What's Abigail Reading? Little Women

Abigail has been spending her time reading a classic. As is often the case, Abby became interested in this week's book when she saw the film version. Sometimes the movie version is a good way to get a child interested in a classic book. That was true in the case of Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. Let's see what Abigail had to say about it.

Here's what Abigail says the book is about.

This book is about four sisters named Beth, Jo, Meg and Amy. In the beginning the four girls were lying around before Christmas day and thought about presents to get for themselves. They realize that instead of worrying about presents for themselves, they should buy presents for their mother (Marmee). Beth bought handkerchiefs, Amy bought perfume, Jo bought slippers and Meg bought gloves.

Then Jo and Amy went to Sallie Gardener's to go to a ball. Meg and Jo got there and at first Meg was scared, but then just got going by talking to people. Jo was scared at first, too, then saw a redheaded boy looking at her and trying to catch up to her. Then Jo slipped into a room and almost sat on a boy named Laurie.

Laurie was their neighbor. A couple of weeks later, Laurie and his tutor, Mr. Brooke, wanted to take Jo and Meg out to the theater. The youngest girl, Amy, wanted to go too, but Jo and Meg said they had reserved seats and that Amy had a cold. When they came back, Jo found out that her manuscript was burned in the fire because Amy was angry at her.

After that the four girls found out that their father was very ill and Marmee needed to go to him right away. Mr. Brooke asked if he could escort her. Jo cut her hair and got $25 to help. Finally everyone was afraid and worried.

Here's what Abigail liked best about the book.

I liked when Jo was writing her book because I think it would be cool to write a book.

Was there anything about the book that Abigail did not like?

I did not like when Beth got sick. It made me sad.

So, how did Abigail rate Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott?

She gave it five out of five dolphins.

Between the Lines: Anne Shirley

This week, I'm particularly pleased to introduce a very special guest, Miss. Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables fame. So, let's get right to the interview.

Greg:  Welcome, Anne. I'm so glad you could come down from Prince Edward Island to join us.



Anne:  Thank you for having me, I'm sure. It is most exhilarating to be here.

Greg:  Yes, I'm sure. I gather that you had a very difficult early life. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Anne:  No more difficult than the next person, I shouldn't think. I was born in Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia, but my parents died of typhoid fever when I was only three months old, leaving me all alone in the world. My parents, Walter and Bertha Shirley were both schoolteachers, a source of great pride for me. I would like to follow in their footsteps, and have endeavored to do so.

I was taken in by our housekeeper, Mrs. Thomas. But when Mr. Thomas died, Mrs. Thomas sent me to the Hammonds, where I looked after their three sets of twins. I have ever been cursed by twins, you know. But when Mr. Hammond died--my, an awful lot of people that I know seemed to have died, come to think of it--Mrs. Hammond packed all the twins off to relatives and packed me off to an orphanage on Prince Edward Island.

I spent some bit of time at the orphanage, but was taken in by siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. Unfortunately, and nearly tragically, there was a slight misunderstanding that nearly sent me back to the orphanage.

Greg:  Oh my, what was the problem?

Anne:  Well, Matthew and Marilla were under the impression that the orphanage was sending them a boy. You can imagine Matthew's surprise when he saw a freckle faced red haired girl waiting anxiously for him at the train station.

Matthew picked me up and brought me to their farm, Green Gables. I liked Matthew from the very start, and I believe he liked me. He was so kind and gentle spoken. A prince among men.

Marilla Cuthbert was made of sterner stuff. She frightened me. She was all about manners and religion and being proper, and she wanted no part of a girl on the farm. But oh, how I wanted to stay. Green Gables was just so perfect. I needed a knight in shining armor riding a white horse to come charging over the hill and save the day. And do you know what? My shining knight came.

Greg:  Really? Who was your shining knight?

Anne:  Why Matthew Cuthbert, of course. He talked Marilla into it, you see. Oh I said he was kind and gentle, didn't I? A true knight.

Greg:  Of course. So I gather Matthew convinced Marilla to allow you to stay. Were you able to make any friends in, what town was it?

Anne:  Avonlea, the most wonderful town that any child ever grew up in. It was hard making friends at first. It takes a while to find out if someone is a kindred spirit or not. It didn't take long to discover that Diana Berry was just such a kindred spirit, however. We became bosom friends almost immediately.

