Inside Scoop: Gearing Up For Summer

So we’re coming up on the first long holiday weekend of the season. For me that means I have one extra day with my foster kiddos,  a panic inducing thought because I’m taking care of three male teens – 16, 17 and 18. Yikes. What the heck does a middle-aged woman like me do to keep these guys entertained? The solution can be found within my badly worded question, because “entertaining” them should really not be my goal. Better for me to ask: what can I set up that will allow them to entertain themselves? Whew! That sounds much more do-able. And fun.

For all you parents, guardians, nannies, aunties, uncles and grandparents out there looking ahead to a summer of endless days filled with sun-charged children, the Handy Dad series has a new book to the rescue.  Todd Davis, TV host and extreme sports athlete, has written a book that we can all use to get our kids out of the house and into some real world adventures. Handy Dad in the Great Outdoors: More Than 30 Super-cool Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids, gives the low-down on everything from choosing the best campsite to geo-caching, including making daisy chains and playing flashlight tag.

Many of these activities can be done in the backyard or local park, and the detailed instructions and full color photos will make just about everybody feel capable of leading the summer fun. And remember: it’s not your job as elder to make their fun, or have their fun for them, but to guide them so they can make their own fun. Don’t forget to check out other books filled with exciting projects for the whole family:

Handy Dad: 25 Awesome Projects for Dads and Kids, by Todd Davis; Be the Coolest Dad on the Block: All of the Tricks, Games, Puzzles and Jokes You Need to Impress Your Kids, by Simon Rose; The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science: 64 Daring Experiments for Young Scientists, by Sean Connolly; Tree Houses and Other Cool Stuff: 50 Projects You Can Build, by David Stiles. And lastly, a book to help you conquer those parenting fears that keep you and your kids from living full-out: Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry) by Lenore Skenazy. — Erin

Checking In: Atlas of Remote Islands

Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved maps. I have always been enamored with the idea that even though a map is just a bunch of static squiggly lines on paper, it is a representation of a real place, a place with history and drama and change that I only have to hold in my hands in order to visualize. Even maps of fictional places feel that way to me – it’s like just knowing about the map means that, in some alternate plane of existence, whatever is drawn on this map is Out There.

I also love islands, for some of the same reasons I love maps. The isolation of an island is so conducive to adventure. Think about it: Treasure Island. King Kong. The Island of Dr. Moreau. Doesn’t sound so good if Dr. Moreau was making monstrous creatures on a peninsula, does it! An island is THE place where something can happen in a story without anyone ever learning about it (except, of course, when someone inevitably does). Since I could hold a pencil in my hand, I have been drawing maps of fantastic islands and writing stories about them, living out my fantasies through these drawings that are so much more than the sum of their parts.

 These two loves of mine have now been summed up in a single book. The Atlas of Remote Islands (Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot On and Never Will), written and illustrated by Judith Schalansky, is a meticulously detailed collection of hand drawn maps, each focusing on a separate remote island or chain of islands somewhere in the world.

The color palette for each island is simple and stark, highlighting the isolation of each of these places all the more (see a sample island here). Even better- each island, which no one would look at a second time if it were seen on a huge world map, comes with its own paragraphs of rich history attached, telling all sorts of stories about the tiny little dots of land.

Sometimes, it’s how the island came to be discovered by the Western world. Occasionally she explains what countries went to war over it and for what stupid reasons. Here and there, a story comes to light about the natives of a particular island and what odd customs they developed that occur nowhere else in the world. My personal favorite is the story which comes along with Cocos Island, in Costa Rica: a man named August Gissler is convinced that the treasures of the greatest pirates in history are buried here, and begins to dig holes all over the island. Whenever he fails to find anything at one location, he continues to dig in others, buying treasure map after treasure map that is supposed to deliver him all the riches of Edward Davis and Benito Bonito. He digs so many holes in the island that by 1905, when he finally leaves, he “has dug so many holes that his beard reaches to his knees. He has lost sixteen years of his life. All he has found are thirty gold pieces and one golden glove.” And yet, to the day of his death, he remained convinced that there was great treasure on the island and would have started again if he were young!

This is but one of dozens of stories contained within – the true treasure of this book is the history it holds. For someone who finds the same mystique in maps as myself, you might not find anything else like it.

