Readers Advisory: "Me is not you"

From Liz B at Tea Cozy:

One of my pet peeves (I have so many I should run a zoo) is when that role isn’t recognized or is downplayed. Sometimes it’s “anyone who reads can do readers advisory,” so who needs librarians? That’s a bit like saying anyone who eats can cook. Reading is about “me,” what I want and enjoy in a story; readers advisory is about “you,” what you want and enjoy in a story. Me is not you.

Click on through for more thoughts on reader's advisory.

Also, from "The Role of Reading" at Venn Librarian:

Look, Reader’s Advisory is one of the few school librarian skills that cannot be outsourced to others. Many (most?) English/Language Arts teachers aren’t really up on what’s New! Wonderful! in the world of ya or children’s literature. Not only that, those teachers rarely allow students to just read the book, they want analysis and thoughtfulness.

And sometimes readers just wanna have fun.

What 83 pages look like:

This grainy web-cam photo is of me and my senior English portfolio, which is a tree-killing total of 83 pages long. And I needed five copies. Also, I've done a lot of hole-punching.

I hope this photo explains the lack of Musical Monday posts and book reviews on Bookduck, and why I've been reading, but not taking the time to comment on, other blogs.

Happy Monday,







Oh, P.S. Here is a song. Just because.

 

Author Interview: Shelley Moore Thomas, the StoryQueen

Image from Shelley's website. Used with permission.

I noticed Shelley Moore Thomas's books before I learned that she had a blog. I work part-time in a library, and one slow evening, I came across one of her Good Knight easy readers in the bookdrop. A few sentences caught my eye while I was inspecting the returned book, and I ended up reading the whole thing. With a cast of characters including the Good Knight and three dragons, Shelley creates hilarious stories, all told through read-aloud-ready prose.

But the best thing about Shelley's books is that--at my library, anyway--children love them. Her tales of the Good Knight are in and out all the time; once, I checked a Good Knight book out to a child only to see him ask his mom if he could go get one more Good Knight book.

Shelley, AKA the StoryQueen, is known for reading books aloud in royal regalia. (See tiara above.) She also writes books that do not feature the Good Knight. Recently, I asked Shelley a few questions about her middle grade novel that is set to be released in 2012, and what it's like to write for children:

Do you approach easy readers and picture books differently? What comes first: the format, or the story?


For me, I think the story always comes first. While I am writing a book, sometimes the book decides to be something different than I originally thought. I think format and story should be an integral part of each other, if that makes any sense. With the Good Knight series, it was my editor, Lucia Monfried, who suggested the easy reader format for the story that I had sent her. I had unintentionally included so many of the bits that make up a good easy reader, I just needed to adjust the lengths of some sentences and change out a few words. One of the coolest things is that Lucia really liked the rich and unusual word choices in some cases and they got to stay. I love that they let me keep "methinks" in an easy reader!

How closely do you work with the illustrators of your books?


Actually, not very closely at all! I do my part with the words and the artist does her (or his) part with the art. It is awesome to see it all come together. I have been pleased with all of my illustrators.

Would you let the dragons from your books spend a weekend vacationing in your home?


Um...pretty much I live with them.  All. The. Time.


I notice in your videos section that you mention that Take Care, Good Knight was inspired by a real life experience. Would you mind telling a quick version of the story?


Well, my daughter (Issy) had to care for the neighbors' garden while they were away and completely misunderstood the directions.  When I went to check on things (the day before the neighbors returned) almost everything was DEAD!  We spent the next 12 hours running to the nursery and replanting things.  Good times.

Image from Shelley's website.

Imagine that you’re stranded on a desert island that happens to have a castle. (Queens should’t be stranded without one of those.) You can have one type of food (Italian, Chinese, etc.) delivered to your castle door daily. Which type of food would you pick?


Mexican food.


You have a middle grade novel, The Seven Tales of Trinket, coming out in 2012. How has working on this project differed from composing your works for younger readers?


