I can’t say I really enjoyed this last chapter detailing various space programs and their uses of chimps or dogs in space. I know I’m a softy when it comes to animals, but it makes me pretty uneasy thinking about the testing and the foreign situations these guys must’ve been exposed to, and how utterly [...]
Now that Women’s History Month is nearly history, I would like to add my two cents to March’s month-long celebration of women and girls. It’s my contention that protagonists in fiction are no less influential than the real people in biographies. While growing up during the 1960s, my heroes were Louisa May Alcott’s Meg, Lewis [...]
That was a painful last chapter, eh? Reading about the effects of lateral impacts on your brain (swelling of the axon separating the two lobes? Not good…), or the concern of vibrating organs practically had me curled up in a ball, wincing gingerly as I continued to read. And where in the world do they [...]
The Bird King: An Artist’s Notebook by Shaun Tan Looking through this gorgeous (and beautifully reproduced) book is like peeking into the sketchbook and portfolio of Shaun Tan (The Arrival). His working method is to “just start drawing” and the book goes on to show everything from highly detailed doodles to painted storyboards. Most of [...]
Whew, what a chapter! Ms. Roach spares almost nothing as she covers the gag-inducing subject of vomiting. Several less-squeamish things we’ve learned from the chapter: * Motion sickness is caused by sensory conflict: conflicting signals between your inner ear (which detects the motion) and your brain (which, when glancing at a stable sight, does not). [...]
Building Our House written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean Imagine packing up and moving to a vacant grassy field in the country to build a new home and participating in its transformation. In Building Our House, Bean tells the story of his own family’s experience when he was very young and his parents built a [...]
And sometimes, writing a book pays off. For a number of reasons, of course. Few authors, however, get the chance to experience “reduced-gravity” at NASA’s field station. Well played, Ms. Roach, well played. What a perk! One has to admire her utter commitment to the cause; she never stops reporting (just like any dedicated author)– [...]
In thinking about Women’s History Month, I have been contemplating some of the great women writers–selfishly focusing on the ones who are most meaningful to me. Because I have been in a fever of reading adult poetry, I’ve been thinking about adult authors in the Children’s Room. Particularly Emily Dickinson. She’s a great poet to [...]
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