Take-a-Book-Break

At this year's Alphabet Forest, guests are invited to take a break from the hubbub of the fair and enjoy a book. A sturdy shelf has been repainted with The Fabulous Fair Alphabet red stripes and yellow dots to hold the books written and illustrated by the 12 Minnesota authors and illustrators who will meet guests each of 12 days of the fair (one per day).

As we worked on covering books and labeling them, conversations kept returning to whether guests would misinterpret the name for the shelf in the shady area and literally take a book from the shelf - and leave with it. Debra Frasier decided each should have a message to encourage guests to keep the books in the Alphabet Forest: Borrow! Read! Return to Shelf! Holding a colorful book in one's hand and seeing that book's creator through the trees might make it tempting to take the book. We are hoping thousands of readers visit the Take-a-Book-Break shelf in the coming days and allow others to repeat the process.

Alphabet Forest volunteers

Until last year's inaugural season with the Alphabet Forest, I never imagined the people who visited the State Fair prior to its opening day. The grounds streets are filled with cars, and folks are busy hanging banners, assembling structures, and organizing supplies.

This afternoon's breezy, partly-cloudy weather made it the perfect day to prepare the Alphabet Forest for visitors on Thursday. We collectively assembled teacher bags, retouched paint on some of the decor, hung shelves, organized materials, and completed numerous other smaller duties. My favorite visual from the day is the bulletin board of volunteer name tags (all created by using Debra Frasier's photographs of letters, reset into the sequence of each volunteer's name with Adobe InDesign). They hang next to the red aprons each person will wear, just inside the door of the Alphabet Forest cabin.

If you have not seen the summary of the work we did last year, visit www.debrafrasier.com and click on the Alphabet Forest at the 2010 Minnesota State Fair to view the video.

Get your own game card, search for words from each letter of the alphabet, and bring it to the Alphabet Forest to get a blue ribbon!

The Little Red Hen

Sometimes at home I feel like the Little Red Hen. When all the cookies are baked, the members of my household are happy to eat the finished product. Getting others to help with the stirring, baking, and clean-up is usually not successful.

Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel deliver a twist to the story in The Little Red Pen. Filled with their characteristic wit and puns, the story features a red pen who must scritch-scratch her way through a stack of papers (as Janet is noted for her use of scanned objects included in artwork, teachers might notice some Everyday Math papers among the piles). Stapler, Pencil Stub, Pushpin, Scissors, Eraser, and Highlighter are no help...until the Little Red Pen's inadvertent fall from the desktop into the Pit. The desk drawer colleagues work together to rescue her and a few of their other friends from that dark Pit. The zany class hamster gets involved with his wheel, creating a frenzy of activity.

Young readers will laugh at the rescue, and older readers will appreciate the puns.

Note: I did not help bake the butterfly cupcakes and Frog and Toad size chocolate chip cookies. Kim and Brad created those lovely items together!

Jars Full of Flight

At least 50 jars like this one are lined up along my librarian friend's living room railing from June through early September. The jars contain either a soft green chrysalis or a monarch caterpillar. Though each chrysalis hangs serenely from a twig or branch (like Kim's necklace of the same shade and shape), the caterpillars are of various lengths and widths, depending upon their stages of development. They munch milkweed leaves at an amazing rate! I love the jars hold these future fliers until their release to the outside world.

What is more miraculous - their migration across the United States to Mexico or Kim's dedication to their survival?

For more reading about monarchs, I recommend:

Monarch and Milkweed by Helen Frost

Monarchs by Kathryn Lasky

An Extraordinary Life by Laurence Pringle

A Butterfly is Patient by Diana Hutts Aston (and other butterflies as well)

A Message in the Mailbox

Imagine taking a literary tour of someone's house. Each room features story-based switchplate covers, artwork, and accessories that invite exploration. This real house belongs to my sweet friend (who is also a librarian), and I was delighted to finally use the bathroom at her house. Odd? Perhaps, but this bathroom is inhabited by Frog and Toad and features a tiny red mailbox on one wall.

Many children were visiting yesterday, so the mailbox was filled with miniature letters to any who might open the door seeking a piece of mail for themselves. I was also a lucky recipient of a letter.

"Dear Julie,

We were so please to learn that you would be visiting today, as we have considered you an intimate friend for many years. Thank you so much for all of your efforts in introducing the two of us and our literary compatriots to the many children and families in your life. We of course still think of you as the age when we first met you, but we are so proud of who you grew up to be.

Your friends,

Frog and Toad"

I keep opening it to read and reread and will keep it safe in my special box. Did you ever get a piece of mail you treasured so much?

Grimm

Going to the circus as a child was never one of my favorite things to do. I would not say I was afraid of the clowns, but I did not appreciate their antics. The animals seemed sad in their forced acts. As an adult, however, the single Cirque du Soleil performance I have witnessed left me breathless.

So did the Circus Juventas performance of Grimm I attended on Friday evening. Lauren Stringer masterfully wove together six Grimm fairytales to create the script for the show, and I found myself so engrossed in the stories that the words, artistry, costumes, and actions mingled perfectly to tell the tales. I unknowingly held my breath during physically challenging feats. My hands were clasped and jaw was clenched when characters struggled for independence, emotions evident in their faces and bodies. I laughed at expressions and wit.

The young performers exhibited an even greater degree of fortitude and endurance than their more famous counterparts, participating in act after act with strength of body and character.

As my son and I and our dear friend Joyce exited the show, a cloudy night-sky partially hid the almost-full moon. It felt mystical, an extension of the three hours of magic we had witnessed under the circus tent. We hugged Joyce in farewell, and my son exclaimed, "We have to do this every year." Indeed. I will go again eagerly.

An Afternoon of Books

My youngest son and I could see Tall Dave standing on the steps of the Red Balloon Bookshop from the corner. His bony tie stood out starkly against the black shirt. He quickly explained the "Boo Ball" game (three ghostly socks each weighted with a tennis ball that were tossed into a bucket - to win a Boo Pop, two of the three must end up in the bucket) to my son who would direct it for the next 90 minutes. Inside the store, guests were already waiting to have their copies of The Haunted Hamburger and Other Ghostly Stories signed by David LaRochelle.

Some of my favorite afternoons have been spent in this store. In addition to enjoying David's reading of the three stories and having him sign copies for children I love, I was fortunate to talk with Debra Frasier about details for the Alphabet Forest, meet the bookshop's new owners and talk about ways we will work together, take photos of David interacting with guests and of the children who entered the scary face contest, and peruse new books. The afternoon is drawing to a close now, and my heart and mind and filled with stories and memories.