I knew I wanted to write something that was a little longer than a picture book.  I attempted a few things that didn't work out as well as I had hoped.  The truth was, I didn't quite have faith that I could write a chapterbook or novel.  I started writing The Seven Tales of Trinket several years ago (under a different, quite hideous title), but the computer crashed and I lost everything.  But it was okay, because I wasn't ready to write it.  Also, I had tried my hand at some longer picture books, folktale retellings, but  they are a very hard sell in picture book form (which is a shame because I LOVE to read them to kids!).  Finally, one Spring morning in 2009, I started writing Trinket's tale, which is kind of a story within seven stories.  I wrote a couple of pages a day, sometimes only getting to the top of the next page before my time ran out, but I was committed.  I was ready. The big difference between writing a picture book and a novel (for me anyway) is the revision stage.  Revising a picture book is a little more "obvious".  I mean, I can tell if something is working or not pretty easily and make the change. With a novel, every little thing I adjust affects everything else.


Why a knight and three dragons?


It started with the character of the Good Knight.  I wrote it as a mistake, meaning to write Good Night....but then it cracked me up.  So I had the Good Knight.  The dragons showed up most likely because I have three children--however, I did not notice at the time I wrote the first one how much it reflected my own life!  Really!

The newest Good Knight picture book.
Image from Shelley's website.

Name three books you’ve recently read and enjoyed or been inspired by.


Me . . . Jane by Patrick McDonnell, Chime by Frannie Billingsly and I am in the middle of Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier and loving it.


Do you find that writing children’s books can be challenging because it can be difficult to keep children’s attention? Or is such an idea false?


Hmm..I think children are very honest.  If they don't like something, or if they find it boring, they aren't going to fake it.  However, I find that kids really love a good story.  I think what is challenging about writing for children is using the right voice for the story.  When I started writing, I wasn't even sure if i was a "children's writer" but that was the most real, honest voice that came out in my writing.  I don't sit down to write for children necessarily, but I sit down to tell my tales.  I think the fact that my favorite books, still, are children's stories, really influences what I write.
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Thanks, Shelly! (I really enjoyed Chime, too.) To learn more about the Good Knight books, as well as Shelley's other projects, visit Shelley's website. And while you're at it, check out her blog, too. Or why not watch a video of Shelley reading Take Care, Good Knight, based on the dead plant story?

 

 

PS: Sorry about the spacing issues between questions--Blogger is being a diva today.

Musical Monday (85): "Monster Mask" by Pomplamoose

This week's song is a cover of Ron Weiner's "Monster Mask" by Pomplamoose, because it's Halloween. Today is also my Grandma Viola's 80th birthday, and every year, at least one trick-or-treater (most of the kids know it's her birthday, because the town she lives in is very, very small) asks if her birthday is always on Halloween. Cute.



Happy Halloween!

"Science is constantly discovering lots of lovely things out in the universe that have the potential to kill us."

Happy (Early) Halloween from Charlie McDonnell, whose videos are among my favorite internet procrastination aids:



Now back to writing.

Eight Things on a Tuesday

1. The National Book Awards. I was super excited to hear that Franny Billingsley's Chime is included in the nominations. But I was less than thrilled to hear about the colossal faux pas that followed the botched nomination announcement. If you haven't already heard, Lauren Myracle's Shine was accidentally named a nominee. Libba Bray wrote a wonderful (and very swear-y) post on the rest of the story:

However, the NBA stated afterward that, based on its merits as a work of excellent literature for young adults, SHINE would remain on the finalists list. Crisis averted. Or so it seemed.
 
What happened after that is worthy of a soap opera called “As the Incompetence Turns.” Over the next few days, a back-and-forth of “we’re keeping it,” “no, we’re not keeping it,” “it’s worthy,” “no, it’s not worthy” was played out in the media and over the Internet in a very public, very hurtful way that did not seem to take into account that at the center of all this was a real live human being, an excellent writer, whose work and reputation were being dragged through the mud as if it were no big thang while the ruffled feathers of injured egos were patted down in a backroom somewhere.

Lauren Myracle was asked to withdraw from the award proceedings.

I haven't read Shine yet, but I interviewed a high school librarian last week for a grad school application essay who said that one can feel light shining through this book. "It's one of those books where the sun just rises," she said.

There's a good round-up of more reactions at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy.

2. RainyMood.com. The website that does nothing but make it sound like it's raining outside. I visited the website last week, and for a few minutes, I forgot that it wasn't really raining. (via Stephanie Perkins)

3. Books. I'm in the middle of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and I have Stephanie Perkins's Lola and the Boy Next Door waiting on my bookshelf . . . but I cannot pick them up again until I finish my English colloquium revisions and the books I'm supposed to be reading right now. Sigh.

