Three great books by Eric Carle
The Very Busy Spider. Read by teacher Mindy at preschool. There was another book read at school but I forgot its name and even its story.
The Very Lonely Firefly and A House for Hermit Crab. Read after dinner.
A new program at Santa Clara County Library: 1000 Books Before 6. 六岁之前读1000本书.
具体原则有:
1. 关于重复读一本书. 重复读同一本书对于小孩子的语音学习非常重要. 因此如果同一本书读5次, 就算作5本书记在读书记录上.
2. 关于语言. 任何语言都可以.
3. 关于时间地点. 任何时间, 任何地点, 学校, 家, 图书馆等, 不管是谁讲的, 只要小孩子听完了一本书, 就可以记在读书记录上.
按我们目前的读书状态, 希望一年能完成1000本.
前几天在店里淘到几本很好的绘本书．我对好的定义是：故事内容有趣或有爱，绘画风格也要有趣漂亮有细节．二者要缺一不可．
1. The Flying Hockey Stick by Jolly Roger Bradfield （＊＊＊＊）
故事内容讲一个小男孩一直尝试飞翔，后来终于用风扇，雨伞和球棍造成了一个飞翔机，以及他飞翔旅程中的故事．绘画风格可爱，故事充满想象力，又有爱与帮助，应该特别适合3～4岁多的小男孩阅读，喜欢英雄，冒险的小女孩儿应该也会喜欢．大点的小孩可以自己阅读的话应该也会被吸引．
2. Adele & Simon by Barbara McClintock （＊＊＊＊＊）
内容讲的是姐姐Adele接弟弟Simon从学校回家的路程中所经过的场所及经历的故事．特别的是，故事中所有场景都是还原20世纪初巴黎的景物．当然，即便我们没有巴黎情结，也仍然可以欣赏作者精细的笔功及富有特色的美丽风景．故事中弟弟是个丢三落四的人，从学校回家的路上他丢了很多东西，在每一页看似纷乱的场景中都可以找到弟弟所丢掉的东西．应该适合兄弟姐妹或玩伴们一起阅读并一起寻找图画中的线索．
3. Mole and the Baby Bird by Marjorie Newman, illustrated by Patrick Benson （＊＊＊＊＊）
讲一只鼹鼠Mole捡了一只小鸟并用心将之抚养大，然后因为爱它怕它离开而将之关在笼子里，及至最后明白鸟儿注定是要自由飞翔才快乐，于是同样出于爱却还是放它飞走的故事．对于我这个大人来说，我觉得写得非常动人．绘画也是我所喜欢的，色彩明亮，笔触细腻，注重细节，风景优美．感觉应该能听懂故事的小孩儿都会喜欢吧．绘画方面因为有很多精致的细节，想来小孩子自己翻看也会有很多发现和乐趣．
4. Richard Scarry’s The Great Pie Robbery and Other Mysteries by Richard Scarry (＊＊＊＊)
Richard Scarry的书大名鼎鼎，这本也是一如既往的风格．故事有趣，充满想像力，又是侦探和推理的故事，是我喜欢的类型，虽然我是女性．画面有趣，细节丰富，小孩子看起来应该很有趣．但是这本书文字内容挺多的，因为是侦探故事，所以大点的孩子到6～7岁应该都不会觉得无聊．
5. BRRR! by James Stevenson （＊＊＊＊）
由爷爷讲述一个及其寒冷的冬天的故事．由不同的场景不同的故事来形象地描述寒冷．虽然极尽夸张，但也因此而妙趣横生．如果小孩子也能有此想象力和描述力，那么他/她的世界一定更加有趣，甚至我能想像他们如果在自己的写作中若也能保持这种想像力，那他们讲述的故事一定非常生动．
6. The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Clement Hurd (＊＊＊＊)
中文翻译逃家小兔，当当网终身五星书吧也是．非常有爱，应该适合2岁左右的小孩，再大点不知道会怎样，因为句式内容非常简单．但是绘画还是有细节的，小朋友总还是可以看一看找一找．
7. The Huckabuck Family and How They Raised Popcorn in Nebraska and Quit and Came Back by Carl Sandburg, pictures by David Small(＊＊＊＊)
故事内容在题目中已经说的再清楚不过了．这是美国人讲述的美国人自己的童话故事．故事中有美国20世纪初的历史，社会风貌及地理风景．事实上，该作者是一位非常有名的诗人，曾经三次获得普利策奖．做为儿童故事作家，他最初是为自己的女儿创作了这些故事．他的描述生动而亲切，深受美国人的喜爱．
今天在我们的小店翻看到一本书The Red Shoes，是一本儿童绘本，故事内容想必也是大家耳熟能详的．令我惊奇的是书中的插图非常清新美丽，并且一眼就令我联想到之前看过的一本书的插图，风格独特而令人过目不忘．再看插图者的名字Chihiro Iwasaki ，我几乎确信这是同一个画家．
回家google之，果不其然： Chihiro Iwasaki －－岩崎知弘，日本著名画家，风格融汇了西方水彩与东方绘画技巧，自成一派，而其画作大多以小女孩为主题，在日本家喻户晓，并有两所博物馆收藏其画作．因病于1974年病逝．
我几年之前读到的一本书＜窗边的小豆豆＞（The Little Girl at the Window），书中插图即是岩崎女士的作品，是从其生前的画作中挑选出来的，这一点记得作者有特别声明．
岩崎生前有很多作品，除却日本出版的之外，与Hans Christian Anderson合作了The Red Shoes和 The Little Mermaid．还有与其他作家合作的一些作品．
1. To make this sound, the tip of the tongue touches the gum ridge behind the upper teeth and stays there, then let the air stream flows through the sides of the tongue. If you don’t know where the gum ridge is, try to say like, look, luck, loss, unlock, or 来，路，罗，郎等. When you say these words, the place your tongue touches is the gum ridge.
But remember, the /l/ sound is just one singular consonant sound, not le, or la or something.
2. Most Chinese students don’t have a problem with the /l/ sound when it is in front of a vowel sound, as in like, look, luck, loss, unlock, collect, etc.. It sounds exactly the same as it sounds in Chinese(来，路，罗，郎等)．
3. When /l/ is in front of a consonant sound instead of a vowel sound, Chinese students tend to miss it. For example, could you distinguish the differences between the pairs of words below?
