Will B.

Will writes reviews and other things. Please read them below.

hey folks,
  i'm back in vermont safely and the whoosh-rumble of the road is  (for now) a thing
of the past. my hair is still harsh to behold; without the weasley context, it
just looks goof-ass. alas, a proper bed beckons. cheers, love, and stillness,
   william of the bozo locks
 
 
hey all,
   it's harry potter day. and what a day. it's raining (we've got a team working on
improving the weather right now) and everyone is excited for the big party. i've
moved on from "cupcake blonde" to "light auburn blonde" in true arthur weasley
fashion, and it's all so exciting i could spit.
   i'll be heading back to new england on sunday - my phone is still wonky - if you
need a call; e-mail me with your number (i cannot access my address book, but i
can call out. 
  but for now, it's harry potter and the deathly hallows time. my shift starts in 15
minutes... can't wait. details (and unfortunately pictures) to follow. cheers and
magic,
   wil barbour, department of the misuse of muggle artifacts, ministry of magic,
london, uk
 
 
 
hey folks,
   so many things going on... and at such a rapid pace! i've been writing unfinished
emails about camp, but you should know it was a success; a rousing one at that.
perhaps a day will come when i will soak you all with the details...
  harry potter release party coming up on friday night. there will be another story
there. i'm ditching my role as prof. kettleburn in favour of mr. arthur weasley;
so last night, phase one of the transformation. to get red hair, i have to lighten
my curly, dark brown locks. so now thanks to 'hi-rez' hair lightener by
softsheen-carson (crystal blonde), i pretty much have golden yellow hair. if this
is freaking you out, believe me when i tell you that i am doubly freaked. although
i doubt it will work, i will be trying to suppress all photographic evidence of
this....
  in other news, my phone is on the fritz... email me if you neet to reach me,
provide a number (can't access my phone's phonebook) and i should be able to reach
you.
  wish me luck. cheers and peace,
     william of the unnatural blonde
 
 
hey everybody,
  ok, so the segment was not all that well produced. mediocrity and funky-bad edits
combined with dippy commentary made for a cutesy but uninformative fluff. but amid
the bit of wonderful footage of our wicked great kids, there were two glimpses of
wil, son of dionysus, marching along with the best. muy tired tonight, so i can't
tell you about all the capture the flag stories, famous quotes from camp, and the
exciting cheese-off. perhaps tomorrow. cheers and peace,
   wil of the orange cabin
 
 
 
 
hey folks,
  what i failed to mention amid all the poisonous, ailmenty, harsh and completely
wonderful times we've been having at camp half blood, is that last tuesday we had
a couple of special guests come to the party. the author of "the lightning thief"
***on his own birthday, mind you*** came out to the park and read to us and
answered questions from the kids. it was magical, with cake. we also had a small
film crew following us around all day. 
  so you all have to check out the 'today' show this friday, june 15th, on nbc, at
about 9:15am (eastern) (the second hour, i believe) where al roker will be
interviewing rick riordan about his percy jackson books and they should be showing
footage from camp. look for our bespectacled leader topher talking to the campers.
look for thomas, the big leader of ares cabin and our grecian drill sargeant. look
for the possibility of me wearing my denim kilt and distinctive headgear. please
tape, tivo or otherwise record the show as we will be starting our final day of
camp that morning (we fully plan to have it recorded by a friend down here and
watch it friday evening at our "cast party"). there. one more week to go! go team
demigod! cheers and sacrifices to the gods,
   william, son of dionysus, keeper of the water cups, and wearer of silly hats
 
 
hey folks,
  between the bug bites, mild infections (right big toe), heat stress and fast
moving campers, i have found peace and salubrious calm. mostly it comes in the
form of the dude-i-can't-moves at the end of each day of camp half-blood.
  reprising my role of wil, son of dionysus, has been and continues to be an awesome
adventure in exhaustion and weight loss. we have taken over a corner of mckinney
state park in austin, decorated it with trappings of greek mythology and proceded
to make 8-14 year olds run around while we try to soften the death-grip we hold on
the first-aid kits. some of the pitfalls include: retrieving fake spears and stray
dodgeballs from poison oak infested woods, the not so very subtle combination of
capture the flag and concrete, a fascinating array of insects set on "ow!", having
one's table go last for snack time (think dolly madison supersimple carbohydrates,
go-gurts, and tooth-rattlingly strong gatorade), and texas sized heat and
humidity.
  i have actually failed to use sunscreen for 10 days now, with no short-term ill
effects (that i know of). i have my hat, and my grecian water cups and a not at
all grown up attitude (when i'm not wiping blood off camper's faces and knees).
it's awesome to the olympian degree and later i'll show you the pictures and the
various scars. until later, cheers from the gods,
    william of the survivalist's concern and scion times two
 