4. Cat pictures. They make life better. My kitty turned eighteen last week. Here are some pictures my mom took of her last fall:

Kitty yawn! There has to be a hilarious caption for this photo, but my brain is too fried to come up with one right now. Suggestions?

5. Pumpkins. We have a happy one in our living room:

6. Veggie pizza. Last Friday, my friend Kirstie and I went to the grocery store and picked out some random ingredients. We give you yellow squash, yellow pepper, and potato pizza with basil:

And FYI, putting potatoes on a pizza turned out to be a surprisingly good idea. (And if you try it, you should know that we fried the veggies in some olive oil on the stove before putting them on the pizza, because otherwise they would have spent only 10 minutes in the oven, and they would have been very, very crunchy...)

7. My Judy Moody doodle was still alive on Sunday. The kids at the library left the whiteboard alone for TWO WHOLE WEEKS. Unbelievable.

8. Pan Am. I got mostly caught up on the TV show this weekend, and am enamored with the clothes and all the spoken French. Also, I can't get over how the ladies carry their purses. I'm not sure I could do this all day:

Happy Tuesday,

Read for the Record

I'm surfacing from my piles of homework and portfolio edits for my senior English colloquium (due at the end of the month . . . gulp . . .) to talk about Read for the Record. This Thursday, October 6th, people across the nation will come together to set a new reading record and support literacy. The book that all these people will be reading is Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama Red Pajama. The book is available for free online reading, and Pearson will donate a copy of this book to a child for every time someone reads Llama Llama Red Pajama online. (Click on through to read the book or learn more about Read for the Record.)

Happy Wednesday, and Happy Reading,

Embrace messy hair.

I love this print by Rachel Roellke, which I spotted at funnel cloud, her etsy shop. I've been trying to do as the print says, leaving my curls alone in the morning instead of always reaching for my straightener.

But I shouldn't be talking about hair when I'm supposed to be drafting a paper on who my artistic parents are (think influences from art history or literature, not actual parents) for Senior Thesis for my art major.

Happy Saturday, what's left of it! Also, happy Second Day of Fall! I baked Nutella-swirled sugar cookies and drank pumpkin-spice lattes with a friend yesterday to celebrate the start of my favorite season. What are you most looking forward to this fall?

 

Fall Wreath

The instructions for this project can be found at The Spotted Fox. I saw it last year, bought a wreath form in January, and finally had time to make it this August, just before moving into my on-campus apartment for this school year.

I sure wouldn't have time to make one right now, which is unfortunate, because our living room is still undecorated and rather sad. This wreath hangs in the tiny entrance hallway.

Happy (non-Musical, because--once again--I do not have time to track down a video) Monday,

 

Mozart's Sister

I don't have time to pick out a song today, but I still wanted to drop in and say hi. So, "Hi!" This past week has been a whirlwind of new classes and new roommates. (They're wonderful, by the way, although I am alarmed at how quickly one of them pounces on dirty dishes; she washed two of mine today before I even had time to go grab a rag. But I am not complaining.)

Last Saturday, I took a break from work and homework to attend a screening of Mozart's Sister, which is a film about Nannerl, who was--as the title says--Mozart's sister. It's funny at times--the actor playing the Dauphin has such an intense gaze that my friend and I had a hard time not giggling at tense moments--but mostly it's sad, because, like her brother, Nannerl possessed incredible musical talent. Unlike her brother, however, she didn't get to use it, because she was a girl. The movie (which is speculative, so the following might not be true) focuses on a time when Nannerl was acquainted with members of the French royal family, and in which she composed some music for the Dauphin. Later, she devoted her life to her brother's music. As far as I know, none of her work survives.

Here's the trailer, which is subtitled, because the movie is in French. (I just came from French class. Hmm.)

Happy Monday,

Musical Monday (84): "Mouth Music" by the Carolina Chocolate Drops

This week's song is "Mouth Music" by the Carolina Chocolate Drops, featuring Adam Matta. I heard about them on Laini Taylor's blog. (She has a fabulous new novel coming out soon, or haven't you heard.) I haven't listened to any of their other songs yet, but it's only a matter of time--I love the cheerfulness of this song. It's fun, which makes it the perfect song to have stuck in my head today, my last Move-In Day at college.

I may hum it while moving furniture.




Happy Monday,

Book Review: Supernaturally by Kiersten White

Release Date: July 26, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 352

Source: My local library.