It took longer with others. That Gilbert Blythe for one. The first day of school he teased me and called me Carrots because of my red hair. Diana said he only did it because he liked me, but I swore that I would have nothing to do with Gilbert Blythe until my dying day. In that, I was somewhat mistaken, but that was revealed only a great deal later.

Greg:  Can you tell us a little bit about Marilla's friend, Rachel Lynde?

Anne:  Oh, Mrs. Lynde was a kindred spirit, although neither she nor I realized it for quite some time. When I first came to Avonlea, there was a misunderstanding between her and I that drove a wedge between us. She had a nose for gossip, but was never a malicious gossip like some.

Greg:  You mentioned earlier that you wanted to become a teacher, like your parents. Was there anyone that helped you on the path to your chosen profession?

Anne:  My teacher, Miss. Stacy, yet another kindred spirit, showed me that I had the ability to teach. When she first came to Avonlea, many of the townsfolk did not take to her straightaway. They thought her too lenient. Spare the rod and spoil the child was their motto.

Miss. Stacy thought it better to encourage her students. That is what she did with me. She was my mentor, and gave me the encouragement that I needed to reach for the stars. The star was Queens College. I owe her a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid.

Greg:  And we owe you a debt of gratitude as well, Anne, for taking the time to share some of your life with us.

Anne:  Will this be in the newspaper? Because I want to make sure you remember to spell my named with an e, Anne. The e makes it much more distinguished, don't you think?

Greg: Yes, I suppose it does. I don't know if this will be in the paper, but it will be on the Internet, which is just as good these days.

Anne:  Internet? I'm not familiar with the term. Is that a newspaper chain? I've heard of those. Hearst is very prominent. I've not heard of the Internet family. Are they American?

Greg:  Mmm, from all over, I believe.

Anne:  Isn't that wonderful! I'll look forward to reading about myself. I don't care what Marilla says about vanity, I do enjoy reading about myself!

A Writer's Week #91: A Golden Day

A lot of exciting things happened this writer's week. I worked out a big chunk of the plot and background information for The Deliverers 4. I met with illustrator Daniel Vogel to work out the concept for the cover of The Deliverers 3: The Golden Dragon of Ang. I'm preparing for a great show next weekend (see Appearance Alert at the bottom of this post). But all of that pale in comparison to what's going on today.

Today is my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It's hard for me to believe. We held an anniversary party for them at the beginning of August. We did that for two reasons. Number one was because we wanted it to be a surprise (it was). Number two because with children coming from as far away as Vermont, Florida and Montana, the logistics worked better in the summer than late fall, and we wanted all five children to be there. We're so far flung that the last time we were all together was almost ten years ago. I'm so glad we were able to pull it off.

My parents are really fantastic. They raised five children without any of us being seriously damaged. My father, Albert Slomba, is brilliant. As an optical engineer, he was a leader in his field and worked on many important projects including the Hubble Space Telescope. My mother is equally brilliant, but made the decision to stay home and raise her five rambunctious children. She did an outstanding job and even managed to find time volunteer frequently and spent several year as the Director of Religious Education for our parish.

I can only imagine the trials of raising five children. My wife and I have two and the challenges of that are

The entire brood

huge enough to me. I couldn't imagine having five. Still, my parents managed to pull it off and made it look easy (to us). Along the way there were challenges, both mundane and extraordinary.

They had a son (me) who was so hyperactive that he danced on the desks of his first grade class when his mother came to visit. They bore the weight of a daughter who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of six (she made it through with flying colors). They had a three year old son (not me) who decided to run around the neighborhood naked. This does not even cover the usual cuts, bruises, stitches and teenage angst that all parents deal with.

Through it all, they kept their cool and were always loving and supportive. They made it look so easy to us that we took what they did for granted. I was probably the most guilty of this. As the oldest, it was all just business as usual to me. I didn't appreciate it until I had children of my own. I try to follow my parents' and my in-laws' example (they've been married 51 years), but I am not always successful.

Whatever I do in life, through all my successes and failures, my parents have always been my yardstick. They set such a great example. Now that we're all grown and out of the house, it's nice to go over and see how much they enjoy just being together. They truly are best friends and that is the key, I think. All of us kids own our parents so much. Thanks,Mom and Dad for always being there and always being supportive. We love you and hope God blesses you with many more years of happy marriage!