word & world, code & cold, toad & told, debt & dealt, wide & wild.
To solve this problem, when it’s time to say /l/ in these words, the tip of your tongue should touch the gum ridge and make the /l/ sound, before you pronounce the following consonant. Try it again. See if you can find any difference.
This is the one of the most difficult sound for the Chinese students. Practice these words and try to find and remember the difference:
milk, felt, difficult, old, gold, sold, build, wealthy.
4. When /l/ is at the end of a word, like will, people, Bill, tell, etc., don’t add an extra vowel after it(will is not willa or wille), nor make it sound like /O/ or /w/(people, not pepo; bill, not bio).
To make the correct sound, also put the tongue in the right place which, as we said before, is the gum ridge. Make the /l/ sound. Don’t add any extra vowel sound. Don’t round your lips.
Put your tongue in the right place. Keep practice. It’s not so hard that you couldn’t make it.
Finally.
And one tip is if you want to see a movie adapted from a book, then watch it before you read the book. Otherwise, it’s gonna be boring and disappointing.
Reading is always fun.
on the reading list
Written by Lisa Gardner, one of the D. D. Warren detective saga. Basically, it’s a thrilling suspense which talks about the children with mental illness, or like she put it at the end of the book, children being expelled for violence.
Sometimes when you really think about it, you may feel sad that we know so little about how our brains work and what to do if they don’t work as the way we expected. I have known people with mental problems. There are moments that I feel they are crazy and hard to get along with. I am afraid that something I commonly say or do will trigger their explosion; or I may step into a bomb zone that I didn’t know. The family seems like to keep the problem a secret. They hardly talk about it like it’s a shame. Yeah, I know, that’s how most of us feel about mental illness: a shame to talk about or to have.
But do you feel sorry for those people? I know every one is different. But I think for some people, things possibly could turn out in a totally different way. If they didn’t have to face the trauma they did in the past, maybe they still act as normally as they used to. Some trauma could be and should be avoided while I admit that maybe some couldn’t. I wonder if the tragedy didn’t happen, will they have a better quality of life? Or things are just not right in the head, so they will go crazy anyway sometime even there was no trauma?
A bitter feel to think about this problem.
And a good book to bring public attention to it, although the book itself didn’t attract my attention at first. A little bit hard for me to read, maybe, and it goes quite slow at the first several chapters, because there are three different characters with three different story lines which don’t intersect one another until later.
And again, do all american people or at least writers believe or like the paranormal thing? Why these things keep popping out of almost every novel I read? Come on, you don’t need these things to have drama. Be creative, writers!
Henry says he can’t change the past. But I think he dose in the book.