Summary:
A lot has changed in the six months since Evie escaped from the International Paranormal Containment Agency with her shape-shifter boyfriend, Lend. She finally has the blissfully normal life she’s always dreamed of, including
1) A real live high school
2) A perfectly ordinary after-school job
3) Her very own locker (and by the way, rusted metal is every bit as awesome as she imagined)

But Evie’s not-so-normal past keeps creeping up on her...and things get pretty complicated when you factor in:
1) A centuries-old, seriously decaying vampire stalker
2) A crazy faerie ex-boyfriend who is the perpetual bearer of really bad news
3) A major battle brewing between the faerie courts where e prize in question happens to be...Evie herself.

So much for normal. (From Kiersten White's website.)
__________________________________________________
Paranormalcy--the first book in this series--was pink, sparkly fun, and I am pleased to announce that the laughs--and the pink--are still present in the second book of the trilogy, Supernaturally. Evie, the main character, has come a long way from page one of Paranormalcy, in which she takes down paranormals such as vampires with Buffy-esque wit and Tasey, her pink taser, while longing for a normal high school life.

The beginning of Supernaturally finds our spunky heroine living a fairly normal life. Her roommate is a vampire, and her boyfriend is an immortal shapeshifter, but her high school is normal. (Read: boring.) And, since she no longer works for IPCA, the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she is free to focus on the terrors of real life, like girls' gym, a boyfriend who's in college and can only visit on the weekends, and the fact that her favorite teen drama is in reruns.

Normalcy is overrated.

So when Raquel shows up with an offer for side jobs with IPCA, and an impish, annoying new assistant named Jack, Evie says yes, even though Lend--her boyfriend--and her other new friends disapprove. Author Kiersten White combines this disagreement with mysterious faerie attacks, the reappearance of Evie's ex-faerie-boyfriend Reth, and some startling revelations about Evie's origins to create an intricate, interesting tale.*

While I recommend reading this series in order (readers who do not will likely be confused), Supernaturally stands enough apart from Paranormalcy to be a good story in itself. White avoids a potential snoozer or simple bridge to the last book in the novel by adding characters like Jack and building more complexity into the characters readers already know.

Supernaturally is a breezy read, but, as with Paranormalcy, I didn't find it impossible to put down. I like Evie and Lend and the other characters, but I wasn't emotionally attached to them. White's writing, on the other hand, is fantastic. She turns on a dime from funny to profound, and in the end her plot threads all come together beautifully. I recommend Supernaturally to readers of paranormal romance, contemporary and realistic fiction (despite the paranormal twists, Supernaturally deals with surprisingly common teen drama, like the horrors of college applications), and readers who like sweet, clean romance. And laughing. Because anyone who reads one of Kiersten White's books will be doing a lot of that.
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*Evie isn't completely normal; she has some special abilities. But you can read all about those in Paranormalcy.

Musical Monday (83): "Called Out In The Dark" by Snow Patrol

This week's song is "Called Out In The Dark" by Snow Patrol.

Enjoy!



Happy Monday,

Revising a painting

I'm trying to start and finish a couple paintings before the school year begins, but I feel like I can't move on until I fix this one that I did for a class in June:

It was my last painting for the class, and I finished it just an hour before final critique. Consequently, I didn't get a lot of time to look at it and let it talk to me. I knew it didn't want the top of the figure the way it was, but I didn't have time to figure out what it wanted instead. This painting stumped me all through July and into August, until I remembered a painting I'd seen and photographed at the Art Institute of Chicago in July:

Portrait of Constance Pipelet by Jean-Baptiste-Francois Desoria, 1797, oil on canvas.

I like the figure's pose and attitude, so I decided to appropriate bits of it. I don't know if my figure will hold a book, and I know she won't have the same hair, clothing, etc. (The high heels stay!) But seeing this painting again got me out of my rut. Artists borrow from art history all the time.

In any case, here's a picture (it's a little awkward-looking because I took it with the camera on my laptop, which was not easy) of my progress so far. I accidentally made this great pink color that I added in a few places, started some apples on the right, and sketched some of the figure in with charcoal. (The lines you see now will probably all be rubbed off; they're just placeholders.)



So now I'll keep looking at it, adding lines and pushing and pulling them back. It's like editing a paper. Almost.

Musical Monday (82): "Sixteen" by Deas Vail.

