Life-Size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya

A couple of years ago, when I was on the non-fiction picture books panel for the Cybils, this was one of the seven finalists. I loved Life-Size Zoo from the first moment I set eyes on it, and I've had it on Ella's bookshelf ever since.

Because the book is so large, it's been tipped on its side, and she's never noticed it. But when I pulled it out a few weeks ago and showed it to her, it's now in her top five favorite books. She drags it out at least once a day and carries it over to me (it's funny to watch since it is nearly as tall as she is and she has to lean back a little to keep it from catching on the carpeting).

The book has photographs of animals at their real size (which  means for an animal like an elephant, you can only see a very small portion of its head. The giraffe page folds out to a total of four pages in order to capture the length of a giraffe's head with its tongue out). It's kind of astounding how enormous some of these animals really are. Also, when you see a capybara next to another rodent (mouse), you realize that if you saw that rodent in your house, you'd probably have to burn the place down and move immediately (oh, just me?).

Each page has the stats on the animal photographed (age, name, weight, height, etc), a sentence or two about the animal, and then a panel of small line drawings that give you more info about the animal (did you know a camel's hump will dry up and flop over if they don't get water?).

I love reading this book or just looking through the pictures. It's an ideal book for a young kid who thinks they don't like books or for kids who love animals.

There are two more books in the series now (More Life-Size Zoo and Life-Size Aquarium) which I now know I must procur immediately.


Book received from publisher for Cybils 2009 judging

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House Guests

Remember how my sister Landen got engaged many months ago and I was really excited that they were going to be moving to Austin?

Well, they are now married (here, have a picture)

and living in Austin.

To our great delight, they decided to live in our same apartment complex.

Unfortunately, the apartment isn't ready until the end of next week, so they've been staying with us since they arrived on August 10th.

Wait, did I say "unfortuantely?" Ben Franklin was wrong - houseguests, at least these ones, are fantastic.

They entertain Ella, they do the dishes, they vacuum and clean the bathroom, they shoo us out of the house after Ella is in bed so we can go on a little date, they buy groceries, they play games with us, they don't complain about sleeping on the floor, and they compliment my cooking. What more could you ask for?

Having them around has been almost zero hassle, since Ella still naps in her own crib and then spends the night in the pack and play in our closet. We've loved having them stay with us (they might be a little tired of sleeping on stack of blankets and living out of suitcases). It's been fantastic to get to know Landen's new husband so well (we are big fans of him, although no one likes him more than Ella who follows him around like a little puppy).

If they were moving farther than 1/10 of a mile away, I might weep when they move out.

(Also, it's not as long as it sounds that we're hosting them, since they went on a week-long honeymoon a few days after they arrived and then we're in Dallas this week).

Amelia Lost: The Life and Disapperance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming

When I was working in elementary schools and the various classes did biography projects, Amelia Earhart was one of the most popular choices (Michael Jackson was probably the most popular choice, but most of the teachers wouldn't let their students do their projects on him).

I wish I'd had copies of Amelia Lost to hand out. This is an ideal biography for fourth or fifth or sixth graders (not that I've come to expect anything less from Candace Fleming).

I checked this book out months ago and finally, on the day it was due and I couldn't renew it any longer, I read it in a single afternoon. It's just over 100 pages and the story hurries along.

The format is a clever one - it alternates between the disappearance part (the Coast Guard that's hearing her radio signals but can't seem to get her to hear them, the people that, tuning in on AM radios, claim to have heard her over the next few days, and the desperate search for her goes on) and her life, starting at her birth and eventually meeting up with the final doomed flight portion. I loved this because - for me and most readers, I'd guess - her mysterious disappearance is the most fascinating part of Amelia's story. By not hoarding it for the end, I didn't feel like I needed to race through the book to get to the "good" part.

As happens to me any time I read good history, I realized quickly how much I didn't know about Amelia Earhart. I didn't realize how much of her fame was the result of carefully coordinated publicity on her part and the part of her husband (I didn't know a thing about him either). I had no idea that the world was so caught up in her disappearance and that people knew her voice so well that they could identify it when they heard it on the radio.

The main thing I learned was that if you should be planning a trip around the world by plane, take more than an hour to get a lesson on how to use your radio. But maybe that's just me.

Reading this reminded me of how much I've enjoyed Candace Fleming's other books and how I should really go read a few more of them.


Copy checked out from my local library

I Can't Believe

that this. . .

is now this . . .

That's all.