 
hey people,
  it's the last night in hinesburg, and tonight was a doozy. i ran concessions at
the "pickin' for friends" benefit concert at the town hall. if you didn't know,
friend and children's librarian extraordinaire, tom, runs a monthly 'pickin'
party' at the town library where we get together, decide on a specific key (not
that anyone has to adhere to that key) and just sing and play and jam on song
after song; mostly in the folk vein, sometimes a little bluesy, occasionally
jazzy, frequently bluegrassy. i'd say that 'crossover' is our strength. everything
works and there are no wrong notes. anyway, tom threw together this concert
including "the bring-down-the-house band" made up of members of our pickin' group
and including rik palieri (websites will give you great intros to these fun and
talented people; check out rik at www.banjo.net  to see his podcasts and other
media thingies), rebecca padula (her website is a trove of musical and progressive
joy: www.rebeccapadula.com ),
 and my ol' buddy from the cvu audio-visual department lyle king (dig his happening
tunes: www.lyleking.com ). the whole evening was fun, folky, kids running around,
apple cider, brian's boffo brownies, wendy's way cool kugel, salsa and chips and
the music, while it did not actually bring the house (or, in this case, the town
hall) down, it was all brilliant.
  and now i must get to bed, because i've got breakfast with some friends and then
i've got a 30 hour drive ahead of me. call me psycho. i deserve it. i will try to
find the wi-fi hotspots between here and texas and fill you in with happenings
including the camp half blood goings-on. i always bring my camera; i almost never
use it. i'll try to make a better effort this trip. 
  ooh, in case anyone needs to reach me on the road. email me or call my texas
number- 512.536.4986 (and probably leave a message... you know me...) i'll be down
there at least until the fourth of july. until next time, cheers and peace,
    wil of the yee and haw
 
 
hey readers,
  i've got two reviews for you today: scott westerfeld's "uglies" (a favourite of
school libraries and teen fiction shelves at the bookstore) and pete hautman's
"godless" (the second hautman novel into which i have delved).
  i totally get the appeal of the westerfeld. it's about a society where adolescents
look forward to their 16th birthdays when they undergo an operation to turn their
pimply, imperfect, awkward young teen selves into attractive, instantly popular,
carefree, partygoing young adults. 'uglies' can't wait to transform into
'pretties' and go to live in the party towers in 'new pretty town'. we meet tally,
an ugly who can't wait to be reunited with her boyfriend who gets the operation a
few months before. while she is dreaming of the pretty life, she meets another
friend who shows her the world outside the city and the secret of the community
known as the 'smoke'. the smokies are a band of runaways who realize that the
operation changes you in more than apperarances; the operation also brainwashes
you into the pretty society. not that the uglies aren't brainwashed into thinking
that prettydom is not the best thing in the world. so it's the smokies versus the
special cruel looking
pretties that conduct the operation in the city laboratories.
  the message is obvious. tally comes to realize that one's appearance is secondary
to the freedom of being your self, flaws and all. the plot is contrived just so we
can get the parable here. the story is way fun, and worthy, but i don't know if i
should read the sequels... more later perhaps.
  the second review is a great book that blows my previous review of pete hautman's
"rash" (from 2/8/07) out of the water supply... let me explain.
"godless" is the tale of jason bock and his attempt to rebel against his parents
religious views and his church youth group. jason makes his own religion out of the
town water tower: why not? if catholics can look up to an invisible god of ancient
stories to fill our souls and guide us, why can't jason and his friends look up
(literally) to a ten-legged god who provides, hydrates, fills our pools, waters our
lawns and makes our life possible? of course, organizing a religion (the church of
the ten legged god, or chutengodians for short) is not all that easy. everyone has a
different take on how to worship. the results are just about as funny and serious as
our own history of reformation, fanaticism, factionism and zealotry. it's easier to
comprehend just how brilliant this book is by reading it. hautman doesn't just mock
organized religion. he works in the things in which we believe (or don't believe),
and the reason our faith clings steadfastly to what others might see as
absurd. it's an awesome 'good book'.
  keep reading stuff and i will go knock the snow off my car... again. is it me, or
is it april? cheers and pages for now,
     william of the springy spring spring
 