This week's song is "Sixteen" by Deas Vail. I posted one of their songs just two weeks ago, but I'm on a bit of a Deas Vail kick right now while I wait for their new album. It doesn't come out until sometime in September or October, but that's just one more reason I'm looking forward to fall :)



Happy Monday,

Book Review: The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard

Release Date: January 7, 2010
Publisher: Viking (Penguin)
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 208

Source: My local library.

Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Colt has been sneaking out at night to meet Julia, a girl from an upper-class neighborhood unlike his own. They’ve never told anyone else about their relationship: not their family or friends, and especially not Julia’s boyfriend. When Julia dies suddenly, Colt tries to cope with her death while pretending that he never even knew her. He discovers a journal Julia left behind. But Colt is not prepared for the truths he discovers about their intense relationship, nor to pay the price for the secrets he’s kept. (From the author's website.)
_______________________________________________
I read most of The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard* in one sitting, and--I don't care how cliched this next clause sounds--I enjoyed every page of it.

The Secret Year in a nut shell: take Romeo and Juliet, subtract the double-suicide, add class conflict and a heaping cup of secrecy, and add an extra dash of suspense. Mix thoroughly.

Colt Morrissey is a boy from the flats--think wrong side of the tracks--and Julia Vernon is a privileged girl from Black Mountain Road, a fancy neighborhood not too far from the flats. They attend the same school, but hang out with different people: Colt with his friends from the flats, and Julia with the Black Mountain elite. Julia already has a Black Mountain boyfriend, but after she and Colt meet by chance at the Willis River bridge and share an illicit kiss, she begins leaving Colt secret notes and asking him to meet her at the bridge. Julia tells Colt that she wants to have a secret, no-strings-attached relationship with him; she tells him that he wouldn't enjoy the social obligations of being her public boyfriend. And Colt agrees. The two meet at the bridge in secret for a year, until Julia dies in a car accident. Colt is left to grieve for his secret sort-of girlfriend in private.

No one can know about the Secret Year because Julia wouldn't like it if their relationship became public, and besides--who would believe him? Julia already has one grieving, real, Vernon-family-approved-Black Mountain-boyfriend.

Julia was beautiful, cunning, and spirited. She was also a poet who kept a lot of journals. And, not long after the funeral, Julia's younger brother approaches Colt with one of Julia's journals. It's full of letters written to a C.M.: Colt Morrissey. Colt reads the journals over the school year following Julia's death, and Julia becomes a forceful, if deceased, character through her journal. Julia is constantly in Colt's head, and his secret relationship with her begins to affect his relationships with his friends, potential girlfriends, and family.

The Secret Year is a beautifully written novel about love, friendship, and the power people can have over others even after they are dead. I recommend The Secret Year to readers of contemporary and realistic fiction as well as readers who appreciate stories filled with social intrigue, class conflict, and stories dealing with family dynamics.
 _______________________________________________
*Not to be confused with Jenny Hubbard, author of Paper Covers Rock. Although, funny story, the only reason I picked up The Secret Year was because I did get them confused. I liked Paper Covers Rock so much that, if Jenny Hubbard wrote any other books, I wanted to read them, pronto. Did I think the different first names and the middle initial were odd? Yes. But the two novels contain so many similarities that it's spooky: both feature first-person narration from male protagonists, guilt, unrequited and/or secret love, poetry, settings centering around rivers, untimely deaths, and tell either all or part of the story through journal entries. These elements could easily be the favorite motifs of one writer.

Except that they are not. The J. Hubbards are talented--and distinct--authors. And I'm so glad I mistook one for the other and ended up reading The Secret Year.

Musical Monday (81): "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles

This week's song is "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles. I heard it on the radio in the grocery store on Sunday evening, and now it's stuck in my head--but I'm not complaining. I really like the oh-ohs, and I espeically appreciate the men trying to hit the high notes in the live performance below.



Happy Monday,

"I go here now."

Playing hide-and-go-seek with my oldest cousin's daughter while camping last weekend. She just turned four, and in her version of hide-and-seek it's impolite not to say where one is hiding. She makes me smile :)

Happy Tuesday,

Book Review: Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace, illustrated by Lois Lenski

Release Date: 1940; paperback reissued in 2000
Publisher: HarperCollins
Age Group: Children
Pages: 144

Source: My local library.

