Let's Celebrate Grace Lin's First Early Reader--LING & TING

Grace Lin

Let's celebrate the publication of Grace Lin's fabulous first early reader--

Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same.
(It has already received four starred reviews!)

Check out Grace's post at Blue Rose Girls for more information.

You'll find links to the book trailer, to an activity guide, and details on how to get yourself a personalized, limited edition bookplate for your Ling & Ting book.

Red Army "Beat It" as an example of how RIAA is destroying its revenue opportunities

This video is a "hybrid" MTV with MJ's original sountrack on an edited video of PLA Orchestra performing something else (most likely the Long March Suite) in the People's Great Hall in Beijing.

Unfortunately, the audio is disabled on youtube due to "copyright issue". They basically used software to screen all audios uploaded on youtube and disable any music that they think belongs to their copyright.
There are many problems with this. This example shows how an opportunity to promote the music (hence creating more publicity and hype, and that in turn converts into Sales) is denied by this process. Apparently some artists such as Lady Gaga knows a lot better than the RIAA executives. Lady Gaga spent a great deal in creating her Music Videos on songs over a year old to renew hype, meanwhile allowing almost all user-generated videos (e.g. on youtube) to use her musics.

(another example I encountered a while ago is that some obscure company seems to be claiming copyrights of many unclaimed non-English ("foreiegn") music, which I doubt they really own)

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More are listed in Tudou.

A Little Update

Hi everybody!

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July.  We are on vacation until tomorrow and then have a family funeral so I won't be posting new content on AFOMFT until Thursday, July 8th but there's a fantastic giveaway that day you won't want to miss.  In the meantime, don't forget to enter to win a wonderful  Handprint Growth Chart from Pearhead!

The lucky winner will get to choose between the pink one above or this blue one.

If you "like" Pearhead on Facebook and/or follow them on Twitter (@PearheadInc), not only will you earn two more entries into the giveaway but you'll also receive exclusive discounts from the company.  Talk about a win/win!


I'm extending the Pearhead giveaway period through Wednesday, July 7th since I won't be able to announce the winner before then.  Go here to read more about this fabulous company and to enter to win the Handprint Growth Chart!

The winners of the $50 CSN Stores Gift Card and the $20 Forever Chic Bowtique Credit will also be announced Thursday.

Here & There: July 5, 2010

From The Horn Book July/August 2010 Issue

A Profile of Jerry Pinkney

Rebecca Stead: A New York Story

Coretta Scott King Award Acceptance

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Acceptance

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Hot Summer Reads: Here's a mix of novels — graphic, classic, and new — that have absolutely nothing to do with SCHOOL. It’s got a little something for every young reader, including yours. (Scholastic)

Hot Summer Series (Scholastic)

Q & A with Patricia MacLachlan (Publishers Weekly)

Classroom Connections: Titles That Sing and Shine—Books about Light and Sound by Patricia Stohr-Hunt (Book Links)

ALA 2010: The Changing Face of Books for Beginning Readers (School Library Journal)

Chicken Chasing and Barnyard Brouhahas: A Farm Dozen (The Bulletin for the Center for Children’s Books)

Things to Do If You Are an Orb Spider: An Original Poem & A Poetry Tale

In the past, I’ve posted a number of my “things to do” poems at Wild Rose Reader. Recently, I began reworking my Things to Do poetry collection at the suggestion of my good friend Grace Lin. Grace gave me a wonderful idea for making it a more cohesive collection—an idea for connecting the poems so they are pieces of a “unified” poetry project . She suggested I eliminate certain poems—and write some news one. I got to work right away. Her help spurred me on and gave me renewed energy to work on the collection again. I refined the idea Grace gave me. Now my Things to Do collection takes a young child through a day—from dawn to bedtime.

Here is a picture of me with my literary advisers.

L to R: Me, Janet, and Grace

I emailed my revamped Things to Do manuscript to my poetry adviser Janet Wong for her critique. Janet and I stayed together at ALA. While at our hotel, Janet sat down with me and went through the collection—telling me to eliminate a few more poems, providing me we topics for a couple of “new” ones, and suggesting ways to make a few poems stronger. When I returned home on Monday evening, I got to work on the project once more.

So far, I have now removed eleven poems from the original collection—and added about a dozen new ones. That’s the way it goes with writing a poetry collection sometimes.

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Today, I thought I’d post one of the “things to do” poems that is no longer part of the collection. It’s dedicated to Charlotte A. Cavatica—one of my favorite literary characters.


THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE AN ORB SPIDER

Weave a web of silken strands

With spinnerets

(YOU don’t need hands.)…

A silver net…a sticky snare…

A clever trap that’s light as air.



Weave a web…

Then watch and wait

Upon your woven dinner plate.

