Einstein Centennial

2005 is the Einstein Centennial. Harvard has an interesting site about the celebration called Inside Enstein's Universe.
In his column today, George Will discusses Einstein's Cosmos by Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York. I found Einstein's comparison of the universe to a library particularly helpful:

Einstein's theism, such as it was, was his faith that God does not play dice with the universe -- that there are elegant, eventually discoverable laws, not randomness, at work. Saying ``I'm not an atheist,'' he explained:

``We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many different languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is.''

Whitbread Prize

The Whitbread Prize is one of Britain's top literary prizes and awards the "most enjoyable" books by writers based in the UK and Ireland. Reuters reports the 5 winners of the categories, Novel, First Novel, Biography, Children's Book and Poetry.

Eve Green by Susan Fletcher for First Novel
My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots by John Guy for Biography
Small Island by Andrea Levy for Novel award
Corpus by Michael Symmons Robert for Poetry
Not the End of the World by Geraldine McCaughrean for Children's Book (the Biblical tale of Noah's ark, featuring a young girl who sets into motion a chain of events that affects God's plan)

The grand prize, the Whitbread Book of the Year will be announced January 25 and will earn the author a 50,000 pound prize. Tbe panel of nine judges includes one name I've heard of: actor, Hugh Grant.

Humphrey Carpenter

Author Humphrey Carpenter has died. He wrote the Mr Majeika children's books but is best know in our house for his biographies of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. He is also known for the Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. BBC News has a nice tribute to him.

In an interview, Carpenter once said: "The nice thing about being a writer is that you can make magic happen without learning tricks.

"Words are the only tricks you need. I can write: 'He floated up to the ceiling, and a baby rabbit came out of his pocket, grew wings, and flew away.' And you will believe that it really happened. That's magic, isn't it?"

Obit from The Times

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The Boston Globe reports that Scholastic is pondering the size of the first run of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I had not know this about the Order of the Phoenix:

Scholastic spokeswoman Kyle Good said the publisher has not yet determined the size of the first printing, but is mindful of what happened with "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." The first printing was 6.8 million, but the publisher had to rush back to press for another 1.7 million copies before the release date, and added 800,000 more almost immediately, for a total of 9.3 million within the first few days of publication. Five million books were sold in the first 24 hours.

A post at Godric's Hollow speculates about the cover design:

Anonymous writes: "When the Scholastic (US publisher) website was updated for the Half-Blood Prince release date announcement, a generic, purple cover was used to signify the book. It is not the official cover, of course, but it is significant because they used the exact same design to stand in for the not-yet-completed Order of the Phoenix cover, but that one was blue, just like the real cover turned out to be.

Purple is the color of royalty, so it would be quite appropriate considering the title of the book. Purple also happens to be a color that JKR seems to favor.

Life of a Newbery jurist

Writer, Abigail Tucker has a profile of Ruth Anne Champion who is serving as a jurist on the Newbery committee. She is a librarian and has read over 400 books so far. It is very interesting to get a glimpse of the "behind the scenes" work that goes on in the committee.

"Books at work, at lunch, when I get home, always before bed, sometimes in the evening," said Champion, who selects new children's books for the Pratt collection. "Sometimes, I read before I get up."

Comments from former jurists:

"I'm still trying to catch up from that year," said Debbie Taylor, the library's coordinator of school and student services, who judged in 2002. She recalls reading at the car wash, and while soaking in the bathtub.

"You brush your teeth and you read," said Selma Levi, the supervisor of the children's department and a former Newbery judge. "I still read books going down the stairs."

... In August 2002, the Association for Library Service to Children elected Champion to the committee. Imagining the task ahead, she charged off to Target to buy a new bookcase.

She bragged to a friend about her far-sighted purchase, but that friend had once judged the Newberies. Her advice to Champion: "Better buy two."

Champion did. Now they're overflowing.

Norton Conyers House

Curiosity made me search out some photos and history of the "real Thornfield Hall" in Yorkshire. I blogged an interesting article about the connection to the house and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre earlier in December.

The house was built in medieval times, with later additions being added at various times. The house is best known for the visit made by Charlotte Bronte in 1839. A family legend concerning a madwoman confined in an attic is said to have inspired the mad Mrs Rochester in Jane Eyre. The house is also an original of Thornfield Hall.

The house also has an 18th century walled garden with Orangery and herbaceous borders.

In season, you can pick your own fruit, raspberries, red currants, blackcurrants and gooseberries. (Please check beforehand). Teas are served when the garden is open for charity events. Plants, especially unusual hardy plants are available for sale from Easter to September.

How to Get There
Norton Conyers is 4 miles north of Ripon on the road to Wath and 3.5 miles from the A1: turn off at the Baldersby Gate flyover onto the A61 to Ripon and turn right at the road signposted "Melmerby."

The fireplace via TourUK.co
Exterior photo of house and garden via Shopsinripon.co

Movies: Lemony Snicket & Finding Neverland

I have seen two movies during the break. Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events was a great deal of fun and perfectly captured the tone and feel of the books. I may get around to reading the rest of them now.

Finding Neverland is a movie that is staying with me. It is a lovely story and beautifully acted. Johnny Depp gives James Barrie a quiet dignity, Kate Winslet is a mother devoted to her sons' happiness, and the boys are wonderfully played. Watching Barrie create the play Peter Pan was fun. His friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family is the inspiration for his play. The opening night scene was very touching. It is fun to imagine what it must have been like to have been in the first audience to see a "classic" like this. (My favorite part of the movie Shakespeare in Love is when they perform Romeo and Juliet for the very first time. )
Finding Neverland is a low key and gentle film but very moving.
Interesting interview with Johnny Depp about the movie in the Northern Territory News.

Dustin Hoffman is Barrie's producer and he also appears in a cameo in the Lemony Snicket movie.

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck

From NPR:

NPR's Jacki Lyden reads from Nobel prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck's children's book The Big Wave -- a story of a tsunami and its aftermath, set in Japan.

Lyden comments that "children are on the front line of fraility" and children know this. Resilience and the conquering of grief are themes of this novel.

Illustrator: Quentin Blake

The Prime Minister's recommendations to The Queen for the Honours List include Professor Quentin Saxby Blake, illustrator, for services to children's literature. Blake is known for his illustrations of Roald Dahl books and many many more. One of my favorite books of his is Cold Feet by Cynthia DeFelice. Blake has a website which is fun to look through. BBC News story is here.

Via Achockablog

Children's book on tsunamis

In August I reviewed Peg Kehret's latest book, Escaping the Giant Wave. It is about a tsunami that hits the Oregon coast. I had never realized that tsunamis were a such a factor of life there. My daughter had recently visited Cannon Beach, OR (before I read the book) and mentioned the prevalence of tsunami warning signs and instructions everywhere.

Kehret's book would be an interesting read for young people who are seeking books related to the news of the day.