Between 2010 and 2019, Cauli Le Chat (2006?-2020), feline roving reporter for Mooresville Public Library (Mooresville, Indiana), reported all things interesting to cats (and humans) happening at the library. Related stories from across the state (and beyond) were also included.
James Thurber became famous as a humor columnist for The New Yorker magazine, but he also wrote wonderful children's books. One of my favorites is Many Moons, first published in 1943.
Many Moons won the Caldecott Medal in 1944. The book was first illustrated by Louis Slobodkin, but in 1990 it was republished with illustrations by Marc Simont. It has been adapted into a stage play, an opera, and movies.
Grown-ups and young children (particularly those just learning to read) will enjoy Thurber's command of language and phrasing. Folks who grew up in the 1940s and 1950s will recognize some of the contemporary events-conscious wit that made Thurber's humor so engaging.
Watch our book trailer to see if you'd like to read it.
Cauli Le Chat MPL Roving Reporter Children's Literature News Beat
P.S. If you enjoy Many Moons, try another of Thurber's children's masterpieces, The 13 Clocks. I could recommend many more Thurber essay and story collections, but my deadline passed about 45 minutes ago, so I've gotta make tracks.
I last blogged aboutThe Zombie Survival Guide during ALA Banned Books Week. Since we're winding down October SpookFest, the book (and our book trailer) deserved a reprise.
In our book trailer, Zombie kitty made me laugh out loud, which, if you know felines, is pretty surprising and unusual in itself.
About the Book Trailer's Artwork
Original zombie drawings were created by Brian Mills, whom I call Drawer Dude, ofMooresville, Indiana. He is a student at the Art Institute of Indianapolis.
About the Book Trailer's Soundtrack
Live performance (February 18, 2010) of "Starmapto Orion" (2009), composed and arranged by Danny Buckley, whom I call The Music Man. Performed atMillikinUniversity's Student Composers' Forum III inKaeuperHall, School of Music. Conductor: John Stafford II. Musicians: Chris Petterson& Robert Stein, electric cellos; ScottAgner, electric guitar; Neil Johnson, electric bass; Nick Murphy, drums. To see a high resolution YouTube video of this performance, check out this video(although a low resolution video is also available here, if you'd rather see it that way).
Zombie Kitty Must've Eaten Scowl-Face's Brain, Which Explains A Lot,
Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Paranormal Fiction News Beat
P.S. You probably wouldn't have expected the best-selling folk group The Kingston Trio to have performed a song about the undead. But here is "Zombie Jamboree" from the band's album ... From the Hungry i (1959).
Drawer Dude has custom-made a Halloween mask for moi. I am now officially set to attend the gala of Halloween parties held in my honor. It can double for my Mardi Gras costume, too.
That is one super-cool kitty mask! But Drawer Dude built-in some extra special features. Check out this glow-in-the-dark spookiness!
So, do I get gifts when I attend upcoming Halloween parties? Just asking. Canned tuna-in-oil is always welcome. But I'm open to other gifts. Check with Buffalo Gal, who selected my mask design, or The Lady With the Red Hair. They know my tastes and preferences. Scowl-Face, not so much.
Thanks, Drawer Dude, For Making Me Look So Cool,
Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Halloween Costume News Beat
P.S. Enjoy some of Drawer Dude's early quick-sketch artwork in our book trailer for The Zombie Survival Guide, which would be perfect for October SpookFest readers' advisory, come to think of it. Drawer Dude also designed a business logo for Baskets From Junior's Farm. See it here.
"Make every word tell," advised Professor William Strunk, Jr. (1869-1946) to his English students at Cornell University. His book, The Elements of Style, first published in 1918, was a standard collegiate writing guide for decades. Scowl-Face used it during his first year of graduate school over 30 years ago. Strunk taught students to write with economy, power, and precision. One strongly influenced student was E. B. White (1899-1985), essayist and children's book author. He was "Andy" to his friends, a nickname he was given from his freshman Cornell days (after Andrew Dickson White [1832-1918], Cornell's co-founder).
White was a staff writer at The New Yorker. He shared office space with fellow staff writer James Thurber. The magazine's founder and publisher, Harold Ross (1892-1951), wanted White and Thurber to be managing editors--the running joke around the offices was that, at one time, all of Ross' employees were saddled with this job--but both White and Thurber simply wanted to write and so tried valiantly to get fired until Ross realized that this literary duo was much too valuable to waste on management.