No need to hunt to catch your prey.

A meal will soon be on its way.

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have a book spine poem about friendship that I dedicated to Grace Lin and Janet Wong.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater has the Poetry Friday Roundup at The Poem Farm.

A Wild Rose Wedding: What's on the Menu

The Large Room Upstairs at The Lyceum

My husband, daughter Sara, and I decided to have a cocktail party and not a sit-down dinner for Sara’s wedding reception, which will be held at The Lyceum in Salem, Massachusetts—the same place where Grace Lin had her wedding. (Grace had a cocktail party too.) The cocktail parties at The Lyceum are wonderful!

Grace & Alex

NOTE: The Lyceum is housed in an historic building in downtown Salem. Alexander Graham Bell's first public demonstration of the telephone on February 12, 1877, was the most significant event to take place in the Lyceum Hall.

Find out more about The Lyceum here.

About the Food
Maybe you’d like to know what the wedding menu will be?????

We’re going to have four food displays and thirteen passed hot and cold hors d’oeuvres.

Food Displays
Smoked Salmon Platter: A Side of Sullivan Cove Maine Smoked with Classic Accompaniments

Antipasto Platter with Sliced Proscuitto & Salami, Marinated Fresh Mozzarella & Mushrooms, Artichoke Hearts, Provolone Cheese, Tomato & Basil Salad, Cured Olives, Stuffed Sweet Peppers and Assorted Breads

Roasted Vegetable Platter with Zucchini, Summer Squash, Carrots, Eggplant, Onions, Fennel & Mixed Peppers with a Sun-Dried Tomato Dip

Hot Dip Platter with Spinach & Parmesan Dip, Sun-Dried Tomato Dip and Tomato & Artichoke Dip served with Pita Chips, Assorted Breads & Bread Sticks

The Hors D’Oeuvres

• Blue Cheese & Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms
• Chicken Satay with Thai Peanut Sauce
• Vegetable Spring Roll with Plum Sauce & Japanese Mustard
• Pork Potsticker Dumpling with Hoisin Sauce Served in an Asian Soup Spoon
• Sliced Peppered Sirloin with Horseradish Sauce on Crostini
• Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail
• Seared Tuna Carpaccio with Crispy Wontons & Japanese Mustard and Pickled Ginger
• Spanikopita Filled with Spinach and Feta Cheese
• Clams Casino
• Coconut Shrimp Tempura with Mango Chutney Sauce
• Mini Crab Cakes with Ginger Cream, Hoisin Sauce, Mango & Tomato Salsa
• Lamb Lollipops with Spicy Mint Glaze
• Skewered Spicy beef with Orange Chipolte Sauce
  

The Wedding Cake

We're getting the wedding cake from Cakes for Occasions in Danvers, Massachusetts
It will be a three-tier hexagonal cake. The bottom layer will be Chocolate Paradise (chocolate cake soaked with rum syrup and filled with coconut buttercream); the top two layers will be Strawberry-Grand Marnier (vanilla cake soaked with Grand Marnier syrup and filled with Grand Marnier buttercream and fresh sliced strawberries).

The cake will be similar to the one pictured below--but it will be decorated with slate blue ribbons and blue hydrangea.

Click here to see Cakes for Occasion's wedding cake menu.

Jesus Never Fails - Fear not:... When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee:...

 I took this picture at Changi Beach, Singapore

Fear not:... 

When thou passest through the waters,

I will be with thee:...

Isaiah 43:1-2

Dear Friends,

Thanks for stopping by!

♥ I have been unwell this week and tempted to skip today's Thankful Thursday :) But as I rest in the Lord, I am thankful for His goodness daily in sustaining me, strengthening me and giving me His quiet peace and joy. At the end of last week I was experiencing great discomfort and anxieties with difficulties sleeping but thank God for strengthening me and I am feeling better now. So today I thank our Lord for caring for me and He never fails.

♥ I am thankful to God for working things out the 83 years old elderly lady, TAM, whom I shared about on my past TT posts. She has been having many problems at home and was suicidal. I thank and praise God for working things out for her. Through the help of a very kind and compassionate Social Worker who visits her and help her in many ways, she is feeling better now and no longer suicidal. My church has also kindly step in to help her with some financial needs. Thank you for your prayers for her! May she continue to know the love of God and His abundant mercies and peace despite her conditions. God is good!


♥ I thank God for my family, my church, my friends and everyone of you, my dear blogging friends, and for your prayers and encouragements. They mean a lot to me.You have made a great difference in my life by your friendship and encouragements. I thank God for every one of you. May God may your visit here a blessed one too!

To read more Thankful Thursday visit Lynn. 

Thank you for stopping by. Take care and have a blessed day!

Warm Regards,
Nancie