 
hey readers,
  i've fallen behind in my reviewing. so much reading. so much planning and packing.
so many little things to attend to before i take of for austin this weekend. but
here are a couple of books for you by kathe koja:
  i was in the school library last week and i asked my friend a., a librarian, what
i should read next. she had just been looking at a summer reading list on-line and
the title "the blue mirror" came up. and, wouldn't you know, the book was right
out on the new arrival shelf (new to the library... kathe koja wrote it in
2004...), and since it is a slim book (119 pages) i just started reading during my
free period. i was halfway done by the time i had to sub for a science class.
  "the blue mirror" follows maggie, a student on the edge of life. her mom is a
winston smoking, alcoholic mess, her school life is miserable (when she goes to
school that is), and her only solace is sitting in a booth at the 'blue mirror'
coffeeshop and sketching the local colour. one day she spies a gorgeous boy
wearing a gothy/townie signature blue lipstick. cole is a hunk, but he's also a
bad boy. maggie is smitten. and we watch to see how close to the edge maggie gets.
it's a case of the bad element, and while the writing is engaging and surreally
real, the content reads a little short and flat. but i gotta say it's worth
reading for some positive messages amid the chaos. 
  on the back of the book is a review of another koja book: "buddha boy" and had all
the right review adjectives (compelling, eye-opening, etc.) and since "buddha boy"
was also 119 pages, i said to myself, "why not?"
  the main draw for this book is an understated introduction to buddhism. the
narrator, justin, (and the rest of edward rucher high school) can't quite figure
out the new kid in school. he wears an oversized tie dyed t-shirt with a dragon on
it, carries around a beggars cup during lunch, has a shaved head and smiles all
the time. the 'buddha boy's spiritual name is jinsen. justin is intrigued by
jinsen just 'cause he's so wierd. and jinsen is perfect fodder for mcmanus, the
school jock/mr. popularity/bully just 'cause he's so wierd. you should read this
for the relationships that grow, the artistic and religious philsophy expressed,
and how the calm, peaceful jinsen affects justin and the whole school. it's a
subtle indictment of bullying and an affirmation of kind buddhist neutrality.
kathe koja certainly has a hit with this one. i kind of hope she comes out with a
sequel. i loved this story.
  coming up next email: a tale about a special girl by julie anne peters. until
then, cheers and ennumerated pages,
     william of the one after the other
 
 
hello readers,
  i come to you with a short tragedy: "inexcusable" by chris lynch. it's a shocking
cautionary tale about a high school senior named keir sarafian. keir is popular,
self assured and an overall good guy, so he proclaims himself. the story snapshots
the last month of school with proms and graduations, family life (his sisters are
already off to college, single dad struggles to survive and provide despite
alcoholism) and the relationship he has with gigi, one of his best friends in
school. the cover of the book has black lettering on all white except for a black
lace bra in the bottom right. quickly we learn that something has gone wrong
between himself and gigi. but how can that be when keir is such a good, sensible
guy? he knows that 'no' means 'no', but it's not like what you're thinking... to
kier it's a grey area. to us it really is black and white.
  this is a rugged little read that goes from sympathetic to pathetic in 165 pages
and leaves you feeling both wrong and wronged. this is teen fiction at its
scariest and most blunt. i think that this book is an important guy book so long
as we understand that this sort of thing can happen (to anyone? not sure... but
read it anyway). no explicit sexuality but beware the heavy drug use in this
novel. well crafted by chris lynch; i'm glad i read it.
  something more upbeat for next time, yes? cheers and black type,
     william of the occasional roughness
 
