Restaurant News: Green AND Smart

This week I loved reading about a startup called Earthscraps that has a very practical approach to recycling in the restaurant business. Learn more in the article that appeared in the Kansas City Star on April 20.

The article provides some real food for thought. And what a way to take a bite out of the trash problem! (OK, I'm cut off. No more puns for me today.)
- - - - - -
The Kansas City Star article was highlighted in a brief from the National Restaurant Association, a trade magazine or "industry rag," which I enjoy reading. What trade rags do you read?

The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet Provide a Puzzle

Reif Larsen's debut novel, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, is a doozy. After reading quite a few reviews and most of the book, I'm sure I'm not the intended audience, but I'm not sure who is. Penguin spent plenty to produce and promote the book - 370+ pages of it - and ultimately, labeled it for middle grade readers.

But is it for middle grade readers? An unfortunately small number of them, I think.

Larsen's wildly imaginative story introduces 12-year-old genius TS Spivet who is, according to his 16-year-old sister, a total spaz. (And I think she's right.) Just pages into the story, TS faces a dilemma: he's won an award from the Smithsonian, but he can't bring himself to share the news with mom, affectionately (or not?) known as Dr. Claire. TS is the kind of kid who diagrams everything, from beetles to books to his sister shucking corn. IMHO, the corn schucking sort of throws the whole setting into a twisted knot; it takes place in the present day. Anyway, the award dilemma serves as framework for the plot, as TS takes off cross-country (from Divide, Montana to Washington, DC) to accept the award, meeting some interesting characters along the way.

The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is well written enough to make those characters interesting and the very, very quirky main character endearing, and the story - which occupies a gray area between fantasy and reality - entertaining. In short, it's worth reading. But for whom?

TS might appeal to the same middle school students who liked Artemis Fowl, but the fact that TS is only 12 will preclude some older kids from reading the book. And while the book would certainly appeal to smart MG students (3rd-6th grade) the sepia-toned diagrams in the margins of most pages are not exactly eye candy.

And then there's another little problem: parents. By page 36 the word "shit" appears, and it's spoken quite a few times afterward by both TS's older sister and their father. Also in the first chapter, there's a reference to AIDs. So the question remains, who will read The Selected Works?

Well, as usual, I'm late to the party. TSWTSS was published in 2009 and is now available in paperback. I doubt it has performed as well as Penguin had hoped. But TS is quite a character. If Larsen has been dreaming up and writing down others, we'll hear from him (and perhaps TS?) again.

See a more complete review and additional background on the book and author from The New York Times.

The Tooth Fairy Meets El Raton Perez

A new picture book by Rene Colato Lainez offers a nice twist to the tale of the Tooth Fairy. 

  ~ ~ ~~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~

My little guy has been wiggling a tooth so long, I can't believe it hasn't given up and fallen out yet. (And when it does, he'll need a new hobby.) Surely, at some point - before he goes to college, I hope - the Tooth Fairy will visit our house.

Apparently, the fairy doesn't visit Spain and Latin America; El Raton Perez does. He's a mouse who travels by rocket ship to homes of children who have recently lost  (healthy) teeth. He collects los dientes using his lasso, if necessary. 

Lainez didn't create the resourceful rodent; El Raton Perez's first appearance in literature was in 1894, in a book said to be written for a young King Alfonso XIII. (Alfonso ruled Spain from 1886 to 1931.)

Published by Tricycle Press/Random House, The Tooth Fairy Meets El Raton Perez explains what happens when young Miguelito loses a tooth. El Raton had taken his mama and papa's dientes, and those belonging to Miguelito's abuelos, too. But Miguelito lives in the Tooth Fairy's territory now, and when both El Raton and the ever-vigilant fairy arrive at the same time to collect the tooth, a brief tussle ensues. 

Spoiler alert: they work it out. If you'd like to add a little depth (and a Spanish accent) to the Tooth Fairy tales you tell, I recommend este libro.   

A Little Help with Spring Reading

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the grass hasn't rebounded yet - in other words, it's the perfect time to relax in a lawn chair and read unaccompanied by the roar of lawnmower beasts. Enjoy it; it won't last long. A quick read to make the most of this time: The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Employing three female narrators to describe Mississippi race relations in 1962, Stockett delivers a novel that rings true. The women - two experienced domestics and a recent (white) graduate of Ole Miss, make the story anything but dry. Surprisingly, it's not bitter either,  although it could've been. The paperback isn't available until January (2011) so grab it from your local library and dig in. The grass is growing...