Mrs. Noodlekugel by Daniel Pinkwater

Say Mrs. Noodlekugel ten times, really fast. Wasn't that fun?

I love that name, it just brings a smile to my face. And I am willing to bet that your youngster will too. (All together now ... Mrs. Noodlekugel!) The whimsy, imagination and sheer fun of this book is endearing. But there are few things that concern me if I were reading this to my youngster ...

Laser-cut books (or your house in 3-D)

Ever wondered what your house may look like as a book? Well, here's a possibility. Laser-cut and 3-D to boot. 

 {Via dornob}

Friday 56 and Steve Jobs

There was a hacker subculture--filled with wireheads, phreakers, cyberpunks, hobbyists, and just plain geeks--that included engineers who didn't conform to the HP mold and their kids who weren't attuned to the wavelengths of the subdivisions. 

- p. 56-57, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

If you love Apple products (read: me), then you probably want to read this too. Finally borrowed a copy from a friend and I am intrigued. Yes another biography. (And yes, I haven't blogged about the Warren Buffett biography ... I admit, I'm slow on the reviews lately).

I am already Friday'd out, so the weekend should be good. If haven't already, check out the e-book giveaway of The Earthquake Machine by Mary Pauline Lowry. I'm planning to roll things up earlier than the April 20 deadline because I finished the book earlier than expected.

So, what are you reading? Join in on the Friday 56 fun over at Freda's Voice!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Rainbow in your hand!

Amazingly simple but extraordinary results! Who doesn't want to see a rainbow up close?
The book is the pot at the end of the rainbow!

{ Via | Rainbow in your hand.}

Read vs. Unread Shelf

We all struggle with to-be-read piles a mile long. While this may serve art more than function, I think this is a cool way of displaying (and getting some eyebrows raised) your favourite books.
{Read-Unread Bookshelf by Nico Economidis.}

Child's Play - a storybook bed!

 Absolutely adorable! I want one of these - read the bedtime story, then sleep in the story itself!

{Via.}

#BookmarkMonday 47: Jane Austen love!

Castleonthehill has made these adorable Austen-inspired bookmarks, handpainted on vintage book pages. How could you actually pull apart such an adorable set?

Much Love Monday: free books!

Giraffe lovers

I missed last week's Much Love Monday, so this week I am back with a vengeance! The past week has been busy but productive ... and it seems that I'm on a bit of a roll. 

This week, I really need to rave about ...

Read Dave Eggers while showering!

{Issue 16 - Dave Eggers}

Did you enjoy Dave Egger's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius? Then this shower curtain will make a great addition to your literary collection!

Issue 16 is a shower curtain's monologue to you ... perfect reading material while you shower!

You can order just this issue. Or you can wait for other editions under The Thing - a quarterly periodical by an author/artist/musician in the form of an object ... what it is ... a surprise! Up on the list are Shannon Ebner, Mike Mills, and David Shrigley.

Check it out. If that awesome shower curtain is an indication of things to come, I'm betting the other objects are just a cool and quirky!

Classics for your babies! (Jane Eyre and Alice in Wonderland reimagined)

Where a classic collides with adorable illustrations. Oh, and you learn something too!

My two cents

We all know that our kids deserve a head start in everything -- especially reading! So you have to check these two new additions to the BabyLit books written by Jennifer Adams and illustrated by Alison Oliver.


I don't really know what else to say about these two books ... I love the fact that they are based on classics. I love the illustrations, which are bold, colourful, cute and so textured. And that they are sturdy board books that can withstand baby hands - definitely icing on the cake!

The books do not intend to tell the actual story but cleverly introduce characters, elements, and the setting. Clever indeed! So when your baby grows a little older for the adapted versions ... and let then grow them up a bit more eventually the real versions ... they can make that connection!

So, the Cheshire cat makes an appearance as "Orange Cat," the Mad Hatter with "Brown Hat" and the Queen of Hearts with ... what else, "Red Heart" of course! I personally love the whimsy and colour of Alice in Wonderland, which is the whole point of the book - to teach colour!

Little Master Carroll: Alice in Wonderland (A Baby Lit Colors Primer)

But who can not love fall in love with Jane Eyre toddler-style? The darker, broodier colours make a dramatic contrast to Alice in Wonderland but the same whimsical illustrations are carried through. This is a counting primer, so expect to make connections with numbers and Jane Eyre's world - chalkboards, insects, books ... and even an introduction to characters Adele and Mr. Rochester.

 Little Miss Bronte: Jane Eyre (A Baby Lit Counting Primer)

The author and illustrator did a wonderful job. Having these in the house as toddlers ... can only lead to better exposed youngsters who will be demanding and discriminating of their reading fare!

I received copies of these books from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Also available in the series:

• Little Miss Austen: Pride and Prejudice (A Counting Primer) 
• Little Master Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (A Counting Primer)

The Hunger Games made me hungry!

Did you watch it yet? Did you brave those crazy lines during the premiere?

In celebration of The Hunger Games movie, won't you take a bite out of one of these ....

