Ruby Red Shoes Goes to Paris

I bought Ruby Red Shoes Goes to Paris a few weeks ago. I saw it on the new shelf in my local bookstore and was helpless to resist its charms. I'd put it on the shelf at home and then promptly forgot about it. Until this week when my friend Brona read it and reminded me. I was particularly sad this particular evening, after some unexpected bad news and thought that Ruby Red Shoes Going to Paris would be a perfect salve. It was.

I'd never heard of Ruby Red Shoes before (turns out this is her second book) but was delighted that she was going to Paris, and of course wanted to read about it. I'm quite happy to read about anyone going to Paris, no matter if it's a cartoon hare and her grandmother or not. Somewhat bizarrely I've even been known to be jealous of a 4 metre chicken going to Paris.

Ruby Red Shoes Goes to Paris a simple, charming story. Ruby Red Shoes is actually a white hare, who naturally is never seen without her red shoes, who lives with her grandmother, Babushka Galina Galushka in a brightly painted old fashioned gypsy caravan. One day Ruby and her grandmother leave their chickens, who are understandably quite miffed at being left at home, and fly to Paris.

Ruby and her grandmother take an apartment, and set themselves up in the city of light. Naturally, the visit many of Paris's most famous sights- The Eiffel Tower, The Rodin Museum, and Cafe de Flore.  All must see sights to be sure. The illustrations are wonderfully detailed and particularly gorgeous.

Musee Rodin is one of my favourite places in Paris too

Who doesn't love Le Tour Eiffel?

Kate Knapp is an Australian author and illustrator/artist who hangs out at Twigseeds in Brisbane. Ruby Red Shoes Goes to Paris took her 8 months of illustrating, 7 days per week!

Dreaming of France is a wonderful Monday meme
from Paulita at An Accidental Blog

Books on France, a great 2013 challenge
 from Emma at Words and Peace

The Peppermint Pig

The Peppermint Pig has one of the best opening lines I've ever read.

Old Granny Greengrass had her finger chopped off in the butcher's when she was buying half a leg of lamb. 

That's just fantastic. What kid doesn't want to read more about Old Granny Greengrass and her fingers? Sadly Old Granny Greengrass isn't much of a figure in the family story of The Peppermint Pig. The Greengrass family are living in London in the early years of the twentieth century. James, the father works as a coach painter, but has to leave his employment under rather odd circumstances. The four Greengrass children and their mother move to Norfolk to stay with family. There they take in Johnnie, the titular Peppermint Pig of the title. Johnnie was a runt, and sold off cheap by the milkman.

'Runt of the litter,' the milkman added. 'Too small for the sow to raise. He'd only get trampled on in the rush.'

 Johnnie soon becomes the family pet, and house trained.

"a pig has more brains than a dog, let me tell you."

But Johnnie isn't the main character of our story either. An intriguing slice of life, The Peppermint Pig gives us a great sense of life in Norfolk in 1910/11. Already historical fiction when written in the 1970s, we have a great glimpse of life in the pre-antibiotic era. The fear of sore throats when they could end a young life. Fever carts. Passing bells. Carbolic acid sheets and washes- although it seems it was also used as a medication. Nina Bawden uses such a wonderful vocabulary suitable for the time, and I love it when children's authors use words like slatternly.

The Peppermint Pig was quite an unknown entity for me. I'd heard of author Nina Bawden a little bit, she's most famous for one of her other children's books, Carrie's War, although it wasn't to win any particular prize on publication. The Peppermint Pig won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1976. Nina was a rather extraordinary woman, with the rather rare ability to write for children and adults- whilst she is most famous as a children's author, she was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1987 for Circles of Deceipt. Always one with strong political views, they helped shape her writing for both children and adults.

The initial impulse to write for children, she once explained, had come after she found herself depressed by the books her sons were reading, with their “wooden characters uninvolved in any reality I recognised. I think I wanted to give my children something that would encourage them to feel they could make a difference to what happened in the world.”

Nina Bawden often used family stories or personal experiences as the inspiration for her stories, or for added authenticity. Her own war time evacuation to Wales famously formed the basis for Carrie's War.

