Middle School Get Me Out of Here

Middle School Get Me Out of Here by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts

Rafe is back, and if life could get any more difficult it has... Now he is sleeping on the couch at his Grandma's house in the city, his Mom is out of work, he's started the new school year at a fancy "art school" and the pressure is on.  Can Rafe control his out of control life? or will the old Rafe make his presence known in this new installment.

Although this is a similiar style of book as the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, it just doesn't carry the same funny punch. Where it does win out is the illustrations - Rafe is the kid that is always doodling, he sees his life as a series of frames in a cartoon, his characterization is some of the people in his life (his Uncle Harry -Hairy the Sasquatch, and the Principal as a man-eating spider) are spot on. The fact that his art work are a strong feature of his personality make the styling of the book valid.

Here's the book trailer.

The Magic of Paper Sculpture

The Magic of Paper Sculpture by David Swinton

With Christmas just around the corner, I seem to start getting crafty, this year I'm into  making paper ornaments, so I took a little trip to the public library for some inspiration and look what i found :-D
This is so cool I can hardly wait to start trying my hand at paper sculpture. Who know maybe you'll be seeing some of my creations or this title added to our collection soon.

Roadsworth

Roadsworth by Roadsworth and Bethany Gibson

Yesterday I took our "Guess the Reader" contest winner with me on a lunch hour shopping spree. The above is one of the choice books we brought back with us for our library.

Here's the write up:
In Oct. of 2001 paint was spilled on the streets of Montreal. A stark primative bike symbol, looking suspiciously like the one the city used to designate the bike path; a giant zipper, pulled open down the centre line of the street on a busy commuter route ; the footprint of a giant, stomping through the city while the people slept. By 2004 Roadsworth had pulled off close to 300 pieces of urban art on the streets of Montreal. In the fall he was charged with 51 counts of public mischief. It seemed to signal the end of his career. Instead the citizens of Montreal and lovers of his work from around the world rallied their support. A year later he was let off with a slap on the wrist.

This is a thought provoking look at-  What is considered public space?, Is graffiti art? When is graffiti art?  Will societies views on graffiti change? Are they changing now?

Here's a small clip from the National Film Board  film titled -  Roadsworth: Crossing the line.

MC Escher

M C  Escher by Sandra Forty

M C Escher's works might be some of the most famous, most recognized works going. You've probably seen posters, cards or prints of these amazing perspective drawings and block prints. This will be the perfect book for those aspiring artists or those of you fascinated with optical illusions. The book contains a brief history of Escher, followed by a chronology of his works. I hope you enjoy this one, I did.

Read On.

Wonderstruck

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

This my friends is the book I've been anxiously waiting for. I absolutely loved Brian Selznick's first book  The Invention of Hugo Cabret and now we have another beautifully illustrated cleverly crafted book to put along side it on the shelf. I'll rave about it soon at school.
 Till then here is the trailer.



For those of you that have read The Invention of Hugo Cabret you'll be happy to know it will soon come out as a movie.



And just because I think Brian Selznick is a genius. Here's some more.

Art to the extreme

Hey these are photos that I took over the Easter break. They are from a personal residence in Ellensburg, Washington. These folks have dedicated they're life, yard and house to art. They want to make people think about art, and beauty, and fun, that is all around us. Most of the sculptures are made with found pieces, many feature pieces and parts from old bikes.  Life is what you make of it, these people choose colourful, quirky, humourous art.

Wearable Book Art - Accessories

Here's a fun handbag to wear as an accessory - to go with the beautiful gown made from the pages of colourful little golden book.

These purses are repurposed hardcover books. Apparently they can make custom bags from the book of your choice.

Fun project for this summer.
Thanks Jan for tipping me off to this.

Wearable book art

Wow!! This dress is made entirely of the pages and spines of little golden books. I ask, Has a book ever looked this good? Think it isn't real? Check out this link, for the making of the dress and it strutting down the runway. http://home.comcast.net/~ryannovelline/16.html

A Map of the Known World

A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell

Loved it!! Read it in one sitting! Have a ton of sticky notes pasted to pages that need to be reread and enjoy yet again. This book reminded me of how teens are often searching for some kind of escape - from old friends, from the small town that is suffocating, from being labeled a certain kind of person, from the pressures placed on them from parents, families, histories, teachers. I know I was definately one of those teens, longing for the day when I would strike out on my own, discover that far off place and escape into the person I wanted to be. This book captured all of that.

Here's the summary.

Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt trapped in her small town. Her parents are increasingly overprotective, and even her best friend, Rachel, has begun to slip away.

So Cora seeks solace in art, drawing elaborate maps and envisioning herself in exotic locales. Then Cora's mapes lead her someplace unexpected: to Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died. Cora forms a tentative bond with Damian - himself an artist - who reveals to her the truth about who her brother really was. As Cora begins to piece together the fragments of her life, she finds herself falling for Damian. But will she have the courage to follow the chart of her heart?

Here's some of the quotes I flagged.

"They say no land is left to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me."

"Kids stream by me, swiftly dodging and moving past in circling eddies, like a river will wash around a tall rock of log."

"Cliques seem to gather their members, the way a magnet will draw filings of iron."

"I will map the world that I know better than anything. The world, the places I've shared with Nate. And I will finish his last, unfinished piece with this map of the known world. I'll draw the places we used to go and the kids we used to be. Then I will mount this map on the pedestal Nate built."

"We sat around the table, five of us, my grandparents, parents and me, caught in a silence as thick as an oil spill and twice as deadly

I know this will be one that I will rave about for a while.

Read On.

Art break

3-D ABC ; a sculptural alphabet by Bob Raczka

Today I was busy cataloguing more of the new books, but took a moment to read through this book. I loved it!

Bob Raczka has done it again, pairing beautiful pieces of art - this time sculptures and wonderfully simple wording to help explain or get us thinking about what art means to us. This time he also cleverly uses the alphabet to move from piece to piece. Each sculpture is given full credit to who created it, where it is housed and what it is made from.

Readers will learn about contemporary sculpture, he covers everything from various sculptural styles (kinetic, relief, ready-made) to sculpting materials (metal, old car parts, light, etc.).

I'm having a hard time picking a favourite, but tonight I'd have to say it's the letters K & L - the sculptures are The Kiss and LOVE. Tomorrow who knows I might pick a totally different one , that's the great thing about art- it kinda depends on your mood.

I love books like this, i may never get to see these sculptures up close but now I know more about them and I'm inspired to visit the sculptures that I have access to here in Alberta.

Read on