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LIzzie is very excited when her cousin Rosanna, a year older than her, moves to Gettysburg to live with Rosanna's sister. Lizzie's father and her twin brother have enlisted in the Union army, even though her twin, Luke, is only old enough to be a drummer. The two girls become best friends, and...
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How many times has this happened to you...you're listening to music and an epic guitar solo comes on. What do you do?!? You bust out the air guitar, showing onlookers the musical virtuoso you are. Apparently, air guitar is bigger than I realized. Since 1996, Oulu, Finland has been the home of the...
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No, you aren't seeing double. The cover of this biographical travelogue features an out-of-focus motorcyle. I was in grad school in 1974 when "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" was published. I never read it or its British precursor, "Zen in the Art of Archery" -- I wasn't...
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Fourteen-year-old Amy had just completed a babysitting course, but as Peg Kehret wrote in the first paragraph of Stolen Children , "it did not cover what to do if two thugs with a gun showed up. She had to figure that out by herself." As you can tell from the title, Amy and her 3-year-old charge...
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Although it appears less frequently than the companion "A Life in Books" feature (see Books Blog), Newsweek's " A Life in Movies" is an enjoyable glimpse into the cinematic likes and dislikes of well-known American and international film directors. The format is very similar to...
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I've always been a fan of Simon Pegg's work. In his previous efforts ( Shaun of the Dead , Hot Fuzz , & Spaced ), Pegg & co-star Nick Frost teamed up with absolutely hilarious results! Run Fatboy, Run is Pegg's latest film...and unfortunately it doesn't live up to its predecessors...
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David Smith, professor emeritus of telecommunications at Ball State University, wrote this coffee-table tome about Hoosiers who found fame in Hollywood. Here are some you may or may not know about: Alice Terry (born on a farm near Vincennes, she was a silent film star) Clifton Webb (born in Indianapolis...
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James Cross Giblin has written about fifth-grader Jason and how he proceeded with his assignment, a three-page report on Sir Alexander Fleming. Trouble was, Jason didn't think Fleming was all that exciting, even if he did discover penicillin. His teacher suggested Jason look for an interesting story...
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Every year, David's mother bakes a honey cake for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year celebration. Eating honey cake symbolizes the hope that the new year will be sweet. David's sister Rachel expresses the opinion of all Denmark in 1943: "A sweet year would be a year without Nazis."...
Posted to
Kids Blog
by
mrsweasley@evpl
on
11-21-2008
Filed under:
Filed under: reviews, juvenile fiction, history, children's authors and illustrators, wartime escape, children's, Nazis, World War II, Germany, Jews, Denmark, cake, Joan Betty Stuchner, Rosh Hashanah
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Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when gasoline prices rose from under eighty cents to the staggering price of $1.40 a gallon, the United States government implemented measures to reduce oil imports and improve energy efficiency. Flash forward twenty-plus years. Larger vehicles are again the norm...
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If you liked reading about Bella and Edward in the Twilight series, take a look at Impossible by Nancy Werlin. There are no vampires or werewolves, but there is one threatening fantasy character who lurks throughout. He seems so sympathetic and definitely compelling to most everyone he meets. Lucy Scarborough...
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With Thanksgiving on the way, it's a good time to consider the definition of a Pilgrim. Molly's Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen does just that. When Molly explains to her mother what her teacher told her about why the Pilgrims came to America, Molly's mother thinks it describes why their family...
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Musical parody...such a fine art. Back in the day, I was a big "Weird Al" Yankovic fan ("It's all about the Pentiums, baby!"). There are also bands that take well-known music and reinterpret it: some of my favs include Hayseed Dixie (they play AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Van Halen,...
Posted to
Music Blog
by
professor.knowsitall@evpl
on
11-17-2008
Filed under:
Filed under: reviews, modern rock, 1960s pop, country-rock, rock and roll, retro, country, R&B, punk rock, me first and the gimme gimmes, showtunes, parody, live recordings
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Dave was normally a pretty noisy 5th-grader. In fact, maybe he was a loudmouth. But after reading about Gandhi, and how for many years he spent one day a week not talking at all, Dave thought it was worth finding out what it would be like to keep silent. After about a half day of trying silence on his...
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Chrissie Hynde is back -- and she's spectacular -- in the Pretenders' first studio album in 6 years, "Break Up the Concrete." She hasn't lost her voice or her style! The hard-rocking Hynde, who wrote all the songs, fronts an all-new band consisting of Jim Keltner, Eric Heywood,...