A great-grandfather on her mother's side was another skeleton, an "old tramp" who had taken to drink but still dropped in on the family from time to time. When Bawden put this character into The Peppermint Pig, her mother was furious, railing against the disgrace and against Nina's uncle, who had failed to keep the secret.

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As we must appear to the hawk #6

Recently I was lucky enough to fly to Adelaide. I hadn't been to Adelaide for several decades, and now I've been twice in the last 18 months or so. I like window seats on short flights, so booked a window seat both ways. This was my Sydney to Adelaide flight.

Botany Bay

Kurnell

The beautiful blue Pacific

The coast south of Sydney

The clouds were cool this particular day

The dams are emptying

I love this shot

Rivers are great to see

I like the contrast between manmade and natural patterns

This pond or dam looked like a silhouette 

Australia is vast

Crop circles?

The jacarandas were out in force
I mainly associate jacarandas with Sydney,
but it seems they are big in Adelaide too

A classic view of Adelaide coming in to land. 

I've shown you an Adelaide- Sydney flight before.

Saturday Snapshot is a wonderful weekly meme now hosted by WestMetroMommy

Art Gallery of South Australia

I do love popping into an art gallery. Not that I know all that much about art really. Although I am slowly learning. They're typically beautiful spaces, and you get to see such interesting things, whether you like them or not is a whole other matter. Like at MONA last year.

The Art Gallery of South Australia is no exception. Indeed, it has more than a few things going for it. Totally free. Lovely staff and volunteers, and the insight to realise that taking photos in there isn't a burden. They're completely happy with non-flash photography.

I still haven't learnt to use these things
I must do it. I missed out on the audio tour!

The gallery has multiple rooms. To the right of the entrance desk is the Elder Wing of Australian Art. It's lovely. Much of it feels a bit like the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Lots of classic elegance. Quite European gallery in feel actually. 

I was excited to recognise the Sydney Longs in the corner.
(We saw an amazing Sydney Long exhibition in Canberra last year)

And Hans Heysen

They blend the Aboriginal art within the main section of the gallery.
I really liked that. 

Out the back of the first floor is a beautiful room showcasing Ernabella Batiks. It's an amazing space and feels quite spiritual.

My favourite batik. 

The other half of the main floor is the Melrose Wing of European Art (newly refurbished this year). It's quite different in there. Quite. Themed rooms. 

Even I had worked out the death theme here.
Memento mori.  

Every room holds a fascinating mix of different types of art works.

An amazing work that photographs really badly.
Too much detail to take in, this but a mere glimpse.
Swings and roundabouts for the children?Yes? No. Pigface. 
Jake Chapman. Dinos Chapman, 2011

The Seduced Room
That's a hell of a wallpaper.

This is so very cool, but I have no idea what it's about.
Twin subjecter
Thomas Hirschhorn, 2011

Present Realities Room.
Representing landscapes. 

It was all starting to feel a bit MONA. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Until this room. When suddenly it was very MONA. Not surprisingly this has been controversial. 

We are all flesh.
Berlinde De Bruyckere, 2011-12
Her work at MONA seems suddenly quite tame.

A room rather bizarrely titled The Human Condition. 

I can see how large portraits of George III juxtaposed with a statue titled The Negress have something to say about The Human Condition. But two headless horse skins pushed together? No sorry, I don't get it. Ok, so it's called We are all flesh. But I don't think you should need the title to finally make sense of a work of art. 

There are many more rooms downstairs. Decorative arts, and a range of Asian Arts. A whole room featuring William Morris.  The piece I loved best were the Adelaide Tiffany Windows. I'd never heard of these before. Of course I've heard of Tiffany windows before, and have long admired Louis Comfort Tiffany's work. I've seen some on visits to America. I'd never heard of the Adelaide Windows though. 

Naturally they're astonishing

And tell such a sad story. Commissioned to commemorate the grief of a wife and mother. Ada Ayers (daughter in law of Henry Ayers, five time Premier of South Australia, now possibly best remembered via Ayers Rock/Uluru), was widowed and six of her children had died. 

Six cherubs commemorating the six lost children.

Typically beautiful Tiffany colours. 

