Graphic Novel/Manga Display

Several weeks ago (possibly a month? maybe more?), my Director told me that she had ordered a large number of graphic novels and manga for our juvenile/young adult collection, including Volumes 1 & 2 of The Walking Dead Compendium. I'd been reading issues here and there for several years (this was in the midst of my undergraduate studies, during which I spent 90% of my time writing papers about the hours and hours of assigned reading I was given each week.) Needless to say, reading The Walking Dead on my iPhone just wasn't cutting it. So I was indubitably ecstatic to finally be able to hold the hefty bound book in my own hands. Back to my actual point, I was thrilled that we were adding graphic novels and manga to our collection, so I put together a small display to showcase our new addition, which I thought I would share. 

I cut the two cityscapes from cardboard, painted them, and put them in a make-shift base using two cardboard lids which I filled with crumpled yellow paper to give a bit of texture (and I love the contrast between yellow and black- it reminds me of the city settings from some of my favorite comics). I then printed out some popular comic book/graphic novel and manga characters which I cut out and glued on bristol paper. I used my handy dandy X-ACTO knife to cut the character's out, and then placed them throughout the "city."

(My director also informed me a few days ago that we would be getting the ADVENTURE TIME graphic novels here in the next month!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!)

My Dog May Be A Genius (My First Book Talk Video)

So, as part of my Children's Lit class, I was given an assignment to choose one or more books of children's poetry and promote them by giving a book talk, writing a script, making a book trailer, or any other format approved by my professor. I chose to do a book talk, using myself as narrator, and my three dogs as actors. It's not excellent quality, and my inexperience with creating and editing videos and doing voiceovers is apparent. However, I think it turned out well enough, and I was happy with the end product. So I thought I would share it here (especially since I haven't written another post since my very first one)!

Here's a link to the video just in case there are playback issues:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neVQJfxI6_k

This is a brief description and explanation of my video that I submitted as part of the assignment:

I chose Jack Prelutsky’s book My Dog May be a Genius: poems, based, first and foremost, on the fact that Prelutsky was the first ever Children’s Poet Laureate, which is an esteemed honor and great achievement. I chose this particular set of poems primarily because of the title poem, My Dog May be a Genius. It’s one of my favorite poems because it described the idea that our pets, more specifically a dog, may actually be much smarter than they lead us to believe.¹ I love dogs, I have three of my own, so this is an idea I’ve pondered many times. I suppose that’s why I chose to use both myself, as narrator, and my dogs, as the actors, in my book talk.

I would recommend this book of poetry to kids ages 6 to 10. The poems are funny and whimsical, and cover a wide array of subjects.  I think the sense of humor Prelutsky uses in his poetry is universal, and can be appreciated by people of all ages, especially children. I think the characters he creates in his poems, such as Crumbo Crumme², the Blue-Bean Bonking Bupple³, and Winterwood the wizard⁴, are clever, creative, and memorable. 

¹ Prelutsky, Jack, and James Stevenson. My Dog May be a Genius: poems. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books, 2008. Print.

² Prelutsky, 21.

³ Prelutsky, 124-125.

⁴ Prelutsky, 66-67.

Beginnings are Tough!

So I've been putting this off for some time... but, what better day to start blogging than today, right?

I suppose I looked at starting a blog as this immensely daunting task, when all I wanted it to be is a fun way to share ideas and personal experiences. I over-think things, and I suppose that's because I imagine that anything I do or create has to be a flawless masterpiece of epic proportion! In reality, perfection is something I strive for, but never quite achieve. And I've realized over the past couple of years that that's alright. I look at all the things I love that other people have written, painted, sculpted, filmed (and whatever other action verbs you can think of), and what I appreciate the most is any imperfections I find, because, of course, that's what makes something unique. And I'm all about unique! ;)

And with all that in mind, all that's left for me to do is to start writing.

So, without further ado...

Welcome to my adventure!