Blurbs from the Branch: A Natural Storyteller

Resident BBC Naturalist, David Attenborough, has had an amazing career. His latest TV series, Frozen Planets, is set to be released stateside early next year. It features the 84 year old Attenborough, as he travels to Antartica and the North Pole. The footage looks amazing, but until then there’s Life Stories, a collection of  BBC Radio 4 episodes, about nature’s oddities. Attenborough is so knowledgeable and excited to have the opportunity to explain what so few people have a chance to observe, that you don’t even miss the visuals that usually go with this type of programming. If you’re one to appreciate random fun facts or enjoy hearing the backstory of failed technology, harsh weather and breaking through language barriers, you’ll enjoy Life Stories. I think it would be great for a longer car ride with older kids interested in animals, science or travelling.

The Inside Scoop: Stories by Global Activists

I have been reading Anodea Judith’s book Waking the Global Heart: Humanity’s Rite of Passage from the Love of Power to the Power of Love, this week. It is a thoroughly original look at human/cultural evolution that blends history, mythology, psychology and chakra energy systems to explain the collapse of our institutions and material world, and provide insight for developing a new story for humanity that is life-affirming. She argues that since humans are now capable of influencing the trajectory of evolution, we are faced with a tremendous responsibility which is calling forth a maturity of the heart so that each of us can choose how, or whether, to take part in the creation of a more livable world.

Many people are already engaged in creating a more livable world and their stories are being told more, and more. While each of these stories centers on personal experience with human or environmental misery, I offer them up as hopeful antidote to the doom and gloom so prevalent these days, because of the courage, creativity and action they portray.  May you too find ways to share your concern and your gifts with the global community

 More than good intentions: how a new economics is helping to solve global poverty, by Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel.

 And still peace did not come: a memoir of reconciliation, by Agnes Kamara-Umunna and Emily Holland.

 Rat island : predators in paradise and the world’s greatest wildlife rescue, by William Stolzenburg.

 It happened on the way to war : a marine’s path to peace,  by Rye Barcott.

 How sportsmen saved the world : the unsung conservation efforts of hunters and anglers, by  E. Donnall Thomas Jr.

 When Johnny and Jane come marching home: how all of us can help veterans, by Paula J. Caplan

The inside scoop: Summer grab bag, take 2

Grab Bag Take 2!

So the sun is finally here to stay. The air is warm and inviting. Your friends call, “Let’s go to the beach!” You grab your sunglasses (if you can find them from last year), a blanket, some treats from the fridge, a jacket (it is Oregon after all) and something yummy to read, and stuff them into a bag. Here’s a list of books the staff in Technical Services grabbed!

For the kids (or the kid in all of us)–

Boy and Going Solo by Roald Dahl

In Boy, the author of James and the Giant Peach and Matilda, recounts the childhood adventures that gave him some of the ideas for his novels.  In Going Solo, he continues his life story with accounts of being a WWII pilot.

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

“Just make a mark and see where it takes you.”

For the grown-ups–

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

A popular choice with book clubs, this modern classic about the Battle of Gettysburg reveals more about the details of battle and the minds of the men involved than any non-fiction title ever could. 

Write More Good: an absolutely phony guide by The Bureau Chiefs

The “Bureau Chiefs” have taken their greatest hits from their @FakeAPStyleBook posts on twitter and expanded them into a full-fledged Style Guide that would probably get you fired if you actually used it, but which will definitely make you laugh.  It’s full of important rules for proper usage…

“World War” should be used only for conflicts involving countries on at least three continents. For large-scale battles against clones, killer tomatoes, or a fifty-foot woman, use “attack” instead.

And valuable advice for the cub reporter, just embarking on his or her journalistic career…

Whether you’re calling on the phone or physically going somewhere to do reporting, you should always identify yourself as a reporter.  Do this by shouting, “I am a reporter!” at the top of your lungs every few minutes, even if someone else is talking.

And for the armchair traveler–

Trawler: a journey through the North Atlantic by Redmond O’Hanlon

Pink Boots and a Machete: my journey from NFL cheerleader to National Geographic explorer by Mireya Mayor

Whatever You Do, Don’t Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison