia doing the same thing numerous times–getting the ink color wrong–and then having the same reaction “Oh no, I’d better practise.” This happened five times before she squirted the right color. Also, having a character sigh, moan, whine, etc. detracts from the focus of what they’re saying, especially if it happens repeatedly in a short span of text. I would have liked to see something else happen, to make it less predictable, or to happen at the most three times. It also felt slightly preachy to me, to be told that the character has to practice.

Tension is built up well when a hungry shark comes looking for food. All of the other creatures can successfully hide, but the reader isn’t sure whether Octavia will be able to, because of her past lack of success. The authors/illustrator also add to this tension by having the result come after two page turns.

I wanted another sentence or two about Octavia and her sea creature friends, after the shark left. since the story focused on them, it was weird (for me) to have the ending be just the shark leaving. I wanted to see some celebration. However, that’s a personal take. The ending is still clear (and happy).

McLennan greatly enhances the story with her beautiful illustrations. She uses a rich, bright palette with Octavia a bright orange, a lovely deep turquoise and blues for the sea, and many yellows, greens, and browns. The sea creatures are realistically depicted, but in a way that will appeal to children, with small smiles or facial expressions, in a way that’s not overdone. McLennan also brings a sense of texture on Octavia’s skin and various creatures.

Broad expanses of deep blue or turquoise sea help bring an openness to the illustrations. Octavia always stands out as the visual focus point, in part because of her bright color, and in part because of how well placed she is on the illustrations. Octavia often appears half off or partially off the page, and this also draws focus to her, and helps bring a lovely visual variation, as well as the feeling of almost being right there in the ocean with her. Often Octavia’s tentacles will point to the action or the creature she’s conversing with. The point of danger is underscored by the sea being white instead of blue or turquoise, and her limbs as well as the shark standing out much more.

Octavia And Her Purple Ink Cloud is an enjoyable book that helps you learn at the same time. Recommended.

Official Scrabble coming to Facebook

For those of you who love Scrabble, and are on social networks, may be interested to know that the official Scrabble game is coming this month to Facebook in the US and Canada, and is already on Pogo.com. It’s produced by Hasbro and Electronic Arts.

There’s no news yet as to what will happen to Scrabulous, the unofficial version of Scrabble that’s been on Facebook and has become very popular. Hasbro claimed it infringed on their trademarks, and wanted to shut it down, but realized they’d get a backlash if they did that without providing an alternative.

Thanks to Cynopsis Kids for the initial info. Read more on the complete story here.

Before Green Gables inspires two new TV shows/movies

According to Cynopsis Kids, two new TV shows are in production based on Budge Wilson’s book Before Green Gables(the prequel to Anne of Green Gables). Japanese publisher Shinchosha is producing an animated version of Before Green Gables, and a new live-action 3-hour TV movie Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning is in production in Canada, to be aired on CTV. The live-action movie sounds appealing to me.

Anne of Green Gables stamp from Canada Post

For those of you who love Anne of Green Gables (I sure do), Canada Post issued an Anne of Green Gables stamp set in June 2008. There’s one stamp featuring Anne, and one featuring her house. Every time I go to the post office lately, I look at the stamps and revel in them. A children’s book on a postage stamp that you can actually use! (Well, if you live in Canada.) I think I might buy myself one just to look at. It’s available from Canada Post as a book of 10 stamps for $5.20 CAN, a souvenir sheet of 2 stamps for $1.04 CAN, and a few other variations. (You can phone in your order from Canada, the USA, or another country, or visit a Canadian post office.)

And over at The Longstockings, they found a new Anne of Green Gables twenty-five cent coin available online from the Canadian Mint $19.95 CAN). The image of Anne is colored in.

review of Chester’s Back! by Melanie Watt

Chesters Back!
by Melanie Watt

Kids Can Press (July 2008)
ISBN-10: 1554532876, ISBN-13: 978-1554532872

Ages 9-12 (and up)

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Now, Chester, let’s try this again.
A long time ago, in a faraway land, lived a …
stinky dinosaur in need of a major breath mint!
Chester, get out from behind there!
Nope! This side looks WAY better!
CHESTER! CUT IT OUT!!!
IF YOU SAY SO…
Ladies and Gentlemen, I the GREAT CHESTERDINI, will now attempt to saw this boring drawing in half!!!
Chester… Don’t do it!