Whenever you find yourself in Adelaide with a little time to spare it's really worth a visit. 

Saturday Snapshot is a wonderful weekly meme now hosted by WestMetroMommy

WeirDo

I first came across this book in the October 2013 issue of Good Reading magazine. I've been a subscriber of Good Reading for over 10 years, and it's still exciting when a new edition plops into the mail box. I've even won their subscriber draw- twice!

I generally trust their reviews. They're not afraid to give an unflattering review, or a low score. So when they praise a book, or give it 5 stars, then it's usually worth a look. Of course they review lots of books that I want to read every month. Way too many for me to actually read, although like every reader I suspect, my reading eyes are always bigger than my reading stomach. So, I always want to read most of these books. It's usually easier to pick out the ones where I think "No, that's not me." But some books you know you will meet very, very soon. WeirDo was one of those books. And so it came to pass this week.

I was excited to soon after find a copy of WeirDo in my local bookshop. It has such a cool red cover that I had to buy it straight away. And then you realise the cover is even cooler- it's one of those thick covers, with animated movement (apparently called a lenticular animated cover with motion technology!).

Weir Do is the new kid in school. Not surprisingly he dreads being the new kid anywhere. Weir as a name is ok. But Weir Do isn't. It's funny. This book is full of the fun stuff that kids of a certain age love- funny names, fart jokes, scabs and nits. Weir is a little bit weird, like most of us, but he just wants to fit in and make friends.

The pictures are funny too. Jules Faber is new to me, but he's not new to drawing, and takes the book to new places. WeirDo is apparently the first in what is to be a series of books featuring Weir, I will certainly be looking forward to reading more of them.

A couple of things bothered me as an adult reader though. Weir is young enough that he still does show and tell, but he is interested in girls, and quite fond of the 7th best looking girl at school. Really? And come on Anh kids in Australia do sport- they don't go to gym class.

Anh Do is an Australian comedian. He found further fame with his very successful memoir The Happiest Refugee (which I Still haven't read), which has also become a stage show (which I haven't seen either). I have managed to read the picture book version, The Little Refugee. It's easy to see where he got the inspiration for WeirDo. 

Anh's got such an open, friendly face. 

He's a likeable guy, just like Weir. 

Lyrebird! A True Story

Having a rather keen interest in birds I was obviously intrigued by this title when I saw it on the CBCA  Shortlist for Eve Pownall Book of the Year 2013. It took me a while to get hold of it. The winners have already been announced, and Lyrebird! was an Honour Book this year.

Lyrebird! tells the extraordinary tale of a surprising friendship between a male lyrebird and a widow named Edith Wilkinson. Edith lived in the Dandenongs, east of Melbourne in the 1930s, and made her living growing flowers. One day a male lyrebird visited her and put on quite a show on her verandah. She called him James, and he was to become a frequent visitor.

Lyrebird! had it's origins when Jackie Kerin's partner borrowed a 1933 book called Lore of the Lyrebird, written by the marvellously titled Ambrose Goddard Hesketh Pratt, solicitor, journalist and President of the Royal Zoological and Acclimatization Society. James became quite famous in his day, and was one of the first lyrebirds ever to be filmed and recorded. Jackie became more and more excited by the story. You can hear Jackie talking about Lyrebird! on Radio National here. The book was published by Museum Victoria. It's beautifully illustrated by Peter Gouldthorpe.

Lyrebird! has also been made into a beautiful short movie. For some reason I can't embed it, but I can link to it here. Somewhat intriguingly the film version has a lovely rhyming verse form that the book doesn't have. I'm not sure why. It would have made it a great read aloud book for little kids. The book format is more of an informative type for older children. Peter Gouldthorpe has wisely hidden lots of other birds throughout his illustrations to add interest- kids so love searching for hidden things in books.

Hector and the Search for Happiness

Hector and the Search for Happiness is an English translation of a French book, Le Voyage d'Hector ou la recherché du bonheur. Hector was originally published in France in 2002, and it took 8 years for the English translation to become available. Which is a great shame.