Many scholars have suggested that White was the premiere American essayist of the 20th century. You'll get no argument from moi. White used language deftly and skillfully, in ways that most of us writers can only hope to imitate. Of course, we felines can do many things that White, being merely human, could not, but that's only to be expected. I'm fairly sure we bested him on the hairball front alone.
If you have never read any of E. B. White's many essay collections and children's books, you have denied yourself literary greatness. You should immediately visit your local public library and check-out a half-dozen or so of White's works. They are quick reads because White followed Professor Strunk's creed, "Make every word tell." Nothing is surplus in White's prose; every word is meaningfully crafted. It is a genuine pleasure to read what he had to say, if for no other reason than the sheer pleasure of reading something superbly written. His content was worthwhile, too.
The Trumpet of the Swan, by E. B. White, was first published in 1970. It was White's third children's novel, following Charlotte's Web (1952)and Stuart Little (1945). I could summarize the plot, but, frankly, it would so pale in comparison to White's sparkling words that I would rather not sully this fine story by attempting to reduce it to my descriptive capabilities. Anyway, we just made a book trailer (above) that gives a brief synopsis. For some insightful commentary, read author John Updike's book review in The New York Times (June 28, 1970). There's an online version available, but if I put the hyperlink here (actually, I've placed it below this paragraph), the N.Y. Times website requires you to log-in to see it. But you can circumvent that by simply going to Google and searching John Updike book review trumpet swan White. Your top hit should be the following, which took me straight to the actual article when I clicked it on Google. Try your luck on Google, but remember, it's not my fault if it doesn't work.
If I could write like either E. B. White or James Thurber, I would be a happy cat indeed. I will gladly settle for reading their many wonderful books, essay collections, and other stories. Many great authors make reading fun, but none more so than these two friends who goofed around together in their shared office at The New Yorker.
Telling Some Words Myself, and Making the Most of It,
Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Children's Fiction News Beat
P.S. As you can see from the "still frame" above, one of our book trailers featuring James Thurber included a photo with E. B. White. If you like White's books, you'll also enjoy Thurber's, and vice versa.
As previously discussed in this fine feature, "Flat" Cauli has been visiting with our Homeschool patrons, and their official reports are beginning to trickle into Broadway Gal's office. The Sullivan family kindly took my thin, laminated alter ego home for many adventures. For privacy reasons, we're not going to publish the first names of the family members pictured, but rest assured that they were working hard as my "special correspondents" reporting all the "Flat" Cauli news you need and want to know. Believe moi, that's a lot.
The Sullivan family filed a "'Flat' Cauli Report" (with photos) for the dates of 10/10/11 through 10/21/11. "Flat" Cauli visited WCBK (102.3 FM), a radio station in Martinsville, Indiana. Pictured here is WCBK regular DJ Randall Wayne, along with "Flat" Cauli and our Sullivan special correspondent, who served as guest disk jockeys (DJs) on the radio. You can tell they're official DJs because they wore headphones and spoke into the microphone. They talked about home schooling and our favorite Library (no offense, Morgan the Library Bunny and MCPL).
Do you know how utterly cool it is to broadcast on the radio? I wish I had been there, but, then, that's why we have "Flat" Cauli. I can't be everywhere all the time. I only have four paws.
Two Sullivan special correspondents (SSCs) further reported that "Flat" Cauli learned about miniature horseys (I call all horses "horseys," because, well, they're so cute!) Here's a photo of "Flat" Cauli riding a miniature horsey named Apache, along with my SSCs. We learned about horsey grooming, feeding, and cleaning (very important to be clean and have nice, clean quarters for snoozing and eating). As one of my SSCs stated, "We think ["Flat" Cauli] wants a horse of his [sic] own now!" (I'm a girl, BTW.) Well, I certainly want a miniature horsey, and I (being the genuine article) rank higher than "Flat" Cauli. Just saying.
Many thanks to the Sullivans for their fine journalism and excellent photography. Watch for these special correspondents in a few years, because they will probably have their own radio or television programs. We need great broadcast journalists like them.
Looking Forward to More "Flat" Cauli Reports,
Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
"Flat" Cauli News Beat
P.S. All this talk about "Flat" Cauli reminded me of The Flat Cats, a Chicago-based jazz and blues swing band that perform in a wide variety of venues. Here is a video of the group appearing live on Chicago's WGN Channel 9 morning show.