–Chester’s Back! by Melanie Watt, p. 11-13.

Chester the cat is back up to his antics, trying to take center stage–he’s just as funny as before. I love Watt’s humor and way of making her Chester really come alive. If you’re looking for a good book that’ll make you grin with the absurdness of it all, pick up Chesters Back!

Melanie Watt wants to tell another story about Chester. But Chester thinks it’s boring; he wants the story the way he wants it, with him as the star. At first he won’t appear at all, and then when he does, he skews Melanie’s meanings, and tries to take over the story. Melanie says “A long time ago, in a faraway land,” so Chester appears as a cave cat–who invented the wheel. When Melanie starts the story again, Chester cuts the background in half. Author and character vie for control in this funny story.

All the things I loved in Chester are here again in Chesters Back!–the humor; Chester’s over-the-top self-admiration; the innovative incorporation of Chester’s red-marker scrawls all over every illustration and page; the bringing a character alive in the story, as if they have a say; and the conversation between Watt and Chester. However, Chester remains my favorite Watt book. I really enjoyed Chester’s Back!, but the first few pages didn’t grab me in the same way that Chester did, and the ending didn’t feel as funny or as satisfying. What turned me off, in part–and this is quite personal and subjective–was the cave cat, western cat, and dinosaur material. I prefer Chester as Chester.

The middle of Chesters Back! was pure Chester–all me-me-me and riotous fun. I love how Watt’s text makes the story immediate, as if it’s happening right now, with her trying to tell the story, and Chester resisting. It’s intelligent and funny. Chester’s antics will have children giggling, as they recognize their own desire to sometimes go against the rules or have attention be completely focused on them. Adults will also enjoy the humor of a character coming alive and taking over the story. Writers, librarians, and editors especially will enjoy that humor.

Watt creates tension and humor from the very first page (actually, starting from the cover), showing Watt and chester each wanting different outcomes for the book, and each vying for control over the story. This tension and humor continues as author and character fight each other throughout the book, until the end. I love it when Chester takes over, and starts writing his own text.

Watt’s illustrations are innovative, playful, and incredibly creative. The way she incorporates the character’s strong personality throughout every page of the book, including the cover, title page, and book flaps, makes this book stand out (just as Chester did). It is a delight to pore over.

Chester’s larger-than-life personality fits the way he is illustrated; he is a very large, wide cat. He often takes up a large amount of the page, and his colors are more vivid, bringing the focus to him.

Watt creates a distinction between the “background” and Chester and his antics, by having the background appear like a watercolor-painted, faded backdrop, and Chester, his marker, and his doodles appear bright and vivid, on top. This adds to the feeling Watt has so skillfully set up that Chester is real and alive within the story.

I love all the creative ways Watt has Chester rebel–writing his own text and dialogue, drawing doodles on her pictures, hiding behind her illustrations, and cutting up her illustration. And I love how Watt has Chester try to supplant her (thus bringing attention to her) even on the cover “NOT a Melanie Watt book.” The humor tickles me just right.

Chester’s writing, doodles, etc are all immediately visible and differentiated from Watt’s voice/text; chester’s text is red, in a child-like font, and Watt’s drawn him with a red marker on every page, adding to the visual effect and the reader belief that Chester really is scribbling on the pages.

I think Watt is brilliant; her unique method of mixing text, illustration, and making them come alive are a joy.

If you haven’t read Chester yet, pick it up, then follow it with Chester’s Back. You’ll be in for a lot of fun.

Recommended!

drawings from phrases by Sam Brown

Artist Sam Brown draws simple, child-like illustrations from phrases that people email him. Some are inspiring, some sweet, some sad. A few make a play on the words or language (which I love) such as “I love long baths.” Those particularly appeal to me, and probably to many of us who love words and language.

I love long baths by Sam Brown, explodingdog.com

And a few incorporate writing, such as “I’m sick of writing” (but I keep thinking). I can relate; I’ll bet many of us writers can.

I like the comments Sam adds in; many times it changes the meaning of the phrase or adds to it.

