Saturday, January 28, 2012

From the Desert to the Prairie


Today, for the first time ever, I was unable to open the window of my car because it was frozen shut. There was too much ice, and the poor little motor in my window just couldn’t do it. Yes, folks, this is my first winter, and I don’t like it one bit. This whole season thing has taken me quite by surprise. To make it worse, it seems undeniable that this is one of the mildest winters in recent memory! What will I do when winter sets in for real?

Fall had its perks, but the short days, dreadful weather, and ice that stays in the shadows to surprise you when you slip on it are just are not fun! I hail from a place where there are two discernable seasons: hot and less hot, and right now is the wonderful, glorious, spectacular less-hot season in Phoenix—and Facebook posts keep reminding me that I am missing it. There are so many new things to deal with in this climate! The newish, often-challenging job at UIP is cake compared to the meteorological issues! Just off the top of my head, here is a list of things I’ve had to obtain since moving to Illinois that I’ve never had to own before, and most things on the list I never even realized other people had to buy.

Cuddl Duds
ear muffs
fur-lined boots
ice scraper
lawn waste bags
non-AZ driver’s license and plates
rake
snow shovel
yak traks

My feet haven’t even slipped into my comfy flip-flops in weeks, if not months, and it is such a strange adjustment! The cute, fashionable mittens that were always just right for riding my bike in the cool, December, Tempe air now don’t even cut it for a walk out to the car to scrape the ice of my windshield. I know I am lucky to be able to ease into winter with unseasonably reasonable weather this Champaign-Urbana winter, but, I must ask, when does winter end?


Thursday, January 19, 2012

Kate DiCamillo's The Magician's Elephant (Among Other Things)

I met Kate DiCamillo once. It was the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in 2009, and I had just read The Tale of Despereaux and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. (If you haven’t read them, you should. Despereaux is a mouse with boundless heart and courage, and Edward Tulane is rabbit figurine whose epic journey parallels the journey of growing up.) I waited in line to have books signed for my mother and my aunt, who both share the courageous spirit of Despereaux, and when my turn came, I was elated that Kate DiCamillo was as kind and sincere as the stories and characters she creates.

The best part of a Kate DiCamillo book is the warm, fuzzy, familiar feeling you get once you are drawn into a simple, charming, meaningful tale. It is something like the way you felt reading The Velveteen Rabbit or Charlotte’s Web: completely enamored and a little better for having read and understood it, an experience that is nothing less than magical. The Magician’s Elephant, the story of an orphan looking for answers, delivered on the magical front—both the literal aspects of magic in the story and the bewitching effect the story has. The book is short and amazingly illustrated. The pictures tell almost as much of a story as the words, and as the happy conclusion approaches, the picture themselves get brighter and lighter, representing the growing spark of hope and wonder of the orphan Peter, and, in my opinion, of children in general. The success of the illustrations in The Magician’s Elephant makes me very excited that DiCamillo is a contributor to The Chronicles of Harris Burdick. In the book, fourteen authors each tell their version of a story based on Chris Van Allburg’s collection of illustrations, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, originally published in 1984. The collection includes contributions from Louis Sachar, Steven King, and Sherman Alexie, and the diverse genres of the contributing authors are undoubtedly a boon for the book.

But all this leads me to consider the way in which children’s books appeal more and more to adult interests. Nothing suggests the crossover potential of a children’s book more aptly than The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick being made into a film by Martin Scorsese, a director absolutely associated with productions characterized by very adult content. The movie is garnering acclaim, and adults everywhere are enjoying what was intended for a younger audience. In the same vein, DiCamillo’s books constantly reaffirm that a children’s book is not only for children, and prove that a well-written children’s book is worth reading for children and adults alike.

DiCamillo, Kate. The Magician's Elephant. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2009.