The cake err book that started it all!

Or a bite out of each cupcake book, maybe?

Or maybe nibble on some of these sugar cookies?

If you think that those look amazing, Fictional Food (... is genius) ... is also cooking up its Hunger Games Fictional Food Hit List where the food mentioned in the book is recreated. So you can check out Perfectly Prim Goat Cheese, Katniss-style Roasted Rabbit, Mr. Mellark's Cookies ... the list goes on!

Friday 56 and The Earthquake Machine (and an e-book giveaway!)

Before bed there was one more sweet urge to confess what she'd done, what she wanted to do.

- p. 56, The Earthquake Machine by Mary Pauline Lowry

I'm so excited! Today in my mail, a copy of this book was waiting for me. And the author was gracious enough to offer up an e-book for one of my readers... yes, my very first e-book giveaway on this blog!

Here's a quick summary:

The Earthquake Machine tells the story of 14 year-old Rhonda. On the outside, everything looks perfect in Rhonda's world but at home Rhonda has to deal with a manipulative father who keeps her mentally ill mother hooked on pharmaceuticals. The only reliable person in Rhonda's life is her family's Mexican yardman, Jesus. But when the INS deports Jesus back to his home state of Oaxaca, Rhonda is left alone with her increasingly painful family situation. Determined to find her friend Jesus, Rhonda seizes an opportunity to run away during a camping trip with friends. She swims to the Mexican side of the Rio Grande and makes her way to the border town of Boquillas, Mexico. There a peyote-addled bartender convinces her she won't be safe traveling alone into the country's interior. So with the bartender's help, Rhonda cuts her hair and assumes the identity of a Mexican boy named Angel. She then sets off on a burro across the desert to look for Jesus. Thus begins a wild adventure that explores the borders between the United States and Mexico, adolescence and adulthood, male and female, English and Spanish, and adult coming-of-age and Young Adult novels. 

I'm loving the exotic cover, and I'm giving myself ample time to read and share my thoughts on this one. Join in and you could win an e-copy! What are you waiting for? 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Join in the Friday 56 fun over at Freda's Voice!

Honeycomb shelves to sweeten up your library!

I must be in a Spring mood, but as I was clicking around the interwebs, I noticed that honeycomb shelves seem to be everywhere! Let those new books fill these shelves, like the bees that I am awaiting!

 La Ruche by Mostapha El Oulhani

More honeycomb-shaped shelves to sweeten up your home after the jump!

Read in bed! Literally.

Who doesn't like a good bedtime story? This is a different take on reading in bed ...  here's a duvet cover that literally reads like a book! Catch up on your fairytales as 'Bedtime Stories' is printed with the Grimm Brothers’ classic ‘The Sleeping Beauty.’ I wonder what other stories they come up with? 

{The Bedtime Stories* on Etsy}

*Affiliate link

#BookmarkMonday 46: These boots are made for a'splashing!

 Spring is upon us! Get those rain boots out!
And get one of these uber cute rainboot bookmarks ready!

{Bookmarkyourpage.}

Kevin's Point of View by Del Shannon

Imagination can move mountains ... and the things that matter.

An adventure-science fiction book that will definitely appeal to middle school children! While I think it's perfectly written for its intended readers, I have to say right off that this would definitely appeal to a wider age group.

The premise of this book is bittersweet. To escape the pain of his father's death, Kevin Tobin switches from ordinary 12-year-old to a cool superhero to deal with his life, making for some alternately normal to hilarious and crazy antics. No, he's not schizophrenic, but I sure was feeling it after several chapters.

The Hunger Games nail art (3)

The Hunger Games fever continues! Are you looking forward to the movie as much as I am? There's more great nail art happening out there ... so let the games begin!

Spellbound Nails pays a tribute with different designs per nail!

Some videos and District 5, after the jump!

Play Shelves - make your own shelf!

No, this is not another one of those Pepto Bismol-coloured shelves that I happen to gravitate towards. (What can I say, I like pink!) This rather ingenious shelf by Antoine Phelouzat, aptly called "Play Shelves" are made of Lego-like pieces which you can play around with until you get your perfect configuration!

 Check out what this looks like disassembled (and another cool configuration) after the jump!

Friday 56 and Jane Eyre's Spring

There is no page 56 in this baby board book called Little Miss Bronte: Jane Eyre, so here is the number 5 ... brought to you by spring!

What better way than to start them early with the classics?

Join in the Friday 56 fun over at Freda's Voice!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Betty Pepper's Book Keeping Jewelry

I adore Betty Pepper's Book Keeping jewelry! She makes use of, of course, old books ... and fabrics, buttons, and thread. And she comes up with beautiful tactile works of art!

She says: "The ways in which time changes and decays objects interests me greatly and I like the notion that all things are ephemeral and constantly in a state of deterioration. My work often deals with stories from the dim and distant past. This is why I choose to work with faded colours. I like the way they look as if they have lived a little."

Check out some of my favourites after the jump!