Appearance Alert:  My next show will be November 2 & 3 at the Santa's Arts & Crafts Festival at the Coco Key Resort in Waterbury, CT.

What's Elizabeth Reading? Princess of the Silver Woods

Elizabeth is back to tell us about another book in the twelve dancing princesses series. This time it's Princess of the Silver Woods, by Jessica Day George. Let's see what she has to say about it.

Here's what Elizabeth says the book is about.

This book is about the twelve dancing princesses again, just mostly about the youngest princess, Petunia. You see, Petunia was traveling to visit a 'friend' when she was accidentally abducted by Oliver, a bandit/earl. She finds many secrets that have been pushed to the far reaches of her kingdom.

Along with Oliver, whom she has fallen in love with, Petunia, her sisters, Galen and Heinrich must stop the King Under Stone once and ffor all. Just a warning--do not read this book until after you have read Princess of the Midnight Ball!

So, how did Elizabeth rate Princess of the Silver Woods, by Jessica Day George?

She gave it five out of five blue dragons.

Between the Lines: The Brave Little Tailor

We are privileged to have with us one of the most valiant heroes of his age-perhaps of any age. He once killed seven...Oh, but perhaps I should let him tell you all about it instead. Yes, that would be more fitting, I believe. Here he is, the Brave Little Tailor.

Greg:  Welcome sir. I introduced you as a tailor, but that's not quite true as you now have title to half the kingdom and the king's daughter as well. 

Tailor:  Yes, that's true. Although I don't like to brag, I have managed to do rather well for myself.

Greg:  And to what do you owe your fantastic success?

Tailor:  I have had to live by my wits. I've been in many a tight place and managed to scrape through on nothing more than daring and cunning.

Greg:  How so?

Tailor:  It all started when I managed to kill seven flies with one blow of my hand. It might not seem like much, but I thought that I might be able to put that experience to some use. I had a belt made that proclaimed "seven with one blow". Then I left home and went to seek my fortune.

It wasn't long before I bumped into a giant. He was one of the most fearsome creatures I had ever met. When he saw my belt, he assumed that I had killed seven men with one blow--giants are not particularly bright you understand. Anyhow, he decided to challenge me. I managed to fool him into thinking I was a match for him physically. What can I say, he was a giant so it wasn't that difficult.

Greg:  It sounds rather simple when you put it like that, although perhaps you should not have taken advantage of the poor giant.

Tailor:  Well that's easy to say, but I am small and frail and have to live on my wits. I out-thought him so sue me. Anyhow, you shouldn't get up on your high horse until you've heard the whole story. After I "bested" him, he took me to his house, but he wasn't trying to make friends. He tried to kill me, he did. Can you believe that? Never trust a giant I always say.

Greg:  Well, that was kind of nasty of him. What did you do?

Tailor:  Well, the bed was too big. I couldn't get comfortable. I decided to sleep off in a corner, and that saved my life, because the giant and his family couldn't find me. They were so scared to see me still alive the next morning that they all took off.

Far be it from me to turn down an opportunity when it presents itself. I presented myself to the king. I told him I'd bested a whole giant family and asked to serve in his royal guard. The other guards didn't take too kindly to this. They heard what I had done to the giants and they were worried I'd lose my temper and take care of them one day. So, they went to the king and told him it were either me or them.

Greg:  What did the king say?

Tailor:  He didn't want to lose his whole platoon of guards, but he wasn't too keen on getting me angry, either. He decided to send me to kill two giants who were terrorizing the kingdom. If I succeeded, he would give me half the kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage.

Greg:  Did you kill them?

Tailor:  I didn't have to. I got them to take care of each other on their own. See, I sneaked up to where they were sleeping and I tossed some rocks at each of them. One thought the other was doing it, and the other thought the first was. Soon they were really going at each other. It was something to behold, I tell you. After they did each other in, the king gave me a couple of other small tasks and I was in. The wedding was last fall--a most charming ceremony it was.

Greg:  Well, you certainly made the most of your opportunities. Thanks for chatting with us.

Tailor:  When opportunity knocks, make the most of it I always say. Thank heavens for dumb giants, otherwise I'd still be in my little shop, hemming and stitching.