 
good morning readers,
  so it turns out that after you die, you wake up aboard a cruise ship; something
along the lines of, say, a norwegian cruise line; big ship, not exciting like a
carnival cruise; it's not hurricaine season, and the food's good. and there are
some wierd coin operated telescopes on the lido deck where you can look upon those
you left behind. the ship's port of call is "elsewhere", which is the name of this
book by gabrielle zavin. the novel begins with the recently dead girl liz (hit by
a car while riding her bike to the cambridgeside galleria) at age 15 debarking in
elsewhere where she must live her life again in reverse: for every day she lived
on earth, she will live a day in elsewhere growing younger until she's an infant
again. very cute premise. i was thinking: is this just going to be a cute story
and that's all?
  well, it's an entertaining read; liz has to come to grips with being dead and not
ever being older than 15. no prom dresses; no massachusetts state drivers licence;
no growing up, meeting a guy and falling in love. liz does meet her grandmother
who died at the same time as liz was born, so grandma betty is about the same age
as liz's mom. it's a wierd little scenario. is it heaven? is it some whackazoidal
reincarnation scheme? will liz ever get over her frustration of being dead?
  by the time i finished, it was a light story of family left behind and found,
friends, and, ironically, full of the meaning of life. oh, and cute, and that's
all.
i give it a stamp of approval and two tears of joy. cheers and pages,
     william of the good ship chupa-chup
 
hey readers,
  i'd like to pass on to you a long overdue list of favourite books. but first a
question:
  if the visible spectrum of light is 'linear' (by wavelengths: from violet (at
380nm) on up to red (740nm)) and red is as far apart from violet as can be...
 
then why does purple blend into red and vice versa on the colour wheel?
 
i don't have an answer, it just leapt into my head this morning and refused to leave.  
******
  ok then, where was i? oh yeah. i give to you the first of a series of top six
lists in childrens literature. why six? i'm not sure; why not six? it's just a
comfortable number for me now. anyway: the first list is: top six teen fiction
books (not s.f./fantasy).
#6 A Separate Peace by John Knowles - kind of "old school" literature but definately
classic and a little uncomfortable at times. gene returns to his alma mater, devon
prep, and reflects on both local dilemmas from his youth and the global reality of
wwII. the characters override the plot and you're left as torn and sentimental as
gene is. similar in feel to Cormier's The Chocolate War, but it hits harder. re-read
this one if you feel the need; you won't be disappointed.
#5 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. even if you do
not like math, you gotta read this if you haven't already. christopher can't not try
to solve the mystery of the death of the neighbour's poodle. his logical thinking
and guilelessness  of his severe autism makes every piece of reasoning and every
action he takes incredibly heroic. he can solve math problems but only likes red
food (he freaks with brown or yellow food). he's sharp in his own way, but unable to
fathom any complex human behaviour. he's a force for good and love and groaning.
this is haddon's debut novel and it is stunning.
#4 Many Stones by Carolyn Coman. i read this in a book group years ago. even if i
did not quite belive the psychology of why berry weighs herself down with stones
after her sister is killed in south africa, the rest of the book struck me as
genuine. the theme of racism comes at you sideways: berry doesn't quite grok all the
nuances of apartheid, but i thought that what goes on during her trip to attend her
sister's memorial service was incredibly powerful. this is the sleeper hit of my
little list here.
#3 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chboskey. i've heard this book called
"trite", and it definately has its own formula: in diary form, we see into the
highschool life of charlie. sex, drugs, fitting in (or as in this case, not fitting
in), family troubles, a first crush and literature figure into this quirky "novel".
i guess one reason that this hits home is that i've seen a few sharp, intellegent
freshmen myself. i just want to root for charlie without him knowing. a quirky read,
but worth it.
#2 Looking for Alaska, by John Green. i wrote a review last september saying how i
would put this book on my list of very best teen ficton books. seven months late...
sorry! in this strong story, miles goes off to boarding school and really connects
with his peers for the first time. miles (and everybody else) connects with alaska,
a beautiful, articulate and independant girl. slowly, we see events unfold for
miles, alaska and their circle of friends.the way in which green sets up the plot is
very 'hook'-y but not over annoying. it ends up powerfully tragic, but i don't want
any beans spilled here. it won the printz award and no wonder. great stuff.
#1 The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. what an odd book: death narrates the tale of
liesel's life in nazi germany. liesel steals books before she can even read, but
grows to love the freedoms that writing can hold. stealing from nazi book burning
piles and the mayor's wife is both an act of defiance and of love. as the war gets
closer, she comes to understand life through a frightened community and the jewish
man hiding in the basement. wierd book and wonderful for its quirky narrative. and
powerful as all get out.
  by no means are these the be-all-end-all picks for the life of best teen fiction;
most of us have plenty more to read... but these are definitely faves you should
check out. whew. that's all for now. if you figure out the colour thingy, let me
know. until next review, cheers and dust jackets.
   william of the april snow showers
 