I’m Sick of Writing by Sam Brown, explodingdog.com

The images are simple and creative, and have an interesting take on the words. Just looking through them may inspire creativity in you. There are a few violent ones, so if you don’t like violence, be prepared. And the book ones I found weren’t particularly positive about books, which I found disappointing. But the writer one was lovely.

You can participate by sending Sam your own phrase for him to draw.

You can also purchase prints of the drawings, or various books and t-shirts.

Thanks to Presurfer for the link.

Six Word Memoir

Kathy Stinson tagged me with the following challenge:

1. Write a six-word memoir.
2. Post it to your blog including a visual illustration if you would like.
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
4. Tag 5 more blogs with links.
5. Don’t forget to leave a comment in the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

Okay. Here’s my shot at it:

Writing born through pain–healing release.

Photo by VeVi @ Flickr

I tag: Wizards Wireless
Charlotte’s Library
7-Imp

e-ink ebook readers sound fantastic

I am seriously thinking about buying myself an e-ink ebook reader for my birthday (in August). I love gadgets and I love books–and I have read ebooks on various devices over the years. eBooks got me to read a lot of classics and older fiction the past few years, including most of Edna Ferber’s books–and I enjoyed them. Books I wouldn’t have picked up as paper books.

e-Ink technology makes the new e-ink ebook readers very appealing to me, in a way that other ebook readers haven’t been; e-ink makes the print appear close to that of the printed page, so that it’s easy on your eyes. You can read them in direct sunlight, unlike ebooks on an iPod, PDA, or laptop (which is how I currently read my ebooks, and which creates eye strain). Most of the new e-ink readers also have an incredibly long battery life, allowing you to read for hundreds of hours (often 5000-8000 pages) before the reader needs a charge (unlike, again, a PDA or iPod). And most of the readers themselves are light.

The e-Ink ebook readers also have great storage; you can carry a ton of books with you at once and not add to muscle/back ache. I’d probably always carry the reader around in my backpack, and then always have a variety of books available for me to chose from on public transit, depending on my mood.

Astak Mentor 5″ e-ink ebook reader

My current top favorite choice–the one I think I’ll be purchasing–is the Astak Mentor (the 6″, because it’ll have the optional touchscreen and Wi-Fi. It’s not the cheapest, but it’s not the most expensive). (I’m also considering the Netronix ebook reader, and the Readius eReader–but the Readius is too expensive for me and lacks a touchscreen.) None of those readers are available yet, but the 5″ Astak Mentor should be available late August. It will be about $229-$249, still significantly cheaper than other e-ink ebook readers. (The Kindle is priced at $350, and many others go up to $599. That seems just crazy to me for an ebook reader–though I love books.) The Astak Mentor’s lower price is what first drew me to it, but it’s features also sound fantastic.

The 6″ and 9.5″ Astak Mentors have a touchscreen, which I love. I use my iPod Touch a lot, and I love the screen, though it’s not ideal for reading ebooks because of the backlight and power consumption. The Astak Mentor reads open formats (it’s not proprietary): text, pdf, rtf, and html, and it can display images that are BMP, JPG, and GIF (though all in greyscale). This makes it far more appealing than a reader like the Kindle. I, like many readers, have ebooks already in some of those formats. It also means I can load my own notes or writing onto it, if I wanted to, or even, I think, scanned comic strips. There is also the option of adding on Wi-Fi support, which means you could easily purchase and download ebooks. Or you can use a usb connection to upload the ebooks from your computer to the Mentor.

It has a pretty fast processor, good resolution, and comes with 32MB, with the ability to expand storage capabilities up to 4 GB using a SD card. That’s a lot of books! The Astak Mentor can also play MP3s–so I’m thinking that it could play audiobooks, if you have an open audiobook format (not DRM protected). And Astak will ship to both Canada and the US (I emailed them to find out) which is a good thing for Canadians.

I’m looking forward to the Astak Mentor’s release–I wish it was now!