Summary:
Best Friends Forever
There are lots of children on Hill Street, but no little girls Betsy's age. So when a new family moves into the house across the street, Betsy hopes they will have a little girl she can play with. Sure enough, they do—a little girl named Tacy. And from the moment they meet at Betsy's fifth birthday party, Betsy and Tacy becomes such good friends that everyone starts to think of them as one person—Betsy-Tacy.
Betsy and Tacy have lots of fun together. They make a playhouse from a piano box, have a sand store, and dress up and go calling. And one day, they come home to a wonderful surprise—a new friend named Tib.
Ever since their first publication in the 1940's, the Betsy-Tacy stories have been loved by each generation of young readers. (From HarperCollins.com)
______________________________________________
I was in a reading slump in the last week of July; I started book after book, but none of them held my interest. A couple weekends ago, the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace came up in a conversation with one of my co-workers at the library, and I decided to try the first book in the series, Betsy-Tacy. This series has been on my reading list for nearly a year since I received review copies of reprints of Lovelace's Deep Valley books and fell in love with Lovelace's prose and the Betsy-Tacy universe.*

As soon as I picked up Betsy-Tacy, my reading slump un-slumped.

For children, it's an easy-to-read, yet artfully told story about two best friends who go on adventures and make up games in their own backyards.

For parents or people working with children, it's a great read-aloud option.

And for childless adults and young adults, it's a mini time travelling vacation to all the good things of childhood. Lovelace has a knack for switching from realistic description to make-believe and back again. Betsy and Tacy's friendship begins around Betsy's fifth birthday, and I had fun watching that friendship grow and reading about their cute--and sometimes hilarious--made-up games.

I also enjoyed the illustrations by Lois Lenski, who won a Newbery for Strawberry Girl in 1946. They go well with Lovelace's poetic imagery.** Here's one of my favorites from Betsy-Tacy:

Image source: a clock without hands

Beautiful.

I recommend Betsy-Tacy to beginning chapter book readers who like stories about unlikely friendships, as well as readers of all ages--especially historical fiction enthusiasts--who are looking for a quick, amusing, and heart-warming read. Lovelace's prose felt worn-in, classic, and infinitely re-readable. I'm already looking forward to reading the next Betsy-Tacy book, Betsy-Tacy and Tib.***
______________________________________________
*Emily of Deep Valley and Carney's House Party and Winona's Pony Cart
**If it were a contest, Maud Hart Lovelace would be in the running for Queen of Description.
***Which I will have to ILL, since--sadly--I can't find a public or university library in town that owns it.

Musical Monday (80): "Summer Forgets Me" by Deas Vail

This week's song is "Summer Forgets Me" by Deas Vail. Enjoy!


Summer Forgets Me - Deas Vail (Official Video) from Mono Vs Stereo on Vimeo.

Happy Monday,

I wish my desk lit up, too.

Behold the marvelous children's circulation desk at the public library in Champaign, Illinois. It lights up and changes colors:

Taking pictures in libraries is awkward, what with all the people studying and browsing. But this awkwardness didn't stop me.

Too pretty to leave un-photographed, no?

I took these pictures on a road trip with my friend Amber last week. Our mission? To check out some graduate programs in library science. Naturally, we also spied on the public library systems near the grad programs.

And Champaign's public library is a win.

Signs don't get much more awesome than this.

Other things that make Champaign fun, besides the Jane Addams Book Shop*:

The artwork taking shape on this fence downtown.

Pekara Bakery and Bistro, which makes great sandwiches, cookies, and crepes. We know this because we went there twice in one day. Amber took this picture after we finished a delicious, berry-filled crepe.

Colorful tabletop at one of the gajillion Espresso Royale coffeeshops in Champaign.

The Sousa Archives at the state university in Illinois. I'm a trumpet player, and I've never enjoyed playing his marches, so yes, I took pictures of period shoes instead of his sheet music.

The Art Theater, a lovely 98-year-old theater.

It was very hot inside, though. One of the owners of the Art Theater came in before the film we saw to explain that the old building isn't set up for air conditioning, and the unit they do have is too noisy to run during a movie. So they shut it off, and we roasted. But it was worth it. If you get a chance, I recommend seeing Beginners.** It made me laugh, cry, and wish my pet came with subtitles, too. Here's the trailer:

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*The Jane Addams Book Shop might be America's coolest used bookstore. Remember?
**Beginners is rated R for a reason, though, and is probably not suitable for an all-ages family movie night--which is too bad, because that subtitled dog is so cute.