I had seen Hector  around the bookblogs a bit a while back, but I didn't know anything much more about it rather than the title, the covers were cute, and I hadn't heard of the author before. At some stage I learnt that it was French. And then I started seeing Sim get excited about the upcoming movie version over at Chapter1-Take1. I knew I would have to read it someday. And then one day my library had a copy, and I was about to go to a conference in Adelaide, and so had lots of time to fill in- sitting on planes, and in hotel rooms. Not that this slim volume (even in the large print format from my library) takes all that long to read.

I fell in love with Hector very early on. How could I not? Hector is a psychiatrist living and working in what I assume is Paris:

Hector's practice was in a city full of wide avenues lined with attractive old buildings.

Hector is a good psychiatrist, but he  is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with his work, as he can't make his patients happy. He can make the sick ones well, or at least manage their illnesses if he can't cure them, but he can't cure those with first world problems.

Basically , all of these well-dressed people said that they didn't like their lives, they questioned their choice of profession, they wondered whether they were married or nearly married to the right person, they had the impression that they were missing out on something important in life, that time was passing and they couldn't be everything that they wanted to be. 

The unhappy people are taking their toll on Hector. They're unhappy for no apparent reason. Hector gets more and more tired and unhappy himself.

He began to wonder whether he was in the right profession, whether he was happy with his life, whether he wasn't missing out on something. 

So he does what we all do when we need a break, and goes on holiday. Hector heads off on a bit of an around the world adventure to visit some far flung friends, but it's a busman's holiday- he's aiming to understand what makes people happy or unhappy. I love it that he decides to go to China mainly because of a character in Tin Tin's The Blue Lotus (see my review). The French are obsessed with Tin Tin, and have many, many windows devoted to him, I'll have to show you some sometime. Anyway, that tickled me.

Somewhat annoyingly every other destination is vague. In China, it seems that he goes to Hong Kong. Later he goes to a former French colony in Africa, where the people are poor, but the beer is good. Later he goes to the country of More, rather obviously America.

They were both going to the big country where there were more psychiatrists than anywhere else in the world. Notice that we say 'more psychiatrists than anywhere else in the world' but we could just as well say more swimming pools, more Nobel prizewinners, more strategic bombers, more apple pies, more computers, more natural parks, more libraries, more cheerleaders, more newspapers, more racoons, more of many more things, because it was the country of More, and had been for a long time.

I suspect Lelord's lack of specificity is to make it universal and global, but why not name names and give us actual settings when you actually mean them? Some are rather clear anyway, and I'm sure if I knew more about which former French colonies in Africa had had embargoes and yet still made good beer, then I'd be able to guess that one too. But why make me guess?

Hector makes some astute and oh so funny observations about our modern world, like when he gets upgraded to business class on a flight:

That part of the plane is called business class, just to make it seem as if the people sitting there are travelling on business and not for the pleasure of having a nice comfortable seat, champagne and their own private TV screen. 

My love affair with Hector stalled a bit when he got to the country of More. I'm not sure why. He still made insights and jokes. The style is odd from the get go- overly simplified. And I know lots of readers haven't warmed to that. Or the self-help novel vibe, a Sophie's World for the new millennium? I'm not sure if that's unfair or not.

It's fascinating to learn that Francois Lelord is himself a French psychiatrist, although he has been working in Vietnam and Thailand for some time. In this interview he somewhat mockingly says that a philosophical story written in a naive style is a French tradition- now that makes me feel better. Perhaps it is true? I haven't read Voltaire or Montesquieu, I haven't even heard of Montesquieu, but I have read Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince (another French obsession, possibly bigger than Tin Tin?), and it could well be.

Still I liked it all well enough that I will search out the second and third Hector books now available in English, Hector and the Secrets of Love and Hector and the Search for Lost Time- lets hope that one is about Proust, I'm not sure that it is, but that would make me happy. And I'll have to get to reading The Blue Lotus. Read 1 book, then need to read 3 more. It's the story of my life. And there's a movie to see- although paying more attention now, and they've made Hector English, which is rather dispiriting.

Books on France, a great 2013 challenge
 from Emma at Words and Peace

Dreaming of France is a wonderful Monday meme
from Paulita at An Accidental Blog