First, see, the older Henry travels to Clare when she is still a little girl. Wether or not he makes her, she does fall in love with him, the traveler from the future. So Clare falls in love with Henry even before she meets him in the real life. And when she really meets Henry in reality for the very first time, she is extremely happy not because she has a crush on him, but she has finally found the one she misses so much. On their first date, Clare tells Henry they are going to get married because she knows for sure they are married in the future. It’s not a normal conversation you’d have on a first date, right? Suppose the older Henry didn’t travel to little Clare and Clare didn’t know their story and their marriage in the future, then what would happen even if they met in the real life? Maybe they just met and nothing would happen. Maybe they dated for a while and then broke up. At least Clare wouldn’t fall in love with Henry even before she knows him. At least it would take some time for them to fall in love. If Henry didn’t travel, then the first meet and first date would never be the same. So how could Henry say he can’t change the past?
Second question, Henry buys a lottery ticket and wins the prize because he already knew the winning numbers when he travelled. If he didn’t travel there was theoretically no way to win this prize. No prize, no dream house. But he travels, He wins. So he changes his own life.
My explanation to this conflict is there must be different spaces. In one space, Clare meets Henry, they fall in love, they get married, they may get rich in some way(perhaps not by winning a lottery), they buy this dream house, they go through everything. And Henry travels to another space, and finally affects Henry and Clare’s life in this space. Alien Henry makes Henry and Clare live a similar life that he has in his space.
Or maybe there are not only two spaces. There are many spaces. When Henry travels, he travels through different spaces to different time. All those Henrys meet each other from time to time, and eventually every one gets involved and they all eventually have the same kind of story. Like, they all win a lottery therefore get the money to buy the house; Every little Clare meets a Henry from some other space and falls in love with him before she finally meets him in real life. It’s possible. And more explicable in and of the book itself.
It’s not easy to put the original story in a two hour movie without confusing the audience. But they made it. The whole crew and cast were fantastic. They did a phenomenal job together. They accomplished the impossible.
First, the script is great. They kept the spirit of the story but they also adapted some parts. Like the scene when Henry tells Gomez he is actually a time traveler. In the book, Henry breaks into the store, picks some clothes and then he and Gomez head to a bar(or restaurant, I don’t remember). When he feels like dizzy and traveling again, he asks Gomez to go to the restroom with him. And then he disappears right in front of Gomez. But in the movie, he disappears once he gets dressed in the store. There is nothing right or wrong. It’s just different media. In a movie with a limit time, you just need to get straight to the point.
There are also many other scenes that are different from the book. And many details were cut as always. Like about Clare’s mother’s mental problem, and Mark’s girlfriend.
Second, the directing is great. I have seen another movie played by Rachel Adams(The Vow). I could tell that the story is good. It’s the same star. But the movie lacks of a bit of something which could make it a classic. I can’t tell exactly what it is. But I know I wasn’t as moved as I should be or I’d expected to be. They could put it better. Same thing doesn’t happen in this movie. The story is well and clearly told, which is not easy because of the time travel thing, by the way. I think the director should be given the credit. It’s the director who put the story together, who decided where the story would go, from the very beginning.
Third, the stars are awesome. Rachel is so good. The first scene in the movie is the one when Clare and Henry meet each other for the first time in the real life. Clare knows Henry, but he doesn’t know her at all. She sees him and recognizes him. She is so happy that she couldn’t help it to murmur his name. She smiles toward him. She couldn’t move her eyes from him. Love is in her smile, in her eyes, on her face. You have to believe that she is deeply obsessed with him even if you’ve never read the book. There is no other explanation from her performance but she is in love with him, very much. Eric is very cool. His smile is charming. His experience as a time traveler in the movie is cool and fun(unless the ending). Their connection in the movie looks natural. The emotions, the reactions, the laughing and crying, all seem very natural. No overacting. No underacting. I think that’s what you call a good performance. Apparently, they both have the natural talent.
Other stars are great too. The little girl who plays young Clare is brilliant.
All together, they make it a five star movie. It’s the type of movie I like. It’s romantic. It’s warm. It’s fun. It’s a classic.
P.S. I used to think that an adapted movie could never be as good as the original book, because many details in the book hence the beauty of literature would be cut or deleted. But after I saw this movie and the interview with the screenplay writer and director, I started to accept their concept about book and movie. They are totally different media. They have very different language to tell a story. Nothing right or wrong. Nothing better or worse. They both exist with their own unique, peculiar beauty.