 

hey readers,

  i was in a bookstore on thursday having just gabbed with a friend working the kids

section and having just grabbed a new title off the shelf. as i was heading out of

the section i overheard a fellow patron mention "the lightning thief". i

immediately donned my imaginary booksellers cape and asked the woman (butted in,

more like) "you mean the rick riordan book?". and she said:"actually we're looking

for the new one". and i said: "you mean this one?" holding up my copy of "the

titan's curse" which is the third in riordan's series "percy jackson and the

olympians". i helpfully conducted the bibliophillic patron to the relevant

location and took my leave before the woman could utter "who was that, umm...

unmasked... big... friendly, i suppose... maybe crazy person?".

  to speak of the third book in this wildly popular chapter book series, one must go

back to the beginning. i'm pretty sure that i recently told all of you that i

rarely re-read books. ha! i'm such a liar! a couple of weeks ago i read 'the

lightning thief" (book one) and "the sea of monsters" (book two) again in

preparation for the new "the titan's curse" (book three) which just came out may

1st. so i should give those of you who don't know a bit of background (i apologize

if you've heard my recap of "the lightning thief" i tend to tell this story quite

a bit).

  we begin with perseus "percy" jackson on a museum field trip. percy's academic

record is spotty: between adhd, dyslexia and certain events that, if you ask

percy, were entirely not his fault. wierd things just happen. like at the museum

when his pre-algebra teacher sprouts wings and attacks him. percy was given a pen

from one of the few teachers he likes. when it's uncapped, becomes a sword.

there's something poetic that riordan is driving at about attacking a math teacher

with ink, in spirit, but i digress. after percy dispatches the teacher he goes

back on the bus... and no one knows a thing about this pre-algebra teacher, and

why is percy acting so wierd?

  well, it turns out that percy is (mostly) non-crazy. but he is the son of a greek

god. this explains why english is so hard to read, but ancient greek is no

problem. it explains all the wierd happenings in his past; it's simply monsters

from greek antiquity that want to find and destroy percy. it turns out that his

best friend is a satyr sent to seek out and protect demigods like percy. it turns

out that the friendly teacher works at a summer camp for half-bloods (the name

given to the offspring of a god and a mortal) called, simply enough, camp half

blood where the children of the gods learn how to fight monsters and become

heroes. adventures ensue and you're just have to read all the stories of percy,

grover, annabeth, chiron, mr. d, et al. for yourself. it will explain a lot about

the nature of los angeles (come to think of it, it's no wonder angel lived there

(never mind this parenthetical bit)). it will make you think more about blue candy

than you do now. it will

make you

occasionally make you want to look up something in your copy of edith hamilton's

"mythology" (or maybe that's just me). it will make you cheer. it will make you cry

(none more so that the latest installment).

  i wish i could tell you all about the new book, but i don't want to give it all

away. i will tell you that rick riordan used to write adult detective fiction and

believe it or not, his style of sarchasm, snark, deadpannery and flair for the

dramatic work very well in a children's chapter book literature. i will tell you

that i cried like and angry, hungry baby at several points in the book. do both of

us a favour and read them all... then we can discuss the finer points of "the

titan's curse".

  one more note (iffin' youse don' know already) the percy jackson series is the

reason i'll be driving down to austin, texas again in two weeks. i think i'll

leave it here for some of you to wonder. not terribly unlike the ending of a rick

riordan novel: to be continued...

  cheers and mysteries,

     william of the southbound odyssey