crooked house

Help Make the "This Is Sadie" Book Trailer

My friend Sara O'Leary is putting together a book trailer for her gorgeous new book This Is Sadie. She need 30 second video clips of children between the ages of 3 and 7 pretending something. (Making, doing, and being!) Sylvie stars in an example video as a giant. Those of you with small children, please join in! Just catch your children pretending and send the short video along to [email protected]. Head on over to the This Is Sadie tumblr to see Sylvie's debut as a giant and for all the details.

Getting Ideas for Sylvie's Birthday Party

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Party from Sweet Paul on Vimeo.

We've been planning this Wizard of Oz party for months...

Somebody That I Used to Know: A Song We Now All Know All Too Well

So this Goyte "Somebody That I Used to Know" song and the Walk Off the Earth cover video are everywhere and those of us with kids are particularly familiar with both of them. (We happen to know a two-year-old who immediately dons a suffering expression and begins singing ALL THE WORDS every time it comes on, which is often. Hi Eden!) The parents of the kids featured below videotaped some of the many, many, many times the song was requested by them during car rides.

 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

 

A gorgeous new edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with artwork by Yayoi Kusama. Via Sophia Whitfield, thanks to Sara O'Leary.

 

Lego Man in Space

You can see an interview with the two teenagers who sent this Lego Man to the edge of space on the Weather Network's site. Thanks to Sara for the heads-up.

Walk Off the Earth: Someone That I Used to Know

Fun video, pretty song by a Burlington-based band that appears to perform mostly covers on youtube. It went viral last week.

The Joy of Books

Just watch: The Joy of Books, via Sara O'Leary and Nathalie Foy on facebook. Gorgeous. Someone commented "I want to like this more than once." Yes.

Christmas Gifts for Lego Lovers: The Brick Separator

For anyone who has ever used their teeth to try separate two lego bricks that are stuck together, I give you: the lego brick separator! I was only going to buy one until I saw this video. Now my mystery recipient is getting two.

Jim Gillian: The Internet is My Religion

This is an extremely moving speech.

Things That Caught My Eye This Week

I have a soft spot for the Enid Blyton book The Magic Faraway Tree as it is the first book I can remember my mother reading to me and many of the fantasy games I played in childhood were based on it. The house we grew up in was surrounded by trees and we named the largest one after it. This mom makes one out of cardboard for her kids to play with -- she is very faithful to the details.

You must watch the British family sitcom Outnumbered.  Apparently it is largely unscripted, and it is hilarious. The kids, especially. Via My Porch. You can watch oodles of clips on youtube, if that link doesn't work for you. I would love to be a fly on the wall while they film this -- wonder what the process is and just how much the kids come up with on their own.

In the United States, you can get excellent postage rates on unusually shaped items that weigh less than 13 ounces. The people in this flickr group share the fun things they've sent through the mail. I need to check if similar rates apply here in Canada as it'd be neat to send some of these things to the  kids' cousins on the other side of the country.

Here is a really great-looking recipe for Brains in a Jar. Probably doesn't taste half-bad either. Would love to make these for Luke's class. Via notmartha.

An interesting post on apothecary show globes.

Joanna Goddard is starting an articles club, instead of a book club. She's starting with this article, in which the author advocates calmly ignoring one's partner when he or she claims to want a divorce.