Remember Tina Kugler?  She and her husband, Carson, lived in Manitowoc for several and owned Tweedle Brothers, a indie children's bookstore.  Both are exceptional artists, and now you can own a bit of Tina's work in The Change Your Name Store, which she illustrated.

Wilma Lee Wu would like a new name and so she goes name shopping.  She tries on several new names, each of which takes her on an adventure to a far away land.  Scattered throughout the book are names of Lakeshore kids - Teak, Molly and more - all friends of the Kugler kids.

Last week I was reading this book to my three year old friend Dakota while her dad talked with another customer.  Dako's mom is Japanese and several words in that language jumped out at her.  When Wilma tried on the name Sami al Sala, she was whisked to an open air market in Bahrain.  this was Dako's favorite page.  She said "Jey Bev, a supermarket, just the Piggly Wiggly."  (Yes, she did use the word supermarket!) Then she spotted the camel - which she mistook for a horse- and asked her dad if they could go and look for the horses at the Pig.  

 Leanne  Shirtleffe's book is one to fall in love with. The story is told in rhyme and you can't beat the charm and whimsy of the illustrations.  This surly won't be the last book for Tina.

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In other news...once again, my book group did not like our book selection.  We select titles randomly, drawing them form a latte mug.  this happened to be my suggestion, and, like most of the films and other books I have tossed in, it bombed.  What can I say?  How can I explain this?  I can't.  My tastes may have changed a little in the past years - but to have all misses ...really, not one single hit?  Very troubling.  If you have insights, chime in.

What am I reading?  This morning I started readiang The Twelve Tribes of Hattie.  This is a moving book that is holding my attention.  I was sorry to have to put it down.  However, no matter how much I want to do it, I will not drop this title into the latte mug, I will not drop this title into the latte mug, I will not drop this title into the latte mug, I willnotdropthistitleintothelattemug.....

A Complete Education

Heart-A-Rama left me with little time to read, and on those weeks, I spend time reading new kids' books, kids' books I might have missed over time, and favorite book from my kidhood.  Whether you had Golden books as a child or not, the wisdom on these pages is eloquent and simple, accompanied by warm-fuzzy illustrations.

Diane Muldow, longtime editor of the Little golden Books realized that there is hardly a real-life situation these whimsical books don't address.  She has paired the best advice from the collection and paired them with iconic art work resulting in a book that belongs on every coffee table.  I would love to quote the entire book here for you, but I am pretty sure that would be some sort of crime.  Instead, I'll give you first couple words of advice, and you'll see how perfectly true and important they are -

Is your life starting to feel like a circus?

Don't panic

Today's a new day!

Get dressed first thing. (Sweatpants are bad for morale.  Put on something nice.)

Have some pancakes.

Get some exercise every day.

Frolic.

Daydream.

go for a joyride.

Stargaze...

Stroll.

Bird watch.

Treat yourself.

That's just the beginning.  You'll find yourself agreeing with each sentiment, and then sitting back, taking a deep breath and wondering why....why do we demand so much of ourselves?   What's the rush?   Why do we fill our days with doing rather than living?  What do we miss each day because we are blind to the little things in our lives?  How much do we file until tomorrow?

This little book is packd with wisdom about work, play, generosity, humility, thankfulness, happiness and much, much more.

What am I reading?  Don't laugh.  Don't Kill the Birthday Girl:Tales from an Allergic Life.  Silly me.  I thought between these pages I might find a way to stop the itchy eyes, drippy nose, popping ears and constant dizziness that come each spring and fall.  Instead, I have found a solid memoir enhanced with all sorts of interesting info on why allergies are increasing worldwide.  Now if you'll excuse me...I have to sneeze.

Time for a Little Logical Confusion

This challenging image has been floating around the Internet for some time telling me to look closely to see the woman posing as a parrot.  Right!  She's there all right.Look.  Her left leg is pointing down like a tail, foot is arched, and her right arm and leg are braced on the stump.  Her left arm is folded over her head, elbow pointing up and the bird's eye is in the middle of her forehead.  Can you see it now?

This picture reminded my of book I read repeatedly in college at a time when I was considering a different career path than the one I took.  The book is essentially a crash course in logic - not simple fallacies but rather an examination of truth, falsity and contradictions in arguments.  It intrigued and baffled me then, it still does.

The book begins simply enough, with a laundry list of definitions and then BOOM, the author drops the first paradox .

A certain village has among its inhabitants one and only one barber.  He is a clean shaven and well-respected man who saves all and only the village men who do not shave themselves?  Who, then, shaves the barber?

Oh for Pete sake.  He shaves himself, right?  Can't be.  If he does, he is violating the stipulation that he shaves all villagemen  who do not shave themselves.  Yet, if he does not shave himself, he is violating the stipulation that he shaves all men who do not shave themselves.

I love that kind of stuff.   Word paradoxes.  Improbable figures.  Situations that appear impossible to solve. Not saying I figure them all out, but I'm still drawn to them.  the book progresses from the above simple example ("Simple" being the author's word, not mine) to syllogism.  that still works for me - basic deductive reasoning.  then we move on to 1st 2nd and 3rd order enthymemes - getting more complex but I still get it.

Eventually, Venn diagrams come into play.  That's where it all ends.  I first heard about VD's in 9th grade Algebra class and that did not go well either.  When I found the evil things lurking as part of logic training, I shut the book, made new career choices and never looked back.  Until last week when I figured out the parrot-woman photo. Maybe there is still time, I thought.  Maybe I got smarter over the years and should backtrack, go back to school and give my first real job choice a try.   I pulled The Paradoxicon off the bookshelf and began reading happily confirming that closing that book so many years ago had been the right thing for me after all.  the book is out of print, but if you run into it anywhere, pick it up - it's filled with lots of fun stuff that will make you feel smart - until page 392.

Thanks for stopping by.