I can’t see ebooks ever replacing paper books for me–I love my paper books too much. Holding them, turning the pages, being able to put post-it notes in the margins with my handwritten notes. Smelling the paper, holding the weight of the book, seeing at a glance how much of the book I have left. And ebooks are just too expensive, when, at least for me, they’re second purchases–books I want to read multiple times. I’ll almost always buy a paper book first. (Hey, ebook publishers–significantly lower the cost of ebooks, and you’ll find more people purchasing them.) Still, to have multiple book choices while on public transport, or waiting in line, or on vacation, is bliss. And being able to instantly purchase a book (if you have wi-fi support) satisfies that “gotta have it” when you find a new book you’re really excited about.

There’s a few other ebook readers out there that use e-ink, though most of them I consider to be out of the running for me, for various reasons. The Kindle’s wifi doesn’t work in Canada, you have to pay $0.10 each time you email yourself a converted .pdf or other ebook (I have many) to load onto the reader, and it’s not aesthetically pleasing (that really does affect me, though it probably shouldn’t, but hey, I love my gadgets.) And it doesn’t have a touch screen.

The Sony e-ink reader is really slow to initially load an ebook, has a slow-ish refresh rate between pages, often shows a ghost of the previous page, has too many buttons which get in the way, has a non-intuitive software interface, and doesn’t have a touch screen.

Others are way way out of my price range. And, there’s only one other reader that I’ve found with a touch screen. I really do like touchscreens. I think they’re intuitive, easy to use–especially with reading.

So the Astak Mentor is on the top of my list, and I can’t help being excited about it.

Do you read ebooks? What do you read them on? Do you have an e-ink reader?

What turns you off a book?

photo: Book on chair by fallacy @ Flickr

I know that when I start a book that has a long, slow beginning with lots of description or nothing happening, I get turned off the story. Same thing happens when I come across long passages or paragraphs of description or backstory within the book; I get pulled right out of the story.

Or when characters speak in dialogue that doesn’t seem real, or is too cliche. Or when a character does something that makes that character lose credibility, or that just doesn’t seem believable–including if the character’s in danger or there’s a mystery or secret and they can’t see the obvious.

I also don’t like covers that look, well, dated–or that don’t have a character (or part of a character) somehow represented. I’ll still pick up the book, still read it if it’s good, but it’s an initial turn off.

Those are the things that come immediately to mind. What turns you off of a book? What kicks you out of the world a book creates?

Wordle - fun with words and useful tool for writers

Wordle is both a fun time waster for people who like words, and a useful tool for writers. You can upload any text you want into Wordle, and play with the fonts, colors, and layouts, and it will produce a picture based on the words, visually showing you the words you’ve used most frequently. The most frequently used words appear the largest. You can see where this can come in handy for fiction writers, especially, finding overused words, as well as themes, plot threads, etc that are used the most frequently throughout a book.

The results can be aesthetically pleasing as well as interesting and possibly useful. If you want to keep the image you’ve created just for yourself, don’t save it on Wordle. (Save it via an screenshot utility. You can also save it as a .pdf file; see Wordle’s FAQ for help.) Otherwise, anything you save will be available for anyone to print out or use. You might not want to do that with, say, your novel. On the other hand, I think it could make a small though neat promotional tool, especially if you save it under the book’s title and with your name. I saw a few on Wordle like that–and while I didn’t stay to peruse them, I did see the books’ titles–which is part of book promotion.

Wordle image
“Kids need reading stamina” (based on a PowerPoint she made to present the case for reading) by Anne Robinson @ Wordle

Thanks to Justine Larbalestier and her wonderful post on Wordle and how she used it for her novels, for introducing me to Wordle’s usefulness and fun play factor.

You need to have Java installed on your computer or your browser in order to view the Wordle creations.

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Cheryl Rainfield:

Avid Reader, Teen Fiction Writer, and Book-a-holic. All Things Books, With a Focus on Children’s and Teen Fiction

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review of picture book Octavia and Her Purple Ink Cloud

Official Scrabble coming to Facebook

Before Green Gables inspires two new TV shows/movies

Anne of Green Gables stamp from Canada Post

review of Chester’s Back! by Melanie Watt

drawings from phrases by Sam Brown

Six Word Memoir

e-ink ebook readers sound fantastic

What turns you off a book?

Wordle - fun with words and useful tool for writers

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