 

Little Women

Go away, I'm reading!

I am loving these witty printable bookjackets c/o Sarah Enni and friends! Head on over to her site to download the files (yes, they are free!) and you can let everyone know whether you're catching up with the sparkly ones in Forks, busy in the Arena, doing homework at Hogwarts, popping out of the wardrobe into Narnia, or forging your way to Mount Doom!

So which one/s do you need? Read all five, but maybe it's time for a reread!

Much Love Monday

{Alice in Wonderland}

Love: Spring! Yes, it's definitely here. We finally had temperatures above zero ... and it looks like it's going to stay that way!

What are you loving?

Literary characters - as a police sketch!

You probably have a picture in your head of what certain literary characters look like. Artist Brian Joseph takes this one step further ... and here's where life collides with literature! Using law enforcement composite sketch software and descriptions of these characters, he comes up with some rather interesting results. 

The whole concept is rather novel but I had trouble finding books I had actually read. They also look a tad bit creepy to me ... it must be because they're in black and white, and look rather unreal. Or it those eyes? 

Emma Bovary, Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert

She was pale all over, white as a sheet; the skin of her nose was drawn at the nostrils, her eyes looked at you vaguely. After discovering three grey hairs on her temples, she talked much of her old age…Her eyelids seemed chiseled expressly for her long amorous looks in which the pupil disappeared, while a strong inspiration expanded her delicate nostrils and raised the fleshy corner of her lips, shaded in the light by a little black down.

Humbert Humbert, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Gloomy good looks…Clean-cut jaw, muscular hand, deep sonorous voice…broad shoulder…I was, and still am, despite mes malheurs, an exceptionally handsome male; slow-moving, tall, with soft dark hair and a gloomy but all the more seductive cast of demeanor. Exceptional virility often reflects in the subject’s displayable features a sullen and congested something that pertains to what he has to conceal. And this was my case…But instead I am lanky, big-boned, wooly-chested Humbert Humbert, with thick black eyebrows…A cesspoolful of rotting monsters behind his slow boyish smile…aging ape eyes…Humbert’s face might twitch with neuralgia. 

Personally, I'd like to keep painting pictures in my head - these images don't seem to do justice to the powerful writing behind it all. For example, can the drawing below of Emma Bovary capture the spirit of beauty and boredom in an era of repression? And Humbert Humbert ... sorry, he doesn't look like an "exceptionally handsome male," nor does he exude "exceptional virility" to me. But maybe that's just me.

What do you think? Check out The Composites for more. And if your favourite character isn't there (yet ... apparently he has a long list), you can even suggest a character for him to sketch! 

{Via Nola. Character sketches from The Composites.}

Adorn your hair ... with books!

Aren't these adorable? These Book Hair Sticks would make a perfect replacement to flowers in the hair ... imagine a whole bunch scattered in a bun. These one of a kind bookish hair ornaments are handmade by Suzanne Lydia Weinert of California. {Yes, I know that photo on the right is tiny but you get the idea!}

Check out her store Book Earrings and Other Book Jewelry.

Friday 56 & 7 Habits

When he reaches those critical teenage years, the identity crisis, will he know from his experience with you that you will listen without judging, that you really, deeply care about him as a person, that you can be trusted, no matter what?
- p. 56, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Steven R. Covey

I have a ratty copy of this stashed away. And I keep coming back to this book ... because questions like that just pop out at me. Then I get all contemplative.

Isn't hard to find someone who will ask you those questions that are just begging to be asked ... and answered? This book is like the shrink you always needed. Or the best friend who isn't afraid of your reaction, however adverse it may be. Sometimes we need someone to push their hard love on us.

Join in The Friday 56 fun over at Freda's Voice!
Because you know you want to find out what other people are reading!

Happy weekend all!

The Hunger Games nail art (2)

I know I just posted about some district-driven Hunger Games nail art, but it got me on a roll! Check out how to create this (and more) at IHaveACupcake's YouTube channel! She makes it look so darn easy.

Are you excited for The Hunger Games on the big screen?

The Leaning Shelf

Not quite what you expected, right? Definitely not what  expected but I really like the industrial feel to it! I think it would actually complement my kitchen :)

{Via Sebastian E.}

#BookmarkMonday 45: Help! Being stalked by an Albatros!

Albatros bookmarks from Oscar Lhermitte on Vimeo.

Found this a teensy weird. I think having something stuck in my book would drive me mildly annoyed.  But hey, the concept is great for lazy bums though, and no misplaced bookmarks!

Much Love Monday

 {kukubee on Etsy.}

The weekend just flew by! We had a relaxing weekend and yet surprisingly, we also got quite a bit done. Here's a few things I've been loving:

Hunger Games Nail Art - 4 districts!

I am amazed at how book-loving and beauty-loving come together! Remember my post about Harry Potter inspired nail art? Well, Hunger Games fans, this is for you!

Over at Beautopia, four Districts of The Hunger Games come to life! If you're a Hunger Games fan, you know what this is all about.