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.)
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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. 

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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...

If I Built a Car Revs Imagination with Rhyme

 Need a gift for a boy (or girl) who loves cars and other things that go? I'd recommend this for ages 3-8. It's a nice title for elementary classrooms, too, for use during poetry lessons. 

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Every parent knows some of the best conversations with kids happen when you're only making eye contact in the rear-view mirror. (Talk about distracted driving!)

That's the setting for Chris Van Dusen's colorful If I Built a Car. 


The imaginative young passenger-slash-designer in If I... envisions a swimming pool on wheels that flies, cooks for its occupants, and comes complete with a robot (named Robert) who drives for sleepy humans. That's just about everything I'd like to see in my next vehicle...as a jaded adult, of course, it's hard not to envision all the recall notices owners would surely receive. Sigh. Well, let's just hope the next generation of imaginative engineers are real QC-oriented. 

The rhyme works on every page, which is no surprise as the book earned the 2006 E. B. White Read Aloud Award. Van Dusen isn't quite in Mary Ann Hoberman's league when it comes to children's rhyme (but who is, really?) though  I think Car holds up quiet well next to just about all of Jack Prelutsky's stuff. Van Dusen's illustrations are excellent, whimsical yet full of movement. (Making Van Dusen a good choice to illustrate Kate DiCamillo's Mercy Watson series.) 


I'll finish with a tip for the frugal: This is a Scholastic book, meaning you can pick it up at many school book fairs (where a fair portion of the $ goes directly to the school and is usually used to buy more books) or through the class order forms that come home in the kids' backpacks. What's better than a great book at a great price? 



Got a good book-for-a-gift idea to share? Lemme know!

Reader beware

 Have you read about the possible/probable link between sweetened carbonated beverages and pancreatic cancer? Will you?  Probably not.

If you do read about it in a consumer magazine, however, you probably won't recognize it. The study, conducted in Singapore on more than 60,000 people over 14 years, found that those who drink more than two cans of carbonated sweetened beverages (pop) each week are more than 87% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who drink less.

Unfortunately, about all you're likely to see in a glossy monthly or your local newspaper is this: "Researchers in Singapore say there may be a connection between sweetened carbonated beverages and an increased likelihood of pancreatic cancer." Worse, you might see the results twisted into a PR campaign touting the virtues of drinking diet (artificially sweetened) pop.

Readers, please beware.

Gift books cater to everyone

So I'm flipping through Chronicle's various catalogs during lunch, and I found myself giggling out loud throughout the gift book catalog.
You got your basic diaries, your diaries with a twist (one line a day for moms), your diaries for pot smokers (the rather obvious title is How High Am I? A Journal)... no, I'm not kidding... then you've got your stationary sets, flash cards, office stress management boxed sets (including a stress ball wrapped in plastic - but I gotta tell you, that shrink wrap always puts me on edge!) and the Doodle Diet, which is not a book but a "set" of 40 (disposable) placemats so you can doodle, of course. Rather than eat, I presume.

Safe to say if you need to buy a gift for anyone this year, there's a gift book for that - and most are under $20.